               VOISJME  xxxv                          AUGUST 1, 1959  - GRAND RAPIDS; MICHIGAN



                                                                                     Listen to `Proverbs 12 :lO : :`A righteous man regardeth
                                                                                  the life of his beast, but the tender mercies of the wicked
                                                                                  are cruel."
                                                                             _                                d: * * *
                            M E R C Y   F O R   M E R C Y                            :

                                                                                          What, then, is mercy?
                         "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain
                                                                                     Mercy is a true virtue of the heart and mind.
                          qmercy."    Matt. 5 :7                                     Mercy is one.of  the many forms of the love of God.
              There `are just two states of the mind and heart: the                  It is the love for the object of our love in misery.
           hard and the merciful.
                                                                                     Mercy is always connected with misery, at least,. in this
              By nature all men are hard-hearted. But when the eternal            dolorous dispensation. -
           mercies of God reach you, you become tender-hearted.
\
              And the result is a great tenderness within you : the                  Mercy shares misery with its object.
           tenderness of mercy.                                                   I Mercy is unselfish : it does not expect anything in return.

              Of, that mercy we will speak at this time.                             And what an opportunity to practice this virtue !
                                                                                                  --
     ,-       The merciful : who are they ?                                          First, let us look in the church.
              They are not-those who revel in its show. Mercy, real                 The living God sees to it that there is ample opportunity
           mercy has nothing at all to do with human philanthropy.                to practice mercy. Listen to Jesus: The poor you have al-
              As far as man is concerned, we are easily fooled. All we            ways with you!
           behold is the face, not the heart. But as far as God is con-
           cerned: it is nothing but an empty show. They embrace                     There are floods of misery of the body and the soul all
           humanity, but hate the individual. They will shed tears for            around you in- the church.
           the thousands far away, but hate their next door's neighbor.              And every one of us is called as `priest and priestess to
              There are many who will open their purse, but shut their            console, to commiserate, to help, to comfort and to sympathize
           heart.                                                                 among the miserable brethren and sisters in Christ.

              And the worst of a bad lot are those who commercialize                 `And that without respect of persons.
           charity and mercy.                                                        And how "natural" that we should practice this virtue!
              Did jrou ever see those filthy photographs in the dailies              Are we not one body ? Anyone's- misery belongs to us,
           where a man or woman gives a check to another?                         even as we are members one of another.
              They have their reward.
                                                                                     If one member suffers, the whole body is miserable.
              Did you ever read those articles eulogizing the individual
           or the community ? They have their reward.                                And, second, let us look at its practice in the world.
              And then there is the mercy of the welfare state. What                 Listen to Paul: "As we have therefore opportunity,' let
           a miserable business !                                                 us do good .unto ali men, especially unto them who are of,
                                                                                  the household of faith."
              That's nothing but selfishness. It is good business. It
           does not pay to have slums in the neighborhood. It breeds                 And, again : "For I could wish that myself were accursed
           communism. That is, by the way, also the reason why you                from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen ticcording t.0. the
           will hear over the radio and television the sage( 7) counsel-:         flesh." (What depths are here !)                           ._
           Go to your church or synagogue ! -                                        History tells us that the early Christian Church in Rome

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


would care for the sick and dying during the horrible epi-                   Oh, dear brother and sister: the Christian is merciful.
demic of the pest. And these sick and dying Romans were                      .What did the heathen say ? "The kings of Israel are
their persecutors and killers.                                           merciful kings."
     That's mercy.
                                                                                                   * * * *
 L i s t e n   t o   t h i s : "Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed
him ; if he thirst, give him drink : for in so doing thou shalt              And what is the reward of those that are merciful?
heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but
                                                                             They shall obtain mercy.
overcome evil with good." Ram. 12:20, 21.
                                                                            .Let us first see what it does not mean.
 O r ,   a g a i n : "Bless them .which  persecute you: bless and
curse not." Verse 14.                                                        First, it does not mean that your and my mercy is first.
     And the greatest mercy of one man to others we find in                  The very opposite is true.
Acts 7$0: "And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud                        We are first very hard and cruel. That is the outstanding
voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he               condition and state of every son and daughter of Adam and
had said this, he fell asleep."                                          Eve.

     Oh yes, he cried with a loud voice,!                                    That is so with respect to our natural state, but it is
     So loud, that we still hear his voice. It is long ago, but          also true with respect to our -life, after  we are regenerated
we still hear it, and it charms our heart. That was mercy,               and converted. By far the greater part of our converted life
m e r c y   o f   G o d .                                                we still are hard and cruel. Look what the ten brethren did
                             * * * *                                     to Joseph. Or see what Israel did to Judah. Shudder when
                                                                         you look at swearing and cursing Peter within the hearing
    What is the Source of such loving mercy?                             of Jesus ! Where was Peter's `pity ?
     Oh, the answer is easy: mercy is from God, the Source                No, but there was genuine pity and commiseration with
and Fountain of all mercy.                                               the bleeding and suffering Jesus : He prayed for Peter while
     God is a merciful God in Himself. - If there never had              he was cursing!
been a man or a universe with its terrible and beautiful                    -No, mercy is not first with us, so that God may reward
history, God would still be a merciful God in Himself.                   that principal mercy with more mercy.
    As to its essence, mercy is to be moved about .a certain
                                                                             Neither is the mercy which you receive from men, as a
object. And God is moved when He looks at Himself. God                   reward for being mercifully inclined to them. That is the way
is filled with a great tenderness of heart whenever He be-               it is sometimes explained.
holds Himself. in His Son.
    But now there are "men" and "angels" and a creation                      Then the reasoning is this: Be merciful to those that are
that is destined to be renewed.                                          round about you, and they will repay you with mercy. Do
                                                                         good to your neighbour and he will repay you with good.
    And so, mercy of God is as a stream, an everlasting
stream, flowing toward His people in Jesus Christ the Lord.                 That is not true.
    Listen to Isaiah : "In all their affliction He was afflicted,            The very opposite is often the case.
and the Angel of His presence (and that is Jesus) saved                     Look at Jesus : when Peter struck off the ear of Malchus,
them ; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them, and                 Jesus healed him. And how did Malchus repay Him ? Did
He bare them, and carried them all the' days of old', (63 :9).           he fight for Jesus or speak for Him? There is a great silence.
    Is it not overwhelming to listen to this definition of God's            And so.also with the merciful. What has been their re-
everlasting mercy ?                                                      ward in this world of ours ?
    Here is the mercy of God: He takes all the sin, death,                 I will tell you : "And others had trial of cruel mockings
damnation and everlasting hell of His people on His own                  and scourgings,  yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
shoulders, and carries them away, never to return.                       they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted,
    And why ?                                                            were slain with the sword, they wandered about in sheep-
    Because of His mercy, pity and commiseration for His                 skins and goatskins ; being destitute, afflicted, tormented ;
own,                                                                     (Of whom the world was not worthy :) they wandered in
    And you may now sing!                                                deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the
    Now then, that everlasting stream of Divine mercy                    earth."
reaches all the hearts of His regenerated and converted                     Listen to Jesus : "They hated Me, they shall also hate
children.                                                                you !"
    And you will know it when that happens. For then you                    But above all : look at Jesus : He is mercy of God person-
feel tender-hearted toward your brother and sister in misery             ified. And what did He receive for all His mercy?
and want.                                                                   I will ~quote  Jesus, such as He spake in the Old Testa-


                                              TH-E S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                                               435


ment through the prophets: "They have rewarded Me evil
                                                                                                       THE STANDARD  BEARER  -
for good, and hatred for My love!"
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heart aglow with mercy for the miserable, and when YOU                                                     k&or - REV.  HERMAN HOEKSEMA
consequently are practicing that mercy around about YOU,                      Communications  relative  to contents  should be addressed  to
                                                                                                 Rev.  H. Hoeksema,  1139 Franklin  St.,  S. E.,
God rewards His- own work in you with more mercy.                                                                       Grand Rapids  7, Mich.

    Always, when you are merciful to others, God is merciful                  All matters relative  to subscriptions  should be addressed  to Mr.
to you. That is a fundamental law in the Kingdom of God.                                           James Dykstra,  1326  W. Butler  Ave., S. E.
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    It is like a living stream.                                               Announcements  and  Obituaries  must  be mailed to the  above
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    The stream of mercy reached your heart and made you
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m e r c i f u l .                                                                  ENEWAL: Unless  a- definite  request  for discontinuance                                                          is re-
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    And that process goes on and on unto the praises of the
Fountain of mercy.

    And they are blessed,                                                                                                   CONTENTS

    That is : full. To be blessed is to be filled. Filled with all      MEDITATION -
                                                                                      Mercy for Mercy ..,.............._._..................................................                                    433
that yo.u really need. Look at Christ again. He is the great                                    Rev.  G. Vos
Disposer of ,Mercy. And He is filled to overflowing with
God. In Him dwells the Godhead bodily.                                  EDITORIALS -
                                                                                      Re-Union?                 ............................................................................... ,436
    God is very near you when you weep for those that are                             About the Three Points ..................... ....................................... 437
in deep distress.                                            G . V .                            Rev.,  H. Hoeksema
                            &
                                                                        OUR  DOCTI&E  -

                                                                                      The Book                of Revelation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~ . . . . . . . .._._______....................  438
                  Notice for Classis  West                    .                                 Rev.  H. Hoeksema


                                                                        A C
    Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will                      LOUD OF WITNESSES -
                                                                                      Jacob's           Family           ._, . . . .._.  ._ ___ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
convene, the Lord willing, in Edgerton, Minnesota,-Wednes-                                      Rev.  B. Woudenberg
day, September 16, 1959. The consistories are reminded of
                                                                        F
the rule that all matters for the classical agendum must be                  ROM HOLY WRIT-
                                                                                       Exposition  of Rbmans 14, 15 (4) . . ..____.._._..___................~  .._  442
in the hands of the Stated Clerk not later than thirty days                                     Rev.  G. Lubbers
before the meeting of Classis. However, whereas the under-
signed will be on vacation in August and `has accepted the              IN HIS FEAR -
                                                                                      With a Checkup                        And A Check..  . . . . .._ __. . ..444
call to Redlands, California, the consistories are requested to                                 Rev.  J. A. Heys
send their material to the secretary of the classical-committee,
Rev. G. Van Baren. Doon.  Iowa.                                         CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH -
                                                                                      The Church                  and the Sacraments..  ._.. .._.  .___.._...._.. . . ..446
                                   Rev. H. Veldman, Stated Clerk                                Rev.  H. Veldman


                                                                        FEATURE ARTICLE -

                                                                                      Our Own High School - A Necessity  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..__................  448
    "The whole truth of religion, and the very foundation of                          Rev.  H. Hanko

piety would be overthrown if the providence of God, as it
                                                                        DECENCY AND ORDER  -
has been defined and explained, be not maintained: Because,                           Article          38      . . . . . . . . . . . . _. _. . . . ,450
1. We would not be patient in adversity if we did not know                                      Rev.  G. Vanden Berg
that these things are sent upon us from God. our Father. 2.
We would not be grateful for the benefits which we receive              ALL AROUND US -
                                                                                      "The Answer" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,452
if we did `not know that they are given `to us from above.                                      Rev.  M. Schipper
3. We would not have a certain and good hope in relation to
.future  things if we were not fully persuaded that the will of         CONTRIBUTIONS                     .._.  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
                                                                                                Mr. Jake  Van Den Top
God, in reg.ard to our salvation, and that of all his people,
is unchangeable."                                                       NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      456

                      Zacharias Ursinus, Heidelberg Catechism                              Mr. T. M. Faber

                                          P a g e   1 6 4                                                                                                                                               -

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


II                                                                   he hates their sins. If this is not true, the offer of the
      - -   E D I T O R I A L S                                      gospel can hardly be called a sincere offer ; it is tiothing more
                                                                     than a presentation of the claims of God and a declaration that
                                                                     those who do not believe in Christ will perish in their sins.
                          Re-Union?                                  The Gospel goes far beyond such a cold presentation. The
                                                                     heart of God is in that gospel. "For God so loved the world
 . The late Synod of the Christian Reformed Church ap-               that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth
pears to have been favorably inclined to a reunion of their          on him should not perish, but have eternal life."
churches with those of the De Wolf group. In Tke Banner                 Of course, it is not my purpose, in this connection, to
of July 3, 1959 we read:                                             criticize the Rev. Kuiper. I merely present his reactions to
      "With a view to carrying on further discussions with the      the report of the committees. Nevertheless, I cannot refrain
Protestant Reformed Churches (De Wolf group) it was                 from making one remark. It is that he, evidently, must have
decided :                                                           nothing of the doctrine of reprobation which, after all was
      "1. To address a communication to the Synod of the            one of the chief questions before the Synod of 1924. The
Protestant Reformed Churches in order to pave the way for           question was whether God loves the reprobate wicked. This
further consideration regarding an eventual unification.            question Kuiper answers in the positive: "the Lord loves
      "2. To continue the present committee which will hold         sinners" all sinners, as is evident, mind you, from the "sincere
itself in readiness to confer with a committee of the Prot-         offer of the gospel," so that God, evidently, means to save
estant Reformed Churches if further conferences should be           them.
desired by them to work out various details necessary for               Finally, strange though it may seem, Kuiper also issues
effectuating such a possible re-union."                             a word of warning to the schismatics, to think twice before
      From this I receive the impression that, apart from           they join the Christian Reformed Church. For : "This Church
some "various details," the re-union may be, realized as far        is at the crossroads right now. It seems to us that a very
as the Christian Reformed Church is concerned.                      important question which the Protestant Reformed brethren
                          *    JF`*  *                              will consider is. what disposition our Synod will make of the
      Also the Rev. Henry Kuiper, in Torc7~ and Tmapet,             overtures pertaining to our mission policy with respect to
writes very much in favor of such a re-union. He does so            Nigeria and particularly of those that deal with the question
on the basis of the fact that the schismatics have virtually        of the inspiration and infallibility of Scripture. We can think
adopted the chief contents of the "Three Points." Writes he:        of no question which is more basic than the latter, for unless
      "A study of the reports shows that the committee suc-         we maintain that the Bible is infallible in all its parts we
ceeded in attaining, to a large measure of agreement on the         have begun to undermine the very foundation of all our doc-
points of doctrine that have been in dispute for over thirty        trines. If I were a minister of the Protestant Reformed
years. Minor concessions were made by the Christian Re-             Churches it would make a world of difference to me what
formed contingent in the joint committee. In regard to              stand the Christian Reformed Church is going to take especi-
Point One of common grace, the Protestant Reformed mem-             ally on this issue."
bers now agree that there is indeed a certain divine favor or           Does Kuiper mean to say that he, too, will leave the
grace which is shown to God's creatures in general. The             Christian Reformed Church if this issue is decided in the
term `creatures' naturally includes all men, even those who         wrong way ? Will there be a split in the Christian Reformed
die in sin and are ultimately lost . . .                            Church ?
      "The Protestant Reformed brethren also accept the es-            I do not believe that the Christian Reformed Church is
sence of Point Two, namely, that through the grace of God           strong enough for a split. It will compromise and continue
there is a restraint of sin in the hearts and lives of those who    to compromise till~the matter is hopeless.
are not saved. They also agree to the Third Point in so far            And why?
as it teaches that the unregenerate can perform civic good."           My answer is : because of the basic corruption of 1924.
      From all this it is evident that the Rev. H. J. Kuiper           God is not mocked!
agrees with what I wrote on the reports of the two com-                                       :k * * *
mittees, namely, that the schismatics adopted the "Three               But now it seems that the schismatics are not as yet ready
Points" and, therefore are not Protestant Reformed.,                to unite with the Christian Reformed Church.
      Kuiper, however, still has one serious scruple. It con-          We have no official report on the matter as yet, but
cerns the question whether the offer of the gospel is, on the       according to an oral report of one that was present at their
part of God, grace for all that hear the gospel. This must be       "synod" there must have been a proposition before the
maintained at all costs. Yet, the schismatics do not appear         meeting to. postpone action on the question of uniting with
ready to accept this. After Kuiper quotes a few passages            the Christian Reformed Church until the next "synod." This,
from the Confessions and from Scripture, he w&es  "All              according to the reporter, was adopted by a very small
such expressions imply that the Lord loves sinners though           majority.


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    4.37


     `There -are still several questions. which I cannot answer         of light and darkness, of righteousness and unrighteousness,
  until I have the official reports. Why did the schismatics            of Christ and Belial, of the children of God and the children
  decide to postpone action? Were they afraid that their people         of the world, principally, of election and reprobation ; and
  as a whole were not ready for the step? Was there, perhaps,           that, too, in every sphere .of the life of this world : in business
  also a question of some properties involved ? Did they ap-            and industry, in science and education, in the family and
  prove of the report of their committee that was appointed to          in society as well as in the state.
  meet with a committee of the Christian Reformed Church ?                  It stands to reason that this antithesis presupposes a
  The report must have been `read before the meeting. But was           principal difference between the children of God and the
  it also adopted and approved so that they virtually adopted           children of the world themselves. The latter are the un-
  the "Three Points" ?                                                  righteous. They are totally depraved. They cannot do any
      These questions I cannot answer.                                  good and are inclined to all evil. This is the plain teaching
      But certain it seems that they postponed action on the            of all our confessions. I do not have to quote that I may
  question of uniting with the Christian Reformed Church.               prove this to the reader. On the other hand, the former are
      They are not quite ready.                              H . H .    the righteous, It is true that they still have their old nature
                                                                        and they often sin. But it is also true that they repent'be-
                    About The Three Points                              fore God in dust and ashes and that they fight against the
                                                                        sin that is still within them. Principally they love the Lord
      The report of the committee of the Christian Reformed             their God with all their heart and mind and soul and strength
  Church regarding the Second Point reads as follows:                   and walk in newness of life. Hence, arises the antithesis.
     ,"Regarding  Point II and III. Inasmuch as the brethren                But the Second Point and also the Third deny this. They
  of the Protestant Reformed Churches informed us that their            deny the total depravity of man. In the abstract the Chr. Ref.
  churches fear that these points endanger the doctrine of the          Church may confess that man is totally depraved, but in the
  antithesis, our committee declares that the Synod of 1924 in          concrete there is no totally depraved man in the world due
  no way countenanced the undermining of this important doc-            to the fact that, according to the Second Point there is a
  trine of Holy Writ, and that we repudiate any, interpretation         constant operation of the Holy Spirit upon him according to
  of Points II and III which would in any way be antagonistic           which sin is. restrained so that it does not break out in all
  to this truth.                                                        its force and by virtue of which the natural man can still do
     "In this connection we call the attention of the Protestant        much good.
  Reformed brethren to the Testimony which the Synod of                     But if this is true, it ought to be evident that there can
  1924 made to all the churches, in which Testimony the Synod           be no antithesis. By virtue of the remnant of natural good
  emphatically maintains the doctrine of the antithesis and             that is still left in every man and which is maintained in him
  warns the churches earnestly against the danger of losing             by the restraint of sin in his heart by the Holy Spirit, all
sight of this Scriptural truth . . .                                    men are alike in this present world and they all do good.
     `"We declare, however, that although. the Synod of 1924            Let us all cooperate, then, as far as the life in this present
  ascribed the restraint of sin to the general operations of the        world is concerned. Neither let,us establish special Christian
Holy Spirit, this statement as such, while we believe it is             schools where the children of the covenant may be instructed
  Scriptural, nevertheless, cannot be substantiated by a direct         antithetically to prepare them to walk in every sphere of
  appeal to the Confessions."                                           life as a separate people of God. Let us rather cooperate
     And a little later :                                               with the world to make the public schools as good as posT
     "With respect to Point II :                                        sible.
     "a. It has been agreed by both committees that there is                The Committee of the Christian Reformed Church that
  a restraint of sin.                                                   met with. the Committee of the schismatics may assert  that
     "b. However, it has become evident that the Confessions            the Second and Third Points do not undermine the idea of the
  quoted for proof do not directly. teach that this restraint is to     antithesis, more than a mere assertion this is not. And the
  be ascribed to the general operations of the Holy Spirit.             assertion certainly is not true.
      I(c. It is also agreed that this restraint is not to be in-           2. We wish to point out that the Committee of the
  terpreted to mean that there is any essential improvement in          Christian Reformed Church, also in this instance, does not
  the depraved sinner."                                                 concede anything at all to the schismatics. It is true that they
     What shall we say about this ? We briefly remark the               grant that the expression that the restraint of sin must be
  following :                                                           ascribed to the general operations of the Holy Spirit is not
      1. It is not true, as' the committee declares, that the           found literally in the Confessions, but, at the same time, they
  Second Point (in connection with the Third) does not                  emphasize that it is Scriptural. And that implies that the
  "countenance the undermining" of the antithesis.                      idea must be maintained.
     What is meant by the antithesis ?                                      3. Finally, the Committee of the Christian Reformed
     It refers to the absolute contrast between and opposition                               (Continued on page 439)


 43%                                            T H E   S T - A N D A R D   B E A R E R


                                                                           We are told in the text that at the blowing-of the seventh
              O U R   D O C T R I N E                             /    trumpet great voices were heard in heaven. Many attempts
                                                                       have been made to identify these voices and to answer the
                                                                       question whose they are. But the text does not tell us ; nor
               THE BOOK OF REVELATION'                                 is this of any account to us. There are indeed many possibil-
                           P A R T   T W O                             ities. In future portions of the book, in connection with the
                                                                       carrying out of the plan of `God especially in connection with
                            CHAPTER IX                                 the realization of the seventh trumpet, we read of voices that
               The Blowing of the Seventh Trztm@t                      speak and cry and sing. When the dragon is cast down to
                        Revelation 11 :14-19                           the earth, we read that a great voice speaks in heaven, making
        It is of the utmost importance for the future understand-      mention of the salvation of God's people and of woe `to the
 ing of the book of Revelation that you have a clear view of           earth, 12 :lO. Chapter fourteen makes mention of various
 the question in what connection this seventh trumpet is here          voices. It speaks of the voice of the one hundred forty-four
 mentioned, and how it occurs. Let .it be definitely under-            thousand who sing with the voice of many waters, of great
 stood that in this passage we have no detailed description of         thunder, with a voice of harpers. It makes mention of the
 the effects of the seventh trumpet, but merely a `general             voice of the angel flying in mid-heaven and proclaiming eter-
 proleptical vision of it. The last part of the chapter bears          nal good tidings to them that dwell on the earth. It speaks
 the same character as the entire portion that-preceded. AS            .of. a second angel announcing the fall of Babylon the great,
 we ha.ve  said, in the preceding we had only general pictures :       of a third announcing woe to them that worship the beast
 a picture of the church, her testimony, her struggle, the Anti-       and his image, of a voice pronouncing a beatitude upon the
 christ, Babylon, and the relation between all these. In future        dead that die in the Lord. Chapter fifteen speaks of a
 chapters this will be worked out in detail. We must not be            .multitude that stands. by the sea of glass and sings the song
 surprised if we. read of the church again, even though in             of Moses and of the Lamb. Chapter sixteen tells us of a
 this chapter we saw her already going up to heaven. We                voice that proceeds from the temple and speaks to the angels
 must not be surprised if in future chapters we shall read             that hold the seven bowls of wrath. Many and various
 again of the false church, of Babylon, of Antichrist, and of          voices are mentioned in connection with the realization of
 the intrigues against the church. All that follows describes          the mystery of God. As the time approaches that the king-
 in detail what is here mentioned in general. And the same             dom shall be completed, the voices in heaven multiply. We
 is true of the seventh trumpet. We are told here that it              receive the impression that heaven is watching and waiting
 blows, and in general terms the voices in heaven and the              for a long time. An occasional voice is heard now and then ;
 elders tell us what is the effect of this seventh trumpet. .That      but in the end it ,becomes  plain that God Almighty is to have
 trumpet finishes all. You will remember that there are seven          the victory, and heaven appears teeming with life and re-
 seals, and that the last ,seal reveals itself as seven trumpets.      bounding with songs and outcries and voices that rejoice and
 When therefore the seventh trumpet shall have had its effect,         take part in the carrying out of the plan of the Almighty. And
 all shall have been completed, and the mystery of God shall           therefore we need not be surprised that our text describes
 have been finished. Babylon shall have fallen,. and Antichrist        in a few sentences the effect of the seventh trumpet, and
 shall have been judged. Gog and Magog shall have been de-             speaks of great voices that cause themselves to be heard.
 stroyed. The devil and all his host shall. have been cast into the       Of more importance it is to us to know what these voices
 pool that burns with fire and sulphur. The new heavens and            say. The text says that they shout: "The kingdom of the
 the new earth shall have been realized, and Christ shall have         world is become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ;
 delivered His kingdom to the Father. The seventh trumpet              and- he shall reign for ever and ever." In our version we
 shall finish all things, and carries us into eternity. Now in         read of kivzgdovtts,  in the plural. This would leave the im-
our portion we have the picture of the effect of the seventh           pression that the reference was to the various kingdoms and
 trumpet, but not in detail. We are not told here of the fall          empires in the political sense of the word that exist upon the
 of Babylon and of. the last mighty attempt of Antichrist to           earth. But the original does not speak of kingdo+ns,  in the
 gain control, of the final defeat of the devil. Nor have we           plural, but simply of the kingdom. And the idea is that the
 a real description of the resurrection of the dead and of the         sovereign rule over the world has completely fallen to God
 judgment, of the coming d,own out of heaven of the heavenly           Almighty ,and His Christ. We might therefore paraphrase :
 Jerusalem, and the realization of the kingdom. All this will          "God and His Christ have gained the sovereign rule over
 be described in the future. We- shall therefore also meet             the world as a whole." That world was originally made to
 with the seventh trumpet again, when it shall dissolve itself         be a kingdom as an organic whole. And now, at the end,
 into the seven vials of wrath. But in our portion we have a           when the seventh trumpet blows, God has with and through
 proleptical vision, revealing in a few sentences the entire           His Anointed, His Christ, gained the actual sovereign domin-
 effect of that seventh trumpet. A general statement it is of          ion .over  all the world. We feel that these voices speak
 the effect of this trumpet as viewed from heaven.                     prbleptically. At the moment the seventh trumpet sounds


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 439


they speak as if the effect of it had already been accomplished,       second man, the Anointed, the man Jesus Christ. He is to
and in one sentence they tell us that God and His Christ have          take man's place. He is the Servant of God, the head of
assumed the sovereign rule over all the world.                         the covenant that is to be realized, the King of the new
    Two questions arise in our mind when we.listen  to these           creation. But.He is to take the place of man. Now He reigns
voices. In the first place, the question arises: in what sense         at the right hand of God and carries out the decree of God
does God become sovereign over all the world at the end of             with a view to the coming kingdom. He breaks the seals. He
time, when the seventh trumpet is finished ? Is He not                 causes the trumpets to blow. He sends the vials of wrath.
sovereign, and His Christ not actually sovereign, all through          For He alone was worthy to receive the book out of the hand
this dispensation ? And, in the second place, what is the              of Him that sitteth upon the throne. But in the end, when all
relation between the sovereignty of God Almighty and that              is completed and the seventh trumpet shall have finished its
of His Christ at the finishing of `the seventh trumpet ? Shall         work, He shall subject Himself too, according to the apostle
they reign side by side, or shall there be subordination ? In          Paul in I Corinthians 15, and reign over all the works of God
answer to the first question, it must be said that God is in-          forever and ever,. but under God as His Sovereign. In
deed sovereign all through the history of the world. There             Christ, the Anointed of God, the new creation shall lie at
is nothing, there is no creature, that can thwart His will;            the foot of its Maker and give Him glory. What a glory
and all are in subjection to Him. Even the devil and all his           that shall be! The enemies of God and of His church are
host and all the wicked world can after all do nothing against         .destroyed. The people of God are delivered. All creation is
Him, even though they so imagine in the wickedness of their            lying at the' feet of the Sovereign forever and ever. There
heart. But although in this sense He is sovereign, .absolutely         will be no more war or disturbance. There will be no more
sovereign, yet it is not true that His sovereignty is undis-           sin. There will never be a second fall of angels and men.
puted. Even though we tremble at the thought, it is true               But into ages of ages God, the Supreme Ruler, reigns over
nevertheless that the devil conceived of the plan of becoming          all, and we shall reign with Christ forever over the works of
sovereign instead of the Most High, and that he has employed           His hands.                                         .
other angels and man to realize this plan of his own sover-               But there is not only the voice of these mighty ones
eignty. And therefore, he, together with his agencies, the             that is heard, but also the voice of the four and twenty elders
host of the devils from the abyss and Babylon and Antichrist           that shout in this connectlion.  Who they are we have ex-
-on earth, rise in rebellion against the Sovereign of heaven           plained in a different connection. We will not go into detail
and earth. There is therefore a battle being carried on in             again. Be it sufficient to say that they are the representatives
this world for the possession of the whole world .as kingdom           of the church of all ages, both of the old and of the new
between God and His Anointed, the Christ, and the. devil               dispensation. We read of them that at the voice of the
and his anointed, the Antichrist.. God's sovereignty is dis-           seventh trumpet they fell upon their faces and worshipped
puted, The devil wars against God, to-wrest His sovereignty            God. This is in complete harmony with the contents of the
from Him. And the full and complete sovereignty of God                 great voice that has just spoken. The latter had announced
Almighty shall not appear before these rebels have been                that God and His Christ had assumed the full sovereignty
subdued, before these enemies have been destroyed, and God             of the world, and that forever and ever. In harmony with
and His Christ reign in undisputed sovereignty forever. This           this the twenty-four elders fall upon their faces and worship.
destruction of the enemy, this final subjection of all that rebel                                                                H.H.
against God, the seventh trumpet shall bring about. By this
seventh trumpet Babylon shall be brought to its ruin, Anti-                             ABOUT THE THREE POINTS
christ shall be destroyed, Gog and Magog shall be annihilated                             (Continued from page 437)
and punished, the new Jerusalem shall be realized, and God             Church agreed with the schismatics  that the restraint of sin
shall spread His tabernacle over all. And now these voices,            does not mean that there is any essential improvement in
at the sound of the last trumpet, see the realization of .a11 this.    the depraved sinner. Also this does not mean a thing. Fact
They speak as if the trumpet is already finished, as if the            is, as we have pointed out before, that the Second Point pre-
enemies have already been destroyed.' And therefore they               supposes that there is a remnant of good left in the natural
now shout : "The sovereignty of the world has become the               man, and this remnant of good is preserved by the restraint
sovereignty of our God and of His Anointed for ever and                of sin through the operations by the Holy Spirit. In other
ever."                                                                 words, the Second Point does not teach any essential im-
   As to the second question, we must remember that the                provement in the so-called depraved sinner, because he never
plan of God is that the kingdom of the world shall be a                was totally depraved. How otherwise can you speak of a
kingdom of man under God. Man is made king of the:world                restraint of sin the fruit of which is that the so-called de-
in obedience to God. Almighty as Sovereign. He is made                 praved sinner still is able to do much good in the present
viceroy.    But man rebelled. The first man went with his              world ? This, then, is our opinion of what the Committee of the
power and royal glory and subjected himself to the prince of           Christian Reformed Church expressed in regard to the
darkness with his kingdom. And now God has sent His                    Second Point.                                             H.H.

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

                                                                       Laban in his cunning never informed his daughters bf his
 Ij A CLOUD OF WITNESSES j                                             agreement v&h  Jacob. Meanwhile there developed in Leah
                                                                       a strong love for Jacob based, at least in part, upon her love
                                                                       for the place which he held within the covenant of God. Thus
                              Jacob's Family                           when Laban told her to prepare for the coming wedding, she
            "And Jacob said unto  Labas,  Give me.  my wife, fov       did so joyfully in complete ignorance of real terms of agree-
              ,mzy  days a:l'e fulfibled."  -                          ment and the expectation of Jacob.
                                             Genesis 29 21
                                                                          We wonder why Jacob, when he discovered the im-
        Jacob had deceived his blind father Isaac, and the `result     posture, did not renounce his marriage with Leah on the basis
 of that sin was that he was banished for many years from              of fraud. Surely he could not have been held legally respon-
 his covenant inheritance in Canaan. Far from his father's             sible for a marfiage  contracted under such fraudulent circum-
 hquse while dwelling with his uncle Laban, the Lord sub-              stances.    He could have exposed the trickery of Laban and
 jected Jacob to severe chastisements because of his sin. He           justly demanded recompense. But Jacob did not. Was it,
 had deceived his father; at the hands of his unscrupulous             perhaps, that underneath his strong attachment for Rachel
 uncle he was subjected to a very similar deception. It was            there was also a love for the more spiritual Leah? He rec-
 the hand of the Lord leading him through deep trials in the           ognized the spiritual superiority of Leah and was not ready
 way of his sanctification.                                            to put her to open shame by exposing the fraud. In this
        Seven years passed as Jacob served Laban so that he            the hand of the Lord was working. Just as before this God
 might have Rachel in marriage. We read that "they seemed              had used the deceit of Jacob to keep Isaac from givink the
 unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.". Finally        covenant blessing .to Esau, so here God used the deceit of
 the -years of servitude were finished, and it was Jacob who           Laban to make Leah the mother of the covenant line. He
 had to approach Laban and remind him of the agreement that            would  not .be dependent upon the works and ways of men.
 had been made. With more than his usual willingness Laban             God had ordained that Leah should be the mother of the
 agreed to meet his debt. With more than his usual generosity          generations of Christ. In spite of the weakness of Jacob, He
                                                                                                                             -.
he made ready for an elaborate celebration of the marriage.            guided all things that so it should be.
 It was not until the morning following the ceremony that                  But Jacob was not ready to renounce his love for Rachel.
 Jacob discovered the reason for his uncle's amiable coopera-          It was a superficial love based-on Rachel's greater external
 tion. The same seed which Jacob had sown so many miles                beauty ; but still it loomed very strong within the heart of
 and years before, he reaped again in kind. Under the veil             Jacob. Had Jacob had the strength of his father Isaac he
 of his father's blindness he had presented himself in the             would have recognized the hand of the Lord in that which
 place of his brother  Esau.,  Under a veil of cloth and of            had happened. Then he would have repented of his desire to
 darkness his uncle presented to him Leah in the place of              have Rachel for his wife and received Leah as a gift from
 Rachel. As Jacob had sown so did he reap.                             the Lord. But Jacob was yet spiritually immature. He was
        It is this even more than any other which brings out the       not willing to renounce that upon which he had set his heart.
 avaricious and greedy nature of Laban. Laban gave as a                Immediately the next morning he approached Laban and with
 reason for this substitution the custom of that country that          angry words he accused him. "What is this thou hast done
 required the older daughter to be married before the younger.         unto me ? did `not I serve with thee for Rachel ? wherefore
 But no one could take this reasoning very seriously. Had              then hast thou beguiled me ?" Laban was ready for him. He
 such been the truth surely Laban would have, or at least              offered to contract with Jacob for another seven years of
 should have, informed Jacob of it at the time of the original         service so that Jacob might have both of his daughters. So
 contract. We would conclude rather that Laban had found               it was that Jacob was subjected once again to the cunning of
 the service of Jacob to be so profitable that he did not want         his unscrupulous uncle. Within another eight days he took
 to see its terms expire. Knowing the affection which Jacob            to himself also Rachel and sold himself to the sinful life of
 held toward Rachel, he anticipated the possibility of renew-          polygamy.
 ing in this way the contract for yet another seven years. This           Polygamy was only too frequently practiced by the people
 would be all to his profit. So it was that Laban in a                 of Old Testament times.      The Old Testament Scriptur'es
 very real sense sold his daughters for nothing more than              pointed out quite clearly that it was wrong but did not give
 f i l t h y   l u c r e .                                             direct commandment forbidding it. Neither did they provide
      Much has been made of the guilt which Leah also in-'             for a direct punishment or discipline for those who practiced
 curred  by taking part in this imposture. What is forgotten           it. Nonetheless, those who practiced polygamy were punished,
 thereby is that in that day it was quite improper for any             for the very practice itself inevitably brought great sorrow
 man to approacli a woman colicerning  marriage except                 and suffering into the families where it existed.
 through her father or legal guardian. It is not at all im-               In the family of Jacob trouble developed very soon after
 po&ble  that through the seven years of Jacob's service               he had taken both Leah and Rachel to' be his wives. This


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             441

 trouble was due principally to two different facts. The first      Jacob's family was brought down into the depths of antagon-
 was the continued preference which Jacob g2ve to Rachel            ism and strife.
 overagainst Leah:  This is a natural result of polygamy and           Neither did Leah remain untainted by the antagonism of
 we find seSera1 examples-of it recorded in Scripture. It is a      Rachel. Leaving her leyel of high spirituality, she was caught
 human impossibility for a sinful man to treat two wives with       up by the spirit of jealousy which was pervading their home.
 complete eqtiality.  But when such equality does not exist it      Following the example of her sister, she too imposed her
 results in jealousy and antagonism. The second fact was that       handmaid upon Jacob. No longer was the bringing forth of
 God showed preference for Leah, Leah had been chosen and           children a matter of faith with'her.  When Zilpah gave birth
 ordained by Him to be the mother of the covenant line of           to two sons she named the first one Gad, which is practically
' Christ. Furthermore, she was the more spiritual of the two        the equivalent of our expression "Good Luck"; and the
 women. `This too only served to increase the antagonism            second one she named Asher, meaning merely "happy," for
 within Jacob's family.                                             she said, "Happy am I, for the daughters will call me
                                                                    blessed.`j  Gone were the beautiful testimonies of faith which
     Soon after her marriage to Jacob God looked down in            accompanied the birth of her first four sons.
 compassion upon Leah and opened her womb so that she
 bore children; but Rachel was barren. We gain a glimpse                So this vying for ascendancy continued, all the while
 into the spirituality of Leah when we observe her reaction to      draining the joy and spiritual strength from the household
 the birth of. her first four children. When Reuben was born        of Jacob. It reached perhaps its lowest ebb when Rachel and
 she said, "Surely the Lord hath looked upon my &ffliction  ;       Leah bargained together over some mandrakes which Reuben
 now therefore my husband will love me." When Simeon                had found in the field. The mandrakes were a fruit that
 was born she said, "Because the Lord hath heard that I was         according to popular superstition were -thought to cause
 hated, he hath therefore given me this son also." At the birth     fertility. Rachel, still barren, wished to have them for her-
 of L&i she remarked, "Now this time will my husband be             self. Leah was ready to sell them for the attention of her
 joined unto me, because I have born him three sons." Finally       husband. With such petty bickering and superstitious bar-
 when Judah the father of Christ was born, she exclaimed al-        gaining taking place, spirituality seemed to have departed
 most prophetically, "Now will I praise the Lord." In this we       almost completely from the covenant household of Jacob.
 see reflected some of the pain which Leah felt because Jacob        We may wonder at .timCs  that the Old Testament Scrip-
 withheld from her his love. It was a grief that weighed            tures do not speak out more strongly in condemnation of
 heavily upon her heart.    Nevertheless, she did not become        polygamy. But, if we correctly understand such events as this,
bitter or hateful. She looked, rather, to the Lord to take          they speak for themselves. The Spirit of inspiration vividly
 away her burden. As each one of her children were born she         portrays before our eyes the evil results that fall upon them
 did not become arrogant or proud boasting in her own               who ignore the very ordinance of creation  that to every man
 strength. She gave'thanks unto God recognizing that it was         there should be but one wife.
 His grace that gave her these children.
                                                                        In fairness to Rachel we should note, however, that
     It was with Rachel that the trouble which was to b&et          eventually she must have seen the futility of her way and
 the family of Jacob first made its appearance. She dominated       turned from it in repentance. Scripture does not give to us
 the love of Jacob, but that did not satisfy her. She was           the details but only records -that "God remembered Rachel,
 barren and she envied her sister with her children. With           and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb." Pre-
 her heart filled with bitter jealousy she said to Jacob, "Give     supposing a spiritual revival within the heart of Rachel, this
 me children, or else I die." In anger Jacob replied, "Am I         statement prepares us for the confession which she made at
 in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the       the birth of Joseph, "God hath taken away my reproach."
 womb ?" With the entrance of carnal rivalry into the family        Purged from all taint of- jealousy and animosity, this con-
 .of Jacob, the love of God which leads His people to shark         fession gives honor to Whom honor belongs. It. reminds us
  each other's burdens departed. Nor did it stop with that.         of the glorious truth that, although His people may fall into
  Incited by her jealousy, Rachel observed no moral bound-          great depths of sin, God will use also that as a means to
  aries but, following the example of Sarah before her, she         show them the futility of their sin and to restore them to
  thought to raise up children unto herself by giving her hand-     even greater heights of faith.                           B.W.
  maid Bilhah to Jacob. When Bilhah brought forth a son,
  Rachel also made an appeal to God as having vindicated her.
  However, thk battle in which she thought herself to be vindi-
  cated was .not a spiritual battle but a carnal competition for                 Rest in. the Lord with quiet trust,
  dominance over her sister. This became evident when Bilhah                           Wait patiently for Him ;
  bore a second son, and she responded, "With great wrestling
                                                                                 Though wickedness triumphant seem,           .
  have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed." Be-
  cause of the competition between his two wives, the life of                          Let not thy faith grow dim.

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

II                                                                         and of "eating or not eating of certain meats." These matters
             F R O M   H O L Y   W R I T                              II are really iridifferent in themselves. They are a&a$hora!
                                                                           Some said: in Christ we are free to eat anything which is
                                                                           eatable, created for that very purpose by God. Others said:
                 Exposition of Romans 14, i5                               certain meats are unclean,, no matter how eatable ! The former
                                                                           were right dogmatically,. and the latter were in that sense
                                     IV.                                   wrong. Hence, the former are the strong in faith and the
                                                                           latter are the weak in faith! Hpwever,  one need not kat
                         (Romans 14 :13-23)                                everything to be a Christian, nor need one abstain from meats
                                                                           to be a Christian. As such, therefore, meats and days are
      ., We now proceed with our exposition of the last section of         indifferent, they are a.dia]hora!  It is our `new relationship to
this fourteenth Chapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans. In                the Lord which constitutes our being a Christian. Keeping
this portion Paul directs~a strong, concise and well-motivated             of days and eating of meats is really non-determinative. A
exhortation to the brethren who are strong in the faithj that              Christian may eat meats and may keep days-provided he
is, to those who in good consci%nce can apply the doctrine of              does so unto his Lord. And a Christian may be a non-user
justification by faith, without any works of law, to all the               of certain meats, and keeper of certain days -provided he
spheres of life, believing that to the pure all things are pure!           does so unto the Lord!

        We noticed in our former essay, did we not, that Paul ad-             Let it be well-understood!
monishes the "weak" l%ethren not to judge the stronger                        Whether we live or die we are the Lord's!
brethren in the faith ? He motivated that admonition by                       Hence, we should not be interested or disinterested in
pointing out, that, in so doing, they would be judging the                 "days" and "meats," but our primary concern should be our
household servants of Christ Himself. Christ is their Lord.                brother in Christ, and his edification. We should only be in-
"Who art thou that judgest the servant of another," answers                terested in his becoming rooted and founded in the faith,
Paul! To his. own Lord and master the strong stands and                    growing in love, holding on to the Head, Christ. Now
falls. It is pure presumptuousness to judge of the stronger                admittedly all things do not edify! And what is permissible
brethren in terms of "days" and "meats.".               .-                 and what edifies by no means always coincide!

        Let the weak beware!                                                  kere then we are to walk according to the rule that we
        However,. also the strong ,must be transformed in their            are willing to lay down our life for our brother. This does
minds, and must approve of the good, the perfect and accept-               not mean that the strong relinquish their freedom in Christ
able will of the Lord. Such is also their reasonable service.              as proclaimed in the Gospel, but it means &at  the strong
They are not in any way to confuse that which is "permis-                  shall not press their full claim to the Gospel in matters
sible" with that which is "edifying"! Dogmatics and ethics                 tihich  are indifferent a;F P&L, if such pressing of this claim
must not be identified ; true, these may not be at variance with           should become the occasion of stumbling to the weak. For
one another, but what is permitted us in Christ Jesus and                  if by such pressing of the claim of the freedom of the Gospel,
what is for edification under certain circumstances varies.                in regard to matteSs not expressly stated in the law, and
All things must be done according to' the standard of love                 not dealing with any Article of the Christian Faith, otir
fog the bj*ethren,  rooted in the love of God to us.                       brother is irieved  in his conscience so that he falls into sin,
                                                                           we are no longer walking according to the law of love! For
        Wherefore Paul writes, in part, in these verses 13-23 as           all the law is fulfilled in one Word, thou shalt love thy
foliows : `(Let `us therefore not jt$dge one a,nother any more:
but judge ye this qratlier,  that no man put a st~tmblitigblock            neighbor as thyself. Here the rule laid down by Paul in
in 7~3 brother's way, OP an occasion  of falling. I know and               Galatians 5 :13-15 is applicable which reads, "For ye brethren
pvn, pevsmded  in the Lord Jems tha.t                                      were called for freedom: only use not your freedom for
                                               no thing is unclea,n  of
ztself:                                                                    an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to
           su,ve t1tat to II&~ who a:ccounteth.  anything to be un-
clean, to kivlz it is ~~~~nclean,      For                                 another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, even in
                                            if became of meat thy
brother is gAeved,  thou, walkest  not longer in love. Destroy             this `Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' But if ye bite
not with thy meat hi1~1~ for zvlzom  Christ died . . . Let us              and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed
then follozv  after things which mak`e for pea.ce,  and things             one of another."

wheseby  we may edify one anotkey.  . . . Hafipy is ke, that                  In the verses  13-23 Paul gives various motives for a
jctdgetlz not himself in tha.t which he approveth.  But he that            Christian conduct toward the weak brethren by the strong.
doubtetk  is condemned if he eat, became he eateth not of
                                                                              Paul insists that there must be a hearty determination and
faith; and wJmtsoevev  is not of fa,ith is pin."                           resolution on the part of the strong not to cause the weak
        Let US not forget that the particular problem around               to stumble. In the sentence, "Let us not therefore judge one
which Paul's discussion revolves is that of "keeping of days'".            another any more :-but -judge ye this rather, that no man put


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  443


a stumblingblock in his brother's way, or an occasion of              the clause "Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy  Spirit."
falling."     It must be their dete&na.te~  jzhdgment,  taking in     Firstly, there is the school of exegetes ,from Chrysostom down
-all the facets of the matters at hand, the evil results effecting    to Grotius, Meyer, which makes at best this righteousness to
therefrom, that they shall not longer judge the brother. In-          cons&  in a walk of sanctification through the operation of
stead of being critical of his conduct they are to be seekers of      the Holy Spirit, or at its worst simply some moral virtues.
his edification ! What a boon on earth ! Behold, how pleasant         Writes Charles Hodge : "P-au1 does not mean to say, that
atid how good ! Writes Lange in his commentary: "The                  Christianity consists in morality ; that the man who is just,
apostle uses the same word (krinein) in a changed meaning;            peaceful and cheerful, is a true Chris&an. This would contra-
in order to emphasize more particularly, by this anaclasis the        dict the. whole argument of the epistle."
antithesis of -judging . . ."                                            We concur with the latter writer, Charles Hodge.
  The reason for such determination is, as we have re-                   We believe that "righteousness" is here the righteousness
peatedly pointed out, not that anything is unclean of itself.         of God in Christ, which Christ merited for us on the Cross
 Writes Paul in verse 14 : "I know and am persuaded by (in)           of Calvary, so that we are righteous before God and heirs of
.the Lord Jesus that there is nothing common (koinon) of              everlasting life. And, further, that "peace" is here the peace
itself."     Paul knows and is persuaded perfectly up till the        which is ours with God and with our neighbor, since we
present moment (pepeismai)  not simply by a subjective feel-          have been justified by faith, so that we have inner tranquility
ing. He is persuaded that nothing is common, profane, un-             of conscience, being free from the curse of the law. And
clean in a religious `sense, and, therefore, unusable in the          that the "joy"  here is that fruit of the Holy Spirit, the
temple of God upon the altar of consecration and prayer.              eternal blessedpess  which eye hath not seen and ear hath
 For all things.are  of us, we are of Christ and Christ is God's,     not heard and which hath never entered into the heart of
 I Car. 3 23. The, foundations stand. Paul does not sacrifice         man! Such is the nature of the Kingdom of God.
sound doctrine for practical considerations ! This is placed on
t h e   f o r e g r o u n d .                                             Such it must also become more and more in the hearts of
                                                                      both the "strong in faith" and in the hearts of the "weak
    However, there  is the "infirmity o! the weak" which              in faith."
must be considered. And such consideration does not grant
the weak the correctness of their position, but it commiserates           Now, admittedly, anything which stands in the way of
 with their weakness. It seeks to make them stronger. Not             this Kingdom thus being established in the hearts of the
 the& view must be raised as standard of conduct, but they            weak, causes them to stumble,  is a pit-fall for them. And,
 tlzemsehes  ~mmt be mved; the work of God in them must               again, only when we thus conduct ourselves that the right-
 not be destroyed. Tenderly their weak consciehce  must be            eousness, peace and joy of Christ, merited on the Cross, be-
considered until it grow stronger in the Lord.                        comes the portion of the weak, or when we do not interfere
                                                                      with this their salvation and joy, do we strive for the things
     Besides the matter of eating or not-eating is really not         that make for peace ! Only thus do we serve  Christ, His
 the important, the essential matter in the Kingdom of God.           cause and His work in the saints. And only then do we
 The strong should not get too excited over this individual           edify when we so conduct ourselves that the weak brother-
 matter. For the "Kingdom, of God is not eating and drink-            lays hold on this righteousness in Christ by faith. Then too
ing, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."         `will he have peace with God, whether he eats or eats not (and
 One cannot equate the right to eat of meats and not to keep          not merely when he eats not). And the pure joy of Christ,
 days with the "Kingdom of God." Conceivably it can have              the eternal joy ,shall be his portion here more. and more.
nothing at all to do with the Kingdom of God.
                                                                       This joy in our `hearts is the "work of God.", Let us by
    What is the Kingdom of God ? The Kingdom of God is                our-eating meat not destroy it, nor do anything which tiight
 certainly a Kingdom in which Christ is King. He entered              cause the brother to backslide to his own eternal destruc-
into this Kingdom to be Lord of the living and of the dead,           t i o n !
through His death and resurrection. This Kingdom came at
Pentecost in its principal fulfillment and will be consummated           Rather let us be fully convinced in our own mind that
in the age tQ come. It is not of this earth according to the          when we eat we eat unto the Lord. Happy is the man who'
good confession which Christ made before Pontius Pilate. It           does not condemn himself in this respect.. Here are motives
is..heavenly. Flesh and blood cannot inherit it, no more than         of psychiatry! Here are the inner conflicts of conscience
corruption can inherit incorruption !                                 often. Blessed is he who has not experienced it.

    Now the nature of this Kingdom is righteousness, peace               For all that is not out of faith is sin !
and joy in .the Holy Spirit. Only what the Holy Spirit puts              More about this in the next instalment.
into our hearts belongs-to this Kingdom.
                                                                                                                                G.L.
    There are in the main two schools of interpretation of


  4      4    4                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAREIR


                                                                      hurt us. But it surely is a case of doing something for them
                   I N H Is F.E A R                                   even as we would like to `be helped by them when we are in
                                                                      distress and misery.

                                                                          Did Jesus condemn those who sought deliverance from
              With A Checkup And A Check                        -     sickness, blindness, leprosy and for that matter from any
                                                                      physical infirmity ? Did he call those carnal who pleaded
       Few there are of our readers who do not know from              with Him to come because their children were at the point
  where it is that we have borrowed the title which is found          of death ? Came He not when Mary and Martha sent for
  above this article.                                                 Him after their brother Lazarus was dead ? Surely we will
       We live in a day when the dreaded disease of cancer is         find no basis in Holy Writ for the stand that we may not
  continually before the minds of the inhabitants of this earth.      call in the physician when we or our children are stricken
  In itself it is a disease that fills the human heart with fear.     with some serious disease. You will find no Scriptural proof
  For, although certain types are cured by radical surgery and        that an operation or a blood transfusion are of the devil.
  painful radium treatments, in many instances the disease does       And that men fight cancer with a checkup and a check, we
  not make itself known until all hope of cure is gone, and in        will not condemn.
  many other instances its growth is so fast that there is                But the thought we wish to leave with you by these lines
  nothing in man's knowledge that can halt it or cure it. And         is that In His Fear we will never stop there ; and we will
  .recently  so many well-known and prominent figures in our          never fight this dreaded disease as an end in itself as though
  every-day life have been afflicted with this disease ; and their    having conquered ( ?) it, we have really achieved something
  treatment and condition has been publicized by every news           worthwhile. In His Fear we will "fight" this disease and all
  medium.                                                             other diseases, death included, not by a checkup and a check
       The advice is given, therefore, on printed page and over       but through a CrQss and a Crown, and espect  victory only
  the air waves that we fight this disease with a checkup and         through them.
  with a check. And our purpose with these lines is neither               Consider that when the physician and therapist have rid
  to advocate this fight by a checkup and a check nor to call it      your body of every last cancer cell and you are pronounced
  an evil, practice. We are not writing under the auspices of         wholly cured, death still stands before you. A checkup and
  any cancer society or doing this at the request of any such         a check will never stay that hand of death. The world says
  society. Nor are we requested by .anyone to speak against'          it in jest, but it is tragically true: The operation was a suc-
  this slogan or have we set forth by our words to discourage         cess, but the patient died. Yea, that relentless power of
  the checkup or the check.                                           death has never been conquered by man. Neither check nor
       Surely for our own health's sake- and we have a calling        checkup has dominion over this last enemy. Without the
to protect and take good care of our bodies - a periodical            cross of Christ and the crown of life and of righteousness a
  checkup is not only wise but also our calling, especially when      checkup and a check can only achieve an illusion of victory.
there are signs in our bodies that indicate that we might             What is more without that cross and that crown a checkup
  have the beginning of the disease in our flesh. Does not the        and a check will have for its result a greater measure of
  Heidelberg Catechism teach us in Lord's Day XL that the             torment and of the agony of everlasting death of hell. Con-
  sixth commandment demands of me that "I hurt not myself,.           sider that when we speak of a man being saved from the
  nor willfully expose myself to any danger"? Indeed ! And            jaws of death, he is not actually saved from death. He re-
  I surely do exposk myself to danger willfully when there are        ceives a few more days and even perhaps years of earthly
  things in my body that could be the beginning of this dreaded       existence than seemed, at the moment, to be allotted to him.
  disease and I do not place myself in the hands of a com-            His days seemed numbered ; and the doctor will tell you'
  petent physician for a checkup. And that I commit no sin            that this particular cancer in this specific organ develops at
  when I write out a check for scientific research .that those        stich a rate of speed that he has at the most so many days
  already afflicted may have the best methods of treatment            of life left unless radical surgery is performed, at once,
  does not need to be proved. I am my brother's keeper in             or radium treatments are begun. The cancerous growth
  that respect. I must mind not only the things of myself but         is removed and apparently all the malignant tissue is remoied.
 .also the thinngs of others. Paul tells us in Philippians 2 :4,      The patient slowly recovers from the operation and from the
  "Look not every man on his own things, but every man                disease that was eating away at his life. After a period of
 also on the things of others." Who would deny that Paul              five years no new symptoms of the disease appear else&here
 means also that we look upon the distresses and sicknesses of        in his body ; and he is proclaimed completely cured of his
 our fellow men and as much as we are able seek to help               cancer. With a song in his heart, with lightness of step,
 them in their woes? And Jesus told us to DO unto others              with a smile for all who meet him he hastens to his car after
 that, which we would have them do unto us: It is not simply          this report on his most recent examination. But before he
 d-c&se  of mot hurting. them because we do not want them to          can arrive home safely, he is killed in an autbmobile  accident.


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             445


The checkup and the check gained for him, so it seemed,               the other day iti one of our better known news magazines of
  a few more years of this life; and yet this "victory" is            -a doctor who performed the first successful operation for
  empty, for another assault is made on his life. And this            lung cancer. His patient is a strong, healthy man today com-
  time he loses his life.                                             pletely cured of that lung cancer which had afflicted him.
                                                                      The doctor, however, died two years ago. He died of lung
      But some will say, it- was worth it! Five years added           cancer! Put your trust in men and you will surely be put
  to his-life! Who would call that an empty victory? Yes, but         to shame.    It may take a little time before this becomes
  listen; we said that without that cross and that crown this         apparent; but man who is under the curse cannot deliver you
  checkup and check will result in greater woe and misery in          from that curse. Put your trust in the Great Physician Who
  hell. For each minute of those five years will testify against      took the curse upon  Himself for our sins and made atone-
  that man in the day of days. Five more years there have             ment for our sins, and you will never be put to shame. You
  been of rebellion against God. And in the judgment day a            will be healed, cdmpletely  healed. For He is the victor over
  man shall be judged according to his works.' The greater the        grave and death and all that brings death upon man: He is
  number of evil works that he has performed in this life, the        the resurrection and the life. He is the resurrection because
  greater. his punishment will be. Without that cross and that        He is the life. Live in-His fear, that is,. put all your trust
  crown he is not able .to fill these years with thankfulness to      in Him.
  his God Who guided the hands of this skilled surgeon. With-            In His fear, then, you will also live a life of gratitude
  out that cross and that crown there is no forgiveness of these      before Him. That belongs to His fear and indicates that it
  sins committed during his last five years of life. When the         is `present. Oh, it is so easy to be ungrateful, complaining and
  books are opened in that judgment day, five years more of           fault-finding when miseries, diseases and pains strike us. It
  sin will be revealed which would not be there if he had             is so easy to question God's goodness and to say with Asaph
  failed to get his checkup in time and the checks of others had      that clean hands `are worthless and pure hearts are vain.
failed to produce this cure for his disease.                          These we do when we do not live in His fear. In His fear
     Sin is a cancer that cannot be cured by science, education,      we stand before Him in reverence and awe. In His fear we
  medical research, radium, the surgeqn's scalpel or any earthly      see Him as GOD ! And we are thankful before Him, thank-
  creature whether fluid or solid, taken internally or externally.    ful for the cross whereby we have a complete c&e  of all our
  It is cured only by blood, the precious blood of Christ. Before     diseases and victory over our death. Thankful for the testi-
  it no sin can stand. It blots out sin so completely that all        mony of His Word that we have a crown of righteousness
  trace of its presence is completely gone. And where these           and of life through the blood of that cross. And then it is
  wages of sin, death, now reigns this blood brings life in itS       that cross-and not a red or blue or white cross that rep-
  place. For where sin is removed the wages of sin are not            resents the practices of cursed men-that gives us hope and
  only removed but God, Who gives grace for grace, bestows            confidence as we walk through the valley in which the shadow
  life as the free gift of His grace. "The wages of sin is death,     of death is cast. Say it with David in your distresses, "Yea.
  but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our.       though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
  Lord," Romans 6:23. And there and there only, do we have            I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me." So we speak
  the true victory pver cancer and all other diseases and             when we live in His fear.
  miseries of man.                                                                                                            J.A.H.

     <Otherwise  a checkup and a check mean nothing and will
  only. bring an illusory victory. What is more, let us assume
  that man has found a way to prevent and cure cancer even               "To belieye God and to believe in God are two very
as he has made such progress in other diseases that formerly          different things. The first expresses h&torical  faith; the
  took a huge toll of lives each year in times gone by and of         latter, true faith or confidence; for when I say, I believe
  another age. Man- cannot rid himself of the curse. ,He never        that God is, if I speak properly, I believe there is a God,
  will rid himself of the curse. The cross and the crown are          and that he is such an one as he hath revealed himself in his
  God's means whereby He in His grace delivers His people             word, namely, a spiritual essence, omnipotent, etc., the
 from all sin, all the effects of sin, all the scars and blemishes    eternal Father, Son and Holy Ghost. When I say, I believe
  of sin to bring us with beautiful bodies into the glory of His      in God, I mean, I believe that he is my God, that is, what-
  kingdom, to heal all our diseases and restore to us a whole         ever he is and has is all for my salvation. Or to believe. God,
  and perfect body wherewith we shall be able to serve Him in         is to believe a certain person to be God, according to his
  the perfection of holiness.                                         attributes. To believe in God, is to be persuaded that he
     L;et us be careful lest we put our trust in men, in their        will make  all things attributed to him subservient to my
  medical and surgical skill. Let us beware lest we take our          salvation, for the sake of his Son."
  eyes off Him Who is the Great Physician to fix .them upon                              Zacharias Ursinus, Heidelberg Catechism
  one who is himself  under the power of the curse, We read                                              Pages 139, 140


446                                        T H E   STANDARD   B E A R E R

                                                                    this account, it has always been very piously observed in the
11 ._ Contending For The Faith                                 11 said Church of God, that there `be no reservation at the point
                                                                    of death, and that therefore all priests may absolve all
                                                                    penitents whatsoever from every kind of sins and censures
           The Church and the Sacraments                            whatever: and as, save at that point of death, priests have
                                                                    no power in reserved cases, let this alone be their endeavor,
   VIEWS DURING THE THIRD PERIOD (750-1517 A.D.)                    to persuade penitents to repair to superior and lawful judges
                                                                    for the benefits of absolution. -end of quote of this seventh
              THE SEVEN' SACRAMENTS.                                chapter on the sacrament of penance as decreed by the
                         P E N A N C E                              Council of Trent. Notice, please, how arbitrarily, without
                                                                    any quotation from Scripture, the Roman Catholic Church
    We concluded our preceding article by quoting Chapter           has expressed itself here on this "sacrament." They say that
VI of -the decrees of the Council of Trent on the Roman             there are special cases, more atrocious and heinous sins that
Catholic doctrine of the sacrament of penance. This sixth           should be absolved, not by all priests, but only by the highest
article or chapter decrees that absolution must be granted priests.          However, for fear that any might perish on this
by the priest. It also teaches that `&en  priests, who them-        account, that Church declares that there be no reservation
selves are in mortal sin, exercise the office of forgiving sins,    at the point of death, and that, in case of imminent death, all
as the ministers of Christ and through the virtue of the Holy       priests may absolve all penitents and that regardless of the
Ghost Who was bestowed upon <hem in ordination. This                natire  or severity of the crime that may have been committed.
absolution of the priest must not be viewed merely as a bare        And now let us notice, in Chapter 8 of the decrees of this
ministry, as simply declaring that sins are forgiven, but as        Council on the Romish doctrine of penance, what the Romish
a judicial act, whereby sentence is pronounced as by a judge:       Church teaches with respect to the necessity and the fruit of
And, lastly, the penitent must not think that he is truly           satisfaction. This constitutes the heart of the Romish doc-
a.nd in God's-sight absolved merely on account of his faith.        trine of penance. '
The absolution. by the priest is absolutely necessary unto the                              CHAPTER VIII
forgiveness of his sins. However, as we shall now see in                  On the Necessity and on the Fruit  of S&isfa&ort
Chapter VII there are certain exceptions or reservation of
`cases.                                                                Finally, as regards satisfaction, - which as it is; of all
                        CHAPTER VII                                 the parts of penance, that which has been at all times recom-
                On The Resertia.tion  Of Cases                      mended to the Christian people by our Fathers, so is it the
                                                                    one especially which in our age is, under the loftiest pretext
    Wherefore, since the nature and order of a judgment             of piety, impugned by those who have an slppearance  of god-
                                                                    liness, but have den-d the power thereof, - 
require this, that sentence be passed only on those subject                                                          the holy Synod
,(to that judicature), it has ever been firmly held in' the         declares, that it B wholly false, and alien from the Word of
Church of God, and this Synod ratifies it as a thing most true,     God, that the gui1.t  is never forgiven by the Lord, without
that the absolution; which a priest pronounces upon one over        the whole punishment also being therewith pardoned. For
whom he has not either an ordinary or a delegated jurisdic-         clear and illustrious examples are found in the sacred writ-
tion, ought to be of no weight whatever. And it hath seemed         ings, whereby, besides by divine tradition, this error is re-
to our most holy Fathers to be of great importance to the           futed in the plainest manner possible. And truly the nature
discipline of the Christian people, that certain more atrocious     of divine justice seems to demand, that they, who through
and more heinous crimes should be absolve& not by all               ignorance have sinned before baptism, be received into grace
priests, but only by the- higher priests; whence the Sovereign      in one manner; and in another thbse  who, after having been
Pontiffs, in virtue of the supreme power delivered to them freed from the servitude of sin and of the devil, and after
in the universal Church,. were deservedly able to rkserve, for      having received the gift of the Holy Ghost, have not feared,
their special judgment, certain more grievous cases of crimes.      knowingly to violate the temple of God, and to grieve t,he
Neither is it to be doubted, - seeing that all things, that are     Holy Split. And it beseems the divine clemency, that sins
from God, are well ordered, - but that this same may be             be not in such wise pardoned us without any satisfaction, as
lawfully done by all bishops, each in his own diocese, unto         that, taking occasion therefrom, thinking sins less grievous,
ediiicatiofi,  however, not unto destruction, in virtue of the'     we, offering 2s it were an insult and an otttrage to the Holy
authority, above (that of) other inferior priests, delivered to     Ghost, should fall. into more grievous sins, treas+ng ztp
them over their subjects, especially as regards those crimes        wrath aga.inst the day of wrath. For, doubtless, these satis-
to which the censure of excommunication is annexed. But             factory punishments greatly recall from sin, and check as it
it is consonant to the divine authdrity, that this resertiation     were with a bridle, and make penitents more cautious and
of eases have effect, not merely in external polity, but also in    watchful for the-future; they are also remedies for the re-
God's sight. Nevertheless, for fear lest any may perish on          mains of sin, .and, by acts of the opposite virtue, they remove


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   447


the habits acquired by evil living. Neither indeed was there                                      Canon  I
ever in the Church of God any way accounted surer to turn                 If any one., saith, that .in the Catholic Church Penance is
aside the impending chastisement of the Lord, than that men          not truly and properly a sacrament, instituted by Christ our
should, with true sorrow of mind, practice these works of            Lord for reconciling the faithful unto God; as often as they
penitence: Add to these things, that, whilst we thus, by             fall into sin after baptism:`let  him be anathema.
making satisfaction, suffer for our sins, we are made con-
formable to Jesus Christ, who satisfied for our sins, from                                       Can&  II
whom all our sztfficierzcy is; having also thereby a most sure
                                                                          If any one, confounding the sacraments, saith that bap-
pledge, that if we suffer with him, zwe shall also be g@ijied
with                                                                 tism is itself the sacrament of Penance, as though these two
      hip. But neither is this satisfaction, which we discharge
                                                                     sacraments were not distinct, and that therefore Penance is
for our sins, so our own, as not to be through Jesus Christ.
                                                                     not rightly called a second plank after shipwreck: let him
For we who can do nothing of ourselves, as of ourselves,
                                                                     be anathema.
can do all things, he co-operating, who strengthens us. Thus,        .
man has not wherein to glory, but all our glorying is in                                     C a n o n   I I I
Christ : in whom we live ; in whom we merit ; in whom we
satisfy ; bringing fo& f&its worthy of penance, which from                If any one saith, that those words of the Lord the
him have their merits and by him are offered to the Father ;         Saviour, Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whose sins you shall
                                                                     forgive, they aye  forgiven them, and whose sins ~OIG  shall
and through him are accepted by the Father. Therefore the            retain, they aye  retained,, 
priests of the Lord ought, as far as the Spirit and prudence                                          are not to be understood of the
shall suggest, to enjoin salutary and suitable satisfactions, ac-    power  of forgiving and of retaining sins in the sacrament of
cording to the quality of the crimes and the ability of the          Penance, as the Catholic Church has always from the be-
penitent; lest, if haply they connive at sins, and deal too in-      ginning understood them ; but wrests them, contrary to the
dulgently with penitents, by enjoining certain very light works      institution of this sacrament, to the power of preaching the
for very grievous crimes, they be made partakers of other            gospel: let him be anathema.
men's sins. But let them have in view, that the satisfaction,                                    Can0.n IV
which they impose, be not only for the preservation of a new
life and a medicine of infirmity, but also for the avenging and           If any one denieth, that, for the entire and perfect remis-.
punishing of past sins. For the ancient Fathers likewise both        sion of sins, there are required three acts in the penitent,
believe and teach, that the keys of the priests were given, not      which are as it were the matter of the sacrament of Penance,
to loose only, but also to bind. But not therefore did they im-      to wit, contrition, confession, and satisfaction, which are
agine that the sacrament of Penance is a tribunal of wrath or        called the %three  parts of penance ; or saith that there are two
of punishments ; even as no Catholic ever thought, that, by          parts only of penance, to wit, the terrors with which the
this kind of satisfaction on our parts, the efficacy of the merit    conscience is smitten upon being convinced of sin, and the
and of the satisfaction of our Lord Jesus Christ is either ob-       faith, generated by the gospel, or by the absolution, whereby
scured or in any ivay lessened: which when the innovators            one believes that his sins are forgiven him through Christ:
seek to understand, they in such wise maintain a new life to         let him be anathema.
be the best penance, as to take away the entire efficacy and                                     Canon V
use of satisfaction.
                                                                          If any one saith, that the contrition which is acquired by
                         CHAPTER IX                                  means of the examination, collection, and detestation of
                  On Works of Satisfaction                           sins, - whereby one tkk~ks over his yem-s  in the bittet-ness
                                                                     of his so&, by pondering on the grievousness, the multitude,
   The Synod teaches` furthermore, that so great is the              the. filthiness of his sins, the loss of eternal blessedness, and
liberality of the divine munificence, that we are able through       the eternal damnation which he has incurred, having there-
Jesus Christ to make satisfaction to God the Father, not             with the purpose of a better life,- is not a true and profit-
only by punishments voluntarily undertaken of ourselves for          able sorrow, does not prepare for grace, but makes a man
the-punishment of sin, or by those imposed at the discretion         a hypocrite and a greater sinner ; in fine, that this (contri-
of the priest according to the measure of our delinquency, but       tion) is a forced and not free and voluntary sorrow: let him
also, which is a very great proof of love, ,by the temporal          be anathema.                                               H         .    V    .
scourges inflicted of God, and borne patiently by us.

   Before we make a few observations on this Roman Catho-
lic doctrine of Penance as expressed in this decree of the                                 Announcement
Council of Trent, we wish to quote. the Canons on this
                                                                          Announcements and obituaries rates are changed from
"sacrament" as adopted by this Council, in which Rome
anathemizes those who. deny this "sacrament."                        $1.00 to $2.00, effective July' 1.

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

    OUR OWN HIGH SCHOOL - A NECESSITY                                     of the fact that our children, once having been trained in
                                                                          elementary schools which are Protestant Reformed, are now
          I have been asked to write an article for our Standard          able "to stand on their own feet" and throw off any false
  Beare?- on the subject of our own Protestant Reformed Chris-            doctrine that may be presented to them in the existing high
  tian High School. This request did not come to me floating              schools. With this argument I cannot possibly agree. The
  out of the air, so to speak ; but it was made by a group of             reason for my disagreement .is not primarily that I doubt the
  men who have already done a considerable amount of work in              ability of our high school students to "stand on their own two
  order that our own high school may become a reality.                    feet," :but rather that the need for our own high schools has
          Although I have no personal acquaintance with the work          a more positive basis and foundation than mere negative
  of this committee, nevertheless I would like to inform YOU              criticism. Although at the same time I question whether any
  of some of their efforts. It was shortly after the first of the         man is completely impervious to `constant instruction in false
  year that a committee.voluntarily constituted itself in order           doctrine no `matter how old he may be. But such negative
  to work on this problem. This committee was and is now                  reasons deserve a secondary place.
  composed of two lay members from each of our churches in                   The positive reasons may be familiar to all of you who
  Michigan, and has met from time to time in the course of the            have given thought at one time or another to our educational
  year. They were appointed by no one and are answerable to               program, but are nevertheless worth reviewing.
  no one, but they are deeply interested in our high school                  We believe that the schools in which our children are
  movement.        It is sometimes difficult to know just how to          taught are extensions of the home. The complex culture in
  start a movement of this nature, and these men felt that this           which we live and the vast body of knowledge that has been
  way would be the best way. Their purpose is not to take the             accumulated in the past ages make it impossible usually for
  whole matter of a high school into their own hands, for this            a child to be taught in the home. So there are schools
  they could not possibly do.         But they do intend to be a          organized in' which teachers are hired to take the place of
  "steering committee" to start the movement and give it                  the parents and assume the responsibility for the instruction
  direction. I am personally not in a position tom inform you             of the children.
  of what work they have done up to this point, but I do                     Now, it is the deepest desire of the hearts of covenant
  know from talking with one of their members that their                  parents to see their children instructed in the truth of God's
  goal is a society ineeting of all men in this area and outside          Word. This truth has entered into the hearts of the parents
  of it. This meeting they hope to call sometime in September             themselves; they have learned to love it and cherish it; it is
  at which time they intend to present to this society the fruit          to them a priceless treasure for which they will sacrifice all,
of their labors and point them to the feasible direction in               yea life itself. It is but natural then that these covenant
  which to go especially in connection with the host of prob-             parents have no deeper desire than to see their children grow
  lems that arise in any such venture. They hope that at that             up to love that same truth as they come to spiritual maturity.
  time a society will be definitely organized and that a school           To see one's children show antipathy to the truth is always
  board will be elected which can carry on the work that has              very difficult. But to conclude `that the reason is that we
  to be done.                                                             have not been faithful in teaching them is far worse.
          Now it is time, these men feel, for their wordi:  to receive       This is not to say that schools are miniature seminaries
  some publicity so that their efforts may be brought before              in which only doctrine is taught, but it is saying that the
  our people. It is time for the importance., of a high school            knowledge of God must permeate all knowledge of all things
  of our own to be presented to those of you who will in the              before it can ever be said to be knowledge at all. If the
  future support the movement and send your own children to               study of trees and the starry heavens, of the earth's crust and
  this institution.                                                       the history of the nations is not a study of the knowledge of
          They have asked the undersigned to emphasize in this            God, there is no profit in it in this life or in the life to come.
  article particularly the necessity of a Protestant Reformed                But this desire which is undoubtedly'found  in the hearts
  High School. This implies that in the mind of the committee             of covenant parents is rooted in a deeper obligation which is
  there is really no other choice but to have a high school of            given them of God. The children they bring forth are not
  our own. It is, with them, not a question of utility or of              their own, but are ohildren whose names are written on the
  the proper time ; it is not a matter that can be shrugged off           pages of the Book of- Life with the ink of the blood of the
  indefinitely ; it is simply a necessity which must be faced             Lamb of God. These children are God's because God has
  now and about which something must be done. With this I                 chosen them to be His own and redeemed them in the cross
  agree completely.                                                       of Calvary. We receive them from Him for a time in order
          In the briefest sense of the word it is, of course, true-       that we may take them on our knees to teach them and lead
  that the reasons why we have elementary schools of our own              them by their hands in the way of God's precepts. If our
  are the same reasons why we must have a high school of our              minds wander from this fundamental truth, we will lose the
  own. This is denied by some. There is an argument to the                courage to instruct them in God's fear and our patience with
  effect that our own high school is not necessary.at  all because        them will wear thin.


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              449


     So we must have schools where we can fulfill these obliga-      with our own teachers. I do not mean to say that we.have
 tions. Certainly we would never take pains in our homes to          the right of control, for certainly we are not in the majority
 inculcate into their minds things which were repulsive to us:       in the existing high schools. Nor am I even saying that we
 We would never spend time and energy in our home to make            have been as faithful as we should in attempting to make our
 sure that our children mastered the fundamentals of errors          voice heard in the existing schools. But apart from all this,
 with which we cannot possibly agree. We would not force             it remains a fact that our voices are drowned out in the
 them to learn evolutionism as the truth or Common Grace             clamor of those who are greater in number than ourselves.
 as the Word of God in our homes. We should not do it in             The result is that the existing high schools are not above
 our schools. This is inconceivable. There too, it is in reality     criticism. It stands to reason that the all pervading world
 covenant parents teaching covenant children although they           and life view of common grace will have its deleterious effects
 have delegated the responsibility to others.                        on the whole body of instruction which is given in them.
     From this it follows-that the ideal situation is to have a      Given teachers imbued with it and board members building
 complete system of education for our children beginning with        upon its foundation, it can be- no different. This is not
 the kindergarten and continuing on through the university.          merely a matter of formal instruction in the theory itself,
 The trouble is that it has happened repeatedly in the past          but is on the contrary a matter of emphasis and approach in
 that the church has organized such a system of education            any subject of the curriculum. I am not denying them the
 only to see it fall into the hands of those who no longer           right to teach in this fashion if such is their conviction, but
 wish to confess the truth in all its purity. The result is that     it is not and ought not to be for us.
 the church must start all over once again. And this all                We would not tolerate instruction of this sort in our
 -requires time and money. Nevertheless, this is obviously the       homes; we may not in our schools.
 will of God for our lives, and it is once again incumbent              I am not unaware of the many practical problems which
 upon us to see to it that we have schools of our -own.              arise in connection with a high school of our own. There are
     Yet there is another strong positive reason why such            problems of finances, of teachers, of curriculums, of providing
 schools which ,we can call our own are a necessity. This            the necessary plant and equipment to make our instruction in
 reason is that there is a very definite need to develop a           these schools what it should be. I for one feel very strongly
 distinctively Reformed approach to the whole field of educa-        that the teaching given should meet the rigid requirements
 tion. This has never been completely done. There is little          of. any accredited school, and that our school should be able
 if any.attempt  in the existing grade schools,.high schools and     to compete successfully with any high school as far as the
 colleges to do this. Most generally, pedagogues are content         quality of the instruction is concerned. I&t these are not
 with what they have which has been in the main developed            problems which cannot be overcome. A few remarks about
 by the world and which is changed by them only to the extent        these things would be in order.
 of a Bible lesson. It is not as if we come armed with an               1) In the first place, the quality of the instruction is
 entirely complete development of the fundamental principles         determined primarily by the fact that it should be Christian
 of education as we approach a high school of our own, but           instruction.    I do not mean that a course in biology, must
 it is high time this is done. We need to know and develop           ignore the huge body of facts that have been accumulated in
 the principles that are the foundation of any Reformed educa-       the past concerning the organic part of the creation. But
 tion. We need to develop these principles in the light of our       mere mastery of facts in our days has become a fetish in it-
 own distinctive truth which warrants our existence as .Prot-        self so that instruction is Christian in name only. This ought
 estant Reformed Churches. We need a Reformed set of                 not to be the case with our schools. And I am quite content
 principles of education ; a Reformed educational psychology,        to rest in the knowledge that any teacher who is earnestly
 a Reformed understanding of the child which is being in-            desirous of being a true Christian school teacher and not
 structed and of the best way to instruct that child. We need        one in name only will see to it that the formal and factual
 to know how the knowedge  of God can be imprinted upon              aspects of the course are not neglected. This is emphatically
 and become the essence of every subject which we teach in           the case in our existing schools.
our schools. This can only be done in schools of our own.               2) In the second place, the elaborate and often ornate
 Within Protestant Reformed schools, given consecrated               school buildings, the perfectly equipped laboratories for
 school societies and boards and teachers that love the truth        science courses, the multi-thousand dollar gymnasiums are
 with all their hearts, there is the possibility and .probability    not an essential factor in Christian education. They are in-
 of developing all these things for the sake of our children.        deed nice to have, but they are not essential to the school-
 But the importance of doing all this cannot be overem-              to a Chkstian  school. No more than a church building makes
 phasized.                                                           a congregation does a school building make a body of pupils
    It stands to reason that this is all impossible in the           or a staff of teachers. Again I am not making a plea for
 existing schools. This is primarily because of the fact that        school to be held in a hovel in the city dump, without chalk
 we cannot maintain control over them by putting our own             or blackboards, without any equipment which is essential to
 men in the majority on the boards and staffing the schools                               (Continued on page 451)

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

  II                                                                       whom that newly organized group is to affiliate must decide
                DECENCY and ORDER                                          this. That is certainly in the interests of the well-being of all
                                                                           the churches. Furthermore, suppose that organization were
                                                                           permitted first and that then Classis would refuse to admit
                             Article 38                                    an organized church: -We can conceive of all kinds of practical
                                                                           difficulties rising from such a situation and these are avoided
        The main element in this article is undoubtedly the.fact           because they are not made possible under the present ar-
  that in the organization or re-organization of a congregation,           rangement of the Church Order.
  the advice of the Classis must be obtained. This means that                 The history of this article, like many of the articles of
  a church independently organized will not be admitted into               our Church Order, dates back to the time when the church
  or recognized by the denomination unless this advice of the              was persecuted. During those days many churches were shat-
  Classis is first sought. The article itself does not deny the            tered. The members of the church fled for their lives, many
  autonomous right of a group of believers to organize the                 of them even going to other countries. When then the per-
  church. This question is not `directly involved because the              secutions abated, attempts were made to restore many of
  Church ,Order is here treating only the relation of a group             these broken churches. In some cases this was the advisable
  desiring organization or re-organization and the denomina-              thing to do but in other cases it was not.' This circumstance
  tion of churches with which it seeks affiliation, Within this           gave birth to the rule that c`wh~~e the con&story  is to be con-
  framework, a group that feels itself ready for organization,            stituted foli  the fL1.st  tiw,e  or mew, this shall not ta.ke  p&e
  must seek the advice of the Classis first. This advice is tanta-        except with the advice of the Cla&s."
  mount to "approval" and this means that the final determina-                Later this same rule was used and applied to the organiza-
  tion in this matter lies in the hands of the Classis. The               tion of new churches. This is its common usage in our
  Classis, upon investigation of circumstances, decides whether           present day. With this rule the Christian Reformed Proposed
  or not these warrant the organization of a new church. If               Revision of the Church Order has combined Article 39 of
  they do, Classis-advises  to proceed. If not, the actual organi-        our Church Order into one Article. The two combined
  zation must be postponed until such time as the approval of             articles are found in Article 29 of the Revision and read as
the Classis can be obtained. In this light it appears that the            follows :
  term advice has a broader significance than that of jlhdgmevtt,             "Groups of believeIfs  mtzong  wlm~~  no consistory ca,n as
  cozl.nsel,  or help as the Church Order Commentary suggests             yet be constituted shall be placed under  the ewe of a-neigh-
                                                                          bo&g 
  (Pg. 172).                                                                        consistor_v.  For the organlatio-n  of a new cons&tory,
                                                                          the afipl'oz~al  of the classis  must be obta,ined."
        Apart now from the question as to whether this properly
  belongs to the jurisdiction of the Classis rather than to that              The part of this revision that is related to Article 38
  of the Synod, a question we discussed in our last article, we           differs from the original in that it speaks of "orga.ni.zing  a
                                                                          new consistory"
 must ask why the Church Order makes this provision. Would                                    instead of "constitzttiing,  a consistoryy";  it
 it not be better and more in harmony with the principle of               elides the phrase "for the first til+l,e  OY ,a.new"; and it changes
                                                                          "adzpice  of the ClassiS"'  
 the autonomy of the church to permit a group that feels itself                                        to `ra#p?foval  of the C&&s." The
 ready to organize independently and then apply for ad-                   original Holland has : "`In de plaatscn,  wear  de Kerkeraad
                                                                          voor  bet eerst of opnieatw  is op te richten,  zal `t zelve niet
 mittance as an organized church to the Classis or Denomina-              geschieden, 
 tion with which it desires to affiliate ? Isn't it a bit hierarchical                   dan met advies  van de Classes." Whereas the
 to insist that a group may not organize without the approval             proposed revision does not improve the article with respect
 of the broader assembly of the churches ?                                to either clarity .or meaning, we feel the original should in
        Authorities of Reformed church polity have considered             this instance be retained although we can see possibility in
 this question in the past. None of them. deny the inherent               combining this article with Article 39 since these two articles
 right of a group of believers to organize a church. That would           deal with matters that are very closely related. We feel that
 indeed be hierarchy. That, however, is a different matter                where a revision is to be enacted there must be purpose in
 than that of. a group organizing as a particular church in               that revision. We fail to detect that in the present proposal.
 affiliation with an already existing denomination of churches.              We may conclude our discussion of this article with a
 In regard to the latter we have to do not only with the in-              few remarks concerning the formal procedure in organizing
 herent rights of the group that organizes but also with those            a new congregation, The rules of our churches respecting
 rights of all the already existing- churches or, in other words,         this matter are very clear and, therefore, we may also be
 the rights of the denomination. This must also be considered             brief. These rules, quoted in the previous issue of The
 and SO in connection with the question of organization it is             Standard Bearer, are found -under Article 38 in our Church
 not only a matter of "authority" or of who has the final or              Order.
 highest word in the matter but it is a question of decency                  It is to be noted, first of all, that there is one exception
 and good order. Not a single group is to determine whether               made in these rules to the organizing of churches under the
 circumstances warrant organization but all the churches .with            advice of the Classis. This exception is cited under Article


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              451


 4 of the Constitution of the Mission Committee which deals             but. there is no point in delay. It can be just as well done
  with the "D,uties of the Mission Cowwittee."  Rule 5 there-           at once and therefore should be.
  under reads : "The dld.ty of the uwission cowtwittee  is to serve,       Another matter that is sometimes considered in connec-
_ in conjunction with the missiona.ry,  in the orga.nization  Of        tion with Article 38 is that of combined churches. By this
  `new congrega,tions,,  giving advice atid pevtthission  thereto,      is meant that in certain instances there may be two or more
  crnd  to officiate at strch  orga.nizatio%"                           small churches that are, for financial and other reasons, un-
      This means that a congregation can be organized with-             able to maintain themselves as separate churches. By com-
  out the advice"or  approval of the Classis. If a group desires        bining into one they could support a minister. However,
  to become a congregation in the denomination of the Prot-             other circumstances may make it impossible to unite into one
  estant Reformed Churches, they can apply directly to the              church, Hence, by mutual agreement they remain separate
  Mission Committee (or to the Classis). This committee is              churches but together call one minister who in turn serves
  empowered under its rules to grant permission to organize             the combined churches. An instance of this' we had in the
  and in the event it would do that, it further attends to the          request that came to our last Synod'from  the Isabel-Forbes
details of organization. As a rule this is done by the Mission          congregations in South D,akota.  In cases like these there are
  Board after it has informed the Synod of the proposed or-             usually a number of practical difficulties that have to be
  ganization but this need not be done: It would certainly do           overcome. Of great importance wherever such arrangements
  this in consultation with the consistory of the calling church        are sought is the advice given by Monsma and Van Dellen
  although even this. is not strictly mandatory. The' mission           who write : " Whenever chwclzes ths cowabine  their strength
                                                                        and efforts they.should  be cweful  to draw up a good set of
  committee has broad power in this respect and it may un-              rules  by which  all pwties  concwled  will b,e guided. If this
  doubtedly be said that this power is used more frequently             shoztld be neglected dishw~ony ncnd f&ion  way  ea.&y
  than the method prescribed in Article 38 of the Church                result"
  Order. Statistics I do not have but it seems to me that most                     (pg. 173). And, equally important, as far as the
  of our congregations in the past have been organized under            Classis (Synod) is concerned in giving advice with regard
  the supervision of the Mission Committee. When such                   to organization under these circumstances, is it that they
  organization takes place the Mission Committee will advise            determine that the agreements made with respect to the
 the newly organized church to seek affiliation with the Classis        groups seeking combined organization are workable. If this
  under which it is to resort and will further to that body a           is not the case the organization under the proposed plan will
  recommendation that the Classis receive the church it has             not only be temporary but it will work irreparable harm.
  organized.                                                                It is said: "One ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
      Under Article 38, however, the organization of a new              cure."                                                G.V.D.B.
  church takes place by observing the following steps :
      1. Request or Application: The group desiring organiza-
  tion forwards to the Classis a letter requesting the right to                    OUR -OWN  HIGH SCHOOL - A NECESSITY
  organize as a Protestant Reformed Church. This letter must                                (Conthed  from page  449)
  be signed by the heads of the families and by adult single
  persons belong to this group.                                         sound teaching ; but there is room for emphasis on the point
      2. Action by the Classis : Classis must consider the              that it is not essential to compete with existing schools public
  request. She must determine whether or not it is. in the              or Christian in the erection and equipping of our own edifice.
  best interests of the group and the churches at large. Many           If we must have the most elaborate and very best in equip-
  things must be taken into consideration in this important             ment and facilities, our own school is out of the question. The
  step, and, having done this, should the Classis then advise           only thing I insist on is the very best of school boards and
  organization, she appoints a committee to carry out the               the very best of teachers. And by `(best" I mean school
  actual organization of the congregation.          ,                   board members and teachers who are dedicated to the cause
      3. The Organization Proper: At the meeting that is                of Christian instruction as we understand it. If our parents
  called of all interested and concerned parties, a service of          who support our schools are dedicated, our schools will have
  worship is first conducted. Then, in as far as is possible, the       staffs and boards who have this same dedication.
  persons desiring organization submit certificates of previous            3) We have to make no apologies for our size as churches
  membership. These, if found in good order, are accepted and           nor feel any twinges of embarrassment that we do not measure
 ithereupon  the election of office-bearers can take place. This        up to the standards which the world sets for success. We
  must be done by free election. Then the elected office bearers        need not do this as churches; we need not do this when we
  are duly installed in their respective offices and the con-           build our schools. We need feel no compulsion to defend a
sistory and congregation are declared constituted. If possible,         school that is not architecturally beautiful and modernly
  it is advisable that at this same meeting the necessary papers        equipped and capable of offering an elaborate physical educa-
  for the incorporation of the congregation are' brought in             tion program in a huge gymnasium, if the subjects that are
  order. The consistory can, of course, take care of this later                            (Continued on page 455)


                                                                                                        -:

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

                                                                     statements only prove that-they are enemies of the Reformed
               A L L   A R O U N D   U - S                           truth, even as evil men spoke maliciously of the doctrine
                                                                     of grace when they concluded: `Let us sin that grace may
                                                                     abound' (Rom. 6 :l ) . Man as a moral, rational creature re-
                                                 ]                   mains~responsjble  for all his acts, his conscience bearing him
                                                                     witness and accusing him (Ram.  2 :15).
                                                                           ."
        As promised in the June 1st issue of The  Standard
Beaver,  we                                                                      "19: Do the Protestant Reformed Churches subscribe to
                 `now hope to finish the quotation `of the little    the doctrine of Pre-Millennialism 9
pamphlet with the above title.,published some years ago by                                                    :
the Rev. M. Gritters and the Rev. A. Cammenga; in which                          Answer : They do-not. This they believe to be contrary to
they set forth the position of the Protestant. Reformed              Scripture and the Confessions. Sqipture  condemns the the-
Churches re the Common'Grace  question. If there is space at         ory of Di,sp.ensationalism  and it tea&es  the unity of the Old
the conclusion of this final quotation, we -may have some            and New Testament Church.                                I        .
                                                                                                                         /
comments to make. Here follows the continuation- of .the                         "20. What statistical information can you give concerning
quotation of the pamphlet.                                           the Protestant Reformed Churches ?
        "15. It has often been rumored that the Protestant Re-        '          Answer I The.Protestant  Reformed'denomination is com-
formed Churches preach only for God's elect; is this true?           posed of twenty-two churches to date, numbering approxima-
        Answer: This is'nothing  but slander! Besides, does not      tely -1200 families,in  all. These churches maintain their own
Scripture command us to preach the gospel to every creutizcre?       Theological .Seminary which gives these churches a well
(Mark 16 :15). And to this command the Protestant Re-                trained clergy. Besides the regular ministers of the Word a
formed Churches desire to remain faithful. Finally, who              full time-missionary is also maintained. Several publications
among men is able to separate the elect of God from-those            serve the membership of these churches, among which are:
r e p r o b a t e d   7 d                                            The Sta.ndm*d  Bea:lrer, Concordia,,  Bea,con  Lights, the latter
    "16. Is it true that the Protestant Reformed Churches do         publication for the Young People's Societies, and The Sun-
not believe in Missions ?                                            day School G&de.-

        Answer: This, too, has often been slanderously reported,                 "21. Why do the Protestant Reformed Churches perform
yet it is not true! The Protestant Reformed Churches will            missionary work in the neighborhoods of established churches
also go out unto the. ends of the world to preach the gospel         rather than going out into the world of the unchurched ?
to every creature. Even today the Mission Committee of the                       Answer: It ,is a mistake to say that the Protestant Re-
Protestant Reformed Churches is investigating a foreign mis-         formed Churches perform missionary work among the
sion field which can be supported by said churches. (Acts of         churches rather than among the unchurched. Missionary
Synod of the Prot. Ref. Churches 1945, 1946.)                        work among the churches and the unchurched are two
        "17. It is often reported that the Protestant Reformed       different branches of mission work, and both must be per-
Churches do not preach repentance since the elect will come          formed. The apostles of Christ also received the injunction
to repentance anyway; is this true 7                                 to perform both of these branches. For this reason they
        Answer : This is another untruth! With John the Baptist      started at` Jerusalem, the church, and proceeded toward
the Protestant Reformed Churches preach: `Repent, ye !'              Samaria and from thence went into all the world (Acts 1 :S) .
However, this preaching of repentance is not presented as' an        The purpose of mission work among the churches is to pro-
offer of grace  OY a kind invita~tion dependent on the free will     claim the old -and tried truth of the Word of God and of our
of wwn;  but it is preached as a cop>LtNand and an i,njztnctdora     Reformed Confessions to such church groups who lack this
of God which can only be obeyed by the power and presence            truth in whole or in part, or where this precious truth is
of God's grace in the heart. And it is in the way of the             waning slow but sure. And a church has no greater calling
preaching of the Gospel and through the power of God's               than that of seeking the welfare of any church or group of
spirit that God's chosen saints are brought to repentance.           churches. If any given church neglects to seek the welfare
 (Matt. 3:2; Mark 1:15; Acts 3:19;  John-6:44;  Acts 13:48;          of the instituted church in this world and there refuses to be.
Acts 16 :14.)                                                        his brother's keeper what can be expected of this church when
                                                                     it approaches those who are heathen and unconverted ? The
        "18. Does the- doctrine of the Protestant Reformed           strength of the church of Christ on earth is not first of all
Churches deny the responsibility of man?                             to build churches in heathendom but to strengthen the
        Answer: God forbid that the responsibility of man be         churches' own walls first, and these church walls are found
denied! However, throughout the history of the church it             not only where are churches bearing the name of one's own
has always been said that the doctrine of sovereign predesti-        denomination, but they are found wherever there are believers
nation denies man's responsibility, but they that make such          in the Lord .Jesus Christ, no matter what denomination he


  &.                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              453


 or she belongs to. To follow the example of the Psalmist and           present nineteen churches, the number of families is a little
 `pray for the peace of Zion and seek her good' -(Ps. 122)              more than half the figure quoted in the pamphlet. But the
 does not mean to seek the good of one's own little church or           reader should note that -those who left us cannot boast of' a
 denomination, but it means that one seeks the spiritual good           Theological Seminary "which gives their churches a well
 of all those that love the Lord.                                       trained clergy." This seminary we still have which is the
                                                                        very heart of our churches. Those who-  left us cannot boast
        "This the Protestant .Reformed  Churches are intent on          of. a full time missionary. This we have. Since the schism
.doing whenever and wherever they send their men to preach              one flourishing congregation has been added to our churches
 the Word of God among the churched. Their purpose is                   through his efforts, and there are prospects of two more
 not to destroy the church, but rather to seek her good. The            being added in the near future. Those who left us cannot
 love for the Reformed preaching of the gospel together with            boast of the several publications which serve the membership
 the conviction that only in that gospel lies the hope of the           of our churches. As far as they are concerned none of the
 Church of Christ, brings the Protestant Reformed missionary            publications mentioned exist any longer. Even Coutcordz'u  has
 to the neighborhoods and communities where churches are                gone out. of existence, and was replaced by The Reformed
 already found. These missionaries call men and women of                Guardia?&.
 every denomination to rally to the Standard of the Reformed
 truth- of the Gospel of Christ, for without this truth of the                And we might add to the above that they have also lost
gospel the church must and will fail. How can any church                the radio program known as the Reformed Witness Hour in
 be safe when it denies man's total depravity as well as the            which most of their ministers participated at one time or
sovereignty of God.7 How can there be any comfort and as-               another.      They lost also the Protestant Reformed Schools
surance in life and death when salvation depends on man's               which they also helped to organize and establish in which
free will and is not based solely upon the eternal and sover-           our covenant children are trained according to the doctrine
eign counsel of God ?                                                   believed and professed in our churches. Fact is, they have
                                                                        nothing left. They realize that they cannot continue to
        "The Protestant Reformed Churches believe and confess           exist as a separate denomination and because the doctrine
that the hope of the church and its only comfort is in the              they now embrace is essentially Christian Reformed they are
precious gospel proclaiming that God is all and man nothing.            making every effort to return to that denomination.
And because they believe, therefore do they speak every-
where !" Conclusion of the pamphlet.                                    J,    We pity them, and most of all the people who have been
                                                                        misguided by their leaders. Many of them are people who
        The .views concerning missions set forth in this pamphlet       since 1924 have taken with us a strong stand against the
are still substantially the views of our Protestant Reformed            error of common grace adopted by the Christian Reformed
Churches. In this we have not changed. But striking it is               Church. D Would to God that they would see the error of
that of those who left us in the schism of. 1953 four were              their way in which they now travel, and repent and return
missionaries in our churches. These men labored also among              to us and the doctrinal position they once embraced with us
Christian Reformed people propagating these views. One of               as stipulated in the pamphlet under discussion;
these men on more than one occasion was severely taken to
task by leaders in the Christian Reformed Church because                      Only in the way of repentance and return is there any
of the tactics he used in disseminating these views. Now all            hope for them and their children as far as the Reformed truth
of these men and those who follow them repudiate these                  is concerned. If they truly and sincerely love the Protestant
views. Now they seek to join hands with those whose doc-                Reformed doctrine, it should not be difficult for them to
trines they publicly criticized and condemned. Rev. H. J.               return to us. We would advise them to go to the local con-
&riper in Torch  and Tmmfi`et  of July-August, 1959 cor-                sistories from which they separated themselves and confess
rectly remarks they "broke away from the denomination by                that they erred when they became guilty of schism when they
that name. (Protestant Reformed Churches - MS.)  which                  followed their leaders in the split of 1953 . They should con-
since 1925 has been headed by Rev. H. Hoeksema." They,                  fess that they embraced the false doctrine stipulated in the
therefore, are no longer Protestant Reformed and from every             statements of Rev. De Wolf. They should show that they
point of view have forfeited the right .to the,name.  They are          have a firm resolve to adhere to the doctrines of the Prot-
as Rev. &riper recognizes them, namely,: Christian Reformed             estant Reformed Churches as formulated in the three Forms
                                                                                                .
in heart and doctrine. But the churches which are still under           of Unity and restated, m the Declaration of Principles which
,the leadership of Rev. H. Hoeksema are:~Protestant  Reformed           clearly militates against the error of common grace and the
                                       _
i n   ,doctrine   a n d   practise.                                     conditional doctrine which at one time sought to be imported
                                                                        into our churches. Doing this they may once more be as-
        It is also interesting to note that the statistics' reported    sured of a healthy and sound denominational life which can
in the twentieth question and answer have changed some-                 be maintained only where the truth is preserved.
what due to the` schism. As far as ntnmbers  `are concerned,
we have been considerably decimated. Though we have at                                                                           M.S.

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

                                                                       this in angry bitter spirit as if for the very purpose of stirring
                    CQNTRIBUTIONS                                      up strife and contention but as a part of the gospel entrusted
                                                                       to him. The burden of the Lord lies upon his conscience.
                                                                       He delivers `it for the glory of God and the profit of his
         Through an infinite variety of changing scenes our ever-      people and for those who love the truth and have been taught
  to-be adored covenant God. has brought us thus far. The              by the same spirit, and know, and feel the power of the same
  various troubles that we have had to grapple with in the             vital. realities in their own souls. One responds to the clear
  past few years only leave. our numbers growing less. For us          notes of the trumpet and cleaves to the certain sound for it
  older ones, we shall never have to wade through them again.          fills their hearts with peace and joy. Being thus blessed they
  If God the Holy Spirit has sanctified them to our souls,             cannot but speak warmly of the truth and of the instruments
  they have done us no real harm. If we have learned through           who proclaim it so faithfully.
  them, as instruments in the hands of our glorious Teacher,               But what response do they meet? The erroneous and
  more of the emptiness of this vain polluted doctrine of con-         the unsound, who have been hugging their errors in secret
  ditionality, then let us not for a moment regret that we have        and are offended by the naked truth, are stirred up to op-
  been visited with them; But rather let us praise and adore           position.     What offended them so ? Was it not the glorious
  our glorious Lord that He has taken the advantage of them            truth of eternal, absolute, and unconditional election ? We
  to confirm our souls in his love, by proving Himself to be           have been told that to preach Election strongly would offend
  our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.             many pious, zealous minds and be a means .of unerring the
         Not being wholly `ignorant of Satan's devices, but led to     cause of real prosperity, and so they hinder the progress of
  it by a train of circumstances which I need not enumerate            the cause of God. So then the truth of God must give place
  here, I had long suspected that there was a good deal of             to the imaginary piety, and false zeal of man; and God must
  error covered up with a form of sound words, secretly enter-         be insulted for the purpose of promoting his cause upon the
  tained by many. Now, what has brought these errors to                earth !
  light 7 The distinct, clear, positive declarations of principles.        All this may seem pleasing enough to the fleshly self-
  Clear positive statements of divine truth are the two-edged          seeking minds of man, but what would they say had they
  sword which pierces even to the dividing asunder of soul             heard the glorious truth of .Election?  Christ thanked the
  and spirit, This naked sword discovers the foundation of             Father for hiding the truth from some and revealing, it unto
  error unto the meek.                                                 others, and that, because it seemed good in God's sight.
         In a similar way the touch of heavenly truth has detected     Yea, even the Holy Spirit tells us that at that time Jesus
  an error previously existing, but working unseen. It was.            rejoiced in Spirit and thanked the Father. He also told his
  undermining the churches like a gangrene but covered up              disciples that he spoke in parables because unto them it was
  with a form of godliness. The present necessary consequence          given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom but unto others
  of this has been strife and confusion. Some, who love peace          it was not given. Once he had a congregation of very pious
  at any price, would sooner have a church united even if it           Pharisees who for a while appeared to wonder at the
  involved the sacrifice of truth. Look on with regret if not in       gracious words that Jesus spoke. Though Christ knew it
  anger that such mere questions, as they call them, should            would give them great offence  and though he knew all their
  distract the churches. We were peaceful they say. Y.es,  but         hearts, yet he preached it: The Pharisees rose up and thrust
  what sort of peace was it ? Was there ever any real union            Him out of the city. We can see by this that the Lord con-
  of heart and spirit between the lovers of truth and the lovers       sidered the truth of God of infinitely more importance than
  of error? Much may pass for union in a church, which is no           that of keeping a company of respectable Pharisees in good
  more than a natural feeling of friendship and regard as wor-         humor. On one occasion He told some of His hearers that                                           .
  shippers in the same place. There may be much warm shak-             they believed not because they were not of his sheep. He
  ing of hands and kind inquiries and friendly looks and ex-           assured his, disciples that the reason they were not of the
  pressions, but real, sound union is a rare thing. It is a gift of    world and that the world hated them was because he had
  God : spiritual life cemented in spiritual union.                    chosen them out of the world. So we see that the Lord
     When then God means to sift a church in His sieve and             preached~  it as it were from the house tops, and that, in the
 -search Jerusalem as with candles, He brings to light errors          strongest terms possible. He made no secret of this im-
  and heresies hitherto concealed. This is the first step which        portant truth.
  begins to break to pieces the false bond of union. This is              Blessed be the Lord, there is nothing uncertain in the
cutting asunder the staff (bands) to break the brotherhood             salvation and glorification of His elect. All goes upon a solid .
  between Judah and Israel (Zech.  11:14)  and the staff is            and sure basis. All the devices of DeWolf  and his followers
  broken thus.                                                         with all their iifs and buts, shall never overturn the co)unsel
     A man of God sounds the trumpet throughout the camp               of the Lord. "My counsel shall stand and I will do all my
  with a clear sound, and proclaims boldly and plainly the             pleasure."     N o t h i n g   i s   s o   d e a r   t o   J e h o v a h   a s   H i s   o w n
  truth in doctrine, experience, and precept. He does not do           glory. What ever He gives to others, He keeps His own


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B~EARER                                                  455


     glory sacred to Himself. How blessed is it that our glorious         their graves of sin and death to reveal Himself to them and
     Lord has inseparably connected everlasting salvation with            live with them. He calls the things that were not as `if they
     His own glory. For the Holy Spirit says, "But I had pity             were (impossible for man and possible only for God). See
     for mine holy name which the house of Israel had profaned            how great and glorious. is that God who gave His only be-
     among the heathen, whither. they went. Therefore say unto            gotten Son over into the hands of sinners : the hope of ,a11
     the house of Israel, `Thus saith the Lord God ; I do not this        the Elect from the beginning of time. What? Can we add to
     for your sakes, 0 -house of Israel, but for mine holy name's         this but dead works of men even after grace is received ?
     sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither
.                                                                         It's not the good works of men, but only His good work to
     ye went" (Ezekiel 36 21-32).  Read the whole if you please.          will and to do in us; and He gives us to taste that He works
        Blessed Lord. And will not such a glorious display of             in us. Then will we cry out, "Lord, I am sinful," and we
     sovereign grace lead us to self-loathing and self-abusement?         will bow in the dirt before Him beholding all this in true
     Then surely grace is free.     What a blessed declaration of         faith. "Lord, be merciful to me, don't ever leave me." This
     undeserved'mercy and free grace are here. Blessed thrice.            alone is dear unto me. This God I long for every hour. I
     Blessed are the people of God, for their God has connected           feel the need of His coming to me to receive strength to
     His own glory and their well-being together. What` a dis-            believe in Him. None shall ever be able to stay his hand or
     honor then to our glorious covenant God to speak or even             make the way muddy. The providence of God has cast our
     think of what man must do. For, they say, "We shall never            lot in a day of great profession .of religion. But it is a day
     perish if we prove faithful to the grace God gives." But the         of departure from the doctrines of the Cross of Christ while
     promise is absolute and unconditional (they shall never              enemies of these truths increase both in number and activity.
     perish). There is no such a thing named as : "If they do             In awfully opposing these truths, a religion suited to the
     this, that, or the other." Besides I would like to know what         fleshly appetite of man is the religion that the bulk of them
     they mean by faithfulness to grace after all the defamatory          are contending for. Under these circumstances may every
     speeches and publication against those ministers that defend         believer, and especially every minister of Christ, consider
     the truth of unconditional Election. If by so doing man              himself called upon to contend earnestly for the faith once
     proves faithful to grace, I am at a loss to know. who does           delivered to the saints, and never be ashamed of the blessed
     not prove faithful. Is it faithfulness to darken the power of        gospel of God's grace which has made us free.
     the unconditional promise of our covenant God and accept                                                      JAKE VAN DEN TOP
     the statements of, DeWolf as was done in Classis West in
     1953? How have they rejected that which they were called
     to protect ! We can now plainly see the reason why the                       OUR OWN HIGH SCHOOL - A NECESSITY
                                                                                             (Continued from page 451)
_ people had to be brought in confusion. The principle of the
     Prot. Ref. truth had to go when it came to a test. It was            taught are capably taught and if the pupil passing through
     not wanted. Some of the delegates at that Classis sold the           the doors and walking down the corridors and finding his
     truth without themselves knowing what was going on, and              `seat in the classrooms is given instruction in the knowledge
     they seem to' be blinded for it all as of yet. Is it faithfulness    of God no matter what subject he may study. The approval
     to grace when men act as if they were ashamed of the                 of God upon work well done is sufficient reward in itself.
     truth they profess (for they still call themselves Prot. Ref.).      I am reminded of the words of the prophet Zechariah
     In shamefully concealing it, or keeping it back, and in pour-        in 4:lO: "Who hath despised the day of small things ?"
     ing contempt upon every one whose conscience is made too                 4) These things which are presented above are well with-
     honest to unite with them in so doing? A Christian in his            in our means and are goals which can be successfully reached
     right mind can see something of beauty in Election, for he           by us now. The movement is started, and to procrastinate
     knows if this is not the truth, he must inevitably perish. For       now will be fatal for our entire movement. As churches and
     if God's love to him is not unconditional, without the least         as schools we must continue'to go ahead. The opportunity
     eye to anything done by him, he would never have loved               to do this is ours at this time. Let us not shirk our calling
     him .at all. If this love, can be removed from him by sin,           at this crucial point!
     Satan; o,r the world, it must of necessity be taken away.                The movement of our churches as a whole and of each
     But when he is enabled to see what Jehovah did in ever-              individual endeavor in particular is a movement of faith.
     lasting love: elect him as a vessel of mercy to eternal glory,       Without faith in the cause of the Lord we are easily tossed
     without the least eye to his -worth or worthiness but merely         about on the stormy seas of the times in which we live with-
     as an act of his own sovereign grace and good pleasure, such         out guidance or goal. But faith which looks to the future is
     a soul will never say that his faith is prerequisite to enter        able to overcome all -the problems that confront us and to
     into the kingdom. For God lets His own see themselves as             establish this vital link in, our educational program.
     an unclean thing and they could as soon trust Satan for                  That there is a necessity for our own high school is ap-
     justification than rely on self for believing. The Lord, ac-         parent. What is a covenant obligation and necessity for us,
     cording to His own infinite reason, calls dead sinners out of        the Lord never makes impossible to perform. When He gives


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4 5 6                                           THE,ST.ANDARD                       B     E    A     R    E    R    '    -         .-  .         - -~. .~

 us responsibility in His covenant, He does not shut the door                    Holland's bulletin, like so many. in our churches, is
 before us to the fulfillment of these responsibilities, but                   prepared by the pastor.. The bulletin distributed July 12 in-
 opens the way with guidance from on high. All the spiritual                   ciuded  the program for Divine `worship for the `19th and 26th
 qualifications of a high school are no doubt present with us -                as well, when-the pastor and his family would be vacationing
 we have a most blessed truth ; we have consecrated teachers ;                 in Maryland.                    ..`..
                                                                                           .L :.               .
 .we have dedicated men to serve .on our boards ; it remains                    The Protestant Reformed Male Chorus again was priv-
 to make this a reality. Let us then support the committee                     ileged to extol the praises of God with uplifted voices on
which is now working ! Let us by `all means attend the com-                    the evening of. July `2. The Chorus gave their program at
 ing school society meeting.1 Let us make a high school of                     the--Chr. Ref. Conference Grounds, on Lake Michigan. Due
 our own an actuality !                                       H. Hanko         to the nearness of the July holiday the audience was small,
                                                                               but the quality of the music was not diminished ; if possible,
 II NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES it was better than ever before.
                    "All the saints salute thee . . ." P                          The Ladies' Aid picnic of Holland was the occasion for
                                                            HIL. 4:21    II    the presentation of a gift to the pastor and his wife which
                                                                               was described by the recipients as "very lovely and useful."
                                                  July 20, 1959

  Rev. H. Veldman accepted the call to serve the church in                        Johnson Park, situated on the Grand River, was the scene
 Redlands, Calif. He expects to preach his farewell sermon                     of Hope's Sunday School picnic. scheduled for July 22 ; and
                                                                               was also that of their Ladies' Aid picnic held June 26.
 in Edgerton  on August 2nd, D.V. The parting'between  the
 congregation and her pastor and his wife will not be pleasant                    Hudsonville goes forward. The congregation adopted the
 for they have filled a large place in the congregation: the                   proposals of the consistory which included a new organ, a
 minister in all his labors, and Mrs. Veldman as minister's                    new furnace for the basement rooms, and remodeling both
 wife and as a teacher in Edgerton's own Christian School.                     floors to obtain more usable space. During the remodeling
 The Reverend writes that he leaves Edgerton with a heavy                      the Sunday School classes meet in the auditorium for devo-
 heart, but is convinced that duty calls him to his new charge.                tions, after which some of them meet in the parsonage for
    Edgerton  has now extended a call to Rev. M. Schipper                      class instruction.
 from Southwest Church in Grand Rapids, from a trio which                         Bulletin Quote: "Our conversation must be such that we
 also included the Revs. H. Hanko and R. Veldman.                              may evidence the communion we have . . . . with God in
         Because of the resignation of Rev. E. Emanuel, Randolph               Christ at the Lord's Table. It is not enough to say that we
 has also been added to the vacant churches af our denomina-                   have fellowship. with Him: the vilest hypocrites pretend to
 tion. To fill this vacancy the Rev. J. A. McCollam  has been                  have that honor; but by walking in darkness they disprove
 chosen from a trio which also included the Revs. C. Hanko                     their pretensions and give themselves the lie. We must there-
 and H. Hanko.                                                                 fore show that we have fellowship with Him by walking in
                                                                               the Light. - M. Henry.
         Rev. H. C. Hoeksema has accepted the, call to be a
 Professor ,in our Seminary, filling the vacancy left through                     Oak Lawn's congregational picnic was held July 4th at
 the emeritation of Prof. G. M. Ophoff. South Holland will                     the Elim School picnic grounds. The day included the usual
 call a minister from a trio consisting of Revs. H. Hanko, J.                  group games, and also gave opportunity to the Ladies' Aid
 Heys and G. Vanden  Berg.                                                     to sell their products. Canteen service was provided by the
         Rev. C. Hanko is grateful for his recovery from his                   Elim School. The South Hollanders were also invited.
 recent surgery, but no less for the experience of the love
 of God in His abundant goodness and nearness, but also in                        The Young People of the G. R. area have scheduled their
                                                                               annual outing for July 25th. The place: Silver Lake, near
 the experience of the communion of saints through the church.
                                                                               Hart. They shall travel to and fro by chartered bus.
 The Rev. has not yet taken up his labors in the congreg&.&
 but is looking forward to that time when he may again be                         The members of Southeast Church have received small
 privileged-to do so.                                                          banks which they are expected to fill with daily contributions.
         Due to the illness of his colleague, Rev., H. Hoeksema has            When emptied. the monies will go into their New Organ
 not "vacationed" as usual this summer; indeed, he sometimes                   Fund.
 preached twice a Sunday!
                                                                                  Proverb -of the month : `Who can say, I have made my
         Are you attending the Hymn Sings sponsored by our                     heart clean, I am pure from my sin ?" Prov. 20 :9.
 young people? If you failed to attend the one of June 21
 at Hudsonville you missed the best one of the season.                                   . . . . see you in church.                                          J.M.F.


