    VOLUME xxxv                                FEBRUARY 15, 1959 - GRAND RAPIDS,  MICHIGAN                                    NUIDER  10


                                                                               No one ever availeth against the God of the heavens and
           M E D I .T A T I-O N                                             the earth. "He will have them in derision."

                                                                                                      *    * * *

                   THE VICTORY OF FAITH                                        We are reminded of that very forcibly in the above text
                                                                            and history.
            `And they rose early in the morning, and ,went  forth into         Ammon, Moab and M.t. Seir had c&e to remove Judah
              the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jeho-
              shaphat stood and said, Hear me, 0 Judah, and ye              and Benjamin out of their possession. And to instail them-
              inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God,       selves in the heritage of the Lord God. See verse 11.
             so shall ue be established: believe His vrovhets,  so shall
              ye prosfTer.                                                     Who .are they ?

             And when he had consulted with the people, he a&                  I said above that this was, in a sense, a family quarrel.
             pointed singers unto the Lord, and that  should praise            Well, M.oab  and Amman  are brothers and cousins of one
             the beautu of holiness. as theu went out before the
             army, and" to'say, Pr&e  the L&d; for His ,m'ercy  en-         another. They are the ofispring  of a vile incestuous relation-
              dureth forever.                                               ship between the two daughters of Lot and their father. So
              Anti  when. they began to sing and to prdise,  the Lord
              set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab,          they are brothers and cousins. They are at once the sons and
              and Mount Seir,  which were come against Judah; and           the grandsons of Lot. And since Lot was the nephew of
              they weTe  smitten."                11            20:20-22
                                                         &IRON.             Abraham, these boys were the nephews of Jacob, twice or.

    This was a family quarrel.                                              three times removed.

    And yet, it was more than that.                                            Mt. Seir is more serious. That is their brother.. Their

    It was, really, part of the battle of all the ages.                     twin-brother. Double shame! Dumah, Edom, and Mt. Seir

    Throughout all the ages the Church is called to fight the               are the same thing as Esau, the twin of Jacob.

fight of faith.                                                                I think that Esau did not recognize his children anymore.

    That fight was begun in Paradise when God said: "And                    Neither would Abraham recognize his nephews. These people

I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between                   had- .corrupted  themselves to such an extent, that we cannot

thy seed and her seed ; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt            publish in public all `their abominations.

bruise His heel." Gen. 3 :15.                                                  Their gods were Chimosh,  Milcom, Molech and Astoreth.

    From that moment on there has been war between the                      And all of them worshipped the Baalim.

church and the devil, and his seed:                                            They were a corrupt lot.

    That war grew hotter through the ages, and the climax                      And they prove it that day.
came at the Cross of Golgotha.                                  `,             Israel did not pass through their territ`ories  when they

    That war shall-continue till the end of time, and the end               marched from Egypt to Canaan. They asked for this free
shall come with the second coming of Christ.                                passage but were refused. And so they made a detour.

    However, this war is not as other wars. Because the                        And now see how they -rewarded their kin!
Church of Jesus Christ always has the victory. And we have                     They came to kick them out of the Lord's heritage, given
not merely the victory, but we are more than conquerors                     to Jacob.

through Jesus Christ and God who loved us.                                                            *    * * *
    How can we be more than victors ? That's simple : the

enemy must and does help us to the-victory always.                             And now look at the other side. There is Judah and

    And the reason for all this is God.                                     `Benjamin. The beloved of the Lord.

    The war is of the Lord: He is our Captain. And so the                      You can tell that by the King they received : God-fearing

war is never in doubt. "He that sitteth in the heavens shall                jehoshaphat.

laugh" ! That's a terrible text.                                               What a -King !
                                                                                                                     D
                                                                                                                               .


218                                          T    H    E         ST.A-NDARD        B    E    A    R    E    R



       Personally, he sought the Lord. Helifted  up his heart to             Watch them !

seek Jehovah.                                                                Jehoshaphat leads in worship: he bowed his head with

    And the Lord was found of him. Read II Chron. 17:3,                   his face to the ground.                And Judah and Benjamin "fell before

4. "And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked                   the Lord, worshipping the Lord !"

in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto the                Now they are ready to meet the enemy. .

Baalim. Butsought  the Lord God of his father and walked                     And as they begin their march, the king stands in the

.in His commandments and not after the doings of Israel."                 gates of the city and addresses the hosts of God's people:

    And so "God established the kingdom in his hand and all               "Hear me, 0 Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem !" The

Judah brought him presents and he had riches and honor in                 king will give an echo of the speech of God.

abundance."                                                                 And here it is : "Believe in the Lord your God, so shall
       His moral life was clean: he destroyed all the sodomites           ye be established ; believe -His prophets, so shall ye prosper !"

in the land.                                                                 And now, please, note the humility, meekness and wisdom

       He sent committees of priests and Levites throughout the           of the king : "he consulted with the people" !

land to teach the people the true religion of Jehovah. Under                  0, I Can imagine who those people were: they were no

their arm they carried the book of the law of his God:                    doubt the true spiritual princes of Judah ;.they  were the men

  He appointed judges in all the land, and you ought to                   who were. known for their piety and fear of God.

read the charge he gave them ! II Chron. 19 :4-11. Here is                    And here is the result of that consultation: the king ap-

a sample : "Let the fear of the Lord God be- upon you ! for               pointed singers and praisers. The first would sing unto the

you judge not for man but for the Lord, for the Lord is                   Lord, and the second would praise the beauty of holiness. In

with ~0th ain jzt.dg>~e&!"  Here is the criterion : There is no           the original you find that they would praise "the Holy
iniquity with God. He is no Respector of persons. He Majesty."

taketh ,no gifts (bribes).                                                   And here is the ever recurring theme of their song and

       What a. wonderful king!                                            praise : "Praise the Lord ; for His mercy endureth forever."

       And the people with him?                                               This theme is as true as it is heavenly.

       Jehoshaphat brought them back to the Lord God of                       The mercy of the Lord !

their fathers. All the people came together to seek the Lord.                 It is that virtue of God where He suffers all the agony of

And they brought their wives and little ones with them.                   His people, and the strong determination to lift them out of

Pathetic, `but also very beautiful.                                       all their distresses.
                              *    :c * *                                     Oh yes, we shall sing of that unto all eternity.

       We are not told how many of these godless came to over-                For it is Jesus !
throw Judah and Benjamin, but from the prayer of Jeho-                                                           *    * * *

shaphat  we learn that it was a great company. And the king                   And they beginto sing.

told Jehovah that they had no might to oppose them.                           What a strange way to fight a war!

       But the King did the right thing, the only wise thing in               How the worldly strategists must laugh at such behav-

such a predicament: he. prayed to God, and poured out his                 iour.

heart to Jehovah. Read that prayer, it is beautiful.                          Do not sing now ; but sing when you have the victory !

       You find it in our chapter, the verses 5-12.                           But that is exactly it: God and His people always have,

       Note how God immediately answers. The king had                     the victory.

scarcely finished his supplication, and the Spirit came upon                  Jehoshaphat, Judah and Benjamin knew that, and so they.

Jahaziel, and he addressed God's people with words of en-                 sang.

couragement. This is the gist of his message: "Be not afraid                  And then note: "when they began to s&g and to praise,

nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude ; for the battle           The Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon,

is not yours, but God's !"                                                Moab, ,and mount Seir, which were come against Judah ; and

       And here is the. marvel of the war of Jehovah : "Ye shall          they .were  smitten." Do you note that "when they began to

 not need to fight in his battle ; set yourselves, stand ye still,        sing and to praise" God gave them the victory? Here you

and see ,the  salvation of the Lord with you, 0 Judah and                 have an example where faith overcometh the world ! They put

Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out                     their faith in practice, and they experienced the salvation of

 against them: for the Lord will be with you."                            the Lord.

       Can anything be more comfortable than this speech ?                    About those ambushments of the Lord ?

       Stand still !                                                          I do not know. Some of the best Hebrew scholars say of

       Fear not !                                                         these Mearbim  that they are angels of God, sent by God to

       God is with you !                                                  overthrow this army. Well, I can well believe it.
                              * * * *                                         First Moab and Ammon turn against Mount Seir, and

       Did Jehoshaphat, Judah and Benjamin believe this speech            destroy the decendants  of Esau. And then Moab says to

 of the Holy Ghost?                                                       Ammon : neither do I like you ! And they destroy each other.


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But somehow, all this is produced by these  mysterious Mear-

him,  the powers of Jehovah.                                                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

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                                                                                                                                     C O N T E N T S
shall be included in -the Agenda, (deadline of April 15) so                           MEDITATION -
that all churches may be duly informed.                                                        The Victory o f Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._.._...........................................                             :217

    "2. Standing committees may make supplemental reports                                                 Rev. G. Vos

of matters arising .after  the deadline for the Agenda, Such                          EDITORIALS -

reports, however, shall be distributed in mimeographed form                                    The Three Points ___._._..___________...............................,.,,..............                                       226
                                                                                               Evolution, Long Periods or Days _......_....................................                                                 221
to all members of Synod at the opening session, and the                                                   Rev. H. Hoeksema
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                                                                                      As To BOOKS -
                                  G. VANDEN  BERG, Stated Clerk                              Her&e@  Verleden  by Prof. Dr. A. Sizoo ._______......._._._............  222
                                                                                               Institutie,           Joh. Calvijn b y Dr. B. Wielenga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
                                                                                               De Humor oan de Biibel by Okke Jager __.._..._.__....................                                                        222
                     W E D D I N G   A N N I V E R S A R Y                                     Het Raaclsel  van ens  Leven by Dr. J. H. Bavinck ._..___.....____  222
    On January 21, 1959, our dear parents,                                                     D e Apowieve                  Boeken (, .____ __.... __... .: . . . .._ _..._..  . . . -222
                                                                                               Chdstelijke              Encyclopedic                  . . . . .._....  .__________  __.  ._. __.  .__  __.....  . . ..222
      MR. AND MRS. GERBEN DE JONG, nee Van Maanen
                                                                                                          Rev. H. Hoeksema
commemorated their 45th wedding anniversary. We are deeply grate-
ful to our covenant God for all the blessings He has bestowed on                      Ch. DOCTRINE -
them and us. Our sincere prayer is that the Lord may continue to                               The Book of Revelation __ _. _... . . . . . . . 223
bless them in their remaining years.                                                                      Rev. H. Hoeksema
                                 Their Children,
                                      Mr. and Mrs. Wm. R. Hulstein                    A CLOUD OF WITNESSES -
                                         Mr. and Mrs. Thomas De Jong                           That Election Might Stand ________,_______..__.............  ~..____........_._...  226
                                         Mr. and Mrs. Albertus  De Jong
                                                                                                          Rev. B. Woudenberg
                                         Mr. and Mrs. Arnold De Jong
                                         14 grandchiklren                             FROM HOLY Wxr  -
Hull, Iowa.                                                                                   ' Exposition of Matthew 24. and 25 (XII) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._............  228

                                                                                                          Rev. G. Lubbers

                                 IN MEMORIAM                                          IN HIS FEAR -
                                                                                               I<
    The Consistory of the Hope Protestant Reformed Church of                                         . . . And Keep His Commandments . . ." (5) _.._____..._____..._  230

Grand Rapids, Michigan, hereby expresses its sincere sympathy to a                                        Rev. J. A. Heys

fellow member, Elder John Lanning, in the loss of his father-in-law,                  CONTEND~G  FOR THE  FAITH -
                             MR. WILLIAM KOOIENGA                                              The Church and the Sacraments . . . . ..____.._..___.........................                                                  232

    May our God, who is gracious, comfort those who mourn.                                                Rev. H. Veldman

                                                Rev. H. Hanko, President              THE  VOICE OF OUR FANS  -

                                                J. Kalsbeek, Clerk                             The Canons of Dordrecht . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

                                                                                                          Rev. H. C. .Hoeksema

                                                                                      DECENCY AND ORDER  -
                                 IN MEMORIAM
                                                                                               The Report Continued. . . . _______.  __ ..__.  ..__  __..... __. ..__.._ _..... . . . . . . . 236
    The Ladies' Aid Society, Ruth, of the Hope Protestant Reformed                                        Rev. G. Vanden Berg
Church, extends its sincere sympathy to Mrs. John Lanmng, in the
loss of her Father, and to Mrs. Dick Kooienga in the loss of her                      hL AROUND US -
                                                                                               Are All Who Die In Infancy Saved?. ___ .._. _. .______  ._.... 238
F a t h e r - i n - l a w
                                                                                                          Rev. M. Schipper
                             MR: WILLIAM KOOIENGA

    May our Covenant God comfort the bereaved in their sorrow.                        NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES _._.........................................,..,,..,....,.......                                               240
                                                                                                          Mr. J. M. Faber
                                             Rev. H. Hanko, President
                                             Mrs. J. G. Moelker, Secretary


 2 2 0                                      T    H    E         S    T    A    N    D     A    R    D         B    E    A    R    E    R         .



                                                                                         in my former editorial. Notice, first, that it is the Son of
             E D I T O R I A L S                                                         God that gathers His Church. Notice, secondly, that He
                                                 .                                       does so by His Spirit and word i it is all of God, there, is

                                                                                         nothing of man in it. Notice, that the Church is chosen to
                      The Three Points                                                   everlasting life and that the elect are gathered out of the

     We said in our last editorial on the subject of "The                                whole human race. Question : what grace of God is there for
 Three Points" that the Synod of 1924, in its anxiety to prove                           those that are not so gathered even though they hear the
 the theory of so-called common grace from Scripture and the                             preaching of the gospel? The answer of the Arminian is : God
 Confessions, lapsed into the error general grace in the Ar-                             is gracious to all that hear the gospel for, as far as He is
 minian  sense of the word. We also stated what is the Biblical                          concerned He will save them all. This is also the answer of
 and Reformed position on <this  point. The Reformed position                            *the  "First Point." The Reformed answer is : "God is gracious
 is, of course. expressed in the Confessions of the Reformed                             only to the elect that are gathered by the Son of God into

 Churches. To these we must now refer.                                                   His Church by His Spirit and Word." There is no grace
     First of all, then, I refer to some passages from the                               for the reprobate and emphatically not in the preaching of
 Heidelberg Catechism. In Question 20 we read: "Are all                                  the gospel.

 men, then, as they perished in Adam, saved by Christ?"                                        The same language is found in the Netherland Confession.

 And the answer is as follows : "No ; only those who are in-                                   I will refer in this connection only to Art. XVI which

 grafted into him, and receive all his benefits, by. a true                              speaks of eternal election and which reads as follows :

 faith." This is the truth of sovereign grace in regard to salva-                              "We believe that all the posterity of Adam being thus
 tion. No Arminian would ever express himself thus. Notice,                              fallen into perdition and ruin, by the sin of our first parents,

 first, that this is an answer to the `question whether or not                           God then did manifest himself such as he is ; that is to say,
 all men are saved. Notice, secondly, that the answer is not                             merciful and just: Merciful since he delivers and preserves
 simply "no ; only those that believe in Christ," which would in                         from this perdition all, whom he in his eternal and unchange-
 itself be true, but: "only  those that are ingrafted into him."                         able counsel of mere goodness, hath elected in Christ Jesus
 This means that God is the subject of this ingrafting into                              our Lord, without any respect to their works: Just, in leav-
 Christ and that the one so ingrafted into Christ is wholly                              ing others in the fall and perdition wherein they have in-
 passive. Who, then, are thus ingrafted into Christ? Those                               volved themselves."

 that are determined by God unto this purpose. Who are                                         My purpose is to call your attention particularly to the

 they ? The elect. And notice, thirdly, that this is also in-                            last sentence of this article where it is said that God reveals

 dicated by the word "receive." Those that are ingrafted into                            his justice in the fact that He leaves others in their perdition.

 Christ do not merely "accept" but "receive all his benefits                             We understand, of course, that in this article the infra-

 by a true faith." This is Reformed.                                                     lapsarian position is presented., but this does not make any

     Is then, God gracious, in the preaching of the gospel also                          difference with regard to the subject- about which we are

 to those whom "the Holy Ghost by the gospel" does not                                   writing at present: the "First Point." The doctrine of the

 ingraft  into Christ? Is, in other words, the preaching of the                          First Point is that God is gracious in the preaching of the

 gospel "common grace" ? Such is the aoctrine  of the "First                             gospel also to the .reprobate.  to those whom"  God determined

 Point."    And this is not Reformed but principally Arminian.                           to leave in their fall and perdition. But this is not in har-

  If you will carefully read what is taught of Christ and                                mony with this article of our .Confession:  God is merciful

 all his benefits in questions 21-52, you will find the same                             to the elect, just to the reprobate. Hence, even in the preach-

 language throughout. No one can preach from the Cate-                                   ing of the gospel He is not merciful to the latter but only

 chism and, at the same time, preach the general grace of the                            just. How, then, can the "First Point" appeal to the preach-

 "First Point," without corrupting it.                                                   ing of the gospel as a proof for so-called common or general

     I will make one more quotation from the Catechism, this                             grace ?

time from the question and answer concerning the Church:                                  - It is a well-known fact that the, truth of predestination

 "Question 54. What believest thou concerning the `holy                                  and of sovereign grace has always met with opposition in the

 catholic church' of Christ? Answer. That the Son of God                                 churches-.and that, too, in the Reformed Churches. Again

 from the beginning to the end of the world, gathers, defends,                           and again the church `was  called upon to defend this funda-

 and preserves to himself by his Spirit and word,  out of the                            mental truth over against all kinds of heresies. In the latter

 whole human race, a church chosen to everlasting life, agree-                           part of .the sixteenth century and the first part .of  the seven-

 ing in true faith ; and that I am and forever shall remain a                            teenth this doctrine was attacked by the well-known James

 living member thereof." It is not our purpose, of course, even                          Arminius.            He died before this controversy was settled,

 to give a brief explanation of this question and answer. Our                            namely in 1609. But his followers and adherents of which

 sole purpose is to show that the general grace of the "First                            there were many in the old country at the-time continued it

 Point" is surely in flat contradiction to this part of the Cate-                        and in 1610 formulated- five articles in which they set forth

 chism, and that the Reformed truth is as I have presented it                            their views. The articles are known as the "Remonstrantie"


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 2       2         1


 or the Five Arminian  Articles. They so formulated that many        language. of the Confessions as does M. Hoogland in Stro-
 in the Reformed Churches of Holland could, at first, detect         ytzota.  Nor should the Church permit him to write thus and

 nothing wrong with them. Yet, they deny the truth of                oppose his writing by counter arguments in the papers but

 p r e d e s t i n a t i o n .                                       demand of. him that he retract or be censured. For that the

     Briefly expressed they teach:                                   Confessions teach very plainly that Scripture is infallible in

     1. Predestination on the basis of foreseen faith and per-       spite of what Hoogland alleges ought to be sufficiently evi-

 severance, although they emphasize that is by the grace of          dent from just one quotation from the Netherland Confes-                  _

 the Holy Spirit.                                                    sion, Art. VII, which speaks of "The sufficiency of the Holy

     2. Universal atonement: Christ died for all men, though         Scriptures, to be the only rule of faith." The article reads

 only the believer receives the benefits of that death.              as follows :

     3. Saving grace is only the gift of God. This third article,        "We believe that those Holy Scriptures fully contain the

 taken all by itself, appears to be quite Reformed, but in the       will of God; and that whatsoever man ought to believe, unto

 context of the rest of the articles it cannot possibly be. For      salvation, is sufficiently taught therein. For, since the whole

 the question arises whether this grace is sovereign and             manner of worship, which God requires .of us is written in

 irresistible.                                                       them at large, it is unlawful for any one, though an apostle,-

     4. Grace is all of God and even the regenerate man can          to teach otherwise than we are now taught in the Holy Scrip-

 do nothing apart from this grace. But as concerns the mode          tures:  nay, though it were an angel from heaven as the

 of the operation of this grace, the article states that it is       apostle Paul saith. For since it is forbidden to add unto or

 not irresistible. Virtually, this is also the doctrine of the       take away anything from the Word of God, it doth thereby

 "First Point" in as far as it maintains that the preaching of       evidently appear, that the doctrine -thereof is most perfect

the gospel is grace for all that hear, which grace is, of course,    .and  complete in all respects. Neither do we consider of

resistible.                                                          equal value any writing of men, however holy these men may

     5. The perseverance of the saints through the grace of          have been, with those divine Scriptures, nor ought we to

the Holy Spirit, provided the believers themselves are ready         consider custom, nor the great multitude, or antiquity, or suc-

for the conflict and desire the help of Christ. But whether          cession. of times and persons, or councils, decrees or statutes,

they can never fall away is a question which the Remon-              as of equal value with the truth of God, for the truth is above

 strants, cannot answer in the affirmative. Hence, they really       all ; for all men are of themselves liars, and more vain than

deny the perseverance of the saints.                                 vanity itself. Therefore, we reject with all our hearts, what-

     These articles of the Remonstrants were elaborately             soever doth not agree with this ~infnllible  (I underscore) rule,

treated in the Canons of Dordrecht from which also the               which the apostles have taught us, saying, Try the spirits

 Synod of 1924 quoted in support of the "First Point."               whether they are of God. Likewise, if there come any unto

     But about this next time, D.V.                                  you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your

                                                           H.H.      h o u s e . "

                                                                         I could quote much more. But let this be sufficient.'

                                                                        You will understand, however, why I refuse to argue, as
               Evolutionj  Long Periods, or Days                     far as the days of the creation week are concerned, in the

     It stands to reason that, when I combat the idea of long        Reformed Churches, with anyone that, denies the infallibility
periods instead of six days of twenty-four hours of the crea-        of Scripture. A fallible Scripture implies that there are
tion week, that I do so only on the basis of Scripture. No           errors in the Bible and when once this .is admitted, who will
argument derived from science that apparently would con-             determine what is truth and what is error? Ultimately, only
tradict the clear testimony of the Word of God in this respect       the subjective opinion of the .interpreter.  Then the account
can have any weight with me and should have no weight                of creation in Gen. 1 may be nothing but a beautiful myth
with anyone that believes that the Bible is the infallible           and you can make of the creation-days, limited by evening
Word of God and is verbally inspired.                                and morning, billions of years.
     This also implies that, within the Reformed Churches, I            In this connection, I also wish to refer to an item of
have no argument with those that deny the infallibility of           trouble that has arisen in the Reformed Church in America,
Holy Writ. For the Reformed Churches stand on the basis              particularly in Classis  Passaic.
of the Three Forms of Unity. And these maintain, without a              The history of this case is briefly as follows.

doubt, that the Scriptures are infallible. Even about this we           A candidate for the ministry was examined by Classis

cannot argue, as is now being done in the Christian Reformed         Passaic in May-June, 1958. At the time this candidate was

Church. This whole argument is, within the limits of the             refused a Certificate of Licensure on the ground that he

Reformed Churches, fundamentally dishonest. One that dis-            denied the historicity of the early chapters of Genesis,

agrees with the infajlibility  of the Bible, ought either to file    particularly the real existence of Adam. It was decided to

a gravamen or objection .against  the Confessions or leave the       give the candidate a second opportunity for examination.

 Church, but he should not- write publicly against the plain         For this purpose Classis Passaic met on Sept. 16, 1958. And

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


     now I quote from a pamphlet issued by the Consistory of                  Instit,tttie, Joh. Calvijn. This is an abbreviated edition of
     the Sixth Reformed Church of Paterson, N.J. :                          the well-known Institutes of Calvin. This needs no recom-

            "A motion then prevailed to re-examine the candidate as         mendation except the remark that the abbreviation by Dr.
     stated in ,the call for the meeting, and the candidate indicated       B. Wielenga is very well executed.

     his willingness to be re-examined. This examination revealed              De Humor van de Bijbel,  by Okke Jager. Although this
     that the candidate not only denied the historicity of Adam,            book is very popular, witness the fact that this is the eighth
.    as expressed in his first examination, but he also denied that         edition, yet I personally have, to say the least, a mixed
     Abraham was a flesh and blood individual. John 8 :52-59 was            opinion of the book. I read it before and intentionally read
     read to him with *the  comment that the Jews thought Abra-             it again and received the same impression. The author is
     ham historical and, more significantly, our Lord spoke of              an able and interesting writer. There are also good elements
     Abraham as historical. But this was not conclusive for the             in the book. But unless he has a different idea of humor than
     candidate. The connection between and Adam and the doc-                I have, I find far less humor in the Bible than he does. For
     trine of imputation, and between Abraham and the doctrine              instance, his description of the wedding feast in the first
     of the Covenant of Grace were mentioned, but these im-                 chapter may be very humorous, but it is also very unreal and
     portant implications -did  not seem to impress him either. It          borders on the profane. But read the book for yourselves if
     was then proposed that the candidate agree to consult with             you can read Dutch.
     several brethren of the Classis for a period of about six
     months so that he might be instructed in the Biblical and                 Het Raa.dsel  van ons Levm (The Riddle of our Life) by
     Reformed faith on these matters. This he declined, saying              Dr. J. H. Bavinck. This book has been translated so that

     that his Seminary training was adequate, that the case should          YOU can have your preference of reading it in Dutch or
     be decided by General Synod, and that he was willing to be             English. Dr. Bavinck describes man as he has fallen into
     the symbol of the position which he had been taught at                 sin and death and points to Christ as the only solution of the
     Seminary and which Classis  refused to honor" . . . .                  riddle of life. The language is clear and simple. The English
                                                                            edition is published by Wm. B. Eerdmans.
            The case is not finished. It will be decided by a General

     Synod.                                                                    De Apocrieve Boeken (The Apocryphal Books) 2 ~01s.  It

            Do you not see the connection between this and what we          is interesting to read these books if only to ascertain that they

     have written before ?         -                                        are, indeed, quite different from the Canonical Books -of

            First it is taught, regardless of Scripture and on the basis    Scripture.                                                      H.H.

     of false so-called science, that the days of creation are long            Clwistelijke  Emyclopedie  (Christian Encyclopedia) pub-
     periods of billions of .years.                                         lished by J. H. Kok, Kampen, the Netherlands. Price per

            Secondly, the infallibility of Gen. 1 and, of course, the       volume f 29.50.

     infallibility of Scripture is denied.                                     The third volume of this work which I just received

            Thirdly, the historicity of Adam is denied as well as           covers the material that is alphabetically arranged under the
     related doctrines. And also the historical reality of Abraham          letters F-I. The first two volumes I received some time ago.
     and other historic persons is denied.                                  The work is composed under the redaction of Prof. Dr. F.
                                                                            W. Grosheide and Prof. Dr. G. P. Van Itterzon  though, of
            Thus, finally, we lose the whole of the Bible and have
                                                                            course, with many co-workers. The work contains a wealth
     nothing left.
                                                                            of material and can easily be consulted by the general reader
            Let us beware, lest this corruption also invades our            and not only by students and ministers. I read several articles
     c h u r c h e s   !                                                    in it and I find them scholarly and yet clearly written. The
            More about this next time, D.V.                                 work also contains a wealth of illustrations and pictures. I
                                                                  H.H.      most heartily recommend this work.

                                                                                                                                            H.H.

                          AS TO BOOKS

                                                                                                     IN MEMORIAM

            From J. H. Kok, Kampen, the Netherlands, I received a              The Ladies'. Society of the Southwest Prot. Ref. Church here-
     series of pocketbook editions of books that have been .pub-            with expresses its sympathy to thiee  of its members who have
     lished before. On each of these I will make a few remarks.             suffered the loss of dear ones: Mrs. A. Talsma, in the death of
     -The price of each is f 1.50.                                          her sister; and Mrs. H. Kuiper, Sr., and daughter Elsie in +e death
                                                                            of a brother and uncle respectively.

            Hwleefd VerZeden (The Past Lived Over) by Prof.  Dr.               May the Lord comfort the bereaved in their sorrow.

     A. Sizoo. This I read some time ago and I heartily recom-                                                      Rev. MI Scbipper, President
     mend.it  to the reader that is able to read Dutch.                                                             Mrs. B: Hafer, Secretary


                                              T    H    E         S    T    A    N    D    A     R    D         B.EARER                                       223


I!                                                                                              upon the earth and upon the sea, upon all the world, he there-
            0 U R D'O CT R-I-N  E                                                     /I by expresses plainly that, in the first place, He is their Lord
                                                                                                and possessor. To Him belongs the heaven and the earth,

                                                                                                also in ,this  present dispensation. He is their rightful Sover-
             THE.  BOOK OF REVELATION                                                           eign. But still, more, He also expresses symbolically that

                                                                                                all the world is actually subject unto Him. It may not
                         P - A R T   T W O
                                                                                                seem so. It may seem as if the power of sin is lord and

                          CHAPTER VI                                                            possessor in actual fact. The truth, nevertheless, is different.
                                                                                                Christ has His feet upon the earth and upon the sea, and
                         An Interlude
                                                                                                He has all things under His absolute control. With. majestic

                       Revelation 10 : 1-7                                                      calm He_ may descend out of heaven ; and without any fear
                                                                                                that He shall be opposed, He may indeed place His feet

      In conclusion, therefore, we may say that the appearance                                  upon all thi.ngs. For all things are subject unto Him even

of this angel reveals to us the Christ, reveals Him to us as                                    now.

the King-Judge, reveals to us that judgment is to come upon                                           But although this is, true; fact is also that His dominion
the world speedily, but reveals also at the same time that                                      is still disputed and that the prince of this world still rises
through these judgments the kingdom of our God shall be                                         in rebellion against Him. And so it shall actually appear
permanently established and perfected in all creation.                                          more and more. As the judgments of Christ shall come over             '

      With this interpretation of the description of the angel                                  this world, it shall appear more and more plainly as if the
is also in harmony the act He performs. We read of this                                         power of evil is actually reigning `and ruling supreme.. But
mighty angel that He set His right foot upon the sea and                                        when that fifth trumpet shall sound and the special army
His left foot upon the earth: We must not belittle the in-                                      of Satan out of the abyss shall be let loose and men shall
terpretation of this passage by saying, as some of the his-                                     follow .their  sinful inclinations and ambitions to the `full,
torical interpreters have it, that the earth is the Roman Em-                                   it shall seem as if the power of sin actually reigns and as if
pire and that the sea is the peoples of that time. For there                                    hell has free play on the stage of human history. When that
is nothing that indicates anything of the kind in the words                                     sixth trumpet shall blow and the four angels at the river
of our text. No, but the earth and the sea is here to be                                        Euphrates shall instigate the nations of Gog and Magog
taken as symbolic of all the world and -of all that it con-                                     and thus cause a universal war, it shall again appear as if
tains. It indicates the sea and all its creatures and powers,                                   the devil does as he pleases and as if hell reigns sovereignly
as well as the dry land and all its inhabitants and wealth.                                     over all the world, especially since all the while men don not
It is symbolic of the kingdom, as we `have pictured it to                                       repent of their wickedness but continue to. defy the blood of
you more than once, as God originally created it, the king-                                     atonement. And yet this shall not actually be the case. And
dom of the world, over which He placed man as His                                               therefore we must notice, in the second place, that the Lord
viceroy.    That kingdom of the world, the earth and the sea                                    holds His feet of fire upon the wicked world, thereby in-
and all their fulness,  was surrendered into the power of the                              .dicating  that not only does He possess and control all things,
devil through the sin of man. But upon that kingdom the                                         but that through it all He is also executing His judgments
Lord, this mighty angel, now sets His feet as pillars of fire.                                  upon the world of rebellion against Him.

This indicates, first of all,. that this King has all things sub-                                     But He does more. The Lord does not come only to

jected under Him. The placing of one's feet upon anything                                       perform a symbolic act and thereby to assure His people that
is symbolic of subjection and possession. In Joshua lo:24                                       He is in control -and that presently He shall come for judg-

we read that Joshua calls the chiefs of his army together and                                   ment upon the wicked world. But He also gives a most

bids them place .their  feet upon the necks of the five kings                                   solemn assurance. He makes an oath. Lifting His right hand

that have tried to escape in the cave, but which cave became                                    to heaven,-for in the left hand He held the book,.--  He

their prison. And then we read that Joshua pledges that                                         swears by the name of God, in order thereby to add to the

Jehovah shall thus do unto all their enemies; against whom                                      certainty and the truth of the statement which He makes.
they are fighting to conquer the land. In other words,                                          He calls God "him that liveth for ever, who created the

Jehovah shall subdue their enemies and put them in com-                                         heavens, and. the things that are therein, and the earth, and

plete subjection. Still more clearly, we have the direct state-                                 the things that are therein, and the sea, and the things that

ment in Ps. 110 :l : "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou                                      are therein."      In the first place, therefore, He swears by the

at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool."                                    Eternal One, thereby assuring His people that as long as the

Again, the idea of absolute subjection is expressed here.                                       name of God endures, -and this is, of course, for ever,-
Thus also we read in I Cor. 15 :25 : "For he must reign till                                    the truth of His statement shall also stand and shall certainly

he hath put all enemies under his feet." And in Eph. 1 :22                                      be fulfilled. In the second place, however, He also swears by

we read: "And  he put all things in subjection under his                                        the Creator of all, Who is at., the same time the sovereign

feet:"    When this mighty angel, therefore, places his feet                                    possessor of all things unto all eternity. He, the Almighty


  2 2 4                                    T    H    E         STANDA.R'D  B    E    A    R    E    R



  Sovereign of the heavens and of the earth, stands for the            judgments that shall come in answer to the prayers of the

  truth and the certainty of this statement. And proper this           saints, or whether he has in mind other seven thunders, we

  oath certainly is. For the contents of this statement are            know not. Certain it is that he speaks of a definite, well-

 closely related to its form. The main idea of it is that the          known number of thunders. For he does not say "seven

 mystery of God shall be realized. The mystery of God in               thunders" but uses the definite article, "The seven thunders

  this case is nothing less than the ultimate outcome of the en-       uttered their voices."            They are therefore symbols of judg-

 tire plan of God as it was contained in the book with its seven       ments upon the wicked world. And as such they well fit

  seals. .At this stage six seals had already been broken, ancl        in with this entire passage. The mighty angel, the Lord Jesus

  six trumpets are already blown. But the mystery of God has           Christ, in this portion sets His feet as pillars of fire upon the

 not yet been fulfilled. It still was waiting. Of that mystery         entire dominion to express that He is about to subdue and

 His servants the prophets had already spoken: for they had            destroy all His enemies. And at the same time He swears

 repeatedly made mention of the great day of the Lord, of the          that there shall be no more delay, but that presently the

 dominion of the Lord God Almighty, of the new heavens and             mystery of God shall be fulfilled: And therefore, even as the

the new .earth.  But still the world is as before. Still the           entire scene speaks of a speedy judgment, so also these thun-

 wicked world exists. Still the blood of the witnesses of Christ       ders are symbols of the same thing. In the second place, we

 flows as ever. Still the world serves its idols and demons,           may notice their number, which also is in harmony with this

 and commits the most terrible sins. But now the time is near.         scene, as well as with the form of the entire book. In

 For the Lord says, "There shall be no more time." This does           harmony with this portion it is, for it tells us of a finished

 not mean that presently eternity shall set in, although this          mystery of God ; and that is exactly indicated by the number

 is true in itself, but that there- shall be no more delay. For        seven. Seven is the number of the completed kingdom, as

 this "no more time" must evidently be taken `in direct con-           we have had occasion to remark before. And therefore the

 trast with what follows. There shall be no more time, but in          inference is perfectly legitimate, that these seven thunders are

 the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about          the symbols of judgments that must come for the completion

 to sound, shall the mystery of God be finished. ,The  meaning         and for the final perfection of the kingdom of God. And in

 is : presently the seventh trumpet shall sound, and there shall       harmony with the entire book this number seven is, for it is

 be no more delay at that time. The time for delay is draw'            based on this number throughout. There are seven churches,

 ing to a close. They have been chastized,  and- `they  repented       seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven vials. And when all of

 not. They have trampled under foot the blood of atonement.            these seven are realized, the kingdom has come. In the third

 The measure of their iniquity is full. There shall be no more         place, we may also notice that these thunders speak, that they

 delay. And when that. seventh trumpet shall sound, then               utter their voices. And they speak in plain human language,
 shall the entire plan of God be finished. The world of sin            - so plain that John is immediately ready to write down
 shall have been judged. The enemy of God shall have been              what they speak. And the inference is again that they re-

 destroyed. The kingdom shall have been established in glory.          vealed in plain and direct language just what judgments

 And the people of God shall have entered into their eternal           would come upon the world till the completion of the king-

 inheritance, beautiful and fair, where they shall glorify their       dom.

 God forevermore.                                                         Many are the conjectures as to the contents of the speech

      A moment we -must call your attention to the strange             of `these seven thunders. And the question has often been

 event that accompanies this outcry of the Lion of Judah's             asked, and answered in many different ways : what did these

 tribe. As this mighty angel cries with a voice as of a roaring        thunders say, and what did they reveal of the mystery of

 lion, which makes us think of the voice of many waters and            God ? There are those that assure us that here the devil

 of the Lion that stood as the Lamb that was slain, John               appeared as an angel of light and that he imitated the Lord,

 hears at the same time the voice of seven thunders. Three             that he tried to deceive John and have him write down as

 things we may notice in regard to these seven thunders. In            belonging to the mystery of the kingdom what was nothing

 the first place, we must remember that the thunder in the             but a lie of Satan. And hence, John, when he is about to

 Word of God, and especially also in the book of Revelation,           write down what they said, receives the command to seal up

 is indicative of judgment, of the judgment of God. In Ps.             their revelation and to write them not. There are others who

 18 :13, in the midst of that wonderful description of. Jeho-          assure us that the seven thunders contained the oracles of

 vah's coming against the enemies of His servant David to              all the prophets that had spoken of the coming of the king-

 destroy them, we read: "Jehovah also thundered in the                 dom. Still others have it that they revealed the blessed

 heavens, and the. Most High uttered His voice." As you will           mystery of the kingdom in its completion and spoke of the

 recall in. connection with the prayers of the saints that are         glory of the new world. Others have it that they revealed

 offered upon the altar of gold before the throne, we read that        merely the sad contents of the little book without the sweet

 the answer to these prayers came in the form of thunders              element which John tasted when he swallowed it. There are

 and voices and an earthquake. Whether John refers to these            even interpreters that have been bold enough to find in them

 same thunders, so that we must think here of the specific             the symbols of the seven crusades for the Holy Land. -All


                                            T    H    E         STAND.ARD   B    E    A    R    E    R                             225


these, and other conjectures; have been made. But all of                persecution and tribulation. So it was with the episode in
them, and as many as there still may be made in the future;             `chapter seven. There we were told how, in the midst of the
Bre absolutely wrong, for the simple reason that Scripture does         severest trials and tribulations, the people of Christ are
not tell     anything about the contents of the speech of these         sealed by the Spirit, so that they need not be afraid, while
        us 
thunders. It tells.     that they were thunders, and therefore          the glory that was pictured there before their eyes might
                    us 
symbols of judgment. It tells us too that there were seven              incite them to be faithful even unto the end. So also here
thunders, and therefore symbols of the judgment that must               the passage is rich in comfort for the people of Christ
come for the completion of the kingdom. It tells us that they           Jesus,- a comfort which they surely need. Just imagine
spoke in plain human language, so that John could just write            the condition. Already terrible things have been revealed.
down what was dictated to him. But for the rest, it is simply           In the days of the fifth trumpet, when that infernal army
presumptuous to ask what exactly they spoke, for the simple             of locusts shall be liberated to seduce men, there shall be an
reason that the command came to John not to write, but to               increase in sin and iniquity, and a wave of transgression shall
seal up what he heard. And therefore the only answer pos-               sweep the sinful world that shall end in gloomiest pessimism.

sible is that it was not the Lord's will that the voices of             Do' not think that this wave of iniquity shall touch only the
these seven thunders should be-revealed.                                avowedly wicked world. It shall sweep over the established

                                                                        church, and many in the church shall follow in the way of the
    But #then. we come to another question : has then this              world. That this is true you may behold in our own day.
portion no significance at all ? If the contents of these seven         Thus also in the days of the sixth trumpet, when the four
thunders might not be revealed, why then did they speak at              angels that are bound at the river Euphrates are let loose,
all, andq  why is it revealed to us that they did speak ? Why           there shall follow terrible days. All the world shall be at.
did not John simply proceed with that which we may know,                war and in misery, and it shall seem as if the coming of the
instead of first telling us that something was revealed to him          kingdom were more remote than ever. It shall appear as if
which must remain sealed. to us forever ? And then I find               the forces of hell are reigning supreme. Iniquity as never
the.answer  in this, that the seven thunders spoke directly and         before, the worship of devils and idolatry, murders, and
in plain language of the judgments to come, perhaps so plainly          thefts, and sorceries, and fornication shall abound. And the
that we could all follow them in the history of the world               world shall not repent. They shall be days of extreme tribula-
`and know exactly what was happening and how far we.had                 tion, days in which the faithful must stand strong and firm!
proceeded on the way of that history, so that not only the              in which many even out of the church shall fall away into
church, enlightened by the Spirit, but even the world, with-            the world.                        . .
out faith, could feel that these things were clearly being

realized. But that is not the purpose of the book of Revela-               And what do you imagine shall be the spiritual condition
tion. In this book the history of the world is not outlined             of the people of God in those days 7 Of course, they shall
before us, so that we can plainly recognize period after                undoubtedly receive special strength and grace, for otherwise
period that God's Program is being realized. But according              they would never be able to stand. Yet even so, I think that
to the first chapter, the things revealed are "signified." That         in those days the condition of the people of God shall often
means that they come to us in symbolic garb. And because                be that of gloom and doubt. Does it after all not seem, so
of this symbolic garb it is possible that the church, under the         they will think, that the cause of Christ in this world is a
influence of the Holy Spirit,, can recognize the coming Christ,         lost cause when iniquity abounds, judgment is not.followed
while the world, that tramples under foot theiblood  of Christ,         by repentance, and even many of the church shall fall away ?
is blind for this `truth. Just as Jesus spoke in parables with          It also shall be often a condition of fear and anxiety and-
the avowed purpose that His people might understand but                 small faith. Also they fear tribulation. Also against their
that the blind and deaf might not see nor hear and under-               nature it is to suffer and to be subjected to reproach and
stand, so it is also in the book of Revelation. The mystery             shame. ,Yet  these shall come in those days, and are coming
of God must surely be revealed, but only in such a way that             now more and more. And the result will be that they will
the church may receive the proper comfort at the proper                 sometimes lose sight of their King and His revelation, and
time, while, its contents remain hidden for the world of sin.           experience moments of fear and doubt and anxiety. But it
Hence, as we shall see next time, it is not in this form that           shall also be a condition of longing for the completion of all
John may receive ,the revelation of the mystery of God, but             things and for the final coming of the Lord. When faith is
in a far different form. The contents of the seven thunders,            strong and fears are dispelled, this faith shall in those days
therefore, as such must forever remain hidden. And he that              reveal itself especially as hope and longing for the final
would understand the mystery, of God must labor with its                coming of the kingdom and the King in His glory. And
revelation under the guiding influence of the Holy Spirit.              the prayer of the Bride shall become more and more urgent

                                                                        in the midst of judgment and tribulation, "Come, Lord Jesus,
    And now the final question: what is the purpose of this             yea, come quickly."
.part of the interlude ? In general, we may say that it aims at

the peace and the comfort of the people of God in times of                                                                        H.H.


2 2 6                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D -   B E A R E R



                                                                              fied by a quotation from The k'ritimp  of ./&&z&s,  Vol. III,
11 A CLOUD OF WITNESSES 11 pp. 535, 536, "Here we must repeat what was said before,
                                                                              as a general remark, that Esau and Jacob are to be considered,

                                                                              not in themselves, but as types, and so that which is attributed
                  That Election Might Stand                                   to them, is to be accommodated to the antitypes, or rather to

                                                                              the things signified. Hence, also, the- antitypes are to be
                "But when Rebecca aLa had conceived by one, even by
                                                                              considered, before a conclusion, similar to the former, can be
                 our father Isaac; [For the children being not yet Bonn,

                 neither having done any good or evil,  that the purpose      deduced from them, to the refutation of the sentiment of the

                 of God according to eleotion might stand, not of too&s,      Jews and to the confirmation of that of the apostle. But what
                 but of him that calleth;)                                    those antitypes are, may be gathered from the end or design
                 It was said unto her, The elder shull  serve the younger.    which the apostle has added, in these words : `that the purpose
                 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau  have I
                                                                              of God, according to election, might stand, not of works, but
                 hated."    Romans 9: lo-13
                                                                              of Him that calleth.' That is, God, in those words, `the elder

    The apostle Peter wrote in his first epistle (2 :S) , "And                shall serve the younger,' addressed to Rebecca, `the children

a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence,  even to them                    being not yet born, neither having done-  any good or evil,'

which stumble at the word, being disobedient : whereunto also                 designed to indicate nothing else than that He had formed,

they were appointed." This is true of all `the Scriptures ; they              in His own mind, from eternity, a purpose to communicate

are a stone of stumbling ; they offend. It seems to be especi-                righteousness and salvation, not one that would embrace all

ally true of the text that heads this article. The text specif-               the posterity of Abraham universally, but which should be

ically-says that the revelation which was given to Rebecca                    according to election, by which He would distinguish be-

before the birth of her twin sons was given precisely for                     tween these and those, not considered simply in their own

the reason that the purpose of God in election may stand,                     nature, as pure or corrupt, but in respect to the condition,

that is, that it may be revealed, and known as truth. Yet,                    by which righteousness and salvation were to be applied, as

volumes have been written to show that it is not so, that                     the apostle shows in the following words -that this purpose

election is not true, that the revelation of God to Rebekah                   according to election, might stand not of works, but of him

means something else.                                                         who calleth, in which words is contained a description of

    One-  such attempt to change the meaning of this text                     the' antitype, which had before been given in the phrases
was heard on The Back to the Bible broadcast, a religious pro-                `children of the flesh' and `children of the promise.' Here it
gram heard daily in Grand Rapids. On that particular broad-                   is more clear, for the children of the flesh and those of the
cast a question was asked as to the meaning of Romans 9 :13,                  promise are, each, by their own peculiarity, defined by the
"AS  it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."               apostle, in this passage, since the former are `of works,' the
The answer was given that this text does not teach that God                   latter of faith, by which obedience is rendered unto God,
actually hated Esau, but only that he preferred to use Jacob                  who `calleth.' Therefore, the apostle says that the purpose of
for a particular service. To substantiate this interpretation of              God, which is according to election, has reference to those
the word `"hated,`.  quotation was made of Luke .14 :26, "If                  who have faith in God who calleth, and who trust in Christ,
any man come to me, and hate not his father, and `mother,                     not to those who seek salvation by the works of the law."

and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his                  At first glance this might seem to constitute a profound

own life also,  he cannot be my disciple." Regardless of the                  and learned statement. When, however, with very careful

proper interpretation of Luke 14:26 (it is hardly admissible                  study, one `manages to arrive at the actual meaning of. Ar-

to change the meaning of the word "hate" to "love less" or                    minius,  it proves to be somewhat shocking. Shaving away

"not to prefer") this interpretation of Romans 9:13  can not                  all the confusing and irrelevant phraseology, we find him to

be upheld. What it neglects or ignores is Malachi 1:2-4.                      claim that this text is "designed to indicate nothing else than

That reads, "I have loved you, saith the Lord, Yet ye say,                    that He had formed, in His own mind, from eternity, a

Wherein hast thou loved us ? Was not Esau Jacob's brother ?                   purpose to communicate righteousness and salvation . . . in

saith the Lord: Yet I loved Jacob, And-I hated Esau, and                      respect to the condition, by which righteousness and salva-

laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of                  tion were to be applied . . . that the purpose of God, which

the wilderness. Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished,                      is according to election, has reference to those who have

but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith                  faith in God who calleth, and who trust in Christ, not -to

the Lord of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down;                   those who seek salvation by the works of the law." James
and they shall call them The border of wickedness, and, The                   Arminius, the father of Arminianism, actually had the bold-

people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever."                      ness to try to wrestle from the prophecy made to Rebekah,

There can be no doubt but that the word "hated" here must                     before her children were born and had done either good `or.

be taken with all of its full and severe implications.                        evil, the teaching that God elects on the basis of good and

         The difficulty with which Arminianism has wrestled with              evil. His attempt was to turn this text into its exact opposite.

this passage from its very beginning is rather clearly exempli-                  Not all of the followers of Arminius, however, have been


                                           T    H    E         S    T    A    N    D    A     R    D         BEARER                                    2 2 7


 able to approach this text with such audacity. Rather they                                  whole refers to the bestowment of temporal blessings, and the
 have devised another explanation of this text by which they                                 withholding of them.' "

 attempt to prove that it is completely unrelated to the doctrine                                  To these attempts to remove the truth of election from

 of election. This they have done by appealing to the original                               this text, we can very easily reply.
 statement of God to Rebekah as found in Genesis 25 ~23,                                           In the first place, even if it were true that Paul had
 "And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb,                                   reference to nations instead of individuals, personal election
 and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels :                               and reprobation would be immediately implied. Jacob and
 and the one people shall be stronger than the other people ;                                Esau were members of the nations that came forth from
 and the elder shall serve the younger." The claim is that this                              them ; and, thus, the election and reprobation of their nations
 prophecy of God had reference only to the two nations and                                   generally would also include them personally.
 not to Esau and Jacob- personally. This is perhaps the most                                       Secondly, Paul does not have reference to temporal bless-
 generally accepted interpretation of the text, at least among                               ings. In `verse 4 he specifically states that he is speaking of
 those who will not receive the doctrine of absolute predestina-                             adoption, glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the
 tion.                                                                                       service of God, and the promises. These are deeply spiritual

     This view is propounded .by  Richard Watson, an out-                                    concepts, and by no means temporal.

  standing Arminian theologian of the early nineteenth century,                                    Finally and basically the reference of Paul to Esau and

 in his Tkeological  Institutes, "1. The argument of the apostle,                            Jacob is individual and personal. This is quite evident from

  of which this instance is in continuence  requires us to under-                            the quotations which P&l makes from Genesis and from

  stand that he. is still speaking of `the seed' intended in the                             Malachi. In the original prophecy to Rebekah there was

  promise, which did not comprise all the descendants either of                              mention made of nations and peoples; but Paul quotes only

 Abraham, or Isaac, or Jacob, for he brings instances of ex-                                 that portion of the revelation which applied to Jacob and

  clusion from each: but such as God elected to be his visible                               Esau personally, "the elder shall serve the younger." Paul

  Church: he is not therefore speaking of the personal electioni                             is concerned in this passage only with individuals ; if he had

  or rejection of Isaac, or Ishmael, or Jacob, or Esau ; but of                              been concerned'-with nations his quotation would have been

  their descendants in certain lines, as elected to be the ac-                               different. The same is true of the quotation from Malachi,

  knowledged Church of God. 2. This is proved, also, from                                    "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." There too

 those passages of Moses, which furnish the facts on which                                   there is reference made to nations; but Paulls  quotation in-

  the apostle reasons, and which he quotes briefly as being well                             cludes only that portion which applies personally.

  known to the Jews, as it is written, `The elder shall serve the                                  This is true because Paul in Roman9  9 is applying him-
younger. ' Now this is written, 25 :23, . . . So far; indeed, was                            self to the problem of the distinction, not between two na-
  this prophecy from being intended of Esau personally, that                                 tions, but between individuals within one nation. He is con-
  he himself did never serve his brother Jacob, although he                                  cerned with the fact that "they are not all Israel, which are
  wantonly surrendered to him his birthright . . . 3. If the                                 of Israel" (vs. 6), with the fact that "they which are the
  apostle, in this instance of Jacob and Esau, speaks of the                                 children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but
  rejection or reprobation of individz&al.s,  he says nothing at                             the children of the promise are counted for seed," [vs. 8).
  all to his purpose, because he is discoursing of the rejection                             Therefore he uses the example of Jacob and Esau because
  of the Jews, as A NATION, from being any longer the                                        they were both according to the flesh of the seed of Abraham,
  visible and acknowledged Church of God in the -world ; so                                  twins, born at the same time of the same parents.. There he
  that instances of individual reprobation would have been im-                               asks what caused the distinction between them, that the one
  pertinent to his purpose." (Vol. II, pp. 313, 314).                                        should be a true -spiritual son of Abraham while the other

                                                                                             was not. (The fact that Esau was the father of a nation which
     To this Thomas N. Ralston, a disciple of Watson's,
                                                                                             was antithetically opposed to the nation of Israel was of           -
  added yet another thought in his treatment of Romans 9 in
                                                                                             course true but entirely irrelevant to Paul's argument.) The
  his book Elewwnts  of Divinity. He wrote, "Now,' even if it
                                                                                             answer to this problem, the reason for the distinction be-
  could be made to appear (which we have just seen to be
                                                                                             tween those two individual men, Paul found to be ultimately
  contrary to Scripture) that Jacob and Esau are here per-
                                                                                             only in the good-pleasure of God "that the purpose of God
  sonally referred to, Calvinism can derive no support, unless
                                                                                             according to election might stand, not of works, but of him
  it be also shown that this election and reprobation, or this
                                                                                             that calleth:"
  lov+g  of Jacob and &ding of Emu, referred to their eternal
  destiny. That it had no reference whatever to their eternal                                      It is not surprising that the .Arminian  should put forth-
  destiny, either as individuals or nations, but that it related                             so much effort to try to find some other meaning for this
  entirely to temporal blessings, we might almost leave to the                               text. But the ultimate reason for that also is that they
  testimony of the most intelligent Calvinistic ( ? - B.W.)                                  "stumble at the word, being disobedient : whereunto also they

  commentators themselves.. The decision of Professor Stuart                                 were appointed."

  on this point we have already seen. His words are, `The                                                                                              B.W.

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


                                                                        In view of this tremendous serious and glorious reality
 II         F R O M   H O L Y   W R I T                          II in the saints and the awful reality for the wicked Jesus utters
                                                                     the Parable of the Talents. We underscore .once more that

                                                                     this is a prophetic utterance ! It is not simply a foretelling of

            Exposition of Matthew 24 and 25                          future things, but it is the prophetic word which is most

                                                                     sure, unto which we do well to give heed as unto a light
                                 XII.                                shining in a dark place until the day dawn and the day-star

                          (Matthew 25 :14-30)                        arise in our hearts. It is full of admonition and nurture of
                                                                     the Lord. While we are instructed we are also exhorted and
       It is the ever repeated warning of the Lord Jesus that as     admonished. We are even admonished by what will take

 his church we shall be watchful unto prayer unto his coming.        place to the wicked, the evil and sloughful (irksome) servant

 And His reassuring word is ever and anon: behold, I come            in this parable. These things are also written for our
 quickly, and my reward is with me ! Thus we read in the             admonition upon whom the ends of the ages are come, even

 last chapter of the book of Revelation: "He that testifieth         by that which we are foretold concerning what will happen
 these things saith, Yea : I come quickly" ! and all who love the    at the very end of the ages to those who all around us walk

 appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ respond from the depths         in wickedness !

of their hearts : "Amen, come, Lord Jesus" !
                                                                        We generally as Protestant Reformed people understand
       To excite in us that prayerful disposition of heart and       quite well that the "Son of `God from the beginning to the
 mind through the Holy Spirit the Lord Jesus utters his              end of the world, gathers, defends and preserves to himself,by
 prophetical-eschatological address as recorded in Matthew 24        His Spirit and word, out of the whole human race, a church
 and 25. We have taken note of the instruction of the Lord           chosen to everlasting life . . ." but that he does this in such
 Jesus in eleven essays thus far. We shall need to add just          a manner that it is ever by "his Spirit and word" is not
 a few more, and we trust that there are some of the readers         always so readily understood. In our emphatic emphasis that
 who have followed and are following this series of essays too.      the Gospel is no offer but a power of God we sometimes

                                                                     forget to explicitly state that this power of-God is exercised
       It is a particular and important point in this discourse
                                                                     also through the admonitions of the Gospel ; that when we
 of Jesus. that the exact point, the time when Jesus shall
                                                                     are kept (guarded) in the power of God through faith- (I
 return upon the clouds of heaven is known to no one, not
 even to the angels in heaven ! We are even taught that the          Peter 1:5) the admonitions of the Gospel are an integral
                                                                     part of this Gospel -which is power of God unto salvation !
 Son does not know that day and hour, but the Father only!
 `Hence, there is the element of surprise, and the spiritual-        Now we must teach the one without neglecting the other,
                                                                     otherwise we do not merely have a tendency to onesidedness,
 psychological necessity of constantly being watchful and
                                                                     but do not teach the full counsel of God on this point of
 ready.
                                                                     the means of grace! Here we are reminded of the warning
       The return of Christ, His Parousia, will be unexpected to     finger of the fathers of Dort. In Canons III, IV, 17 we read,
 all. However, there is a twofold sense in which his return          "The almighty operation of God . . . . does not exclude but
 will be unexpected. In the first place, there are those, who        requires means, by which God of His infinite mercy bath
 are such that they are in a completed state of being lovers of      chosen to exert his influence (deze zijne kracht heeft willen
 the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ; For them there is          titoefenen) . . . . . so even in this day be it far from either
 laid away in that day the crown of life, II Tim. 4:8. They          instructors or instructed to presume to tempt God in the
 are those, who give heed to the Word of God, which "in-             church by separating what he of his good pleasure hath most
 structs us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly      intimately joined together. (zich zouden.  vermeten God te
 lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in          verzoeken door het scheiden van dier dingen,  die God naar
 this present world, looking fpv the blessed hope and appearing      zijn welbehagen heeft gewild dat ze te zamen gevoegd zou-
 of the glory, of the great God.and our Savior Jesus Christ;         den blijven). Translation in Holland language by/Rev. H.
 who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all           Meijering. Compare also Canons V, 14.
 iniquity, and purify unto himself a people for his own pos-            We do well to continually heed this warning.
 session, zealpus  in good works," Titus 2 :12-14. For these
                                                                        God is not mocked !
 the return of Christ will indeed be at a moment when they

 think not. But it will be the most joyful surprise under               What is said by our fathers in Canons V, 15, concerning

 heaven! For everyone that hath this hope of seeing God in           the inability of the carnal mind also holds in respect to the

 Christ in that day, purifietlz  (present indicative) himself as     "manner of conversion" and that in two directions, both to

 he is pure. On the other hand, to all those who hate this           those, who make admonitions presuppose the "can" in all who
 appearance, because they are haters of God and of His Christ,       hear, (Arminians and Pelagians and those who tempt God
 this shall be the great day of the Lord, a day of wrath and         by neglecting the admonitions of the Gospel; including also
 of anguish of spirit.                                               the "threatening.? ! Compare Ezekiel 3 :16-21.


                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                       229


           As the chief prophet who has come to reveal `the secret             time and effort in a purely comparative study of the parable

       counsel. of God concerning our redemption he unfolds the                before us, the parable of "The Talents" and that of the

       counsel of God here concerning the redemption which shall               "Pounds.."    The latter is recorded in Luke 19:12-27.  Such

       be ours in the Parousia. See I Peter 1 :ll-13.  And the central         effort and study from the very nature of the endeavor yields

       thrust of the parable of the Talents is evidently given in              very little positive fruit to the correct understanding of Jesus'

-      Matthew 25 :13, "Watch therefore, for ye know not the day               word of prophecy and of his admonition unto watchfulness of

       or #the  hour." And to excite us unto the watchfulness of hope,         a living hope in His appearance and Parousia ! What we are

       to crucify our old nature and to walk in a new and holy life,           interested in is the message and teaching of Christ to His

       he compares the Kingdom of heaven in the Parousia like                  disciples.and  to the church of all ages.

       unto a man that went into a far country.                                   In the second place, we would remind ourselves and our

           But let us quote the parable itself verbatim : "For it is as        readers that we do well to keep in mind that Jesus' Parables
       wl$en a* man going into a,notlzer  comtry, called his own               are stories, narratives taken from real life. It should not be
       servants, .and de&eyed  unto them his goods. And unto the               overlooked that Jesus as the master-teacher and pedagogue,
       one he gave firue talents, to ,a.no&er  two, to a,Notlzeu orte,  to    the great Prophet which was to come, took the materials of
       each according to his several ability; a:nd  he went on his             His "stories" as it suited best to bring out the point at issue.
       journey.    Straightway he that had  received the five talents          In this case He emphasizes : the wisdowz  and justice of God                 _
       went a,nd traded zen'th  them, a,sd mude  other five talents, In       when he shall take account from his "servants," rewarding
       like manner he .also tht received t@ two gained other two.             each according to his work! That in the case of the "good.
       But he that received the one went away a& digged in the                and faithful servants" this was a matter of a reward of
       earth, and kid his lord's mo+zey.  Now after a. long timce the         grace is not stated in the parable, but must be supplied `from
       lord of those servants cometh  and ma.keth  a reckoning with           the abundant and clear teaching of Scripture. Here we re-
       them,. And he tht receiveth the five talents came and brought          member the rule : theologia.  pa~ra.bolica.  non est argument&q
       other @e talents, sa"ying,  Lord, thou deliverest unto ?%ze five       that is, parables do not give doctrinal arguments. They pre-
       ta.1ent.s;  lo, I have gaimed -other  five talents. His lord sa.id     suppose doctrinal teaching.          Thus earlier in `this discourse.
       umto &I$., Well done, good and faith@1  servant: thozt  least          Here the doctrine is illustra.ted  by the parable but not demon-
       been fait&%  over a few things, I z&l set thee over `m&any             -strated  or proven ! See G. H. Scholde in International Stand-
       things; enter thou into~ the joy of thy lord. And he also              ard Bible Encyclopedia. See also Bishop Trench.

       tht received the tzpro  talents. came `and  said, Lord, thou de-           In the light of these two observations we do well to bear

       liverest  unto mte two talents: lo, I have gained two other            in mind the scope and point of view of this parable.

       talents. His lord said unto h&t, Well done, good and faithful              We notice then the four following elements :
       serva.nt:  thou ha& been faith+1  over a. few t&gs, I will set             In the first place, that this parable refers to the truth, the
       tjzee  ovep  *xu.ny things;  evtter  thou into the joy of thy lord.    reality of the Kingdom of heaven, as all of history must
      `He also that hd received the one talent camae  and said, Lord,         needs end in a day of reckoning, the day of judgment. The
       I knew thee t1za.t  thou aivt a, hard mzan,  rea.pimg  where thou      history of the world is each day a_ jud,gment  of the world,
       did& not sow, and gatkerivtg  where tlao,u didst not scatter;          whether to condemnation or to acquittal and reward. See also
       and I wa,s  a&aid and I went away artd hid thy talent in the           Remans  2 :l-16.
       earth:  lo, thou hast thine  own! But his lord answered and                In the second place, the entire parable is in its warp and
       said unto l&m, thou whzked  amd sloth&l serva.nt, thozt knewest        woof admonitory in nature. This. we have signalled above.
       tht I reap where  I sowed n.ot, and gather  where I did not
                                                                                  In the third place, the inner motives of the good and
       scatter? Tlaou  oughtest  therefore to have put ~tzy  money  to
                                                                              faithful servants are laid ,open,  as well as of the evil and
       the ba,nkers,  and at May copming  I should have received back
                                                                              s l o t h f u l   s e r v a n t .
       Imine  owm with  interest. Ta.ke  ye away therefore the talent
       from  h+itz, and give it unto h&m t?aa"t  kath ten talents. For            Lastly, that the Lord speaks here of talents, "according
       unto every onb  that hatk shall be given, and he &ull  lzave           to the ability of each" `also calls for special attention.
       abundance: but fromttt  lhm tha.t bath not, even that wl&h  he                                                                         G.L.

       loath  Ad1 be taken ,away.  And cast ye the unprofitable servant

       into  outer,.darkness:  tlaere shall be. weeping a.nd gnashing of                       Notice for. Classis  West
       teeth." Verses 14-30.                                                      Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will

          In this essay we will make the following remarks yet, and           meet, the Lord willing, in South Holland, Illinois, on Wed-              .
       that will be all. The exposition of the various elements in            nesday, March 18, 1959, at 9 A. M.

       the parable and its teaching we will need to finish in another.           The consistories are reminded of the rule that all matters
     essay in the next issue of The S-tandard  Bearer.                        for the classical agenda must be in the hands of the Stated

          In the first place, we believe it is of importance to state         Clerk not later than 30 days before the date of Classis.

       it as being our conviction that we need not spend precious                                            REV. H. VELDMAN, Stated Clerk


 230                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D .   BEAR.ER
                                                         ._


                                                                          These two are always present and belong together, but
                   I N   M I S   F E - A R                             not as your shadow that always goes with you. It is not a
                                                                 /1 mechanical unity that links these two. It is a living union
        I,                                                             that resides in the soul of the regenerated child of God. As
              . . . And Keep His Commcmdments . . ."                   the fire always .generates  heat and light, so the fear of God

                                                                       in our hearts always produces works of love to God ; and
                                (5)                                    therefore the man who fears God delights in the law of' God

        Without faith it is impossible to please God, the author       and desires to keep His commandments with all his heart

 of the epistle to the Hebrews tells us. .And therefore we may         and soul and mind and strength. By faith we are engrafted

 say .that unless we fear God, we cannot keep His command-             into Christ and stand in a living connection with Him:

 ments. Remembering that keeping His commandments is not               Through'that  bond of faith the spiritual life which Christ has

 simply conforming to them in the outward sense but perform-           merited for us flows from Him into us, as the sap flows from

 ing an act of love to Him, we will readily see that this second       the tree trunk into the branch that has been engrafted into

 matter, which Solomon says belongs to the whole duty of               it. And that life will cause our hearts to beat with the love of

 man, cannot be carried out unless we have that fear of God            God and move our members ever to keep His commandments.

  which is the first part of the whole duty of man. Of that-we            Therefore ". . . and keep His commandments . . ." may

 wrote last time.                                                      not be left out of that which is the whole duty, of man before

        At this writing we wish to make a further observation          God. We err as greatly when we deny that man must keep

 concerning this keeping of God's commandments as an essen-            God's commandments as we .do  when we say that he is not'

 tial part of our whole duty before God. The fear of God will          obliged to believe in God. Indeed, there are those who to all

 always be accompanied by the keeping of His commandments.             practical purposes do ignore and by their ignoring deny

 You will never find the- one or the other alone. Either we            that we must live in the fear of God. No, not directly or

 fear God and keep His commandments, or we neither fear                literally. They would be the first to. deny vehemently that

  Him nor keep His commandments, It is impossible that we              this is their stand. Their stand is that we must have practical

 keep His commandments without His fear in our hearts, we              preaching alone. Always we must be told what we must do.

  pointed out above in a few statements and last time more             Every sermon must be a moral lesson and hold clearly be-

  in detail. But it is equally true that the fear of the Lord          fore our eyes our calling before God. Now, we do not mean

  will always have for its fruit the keeping of God's command-         to say that. all desire for practical preaching is per se sinful.

  ments. To have faith and not works is impossible. To fear            We are aware of the fact that many use the word practical

  God and not keep His commandments never happens. Where               very loosely. Often it simply means that the preaching is

  there is life there is always activity. The new-born babe            hard for them to understand - due not to the preaching as

  manifests his life immediately .by his crying. And surely the        such or the preacher but to their own spiritual background.

  beating of his heart, the activity of his little lungs shows that    Coming from a sphere where either other terminology is

  he has life. So the fear of God will always manifest itself in       used or else where the preaching has always been superficial,

  the keeping of His commandments.                                     they find it difficult to follow. Such, of course, exactly need

        As we already remarked, using the words of James, "faith       doctrinal preaching. But they need more. They need instruc-

  without works is dead," "Shew me thy faith without works,"           tion either through a catechism class or else a society in the

  James says; "and I will shew thee my faith by my works."             congregation, supplemented with personal reading and study

  Pray, tell me, how will you manifest your faith without              to learn this new terminology. We can understand it that

  works ? Must I simply take the words you speak and where-            those who come from other circles can get lost in a sermon

  by you tell me' that you have faith as the proof that you do ?       whose terminolo,T  they do not understand. But when those

  Your works can all be works of unbelief? You fear God as             in our own circles, who have been taught from infancy the

  the devil does and tremble, but you do not behave at all as          doctrine we know and love, have had explained time and

  though He is God. You still go your own way. You oppose              again to them the terminology employed in our circles, clamor

 `Him as God and His commandments you treat as something               for practical preaching, you have another matter. That is

  that does not apply to you. And then you expect me to be-            clamoring to maintain that we must keep His commandments

  lieve that you believe that He is God ? You tell me that you         but that our faith does not need to be fed. Doctrine feeds our

  fear Him as the Lord of heaven and earth and then say that           faith and is used by God to strengthen it. Practical preach-

  you need not keep  the commandments of this Lord of heaven           ing may serve to point out to us how we may and must keep

  and earth? No, if you cannot show me works of love to God,           His commandments. But, surely, we know not what io put

  there is nothing for me to see that can assure me that you           into practice, and there is no foundation for practice without

  have His fear in your heart. Nor is there anything to which          .doctrine.  Unless we know God in all the doctrines He has

  you can point yourself for your own assurance and comfort            revealed of Himself in the Scriptures, we cannot possibly

that you are His believing child. Fear God and you will keep           know how to serve Him and what His commandments mean.

  I&scomn~andn~ents.                                                   Take a look at the Decalogue itself. What .a tremendous


                                          T    H    E         S    T    A    N    D     A     R    D         B    E    A    R    E    R                                  231


amount of doctrine God Himself `includes in it. "I am the                         presented as our whole duty before God. The man that is

Lord Thy God which hath brought thee out of the land of                           born of God does not do the one or the other. He does both.

Egypt, out of the house of bondage." With that doctrinal                          He does all that is commanded of him. And note that be-

preface He begins these Ten Commandments. -"I the Lord                            lieving is here presented as one. of the things which God I

thy God am a jealous God" He adds in the third command-                           commands of us. And so, he that is born of God doth not

ment continuing with the doctrine of His just and severe                          commit sin; for he does both : he believes on the name of God's

judgment upon all evildoers. In the fourth commandment He                              Son Jesus Christ, and he walks in love, keeping God's com-

gives the doctrine of His Sabbath and work.                                       mandments.

   However, we must not go to the other extreme either and                                   Such is also the testimony of the Netherlands Confes-
clamor for doctrine without application. We must not behave                       sion in article XXIV. There we read, "We believe that this
as though the word of God simply states that our whole duty                       true faith being wrought in man by the hearing of the Word
is to know God, fear Him and have faith in His promises.                          of God, and the operation of the Holy Ghost, doth regenerate
We have a beautiful example of the blending of the'doctrine                       and make him a new man, causing him to live a new life, and
or dogmatic teachings of the Church and the application of                        freeing him from the bondage of sin. Therefore it is so far
this to our lives in the midst of this world in the Heidelberg                    from being true, that this justifying faith makes men remiss
Catechism. It begins with that very, very practical question,                     in a pious and holy life, that on the contrary without it they.
"What is your only comfort in life and in death?' It takes                        would never do anything out of love to God, but only out of
us through the so-called Apostolic Creed and treats the doc-                      self-love or fear of damnation. Therefore it is impossible that
trines of God the Father and our creation, God the Son and                        this holy faith can be unfruitful in man : for we do not speak
our redemption, God the Spirit and our sanctification. But                        of a vain faith, but of such a faith, which is called in Scrip-
it also treats the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer,                        ture, a faith that work&h  by love, which excites man to the -
and it is not at all afraid to ask, as we pointed out before,                     practice of those works, which God has commanded in His
"What is required . . ." in this and that commandment. It                         Word. Which works, as they proceed from the good root
is not afraid to ask, "Why hath Christ coulz/utzan&d  (italics                    of faith, are good and acceptable in the sight of God foras-
are ours) us to address God thus : Our Father ?" Or even                          much as they are all sanctified by His grace: howbeit they
before this, "What hath God commanded us to ask of Him ?"                              are of no account towards our justification."'
Clearly also in this monumental work the underlying principle                                It is plain then that the fear of the Lord will always be
may be found that to fear God and keep His commandutzents                         accompanied by the keeping of His commandments. They
is the whole duty of man.                                                         who fear the Lord will have an intense and abiding desire to
   It cannot be otherwise. John writes in I John 3 :9, these                      keep His commandments. Freedom from the condemnation
amazing yet absolutely true words, "Whosoever is born of                               of the law will not move them to lawlessness but to the works
God doth not commit sin ; for His seed remaineth in him ;                         of love which the law demands. Such will not ban the reading
and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." Of course,                              of the law in their services' of worship. Such will not frown
that does not mean that the child of God attains to perfection                         every time mention is made of the demands of the law. Such
in this life. This same John writes in I John 1 :S, "If we say                         will say with Soloinon that to fear God and to keep His .
that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is                            commandments is the whole duty of man and that by His
not in us." And again in verse 10, "If we say that we have                             grace His redeemed, regenerated people do both.
not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."                                                                                                           J.A.H.'
It means .that the new principle of life which we receive

through regeneration, when we are born of God, as the text

states, this life cannot sin. We still have the flesh. The old
man of sin is still with us, and we have a constant struggle                                                           WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

with him. But this new man, this new life which those born                                   On February 15, 1959, the Lord willing, our dear parents,

of God receive remains in us everlastingly ; and this new man                                                     MR. AND MRS. JACOB MANTEL
.cannot  sin because he is born with the life of God. It is that
new life that enables us to fear God and believe all His prom-                         expect to commemorate their twenty-iifth  anniversary.

ises. But it is also that same life that causes us to keep His                               We give thanks to our Heavenly Father for sparing them through

commandments. As John writes in I John 3 :23, 24, "And this                            these many years for us and for each other. Our sincere prayer is

is His commandment, That we -should believe on the name                                that the Lord may continue to bless them in their remaining years.

of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave                                                                                   Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Surma
us commandment. And he that keepeth His commandments                                                                                       Miss Mary Ann Mantel
dwelleth in Him, and He in him. And -hereby we know that                                                                                   Mr. and Mrs. Arnnie Reid
He abideth in us; by the Spirit which He hath given us."                                                                                   J a c o b   M a n t e l
You may note also here that faith or the fear ,of God and                                                                                  Miss Lois Ruth Mantel

keeping His commandments or walking in love together are                               Redlands, California

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


                                                                            Eucharist, before being used, there is the Author himself of
  II Contending For The Faith II sanctity. For the apostles had not as yet received the Euchar-
  I'                                                                  `I    ist from the hand of the Lord, when nevertheless himself
                                                                            affirmed w&h truth that to be his own body which he presented
              The Church and the Sacraments
                                                                            (to them). And this faith has ever been in the Church of

        Vr~ws  DURIKG  THE THIRD PERIOD (750-1517 A.D.)                     God, that, immediately after the consecration, the veritable
                                                                            body of our Lord, and his veritable blood, together with his
                   T H E   S E V EN  S A C R A M E N T S.                   soul and divinity, are under the species of bread and wine ;

                                                                            but.  the body indeed under the species of bread, and the
           THE ROMAN CATHOLIC DOCTRINE OF
                    TRANSUBSTANTIATION.                                     blood under the species of wine, by the force of the -words ;
                                                                            but the body itself under the species of wine, and the blood
  The doctrine of Tra~~s~t.Zlstant~a.t~o~~     as set forth in the          under the species of bread, and the soul-under both, by the
  den-ees of the Co,mcil  of T,rent.                                        force of that natural connection and concomitancy  whereby

                                                                            the parts of Christ our Lord, w1to  l&h wow  &en  from the
         In chapter 1 of the decrees of this council, calling atten-
                                                                            dend,  to die no `wzore  - I Cor. 6 :9, are united together; and
  tion to sthe  real presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in the most
                                                                            the divinity, furthermore, on account of the admirable hypos-
  holy sacrament of the Eucharist, we read : "In the first place,
                                                                            tatical  union thereof with his body and soul. Wherefore it
  the holy Synod teaches, and openly and.simply  professes, that,
                                                                            is most true, that as much is contained under either species
  in the august sacrament of the holy Eucharist, after the con-
                                                                            as under both ; for Christ whole and entire is under the species
  secration of the bread and wine, our Lord Jesus Christ, true
                                                                            of bread, and under any part whatsoever of that species; like-
  God and man, is truly, really, and substantially contained
                                                                            wise the whole (Christ) is under the species of wine, and
  under the species of those sensible things. For neither are
                                                                            under the parts thereof."
  these things mutually repugnant, -that our Saviour himself

  always sitteth at ,the right hand of the Father in heaven,                   Christ is present in this ordinance, not spiritually as

  according to the natural mode of existing, and that, neverthe-            taught by the Reformed, nor by the real presence of his body

  less, he be, in many other places, sacramentally present to us            and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine, but by the

_ in his own substance, by a manner of existing, which, though              bread and wine being by the almighty power of God changed

  we can scarcely express it in words, yet can we, by the under-            into his body and blood. As at the feast in Cana  of Galilee,

  `standing illuminated by faith, conceive, and we ought most               the water was changed into wine, so in the eucharist,'  the

  firmly to believe, to be possible unto God: for thus all our              bread and wine are changed into, and remain the body and

  forefathers, as many as were in the true Church of Christ,                blood of Christ. The doctrine is thus set forth in the Canons

  who have treated of this most holy Sacrament, have most                   of the Council of Trent,  in which the Roman Catholic Church

  openly professed, that our Redeemer instituted this so ad-                anathemizes all those who deny. this doctrine as follows.

  mirable a sacrament at the last supper, when, after the blessing          Canon I: "If any one denieth, that, in the' sacrament of the

  of the bread and wine, he testified, in express and clear words,          most holy Eucharist, are contained truly, really, and sub-

. ,that he gave them his own very body, and his own blood,                  stantially, the body and blood together with the soul and

  words which, -recorded by the holy Evangelists, and after-                divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently the whole

  wards repeated by Saint Paul, whereas they carry with them                Christ; but saith that he is only therein as in a sign, or in

  that proper and most manifest meaning in which they were                  figure, or virtue: let him be anathema." Canon II : "If any

  understood by the Fathers, -it is indeed a crime the most                 one saith, that, in the sacred and holy sacrament of the Euch-

  unworthy that they should be wrested, by certain contentious              arist, the substance of the bread and wine remains conjointly

  and wicked men, to fictitious and imaginary tropes,  whereby              with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and denieth

  the verity of the flesh and blood of Christ is denied, contrary           that wonderful and singular conversion of the whole substance

  to the universal sense of the Church, which, as the pillar  and           of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the

  ground of truth, has detested, as satanical, these inventions             wine into the blood - the species only of the bread and wine.
  devised by impious men; she recognizing, with a mind ever                 remaining - which conversion indeed the Catholic Church

  grateful and unforgetting, the most excellent benefit of                  most aptly ,calls  Transubstantiation: let him be anathema."

  Christ."                                                                  Canon III : "If any one denieth that, in the venerable sacra-

         In chapter III of these decrees, calling attention to the          ment of the Eucharist, the whole Christ is contained under

  excellency of the most holy Eucharist over the rest of the                each species, and under every part of each species, when

  sacraments, -we read: "The most holy Eucharist has indeed                 separated : let him be anathema." Canon IV: "If any one

  this in common with the rest of the sacraments, that it is a              saith, that; after the consecration is completed, the body and

  symbol of a sacred thing, and is a visible form of an invisible           blood of our Lord Jesus Christ are not in the admirable sacra-

  grace; but there is found in the Eucharist this excellent and             ment of the Eucharist, but (are there) only during the use,

  peculiar thing, that the other sacraments have then first the             whilst it is being taken, and not either before or after; and

. power of sanctifying when one uses them, whereas in the                   that, in the hosts, or consecrated particles; which are reserved


                                            T H E   STANDAR               D         B.EARER                                          233


or which remain after communion, the true body of the Lord             here in any substance. This is stated literally in a Roman
remaineth  not : let him be anathema." Canon V : "If any one           Catholic Catechism (H.V.) .

saith, either that the principal fruit of the most holy Eucharist         Secondly; as to what is said to be present under the species
is the remission of sins, or that other effects do not result          of bread and wine, it is the body and blood of Christ; the
therefrom : let him be anathema." Canon IV : "If any one              body which hung upon the cross; the blood which flowed
saith, that, in the holy sacrament of the Eucharist, Christ, the      from his side ; with the nerves, bones, and whatever pertains
only-begotten Son of God, is not to be adored with the wor-           to the completeness of man (this, too, is literally stated in
ship, even external of latria ; and is, consequently, neither to      a Roman Catechism- H.V.). As, however, the body of
be venerated with a special festive solemnity, nor to be sol-         Christ is inseparably connected with his soul, so that where
emnly borne about in procession, according to the laudable             the one is, the other must be and as his soul is in like
and universal rite and custom of holy Church ; or, is not to          manner connected with his divinity, it follows that the whole         s
be proposed publicly to the people to be adored, and that the         Christ, body and soul, and divinity, is present (Catechism by
adorers thereof are idolators : let him be anathema." Canon           Rome - H.V.).
VII: "If any one saith, that it is not lawful for the sacred
                                                                          Thirdly, the whole Christ is in the bread and the whole
Eucharist to be reserved in the sacru.r~zt~~,  but that, immedi-
                                                                      Christ is in the wine : and not only so, but in each and every
ately after consecration, it must necessarily be distributed
                                                                      particle of both species. Thus again the Roman Catechism.
amongst those present; or, that it is not lawful that it be
carried with honor to. <the sick : let him be anathema." Canon            Fourthly, Lutherans teach that the presence of the body
VIII: "If any one saith, that Christ, given in the Eucharist,         and blood of Christ in, with, and under the bread,and  wine,
is eaten spiritually only, and not also sacramentally and             is confined to the time of the administration of the sacrament.
really : let him be anathema." Canon IX : "If any. one denieth,       Romanists, on the other ,hand,  teach that as there is an entire
that all and each of Christ's faithful of both sexes are bound,       change of the substance of the elements into the substance of
when they have atttained to years of discretion, to com-              the body and blood of Christ, that change is permanent.
municate every year, at least at Easter, in accordance with           From this it is inferred, (1) That the consecrated wafer as
the precept of holy Mother Church: let him be anathema."              containing the -whole Christ may be preserved. (2) That it
Canon X: "If any one saith, that it is not lawful for the             may be carried to the sick. (3) That it may be borne about
celebrating priest to communicate himself: let him be ana-            in procession. (4) That it should be adored.

thema."    Canon XI : "If any one saith, that faith alone is a            It is well known that Romanists distinguish between the
sufficient preparation for receiving the sacrament of the most        "cultus  civilis,"     or worship (that is, respect) due to our
holy Eucharist: let him be anathema. And for fear lest so             superiors among men ; dozcleia,  due to saints and angels ; ha@-
great a sacrament may be received unworthily, and so unto             erdouleia,  due to the Virgin Mary, and htreia,  due to God
death and condemnation, this holy Synod ordains and de-               alone. The ground of this worship is the real or supposed
clares, that sacramental confession, when a confessor may be          possession of divine perfections in its object. When our Lord
had, is of necessity to be made beforehand, by those whose            was upon earth He was the proper object of this divine wor-
conscience is burdened with mortal sin, how contrite even             ship, because He was God manifested in the flesh. The wor-
soever  they may think themselves. But if any one shall               ship terminated on the person ; and that person is and was.
presume to teach, preach, or obstinately to assert, or even in        divine. If Christians err in believing that the person known
public disputation to defend the contrary, he shall be there-         in history as Jesus of Nazareth, was, and is the Eternal Son
upon excommunicated."                                                 of God clothed in our nature, then their worship of Him is
   Commenting on these decrees and canons, Hodge in his               idolatry . . ." With this analysis of the canons of-  the council
Systematic Theology, pages 680-682, writes as `follows :              of Trent by Hodge we will continue, the Lord willing, in our
"From this statement it appears, first, as concerns the ele-          following article.                                            H.V.
ments of bread and wine, that in and by the act of consecra-

tion, their whole substance is changed. Nothing of the sub-

stance is changed. Nothing of the substance or essence of

either remains. The accidents, or sensible properties, how-                                 Att.ention!  Consistories!
ever, continue as they were. The form, colour,  taste, odour,
                                                                          The Questionnaire for the annual Yearbook has been sent
the specific. gravity, their chemical affinities, and their nutri-
tive qualities remain the same (this Rome cannot very well            to all the churches. Will the Consistories see to it that these

deny. ,These things can easily be proven. - H.V.). So far             are properly filled out and returned as soon as possible? Your

as the senses, chemical analysis, and physics are concerned           cooperation is necessary!
or are to be trusted, no change has taken place. As the sen-                                        The Committee
sible properties of the bread and wine do not and cannot in-
here in the substance of Christ's body and blood, and as their                                             M .   S C H I P P E R
own substance no longer exists, those properties do not in-                                                G .   VANDEN  B E R G   e


  234                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B . E A R E R
                                                         I

                                                                         consistent; but it is consistently Arminian and consistently

                                                                         wrong.  Nor are the Canons the first `to maintain this. Our

                                                                         Canons define it more carefully. But do not forget that the

                                                                         Heidelberg Catechism already stated, Q. 53: "secondly, that
                    The Canons of Dordrecht                              he is also givefi  me, to make me by a true faith,. partaker of

                                PART 'r-W0                               Christ and all his benefits, that he may comfort me and abide
                      EsIjnsrTroN  OP  `1'1.IE CANONS                    with me for ever."    The Arminians could not stibscribe  to
                                                                         this. It means that once the Holy Ghost takes up His abode
                      FIPTH HEAD OF DOCTRINE
           N                                                             in a man, He remains in that man from that moment on,
                OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAT;T~                        forever. No action of that man can ever drive Him out ! Let
                         Article 6 (continued)
                                                                         us remember this. The Holy Ghost is always sovereign and

         We must still call attention to the meaning of the              efficacious in His operations. That is true of His initial
  several negative statements in this article. These statements          operation in the regeneration and conversion of the eledt

  by their negative form, remember, set the limits beyond                sinner, but also of His continued operation. The sinner has
  which the saints cannot fall, due to God's preserving opera-           absolutely nothing to do with the question whether or not the
  tion, no matter how grievous their fall and how enormous               Holy Ghost shall-take up His abode in him. He cannot ac-
  their sin. Specifically the article defines these limits in the        complish it, and he cannot prevent it. That is the very
  following statements: 1) God does not wholly withdraw the              essence of the work of grace. And therefore, the sinful saint

  Holy Spirit from His people. 2) God does not suffer f;hem              cannot drive out the Spirit once He has taken up His abode.
  to slip to the point that they fall out of the grace of adoption       In fact, to deny this is a terribly hopeless doctrine. It would

  and the state of justification. 3) God does not suffer His             certainly mean that the Holy Ghost would never take up His

  people to commit.the  sin unto death, the sin against the Holy         abcide  in the heart of any sinned-. And it would imply. that
  Spirit. 4) God does not suffer His people to plunge them-              should the Holy Ghost' perchance enter a man, He would  not

  selves into everlasting destruction.                                   stay there for a moment. Hence, we must maintain in the

         The ,first  statement is very -important,  for it means that    most complete sense of the word that the abode atid  opera-

  principally the saints always remain children of God, no               tions of the Holy Ghost in God's people are absolutely sover-

  matter how deeply they fall. Let us try to see the importance          eign and unconditional from beginning to end.

  of this. We are from eternity the people of God by sover-                 Moreover, we must remember that even when the Holy

  eign election. We are legally and objectively the people of            G.host  in some sense and to some degree withdraws, He does

  God through the  atone-ment of our Lord Jesus Christ,                  so sovereignly, not conditionally.' `You will notice that the

  by which He purchased all the elect. as His peculiar                   article implies that there is indeed a sense in which the

  possession. We become actually and subjectively the people             Holy Ghost withdraws or is withdrawn from the saints. This

  of God when the Holy Ghost as the Spirit of Christ  takes              is implied in the statement that God "does not wj~olly with-

  ,up His abode in us. That Holy Ghost "makes me by a true               draw the Holy Spirit from His own people." And this is

  faith, partaker of Christ and all his benefits." Heid.  Cate-          further defined by the expression later in the article to which

  chisnl;  Q. 53. It is by the efficacy of the same regenerating         we referred in our remarks about the translation. (Cf. the

  Spirit that God "pervades the inmost recesses of the man ; he          Feb. 1 issue.) That expression means that the Holy Spirit

  opens the closed, and softens the hardened heart, and circum-          does not inwardy, internally desert us. Hence, at those times

  cises that which was uncircumcised, infuses new qualities into         when the  Holy Ghost is grieved through the sin, of the child

  the will, which though heretofore dead, he quickens ; from             of God, He indeed recedes from the foreground of our con-

  being evil, disobedient, and refractory, he renders it good,           scious life and experience, and He as it were goes back into

  obedient, and pliable."     Now the question is : what happens         the inmost recesses of a man's being. But He never deserts

  when the child of God falls into sin ? Does the Holy Ghost             the saints as far as those inmost recesses of their being is

  come and go, depending on whether one walks as a child. of             concerned. Nor does He become inactive. Nor does He be-

  God or walks in sin ? When the saint falls into sin, does-he           come dependent upon oui action. He Himself withdraws ; but

  at that moment become no more a saint? Are the people of               He also makes His way back into our conscious life and ex-

God alternately children of God and not-children-of-God?                 perience. And He does so,`not when we allow Him, but when

  This must necessarily be the Arminian answer because of his            He sovereignly drives  the erring and sinning saint out to

  conditional system. The Arminian must, if he is consistent,            Christ for forgiveness, causes him to forsake his sin, reperrt,

  maintain that just as the initial entrance of the Holy Spirit          and confess it. In that way the child of God once again

  into a man is dependent upon that man's willingness to re-             becomes conscious of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost and

  ceive the Holy Spirit, so the Holy Spirit's contipued  abode           has the assurance of his salvation restored and renewed. But

  in that man is dependent upon that man's willingness to con-           unless -the  Holy Ghost were sovereign even in this partial

  tinue to keep Him. Hence, man can drive the Spirit out of              withdrawal and return, He would never return after He once

  his" heart just as easily as he can allow Him- entrance. This is       withdrew.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    235


    The second statement is that God never suffers the saints         given, neither in this age nor in the age to come. In Hebrews

to fall out of the grace of adoption and the state of justifica-      6 :4-6 it is spoken of as the sin according to which men crucify

tion. These two are mentioned together undoubtedly because            the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame, and

they are so intimately related. In the inclusive sense of the         we are instructed that it is impossible that those who commit

term our adoption belongs to our justification. Justification         this sin are renewed again unto repentance. And in I John

means that God declares us righteous in Christ Jesus. Our             5.:16, ff., it is called the sin unto death. Concerning it we may

adoption means that God takes us as His children on the               say : 1) That it is a sin which can take place only in the

basis of the perfect righteousness of Christ. Both our justi-         sphere of the covenant, not in heathendom. This follows not

fication and our adoption are eternally fixed in sovereign            only from the fact that it is a sin against the Holy Ghost,

election, and both are objectively accomplished by the cross          and must therefore take place in the sphere of the Spirit's

and.resurrection  of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who was delivered         operations; but it also follows from the fact that it is a crrtci-

for our offences, and raised again for our justification. Sub-        fy;rLg afresh of the Son of God. 2) That it is a sin which

jectively, they are accomplished by the indwelling of the             is characterized by the f&t that those who commit it never

Holy Sp+-it and through faith. And the fathers teach us               come to sorrow, and repentance over it. This is undoubtedly

here that the saints can never fall out of this grace of adop-        not because any sin is so great that God cannot conquer it

tion and the state of justification. The reason is again that         by the power of His grace, but because God does not so

the blessings of justification and adoption are absolutely un-        operate that in the process of sanctification the Holy Ghost

conditional. The realization of them  is not in any way de-           first lets a man go so far that he blasphemes the very Spirit

pendent upon anything we may or may not do. Long before               of sanctification Who works in him and then brings him to

we believe our justification is accomplished forever in the           repentance. The impossibility of repentance therefore is due

cross and resurrection of Christ. In fact, the very wonder of         to the fact that this is contrary to the Holy Spirit's mode of

justification lies in the fact that it triumphs over our sin and      operation. 3) In this light we may also see why this sin is

guilt.    "For when we were yet without strength, in due time         never forgiven. Only those sins are forgiven of which a man

Christ died for the ungodly," Rom.  5 :6. And: "But God               feels true sorrow, of which he repents, and of which he makes

commendeth  his love toward us, in that, while we were yet            confession. 4) We may also Conclude that the sin against

sinners, Christ died for us," Rom.  5 : S. Justification is of        the Holy Ghost is never committed by the elect, only by the

such a nature that all our good works cannot possibly add to          reprobate, and that therefore the child of God, who is sorry

the righteousness which we have in Christ. But it is also             for his sin never need fear that he has committed this sin

such that .a11 our sins, even the sins committed &fter  believing,    .%gainst  the Holy Ghost. He whb  commits this sin is hard

cannot possibly take away from our righteousness. This is             and indifferent, shows no concern about this sin or about any

true because in the most real sense of the word our Lord              other sin when he has reached this state. Anyone who is

Jesus Christ atoned  and made satisfaction for all our sins.          anxious about having committed the sin unto death .certainly

The justified sinner never commits a sin which has not                has not committed it. But let us notice once more that the

been paid for 1900 years ago on the cross of Calvary. Andy            impossibility of this sin fdr  the people of God lies not in

thereiore  no sin that the saints ever  commit can cause them         them, but in God's own grace. If we could ever commit this

to fall out of the state of justification or from the grace of        sin unto death, it would mean that the Holy Ghost had al-

adopt&.  But we must say still more. Principally the child            ready withdrawn Himself totally and inwardly from us. But

of God cannot even fall from the state of justification sub-          God Himself through the indwelling Spirit prevents us from

jectively. He may lose the conscious assurance of justification       ever falling so far.

for a time and lose the joy of being righteous in Christ when            Thus, finally, we can understand the last statement, name-

he does not walk by faith. But the principle and power of-            ly, that God never suffers us to plunge ourselves into ever-

faith cannot be lost because the Holy Spirit never withdraws          lasting destruction. We must remember that we are, on our

totally'from  God's people. And if faith cannot be lost, then         part, ever ready to do exactly this. But God never suffers us

#the' righteousness` which is by faith cannoj  be lost. Once          to do it. Once delivered out of the clutches of death and hell

justified is always  justified, and once having received the          is always delivered. He that hath begun a good work in us

adoption unto children is always adopted. The unconditional"          shall finish it unto the day of Jestis  Christ.

blessings of justification and adoption cannot be lost because           How could we better conclude than by calling attention

they are unconditional.                                               to the one clause which we have not discussed as yet? You

    The third statement is that God never suffers the saints          will find it at the beginning of the article under discussion:

to proceed so -far  that they commit the sin unto death or the        "But God, W~ZO is ,&h ip~ ?p$ercy . . . ." How we learn from

sin against the Holy Spirit. We cannot here go into a detailed        this wonderful work of preservation to acknowledge more

explanation of the passages that speak of this sin. Scripture         and more the truth of that clause! For mercy, rich mercy,

speaks of it in various passages. In Matthew 12 :31, 32 it is         pure, sovereign mercy it is alone that preserves us to the very

referred to as the sin of blasphemy against the Holy `Ghost,          end ! It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,

and is spoken of by Jesus as the sin which shall not be for-          but of God that showeth mercy.                            H.C.H.

                                                                                  Y

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


                                                                              through niinisters of the Word, elders and deacons, each in
     I/            DECENCY and ORDER                                          t h e i r   o f f i c e .
                                                                                       (a) The ecclesiastical federation does not bestow some-

                                                                              thing upon these offices and nothing upon the power of the
                         The Report Continued                                 office bearers of the local church whenever they are gathered

                                                                              in broader gatherings.
            We must carefully distinguish here. The independence of
                                                                                  `(b)  The power of the broader gatherings which they use
     believers is not encroached upon when the office of believers            in the bmader  sphere (op breeder terrein) is, therefore, in
      is regarded as non-in.stit~utional  in character !                      character no different than that of Cons&tories or Consistorial
            Only there,, where the office does not yet exist and also         power. There are no other ecclesiastical offices than those
      because of circumstances it cannot be instituted by virtue of           of the- Consistory and, corisequently, there is also no c&her
      the eccl&iastical  federation (according to the rule that the           ecclesiastical power than that of a consistory.
      ordaining unto office must take place through the office-                        (c) Where an individual believe-r combine all their rights
      see D.K.O. Arts. 4, 22, 24) may believers apply their spiritual         when he unites himself to the local church, there fqllows  that
     power to the ecclesiastical (kerkrechtelijk).  Yet also only in          also the local churches, present through the Consistories in
      such particular Cases or circumstances.                                 the broader gathering, combine all their power that Christ has

            The spi&sa.l  power of believers, tho~uggh  no official power,    entrusted to the Consistories.

      stands none.theless  in close rehtion  to the institutional lije  of             5. Therefore, as concerning the legal cdmpetency  of the

      the chz<.~FY.  This because the offices  are institu'ted  by Christ,    broader gatherings, it is established that this legal com-

      "for the perfecting of the saints, etc." (Eph. 4:12)  and the           petency is Co~nsistorial  power. according to essence and

.     official, that is, power of ecclesiastical law is therefore never       character: (a) The Consistorial power iS not capable of being

      to be separated, not  in the office bearer nor in his exercise          enlarged. Therefore, the gatherings of the ecclesiastical-

      over the congregation, from *the  spiritual background of the           federation are not in the qualitative sense superior  (meerdere)

     .religious  fellowship with Christ.                                      or, principally are no higher gatherings because superior and

            This spiritual power is not ecclesiastical in nature. There-      higher power than the Consistorial does not exist in the
      fore, the congregation cannot delegate to the office bearers the        church of Christ. Neither is the consistorial power rightly
      official ecclesiastical power. The congregation does not pos-           capable of being reduced. Christ alone would be capable of
      sess this. What she does pot have, she also cannot delegate.            reducing it and it is nowhere evident in His Word that. He
                                                                              does this. k&l no office bearer or consistory may lay aside
            We borne, therefore, to this position. The office bearers
                                                                              the delegated power (opgedragen) any more than they may
      receive ecclesiastical power  : (1) from Christ Who has and
                                                                              assure undelegated power (eigenmachtig) .
      retains all power, (2) through (per) the already existing
                                                                                       B. But there is indeed a difference as to the sphere where-
     office (special circumstances excluded). (See D.K.O. Art. 2,
                                                                              in this Consistorial power is exercised. This sphere is again
     22, 24).
                                                                              twofold : (1) In regard to geogra.phical  &&ation  (geo-
            3. In connection with the spiritual religious fellowship          gvapkische  ,uitgestyektlzeid)  - (Consistory, Classis,  Synod) ;
      which they have with Christ as believers. An unbeliever is              (2) In regard to limited cases, whether they  concern a church,
      not eligible ; the ecclesiastical office is never to be separated       a Classis  or the whole ecclesiastical communion, (K.O. Art.
     from the congregation. It can only be exercised over the con-            30). The cases that belong to the broader gathering of the
     gregation.                                                               churches are :
            The members of the congregation exercise the spiritual                     (1) Cases that cannot be finished in the minor gatherings.
     power which they direct toward the institutional life of the                      (2) Cases that belong to the churches of the broader
     church through the use : ( 1) of suff erage (kiesrecht)  electing        gathering in general.
     the personnel of the office bearers; (2) of the right of ap-                      (3) Cases that come to the broader gathering by. way of
     probtition  ; the right to approve. that also involves the right         appeal from the minor gathering.
     to disapprove. This right of approbation exercised by the                         From this it is evident that a Classis  has the ecclesiastical
      congregation is an essential element in the legality of actions         right to make decisions respecting differences in doctrine and
     according to ecclesiastical law. Thus *the office of the be-             life.
      liever remains preserved. The question arises here whether                       6. Article 31 of the Church Order states : "If anyone com-
      this office is not better called a Right rather than a Power.           plain that he has been wronged by the decision of a minor
      For those ruled instead of exercising power, have neverthe-             assembly, he shall have the right to appeal to a major ec-
      less, fights  by whilh they can respectfully demand justice.            clesiastical assembly, and whatever may be agreed upon by

            4. The local church, therefore, is independent (not auton-        majority vote shall be considered settled and binding, unless
      omous) while in her the complete power of Christ (three-                it be proved to conflict with the Word of God or with the
     fold power) is exercised in the administration of the Word,              articles of the Church Order, as long as they are not changed

      the ruling (regeering)  , and the mercy (barmhartigheid)                by a general synod."


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  237


    From this article the legal competency (rechts bevoegd-           minister deviates in doctrine or life. Why not then whenever

keid)  of the broader gatherings and the lega,Zly  valid cimrachir    a Consistory becomes rebellious ?

(recktsgeldige ka.ra.kter)  of her decisions appears evident.             8. Finally, we point out yet the Fomwla of Subs&&m
 What is here stated does not apply only to those decisions           wherein men, among other things, subscribe to the following :
 taken in matters of appeal. All decisions taken by majority          "being ready always cheerfully to submit to the judgment of
vote must be considered settled and binding.                          the Consistory, Classis and Synod, under the penalty in case
    Now the firmness of these decisions stands upon the               of refusal to be, by that very fact, suspended from our office."
 authority of this condition: "Unless it be proved to conflict
                                                                         Herewith men acknowledge the legal competency of the
 with the Word of God or with the articles of the Church              broader gatherings to exe+cise  discipline whenever men be-
 Order . . ."    Now some have interpreted this last clause as
                                                                      come rebellious. The form does not speak of a break with the
though thereby is meant : "Unless those who are `grieved by a
                                                                      consistory when men become rebellious but of disciplinary
 decision consider it proven that the decision is in conflict with    action (frowL  oltr off&s  to be susperided).  .This expression
 God's Word." (cf. Jansen, Korte Verklaring van de Kerken-            demands an official deed whereby such discipline is executed.
orde, pg. 146, 147). This interpretation, however, runs amiss

under very serious difficulties (objections j :                       II. The Real Question IN Par-ticu1a.r:
    (a) The language is strongly not in favor of this inter-            A. The question is not : Does a Classis  have the competency
pretation. The expression "must be proven" presupposes that           to depose members of the consistory ? Concerning this there
a plea is issued and that one convinces the other of some-            is no difference. But the question is : Does a Classis  have the
thing. One does not convince himself that something is this           competency to depose a consistory? Not so as though then
way or that. Whoever proves something does this to others.            a consistory is deposed as a body but so that the majority of
Obviously the expression, "unless it be proved . . ." intends         the members or all the members are deposed as individuals by
to say : "unless those who observed this decision to be in con-       a Classis.  The question thus deals with cases where the Con-
flict with God's Word prove to the gathering that made the            sistory in its entirety, at least in her majority or perhaps in
decision, that is, convinces her that such a decision is in very      all her members fall under the terms of discipline and make
deed in conflict with the Word of God.                                themselves deserving to be deposed from their office. If not
    (b) There is yet a more serious difficulty. From the              all the members or the majority of a consistory are "worthy
viewpoint adopted by Jansen, the Church Order says that the           of discipline," then the- Classis does not have the competency
decisions of the broader gathering do -not have to be con-            to proceed to depose from office. For this other provisions
sidered settled and binding whenever anyone believes for              are made (D.K.O. .Art.  79).
himself (and with out convincing the gathering that they
erred) that a decision is unbiblical. This is like saying that           In this connection with regard to the deposing of some
a case is settled and binding for someone not according- to           consistory members, there is a hint for the case that occupies
the decision of a- gathering but according to personal convic-        us at present. A Consistory may, with the consent of Classis,
ation. But from this point of view a decision of a gathering          apply to the end discipline over the members of the congrega-
is really of no significance, and all ecclesiastical life is hope-    tion. Without acknowledging the ecclesiastical federation
lessly given over to unrestrained arbitrariness. Nothing re-          (the classis)  a consistory cannot. excommunicate a member
mains but advice in the Independentistic spirit. Why then             (Cf. K.O. Art. 76).

would decisions be made if anyone has the right according                An office be.a.rer  may not be deposed from his office by a
to the Church Order to reject these decisions and reject sub-         consistory but only through a combined consistory, consist-
mission to them also when he has not convinced the gathering          ing of the local consistory and a neighboring consistory. (See
of error?                                                             K10. Art. 79.) This does not lie in the nature of the case

    7. Article 36 of our Church Order reads: "The Classis             because it is possible that the ground for deposing from

has the same jurisdiction over the Consistory as the particular       office is raised beyond all doubt. But this lies in the general,

Synod has over the Classis and the general Synod over the             the universal element that also lies in the office of elder. The

particular." Also this article establishes the legal competency       office of elder, for example, extends- further than the local

of the broader gatherings by a well defmed  limitation. Classis       church (with reference to the cases which are mentioned in the

and Synod have jurisdiction, that is, authority (gezag) "OM-          K.O. Art. 30, for which reason they are given, with mandate,

dat het samenkomsten  van kerken  &in die vun Christus wege           delegation to the broader gathering). While this universal
gemg hebben  ontmngen  dat &j door,d~  amgezwezen organen             element with elders and deacons is not as strong as with the

oefenen." (Keegstra  and Van Dellen,  Kerkelijk  Handboek,            ministers of the Word, the K.O. demands in cases of the
Pg. 51).                       . .                                    former not the same as in cases of the latter that the whole
    The authority that such. gatherings exercise in behalf of         Classis actively acts but it does require that with the deposi-

Christ is also a disciplinarian authority. They .have the right       tion of elders and deacons the ecclesiastical federation works

in the name of Christ to demand obedience and to use dis-             and acts that even then more than qne local church judges and

cipline toward rebellion.    They use the power whenever a            acts according to the circumstances.                  G.V.D.B.


238                                         T H E   S T A N - D A R D   ,BEARER


II                                                                     Over against this is the position of those who hold that
              A L L   A R O U N D   US.'                        II all babies are "innocent." According to this view, "original
                                                                      sin," if it can be spoken of at all, is not punishable apart

                                                                      from actual transgression. Since little children are not cap-
Are All @`ho  Die In Infa#zcy  Saved?                                 able of actual. transgression but are innocent, all are saved if
      Dr. William Hendriksen, writing in the Torch a.nd TIM-          they die in infancy.    This, or something akin to it, is the
pet of February, 1959, in his series of Outlines on the DOC-          position of many evangelical Protestants today. We love
 t&e of the Last Things,  raises the above question and de-           these people as brothers in Christ, but we do not believe that
votes an entire outline to it. Though, as we remarked before          Scripture' endorses this reason for their position.. Infants,
concerning his writings we are generally pleased ; we feel that       too, are guilty in Adam.    Moreover, they are not innocent
 on this subject he should have been a bit more explicit.             (see Job 14:4; Psalm 51:5;  Romans 5 :12, 18, 19; I Corin-
       He had a splendid opportunity to instruct his readers,         thians 15 :22 ; and Ephesians 2 :3). If they are going to be
many of whom h.e knows and we know embrace the error that             saved at all, this salvation will have to be granted on the
 all children of believers who die in infancy are saved, but he       basis not of their innocence but of the application of Christ's
 did not take advantage of it. And really I'm not so sure but         merits to them.
 that he himself embraces this error. The reason for this last                3. THE OFFICIAL POSITION OF THE
 statement is due to the fact that his article is not clear as 20                PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH U.S.A.
 his actual position. One wonders what `Dr. Hendriksen would             The Westminster Confession does not give a clear answer
 say on the subject if he were to preach the funeral sermon of        to the question whether all those who die in infancy are
 an infant in his church. ' I am inclined to believe he would not     saved. In fact, it leaves room rather for the opinion that some
 speak differently than many others of his colleagues who have        might not be elect and saved; See this for yourself. It
 no scruples in putting each child of believing parents in            states, "Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated and
 heaven. But let Dr. Hendriksen speak for himself. Here is            saved by Christ through the Spirit, who worketh when and
 what he writes :                                                     where and how he pleaseth" (Chapter X, Section III). In

           1. THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS SUBJECT                          the year 1903 the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. has, however,

       Until recently a very high percentage of human beings          "interpreted" this article so that today one knows exactly

 never attained to maturity. In fact, ever so many died in in-        where this denomination stands with respect to that issue. It

 fancy: Of late, this tragic situation has taken a turn for the       adopted the following Declaratory Statement :

 better. Concerted efforts are being put forth to counteract             "The Presbyterian Church in the United States of Amer-

 the high rate of infant-mortality and to improve the health          ica does authoritatively declare.as follows . . . With reference

,of the nations. Think of what is being done by the World             to Chapter X, Section III, of the Confession of Faith, that

 Health Organization (W.H.O.), an agency of the Economic              it is not regarded as teaching that any who die in infancy are

 and Social Council of the United Nations, and by other               lost. We believe that all ,dying  in infancy are included in the

 agencies all over the world. Even so the' goal is not yet in         election of grace, and are regenerated and saved by Christ

 sight.                                                               through the Spirit, who works when and where and how

       The question naturally arises, Where are'the souls of all      he pleases."

 those who constitute a surprisingly large proportion of the               4. QUOTATIONS FROM THE. WORKS OF

 sum-total of all those who at one time or another lived on                    R E F O R M E D   T H E O L O G I A N S

 this earth, be it only for a few years, months, weeks, days,            "All who die in infancy are saved. This is inferred from

 hours, or even minutes or seconds ? Must we believe that by          what the Bible teaches of the analo,gy between Adam and

 far the most of them are in some sense experiencing the              Christ (Romans 5 :18, 19) . . . The Scriptures nowhere ex-

agonies of everlasting perdition ?                                    clude any class of infants, baptized or unbaptized, born in

                  2. WRONG APPROACHES                                 Christian or in heathen lands,. of believing or unbelieving
       First, there is what may be called the prevailing view in      parents, from the benefits of redemption in Christ" (Charles
 the Roman Catholic Church. It amounts to this : all unbap-           Hodge, Systewmtic Theology, Vol. I, p. 26).
 tized children are lost. When they die they enter the Livhcts          "Their destiny is determined irrespective of their choice,
 Infantz&?n  (or Infantium), a place on the outskirts of hell.        by an unconditional decree of God, suspended for its execu-
 Their suffering here is negative rather than positive. They          tion on no act of their own ; and their salvation is wrought by
 suffer the lack of "beatific vision."                                an unconditional application of the grace of Christ to their
       Now this approach, while containing indeed an element of       souls, through the immediate and irresistible operation of the
 truth (inasmuch as it rightly recognizes the fact that responsi-     Holy Spirit prior .to and apart from any action of their own
 bility varies with opportunity)t  is wrong on two counts: a.         proper wills ; . . This is but to say that they are uncondition-
 Scripture nowhere ascribes such importance to the omission           ally predestinated to salvation from the foundation of the

 of the rite of baptism ; b. it also nowhere teaches the existence    world" (B. B. War-field, Two Studies in the History of Doc-

 o f   a   Limbus  Infantzhm.                                         tuine, p. 230).


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   .BEARER                                                   239


      "Most Calvinistic theologians have held that those who           their parents are comprehended, godly parents ought not to

  die in infancy are saved . . . Certainly there is nothing in the     doubt- the election and salvation <of  their children whom it

  Calvinistic system which would prevent us from believing             pleases God to call out of this life in their infancy" (I, article

  this; and until it is proven that God could not predestinate to       17).

  eternal life all those whom he is pleased to call in infancy we          So far Dr. Hendriksen.

  may be permitted to hold this view" (L. Boettner, T,`ze  Re-             There are two points the writer makes clear and they

  formed Doctrine of Predestination, pp. 143, 144).                    are: that all children of believers and unbelievers are con-

     Nevertheless, not all Reformed theologians speak so posi-         ceived and born in sin and-their salvation is determined only

  tively. Some bring out more clearly the difference, as they          by the sovereign grace of God in Christ; and the error of the

  see it,. between infants of believers and all other infants. "The    Roman Catholics. No one of Reformed background will dis-

  children of the covenant, baptized or unbaptized, when they          pute with Dr. Hendriksen on this.

  die enter heaven; with respect to the destiny of the others              But notice what else he produces in the way of argument.

  so little has been revealed to us that the best thing we can         We call attention first of all to c. Does he mean by this that

  do is to refrain from any positive judgment" (H. Bavinck,            on the basis of God's tender mercies and love we may con-

Gereformeerdp  Dogwzatiek,  third edition, Vol. IV, p. 711).           clude the salvation of dead infants? Or, does he mean that

      Similarly, L. Berkhof, while in full agreement with the          on the basis of God's mercies and love we may agree with

  Canons of Dort regarding the salvation of children of godly          the verse of poetry he quoted ? We are inclined to believe

  parents whom it pleases God to call out of this life in their        the former. But if that is the case, does the writer imply that

  infancy, states with respect to the others, "There is no Scrip-      the universal display of God's mercies and love saves. all in-

  ture evidence on which we can base the hope that adult               fants who die in their infancy ? We do not know what he

  Gentiles, or even Gentile children that have not yet come, to        means.

  years of discretion, will be saved" (Systewmh Theology, pp.              Or again, notice d. Does Dr. Hendriksen mean by this

  638, 693).                                                           that the rejection of the preaching of the gospel or sinning

                   5. SCRIPTURAL TEACHING                              against the voice of conscience are the sole factors.in  deter-

     a. If those who die in infancy are saved, it is not on            mining the damnation of human beings ? It would seem that

  the basis of their innocence but on the basis of the sovereign       he cannot mean that on the basis of what he wrote regarding

  grace of God in Christ applied .to them (see under point 2           -original sin and guilt. Does he mean then that because in-

  above).                                                              fants cannot be as great sinners as .adults  because they cannot

     b. The fact that the heart of God is: concerned not only          reject the gospel and sin against conscience, and therefore are

  with the children of believers but also with those of unbe-          in a better position to be saved ? Again, we do not know what

  lievers, even with those "who  cannot discern between their          he means.

  right hand and their left" is clearly taught in Jonah 4 :ll.             Regarding above, though Hendriksen feels he can say

     c. "God's tender mercies are over all his works," and "God        nothing positive on the basis of Scripture he nevertheless

  is love" (Psalm 145 :9 ; I John 4 $3). One is therefore per-         leaves the impression that he is inclined to believe that some

  mitted to agree with the beautiful lines :                           or all infants of unbelievers who die in infancy are saved.

                "For the love of God is broader                        But again, he is not clear.

                   Than the measure of man's mind                          As to f. above, though the writer makes no definite as-

                 And the heart of the Eternal                          sertion of his conviction he nevertheless leaves the impression

                   Is most wonderfully kind."                          that on the basis of the Scriptures quoted and the statement

                                   (F. W. Faber, 1854)                 of the Canons of Dort, he -believes that all children of be-

      d. Infants have not sinned in any way similar to the             lievers who die in infancy are saved. Here Dr. Hendriksen

  adults who have rejected the preaching of the gospel and/or          would have done his readers a service if he had `given a brief

  have sinned grossly against the voice of conscience.                 explanation especially of Article 17 of Canons I. Regarding

      e. Scripture nowhere explicitly tea.clzes that some or all       this article the question arises: Did our fathers make an ob-

  unbelievers' children who died in infancy are saved. Though          jective statement of fact here regarding the salvation of chil-

  on the basis of b., c., and d. (above) a person may feel              dren of believers who die in infancy ? Or, Were they merely

  strongly inclined to accept the position that some or all of          subjective, making no positive statement at all regarding sal-

  these are saved, he can never say that Scripture positively           vation of infants, but merely instructing parents to rest in the

  and in so txany  words declares this to be true.                     comforting promises of God's covenant ?

      f. God has given to believers and tkeir  iced the'promise            We are of the conviction that the latter is explanation of

  found in Genesis 17:7 and Acts 2 :38, 39. Cf. also I Corin-          the article, and that the fathers make no objective statement

  thians 7 :14. Hence, the Canons of Dort declare, "Since we            whatever concerning the salvation of infants. Our ground for

  are to judge of the will of God from his Word, which testifies        this interpretation is the historical background of the article,

  that the children of believers are holy, not by nature, but by        particularly the discussion of the subject at the Synod of

   virtue of the covenant of grace, in which they together with         Dort when the article was adopted. It is plain from that

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


     history that our fathers could not ,make  a positive statement          and heat: There'was,  of course, no church service; no heat

     concerning the salvation of infants who die in infancy be-              in the homes, no cooking (they. lived- on cold cereals and

     cause no such objective statement is possible. The Arminians            sandwiches j, no night life except by candlelight; and the.

     accused our fathers of `being monsters who delighted. in teach-         citizens dressed like. their northern neighbors, the Eskimos, in

     ing that God would condemn even the infants of believers to             their warmest clothing, keeping them on for four days. Fur-

     hell. In answer to this accusation, they offered article 17 as          ther, besides the correspondence with people out east, Rev.

     a judgment.of love. This is the only possible position we can           Harbach also has opportunity to write an occasional article

     take.                                                        M.S.       for the local .newspaper  ; takes his -turn to speak in the High

                                                                             School Chapel ; speaks frequently on The Lynden Hour, a
     II                                                                 d
     11 NEWS FROM QUR CHURCHES jl program on the radio in that region. His last Chapel talk.
                                                                             was on the Covenant, and we venture to say that those young
     IL               "`All the mints saluie  thee . . ." PHIL. 4:21         people never heard one like it before. It looks like the Rev-
                                                                             erendjs  easy chair, pipe and slippers will not rapidly wear out.
                                                 February 5, 1959               Have you agreed to be a sponsor for the Young People's

            The Protestant Reformed Male Chorus gave its winter              Convention to be held in Oak Lawn this year? By sending

     programas advertised, Jan. 25, after the evening service, at            a contribution you may help our young people in Oak Lawn

-    First Church. The sad feature of winter programs was pres-              and South Holland provide the material things that are neces-

     ent: a. snow storm of such vehemence that many of our                   sary for a successful convention.

     people of the neighboring churches could `not attend. Mr.                  Redlands  enjoyed their former-pastor, Rev. &riper,  sent

     Roland Petersen has a knack of training untrained voices to             on classical appointment a scant month after his departure for

     do his bidding, and the result was an outstanding program               Loveland. Rev. Van Baren ministered to their spiritual needs
     which should be repeated when the snow storms are past;                 the next three weeks, Doon  meanwhile having one service a

     not only would the absent neighbors come to hear it, but those          .week  led by Rev. Heys. Jim Lanning and wife are leaving

     at the first performance would be repeaters, we are sure. It            Redlands  because his military career is finished and he plans
     has been rumored that the Male Chorus might travel to Illi-             to enter Calvin College in February. Mr. and Mrs. Lanning
     nois for a concert.                                                     are members of Hope Church.
            Adg. The Adams St. School Mothers' CIub plans to                    South Holland cancelled catechism and society meetings

     sponsor a Smorgasbord Feb. 26. Another foreign. sounding                in the week of Jan. 18 due to stormy weather.

     event, this time Swedish, and according to the dictionary,                 Here are the changes in the Year Book we promised you,

     consisting of many- hors d'oeuvers,  etc. What is that third            and wi;l report others as they come to us.

     generation of Hollanders eating ?                                       First Church. Clerk, Gerrit Stadt, 754 Prince St., S. E.,
            From Hudsonville's bulletin we learn that Hudsonville's             Grand Rapids, M-h. Treas. Geo. Yonker, Jr., 230
     Rev. Vos suffered, another heart attack, this one less severe              Calkips, S. E., Grand Rapids, Mich.
     than his last one. Rev. Vos was forbidden any activities or             Grand Haven. Clerk, F. Petersen, 113 N. Division, Spring
     visitors, but the next bulletin reported that the Reverend was             Lake, Mich.  Treas. W. Dewitt, 16916 Fruitport Road,
     again in harness (we like to think that a Minister's harness is            Spring Lake, Mich.
     one described in Ephesians 6 :14-18),  using the sword of the           Holland. Clerk, Bernard Windemuller, 267 East 32nd St.,
     Spirit, which is the Word of God.                                        Holland, Mich.  Treas. Marvin Haveman,  2731 North
            We wonder how Grand Haven's Men's and Ladies' Socie-                112th Ave., Holland, Mich.
     ties answered the question, "Are we born to live, or to die ?"
                                                                             Redlands. Clerk, Edwin Gritters, 1418 Washington St., Red-
            Five young men of Hope's congregation made public con-
                                                                                lands, California.
     fession of their faith Sunday evening, Jan. 25. They were
     John Kalsbeek,  Gerald Kuiper,  Harry Langerak,  Wayne                  South East. Clerk, John Veltman, 1112 Prince, S. E., Grand
     Lanning and Merle Veenstra.                                                Rapids, Mich.  Treas., Herman Ophoff, 1632 Nelson, S. E.
            Rev. Mulder of Kalamazoo preached a sermon based on                 Grand Rapids, Mich.  -

     Psalm 73 verse 24 Sunday evening, Jan. 25, as encourage-                South Holland. Clerk, John Flikkema, 18288 Ada St., Lan-

     ment for the congregation, and especially for Harold .and                  sing, Ill. Treas., Adrian Lanting, 16348 Prairie Ave.,

     Frank Triezenberg who made public confession of their faith.               South Holland, Ill.

     And so our churches grow.                                                  The young people of Loveland organized a Y. P. Society

            News from Lynden, by grapevine instead of their bulle-           Sunday, Feb. 1. Another society to send delegates to the

     tin: Lynden .was hard hit by a blizzard in December which               August Convention ! While Rev. Kuiper  was away on clas-

     felled power lines, breaking the poles like matchsticks. Due            sical appointment Loveland conducted services by reading in

     to the power failure, which began Sunday morning at 2                   the morning, and hearing a tape recording in the evening.

     o'clock and lasted till Wednesday, everyone was without light                               . . . . see you in church.            J.M.F.





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