I VOLUME XXX111                                  MARCH  1, 1957  - GRAND RAPIDS,, MICHIGAN                                  NUMBER  11
                                                                    t!        "For this cause I bend the knee to the Father of our
               M-E.0 I T A T IO N                                   II Lord Jesus Christ . . ."
                                                                              And informing us of this, the Spirit instructs us to do
                  THE INDViELLING CHRIST                                  the same.
                "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; . . .         "That He would grant you . . . that Christ may dwell in
                being rooted and grounded in love." Ephesians  3:17.      your hearts."
      This is a prayer.                                                       Now there can be no doubt about it, but that this "you"
      Or                                                                  refers to the believers of the new dispensation. For they are
             rather, this is a single  petition of a prayer which is
  constantly being sent to the throne of grace by the apostle for         addressed throughout this epistle. And, therefore, when the
  the believers at Ephesus, and, for that matter, for all the             apostle prays that Christ may dwell in them, he does not im-
  church of the new dispensation.                                         ply that as yet this is not the case. But rather it is his
                                                                          fervent desire, that, even as Christ has taken up His abode
      He wants us to know that.                                           in their hearts, He may evermore fully indwell in them, u&l
      What is even more important, the Holy Spirit, Who in-.              all their hearts and lives are filled by Him.
  spired the apostle to write this, wants us 8 to know that the               This prayer applies to us, who have Christ dwelling in
  apostle makes tKs prayer for the church.                                us by the Spirit.
      Not as a matter of curiosity, but that alsb we may know                 That He may evermore fill our hearts and lives.
  .what is the spiritual need of the church, and thus of our-                 That we may be filled tiith all the fulness of God.
  selves.
      And may learn to pray this same prayer.                                 "In your hearts."
      Daily presenting this need.                                             That is the spiritual-ethical center of all our existence. It
      And daily being heard.                                              is the seat of all our will, emotions, and desires. Love harbors
                                                                          there as the basic and strongest desire of all; From the heart
      "For this cause I bend the knee," the apostle had said.             are the issues of life, for from that source arise all our
                                                                          thoughts, words, and deeds. Therefore Scripture sometimes
      In essence he repeated after the `psalmist of.old.                  `compares the heart to a fountain. If the source is pure, all
   0 Lord, Tlaou  hst .ascended on h.igh in might to reigrt;              the waters that flow from the fountain are pure. And on the
  Captivity Thou ka.dest a ca~fltive in Thy tmin.                         contrary, if the source is corrupt, all that flows from it is
  Rich gifts to Thee a.?-e of&red  by smen who did rebel,                 corrupt.
   Who  prey that  now  Jehovah  their  God  with them  may  dwell.           Here the apostle compares the heart to a dwelling place,
      The depths of his soul were stirred by the thought of               a home.
  the "unsearchable riches of Christ" which he was called to                  A, home is not the same as a cold, uninviting structure.
  preach among the Gentiles. His heart rejoiced as he saw the             Even a beautiful, modern house, equipped with the most at-
  power of the Spirit working through the means of the preach-            tractive furniture and every modern convenience, still lacks
  ing of the Word and gathering the church from both Jew                  the warm coziness of  a home as long' as it is unoccupied.
  and Gentile into the unity of a glorious temple of God, "built          Even when a house is occupied, it still is no home if the
  upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ          occupants cannot exercise true love ,and  fellowship, but live
  Himself being the chief cornerstone."                                   in aloof bitterness there.


 2      4    2                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

      In a home you experience friendship and ifellowship,                 "Through faith."
 mutual confidence, a delight in one another's company, a                  How important it is to add also that phrase to our
 seeking of each other's welfare, so that everyone lives in the        prayer.
warm atmosphere of. harmonious love.                                       For faith is the living tie that unites us to Christ.
      Our heart is that kind of home.                                     How else could Christ ever .dwell  in us ? He is in heaven,
      For Christ dwells there. He has taken up His abode to            and we are still on earth. He is the exalted Lord in a human
 remain there forever.                                                 nature which. has been made spiritual and heavenly, while we
                                                                       are still in this earthly house of our tabernacle.
      That has not always been the case.                                   But as the branches of the vine receive their life from the
      Or, it is better to say, that this is not `our spiritual con-    root, by a living tie that unites them as one vine, so we also
 dition as we are by nature.                                           receive our life from Christ as branches of the true vine. His
      ,By nature, our heart is also a dwelling place' of a sort.       life is in us, for He Himself lives in us. Or, again, as all the
 But then a dwelling place of the devil. He is -not a prisoner         stones of the temple have fheir solidity and unity in the one '
 there, nor a slave, nor a boarder, nor a stranger. He feels           cornerstone, so we also are one,  eterngl  temple of God,
 perfectly at home there, for he loves the environment of sin          founded on Jesus Christ, and united with Him in a living
 and darkness, which fits his own corruption. Moreover, he             faith. Or, if you will, as the electric current orginates in the
 sets up a dictatorship there as the prince of darkness, and           power house passes through the bulb and produces light
 finds  ys his willing subjects. For we love the works of              in the bulb, only to return without loss of  ener,T to its
 darkness in rebellion against the living God as much as he            source; so the life of Christ fills us, becomes the light of life
 does.                                                                 `kithin us, and returns to Him unexpended.
      Children of darkness was our name from our earliest in-             He is the life of our life, the strength of our strength,
fancy. We have  never known nor sought any other com-                  our righteousness, our holiness, our complete salvation:
 panionship than in the realm of darkness. We were:perfectly              Through faith Christ dwells in our hearts.
 wiling that our hearts should remain .the citadel of Satan.              This is also our conscious experience.
      But grace has changed all that.
      For the Son of God, Who came into the likeness of sinful            For the eyes of our understanding have been enlightened
 flesh to fight and  overcoqe the  powers of darkness, Who;            to know Him as our Lord and Savior, and thus to know the
 broke the chains of death and hell, has marched triumph-              only true and living God as the God of our salvation. We
 antly on to victory, so that He is now exalted as Lord over           haye the Word of God's revelation in the Scriptures, applied
 all in the highest heavens.                                           to our hearts by the Spirit. And we live out of that fountain
      And He has come to dwell in our hearts by His Spirit.            of life, experiencing intimate fellowship with God in Jesus
      He did not wait to be invited, but stormed this stronghold       Christ.
 of Satan, deprived him of his power, and put him out of our              For it is our only comfort in life and  death that  we
 hearts, for  He, in turn, took up residence there. He re-             belong to that faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.
 generated us, made us new creatures, as a holy temple of                 We know Him, as our mighty Deliverer, our only Lord.
 God, a fit dwelling place for Himself in the Spirit.                     We live by faith, and not by sight.
      He is not a mere unseen guest, who unobtrusively oc-                But even so, we experience that we have this treasure in
cupies a small corner of our hearts. He fills the whole heart          a body of sin.and death.
 for He spreads His life and His love abroad in our hearts.               And we ask: Lord, evermore give us that faith. Cause us '
 He dwells there in intimate fellowship and friendship. In             to grow in it, to live evermore fully by faith.
fact, He has the chief place there, for He is our Lord and                That Christ may indwell in us, evermore completely,
 our God, Who has come to live and reign within us forever.            through faith.
 He reigns in love, and He makes us His willing subjects.
      That is His prerogative, given Him by the Father.                   A bold prayer.
      But even so, this is only in principle. For we possess the          Yet confidently the apostle sends this prayer up to the
life of Christ in a body of sin and death. Therefore we must           throne of grace for himself and all the church. And he would
 still bitterly complain, that we will the good, but the evil          have us approach the throne of grace in that same confidence.
 is still present with us.                                                Therefore he adds, "being rooted and founded in love."
      And thus the prayer, that Christ may dwell in dur hearts,           That love is always basic for all of our blessings. For it
 evermore fully until all the issues of our lives are governed         is the love of 2 God, which eternally fills the heart of -God,
by Him.                                                                and causes that heart to throb  in the intimate fellcrwship  of
      Until iye have put on perfection in heavenly glory, and          the three persons, seeking and delighting in one another. -It
forevermore.                                                           is the love of God for us, which eternally impelled Him to


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                      243

take us into His life and into His fellowship, that He might
abide with us, and thus we may abide with Him.                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
    It is the love that was manifested on the cross in the                   Semi-monthly, except monthly  dwi~sg   Juw, July  a,nd August
Lamb of God who brought the perfect sacrifice for our sins.                      Published by the R.IXKGNED   FREE  PUBLISHING ASSOCXATION
It is the love that now fills our hearts through His indwelling              P. 0. Box S81, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
Spirit. We love Him, because He first loved us, and has                                             Editor - REV. HERMAN HOEKSEMA.
spread His love abroad in our hearts. And by that love we                    Communications relative to contents should <be addressed to Rev.
                                                                             H. Hoeksema,' 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
are knit as members of one family to all who love the Lord                   All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
Jesus.                                                                       G: Pipe, 1463  Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
    That love is the root, in which we are firmly rooted, and                Announcements and Obituaries  must be mailed to the above
from which -we draw our love, living the covenant life of God.               address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
That love. is the -foundation stone, upon which we are                       RENEWALS:  Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
                                                                             ceived; it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
grounded, to remain firmly fixed through life and death, in                  to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
whatever may befall us, even unto eternal perfection.                                                 Subscription price:  $4.oC, per year
    That love can never fail, because God can never fail.                    Entered  as Second Class  *tatter   at Grand Rapids, Michigan
    But that love abounds more and more, so that Christ                                                                                                                _II
becomes evermore completely our Lord, and we become ever-
more fully His willing subjects, to trust in Him and serve
Him in love.
    That gives us the boldness to ask: Lord, ever multiply                                                      C O N T E N T S
Thy love  to us, cause us to live evermore  fully by faith and           MEDITATION-
not by sight, that Christ may continue to dwell ever more                          The Indwelling Christ.. . . . .:. . . . . . . . . . . . . .                         . ..241
completely within us with all the blessings of His grace,                                 Rev. C. Hanko
Until we are filled. with all the'fulness of God.                        EDITORIALS  -
     To Whom be the glory throughout the ages. World                               The Free Offer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                . ..244
without end.                                                   C.H.                       Rev. H. Hoeksema

                                                                         QUESTION   B o x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .            . ..245
                                                                                          Rev. H. Hoeksema

                               IN MEMORIAM                               THE MULTIFORMITY `OF  THE CHURCH. . . . . . . . .                                             . ..248
                                                                                          Rev. H. Hanko
    The consistory and congregation of  Creston Protestant Re-
 formed Church wish to express their sympathy to Mrs. P. Van             FROM HOLY WRIT-
 den  Engel  and family in the loss of their husband and father,                   Exposition of I Co~rinthians  12-14.. . . . . . . . . . `.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . . ..252
                                                                                         Rev. G. Lubbers
                    MR. PAUL  VANDEN   ENGEL

    Mr.  Vanden   Engel  has for. many years been a spiritual brother    IN HIS   FEAR-
 and a faithful leader in our midst, and we grieve with the                        Respect and Obedience (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                           . . .254
                                                                                                                                                               .........

 family at his departure from among us. Our prayer is that they                           Rev. J. A. Heys
 and we may be given comfort, knowing that "Many are  *the               FEATURE' ARTICLE  -
 afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of
 them all."- Ps. 34  :I9                                                          .Public  Confession Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                         . . .256
                                                                                                                                                               .........


                                                                                          Rev. R.  Veldman

                                                                         THE VOICE  OFF OUR  FATHERS-
                                                                                   The Exposition  od the Canons  od Dordrecht.                                        . . .25s
                                                                                                                                                               .........
                               IN MEMORIAM                                                Rev. H. C. Hoeksema

    The Lord has recently taken from two of our fellow members,          DECENCY AND ORDER-
 Mr. Jake King and Mr. Joe King, a brother,                                        The Churdh  and the State (Cont.) . . . . . . . . .                                 . . .261
                                                                                                                                                               .........

                                                                                          Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg
                               MR.  EL0  KING
                                                                         ALL AROUND Us-
    We, the consistory and congregation of  Creston Protestant                     Meditations of Uncle Mike. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .263
 Reformed Church, pray that these brethren may find comfort                               Rev. M.  Schipper
 in the wisdom of the Lord knowing that, "The Lord is righteous
 in all his ways, and holy in all his works. The Lord is nigh
 unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in
 truth." - Ps. 14.5 :17, 18

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

II                                                                    some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life,
             E D I T O R I A L %                                l! and others foreordained to everlasting death." Chapter `III,
                                                                      art. II.
                                                                          We ask the authors of the pamphlet: did God have a
                          The Free Offer                              sincere desire and was He disposed in his lovingkindness to
       In the issue of our paper of Feb. 1 we started to discuss      save those whom He ordained to death ? And if the decree
the pamphlet "The Free  Offs of the  Gos+P composed by                of reprobation was not motivated by grace and a desire to
the Revs. Murray and Stonehouse of the Orthodox Pres-                 save the reprobate, could there be such a desire in God in
byterian Church.                                                      time  ? And if there is no such desire in God to save the
       We commenced our discussion by calling attention to the        reprobate, could the gospel ever reflect such a desire or dis-
introduction in which the authors set forth the principles on         position of lovingkindness in God ? It is evident that Murray
which the booklet is based. We still have to call your atten-         and Stonehouse corrupt their own confession.
tion to the closing paragraphs of this introduction.                      "Further, the same confession teaches :
       The'first  of these reads as follows:                              "These angels and men, thus predestinated and fore-
       "Again the expression `God desires' in the formula that        ordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed ; and
crystalizes  that crux of the question, is intended to modify         their number is so certain and definite that it cannot be
not at all the `seeming' attitude of God but a real attitude, a       either increased or diminished." Chapter III, IV.
real disposition of lovingkindness in the free offer to all,              Mark you well, the number of the elect and reprobate is
in other words, a pleasure or delight in God, contemplating           very definitely determined, not by what God foresaw and
the blessed result to be achieved by compliance with the              foreknew, but by what He decreed from all eternity. There
overture proffered and the invitation given."                         are no possible conditions. The acceptance or rejection of
       There can be but one meaning expressed in this para-           the gospel invitation has nothing to do with this. To this,
graph. It is that in the preaching of the gospel there is re-         too, Murray and Stonehouse do not subscribe.
vealed, on the part of God, a real attitude of grace, a real              Still further, the Westminster declares :
disposition of lovingkindness to save all men, elect and re-              !`Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God,
probate. Again, if this means anything at all, it must signify        before the foundation of the world was laid, according to
that, as far as God is concerned, there no determination in           his eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret  counse1
Him that any man be lost, whether elect or reprobate. What            and good pleasure of his will, hath chosen in Christ, unto,
does this mean in regard to God's decree of election and              everlasting glory, out of mere free `grace and love, without
reprobation? It can mean only one thing: the authors prefer           any foresight of faith or good works, or perseverance in
the Arminian `conception of predestination, unless they are           either of them, or any other thing in the creature, as con-
playing with words. The Arminian presentation of election             ditions, or causes moving him thereunto ; and all to the praise
is, as we know, that God, from all eternity, foresaw and              of his glorious grace." Chapter III, V.
foreknew  who would believe in Christ and persevere in that               Also this the authors of the pamphlet do not believe.
faith until the end. Likewise, the Arminian conception of             According to this article, grace is for the elect only, but
reprobation is' that God, from all eternity, foresaw and .fore-       according to them, God is filled with lovingkindness, to the
knew who-would refuse to believe in Christ and persevere to           reprobate, a grace for all that is revealed in the gospel.
the end in their unbelief. Only in that light, which means                The Confession states further :
that man has a free will to accept the gospel or to reject it, can
one possibly speak of a desire or a disposition of lovingkind-            "As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so hath
ness in God to save all men, including the reprobate.                 he,' by the eternal and most free purpose of his will, fore-
       These men do not believe their own confession which is         ordained all the means thereunto. Wherefore they who are
the Westminster Confession of Faith.                                  elected, being fallen-in Adam, are redeemed in Christ, are
       That Confession declares :                                     effectually called unto faith in Christ by his Spirit working
       "Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to              in due season; are justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept
pass upon all supposed conditions, yet hath he not decreed            by his power through faith unto salvation. Neither are any
anything because he foresaw it as future, or as that  which           other redeemed by Christ, effectually called, justified, adopted,
would come to pass upon such conditions. "Chapter III, art.           sanctified, and saved, but the elect only." Chapter III, art. VI.
II.                                                                       We ask the authors of the pamphlet : why do you pretend
       Murray and Stonehouse, however, believe that God is            to subscribe also to this article while, in fact, you teach the
filled with an earnest desire to save all men, except upon the        very opposite ? Why do you not openly move in the Arminian
supposed and foreseen condition that they refuse to accept            camp, where you belong ?
the gospel invitation.                                                    What does this article teach ?
       The same Confession declares further:                              It teaches in the first place that Christ redeemed, that is
       "By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory,     shed his lifeblood for the elect only. When Christ died on


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               245

 the accursed tree he paid the price of redemption  only for            men, but only the elect. But the answer of Murray and
 those whom the Father had given Him before the foundation              Stonehouse is: because they do not comply with the condi-
 of the world. This was over nineteen hundred years ago.                tion, i.e. to accept the general offer and invitation of the
  It was once and forever. Hence, even apart from the decree            gospel ; in other words : God' loves to save them but they do
 `of election and reprobation, it is absolutely impossible that         not want to be saved. They deny the sovereign grace of
 there should be in God a desire or disposition of lovingkind:          God and, therefore, do not subscribe to what they pretend
  ness to save all men, even the reprobate. There certainly             to be their own confession. Professing to be Calvinists they
  was no such desire in God when He delivered .His Son to               are Arminians.
  the death of the cross, for he did not redeem them all but               We still wish to quote the article of the Westminster on
  only the elect. Besides, this is also impossible because, if          the truth of reprobation :
  Christ died and paid the price of redemption for the elect               "The rest of mankind God was pleased, according to the
  only, there is, so to speak, no capital to pay the price of re-       unsearchable counsel of his own will, whereby he extendeth
  demption for the reprobate. If I desire to give a hundred             or withholdeth mercy as he pleaseth, for the glory of his
dollars to a hundred men each, and I have laid away just                sovereign power over his creatures, to pass by and to ordain
 ten thousand dollars for the purpose, I certainly cannot give          them to dishonour and wrath for their sin, for the glory of
  or even offer a hundred dollars to a hundred more men.                his glorious justice." Chapter III, VII.
  Now, I know that this is a homely figure and that it cannot              To those  ,reprobate,  whom God ordained from eternity
  be applied to the redemption of Christ in every detail, but' to dishonor and wrath for their sin, He, according to Murray
  it serves the purpose for which it is given. If Christ did not        and Stonehouse assumes a real attitude of lovingkindness and
  pay the.price  of redemption for all men, God, in his loving-         desire to save them. We readily understand that this is an
  kindness cannot mean to save all or offer salvation to all.           impossible theory. It is neither Scriptural nor confessional. .
     From this point of view, Murray and Stonehouse, da                 (But I wish to say even more. I do not believe that they can
  not subscribe to, but corrupt their own confession. They              nor want to believe this themselves. They must be irrational
  should not pretend to be Orthodox Presbyterian, for they              to believe that God has a sincere desire to save those whom,
  are and mean to be Arminian.                                          from all eternity, He has ordained to wrath and eternal
     That' the Westminster Confession teaches, indeed, that             desolation. This, mind you, is no mystery, which is far above
  Christ paid the price of redemption, not for all men, but only        our `comprehension, but is simply a flat contradiction, an
  for those whom the Father has given Him, is also plainly              wholly irrational proposition, and, therefore, incapable of
  in chapter VIII, art. V:                                              acceptance. But they do not believe in reprobation in the
     "The Lord Jesus by his perfect obedience and sacrifice             confessional and Scriptural sense of the word.
  of himself, which he through  the  eternal Spirit once offered            They do not subscrible to their own confession.
  up unto God, hath fully satisfied the justice of his Father, and          More about this next time, D.V.
  purchased not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inherit-                                                                H.H.
  ance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the
  Father hath given unto him."
     Again I say that, according to the Westminster Con-
  fession, Christ, by His death purchased nothing for the re-                                QUESTION BOX
  probate. How, then, can God, in His lovingkindness intend
  to save them and offer unto them the salvation which Christ              .The Rev. E. E. of Randolph, Wis., asks :
  purchased for the elect alone  ? Again, I claim that the authors          1. Is it wrong to say, "God punishes and condemns
- of the pamphlet do not believe and subscribe to their own             Pharaoh NOT on account of sin but rather IN THE WAY
  confession.                                                           OF SIN (Pharaoh's sin)  ?" Does this phrase "Not on ac-
     There is still more in the article of the Westminster we           count of sin" becomes superfluous when it is used in the
  quoted a moment ago. It does not only teach that Christ paid          same sentence where the phrase : "IN THE WAY OF SIN"
  the price of redemption for the elect alone, but it also .em-,        appears ?
  phasizes that the application of that work of redemption  is              The brother explains the meaning of his question. He
  God's work alone. He alone effectually calls, He alone                understands that, according to the Protestant Reformed posi-
  adopts, justifies, sanctifies, and He alone  keeps  them   through    tion, we must have nothing of the Arminian view of reproba-
  faith unto salvation even unto the end. And this He does,             tion that God `reprobated some because He saw beforehand
  according to the article, only in and for the elect.                  that they would sin and refuse to believe in Christ. However,
     Now, I ask again, as I did before, why, if God is so               he also understands that the decree of God, election and
  filled with lovingkindness to save all men, even the reprob&,         reprobation, is inseparable from the fruits that men reveal in
  why does he not do it 7 The answer of, the Westminster Con-           time. In this connection he writes literally: "a man can only
  fession is plain: He is not filled with a desire to save all          act according to the character God has ,given  him and, there-

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

 fore, his fruits shall be in harmony with that character."           and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise
 Hence, the question arises, not only whether we must say that        and understanding, and didst reveal them, unto babes; yea,
 reprobation takes place, not because of or on account of sin,        Father, for so it was well-pleasing in thy sight.' Matt. 11325,
 but in the way of sin ; but also that we must say that God           26."
 condemns and punishes a man, not on account of, but in the              From all this it is clearly evident that the decree of re-
 way of sin.                                                          probation is not on account of the sin of those that are re-
        The brother, evidently, deals with deep and very difficult    jected, but solely out of God's sovereign good pleasure, and
 problems, with problems, too, that, ultimately, we cannot            simply by God's righteous will. Whether one takes the infra-
 solve because we cannot fathom God. Nevertheless, we may             or the supralapsarian viewpoint of God's eternal predestina-
 say something about it, in the light of Scripture, in order to       tion, this truth remains the same. Our fathers and the Re-
 define the problem and to keep our attempt at solving it with-       formed churches in general must have nothing of Arminian-
 in proper limits.                                                    ism.
        And then I would answer the above stated question as             2. Another question is, whether we may ever say, as the
 f o l l o w s   :                                                    brother has it, that `<man can only act according to the char-
        1. It certainly is the Reformed position that reprobation     acter God has given him and, therefore, his fruits shall be in
 is not on account of sin but it is realized in the way of sin.       harmony with his character."
 No more than any works of man are the cause or ground of                I take it that, in this sentence, the brother uses the word
 his election, no more is his sin the cause or ground of  his,        "character" in the sense of "nature." If this, is not the case,
 reprobation. The article in the Canons of Dordrecht that             he better' answer and correct me, at the same time defining
 speaks of reprobation reads as follows (representing the infra-      the term "character."
 lapsarian viewpoint) :                                                  Now, I agree that everyone acts according to his "char-
        "What peculiarly tends to illustrate, and recommend ta        acter" or nature, whether it be good or evil and that, there-
 us the eternal and unmerited grace of election, is the express       fore, his fruits, meaning his works .will be in harmony with
 testimony of sacred Scripture that not all, but some only are        his character or nature. But I cannot agree when the brother
 elected, while others are passed by in the eternal decree;           states that "man can only act according to the character God
 whom God, out of his sovereign, most just, irreprehensible           leas given him." I stated in the beginning of this article that
 and unchangeable good pleasure, hath decreed to leave in the         we cannot fully fathom the mystery of election and reproba-'
 common misery into which they have wilfully plunged them-            tion, but that we can nevertheless, say something about it in
 selves, and not to bestow upon them saving faith and the             the light of Scripture, and that we can so define it that we
 grace of conversion  ; but permitting them in his just judg-         keep the attempt to solve this problem within proper limits.
ment to follow their own ways, at last for the declaration of         This I wish to apply now to the view of the brother that
 his justice, to condemn and perish them forever, not only on         asks the question. -And I wish to do so by stating: that we
 account of their unbelief,  .but also for all their other sins.      certainly, on the basis of Holy Writ, believe with all our
 And this is the decree `of reprobation which by no means             heart in absolutely sovereign .election  and in equally sover-
 makes God the author of sin (the very thought of which is,           eign reprobation, but always emphasizing that God is never
 blasphemy), but declares him to be an awful, irreprehensible,        the author-of sin.
 and righteous
             ,    judge and avenger thereof."                            It seems to me that this is the mistake of the brother
        Reprobation, therefore, is solely out of God's sovereign      when he states that man always acts according to character
 good pleasure.                                                       God  bar givepz  J&z. That implies that God has given to the
        And, in the same chapter of the Canons, rejection `of         reprobate his evil nature, or, in other words, that God cre-
 errors, VIII, we read that we reject the errors of those, who        ated him wicked and perverse.
 t e a c h :                                                             This the Reformed Confessions never teach or allow.
        "That God, simply by virtue of his righteous will, did not       0, I know that we can say a good deal more about this.
 decide either to leave anyone in the fall of Adam and in the         We can say that even the fall of man was not outside of
 common state of sin and condemnation, or to pass anyone by           God's sovereign  rule:  that the very devil and his host are
 in the communication of grace which is necessary for faith           absolutely under God's control, and that God always ful-
 and conversion. For this is firmly decreed: `He  bath  mercy         fills His counsel. ,To all this I have no objection, in fact, this
 on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth,' Rom. 9 :l&          I have always taught and still do teach with all the love of
 And also this : `Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of       my heart. I know, on the basis of Scripture, that it is ac-
 the kingdom of heaven but to them it is not given.' Matt.            cording to the counsel of the Most High that sin ~~ztst come
 13  :ll. Likewise : `I thank thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven          into the world. Much more can be said about this.

                                                   `.


I                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                             247
            Nevertheless, we may never say that God gave the  re-                     That this is the clear teaching of all of Holy Writ we do
     probate his evil nature.                                            not have to show. This is even evident from the history of
                                                                         Pharaoh to which brother E. refers. God sent His plagues
            Then we land into the error of determinism, of blind         upon the land of Egypt for and on account- of his sin that he
     fatalism.                                                           did not want to let the people of Israel go. And when Pharaoh
            Then we make God the author of sin.. This we may never       occasionally confesses that he sinned and momentarily came
     do.                                                                 to a carnal repentance, God withdrew the plague. Cf. Ex.
            Our Reformed Confessions are always opposed to this  9:27ff.
     error. This is plain already from the article in the Canons                      Nor is it necessary to call attention'to the fact that the
     on reprobation which we just quoted. In that article we read             Confessions teach,, the same thing. I wish to refer to only
     that by reprobation God decreed to leave some "in the                    one or two illustrations.
     common misery into which they have wilfully plunged  them-                       First of all I refer again to the article in the Canons that!
     selves" and : "permitting them in his just judgment to. follow           speaks of reprobation. We read there, as I quoted before
     their own ways, at last, for the declaration of his justice, to     that God, in His just judgment, allows the reprobate to fol-
     condemn and perish them forever, not only on account of                             --,.
                                                                              low their own ways and, "at last, for the declaration of, his
     their unbelief, but also for all their other sins."                      justice, to condemn and perish them forever, not only on
            This is also the teaching of the Heidelberg Catechism in          account of their unbelief, but also for all their other sins."
     questions 6 and 7. In question 6 we read:. "Did God then
     create man so wicked and perverse ?" And the answer : "By           -            This is plain language. God does not condemn and punish
     no means: but God created man good and after his own                     the reprobate in the way of, but on account of and for their
I image,"etc. And in question 7 :"Whence then proceeds this sins.
     depravity of the human nature ?" And the answer : "From                          And in the Heidelberg Catechism, qu. 10, we read:
     the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve,                    "Will God suffer such  disobediende  and rebellion to go
     in paradise; hence our nature is become so corrupt, that we              urmunished
                                                                                .c                ?
     are all conceived and born in sin."                                              "A. By no means ; but is terribly displeased with our
            I could quote more. But this is sufficient to show that,          original as well as with our actual sins; and will punish
     according to our Reformed Standards, God did not give man                them in his just judgment temporally and eternally, as he
     his evil "character" or nature, but that man himself is  to,             hath declared, `Cursed is every one that continueth not in
     blame for his sin.                                                       all things, which are written in the book of the law, to do
            3. But the first question of brother E. really does not them.' `9
     ask about the truth of reprobation, although it is closely con-                  Well, this is my answer to the first question of brother E.
     nected with it and although he, evidently, had this in mind.             Hope that it may be of some help to all of us.
     He asks whether we must say that God punishes sin, not on                                                                                    H.H.
     account of sin, but in the way of sin. And he refers  toI
     Pharaoh.
            My answer is negative. We must positively say that God
     punishes the sinner on account and for his sin, and not that                                       WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
     he punishes him in the way of sin. In fact, to say that
     punishes a sinner in the way of sin is a contradiction in terms,            On March 4, 1957, the Lord willing, our dear parents
     as the brother, judging by the last part of this question, him-                             MR. AND MRS. EDWARD BYLSMA
     self felt. He confuses in his mind reprobation, the sin of               hope to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary.
     man, the judgment of God, and the punishment of sin. Let
     us get this straight:                                                       We are thankful to our Covenant God for all the blessings
                                                                              he has bestowed on them and us.
            a. God reprobated some to eternal destruction. This                  Our prayer is that the Lord may grant them His peace the
     decree of reprobation is not on account of foreseen sin, but             remaining days of their pilgrimage.
     is absolutely sovereign, out of His own good pleasure.                                            Toheir  thankful children,
            b. This decree is realized through and in the way of the                                      .Mr. and Mrs. George Spruyt
     fall and sin of man whom He created good but lapsible. This                                           Mr. and Mrs. John Bartelds
     fall is an act of wilfull disobedience.                                                               Mr. and Mrs. Adrian Griffioen'
                                                                                                           Mr. and Mrs. Ralph H. Meyer
            d. God, in His righteous judgment, punishes the sinner
            .-                                                                                             Mr.`and  Mrs. Gerard E. Bylsma
     with eternal desolation, not in the way of,. but for and on                                           Mr. and Mrs. George De Vries
     account of his sin.                                                                                   21 grand children and 15 great grand children


248                                          T 'H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                                                                            .  .
       THE MULTIFORMITY OF TI!IE CHURCH                               were created by him, and for him : And he is before all things,
    The subject of the multiformity of the church is not only         and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the
of some theological importance, but it also is from a practical       body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from
point of view, a very interesting topic. This is true in the first    the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence."
place, because the subject of the church is always dear to the        And in a comparable passage we read, "Blessed be the God
heart of thq child of God, for he confesses in the words of           and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,. who hath blessed us
the Heidelberger, concerning that church that "I am and               with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: Ac-
forever shall remain a living member thereof." From a little          cording as he hath chosen us in him before the foundations
different point of view the subject is of practical interest be-      of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
cause it speaks of the1 relationships which the various mem-          him in love." Ephesians 1 :3, 4.
bers of that church sustain to one another, and of the place             Although from two different figures, these texts teach the
and duties of the individual member in the sphere of the              same basic thought. In John 15, -Christ  is represented as the
church.                                                               vine, while the various members of the Church are the
       But the subject of the multiformity of the Church has          branches. In the other passages quoted, Christ is pictured as
.been and is today very often misunderstood, which misunder-          the Head of the body, and the Church composes the other
standing results in some very pernicious errors in the views          members of that same body. Yet more specifically these pas-
of the true and false church. And therefore the subject is            sages teach us some important characteristics of that Church.
of value also theologically.                                             In the first place, that church as one organic unity is the
       In order to understand clearly what the Scriptural idea of     object of election as is especially evident from Ephesians 1.
multiformity is, it is imperative that we understand the              God chose from before the foundations of the, world one
Scriptural idea of the `Church. What is the church from the           people in Christ. According to Scripture that one people
point of view of Scripture ?                                          forms one harmonious unity and entity with Christ. That
    The truth that the church is a living organism with               means that they were not chosen alone as to form, but also
Christ and as such is the object of election is probably the          more particularly as to the individual members that compose
fundamental idea of the Church in Scripture. This is taught           that unity. Each member was chosen directly by God etern-
in many passages. In John 15  :l-5 we read, "I am the true            ally in His counsel according to His own sovereign good
-vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in               pleasure. Not only that, but they were chosen to a particular
me that beareth not fruit he taketh away ; and every branch           place within the unity of' that organism. And they were
that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more       chosen and prepared eternally to fit that place exactly. If we
fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have                 may follow the idea of the figure, God chose one'body  with
spoken unto you. Abide in- me, and I in you. As the branch            Christ the Head. He chose each member of that body as it
cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no          seemed good to Him. He chose each member to occupy their
more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are             own particular place. He chose a hand, a foot, a toe for its
the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same           place, and only  ,its place in the one unity of the body of
bringeth forth much fruit : for without me ye can do nothing."        Christ. Furthermore, we must remember that that counsel
Again in Rom. 12 :4, 5 we read;"For as we have many mem-              of election is also the powerful and efficacious cause of the
bers in one body, and all members have not the same office:           realization of that body in time, and finally in perfection in
So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one              heaven.
members one of another." To the passage in I Corinthians                 In the second place, that one unified body of Christ is an
12 we must' refer at a later time, but nevertheless there also        organism. Without going into detail (`for that is not neces-
the church is- spoken of as an organism. After Paul discusses         sary for this paper) into the idea of an organism, we may say
the various members of the human body and the interdepend-            that that unity is a living unity, deriving its, life from a com-
ence and interrelationships of these-various members, he con;         mon principle. And that principle of all the life of the
eludes by saying, "Now ye are the body of Christ, and mem-            unity of the organism,  ,is Jesus Christ. And because the
bers in particular," verse 27. Again in that glorious passage         church is a living unity and organism, each member is de-
of Colossians 1, in verses 13-18 we read, "Who hath delivered         pendent first of all upon Christ, and because it is dependent
us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into            upon Christ, each member is dependent upon the other. There
the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption               is no function of the organism. without the complete function
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the           of each member. There is interdependency and interrelation-
image of the invisible God,. the firstborn of every creature:         ship as the whole functions and lives only out of Christ its
For by him .were all things created, that are in heaven, and          Head.
that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be                That we must remember first of all when we speak of the
thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers : all things.     multiformity of the church. For the multiformity is a multi-


                                               THE.   S T A N D A R D   B.EARER                                                  249

formity of that body of Christ which is the object of God's           creed already an attempt to solve the problem of the unity of
electing power, and which is an unified organism in Jesus             the Church and the manifestation of -the body of Christ in
Christ. "Yet the fact remains, that God's church is one  chzbrcl2     various denominations in this world.
in her true spiritual essence f guided and blessed by the opera-         In the seventh article of the Augsburg Confession we
tion of the Holy Spirit Who dwells in her. The Church does            read, "Also they teach that one holy Church is to continue
not consist of various denominations, which together make up          forever. But the Church is the congregation of saints, in
the true church. Then she would be divided. Even though               which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments rightly
we may grant that there are true believers in various denomi-         administered.
nations, these various denominations do not make  up  the
true church. The church is spiritual, heavenly, and therefore            "And unto the true unity of theChurch,  it is sufficient to
is knit together by a spiritual bond."l                               agree concerning the doctrine of the Gospel and the admin-
                                                                      istration of the Sacraments. Nor is it necessary that human
   The Church considered as such has four attributes                  traditions, rites, or ceremonies instituted by men should be
ascribed to it by Scripture and  our  Confessions. They are           alike every where, as St. Paul saith: `There is one faith, one
its unity, catholicity, holiness and. apostolicity. Only the first    baptism, one God and Father of all.' "3
two are important for our subject.
   Although our Confessions speak very little about the                  In Chapter XVII of the Second  Helvetic  Confession we
                                                                      read concerning the Church, "Forasmuch as God from .the
multiformity of the Church, nevertheless concerning the               beginning would have men to be saved, and to come to the
Church from the point of view of these attributes, they speak         knowledge of the truth; (I Tim.  2:4), therefore it is neces-
very often. In Articles 2.58-262  of the Longer Catechism of          sary that there always should have been, and should be at
the Eastern Church we read, "Why is the Church one? Be-               this day, and to the .end of the world ; a Church - that is, a
cause she is one spiritual Body, has one Head, Christ, and is         company of the faithful called and gathered out of the world ;
animated by one Spirit of God.' There is one body and one             a communion (I say) of all saints, that is, of them who truly,
Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling ; one       know and rightly worship and serve the true God,, in Jesus
Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.              Christ the Saviour, by the word of the Holy Spirit, and who
Eph. 4 :4-6.                                                          by faith are partakers of all those good graces which are
   "Are we still more expressly assured that Jesus Christ             freely offered through Christ. There all are citizens of one
is -the one only Head of the one Church ? The Apostle Paul            and the same city, living under one Lord, under the same
writes, that for the Church, as the building of God, other            laws, and in the same fellowship of all good things; for the
foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus*          apostle calls them `fellow citizens with the saints, and of the
Christ. I Cor. 3 :lO, 11. Wherefore the Church, as the Body           household of God' (Eph. 2  :19) ; terming the faithful upon
of Christ, can have no other Head than Jesus Christ. The              the earth saints (I Cor. 4:1, who are sanctified by the blood
Church, being to abide through all generations of time, needs,        of the Son of God. Of these is that article of our Creed
also an ever-abiding head ; and such is Jesus Christ alone.           wholly to be understood,. `I believe  -in the holy Catholic
Wherefore, also the Apostles take no higher title'than that           Church, the communion of saints.'
of ministers of the Church. Col. 1 :24, 25.                              "And, seeing that there is always but `one God, and one
   "What duty does the unity of the Church lay upon us?               mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ' (I
That of endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the            Tim. 2 :5) ; also, one Shepherd of the whole flock, one Head
bond of peace. Eph. 4 ~3.                                             of this body, and, to conclude, one Spirit, one salvation, one
    "How does it agree with the unity of the Church, that             faith, one Testament, or Covenant, - it follows necessarily
there are many separate and independent churches, as those            that there is but one Church, which we therefore call Catholic
of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, Russia ?           because it is universal, spread abroad through all the parts
These are particular churches, or parts of the one Catholic.          and quarters of the world, and reaches unto all times, and
Church: the separateness of their visible organization does           is not limited within the compass either of time or place.
not hinder them from being `all spiritually great members of          Here, therefore, we must condemn the Donatists, who pinned
the one body of the Universal Church, from having one Head,           up the Church within the corners of Africa ; neither do we
Christ, and one spirit of faith and grace. This unity is, ex-         assent to the Roman clergy, who vaunt that the Church of
pressed outwardly by unity of Creed, and by communion in              Rome alone is in a manner Catholic.
prayer and Sacraments.                                                   "The Church is divided by some into divers parts or
    "Is there likewise unity between the Church on earth              sorts; not that it is rent and divided from itself, but rather
and the Church in heaven ? Doubtless there is, both by their          distinguished in respect of the diversity of the members that
common relation to'one Head, our Lord Jesus Christ, any by            are in it. One part thereof they make to be the Church Mili-
mutual communion with one  another."2  We notice in this              tant, the other the Church Triumphant. The Militant wars


  250                                           TtiE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

  still on earth, and fights against the flesh, the world, and        of the true faith ; and that I am, and forever shall remain, a
  the prince of the world, the devil ; against sin and against        living member of the same."5 This is particularly beautiful
  death. The other, being already set at liberty, is now in           because the Catechism calls attention to the fact that the
 heaven, and triumphs over all those things overcome, and             Church as it really is, and the church as it is holy and
 continually rejoices before the Lord. Yet these two churches         catholic is an object of faith. That Church cannot be seen
 have, notwithstanding, a communion and fellowship between            with the physical eye, nor perceived with the senses but is
 themselves.                                                          for the true believer always an object of faith.
         "Moreover, the Church Militant upon the earth has ever-         In Article XXVII of the Belgic Confession we read, "We
 more had many particular churches, which must all, notwith-          believe and profess one catholic or universal Church, which
  standing, be referred to the unity of the Catholic Church.          is a holy congregation and assembly of true Christian be-
  This Militant Church was otherwise ordered and governed             lievers, expecting all their salvation in Jesus Christ, being
 before the Law, among the patriarchs; otherwise under                washed in his blood, sanctified and sealed by the Holy
  Moses, by the Law; and otherwise of Christ, by the Gospel.          Ghost . . . .
 There are but two sorts of people, for the most part, men-               "Furthermore, this holy Church `is not confined, bound,
 tioned : to wit,. the Israelites and the Gentiles ; or they who,     `or limited to a certain place or to certain persons, but is
  of the Jews and Gentiles, were gathered to make a Church.           spread and dispersed over the whole world ; and yet is joined
 There are also two Testaments, the Old and the New. Yet              and united with heait and will, by the power of faith, in one
 both these sorts of people have had, and still have, one fellow-     and the same spirit."6
 ship, one salvation, in one and the same Messiah ; in whom,              In the Scotch Confession of Faith, Article XVI we read,
 as members of one body, they are all joined together under           "As we beleve in ane God, Father, Sonne, and haly Ghaist;
  one head, and by one faith are all partakers of one and the         so we maist constantly beleeve, that from the beginning there
 same spiritual meat and drink. Yet here we do acknowledge            hes bene, and now is, and to the end of the warld sail be, ane
 a diversity of times, and a diversity in pledges and signs of        Kirk, that is to say, ane company and multitude of men
  Christ promised and exhibited ; and that now, the ceremonies.       chosen of God, who richtly  worship and imbrace him be trew
 being abolished, the light shines unto us more clearly, our          faith in Christ Jesus, quha is the only head of the same Kirk,
 gifts and graces are more abundant, and our liberty is more          quhilk alswa is the bodie and spouse of Christ Jesus, quhilk
 full and ample." Notice that here the true Scriptural idea           Kirk is catholike, that is universal, because it conteinis the
 of multiformity is already mentioned.                                Elect of all ages, of all realms, nations, and tongues, be they
         We read further, "It is the head which has the pre-          of Jewes, or be they of the Gentiles, quha have communioun
  eminence in the body, and from whence the whole body re-            and  societie  with God the Father, and with his Son Christ
  ceives life ; by. whose spirit it is governed in all things ; of    Jesus, throw the sanctificatioun  of his haly Spirit: and there-
  whom, also, it receives increase, that it may grow up. Also,        fore it is called the communioun, not of prophane persounes,
there is but one head to the body, which has agreement with           bot of Saincts,  quha as citizenis of the heavenly Jerusalem,
  the body; and therefore the Church cannot have any other            have the fuition of the maist inestimable benefites, to wit,
  head besides Christ. For as the Church is a spiritual body,         of ane God, ane ,Lord Jesus,. ane Faith, and ane baptisme :
  so must it needs have a spiritual head like unto itself. Neither    out of the quhilk Kirk, ther is, nouther  lyfe, nor eternal1
  can it be governed by any other spirit than by the Spirit of        felicitie.  And therefore we utterly abhorre the blasphemie of
  Christ  .' . . For we hold and teach that Christ our Lord is,       them that `affirme, that men quhilk live according to equitie
  and remains still, the only universal pastor, and highest           and justice,  sal be saved, quhat Religioun that even they have
  bishop, before God his Father; and that in the Church he            professed. For as without Christ Jesus there is nouther life
  performs all the `duties of a pastor or bishop, even to the         nor salvation ; so sal there nane be participant therof, bot sik
  world's end ; and therefore stands not in need of any other         as the father hes given unto his Sonne Christ Jesus, ant they
to supply his room. For he is said to have a substitute, who          that in time cum unto him, avowe his doctrine, and beleeve
  is absent; but Christ is present with his Church, and is the        into him, we comprehend the children with the faithful par-
  head that gives life thereunto. He did straitly forbid his          entes. This Kirk is invisible, knawen  onelie  to God, quha
  apostles and their successors all superiority or dominion in        alane  knawis whome he hes chosen ; and comprehends as weill
  the Church . . .  ." (Articles 1, 4,  5).4                          (as said is) the Elect that be departed, commonlie called the
         In our own Heidelberg Catechism, Question and Answer         Kirk triumphant, and they that zit live and fecht against sinne
  54 we read, "What dost thou believe concerning the Holy             and Sathan  as sall live hereafter."'
  Catholic Church ? That out of the whole human race, from                There are several paragraphs of Chapter XXV of the
  the beginning to the end of the world, the Son of God, by his       Westminster Confession of Faith which are worthy of notice.
  Spirit and Word, gathers, defends, and preserves for him-           "I. The catholic or universal Church, which is invisible, con-
  self unto everlasting life, a chosen communion in the unity         sists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are,


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                  251

or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the head thereof;        organism of the Church as it exists in the eternal counsel of
and is the spouse, the body, the fulness  of him that filleth all    God, and as it shall finally be realized in heaven. If we do
in all.                                                              not remember this, then we will have trouble understanding
    "V. The purest churches under heaven are subject both to         multiformity. It is true that at any time' in the history of
mixture and error; and some have so degenerated as to                the world that Church is present on earth in part, and that
become no churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan.               therefore there is a manifestation also of multiformity in a
Nevertheless, there shall be always a Church on earth to wor-        measure, but it is incomplete and cannot even be seen in all
ship God according to his will.                                      the riches of its diversity. Thus we must remember that
    "VI. There is no other head of the Church but the Lord           when Scripture speaks of multiformity, it speaks of the  multi-
Jesus Christ: . .  ."s                                               formity of the entire living organism of the Church with
    In these Confessions and in the Scripture passages quoted        Christ.
is defined for us the two attributes of the Church which are              Thirdly, the attribute of catholicity is also important to.
important for our discussion of multiformity.                        remember. The catholicity of the Church refers to the fact
    We learn in the first place that the Church considered as        that the Church is gathered in time from all the nations of
an unity and as catholic is an object of faith. That! Church         the world, of every tribe and tongue, of every race and
cannot be seen nor perceived with the senses, but is revealed        people. Thus in the real sense of the word the Church is
to us in the Scriptures, and `as the content of revelation it        universal. But neither can this be said of the Church at any
can be maintained `and believed only by faith.                       one time in the history of the world. But again this is only
    Secondly, the attribute of oneness implies the following:        true if we consider the Church as a whole. Therefore the
    a) The source of the oneness of the Church is in Christ.         Church is catholic as to its oneness. And as considered in
For.that  Church is only one as it is the body of Jesus Christ.      its unity'in Christ, the catholicity of the Church transcends all
This is implied already in the idea of an organism, for an           natural and physical boundaries, remaining as a unity in the
organism is one unity, one plant, one body, receiving its            organism of the body. This, too, is important, for much of
principle of life from a common source. Thus this unity is           the diversity of the Church is to be found in the fact that the
spiritual, for the Church is one in Christ as united to Christ       Church is catholic.
and to itself by the Spirit of Christ.                                     What then is the multiformity of the Church ? Or as the
    b) `Thus the unity is not achieved through the efforts of        Dutch has it, de  plzwiformiteit  or de  ve&ijdigh&d  van de
man. This too is important to remember in our discussion             kerk?
of multiformity. Even as that Church comes to manifestation                The literal meaning of the words that are used is, the
in time, and that in various denominations, nevertheless the         many formedness or many sidedness of the Church. And al-
unity of the Church, the essential unity can never be achieved       though the term as such is not Scriptural, it conveys satis-
through the work of man, but it is one in Jesus Christ. To           factorily the idea of Scripture.                          .
quote the text that is so often quoted by the Confessions,                 And yet the term as such may be misleading. If, e.g. we
"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in         would speak of the many forms of the organism of a tre,e, we
,one hope of your calling ; One, Lord, one faith one baptism,        would refer to the fact that that tree was once a seed in the
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through             ground, but that through a normal process of growth it be-
all, and in you all." Ephesians 4 :4-6.                              came a sapling and finally the mighty plant of the forest.
    c) Because the Church is an organic unity, it is not a mere      That however, is not the idea of the multiformity of the
mob of individual peopie. To use the illustration of a building      Church. For the Church does not assume at different times
that is used by Paul in the last verses of the second chapter        in its history different forms. In itself, of course, in a sense
of Ephesians, the church is not merely a heap of stones, but         this may be true if we consider the Church only from the
is a beautifully constructed building. Every member has his          point of view of its manifestation on the earth at various times
own peculiar place in the organism of the Church. Every              in history.
members fits that place p,erfectly. Every member serves the                                         (To be continued)
whole in his own way in his place. And the total membership                                                                               H. Hanko
form one beautiful harmonious organism living in Jesus               -              -
Christ to show forth eternally the praise of  the' divine
Author, the triune God.                                              1) Rev. C.  Hanko,  "The Multifomiity  o'f the Church," Sterrdard  Bearer,  XXV,
                                                                          (February 15,  1949),   p. 214.
    d) This essential unity of the Church is important to re-        2)  ~~~lip48~haff,   Creeds  of Christendom,  II, 4th Ed.,  (New  York,  1919),  pp.
                                                                             I .
member when we speak of multiformity. For of that Church             3) Ibid.,  II, p. 11.
as a whole do we speak in this paper. First of all, we do            4) Ibid.,  pp. 868-871.
                                                                     5) Ibid.,  p. 384.
not speak of any particular manifestation of that Church upon        6) Ibid.,  p. 416
earth at any given time in history, but rather of the one living     7) Ibid.,  p. 458.
                                                                     8)  IbziE.,   p. 657.


252                                          THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                       It is especially the great theme of the "love of God" in
11         FROAtHOLY  WRIY  11 Christ, which is here expounded in its most excellent nature ;
                                                                     it is that earmark of grace than which there is none greater
            Exposition of I Corinthians 12-14                        and more exalted.
                                                                         Such is the motive that impels us to take up our pen to
                                 I.                                  write on this exalted subject.
                          (Introduction)                                As to our.p%&od  in discussing these Chapters permit us
      The attentive reader will notice, that in this essay we are    to state that we shall try as much as possible in each essay to
beginning a new series of articles in the rubric "From Holy          follow a step in the development `of the argument of the
Writ." In the past we have written a series of essays on the         Apostle. Always we shall try'to attend to the place that each
first four Chapters of I Corinthians. We have also written           step in the argument sustains to the rest of the argument. To
five articles on Matthew 11 :25-30. These latter articles, evi-      quote a rather well-known saying: We must not loose sight
dently, met with some favor with the readers, judging by the         of the woods because of the trees!      *
response I might receive on them.                                       Just a word should also be stated as the wzaiti  argument
      We now turn our attention to the Chapters 12 through           and the  chief subject,  which is here developed by Paul.
14 of the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians.                     It should be borne in mind, that Paul is writing concern-
      For `some time the undersigned has contemplated writing        ing a very real problem as it existed at that time in the
this series of Articles in the  Standwd  Bmw.                        church of Corinth. He is not simply writing in the abstract,
      The reason ?                                                   but very much in the concrete. He is here dealing with men
      Fundamentally, because these Chapters too belong to the        and women, who are fundamentally  spiritual   men. They
inspired Scriptures, which are profitable for doctrine, for re-      understand the illrysteries  of the Kingdom, the Mysteries of
proof, for correction in righteousness, in order that the man        God in Christ, since God has revealed it unto them by His
of God may be thoroughly prepared unto every good. work.             Holy Spirit. They have the mind of Christ. However, they
And the immediate occasion for writing this series is the fact       are not fully matured in all matters, understanding the rela-
that there is concrete evidence in our churches, one and all,        tive importance of the gifts of God in the church. In some
that there is a need for underscoring the very truth, which          ways they are like children. Rather than being child-like
Paul here sets forth in these Chapters. We are repeatedly            they act childish. And that should not be. And now Paul
reminded, that we have only a small beginning of the new             labors that they may be children in sin, yet be men in un-.
obedience yet, it should not be overlooked that a Christian          derstanding what the will of the Lord is.
not only begins to love according to some of God's command-             Paul will write very carefully and with wise pedagogy.
ments, but according to all of these commandments.                      He, therefore, first calls attention in Chapter 12 to the
      Besides, does not all of Scripture emphasize, that the ful-    nature, scope and purpose of the  Sp,i&faZ  Gifts  (charismata)
film&t of the law of God is summed up in this one word:              in the church.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself? We shall have nu-              The first point he establishes is that the Corinthians
merous and timely occasions to notice the wonderful teaching         were by nature outside of the Church an'd outside of all the
of Paul concerning the love of God in Christ Jesus. In the           gifts of the Holy Spirit. They had come a long way. Prin-
church of God at Corinth there evidently was no lack of              cipally all had been changed for and in them. That is, in-
confessing that they believed in the "Communion of Saints."          deed, sobering.
However, the practical implications of this confession did not          Hence, they are to listen to his instruction. In no  wa.y
clearly stand before their minds eye. They were not as               are they to listen to the instruction of' those who curse the
spiritually sensitive of the proper exercise of this Communion       name of Jesus. Such do not speak through the Holy Spirit.
of Saints as they should be.                                         For only through the Holy Spirit does anyone confess:
      Paul does not belong to those, who would tempt God             LORD, JESUS! Verse l-3.
in the church, by separating what He has in His infinite                Par all comes from one and the selfsame  Spirit ; the Spirit
wisdom most intimately joined together. (Canons of  Dart,            of the same Lord and all is energized by the same God.
`III, IV, Heads of Doctrine, Art. 17.) He gives us here a            Many and diverse are the gifts of the Spirit. But that is
model of preaching, through which the Holy Spirit confers            their glory so that they may serve for the profit of the entire
the grace of obedience. For `the Holy Spirit works faith in          body. Nothing is in the church for the individual, for his
our hearts through the preaching of the Gospel. Also the obe-        own personal and selfish interests. It is all for Christ, and
dience of faith and love is wrought in our hearts through in all the several members. No one lives himself or dies him-
teaching, reproof, correction in righteousness. Each of .these       self in the church. Verses 4-11.
elements are most wonderfully interwoven and blended in                 For thus hath God ordained all, setting each in the church
these Chapters which we shall here consider.                         ,as He has willed. No member in the church, or no congrega-


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                          253

tion in the midst of the church in the whole world can sep-               church together. Presently we shall no long& see the image
erate herself, claim she is not part of the whole, nor can she            of things. We shall see them. Should we then now not see
usurp the place of the other congregation or member. The                  the "limitations" of the gifts, while at the same time remem-
body~of  Christ is indeed tempered together, the weak and the             bering the "limitlessness" of love!? Here all can share' lim-
strong members, the honorable and the dishonorable. There                 itlessness. And it shall never pass away. No even in the
can and may be no schism in the body. He or they who at-                  heaven, in the ages to come. No, love must not be contrasted
tempt this nonetheless will find that they cannot- mock with              with "gifts," but it must he the ppzotive in all the gifts exer-
God. Verses 12-27.                                                        cised and enjoyed of the church. Both are from one author,
    Wherefore let each seek the best gifts for the  ,sake  of             the Holy Spirit. Verses  6b-13.
the edification of the entire church. Not everyone, however,                  This point of the relative value of the gifts, Spiritual Gifts
can be everything. All are not apostles, teachers, evangelists,           in the church needs a bit more illucidation. That we have in
helpers and rulers. Each,  must aspire after the best gifts.              Chapter 14.
However, there is one grace which all must, can aspire after.                 The fundamental  ,axiom  and premise underlying the rea-
And that is the more excellent way! This more excellent                   soning of Paul in this 14th Chapter is that all the gifts are in
way is not in conflict with, does in no way clash with the                the church for the  profit,  ed,ific,atlon,  co,wzjol-t,  and  strertgth-
gifts in the church. It simply is that which makes all the gifts          en&g of all the members. That which does not edify is useless
copzz,e   their  ozern. It is the way of love. Herein shall all men       and besides the purpose of the Gifts of the Spirit. This is
know that ye are my disciples, namely, that ye have love one              sobering.
for the other!                                                               Speaking with tongues certainly has its place in the church.
    On  this theme of "love" Paul sings a hymn of praise,                 But it has its very, very severe limitations! In it one may
while he shows us the- manifestation and earmarks &f the                  speak to God, edify self. However, this all means nothing
same. Chapter 13.                                                         for the church, where there is not an interpreter. Thus it is
    First of all in a triad of climactic instances he shows that          with one who, for example, prays in the Spirit. No one can
except there be "love," the love of God in us and, therefore,             pray with him and say "Amen."  This should be remembered
through us, all religion, prophecy and speaking with tongues              by the Corinthians..
is so much vanity and loss. We should notice the accent from.                 Hence, to aspire after the "best gifts" implies that they
the less important in religion to the more important : Tongues            rather "prophesy," speak the Word in understandable lan-
of men and angels - prophecy and `all wisdom and knowl-                   guage. Here five words mean more than ten thousand words
edge _ all our goods to feed the poor and body to be burned !             in speaking with tongues.
What an imposing list. And notice also the corresponding                      Not to see this would be acting the part of children. It
value of them when "love"  iS  not their inner motivation:                would he simply child's play, working much evil. And they
Sounding symbol - nothing - profits nothing ! Verse l-3.                  must he children in sin but not in righteousness. Verses 15-25.
    Then we should not overlook the "keynote" of love as it                   Hence, a final word of warning. All things must be done
must needs reveal itself in the imperfect saints in the body of           in decency and in good order, that is, according to order,
Christ. That is: love  ~u~~FI's long! Well may this  Sink  deep           place, station which God has appointed to each in the con-
into our `hearts. Wherefore, negatively, it must follow that              gregation. Not any man-made order, but Diqinely appointed
love will never, never, never : be envious, vaunting of self,             order ! It must be as spoken of in the Law.
puffed up, behaving unseemly in the midst of the saints, as a                 In a formal sense this implied that in the gatherings not
member amongst the members, seeking merely her own, he                    all speak, but tl?at each take a turn. It must not look like a
provoked at the slighiest  occasion, and then rejoice in all this         "nut-house !" Then the secrets of the hearts cannot  ,be re-
iniquity. Verses 4-6.                                                     vealed under the preaching. And wowwn  ave to be silent in
    And, positively, love will surely in its being "longsuffer-           the church. They better ask their husbands at home. A good
ing" rejoice together with the whole church in the truth.                 grinciple,  indeed. Paul  didn't$suck  this out of his thumb. It
Wherefore, love belieires  all things, hopes all things and en-           is as written in the law. The principle here laid down may
dures all things ! Where love is you have no troubles irt the             well stand a little underscoring ! Verses 26-40.
clzzt~~cla  of Jesus Christ. And it doesn't take much love either             Thus none will be puffed-up. We will then covet to speak
to have all the gifts in the church come to their own!                    unto edification. And all things will be done in decency
    It never fails. When there is a failure there was but one             and in order.
reason. There zeras no love! That can be stated without fear                  Much that was here present of "speaking with tongues"
of contradiction. All the rest fails. Prophecy, speaking with             we no longer encounter. Yet the principles here enunciated
tongues, knowledge  - it all is to pass away. And, there-                 stand. This word is still profitable to us, that we may so' live.
fore, it is but "in part," that is, it is not yet a completk  -ltnowl-    that what we do is for the profit of all in the church, that
edge. No one knows the whole truth yet, not even the entire               there be no schism !                                                G.L.

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

                                                                       From pride and the desire to "show off" authority it
                I N   H*IS  F E A R                                 does not spring.
                                                                       These are the men God has placed over us and we ought
                                                                    to see them and learn to know them as such. It is not the
                  Respect and Obedience                             honor of the man in the office that is at stake. If that were
                                                                    the case we would he guilty of respect of persons. But it is
                                   (4)                              the glory of God in the offices which He has been pleased to
       It happened at a picnic.                                     institute in His Church.
       A ball game was in progress. Many of the men had shed           Let the offices in the Church be covered  up' with dust.
their coats and rolled up their sleeves; and a lively game was.     Let the officehearers come in church- with their families, one
being  persued  by the players and being watched with interest      through this door and at this moment and another through
by numerous spectators.                                             that door and somewhat earlier or later. The very idea of
       Then it happened.                                            the offices in the Church is lost.  IBUt, then, let not that
       A spectacular play. A brilliant move by one of the mem-      church complain when the youth and also the adult member-
hers on one team. Then came the response from the lips of           ship defy the authorities in the church and behave disrespect-
one who appreciated that particular play, "If you were as           fully towards them in their offices. The worldly axiom says,
good on the pulpit as on, the hall diamond, Domine,  you would      "Familiarity breeds contempt"; but we may also say, "Be-
he one of the best."                                                have as though no respect is required and you will reap dis-
       0, that individual did not mean to be disrespectful. He      ,respect." Do all you can to break down the difference that
probably had much respect for: his minister and would be one        God has made by calling to an office in His Church or by
of the first to defend him against any attack upon his doc-         placing children alnder  your authority and by the disobedience
trinal soundness, and maybe even upon his delivery. Yet in          that follows you will soon reap indifference to your commands
an unguarded moment such as that of suddenly being over-            and to God's laws.
awed by such a spectacular demonstration of physical  prow-            It all comes down to this that those whom God has
ness and skill, one often does say what in another setting he       placed where others should show them respect and obey
might not say. At the moment he may have had far more re-           them for God's sake must so walk themselves that they do
spect for his minister as a ball player than he has for him as      not deny that demand for respect which God still requires
a proclainier of the glad tidings of salvation, as an exegete of    others to show them.
the Word of God and: as an instructor in righteousness on              Parents can easily "spoil" their children and encourage
the pulpit.                                                         them to show disrespect. A parent must "get close" to his
       And we do not meati to have it understood that we, here-     child. There surely is time for them to romp and play with
with, go on record as claiming that one called to this highest      their children. A covenant parent must not he one which his
and most glorious office in all the world is forever and under      children cannot touch with a ten-foot pole. A child must
all circumstances forbidden to get bodily exercise or to  do        know his father's love; .and respect for the "whip" that has
so before the eyes of men.                                          no love in it is of no spiritual value before God. God de-
       But an axiom of the world is fitting here: Familiarity       mands of us that we render unto Him all the honor and re-
breeds contempt. And where there is contempt, there is not          spect that is due unto His divine and holy name. But God
respect. One must not complain if others show no respect to         does  not'desire  this without love.
him in his office when they know him bstter as their bowling           James speaks of that in his epistle. The "devils" (de-
team-mate, their high scorer, their source of `information and      mons, for there is only one devil) believe that God is and
hero in this or that sport. When the proper balance between         tremble. There is no spiritual value in that, James declares.
one's appearance in his  o&e and between his hobbies or             And our children must not simply tremble before us in a fear
avocations is not maintained, one becomes respected for his         that knows not love. A fear of the Lord which contains no
worldly skills rather than in his office.                           love is not the fear that God demands ~of us.
       And when respect is lost, obedience  is replaced with the       A parent must get down to the level of his child and
disobedience of contempt.                                           enter into his life. A minister of the Word of God must live
       It may seem like an empty formality. Resentment  may         #along  with his people, his flock. The elders and deacons are
be built up  and. the accusation easily made that men are           part of the congregation .and must live as a part of it and not
proud and wish to "show  off" their authority and office. Yet       apart fro& it. Yet, always, that difference that God has made
we hold firmly to the stand that the officebearers in the           by raising one above the other with authority over the other
Church of Jesus Christ should enter the place of public wor-        must be' preserved. It is too late to cry that our children and
ship as a body before the eyes of the congregation.                 men do not respect us when we have consistently behaved such
       An empty formality it is not.                                a way that we have devied the fact that it is required by God.


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    255
                - -__-
   As we stated last time, this idea and demand of God that                We say godless practice because that~is  what it is.
we respect the authorities whom He has placed over us and                  Parents may behave as Eli did. They may be able to claim
render them the honor due unto them for God's sake must be              that they never laid a finger on their children. Men may
taught in early infancy by father and inother in the home. All          protest that it is not love to do such a thing to a child. But
too quickly in this day and age the rod becomes a museum                the word of God-condemns all this as godless.
piece and parents who still heed the Word of God to the                     "The rod and reproof give wisdom,," Solomon' declares.
effect that each home  shd;uld  have one and who make proper            Now there surely are times when reproof is sufficient and
use of it are considered brutal, old-fashioned and people with,         when the rod need not be applied. But that comes only after
a detestable temper. So-called "advisors" and columnists                wisdom has been acquired through the rod. A child who has
whose advice is sought by.youth, and adults alike must be read          never felt the rod will never be so wise that a word of re-
very critically. Much of the advice that is given is ,in direct         proof is all that he needs. And if we dare to accept the "child
conflict with the word of, God. It is given in a certain worldly        psychology" of the world and put God's ordinances on the
wisdom but not in the fear of God. This matter of: teaching             shelf, we are in that respect godless in our bringing  up  of
our children by means of the rod is only one of the matters             our children.                  -.
on which the word of God is contradicted. And it is an im-                  Love ?
portant one.                                                                We may love our children with all the sentimentally of
   Let us quote just a few of the instances in Scripture where          which a man or woman is capable. And in that love we may
God demands of us that we teach respect and obedience by                make them the most spoiled children on the city block. In
means of the rod. "Spare the.rod  and spoil the child" is not           that love we may let them apply the rod figuratively to us
one of them. This is a worldly axiom ; and those who know               and set us in the corner where they want us to be out of their
not the Scriptures dare, of course, to oppose the thoughts of           way.
other men and to declare theis axioms as antiquatgd  and as                 But, then, we do not love God.
having proven  `to be in error. But Scripture speaks very                   No man can love God and at the same time and by the
plainly and forcefully on the matter. And he who in the fear            same deed allow his child to perform acts of hatred against
of the Lord has respect himself for God and His honor will              God. and approve of these acts of his child. When we permit
not dare to call God's principles antiquated and; as being in - our children to walk in evil and fail to correct them with the
error. The folly of the world and of its worldly wise coun-             rod as provided by God, we may love our children but at the
selors is so plain. When the child is spoiled and becomes a             expense of not loving God.
menace to society, the rod is applied. So that they  have,                  And do we really love our. children when we encourage
changed the axiom into "Spoil the child and then apply the              them in acts of hatred against God? Let us not philosophize
rod."                                                                   and be moved by sentimentality. Let us listen to God Hi&-
   But then the beauty of the word of God shines forth and              self on this matter. "He that spareth his rod hateth his son:
shows the folly of men when they forsake its principles. "A             ,but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes," Proverbs
rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding,"              13 :24.
Proverbs 10, 13b. Or if you will, "He that spareth his rod                  Obedience requires respect and respect is taught by the
hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him  be-              rod as well as by word of reproof and instruction.
times," Proverbs 13 :24. "Withhold not correction from the                  And a parent who wants his child to show him respect
child: for if thou beatest him with the rod he shall not die,"          for God's sake, must so conduct himself in the home with
Proverbs 23  :13. And then Solomon continues in the next                his children that he teaches his child that God demands re-
verse, "Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver             spect and obedience.                                     J. A. H.
his soul from hell," Proverbs 23  :14. "The rod and reproof
give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother                                     IN MEMORIAM
shame," Proverbs 29 :15. And in answer to this accusation                  The Ladies' Society of the Oak Lawn Protestant Reformed
of the worldly-minded that the rod is cruel and to the obser-           Church wishes to express its sympathy to one  :of its members,
vation- that children need not put up with it and have a right          Mrs. W. Wierenga, in the sudden and unexpected death of her
                                                                        daughter-in-law.
to protest against it, Solomon in the wisdom of God writes,                                     MRS. WM. KUIPER
"Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul              who, on February 16, 1957, was involved in a fatal automobile
spare for his crying," Proverbs 19:lS.                                  accident.
    If all this is old-fashioned, let it be such ; but it is the God       May she, and those who mourn with'her, be comforted and
ordained way to teach the child respect and obedience. The              strengthened by the Spirit of grace !
modern teen-age mess and juvenile delinquency in the world                 "He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God
                                                                        the Lord belong the issues from death." Psalm  6820
certainly does not speak favourably of the godless practice of                                     Oak Lawn Ladies' Society
discarding God's ordinances.                                                                                     Mrs. C. Haak, Secretary

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

          PUBLIC CONFESSION QUiSTlONS                                    in t%s Christian Church." Especially the Arminians objected
                                                                         vigorously ; they could not in good. conscience reply in the
       We've heard and read them often enough to be familiar
with their contents. In our churches those who intend  to,               affirmative to' the question in that  forti. We cannot be
make public confession of their faith are asked to                       surprised about that. Consequently, the change. Many Re-
                                                             reply to
the following questions :                                                formed preachers, however, refused to go along with this
                                                                         change and remained loyal to the original reading. They in-
  "1.  Do  YOU  acknowledge the  ddctrine contained in the Old and
         New  Testanlent  and in the Articles of the Christian faith     sisted on reading "here in this Christian Church." A con-
         and taught here in this Christian Church to be the true         troversy arose which led eventualljr  to an overture from the
         and  colnplete  doctrine of salvation?
   2. Have you resolved by the grace of God to adhere to this            Synod of Noord-Holland to the great Synod of Dordt begg-
        doctrine; to reject  al! heresies repugnant thereto and to       ing for the reinsertation of the word "here." The Synod
        lead a new, godly life?
   3. Will you submit to church government, and in case  you             acquiesced and again it became "here in this Christian
         should  beconle  delinquent (which  lnay God graciously for-    Church." Thus it remained ever since that early date, and
        bid) to church discipline?"
       In simplicity of language and style as well as clarity of         never must this be changed. Only in this way can the con-
purpose and thought these questions leave little to be desired.;         science  of-the  church remain free. We must have nothing
there is nothing ambiguous about them. The simplest child                that can and will open the gates for every and all kinds of
of God knows what he is being asked. "The doctrine con-                  winds of doctrine. In the light of this history it will be clear
tained in the Old and New Testament" is simply thk whole                 that this phrase "here in this Christian Church" will have
truth of the Word of God,  particulai-ly  as `it applies to the          to refer to the official position of the church or- churches
salvation of .the child of God. This points to the only and              wherein the questions are asked. One making confession of
eternal source whence all doctrine of salvation is  ,drawn.              faith in `the Christian Reformed Churches, e.g., will have to
"The Articles df the Christian faith" is the Apostolicurn, the           construe this part of the question as including the "Three
creed of all churches. Here the questions become more spe-               Points of 1924." For our young people the meaning will
cific and speak of this same doctrine as it is believed and con-         have to be : the doctrine taught here in this ,Protestant  Re-
fessed by the church of all ages, The apostolic creed is the             formed Church."
summation of what the  ,Holy Catholic Church confesses con-                  These questions as used-in our churches and as found in
cerning the basic truths of Holy Writ.  "Thi? Christian                  the liturgical portion of our Psalter, immediately preceding
Church" is just that; the denomination `and even particular              the Form for the Administration of the Lordfs Supper, will
congregation whereof the confessor is member and wherein                 have to be evaluated in the light of some important considera-
the confession of faith is being made. Here reference is made            tions. There is the question, What is really the purpose of con-
to the doctrine as expressed in our Reformed confessions.                fession of faith ? The answer to this has much to do with our
The rest speaks for itself. Those making the public confes-              approach to these "public confession questions." If you re-
sion are asked whether they acknowledge this doctrine to bc              gard confession of faith as an entering intq the covenant of
the true and complete doctrine of salvation, whether they                God, a receiving of Christ, a joining of the Christian Church,
have resolved by God's grace to adhere to this doctrine and              these questions may have to be regarded as quite inadequate
reject  all,heresies repugnant thereto, whether they are minded          and poor. Such is the case with them who come to. confes-
to lead a new and godly life, and finally, whether they will             sion and baptism as adults. Therefore the Form used in
submit to church government and in event of delinquency  to,             their case is quite different. However, if confession of faith
church discipline. The language and general contents, there-             is this, that God's minor children come to the years of dis-
fore, offer little in the way of difficulty.                             cretion, cross the threshold of maturity and majority and thus
    A bit more should be said at this time about the phrase              seek admittance to the table of the Lord, these questions ap-
"here in this Christian  Cl&rch." This phrase has  made his-             pear far more pertinent and adequate. This is the case with
tory and' in the past has been a bone of much contention,                them, who  are placed  before  these particular questions. There
primarily as part of our Baptismal Form from which  it ap-               is certainly a basic difference between unbelievers, who come
pears to have been taken. The original edition spoke df "this            to faith and thus are received into the covenant'and church
doctrine here  t~aught." Later this was changed and the "here            of God by way of the qu'estions found in the Form for the
taught" was made to read : "taught in the Christian Church."             Baptism of Adults, and the seed of the covenant, who ad-
Hence, the "here" was. elided and "this Christian Church"                vance as it were from baptism to holy communion. Reformed
became "the Christian Church." This change had its reason,               people, following in the footsteps of Calvin, have always
of course. At first it was customary to baptize only children            judged that confession of faith is fqr the purpose of opening
of parents who were members of the Reformed Church and                   the way to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The former
therefore adhered to the Reformed confession. Later parents              is with a view to the latter. This is also tha purpose of all
of other confessions and beliefs were admitted as well. Natur-           catechetical instruction, namely, to prepare for the celebration
ally, these parents had objections to the phrase "taught lzeve           of the Lord's Supper. Catechism, Confession of Faith and


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      257
                                                                      ._

  the Lord's Supper are inseparable.  That. this was also the               must view confession of faith. The principle question is not,
  position of the great Synod of Dordt is evident from what we              whether he who comes to make confession is elect or re-  ~
  read in Article 61 of our Church Order: "None shall be ad-                probate, wheat or chaff, believer or unbeliever, although that
 mitted to. the Lord's Supper except those who according to                 is surely not ,excluded. The main issue is whether the seed
  the usage of the Church with. which they unite themselves                 of the covenant is ready for the table of the Lord. That basic
  have made a confession of the Reformed Religion, besides                  purpose is reflected in these questions.
  being reputed to be of a godly walk, without which those who                 Not should it be forgotten in evaluating these questions,
  come from other Churches shall not be admited." Clearly,                  that the person making public confession has already made
  therefore, confession of faith has in view the  celebration.  of          a broad and detailed confession of the same before the COX-
  Holy Communion.                                                           sistory. All this need not be repeated when they make their
     In connection with the preceding, it should also be borne              appearance in the midst of the congregation.
 in mind, that the covenant seed n.7~ members of the Church                    In view of all the preceding, what shall be our conclusion ?
  of Christ and as such they make their confession of faith.                These questions even -as they stand certainly serve their
 These public confession questions can be properly evaluated                purpose. They ask, first of all, concerning the doctrine of
  only in that light. In  solqe  circles you find rather deeply             the Word of God and  Hi? Church. This reveals a healthy
  rooted the false notion that confession of faith makes one a              position. Knowledge of the doctrine is. surely an indispens-
 member of the Church of Christ. The Church is really a                     able requirement for confession of faith. The aspirant must
  religious society, whereof you become a member by voluntary               know Christ. to confess Him. This does not mean -that con-
  choice, and confession of faith is the formal joining of that             fession is only a confessing of the doctrine of the church in
 church. These people do not seem to understand that the                    a purely formal sense of the word, without believing with
 baptized a.+ members of Christ's Church and as such come                   the heart what Scripture teaches and desiring to serve Christ
_ to seek access to the table of holy communion. Yet, such is               as one's personal Savior. There is no spiritual profit in cold
 very really the case. All that talk about "joining the church"             dogma-worship. True confession is heartfelt, conscious,
 and "becoming a member" that  orie often hears in connection               spiritual acquiescence to doctrine.' Only he who believes with
 with confession of faith is sheer nonsense and founded on                  the heart and thus confesses with the tongue is and shall be
 serious misconception. Confession has to do with those who.                saved. Even so, confession of faith is basically confession of
 are children of God and have been- so regarded since birth                 doctrine. The questions also ask about one's walk and pur-
 and baptism. For long years already they bore on their fore-               pose to  live "a new and holy life." Finally, they elicit the
 heads the sign and seal of God's covenant. Unto them God                   promise, that, if need be, the confessing Christian  will submit
 the Father vitnessed and sealed "that He doth make an                      to church discipline. There can be no principle objections to
 eternal covenant of grace with us, and adopts us for His.                  our public confession questions even in their present form.
 children and heirs." Unto them God the Son witnessed and                      All this, however, does not mean that this portion of our
 sealed "that He doth wash us in His blood from all our sins,               Protestant Reformed liturgy leaves no room whatever for
 incorporating. us into the fellowship df His death and resur-              improvement. Apart from the fact, that t&s Form strikes us
 rection." Unto them God the Holy Spirit` witnessed and                     as being more or less scholastic in contents, it is also briefer
 sealed in baptism "that He will dwell in' us, and sanctify us              and stiffer than the occasion would seem to warrant. There
 to be  m&bers  of Christ." Concerning them, the true cov-                  are only the three questions, nothing more. There is no in-
 enant seed, it was said at baptism, that "as they are without              troduction of any kind ; nothin,u.to indicate in any way what
 their knowledge partakers of the condemnation in Adam, so                  confession of faith really signifies; nothing in the way of a
 are they again received unto grace in Christ." Therefore the               fitting conclusion. All in all, the Form seems to make .too
 first baptism question reads as it does: "Whether you ac-                  little of a truly auspicious occasion. Usually, it is true, our
 knowledge, that although our children are conceived and born               ministers add a' word of exhortation and admonition ; this,
 in sin, and therefore are subject to all miseries, yea, to con-            however, is not part of the official Form. Besides, all that
 demnation itself; yet that fhey are sanctified in Christ, and              pertains to the walk `of the confessing Christian is contained
 therefore, as MEMBERS OF HIS CHURCH ought to be                            in one brief phrase : "Have you resolved . . . to lead a new,
 baptized." Now these members of His Church come to make                    godly life ?" The whole thing leaves a rather cold and matter
 confession of their faith. Certainly, this does not gainsay all            of fact impression.
 the foregoing. It only means that the seed of the covenant,                   It is a bit difficult to see why the Reformed Churches of
 the members of the church of Christ. have now -come to the                 the past never composed 5 Form for Confession of Faith. The
 age of discretion and as such seek access to the table of the              occasion, certainly, is important enough. We have a Form for
 Lord. And the Church, thru its office, has the calling to as-              most everything; a Form for baptism ; a Form for the Lord's
 certain whether they are prepared to share in this privilege.              Supper  ; a Form for excommunication  ; a Form for  read-
 All this, in connection with the preceding, tells us how we                                       (Cphmtzccd  cm  Page   260)


  258                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D - B E A R E R
  _-
                                                                             singled out, and for many centuries the gospel of salvatibn was
             The \u'oice of Our Fathers                                      their peculiar possession. The only contact with the gospel
                                                                             that anyone of another nation could have was always through
                                                                             Israel.' And the individuals outside of Israel who were saved
                   The Canons of  Dordrecht                                  were but very few. In the new dispensation, when Christ has
                                 PART TWO                                    come and is exalted, the national distinction is removed.  This)
                     EXPOSITION OF THE CANONS                                was indicated already on the day of Pentecost in the sign of
              T H I R D  A N D F OURTH  HE A D S OF D OCTRINE                the tongues. And soon afterwards the gospel was actually
   O                                                                         preached to the Gentiles. And ever since that time there has
        F  THE  CORRU PTION OF  MAN, HIS  CONVERSION  TO GOD,                been no  nation21  distinction-as there was in the old dispensa-
                     A N D  THE  M A N N E R  T H E R E O F                  tion. The gospel of reconciliation is brought to all nations
                Article 7.  T,his mystery of his will God discovered to
                but a small number under the Old Testament; under            without distinction.
                the New, (the distinction between various peoples               It is to be noted, however, first of all, that the ,article  by
                .having  been removed), he reveals himself to many,
                without any distinction of people. The cause of this         no means intends to propoupd  a' general gospel. In the first
                dispensatidn is not to be -ascribed to the superior
                worth of one nation above another, nor to their mak-         &ace, the very fact of the difference between the old and new
                ing a better use of the light  .of nature, but results       dispensations certainly-serves to emphasize the truth that it
                wholly from the sovereign good pleasure and un-
                merited love `of God. Hence they, to whom so great           is not and never has been the will of God to save all men.
                and so gracious a blessing is  &mmunicated,  above           In the old dispensation already it was emphatically revealed
                their desert. or rather notwithstanding their demerits.
                are bound  to acknowledge it with  h&ble  and grate-         that God's will to save is strictly limited. Only one nation
                ful hearts, and with the apostle, to adore, not curiously    out of all the nations of the earth was the object of the
                tot pry into the severity and justice of God's  judg-
                ly.ents  displayed to others, to whom this grace is not      ministry of reconciliation. But in the second place, even in
                given.                                                       the n&w dispensation the ministry of reconciliation does not
         The above translation is substantially correct. The phrase          extend to all  r'nen,  even though to all natibns. God reveals
  "without any distinction of people" does not appear `in the                the mystery of His will to vxany. ~ Hence, even the outward
  original Latin, but does not materially alter the meaning.                 call of the gospel is limited.
  And, instead of the negative "unmerited" the original has the                 Secondly, we must reme&ber  that even though the Jew-
  positive "gratuitous." But for the rest,  the above version                Gentile distinction is removed, and eve`n though the gospel
  faithfully conveys the thdught of the original.                            is preached to all `nations in the new dispensation, this does
         In this article the fathers continue along the line begun           not change the fact that in a sense there is still distinction
  in the preceding paragraph, namely, to develop positively the              made between one nation and another as to the time when
  doctrine of the  conpersion  of man. And in particular they                the gospel is preached to it and the extent to which the
  begin to  spe`ak  here of the outward aspect of that calling               gospel is preached to it. The gospel is not suddenly preached
  through  which the corrupt sinner is brought into living and               to all nations at the same time. But the preaching of the
  conscious connection with Christ the Savior, or the "call of               gospel to all nations follows a certain course already in the
  the gospel."                                                               time of the apostles, and that course can be clearly traced in
         The article speaks especially of the difference between the         the book of  Acts. First Antioch, then Asia Minor, then
  old and-the new dispensations as far as the revelation of the              Macedonia and Greece, and thence westward and into all  ~
  mystery of God's will is concerned. By the expression "this                Europe, and finally only in recent centuries to America -
 lnystery of God's will" we are pointed to the preceding article,            such has- been the course. Hence, for many centuries many
  -where we learn that the fathers understand by this mystery the            nations even in the new dispensation have been unevangelized.
good pleasure of God to save such as believe through the min-                And this means that millions upon' millions of individuals
  istry of reconciliation. In the sixth article the fathers had              never had the opportunity to hear the gospel bf reconciliation.
  also pointed out that the way of salvation was fundamentally               And even today this is true. Outside of the main. line of the
  the same in the old as in the new dispensation: ". . . it hath             course of the gospel there are still many nations which are
  pleased God to save such as believe, as well under the Old,                the object of missionary act&y, and that too, very limited
  as under the New Testament." Now, however, they point io                   activity. This means that even though one can speak of
  the outstanding difference between the old and new dispensa-               those nations as being evangelized, this by no means implies
  _tions.  In the  .old dispensation, when Christ was rev&led                that every individuql  is reached by the ministry of reconcilia-
  through the shadows and types, the revelation of this mystery              tion. The very opposite is true.
  of God's will was limited to a very small number. This was                     Now this is a very important fact. And it must certainly
  especially true from the time of Abraham on, when the Lord                 dct as a deterrent to a. certain false missionary zeal that
  began to limit His revelation to the line of Abraham, Isaac,               sometimes pervades even Reformed circles. The major prem-
  Jacob, Israel. Out of all the nations of the world Israel was              ise of this zeal is that it is God's will that as many individuals


                                           T H E   S 'T A N D A R D B E A R E R                                                259

as possible be reached with the gospel, and that if possible all    Even as the obtaining of salvation is ascribed to the exercise
men should be evangelized, let alone be saved. And it is            of man's free will, so even the fact that men have the gospel
claimed that the only thing that prevents this universal            preached to them is ascribed not to God, but to men. Men
evangelization and saving of millions of souls is that there are    make  themselv&s  worthy of having the gospel preached to
not enough who will devote their life to mission-work. The          them. One thing  must be conceded to the Arminian: he  is
heathen, they say; are simply cr$ng for the .gospel  : if only      consistently Arminian. What must be said of this view?
we had an army of missionaries to bring it to them ! And it            In the first place, it  mugt  be plain that the Arminian is
is the church's fault that millions upon millions of people `are    simply building on his  owl; false foundation. It is  evidenk
not evangelized and go lost forever. Their blood is upon us.        that if one consistently maintains the truth of the total de-
But this is plainly & false  presentation of the matter, and a      pravity of man, and insists that all men are conceived in sin,
false presentation of the will of God as it is revealed in the      by nature children of wrath, incapable of saving gbod, prone
Scriptures. And it is typically Arminian, of course. It  is,        to evil, dead in sin, and in bondage thereto, it is simply out
controlled by the same denial of the sovereign and omnipotent       of the question to speak of the superior worth of one nation
will of God that pervades the whole Arminian view. For              over another or of the better use of natural light by one na-
plainly, if it was the will of God that all nations be `simul-      tion in distinction from another as a ground for their re-
taneously evangelized  from  the day of Pentecost on, and           ceiving the preaching of the gospel. All men are alike in their
that every last individual in those nations be reached by the       depravity. They have all forfeited any  cla`im whatsoever to
gospel, then God is also powerful to accomplish that will. if       the favor of God. And if the gospel is preached to. them,
not, then you must adopt the Arminian view of God, which            and they through it are'saved,  they must certainly acknowl-
leaves Him iltipotent  to fulfill the counsel of His own will,      edge that this gracious blessing was communicated to them
able to be frustrated by the will of mere man. But  fhe             apart from, yea, contrary to their merits..
Reformed position is that even the process of evangelization           And it is certainly at this juncture that the  exhbrtation
is strictly subject to the will of God's good plkasure. All         attached to this article is applicable'. It behooves the people
nations must be indeed be evangelized2  and they will also be       of God to acknowledge this great blessing with humble and
evangelized ; but they will be evangelized in God's time! and       grateful hearts. That they have the light of the gospel-is not
according to His counsel. You may charge that- this is fatal-       at all due to themselves, but only to the good pleasure and
istic and passivisticl  You may raise all kinds of worries about    gratuitous electing lqve of God. That they are  the objects.
the missionary responsibility of the church. I insist that for      of the ministry of reconciliation cannot be due to any. dis-.
a Reformed man the above must certainly be maintained as            tinctions inherent in men and nations.  Befpre God all are
a fundamental principle of all missionary enterprise, and that      alike in absolute unworthiness and lack of receptivity for  the
all the history `of the evangelization of the nations stands as     gospel of grace. It is His good pleasure that  sent.them  the
a solemn testimony to the truth of' it. And furthermore, that       gospel, even as it is  His free and elective love that makes
is the only possible ground of comfort and assurance for the        that gospel effective in them. Thankfulness, therefore, must
church in its mishion endeavori also. What a horrible thought       fill their hearts; and humility must characterize them when
it is that all the blame for the millions upon millions of          they consider this awesome fact that they are the objects of
heathen that go lost is upon Us ! Why, that simply means,           God's good pleasure arid unmerited love. And well may the
that we are lost too : their blood is upon us. God will require     exhortation be added, for how often do we  nqt fail -to ap-
that blood at our hand ! And mark you well, that' same must         preciate the tremendous benefit imparted to us in the preach-
apply to the church of apostolic times too, and even to the         ing of the gospel! On the other hand, it can be only con-  I
apostles themselves. For also in those days this theory of the      sidered  just judgment and severe execution of justice `that
Arminian evangelist could be applied. Surely, it is utter folly     from the rest the go&e1  is not imparted. Not curiously are we
to propound such a.view. And Reformed people must never             to pry into this distinction, attempting to find a reason apart
allow this sentimental theory to pervade their mission work         from God's own good pleasure as to why it should be thus,
and mission zeal.                                                   and attempting in Arminian fashion to find ground for  bciast-
    This all statids in close connection with8 the second main      ing in our own goodness. But we are to adore the severity'and-
element of this seventh article. And that is the question,:         justice of the God's judgments, acknowledging `that He is
whtit  is the cause of this dispensation of the ministry, of        God, and that He is just in all His ways.
reconciliation ?                                                        In the second place, we may point out that this Arminian
    As the article suggests, the Arminians find the cause to        view is directly' contrary to Scripture. According to Scrip-
lie in the superior worth of one nation over another, or in the:    ture, it was emphatically not  fhe superior worth of Israel
fact that one nation made better use of its natural light than      that was the cause of the fact that they from among all na-
.another.  It is the same old Arminian lie of the free will of      tions had the dispensation of the gospel. Ir$ this connection
man, only now applied to the very outward call of the gospel,       we quote, first of all, Deuteronomy 7 :6-S: "For thou art an

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

       holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath                  of the churkhes,  that such a person herceforth  has access to
       chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all                the table of the Lord.
       people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not                  Obviously, the churches in the Netherlands felt this lack.
       set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more               The General Synod of the Reformed Churches across the sea,
       in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all                  covened  at Utrecht in 1923, composed and recommended a
       people:  ,But because the Lord loved you, and because he                  definite Form under the  heading:  "Vragen  te  stellen.   aan
       would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers,                 hen, die wenschen  :e worden  toegelaten tot het Heilig Avond-
       hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and re-                 maal." With a few changes, one of them fundamental to my
       deemed you out of the house of bondmen,  from the hand of                 mind, the Christian Reformed Churches in our  country
       Pharaoh king of Egypt." The same truth is clearly taught in               adopted this "Form for the  Public Profession  of Faith." As
       Deuteronomy 9 :4-7 : `"Speak not thou in thine heart, after               a  sanlple  of what  could be done in the  Way   of improvement
       that the Lord thy `God hath cast them out from before thee,               1 quote  this Form as contained on  p. 87 of the Ps. Hymnal  :
       saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in                  "Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ:
       to possess  this land: but for the wickedness of these nations               We thank  Our God concerning you for the grace of God which
       the Lord doth drive them out from before thee. Not for thy                was given  YOU  ?n Christ Jesus, that you were made desirous  of
                                                                                 Professing your faith  pub,licly?  here in the presence of God and
       righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou           His holy church, and of obtaining the privileges of full communion
       go to possess their land: l&t for the wickedness of these na-             with the people of God.
                                                                                    YOU are now requested to answer sincerely  the following
       tions the Lord thy-God  doth drive them out from.before  thee,            questions :
       and that he may perform the word which the Lord sware to                     First: Do  you heartily believe the doctrine contained in the
                                                                                 Old and the New Testament, and in the articles of the Christian
       thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand there-                 faith, and taught in this Christian Church, to be `the true and
       fore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land                colnplete  doctrine of salvation,  and do you promise by the grace
                                                                                 of God stedfastly to continue in this profession?
      to pos&it  for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked                  Second: Do you openly accept God's covenant promise, which
      people. Remember, and forget not, how thou Provokedst  the                 has been signified  and sealed unto you in your baptism, and do
                                                                                 you  cpnfess  that you abhor and humble yourselves before God
       Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that                because of your sins, and that you seek your life not in yourselves,
                                                                                 but only in Jesus Christ your Savior?
      thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto                Third: Do you declare that you love the Lord, and that it  is
       this place, ye have been rebellious against the Lord." The                your heartfelt desire  `to serve Him according  ,to His Word, to
                                                                                 forsake the world, to mortify your old nature, and to lead a
       same truth is emphasized in Deut. 32  :5-X                                godly life?
              Thirdly, we may note that this view is contrary to the en-            Fourth: Do you promise to submit to the government of the
                                                                                 church and also, if you should become delinquent either in doc-
      tire history of Israel. For there was no more idolatrous na-               trine  oi- in life, to submit to its. admonition and discipline?
      tion in all the world than Israel according to the flesh. And                 N- ------, what is your answer?
                                                                                    Answ;sr:   I do (to be given by each individually).
      the& entire history gives ample testimony to this fact. Israel.              -I charge you, then, beloved, that you, by the  deligent use of
      certainly showed, even while they had the gospel, that they                the means of grace and with the assistance of your God, con-
                                                                                 tinue in the profession which you have just made. In the  Na!lle
      were not at all worthy of it.                                              of Christ Jesus our Lord, I now welcome you to full  communion
              But besides, what a strange'picture  of history we obtain          with   the people of  God. Rest  assured that all the privileges  of
                                                                                 such communion are now yours. And the God of all grace, who
      in this Arminian view. How strange it is that all of a sudden,             called you unto this eternal glory in Christ, after that ye have
     whereas formerly only Israel of all  .nations                               suffered a little while, shall himself perfect, establish, strengthen
                                                               was worthy of.    you. To  Him  be the dominion for ever and ever. Amen."
      having the ministry of reconciliation, now all the nations be-                 This does not say that we agree with this Form in every
      came worthy arid made a better use of their natural light.                 detail. We certainly do not subscribe to the first part of the
          Plainly, therefore, the distinction is. not due to man, but            second question : "DO you openly accept God's covenant
      to God and His good pleasure. And the Arminian cbnception
      as to the reason why the gospel is preached to men is to be                promise." Nor was this in the Form composed by the Synod
                                                                                 of  Utrecht.  The latter,, translated,  .reads  as  follotis  :  "Secod  :
0     rejected.                                                      H.C.H.      Do  you  believe  God's covenant promise.". Why was this
                                                                                 changed 
                      PUBLIC   CONFESSION   QUESTIONS                                        by  the Christian Reformed Churches if not  to  leave
                             (Cm  tinwed fyowz   page  257)                      room for the false `doctrine, that the promise of the covenant
      mitting excommunicated persons; a Form for the ordination                  is to all the baptized, which promise we ratify and accept
      of ministers, elders, deacons, professors of theology; a Form              -when we come to years of discretion ? We would reject such
      for marriage. Why not for this  ? Such a Form, as Dr. A.                   .a formulation. However, on the whole we consider this Form
      Kuyper  points out, could include : 1. A brief statement con-              a decided improvement over what' we have.  It contains a
      cerning the significance of Confession. 2. Questions to be                 statement concerning the significance of public confessions as
      asked of them who make such confession. These could deal                   such.  It  is  simple and warm and comprehensive.  It contains
      with three matters : a. The baptism which the confessor once               .a11 that need be asked about doctrine and life and discipline.
      received. b. Agreement with the confession of the churches.                It' makes a bit more of what is certainly an auspicious  OC-
      c. The promise of a Christian life. 3. A declaration in name               casion for the seed of God's  covenant.                    R. Veldman


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      261

                                                                     order. Various attempts to do this have .been  made but none
              DECENCY and ORDER                                      of them have really solved anything. To arrive at a real solu-
                                                                     tion would be tantamount to establishing the Kingdom of our
         .                                                           Lor'd Jesus Christ on this earth and this cannot and will not
               The Church and the State                      .       be done for He said plainly, "My Kingdom is not of this
                                                                     world" (John 18  :36). In the Kingdom of Christ there will
                           (Continued)                               be no problem of this nature. If love were perfected there
     With the position that favors church-domination over the        would be no problem now. All the difficulties involved in this
                                                                     intricate relation stem from the reality of sin and, therefore,
 state we cannot agree. The church has no more right to im-          any real solution must necessitate the abolition of all evil
 pose itself upon the state than the state has to imposer  itself    which will not be effected until the "regeneration of all
 upon the church. Yet, is not this the conclusion that must be       things" (Matt. 19 :2&).
 reached by those who oppose "separation" and insist upon
 "unification" of church an state ? If these two separate en-            This, however, does not preclude our saying something
 tities are amalgamated, it is inevitable that the stronger of       about  the problem and consider what the proper relationship
 the two will dominate the weaker so that either the "church-        ought to be. It may not even stifle our earnest desire to strive
 state"`o; the "state-church" will be practical result.              inasfar as we are able to bring all things into harmony with
    For personal reasons one who is of Peformed  persuasion          the ideal. We do not believe that the attitude of many is cor-
 might not object too strenuously to the formation of a              rect who entirely ignore the problem, assume the attitude thati
 church-state provided that the church that is in power is The       since- we can do nothing about it anyway we may as well live
 Reformed. This, we concluded, appears to be the position            along with things as they are and the less we  gave to do
 favored by the Rev. MacKay  and to which we take exception.         with the State the better off we are. Such indifference can-
.Suppose that the Roman Catholic, the Seventh-Day Advent-            not be justified. Scripture does not so. define the Christian's
 ists or some extremely Modernist Church gained  control of          calling in relation to the State. Since we live in a sinful
 the State ? What then ? To that, of course, Reformed people         world, our calling is not! to ignore this reality but rather to
 would object just as much as those who belong to these              combat it in all its manifestations even though we are
 churches would object to the Reformed Church being thus             keenly sensitive to the fact that we shall not have complete
 empowered. But, you might say, the true church must receive         triumph over sin until the day of our Lord Jesus  Cl?rist.
 recognition under the law. True enough but how is this to           Among those who hold an attitude of indifference there is,
 be determined? If the State is to "recognize by law," as Mac        very little consistency shown for they must certainly also
 Kay desires, the true church  out of myriads of denominations       realize that sin has not only corrupted the relation of church
 that fill her province, what standard will she apply `to deter-     and state but also  eveley  relntio~nzship of  hztvtzapz  life. And do
 mine this other than the rule of majority membership ? And,         they assume the same attitude and apply the same practice to
 if she applies this norm the true church will seldom, if ever,      family relations, business relations, social relations, employer
 gain legal recognition in this world. Is the State competent to     and employee relations, relations to the schools, etc.? They
 apply any other norm ? Can she, for example, determine what         know better than that!
 is pure doctrine ; what is the proper administration of the             On the other hand, equally wrong is the approach to the'
 Sacraments  ; what is true discipline according to God's            problem of the blind idealists who mistakenly think that we
 Word ? Can she determine the marks of the true church?              are making progress toward a real solution of this problem.
 We judge that in this she is neither competent nor called and       These are usually quick to grasp any new idea that may seem-
 -should the State, therefore, seek to elevate one church above      ingly contribute toward a certain phase of the whole difficulty.
 all others and give to it legal sanction, she would have to do      The broader scope of the problem they, in their blind zeal, fail
 simply on the strength of numbers which would be a very             to see and of the deeper spiritual cause of they problem they
 unjust determination. This church, with the largest member-         are obviously ignorant. Hence, to these idealists ethical values
 ship, would then be in position under the law to impose its         have little, if any, meaning. They are moved solely by human
 doctrines upon all other churches. Invariably an unjustified,       considerations and usually the programs they introduce for
 wide-spread ,persecution must follow for the simple reason          the solution of concrete difficulties result in creating many
 that the principle "might  makes  right" or "the majority is        times more problems in other areas of public life. A great
 `always right" can no more be observed than the equally false       deal of the present mess undoubtedly has its cause in the
 maxim that "all religions are before God equal."                    bungling of such idealists. We aver that all such unchristian
    To solve the problem of the proper relation of church and        attempts are destined to failure.
 state is by no means easy. Perhaps it must be admitted that             We shall have to approach our problem realistically. We
 in the present sinful world there is nor ready-made solution.       cannot afford to ignore certain fundamental truths which ha+e
 Sin has so terribly disrupted all relations in this world that      a bearing upon the matter simply because these happen to
 there is no possibility of again placing these in their proper      be unpopular to the natural mind and even unpleasant to the

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

  material complacency of many church-members. We will                  which authority can be recognized, are all involved here.
  have to be confronted with the question concerning the ap-            Scripture enjoins them and &&liar  .things  upon.the church.,
  plication of the law of God to the institutions comprising            The church, existing within the worldly state, has a very
  human life a9 well as the application of these same laws to           difficult position and this difficulty is intensified as the social
  the individual. Since this matter involves the mutual calling         complexities of. the modern world increase. It is no easy
' of church and state, we may not be oblivious of the deep in-          matter to define the-proper relationships of church and state.
  roads sin has made into this relation. If we are to arrive at         We are convinced that this cannot be done by such terms as
  an amicable solution to the problem, we may tiot be moved             "subordination," "domination," "cooperation," "co-ordina-
  by humanistic philosophies or influenced by temporal con-             tion," etc. Such oversimplification does injustice to the real
  siderations but rather we shall have to base our judgments            question involved which in our mind concerns the correct de-
  on sound principles taken from the Word of God. In, othkr             finition and evaluation of "state" and "church." Unless we
  words,  we may not ask, "What looks good or what will serve           first understand that, we cannot arrive at a proper concep-
  in the best interests of the most people?" in drawing the lines       tion of the right relation between these two.
  of church-state relations, but we must ask, "What is right?"
  Doing this we shall unhesitatingly be compelled to announce              Of these two, it is undoubtedly most difficult to define the
  the sound judgment that the inability of human society to             state. What is its essence, its purpose, and function?  That,
  conform its practices to those principles of God's Word (the          the state is an institution of God is evident from Roman; 13 :l,
  fact that the State is out of harmony with God) inevitably            "The powers that be are ordained of God." Whence this in-
  spells destruction. It cannot be otherwise for God is not             stitution has its origin is perhaps a more difficult question.
  mocked. The doctrine concerning the impending damnation               The common Kuyperian  view, which has also infiltrated the
  of the ungodly world and the inevitable destruction of human          Confessions, holds that the state was brought into existance
  civilization is not one that shall have appeal in this unrealistic    because of and-in consequence of sin. The reason for this
  generation that boasts itself in the achievements and con-            view is not difficult to see. According to it the chief function
  quest of MAN !                                                        of the state is to wield the sword power, to punish the evil-
                                                                        doer and to prdtect'the righteous (Rom. 13  :4). Consequently,
         But the church is related to that state for she exists for     it is reasoned? it would appear that in a perfect world-order
  the present in her midst. As for the church, that  by.grace           there would remain no task or function for the state to per-
  lives in the midst of the world from the principles of God's          form. Before sin came there was no need for an authority to
  Word, it may be said that her position overagainst the world-         punish sin.
  ly state, whose principles and practices do not conform to'that
  Word, may never be that of compromise. When, for carnal,                 However, there are other considerations that would.favor
  materialistic, temporal or other reasons, she does that, she          the repudiation of this view and incline one to favor the con-
  becomes apostate, corrupts her garments, looses her essence           ception that places the origin of the state in the creation itself.
  as a spiritual institution and is good for nothing but to be cast     Firstly, we might consider that there are also ranks and
  out upon the dung-hill. Essentially the same' result is attained      authorities in the angelic world even though t'here is founcl
  when the church discovers an area of so-called  "common-              there no sin. This would seemingly overrule the contention
  grace" within the worldly state wherein she deceivingly tells         that the function of the state arises from the fact of sin. The
  herself that she can labor cooperatively with that  worldly-          state, it seems, must be given a more positive purpose than
  state unto the attainment of materialistic and temporal ends.         that. Then we should not ignore the fact that the original rela-
  The practical fruits which bear evidence of this need not be          tion of man and woman, husband and wife, was that of author-
  enumerated in this connection. Only let it be observed that           ity and subjection even though there was no sin. The inter-
  such policies place the church in the same  catagory as the           pretation given by the Catechism of the Fifth Command-
  "blind idealists" we spoke of before.                                 ment implies that the state has its origin in that very relation.
                                                                        Thirdly, certainly in the Kingdom of Heaven, wherein is the
    Rather the church must "hold fast that which she has,"              tqtal absence of all sin, Christ shall be eternally manifest as
  namely the Word of God, cherishing its principles and living          King; there will be those who sit on thrones to reign and,
  by the confession that "its laws a;e worth more than thou-            it appears to us that the institution of the state was created
  sands of silver and gold." Doing this her problem in relation         from the beginning to be a likeness of this heavenly rule even
  to the worldly state does not become smaller, but on the con-         after the pattern that all things earthly were made in the
  trary, it is magnified. Throughout her relation will be one           image of the heavenly. It would seem strange and difficult to
  of spiritual conflict and in many areas physical conflict will be     account for the reason that such an institution was added
  unavoidable. By the former we have in mind a conflict of              after the "beginning." We conclude, therefore, that the State
  philosophies and by thC latter a conflict in the practical ap-        originates in creation  aid is, in consequence thereof, tem-
  plication of these philosophies to human life. Naturally,             poral and earthly.
  such pertinent matters as the subjection to the authorities,
  honoring the king, obedience to God or man, the extent to                                                                      G.v.D.B.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D B E A R E R                                                 263

                                                                       God sets the gospel table and also gives appetite for the
          A1.L  A`ROUND US                                         bread of life.
                                                                       The Holy Spirit fills the Father's house by compelling                    .
                                                                   them to come in.  ,This is not external compulsion which
Meditations of Uncle Mike.                                         would destroy human free agency, but is an inward work of
                                                                   grace which produces a willingness and desire to come in.
   Sometime ago a brother with a view to my making some
comment in this column loaned me a little pamphlet with the            The way to have strong faith is to have a great and
above title.  Whs this Uncle Mike is  we. are not told. The        mighty God. No-one's faith can be stronger than he believes
Meditat?ons  are compiled and distributed by a certain M. F.       his God to be. I cannot have strong faith in a God who,
Engle of Corbin, Kentucky.                                         I think, is weaker than  men. If my God is weak, then my
                                                                   faith, of necessity, will be accordingly weak; I cannot have             +
   Our readers, as we did, may find some of these Medita-          much faith in God if 1 believe he is being defeated on most
tions interesting reading. We therefore quote some of them         battle fields. I cannot have tiluch faith in God if I believe he
without further comment.                                           is trying and failing. If I believe His will is being thwarted
   "If nobody is ever offended at your preaching, shut up          by the will of men. If I believe He is doing the best He can
your Bible and quit. You are in the wrong business.                to accomplish the most good He can, and to save as many as
                                                                   He can. But; if like Job, I believe that, `what His soul  de-
   He that puts the Bible in the crucible of human reason sireth, even that he doeth,' then with Paul I can say, `He is
and twists it.to say what his reason thinks it ought to say has    able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think
no business in a Christian pulpit.                                 according to the power that worketh in us.>
   A universk without decrees would be irrational and ap-              Faith is a provision for men who ,are so fallen that they
palling as an express train driving on in t6e darkness with-       cannot lift the axe of justice; So corrupt that they cannot
out headlight or engineer.                                         change their own nature; So averse to God that they cannot
   Regeneration and faith are simultaneous  - The adoption         come to Him ; So blind that they cannot see Him ; So deaf
of this theory will save us perplexities that will otherwise       that they cannot hear Him, and so dead that He Himself
-annoy, For instance, those insisting on the precedence of         must open their graves and lift them unto resurrection.
regeneration will be not a little perplexed when asked if              Of old, God complained to an apostate Israel, `Thou
there can be a regenerated unbeliever; and those taking the        thoughtest that I was altogether as thyself.' Such must now
opposite view will be equally perplexed when asked if there        be his indictment against an apostate Christendom. Men
can be an unregenerated believer.                                  imagine the Most High to be moved by sentiment, rather than
   Men will allow God to be everywhere except on His               actuated by principle. They suppose His  Omnipotency  is
throne. They will allow Him to be in His workshop to               such and idle fiction that `Satan is thwarting His designs on
fashion worlds and make stars. They will allow Him to be           every side. They think that if He has formed any plan or
in His almsry to dispense His alms and bestow His bounties.        purpose at all, then it must be like theirs, constantly subject
They will allow Him to sustain the earth and to bear up            to change. They openly declare that whatever power He
the pillars thereof, to light the lamps of Heaven, and to rule     possesses must be restricted lest He invade the citadel of
the waves 6f the ever moving ocean. But when God ascends           man's free will and reduce him to a machine.
the throne, then His creatures gnash their teeth ; when we             The lower the all efficatious  atonement, which has actu-
proclaim an enthroned God and His right to do as He wills          ally redeemed everyone fdr  ,which it was  made to a mere
with His own, to dispose of His creatures as He thinks well        remedy which sin-sick souls may use of as they feel disposed
without consulting them in the matter, then it is that we are      to, an4 they enervate the invincible work of the Holy Spirit
hissed and execrated, and then it is that men turn a deaf ear      to an offer of the gospel which sinners .may accept or reject
to us, for God on His throne is not the God they love. But         as they please. The God of this twentieth century no more
it is God on the throne that we love to teach. It is God on        ,resembles  the God of Holy Writ than does the dim flickering
His. throne whom we trust.                                         of a candle, the glory of the mid-day sun.
   Election is injustice to none, while it is an  unspeakable
blessing to some. It takes a multitude which no man can                The God who is now talked about in the average pulpit,
number, but which God can number, out of the fallen race           spoken of in the ordinary Sunday School and mentioned in
of Adam.and  raises them up to hope and Heaven.                    much of the religious literature of today, and preached about       .
                                                                   in many of our so-called Bible conferences, is the figment of
   To be born is an everlasting calamity, unless we are born       human imagination, an invention of maudlin sentimentality.
again.                                                             The heathen outside the pale of Christendom form gods out
    God is both architect arid builder of the house made of        of wood and stone, while the millions of heathen inside Chris-
living stones.                                                     tendom manufacture a god out of their own carnal mind.


                                                                                     -          -    -
  264                                          THE'  `STANDARD   B E A R E R   `*---.

  In reality, they are but atheists for there is no other possible     sinner, whd is less than dust of the balance, is no God, but
 alternative between an absolute sovereign God and no God at!          a miserable idol.
 all. A God whose will is resisted, whose designs are frust-               To speak of cooperation between God and man, in -the
 rated, whose purpose is checkmated, possesses no title to             matter of salvation, is like speaking of cooperation between
 Deity and so far as, being a fit object of worship, deserves          the potter and his lump of clay in the formation of a vessel,
 nought but contempt.                                                  God is God ! Over him, man is never a party.
         We ask the question, how shall we come to Jesus, the              Throughout fhis series of meditation we have sought to
 resurrection ? How shall they that are dead, in themselves,           emphasize a God of sovereign grace whb `does according to
seek and establish contact with the power of life? Shall
                                                                .*-    His will in the army of Heaven and among the inhabitants of
 preachers be sent to them to declare to them that Jesus is the        the earth.' This teaching stands out in bold relief against the
 resurrection and that He is willing to impart His life to them ?      abominable travesty of many modern preachers and  self-
 That He is waiting for ,them somewhere? That He is- watch-            styled evangelists of our day. All emphasis is laid on that
 ing for the signal on their part that He may go ahead and             word `ACCEPT.' One must accept Jesus and that is all.
  quicken them? Shall we tell men that He can do no  mdre,             And to do this lies in the power of every sinner. On this
 and.that  if the dead will not come to Him, the resurrection          acceptance of Jesus by the sinner everything depends. For
 can never come to them ; and shall we thus persuade the dead          this act on the part of the sinner, the Saviour must wait. It
 to take action at once before it is too late ?                        is the signal which the sinner gives Christ that He may go
        That is, in substance, the gospel, or rather the corruption    ahead and quicken him. It is the act whereby the sinner opens
 of the gospel, that is being preached rather generally in our         the door of his heart to a Christ that stands  a&d knocks at
 day. Such `a perversion of the gospel- denies, after all, that        the door, but is unable to enter unless the sinner permits
 men are really dead and that Christ is really the resurrection.       Him. 0, indeed, they admit that salvation is of grace, and
 It preaches a death that is more pqwerful  than the resurrec-,        some even prattle of sovere'ign  grace, but this grace is, never-
 tion. A  restirrection  that must fail unless death gives its
                                                              <._-     theless, presented as enervated. and paralyzed if the sinner
 consent.                                                              refuse.? its saving operation. The sinner's power to accept or
        I `am not what I ought to be. I am not what I want to be.      reject Jesus receives' all the emphasis. That the act itself is
 I am not what I hope to be in another world ; but still, I am         very natural and simple. All that is required of the sinner is
 not. what I used to be, and by the grace of God, I am what I          to raise his hand, to come forward, or to kneel down by the
 am.                                                                   radio and repeat after the preacher, `I accept Jesus as my
        To say that the destiny of th& soul of one is in his own       personal Saviour,' and the matter is settled.
 hands, reverses the very laws of nature, and implies that                Seeing that the' thing is so natural, very natural `means
 water can rise above the level of its source ; that man can lift      are employed : Hence, the highly sensational altar call climax-
 himself by his own boot-straps, and that the Ethiopian can            ing the sermon. All that is calculated to arouse mere human
 change his skin and the leopard can divest himself of  his,           emotions is brought into play. Sentimentalism replaces sound
 spotted robe. The theory that one's destiny is in his own             preaching of the Word. The audience is asked to bow their
 hands begets selfrighteousness. The belief that destiny is in         heads in silent prayer, the organ softly plays, or the choir
 the hands of God, begets SELFNEGATION.                                gently sings : `Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,' or `Just
        The human will is free,  but its freedom is within the         as I am without one plea,' and in the meantime the preacher
 limits of hu&an nature. It is free like water; water is free to       begs and pleads with voice full of emotion for sinners to raise
 run down hill. It is free like tlie vulture; the vulture is free      their hand, to come forward, to let Jesus into their heart and
 to eat carrion, but it would starve to death in a wheat field.        to accept Him as their personal Saviour. He speaks of a God
Likewise, the sinner is free to do the things it  is' his nature       that begs for the privilege to come into their hearts; of a
 to do, but until his nature is changed, he will starve to death.      Holy Spirit that longs to make newborn children of God of
 in the presence of the iBread  of Life.                               them, and of a sinner upon whom depends the decision of
     The hog's vision is so constructed that, when he is under         life and death, of Hell and Heaven, of the whole matter of
 the acorn tree, he can never see the source from which his            salvation, and of the very glory of God in Christ.
 food comes, unless he is placed on his back.                             Against this evil sentimentalism and  free:willism,  gone
     A half truth concerning God's Holy Word is more danger-           wild, we raise our unqualified protest. It is high time that the
 ous. and deceptive than a plain falsehood. One may, indeed,           church, which is the,&ustodian  of the gospel, and to whom the
 freely proclaim, `over vale and hill,' that whosoever will may        commission to preach the Word, should  .raise  her"voice  in
 conic, but he is unfaithful to his ministry unless he adds, `no       loud protest against this` evil of  preseriting  Jesus as the
 one can come unless the Father draws him.'                            cheapest article on the religious market, that may be either
     An anxious and pleading God, whose power is limited,. received or rejected at the sinners will."
 and whose hands may be tied by the proud and stubborn                                                                            M.S.
                                                                                          ;,


