    VOLUME -Iv                                                                 DECEMBER  15,  1957 -GIWN~  RAPDS,   MICHIGAN                                                              NTJ&ER   6
                                                                                                                                                              n
                                                                                                                                 It was of the Lord that this little city was over-crowded
              IiJEDI~ATl'ON                                                                                                 "
                                                                                                                      ll so that there was no room for this little group.
                                                                                                                                 NO, Joseph and Mary did not  know of  al1 these Divinely
                                                                                                                            ordained circumstances. 1  tvould not at  al1  be,sur$ised  if
                   THE BIRTH OF THE SAVIOR                                                                                  Joseph  and Mary  often said in these days:  How unfortunate
                                                                                                                            that exactly in these days we have to  make  such a journey !
                 " A n d   so  i t   w a s ,   t h a t ,   while  they were there, the days ware
           a c c o m p l i s h e d   t h a t   s h e   s h o u l d   b e   d e l i v e r e d .   A n d   s h e   broubht    But the angels smiled! They had their instruction, and they
                 forth her  frstborn  Son, and wrapped Him in  swaddling   cjothes,                                        knew.      _     %     s
                 a n d   laid  H i m   i n   a  manger;   becau.se   t h e r e   w a s   no  r o o m   f o r                                                       *     *     *     *

                 t h e m   i n   t h e   i n n . "   Luke   2:6, 7.

                                                                                                                                 Ancl-so   it was, that,  ivhile they were there . . .
    We are inclined to  pity both Jesus and  Mary  !                                                                             There you have it : God's  time had  come. The  time in His
    Here  we have the eternal Miracle about to be revealed:                                                                 counsel  which  is'called : the fulness of  time.
God manifested in the flesh  - but we have to go into'a dirty
stal& to sec it !                                                                                                                The  time had  come that  she should be. delivered.
                                                                                                                                 That is proper: there are a certain number of  dals that
    Here is the most blessed  oj  al1  women:  the  mother   `pf                                                            are set for the  rqother  to deliver her  child.. God is an orderly
God  according to the flesh: but she  bas not even a layette                                                                God, and He certainly had  reckoned  with that order- of His
for the little Jesus ! And just a  som--smelling manger-for a                                                               Own creation.
cradle.
                                                                                                                                 And so she brought forth her firstborn Son.
    1 have seen  humble  homes in  niy  day-hut   ne+er did  1
see  such misery as we meet here. Even if  there is no more                                                                      And she was the end of the line, and what a line !
than a reed basket: it is at least lined with pretty cloth.                                                                      It had been a most miserabl line: the seed of the  woman.
    Yes, our thoughts turn to the pitiful  $ture   once:more.
                                       i                                                                                         It had been a most .tortuous line, a line which  waS  in-
   -And  -yet  - what a  mistaken  pity.                                                                                    fluenced by  al1  the.  wiles of the  devil. He had exhausted  al1
                                                                                                                            -bis devilish resources to Stifle the issue of  that' line at  every
    If you  P~ZUS~   `pity, then  pity the hostelries, the  in& and                                                         juncture.  From generation- to  generatior  he had  stood  be-
,taverns of Bethlehem. Yes, and  also  al1 the  wicked  inhabitatlts                                                        fore that  .WQMAN,  ready to  kil1 the seed as  soon as it
of-;Bethlehem. There were others.                                                                                           wotild appear. See: Rev. 1.2.
    Here they have the birth  `of God in their midst,  and  J>o'                                                                 What a line : it includes  murderers,   harlots. and  miserable
one lays it  t$ heart.                                                                                                      deceivers  a n d   l i a r s .
    What  tiondrous  circumsiances  surround the miracle of                                                                      And now?
al1 miracles.                                                                                                                    Al1 we-have  left.is a virgin that knows not a man! What
    Yes, and everyone of these circumstances are Divinely can a virgin  do with reference to the line of coming, ever
ordained.                                                                                                                   coming seed, without a man ?
   -1t was of God that Augustus desired the tally of his sub-                                                                    It's against  al1 God's  ordinances of  genetics   !
ject& And so his  messengers  went  out into  al1 the world.
                                                                                               -_                                But  wait : here is the fulfilment of the  womati of Rev. 12 :
 It was of God,  th&efore,  that Joseph and Mary went on                                                                    Mary is in  pain; she is  in  pain to be delivered !
their  wy to the city of David..                                                                                                And  so. it was that the virgin  who knew not a man  is.


                122,        ,'                                  T H E `   STAN.DARD.BEARER

               nevertheless in  pain to be  delivered  of a Man chilcl; and  :he          portion of  ever?   elect son  nd daughter of Adam.  The In-  _
               did! She did bring forth the song of the  angels. Hallelujah!              carnation  means   tht God enters our prison, that God-takes,
                                                                                          upon Himself ali our  damnation.
                                            9 * *        Q                                    Is that not  mercy ? Is that not  pity  ?
                      And. what was God's part?                                               Oh;  beloied,   how happy must have been the church that
                      Mary's  part  we know.  This Baby is not  any different             this God-man' came down to  US'!
               from  any other baby that was born then or now, sin excepted.                                         --*  Q  *  *
                 - But what was God's  part?                                                  NO, His reception is  cold.
                      This was God's part first  of-  al1  :. He supplanted the  wil1
               of man in  the  genesis of this Man  child. The  almighty power               There is no  room for Him.
               of God overshadowed Mary,  atid that  Holy  yhing that Was                     Here is the  San of the  King, but his cradle is a manger
               born of  her was consequently called  :Q  The-Son  of God !                    He  came to  Hii own, but His own  received  Him not.
                      That was God's part. .  e.                                              He  came to do  goed. (What poverty in this little  sen-
                      But there is more.                                                  tence  :..He  came to do good ! Forsooth!  Read the last two
                      Although this Baby did not differ as  fay as we could see,          chapters of  Revelation, and then  come back to my little
               He is nevertheless God's Only  ,Begott& Son. He is personally              sente&e  ! 1  ,wish that 1 -had  command  of  al1  the-  wrds,  al1
               God  out of God.                                                           the  music,  al1 the wondrous  melody  of the Universe. And  -
                                                                                          then 1 would again say and sing :  He  came down to do good  !)
                      Let  US  p,ut it this  way. If you had been present at' this            Again : He  &ame to earth to do good, but  everyone.turned
     _         deliverance   ;  and if you had seen the  Swaddling- of this In-
               fant, and `the laying down in  the-nianger   ; you would have              away  from Him. Judas sold Him  after prudent appraisal : he
               been absolutely right if you had  cried   out at that  time : There        came to the conclusion that 30  pieces of silver was enough!
               lies  the living God in  that~manger  ! There lies the Sn of the              Peter was ashamed to be  named-in qne breath with Him :
               living God !                                                                know not `the Man !              -,
                      Yes,  we agree  with the text :  .And she brought forth her             All.the disciples fled, and  tiere offended at Him.
               &stborn'Son . .  .? but  .it is  also  t;ue  that  at the- same  time          He ws  fully  aniounced,  but no one organized a  reception.
               the living God saicl in- heaven : Tliou art  l'$y Son :  thi,s  day`1
               have begotten Thee!                                                                                     +           $3     *     *
                                                                                                                                                     . .

                -That  is, the  marvel  of  Christmas : God  manifests Himself               Afid  yet`: we  can' understand it.
               in the flesh :  1  Tim. 3  :16.                                               There is no  place in Bethlehem, the world, the  human
                      And  fro& that truth  come  superabounding   ribhei of  sal-        h e a r t .                                                       -.
               vation.                                                                        First of  al1 : the  fact'that  there was no room for Jesus
                                             *  *  *  *                                   and His  pare&s was not because they hated  Jesus. The inn
                                                   --                                     keeper knew nothing about the coming of Jesus. The  fact
                      Attend  to this: God brings forth His `eternal Son; ancl            that there was no room-in the inn  tias a God-ordained sign.
                                                                                                                                                                  -.
               Mary brings forth  l&  San. And  teat-means  this: His name                    NO, the  fact that there was no room for  Jesus in the inn
               ;s~  Immayel : God with  US. He is both  God and man.                      tells you the following :          _
          .           Ohj  beloved reader, that  nalie  means  unspeakable   riches         , This occurrnce  announces  a program, a program which
               for you `and me.                                                           wil1 end on the  CTOSS;
                      Th&  miracje   of. the Ircarnation spells innumerable  riches,         This occurrence  announces  the  &uth that for  om-  sake
               for God's  people..                                                        Jesus became poor. Only remember this : the- poverty you
                      It .is the  manifestation~of  the sweetest  mercy  and  pity for    see in Bethlehem in stable, vanger, swaddling-  clo$hs is a  =
               US.                                                                        sign of  ou; spiritual poverty. And we do not like to be  re-
                      Here  we are  i filthy and corrupt. And that  is- bad, but it       minded of it.       -
               is not the worst of our horrors.  Such filth and corruption                    Tl$s  occurre&tells  US that Jesus is born  Iying on the
               makes  US guilty before God.  Aad do  you know what guilt is ?             very edge of the world, and that we  wil1 finally  push,Him
               It is liability to punishment. And do you know what  the                   off that edge.  Away with Him ! Away with  Him! Crucify
               punishment  is : it  is eternal desolation in  hel1 for  ali eternity.     Him ! Crucify Him !
                      But the birth of the God-child  ,means that God has                     They serve a different god  i- Bethlehem. They serve
                                                                                                                                                            ./
               identified Himself with  al1 these horrors which are the                   self, humanity,  siri and  corruption.




L


                                                       THE                       STANDARD-:B&LRER                                                                                                    123
                                     -

   Consciously or  unconsciously; but everyone says  ?zo to
                                                                                                                   T H E   STANhARD  B E A R E R
Jesus.                                                                                            Semi-monthly,  exeept   ,monthly  dwing   Jzcne,  July and  August
   Mary said no  :,  How  can this be seeing 1 know not a man ?                                    Published by'the  REFORMED  FREE   PUBLISHING  ASSOCIATION
   .Joseph  says  no : he was going to put Mary away privily.'                                    P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
 I  iechariah   says no : he even has to be made dumb for his                                                          Editor  - REV. HERWAN  HOEKSEMA
                     i
s i n .                                                                                           Communications relative to  contents  should be addressed  to
                                                                                                                 Rev.  H..Hoeksema,  1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
   And now Bethlehem says no  : and this no is your and  my                                                                     Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
xo, the no of  al1 the world, the`elect  include-d.                                               -Al1 matters relative ,to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
                                                                                                  G: Pipe, 1483 Ardmore St.,  S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
    And if  you  -say  : but the shepherds were glad and  obedient                                Announcements and  Obitoaries  must be  mailed to  -the above
to the heavenly  vision, were they not ? Then 1  would  take a                                    address  and  will be  published at a fee of  $l.OOfor eachnotice.
phrase  ut of your  very  -objection:  hcavenly   vision. If it                                  RENEWAL:   Unless a  dei?nite  request for  discontinuance   .is  re-
                                                                                                  ceived it is  assumed  that  the subscriber  wishes   the  subscription
were nt for that phrase, they  also would have said no.                                          to continue without the  forma&  af a renewal order.
 _ Oh yes, if you have the heavenly  aision the matter  be-                                                             Subscription  price: $4.00 per year.                               -
comes entirely different: Then  you  worship  ; then you  wor-                                    Entered  as  Second   Class  matter at  G&d  Rap&.   Michigan
ship  ;  then  you  worship ! Hallelujah !                             .                                                                                                                         =


                                                                                                                                      C O N T E N T S
   How blessed a  fact that He was rejected!
                                .
 For-His rejection is our acceptance.                                                       MEDITATIN  -
                                                                                                       .The Birth- of the Savior ____.___ ~ ._....,,_;  ,....: _.,__.: . . . .._._______......... 121
    Remember  that He  became poor  for  ZU. -He became poor                                                  R e v .   G .   -Vos
in order to make  US  fbulously   rich,.
    And as far as  place, room, is concerned: He captivates a                               EDITORIALS  =
place,  and what a  place  !                                                                           The  Decree .__.,,.,___~  ____._______..,__..,,..........,.~ .._._..___._........:  .___.__.....  124
                                                                                                       Daane's Distortion of Reformed  Truth   ._____,_.____..__.__............. 128
    That  place is now a  broken  and contrite heart : there He                                                  R e v .   H .   Hoeksema
dwells and feels at home.
    *Oh yes, He captivates a  place.                                                        OUK DOCTRINE -
' And that  place  wil1 be a  .new. heaven and a new earth.                                 .-         The Book of Revelation  ___...___.,..,...___..........,.....................~  ___. 129
                                                                                                                 Rev. H.  Hoeksema
    There  wil1 be  ample room for Jesus and Ris own in that
wondrous new heaven.                                                                        THE  DAY  OF  SHADOWS   -
                                                                                                       The Prophecy of Zechariah ._,__.__.._.,______.........,...........:  . . ..____. 132
    Blessed  night  when Jesus was born!                                                                         Rev. G.  M. Ophoff
                                                                                    G.V.
                                          _
                                                                                            FROM  HOLY   WPJT  -
                                                                                                        Exposition of 1 Corinthians 7 ._,.. :.._____._.,._,___.__........................  135                  _
                            NOTICE! .                            `.                                              Rev. G. Lubbers                        .
   `Office-bearers Conference  wil1 be held January  7, 1958,                                                                         ,
at our Creston Protestant  Reformed..Church  at 8 o'clock.                                  IN  HIS  FEAR  -
    The speaker  for the evening  wil1 be our Rev. G. Vos.                                              Spiritually Sensitive ( 3) . . .._______.........  .__........._......_  i _................  137
The topic, `(What  place should formality hold in our                                                    1       Rev. J. A. Heys
churches."                                                                  >                                                                                                      .-
                                                  Henry  Veldman,  Sec.                     TIIE  VOICE OF  &JR  FATHEN-
                                                                                                       -The Canons of Dordrecht..: __._,...,_..__,.__,..........,,.....,................  139
           ,                                                                                                      Rev.  H. C.  Hoeksema   .                                         .
                           I N   M E M O R I A M                 -

   The Protestant Reformed  -Men's Chorus of Grand Rapids                                   DECENCY  A N D   O R D E R -
suffered the loss of ne of its members,                                                                hticle 31  .,_,._.__..,,   .,__._.,__,_._______...............................................  141
                                                                                                                R e v .   G .   Vanden  B e r g
                          RICHARD ONDERSMA
                                                                                                                                           .-
 May our  covenan't  God give abundant  grace to the bereaved                               ALL  hOUND  US-
family is our prayer.                                                                             -     A Reformed  Church  An  Enemy of Christian  S~1~001~?........143
                :                              Edward   Ophof;  President                                         RW.  M.. Schipper
                                               James Schipper, Secretary



                                                         .  r                     . .       .-


       2
  1.           4                                           T H E   STANDARD-   B E A R E R
                                                                         - --                                         -
 ll                                                                                  passed on the  controversy  controlling with respect to  the
                     EDITOWIAL                                                       religieus discipline to which the property shall continue to be
                                                                                     dedicated. The trial court, in holding that the  latter is  con-
                                  T      H      E       DECRiE                       trolling and, hence,  that the  f,orm of government is  pres-
                                                                                     byterial?  relied on First Case. In that case the trial curt
            Following is the  decree of the  Supreme' Court in the case              had held to that same effect. In  affirming  on  appeal, we said
 of the Second Protestant Reformed Church of Grand  ,Rapids,                         that the Church Order of  this denomination is substantially
 Mich.                                                              c                the same as that of the Christian Reformed Church, under
            That we publish  it  here  needs,`I  trust.  no explanation.             which, in  Borgman v.  -Bultema,  213  Mich 684, we held the
                       <STATE   O F   M I C H I G A N                    :     '     farm of government of the  latter  to be presbyterial.  Ac-
                               SUPREME COURT                                         cordingly, in First Case we noted that the powers and  func-
 SECOND PROTESTANT REFORMED CHURCH                                                   tions  of  the several church judicatories of the Protestant
 OF GRAND RAPIDS, a Michigan                                                         Reformed Churches of  America,   `the denomination` here in
 corporation,                                                                        question, were as set forth and explained in  Borgman and
                    Plaintiff and Appellant                                          in Holwerda v. Hoeksema, 232  Mich 648, with respect to
               v.                                                                    the Christian Reformed Church. Appellees point to the  provi-
 JOHN BLANKESPOOR,  ,et al.,                                                         sions of articles fifth and sixth  o'f Second Church's articles
                      Defendants  and. Appellees                                     of association, which, in effect, purport to give  control  of its
 SECOND PROTESTANT REFORMED CHURCH                                                   property  to. a majority of the membership of the  congrega-
 OF GRAND RAPIDS. a Michigan                                                         tion. In  Borgman we held a similar provision  in'the articles
corporation, et al.,                       ,                                         of association was void as  an-attempt  to. establish a congrega-.
                      Plaintiffs-  a n d   A p p e l l e e s   -                     tional forn of government in a local church which was part
                                                                                     of a  denomintion whose form was presbyterial. Appellees
MARINUS.SCHIPPER,  et al                                                            say, however,  that Second Church was nt incorporated
                      Defendants and  Appellants                    s                under the special statute involved in  Borgman+ but  .under
BEFORE THE ENTIRE BENCH.                                                            .the 1931 genera1 corporation act, of which  section 181 (CL
D E T H M E R S ,   C .   J .                                                        1948,  $450.181;  Stat Ann $21.182)  provides   :
        This case is a sequel to First Protestant Reformed Church                        "Every   such ecclesiastical corporation shall have  author-
of Grand Rapids v.  DeWolf. 344  Mich 624, hereinafter called                       ity to adopt by-laws prescribing*  *  4'  how far  such  corpora-
First Case. The doctrinal dispute there involved is at the                          tion shall be subject to the  pproval  or  control  of  any other
root of this case. There we spoke of  rhe so-called  Hoeksema                       corporation or  higher  church body which corporation or body
faction and  DeWolf  faction.  The identical division and                           shall  be named ;  +  Q  *"
alignment exists here. For convenience, we shall refr to the                       Appellees  rge- that this provision of  the statute authorizes
Schipper  group,  affiliated with Hoeksema, and the  Blanke-                        and validates  the mentioned provisions of articles fifth and
spoor  group,  kindrd spirits with  DeWolf. The  question'here                     sixth of `Second Church's articles of association.. We do not
is  which of the two is entitled to possession and  control  of                     agree. The quoted statutory provision  authorizes  by-laws
the  real and personal property of the corporation known as                         prescribing  how fr  the- corporation shall be subject to the
Second Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids,                                  approval or  control of a named  higher  church body. The
hereinafter  cahed Second Church. Two cases are  combined                           fourth article of Second Church's articles of association does
in the presentation of this appeal.  In  both, Second Church                        so prescribe by providing that :
is  named  party  plaintiff. In the one,  it is the Schipper group                      "Fourth, The  members  of said  church or  society'shall
and, in the other, the Blankespoor  group,   each purporting to                     worship and labor together according to the discipline,  rules
act as Second Church, which brings suit as  plaintiff'against                       and  sage of the Protestant Reformed Church in the United
the minister nd  Consistory'members  of the opposing  faction.                     States of  America  as from  time  t  time  authorized  and  de-
Reverend  Blankespoor and  bis Consistory  members  prevailed                       clared by the Church Order of the Protestant Reformed
below and, hence. are here as appellees,  while the  appellants                     Churches."
are those of the  Schipper  group.                                                  The  combined  effect of the provisions of  section 181 of the
        Essential to decision is  determination  of the  prelitninary               statute and of the fourth article of association is to  place this
question whether the  farm of government of the  denomina-                          local church in the  same relationship to the denomination
tion in  question,   the Protestant Reformed Churches of and to its  higher  church bodies as was the case in  Borgman.
America,  is congregational or presbyterin. In other words, Consequently, as in  Borgman, the provision in the articles of
is  the  decision of  fhe  majority  of the  members  of Second                     association for congregational.  control must be held to  be  in-
Church or of  its. local governing body,  namely, its  Con-                         - - - - -                                        `4
sistory; on the. one hand, or the dcision of the  majority  of                     *PA  1901, N. 148 (CL  1948, $458.421 et seq.  (Stat Ann $211941
th  highest governing body of the  denomination which has                          et  seq.,),  bejng  an act to  provide  for  incorporation  of  Chris&*Re-
                                                                                    formed  Churches of  America;


                   . .



                                                                  THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               125

          consistent with the controlling Church Order of the  deno-                and cleacons  elected  from  and by  the-  membrship.   The  Con-
          mination and,.  hencel void.  The form of government of this              sistory is in charge of the property of  the local chmch. The
          denomination  .is presbyterial. Applicable, therefore, is the             nest  higher judicatory  is'.a Classis, of which there are two
          following,  quoted  in our opinion in  Borgmn, from  FuchS v.            in  `the.  denominatiot   namely  Classis East  and, Classis West,
          Meisel, 102  Mich 357:                                                    with 12 churches belonging to  each. Two delegates, a min-
                 "`In the  freedom  of conscience and the right to  ,worship        ister and an  elder, are  selected and sent by  each Consistory
          allowed in this  .country,  the defendants and the  mmbers  of           to its particular Classis.  Each of the two Classes  selects nd
          `this church undoubtedly possessed the right to withdraw                  sends eight  delegates,,  four ministers and four elders, to the
     from  it, with or without reason.  -But they could  .not take.                 Synod,  which is the highest judicatory of the denomination.
          with them, for their  own purposes, or transfer t  any other                One of the  articles  of  the Church Order  provides  that
          religious body, the property dedicated to and conveyed for                when an annual Synod  closes it shall designate one of the
          the worship of God under the discipline of this religious  as-            churches  as a  calling church to issue a  call, fixing  time-  and
          sociation  ; nor could they prevent its use by those  who  chose          place, for the meeting of the next Synod in the succeeding
          to  remain- in the church, and  who represent the regular                 year. First Church was the  calling church for the meeting
          church organization. If  complainants  maintain the allegations           of the 1953 Synod. The regular'meeting of Synod was held,
          of their bill,  - that they represent  the regularly qrganized            in that church in June of 1953. At that  time the` mentioned
          body of the church. and are its regular appointees,  - they -doctrinal differences  came to the fore. The 16 delegates of
          are.-entitled  to the  relief prayed."                                    Synod were  equally divided  with respect fhereto. The  eight
          Also in' point is the following  frdm the syllabus in  Hanna  v.         --delegates  from Classis West  ~supported  the  DeWolf, or  Blan-
          Malick, 223.  Mich  O0, quoted in United Armenian Church                 kesppor,  view, and the eight delegates from Classis East,
          v. Kazanjian, 322  Mich 651:                                              to  which the First and  Second  Churches of `Grand Rapids
                 "Where  the articles of incorporation and the by-laws of           resort or belong, supported the Hoeksema, or Schipper, view.
          a local Orthodox  Greek Church, as  ,drafted-and  adopted by              Synod decided to refer the matter to a study  committee   which
          the original incorporators,  who were natives of Syria, clearly           was to report back and  make  recommndations  to an  ad--
          express the intention to bring the church under the supreme              .journecl meeting f Synod. Synod voted to hold  such  ad-
<         authority and  jurisdiction  of the Patriarch of  Antioch, those          journed meeting- on the  second Wednesday of  March,  1954,
          who  adhere to that declaration  pf  ,faith and  recognized   juris-      in First Church of Grand Rapids. Synod then adjourned to
          diction  are entitled to the  possession,-control,  and  se of  -its    said date. A meeting of Classis East was held from Oct. 6th to
          property  ,for, its  declared- purpose as against those seceding          9th, 1953. Theretofore the rift in First Church had occurred
          from the original organizafion and seeking- to divert its use             which was considered in First Case. In  consequente,  two
     and  controi  to the  jurisdiction  of  a  Holy Russian  Synod. or             sets of delegates  came to that meeting of Classis East from
     p      a      t      r    i    a    r    c    h    .    "                      First Church, one representin,w its original Consistory, loyal
                 In view of  the above language of this  Court,  the next           to  DeWolf, and the other representing the so-called  reorgan-
          question presented, is which of the contending parties here               ized Consistory of First Church, adhering to Hoeksema.
          adheres to the declaration of faith  aiid recognized  jurisdiction        Classis seated  the  Hoeksema  delegates.  ,Defendant,   Reverend
          of,  remained  in, and represents the regular organization of             John Blankespoor, minister of  Second  Church and a delegate
          Protestant  Reformed  Churches of  America  to which the                 to Classis  East;  together  with- two other minister-delegates,
          p r o p e r t y   w a s   d e d i c a t e d .                            voted against seating  the.  Hoeksema  delegates. These three
           T h i s   controversy,  as previously  indicate.d,  sterns from         were then  `called  upon  by Classis East  to  state that they
     doctrinal  disagreement  as to the content  or  interpretation,               would abide by its decision in the premises or forfeit their
          of the  denomination's  confession of faith and  who are its true         rights to seats  as- delegates. They declined, reserving the
          adherents. As held  in.First  Case, the Church Order  con&-01s            right  to- appeal to Synod.  Thereupon  Classis East notified
          on questions of faith and of  who adhres  thereto and in that           the Consistories of the churches served by these three min-
          case,. as in  Borgman, we further held that Synod is the  su-            isters of what had occurred. On October 9, 1953, at a
          preme  governing  body of the denomination and that its  deci-           special meeting of the Consistory of  Second  Church, a  mo-
          sion of questions'of faith and  adherente  is  final and binding         tion was offered to support the  action  of  Reverend   Blanbe-
          upon  the courts.                                                        spoor in the Classis. The  motion.   carried,  receiving the
                 For an understanding of the problem before  US, note              affirntive   vete of the  six elders but the negative vote of the
          should be taken of the organizational  structure  of the church          two deacons  who  comprised  the- Consistory. The two  dis-
      `and denomination in question.  Having  been delineated in                   senting deacons thereupon withdrew from the Consistory
          First Case,  Borgman, and Holwerda, we need not outline it               meeting and called a meeting of the congregation for Oc-
          in detail..  Suffice it t say for our immediate purpose, the            tober 19, 1953. A  minority group  of. the membership of the
          denomination has 24 churches or congregations,  each  com=-              congregation attended the meeting thus called and undertook
          posed of -communicant members under the  immediate   govern-             to supplant the elders  who had supported  Reverend   Blanke-
          ing of a local Consistory consisting of the minister and elders          spoor by selecting four new  members  to Consistory,  who
                                                                                                                     _'


                                                                                                            .-
 126                  -                         THE  S+hNDARti-BE-RER
 -                                                                                   . .
 joined the two  deacons  and called themselves the  reorgan-            from  the Classis  East, together with one alternate  delegate
 ized Consistory. This  group,   represcnting   a  minority of the       from Classis West, met,  aS per the published  notice, in Fourth
 congregation, called  the-  Reverend  Marinus Schipper as their         Church.   The Stated Clerk of Synod attended  the First Church
 minister and. since then, they have held church services in  a          aG1 the President of Synbd the Fourth Church meeting.  In-
 neai-by building.  The Blankespoor group in the original  Con-          asmuch  as Synod had  a total authoriz'ed  membership  of  16,
 sistory,  representing  the  majority  of  the congregation, has each of  the  synodical  groups  claimed to have  a  quorum,   &th
continued  in.  possession  of the church property and  changed          n& present; and proceeded with the business of Synod.
 the  locks on the doors. On October  20,. 1953,  +e new,  re-           These  -eeting  in  .First Church sent  a  communication to
 ofganized  Consistory  eleeted two delegates to  Clssis East.          these meeting in Fourth Church, inviting them to  join in the
 On October 21,  1953>  Classis seated  them  as  deiegats   from       m-eting  of Synod in First Church. NO response  therkto  was
 Second  Church in place of Blankespoor and his  elder,  whom            made. The delegates  selected  by the so-called reconstituted
 it deemed  .to have forfeited their  seats. There were  s@lar           Classis East of the  DeWolf-Blankespoor  group presented
 occurrences in the churches of the other two ministers  who             themselves at the Synod meeting in First Church, but, while
 had voted with Blankespoor at the meeting of Classis  Egt               favorably  received, they were not seated on the ground that
 against seating the  Hoeksema  delegates from First Church.             this was but an adjourned meeting of the Synod which had
`Thereupon,  DeWolf, Blankespoor, and the other two min-                 met in June, 1953,  and  that the delegates  who then had been
 isters  mentioned  together with their adherents, created  j            seated' thereat were stil1 the only  lawful delegates to be
 so-called  reconstituted  Classis  East, which, in  competition         seated at  the adjourned meeting. This synodical  meeting
 with.  the original Classis  East, elected delegates to  Synod.         designated  a  calling church  .and adopted the authorization for
 to serve in place of the original delegates from Classis East           selection of  time and place for its 1954 successor Synod and
 who adhered to Hoeksema.                                    -           thereupon~adjorned.  At the 1954 Synod so authorized by
      The Schipper group  Contend's  that the  action  of Classis        the group meeting in First Church, the  DeWolf-Blankespoor
 East, declaring Blankespoor's right to sit as  a delegate in            delegates of  ihe so-called  reconstitutcd  Classis  East,  includ-
 Classis forfeited and  seating new delegates elected by the             ing  Reverend  Blankespoor and his  elder, Ondersma, were
 reorganized Consistory of Second Church, constituted  a                 seated. That Synod and its successor Synods ever since have
 dete&natiqn  by Classis East  .$hat those in the Schipper               recognized  the reconstituted Classis East and the Consistory
 group in Second  Church are the true adherents to the  de-              members   a n d   -congregations   .of  t h e   DeWolf-Blankespoor
 nomination. They say  that this  act+ by Classis was the group as the true adherents to the denomination and,  parti-
 action of the highest judicatory in the  denomitiation  which           cularly, with respect to Second Church, have they so  rec-
 passed on the question and  that; hence, they and their  Con-           ognized  Blafikespoor,   whom  they elected President of the
 sistory  re  e-titled  to the us and  control  of  the property of    1955 Synod. and his Consistory. which has  selected and sent
 Second Church.                                                          its delegates to  .the reconstituted Classis East.  Each "Year
      The Blankespoor group, in answer to the above  con-                Boek,: published as part of  -the  acts of  *that succession of
 tcntions. claims that there  .`were subsequent  actioris of Synod,      SynodS,  naixes. Blankespoor as minister and  defendant   On-
 rcognizing  them as the true adherents of fhe  denon?ination,          dersma  as  clerk of Second Church, and states that their
 and that,  thus,  they are entitled to the property.' This  re-         church is  a  member  of Classis East.  These books  also list
 quires redirecting our attention to the  acticins of Synod. In          Blnkespoor as  a  member  of the Classica1  committee  of
 June, 1953, as hereinbefore noted, Synod had adjourned                  Classis East. On the other hand, the synodical group  &ich
 t6- the  second Wednesday in  March,  1954, and bad voted  t           met in  March,   .1954,  in Fourth Church  .and its successor
 hold  .that adjourned meeting in First Church.  The  subse-             Synods  fronj- year to year have consistently  recog&ized  the
 quent split in First  Church had left its  building and property Hoeksema-Schipper group in  each of the churches, including
 inthe hands of the  DeWolf group.  Consequently,  the  persofis         Second Church, as being the authentic group adhering to the`
 of the  Hoeksema  group  who constituted the so-called  re-             Protestant  Reformed  denomination.
 ofganized Consistory of First Church, deeming themselves to                The issue of  adherente  being- one for determination by
 be the  .ca@g  church of the 1953 Synod,  caused  a  notice to          Synod, the question is which was the true and  lawful Synod.
 b&  published  in one of the  denornination's   relted  publica-       There is nothing in the Church  Order,   articles  of association,
 tions that the adjourned sessions- of Synod  would  resume              oi- in  a-y other  rules  0; regulations limiting the power of
 on the  second Wednesday of  March,  1954, in the  .F&rth               Synod to adjourn to  a  specified  time and place or providing
 Protestant  Reformed  Church. At the appointecl  time, the              that a  cal1 for  such adjourned meeting  either,may  or must be
 eight  persons-  who had been delegates  tos the June, 1953,            made by the Consistory of  a  calling church or by  any other
 meeting of Synod from Classis West,  together  with one                 church, body or  officer, or that  any of them  may change the
 alternate delegate  from  %he original Classis  East, met in First      time and place therefor as fxed by Synod. It follows that
 Church as provided in the  motion  for  adjournment  adopted -=the lawfully fixed and official time'and  placefor  the adjourned
 by Synod the previous June. At  the  same  time,  -the eight            meting was that voted by  Synob,  namely. the  second  Wed-
 .persons-who  had ben delegates to that Synod in  June, 1953,          nesday of  M.arch,  1954, in First Church.  Because  it was not


                                                  T H E   STANDARP  B E A R E R  -                                                           127

competent for  any other  person,  church  oy body to change                  ticin to and did  reverse   such  action, nor whether the  recon-
 the  place, the lawfl meeting  of. Synod  occurred  on said dte            stituted Classis East could, under the Church Order, be
 at First Church. The quorum of nine, composed of  Gight                      brought into valid  existente  in the  marmer  employed by the
 delegates and  ene  aiternate,  which  .gathered  there that day             Blankespoor group.  Rather,  the question to be decided by  US
 constituted the true  and lawful Synod in meeting assembled.                 is which Consistory, with the congregation it represents, is
 First Church of Christ Scientist v. Rentzel, 242  Mich 120  ;                entitled to possession and  control of the property of `Second
 Krecker  v. Shirey, 163  Pa.. 534 (30 A 440)  ;  Schweiker  v.               Church. This, in turn, depends on which is composed of those
 Husser, 144 111. 399 (34 NE 1022) ; Auracher  v.~  Yerger,                   who are  the true adherents to the denomination.  Determina-
 90 Iowa  55s  (58 NW 893) ; People v.  Esher,  6 Ohio CC                     tion of that ecclesiastical question was properly  a matter
 Rep 312 ;  Kerr v.  Hicks, 154 NC 265 (70 SE 468)  ; Stone                   for Synod and was, by  its. actions .above  noted, made by the
-v. Bogue,  238 MA 392 (181 SW 2d  lS7). Therefore, it must                   successive bodies which we have held to be the true and
 be held that the  Reverend  Blankespoor and the members of                   lawful  succession  of Synods. We are bound thereby. As
 his  C&sistory  are the adherents  to the  denomitiation  in  qges-          for the propriety of the methods of the  successive Synods'  \
 tion, as they have been recognized to be by the body  herein                 expression of  such  determinatin,  its  correctress  under the
 held to be the true and lawful Synod, and that the  Reverend                 Church Order, or the regularity of proceedings in  connec-
 Schipper and  &e members of his Consistory  arq  `nat, for                   tion therewith we quote as applicble the following:
 which  reason-mthe   fermer  and not the  latter  group is entitled             "Whether  the decision of the classis, excluding defendants,
 to possession and  control  of the Second Church property.                   was prudent or imprudent, right or wrong, we have no  right
     Appellants  insist  that First Case is controlling here  and             to  inquire.   N&  wil1 we  undertake  to  determine~  whether the
 stress that there the  Hoeksema  group, with which they are                  decision was in accordance  with the canon  law of the  chrch,
aligned,  pr&ailed.  It is to be noted that in  ihat case no                  except  insofar as it  may be necessary to  d  .so in  detefmining
 defiomina$onal   action   higher  than that of Classis East, which           whether  the classis had  jurisdiction   oi the matter, whether
 upheld. the  Horksema  group, was' urged  uPon nor considered                the act is that of the society itslf." Holwerda v. Hoeksema,
 by this  Cuurt. In this case the subsequent and  countermand-                232  Mich  648.
 ing  action of the  higher  judicatory, Synod, was put into  evi-                "The supreme governng body of the First Reformed
 dence as it was not in First Case. It is on that basis that  the'            Church is the synod. This supreme body has sole and  ex-
 court below made  an$ we  af+m its decision  herein, even                    clusive power to  make and establish  al1  laws'  and regulations
 though it be at  uariance with  th  result in First Case.                   for the  gvernment  of the church. It has supreme  ecclesias-
     Seeking to obviate the controlling -effect of the actions of             tical power over  al1 those  .who  adhere to  that confession of
 Synod above considered, appellants  urge that procedures                     faith. It is the only  body in th church which  can say what
 prescribed by the  -church' Order for  taking  appeals  from                 the confession of faith is or shall be."  Borgman v.  Bultema,
 Classis to Synod were not followed by  Reverend  Blankespoor                 213  Mich 684.               .
 nor by his Consistory and  th$, hence, they had no right of                      "Civil courts  wil1 not enter into a consideration of church
 appeal; that, as  a matter of  fact, neither the adjourned meet-             doctrine or church  diseiplne  nor  wil1 they inquire into the
- ing  of Synod in First Church nor  any of its successor Synods              regularity of the  proceedings  of church tribunals  having
 considered   any  such appeal or directly  acted  upon  or  re-              cognizance of  such  matters. To do so would be inconsistent
 versed the  action  of Classis East in unseating .Blankespoor                with complete and  untra&meled   rel,igious  liberty."  VanVliet
 and his  elder,  Ondersma.  as delegates thereto; that  .his  sub-           v.  VanderNaald,  290  Mich 365.
 sequent acceptance as  a delegate to Synod was  merely  as an                    "Neither  wil1 the court as  a  ciVi1  tribunal  undprtake to
 individual  and that this was not  conchsive  of the question               determine whether the resolution directing  ' exclusion was
 of which is  the true Consistory of Second  Chorch  -because                 passed  in accordance  with  ihe canon  law of the church,  x-
 Syn0.d is  -nat composed of delegates  from  churches  or Con-               cept insofar as it  may be  iecessary  to do  sb in determining
 sistories, but only  from Classes  ;  tthat the reconstituted Classis        whether it  was, in  fact, the church fhat  acte&"  Quoted in
 East of  the Blankespoor group  tias rump and not  lawfuliy                  Borgman v.  Bultema,  213  Mich 684, from  Morris  Street-
 created under the Church Order; and, finally, that the                       Baptist Church  u. Dart, 67 SC 338 (45  SE 753).
 ori&nal  classis  East is the  highest judicatory which has                      We. hold that Synod was the body which had the  ulti-
 passed, (1) on the right of Blankespoor and  Ondersma  to                    -ate  jurisdiction  and power to determine the  iuestion of  ad-
 represent Second Church in Classis East and, (2  j  on the                   herence  to the  denomination  ; that it made  sUch  determination
 authority of the reorganized Consistory of  Second   Church to               in favor of the Blankespoor group  ; that we  -wil1  not look into
 take over and to  elect new delegates  to- that Classis in their             the regularity of the proceedings by which that power was
 blaces.' To  al1 of this we say that the question to be  deter-              exercised   ; and that  when the Synod so  dete-ined this  &-
 mined  by  this. Court  is not the propriety of the  act& of                 clesiastical question it was the church that  acted  and we are
 Classis East in unseating Blankespoor and  Ondersma  as  dele-               bound thereby.
 gates and seating  ethers  in  their  places,  llor  whether   ai  propei     Inasmuch  as the  decrees below are consonant wth this
 appeal was taken  therefrom,  or whether  Sinod   hadjurisdic-              opinion, they are  affirmed,  with  costs to the prevailing parties.
                                                                               _  -


                                                                                                                                                t
  128.                                           T H E        STA.NDARRD   @ARER
                  -

          Dcra&`sS  Distortion of Refbrmed  Truth                           tion of his heart and soul and mind and  wil1 and  al1 his
     The way Daane, in his article in  Tlze   Refomted  Jownnl,             strength were in  accord  with the  wil1 of God. And this one
 presents  or  rather  misrepresents  me is  so shocking  th.at it is       vrtue of complete integrity is distinguished as true  knowl-
 virtually unbelievable.                                    .  I            edge, righteousness, and  holiness."
     He never quotes me. He never even gives  any  `references.                 Can anyone conceive Of the possibility of  adding to the
 in my several books and  ether-writings   where  one  may find             above  quoted  paragraph that Adam dd not have the mora1
  what he  alleges to be  my  Views.. He  merely  attrbutes  some          freedom to  walk in the way of God's precepts and not to sin  ?
 views to me which are not  mine at  al1 and for which he                   To me  this. is  absolutely.impossible.   Truc.  with  al1 Reformed
 certainly cannot find  proof in  any of  -niy writings.                    theologians, 1  teach and always taught, that Adam was not
     This is not  only  very  nscholarly,.  it is  also dishonest.         created with the highest freedom. We  wil1 remember the
     Thus he  writes on p. 9 of the above named paper:                      distinction  between  stages of mora1 freedom: 1. the freedom  _
     "From this simplistic conception of God's counsel.  some               to sin  and riot  to sin  ; 2. the freedom of sin  ; the  freedom,not  to
'  very simplistic theological definitions were  deduced.  .Human           sin.--The  last is the highest possible  freedom and is attained
 responsibility,  for  example,  was defined by  Herman  Hoeksema           only in Christ, the  San of God in  human  nature; the  second
 simply as the necessity of man's response to God.  (Where                  ia the  freedom of the  nat'ural man  who is a slave of sin ; the
 please? H.H.). The ethica1 notion that man ought to  make                  first is the  freedom of Adam in the  state of  righteousness.
 the  $ght  response  dia not enter  into-the definition. In a  simi;       But  how a mind like Daane's  can possibly  deduce from this
 larly simplistic  marmer  man's  fa11  i%to sin was  sometimes   ex-       that Adam  dia not have the freedom of not sinning,  - that 1
 plained. The  Fa11 was simply regarded as  another  item in                must confess is a mystery to me.
 Go&  ah-inclusive  plan. It was then said that  the  ultimate                  Let me quote one mre paragraph from  thee same  werk
 truth  about the  Fa11 is that God  .was  its-Ultimate  Cause.             quoted above to refute Daane's  false-allegation. It is  found
  (Quote, please!  KH.) This was even sid to be  the .very                 on p.           1@3~         ;     ~.
 essence of the Reformed faith,  &rd  the contention that Adam                 "By  theses three- spiritual virtues; that originally adorned
 was created  with the  freedom and possibility of. not sinning             the  nature  of man, the rectitude of his  whole being in relation
 vps assayed as  heresy.:' (Quote,  clease!  H.H.)                          to God and  al1 things is  d,enoted.  By holiness is meant, not
     Daane, in the above paragraph, does not literally ascribe              `any acquired purity, but that original rectitude of his  nature,
 -al1 the above nonsense to me:  al1 he literally atfributes to me          according to which he was  c0nscrate.d to God in love with
 is the definition of  human responsibility. Yet,  .I take it, that         al1 his  mind and heart and  sl  and strength, His  whole soul
 in  al1 that  fellows  he has me  also in mind. Hence,  1  em-             yearned  after the living God, and had its delight in its favor
phatically assert that there is not one  .word of  truth in the             and fellowship.  %Iis righteousness was not an imputed  right-
 above paragraph. 1 never defined  human responsiblity as                  eousness, nor was it acquired, but it was that-  virtue. of hs
 the necessity of man's response  to.God, or that man was  nat:             whole  nature  according to which he was wholly in harmony
 resPonsible  to  make the  right  response to God.  Such a  defini-        with the  wil1 of God and that accarding to the judgment of
 tion of  responsbihty 1 never gave in  any `form. This simply             God,  so  th?+  F= was  fully  capable of dong the  wil1 of God,
 is an untruth. 1 never wrote anywhere that God is the  ultimate            and to do that  wil1 was his delight. And his knowledge of
 cause of the fall. This is another untruth. 1 never taught that            God was not a  mere intellectual knowledge of the Most High,
 Adam, before the  fall,  did  nat have the freedom and  possi-             so that he knew  who and what God is ; nor was it a ready
 bility of not sinning. This is the third untruth.                          made system of dogmatics with whch Adam was endowed
     This 1 am able to prove.                                               from  the beginning  ;  b& it -was that original rectitude of  mind
     Let me -begin with the last contention,  namely, that it               by virtue of which he  immediately and  spontaneously knew
 belongs "to the  very essence of the Reformed faith"  ,that it is          God, both  through  the  revelation of  al1  the works of God round
heresy to say "that Adam was created with the  freedom and                  about  him, and  through  the direct `Word of God that was
 possibility of not  sinning."                                              addressed to him in paradise: And  through  this positive
     In the first volume of  .my work on the Heidelberg  Cate-              knowledge of God  he  ha-d  a living contact with the Most
 chism,  p.' 106,  I  write.:                                               High,  the'  fellowship  of  friendship  that was his life. And thus
     "However, man was originally created  so that he actually              Adam  was"good.'  He was  so made that he was  quite   tap-
 possessed  the image of God. He was not only  formallp  adapted            able of serving the Lord his Creator, to be His representative
to  bear the image of God, but he was  also  materially endowed             in  al1  the..world.  His  prophet  to know and to glorify Him,
 with the spiritual ethica1  virtues  of that image. These virtues          His priest to  consecrate  himself and things  nto  Him, His
 are  usually distingushed as  true~  knowledge of God, right-.            servant-king  to  rule in rghteousness over the  works of  Goals
 eousness,  and-  holiness  . . . Al1 three are  often  e-pressed  in       hand!. and thus to live in `eternal happiness to glorify and
 the one term : `man's  original righteousness.' It is that  ori-           praise  Him.  "
ginal goodness  -of man's  nature, according to which it was                  How about this, Dane?  `~
 wholly  motivated by the love of God, and with  al1 its faculties          Do,  you  stil1  maintain the  folly of ascribing to me the
 and powers  moved in the direction of God,  so that the opera-                                (Continued      ori     page      136)      -
                                                                       :


                                                     T    H    E      STANDARD   BEARER                                                       1 2 9

                                                                               of their God.  Hence?  we must constantly bear in  mind. that
           O U R   D O C T R I N E +  /I we. have  also in this outcry  synbolism in the highest sense
                                                                               of the word. This is in  harmony  with the  whole  :Book of
                                                                               Revelation; and it is  also in  accord with the passage we are
                  THE  BOOK OF  RE$ELATION                                .    now discussing. For the entire passage is visionary and  sym-
                                CHAPTER   XIV                                  bolic. It is  only in the  vision that John is able to see the
                 Tke  Slain  Witnesses  nnd  Tlaeir  Ozdcry                    suls. The  altar under which they are  found is visionary and
                                                                               `symbolic. And the  same must be applied to the outcry of
                              Revelation 6 :9-11                               these souls under the  altar.  The question we must ask is ths :
          How they were put `on the  rack and tortured in  every               what is really the meaning; what is the reality of the outcry
      conceivable way !  How they were brought to the  scaffold                of these souls under the  altar?  What is the essential idea
      and  bm-ned  at the stake! In a word, as you go  through                 of this symbolism  ? The  .answer  is not difficult to find. The
      history  from its  very dawn to the present  time,  you  wil1            outcry is  symbolic,  of the necessity of  ultimate justice, of the
      find a host innumerable under the  altar,   slain for the Word           fmal  manifestation  of the righteousness of God that is to be
      of God and the testimony which they held. And what is  the               revealed in the just vengeance  upon   the heads of those that
      reason for  al1  this? It' is simply because of the tremendous "have killed and persecuted the saints in Christ Jesus. It is
      contrast between the.  kingdom of Chrst and the  kingdom of             an outcry that ascends to the throne  * of God throughout  al1
      the  devil, the  kingdom of light and the  kingdom of darkness,          the history  .of the church in the world.  -1t represents the
      striving for the possession of the same world.                           longing of the saints for the day of their  final justification and
          Now these souls under  the  altar make a loud outcry.                of just retribution for  al1 that have  hated and persecuted them
      Thus we  read in vs. 10: "And they  cried with a  loud  voice,           in the present world. This must be perfectly evident from
      saying,  How long, 0 Lord,  holy and true, dost thou  no,t               the  contents of this  ou&y. The saints under the  altar  address
      judge and avenge  our  bloed on  them that  dweil on the                 Christ Jesus,  Who is exalted at the right hand of God, as
      earth  ?" We must constantly remember that  also. this fifth             King over His church and as  Sovereign over the  whole world.
      seal, as  wel1 as  al1 the others,  represets  a  vision. And there-    This is evident from the expression used in this  address,
      fore we have symbolism in the test. As  soon as we  lose                 which in the original nieans  "despot,"   -nat in the evil,  hut
      sight of this  fact,  lwe'are apt to raise  al1 kinds of objections      in  the good and favorable sense of the word. It  means
      and questions. Forgetting the  fact that we have a  vision               "master, lord, absolute sovereign." Some  would  .have it that
      here, we might simply conceive of these  souls  under the  altar,        in this expression the Triune God is addressed. With this,
     `as glorified souls in heaven, and no more. Then, of course,              however,  we cannot agree. Not  to God directly, but to  Christ-
      the question arises : do these souls in heaven stil1 suffer?             their Lord these saints  address the outcry. This  may  ,also be
     Are the saints  in:glory stil1  impatient,  as is evident  from the       gathered from the addition, "thou  holy and true one." The
      outcry ? And are they stil1 unhappy  after death  ? Does not             same expression occurs  chapter   .3  :5,  where  the Lord Jesus,
      this outcry represent a  very deep need that is  -nat fulfilled          rzfers to  Himself `in these same words  when He addresses
      as yet? Are not the souls especially of those that have                  the  church  of Philadelphia. Not  .the Triune God, therefore,
      ,suffered  for the name of Jesus in  this world perfectly blessed        but Christ is addressed. For to  Him is given  al1 pbwer in
      after this present life ? But this question is not essental, and        heaven and on earth; and the  Father  also  bas delivered  al1
      it should  never be asked. We  wil1 understand this as soon              judgment  to  Him  Who sits at His right hand. That this
      as we remember that the text represents  indeed  a  very im-             outcry is not the expression of sinful longing for vengeance,
      portant truth, but that nevertheless it is a  vision, and that           but of just and necessary judgment, is plain from the  fact
      therefore in the outcry of the  souls  under the  altar we have          that the juclge in this case is  called  "holy and  truc."   Ac-
      symbolism. Again, the question  might be raised: do these                cording to His holiness, He cannot allow sn to have  the,
      souls in the  state of perfection in  glo,ry cry  out for vengeance ?    victory. He must.  execute  wrath against  al1 the nquity,
      Is t not true that while  they were stil1 in this present               injustice, and oppression of men. .And according to His
      world they prayed for their enemies, according to the  in-               truth, He must reveal Himself as He is, in harmony with
      junction of the Lord Jesus that they should love their  ene-             His holiness and with His justice against  al1 sin and  un-
      mies, do good to them that  hate them, and pray for  thetn               righteousness. These  souls  under  the:  altar,  therefore, do not
      that despitefully use  them ?  How then is  it possible that now         cry for a  mere  human and sinful vengeance.. On the  contrary.
.     they invoke the wrath of God on  them, and that too while                they long and cry for nothing  less than the perfect  man-
      they are in the  state of perfection in heaven? Is there then            festation of the holiness and  truth-of  their  King and Master.
      stil1 sin in the  state of glory in the hearts of  the  saints? But      For His glory they have suffered in the  midst of the world
      also this is not  ~essential,  and has nothing to do with  the           at the hands of those that  hate their Christ.
      idea of this outcry of the saints under the  altar.  As we shall            We must remember that these  souls  under the  altar have
      see, they do not cry for sinful vengeance,  hut for  the  final          suffered because of. the Word of God and the testimony which
      manifestation of righteousness and justice and for the  glory            they held. They have suffered for the name of Christ Jesus


     130                                            T H E   STAWDARI?`~EARER   -

     and because they represented Christ's  cause' in the midst of           revenge   ancl for  ,the  final-  manifestation  of the holiness and
     the world. The enemies that  gave caused  them to suffer have           truth of their Lord and  Master.   Such, then, is the  meaning
     done so not because  any unrighteousness was found in these             of  the outcry of these souls under the  altar.  It is the  ex-
     souls  bndr the  altar as they  lived in  .the world, but only         pression,  the  historie expression, of longing for a day of
     because they hated the  very name of Jesus ad were opposed.            vengeance that swells and grows louder and  stionger as  time
     to the  cwse He  represented,  the cause of God Himself.                goes on, a longing for the  final day of  judgment and the
     Hence,  when Jesus  HimSelf was in the  world,  they  mani-             coming  of our Lord Jesus Christ.`
  fested this enmity  directla gainst  Him. They caused  Him-                   Thus  it  also must be plain that this fifth seal is of  im-
     to suffer and die on  th& accursed tree, and  tast Him  out of          portance  for the completion of the  kingdom of God and  His
     the world. But He has been  -exalted to glory, and they  can            Christ. That  kingdom cannot  come by way  ,-of gradual
     never  touch  Him personally  any more.  But. the saints are ~develobment,  but Ean only appear in a public day of  judg-
     stil1  oti earth. And  they- follow in His steps, and represent         ment and destruction of the world. Those that have it that
     His  Cause.  They do so by bearing faithful testimony of Him            the  kingdom of God  wil1  come without this day, that it must
    as shining lights `in the midst of the darkness of this present          come  along iines of gradual development here  upon  earth, are
     world. And bcause of this testimony concerning Him, they  - cruelly unjust in respect to the past and the history of the
    must`needs  also bear His reproach. What the enemies of                  saints in  the world. Hundreds of thousands, yea, millions of
     Christ  can no  longer do against  :Him  .personally  they  now         ,Christ's saints have  suffered   `martyrdom.;  and the world has
    do  aginst His people, against the saints that represent Him.           .rejoiced over their death. Shall their suffering and death
    And the  principle  of this persecution of the saints in the midst       be passed by in  Silence?   Shall the  justiee of God in  Chr&t
    of the world is the  same as  that which  ,&otivted  them  in-          never be revealed at  al1 ? God forbid ! These souls under the
    casting  out the Christ. To harass and  pefsecute and butcher            altar would cry unto  al1 eternity if the Lord would not  come
    the  saints  that are stil1 in the world is a  manifestation  of         and if He would not avenge them  publicly,  if  .He  wo$d hide
    their  hatred  of Jesus the Christ, the  holy and true One.              His name of truth and holiness and  justice so that it was
    The holinss and truth of Christ is  trampled   under,foot  when!        never publicly manifest. In a  final day of judgment the
    the world  kills His saints. Moreover, in the present world              righteousness of Chris!, the King of His people and the
    this  hatred  and enmity ppears to be  quite  victorieus. It            Lord of  al1 the world, must be made  very  plain   ; and it must
    seems as if the  enemy  can  kil1 and  persecute  the people of          become  very manifest that He is  holy  and true  indeed. Hence,
    God in Christ Jesus their Lord with  impunity.  As far as the            the  fact  that this fifth seal is opened,  and that the witnesses
    present history  -is concerned. Christ does not avenge the               of Christ that ar  slain cry  out for vengeance,  certainly  im-
    blood of His saints.  Many years and centuries  already have             plies that the  kingdom of  God  wil1 be  completed  by a  final  '
    elapsed, and in these centuries rivers of blood have flowed.             day of  judgment.  He must judge in righteousness. In  that
   And the souls under the  altar have always been crowded  out              day it must become perfectly  plain that the world actually
    of the world. The world  stil1  goes on. And. the  en&nies of            hates Christ Jesus, and that in this  hafred  of Him they
   Christ, trampling under foot His saints, and thereby  also                hated the  Father.  This  hatred  they  also reveal in the slaying
    trampling  under foot  mthe. truth and holiness of  their Lord,' of tlie saints that witness for the Word  -of God and the name
    have  n&r been punished. The saints have never been                      of Christ. Hence, it is because these souls have been  slain
    avenged. This, therefore,  is the essential  meaning-  of  tjlis         that the perfect revelation of the  righteousn&s  of God must
    outcry of the saints under the  altar.  It is the blood of the           br revealed in a day of judgment, so that it  `wil1  become
    saints  that.  cries  out. And it  cries  out with a great  voice.       p:rfectly  manifest to  al1 the world, as  wel1 as to  al1 the church,
If only you  wil1  li.sten closely to the  voile of  al1 history in          that Christ is  holy and true, and that He represents God in
    this new dispensation, you  can  very  plainly  hear this cry'of         His perfect righteousness and justice.
    the souls under the  altar.  There are the  cries, first of all,             What answer do these  souls  under the  altar  receive  to
    of the  apostles,  butchered for the testimony of Jesus which            their outcry?  It, is found in vs.  1.1 of this same  chapter   :
    they proclaimed in the  nlidst of the world. They were                   "And white robes  were given unto  everyqne  of them;  ancl
    butchered relentlessly, but they  were never avenged. And                it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little
    there is  also the blood of  al1 the saints that followed the            season, until  their-  fellow servants  also and their brethren,
    apostles throughout the history of the church.  Many of them             that should be  killed as they were,. should  be  ftilfilled."
    were tortured to death for the sake of  Jesus and the  testi-                The answer, therefore, is two-fold. In the first  place,
    mony which they held. They were butchered for their                      they  receive a white robe, And this white robe is, of course,
    faithful witness of the name of Christ. In  fact,  al1  the              symbolic of their glorified  nature.  A long white robe it is
    saints of the  new. dispenstion as' they have suffered in the           which they  receive. As we have said before, white is first of
    world for the sake of Christ their Lord are represented by               al1 the  symbol of their justification in the blood- of the cross,
    the souls under the  altar.   -Their  blood must be  .revenged.          of the  fact  threfore  that Christ Jesus does not condemn them,
    The holiness  $md truth of their Lord is  at.stake.  And  there-         and that they are justified  i Him. In  the  second  place,
    fore,  al1  bistory  cries as these  SOL&  under  the'  altar do  fgr    these white robes are  also the symbol of  their,holiness.  They


       -.                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            >       131

                         c

        are now perfectly cleansed from sin, and they are  ho!y  before              It$imply   means  that the  time is as yet not ripe for judgment.
             God in Christ.  < They  are perfectly pure, and they  &i? sin           The world has not yet shown its  real  character  in  al1 the
        nevermore. In the third place, white is  also the symbol of                  hatred  of its corruption. And before the world is ripe for
        victory in the battle. Even as the white of the first horse is               that day of judgment, the Lord cannot and  wil1 not  come.
        the symbol of victory of the cause of Christ Jesus, so  also.                We nd this phenomenon  time and again in  Holy  Writ. The
             is the white of these' robes that are  given to the  souls under        prediluvian period lasted  about  sixteen hundred years before
             the  altar symbol of the  fact that they have conquered in              the measure of their iniquity was full. And even  when the
             battle, in the battle of faith. And thus the meaning is perfectly       climax. was  almost reached, the Lord stil1 gave them one
             clear. These saints have  &fYered  for the cause of Christ,             hundred  twenty years in which they might hear the testimony
             They have been put to deth violently. They have been                   of God through  NOah,  so that it might become  fully evident
             butchcred  innocently. They have suff ered crying injustice.            that  the day of  judgment  was a day of righteousness and
             And therefore, here  upon  earth their blood  cries  out for just       justice. The same is true  hof the  histori  of Israel.  That
             revenge  and for the manifestation of the holiness and truth            history shows  US that they had killed the prophets and stoned
             of Christ Jesus. Nevertheless, these saints under  .the  altar          thc  messengers  of  God' that had been sent against  them.
             have  goie  08 to glory. They are perfectly blessed from               And it  seemed as if the Lord would never visit  them  for their
      the  very moment that they  entered  into the  state of glory.                 iniquity. But  the  time was not yet ripe. Not until they had
             And  as~they  entered into the blessed abode, they immediately          revealed their  hatred  to the full, not until they had clearly
             received   th&- white  robes, their perfect and glorified  nature,      shown that they rejected the Son of God, could the day of
             robes of justification and holiness and purity and victory.             judgment  come and Jerusalem be destroyed. These  judg-
             In these white robes they are  blessed forevermore. In the              ments, so the  Bible tells  US, are  hut typical of tke great day
             world they were despised; in heaven they are glorified. In              of the Lord that is to  come. And therefore,  also for that day
             the world they  wi?e treated unjustly and  trampled  under              the  time  mUst be ripe, and the measure of iniquity must  be:
             foot; in heaven they are justified from the  very moment of             filled.  The witnesses of  @rist  also in the future must let
             their entrance. In the world they seenied to be wrong, and              their  testimony go forth. They must  witness  of the Christ.
             the  wqrld  appeared right in persecuting  them; in heaven they         They must witness of the  bloed of His cross. They must
.-           are  immediately  given  the symbols of their justification and         witness  agaitist   al1 that  rises up against Him. And over
             victory.                                                                against this  testimony  the. world must reveal its  hatred  stil1
                In the  second place,  .however, they ar told  &at they             more plainly than  -ready  it  bas done in the past. In the
      must wait just a little while. .Their question in the outcry                   past  al1 these things were  mere local affirs. In the future
             was :  "HOW   long, 0 Lord  ?" And the  answ& is :  "Nt  yet, but      the Christian.world in  general,  so-called,  wil1 rise up  against
             within a short  time."  This little while which the  souls  un&r        the church. In the past the witnesses of Christ were  butcher-
             the  altar  &ust  stil1  wait  may  seem a long  time  from our         ed,  ; but the enemy was not so directly conscious that they
             present point of view.  -CentUries   already have elapsed  s&ce         rose up against the `name of  Jesus Christ. In the future the
             this was  written,  and yet these. souls under the  altar cry           enemy  wil1 do so  fully conscious that it is the hateful  nam~e
             upon  the earth. Stil1 they must wait a little while. We  mtist         of Jesus Christ that is the  great  obstacle to  al1 their  Flans
             remember,  as it is always in the Word of God, that the day             for the world. And thus the world becomes ripe for  judg-
             of the Lord is  always represented as being  very near. It is           ment., There are stil1 a certain number that must be  killed
             the last hour.. And in the  Boek of Revelation we are assured           for the Word of God and for the testimony which they
             by the Lord Himself that  He  wil1  come quickly. Therefore,            hold. And  when they are  killed, then the Lord  wil1  come
             although to  US it  may seem a long  time, the Lord  actu$tlly          and avenge His  holin'ess  tind truth and establish His  kingdom
             comes  very quickly. He  comes as  quickly  as possible. In             forever.
             view of all. the  tremendous   facts that must happen in the            -,  Hence,  we  also  must bear testimony for the name of
             present dispensation before the  time is ripe for the coming            Christ in the  midst of the world. NO, we do not  have to
             of  the Lord and  15s  kingdom, it is  indeed  hut a little while       seek  martyrdom.  We  may.not seek it purposely, just for the
             that the Lord waits. And besides, in view of the  fact  thtit           sake of dying and suffering for Christ. Nevertheless, we
             the souls under the  altar are  already glorified, and that they        must bear  testimony for the Word of God and for the name
             have  received   thei? white robes of justification and holiness        of Jesus as  children  of the  kingd&n.  And if we do,  tic  may
             and victory, they  can  afford to wait.  ?`o  them  the  time cannot    have the hope in our hearts that presently we  receive' the
             seem long, for they have  alredy entered into eternal  glory:.         white robes of justification and holiness and victory. And let
                 However,  this  time that these souls must wait before              US never forget that the enemy  tha,t  persecutes   US  merely
             their blood  shall be avenged in the day of judgment,  publicly,        serves as  an instrument to bring  US to that  state in  which
             is  also further defined, and defined materially.  How long             we shall  enjoy the  glorl  of the  kingdom of Christ  forever-
             must they  wait  ?  The, answer is :  -until their fellowservants       more. The Lord  rules. He opens the seals,  also the fifth.
             and their brethren, that should  be killed even as they were,           And not  a. hair of `your head  shall ever be  touched against
             should have fulfilled their course.  This is plain language.            His will.                                                    H.H.
                                                                                                                                .


       132         \                                          T H E   ST.A.NDARX%ARER                                              - - -
_-.                                                                                                                                                c
                                                                                         already proclaimed in the first days of paradise. That the
                  THE  IJAY OF  s!-lADOWS   \                                            prophets should speak of the burden of the Word is owing
                                                                                         to the  nature  of  its content which is terrible and awful
                                                                                         and dreadful in its weightiness. For it speaks, does this  .\Vord,
                        The Prophecy of  Zechariah                           0           of Jehovah's terrible works that He  wil1 do in righteousness,
                                                                                         of- the redemption  f  Zion with judgment and righteousness,
                                 The  Second  Bu:rden                                    of the passing away of the world and the destruction of the
                                    Chapters 12-14                                       wicked in the  final judgment and of the renewal of  al1 things.
                                                                                         Thus He  wil1 do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of
           Chapter twelve  begins.the second  of the two parts of this                   every one that heareth it  shall  tingle.  He  wil1 make  Jerusa-
prophecy. In it is depicted the position and struggle of                                 le- a cup of trembling and a  burderisome   stoee for  al1 the
       Jerusalem in  the.  midst  f a hostile world that is bent, on                    people. He  wil1  gather   al1 nations against Jerusalem to
       its obliteration. Suffering is foretold for the  holy city  hut                   battle  ; and the city shall be taken, and the house rifled,
       also preservation and  ultimate victory. It is one prophecy                       and the  women ravished. Then He  shall go forth and fight
       seeing that the  theme treated in it is the  same. But this last                  against those nations. And they shall be consumed.  ,And He
       part divides into two sections. In the first section that runs                    shall be king over  al1 the earth  (Zech. 13  :lff).  The  burdei
       to the sixth verse of  chapter thirteen Jerusalem is  described                   of the Word then, of the  predictions of Jehovah; is their
       as besieged on  every hand by its enemies  hut  also as                           weighty, terrible and glorious content. His word is a burden
       preserved and refined as silver through the fire. The second                      because of the  nature  of what it foretells. And the prophets
       section that, runs to the end of the book foretells this  same                    themselves  were bowed down under the weight of  .His word;
       struggle now as  ending in victory  foc Jerusalem.                                laid of Him  upon  their  hearts. Its awful predictions pained
                                                                                         and  distressed  and depressed them. Their souls  were  dis-
                        IsmePs   Co~z~lict   a,nd  Preservation                          quieted in them because of what they were made to see and
                                                                                         hear.  Having  been told the  vision,  Daniel  fainted and was'
                                    C h a p t e r   12:1-9                               sick and for days was unable to do the king's business  (Daniel
           Th  bmrden  of  tke  woyd of  Jehov&  atpon   Iprael,,  mitlz                 8:27).  And the  prophet  Habakkuk was likewise  affected.
       Jehov&  who  stretches fo& the  hes-ens,  a.nd  lays tlze  fomda-                 When  he heard and saw the  vision, his belly trembled and
       tion of  tlze earth,  and   fomvm   the spirit of  man  within  him.              his lips quivered at the  voice. Here  the  burden  is  upon
       2.  Behold,  I  mxke  Jemsalem   ti bowl of trembling  to:  a.11  tiae            Israel.
       peoples   1-omd   .a.bout,   also  `upon   Judalz  shall  it be in  the  siege       Saitla  Jehoaab  - He is the speaker. The  prophet   speaks
       against  Jemsalem.  3.  And  it  shall  be in  that, day,  I  wil1 set            t8o but solely as His organ. And He is Jehovah, the 1 am,
       Jehmle@   a  b~cwdensome  stone  for  a,ll peoples;  al1  wlm  lij<  it           the eternal and unchangeable God,  who keepeth  covenant
  s!mll  teaav  themelvesj   a,nd  al1  natims  o f   tlze  ea:h  sha:ll   b e           trust and is ever faithful to  His promises, the First and the
  gathered   aga,inst  it. 4. In that day,  shith the Lord,  I  wil1                     Last, the  Alpha and the Omega. And therefore He  can  also
  rlutite  evely  ho~sc  witlz  terrojp, a,nd   kis  1-idev  with  ma.dness,             make known unto His people what the future has in store
       a~nd   upon tke  home  of  Judali   I  wil1 open  my  eyes, and  every            for them, and the  reach  of His predictions extends to the end
       horse of  the  people  I  wilt  suite   with  blindness.   5.`And   the           of  time. And His word  wil1 stand. "Thus saith  thk Lord," is
       chefs of  Juda,h   sha.11 say  i,n  tlzeiy  lzearts,  The inhabitants of          followed by a leference to the sustaining  power.of God which
  Jerxmlenz   aTe  my  sti=ength,   i?z  Jehovalz `of  hosts  theifr  God.               is infinite. He is continually stretching forth the heavens and
  6. In  that   da.y I  wil1  ma.ke  the  chiefs of  Jztda.la  as  a. pot of  file       laying the foundations of the earth. So these  clauses  must be
  among  sticks of  -woed,   md as a  tomh of  fhe  in  aS  sheaf,  and                  read seeing that the original text has the participles of the
       they  slaall  devour on  tlac  hght  and   0; tke  left  al1  the  people         verbs. The meaning is that the heavens that He  once  stretched
  round  aboztt,V   axd  Je+auahm   shall  dweil  a.g,ain  i n  bey  0~12 out and the foundations of  the eai-th  once  iaicl  remain in  place
  phc in  Jmsalem.  7. And  Jehovah  slzall  sa.ve  the tents of                       not of  themselves  but only by His power, implying that the
Jlcdalz  first,  tha.t  tlzc  glory  o f   tke  home  o f   D a v i d ;   avtd  the      heavens  and. the earth and the fulness thereof are in His
  glory of the inhabitcrrtts  of J,n-l~salenz,*laay  not cxalt  jtself ovw               hand. And He  farms  the spirit of man that is  within  h&.
  Judah.  8.  In tkat  day  wil1  Jelaotiah  defend  tlze  *inlzabita~~ts  of            Also the spirits of men are in His hand.  They   can think
  Jemstsale~i~,,   a.nd the feeble  among   tjaeutt  in  tht  day  sha,ll  be  as        only as He has  determined  and cannot plot  against Jerusalem
  David, and  the  heuse of David as God,  a.s  the angel of                             except  that He wills.  How securely therefore Jerusalem
  Jelz0va.h  befo+e  thelm 9. And it  slmll bc  ,i,la  ha%  $ay,  I  wil1                dwells, and  how  capable He is to bring to pass  al1 that He
  seek  to destroy  al1 the nations  tht  com,e   aga.inst   Jemsalem.                   pr6mises.
           1. The expression  "burden  of the word of  `the. Lord" or                       2. This verse begins what Jehovah says. That it forms
  nsually   simply  "buraen"  is found only  .in the discourses of the                   the content of the burden of the  word.upon  Israel  ancl Judah
  later prophets. Denoted are  tlie predictions of Jehovah `in.                          means  that it is a word, a  message, spoken to Israel, the
  their totality the one Word  of- God, the Gospel of Christ                             Jewish  kation of our prophet's day.  .B`t  it is a  %ospel  also


                                                      T H - E   ,STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                       133

       for the church of this  -day. For Israel was the church and             ing  out of heaven from God (Rev. 21  :lO). And the form
     , the church is one.  n  the  conception  of the Chiliast  :Israel       of  -the city was now heavenly.
       and the  church  are separated.  Th; church is limited to  the              Surely, Jerusalem is now above.  But the chiliast  wil1
        Gentiles and Israel to the Jews. The-promises to Abraham,              not have it so. Not only that he insists that the great city is
       to Israel, to  Zion,  pert&n  therefore only to the Jews, so that       stil1  tin earth, but he  also identifies it with the earthly Jeru-
       to illustrate in  deciaring,  "Rejoice greatly, 0 daughter of           salem, thus with the shadow, the  typica! form in which the
       Zion , . . thy king cometh unto thee: he is just  having                great city was temporarily seen. And mistaking the shadow
     salvation"  (9  :9), Zechariah is speaking  only to Jews and              for the reality,  the form for the essence, he insists that the
       not  also to the church, to the Gentile elect.  How  tragic this        shadow, the form, the earthy Jerusalem and the earthy,  Is-
       would  belwere  it true. It is true that in the old dispensation        raelitish  kingdom of  which  it was the capita1 and which  there-
       the`church was gathered from one  peo%le  only and  that people         fore was  also shadow, form, is going to be restored  accord-
       the Jews. Hence in that day God's people were only                      ing to  al1 God's promises to Israel, that is, to the Jews  -
       Jews and the church was limited to Canaan. But  when the                promises  contained in the Old Testament Scriptures- and
     day of Pentecost was  fully  come  and- the glorified Christ              that this is to be an accomplishment of Christ which  wil1
       poured  of- His  -Spirit  upon all' flesh and the blessings of          consist in His establishing Himself as king  -of the Jews in
       Abraham  thuS  came  also to the Gentiles, the church began to          the earthy Jerusalem.  Such is the  view. The  basic error here
       be gathered from  al1 nations and today she is spread over the          is the failure to  distinguish, differentiate between form and
       whole eai-th.  .Y                                                       essence,  shadow  and body.
                                                                                  In the  vision of John, Jerusalem, the church, descends
           Jehovalf  zoill   set  Jemmlew~.   Jerusalem- is the city of the
       living God, the God and  Father of Christ. Here God. dwells             out of heaven  glorieus  as to her appearance. And its glory
       with His people and satisfies  .them  ,with His  likeness. Here         was the effulgence of inward spiritual beauty. But  this was
       His people see Him as He is in the face of Christ,  walk and            prophecy. Though now above, the city is not yet in glory.
       talk with the Lord and taste that  He is  gracieus. This is             ilnd the same is true of the church, for Jerusalem is the
       Jerusalem as to its essence. It is  plain  that Jerusalem, too,         church. Jerusalem, the church, (in  glory) and the  kingdom
       is the church. In the old dispensation Jerusalem was  rep-              of heaven .(in glory)  though nearly the  Same must be  dis-
       resented by an earthy  cify by this name. In this Jerusalem             finguished. Jerusalem is the body of the elect. The  -king-
       was found an  earthy throne occupied  by earthy  kings                  dom is the redeemed  cosmos and the fulness thereof. And
       In this Jerusalem was found further an earthg temple                    of this  kingdom Jerusalem is  head and fountain of life.
       over which had been set earthy priests serving  earihy `altars          For here is the  thr&e of God and of the Lamb  "from which
       with earthy  sacrifices. This  J"erGsalem  was not the true but         proceeds the river of life. This is what John was given to
       only the shadow of the true. It ws the form in which the               sec. concerning Jerusalem and the  kingdom of glory on the
       true Jerusalem, city of God, was temporarily seen and by                new earth.
       which the faith of the saints for a  time  `received expression.           lB.ut though Jerusalem  -bas not yet been  -clothed with life
       Hence,  when Christ, Jerusalem's  king, had done  atoning the           in glory, the  holy city is nevertheless above and not on this
       sins of His people,  ihe  holy city shed this form like a  garment      earth as was the case in the Old Testament dispensation.
       through its being  exalted with her King and Saviour into               That Jerusalem was the capita1 of Israel as a  nation. And
       the highest heavens. And nothing was  changed  but the  forni.          there were  many other nations round about. To  mention
       The old form, the  earthy Jerusalem with its earthy  institu-           just a few of them, there was Moab, Ammon,  Egypt,  Phi-
       tions and ceremonies was but shadow, and this according to              listia, Syria, Assyria, Media,  Persia  and Greece, etc. And
                                                                               al1 without exception  were bitterly hostile  towqrd  Jerusalem,
       the plain teachings of the Scriptures. Being but a shadow,
       it necessarily had to vanish away  when the body, the reality           and in turn made  war against the  holy city through the  ce.u-
                                                                               turies, their common purpose being to destroy the city tliat it
       foreshadowed,  came. And centrally  th& body is Christ.                 might no more be in remembrance. They defiled the temple
           Jerusale~i then, is now. above. Sanctuary, priest,  altar           and laid Jerusalem in waste. And the enmity here was spirit-
       and  sacrifice are now above. King and citizens are now above..         ual. The nations were in darkness and the  devil was their
       "Ye are  Come," one  may  read in the Hebrews (12  :22ff)  ,            prince. And Jerusalem was the city of the living God.  gere at
       "unto mount Sion, and unto  th& city. of' the living God, the           the  time was found the throne of God and of the Lamb. And
       heavenly  Jerusalem,  ?nd to an  innumerable  company  of angels,       therefore Jerusalem was to the nations a  btirdensome  stone
,      to the genera1 assembly and  cl!urch of the firstborn,  which           that they wanted removed,  put  out  of the way forever.  .And
       are  written  in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the        iti this  -new dispensation of the world it is not  any different
       spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the  Mediator            certainly. As ever Jerusalem is the burdensome stone that
       of the new  covenant,  and  to th blood of  sprinkling,  that          must be put  out of the way.
       speaketh  better things than that of Abel."           A n d   having       From the  beginning of our Christian era  up  to the present
       carried  John away in the spirit to a great  high  mountain,            time the Jews as a people have always been  -ore or less
       God shewed  him that great city, the  holy Jerusalem,  descend-         hated and periodically persecuted by the nations  of the  world


 134                                            T H E   STA-NDARD,$EhRER                                                                                   -
 among  whom they are dispersed.  How- shameful!  Only                     sumed. But the draught results in their undoing. They are
 recently  Hitler before  bis  fa11  .was engaged in exterminating         confused  and astonished and  do foolishly.
 the  Jws in Germany !  How terrible! Even so this enmity                     And  also  upon  Judah shall it be  iti the siege of the  na-
 toward the Jews as a people must not be identified with the               tions against Jerusalem. The pronoun  it looks back to the
 enmity of the nations of old against the earthy Jerusalem                 Ozcyden  of  the  zvord  of verse 1. It  wil1 be  also  upon Judah,
 of  :the old dispensation:  .The  latter  was spiritual. It was the       so. that  JudaK as  wel1 as `Israel  wil1 be  ~set of the Lord a cup
 realization in that day of the  Word  of God which He spake               of trembling to  al1 the peoples round about. This is the
 in the first days  f  ParadGe, "1  wil1 set enmity." The nations         meaning  and not, as  some say, that Jerusalem  wil1 become a
 made  war against Jerusalem for the sake of Jehovah's name.               cup of trembling to `Judah as  wel1 as to the other nations,
 But Hitler surely did not  persecute. the Jews in his realm.              which would imply that Judah would make common  cause
 for Christ's  sake. For the Jews as a people  .do not believe with the nationa  aiai& Jerusalem.
 in Christ but despise Him. Some of them  may  honor Him as                    3. Not alone that the Lord  wil1 set Jerusalem and Judah
 a- teacher, but as the Lamb of God that bor away the sin  - a  cup  of trembling to  al1 the peoples round about but  also
 of the world, He is an offence to  every orthodox  Jew and                a burdensome stone, so  that  al1 the nations  who lift it shall
 foolishness to  every modernist  Jew. And for this same reason            tear themselves.  According-  to  some the  .stone is rough, so
 the Zionist  movement   cif  our day, the emigration of Jews to           that  al1  nations  tear themselves on the stone. But it is stated
 the modern Jerusalem,  cannot  be  .the fulfilment of  lthe               that the stone is burdensome, heavy and not that it is rough.
 promises of God to  .the Israel of old. And the recently                  This plainly suggests the thought that the figure is meant to
 established Israeli  kingdom with headquarters in Jerusalem               convey.  The stone is one of  such weight that in  jifting it the
 is not a restoration of the  Davibic   kingdom of  antient  Pales-        people  wil1 rpture themselves, or, dropping the figure,  any
 ti&. Is this modern Jerusalem the city of the living God ?                attack  upon  Jerusalem  wil1 -prove the undoing of  al1 those
Is the  throne of God and of the Lamb found there? Surely                  who  attempt  i t .   And  al1  the  ntitions   o f   the  earth  shll  b e
 not. But this -is not saying that God does not have.  His                 gathel-ed   agakt   ,it.  Gathered they shall be against the stone
 people  also among the  Jews.                                             or Jerusalem.
        If Jerusalem is nqw above, . it  can  also be rightfully said          So does the Lord comfort His people, `Jerusalem, the
 that  the  holy city is on this earth.because of the presence of.         chu&. This comfort is fqurfold.  _
 so  many: of its citizens on this earth. These citizens are the              First, the church is invincible. She  may become  exceeding-
 church militant. Their conversation is in heaven, they  con-              ly  smal' as was the  case- at the  time of the Deluge  when
 fess the name of Jerusalem's  I&ng,  coidemn  the world by                her number was reduced to the eight souls that entered the
 their witness, and say that they seek a heavenly city. It is             Ark, but she cannot be  overcome,  obliterated. There  wil1
 not as nations that the world now is  making  war against the             always be the true church on this earth as long as the world
 church. This is not possible  seeing  that the church is now              endures. Not is the  c`hurch  overcome  of the world, but the
 so,wn among  al1 the nations and dwells in their  very midst.             world is  overcome  of the church. For the victory is hers in
 But the enmity is not less  real, the.opposition less determined, Christ.
 and the  hatred  less bitter on this account. As united in the                Second  the individual saint cannot be  ovefcome.  His
 truth under a teaching and ruling ministry faithful to  its               outward man  may perish even as destroyed by the world,
 calling, the church is just as conspicuous and unwanted of               but his faith abides. It cannot  cease, because Christ prays
 the world as she ever could have been as  the. body of  inhabi-          for  him.
 tants of the Jerusalem of old.                                                Third, the more the world assails the church, the  mo;e it
  Though the  sim of the world is always to destroy the is  destroyed   anc! the more foolish it becomes.
 church, the methods employed vary. Now the world resorts                      Fourth, it is Jehovah  who sets Jerusalem a  cup of  tremb-
 to violenfe and  threats of  violente. Then it  comes with fair          ling and a heavystone to  al1 the nations. And His purpose
 promises of worldly gin. Satan  offered  Christ  al1 his  king-         in  doing  so  wil1  b e   a c h i e v e d .   F o r   H e   i s   J e h o v a h   who
 doms, if only He would  kneel down and worship him. Now                  stretches forth tlie heavens, lays the foundations of the earth,
 the world is the  roaring  lion, then it  wil1 assume the  appear-       and forms the spirit of man  within him. In the way of its
 ante of a lamb. Always the purpose is to separate from                   persecuting the church, the world therefore shall pass away,
 Christ, which, were it  posiible,  would be the ruin of the that the kingdqm of Christ  may  come and as coming appear
 church.                                                                 with Christ in glory at His coming.
    yhe  LOrd  comes to His oppressed churcli  with promises.                                                                                        G.M.O.
 FirSt He  wil1 set the church a cup  .of trembling to  al1 th
 peoples round about. The figure is that of a man  who brings
 to his lips a cup that he believes to contain a pleasant                                      SUBSCRIBERS NQTICE
 potion.  But  when he has  consumed  the draught, he  rels and              Beginning January 1958 a charge of $5.00 per year  wil1
 trembles. The cup is the church. Eagerly the adversaries                 be made  tq, meet the increased  tost of publishing  Tlze   Stand-
 grasp her and she is killed of them  al1 the day long,  con-             ard  Bearer.


                                                         THE.  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     1 3 5
                                                                                                                                                      -
                                                                                   thki?--wn  weight, since  Petec was  very  much marriecl.  `The
                  FROM  HOhY  WRIl-  -.                                            same must be said of  any Judaizing party. Those,  who  con-
                                                                             11    neet this tendncy with the Jesus' party, insisting that this
                                                                                   party appealed to the  fact that Jesus was never  meried, rest
                      Expositioa of 1 Corinthians 7                                sucg feaching  upon  a -pure hypothesis, which is  nowhe.?e
                                                                                   borne  out in  ,this. chapter. Thus Ewald. There are  also
                                           1.
            .                                                                      those,  who would connect  this matter with the Pauline party.
                                                                                   However,  the  mere  fact that Paul  was. not  married  would
                                    (1 Corinthians 7)                              be  insufficint  reason for  such a contention. Besides, Paul
.           For  son!e  time in  thk past the  undersgned  has been more          himself is not ashamed to wish that  .all men were like he
       or less occupied with a  study, of  -and reflection  upon  the              is,  having the  gift of  abstinente.  Surely Paul would not
       meaning of the question of marriage,  abstitience  from the                 place  woed,  upon   such a fire of  contention.  Thus Meyer,
       marriage tie, the unbelieving party in the marriage tie in                  Storr and  many,  many  ethers.
       the church which had been `called  out of heathendom and                        We believe that the matter was not  simply a matter of                '
       idol worship, and  the relative betterment of  one's lot and                contetition.  It was a  questiqn  of conscience for  -these  early
       position -in the  world,  by not entering into the  tiarriage               believers. They had just been "called" from  darkness into
       state.                                                                      God's marvelous light.  They  hated sin.  Thei-e  was  much
                                                                                   confusion. And  ihere had even been laxity of discipline in
            Upon  al1 these matters the  apostle  to the  Genfiles`?eflects        the matter of a man living with his father's wife, that is,
       here in 1 Corinthians 7.                                                    with his step-mother. It was a sin which was not -even con-
            Paul really treats of certain questions which were  directed           doned amongst the  heathen.  1 Cor. 5, which see. And now
      to him by the members or leaders of the church in  Corinth.                  in their anxiety about the mora1 question of fornication and
       Paul had  ,received  other questions. We have  discussed   rather           adultery  al1 kinds of questions reflecting a tendency toward
       at length the question of the "spiritual  gift? in the church, a  false  `celibacy were  being rased. It  touched  the. entire
       during the past months,, in a  .series of articles in  The  Stand-          field of  matrimony.  Paul treats  al1 these  aspects of  - the
       ard B ea,rer. Among the questions of the spiritual gifts were               matter seriatim. And he does not treat these  matters
       also  such questions as  `the proper conduct of  .women in the              in the abstract but  rather treats them as the questions
       church  serv'ices,  even up to the  marmer  of wearing their`hair.          to him which must have either suggested or stated the actual
           `Evidently the question of marriage was organically con-                spiritual.  problems  of  the congregation.
       nected with  certain patterns and conduct  amongst  heathen-                    These questions are treated by Paul under the here  fol-
       clom  in  regard  to sex and marriage,, and was possibly rooted             lowing headings. In  the  verses 1-7 Paul gives the proper ,
       in the  wea,k   consciemes  of the saints. They evidently did not           point  of  dcpwtwe  to this entire question  -from a mora1 and
       fully understand  how they could fight with a free and  goed"               spiritual point of view. He  draws the line here in  such  a
       &nscience  against  sin in the marriage tie, as  wel1  as-outside  of       way that  cejibacy is neither outlawed nor is it  evaluated  .in
       the` bond of' matrimony. This too is  in area of life that  can             such a way as to  come into  conflict with the first institution
       and must be sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.                       of God, the institution of marriage, Gen. 2  :24. Celibacy is
        1 Tim.  4:1-6. But in the  weak consciences of these  Corin-               simply given  &s  relatizwly   rightful  place!  Nothing more. In
       thian saints this was not yet thus established. Hence, there                the  verses   8 and  9. Paul applies this  principle  of the  relative
       was a leaning towards an over-evaluation of the mora1 value                 mwit  and  a.dvantaye   of celibacy to the unmarried and to the
        of  a life of celibacy !                                                   widows. It is a  very relative question, for here one chooses
            (Celibacy is a  neun which  ,is derived th.e  Latin term               between what is  "goed" and  "better"  and not between what
        ca.elebs.   A caelebs was an unmarried  person,  he was  eithei-           is good or  evil.  Such is the point of departure of Paul.                _
       unmarried becaus he had never married, a bchelor, or                          From here on he  can  discuss the matter of the "married,"
       because he was a  widower)  .                                               these'  who have entered the married  state. Certainly  the
            There have been various attempts made to  associate  this              relative value of celibacy  `could never be a basis for leaving.
       `tendency toward  an over-evaluation of celibacy with one of                the marriage  state,  the  .original institution in which the bond
        the  various parties in the church at Corinth, to wit, the                 is inviolable before the face of God. The relative value of
     Pauline, Apollos, Petrine and the Jesus' parties.  Each of                    celibacy is no  licerce for  breaking what God has joined to-
        these  explnations,  -however, rests more or less on a  hypo-             gether`!  For the Lord Jesus Himself hs given a  command-
        thetical supposition, which is  hardly warranted either by the ment that the marriage tie be not adulterated by a wife  leav-
        direct teaching of Paul in this  chapter,  or by the manner                ing her husband, nor by a-husband putting his wife  awayl
        of the argumentation of Paul, or by the genera1 thrust of the               Sec the  verses 10, ll.
        positive  instruction here given.                                              The  .next  aspect,  belationship  of the marriage tie is now
            Thus, for  example,  those,  who would link this  tenden&               picked up.  Paul  speaks here "concerning the rest," that is,
        with the Peter party, certainly have arguments that  fa11  by               coticerning  those  who are in the  marriage-tie.but   who, due


  136                                           T H E   STA~NDARD   ,.BE-ARER                                                 .
   -              -...-

 to being called by  the  efficacious  calling  .of God through the       must seek to be  loosed from her,  clue to these pressing
  Word and Spirit, are now believers, while their wife or  hus-           circumstances.  To be  married  is no sin, neither is it a sin
  band has  nat so been called. Thus we have  it in the  verses           nat to be  married.  Paul is not here speaking of good and
   12-24. This has been called a matter of "mixed marriages."             evil,  hut is  rathei  sbeakiig of what is good and  better  under
  We believe incorrectly so. This is  hot a matter as in the              certain  circumstances.       One should  -always  remember,   ac-
  days of  Nehemiah  .(See Ezra 9 and 10)  where  the believing           cording to Paul, that the entire era of marrying and giving
  Israel must put away their  heathen  wives and children  be-            in  marriage  passes away. Marriage, earthly possession,  al1
 gotten by  them, for this is the day  when  the  "heathen"  have         belang  to the  scheme of this present Cosmos. Wherefore we
  cntered  the  kingdom.  It was a case of  &  Gentil& husband or         ought to be  married  as not  having a wife, those  weeping  as
  wife  b:coming  a believer,  while the wife or husband  remained        not  weeping, rejoicing as those not  rejoicingi buying as not
  steeped in  heathendom and the worship of idols according to            possessing, and using the things of this life as not abusing
the  heathen   trdition. Hence, to denominate this question              them !
  here as the "problem of mixed marriages" is erroneous, as                   One must continually see that  al1 the earthly is but a
  erroneous as it seems plausible. Hence, this cannot either              means  for  US to attain unto the heavenly.
  be  placed on the leve1 with a  christian young man,  who  after            Wherefore marriage is not an aim in  itself. It is a  means
  he  kno&s the ways of the Lord,  goes and seeks an  unbe-               to an end.. nd the silly songs of the world about "happiness
  lieving wife. In the case in point, it was not the doing of             ever afterwards" is contrary to life. They that  wil1 marry
  the husband or wife that she was in marriage with one,  who             shall have affliction  - more than they  who do not.
  -waS  nof, or possibly  not  yet(  !) in the Lord. It was due to            She that  marries  is interested in the things  f the  hus-
  the free and sovereign dispensation of the Lord,  who works             band. She that marries not. is interested in the affairs of
  al1 things according to the counsel of His will,  catling His           the Lord.  Such  is life.
  own by name  when nd if He will!                                           However,  Paul  emphasizes  overagainst  al1 false  asceti-
         Th.e  verses 17 through 24 have been interpreted as being        cism and celibacy, that he  who  marries  sins not.  However?
  a little discursion from the matter of the marriage of a  be-           from a practica1 point of  viei there are  times  when he,
  liever with an unbeliever nor  net-yet believer, a going into           who. marri'es, does  "well," while he,  who marries  nat, does
  generalities.  However,  we  are' convinced that Paul is here           "b&ter"         !
  developing the  gencru.  prZnc@es of the  Kingdom of heaven                 Such is in genera1 the  thrust of this'rather misunderstood
  being as a  lcazrcn' in the  meal ; the  kingdom of heaven does         passage  in the first Epistle of Corinthians.
  not necessarily replace the old relationships. Its immediate                We  plan to look at these  matiers  a bit more in detail.
  effect is that it sanctifies these relationships through the                We solicit especially the attention of our  covenant  youth
 a unction of the  Holy Spiiit in the hearts of believers.  Where-        to these articles of  ours. There is no need of a "Dorothy Dix"
  fore a relationship between the unbeliever and  tbe believer            column in our  homes to give direction to our thoughts. Nor
  is sanctified by the virtue of the beiiever, and the children           do we need a  "How  to Get the Most  out of Life" to  teach  US
  are  "holy"`for  the believer's sake. Standing in the old  rela-        the way of life.  WhatO we need is solid  instruction  in the
  tionships in which we were  "when  c?lled" says Paul sanctify           principles  of the  kingdom of heaven in the marriage  relation-
  al1 these relationships. That is the  "freebom'? with which we          ship,  either  before or  after we enter the marriage  state,  or
  are called and which allows for not sinful licence. Hence, the          whether  the Lord  wills  US to go through life in celibacy.
  verses 17-24 are not an appendage, but an  argumentation  for              We  know that the  whole  duty of man is summed up in
  the  fact that  .a believer is not to leave his or her unbelieving      the last words of Ecclesiastes 12, which are: Fear God, and
  husband or wife, but  rather to sanctify the relationship as far        keep his  commandments  : for  this is the  whole  duty of  man.
  as is possible, and always in the ardent hope of being a  means            With that injunction as a  beacon  light before our eyes,
  in God's hand to  "save"  the unbelieving husband or wife.              we shall  pursue our studies of this Seventh  Chapter of 1
  This  principle   that  grace  sanctifies the natura1 .relationships    Corinthians.                                                    G.L.
  at hand, is  also applied'by Paul to other  commandments.  of
  property, etc. It is expanded to the entire  "fashionf' of this                                E D I T O R I A L S
  world,  which passes away.                                                                   (Continued  froti page 128)
         Finally, in the  yerses. 25 through 40 Paul is speaking of       heresy that Adam in the  state of righteousness did not have
  the  proper  course of  action  of a'  father  in. relation  fo an      the freedom not to  sin  ?
  eligible daughter for  marriage,   who is a virgin. Paul points            .In  the above pragraph 1 positively  state that Adam had
  out the disadvantages of those  who marry,  .yet insists that           the freedom to know and serve  and  consecrate himself  toshis
  marriage  is justifiable, providing  it be  d0ne in  the'lord,  that    God  with  al1 his  h.eart and mind and  soul  and strength.
  is,  accouding  to  His  ordinances laid down in His  holy Word.           The  freedom   only to sin is the freedom of the natura1 man,
  Paul insists that, due  to certain circumstances of a  pressing         not of Adam in the  state of righteousness. Please, Daane,
  nature, it might be better for a man not to  marry.      However,       admit that  ysu knew not what you were  talking about.
  this does not  mean that if a man  is bound  to a  woman  he            More about this next'time, D.V.                             H.H.


                                                                                      i- <

                                                          T H E   STAN.DARD   BEARER   _                                     -                                    137

ll                                                                                  they have little  or  no-  moral,  intllectual, spiritual content.
                I N   Hli  F E A R                                                  In the case of the movie this is different.  It influences the
                                                                                    mind and `the heart and gives content to our thoughts and
                                                                                    desires. It  deprcts the life of the  w&ld  ; it speaks the  lan-
                     -Spiri+cdly Sensitive                                          guage of the world  ; it instills into the  minds and hearts of
                                                                                    its  p'atrons the philosophy of  the.-world.  In the movie the
                                     (3)                                            -world   reveals  itself, its heart and soul, its inner aspirations
      "Any  Christian, truly sensitive to evil as the body is                       and ideals,  its,  attitd  toward  al1  things, good  and evil. `In                '
sensitive to  pain, should and  wil1 readily see, that the  -com-                   the movie the world pictures life itself, life as the world lives
mercialized  `movie is a tremendous  influence  for evil, for                       and desires to live it. Here, therefore, the world manifest;
social,  moral;   intellectuai,  and spiritual corruption."                         itself with relation to God,  t His  Church,  to the Name of
                                                                                    the Lord, to heaven'and hell, to  marriage,  to the goods of the
      That statement reads  as thugh it had been  written  under                   world  &  weg as to  many sins,  such as idolatry, profanity,
our title above,  Spi&ia~lly  Sensiti~e,  and for this  department.                 sabbath desecration, divorce, murder, theft, immorality, and
      It was  taken;however,  from  th pamphlet  Th.g  Movie,                      many othrs.  This mora1 intellectual, spiritual  character  of
written`  by the Rev. R.  Veldman and  .to which we referred                        the  tiovie  makes it  al1 the more- dangerous.  i.
last  time. We like to quote just a little from this pamphlet
at this  time. And we  stil1 urge you, whether. you have a                                    f`This element, it should be clearly'understood, points to
television  set or not, to  pr&re  a copy,  read  if yourself and                   the heart .of the movie question. Some people seem to-  lay  al1
                                                                                                                                                                  ,'
give it to your  childfen  to  read. What  we quote now is but                      stress on  ~the element of  place:  The movies  are- wrong`  be-
such a little part of the  whole excellent. treatment of this  im-                  `causa-  they are  shown  -in worldly  places  -arid becase they
portant-subject.                     -                     -            -  =        bring-  US  .in  @mpany  of worldly people.. The  objection is
                                                                                    removed if  only the `picture is  shown in  Ea$ `High and
      The Rev.  Veldman  begins with these  wirdi, "It is not                       sponsored by the Christian ex-service  men's.club  . . . . . It is
con$imentary  to  -the church of God' at  .large or to our  Re-                     the movi  sitself   that stands condemned,  wh&-ever  it is shown,
`formed young people in particular, that sermons must be                            and unless we see this plainly  -we  shall never be able to offer
preached, speeches  fnust be given and pamphlets must be                            this evil reasonable opposition. For that  reason- the movies
written  on a thing so  obviously   evil'as our present day  movies.                sponsored by the Christian ex-service men's club stand con-
Nevertheless, it has become  necessary,  and no one  wil1  gain-                    d e m n e d   a l o n g   witb  t h e   r e s t   .   .   ."  _          _
say, that  also in our  Reformed  circles the  question  of the                                                                                        .)
movies has become a timely one . . . The movie evil  bas                                      Indeed, the  place does not make the movie  evil:'  Oti the
become  mre and more prevalent,  also in  Reformed  circles.                       qther hand, neither does the-place make it good. That it is
The thing has  assuli?ed  epidemie proportions."                                    shown in the living room  of confessing members in the
      We are not- able to  state in what year these words were                      church of  Christ?  does  nat take its evil away. The  movie
written. The cover of the pamphlet informs                                          does not  become  goed  because it enters the`home of members
                                                                     US that the
pamphlet had been  reprinted   teti years ago, December 1947.                       in the church of Christ. Iristead the members in that church
Since that  time the  -atter has  come  so  much  closer  with th                  of Christ,  who allow  it. to enter  into' their  homes, are  cor-
key  to the movie in the living room in  t&e form of  the-televi-                   rupted by this inherently evil thing. Make no  mistake about
si& screen. And  that is true  also of  -Reformed  circles.  And                    that. God is  &t mocked. As the Rev.  Veldman  writes  a-
it is not  complimentary  to the slightest  degree.that  now, ten                   coup16  of paragraphs later,  "Who in  al1  ihese United States,
years  after this reprint, we have gone so far that `these  lines,~                 is  known like the  actor$ and  actresses  of -Hollywood  ? What
must be  written  about going to the movie  in  the.living  room                    congressman,  or preacher, or business man or sports  hero,
of a Reformed family. So far have we slipped and gone                               for  that matter,  can rival a Bob  Hope,  or  Ciark  Gable, or
along with  the world that today  father  and  mother  sit down                     Dorothy Lamour, or Hedy  Lamar in  pipularity ? Their
with  their children before the idols and heroes of Hollywood.                      pictures are  recogliized  at  once, whether in the newspapers,
                                                                                    on a magazine cover or on billboards. Their  .every  &ove is
 Lest the  erroneous  argument be raised that these films                           s%died,  admired,  - and  copied.  America  knows precisely
which  are.  shown on  the television programs are not the                          how they look, dress, talk,  walk, act,  eat,,  make love, and  rol1
fil-s .shown in the theaters, let  US quote a little more from                      their eyes.  Consequ&ly, the movies today determine  much
t h i s   p a m p h l e t   f  R e v .   Veldman.   .          _                   of  life-.  `They  teach the songs  America   sings; papularize the
      "Let  US note, before we enter into  greater.d&ail,  that the                 slang  America  uses ; sets the standards for conversation,
movie question is one of a  moral,  intellectual, spiritual  natui-e                morals,  dress,  making up of th  h$r, love-making, etc.'  "
entirely. In this the movie  differs radically from  any  of'the                    This.last quotation is taken from  What is  W<rongm   With The
Wel&known   Sports.  such as baseball,  football,  basketball,                      A40zri~s  written   by. John  5..Rite,  D.D., pastor, at that  time;
hockey, bowling,  billiards,  etc.  Any one of  these   may bring                   of the  Fun&mentalist Baptist Church at, Dallas? Texas,
US  ipto  very objectionable  environments.  As  such,  however,                    whom  the Rev.  Veldman  quotes,
                                                   _.


       13s                                             T H E   S T A ' N D A R D   -F-EARER
                                           l                                        I
           That is,  indeed, a matter for  US to  ponder seriously in the        shown  on the map of the land in which we live, gives  US  a
       full  undel-standing  that God cannotbe mocked. Our  neigh-               far bettr picture of  weather  conditions and what we  might
       bours we  can deceive. Our church boards and pastors  can                 expect  on our trip  than .a word picture. Educational it is
       be  kept in  ignorante   ; and to  them we  can lie. But God sees         to see the coronation of a queen, the inauguratiori of a
       and  knows; and what we do in  secret   wil1 soon be made                 president, the method of politica1  conventiols  that  nominates
       known in  .public as we and our children show by our  speech,             men for president and vice-president of the land and  -such
"      dress, songs,  likes and dislikes that  ihe influenc of the world        events of our daily life.
       has a  firm hold  upor   US. Children,  who show  such "difficulty"
       in learning a few  names from Scriptures and a few facts'from                     But from the titles and advertisements of  many of the
       the  ,Scriptures  have. a way of showing a  very detailed,  com-          television programs it  is- evident that there is  sq  very  much
       prehensive and deeply  impressed   ,knowledge  of these heroes            that  &e,  who is spiritually sensitive,  wil1 not allow to  defile
       of theworld, their lives, their sensual songs. And not seldom             his mind and that of his family by letting it shine into his
       is. it that their  .parents  wil1 protest that  Johrmy  and Mary          home. It is not simply these old movies that are  .re-run.  It
       cannot learn this  1,ong Bible verse or  tbis song of  Zion while         is not  simply the  movies  nade purposely for the television
       the repeated and steady contact with the- world through                   audience..  It s so  much of the entertainment of the world
       these television  :sets  - and of course  also radio and corrupt          that is televised  `tl~at  we must avoid and from which we
       magazines  - has for its fruit a veritable flood of filthy,  sug-         must keep our children. And if we are`spiritually  sensitive
       gestive, sensual songs and a  rich knowledge of the world and             we will. Otherwise we are  .going to become  furieus  even at
     . the  luit therein. These  things~  they learn with little, difficulty.    these. lines.  writtep  against this grat corruptiori. Are you
       And their application to  them not infrequently is the reason. spiritually sensitive enough to  fee1 the rebuke in these lines,
       \yhy they have no  time or "ability" to learn the things that             if you have been  goieg to Hllywood per television ?
       count. We say  again,  God is not mocked. He declares  Him-                       Do you `agree with these lines from the Rev. Veldman's
       self, "Train  up a  .child `in the way he should go  ; and  When          pamphlet ?, "Al1   their mighty influence,  however,  is for  ev2.
       he is old,  he  will-not  depart  from it." What training are we          Wherever the movies advertise themselves, they prove this
       giving our children in the home  ?  When  they  are old from              beyond  the semblance of a doubt. Sin is the one  them.e  every
       what  w+  wil1 they not  depart?                                          movie ad glorifies. The movie is indubitably the greatest  in-
              And lest the argument be raised, again, that the films             dividual agency for evil today. Dr.  Rite speaks the truth
       shown on  tel&on  today are not the same movies that are                  when he  says,  `It is a  feeder  of sinful lust,  a, perverter of
     shown in the theatres and are advertised in the newspapers,                 morals,  a school of crime, a betrayer of innocence.' Those
       let it be understood and not be denied that they are made                 who  stil1 are blissfully innocent  when they begin attending
       by the same wicked world for the same evil purposes. What                 movies are soon made wise to  al1 the ways of an ungodly
       is more, is not the  fact that  al1 the old movies of yesteryear          world. `Impurity is glorified as love  ;  murder as entertain-
       are being used on the television  .programs  today the subject            ment  ;  nakedne.ss  and indecency as  be+uty  ; -drink, divorce,
       of  many a  joke  that is made today ?  And, as we wrote some             revelling, and  gambling as  proper  and legitimate.' The  result
       time ago, today you have parents viewing on  thei? television             is' inevitable.  They. ruin  al1 that is sacred.  They   debauch  the
     -  screens  the same movies for which they would have severely minds of children and  $outh. They inflame the  lusts of  mere
       punished  their children had they gone to see them in the                 childrn as  wel1 as adolescent youth.  Thy  educate  and
       theatre.   Where has  oui- spiritual sensitivity gone?  `And we           harden in  every sinful way. They  mock with God and His
       may be sure tht the  novies of today  wil1 eventually find              church,  wit11 angels and devils,  with heaven and  -heil; and
       their appearance on  the'teleirision  screen. But even then,  ,all        do so plainly in  al1 the profanity they  utter."
       these things which the  Re?.  Veldman wrote about the  moral,
       intellectual, spiritual influence  th$ the  movies has on man                     That same thing  can be said of the plays and of most of
       is true  also of  th& greater share of what is televised today.           the  programs  that are televised today,  can it not? Is that
              T&e  set as  such we cannot and  wil1 not condemn, of course.      not true  also of the children's programs  that are televised ?
       Nor  wil1 we dare to say that  having  such a set in  itself brands       Are they not through these programs  taught the  morals (or
       you as  nat  having the fear of the Lord in your heart. `But              lack of  them  j  in the word.  Let~uS be  honest now, the  g+enter
       we  wil1  make bold to say, that if you are. not spiritually              ska.re   of what is available on the  televisioti  screen is exactly
       sensitive enough to keep the world away frpm you and your                 as the  Rev.  Veldman describes  if bove, is it not?
       children,  yoi  hd better get rid of  that set as fast as you  can.              Your answer  wil1  depend  on hw  spiritually sensitive you
              What the eye sees while  .the ear hears does  malie a far          are.
       greatef   impres+on   upon   man. And we certairily gain a far  -                 Your behaviour,  wh@, you  wil1  seek on  your set,  `wil1
       ci:arer  and correct picture of the  euents of the day  when  they        reveal whether you  desire to live in His fear.
       are shown, at the scene-of the-action, on the television screen.
      -There   can be no doubt about that either. A weather report,                                                                           J.6.H.


                    .





                                                    TtiE     STRNDARIJ              BEAREX.                 _.                            139
 0

                                                                                                                               d
                                                                         sphere `of the spiritual, and is the operation by which  He
                                                                         produces and sustains our spiritual iife.

                                                                          2) Both these operations- are  &&gkti~. This is to be
                                                                 /
                  The Canons of Dordrecht                                emphasized  in this connection.  After all, by their argument
                                                                         the  Arminians   meant to destroy the doctrinal position of the
                               PART  TWo                                 fathers, namely, that the conversion of man takes  place
                                                                         through an  almighty;  efficacious, irresistible act- of God's
                    ESPOSITION  -OF  THE  CANONS                         grace.  -Ancl  therefore the fathers do not  retreat  at  al1  ,here
                                                                         from their previously  assum-d  position. They do not  in-
             THIBD AND  FOURTEI   HEADS OF  DOCTRINE                     ?end to. have their insistence  upon   the necessity of the gospel
                                                                         and its  admonitions be understood as vitiating  0;  compro-
      ,OF  THE  CORRUPTION OF  MAN,  HIS   CONVERSION TO  GOD;           .mising their position that God's grace is absolutely efficacious.
                    AND THE  MANNER  THEREOF
                                                                             3) In the third  place, it is to  be- noted that it is this
                         Article 17  (continued)                         almighty operation of God which produces and sustains our
                                                                         natura1 life  ; and it  -is the supernatural operation of God,
        In their  expltiation  of this relation between the work         called regeneration, which produces and sustains our spirit-
 of, God's grace in regeneration and the use of the gospel,              ual life. It is not the  means  which- do this. It is not our use
 the seed  o regeneration and the food of the soul, the fathers         of the  means which does this.  It is not a matter of  coopera-
 begin by  making a  very,  apt comparison between the natura1           tion between God's almighty operation and our emp!oyment
 and the spiritual in  regard  to the use of  means:   "As the           of  the gospel and heeding of its  admonitions. It is,  accord-
 almighty-operation  of God, whereby He produces and sustains            ing to this article. strictly and  .only the  almigh'ty operation
.this our natura1 life, does not exclude, but requires the use           of,.God's  grace  which produces and sustains our spiritual life.
 of  means, by which  God'of his infinite  wisdom  and goodness
 bas  willed  to exercise this  bis'  power, so  also the  before-           4)  When  this is  wel1 established, we  may begin to speak
mentioned supernatural operation of God, by which he  re-                of the  nature  of  that opration of God, both in our natura1
generates  US, in no  wis&.  excludes, or subverts the use of the        and in our spiritual  life. In  regard  to our natura1  life,. the
gospel." Now it is in the  nature of  such a comparison as               article states that this almighty operation of God, producing
this that it do& not by itself and directly expound the  prin-           and sustaining our life, does not exclude, but requirs the
ciple of truth that is here  `involved,~   nmely,  the principle of     use of  means. This is a statement concerning the  nature  of
 the  means of grace. Neverthless,  by  means  of this  com-            God's operation, therefore. That operation of God is of  such
parison between the natura1  an?l  the. spiritual  much light is         a kind that  it.requ<res  the use of  means. And if you inquire
shed on the subject, and through the parallel that is drawn              as to why that operation requires the use of  means, the
we  may at  once see the principle, and we  may  also  draw              answer is  kot that there is  any reason outside of God,  any
certain conclusions from this comparison  concerning  the                reison   -in  th6  creature,  compelling Him to use  means. The
spiritual  relationship~  here in  c@estion. We  may  also note          answer is  simply  that `that is the way in which  God has
that the fathers here follow a  Scriptural   method.  They do            chosen to exercise His power. In the abstract, it might be
this not only in  reg5rd  to the genera1 principle of their, conceivable that God would  produce  and sustain our  nattiral
method, namely, that the spiritual is reflected in the  natufal;         life immediately, that is, without  any  means. Then our  life,
hut they do it in  regard  as  tvell to the  specific principle that     would be sustained without food, without drink, without air,
is  discussed  in this  article.. It is not difficult to  ~see,  .for    without  any of the thousand and  qne elements that enter into
 example, that  many of the  elements  taught in this article are        the sustenance of  om- natura1 life. But God did not choose
 directly or indirectly taught in the parallel between  ihe              to  operate   in- this way. It was God's  goed pleasure to
natura1  .and the spiritual which our Lord Himself draws in              operate  mediately, and that too as a matter of His infinite
the Parable of the Sower.                                                wisdom, according to which  He- always knows and  fellows
                                                                         the best way  t the  best.end, and His  goodness,, according to
        On the basis of this comparison we  may note various             which as the Fountain of  al1 good He bestows good  things
factors which are of  .controlling   importante   for. the entire        upon His cratures. And as it is in the sphere of things
rgument  of  -the fathers in. this article :  -                         natural, so  also in the  sfihere of the spiritual.  In the abstract
        1) There is  mention made here of  two. almighty  opera-         it might be  c&ceivable that God would  produce and sustain
 tions of God. One is in the sphere of the  natural,-  is an             our spiritual life directly and immediately, entirely without
 operation whereby He produces and sustains our natura1 life.            the use of the gospel.  Bui that is not'  the  nature   of. God's
 The other, which is not here  called an almighty operation,             work of grace. And that  it is not is a matter of His  sover-
but which is described as  "`the beforementioned supernatural            eign choice. God  Himself, without  acy compulsion,  chose to
 operation of God, by which He regenerates  US," is in the               regenerate  His people  throggh   means of the gospel. And as


                                                                                                -     .
 1        4      0                             T H E   STAIN'DARD-~BEARER                                                                     D
      -
in the natura1 sphere He  also  chose the  means  through which         life  must  also be  sustained  and nourishecl. And as. the food
He operates, so in the spiritual  l%e ordains the gospel to be          -of the soul to those  who hunger and thirst  after righteousness,
-the seed of regeneration and food of the  soul.. And again,            who hunger for the  meat and drink of life eternal, that .
that is a matter of His infinite  wisdom  and goodness. What            gospel  also serves.  Thus-als;  the Scriptures admonish the
better  means could there ever have been to bring a sinner to           peple of  bod. to  "desire  the sincere milk of the  word, that
faith and repentance  ? What better  m'eans  could God ever             ye  may grow  thereby.`! To that gospel belong the  sacraments
have used to  cause an  elect sinner  to..come to the  conscious-       as a secondary  means  of grace. And in the broad sense, dis-
ness of His  matchless  grace and to the acknowledgement                cipline  also beiongs to it, not only  becuse  itserves  the  func-
of His  ,marvelous  praises than that gospel, through which             tion of  maintaning therpurity of Word and  sacraments'  but
the  Alqighty   op&-ates effectually in the heart and mind and          also because discipline itself  .is a special appliction of the'
wil1 of His rational, mora1  creature   ? And  how that-  gospel        Word: These  means. God  a.lways uses in  .th.e same way in
iS a  manifestation of His goodness!  How good it is that               His church, and He  nev,er operates unto our conversion apart
God through the Word'of the gospel  causes  US to lnow and              frm  these   mens.
taste and consciously.  enjoy  al1 the infinite blessings of His
grace, to know consciously, to experience  al1 that takes place             In `this connection, the fathers distinguish between the
in that almighty operation whereby He produces and  sus-                instruction  of the gospel and the admonitions of the gospel.
tains our-spiritual  .life  1  How wise  and good it is that God        On  the  ene hand, they  mention that the apostles and  teachers
hasso  arranged the affairs  of-our spiritual  life that we grow        whs fllowed them instructed the people concerning this
in the grace and  knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and                grace of God, to his glory, and to the abasement of  al1 pride.
%i the assurance of  al1 the  blessin& of' salvation only  ac-          On the othr hand, they emphasize that the apostles did not
cording as we are diligent in  regard  to  -His own divinely            neglect by the  holy admonitions of the gospel t keep  God's
ordained  means of grace.                                               people in the exercise of the Word,  sacraments and discipline.
                                                                        Hence, the fathers conceive of the gospel-admonitions as  re-
      5) We  may add to.this  al1  the,principle  that this almighty    lated to the gaspel's good  tidings  ,of grace  ir  such a  way
operation of God does not take place without the  God-                  that the  foi-mer serve to keep God's people in the gospel, in
ordained  means.  Again,  this does not imply at  al1 that God          the exercise of Word,  sacrainents, and discipline.
is dependent  up'on the  means, nor in  any wise  that. the  pro-                                                                                  I  ~
ducdon  and-  sustenance  -of our life is achieved through a             Hence, the fathers emphasize in  al1 this that God has
cooperation of God's operation and the  means.  Much  rather            most  intimately  joitied  together grace and the  means of  grace,
dpes it  mean  that those divinely ordained  means, both -in the        grace  and  admonitins.  And because  Go<   ha?  most  intimately
sphere of  nature  and  grace, are an integral  part of God's           joined  them  tgethq,   neither `those  who instruct nor those
arrangement: God does not choose to  operate.  without those            who  &-e  instructed should `have the  &-esumption  to tempt
means. And it implies, thei-efore, that we are dependent                God by  attemptin g  to separate the two. Furthermore,  `they
upon these God-ordined  mear@  are bound to  the use of                emphasize- that there  is a most intimate and proportionate
&em,  so that we cannot experience the almighty operation               relat& between the diligence of the church and of  the people
of- God. without these  means, either  .as far as our natura1 or        of God in  regard  to the  means  of  grace  and the measure
our spiritual life is concerned.                                        of the  -blessing of God working in  US. This  is,  wel1 to  re-
                                                                        member. The  qeans  of grace must be diligently used  in-the
      This  b&ngs  US to the subject of  means, and of  means  of       church:  And God's people  wil1  surely'manifest  this diligence
grace.  Means  in genera1 are elements through which God  al-           also. Those  who  administer  the  means  of  grace  have a  dtity,  _
ways works the same effect. And  means  of grace are elements           an office, in this respect,  for their  duty it is to see to it that
from the world of our experience through which God  -in                 the~means `are properly and purely  administered.  And'  these
His church  bestows   &Iis grace  upon  His  people,.and without        who partake of the  means  of grace have a  duty, according
which He does  nat, bestow  that grace. The  means of grace             t8 their  office of believers, to  desire and to seek and to partake
is the gospel, distinguished in this article in a three-fold            of these-  means  with  di-  diligence. And we  nitist never imagine
Way, as consisting in the Word, the  sackaments,  and dis-              that- we are  wiser than God, and forsake these  means. For
cipline. That gospel is called the seed of regeneration here            it is through them and  through  them alone that the Lord
in the  same'sense  as in the Parable of the Sower. The  seed           wil1  ble'ss  His `people. And it is in this  way- that the work
is the Word. And  where  that seed is  sotin  in- the hearts of         of God's  kingdom is. advanced.
those  who are like the good soil  in the parable, that is, in                       .-
the hearts  of.those   who are  already regenerated in the nar-  -         And since then the grace  aid the  means   and  the fruit of
rower sense of the  Woi-d,  there it springs,forth and produces         that  grace  is of God  alo-,  al1 the  glory, both of the  means
the  whole fruit of faith and repentance. That same gospel is           and of their  savifig fruit and efficacy, is due alone to Him.
at  once the food of the soul. For it is not thus, that the                                                                        H.C.H.                  _
means  of the gospel is used but  .once? to  produce  the  con-
scious life of regeneration, and never used again. But that


                                                        T H E   STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                1 4 1
 Ij                                                                      christian  calling   -wil1   exeicise a serious concern about the
                  DECENCY and ORDER                                      aifairs of Christ's church.  -When, according  t,o his conviction,
                                                                         matters are  decided. in conflict with the truth, he must  speak
                                                                         and be  heqrd. He has this right, given  to him not by the
                                      Article  il                        church but by Christ Jesus Himself !
                                                                                      _
                                      Material                             Further, this  righ; of appeal is necessitated by the  fact
         1.                                                              that the church in the deliberations and decisions of her
         Last  time we quoted this article, together  witli decisions    assemblies.  is not infallible. History  provides  abundant  evi-
 that have been made concerning it, as  wel1 as  variogs  revi-          dence of this. Consistories, Classes and Synods are  con-
 sions that are at present being considered by different  Re-            stituted of fallible and even sinful men. They  can and do
 formed Church bodies. We  also expressed that the heart of              make mistakes, commit errors and perpetrate injustices.  Al-
 the matter  as-far as Article 31 is concerned has to do with the        though the guidance of the infallible  Holy Spirit is invoked
 right and  duty of appeal by members of the church  who  may            upon these  assemblies. this guidance ia not always followed.
 find themselves aggrieved  b decisions which are made by . This  may-be due to the inability at the moment to properly
 the various ecclesiastical  asiemblies.  We  wil1 now  proceed  to      discern  the course of truth and then again it  may  result from
outline the course of our discussion of those matters that are           a carnal element  gaining the majority vote in  the assemblies
 ither expressed or  implied in this article. To do so we               and  deliberateli  directing matters  & a way contrary to the
 present the following brief statements of the matters we  pro-          truth.  Irregardless  of the  cause,  however,  Christ gives unto
 pose to consider :                                                      His people the right and  duty to militate against  al1 evil
         A. The Right of Appeal..  .-                                    through the medium of lawful  tind orderly appeal.
         B. Cases To Which It Applies.                                                33.  Cases To  WJvich  Appeal-Applies
         C. Methods of  Submi&g  an Appeal.                                  The question  may arise: "Is  any and  every decision made
         D.  Time  Limitations of Appeals.                               by an  eccl&iastical   assembly  subject to  aopeal   ?" The present
        .E. Bodies  io which Appeals are to be  directed.                Article 31 would  stem to imply a limitation in answer to this
                                                                         question.  It states : "Ij  .arLyons  cotiplair~ that he  ?ms been
         F.  "Unled   @Y  rrUntiL"                                       wronged  by a d&tion  . . ." so that it would  fellow that appeal
         G. Status Of the Decision until  such  Time as the Matter       can be made  only  wheie an injustice has been perptrated. In
               of Appeal has been Resolved.                              fact, literally understood, this injustice must be of a personal
         H. Status of the Appellant during this Interim.  a              nture for the article reads  : "that  he  bas been  wronged . .  ."
                                                                         Monsma and Van Dellen  state that  "the  very word  appeal
         1. To  Whom must the Contention of the Appeal be                would  also  signify this" although they  hasten  to add that
               Proven ?                                                  these appeals are not to be limited by  the  article- to cases of
       J.  M a j o r i t y   Vete.                                       personal  injury. They stress that appeals which involve no
         IC. Settled and Binding.                 `*                     personal  inj.ury or injustice but which  may concern the wel-
                                                                         fare of the  chuiches, the purity  f  confessions, etc. are  also
         L. Relation of  Maj'or   Assemblies  Decisions to Those of      legitimate.  It seems to me that this limitation of Article 31
               the Minor  Assembliek.                                    is  very broad and  may  be construed so as to include virtually
         M.`Was  Article 31 Violated in  1953?                           any decision. Two  ihings should be  very evident. First of
                                                                         all, no one  wil1 appeal unless he  feeIs wronged or  aggrieved
                            A.  Tlze  Ribht of Appeal                    and, secondly,  no decision  that  affects the welfare of the
        `Since we  already  touched  upon this point in our last         churches  can possibly leave the individual  member;  of the
 article, we  may be brief hei-e. The right of appeal is that            church unaffected. The one is bound up in the other!
 right which  every  member  of the church of Jesus Christ                   It  may be said,  however;  that although in the abstract
 possesses according to which he  may express  before  the  as-          any_and  al1 decisions of ecclesiastical assmblies  `may be a
 semblies of the  .church  wherein and why he  is, in  disagree-         lawful  cause for appeal, yet,  concreteiy  there are  many  de-
 ment with a certain decision  0; decisions which have been              cisions made which in their  very  nature   would  be unworthy
 made: This  right-  sterns from the  fact that a  &ember, by            of an appal  to  Classis or Synod, even though one niight be
 virtue of his faith  in`christ,  stands in the office of  al1  be-      personally dissatisfied with them. For example, a Consistory
 lievers. He is  prophet,  priest and  king in Christ. This              may  decide to give the janitor a smal1 salary increase, to
 three-fold- office not only involves a serious obligation to  seek      forbid Saturday evening meetings  in the church building, to
 and strive to attain the truth in  al1  ihings pertinent to the         close off a certain  section   .of an overly-large auditorium, to
 cause of  .Christ in the  worlcl  hut it  also implies  a%,sincere      forbid Smoking on the church  premises,  etc.  Such  decisions
interest ancl  desire to clo so. One  who is conscious'  of`his          may not  meet with  un~imous.  agreement in the  congrega-


 1 4 . 2                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D  QEA,RER
                                                                    . .

 tion but they certainly do not  wai?ant   .appeal to a broader                b  given, to the  secreta;?  of the body which made the decision
 ecclesiastical  body.                                                         that is being called in question. For exmple,  if an appeal  is
                                                                               being made to Classis concerning a decision of the Consistory,                 `
     It is interesting. to see  how the proposed revisions  of Art.            the  seccetary  of th Consistory must be first notified.  Such
 31 affect  this particular -point. The  Christcan  Reformed                   notification does not consist of  mere inforniation but  in-
 proposal  retains the  literal wording of the  present  article in            cludes a cpy of the  appeai  that is being forwarded. This is
 one  place but dds thereto the  tiords,  `irf  a,nyone  is  perszmded        necessary,  of course, in order that the Consistory  may be  pre-
 tkat a  de&i~n of an.  assembly is  cont&y  to God's Word  OP                 pared to  render  its.  defence. That is just !
 the  Chuvch  Order,  he  slzall  have  the  rib&  to,  ad&-ess  a pro-
 test . .  .- The revision proposed in  ihe Netherlands hanges                    Finally,' in the -past Reformed` Churches  permitted  an
 the wording  quite radically. It has:  %LOS~  W~LO  have  ob-                 appellant  to  explain  and defend his position by  means of  an-
 jxtions to  sxbmit to the  sentimmf of  the  smajority,   beca.use            other  who was called  "een  l,pjond,"  i.e. a  +tioztth. If one feels  -
 they  deern  them in  coxjlict  wtlz  the  ?Tom- of  God  or  with           `that he has a just case but  lacks the ability to properly
thc  articles   o f   thc  Chrch  O r d e r , mn  mnke  th.eir  appea.1  to    present it, he  may  employ."cen   nrond."  Such a  person,   how-  .
tlze  nen-t   b~~onde~~   ga.thering."                                         ever, must be a member in good standing in the churches and
                                            . .
     Summig this  po&  wkmay say that  any member  who,                       must conduct himself throughout in  a worthy manner. It
 in`  goed conscience,  fees that the churches in doctrine or                 may be added that although this practice has  its commendable
 practice have deviated from the way of truth, has the right to                features,  i.t should  n6t be  encouraged  but  rather  each one
 coice his'  obje,ctions and  attempt to convince them to return               should act, if at  .all possible, in his own case. That is
 to what he believes is  the. right way according  io  the  Holy               better !                           1
 S c r i p t u r e s .
                                                                                            D .   Ti,&  Limitations  o n   Appenls

                          C.  Methods  of  Appehl                                  This  matter  is  .governed  by a rule in our  churches  to the  _
                                                                               effect that appeals must be made at  the  very next meeting
     Tod the  common layman this matter of  method  may en-                    of the body `to  whlch  the  appeal is  directed.   Thus, if one is
chance  some difficulties.  -1t  may be  out of fear that on  wil1            aggrieved by a decision of a Consistory, he cannot wait  sev&-al
 fail to follow precisely  every rule of technical procedure  anti             months before registering his grievance. He must do so the
thus have-his case  nuilified  before it is even  heard. that one              next   time-the  Consistory  meets. If he fails to do so, he  for-
`with a  :grievnce   wil1 refrain from registering his rightful               feits his right of appeal.  Also here, as is generally true with
 apieal.   This should not be so and probably would not be  sq                 rules,  there must be allowance for an exception.  Circum-
 if it were  remembered  that  the  process of registering an  ap-             stances  may make an early appeal impossible. A man  may
 l%zal is not as involved as it is  often made  out  to,  b. There            be on a trip to Europe. During his  absente the Consistory
 re only a few simple  rules to be observed:                                  may make a decision  which  he learns of only  after his return.
     Firstly. Dr. Jansen recommends that an appeal should  in-                 If desired,  such a  person  would be allowed the right to appeal
 rlude  the following points-: " (1) Presentation of the matter, at the  first Consistory  meeting after  .he gained knowledge of
 at issue  in the  appellant'sown  words. (2)  Quotation of  the'              the  Clecision.   Common  sense and good-wil1 must prevail in
 ->ffcial  decision  concernin& which the  appeal.is   b-ei-ng  made.         &ery circumstance but  asi  much as possible  adherente  to
 (3)  Enumeration  of the  reas-s  because of which the appel-                 the rule must' be maintained in the interests of  decency and
 lant.feels himself aggrieved and  upon  which his appeal  re&.                goed order.  _.  "  `-
 (4)  <Petition  that the major assembly declare for reasons                                                                               G . V . D . B .
 adduced, that the minor  assembly's decison  was  erroneous
 and  unEounded." These  for points, of course, concern  .the
 material content of  the appeal. To this we would  like to add
 that appeals should be as brief  aslpossible and  wel1  docu-
 mented.  By the  latter  we  mean that  theere should be  clear and                                     IN MEMORIAM                  _
 +thenticated   proof  given for the points in question.  .-The                   The Men's Society of the  First Protestant  Reformed  Church
 strength of an appeal does not lie-in its  length. Ecclesiastical             .`hereby  wishes to express  .its sympathy to one of its members,
 bodies are. not generally  impressed,  frightened or intimidated              Mr. Simon Ondersma,  and-  family in  t'he loss of his  father,
 by voluminous writing.  TFere  is- a danger, too, that the point
 the appellant  wishes to establish  wil1 be lost in the ramble                                   `MR.- RICHARD ONDERSMA
 of  many words. Better  It is to sfate the point  co&isely  atid                 P'salti   116:15,:  "Precieus in the sight of the Lord is the death
 add thereto the desired grounds  which in themselves  wil1 be                 of his saints."
 convincing if  they are really valid.                                                                                   D: Van Alten, President
     Secondly, to  resister an  appeal a  proper   notification  must                                                    R. Kamminga, Secretary


                                                 _            `.





                                           .,                       T H E   S T A N D A R D  BEARER                                            .1'43
                                                            -.i                      _
           -1                                                                      the `Summary  and Recapitulation' at the close tells the  sad
                             A L L   A R O U N D   U S                             storjr as seen  from the  following  quotations . . .
                                                                                          " `The vitality of the Christian school  movement  is  note-
                                                                                   worthy. Through  unceasing sacrificial  $fort a  relatitiely
                                                                                   smal1  group. of devoted people  have established a unique sys-
                 The implied thought  kin the question  above is that  this is     tem- of elementary and secondary education.  (Merely   `note-
              an impossibility. A church  ' that is an  enemy of Christian         Worthy' and `unique'? Ed.)  However,  we  canno.t advocate a
              schools and  therefore  of Christian private education cannot        restricted   absolutism   IGhich  requires a separate Christian
           be Reformed.  Afid yet there is a church that calls itself Re-          school wherever there is a Reformed Church community,
            formed  that actually has no  Se  for Christian  schools.  That       no matter  ho\+ smal1  the community and no matter  how good
              church is the Reformed Church in America, a denomination             the public schools. This  tends to  produce  a  `sectarianism
              that historically  finds its roots in Western Michigan with the      which  threatcns  the  common  life of christians  in the body  oE
              coming  of Dr. A. C. Van Raalte from the Netherlands to              our Lord Jesus Christ.
              this community.                                                             " `We must defend the right of  the church or  any  associa-
                  The editor of  Tlze   Bunnsr  in the  November  29th issue of    tion of  individuals  to organize and  maintain systems of
              this periodical  critically.  takes the Reformed  C'urch in          private  educatioi.  It'is optional proc-ure and  may be  de-
              America to task for her  `very   weak  position on the matter of     sirable  (, Just  show mild  can one  who stil1 calls himself  Re-
              Christian schools. Writing under  the title : Van Raalte's           formed  become  !- Ed.) in those instances  where public  educa-
              Anchor of Hope, the editor points up the spiritual  decadetice       tion is morally  and  spiritually  detriniental and  where   such
              of this denominatjon of churches which to  al1 intents and           baneful   conditions cannot be remedied. The  iienture  cannot
              purposes has allowed Van Raalte's Anchor  cif Hope to be             -be  forced   upon the consciences of believers as a  divinely
              lost  for ever. Van Raalte, so we are told, in 1851 made  -a         sanctioned  imperative.  It is not an essential element, in the
      3       significant statement shortly  after the establishment of an         covenant  of  grace  nor a necessary cgnsequence of .baptismal
             acadeniy  under church  control in Holland,  VIichigan that en-       vows.
            _ visioned good hope for the future of his church.  That state-               "  `We must avoid  such criticism of the  phbiic  schools~`as
              ment was  :. "THIS IS  my anchor of Hope  foi this people            tends to destroy  the public school system. Despite our  con-
              in the future." The academy  upon  which  Van- Raalte set his        Cern  about  some  01 the  teridencies in public education we
              hope, so  we are  told, was  closed in 1936. The reason for its      re& our confidence in our free School  .system.   "
              closing `is given by the  8oard of  Edu,cation, of the  Refornied           Thr editor of  Th  Bmz~zcv   interr$pts. his quoting of the
              Church in America  as.follows :  "Th& decline of the academy         document  to  observe "that the authors of it are by no  means
              began-  &?ut the  early 1900's and it was finally  closed -in        as charitable  toward our own Christian school  movemen~.
              1936.  Lack of  financial-support,  the demands of college  ac-      In contrast to what is said about the public school system,
              crediting agencies and the establishment. of a Christian  Re-        ours  iscertainly   nat.  handled as if it were sacrosanct. In a
              formed high school are  &ong the reasons for its  demise."           .section about  `reli$ous  day schools sponsored chiefly by the
           `. Th  Bmner  editor points  out that the above quotation  `fleaves     membership  of tlie Christian  R&formed  Church' the document
              room for the pssibility that there  may  also  haye  been*other     states :
              reasons." And he  furth~er interjects that "there  can be no                " `The origin  of`these day schools  may be  traced  directly
              doubt  that- it was due primarily to a  lack of conviction for       to The Netherlands in the  middle  of the Nineteenth Century.,
              the need of  such an academy.  Van  Raalt's  anchor of hope;               " `This system claims (A claim- which  this document
              at least concerning the academy, has apparently been lost or         repudiates. Ed.) to find its theological  justification in an  in-
              discarded somewhere in the  watery  deep, and the Reformed           terpretation. and application of  the Covenant.
              Church  Board of Education  <eenis pretty  wel1  .satisfied  to
              leave `it there . . . "                  .                                  " `In the  ' Netherlands, the Christian  school  movem:nt
-:                              ,**  --                                  -         thrived  upon criticism of the  State' School. This attitude of
                Mo.reover, the editor calls attention to a document which          a?tack has been pursued with even increased  ardor  in  Amer-
              was  composed  by  leciding  meti in the Reformed Church in          ica. Catch  phrases  are  often  emp!oyed,  such as : The  :public
              Ameiica  and adopted by the synod of this denomination               schools are godless, public schools are  secular,  the public
              which met in 1957 and ordered that it be sent to  every pastor       school is  dominated  by the  piogressive movement. Slogans
              in the church. for reading,  reference   and" study. Concerning      like these  always defy  critical   ~afialysis and satisfy fhe  un-
              this  d&ument.the   edito?  remarks  : "One wonders  whether  to                                                                   .
              cal1 this document specious reasoning or  misguided thinking.        thinking.'
              Certainly  it.is a glaring example of  failure to  recognize  the           "TO QUOTE  further from the  `Sumitiary  and  Capifula-
              mandate of our Covenant God to train His children  con-              tion' of this document we  cal1 attention to the following . . . :
              sistently according to His Word and  wil!." And further  he                 Ti `We caution against the  acceptance  of  any interpretation
            _ asks: "What does this 45-page document sent to  al1  .pas-           of the Covenant which prescribes the type and quality of
              tors .  ...  . have to say  abouf Christian Schools?  A glance at    education.  Wk  canno;   .conceive  of  the, Covenant as  .yielding



                        -


                                                                                                 .                   _





0

        I                                                                                             .


      144                                         -~ T     H     E        
                                                                          STAN-DARD   BE-ARER
      -          0                                    I
      built-in patterns of education  detertiining  in a  specific man-                  The  Re[ormed  Church  jn-  AmeTica,   in- our judgment
     ner its  method,   forn and content.                                           which is again  strengthened  by the above referred to editorial,
              ""Christia,n  parents  who  adhere to sound Reformed  tradi-           has lost not only Van Raalte's  Anchor  of  Hope,.but  patheti-
      tion  wil1 strive to retain freedom of judgment,  freedom to                   cally  also the right to its name.  Indeed, there are serious
      cboose for themselves  the  means  they deern  best for the  edica-            n&led people in this  -church-  Who have concluded  that it is
      tipn  of their children.  They  wil1  resist dictatin by a  pres-             utterly   imp&sible  for  Ch&tian parents to send their  chil-
      sure group  bz it that of a church r an organization. They                    dr& to  public schools because  of"' conditions that prevail
      wil1 repudiate  as. unsound and  unsc+ptural  the  notion that                 there. Even ministers of these churches  apfiear,  to-be strong
      only those  who  decide for  parental  or  parochial  schools are              advocates   -of private Christian schools. To  mention one, the
      qualified to hold  positions  of  responsible  leadership in the               editor  .of  TAe  Chz&lz Herald  whom  we  know sent his  child
      church.  "                                                                     to a Christian high school. Does this  mean that they  al1 do
              The editor  continues   : "The  theological,  @resuppositions -this for  principle  reasons, because  .they understand, believe in
      which are Supposed to be  basic to this amazing and pathetic                   the Reformed  covenant  idea. 1 fear not. But it  becoties
      thinking on education which the  synod of the Reformed                         plain from the  action  -of the synod of these churches abpve
      Church in  America  has seen fit to send `to  every pastor in the              cited in the  sending  out of  the above mentioned document
      Church for reading, reference and study' are set forth in this                 that the church  in genera1 has absolutely no use for a  Chris-
      document at  great length.  Space-permits   US to quote only a                 ti& school, nor does it have  any understanding of the  Scrip-
      sample of the  reasoning which  makes  this document so  disap-                tuial  conception  of  God's Covenant. Rev.  Vander  Ploeg is
     poin.ing.       Even if  o&e strains  christian charity to the  limit,         very mild in his  `editorial  when he asserts: "Certainly it is
      the following stil1 seems  preposteyous   :                                    a glaring example of failure to recagnize the mandate of our
              "  `This puts the  Question  of  means  before  US : Is  educa-        Covenant God to train  HiS children consistently according to
      tion in  ,a  purentnl  or parochial school- an essential  means to             His Word and will." 1  make bold to say that the document
      bring the  child  from baptism to  publ&confession   f  Christ                passed  on by the synod of the Reformed Church in  America
      and  confirmati&  of the vows  made in his behalf at  infancy?                 and sent to  al1 their pastors for study, is a clear indication
      To this question we are  compelled to answer with an  un-                      that  -is  particular  church is hopelessly lost as far as'the  Re-
      qualified and  decisive  NO, and  al1  who hold the Reformed                   formed faith is concerned. Here again it is clearly obvious
      position  join  US in  .this answer . . . For to  givany   -ether             -that the church which steps off the line of the truth  some-
      answer, `or to answer  "with a  nild yes and no, is to abandon                where  in history  uever returns, but proceeds farther in its  de-
      our Reformed position which stoutly  insists  that Faith  -and                 cadence until it destroys  itself. The  very hope of the  church
      WorkS are not  fo be  mingled.  To say that  such schools are                  of  tomorrow   is the  covenant training of hr youth  today.
      essential  is to rob Divine  gi!ace.  of' its  sovei-eignty. It is to.             Wil1 the document for study by the pastors of this church
      say that God's  grace cannot  operate without  human1assist-                   bring about a good reaction, so that a host of their  constitu-
      ante. It  tiltimately   latids  US in the  tamp of  Rome. If the door          ency  wil1 rise in repudiation of the synodically approved
      is opned even  .a  chink the Satanic  scheme of  zvork-yight-                 docunient'  1 think not.  Many of the ministers and people 1
      coumess  slips  back`in   to' rob  US of the security and freedom              have spoken to of this church about the  matter of Christian
      that we have in Christ. Our Reformed-  theologj absolutely                     ~education in  Christiati schools  wille  riet need to `even  read
      iorbids  US to say  :.  UnlesS   yozt send  yoztr  clzild  to.  paivochtial    the document to  farm an opinion. They are in perfect  agree-.
      school  he  caSnnot  be  snved.  When  this is  said or  when it  is-          ment with  th6 tenor of the document before  `they  read it.
     -implied  the  whole  strtiture of  Reformation  thought  comes                Some have even been bold enough to derogate  al1 defenders
      tumbling down.'  "                                                             of Christian private schools as undesirable citizens of these
             The~editor   concludes  this  portion of his  editqrial  with the United States. Of course,  th.os  who speak thus show plainly
      statement : "One  finds it difficult to believe-that the writers               that  they  Know even less of the truth.
      can really be serious about this. But apparently they are  dead                                                                                 n(r.S.
      in  ea&est."
             That the editor `of  Tlae  Bannen   rises to the  defenie  of
      Christian schools  atid becomes a bit  indignant   when  these   `in-
      stituiions are attacked is commendatory,  of course. It would                                        Announcement ,
      seem that if  th'ere  were no other reason why the two churches,                   Classis East  -of the Protestant Reformed  Churches   wil1
      Christian Reformed and the Reformed Church in  America,                        meet the  second Wednesday in January, January  8th, at 9 :00
      should have a separate  existente  this one would be  sufficient,
      despite the  fact that there have been serious attempts to  bring.             A. M. in'the  Creston Protestant Reformed Church of Grand
     these denominations  together. They  who would be Reformed                      Rapids, Michigan. -Consistories residing in this Classis  wil1
      mei-e than in name cannot think nor  speak disparagingly of                    please take note.
      the matter of covenantal training of their youth.                                                                    M. Schipper, Stated Clerk


