          VOLUME x=vI                                JANUARY 15, 1960 - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                         NUMBER's


                                                                                          Literally, according to the original, the word means "to

                 M E D I j- A T I'0 N                                          press down, to press in, to compress, even as the grape in the
                                                                               winepress."

                                                                                          In other words, they are the people who would put me in
                     THE BOUNTIFUL HOST                                        a place that is too small for me.

                                                                                          The whole picture, therefore, is that my host prepares
                     "Thot~  prepared  a table before v4.e  in the presence
                      of my emw&s: Thou  anointed my head with                 a dainty and plentiful table for me, unto the sustaining of
                      0.d; my cup mwneth  omr." PSALM 23 15                    my life which the compressors desire to extinguish.

                                                                                          Hence, they see that their work is vain, and that I know
         "A Psalm of David."
                                                                               this.
       - Yes, this would be of David. It certainly is his style.
                                                                                          The explanation is not difficult here.
         There are two main parts to this psalm: the Shepherd
      and His sheep; and the Host ,and His guests:                                        The Host is Jehovah and the guest is God's child. The
                                                                               compressors, the enemies are the World, Satan and the Flesh,
         The contents is the same`: the care and the feeding of                the three arch-enemies, compressors of the church of Jesus
      the Shepherd; and the feast of the Host and His guests.                  Christ.
         The meaning?. After length of days under the loving                              The prepared table is Life for God's people, through Jesus
      care of God, we go through death to God's House. And                     Christ our Lord. You read of that in Col. 3 :4, "When
      goodness and. mercy now and forever.                                     Christ ZU~LO  is OUY  life  shall appear then shall ye also appear

         In my .$articular  text you may see the bountiful Host                with Him in glory."

      who makes a feast for the oppressed ; which Host prepares                           Christ who is our life! Behold, the table of Psalm 23.
      the oil of gladness for the sorrowing ; and who hath a marvel-
                                                                                     '    How eminently fitting ! The text tells me that the table
      lous fulfilment for the hungry soul.
                                                                               is prepared before my very face. Now read your Gospels

                                                                               again and see how our life is prepared before our face in
                                    * *    :i: *                               the coming, suffering, death on the cross, burial, and also

                                                                               the resurrection and ascending of Jesus to heaven.
          Here is the host.
                                                                                          All is done before our faces, and . . . in the presence of
          He prepares a table before the very face of his guests.              my cpmpressprs. I
      There is joy in. that : it awakens the appetite.
                                                                               `~         The whole history of .salvation,  with the Cross and the
          We receive the impression that this "table" includes food            glorious resurrection as its center,' is prepared before the
      and drink in plentiful quantities, and of great delicacy. In             face of the Church, and in the presence of Caiaphas, Herod,
      other words, a feast is spread before the very faces of the              Pilate, and the. whole crowd of murderers,
      guests.                                                                             And here is the hardest blow for these murderers: they
         And the people who are invited .to this feast are the                 ultimately see that they `even must serve to have this meal
                                               -,
      .oppressed.                                                              prepared. Judas, the Sanhedrin, Herod,  and Pilate, they all

          Not only is this table prepared before my very face, but             have their part to play in the drama of the ages. Such is the
      the host has seen to it that the same table is prepared in               wisdom of God!
                                                                               .
      the very presence of the enemies of his guests.                                                           * * + *

,,        Note the word "enemies."                                                        And nowwe hear of. the Qil  of Gladness for the,sorrowing.


    170                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D  BEARE~R


           Do not think for one moment that the guest escapes un-            Are we put to shame by evil report? Yes, and yet we

   scathed. 0 no.                                                        are raised up again by a'good report.

           Even in the very morning of salvation we have heard it            Are we called deceivers? Yes, and yet we are true.

. already: "and thou-shalt bruise his heel."                                 Are we the great unknown ? Yes, and yet we are well

           The heel of the church is bruised.                            known.

           Primarily this is said by God to the devil who would             Are we dying? Surely we are, we are in a thousand deaths

   bruise the heel of Jesus.         And he did. He ultimately got       often. And yet, behold, we live!

   Jesus on the Cross.                                                       Are we chastened ? You know we are, and yet, we are

       But it also refers to all the bruising .of the church through     not killed.

   the ages.                                                                Are we sorrowful? Oh yes, yet always rejoicing. (Let

       The text is imagery.                                              him who is wise understand this.)

           In Eastern lands the guests were anointed so that their          Are we poor? Oh yes, dreadfully so, but we are making

   robes emanated a delightful fragrance.                                many rich.

       This Host does likewise. And not sparingly, because the               Have we nothing ? You know it, we are the offscouring
   original Hebrew indicates that. You could read the text:              of the world, and yet, we possess all things. See II Cor.
   Thou makest  my head to shine with an abundance of oil.               623-10.

   Note the Dutch translation: "Gij maakt mijn hoofd vet met                 If you do not have the' Holy Ghost, you will not under-
   olie."                                                                stand any of this.

       Oil, in God's Word, is figure of the Holy Ghost.                     We are at the same time the most sorrowful creatures

       Thus the oil in the candlestick in the Temple. Thus in            alive, and yet, we are also the most happy of all.

   the vision of the golden candlestick in Zech. 4:1-6. And thus            While Paul was bound, in the stocks, in the dungeon,
   in Isa. 61:3.  The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me because          with blood seeping through his ragged, dirty clothes at
   the Lord hath anointed Me.                                            Philippi, he prayed and sang the Psalms of David:  That
                                                                                                                                   ..-
       It is rather clear why this should.*be  so, for oil is the        was because of the Holy Ghost in `him." .' '

   source .of light and light is the very life of God. Thus the             When Jesus .hung on the Cross He exhibited a picture of
   Holy Ghost is Workmaster of all the light and the life which          utter forsakenness, and yet, never before or after did the
   is from God and which is transposed to the whole Church               glory shine in Him- and through Him as at that moment.
   of Christ.                                                            His Crucifixion w.as His,  glorification.

       That life `of the Spirit is very fragrant,                           This guest also. He is the oh so weary child of God.

       It has the power and capacity to make one glad. For in-           But he sits at the table of the Lord and is anointed with an
   stance, read Psalm 4.5 :7, Therefore, God, thy God, hath              abundance of oil of the Holy Ghost from the viewpoint of
   anointed me with the oil of gladness. '                               joy and gladness.

       Hence, the viewpoint is still the Host and His guest.                Hence, the happy s.ong of David's Psalm belongs to the
                                                                         table of the Lord.
     Here, at the. table of the Lord, he is anointed abundantly

   with the oil of gladness. Therefore, he is anointed with the                                     *    * * *

   Holy Ghost.

       And that makes all the' difference in the world.                     Moreover, his cup runneth over.

       Yes, the child of God is hurt by the compressors, his                What does that mean ?

   enemies.                                                                 That is all imagery, figurative language.

       Yes, he often cries.          (In reality the Christian always       The guest at this table has been pressed sorely.
   cries to God : 0 ! great and glorious God ! ,We are killed all
                                                                            He is empty, hungry, forsaken.
   the day long for Thy sake !)
                                                                            But the Host will take care of him.
       Yes, he is ,bruised  by the devil, the world and the flesh
   the whole day of his life on earth. The fight is always raging.          When an Eastern host would express that his guest was
                                                                         very welcome, and when the host wished to express that he
     But in the midst of the fight the Lord anoints the guest            possessed plenty unto the comfort and happiness of his guests,
   with the Holy Ghost, and that makes all the difference in             he would ask the guest to hold up his cup and then he would
                                i
   the world.                                                            pour the wine and keep on pouring this wine- until it would

    Are we dishonored.,? Yes, &l yet.  we are.honored:  "                overflow the cup and fall on the carpeted banqueting floor.


                                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B.EARER                                                                                                                                                                        171


         Then the guest knew himself to be doubly welcome.

                                                                                                                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
          Must I explain this figure ?
                                                                                                               Sem~~mpnthly,+xcept  monthly during June, July and August

          Alright  : here, goes :                                                                               Published by the REFORMED FREE  PUBLJXUNG  ASSOCIATION

                                                                                                               P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
          The free-will brigade always begins by saying that Jesus'
                                                                                                                                         Editor - REV:  H~~MAN                                      HOFXSEMA
blood is sufficient for thousands of worlds.
                                                                                                               Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
          I will say that too, but I would say that His blood is                                                                    Rev.  H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
                                                                                                                                                      Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
sufficient fo,r untold millions of worlds, for He sustained the
                                                                                                               All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to. Mr.
eternal wrath of God.                                                                                                                James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.,
                                                                                                                                                  Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
          It is like the-sun whose light shines past our world in a                                            Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
thousand directions. Also where, there is- no earth.                                                           address and will be published at a fee of $2.00 for each notice.

          Did you ever see the many hundreds of little apples                                                 .RENEWAL:  Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
                                                                                                              ceived  it is as.sumed  that the subscriber wishes the subscription
under a tree in harvest time ?                                                                                 to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
                                                                                                                                           Subscription price: $5.00 per year
          The river of God is full of water.
                                                                                                                Entered q Second Class matter at Grand Rapids, Michigan
          God is the overflowing Fountain of all good.

          In the New Jerusalem there are twelve crops each year,
                                                                                                                                                          C O N T E N T S
for the Tree of Life gives her fruit every month for the MEDITATIoN-

healing of the nations.                                                                                              The Bountiful Host . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._............._.___  169
          All these things point up the inexhaustible riches of life,                                                               Rev. G. Vos

of life eternal, love, lovingkindness, and utter salvation of the
                                                                                                          EDITORIALS -
Lord God in Jesus Christ our Lord!                                                                                  -An Atiempt at Discipline. ._...___.  ..___.. .._ . . . . . ..__...._....___  172
          Yes, from out of.the  depths we cry to Thee, 0 God!                                                        As To Being Protestant Reformed  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
                                                                                                                                    Rev. H. Hoeksema
          Yes, but there is a table which, will be set before mine

eves in the dav of Christ. And then Tesus shall drink also                                                APPEAL DENIED                    __...__..  . . . . __.. __ . ______ ___..__...  . . ..__ ___. 174
   <                                                             I
of the new  wine in the House of His Father. It will be a                                                                           Rev. H. Hoeksema
                                                                                                                             . .

feast of plenty and it will be sweet !                                        '                           OUR DOCTRINE -
                                                                                           G . V .                   The Book of Bevelaticn  .._......................................,................  178
                                                                                                                                    Rev. H. Hoeksema


                    THE DEACONS CONFERENCE,                                                               A CLOUD OF WITNESSES -
                                                                                                                     The Sin of Judah .: ..___...............................
           All present and former deacons are invited to the                                                                                                                                                             : . . 178
                                                                                                                                    Rev. B. Woudenberg

                            DEACONS' CONFERENCE
                                                                                                          FROM HOLY WRIT -
                               January 22 at 8 :00 P. M.                                                             Exposition of Romans 14, 15 (12) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..____....................  180

                                             at the                                                                                 Rev. G. Lubbers

                HUDSONVILLE PROT. REF. CHURCH                                                             IN HIS FEAR -

                                                                                                                    Freedom              of Speech (6)                   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
                                       The topic is :                                                                        Rev. J. A. Heys

         "What are the fundamental requirements `of a deacon."                                            CONTEND&  FOR THE  FAITZI  -

                             Speaker: The REV. G. VOS                                                                The Church and the Sacraments ____..___.______............,...............  184

                                                                                                                                    Rev. H. Veldman _
                          The Diaconate of Hudsonville Prot. Ref. Church
                                                                                                          THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS -                                                                                                                                                     :
                                                  Secretary, `P. SCHUT                                              The Canons of Dordrecht .___.  :............__................~  .__. ~..__._..___  -:156

                                                                                                                               Rev. H. C. Hoeksema


                                 I N   M E M O R I A M                                                    DECENCY-AND ORDER -

         The Consistory. of our church would like to express herewith                                               Advisory Members of Classis .______......_~  .._...  ~____........__:  _..__._..  188
our sympathy with our fellow elder, Mr. Donald Dykstra, and his                                                                Rev. G. Vanden Berg

wife, in the loss of their Father,                                                                        ALL .hOUND US -

                           ALBERT HOLTHOF, aged 78 years                                                            More Debate Respecting. Infallibility . . . . . . .._______..__..........  .`_______ 190
         May our Covenant God comfort the bereaved, especially the                                                  It's Wrong But . . . . .._._...........................................................                                                                     190
aged widow. Unto God's people to die is to be with Christ, and gain.                                                           R e v .   h4: Schipper
                                                                                                                        ,                                                                                                              .,

                                       ' The Consistory of the Prot. Ref. Church                          $EWi F;iiOM &JR &IJRCHBS . . . . . . . . ~ .I............  ;:: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .192
                                                                                                                        ._
                                   `-"' of Hudsonville, Michigan                     "'              3                       ' Mr.  J. _ M. Faber
 I../      ::.>  3;. _            ~2  H a r r y   Z w a k ,   S e c r e t a r y   .L  .   .I' .`-


 172                                          THE; S,TANDA-R:D  BE'ARER
                                                             -.


                                                                       and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here." ,And  the last
                  E D I -I- 0 R I A L S.                               part of this text, that about the preaching of Jonah and the
                                                                   II ,repentance  of Nineveh, is repeated in Luke 11:32.
                                                                            Now, what follows if we deny the historicity of the `book
                    An Attempt at Discipline                           of Jonah ? `Many things.
 . The last item of Mr. Glasgow's protest concerns the                      1. .That'Jesus  was in error when He spoke these words.
 miracles of the Bible. As one illustration under `this heading        If this was the case, then there is: guarantee that he was not
 he refers to what Dr. Thompson has to say on the book of              mistaken in regard to any other things He spoke. Then He
 Jonah.                                                                cannot be trusted and we cannot believe in Him.
        According to the latter, `the possibility of the event (of         2. That Jesus knew that what He said was not the
 Jonah's being swallowed up by the whale) is at least subject          truth but that He catered to the popular notions of the people.
 to discussion. To this Mr. -Glasgow replies "that all things          This is just as bad as the foregoing if not worse. But in
 are possible with God, and it would be presumptuous for US            either case we cannot believe in Him.
 to say that a miracle could not be performed." He then dis-               3. That we must deny both the divinity of the Lord
 cusses (i.e. Dr. Thompson) the question of the allegorical            Jesus Christ and the holiness of His human nature, for it is
 interpretation. And he writes : "The time has passed `when            inconceivable that the Son of God in holy and sinless human
 one's belief in the historicity of Jonah and the whale can be         nature should either err or deliberately speak an; untruth.
 made a test of orthodoxy . . . Others point out . . . there is            4. That we deny the resurrection of Christ. For Christ,
 no historical confirmation of the conversion of Nineveh, or           in the words quoted above definitely states that even as
 exact historical details in the book itself, that some of the         Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the
 miracles are grotesque and useless." And at the end Dr.               fish, so the Lord must ?be three days and three nights in the
 Thompson asserts that he does "not care to argue the para-            heart of the earth. If the one is'not true, then the other is
 bolic nature of Jonah."                                               also not a fact. But why, pray, is it more difficult (apart
        My personal chief objection to such teaching in a semi-        even from the fact that the Bible presents it as history) to
 nary is that it says nothing but suggests everything and the          believe that Jonah,was  in the belly of the fish than to believe
 suggestions are entirely negative. In other words, although           that `Christ rose from the dead 7 Is not the latter- a far
 Dr. .-Thompson does ~-not-literally say- so;. it is- plain that he    greater.  wo-llder-  &all :;t;he .foTmer  ?--. <>-e<-.Fa--. .-.i    __...-,,.

 does not believe-the historicity of the `book of Jonah nor the            5. The only other conceivable possibility is that Matthew
 reality of the miracle of his being in the whale. Such teaching       was mistaken and that Jesus never spoke these words. But
 is insidious. If this is meant by the repeated statement that         this is equally bad as the other possibilities, for then we
 Dr. Thompson is an able. teacher, I can  agree. But again I           attack the infallible inspiration of the gospel according to
 maintain that it is characteristic of an able teacher, not to         Matthew and, of course, the infallible inspiration of the whoie
 be negatively suggestive, but to state his own convictions            of Scripture. And then we have nothing left: no Word of
 clearly and definitely.                                               God, no Christ, no gospel, no salvation.
        For the rest, if Dr. Thompson does not believe that the        _ Thus we see where we ultimately land when once. we
 book of Jonah is historical -and that. he was three days in the       begin to `deny part of the Bible.
 belly of the fish, he must deny many more things. Such is                  Mr. Glasgow summarizes- his protest as .follows  :
 always the case with Scripture. The Bible is one whole. If                 "1. I have here submitted Dr. `Thompson's own record

 you deny one part of it, you must deny more until you have            as written by'him to `clearly reflect' Dr. Thompson's true
 nothing left. And, of course, principally you must deny that          `attitude towards the Bible.' This `is not `hearsay' or what
 the Bible is `the inspired Word of-God.              . .              `somebody said' -but are Dr. Thompson's own statements.
       Thus it is also in this case.                                        "2. I have set forth some of the clarion declarations of
        Deny that Jonah was a historical person, that he was           Dr. Benjamin B. Warfield, who Dr. Lacy declares was
 called to preach in Nineveh but refused, that God made him            followed by Dr. Strickler  and Dr. Johnson, and whom these
 go'anyway butt through the belly of the fish, that he.preached        professors of Theology at Union, together with Dr. Smith
 in Nineveh and the city repented,- and you must also deny             who followed them, required all of their. students to study

 what the Lord Jesus said about this entire history in                 and master. I submit that this unequivocally establishes the
 Matthew 12 :39-41: "But he answered and said unto them,               `historic position' of our church--on these vital issues.
 An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign ; and               "3. I have set forth in direct contrast the statements of

 there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet       the Bible and of our Standards for direct comparison with

 Jonas :. For as ,Jonas  was three days and three nights in the        the statements and necessary and obvious inferences from Dr.

 whale's belly ; so shall the Son of man be three days and             Thompson's own statements.
three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh                  "4. We are a `Confessional Church.' We declare our un-

 shall rise up in judgment with this generation,. and shall            qualified, normal and sincere acceptance of that Confession.
                                                                                          ,,+a
 condemn it : because they repented at the preadhing  of Jonas
 .-      . . .                  .-                                     Unless we desire to support the position of the Southern

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


  Presbyterian Church, we are free. to go to the church of our         Church. ~faithfully  and acceptably as a professor at Union

  choice. Simple honesty with the world and with our homes,            Theological Seminary for more than twenty years, in addi-

  who send their sons to our Seminaries, demands that our              tion as pastor, author, teacher and Presbyter, is in spirit as

  teaching conform to that Confession. These homes have a              well as in mind thoroughly loyal to the Scriptures and to

  right to believe that our Seminaries and Professors teach the        the Standards of the Church ; that he is entitled to the love

  historically known and accepted interpretation of that Con-          and confidence of the Church as a Christian gentleman, a I

  fession. This is not `theology'- it is just plain common             scholar, an author, and a servant of the Master, and that

  honesty.                                                             his presence on the. faculty of Union Theological Seminary

           "5. I have declared that evasion, equivocation, and am-     is a distinct asset to that institution.

  biguity, have no rightful part in the methods of teaching               "Third. That Dr. Thompson's Confession of Faith is an

  employed by our Seminary Professors. The Church has a                excellent summary of Christian belief, and should be pub-

  right to know, and if necessary to investigate through its           lished in our Church papers for the inspiration and guidance

  courts and ascertain what is being taught in our Seminaries,         of others.

  and the fundamental policies being followed. I again maintain           "Fourth. That this investigation (Book of Church Order,

  that the Assembly (and I believe a supporting Synod or               par. 183) does not find any grounds for the institution of

  Presbytery) has a right to make such an investigation as it          process against Dr. Thompson by the Presbytery."

  sees fit and that, Dr. Lacy's declaration is an amazing                 I need not comment further on this report. There is

  declaration : `On Constitutional grounds, I object to an in-         nothing to comment on except that it is perfectly evident          .

  quisition by a General Assembly.'                                    that the committee did not consider the charges by Mr.

           "6. I have set forth- FACTUAL DATA which supports           Glasgow against Dr. Thompson and certainly whitewashed

  the charge against Dr. Thompson as evidencing our obliga-            the whole matter. The reader will understand why the cap-

  tion that he be immediately relieved from his position of in-        tion of these articles is : "An Attempt at Discipline."

  fluence as Professor."                           t,                     The attempt failed. But the end is not yet. And I hope
                                   *    * + *                          that I may hear further about the case.       '          H.H.

           Thus far the protest. What became of the matter ?

           First of all, according to the report, a committee was                  As To Being Protestant Reformed
  appointed to investigate the charges made by .Mr.  Glasgow,           -' I will, the Lord: willing, write more <under  the above

  and that, too, at the request of Dr. Thompson.                       mentioned heading. But this time I have space only to an-

           According to another report, written by one who agreed      swer a question put to me by the Rev. Wm. Haverkamp in

  with the charges made by Mr. Glasgow; that committee con-            De Wachte+  of Jan. 5, 1960.

  sisted entirely of men who were in favor of Dr. Thompson,               The brother read my article in The Standard Bearer

  and who determined "to whitewash the whole charges with-             on the name "Protestant Reformed." And at the close of his

  out even the formality of an investigation." Besides, it was         article he asks a question as follows : "Een opmerking : Ds.

  decided that no transcript of the record of this examination         Hoeksema  maakt niet duidelijk Z~~YOI~ voor het woord

  would be furnished'to Mr. Glasgow "as this would furnish             `Reformed' ook .nog het woord Protestant geplaatst moet

  ammunition for further `persecution.' "                              worden.  Is het `niet vanzelfsprekend, dat een kerk die staat

           Again, Dr. Thompson was invited to meet with the            op de basis van de gereformeerde belijdenisschriften oak  staat

  committee that were to investigate the charges made against          op de basis van de protestantse reformatie in de zestiende

  him, but he refused on the ground that "he did not feel that         eeuw ?"

  such a Committee was a competent body to examine him on                  I may briefly put this question in English for our

  these matters."                                                      readers that are not acquainted with the Dutch. The question

           Further, the committee, in its report, stated from the      is whether the addition Protestant is not superfluous seeing

  outset that one was not obliged to agree with and conform            that a Reformed Church naturally stands on the basis of

  to the Standard of the Church `in every detail. This may, in         the Protestant Reformation.

  itself be true, but then the question arises naturally what             Briefly, I would answer as follows:

  belongs to the details and what to the essentials. The charges           1. First, I like to answer with a counter-question. In

 .made by Mr. Glasgow certainly cannot be regarded as minor            the name. Christian Reformed is not the addition "Christian"

`. details. I                                                          superfluous seeing that to be Reformed already implies to

           The conclusion of the Committee's report is as follows :    be Christian ?

           "In view of the above findings, it is the judgment of          2. ,Secondly  we added this in distinction from all kinds

  this committee: First, That Mr. Glasgow has not established          of Reformed churches in this country as: Free Reformed,

  his contention that Dr. Thompson is disqualified for having          Christian Reformed, Reformed Churches of America. And.

  a place  on. the `faculty in the Seminary in the Southern            we did not wish to leave the conceited impression that we -`e

  Presbyter.ian   C h u r c h .                                        considered ourselves the only` Reformed Church in .the -if

           "Second. That Dr. Thompson, who has served the              country.                                                 H.H, ;:;<
 ,. ~-
  . . /


174                                         T H E   STANDARD.BEARER


                       APPEAE DENIED                                of the church to the Hoeksema Consistory and denied such

                                                                    control to appellants.
       Here follows the decree of the Supreme Court of the
                                                                        The original litigation was an action filed by the First
State of Michigan in regard to the attempt the schismatics
                                                                    Protestant Refomied  Church of Grand Rapids as represented
made to obtain the property of the First Protestant Re-
                                                                    by the Hoeksema Consistory against another faction, the
formed Church of Grand Rapids.
                                                                    DeWolf Consistory, over control of the church property.
       For the convenience of the general reader who is not
                                                                        The case was tried in the first instance in Grand Rapids
acquainted with the legal terms used in this document, I will
                                                                    superior court before Judge Taylor. He found that the
make a few introductory remarks :
                                                                    church involved was a member of the Protestant Reformed
       1. I advise the reader to peruse this document carefully
                                                                    Churches of America ;* that, as a result of a doctrinal dispute,
and to read it repeatedly.
                                                                    the DeWolf Consistory of First Church had seized forcible
   2. The decree is, evidently, a reply and a denial of what
                                                                    control of the church property ; that the Protestant Reformed
the schismatics, through their lawyer, presented to the             Churches of America were presbyterial in character; that
C o u r t .
                                                                    doctrinal issues were properly to be decided by higher
       3. The Court denies three things:
                                                                    church bodies ; that these bodies were the Classis  and the
   a. That the first decree in the case of the First Church         Synod, and that the appropriate Classis,  Classis East, had
in 1956 was a mere injunctive decree, so that it could be
                                                                    decided the doctrinal issue in favor of the Hoeksema Con-
continued and reopened at any time, but was adjucatory,
                                                                    sistory and against the DeWolf Consistory.
final and decisive.
                                                                        He, therefore, entered a decree giving recognition to the
   b. That, when in that decree the Court spoke of the Synod,
                                                                    Hoeksema Consistory as "the legal and only board of direc-
this was not an error but a dictum i.e. a judicial opinion on
                                                                    tors" of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand
points that are not necessarily involved in the case and that       Rapids, and enjoining the DeWolf faction from "interfering
was-based on the decisions of Classis East.
                                                                    with the plaintiff:;corporation,  acting through its legal Cdn-
   3. That, as to the decisions of the re-constituted Classis       sistory, in exercising its absolute right .of possession and
East:, they do not alter the right of the "Hoeksema-group" to
                                                                    control over all of the property *** of- the plaintiff corpora-
keep possession of the property.                                    tion."
   On the basis of these.consider_ationsthe.appe.al  was. denied    <On  appeal%+0  .this  Court, the decree -of -Judge Taylor
                                                          H.H.      .was  affirmed- this Court relying on the decision of Classis

                                                                    East, and also indicating that evidence showed that the
                S T A T E   O F   M I C H I G A N                   Synod (the `highest body) had likewise "supported the

                                                                    suspension and,deposition  of the DeWolf faction."
                       SUPREME COURT
                                                                        During trial and appeal of the First Church Case, the split

FIRST PROTESTANT REFORMED CHURCH OF                                 in the Protestant Reformed Churches of America meantime
GRAND RAPIDS, a Michigan corporation,                               had been progressing. It spread to other churches and into
                                                                    both Classes and Synod. There now appeared 2 separate
                      Plaintiff and Appellee,                       Classis  Easts. The DeWolf faction, along with the Reverend

                                                                    Blankespoor of Second Protestant Reformed Church, formed
          V.
                                                                    what they termed the Reconstituted Classis  East.
HUBERT DE WOLF, FREDERICK SYTSMA,                                       The schism also appeared at the Synodical  level so that
HENRY KNOTT, WILLIAM STEURSMA,                                      there appeared 2 separate Synods, each claiming that it con-
LAMBERT  MULDER, ANDREW DYKSTRA,                                    stituted the lawfully ,designated  high governing body of the
HENRY BASTIANSE, SIDNEY DE YOUNG,                                   entire church organization. One Synod recognized the De
ADOLPH VERMEER, GERRIT SIKKEMA,                                     Wolf-Blankespoor faction as representing Classis  East, the
JOHN BOWMAN and ANDREW VOSS,                                        other recognized the Hoeksema-Schipper group.

                     Defendants and Appellants.                         The issue of which Synod was the lawful one eventually

                                                                    came before this Court in'another case involving a dispute
BEFORE THE ENTIRE BENCH.
                                                                    - - - - - -
Edwards, J.                                                         *Thk  First Protestant Reformed Church of`Gra.nd Rapids is 1 of 24
                                                                     member churches of the Protestant Reformed Churches of America.
 This is an appeal from the refusal of the superior court            The immediate governing body of each church is its local Consistory
                                                                     which is elected by the church membership. The Consistory is in
of Grand Rapids to amend a decree previously entered by it           charge  of the property of the local church. The next higher govern-
and affirmed by this Court in 1956 in First Protestant Re-           ing body for the denomination is Classis.  There are 2 Classes,
                                                                     namely, Classis  East and Classis West, with 12 churches belonging
formed-Church v. DeWolf, 344 Mich  624. Appellants herein            to each. First Protestalit  Reformed Church of Grand Rapids belongs
claim a change. of circumstances warrants a change in the            to Classis  East. The highest goveming  body of the denomination IS
                                                                     Synod. Synod is composed of delegates chosen from Cl+ssis  East
provisions of the decree which gave control of the property          and Classis, West.


                                           T H E   STANDA.RD   B E A R E R                                                     175


between 2 Consistoiies,  each .of which sought control of the       other defendants guilty af heresy and advised the Consistory

Second Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids.                  of First Church to require apologies or to oust them. Thus,

    Ultimately, this Court resolved the Second Protestant           the court followed long-standing precedent. (much of it

Churdh  dispute by determining that the Synod which had             written as a result of other schisms in this church) requiring

recognized the Reconstituted Classis  East was the lawful           the courts to accept the decisions of appropriate higher

Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches of America.               church bodies in determining property disputes between

The basis for this determination was that the time and              church members in churches of a presbyterial character.

meeting place of this Synod was the only one under church           Bol'gman  v. Bultema, 213 Mich  684; Holwerda v. Hoeksema,

law to which the last lawful Synodical meeting could properly       232 Mich 648.

have adjourned. Having established the lawful Synod, the               See, also, Van Vliet v. Vander Naald, 290 Mich 365.

Court stated that the disputed doctrinal issue was .for  that          We do not regard the injunctive portion of the decree as

Synod to settle. Accordingly, the Court held that the               its controlling feature. It restrained DeWolf and his asso-

Blankespoor Consistory, seated by the lawful Synod, was             ciates from denying to the Hoeksema  Consistory the right

entitled to hold the property of the Second Reformed Church         Jo control church property which the adjudication referred

of Grand Rapids.    Second Protestant Reformed Church of            to above granted. The relative insignificance of the injunctive

Grand Rapids v. Blankespoor, 350 Mich  347.                         relief  is indicated by the willingness of plaintiff (during

    After this decision was rendered, the DeWolf group, the         hearing of this petition) to stipulate to the elimination of

defendants in the original First Church action, sought in the       any injunctiqn,  and defendants' evident unwillingness to ac-

present case to amend and modify the decree issued against          cept the offer.

them. They assert that it is basically a decree providing a            Nor do& the factual record presented here warrant relief

continuing injunction governing future events, and hence is         even if we did construe the prior decree primarily as a' co+

subject to modification. They claim that events subsequent          tinuing injtinction.  This record does not purport  to present

to issuance of the decree (i.e., the action of Synod in seating     any new decision of Classis or Synod pertaining to a new           F

and recognizing Reconstituted Classis East, its action in           dispute or disputes over control of the property of Fir,:

receiving "for information" the decision of Reconstituted           Church. What we do have is an admonition from Syndt.1

Classis East which reconsidered and reversed its heresy             (after schism at the, Synodical level) inditiating  "incorrxt-

firiding  againkt DeWolf;`and'the  designation of-this  Synod as    riess"  of language f>om  th'e First Church o$nioti-  CJf this

the lawful Synod by the Supreme Court) render the First             Court which stated "Synod ***  supported the suspension  and

Church decree `inequitable. The `relief sought appears to be        deposition of the DeWolf faction," and a record of the

complete vacation of the decree and substitution therefor  of       action of Reconstituted Classis  East reconsidering and re-

a decree awarding the entire church property to the DeWolf          versing the finding of heresy against DeWolf.

Consistory.                                                            As to the first action by Synod, we regard the language

    The trial court declined to grant the relief sought, on         complained of as dictum since the decision in First Church

the ground that it was powerless to modify a final decree           was planted on the action of Classis  East. As. to the action,

affirmed by the Supreme Court in a de nova hearing of a             by Reconstituted Classis East reversing the finding if _

chancery appeal.                                                    heresy and recommendation of ouster against Reverend De

    Our conclusion as to this appeal may be stated simply.          Wolf, nothing contained therein disputes the right of the

We do not construe the decree entered in the First Church           Hoeksema Consistory to continued control of First Church

Case as primarily injunctive in nature. Its decisive provi-         property. In short, neither the Synodical nor the Classical

sion was as follows:                                                action calls for the relief sought by petitioner which is com-

    "NOW,  therefdre, on due consideration thereof, it is           plete vacation of the prior decree and a new decree ousting

ordered, adjudged and decreed, and `this court does hereby          the Hoeksema Consistory and turning the church property

order, adjudge and decree as follows :                              over entirely to the control of defendants.

    "1. That `the legal and only board of directors of the             We recognize the validity of the equitable principle relied

,plaintiff  corporation is the Consistory of The First Prot-        upon by defendants and appellants :

estant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan, of                   "A continuing decree of injunction directed to events to

which Messrs. H. Hoeksema and C. Hanko were presidents              come is subject always to adaptation as events may shape the

and G. Stadt was secretary at the time of commencement of           need." United States v. Swift & Co., 286 US 106, 114.

this suit."                                                            See, also, Township of Erin v. Detroit & Erin Plank-

    This plainly constituted a final adjudication as to control     Road Co., 115 Mich  465 ; Edlis, Inc. v. Miller, 132 W Va

of church property as between 2 competing factions as of the        147 (51SEZd  132) ; Ladner v. Siegel; 298 Pa 487 (148 A

time concerned. In its decision, the court did not attempt to       699, 68 ALR 1172).

determine which faction followed the true doctrine of the              For the reasons we have indicated above, however, we

church. The court relied primarily upon the action of Classis       do not deem it decisive of this appeal.

East which had heard the dispute and had held DeWolf and               Affirmed. Costs to appellee.

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


                                                                               to him willingly, offering him even their worship. But uni-
          O U R   D O C T R I N E                                        II    versal this kingdom also is, we saw, because it has absolute
                                                                               sway over all things  in its kingdom, over industry and

                                                                               commerce, over science and art, over religion and philosophy,
           THE BOOK OF REVELATION                                              and over all the powers and talents of creation.

                                                                                   As to its spiritual character, we found that this kingdom
                             PART TWO
                                                                               is anti-God and anti-Christ, `anti-kingdom and anti-saints.

                                                                               This was plain from the fact that the beast received his power
                        C H A P T E R   E L E V E N
                                                                               and throne from the dragon, the old serpent, the devil, the

                   The Beast out of the) Earth                                 incurable opponent of the Most High and of His Christ.
                                                                               This is clear also from the fact that he bears names of
                       Revelation 13 :ll-18                                    blasphemy on his seven heads, that he has a mouth to

                                                                               blaspheme, Andy  that he opens that mouth actually to blas-
           11. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the
           earth; and he had two -horns,  like a lamb, and he spake            pheme the Most High and the saints of Christ in His taber-
           as a dragon.                                                        nacle. This is clear, in the third place, from the fact that

                                                                               he kills and persecutes the saints who refuse to worship the
           12. And he exerciseth all the power, of the first beast
           before him, and causeth the earth and them which                    beast. And finally, this is evident from the fact that he him-

           dwell therein to worship -the first beast, whose deadly             self allows himself to be worshipped as God.  instead of the
           wound was healed.                                                   Most High. Thus the kingdom of man under Satan is com-

           13. And he. doeth great wonders, so that he maketh                  plete. ,It is a kingdom that has sway over all the universe,

           fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight                over all men, over all the powers of creation, a kingdom in
           of men,                                                             the which man worships his own work and, in the which the

           14.    And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by             devil is lord supreme.

           the means of those miracles which he had power to do                    As to the historical realization, we pointed out that it is
           in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on             already in the world as to its spiritual principle, and that it
           the earth, that they should make au image to the beast,             is in the making all during the history of the present dis-
         which $ad  thii wound by a sword, and did live.
                                    ..,                           S,'          pensation; -i-eve8li@  ftself  `rrio~e- or leid*`boldly  at differ&it
           15.    And he had power to give life unto the image of              stages of history. In the second place, WC.  warned that you
           the beast, that the image of thf:  beast should both speak,         must not imagine that it has already reached its full mani-
           and cause that as many as would not worship the image
                                                                               festation and that Revelation 13 has already been fully re-
           of the beas,t should be killed.
                                                                               alized. But, in the third place, we also pointed out that for
           16.    And he c&Seth all, both small and great, rich and            him that has understanding and that can at all read the
           poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right
           hand, or i? their foreheads:                                        signs of the times it is plain that the time is at hand and
                                                                               that all things develop very fast in the direction of this fascin-
         17. And that no man might buy or sell, save he that
                                                                               ating world-kingdom.
           had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number
           of his name. '                                                          Now the text speaks of a second beast. And to prevent
                                                                               any misunderstanding at all, let me say from the outset that
           18. Here is wisdom. Let him%  that hath understanding
                                                                               there is a definite relation between the first and the second
           count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a
           man; atid his number is Six hundred threescore and six.             beast. We must not have the impression that in the first
                                                                               part of the chapter Antichrist was pictured in its full mani-
   We have discussed the first beast, that came up out of                      festation, and that now in the second part we have the
the sea and that combined within itself the appearance of a                    representation of something quite different. But much rather
leopard, a bear, and a lion, that had the ten horns and the                    we must maintain that in the entire thirteenth chapter of
seven heads. We came to the conclusion, in the first place,                    Revelation we have the picture of Antich&t. The two
that this beast is the symbol of a great polifical  world-                     beasts together form the picture of the full and complete
power, as is evident from the passages in the book of Daniel                   antichristian power. But the first beast pictures it in its
that refer to similar beasts. We found that it is not merely                   political aspect; the second beast deals with its religious and
a king or an emperor or government that is here pictured,                      moral and scientific forces. The first beast tells us that this
but that the beast represents the entire power, the govern-                    kingdom has sway over all men  and over all things; the
ment and its dominion, and that they belong together in-                       second beast rather explains to us how this first beast exer-
separably. We also found that this world-power is universal                                                                               I
                                                                               cises his authority.
in its sway. It has dominion over all nations and tongues                         It is clear from a glance at the text that the symbolism
and tribes, and that not by main force but by free alliance                    of the first part is simply continued. In the preceding part
of all the nations together. For they all wonder after the                     of the chapter we found the picture of $ beast rising .up

beast, think him great, admire him, and subject _ themselves                   out of the sea, wit'h  seven heads and ten horns, and appearing


                                            T H E   S T ' A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             177


like a leopard, a bear, and a lion, all in one. In that first        them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image.
part of the chapter tie fbund things that were really un-            He causes all, that worship the beast to receive a sign. And
intelligible without the second. And therefore, to complete          therefore we receive the c!ear  impression that the beast here
the picture we must really. insert the picture of the second         mentidned does not work like the first beast, but that he is
beast into that of the first. The full symbolism is as follows.      of a different character. He comes by speaking and doing
The first beast is followed bjr a second, that rises up out of       great signs and wonders. He comes therefore with the
the earth. He is less formidable in appearance. Nor is his           persuasion `of a prophet. He does' tiot force, but convince.
origin in the stormy sea, but from the more quiet and more           He does not command and issue laws, but he wins the hearts
stable earth. He looks like a lamb, it seems, for he has horns       of men. And if we add to this that we read repeatedly that
as of a lamb. But when he speaks, he reminds one of the              this second beast works in the sight of and in the presence
awful red dragon. He stands in a very definite relation -to          of the first beast and that he does all he can for the power       .
the first beast. Repeatedly this is indicated in the text. He        and maintenance of the first .Least, it is plain that this

exerciseth all his.authority in the sight of, in the presence of,    second beast represents some power in the kingdom, some

in behalf of, as servant of the first beast. All that he does he     tremendous influence in that great universal kingdom which
does in the presence of the first beast. And therefore, the          we have pictured to you according to the first part of the
purpose, of this second beast lies in the service of the first.      chapter, through which the hearts and minds of men are in-
And this soon becomes apparent. For the second beast                 fluenced and bewitched and charmed, so that they worship

causes the inhabitants of the world to wonder after the fi?st,       ,the beast and admire him and submit themselves gladly.

admire him, and worship him. This second `beast makes                    What power, then, does this second beast represent? We

man build an image of the first beast, in order to worship           will find no difficulty to identify him. Scripture itself tells

the beast through his image'. This second beast makes that           us. In the -nineteenth chapter of the book of Revelation we

all the worshippers of the beast receive a sign that dis-            find  that this same beast is referred to. And there we read:

tinguishes them from those that refuse to worship the first          "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet,

beast, in order that they may be killed. This second beast is        that wrought the signs in his sight, wherewith he deceived

therefore, as it were, the actual power of the first; and the        them that had received the mark of the beast and them

first works and exercises his .power  through the second.            that worshipped his image: they two were cast alive into the

The first bea&  cduld, not exist and could `not exercise his         lake of fire .that burn&  with brimst0ne.j'  And in Revelation

authority and would not be worshipped without the work               20 :lO we find mention of him once more : "And the devil that

of the second beast. And the second beast would have .nd             deceived them was cast into the la&e  of fire and brimstone,

reason to exist and' to work, were .it not for the fact that this    where are also the beast and the false prophet." The identity

first beast must reach its full power.                               is unmistakable. The beast that is mentioned in these pas-

   Thus is the picture. What now does this second beast              sages is evidently the first beast; and the false prophet' is
represent? It is plain from what we have said that it can-           none other than this second beast, with the two lamb's horns,

not represent a -second kingdom. Tru'e,  in Daniel, as we            that speaks as the dragon. And therefore we come to the
have said, the beasts are symbols of kings together with             conclusion that this second beast is called the false prophet.
their kingdoms. And also here we have the picture of a               Whati is a prophet? We must banish from our minds the
beast. But let me call your attention to the fact, in the first      popular conception that a prophet is chiefly a man that fore-
place, that this second beast makes a radically different .im-       tells the future. True,?  a prophet also foretells the future.

pression  from the first and from the beasts that are pictured       But that is not his only work. We find from Scripture that

in Daniel 7. There we have the wild animal,- leopard and             a prophet is characteristically a person that speaks for some-
bear and lion, and all combined into one. But here we have           one else. Aaron is called the prophet of Moses when they

an entirely different picture. This beast' evidently makes one       two together go to Pharaoh and Aaron expresses the message
think of a lamb first of all. He has horns like those of a           instead of. and for Moses. So are the prophets of God among

lamb, though he speaks like the dragon. In the second place,         Israel. They are men that speak for God and bring His
let me call your attention to the fact that evidently his            message, that appeal to the minds and hearts of men, of
power is quite  different from that of a king. A king com-           Israel, in behalf of Jehovah and His covenant and cause.
mands, makes laws, and thus exercises authority. But this            They teach and speak and reveal the will of God and try
beast, although it exercises authority, even the same as that        to persuade men that they may embrace Jehovah's cause.
of the first beast, does not exercise his power by'commands,         Now this second beast is also a prophet: he speaks for
but evidently by persuasion. He speaks. And what this                someope else. He tries to influence the minds of men, to
speaking of the second beast implies may become plain from           persuade them, to gain them for the cause of him in whose
the repeated indications in the text concerning the manner           interest he speaks. But he is a false prophet. He does not
of his work. We- read that he makes the earth and its in-            preach the truth. He speaks the lie. He persuades men and
habitants worship the beast, that he deceives man by the             teaches them, and by doing so deceives them, so that they
great signs and wonders which he performs, that he says. to          belieire  the lie.                                       H.H.

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


                                                                    that also the saints of former days were sinners. They could
)/A CLOU'D OF WITNESSES 11 be guilty of the grossest sins. The Scriptures tell us time and
                                                                    time again of sins, terrible sins, of which some -of --the

                                                                    greatest saints in the history of God's Church have been

                      The Sin of Judah                              guilty. There is hardly a precept of God's law which can

                                                                    not be found to have been transgressed by one of the saints
              `L4nd  Judah ,a.cknowledged  them, and said, She      in Scripture.
               hath been whore  righteous than I ."

                                                - GENESIS 38 26        This fact is for us of considerable importance. In the
                                                                    first place, it prevents us from idealizing men. There is no
       There are certain portions of Scripture which are very       room found in Scripture for the worship of me?e men. There
difficult to read. It is not the language that is hard ; it is      is `only One who is &rtliy of being worshipped and that is
the content. They tell of things which we do not care to            God. Whenever you have mere men, you have sinners. That
know, of things which are repulsive to our sense of propriety,      fact the Word of God will not let us forget. In the second
of things which we ordinarily would never think of talking or       place, it is a warning against hypocrisy. If the Holy Ghost
writing about. We would not think of selecting these por-           had recorded.for us only the virtues of these saints, we might
tions of Scripture to read in public, we hesitate to read them      easily come td the conclusion that to be a child of God we
in the home when children are present; even in our private          have to lead perfect lives.    Since we could only appear to
reading we do not choose to dwell very long upon them. They         do this through the means of hypocrisy, the results of this
discuss sins in terms that tend to shock us. At times tie may       for us would be disastrous. But God tells us that His chil-
even wonder why the Holy  Spirit has thought well to have           dren are not perfect; they also are yet sinners. We need
recorded them in the Scriptures. Such a portion of Scripture        not be afraid of admitting that this is true  of ourselves. In
is that found in-the 38th chapter of Genesis concerning the         the third place, it reveals to us the universal need which
sins of Judah and his sons. The fact of the matter is that          God's people have for atonement. There is no man who is
this and other portions -like! it, have. a very definite purpose    righteous of `himself. Even the fathers of the Church were
to serve.    There is something amazing and truly wonderful         by nature men of corruption. If anyone is to appear righteous
about the fact that sins are so, consistently and accurately        before the sight of God, he must be robed in the right-
recorded for us in the -Bible.           .-
                                                                    eousness of another, and that can only be in the atoning

   In our study of the history of the Church as recorded in         blood of Jesus Christ. In the fourth place, this can keep us
Scripture we learn to know the saints that have lived in            from discouragement. It is a hard thing for a child of God
former years. The more we study their lives the more we             to have to live in the. constant awareness of the corruption
begin actually to experience a oneness of life with them. In        which $sserts  itself in his own flesh. ,If we could know only
their experiences we see our own lives clearly reflected. Their     about our own lives, or if we could only judge by what
joys and sorrows, strengths and weaknesses, vict&ies  and           actually comes to light in the lives of our fellow saints, we
sorrows,, loves and hatreds are essentially the same as ours.       might easily become totally diicouraged  as to the possibility
They arouse within us a spiritual sympathy. In essence we           of our own salvation because of the sin which we always see
travel the same road as Abram coming from Ur and Moses              in our own inner lives. The record of God assures us, how-
through the wilderness ; we fight `the same battles as Joshua       ever, that sin has been the c&stant  reality in the lives of all
and David ; we defend the same truth as Elijah and Elisha.          of His people.  Finally, this is for us a warning against self-
When in the pages of Scripture we hear them speak in faith,         confidence. Let us never look at ourselves and think that
the confession of Ruth re-echoes in our own heart, "Thy             we are free from the possibility of gross sins. Some of the
people shall be my people, and thy God my `God."  The com-          greatest of the saints have fallen deeply into sin. There is not
mqnioti  of saints binds us together in the .body of Christ,        one of us that is in himself one bit stronger than they. We
spanning all time and space.                                        mjy all well take warning and look to God and pray, lest
                                                                    we fall into temptation.
   As we study these lives recorded for us, we are  often

inclined to picture them in our minds as men far more per-             Furthermore, this fact that so many sins are so accurately

fect than they actually were. We see them in their strength         recorded is one of the great assurances we have as to the

and tend to minimize their wkaknesses. We are apt to forget         divine authorship of Scripture. If the Bible were a mere

that they also were mere men with all of the weaknesses,            work of men, it would never be so. The world's history and

temptations, and sins with which we have to struggle in             even its mythology always tend to the glorification of favored

our own flesh. We are rather naturally inclined toward hero         men.. Of George Washington there is hardly any record left

worship in which we take mere men and in our minds raise            of anything that he did which was bad. Lincoln's every ut-

them to positions of absolute perfection. It is then dis-           terance and deed is considered nigh unto sanctimonious. And

concerting to come to chapiers  such as the one which we            every nation does the same with its heroes. Even in the

are now considering, chapters which point out in sharp terms        Church we rarely escape the tendency to emphasize the


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                179


 virtues and soft-pedal the weaknesses of such men as Calvin        Jacob's children, and -they had not the strength` to refuse.

 and Luther. But this God never does. His record of the             They' began to live like these peoples. How great these sins

 church's history is very accurate. When He records a man's         became, we learn in this chapter. In the first place, Judah

 life, He records; it as it was with all of the weaknesses and      went out from his father's house to go and live with the

 sins which are important for us to know. There is no gloss.        Canaanites. This in itself was a great sin. Abraham and

 The Bible's record concekning  man is just as it took place        Isaac, his fathers before hiti, had done their utmost to keep

 with sins as sin, and virtues as virtues in all honesty and        themselves free from the influence of the Canaanites. This

 truthfulness. This complete honesty is one of the greatest         discretion Judah now completely neglected. Then he married

 testimonies  to the divine authorship of Scripture.                a Canaanitish woman. Esau had been severely condemned.by

     This all is very clearly exemplified in the Genesis 38         Isaac in former years for having done this very thing; now
 record concerning Judah and his children. Judah was in the         Judah, of the promise? line, went ,out  and did the same. In
 promised line of the covenant. From his line of generations        addition he gave his son to marry a Canaanitish woman ~1~0.
 was to corn&  the Christ. Were the Old Testament merely a          Finally the two oldest of his sons were slain in judgment by
 record made by the historians of Israel, we may be sure            God for the extreme wickedness in which they engaged.
 that he would have been presented solely as a man of virtue.       From a human point of view it would have been impossible
 Surely the events of this chapter could easily have been           for the covenant line to have continued in such an environ-
 passed over. But God's ways are different than man's. He           ment for even a few more generations. The children of Jacob
 would not suppress the truth, even concerning the line of          were much too susceptible to the friendliness of the world.
 Judah. Rather- it was God's very purpose to reveal that Christ     It was the grace of God which removed them to the land of
 did come from a line of sinners. The glory of Christ is not        Egypt where the people of the world were much less desirous
 contingent upon the glamour of His forefathers as is so with       of their friendship. There they could develop into a nation
 the heroes of men. His greatness is purely in the love of          free from the temptations which they were not strong enough
 the triune God Who sent Him to be born to men guilty and           to withstand. Only after Canaan was ripe for judgment
 lost in sin. Because the Scriptures are not mere history but       would they be brought back.        _

 the revelation of God's grace in salvation, this fact for US is        One thing which we should not fail to note. concerning
 iqQ,ortant.                                                        Judah, however, is the fact that he was, in Spite of his many

   Consider once how differently we might iiik upon Judah           sins, a child of God. We might b'e' inclined'  to con&de after
 if we did not have the record of this chapter. Then the chief      a superficial reading of this chapter that he was yet an- un-
 basis for our evaluation of him would be based on the plea         regenerate man. There is one fact that reveals that this is
 iti behalf of Benjamin before the face of Joseph (Gen. 44).        not true, that is the fact that when Tamar showed to him

 That was surely a most beautiful plea manifesting great love       his sin he was willing to confess that he was guilty. He

 and spiritual courage. It testifies to the fact that Judah         was not indifferent to his sin ; nor did he attempt to excuse
 was a true &d excellent child of faith. We might, in fact,         it. He confessed, "She hath been more righteous than I."
 easily conclude that the promise was giveh to the line of          Although the Scriptures ~tell us no more, we would believe

 Judah due to his moral superiority over his brothers. But.         that from that time his life did proceed in a more sanctified
 God has given us also a record of his relations with Tamar,        way.

 and our evaluation of Judah becomes much more accurate.               In conclusion there is one more thing which we would
 Although this ii1 no way may be allowed to detract from the        like to say about the contents of this chapter generally. It
 excellency of the plea which he made before Joseph, neither        might be thought that because this portion of Scripture des-
 must we think that his selection to be the father of Christ        cribes sins which ordinarily we do not feel free to discuss
 was due to the fact that he was any less a sinner  than his        openly, it constitutes a justification for the modern literature
 brothers. God's selection was not based on the works of            which floods our land today under the name of "realism."
 Judah but only upon His own eternal good-pleasure.                 Actually the two are in direct contrast. Modern literature

    Still another reason for the sin of Judah with Tamar            treats sin, and in this treatment it glamourizes it. Its des-
 being recorded is to be found in. the immediately following        criptions go far. beyond propriety. It enlarges upon the emo-
 history. This event reveals very clearly why it was neces-         tional passions that motivate it. It makes man a helpless
 sary for God to provide for the children of Israel to be taken     victim of his feelings for which he .ought  not be held respon-
 into Egypt. The reason is that Jacob's children were falling       sible. Quite different is the treatment of Scripture. Its des-
 far too much under the influence of the Canaanitish people.        criptions go no further than is necessary to point out the
 Abraham  and Isaac had kept themselves comparatively free          nature of the sin. It makes no allowance for the emotions
 in their life times from the inhabitants of the land walking as    or feelings of men.       Sin is treated as sin, that which is
- strangers and pilgrims within Canaan. When Jacob returned         abhorrent before the sight of God and to the sanctified con-
 from the land of Canaan, however, this changed. The people         science of His people.

 of the land were quite willing to make friendship with                                                                       B . W .

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


                                                                         are full of goodness, filled with  all knowledge, able also to
ii  F R O M   H O L Y   W R I T   (I admonish one a.vcother.  But I wpite the more' boldly unto yoct,
                                                                         in so'me  utzesxrure,  m putting you again in ~eweuttbrance,  be-

                                                                         cazlse  of the grace that was g&en  me of God, that I should

                    Exposition of Romans 14, 15                          be a minister  of Christ Jesus unto the Gentiles, mimhzuing
                                                                         the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might

                                    XII.                                 be made acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. I
                                                                         lmzie therefore my giovying  in Christ Jesus iti things pertain-
                            (Romans 15 :14-21)                           ing to God, For I dam not speak of any. things save those

                                                                         which Christ wrought by me, for the obedsience  to the Gen-
           The last time we wrote on Romans 14, 15 was in the            tiles, by word and deed, in the pozver of sigm  and wonders,
    December 1st issue of 7'he Standcyd  Bearer. The a.ttentive          i,n th.e power of the Holy Spirit; so that from Jerusalem  and
    reader `will have observed that we devoted two articles to           round abbut  even unto Illysicum,  I have fully preuchsd  the
    the Gospel narratives dealing with the birth of Christ.              gospel of Christ; yea, makhg  my aim  so to preach tj&e gospel,

           We now resume our series on the two aforementioned            not where Christ was alrea.dy  named, tht I might not build
    Chapters of Romans.                                                  upon. another Imam's  founda.tion,  but, as it is written, They
                                                                         shll  see to zerlaow~~  no tidimgs  of l&m  ca9pbe,  a.nd they who
           We hesitated`to  write on the rlmaining  section of Romans
                                                                         have not heard shall under.stapLd."           t
    15, because in it Paul no longer deals with the subject of
    the matters which are "adiaphora" and their Scriptural moti-             In verse 14 Paul expresses his own personal and com-
    vation. What we really have recorded is an "Epilogue," a             plete confidence in the readers, the church at Rome. He
    conclusion of Paul to the entire epistle. It is not simply           singles out their "goodness," their being "full of knowledge,"
    some concluding rem&ks  to the Chapters 14 and 15.                   and the resultant effect that "they are able to admonish each
                                                                         other."    That the believers at Rome are full of "goodness."
           A rather superficial reading of this section, wheh com-       The term in the original for "goodness" is an exclusively
    pared with Chapter 1 :8-16 will show that in it Paul refers          biblic+  term. It possibly refers to the fundamental z@ightl
    to the same matters.       It deals with ,Paul's  relationship to    ness of heart and life of the believers at Rome. They hate:
    the Romans .by.s+rtue  of his-office, Thus  it is in both sec-       all that' is false.  and vain. SinceYhel' ai-e full df goodness,
    tions.                                                               they can also be full of knowledge. They are instructed in
           In this section here in Romans 15 :14-33 Paul touches         the full counsel of God, concerning their redemption in Christ
    upon the following matters, which we. will here briefly state        Jesus. The Word of God dwells richly in them. Hence, they
    as follows :                                                         are willing and able to admonish each other. The term for

           1. He first of' all expresses his fullest confidence which    a~d~~v~onish  in the Greek really means to place in mind!

    he entertains tow&d his read&-s, concerning his goodness,               Paul assures the believers that this fact concerning them
    their being filled with knowledge, and their ability to teach        has his fullest confidence. Up till this present moment Paul
    each other. Verse 14.                                                never entertained any doubts on this score. It appears from

           2. He justifies his boldness of speech to them, as he had     Chapter. 16 that Paul is personally well acquainted with the
    done in part in this letter, appealing to his calling and            members of this churdh.  He mentions them by name, often
    office of apostleship to *the  Gentiles. Verse 15.                   stating his former relationships to them. Does he not men-
                                                                         tion such well-known former associates as Priscilla and
           3. In so doing, his only boast is in what Christ has
                                                                         Aquila. Compare Remans  16:2  and Acts 18:2,  26!  He is
    wrought through him in the gospel! He dares boast in noth-
                                                                         fully persuaded concerning the integrity and ability of such
    ing else. Verses 16-19.
                                                                         people as Aquila and Priscilla, former teachers even of
           4. He mentions his plan to comz  thrdugh  Rome, a long-       Apollas, the Alexandrian Jew. Had they not taught Apollas
    time purpose of his, when he would go also to Spain to               more accurately the truth, as it is in Christ's death and
    preach the Gospel, and of his desire to meet the brethren, and       resurrection and His baptism ?
    be sent by them on his journey westward. Verses 20-24.
                                                                            Having removed all thoughts that the motive of his bold:
           5. He prays the church at Rome to remember him<  in           ness in writing the Roman believers was their lack, he can
    their prayers, that, when he delivers the collections in Jeru-       the better and more effectively point to the pure motive of
    salem from those of. Macedonia, he may be delivered from             writing, which follows from his God-given office as apostle
    those who are disobedient to Christ and the gospel. Verses           of Jesus Christ!
    25-33.                                                                  The reason for writing is because of the grace q&n  `hhm

           In our present essay we would limit ourselves to .the         from God. Surely  this "grace given" him does not exclude

    verses 14-21. This passage reads as follows  : "And I .myselj        the personal grace- given him in the forgiveness of sins, and

    also  am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye yourselves           that he tias the chief  of sinners in .that  he had persecuted


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    181


the church of God. See Acts 9:1-19. How often does not                the fhings  pertaining to God in Christ. The work of God

Paul refer to .this persecution as being evidence of the great        in the efficaciousness of the Gospel. It was the gospel of

mercy of God toward him. I Tim. 1 :12-17.  However, equally           Christ that zeras  fs@lled in the whole world. The translation

as often as Paul speaks of this office this office is per se a        which we quoted above reads as follows on verse 19: "I

grace of God. It is not simply a work, a calling; it is the           have fully preached the gospel of Christ." On this passage

grace of apostleship. That is what keeps Paul humble, and             Beza comments : "I have executed the commission of preach-

yet makes him bold in Christ. His is not an office of weak-           ing" the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem, and all the

ness, but of power and of sobriety. In that consdiousness  and        regions round about until Illyricum. Luther translates "com-

power Paul has written this great letter to the Romans. Paul          pletely preached the gospel." We believe that Paul means

magnifies his office. Romans 11 :13; I Cor. 3 :lO-15.                 to express more than the siniple universal preaching of the

                                                                      gospel. He used a very peculiar construction. in this con-
     Because of this office Paul is a minister of Christ Jesus.
                                                                      nection.    He really does say that the gospel was fully
Christ had placed him in this office. God had separated Paul
                                                                      p+eached.  Fact is, that he does not use the term "to preach"
from his mother's womb unto this office. On the road to
                                                                      at all. What he says is that the "Gospel was fulfilled" by
Damascus God's Son was revealed in him. Gal. 1 :15, 16.
                                                                      me. According to the context, where Paul speaks about glory-
To him was revealed the truth that the Gentiles are fellow-
                                                                      ing alone in what "Christ wrought by me" this must mean
heirs with the Jews of the promise, as had been revealed to
                                                                      that the gospel as a power of God unto salvation of every
none other. Eph. 3 :l-13.
                                                                      one that believeth "was fulfilled" in this power, as it accrued
    What an exalted and God-glorifying view of this office ! -
                _.                                                    in giving faith to all the called, by the power of the Holy
                                                                      Spirit. Thus we read in Acts 6:7: "And the word of God
    Paul labors in a priestly manner. His "ministering" of
                                                                      increased," and, again, in Acts 12:24 we read: "But the
the Gospel is like that of a priest in the temple. It is a service
                                                                      word of God grezv  and amcltiplied."  See also Acts 19 :20.
at the altar, so to speak. He is not simply a, steward of the

people. His is not a public office of the people, for the                  Who caused it to grow and increase ? None other but the
people and by the people! He ministers, ,indeed,  for the             Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ.
needs of the Gentiles. Is he not their debtor, a debtor of
both the Greeks and the Barbarians, both of the wise and of                This is, incidentally, corroborated by what we read in
the unwise? Rom. 1 :14. Btit he is then a debtor @ho min-             v&-se 20 : r`Yea>  ,makzng my aim so to preach -the gospel, not
isters to their needs as did the priest in the temple in the          were Christ -was already named, that I might not build upon
name of God! Verse 16.                                                another's foundation."     It is exactly here in Paul's labors
                                                                      that we see the fulfilment of the gospel. The gospel realized
     Such is the motive of Paul writing this grand treatise, the      faith. God called, through the Gospel, the things that are
epistle to the Remans  !                                              not as if they were. And here it was emphatically demon-

    But not only so. Paul also knows that through the                 strated that Christ wrought faith through the gospel, causing

power of the Holy Spirit the fruits will be for the altar, a          the gospel to be fulfilled. And thus Paul glories in the Lord.

sacrifice well-pleasing to God. When the Gentiles turn to             And that glone  is permissible. Our faith does not rest in

God in faith and conversion such turning in prgise and thank-         the wisdom of words, but in demonstration of power by the

fulness is the fruit which the Lord has prepared for Himself          Holy Spirit. I Cor. 2.

upon His holy altar.                                                       Such is the fulfilment of the Word of God in Isaiah

    And upon this altar no strange fire may be burned. We             52:15,  where we read, "They shall see to whom no tidings

know what happened to the sons of Aaron, when they                    of him came" !

brought in strange fire. They were rejected from the priest-               It is this that is the final clinching evidence in this letter
hood. All the fruit .of Paul's labors is of the fire of the           to the Romans concerning the Gospel being a power of God
Holy Ghost in the church! Nothing else! No more and no                unto salvation !
less !
                                                                      .    Paul returns in this section to the fundamental point of
    For this reason Paul asserts in verses 17, 18 that he             depafture  in this letter. He had shown the misery of man,
dares not speak of any things save those "which Christ                his being sold under sin; the great righteousness of God in
wrought by me."       Yes, Paul actually boasts. He &u&y              Christ, and our being raised with Christ in newness of life.
glories. More often he writes of this glorying, does. he not?         Now he makes clear once more that the gospel, which surely
Thus in II Cor. 1:12  he writes : "For our glorying is this,          is not an offer of God unto all who hear it, is the power of
the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity       God unto salvation.
of God, not  in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we
behaved .o&selves  in the world,, and more abundantly to                   This alone he that glories will glory in the Christ, who
you-ward."                                                            causes the gospel to be ef?icacious  unto salvation!

    In this passage of Rom. 15 `Paul glories especially in                                                                          G.L.


 1     8    2                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


                                                                    Jesus taught the people to do unto others as they would
                 Di'J  H I S   F E A R                              have them do unto them. He taught' them that .it is more
                                                                    blessed to give than to receive.-  And so, having broken the

                                                                    bread and given it to, His disciples, they gave- it to those on
                      Freedom of Speech                             the edge of the crowd. Each man,  applying Jesus' teachings,

                                                                    passed his piece' on to the next man and so on till the other
                               (6)
                                                                    edge of the crowd where the disciples picked it up. There

      The improper use of freedom of speech, which is afforded      were twelve baskets full of fragments left! 0, indeed, but

 us in this land of ours, places upon those who speak the           that was not literally true. Twelve is a symbolic number of

 truth the solemn obligation and calling to speak it boldly and     God's kingdom and covenant, and so it simply means that His

 repeatedly. When speech is multiplied to undermine  the faith      teachings were received and put into practice by the whole

 of God's people, the efforts to counteract this spread of the      audience. So the miracle of Christ becomes the work of man

 lie must also be doubied and trebled. .In His fear we may          instead. Or again, that wonder of Jesus walking on the sea

 not be silent. For that reason we will add to what we wrote        in the midst of the stdrm.  Really, He did not do that. It

 last time about this evil of relegating the Word of God to         can be demonstrated scientifically that this is impossible.

 a secondary place, so that it must be reinterpreted to             But He was walking on the shore. To the disciples it looked

 harmonize with "scientific" findings of those who hate and         as though He were walking on the water.  Let us be reason-

 deny that Word.of God.                                             able about such things ! ! So the unbeliever who poses as a

      Last time we made mention of the fact that to reappraise      student of the Scriptures will "explain" the Word .of God

 the stand of the Church throughout the ages in regard to the       so that it harmonizes with the limits of the human mind.

 length of the creation days and the age of this world in           How amazing! How utterly void of the fear of the Lord, to

 which we live; in order to harmonize our stand with the            limit the Almighty and Infmite God in His works to the

 discoveries and theories of sinful, atheistic men, should not      limits of man's mind. If man's little mind cannot solve the

 stop there but by all means reappraise a&o the Church's            prdblem of carbon-14, of the formation of coal, of the Grand

 stand in regard to the wonder of the incarnation and of the        Canyon, the location of Niagara Falls so far up the gorge

_ resurrection of Christ from the dead. Is it scientific and        and the like, then he will question the wisdom of the infinite

 scholarly to deny the bne miracle `becaase  of certain findings    God:'  He will-$& a limit on God's mind and accuse Hi&of

 of men and then disregard utterly the findings of these men        not being able to express in word and writing the actual fact

 as far as other wonders are concerned ? Is it reasonable to        of the,  creation of the world. God's freedom to speak in--

 apply human reason to the one work of God and to say that          telligently and correctly will be questioned. And  where will

 we' need not apply it to another work of the same nature ?         the end be ? Or shall we put it mildly ? God purposely speaks

 And we asked, What do we gain by such tactics ? Have we            in veiled language so that only the `big minds of the world

 really exalted the Lord by such doings ? Have we demon-            can understand Him. The truth of Scripture is only, for the

 strated before the eyes of men His majesty and divinity ?          learned ; and those boor  illiterate people of the Old Dispensa-

 In all this are we showing that reverence and respect for          tion including Adam and Eve,, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

 Him as GOD that gives us ourselves the confidence of doing'        died believing the lie. They died believing that the world

 this in His fear?                                                  was created in a week of days that were each only twenty-

      There are so many other things that can be added to the       four hours long, while actually they were billions and billions

 above. And no doubt in process of time. these also will be         of years long. And Adam d`ied  with the mistaken notion

 treated as man becomes bolder in his unbelief, and in the          that he was the first man while actually `there were many,

 wrong freedom of speech it will be published and be brought        many thousands before him. And Moses, though he was

 more widely to our attention. The thoughts are already there       skiiled in all the knowledge of the "universities" of Egypt

 and must: be there. Having left the line of the truth in the       also died with the mistaken notion. For wheg  he wrote the

 matter of the creation days one must either retract and honor      first five books of the Bible and gave Israel the law from

 the Word of God above the theories of men 1 which by the.          Mount Sinai, he, too, thought of days ih a different way than

 way they cannot prove, as we wrote before in another con-          God actually meant it. The fault is not with God, the fault

 nection, for they know nothing of conditions before the            is with man who had not advanced yet to this age of-brilliant

 Flood - or they must continue to proceed step by step, faster      minds and bold hearts who dar,e  to relegate the Word of

 and faster until by human reason they have also "explained"        God to a place where it must be harmonized with man's

 the incarnation away and the resurrection of Christ from the       theories. The fear'- of the Lord is not the beginning of

 dead. You are, perhaps, aware of the attempts of higher            knowledge (but see Proverbs 1:7), but this is knowledge

. criticism to deny the miracles of Jesus. Jesus' feeding of        and this is wisdom  : Listen to the theories of unbelieving men

 the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes Is explained     as to how the things God created and as to the ways in which

 as an application of Jesus' teachings rather than as an actual     He works and then interpret His Word so that it does not

 miracle of feeding and nourishing so many with so little.          deny the "findings" of the unbeliever.


                                                  THE,   S T A N D A R D   .B~EARER                                                            `183


       * And indeed, continuing on that path of reappraising the           reproduction, must we quickly revise the Church's stand

      dhurch's  stand in regard to the length of the creation days         throughout the ages in regard to the creation of life by

-I    and the-age of this- world- will-' bring man to question the way     God-and the--creation--of -man? Will we have to harmonize

      and the time of the appearance of man upon this earth. We            the Scriptures with this new theory of man as to the way

      understand that there are already voices raised, in circles          in which life began on this earth? Why not? If the carbon-14

      that have not as yet discarded the Bible, even though they           theory demands ( ? j it, why not each and every other theory
      have questioned the infallibility of parts of it, and so opened      of man?

      all its pages for the same questioning, voices that question             And so one can continue. What about the Flood ? Reason
      already whether Adam was the first man upon this earth.              would show you that all these animals - two elephants alone
      Moses could have been wrong on that score too. Of course !           have a tremendous demand for food -and man could not
      If, the-half life of carbon-14 is 5,568 years more or. less;-so      live-in an ark of that size together with all the food required
      that in that period of time half of the given amount of this         for a year and ten days ! And if the six days of creating
      material that is found in a certain substance will have dis-         are each millions of years long, how come the seventh which
      appeared and then in another 5,568 years half .of  the amount        still belongs to the creation week suddenly becomes twenty-
      left again disappears and in 5,568 years half of this amount         four hours? It must have been twenty-four hours and
      disappears and so on till all is gone, then man must have
                                                              .            there surely could not have been -according to that other
      been here a long, long time, and the sixth day must have             theory that dares not make these days anything else than
      been millions of years long. And is that the next step in this       twenty-four hours each, but ;puts long periods between each
      process of evolution ? We mean this process whereby those            day-there could not have been a long period between the
      who say that they believe that the Scriptures are the .Word          sixth and seventh days. For then the testimony of Scripture
      of God develop and finally evolve also into this denial of           in Genesis 5 :5 is in error. Adam must have been one
      what the Word of God says about the creation of man.                 million nine hundred and thirty years old when he died

                                                                           rather than nine hundred thirty years old.
         To our great regret we misplaced, the article we had read

      in which one of the scientists of our land either. discovered or         Nay, let us approach this whole matter in His fear. Let

      posited the theory that the radiation of a nuclear blast alters      us bow before Him as the wise, almighty God that He is.

      the"  age of carbon,lf.- We .dor  not recall whether .the article    Let, us not bow before ,the theories .,of sinful..men  and give

      stated that this added to the length or shortened the age of         their word' the preference. And indeed "science" is so in-

      this material; but the point is -the same :' Some scientists         definite about these things. Some say billions and others

      concede that given different circumstances than are our lot          millions and no one knows ! In His fear let us rather say

      at present carbon-14 will be altered as to the length of its         to all these things that are problems for our minds, There is

      life. And we repeat, no man living can prove that conditions         a solution ; there is an explanation even though I cannot see

      before the Flood are the same as those of the world we know          it; but I am convinced that the evil doer; the unbeliever who.

      today. Whether that is the solution to the problem or not            denies God does not have the answer. In His fear I will let

      makes no difference, there is a solution even though we              God's Word speak. I will not deny Him that freedom of
      with our little minds and limited span of years cannot dis-          speech ; and I myself will in the true freedom of speech

      cover it; and we keep the Word of God as indeed the word             declare HIS praises.

      of God,,and  we seek to harmonize all scientific findings with                                                                 ' J.A.H.

      it and not that Word with all scientific findings.

         Otherwise, what will we say presently to the achieve-

      ments of the biochemist, Sidney W. Fox ? In a simple four-
                                                                                                      I N   M E M O R I A M
      step process he. has synthesized thousands of "spherulesl'

      which show cell-like organization so that each one even in-             The Mary-Martha Society of the Hope Prot. Reformed Church
      cludes membrane and a nucleus. These he produced out of              of Redlands  extends its sincere sympathy to Mrs. Edwin Gritters  in
      simple inorganic chemicals which according to the theories of        the loss of her mother-in-law,

      the evolutionists existed billions of years ago on the lifeless
                                                                                                MRS. BEN GRITTERS.
      earth. Man waits now to see whether he can produce life in a
      test tube. Mr. Fox intends to take one more step and by this           Ps. 23:4:  "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of

      fifth step demonstrate that these cell-like spherules can divide     death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy

      andUreproduce.  If that can be achieved by further treatment         staff they comfort me."
                                                                                                                Rev. H. Veldman, President
      upon these spherucles man has discovered ( ?) how life began
                                                                                                                Mrs. G. Feenstra, Secretary
      on this earth. Well, let us assume that Mr. Fox is able to

      do that, let us assume that God is pleased to lead him to
                                                                             P.S. Please, send all a~mouncements  to Mr. J. Dykstra.
      find a way to induce these spherucles to undergo some

      process that in a crude way at least resembles division and                                                                        H.H.


      ,184                                        T H E   S.TANDARD   B E A R E R


                                                                               Secondly, it must be very evident that Eph. 5 :32 does
              i Contending. For The Faith                                  not speak of a sacrament. It is simply a fact that the word,
                                                                           "sacrament,". does not appear in this Scripture. Now we all

                                                                           know, I am sure, that the word, "sacrament," appears no-
                   The Church and the Sacraments                           where in Holy Writ. There are other words, besides the

                                                                           word "sacrament," which do not appear in Scripture and
        VIEWS DURING THE THIRD PERIOD (750-1517 A.D.)                      which are nevertheless used extensively among us, such as :

                                                                           trinity, providence, attributes. The word, "sacrament," is not
                       THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS
                                                                           a Scriptural expression either. `Rome regards the sacra-

                                MATRIMONY                                  ments as means of grace in themselves, apart from the Word,

                                                                           and also that these means of grace are such only as insepar-
                                  (continued)                              ably connected with the clergy. The word which appears in
                                                                                                             _
                                                                           Eph. 5 :32, translated by Rome as "sacrament," is the word :
              In our preceding article we quoted at length from The        mystery. It is undoubtedly true that the early Church (I
      History of the Christian Church by Philip Schaff,  setting           mean "early" here as referring to its New Testament in-
      forth the dreadful decree of the Romish Church, with all its         fancy). used the word, "mystery," in connection with the
      accompanying horrors, which not only forbade the clergy,             sacraments because of their mysterious and bidden character.
     etc., to be married .but also annulled the marriages in exist-        However, it is also true that that early Church also used the
      ence. On the one hand that #Church does not hesitate to              word, "mystery," in connection with various doctrines and
      champion and defend the sanctity and permanence of the               ordinances of the Church. Now Rome retained this word,
      marriage bond, declaring that even adultery cannot break             "mystery," in connection with the sacraments, and maintains
      the bond of marriage ; on the other hand'this same Church did        therefore -that Paul is speaking of a sacrament in Eph. 5 :32.
      not hesitate to annul and declare void hundreds and thou-            This, however, is obviously untenable. In the first place,
      sands of existing marriages, marriages which had occurred            the apostle is not speaking here exclusively of the state of
      before the face of the living God. We now wish to continue           marriage, but he writes that he speaks with reference to
      our discussion of this seventh sacrament of Rome.                    Christ and the Church. We read literally, do we not: "This
              Before we proceed I ,would .`make  a. comment on what I      is- a great mystery : but I speak .with  respect. to Christ ,and
      wrote in my article of Dec. 15, 1959. I refer to the follow-         the Church." And, secondly, we do not read of a sacrament
      ing ststenient  : "But in spite of the fact that the state of        here but of a mystery. Now the same word also appears in
      marriage is a bond which remains in effect `until death              I .Tim. 3 :16, where we read: "Great is the mystery of god-
      doth us part,' Rome did not hesitate'to  issue a decree which        liness."    Not even Rome would have the boldness to assert
      annulled all marriages which involved the clergy, in order to        that the manifestation .of God in the flesh is a sacrament in
      set forth its doctrine of celibacy." The reader will notice the      the ecclesiastical sense and meaning of the term.
      words which appear in quotation marks in this quotation.                 Finally, we would insert here a brief observation in con-
      This was done intentionally because the undersigned did not          nection with Eph. 5 :32. Eph. 5 :25 and 32 are quoted by
      know whether these words also appear in the marriage form            Rome in support of its contention that matrimony is a sacra-
      as in effect in the Roman Catholic Church. However, we               ment. These verses read as follows: "Husbands, love your
      have since learned that these words do appear in the Roman           wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Him-
      Catholic marriage form. And yet the Romish church did not            self for it: This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning
      hesitate to set aside thousands of marriages. The words:             Christ and the church."    It is clear that verse 32 is Rome's
      "until death doth us part," evidently did not apply in all           sole proof for its contention. And this, we have already
      these hundreds and thousands of cases. And Rome surely               observed, is no proof. Fact is, even Roman Catholic author-
      also violated this word of Scripture: "What therefore God            ities will concede that Rome lacks Scriptural proof for its
      hath joined together, let no man put asunder." Rome, we              view of the seven sacraments. On the other hand, we under-
      know, did not hesitate to "put asunder."                             stand, Rome does not need any proof from Scripture. State-

              First, I wish to call attention to Rome's version of         ments from the holy Fathers, the Councils, and the traditions

      Eph. 5 :32 as its translation of this text appears in the decrees    of the univers.al  Church are placed by Rome on a par with

      of the Council of Trent. This translation as appearing in            Holy Writ. What, then, is the great mystery which the

      these decrees reads : ." This is a great sacrament, but I speak      apostle mentions in this text of Eph. 5 ? The word, "mystery,"

.     in Christ and in the Church." This. is not a correct transla-        refers to that .which  is hidden, which lies beyond all human

      tion. We do not read literally : "but I speak in Christ and in       life and understanding. Without entering into a detailed

      the Church," but "I speak with respect to Christ and with            discussion of this entire passage, Eph. 5 :22-33, we must bear

      respect to the Church." Hence, what we read in Eph. 5 :32            two thoughts in mind. On the one hand, the apostle is speak-

      is not a sacrament that is in the Church, but something that         ing here of the wonderful relation between Christ and His

      refers to Christ and to the Church.                                  Church, of the wonderful love of Christ for and to His


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAR.ER                                                              155


Church. Christ loved His Church, the Church did not love             although the inventors of this machine did not purpose at

Him: Christ sought His Church,. the Church did not seek              all the gospel"`of  the living God. The distinctioa  b&ween

Him. And Christ loved His Church, even to the extent of              them may be- stated as follov&:  the Renaissance was a re-

giving Himself for it into the fearful death of the cross, and       birth purely in the natural sense of the word ; the Reforma-

this He did in order that He might sanctify and cleanse it           tion was a rebirth in the spiritual sense of the word. The

with the washing of water by the word, in order that He              Renaissance was a 1 rebirth and revival of natural art and

might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having            learning ; the Reformation was other-worldly, from above, a

spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be holy     spiritual awakening within the heart of man, the' product of

and without blemish. And, on the other hand, the apostle is          God's wonderful and irresistible grace; It is -true that the

sp'eaking in these verses in Eph. 5 of the state of marriage,        Renaissance was in violent conflict with and in opposition to

the relation between, a man and his wife. And it is also evident     Rome as Roman Catholicism shackled the hearts and minds

that the apostle views these relationships in the light of one       of men  and demanded that men bow in all matters before

another. Hence, what else is thiS  great mystery than exactly        the Church of Rome. `However, it is just as true that this

this relationship between an earthly marriage on the one             movement also was in violent opposition to and in conflict

hand, and the marriage relationship between Christ and His           with the Word of God, and that it exalted Human Reason as

Church on the other hand ? This is surely a great mystery,           the sole Criterion of all doctrine and walk. Rome advocated

a "hidden thing," which could never enter into the heart and         the Church as the sole Criterion of all doctrine and. walk ;

mind of man but must needs be revealed to us by the living           the Reformation bowed exclusively before the Word of the

God.                                                                 living God; the Renaissance bowed before Human Reason -

                                                                     as the.  sole determining Criterion of all conduct and walk
         THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION                                 and doctrine.

                                                                             It was the year 1517, and the date was Oct. 31. The day
               VIEWS ON TtiE CHURCH
                                                                     after, Nov. 1, was All Saints' Day. This was a holy day of
   Until now we have called attention to the history of doc-         the Churcl;,  a day when the relics in the churches were
trine, as in connection with the doctrine of the Church and          solemnly displayed also in the church at Wittenberg. Luther
the Sacraments;during  the first three periods. We have now          was in violent disagreement with the scandalous traffic in
conic  to the time of the;Reformatioti.  And tie  plan tb call       indulgenc&;  the sale %f the forgiveness 6f Siris;  Oh `Oct. 31
attention, in the first place, to the history of doctrine as con-    he posted his objections to this nefarious activity in the form
cerning the Church.                                                  of ninety-five theses which he nailed to the church door of

                                                                     Wittenberg. In this way he made public his viewk  about f
The main jwinciples  of the Refomwtion.                              indulgences. This was a common practice in those days. The
   The Reformation is unquestionably the greatest move-              door of .the  Castle Church at Wittenberg served as a uni-
ment, the most important single event in the history of the          versity bulletin board. In posting  these theses Luther in-
Church of God in the New Dispensation. It is very clearly            vited any doctor of theology to debate with him publicly on
not to be identified with or put into the same class as the          the subject of indulgences. This bold act on the part of the
movement which is known in history as the Renaissance and            German Reformer was surely the spark that ignited the
which occurred especially in the fifteenth century. According        Reformation. It was an act for which  the bold and fearless
to the literal meaning of the word, the Renaissance was a            and intrepid German monk had been prepared by the living
rebirth. Although it is true that men as Wycliff in England          God. The timid and fearful John Calvin, timid and fearful
and John Huss of Bohemia were imbued with the spirit of              by nature, was not the man who would haire committed this
the Reformation, they must be regarded as forerunners of             act.
this great movement, and the beginning of this tremendous                    The main principles of the Reformation are usually con-
movement is generally regarded as occurring in the year              sidered to be two, namely the formal .and the material
1517, when Martin Luther nailed the ninety-five theses to            principle. Let us look at these two principles,  the Lord wili-
the church door at Wittenberg. And the beginning of the              ing, in our following article.

Renaissance is placed in the year 1453, when Constantinople                                                                               H.C.
was captured by the Turks. The fall of Constantinople led

many Greek scholars to flee to the West and seek an asylum                                     I N   M E M O R I A M   '        ._ ,.

in Italy. These movements are not to be identified. The                 The Eunice Society of the First Protestant Reformed Church of
Reformation ti`as surely not the product of the Renaissance          Grand Rapids wishes to express its sincere sympathy to one of our

although it is uhdoubtedly  true that the kilter  served the         members, Mrs: Sidney Newhof in the loss of her sister,

former even as all things must and always do work for the                               MRS. J. M. (FFCES) STARK

good of God's `Cause  in the midst of the world. It is not
                         -, -_                                          May our Heavenly Father.,comfort  the bkreaved through His
diffi&lt  to .understand  ' that the invention of the printing       Word and Spirit. II Corinthians 5:l.
                                                                                                             Mrs. D. Jonker, President
press, for example, also served the spreading of the gospel,                                                 Mrs. H. Velthouse,  Secretary


186                                             T H E   ST-ANDARD   B E A R E R   0


II                                                                         eludes,  or subverts the use of the gospel, the food-of the-soul."
           The Voice of Our Fathers                                            In the second place, the article makes a distinction in
                                                                      II the work of .preservation  in the broader sense, and speaks of
                                                                           three aspects of this work of God: He preserves, continues,
                  The Canons of Dordrecht                                  and perfects the work of His grace in us. God keeps the new
           PART  Two - EXPOSITION OF THE CANONS                            life in us alive, keeps it in existence, through the means of

                    F                                                      grace.    Secondly, there is also progress : that new life must
                         IFTH HEAD OF DOCTRINE
                                                                           continue and advance. It must grow in grace. This also
             Ok THE PERSEVERANCE OP  `THE SAINTS
                                                                           takes place through the divinely appointed means. And
                         Article 14 (continued)                            finally, that life must be completed and perfected. The be-

       Previously we have seen that the key of this entire article         ginning, the continuance, and the end of the work of grace

lies in the words, "It hath pleased God.`" It is simply the                is all God's work, and .it is accomplished to the very end

divinely appointed method of operation in the work of salva-               through the means of grace. When the child of God is on

tion to use means, the means of grace. We have seen too that               his deathbed, then he still is in need of ,God's  Word to

therefore God has bound His people to the use of these means.              strengthen and comfort him ; and he lays hold on that Word

Outside of them and apart from them He does not save His                   even though perhaps he is no longer able to read it, drawing

people. We must remember too, however, that this at, the                   upon his memory, in order to meditate on its precious

same time means that these means and their use are never in                promises.

vain. God has not only.bound  His people to the use of these                   We must notice now,. however, that the article gives us

means. He has, as it were, bound Himself to the use of them,               valuable instruction concerning the means of grace in ron-

and will therefore surely employ His own means unto the                    nection  with this work, of preservation. As we have re-

salvation of His own.                                                      marked already, it does not only  speak of the preaching of

       This pleasure of God to' use the means of grace in ;he              the Word, but pointedly of the hearing, rea.ding  arzd uutedita-

work of salvation is said, first of all, to be true in regard to           fiib?z  thereupon. God's people must have His Word. And the

the beginning of the work of grace in us. The  Holy Ghost                  &h,hurch  must indeed be busy in the ministry of the Word.

wc ks faith in us through the preaching of the gospel. We                  The Word must  be preached, in order that the Word may

tie&i  `l<ot $6.?nto'  detail'con&rnitig  this?eletieht  of Article'l.4    be he&r&:  A 1tiovii7g  and emotional `address will not do. "The

Fince  this is simply a repetition of the truth already- ex-               saints cannot be preserved in the faith by means of so-called

pounciJ in Article  17 of the previous chapter. However, we                topical preaching, in which a Scripture-text is used only as

may notice that in this connection the article speaks only                 a sort of. hook on which to hang up and display some nice

of the preaching of the gospel, not of the hearing, reading,               thoughts or attractive philosophy that have nothing to do

and meditation thereon, as it does in connection with the                  really with the Word of God. The Word of God must be

eyork  of preservation. And we may notice that this is quite               expounded and applied. For that Word itself must speak !

in harmony with reality also, particularly in the sphere of                Through ,the means of that Word preached the life of faith

the covenant. It is through the preaching of the gospel that               is strengthened and built up. That Word, as we shall see

the seed of the covenant experience `the beginning of the                  presently, in all its fulness, with its exhortations, threaten-

work of God's grace iti them. And it is only after that                    ings, and promises, must be proclaimed. And it must be

beginning has been consciously wrought that they consciously               proclaimed as accompanied by the administration of the.

persevere and continue in the faith through .their  hearing,               sacrament& the holy, visible signs and seals which God hath

reading, and meditation upon the Word, with its exhorta-                   appointed to the end that He may more fully assure us -of

tions, threatenings, and promises. For the rest, the fathers               the promise of the gospel.

mention the beginning of the work of grace in us simply for                   But n&ice,  3 you will, that the terms used by our

the purpose of the comparison drawn in this article. God                   fathers all emphasize the activity of the saints themselves.

does not begin by using the means of grace, and then con-                  They emphasize in this connection OUY ztse of the means.  We

tinue -`the  work of grace without means. The line follows                 must kear  the Wdrd of God. We must rea,d  the Word of

through. What is begun mediately is also continued and                     the gospel. We must meditate upon the gospel of salvation.

preseryed and perfected mediately. The latter follows from                 Undoubtedly this also is presented in this fashion in order

the former. In fact, we may make the same' comparison                      to gainsay the Arminian heretics, who always wanted to

with our natural life in this instance as is made in III, IV;              present the Reformed picture of the Christian as that of one

17, and say: "As the almighty operation of God, whereby he                 who is entirely passive. 0, no ! God has appointed means.

prolongs and supports this our natural life, does not exclude,             And He has appointed such means as imply and require

but requires the use of means, by which God of his infinite                the conscious activity of His people. They must hear the

mercy and goodness hath chosen to exert his influence, so the              Word preached. For to that preaching the Lord has at-

supernatural operation of God, by which he. preserves, con-                tached a rich blessing. Without it the saints cannot expect

tinues, a&l perfects the work of grace in us, in no wise ex-               to persevere and to continue in the faith, to grow in the


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                157


  grace and knowledge of Christ, and to be perfected. It is           hear or to read. Let us remember we are not fed magically

  indeed a sad phenomenon when people of God fail to take             in our spiritual life. We must eat and digest and assimilate

  advantage of every possible- opportunity to hear the Word           the--Word of---God. And it is through such meditation that

  of their salvation, when they become irregular and indifferent      the Lord God preserves and continues and perfects the work

  with respect tb this means of grace, or when, though they           of His grace in us.

  attend divine worship, they do not come to hear, -for that              For that Word, whether it exhorts or threatens or prom-

  is also possible, and that too, in various ways. Such .a policy     ises, is always the Word of God's grace to His people. The

  can only lead to serious spiritual consequences, to a weaken-       distinction made here by Article 14 is a relative one. Fun-

  ing of our faith, to a slackening in our strength and courage       damentally the whole Word of God has as its content the

  for the battle of. .faith  in the midst df the world, and, ulti-    promise. The Lord exhorts -His people, but always upon the

  mately, to our downf~..unless..,God---  graciously forbids-it.      basis-.of.the  gospel of grace and with the purpose of realizing

  Moreover, the fathers emphasize the necessity of reading the        in them through such exhortations the work of grace. In

  Word. This certainly does not imply that such reading may           `a sense it may be said that God threatens His people. But

  be substituted for the hearing of the Word. There would be          this must be understood pedagogically. Paradoxically speak-

  no Word to read were it not for the preaching of the Word.          ing, God threatens them in His grace, to warn them of the

  The Word which we read is but another aspect of the preach-         dire consequences of the way of sin &nd  iniquity, to call them

  ing of the Word as the primary means of grace. And there-           away from the darkness. `In the sense that He is of bad in-

 ~fore  also the reading of the Word follows upon the hearing         tentions toward His people, or even means to frighten them

  of the Word inevitably. There should be an open Bible in            into heaven by poising the whiplash of hell-fire over them,

  our families and in our homes, so that we read God's Word           the. Lord does not threaten His saints, however. Always His

 together at fixed times, and that too, not out of mere custom        Word is a Word of grace to His own, and always He is

  and habit, -a habit that we satisfy as hastily as possible, -       graciously inclined toward His people, even in the so-called

  but out of a sincere desire and purpose to be instructed and        threatenings of the gospel. And,  therefore, attached to the

  with a real striving to understand and comprehend it. Be-           exhortations and threatenings  of the gospel are also the

  sides, such reading includes within its scope not only the          abundaht and precious promises of salvation for our en-

  Bible itself, but such reading material as is related to the        couragement and conlfort  and to serve as incentives in the

  Scrjptures  and: which edifies u% by explaining and elucidating     struggle. -to, persevere to the end. In fact, the Lord has

  the truth of the Word of God. And this may well be em-              provided for His people richly. For He has added to the

 phasized in our day. How much time do we actually allow              Word the holy sacraments as an additional means of grace

 ourselves for such reading? We are too busy? Or do we                for the strengthening of our faith. And of all these means the

  deliberately make ourselves so busy that we have no time for        people of God in the midst of the world, struggling and

 iw@ortant  reading, reading that will benefit us spiritually ?       striving toward Zion that is above,  must make diligent and

 How much attention do we pay to the reading habits of our            regular and consistent use.

 children ? We are concerned that they shall learn to read.              Nevertheless, when all due emphasis has been laid upon

And that is good. But what do they read ? Do we teach                 the responsibility of the people of God with respect to these

 them by word and example to read the Scriptures and to               means, let us not forget that the fruit of these means of grace

  study them personally ? How early in their yQung  lives do          is not dependent upon our use of them, nor even a matter of

 we go about teaching them to pick up the Beacon Lights, yes,         cooperation between God and man. It is not merely thus,

 and ?he Standard Bearer? How much do we insist that                  that God provides the means, but that we must use those

 they study the Word of God in preparation for catechism              means unto our salvation. Then we after all entertain the

  and society? Or are we ourselves often so lax atid  uncon-          Arminian view. No, the fathers tell us here that God

 cerned about these matters that our example would belie our          preserves and continues and perfects the work of grace in us.

 words ? Finally, in close connection with the preceding, the         The Word and the sacraments are means of grace, provided

 article speaks of meditation. Ah, but is that not well-nigh' a       by God Himself. But also our heahng, reading, and medita-

 lost art in our day? Yet we may well emphasize this strongly.        t'ion on the Word of the gospel are means, equally provided

 It is not enough that we hear and read ; we m&t meditate             by God, which He uses for the preservation, continuation,

 up& and contemplate and study the Word of God! This                  and perfection of His work of grace in us. It is all of Him!

 cannot be stressed too strongly in a day when Christians are         He preserves, and we persevere. He continues His own work

 willing to exert themselves but little to receive the Word of        of grace in us, and .we continue and grow in grace and in

 God. But Scriptural this idea certainly is. The psalmist of          faith. He perfects, and we are perfected and endure to the

 old meditated in the night watches. He had God's law for             end. And it is all a work of His own grace, wrought not

 his meditation day and night. And frequently today the               merely ztpq,~z  us, but in us as His conscious and willing

 church must have its spiritual food spooned in, and not in           people, and wrought through the means which it has pleased

 too rich a concentration. It must riot  require too much             Him to ordain and to use, the best possible means to the

 mental exertion, and it m&t ,be interesting and pleasant to          highest end !                                           H.C.H.


188                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                                       D
                                                                        services of many capable men went to waste. Besides, the

II . DECENCY and OR.DER                                                 problems confronting the churches in those years were many
                                                                        and difficult to solve. The Reformed churches were in their

                                                                        formative years. The leaders of these- churches could not

               Advisory Members of Classis                              look back to an age of experience or Jearn from history's
                                                                        mistakes. In 1581 the Synod was overtured to remedy the

       "Where in a ckurch  there are WoTe  vministers  than one,        Classical situation by giving all the ministers of the churches

also those not delegated- <according to the fpvegoing  article          decisive vote at the Classis.  The. Synod, however, rejected

shall have the right to a.ttend  classis  ztitlz  advisory vote."`      this proposal and matters remained as before. Again in 1597

-Article 42, D.K.O.                                                     the matter was considered again but left undecided. Then it

                                                                        came up before -the historic Synod of 1618-19 and there it
       The proposed revision of the above aiticle  by the Synod
                                                                        was decided to give all the ministers decisive vote. Churches
of the Christian Reformed Churches leaves the article sub-
                                                                        that had more than one minister received. as many votes at
stantially unchanged. The only difference worthy of note
                                                                        the Classis  in all matters except those that concerned their
is that the revision speaks of an "advisory voice" while in
                                                                        own churches or persons. The latter provision was intended
our Church Order the phraseology is "advisory vot`e." The
                                                                        to protect the churches from any possible domination or un-
Holland speaks of "een adviseerende stem." The wording of
                                                                        fairness. This decision, however, was not above criticism
the revision is to be preferred if for no other reason than
                                                                        and although it stood for almost three hundred years, the
that ministers attending Classis  under the stipulations of this
                                                                        churches in the Netherlands .in 1905 reverted back to the
rule have really no "vote" at all. They are given the right
                                                                        decision of 1578 as found in Article 41 of the Church Order
to speak. They have a "voice" in thb Classis but not a "vote."
                                                                        and that stipulates that each church shall delegate one min-
       The reason for the provisions of this article is to be found     .istei-  and one elder to the Classis.  In 1914 the Christian
in an attempt to meet, as much as possible, some standard of            Reformed Church in this country,adopted  the same position.
equality and fairness in fhe churches' representation at the            It is easily seen that this position is in direct conflict with
Classis.  Whereas the previous article of the Church Order              tliat taken by the Synod of Dort in 1618-19 or rather that
stipulated that each church shall delegate a minister and an            Dort in these years took a pbsition  in direct conflict with
elder... or,.& .the  case a church is without a minister, two           Article 41 of the Church Order. However, the' removal of
elders, the question arises whether this is really fair in -view        this contradiction did not solve the real problem and so ihe
of the fact that some churches are numerically very small               provision wa's added in Articlk  42 by which ministers not
while others have large numbers. A church, for. example,                delegated to the Classis would be given advisory voice. The
that has twenty or twenty-five families has as much voice and           services and talents of capable men would then not go to
voting power at the Classis  as a church numbering three or             waste but at the same time all of the churches, regardless
four hundred families. If then, representation at the Classis           of .size,  would be equally represented in the decisive vote on
is to be calculated on the basis of the number of families in a         all matters brought before the Classis.
given church, a rule would have to. be adopted according to                 For several reasons this rule is a very good one but tie
which each church would be authorized to send one delegate              question the fairness of limiting this provision to ministers
to Classis  for each certain number of families in its member-          of the Word. Would it not be possible to extend this
ship. If this figure is set, let us ,a$, at twenty'five  families, a    privilege of advisory voice to elders as well or at least, as
consistory of a church numbering two hundred families                   was once the practice in Reformed Churches, to those elders
would send eight delegates to Classis  while a congregation of          of the places where the Classis  meets ? For example, there
thirty families would have only one delegate to represent it.           may be one church that has twenty-five elders and another
This arrangement is not agreeable with the Reformed concep-             church that has only two. Both delegate one elder to the
tion of the church and could, therefore, not be adopted. For            Classis. This hardly seems fair. In the larger Consistory
principle reasons it must be rejected. Hence, we have the               where it is assumed the Classis  meets four times a year,
preferred provision of Article 42.                                      an elder would be delegated to Classis  only once in six years

       Another thing that has considerable bearing upon the oc-         and, consequently, with the term of office three years, many

casion and necessity of the provision is the historical circum-         of them would never attend. On the other hand, in the

stances out of which this need arose in the sixteknth  century.         smaller consistory each elder would be delegated to the

During that century the more educated and capable ministers             Classis  six times during his three-year tenure of office. Of

served in the larger churches while many of the smaller con-            `course, the practical difficulty with a provision giving. all

gregations had ministers who had rather meager training                 these elders advisory voice is that the Classis  becomes too

and little knowledge of church government. The result of                large a body. In a large Classis  it can easily be seen that

this was that when each church sent two delegates to the                this is ndt in the best interests of the Classis  or the Churches

Classis,  the business of the Classis  was conducted largely by         and it is likely for this reason that such provision is not

those who were least. qualified to perform the work and the             made. In our churches, however, the problem is not too


                                            T H E -   S T A N D A R D -   ` B E . A R E R                                                  189



serious. Our Classes are small. and most of our consistories         authorized to take p&t  in the deliberations and transactions
                                                                                            -
are small. Besides, it is not said that all the elders would         of that body as long as they are merely participating in

be present or be able to be-present at- the meetings- of Classis.    the-debate* and discussion of the issues. When the. latter

It is not likely then that too man)  would be present so that        speaks in the pote that is finally cBlled  this is no longer the

the work of the Classis would be impaired but because of this        case. Then their voice is decisive' and in this capacity the

very real  possibility it is probably better that Classis  by        "advisory delegate" to Classis  cannot speak. He has only

special motion grant an advisory voice to elders present as          one voice and .that is "advisory." He speaks in an advisory

the occasion and need may arise.                                     capacity but his advice does  not have to be solicited. It may

   The princifile  reason that delegation to Classis  is limited     come voluntarily. It may be added, however, that the priv-
                                                                     ilege of advisory vote can also be abused and that liberty to
to one elder and one minister from each church and` that,
therefore, other-ministers. Be given OYily "ad&dry voice" is         speakfreely  at-all times does not mean that one may dominate-
                                                                     the discussion. He should speak only as the occasion neces-
that under the Reformed set-up the Classis is composed
                                                                     sitates and for the rest leave the matters of the Classis  in
not of individuals but of churches. The churches, not t'iie
ministers and elders, constitute the individual unit in our          the hands of those who are fully delegated to transact them.
Classical organization. This is not the case, for example, in        Failure to do ,this is to misuse one's rights while the careful
                                                                     exercise of this privilege will tend toward making the ad-
the Presbyterian Church. Monsma and Van Dellen  point
out in "The Church Order Cowme~ta~y"  that "according to             vice given more respected.
                                                                                                                                     G.V.d.B.
Presbyterian practice a minister becomes a member of his

Presbytery, or as we would say, Classis. ,He presides over

the Session (Consistory) of the church with which he is

connected and is called "Moderator" of the Session, but he is

not a member of the church which he serves. He iS a member                        So like the sun may I fulfill
of the Presbytery. According to Reformed church polity,                             The appointed duties of the day ;
however, no individual is, strictly speaking, a member of                         With ready mind and active  will
Classis in. A minister or elder can only be said to be a                            March on and keep my heavenly way.
melpber  of ClaFsis  ip the;sense  that his church has $elegatetl      <A.  _~ _..         - .r-         ,. ;             - A N O N Y M O U S
him to represent it at a .&ertaiA  Classical meeting."

   0~ the basis of this principle the only equitable way of

determining the delegation of Consistories to Classis is that                                    IN MEMORIAM

all shall be equally represented. Arbitrarily this has been
                                                                         At this time we wou!d like to express om- sympathy to the
fixed at the number two but there would be no principle ob-
                                                                     family of
jection to having two elders and the minister from each                                          ALICE REITSMA
church provided all the churches are represented alike. And,
                                                                         May this memoriam be a token of our gratitude fdr  the years of
as far as the objection is concerned that this is not fair to
                                                                     dedicated service, given to our school, by our beloved sister, now
the larger churches, the authors of the above quotation sug-
                                                                     in the bosom of our Heavenly Father.
gest that the proper way to correct this "inequality" is that
                                                                         "He healeth the broken in heart, and b+deth  up their wounds."
the overly large churches be divided into two or more smaller                                                                     Psalm  147:3

churches. But the mai?  point remains "that every church                The Hope Prot. Ref. Christian School P.T.A.

unit is a self governing manifestation of the body of Christ            The Hop&  Prot. R&f.  Christian School Teachers & Student Body

standing on a par as to rights and authority with every other           The Hope Prot. Ref. Christian School Alumnae

church."                                                                The Hope Prot. Ref. Christian School Circle

   ,Finally,  a' word about "advisory  vote"! A minister who

attends the Classis  and is given this privilege is one who

has the right to speak on all issues and problems that are                                       IN MEMORIAM
taken up by the Classis but he has no voice in the vote that
is taken and by which' these matters are finally decided. It             Our Society would herewith express its sympathy to our felldw
is sometimes asked whether the term "advisory" implies that          members, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Zwak, in the loss of their  Mother,

one should refrain from speaking until his. advice is sought                          MRS. MARTHA ZWAK, `aged 56 years.

by the Classis ? Should, he speak only when asked to give               May the God of all conso!ation  comfort their hearts in these
advice on a certain matter or is he~free  to participate in all      days of special grief, and direct .their eyes to the glorious resur-
the di&ssions  as much as he desires ? Evidently the latter is       rection.
meant so that the idea is that when he speaks he does so                                            The Hudsonville Mr. and Mrs. Society

only in an advisory capacity. This, of course, is true also                                         Rev. Gerrit Vos, President

of the voices of those delegates to Classis who are fully                                           Mrs. Harold VanOverloop, Secretary


 190                                         T H E   `ST:ANDARD   B E A R E R


 lr -                                                                       "Anyone who denies the full ,inspiration  of the Bible, con:
               A     L     L          AROUND.US  -11tradicts the plain teaching of our Belgic Confession on this
                                                                       point. We do not admit that there is roomfor  a difference of

                                                                       opinion on what our Confession teaches on Scriptural in-
 More Debate Respecting Infallibil$y                                   spiration. The pronouncements of Articles III to VII are

        From time to time we have reported in recent months            so plain, unequivocal, and emphatic that only one interpreta-
 on the debate in the Christian Reformed Church on the                 tion `is possible, namely, that `Scripture in its whole extent,
 proposition respecting the infallibility of the Scriptures.           in all its parts, and in all its words, is the infallible and in-
                                                                       errant Word ,of `(God.`.  That is the interpretation. given by
        This debate had its occasion in the publication of two
                                                                       the Ecumenical Reformed Synod of South Africa (Acts,
 articles appearing in a publication of Calvin Seminary called
                                                                       1959, 2 B 1 "e"), adopted by our Synod of 1959, and
 Strotptata  in which a student, now a minister in the Christian
                                                                       accepted by Seminary President Dr. John H. Kromminga
 Reformed Church, posited views on inspiration which evoked
                                                                       even though he held to a different interpretation before
 considerable comment and criticism. In fact, the Synod of
                                                                       Synod met."
 1959 of the Christian Reformed Church spent much time
 with the question of infallibility as a result of the debate.             `It will be interesting to see whether Dr. Stob will reply
 Apparently, however, the debate continues as is evidenced in          to this, and still more interesting to see what his reply will
 the articles appearing in the Januarj;,  1960 issue of Torcl~~        be. We will report any further developments as we see them.

 and Tmvx  p e t.

        Both the Rev. Joseph A. Hill and the Rev. H. J. Kuiper         It's P'rorzg,  But . . .

 take Dr. George Stob to task for the views he expressed on
                                                                           Clzristian Economics of December 29, 1959 presents
 the subject in a lecture delivered at Trinity College in Worth,
                                                                       among other interesting and instructive articles one under
 Illinois on November 11, 1959 which was sponsored by the
                                                                       the- above title which I thought our readers would enjoy
 Chicago Chapter of Calvin College Alumni Association. The
                                                                       reading in its entirety. It was written by Rev. Francis E.
 Rev. Hill, who claims to give a rather accurate report of the
                                                                       Mahaffy of the American Evangelical Mission, Sanafe,, Eri-
 lecture, is especially critical of Dr. Stob!s quotation. ,of Dr.
                                                                       trea, East Africa. We liked the arti$e  because of its practical
 Edward J. .iToung's view of inspiration expressed in wo!rk                          :    = -,
                                                                       valueand  application to our times.
 written by the latter relative to the Biblical Doctrine of
 Inspiration. While the Rev. Kuiper in his Timely Topics                   "There is no lack in the world of calloused individuals
 expresses alarming disfavor to the entire approach of Dr.             who are completely unconcerned about moral issues. They
 Stob to the subject of infallibility.                                 approach problems from a purely pragmatic point of view.
    Rev. Kuiper does not purport to give a complete evalua-            If a particular action accomplishes the results which they
 tion of Dr. Stob's position, He gives only some of his first          deem desirable, they support -it regardless of the harm in-
 reactions. He intends to write more later.                            flicted to individuals. But there are, on the other hand, many
    However, Rev. Kuiper pulls no punches in his first reac-           people of a more tender conscience who are concerned about
tions. Severely he criticizes Stob's position, and accuses him         the morality of their actions. They are aware of the fact
 of denying Plenary and Verbal Inspiration. Further, he ac-            that there is such a concept as right and wrong. They
 cuses him of not being in line with Reformed tradition in             hesitate to approve ,of the wrong when they clearly see it to
 quoting writers to support his views.                                 be such. .Yet  how often among such people, people of high
        Most serious of Rev. .Kuiper's  remarks we find in the         morality and even professing Christians, we hear the ex-
conclusion of his article when he accuses Stob of violating the.       pression, `I know it's wrong but . . .' followed by rationaliza-
promises made when he subscribed to the Formula of Sub-                tion for their action or approval of what .they  themselves
scription. It is the claim of Rev. Kuiper, and we believe              judge to be unethical. There is, in fact, in all of us this
correctly-so, that before Dr. .Stob  may publicly in speech or         same tendency. Even though we do not verbally express this
writing propagate his views on inspiration which militate              rationalization for our conduct which is contrary to our own
against the Forms of .Unity,  he must first reveal his senti-          knowledge of the moral standard, it forms the conscious `or
ments to the Consistory, Classis,  or Synod "that the same             unconscious ground of our behavior. `It's wrong,' we admit,
may be there examined, being ready always cheerfully to                but . . .'

submit to the judgment of the.Consistory,  Classis,  or Synod,             "There are various motives at work influencing us in our

under penalty in case of refusal, of being by that very act            rationalization for conduct contrary to the moral standard;

suspended from our office."                                            A prominent one is fear. Some twenty years ago when I

    This- oath of office Rev. I&per  claims Dr. Stob has               was working in a factory, a group of the workers went on

violated.                                                              strike and forced .the plant to close. While riding the street

    At this point Rev. Kuiper makes the following significant          car to the plant wondering if there would be work or not,
statement :                                                     - "    I was .joined  by a fellow worker and we discussed the'union


                                                               :           ~- : _ ::
                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   - B E A R E R                                              1.91,


rather fully. Both of us were agreed that it would be wrong         he feels that he has brought to China the best government

to` join the union. However, the instant he left the car, he        she has ever had. He speaks in glowing terms of Mao's ac-

was surrounded by a mob of men who pressed a union card             complishments.      `Under no dynasty has there been such

into his hands and demanded under threat of violence that           progress as in the last decade . . . he has abolished many evils

he sign. Fearful of physical violence he joined the union. A        in China. There are no beggars on the street of any city,

.few  minutes previously he had stated his opinion that it          where beggars once flourished in mobs. There are no dogs

was wrong to do so but because of fear acted contrary to his        in China, and with them have' gone untold numbers of

convictions. In our international relations also,. fearful of       vermin. There are few flies left in the great cities _ . . Most

the consequences of an alliance of various countries with           important, there is no graft or corruption among officials.'

Russia, we compromise our principles and support socialism          The author' of this article lightly passes over Mao's respon-

in these countries with the unfounded hope that thus we are         sibility for the murder of millions of people, his defiance of

preventing a greater evil.        -'                                God, his attempts to destroy the church of Christ, and

                                                                    rationalizes his conduct by pointing to what he considers
   "We rationalize our unethical deeds by considering only          valuable contributions he has made. Aside from the question
their short term consequences. A fellow minister once wrote         of the accuracy of the facts, the acknowledgment of the fact
me that although there were many things about social security       that Mao's conduct is at variance with Christian ethics should
that he did not like, he felt' it would be doing an injustice to    in itself have led him to `a radically diverse evaluation of
his family to fail to avail himself of these benefits for: them.    Mao, and his regime,.
Another spoke favorably of social security because he felt
                                                                       "Perhaps this sort of rationalization evidenced by the
it would relieve the church of a burden in caring for its
                                                                    .expressidn  `It's wrong, but . . .' springs from' the tendency
poor. Both of these men in looking at the short term benefits
                                                                    of our age to exalt man at the expense of God. We have
of social security failed to realize that in the long run this
                                                                    forgotten that God is God. We no longer believe that to
non-funded scheme of old age benefits would accelerate the
trend toward capital depletion, result in greater poverty           defy the law of the eternal, absolute, holy God must inevitably
                                                                    bring with it God's jud&nent.  As the night follows the day,
and much harm to everybody. They failed to realize that the
psychology of something-for-nothing would destroy the roots         defiance of God's law is the cause that must be followed by
of true charity in the church and thus deprive her of one of        the effect of His curs$ Comtpromisem  with the moral law by
                                                                    the individual or by society will be followed by disastrous
her graces. It was wrong, they knew, ,but  blinded by the
                                                                    consequences for both. We may be sure that our sin will
hope for short term gains, they compromised. their better
                                                                    find us out. When the church catches a glimpse of God's
judgment.
                                                                    holiness and sovereignty, she can again regain her position of

   "Convinced of our inability to change the trends, we throw`      leadership in the realm of morals.

the blame for socialistic legislation of which we disapprove           "Only when we learn to say, `It's wrong therefore I can-
on Congress and fail to take due cognizance of the fact that        not do it' may we expect God's blessing upon our endeavors."
Congress is a fairly faithful mirror of.public  opinion. Or we
                                                                       We are not told the author's religious background, nor
rationalize our negligence in seeking reform by the argu-
                                                                    is his particular faith indicated. Whatever these are, he surely
ment that although it is wrong yet nearly everybody does or
                                                                    paints a correct picture, first of all, of a very common char-
approves it and we are afraid to. swim against the current.
                                                                    acteristic of modern man;-be he religious or not. Moreover,

   "Another motive behind our rationalization for our con-          in the second place, he also presents a true concept of God
duct and views stems from sympathy for the underdog.                Who is not the figment of our imagination, a dumb idol,
Recently we entertained a guest in our home who was a               but the only true and living God.' The author surely does
stalwart member of the .English  Socialist Party. His ap-           not present a god who by the general operation of his spirit
proval of socialism stemmed from his deep sympathy for his          retards the development of sin, but the God Who judges
characterization of the plight of the common man. He could          righteously all the conduct of men, all men. Indeed, God is
see that many of the actions of the party were contrary to          God. And to defy or compromise with His law must -bring
God's law but felt that their good, ends justified, the means.      disastrous consequence.
He failed to understand the -best way to help the mass of                                                                      M.S.

men was to give them freedom accompanied by Christian

charity in times of special distress.


   "Recently I read an article in a Christian magazine in
                                                                      When Thou shalt revive us Thy Name we will praise,
which the author spoke very highly of the regime of Mao
in Communist China. While granting. that Mao is not a                 And nevermore, turning, depart from Thy ways ;
Christian and that he does not have Christian ethics and              0 Lord God Almighty, in-mercy restore.

that he has been ruthless while consolidating his power, yet          And we shall be saved when Thy face. shines" once more.


         192.                                         .THE  S'T,ANDARD             B    E        A     R    E    R         `. .-           . :,.


                                                                                H. Hoeksema, Prot. Ref. `Seminary, Grand Rapids; Mich.

                 NEWS-FROMOURCHLlRCtiES
         I/                                                                     The sender: Yosuji Morii, of the Kyoto Reformed Church,
                                                                                Kyoto, Japan. He evidently is the minister of that church
                           "`All  the saints salute thee . . ." PHIL. 4:21
                                                                                for in the car.d he expressed his appreciation for the "works"

                                                                                of the -Rev:  H. Hoeksema which he was studying with8  much
                                                           January 5, 1960      satisfaction.         It seems that Yosuji Morii agrees with the

                 Rev. G. Vanden  Berg declined the call from Hull ; Rev.        words of Joseph Addison, "Books are the legacies that a

         R. Veldman declined the calls from Randolph and                        great genius leaves to mankind which are delivered down
                                                                       Grand
         Haven. Edgerton's trio consists of the Revs. R. Harbach,               from generation to generation as presents to the posterities

         R. Veldman and B. Woudenberg ; Randolph's trio includes                of those who are yet unborn."

         the Revs. H. Hanko, M. Schipper  and G. Vanden  Berg.                      January 5 was the date of the Office Bearer's Conference

                 Seminarian J. Kortering, temporarily stationed in Hull,        held in First Church. Prof. H. C. Hoeksema spoke on "The

         exchanged pulpits with Rev. G. Van `Baren,  of Doon,  the              Calling of the Elders as Watchmen on the Walls of Zion"

         afternoon of Jan. 3. Rev. Van Baren thereby was privileged             specially treating that aspect of his rule over the preaching

         to install the office bearers chosen to serve the congregation         of the.  Word, and over the church. The speaker, upon the

         of Hull.                                                               authority of the Catechism, Neth. Confession, and the Church

                 The Young People's  Societies of Hull and Doon  have           Order, `defined the position of the elders as co-equal with the
         decided to meet in joint sessions in the coming year, meeting          ministers of the Word, having the double duty of watching
         alternatingly in their own churches. This decision was                 upon the walls of Zion in regard to the preaching and to
         reached that the young people might enjoy the benefits ac-             the discipline of the church. The elder's rule over the
         crued from ~larger  gatherings.                                        preaching was described as that of preventing error and
                                                                                false doctrine from gaining entrance, and that of maintaining
                 Prof. H. C. Hoeksema was elected to the chair in the
                                                                                sound doctrine to the spiritual edification of the flock of God.
         Men's Society of First Church. He will lead the society in
                                                                                He further exhorted the elders to be diligent in giving counsel
         the discussion of the Book of Galatians, and in the after re-
                                                                                to the ministers in., regard to the needs of. the flock that the
 `~      cess study -of the, Belgic .Confe'ssions.  --+     1, z :._/ ;. ;;
                                                                                preaching -`ma:  be most effective .towards'  their growth in
                 Excerpt from Holland's bulletin of Dec. 27 : We welcome
                                                                                grace and in the knowledge of God. Further, that the rule
         Rev. Lanting into our midst as he officially takes up his
                                                                                of the elders is only through, and accompanied with, the
         labors among us. We pray for the blessing of .the Lord upon            Word of Christ. "Thus saith the Lord" is the content of the
         his labors, and that we may receive him as a gift from God's
                                                                                elder's message in all his instruction and disciplining of the
         hand and as the mouthpiece of our Lord Jesus Christ in our
                                                                                members of the congregation. And finally, that Family Visita-
         midst.
                                                                                tion, in the Reformed system, is the duty of the elders, which
                 The Ladies' Aid Society of Redlands  has donated a pulpit      when properly conducted should serve to instruct, encourage
          Bible to be used in their public worship services.                    and exhort, the flock of God to walk in a new and Godly life
                 Rev. H. Veldman delivered his first lecture as the pastor      `which is the fruit of their regeneration. The subject of the
         of Redlands  Church, Wednesday, Dec. 9. The lecture,                   speech was so broad that the several aspects were only
         sponsored by the Men's Society, was on the subject, "The               touched upon and might well serve for subjects of future
                                                                                                                                    . .
          Signs of the Times in Our Daily Lives."                               conferences.

                 Rev. G. Vos, of Hudsonville, suffered a severe sore               -The  Hope. Choral Society rendered their annual Christ-

         throat which prevented his conducting services Dec. 20.                mas program, Dec. 27. The program was given' after the

          Elder H. Zwak conducted reading service in the morning,               evening service to a capacity (wall-to-wall) -audience, and

         and Missionary G. Lubbers preached for them in the after-              was a fitting climax to the season's activities celebrating

          noon.                                                                 the Birthday of the King.
."        ' Hudsonville's Mr. and Mrs. Society was host to the                      From the Jan. 5th issue of the Grand Rapids Press : "The
          Men's and the Ladies' societies of their church at their              Michigan Supreme Court upheld the right of the so-called
          Christmas week meeting. After the Bible discussion the                Rev. Herman Hoeksema faction to retain control of the First
       -host society rendered a musical program.                                Protestant Reformed Church . . . . The ,ruling  upholds

                 The congregation of' Hope was privileged to hear an            retired Superior Court Judge Thaddeus B. Taylor in -a
          exposition of I Peter 4:8 by their pastor on the first Sunday         decision several years ago in which he ruled in favor of the
          of the new year. Would that we all would resolve to heed              Hoeksema consistory because Classis East . . . had decided
          the admonition therein as our "New Year's resolution."                in favor of the Hoeksema group in a doctrinal dispute lead-
                                                                                                                                                    :
                 Among the host of. greeting cards received at the home         ing to a contest for the property . . . ."

        - of Rev. and Mrs.-H. Hoeksema was one addressed to Prof.                   . . . . see you in church.                                      1 J.M.F.


