II--





              __..~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
                  VOLtlAZE   XL                                                  .  JA~~UARY   1, 1964  -Gym RAPIDS,  MICHIG~                                                 NUMBER   7

        II                                                                                                          a. happy new year? ,Only in the sphere of that blessing of
                         M-  Ii  D I  `T  A.T  -1'0  N                                                              Jehovah: in -any other sphere that wish is absolutely vain!
                                                                                                                    Happiness there can never be; except in the. sense of the
                                                                                                                    psalmist% words, "Thy blessing is upon thy'people."
                                                                                                               -                                                  .
                            NIZIV  YEAR'S B&ESSEDNESS                                                                  In the'confession~at'the  blessing. of Jehovah is upon
                                                                                                                                                                        .,
                            "Thy bkwing  is tr,pG  %hiJ peo&." Psalm  3:8b                                          His peqple~~they  that .fear -the Ldrd'may  -bid- one- another
                                                          _.-. - =.._ 5- _~..                                                             .-.  _ ^`  .,.-_
                                                                                                                    a happy, a blessed, new year.  A.4  -their` wish may be at
                 "A happy new year to- you: is the cry ,that rings out in                                           the same `time-  a prayer, "Let the ,blessing.  of Jehovah be
        every quarter at this dawn of the- year 1964.                                                               upon us, His peopleI",  And the wish- and -the prayer may
                 But how hollow is the sound of these words, how mean-                                              both be uttered with the. full and firm .assurance that they
        ingless they become, how empty of genuine content, when                                                     are not and -will  not be in vain. For His blessmg  is upon
        uttered by godless lips, `in a godless,' essentially unhappy                                                His people! It always has been; and it always will be
        world, to godly and ungodly men alike, and without re-                                                      upon them.. And `it will never be on any other.
        gard to the question what. constitutes true' happiness, or                                                                                                :.
        whether and how such happiness is possible.                                                                                         : 0          o'$i            0
                                                                                                                       Thy blessing . . .
        _,       For how shall a marabe happy in- such a world as ours
        - a world full of cursing and bitterness, a world at war                                                       It is the blessing--of Jehovah, the I AM, the eternal and
        against God and against man,. a world which can know. no                                                    unchangeable and. ever-blessed God, the blessing of God
        contentment even in the -midst  of abundance of things,. a                                                  Who is really GOD, of which the psalmist is speaking here.
        world in which even natural joys are never unmixed and                                                      God's blessing is a word of God, a. divine word, a word
        unspoiled by misery and fear and- sorrow? How shall  a                                                      of the God Who speaks, and it is done, who. commands,
        man be happy in .a world of sin and death? How shall a                                                      and it stands fast. For one who blesses, according to the
        man be happy in a world that lives and -moves in the vi-                                                    original term in the text, is one who speaks a good word
         cious circle of vanity? How shall a man be happy  -in a                                                    upon him that is the object of that blessing. Whether that
        world where the wrath of God is revealed-from ,heaven'over                                                  good word is in the form of a mere wish, as is the case
        all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the                                                    when  younand I, -mere creatures, bless one another; or
        truth in unrighteousness?                                                                                   whether that  blessing.is  in the form  of. a prophetic reading
                                                                                                                    of the counsel of`Gdd,  as was the case when the old and
                 And how mocking is the very' sound of the words of' dying patriarchs-blessed their sons in the old dispensation;
        him who shouts, "Happy New Year!"                                                    u     -           '    or whether that blessing i&y God, as the psalmist acknowl-
                 Yea, and how, indeed, must a man's own conscience                                                  edges it to be in our text - such is the meaning of" bless-
        from within testify, even as he utters these words, that he                                                 ing: to speak a good word upon the object of our blessing.
        knows how empty, how impossible,  how. fundamentally                                                         But man's efforts to bless mati are all in vain. They are
        vain his wish is!                                                                                           impotent. `A man may bestow many gifts upon his fellow
                 For what is true happiness.2 It consists in this, that the                                         man; but blessing is not in `mere things. A man may en-
        blessing of Almighty God is upon a man.                                                                     rich his ne?ghbor  with all then abundance and wealth imag-
                 What constitutes a genuinely happy new year? Only                                                  inable; he may free the world from the fear of want; but he
        this, that in that-year the blessing of Jehovah accompanies                                                 is utterly powerless. to bless his brother. He may express
        a man, step by step, throughout his way.                                                                    all good  wishe"s of a kind and loving heart; And though
                 In what sphere is it possible truly to wish one another                                            it may feel rather nice to know-brie's  .neighbor wishes him '
                                                                    ,
                                                                                                                                   . .
                                                                                                                        .-
                                             .I           .              ,.
                                       .'                                                                 1             2
                                                                                                   .I.                        :
                                                    .          /         2'             I

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

good, nevertheless all the kind sentiments of a man's heart        what seems to be evil may be very good for us. We are apt
do not add up to blessing.                                         to inquire only whether the road is broad and smooth,
       For man's word cannot realize what it expresses. Man's      without caring for the direction of that road. We foolishly
word cannot create that which it ardently desires. Man is          would avoid the rougher and deeper and steeper stretches
ody a creature, not the Fountain of all good. In the deepest       of the road, forgetting that without them we cannot reach
sense, man cannot even provide gifts and wealth and abun-          the promised heavenly country. And thus we obtain an
dance of good things - much less, bless anyone.                    altogether warped and twisted view of things. A man
   God's  word of good-will, however, is entirely different:       prospers in his business, and he' claims that a `kind Prov-
it is distinctively divine!                                        idence" is blessing all his efforts. We forget that the al-
                                                                   mighty word of God may be in all his goods, cursing him
       The Almighty makes no mere wishes. The Lord ex-             to damnation. A farmer's fields yield abundantly, and he
presses no vain hopes.                                             must increase his barns: it is considered a good, a blessing.
   TO bless, really to bless, is a divine right and power.         We fail to consider that "this night" God may take his
When God blesses, that blessing goes into action! God's            soul and cast him into destruction. And thus, a nation is
word of good-will is the Word of Him Who speaks, and it            blessed when it prospers and grows mighty; an army is
comes to pass! His Word.is a creative speech. God speaks           blessed when it has the victory; and a church is blessed
before things are, and He causes them to be. He calls              when it grows in numbers and in standing in the eyes
the things that are not as if they were. When He speaks            of men.
well upon a creature, that blessing comes. When He speaks             But that crucial question concerning blessing cannot
ill, who shall prevent His certain curse?                          be answered thus.
   Thy blessing, Jehovah, is upon thy people , . .                    Whether anything is a blessing or a curse-and, you
   Thy powerful, almighty, creative Word for their good            understand, it is either a blessing or a curse - is a question
is constantly upon them, always accomplishing that which           that can be answered only in the light of eternity. And
it expresses.                                                      then, that only is a blessing which is conducive to our
                                                                   everlasting salvation. A blessing in time, but not for eter-
   Ponder it, meditate upon it, embrace the truth of it.           nity, a so-called blessing of common grace, there is not:
And then utter the prayer: "Lord, let thy blessing be upon         it is a contradiction in terms.
us. For then only can and dare we wish one another a
blessed new year."                                                    God's blessing is the Word of His grace!        -
                                                                      That blessing is upon a man when every word of God
                          0 0 0 0                                  over that man ilows from God's everlasting good pleasure
                                                                   unto his eternal glory, from His counsel of salvation. That
                                                                   blessing changes every apparent evil into an eternal good.
   Thy Uessing  is upon thy people!                                It is the cause, the reason, that all things work together
   Nay, my brother, judge not of blessing and blessedness          for good. It is the irresistible operation of Gods grace
according to your own, human, sinful, this-worldly cri-            through every means; through all the way, through every
terion of blessing. For it is of blessing, genuine blessing,       experience, every circumstance, leading inevitably and with
that the text speaks. You and I are inclined to judge all          absolute certainty unto the joy and the happiness of God's
things in the light of this world and of this present time.        everlasting tabernacle!
Frequently we think of blessing only in terms" of the im-                                     0 0  0 0
mediate present, the passing moment. Even as far as one
year, the year 1964, is concerned, we are unable to discern           One, exclusive, particular, and therefore, sure, is that
what blessing might entail. And of ultimate ends, of               divine blessing!
eternal values, we are inclined to lose sight altogether.             Thy blessing -is upon Thy people . . .
We are creatures of time, of the moment. Our human cri-               God's blessing is singular, not plural, one, not many.
terion of blessing is, in the first place, subjective: the ful-    To be sure, there is in that blessing of God a plurality of
fillment of  O~LI' own  detires  we consider a good, while         infinite and manifold riches. But there is only one blessing
failure to reach a desired end we consider evil. That human        of God! It cannot be divided into a general and a particular
criterion of blessedness is, in the second place, earthly: we      blessing, a common and a special blessing. God is one;
confuse blessing with success and prosperity, and we can           His counsel .is one; His Word is one;. and His blessing is
weep and wail when our chastisement is there every morn-           one;
ing. Our own little criterion of blessing is, in the third
place,  short-sighted  and foolish: we forge? that what ap-           Upon Thy people is Thy blessing!
pears   to be a good may be an evil in disguise, and that             Thy blessing, Lord, is for Thy people only, and for all


                                           T    H    E      STANDARD   BEARER                                                                                                                                                      147

Thy people. The others it excludes; instead, the curse
follows. them to the grave and to hell. For this reason, we                           .THE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                         Semi-monthly, except monthly  during  June, July and  August
know,  too, that Thy blessing is sure. For even as the bless-             Published by the  REFORMED  FREE  PUBLIS~NG   ASSOCIA~ZON
ing is Thine, so also we, Thy people, are Thine, Thine                                                 Editor  - REV.  HERMAN HOEKSEMA
in the most absolute sense of the word, We are not  self-                Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
determined. We did not choose Thee. Thou hast chosen                     Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,
                                                                         Mich. Contributions will be limited to 300 words and must be
and ordained us, chosen sovereignly, ordained us in Thy                                                       neatly written or typewritten.
eternal thoughts and purpose. Ordained, we are, to be par-               All church news items should be addressed to Mr. J. M. Faber,
takers of Thy fellowship and of everlasting bliss in Thy                                    1123 Cooper, S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
                                                                          AMouncements  and Obituaries with the $2.00 fee included
tabernacle. We  are.in Thy counsel as the objects of Thy                 must be mailed 8 days prior to issue date, to the address below:
love, ordained to eternal glory in Christ Jesus. And from                 All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to
                                                                                        Mr. James' Dykstra, I.326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
that same counsel Thy blessing proceeds: it is Thy Word                                                           Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
toward the objects of Thy sovereign choice, Thy Word                         RENEWAL:   Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
                                                                         received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscrip-
of good-will and sovereign grace. Thy glory Thou didst                      tion to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
purpose to reveal in Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Head, and                                               Subscription price: $5.00 per year  ~
through the myriad of elect members of His body. And all                        Second Class postage pafd at Grand Rapids,  Mfchfgan
other things in Thy counsel are but means to that end.
Nothing is excluded. That counsel is all-comprehensive.
Never is there a mistake; all is ordained in infinite wisdom.
Everything, according to that counsel, moves and works                                                                      C O N T E N T S
around and toward that one  purpose of the  revelation of           M E D I T A T I O N -
ny glory                                                                      New Year's Blessedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._.....__......_..... I................ 145
             in  Christ  and  His church. All is  subordinate to                          Rev. H. C. Hoeksema                                              _
that one purpose.
                                                                    EDITORIALS -
   Hence, Thy blessing  m2cst   Zle upon Thy people.                          Not Quite Correct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
                                                                              About Genesis I-XI.. . . . .  __......_.......................   ..__.____.___.  148
   And the central revelation of that blessing we behold                      Single or Double Track Theology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
in the gift of  Thine only begotten Son.                                                 Rev. H. Hoeksema
   Therefore we exclaim, too: `How shall he not with                OUR DOCTRTNE  -
him freely give us all things?"                                               The Doctrine of the Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._ 150
                          0 0 0  0                                                        Rev. H. Hoeksema
                                                                    A  CLOUD  OF WITNESSES-
   And thus, Lord, we look to the year 1964.                                  The Bramble Made King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
                                                                                          Rev. B. Woudenberg
   For we know not only that Thy blessing shall be upon
us in the end. It is upon us now.  The Word of Thy good-            FROM HOLY WRIT-
will proceeds toward us continuously, surrounds us, meets                     Exposition of the Prophecy of Malachi . . ..__....._..._._.............. 156
                                                                                          Rev. G. Lubbers
us, guides us, watches over us, fills us, permeates our food
and drink, wards off the enemy, guards us, strengthens us,          TFDI Loan  GAVE THE  WORD .  ~ .
comforts us, assures us, follows us all the way to the                        Mission Work in Jamaica (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
                                                                                          Rev. C. Hanko
eternal inheritance.
                                                                    CONTENDING FOR THE  FAITH  -
   Even though - because Thy ways are deep and in-                            The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._........................ 160
scrutable, and Thy paths unsearchable - even though we                                    Rev. H. Veldman
cannot always see and understand, we know. For we look              THE VOICE  OF  OUR  FATHERS  -
not at the things that are seen, but those that are not                       The Netherland Confession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..162
seen. We regard not our experiences, in order then to judge                               Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
of Thee and Thy work in the light of them. But we look
at Thee in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord, in order then         THE  &XiJRCH  AT  WORSHIP-
                                                                              The Elements of Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
to look at our way in the light of Thy marvellous grace.                                  Rev. G. Vanden  Berg
   And, Lord, knowing that Thy love to us is unchangeable,          ~~ ho- us -
that Thy blessing is sure and constant, we know that the                      The Vatican Council _..______.___......_............................................ 166
year of our Lord 1964 will be a genuinely blessed one,                        NucI~~~W~                                      .ti..;. . . . .                                                                                         167
                                                                                                    . .
whatever may betide.
                                                                    NEW% FROM OUR C&CHES . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._.___................  ~ .__........_....,..........  168
   And thus, too, we confidently bid one another "A                                       Mr. J. M. Faber
Blessed New Year!"                                        H . C . H .


148                                         T H E .   !.,T;ANDAR:D   :BEARER
                                               .
II                                                                                       About Genesis  I-XI
              E  I). I  T 0 R I A  ii S                         II       In a Dutch paper Tot  Vrijheid  Gero?qx?n;  Called To
                                                                      Liberty,  the Rev. J. W. Heemskerk, Reformed minister in
                                                                      The Hague, writes two articles to which I intended to call
                          Not Quite Correct                           the attention of our readers; but other matters demanded
       In  Chwch  a& Nation, a Canadian publication, I found          my attention, so that I postponed writing and comment-
an article written by the Rev. L. Pr. (aamsma) in which he            ing on those articles until the present time. The articles
informs us that, before he left Grand Rapids (I believe that          were written in July, 1963. Yet, although it is somewhat
he was for one year professor in Calvin Seminary, and now             late, I consider it- important enough to write and to discuss,
returned to Canada from where he had received and ac-                 briefly, what Heemskerk writes about the matters in the
cepted a call), he visited different churches and listened to         articles to which I refer.
the sermons that were preached there.                                    The first article concerns the question whether Gen.
       He also attended the First Protestant Reformed Church          l-11 is to be taken literally or as a sort of a myth; the second
and there he heard me preach.                                         concerns our Confessions or the Three Forms of Unity.
       What I want to call attention to in this  artMe of the            As to the iirst, if Geelkerken were still living and had
Rev. Praamsma is the following paragraph: (I translate)               proposed his view of Genesis l-3 at the present time, he
       "The Rev. Hoeksema was formerly in the Christian Re-           certainly would not have been deposed from his office as
formed Churches, but broke this church connection at                  minister in the Reformed (Gereformeerde) Churches in  the
about 1925, because he could not agree with the decisions             Netherlands.
of the synod of Kalamazoo in regard to common grace."                    Heemskerk writes :
       This is not quite correct.                                        "For especially in regard to this lirst part (of Genesis,
       Correct is, not that I broke with the'Christian  Reformed      H. H. ), this cosmogonical (relating to the creation of the
Church, but that I was cast out.                                      universe, H. H.), introduction to the further revelation of
       Correct is the following:                                      Scripture, questions upon questions arise. From the six
       1. The Synod of Kalamazoo was discussing the The               days of creation and the fall into sin up to and with the
Three Points of common grace. In a long speech at an                  deluge, the sons of Noah, the building of the tower of Babel,
evening session of the Synod.1 explained my position on the           and the confusion of tongues, together with the genealogies
matter of common grace and, at the same time, informed                and the time-calculation, we constantly are in conflict with
the Synod that I would never agree with the The Three                 what science teaches us.
Points and why I could not agree with them.                              "It will not do to get rid of the questions, as if science
      2. The committee, appointed by Synod in the matter              consists purely of evolution-theories and in speculation pre-
of common grace, advised Synod, not only to  adoht the                sented as science..
The Three  Points, but also that, if I would not agree with              "For this is certainly not the case . . .
and sign  the Three Points, I should be  disdiplined  and                "We know, for instance, very positively, that at least
ultimately deposed from  oflice. This was never. adopted.             60,000 years earlier, during the last glacial period, man
       3. The matter, therefore, was finished. `But the Classes       came on the stage, used &e, and buried the dead; also that
of Grand Rapids, both East and West; `quite illegally, took           in a very early period murder and cannibalism appeared
up the matter again. Classis  East, to ..whjh -I': belonged,          and occurred; that even then different races appeared in
decided that my consistory should place me `before the                the direction of the present races of man.
question whether or not I agreed with and would sign the                 "Scripture does not speak at all of this long prehistoric
Three  Poirrzts.   My consistory refused. on the ground that          period. But we are certainly concerned with it.
the Synod had decided and that they were satisfied with                  "To make a very long story short: we must either shove
its decisions.                                                        the fall of Adam .and Eve one hundred thousand., years
       4. To make a long story short, Classis  East decided that,     back - supposedly even much further back - and then ,the
if only I would promise that I would keep still about the             time-calculation of Genesis is mistaken;, or we must bring
T7zree Points, I could remain in the office of minister. I            into account `pre-adamites' . . . but then Genesis l-11 can
told the delegates that were sent to me from Classis  East            only refer to the white race.
that, if I only preached once, I would oppose the Three                  `If you take what is written literally, this alternative is
Points, even if I did not mention them.                               inevitable."
       5. Thereupon I was deposed from office.                           How then does the Rev. Heemskerk solve this pr'oblem?
       Hence, it is not correct to say that I broke the connec-          Genesis l-11 was written at a,much.  later date, namely,
tion with the Christian Reformed Church,                              in the period after the captivity of Israel, about 500 years
       I was cast out.                                                before `Christ! You ask for proof of this theory? YOU will
                                                            H.H.
t                                                                     find only ZERO.


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            149

   To be sure, according to Heemskerk, Genesis 1-11 is a         H. H. ) to draw the conclusion that one' who clings to the
beautiful and very charming and impressive polemic against       letter on this Scriptural narrative is a hopeless and unim-
all heathen practices. The heathen had their view of the         provable fundamentalist, in other words, that one does
universe and its origin. But at the  times  of the captivity wisely when he understands this narrative as a myth, but
the Jews did not have anything. But at the time of the           then as an inspired and significant and religiously true
exile God gave them the myth that is now contained in __ myth."
Genesis  l-11.                                                      Well, as for me, I rather be such a hopeless fundamental-
   This is Heemskerk's philosophy. Proof? NONE!                  ist than a Heemskerkiaan!
   0, yes, also for Heemskerk Gen. l-11 is inspired Scrip-          But I am inclined to exclaim: 0, shades of Geelkerken
turel                                                            and the Synod of Assen!
   But how is this possible? I believe that there are in            How far have the Reformed ( Gereformeerde) Churches
Scripture what may be called myths.                              of the Netherlands gone astray from the truth of the Word
   However, if there are such myths, every reader realizes       of God!
that they are myths. But how about Genesis  l-11? Do                Next time we hope to call attention to what Heemskerk
these chapters also leave the impression that they contain       writes about our Confessions, D. V.
a myth?                                                                                                                 H.H.
   The very contrary is true!
   Are the six days of creation a myth? Thus, of course,
Heemskerk would interpret Genesis I, and many others                        Single Or Double Track Theology
with him. But how about the fourth commandment of
the decalogue: "For in six days, God created heaven and             Kuiper, emeritus Professor of Calvin Seminary, believes
earth, etc. Was this commandment by God through Moses,           that the notorious Three Points of Kalamazoo belong to the.
engraved by the finger of God in the table of stone together     glory of the Christian Reformed Church even though they
with all the rest of the commandments of the decalogue?          can be improved.
Was Adam created from the dust of the ground and did                Thus. far we have briefly reviewed the S c r i p t u r a 1
God breathe into his nostrils the breath of life? If not,        grounds on which they are supposed to be based, but we
will Heemskerk tell us how this "myth" must be interpreted.      did not finish this discussion. We must still examine the
Was Eve created out of a rib of Adam? Did God put Adam           proof for the Third Point.
and Eve in paradise? Did He put the tree of life and the            This Third Point reads as follows:
tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden?           "Relative to the third point, which is concerned with
Did He gave the probationary command to Adam? Did the            the question of civil righteousness as performed by the un-
sin of Adam and Eve consist in eating of the forbidden tree?     regenerated, Synod declares that according to Scripture
Did the devil come into paradise in the form of a serpent?       and the Confessions, the unregenerated, though incapable
If not, how are we to explain the curse which God pro-           of doing any saving good, can do civil good. This is evident
nounced upon the serpent: "On thy belly shalt thou go," from. the quotations of Scripture and from the Canons of
etc.? Did God drive our first parents out of paradise?           Dordrecht, III, IV, 4, and from the Netherland Confession
   Is all this a myth? If so, will Heemskerk give his own        Art. 36, which teach that God, without renewing the heart,
interpretation of all these facts?                               so influences man that he is able to perform civil good;
                                                                 while it also appears from the citations from Reformed
   How about the deluge?                                         writers of the most flourishing period of Reformed theology,
   Did God really bring such a flood upon the whole earth        that our Reformed Fathers from ancient times were of the
so that it was ilfteen  feet over the highest mountain as the    same opinion."
earth then was? Did God command Noah to build the ark,              This Third Point speaks of civil good.
and did he do so? If this is a myth, too, will Heemskerk            Now it is well to note that also the undersigned had
give his own explanation, and that, too, please, in the light    written about the same subject and that, too, before the
of the rest of Scripture?                                        Synod of 1924 had convened. I had done so in my pamphlet
    Did the wicked really build the tower of Babel or            Langs Z&me  Banen  (Along Straight Paths).
rather, try to build it, and did the different  languages on        I wrote as follows:
the whole originate in the fact that God confused their             "And what, then, is civil righteousness? According to
speech there?                                                    our view, the natural man discerns the relationships, laws,
   I do not believe a thing of all that Heemskerk writes         rules of life, and fellowship, etc. as they are ordained by
about Genesis l-11.                          i                   God. He sees their propriety and utility. And he adapts
   He writes:                                                    himself to them for his own sake. If in this attempt he
   "For this reason, it is not so crazy (the language is his,    succeeds, the result is an outward and formal resemblance


     150                                           THE.  S T A N D A R D ,   B E A R E R

to the laws of God. Then we have civil righteousness, a
regard for virtue and external deportment. And if in this                        Ii- 6  U R D  0 C T R I  N E  11
attempt he fails, as is frequently the case; civil righteous-
ness disappears, and the result is exactly the opposite. His
fundamental error, however, is that he does not seek after                              THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH
God, nor aims at Him and His glory, even in this regard
for virtue and external deportment. On the contrary he                                                  CHAPTEFi   VI
seeks himself, both individually and in fellowship with                                 THEPREAcHINGOFTHEWORDA~.A
other sinners and with the whole world, and it is his pur-                                     MEANS  OF  GRACE
pose to maintain himself even in his sin over against God.
And this is sm. And in reality his work also has evil effects                                            (Continued)
upon himself and his fellow creatures. For his actions with                         Thus, a person may probably be converted when he is
relation to men and his fellow creatures are performed ac-                       seventy or eighty years of age, although he is regenerated
cording to the same rule and with similar results. And thus                      from infancy. With this we cannot agree. At least, we
it happens that sin develops constantly and corruption in-                       think it is very improbable that the Lord effects His work
creases, while still there remains a formal adaptation to the                    of regeneration in such a way in the heart of the elect. It
laws ordained of God for the present life. Yet, the natural                      may very well be that a seed in nature can continue to
man never attains to any ethical good. That is our view." live, if it has not contact with the soil whatever, for many
       Now, what is wrong with this?                                             years. But it is quite inconceivable that a seed can be im-
       And why did the Synnd of Kalamazoo actually condemn                       planted in the soil, and be under the influence of rain and
this?                                                                            sunshine, without sprouting into life and bringing forth
       My answer is: the Synod wanted to maintain that natural                   fruit. And the same may be said of the seed of regenera-
man can perform what is positively good in the sight of                          tion that is implanted in tbe heart and that comes under the
God!                                                                     H.H.    influence of the preaching of the gospel. It will certainly
                                                                                 reveal itself in faith and conversion, and that too, without
                          Announcement                                           delay. The work of God is throughout characterized by
       Classis  East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will                    perfect wisdom. It, would be foolish to suppose that the
meet, the Lord willing, on Wednesday, January 8, 1964 at                         seed of regeneration  could lie dormant and inactive for
9 A.M. in the Southeast Protestant Reformed Church of                            many years, without ever showing any signs of life. And
Grand Rapids, Michigan. Consistories will please consider                        therefore, when we make a distinction between regenera-
this an official announcement in the appointment of their                        tion in the narrower sense and in the wider sense of the
delegates.                                                                       word, it must be understood that the distinction is a
                                                                                 logical distinction, and not a distinction in time. The dis-
                           Announcement                                          tinction may never mean a separation between regeneration
'      An Office-Bearers' Conference will be held Tuesday,                       and the Word of God, or the preaching of the Word.
January 7, at SO0 P.`M. at Southeast Church. The Rev. ,R.                           Finally, a word must be said in this connection .about
C. Harbach will speak on the topic: "Neighborhood Evan-                          the regeneration of infants. Those who insist that regenera-
gelism." All ministers, present and former elders and                            tion is always effected through the preaching of the Word
deacons; are "urged" to attend.                                                  do not really have any explanation of the salvation of little
                                                 J. Bomers, Secretary
                                                          .                      children. According to some, they are not regenerated:
                                                                                 for regeneration presupposes conscious  .faith, and conscious
                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                         faith presupposes the hearing of the preaching of the
       The Ladies' Society of the South Holland Protestant Reformed
Church extends their sincere' sympathy to' our `President, Rev. Heys,            gospel, and therefore it cannot be present in little infants.
.and family, m-the death of the father of Rev. Heys,                             They claim that *they must be saved in some other, inex-
                          MR. JOHN HEYS, SR.
       May our gracious God, comfort and sustain the sorrowing through           plicable, way. Some even suggest that after death they are
His Word and Spirit.                                                             no m-ore infants, and, are regenerated in glory. Others,
                                      Mrs.- Bert Wories, Vice President
                                      Mrs. R. Poortinga, Secretary               however, who also' hold that regeneration is mediate, that
                                                                                 is, always taking place through the preaching of the gospel
                     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                      only, allow an exception in the case of infants. These are,
       The Consistory of the Prot. Ref. Church of South Holland, Illinois,
wishes to express its sincere sympathy to its Pastor, Rev. J. A. Heys,           according to them, regenerated immediately. However, let
in the recent loss of his Father,                                                us note that either:this  is true ody with those infants that
                          MR. JOHN HEYS, SR:
       May the God of-ah-grace be his only comfort in this his bereave-          die in early infancy, or the seed of regeneration is im-
ment. I Cor.  15:50-57:                                             .            planted in all the children that are reborn in early child-
                         .-               L. Laming,  Vice President
                                          P. S. Pooitinga, Clerk                 hood; In. the former case, it. would. seem rather strange


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEABEii                                                    151

that God would make an exception only in respect to those          Spirit provides for the working of faith and the develop-
children that are taken away in infancy. What possible             ment and upbuilding of that faith, And therefore;we  main-
reason can there be, if God is able to regenerate some             tain that regeneration is before all the work of grace, and
children, why He should wait in the case of others until           that it is immediate. Life is first. And in regeneration the
they can understand the preaching of the Word, to im-              Holy Spirit implants the principle of life, and with that
plant in them the seed of regeneration? But if, on the other       principle of life also the power, or the faculty, of faith,
hand, it is maintained that the seed of regeneration is im-        so that potentially the regenerated is a believer even be-
planted in all the children that are reborn in infancy, it         fore he comes to conscious activity of faith. It is exactly
may well be regarded as an established rule that infants           in order that in the-line and in the sphere of the covenant
in the line of the covenant are regenerated before they are        and of the church little infants may as early as possible
able to hear the preaching of the Word. And in that case,          have contact with the preaching of the gospel in all its
there is very little room left for mediate regeneration.           forms, that the Lord God in His wisdom implants the
We understand, of course, that when we speak of regen-             seed of regeneration in the hearts of the elect children,
eration of infants, we refer not to all infants, but onIy  to      and also gives them eyes to see and ears to hear, noten-
those that are chosen by God from before the foundation of         tially, by the powerful, efficacious, and ever-living and abid-
the world.                                                         ing Word of God -in other words, that God immediately
   This is indeed the Reformed view of the matter. In the          regenerates them from infancy.
line of the covenant the seed of regeneration is im-                  It is in the sphere of the covenant that conscious faith
planted in the heart of the elect children of the covenant         and repentance are wrought gradually in small children
in early infancy. This does not mean that we base our view         through the influence of the preaching of the Word.
of immediate regeneration on the presupposition that chil-            We must remember that  ,the influence of this preaching
dren are regenerated. On  .the contrary, the conception that       and its sphere is, of course, not limited to the official min-
regeneration is an immediate work of the Holy Spirit, in-          istry in the church on Sunday and on the mission field. On
dependent of the preaching of the Word of God, is founded          the contrary, it includes many different spheres of labor.
on Scripture. But just because Scripture teaches this truth,       Thus, for instance, there is the work of the seminary, the
and presents it as the true view of the rebirth of God's           theological school, where young men are trained for the
people in the narrowest sense of the word, that is, in the         ministry of the Word, where they are taught to exegete
iense of the implanting of the seed of regeneration as an          Holy Writ and to understand the doctrine of the church,
immediate work by the Holy Spirit, therefore it ought to           and where the truth is developed and maintained and de-
be evident that also the littlest infants can receive the grace    fended over against all errors. This, of course, is an ex-
of regeneration. And again, because we believe, on the             tremely important work, and must never be neglected, even
basis of Scripture, that regeneration must be conceived as         though a church be ever so small, and even though there
an immediate work of the Spirit, and because for that very         be very few students in the theological school. There is also
reason the regeneration of infants is possible, therefore we       the work of preserving and translating, as well as of inter-
regard it as a common rule that in the line of the cove-           preting the Scriptures. This is a labor that shows its fruits
nant the elect children are reborn from infancy.                   not only in interpreting the Bible, but also in hundreds of
                                                                   commentaries. Besides, there is the calling of the church to
   Then we can also understand the real significance and           establish and formulate the truth of the Word of God in
operation of the preaching of the Word in the sphere of the        her confessions, not only to defend it over against the opi
church and in the line of the covenant, as a means of              ponents and gainsayers, as is done, for instance, in the
grace. Means require conscious action. They presuppose             Canons of Dordrecht, but also to preserve it in generations.
life. They are elements which God uses, but which we also          Of all these labors the church, which is the pillar and
use. Bread is used by God to nourish our bodies, and we            ground of the truth, and to which the Word of God has been
eat it. Thus the Holy Spirit uses the preaching of the             entrusted, is the subject. And of them all, the preaching of
Word to work faith and to strengthen it; but we also use it,       the Word as a means of grace is the very heart.
and are even responsible for the use of the Word of God.              Now it is in the sphere of the church that God in His
Now, it is only the living that can possibly use means. The        in&rite wisdom and mercy causes the covenant child to be
dead can neither eat nor drink. And the spiritually dead           born. Under the influence of the preaching of the Word in
do indeed react upon the preaching of the Word, but only           this widest sense the child is placed from very infancy.       I
to reject it. They never come to repentance and faith.
To them it is a savor of death unto death. But just as the            This begins already in the administration of baptism. Of
physically living are able to use the means which God pro-         infant baptism we must speak later. Here I only wish to
vides for the sustenance of their earthly life, so the spirit-     state that in baptism the church exercises the influence of
ually living are capable to use the means which the Holy           the preaching of the Word by exacting from the parents


152                                           THE.,.S.TANDAR,.D  B E A R E R

that present their children to baptism the promise that they           spiritually dead. Only those that are living are capable of
will bring up their children "in the aforesaid doctrine, or            using the means which the Holy Spirit provides for the
help or cause them to be instructed therein, to the utmost             working of faith and for the development and upbuilding
of their power." Of this doctrine in which the children must           of that faith. Hence, we believe that as a rule the children
be instructed the parents are asked to acknowledge that it             of the covenant that are elect are also regenerated from
"is contained in the Old and New Testament, and in the                 earliest infancy. As the child grows up in the sphere of the
articles of the Christian faith, and which is taught here in           covenant, he gradually comes to conscious faith, receives
this Christian church, to be.the true and perfect doctrine of          the promise, and assumes his part of the covenant, which,
salvation." In harmony with this pledge of the parents, it             according to our Baptism Form, consists in this, that we are
is in the covenant home that the influence of the Word of              "admonished and obliged unto new obedience, namely, that
God is exercised upon the child, first of all. This continues          we cleave to this one God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
in the Christian school and the Sunday-School, and pres-               that we trust in him and love him with all our hearts, with
ently also in the catechism classes, and centrally also in the         all our souls, with all our mind, and with all our strength;
midst of the congregation through the preaching of the                 that we forsake the world, crucify our old nature, and walk
Word of God. Besides, the influence of the preaching of                in a new and holy life."
the Word in the sphere of the church is felt in many other                Now when the child of the covenant reaches the age of
ways, as, for instance, the reading of the Bible in the home,          discretion and has always walked in the way of the cov-
the conversation of the saints among one another, and the              enant, he is not and cannot be expected to be conscious of
study of Scripture in the various societies that are organized         any sudden or remarkable change, or conversion, in his life.
within the church. And once more, it must be emphasized                To be sure, the change which we call conversion must surely
that the very heart of this sphere and influence is the                take place. The covenant child must be'able to give account
preaching of the Word as a means of grace, together with               of himself and must be conscious of true conversion, which
the administration of the sacraments.                                  consists of the mortiilcation  of the old and the quickening of
       No one can say at how early an age the Holy Spirit and          the new man. He must be conscious of a sincere sorrow of
the living and abiding Word of God can and do quicken the              heart that he has provoked God by his sins. He must be
seed of regeneration and thus bring .the faculty of faith to           cognizant of a desire to hate and flee from sin. He must be
a more or less conscious activity. Worldly educators realize           conscious of a sincere joy of heart in God through Christ,
rather clearly that from earliest infancy the whole outside            and of a sincere delight to live according to the will of God
world streams in upon the consciousness of the child and               in all good works. But in the way of the covenant this con-
makes its impression upon that consciousness. Modern edu-              version is not sudden, or marked, but a gradual.conversion.
cators stress the importance of surrounding the child, even in         The question is not when and where the covenant child
its cradle, with objects, sounds, shapes, and colors and smells        was converted, or how that change was effected in him, but
that are all calculated to make the most favorable impres-             whether he knows that he is converted and reveals his con-
sion upon the little infant. Why, then, cannot the Holy                version by a walk in the way of continued conversion in
Spirit, in connection with the living Word of God; impress             the midst of the church and in the world. This entire change
the little child with all the influences of a truly covenant           is wrought through the preaching of the Word.
home, the singing of psalms or hymns, the playing of sacred               The preaching of the Word in the sphere of the covenant
music, the simple prayer uttered by the parents at the                 must, of course, be both distinctive and upbuilding.
cradle, the folding of the little hands of the infant in prayer           It cannot proceed on the assumption that all the children
at the table in the high-chair, and many other influences of           of the covenant, that is, all those that are born in ,the sphere
the Christian home, to bring the faculty of faith to some              of and under the influence of the covenant, are elect and
sort of conscious activity? We know very little, of course,            regenerated. The theory of presumptive regeneration, ac-
of the life of the infant. But it is certain that long before          cording to which it is presumed that all the children that are
what is usually considered the age of discretion, there can            born under the covenant and in the church are regenerated,
be and is a decided influence of the Word of God upon the              is certainly not Scriptural. All are not Israel that are of
covenant child.                                                        Israel. Not the children of the flesh, but the children of the
       It is especially for this reason that, according to our con-    promise are counted for the seed. Nor can it be said that
viction, the children of the covenant are regenerated from             those who are under the covenant and in the church, but
earliest infancy, even at birth or even before birth. Why              who are and remain carnal and never come  .to saving faith
should God according to the rule of the covenant bring little          or to true conversion, belong to the exceptions. The history
children under the influence of the preaching of the Word              of the Old Testament church teaches quite the opposite. Al-
from their earliest infancy if they were not regenerated?              ways it was the carnal seed that abounded in the covenant
The dead certainly cannot use means; and there is no proper            of the old dispensation; and the remnant according to the
reaction upon the preaching of the Word by those that are              election of grace was saved. Nor does this appear different


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R - D   B E A R E R                                         153

when we look at the 
           .  __.-.     chumh in general of the new dispensa-         In the Heidelberg Catechism Qu. 66, the sacraments in
tion. If we consider baptized Christendom as a whole, it           general are defined as "holy, visible signs and seals, ap-
would seem that those that have apostatized from the faith         pointed of God for this end, that by the use thereof, he
are  farmore numerous than the faithful believers. Always          may more fully declare and seal to us the promise of the
there is the carnal seed in the church. And the theory of          gospel, namely, that he grants us freely the remission of
presumptive regeneration, which presumes, or supposes,             sin, and -life eternal, for the sake of that one sacrifice  of
that all the children born in the covenant are elect, is not       Christ, accomplished on the cross."
only unscriptural, but it is also dangerous. Dangerous it is,         Article 33 of the Belgic or Netherland Confession de-
not because, as the popular saying goes, it tends to let           scribes and defines the sacraments as follows: "We believe,
people go to hell with an imaginary heaven: for that is            that our gracious God, on account of our weakness and  in-
quite impossible, at least where the truth is preached. But        ilrmities hath ordained the sacraments for us, thereby to seal
the danger is that because it presumes what is not true            unto us his promises, and to be pledges of the good will and
according to Scripture, it leaves the carnally-minded in the       grace of God toward us, and also to nourish and strengthen
church; and thus the church of Christ is corrupted. And            our faith; which he hath joined to the Word of the gospel,
therefore, the preaching must be directed not only to the          the better to present to our senses, both that which he
elect, but also to the reprobate in the church, not only to the    signifies to us by his Word, and that which he works in-
godly, but also to the ungodly. It must be so distinctive that     wardly in our hearts, thereby assuring and confirming in us
under the influence of the preaching the reprobate and un-         the salvation which he imparts to us. For they are visible
godly cannot remain, but will reveal themselves as haters of       signs and seals of an inward and invisible thing, by means
the truth of God and His Christ. Moreover, even the elect          whereof God worketh in us by the power of the Holy Ghost.
and regenerated are not perfect. Even as regards' them,            Therefore the signs are not in vain or insigni&ant, so as to
there is much flesh in the church. Daily they have to strive       deceive us. For Jesus Christ is the true object presented
with the desires and lusts of the flesh and with the tempta-       by them, without whom they would be of no moment. More-
tions of the devil and the world, and must be admonished           over, we are satisfied with the number of sacraments which
steadfastly to walk in the way of the covenant, to hate sin,       Christ our Lord hath instituted, which are two only, namely,
and to fight against it and flee from it.                          the sacrament of baptism, and the holy supper of our Lord
   Hence, the preaching in the sphere of the covenant must         Jesus Christ."
always be distinctive. This does not necessarily mean that            In both these descriptions of the sacraments, by the Hei:
it must divide the church into. elect and reprobate, con-          delberger and by the Netherland Confession, we may find
verted and unconverted, and address them separately in the         the following elements: 1) Sacraments are instituted to
preaching, Rather, it means that the whole church as it or-        strengthen the faith of the believer, and therefore they
ganically exists in the world must be brought under the            presuppose faith. 2) They are visible signs and seals of an
influence of the very same preaching of the Word. The              inward and invisible thing; and God hath joined them to the
same Word must be directed to all. All must be exhorted to         Word, that is, to the preaching of the gospel,  "the better to
be converted and to convert themselves, to repent in dust          present to our senses both that which he signifies to us by
and ashes. `All must be admonished continually to walk in          his Word, and that which he works inwardly in our hearts,
the way of sanctification and to live antithetically, as being     thereby assuring and confirming in us the salvation which
of the party of the living God in the midst of the world.          he imparts to us." 3) They are ordained and instituted by
Such preaching will have the result that it is a savor of life     God, and that too, in the church. SThere are many signs, and
unto life for those whom God has chosen unto everlasting           there are many seals; but in order to be sacraments, signs
salvation, but at the same time a savor of death unto death        and seals must be definitely and specially ordained and
for the rest. Only under such preaching alone the church           appointed by the God of our salvation. 4) That which the
will be built up, and believers will be edified.                   sacraments signify and seal unto us is the promise of the
                                                                   gospel, namely, that He grants us freely the remission of sin
                          CHAPTER VII                              and life eternal, for the sake of that one sacrifice of Christ,
                                                                   accomplished on the cross. The new element which is ev-
           THE IDEA OF -THE SACRAMENTS                             idently expressed in the article of the Netherland Confes-
   The term sacraments is not derived from Scripture, but          sion, in distinction from the Heidelberg Catechism, is that
from the Latin term sucmmentum.  But although the term             the sacraments not only signify and seal the objective prom-
sacromentzcm  is not Scriptural, it has been used by the           ises of God, but also "an invisible thing, by means whereof
church of the new dispensation for many centuries as de-           God worketh in us by the power of the Holy Ghost." This
noting the signs and seals of the new covenant.                    refers to the grace of God as it is wrought by the Holy Ghost
   In all of our Reformed confessions the sacraments oc-           in the.hearts  of believers.
cupy a very important place.                                                                                                 H.H.


i54                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   `B E A R E R

                                                                       The people were quick to catch the implication  -of this,
11. A CLOUD OF  Wl.TNEi.SES  11 although they were perhaps surprised to receive such a
                                                                    request from Gideon. This was language they understood.
                                                                    Was it not customary for one who had won a great victory
                 The Brad.&  Made King                              in battle to take the ornaments of booty and fashion them
                                                                    into a graven image of their favorite idol? Enthusiastically
            Then said all the trees  u,nto the bramble,  Come
        thou, and reign over. U.S.                                  they responded, "We will willingly give them;" and before
            And' the bramble said .unto the trees, If in tru$h      Gideon realized it, they had spread a garment and cast into
        ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your          it all kinds of jewelry, until there was nearly l&y pounds
        trust in nay shadow: and if not, let  fire come out of      of gold and jewels and the like.
        the bra.mbke,  and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
                                                Judges 9 : 14,15       Actually Gideon had in mind nothing so crude and law-
                                                                    less as the making of an idol. His intent was to make an
       Gideon is one of those sad instances of a person who,        ephod after the pattern given by God to Moses in the
once having stood strong in faith, followed it with a decline       wilderness. It would be like the one worn by the high
into weakness such as does not become a child of God.               priest in the tabernacle and would always serve as a re-
       With the destruction of Midian,  Gideon suddenly saw         minder to the people of the enthusiasm which they had
his personal popularity catapulted unto unprecedented               felt when they donated the gold and jewels that went into
heights. Whereas before people had been sceptical  of him,          its making. In addition, it would also remind the people
of his testimony, and of his efforts, now he was the man of         that he, Gideon, was also a representative of Jehovah, and
the hour. People talked endlessly about this man, who               that they should come to him to hear God's judgments for
with only three hundred men had put to ifight the whole             them. Soon the ephod was made, very richly; and Gideon
multitude of Midian.  They marveled at the tenacity with            kept it prominently displayed in his house.
which he had pursued the enemy into their last and greatest            The people were pleased. Here was something visible
stronghold, until he had Zebah and Zalmunna in his own              to which they could bring their allegiance. They found it
hands. People came from all over the land to see and                hard to be satisfied with just words when all of the other
consult with Gideon, the same man who so shortly before             nations had their visible gods before which they could
had been ignored by just about everyone. Now they fol-              worship. It did not even matter so much that this object
lowed him wherever he went and hung fawningly upon                  did not have the form of a man or animal; it was some-
his every word. It was not surprising, therefore, when they         thing they could see and feel, and they were satisfied. They
came to Gideon and said, "Rule thou over us, both thou,             came from far and wide to see it. They would listen to
and thy son, and thy son's son also: for thou hast delivered        Gideon's instructions; but their main interest was in that
us from the hand of Midian."                                        beautiful ephod, which to them seemed to be the embodi-
       But Gideon was not one to lose hold of reality so easily.    ment of the power which had delivered them from  Midian.
Even though the people seemed to forget it, he remembered           They considered that ephod to have an almost magical
full well that the victory was not so much his as it was Gods.      guarantee that they would not be subjugated like that
God had led and strengthened him every step of the way.             again.
Furthermore, he felt that the people in this request were             Inevitably, of course, all of this attention began to have
being carried along with the enthusiasm of the moment and           its effect upon Gideon also. It was soon apparent that his
had never thought through all of the implications of what           home was receiving more attention even than the taber-
they were asking. And finally, of course, God had appointed         nacle of God at Shiloh. By this Gideon was pleased. With
him to be judge and deliverer of the people, but He had             the attention of the people came gifts and wealth. As he
never as much as suggested that Gideon might become king.           became a man of importance, he began to marry wives and
Without the blessing of God, it would surely be futile for          to keep a great house. Although he had rejected the title,
him to assume the position of king. So quickly-he answered          he `often thought of himself as the equivalent of a king
the people, "I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule    nonetheless. In fact, in one particularly proud moment,
over you: the LORD shall rule over you." Gideon spoke               when a concubine from Shechem bore him a son, he named
this with the conviction that it was right and the only             the child Abimelech, meaning "son of a king." Gideon's
answer he could give them; and yet even as he spoke, it             ephod had become a snare unto him and unto the people,
seemed too bad if all this enthusiasm of the people could           to lead them into sin. Nevertheless, as long as he lived,
not in -some way be encouraged. Thus it was that there              Gideon did speak out against Baa1 worship and succeeded
came to his mind a plan that seemed to be more in line              in keeping it from the land.
with his calling as judge in Israel. So he went on to say;
"I would desire a request of  you, that ye would give me               It was after Gideon died that his sin had its most
every man the earrings of his prey."                                pernicious effect. During his lifetime Gideon had received

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

no fewer than seventy sons from his many wives. To them               "Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou,
was now left the ephod with all of the attention, wealth,          and reign over us. And the bramble said unto the trees,
and temptation which it had brought to Gideon's house.             If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put
On the whole they were good men and carried on in the              your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the
tradition of their father. There was one, however, who             bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
having tasted a little of popular favor, wanted it all for            "Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in
himself. Ironically, of course, it was the one who least           that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt
deserved it: Abimelech, the son of the concubine from              well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done unto
Shechem. He wanted badly to be king and felt quite sure            him according to the deserving of his hands; (for  my
that his brothers wanted the same. Thus he began to plot           father fought for you, and adventured his life far, and
against them.                                                      delivered you out of the hand of Midian:  and ye are risen
   Going to Shechem, a wicked city whose inhabitants               up against my father's house this day, and have slain his
were of Canaanitish descent and where the worship of               sons, threescore and ten persons, upon one stone, and have
Baa1 was generally practiced, Abimelech soon convinced             made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the
his mother's family-that all of Gideon's seventy sons had          men of Shechem, because he is your brother; ) if ye then
royal ambitions. He concluded with this suggestion, `Speak,        have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and with
I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether         his house  this  day, then rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let
is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal, which    him also rejoice in you; but if not, let fire come out from
are threescore and ten persons, reign over you, or that one        Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house
reign over you? remember also that I am your bone and              of Milo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem,
your flesh." For the men of Shechem, who felt no love for          and from the house of Milo, and devour Abimelech."
Gideon, the enemy of their God; to begin with, the simple             With that Jotham turned and fled.
suggestion was enough. They gave to Abimelech seventy                 The allegory of Jotham hung over the brief and wicked
pieces of silver out of the treasury of Baal, with which he        reign of Abimelech with a strange foreboding. Abimelech
hired a group of vain men to follow him to Ophrah, where           was very truly, as the allegory said, a bramble with neither
he took and slew his brothers. Of them all only Jotham, the        shade to provide nor fruit to give. He could only prey upon
youngest brother, escaped.                                         the people without giving them anything in turn. Even
   This event was followed by a great celebration at               more, the men of Shechem, upon whose strength Abimelech
Shechem. Taking Abimelech to their hearts as a brother             had built his power, were wicked men, whose loyalties
in the worship of Baa1 and as the destroyer of the house           could change in a moment. Soon they tired of Abimelech
of Gideon, the enemy of their god Baal, the men of Shechem         and began to hate him just as strongly as they had held
brought him to the very spot where Joshua had  first  af-          to him before. Agitated by an evil spirit from God, this
firned the covenant of Jehovah in Canaan; and there under          hatred soon broke out into open conflict. The result was
an oak tree they crowned him king. It was a wicked cele-           an example of the wicked consuming each other in their
bration, as one might imagine, until suddenly it was stopped       wickedness.
cold.
   During a pause in the feasting,                                    From the first it was Abimelech that held the upper
                                       a voice began to sound
clearly through the mountain air from its source at the            hand. He had gathered behind him a trained army, and
top of nearby mount Gerizim. It was the voice of Jotham,           he used it ruthlessly. When the men of Shechem under a
Abimelech's youngest brother; and he spoke a parable:              certain Gaal, son of Ebed, boasted themselves in drunken
"Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may                  revelry against Abimelech, it was reported to Abimelech
hearken unto you. The trees went forth on a time to anoint         and he brought his army against them. With superior maneu-
a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign         vering he overcame Gaal and forced him to flee for his life.
thou over us. But the olive tree said unto them, Should I          But Abimelech was not satisfied. The next day he returned
                                                                   to Shechem again and set upon the people. These who came
leave  my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God, and
man, and go .to be promoted over the trees?                        out into the field to work he slew in cold blood. The city
   "And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign       itself he utterly reduced to rubble, and a thousand people
over us. But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake         who fled to the tower of their god's temple he burned
                                                                   mercilessly with a great fire. And still it was not enough,
my sweetness, and my good fruit,. and go to be promoted
over the trees?                                                    but Abimelech turned to the neighboring city of Thebez.
   "Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, and              Here again he forced the people into a fortified tower.
reign over us. And the vine said unto them, Should I leave         But  by this time the Lord allowed that he had done enough
my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be pro-             in his wickedness. A woman cast a piece of millstone from
moted over the trees?                                                                 (Continued  on page 157)


 156                                       T H E   ST.ANDARD   BEA.RER

                                                                   tions be blessed." This is brought into distinct and sharp
          F R O M   H O L Y   W R I T                              focus  .here in the prophecy of Malachi. It is for-this `reason
                                                                   that we feel, that as a beginning of interpretation of Old
                                                                   Testament prophecy, we can do no better than stand in the
        Exposition of the Prophecy of Malachi                      vantage-point of this last Seer in Israel! For from this
 Introdwtion.                                                      mountain-top of prophecy we see not only the past history
                                                                   of Israel's falling and rising for sixteen centuries; but we
        The writer of this rubric hereby dedicates himself to      also have the beacon-light of prophecy which shines for-
 the weighty task and calling to expound the Word of the           ward through the New Testament unto the perfect day of
 LORD as it came to Israel by the hand of Malachi. It is           our Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall save all His people from
 with prayerful dependence upon the Lord and upon His              their sins.
 Spirit of truth that we make this beginning. May both                There is still another reason for our writing on the
 this writer and the readers experience that this God-in-          book of Malachi. This prophetic book is one which is in-
 spired prophecy is indeed profitable for teaching, for re-        terpreted to us by the Lord Jesus Himself. He tells us that
 proof, for correction in righteousness, that the man of God       the "reconstitution" of which we read in chapter 4:6 is al-
 be throughly furnished unto every good work!                      ready completed through the preaching of John the Baptist,
        That we set ourselves to this task of writing on one of    Matt.  17:ll. We know from the announcement of the birth
 the prophecies of the Old Testament is according to the           of John to Zacharias, his father, that the preaching of John
 suggestion made on the meeting of the Editorial Staff in          would be  the turning of the hearts of the fathers to the
 June, 1963, that the undersigned should consider so doing.        children; it would be making ready a people for the Lord.
 We were assured that it was the feeling of the Editors            They would fit in the temple-worship of God. That was
 that such did not conflict with the rubric assigned to Rev.       the fulfillment of Malachi 4:6. Besides, such passages in
 B. Woudenberg, entitled "A Cloud Of Witnesses." Having            Malachi as Chapter 1:2,3 are interpreted by Paul in Romans
 considered the matter duly, we made a  diligent  study of         Q:l-13; and-thus we see the connection between the proph-
 the book of Malachi and, as we stated before, we now make         ecy of Malachi and the writings of the Word of God from
 a beginning.                                                      Genesis on, as  well as its connection with the work of
        That we write on this particular prophecy is for good      Christ in saving "all Israel," Rom.  11:26. In a word, the
 reason. Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament             prophecy of Malachi is most perspicuous in its message for
 cunowicd  books of the Bible. It was admitted into the col-       us, the Israel of God in the New Testament dispensation!
 lection of Biblical writings by the church of the Old Tes-            So much by way of giving the reasons for choosing to
 tament at least two centuries before the birth of Christ; at      write an exposition of this particular prophecy.
 the time of the translation of the Old Testament Scriptures          It will, no doubt, serve a useful purpose that we make a
 into the Greek Septuagint  this was the case. The Hebrews         few introductory observations concerning the content of
 have a somewhat different order of the books of the Old           this prophecy itself. We realize that we have inadver-
 Testament Scriptures than we do. They count 24 books              tently touched upon this matter already in the foregoing
 where we count 39 books. They have a Tripartite Division.         paragraphs. However, let us now still attend to the fol-
 (1) the  To&z, or Law; (2) the  Nebhi-im, or Prophets;            lowing facets of this prophecy.
 (3) the K&hul&m, or Writings. The first of these counts               In the  iirst place, we notice that this prophecy is a
 the first five books of our Bible; the second division, eight     `burden" of the LORD. It is an authoritative word which
 books, the so-called former and latter prophets; the third        the prophet must speak in God's stead and as being His
 division has eleven books. To this third division belongs         mouth-piece. This is reflected in the oft-repeated  "Saith'
 also  .the prophecy of Malachi. It is the last and closing        the LORD. This is designated by the prophet more than
 book of the Canons also in the Hebrew three-part division.        twenty times in these four chapters. It emphasizes that
 -4nd it is for that reason rather culminative in character,       this is not the private word of the prophets, but the
looking backward as a resume and interpretation of the his-        `burden," the message which he brings as being the
 tory of Israel in the light of God's Covenant faithfulness,       LORD'S mouthpiece, His messenger. Possibly that is why
 and looking forward to the dawn of the New Testament              this book is called "Malachi." It is the Hebrew for "My
 dispensation, when the promise of God shall be fulfilled,         Messenger." The title may then refer  to. the contents of
 and the meaning of Israel's existence in the Old Testament        the book, particularly to its hopeful message concerning
 dispensation shall come to stand forth in bold relief. It will    the coming of John, the fore-runner of Christ, the Mes-
 exhibit very clearly that all is the glory of Israel and the      senger spoken of by the prophet in Isaiah  40:3-5.  Compare
 hope of the Gentile world to be saved. For the Scriptures         Mark 1:2 and 3 where the Evangelist seems to blend into
 foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles too by faith,      one both Malachi  3:l and Isaiah  40:3.
 preached before to Abraham saying, "In thee shall all na-             In the second place, we would observe that there is


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             157

repeated mention made  oiF the LORD of hosts in this Book            1. The LORD'S name shall be great among the Gen-
of prophecy. This occurs no less than twenty-three times.        tiles; there will the pure sacriiices of the LORD be brought,
This gives a very sign&ant  emphasis to the fact. that He        even from the. rising of the sun to the going down of the
is JEHOVAH of hosts, Who ,dwells  between the cherubim           same. Chapter 1111.
in His holy temple, and -Who dwells with His people in              2. The LORD himself will come: to His temple, and
Covenant fellowship and faithfulness, protecting the Israel      cleanse it from alI abuse and profanation. The zeal of the
of God from all her enemies, and leading them on to the          LORD will perform it. The zeal of God's house will con-
final glory of the New Jerusalem, when the tabernacle of         sume Him.
God shall be with man. Compare  Psalm 84, where the                 3. And, therefore, the godly can take hope, and cleanse
Name is mentioned four times.                                    themselves, and look for the Lord to come to redeem them
   In the third place, we should observe carefully the           and to "restore all things" to Israel. Great and better things
nature of the sins which are here rebuked by the LORD.           are in store. One ahnost hears the solemn and beautiful
The sins here are not the sins which are due to the weak-        sentence here in Malachi written in Hebrews  1:l: "God,
ness of the flesh, which is in the members of the True           who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time
Israel of God, which Israel has a delight in the law of          past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last
God after the inward man (Rom. 7:22);  but they are the          days spoken unto us by His Son . . . "
sins of those who have the earmarks of being haters of              Malachi is truly the last prophet in the Old Testament
God. The former sought the courts of the Lord, and spoke         dispensation; He is the last before John the Baptist. John
of the tabernacles of God being "lovely" (Psalm  84:1),          was the greatest of them all, for he pointed out the Lamb
while these snuff at the sacrifices of the LORD, count them      of God. But John, the greatest of those born from woman,
a burden, defile the temple by trampling its ordinances          stands immediately on the shoulders of Malachi. The latter
under foot. This is evident from the strong terms employed       in turn sums up all that the prophets have spoken before
by the prophet to describe their attitude, such as: "abomina;    him. And so we have here a fitting close of tbe words of
tion, polluted bread, despised my name, profaned the table       the, prophets till the time appointed of the Lord.
of the LORD, accounting the Lord's table contemptible,              In our exposition of this prophecy we hope to call at-
departing out of the way, stumble at the law." These are         tention to the following facets in it, treating it under the
all the strongest terms, employed to describe those who are      following heads :
of a reprobate mind, who walk in the sin unto death, deny-           1. The Sovereign Love of the LORD for Jacob in  dis-
ing the LORD who redeemed Israel from all her sins.                        tinction from Esau. Malachi 1: l-5
Such are they who walk in the sin of Jeroboam, the son of           2. The house of Levi, the Priests, reproved for their
Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. Of this the repeated                      contempt of the LORD'S house. Malachi 1:6-2:17
refrain is so often heard in I and II Kings. It is the  sin         3. The announcement of the coming of John the Baptist,
which is mentioned in II Kings  17:14: "Notwithstanding                    and the coming of the LORD, Christ, to His Father's
they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like the                    house, the temple. Malachi  3:1-4:6
necks of their fathers, that  did  Twt  b&eve in the LORD            Since, in a sense, we will be feeling our way in our
their God." And for this sin they were carried away and          development of these three facets of this prophecy, we
removed forever. Thus we read of Ephraim in II Kings             ask the patience of the reader when reading our essays.
17:lS: "Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel,           It is ever a heavy task, and truly a `burden" of the Lord
and removed  them out of his sight; there was none left          to rightly divide the Word. May we be a workman that
but the tribe of Judah only." Such is the sin here reproved      needeth not be ashamed; may our work stand the test in
in these desecraters of the temple who had returned from         that day when every man's work shall be tried as by fire.
Babylon with the remnant according to election under                                                                      G.L.
Zerubbabel. The same lot will be to those in Judah who
are later called by John `Ye generation of vipers," and
denominated by Christ "This generation." It is well that                              A CLOUD OF WITNESSES
we keep this in mind when we read this Book of prophecy.
   There is, as we have intimated earlier, also another                               (Contimed  from. page 155)
side to this book of prophecy. It is that the Lord is faith-     the wall of the tower. It struck Abimelech upon the head
ful to His covenant promise to the fathers, Abraham, Isaac,      so that he died.
and Jacob. He is the LORD. He is the unchangeable God.               It was as  Jotham had predicted. Fire came out from
And there is hope of redemption for the true Israel of God.      Abimelech and devoured the men of Shechem; and fire
And this true Israel of God is from both Jews and Gentiles       came out from the men of Shechem and devoured Abime-
according to this `burden" of the LORD. Notice the fol-          lech; the bramble bush devoured `those that first trusted
l o w i n g :                                                    in it.                                                   B.W.

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

                                                                     Therefore it was on the 30th of July that Mr. and Mrs.
                                                                  Meulenberg, my wife and I departed for the island. At
                                                                  noon the next day we  were,..heartily  welcomed by a large
                                                                  group- of friends from Lucea who had been informed of
                                                                  our coming and were eagerly awaiting our arrival. Since
                 Mission Work in Jamaica                          Mr. and Mrs. Meulenberg had met Rev. Frame and his
                                                                  people on a previous visit just a year before, and since they
                              (4)                                 were acquainted with the island, and Mr. Meulenberg had
       The following is the report of the Mission Committee       learned to drive a car with a right hand steering wheel
to our Synod of 1963 concerning mission work in Jamaica:          on the left side of narrow, hilly and winding roads, all
                                                                  these assets proved of great advantage to us in making our
       "Motion is made to inform Synod that First Church has      contacts throughout the island. In fact, in a very short
expressed its willingness to relinquish Rev. C. Hanko for         time we had left Montego Bay, the point of our arrival,
four weeks to go to Jamaica, and the churches in the Grand        and had settled in Lucea, where a home had been rented
Rapids area have signified their willingness to give their        for us, which would be our headquarters for the duration
ministers to First Church for one service each during Rev.        of our stay on the island.
Hanko's absence. Carried.                                            Most of our readers were present at the various meetings
       "Motion is made to inform Synod that, through further      that were held in our churches describing our day by day
correspondence with the churches of Jamaica, it has be-           experiences on the island. Therefore I will only sum up the
come evident that they are keenly interested in closer con-       most outstanding events of this work in Jamaica here.
tact with our churches, in receiving our literature and being.
instructed in our doctrine, but that they are not yet in a           There was, iirst of all, a visit to Kingston, the seat of
position to establish an independent Protestant Reformed          government for Jamaica, where we contacted various gov-
Church of Jamaica, even though this is their desire. Carried.     ernment officials about matters pertaining to the organiza-
                                                                  tion of churches on the i&ad.
       "Motion is made that we advise Synod to instruct the
Mission Committee to send Rev. C. Hanko and a layman                 No minister is allowed to officiate at weddings on the
of  -his choice as soon as possible to spend four weeks on        island unless his ministerial status is recognized by the
the island of Jamaica with a view to preparing the way            government of Jamaica. Now these ministers that were seek-
for an indigenous church as their objective. Carried." Acts       ing closer contact with us had broken all previous connec-
of Synod 1963, page 93.                                           tions and therefore had lost their ministerial status before
       On the pages 30-32 of this same Acts of Synod we find      the law. Upon investigation, we found that their ministerial
that Synod decided to adopt the advice of the Mission Com-        status could be restored only if they were duly called and
mittee "that we work in Jamaica with a view to establishing       ordained by an organized church. These ministers them-
there an indigenous church and that we set $2000 to cover         selves must make application for such a recognition, but
the cost of sending a minister there. (Arts. 91 and 104).         they must also have a recommendation from their  con-
Moreover, Synod decided to send Rev. C. Hanko and a man           sistory, as well as a recommendation from some organiza-
appointed by the Mission Committee, preferably an elder,          tion,  classis,  synod, or denomination on the island of Ja-
to carry out this mandate. The Mission Committee was also         maica or elsewhere. Therefore it was essential for them to
empowered to "continue labors in Jamaica at its discretion        adopt a name, and in anticipation of this fact Rev. Frame
after receiving the report of those visiting- the island," and    and his group had already adopted the name `Protestant
the necessary financial support for this work might be            Reformed Church of Jamaica  - Branch Mt.  Gibeon" before
sought from the churches. And finally, the Mission Com-           we arrived.
mittee was authorized to appoint an alternate for Rev. C.            Secondly, there was the matter of import duty on the
Hanko, should this become necessary (Arts. 105-109).              clothing that our churches have sent or might send to these
   In carrying out these decisions of Synod the Mission           groups in Jamaica. A large sum of money had to be sent
Committee decided to appoint Mr. H. Meulenberg to ac-             as import duty to the government of Jamaica before the
company Rev. Hanko to Jamaica. Moreover, the time limit           recipients could receive the clothing we sent them. There-
of one month was changed to seventeen days, because               fore we also investigated this matter while we were in
special excursion rates could be obtained. for seventeen          Kingston and discovered that as soon as these churches be-
days which would greatly reduce the expenses of the trip.         come duly organized under an official name with their own
This would mean that those who were sent would have to            office bearers they can apply for recognition by the govern-
crowd their labors into a shorter period of time, but the         ment of Jamaica and there will be no further charge of im-
reduction in the cost was worth the effort.                       port duty on the clothing that is sent to them.     : "


                                           T H - E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               i59

   Finally, while in Kingston we also contacted the Ja-             upon a godly walk, since these churches do insist upon holi-
maica Broadcasting Company to obtain prices for a pos-              ness and godliness in all their lives, in their personal lives as
sible broadcast time from the station at Kingston. We were          well as ~-in the ,marriage state. After this sermon another
informed that broadcasting time would be available to us            opportunity was given to ask and answer questions, and
early on Sunday morning, but the price is so high that it is        again the desire was expressed to proceed with arrange-
questionable whether we can avail ourselves of this station         ments for closer contact with our Protestant Reformed
for some time to come. We had discovered that most of the           Churches. A meeting was announced for the next Thursday
people on the island do have transistor radios and that             evening in which the group at Mt. Gibeon  would formally
they also would greatly appreciate hearing The Reformed             organize into a Protestant Reformed Church of Lucea, elect-
Witness Hour. Therefore the radio would be a wonderful              ing office bearers according to the Reformed Church polity.
means of contact with them, but other facilities will most          Since our presence was requested at this meeting, we
likely have to be sought if we are to reach them through            agreed to arrange our visits throughout the week in such
the Reformed Witness Hour.                                          a way that we could be present at their meeting on Thurs-
   The second outstanding event of our visit on the island          day evening.
was the "conference" that was held with the churches                   The third event that should be mentioned is the "con-
which are under Rev. Frame's supervision. This conference           ference" that was held on Tuesday with Rev. Elliott and
was held at Lucea on the first Sunday of our stay. Already          his churches at Islington. Rev. Elliott had only recently
at seven o'clock in the morning trucks carrying singing             made contact with our churches, but since we expected
passengers arrived at the foot of Mt.  Gibeon. We could             to be in Jamaica for a few weeks he desired to have us meet
both see and hear the pilgrims ascend the hill as they went         with his churches also. So on Monday we traveled across
to the tabernacle, and we were reminded of  Psalm 84,               the island to the eastern section and stayed at Port Mariah.
"How. amiable are thy tabernacles, 0 Lord of hosts! My              From there we proceeded on the following,morning  to Isl-
soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord.        ington, where we were met by a large group of people who
. . . Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will           had come ,together from various parts of the eastern section
be still praising thee. . . . They go from strength to strength,    of the island. There also we were given opportunity to
every one of them in Zion appeareth before God." By                 preach. So I spoke on John 10:16, "And other sheep I have,
eleven o'clock, the time the service was to begin, five             which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they
churches were represented in the wooden framework of                shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one
Rev. Frame's tabernacle. One group had engine trouble               shepherd."' Again we had opportunity to point out the fun-
and arrived later.                                                  damental truths of Scripture as expressed in our five points
   It was at this morning service that I was given the op-          of Calvinism. Again there was a very attentive audience,
portunity to preach the sermon. While Mr. Meulenberg                which desired to hear more from-us in an evening gathering.
went through the audience pointing out the various Con-             Just one week later we paid ;another  visit to Rev. Elliott
fessions in our Psalter, these were.briefly explained. There-       and his church at Islington, leaving our Psalters, our cate-
upon their attention was focused on the first Lord's Day            chism books, and our' Church Order, and urging them to
with its significant question: "What is thy only comfort in         study them .well before they decided whether or not they
life and death?" As simply and concisely as possible the            would seek a5liation  with us in the future.
five points of Calvinism were explained in the light of this                                                                   ,C.H.
Lord's Day. All emphasis was placed upon the fact that
these are fundamental truths of Scripture, so that any future
affiliation between the churches of Jamaica and our churches                 If My people would obey Me,
in the States will have to be on that basis, and on that basis                  Gladly walking in My ways,
alone. After the sermon many questions were answered,                        Soon would I, their foes subduing,
so that before we realized two hours and a half had slipped                     Fill their lips with songs of praise.
by. But already. at this gathering the desire was expressed
to make all necessary arrangements for future affiliation                    All .the haters of Jehovah
with our churches in the States, and that they might send                       Shall His clemency implore,
young men to our seminary for more thorough preparation                      And the days of those that love  Him-
for the ministry.                                                               Shall endure for evermore.
   The same evening another service was held at seven                        Yea, with wheat `the very finest
o'clock, Rev. Frame. led this service and preached a short                  I their hunger will supply,
sermon on Matt. 5:8, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for                     Bid the very rocks yield honey
they shall see `God:" In this sermon emphasis was laid anew                    `That shall fully satisfy.

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

II                                                               to Bethany, and he lifted up his-hands,andblessed  them.
          `Contending For The Faith                         II And it came to pass, while he blessed them,-he was parted
                                                                 from them, and carried up into heaven." The apostle John,
                                                                 although not recording the historical fact of the ascension
            The Church and -the Sacraments                       of our Lord as such,. surely refers to this wonderful event
            THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION                          in the following passages: John  6:61-62, "When Jesus knew
                                                                 in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto
      VIEWS ON THE SACRAMENTS (LORD'S SUPPER)                    them, Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see
                   THE LUTHERAN VIEW                             the Son of man ascend up where he was before?" John 7:'
       The Lutheran doctrine of consubstantiation, that the      33: "Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I
communicants eat and drink the body and blood of our             with you, and then I go unto him that sent me." John 14:
Lord Jesus Christ under and with the bread and wine, is          1-3: "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God,
largely based upon the omnipresence of our Lord Jesus            believe also in me. In my Father's house are many man-
Christ, the omnipresence of His body and blood and the           sions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
omnipotence of God. The Lutherans contend that it is a           prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
fearful thing to say and hear that God, even with all His        for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself;
omnipotence, cannot effect the body of Christ to be present      that where I.am, there ye may be also." John 16:7:  "Never-
substantially at one and the same time in more places than       theless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I
one. In our preceding article we quoted from Hodge's             go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not
Systematic Theology, in which quotation the author refutes       come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you."
this Lutheran conception. And we promised to attempt an          John  20:17: "Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I
analysis of this quotation and make further comments upon        am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren,
the conception of the Lutherans.                                 and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your
       First of all, Luther speaks of three modes of Christ's    Father; and to-my God, and your God." Also in the book
presence: local, definitive, and repletive According to the      of Acts we have passages that refer to the ascension of our
f&t mode, Christ was present when here on earth, space-          Lord, as in the following passages: Acts  1:9-11:.  "And
filling and by space circumscribed. Local or circumscribed       when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he
presence is, for example, the presence of wine in a barrel.      was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
The body simply fills a certain space. This simply means         And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he
that Christ, according to the human nature, filled a certain     went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
space and was circumscribed and limited by it. According         Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing
to the second mode, the definitive mode, definite presence       up into heaven: this same Jesus, which is taken up from
is incomprehensible, as the presence of an angel or devil        you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have
in. a house or in a man, or the passing of Christ through        seen him go into heaven." Acts  3:21: `Whom the heaven
the tomb or through a closed door. Jesus, we know, vacated       must receive until the times of restitution of all things,
His tomb, and He also appeared in the upper room with            which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy
His eleven disciples. And the third mode, the repletive          prophets since the world began." And in the epistles we
presence of Christ, means or refers to the incomprehensible      have the following references to this second step of Jesus'
omnipresence of God, which fills all space, and is confined      glorification: Eph.  4:8-10: `Wherefore he saith, When he
by no space. When Christ walked on earth, prior to His           ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave
death upon the cross, He was locally present; after the          gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but
resurrection He appeared to His disciples definitively and       that he also descended first into the lower parts of the
incomprehensibly; after His ascension to the right hand of       earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended
God, He is everywhere present by virtue of the inseparable       up for above all heavens, that he might fill all things)."
union of His humanity with His divinity.                         I Tim.  3:16: "And without controversy great is the mystery
       The Lutherans, therefore, appeal to the omnipresence      of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in
and omnipotence of Christ, and ascribe this to the insep-        the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, be-
arable union of His human and divine nature in the one
Person of the Son. This Lutheran conception of the ubi-          lieved on in the world, received up into glory." Heb. 4:
quity of Christ's human nature, its being present every-         14: "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is
where at the same time, is certainly refuted by Holy Writ.       passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold
It is surely a fact that the fact of Christ's ascension is       fast our profession." Heb.  6:19-20:  `Which hope we have
emphasized in the Word of God, as in the following pas-          as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which
sages. Luke  24:50-51:  `And He led them out as  far as          entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner

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

  is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever      of the Trinity. And in that human nature He  emptieg
  after the order of Melchizedec." I Peter 3:22:  "Wh? is gone     Himself, destroyed Himself. The text does not say that He
  into heaven, and- is on the right hand of God; angels and        temporarily laid His divine attributes aside, to take thei
  authorities and powers being made subject unto him."             up  later   .$g&ili; bdt that He destroyed Himself. This, we
     In addition to these Scriptural passages, we may add          know,   He did upon the cross of Calvary. Upon that cross
  the following. The Lutherans are-not in complete agree-          He surely emptied Himself, made Himself of no reputation
  ment with respect to their conception concerning the ubi-        in the absolute sense of the word, destroyed Himself, in-
  quity of Christ's human nature. According to some, Christ's      asmuch as He entered into hell, death eternal; He destroyed
  human nature received these divine attributes of om-             Himself forever.
  niscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence at His incarna-            Moreover, if the divine attributes of omniscience, omnip-
  tion. When assuming our flesh and blood out of the virgin        otence, and omnipresence belong to Christ's human nature
  Mary, the personal union of the divine and human natures         because of the personal union of the two natures in the
  in the one Person of the Son :imparted  to His human na,&re      one Divine Person of the -Son, why should Christ's human
  these divine attributes. However, during His sojourn among       nature not have been omnipresent before His death upon
  US  He emptied Himself of these attributes; and at His           the- cross, as well as afterwards? He was the Person of the
  exaltation He once more took them upon Himself. Other            Son of God before His death as well as after His death.
  Lutherans contend that He assumed these divine attributes        Besides, does not our Lord Himself declare that no man
  only at His exaltation. A passage which they like to quote       knoweth the time of the end of all things, not even the Son
  is Phil.  2:6-9: "Who, being in the form of God, thought         of Man. And that Christ claimed equality with  Gqd, did
  it not robbery to be equal with God: But made Himself of         not hesitate to forgive sin, as in the case of the healing of
  no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant,          the man sick with the palsy, was not because of His human
  and was made in the likeness of men: And being found             nature, but solely because He is the Son of God. The Jews
  in fashion, as a man, he humbled Himself, and became             had accused Him of blasphemy, and would undoubtedly
  obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." In con-       have been correct if Jesus had claimed this right for His
  nection with this passage we would make the following            human nature. Had our Lord been a mere man, the ac-
' remarks. In the first place, the expression  `<made  Himself     cusation of the wicked Jews would have been true. But
  of no reputation" means literally that He emptied Himself.       Christ heals the man sick with the palsy, not to show ?Ivhat
  The translation `made Himself of no reputation" can be ac-       His human nature was able to do, but to show that He,
  cepted if we bear in mind that Christ made Himself of no         although being the Son of Man, is also the eternal Son of
  reputation in the absolute sense of the word, by emptying,       the living God. We reject; therefore, the Lutheran doctrine
  destroying Himself. This is the doctrine of the "kenosis," of the ubiquity of Christ's human nature, as directly con-
  Christ's emptying of Himself. Secondly, the expression,          trary to the Word of God. The miracles which our Lord
  "thought it not robbery to be equal with God," allows a          performed, His healing of the sick, raising of the dead,
  two-fold interpretation. The expression, as such, can mean       walking upon the waves of the sea and His quieting of the
  that  ,Christ was equal with God and therefore did not           storm, did not impress upon His disciples what His human
  consider it robbery to claim equality with God. The Luther-      nature was able to do, but they impressed upon them the
  ans accept this interpretation, inasmuch as they teach           fact that this Jesus of Nazareth, besides being man, was
  (some of them) that the Lord received divine attributes          alsd the Christ, the Son of the living God. Do they not
  at His incarnation, His coming into our flesh and blood.         ask the startling question? `What manner of man is this,
  However, the expression also allows the interpretation that      that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"
  Christ never considered the act of robbery of claiming
  equality with God.. For Christ to have claimed equality             Secondly, in this quo&ion of Hodge, we read that the
  with God would have constituted an act of robbery on His         Reformed always understood that the Lutherans maintained
  part, inasmuch as He then would have robbed the Lord of          the local presence of the body of Christ in the Lord's
  that which belongs exclusively unto Him. But our Lord            Supper, and that the Lutherans denied that they teach
  never claimed this equality, and therefore never committed' any such presence. This, however, can be merely a  pIay
  this act of robbery. The latter interpretation is undoubtedly    on words. The Lutheraes  may have thought that the Re-
  correct. Fact is, we read that He took upon Himself the          formed accused them of teaching that Jesus' body was with
  form of a servant, was made in the likeness of man, and          the bread and wine in the sense that it was present there,
  was found in fashion as a man. This surely does not              and that it was. nowhere else. .We understand, of course,
  teach that He became divine according to His human               as did the Reformed, that the Lutherans believed the body,
  nature, but that He became human And all this He did             of Christ to be present at the Lord's Supper exactly. be-
  while being in the form of God (verse  6)) being essentially     cause it was ~everywhere  present. The Lord willing, we will
  in the form of God, inasmuch as He is the second Person          have more to say about this in subsequent articles.     H.V.


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                                                                   shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also
          The Voice of Our Fathers                           7 and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat
                                                                   the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou
                                                                   eat bread. till thou return unto the ground . . . " Genesis 3:
                     The Netherland Confession                     17-19. A general, but very significant indication of this
                                                                   change wrought by the curse we have in a passage like
                            liRTICLE   XII                         Romans 8: 19-22 : "For the earnest expectation of the
                             (continued)                           creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Deviating Views (Continued)                                        For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly,
                                                                   but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
    The scientist who wishes to proceed on the basis of            Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the
faith, that is, who does not. make the fundamental error of        bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the chil-
attempting to adjust the Biblical account of things (in            dren of God. For we know that the whole creation
this connection, the account of creation in six days) to his       groaneth and travaileth  in pain together until now." The
scientific hypotheses, but who is willing to let the Word of       entire evolutionary theory of a gradual change and de-
God rule his science, must, in the second Place, proceed           velopment of things is contradicted here. Originally, indeed,
on the basis of the Scriptural position that the world of          creation stood in its beauty and perfection as it came from
today, which is the object of scientific investigation, is not     the hand of the Creator. There was no curse, no vanity,
the same  as the work! as  B was  o~iginul~y  created. By          in all creation. There was no bondage of corruption.
this I do not merely mean that it is different in some in-         There was no groaning and travailing in pain of the whole
significant and accidental details; but our world is a vastly      creation. God saw everything that He had made; and,
different, a fundamentally different world than that which         behold, it was very good. But a radical change was wrought
Adam knew when he stood in the state of rectitude in               through the fall of creation's king, man. And that change
p a r a d i s e .                                                  is described in the terms of the passage from Romans 8.
       First of all, the Christian scientist must take into ac-    With man's sin came the fact of creation's being made
count in this connection the Biblical fact of the  czcrse.         subject to vanity, came the bondage of corruption from
Let it be emphasized in this connection that this curse in         which the creature also shall be delivered, came the groan-
and upon creation is a  fact.  And science must certainly          ing and travail of the whole creation in pain together until
reckon with facts -not only with some of them, but with            now. And yet another change shall take place- not, in-
all the facts. And the curse that was imposed because of sin       deed, by a development of the present creation from lower
not only has its effect upon man, so that he has only rem-         to higher, from bad to better, but through the wonder of
nants of his original, natural light; but it had and it still      grace. The creature shall be delivered into the glorious
has its effect upon creation round about man, the object           liberty of the sons of God!
of man's scientific studies. Moreover, the fundamental as-            And he who would study the universe, the work of
pect of that curse is, of course, the wrath of God, revealed       God's hand, must needs reckon, cannot simply ignore, this
from heaven over all unrighteousness and ungodliness of            fact of the curse. To do so is simply not scientific! Apart
men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Rom. 1:18ff.           from anything else, and however limited we may be in dis-
It is the'plain teaching of Scripture that creation was thus       covering how things were originally, we must face up to
cursed. Thus, for example, the beasts of the field are all         the fact that things are not now as they once were.
cursed; and the serpent is cursed above them all. The               A second historical fact that must be reckoned with in
animal-world, therefore, is not the same as it once was.           this connection is that of the Deluge. True, unbelieving
Compare, for example, in this connection Genesis 3: 1, where       science scoffs at the whole notion of the Flood. The Flood
we read that the "`serpent was more subtil than any beast          has been "laughed out of court," or rather, laughed out of
of the field which the Lord God had made," and Genesis             the laboratory, as an utter impossibility. The sadder as-
3:I4, where we are informed that the Lord God spoke                pect of this is that Christians can sometimes rationalistically
His Word of cursing as follows: "Because thou hast done            adjust the record of the Flood also so that they deny its
this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every            reality as a universal catastrophe. They simply place them-
beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust         selves in the category of those whom the apostle Peter des-
shalt thou eat all the days of thy life." Also in the world        cribes in II Peter 3:3,4,5: Y&rowing  this first, that there
of plants the curse brought a change, as is evident from           shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own
the word that was spoken to Adam: "Because thou hast               lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming?
hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of            for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they
the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt            were from the beginning of the creation. For this they
not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow        willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the


                                           TH.E,.  STA:NDh,RD:   BEAR,ER                                                        163

heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the                   Recently the local Grand  Ru@Js Press carried a dispatch
water and in the water." Scriptural fact .is, however, of           which spoke of this assumption in science's dating methods.
such a kind that it must be reckoned with by any science            It speaks of two such methods: the carbon-14 dating method
that wishes to make conclusions about the "past" of the             and the potassium-argon dating method. And the dispatch
world round about us. Let me remind you, first of all,              mentions that one method is being used to check on the ac-
of the data of Genesis  6,7, and 8. Here we are plainly             curacy of the other. However, the dispatch also mentions
taught that the flood of was universal, hrst of all. And we         the assumption to which I referred above. What it fails
are also taught that the flood was of catastrophic propor-          to mention is that both methods are based on the same as-
tions as far as the cosmos was concerned: a. . . the same           sumption; and since the assumption itself remains unproved,
day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up,             the use of one method to check on the other is like attempt-
and the windows of heaven were opened." All this was                ing to lift yourself by your own suspenders. Permit me to
of such a nature that it marked the end of the world,               quote this dispatch in part:
according to Scripture. This is plain not only from the                 "The accuracy of carbon-14 dating, a method' used to
repeated comparison of the flood and the circumstances              measure the age of ancient objects, is about to be. checked
of those times with the end of all things and the circum-           against another `time machine," potassium-argon dating.
stances immediately preceding it; but it is literally taught            "The potassium-argon dating method already has been
in Scripture. II Peter 3:5-7 gives this significant  interpreta-    used to calculate that man-like creatures that made their
tion of the flood:  ". . . by the word of God the heavens           own tools inhabited the earth about 2 million years ago.
were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and.               "Now the method can be used to measure the age of
in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being over-          volcanic minerals called sanidines which are as `yotmg' as
flowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the                30,000 years old.
earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store,               "This is within the time range in which radiocarbon dat:
reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdi-           ing operates. This method involves measuring the decay of
tion of ungodly men." Mark you well, the world of Noah's            the element carbon-14 and has been used often to date ar-
day is "the world that then was," in distinction from the           chaeological remains.
world of our day, which is "`the heavens and the earth which            "A problem with carbon-14 dating has been that it is
are now." Moreover, that "world that then was" p&shed.              based on the assumption that the atmosphere has always
   All this is of tremendous significance for the natural           contained the same amount of carbon.
scientist who seeks a Scripturally orientated view of things.           "Until this assumption has been confirmed, or some
These two tremendous divine interventions must be rec-              check has been made on the radiocarbon dating method,
koned with in arriving at any theory as to the ages of              scientists will be unsure about the ages of thousands of
things earthly. Not only this, but it is far more plausible         carbon-containing objects dated by this method."
to believe that many of those things which unbelieving                  The dispatch then goes on to report some of the tests
science attempts to explain by taking recourse to millions          that have been carried out.
of years (as has been done in explaining oil and coal depos-            In conclusion of this phase of our discussion I want to
its, for example) are to be explained rather from such              make the following remarks.
earth-shaking events as the curse and the flood. And cer-
tainly, the fundamental premise of all so-called scientific             1. The Christian should remember that what are often
methods of dating the physical universe is shattered by the         presented as the findings of natural science are mere hy-
Scriptural record. All the various dating methods of sci-           potheses and theories. They are not conclusive findings.
ence, both those of today and those of the past, proceed            And science itself, if pressed, must admit that they are mere
on the assumption of a constant, uninterrupted rate of              "g u e s s e s . "
change. But Scripture makes it plain that there was no                  2. The Christian may well remember that when he
such constant, uninterrupted process. There have been,              deals with Scripture's record of things, he is not dealing
on the contrary, tremendous interruptions. Our world is             with hypotheses, but with truths and with facts. This is
different than the world as it was created-radically dif-           true of the creation record; it is also true.of  the subsequent
ferent, even though it is essentially the same creation.            history of the universe as recorded in Holy Writ. True, un-
But if this assumption of natural science falls - and mark          belief will not accept Scripture's record on these things.
you well, even science must admit that it is nothing more           Such is always unbelief's prejudice. The fact that wicked
than an assumption, a mere, unproven assumption- never-             men will not believe Scripture, but mock at it, does not
theless, if this assumption falls, all the scientific dating        make Scripture less true. And the Christian faith certainly
methods fall with it. This, I submit, goes far toward fur-          cannot proceed scientifically on unbelief's basis. But this is
nishing a Christian, Biblical answer to the hypotheses of           the choice: science on the basis of faith, or science on the
natural science.                                                                          (Continued on page 167)

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

                                                                          profound awareness of the awful glory and majesty of the
          THECHURCHATWORSHiP                                              .God  of the Scriptures, they can still be grossly negligent of
                                                                          their personal and corporate responsibility to those who,
       "0  Worship the Lord  in  the beauty of  holiness." Psalm 96:9a    like them, have been fashioned in God's image.

                                                                             "In so far as this is still true of us, it will have -deleterious,
                                                                          harmful, effects for public worship. It ought not be taken
                                                                          amiss, therefore, that we signalize what the Scriptures say
                   The Elements of Worship                                about the communion of believers in the worshipping con-
_      By the above sub-caption we do not have in mind, first             gregation.
of all, the parts that constitute our formal worship. Con-
cerning these we will have something to say after a bit; but                 "The Bible teaches that besides personal and private
before doing so we must mention an element of our wor-                    worship there must be a large place in our lives for public
                                                                          worship. Here `the use of the term `public' may be mislead-
ship that must be considered z?efcre  we actually enter the               ing. It is apt to create the impression that the essential
house of God to participate in the songs, prayers, preach-                character of this method of praising the Lord lies in being
ing, etc. We refer to the element of "togetherness"; unity                witnessed by our fellowmen. This is not necessarily the
with fellow-saints in the holy presence of God. Worship is                case. Of far greater significance than its `public' nature as
not ~ndiwtiual  participation in the various steps of a pre-              defined above is its `corporate' character.
arranged program. Neither is it the gathering of an au-                      "Especially the New Testament epistles emphasize this
dience to listen to a lecturer or choir. But worship is the               aspect of our worship. We are to worship the Lord to-
fellowship or communion of God's people through which                     gether, in the full awareness that we belong together as
there is a communal participation in the means of grace. To               God's children in distinction from the people of the world,
ignore this unity is to disrupt the public worship before it              who lie in the darkness of sin and are alienated from the
begins; and this is done with great peril to our spiritual                covenant of promise. This is the emphasis of the warning
growth. Neither can the worship of the church that is                     recorded in Hebrews  10:24,25, `And let us consider one
characterized by party-factions, divisions, and contentions               another to provoke unto love and good works; not forsak-
enhance the glory of God's Name. I Corinthians 1 is per-
tinent here for the church is enjoined "by the name of our                ing our own assembling togethe?;  as the custom of some is,
Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that             but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see
there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly                 the day drawing nigh.'
joined together in the same mind and in the same judg-                       "The necessity of thus considering one another in our
ment." No "form of worship" is good enough to~promote  the                public worship is self-evident to all who understand what
worship of a church that is devoid of this essential element.             the Bible teaches concerning the true Church.
And for the individual saint who is not consciously en-
veloped in this unity of worship the words of Jesus in Mat-                  "The Church of our Savior is a unique body in the midst
thew  523 and 24 are instructive and necessary: "Therefore                of the world. All those who are called unto life eternal are
if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest                gathered by the Spirit in the name of Christ through the
that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy                 pure preaching of the Word.  ,To the believers this Spirit of
gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to             God seals the merits of Christ and assures them individually
thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift,"                           and jointly of their everlasting inheritance. He binds them
       True worship cannot be self-centered. It must be God-              together in a spiritual brotherhood, so that they begin to
centered and because of this it must aim at the edification               manifest themselves as the temple of the Spirit, the body of
of the body of God's Son, which is the church. Only then                  Christ, the family of the Triune Covenant God.
will formalism in worship suffer defeat and the elements of                  "Moreover, this spiritual body, by virtue of the con-
worship come to their own in the experience of the wor-                   tinuous operation of the Holy Spirit, is always in communion
shippers. The importance of this is well-put in the following             with its spiritual Head. By means of His presence it enjoys
article:                                                                  the guarantee of all the spiritual gifts and grace necessary
       "Possibly one of the weakest links in the chain of our             for its own ediiication  in love (Ephesians 4:16). Out of the
spiritual life is the apparent lack of concern for our fellow-            infinite fulness of Christ He imparts the diversities of min-
men which so often characterizes our lives. Some one bas                  istrations necessary for the welfare of the whole. Thus Paul
aptly remarked that while Reformed Christians are gen-                    can speak of the several gifts bestowed on the Church, but
erally zealous in championing the duties listed in the first              adds, `all these worketh the one and same Spirit, dividing to
table of the law, they are frequently guilty of woeful                    each one severally as he will' (I Corinthians  12:ll).  The
neglect on the score of insisting with equal fervor that the              glory of the church is her manifest unity in the midst of an
     duties  of the second table shall be performed. In their             almost infinite variety of personal endowments and callings.

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

   "But this body of Christ is surrounded by foes. The                      0 1et.thi.s house be Thy abode,
world cannot understand the nature of her life any more                    Forever with Thy presence blest."
than the glory of her message. Unbelievers laugh to scorn               Gods people are a happy people; and their worship re-
the attempts made by believers to live in accordance with           flects this deep joy, which cannot be obstructed by the un-
their spiritual unity in Christ. And since they are able to         happy circumstances that exist in the world in the midst of
point out many failings which mar our lives on this score,          which they continue their worship. .This does not mean that
we must come under the chastisement of the Word and                 they are unaffected by those circumstances; but I mean here
correct the blots found in our communion. Only in the               to emphasize the necessity of putting all these things aside,
measure in which this unity manifests itself will we be             in order that during the solemn hour of worship we may
strong and true and victorious in our warfare against the           enter into the deepest experiences of being with our God
power of sin."                                                      and His people and be made the recipients of His blessings.
   This "togetherness" in worship begins in the home with               Unto this end the service has been prepared, and the
the family. The covenant of grace is established by God in          various elements have been arranged in their proper place.
the line of generations; and it is the grace of that covenant       Because we often become accustomed to the established
that unites parents and children, even as the same grace            form of worship, we are also frequently oblivious of the
unites believers in worship. Parents, who themselves are            significance of each element. This is not as it ought to be;
believers, instruct their children in all the facets of the         for we thus expose ourselves dangerously to the evil of
service of God. From their earliest years the children are          traditionalism. To avoid this we must not only understand
taken by the parents to the house of God; and they do not           each part of our worship thoroughly, but also realize the
have to be very old before they begin to understand that            participation which we have in each part; for, strictly speak-
they are part of that body that is separated from the world         ing, as we stated before, the church is not come together-
by and unto God, that they may worship Him and show                 simply to listen, but is to worship actively in every part of
forth His praise. The foundation of that worship that takes         the service. The church is at worship. This she must never
place in the church is laid in the home. It has been said           forget, even though in some parts of her worship the min-
that, `The family that worships together stays together." Not       ister leads, in other parts he addresss her, and in still others
only is this adage true; but  .tragically  the opposite is so       he acts in her behalf. Yet it is the church that actively partic-
often manifest, so that the family neglecting the unity of          ipates in the entire service.
worship becomes divided; and this basic separation is so
fundamental that it inevitably affects every relationship of           Now it is-to be noted that in different churches there are
life. Beautiful is the sight of families going together into the    different`orders of worship. Many churches print the order
house of God and there joining with other families of like          of worship on the weekly bulletin. Substantially this order
faith to worship. That oneness ought to remain manifest             is the same in all of our churches, although there are minor
throughout the entire worship and parents and children              differences  .to be noted. For instance, some churches begin
ought not to scatter as soon as they have entered ,the sanc-        with the Votum while others begin with the singing of
tuary to find individual places all over the auditorium.            "Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow." Some have
Neither should children get the notion that when they have          a separate offertory, while others receive the offering during
reacheda  certain age they suddenly become too "big" to             the singing of one of the Psalms. In some churches the con-
worship with the family. Such an attitude, too  oftenm\ani-         gregation. stands during the prayers and sits during the
fested is only a, reflection of spiritual stupidity. Let our        singing, while in others this is reversed. Let it also be ob-
worship be the spiritual exercise that it ought to be; and          served that the or.der  of worship is a thing that is subject
then it will be governed by  spiri,tual principles, and not         to change and that each church must determine which order
kegtad Ij;y notio&;  c.bf the. a&h.                                 is most `eonducive,.to,-edi3cation  for itself. When new ele-
                                                                    ments are introduced in the order of worship, we must not
   Families join together in the house of God on the sab-           immediatelyfrown  upon these and assume the attitude that
bath. Rising in the morning they make themselves ready              any change here is sin. Neither must we be so eager for
while singing in their hearts:                                      changes that we become dissatisfied to retain the same order
      "My heart was glad to hear the welcome sound,                 of worship for more than six months at a time. Each pro-
       The call to seek Jehovah's house of prayer.                  posed change must be rationally considered with a view to
       Our feet are standing here on holy ground,                   the question, `Will it contribute to an  emichment  of  our
       Within thy gates, 0 city grand and fair."                    worship?" Elements that do, not only may, but should be
                                                                    added, while those that do not should be dropped. We have
   Entering into the house of God, a prayer arises in their         not yet reached perfection in worship; and until we do, we
hearts in the form of another song. It is this:                     must continue to strive to perfect also that form or order in
      `<Arise, 0 Lord our God, arise          `.                    which we serve our God in public worship.
       And enter now into Thy rest.                                                                                         G.v.d.B.

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

                                                                     curia has far more power than any cabinet - even over the
       i4 L L A R 0 U N  D U S                                       pope himself.) Usually all problems of importance  through-
                                                                     ,out the entire church had to be referred to the curia for
                                                                     decision. Most of the bishops present at the council wanted
                                                                     this changed. They wanted to share in the government of
THE VATICAN COUNCIL                                                  the church and receive authority themselves to make deci-
       There were many glowing reports of the tremendous ac-         sions without always referring them to Rome. They wanted
complishments of the second session of the Vatican Council           it settled that the authority of the church was given to the
which met in Rome recently. From daily newspapers to                 bishops as well as to-the  pope and his "cabinet."
religious periodicals one could find little else but praise for          Although a large majority of the delegates favored this
the "great spirit of change" that was found in the Romish            change, it is doubtful whether any changes' will actually be
Church and for the tremendous accomplishments of the                 made. Pope Paul also sides with the majority, but is, at the
delegates to the Council. But there were some who con-               same time, afraid that he will have some of his own power
sidered the whole session a grand failure. Time magazine             taken away. And the curia is bitterly opposed to any changes
writes : "From a council that promised to bring about a              of this kind, for it sees its own influence in the church
sweeping inner renewal of Roman Catholicism, Vatican II              being taken away. Final decisions on this must still be made.
has become a parliament of stalemate, compromise and                     Another discussion that came up near the end of the
delay." Time laid most of the blame at the feet of Pope              Council and attracted widespread comment in the world
Paul VI who, Time claimed, failed to act decisively in sup-          was a proposal to make a statement about the Jews' respon-
port of the liberal elements in the Council who were push-           sibility for crucifying Christ. .The Council discussed a state-
ing hard for changes. "Pope Paul . . . must bear a large             ment drawn up by Cardinal Bea that would establish the
share of the blame for the session's disappointing record,"          fact that the Jews alone were not the ones who crucified
Time wrote.                                                          Christ; but that also the Gentiles had a part in it, and must
       The 2,200 delegates have returned home after a session        share responsibility. This seems obvious to everybody who
that lasted two months and adjourned on December 4. They             knows anything at all about Scripture; but the sentiment
decided to meet again in the third session next year in the          seems to be that the persecution of the Jews especially by
early part of September. The interval will give opportunity          the Nazis before and during World War II was inspired by
for many of the documents to be rewritten and revised and            a mistaken notion that only the Jews are to blame for the
condensed. But there -is little hope held out that much more         cross. If this idea is changed, it is felt, persecution against
will be accomplished then-unless the Pope determines to              the Jews will cease.
take a firmer hand than he. has.                                         There is however, something political .about  the whole
       In reviewing the results of this last session .it soon be-    thing. Recently a play came out in Europe in which Pope
comes evident how little was actually done. The Council              Pious XII is blamed for giving tacit approval to Hitler in his
busied itself with trivialities, and did not even succeed in         massacre of the Jews. That is, Pious did not directly approve
getting these passed for the most part.                              of the massacre, but he did not protest it either; and his
  The only changes that were actually adopted and are to             silence is interpreted in the play as approval. Pope Paul is
be put into effect are changes in the worship services of            deeply angry about all this and wants it on the record some-
Roman Catholics The council approved of the use of local             how that the Romish Church does not hate the Jews and
languages in the liturgy and in the mass instead of the tradi-       bears no responsibility for their persecution by the Germans.
tional Latin. The council also approved of the use of mod-               But there are already repurcussions.  The Arabs in the
ern art in church architecture and decorations, although a           Middle East, who hate the Jews with passionate hatred, are
warning was attached against extravagant use of abstract             already up in arms at the thought of the Romish Church
art. The use of local church music was also approved for             making some generous gesture towards the Jews. They want
the worship services  - even if that implies the use of tom-         nothing of the kind. On the other hand, the Jews themselves
toms in some African churches. And a fixed date was agreed           are talking about some moves that they ought to make to
upon for Easter instead of the varying date which is now             come closer to Christians, They are suggesting the possibil-
observed throughout the church world. This fixed date will           ity of making some new statements about Jesus. Of course,
only go into effect, however, if secular governments ap-             they have no intention:whatsoever  of saying that Jesus is the
prove and if other Christian churches agree.                         Christ, the Son of God, the promised Messiah. But they
       Most of the time of the Council was spent in discussing       could perhaps say that Jesus was some important rabbi, and
the power of the bishops. In the past, the power of the gov-         that some of His teachings are perhaps valid interpretations
ernment of the church has been invested in the pope and              of the law of Moses that ought to be added to Jewish tradi-
his curia. (This "curia" is a group of cardinals that is similar     tion.
to the cabinet of the president in our country; although the             Besides, Pope Paul (breaking a papal tradition of over


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                            167

two hundred years) intends to travel outside of Italy aud                   Ho~~v~~j  if `the report had been made in the light of
make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land sometime this month.                 Scripture, quite a different  report would have been written.
It seems as if this too is an astute political move.                    For Scripture makes it quite clear -that wars and rumors of
    But no decisions have been taken on-the  question of the            wars shall continue throughout all history until the very end
Jews either.                                                            of time. And this is a certain sign of the return of Christ.
    When everything is said and done, the whole work of the             This  is a Scriptural truth which cannot be overlooked in
council does not amount to much. And what work was done                 any discussion of war.
is surely not very important. There hasn't been as much as                  Further, the committee (if it had proceeded on the basis
a hint of any basic changes in Rome's position on doctrine -            of Scripture) would have been forced to admit that the only
especially the doctrines against which the Reformers fought;            peace that will ever be achieved here on earth is a peace
the council has not budged in her attitude towards all the              that shall come under the influence and power of Antichrist;.
people of God which she killed in years gone by; there has              and even this superficial peace shall dissolve in the "battle
not been any change at all on the stand that the Roman                  of the great day of God Almighty."
Catholic Church is the only true church, and that no other                  But this is not the kind of peace for which the Church of
churches have any right to existence. As one Catholic theo-             Christ ought to labor. Yet it is to be feared  that this  is
logian put it (perhaps because he was more honest than the              precisely the motive behind this report. The Church wants
rest): "We don't want change. We want the removal of er-                to cooperate with the world in bringing peace on earth. The
roneous understanding."                                                 Church wants to work through the United Nations, perhaps,
   But all this does not prevent many Protestants from prais-           to achieve this elusive goal. And in doing SO, the Church
ing the council to the skies. They have evidently made up               only shows that it labors more diligently for a kingdom of
their minds to go back to Rome regardless of what is done.              heaven here on earth than for the kingdom of which Christ
                                                                        is Lord and which shall be realized only with the elect at
NUCLEAR WAR                                                             the end of the ages in heaven.
    A statement on nuclear war was submitted by the Com-                    Even the editor of  The Banner  writes:
mittee on Warfare to the Synod of the Christian Reformed                             It is indeed commendable that the proposed statement on
Church that met in Grand Rapids last June. The Synod                              warfare, by well-chosen words and a graphic description of
                                                                                  the horrors of a thermonuclear war, seeks to arouse everyone
referred the report to the churches for study pending deci-                       to a realization of the awful peril to which we are now  ex-
sion next year.                                                                   posed, and to arouse the church of Jesus Christ to a realization
                                                                                  of its grave responsibilities.
    This statement takes the position that nuclear warfare                           Moreover, in view.of the unprecedented seriousness of the
under all circumstances is wrong, and that a Christian                            situation, we ought sincerely to hail such a statement as this in
                                                                                  which we as Christians are urged to pray for peace, to work
should be a pacifist with respect to it. To quote a few brief                     for peace, and to provide `badly needed instruction from the
excerpts from the statement:                                                      Word in the interest of promoting peace.
                                                                            Nothing of any worth will ever come from this discussion
         If a general thermonuclear war is able to scorch the earth,
      destroy all or the major part of the technical, cultural, and     unless the Synod determines to rewrite the entire report
      spiritual treasures of mankind, and annihilate the human race     from the viewpoint of Scripture.                               H. Hanko
      or leave alive only a maimed and wounded fragment of it, as
      many responsible scientists allege, then a general thermonu-
      clear war lies outside the traditional concept of a "just" war
      and must be judged impermissible, whatever the provocation.
         The Church recognizes, however, that there exists in ther-                          THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS
      monuclear weapons and missiles a destructive power too                                    (Contin.ued from page 163)
      frightful to contemplate with equanimity and  .too sinister to
      tolerate for any length of time. It judges, indeed, that the      basis of unbelief. The former is  true; the latter is per se
      general and unlimited employment of these in the course of        false.
      war is morally reprehensible and Christianly impossible.              3. The Christian need'not assume the defensive  or'ever
   It is not our intention in these remarks to discuss the              be ashamed of his Christian bias in the realm of science.
true and Scriptural teaching concerning warfare. But what               Nor need he compromise. He ought rather to develop his
does concern us here is the surprising fact that the Com-               own science and scientific theories from the principle of
mittee on Warfare lays down seventeen propositions in sup-              faith and regeneration, at least in as far as this is necessary
port of the position that a Christian should have no part in            and possible.                                                     H.C.H.
nuclear warfare, and never once in its entire statement
makes any reference to Scripture. No attempt was made at
all to discuss this problem in the light of God's Word. All                                   RESOl%JTION  OF SYMPATHY
conclusions reached are simply on the basis of reason. Even                The Martha Society of Doon  Prot. Ref. Church extends its heart-
                                                                        felt sympathy to Mrs. S. Stellinga,  in the death of her sister, and Mrs.
the editor of The Bmnw  (who pens an editorial on .this re-             H. &riper,  in the death of her sister-in-law,
port) notices this. The editor does not condemn the position                                     MRS. FRANK DE YOUNG
of the report necessarily. He only asks for Scriptural proof               May the God of all grace comfort the hearts of the bereaved.
that this is true.                                                                                                  Rev. H. Hanko, President
                                                                                                                    Mrs. E. Van  Ginkel, Secretary


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168                                                    -fjyjj`
                                                               gTA~fjjjjJy
                                                                                        BEARER        ---




                                                                            Judith Bylsma. That paper, "Cure  Relationship with our
           NEWS FROM OURCHURCHES                                            Pai%nts,"  methinks should also be read in the Men's and
                                                                            Ladies' Societies that the parents might benefit from the
                                                                           . observation of their young people for a close "`relationship'"
-                                                                           between  tl-+m.
                                                  _
                                                        Dec. 20, 1.963          Hope School's 1963 Christmas Program, in song and
                                                                            speech, developed the theme, "Unto us a Son is given."
           Rev. G. Lubbers, Home Missionary of our churches, has            This event was scheduled .to be held in the auditorium of
received a call from our Lynden Church.                                     First Church to provide room for the large audience they
           Congregational meetings have been held, office bearers           usually draw.
have been elected, budgets have been adopted - all these
preparations for a new year which no one can predict will                       Hull's societies are studying the Bible from first to last,
not witness the sign of the Son of Man in the heavens when                  with the Young People examining the history of the an-
He shall come with His holy angels to proclaim the end of                   cients from the. book of Genesis, and the Men considering
time. But, no matter  - if all our preparations include that                the letters to the church of all ages as recorded in the book
possibility, and prepare us for that Day of Days!                           of Revelation.
           In the hustle and bustle of the "holiday season" just past           Southeast consistory has decided "to request the congre-
     did we find time to meditate upon the truth found in I John            gation to sing the "Amen" at the close of the doxologies,
4:10,  "`Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He                 whereas formerly this was done without singing by the or-
loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our                   ganist."
sins"? Is so, then it follows that our striving for a happy new                 Hope's Men's Society, on an after recess program, heard
year will be in the direction of heeding the admonition in                  a `paper by Mr. Harold Tihna  on, "Do We Need a Christian
the last verse of that same chapter, "And this command-                     Political Party?" This must have been very interesting for
ment have we from Him, that he who loveth God love his                      we understand that Mr. Tilrna is somewhat an authority on
     brother also."                                                         this subject through investigation and by personal  contadt
           Contribution from the Program Committee of the Re-               with men working toward that goal.
formed Witness Hour: The Lord willing, Rev. H. Hoeksema                         The group of men who are dedicated to the publishing
will continue his series of radio lectures during January,                  of Rev. H. Hoeksema's "Dogmatics" had scheduled a meet-
     which concern the Natures, Offices and States of our Lord              ing Dec. `13 at Southwest Church, but the severe wintry
Jesus Christ. The subject of the pastor's message for Sun-                  weather kept so many men home that a quorum was not
     day, Jan. 5 is -`Christ, our High Priest." The following               attained. Therefore another meeting was scheduled for Jan.
     Lord's day, Jan. ly,
                               i the Scriptural term - "After the order     24 at Southeast Church. This group is identiiied  with the
     of Melchizedec" will be treated. Proclaiming the truth that
     -                                                                      name, "The Publication Committee," and an invitation to
          "Christ, by His suffering and death, fully satisfied' for all      join them is a standing one. Their immediate goal is the
     the sins of those whom the Father gave Him," Rev. Hoek-                raising of $5,000.00,  and the Publication Committee member-
     sema continues this month's sermons under the title, "Rec-              ship must bring that up, so won't you join? For further in-
     onciliation through Satisfaction," (Jan. 19). The final Sun-           formation ask the clerk of your con&tory, or write to the
     day, Jan. 26, the topic will be, "The Moral Theory Christ's             editor of this page.
     Death." This -entire series of Distinctively Reformed radio
     sermons can be obtained in-printed form. Send your re-                     The Psalmist said, "When I was musing the ilre burned."
     quest to The: Reformed Witness Hour, Box 1230, Grand                    To muse is to meditate, and when reverently done in the
     Rapids, Michigan 49501.                                                 Spirit, is invaluable to the Christian. But  meditation  has
                                                                            been crowded out by entertainment and thus has changed
           Hudsonville has an ingenious way of getting all their             musing to  amu&ng. D. D. Dawson.
     adult members to a social gathering once a year.- The Mr.
     and Mrs. Society, plus the Ladies' Society  a.nd their hzcs-               Happy is he that hath mercy on the poor. (Prov. 14:21);
     bands, plus the Men's Society -and their wives had a joint              He that ,keepeth  the. law, happy is he, (Prov. 19:18); . . .
     evening meeting Dec. 17. In a church with a healthy so-                 suffer for righteousness,- happy are ye (I Peter 3: 14) ; if ye
     ciety life that invitation would include all but the night-             be reproached ~. .-.$a~~ -are-ye, (I Peter 4:14); if ye. know
     workers and the shut-ins, don't you think.                              these things,  Jtip$y   *are ye if ye do them (John  13:17).
                                                                             Happy New Yea:r!
           In a November meeting of the Sr. Young People's So-
     ciety of First Church an after recess paper was given by                   . . . see you in church.                             J.M.F.


