        VOLUME x=v                            OCTOBER 15, 1958 -GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                   NUMBER 2


                                                                         .And so the prophet will give his answer in our text: no,
`!!          M E D I T A T I O N                                       I am not even disturbed when walking through the valley of
                                                                       the shadow of death!

                                                                         Wonderful testimony !
           A WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY

                                                                                                4: -* * *
               "Yen, though  I walk tko.tqlz  the mlley  of d&h,

               I will fe,ar  no evil: for Thu a/vt with me; Thy
                                                                          First of all, we must remember that the prophet is not
               +od  and Thy  sta.ff they comfort me." Ps. 23 A
                                                                      singing only about the clay of our death.

       What a contrast to the preceding psalm.                            That is the explanation of almost all the commentators of

       `There we hear the terrible cry of the prophet who suf-        this psalm. And many of God's people often quote the verse
fered before the suffering of Jesus.                                  in this vein. But it is not so.

       But we hasten to add that we cannot compare the suffer-            The prophet does not mean to say : for this lifemy vvants
ing of David and the suffering of Jesus. David was but a              and my needs are completely taken care `of, and what con-
type, and his suffering was but a weak type of the Via                cerns.my  dissolution, even then my Shepherd will take care
Dolorosa of Jesus.                                                    of.me,  for "He will go with me in that valley, and there He
                                                                      will comfort me with His rod and His staff."
       But here all is calm and serene: the prophet knows that
God is His Shepherd and that he does not want.                            I agree that the statement as such is true, but this text
                                                                      means more than that: Not only is He with me when I will
       He will also explain it to us : this Shepherd makes him
                                                                      make that final journey, but He is with me throughout all
to lie down in green pastures : all his wants and- his needs
                                                                      my life here on earth, and this latter is. even on the fore:
are completely fulfilled.                                                                                        . .
                                                                      ground.

       The great Shepherd of the sheep leadeth His sheep along
                                                                          Here is the point: all through our life !ve are -walking
the quiet waters of everlasting righteousness.
                                                                      through ,the  valley of death, and its shadow is continually

       And so his soul is restored from its erstwhile unrest and      upon us.                                                 .
misery.
                                                                          Of all my commentaries there is but,one  that agrees with

       And this psalm is strictly theological: God does all that      me, but that makes no difference.

for His own Kame's sake ! He wants to glorify I%mself in
                                                                          Such is indeed the teaching of Scripture throughout, and
His church.
                                                                      it is also plain from the text itself, as also the `context. _

       And then it seems that the prophet is thinking of all
                                                                          The verses 5 and 6 certainly do. not sustain the former
kinds of arguments that shall be raised against him, such as :
                                                                      view, the view, namely, that this verse refers to our final
how can a man be so,calm,  serene and at peace in the midst
                                                                      journey. Because when the prophet has stated the astound-
of this world-life ? Is it not true that we lie in the midst of
                                                                      ing truth that God is with him in the valley of death, he
death ? Are we not miserable sinners, and are we not mak-
                                                                      continues and gives &testimony hozef God comforts him in the
ing our debts greater every day? Are there not devils around
                                                                      valley. He prepareth a table before me in the presence of
us and within us?  And how about the wicked that surround             his enemies; his head is anointed with oil and his cup run-
us, the power of evil within us ?                                     neth over. And, concluding, he testifies that he is assured

       How can a man ever say : I shall not want ! I am at peace !    of the fact that all his clays will be spent in the house of

 I am completely content?                                             God.


     .26  -.                                   THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


I        But also the text itself does not lend itself to the former    for I am undone ; because- I am a man of unclean lips.: for
     explanation.                                                       my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.`"

         If this is the last journey, that is, our departure from           And thus it was every time when one of us saw the Lord

     this earth to the heavenly tabernacle, how shall we then ex-       or the perfection of heaven. Think of the shepherds in

     plain the rod and the staff of God unto my comfort ?               Bethlehem's fields when Jesus was born. They feared with'

                                                                        great fear. Think of John when he saw Jesus on the isle of
         No, but this walk is our walk here below from the be-          Patmos:  he fell as dead at the feet of Him that spoke to
     ginning to the end.                                                him. Think of Job, of Abraham in his shuddering and

                                                                        trembling, of Habakkuk, and so many more.
                               *    + + *                                   It is all because of this shadow of death that lies hard

                                                                        upon every one of us.
         All Scripture also teaches that- we lie in the midst of
     death ; that we die every day ; that we carry about with               And it is a wonder that we can smile at all.
                                                                  us

     the body of this death; that a thousand fears and a thousands          And yet, the prophet says : even though I walk through

     deaths accompany us on this earth. The Dutch sing of it in         the valley of this shadow of death I z&l feav  no evil!

     the psalms: "Duizend zorgen, duizend dooden, kwellen mijn '

     angstvallig hart !"                                                                           4     Pi * *


         Our walk is our life, and then that life as we live it

     from the heart.                                                        How is that possible?

         It does not only include our thoughts, words and deeds,            The answer is given in the text: For Thou art with me'!

     but also our secret heart and mind which no one sees but               It is as when the Jewish man was wandering about in

     God alone.                                                         Edom. He cried toward Jerusalem: Watchman! What of

                                                                        the night?
         And that walk, that life is surrounded and permeated

     with all manner of death.                                              And the answer was: The morning has come, and the

                                                                        night !
         And that is so especially when we are regenerated and
     converted to God.                                                      They always go together for the child of God.

                                                                           . Oh yes, the morning has come in his heart, soul and
         Then sin awakes like never before. And then the devils
                                                                        mind.
     begin their wicked work as never before. And also the whole

     world, inspired by the devil, sets itself against us on every          It has illuminated him, delivered him from death in

     side.                                                              principle in the very depths of his heart.

         Our whole walk is characterized by death.                          But . . . also the night.

                                                                           Read Remans  7, and there you see the answer. Especi-
         And this death is characterized as a valley, a depression.
                                                                        ally in the close. The apostle has testified of his life here on

         I want to be in heaven, but I am on the earth.                 earth. There was a will to do good and to be good in the

         I want to be in the company of God, Christ, angels and         clepth  of him, but whenever he wanted to perform the good
     the souls of men made perfect, but I must travel among             work, evil was present with him. What he. hated he did, and
     devils and wicked men.                                             what he loved he could not perform. All -this causecl  him
                                                                        to cry out : 0 wretched man that I am ! Who shall deliver me
         I want to be holy and undefiled, but of necessity I sin in
                                                                        out of the body of. this death ?
     all I do.

                                                                            And the answer in Romans 7 is the same as the answer
         In a word: I want to be absolutely perfect, but I come
                                                                        here: God was with him in all his night of sin and guilt.
     farshort  of the glory of God.
                                                                        He thanked God through Jesus Christ his Lord.
         Every night when I bow my knees I cry out my sin and
                                                                            And so also here.
     my shame to God. 0 God, be merciful to me the sinner!

                                                                            David is not afraid in this terrible valley of the shadow of
         The shadow of physical and spiritual death lies hard
                                                                        death for the Lord (we would say today: Jesus) was with
     upon me day and night.
                                                                        him in the valley.                         . .
         Listen to a saint of the Old Testament: he was lifted
                                                                            And that makes all the difference.            .
     up so that he could look and listen to heaven and  heaven's

     inhabitants. His name is Isaiah (Isa. 6).                              In that Clark  and gloomy valley the Lord tells him that

                                                                        all is well.
         And when he has seen and heard all the glory of God,

     he begins to weep. Hearken to him : "Then said I, Woe is me !          Jesus tells us every day : I have found a ransom for you !


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA.RER                                                                                                                                       27


I know that you hate sin and that           languish under it. I
                                         you 

know that you hate your life of sin and wickedness and that                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

you fight to the death against it. It is My Own work in you.                 Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August

I know that your greatest joy would be to live without sin.                   Published by the REFORMED FRF;E  PUBLI&ING  ASSOCUTION
Well, my sheep, you will attain it for sure. I will lead                     P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
                                                               you

all through the valley. In fact, I have been through that ter-                                              Editor - REV. HERMAN HOEKSEMA

rible valley for you Myself, only then it was infinitely.worse.              Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
                                                                                                  Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
.In all your afflictions I was afflicted. And I have taken your                                                        Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
captivity of death captive, and now it follows Me a captive                  All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
in My train.. It must serve Me and          unto the attainment              G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
                                         you 

of highest glory.                                                            Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
                                                                             address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.

                                                                             RENEWAL: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
                          * .+ * *                                           ceived it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
                                                                             to continue without the formality of a renewal order.

    And so the sheep are safe in this valley.                                                                Subscription price:. $5.00 per. year

    For Jesus comforts them with His rod and His staff.                      Entered as Second Class matter at Grand Rapids, Michigan


   This is imagery, of course.

   The rod and the staff serves two purposes for the                                                                        C O N T E N T S

Shepherd.                                                             MEDITATION -

                                                                                        A Walk Through The Valley                                      . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
    It is the instrument of discipline for the sheep when they                                   Rev. G. Vos
go astray, but it is also the instrument of protection against
                                                                      EDITORIALS -
the wolves of every hue and cry that surround the flock of
                                                                                        Trouble About Nigeria __ __. __. _._. ..-.. .., __ _. . . ,. ..28
Christ.                                                                                          Rev. H. Hoeksema

   And they comfort the sheep.                                        OUR DOCTRINE -

    For He has told them that all things work together for                              The Book of Revelation .._..............  . . . .._....._._....................  36
                                                                                                 Rev. H. Hoeksema
their eternal welfare,

                                                                      A CLOUD                       WITNESSES -
    Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but note the                                  OF 
                                                                                        The Casting Out Of Ishmael __................................................. 31
text: no evil shall I fear. That means that although we are                                     Rev. B. Woudenberg
hated, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter, although
                                                                      I
the blood of many martyrs of Christ .soak  the earth, no real         N HIS FEAR -
                                                                                        Jehovah, the God of Arithmetic                                   (3) . 33
evil befalls them It is all chastisement and helps them to                                       Rev. J. A. Heys
obtain the holiness of-the Lord.
                                                                      CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH -
   And what shall I more say ?                                                          The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

                                                                                                 Rev. H. Veklman
    I like to close with a text which has come before. my

mind's eye ever since I started this little talk. It is found         SPECIAL ARTICLE -

in Proverbs 4, verse 18: "But the path of the just is as the                            Transcript of Speech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~...................................... 3'7
                                                                                                 Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
shining `light, that shineth~  more and more unto the perfect

day !"                                                                DECENCY AND ORDER -

                                                             G.V.                       Ecclesiastical               Jurisdiction _..,_.__,......._.._.............................  ._._._ . ...41
                              c                                                                  Rev. G. Vanden  Berg


                                                                      ALL~AROTJNDUS-
                                                                                        Introducing "The First Protestant Reformed Church":. .:. .-13
                 T H E G O O D S H E P H E R D                                                   Rev. M. Schipper


             Whatever ill betides me,                                 SPECIAL ARTICLE-
               He will restore and bless;                                               Question Hour                   _. .._. .__. __ . . . ..__ _._... _.., __ .45
                                                                                                 Rev. H. Hoeksema
             For His Name's sake He guides me
                                                                                                                                                                                               I T
               In paths of righteousness.                             CONTRIBUTIONS-
             Thy ro,d and staff shall cheer me                                          Missionary Notes                     . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .:. . . . . . . ..46
                                                                                                                                                                                              . .
                                                                                                 Rev. G. Lubbers
               In death's dark vale and shade,

             For Thou wilt then be near me:                                        F
                                                                      N            ROM OUR CHURCHES _.__............................................................                                                  48
                                                                           EWS 
               I shall not be afraid.                                                            Mr. J. M. Faber

                                                       Psalm 23 :2

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



                                                                             "Grounds :
               EDITORIALS-                                                   "a. Former Synods have committed the Church up to
                                                                         this point, and we are morally bound to honor this commit-

                                                                         ment.
                     Trouble About Nigeria                                   "b. The present commitment satisfies the urgency of the

       For some time we have had reasons to suspect that there           situation.

was a rather large liberal and modernistic element in the                    "2. That a study committee be constituted of nine mem-

Christian Reformed Church, an element that was broad-                    bers (in which both the minority and the majority opinions

minded, which means the same as saying that they do not                  are represented), in consultation with the Nigerian General

care about specific Reformed truth. ,The  different papers and           Conference, to define  and clarify certain matters which fol-

magazines that exist apart from the official church papers,              low, and that clear-cut recommendations be made'to  Synod

like To~vlt and Trumpc't and the Refowaed  Jouma',  the lat-             of 1959 on these matters :

ter rather liberal, the former orthodox, already point in that               "a. The implication of. our ordination vows with respect

direction. Another sign that points in the same direction is             to missionaries who serve in a united theological .enterprise.

the attitude some take toward the Christian School. Dr.                      "b. The relation of the Christian Reformed Church to

Daane, for instance, according to the September 1958 issue               the TCNN, taking into account our church polity as well as

of Torch and Tmfmpet, takes the position that the Christian              theological distinctiveness.

schools are too separatistic and that they should seek in-                   "c. The relation of the Nigerian General Conference to

volvement with American society. When later he was asked                 the TCNN (for example to the appointment of members of

whether this purpose could not be more effectively reached               the Board of Governors).

by sending the children directly to the public schools and by              "d. The relation of the Benue and Tiv churches to the

having the Christian school teachers give instruction in the             TCNN.

public schools, he admitted that this might be better.                       "e. The relation of the teachings of our Missionary Pro-

       There are other signs that point in the same direction.           fessor to the distinctive positions and practices held by the

       In the Christian Reformed Church there is no agreement            Benue and Tiv churches.

even on the most fundamental principles of the Reformed                      "f. The relation of the IMissionary  Teacher to the Nige-

truth.                                                                   rian General Conference (for example supervision of his

       It is drifting away. And that, too, rather fast.                  teaching- at TCNN and problems that arise for him at

       This is evident from the fact that the liberal element, in        TCNN).

Calvin College, teach the evolution theory, as is a well-                    "g. Further investigation of the need for a distinctively

known fact. What this means for the church is not difficult              Reformed theological training on the Benue and Tiv field.

to estimate. Future leaders of the church, ministers and                     "Grounds :

teachers, are imbued with the ungodly theory of evolution,                   " (1) The present recommendation of the Board is some-

these in turn teach others in the church, in the catechism               what ambiguous. The term `participate' can be construed in

classes, the schoolroom, and from the pulpit, and before long            such a way that the Christian Reformed Church becomes one

the whole church becomes corrupt.                                        of the sponsoring and operating churches of the TCNN -

       But I was going to write, in the present editorial, especi-       which would violate the clear statement which Synod gave

ally about the last decision regarding Nigeria, specifically             to Classis  Sioux Center. Or this term might have a weaker

concerning the participation of Synod-and the Christian Re-              meaning.

formed Church in a certain theological school which is called                "(2) There are many aspects of this problem that have

the Theological College of Northern Nigeria, a school in                 not been defined, or that have not come to sufficient clarity.

which men of different denominations and colors may and                     "(3) Several Classes have requested such a study.

do give instruction, and in which also Dr. Harry Boer has                   "3. That Synod permit special gifts to be solicited for the

been teaching in the past and in which he may, according to              native church which desires to participate in TCNN and

the decision of the last Christian Reformed Synod, continue              that it be understood that this not further commit the Chris-

to give instruction in the coming year.                                  tian Reformed Church to the TCNN at this time inasmuch

       Dr. Boer, the reader understands, is a missionary in the          as the support is given to the native church and the responsi-

Christian Reformed Church. He was very strongly in favor                 bility for expansion of the TCNN at this time is the re-
of having the Christian Reformed Church support synodic-                 sponsibility of the native church.                       -*

ally, also financially, that union seminary in Nigeria.                     "Grounds :

       But let me, first of all, quote the decision of Synod regard,-       "a. The Benue church has requested such help.

ing this matter :                                                           "b. The Christian Reformed Church has on other occa-

       "1. Synod continues Dr. Harry Boer as teacher in the              sions allowed the solicitation of gifts without thereby com-

TCNN (Theological College of Northern Nigeria, H.H.)                     mitting itself to the participation in the particular cause con-

under the terms of the 1955 and 1957 decisions of Synod.                 cerned.


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D ' B E A R E R                                                 29


    "4. That this be considered as Synod's answer to the            emphasizes the real presence of Christ "up and under and

overtures nos. 16, 26, 35, 41, 48, and 52; also Protest No.         with" the bread and wine ? Will not the student be confused ?

4 and the Protest of Rev. J. De Jong."                              And thus we could continue. There is hardly an important

                                                                    doctrine of the Church concerning which there is no differ-
                          8 * * 8                                   ence of opinion. And in order that the teaching may be

                                                                    definite it must not only present the positive conception of

    Such, then is the decision of the last Synod of the Chris-      the truth as it is found in Scripture, and that too, by a

tian Reformed Church in regard to the TCNN.                         Reformed missionary, in harmony with sound Reformed

    Let us discuss this matter for a bit.                           doctrine ; but it must also present that truth antithetically,
                                                                    i.e. in opposition to every error. Then, and then only, will
    First of all, let. me brieflly explain to the reader what is
                                                                    the student receive a clear conception of the truth and become
the TCNN. It is a theological school or seminary. It is a
                                                                    prepared to proclaim it iry  his preaching.
school, therefore, where the students are inst.ructed  not only
in matters of faith and doctrine but also in the exposition and          But there is another conceivable possibility, and I am
preaching of the Word. It is, therefore, very important, not        afraid that an attempt is made in the TCNN to realize this
only for the students that are. taught there, but also for the      possibility. I say that an attempt is made toward that end,
church. Just imagine the nature and contents of the subjects        for in reality this is impossible. It is the attempt to avoid all
that are-taught in such a school, subjects such as exegesis or      controversy and to prepare the students for some general
exposition of the Scriptures from the original languages ; Old      "evangelistic" work. I do not like that term "evangelism"
and New Testament History; Dogmatics and the history of             as it is used in our day. The term itself is beautiful enough.
Dogma; Catechetics, i.e. the theory and practice of teaching        It refers to the "evangel" or the gospel and the preaching of
the children and youth of the Church ; Church Polity, the           the gospel. But the sense in which it is used of late conveys
theory and practice of governing the Church ; Homiletics,           the impression that-some kind of a general gospel is meant
the theory and practice of preaching the Word of God, and           in distinction from the proclamation of the whole truth and
other subjects. I mention some of these subjects in order           of definite doctrine. The idea is to save souls. We must bring
that the reader may know not only what is the importance            people to Jesus. We must proclaim a general offer of salva-
of a seminary, but may also understand the necessity of the         tion to all sinners without exception. We must tell people
teaching in such a school being very definite. It may not be        that they certainly can be saved if they only are willing to
general and vague. How can the explanation of Scripture             come to Jesus and accept Him as their Saviour. As we can
ever be vague ? If it is, it is simply no good. The same is         often hear it over the radio : "Just repeat after me : `I accept
true of dogmatics : it must  be based on Scripture and must         Jesus as my personal Saviour' and you will be saved." In
definitely represent the doctrine of the Church that instituted     such a gospel sound doctrine has no place. People do not
the seminary.                                                       like doctrine : they want *the  "gospel." Especially the doctrine
                                                                    of predestination, election and reprobation, can have no
   Now this is not true of the TCNN. Anyone, whether he
                                                                    place in such an "evangel."     I call this cheap and corrupt
is Reformed, Lutheran, Anabaptist, Arminian or Baptist,
                                                                    evangelism. And I am afraid that exactly that cheap evangel-
may teach there ; it is very liberal. What is the result?
                                                                    ism is taught at the TCNN.
   One result is that if each professor teaches his own view,
                                                                         This stands to reason.
the student becomes necessarily very confused. I do not

know how the subjects are arranged in the TCNN and what                  In a school where everybody can teach, it is impossible for
each professor teaches nor what Dr. Boer teaches there.             everybody to present his own conception of the truth. Then

But suppose that the latter teaches Dogmatics and that,             the school would become a house divided against itself.
therefore, he presents the Scriptural conception of election        Hence, all controversial subjects must be and are avoided,

and reprobation as would be his calling as a missionary             The result is some vague and good for nothing instruction,
professor of the Christian Reformed Church. And suppose             some cheap evangelism without any definite doctrine. And

that one of the other professors, an Arminian, teaches exe-         since Dr. Boer teaches in the TCNN he must cater to that

gesis and, in explaining Rom. 9>  presents the Arminian view        same spirit.

of predestination. Will not the students become utterly con-             Perhaps, `he likes this. In fact, I have reason to believe

fused ? Or suppose again that Dr. Boer teaches the Re-              that he does.

formed view of the covenant in the line of continued genera-        -    But if so, he should not be a missionary in a' church that
tions and, therefore emphasizes infant baptism ; and suppose        professes to be Reformed and that subscribes to the Three
that another professor, who, is a baptist, denies infant bap-       Forms of Unity.
tism. What must the student think. Must he take his own
                                                                         For that is nothing short of dishonesty.
choice ? Will he not be confused by such teaching? Or again,

suppose that Dr. Boer teaches that the signs in the Lord's               More about this next time, D.V.

supper are only signs and seals, while another, a Lutheran,                                                                    H.H.


  30                                            T H E   STANDAR.D   B E A R E R


                                                                         now, in connection with the first four trumpets, this is in-

              O U R   D O C T R I N E                                 /( creased just a little. Not much, it is true; only the next
                                                                         fraction is taken, instead of one-fourth, one-third. Just a

                                                                         little more hail and fire, just a little more cooling of the at-

               THE BOOI<  OF REVELATION                                  mosphere, just a little more death to the creatures of the sea,
                                                                         just a few more ships destroyed, just a few more people die

                                                                         because of the waters, and just a little more cooling off of
                            P A R T   T W O
                                                                         the sun.    This is meant by the four trumpets. You know

                                                                         the effect of this just-a-little-more: it upsets all the calcula-
                             CHAPTER V
                                                                         tions of men. Just a little cooler atmosphere during the sum-
                                                                -.       mer, and the crops do not ripen. Just a little more hail and
                      The First Few Trwmpets
                                                                         fire than usual, and another part of the crop on which men

                          Revelation 8 :7-12                             had figured is `destroyed. Just a few more storms and dis-

                                                                         turbances in the sea, and the number of ships on which we

        Nevertheless we do not think that this is the only, or that      depended is greatly lessened. And thus it is with the supply

  it is even the main idea that is expressed. On the contrary,           of fish and with the waters of the earth. In a word, by the

  rather than saying that one-third means the smaller part over          just-a-little-more of these trumpets Christ controls all the

  against two-thirds that are not affected, I would say that             world, and determines absolutely the relations that must en-

  one-third signifies just a little more than the one-fourth that        sue so as to complete His kingdom and ultimately destroy the

  is always affected. You will remember that we explained the            power of the Antichrist. By these very natural causes it is

  meaning of one-fourth in connection with the fourth seal.              Christ, blowing the trumpets through the seven angels, Who

  That fourth horse and its rider traverse the earth and kill            determines the development of the nations and so directs all

  one-fourth part of all men. We then said -that one-fourth              things that exactly that constellation is called into existence

  signifies just as many as is in harmony with the history of            which He desires. It is by controlling these natural pheno-

  this dispensation ; or, if you please, -to speak concretely, -         mena that Christ ultimately will also destroy the Antichrist

  one-fourth indicates the ordinary death-rate of the world.              and the Gog and Magog. In a word, it is Christ Who in

  Four is the number of the world. And one-fourth is that                this dispensation controls the fate of the nations also

  part which is in harmony with the present existence of the              through these elements of the universe, Who gives victory

  world of men. And therefore, one-fourth indicates the                  and deals defeat, Who sets up and dethrones powers and

  ordinary rate in which men die. But the same is true with               dominions, and thus controls the history of all <he world

  hail and fire, with storms and upheavals in the sea, with the           with a view to the bringing of His own kingdom.

  poisoning of the waters, and with the cooling of the at-

  mosphere. There is always one-fourth part of the earth                     And thus you will also clearly understand the words of

  affected by hail and fire. There is always one-fourth part of           our text in relation to all history. All the forces that cause

  the earth and the trees and the grass and all the crops that is         these things come directly from heaven. It indicates that

  destroyed. Every year this happens again. The same is true              Christ, Who holds the book of the seven seals and opens it

  of the sea. One-fourth of the fishes always die. -That is the           seal after seal, also determines crops and crop failure, plenty

  ordinary number of them. One-fourth of the ships always                 and lack of everything, and through these all determines the

  perish. That is the ordinary number of ships that are                   coming of His kingdom. Be not afraid, therefore. These

destroyed by the ordinary number of storms. There is                      things must surely come to pass. They will come ever more

  never a year that no fish die, and there is never a year that           forcefully and plainly. And in them all you may see the

  no ships are destroyed. One-fourth part of the waters is                judgment that is coming upon the world and the answer to

  always struck with the star which is called Wormwood. One-              your own prayers.    Be not afraid ! For even though by these

  fourth part of them always causes epidemics, so that some               judgments you will undoubtedly be touched as far as your

  die. One-fourth part of the earth is always affected by the             present existence and life in the world is concerned, the

  lack of sufficient sunshine. In a word, these same things al-           spiritual kingdom of Christ is invulnerable and immune from

  ways recur, only according to the measure of this dispensa-             the spiritual point of view. In the midst of these times as

  tion, one-fourth part of the universe being affected. But as            they are pictured in the text, the people of God are sealed,

  long as this is not increased, the earth does not consider them         and they are sealed securely, that is, spiritually they shall

  judgments. There is nothing strange in this. We have be-                surely conquer. And- finally they shall through all these

  come accustomed to this. In general, all the world figures              things enter into the economy of things where God shall

  with this part of the crop being destroyed by hail and fire             spread His tabernacle over them, and they shall serve Him

  and by cold weather. In general, all the world figures on just          in His temple day and night forevermore.

  so many ships being destroyed on an ,average,  and just so

  many people dying because of the poisonous waters.            But                                                                  H.H.


                                           ` T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                3 1


                                                                     -happened  to be mistress, and, instead of using her position

11 A CLOUD OF WITNESSES 11 to make those under her happy, she used it for her own
                                                                     convenience, for the gratification .of her own spite, and

                                                                     to make those beneath her conscious of her power by their

                The Casting Out Of Ishmael                           suffering. She happened to be a mother, and instead of
                                                                     bringing her into sympathy with all women. and their chil-

       rrB~bt  as then he that was bom'a@x  the flesh perse-         dren, this concentrated her affection with a fierce jealousy

       cuted l&a  tlmt 2va.s born a.fter  the Spirit, . . . Wht      on her own child. She breathed freely when Hagar and

       saith  the scriptwe? Cast out the bondwowmn  and              Ishmael were out of her sight. A smile of satisfied malice

       ltmr son; for the son of the bmdwoman  shall not be           betrayed her bitter spirit.    No thought of the sufferings to
       heir with the son of the j?eezuowza.n."  - Gal. 4 :29, 30     which she had committed a woman who had served her

    It was Sarah that first insisted that Hagar and Ishmael          well for years, who had yielded everything to her will, and
should be cast out from the `camp of Abraham. Psychologic-           who had no other natural protector but her, no glimpses of
ally one can conjecture a very natural explanation for this.         Abraham's saddened face, visited her with any relentings.
It was, of course, Sarah herself that prepared the way for           It mattered not to her what became of the woman and the
the birth of Ishmael. After many years of longing and                boy to whom she really owed a more loving and careful
waiting to bring forth a son unto her husband Abraham,               regard than to any except Abraham and Isaac."'
Sarah began to despair and to doubt that she would ever                  Such reasoning may all seem to make good sense ; it may
bring forth the son that had been promised them by God.              even appear to be good psychology ; but in one thing it sorely
In her state of desperation she devised the plan whereby             lacks, it is not in accord with Scripture.
Abraham was to go in unto her handmaid and bring forth a                 When we go to Holy Writ so as to gain an understand-
seed unto them through Hagar. No sooner had this taken               ing of this event we find that Ishmael is called in Galatians 4,
place, however, than she began to regret what she had done.          "he that was after the flesh," and "the son of the bond-
To see her handmaid succeed where she had failed, would              woman." These appelations have their primary reference to
seem reason enough to move Sarah to jealousy. To see                 the birth of Ishmael. The occasion of his birth was to be
Hagar, before quiet and submissive, lifted up in pride so as         found in the weakness and doubt of both Sarah and Abraham.
to despise her mistress Sarah only aggravated this jealousy.         After many years of waiting during which the promised son
After complaining to Abraham, Sarah began to treat her               was not born unto them, they began to doubt that God
handmaid harshly, even to the point where Hagar fled from            would ever be able to give to them a son. Therefore in an
the camp. Nonetheless, `upon the command of God, Hagar               attempt to evade the necessity of complete reliance upon God,
returned to the camp of Abraham, and Ishmael was born,               the scheme was devised whereby a son would be brought
the first son of Abraham. This birth, at least from Sarah's          forth from Hagar rather than from Sarah. This was an act
point of view, did not bring the blessedness to the house            of sin which arose not from faithful reliance upon God and
of Abraham as had at first been planned ; but, rather, the           His promises to them, but from their own human imagina-

very sight of the child was a thorn in the flesh of Sarah, con-      tions. The fact that Ishmael was born was not out of faith

stantly reminding her that she herself was barren.                   but out of the sinfulness of their flesh.

   The final birth of Isaac in Sarah's old age did not, as               After the birth of Ishmael, although the child was in a

might have been hoped, alleviate her jealousy and regret. It         very explicit way conceived and boi-n in sin, Abraham put

only aggravated it the more. Then it became evident that the         forth his best effort to raise him as a covenant child. Still

scheme which resulted in the birth of Ishmael had been un-           there remained in the heart of Abraham a lingering hope that

necessary, and her contempt for him became the greater.              Ishmael might be acceptable to God. With the faithfulness of

Isaac having been born there was no longer any need for              a covenant father he instructed Ishmael in all of the glorious

Ishmael. These pent-up feelings finally reached their bursting       truths of promise that God had revealed unto him. When

point at the great feast which was held on the day that Isaac        the time came that the sacrament of circumcision was iri-

was weaned. There she saw Ishmael mocking her son Isaac.             stituted as a sign of, the covenant promise, Ishmael too was

That she could not stand and in a rage of jealousy and envy          circumcised as a member of the househqld of Abraham. He

she went to Abraham and told him that Ishmael had to go.             was brought up with all of the tender and loving care which

"Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this            every covenant father bestows upon his children. But all was

bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac."           to no avail. Ishmael was "born after the flesh," not only as

Gen. 21 :lO.                                                         to his literal birth, but also as to the inner character of his

   Following such reasoning some commentators have been              heart. Spiritually he was insensitive to `the truth. He cared

led to remark, as Wm. Robertson Nicoll does in The Ex-               not for the promises of God. Although' faithfully raised

posito?2s  Bible, "It is one of these cases in which one poor        within the sphere of the covenant, the inner, spiritual ex-

creature, clothed with a little briei  authority, stretches it to    perience of covenant friendship found no place within his

the utmost in vindictive mdltreatment  of an&her.  Sarah             heart.


32                                          THE"  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R



      That Ishmael was so spiritually insensitive can be seen        mael's mockery of Isaac was no mere expression of childish

also from the narrative of Genesis. Even before Ishmael was          jealousy. It must be remembered that Ishmael must have

born God prophesied to Hagar concerning him, "And he                 been over sixteen years of age at the time. Thus he was

will be a wild man ; his hand will be against every man,             old enough also to understand the importance of Isaac in

and every man's hand against him ; and he shall dwell in the         God's plan of salvation as he had surely been instructed by

presence of all his brethren." Gen. J6:12.  Without going            Abraham. If there had been within him any spiritual sensi-

into a detailed exposition of this prophecy, we can easily see       tivity, Ishmael surely would have rejoiced at the birth and

that this is not such as would be applicable to a covenant           presence of Isaac, for then in that child would rest also his

child of promise. Concerning Abraham and his spiritual               hope of salvation. As it was, we read in Galatians, "But

seed it had been said, "And I will make of thee a great na-          then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was

tion, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and            born after the Spirit."      The mockery of Ishmael was a

thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless           spiritual persecution whereby he mocked Isaac, not only as

thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all         a younger brother, but as the their  of the promise of God.

families of the earth be blessed." Gen. 12 :l, 2. This is quite      It was the deep-seated resentment of a wicked person against

the opposite from the prophecy concerning Ishmael.                   the very Word of God.

      Again we read the prayer of Abraham to God made at                 This deep-seated spiritual hatred Sarah recognized. To

the time circumcision was instituted when Ishmael was                ascribe to Sarah the motives. of pkrsonal jealousy and hatred,

thirteen years of age, "And Abraham said unto God, 0 that            is to ignore the essential spiritual character of Sarah. Al-

Ishmael might live before thee !" Gen. 17 :18.  We referred          though at times Sarah may have become weak in her faith,

to this text in our preceding article as an expression of            as -did  also Abraham, and as do all of the children of God,

the desire of Abraham that Ishmael might be the son through          this act of Sarah was a work of strongest faith. She dis-

whom the promise would be realized ; but there is also an-           cerned the mockery of Ishmael as no mere childish rivalry

other implication in this petition of Abraham. It contains           but as deep-seated spiritual hatred. Up to that time she had

the heart-cry of a father whose son will not receive his in-         endured the Godless behavior of Ishmael with patience, but

struction. One of the hardest experiences of spiritual life          as soon as he reached out with his evil influence toward the

is that of a father who, after putting forth his greatest            covenant child Isaac, she would bring the matter to a swift

&fort  to raise his child in the truth of the Word of God,           and proper end. Out of concern for the spiritual welfare for

finds that his child has no true desire for that Word what-          her son she insisted that Ishmael be removed from his posi-

soever. Many a father has said, and undoubtedly in truth,            tion of influence over Isaac that could never serve toward

that he would rather have his son taken away in death than           any good. That the motivation of .S$rah  was pure and good

to go through such an experience. With the love of a father          follows without question from the fact God upheld her

for his son, Abraham cried unto God that God would con-              determination without limitation. The hesitancy of Abraham

vert the heart of his son. "0 that Ishmael might live before         at this point can only mean that he at the time fell behind

thee !" But, as is so often the case, the will of God wa's           Sarah in spiritual discernment and faith. He allowed his

other.                                                               natural love for Ishmael to obscure what was without question

                                                                     for the good of the covenant seed. But Sarah saw, and spoke
      Ishmael is, therefore, typical of the child who, although
                                                                     in words which later were quoted by Paul as- the infallible
raised within the sphere of the covenant, is a stranger to its
                                                                     Word of God Himself, "Nevertheless what saith the scrip-
true spiritual reality. In Galatians  Paul identifies Ishmael
                                                                     ture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of
as "the  one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bond-
                                                                     the bondwoman shall tiot be heir with the son of the free-
age, which is Agar." Gal. 4:24. Briefly what he has refer-
                                                                     woman." Gal. 4:30. So would God preserve His Church.
ence to is that such a child, born within the' sphere of the
covenant which inwardly he despises, finds his life within                                                                          B.W.

the covenant an aggravating restraint that drives him farther

into the bondage of sin. Such is ever true ; it was true of

the Scribes, Pharisees and others who lived under the la;                                     IN MEMORIAM
of Sinai; it was true of Ishmael and Esau who lived four

hundred and more years before the law was even spoken                   The Ladies' Aid Society, Ruth, of the Hope Protestant Reformed
                                                                     Church, expresses sincere sympathy to its sister member, Mrs. James
frpm  Sinai  ; -it is true of the reprobate that lives within the
                                                                     Elzinga, in the death of her mother,
sphere of the covenant today. The covenant of God does not

present a certain "subjective, covenant-grace" to the repr?-                                   MRS. JACOBS

bate within its sphere. Rather it aggravates the sin of such            May our Father strengthen her in her sorrow. "All things work
and is a means to their greater condemnation.                        together for good to them *at  love God, who are called according

                                                                     to His purpose."
      That  this was true with Ishmael became evident at the                                                 Rev. H. Hanko, President

feast which was held to celebrate the weaning of Isaac. Ish-                                                 Mrs. Jay Bomers, Secretary


                                            T H E   STAND'AR'D.  B.EkRE.`R                                                          33



                                                                    out of the way with his answer. In the field of numbers one
II             I N   H I S   FEAR                                   is right or he is wrong. There is no such thing as relatively
                                                            II      correct. And in arithmetic there is no such thing as a partially
                                                                    right answer.

            Jehovah; The God of Arithmetic                             In the geography class you might have part of the an-

                                                                    swer to a particular question wrong and still get credit for

                               (3)  -                               the parts that are right. You might list the main industries of

                                                                    a country correctly and add one industry that is.not found at
      "0 Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast           all in this country.    You could then be credited for knowing
Thou made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches." These         tlre,.industries  you listed correctly and be counted off a point
are the words of the psalmist in Psalm 104:24. And this is          or two in that answer for the one you added that did not
a truth that our children must have constantly held before          belong there. But add even a fraction to your answer in
them in all their education in the natural things of this life.     arithmetic and the whole answer is wrong.
,In the geography class there is such an abundant opportunity
to do that. And the covenant youth ought never to leave his            Arithmetic reveals the exactness of God!

geography class without that truth being impressed upon him.           Let the child be taught every day and each step of his-way

But we set forth in this series of articles to show also that       how exact God is in His demands upon us. The Ten Com-

in the arithmetic class the wisdom of God is so clearly             mandments brook no more departure from their demands

evident and that there is abundant opportunity to call the          than is to be found in the mathematical process of addition,

attention of the covenant child to this fact. What wisdom           subtraction, multiplication or division. "Thou` shalt have no

of God is reflected in the whole world of numbers !                 other gods besides Me" postulates no relative demand. It

                                                                    does not. condemn and forbid a host of gods besides Jehovah
      At.this time we would call your attention to another mat-     and call it relative obedience when a man has but one god
ter which this world of numbers reveals to us concerning            besides Jehovah. It is an either . . . or matter. When we
Jehovah. To the regenerated child of God this world of              have a god besides Jehovah we do not have Jehovah anymore
numbers reveals the absolute righteousness of God. In arith-        as our God. Adam and Eve when they chose to disobey God
metic God teaches us how absolutely exact He is in His              and eat of the forbidden fruit did not intend to obey God and
demands upon us. He is a righteous God. He is light and             the devil. They did not intend to have a god besides Jehovah.
in Him is no darkness at all. He demands certain things
                                                                    They chose to have a god instead of `Jehovah. For they `did
from the creature- and especially from the creature made            not choose to do Jehovah's will and follow Satan's suggestion.
in His own image. And you can never get away from the               They chose to do as Satan advised instead  of God's will.
fact that these demands are unyieldingly precise when you
                                                                       And God forbids that we make nny likeness of Him. Not
deal with the system of numbers in their relation to each
                                                                    only some likenesses are forbidden. Each and every one is
other as He in His wisdom has made them. Let us consider
                                                                    condemned. And where we make but one in the whole span
that fact at this time.
                                                                    of our earthly life, we are as guilty and wrong before Him
      In arithmetic a thing is right or wrong. Two and two          as a child is wrong in his arithmetic problem when at only
is four and not almost four, a little less than four or a little    one point in the process he added, subtracted, divided .or
more than four. And when you add two and two and get                multiplied incorrectly in the series of numbers contained in
four your answer is absolutely right. It is not near enough         his problem. His law is exact. He demands perfect obe-
or relatively right. It is absolutely correct. Thus also, when      dience. And we are not pleasing in His sight unless at every
you add forty-nine and fifty-one and have for your sum              point and at any given moment of our lives we conform
ninety-nine, your answer is not partly right, nearly correct,       perfectly to that law in its inner principle of love to God.
close enough. It is absolutely wrong! And the teacher is en-           We sometimes speak of big sins and little sins. But we
tirely within his right to `count it all wrong.                     do not find such a distinction in Holy Writ. Scripture speaks

      Arithmetic brooks no mistake anywhere at any time.            of sins being multiplied. Surely one can add to the number

Take a column of figures and add up these numbers. Though           of his sins. And the one sin may cause man to suffer more

your column is composed of twenty-five numbers and you              at the hands of the perpetrator of the evil than another. But

make a mistake at only one step in the process of addition,         with God sin is always sin. It is always coming-up with the

your answer will be wrong. Though in twenty-three steps             wrong answer.    And it always brands the perpetrator as one

your addition was right, the answer is wrong, completely            worthy of an everlasting punishment. It shall be-more toler-

wrong when you made one error in the whole process.                 able in the day of judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah who

Whether that error was only one number removed from the             never saw the Christ while He performed His ministry in

correct answer or one hundred, your answer is absolutely            word accompanied by .miracles  than for the godless Jews who

wrong.    And the teacher can give you no more credit for a         did see these miracles and did hear Him preach the words: of

right answer than the person who was one hundred numbers            everlasting life. Yet both are consigned to an everlasting

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


torment in hell. Both have erred. The lives of both were                  and glorify His fallen Church adds up to the cross. That

the wrong answer to what God demands of us in -His  holy                  already is Genesis 3 :15,  the mother promise. It adds up!

law. The degree of punishment will vary ; but God does not                The seed of the serpent must bruise the  heel of The Seed

say of $odom and Gomorrah that they were relatively correct               of the woman! God's arithmetic adds up to that cross and

and therefore receive  a small share of blessedness and glory.            demands it. Without it there will be no crushing of the

With God it is either . . . or ! As exact as He has made the              head of the seed of the serpent, no victory for the Church.

world of numbers, so exact does He deal with the works of                        But let us not corrupt the truth of that cross!
men.
                                                                                 Let us hold fast to the fact that to be a fraction off in your
      How could it be otherwise ?                                         answer in arithmetic is to be as wring as to be ten points

      Jehovah is a righteous God. What we see and learn in                off. Let us also refrain from all that haughty wickedness that
the field of arithmetic is eternal in Him. In Him there is                challenges the word of Him Who gave His life as a.ransom
no error. He is truth. In Him there is nothing but exactness              for our sins. He knew what He was talking about when He
and absolute righteousness. For there is no righteousness ex-             added all things             and declared that "It is finished." Let
                                                                                                    up 
cept that which is absolute.           And so righteous is Jehovah        us not claim to be wiser than He and teach men that He was

that the thought of doing unrighteous@ cannot be entertained              able only to make                  99 and 99/1OOths  pure and that you
                                                                                                      us 
in His mind. Nothing can persuade Him to call anything                    and I' have to add that l/ldOth  part before the 99 and
right but that which is according to His standards right and              99/100ths  can become ours. Arminianism  is even mathema-
good.                                                                     tically corrupt and in error! If the work of Christ is not

                                                                          cbmplete  so that He does not accomplish all we need for our
      And therefore when He saves us from our unrighteous-                salvation, He fails to produce the right answer. Even as
ness He does so in a righteous way. He saves us in the way                a wire that reaches frdm the power plant to the last hair-
of perfect arithmetic. 0, indeed, there is perfect arithmetic             breadth           to the bulb will carry no current into that bulb
at the cross ! For God pours out upon His Son the f;;ll                                  up 
                                                                          to light it           so a saviour who realizes only 99 and 99/100ths
vial of His wrath against our sin. He knows all the sins                                 up, 
                                                                          of that `salvation is really no saviour. Unless  Christ is also
committed. His arithmetic is perfect and His bookkeeping                  the One Who through His Holy Spirit, and upon the basis
without flaw. He knows our every sin and the sum of all the               of the righteousness which He merited for us on the cross,
sins of His people from Adam till the last elect that is born             implants within                  the will to be saved, He fails as our
and reborn before the day of Christ at the end of the ages.                                         us 
                                                                          saviour. The teacher may not add the one point which the
And whether He is computing the sins we have committed ;                  child through inaccurate addition dropped from his answer.
or whether He is computing the last ounce of punishment for               The child's answer is still wrong. The teacher who adds it
which those sins call, His arithmetic is perfect. And Christ
                                                                          is the only pne whose answer is correct. And if we are the
drinks the very last drop in the cup. which the Father has                one to add the ~$11  to be saved which Christ fails to work
given Him to drink for our redemption. The very last farth-
                                                                          in        not He but we are the ones upon whose work our
ing is brought to the Father in payment for our deliverance                      us, 
                                                                          salvation is made sure.
from the power of sin and death. And the Son hanging upon
His cross, suffering the pangs of hell for our sins, adds the                    Not so!

figures       till with triumph He can cry out, "It is finished !"               Jehovah, the God of arithmetic is exact in His demands
            up 
                                                                          upon mankind and saves us by the exact arithmetic of the
      No sin was overlooked by the Father there at the cross.
                                                                          cross. He comes up with the right answer,, the whole of
No single sin was overlooked amongst the millions upon
                                                                          our need, and not only justifies                     but also works in 
millions that the children of God have committed from                                                                   us                      us
                                                                          both to will and to do according to His good pleasure.
Paradise to the parousia. But in His everlasting grace a

penalty was brought and endured equal to that load of guilt,                                                                                J.A.H.

so that when the last degree of suffering was borne there

was a perfect balance ; and the debt of the Church was "Paid

in Full! " "There is therefore now no condemnation to them
who are in Christ Jesus," Remans  8 :la.                                                        NOTICE: ACTS OF SYNOD

                                                                                 The Acts of the 1958 Synod of the Protestant Reformed
      Jehovah has not minimized one sin. He has not erased
                                                                          Churches of America are now available. Obtain your 
or changed the figures to make the problem easier to execute.                                                                                 COPY

He saves           in a righteous way without violating the prin-         either from the minister or clerk of your church or send
              us 
ciples of truth  which He displays in His world of numbers.               your order to undersigned. The price is $1.00.

Instead arithmetic shows               because it is designed and cre-
                               us,                                                                           Rev. G. Vanden  Berg, Stated Clerk
ated by Him, that salvation can and will come only by the
                                                                                                                  9402 South 53rd Court
cross. The fact of our fall and the fact of His absolute
righteousness as well as His unchangeable promise to save                                                         Oak Lawn, Illinois


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D ' B E A R E R                                                35


II                                                                    Fathers- and the orthodox Church and, if he had done so,
            Contending For The Faith                                  he retracted his utterances.
                                                                II          The question was authoritatively settled by Benedict XII

                                                                      in the bull Benedictus  dctts, 1336, which declared that the
             The Church and the Sacraments
                                                                      blessed dead - saints, the Apostles, virgins, martyrs, confes-

                                                                      sors who need no purgatorial cleansing- are, after death and
       VIEWS DURING THE THIRD PERIOD (750-1517 A.D.)
                                                                      before the resurrection of their bodies at the general judg-

                                                                      ment, with Christ and the angels, and that they behold the
                   THE SUPREMACY OF THE POPE
                                                                      divine essence with naked vision. Benedict declared that

      THE DECLINE OF THE PAP&Y.AND  THE AVIGNON EXILE.                John died while he was preparing a decision.

                          A. D,. i294-1377.                                 The financial policy of John XXII and his successors

                                                                      merits a chapter by itself. Here reference may be made to
        Later in the fourteenth century the Regular Observance        John's private fortune. He has had the questionable fame of
grew again to considerable proportions, and in the beginning          not only having amassed a larger sum than any of his pre-
of the .fifteenth  century' its fame was revived by the flaming       decessors, but of having died possessed of fabulous wealth.
preachers Bernardino of Sienna and John of Capistrano. The            Gregorovius calls him the Midas of Avignon. According to
peace of the Franciscan order continued to be the concern of          Villani, he left behind him 18,000,OOO gold florins, and
pope after pope until, in 1517, Leo X terminated the struggle         7,000,OOO  florins' worth of jewels and ornaments, in all
of three centuries by formally recognizing two distinct so-           25,000,OOO  florins, or $60,000,000 of our present coinage.
cieties wit.hin  the Franciscan body. The moderate wing was           This chronicler concludes with the remark that the words
placed under the Master-General of the Conventual Minorite            were no longer remembered which the Good Man in the
Brothers, and was confirmed in the right to hold property.            Gospels spake  to the disciples, "Lay up for yourselves
The strict or Observant wing was placed under a Minister-             treasure in heaven." Recent investigations seem to cast sus-
General of the Whole Order`of St. Francis. The latter takes           picion upon this long-held view as an exaggeration. John's
precedence in processions and at other great functions, and           hoard may have amounted to not more than 750,000 florins,
holds his office for six years.                                       or $2,000,000 of our money. If this be a safe estimate, it is

        If the Spiritual Franciscans had been capable of taking       still `true that John was a shrewd financier and perhaps the

secret delight in an adversary's misfortunes, they would              richest man in Europe.

have had occasion for it in the widely spread charge that                   When John died he was ninety years old.
John was a heretic. At any rate, he came as near being a

heretic as a pope can be. His heresy concerned the nature of          The Papal Oflice  Asmiled.

the beatific vision after death. In a sermon on All Souls',
                                                                            In connection with the decline of the Papacy it is of
1331, he announced that the blessed dead do not see God
                                                                      `interest to note how the Papacy .was assailed. Among these
until the general resurrection. In at least two more sermons
                                                                      assailants was a certain Marsiglius who has been called by
he repeated this utterance. John, who was much given to
                                                                      Catholic historians the forerunner of Luther and Calvin.
theologizing, Ockam declared to be wholly ignorant in theol-

ogy. This schoolman, Cesena, and others pronounced the                      To the pontificate of John XXII belongs a second group

view heretical. John imprisoned an English Dominican who              of literary assailants of the papacy.. Going beyond Dante and

preached against him, and so certain was he of his case that          John of Paris, they attacked the pope's spiritual functions.

he sent the Franciscan general, Gerardus  Odonis, to Paris to         Their assaults were called forth by the conflict with Lewis

get the `opinion of the university.                                   the, Bavarian and the controversy with the Franciscan Spirit-

                                                                      uals. Lewis' court became a veritable nest of antipapal agi-
        The King, Philip VI, took a warm interest in the subject,
                                                                      tation and the headquarters of pamphleteering. Marsiglius
opposed the pope, and called a council of theologians at Vin-
                                                                      of Padua was the cleverest and boldest of these wyiters,
cennes  to give its opinion. It decided that ever since the
                                                                      Ockam - a Schoolman rather than a practical thinker - the
Lord descended into hades and released souls from that
                                                                      most copious. Michael of Cesena and Bonagratia also made
abode, the righteous have at death immediately entered upon
                                                                      contributions to this literature.
the vision of the divine essence of the Trinity. Among the

supporters of this decision was Nicolas  of Lyra. When offi-          z+    Ockam sets forth his views in two works, The Dialogue

cial announcement of the decision reached the pope, he sum-           and the Eight &ue.&ons.  The former is ponderous in thought

moned a council at Avignon and set before it passages from            and a monst,er in size. It is difficult, if at times possible, to

the Fathers for and against his view. They sat for five days,         detect the author's views in the `mass of cumbersome disputa-

in December, 1333. John then made a public announcement,              tion. These views seem to be as follows : The papacy is not

which was communicated to the king and queen of France,               an institution which is essential to the being of the Church.

that he had not intended to say anything in conflict with the         Conditions arise to make it necessary to establish national

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


churches. The pope is not infallible, Even a legitimate pope               The personal fortunes of Marsiglius are of small historical

may hold to heresy. So it was with Peter, who was juda-                concern compared with his book, which he dedicated to the

izing,  and had to be rebuked by Paul, Liberius, who was an            emperor. The volume, which was written in two months,

Arian, and Leo, who was arraigned for false doctrine by                was audacious as any of the earlier writings of Luther. For

Hilary of Poictiers. Sylvester II made a compact with the              originality and boldness of statement the Middle Ages has

devil. One or the other, Nicolas III or John XXII, was ,a              nothing superior to offer. To it may be compared in-modern

heretic, for the one contradicted the other. A general council         times Janus' attack on the doctrine of papal infallibility at the

may err just as popes have erred. So did the second Council            time of the Vatican Council. Its Scriptural radicalism was in

of Lyons and the Council of Vienne, which condemned the                itself a literary sensation.

true Minorites. The pope may be pronounced a heretic by                    In condemning the work, John XXII, 1327, pronounced
a council or, if a council fails in its duty, the cardinals may        as contrary "to apostolic truth and all law" its statements
pronounce the decision. In case the cardinals fail, the right          that Christ paid the stater to the Roman government as a
to do so belongs to the temporal prince. Christ did not com-           matter of obligation, that Christ did not appoint a vicar, that
mit the faith to the pope and the hierarchy, but to the Church,        an emperor has the right to depose a pope, and that the
and somewhere within the Church the truth is always held               orders of the hierarchy are not of primitive origin. Marsiglius
and preserved. Temporal power did not originally belong to             had not spared epithets in dealing with John, whom he called
the pope. This is proved by Constantine's donation, for what           "the great dragon, the old serpent." Clement VI found no
Constantine gave, he gave for the first time. Supreme power            less than 240 heretical clauses in the book, and declared that
in temporal and spiritual things is not in a single hand. The          he had never read a worse heretic than Marsiglius. The
emperor has full power by virtue of his election, and does not
                                                                       papal condemnations were reproduced by the University of
depend for it upon unction or coronation by the pope or any            Paris, which singled out for reprobation the statements that
earthly confirmation of any kind.                                      Peter is not the head of the Church, that the pope may be

      More distinct and advanced were the utterances of Mar-           deposed, and that he has no right to inflict punishments
siglius of Padua. His writings abound in incisive thrusts              .without  the emperor's consent..

against the prevailing ecclesiastical system, and lay down the             The Dcfertsor  pa&  was a manifesto against the spiritual
principles of a new order. In the preparation of his chief             as well as the temporal assumptions of the papacy and against
work, the Defence  of the Faith, - Defensor  pa&, -he had              the whole.hierarchical  organization of the Church. Its title
the help of John of Jandum. Both writers were clerics, but             is shrewdly chosen in view of the strifes between cities and
neither of them monks. Born about 1270 in Padua, Mar-                  states going on at the time the book was written, and due,
siglius devoted himself. to the study of medicine, and in
                                                                       as it claimed, to papal ambition and interference. The peace
1312 was rector of the University of Paris. In 1325 or 1326            of the Christian world would never be established so long
he betook  himself to the court of -Lewis the Bavarian. The            as the pope's false claims were accepted. The main positions
reasons are left to surmisal. He acted as the emperor's-               are the following: -
physician. In 1328 he accompanied the emperor to Rome,

and showed full sympathy with the measures taken to estab-                The state, which was developed out of the family, exists

lish the emperorfs  authority. He joined in the ceremonies of          that men may live well and peaceably. The people them-

the emperor's coronation, the deposition of John XXII and              selves are the source of authority, and confer the right to

the elevation of the anti-pope, Peter of Corbara. The pope             exercise it upon the ruler whom they select. The functions
had already denounced Marsiglius and John of Jandum as                 of the priesthood are spiritual and educational. Clerics are
`fsons of perdition, the sons of Belial, those pestiferous  indivi-    called upon to teach and to warn.    In all matters of civil mis-
duals, beasts from the the abyss," and summoned the Remans             demeanor they are responsible to the civil officer as other
to make them prisoners. Marsiglius was made vicar of Rome
                                                                       men are. They should follow their. Master by self-denial. As
by the emperor, and remained true to the principles stated
                                                                       St. Bernard said, the pope needs not wealth or *outward
in his tract, even when the emperor became a suppliant to
                                                                       display to be a true successor of Peter..
the Avignon court. Lewis even went so far as to express to

John XXII his readiness to withdraw his protection from                   The function of binding and loosing is a declarative, not

Marsiglius and the leaders of the Spirituals. Later, when his          a judicial, function. To God alone belongs the power to
position was more hopeful, he changed his attitude and gave            forgive sins and to punish. No bishop or priest has a right
them his protection at Munich. But again, in his letter sub-*          to excommunicate or interdict individual freedom without
mitting himself to Clement VI, 1343, the emperor denied                the consent of the people or its representative, the civil legis-
holding the errors charged against Marsiglius and John, and            lator. With these main positions of the Defensov  pacis we
declared his object in retaining them at his court had been            will continue the next time.
to lead them back to the Church. The Paduan died before                                                                           H.V.
                                                                                                                 _
1343.                                                                                                       I


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                        37


                TRANSCRIPT OF SPEECH                                  remarks that The                  Be,arer  is of exactly this char-
                                                                                                Standard 

                                                                      acter, and that it must be maintained in its present positio-n
     Delivered at the annual meeting of the                           and character.-                                               :;'

      Reformed Free Publishing .+sociation                               What is that character of our magazine?                     - .-

                                                                             The Sta.ndwd Beare!-  purposes to be a free..witness  to
              September 25, 1958, at Grand Rapids                    the Reformed truth, as also the name "Reformed Free PLC

    THE  STANDARD BEARER AND OUR MISSION WORK                        lishing Association" indicates. The R.F.P.A. purposes to

                                           :                         give such a free witness to the Reformed truth-by-publica-
Mr. Chairman, Beloved Brethren:                                      tion, chiefly, of our Sta.ndwd  Bea:rer,  as well ,.as  by other
    I count it a privilege to speak.this  evening in the interest
                                                                     publications, such as booklets and brochures, of which it has
of our Standa:+-d  Bm-er  and of the R.F.P.A. I am thankful          made use often in the past.
that as a member of the second generation of our churches,               This implies, in the first place, that the R.F.P.A. purposes
I may do this. You know, The Sta@a.rd  Beaver and I are              to give forth a specifimlly  Reformed t&i~*~ony.  What does
equally old; we both had our birth in the year 1923. And,            this mean 1 Very succinctly, as our editor-in-chief expressed
I .say,  I am thankful that we still have our Sta.nda;l-d  Bcwel;    it once, this means that it purposes to witness concerning the
and that I may speak in behalf of it.                                covenant of the Lord our ,God, as He Himself realizes it
    The Board asked me to speak about the relation between           through Christ Jesus our Lord, ,according  to His sovereign
The Standa:rd  Bearer and the official mission work of our           good pleasure, in the way of sin and grace, along the anti-
Protestant Reformed Churches, - a rather big subject for a           thetical lines of election and reprobation, and that too, in
little speech of forty minutes, but I will try to touch on some      connection with the organic development of all things. In
fundamentals.                                                        the second place, The Sta.ndard Bearer is a z&mess.  This im-
    At the same time, I was informed that The Standard               plies that it is distinct as to the nature of its testimony from
Bea.rer  faces somewhat of a crisis in its existence. Probably       the official ministry of the Word. T& StapLdard  Bearor  is
these crises have become more or less a perennial matter.            not a missionary, though it has sometimes been loosely re-
And undoubtedly the difficulty has been accentuated by the           ferred to as such. The preaching of the Word is the task of
ravages of the "split" in our churches. But I want to say            the instituted church through its pastors and teachers. TjLe
very candidly, after having considered `some of the facts and        Standa:rd Bea:mlp  and the R.F.P.A., on the'other hand, be-
figures concerning our magazine, that' this crisis is indeed         long to the organism of the church. They function in virtue
serious, - so serious, I must say, that if the present trend         of the office of all believers. And this is indeed important,
would continue, Tlae  Sta.wda:rd  Bearm  might die.                  practically speaking. It means that The Stmdard:  Bearer is
    Let me add at once, however, that I am not basically pes-        yoz~~s         It is your testimony. To have this:magazine  and its
simistic.    If that were the case, I would give up and not                    '
                                                                     witness is yoz4.r privilege.      And to make .its. testimony as ef-
even speak here tonight. I am confident that basically and           fective  and far-reaching as possible is yo'~r mlling  &X&S-C-
principally our people know and love the Reformed truth. I           sponsibility.  Finally, this implies also that The, Standard
am confident that our people know their calling to bear              Bearer  is free. This does not mean. that it is a doctrinal
witness to the truth. And therefore I am confident that our          freebooter.        It does not imply either that it is absolutely
people will recognize their calling to witness through our           separate from the institute of the church,`. that it perhaps
Standa~rd Bearer  also ! Thus I am not pessimistic, but con-         despises the institute. That cannot be : Th? .StaFdard.  Bearer
fident that if only our people are reminded of that calling,         `is Reformed ! But it does imply that our paper,' is not in-
they will not allow' The Standard Bea~reu  to die, but will          stitutionally bound. It is not a church paper. It is not and
want to maintain it and see it prosper.                              cannot be hamstrung by ecclesiastical bonds .ancl  .mere~formal
    On these matters I want to touch, therefore, rather con-         institutional bonds and directives and decisions. The church,
cretely, as I speak on :                                             when it becomes corrupt, cannot silence the testimony of Tlze

        Th Standa.rd Beayer  and our Mission Work                    Stazndwd .Bea:r&-.  What, then, binds our magazine and
                                                                     prevents it from being licentious? Only one power: the
      I. The Position of our, Sta.nda:rd Bearer
                                                                     love of the Reformed truth. That is, after all, greater and
     II. Its Relation to our Mission Work
                                                                     more powerful and more fundamental than any mere in-
    III. Our Calling to Promote The  Standa.rd  Bea:j*er             stitutional bond. And that true freedom has characterized

    In order to deal properly with this subject, we must re-         Tlae Sta:ndard  Bearer;  from its very beginning, -when the

mind ourselves, first of all, of the character and position of       papers of the Christian Reformed Church were closed to the

The Sta.nda.rd Beaver from its very inception. We will not           Revs. H. Hoeksema and H. Danhof, - down to the present

meet with anything new in this connection, but merely re-            day.

mind ourselves of the. facts. This is necessary in order to             .Let me emphasize once more : l%e .Standard  Bea;rer  must

understand the relation of The Standa*?-d  Bearer to our mis-        be maintained in that character of `a .free  Reformed witness.

sion efforts.-. In fact, it is the fundamental premise of all my     We must never be tempted to change this even though it

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


 may at times seem attractive to convert it into an official          undying obligation of the R.F.P.A. It must purpose to reach

 Protestant Reformed Church magazine.                                 those persons and those groups that are departing or are in

       But there is another question which we must answer in          danger of departing from the pure Reformed faith. And it

 order to have a complete picture of the nature of our S&d-           must touch on, must maintain and defend the truth, over

 ard  Bea;ver. It is this: with reference to whom and to what         against all kinds of departures, but especially over against

 has The Standard Beater  purposed to witness,. both within           those errors which were officially promulgated by the Chris-

 and without the circle of our churches?                              tian Reformed Churches in 1924. That belongs to our history

       In general, our magazine purposes to give testimony con-       and our origin. And we cannot possibly deny that history

 cerning any and all issues pertinent to the cause of the             or ignore it. To do so would be fatal ! And therefore, as the

 truth and to the cause of Christendom at large. And our              late Rev. H. Danhof once wrote, using the words of Hosea  2,

 purpose is to reach as much of Christendom as possible. -"In         our calling as a Protestant Reformed people also in this or-

 this respect the scope of our witness is unlimited. And              ganization of the R.F.P.A. is and remains : "Plead with your

 throughout the years The Stavtdwd Beamr,  as a survey of             mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her

 its past volumes will reveal, has not hesitated to let its voice     husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of

 be heard whenever it could serve the cause of the truth.             her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts."

 More specifically, however, The Standard Bea.Tfer  has pur-             Now what is the relation, if any, between this witness of

 posed to witness concerning those aspects and issues of the          our Standwd  Bearer and the official mission labors of our

 truth that concerned Reformed believers and Reformed                 churches 7

 churches everywhere, but especially here and in the Nether-             As to the nature of the question, we may notice that it

 lands. There are always' such issues in Reformed circles.            views only one aspect of our Standa:rd Bearelf,  that aspect

 And with regard to them, whether they were doctrinal or              which has to do with those who are outside the pale of our

. practical, The Sta.ndag*d  Beaf*ejp  has ever attempted to sound    churches. The witness of our paper is certainly not only for

 a distinctively Refo&ed  note and to shed the light of'the           them. By means of Tlze Sta.nda,rd  Benrw  we surely intend

 Word of God upon them. It has done so both for the benefit           to witness among ourselves`and to ourselves, to all our Prot.

 of our Protestant Reformed readership and for the benefit            Ref. people. We purpose to witness to the next generation

 of those people and churches immediately concerned with              of our churches, to our covenant young people. But now we

 such issues. But still more specifically, The Sta.nda.qrd  Bearm     are dealing with the witness which we purpose to give beyond

 has persistently given testimony concerning those issues of          the pale of our churches, to other churches and to members

 the truth which have arisen in Christian Reformed circles,           of other churches. And then the question is : does T1ze  Sta.nd-

 and has purposed to reach with its witness concerning those          a.yd Bearer truly have a place, or does it perhaps usurp the

 issues not only our own people, but the Christian Reformed           place of missions ? If it has a place, what is it ? Does. it. give

 constituency.    As is well known, especially the issues of          testimony entirely in separation from the testimony of our

 "19.24" have been the constant concern of Tlzc  Standa?-d            official mission work ? What is the scope of its witness ?
 Bearer.                                                       _.     What is its use, its purpose ? Does it depend on our official

       This is according to history. It has been the history of       mission work in any way ? Does it stand in subordination to

 The Sta:ndard Bea.rer.from  its very beginning. In fact, when        it? Does it serve the purpose of our mission labor? Does it

 The Standard Beww first began to let its voice be heard,             perhaps accomplish anything that our mission effort cannot

 there were no Protestant Reformed Churches; its editors              very well accomplish ? These questions must be answered,

 and publishers were still Christian Reformed, and concerned          first of all; from the point of view of principle ; and then we

 vitally about the welfare of God's Zion as represented in the        can also make a practical survey of them.

 Christian Reformed Churches. And ever since that time,                  Our answer is, in the first place, that there is no conflict,

 that testimony has continued, so much so that The Standwd            but fundamental harmony between the witness of our Staand-

 Bea,rev-  has more than once been called the "voice of con-          a:l#d Bearer and our mission labors. This cannot be different.

 science" of the Christian Reformed Churches and of Re-               For there is no conflict between the organic witness of the

 formed groups generally. This does not mean that our                 body of believers and the institutional ministry of the Word.

 magazine has issued a purely negative witness and that it            The relation between them is fundamentally one of harmony.

 thrives on denials, as has been charged more than once.              And if it is true, and it is true, that our Sta.ndard Bearer

 Nothing could be farther from the truth. The Sta.ndwd                is part of that organic witness of the church, then it follows

 Bearer has maintained and developed and promulgated the              also that there is no conflict, but harmony, between The

 positive line of the pure Reformed truth. It has done so             Sta.ndwd  Beam-  and the official ministry of the Word

 distinctively. It has done so with great benefit for the cause       whether the ministry within the church or the ministry of

 of the Reformed faith. But it has always done so, -                  missions. In the second place, we may also say that both

 and this is always necessary for those who would main-               The..Sta.nda:rd  Bea.rer  and the official missions of the church

 tain the truth, - o'uer agalinst  all kinds of depa:rtiures          have the same fundamental content and purpose. They both

 from  that tmth.  And this remains the specific. calling and         intend to reach `those who are without our churches with


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    39


the message concerning the covenant of our. God, as He              ?funds  its clear and continual witness to the truth as it is

Himself realizes it through our Lord Jesus Christ, according        maintained and developed in our Prot. Reformed Churches

to His sovereign good pleasure, in the way of sin and grace,        in harmony with the Word of God and our Reformed Con-

along the antithetical lines of election and reprobation, and       fessions, it can and should exert great influence, especially in

that too, in connection with the organic development of all         Reformed circles. As such it can reach and influence other

things. But they differ as to source and means and way. The         Reformed churches by its witness, staunchly defending the

one is organic ; the other is institutional. The one is a wit-      faith, warning against departure, sounding `a distinctively

ness; the other is the official proclamation of the Word of         Reformed note for others to hear and heed. It has done so

God. The one makes use of the printed word ; the other is           in the past. And  who can measure the influence it has

the lively preaching of the Word. In the third place, we            exercised upon other Reformed groups, both here and in the

may say that there is a mutual relationship between the two.        old country  ? Who can tell-how often -and  in how far it has

Principally, first of all, the organic witness of the church is     acted in restraint of erring and liberalizing tendencies? In

always dependent upon the preaching of the Word by the              this connection, our paper can even be the means to prepare

church institute as a means of grace. This is also true of          the way for contact and correspondence with other groups.

The Sta.ndagpd Bearel;  so that there certainly would not           And also in this respect I think our Standard Bm-er  has

even be a witness of our magazine if there were not the             served in no little way to gain the attention and respect of

preaching of the Word. This does not mean that the organic          others for the.  persistent and distinctive testimony of our

witness of the church is dependent upon the particular in-          Protestant Reformed Churches. Moreover, the witness of our

stitution of the Protestant Reformed Churches. In the ab-           Sta,ndard Bearer can certainly reach many people who could

stract, it is conceivable that the Protestant Reformed              not possibly be reached by our official mission efforts. And

Churches become corrupt, that the preaching of the Word             it can reach them in a way that our official  mission labors do

is corrupted by them, `but that the witness of our Stalzdard        not and cannot reach them frequently. The missionary and his

Bearer  goes on and remains pure. Nevertheless, there is a          word do not remain after he has left a home ; Ths  Standa.g*d

fundamental relation of dependence here. For remember: it           Bea,rcr  can call regularly twice a month and can remain in the

is not some individual officebearers who preach the Word,           home to be read and studied and digested. And in this respect

but the clzu.rch  through the God-instituted offices. And there-    our magazine can also serve not only as an aid in preparing

fore, on the one hand, when the church no more prizes the           `the way for official mission labors, as it has more than

pure preaching of the Word, it will no more bear witness to         once in the past, but can, as long as it remains faithful t'o

the truth organically. And on the other hand, when the              the truth, be used also by our missionary(ies)  to aid in

church organically ceases to care about bearing wit'ness  to        the propagation of the truth of God's Word. But, finally,

the truth of God's Word, it will also become corrupt in-            regardless of concrete, visible, tangible results, we must wit-

stitutionally and will no more purely preach the Word of            ness at every possible opportunity and through every pos-

God. And so we may see, in the fourth place, that there is          sible channel. and must let our witness reach as far as pos-

a relation of sel-vice  between the witness of the church and       sible. This is our God-given calling. The fruits and the

its institutional mission labor. The former stands, ought to        results are God's, and they are in His hand. And our

stand, in the service of the latter. And the latter makes use       StandaTpd  Beaver can certainly serve as such a witness, and

of, ought to capitalize upon, the testimony of the former.          can positively be a source of support and instruction and

                                                                    guidance and encouragement in any home where there still
   How does this work out practically? How ought it to
                                                                    remains a love for the Reformed faith.
work out?
                                                                        Hence, we have a calling. We are highly privileged, let

   First of all, The Standal*d  Beaver  can surely serve as a       me say, with a calling. That calling is that we maintain and

powerful means to instruct and edify our own people. This           promote ,the  cause of our Standard Bearer. Never let us
is of prime importance. But         say: what does this have        consider that a heavy burden, to be carried perhaps un-
                                you 

to do with mission work? My answer is: everything. For              willingly ; but let. us count it a high privilege from our God !

the softYce of the preaching must be kept pure and vigorous,            That calling includes this, that we must use The Stand-
That source is the church. And Tlze  Standard Bea.rer  as a         avd Bewer, as much as in us lies, as an instrument of witness
witness to the truth among ourselves and to ourselves is an         to those who are oirtside  of our churches. We must use it too
outstanding medium to instruct and to inform and to edify           in conjunction with and, in support of our mission efforts.
our Protestant Reformed constituency and thus to. assist in         .*we  must use it, let me add, with the support of our official
keeping the source of our official mission testimony pure and       mission. We must use it wherever possible !
vigorous and alive.                                                  i. What does this mean practically ? At this juncture I must
    In the second place, The Sta.ndwd  Bea:re+  is a ready and      be severely critical. But- my criticism will not only be

efficient means to reach many outside the pale of our churches      negative; it will be constructive as well. And then I must

with the truth. Even the world recognizes the tremendbus            say that there is much, very much, to be desired as far as

power of the printed word. And as The Standard Bearer               our witness to those outside is concerned. There are only


 40                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER



 265 copies of. The Standard Bewer  at present that go to'           that is not really the goal. The idea is to get The Sta.ndayd

 persons and institutions outside of our churches. That means        Bearer out beyond the pale of our churches as much as pos-

 very plainly that our witness is not nearly as far-reaching as      sible. We must do more than pay for The Standard Bearer

 it should be. Many issues of our magazine that should, be-          as it is at present. We must expand it and extend its witness

 cause of their contents, by all means reach others, are in-         and send it out free to many hoines.  To do this, we must put

 effective in their testimony. When criticism is offered of the      an end to the era of shrinking subscriptions and rising sub-

 doctrine and practice of others (for example, the recent            scription i&es.  I grant that this trend was accentuated by

 criticism of the Rev. Verduin's  diagnosis of the ills of Chris-    the fact that in the time of the split many became unfaithful

 tian Reformed'missions),  then that criticism should not dnly       and defected irom the ranks of The Standard Bearer. Burt

benefit our own people, but should also reach those who are          this must be'stopped.  If it is not, we will put ourselves off

 most vitally concerned. If we fail in this respect, the witneks     the marl&t. '    Secondly, we must take steps to get The

 of our Sta,ndard  Bea,rer  fails largely, And tonight we ought      Standa.rd  bea.ffer  on a sound and steady and systematic foot-

 to face this fact very candidly and very seriously: the witness     ing financially. The economic diet of the hand-to-mouth

 of our Standa.lrd  Bearer-  to those outside our churches has       existence of some subscription fees plus some hit-or-miss

 become largely ineffectual. This must be changed ! There            collections of uncertain amount ought to be changed, so that

 was a time when this was different. There was a time when           the Board has a steady income to work with and to expand

 the R.F.P.A. through The Standard Beww  and thro;gh                 the witness of our St,andard  Bearer. Thirdly, in this sup

 brochures and booklets propagated the truth much more ex-           port of the R.F.P.A. our churches could and should join. An

 tensively, and reached many a home with its clear testimony         outright subsidy, in recognition of the fact that our Sta.ndard

 and entered many a parsonage with its clarion call to the           Bcwe~  serves the cause of our missions, would not be amiss.

 truth. That "golden age" of our R.F.P.A. and our Sta.ndm-d          Besides, we can use The Stand'a.rd  Bearer  directly and dis-

 Bearer must be revived.                                             tribute it in our church extension work. Why should not the
                                                             .
       How must this be done ?                                       Mission Board take' upon itself the task of financing and
                                                                     distributing a few hundred free subscriptions to our maga-
       First of all; 1: propose that the cause of The Stapzdard      zine ? This was attempted once in the past, according to a
 Bea,yer  and especitilly  .the:  cause of the Reformed Free Pub-    notice which I read in one of the older volumes of The Stamd-
 lishing Association must be brought home to the conscious-          a:yd  Bea.rw.  And in.oar Illinois churches the local church ex-
 ness of all our people. I do not refer now merely to the            tension committee of the two consistories there is at present
 reading of and subscribing to The Standard Bearey.  In that         busy with that very thing. This, if it is paid for at the going
 respect we are doing rather well at present, and we have a          rate, will both spread The Sta,?bdwd  Bea.rer  and assist it
 high percentage of readership among our people. But I               financially.
 refer to the R.F.P.A. as an organization to witness to the

 truth actively. Do you know that the R.F.P.A. itself is little         Undoubtedly more suggestions can be made.

 known and seldom thought of outside of the Grand Rapicls               But let us get busy. At present the witness of our Stand-
 area. There are those of our people who do not even know            wd Beavcu  is very small and growing smaller. This trend
 what those initials, "R.F.P.A.", stand for. ! And therefore,        must be reversed.
 the primary thing is to go out among our people and revive

 the R.F.P.A. itself. Whether that requires the establishment           The R.F.P.A., and especially its Board, must not be

 of branch organizations in our other churches, or whether           satisfied to "get along."    As far as the regular affairs of

 this can be best accomplished, for example, in the Midwest          The Stpdard  Bearer are concerned, we would not really

 by establishing closer contact with the Society for Protestant      need a Board. A capable business manager could take care

 Reformed Action (one of whose purposes was to further the           of them alone. But the Board must address itself vigorously

 cause of our Sta,ndard  Bearer-), or whether  somehow we            to the task of the promotion and furtherance of the cause of
 could gather a large and interested associate or sustaining         The Standard Bea:rer  and the R.F.P.A. and to the task of

 membership outside the Grand Rapids area, -these details            expanding its witness. We must go forward or we will go

 can be worked out. What I want to emphasize now is that             backward! This task will take dedicated effort, hard work,

 the very idea and purpose of the R.F.P.A. must be brought           sacrifice. When  you look at the results, you will perhaps

 home to the hearts of our people. And even if it takes a            often be disheartened. You will probably find sometimes that

 representative of the Board to go out through the country           your task is a thankless one.

 and to do this personally, the R.F.P.A. must be promoted               But if in this way we obey our calling to witness whole-
 among our people. This is the basic element of any solution.        heartedly, God will bless us, and God will bless our Stand-

       In the second place, there must necessarily be financial      nrd Bearer-, and God will bless its witness. Of that I am
 support. It stands to reason that the higher the number of          sure.
 paid subscriptions is, the nearer Tile Standard Bea:uer  cbmes                             I thank you.

 to being self-sustaining. We are far from that now. But                                                                     H.C.H.


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAR.ER                                                     4 1


                                                                        in the kill  of the local church or of the consistory.    It alone

             DECENCY and ORDER                                          denies that it is founded from without and by coercion. And
                                                                        it asserts that the local church and consistory take it up in

                                                                        obedience to the King of the church and therein will live and
                 Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction                            act in unity with other local churches.


                          T H E   R E P O R T                           5. The Relatiolz  of the Con&tory and the Clas.%s.

 (The continzmtion  of the report of the Study Cowwwittee  and
                                                                            (a) Our Church Order in Article 41 states that the
 Co~mmiftee  of Pm-Advice, Synod of 1926, freely til-anslated)
                                                                        Classical Meetings shall consist of neighboring churches.

 4. The Denomination. (Het Kwkverband)                                  T&, according to Article 33 and the content of the creden-

                                                                        tial-letter, is not meant so that the church, apart from the
     The origin  of the denomination does not rest in the local
                                                                        consistory, delegates special representatives of the church to
 church or in the consistory, but in Christ, the King of the
                                                                        the Classis.  The credential-letter is signed by those who send
Church. All that belongs to the church is of Christ. The
                                                                        the delegates and this is done by the Consistory. (Art. 33)
 denomination is not a thing of choice or utility but is estab-
                                                                        Thus the delegates, as representatives of the Consistory and
 lished for Christ through His apostles as is evident from
                                                                        thereby of the church, come together in Classical gathering.
 Acts 1.5 and, therefore, has its origin in the will of the King
                                                                        They come there in the capacity of office bearers. Otherwise
 of the Church. Neither is this added to the church from
                                                                        they would have no right to act officially in the meeting of
 without but is a manifestation of the unity of the body of
                                                                        the Classis.  From this it follows that a Classical meeting is
 Christ inasfar as this is possible in this time (bedeeling).
                                                                        a gathering of office bearers who, as servants of Christ the
 Besides, what is called by Voetius "JJZIS  positeuawn  divivzw?
                                                                        King, may decide in all matters that, by common agreement,
 we may speak of the "free a.ssent"  (liber  consensus) but this
                                                                        stipulated in the Church Order, belong to the domain of the
 freedom has to reckon with the positive law of God.
                                                                        Classis.
     The denomination follows necessarily- from this that
 Christ is the sole King of the Church. He is not first King                (b) There is yet something else that must be considered
 of the local church and by that King of all the local churches         here. From the unity of the Kingship df Christ over the
 together. But He is King of the Church in her entirety, as a           church follows not only the unity of the local churches but
 unity, and as such, by this is King of each local church. The          also the unity of the ruling authority, the unity of the office-
 denomination is not something non-essential for that would             bearers of all the local churches. As a unity,. this authority
 presuppose that each local church exists wholly by itself and          over the local churches is not, as Rome contends, given to
 stands disengaged from all other churches. Yet from Scrip-             individual persons (bishop and pbpe)  but rests in the offices
 ture and the history of the origin of the local church, it is          of the local church.- There rests in the offices a common of-
 plain that the denomination actually exists from the be-               ficial element by which all the office bearers together can
 ginning.                                                               l'iile over the local churches as one in all cases that belong
                                                                        to the churches as a whole and also in cases of each local
    Bavinck  says, "The catholic (algemeen) church is there
                                                                        church which cannot be disposed of by her consistory. In
 first. She has her origin in Christ and in the days of the New
                                                                        the offices of all local churches there is thus an authority that
 Testament came first to manifestation in the church at Jeru-
                                                                        extends beyond the scope of the local church.
salem,  and then broadened out from there to other places.

 Already by virtue of her origin the local church stands in                This is also plain from the Church Order. ,In Article 79

 inseparable relation to the denomination. For no one church            it iS stated that a consistory alone may depose an elder or

 arises instinctively (az~tochthorislz.)  out of unconsciousness but    deacon.     This must be clone with official cooperation of a

 is planted through the seed of the Word which another                  neighboring consistory. This proceeds from the idea that

 church has sown in that place. Contemporaneously, therefore,           the office bearers of the neighboring consistory, by virtue of

 each local church is an independent manifestation of the,              their office, have the right to resolve official cases in another

 body of Christ and a part of the larger whole ; a separately           church with her consistory. The neighboring consistory

 existent church that stands spiritually and historically related       must be petitioned but the office bearers of the neighboring

 to the catholic (algemeen) church." (Dogmatiek, 2de Ed.,               consistory do not receive that right by virtue of this petition.

 IV, Pg. 407). The denomination exists from within. It is               If this right did not reside in their office, they inight not be

 in official, institutibnal  form the manifestation of that which       requested to also rule in official matters in another church.

 is invisible and has real existence.    .                              They could only b'e sought to give advice, nothing more.

    All Reformers acknowledge that .- the denomination is                  In the same 79th Article it is stated that a double con-

 established by Christ. The acknowledgment of the denomina-             sistory may not depose a minister. The Classis  alone may

 tion, so as by the consistory, is naturally a voluntary deed.          do this. Thus here is givkn to a gathering of office bearers

 Yet, this does not mean that the denomination has its origin           out of a number `of local churches the right to depose a


43                                          T H E   STANDA R D   B E A R E R


minister (office bearer) of a local church. This proceeds             to the remaining faithful minority of elders ? If the principle

from the thought that this right is placed by Christ in the           that lies tit the basis `of Article 79 is assumed, namely, that

office of the local church and therewith in the Classis.  If this     the Classis  has the right to pass the final verdict whether

were not so the Classis  might not exercise this power for the        an office bearer shall retain his office, by this then the Classis

Classis  has no other or higher power than that of the office         is given the right to deal with an official matter of a local

bearers of the local churches. All that the Classis  decides, she     church. And for this the Classis  must have official power

decides in the name of the King of the Church, an authority           (recht).  And if it be acknowledged that the Classis  has the

received by virtue of Him.                                            official right to depose office bearers in such a case in a local

      By virtue of this common element in the office of the           church, why then haven't they the right to do this alone if

local church, the office bearers, gathered in Classis,  can make      all the office bearers, should be deposed ?

decisions that are binding for all the local churches and c&-             One other point is closely related here. If the Classis  has

sistories that are represented in the gathering .(Art. 31,            no right to depose all the office bearers (consistory) because

D.K.O.) and the Classis  can have jurisdiction (zeggcnsc/@,           this is an encroachment upon the power and independence

mtcto&s, gesag) over the local churches and consistories              of the consistory, then such a departing consistory, also after

(D.K.O. Art. 36).                                                     the condemnation by the Classis, remains in oflice  and is

      In this way does the unity of the power and of the rule         officially the lawful ruling power of the local church. The

of Christ as King  of the church come to manifestation in the         difficulty is that only some of the members of the congrega-

unity of His office bearers as a one-ness inasfar as this is          tion are agreed with the consistory which is condemned by

possible in this time (bedeeling) . And by this all hierarchy.        the Classis.  The congregation itself cannot depose the Con-

collegialism  and independentism  become excluded.                    sistory because that is an act of discipline and the congrega-

      (c) From the preceding the answer to the question, Ca,n         tion has no right to administer discipline. May the con-
a Classis  Depose  A Consistory?,  can be stated. Naturally a         gregation withdraw herself from that consistory? On what
consistory is meant here in which all the office-bearers depart       grounds ? The consistory is yet the lawful ruling power of
(.afwijkcn)  in doctrine or life or both ; over whom an ecclesi-      the church. She is not deposed. In a Reformed Church a
astical process is conducted ; office-bearers, therefore, who         congregation may not withdraw itself from a consistory un-
will not submit themselves to the decision and are hardened           less it has rightly ceased to be a consistory. Besides this
in their departure. They are guilty of official misdeeds for          withdrawing is only a negative act that brings no change in
which,, according to the church order, they must be deposed.          the official status of the consistory and for this reason can-
                                                                      not depose it from the office. In a false church, with a false
      Who must.do  that? The congregation cannot carry out
                                                                      association (kerkverband) and ruling arrangement (be-
that decision because she is no official body and cannot ad-
                                                                      stuursinrichting) the believers can withdraw themselves
minister discipline. This consistory herself naturally also
                                                                      from the consistory and separate themselves from that church.
cannot carry out this decision of the Classis  to depose. If
                                                                      But this is here not the case. Here is a Christian Reformed
the Classis  may not do it, it cannot be done. Then we have
                                                                      Church in denomination with the Christian Reformed Church
here a discipline case (the deposition) that cannot be exe-
                                                                      and remains there. Her consistory is not deposed. They
cuted.
                                                                      have officially no ground to withdraw from it. If the con-
      If to a Classis  is reckoned alone the right to decide, that    demnation of the consistory by the Classis  must be carried
is, to pronounce p jzcdgnwnt  of deposition, then a difficulty        out through the consistory, then this shall first be possible
arises with its execution.                                            only through a new consistory since the existing consistory

      Whenever in a consistory the wzinol-ity of the office           will not do it. But the election of new office bearers is offici-

bearers depart in doctrine or life, and a double consistory           ally unlawful, for as long as the decision of the Classis  is not

cannot arrive at agreement, the Classis  must then make a             carried out, the existing consistory remains lawfully in office:

decision (Art. 79). And then the consistory carries out this                                 (to be continued)
decision. The Classis  itself does not do it because the Con-                                                                 G.V.D.B.
sistory is the' ruling power of the local church and the classis                                                                .,

may not do what the consistory by reason of its own power

can and may do. Yet, what shall be the procedure if the                               Eastern Ladies' League
majority of the office bearers depart? The holding of a

double con&tory  is, in this case, virtually excluded. The               The Eastern Ladies' League will have their Fall meeting,

majority will not want to direct a request to the neighboring         D.V., on October 23 at Southwest Protestant Reformed

consistory and the minority "ay not do it because then the            Church. Rev. B. Woudenberg chose to speak on the topic,

neighboring consistory would decide alone in such an im-              "Television in the home.`"

portant matter in another church in conflict with Art. 84,               We invite all ladies to come, that we may enjoy an eve-

D.K.O. Suppose now that the Classis  decides to excom-                ning of Christian fellowship together.

municate. Must she leave the deposition in the local church                                      Mrs. H. `Velthouse, Vice Secretary


                                                                              +
                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     43


                                                                     hard to criticize so learned a teacher and so warm a friend.

            A L L   AWBUND  U S                                            "AS the years passed, however, the anti-common-grace
                                                                     thinking drifted more and more into hyper-Calvinism. Di-

Introdzhzg "The First  Ov-thodox  PvrotestavLt                       vine election became an intellectual hobby with the people,
Refol-wed  ChwcJz."                                                  and one heard little else. Piety was regarded as though it
    Such is the title of an article appearing in the September       were Baptistic. The spiritual life of the church was at a
15, 1958 issue of The P~~esbyteriax  G~z~a.rdia.n, and written by    standstill as the church sank deeper and deeper into vain
Carl J. Reitsma, minister of the Orthodox Presbyterian               speculations about the counsel of God. Faith, it was em-
Church of West Collingswood, N. J.              .                    phasized, is the ?kz.ea?zs  for the obtaining of salvation but not

   A "Foreword)' precedes the article, evidently written by          the condition of salvation. The church became so afraid of
the editor of the'GLja.rdian,  which explains the purpose and        attributing any part of salvation to, man that they even took

nature of the article written by the Rev. Reitsma. The               the challenge out of faith.

"Foreword" reads as follows :                                              "By this time there were some in the church who were

   "The 1955  General Assembly of the Orthodox Pres-                 awakening to the danger of passive Christianity and insisted

byterian Church instructed its Committee on Correspondence           that we `must- believe' and that we `must obey.' To bring

with other Churches to undertake conversations leading to            these into line the Hoeksema element succeeded in getting

closer relations with that denomination of which the First           a `Declaration of Principles' passed by the Synod in 1951 in

Orthodox Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids is               which `unconditional theology' was fixed as the doctrine of

a member. The following brief article by the Rev. Carl J.            the Protestant Reformed Church.

Reitsma of West Collingswood, is designed to provide in-                   "Two years later, in 1953, the Protestant Reformed

formation concerning this denomination. Our fellowship with          Church was brought a point of decision by the Lord. The

it is of special interest inasmuch as it has taken an interest       large Grand Rapids congregation by this time had three

also in our work, through contributing to the support of our         associate pastors, Mr. Hoeksema, the Rev. Cornelius Hanko

foreign mission endeavor."                                           and Mr. De Wolf. De Wolf in a sermon made two s'tate-

   Now follows the article of Rev. Reitsma:                          ments  for which he and one half of the consistory which

   f`The  recent General Assembly of the Orthodox Pres-              supported him were suspended. The statements were, first,

byterian Church instructed its Committee on Correspondence           `God promises to every one of         that, if you believe, you
                                                                                                        you 

with other Churches to seek to develop closer relationships          shall be saved,' and the second, `Our act of conversion is a

with the Protestant Reformed Church identified with the              prerequisite to enter into the kingdom of heaven.' The rift

Rev. Hubert De Wolf. The Assembly action takes account               quickly spread through the congregation and then through

of increasing cooperation between the two denominations.             the denomination, and litigation, which is still in progress,

   `tThe  Protestant Reformed Church originated in 1924 as           followed for the properties. The denomination was divided

a secession from the Christian Reformed Church in protest            in half with seventeen churches, sixteen ministers and a

to the deposition of the Rev. Herman Hoeksema and others             total membership of 3300 siding with De Wolf.

from the Christian Reformed ministry. Mr. Hoeksema failed                  "During the last five years the Protestant Reformed

to subscribe to `Common Grace' insisting that the doctrine           Church associated with Mr. De Wolf has reviewed its doc-

was Arminian  and amounted to an open invitation to `world-          trines, rejected the `Declaration of Principles,' returned to

ly-mindedness. The denomination rallied to a membership              *the simple Gospel, and has re-discovered the challenge of

of 6000 distributed in twenty-four congregations throughout          world missions.    There is a passion for evangelism in these

the United States. The members were almost all of Holland            churches and a strong desire to make up for lost time. The

descent and in some churches one Dutch worship service is            Rev. John Galbraith was introduced to these brethren, spoke

still being conducted.                                               at a specially called missionary meeting and was enthusiasti-

   "The extraordinary abilities of Mr. Hoeksema may be               cally received. It seemed to them that a whole new world

seen in that while he was the pastor of the 1200 communi-            of blessed opportunity was opening to them.

cant member congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan; he                .    "Quickly the Lord provided them with a field and a mes-

simultaneously established and conducted his own theological         senger. The Rev. Edwin L. Wade was introduced to the

seminary, denominational magazine, Thg Standav*d  Bea:wr,            Protestant Reformed Church and an agreement was reached

and kept a steady flow of devotional books running through           whereby Mr. Wade would continue to be a ministerial mem-

the presses of Eerdmans Publishing Company. As a pulpit-             ber of the Presbytery of California of the Orthodox Pres-

eer he held his flock in the grip of his text with sharp             byterian Church but loaned to the Prot. Reformecl  Church

exegesis, sound logic and rich personal application. His             for missionary service on Guam in the interest of establish-

`flashing eyes refused to let the listener go, and his pauses        ing an indigenous Reformed Church. Mr. Wade sailed for

were so perfectly timed that they would eat holes in your            Guam in December 1956 for a two year term of service. At

soul as you neared the breathless climax of an hour-long,            the 1958 Synod of the Protestant Reformed Church this

message.    He was my pastor for twenty years and I find it          relationship was extended for three more years.

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


      "While this was being done by the denomination, the             raised under our doctrine, knows he has told nothing but a

Second Protestant Reforlied  Church of Grand Rapids vol-              blatant falsehood when he so described us in his article.

unteered to support the Rev. Donald H. Taws and family in                Notice the accusations he raises against us. We are

Eritrea to the amount of $250 per month for at least a year.          hyper-Calvinists.     We make divine election an intellectual

This church has li6 communicant members. The Rev. John                hobby. We are really impious. Our spiritual life is at a

Blankespoor is its pastor.                                            standstill. We vainly speculate about the counsel of God.

      "As our Committee begins its work let us pray  that God         We have a passive Christianity.

will bless these deliberations, for we know that cooperation             We deny that any of these accusations are true. Rev.

in the work  of the Lord rests upon the foundation of scrip-          Reitsma cannot proye  any of the&  to be true, and I challenge

tural agreement."                                                     him to do so. What is true is that these accusations are

      In respect to what R&tsma  writes concerning the per%on         the salve wherewith he smooths his troubled conscience for

and character of the Rev., Hoeksema as a pulpiteer we find            having left our churches where he claims for some twenty

most disgusting. His words spread smooth as butter, but               years the preaching and instruction he received ate holes in

are as biting as salt in an open wound, Mind you, Reitsma             his soul.

is speaking of a preacher and pastor who with "sharp exe-                What is true is that we adopted "The Declaration of

gesis, sound logic and rich personal application" ate- holes in       Principles,"    that we do not believe that faith is a condition

his soul for some twenty years with his sound expository              to salvation. It is true that we have learned to become

preaching, whom Reitsma still considers a "learned teacher"           suspicious of those who always insist on "must believe" and

and "so warm a friend," yet, he is going to criticize him. Must       "must obey."      This latter is especially true when they at the

not one be utterly beside himself to contradict a teacher who         same time subscribe to the two statements of De Wolf, "God

for twenty years convicted him with sharp exegesis, sound             promises to everyone' of you that, if you believe, you shall

logic, and rich personal application of the truth of God's            be saved," and "Our act of conversion is a prerequisite to

Word ? Isn't it most illogical to criticize sound logic and           enter the kingdom of heaven."

throw it overboard? I see no hope for the man who is con-                 But does that make us to be hyper-Calvinists, given to

vinced with sound logic and then turns away from it. Or, does         a pass&e Christianity ? Does that cause us to have no re-

Mr. Reitsma mean to tell us that the Rev. Hoeksema has now            spect for piety, and bring our spiritual life to a standstill ?

changed and departed from that sharp exegesis, sound logic,           Reitsma knows better. We say once more, it is difficult in-

and rich personal application with which he so effectively            deed to give a gracious reply to one who writes as Reitsma

preached to Mr. Reitsma for twenty years ? The rest of his            does in the Presbyterinn  G`l~.rd~a~~  about our churches. And

article leads to the conclusion that his answer to the last           I would warn the editorial staff of the Gzcurd&  that before

question is affirmative. He ought to know better, of course.          they publish anymore lies about us they had better ask for a

Doesn't Mr. Reitsma know that when he so writes about                 conference with us to really find out what we believe and

Rev. Hoeksema that he at the same time reflects on the                teach.

sound judgment of others who look at Hoeksema quifi:                     What Reitsma writes about the group which subscribes

differently, men like Mr. William Eerdmans, for example,              to the heresy of De Wolf is quite true. hit is true that as

who publishes Hoeksema's books? If Mr. Eerdmans reads                 soon as they left us they repudiated ."The  Declaration of

these comments, and I'm quite sure he does, he will sit back          Principles."     It is true that as soon as they left us they

in his office chair and laugh, saying, "Who is that peanut            suddenly became filled with a passion for evangelism and

over there in West Collingswood who claims he was a stu-              missions, and as Reitsma says, had `<a strong desire to make

dent of Hoeksema for twenty years and is now going to                 up for lost time."     It is also true that they immediately set

criticize his doctrine and teachings as having changed ?"             in motion the machinery that would bring them back into

Surely, .on the basis of Mr. Reitsma's commentary on Hoek-            the Christian Reformed Church and strike up association

sema, Mr. Eerdmans must be beside himself to now prepare              with the Oi-thodox  Presbyterian Church. Then it was that

for publication Hoeksema's Dogmatics, the very Dogmatics              they were caught up in the ecumenical movement of our

he taught Reitsma while he attended the selninary  of the             t&e that attempts unity regardless of doctrinal distinction.

Protestant Reformed Churches. Nobody in his right mind                Oh, yes, as soon as they left us they'began throwing over-

believes that Hoeksema has changed  in his sharp exegesis,            board the doctrinal position they defended among us for

sound logic, and rich personal application.        Indeed, what       some thirty ye&s as ministers and missionaries. They re-

Reitsma wyites  about Hoeksema is most disgusting, and-%              jected the doctrines which clearly assert that salvation is of

very evil thing.                                                      the Lord from beginning to end and there is no work of man

      And-it is also very difficult for us to be gracious in reply    in it whatsoever. But let no one think that these people re-

to Reitsma's vicious attack on those who still love Hoekse-           mained distinctly Protestant Reformed when they so acted.

ma's sharp exegesis, sound logic, and rich personal applica-          The very name "Orthodox Protestant Reformed Church" is

tion of the Word of God. It is the more difficult becaus'e            a misnomer. They are neither Orthodox, nor Protestant

we know that Rev. Reitsma, who was qractically  born and              Reformed.                                                    M.S.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE.ARER                                                      45.


                    QUESTION HOUR                                    -:, 14nmelps  to 1 and 2: I don't know whether I understand

                                                                     that question, but I think I do. They mean to say that if
    Held after Address at Hull Mass Meeting                          fhey  disagree with the action taken legally by our Consis-

                           July, 1953                                tory, and, of course, by our Classis,-if they disagree with
                                                                     that, do they necessarily mix in with their preaching of

        Qucstionw:  Rev. H. C. Hoeksema                              sovereign grace a conditional theology. My answer is no, sim-

       ,clnszaers  b_v: Rev. H. Hoeksema                             ply no. That doesn't follow. I don't think that follows, It does
                                                                     not follow front  a church political conception that one must

    Question: Why  was the Rev. H. De Wolf's public ex-              have a conditional theology. That isn't so. One can very well
planation-apology related to the two-statement heresy charge         disagree with the one, and still proclaim the other. Only, you
against him not found acceptable to that part of the\                must not forget that in that case the one that so stands
First Prot. Ref. Church Consistory headed by the Rev. H.             should bring his protest, and that should be cleared up. You
Hoeksema ?                                                           know, it has been said, - let me explain that a minute yet, -
                                                                     it has been said that our Consistory did wrong. And even

   Answer: Let me say, in the first place, that there is no          the Fourth Consistory doubted whether we had the right to

part of the Consistory that is headed by the Rev. H. Hoek-           suspend and depose elders, or officebearers, in their absence.

sema. That's not so. We had in our Consistory three                  Let me say, in the first place, that there is nothing in the

pastors, the Rev. Hanko, the Rev. De Wolf, and myself. I             whole church order that demands that any officebearer must

tias not heading the Consistory. Besides, I'm not heading a          be present when he is deposed or suspended. In the second

part of the Consistory. I'm president, together with the Rev.        place, let me quote to you all kinds of examples where that

Hanko,.-  and I was president with the Rev. De Wolf, - of            has been done by the church in the past. The famous Synod

the whole consistory. The consistory that deposed the elders         of Dordrecht deposed Arainian offkebearers,  Arminian

did so according to the advice of the classis, as I explained.       ministers, by the hundreds. Without their being present.

Why the apology was not acceptable to the consistory, I              Opinion has differed about that, but nevertheless, that's a

think I have explained too. The apology I read here.                 famous historical example. The Synod of Dordrecht deposed

And the apology as I read here I .explained.  It was no              ministers by the hundreds without their being present. In

apology, except that the Rev. De Wolf, instead of apologiz-          our own history, the Synod of 1922 deposed Prof. Janssen

ing for the literally heretical statements, as the classis  said,    without his being present.      In the old country, they deposed

apologized really for those that misinterpreted the statements.      in 1926 Dr. Geelkerken without his being present. And at

That's what he did. He did not apologize for himself, but            the latest actions of the Synod of 1939 to 1946, in general,

apologized for the fact that we misinterpreted the statements.       several officebearers were deposed. We may disagree on the

And we deny that we misinterpreted them. We could under-             question whether a classis or synod can depose an ofice-

stand them clearly. W,e  did not misinterpret the statements.        bearer. But certainly, it cannot be maintained on the basis

Besides, in the connection they were very bad. And there-            of -the Church Order that an officebearer must be present if.

fore, we could not accept that apology.                              he is to be suspended or deposed. That is my answer:' But,

                                                                     I say once more, a church political theory does not necessarily
   Qzmtion:  H&e are two related questions, and one ques-            involve a conditional theology and the deprecation of the
tion to the Chair. No. 1 : Do all ministers who do not agree         doctrine of sovereign grace.
church politically with your stand want a conditional theology

mixed in with their sovereign grace preaching, for which                 (Second question repeated).

they always stood fast? No. 2 : Must I consider each and
                                                                        Answer:    I `don't like the formulation of that question.
every one in our churches who does not rally around your
                                                                     It's not a question whether anyone rallies around my stand-
standard in this case a heretic ? The iliird  question I'll give
                                                                     ard. No, sir. That's not the question, not the questipn,  at a&;
here yet: Will the chair please ask the questioners if they
                                                                     The question is : whether anyone rallies and, not rallies, b!lt
are satisfied with the answers given ?
                                                                     stands on the basis of the Three Forms of Unity and- the

   Chaiwmn,  cmnswehzg  third question: As has been an-              Scriptures, and, the Three Forms of Unity as they have al-

nounced, there will be no questions on questions tonight. The        ways been maintained and explained in the Prot. Ref.

meeting would become endless. If, however, it appears that           Churches. That's different. You don't have to rally around

there is `need for more information, I can assure you in be-         my standard. That would be awful. I don't even want you.

half of our committee that we're willing to call another meet-       to rally around my standard. I'm a sinful.man.  I'm a fallible

ing of this nature at any time. And if the necessity arises, we      ma,n.  And I'm going to die pretty soon. What are you going

will. Now, however, we'll abide by the rules announced in            to do then? There's only one thing that remains for you and.

our letters, that all questions will be collected at once, and       for me. That's the truth. The truth as we as Prot. Ref.

answered. The other, two questions I'll turn over to our             Churches have maintained since 1924. If you don't rally *

speaker. (Questions repeated).                                       around that, yes, you're a heretic. No question about it. Then


4 6                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


you must be considered a heretic. If we don't maintain or-

preach or teach the doctrine of our confessions aZid of the                           CONTRIBUTIONS
Scriptures `as they have been maintained in the Prot. Ref.

Churches for.  all these years, you must not stay with US.
You're not only a heretic if you do, but you're a hypocrite.                               Missionary Notes

A hypocrite too. Don't stay with us. There are plenty                    Occasionally I am asked by members of the Protestant
other churches. Go to the Christian Reformed Church. GO               Reformed Churches the point-blank question: is there a
anywhere else. But do not corrupt our Prot. Ref. truth,
                                                                      church political ground for the Forbes-Isabel churches to
please. Leave us.' In 1924, when we were cast out, T
                                                                      "withdraw" from the Eureka Classis?  And the second ques-
preached on the text, "Will ye not also go away." I preached
                                                                      tion is: if any, what is the doctrinal reason for leaving the
that again in this connection, on that same text I preactid
                                                                      Eureka Classis  ?
in the Chr. High School. Without malice, without any malice
                                                                         Eureka Classis  has just met this summer in their "48th
to anyone, I say to you : if you don't believe in the Prot. Ref.
                                                                      Annual Session" at Eureka, South Dakota, although they
truth, which certainly is not expressed in the sentence, "God
                                                                      were incorporated as a corporate entity as late as 1928 under
promises to-everyone of you salvation if you believe," leav
                                                                      the Statutes of the State of North Dakota, having their
us. We're not angry at you. We're not mad at you when
                                                                      "residence" at Ashley, North Dakota.'
yotl don't agree with us. If you cannot agree with us, leave

our churches. But don't stay and corrupt our churches in                 Due to my close contact with Rev. Mensch and the

the meantime. That is hypocritical. I thank you.                      Isabel congregation during the past few years, and being

                                                                      intimately acquainted with the recent history of the Isabel-
        Question: Several questions on' this sheet. The first is :
                                                                      Forbes churches during the past few years, being even an
How is it possible to depose an elder that has been in office
                                                                      eye- and ear-witness of several "sessions" of the Eureka
less than 45 hours ?
                                                                      Classis, I can write the following in good conscience:
       Anmer:  I've explained that already. The fact is that              1. Tha.t although Eureka Classis,  in its ConStitution,
that elder was installed, and should not have voted on a              recognizes four ecclesiastical bodies, to wit : Consistory,
thing that he didn't know anything about, -at least, he               Classis,  particular Synod, general Synod, in practice these
should not have known anything about it. But he did never-            churches do not have all these church bodies (assemblies) as
.theless.  He voted against the Classis,  and against the deci-       their very name suggests, and as is evident from their very
sion of the consistory on June 1. He voted against the ques-          articles of Incorporation. It is simply a fact that the larger
tion whether the question of apology should be asked of the           body of which Eureka Classis  used to be a part, namely, the
minister and of the elders. And therefore, with the elders            Northwest' Synod of the  Reformed Church, U.S.A. is not
he was worthy of deposition. I can't help that, that he was           extinct as a denominational entity. Eureka Classis  is really
in office only 24 hours. I tried to prevent that, as you have         a remnant Classis,  a fragment of the once larger denomina-
understood, I tried to prevent him from being installed in
                                                                      tion. This is not said disparagingly but factually.
the office, because I claimed that he couldn't possibly serve            2. Eureka Classis  does not conceive herself to be a dis-
in this case. But they wanted him.
                                                                      continued "Classis" at the end of each gathering, but con-

        Question: The second is this : Is every use of the wprd       siders the Classis  somewhat as an institution of office-

coladition  in theology necessarily Arminian ?                        bearers iri the church. Hence, they do not designate them-

        Answer: That all depends what you mean by condition.          selves to be the Classis  of 1958, but rather they had the "4Sth
If you mean by condition, condition in distinction from state,        Se&on  of Eureka Classis." It is a kind of super-consistory !
the word condition is perfectly in order any time. I can              It is the only appellate body in those churches. Rightly or
speak of the condition of my heart, as I can speak of the con-        wrongly there is no possibility of seeking redress from the
dition of my body.                                                    decision of this body. They are the sole court of redress.
                        Burt  when I say, use the term condition
as a prerequisite, as something which man must fulfill at all,           3. The mevutbers  of this Classis  (a corporate body with
- and thit's the meaning, - the word is heretical. Of course,         the State) are not simply those who come with a credential
you must not forget : in this case, and in my talk, I purposely       from their own consistory and congregation, showing that
did not enter into .the broad question of "conditions." I did         they have been duly delegated by such a consistory, and,
not. I can. But I won't. That would take me at least an-              therefore, members of a particular Classis, (as Protestant
other 2 houps.  And I can't keep you till morning. But IJni           Reformed Churches conceive of a Classis)  but ministers too,
willing to do it anytime, if you ask me to come back and have         even though they have for many years not even been in ofiice
a speech on the term condition in Reformed theology. That's           in a local congregation or charge, having been duly and
something else.                                                       properly installed in their local church. Also it has often and
                                                                      rather commonly occurred that a: minister does not even
       Cha.&~nan: We might do that sometime.
                                                                      serve a church, resorting in the Classis, but that he is still

                       - (to -be continued)                           a member of the Classis.  One `sees here a conception of


doubtful Reformed Church polity. Such ministers straddle            them  `.h$ the "circular letter" of the Executive Committee,

the fence between Eureka Classis  and E. and R. Church,             and by means of a counter-circular letter of Rev. Mensch.

often leaving the sheep in the Classis  ,itself  without a          Rev. Mensch was at this time-also the duly installed minister

shepherd! And these ministers serve on committees, per-             of Isabel. To be ousted by the Committee out of Leola did

manent committees bedecked with such .awe-inspiring  names          not change the status of Rev. Mensch in Isabel. It would

as "judicial committee," Andy  in these committees they do          be the duty of the "Spiritual Council" to try this case in their

not merely have an "advisory vote" but they cast's deciding         judicatory. However, when asked for the record and minutes,

vote. Thus it happens, sad to say, that such ministers toot         the Executive Committee hedged and obstructed! They

the loudest horn and exercise dominion. over ministers in the       pyeferred  to work, keeping the Consistory of Isabel and also

Classis  with a bonafied standing, properly installed in a con-     Rev. Mensch in the dark. Hence, they first told the Con-

gregation. The danger is more than imaginary that such              sister-y  in a high-handed way that the Consistory's meet-

ministers, consciously or unconsciously, form the tiling            ing was                 illegal since a deacon had presided at the

oligarchy, cracking the ecclesiastical whip. In such a set-up       meeting. (Meetings in Leola were legal even though

a rule by men, not- according to Christ's ordinances, is in-        meetings were held, prior to Rev. Mensch's ousting from

evitable.                                                           office, not merely in his absence, but without his knowledge !)

   4. Since Eureka Classis  meets (has a "Session"!) but            When the Consistory of Isabel gave full measure later, held
once a year, it stands to reason that expediency dictates, that,    another meeting, under such cracking of the whip by the
in the interim between these "Sessions," the Classis  function      "Executive,"                   the Consistory was told that it was none of
through Committees. There is one such committee which               their concern what was happening to Rev. Mensch in Leola!
often virtually arrogates to itself the prerogative of being a      (See letters of Dec. 17, 1956 and Jan. 16, 1957, from
"Classis Contractum,"       a small Classis,  and that, too, in     Executive).

rather important and far-reaching matters. That Committee                   7. After being,given  the high-handed run-around by this

is the "Executive Commitee,"  rather fondly called by the           "Executive,"                   the Consistory waited to see whether Classis

president of the Committee, Rev. E. Bosma, "the Executive."         ,would  enter into its protest against all of this. Classis  met in

   5. It was especially this Executive Comnlittee  that made        "executive session" and approved of Rev. Mensch's being
ttself  particularly obnoxious to the brethren and sisters of       deposed from office. I doubt whether Rev. Mensch himself
the Forbes Church and the congregation here at Forbes with          ever received a verbatim copy of the decisions.                                                                             Being
its Consistory. They felt the impact very painfully of this         thoroughly convinced that Eureka Classis  was not interested
"boardism" of the ExecutiSe  Committee. Precedent simply            in truth and righteousness, but subscribed ,tacitly, at least, to
becomes rule. It is then right because it was done before.          this boardism, the rule of an oligarchy, they informed Classis
First we act and then investigate, whkn`the damage iS done,         that Classis  had lost its usefulness and purpose of Christ for
whether it was Constitutional and Script&l.*'  Thus the             them, and that they irrevocably severed relationships with
brethren and sisters experienced the dealings of this Exe-          then1.j Even this letter would not have been sent by the Com-
cutive Committee in putting Rev. H. Mensch out of office            %ttee  to the members of Classis  verbatim. Fearing this the
on November 28, 1956 at Leola, South Dakota. Without a              Consistory sent a mimeographed letter to all the members of
hearing, simply by stating the facts slantedly, the Executive       Classis.  This was branded publicly by the "Executive" as
Committee gave'its version of the facts in the case, and sent       being "sinister" on the part of ,the  Isabel consistory !

a circular let&-  to the "members of Classis" [also ministers               The Isabel people smile a bit when they read the report

out of office and not in the Classis)  and if no dissenting         of the "Executives" president in the "Acts of Classis, 1958"

vote came, this committee simply issued, a decretal.  that Rev.     which is as follows : "The Hope Church of Isabel, having re-

Mensch was no longer in office ! A trial, without hearing by        ceived substantial aid from Classis  in the past, which could

a correspondence course. And that in flagrant transgres-            no more be granted, informed Classis  that it resolved to

sion of the "limiting clause," limiting the cases in which this     withdraw .from  membership in Classis."

Committee can act,  in Article 95 of the Constitution of the
                                                                       ._ It is difficult to believe that Rev. E. Bosma did not con-
Refowwd Church in U.S. According to this Article, as plain
                                                                    sciously write this, knowing *that he was not speaking all the
common Christ&n  sense should even dictate, the Executive
                                                                    truth, and that what he did write is not wholly true. At least
Committee can execute matters of a routine nature, except
                                                                    we may believe that the letter, written by Isabel, was so
"in all cases when between parties concerned there is no
                                                                    lucid sthat intellectual honesty need not be called in question,
question at issue."     Now there was an "issue" between Rev.
                                                                    because of lack of clarity on the part of Isabel's missive!
Mensch and the Consistory of Leola.
                                                                       z                                                                                                                           G.L.
   6 .   T h e    "Spiritual Council" (elders and minister) of

Isabel challenged this assumed authority of the committee           * Classis   E u r e k a   h a s   i n   i t s   l a s t   S e s s i o n   a p p o i n t e d   a   C o m m i t t e e   d e s i g n a t e d
                                                                       " I n t e r p r e t a t i o n   o f   A r t .   95."  As far as Rev.
and desired, according to Article 131 of the Constitution to                                                                                            Mensch is concerned a rather
                                                                       meaningless gesture. However, the undersigned has good and solid reasons to
                                                                       believe that mpre  ministers in Eureka Classis see the hang-mm's rope when
institute an inquiry into these matters which had come to              a mere Comrmttee  can set aside an explicit stipulation and depose a &ister
                                                                     by correspondence course.


                                                                      Kalamazoo's.  societies and Sunday School have opened

11 NEWS FROMOURCHURCHES  41. for, a ndw seas&;,  some of ihe. meetings being held in the
                                                                   parsoyage  at 1226 Pinehurst:--

                                                                      Southeast (formerly Fourth) has two servicemen, `Homer
                 "All tlze saints +du.tti thee . . ." PHIL. 421    Teitsma  and John .Hendricks.  The young men in the church

                                                                   take turns writing the boys each week. Already  $10.,380.00
  .The  R.F.P.A.  (Standard Bearer) nlet  in annual session
                                                                   was pledged-towards  their `building f&id and the `do~ix&tf&
Sept. 25 at First church. The brethren R.' Bloem,  D. En=
                                                                   will soon have `detailed plans for .imniediate  building.
gelsma  and C. Kregel  were elected to serve on the boar&

The high light of the evening was a speech by the Rev:-:@.            In.kolland  ,& i&pirati&ial  meeting. was held for all the

C., Hoeksema.  The Reverend challenged the members and             members of the v&&s societies in the church. Rev.  G. Vos

th@ board to renewed zeal for their mission- the witness of        spoke to them on the subject, "The Benefits Of Society

The Staruhd  Bearer in the church world. The constructive          Life.!' A meeting of this type is certainly a `good send-off to
criticism offered by the speaker will serve as an excellent        a fruitful society season.

guide to the board in the coming year.                                Edgerton  has also purchased lots for a future church

                                                                   building and parsonage. The spirit of this congregation is
   Sunday, Sept. 28, the-young people in the Grand Rapids
                                                                   excellent, and they live in the conviction that the Lord has
area, under the sponsorship of the Beacon Lights' staff, held
                                                                   called them as a Protestant Reformed Church to uphold the
the first hymn sing of the season. Ed Ophoff led a capacity
                                                                   banner of His sovereign grace and love.
crowd in spirited singing. A tenor solo and a musical number

added variety to the program.                                         Randolph's church activities are in full swing. Rev.

                                                                   Emanuel is conducting a pre-confession class with eight
   An Office Bearer's Conference was enjoyed by -about             members.
thirty men in First Church, Sept. 30. The Rev. B. Wouden-
berg introduced the subject,     "The Calling And Duty Of              Doon  has again organized a choral society which meets
Office  Bearers In Sick Visitation." The Reverend then led         every Thursday. With Sunday evenings for society and an-
the'men  in a lively discussion of the various aspects of this     other evening for catechism the young people are kept busy
nianifestation  of the communion of saints. Meetings of this       three nights a week.

nature surely are beneficial to the elders and deacons in              Hull also has a choral society and is preparing a Christ-

attendance, and therefore to the whole church.                     mas program.      The Rev. Heys addressed a meeting of the

                                                                   Society for Prot. Ref. .Action  held in Doon,  Sept. 26 His
   The Deacons' Conference scheduled for Oct. 2 was post-
                                                                   topic was, "The Christian And His Conscience." At this
poned until the 16th of this month.
                                                                   meeting the following were elected to the board, Rev. Van

   South Holland presents us with some real news. Their            Baren,  J. Blankenspoor, G. Gunnink and B. Bleyenberg.

church  is becoming too sm$  for their congregation, and- they         Oak Lawn's societies and catechism have started, and
hive unanimously decided to purchase two acres from their          Rev. Vanden  Berg has instituted a pre-school catechism
School Society for a future site for a church and parsonage.       class which meets on Sundays.
The lan,d in question adjoins their present property to the
south, ancl'seem~@  be the only land available in that locale.         Hudsonville's bulletin reveals that Rev. Vos alternates
When this deal iS completed with *the  School Society they         his catechism sermons morning and evening. The alternate
will have a good start towards a new church building. This         sermons are currently occupied with the Psalms.

activity in South Holland reveals the zeal with which they             Creston's children are busy on a paper drive for Hope

are endued.anh  .the confidence they have in the future.           school. Besides his regular duties, the Rev. Woudenberg

                                                                   teaches in .our seminary, and is one of the editors of The
   From far off Lynden we learn that the adults in the con-
                                                                   Standard Bearer.
gregation ineet  in Bible Class Wednesday evenings, and are
currently studying the third chapter of the book of Genesis.           Loveland has nominated a trio from which they will
The Rev. Harbach was absent from his pulpit three weeks in         elect a minister whom they will call to labor in their midst..
September. Classical appointments called him to Loveland           The trio consists of Rev. E. Emanuel, J. Heys  and H. Kuiper.
and Pella. The Reverend writes that the members of our             The congregational meeting has been called far Oct. 13.

newest congregation consist of real Reformed brethren and             And now the  news for which                  have been looking:
                                                                                                                you 

sisters in the Lord. Their famed German hospitality was            Rev. Ophoff is still showing continual improvement, and at

displayed in family gatherings, mountain trips, visits in the      this date (Oct. 4) it gives promise to an early discharge from

alfalfa fields, farmyard baseball, and fin@  German food. These    the hospital. Rev. and Mrs. Ophoff have moved to a new

classical appointments coincided, with the meeting of Classis      address, 1126 Eastern Ave., S: E., Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

West held in Oak Lawn.                          -3                             . . . . see        in church.
                                                                                               you                              J.M.F.


