                                                             JULY 1, 1959 - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                            N U M B E R   1 8
    VOLUME   x x x v


I) the -very reason why they confess : the best of our days here
              M E D I T A T I O N                                                   II on earth are labour'and sorrow and it is soon cut off and
                                                                                           we fly away. Dwelling in these waste places, desert and
                                                                                           wilderness. from- a spiritual point of view causes the cry every
                    GOD'S, &LL TO ZION                                                     night: 0 wretched man that I am: who shall deliver me out
                                                                                           of the body of this death!
              "Hearken to Me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye

              that seek the Lord: look unto the Rock whence ye are                             From that point `of view Christian is wretched, miserable,
              hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.                       poor, blind, and naked.
              Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that
              bore  you: for I called him alone, and blessed hi,m,  and                       And both instances cause the Christian to yearn, .long
              increased him.                                                               and .&unger to be relieved, redeemed, saved and liberated.
              For the Lord shall comfort Zion; He will comfort all
              her waste places; and He will ma.ke her wilderness like                                                 * 4: * * _
              Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy
              a n d   gladn&shall  b e   f o u n d   t h e r e i n ,   thanksgiving  a&       But there is also the description of Zion from the positive
              the. voice of melody." ISA. 51~1-3
                                                                                           side : Those that follow after. righte0usnes.s.

   God's people, the Church of the ages, have many names                                    Righteousness : what is it?
in Scripture, but one of the sweetest of her names is Zion,                                   I do not hesitate to say that righteousness is the most
Mount Zion !                                                                               beautiful thing from our point of view.
   It is, first, a mountain in the holy land.                                                 Righteousness is a virtue of God.
   Second, it is the place where the temple and David's                                       It means that God in all His life and works is conform
house were built.                                                                          the highest Good.
   Third, it was the very center of Israel's worship.                                         And-in us it means that in all our will, desires, affections
   But in the last instance it is the place where heaven and                               and imagination we are- conform `the highest Good, and that
earth are intertwined, the place where God kisses the earth                                Good is God.
in Christ.                                                                                    To be righteous is to be conform God.
   My text is a call of God to this Zion.                                                     When you are righteous, you need not fear God's eye
   Zion, the joy of the whole earth: the church of the ages.                               upon you.. For you are sure of His approving smile. When
   There is a twofold description of that church.                                          you come to the door of heaven as a righteous man or
                                                                                           woman you are sure to hear His voice: Come! Come near
   Negatively, they are called the waste places, the desert,                               Me ! I have a place here for you ! You are welcome unto all
and the wilderness.                                                                        eternity. '
   Those names express the condition of Zion in the world.
                                                                                               Now then, the Church is described as "following after
   First of all, it is the natural habitat `of Zion: the world righteousness."
in which they live, where all the streams are dry. In this
                                                                                              To follow after it means the same thing as when Jesus
world the church beholds nothing else than thee lust of the
                                                                                           said :. Blessed are those who do hunger and thirst after
eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. From. the
                                                                                           righteousness . . . .
cradle to the grave, that is all there is to life in the world.
   Second, those waste places, wilderness and desert, spell                                    It means that you know what it is ; that you miss -it;
their own death, sin, guilt, and resulting `misery. And it is                              and that you love to possess it.


410                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R * E R


    And they are the same as those that seek God.                      I am not in favor of singing hymns in Public Worship,
    You see, God has from all eternity thought out a right-        but I will admit that there are lines and phrases in hymns
eousness for His children. And this righteousness should           that charm my heart.
become their portion ,through the Lord Jesus Christ. Of it             Here is one: Rock of ages, cleft for me!
Daniel said: ". . . . and to bring in everlasting righteous-           Yes, we know about that Rock. It is Jesus, and in the
ness . . . ." And in the very next verse he speaks of the          final instance, it is God.
great Medium of this eternal righteousness : "Messiah the              It is the everlastingly unchangeable Covenant Jehovah.
Prince" !                                                          It is your and my Saviour who never puts you to shame, for
    And how shall this wondrous gift of righteousness come         He will always keep His promises to- you. True and faith-
to them?
         ._                                                        ful is His name.
    Ah, but thereby hangs a beauteous tale!                            And you are to look at the hole of the pit whence ye are
    It become ours, beloved, through a double imputation.          digged. The hole of the pit. That sounds somewhat crude.
                                                                   I wish I could make you feel the poetic Dutch translation :
    First, all- your "waste, places, wilderness, and desert? is    "de holligheid des bornputs."
imputed unto this Prince, this Messiah. Of course, you                 The meaning 7
know what I mean. Jesus took upon Himself all the guilt
of Zion. It was not His : it became His by God's imputation.           Jesus Christ spoke of the same truth when He said:
In the style of Isaiah: God caused all our sins to run toward      "but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well
Him !                                                              of water springing up unto eternal life.`,'
                                                                       You are hewn from God, and you are digged from Jesus.
   And this caused Jesus to become a Curse for us !
                                                                       It means that all your life, your eternal life is from God.
   And He bore this curse, this damnation unto the very
end !                                                                  Now, look at it! That is what God wants you to do. He
                                                                   desires of His church that she behold the beauty of our
    One of the three words was "desert."                           origin : the God that saved her !
    Well, He surely was deserted: My God! My God! why                  There is a Fountain opened against sin and unrighteous-
hast Thou forsaken Me!                                             ness. And that Fountain is God in Christ.
    Second, the righteousness which Jesus merited for you              And God did it all, so that He might rejoice in you and
is imputed unto you. You are clothed with the robes of             millions of others looking at Him and His Christ as the
righteousness. They are the free gift of the grace of God.         great Author of their salvation. God delights to listen to your
When God is through with His Golgotha, and your justifica-         singing for all eternity.
tion, you stand before Him as though you had never sinned,                                       * * * *
yea, it is as though you in your own person had fulfilled all
righteousness !                                                        And the historical proof is Abraham and Sarah.
   But be sure to always remember: it is of God, it became             No, we need not dwell here for very long : it is so plain !
reality in history t&~.gk  God, and unto everlasting it is to         Abraham and Sarah: dead as man and woman, as wife
God! He is a jealous God: He will not give His praise to           and husband. What in the name of all that is sane and
another !                                                          logical can you expect from them .in the matter of progeny?
                             8 * * *                               How can Abraham have desire, and how shall Sarah bring
                                                                   forth ?
   That people are called in my text.                                 They are alone ,and they are dead !
   And here is the call : "Hearken to Me !"                            But wait ! God pays them a visit, and the result is wonder-
   Well, there are. many voices around about us.                   children, a nation that is born from the dead, the church of
    There are the voices of the devils, the wicked people,         all the ages, Mount Zion !
the .suff ering creation.                                              So be sure and look at Abraham your father, and Sarah
   But among the millions of voices there is One Yoice that        your mother !
is wonderful; it is the voice of God.                                 And then look at the Rock, and the hole of the pit.
   And to "hearken" is to obey.                                        And sing !
    Obedience-is to hearken to God's voice, whether it comes                                     * * * 5
to you through nature or the Bible.
    But this voice is very particular: Look unto the Rock             Will YOLK hearken ? And look ?
whence ye are hewn, and the hole of the pit whence ye                 Yes, you will, you surely will, when the good Spirit of
are digged.                                                        Jesus Christ dwells in you.

    Oh, we know about that Rock !                                      And without that Spirit, the. Word of God unto admoni-


                                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B.EARER                                                                                                                                                       411


tion will not profit you.. For it is not mixed with faith. Sorry
                                                                                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
estate !
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    But if you hearken in obedience and. look upon God the                              Published by the REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
Rock, you will receive a wonderful comfort.                                          P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

  "I will comfort Zion !"                                                                                            Editor - REV.  HEFMAN  HOEXSEMA~
    In the midst of your waste places, desert and wilderness                          Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
                                                                                                        Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Frankhn  St., S. E.,
you will be comforted.                                                                                                               Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

    You will be comforted so fully that it will seem at times                        All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
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as though you are already in heaven. An example or two is                                                                       Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
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derful `Word, 0 that Bible ! It is sweeter than honey and                                                              Subscription price: $5.00 per year
the honey comb.                                                                         Entered as Second Ckw matter at Grand Rizpids,  Michigan

    In the midst of suffering, distress, prisons and concentra-
tion camps, this comfort is heavenly. The cursed earth does                                                                               C O N T E N T S
become like unto a garden of God.                                                MEDITATION -
                                                                                            God's Call to Zion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
    No wonder then that the Holy Spirit speaks here of Joy                                             Rev. G. Vos

and Gladness,.                                                                   EDITORZALS  -

    Oh, it may be that this joy and gladness is experienced                                 About the Three Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._........................................ 412
                                                                                            Evolution,                  Long Periods, or Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
in rags and tatters, in hunger and thirst, in the midst of
                                                                                                        Rev. H. Hoeksema
devils and the wicked, but no fear: it is there and it is real.
                                                                                 OUR  DOCTRINE -
    The earth becomes as Paradise, the Paradise of God.                                     The Book of Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

    Thanksgiving: it means that you tell God how it is of                                               Rev. H. Hoeksema

Him, through Him and to Him!                                                     FEATURE ARTICLE -

    And the voice of melody !                                                               The Sabbath . . . . .._.....................................................................  416
                                                                                                        Rev. A. Mulder
    Melody! It is my choice for the most beautiful word                          FROM HOLY WRIT -
in the English language.                                                                    Exposition of Romans 14, 15 (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._........................  418

    Melody is like heaven and it sounds like heavenly speech.                                           Rev. G. Lubbers
                                                                                 Iti HIS FEAR -
    Melody: an agreeable succession of sounds, mostly in                                    An Open Letter to the Graduates of 1959 . . . .._.....................  420
music.                                                                                                  Rev. J. A. Heys

    Melody: it is the Holy Spirit of God teaching me how                         CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH -
to sing to the praises of God. Amen.                                                        The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . 422
                                                                                                        Rev. H. Veldman
                                                                         G.V.
                                                                                 THE VOICE OF OUR  FATHEEB  -

                                                                                            The Canons of Dordrecht _.._....................................................                                                                      424

                               WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                      Rev. H. C. Hoeksema

    On July 17, 1959, our dear parents:                                          DECENCY AND ORDER  -

                    MR. and MRS. GERRITT BYLSMA                                             Article 38, D.K.O. _.__.............................  ~................................                                                              426

                                                                                                        Rev. G. Vanden Berg
hope to commemorate their 40th wedding anniversary, D.V.

    We thank our Heavenly Father who has spared them for us these                As To BOOKS -
many years.                                                                                 Champion of Geneva b y Peter de Rover ._._._.... . . . ,427
    Our prayer is that the Lord may continue to bless them through-                                    Rev. H. Hoeksema

out the further part of their lives. May they always experience the              SPECIAL ARTICLE -
joy and peace which is the heritage of them that love God.                                  Our 1959 Synod ..,...................................................................  428

                                  Their grateful, children:                                             Rev. H. C. Hoeksema

                                        Mr. and Mrs. Stuart J. Bylsma            CONTRIBUTIONS -
                                        Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth J. Eylsma                      Hagar and Ishmael ._................................................................  430
                                        Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Koerner                                    Rev. R. C. Harbach
                                        Mr. and Mrs. Edward Cammenga
                                        Mr. and Mrs. John Buiter                 NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES... . . . . . ..__...................  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
                                        Miss Esther J. Bylsma                                           Mr. J. M. Faber

                <.:: ,.., 2             and 17 grandchildren

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


                                                                     leaves out of perspective Canons III, IV, 3, 4, which state
            E D I T O R I A L S                                      that man holds the remnant under in -unrighteousness.
                                                                         "Therefore, we propose a reformulation somewhat as
                                                                     follows :
                 About The Three Points                                  CrThem  is a res+nt of sin, which, within the providence

                                                                     of God, brings nbout a degree of good order md decency in
     The First Point, as we have repeatedly indicated, is the
                                                                     so&y. It curbs the d&solztteness  of wmz afzd makes hatman
  most important of the three. Yet, in connection with the           society possibh,  but it serves especially to defend and
  theory of "common grace," also the second and third. points        preserve  the ckusck  in the was-ld. This expression is not to
  are significant. Hence, in the report of the committee of the      be interpreted  to mean that there is u:ny essential improve-        .
 Christian Reformed Church that met with a committee of the          went jn the depratued  sinner."
  schismatics, also the latter we discussed.
                                                                         What shall we say about this ?
     We better first quote the "Second Point" in its entirety.           Although the schismatics present some points of differ-
  It reads as follows:                                               ence with the second point, yet, they essentially agree: there
     "Relative to the second point, which is concerned with          is a restraint of sin.
  the restraint of sin in the life of the individual man and in         They also try to maintain that this restraint of sin is
  the community, the Synod declares that there is such a             "common grace" when they emphasize that the "gracious
  restraint of sin according to Scripture and the Confession.        God" instituted governments.
  This is evident from the citations from Scripture and from             Their points of difference are :
  the Netherland Confession, Art. 13 and 36, which teach that            1. That the Confessions do not make it evident that
  God by the general operation of His Spirit, without renew-         this restraint of sin is to be ascribed to the general operations
 ing the heart of man, restrains the unimpeded breaking out          of the Holy Spirit. They do not even deny that this may be
 of sin, by which human life in society remains possible ; while     true, but simply claim that the Confessions do not literally
 it is also evident from the quotations of Reformed writers          state this.
 of the most flourishing period of Reformed theology, that               2. That the restraint of sin, besides being the manifesta-
 from ancient times our Reformed fathers were of the same            tion of the goodness and grace of God over all men, in this
 o p i n i o n . "                                                   case, of course, especially over the wicked, also serves to
     The committee of the schismatics have the following to          defend and preserve the Church.
 say about this second point:                                            3. That the second point, by leaving the impression. that,
     "1. We agree that there is a restraint of sin in the            after the fall, there is still much good left in the natural-man,
 present world and that this restraint of sin is ascribed to         endangers the doctrine of total depravity. Especially from
 the `gracious God' as Article 36 -states : `Our gracious God        this last point, it is evident that the schismatics rather freely
 appoints govermnent  to the end that the dissoluteness of men       consulted my book on "The History of the Protestant Re-
 might be restrained.'                                               formed Churches." The difference is that I did not write
     "2. Our difference consists in this :                           that the "second point" endarhgers  but that it denies the
     "a. That neither Article 13 nor 36 makes it evident that        doctrine of total depravity.
 this is to be ascribed to the general operation of the Holy            Hence, we may formulate the schismatics' idea of the
 Spirit. Because this is saying more than the Confessions            second point in this fashion:
 literally state, we believe that the wording needs revision.           "There is a general goodness or grace of God, especially
 In expressions words must be exact.                                 over the wicked, according to which He restrains sin in
     "b. That Point. II, by putting the restraint of sin solely      them, so that they will not sin as much as they would with-
in the context of the goodness of God which makes human              out this restraint. Through this common grace the dissolute-
 society possible, fails to enunciate it in the larger context of    ness of man is curbed and human society is made possible
 Gen. 3 :15 with its spiritual antithesis. We hold the church        and the church in the world is preserved. But there is no
 to be the apple of God's eye and that God preserves her             essential improvement in the depraved sinner."
 against the rage of the whole world (Confessions, Art. 27).            Rather than criticize this compromise of the schismatics
 This. restraint of sin serves also to bridle the raging world       in detail we will present our own positive conception on the
 in defence  of His Church (Psalm 105 :14, 15 : Isaiah 45 :l-4;      matter.
 Arts. 13 and .36, and Lord's Day 10).                                  We believe that man, after the fall is totally depraved so
     "c. That Point II, although stating that amid all the           that he is incapable of doing any good and inclined to all
 restraint the heart of the natural man is not renewed, yet,         evil. Nor is there any "common grace" that restrains his de-
 in connection with III, it nevertheless leaves the impression       praved nature. All the natural gifts left him after the fall he
 that after the fall there is still much good left in man, that      employs in the service of sin and he holds them under in
 is preserved by the Holy Spirit and nurtured unto good              unrighteousness.    But, like the whole human race, so sin
 works. This endangers the doctrine of total depravity, and          follows the line of organic development. Adam was the


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            413


      root as- well as the head of the human race. His sin, there-       animals, a life according to which he was related to the
      fore, was a root-sin and this root-sin  bears fruit in all the     present world through his senses, but also to God. By this
      actual sins of the human race. As the human race develops          wonderful twofold act of God man became one physical,
      and life with all its different relationships becomes more         psychical, spiritual being. We may, therefore, distinguish in
      complex, sin also reveals itself as corrupting more and more       the one man various elements or aspects. In the first place,
      the whole of life and all its relations until the measure of       there is the physical aspect, according to which, through his
     iniquity is filled. But there is no "common grace." Nor,            senses, he is related to the outside world. In the second
      although all men do not commit all sin, but each one sin?          place there is the psychical aspect of his body, according to
     according to his cha'rakter,  his position in life, and other       which, through the nervous system, he is related to his inner
     limitations, upon this organic development of sin, is there         soul. In the third place, there is what I would call the
     any restraint. Under  the power and control of God, the             physical part of the soul, by which the inner man received
     development proceeds as fast as possible. All things hasten         the sensations from the outside world. In the fourth place,
     unto the end and-the L&-d  comes quickly.                           there is the psychical part of the soul with intellect and
         The "second point" is a pernicious perversion of the            will. And, finally, there is the spiritual part of the soul,
     t r u t h .                                                         according to which man is a person and stands in conscious
         Such is our convic(ci&.                                         personal relation to God. All this is very beautifully and
                                                               H.H.
                                                                         succinctly expressed in Gen. 2 :7: God formed man out of
                                                                         the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
                                                                         breath of life: and man became a living soul.

           .    Evolbtioh,  Long Periods, or Days                           Needless to say that this is quite opposed to the theory
\                                                                        of evolution. According to the latter, God did not form man
         In our last .article on the -above subject we began the         separately, but by a long process of gradual evolution he
     discussion of the creation of man on the sixth day, partic-         descended from the lower animals, perhaps finally from the
     ukirly according to Gen. 2:7.-  We pointed out that the very        ape. In that case, of course, man has no distinct being and
     fact that God for?gaed nian, something which is not said of         nature but is nothing else than a higher animal. Strange it
     any of the other creatures, indicates that man is a distinct        may be regarded,, indeed, that we see nothing of this process
     creature, surely not developed from the lower animals.              of development in our present world. Nor do we see any
         However, we~have more to say on this point.                     further development of man. To be sure, he develops in the
                                                                         wdrld. He still reveals the remnant of his original power and
         When we read in Gen. 2 :7 that God formed man out of
                                                                         dominion over all things. He also develops in sin and
     the dust of the ground we must not interpret this as meaning
                                                                         destruction. But, always he remains the same man and
     that God first'fdrmed  a lifeless lump of clay in the shape of
                                                                         there is absolutely no development in him from a lower to a
     a human body-and aft&wards breathed life into that body.
                                                                         higher being. But even apart from this, the whole theory
     Undoubtedly,' the forming of man from the dust of the
                                                                         of evolution is contrary to the Scriptures which we believe
     ground refers to the creation of the body, that' is to man
                                                                         to be the infallible Word of God. For that Word of God
     froin the material aspect. But, in the first place, do not over-
                                                                         teaches us very plainly that man did not descend from the
     look the fact that the human body is a marvellous  structure,
                                                                         lower animals, but that God gave a distinct existence by
     with its sens&  of sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell, with
                                                                         forming him out of the dust of the ground and breathing
     its entire nerirous system, leading from those senses to the
                                                                         into his nostrils the breath of life.
     inner man or soul; and that thus this human body is perfectly
     adapted to the outside world. In the second place, we must             The same is true of the theory of long periods, which is
     not- forget that- the act of forming man, the entire man, is        nothing but a camouflaged form of the theory of evolution.
     one ,act, though'it  be twofold. We. do not read that God           According to this theory, God must have taken thousands or
     formed a lifeless body from the dust of the ground and              even perhaps millions of years to create man.        But this
     afterw,ards  breathed a soul into that body, but, on the con-       certainly is not in harmony with the account in Gen. 2 :7.
     trary, that- God formed plaan out of the dust of the ground,        Did it require thousands of years to form man out of the
     and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and thus         dust of the ground and to breathe into his nostrils the breath
     man became a living soul. In other words:  by this twofold          of life? We know better. Rather we conceive of it as an act
     act of God man became one living soul. Man, too, is not             of one moment, for that is certainly the impression Scripture
     two but one, even though he may be distinguished as body            makes upon us.
     and- soul or spirit and even though for a time his. spirit, as         Hence, neither the theory of evolution nor that of long
     in death, may be separated from the body.                           periods can possibly be brought into harmony with the
         ,Hence, lihen  we read that God breathed into his nostrils      Scriptural account of the creation of man.
     the breath of life we must interpret this as meaning that God          Here we must chodse between the Word of God and the
     gave to the human nature its own life in distinction from the       philosophy of mere man.                                 H.H.

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


                                                                        tribulation is past, and with Christ she reigns in glory, till
             O U R   D O C T R I N E                                II she shall return with Him to judgment.
                                                                            This, then, is the general picture we receive from this
                                                                        chapter and from other parts of Scripture. The true church,
               THE BOOK OF REVELATION                                   endowed with power and light from on high, will witness of
                                                                        the truth and of Christ throughout this dispensation. When
                            P A R T   T W O                             the testimony is finished, the Antichrist will be allowed to
                           -CHAPTER VIII                                develop and persecute the church. The time of the great
                         The Two? Witnesses                             tribulation shall follow, of which Scripture has warned us
                                                                        so frequently. But that time of great tribulation is to be
                         Revelation 11 :5-U                             cut short. At the darkest hour Christ shall deliver His
       The first part of that week is the time of the great tribula-    church. History shall be continued for a while, with Anti-
tion. But after the time of the great tribulation, after the            christ and Gog and Magog as the inhabitants of the earth,
church has been dead and her testimony has ceased for some              till Christ shall come-  to judge with His church and shall
time, Christ shall cause a certain revival. A spirit of life            establish His glorious kingdom forevermore. Now we are
entered into them from God, and they stood upon their feet              still in the twelve hundred and sixty days. We must still
once more. A voice comes from heaven, and calls them                    witness. Perhaps the days of tribulation will come soon. It
                                                                 UP
thither, and, they ascend into heaven in a cloud. At the                seems as if we are fast becoming prepared for these days.
same time an earthquake, a terrible earthquake, is felt, which          But still the testimony is not finished. Still therefore it is
destroyed a large part of the city, but which undoubtedly at            the calling of the church and its ministry to witness. And
the same time accompanies the resurrection of the saints.               `the purpose of this picture is to spur us on to be faithful
And the church.has  been delivered. In other words, before              even unto the end, that no one may take our crown. And
the time of ,the end, while the Antichrist and the Gog and              on the other hand, the people pf God; may be comforted by
Magog are still on earth, the church, shall be taken away               the fact that Christ shall not leave them alone, but that
fromher  shame and persecution and terrible suffering. The              even the days shall be shortened for the elects' sake.
living saints shall be changed. Those that have died shall be                                        C H A P T E R  I X   -
raised. And the church of Christ shall be glorified. The-days                          The Blowirilg  of the Seventh  Trztmpet
have been shortened for the elects' sake.                                                        Revelation 11 :14-19
    In regard to the power ,of the -Antichrist that still re-                         14. The second woe is past; and, behold, the third
mains behind, the text tells us that one tenth of its power                           woe cometh  quickly.
is destroyed. That is evidently the meaning of the destruction                        15. And the seventh angel sounded; and there were
which is caused by the earthquake. One tenth part of the                              great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this
city is destroyed, and seven thousand people are killed. Ten                          world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of
is, as we have remarked before, the symbolic number which                             his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
indicates the power that is -given to the Antichrist by the                           16. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before
decree of God. He has ten horns, has dominion over ten                                God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped
                                                                                      God,
kingdoms, -all of which indicates that he has just as much                            17. Saying, We give thee thanks, 0 Lord God Almighty,
power as God allows him. But now one tenth of his dominion                            which art, and wast,  and art to come; because thou
is destroyed. Jerusalem at large, the holy city, that is                              hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.        .
spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, has, of course, developed                         18. And the `nations were angry,' and thy wrath is
into the power of the Antichrist and has served him in the                            come, and the time of the dead, that they should be
culmination of his power. One tenth of that power is now                              judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy
taken away, that is, just as much as is in harmony with                               servants the prophets, and to the- saints, and them that
                                                                                      fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy
his existence.     To take one tenth of his power and his                             them which destroy the earth.
dominion away simply means that he is definitely curtailed,                           19. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and
so that he will not be able to maintain himself as Antichrist.                        there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament:
And this is for a purpose. For a time they acknowledge the                            and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings,
glory of God, just as Nebuchadnezzar would when he was                                and an earthquake, and great hail.
witness of the power and glory of God. To a definite con-                  111 order to gain a .true understanding of this part of the
version it does not come. The time for conversion is now                book of Revelation it is of the utmost importance that we
past. It is only a time for judgment. For the witness of                bear in mind the general character of the chapter in which
the Word has been taken away, and the church is already                 it occurs.    We have said that in this chapter we have a
in heaven. Terrible things shall still take place. Battles shall        picture of the general course of history, of the history of
be fought between Antichrist and Gog and Magog, and the                 the church in the midst of the world in the present dispensa-
church shall be no more in tribulation. The time of her                 tion, and that too, with a view to the end. It really covers


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               415


the entire history: From that point of view, the book of             testimony is silenced and they are the object of greatest
Revelation might have closed with this chapter. But we               scorn and contempt, as is expressed in the figure of their
must remember that it is only a general picture, a picture           bodies lying unburied in the streets of Jerusalem for three
that gives us very general outlines. And the details of that         days and a-half. But we also find a general picture' of the
picture shall be presented to us in the chapters that follow.        final victory, or rather, of the ultimate deliverance of-the
It might be called the general program that is to be worked          church. The days are shortened `for their sake. They are
out in the succeeding chapters, or, if you please, the general       raised, changed, and taken to heaven even before the time
index of the book from here on. In it we found a general             of the end and before the seventh trumpet will play the
characterization of the condition of the church in this world.       greatest havoc with the enemies of Christ and His kingdom.               -
The temple was measured, and we found that the distinction           And now it is in that same general sense of the word that in
was made between the holy city at large, the outer court, and        the passage we are about to discuss we meet with the picture
the real .holy place with its worshippers, -a distinction            of the seventh trumpet.
which we found to be applicable to the condition of the                 In the fourteenth verse of this chapter, the first verse of
church in the new dispensation. There is always a Christen-          the passage we are now discussing, we read: "The second
dom in the general sense of the word, including all that be-         woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly."
long to nominal Christianity in the outward sense, all that          This fact has led many interpreters to believe that all that
have been baptized in the name of the Triune God. But                is told us in chapter nine, verse 12, to eleven, verse 13,
within this largest circle of Christianity there is, in the first    belongs'to the second woe. You will remember that the eagle       ,,_
place, the false church, that does no more adhere to the             that flew in mid-heaven announced a three-fold woe, evidently
Christ, but tramples the blood of atonement under foot. And          corresponding with.the three last trumpets. These last three
in the second place, within the same sljhere  of Christianity        trumpets, therefore, may very appropriately be called the
in general there is also the show church, that enters with the       woe-trumpets. Now it is very evident from the text that the
true people of God in the sanctuary, but that does not               first woe, or the fifth trumpet, simply includes the plague of
worship with them in spirit and in truth. And finally, there         the locusts. All are agreed in this respect. But there is
is the true church, the body of the true believers, that are         difference of opinion with regard to the second woe, or the
implanted into Christ by a true and living faith. And this           sixth trumpet. There are interpreters who maintain that
distinction will become more plain, will be emphasized,              it includes all that is told us in chapter nine, verse 12, to
toward the time of the end in such a way that the show               eleven, verse 13, as I said above. According to this view, it
church of hypocrites will fall away and identify themselves          includes the setting at liberty of the four angels that are
with the false church, the enemies of Christ, and ultimately         bound at the great river Euphrates and all the deadly
ally themselves with the power of Antichrist.                        destruction caused by this. It includes, in the second place,
   We found in this chapter a general picture of the calling         all that is told us in chapter ten of the angel that stands on
and work of the true church in the midst of the world. They          the sea and on the land and, of the open book John must
must be and are witnesses for Christ. They are the two               swallow. And it includes, in the third place, all we have
witnesses. The believers, the church and its ministers, the          thus far discussed of the eleventh chapter: the measuring of
servants of God, will witness throughout this dispensation,          the, temple, the witnessing of the two prophets, the rise of
even to the time of the end. They prophesy not only in the           the Antichrist, and the deliverance of the church. But as
midst of the world that does not know the Christ and the             we have already indicated in our discussion, we cannot agree
gospel, but prophesy also against the wickedness of the false        with this and that for the simple reason that there is nothing
church, in the midst of which they exist as a living testimony.      woeful in chapter ten and in chapter eleven, verses 1 to 13,
We found that over against these enemies their word be-              for the world. The woe-trumpets evidently mean to cause
comes a fire, consuming the enemy, so that he cannot prevail         woe not to the church but to the world. And from this point
against them in the spiritual sense. We found that these two         of view the last-mentioned portion cannot be classed to-
witnesses perform wonders ; even as Elijah. and Moses of             gether with chapter nine, verses 13 to 21, which speaks of the
old, they shut the heaven with their spiritual power; turn           sixth trumpet. And therefore, our conception is that the
the waters into blood, and have power to strike the earth            second woe is recorded in chapter nine, verses 13 to 21,
with every plague. You will remember how we explained                where the sixth trumpet ends. Then in chapter ten we have
that all of this must be taken in the most literal sense of the      an interlude, assuring the people of God that the mighty
word, as applying to the church of the new dispensation.             Christ shall surely bring the kingdom and perfect it. And in
   Finally, we found in this chapter a general indication of         the eleventh chapter we have a general picture of what will
the final rise of the Antichrist, the beast that comes up out of     be described in detail in future chapters in connection with
the abyss. He oppresses the church. `He persecutes the               the seventh trumpet, or the third woe. That seventh trumpet,
believers that witness against him and that perform these            or third woe, John now announces and pictures in general
wonders. He kills some of them undoubtedly and succeeds in           terms. And therefore, immediately before this seventh trum-
declaring the entire church of Christ dead, so that their            pet he announces that the third woe cometh quickly.     H.H.

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

                             THE SABBATH                                      There is a similarity but not an equality between these
                                                                           sabbaths ; a parallel but not a par. Redemptive rest is chief
            Should this subject require an introduction I believe it       and supreme, it is the day of days in the experience and
     could easily be expressed in just one simple sentence. I              consciousness of Zion.
     would put it thus: the subject of the sabbath has tremendous             If you should inquire of me its ground I would point
     practical significance for the church at all `times in the history    you -to the cross. In the Old Testament times this awful
     of the world.                                                         sight was portrayed and pictured in sign and wonder, in
            We read in the Creation narrative recorded in the primary      type and shadow, in furniture and sacrifice. In the days of
     portion of God's Word of a grand conclusion which is most             reality its solo ground appeared on Golgotha.
     comprehensively expressed, "thus the heavens and the earth               Besides all these, this marvelous day which began
     were finished, and all the host of them." We believe of               historically after Adam's fall shall finally be perfected . . .
     course that it was at this precise moment that God beheld             shall continue without end . . . is reserved for that royal
     the perfect product of His Almighty Hand and powerful                 priesthood, that holy nation, that peculiar people and chosen
     Word; He beheld the earthly reality of that which was                 generation. Scripture explains it this way, and who dares to
     forever real in His eternal conception, or Counsel. Now it            explain the everlasting character .of the sabbath otherwise,
     is this finale that has significance for the subject at hand          "there REMAINETH a rest for the people of God." For
     because it is in connection therewith, and thereupon, that            these joys we must wait until the -reappearance. of our
     the church received the first indication or revelation that our       Redeemer on the clouds of heaven to receive his own unto
     God is more than a God of labor. He is also a God of rest.            Himself in glory, but the wicked shall inhabit hell.
     Attend please to the appendage to the creation narrative as               Strange, but correctly so, the time element in the ob-
     recorded in Gen. 2 :2 and 3, ". . . . And on the seventh day
.                                                                          servance of the sabbath has changed. Ever since. the resur-
     God ended his work which he had made ; and he rested on               rection of our Savior from the dead God's people have kept
     the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And              the first day of the week. Very generally we may say this
     God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it: because that           is due to the change of dispensations which altered many
     in it he had rested from all his work which God created and           things. Because of this circumcision was changed to bap-
     made." From this it is more than evident that the seventh             tism, the passover  to the supper, priest to preacher and
     day was the day of rest, and, this day became known as                prophesying to ministry or preaching. We could add to this
     the sabbath which incidentally means rest.                            list. Yet very .specifically  it was the resurrection of our
            God's people should learn to `call this first sabbath the      Lord that altered things ! Was it not perfectly providential
     sabbath of creation. It was beautiful but in a sense barren,          and with purpose that His body should lie all day in the
     comely but in a certain respect crude. On this day it was             tomb of Joseph, all day of the old sabbath, to make full that
     our God who held communion with the entire creation and               twenty-four hour period and fill to the brim the darkest
     that simply through the heart of Adam, ! And if our first             sabbath of all history ? Was it not equally true and purpose-
     `father sang a song that day in Paradise in all probability it        ful that he should arise early that very next morning and
     went something like this, "the works, the works of the Al-            make all things principally new? Of course our answer is,
     mighty, how glamorous and fair."                                      yes ! We love and live in the rest of the resurrected Re-
            But we ask in seriousness and with sincerity, Could this       deemer. The Sabbath was altered in the time of observance
     last forever? Was there no sweeter song?                              but not in essence.

                                                                               Now to abandon the more historical and doctrinal ele-
            The church must be taught to say more! She should also         ments of this day of renown and momentum it is severely
     learn to speak of the sabbath of redemption. This is her              necessary, especially in this day and age, to touch upon the
     interest from the fall of our first parents unto all eternity.        practical significance in the remaining paragraphs. Two
     All of us suddenly recognize this sabbath as that of the Lamb.        questions quite naturally arise which rather completely cover
     It is clearly distinguished from, the former mentioned sabbath.       this phase of the concept.. They may be stated in one breath:
     In it our attention is focused on the red of the cross                what is the character of- the sabbath and how does this
     rather than on the green of Paradise. God, we must remem-             affect my life ?
     ber, who rests with chosen men is not only the God Almighty
     but He is the Almighty God of all grace. He has provided                 The true character of this day is a spiritual restfulness.
     a redemptive rest. Hence, the essence of this day is that             This rest must never be interpreted carnally as a laziness or
     now God holds communion with His people, not now as                   drowsiness or a being at ease but quite contrariwise it is an
     created in the image of God and of His Son. So it is that             active devotion to our God. It is `concentrating upon and
     now redeemed man sweetly breathes the NEW song, "the                  contemplating God's revelation. When this is realized it
     work of the Lord, the beautiful work of salvation." And this          is the saint's experience that he stands in the nearest possible
     shall go on endlessly in glory!                                       relation to God in Christ. And by all means this should


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D -   B E A R E R                                                     417

  be one's concern and objective on this day. But more of this          afternoon ball game, the boat ride or beach bathe and their
  later.                                                                hunger after righteousness is gone. Mealtime comes to mean
                                                                        little to them. Besides, the Sunday television program and
      Moreover if the character of the sabbath is contemplating         news paper are a poor dessert after the Meal of God's Word.
  God's revelation it is more than obvious that the heart of            Moreover experience may well have informed many that it
  this day is the pulpit, the preaching of the Word. And this           is spiritually awkward to leave the courts of God and
  should always receive the primary emphasis. How God's                 moments later stand at the counter of the corner drug
  Word encourages us in this sacred endeavor! Remember                  store or beside a-wheel of industry. Or experience no doubt
  that !                                                                has taught us that it is awkward to step from the arena
      On the basis of all this it should become even more               of entertainment and enter the audience of the awed as they
  evident that the sabbath has a tremendous practical effect            behold the beauty of God in His temple.
  upon our life and living at all times and in every sphere.               Sorry to say but some boast of liberties in sabbath ob-
  Even as the physical heart requires proper pulsation in order         servance, while others boast of laws. The fact is that men
  to maintain human life so too the day of rest, the heart              are divided on this score. Perhaps or perchance among our
  of our spiritual life, must pulsate properly if a desirable           readers there are the liberals and the conservatives! If
  spiritual life' is to be lived. And should this b.e the case then.    so, let us not ridicule the "reserved" for their narrowness
  our entire life is one of spiritual livelihood and direction.         as is sometimes done but assuredly let us rebuke the "liber-
  Lose the day of rest and you lose everything ! Or to go one           tine" for his lawlessness. The command is succinct, "Remem-
  step back, lose the preaching- the proper preaching-and               ber the Sabbath day to keep it holy."
  you lose the day of rest.
                                                                           Do we forever heap rule upon rule, precept upon precept
      The importance of maintaining this day, both the pure             and law upon law? No, that is our.answer,  and, the author of
  preaching and the day itself, is obvious from Christ's own            this article teaches no such thing. The simple command
  words. In the first place, and probably the neatest expres-           above is both broad and beautiful. It is enough.
  sion of our Lord on this`subject, reads, "the Sabbath was
  made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." Here our                     Blessed sabbath day !
  Lord is speaking from an observatory point of .view and                  Its observance is only possible and a privilege for the
  essentially declares that the sabbath cannot keep man, man            faithful, the objects of God's unrestrained and unchangeable
  must keep the sabbath! In the second place we cannot help             favor. To these the sabbath is set aside for rest, that is,
  but pen the one command of ten which awes our souls and               spiritual activity in the Kingdom of our King.
  accuses us so often of sin and which reads, "Remember the                                                                             A.M.
  Sabbath day to keep it holy . .`.." Need we mention `the
  incident of the Old Testament Israelite who was put to
  death for its desecration? Holy Writ gives us every indica-
                                                                                              Announcement
  tion of sabbath seriousness.

      Keep the day ! But how?                                              The. Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches an-
      To answer such a question requires a manifold reply.              nounces that the Rev. G. M. Ophoff has been granted his
  Possibly the fundamental reply would be that we build the             request for emeritation and has been given the status of
  ingoings and outgoings of the day about the pulpit with its           emeritus professor.
  preaching. Thus if you neglect the house of worship and                  Synod further expresses its heartfelt appreciation to our
  prayer its observance is impossible. But even then the                beloved Rev. Ophoff for his many years of service to our
  attending of this house does not necessarily mean proper ob-          churches, and especially to our Theological School, from the
 `servance of the day. What do we do before and after                   very beginning of our history; that we express that we are
  services ? Perhaps some perform unnecessary labor, or so !            mindful of the fact that under God's providence he has been
  A serious and precarious disturbance of Rest indeed should            one of the fathers of our movement; that we express that we
  this be done. But we have overlooked the mountain! In                 sympathize with Rev. Ophoff in the present way of affliction
  all likelihood the greatest -disturbance of rest in this day and      in which the Lord leads him, and that we are saddened by
  age is pleasure. Both of the above mentioned factors hinder           the fact that now the Lord removes him from active duty in
  the saintly concentration of the issues of his life on spiritual      our churches ; that we express, further, that we hope and
  things. More categories could be added but let this suffice.          pray that our gracious God may sustain him, and his beloved
                                                                        wife, Mrs. G. M. Ophoff, in the remainder of their earthly
      Pleasure, in particular now, dulls the spiritual appetite         pilgrimage.
  even as certain manufactured products of men dull the
`natural appetite. For example, give the child some sweets                     S Y N O D   O F   T H E   P R O T E S T A N T   R E F O R M E D    '
  prior to meal-time and what becomes of his appetite? Even so                                         C H U R C H E S
  permit the flock of Christ Jesus to partake of the Sunday                                    G. VANDEN  BERG, Stated Clerk

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

                                                                       may be 
   1                                                                              equally right. However they may also be equally
              F R O M   H O L Y   W R I T .                       1    wrong, paradoxically as it may sound ! And, again, the one
                                                                       may be right ethically and the other ethically wrong !

                                                                          The key is : all tht is not ozct of f&h  is sin!

                  Exposition of Romqns 14,15                              Eating meat or not eating meat, keeping of a day or not
                                                                       keeping of a day is ,as sock a matter which is indiffef-ent!
                                   III.                                This is wholly a matter which is only spiritually differenti-
                                                                       ated by the faith or lack of faith of the user and non-user!
                          (Romans 14 :2-U)                             It is because of this spiritually undifferentiatedness of meat
                                                                       and drink as such which calls for spiritual sobriety on our
         In our former article we spoke of the matters of things       part, lest we walk either in bondage unto the law, or in
  which are "indifferent," sometimes called the ad,i@horsr !           antinomian libertinism !
  Eating or not eating of meat has as such no importance; it              Let not the reader think that matters of the undoubted
  is not the matter which detmkaes  the true worship of God            Christian -Faith are ever matters of adiaphora, or matters
- in His church. All that which is not out of faith is sin. Not        .which are expressly forbidden in the law of God. Adiaphora
  eating as well as eating meat, keeping or not keeping of             deals only with matters which pertain to the good creature,
  days, is sin if it is not out of faith. When it is not out of        and their being used in the service of Christ. It is, therefore,
  faith it simply is. human institution and inventions. Such           wholly a matter of being "fully persuaded in our own
  cannot be the rule of faith in the church !                          m i n d s . "
         Let each be fully persuaded in his own mind.                     When the matter is thus pin-pointedly stated all adiaphora
         In this chapter, we have noticed, Paul is speaking to the     has its necessary limitation, doesn't it. We do not cherish
  weak in faith and to the strong in the faith. The weak in            being misunderstood. We ask a careful reading of these
  faith are not simply weak in their subjective life, but they         lines ! Let no one jump to conclusions which are neither
  are weak in the objective truth of the justification by faith,       directly nor indirectly implied in these lines !
  and weak and hesitant to apply this truth of justification by           We.write above: the Key to the solution of this situation
  faith to certain areas of life. And, therefore, the weak             is, "all that is not out of faith is sin" !
  brother is the "problem-child.`! If all were strong in the               Next to this Paul posits another factor: it is that Chkst
  faith there would be no problem. However, now there is a             is Lord, both of the living and of the dead! Thus we read in
  twofold problem.                                                     verse 9 : "For unto this end Christ died and lived again, that
        In the first place there is the problem which we might         he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living."
  call the dogvtzntic  problem. It is the problem of the relation-        These two factors are the all-controlling solution to eating
  ship of the days and meats to Christ, the Lord.                      or not eating of meats, or keeping or not keeping of days!
         In the second place there is the problem of the lzz,bwla%-
  relatiotu                                                                Take the matter of days, for instance. Is it not an un-
               in the difference of convictions concerning days        controvertible truth that Christ is Lord of the Sabbath. Thus
  and meats, which exists between the "strong" and the                 we read in Mark 2 127,  28: "And he said unto them, the
  "weak in faith"! The latter problem can become such, and             sabbath was made for man, and. not man for the sabbath :
  often does, that it is not possible to rightly keep a proper         so that the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath." Is
  perspective of the former question.                                  Christ's lord&p  not then the key to the proper use of days,
         Both of these aspects are on the very surface of this         and is he not "strong" who properly sees this Lordship of
  passage which calls for our attention here.                          Christ over a day, so that in relationship to Christ he ac-
         Let us take notice how Paul handles this delicate situa-      counts all days alike? ! And was such not the very design
  tion here. We need not repeat here what we wrote in our              of God in the creation of the weekly sabbath in the beginning ?
  former essay on this matter: Let it suffice to call attention        It was made for man, that is, for man to use in the service of
  to the following :                                                   the Lord! However, the day was not made that man should
                                                                       serve the day or be bound by the day, but be `free in the day
         The problem here arises out of the weakness of the            being free in the Lord of the sabbath-day!
  weak. The 1-es&ant situation is such that Paul writes, "One              And now the matter of "meats." Is it not true that God
  man hath faith to eat all things; but he that is weak eateth         saw all that He had made and behold it was very good 7
  herbs." Verse 2. And again, "One man esteemeth one day               Gen. 1.~30.  And did not Christ come to save the world and
  above another : another esteemeth every day alike." Verse 5.         put all things in His service? I Cor. 15 :27.  Did Christ Him-
         Such is the situation.                                        self not attend weddings, and is He not accused of being a'
         How does Paul handle the situation? Are both the strong       glutton and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners ?
  and the weak equally right in their contention? They                 Matthew 11:19. And does not Paul say in I Tim. 4 :4, 5 :


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  419

 "For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be             service to the Lord. There will then be a new content in
 rejected, if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sancti-     the old forms!
 fied through the word `of God and prayer"? And are not all               For he that regardeth then the day in this new dimension
 things of us, and are we not of Christ and is Christ not of          of grace and- liberty in Christ, will regard the day unto the
 God? I Cor. 3 :22,  23. Is Christ not lord of all things,            Lord! It will then not simply be a matter of punctual Sunday
 exactly through his death and resurrection, the First-born of        observance till twelve o'clock midnight on Sunday night,
 all creatures ?                                                      like the Pharisees, but it will be a matter of keeping the
     These are the objective controlling principles in this           sabbath as outlined in the Heidelberg Catechism in Lord's
 Chapter here.                                                        Day 38! It will then be a matter of serving the Lord, and
                                                                      giving heed to the often repeated refrain in the Old Testa-
     But is that the solution to the &uation? Does Paul solve
                                                                      ment, "for I am the LORD"! Yes, we shall then especially
 this with a few "statements," expressions of doctrinal for-
                                                                      on the sabbath, that is on the day of rest, diligently come
 mulae ? Or is he here a man of wisdom, of sobriety and
                                                                      to the congregation of God to learn His word, etc., and
 power, who gives a word of reproof, demonstrating how this
                                                                      all the days of our life cease from our evil works. Thus the
 great principle of the lordship of Christ is, when brought into
                                                                      fathers of the Reformation spoke in the days when the
 practice, the solution so that the strong are not arrogant and
                                                                      church lived in, holy joy in the liberty in Christ and when
 the weak are no longer critical of the strong, but rather
                                                                      they eschewed all libertinistic excess and licence!  Monday
 themselves become strong in faith ?
                                                                      then also is a day which must be kept to the Lord, for
     Since the weak brethren are the problem children, judging        whether we live or whether we die we.are the Lord's !
 the brethren, who are strong in faith, by the terms of meat              And when the strong take the latter position the weak
 and days, Paul directs to them the reproof which is implied          must not judge them. They are the household servants of
 in Christ's lordship over all things. Christ is not merely lord      Christ in so doing ! They are thus free according to the
 over days and meat and drink, but he is too the lord of the
strong  brctlwen!                                                     royal law of liberty. And the weak must not be judges but
                    Christ, their Lord, lzi,l~~.se@  has made them    doers of the Word!
 strong. The strong shall stand! And no bickering of the
 weak is to make the strong in faith weak. Wherefore Paul                 Nor may the strong look down from their heights upon -
 writes : "Yea' he shall be made to stand ; for the Lord hath         the weak and despise them. The weak too are brethren, and
 power to make him stand." Verse 4b. The very salvation of            must become strong.      Illumination in the church on earth
 the weak to become strong depends upon .the strong re-               often is an occasion of stumbling for the illuminated Chris-
 maining strong, pillars in the church. The foundations must          tian. It is the flesh in him warring against the spirit, warring
 stand !                                                              against the soul. The strong must not relinquish their posi-
                                                                      tion, but bear with the infirmities of the ,weak !
     Hence, it is to these "weak in faith". that Paul says :
                                                                          For whether we be strong in faith or weak, none of 
 "Who art t!tou that judgest the servant of another? To his                                                                           us
                                                                      liveth to himself and none of 
own lord he standeth or falleth" ! Verse 4. This is a very                                              us  dieth to himself! Whether
 severe reproof and correctly so. Not only may these weak             we live or whether we die we are, either as strong or weak,
 not foist their weakness upon the strong as the standard of          the Lord's! Thus all things are done for edification.
 Christian conduct, but they have rightly or wrongly as their             Paul adds a sobering note in verses 10-12. "For we
 case as such might be' not the prerogative to judge the              shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God, For it is
 stronger brother.     For they are then not keeping in mind          written, As I live saith t'he Lord, to me shall every knee bow,
 the "lordship" of Christ over this' brother. His standing or         and every tongue shall confess to God. So then each one
 falling, his being condemned or' justified in this matter be-        of us shall give account of himself to God."
 fore the tribunal of Christ, is solely at bottom a matter of             Sobering words. They are quoted from Isaiah 45 :23. In
 his relationship to his own Lord, Christ. And his Christ will        this prophecy we are shown the perspective of the New Testa-
 make ,them stand. They shall not fall. The Lord will finish          ment dispensation when both Jews and Gentiles shall be
 his own work in them !                                               saved, shall be justified by faith. All shall come from the
     That "who art thou"  is really the end of all bickering and      ends of the earth and be saved. For the Lord is God and
                                                                      there is none else. And every tongue stands in relationship
 judging in days and meat ! It brings in the new diixension
 of the Lord over all things! As soon as the weak grow                to the Lord!
 stronger in faith they will subject themselves more and more            Let us then not judge in days and in "meats" but rather
 unto their Lord and the Lord of the strong, and see that they        in this that all must be done out of faith. Meat is adiaphora
 will be joining the ranks of the strong! Then shall they             as such, but `in relationship to the Lord nothing is indifferent.
 be more and more "fully assured in their own mind" that              Then all is a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to him !
 what they do is done unto the Lord! In the real unity in                Let us not glory in days or in meats, nor let us glory in
`the Lord, their own purpose in "not eating" and in "keeping          not using meats, but let us glory in the Lord whether we eat
 of days" will come to stand in a new light, and a new                or eat not!                                                 G.L.


 420            s-l                        T H E   `S'i-ANDARD   B E A R E R



                                                                    simply a matter of courage to do what is right but the grace
              I N   H I S - F E A R                                 of God to cause us to love Him and what is right. Many a
                                                                    sinner knows what is right and having no fear of his fellow-
        An Open Letter to the Graduates of 1959                    men dares to do that which is right but never does it because
                                                                   he does not love God. The devil knows what is right and
Dear Graduates :                                                   has plenty -of courage to disregard all the thoughts of men ;
    A day to which you looked forward for years has come;          yet he never does that which he knows to be right. NO,
and the graduation hour that stood out in the month gone by        give me the Word of God: Lead Me To. The Rock That
is now a moment, of the past. You have graduated either            Higher Is Than I. That is a nice motto. And the'more  we
from what we usually- although erroneously - call the              live in this world, the more it becomes plain to the child of
Grade School or Grammar School, or from High School or             God that he needs that guidance to that Rock Which is
College. You have reached a milestone which marks a meas-          Christ.
ure of progress in your education and training. Whether it             But now to return. Yoztr  motto. What was it? Was it
has been an easy road on which you seemed to be coasting           a prayer to `God ? Was it an expression of faith in Him?
because of the ease with which you mastered your subjects,         Was it a declaration of praise and thanksgiving to Him ?
or whether it was a continual struggle, an uphill climb, you       Say, let us not forget that. You graduated. You were given
both have arrived at this point that marks a prescribed goal.      these years of life on God's earth. You breathed in His air.
You have reached it with honor or with difficulty ; but you        You walked on His earth. With a mind that He gave you
have reached it and received a certificate that testifies of       were you able to receive knowledge. I will not take the time
this to all who read.                                              now to call your attention in detail to what wonderful things
    I cannot help but wonder, as I sit here contemplating          He gave you : a sound mind (what an amazing thing the
the commencement exercises I attended last night and the           human brain), an eye of which the man-made movie camera
night before, just what the motto was that was chosen by           is a very limited imitation, an ear that functions so wonder-
your class ? I am not able to trace the origin of this custom      fully and fills such an important role in our learning, a
of having a class motto. I do not know how and when it             faculty of memory, of speech, of perceiving and of calcula-
originated. But a custom in our land it surely is. And it          tion. We could continue ; but is it not plain that with all our
is quite proper that you choose a class motto. You choose a.       education and learning our motto surely could very fittingly
class flower. -You  have your class colors. Perhaps you also       be an expression of praise to this great God Who has given
have a class song. A class motto is quite in order. But I          us all things natural and spiritual ?
wonder what motto it is that you have chosen. There are                But more interested than in your motto I am interested
good mottos of which we may read in our newspapers; and            to know what it is that you learned and is represented by
there are bad ones, decidedly bad ones full of worldly, wicked,    that diploma which you received. Often it is, indeed, that
atheistic, God-dishonoring sentiment. Only too often they          this motto reveals the spiritual principle behind that which
are nothing but carnal boasts of the proud heart of man.           you have been taught. You may have read the amusing news
But there .are also mottos that express faith in God and           item in your newspaper which relates that the graduating
mottos that are the prayer that rises in the heart of the child    class of a certain High School had chosen for its motto:
of God. .Here in this community we have been informed by           "Today We Launch Out; Tomorrow We Sail,' only to have
local papers of the mottos of three of the local schools. These    the whole commencement exercise rained out by a cloud-
three mottos are the following, "Onward, Ever Upward,`;            burst. There was too much water for them even to launch
"Grant Us Knowledge To Know What Is Right And Courage              out that day. 0, such a motto overlooks that there is a God
Enough To Do It"; and "Lead Me To The Rock That Is                 in heaven and that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of
Higher Than I."                                                    wisdom. It was a proud boast of man of what he was'going
   If you have been reading these lines in The Standard            to do. But the God in heaven, though men may ignore Him
Bea.rer  which we call In His Fear-and you ought to                and rule Him out -of their educational system, is still there ;
read them for your own instruction in His fear- you will           and He let His presence be felt by the torrent of rain which
know that we prefer that last one because it is literally the      He sent at His prescribed moment. A motto of worldly
Word of God, You cannot improve upon that! Vour prayer             philosophy reveals that all the instruction has been colored
may be, as you journey relentlessly onward from birth to           by such materialistic, atheistic, God-dishonoring philosophy.
death, that your walk of life `may ever be upward, seeking         I remember having the privilege to speak to the graduates of
the things which are above, walking as a pilgrim and stranger      one of our own schools some years ago-a school I can
who seeks that heavenly city that now is above but will            never forget, and I can only wish that all of God's children
descend at the. end of time to be the Holy City of God. And        could attend such a school. I hope that the graduates of that
if I were asked to speak on the motto, "Grant Us Knowledge         school are reading these lines even as I know that they have
to Know What is Right And Courage Enough To Do It,"                discussed in school in the past the lines of this department.
I could explain that courage requires grace and that it is not c The theme or motto of that class was, "Our God is King."


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                       421



What an education, what a wonderful knowledge, what a               monize the Word of God with science. Follow not after an
priceless wisdom to be able to see in all the spheres of our        instructor who walks. in that way. Reject his teachings, and
earthly lives that God is King and that this King is our            you have more understanding and wisdom than he. Do not
King ! If that motto expresses also the viewpoint, the              let him teach you that God created the world in millions
principle that governed all the teaching-and I have no              of years..  Such an one in spite of all his degrees and ex-
reason to believe that it was not but rather every reason to        perience does not know the A B C's of truth. The principle,
believe that it actually was the case by the grace of God amid      the beginning of all wisdom is to fear God and to take Him
all our human frailties-those graduates and their fellow            at His Word. It is folly to contradict His Word because
students in school, received a covenant training.                   some unbelieving "scientist" has made a discovery which he
    Your motto may be different, graduates. All cannot have         does not understand and cannot explain in the light of God's
that same one. All need not have this same one. But did             Word. And surely it is folly for man who lives on this side
you learn that in school ? Did you see God in all things            of the Flood and knows absolutely nothing of conditions be-
which He has made? What a privilege has been given to               fore the Flood to base all his theories on the present condi-
you. But what are you going to do'with  it now? A motto            tions and to rule out the possibility of vastly different condi-
means nothing if it is discarded as soon as the day of com-        tions in an age of which man today has no. knowledge. That
mencement exercises is a thing of history. An education and        is not even scientific. Rest assured that if we knew the
training in His fear means nothing if `we  walk contrary to        conditions of that era when men lived to be nine hundred
it. No, these do mean something. They mean that our punish-        years old, and a mist came up and watered the face of the
ment will be the greater. For these things will testify against    earth, when there was a tree of life that had fruit which was
us in the day of days when we all appear before the judgment       able to sustain man's earthly life- (shall we deny this, too,
seat of Christ to receive the things done in the body. That        because no "scientific" evidence can demonstrate and prove
diploma you will save. Your graduation picture you will            its reality today ?) we might well have an explanation of
have framed and keep for future reference (and perhaps             these `things as the life of carbon-14. At any rate, the
amusement). But your education in the fear of God's name,          Scriptures declare that the serpent was cursed and was
do you want to cast that from you. as soon as you received a       caused to go on its belly. That is not evolution but degrada-
passing grade upon it and are proclaimed a graduate ?              tion. No "scientific" evidence of .this. -Shall  we deny it too
   May that not be the case. In this letter we wish to con-        and say that Scripture gives only a figure of speech? What
gratulate `you on this achievement of graduating. This, of         then can we believe ?
course, is meant only for those who have as children of God's          No, graduates, regardless of what .your  class motto was,
covenant reached this milestone in their lives. We cannot          -let me give you one we all should accept and by which we
find the words to congratulate those who have learned to           should .live, "Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that `I
rule God out of His great and wide creation. We can only           might not sin against Thee," Psalm 119 :ll. May God bless
find words to express our sympathy and pity to you that are        you when you seek further education at a higher level. May
so deprived of the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of      He bless you if you have come to the end of your formal
wisdom. We cannot rejoice in such an achievement. We               education and be with you in the work to which you have
cannot honestly before God say that we are glad to see you         set your hands. May He keep you in His fear and make
reach this goal.                                                   you wise unto salvation.
   But do not misunderstand, we still write this open letter                               Fraternally yours in Christ,
to you.    And in it we plead with you to cast off this                                                                             J.A.H.
philosophy that pictures the whole world as revolving about
man instead of being centered in God. Let the Word of                                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
God be a lamp unto your feet and a light upon your pathway.           On May 22, 1959, our beloved parents,
Turn away from the vain philosophies of men. Accept nothing
                                                                           MR. and MRS. M. GAASTRA (nee VANDER WAL)
that the world may teach you that is contrary to the teaching
of the Word of God. It may receive the approval of the             celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary.
world and may seem to be the smart thing to do. But do not            We are deeply grateful to our covenant God for all the blessings
forget that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.       He has, bestowed upon them and us; and we trust ancl pray that
                                                                   according to His will they may be spared for each other and for us
And the psalmist declares in Psalm 119 :98-100,  "Thou             unto fulness  of years, and that they may continue to e`uperience
through Thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine              Jehovah's loving kindness all the days of their pilgrimage.
enemies: for they are ever with me. I have more under-                                                Their children,
standing than all my teachers: for Thy testimonies are my                                            Mr. and Mrs. Phillip  Lindeman
meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I                                           Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Gritters
                                                                                                     Mr. and Mrs. Ray 
keep Thy precepts." Many a teacher today gives instruction                                                               Gaastra
                                                                                                     Mr. and Mrs. Otto Gaastra
in foolishness rather than in wisdom because in his teaching                                         and ten grandchildren.
he opposes the Word of God.. Never mind trying to har-             Redlands, California

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

                                                                               Jonas, did fearful penance, and obtained mercy from the
II         Contending For The Faith                                            Lord. Wherefore falsely do some calumniate Catholic writers,
IL                                                                       `I    as if they had maintained that the sacrament of Penance
                                                                               confers grace without any good motion on the part of those
            The Church and the Sacraments                                      who receive it : a thing which the Church of God never taught,
                                                                               or thought; and falsely also do they assert that contrition is
      VIEWS DURING THE THIRD PERIOD (750-1517 A.D.)                            extorted and forced, not free and voluntary.

                THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS.                                                                   C    H    A    P    T    E    R     V

                           P E N A N C E                                                               On Confession
                           CHAPTER IV.                                            From the institution of the sacrament of Penance, as al-
                           On Contrition                                       ready explained, t'he universal  Church has always understood
                                                                               that the entire confession of -sins was also instituted by the
       Contrition, which holds the first place amongst the afore-              Lord, and is of divine right necessary for all who have fallen
said acts of the penitent, is a sorrow of mind, and a detesta-                 after baptism ; because that our Lord Jesus Christ, when
tion for sin committed, with the purpose of not sinning for                    about to ascend from earth to heaven, left priests his own
the future. This movement of contrition was at all times                       vicars, as presidents and judges, unto whom all the mortal
necessary for obtaining the pardon of sins ; and, in one who                   crimes, into which the faithful of Christ may have fallen,
has fallen after baptism, it then at length prepares for the                   should be carried, in order that, in accordance with the
remission of sins, when it is united with confidence in the                    power of the keys, they may pronounce the sentence of
divine mercy, and with the desire of performing the other                      forgiveness or retention of sins.            For .it is manifest that
things which are required for rightly receiving this sacra-                    priests could not have exercised judgment without knowl-
ment. Wherefore the holy Synod declares, that this contrition                  edge of the cause ; neither indeed could they have observed
contains not only a cessation from sin, and the purpose and                    equity in enjoining punishments, if the said faithful should
the beginning of a new life, but also a hatred of the old,                     have declared their sins in general only, and not rather
agreeably to that saying: Cast away                    you all your  iniq-
                                            ~TOWZ                              specifically, and one by one. Whence it is gatheied  that all
,&ies, wherein you harue  tmnsgressed!  mzd make to yourselves                 the mortal sins, of which, after a diligent examination of
a: stew heart a.?zd a pzew spirit. And assuredly he who has                    themselves, they are conscious, must needs be by penitents
considered those cries of the saints: To thee duzly  have I                    enumerated in confession, even though those sins be most
sin&d, and have done evil before thee; I have labored in my                    hidden, and committed only against the two last precepts of
grda&~g,  every night I will wa&z  ~zy bed; I ~021  ,?*ecozznt  to             the decalogue, - sins which sometimes wound the soul more
thee .a11 my years,  ifz the b&mess  of "14~ sozcl;  and others of             grievously, and are more dangerous, than those which are
this kind, will easily understand that they flowed from a                      committed outwardly. For venial sins, whereby we are not
certain veheinent hatred of their past life, and from an ex-                   excluded from the grace of God, and into which we fall m&-e
ceeding detestation of sins.     The Synod teaches moreover,                   frequently, although they be rightly and profitably, and with-
that, although it sometimes happens that this contrition is                    out any presumption, declared in confession, as the custom
perfect through charity,  and reconciles man with God before                   of pious persons demonstrates, yet may they be omitted with-
this' sacrament be actually received, the said reconciliation,                 out guilt, and be expiated by many other remedies. But,
nevertheless, is not to be ascribed to that contrition, inde-                  whereas all mortal sins, even those of thought, render men
pendently of the desire of the sacrament which is included                     children df wmth, and enemies of God, it is necessary to
therein. And as to that imperfect contrition, which is called                  seek also for the'pardon  of them all from God, with an open
attrition, because that it is commonly conceived either from                   and modest confession. Wherefore, while the faithful of
the consideration of the turpitude of sin, or from the fear                    C&ist  are careful to confess all the sins which occur to their
of hell and of punishment, it declares that if, with the hope                  memory, they without doubt lay them all ,bare before the
of pardon, it exclude the wish to sin, it not only does not                    mercy of God to be pardoned: whereas they who act other-
make a man a hypocrite, and a greater sinner, but that it is                   wise, and knowingly keep back certain sins, such set nothing
even a gift of God, and an `impulse of the Holy Ghost, -who                    before the divine bounty to be forgiven through the priest;
does not indeed as yet dwell in the penitent, but only moves                   for if the sick be ashamed to show his wound to the physician,
him, - whereby the penitent beirig assisted prepares a way                     his' medical art cures not that which it knows not of. We
for himself unto justice. And although this (attrition) can                    gather, fu&hermore,  that those circumstances which change
not of itself, without the sacrament of Penance, conduct the                   the species of the sin are also to be explained in confession,
sinner to justification, yet does it dispose him to obtain the                 because that, without them, the sins themselves are neither
grace of God in the sacrament of Penance. For, smitten                         entirely set forth by the penitents, nor are they known clearly
profitably with this fear, the Ninevites, at the preaching of                  to the judges ; and it can not'be that they can estimate rightly


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     423


   the grievousness of the crimes, and impose on the penitents          or overlooked, sins that are excusable. Mortal sins, on the
   the punishment which ought to be inflicted on account of             other hand, are deadly sins, sins that incur the penalty of
   them. Whence it is unreasonable to teach that these circum-          eternal death. Secondly, the Roman Catholic conception of
   stances have been invented by idle men ; or that one circum-         penance views penance as a sacrament which consists of three
   stance only is to be confessed, to wit, that one has sinned          parts: Contrition, Confession with the mouth to the priest,
   against a brother. But it is also impious to assert, that con-       and Satisfaction. Thus far we have already quoted the two
   fession, enjoined to be made in this manner, is impossible, or       chapters on Contrition and Confession.
   to call it .a slaughter-house of consciences ; for it is certain,
   that in the Church nothing else is required of penitents, but                                   CHAPTER VI
   that, after each has examined.himself  diligently, and searched
   all the folds and recesses of his conscience, he confess those            On the Ministry of this- SacrawLeni,  and Absolution
   sins by which he shall remember that he has mortally offended
   his Lord. and God: whilst the other sins, which do not                   But, as regards the minister of- this sacrament, the holy
   occur to him after diligent thought, are understood to be            Synod declares all those doctrines to be false, and utterly
   included as a whole in that same confession ; for which sins         alien from the truth of the Gospel, which perniciously extend
   we confidently say with the prophet: FYOW~  my secret sins           the ministry of the keys to any others `so ever besides
   cleanse PPL~, 0 Lord. Now, the very difficulty of a confession       bishops and priests ; imagining, contrary to the institution
   like this, and the shame of making known one's sins, might           of this sacrament,. that those words of our Lord, Whatsoever
                                                                        yoat  shall bind @on  ea&,  shall be bound atso 
   indeed seem a grievous thing, were it not alleviated by the                                                              in he.averh,  a,nd
                                                                        whatsoever you shall loose 
   so many and so great advantages and consolations, which are                                          ,ttpon  earth shall ,be loosed also
                                                                        in heaven, 
   most assuredly bestowed by absolution upon all who worthily                      and, Whose sins you shall forgive, they we fog-
                                                                        cjzq thewz,  
   approach to this sacrament. For the rest, as to the manner                          and whose sins you shall retain, they memt~ained,
   of confessing secretly to a priest alone, although Christ has        were in such wise addressed to all the faithful of Christ in-
   not forbidden that a person may, -in punishment of his               differently and indiscriminately, as that every one has the
   sins, and for his own humiliation, as well for an example to         power of forgiving sins, -public sins to wit by rebuke,
   others as for the edification of the Church that has been            provided he that is rebuked shall acquiesce, and secret sins
   scandalized, - confess his sins publicly, nevertheless this is       by a voluntary confession made to any individual whatsoever.
   not commanded by a divine precept; neither would it be very          It also teaches, that even priests, who are in mortal sin,
   prudent to enjoin by any human law, that sins, especially            exercise, through the virtue of the Holy Ghost which was
   such as are secret, should, be made known by a public con-           bestowed in ordination, the office of forgiving sins, as the
   fession. Wherefore, whereas the secret sacramental .confes-          ministers of Christ; and that their sentiment is erroneous
   sion, which was in use from the beginning in holy Church,            who contend that this power exists not in bad priests. But
   and is still also, in use, has always been commended by the          although the absolution of the priest is the dispensation of
   most holy and the most ancient Fathers with a great and              another's bounty, yet is it not a bare ministry only, whether
   unanimous consent, the vain calumny of those is manifestly           of announcing the Gospel, or of declaring that sins are for-
   refuted, who are not ashamed to teach that confession is alien       given, but is after the manner of a judicial act, whereby
   from the divine command, and is a human invention, and               sentence is pronounced by the priest as by a judge ; and
   that it took its rise from the Fathers assembled in the              therefore the penitent ought not so to confide in his own
   Council of Lateran: for the Church did not, through the              personal faith as to think that, - even though there be no
   Council of Lateran,  ordain that the faithful of Christ should       contrition on his part, or .no intention on the part of the
   confess, - a thing which it knew to be necessary, and to             priest of acting seriously and absolving truly, -he is never-
   be instituted of divine right, - but that the precept of con-        theless truly and in God's sight absolved, on account of his
   fession should be complied with, at least once a year, by all        faith alone. For neither would faith without penance bestow
   and each, when they have attained to years of discretion.            any remission of sins, nor would he be otherwise than most
   Whence, throughout the whole Church, the salutary custom             careless of his ownsalvation, who, knowing that a priest but
   is, to the great benefit of the souls of the faithful, now ob-       absolved him in jest, should not carefully seek for another
   served, of confessing at that most sacred and most acceptable        who would act in earnest.
t i m e   o f   L e n t, -a custom which this holy Synod most highly                                                                   H.V.
   approves of and embraces, as pious and worthy of being re-
   tained. -end of quote of Chapter V.
      In connection with what we have thus far quoted from
   the decrees of the Council of Trent, we wish to state briefly                               Announcement
   the following. First, we read in these chapters of "mortal
   sins." The word "mortal" here stands over against the word              Announcements and obituaries rates are changed from
   "venial."    Venial sins, then, are sins that may be pardoned        $1.00 to $2.00, effective July 1.

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


                                                                             Arminians presented matters as though they, in distinction
   II         The Voice of Our Fathers                                 II from our fathers, were the ones who truly believed the facts
                                                                             set forth in the first ,part of this article. They tried to make
                                                                             people believe that our Reformed faith does not take into
                    The Canons of Dordrecht                                  account the realities of the Christian life, the reality of carnal
                                                                             doubts and temptations and `spiritual struggles. They wanted
                               PART Two                                      people to believe that the Reformed view of the Christian in
                      EXPOSITION OF THE CANONS                               this life was. the picture of a saint that enjoyed a kind of
                                                                             carnal security, a saint who went happily on his way with
                      FIFTH HEAD OF DOCTRINE                                 never a doubt nor a fear, who had no battle to fight, who
                                                                             passed through no struggles of soul, who with never any
                OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS
                                                                             interruption or spiritual wavering enjoyed the perfectly bliss-
                Article 11. The Scripture moreover testifies, that be-       ful assurance of his perseverance. They, the Arminians,
                lievers in this life have to struggle with various carnal    were the realists ! They knew and took into account these
                doubts, and that under grievous temptations they are         spiritual realities., They understood quite well that such as-
                not always sensible of this full assurance of faith and      surance was a fanciful myth. They realized that the ordinary
                certainty of persevering. But God, who is the Father
                                                                             child of God had to struggle with various carnal doubts. and
                of all consolation, does not suffer them to be tempted
                above that they are able, but will with the temptation       that he frequently found himself in the tension of grave
                also make a way to escape, that they may be able to          temptations. But these Reformed people who taught the sure
                bear it, I Cor. 10:13, and by the Holy Spirit again in-      perseverance of the saints and the certainty of such persever-
                spires them with the comfortable assurance of perse-         ance on the part of believers did not know life-! They had
                vering                                                       no place in their view for the small, for the weak, for the
         As far as the translation is concerned we offer the follow-         struggling. They had a cold, unrealistic, unsympathetic doc-
  ing by way of correction : 1) "moreover" should be "mean-                  trine! Such were the accusations which the fathers had to
                                                                             contend against and over against which they state the true
  while." 2) "who is the Father of all consolation" could better
  be shortened to the appositive, "the Father of all consola-                Reformed view in this eleventh article.
  tion." 3) The English version inserts a part of I Cor. lo:13                   Indeed this was a foul attack. And do not forget that the
  which was not quoted in the original Latin, namely, "that                  design of this attack was not concerned as such with the
  they may be able to bear it." 4) The last clause should read:              question of these doubts and temptations. No, the Ar-
                                                                             minians meant to destroy the Reformed doctrine of perse-
 ' "and by the Holy Spi$t he again awakens (excites) in them
  the certainty of perseverance."                                            verance and of the assurance of perseverance. They meant to
                                                                             show that because the Reformed faith could not allow room
                               * * * +                                       for these spiritual realities in the life of the saint, therefore
                                                                             it could not possibly be the true doctrine. The nature of the
         We should bear in mind that the primary purpose of this             argument is really the same as the argument which is used
  article is again to present the Reformed view of the assurance             later on, namely, that this doctrine makes men careless and
  of perseverance over against the caricature of that Reformed               profane, and that because of this it is an immoral doctrine,
  view with which the Arminians attempted to burden the                      which `cannot possibly be'true.
  fathers in the eyes of the people. This explains in part why                  Now before we enter into the contents of the article, we
  our fathers in this article go out of their way to explain what            may make some observations which may be of value in
  we would perhaps think is perfectly obvious and is a patent                limiting and circumscribing the exact scope of this article.
  fact in the life of every Christian. After all, who does not               In the first place, we may say that this article certainly ex-
  know by experience that the Christian must struggle with                   cludes from the Reformed family such as maintain that the
  various carnal doubts in this life? Who does not understand                saints in this life always enjoy the full assurance of faith
  too that where there is doubt there is a proportionate lack of             .and certainty of perseverance. There;are  those who main-
  assurance ? Who has not experienced that the child of God                  tain this doctrine. There are those who will say that the
  is placed in grave temptations and is the object of grievous               true child of God never doubts, and that as long as he
  attacks by the prince of darkness and his host?, And what                  doubts he cannot be a true child of God. They are indeed
  child of God who knows the Scriptures cannot mention in-                   proud people. They brashly lay claim to the assurance of
  stances of saints whose doubts and temptations and spiritual               faith and act as though it were below their spiritual dignity
  struggles are recorded in Holy Writ? Why then mention                      ever to entertain the least doubt or to have the slightest
  such an obvious fact? What is the need of it? The answer                   spiritual struggle. And they are people of a shallow soul.
  to this question; as we indicated above, is to be sought in                They do not know life. They do not know themselves. They
the fact that the Reformed faith is here set forth in opposi-                have but a very shallow conception of their own sin and of
  tion to the Arminian caricature of that Reformed faith. The                their own sinful nature. They exalt themselves above such


                                                                                                                                    425
                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   - B E A R E R


eminent children of God as David and John the Baptist and          while continuing in one's doubt and while ignoring the God-
Peter and Paul. Their doctrine, moreover, is a stumbling-          ordained way of assurance described in Article 10, is tanta-
block to the true, though weak, believer. When the latter          mount to tempting the Almighty. No, to doubt is not pious;
considers himself in the light of such a doctrine, he can only     but to stmggle  qaimt doubt is pious and is also necessary
come to the conclusion that he is riot a child of God. He is       and normal in the life of the Christian here below. Hencie,
not helped and comforted by such a doctrine. He is only            to sum LIP our second observation, the view that doubting is
pushed deeper into the slough of despair and hopelessness.         normal and even pious is both spiritually sickly and un-
Hence, let it be well understood, as our fathers also make         Reformed.
plain here, that this doctrine has nothing in common with                 The contents of this article are not difficult to understand
the Reformed faith. The Reformed faith wants nothing of            for the simple reason that they are a matter of experience for
such a view. That view would indeed give justification to          the child of God in the midst of the world. Besides, this
the Arminian  charge l?entioned  above, But Reformed doc-          same matter has been referred to in the earlier articles of
trine rejects that view and repudiates the charge. In this         this Head of Doctrine. In Articles l-5 especially much at-
respect, while we must remember that this article was not          tention was devoted to the realities of the remains of in-
written as such against this doctrine, but against the Ar-         dwelling sin in the Christian, to his deviations from the
minians, it nevertheless constitutes a healthy warning against     guidance of divine grace, and to the temptations against
such an improper view of. assurance.                               which he has tq watch and pray and into which he some-
   In the second place, - and at the opposite pole as far          times falls deeply. Especially in connection with Article 4
as limiting the scope of this article is concerned, -we must       we have enlarged on some of `these matters ; and we refer the
observe that the purpose of this eleventh article is not at        reader to this earlier material. The difference is that here,
all to give aid and comfort to those who would present a           in Article 11, the fathers treat these doubts and temptations
state of doubt as being normal for the Christian, and who          in their relation to our asswa.me  of perseverance. And this
would even teach that such doubt is a kind of special mark         is indeed a worthwhile and spiritually valuable subject to
of piety. There are also such. And it is difficult sometimes       consider. Only we must remember that all that is stated here
to determine which is more repulsive and nauseating, the           with respect to the loss of and the regaining of this kssurance
former view or the view which glories in doubt. Both views         is based squarely upon what our Canorts teach concerning
are essentially proud. The former view proudly imagines            the grace pf perseverance and the manner of its operation in
that the Christian never doubts; the latter view presents          Articles 6-8. In other words, one cannot have the proper view
doubt as a special mark of piety, is really proud of               of his temptations and struggles in relation to his assurance
doubting, and pictures the saint who has the least degree          unless he has a correct view of the grace of perseverance
of assurance as really impious and vain, and delights              (preservation) itself in relation to the remains of indwelling
in causing children of God to continue in their mournful           sin in the Christian. The latter is the foundation of the
misery. But no more than the Reformed  faith as set forth          former. This accounts for the fact that just as you find a
in this article allows room for the first view, no more does       relation of contrast between Articles l-5 and Articles 6-8, so
it intend in the slightest degree to foster the second view.       you find that same contrast in regard to assurance within
Bear in mind that the fathers do not speak, in the first place,    this very article: ". . . . believers in this life have to struggle
of chronic doubting, but of various carnal doubts. Notice, in      . . . and are not always  sensible of this full assurance of
the second place, that the article does not set its stamp of       faith . . . :Bsut God . . . ." In other words, with application
approval upon these doubts and temptations, but simply             to our assurance of perseverance, the fundamental truth of
mentions them as facts in the Christian life. Observe, in the      this article is that of the opening words of Article 4:
                                                                   "
third place, that the article takes the fundamental position            . . . . the weakness of the flesh cannot prevail against the
that doubt is sin. It does not and cannot arise out of faith.      power of God."
It is the opposite of faith. For notice that these doubts are             To this we will call attention in detail in a following
characterized as "carnal." And notice, too, that temptations       article.                                                    H.C.H.
certainly are authored by the tempter, the devil and his co-
horts. And keep in mind, in the fourth place; that the article
itself presents these doubts as something against which the                                   IN MEMORIAM

believers have to stwggle.  Now that struggle certainly im-              The Mr. and Mrs. Society wishes to express our sympathy to
plies that doubt is not pious and that the Christian does not      ohr fellow member, Mrs. Erne Miedema,  nee Bouma, in the loss
and ought not to delight in his doubts. For one only struggles     of her
                                                                                                  FATHER
against that which is not good, against that which must be
                                                                         May our God 
ovei-come.  To live in doubt and to delight in doubt and to                              comfort the hearts of the bereaved with His
                                                                   glorious grace.
cdnsicler doubt as a mark of piety, therefore, is certainly                            The Hudsonville Prot. Ref. Mr. and Mrs. Society:
wrong. And to wait in the midst of one's miserable doubting                                        Rev. G. Vos, President
for some kind of special and direct assurance. from heaven,                                        Mrs. R. Van Baren,  Secretary     h

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

                                                                       and a half ago Classis West was confronted with the situa-
              DECENCY and ORDER                                        ation where the present congregation of Loveland, Colorado,
                                                                       desired affiliation with our churches and made application to
                                                                       the Classis. Article 38=was  cited as a ground for directing
                       Article 38, D.K.O.                              this request to Classis West instead of to the Mission Com-
                                                                       mittee. Or, rather, since the congregation of Loveland was
      "In places where the consistory is to be constituted for         an already organized church, the Mission Committee deemed
  the first time or anew, this shall not take place except with       it outside of their jurisdiction to admit them into the denom-
  the advice of the classis."                                         ination and advised them to apply to Classis West, which
                                                                      they also did. However, Classis West took cognizance of
              Decisions perta"ining  to this article.
                                                                      the fact that the rules under Article 38 were adopted prior
      "The customary usage for the organization of a new              to the organization of our Synod and, therefore, felt that
 congregation is as follows :                                         where the term "classis" appears in these rules, no single
                                                                      classis is meant but the General Classis which is equivalent
      i. A letter of request is directed to the classis or mission    to the present Synod. Moreover, it was felt that when a
  committee, expressing the desire to organize a congregation         church is admitted into the denomination, this is a matter
in a certain named locality, and signed by the heads of               of denominational interest and concern rather than of any in-
 families or by adult single persons who live in that locality.       dividual Classis and so Classis West referred this request to
      2. The classis or the mission committee shall thereupon         the Synod.
 deliberate whether such organization is possible or desirable,
 observing whether there be among the signators, persons                  If this action was proper, it would seem that here again
 suitable for consistory members, at the same time taking into        we have an instance where the committee on re-editing the
 account the neighboring churches. In case classis or the             Church Order could make a few corrections by changing the
 mission committee decides to grant the request it appoints a         word "classis" to "synod" since our ecclesiastical structure is
 committee to carry out the organization.                             now complete. However, before that is done it might be
                                                                      worthy to note that the Christian Reformed Church obviously
      3. In order to organize the congregation the `committee         does not take the position that was taken in our Classis
 meets with the persons concerned, who have meanwhile re-             West. Their rules as found in "The Manual of Church
 quested their certificates of membership, or if it be impossible     ,Order"  by Stuart and Hoeksema speak of "presenting the
 to have their certificates transferred, those present shall give     petition for organization to the Classi? and, further, "the
 testimony one of another that they were members in full              Classis considers whether such organization is possible."
 communion and of good report in the congregation from                Now it is understood that there is perhaps a difference be-
 which they are now separating. After a service of worship            tween a group that seeks organization in a certain denomina-
 shall have been conducted under the guidance of the commit-          tion of churches or an already organized church that seeks
 tee, the latter shall .request those present to tender their         affiliation with a. certain denomination. However, essentially
 certificates, in as far as possible. The committee having found      we do not see that it makes any difference. It is solely a
 the certificates in good order and having accepted them,             question as to whether the admitting of a group or an or-
 they shall proceed to election of officebearers, who shall im-       ganized church from without is a matter for Classical or
 mediately upon their election. be installed in their respective.     Synodical determination. Our opinion would be that it be-
 off ices.                                                            longs to the latter since the group or church that is admitted
     4. In such situations as this the election cannot be per-        is not admitted merely into a certain Classis but is admitted
 formed otherwise than by free election by the vote of the            into the denomination. We would not say that it is wrong in
 male membership, whose testimonials were found in order              a larger church organization to empower the Classes to act
 and accepted. Following the rule for free election it is re-         in matters such as these provided that is done with the
 quired, in order to be chosen by the first ballot, to receive a      approval of and in the presence of the deputies of Synod.
 two-thirds majority. In case of a reballoting an unqualified         For the latter, however, there is no provision made in this
 majority shall be decisive.                                          article or in the attached rules.
     5. It is recommended that at this same meeting, in the              The second thing we want to mention in this connection
 presence of a notary public, the documents pertaining to the         are the elements that are mentioned in rule 2 and that deter-
 incorporation of a new congregation be brought in order." .          mine whether the request for organization is to be granted.
                                                                      I would suppose that other things could be added here but
     (Adopted by the classis of June 6, 7, 1934; and Synod            only two things are mentioned : (1) whether there is suitable,
 of .1944, Arts. 66, 67.)                                             qualified, capable material in the group seeking organization
     Before we discuss the content of Article 38, we wish to          to be office-bearers ; and ,(2.) whether such organization is
 make a few sundry remarks about the decisions of our                 deemed advisable in light of the proximity of the group to
 Classis and Synod pertaining to this article. About a year           other churches.


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   ` B E A R E R                                               427


      The first of these is undoubtedly of fundamental im-             circles generally. The Reformed Churches no longer speak
  portance. A church cannot exist without the offices and the          of women voting. That is a generally accepted practice. They
  offices cannot function without competent, qualified .men            have gone a step further in the wrong direction and at the
  who are fitted by God to perform the work of His church.             last held Synod were occupied with the question of women
  Wherever God calls His church into manifestation in the              holding office in the church. The Synod took the position
  world, He also places therein men whom He has equipped               that this was not permissible but we would predict that it
  and called to serve Him in the offices. Where, therefore,            is only a matter of time before this issue will reappear and
  these are lacking it would be wrong to proceed to organize           be adopted. If women are allowed the vote, they cannot be
  a congregation. It would be building on the foundation of            refused the. office. In the Christian Reformed Churches there
  men rather than upon the foundation of the Word of Truth             is, as far as I know, no unanimity of thought on this matter.
  and such a structure would not stand.                                I believe that the practice is to leave the question of women
                                                                       suffrage up to each consistory and the result of this is that
      The second element mentioned in this connection may              if you are a woman and belong to one church you will be
  mean various things. It may, for example, have reference             refused this privilege but if you transfer your membership to
  to geographic proximity. The meaning then is that investiga-         a neighboring church of the same denomination it will be
  tion reveals that this group that seeks organization is geo-         granted to you. There should be a Synodical rule in matters
  graphically situated so that it is very impractical, if not im-      of this nature so that there is uniformity of practice through-
  possible, for them to affiliate with a neighboring church. .No       out the denomination. In our Protestant Reformed Churches
  other church is near enough. It may also mean, however, to           the stand is taken that limits the vote to male-membership
  reflect upon the relation of a group that seeks organization to      as is proper. It is the. historically Reformed' position based
  the church or churches of its own vicinity. For example, a           o n   S c r i p t u r e .
  group may consider that the church to which it belongs is
  too big. Its very largeness is detrimental spiritually in various         Rule 4 also mentions a two-thirds majority vote as neces-
  ways. It sees advantages in organizing a smaller church.             sary for the election of office bearers on the first ballot in,a
  Should it then make such .a request, the Classis would have          newly organized church. It has often been said that our
  to determine whether or not this is advisable in light of all        church order knows only of a simple majority (Art. 31).
  the circumstances.     And, finally, when the rule speaks of         Here, however, is an instance where more than a simple
  "taking into account the neighboring churches" the element           majority is required and if it is necessary in this case, there
  of agreement of faith is not to be ruled out. A new group            is no reason why there could not be other circumstances in
seeks affiliation with a group of established, neighboring             the church where decisions can be made only by more than
  churches. . A fundamental element which will determine               a. simple majority. For example, a decision to rescind a
  whether or not that group will be admitted as a sister church        previous action where our present rules require only a simple
  is the question as to whether or not they are agreed in the          majority.
  faith. It may be argued that no group would request. affilia-                                                              G.V.D.B.
  tion if this were not the case. Certainly they would not ask
  to be admitted into a federation of churches. with which they
  were doctrinally in disagreement ! However, other factors
  enter into such requests so that this is not always the case         I                            AS iro BOOKS                      II
  even ,though norma.lly it should be. History has shown this
  as is evident from our own experiences in Hamilton and
  Chatham and, therefore, too much caution cannot be exer-                  ClzavvtpEon  of Gineva, by Peter de Rover. Translated
  cised in determining the spiritual, confessional proximity           from the Dutch by Wm. B. Eerdmans who is also the pub-
  of any group that may seek admission into the federation of          lisher. Price thirty-five cents per copy. In larger quantities
  our churches.                                                        twenty-five cents per copy.

     Another matter mentioned in these rules that is worthy                 This little book of only about thirty pages is, to my mind,
  of consideration is the manner in which the organization of          a most excellent brief sketch of the life of John Calvin. All
 a new church is to take place. The directives set forth in rule       our young people and even our older children ought to read
  3 are very plain so that we may refrain from further comment         it. By this I do not mean that our older people should not
  on this for the present. We can speak of this in connection          read it, for they, too, will find it interesting.
  with the article itself.                                                  Perhaps, some of our societies could even make a little
     Of interest is the fourth rule under Article 38. In the           m.oney  by buying ,a certain quantity of the booklet for
 first place because the rule limits voting to the male mem-           twenty-five cents and distributing. them for thirty-five cents.
 bership, a practice we are convincedis not only Biblical and,              At any rate, I heartily recommend this little book.
 therefore, maintained by our churches to this day but also
  a practice that is rapidly falling into disuse in Reformed                                                                       H.H.


  428                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                /

                     OUR 1959 SYNOD"                                   advice of its committees, as is evident froin the fact that
                                                                       several decisions were quite different from that which was
     With the singing of "Praise God From Whom All                     proposed by the` advisory committees. The delegates were
  Blessings Flow" and a concluding prayer of thanksgiving              quite willing to be led, but they were independent enough to
 the sessions of our 1959 Synod drew to a close at last on             reject advice for which they could not see proper grounds.
 Tuesday afternoon, June 16. I say "at last" because this was          And, in the second place, there were several matters which
one of the longest continuous meetings of Synod in recent              Synod referred to Study Committees and on which the
 years : exclusive of Saturdays and Sundays we met every day           delegates were not ready to take final decisions this year.
 for two full weeks.-It is the intention of this article to give a     The latter, of course, will be up for consideration at our next
 brief report, along with a few comments, of this Synod's              Synod.
  doings. It is to be understood that this repdrt is not official          Another noteworthy aspect of the 1959 Synod was the
 and that the comlnents  are the personal views of- the author.        hersistence  of the delegates and their willingness to stay at
 At the same time, this report is offered with the purpose             work to the very end. We not only had full representation
 of keeping our readers informed and with the hope that                from both classes at the entire Synod, but with the exception
 this brief report will serve as an incentive to kindle enough         of a couple isolated instances, in which it was necessary for
 interest and healthy curiosity that our people will avail             a delegate to be replaced briefly by his alternate, all the
 themselves of the full and official report of the "1959 Acts          delegates "kept their shoulders to the wheel." For such a
 and Yearbook," which will appear in a couple months.                  lengthy Synod this is especially commendable on the part of
     We had a busy Synod. The size of the Agenda necessi-              our elder delegates.    And the elders voiced their opinions
 tated having four committees of pre-advice, to each of which          too !
 several matters, some important and some less' important,
 were entrusted. All of these dommittees did their work the                By way of constructive criticism, however, I feel there
 first Wednesday that Synod met, some of them working far              are also some comments to be made. This is not meant in
 into the evening. And some of the committees were sent                any other way .than constructively, let me assure all con-
 out again later in the course oj Synod's meetings' to prepare         cerned. Personally, I felt that perhaps the greatest weakness
 further advice. From the viewpoint of the material under              of the Synod lay in the field of its committee work. The
 consideration, this would not be called a crucial Synod, b;ut         fact that in so many instances advice of committees was laid
 neither would it be called an unimportant Synod. With the             aside was an indication to me that the work of the committees
 exception of a couple items that reminded us of the un-               could have been a bit more thorough and efficient. Concretely,
 pleasant history of the schism of 1953, the matters under             I would suggest: 1) That there was a little too .much of a
 consideration were such that the Synod could be character-            tendency, - and this applies also to an extent to the reports
 ized, I believe, as a positive and forwardllooking  Synod.            of our standing committees,- to throw matters directly into
 Someone commented that the problems we had were prob-                 Synod's  lap. It is true, of course, that final decisions rest
 lems of living, not of dying, -referring, of course,- to the          with Synod. But a little more studied effort on the part of
 life of our churches. In this connection, it might also be            the committees to come with well-formulated and well-
 noted that on the whole Synod's problems were connected               grounded advice which could readily be adopted by the Synod
 with our denominational activities. There was nothing in the          would make for a more efficient assembly. This applies both
 Agenda directly concerned with doctrinal matters. Nor could           to the form and the content of the advisory reports. And
 the Synod be characterizeb  as controversial, though there            undersigned felt that especially the reports of the Mission
 was sharp and spirited debate- on several matters.                    Board and the Theological School Committee might have
                                                                       been more detailed in their information and more concise in
     I believe it was also an efficient Sinod, bn the whole;           their recommendations. In fact, on one important matter the
 Credit in this respect must be given to our moderamen, and            Mission Board failed to come with any recommendation at
 especially to our capable chairman, the Rev. J. A. Heys.              all. 2) Too often advisory committees failed to ground their
 The delegates usually stayed, or were kept, pretty well on            advice. Synod should surely not take ungrounded decisions ;
 the subject; and when Synod was ripe for decisions, such              and by the same token advisory committees should not come
 decisions were not-delayed. At the same time, Synod was               with ungrounded advice. Nor should the grounds for advice
 not hasty or impetuous. There was evident an attempt to               be.left  to oral comments of committee inembers  on the floor
 wrestle with the various problems, to deliberate carefully,           of Synod. The committees should come with advice in
 and to come to healthy and careful conclusions and decisions.         detailed formulations and present the grounds with their
 I base this conclusion especially on two facts. In the first          advice.    Then Synod can efficiently deliberate upon and
 place, Synod was by no means ready always, t? follow the              decide the matters before it. 3) Synod's committees of ad-
 "_----_                                                               vice might in some instances have taken more pains to look
 *By mutual agreement this brief report of our Synod appears  in       up previous decisions taken on matters committed to them.
  this issue in place of Rev. M. Schipper's usual `All Around Us."
                                                             H.C.H.    It happened more than once. that the Synod itself inquired


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               429


  into the previous history of a matter and into past decisions,      Rev. Ophoff. A synodical  resolution in this regard will be
  and soon reached conclusions quite different from those of          found elsewhere in this issue. Rev. OphofYf's  absence from
  its committees. If this work had been done in committee and         our school will be strongly felt. All of our present ministers,
  the results of such inquiry were incorporated in advisory re-       with the exception of Rev. H. Hoeksema, his co-laborer in
  ports, Synod might have finished its work more quickly.             the school, have had their instruction from Rev. Ophoff. And
                                                                      we all have learned to know him for his stability, his love
     So much for general comments. Now for some informa-              of the truth, and his faithful labors. This event marks the
 tion.                                                                passing of an era in our school and in our churches. Mean-
 Mission Ma.ttws                                                      while, the Synod felt compelled to provide for the future of
                                                                      our school, the center of our churches, and to elect a new
     One of the most important, and also one of the most time-        professor. Undersigned was extended this weighty and
 consuming, problems before the Synod was the request of              difficult call, with the Rev. H. Hanko as alternate. A
 the two congregations of Isabel and Forbes for affiliation with      decision in this matter must be reached by about mid-July.
 our Protestant Reformed Churches. The brethren and sisters           The prayers of our churches are besought for our school and
 from Dakota-land, among whom our missionary, Rev. G.                 for the undersigned in the consideration of this call, as well
Lubbers, has labored diligently the past 15 months, felt that         as for the congregation of South Holland, which is undeni-
 they were ready for this step, and accordingly had brought           ably involved in this matter.
 their request to our Synod through the Mission Board. After
 long and rather spirited discussion, the Synod decided that          Overtwes  and Studies
 it was best not to accede to this request as yet. This was
 done for the best interest both of these congregations and                   Various study committees reported at this Synod and
 of our churches. There was a measure of disappointment               overtures involving future study committees were treated.
 involved in this decision. However, the Synod by no means            We report briefly the following :
 intended to abandon these little flocks. Instead the Mission                 1) The Catechism Book Committee gave a progress-
 Board was mandated to conduct further labors and investiga-          report, according to which three books will be ready for trial
 tion, and especially to inquire into the possibility of extending    use in our churches this fall.
 our mission labors beyond the confines of the two congrega-
 tions.    Hence, in the coming year the needs of these con-                  2) A Foreign Mission Study Report was submitted,
 gregations will be supplied (in part, by sending various of          which was referred to our churches for further study-before
 our ministers to labor there) ; and at the next Synod further        adoption.
 decision will be necessary.                                             .3) A new Student Aid Committee was established (re-
    Various other questions concerning the mandate .of our            placing the former E.B.P. Committee), and regulations for
                                                                      this committee were adopted.
 Mission Board were considered. Two items of special in-
 terest we may mention: 1) Synod was informed that in the                     4) An interesting overture from Southeast Church con-
 past year the Mission Board and the Board of the R.F.P.A.            cerning the baptism of adopted children was referred to a
 .began a cooperative project involving the use of our Stand-         study committee.
 ard Bearer in our mission witness. This arrangement was                      5) The ~overture from First Church concerning revision
 approved. 2) In a report of a study committee appointed              of Article 69 of the Church Order and the possible use of
 last year recommendations were brought to Synod concern-             hymns in our churches was .also referred to a study commit-
 ing radio and mission labors. The gist of this report was            tee.
 a recommendation that broadcasting on the part of the Mis-                   6) The committee to cooperate in the Bible Translation
 sion Board should be closely integrated with our mission             project proposed by the Chr. Ref. Church was continued. An
 labors. And Synod gave the Mission Board a mandate to                interesting report on this matter will be found in the Acts.
 review and revise its present broadcasting activities to bring
 them into harmony with the study-report which was adopted.                   7) A protest tihich originated with Rev. G. Vanden
                                                                      Berg against a past decision of Synod resulted in the appoint-
 Theolo@ical  School                                                  ment of a study committee.

     A favorable report of the activities of our school during
 the past year was received both from the School Committee            Financial  illutters
 and the Rector.                                                              Toward the close of Synod's sessions these matters were
     But the illness of Rev. G. M. Ophoff and his consequent          treated. The Synod gave extensive consideration to the
 request for emeritation confronted Synod with one of its-            various subsidy requests. We received a favorable report
 weightiest problems. It was undoubtedly with no little feel-         from our efficient treasurer, Mr. C. Pastoor. And, though
 ing of sadness that the Synod granted emeritus-status to             fears had been expressed concerning increased assessments,

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


the financial picture was such that without an increase in          of comfort and everything to fear, for God does not hear
assessments the budget requirements can nicely be met in            the reprobate; their prayer is an abomination to Him (Pro.
the coming year.                                                    15 $3, 29; 25:9). N or would Abraham's answer have brought
                                                                    him any comfort. But how did he understand, "Behold, I
       Thus we conclude our report, once more urging you to         have blessed him"? Not as having exclusive reference to
purchase the Acts and Yearbook in order to get the full             some in the nation [descendants) of Ishmael, but in keeping
picture. I assure you it will be worthwhile.                        with what he asked and hoped for from God for his son,
       And, may our God bless the decisions. reached and            viz., the blessing of eternal life. Was Abraham in error in
prosper our churches through them.                                  entertaining such an expectation ? Not in view of the an-
                                                         H.C.H.     swer, "I have blessed /V&L," which is as personal as "I will
                                                                    make I&z fruitful, and will multiply A.&z,  . . . twelve princes
                                                                    shall he beget" (the context is as personal as possible). This
                                                                    `blessing is principally the same as that given,to Isaac (25 :ll ;
                                                                    26 :3, 12, 24),  and to Samson (Jud. 13 :24),  the blessing
                                                                    according to election, for the word is not, "I till bless his
                    Hagar and Ishmael               ,
                                                                    seed (Nebaioth and Kedar), but "I have blessed him," the
                                                                    past tense,.referring to eternal election. Such. is Scripture
       In the Nov. 15 issue of The Sta~da~vd  Bea.rel*  we wrote    usage : `%ath blessed us" (Eph. 1 :3, 4). And the content of
on "Ishmael Blessed': ; now we recommend that this be read          that blessing? According to the context, I "will make him
with your open Bible at hand for ready reference. With all          fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly."
that has been written on the general subject, some of which
goes back many years in TSB, we agree. But we do differ                 This pronouncement is used in Genesis as the content of
with the assertion that the allegory of Gal. 4. refers to Ish-      a blessing which falls upon the elect. Words to this effect
mael personally, while the historical account of Gen. 17            were spoken to Adam and Eve (1:28),  concerning the ani-
(esp. v. 20) refers to him only representatively. For the.          m a l s   (8:1),   t o   N o a h   a n d   h i s   s o n s   (9:1,  7),  t o   H a g a r
allegory presents Ishmael allegorically, and the history of         (16:10),  to Abraham (17:6),  to Jacob (28:3,  4), of God's
Gen. 17 speaks of him historically. In the Galatian passage         people in Egypt (47 :27), and of Israel in the land (Lv.
Ishmael is figuratively drawn to illustrate from his un-            26 :9). The expression is used in Scripture in connection
regeneracy a certain aspect of spiritual truth applied to the       with a blessing, or as the content of a blessing. For this
carnal worshipers in the dispensation of the covenant. In the       reason the words do not apply to the reprobate; for never are
0. T. passage Ishmael appears not merely prophetically, but         they blessed !
personally. The personal reference is evident in the con-               This same consistency obtains in the appearances of the
text of Gen. 17. (Review the aforesaid Nov. article.) This          Angel of the Lord. He appeared to Hagar, Abraham, Sarah
is plain from Abraham's ejaculatory prayer, "O'.that  Ishmael       (cf. 18:1-10 with 21 :l), Jacob, Moses, the elect under
might live, before Thee !" How this petition is to be under-        Joshua (Ju. 2 :l ), G'd
                                                                                                 1 eon, Manoah and his wife, David, Gad,
stood as it was in the soul of Abraham is that Ishmael              Elijah, and Joshua the high priest. In the few exceptions
personally might live. The words must be understood in the          that He appears to the reprobate, He does so to oppose them,
full force of the term "live," which means life in its largest      as, e.g., Balaam (Nu. 22 :23), and condemned Israel (I Chr.
sense of eternal life ; and in the light of "before Thee," which    21:16).  But there is no such opposition in His dealings with
means "before Thy face," COYCG~VL  Deo, in the beatific presence    Hagar, but only such as is in harmony with the majority
of God. Abraham desired nothing less than that for his son          of His appearances. Why did this Angel of the Lord appear
Ishmael. (See Hos. 6 :2 for the `sense of this latter expres-       first under this name to an Egyptian bondwoman 7 Why
sion.) The Lord answered that prayer, "AS for Ishmael I             should Elijah perform his first miracle for the benefit of a
have blessed him," and not "as for thy (carnal) seed." He           widow of Sidon? Why should Christ incarnate first appear
is as much individually and personally in view as is Sarah          to humble shepherds, and not to the world's great? Why
in v. 16, where it is twice declared "I will bless her." The        should Christ risen first appear to Mary Magdalene, rather
very name Ishmael ("God-shall-hear") indicates answered             than to Mary His mother, or to John His closest disciple?
prayer-first, the answer of his mother's prayer (16:11),            Because God is sovereign, and often reveals His sovereignty
and then the answer of his father's prayer, "As for Ishmael         in coming first to the lowliest and poorest. ,But also that
(God shall hear), I have heard thee"; and finally God heard         Hagar may be able to say, "Thou God seest me!"  as indic-
the lad Ishmael himself (21:17).                                    ative of the fact that she saw God! The language of that
   The "fear not" in this verse is a word from which Hagar          Angel to her (16:s)  is not like that directed to Cain, but
might take comfort. Why? "For God hath heard the voice              similar to that directed to Adam (3 :9, 11, 13). This is
of the lad." This is in keeping with the current use of the         further brought out in 16:10, which we have already shown
expression, for if he were reprobated she would have nothing        is language not used with respect to the reprobate. The


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                        431

passage (v. 11) continues in this vein predicting the birth             CALL TO ASPIRANTS TO THE MINISTRY
and name of Hagar's son. (The fulfilment of this reveals that
                                                                         All young men desiring to study for the ministry of the
 she was saved in child-bearing, I Tim. 2:15,  not merely by
providence, but by promise.) There are five other real               Word in the Protestant Reformed Churches kindly appear
parallels of this in Scripture where God foretells the birth         at the next meeting of the Theological School Committee
and name of a son: cf. Isaac (17:19),  Solomon (I Chr.               which will be held D.V., on Monday evening, July 20, at
22:9),  Josiah (I Ki. 13:1),  John (Lk. 1:13),  Jesus (Matt.         7:30  p. m. in the consistory room of First Church, Grand
 1:21).  From these I will venture to say that (1) never             Rapids, Michigan.
 does the Lord foretell to parent(s) the birth and name to
be given a reprobate; and, (2) that the name Ishmael  there-             The qualifications requisite to enrollment in our Seminary
fore does not refer to a personification of his descendants.         are the following:
The name Jacob does, indeed, often stand as a general des-
ignation for the people, whereas Isaac is only rarely so em-              1. You must present a letter from your local consistory
ployed (Am. 7:9, 16), and Ab&mpL  never occurs as a mere             certifying that you are upright in walk ,and pure in doc-
tribal name.                                                         trine.

 That which we wrote before of Hagar's affliction we                     2. You must have a certificate of health signed by a
reaffirm.    The full meaning of the name Ishmael, then,
really is, "God hath- heard thy affliction." With your con-          reputable physician.
cordance trace the word "affliction" in the 0. T. Read also              3. You must be a graduate from High School and show
II Sam, 22 :26-28 in this connection. Her words, "Thou               evidence that you have completed a one year course in High
God seest me" reveal her knowledge of God, seeing Him
as the omniscient God of providence and mercy. For God               School in History General and Church History ; and also
saw her in her sin, in her contempt of her mistress (16:4),          have completed the following College courses : Latin - two
saw her in her flight from Sarah, saw her by the well, in            years, Greek - two years, -German - two years, Philosophy
the wilderness, saw all things ! That she saw Him as the             - one year, Psychology - one year, Logic -one semester.
living God is evident in her naming the well "the well of
Him that liveth and seeth me." Was this mere intellectual                All correspondence relative to the above announcement
insight, as, perhaps, with Nebuchadnezzar (Dn. 4 :34,  37) ?         should be sent to the undersigned:
Not to one who heard the words from heaven, "fear not!`"
                                                                                            Secretary of the Theol. School Committee,
 (21:17).  And that word was spoken in view of the fact
that God had heard the voice of the lad (21:17,  twice), and                                           R E V .   M .   S C H I P P E R
that divine hearing (answer) is given as the reason why she                                                  1636 Martindale Ave., S.W.
ought not to fear: "God was with.  the lad !" (21:20).  For                                                  Grand Rapids 9, Michigan
the Scripture use of the expression God (or the Lord) being
z&z a person, compare Gen.*  39 :2, 3, 21; Jud. 6 :12 ; I Sam.
3 :19; 18 :14. True, in ome instance it is used of a reprobate
 (I Sam. 10 :7) ; but the context reveals in all the other places                          WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
that He is so with the person as that there is nothing to
fear. "God was with the lad" (v. 20) in the same sense in                On July Snd,  1959, the Lord willing, our beloved parents,

which He said of Abraham, "God is with thee" (v. 22).                               MR. and MRS. JOHANNES (JOHN) SCHIPPEI?

    See all the consistency evinced so far! The whole char-                                        ( n e e   K l i n e )

acter of Genesis reveals a wonderful mark of unity through-          will celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary. On this occasion
out! Its language bears a consistent similarity, and its zts~ts      we join them in thankfulness to our heavenly Father that He has
foqztendi  is simple and singular. No one has ever been able         kept them for one another and for us through these years and in
to make it twofold.                                                  gratitude for all that we might receive by their word and example.
                                                         R.C.H.      May the Lord be gracious and good to them in the evening of

                                                                     their life.

    "Providence is not the bare `foresight of foreknowledge                                   Their grateful children,

of God, but it also includes the will of God, just as pronoia                                         Mr. and Mrs. James Dykstra

which we translate providence, signifies with the Greeks,                                             Connie Schipper

both a knowledge and a care of things."                                                               Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Schipper
                       Zacharias Ursinus, Heidelberg Catechism                                        Oscar Schipper

                                        Page 151                                                      and 5 grandchildren


                                                                                    -.      .~-l-.I~-.---

     432                                                T H ` E   STAN.DARD   B E A R E R
                                                                                                           `_

                                                                                            There was rejoicing in the manse at Doon  when Rev.
     11 NEWS FROMOLJRCHURCHES 11 and Mrs. Gise Van Baren became the happy parents of a .
                           "All the saints salute thee . . ."                        baby daughter, born May 22nd. The month of May brought
                                                                 PHIL. 4:21 _, 11    joy to the family and friends of Mr. and ,Mrs. I. Korhorn,
                      -                                                              members of Hope Church. They Were privileged to cele-
                                                                 June 20, 1959       brate. their 54th wedding ,anniversary  `eon the 17th of that
                                                                             ..      month.                                                                .
            The 1959 Synod is history. Rev. G. .Vos, president..of                          Rev. C. Hanko of First Church, submitted to surgery for
     the last Syno-d, conducted the PreSynodical. Prayer Service,                    pyloric ulcer June 4th. He has returned to his home and is
     preaching `on the phrase, "Go, sit down in the lowest room,"                    making satisfactory recovery at this -writing. `.                -
     found in Luke 14:lO. The Rev. exhorted the delegates: to
                                                                                     Do you know . . .
     the exercise of that Christian virtue, humility. Some of the
     decisions made are: Rev. G. M. Ophoff was granted his.                                 . That there is a Committee for Protestant Reformed
     request to be made emeritus-professor; a call was issued:,m                           Action which has a flourishing life in the churches of
     Rev. H. C. Hoeksema to be professor in our Seminary ; and,                            Classis West? In a recent report published by the Board
     our Missionary was mandated to labor in the Isabel-Forbes                             of this committee they call attention to the fact that the
     area for another year, thereby postponing a decision to re-
                                                                             . .           committee is not extinct, and that it has not outlived its :'
     ceive them as sister churches in the interim. The coming                        -     usefulness, but, on the contrary, it is very much alive and,
     Year Book will contain all the decisions of Synod besides the                         active.    Quoting from a recent -letter  se,nt  out by the
                                                                             -:
     statistics of our churches-be sure to get a copy.                                     committee : "Dear Christian Friends, We are sending you
                                                                                           a .list'  `of free pamphlets which are available upon request.
            The Protestant Reformed Men's Chorus Spring Concert                      Your request involves you in no obligation whatever. . . .
fulfilled all our anticipations. They rendered a program-,-of                             we feel that the nature of. these. pamphlets is too valuable
     high Christian caliber in a manner pleasing to the audience _                        to be limited to one small group . . . possibly you will find
     and, we believe, well pleasing to God Whose Name was                                  some which will be `of assistance to you in society discus-
     extolled in every number. A cornet duet by Ken Schuiteman                             sion, or will guide you in answering questions you have
     and Don Veltman and a vocal duet by Herman and Edward                                 often wondered about. For your convenience we are en-
     Ophoff assisted the chorus.in  the praise-worship of the God                          closing a self addressed stamped postal card. Simply check
     of our. Salvation. The closing number of the chorus, "Crea-                           number of pamphlets in which you are interested, and
     tion," was truly a masterpiece! One could enjoy a "pre-                               write down your mailing' address . :." The Board was
     hearing" of the song of the angels <when  they shall extol the                        gratified to receive better than 13% response to this ad-
     Creator's greatness in the New Heavens and the New Earth,                             vertisement, to date- 134' requests for 1,137 pamphlets -
_    when we shall learn from them the details of the Creation                                                           _...
                                                                                           fruit of 1,000 letters addressed mostly to members of Chris-
     in all its grandeur.                                                                  tian Reformed Churches; The pamphlets advertised ? Those
                                                                                                                                 .- .
         The congregation of First Church celebrated the 45th                              which may be found, in the pamphlet racks in all of our
     wedding anniversary of Rev. and Mrs. H. Hoeksema, June                                churches. If you desire- more information regarding the
                                                                                                                    .
     lOth, with an evening-of Christian entertainment and fellow-                          work of. that Committee; or wish to help them in ;any
                                                                                                                         . .
     ship. The entertainment was provided by each of the societies                         manner, write- to Rev. H. -Veldman,  Edgerton; Minn., or
     in the church. Delegates presented solos and duets, vocal and                        Mr. Peter Vander  Top; Rock Rapids, Iowa.
     instrumental ;I felicitations were given in poetry and prose                            A n d   hat. ; ; -.
     composed for the occasion. One of the special numbers,                                  There is an-Association  for Protestant Reformed Educa-
     rendered by the Men's Chorus, was composed by the director,                     tion in action `in the. Oak Lawn, South Holland area. As
     and was based on the call to praise found in Psalm 25.'  It                           the name` implies, the Association, through its Board, is
     mattered little what form they took, they all were given',and                         striving'towards  the goal of having a School Society made
     received in the love that binds a minister and his wife to                            up of members of Prot. Ref. Churchesj  and building and
     their congregation. Letters of .congratulations  were read, one                       maintaining a school inculcating P. R. principles, taught
     from Rev. C, Hanko from his hospital bed, and another from                            by P. R. teachers. At the May. 10th Annual meeting a
     a minister in far off Hungary. A purse was presented' to                              decision was .reached  to conduct a financial drive with the
     the celebrating couple as a token of love, and of appreciation                        goal, ."the opening of our own school in 1960."
     for the faithful labor of the minister and the faithful support
     of his helpmate.                                                                       This month's Proverb :
                              After the program in the auditorium the                                                              "Where no wood is, the fire
     people gathered in the church parlors for refreshments, and                     goeth out; so where there is no talebearer, the strife
                                                                                     ceaseth.`!   P
     opportunity was given-  to extend the personal well wishes of                                     R O V .   26:20.
     the people to their beloved "Dominee and Juffrouw."                                         . . . . see you.ip  church.                               J.M.F.


