       VOLUME  XXXVI                            TANUARY`~,  1960  - GRAND  FLUIDS, MICHIGAN                                       NUMSER  7
                                                                                -.saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred,
                 M E D I-T A T IO N                                     and I will deal well with thee !"
                                                                   I
                                                                               And then follows my text.

                                                                        1      And this text is of such a nature that it can very well
                       THE PROPER MOOD                                  serve us to get into the proper mood for the change of the

                 "I am not worthy of the 1ea.d  of a.11 the mercies,    seasons'
                   and of all the trztth,  which Thou Hart  shewild                                   4: 8    * *
                   unto Thy servant." - GEN. 32 :lOa.
                                                                               I am not worthy!
     The words of my text were spoken at a crucial period of                   This is not a correct translation of the Hebrew.                 It is
  Jacob's life.                                                         really a commentary of the word the Holy Ghost used. Liter-
      God had given Jacob a very brief, but beautiful, message          ally Jacob said: I am less than all mercies, etc.
  while dwelling in the land of Laban.  Here it is : "Return unto              But it carries in it- the same idea as unworthiness.
  the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred ; and I will be
  with thee." Chapter 31 :3.                                                   Today we would.say  : 0 Lord, I ammost insignificant in
                                                                        the face of all Thou doest with me !         `."
      He had dwelled with Laban in Mesopotamia for twenty                                                            _-
  years, and while having nothing but his staff when crossing                  And that is Scriptural. `God's,.Worcl'tells  us that we are
  Jordan on the way to Laban, he had been greatly blessed.              a nothing and vanity. And also this i ,,He hath chosen the
  In the same text which is written above my meditation,                things tkat a++e not to shame the things that are!:                1

1 Jacob said: i`for  with my staff I passed over this Jordan,                . However, it is worse than that.               ' .. `. .'
  and now I am become two bands." He had wives, twelve                         Job testifies in the face of the glorious Godhead: I am a
  sons and one daughter, men-servants and women-servants,               running, fetid sore ! And Paul likens himself to a body of
  many oxen, asses, and flocks, so that Jacob had become great.         death ! `.

      But Laban's  eyes were not as yesterday and before, and                  Look at what we are at best : a piece of red clay : Adam !
  his sons spake : "Jacob hath taken away all that was our
                                                                               How different is man's idea of himself as he is by nature.
  father's !"
                                                                        The church of Laodicea shall be our guide: I am rich, and
      And therefore the Lord who loved Jacob had given him              increased with goods, and have need of nothing ! But they
  this short message : Return !                                         did not know that they were "wretched, and miserable, and

      But two very sore troubles came upon him.                         poor, and blind, and naked !"

      First Laban pursued' him. But God helped Jacob, and                      What is this ? It is the "pride of life" !

  Laban returned to Mesopotamia.                                               That natural pride of life was instilled in us by Satan

      But now another enemy appeared: Esau, and four hun-               at the dawn of history. It has grown throughout the ages. Its

  dred men -with  him.                                                  fruit, its foul fruit is seen on every side. And the end is .when

                                                                        this same shall sit in the Temple of God, and shall say:
      Listen to the Holy Scriptures: "Then Jacob was greatly
                                                                        I am Jehovah God !
  afraid and distressed."
                                                                               That is the man of sin, anti-Christ.
      And, as usual, Jacob appears before-the face of Jehovah,
  and tells Him his troubles. Listen to him : "0 God of my                   ~- But Jacob says: I am less than all the mercies and of
  father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which            all the truth which Thou hast shewed  unto me!

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

               I am unworthy !                                                     cried out : 0, how great is the good ! For body and soul, for
                                                                                   time and eternity, for us and our children, for the church
               How did Jacob ever come to such a lowly and humble
        view of himself?                                                           that is now and for the church of every age, it is all good,
                                                                                   goodness, love, lovingkindness, mercy and faithfulness.
               The answer is in just one word, beloved. It is this : grace !
                                                                                       The greatest of `all this good is the gift of Jesus Christ.
               There is all the difference.                                        And if we have Him, then all the rest is freely given us.

           When you have the grace of God you see two.things very                  Even as Paul testifies : "Shall He then not with Him freely

       clearly : first, you see your fall from God, corruption, sin and            give us all things ?'

        damn-worthiness. And, second, you see God's justice, holi-                     Also truth, or rather, faithfulness.
     ness and righteousness.
                                                                                       That gift is the very foundation of His most glorious
           And then it is easy to say with Jacob: I am unworthy!                   name.
           You will say to me: but when we are born again and
                                                                                       The faithful Covenant God : Jehovah, the I am that I am !
       converted, and when the grace of God dwells in our hearts

       and minds, then we certainly do good. works !                                   And `you will also say : I am less than all these benefits

           Yes, my dear brother, I agree with you. Jesus would                     and that truth!

       say: by their fruits ye shall know them. And Jesus will say                     For here is the crucial point: this faithfulness is shewed

,      at the end of the ages : you have ministered unto Me !                      unto us every day in the face of our unfaithfulness. Do we
       Matthew 25 ~34-36.                                                          not fall short every day? And does not this faithfulness

           I agree to all that, and yet I would say: look, evaluate,               overwhelm us then ?

       weigh and number : what have you done !               -                         Look at Peter! He stands there among the soldiers,

           Look at the most noble thing you ever did in your life.                 swearing and cursing, and all the while Jesus is praying for
       Carry it to the light of God, the light that beams from His                 him, on His way to the awful cross.

       face in Jesus Christ. Liken it-to the good works of Jesus.                      Hence, we are less than insignificant, in the face of such

          And then you will say : 0 God ! Forgive my good works !                  beauties:'
                                                                                                                    * *    * *
           0, I know; I agree : the above sentence is a contradic-

       tion in terms.        And yet: I think you know exactly what I                  "Which Thou hast done in thy servant." That is the
       mean.                                                                       correct translation.
           Listen to this : Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags !                   And that is oh so important.
       And I dare not put in print the real translation of those
       filthy rags.                                                                    Remember, God shows everything to all. Seeing they
                                                                                   see, and that means that they see thorougvy.  And yet they
           That is YOU !                                                           do not observe. Hearing they hear, and that means that they
          Are you not less than all the mercies God bestowed upon                  hear thoroughly, and yet they do not understand.
      `you?                                                                            And that is not the idea here at all.
           0 God ! I am unworthy !                                                     No, but mercy is ddne to Jacob. Truth is done to Jacob.
                                       * * * *                                         And so this saint thanks God for all the work which He

           CL                                                                      hath done into him.
                 1 . . . of the least of all `the mercies, and of all the truth
       which Thou hast shkwed unto Thy servant."                                       What does this mean ? This : God saw all the misery .of
           "Mercies,"                                                              Jacob. He saw all the evil of both Esau and Laban,  and
                            says the English text. Literally, the word is
                                                                                   God yearned to deliver him out of all his troubles. And
       "benefits," even as the Holland text has "weldadigheden."
                                                                                   He actually did deliver him. That is the meaning.
           God is the very Fountain of all love and lovingkindness.
       It is God's yearning to bless His own, and there is a veritable                 Note, once again, the time of the prayer. Esau is. on the
       shower of blessing going toward His church from age to age.                 way.with 400 men. And. Jacob was sorely afraid.

       All things work together for good unto those that love God.                     And Jacob pleads, on God's faithfulness. That is, he asks

          Jacob, the saint who speaks here, stands in the midst of                 God to remember not his sins, but to act from pure love and
       the rain of blessings, and in the midst of that shower he                   lovingkindness toward him. And he even points God to all
       looks at himself and says: 0 God, I am not worthy of the                    He has already done in him.

       least of those mercies (benefits) and all the truth (faithful-              And that calls for forgiveness, forgetfulness of all Jacob's

       ness) which Thou hast shewed  unto Thy servant.                             sins and transgressions.

           When we see that, we can easily see how anzther  saint                     And that is exactly the way God works with us. He


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                                                                            147

                                                                                      ::              .`~
gladly forgives us all our sins. He casts them into a verit-

able ocean of forgetfulness.                                                                       THE STANDARD  BEARER
                                                                            Semi-monthly, except monthly  during June, July and August
                             *    + * 9                                       Published by the  REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCU-ITON
                                                                            P. 0. Box  881, Madison  Square  Station,  Grand  Rapids  7, Mich.

                                                                                                        Editor 
   Yes, we stand again at the threshold of a new year. The                                                                    -REV. HERMAN HOEIGSEMA
old year is wellnigh  spent.                                                Communications  relative  to contents  should be addressed  to
                                                                                             Rev.  H. Hoeksema,  1139  Franklin  St.,  S. E.,
   And, looking back on our way which we came, we see                                                                     Grand  Rapids  7, Mich.
the thousands and thousands of our transgressions.                          All matters  relative  to subscriptions  should be addressed  to Mr.
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   And what little good was done by us. And the little we                                                            Gmnd Rapids  7, Michigan
                                                                            Announcements  and  Obituaries  must  be mailed to the  above
did actually do .which  was good is a present, a gift of grace.             address  and  will be published at a fee of $2.00 for each notice.

   And so we also have to go to God. And ask Him to                         RENEWAL: Unless  a definite  request  for discontinuance  is re:
shew unto us His benefits and His faithfulness which is to                  ceived it is assumed  that the  subscriber  wishes  the subscription
                                                                            to continue  without.  the  formality  of a renewal  order.
be done in 2~s.                                                                                              Subscription  price: $5.00 per year

   And then we will see Jesus.Christ.                                        Entered as Second Class  matter at Grand Rapids, Michigan

    For He is mercy and truth personified. He is the very

Face of Jehovah.                                                                                                               CONTENTS

    That is the joy of the Gospel. For unto you is born this            MEDITATION-
                                                                                  The Proper  Mood  ____..............._................................................                                                                          145
day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.                                Rev.  G. Vos
Luke 2 :ll.
                                                                        EDITORIALS -
    If that Christ dwells in our inmost heart and mind, then                      Attempt to Discipline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..____  ._........................  148
all is well.                                                                                Rev.  H. Hoeksema

                                                                        As To 
    Then we will sigh, looking at the past year and years, but                    BOOKS-
                                                                                  Het Calvin&me                              ( CaIvinism  ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._.........  150
we will smile through our tears, for we know that Christ                          Luther's           Werken                    ( Luther's                   Works  ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.50
did not die in vain. Our sins are washed away in His                              Calvin's  Doctrine of ,the  Christian  Life ;...............................  150
                                                                                            Rev.  H. Hoeksema
precious blood.

    And we can also look ahead. Christ is the Ebenezer, the             OURDOCTRINE-
                                                                                  The Book                   of Revelation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Stone of remembrance. Hitherto bath, the Lord, helped us.                                   Rev.  H. Hoeksema
I Sam. 7:12.                                                            A CLOUD OF WITNESSES-
    Our Christ is our Ebenezer. Hitherto concerns the past,                       Joseph  Sold By His Brothers  ____..............................................                                                                                153
but is also our assurance for the future. God is always for                                 Rev.  B. Woudenberg

us, hence, no one can really be against us. The future, be-             FROM HOLY WRIT -
loved, is complete salvation. God be praised ! Amen.                              Exposition of Luke 1:57-66  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.5
                                                                                            Rev.  G. Lubbers
                                                               G.V.
                                                                        IN HIS FEAR -

                                                                                  Freedom of Speech                                   (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

                                                                                            Rev.  J. A. Heys

                        Announcement                                    CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH-
                                                                                  The Church                     and the Sacraments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

  Classis  East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will                                    Rev.  H. Veldman                                                                                                        . .
meet, D.V., on Wednesday, January 6, at 9 A. M. in the                  FEATURE  .ARTICLE-
                                                                                  Chur;tvang Schsl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161
First Prot. Ref. Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Dele-                                            . .                        0
gates from  the  respective  churches  of this classis  will please
                                                                        DECENCY AND ORDER-
take notice.                                                                      Questions of Article 41__._......._..._____........................................  164
                                  R                                                         Rev.  G. Vanden Berg
                                       EV. M. SCHIPPER, Stated Clerk

                                                                        ALL i$ROUND  US-
                                                                                  "The Only Theology  the Bible Knows" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lG6
                                                                                  "Needed:                   A Philosophy                        of Christian Education"  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
                                                                                  For the  Next  Census  .___..__........_...............................................                                                                         167
                And blessed be His glorious Name,                                 Drug Price Investigation  ____..  . . . ..___  _........ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

                   Long as the ages shall endure ;                                          Rev.  M. Schipper

                O'er all the earth extend His fame.                     NEWS  FROM`OUR  C~I~RCHES..............................................................  ..168
                                                                                            Mr. J. M. Faber
                   Amen, Amen, for evermore.


148                                          T H E - S T A N D A R D   BEAKER
- -

                                                                    infallible ,inspiration  of the words of Holy Writ. He does
              E D I T O R I A L S                                   not simply refer to the original autographa of the writers
                                                                    themselves, nor does he' suggest that there may be an error

                                                                    in the text [which there is not), but he represents Matthew
                                                                              . . .
                        Attempt  to Discipline                      himself as falsifying or misquoting the Lord. According to
                                                                    him, it is possible that Jesus never spoke these words but
       I promised in my last editorial that I would present and     that Matthew simply put them into His mouth. If we may
briefly discuss the protest of Mr. Tom Glasgow against Dr.          thus play with, the words of Scripture at random we have no
Ernest Trite'  Thompson, professor at Union Theological             written Word of God left.
Seminary.                                                              And, by the'way,  Mr. Glasgow represents Dr. Thompson
       The protest concerns several basic and very vital truths     again and again as an able teacher. But, in my opiniqn,  the
such as : The inspiration of the Bible, vicarious atonement,        fact that he thus distorts the words of Scripture and assumes
the fall of man, the virgin birth of Jesus, and the miracles in     the possibility that Jesus may not have said what Matthew
Scripture.                                                          makes Him say, without ground or reason, does not show

       In a foreword Mr. Glasgow writes:                            much scholarly ability.

        "The statements and facts herein set forth are made with       The next item of Mr. Glasgow's protest concerns the
solemn realization of their potential and far reaching signif-      truth of vicarious atonement. Dr. Thompson had written
icance. Serious charges are made against a popular and              as follows :

able Seminary professor, Dr. Ernest Trite  Thompson. If                 "We must not say that He felt Himself guilty, or that he
these charges are true, his popularity and ability make them        was punished or that he was exposed to God's WRATH,
the more serious. If these charges are untrue, I shall have         for all sucl~ language involves an intolerable confusion of
done an able teacher a grave injustice. I have earnestly en-        what is possible for the sinful and the sinless."
deavored to be fair. -To  that end and to avoid any possibility        The protestant quotes in this connection Isa. 53 :5 : "He
of inaccuracy because of misunderstanding or potential,             was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
though unintentional, misquoting by the students of his class       iniquities : the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and
room who disagree with his statements, I have confined all          with his stripes we are healed." And he also quotes from
quotations herein set forth to the written statements of Dr.        the Standards of his Church ; from the Larger Catechism :
Thompson himself."                                                  "Christ . . . having also conflicted with the terrors of death
       ' I may add here that under each item of the protest Mr.     and the powers of darkness felt and bore the weight of God's
Glasgow adduces several examples only of which is quoted in         WRATH, he laid down his life an offering for sin" And
the pamphlet I received on the matter. Thus on the inspira-         from the Shorter Catechism : "Christ's humiliation consists in
tion of Scripture the author of the protest refers to what Dr.      his . . . undergoing the WRATH of God."
Thompson wrote on the text in Matthew 18:16,  17: "If he
                                                                       Again, it is evident that the statement by Dr. Thompson
will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more,
                                                                    quoted above contradicts Scripture, not only in Isa. 53, but
that in the mouths of two or more witnesses every word be
                                                                    throughout. But it also stands in conflict with the Confes-
established. And if he shall neglect to hear them take it unto
                                                                    sions of his .Church  to which he signed his name .and which
t<h$,  church . . ."
  ~                                                                 he is supposed to maintain and defend. And the latter is
        On these words Dr. Thompson wrote: "If the words of         downright dishonesty.
Matthew 18:16-17  were actually spoken. by Jesus, they can-             But once more, I am constrainedto remark that the words
not be. taken as's rule ,that  must always' be Ijoll~owed."
                                                  ;: 2              by, Dr. Thompson certainly do not reveal him as such an
        Mr. Glasgow calls special attention to. the little word     able .teacher  as Mr. Glasgow presents him to be. Of course,
"if" that introduces this sentence. And he writes: "What            the words of Dr. Thompson contain only a brief statement
on earth does' this `IF' mean in the writings of-2  Seminary        and, perhaps; it is not fair to judge him by this. Neverthe-
professor . . . . Also, after he assumes that this passage          less, no able teacher would, to my mind, make a statement
from Matthew may be authentic, where is Dr. Thompson's              like that which is quoted. What is this intolerable confusion
authority to state that these words `cannot be taken as a           of which Dr. Thompson speaks? Is it confusing to teach that
rule that must always and invariably be followed' ! ! Are           the Son of God in human nature suffered and bore the wrath
we -and especially our Seminary professors at liberty thus          of God for the sin of all His people and that He bore that
boldly to question such a passage of-Scripture and then, when       wrath as the perfectly sinless One, in the love. of God and
conceding that possibly Jesus did say what Matthew plainly          thus vicariously atoned ? I have the impression that the sub-
states, to declare the `Master's positive injunction is to be       ject of vicarious atonement, whether he believes this truth
modified as we may decide or elect."                                or not, is not clear in. his own mind. And, surely, it is one

        It is evident that Dr. Thompson does not believe in the     of the first requirements of an able teacher that the subject


                                              TH.E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   149


  which he teaches is clear before his own consciousness:                 It is not clear from these words whether Dr. Thompson
  Otherwise he simply confuses his students.                           means to deny the virgin birth as such. In order to deter-
                                                                       mine this, we would have to read the aboye  words in their
     The next subject to which the protestant calls our atten-
                                                                       context which is impossible for us. Besides, he writes that
  tion is the Fall of Man.
                                                                       the text in Isaiah 7 :I4 "did not refer prz&ariily  (italics mine,
     About this Mr. Glasgow quotes Dr. Thompson as follows :           H.H.) to the `miracuolous  birth of the Savior, which seems
     `I . . . the woman gave also to her husband and he did            to suggest that it may also refer to this.

  eat . . . How are we to understand this story ? Is it to be taken       It is evident that Dr. Thompson believes that the word
  as a literal fact, or is it to be interpreted as an allegory? `We    translated by virgin in Isaiah 7:14  may just as well refer to
  cannot afford to be too dogmatic. It may be that we have             a young married woman. This, to say the least, I doubt
  here the story of man's fall as it actually. happened, that is       very much. In the Hebrew the word is ALeMAH. The
  Satan spoke to man through the mouth of a serpent, as today          primary meaning of this noun is: a girl, a maiden, a virgin.
  he sometimes speaks through the mouth of a friend. It may            It is true that Gesenius in his lexicon also says that, in Isa.
  be, on the other hand, that we have the essential facts, drama-      7 :14, it may be and ought to be rendered by a youthful
  tically pictorially presented, as in the case of Jesus? tempta-      spouse or wife. This I do not believe for the following
  tions in the wilderness."                                            reasons :

     Mr. Glasgow remarks in this connection that Dr.                      1. Isaiah 7 :14 speaks of a sign which the Lord Him-
  Thompson frequently presents what is historical narrative in         self will give : "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a
  Scripture as an allegorical record. He certainly does so in          sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and
  the above quoted paragraph in regard to Jesus' temptations.          shall call his name Immanuel." Now, in the first place, a sign
  It is also evident, although he does not explicitly state this,      is a wonder in or related to the kingdom of God. It' is a
  that he does not believe the historicity of Genesis 3.               wonderful event by which one may recognize that the king-

     But does Dr. `Thompson reveal himself here as an able             dom of God is near. But how could such a wonder be rec-
  teacher? He does, if it may be regarded as a characteristic          ognized in the fact a young married woman would bring
  of the ability of a teacher to sow doubts in the minds of his        forth a son ? Surely, there is nothing special or wonderful
  students as he does in the above quoted paragraph. Person-           in this ! But, in the second place, this virgin must call the
ally, I do not believe that this is the case. A teacher ought          name of the son whom she shall bring forth Immanuel, which
  to have clear and definite convictions, especially when he           is not a name of any human being but only of the Son of
  instructs in the Word of God, and should be able to express          God in the flesh.

  those convictions clearly. This Dr. Thompson does not do.               2. The masculine form of ALeMAH, virgin, is ELEM.
  Although he surely suggests that the narrative in Gen. 3             And this, in the Old Testament refers to a youth, a young
  may be an allegory, yet he does not definitely state this. And       man of marriageable age but not yet married. So the femi-
this, to my mind, is pernicious.                                       nine form ALeMAH refers to a maiden of marriageable age

     For the rest, I may remark that there is nothing new-in           but not yet married.

  the suggestion of Dr. Thompson that the narrative in Gen. 3             3. The New Testament translates ALeMAH by pa&-
  is not to be-regarded as historical. Others, who believe, or         t?~os  and this certainly cannot mean anything else than virgin.
  rather pretend to believe in the Bible as the Word of God,           Cf. Matt. 1 :23. Mr. Glasgow calls attention to this passage
  have offered the same interpretation before him. And this is         in his criticism of the statement of Dr. Thompson and rightly
  true, not only of Gen. 3, but of all of the first three chapters     so. The latter, in his statement calls attention to the im-
  in Genesis. However, if the first three  chapters of Genesis         mediate context of Isa. 7 :14. But why did he not consult
  are not historical but allegorical, no one is able to say what       the broader context of Scripture in general ? If he had, he
  is the meaning of the allegory. And, besides, if the narratives      would have come to the conclusion that the text in Isa. 7:14
  of creation and the fall are not to be regarded as statements        certainly did not refer to a married woman, unless he takes
  of actual facts, we must discard the whole of Scripture as           the position (as he did before) that Matthew himself was
  the Word of God.                                                     mistaken or that he probably could not read Hebrew.
     The next item in the protest of Mr. Glasgow concerns                 4. The entire context in Matt. 1:18ff. We read there :
  the virgin birth.                                                    "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as
     About this Dr. Thompson has the following to say:                 his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came

     "The prophecy in Isaiah about the virgin with child               together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then
  certainly did not refer primarily to the miraculous birth of         Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to
  the Saviour.    It referred, as can plainly be seen from the         make her a publick  example,' was minded to .put her away
  context, to a child that was to be born in Isaiah's own day,         privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the
  to a young woman, not necessarily a virgin . . . ."                  angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying,

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


Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary           recommend it to the reader that is acquainted with the Dutch

thy wife; for that which' is conceived in her is' of the- Holy       l a n g u a g e .                                            H.H.

Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call

his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.        - CakGn's  Ljoctrine  of the Christian Life, by Ronald S.

Now all this was done, that it- might be fulfilled which was         Wallace. Published by Wm. B. Eerdmans  Publishing Co.,

spoken of the Lord-by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin          Grand Rapids, Mich.  Price $5.00.

shall be with child, and-shall bring forth a son, and they shall        This book I heartily recommend to the general reader,
call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God              not only for reading but for study.. The book itself is a very
with us. Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel        thorough study of the subject: Calvin's Doctrine of the
of the Lord had `bidden him, and took unto him his wife : And        Christian Life. It faithfully and abundantly quotes Calvin
knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son : and      throughout the book. It is not the author's' purpose to
he called his name JESUS."                                           criticize but merely to present Calvin's own view of the
       Commentary on this passage is entirely superfluous.           Christian life. He has tried to comprehend all that Calvin

       For all these reasons I cannot agree with Gesenius'.          himself taught on the subject under his doctrine of the
Lexicon and his reference to Isa. 7:14. It is clear as crystal       person and work of Christ "as involving once-for-all sanctifi-
that Isaiah refers not to a married woman but to a virgin.           cation and destiny of His Church," p. VI. Hence, he treats
                                                                     such subjects : the vicarious offering and sanctification of
- And Dr. Thompson as an able Bible teacher certainly                Christ as priest and king; the participation of the Church in
ought to study Isaiah 7:14  in the light of all Scripture in-        the sanctification of Christ; self denial and bearing the cross;
stead of only in the immediate context.                    H.H.      participation in the resurrection and glory of Christ; the

                                                                     true order of man's life in the restored image of God; the

                    AS TQ IBOQKS                                     Church sanctified by the Word and the Sacraments ; the
                                                                     attitude of faith in conflict and suffering; progress toward

                                                                     perfection ; perseverance to the end. These are but a few

                                                                     of the subjects treated, but it may give our readers an idea of
   Het Calz&isme  (Calvinism) by Dr. Abraham Kuyper,
                                                                     the rich contents of this book.
published by J. H. Kok, Kampen, the Netherlands. Price
f 1.50.                                                                 Of special interest to me, because we were just treating
                                                                     the subject in our Seminary, is what we read of Calvin's
    This little book is a republication, complete but in small       view of the Word and the preaching of the Word in the
form, of the well-known six. Stone Lectures which Dr.                Church, p. 206 ff.
Kuyper held in America in 1898. It is years ago that I read
these lectures and enjoyed them. For the purpose of this                Once more, I heartily recommend this book to our readers
review I simply perused them .and  as I did so I was so              for reading and study.                                       H.H.

surprised that, in the main, I remembered them so well. The

lectures speak of Calvinism in History, Calvinism and

Religion, Calvinism and Politics, Calvinism and Science, Cal-                The kings and nations raged in pride ;
vinism and Art, Calvinism and the Future. The style is                          He spake, the earth did melt away ;
characteristically Kuyperian, easily flowing, oratorical and                 The Lord of Hosts is on our side,
even somewhat flighty, quite different from the Dutch style                     Our father's God, our strength and stay.
of today.

   Although I do not agree with all. that Dr. Kuyper pre-                    Come see the works of God displayed,
sents in these Stone Lectures, yet I gladly recommend this                      The wonders of his mighty hand,
little volume to all that are able to read the Holland language.             What desolations He has made,
                                                           H.H.                 What ruin spread through all the land.

                                                                             Through all the peopled earth He makes
   Luther's Werken  (Luther's Works), translated from the
                                                                                The dreadful scourge of war to cease,
Latin by Dr. C. N. Impeta.  Published by J. H. Kok, NIV.,
                                                                             The implements of battle breaks,
Kampen, the Netherlands.
                                                                                And makes the nations dwell in peace.
   This is also a small volume. It contains Luther's The

Babylonian Captivity of the Church, A Letter to Pope Leo                     Be still, ye nations, bow in fear,
X, and The Freedom of the Christian. In an introduction                         And know that I alone am God ;       -
the translator informs us that he intended to reproduce the                  To. us the Lord of Hosts is near,
style of the author as faithfully as possible, and this makes                   Our fathers' God is .our  abode.
the reading of this little book all the more pleasant. I heartily                                                         Psalm 45 :5-8


                                                  T H - E   S T A N D A R D   B.EARER                                                 ,151


                                                                           Antichrist? If so, let me first call your attention to still
               OlWDOCTRINE                                                 another feature. They shall make war with the. saints. There
                                                                     Il. are still saints on earth. And they shall be witnesses. They
                                                                           shall refuse to submit to the power of Antichrist. Not that

                THE BOOK OF REVELATION                                     they shall fight with the sword and rise in political rebellion.
                                                                           No, not that; but they shall refuse to worship the beast, and
                              PART TWO                                     they shall uphold the sovereignty of- the Ahnighty  and of His

                                                                           Christ in those days. They shall refuse to change their

                            CHAPTER ELEVEN                                 religion and their worship and their testimony. And they
                                                                           shall maintain that not Antichrist, but Christ is King. And
                      The  Power of the Antichrist                         therefore they shall be hated. Then shall be fully realized

                           Revelation 13 :l-10                             what Christ said, "Ye shall be hated of all nations." Anti-
                                                                           christ shall make war with them and overcome them. They
        He has but one aim, and that is to thrust the Almighty             shall be hard days, - days so hard that the elect would not
     from His throne, deprive Him of His sovereignty, and to be            hold out if the days were not shortened. Days of persecution
     God instead of Him. And `He therefore is the author and               they are. We shall learn more about them in future discus-
     accomplisher  of this power. And that he gives it his power           sions. Let it, now be sufficient to prove that this world-
     and throne and authority would be sufficient to conclude that         power is anti-God and anti-Christ and anti-kingdom and
     his kingdom and dominion is anti-God and anti-Christ in               anti-saints.
     character. But this is also plain from other portions of the              Thus Antichrist in its final consummation is pictured to
     text. `In the first place, let me call your attention to the          us everywhere in the Word of God. In Daniel 725 we read
     fact that this beast has names of blasphemy inscribed upon            of him: <`And he shall speak words against the  Most High,
     his seven heads, that he received a mouth speaking great              and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think
     things and blasphemies, and that he actually opens his mouth          to change the times and the law; and they shall be given
     to blaspheme the name of God and of His tabernacle, namely,           unto his hand until a time and times and a half a time." And
     those that dwell in heaven. To blaspheme the name of God              in Daniel 8 23-25  : "And in the latter time of their kingdom,
     is to deny His name, His sovereignty, His power, and all              when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce
     His virtues. Nebuchadnezzar was blaspheming when he said              countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand
     in the pride of his heart that he himself was the author of           up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own
     mighty Babylon. And so ihis kingdom -and its head will                power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper
     blaspheme the name of the Most High. It will deny that God            to do his pleasure ; he shall destroy the mighty ones and the
     and His Christ have anything to do with that world-kingdom,           holy people. And through his policy he shall cause craft to
     and it will maintain that all that is in the world is the             prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his
     result of the poiver  of man and the manifestation of his glory.      heart, and by peace he shall destroy many ; he shall also
     In a word, it will try to expel the very name and authority           stand up against the Prince of princes ; but he shall be broken
     of the Almighty from His own works. And the same it will              without hand." Or, still stronger, in Daniel 11:36  we read :
     do with the saints that have already gone into glory. It              `*And the king shall do according to his will ; and he shall
     will deny that there is such a thing as glory in the hereafter.       exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and
     It will refuse to speak of it, and it will not tolerate to have it    shall speak marvellous  things against the God'of  gods=; and
     mentioned. It will banish. their very remembrance. All that           he shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished, for that
     is- connected with God and His name and His worship it
                                F                                          which is deter-mined shall be done." Or, to quote no .more,
     will not tolerate.                                                    turn to the New Testament and read what Paul says in

        Secondly, I would call your attention to the, fact that            II Thessalonians 2 :3-4 : "Let no man deceive you by any
     this power is its own god. They worship the beast : "And all          means: for that day shall not come, except there come a
     that dwell on the' earth shall worship him." That is, again,          falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son
     in general all the inhabitants of the earth shall at that time        of perdition: Who opposeth and exalteth  himself above all
     worship the existing state of things, and centrally also the          that is called God, or that is worshipped ; so that he as God
     government that is at the head. They will put all their trust         sitteth in the temple of God, shewing  himself that he is God."
     in the antichristian beast. They will expect the very neces-          And again, in vs. 9 of the same chapter: "Even him, whose
'    sities of life from him. -They will turn to him in trouble.           coming is after the working of Satan with all power and
     They shall worship and admire him and give divine honor               signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of un-
     and praise to him in gratitude of heart. They shall worship           righteousness in them that perish." Surely, there is no
     the beast and its image, and through it all they shall worship        doubt `about the fact that all these passages wonderfully.
     the dragon. Must I prove that this is the realization of all          harmonize with all that we learned about the beast that
     that has` been pictured to us in the Scriptures concerning            cometh  up out of the sea, and that this beast is the anti-


152                                         T H E   STANDAR,D   B E A R E R


Christian power in its final and full consummation, and that        and agreement, in which all admire and worship the beast.
`.it will consist of a wicked and universal world-power, with And again, the war this government or dominion will wage
a central government, doing wonderful things, but rising            is not against any world kingdom, but against the saints of

against the Most High and against Christ and His people.            the Most High that refuse to worship the beast. And such

       Finally, we probably may ask for the historical realiza-     a power does not yet exist.

tion of this passage.     Let me say, in the first place, that          In the third place, let me also warn you that the time is

according to all Scripture that power as such is in the world       at hand. We know not how soon, but soon it will be. All

already, and has been in the world all through this dispensa-       the signs of the times point to such a tremendous power,

tion, as the power of Antichrist. The mystery of iniquity is        such a league of the nations that has control over all things,

already working, Paul warns. And John, writing to the               to such a unity of all religion, in which man is exalted and

Christians of his time, says : "Everyone that confesseth not        the Christ of the Scriptures is blasphemed and His blood

that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this      trampled under foot. And. therefore I would say : the time

is the spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it          is at hand ! Watch therefore ! Let no one beguile you ; but

cometh, and now is already in the world," I John 4:3. And           watch !

so, as I have also explained before, I take the period in-              Finally, if you ask why this complete picture of the Anti-

dicated in the text. Time is given to the power represented         christ is .given  us in Scripture, my answer is : in order that

in the beast of forty and two months. In this period of his         we might clearly recognize it when it is revealed. And

making or continuing his power I include all that has. gone         what then must we do when we- see it is come ? Must we

before, all the attempts that have been made to establish           oppose it, must we fight it with the sword ? That, of course,

this world-power in opposition to Christ and His kingdom            is completely impossible. It will come: It must come. And

in _ the entire period of the new dispensation. It may very         to oppose its-coming is entirely vain. Its coming is irresistible.-

wells  be that this forty and two months, of which we read          And the battle is not one of the sword. But as the text has

more than once, now in the form of twelve hundred sixty             it, he that is for captivity, into captivity he goeth ; and if any

days, now in the form of three and a half years, or times,          man shall kill with the sword, with the sword he must be

now in the form of forty and two months, will in the future         killed. No, we cannot oppose the power of Antichrist by
also have another meaning which we cannot now determine.            main force. When that world-power cometh and reigns

But: certain it is that it first of all points to this entire       supreme, we shall be submissive to the last, as far as God

dispensation. For in this entire dispensation the power of          and our conscience permits. But here is the patience and the

iniquity and the spirit of Antichrist is already in the world.      faith of the saints, that in all these times they remain faithful,

In this entire period the two witnesses give their prophecy.        and refuse to deny the Christ. They wait for the day of His

In this entire period the church is in the wilderness of            coming.    May God give us grace to be found faithful at all

her separation.      In this entire period the beast that           times, and watching and praying, so that no one may take
rises up out of the abyss and that culminates in this beast         our crown.

that is pictured to us in the present chapter is present. And                                                                        H.H.

therefore, let no man beguile you also in this respect. He is

in the world already. He works in the world. He has mad,e

many bold attempts already to reach his culmination. And                                           IN MEMORIAM
his final manifestation will be but the consummation of a
                                                                        The Board  of the  Hope  Protestant  Reformed Christian  School, in
long process of development.                                        the name  of the  School Society membership,  expresses  its heartfeIt
       But on the other hand, let me also warn you not to make      sympathy  to the  family of
the mistake of finding him already in his full manifestation                                    ALICE  -ITSMA
and power. Never yet has there been a power as is pictured
                                                                    whose  earthly  pilgrimage ended December  21, 1959.
here. Never yet was there a universal world-power that
had free sway over every nation and people and tribe and                May tlley  find  peace and  comfort in the words  of Jesus  when
tongue. Never yet was there a nation whom all the peoples           He said, "Verily, verily,  I say unto  you, He that believeth on me
                                                                    ha&  everlasting  life." John  6:47.
worshipped, never was there a kingdom or dominion that                                                        Ted  Engelsma,  President
had power over all the forces and resources of creation, so                                                   John  Kalsbeek,  Secretary

that no one could even ,buy  or sell in any part of the world

except by the grace of this antichristian power. And this also

applies to the present. Let no one beguile you. This anti-

Christian power is not yet in its full reality. No single nation               Whate'er the mighty Lord decrees,
represents it. The world-power will not be realized by                         Shall stand forever sure,
sword or cannon, so that there would be a tyrannical govern-                   The settled purpose of his heart
ment lording it over a groaning lot of subjects. But it will              - `To'ages  shall endure.
be a kingdom or government established by common consent                                                                - ANONYMOUS


                                           T H E   .STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                      153


                                                                   amount, -of  tension between them, especially after Joseph had
11 A CLOUD  OF WITNESSES /( reported to him concerning the evil way in which the other
                                                                   sons were living. It was perhaps for that reason that he

                                                                   did not send Joseph along with the others when they left to

            Joseph Sold By His Brothers                            graze the flocks in the fields-of Shechem. He did not realize,
                                                                   however, how strong this hatred had become. Neither should
             Then there passed by Uidianites  Ytzerchantmm:        we consider this strange. In all likelihood the ten brothers
           and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit,      did not realize it themselves. We can not believe that there
           and sold.  Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty
           fieces of silver; and they brought Joseph hto           was a premeditated determination to slay Joseph on the part
           Egypt.                                                  of any of his ten brothers:In  fact each in his heart maintained
                      GENESIS 37 128.
                                                                   a principle of love for him.    It was just that in their com-
    The relationship between the various members of Jacob's        munions together the brothers would not admit to this. Each
family had fallen into a very evil way: In a sense it was          sought to outdo the other in condemning their favored
maybe Jacob's own fault. He had shown definite favoritism          brother.
to Joseph, the son of his beloved Rachel, and in this way had         It was some time after the ten oldest brothers had left
given his other sons occasion to be filled. with envy and          for Shechem with the flocks that Jacob became concerned
jealousy toward their younger brother. But in an even greater      about them. They were gone somewhat longer than had .been
sense it was the responsibility of these older brothers. We        expected, and he began to wonder if all was well. With
would not believe that they were as yet unregenerate men,          hardly's  moment of hesitation he decided to send Joseph after
but it was undoubtedly true that even though they were             them to find how well they fared. He knew that the others
regenerated they allowed themselves to fall very deeply into       did not appreciate Joseph very much and did not care to have
the ways of carnality. The trouble started already when they       him with them in the field ; but there was little reason to
first came into Canaan from Haran.  The children of Jacob          consider it very serious. Moreover, Joseph was now about
began to associate themselves much too closely with the            seventeen years of age and quite capable of caring for him-
Canaanitish inhabitants of the land and consequently began         self at least on a relatively short journey such as this. Calling
to adopt their habits and ways of life. Thus when the time         Joseph to him he said, "DO not thy brethren feed the flock
came that Jacob began to show definite favoritism toward           in Shechem ? Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with
their younger brother, they were too deeply entrenched in          thy brethren, and well with the flocks ; and bring me word
the ways of the world to evaluate the situation anymore from       again."     After the manner of a young man, Joseph was
the point of view of faith.     They would not be kind and         eager to comply.      He welcomed the adventure which the
understanding with their father's weakness, but they allowed       journey promised and appreciated the responsibility which
themselves to become consumed with jealousy and finally            was entrusted to him. With a light and willing heart he set
hatred. The home life of Jacob's family was torn asunder           out upon his way.
by the resulting tensions.                                            Arriving at Shechem, Joseph was for a time confused. He

    As time went on the situation became ever more acute.          searched throughout the territory, but his brothers were no-

Sin has its way, once it has gained entrance, of building up       where to be found. Soon, however, this ,problem  also resolved

until it rages almost completely free from all control. It is      itself for he met a man who had been with his brothers

exactly what happened in Jacob's family. At first it was           shortly before they left that district. Upon request from

nothing'more than a case of petty jealousy, the brothers com-      Joseph, he told him that his brothers had left Shechem to

plained and chided about the favoritism which Joseph re-           graze the flocks at Dothan.     Immediately Joseph set out to

ceived. Gradually, however, this bitterness and resentment         follow them there.

grew to the point where they could no longer speak a decent           From a great distance the brothers saw Joseph approach-

word either to .or about their younger brother. As the ten         ing. It was not difficult to identify him becausq  of the long

men worked together in the field, no jest was received with        robe which he wore, so different from the clothing ordinarily

more general favor among them than one which reflected             worn in the field. No sooner was Joseph recognized than the
unfavorably upon Joseph.       No matter what Joseph did or        jesting began. Each tried to outdo the other in sarcastic

said was picked up by them to be related among them over           slurs about him. It was a common game among them. There

and over again with bitter sarcasm and irony. Joseph's ele-        was no limit ; neither honesty nor integrity restrained them ;

gant coat and dreams.were of course the finest grist for their     .any remark was received which reflected badly upon Joseph.

.mills.  It came to the point that it was absolutely impossible    "Behold, this dreamer cometh."  Always they came back to

for Joseph to do anything without it being interpreted by          .those  dreams again ; they bothered them .more  than anything

them in the worst possible terms.                                  else. Deep within themselves they were afraid that they were

    Jacob it seems was not aware of the degree of animosity        dreams of revelation from God which was exactly what they
which had. developed between his ten oldest sons and his           didn't want them to be. Hours had been spent together by
youngest. He must have realized that there was a certain           them ridiculing those dreams and trying, to give reasons


   154                                        T I-1 I:    S -I- A N D A li D    B E :1 1< E I<


   why they could never be fulfilled. As they saw him ap-              But-now  there seemed no turning back, for should they re-

   proaching now, all of this old animosity boiled up anew.            lease Joseph their father would learn what had happened

   Suddenly one of them spoke up, hardly realizing what he             and that they couldn't allow. Moreover, each one had to
   said, "Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him        struggle with his conscience alone, for pride would not let

   into some pit, and we will say, Some. evil beast hath devoured      them reveal to each other that they had any qualms at all.
   him; and we shall see what will become of his dreams,"              First a few faint attempts to joke about the matter and pass
   With a stunned silence the thought struck home. Each felt           it off lightly, and then over them falls the heavy stillness of
   deep in his heart what a terrible and repulsive idea it was ;       men suffering under the voice of their own consciences;
   but none dared to speak up against it lest he should dis-           Silently brooding, there is nothing to be .said to each other.
   please. the others. They had always agreed on the desirabil-        Reuben separates himself and steals away to look for an

   ity of bringing those dreams to nought; and for that it             opportunity to approach Joseph's pit without being seen by
   seemed this plan would be effective. With feigned enthusi-          the rest. The others just sit, together but in their guilt so
                                                                                                  r
   asm each added his agreement. Caught up in a plot of in-            very much alone.
  trigue, they consented to do unitedly what each individually             Almost in contrast was the experience of Joseph in the
  neither dared nor cared to do. Ten men. of God had given             pit. From an external point of view his suffering was much
   themselves over to an evil way of life, and there was left          more evident. On his face the lines of pain were visible,
  nothing to restrain them from doing that which each knew             tears streamed from his eyes, moans of anguish came from
   within him was a terrible sin.                                      his lips. Joseph was forsaken of his brothers, and he felt it.

       Finally Reuben, burdened by the sinfulness of that which        Nevertheless, he had something which the'  others did not.
  they planned, could contain himself no longer. "Let us not           He could still pray to God in his misery and know that God
  kill him. Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is          would answer. The grace and mercy of God were there to
  in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him." Reuben could           comfort him. Though he was but one, he was not so much
  not bear to shed the blood of his younger brother. His in-           alone in his sorrow as .were  the ten. He felt the presence of
  tentions were already clear in his mind. If they would cast          God in his life while the others felt only his wrath.
  Joseph alive into a pit and leave him to die, he could return           Soon afterward as the children of Jacob sat in their
  later after the others were gone and release him. Still              camp eating bread, they looked and saw a company of Ishme-
  there is something `sad about these words of Reuben.                 elitish merchants making their way toward Egypt. At that
  How much better it would. have been if he had told his               sight the mind of Judah began to work in much the same way
  brothers outright that their intentions were evil and should         as Reuben's had. He began to devise a plan by which
  not be followed. Had he with boldness stood up for the right,        Joseph could be saved alive without exposing himself to the
  he might well have dissuaded them completely. But rather             brothers as one who had gone soft on Joseph. "What profit
  he made it sound as if essentially he was in agreement with          is it we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?' he said.
  the expressed intentions except that he did not want to              "Come, and let us sell him to'the Ishmeelites, and let not
  actually shed their brother's blood. The effect was to actu-         our hand be upon him ; for he is our brother and our flesh."
  ally encourage them in what they were doing.                         To this they readily consented for all by that time had sorely
                                                                       repented within himself for what they had done. Although
       Tremendously hard must have been the scene which took           it was in itself evil enough that they should sell their brother
  place when Joseph finally-approached his brothers. The lad           for a slave, it did seem to them the better of two evils. Eagerly
  came to them eagerly, happy to have found them after many            they hastened to the pit and drew Joseph from it. Thinking
  days of searching.    Now that he had arrived he was over-           at least for a moment that now they would be free from his
  flowing with questions concerning their welfare. To his              blood, they took from the hands of. the Ishmeelites twenty
  happy greeting there came back only a sullen silence. They           pieces of silver exchanging for it their brother to be carried
  had not the heart even to -express anger as they stood there         as a slave into Egypt.
  committed to a plot which none in himself really wanted to              All this time Reuben was away from the others. He was
  perform. There was just rough hands grabbing-him, tearing            waiting for them to leave the vicinity of the pit so that he
  off his coat, carrying him, and finally casting him down into       could return to release Joseph. When finally he returned to
  the deep pit of a dried-up cistern. The feeling of Joseph we        the pit, it was too late, Joseph was already gone. Rending
  can hardly picture, the amazement, the fear, the tears and          his clothes, he returned to the others crying out, "The child
  pleading, and finally the lonesomeness as he lay in the solitude    is-not ; and I whither shall I go ?" Overwhelmed with strong
  of the dark pit, cast there by his own brothers. Terrible was       feelings, he no longer cared- to keep his intentions from the
  the end to which the tensions in Jacob's family had finally         brothers. He told them that he had had no desire to slay
c o m e .                                                             Joseph but only to deliver him. Soon it came out from all.

      They were ten troubled men who left the mouth of that           They had all felt much the same, but they had proceeded
  pit that day. Every moment drove deeper into their hearts           with the plan for the sake of appearance before the others.
  the consciousness of what a terrible thing they had done.
                                                                                             (Continueci  on page 163)


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   155


                                                                       his vtzotheq- answered  a.nd  said, Not (so); fovhe  shall be called
 t           F R O M   HOLY~WRIT                                  II John, And they said unto her, there is none of thy. kindred
ii                                                                     that ,is called by this name. And they made signs to his
                                                                       @her,  how he would have him  called. And he asked for a

                  Exposition  of Luke 1:57-66                          writing table, and wrote, sa,ying:  His name is John. And
                                                                       they  ma(meled  all. And his mouth  was opened ivxvzedia.tely,

      We have just recently celebrated Christmas day..  In it          ano!  his tongue loosed, and he spake and praised God. And
we commemorated the birth of births. It was the birth of the           fear came 0% all that dwelt rozhnd about them: and all these
Son of God from the virgin Mary. Of him we confess, be-                sayings were noised a.broad throughout the hill country of
lieving the testimony of God concerning His Son, "this is.             Jzr.dea.  And all they tlzat heard them laid them up in their
the true God and eternal life," I John 5 :2Ob.  He is Emman-           hea:rts,  saying, What manner of child shll  this be! And klze
uel, God-with-us ! And nothing really has any meaning for              hand of the Lord wm with  him." Verses 57-66.

us in the Scriptures that does not directly or indirectly                  From the very nature of the abundance of material in
preach this Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.                           this little passage, it will not be possible for us, within the

                                                                       alloted  space given us in The Standard Bearer,  to reflect on
      However, this does not mean that the birth of John,
                                                                       all the details in this passage. We will rest content with
John the Baptist, does not have special mea&g  for us. This
                                                                       simply pointing out, what seems to us, to be some of the
birth has meaning and significance for us exactly in relation-
                                                                       more salient points in the text.
ship to and subservient to the birth and coming of Jesus
Christ in the flesh. Was this birth of John and his appear-                I believe that it may safely be said that this passage
ance upon the scene of the history of salvation not so im-             teaches us that we are here dealing with the birth of a
portant that Isaiah some few centuries earlier wrote of him,           zeronder-child.  His birth is a sign and miracle of God!

"The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness; prepare ye                In the first place, we believe, this is. evident from the
the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway             vmme  that is given this child. It should be noticed that
for our God"? (Is. 40 :3.) And did not the last of the                 Gabriel, announcing the birth of John to Zacharias in the
prophets, in the Old Testament Canon, speak of the coming              temple, has explicitly stated : "And thou shalt call his name
of John, "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he will                John," Luke 1:13b.  Two things stand out here. (1) That
prepare the way before me : and the Lord, whom ye seek shall           the meaning of this particular name, should be noticed. Not
suddenly              his temple, even the messenger of the cov-
              come to                                                  every parent in Israel, who gave this name to his son, would
enant, whom ye delight in: behold,. he shall come saith the            not do so in the full consciousness of its implication. But in
Lord of hosts" (Mal. 3 :l, Matt. 11 :lO).                              this instance such should indeed prove to be the case ! For

      And was this birth not so important, and so wonderful an         the meaning of the name John is "Jehovah is gracious" ! The

event in the "glad-tidings" of salvation, that it was accorded         covenant God remembers his promise made to Abraham,

a special place in the record of Luke, who writes concerning           Isaac and Jacob of old. Thus God speaks through the

the things which are most certainly believed amongst us ?              prophet Malachi : "For I am Jehovah, I change not: there-

Did not the Lord` suddenly come to his temple `in the days of          fore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed," Mal. 3 :6. And

Herod,  king of Judah, and appear to the aged Zacharias, as            this covenant faithfulness is expressed in this `name. It is

he stands ministering at the altar of incense? And is this             really the same message, be it dated later in the history of

birth of John not foretold, and how he shall be filled with            salvation, as was proclaimed by God to Moses at the burning
the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb, and that he shall               bush! (Ex. 3 :l-14.) (2) That the angel Gabriel tells
be "great before the Lord"?                                            Zacharias explicitly    C`tl~ozt  shalt call his name John" !

                                                                       Zacharias is to give this name to this son, in the full conscious-
      Small wonder that the event of John's birth is recorded
                                                                       ness of its implication in the light of all that had been told
to us, and how the announcement of his birth was such that
                                                                       him concerning this son. It must be a confession  of faith!
it was noised abroad in the land of David, in all the hill-
                                                                       Zacharias and his son are thus set for signs in Israel. He
country of Judea!  And that this fact of the impression that
                                                                       must virtually say with Isaiah, "Behold,-1  and the children
it made upon the remnant according to election, is given us
                                                                       which thou hast given me, are set for signs in Israel." Did
in the Gospel of Luke.
                                                                       not Isaiah name his one son "Maher-shalal-hashbaz",  mean-
      The sacred record is worthy of being'repeated. It reads          ing : `!in making speed to the spoil he hasteneth  to the prey,
as follows : "Now Ehibetla's  full time came that she should           referring, of course, to the speedy overthrow of .Resin,  king
be delizle+ed;  a*nd  &e bmught  forth a son. And her neighbors        of Damascus, and Pekah, king of Israel, as they are con-
and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed  great mercy             federate against David's house? ! And did Isaiah not con-
,upon her; and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass,            sciously name the other son, "Shear-jashub",  meaning to ex-
         on the eighth day they ca.me to circuvmize  the child; and
that                                                                   press the gospel message:        a rcf+tnant  shall return! A
they called him  Zachayias  after the name  of 1%~  father. And        remnant. according to election will return out of Babylon !

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

 And David's house shall stand. Thus also Zacharias must            looked for the promised mercies of God, in a child which

 give this son the name "John," confessing in faith, `fThe          was to be born unto them!

 Lord is gracious" ! He is indeed a wonder-child, ,expressing             It was also manifested mercy to Zacharias. He had been
 that God will work in him, as .the  "voice in. the wilderness,"    smitten with dumbness. But he had been told that it was
 great works of mercy and grace.                                    only to be for a season. He looked for the time that he

        In the second place, the very manner of John's birth        might speak in faith. One thing upon which both Elizabeth
 indicates that he is a wonder-chiid. Was this birth not after      and Zacharias agreed was that the child must be named
 the very pattern of the ~birth'  of Isaac ? Was John not born      John! The Lord is gracious. This child would be great be-
 from a woman, whom time had proven to be a barren                  fore the Lord. More than a prophet. And when the women
 woman! And was she not known among her kinfolks  and               beckon to the father of John what his name shall be, he
 acquaintances as such, even as far away as in Nazareth ? Yes,      writes and says : `"His name is John".

 Elizabeth's barrenness was a rather established fact! It                 Zacharias had learned much during the past few months.
 certainly was such in the mind of both Zacharias and Eliza-        The one outstanding thing -that he had learned was : "For
 beth. Besides, was she not advanced in age ? Was not all           nothing shall be impossible with God." The text does not
 hope of having children a matter of the past? Did not God          say so explicitly. But the connection indicates as much.
 have to perform a miracle in this case of Elizabeth and            Zacharias must have related at this occasion what had be-
 Zacharias ? A child of the promise, brought forth from the         fallen him in the temple.      He must have' explained in his
 dead. Is that not the wonder of grace portrayed in his very        "glorifying God" that God is true and every man a liar.
 birth?! Does not God raise the dead to life, and call the          That the Lord had just reasons to smite him with dumbness
 things that are not as if they were? Romans 4:17.                  because of his unbelief. And he must have humbly confessed

                                                                    to God, and related here before the neighbors and friends
    Another important aspect indicated in the text is that
                                                                    the things which God had foretold concerning this child. That
the birth of John is viewed by the neighbors and cousins as
                                                                    he was to be a Nazarite, that no razor would come upon his
being the Lord's g?-eat  ?aezercy  upon Elizabeth.
                                                                    head, and that he would not drink strong drink !
    Let us try to understand the text just a bit.
                                                                          Small wonder that great fear fell upon all who heard
    The text does not .say that the neighbors simply rejoiced       these things.    And it is to be understood that among the
with Elizabeth because she had given birth to a baby. They          remnant according to election in every hamlet and village,
were profound .people.  *They saw deeper. They saw in it the        in all the' regions of the hill country of Judea,  these things
*tzercy  .of  God, which he shows to whom he wills. Read the        of the birth of John, its announcement by Gabriel. in the
text, "And `her neighbors and her cousins heard how the             temple, the subsequent dumbness of Zacharias, the name
Lord had showed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced             which was given the child, Zacharias' miraculous and timely
with her." They rejoiced with Elizabeth in the great mercy          recovery of speech, and the praises uttered, were noised
shown to her! That's the text.                                      abroad. It went from mouth to mouth!

    The Lord in mercy had remembered Elizabeth, and he                    And it was the first stirring of life. The breaking of, the
`had delivered her from her reproach.      Oh, indeed, she was      dawn. Always here-to-fore the morning had come and it was
a righteous `woman before the Lord. She kept all the com-           still night. Israel came out of captivity but they were still in
mandments of God blamelessly; Yet, she felt that the Lord           the midst of and under the dominion of the enemies. But
had withheld children from her. And that was her affliction.        now the Lord was going to do great things.               Daniel's
But now the Lord had magnified his mercy to her. Had she            prophecies will be fulfilled. God's promises to Abraham shall
had children earlier in life this mercy of God would not have       be realized. And David's house shall stand `forever. There
stood out in such bold relief. Now it is manife;rtly  the mercy     is a hushed expectancy in the air!

of God. It is something which every one noticed. It is                    And Zacharias prophesies. He gives utterance to these
wwcy  of God.                                                       truths which live in the ,hearts  of the remnant according to

                                                                    election. They are the "violent" who will presently take the
    Mercy is a virtue of God. It is closely associated in
                                                                    kingdom by force. For the kingdom is powerfully brought
Scripture with the grace of God. Yet, they are not
                                                                    forward.
identical in. meaning. Grace refers more to the actual effica-

ciousness of God's power whereby He saves us. Mercy is the                And John will signal this in his preaching. They will
divine motive and impulse.     It is the great longing to save      come to Jordan. In the spirit and power of Elias  John.will
the object of lov.e, the yearning bowels of God's infinite and      speak. And the way of the Lord shall be prepared. A
rich compassion. God took pity upon Elizabeth. And, yet,            highway in the desert for our God!
here is a pity in which the neighbors and kinfolks  can share
                                                                          And the people said ; What manner of. child shall this be !
with her. This rejoicing with her_  was fellowship of saints.

It was the exercise of the same among pious women who                :                                                          G.L.


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAR.ER                                                      157


                                                                       this knowledge in His fear, and on the other hand there is
 )Ii             IN.HIS  F E A R                               ..-/I our calling, `if we are in the position to teach others, to
                                                                       teach these things in His fear. The freedom of speech which

                                                                       our government allows us must never be used in such a way
                      Freedom  of Speech                               that we no longer live in His fear. And that latter part of

                                                                       our calling is by far the more significant one. Those in a
                                  (51                                  position to teach and do not do so in his fear not only sin

        One of the things that will characterize the last days,        in teaching but become responsible for the sins of those whom
 according to the prophecy of Daniel is that "many shall run           they have taught to receive the lie and to practice evil. For,
 to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased," Daniel 12:4b.          as we quoted Jesus' words last time, it were better for such
                                                                       that a millstone had been hanged around their necks and that
        That the first part is true in the day in which we live `is
                                                                       they had been cast. into the depth of the sea. From that
 underscored by the deafening roar of the Boeing 707  or the           moment on their freedom to speak would be gone and -they
 Convair 880 jet plane. This is evident when we consider               would not have induced others to embrace the lie and to
 that the word "run" need not be taken in that  literal sense,         practice sin. This does not excuse those who receive such
 since the very word used by Daniel may.  also be translated
                                                                       teachings, for all must hear as well as speak in His fear.
 "to go to and fro." Today men speed from one corner of the

 earth to another. And more people are on the go today than               Let us then be very critical of what we hear in this land
_ at any time before in the history of the world. Formerly             of freedom of speech and r.emember  that the unbeliever, the
 many lived and died inside the county in which they were              tool of the antichrist, the false prophet and spokesmen of the
 born and never crossed the line. Countless. numbers of                devil are also afforded the right and freedom to speak as
 others never crossed the border of their native country. Still        they please. A word or two of warning is not at all out of
 greater was the number of those who never left their con-             place. Because knowledge is increasing and unbelieving men
 tinent. But today world travel is common-place. Daniel's              are free to spread their interpretation of facts that have been
 words are being realized before our very eyes.                        discovered and to present their theories, we and our children

        And so is. that other half of the statement quoted above       are constantly being bombarded by the servants of the anti-
 of Daniel. Today knowledge is increased and that on                   christ and by the -spokesmen of the father of lies with
                                                                 SO
 many planes and in so many areas of our complex life. ~To-            propaganda for the cause of the kingdom of darkness. We
 day the man in the street knows so much more about a                  must ever be alert to the fact that the forces of darkness ask
 variety of things than was known by the learned of years              no quarter, that the devil never takes a vacation or gives up
 ago. It is not simply the scientist, the college professor, the       in the fight `and that his unwavering purpose in all his work
 man with several degrees behind his name that knows more              is to seek to destroy our faith, to undermine..our  trust in God
 than those of generations gone by ; but exactly because of            and to get us to perform things that will deny God His glory.

 the freedom of the press to publish men's findings and                   Let us understand, first of all then, that hearing all this
 knowledge far and wide, it is available to the masses. And            propaganda `of the unbelieving scientists in His fear `means
 you hear the uneducated or little-educated speaking of                that we do not seek to harmonize the Word of God with
 stratosphere, of radiation, of atoms, of supersonic speed, of         these statements of finding and theories of the ungodly. That
 carbon-14 and of electronics. Today you hear mere children            the world which does not love God and His Word and has
 talking intelligently of scientific matters that in ages gone         no respect for that Word will give the Scriptures a sub-
 by were known and discussed only by the few learned ones.             ordinate place and insist that Scripture must be so inter-
 You may today subscribe to magazines; you may purchase                preted that ,it does not deny man's "scientific" findings is to
 an encyclopedia; you may go to the library and page through           be understood. And let us remember that these very Scrip-
 textbooks on well- nigh every subject or even take them               tures in I Timothy' 6 :20 speak of the "oppositions of science
 home for careful perusal and study. Knowledge indeed is               falsely so called."    It is not all science that calls itself such.
 increased in the day in which we live. And because of our             It is not all knowedge  and wisdom that goes under the
 freedom of the press, ours is praised as the best informed            name of science, for the fear of the Lord is the beginning
 nation on. this globe. Our children have the best textbooks.          of wisdom. Therefore, as we said, it is to be expected that
 All the news is given us in our bulky, photograph-enriched            the world will raise its theories above the Word of God and
 newspapers.      Attractive, lucid magazines will interpret the       insist that we so interpret the Scriptures that they do not
 news for you ; and the ideas of a few individuals are not             oppose these ideas and philosophies of man. But that there
 only presented to the masses, but are embraced and received           are those in the sphere of the Church who not only embrace
 as the proper interpretation and way of thinking about .the           these ideas but even in their positions- as teachers of covenant
 problems of our day.                                                  youth will strive ,to inculcate them into their minds, surely

        And our calling ? Well, there are two sides to that            can never be permitted and must be condemned in no un-

  calling. There -is on the one hand our calling to receive all        certain terms !

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


       Yet that is exactly what is being done today. jJ Our chil-    and all the scientific findings of men will support the fact
dren are being told in school that we do not know how  long          that it simply is impossible. And a return to life after three

ago it was that Gdd created the heavens and the earth.               days of one who lost so much blood and had a spear thrust
Granted that we do not know to the year, tie surely can say          into His vital organs is something utterly impossible. `Well,
"approximately six thousand years ago." By saying we do              then shall we go to the Scriptures and reappraise our think-
not know, we leave the child ready for the error that it was         ing about these two important points of doctrine ? Shall we
millions or billions of years ago instead of thousands of years.     agree then with that revised version, that corrupted transla-
Indeed, some have no fear openly to advocate these periods           tion, which makes Isaiah 7 :14 declare that a young woman
either by making each day of creation week a billion years           shall conceive rather than that a virgin shall conceive? Why
or more; by speaking of two separate creations, one in the           the one and not the other? In fact "scientific" kno&ledge  of
beginning that left the universe in a chaotic state for billions     the way of the birth of the child and its requirements is far
of years, a void and waste place and another some billions           more definite than of the period of'time when these scientists
of years later; or by the clever though equally evil idea that       so-called claim that no rational being lived on the earth, and
although the days were each twenty-four hours, there were            in fact there was' even no life.

periods between these days that lasted for billions of years.           Let every teacher, professor and pare& who wants to

       We maintain that he who has respect for God, he who           change the stand of the Church through all the ages con-
stands before Him in reverence, he who approaches the                cerning this creation week in order to be in step with
matter in His fear cannot possibly take any of these stands          "science" ask himself why he does not do the same with the
and will never da`re to teach it to covenant youth. In His.          virgin birth atid  the resurrection of Christ. Aft& all the

fear we dare not do so -wickedly no matter whether it                word "tiirgin" can and may be translated also as "young
receives the approval of our Classes and Synods, our school          woman."     Let all those Who meddle with the truth of God
boards and school principals and is even taught by them or           creating all things in six days; limited by evening and morn-
not. In His fear we will always seek to interpret that which         ing to constitute twenty-four hours each give reason why

G6d leads ungodly men tot discover in the light of the Scrip-        they should not also say that the virgin birth is out of step

tures.    In His fear Scripture will be the authority before         with science and that we ought to rethink this "impossible"
which I place all the writings and speech of man.                    thing and not retain it any more in our thinking and teaching.

       Perhaps your argument is that Scripture does not, say            What have we gained by agreeing with "science so
anything specific about this matter and says that a thousand         called"? We are more reasonable in our approach to these

years are as one day with the Lord. Your argument is that            things ? Well,' then be reasonable also in the approach to
unlkss we find more time in the creation week than we for-           the Saviour's birth and resurrection. Nay, we have gained
merly did, we cannot explain carbon-14. You want to say              nothing and lost much, and stand in danger of losing all.

that God created all things, you want to confess Him as tht          We have lost our freedom to speak God's praises and in-

Creator but you also want to accept the words of those who           stead reveal ourselves as those who feel free to work with

do deny these things. You say we must give an answer to              the spokesmen of the father of lies to seek to undermine the

these findings of the scientists and have an explanation that        faith of God's people in an Almighty and All-wise God.

is reasonable, for God is a God of reason.                                                                                    J.A.H.

   Undersigned in no way claims to be a scientist or even

to have a "scientific" bent of mind. But by God's grace he

does know that the fear of the Lord is the beginning, of
wisdom and therefore is not only afraid of all this philosophy              0 Lord, thou art our home, to whom we fly
of man but understands it as folly and wishes to make it                    And so hast always been, from age to age ;

plain to you. And that folly of trying to solve all these things            Before the hills did intercept the eye
by "reappraising" the doctrines of the Church through all                   Or that the frame was up of earthly stage,
the ages concerning this creation of the world in six days                  One God thou wert, and art, and still shall be
of twenty-four hours each is apparent in this one inescap-
                                                                            The line of time, it doth not measure thee.
able principle: Then you must also deny the Virgin Birth of

Christ and His resurrection from the dead! And indeed, the                                                              - BACON
one error of changing the truth concerning the creation of

all things to harmonize with the philosophies of wicked, un-                In him is only good,
believing men will come to that and has already taken a
                                                                                In me is only ill,
monuinental  stride in that direction by questioning and even
denying the infallibility of the Scriptures. Of course! Every              My ill but draws his goodness forth,
godless scientist of` yesteryear and of today will tell you that                And me he loveth still.

no child can be conceived by a virgin. It has never happened                                                          - ANONYMOUS


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              159


                                                                      with'instructiqns to enforce the decrees. A synod in Rome,
         Contending Far The .Faith                                    March, iO74,  opened the war. It deposed the priests who
                                                                      had bought their dignity or benefices, prohibited all future

                                                                      sacerdotal (priestly) marriage, required married priests to
          The Church  and the Sacraments7                             dismiss their wives or cease to; read mass, and commanded

                                                                      the laity not to attend their services. The same decrees had

                                                                      been passed under Nicolas  II and Alexander II, but were
   VIEWS DGRING  THE THIRD PERIOD (750-1517 A.D.)
                                                                      not enforced. The forbidding of the laity to attend mass said

               T H E  SEV.EN  S A C R A M E N T S                     by a married priest, was a most dangei-ous,  despotic measure,

                                                                      which had no precedent in antiquity. In an encyclical of 1079
                         MARRIAGE                                     addressed to the whole realm of Italy and Germany, Gregory

                           (continued)                                used these violent words, "If there are presbyters, deacons,
                                                                      or sub-deacons who are guilty of the crime of fornication

    In our preceding article we quoted from the decrees and            (that is, living with women as their wives), we forbid them,
canons of the Romish Council of Trent which set forth the             in the name of God Almighty and by the authority of St.

Romish doctrine of the sacrament, of matrimony. But two               Peter, entrance into the churches, ,introitwz  eccleriae,  until
 Scriptural passages are quoted iti tGesc  decrees, Eph. 5 ~25, 32    they repent and rectify their conduct."
and Matt. 19 :6. The Lord willing; we' will have occasion to              These decrees caused a storm of opposition. Many
 return to these passages of Holy Writ. However, these                clergymen in Germany, as Lambert  of Hersfeld reports, de-
 decrees and canons also set forth the Romish doctrine of             nounced  Gregory as a madman and heretic: he had forgotten
celibacy, Rome's doctrine-of the abstinence from marriage in          the words of Christ,  Matt. 19 :ll, and of the Apostle, I Cor.
accordance with religious vows.  Rome, although professing,           7 :9; he wanted to compel men to live like angels, and, by
 on the one hand, to maintain the sanctity of the marriage            doing violence to the law of nature, he opened the door to
 state, even to, the &tent  of maintaining that the bond of           indiscriminate licentiousness.    They would rather give up

matrimony cannot be dissolved on account of adultery, has             their calling than their wives, and tauntingly asked him to

also issued a decree denying the right to marry to the clergy         look out for angels who might take their place. The bishops
and others who have solemnly professed chastity. Rome not             were placed in a most. embarrassing position. Some, like
only denies the right to marry to the clergy, etc., but that          Otto of Constance, sympathized with the married clergy ; and

church also issued this decree which resulted in the breaking         he went so far as to bid his clergy marry. Others, .like  St.

up of thousands of marriages and which decree was directly            Altma& of Passau, were enthusiasts for sacerdotal celibacy.

responsible for countless miseries and heartaches.                    Others, like Siegfrid of Mainz, took a double attitude. Arch-

    Some of the reasons which are advanced by Rome in                 bishop Anno  of Cologne agreed with the Hildebrandian prin-

support of its doctrine of celibacy are familiar. Rome con-           ciple, but deemed it impracticable or inopportune. When the

tends that a married clergy is connected with the world by            bishops lacked in zeal, Gregory stirred up the laity against

social ties, and concerned for the suppprt of the family ; and        the simoniacal  and concubinary priests. He exhorted a

unmarried cler,gy  is independent, has no home and aim but            certain Count Albert (October, 1074) to persist in enforcing        -
the church, and protects the pope like a standing army. An-           the papal orders, and commanded Duke Rudolch  of Swabia

other reason for this celibacy concerns the power of the con-         and Duke Bertolf of Carinthia, January, 1075, to prevent by

fessional, which is one of the pillars of the priesthood. Women       force, if necessary, the rebellius priests from officiating, no

are reluctant to intrust  their secrets to a priest who is a          matter what the bishops might say who had taken no step;  to

husband and father of a family.' However, Rome must cer-              -punish  the guilty. He thus openly encouraged rebellion of

tainly have difficulty to explain the example of Peter, who,          the laity against the clergy, contrary to his fundamental

it js claimed, was succeeded by all the popes, and who, ac-           principle of the absolute rule of the hierarchy. He acted on

cording to Scripture, was married. But, we now wish to                the maxim that the end sanctifies the means. Bishop, Theo-

quote at length from the History of the Christian Church,             doric  of Verdun, who at first sided in the main with Gregory,

Vol. V, pages 39-45, in which quotation the horrors of this           but was afterwards forced into the ranks of his opponents,

Romish decree are vividly set forth.      0                           openly reproached him for these-most extraordinary measures

    "Gregory completed, with increased energy and the                 as dangerous to the peace of the Church, to the safety of the

weight of official authority, the moral reform of the clergy          clerical ord`er,  and even to the Christian faith. Bishop Henry

as a means for securing the freedom and power of the Church.          of Spires denounced him as having destroyed the episcopal

He held synod after synod, which passed summary laws                  authority, and subjected the Church to the madness of the

against simony and Nicolaitism, and denounced all carnal              people. When the bishops, at the Diet of Worms,' deposed

connection of priests with women, however legitimate, as              him, January, 1076, one of the reasons assigned was his

sinful and shameful concubinage. Not contented with syn-              surrender of the Church to the laity.

odical legislation, he sent letters and legates into all countries        But the princes who were opposed to Henry IV and de-


 160                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                          -F

 posed him at Tribur (1076), professed great zeal for the                In Spain, which was as much isolated from the Continent

 Roman church and moral. reform,. They were stigmatized              by the Pyrenees as England by the .sea, clerical celibacy was
 with the Milanese name of Patarini. Even Henry IV, though           never enforced before this period. The Saracenic invasion
 he tacitly protected the simoniacal and concul$nary  clergy         and subsequent struggles of the Christians were unfavorable
 and received their aid, never ventured openly to defend them ;      to discipline.' A canon of Compostella, afterwards bishop of
 and the anti-pope Clement III, whom he elected 1080, ex-            Mondonego, describes the contemporary ecclesiastics at the
 pressed with almost Hildebrandiati  severity his detestation        close of the eleventh  century as reckless and violent men,
 of clerical concubinage, although he threatened with excom-         ready for any crime, prompt to quarrel, and occasionally in-
 munication the prestitiptuous  laymen who refused to take           dulging in mutual slaughter. The lower priests were gener-
 the. sacrament from immoral priests. Bishop Benzo, fhe most         ally married ; but bishops and monks were forbidden by a
 bitter 6f imperialists, did not wish to be identified with the      council of Compostella, in 1056, all intercourse with women,
 Nicolaitan heretics.                                                except with mothers, au&s, and sisters wearing the monastic
        A contemporary writer, probably a priest of Treves, gives    habit. Gregory VII sent a legate, a certain Bishop Amandus,
 a frightful picture of the immediate results of this reform,        to Spain to introduce his reforms, 1077. A council at Girona,
 with which he sympathized in principle.         Slaves betrayed     1078, forbade th,e ordination of sons of priests and the hered-
 masters and masters betrayed slaves, friends informed against       itary transmission of ecclesiastical benefices. A council at
 friends, faith and truth were violated, the offices of religion     Burgos, 1080, commanded married priests to put away their
 were neglected, society was almost dissolved. The peccant           wives. But this order seems to have been a dead letter until
 priests were exposed to the scorn and contempt of the laity,        `the  thirteenth century, when the code of laws drawn up by
reduced to extreme poverty, or even mutilated by the popu-           Alfonso the Wise, known as "Las Siete Partidas,"  punished
 lace, tortured and driven into exile. Their wives, who had          sacerdotal marriage with deprivation of function and benefice,
 been legally married with ring and religious rites, were in-        and authorized the prelates to command the assistance of the
 sulted as harlots, and their children branded as bastards.          secular power in enforcing this punishment. "After this we
 Many of these unfortunate women died from hunger or                 hear little of regular marriage, which was replaced by pro-
 grief, or committed suicide in despair, and were buried in          miscuous concubinage or by permanent irregular unions."
 unconsecrated earth. Peasants burned the tithes on the field           In France the efforts o_f reform made by the predecessors
 lest they should fall into the hands of disobedient priests,        of Gregory had little effect. A Paris synod of 1074 declared
 trampled the host under foot, and baptized their own children.      Gregory's decrees unbearable and unreasonable. At a stormy
        In `England, St. Dunstan, archbishop of Canterbury,          synod at Poitiers, in 1078, his legate obtained the adoption of
 died 988, had anticipated the reforms of Hildebrand, but            a canon which tbreatened with excommunication all who
 only with temporary success. William the Conqueror made             should listen to mass by a priest whom they knew to. be
 no effort to enforce sacerdotal celibacy, except that the charge    guilty of simony or concubinage. But the bishops were un-
 of concubinage was freely used as a pretext for removing            able to carri out the canon without the aid of the secular
 Anglo-Saxon prelates to make room for Norman rivals.                arm. The Norman clergy in 1072 drove the archbishop of
 Lanfranc of Canterbury was a Hildebrandian, but could-not           Rouen from a council with a shower of stones. William the
 prevent a refclrmatory  council at Winchester in 1076 from          Conqueror came to his aid in 1080 at a synod of Lillebonne,
 allowing married priests to retain their wives, and it con-         which forbade ordained persons to keep women in their
 tented itself with the prohibition of future marriages. This        houses. But clerical marriages continued, the nuptials were
 prohibition was repeated at a council held  in London, 1102,        public, and male children succeeded to benefices by a rec-

 when Anselm occupied the see of Canterbury.            Married      ognized right of primogeniture. William the Conqueror, who
 priests were required to dismiss their wives, and their .chil-      assisted the hopeless reform in Normandy, prevented it in
 dren were forbidden to inherit their fathers' churches. A           his subject province of Britanny, where the clergy, as
 profession of chastity was to be exacted at ordination to the       described by ,Pascal  II, in the early part of the twelfth cen-
 subdiaconate and the higher orders. But no punishment was           tury, were- setting the canons at defiance and indulging in
prescribed for the violation of these canons. Anselm main-           enormities hateful to God and man. At last, the Gregorian
tained them vigorously before and after his exile. A new             enforcement of sacerdotal celibacy triumphed but at the
 council, called by King Henry at London, 1108, a year  before       fearful sacrifice of sacerdotal chastity.

Anselm's death, passed severe laws against sacerdotal mar-                                                                    H.V.
 riage under penalties of deposition, expulsion from the

 Church, loss of property, and infamy. The  temporal power

was pledged to enforce this legislation. But Eadmer, the                         He hath been my joy in woe,
biographer of Anselm, sorrowfully intimates that the result                      Cheered my .heart  when it was low;
was an increase of shocking crimes of priests with their                         And with warnings softly sad
relatives, and that few preserved that purity with which                         Calm'd  my heart when it was glad.
Anseln;?  had labored to adorn his clergy.                                                                         - ANONYMOUS


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                      161


               CHURCH  AND  SCHOOL  .-                              shall   s e e   _to   i t   t h a t   t h e r e   a r e   g o o d   s c h o o l   teachen,  zerho  n o t
                                                                    only ted&  the children reading, writing, languages and free
   When we speak of the school, we mean the existing                avts, but also ~instruct  them in godleiness  and in the Cate-
Christian Schools, or more specifically, our own, Prot. Ref.
                                                                    ChiSTILJ')
Schools. And when we speak of the church we have in mind
                                                                         That is strong language. The consistories must see to it
the local congregations with their consisto?ies,  as their
families are represented in the school. We could express it         that there are school tdachers.  They must appoint school
                                                                    teachers. And good school teachers at that. Moreover, these
this way, what is the relation between the church as institute
                                                                    teachers must instruct in the subjects commonly taught in
and the Christian School at any given.place?
                                                                    the elementary grades, but also "in godliness and in the
   This problem is more complex and more important today            Heidelberg Catechism." That would seem to place the school
than would appear on the surface.                                   under the direct authority .of the church and commit to the

                                                                    school the instruction that rightfully belongs to the church.
   As you can readily see, there are many questions in-
                                                                    In one word, that sounds very much like a church school.
volved. Such as, should our schools be church schools or

private schools ? Is it better to speak of parochial schools or           But in order to understand this article we must know
parental schools? Do the church and the school each have            something about the history. At the time of the Reformation,
a diffkrent cre'ed  ? Does the church have control of the           the schools were controlled by the government, but the
school, does it have supervision over the school, or does it        Catholics had charge of appointing the teachers from each
merely give the school its moral and financial support? Or          parish or district. The schools were Catholic public schools.
again, do they exist as independent units, or should there          Since the Reformed fathers objected to submitting their
be some cooperation between them ?                                  children to this Romish yoke, they made the rule that wher-

                                                                    ever .possible  good teachers should be appointed. By this
    A SEPARATE DOMAIN.                                              they ?neant  that consistories should see to it that teachers

                                                                    of Reformed persuasion were' placed in the schools. They
    Let me state the problem once more.
                                                                    sought to establish Reformed public schools. The Synod
    There can be no doubt about it but that there is a very         of Ddrdt even expressed that the Heid.  Catechism should be
intimate relationship between the church and school as far as       taught in the home, in the school, and in the church. Teachers
constituency is concerned. The members of the church send           should be sound in doctrine,. pious in their walk, ready and
their children to the school. The children of the church are        willing to sign the confessions. Ministers and elders should
instructed in the school. Members of the church serve on            regularly visit the schools and have supervision over them.
the school board, and are teachers of the school. In one            Thus for many years the schools were government controlled,
word, the church as organism expresses itself also in the           but under the supervision of the local church.
school. There is therefore also a close relationship between
                                                                          Ii7 the early part of the 19th century, the government of
the function and purpose of the church and school. The
church trains the child with the emphasis on doctrine with          the Netherlands introduced the idea of neutrality in thk
                                                                    schools, insisting that no specific doctrines might be taught
a view to confession of faith as a member of the church in
full communion, while the school instructs the child with           there. As a result, Christian Schools came into existence as
doctrine as a basis for all its training, but .with  a view to      independent schools, or private schools. And because of the
the place that the child shall talte  in secular life. The two      past position of the church, that the schools should be..under
are very closely-related, since, as we all maintain, God            her supervision, the Christian Schools actually became churdh
establishes His covenant with His people in the line of con-        schools or parochial schools. That was the idea carried over
tinued generations. The covenant of God is realized in the          by the early immigrants who established the Christian schools
church and is the basis for all real Christian instruction.         in our own country.

    But that makes the problem the more acute. Since the                  It was mainly through the influence of Dr. A. Kuyper
same members of the church make up the church as institute          that this situation was changed. As you know, Dr. Kuyper
and the organization of the Christian School, what is the           was a strong proponent for "sphere sovereignty" as applied
relation of the institute, or let us say, of the consistory of      to home, school, church, and state. He maintained, and a
the church  to the school ?                                         correctly so, that every. sphere has its own authority, and
                                                                    that authority must be limited to its own sphere. It is not
    As you may know, there is an article on this subject in         the calling of the state to prepare and control the instruction
the Church Order. I am' referring to article 21.                    of the child, since to the state God has entrusted only the

    What you may not know, and what may also surprise               sword power to maintain law and order. Nor is it the
you, is the fact that this article read quite differently in its    calling of the church to' provide for the secular education of
original form as it was adopted by the Synod of Dordt,              the child, since to the church are entrusted the keys of the
 1618-19. At that time the article read: "The consis~ories          kingdom, the preaching of the word, the sacraments and

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


Christian discipline over its-members. But to the parents is        solute Separation of church and school, so that the one is

entrusted the sole responsibility of the instruction of the         entirely independent from the other. They insist : (1) That

child, particularly in s'ecular. matters,  so that the school is    Also  others than those of Reformed persuasibn  can be mem-

nothing more than an extension of the home.                         bers of the school society and of the Board, can instruct and

                                                                    be.instructed  in the Christian  Schools. (2) That the Bible
       It is hardly necessary for us to prove this position from
                                                                    and the Three Forms of Unity are sufficient basis for the
the Scriptures. That was the command of God to Israel
                                                                    church, but they are not sufficient basis for a Christian
both in Deut. 4 :9, 10 and Deut. 6 :7, 20, that parents must
                                                                    School. The school should be based on Scripture, but should
diligently teach their children the word and commandments
                                                                    also not hesitgte  to base its instrtiction  on the findings of
of the Lord. Also in the New Testament, particularly in
                                                                    science and the philosophy as developed by the great thinkers
Eph. 6:4 and Col. 3 :20, 21 parents are instructed to bring
                                                                    of every age. The creeds of the school should also recognize
up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
                                                                    the science of pedagogy, etc. The church should give the
       According to this principle, Christian School societies      Christian Schools their moral and financial support, but as
were organized for the establishment and supervision of             for the rest should allow them to be free and independent.
.Christian  schools. In 1914, article 21 of the Church Order        Those who take this position appeal to the fact that our
was revised to read: "The con&stories shall see to sit that         schools are parental schools, or private schoo$  and they are
there are good C1wistia.n  Schools in which  the paTents  have      ready to accuse those who take another position as being
their child,reh  instructed according to the demands  of the        guilty of defending the old error of church schools. They
covenaGrtt.f    You will notice that in this revision the word      insist that it is not the calling of the school to help any
"school teachers" was changed to "schools." The consistories        particular denomination to grow and remain healthy, but
shall see to it that there are good Christian schools. Moreover,    rather to instruct the child with a view to the position he
the idea is introduced that the instruction of the children is      must hold in the midst of this world. The final outcome
the obligation of the parents, .not of the state or the church.     must be that the school will be Christian only in name.
And finally, nothing is said about instruction in piety and in
                                                                       Now I am sure that we agree with the first `group rather
the Heidelberg Catechism, but simply tihat  all the instruction
                                                                    than with the second. Rather than to maintain that church
shall be according to the demands of the covenant.
                                                                    and school are entirely independent from each other, we
       With that I think we' can all agree.  Church and s&o01       would hold that there is a mutual responsibility of the one
have a separate existence, are a separate domain, and the           to the other.
one should not intrude upon the authority or domain of the             The church certainly does have a responsibility to the
other.                                                              School. Even our Church Order states that the consistories

                                                                    must see to it that there are Christian schools. And not only

       A MUTUAL RESPONSIBILITY.                                     that, but also that there, are good Christian schools. This is

                                                                    also to be understood. Life is a unit. IWe  may not make the
       Yet this by no means dissolves our problem. In fact, in      false distinction between the spiritual and the secular, as if
many ways it only accentuates it. The question still remains,       the church is only interested in the life of its members in the
what responsibility does the church have to the school, and         church, and not in their daily walk. At the time of Confes-
what responsibility does the school have to the church? The         sion of Faith as well as at baptism. the members of the
answer to that question has actually divided the church into        church confess to believe and promise to maintain the doc-
two separate camps today.                                           trine as taught in this Christian church. The church is there-

       There are those who maintain that the church must            fore also interested in having its members live up to that
maintain supervision over the school and the school must            vow.

recognize the authority of the church. They argue : (1) That
                                                                       And, likewise, the school is responsible. to the church.
the church is the pillar and ground of truth and is therefore
                                                                    There may be no conflict between the instruction of the
the only conipetent  judge of Christian education. (2) The          church and the instruction of the school. The parents have
members of the church are also the parents in the school
                                                                    vowed that they will maintain the doctrine of the church,
society, pupils in the school, teachers or principals or board
                                                                    and they must certainly do that in the instruction of their
members. The vow that was made at baptism was made
                                                                    children. The teachers have vowed to maintain that doctrine,
before the church. And thererore  the church is responsible         and they ai-e  also duty bound to do so in their instruction.
to see to it -that  they all live up to that vow. (3) The church
                                                                    No compromise is possible in the sphere of education, no
supports the school and must therefore insist that this money       more than in any other sphere of life. Thergfore  we are
be used for the purpose for which it was given. How this
                                                                    certainly correct in insis_ting on having Protestant Reformed
should bk carried out is often left to local circumstances,         education for our children. And both church and school
but I shall return to that later.                                   must insist on that. That is their mutual responsibility  to
    On the other hand, there are those who defend an ab-            each other.


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                163


    A NECESSARY COOPERATION                                                            Office-Bearers Conference
                                                                                                                             ._.
                                                                                               .,
    From this follows, that to carry this out requires a nedes--              The Offi&:beare&  Conference will be held January 5 at

sary cooperation between the church and the school.                   the First Protestant Reformed Church. All present and

    As fai- ai the church is concerned, she must insist on            former office-bearers welcome. Topic: "The Duty of the
souild  covenant training for the children of her menibership.        Elders as Watchmen 0.; the Walls of Zion." Speaker: Prof.

                                                                      H. C. Hoeksema.
    She can do that in various ways, but always .through  the                                        \                T. 
parents. She may never impose her authority directly upon                                                               ENGELSMA,  Secvetaq*y
the school. Thus, for example, the church must emphasize

the necessity of `sound covenant training in the prayers and
sermons from the pulpit.      Consistories can also stress this                             A CLOUD OF WITNESSES '

matter on family visitation by a mqre person$  discussion                                   (Continued from page 154)
                                                                       I._
with the parents. If necessary, the consistories can encourage          . . ..It was a sad group of men that turned their faces toward
meetings where these matters are discussed, and where ef-             hOme  that evening. They saw no other alternative but to
forts are put forth to establish schools or improve existing          continue with their plan. Dipping Joseph's coat in the blood
schools. It may even be a good idea that members of the               of a goat, they then brought it to their father. "This have we
consistory are also members of the school board, or that a            found," they told him. "Know now whether it be thy son's
con&ittee  from the consistory pay a friendly visit to the            coat or no ?' ,Little  were they prepared for the greatness of
school at regular intervals. And, of course, the consistories         the sorrow which filled their father at this news. Clothed
must give the school. their complete moral and financial              in sackcloth and ashes he Mourned  day after day. Wretched
support.                                                              men, they tried to comfort him; but what comfort could they

   `As far as the school is conclrned,  she also ltiust  cooperate    give in their hypocrisy. They could talk to their father ; they
with tlie church in kvery way possible. The school board              could speak of a providential visitation of God, but theni-
                                                                      selves they knew it was their own sin. Many were the years
may  -noi  be `lax in supplying the school with teachers who
                                                                      of grief which they would have to experience before they
are sound in doctrine and upright in walk. Especially in our
                                                                      would know for `truth that what they had intended for evil
day the school board must insist that the teachers are not            God intended for good. Yet it would only be in that day
given to the evolutionistic theory of long periods of creation        that they w&1$  receive complete peace again.
or of. an old world. Those responsible for the instruction of                                                                                   B.W.
the covenant seed must hire only those teachers who believe

-implicitly in the infallibility of the Scriptures, who know and

love the .truth  of God's sovereign grace, and who adorn sound
                                                                                 Both death and life-obey thy holy lore,
doctrine with a godly walk. I need only mention  that in-                        And visit in their turns as they are sent;
struction in Bible history is good, but is not enough. All                       A thousand years with thee they are no more
the subjects that are taught must be taught according to the                     Than yesterday, which, ere it is, is spent;
truth of Scripture.                                                              @- as a watch by night that course doth keep,

    The closer the cooperation between the church and the                        And .goes and comes, unwares to them that sleep.
school the better it will be for our Christian homes. There,                                                                               - B A C O N

too, unity and harmony are maintained only by a basic unity                      Coliie  thou fount of every blessing,
between the church and the school.                                               Tune my heart to sing thy grace,

                                                                                 Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
    The closer the harmony between the church and the
                                                                                 Calls for songs of              praise.
school the better it will be for our churches. The future of                                              10udest 
                                                                                 Teach me some melodious sonnet,
the church depends upon a united front against the onslaughts                    Sung by flatiing  tongues-  above :
of error. The children `who are being instructed today are                       Praise the mount - oh fix me on it,
the parents of tomorrow.                                                         Mount of God's unchanging love.

    And, last but not least, the closer the unity between                                                                                  - C.H.S.

church and school the better it is for the school itself. A
                                                                                 Some token of thy favor show,
school founded upon the truth of Scripture cannot go wrong                       Some sign which all my foes may see;
in the instruction of the covenant seed. God commends His                        And fill with blank confusion know,
blessing there.                                                                  My comfort and my help in thee.

                                                             C.H.                                                                   - A N O N Y M O U S

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


                                                                     matter of this nature and that ultimately this decision proves
             .DECEN  CY and ORDER.                                   to be a wrong one. Would it not result-in endless and com-
                                                                II plicated difficulties in the congregation which would very
                                                                     likely become impossible to untangle after some time? Much
                  Questions  of Article  41                          of the consequent trouble could have been avoided if another

                                                                     ,course in the treatment of the matter had been possible.
             The Help and Jztdgment  of the Chsis                    Would it not have, been much better in such a circumstance

     The last time we were discussing the question of Article        if the Consistory could temporarily refrain from taking a
 41 of the Church Order: "Do you  need the judgwnt  and              definite stand in the matter and first go and seek the help
 the help of the Classis  fog  the proper governmmf  of yoW          and judgment  of the Classis  ? To be sure, eventually the
 cJzzr~c1~?  We stated then that we consider the position un-        Consistory would have,  to. decide the matter and resolve the
 tenable that holds that a Consistory must first take a definite     difficulty in the congregation but it could then do so with the
 stand with regard to a certain problem before the Classis  can      counsel and guidance of the broader gathering of the churches.
 give that Consistory its judgment or help in the matter. The        In this way error as well as much trouble might have been
 delegates to Classis  from a certain Consistory may not be          prevented and this is much to be preferred to the creation in
 instructed to answer this question affirmatively and then           a congregation of trouble that later has to be straightened
 proceed to present to the Classis a problem with which the          out after irreparable damage has been done.
 Consistory is currently confronted and which the latter has            For these reasons, therefore, the Classis  should not turn
 not resolved. That would be making the Classis  a "Que&on           away a Consistory that comes to it in good faith with a
 Box" and this is considered wrong. It has not been per-             request for help with regard to a particular difficulty. On
 mitted and in our history as churches it has occurred on            the other hand, however, the Classis must not be overly
 numerous occasions that the delegates of a Co`nsistqry were         hasty in offering assistance and advice with regard to every
 sent home with their problem unreso1ve.d  because the Classis       problem that is presented to it under the question of Article
 refused to treat the matter since the Consistory had not as         41. Our position is not `that a Consist&y  can raise any
 yet taken a definite stand.                                         question or problem and expect that the Classis  will stand
                                                                     ready with a solution. We do not advocate that Classis
     We said that we regard this position. as wrong. Our
                                                                     functions in the place of the Consistory. We are not seeking
 reasons for this were given in our last article as two-fold.
                                                                     some place where the Consistory can simply dump all its
Firstly, if this is maintained, the only way that a serious
                                                                     problems. We rather agree fully with the following remark
 problem of the Consistory would come to the attention of the
                                                                     taken from Rev. G. M. Ophoff's notes on "Church Right."
 Classis  is by the way of protest. No Consistory would bring
                                                                     He states :
 a problem to Classis  under Article 41 that it had already
                                                                        "As to the question itself, the judgment and help that a"
 solved.    This makes the asking of this question rather
                                                                     Consistory seeks of the Classis  should have a bearing on con-
 absurd. Secondly, a Consistory that is deadlocked on a vital
                                                                     crete cases, otherwise there will be no end to matters con-
 issue cannot bring its problem to the, Classis because it cannot
                                                                     cerning which such judgment and advice is sought. The
 first make a decision. Hence, where "help and judgment"
                                                                     following remark is in order. The Consistory should not
 are geeally  needed, it is denied when this position is main-
                                                                     get into the habit of leaning on the judgment of the Classis
 tained.
                                                                     but should learn to stand on its own feet. It should not form
     We have one more objection to this position. To present         the habit of going to Classis  with its matters of local interest
 it we will once more use a hypothetical case. There is a            but should train itself to deal with them independent of
 Consistory that is confronted with a rather serious problem         Classis.  It should learn to rely on its own judgment."
 that in many respects affects the entire congregation. All are         Therefore we feel that a. Consistory that asks help and
 waiting to hear what the .Consistory decides. Some are .in-         advice from the Classis with respect to a particular question
 clined  toward one side of the problem and others are leaning       or problem should be given that assistance only with the
 the other way. There are signs of division in the congrega-         following stipulations :
 tion. The problem is very serious and the consistory is not             (1) The Classis  must first determine that the question
 at all unanimous in regard to a solution although the major-        raised has to do with a concrete case. Classis  cannot enter
 ity in the Consistory could pass a resolution with respect to       into all kinds of academic issues however interesting or im-
 the matter. The whole Consistory, however, is agreed that           portant these may be. She must give help only in concrete
 the judgment of the Classis,  as an outside and neutral party,      situations where help is needed. Thus she must carefully
 would be desirable but this it cannot get unless it makes a         determine before entering the matter that the question raised
 decision first. And this the Consistory is a bit hesitant to do     rises out of an actual existing circumstance in the congrega-
 because of the situation in the congregation and the fact that      tion of the Consistory that presents the problem. Classis  must
 within the Consistory itself there is no unanimity of opinion.      be convinced that the Consistory has a real problem and,

 NOW suppose that the Consistory makes a decision in a               therefore, actually needs "help."


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                           165
.


( 2 )   - T h e   C lassis should be satisfied that the Consistory       problem to-the Classis. Where the Classis  does not assume
has done its very best to resolve the difficulty. This does not,         her obligation to "help altd  give j~~dg~~enti/'  where needed,
mean that the Consistory has `succeeded or even arrived at               Consistories may well begin to feel that it is useless to bring

a definite stand with regard to the problem but only that a              their difficulties in the open since they will only be told to

serious attempt has been made to arrive at a solution. If                go and solve their own problems anyway. This can only have

it becomes evident in the course of this investigation that              an ill-effect. It is far better that the Classis  gives a bit of

this has not been done, the Classis  should instruct the Con-            advice .and  help in a situation where it is really not needed

sistory to do so before seeking the judgment and help of                 than that situations in the churches that really demand as-

the Classis. If, however, Classis  is convinced that. the Con-           sistance go unaided. Hence, here too, the rule of Scripture

sistory has done its best and still has failed to arrive at a            may well apply: "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so
solution, she should .be  ready to give the assistance sought.           fulfill the law of Christ" (Gal. 6 :2).

There must be a reasonable certainty that the Consistory is

not shirking its duty. If the Consistory is doing its best but                                   Synodical Delegates                               . .
is having difficulty in the execution of its tasks, it is proper
                                                                            Following the questions of Article 41 there is added yet
that the Classis  render the desired and needed assistance.
                                                                         the following : "And, finally, at one but the last meeting and,
          (39 -Normally the president of the Classis  replies to the     if necessary, at the last meeting before the (particular)
question asked and then the Classis can either concur or                 Synod; delegates shall be chosen to attend said Synod.".
dissent in the judgment expressed. Another way is that a
                                                                            This rule is observed in our churches when in Classis
motion containing the requested advice is made from the
     .                                                                   East the Synodical delegates are chosen at the January
floor of the Classis and, after a proper discussion of the
                                                                         Classis and in Classis West at the March Classis.  In the
matter, is voted on. If it passes it becomes the answer of
                                                                         former case there is still another meeting of the Classis  prior
the Classis to the problem presented. There is, however, a
                                                                         to the Synod while in the West it is a matter of necessity
third alternative which is, in our opinion, to be preferred                                                                                                  .-
                                                                         that these delegates are chosen at the last meeting before
especially in problems that are rather involved and may even
                                                                         Synod since there are only two Classis  meetings held each
be somewhat explosive on the local scene. This is that the
                                                                         year.
Classis refrain from expressing a definite judgment in the
matter immediately and instead appoints a committee which                   Since this matter of Synodical delegates comes up again
it authorizes to meet with the Consistory involved in an                 in connection with Article 50 of the Church Order, we `may
attempt to help them resolve the difficulty. Such a committee            refrain from commenting on it now except to point out that
can study the problem much more thoroughly and can in-                   the above decision of the Church Order specifically states that
vestigate the situation involved so that the solution ultimately         the delegates are to be "chosen." They are to be elected .by
reached will be more effective for good upon the situation               ballot. They are not to be appointed by the president of the
than a decision made by the Classis on the spur of the                   Classis or selected by some system of rotation. Election by
moment and passed on to the Consistory. There is a more                  ballot is the proper method to be used in selecting delegates
personal touch to this method of rendering "help and judg-               to' synod. Delegates chosen in another way are not legally
ment', and in cases where the relationship in a congregation             se&ted.
                                                                                    .I.-,
is strained because of trouble, this personal touch can prove                                                                             G . V . d . B .

to be a healing salve..

          In conclusion, thereforerwe  state that as faras  the ques-                                  -                ._ .- ,
tion : "Do'yozt  need the judgment a,nd help of the Classis  for                                                                   :
the propeP  govwnwent  of yoztl-  c&~h?`,  is concerned, there                                                                          ., -.
is a two-fold duty- here. On the.part  of the Consistory, it

must always be.-:borne  in mind, that she is obliged to do her                               Blest be the Lord Who daily
utmost to solve her own problems and must use this question
                                                                                               Our heavy burden bears,
only as a last resort.' Where this is properly observed, the
Classis will not be unduly burdened with all sorts of ques-                                  The God of our salvation

tions. On the part of the Classis  it must be remembered that                                  Who for His people cares.
the motive of this question she asks of the delegates is that
                                                                                             Our God is near to help us,
the churches may exercise a mutual supervision and that,
therefore, when that supervision unveils a troublesome situa-                                  Our God is strong to save ;

tion in a particular. congregation, she should be ready to                                   The Lord alone is able
assume the obligation to help to her utmost. `If the Classis-is                                To ransom from the grave.
of this disposition in the matter, the consistory that is con-

fronted with a real problem will not loathe to present that                                                                             Psalm 68 :2


166                                         T.HE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R .


Ii                                                                  restrains the full development of the sin of the ungodly.
             ALL AROUND. US%                                 .-II Or, would Rev. Kuiper tell us perhaps that here we have to
                                                                    do with another mystery ?


`(The only  Theology the Bible Knotis."                             "Needed: A Philosophy of Christian IEducation."

                                                                       In the same issue of Torch and Trumpet referred to
       Under the above title the Rev. H. J. Kuiper presents a
                                                                    above, Walter A. De Jong seeks to answer the question:
well-written. article in the December, 1959, Torch and
                                                                    "Do We Really Need Christian Schools ?' Pointedly he dis-
Tru?@et.`"  Rev. Kuiper is reflecting on another article ap-
                                                                    closes the facts that while the Christian School movement is
pearing in this same issue of Torch and Trumpet written by
                                                                    still ,making  considerable progress, there is a growing dis-
Dr. `J. I. Packer, an English Calvinist. The latter asserts that
                                                                    interest in respect to Christian education. He deplores the
the only theology the Bible knows is the Reformed Faith.
                                                                    facts that many teachers are-  seeking employment in the
Kuiper not only agrees, but magnifies this concept in his
                                                                    Public School System, that the present Christian Schools .do
Timely Topics.
                                                                    not have their own text-books, and that apparently the
       We liked especially the emphasis Rev. Kuiper evinces in      present Christian School System has as yet no set philosophy
the following quote : ."It is the only theology which does full     of Christian Education.
justice to the most basic of all truths : that God is God -the
self-contained, self-sufficient, absolutely sovereign Gqd who          It is especially with a view to this last fact that he writes :

works all things after the counsel of his will ; who is supreme        "From the above it is sufficiently evident that we as sup-
over all, has the right to do in his world and with man as he       porters of Christian schools are not clear on what we mean
pleases ; whose `dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his       by a Christian education. It seems to me that if we want to
kingdom from generation to generation . . . whop doeth ac-          justify the tremendous expense of maintaining separate
cording to his will in the army of heaven, and among the            schools we ought to strive for a clearer understanding of
inhabitants of the earth ; and none can stay his hand, or say       their distinctive function. We cannot accomplish this unless'
unto him, What doest thou?' (Daniel 4:34,  35)." This, ac-          we are serious about wanting to formulate a philosophy .of
cording to Kuiper, is basically the only theology the Bible         Christian education. No school can formulate its. goals with-
knows.                                                              out a basic philosophy behind them. The Christian school is

       We liked this emphasis because it expresses succinctly       no exception in this matter.

our Protestant Reformed theological conception. To depart              "It has been said that we shall never arrive at a philos-
from this concept in the slightest detail, we are convinced,        ophy of Christian education. If this is true, we shall find it
demands the judgment that one is neither Reformed nor               difficult .to justify our schools on the basis of a Christian
Biblical.                                                           education per se. Unless we strive toward a formulation of a

       But we are not so pleased with what Rev. Kuiper further      philosophy of Christian education we shall always be at a
declares in his article when he says: "Reformed theology is         loss to defend the existence of our Christian schools beyond
the only theology which does, justice to the work of the Holy       that of practical expediency."

Spirit in the unsaved, in whom he checks the full develop-             Mr. De Jong notes further that he plans to give the
ment of their sin. Common grace is one of the unique                readers of Torch and Tmwzpet in future articles some in-
teachings of the Reformed faith."                                   dispensable basic tenets for Christian education. We will be

       This, the Rev. Kuiper cannot prove from Scripture, nor       looking for these articles, especially to see whether they will
can he prove it from the Reformed Creeds. We challenge              express views that can be acceptable as basic tenets for
him to produce one article of Reformed faith that shows             Christian education.

common grace to be one of its unique teachings. All we can             If my memory serves correctly the National Union of
discover in the Reformed Creeds, which expr.ess our Re-             Christian Schools published some years ago a rather large
formed faith, is the condemnation of common grace. Our              volume which intended to set forth a philosophy of Chris-
creeds know of only one common grace, the one embraced              tian education. It was concerning the philosophy set forth
by Arminianism. Perhaps Rev. Kuiper knows of creeds we              in this book that the teaching staff of a local Christian School '
have never ,perused.  If that be the case, we shall be happy        in the community where I was serving requested that I
to be instructed.                                                   criticize the philosophy for them. Pleased with the invitation

       Moreover, we would be especially delighted to have Rev.      I did not hesitate to accept, and I had pleasure of meeting
Kuiper show us the harmony between these two concepts:              twice with them.

namely, between the concept that God is God on the one                 Two things especially I recall that brought me no little
hand, who creates the wicked for the day of wrath, who              amazement. The first w.as the predominant tenet set forth in
counsels that sin shall develop until it reaches its acme in        the book which I severely criticized, and the second was the
the man of sin ; and the other concept, that that same God          abounding ignorance the staff evinced in respect to both the


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                           187


principles of Christian education and the application of these     Drwg  &iCe  Ikqestigation.

p r i n c i p l e s .                                                  First it was Quiz Programs, then it was Payola, now it's
    The book, as I recall, posited as a fundamental .principle     Drug Prices that Congress is investigating. A revealing
of Christian education that the child must be considered a         article appears on pp. 43, 44 of the December 21, 1959, U.S.
disintegrated image-bearer. Further, it is the duty of Chris-      News G World Report under the caption: Are Drug Prices
tian teachers to rebuild that disintegrated image-bearer. I        Too High ?
distinctly recall that I informed the teachers in no uncertain         First it was Sulfa, then it was Penicillin, then it was
terms that they had better get busy with the reformulation of      Cortesone. Now they tell me there `is a new Cortesone out,
a sound-Scriptural philosophy of Christian education, and          much `more potent than the older model. Drugs, drugs,
that they had better first be instructed themselves in the         drugs, we all need drugs. There is a drug for this and drug
application of principles before they attempt to apply them.       for that. Indeed, the pill factories are busy these days, not
One teacher showed me a book which contained almost                only in the preparation of already marketed drugs, but also
-throughout pictures of so-called pre-historic animals, dino-      in the invention of new ones.
saurs, et&,  and asked me how she could teach the children             According to the report of the investigation, we are paying
from that book. I told her that if I were she I would throw        dearly for these pills. Here is the story on one of the newest                  -
-the book out the window and never look at it again. I ad-         drugs used in the treatment of rheumatic disorders, includ-
vised her that if she had .no better text book she could much      ing arthritis, Meticortelone by name.
more profitably use the Holy Scriptures.                               "The Subcommittee's counsel and staff director said that
    Yes, indeed, Mr. De Jong is right. The great need for          Meticortelone could `be produced by its manufacturer, Scher-
Christian education today is a philosophy of Christian educa-      ing Corporation, of' Bloomfield, N. J., at a cost of just 1.6
tion. But let it be heeded, that that philosophy must not be       cents a tablet. Yet, he said, its cost to druggist is 17.9 cents
a philosophy of man.                                               a tablet and the maker's recommended retail price is 29.9

                                                                   cents a tablet.
For the Next Census.                                                   "Another Subcommittee staff member testified that the
    U.S. News & World Report of December 21, 1959, p. 6,           markup over manufacturing. costs is 1,118 per cent to drug-
reveals: "What The Census Taker Will Want To Know,"                gists and 1,883 per cent to patients who buy the pills on
when the 1960 census gets under way.                               prescription.

    "In the latter part of March, each household will receive          "The Senators were told that another smaller drug manu-
an advance census report by mail. This is a four-page form         facturer sells the same drug under a, different name for 2.7
to be filled out in advance of the census taker's call. It will    cents a pill."                              .:'.I_
ask, for each member of the household : name, address, sex,            The companies who make the. pills explain that they have
color or race, birth date, marital status, etc. Also' requested    to have what they ask for their products because they spend                          ,

is information on the size of the dwelling, number of bath-        huge sums in making these discoveries. Moreover, the cost
tubs and so on. In some big cities, homeowners will be asked       of labor is considerably higher in' this country than in others.
how much they think their homes are worth, and renters how         For example, "Druggists, it `was testified, must pay $170 for
much rent they pay.                                                1000 Deltra tablets (used for treatment of arthritis - M.S.)
    "On April 1, 1960, census takers will visit 55 million         whose ultimate cost to consumers is $283. At the same time,
households to collect the information.                             the Subcommittee was told, a Mexican -firm is able to
                                                                   prepare and sell 1,000 prednisone tablets. (the same as above
    "At every fourth house visited, the enumerators will leave
                                                                   - M.S.). for as little as $13.61.!'  .,.                    .`-
an additional form to be filled out and mailed. It' will ask,                                                            I._. '                              I
                                                                       It was also revealed that the same. drug .under  a different
among other things, the income of members of the household."
                                                                   label was sold in Britain "for the equivalent of $7.53 for a
    On the same page of the above mentioned magazine we            bottle of 100 tablets, as compared with a price of $17.90 in
are-  informed that Congress has been told that the average        this country."
self~employed  American reports only 75 cents of each dollar           It looks to me like an investigation is necessary alright.
he earns when making out his federal income tax return.            In spite of the need for pills, it hurts me to think that every
Further, that tax cheating by farmers, professional persons        one I swallow has been helping these transgressors of the
and business proprietors is costing the Government about 10        Sixth Commandment take more of my money .which  could
billion dollars a year.           _                                be put to much better use.                                              M.S.
    Perhaps the above, mentioned plan for taking the next
                                                                                                 -                       -7
census is a subtle detective maneuver to crack down on some

of the chiselers on income tax. At any rate, the maxim : "Al-                  0 God, our help in ages past,
waystell the truth and you don't have to remember what                               Our hope for years to come,                      '

you say," had better be studied by those who tell big lies                     Be Thou our guard while troubles last,

about April 15th of each year.                                                       And our eternal -home.


  _                                                                                                   -__
 16;; ;                                        TIE   S T A N D A R D   -BILCRER

 I,                                                                  ?I    words: ". . . and some pastors and teachers, for the perfect-
 11 .N.EWS FROii OUR CHURCHES 11 ing -of' the` saints," taken from the .llth and 12th verses of
       /..                                                                 E p h e s i a n s   4 .   .
                  "All the sainti       thee . . ."
 II _'                            salute               PHIL. 4:21 .- 11     _.'
                                                                            Did  yoztknow        .         .         .
                                             December 20, 1959
                                                                                   That the Rev, C. Ha&o was the speaker at the Dec. 11th
        Rev. G. Lubbers, our Missionary, declined the call ex-             meeting -of Hope P.T.A. ?.
 tended hiin.  by the church in- Edgerton, Minn. Rev. R.
I Vkidman  has received a call from Grand Haven. Rev. G.                    That Hudsonville's  Sunday School children gave their
 -fTanden'Berg  has declined the call from Hull.                           Christmas program Sunday evening, Dec. 2Q?

        The December Beacon Lights' Hymn Sing was held at                          That the ninth graders of Adams School, with the as-

 First Church, Dec. 13. Edw. Ophdff  led the singing of                    sistance of parents and teachers, served a fish supper to sev-

 selected Psalter numbers and Christmas Carols. The ardor                  eral hundreds of hungry patrons in the school's all purpose

 of the singing audience was snot  abated. when the offering               room, Dec. 11 ?

 was taken, as evidenced by the $79.00 contributed to the sup-                     That Hull's congregation scheduled a farewell program in
 port of Beacon  Lights.  Featured were a vocal duet by Mr.                honor of Rev. Heys and family on Dec. 17 ; and, that South
 and Mrs. C. Jonker, and a piano-organ duet'by Mary Pastoor                Holland planned .a welcome social for their new minister
 and Bonnie Bylsma, both being of the high quality expected                Dec. 28; and `that after Dec. 21 his new address will be :
 from'them.                                                                463 East 164th Place, South Holland ?
        The Hope School children rendered their annual Christ-
                                                                                   That Seminarian J. Kortering  has been very busy sup-
 mas program at First Church, Dec. 19. They presented a
                                                                           plying the- pulpits of ministers away on' Classical appoint-
 message in word and song based on the Heidelberg Cate-
                                                                           ments ?
 chism. The theme throughout was, "God's Way Out,." The

 program was dedicated to Miss Alice Reitsma, principal of                         That Hope's Choral Society scheduled their Christmas
 Hope School; who- wrote and arranged the contents of the                  Program for Dec. 27 ?
 presentation a-few years ago, and who led the school in its
                                                                                   The after recess program of the Doon's  Ladies' Society
 rendition at that time. Miss Reitsma who is also well
                                                                           was, a discussion on, "What is the Second Part of the
 known to us'as  the editor of the Church News Column in
                                                                           examination which we must perform before we partake of the
 Beacon Lights, is at this writing critically ill and very weak,
                                                                           `Lord's` Supper ?" The subject was treated by answering the
 but, according to today's bulletin, witnesses that her faith
                                                                           three questions : "What is the heart that must be examined ?"
 in God's promises remains firm. (P.S. Miss Reitsma passed
                                                                           "What must one .truly  believe?' "How  is this confession op-
 away Dec. 21.)
                                                                           posed to Arminianism?"                         One wishes that their bulletin
        The Protestant Reformed Men's Chorus gave another                  would also print the answers given to these questions so we
 outstanding program Sunday evening, Dec. 20, at First                     could pass them on to you for our mutual benefit.
 Church. The program consisted of a baritone horn solo by
 Robert Decker, a vocal solo by Arnold Dykstra, congrega-                          The December "Indian Summer" weather enjoyed in
 tional" singing, and ten numbers by the chorus. The choral                Michigan gladdened the hearts of Southeast's Building Com-
 numbers sang the praises of the God of our Salvation, Who                 mittee, for the builders were able to accomplish much in that
: se.nt His Son into our flesh that first Christmas Day, They              unexpected warm spell.- The church, when completed, will
 did sowith arrangements of traditional carols such as, "Jesu,             be furnished with pews designed to seat `317 worshipers.

Joy-of  Ma& Desiring,:' "A Child This Day Is Born," "Silent                        Do you agree, that we have again been guilty of robbing
 Night," and other favorites., The closing number, "Bless the              God of His reasonable service in the season just past, being
 Lord, 0 My Soul !" was a fitting climax to the evening, an                swept along with .the world in her empty celebration which
evening of true spiritual joy.                                             succeeds in covering up the blessedness of our joy announced
        The installation of Rev. G. Lanting into his Holland;              by the angels in the fields of Ephratah ?
                                                                             :
- pastorate is scheduled to take place Dec. 22, with Rev. C.
                                                                                   Let this be our New Year's prayer for one another : "Now
Hanko preaching the sermon, and Rev. A. Mulder reading
                                                                           our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father,
the form for installation. Rev. Laming's new address will
                                                                           which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consola-
be : 111 E. 22nd St;,  Holland, Michigan.
                                                                           tion and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and
       The text of Rev. Heys' farewell sermon was taken from
                                                                           stablish you in every good word and work."
Acts 20 132, "And now brethren, I commend you to God
and to the Word of His Grace." The text of his inaugu&                                                                             -11 Thess. 2:16,  17

sermon in South Holland,- scheduled for the 27th were the                          . . . . see you in church.                                    J.M.F.


