   VOLU&lE  ,=x1x                       MARCH 15, 1963 - GRAND  RAPIDS, MICHIGAN

                                                               this Teacher was already proceeding to the next step of
L -.M E D I T A T I O N instruction.
                                                                  And as Moses . . .

                                                                  Yes, these things had been written for our instruction.
        THE .SON OF MAN BE LIFTED UP                           Well may Nicodemus listen.

         And (IS Moses lift@ up the serpent in the wildw          And we also.
     ness,  even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that
     ,whosoever  believeth  in him shodd not perish, but
     have etternal  life.                    John 3:14,  15       As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness . . . .

                                                                  As a child on his -father's knee  Nicodemus had already
   And as Moses . . . .                                        listened with wide-eyed interest to this incident in Israel's

   That was language that Nicodemus could understand.          wanderings in the wilderness. How well he knew that it
                                                               had been toward the end of those bitter thirty-eight years
   Unti this moment he had asked in wonder, How can
                                                               of wanderings. Israel had complained, because their soul
these things be? For though he was a ruler in Israel the
                                                               had grown weary of the way. And the Lord had turned
darkness in his, soul was as heavy as the night round about
                                                               in anger against this disgruntled people. He had sent His
him. He had%ome to Jesus to find out more about this
                                                               visitation upon them, so that many perished. But He had
new, strange Teacher from Galilee Who performed signs
                                                               also sent His wonderful deliverance to those who looked
and wonders such as only God can perform. In spite of '
                                                               in faith upon the brazen serpent. Yes, he knew the history,
the hostility of the fellow Sanhedrists against Him, Nico-
                                                               just as well as we and our +ildren  do today.
demus was inclined to consider Him a great prophet sent
of God. And $f this Jesus was such a prophet He could             It was a history of sin, of divine chastisement upon their
solve the problems that weighed so heavily on the soul of      sin, of sorrow and repentance, of deliverance through faith
Nicodemus. during these past days. Personal problems they      in the God of their salvation. Yes, a history of deliverance
were. Problems that pertained to his own peace of mind,        for the elect remnant that was saved by faith, even as the.
so sorely lacking because of the weight of sin and guilt       wicked perished in their sins.

upon his soul. Reluctant he had been to talk about these          How bitterly Israel had `rebelled. They complained.
personal matters to anyone else. Hesitant he was even now      about everything that Moses had done, but also about all.
to approach this Stranger with such vital matters.             God's dealings with them, even His good gifts upon them.:

   And yet Jesus had consented to talk with him. Had           Had they known in advance that their deliverance from
spoken of the kingdom of heaven, which had been so much        Egypt would end up in .a thirty-eight years of wandering.
his personal concern. Had told him about a blindness that      they would never have left that land of plenty. And what.
prevented him ,from even seeing that kingdom. And had          a monotonous diet that tasteless mann had become? They.
said that he must be born again should he ever as much as      could hardly swallow it any more. Besides, what prospect
even see the kingdom of heaven. And thus Nicodemus             could they look forward to in the future? Before them lay
found himself asking questions, one upon another.              the land of Canaan with its giants, its fortified cities and.
                                                               hostile foes. Grumblings, rebellions ran like a contagious.
   And greater mysteries began to unfold themselves.
                                                               disease through the camp.
Jesus began to speak of His coming into the world. He
was sent of God. Yes, He came from heaven. Even as He             And He Who k.nows the thoughts and impulses of the
was at that moment in heaven. Again Nicodemus would            heart of man was angry. In righteous indignation He was.
like to raise the question: How can these things be? But       jealous -of His Name and honor. He is too holy of eyes to.

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


ignore sin. Therefore He sent fiery serpents into the camp.         been borne away. Only then could He triumphantly reach

The ground teemed with them. Long, writhing creatures               out for deliverance with the cry: "It is finished."

slithered into their tents and into their beds. Their fiery            In Him alone is all our salvation. He is the only One
red color sent the chills down their spine. Their deadly            Who could be placed in our stead. The only One Who
sting already aroused the moans of the dying,and  the cries         could bear the burden of God's wrath and bear it away. He
of those whoe dear ones were being torn from them. And              is the only One Who could merit life and salvation for
where should anyone turn when they all walked in the                others. He is God. He is Man. Son of man is Hi.4 name.
midst of death?                                                     For He came as righteous man to deliver us from sin and
       But then another wonder happened, fully as great as          bring us into the heavenly Canaan of eternal salvation.
the wonder of the serpents. For there were those in Israel             And so for a moment I survey that wondrous cross . . .
who were brought to repentance. They saw in these ser-

pents the very embodiment of God's curse against sin. In
sorrow of heart they confessed.to  Moses: "We have sinned,             And I begin to understand somewhat the "must."

for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray            It is the "must" of which our Lord Himself spoke to us.
unto the Lord, that he may take away the serpents from us."
                                              ~_..    ._-. Fc;      For He said: "So must the Son of man be lifted up."
   But the Lord did something even more w%de~m  than                   He spoke of that "must" with a conviction that reveals
taking the serpents away. He instructed Moses to place a            the depth of the mystery that is implied. Without attempt-
brazen serpent, alike in appearance to these deadly ser-            ing to fathom the depths of that amazing fact, we accept it
pents, on a pole far above the camp. And that day the               in awed wonder. We realize that this necessity was not
Lord caused many to look in faith to that brazen serpent to         imposed upon God as if circumstances should compel Him
find their deliverance from sin and death there. Looking in         to do something contrary to His will. For He is sovereign
faith to that serpent they experienced that the power of the        in all His dealings with us. The necessity lay in His own
curse was broken. Yes, even though they were stung by the           divine Being. Because He is God. Because He would share
deadly serpents that infested the camp, they were healed            His intimate covenant life with the creature. Because He
and lived. Before them loomed with greater assurance than           has chosen us -wonder of wonders -to be His peculiar
ever the hope of entering the promised land.                        people that should show forth His praises forever. Yes,

       Saved through the serpent raised above the camp!             because He would bring many sons unto glory through the
                                                                    way of sin and grace, `it became Him, for whom are all

                                                                    things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons
       Even so must the Son of man be lifted up . . .               unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect
       There is an obvious analogy, as amazing as it is obvious!    through suffering (Heb. 2:lO).  But that does not exclude

       Let the thought penetrate into our souls a moment. Jesus     the fact that this death of God's only begotten Son was very
compares Himself to that brazen serpent towering above              painful for Him. Who of us would not want to spare our
the sandy wastes of the desert as it glistens in the. sun.          son, especially our only son. Yet, God spared not His only
                                                                    begotten Son, but delivered Him up for us all (Rom. 8:32).
       The brazen serpent was like the deadly serpents that
brought death into the camp by the righteous judgment of               There was a divine necessity in God. But there was no
God. Even as the messengers of death, the brazen serpent            less a necessity in the Son, even in Christ. We hear Him
was a symbol of God's curse. And Christ became like that            say when all is accomplished, "Ought not Christ to have
serpent. He became a curse for us to redeem us from the             suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?" It was
curse, as Paul repeats in Galatians 3:13.  He who knew no           that "`must" that impelled Him all His life. Already at
sin, was made sin for us (II Cor. 5:21) . In holy wonder we         twelve years of age He assured His mother that He must
look at the cross of Golgotha to say: He knew no sin. God           be about His Father's business. At the opportune time He
made Him sin, even the embodiment of the curse, rejected            himself impressed upon His disciples that He must be
of God and of men. Yes, God made Him sin for us. 0 the              delivered into the hands of sinful men to be crucified and
depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of             to arise on the third day. In perfect obedience He walked
God!                                                                the way of the cross unwaveringly to the end, for He came
                                                                    to do the Father's will.
       And as the serpent was lifted up, even so must the Son
of man be lifted up. All through His life here on earth He             Finally, there is also a "must" as far as we are concerned.
bore the burden of sin and guilt, walking steadfastly to-           A necessity that we shall never understand until we realize
ward the cross that always loomed up before Him. That               that we, too, walk in the midst of the death. A necessity
very cross was the symbol of God's.curse  against sin. And          that will never give us peace until we realize that our sins
upon that altar He laid His own body as the Lamb for                cry to heaven for punishment. Until we confess: `Against
sinners slain. He suffered all the torments of hell, forsaken       thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done evil in thy sight."
of His God, until the full measure of the wrath of God had          Until on our knees we acknowledge that there is no escape.


                                                     T H E   STAN.DARD   B E A R E R                                                                                                                                                              267


      No escape except for the fact that the Son of man was

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      "That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish."

  He makes it so emphatic: Every one believing in Him                                                                                         C O N T E N T S
  should not perish. His blood is su5cient for all the sins of
                                                                                         MEJJITATION-
  those who look in faith to Him. It is as simple as that:                                        The Son o f Man Be Lifted Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
  Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."                                                 Rev;' @r;-Hanko-

  Every one without exception that believes is saved.
                                                                                         EDITORIALS-
      For He adds: That one has everlasting life. Not merely,                                     Rank Arnnnianism                                in Calvin Seminary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._.....  ,268

  will possess everlasting life! Even that is wonderful beyond                                               Rev. H. Hoeksema

  description. But he has it already now. He has life in the
                                                                                         OUR 
  midst of death. Death has no sting. The grave has no                                           DOCTRINE-
                                                                                                  Preservation and Perseverance . _. _. . _. . . . _. .270
  victory!                                                                                                   Rev. H. Hoeksema

      And as that Word of God penetrates into our hearts we
                                                                                         A CLOUD 
  realize its power in us. In renewed wonder we cry out:                                               OF WITNESSES-
                                                                                                  The Capture of Ai...  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._.  _.. . ._.........  274
  "Lord, I do believe, help Thou my unbelief."                                                               Rev. B. Woudenberg

      And as the full reality dawns -upon us we experience                               FROM HOLY WRIT -
  peace, peace with God.                                                                          Exposition of I Timothy.. . . . . . _. . . . . . . ,276

      For we know that it is His work. His work of love, even                                                Rev. G. Lubbers

  sovereign love.                                                                        IN HIS FEAR -

      For such a wretch as I.                                                                     My Father's World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..__..  . . . . . . .._......_  278
                                                                                                             Rev. J. A. Heys
      And that forever.

      Saved by grace.                                                                    CONTENDING  FOR THE FAITH-
                                                                                                  The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~...___..........___.........  280;
                                                                            C.H.                             Rev. H. Veldman


                                                                                         THE VOICE OF OUR  FATHERS -
                                                                                                  The Belgic Confession. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..__  __........  __... . ..282.

                                                                                                             Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
                     Notice for Classis  West

      Classis  West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will                             DECENCY AND ORDER-
                                                                                                  Reconciliation with the Church. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._  284,
  meet, the Lord willing, in Doon,  Iowa, on Wednesday,                                                      Rev. G. Vanden Berg
  March 20, 1963, at 9 A: M.
                                                                                         ALLARouNDus-
      The consistories are reminded of the rule that matters                                      Minister Shortage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286  :
  for the classical agenda must be in the hands of the Stated                                     Prayers for the Dead - an Ecumenical Prayer? . ..____._........._  286
                                                                                                  Ten Top Religious News Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
  Clerk not later than 30 days before the date of Classis.  And                                              Rev. H. Hanko
  all matters that are to be brought to Synod must also be

  presented at this classis.                                                             NEWS FROM OUR ~H~RCHES..............................................................~~~                                                                            :
                                                                                                             Mr. J. M. Faber
                                R E V .   H .   V E L D M A N ,   S t a t e d   Clerk


     268                                        T.HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
I                                                                        -I- _

                                                                            In vs. 11 we read: "For both he that sanctifieth and
                  EDI.PQRIAf.3                                          they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he
                                                                        is not ashamed to call them brethren." And in vs. 12: "Say-

                                                                        ing, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst

             Rank Wrminianism in Calvin Seminary                        of the church I will sing praise unto thee." Now, in the first
                                                                        place, the text speaks of those who are sanctified; sanciifica-
            Prof. Dekker also refers to some texts of Scripture to
                                                                        tion is purely a work of God; question: Is every man 
     prove that, 1. "Consistent interpretation of similar passages                                                                 sanc-
                                                                        tified? Answer: No, only the sons of God, i.e., the elect.
     results in absurdity." 2. "Scriptural~evidence  used by Berk-
                                                                        Hence, "every man" in vs. 9 cannot mean every individua1
     hof is further brought into question by the fact that Scrip-
                                                                        that ever lived, is still living, or shall ever live. In the
     ture also speaks of the death of Christ as being "unlimited
                                                                        second place, Christ calls those that are thus sanctified his `0
     and for all men."
                                                                        `brethren." Are all men the brethren of Christ? Answer:
            AS to the former, Dekker refers to Isaiah 58:8.  This       No, but only the sons of God, whom the Father gave to
     text reads as follows: "Then shall thy light break forth as        Christ. In the third place, Christ speaks of His brethren as
     the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily:         members of the church: "in the midst of the church I will
     and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the       sing praise unto thee."      Does every man belong to the
     Lord shall be thy reward." According to Dekker this text           church? No, but only those that are chosen from before
     means that Christ died only for Israel, I am afraid that the       the foundation of the world, i.e., according to all Scripture,
     reference here is not correct and that Dekker meant to refer       as well as according to the Heidelberg Catechism, only the
     to some other passage. At any rate the text does even speak        elect.
     at all of the death of Christ and, therefore cannot possibly
                                                                           The same note is struck throughout the rest of the chap-
     be used as proof that He died for Israel only.
                                                                        ter. This is so plain that it is not necessary for me to quote
            And to the second text to which he refers, it reads as      more. The text in vs. 9, therefore, that speaks of "every
     follows: `I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live;         man" cannot possibly refer to every individual that ever
     yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now       lived, still lives, or will live in the future.
     live in the flesh I live by t-be  faith of the Son of God, who
                                                                            Prof. Dekker also refers to I John 2:2, which speaks of
     loved me, and gave himself for me." Indeed, if this text
                                                                        the whole world. The text reads as follows: "And  he is the
     would mean that Christ died only for Paul, it expresses an
                                                                        propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for
     absurdity. But Dekker knows better, of course, and, there-
                                                                        the sins of the whole world." Now, on this I remark the
     fore, I need not attempt to offer the exegesis of this passage.
                                                                        following:
            The second group of texts are more to the point. First,         1. I repeat, what I have written before, that the term
     there is reference to Heb. 2:9,`which reads as follows: "But       `world" in Scripture never means simply "all men."
     we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels,
     for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor;              2.     That, if I John 2:2 is interpreted to mean that Christ
     that he by the grace of God should taste death for every           is the propitiation for the sins of all men in the whole world,
     man."                                                              then it follows that all men are surely saved.

                                                                            3. That the term "world" in the First Epistle of John
            To this I would answer:
                                                                        has different meanings.      Thus, for instance, in the same
            1. That;if Christ literally gave His lifeblood for every    chapter from which Dekker quotes, vss. 15-17: "Love not
     man, i.e., for every individual under the sun, every man           the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any
     surely would beg saved, whether or not he hears the gospel.        man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
     Then, indeed, even the preaching of the gospel would be            For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust
     superfluous.                                                       of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but

            2. That the following context defines the phrase "every     is of the world. And the world passeth away and the lust

     man" as referring to Jesus' brethren. Let me quote a few           thereof but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."

     of the verses that follow vs. 9:                                   Would Prof. Dekker dare maintain that Christ is the propi-

            "For it became him,  for whom are all things, and by        tiation also for the sins of the `;Vorld"  as the term occurs in
     whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to          the above quoted passage? I do not believe it.
     make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffer-            4. What, then, is the proper interpretation of the term
     ing." For whom did Christ die, and who are saved? Surely           `the whole world" in I John 2:2?  It is simply this: Christ
     not "all men" still less "for every man," but: 1. for "many,"      is the propitiation for all the elect out of the whole world.
     and 2. for the "sons," which evidently does not refer to           Please, do not say that I carry'my own preconceived notions
     every man, but those whom God, in His eternal counsel              into the text, for all Scripture and also the whole of the
     had adopted as sons, and in whom, in time, He realizes this        First Epistle of John sustains this interpretation. How
     adoption.                                                          would you explain, for instance, I John 3:l: "Behold what


                                         T H E   STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                       269


manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that wk          cluded iA "all"  mentioned in ch. 2:6. He cannot mean that
should be called the sons of God: therefore the world             Christ gave himself a ransom for them. Hence, this does
knoweth us not, because it knew him not." Here the term           not and cannot prove that the atonement of Christ is un-
`world" certainly has not the same meaning as in I John           limited.

2:2. That this "world" knows not "us," the people of God,           I must confess that I do not understand what Prof.
means that this "world" has no fellowship with them; and          Dekker means by the design of the atonement as such. And
#cannot  have fellowship with them. And why not? The              again I do not understand what he means when he writes
.answer  is: because they are called the sons of God, accord-     that the Canons "speak of the design of the atonement as
ing to the text. And who are these sons of God, or rather,        far as its `saving efficacy' is concerned." By "limited atone-
they who are called the sons of God. And again, who are           ment" I understand that Christ did not die for all men, but
they that are so called? The answer is: they are called thus      for the elect only. And this is, to be sure, very emphatically
by God: they are effectually called. Once more: who are           expressed in Canons II, 8. It declares "that  the quickening,
thus effectually called? Only the elect and none other.           and saving efficacy of the most precious death of his Son

   And thus I could continue, for the whole First Epistle         should extend to all the elect, for bestowing upon them
of John is full of the distinction between the world and the      alone the gift of justifying faith, thereby to bring them in-
sons of God, between the children of the devil and the            fallibly unto salvation." Is not this the meaning of "limited
children of God. But let this be sufficient.                      atonement?" And the Canons, in the above mentioned
                                                                  article, continues as follows: "that is it was the will of
   But certain it is that Christ is not the propitiation for
                                                                  God, that Christ by the blood of the cross, whereby he
the sins of all men.
                                                                  confirmed the new covenant, should effectually redeem out
   Prof. Dekker also refers to, Matt. 20:8.  This text reads      of every people, tribe, nation and language, all those, and
as follows "Even as the Son of man came not to be min-            those only who were from eternity chosen to salvation, and
istered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom      given to him by the Father." Again, I ask: is not this meant
for many."                                                        by "`limited atonement"? Moreover, Canons II, 8 is intro-

   This passage of Scripture cannot prove that God loves          duced by the clause: "For this was the sovereign counsel,
all men, nor can it substantiate the theory that the atone-       and most gracious will and purpose of God the Father."

ment of Christ is unlimited, for the simple reason that it        Is not this t&e same as the design of God? Is it not true,

does not speak of "all"  but of "many." If it proves anything,    therefore, that the Canons here teach it was the design of
it rather substantiates the view that atonement is limited. I     God that Christ should die for the elect alone and for none
cannot understand why Dekk&-  refers to this Scriptural pas-      else? Dekker writes: "The key phrases in the above ex-
sage.                                                             cerpt from the Canons are `saving efficacy,' `justifying faith,'
                                                                  and `effectually redeem.' "    But this is a mere arbitrary
   The next text appears to be more pertinent. It is I Tim.
                                                                  choice.. I could, with equal if not more justice claim that
2:6.  `Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in
                                                                  the key clauses must be found  in the words "should extend
due time." About this I would like to make the following
                                                                  to all the elect," and "it was the will of God, that Christ
remarks :
                                                                  by the blood of the cross . . . all those, and those only, who
   1. The word "all" without any modifier by no means             were from eternity chosen to salvation, and given to him by
always means "all men." In fact, if this is the meaning it        the Father." In other words, Christ died only for the elect
is usually definitely indicated. This is the case in Romans       and for none other. And this is limited atonement.
5:12: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world,          Dekker further writes:
and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for
that all have sinned." And again in vs. 18.: `"Therefore as          "Now let us return to our original question. Is the
by the offence  of one judgment came upon all men to con-         atonement limited or universal in its design? The answer
demnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift      depends on what we mean by design. As far as the atone-
came upon all men unto justification of life."                    ment is concerned, four factors may be distinguished when.
                                                                  we speak of design: efficiency, availaability,  desire, and.
   2. Besides, it is evident from the context that "all"  in      efficacy.
I Tim. 2:6 cannot mean all men. In the first chapter, the
apostle speaks of those that desire "to be teachers of the          "First, can those who recognize the sz@iciency  of the.
law;" and that understand not what they say or whereof            atonement for all men, as Berkhof certainly does, deny that.
they affirm.  Moreover, the apostle speaks of "the lawless        this was part of its design 2 If universal sufficiency is not-
and disobedient, the ungodly, the unholy and profane,             part of the divine design of the atonement it is an accident,
murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, manslayers,        an unintended by-product.       Any such conception is of`
whoremongers, they that defile themselves, menstealers,           course theologically impossible and amply discredited by
liars, perjured persons." Now Prof. Dekker certainly would        the Bible."

not maintain that those that are mentioned above are in-             Let us stop here a moment.

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


  The Canons of Dordrecht speak of the sufficiency of the

atonement of Christ in II, 3 as follows:                          (1 O.UR D.OCTRINE  jl
   "The death of the Son of God is the only arid most                                                                        -J[
perfect sacrifice and satisfaction for sin; and is of infinite

worth and value, abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins                                 CHAPTERVI
of the whole world."

   Now, if this is intepreted to mean that Christ shed                     PRESERVATION AND PERSEVERANCE

even one drop of blood for anyone except for the elect, as                                 (Continued)
Dekker evidently would interpret it, then I cannot agree.

With Him on the cross were, not the reprobate or even                And therefore the opponents of the doctrine of preserva-
`the whole world," but only the elect and none other. But         tion and perseverance argue that if it is established before-
if this means merely that the death of Christ is of infinite      hand that the believer can never fall away finally, can never
value because, as the next article explains, "This death          fall from grace completely, these admonitions of Scripture
derives its infinite value and dignity from these considera-      loss all their seriousness. If it is established beforehand
tions, because the person who submitted to it was not only        that once saved is saved forever, why should we still fight
really man and perfectly holy, but also the only begotten         the battle in order to be saved? And therefore, it appears
Son of God, of the same eternal and infinite essence with         as if the doctrine of the preservation and perseverance of
the Father and the Holy Spirit, which qualifications were         the saints must needs make men careless and profane. And
necessary to constitute him a savior for us", then I agree.       a doctrine that is based on such an ungodly conception
In other words, Christ shed His life-blood only for the elect     certainly cannot have the truth of Scripture for its founda-
and His death was, indeed, su&ient to expiate their sins          tion.
because it was of infinite value seeing it was the death of           But let us look at these arguments a little more closely.
the Son of God.                                                       As to the argument that the Scriptures admonish the

   And this is in harmony with the whole of the Canons:           believers to stand fast and to watch and to pray, in order
Christ's death is abundantly sufficient for the salvation of      that they may not fall away from the faith, but persevere,
all the elect.                                                    we may answer that this in no wise militates against the
                                                                  truth of the preservation and perseverance of the saints.
   Nev.ertheless,  I could wish that the last clause of Canons    Even as conscious faith is wrought through the preaching
II, 3 had not occurred. Prof. Dekker, evidently makes use         of the Word but by the Holy Spirit, so also the persever-
of it to support his theory that God loves all men and that,      ance of the saints is a fruit of the operation of the Holy
therefore, the death of Christ also is for all men.               Spirit through the same Word of God. We must remember
   We hope to continue this discussion in the next issue          that grace does not destroy the rational and moral nature
of our paper.                                                     of the Christian, but preserves it. God always treats be-

   In the meantime my articles on Anninianism  must wait          lievers as rational, moral creatures. This is also the language
till more space is available.                                     of the Reformed confessions. In Canons III, IV, 16, we
                                                        H.H.      read: "But as man by the fall did not cease to be a creature,
                                                                  endowed with understanding and will, nor did sin which

                                                                  pervaded the whole race of mankind, deprive him of the

          Beneath Thy care the sparrow finds                      human nature, but brought upon him depravity and spirit-
            A place of peaceful rest;                             ual death; so also this grace of regeneration does not treat
          Where she may safely lay her young                      men as senseless stocks and blocks, nor takes away their will
            The swallow finds a nest;                             and its properties, neither does violence thereto; but spirit-
          Then, .Lord  of Hosts, my King, my God,                 ually quickens, heals, corrects, and at the same time sweetly
            Thy love will shelter me;                             and powerfully bends iv, that where carnal rebellion and
         Beneath Thy altar's peaceful shade                       resistance formerly prevailed, a ready and sincere spiritual
            My dwelling-place shall be.                           obedience begins to reign; in which the true and spiritual
                                                                  restoration and freedom of our will consist. Wherefore un-
         Blest they who dwell within Thy house,                   less the admirable author of every good work wrought in
            Their perfect strength Thou art;                      us, man could have no hope of recovering from his fall by

          Their joyful praise shall never cease,                  his own free will; by the abuse of which, in a state of in-

            Thy ways are in their heart.                          nocence, he plunged himself  into ruin." The same note is

          Their tears of grief, like early rain,                  struck in Canons V, 12 and 13: "This certainty of persever-

            Sweet springs of joy shall fill;                      ance, however, is so far from exciting in believers a spirit

         With strength renewed they journey safe                  of pride, or of rendering them carnally secure, that on the

            To Zion's holy hill.                                  contrary, it is the real source of humility, filial reverence,


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               271


     true piety, patience in every tribulation, fervent prayers,       whereby God leads His people infallibly unto salvation, j

     constancy in suffering, and in confessing the truth, and of       even unto the very end.

     solid rejoicing in God: so that the consideration of this            The argument that according to Scripture there are
     benefit should serve as an incentive to the serious and con-      examples of those that have fallen away from grace and
     stant practice of gratitude and good works, as appears from       from the faith is not diflicult  to contradict. To all such
     the testimonies of Scripture, and the examples of the saints."    arguments certainly apply the words of the apostle in I
     Art. 12. And in Article 13 we read: "Neither does renewed         John 2:19,  "They went out from us, but they were not of
     confidence of persevering produce licentiousness, or a dis-       us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have
     regard to piety in those who are recovering from back-            continued with us: but they went out that they might be
     sliding; but it renders- them much more careful and soli-         made manifest that they were not of us." This also applies
     citous to continue in the ways of the Lord, which he hath         to the false prophets and teachers mentioned in II Peter
I    ordained, that they who walk therein may maintain an as-          2:l. This verse certainly cannot mean that those false
     surance of persevering, lest by abusing his fatherly kind-        teachers were bought by the blood of Christ, and that now
     ness, God should turn away his gracious countenance from          they fell away from grace. But it must mean that although
     them, to behold which is to the godly dearer than life: the       formally and nominally they were reckoned to belong to
     withdrawing whereof is more bitter than death, and they           the church of Christ in the world, they became enemies and
     in consequence hereof should fall into more grievous tor-         denied the atoning  blood of Christ. And the same inter-
     ments of conscience."                                             pretation applies to the well-known verse in Hebrews 10:29,

                                                                       which speaks of those who have trodden under foot the
        Hence, the work of God's grace whereby the believers
                                                                       Son of God, and have counted the blood of the covenant
     persevere even unto the end does not treat the believers as
                                                                       wherewith they were sanctified an unholy thing, and have
     stock and blocks, but as rational, moral creatures. That
                                                                       done despite unto the Spirit of grace. Also to these words
     God preserves the elect presupposes, in the first place, that
                                                                       apply the words of the apostle John, "They went out from
     the Most High has determined the final destination of His
                                                                       us, but they were not of us." Although for a time they
     people from all eternity in His counsel. And this determina-
                                                                       appeared as if they belonged to the true church of God
     tion is not only general, so that He pre-ordained His church
                                                                       and of Christ, they never did belong to that church what-
     unto glory, but also particular, so that He ordained every
                                                                       soever. And therefore, it certainly must be maintained that
     one of His elect to his own place in final glory. In the
                                                                       once a believer is always a believer, once a saint is always
     second place, this preservation also presupposes that God
                                                                       a saint. There is no possibility nor reality of the falling:
     with a view to that final destination of the elect also deter-
                                                                       away of the people of God from faith and from salvation.
     mined the way along which and in which the believers
     reach the end, and ordained also the means which must                To the same category, although from a different point
     serve the attainment of the final glory. And finally, that        of view, belongs the passage of John X5:1-6  and that of
     preservation also implies that God Himself executes that          Romans 11:17-22.  In John 15 we read the well-known.
     counsel, and that He leads the believers in particular, as        words : `I am the true vine, and my Father is the husband-
     well as the church in general, alone and in the way deter-        man. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh.
     mined by Him, and through almighty grace, to their final          away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it,.

     destination. And to those means which God has ordained            that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean.

     to lead His children to glory also belongs the preaching of       through the word which I -have spoken unto you. Abide-
     the gospel. For once more: God deals with His people as           in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of`
     rational, moral creatures. He preserves them. And through         itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except:
     the power of that preservation they persevere. The power          ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He:

     of God whereby He preserves the saints does not make              that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth
     them stocks and blocks, but works in them and through             much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man.
I    them. It works in their hearts through the power of the           abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is with-.
     Spirit of Christ. And from their heart that power influences      ered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire,
     mind and will and the entire consciousness of the Christian.      and they are burned." And in the passage from Romans II
     The people of God, according to I Peter 1:4,  5, are indeed       we read: "And if some of the branches be broken off, and.
     infallibly preserved unto the inheritance incorruptible and       thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them,,
     undefiled and that fadeth not away; but that preservation         and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the.
     is in the power of God, but also through faith. And for           olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast,.
     that reason, the argument of those that oppose the truth          thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say
I    of the final perseverance of the saints which appeals to the      then; The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted
     exhortations of the Scriptures in order to maintain the op-       in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and
     posite, is of no validity whatsoever. The Word of God,            thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For
     addressed through the preaching, is one of the means              if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he I

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


also spare not thee.    Behold therefore the goodness and         seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shal1

severity of God on them which fell, severity; but toward          thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children

thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: other-          of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the

wise thou also shalt be cut off."                                 children of the promise are counted for the seed." This

   It does not surprise us that the Arminians appeal to           passage proves very plainly what I said before, namely:
these texts to prove that there is a final falling away from      that the branches which are cut off must not be considered
grace. It stands to reason that if we understand by the           to be the individual believers, but the generations of the
branches of the vine and of the olive tree that are broken        people of God. And therefore also this passage does not
off individual believers, then we must come to the conclu-        prove the Arminian view of the falling away of believers.

sion that there is a falling away from grace.                        Finally, a word must be said about the well-known pas-

   However, we must call attention, in the first place, to        sage from Hebrews 6:4-S.  There we read: "For it is im-
the fact that according to the presentation of these texts, if    possible for those who were once enlightened, and have

there is actually a falling away from grace, such falling         tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of

way is indeed final; and those that fall way can never re-        the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God,
turn. The finality of the falling away from grace does not        and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fapl
occur at the moment of the death of the believer, but at          away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they
any time when he falls away. Understood thus, the Ar-             crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him
minian  certainly proves more than he intends to demon-           to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the
strate by these verses. But, in the second place, as soon as      rain that cometh  oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet
we bear in mind the historical, organic development of the        for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from
covenant of God in the line of continued generations, it will     God: But that which beareth  thorns and briers is rejected,
be perfectly evident that even these verses do not teach a        and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned."

final and de&rite  falling away from the faith. According to         How must this passage be explained in the light of the
this thoroughly Scriptural conception, the branches that are      doctrine of the perseverance of the saints? The text uses
broken off from the vine and from the olive tree are not          indeed very strong terms, which almost would leave the
individual believers, but rather generations. God estab-          impression as if those of whom it speaks were true believers
lishes His covenant with Abraham and his seed in the line         and true saints in Christ Jesus our Lord. The text says that
of continued generations.    Those generations of the cov-        these men, these members of the church, were once en-
enant are the branches in the vine and in the olive tree.         lightened, that is, they have received the light of the gospel.
This historical development of the covenant in the line o?        Intellectually they understand the truth of the Word of
continued generations, however, is the cause of the fact          God and clearly apprehend its import. Moreover, the text
that while some generations are originally live branches of       says that they tasted of the heavenly gift. Now the heav-
the vine and of the olive tree, in their continuation they do     enly gift is without any doubt the fulness  of grace. It is
not remain in the tree. Just as there are branches of the         the gift bestowed from heaven through the Spirit of Christ.
vine that do not bear fruit, so also in the generations of        It includes blessings of grace such as forgiveness, right-
the people of God there are those that are fruitless and that     eousness, peace, joy, etc. Now the text says that of this
are cut out. This could not be the case if all the seed of        heavenly gift they tasted. Mark you well, it does not say
Abraham were spiritual seed. But now, according to Scrip-         that they had a spiritual part in that heavenly gift. But
ture, this is not the case. All are not Israel that are of        they simply tasted of it. Moreover, the passage teaches that
Israel; and only the children of the promise are counted for      these men were partakers of the Holy Ghost, that is, of the
the seed. And therefore, also these verses do not teach a         special and general gifts bestowed by the Spirit upon the
falling away of the individual believers in Christ Jesus.         church, especially in those times -gifts such as healing,

   That this is indeed true is very evident from Romans           tongues, prophesying, comfort, exhortation, teaching, ad-

9:I, ff.: `I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience    monition. Moreover, they tasted the good Word of God.

also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, That I have            Good the Word of God is because of the blessed promise of

great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I           eternal life. And also of that Word of God they tasted; and

could wish-that myself were accursed from Christ for my           they tasted, moreover, of the powers of the world to come.

brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: Who are Is-          The world to come is evidently the glorious kingdom in

raelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory,         which Christ is Lord and in which all His people reign

and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the             with Him over all things.     The victorious powers of that

service of God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers,          -world to come are experienced by true believers even in

and of whom as concerning the flesh Chirst came, who is           the present world and in the present time. And also of

over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. Not as though the           these powers, so the text teaches us, those that fall away

word of God bath taken none effect. For they are not all          tasted. The text, therefore, after all does not speak of true

Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the        believers, but of men that in the church of Christ. have


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              273


come very near to the kingdom of God, so that with their          fest, as reprobate. And therefore, reprobation is the deepest
intellectual and natural mind they apprehend the kingdom          cause both of that falling away, and of the impossibility of
and its blessings, so that they have had a taste of the powers    bringing them again unto repentance. God never lets His

of salvation, without, however, having a spiritual part in        elect people come so near the kingdom of heaven, in order
that salvation. -                                                 then to allow them to fall away so deeply and hopelessly.
                                                                  Only the reprobate, in order that they become manifest as
   That this is indeed true is evident from the rest of the       reprobate and profane, are ever placed in that outward rela-
text. The text says that it is impossible to renew those men      tion to the kingdom of heaven. And notice that they actu-
again unto repentance. To renew is not the same as to make        ally become manifest as Antichristian. The text says that
something entirely new. But it means "to renovate, to make        they crucify Christ afresh. They hate Him. They despise
something new of something old." Spiritually it means to          Him and treat Him as a criminal  and crucify Him afresh.
make a new man out of an old man, to change the natural           And this second act of crucifixion is much worse than the
man into a spiritual man, to change an unbeliever into a          historical crucifixion by the world, because they under-
believer, to change the unregenerate into the regenerated         stand that it is the blood of atonement. And they show
Christian. Now the text says that it is impossible that those     that they hate that blood of atonement and trample it under
men of whom the passage speaks and concerning whom it             foot. Unto themselves they crucify the Son of God afresh,
asserts very glorious blessings, can ever be renewed again        so that they openly profess that they want no part in that
unto repentance. Repentance, as we know, is a state of            blood and in Him. And so they put Him to an open shame.
mind, a turning of the mind from the love of sin and un-          They take part with the enemies of Christ and of His cross.
righteousness unto the love of God, the love of righteous-        They mock Him and condemn Him openly. And thus those
ness, and therefore unto a true sorrow over sin. And when         wicked reprobates, that stood in very close connection with
the passage says that it is impossible to renew them u&n          the church and with the kingdom of God, that tasted the
unto repentance, it does not mean that formerly they were         good Word of God and tasted the heavenly gift and were
truly penitent Christians, that they were true believers,         partakers of the Holy Spirit, join the ranks of the Antichrist.
with a true sorrow over sin. For then, after all, there would                                                               H.H.
be a falling away of saints, which all Scripture definitely

contradicts. But the author of the epistle to the Hebrews

has in mind their former state, as they uppeured,  as they

were known ZXJ  men,  as they used to be members of the             CALL FOR  ASPIRANTS TO THE MINISTRY
church visible in the world. They were baptized. They
went through the outward show of repentance; and for a               All young men desiring to study for the ministry of the
time they walked in that repentance. But now they have            Word in the Protestant Reformed Churches kindly appear
definitely fallen away from that outward show: not from the       at the next meeting of the Theological School Committee
true faith, not from the grace of God in Christ Jesus. They       which will be held, the Lord willing, on Friday, April 26,
have become, even as they were already, unbelievers. They         1963 at 8 P. M. in the parsonage of the Hudsonville Prot.
have become wicked. They have become part of the Anti-            Ref. Church, in Hudsonville, Michigan.

christ. And the text says that it is impossible that they who        The qualifications requisite to enrollment in our Sem-
so fall away from their apparent membership in the body of        inary are the following:
Christ can ever be renewed unto repentance. The case of              1. You must present a letter from your local consistory
these people is therefore completely hopeless. It is des-         certifying that you are upright in walk and pure in doctrine.
perate. Their falling away is final. They can never return.          2. You must have a certificate of health signed by a.
But the question is: is this renewal impossible for men, or       reputable physician.
for God? The author does not say. And we may no doubt
                                                                     3.    You must be a graduate from High School and show-
answer that it is impossible in both senses of the word. It
                                                                  evidence that you have completed a one-year course in
is impossible for men: for as men they do not have the
                                                                  High School in History General and Church History; and
power of themselves to bring anyone to repentance. To
                                                                  have also completed the following College courses: Latin -.
bring to repentance is always the work of the grace of God.
                                                                      years, Greek - two years, German - two years, Philos-.
But men can preach and admonish to repent. And when               two 
                                                                  ophy - one year,     Psychology - one year, Logic - one.
they put forth efforts in that direction, they find that all
                                                                  semester.
their attempts to bring those men that are so fallen away
unto repentance are hopeless and fruitless. But, reverently          All correspondence relative to the above announcement.
speaking, it is also impossible for God to renew them again       should be sent to the undersigned:
unto repentance. In the absolute sense, of course, all things                  Secretary of the Theological School Committee,.
are possible for God. But in reality it is impossible because                  REV. MARINUS SCHIPPER

it is not the will of God to bring those men to repentance,                    1543 Cambridge Avenue, S. E.
because they have become manifest, and very clearly mani-                      Grand Rapids 6, Michigan

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


                                                                    stfength  of the Canaanites completely while the children of
   A CL0U.D OF W.ITNESSES j                                         Isfael  stood by and watched. Israel indeed would be given
                                                                    .the  victory but only through the means of going out and

                                                                    fighting in behalf of their nation and their God. If they

                                                                    were to proceed successfully against the city of Ai, they
                     The Capture of Ai                              would have to send forth a complete force of soldiers who

                                                                    were ready themselves to fight, and not a mere detachment
            And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neithe-1       with no intentions but to observe what Jehovah would do.
         be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with          Thus the force which Joshua separated this time consisted
         thee, and atie, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thg
        hand the king of Ai,  and 7~is people, and his city, and    of no less than 30,000 men, as many as could possibly
        his land:                                    Joshua 8:I     maneuver successfully in the confinements of the valley of
                                                                    Ai. All through the night he prepared them for the coming
       Israel had beheld the greatness of the power of their        battle.
God in the destruction of the great city of Jericho, and they

followed it immediately by falling into two grievous errors.            First he separated a special detachment of 5,000 men
The one and most serious was their failure to guard against         upon whom the main strategy of this campaign would rest.
theft the plunder which was found in Jericho and which              Following the suggestion which the Lord had given to him,
had been dedicated completely as a sacrifice unto God. The          Joshua in&-ucted  them thus, "Behold, ye shall lie in wait
result of this was that Achan stole of the goods which be-          against the city, even behind the city: go not very far from
longed to God and because of their negligence the whole             the city, but be ye all ready: and I, and all the people that
nation was held guilty. The second was an easy assumption           are with me, will approach unto the city: and it shall come
on the part of the Israelites that, since God was fighting for      to pass, when they come out against us, as at the tist, that
them with His great and irresistible power, there was no            we will flee before them (for they will come out after us ),
need for them to put forth any more than a token effort             till we have drawn them from the city; for they will say,
against the armies of the Canaanites; God was sure to give          They flee before us, as at the first: therefore we will flee
them the victory in any case. Presumptuously they sent              before them. Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and
forth only 3,000 men against the city of Ai. But because of         seize the city: for the LORD your God will deliver it into
their errors God gave them over to a humiliating and dis-           your hand. And it shall be, when ye have taken the city,
couraging defeat. Left to the children of Israel was the            that ye shall set the city on i&e:  according to the command-
painful task of re-evaluating their position.                       ment of the LORD shall ye do. See, I have commanded
                                                                    you."
       First there was the need of searching out and destroying

the corruption which had crept into their nation. With the              The strategy outlined by Joshua was well advised. It
guidance of God, through the means of the lot, this was             took into consideration the new confidence and boldness
done until at last the finger was laid upon Achan. Because          which had come to the men of Ai since they defeated Is-
of the seriousness of his sin, justice demanded a severe            rael in the &first  battle. For the first time in many months
punishment so that he and his household were stoned until           the inhabitants of Canaan had found a reason to believe
dead and burned with fire.                                          that maybe Israel was not invincible after all. Instead of

       With a new consciousness of their fallibility, the chil-     cowering in their city as before, even the inhabitants of the
dren of Israel then turned to God for instructions as to how        neighboring Bethel had come out to bolster the forces of
they should proceed against Ai. In acknowledgment of their          Ai and share in the &al victory over Israel. With this new
new found humility God answered them with promising                 confidence it would be easy to convince these men of
words of encouragement.        "Fear not," He said to Joshua,       Canaan that Israel was turning in retreat once again and so
"Neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with          lure them out of the defense of their city. Slowly Jehovah
thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given unto thy            was schooling Joshua and his people in the strategy of
hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his          battle. Henceforth they must be a fighting people, using
land: and thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst            all of their wisdom and strength to uphold the cause of
unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the          God against these wicked nations.

cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay           Through the night the various portions of Joshua's army
thee an ambush for the city behind it."                             moved to their respective positions. The 5,000 men circled

       Joshua and the children of Israel had learned the evil       wide through the hills until they were lodged well hidden

of taking God for granted. This time plans proceeded much           among the fields and trees behind the city. Meanwhile the

more carefully. They had learned that, while at Jericho             vast majority of the soldiers under Joshua took up their

Jehovah had shown how capable He was of utterly destroy-            position in front of the city with little attempt at conceal-
ing the strongest defenses of the enemies. He had no in-            ment. To all appearances they were prepared to make a
tention of merely going before them and obliterating the            head-on attack upon the city just as had been done pre-


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              275


viously. The only difference apparent to the men of Ai           Israelites. Feeling themselves justified and the strength of

was the much larger force which Israel was sending against       their God once more firmly established, the army- of Israe'
them.                                                            put their enemies to death. From his height above the

   With the coming of dawn Joshua mustered the forces            battle, Joshua urged them on until every last man was
with him to begin the attack upon Ai. But the king of Ai         destroyed. Moreover, as a sign of the curse that had fallen
had seen the approach of Israel so that he and his men were      upon this city, Joshua commanded that the body of Ai's
ready. With them the feeling was quite different than the        king should be hung upon a tree suspended between heaven
previous time. Then they looked forward to the battle with       and earth until evening. When finally it was taken down,
a feeling of helpless desperation. Now, even before the          it was buried under a heap of rubble, a monument to the
much larger force of Israelites, they felt quite confident.      curse of God which rested upon the wicked inhabitants of
They had rooted the army of Israel once; they could do it        Canaan.

again, and after all they too had the additional forces of          The spoil of Jericho had been dedicated to Jehovah as
Bethel. Hardly had the battle begun when they began to           the &st fruits of the land of Canaan. Now, with Ai, the
press hard upon the Israelites with confidence. Just as be-      children of Israel also began to enter their wealth. The
fore they felt the army of Israel wavering and then give         spoil of this city, as that of the  many others that wouid
way before them. Soon Israel was turned in open retreat.         follow, was there to be divided among them. In coming
Even more the men of Ai were determined to make this the         unto the promised land, they came unto prosperity and
last time that Israel would come against them. With their        wealth.
full force they would press them hard away from their city,         Having had its first taste of actual victory in battle, the
past the remains of the city of Jericho, and on into the         children of Israel arrived at another important juncture in
swollen tide of the Jordan .until their strength was utterly     their entrance into the land of promise. Fittingly it was
destroyed. With the heady feeling of a great victory with-       marked by a great ceremony of thanksgiving and dedication
in their grasp, the army of Ai gave itself to pursuit without    to their God. They had arrived at Ebal and Gerizim, two
another thought to the defenseless city which they left be-      mountains concerning which Moses already had given them
hind them. In fact, so infectious was this thrill of impend-     specific commandment. Upon the sides of the two moun-
ing victory that every ablebodied man of both Ai and Bethel      tains Joshua arranged all of the people of Israel, six tribes
poured forth from their cities and joined in the pursuit pf      upon each mountain.      First he built an altar of twelve
the fleeing army of `Israel. The gates of their cities they      stones in the valley between the mountains, and then he
left hanging'wide open without even a guard to close them.       raised in the valley a huge white stone. While Israel

   While all this was taking place Joshua had made his           watched, he inscribed upon the stone the words of the law
way to a hill from which he would be visible to the forces       of God. Then finally he took the book of Moses and read
hidden on the other side of the city. From it he first made      it to the people.    Last of all he came to that portion of
sure that the slowest of the men of Ai and Bethel had left       Moses' writings which had been intended for this situation.
their defenseless cities far behind; then he turned and with     Having heard all of the law of God, Israel was presented
a sweeping gesture pointed his javelin toward the city.          with the blessings an cursings  of the law which Moses had
From their hiding place the 5,000 men of Israel rose up          penned by divine revelation. It was a solemn and impres-
and fell upon the city. Soon roaring flames of fire were         sive occasion. From the valley below the blessings of God
belching from its houses,     and clouds of black smoke          were read to the people. As the echo of each otie died
darkened the sky above the city. But so busy were the            from the valley, all the thousands of people upon Mt..
men of Ai in their pursuit that they did not even notice,        Gerizim answered back, `Amen." Then the cursings  were
until, that is, they saw the men of Israel throwing back         read, and this time those upon Ebal answered, "Amen,".
expectant glances over their shoulders. Then the men of Ai       over and over again. The children of God had entered
looked too. The bellowing clouds of smoke were enough            Canaan, and the law of God with its blessings and cursings.
to tell them the whole story. There was no use to turn           would be their guide even unto the end.

back, for no safety was to be found in their city any longer.                                                            B.W..

Nor could they continue in their pursuit. The men of Israel

who just before had appeared so timid and frightened now

loomed before them as an impenetrable wall. It was as                          Ladies' League Meeting
though suddenly all of their strength melted with&them.

There did not even remain to them strength to try to flee.          The Eastern Ladies' League will hold its Spring Meet-.
In those moments as they cowered waiting for the descent         ing, March 28, at the First Protestant Reformed Church, at:
of the judgment of justice, those men knew as never before
                                                                 8:00 P. M. Student David Engelsma will speak for us. We--
the power and greatness of Israel's God. So was it also
with the people who still remained within the city. They         invite all ladies to meet with us.

poured forth straight into the hands of the army of the                                                     Vice Secretary

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


                                                                    prophesy against the altar at Bethel in the presence of
11 FROM  H                  O          L    Y          WRIT 11Jeroboam, the son of Nebat who caused Israel to sin, that
                                                                    this man is emphatically designated as being a `hnan  of

                                                                    God." See I Kings 13:l ff. if you desire to verify what we
                Exposition of I Timothy                             are here alleging. The greatest prophet, possibly, in the

                      (I Timothy 6:11-16)                           Old Testament by name of Elijah is called a man of God,

                                a.                                  and his being a man of God is put severely to the test by
   It is a horrible thing to fall into many foolish and hurt-       the unbelievers of his day, by the false prophets and by the
ful lusts, which causes `Lsome"  to fall into destruction and       wicked King Ahab and his far more evil wife Jezebel.
                                                                    I Kings 17:24;  II Kings 1:6-13.  The appelative `inan of
eternal perdition.    And it is thrice horrible when this is
done in the name of "godliness," as did those who preached          God' `is also applied to Elisha the Tishbite. II Kings 5:8,
godliness as a means of earthly gain, honor, power and              14, 15, 20, 26; 6:6,  9, IO, etc. From this data it is rather
                                                                    clear that the term "man of God" is a rather set and ackowl-
temporal, ethereal glory; vainly such imagined that they
were advocates of the true and -everlasting kingdom of our          edged term in Israel for an acknowledged prophet through
                                                                    whom God spoke to His people.
Lord Jesus Christ.
   Only those who have godliness combined with spiritual               When we bear in mind that Timothy is youthful, and
contentment can possibly keep their eye of hope fixed un-           not always strong as an oak, it is understandable that Paul,
alterably upon the hope of eternal salvation. And such              his spiritual father, will undergird him with the reminder
Timothy must do for his very life's sake and for those who          that in contra-distinction from the false teachers, bereft of
hear him. He must save himself and those who hear him               the truth, he, Timothy;. is a `man of God," and as such is
by taking heed to himself and to the doctrine of godliness.         in a `class with the prophets. To be sure this does not ex-
   Paul makes a strong  appeal in these verses, first of all,       clude the fact that Timothy is also as far as his new birth
to Timothy in this that he is a Man of God." Says he:               in Christ is concerned born from above, and according to
"Btct thou, o man of Go&  flee  these tl&gs! The fact that          the inner man, man of God!

Paul never elsewhere uses this term "Man of God" in all                As "man of God" it is neither be-fitting his calling as a

f-is writings addressing anyone personally, should cause us         minister or consonant with his being a child of God to get

to inquire just a bit into the meaning of the term as used          ensnared with the evil teaching and walk of those who

elsewhere in the Holy Scriptures. To the best of my knowl-          mind earthly things, and have no eye for the heavenly and

edge it is not used elsewhere in the New Testament Scrip-           the eternal things which abide forever. Wherefore Paul
tures ever by any other writers than Paul. It is true that          writes in verse 11: "flee these things." This does not mean
Paul speaks of the "man of God" in II Timothy 3:17 but              that he must be engaged in "world-flight," for the things
according to the original Greek in this passage Paul is net         of God's creation are given us "richly to enjoy." Vs; i7.
addressing any individual but is rather speaking of the             Timothy must not set his affections on these things; he
"`inner man" or of the new man in Christ Jesus of all who           must not in his personal life and in his ministry seek earthly
are regenerated and called unto salvation. It refers in this        things, but must keep the great mystery of the glory of God
latter passage in the sense of being born from above, and           in Christ before his eye of faith and hope. Then he will
therefore we read evidently in the original text "`the of God       flee a teaching and practice, which would make this very
man"! Here, however, Paul addresses Timothy as being a              mystery of godliness, which must needs end in the new
man of God.                                                         heaven and new earth, a mere means of earthly and carnal
   When we turn to the Old Testament Scriptures we find             advancement. Such is ever the symptom and earmark of
that there were a few who were called by this name. It is           those who pose as men of God but who are not, but rather
reserved for the prophets. The term in the Hebrew is not            are as Jude pictures them `ygone  the way of Cain and ran
"aclame  Elohinf' but rather          "ish ha-Eiohim."  The term    greedily after the error of Balaam for reward and perished
"`ish" refers to simply a man, an individual, while the term        in the gainsaying of Core . . . clouds without water carried
`adam" can refer to the genus "man" in distinction from             about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit,
other creatures. A man of God is, therefore, an individual          twice dead, plucked up by tine  roots; raging waves of the
man with name and surname. Wherefore we read in Dem.                sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars for whom
33:l: "This is the blessing wherewith Moses, the man of             is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." Jude U-13.
God, blessed the children of Israel before his death." That         Paul warns Timothy never to find himself in the company
he is called the man of God refers particularly to his being        of such: he must not sit in the counsel of the wicked, nor
in the service of God in a special sense as prophet, from           sit in the seat of the scornful.

whose mouth proceeded the blessing of the Lord upon his                Timothy must flee all teaching of a "social Gospel"
people and the curse upon their enemies.                            which is no Gospel. And we may add he must in so doing

   When we scan the pages of the Old Testament Scrip-               also flee all advocacy of a so-called "civil righteousness"
tures we find that the prophet, who was sent by the Lord to         which is not righteousness!


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D -   B E A R E R                                              277


        However, Timothy does not need to live in a vacuum.           with fear and trembling. It is a contest which we run, but

He has a very definite and positive calling; he is a "man             which is really out of God, through God and unto God!

of God." In the world he is; yet he is not of the world; he               For really this is a constant struggle against all odds to
is a fellow-pilgrim with the brethren and sisters in the              lay hold on eternal life. One must by faith and hope get
Lord. Wherefore he must pursue with all the power of his              a good grip on it; one must make his calling and election
soul, as a veritable contest, a race to be run, "to Zaay  hold        sure. Here the contestant, the runner runs in the midst of
on tiema2  life." And to attain that prize of eternal life he         death; all manner of temptations and sins which so easily
must `p13rrrsue  righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patien.ce,    beset us. It seems that Satan and his agents pursue us in
meekness." Verse Ilb.                                                 this running. The siren songs are dinned into our ears from

       In an earlier essay we have alluded to these concepts          the side lines, and the "golden apples" of temptation are
here. We believe that "righteousness" here is the chief and           cast into our path to tempt us to stop running and to take

general concept, inclusive of "godliness." This pursuit can           our eye off the mark of the prize: eternal life. For the end

only be executed by a "faith" that works by love. And this            of our running is, with a good conscience in the love of God
faith and this love in their operation we must seek by faith          and faith unfeigned, to have fellowship in Christ now with
in earnest prayer. And when that is done we will truly                the ever blessed God, and presently to see him face to
walk in righteousness. Overagainst all evil that be falls us          face! And having this hope upon him we purify ourselves
in this vale of tears we shall then have "`patience" and will         as he is pure. That is the extreme contest. It is neverthe-
maintain that meek and quiet spirit which waits for God.              less as good a contest as it is intense. If it were not a
                                                                      "contest" it would not be intense and exacting!
       That Timothy must "pursue." He must as it were chase
after it. Doing so he will flee the earthly lust for riches              But Timothy and every contestant may be comforted
here below. Truly a great challenge and assignment! What              and strengthened. For this is exactly the contest unto which
earnest prayer this entails.                                          we have been "called." In a sense we are not even volun-
                                                                      teers. We are really selected and elected by God unto this
       Paul likens this pursuit of righteousness and this fleeing     race. He gives us the desire to run the race and the feet
from all covetousness which parades under the guise of                to go with it he supplies us. The preparedness of our feet,
godliness, to competing in a great contest. Writes he:                with the preparedness of the Gospel is from him. Other-
"Figh.t  the good fight of faith, lay hokl of eternal life?           wise we would not be enrolled amongst the contestants in
The term in the original Greek translated in the King James           this race along the rough, rugged and steep ascent to
Version by "fight" a term which means: to contend, to                 Zion's hill-top.
struggle with difficulties, and with all dangers which are
antagonistic to the gospel. The term in the original you                 For the "Calling" is unto faith and justification, and has
will find in the word "agony," that is, great mental and              implicit in it the assurance of glorification, whilst this is
spiritual conflict. One thinks here of the agony of effort            rooted in God's foreknowledge and foreordination. That
registered on the face of a runner in the contest. The very           Timothy has been called became evident in the fruit of his
arena was called in the Greek language: "stad~io?~,"  a race          "good confession" before many witnesses. This faith had
course, where the one who outran the other took the prize.            been in him; it was the same faith which was also in his
Now a `tiadiolz"  like the Olympia, we are told, was 625              mother Eunice and in his grandmother Lois. He had con-
Roman feet. Of course, such a contest in the games was for            fessed this faith, in personal confession, and not least in his
the honor of receiving a prize, a corruptible one at that.            preaching as a young minister. Preaching, it should be
Paul refers to an incorruptible prize: eternal life and im-           remembered, is really confession of faith: I have believed
mortality in the glory of God in Christ.                              and therefore I have spoken! And many had heard this
                                                                      confession concerning the hope eternal. It was a beautiful
       It should be noticed that Paul speaks of this contest as       confession in content. It spoke of the great future when
a "good" contest.        The term good is a translation of the        Jerusalem shall be glorified as the desired (Hephzibah)
Greek word "kales."  This contest is honorable. The rules             and be called the land of Beulah.
are good ,the contestants are good, the referee is good, the
road though rough and rugged leads to the right goal-post,               In this confession, this good confession, we sing with
the prize of the upward (from above) calling in Christ                the poet,

     esus.    There is nothing in all this contest which would
J                                                                                  0, Be&h  lkzncl, sweet Beulah lan.d,
do dishonor `to a contestant, nor would there be a sense of                          As on thy highest mount I stand;
futility and let-down when once the prize is gained. It is                          I look awa.y  across the sea,
the prize than which there is none greater, none more be-                          Where mansions are prepared for me;
fitting the creature created in Christ Jesus unto good works                         And view the shining, glory  shore,
and renewed after his image. For really in this contest the                          My heaven, my home, for evermore!
strength and initiative to run is worked in our hearts by
God so that we may work out our salvation in this contest                                                                       G.L.

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


                                                                  child must be taught that this God Who made the heavens
             I      N            HIS FEAR.                        and the earth, the universe in all its splendour  and glory is
                                                                  our Covenant God and Father in Jesus Christ His Son. The

                                                                  fear of Him is the beginning of wisdom.

                    My Father's World                                First of all then, the child ought to be taught from in-
                                                                  fancy that it is God's world because He made it. It belongs
       There is a song our children are taught to sing and the    to Him. He may do with it as He pleases. And He did
first stanza thereof is as follows:                               make all the creatures according to His own inscrutable
              This i.s my Father's world,                         wisdom. The lumbering elephant and the graceful deer,
              And to my list'ning  ear                            the delicate humming bird and the tremendously fast ost-
              All nature sings, and round me rings                rich, the mighty oak and the tender vine, the fiery sun and
              The music  of the spheres.                          the cold moon have all been designed and fashioned by
              This is my Father's world,                          Him. There may be creatures that make us look twice be-
              I rest  me in the thought                           cause of their delicate color and graceful lines, and there
              Of rocks a.nd trees, of skies and seas,             may be others that attract a second look because of their
              His hands the wonders wrought.                      clumsiness and oddity, but God designed and fashioned

       Indeed this is God's world. It makes no difference what    them all in inscrutable wisdom. Whether the creature looks
man may do with it. It makes no difference how greedily           odd or beautiful to us, whether it pleases us or is loathsome
he may press it into the service of his own flesh. This world     to us, whether it feeds us or seeks to kill us, whether it runs
is God's and no one and nothing can ever change that. We          from us in fear or we run from it in fear, it all belongs to
may try to deny it. We may behave as thought it is not at         God's world. There is not a creature large or small that
all true, but the fact still remains that it is His world. All    came into being of its own power. There is not a speck of
of it! All the vastness of outer space. All the world of un-      dust or a drop of water, there iq not a cell or a part of a
seen germs and viruses. The depth of the sea which still          cell, an atom or a part of an atom that was not brought into
remains unexplored by man and hides from his eyes many            being by God. And therefore it all is HIS. It is His posses-
of God's works and creatures. The animate and in-                 sion to do with as He pleases. And it is His workmanship,
animate creatures, the organic and inorganic substances,          the product of His mind and hand. Men may make their
the heaven and earth, the WORLD in its broadest sense, it         products and attach their names so that you may know
all is God's world.                                               whose product it is.    Many of our articles which we use
       The fool may say in his heart that there is no God, but    have stamped upon them the words "Made in U.S.A."
the fact remains that this fools exists only by the power of      Souvenirs as a rule, no matter where you pick them up as
that very God that he denies. This is God's world because         mementos of this or that region of our country, usually read,
He made it all and all depends entirely and every moment          "Made in Japan." Ah, yes, but man himself has upon him
upon Him. He is the Creator of that world; and He is the          the stamp of being created by God in His own image. And
Provider of all that world's every need. "In the beginning        man simply assembles the materials that God has made in
God created . . . ." Deny that and you have not even the          the beginning. It is God's world.

beginning, the first principle of wisdom. You do not know            And it continues to be a world exactly because it is
the A B C's of true knowledge and wisdom. Indeed, it is           God's world. He created all things but in Him we live and
the FOOL who says in his heart that there is no God. And          move and have all our being. He made all things, but He
to say that He did not create this vast universe, this won-       also sustains and upholds all things. As the psalmist de-
derful world is to deny that He is God. It is to make crea-       clares in Psalm 145:15-16,  "The eyes of all wait upon Thee,
tion a god. For a god is that upon which we depend, that          and Thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou
which we serve and worship. And the man who denies that           openest Thine hand and satisfiest the desire of every living
in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth            thing." And Psalm I47 declares, "He giveth snow like wool;
depends upon that earth, serves and worships it as his god.       He scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. He casteth forth His

       We do well then to remember that it is our calling,to      ice like morsels: who can stand before His cold?" Psalm
teach our children that this is God's world. In fact we           147:16,  17. He is in all creatures by His Spirit and keeps
ought to teach them to say, "This is my Father's world."          them in their essential properties. He is in the storm and

All education in `<reading,  writing and arithmetic" that does    in the pestilence. His power causes the seed to sprout, the

not serve that purpose fails. It fails to ascribe to God the      water to evaporate. The dynamite explodes with tremen-

honor and glory that is due to His name. It fails the child,      dous force because He is in it. The gas! and oil, the coal

for it gives him a distorted and corrupt view of all the          and wood burn and give heat because He is in them. The

things round about him. It makes a fool of him, for it            food nourishes us, and our bodies grow strong because He

strives for and can have only for its purpose the proposi-        is in them. The disease germ lays us low and the body

tion that there is no God. And, of course, the covenant           developes a fever to kill that germ because He is in them.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA,RER                                                     279


It is        Father's world. It is His in the absolute sense of        Some of the subjetit  mattter in school, of course, lends
          our 
the word. It is not His and ours. It is not the product of         itself more easily and quickly to this truth that this is God's

God and circumstance. It is not partially `His work and            world; and yet it is quite rewarding when one applies one-

partially the result of accident or "luck.". It is His \yo~%I,     self to the more abstract subjects. Geography certainly
and all that happens in it is His work.                            and very obviously speaks of this being God's world. Spel-

                                                                   ling, mathematics and grammar are a different matter. But
    Men may discover the power of electricity. They may
                                                                   that, of course, is the challenge of the teacher. It can be
invent many motors and pumps. They may make cameras
                                                                   done, and we hope to say a few things about this matter in
and radios, television sets and radar instruments. They
                                                                   a future installment. But in this introductory consideration
may make computers and electronic brains. But each and
                                                                   of this matter' we wish to point out not only the fact  that
every time man simply makes a crude adaption of the power
                                                                   this is God's world but also that this is the principle ac-
that God has already created in man's own body. No man
                                                                   cording to which all instruction must be given and around
can make a heart like the heart that God designed and
                                                                   which the whole training of the child must revolve.
planted in man. No communication system with its maze
of wires can duplicate man's nervous system, no camera or             And since the world cannot teach that truth to your

radio can improve upon man's eye and ear. In fact all              child, and your child is a child of the covenant, the instruc-
these inventions of man depend upon the eye and ear that           tion is and should be, "This is my Father's  world. The cov-
God designed for their value and worth. Yea, these are             enant child does not simply see this world as the product
made possible only because God first designed and fash-            of God's work - even the unbeliever can talk that way at
ioned a human eye and ear, a brain and a heart. A mechan-          times - but he must see it as the work and possession of
ical brain may do many mechanical activities, but it cannot        our Father Who is in heaven. Instruction must be Chris-
know or love God. Nor can it speak His praises. It cannot          tian. And that means that Christ must be in it. The Uni-
be prophet, priest and king of the living God. It has no           tarian who makes Christ but a mere man, the Modernist
life. It has no reasoning power. Truly the chiefest of the         who denies the divinity of the Son can speak of this world
creatures that God made and belongs to His world here              being God's world. He may even speak of it as my Father's
below is man made in His image. And he also belongs to             world in the sense of the First Person of the Holy Trinity
God. So do your children. And therefore they must be               rather than of the Triune God. But Colossians 1:15  may
taught to see all this wide  creation as His world. Do not         not be left out of the instruction of creation as God's world.

deny them it!                                                      Christ is "the first born of every creature" according to Paul

                                                                   in this verse. All this wide creation, then, outer space in-
   It stands to reason then, does it not, that an unbeliever
                                                                   cluded, must be seen in Him Who is this first born of
cannot teach your child. He does not see this world as
                                                                   every creature. When we look at Father's world, we must
God's world. He prefers the folly of a world that comes
                                                                   see it as Father sees it. It must all revolve around Christ.
into being in the very unscientific way of "just happening"
                                                                   And in Him is God our Covenant Father. The fear of HIM
and into its present form by an evolutionistic process which
                                                                   is the beginning of wisdom and the basis for all true in-
he has never seen, cannot prove, and defies all present ex-
                                                                   struction.
periences that a species never changes into another species.
                                                                                                                            J.A.H.
All he can present'for "proof" is changes within the species

itself. The tiuth of a God Who created all things in ranks

and orders, in degrees and steps of power and ability he

rejects. And therefore also he rejects the truth that this is                    Office-Bearers' Conference
God's world from the point of view that man is His steward
to use all of it to the glory of God's name. If he does not see    will be held April 2 at 8:00 P. M. in the First Protestant
it as God's world, does not believe that it is His world, how      Reformed Church. All office-bearers and former office-
can he teach your child so to see it and believe it? It is         bearers are urged to attend.
utterly ridiculous to take the position that he can. Only in                                             J. BOMERS, Secretuy

the measure that one sees it and believes it himself can he

instruct others in that truth. One does not go to the doctor

who does not believe in seeking to cure cancer by medica-
                                                                                        TEACHER NEEDED
tion for a prescription for such medicine. One does not go
to a devotee of Buddhism to receive instruction in Chris;             Our Loveland Protestant Reformed Christian day school
tianity. In the days of Jesus it would have utterly foolish        will be in need of a teacher for 1963-64 school year.
to go to the Pharisees to be instructed in Jesus' doctrine.           Any Protestant Reformed teacher interested in teaching
And yet men `actually think it reasonable to have the un-          in our school, please contact
believer teach his child about God's world and do so with-                                               PAUL GRIESS,  Sec?ztury
out the fear of having  the mind of that child cqrrupted  by                                             845 Jefferson Street
the denial that this is                                                                                  Loveland, Colorado
                          God's world.

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


                                                                 who is rich in mercy, does freely purge us from our sins
II Contending For `The Faith ~~~~- II by the blood of his Son, and in him does adopt us to be
                                                                 his sons, and by a holy covenant does join to himself, and

                                                                 does enrich us with divers gifts, that we might live a new

            The Church and the Sacraments                        life. All these things are sealed up unto us in baptism.
                                                                 For inwardly we are regenerated, purified, and renewed
            THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION
                                                                 of God through the Holy Spirit; and outwardly we receive

               VIEWS ON THE SACRAMENTS                           the sealing of most notable gifts by the water, by which

                                                                 also those great benefits are represented, and, as it were,
                 THE PROTESTANT VIEW
                                                                 set before our eyes to be looked upon. And therefore are

       We concluded our preceding article by quoting what        we baptized, that is, washed or sprinkled with visible water.

our Heidelberg Catechism has to say about the sacrament          For the water makes clean that which is filthy, and

   baptism in Lord's Days 26 and 27. In these Lord's Days        refreshes and cools the bodies that fail and faint. And the
of 
emphasis is laid upon the fact that our sins are washed away     grace of God deals in like manner with the soul; and that

only through the blood and Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ.      invisibly and spiritually.
The Heidelberg Catechism emphatically denie$  t&at  the out-         Moreover, by the sacrament of baptism God does
ward washing of water itself is the washing away of our          separate us from all other religions and nations, and does
sins. This, we understand, is the teaching of Rome, and it       consecrate us a peculiar people to himself.  We, therefore,
is emphatically denied by the Reformed conception of the         being baptized, do confess our faith, and are bound to
sacrament. It is maintained in these Lord's Days that only
                                                                 give unto God obedience, mortification of the flesh, and
the blood of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit cleanse us f?om
                                                                 newness of life; yea, and we are soldiers enlisted for the
all sin. And the Heidelberg Catechism concludes its discus-
                                                                 holy warfare of Christ, that all our life long we should
sion of the sacrament of baptism by maintaing that this sac-
                                                                 fight against the world, Satan, and our own flesh. More-
rament must also be administered to the infants of believers.
       Finally, we would quote from the Second Helvetic          over, we are baptized into one body of the Church, that we
Confession, Article XX, which speaks of Holy Baptism:            might well agree with all the members of the Church in
"Baptism was instituted and consecrated by God; and the          the same religion and mutual duties.

first that baptized was John, who dipped Christ in the               We believe that the most perfect form of baptism is
water of Jordan. From him it came to the apostles, who           that by which Christ was baptized, and which the apostles
also did baptize with water. The Lord, in plain words,           did use.    Those things, therefore, which by man's device
commanded them to preach the Gospel and to `baptize in           were added afterwards and used in the Church we do not
the name of .the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost'            consider necessary to the perfection of baptism. Of this
(Matt.  28:19). And Peter also, when divers demanded of          kind is exorcism, the use of lights, oil, spittle, and such other
him what they ought to do, said to them, in the Acts,            things; as, namely, that baptism is twice every year con-
`Let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus           secrated with divers ceremonies. But we believe that the
Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the       baptism of the Church, which is but one, was sanctified
gift of the Holy Spirit' (Acts 2:38). Hence baptism is called    in God's first institution of it, and is consecrated by the
by some a sign of initiation for God's people, whereby the       Word, and is now of full force, by the first blessing of
elect of God are consecrated unto God.                           God upon it.

       There is but one baptism in the Church of God; for it         We teach that baptism should not be ministered in the

is sufficient to be once baptized or consecrated unto God.       Church by women or midwives. For Paul secludes women

For baptism once received does continue all a man's life,        from ecclesiastical callings; but baptism belongs to eccle-

and is a perpetual sealing of our adoption unto us. For to       siastical off ices.

be baptized in the name of Christ is to be enrolled, entered,        We condemn the Anabaptists, who deny that young

and received into the covenant and family, and so into the       infants, born of faithful parents, are to be baptized. For,

inheritance, of the sons of God yea, and in this life to be      according to the doctrine of the Gospel, `theirs is the king-

called after the name of God; that is to say, to be called a     dom of God' (Luke X3:16),  and they are written in the

son of God; to be purged also from the filthiness of sins,       covenant of God (Acts 3:25). Why, then, should not the

and to be endued with the manifold grace of God, in order        sign of the covenant of God be given to them? Why should

to lead a new and innocent life. Baptism, therefore, does        they not be consecrated by holy baptism, who are God's

call to mind and keep in remembrance the great benefit           peculiar people and are in the Church of God? We

of God performed to mankind. For we are all born in the          condemn also the Anabaptists in the rest of those peculiar

pollution of sin and are the children of wrath. But God,         opinions which they hold against the Word of God. We


                                         THE ST'ANDARD  BEARER                                                              281


therefore are not Anabaptists, neither do we agree with             Thirdly, the Protestant conception of the sacrament,
them in any point that is theirs." - end of quote of Art. ,xX    in distinction from Rome, lays all emphasis upon the one
of the Second Helvetic  Confessino.                              atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. We will have

   In &saction from the Romish Church, the Protestant            more to say about this in due time. It speaks very little of

conception of the sacrament of baptism stresses the sacra-       the sacrif?ce  of Christ. Rome, we know when discussing

mental, or rather the symbolical character of the sacrament.     the sacrament of baptism, stresses the essential significance

Rome maintains that the water in baptism is essential unto       of the sacrament. Rome, of course, lays all emphasis upon

salvation, speaks of the water of baptism as the water of        the sacraments, upon the Roman hierarchy, the essential

regeneration in that literal-natural sense of the word,          significance of the sacrament and of the hierarchy unto

maintains the essential significance Of the sacrament t0         salvation. The Protestant conception, however, directs and

such an extent that no salvation is possible for one who has     points us to the sacrfice of Christ Jesus. This, too, is
not been baptized. It is true, as we have seen, that Rome        emphasized in all the Protestant and Reformed symbols
makes two exceptions to this rule. In the first place, they      from which we have quoted. The Heidelberg Catechism lays
exempt those who suffer martyrdom, contending that their         all emphasis upon this in Questions and Answers 69-74.
death as martyrs procures unto them their salvation. And,        Every answer in the Heidelberg Catechism, in its treatment
in the second place, they speak of a "baptism of desire,"        of the sacrament of baptism, calls our attention to this,
and refer to the salvation of those adults who, although not     speaks of our being washed by the blood and Spirit of
having been baptized, nevertheless reveal the desire for it      Christ, and emphasizes that the Holy  Spirit calls baptism
and show that they would havk submitted to the sacrament         the washing of regeneration and the washing away of OLUT
of baptism had the opportunity presented itself to them.         sins only because the sacrament is a Divine pledge and
For the rest, however, Rome contends that salvation is           token whereby He assures us that we are as really washed
impossible without the sacrament of baptism. According           from our sins spiritually as our bodies are washed with
to Rome, it is impossible for children who died before           water. The sacrifice of Christ is THE reality; the sacrament
receiving the sacrament of baptism to enter heaven. These        of baptism is merely a Divine sign and seal.

children enter Limbo, enjoy salvation according to their            In connection with the above, Lutheranism did not rid
own capacity, but are eternally deprived from the joy and        itself entirely of the Roman Catholic conception of the
life of heaven. The protestant conception of the sacrament       sacrament. Luther did not .regard  the water of baptism as
of baptism, however, emphasizes its symbolical significance,     common water, but as a water which had become, through
and refuses to ascribe any magical power to the water of         the Word with its inherent Divine power, a gracious water
sacrament itself. This is emphasized in all the Protestant       of life, a washing of regeneration. Luther, as we will see
and Reformed symbols from which we have quoted in                later, did not rid himself completely of the Roman Catholic
our preceding articles. And in our Heidelberg Catechism          conception of the Lord's Supper either. Through this
Question 72 reads: "`Is, then, the outward washing of water      Divine efficacy of the Word the sacrament effects regenera-
itself  the washing away of sins?", and the answer is em-        tion. In the case of adults, Luther made the effect of
phatically in the negative.
                                                                 baptism dependent upon the faith of the one that was being
   Secondly, Rome rejects the baptism of John the Baptist        baptized. Calvin and the Reformed conception of the sacra-
as being of the same significance and force as the baptism       ment of baptism, however, broke away from the Roman
of Christ. NOW it must surely be admitted that the sacra-        Catholic conception of baptism completely and entirely.
ment of baptism was not formally introduced and instituted

lmtil  the glorification of Christ and the outpouring of the        In the Lutheran Augsburg Confession, drawn upon the
Holy Spirit upon Pentecost. It is only then that we read         year, 1530, some thirteen years after the German reformer

of the command unto the disciples to go out into all the         nailed the ninety five theses to the church door at Witten-

world and to teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name       berg, Art. IX, speaking of Baptism, reads as follows: "Of

of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. At the         Baptism they teach that it is necessary to salvation, and

time of John's baptism circumcision was still the sign and       that by Baptism the grace of God is offered, and that

seal of the covenant. The sign of circumcision had, at           children are to be baptized, who by Baptism, being offered

John's baptism, not yet been replaced by that of baptism.        to God, are received into God's favor. They condemn the

John, although the greatest of the prophets, and standing        anabaptists who allow not the Baptism of children, and

upon the threshold of the New Dispensation, himself still        alfirm  that children are saved without Baptism." In our

belonged to the Old Dispensation. It is for this reason that     following article, the Lord willing, we will quote from

he baptized only Israelites and adult Jews. We do not read       Luther's Catechism, drawn up in the year, 1529, some

of children having been baptized by him. Nevertheless,           twelve years after the igniting of the spark of the Reforma-

we may certainly maintain that the baptism of John had           tion in 1517, in Wittenberg, the evening before All Saints

essentially the same significance as that of Christ.             Day.                                                   H.V.

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


                                                                   Joshua 6: l-5, where Joshua receives instructions concerning
          The Voice of Our Fathers                                 the compassing of Jericho, we read that it is the Lord Who
                                                                   speaks to Joshua.


                  The Belgic Confession                               But there are still more passages from the Old Testa-
                                                                   ment Scriptures which point  to the plurality of Persons in
                                IX (continued)                     the Godhead. Some of these are pointed out for us by the
                    ARTICLE 
                                                                   New Testament, so that it is in the light of the New Testa-
Proof from the Old Testament (continued)                           nient  that we can more clearly understand the proof that

       This Angel of Jehovah makes his appearance at various       they give. Thus, in the Prologue of the Gospel according

crucial times in the history of God's people of the old dis-       to John we read: "In the begining was the Word, and the

pensation. He appears again in connection with the destruc-        Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was

tion of Sodom and Gomorrah and the salvation of Lot. Thus          in the beginning with God. All things were made by him;

Abraham recognizes Him, first of all, when the three heav-         and without him was not any thing made that was made."

enly visitors come to him in the plains of Mamre. For when         John 1:13.  If in the light of this passage we view the crea-

"the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward           tive speech of God as recorded in Genesis 1, we see clearly

Sodom, . . . Abraham stood yet before the Lord," and to            that the eternal Word was revealed from the very be-
the Lord he made intercession that the righteous should not        ginning. Besides, we read in Genesis 1:2 that the Spirit of

be destroyed with the wicked. And, in the second place,            God moved upon the face of the waters. In Psalm  33:6 we

when  Lot has been rescued and led forth from the wicked           read: "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made;

cities, "the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brim-             and all the ho& of them by the breath ( Spirit) of his

stone -and fire from the Lord out of heaven." Genesis              mouth." In one of His frequent encounters with the Phari-

18:16-22;  Genesis 19:24.  Again, when Moses kept the flock        sees the Lord Jesus furnishes a very pointed interpretation

of Jethro his father-in-law and came to the backside of the        of the language of Psalm 110, where we read in verse 1:

desert, to the mountain of God, Horeb, "`the angel of the          "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand,

Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst         until I make thine enemies thy footstool." The Lord Jesus

of a bush." But that angel of the Lord is very evidently not       confronts the Pharisees with one of those questions which

merely one of the myriads of the heavenly host, but God            they were not able to answer, pointing in unmistakeabje

Himself. For we read "And when the Lord saw that he                language to His own deity as it was heady  revealed iu the

turned  aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst         Old Testament, Matthew 22:41-46:  "While the Pharisees

of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses . . . . Moreover he said,      were gathered together, Jesus asked them, Saying, What

I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God            think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him,

of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face;            The Son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth

for he was afraid to look upon God." Exodues 3:1-6.  It was        David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto

for the accompaniment of this "presence of Jehovah" that           tiy Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine ene-

Moses pleads after the children of Israel had committed the        mies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he

sin of worshipping the golden calf at Sinai. Ex. 33: 12, ff.       his son? And no man was able to answer him a word,

And so, in Isaiah 63:9 we read of this saving "presence":          neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any

"In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his    questions." More than once .the  Holy Spirit is referred to

presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed       also in the Old Testament. Thus, we read in Psalm ld4:30:

them; and he bare them and carried the&  all the days of           "Thou sendest forth thy. spirit, they are created: and thou

old." It is this same Angel of Jehovah Who also appears to         renewest the face of the earth." At Nazareth our Savior

Joshua emphatically as "captain of the host of the Lord,"          quotes Isaiah 61:l with application to Himself: "The Spirit

Joshua 5:13-15,  and who evidently is the same divine Angel        of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord bath

who warned Moses not to trample rashly on holy ground:             anointed me to preach good tiding unto the meek." In

"And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he          Isaiah 63, in the same connection in which we read of the

lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a          "angel of his presence," we read of the Holy Spirit in vss.

man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand:             10 and 11: "But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit

and Joshua went unto him; and said unto him, Art thou for          therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought

us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay, but as captain       against them. Then he remembered the days of old, Moses,

of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on          and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up

his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him,         out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? where is he

What saith my lord unto his servant? And the captain of            that put his holy Spirit within him?" And in the well-

the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off          known context of the corruption of the pre-diluvian world

thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And         we read that the Lord said, "My spirit shall not always

Joshua did so." For in the subsequent part of the narrative,       strive with man . . ." Genesis 6:3.


                                           T H E   STANtihRti,-BEARER                                                            -283


   To two more passages we call attention in this connec-           Father was heard, saying, This is my beloved Son: the Son

tion. Both of these at least may be said to have a Trini-           was seen in the water, and the Holy Ghost appeared in the
tarian background, even though they do not speak of the             shape of a dove."

Persons of the Trinity directly. The first is found in Num-            In the second place, the article calls attention to the
bers 6~24-26, where the Aaronitic blessing is recorded, as          formula of baptism which Christ Himself instituted before
follows : "The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord             His ascension: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto-thee:           baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee           and of the Holy Ghost." Matt. 28:19.  This is one of the
peace." Not only is the name Lord, or Jehovah, employed             generally recognized Trinitarian passages. And this in-
here three times; but if we take note of the blessings that         stituted formula of baptism is deemed of such importance
are pronounced here, that of preservation, that of grace,           in the church today yet, that only such baptism as is in the
and that of peace, and if then we view these in the light           name of the Triune God is recognized as a valid baptism.
of the New Testament apostolic benediction, we may at               We should note too that this is a clear proof of the Trinity.
least say that there is a Trinitarian background to this            Not only the threeness of Persons is expressed here, but also
Aaronitic blessing. The same is true of the Treshagion of           the oneness of Being. The name is the expression of the
Isaiah 6:1-3,  where the number three dominates the vision          Being. And that name is one. The text does not say: in
which Isaiah sees of `the Lord sitting upon a throne, high          the name of the Father, and in tha name of the Son, and
and lifted up, and his train filled the temple." For in vss.        in the name of the Holy Ghost. But baptism is in the one
2 and 3 we read: "Above it stood the seraphims: each one            divine name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with-            Ghost. We may remark in this connection that the baptism
twain he covered his feet, adn with twain he did fly. And           formula expresses a very beautiful idea also, if we bear in
one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the          mind that literally the text does not read "in," but `into the
Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory."               name," so that the idea of fellowship with the Triune God
   The above quotations do not exhaust the Old Testament            is expressed.
references which may be cited. But they are sufficient to              In the third place, our Confession calls attention to the
show that the truth of the Trinity was indeed revealed in           Trinitarian element in the announcement by the angel
the old dispensation. And while it is certainly true that this      Gabriel to Mary of the Savior's birth. Here the article
doctrine appears somewhat obscure in the Old Testament,             quotes Luke 1:35,  the angel's answer to Mary's question,
nevertheless the fact remains that for the believer in the          "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" Two of the
new dispensation, who has eyes to see, also the Old Testa-          Persons of the Trinity are literally mentioned, namely, the
ment Scriptures furnish undeniable proof of this doctrine.          Holy Ghost and the Son. And in the name "Son of God"

Proof from  the New Testament                                       the First Person, the Father, is implied, even though we do
                                                                    not understand the expression "the power of the Highest"
   From a merely superficial reading of the proofs which
                                                                    as referring directly to the First Person of the Trinity.
our Confession offers from the New Testament the claim of
our Confession that this truth of the Trinity is very plain            In the fourth place, the apostolic benediction, as found
in the New Testament is substantiated. As we have said,             in II Corinthians I3:14,  is cited: "The grace of the Lord
this stands to reason too, and is to be understood in the light     Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of
of the fact that in the new dispensation the Father sends           the Holy Ghost, be with you all." We may remark, how-
the Son into the likeness of sinful flesh, the Word is in-          ever, that this passage taken all by itself is not direct proof
carnated, and the Spirit is poured out into the church. What        for the doctrine of the Trinity. It does not speak in so
our Confession states in its opening sentence is therefore          many words of the Son and of the Father; nor does it refer
also the more true now than in the old dispensation, namely,        literally to the oneness of God's Being. But taken in the
that "All this we know ,. . . . from their operations, and          light of the rest of Scripture, this benediction is certainly
chiefly by those we feel in ourselves."                             Trinitarian in its background and its basis.
   Our Confession cites several proofs from the New Testa-             The last passage from the New Testament which our
ment.                                                               Confession cites is that of I John 57, a passage which finds
   In the first place, it calls attention to the event of Jesus'    little textual support in the Greek manuscripts. The science
baptism in the Jordan River. The event itself is recorded in        of textual criticism (not to be confused with unbelieving,
Matthew 3:13-17,  Mark 1:9-H,  and Luke 3:21  and 22. The           higher criticism), which was not a well-developed study in
Gospel according to John records the testimony of John the          the days when our Confession was written, has discovered
Baptist concerning the descent of the Holy Ghost upon               that the most and the best of the Greek manuscripts does
Jesus at the time of His baptism, John 1:32,  33. Our Confes-       not support this reading. It may be possible that today it
sion does not quote any of these passages literally, but calls      would not have been used in the Confession to prove the
attention to the revelation of the Trinity in this event:           doctrine of the Trinity. However, we may remark: 1) That

"When our Lord was baptized in Jordan, the voice of the                                  (Continued on page 288)

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


                                                                    and duty to exclude a repentant sinner from the sacraments
1  D E C E N C Y   a n d   ORDE-R  1 for the time being. It is certainly not an easy matter to deter-
                                                                    mine just when all the necessary requirements have been met

                                                                    for a complete reconciliation of the sinner with the church.

          Reconciliation with the Church                               But there are other matters that add to this difficulty.

   "The reconciliation+ of all such sins as are of their nature     In the second place, the consistory is confronted with the
of a public character, or have become public because the            problem as to how such reconciliation is to be effected.
admonition of the church was despised, shall take place             This must not be determined on a utilitarian basis. The
(upon sufficient evidence of repentance) in such a manner           consistory must not look for the easiest way out for this
as the consistory shall deem conducive to the edification of        might prove to be very detrimental. Many things are again
each church. Whether in particular cases this shall take            involved. Not only must the real weh%re  -of the penitent
place in public, shall, when there is a difference of opinion       be sought but that which is for the good of the whole
about it in the consistory, be considered with the advice of        church must be considered. At stake is the glorification and
two neighboring churches or of the classis."                        honor of God's holy Name. The consistory must guard
                                                                    against making unnecessary publicity of sin on the one
                                         -Article 75, D.K.O.
                                                                    hand but also the danger of covering up offensive sins that

   When sin has been committed within the church and                dishonor the Name of God on the other. The purpose of
that sin has been labored with by the consistory with the           reconciliation is the removal of sin and its offense in the
result that the sinner is brought to repentance, the question       church and this must be done in the most effective way
is always a difficult one as to how reconciliation or rectifica-    possible. The importance of this is emphasized in Article
tion of that sin is to be effected. There are several things        75 when it stipulates that the consistory must be unani-
that contribute to this problem. First of all there is the          mously agreed on this matter and otherwise assistance must
matter of the penitent's sincerity. Normally this may not           be sought from neighboring consistories or even the classis.
be questioned but experience reveals that some people are           The matter of Article 75 is very weighty.

always ready to admit guilt when confronted with the fact              The article speaks of the reconciliation of those who

of sin but show no inclination to amend their evil practices.       have committed public  sins. Private sins, that is, ,those  that

Although it is virtually impossible for a con&tory to               have not been brought to the attention of the consistory

decisively determine the sincerity of a confession, the             and labored with by the.consistory,  are not considered here.

consistory nevertheless seeks certain assurances before a           Such sins are dealt with according to the rule of Matthew

real reconciliation can be effected. The synod of 1581 ex-          18 and then resolved privately. It is even possible that one

pressed that consistories do not accept confessions at face         who  sins refuses to heed private admonition and the matter

value unless it has reasons to believe that the confessor is        comes to the consistory and then repentance is manifest.
sincere. So we also have the parenthetical insertion in the         In such a case the matter can be resolved by those involved,

article of the church order quoted above: "upon sufficient          including the consistory then, without taking recourse to

evidence of repentance." This is difficult to determine and         the provisions of Article 75 but this depends in each case
concerning it there may not always be agreement within              on the nature of the sin committed. Our present concern

the consistory. What some may consider to be sufficient             is with the reconciliation of those who have committed sin

evidence of repentance may be regarded as entirely in-              that is publicly offensive and generally known so that the

adequate by others. Then, too, there are those experiences          whole church is in effect involved.

in which the offender has in the past given occasion for               It must be noticed that Article 75 states that the
doubt and mistrust. It may be a repeated offense and the            consistory shall decide on the manner in which such rec-
consistory is naturally hesitant because it was led in the          onciliation is to take place.     This may not be left to the
past to believe a confession that was subsequently shown to         judgment or desire of the sinner. He does not have the
be untrue. And there are extreme cases where a consistory           prerogative to decide whether his confession shall be heard
many have to withhold membership privileges for a time              only before the consistory or also before the whole congre-
until they show amendment of life in very deed. The Synod           gation. He may not attempt to tell that consistory that he
of 1578 made provision for this when it expressed that those        will confess before them but they may not demand of him
who have committed grievous sins, disgraceful to the                that he does more.         He must leave this entirely to the
church or also punishable by the state, even though they            judgement of the consistory and they shall be governed in
manifest repentance, shall nevertheless be excluded from            their decision by one consideration. This is: "What is
the Lord's Supper to remove the offense, and to test the            conducive to the edification of the church?" The church is
genuineness of their repentance. Although this article was          the body of Christ and the well-being of that body is most
removed from the Church Order two years later, church               important of all. All other considerations and persons must
authorities generally agree that a consistory has the right         be subservient to this.


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   ~BEARER                                                            285


    NOW in matters of this kind a consistory has two courses      that `?h& prescribed advice does not imply that two other

which it can follow. It may not sim$ly  accept a confession,-     consistories-or that classis  decides the matter, nor that the

enter it into the records and then close the mgtter.  The         consistory concerned merely gains the advice and then

matter is public and therefore in some way affects the            decides as it sees fit regardless of the advice given. But it

whole church so that the whole church must be brought             means that the responsible consistory will take a decision

into the reconciliation. To do this a consistory might            in conformity with the advice received." When these three

receive a confession and then proceed to draw up a care-          consistories meet together, the matter is discussed as one

fully worded announcement which is to be read' to the             body and an attempt is made to arrive .at a united stand

congregation from the pulpit. This announcment  must              through this discussion. When the thing is ready for a vote

express exactly what was confessed to the consistory and          the two visiting consistories take a separate vote. Now, it

if definite questions were asked of the penitent, the specific    is possible that the result of this vote is such that a dead-

answer of the penitent ought to be included in the an-            lock is reached because these two consistories stand

nouncement. Such an announcement should never be pub-             opposite on the question.           In that eventuality the matter

lished on the church bulletin but the proper way is that it       should be submitted to the Classis  for decision. In case

be read from the pulpit. Its purpose is not to give publicity     the two consistories are agreed, it would appear obvious

but to remove the offense of sin. And this should not be          that the consistory involved would be obliged to follow de

done in a general way but by stating the specific confession      advice given.

that was made concerning specific sin.                               In concluding this matter we want to quote yet from

    Another possibility is that the confession be made            "The Church Order Commentary," page 312 the following
publicly by the penitent. In this case the penitent is asked      opinion:
to stand up in the presence of the church and orally express         "Supposing one who is being admonished and censured
his repentance in the hearing of the congregation. The            moves and becomes a member of another of our churches,
consistory would likely. prepare a brief statement expressing     which consistory should then complete the reconciliation,
the character of the sin committed, the fact of repentance        revoking the suspension, etc .? The consistory of his new
and. subsequent reconciliation and when this is read the peni-    church. By this church he has been received as a censured
tent would express public assent. This procedure might be         and erring member and the new consistory always
deemed necessary by the consistory in cases where it is           continues the process of censure where the former con-
not the first offense. Or they might consider it the better       sistory left off. But our confederation, our bonds of church
way because of the nature of the sin itself. Then again it        unity, would require that the former con&tory, whz'ch  in-
might be that the penitent himself, to demonstrate tk;e           +%&ed  censure be recogdzed  and be asked for their ap-
sincerity of his confession and his deep-felt desire for          proval, for they may know the case far better than the new
reconciliation with the church, requests that the consistory      colzsistrg.  (Italics mine, G.V. ) In cases of extreme sins gen-
                                                                  erally known it is advisable, both for the church and for the
permit him to confess his sin in this way.
                                                                  sinner, that announcement of the transgressor's repentance
   The point here is that to follow the last mentioned way        be made to the former church also. When serious differ-
of reconciliation the consistory must be unanimously agreed.      ences of opinion arise between two consistories in cases as
Back in 1571 this was already decided for the Synod of            suggested, the advice of Classis  should be sought."
Emden  expressed that reconciliation should not take place           There are those who seem to think that a sinner, trans-
publicly in the presence of the church unless the whole           gressing in one church, can go to another church and make
consistory agreed that it was advisable. And in 1586 it was       confession and be received without the approbation of the
decided that in churches served by only one minister, no          church where the sin was committed. Before God, however,
public reconciliation should take place except with the           sin is never removed that way but the sinner continues to
advice of two neighboring churches. We must remember,             walk in it and the church that receives such is partaker of
of course, that in the Netherlands the situation is a little      his deeds.                                                     G.V.D.B.
different than here. There many churches are served by

more than one minister. In those churches this matter is
decided by majority vote while in the smaller churches,                           GOLDEN WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

having only one minister, the neighboring churches are                             MR. AND MRS. JOHN BOUWKAMP
                                                                                 343 E. Lakewood  Blvd., Holland Michigan
consulted. But in 1581 the Synod of Middelburg stipulated                                      March 12. 1963
that public reconciliations should take place with the advice        We are deeply grateful to them for our Christian home and
                                                                  training. 
of the Classis.                                                                 May they with us continually bless the Lord. Psalm  103.
                                                                                                    T h e   c h i l d r e n :
   The question arises in this connection as to who decides                                         John and Ruth Oosse '
                                                                                                    A. Lee and Julia Tapley
and also how the matter is decided when two neighboring                                             Henry and Hermine  Windemuller
ctinsistories  are called  in? Do the visiting consistories                                         Fred and Alberta Bouwkamp
                                                                                                          9 grand-children
decide? Do they simply give advice? Jansen points out                                                     3 great grand-children

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


                                                                   whether our own) that education is necessary only to com-
IIALL  A R O U N D   LlSil mand high-paying salaries. This is often presented as the
                                                                   sole  motive for pursuing an education. Even in our homes,

                                                                   much of the conversation children overhear in the presence

                                                                   of their parents deals with financial problems and material
MINISTER SHORTAGE
                                                                   considerations so that, whether we intend it or not, our
       The shortage of ministers is a problem throughout the       children come to think of these things as the only real im-
country. While, in the last two years seminary enrollment          portant things of life. We may tell them to the contrary,
has climbed slightly, over the last five years there has been      but our example is always more forcible instruction than
a decrease. Most denominations speak of critical shortages         anything we say.
and are waging intensive recruitment programs. To add to              It is simply a fact that within our Churches ministers
these woes, many ministers are resigning from the ministry.
                                                                   are far from overpaid. This is something which prospective
A recent article in the Satzmlay  Evening Post entitled "Why       students for the ministry no doubt face. And the whole idea
I Quit The Ministry" stirred considerable comment and was          of entering a profession where there are little monetary re-
even the `text" for a sermon or two here or there.                 wards loses appeal when money is such an important con-
       The Roman Catholic Church is also faced with a short-       sideration these days. This is not to say that we ought to
age of priests. To help solve this problem, the Vatican            favo?  low salaries for our ministers. But the fact remains
Council is investigating the possibility of encouraging lay-       that our people themselves oftentimes have heavy financial
men to enter certain kinds of church work. Many Prot-              burdens in the support of their own local churches, in the
estants have done this already for years, and are leaning          denominational causes to which they contribute, and in the
more and more upon laymen to do the work that ministers
                                                                   monetary provisions of our schools. They often do the very
ordinarily would do. Laymen are taking over much of the            best they can. But the fact remains that we are placing too
administrative work of ministers; they are doing more and          much emphasis on material things in our lives. This em-
more of the committee work; they are, if professionals, tak-       phasis is wrong.
ing over sick visitation, psychiatric care, marriage counsel-         To be a minister is to be engaged in the highest and
ling and youth programs.       Thye are used for Catechetical
                                                                   noblest calling given to man here upon earth. He stands
instruction, as presidents of societies and-clubs, and even        alone as the mouthpiece of Christ and as an ambassador of
for missionary work of one kind or another. In many                God. The rewards of this calling cannot be measured in
churches laymen will even lead services on Sunday and              terms of dollars and cents.
preach an occasional sermon. There is very little that min-
                                                                      God has committed to us the heritage of His truth. It
isters do which laymen are not asked to do today.                  will never do to push the work of the ministry of the Word
       All this brings us to the minister shortage within our      on to laymen. The official ministry in preaching, Catechism
own denomination. We could, of course, give some work              and pastoral care belongs to one who is clothed with the
to laymen. But those aspects of a minister's calling which         authority of Christ. This work must be jealously preserved
deal with the official preaching of the Word belong to the         for the minister alone. But with this glorious truth which
office of minister of the gospel. A minister shucks off these      we confess comes the high calling to seek the kingdom of
duties to the spiritual detriment of the congregation.             God and His righteousness. If this is our failing -to point
       Why is there such a shortage?.                              our children to this calling, by our words and by our own
       One answer is obviously that in the past decade many        life, let us then rather inspire our children with this priv-
ministers have forsaken the truth and left their congrega-         ilege of the saints that is given us of grace -to be devoted
tions shepherdless. The shortage of ministers has persisted        and consecrated to the cause of our Redeemer. It is hoped
since 1953.                                                        that this will be conducive to lead our young men to seek
       But the question remains, Why are there no more             the calling of the ministry of the gospel so that our con-
young men who seek the ministry of the gospel?                     gregations do not suffer spiritually because there are none
       I suppose that there is no complete answer to this ques-    to lead them in the green pastures of God's Word.
tion. But it strikes me sometimes that part of the answer

lies in the materialistic emphasis that corrupts our times.        PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD - AN ECUMENKAL PRAYER?
Our children are, from childhood on, exposed to the prev-             The editor of the Catholic weekly O`ur Sun.clay  Visitol;

alent notion that `security" (whatever that may be) is to          suggests in a recent issue that prayers for those who died

be obtained only through financial success. The quickest           and are now in purgatory is really a type of prayer which

road to happiness is the road of successful earnings. The          Protestants make as well as Roman Catholics. He gives

path to contentment is paved with money. When one has              several reasons why this is his conclusion.

a fine house, a large bank account, a number of life in-              1. First of all, he cites the example of his own life.

surance policies, a good hospitalization plan, a guarantee         When he had not yet reached adulthood, he was still a

of retirement benets,  then he has attained a secure life.         Protestant. It was evidently in his twenties that he adopted

Our children are taught in existing schools (I doubt               Roman Catholicism as his religion. But even when he was


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D ,   BEA,RER                                                    287


still a Protestant, he claims, he was already praying for the               of death we 3uzve  a house not made with hands, eternal in

dead. He did this spontaneously and without instruction                     the heavens. Sanctification is perfected at the moment of

which is proof of the fact that evidently the Spirit prompted               death and through the final resurrection of the body.
this prayer within him.                                                         Thirdly, I do not know what the editor is trying to say

   2.     Secondly, he quotes a certain Protestant minister who             when he claims that purgatory is outside space and time. If

is but one example among others who frankly speaks of the                   purgatory is eternal, does it continue beyond the end of the

need of prayers for the dead who have need of some sort                     world? Is there always the need for some to be there? Or

of cleansing from sin before they can arrive safely in                      is it after a while, an empty compartment of hell? More-

heaven. This Protestant minister writes:                                    over, if purgatory is eternal, and one does not spend time

            In principle, I agree with my Catholic friends. Our Lord        there, he must spend eternity there. It has to be one or the
         taught clearly it is the pure in heart who see God and the au-     other. But then there is no need to pray for these dead
         thor of the epistle to the Hebrews told his readers that with-
         out holiness no man would see the Lord. Few are pure and           either. They are there forever.
         holy when they encounter death and it seems credible to me            One may claim perhaps that purgatory is not a -place;
         that further cleansing will be necessary upon our departure
         from this world.                                                   that is merely; a state or condition. But this must also be
            As a Protestant minister, I have been asked a number of         true then of heaven and hell. This Scripture contradicts. It
         times, following a death or a funeral, "Is it all right to pray
         for him now, even though he is gone from this life?"               is true that there is in heaven or hell no space as we know
            And I have always said, "God loves him more than you            it now. There is also no time there as we experience it in
         do and every impulse to prayer comes from His Spirit. By
         all means continue to pray for him now."                           this present history.    But surely one who goes either to
                                                                            heaven or to hell does not become eternal and omnipresent.
   3. Thirdly, the editor suggests that the reluctance of                   These are attributes that belong to God alone. Man does
Protestants to mention a purgatory is not that they do not                  not become God.
really favor the idea; but is rather because of a misunder-                    It is wrong to pray for the dead. The matter is finished
standing of Roman Catholic theology. All are agreed, he                     at the moment of death. The everlasting destiny of every
is sure, that no one is so perfect that, at the moment of                   man is fixed when life departs. And this destiny is fixed
death, he is prepared to enter heaven. But some are wary                    by the immutable decree of the sovereign God.
of the idea that purgatory might imply that people spend a

certain a.mount  of time in a pa.tiicdur  place.  Nothing, he               TEN TOP RELBGIOUS  NEWS STORIES
says, could be farther from the truth. Purgatory is in eter-                   Religious editors and reporters were polled so that it

nity. This is timelessness. Therefore it is nonsense to speak               might be determined which were the ten top religious news

of spending time in purgatory. Furthermore, purgatory is                    stories in 1962. These ten top stories in their order of im-

outside the limits of this earthly creation. It is therefore                portance were:
not in space. Purgatory is not a pluce;  it is merely a c072di-                1. The Second Vatican Council in Rome. 2. The Su-

tion,  a kind of a state. He is rather certain that, if these               preme Court decision outlawing a prescribed prayer in New

questions are cleared up. Protestants will find that, after                 York Schools. 3. The anti-segregation demonstrations by

all, they agree with the Roman Catholic Church on this                      clergymen in Atlanta, Georgia. 4. The formation of the

question. And another obstacle is removed on the road to                    Lutheran Church in America from our existing Lutheran
Church union.                                                               denominations.    5. The agreement of three other major
   Nothing could be farther from the truth.                                 Lutheran bodies to form a new co-operative agency. 6. The

   Not all prayers are prompted by the Spirit of Christ.                    beginning of talks by representatives of four denominations

Certainly the prayer of the Pharisee in the temple was not                  in the Blake-Pike plan for church merger. 7. The burning
the fruit of the Spirit. If someone ignorantly prays for the                of some Negro churches in the South as a protest against
dead, this is by all means not an infallible sign that he has               registration of Negro voters. 8. Karl Barth's visit to America.

the Spirit in his, heart. The editor of 0~ Sunday Visitor                   9. The decision of the United Presbyterian General Assem-
had bad instruction from his parents. For, whether they                     bly which permitted Dr. John Hick to hold membership in
told him to pray for the dead or not, they failed evidently                 the New Brunswick presbytery even though he refused to
to tell him that God takes his people into heaven at the                    affirm his belief in the virgin birth of Christ. 10. The visit
moment of death.                                                            of American church leaders to the Russian Orthodox
   Secondly, it matters not one whit what those Protestants                 Church in Russia.
who are tumbling over each other to get in the good graces                     The standards of newsmen are surely not the standard
of Rome may say. But it makes all the difference in the                     of God. Surely the most important news event must be the
         ? that Paul says, "For we know that if our earthly                 gathering and preservation of the true Church of Jesus
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building                 Christ. For `this is the goal and purpose of all history;
of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the                        everything must be subservient to it. "All things are yours;
heavens." II Corinthians 51. No doubt about it that every                   and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's" But these things
saint is very imperfect at death. But death is precisely the                do not find their way into the religious news media.
laying aside of this sinful earthly tabernacle. At the moment                                                                   H. Hanko

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


                                                                 the laying in of the foundation. The bulletin adds, "May

                                                                 the Lord richly bless these beginnings made in His name
hkiii~ FROM OUR. CHURCHES 11
                                                                 and for His glory."
               `All the saints salztte  thee . . ." PHIL:~:~~       Bulletin  quotes `We must be ready to give up anything

                                                                 and everything for the sake of principles which we have

                                             March 5, 1963       espoused, and must be ready to offend our best supporters,
                                                                 to alienate our warmest friends, sooner than belie our con-
  New trios announced: Hope, Revs. C. Hanko, J. A. Heys;
                                                                 sciences. We must be ready to be-beggars in purse and off-
H. Veldrnan;  Lynde~,  Revs. J. Kortering,  G. Lanting,  H.
                                                                 scouring in reputation rather than act treacherously." C. H.
Veldman.
                                                                 Spurgeon.
       The program given by the Hope Heralds in Oak Lawn's          Adams St. School Board is again conducting a Deficit
Church proved to be a satisfying evening of praise. The          Drive to meet this year's operating costs unpaid by tuition.
offering which was given to the Protestant Reformed Chris-       To date this deficit amounts to $S,691.00  which it is hoped
tian School in Loveland amounted to $lOZ.SO.                     will be pledged between March 11 and 15.
       March 8 was the date set by the Ladies' Auxiliary for.       Sunday, March 3, both Edgerton  and First churches re-
the Home Talent Program in South Holland Church. The             joiced to hear the public confession of faith of five of the
offering, understandably, was for their school.                  young people of the former and seven of the latter. Those
       AAdualzce  not%ce.  Eastern Ladies' League, March 28.     twelve, too, are in the class of Timothy, in that "from a
Speaker, Seminarian Dave Engelsma; topic, "To What Ex-           child they have known the Scriptures which were able to
tent Should Parents Try To Induce Their Children To GO           make them wise unto salvation through faith which is in
In The Ministry." and,  An Easter Cantata will be rendered,      Christ Jesus."
D.V., in Hope Church, April 14, by their Choral Society.            Southeast's consistory has effected a slight change in
This program is scheduled for 9 P. M. allowing time for          their order of worship by adding an "offertory" by the organ
worshipers in our neighboring churches to attend.                while the offerings are being taken.
       From First Church's bulletin we learn that Mrs. H.           The front entrance of Randolph's church was recently
Hoeksema's condition is worsening. Her "sister" in the other     remodeled which provided rest rooms and also bulletin
parsonage is also on the sicklist. Mrs. C. Hanko suffered a      boards with racks to display pamphlets.
gall bladder attack and a siege of pleurisy, but is at this         A society of the Christian School in Randolph sponsored
writing somewhat better.                                         a panel discussion on "Making Our Children Spiritually
       First Church resorted to piano accompaniment to the       Strong," featuring a mother, a father, a teacher, and a
 congregational singing for two weeks. The organ under-          pastor. The pastor in this case was our Rev. G. Van Baren.
went some emergency repairs, but even after that its con-            We are regularly receiving bulletins from our Mission-
 dition allowed but limited use. In an auditorium of that        ary in Houston, Texas. Rev. Lubbers continues to conduct
size piano accompaniment, even when it is amplified on the       a 9:45 Sunday School session, and 11:OO A.M. and 7:36
 p.a. system, is a poor substitute for the sonorous tones of     P. M. Divine worship services. March 3 the Missionary
 a mighty pipe organ. All of which indicates that ways and       preached the first of a "Lenten" series entitled, "Satan's Op-
 means will soon be sought to build up a New Organ Fund.         position to Christ's Death," from Matt. 16:21-23.
       Lynden's Feb. 24th bulletin was the final one sent by         Edgerton's young people were reminded in a February
 Rev. Harbach from the place of his g-year  pastorate before     bulletin that at their next meeting they would be expected
 leaving for Kalamazoo, Mich.  The bulletin revealed his         to choose the 1963 Convention Theme! That marks the be-
 farewell sermon to be based on Heb. 12:1,2:  "Running The       ginning of six months of preparation for next summer's con-
 Race Set Before Us." In the last paragraph of the printed       vention.
 bulletin the pastor bade his flock a personal farewell, con-        . . . see you in church.                           J.M.F.
 cluding with this admonition, "Stand fast in the Reformed                                   -
 Faith as we know it and have been instructed in it." The
 congregation's last song that evening was the Scripturally                        THE VOiCE OF OUR FATHERS

 based equivalent for Rev. J. A. Rankin's, " God Be With                             .(Continued from page 283)

 You Till We Meet Again": Allbert  L. Peace's versification       the proof of the doctrine of the Trinity does not rest on
 of Psalm 121, "From every evil shall He keep thy soul, From      this one text. 2) That even though the evidence for this
 every sin, Jehovah shall preserve thy going out, Thy coming      reading is not strong, the passage certainly gives expression
 in, Above thee watching, He Whom we adore, Shall keep            to a thoroughly Scriptural truth.
 thee henceforth, yea, for ever more."                               Many more elements of proof for the Trinity may be
       Lynden's dream of a new church building is rapidly         pointed out in the New Testament.. To some of these we
 being fulfilled. Lumber has been ordered and received, and       shall have occasion to ,call attention in connection with the
 is lying on the building site which has been prepared for        two following articles of the creed.                  H.C.H.


