      VOLUME  XkxIV                                                 JANUARY  15,  1958  -  GFWXD   Fi~~rbs, MICHIGAN                               NU,WER 8

li                                                                                                   It was to no purpose `at al1 : He was saiiated  with it ; it
            M  E  D  I  T.A T  l  0  N                                                      .jl was a vain show ; it was abomination to His koly Being ; He
                                                                                                 calls it iniquity  ; His Soul hated ihe whole miserable show.
                                                                                 ,
                    .          .                                                                     And,  iray,  why ?                .  .,
                                    .:-GENUINEMES~                                                - The answer can be made in but a few word;.  .And these
                                                                                           1.    words are of the Holy Ghost. So you can trust it implicitly.
              1,               and have not charity,  1  am nothing."  -  1 Cor.  13:2b
               .          .                                                                          Her& it is : "Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this
              ,I. . . . give Me thine heart . .  ."  -  Prov.   23:26b                           people dyaw -near  M.e with their mouth? and with their lips
      There is `so much sham in the world, the church, the lives                                 do honour Me, but have removed their heart far from Me,
and ways of man !                                                                                and their fear to,ward  Me is taught by the precept  of men."
                                                                                                 Isa. 29:13.  .
      You cannot trust anyone, btit God.
                                                                                                     There is the answer.
      This is a bitter pil1 to swallow, but it is true nevertheless.
We read of Jesus that He "did nat- commit Himself unto                                               It was a sham, and no more.
them, because He knew al1 men, and needed not that any                                               And everyone of you know the New Testament equiva-
should testify of man: for He  kcew what  was in man."                                           lent.
John 2 ~24, 25.                         0                                                            Fiist, there is the parable of the- Pharisee and the Pub-
      &d Jehova& taught US to sing : "put `no confidence in                                      lican. To al1 appearanties  the Pharisee is the truc worshipper,
princes,  nor for help on man  depend   !"  1                                                    and the publican ought to be thrown from the holy House of
      That is-bad generally, but it is worse wh,en we confront                                   `God.
such-horror   in the church of Christ.                                                               But wait ! Jesus  condemns the  "holy"  fraud,  ancl  em-
      And there we find it  also.                              -                                 braces  the miserable  publican. Harlots and publicans-   pre-
                                                                                                 ceed the so-called holy men.
      There are  many,   many texts which 1 could quote, for we
-find it throughout  Holy Scripture.                                                                 But why?
      One of the most striking is the picture of Isaiah  1.                                          The publican came to God with his heart; and the Pharisee
                                                                                                 kept his heart far from God. The publican saw the Holy and
      God found  a,  .multifude  of  sacrifices,  burntofferings of                              Righteous God, and cried. The Pharisee prayed with and
rams, and the fat of fed beasts, the blood of bullocks, or of                                    to `himself, and boasted.
lambs, or of he-goats. The -peopie of Israel and Judah ap-
peared before His face, and they tread $Iis courts. They                                             Second, there is the testimony  f Paul in Colossians 2 120-
broiught  oblations and  much  intense.  On the new  moons                                       23. And there we find this sobering judgment of God with
and the assemblies, as.well as the solemn  meetings they lifted                                  respect to some worship : "Wherefore if ye be  dead with
their faces to God. There were  also the  appointed.  feasts                                     Christ from the  rudiments  of the world, why, as though
when  Israel and Judah called on the name of God.                                                living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, Touch not ;
                                                                                                 taste not; handle not; which al1 perish wth the.using;  after
      Look at them.: they spread forth their hands and made                                      the commandments and doctrines of men ? Which things
many prayers.                                                                                    have indeed  a shew of wisdom  in wil1  worship, and humility,
      Here you  have a picture of worship, of  wo&hip  of  Je-                                   and neglecting of the body ; nat in any honor  to the satisfy-
hovah. And to  al1 appearances it is beautiful indeed.                                           ing of the flesh."
      But what did God say of it 7                        .                                          What abominations !


   1 7 0                                        THE  ST&NDARD,-B.EARER
                                                                                                                         /
      And so deceiving : wisdom, `worship and humility, goihg          And Jesus ?
  hand in hand with a certain  neglecting of the body. Who                    Well, He c&e to- declare the Father.`.And  so, when  He
  would not have reverence for such holy  people ?                     saw al1 such abzmination,  said: "Woe unto you, scribes and
      But wait : God says : not in any honour, and to the satis-       Pharisees !"
  fying  of the flesh !.                                                      Jesus saw al1 their shining works. Yes, but He saw also
      Again: the heart ,was never turned to God in penitence~          th  filthy  interior. He saw men  who were  robed with the
  or in adoration.                                                     soft, w001ly sheeps clothing, but underneaththey were raven-
                                                                       ing wlves. O&side they looked beautiful to men, but -inside
                            \    *  *  *  .*                           they were full of abomination and uncleanness. Outside they
      Even the world hails 1 Corinthians 13 & one of the most          were as whited sepulchers, but inside they were as  fotil
  beautiful chpters in the Bible.                                     effluvium.
      But the poor people. do not see or  fee1 the two-edged                  But when  a poer woman  who was a sinner prayed and
  sword  in that chapter.  If ny test of God's  Word, here you        worshipped Christ  ,with tears and without words, He said:
  have an example of the two-edged sword, piercing even to             Wo&m,  thy sins are forgiven thee : go in peace !
  the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and               Here iS th differente  : She prayed from the heart, with
  marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents'of  the       sincerity and truth.
  heart. Of such is 1 Cor. 13. Beautiful? Yes. But also very                  And therefore He was hated.
  terrible.                                                             And therefore He was crucified.
      1 am inclined to ask in despair  : But, o my God ! what is
  there  left? 1 hear of the enumeration of angelic Speech, of                Two reasons:  first, He bared the abomination of the
  prophecy, of the understanding of  al1  mysteties,  .and  al1        hypocrite   who went to God, yes, but not with the heart.
  knowledge, of al1 faith that even  is able to remove mountains.      Second, because He rewarded the true worshipper, be he but
  1 hear of a philanthropy that bestows  al1 the goods  qf a  a  publican.
  mans house to feed the poor. 1 hear of the poor martyr                                            * *  *  *
  whose body is burned in crue1 fire.  A6d  then my Gpd tells
  me that 1  car have  al1 that, and go  to hell. For without
  charity as the driving motive of my life, 1 became as sound-.               And so God, even our own God, says to  US: My son,
- ing brass, as a tinkling   cymbal. 1 am  stil1 nothing, and am       give Me thy heart!
  without  profit with  al1 my good works.                                    And that is the same thing as speabing  wiih angels' voices,
      The one element  which was lacking  is  Charity,  properly,      prophesying, believing, doing good works, but  - prompted
  love, the love of God. -                                             by the love of God.
      1 was not genuine. 1 was a fraud, a sham.                               Oh, the boon of a new heart!
      God hates the sham, the fraud, more than the open sinner.         As long as' we speak and act and  think  with our old
  It  shall be more. tolerable for the gangster in Chicago than        heart, we  are abomination to God, even though we stand in
  for the pharisee in Gods House.                                      front of the church.  There is reaily not much differente  be-
                                                                       tween the publican and the Pharisee, the dominee and the
      Worse yet : this gangster shali arise in the ju,dgment  day,     gangster. And if there is a differente,  and there is, then the
  and. condemn hi.m.                                                   differente  is al1 to the good of the gangster. He is honestly
                                 *  *  +  *                            wicked. 1  know, 1 know, this sounds like a paradox, but `it
                                                                       is true nevertheless. The gangster wil1 be- stricken  too, but
                                                                       the  stripes of  the  wicked  Pharisee are manifold,  an( the
      Oh, I- can understand that Jesus was hated.                      stripes of the gangster are fewer. He did not add to his sins
      He knew al1 their hearts and the secrets  within.                the sin of hypocrisy.
      He saw them : walking solemnly through the chambers of                  But the boon of a nek heart is refreshing and also beauti-
  the Temple. Their faces were drawn in solemn lines; they             f u l .
  breathed unction and  piety  ; their words were sweet as honey. -           Note that when  a man with a new heart is stricken  be-
  Behold them : they spread forth their hands in long prayers ;        cause of whit he sees of bis life, and consequently weeps in
  they felt deeply into their money bags, and everyone saw             great bitterness and penitente,  the very angels of God return
  their liberalities to the poor and needy. The trunipets were         to heaven and sing. And singing they go to Jesus and report
  sounded in the streets of Jerusalem ; and everyone went home,        to Him: Oh, Christ of God, another sinner is bowing in the
  sighing : oh, to be a saint like father  Rueb&,  or Rabbi Simon !    dust! We saw  him in dust and ashes. We heard his heart
      But God said : 1 curse  you, and your religion !                 rending cry : Oh God ! be merciful to me, the sinner !

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                                                                   THE   STANDARD,~BEARER                                                                                                                                           171

          Then Jesus  wil1  turn  t6 His  Father  and say: Fathr!
       Asinner is calling on Thy name'! For My Sake !                                                                T H E   STANDA.RD  B E A R E R
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                                                                                                                            Editor   -  RW.  HFXMAN  HOFXSEMA
          And so this little meditation  brings me to a conclusion.  I                           Communications relative  to  contents  should `be addressed to
                                                                                                                  Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin  st., S. E.,
        _ 0 God ! give US truth' within !                                                                                                Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
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          0 God ! renew  within me a true spirit !                                               G. Pipe, 1463  Arbore  St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
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                                                                                  G.V.
                                                                                                                                            `C0NTENT.S                                                           ~-
                                                                    .  .
                                                                                            ME~ITATION  -
                                         ` I N   MEMORIAM                                               Genuineness ._____.   __.__.   ._  ___.  .::  .__......_  :... .  _.... . . . .  .._..  ..169
                                                                                                                 Rev. G.  .Vos
          Th& Mr. and Mrs. Society of the Hudsonville Protestant  Re-
       formed Church herewith  wishes   to express its sympathy with four                   EDITORLALS  -
       of  its members, Mr. and Mrs.  Gordon  VanOverloop and Mr. and                                   Cotimittihg Our Way Unto The Lord . . . . . . . . ..~ . . . . 17%
       Mrs. Harold  VanOverloop  in the  loss of their  Father                                          Crrespondence ._. ____  .___... . .  .`.  ._.  .__.  ._ ___ . . ..174
                                                                                                                 Rev. H.  Hoeksema
                                       JOHN VANOVERLOOP                          9          OUR  DOCTRINE  -
          May the God of  all  grace  comfort  the hearts of  +e bereaved, and                          The Book of Revelation.                                             .___ . . . . .
       point them  to the beautiful future for the children of God.                                              Rev. H.  Hoeksema
                                                        The Mr. and Mrs. Society            THE  DAY OF  SHADOWS   -
                                                        Hudsonville,   Mi&.                             The Prophecy of  Zechariah   .___._.______._____...................................   l'76
                                                                                                        The Temptation of Man .                                                            i                     ._._._._.__  177
                                                        Rev. Gerrit Vos, President'                               Rev. G. M. Ophoff
                                                        Mrs.  Jay Lubbers, Secretary        FROM  HOLY   WRIT  -                                      .
                                                                                                        Expositiofi  f 1 Corinthians 7 (3)  ......................i . . . 179
                                                                                                                  Rev. G. Lubbers
                                       '  I N   M E M O R I A M                             IN  HIS  FEAIX  -
          Our Federation herewith express our sympathy with  our                                        Spiritually Sensitive ( 5)  _.. ___  _.  ..____.  _._  ___.  __..__  _______  ..181
       fellow  Boaid member, Mr.  Gordon  VanOverloop  in the  lqs of                                             R&. J. A. Heys
       his  Father
                                      JOHN- VANOVERLOOP                                     CSNTENDING FOR THE  FAITH  -                                               -
                                                                                                        The Church and the Sacraments   .._........__._........................   1 8 3
          May ar `God comfort the hearts of the hereaved is our prayer.                                          R e v .   H .   Veldman
                The  Federation  of  .Prot.  Ref. Christian School Societies                THE'  VOICE OF OIJR  FATHERS -
                                                        Sec'y Torn Van Eenenaam                         The Canons of Dordrecht . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
                                                                                                                                                                                                      ~,
                                                        Pres. Gerrit  St'adt                                      Rev. H.  (1.  Hoeksema
                                                                                            DECENCY AND ORDER  -
                                                                                                        Article 31 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~ . . . . . . . . ~ . . . . . . . . . . . . ;..187
                                      DEVOUT LONGINGS                                                             Rev. G.  Vanden Berg                                                                                                                ;
                        0 send Thou forth Thi light and truth,                            ALLAROUNDUS-
                       0 Let them be guides to me,                                                      Dr. Daane Again Under Scrutiny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..__........  189
                                                                                                                  Rev. M. Schipper                                                                          .
                        And bring me to Thy holy hill,
                                  Thy dwelling-place to see.                                 OTJR FUTTJRZ ,._..._,_..,_.____._..........................................  : . ..____.._...__...,_..... 191
                                                                                                                  Rev. H.  Vldman                                                                                                                 -'  "
                        Then wil1  1 to God's altar go,                                 CONTRIBUTIONS                      -
                                  To God, my boundless jtiy ;                                           Our Conception of Churches .                                                       .._.._._._.__....                        ..192
                        Yea,  God,  my God Thy Name to  p-aise                                                   Mr. K.  Feenstra                             ,  -
                                  My harp 1  wil1 employ.
                                                                    .~                                                                                                                                           0
I--                                                                                                                                         ._ :


 172                                        THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                     ,
                                                         -.

                                                                    demned the statements and ad%sed that De Wolf-. should
          EDITORIALS                                                apologize  or be suspended from office. He refused to apolo-
                                                                    gize. Hence,  he was suspended from Office.  And the elders
                                                                    that followed him and agreed with his heretical statements
        Committing   Our  Way  Unto  The  Lord                      were deposed.
                                                                        This was  dc&e legally according to the Church Order.
    This is what Scripture  admonishes   US to do in  many              In cases of discipline, according to our Church Order, the
different ways and in more than one passage. Directly, as           consistory has the sole right of censure over the members of
you may surmise, 1 am thinking of the passage in PS. 37 :5 :        the congregation. Again, according to the Church Order, the
"Commit  thy way unto the Lord-; trust also in him ; and he         cnsistory   haS the sole right to  depose  its own elders  or
shall bring it to pass." You  may  also surmise that, in  re-       deacons as  wel1  as to suspend its minister. Whether the
ferring to this passage, 1 am thinking, not .so much of our         latter shall be entirely deposed from office is subject to the
individual way, as of the way-of our churches.                      decision of the classis with the advice of the .synodical  dele-
    We are living in troublous timeS.                               gates mentioned in article 11 of the Church Order. Al1  such
                                                                    disciplined  members, deposed elders and deacons, and sus-
    Not as if we have any spiritual trouble as Protestant           pended ministers have,`of course, the right to appeal to classis
Reformed Churches, for the very opposite is tre. We have           and synod. However, in the meantime,  they must submit to
the truth and that truth no one can ever take away from US.         the censure, deposition or suspension.  If they do not appeal,
And because we have the truth, confess th& truth and walk           their discipline stands. And again, utiless  they appeal, the
in its way, there is in our churches spiritual prosperity, peace    sytiod, the bradest gathering of church,  ha? `absolutely no
and harmony.                                                        right to  discuss  the matter of their discipline, deposition  or
   But because of the  ,$ecisioi of the Supreme Court of the        suspension, stil1 less to ignore or remove it.
State of Michigan in the case of o;r Second ChurclVwe:are               Such is the law of 6ur churches according to the Church
in trouble in  .respect  to  qur  material  possessions,  j the     Order as 1 hope to show presently.
properties of our churches. In the  ligfit of that decision, our       Hence,  De Wolf was legally  suspended  -fr6m  his office of
enemies, vidently, conceive of  the possibility of laying hold     minister in the Protestant Reformed Churches, and some of
on  al1 our church properties, even of the First Church of          his elders were legally  deposed.  The Superior Court of
Grand Rapids, in spite of the fact that in  195U the Supreme        Grand Rapids as wel1 as the Supreme Court of the  `State of
Court assigned that property to LIS.                                Michigan recognized this and set its seal of approval on the
                                                                    suspension of De Wolf. They clearly recognized that in the
  - It is with a view to  al1 this that 1 repeat that we as         case of the suspension  of De Wolf no action on the part of
churches live in troublous times, but also that we must heed        the synod was required or even possible.  Legally De Wolf
the exhortation of Scripture  that we commit our way unto           was outside of the Protestant Reformed Churches.,
the Lord trusting that He wil1  bring it to pass.                      NO synod could ever  receive him  or recognize him as
   We may do so because as churches we have the truth and           minister of the  Prqtestant Reformed Churches.
we walk in th way of the Lord.  If that were not the case,            The synd is not above but under the Church Order-, just
it  would  be  i&possible  to  commit  our way unto the Lord as t$e government in Washington is under the Constittition
and to put our  confide!lce  in Him. For that reason, our           of the United States.
enemies, those thai oppose  LIS and now try to deprive US of           It is allcged sometimes that the synod has the right to
our church properties, cannot commit their way unto the             interpret the Church Order. This we may grant in a genera1
Lord for the Lord condemns  th way of the wicked. They             sense. But, in the first place,  if th6 Church Order is insneed
have departed from the truth as it is confessed and main-           of interpretation, such attempt  of. interpretation niust come
tained -in the Prtestant Reformed Churches.  Already  they         in the way of an overture from a consistory to classis to synod.
are inclined to subscribe to the Three Points of 1924 and to        In the second  place,  the articles  of the Church Order that
join the  Chiistian  Reformed Church.                               refer to the suspensioti  and deposition of office-bearers are
                                                                    so clear -that~they  need no interpretation. In the third place,
   Y?u  know-  the history. Yet 1  may briefly review it            those that stil1 support De Wolf did not even  attempt   to
especially  tiith  a view to the decision of the Supreme Court      interpret the Church Order but wilfully and knowingly acted
in the case of the Second Church.                                   contrary to it and violated all- lati and order.     O
   De. Wolf,  who at the  time was minister of the First               Hence, 1  insist that the Supreme- Court, supporting the
Church, was suspended and several of his elders that  sup-          decree  of Judge Taylor when  it decreed that the suspension
ported him were deposed from office. Th& was done because           of De Wolf and bis being put outside of the Protestant `Re-
of certain heretical statements  which he made from the pulpit      formed Church&  was legal, for the Church Order forbidsthe
-and which several of his eid&condoned  or approved. The           synod to judge in the case of a suspension of a minister, un-
matter was brought t6 Classis East and the classis, too, con-       less the latter appeals  to synod. 1 am willing to submit this to


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   173

the judgment of the entire Reformed Church world, and               synod,  upon  sufficient  ground of suspicion  and to preserve
perfectly confident they agree.                                     the uniformity and purity of doctrine, may dem it ,proper to
   But let me now prove the above contentions from the              require of  US a further explanation of our sentiments of the
Church Order.                                                       Confession of  faith, the  Catechism,  or  the explanation of the
   First of all, 1 wish to show that the deposition of elders       National Synod, we do hereby  promise  t be always willing
and the suspension of a minister is,' according to the Church       and ready to comply with such requisition, under the penalty
Order, a matter that belongs entirely to the jurisdiction  of       above  mentioned (suspension, H.H.), ,reserving  for ourselves
the consistory. For .we read in Art. 79 :                           however  the  right  of appeal, whenever we shall  fee1  our-
   "When  ministers of the divine Word, elders or deacons;          selves aggrieved by the sentence of the consistory, classis, or
have  committed  a public gross sin which is a disgrace to the      synod, and until a decision is made upon such an appeal, we
church or worthy of punishment  by the authorities, the elders,     wil1  acquiesce in the determination and -judgment already
and deacons shall immediately by preceding sentence of the passed."                    _-
consistory thereof and by the nearest church, be suspended              De Wolf and -bis deposed elders never did submit to the
or expelled from their office,. but the ministers shall only be     judgment of the consisfory and classis. They violated al1  law
suspended. Whether  - these  .shall be entirely deposed from        and order. `Hence, they lost al1 right of appeal. When the
their office, shall be subject to the judgment of the classis,      so-called synod of the schismatics, in June`1954, simply  re-
with the advice of the delegates from the synod.mentioned  in       ceived him as one of their members and seated him as a
Art. 11."                                                           legal delegate,  they  violated the Church Order and lost the
   This was done. In the  presence-  of the consistory of           right to be called the synod of the Protestant Reformed
Fourth Church, elders were deposed and De Wolf was  sus-            Churches. By his own act-De Wolf had placed  himself outside
pended. Among  the gross sins for which elders and deacons          of the Protestant Reformed Churches and could not legally
may be deposed and ministers may be suspended, heresy is            be received  as a delegate to synod.                       -x
mentioned in Art. 80 of the Church Order. Of this De Wolf               Besides,  De. Wolf never even attempted to  appeal his case.
was found guilty by the consistory of the First `Church as wel1     He simply  continued  as a suspended minister. If he had ap-
as by Classis East. The  latter, moreover, advised that De Wolf     pealed he should havenotified the consistory of First Church
should retract or be suspended from  office, as we have already     as  wel1  as Classis East. This is in  accord  with a decision
mentioned. Again we wish to emphasize two things : 1. That          added to Art. 31 of the Church Order which reads as fol-
this suspension had nothing to do with the synod. The latter        lows :
had no authority in the. matter. It was entirely under the              "Appeal-  to a major gathering against the decision of an
juris;diction  of the consistory. Only by way of appeal could       ecclesiastical body must be made  upon the immediately  fol-
the matter be brought before synod. 3. That the Supreme             lowmg  m.eeting of the body to which the appeal is directed,
Court recognizing this and taking note of the fact that De          at the same time giving notification to the secretary of the
Wolf had not appealed, determined  that the property  of the        body by whose decision he is aggrieved-.  Of every judgment
First Church belonged to the congregation and congregation          rendered in the case, those concerned shall receive a notifica-
and consistory of .which Hanko and Hoeksma  were pres-             tion." Also this De Wolf did not do.
i.dents and Gerrit Stadt was clerk.     )                              Hence, according to al1 church law he is outside of `the
   From that moment on De Wolf was no longer  minister              denomination  of the Protestant Reformed Churches. This is
of the First Protestant Church of Grand Rapids, Mich..              in harmony with the decision in our case in 1956. And this
   This is the Church Order, to which consistory, classis and       is in accord  with the Church Order to which al1 ecclesiastical
synod have to submit, nd the court did and stil1 has to rec' , assemblies  are subject.
ognize this.                                                          But 1 wil1  not close this editorial by reminding you of.all
   Did, perhaps, De Wolf and his deposed elders appeal ?            this miserable history.
They did not.                                                          Rather would.  I cal1 your attention once more to the text
   First of all, let  US  notice  that, they, De Wolf  -and his from Ps.  37:5 you find at the beginning of this article:
deposed elders simply ignored their suspension and  deposi-         "Cmmit thy way unto the Lord ; trust also in him ; and he
tion, and continued in their oflce  as if nothing had happened.    shall bring it to pass." This text occurs in the midst of
They even excluded  the  legal consistory and their congrega-       verses  that speak of evildoers who prosper  in the way." "Fret
tion  from  the church building. The consistory, not willing        not thyself because of evil doers,. neither be thou envious
to  create  disturbance and conmotion  on the sabbath, simply      against the workers of iniquity _ . . . fret not thyself because
sought and found a new auditorium in which they  co-uld meet.       of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who
By  al1 these actions, De Wolf and his -deposed  elders lost al1    bringeth wicked  devices  to pass." vs. 1, 7. Instead of being
right of appeal. This is evident from the Formula of Sub-           envious against the prosperin,u wicked, we must. rather  com-
scription to which  every officebearer `in the Protestant  Re-      mit our way unto the Lord, by faith, and put our confidence
formed  Churches subscribes :                                       in Him. The fruit is, not that the wicke'd cease  to prosper  in
    "And further, if at  any  time the consistory, classis  or      th world and that we shall prosper  instead f them. ;But

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

        the result is that we have the peace that passeth al1 under-                   al1 legal  right  to the ownership of al1 assets that' are in th
        standing which is betterthan  al1 the prosperity of the wjcked.                name of the Protestant Reformed Church?
               Besides, then we trust in the promise of God.                                   5. Are we not- correct when  we say that we have been
i              The wicked may prosper  for a time, hut they shall be cut               recognized as the First Prot. Ref. Church by the,legal, Classis
        off and the righteous  shall prosper  forever.                                 East, which in turn was acknowledged by  the-legal  Synod,
                                                                                       and are therefore legally entitled to al1 assets held, in name of
               For. this is the promise of the Most High in the same                   said Church ?
        psalm and.throughoUt  the Word of God : "And he shall bring
        forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the                          6. Do you not feel, brethren, that the name First Prot.
        noonday . . . . these  that wait upno the Lord, they shall in-                 Ref. Church is rightfully ours and, as you have stated in writ-
        herit the earth . . . . the meek  shall inherit the earth ; and they           ing, the name cannot be separated .from the properties ; the
        shall delight themselves in the abundance-of peace." vss. 6, 9,                two legally  belang together ?
        ll.                                                                                    In view of the above, we come to you with the request that
          Hence, the conclusion .of the whole matter is : wait on the                  you negotiate with US for a settlement of this matter. We
     L o r d .                                                          H.H.           have seen in the past that court action  is not conducive to
                                                                                       spiritual welfare and we sincerely  desire that you accede to
                                                                                       our request for .arbitration'  and ask that you inform US in             -
                                                                                       writing of your decision on or before Jan. 1, 1958.
                             Correspozdence                        ~ . .
                                                                                                         With Christian greetings,
        We received the following missive from the De Wolf faction  :                                    C.onsistory of First Ortho. Prot. Ref. Church
                                                                                                   /
                                                    December 19, `957..                                  w/s H. De Wolf, Pres.
        Consistory, Rev. H. Hoeksema, Pres., P. Dcker, Secretary.                                            J. Bouwman,  Sec.
                        .                                                                                                             .-
        Brethren :                                                                             Here follows our reply :
               It has been some time since the Michgan Supreme Court                                                            December 31, 1957  _  .
        opinion was rendered in re the  Second  `Church case and we'
        had- hoped that you would have commimicated with US con-                       Consistory of the First
        cerning the rightful ownership of the property you are  now                    Ortho. Prot. Ref. Church                               .
      occupying.  However, in this expectation  weg have been  dis-                    Grnd Rapids, Michigan
        appointed.                                                                     Mr. J. Bouwman,  Clerk.
               After careful examination of the Supreme Court opinion
        and after having `received legal advice,  we are convinced that                Gentlemen :
        we are the rightful owners of all. assets belonging to the First                       In answer to. your letter the following :
      Protestant  Reformed   Church..
                                                                                               First of all, we fee1 it our duty to cal1 you to repentance
               Brethren, we ask you to carefully`consider the following :              for your denial of the truth as wel1 as for al1 your evil deeds
               1. Are we not correct  when  we say  -that the Supreme                  which you have committed against God and US. Repent,  con-
        Curt has judged that the Synod, convened in First Chur.ch                     fess, and return before you appear before Him  Who judges
        building on the second Wednesday.of March  1954, was the                       righteously.
        legal Synod of the Protestant Reformed  Churches ?                                     Secondly, we are stil1 considering  the  legal aspect as
               2. Are we not correct  when  we say that the Supreme                    pertaining to the property, with a view to calling ,a congrega-
        Court has judged that each succeeding Synod originating                        tional meeting in the near future. Since we are not ready to
        from the meeting mentioned above. is the only legal Synod                      act and need more time. we wil1  inform  you of om- decision
        of the *Protestant Reformed. Churches   ? _                                    as soon as possible.
                                                                                                                              Yours truly,
               3. Are, we not correct when  we say that Classis East, of
        which we are  members, is the true and only Classis East of                                                           Consistory of the First
        the Protestant Reformed  Churches according to the Supreme                                                            Protestant Ref. Church
       Court opinion  ?                                                                                                       w/s Rev. C. Hanko, Pres.
               4. Are we not correct  when  we say that,  when  you                                                                P.  Decker,  Sec.
        separated yourself from the Classis  East,  recognized by the                          NO comment necessary.
        legal Synod of the Prot. Ref. Churches, you thereby forfeited                                                                                   H.H.
                                                                                       i  .


        .  :
                                                            T H E   STND.ARD   B E A R E R                                                          l75     I

                                                                                 pslitical and national life and- the attitude of nation  over
                 OliR  DOCTR.INE~'   11 against nation. The third horse had respect to the. social
                                                                                 life of men in the world and to their relation to  things
                                                                                 material. And the  fourth horse had reference to their physical
                   THE  BQOK   OF  REVELATION                                    life and their passing away from the  scene  -of history at the
                                  C H A P T E R   XV  _                          proper  time in death.  Al1 had this in  common;  that they
                  The  Shake-up of  the  Pkysicad   Universe                     applied directly to the world of men only. This, as we have
                                Revelation 6 :12-17                              seen, was also true of the fifth seal. For this seal revealed
                   12  And  1  b&ld  when he had opened the  sixth seal,         to us the souls under the altar crying &ut for vengeance  upon
                   and, 10, there was a great earthquake; and the sun be-
                 1 cme black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became          those that lived on the earth because their  Nood had been
                   as bloed;                                                     shed for the holiness and truth of the Lord, for the Word of
                   13 And the stars of heaven  fell unto the  earth,  even       God and for the testimony which they held. The wicked-
                   as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs,  when   she" is
                   shaken of a mighty wind.            1                         ness of the world as  such and  ?its  rebellion  against the
                ~ 14 And  .the heaven  depart&d  as a scroll  when   it is       Anointed of God must be  fully revealed ; and this becomes
                   rolled  together;  arid  every  mountain and  island  were    manifest when  that world rises against the testimony of His
                   moved  out  of their  places.
                   15 And the kings of  the earth, and the great men, and        Word and the witness of Wis name.  l?or this reason  the,
                   rl,e  .rich  men, and  the  chief captains, and the mighty    tribulation   `and persecution of the saints must in the future
                   men; and  every   bondman, and  every  free man, hid
                   themselves  in the dens  and in the  rocks  of the  qoun-     become stil1  more general,  and must become universai  in its
                   t a i n s ;                                                   character, nd involve  al1 the  historie  world. That world
                   16. And said to the mountains and  rock;,  Fall on  US,       must attack the church of Christ in the full consciousness
                   and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the
                   throne, and from  thhe  wrath  of the Lamb:                   that it makes an attack upon  the holiness and truth of the                      _
                   i.: For the  great day of  his  wrath  is  come; `and who     Master. From al1 these five seals the sixth differs, as we
                   shall be able to stand?                                       said. in this respect, that it does not deal with the  worid  of
      The  fifth  and sixth seals belong together. They are                      men directly, but rather  .with the shake-up  of the physical
   closely related although there is also a significant differente               universe. Of= this, therefore, we must treat in the present
   between the two. The differente  is that while the fifth seal                 chapter.
   deals with men, particularly with the suffering saints .in the
   world, the  sist11 seal differs in this respect, that it does' not                 The text speaks indeed  of tremendous and terrible things.
   deal directly with the world of men, hut with .>the  physical                 In the  vision  John feels a tremendous earthquake, causing
   universe. And in as far  as it does  mention  men, it refers                  the  very  foundations of the entire earth to  &-emble,  and                     _
   only'to  the effect of the shake-up.of  the world upon the un-                wiping mountains and -islands  out of existente.  At the sme
  . righteous. But these seals are alike in this respect, that                   time, he beholds  wonders in heaven. The sun is darkened
   they both wil1 be most fully revealed and realized in the                     as sackcloth of hair, and  tbe moon spreads a  weird  light,
   time immediately preceding the end of this age. And the                       flooding  the earth with a color that speaks of bloed, while
   order is that the tribulation of the saints, which is mentioned               the stars fa11 from heaven to. the earth, and the firmament
   in the fiftli seal, is first; and the shake-up of the physical                seems to pass away and rol1  together as a book. The ques-
   universe follows. This order  is not only apparent  in the                    tion that arises, in the rst place, is, of course : how must this
- Boek  of Revelation, but also in the sermons of our Lord and .all be  interireted  ? Must the text be explained in the literal
   Savior Jesus Christ. There too we frequently find the same                    sense of the word, so that it refers here to physical reality?
   order in picturing  things to come. First there is the great                  Does heaven refer, to the firmament as we see it ? And does'
                                                                                                                                               D
   tribulation ; immediately after  come the signs in the heavens                star refer to the luminous body in heaven? i.s a mountain
   and on the earth. For instance, in Matthew  24:29  we read                    literally a mountain, and an island an island in this passage ?
   the clear statement : "But immediately  after  the tribulation                Or must *al1 this be understood in the symbolical sense of
   of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall                   the word ? There are indeed  many interpreters that do not
   not give her light, and the stars shall fa11 from heaveti, and                understand the text literally,  b$ rather  symbolically. They
   the powers of the heavens shall be shaken." The same order                    argue that the entire Book of Revelation:`iS  .symbolic. Fob
                                                                                                                                  ..,`:;  :
   may  be  obseyved  in Luke 21,  where Jesus first speaks of                   instance, in chapter  1 a star is not one of the -lumineus bodies
   these signs`nd wonders in heaven, vs. 11, and  thei? continues               in the firmament, but has reference to the angel of the
   and says: "But before al1 these things they shall lay their                   church, as  the Lord  Himself  explainc.  Besides,'  the Lord
   hands on you and persecute you." vs. 12. Thus it is also the                  informs US Himself in that same first chapt& that al1 things
   order in the chapter  we are now discussing. The seals which                  written  in the Book  of Revelation are  "s&ified," that is,
   we have thus far  discussed   al1 liberated powers  upon the                  given in signs and symbols. And therefore-  also the things
   world of men. Al1 the four horses  and their -riders  had their               mentioned in the te%t we are now discussing must not be
   field of  action  among men in the world. The first horse had                 understood as representing reality, but as being signs and
   reference to their spiritual life and their relation to the king- symbols of other events in the history of this- present. dis-
   om of heaven. The  second horse had  reference to their ,pensatin.                                                                             H.H.

                                                                                 r


     . 176        -                                     T H E   STANDARD"`BEARER
                                                                        . ,
      41                                                                          fying His churck  until He has saved al1 His elect in order
               . Ti% DAY OF~SHADOWS                                            IJ that al1 His people may be glorified together. Quoting Paul
                                                                                  here, "For the Lord  himself shall descend from heaven with
                                                                                  a shot&, with the voice  of the archangel, and with the trump
                       The  Pkophecy   of  Zechariah                              of -God. And the dead in Christ shall first rise. Then we
                                                                                  which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
                        Israel's conflict  and  fi7-esermtion                     them in the  clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so
                                                                                  shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess.  4:lU-18.   When
                                  Chapter               12:1-9                    this takes place the whole church wil1 have been gathered.
                                                                                  And then the saints in their totality  wil1 go forth to meet the
             7. This verse states that, Jehvah wil1 save the tents of            Lord in the glorious body of the resurrection. Quoting Paul
       Judah first in order that the glory of the house of David                  once-more,  "We shall not al1 sleep, but we shall al1 be changed,
       and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not be                   in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye; at the first trump;
       magnified over Judah. Here a distinction is again made  be-                for the trumpet shall sound; and the dead shall be raised
       t.ween Jerusalem and Judah. As was  st.ated,  in the. old                  incorruptibie, and we shall be changed"  (1 Cor. 15 :51, 52).
       -dispensation  Jerusalem was the visible city of God. It was                   This then is.  the  ,purpose   of- God in order that in the
       this as the center of the typicalsymbolical  revelation of the             words of our prophet there may be no reason for the glory
       kingdom  of- God on earth. The holy city is now in heaven                  of the house *of David and the glory of the inhabitants. of
       having been set there with Christ its king at the time of His              Jerusalem to be exalted above Judah, which there  would  be,
       ~ascension  into heaven and His sitting at the right hand of               such is the implication, were the church now in heaven,
                                                                  `_
       the .throne  of glory.                                                     let US say, thus favored, which of course is inconceivable in
                                                                                  the light of the Scriptures, and at the `end of time at the
             But Jerusalem has  many  citizens  that  -are  stil1 on  this        appearing of Christ the church, that is stil1 to be gathered.
       earth. Butas their conversation is in heaven, and seeing that
       thy confess the name. of Jerusalem's King, -condemn the                      6. In that day  wil1   Jehovah defend the inhabitants of
       world by their witness and seek a heavenly country (see on                 Jerusalem. The reference is particularly to this Gospel
     verse  5) they must surely be included- in Jerusalem's  in-                  period. And the stumbling among them in that day shall be
       habitants. Only they  stil1 find themselves on this earth                  as David, a man,of great courage  and irnplicit faith in God.
       fighting the good fight as having the victory in Christ. They              There were more such men in that day. The writer of the
       are the church militant, the visible Jerusalem in the midst                Hebrews mentions several of  them by name. The first name .
       of a hostile world.                                                        to appear in his list is that `of Abel. The last name mentioned
                                                                                  is that of Samuel. Mentioned are  also the prophets. Through
            L In this verse a distinction is made between the inhabitants         faith they subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, ob-
       of Jerusalem, and the house of David and Judah. In the Old                 tained promises, stopped the  mouths of  lions, quenched the
       dispensation the heuse  of David was the ruling family and                 violente  of fire, escaped-the  edge of the sword, out of weak-
       this famjly was not identical neither with the inhabitants of              ness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to
~      Jerusalem, nor with the tribe of Judah. But it being now                   flight the armies of aliens etc. In their totality they formed a
       the dispensation of the Gospel the distinction no longer  holds..          cloud of witnesses by which we are compassed round about. -
       Now the inhabitants of Jerusalem are  the-house  of David and              Though  the church  :was never without them, yet their number
       the .la$ter is Judah. so that in each instance  it .is the church,         at angtime was small. The majority were what the prophet
       the whole body of elect of which this verse is speaking.                   calls stumblers, not cowards but men weak in faith or with
                                                                                  no faith at all. For it was the dispensation .of shadows. The
             The verse speaks further of the glory of the inhabitants             Spirit was not yet seeing that Christ had nof yet died. But
       of Jerusalem and of the glory of the house of David, in a                  in that day it  wil1  be different. The stumbling  ones among
       word, of the, glory of the  church. And with reason. The                   the inhabitants  wil1 be like David. There  wil1 not be a
       church is a new creature  in Chirst Jesus. She is a spiritual              stumbler in his house. And the house of David shall be as
     house, and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices,  ac-            God, that is as the angel of the Lord before them. This
       ceptable to God by Christ Jesus. This is her glory. But the -angel is now the  incarnate  Son of God, our Lord Jesus
       church must stil1 appear with Christ in glory, not alone,  the             Christ. Having become like unto His brethren in al1 things, -
       church on earth but the church in heaven as well, be it that               sin excepted, He can now make His brethren like Him in
       she is formed of men made perfect seeing that they have been               spiritual excellente,  in courage, in faith in Him and through
       freed'  from the body of this death to which they were                     Him in God.
       chained in this life. As viewed from this angle it is correct
       to  -.say  that  also the church in heaven must  stil1 be saved.              9. And in that day the-Lord  wil1 seek to destroy al1 the
      What now  may be the promse set forth by this verse  ?                     nations that  come against Jerusalem.
       Doubtless it is this, namely, that God  wil1 wait with glory-                                                                    G . M . O .
                                                                                                                        -.


                                                  TBE   STANDA;RD   B E A R E R                                                              177

                     The  Temptation   of  Man                             beloved  people is the word of God that came to David shortly
                                                                           after  his adulteries and murder, 11 Sam. 12: Said the Lord
    "And said Jehovah God to the woman, What is this that                  to David by the prophet, "1 anointed thee king over Israel
  thou hast done ? And said the  woman, The serpent deceived               and 1 delivered thee out of the hand ofmSau1 and 1 gav thee
  me and 1 ate," Gen. 3 :16.                                      -_       thy master's  house and 1 mreover would have given unto
      The Lord now turns to the woman  and puts to her the.                thee such and such things, in other words, 1 did thee wel1
  quesiion, What is this that thou hast done ? The question                only, in my love 1 lavished upon thee my favors. And then
  of the Lord 1001~s  directly to that of which Adam had accused           the Lord puts this question, "wherefore hast thou despised the
  his wife, namely,  "The woman that thou gavest me, she gave              commandment of the Lord . . ." In other words, "What is
  to me from the tree, and 1 did eat." In other words, 1 did               this that thou  hast .done?'
  nat take of the tree, the woman  that tlou gavest me did so.                    This is  God's  strife with His people, His  elect only. It
  And she gave to me, and `1 did eat." This is the thrust of               is a strife that He wages with them in His love. And th
  Adam's reply in liis attempt  to  excuse himself. He meant to            purpose of this strife of the Lord with His people is to bring
  be telling God that he ate because the' woman  gave to him.              them under the conviction of sin, to work in their hearts.
      It raises the questin  whether what the man meant to be             true repentance, to bring them to confession of sin, and thus
  telling God `is that at the time he did not know that the fruit          to prepare them for the reception of His Gospel of forgive-
  had come from  the.forbidden  tree, so that he had eaten in              `ness  and salvation, of His good message that,  however   ill-
  his innocency. Our answer would seem to depend  on whether               deserving they may be, He loves them still, pardons al1 their
  Adam had heard the temptation of Satan, whether he  *had                 sins and- wil1  surely save them from His wrath for Christ's
  been present to hear it. It would. seem not in the light of 1            s a k e .
  Tim. 2 :14, "And Adam was not deceived but the woman                             So God strives here with our first prents,  definitely with
  being deceived was in transgression." How could  the apostle             the ,woman,  in their fall. They were His elect. The church
  say that Adam was not deceived, if he had heard satans                        of the elect was. in their loins.                       \
  temptation  ? And if he had  nat heard the tmptation, is it not                 What is this that thou hast done ? It was but another way
  possible then that he had eaten in his innocency ? The latter            of saying to ,them, "Come now, let US reason together saith
  is not possible. For he, too, died as wel1 as the woman. What            the Lord, though your sins be as starlet,  they shall be as
  is more, the Lord. holds  him guilty. He curses the ground               white as  snow."                             _
  for mans sake. Adam. must have known therefore that the
  fruit had  come from the forbidden tree. If he -was not                          Tlie Lord does not thus reason with the serpent. He does
  present, Eve must- have told him. Or he may have observed                not put to the serpent the question, "what  is this that thou
  with his own eyes being close enough to the tree. For it is              hast done ?" He simply curses the serpent and announces
  not ikely that Eve was in one part of-the garden and Adam               his doorn.
  in another. Tley  must have kept close together.                                The  reply of  tite  zwoman.   She  replies  because the Lord
      Now back to the  Lords  question to the  woman. The                  gives her opportunity. He draws her  out. In a sense He
  woman is asked  to give account of herself, first why she took           entourages  her. There is something reassuring in the very
  from the forbidden  tree and ate, and second why she gave                fact that He allpws  her to giv account of her doing, to ex-
  to her `husband, buk primarily why she  ,had taken from the              plain~it.          .
  forbidden tree  and eaten.                                                     As the man throws the blame  on His wife;  so she throws
      Let                                                                  the  blame  on. the serpent. But there was a good side to  this.
              US concentrate  a moment on that question of the Lord
  and get it before                                                        Her reply.does  not breathe defence. Rather  it betokens regret,
                        US as to `its ,full significante  and .purpose.
- The question is exclamatory. It registers surprise,  amaze-              shame, remorse. If so, the life of Christ has already been
  ment.                                                                    implanted  inher soul.
            PVlzat  is this that thou: hast done ! The question has
  this in it : 1. Thou hast sinned a great sin ; 2. 0 my children,                 Let  US examine her .answer.  She said,  the: serpent de-
  what have 1 done unto thee. Testify against me. 1 did thee               ceived me and 1 ate.
  only well. How couldst thou thus sin against my love?.                           We translate here deceive. This is correct as  can be
      The Lord always talks to His. people this way in the                 shown with the Scriptures. The Hebrew text uses a word
  crises, when  they fa11 into deep sin. We have several examples          that  means  to ca%Ise  to ey~ and to  amislead,  deceive.  Accord-
  of that in the Scriptures. Micah  6 13, "0 my people, what               ing to al1 the passages in the Scriptures that shed light on
  have 1 done  unto thee ? And wherein have 1 wearied thee?                the matter at hand, the serpent deceived the woman  and the
  Testify against me. 1 brought thee up  out of Egypt, a.nd re-            woman  was deceived, deceived thoroughly, led astray.              . .
  deemed thee  out of the house of servants." This is what the             -       In the Scriptures Satan is always presented to-view as the
  prophet  in the preceding verse calls the, Lord'sstrife with His         great deceiver  of men. So in Rev. 12 :9, where we read, "And
  people. A notable. example of this strife of God with His                the great dragon was tast out, that old serpent, which de-

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

ceiveth the whole world." Here the verb used in the original            that  bis being deceived involves him in no  guilt whatsoever.
means to lead stray, to wander, to deceive.                            Here is an example. A man, who is a total stranger in the
   c. Christ presents to view Satan as the  father  of the lie,         community,  wants to go to the city of Holland. He thinks
John  8  144: The passage ready,  "Ye are of your  father  the          he is on the way. Al1 the signs by the wayside read: to
devil,  and the lust of your  father   ye  wil1  do. He was a           Holland. To malie sure he even inquires of several persons
murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth,                 on the way if the way leads to Holland. They tel1 him yes.
because there is no truth in him: When he speaketh a lie he             But the man arrives in Detroit. He has been deceived. But
speaketh of himself, for he is the father of it."                       al1  the  blame  lies on the  side of his  deceivers  and he is
                                                                        guiltless. But this was notthe case with Eve. Al1 the  blame
   Here it is stated that there is no truth in the devil, that          did not lie on  the  side of Satan. Eve, too, was terribly
he is the father  of the lie not man, meaning that `Satan and           guilty. A man who is tempted by satan and succumbs always
not man originated it. Further that he is a murderer  from              has great fault. Why? Because:he  is tempted by satan al-
the beginning. This. refers, must refer also to  -His tempting          ways in collaboration with his sinful lusts, in other words,
Eve. He murdered her, and since he always lies, it means                because the tempter  finds him in a state of mind and heart -
that he murdered her by his lie, and this is but another  way           that the Scriptures. describe as willing ignorante.  That was
of saying, that he imparted his lie to her, implanted it in her         Eve's trouble. She .was willingly ignorant. She knew the
mind, and that he got her to believe his lie, which means               truth. The  -Lord had spoken plainly. The day that thou
that he deceived her by his lie and that she was deceived.           - eatest therof thou shalt surely die. She knew the truth there- _
   The sole weapon of -Satan is always the lie. As armecl               fore. Yet, she was ignorant. But her  ignorante  was not
with his lie, deceit he always.  goes about seeking. whom  he by        inteilectual but spiritual, oral. Her mind was warped by her
his lie ma) deceive, murder devour.                        .            own  lusts,  darkened,  blinded,  -  lusts. that she refused to
                                                                        crucify but for which  she  willingly  made room. The text
   c. The Bible over and over presents to our view sin, sinful          brings this clarly out, "And the woman saw that it was a
lust, sinful"pride  as a deceiver.  Inthe passage already  quoted       tree to be desired to mke  wise."  So it seemed to her. But
from the Romans "For sin,  taking  occasion by the  com-                it was a lie, the devil's lie that in her lust she had embraced
mandment, deceived me."                                                 and as a result had been deceived, carried away by it. .The
   The godless unprincipled men are always presented  t                fault of her succumbing to the devil's temptation was hers not
US in the Scriptures as men wanting to deceive by their false           the devil's. Let US quote James here. This passage, -"But
doctrine, vain philosophies, example. According to the                  every  man is  tempted   when  he is drawn away of his own
Scriptures the essential characteristic  -of satan, sin, sinful         lusts, and enticed. Then  when  lust hath conceived, it bringeth
lust, sinful pride,' ungodly men is that they are always bent           forth sin and sin,  when   it is finished, bringeth forth death"
on deceiving. To deny  tliis is to deny the sinfulness of sin,          (James  1:14,  15). Eve, too, was drawn away of her own
of satan, of sinful lust, sinful men. It is to close om eyes            lusts and enticed. Then when  her lust had concived,  that
exactly to that which makes  Satan, sin, our .sinful  lust and          is,  when  the womb of her lust had been fructified by the
false prophets so exceedingly dangerous. It removes the basic           devil's lie, it brought forth .sin, the act. of eating. And sin,
reason why the believers must always be on their guard                  when  it was finished, brought forth death. She died spirit-
against Satan,  sin, false prophets, their own  sinful lust and         ually, became totally depraved. `The only way therefore to
pride. They are so utterly and amazingly -deceitful  -that, if          fortify ourselves against the devil's lies, against heresy and
the believers-are not alert, if they are unspiritual and carnal,.       false doctrine, is to crucify our members which are- upon
they are certain to be,deceived  as was Eve. Take om present            the earth. The more we do that, the more immune we become
controversy.  Certainly the opposition has succeeded in de-             to the devil's lies and the more susceptible  we become to
ceiving several of the true believers.                                  God's truth of the Scriptres, thus the less danger there is
                                                                        that we wil1 be deceived by the lie.
   Certainly we must take  OLK  stand on the ground of the
view that Satan by his lie did deceive Eve, and then we must                    How a nian reasons, what a man thinks, what he pro-
try fo understand the psychology of this thing. We must face            nounces truth, what he  holds to be lie is subjectively  deter-
questions such as these : What was satan's deceit ? Wherein             mined by the state of man's heart as the ethica1 center of his
did it consist? What was its essential character ? Why did              being; The man whose heart is corrupt, and  who is swayed
he succeed in deceiving the woman ? Why was she deceived.               by his lusts, believes the lie. For he has argued the case
Wherein did her being deceived consist? We must answer                  in his mind and bas convinced himself by a reasoning that
these questions with the Scriptures. Having  done so, we wil1           from the point of view of forma1 logie is flawless that the
have deepened greatly our insight into the Scriptures and               trut11  is a lie and that the lie is the truth. - In other words,
into human nature.         . .                                          he has succeeded to his own satisfaction in rationalizing the I
                                                                        lie.
   Eve was deceived and on this account she herself too was
terribly guilty. A person  can be .deceived in his innocency so                               (Continued on page 188)


                                 "             THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   .                                                       1       7    9
                                                                                                                         -  .
                                                                               God in Christ, or whether`it  is simply some kindly and good
                                                                               advice fr&n Paul. We believe that also this word of Paul to
                                                                               the  "unmarried"  and to the "widows" is an exhortation
                                                                               which  full9 follows  from  two  considerations.  The first of
              Expositon  of 1  Corinthians 7                                  `these considerations is the  calling of  every man to  walk
                                                                               worthily of the  calling wherewith he has been called in Christ
                                                                               Jesus ! God  sa$s : Be ye  holy, for 1,  the Lord;  who hath
                       (1 Corinthians 7 :S-1 1)                                called you, am holy !  Hence  every  ran is to  walk in  holy
   Twice we  have'called   attention  to the teaching of Paul in               fear and trembling, knowing that he has not been called
1 Corinthians 7, where Paul answers certain questions di-                      with corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the
rected  to him in regard to the matters of marriage,. celibacy,                precieus  blood as of a lamb without spot or blemish. Of this
the error of putting away one's wife &nd related matters.                      calling for the.~"tinmarried"  and the "widows"  there can be
   In our last essay we called attention to the  fact that the                 no doubt!  Wherefore when-Paul  here sets forth the calling
statement of Paul that it is "good" not to touch a woman,                      of the widows and the unmarried he is according to the wis-
must be taken not as an absolute stateinent  as if the state                   dom given him, applying these general  principles of the life
of celibacy were more holy  than tht of holy wedlock! Paul                    of thankfulness and sanctification to the particular problem
only teachs that ti live the life of a christian  outside of the               at hand. And, in so doing, he builds  upon the chief-corner-
marriage state  is "goed," that is honorable and compatible                    stone, Chiist  Jesus, our Lord!
mith a walk' of thankfulness. One need not necessarily be                         What !he says to  the unmarried and widws is thus very
married to live  out of faith, according  to.God's  law and unto               normative in the church. Does Paul not write in verse 17,
His glory ! In so speaking he does- not disparage the institu-                 "And so 1 ordain in al1 churches" ? And, again, in verse 40
tion of marriage, the first institution of God on earth. He                    Paul writes,  "And-1 think also that 1 have the Spirit of God."
rather wishes  to concede that under given circumstances one                       Let US, therefore, the mqre give earnest heed to  tihat he
is honorable in not entering into the marriage. state:  For                    writes' concerning the "unmarried"  and the "widows."
some,  however,  marriage is a duty. When  one has not the                         It should,be  noted that when  Paul speaks of th "unwed"
gift ( ! ). of continence he or she should enter into %he marriage             he quite likely has in mind "widowers."  The reason for our
state.  For marriage too is honorable. He that marrieth let                    thus interpreting the term "agamois" (unwed) is that the
him  -do it in the Lord, and he -at marrieth not let him not                   case ending  is masculine  since this is the natura1 sense when
be married -, only ,in~ the Lord !                                             contrasted   6th "tais cheerais" (widows) . Then  also it
    Now Paul turns with a wo&l to the `%nmarried"  and to                      should nat' be overlooked th& Paul has a special word for
the "widows'.'  as wel1  as to those who are -in holy wedlock,                 the "virgins"  in the verses  25-40. Were the term "agamois"
applying the genera1 principles  lid down in the verses  1-7,                 neuter,  this would  also refer to the virgins. To take the
to the matters at hand in,the verses  8-11.                                    term  Ymmarried"  as referring to  al1 unmarried classes, and
    In these verses  we read, `I say therefore  to the atnvtawied              then to interpret  `rwidows" as the  class especially intended
axd  zuidows,  It is good  fop  tlaem  ij  th&y  abide  even as I.  .But       seems too forced  and unnatural & interpretation.
if  they  i-a.mot  conta,in,   let  thewc   mawy:-  for it  `is  bette77 to        Hence, Paul hre addresses a class of men and woman
ma,uy  tlmn  to  bwn.  And  ,mto  tlw  mawied  I  cowmand, ye t                in the  church,  who  _  once had been married, but whose
not 1,  bti.t  t&e Lord, Let not  tlze  zuife  depart  from  /zer  hs-         respective  wives and husbands had died. Each is alone in
ba.nd.  But  .and   if  she  defart,  let  izcr  repnain  ztnmarvied,   09     the world. .
be  yeconciled  to  bey  iz,l4.sband:   a.wd let not the  hu.s$a.nd  put       The  questjon   comes  up,  therefore, concerning a  second
away lzis wife."                                                               marriage. Since marriage is honorable and  the bed  un-
    We should notice in the passage under consideration,  that                 defiled, and since a- woman is b&nd to her husband by the
Paul is here really addressing two different clasies of people.                law of the husband, only as long as he liveth, there can be
Those who are, no longer  in the marriage' state,  z~.n.~~~a~~~&ed             no principle  reason pe+ se, why such individuals cannot re-
and &dozvs,  and those who are lawfully and before the face                    marry !  However.   al1 that is  ikwful  is  for. that reason not
df the Lord in the marriage  state,   these   MLap&ed.                         y e t   convenient   !'      )
    For `each of these two classes Paul has a distinctive  word                    There-  may be a ~very good reason for some individuals
of admonition in the Lord, .so that they may w+ in a good                      rot to remarry.  Fact is: he that does not remarry does
and quiet conscience.                                                          "well." He does wel1  if he remains in this unmarried state-
   Concerning the first  class Paul has no  expressed  `word                   til1 he or she dies: The reason ? Eyidently  such widows are
from Jesus. He  ca.nnnot  qute explicitly from the exact                      widows-indeed.  They belong to. the class spoken of by Paul
words of Christ as he can in regard to those who are married.                  in  1 Tim. 5  ~5-7,  "Now she  _that   cis a widow  indeed,  and
The question, therefore, arises whther what Paul teaches                      desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and
concerning  the "umnarried"  and "widows" has normative                        prayers night and day. But she that liveth in pleasure is
value for life and faith, that is, whether it is the Word of                   dead while she liveth.  Atid these things give in charge that


 180         _.                           .   THE.STA-NDARD   B E A R E R                                              _  s

 they may be blameless." These is a younger  class of widotis.            Z.`,  Thai according to the word of the Lord, to which
 These  ihould  not  attempt  to play  ihe  rol1  of  ."widows   in-    Paul refers, ;he marriage-state  as "from the beginning"  is un-
 deed," for, if they are under three score years old, they   wil1       breakable, except  by the death of either .party. What  God
 wax  wanton and wil1  marry. This is no sin as  such. These            hath joined  together, let not  nian put asunder. It is true
 should marry, bear children; guide the house, give none oc-            thaj, according  ,to Deut.  24:1-4;   Moses   pqwzitted  men to
 casion to th  adversaryl  to speak reproachfully. (See 1 Tim.         put away their wives. But that was the limitation of the
 5:14).                                                                 "law" which  perfected   nothing.  But the bringing in of a  0
     In line with this teaching of Paul in 1 Timothy.  5 is what        better covenant did. Then the law is written in our hearts,
 he gives as the exception to the rule in 1 Corinthians 7 :9,           our sins are remembered no' more. And Christ came to  take                    -
 "But if they cannot contain let them marry : fr .it is better         away the "hardness of our hearts" and t give US a heart that
 to marry than to burn."  Certainly  this esception is not for          is pure. And this pure heart nee& no permissive ordinance
 those who are widows indeed  past the age of three score,              to put'away a wife. The law is for tran@ressors.  They need
 who are, night and day, asking God for help in their `lone-            concessions. But not those who  walk in thankfulness for the
 liness. Paul  looks at  -marriage  for  such  .as a  duty because      great  redemption  in Christ Jesus. They have  also the law
 of fornication.  Such widowers and widows should again                 of the desire  to keep the marriage-vow written  in.their hearts.
 seek marriage. Remarriage is better for such to fight  ,the            In them is a smal1 beginning  of the new obedience,  yet so that
 battle of faith lest the adversary  reproach  the church  be-          they begin to .live not .only according'to  some,  but according
 cause of the walk of her members. Also here no man must                to  al1 f God's commandments !
 presume to be stronger` or more spiritually minded than he                 3. Since  such is the case, the word in the church is such,
 is. It is goed to know one's self and to clearly see our own           that a wife  who leves her husband has but two choices:
 personal spiritual limitations, due to the weakness of the                 a. She is first of  al1 to remain  unmarried.  She cannot
 flesh ! It is &-ue, we shall make no proyision  for the flesh .to      marry another  mati without  comtiitting adultery. Why  ?
 fulfil  the lusts thereof; (Rom. 13  :14) yet, if  such  is our        Because the original  tie in marriage .&inds. The avenzies of
 constitution that we would be in a constant state of burning           reconcilition  must remain open. Any corse of remarriage
 - th-en we should seek remarriage. For it is bett'er  to marry         makes  this impossible.  Hence, Paul first insists that such a
 than to burn!                                                          wife `remain untiarried.  ,And that, ,too,  even though a legal
   That it is better to marry than to burn the world has ever           divorce had been  obtained:   Such is the  rule, not of Paul,
 so  corrupted  as to turn it to their own  destruction.  Yet,          but of Christ in the church.
 the spiritual minded man wil1 use this to his pr'ofit.  He wil1            b. That she be reconciled to her  husband:   That-  is the
nat. see in marriage an end in itself from a purely  fleshly            way of the Lord. .It is based on the reconciliation  which we
 motive of carnal pleasures, but wil1 sec in it a means to an           have in ChTist  Jesus. He loved  
 end = for fornications sake. He  wil1 then see it his  duty                                                         US. Therefore we ought to
                                                                        love  each other in the Lord, also as husbands and wives not
 to possess his vessel -in holiness. And what  holds  for a             with a silly fleshly love, but with the love of the profound
 widower holds  also fof a widow!                                       depths which wil1 seek and find the guilty in confession and
     Such is  Paul's  admo&ion  based  upon the Christian's             pardon.                             _
 calling in the world.
     However, where one is married, whether man or wife,                    Nattirally,  this implies that a husband do not put away
 such one falls under the express teaching of Jesus concerning          his wife. He simply causes her to commit adultery, and he _
 the inviolableness of the marriage tie,~ Here Paul does not            that marrieth her commits adultery.
 need to  draw ligitimate'conclusions from  specific teaching of            The word of Christ  stands: What God hath joined to-
 Jesus, but he can quote the very words of the Lord Jesus.              gethey,  let not man put.asunder  !
     There are two alternatives here postulated by Paul.                                                                                      G.L.
     The first is `that the wife separates herself from her hus-
 band. In  such a case it  must be  remembered  that  mere
 "separation"  (choorizoo) do& not at ll constitute annulment
 before the Lord of  the  marriage-ti&.-  This is evident from                1 .                          Iti  M E M O R I A M
 the follotiing  :                                                         The Board of  - the Hope `Protestant  I&formed  C'hristian`
     1. That,.  according to the text, it is not so that such mu.&      School  Societk, hereby  wishes to express its sincere sympathy  to
-1be remarried, but rather  `they must be reconciled. The dif-          -ene of its fellow board members, Mr.  Gordon   VanOverloop,  in
                                                                        the loss of his  father,
 ficulty that had intervened between them must be resolved
 in Christian love and confssion on the part of  the  off&der                            M R .   J O E   V A N O V E R L O O P      -  -
 and by  `forgiveness  on the part of the other. Generally                 May' the Lord strengthen and comfort  him. wit'h the blessed
 speaking no two people have so much to forgive in ene an-              assurance that His work is-perfect and always done in love to
 other as bus.band and wife.-.Hence,  separation is not divo&           His children.        i      -~      ._
                                                                                                                      Ted Engelsma, President  .!
 p e r   s e .                                                                                                        JohnKalsbeek,   Secretari


                                                                              .      .
                                           -


                                               T H E   STAN?ARD  B E A R E R                                                            1Sl
                                                                                                                                  ._    -  _-
                                                      .*
                                                                        cont'ents. They, toe, wuld be unable to survive the test of
                                                                        the  law and Word of God.

                                                                          -.Looked--at,   however,   from  the  viewpoint  of its  aeepest
                    Spiritually   SenSitive                             l%inciple:it  is impossible  that there be any good in the movie
                                                                        at all. The very  principle  of the thing is evil. In the movies
                              (5)                -                      life is played, plaied for amusement's sake, and life is too
     It was not om- original intention to write very ektensively        serious' to be played by any one. Sin, which is so terrible
 &%ernng the dangers,'  and evils that are made SO` much               in the sight of tbe holy and righteous God, that He wil1 damn
 more tempting and easy to  obtain.  by the television set.             it fore& in hel1 ; sin, which unless graciously forg@&`in  the
                                                                        blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, must foyever  ba; us from th
    .It. was even Iess ouT ihtention  to say as much as we did          kingdom  of God :. murder, theft, divorce, adultery, disobe-                ,
 concerning the movie. We had intended `only to introduce               dience,  etc.  -  shall it be played, and that for  mere  carrial
 this matter to show that the same. godless people whose                amusement  of ungodly men? And shall we, Christians, find
 entertainment on the movie -screen we are not to seek are              our plesure  in that which is s0 terrible in the sight of our
 not to. be sought for their entertainment cin the television           G o d ? '
 screen either.
                                                                           The  l$ev.-   Veldman  has more to say about this, and
     But since we did devotelso-  much.. time already  and the          again we urge  you  to  read the  whole pamphlet. But the-
 airing  of one evil  often  leads to the need of treating more         point we wish to mke at this moment is th?t our people are
 extensively other` &ils, we decided t say something  more             confronted with the  temptation   &nd  the argument  that there
about the movie.                                                        are those good movies that portray a spiritual thought  and.
     We are moved by the  same fear that was the Rev.                   teach a Scriptural principle. There are -as was made men-
 Veldman's  whn  in his pamphlet on The  Movie  he wrote on            tion at the beginning of this pamphlet on .The Movie - such
page 13, "But, you  ask, are there not  goed  movies  ? If so,          motiies  as. the one on the life of Martin Luther. And more
 may we not patronize them ? Our answer is an unequivocal :             recently there was alsq that devilish work of the carnally
 NO ! To be sure, some movies  arc less evil, less obnQxious            mided haters of God which was'designed to snare  the people
 than others. `There is some bread in the garbage cans less             of God,`the  movie, The Ten Commandments. Indeed,  several
 moldy  than the rest.' Even so, how must we find out which             publications in the Church world have praised it and en-
 are the good  ones to attend  ? Usually the information must           couraged confessing  .n&bers in the Church of Christ to go
 come  from  those  %vho are so Carnal themselves that they have        and see this'gret  wickedness. The argument raised  .was that
 lost  al1 spiritual discemment. 1 have asked a numbe? of cov-          by seeing the pictuye  one could visualize much better the
 enarit young  people, who attend only `goed'  movies, this ques-       historica1 event  recorded  in the book of Exodus. We would
.  tion: What percentage of al1 movies would you  place in this         be able to apprecite much more what actually happened
 category? The estimates  ranged from two to ten percent..              there on Mt. Sinai. The  whole Scriptural account would live
 The  average  estimate  was five  percent.  Granting for the           for tis and we would for a long time have before our mind's
 moment that this is true, that five percent of al1 movies are          eye the incident of which God speaks to  US in His Word.
 `good,`.is this n6t in itself abundnt  reason to condemn the             Pure nonsense!  >
 whole  industry  ad  avo2d  eveqrtlzirzg that  evers  resembles   a       And a tempting argument out of hell!              0
 ?xovie?  (The italics are ours and we would have you aF>ply
 that once to the television progratis of .the world's  entertain-         We-must not  pretend   -to be  wiser  than God. He could
 ment. J.A.H.  j Wil1 not the five percent become the stepping-         have led man t6 discover  the movie camera and film in the
 stone to the other ninety-five  percnt?  Besides,  how are  ve       day of Moses,   had-;He  so wished. In  fact today  .man stil1
 .going  to know which belong to the five and which to the              does not know how to build pyramids such as those in Egypi.
 ninety-five percent'? Must our judgment be based on the                With  al1 our modern machines, hoi&, derricks and the  like,
 titles of the films ? ,(Also  of television programs, J.A.H.)          ,could we build them today? And were it essential for om-
 That is obviously impossible. Must we be  informed  by those           faith in what  He does by and in Christ His Son, would He
 who simply pick their `show? at random?  Bui such people;              not have preserved it for US on film instead of on parchment?
 we agree, are not qualified to judge. Besides, what earnest            Did  He perform `this great work at  Mt: Sinai too soon?
 Christian, who is really  concerned about walking  in the way          Would He have done it better  and differently, if He could
 of <the Lord wil1  patroniie an institution that is ninety-five        do it over again ? Whit sheer nonsense  `and blasphemy !                 -  -
 peicent  corrupt? Would  you permit your child to go swim-                Or listen even to the world -itself.. It knows better and
 ming in a certain lake if you kew beforehand that the odds            in that respect shows more sense ani wisdo&  than the flesh
 were nineteen to one in favor of yoar child  drowning in  that.        of the Church  that-hankers   after  the fleshpots of Ebgypt  and
 place?   Y&  may be  certain,   however,  that  `five percent of       the immorality of  Hllywood.  The  Tilde magazine of De-
 the movics  are not good, even from the viewpoint of their. cember 12, 1956, lias nothing good to say about this "goed"


182                                           TH,  S T A N D  R D   B E A R E R

movie. We quote a few  lines  fron- the  articl,   "Th  `Th          bring  t`he g-eatest  rewards to their &wn pockets of the filthy
Couizu~.a~ndments  , . . . is in some respects  perhaps the most      lucre of this world.
vulgar movie ever made . . . It is difficult to fmd another  in-         We are not stretching the point. one- bit  when  we quote
stance in. which s,o large a golden calf -bas been set, up with-      the words  -of. the Apostle Paul in 11 Corinthians 6:14:18 in
out objection from religious leaders. With  insuperable   piety,      connection with this matter. List-  once to the testimony of
Cinemogul  De Mille claims that he has tried `to translate the        the Spirit of God Who knows the deep things of God, "Be
Bible'back to its original farm,' the fofm in which it lived.         not unequally yoked together with unbelievers (also  in seek- -.
Yet what he has really done  is.to.  throw sex and sand into          ing entertainment, J.A.H.) : for what fellowship hath  right-
the movie goer's eyes for almost  twice as long as anybody            eousness with unrighteousness ? and what communion  hath
else has ever.dared  to . . -. . There are moments, in fact,  when    light with darkness ? And .what concord hath Christ with
it sems that the Seventh Commzmdment  is the only ne De             Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an inf'del
Mille is really interested in ; to the point- where the Exodus        (in  the realm of entertainment, J.A.H.). And what agree-
itself seems  almost  a Sexodus  - th  result of  Moses'   un-       ment hath the temple of God with idols  ? for ye are the
happy (and-purely fictional)  love life.                              temple of the living God ; as God hath said, 1 wil1 dwell in
       "Is this blasphemy  ? Technically not ; but it is sometimes    them, and walk'in them ; and 1 wil1 be thei; God, and they
hard to determine where the fine line between bad taste and           shall be my people. Wherefore come-  out from among them,
sacrilege is to be drawn . . . At such moments it is impos-           and be ye a separate people, saith the Lord, and touch not
sible to avoid the impression  that the moviemaker, no doubt          (with eyes aid ears and minds,  J.A.H.) the unclean thing :
without intending to, has taken the name of the Lord in vain."        aud  1  wil1   receive you, And wil1 be a Father unto you,  ,and
       The above speaks'for itself: And that last sentence surely     ye  shall be my sons and daughters, saitbthe  Lord."
is not the language of Scripture. We niay be sure that movie-            To live in His fear we wil1 have to avoid the spiritually.
makers do intend to take the name of the Lord in vain. They           unclean things. And we wil1  do so because it hurts  US to
care not one whit for it.. How could they ever produce  stich         come in contact with these evil things. He who is spiritually
a piece of deviltry as Zhe ,one described above if ihey i?ad          sensitive loves God  and. consequently is inwardly  paineci
any concern at  al1 for His  -name?   Ye?,  rather,  if they  Ean     when  he sees mockery  of the things of God and when  wicked-
mke a dollar by doing s?, they wil1 play with His name, His          ness and filth are displayed with relish by the ungodly world
law, His Word, and  al1 the things  holy.  And if He  would.          in which we live.       -
stand before them in our flesh - as He did some nineten                 Walk in His fear in the field of entertainment.
hundred.  years ago  i they would  kil1  Him even as they
did then. As  Ptil  writes in Romans  14:23c,   "FOT   whatso-           By reson of use have your senses exercised to discern
ever is hot of faith is sin." And again we read in Hebrews            both goocl and evil.
11  :6, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him."                                                                       J.A.H.

       In producing their movies, even when  it centers around
an event recorded  in Scripture or `around.events  in the life-                         A PILGRIM'S PRAYER
of the Church of God, men are not moved by faith. And
they sin. But when  they study carefully'  a passage of G$`s                      0 teach Thou US to count our days
Word such as the account in the book of Exodus of Israel's                        And set our hearts on wisdom's ways;
departure out of Egypt and reception of the Decalogue  at Mt.`                    ..Turn, Lord, to US in  or distress,
Sinai and then produce  so devilish  a piece of work that the                     In pity now Th? servants bless ;
world even calls it a SexoduS,  then we do not hesitate to                           Let mercy's dawn dispel our night,
state  that this is deliberate taking of God's  name in vain.                        And al1 our day  .with joy be bright,
       Shall we, then, turn to such for- entertainment? Shall we                  0 send th day of joy and light,
l& our chi'dren  gather  at the feet of such men- and that in                     For long has been our sorrow's night;
our. own living room ? - to be taught  principles,   morals,                      Afflicted through the weary'  years,
ethics and to be entertained by their godlessness ?                               We  wait until Thy help appears ;-
                                                                                     With  US and with  ciur sons abide,             0
       How  can we- ever dare to argue that this or that is a                        In  US let God be glorified..
good movie when  it must pass the approval of men with such
godless minds before it is considered to be a successful inovie                   So let there be on US bestowed
and fit fol- release to the public? What moves such men to                        The beauty of the Lord our God ;
approve and release for entertainment is not the principle  f                    The work accomplished by, our hand
what.  wil1  edify and entourage-unto a  walk in- His fear' but                   Establish Thou, and make it stand ;
what  wil1  draw the  biggest audience because  ;t satisfies the                     Yea, let our hopeful  labor be
carnal cravings  of  unregenerated-  men and consequently  wil1                      Established evermore  by Thee.        P s a l m   9 0


                                                                                                                    *
                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D .   B E A R E R                                              153
                     -_-_

                                                                           .end. We  wil1   recall from preceding  articles  the might and
                   Contending For  The  Faith                         11 power to which this Innocent 1.11 had attained.
                                                                               ,
                                                                              I%nor&  111; 12161227,. was without the ambition or
                                                                           genius of his predecessor Innocent 111. He  confirmed  the
                   The  Church  and  the  Sacraments                       I  rules and  witnessd  the extraordinary growth of the two
                                                                            great  mendicant orders of St. Francis  and St. Dominic.  He
         VIEWS  DURING  THE  THIRJJ   PERIOD  (750-1517.  A.D.)             crowned Peter of Courtenay, emperr of Byzantium, the only
                                                                            Byzantine empei-or  to receive his crown  in Rome. The corona-
                       THE  SUPREMACY OF THE  POPE                          tion took place outside the walls of the city. Peter died in
                                                                            prison on his way to  Constantinople.'  The pope's one  pas-
            THE  PAPACY FROM THE  D.EATH  OF  INI&XNT   III                 sion was the deliverance of Jerusalem. To accomplish this,
                       TO  BONIFACE   VIII. 12161294.                       he was  forced  to  look to Frederick. To  induce him to fulfill
                                                                            the vow made at his,.coronation,  in i215,  to `lead a crusade,
                                                                            was the main effort of his  pontificate.  The year 1217, the
       Thc  Papa1 Conflict  with.Fvederick  II  Bepn.            .          date set for the crusade to start, passed by. Honorius  fixed        _
           Between the  dath  Qf  Innocerit  111 and the  election  of     date after date with Frederick, but the emperor had other
       Boniface  VIII, a period of eighty years,  sixteen   popes sat       plans and -found excuses for delay. In 1220 he and his wife
       on the throne, several of whom were worthy successors of the         Constantia  received  the imperia1  &own at the hands of the
       greatest of the pontiffs. The earlier half of the period, 1216       pop in Rome. The coronation ceremonies passed off amidst
       1250, was filled with the gigantic struggle between the papacy       the  geneyal  good  wil1  of  theeRoman  populace and were in-  -
       and Frederick 11,~ emperor of Germany and king of Sicily.            terrupted by a single disturbance, a dispute over a dog be-
     ' The latter half, 1250-1294, was marked by the establishment          tween the ambassadors of Florence and Pisa which ultimately
       of pcace between thg papacy and empire, and the dominante            involved the cities in  war.  For the  second  time  Frederick
       "of the French, or Norman,  influence over the papacy.               took the cross. He  also  seetied to give  proof of  piety by
                                                                           ratifying  the privileges of the Chtirch,  announcing his de&:
           Scarceli  was Innocent in his grave when  Frederick 11           mination to suppress heresy, and exempting al1 churches and
       began to play his distinguished role, and to engage the papacy       cleric's from taxation. In the meantime his son Henry had
       in its las't great struggle with the empire - a desperate            been elected king of the Romans, and by that act ?nd the
       struggle, as it proved to be, in which the empire was at la$         pope's  subsequent ratification the  very thing was  accom-
       completely humbled.  The struggle kept Europe in turmoil             plished which it had been  Innocent's shrewd policy to pre-
       for nearly forty  ye&s, and- was waged with three popes,  -          vent; namely, the renewal of the union  of the empire and
       Honorius 111, Gregory  1X, and Innocent IV, the last two,' the  kingdom  of Sicily in one  h,aG. The pope was always
      men of  notable  ability. During  al1 this  time Frederick was        apprehensile of too much power passing into the hand of the
       the most conspicuous figure in Christendom. The struggle             emperor, we understand - H.V. Frederick was' pursuing
       was carried on not otily in the usual ways of diplomaci -and         his own course, but to appease Honorius he renewed fhe
     arms, but by  written  appeals to the  co&t of European                pledge whereby  Sicily  was to remain a fief of the  papa1 see.
       opinion.
                                                                               Themfall  of  Damietta   ( Damietta, an important harbor in
           Frederick  11, the giandson  of Frederick Barbarossa, was        Egypt, had been chosen by the crusaders as iheir  base of
       born near  Ancona,   1194.  His  father,  Henry VI, had joined       operations against Jerusalem and the point  from which Jeru-
      Sicily to the empire by his  mafriage  with the  Norman               salem was to be reached. We  can readily understand this if
       princess  Constante,   through  whom Frederick  inherited   th6      we look up the position of this. Damietta, or Dumyet, as it
       warm blood of the South. By  pieference   nd training, as           is  knqwn today  - H.V.), in 1221, was adapted to fire a
       wel1  as birth, he was a thorough Italian. He tarried on             sincere crusader's zeal ; but Fredrick  was too much engaged
       German soil only long enough to insure his crown  and to put         in pleasure and absorbd in his scheme for extending his
       down the rebellin of his son. Ranke calls him a foreigner  on       power in Italy to give much attention  to the rescue of the
       German  soi!. He preferred to hold his court at Palermo, holy places.  In-hope  of inflaming h+ zeal and hastening the
       which in his letters he called "the Happy City." The Ro-             departure of the crusade,  Honoiius  encouraged the emperor's
       mans elected him  king in 1194, and at his father's death a          marriage with Iolanthe, daughter of John of Brienne, king
       year later he became kink of Sicily. The mother soon  fol-           of Jerusalem, and heiress of the  cr0w.n. this on the ground
       -lowed, and by her  wil1 "the child  of Apulia," as Frederick        that Iolar$e was immediate  heir to the crown through  her
       was called, a boy then in his fourth year,' passed under the         mother  (al1 this is surely a far cry from conducting himself
       guardian  care of Innocent 111. After  Ott's  star had set, he      as the  repi-esentative  of the Christ  upon the earth. It is
       was crowned king at Frankfurt, 1212, and at Aachen, 1215.            difficult  to harmonize this politica1 conniving and maneuver-
-      Frederick was not twenty when  Iqnocent's  career  came to an        ing with the spiritual character of the Kingdom  of Heaven

                                                                                                           -


                               CI



      1%                                                 T H E   STANDARD   B E A R E R

      and its exalted and .$orified  Lord. - H.V.): The rtiptials             hands of- those seeking his life, &hom it has brought up to
      were no soonrr celebrated than Frederick assumed the title               perfect manhood  at much trouble and expense, exalted to the
      of king of Jerusalem; but he continued  to show .no sign of 0 honors of kingly dignity, and finally advanced to' the summit
     ~~alting haste. His aggravating delays wer enough to  wear               of the imperia1 station,  .trusting  ti have him as a wand of
      ut a'more amiable disposition than even Honorius  p8ssessed.            defence and the staff of our old age." He declared the plea
      A final  agreement  was-made  between them in 1225, which-               of the epidemie  a frivolous pretence and charged Frederick
      gave the emperor a respite of two years inore,, and he swore             with evading  his promises, casting  aside  al1 fear of God,
      upon  penalty of excommunication to set forth October,' 1227.            having no respect for Jesus Christ.  Heedless of the cen+ures
      Four,  months  before the date appointed for the  crusade                of `the Church, and enticed away to the usual pleasur:s  of,
      Honorius  died.                          .-                              -bis  kingdom,  he had abandoned the Christian army and left
                                                                               the Holy I+d exposed to the infidels.          1
            The last year of Honorius'  reig, Frederick entered
      openly upon the policy which involved-  him in repeated wars                 In a vigorous counter appeal to Christendom, Frederick
      with the papaiy  and the towns of Northern Italy. He re-                 made a bold protest  against  the unbearable assumption of the
      newed the imperia1 claims to the Lombard cities.  Upon                   papacy, and pointed to the case of John of England  as  a'
      these claims the Apostolic see could not  look with  com-                warning to  princes of what they might  expect. "She  who
      placency, for, if realized,  they would have made- Frederick             calls &rseif  my mother,"  he Wrote, "treats me .like a step-
      the sovereign of Italy and ci-amped the tempora1 power  of               mther." He denounced the secularization of the Church,
      the papacl  within a limited and at best ari uncertain are.             and-  called  upon the bishops and clergy  to cultivte the self-
                                                                               denial of the Apostles.
      Gvegory   I.X.and  Fl,ederick  II.  .1227-1241.                             In 1228 the excommunication was repeated and places  put
_           An antagonist of different metal was Gregory  1X, 1227-            under the interdict where the emperor .might be. Gregory
      1241. Innocent 111, whose nephewhe was, seemed to have                   was not without hik own troubles at Rome, from which he
      risen again from the grave in him. Although in years he was               was compelled to flee and seek refuge at Terugia.
      mre than twice as old as the `$mperor  (His' exact age is
     nat known. Some say that at the time of his death Le was                      The same year, as if to show his independente  of papa1
      almost  a  centenarian)   , Gregory  `was clearly  .his  matich in       dictation and at the same time the  sincrity of his crusading
      vigor of miljd and dauntless bravery,  and greatly his superior          purpose, the emperor actually started upon a crusade,  usually
     `in mora1 purpose. In asserting the exorbitant claims of  ,the            called the Fifth Crusade.  On .being informed of the expedi-
      papacy he was not excelled by  any of the  popes.  He was                tion, the pope excommunicated him for the third time and
      famed for eloyuence and was an expert in the canon law.                   inhibited the patriarch of Jerusalem and the Military Orders
                                                                               from  giving him aid. The expedition was .successful  in spite
            Setting aside Frederick's  .spurious pretexts for delaying         of the papa1  maledi&ion,  and entering Jerusalem Frederick
      the  crusade,   Gregory  in the  frst days of his  pontificate   in-    crowned himself king in the church of the Holy Sepulchre.
      sisted upon his fufilling his double pledge,made  at his corona-         Thus. we have the singular spectacle of the chief monarch of
      tion in 1215 and his coronatior  as emperor in Rome, 1220                Christendom conducting a  crusade in fulfilment of a vow to
      (Frederick liad `received.  the cross at his coronation in Rome          two popes while  resting under the solemn ban of a third. Yea,
     from the hand of Gregory,  then Cardinal Ugolino)  . Erederick            the  second  crusader  who entered the  Holy City as a  con-
     at last seemed ready  -to comply. The  ciusaders   assembled              queror, and the last to do so, was at the time not nly resting
     at Brindisi, and Frederick actually set off to sea accompanied            under a tripl,e ban, but was excommunicated a fourth time
      by the pope's prayers. Within three days of leaving port the             on his return from his expedition to Europe.-  He was ex-
      expedi&on  returned, driven back by an epidemie,  as Frederick           communicated for not going, he was excommunicated for
     asserted,  qr by  Frederick's  love of pleasure, as'  Gregory             going, and he vas excommunicated.on  coming back, though
     maintained.                                                               it .was not in disgrace but in triumph. (Besides,`how  could
            The pope's  disappointment  knew no bounds. He  pro-               the emperor's mission to the holy city possibly be a success
      nounced against Frederick the excommunication threatened                 without the blessing of the pope resting upon  it ? The king
     by Honorius (The English chronicler, speaking of the  pope's`             was imder the, ban and nevertheless successful in his under-
     act, uses his fairorite  expression, "that he might not be like           taking. - H.V.)
     a dog unable to bark.") .- As the sentence was being read in                  Tlie mperor's troops bearigg  the cross were met on their
     the church at Anagni; the clergy dashed their lighted.  tapers            return to Europe by the papa1 army whose banners  were
     to the floor to indicate  the emperor's going _out into darkness.         inscribed with' the keys. Frederick's  army was  victorieus;
     Gregory  justified his action  in a letter to the Christian princes,      Diplomacy, however,  prevailed, and emperor and pope dined
     and spoke of Frederick  `as "one  whom  the  Holy See had                 together at A&g&.  (Sept. 1, 1230) and arranged a treaty.
     educated with mL1.ch  care, suckled at its bre'ast,  carried on its                     . "
     shaulders,  and  whi$  it has frequently rescued from the                                                         -.                -H.V.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                         185

                                                                           As far as the order of this Rejection of Errors  is  cori-
          ihe-  `Vake of  .Our  kthers  s-  f                          cerned,  we  may remark that it is the same-as in the positive
                                                                       part  f this .chapter. The first five articles deal  with errors
                                                                       concerning the-corruption  of man, while the remaining  articles
                The  Canons   of  Dordrecht                            (6-9  j deal with errors concerning  ~the conversion of the
                                                                       simier.
                            PART TWO            .
                  ExkwrIoN.   OF THE  CANONS                               The  .true doctrine  having been  expla,ined,   the  Synid  re-
                                                                       jects the errorsof those :
          THIR~   AND  FOURTH  HE~DS   OF  DOCTRINE                                1.  Who  teach:   T'hat it cannot properly  b,e said, that
  OF  TI-IE  CORRUPT~ON   OF  MAN,  HIS  CONVERSION   TO  GOD,                     original sin in itself  suffices to condemn the  who>e
                                                                                   human  race, or to  deserve  tempora1 and eternal
                  AND THE  MANNER  THEREOF                                         punis'hment.  For these  contradict the Apostle,  who
                                                                                   declares : "Therefore as through one man sin entered
                 j JECTION  OF ERRORS                                              into the world, and death through'sin,  and- so death
 Introchcto~,y  Rewmrks                                                           _ passed unto al1 men, fomr  that al1  sinned,".Rom.  5 :12.
                                                                                   And:  "The judgment  came of one unto  condemna-
    The necessity of this Rejection of Errors is, of course'                       tion,"  Rom. 5 :16.  And: "The wages of sin is death,",
 fundamentally  the Same  ,in this chapter` as .in the other chap-                ~ Rom. 6 23.
 ters of our Canons. That necessity is, in the first place, a             The above translation is correct.  However, it would be
 matter of principle : to every positive there is a negaiive.  And     more proper, 1 think, that in an English translation  thc
 it is, in the gecond  place, a matter of histo-y : the Arminians     Scriptural  passages would be'quoted  from the Kjng James
 and their errors were a matter of historical fact,  and it was        Version  of the Bible.
 incumbent upon the Reformed chushes  to maintain  and de-                This article deals with the  very  important subject of
 fend the truth antithetically, that is, with rejectioti  of error.    original  sin. We cal1 if`a very  important subject, because if '
   However,  this is emphatically true in regard to the present        one goes astray &regard to original sinj the result  must needs
 chapter of the Canons, and especially with regard to the .first       be that his .entjre  conception oi sin and depravity is awry.
 subject of this chapter, namely,  the corruption of man. For          A denial of the true doctrine of original sin  makes it  imbos-
 do not forget that the .Arminians  had in the third of the. Five      sible to maintan the truth Of total depravity..  For this reason
Amzinian  APtic1e.s   of 1610  &ven a  rather   god  account of       it is also very important that-  Reformed belivers and the?r
 themselves.  And even though, as we have remarked before,             seed be yell-founded  in  this truth. And it is  indeed a sad
 that third article is not al1 tht a sound Reformed man today         sign  when  this truth of original sin  is neglected and despised
 would desire  in the way of an exact statement concerning the         as being "just so much abstract doctrine<'
 depravity  of man, nevertheless, taken by itself, that article           Now, first of all, exactly what is the error.  that is re-
 cannot  be criticized. And therefore, if you would compare            jected in this paragraph ? The Arminians are cited  as teach-
 the third article of the Arminians with  th first part of the        ing here : "That it cannot properly be said, that original sin
 Third and Fourth  -Heads  of Doctrine of the Canons, you              in  itself suffices to condemn the  whole  .human   race, or to
 would come to the conclusion that there was no real conflict,         deserve  tempora1 and. eternal punishment."                i
 that the fathers were fighting imaginary opponents, and that             Cncerning this teaching of the Arr&nians  we may-note  :
 it was entirely unnecessary for them.  to  go into  such lengthy         1) That it is concerned especially with that aspect of
 detail in  regard. to the fa11 and corruption of -man. But first      original sin that is called "original  guilt." As you Lmow, we
 f all, as we`also  pointed out previously, ,the Arminians prin-      distinguish original sin as original guilt and original corrup-
-cipaily  denied and contradicted their third article by stating       tion.  The former is the doctrine that the entire human race
 in their fourth-article that the mode of the operation of God's       is guilty through the one sin of Adam, and therefore liable
 grace  -is not  i~~~esistible.  And  secondly,  in  much  of their    to tempo+1  and eternal punishment. The latter is the,doctrine
 teachig and writing they proved abundantly that they after           that as a resulti  of the one sin of Adam the entire race, through
 al1 did not believe what they  seem to  state in their third          the process of generation and birth, inherits the corruption
yarticle.  Tliey undoubtedly tried in their  Five  Artic&  to          and pollution of sin. And it is with the for&er,  original guilt,
 leave the best possible impression  upon the people, ivhile in        that we have to do in this article. This is plain from the
 their actual writings and` teaching they many times contra-           language  of the article ifself.  It deals with the question of
 dicted  and opposed the Reformed doctrine of  .the corruption         condemnation,  with the question of whether one is deserving;
 of man. And fherefore it. was  especia!ly  necessary in the           thrOugh  Original sin, of tempora1 and eternal punishment.
present _chapter  of the Canons that the fathers quote directly        This  is  a  legal question, a question not of  corcuption  and
 from the Arminians, in ord:r to show what they  really  taught,       pollution, not of the spiritual, moral conditio  of the race,
 and that they then would gainsay these Arminian errors by             hut a question  of guilt, of liability to -punishment,  a question
 quoting the Scriptures.                                               Of the legal state of the race before the .bar of God's justice.


   186                                       T.HE  ST.ANDARD   B E A R E R

  While the Arminians admitted a kind of original corruption,            plications.. God's  "justice requires, that sin which is com-
  though never in separation from the actual sin of the natura1          mittd  against the most high majesty of God, be also pun-
  man and though never in the ral sense of the corruption of            ished with extreme, that is, with everlasting  punish-
  man's na.ture, they denied original guilt as the ground of the         ment of body and  soul."  Hhdelberg   Catechist,  Qu.   ll. In
  condemnation of the  whole race, and denied therefore that             the second place, however,  it must be noted that the Armi-
  original sin in itself is deserving of tempora1 and eternal            nians  deny  original sin in its key aspect. For we must bear
  punishment.                                                            in mind that original corruption and pollution is. but one
          2) That the emphasis in this statement is on the phrase        aspect of death. It is spiritual death. And death is the
  "in  itself.", This is typical Arminian phraseology. They did          punishment of sin. But if original sin is not sufficient  ground
  not want to leave the impression of denying original sin.              for condemnation and is not deserving of tempora1 and ever-
  That wuld be far too obvious and blunt. N                             lasting punishment, where then is the ground for that punish-
                                                    O, they had to
  deceive"people.  And therefore they had to speak of original           ment of death, inciuding that aspect which we  cal1 spiritual
sin, ,but they had to cunningly and deceitfully qualify their            death ? There is none. The great fact of sin and corruption
  doctrine of original sin in such a way that, on the one hand,          must. be reduced completely ..and solely to a matter of the
  they  left tlie impression of being orthodox, and on the other         act.  This is not only the logica1  consequente  of the Arminian
  hand, they at the same time smuggled their denial of original          error. It is exactly what the Arminian teaches and wants to
  sin into the church. Hence, they taught that original sin in           teach, even though he at times tries to cover it up. Funda-
  itself is not sufficient  to condemn the whole human  race. In         mentally, the Arminian  .denies original sin  ; and because he
  other words, original sin  PLUS actual sin forms the only              denies original sin, he must deny  that sin is in any real sense
  sufficient  ground for condemnation and' for tempora1 and              a matter of  man's  nature,  and must maintain that sin is
  eternal punishment. Rut originai sin without the actual deed           solely a matter of the sinful act. And this is, of ~course,  at
  of sin can never be deserving of tempora1 `and eternal punish-         the same time the only basis upon which he can maintain the
ment. We deal here again, therefore, with the fundamental                error of free-willism and resistible  grace.       .
  position of the Arminians and Pelagians with respect to sin;               Over against this error the fathers quote, first of all, from
  namely : sin is in the act. . From this it is but  a step, of          the important passage in Romans 5  :12-18.  As is plain from
  course, to two other positions which these  of the Arminian            the two brief quotations made from this passage, the em-
  ilk  often  assumed and stil1 assume today. The first is that          phasis is entirely legal. It is upon the legal solidarity  of the
  since original sin in itself is an insufficient  ground for con-       human  race with Adam, and therefore upon the legal solidar-
  demnation, therefore infants, who have committed no actual             ity of the human  race with Adam's sin. The line of thought
  sin, are not subject to condemnation. And the second is that           is as follows  :. a) Death reigns over  -al1 men. b) Death is
  the heathen, who have not come into contact with the gospel,           punishment fr sin. cj Death reigns over al1 because al1 have
  have never therefore had the opportunify to believe, and are           sinned. d) Al1 are said to have sinned (even those who did
  not guilty of the sin of unbelief, cannot be subject to con-           not sin  after  the likeness of Adam's transgression, even
  demnation. Original sin in itself is not sufficient  ground to         those  who did not have the  law, even those  who had no
  condemn the whole  human  race. And it is  wel1  known, of             special commandment to  keep'or   violate  as did Adam, even
  course, how Arminians delight in picturing as a horrible and           infants in the cradle) -al1 are said to have sinned in and
  monstrous doctrine the truth,`that  original sin is by itself a        through  the sin of the one man Adam. Through one man sin
  sufficient  ground of condemnation.                                    entered into the world,  and dath through  sin, and so death
      3) That this apparently partial denial of original sin             passed  upon  al1 men. This is confirmed by the quotation
  nevertheless  constitutes  a fundamental and complete denial           from vs. 16: the judgment. (a legal term: in judgment one is
  of original sin. In the first place,  it must be rather  obvious       faced by the question of guilt or righteousness) came by .one
  that this is not a relative question. That little phrase  `!in it-     (Adam, our representative head)  to condemnation.
  self" is deceitful. Either original sin is a  sufficient  ground of       The second quotation, from Romans 6:23 evidently in-
  condemnation, or it is not. It is not a question of "in itself."       tends to point out tht the wages of sin, whatever kind of sin
  It is a `question of original sin (period), or of original sin         that,,may  be, whether original or actual, is death, and that
  plus. It is not a questi,on  of sufficient  ground of condemna-        therefore also when  original sin is considered by itself, this
  tion or  insufficient  ground in the sense of partial ground.          rule must be applied, and that therefore original sin is  indeed
  Either there is ground for condemnation or there is not                in itself sufficient  ground to condemn the  whole human  .race.
  .ground for condemnation. Either there is sin, or there  is not        Its wages is death.
  sin. Either there is guilt, or there is nat. guilt. Where there           A `lot of doctrine; you say ? Yes, but it is one of the key
  is guilt, there is liability to punishment.-  And where,  before       doctrines of the Word of God. Without it you  can  under-
God, there is liability to punishment, that punishment is al-            stand neither the corruption of the natura1 man nor the
  ways the only punishment of sin that there is, tempora1 and            wonder' of  bis conversion  to God. And therefore the  be-
  eternal, namely death, --death  in its full sense, -in al1 its im-     liever must reject every  error  ,repugnant  thereto.    H.C.H.


                                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                              i                                         187
     .~
                                                                                a"nswel-  in the  affirmxtive.   If  nt  al1 possible no  aqmbly must
                                                                                begin to  execute a  decisio~~  the  correctnes   of'which is to be
                                                                               judgcd  by a  major  assevczbly.  To  illust~at~,   supposing  soww
                                                                                one  objticts  to the  installa.tion  of a certain brothm as  Elder,
                                                                                                                               -.
                                  Article  31                                   and  thnt his objection is  over  rule,  and  thut he  a.ppsa!s   fo
                                                                                Classis; then if the  Consisto~~y   wortld   Proceed   zuith   -the   in-
     G.  Stcrtzu  of the Decisin  Until   `Such   Time As The Matter           stalla,tion,  and after  a few weeks  (OY  months . . . G.V.) Classis
                       of Appeal  Has Been Resolved.                          '  shozcld   sustuin.  the  a.ppellant,   such  a  Consistory would  find
                                                                                itself in a  ve~y  di./j%&t  positioiz.
        In this paragraph we are concerned with the matter of                       " I f   a,nd   w1~e.n.   p o s s i b l e ,  
     how a decision, taken by a minor ecclesiastical assembly and                                                                   action  ort  appeals   should   het
                                                                                awaited.  Sometimes,   however,  this is not possible,  or not
     subjected  to an appeal,  is to be regarded until such ti.me as            advsable.   T.hus in the  illzcstra.tiort  at  hasd, if the  appella,nt
     the appeal is heard. For example, let US say that a Con-                   zwere not  snstairted  by Classis  he  might appeal to Synod. This
     sistory makes a certain decision by majority vote. However,                zvould  mean a long  extmded  delay as to the  bl-otheu's   instal-
     osie of the minority members?  being dissatisfied, informs the             la.tion  (if  synodcal  decisioA  were  a.waited),  which would be
     Consistocy  that he wil1  bring the. matter in the form of an              unfair to  both  the  Chuqh   concerned   a.nd the  Elder-eleit   con-
     appeal to the Classis and, if necessary, perhaps even to the               cerned. The  rule  sho,uld be one  appea.1.  Artd  during  that
     Synod. Classis wil1 not meet for another ttio or three months              a.ppeal,  in  al1 possible cases,  a.ction  on the  uppeal  should be
     and the next meeting of the Synod is almost  a year away.                  awaited.  If  art  a@ellant   fe'els  bm-deneci`  to  s%ch  an  en-tent
     What. happens  to this particular decision in this interim ?               that he  camot   submit  after  the.  .fimt  appeal., then let  him
     Must the Consistory hold the execution of the decisioti  in                proceed.   But as a  mie  he  shozzld  not ask  or  expect  the minor
     abeyance until the appeal is hard  ? May  she proceed  to exe-            a,ssembly  to  smpend  a.ction.JJ
     cute the decision immediately and perhaps  become involved
     in many complex difficulties in the event  the appellaht's  posi-              It seems that'another  approach `to the question is possible.
     tion .is upheld  later by the majrity  body ?      -                      First of all, account must be taken of the decision which is in.
       0                                                                        question.  Al1 ecclesiastical decisions are not the same in
            Although this matter is not direc&  treated in Article 31           nature  nor in  importante.   When,  therefore, a decision  is
     of our Church Order, it is nevertheless involved.  The article             called in question, the determination of an immediate or a
     sets forth the principle involve&  iti the right of appeal and             postponed execution of that decision would, in  ur opinion,
     out of this principle  evolve several  practica1 problems of which         depend.primarily  on the nature  of the decision. F& example,
     this is ene.' The church order does not enter into al1 of these            we might cite here the decision of Classis East in October,
     practica1 questions for ii it were to do so it wold become                1953, regarding the seating of delegates from the First Pro&
     a  rather  cumbersome document. There wotild  be room, it                  stant Reformed Church. This was strictly a matter of roll-
     seems to  US, for the Synod to deal with  some of these more               cal1 and when  a decision was reached by  majority  vote, that
     important questions and to  incorporate  their decisions into the          decision had to be executed at once. Even though a minority
     church order in the form of appendages -and interpretafions.               disagreed.  with the decision, it could not in the very nature
     To `date, however,  this has not been done with respect to the             of the case be postponed until. an appeal was heard. The
     problem  stated and the result is that there are differences  of,          matter of roll-cal1 had to be determined before Classis could
~    opinion with regard to the questiofi  asked.                               possibly proceed  with its work. Irregardless of whether &
            The Church Order Commentary by  Monsma  and Van                     not that decision would be later overruled or reversed by
     Dellen gives US little satisfaction here. In considering the               Synod,  it became a  Valid  and binding decision from the
     questiqn : "Should decisions of minor assemblies  await execu-             moment it was taken in Classis East. The nature of the deci-
     tion pending  an appeal ?", a two-fold answer is given. Firsf it           sion demanded  an immediate execution. Such would be the
     is stated, "We answer in the affirmative" hut, a bit later it is           case with al1 matters of roll-call.
     added,, "If and whep possible, action  on appeals  shouid  be                  Hence, n attempt  might be made to classify al1 ecclesi-
     a$aited"  with this addition, "Sometimes,  however,  this is not           astical decisions under several broad headings and then a rule
     possible, or not advisable." The authors keenly sensed  tbe                made with respect to  the matter in question that would apply
     diffi&lty   i  making a hard and fast rule to govern  every               to each group of decisions. We do not say that this would
     `instance and the result is that very little is said to solve the          prove one -hundred  per cent possible but it may be worthy
     problem.  T answer, "Yes, NO, sometimes, not lways, if                   of an attempt.  We &ght suggest as a beginning a classifica-
     possible, if, advisable" doesn't help a great deal when  one is            tion  such as the  following  to which other headings might be
     confronted with the actual difficulty.  But let US quote the               added as the.need required. For esample :
     "Commentary"  in full on this question:
            "The  question is  oftma  asked:  Shoztld  decisiom  of  minor          1.  Dec&io&   ~irmolvi~~g  Principles  and  Doctrines.
     assevttblies await  execution   pending an  a.ppeal?  We  zuould               2.  Decisiom   reg&ding,  matters  of  Administratioa.

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

        3. Decision  resprctixg  wa.ttel-s  of  P~~ocdwe.         ::  ?    shoul-d dis$nguish  between being bound by the decision as
                                                                            such`and  recognizing the decision and being bound to or
   4.  Decisions   concewing   the Legality  of issues,  delegates,         by  that  recognition.  To illustrate with a matter  where the
           etc.                                                             .conscience would  be definitely  involved, let US presume that
   5.  Dccisions  of Discipline  and  Censwc.                               the church of which 1 Sm a member  decrees  that "Christ
        6.  Ma~ttws   dealing   with  Installat,ion  of  OjGce  BeureTs.    died for all- men and that the promise-  of salvation in Christ
                                                                            is for al1 on the condition  of faith." With this 1 cannot agree
        If then a division of this order were followed, it might            and resolve to appeal. But the appeal wil1 not be heard  for
,be  ruleg  that  al1 decisions falling under  .the first heading           almost a year. The decision is settled and binding. Does this
must  also be executed at  once.  They become settled and                   mean that 1 am bound in my conscience to believe this heresy
 binding  im~~lediat&y.   However,  &ose  tinder the second                 for a year ? Of course not, hut 1 am bound to recognize  and
 heading may conceivably  be held in abeyance for some time                 acknowledge that this is the official -doctrine of the church
 after  they are made if thefe is an appeal regarding them                  of which 1 am a inember  by virtue'of this decision and that
 pending.. Let US illustrate. Suppose that the orthodoxy of an              unless 1 cn succeed in perstiading  the churches thai, they
 elder or minister. is questioned and  ihat the Consistory, by              err, 1 have' no choice other than. to personally  accept aid
 majority vote,  finds him guilty of heresy. One.of the  minor-             defend this doctrine or leave the fellowship of said churches.
 ty, liowever. appeals the decision.. This cannot mean that As long as 1 choose to retail my membership,  am bound
 the dcposition or suspension of the guilty office-bearer be                by the decisions that are legally taken.
 temporarily postponed:  The decision must be enforced at
 once.  On the other hand; let US suppose that a consistory                  In  the second  place,  much of what we wrote in the  fore-
 decides  to black-top the church's parking lot out of funds                going also applies here. It is conceivable  that many decisions
 `availabl  to  th6m. A minority  objects   ins&ting  that these           are made with which 1 cannot agree but to which 1 never-
 :funds can br put to better use in another way. They will, if              theless can submit myself while my appeal is `being heard
 necessary. appeal thc matter. In  su+ a case, it  wouid                    and without abusing my conscience. For example, 1 .may
 certainly be the course of wisdom  to hold the execution of                belang  to a congregation which adopts what 1 believ is an
 the decision in abeyance even though the majority has every                unreasonable budget. .I decide  to appeal and show cause why
 gai right to  proceed  with the black-topping  `of the church that budget is wrong. In the meantime, 1 ctintribute  to the
 yard. AU things  that are lawful are not alwajs expedient.                 needs of the church, not according to my own standard but
 And so we might continue with respect to these different                   according to my ability and the  needs as determined by the
 kinds of decisions.  The point we wish to ,make is that the                congregation. And so there are many things but let it be
 timr of executing a decision is to -bc. determined  to a large             n6ted in conclusion  that oft times much of the quibbling about
 extent   by the nature  of the decision as'well  as the circum-            "binding  co&cience"  is occasioned by the  attempt  to  be.
 stances surrounding,it.  But irrespective  of when-  the decision `loosed  from the binding authority of the Word of Christ and
 is actually put into effect, the mere fact that it is being ap-            His' Church and to justify one's self in mutiny and rebellion.
 pealed does nof nullify it or malie it temporarily illegal but             Which f these, before God, is the greater sin?
                                                                                                 -_
 it  reniains "settled and binding" until  such  time' as it is                                                                   G.V.D.B.
 changed by a major eccl&iastical  body.

          13'.  Stutq  o f   Appelht  DL&ng,   T k e   Intwiw~                                 THE DAY OF SHADOWS
                                                                                                (Continu& from page 178).
        This  is `quite naturally  closely related to the foregoing.
 It should be evident that if a decision  loses  itS binding force              Satan's guilt, too was great. And. his guilt was that he
                                                                            implanted in Eve's mind his lie whereby her pride was in-
 by virtue of an appeal, the appellant is not bound by it until             flamed  so that she was deceived by th lie. The devil's at-
 his appeal is  .heard and treated. If, on the other  hand, a               tempt to deceive the  woman was successful because she
 decision remains in force  until' the appeal is heard, the ap-             adopted, made her own, his rationalization of the lie. His
 pellant  must  also  be bound .by it and submit t it or lose -reasoning  was this: It's foolish to suppose that you wil1 cie
 his right to appeal.                                                       as a result  of. eating of the forbidden tree.  Al1 the other
        It is on this point ,that a great  deal of unnecessary con-         trees of the garden are good for food are they not? Likewise
 flict has arisn. Some claim that an appellant cannot be botind            the fruit of this one free. Thou shalt not die eating of its
 for conscience sake. Others insist that the appellant must                 fruit. So there ca; be but one reason why God forbade thee.
 be bound or a state  of anarchism  results and that may never              He knows that the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt be like
 be tolerated in the church. The question then is: "What is                 Him. That He wills to prevent. He is bent on keeping thee
 the appellant's status ?"                                                  10~  at the  expense  of thine supreme happiness. He does not
                                                                            have your interests  .at heart.
        This matter, it seems to me, can be easily resolved with
 a little  understanding  and clarification. First of al1 then, we                                                                 G.M:O.


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 189

                                                                   `orthodox but theologically  dead. Her theology is `correct'
           AL-1  AROUND  U S                                       but has not been a corrective  factor in her life. Theology in,
                                                                   the  church has grown  stale,   stagnant,  and lifeless.   Evidente
                                                                   of this, says Daane, is her indifferente  to the vigorous, chal-
Dr. Daane Again  Undw  Swutiny.                                    lenging religious movements of recent  times.  -The Christian
   Dr. James Daane, minister in the Christian Reformed             Reformed Church has been largely unmoved and untouched
                                                                   by-the   current renaissance of biblical  2nd theological studies  -.
Church of Los Angeles,  Clifornia,  a writer for the Reformed     that has been stimulated by  such scholars as Barth, Brunner,
Journal, and author of the book titled Tlzsology  Of Giace,        Tillich, and others. Daane laments the fact that the Chris-
has become a target of criticism from  sevcral quarters. Not.      tian Reformed Church, with al1 her emphasis on theolobgy,
only have Dr. C.  .Van Til and .Rev. H.  Hoeksema  taken           `has made no  mentionable  contribution to this resurgence of
.Daane  to task for emasculating their views on the common         theology, and has done nothing to determine its `direction.'
grace  questioa.   ,not only has the Rev.  Hoeksema   .sev&ely     Accordingly, her theology  lacks contemporaneousness and her
condemned Daane's evaluation of Hoeksema's  view on the            preaching  often   lacks relevancy to the  .great issues of our
sovereignty of God in the relation of election and reprobation     times.           '
to which the editor of Th8 Sta~adan/d Bea7w  gave utterance
in recent issues of this periodical, nor is it enough that Dr.            "What  can be done about  this  state of affairs ? Daane
Ridderbos of the Reformed Church in the `Netherlands  has          replies that `our theological plight calls for a fresh.  reformula-
expressed himself rather  critically of the argument of Daane      tion of the. the&ogical  task and the creation and utilization
reviewed in his boek  Tlwology  Of Gracc, but there is much        of a new theological approach achieved in the light of the
criticism of a serious nature  rising against him in his own       present and with the aid of what we have learned in the past.'
church.                                                            To be sure, this  progrcss  must be based on Scripture. It
                                                                   must be a-. theology of the Word. `Our theology must stand' -
   The last two issues of Torclz  and Tmm~fiet  contain rather     again in the direct light of the Scripture in.order to see new
lengthy contributions written  with a view to acquaint the         light and in order continually to appraise the truth of her
readers. of this paper with the fact that in the opinion of        formulations.         Thus it would appear that Daane seeks to,
these writers Daane has said too much `in criticism of the         reform Reformed theology by pointing the way beyond the
theology of his own church.       -                                old orthodoxy toward a new and better orthodoxy.
   In the December, 1957,  Torch  a.nd  Trwmpet,   Rev.  Ed-              "Daane contends that the progress of theoloi in the
war& Heerema, minister of a Christian Reformed Chuich  in          church bas been liindered by the study of theology itself. The
Grand Rapids, and member of the editorial  committee of            Christian Reformed Church has been engaged in the study of
Toxh and T7*w~7#et,  accuses Dr. Daane of having a bad case        theology for  theology's  sake and accordingly  bas, given a
of astigmatism.  It  iS conceded that Daane sees something         largei  place'  to systematic  Theology than to Biblical Theology.
wrong with Christian Reformed theology, but be,case  Daane        This, emphasis on a system of theology,  says Daane, is
sees with wrong theological glasses,  al1 he sees is distorted.    particularly evident in the  attempt  to  `centralize'  theology
   Moreover, the Rev. Joseph A. Hill,  minister of the ge-         by positing divine  sovereignty as the master concept around
formed Presbyterian Church and teacher of Bible in the             which  al1 other truth is arranged and to which al1 other truths
Unity  Christian High School at Hudsonville, Michigan,             are adjusted. The theological task, thus circumscribed, is
writing in the January, 1958, issue of Tor& and Tmvxpet            limited in potential and has been long since  finished.   When
goes so far as to accuse.Dr. Daane of neo-orthodoxy, being         theology is conceived of in terms of a fixed system of truth,O
afflicted with th& rationalism of _Barth  and Kierkegaard.         `it tends to become `static.' Further development of theology
Daane, so the writer contends,  wants a reformulation of           is impossible once theology is regarded as a finished system
Reformeb  theology. Daane's critic concedes that a Reformed        of truth. Thus theology in the Christian Reformed Church Q
Church should keep on reforning,  but he insists, and cor-        cannot adiance beyond itself because it is con-ived of ab-
rectly so, that true reformation "must be a reformation-within     stractly as a closed system." c
the bounds of Scripture, not a reformation beyond Scripture."             Rev. Hill further asserts ."In keeping` with his objection .
   Both  sf Daane's critics referred to immediately  above are     to theology as a system of truth, Daane also objects  to the
reflecting on an article which Dr. Daane wrote in the Re-          emphasis in Reformed Theology  on the idea of a plan of God              _
formed Journal of September, 1957, -under  the title, "The         for history according to which God  controls  everything that
State of Theology  in the Church."            _                    comes to pass. `Theological self-reflection  upon the  accepted
                                                                   centra1 doctrine' (the sovereignty of Gocl)  determined  the
   That the reader may  know a little of what t-e argument         manner in which the counsel. of God was  defined  by the
is about, we quote a little from  the artic of Joseph A. Hill      church. "The method which maden sovereignty as such .the
where the  latter restates the position of Dr. Daane.              explanation of sin and reprobation, as  wel1 as of election, was
   "The Christian Reformed Church, he says, is theologicaily       applied to the counsel of God. Sovereignty per se was now
                                                                    `,

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

  made the explanation of everything, of `whatsoever comes. to.            Concerning the third distorted area of Daane's vision,  .
  pass.' Just as sovereignty was reduced to a philosophical con-        Rev..  Heerema  writes, "Daane's distorting vision  is nowhere
  cept of causality which made God as sovereign the Ultimate            more- obvious than it is `in his description of the concept of
  Cause of sin and reprobation, as wel1  as of election, so divine      the `sovereignty of God' as related particularly to election
  sovereignty  @as made the  Ultimate  Cause of whatsoever              and reprobation. This  concept, so precieus  to the Christian
  comes to pass, and whatsoever comes to pass became the                of sound Reformed Persuasion, is seen in distortion by Daane
  Ultimate  Expression of God's Ultimate Will.' "                       as follows : `Yet it. was not always observed that a sover-
     --To quote no more of Rev. Hill's article because of limited       eignty which ik and of and by itself explains both sin and
  space. briefly it is Rev.-Hill's  conclusion from Daane's argu-       righteousness, election and reprobation, is a sovereignty with-
  ment that the latter, for fear of determinism which he con-           out any essential ethical character. Such sovereignty is an
  cluded may be derived from  the Reformed Theological system           unqualified, naked power, a brute  fact.'  "
  `re the soveieignty of God in His counsel, wants to go in the            It is at this point that Heerema remarks, "It is to be
  direction of rejecting God's counsel as the determining factor        noted that Daane finds such a notion of God's sovereignty
  in whatsoever comes to pass in history. Rev. Hill believes            in the thinking of Van Til and Hoeksema." Heerema is in-
  that' Daane,  who  received his  doctorate  at Princeton, has         clined to believe that Daane has  also  read Van `Til with
  imbibed too much of the liberal theological dishes served up          distorted-vision,  but as to Hoeksema  he writes  "we are not
  at that institution, and he has relished the Existentialism of        minded to enter into his evaluation of Hoeksema, even,
  Kierkgaard  and the dialectica1 theology of Barth. It is Rev.        though Daane's remarks on the precise point in question
 Hill's condusion that Daane's `new theological approach'               would seem  .to have a- measure of validity." Heerema drops
  would lead the Christian Reformed Church not in the direc-            the subject here because he insists that he is interested only
  tion of orthodoxy but of neo-orthodoxy.                               in Daane's criticism of the Christian Reformed theology. But
    Also Rev. Heerema, as  already  indicated, has not  much            it  would be interesting to know more of what Herema thinks
  gpod to say about Daane's new approach. He points  up- of Hoeksema's theology  on this point. Perhaps the editor
  especially three areas in which Daane's theological vision            of Th Standard Bearm when  he reads this wil1 not let this
  is distorted. The first is "in his charge that sovereign election.    pass either without asking  for further comment. Heerema            -
  has not been sufficiently espressed `in terms of Christ as            doesn't  like sweeping statements, but we  don? either. It
  Lord in whom om election takes place,  but in terms of God's          were better  that-  Rev. Heerema had not left that statement             '
  sovereignty as expressed in terms of both an election and             hanging in the air, and that he had gone right on to show
  reprobation apart .from  Christ.' " Heerema  is amazed  at how        how Daane's vision of Hoeksema's theology on this point was
  Daane misinterprets the writings of the late professor Berk-          20 - 20.
  hof in his Systematic Theology, and accuses Daane of gener-               Heerema concludes this part of his article with  the.follow-
  alizations and of "putting far too much freight on a point, a         ing paragraph : "Daane's casting of the teaching of the sover-
  point seen in distortion in the first.place."                         `eignty of God in an extreme supralapsarian  meld is a gross
         The.  second area, according to Heerema, where Daane's         distortion of Christian Reformed Theology. Our God is
  vision is distorted is in regard to his conception of the anti-       unspeakably and unceasingly holy.  Never t -any point is
  thesis.  Writes   he, Daane's notions as to the `antithesis'          that glorious fact forgotten  or ignored in Reformed theology.
  are  puzzling.  He charges that there is present in the               What ever problems or question arise in our theological
  Christian  Reformed Church an `abstract and static concep-            reflections, God is always God in the totality of his holy
  tion' of the antithesis. And this  means that `the world is           perfections."
  eternally divided into eternally warring halves engaged in  ari          And he concludes -bis- entire article with the. words : "A
  eternal conflict in which there is no victory because no de-          `person  can't help wondering : just where did Daane get those
= cisive battle is ever waged. This conception of the antithesis        spectacles ?" Rev. H. J. Kuiper who from his past writings
  is wholly  static because it is defined apart from  .Christ  and      shows that he does not love Dr. Daane's conceptions very
  His victorieus  death and resurrection.. Indeed, in this view         much  ither,  places  a foot-note at the bottom of the above
  Christ is  merely the  executive  of this antithesis,  nat. the       question which tells the reader that the answer is to be found
 i Savior of the world who abolishes death, sets the devil  at          in the article of Rev. Hill above referrd to and appearing
  naught, and -takes away the sins of the world.'                       in the January issue  of Torck and  Trumpet.  The answer,
         "One bardly  knows what to make of such a ,statement,          as we have seen, according to Rev. Hill, is that Daane got .
  characterized as.it is by reckless language."  Rev. Heerema           those spectacles at Princeton Theological Seminary.           -
  then proceeds to show wherein Daane uses reckless language             What Daane  iivill do  with  al1 this criticism we do not
  and the gist of his remarks  comes down to this that Daane            know. But if he is going to answer it he wil1  have plenty to
  is not really criticizing the Christian Reformed conception           do for a long time to come.
 of the antithesis, but only Dane's distorted conception of
   that conception.                                                                                                              M S .


                                                  THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                191

                          OUR         FUTURE                 :  P      history. We did not leave  the Christian Reformed Church ;
                                                                       we were tast out of their fellowship. We did not subscribe
    Speech  debvered   by Rev. H.  l/eldma.uL,  Nov. 15, 1957         to heresy ; we were declared by the Synod of 1924 to be
               in  Doon, at  ozw  annual  meeting of  ow               fundamentally   reformed.. Did you ever hear of a  heretic
                Protestant  -Refomhed   Action   Societj.              who was fundamentally  reformed? True, the same synod also
                                                                       declared of  US that we were characterized by an inclination
                              (Concluded)                              to one-sidedness. But, was not the opposition also one-sided,
                                                                       leaning toward. Common  Grace and arminianism  ? - We are
 Wherefore also, man is himself rightly said to believe and re-        one-sided ? This we deny. But, even so, then we are one-
 pent by virtue of that grace received.  Faith is therefore to be      sided to the truth that God is God alone. 1 do not mind
 considered as the gift of God, not on account of its being            being accused of this one-sidedness, do you ? We were  tast
 offered by God to man, to be  accepted   or rejected at his           out, and of this it must be recorded  that we were never given
 pleasure ; hut because it is in reality conferred, breathed,          an.opportunity  to defend ourselves. The only time we were
 and infused into him ; or evn because God bestows the                permitted  to speak in public in. 1924 was because we had
 power or ability to believe, and then expects that man should         promised  that, given the- opportunity to speak; we would not
 be the exercise of bis own free will, conse.nt  to the ter.ms of      ask for the privilege again. Imagine:  does not a defendant
salvation, and, actually believe in .Christ ; but because he who       have a right to defend himself to the utmost?  Never were we
 works in man both to wil1  and to do, and indeed  al1 things          convicted of heresy. And today, some 33 years later, we  be-
 in all; produces  both the wil1 to believe, and the act of be-        lieve as we did in 1924. A heretic  is always characterized, is
 lieving   also." We`ask again: what is tr.uth? This is truth:         he not, by retrogression ? When, 1 ask you, was a heretic
 the grace of God is' sovereignly irresistible. And- this we           ever tast out because he believed, exclusively, in the Five
 preach and tach.                                                     Points of Calvinism ? 1 ask you : do we .stand and have we
    What is truth ? This is truth : the perseverance of the            proceeded  upon the path of heresy- and departure from the
 saints. We- need not quote the passages which w have al-             truth ?- Or have we. adhered to the Scriptural and Confes-
 ready quoted. We refer to John 6 :37-39  and.Phil.  1:6. And          sional teachings that the Lord is God alone?  Who,  1  ask
 this truth is also Confessional. .We read in Canons V, A, 8:          you, has departed from the fundamental truth that. the Lord
 "Thus,  it. is not in  consequente  "of their: own  merits,  or       is God alone ? Who bas departed frm the path of Christian
 strength, but of God's free mercy, that they do not totally           discipline ? Who has departed from  the Church's calling to
 fa11  from  faith and grace, nor continue and perish finally in       walk antithetically in the midst.of the world?
 their backslidings  ; which,  with respect to  themselves,  is not       We  may  also apply this to  .1953. 0, the  schism  of 1953  %e
 only possible, but would undoubtedly happen  ; but with re-           in our midst  was not caused  by the question whether the word
 spect to God, it is zttte&y i,mpo.ssible,  since His counsel can-     "condition"   can be properly used or not. The  schism  was
 not be changed,  nor His  promise. fail, neither `can the cal1        caused  by two statements which do not contain  the word.
 according to His purpose .be  revoked, nor the merit,   inter-        "condition," but which do declar  that the promise  is con-
 cession  and preservation of Christ be rendered ineffectual,          ditional and that om- entrance  into the Kingdom  of Heaven is
 nor the sealing of the Holy Spirit be frustrated or oblitr-          preceded by  om act of  .conversion.,  You say : they do not
 ated." Again we repeat : what is truth ? This is truth : the          mean it that way ? First,  how easy it  would  have been to
 perseverance of the saints is sure. And this, too, we  preach         retract what they did not mean. And, secondly, failure to
 and teach.                                                            retract what they said surely means that they meant e.xactly.
                                                                       what .they said:
    And notice,  please, how this is in perfect harmony with              Do we have a future? We have a future as long as God
 Christ's  calling of His  sheep: He calls  His shep, does He         pleases to have His truth  proclaimed,  and this wil1  continue
 not ? Hence He knows them - this is sovereign election  and
                                                                       until the day when  al1 struggle wil1  be over, and we shall see
 reprobation. He calls His sheep upon the basis of His own             face tp face, know as we are known, and live forever unto
 meritorious  werk  upon  the cross. He is the Good Shepherd,          the glory of God's sovereign grace and love.
 is He not, Who lays down His .life for .His sheep - this is
 particular .atonement. He calls His sheep, seeks and lnds
 what is lost - this is total depravity. He calls His sheep --                                111.  Its  Ca~lling'
 this is irresistible grace. And He ca& His sheep and there-
 fore their salvation is sure -Z this is the perseverance of the          To be sure, meetings of this nature  are good. 1 can see
                                                                       that an organization of this nature  can exert a wholesome in-
 saints. Surely, we maintain the truth.                                fluence. How strange, before the split in 1953, that many-of
    Secondly, we have a future because we maintained the               those who. were of US should oppose this society of Prot-
 truth and are therefore ,small. And therefore we exist as             estant Reformed action.  This society can exert a wholsome
Protestant  Reformed  Churches. This is true as far as  tlle           influence by sponsoring lectures and also by the printing and
 history of 1924 -is concerned. _ We must never forget this            distribution of Protestant Reformed literature. Besides, this


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  propaganda element is undoubtedly the basic purpose of this              pure) and that these two churches are easily known and
 society for Protestant Reformed action.                                   distinguished   from each other ; namely where the pztre doc-
         However,  we can and do more.- -1 did not mention,  the           trine of the gospel `is preached, there the truc church is. Now
 matter to which 1 am about to cal1 attention in my Reforma- if according to  .Rev.  Kuiper it is true that the Chr. Ref.
 tion Day speech here because 1 intended to mention  it to-                .Church is not the false church, she must be the true church,
 night. We must be a Protestant Reformed Action society, ' (it is either or) and preaches ,the.pure doctrine of the gospel.
 and this lso implies  that everyone of US must be active.  It                Wheres  no one has a right to withdraw himself from
 is a good. thing to sponsor a lecture or publish a book or                the true church, we have no right  of separate .existence  ac-
 brochure, and thereby place the load of this action  in some-             cording  to this conception. Christ is not divided.
 one else's lap. But we ourselves  can be  active,  have con-                      '                Your brother in  the Lord,
 fidence in our future, and now 1 refer to the sphere of                                                                 Kryn Feenstra
 Christian instruction. We lament  the sad state of our local              819  SylvaBlvd.,  Redlands, Calif.
 Christian schools. In this we al1 agree. Now, we can do three
 things. We can regard these schools as the best we have and                   P.S. In 1924 we did not withdraw ourselves from the
 support them to the utmost of our ability. This, by the way!              ' Christian Reformed-Church. But we were expelled.         H.H.
 is the least we can do. We can condemn our local schools,
 withdraw  our children from  them,  and send  them. to  the
 public schools.  This is the worst  we,,can do.  This-is  not                           .LESSONS  FROM THE PAST                              -.
Protestant Reformed actin, but `complete inaction  : `this is                ,My people give ear, attend to my word;
 capitulation, srrender,  the laying aside of .our uniform,  the'             In parables new deep truths shall be heard  ;
 giving up of the fighf, the joining of our  forces with the world,            The wonderful story our fathers made known
 the throwing in of the sponge.  This is the worst we can do:                  To children succeeding by US must .be shown.
 it  constitutes  a violation of our baptismal pledge and of the
 Scriptures that teach that Israel shall never permit the world                Instructing our sons we gladly record.
 to instruct its children. Or, we can also work together for                   The praises, the works, the might of the Lord,
 our own school. This is the best we can do, and the best is                   For He- hath command,ed  that what he hath done
 always the least we may do. We cannot do it? How do we                        Be passed in tradition from  father  to son.
 evaluate ,our children and the instruction we give them ?                     Let children thus learn from history's light
-4 What value do we place  upon it? We cannot  affo-d                         To hope in. om- God and walk in His sight,
 it ? We  can  afford  television sets and instruct our                        The God of their fathers to fear and bey,
 children that way ? We can pay for al1 kinds of modern ap-                    And ne'er like their fathers to turn from His way.
- pliances and conveniences.?  We usually pay for a thing what                 The story be told, to warn and restrain,
 we think it is worth. Are we earthly and carnal? We can-                      Of hearts that were hard, rebellious, and .vain,
 not do it? How do you know ? Shall we consider it, desire  it,                Of soldiers  who faltered  when  battle was near,
pray for it, long for it. Do we long and pray for this ? Prot-                 Who kept not God's  covenant  nor walked in His fear.
 estant Reformd  action?  We have a future? Let  US  walk
 that way. Thank you.                                                          God's  wonderful works to them He had shown,
                                                                               His marvelous deeds their fathers had known ;
 Il                                                                            He made for their pathway the waters divide,
                     CONTRIIBUBIBNS'                                 !l        His glorious `pillar of cloud was their guide.
                                                                               He gave them to drink, relieving their thirst,
                                                                               And forth from the rock causd water to bust;
                      *.                            January 2, 1958            Yet faithless they tempted their God, and they said,
 Rev. H. `Hoeksema                                     `1                      Can He Who gave water supply US with bread ?
  1139 Franklin St., S. E.                                                     Jehovah was wroth because they forgot
 Grand Rapids, Mich.                                                           To hope in their God, and trusted Hirn not ;
                                                                              _Yet gracieus,  He opened the doors of the sky
 Dear Rev. Hoeksema:                                                           And rained down the manna in richest supply.
         In  regard to the article  in  Tlze Standard Becwer   of Nov.       / They thought not of  how, their freedom to gain,
 1, 1957, under the heading "Our Conception of Churches,"                      In Egypt's abodes the first-born were  slain,
 I wish to make the following remarks.                                         And how al1 God's people were led forth like sheep,
         Om  .confessions,  (Art. 29 of the  Belgic  Confessions)              The flock He delighted in safety to keep.
 speak of two churches, true (not purest) and  false, (not less                                                          Psalm 78:1-7,  15


