          VOLuhm XXXVI                           M&xx.   1 ,   1 9 6 0   - Gi=am RAPIDS, MI&IGAN'                                   NUMBER 11

                                                                              What is sin ?                                                                       :
II,             M E D I T A T I O N                                         Sin is- to miss the mark. It is a figurative expression of:,
                                                                           the Bible. And the figure used, speaks of a man that shoots

                                                                           the arrow or slings the stone or casts the spear at a mark set
                THE TREATMENT OF OUR SINS                                  before him. -

                                                                              And that mark ?
                  `He %at covereth his sins shall'not prosper: but
                   wkoso confesseth  and forsaketh  them shall hare           That mark is the glory of God !
                   fxexyiJ                                          :13
                                                        PROV.  28 
                                                                              Or :' just God !
         Proverbs is in the Old Testament what James is in the
                                                                              Thus man was set in the paradise of God the first.
New Testament. I might add that also the Sermon on the

Mount- is included in-that appraisal.                      _                  All within him told him to shoot at the true mark: the.
                                                                           gloryof  his Maker.
         At any rate, they both' are severely practical. Both                                    . .         - - -.- __..
Proverbs and'James  treat the spiritual life of the Christian                 But such activity you do not see any more..                      .__                `y ~ I

on the background of the wicked's darkness.                                   Man shoots, but not at God. H,e directs himself at the. '                                    *",,
         Throughout Proverbs `the  righteous are revealed. on the          creature, either ourselves or another, or both.                                          :*
                                                                                                                                                      ,           `:I>.
background of the wicked,  with the constant result that the                                                                                               ,, I,
                                                                                                            * *' * *                                                   ;\
wicked are fallen, but that it shall go well with the righteous.                                                                                            ~.

         So also here : Cover your sins, .and  you won't prosper !            To cover sin : what is it?
But confess and forsake them, and you shall have mercy!
                                                                              From whom ?                            ;
          Let's look at that a little closer.
                                                                              From man ? Well, that is good: When  you `are extremely

                                                                           evil you sin openly. Extremely evil men and women sin
                                 * * * *                                   openly. `c

                                                                               See: Isaiah 3 :9, "And they declare their sin as Sodom;
          He that covereth his sins.
                                                                           they hide it not."           Look at the fallen empires, just before
         There is a horrible use of the possessive pronoun: sin            their final fall: they flaunt sin openly!
and the person who sins are identified. And that is a,horrible                Although when you sin against your brother you should
,entity. His sins ! There is a horrible property, besmirching
                                                                           not cover it before his eye, but, indeed, you even then cover
the possessor! Sin is really the sinning person.
 r;                                                                        your. sin before'the .eye of the rest of the church.           .
 :        Hence, that is our name. The publican  in the Temple of             Note some texts which refer to the covering of sin :
 God saw truth. When  he came to himself, and saw himself
 as he really was, he expressed his true name : The Sinner!                   James 5 20, "Let him know that he which converteth the
       (That is according? the original Greek.)                            sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from
                                                                           death and shall .hide a multitude of sins."
                                                                              ,..
         Yes, brother, that is your name also;. as you are by
                                                                              And : I Peter 5 :S, "And above' all things, have fervent
 nature. From the cradle to the grave, and every moment in
                                                                           charity among yourselves : for/charity shall cover the multi-
between, you sin. You sin incessantly, continually. You sin
                                                                           tude of sins."
whether you are regenerated and converted or not. Even

 the holiest man or woman that ever lived. sins always and                     So there `is. a certain covering or hiding of sin which  is

 at every step of his way to eternity.                ' .                  good and salutary.                                 ,.

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


         What then?                                                             The conscience, enlightened and refreshed daily by the

         The prophet speaks here of the covering of your sin             Spirit of Christ, reacheth you experientially when you sin,
 before God! And that is very evil.                                      through the Word of God. And it also is the spiritual sense
                                                                         organ which makes you hate sin, especially your own sin.
         And that's the idea here. Look at the context. First of
 all in the text itself. But whoso confesseth and forsaketh                     And the result is that you will sorrow after God from
 them shall have mercy. That is spoken of the man who con-               the heart. Daily you will tell the Lord that you have sinned.
 fesses sin before God, of course. And so we conclude that               You pour out your heart before His face.

 also the first part of the text refers to God: You should                      That is confessing your sin. To that you are called jn

 not cover your sins before God.                                         my text.

         And in the context: "Happy is the man that feareth                     Then you confess your sins, all your sins, even the sins

 alway,  but he that hardeneth his heart shall' fall into. mis-          you do not know. You will distrust your own heart, and its

 chief."           Also here man's relationship to God is stressed,      dark corners. You will say with David in another place:

 and the pr,ophet  continues of course in the same strain.               Cleanse Thou me from secret faults!

I~       Therefore, the idea is that you sinned against God. And                                       *    * * *
 you knew it was sin, but you did not confess, nor leave off               0

 sinning.           But you covered this sin in .. your heart: you              And forsaketh them.

 hardened your heart before God's all-seeing-eye.                               First of all, that will be the constant desire of your

         A n d   w h y ?                                                 heart. A Christian's inmost desire is to live without sin.

                                                                         That is so because Jesus lives within you. Hence, we desire
         Because you loved your sin, you relished it, and hated
 God, the Light.                                                         to live according to all God's commandments.

                                                                                And, secondly, that is the striving, the serious endeavour
         And that is done.
                                                                         of your whole life. That is the constant laying off of the
         Always by the wicked. Also, sometimes, by the church.           old man of sin, a daily exercise. And the putting on of the
 Because of the flesh. And the Lord is addressing Himself                new man in Christ. In a word: sanctification.
 to the church, of course. And this old prophet addresses you
 today, saying to you: confess your sins and you shall have                     But no perfectionism.
                                                     :
 mercy.                                                                         Even the holiest of God's children have only a very small

                                 *    * * *                            r principle of this new obedience. That makes heaven so at-

                                                                         tractive. For in heaven no one of God's children sins any-

         What then? .We are to confess our sins.                         more.

         And to do that, my dear reader, you need the knowledge                                        *    * * *

 of God in two ways.

                                                                                And what is the result?
         First,, you need that knowledge as it is revealed in His
 Word. That is, the Bible, the whole Bible.                                     Those who cover their sins before the eye of God shall

         And that Bible is the revelation of God's own ethical life      not prosper'

 and will for our lives. In it you see exactly how you should                   First let me tell you that no one really succeeds in Cov-
 walk from the heart out. Remember the text: "Thy word                   ering `his sin before God's eye. You may think so in your
 is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path"? Psalm                heart, but it is not so. He knows all our hearts and the

      119 :lOS.                                                          secrets within.

                                                                                Now then, what is prospering?
         However, even that Word of God is not enough. You

 may have that Bible memorized in full, and still go to hell.                   To prosper is to proceed toward the set goal.

         Therefore, you need the knowledge of.God by His Holy                   You know, creation must go through a great process in ~

 Spirit. More correctly: you need the knowledge of God                   order to arrive at the final glorious purpose.

 through the Spirit of Christ, the Pentecostal Spirit.                          And the final goal is, that heaven and earth and all their

         If you have that Spirit, YOLZ  are regenerated, converted,      hosts arrive before the Face of God, united in Christ Jesus

 and you walk on the way of sanctification.         Then the Word        in order to sing everlastingly the praises of Jehovah.

 of God becomes a living power within you. For that Spirit                      Now, if you cover your sins you will never arrive there.
 is the Spirit of Truth and the Faithful Witness. He takes               Oh, you will go to God alright,  but when you get there, you
 it out of Christ, and declares it unto you.                             will hear Him say to you: Depart from Me, you evil doer, I

         Through the twofold knowledge of God you acquire a              have never known you! Not to prosper means that you will

 knowledge of sin.                                                       retrograde. And that is hell!


                                            T H E   STANDAR>D   B E A R E R                                                                                                                                                        243


     The world, the wicked world, does not prosper.

                                                                                       T    H    E           STAIVDARD.BEARER
     That is very evident. Just live: see, hear, and observe.
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In all the media. And the sum total will tell you: they are              Published by the REFOXMED  FREE  PUBLISHING AssoczunoN
running headlong into everlasting destruction.                          P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

     But it is also a warning to the church of Jesus Christ.                                Editor - REV. HEZMAN HOEKSEMA

The tendency to cover our sins is always there.                         Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
8                                                                                  Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S; E.,
     David did. Until Nathan, the prophet, called on him and                                           Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

said : Thou art that man !                                              AII  matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
                                                                                     James Dykstra, 1328 W. Butler Ave., S. E.

     I read:    "When I kept silence, my bones waxed old                                         Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
                                                                        Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
through my roaring all the day long. For day and `night                 address and will  be published at a fee of $2.00 for each notice.
Thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into
                                                                        RENEWAL: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
the drought of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin unto                ceived it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
                                                                        .to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
Thee, and my iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess
                                                                                            Subscription price: $5.00 per year
my transgressions unto the Lord ; and Thou forgavest the
                                                                         Entered as Second Class matter at Grand Rapids, Michigan
iniquity of my sin. Selah."

     Hence: Return to the confession of your sins ! Beware!
                                                                                                              C O N T E N T S
If you do not: God's hand will be heavy upon you, until            MDITATION-
      1 I
you OO!                                                                     The Treatment              of Our Sins . . . . . . . . . .._...._............................ _ . . . 241

     But when confessing and forsaking your sins, you, will                       Rev. G. Vos

taste the mercy of Jehovah.                                        EDITORIALS-
                                                                            As To Being Protestant Reformed . . .._._____.__.._.......................                                                                              244

     Mercy is the love of God for His people in great misery,                     Rev. H. Hoeksema

with the determination to deliver them out of' all their dis-      As  To BOOKS-
tresses.                                                                    The Calvin&tic             Concept of Culture. . . . . . . . . . . . . .._......_..  246

                                                                                  Rev. H. Hoeksema
     It means that you will have the forgiveness of your sins,
                                                                   O
the acceptance in the everlasting arms of God! -                    UR DOCTRINE  -
                                                                            The Book of Revelation . . . . . . . . . .._....._._......................................
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       247

     Through His marvellous grace over you!                                        Rev. H. Hoeksema


     In that grace He gave you His great Substitute: Jesus         A CLOUD OYWITNESSES-
                                                                            Joseph     Before         Pharaoh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Christ. All our sins were visited on Him, so that you might
                                                                                   Rev. B. Woudenberg
be set free!
                                                                   FROM HOLY WRIT -

     Indeed, great is the mystery of Godliness : God mani-                  Exposition of I Corinthians                                      15        (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

fested in the flesh: our Jesus!                                                    Rev. G. Lubbers

                                                                   IN HIS FEAR -

                                                                            Punishment or Praise                            (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..252

                                                                                  Rev. J. A. Heys


                                                                   FEATURE hTICLE-
                                                                            Christ and Moses Concerning Divorce __................................
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     254
                  Notice for Classis  West                                         Rev. H. Hanko


     Classis  West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will        CONTFLDSUTI~NS -
                                                                            History      of    the           Protestant                 Reformed                        Church . . . . . . . 258
convene, the Lord willing, in Oak Lawn, Illinois, on Wed-                          Mr. Wm. A. Griess

nesday, March 16, 1960, at 9 :OO  a. m.                            THE  VOICE  OF OVn FATHERS-
                                                                            The Canons of Dordrecht ..,......................................................  258
     The consistories are reminded of the rule that all matters
                                                                                   Rev. H. C. Hoeksema

for the classical agenda must be in the hands of the Stated
                                                                   DECENCY AND ORDER-
Clerk not later than 30 days before the date of Classis.                    Church Visitation                  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . z . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

                                                                                   Rev. G. Vanden  Berg
     Anyone needing lodging is requested to write to Rev. G.
                                                                   ALLARO&DUS-
Vanden  Berg, 9402 South 53rd Court, Oak Lawn, Illinois.                    "Making Molehills out of Mountains" . . .._.............................. ,262

                                                                             R e v .   M .   Schipper
                               REV. H. VELDMAN, Stated Clerk

                               817 Webster St.                     NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES...... ,. . . . . . . . . 
                                                                                                                                                       .:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      2 6 4
                                                                                                                                               _ .`~.
                                                                                   Mr. J. M. Faber                                                  .:
                               Redlands, California.


244                                               THE..ST:ANDARD  `BE.ARER


II                                                                        the differences and to arbitrate the areas of agreement.
         E D I T O R I A L S ' .   j(                                        We are aware of the fact that the committee states in its
                                                                          introduction that they alone (N.L. the committee) are

                                                                          responsible for the material contained in the documents given
         As To Being Protestant Reform&d                                  to the Christian Reformed committee, but fact is nevertheless
N       O    T    E    .                                                  that what we have here are not opinions and expressions
        All our readers,    no doubt, will by this time have              from mere individuals but from an officially appointed com-
wondered about my editorial in the Feb. 15 issue of our                   mittee `of the Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches
paper. The explanation is that, instead of the protest I meant            and,, therefore, when the committee states with regard to
to publish, something else appeared and the protest was left              Point I, "We do not stumble over the expression that there
out. Hence I now publish the entire editorial as I meant                  is. a, certain grace or favor of God shown to the creatures in
to write it.                                                              general" -, and "we do not deny the offer of the gospel" -
        You ask who is to blame for this ridiculous error. , Let          and when they speak of a non-redemptive favor or grace and
us say: the undersigned, although he still cannot understand              of an un-differentiated mankind -then what other conclu-
how it could possibly have taken place.                                   sion must be drawn from these statements but that this is
        Just remember, dear reader, that n&l  hu~n~~wt alianuvlz          what is commonly believed in the Protestant Reformed
est &iK. And I `say pecca-vi.  Perhaps you cannot figure this             Churches. This, however, is not the truth - not only that
out either. Then you better ask someone that knows Latin.                 it is not. commonly believed, but it is contrary to all that has
                                                                H.H.      ever been written, preached or taught in .the entire history
        I cannot refrain from acquainting our readers. with a
.' :                                                                      of our churches.
protest -that was sent by those that call themselves the con-                                            I I .
sistory of the Orthodox Protestant Reformed Church. I                        Secondly, when the committee report proposes a certain
publish this protest because its contents are quite Protestant            grace or favor to all creatures in general (non-redemptive)
Reformed as far as it goes.       Perhaps, this is the reason for         we oppose this on the same grounds we always have, namely,
the postscript at the end of this document.                               we find no Scriptural or confessional ground for it; it is
        IThe protestis meant for the schi'smatic Synod. I under-          not in harmony with God's wrath over sin ; it is a grace
stand_.thatif..has  already .been..before-thei.r  classis  in January,    with which the wicked go to eternal. damnation, and the
that, however, the discussion about it was not finished and               general tenor of Scripture is diametrically opposed to such
that, therefore, it, will be brought          again at a special meet-
                                       up                                 a.conception. To use as proof a footnote in Rev. Hoeksema's
ing of classis  in February.                                              "History of the Protestant Reformed Churches" is un-
        I will first publish the entire protest and, at the end,          warranted as the entire content of the book is a clear testi-
make, a.few  remarks.                                                     mony to the contrary.
        Here, then, follows the protest:                                     The committee report refers to three texts of Scripture
To the Synod of. the Protestant Reformed Churches                         for proof of the statements under Point I, namely: Psalm
      convening in Grand Rapids,' Mich., June 8, 1960                     145 :9, Matt. 5 :44,  45 and Acts 14 :16,  17.
Rev.. James Howerzyl - Clerk                                                 In each of these texts we have the assurance that God is

Esteemed Brethren :                                                       good and that His goodness comes to manifestation in all of

        We are pleased that the Synod of 1959. complied with the          His works. This fact has never been denied by us.

request of this consistory that the Protestant Reformed Con-                 However, God is also righteous in the manifestation of

tact Committee report and .its conclusions be forwarded to                His goodness and "unless complete satisfaction is made for

the individual consistories for further study and considera-              the sin which is committed against the most high majesty

tion.                                                                     of God there is no escape from the punishment (both

In compliance with Art. 123, Acts of Synod 1959, this                     temporal and eternal) of the righteous and just God. The

consistory offers the following `evaluation, `comment and                 only way of being aga;tn received &to  His favor is by the

recommendation.                                                           satisfaction of Jesus Christ our Mediator." Lord's Day 4

                                                                          and 5.

        Our first observation is, that according to Art. 70 Acts             The Scriptures do not speak of any favor-or grace in any

of Synod 1957, dealing with the. Testimony to the Christian               other way than referred to above. The proof-texts cited in&he

Reformed Church in Proposition 3, sets forth the committee's              committee report do not either.

.mandate  as consisting of "freely discussing the differences                The texts referred to, if taken in their proper context,

and similarities -and to report back to their respective                  teach that God gives good gifts to all His creatures but they

churches."                                                                do not teach that these gifts are given as a manifest token

        The committee, we believe, went beyond this mandate.              of His grace or favor. Grace is not in things as such. Psalm

The mandate was to discuss.  :diff  erences and similarities;             145 :20  and numerous other passages of Holy Scripture teach

It seems that the Committee felt its mandate was to settle                what God's attitude toward ,the wicked is.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               245



   Without giving any interpretation or exegesis the com-
              - -                                                  terfuge, in that they by-pass the true thrust of the points in
mittee report simply refers to three texts from which we           q u e s t i o n .
are convinced no one can prove what the committee seeks                In Point II, the restraint of sin being ascribed to the
to prove.                                                          general operation of the Holy Spirit on the unregenerate is
   How can the texts in question or any other text prove           by-passed, and a restraint of sin ascribed to the providence
that the good gifts of rain, sunshine etc. must be conceived       of God and purposing the defense and preservation of the
of as God's gracious inclination to reprobate in the face of       church is proposed.
the clear and constant testimony of the Scriptures that God            In Point III the committee report proposes a civic good
hates the wicked, that He sets them in slippery places to          which, however, in the last analysis, is sinful in the sight of
destroy them, that His curse is upon them and that "He             God, whereas it is not done from the root of faith. We do
hides from them the mystery of the kingdom of God so that          admit that the natural man at times does that which is out-
seeing they may see and not perceive and hearing they may          wardly according to the law of God, but to speak of a sinful
hear and not understand, lest at any time.  they should be         good is a contradiction in terms, and whereas it is not done
converted and their sins be forgiven them"?                        from the root of faith, neither to the glory of God, we would

                                 I I I .                           rather say with Romans 14:23,  "whatsoever is not of faith

   Thirdly, the consistory does not agree to a "general well-      is sin," and Romans 3 :12, "there is none that doeth good, no,

meant offer of the gospel."                                        not one."

   The report speaks of `"A call of the gospel that comes to                                       v:-
a sinful mankind which historically is not yet differentiated          We would sum up our observations by stating that the
as elect and reprobate.".                                          committee, in proposing certain reformulations, went beyond
   This philosophy, we believe, is refuted in the early be-        their mandate, and in so doing drew conclusions and made
ginnings of history when God approaches mankind as the seed        impressions that cannot be substantiated.
of the woman and the seed of. the serpent-; which seeds were
                                                                       It is our avowed purpose and, we pray it may be Synod's
at that time yet to be born. God continues this approach
                                                                   also, to re-affirm our, historic stand in regard to God's Sov-
throughout the Scriptures. We fail to find the so-called
                                                                   ereignty, man's total inability and the antithesis. Compromise
"undifferentiated" approach. .
                                                                   in matters of God's truth will serve-no good purpose-for His
   When we speak of the offer of the Gospel our attention
                                                                   church.
is called to what is offered rather than to the seriousness and
                                                                       .We  feel that as Protestant Reformed Churches we can
the well-meaningness of the offer, for if it is true that God
                                                                   maintain a stronger antithetical position in this world by
offers something then it is certainly serious and well meant.
                                                                   holding to the truth as it has been taught in our churches.
   However, the question is what is meant by the offer of
                                                                   It is not reformulations but re-affirmations that will yield
the Gospel. We may say without fear of contradiction that
                                                                   good fruit for both the Protestant Reformed and the Chris-
the Gospel is centrally Christ in His redemptive and saving
                                                                   tian Reformed churches.
power.    If that is the content of the Gospel offered, to all
                                                                       May the good relations between the denominations con-
that hear that Gospel, how do we escape the error of universal
                                                                   tinue and by mutual respect and goodwill, the cause of Christ
atonement? For if Christ is offered to all, then there must
                                                                   be furthered.
be salvation for all. We consider this to be in conflict with
                                                                       We recommend that Synod do not approve the Com-
the word of Christ Himself when He said, "I pray not for
                                                                   mittee's conclusions and further that the Synod, in answer
the world, but them which Thou hast given me ; for they are
                                                                   to the official letter from the Christian Reformed Church,
Thine." John 17:9.
                                                                   forward to them a testimony of the historic position of the
   If Christ does not pray for all, how can it be said that He
                                                                   Protestant Reformed Churches in regard to the Three Points
is offered to all. Christ came to save those whom the Father
                                                                   of 1924, which the Christian Reformed Church has not in
had given Him. That must'  be proclaimed to all to whom
                                                                   any degree revised or retracted.
God in His good pleasure sends the gospel of salvation. But
that in itself already excludes those whom the Father has              Wishing you the guidance of the Holy Spirit in all your
not given Him, therefore He does not pray for them. But            deliberations, we are your brethren in Christ.          -
Christ must be set before their eyes, as the only way of salva-                                Consistory of the First Orthodox
tion, in order that through their rejection of the Saviour they                                    Protestant Reformed Church

may become ripe for destruction. That is according to the                                                 (w.s.) H. ,De Wolf, Pres.

.Scriptures  and confessions.                                                                             (w.s.)  J. Bouwman, Clerk

                                 IV.                               Done in Consistory
                                                                       November 23, 1959. December 28, 1959.'
   Concerning the committee's report in regard to the second

and third of the three points of 1924, the consistory ex-          P. S.      Rev. H. De Wolf's signature is not to be interpreted

.presses  that the reformulations proposed are merely a sub-          as indicating his agreement with the contents of this letter.


246                                         T    H    E         S.`TAmD;ARD       B    E    A    R    E    R


      Remarks.                                                            which it receives historical forms and is refined to a higher

       1. The reader will agree with me that the above is a               level of productivity .for the enjoyment of man. Culture, then,
thoroughly Protestant Reformed document. When you read                    is any and all human effort and labor expended upon the
this, you cannot help but wonder why, in 1953, the schis-                 cosmos, to unearth its treasures and its riches and bring them
matics  left the Protestant Reformed Churches. And when a                 into the service of man for the enrichment of human existence
split-has once become a fact, history teaches us very plainly             and unto the glory of God."

that it is well-nigh impossible to heai the,breach.  6f course,              The author rather strongly emphasizes the idea of the
we are. very willing to receive them back again but only on               antithesis also in the sphere of culture. For this reason I
the basis of confession of their sin. It is impossible for us             cannot understand how he can nevertheless speak of and
simply to re-unite as churches for we may not recognize them              believe.the  doctrine of so-called common grace, maintaining
as such. Hence, we must ask them to confess their sin and                 the favorable attitude of God to the wicked, the restraint
thus return to us.                                                        of sin, and civic righteousness. Writes he: "And although

      2. You may have noticed that I wrote above this docu-               man in that state of sin hates God and not subject to the
ment that it is Protestant Reformed "as far as it goes." This             law of God yet by virtue of God's restraining grace he is

means, `of course, that it does not go quite far enough. I                able to do good," p. 235. In another connection he speaks

have in mind now especially the conditional Theolo, of De                 of "relative good" whatever that may be. The author seems

Wolf C.S. Do they still agree with this ? It seems almost                 to have felt himself that this "common grace" cannot very

impossible in view of the fact that they deny the "Three                  well be harmonized with the truth of the antithesis. Yet

Points" and the well-meant offer of grace and salvation. With             he makes an attempt to do so. Cf. p. 237.

this a conditional promise certainly does not agree. Yet, on                 With all this we do not agree, as the author well knows.
the other hand, they still maintain De Wolf and that seems                We do not believe in the restraint of sin but instead we
to mean that they also agree with his heretical preaching as              teach the organic development of the human race and with
it was concentrated in the two well-known statements that
                                                                          it the organic development of sin. We do not believe that
were condemned by Classis  East. Those statements, as you
                                                                          there is such a thing as "relative good" as does the author,
will remember were : 1. "God promises to everyone of you
                                                                          simply because neither Scripture nor the Confessions speak
eternal life, if you believe" ; and 2. "Faith is a prerequisite
to' enter-the  kingdom' of heaven.`; No Protestant Reformed               of this. An act or deed of `man is either good or evil. This
person can possibly agree with this conditional theology. And             is taught in Scripture throughout even in Luke 6:33.  It is

so, the question: do the authors of the document still main-              true that Rom. 1 tells us that, from the revelation in creation,

tain this ?                                                               the heathen knows God, but -do not forget, in that same

       3. The statement that the De Wolf's signature does not             chapter, the Scriptures tell us that they hold under the
mean that he agrees is as ambiguous as many of his state-                 truth in unrighteousness.

ments I have heard of him in the past. One can make most                      It is true that, according to Genesis 1, it was man's
anything of it.. And, therefore, I prefer to make nothing of              calling to subdue the earth. But, after the .fall,  he cannot
it. The only thing I will say is that, personally, I would not            do this anymore. The reason for this is, on the one hand,
sign any document if my signature had to be ambiguous,
                                                                          that the earth is under the curse and all the creatures are
negative, and without any meaning]
                                                                          subject to vanity ; and, on the other hand, that' man has lost
                                                                  H.H.
                                                                          all his excellent gifts and has only a few remnants left. The

                                                                          result is that, in the real sense of the word, there is no
If
II                  AS TO- BOOKS                                          true culture: death is the end of all man's labor under the
                                                                          sun, and presently creation will be destroyed by fire, even as

                                                                          the first world,was  destroyed by water. There is no final pur-
       The CaJuinistic  Concept of Cultwe,  by Dr. Henry Van              pose of what is called culture. I have an idea that Kuyper  felt,
Til: Published by Baker Book House, Grand Rapids,-Mich.                   this, too, and that for that reason he invented the absurd
Price $4.50.                                                              philosophy that the products of culture will be brought into

       This book is divided into three parts. The first part de-          the New Jerusalem. Culture and its products must have a

fines the issue, the second is historical, the third is entitled:         final goal and .purpose  in order to be real culture. And this

"Basic Considerations Toward a Definition."                               is not the case. The man of culture walks, as it were in a
      It seems to me that the nearest approach to a definition            treadmill: he gets nowhere.
of Culture is found, not in the third part of the book, as one
would expect, but already in the first. Van Til defines or, at                Nevertheless, I recommend this book to our readers and
least, describes culture as "any human labor bestowed on                  to read it critically.

God's creation in its widest sense, including man himself, by                                                                        H.H.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               247


                                                                   tions at-all  times. It implies that the entire deviltry of Anti-
          O U R   D O C T R I N E                            II    christ shall be destroyed and that the Holy One of Zion
                                                                   shall break them in pieces.


           THE BOOK OF REVELATION                                     If this is clear, the whole vision of John and its purpose
                                                                   is also clear. The question might arise, as we look at that
                       P A R T   T W O
                                                                   mighty kingdom of Antichrist: is not this after all the king-
                     CHAPTER TWELVE                                dom that shall abide forever-this mighty kingdom, beauti-

                 The Lamb  On Mount Zion                           ful and strong, larding it over all the world, and finding its

                                                                   highest purpose' in the worship of the beast and the devil ?
                     Revelation 14 : l-5
                                                                   If that is so, is not then the cause of Christ a lost cause, and
   There we found that all the kingdoms of the earth had
                                                                   have not the people of God then hoped in Him in vain ?
combined and conspired together, and that with the definite
                                                                   These questions are. answered in our vision of the Lamb on
purpose of rebellion against God and against His Christ.
                                                                   Mount Zion. No, that entire kingdom of the world is bound
The nations we found raging with madness to establish their
                                                                   to fall and to be destroyed. Why? Because the Lamb .still
kingdom, in which the devil is worshipped and Jehovah is
                                                                   stands on Mount Zion. To the natural eye He is not visible ;
thrust from His throne. And those same facts are described
                                                                   the spiritual eye of faith sees Him plainly. The Lamb, not
in Psalm 2. But let us continue. Verse 4 reveals to us the
                                                                   the devil, is the King of this world. The Lamb, and not the
attitude of God Almighty over against these raging nations
                                                                   beast,' shall have the victory. The devil, and not the Lamb,
and peoples. What does Jehovah think about this condition?
                                                                   shall be defeated and destroyed. Because the Lamb is the
Is `He frightened? Does He now admit His defeat and
                                                                   Anointed One, and therefore has the certain decree of God
acknowledge that He must surrender His `kingdom 7 Not at
                                                                   back of Him, He shall surely have the victory. And there-
all. We read: "He that sitteth in the -heavens  shall laugh:
                                                                   fore the people of God, when all things seem against them
the Lord shall have them in derision." When Antichrist
                                                                   and Antichrist seems to rage in all his fury, need never
shall rage and establish his kingdom and apparently . will
                                                                   despair. Lift up your eyes to heaven and behold the Lamb
have the victory and realize his kingdom, God Almighty
                                                                   on mount Zion. His is' the victory.
shall laugh. The whole thing appears so utterly foolish to

Him that He laughs about it. That man could conceive of               If this picture of the power of the Lamb over against

the possibility of establishing a kingdom in which the devil       the antichrist is clear, we will also understand that the rest

should be supreme is such a piece of folly to God in heaven        of our text shows us the effect of this power of our mighty

that He derides them from heaven and mocks at the whole            King upon His own people.            The Lamb is not alone, He

deviltry of the dragon. It is a vain thing which they imagine.     has His people with Him, the one hundred and forty-four

The whole plan of the raging nations shall coliapse  and           thousand. We have met with this number before. See on

prove to be without reality. And why ? Simply because of           chapter VII. And, therefore, we do not have to explain the

His own eternal plan and counsel. The Lord God Almighty            meaning of this number again. At that time we called your

made His counsel. And that eternal counsel of the Almighty         attention to the fact that they were not Israelites in the

does not call for the permanent existence of such a kingdom        literal `sense of the word. The present passage corroborates

of Satan, but for its destruction. And for that reason the         this. There can be no question that in both cases the number

psalm continues to reveal that plan of God Almighty. In            has the same meaning. If in the former case they were Jews

verses 5 to 9. we read: "Then shall he speak unto them in          they must also be here.        But then you obtain the strange

his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I        explanation, which some actually hold, that the saints that

set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the          will be on earth at the time of Antichrist will all be from

decree : the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son ; this        the seed of Abraham in the literal sense of the word. And that

day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee         is, evidently, not the case. And, therefore, we maintain that

the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of      the one hundred and forty-four thousand represent the num-

the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a         ber of the elect that are on the earth at any moment of the

rod of iron ; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's       world's history. There are always one hundred and forty-

vessel." Because God had anointed Christ, and not the devilj       four thousand people of God on earth: the number of God's

over His holy hill, the stronghold of the kingdom, the former      elect. In the present passage they denote the people of God

shall never succeed ; but his kingdom shall fall. And there-       on earth at the time of the antichristian power. What, then,

fore, it is from that psalm that we learn the meaning of the       is the meaning of this number in this connection ? Why

expression "the Lamb on mount Zion." It implies that               are'  they mentioned here ? Simply to show that not one

God's decree shall stand and that no raging nations shall          of the elect is missing. They are all with the Lamb on mount

ever frustrate His plan. It implies that God's decree calls        Zion. They have all remained faithful. They have all

for a kingdom under Christ, the Lamb, the Anointed of God,         followed the Lamb whithersoever He leadeth them even in

and that this Lamb actually. stands in authority over the na-      the time of tribulation.       ..                          H.H.


24s                                          T H E   `S'TAhAR'D  `BE'ARER



                                                                     And behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind
$1 A CLOUD OF WITNESSES 11 sprung up after them. And the seven thin ears devoured
                                                                     the seven rank and full ears:" Corn, .or grain, was the chief

                                                                     crop of Egypt and an every day concern. The east wind
                Joseph Before Pharaoh                                mentioned was a hot wilting breeze and an ever present

               And it came to pass at the end of two full            danger for their crops. These were frequently on Pharaoh's
            years, tlwt Plzaraoh  dreapned  . . .                    mind and could very normally appear in his dreams.

                Then Phraoh sent and called Joseph, and                 Nonetheless, from the moment that he awoke, Pharaoh
            they brought bins lzastily  out of the dungeon . . .     could not think of these dreams as something normal. They

               And Joseph  said ztnto  pharaoh, the dream of         were different"from  any that he had ever had. They were so
          *. Phraoh is one: God kath  shewed  Pharaoh what           extremely vivid. We read, "And Pharaoh awoke, and, be-
            he is about to- do. GENESIS 41 :l, 14, 25.               hold, it was a dream." He was startled and astonished to find

    Days stretched into weeks, and weeks into months, and the        himself lying in bed. %le had none of that vague distant
months multiplied themselves, after the king's butler was            feeling toward what he had seen which often characterizes
taken from prison, but the release which Joseph expected             a dream. Even-after he awoke, the image of those dreams
                                                                     stood out so vividly in his mind that he could hardly imagine
did not come. The hope had grown strong within him that
he would be set free to return to the land of Canaan and to          that they had not been real. The dreams stood out in his
his father's house.                                                  memory so much like an actual experience that it frightened
                       Seeing the dreams of the `butler and
baker fulfilled before his eyes revived in his memory the            him. Furthermore ,there  was the strange similarity of the
dreams of his youth. Those dreams too, he realized now               two dreams, too great to be coincidental. The two were
even more than at the time, were revelations from God.               definitely distinct, not just the repetition of one dream with
Yet they seemed impossible of fulfillment unless he would be         slight variations. Nonetheless, the underlying thought of
left free to return to his brothers and father. The butler ap-       both was exactly the same. This too frightened him. But
peared to be the logical agent through whom such could be            more than anything else that made these dreams important,
brought to pass.                                                     was the feeling that accompanied them.. From the moment
                    But God does not follow the plans of man.
The:  butlerS-who.  figured so prominently in: Joseph's plan, was    that he awoke,. Pharaoh knew- that- the source of his dreams
a mere man and not worthy of being trusted. Though he had            was more than human. He undoubtedly tried to shake that
promised, to ask favors of-Pharaoh was too precarious a              thought, ascribing all to his imagination, but it would not
thing. Time and again he put it off until Joseph was -all            leave him. There was something ominously impending in
but forgotten. While he procrastinated, the months slipped           those dreams that he could not ignore. Try as he would he
by, and gradually and sadly the hopes of, Joseph began to            could not escape that feeling for a. moment. It frightened
wane. God was teaching him. He was left with nothing                 him. He could not rest until he found out the meaning of
more to do than to "wait on the Lord." Only when he had              those dreams.

learned that lesson would he be ready for what God had in               Upon awaking Pharaoh summoned the magicians and

store.                                                               wise men of his court. This was the natural thing to do.

    Two full .years  had passed by when Pharaoh dreamed              These were men that were constantly delving into the mat-

dreams. In a sense these dreams were hardly extraordinary.           ters of the future. By astrology, sorcery, and many other

The elements of the dreams were such as might be expected            means they were ever trying to tell what the morrow would

to appear in the.undirected playing of Pharaoh's mind during         bring. Not the least of their methods was to elicit from

sleep. In the first dream, "There came up out of the river           dreams fanciful, allegorical predictions. This time, however,

seven well favoured kine and fatfleshed ; and they fed in a          they listened to the dream of Pharaoh and remained silent.

meadow. And, behold, seven other kine came up after them             They could not give an interpretation. This is what surprises

out of the river, ill favoured and leanfleshed; and stood by         us. Why did these men not offer an imaginary interpretation,

the other kine  upon the brink of the river. And the ill             as was their custom, so veiled in vague language that the

favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well              truthfulness of it could never be tested ? Was it, perhaps,

favoured and fat kine." ' The river here is the Nile upon            that, seeing how vitally concerned Pharaoh was with these

which all of the fertility of Egypt was dependent. The cows          dreams, they knew that he would never be satisfied with

were an almost sacred symbol of fertility. These were con-           their usual vague ambiguities ? Were they maybe afraid that

stantly on the minds of the Egyptians and that they should           they might say something that would offend and anger him

appear in the dream of Pharaoh was not at all unusual. That          in his agitated state, concluding that silence was the safer

seven lean cows should eat seven fat cows` is one of the             course ? Or was it merely that God so confused their minds

strange quirks which are almost ordinary in everyone's               that they were unable to engage in their usual duplicity and

dreams. The same is true of the second dream. In that dream,         had to confess their ignorance to Pharaoh ? Regardless of

"Seven ears of `corn came up on one stalk, rank and good.            what actually took place in the minds of these magicians


                                                     T H E   STA.NDARD   B E A R E R                                                       249


           and wise men, this much is sure, it showed to Pharaoh that          years ; and the seven empty ears blasted with the east! wind

           in as much as the dreams which he had received were from            shall be seven years of famine. This is the thing which I

           ~God, the-interpretation of them was not to be found in the         have spoken unto Pharaoh: What God is about to do he

           minds of any mere man.                                              sheweth unto Pharaoh. Behold, there come seven years of

              It was not long before the consternation in the court over       great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt ; and the famine

           the dream of the king came to the attention of the chief            shall consume the land ; and the plenty shall not be known in

           butler. It sent his mind back to a similar situation in his         the land by reason of that famine following; for it shall be

           own life, when he had had a revelatory .dream and was               very grievous. And for that the dream was doubled unto

           troubled for lack of an interpreter. For two years now he           Pharaoh twice ; it is because the thing is established by God,

           had failed to keep his' promise in pleading the cause of            and God will shortly bring it to pass." The explanation is

           Joseph before the king for fear that the king would                 simple, direct, and understandable. Once it is understood it

           consider him presumptuous even though the cause was just.           seems almost self-evident. Only one fact had to be revealed,

           Now he saw the opportunity of bringing Joseph out of prison         the seven kine and seven ears of grain were equivalent to

           and at the same time doing Pharaoh a favor which would be           seven years, then the whole matter immediately became clear.

           to his own advantage. He went to the king and related how           The good kine and good `ears were seven years of plenty.

           Joseph had accurately interpreted his dream in the prison.          The bad kine and bad ears were seven years of famine.

              Pharaoh, his own wise men having failed him, was ready           The bad years would consume the plenty of the good and

           to try whatever means presented itself to arrive at the `mean-      be left with nothing to spare.    No one could seriously ques-

           ing of his dreams. Joseph was called from prison and; after         tion the correctness of this interpretation. Even the Egyptian

           he had shaved himself and put on a new garment, he was              magicians must have immediately realized that what he said

           received into the presence of Pharaoh. To him Pharaoh said,         was true: -The certainty of divinely revealed truth compared

           "I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret       to the uncertainty of the wisdom of man stood out in the

           it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand        clearest contrast.

           a dream to interpret it." To this Joseph gave the beautiful            To this also Joseph added a word of advice. "Now there-

           answer, "It is-not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer          fore let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set

           of peace." Having undergone over a dozen years of hardship          him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this, and let

           and suffering, Joseph' was purged from the pride of his             him appoint officers over the land, -and take up the- fifth part

           youth. An ordinary man would find in the-request of Pharaoh         of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years. And let

           a severe temptation to tell about some of his own excellency        them gather all the food of those good years that come, and

           and ability. Joseph, however, disclaimed all personal virtue        lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and ,let them keep

           in' the matter. The first thing which he said to Pharaoh was        food in the cities. And that food shall be for store to the

           that the ability to interpret dreams did not rest with him-         land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the

           self. Having learned not to trust in himself, he gave all of the    land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine."

           glory to his God. Whether in the dungeon of a dank prison           How astonishing this must ,have appeared unto Pharaoh.

     or in the court of a great king, the first .word  from Joseph's           There before him stood a man who not only was able to lay

          lips was a witness to the greatness of his God. "It is not in        before him the meaning of his dream in the most direct and

           me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace."                     simple terms, but he also was able to give to him a solution

               Pharaoh, having become. even more concerned about the           to all the many problems that presented themselves in this

           dreams than at first, immediately began to relate the dreams        amazing revelation. Pharaoh looked at that young man

           to Joseph in even more vivid terms than before. The ill             standing there and speaking with the wisdom of the divine;

     :     favoured and lean-fleshed.kine  of the first description are now    yet Joseph took to himself no airs, no pride or boasting ;

           spoken of as "very ill favoured and leanfleshed, such as I          with all humility he stood with the meekness of a servant.

           never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness." To the fact        Awed by the wisdom that Joseph received from his God,

-          that the ill favoured kine ate the well fleshed kine he added,      Pharaoh answered, "Forasmuch as God hath shewed  thee

           "And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known             all this, there is none so discreet and wise ,as thou art : Thou

           that they had eaten them." Constant review ,made  the dream         shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall

           appear even more vivid in Pharaoh's mind. The outstanding           all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater

           features were implanting themselves deeper in his memory.           than thou."

               With the calmness of a man who had learned to trust                                                                       B.W.

           completely in his God, Joseph immediately related to

     Pharaoh the meaning of his dream. "The dream of Pharaoh                                               Notice
           is one: God hath shewed  Pharaoh what he is about to do.,              Commencing March 1, 1960, the worship services and all

           The seven good kine are seven years ; and the seven good            meetings of the First Prot. Ref. Church of Holland, Mich.,

           ears are seven years : the dream is one. And the seven thin         will be held at their new location on West 12th St., corner

           and ill favoured kine that came up after them are seven             of Washington Avenue.


                                                   _ i,
250                                          T-HE  `.ST-`Ar;iDARD  ,BEARER
                                                  &--                    `-


                                                                       PauPs  Concern For `The Truth Of The Gospel.

Ij         F-Roy H O L Y   WRIT                                            (Verses 1, 2, 11)
                                                                 II       Pad  indicates at the very outset in these verses, that,

                                                                       in this chapter, he is* touching upon the very heart' of the
              Exposition of I Corinthians 15               '           gospel. When some, in the church at Corinth, said that
                                                                       "there is no resurrection out of the dead,' they were not
                                 I.                                    simply denying some peripheral detail, some matter lying at

                                                                       the outer circumference of the gospel, but they put the knife

                     .(I Corinthians 15 :l-11)                         at the jugular vein of the truth of the gospel. Deny the

                                                                       truth and the fact of the resurrection and one denies the

      During the past several years it has been the privilege          very glad-tidings of' salvation itself. It is because of this

of the undersigned writer to have given expository essays              that Paul labors to establish once more in the mind of the

on several Chapters of the first. epistle of Paul to the               Corinthian saints what he and the other apostles had

Corinthians.                                                           preached, and what they had believed. He ends this section

      I believe that a perusal of the past issues of ~The Standard     with the very terse saying, "Wherefore whether it were. I
Bearey  will bear out. that I have written separate series of          or they, so we preach and so ye believed."
essays on I Corinthians -1-4;  I Corinthians 7; I Corinthians             Indeed that is elegantly and concisely stated.

12-14, and other separate essays on other texts in this epistle.          -We do well, therefore, to take a bit more careful notice

                                                                       of Paul's point of dCpag*tztre in this chapter.
      When one writes continuously, and for many years, it
                                                                          This point of departure is twofold. And thus Paul
is heartening, to say the least, to receive word from a reader
                                                                       establishes the Status Quo in the church. Paul makes a point
that he or she enjoys, or has enjoyed a certain series of
                                                                       of it to insist that whatsoever he had preached in their midst
articles from one's pen. Occasionally the undersigned receives
                                                                       it was %what  he "had received." When he first came to
such comments.       I would like to take this opportunity to
                                                                       Corinth on his second missionary journey (see Acts 18)'  he
thank these readers for such expressions of appreciation.
                                                                       "delivered)' to them what he had received from the Lord.
Although one does not live by applause it nevertheless gives
                                                                       He had come.to  .them as- an ambassador, as a herald in the
addedimpetus  for new  and' other series of articles when such
                                                                       name of Christ. He had determined to know nothing among
appreciation is expressed.
                                                                       them save Jesus Christ and him crucified, with-  all of its
      Recently a, reader requested that I write on I Corinthians       implications. And he had faithfully performed the task of
15. Since I am now finished with the exposition of Romans              such a messenger of Christ. Do we not read in Acts .18  :5,
i4, 15, I will at this time comply with. .that request. I do           "and when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia,
so because I believe that this chapter contains very much              Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that
matter of real and vital instruction concerning the hope of            Jesus was the Christ." And, again, do we not read of Apollos ,
the Gospel of Christ: It is rich in implication concerning the,        in Acts 18 :28  that "he mightily convinced the Jews, and
meaning of the resurrection of Christ, and concerning our              that publicly, shewing  by the Scriptures, that Jesus was the
blessed resurrection, and lastly, but not least, concerning the        Christ" ?
truth of the resurrection as it is the cardinal factor wherein            Particularly two points were the chief subject in this
God becomes all in all in the whole creation in Christ.                convincing of the people that Jesus was the Christ. It was
      Permit us to quote the first section of this fifteenth           that this appears in his death and in his resurrection:
chapter of the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians. It               Such had been the cent& theme  of all Paul's preaching.
reads as follows: "ri1410reover,'  brethren, I declare unto you        That had been the very heart of it. He preached this
the gospel. which I preached unto you, which also ye have              as one unit. The one belonged with the other in the gospel
received, and wherein ye stafzd;  By which` also ye are                story of redemption. This is very beautifully expressed in
saved, if ye .keep  in memory  wlaat I preached .mto you, unless       Romans 4:25, where we read, "who was delivered for our
ye have believed in vain. . For I delivered unto you, first of         offenses and raised for our justification."        This certainly
all, that which also I received, how that Christ died for ow           means that because we were sinners, Christ died for us. It
sins according to the  Scriptures; And that he was b&ed,               was a vicarious death. And that Christ might come forth
and `that he arose again the  third day according to the Scrip-        from the grave to proclaim to us that our sins are no more,
tures, and that he was scepz  of Gephas,  then of the twelve . . .     and to give us immortality and life.
Wherefol*e  .whether  it -were I or they, so we preach and so             What a sordid commentary on human nature that Paul
ye believed." .                                                        must, with might and main, defend this position of the gospel,

      Looking at this section, these first eleven verses, we be-       and that SO soon after he had preached it to them. Fact is,
lieve that we should call attention to the following salient           that due to the Jewish leaders Paul was not even welcome

points.                                                                in this church. They looked at him askance. But he will


                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             251


defend the central truth of the gospel, nonetheless. The love             5. Last of all- by the apostles at the occasion of the ascen-

of Christ constrains him.                  : ,.                       sion to heaven (vs. 8).              .

    What glorious gospel that Christ came forth on the third              Secondly, Paul puts himself in a class of witnesses all by
day, according to the Scriptures, because he died according           himself. He did not witness the risen Lord prior to his
to the Scriptures for our sins. Compare Isaiah 53 8, 9;               ascension to heaven. It was on the road to Damascus that
Luke 24 :26. Does not the resurrected Christ say to .the              Paul saw the Lord. Besides, the Lord himself appeared to
travelers to Emmaus,  "Must not the Christ suffer all these           Paul in Corinth in the night by a vision (Acts 18:9)  and
things and thus enter into his glory." And do we not read             Paul indicates both in Gal. 1 :1, and in I Cor. 11:23 that he
that "beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded           had seen the Lord. It -is true that he considers this his
unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning him-            witnessing of Christ comparable to being as "one -born out
self."     See also Luke 24%.  Thus it was according to the           of due time" (a miscarriage) but this does not detract -from
Scriptures that Christ arose from the dead on the "third              the reliability of his having been a witness of the risen and
day." Is there not a remote reference to this already in such         glorified Lord, who was delivered for our offenses and raised
passages II Kings 20 :5, Isaiah 54 :7 and Hosea  6 :2 ? And           for our justification.
is not the.prophecy of Jonah most explicit on this score where           Thus the truth stands attested.
we read, "And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days            In the marvelous providence of God Paul received this
and three nights"? (Jonah 1 :17.) And does not our Lord               "vision" of Christ as a great mercy. What he is and has
himself interpret this as the sign of his own death and               done .is all the grace of God. And therein he glories.
resurrection in Matthew 12 :40,  "For as Jonas was three days            Thus the foundation is laid for that which Paul. will novv
and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man        "make known" unto the Corinthians. It should be noticed
be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."            that Paul employs a rather peculiar term here in verse 1,
                                                                      when he. says : "moreover, brethren, I declare unto you . . ."
    Such was the gospel which Paul had received and such
                                                                      The verb "declare" is a translation of the term in Greek
was what he had "delivered" to the church at Corinth.
                                                                      "Gnoorizoo,"  which means : "to make known" and not simply
    That determines what is truth in the church!                      to "call to mind."        The latter term is a translation of the

    They who deny this are false teachers, and put the knife          verb "ana-mimneeskoo."  An instance of the latter we. find

to the jugular vein ; let none be deceived`by  them.!                 in I Cor. 4:17: ". . . who shall. put yo~~in  remembrance of
    On the other hand such was also the truth in which the            my ways which are in Christ Jesus." However, Paul would
church "believed," unless they had believed in vain. It was           do more than simply put the Corinthians in remembrance of
possible that they had only rejoiced for, a season, and that          what he had taught them during his year and a half stay
they had become confirmed apostates. But if they were not,            in their midst. He will "make known" unto them more in
then surely they were such that they were saved by the truth          detail the implication of .the resurrection of Christ for the
delivered unto them, and they were confirmed in this truth            entire plan of salvation, the `mystery of godliness. For the
and stood in it, and they had indeed received it with believing       use of the term make known we refer to such clear passages.
hearts.                                                               as Rom. 9 122, 23 ; John 15 :15 and John 17 :26.

                                                                         In all  of these passages mention is made of making
    Thus the truth of the gospel is confirmed in their minds.         known of something which was hitherto hid, and which is
    Such is Paul's concern ; such is his point of departure!          known only by revelation. Hence, Paul will reveal the

    Besides, the truth of the Gospel, as sealed in the resur-         fuller implications of the truth of the resurrection, which

rection of Christ, is attested to by many reliable witnesses.         he had, indeed, preached to them while in their midst.

Paul mentions them here in verses 5-10. He really has two                This is corroborated by a bird's-eye view of this entire

classes of witnesses.                                                 chapter. Paul will call attention, therefore, in the sequence

   First of all there are the witnesses which we might call           of this chapter (verses 12-58) to -the following points : .

the regular witnesses. They witness Christ after his resur-              1.' The central meaning itseif for the gospel ai sztch of
rection and before his ascension to heaven. They are given            the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Verses 12-19.
by Paul in the following order here:                                     2. The meaning'of the resurrection for Christ's. exalta-
    1. First `of all by Cephas (vs; 5).                               tion as the "First-fruits," the subjection of all things under

   2. Then by the "twelve" on the evening of the day of               his feet, and for our deliverance from sin and death, that

the resurrection.    Compare also Luke 24 and John .20 :19            "God may be all in all." Verses 20-28.

(vs. 5).                                                                 3. The meaning which the doctrine and.fact of the resur-

   3. Then He was witnessed by about five hundred brethren            rection has for Christian ethics. Verses 29-34.

at once, the greater part of whom were still alive when                  4. The manner of the resurrection and the nature of the

Paul wrote these lines (vs. 6).                                       resurrection, as it transforms us into the immortality -of,

   4. Then by James, the brother of the Lord (vs. 7).                 Christ and the final victory over;death.                  G . L .

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


                                                                    program there may have the preference over catechism ; and
                 I N   H I S   .FEAR                                then we wonder why they choose the material as being

                                                                    more important than the spiritual. And even in their presence

                                                                    we will defend that business trip or the like. We do not
                    Punishment or Praise?                           like to be classified with those of whom Solomon says that

                                                                    they hate their.children.  Yet it is plain that we do not love
                                (3) -
                                                                    them enough to direct them in the right way.

     The question is not whether we shall or shall not punish           And yet we maintain, we are not writing to those who
 or praise.     The question is rather, When shall we punish        deny and condemn all punishment. With all the weaknesses
 and when shall we praise ? We are not writing to those who         and frailties that are to be found among the children of
 condemn all punishment. Although we are aware of the               God in their role of parents, we do not believe that those
 fact that there are all too many parents even in our circles       who condemn all punishment are interested enough to read
 who punish far too seldom. There are parents who fail not          these lines. In His Fear does not interest them. In The Bank
 only to punish their disobedient children, but instead pat         does. In the Pocket does. In The Eyes of Men does. In
 them on the back even in their sins. The child comes home          The Sphere of Worldly Entertainment does. But In His
 with a black eye and bruised nose. Well, he had b-en  called       Fear is not their sphere. And so we go out from the prin-
 names at school and gotten into a fist-fight to retain his         ciple that we are writing to those who value punishment as
dignity among his classmates. The natural thing to do is to         a corrective method in their children and in the church.
 be more concerned with his cuts and bruises than with his
                                                                        What is more, we have pointed out that praise is not in
 guilt. You cannot touch that guilt, but you can care for
                                                                    every instance to be condemned. Speaking one's praise is
 the bruised and injured `flesh. It is so easy and natural to
                                                                    not necessarily evil. Jesus praised the Canaanitish woman
 ask the child what happened to him rather than to ask what
                                                                    to her face. And Paul writes words of praise to the various
 he did. And on learning the facts in the case many a
                                                                    congregations and of the men who labored with him in the
 parent's next question is as to whether he gave that other
                                                                    work of the ministry. And so punishment and praise are
 fellow what he had coming, and then to pat him on the back
                                                                    here in this world with God's approval. In the right place
 for winning this little encounter with the "enemy." 0, in-
                                                                    and rightly .used;they have;their  own peculiar value and
 deed; we too are in favour of patting children on the back
                                                                    benefit.
 after such a deed.. Only it must be hard enough and low
 enough so as not to be misunderstood! If the world's slogan.,          But now the problem arises : when in the same deed there
 "spare the rod and spoil the child," is true, then here you        is evil and that which is praiseworthy, what `shall we do ?
 will find the answer to the question as to why so many             Shall we punish and praise? Shall we choose punishment
 children are spoiled today. And that wisest of all mere men,       alone, on the principle that the sin and evil far overshadows
 Solomon., says, "He that spareth his rod hateth his son:           the good, and more harm is done by failing to punish than
 but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes  (by the             failing to praise ? Or shall we praise alone, in the belief that
 times) ."     To be sure, there are those today who consider       to encourage to do good and to praise for the doing of
 themselves to be wiser than Solomon and consider him to            good will make the sin less attractive and avoided?

 be old fashioned. But this still remains the word of God               Of course, we may expect to find in the life of the re-

 regardless ,of our opinion of Solomon. And though a man            generated child of `God that which demands punishment and

 may appear to have all the natural love for his child that you     also that which is praiseworthy. In the ungodly you will

 could want to see in him, he has. no spiritual love, if he         never find anything but that which is displeasing in God's

 spares the rod and fails to inflict the punishment upon his        sight. "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the

 child which the times demand. It seems cute to let him go.         Lord ; but the prayer of the upright is His delight," Proverbs

 It seems so much more fatherly to walk in the ways of              15 :8. That sacrifice may look praiseworthy ; and that which

 Eli. And then when in later years he goes his own un-              Cain brought in a sacrifice to God was the best of what he

 spiritual way, the matter is transferred to others with words      grew in the field. Yet it was an abomination to the Lord.

 such as these, ."Domine,  I wish you would talk to my boy.         And so it is with all, that which the unregenerated do

 I told.him  this and that, but he just does it anyway. Maybe,      regardless of whether it looks good to us or not. "Without

 if you talk to him, you can get him to have more interest          faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh  to

 in spiritual things." First we teach our children that business    God must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of

 and religion do not mix and that recreation and religion do        them that diligently seek Him," Hebrews 11:6. "For what-

 not mix ; and then we expect someone else to take hold of          soever is not of faith is sin," Romans 14:23b.  Never mind

 our children when they continue to choose business and             what the eye sees. A thing is praiseworthy only when it is

 recreation above religion. We teach them that material things      worthy of God's praise. Only when HE says that it is good,

 have the preference over the spiritual, that a business trip or    it is worthy of our praise. Every physical or mental deed has

 meeting, a new suit of clothes, a little pleasure here and a       its spiritual side which determines whether it is good or bad.


                                                    T-HE  ST.AND.A-RD  jji~,A~ER                                                            253


    The motive behind it is a spiritual thing. The goal it seeks          while defending the truth, He may be filled with  zeal for the

  to reach is .a spiritual thing. And even as God's purpose in            truth over against those who would destroy it and deceive

    giving a thing or in doing a certain work determines whether          others. He is not to- be excused and surely is worthy of

    it is a work of grace or merely of His providence, so our             severe rebukes for revealing personal anger. Yet he is to be

    purpose, the innermost thought and desire- behind our works           praised for his stand for the truth. He should not be praised

    determines whether they are worthy of praise or not. Uzzah,           for `his temper, his unethical procedure. Nor does he have

    the son of Abinedab, to all outward appearances performed             room to complain if he is severely taken to task for his un-

    a good deed when he put forth his hand to keep the ark from           brotherly conduct. We may esteem him for his zeal and love

    falling off the cart into the mire. It would seem that God            for the truth, but we must not praise him for works of the

    punished him instead of praised him for al go:od  deed. But           flesh. We have our own flesh, and that makes it so easy

    let us not pretend to be .wiser  than God ! God calls it -a rash      and.natural  to banish all thought of rebuke and to praise even

    deed. * God is filled with anger and not with delight. We             out of carnal considerations. But these two, punishment and

    repeat with underscoring, "The sacrifices of the wicked are           praise, must never militate against each other. or deny each

    an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is          other.

H i s   d e l i g h t . "    And so you will not find anything praise-       No different is it with our children. Our covenant youth
    worthy among the unregenerated, and we better be sure that            also have spiritual life. No, they are not as fully advanced
    we do not applaud them and encourage them to repeat and               in the truth as we are. They ares  not as experienced in the
    develop their evil deeds.                                             things spiritual as the adult. But let us make no mistake

         But in the church you may find both, because there you           about it : they not only have spiritual life within them ; they
    deal with regenerated, new-born men ; and yet their old               have the very same spiritual life that we have. We both
    natures are still also very present to produce works worthy           have the life of Christ, given us by the selfsame  Spirit of
    of punishment and requiring chastisement. The child who               Christ. That our children do have spiritual motives and that
    copies and `cheats  in school in order that he may please his         there are works also in their lives that are praiseworthy is
    parents with a good report card is not worthy of praise. Not          to be expected and is not .to be viewed with amazement. It
    only is the praise of a good report card not due to him. But          is as much a miracle that we believe and walk in good works
    his motive was evil. ..To please:one's  parents is not a good         asi it is that they ,do. And because they still have the old
    work and one worthy of praise. To please God and to please            nature, there' is that matter of discipline also,  -and  punish-
    one's parents by pleasing God is another matter. And so               ment becomes a must.

    such's child should. be punished and not praised at all. His             Next time we would like to lay down certain. principles

    attention should be called to the fact that it is not right to        whereby we may be guided in determining when to punish

    seek to please parents in the way of disobeying God. And              and when to praise. For in punishing but also in praising
    the parent who encourages his child in such endeavours and            we would walk in His fear.
    does not point out the error of this to his child is letting
                                                                                                                                        J.A.H.
    his natural love discount the spiritual things. You cannot

    even say to such a child, You meant well. He did not mean

    well. We are not saying that all tact and careful handling of

    the matter must be thrown out the window. Not at all.
                                                                                               .L

    But we" mean that the child must be taught that his cheating                           A   P R A Y E R   O F   F A I T H .
    was wicked -in God's sight and that his desire to please his

    parents in a sinful way is likewise wicked, that he has nothing                  0 gracious God, forsake me not

    for which to be praised.           And by all means, let him know                   When I am old and gray,

    that you consider walking in God's commandments the prin-                        That unto those that follow me

    cipal thing, so that a good mark on the report card must come                       I may Thy might display.

    only in that way.

                                                                                     Thy perfect righteousness, 0 God,
         There are, however, certain instances where a child dis-
                                                                                        The height of heaven exceeds ;
    obeys and yet in the same deed does a praiseworthy thing.
                                                                                     0 who is like to Thee, Who hast
    The method may be wrong while'the motive is good, We
                                                                                        Performed such mighty deeds?
   have a classic example of such an act in the Scriptures. Jt

    deals with the deed of an adult, but it reveals that while much
                                                                                     Thou Who has sent me many griefs
   sin cleaves to us and to our children, we do also that which
                                                                                       Wilt yet my soul restore,
   is praiseworthy. Rahab, the harlot, is recorded with the
                                                                                     And out of sorrow's lowest depths
    "heroes of faith'" and praised for having hid the spies. Yet
                                                                                       Wilt bring me forth once more.
   it was a lie that .she  used in order to keep them safe in their

   place of hiding. Similarly today, a man may lose his temper                                                                    Psalm 71 :l-3


                                                  THE  STANDARD  BEARER


      CHRIST AND MOSES CONCERNING                                    to put'away  his wife for every cause?,' Matthew 19:3.  If

                         DIVORCE                                     Jesus answered "Yes," they could accuse Him of a very loose
                                                                     interpretation of the law and a scorn for the sanctity of mar-
    The above title does not refer to the teaching of Moses          riage ; while if He answered in the negative, they .would be
and of Christ concerning the whole subject of divorce, but
                                         I .,i                       ready to point out that &loses  had made provision for divorce,
only concerning Jesus' interpretation of one of the laws of          and that He was placing Himself in conflict with Moses.
Moses. The text referred to in the title.is found in Deuteron-
                                                                        But Jesus was perfectly aware of their treachery and
omy 24 :l-4. This passage reads : ."When  a man hath taken
                                                                     base designs ; and in answering them He used the occasion
a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find
                                                                     `to lay down some important principles concerning the niar-
no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some un-
                                                                     riage relation. Christ went back not to Moses, but to Adam
cleanness in her : then let him write her a bill of divorcement,
                                                                     and Eve in Paradise.      He pointed out to them that the
and give it in her hand, and send-her out of his house. And
                                                                     marriage relationship was established in Paradise, and that
when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be
                                                                     it was an unbreakable relationship. "Have ye not read, that
another man's .wife.  And if the latter husband hate her, and
                                                                     he which made them at the beginning made them male and
write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand,
                                                                     female, And said, For. this cause shall a man leave father
and sendeth her out of his house ; or if the latter husband
                                                                     and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain
die, which took her to be his wife ; Her former husband,
                                                                     shall be one flesh ? Wherefore they are no more twain, but
which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife,
                                                                     one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not
after she is defiled; for that is abomination before the Lord:
                                                                     man put asunder." Matthew 19:4-6.
and thou shalt, not cause the land to sin, which the Lord thy

God giveth thee for an inheritance."                                    This was exactly what the Jews had been waiting for;

                                                                     and they are quick to point out to Jesus the passage quoted
    This text therefore teaches that a husband, once having
                                                                     above where it appears as if a divorce is permissible after all.
put away his wife for some uncleanness which he found in
                                                                     Jesus'had emphasized that the marriage bond was incapable
her, may never take her again to be his wife under any
                                                                     of being destroyed. The Pharisees, almost gleefully, show that
circumstances.
                                                                     Moses had made provision for .putting  away one's wife.
    This text and its interpretation, the wicked Pharisees of        "Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorce-
Jesus' day used as an occasion to try to trap Jesus so that          ment, and to put her away ?' vs. 7. The answer of Jesus to
they would have some basis on which to accuse Him and                this question is that "Moses because of the hardness of your
condemn Him.                                                         hearts suffered you to put away your wives : but from the

    The rabbins did not agree completely on their interpreta-        beginning it was not so." vs. 8.

tion of this text. There was the school of Hillel, a rather             Thus the question is, Was Jesus' teaching concerning

noted rabbi himself, who taught that this passage meant that         divorce different from the teaching of Moses ?

a:wife  could be put away. for any reason which the husband             Before discussing the relation between these two passages
might consider just. If a wife burned her husband's food             of Holy Writ, it is important to notice that the question
for the evening meal, this might be considered adequate              before us is not'whether remarriage is possible for divorced
grounds for divorce if a husband was so inclined. The school         people. This was not the question that concerned the Phari-
that followed this rabbi was a lax school with a very wide           sees, nor is it the question that concerns us. This subject
and almost worldly interpretation of the law. It was, to, a          has aroused considerable discussion of late and has even
considerable extent, followed by the Pharisees in Jesus' day         resulted in Synodical  action in the Christian Reformed
- at least when it served as the rule for their own lives.           Church. But this is not here our problem. In fact, this
They were always ready to apply a narrower interpretation            subject, which was assigned, would seem to imply that a
of the .law  to the lives of the common people. There was            true severing of `the marriage bond is impossible, and that
however, also the school of Shammai which was much more              any remarriage constitutes adultery for both parties that are
strict in its interpretation of the whole body of Mosaic legis-      separated and who marry `others. Although divorce is pos-
lation in general, and of this passage in particular. This           sible on the grounds of adultery, this can only mean that
school, following its founder, taught that the "uncleanness"         husband and wife separate, remaining in fact however in the
spoken of in the text referred particularly to some sin of           covenant of marriage. For, if those who had assigned the
fornication, as lasciviousness, inordinate lust, wanton living,      subject had taken the position that Jesus teaches that re-
etc. And the conclusion was that only for these reasons              marriage after divorce is possible, there would then .be no
could a man put away his wife and give her a writ of divorce.        point in discussing this matter, for there would not even be

    It is evidently to the difference between these schools of       an apparent contradiction. Deuteronomy speaks of the re-

thought that the Pharisees refer when they came to Jesus             marriage of the guilty party. And certainly if the guilty

"tempting him." :: In fact it seems as if they refer specifically    party may remarry, the innocent party may also enter into

to. ?he  Rabbi-Hillel when they say, "Is it lawful for a man         a marriage relationship with another.


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   "`.BE-ARER                                                255


'       With the position that -the marriage relation can be           hardened himself in sin to such an `extent that he cannot

     dissolved by nothing but death, I am in perfect agreement.        keep the law at all. For God `to do this in one instance

     This is the position that Jesus takes in this passage in Mat-     would make probable the possibility that He had done it in

     thew 19, and this is quite obviously the meaning of Scrip-        other instances, and this would be a virtual denial of God's

     ture in such passages as Matthew 5 :32,  Mark 10 :ll, Luke        righteousness. He cannot. deny Himself. His demands stand

     16 :18. This is also plainly taught in the fact that the mar-     eternally. He never lowers the`requirements of His law. He

     riage relationship is but a picture of the eternal relation       always punishes evil doers, whether or not they are able to
     between Christ and His church in which He is the Bride-           keep His law.                     a:
                                                                                                                     :. .
     groom and His elect church the bride. This marriage can              What then ?
     never be dissolved. It is an eternal relation that Christ
                                                                          Calvin offers the following interpretation. `"But it is
     sovereignly and graciously maintains even when His people
     repeatedly commit spiritual adultery.                             asked, Ought Moses to have permitted what was in itself
                                                                       bad and sinful ? I reply, That, strictly- speaking, he did not
        But the question remains, Did Jesus contradict Moses ?         permit  it; but in so far as he did not strictly forbid it, he
     This is, of course impossible. Moses was a prophet, and as        is said to have $ervvcitted it. For he did not lay down a law
     such the mouthpiece of God.. Moses laid down `the laws            about divorces, SO as to give them the seal of his approba-
     which governed Israel's life by divine revelation.      What
                                                                       tion, but as the wickedness of men could not be restrained
     Moses said, `God said. And Jesus, Who is God's own Son            in any other way, he applied1  what was the most admissible
     in our flesh could perfectly speak the Word of God and            remedy, that the husband should, at least, attest the chastity
     could perfectly understand and interpret what God said            of his wife. For the law was made solely for the protection
     through Moses.                                                    of the women, that they might., not suffer any disgrace after
        But then, how could Jesus speak of the marriage bond           they had been unjustly rejected. Hence, we infer, that it was
     as indissoluble while Moses spoke of giving one's wife a writ     rather a punishment inflicted on husbands, than an indulgence
     of divorce for certain reasons ?                                  or permission fitted to inflame .their  lust. Besides, political

        Usually the interpretation is given that Moses made a          and outward order is widely different from spiritual govern-

     concession to the sin of the people. This is construed as         ment. What is lawful and proper the Lord comprehended

     being the meaning of Jesus when .He says, "Moses because          under the ten zwor$s.  Now as it is possible that many things,

     of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your      for which every man's conscience reproves and-charges him,

     wives."    Then the meaning is that somewhere in Israel's         may not ,be called in question at a human tribunal, it is not

     history, probably in Egypt in their association with the          wonderful if those things are connived at by political laws."

     heathen Egyptians, they had picked up the custom of divorc-       Harmony, Vol. II, pp. 381, 382.

     ing their wives for various reasons. When Israel came to             Keil, in his. commentary on the Old Testament, speaks
     Sinai, and the law. of God was given to them, Moses found         also of the fact that this is in some sense a concession to
     it to be impossible to root out this evil cqmpletely,  for the    sin on the part of Moses. But he adds two points which
     people were of a very hard heart. He therefore conceded           are worthy of note. In the first place he remarks, and cor-
     that the custom could not be entirely eliminated and tried        rectly so, "Divorce is not established as a right; all that is
     instead to put some check on a loose life of divorce and re-
                                                                       done is, that in case of a divorce a reunion with the divorced
     marriage. Frivolous divorces were stopped by the law which        wife is forbidden, if in the meantime she had married an-
     Moses laid down, for if a man could not remarry his wife          other man . . ." Pentateuch, Vol. III, 416,1417.  The meaning
     once she had been put away and remarried to another, he           is that Moses does not say anything about the right of divorce,
     would not rashly divorce her in the first place. Besides, a       nor does he approve of it. He simply establishes a law
     woman, knowing that divorce was possible if she did not           concerning the remarriage of persons who have once been
     please her husband, would be careful not to offer an induce-      divorced. Secondly, and in connection with this, Keil points
     ment for divorce. And finally this, check was placed upon         out that because the divorced woman, who was divorced for
     rash divorces, that a woman was defiled morally by a second       some "uncleanness" and is defiled by her second marriage is
     marriage which defilement made it impossible for her to go        really guilty of adultery. "Thus," Keil  concludes, "the second
     back to her first husband.                                        marriage was placed iw@icite  on a par with adultery." Idem,
        The serious objection to this interpretation is however,       p. 418.
     that God never makes concessions to sin. His law is holy
                                                                          With this interpretation we are inclined.to  agree.
     and just and good and is the perfect reflection of His own

     will with respect to the lives of His moral creatures. He            There is however, one other consideration, which in our

     does not take into account the sins of which mankind are          opinion .ought to be considered. This is the fact that there

     guilty and lighten the requirement of the law because it may      were certain evils which were never as such condemned in

     be impossible for man to fulfill it. He does not "tone down"      the Old Dispensation. While these evils were never approved,

     His just demands because man has. sinned so greatly and           they were also never condemned in explicit language. Per-



                                                                           .'


256                                          T    H    E         ST--ANDAJZP  BX-A-R-ER


hap%  this was the case with the prevalent -evil of polygamy.           that -ekrie-shadow  of types. --We. -live  in the- glorious&ht  of

While  it is emphatically true that God never condoned                  the full revelation of-Jesus-.Christ.  -What  -was not and could

polygamy, and in fact that those who married more than one              not be expressly condemned then, is now condemned in no                -.

wife suffered untold grief in their households, it is neverthe-         uncertain terms.    As WC never would consider living  in

less not condemned by any definite law. The same thing is               polygamy in the New Dispensation, so also we may not and

true of divorce as it wa? practiced by some Jews. Certainly             cannot consider it ever proper to divorce our spouses to

frivolous divorces were severely condemned, and, in fact,               marry another. Now we live in the more perfect marriage

when divorce for any reason other than fornication was                  bond, for it is the more perfect reflection of that blessed

practiced it was never  approved by' God. And certainly                 relation between us and our Lord.

when either party remarried, they lived in an adulterous rela-               This we must do. Hallowing the sanctity of the marriage
tionship. Nevertheless, we never read that ,it was con-                 bond, we hold forth -the picture of the glorious covenant of
demned in the explicit language of a precept or law.                    grace into which we are taken. In the shadow of the cross

 -     What may be the reasqn for this ?                                we live in an adulterous world that destroys marriage and

                                                                        the home. But such should not be the case with us.
       It is striking that there is not one instance in Scripture
                                                                                                                              H. H
of anyone ever divorcing his or her marriage partner. It                                                                              ANKO

must have been practiced, for the practice is referred to,

but  we never read of any case either, among the Saints  or the                         CONTRIBUTIONS
apostates in the nation.

       I think that the reason why such a practice of divorce           F                                                                `I

and remarriage was never forbidden by explicit law is to                     History of the Protestant Reformed Church
be found in the fact that the covenant of marriage is a picture
of the eternal covenant of grace which God has established                   This is a brief summary of the past history of the Love-
with His people in Christ. However, this glorious covenant              land Protestant Reformed Church and the events that led
of grace realized in the solemn marriage of God to His                  to our affiliation with the Protestant Reformed Churches.
people could not be and was not fully realized until Christ             The congregation prior to becoming Protestant Reformed
came into our flesh. Only when Christ suffered and died on              was known as the HOPE REFORMED .CHURCH  of
the cross for the sins of His people and arose from the grave           Loveland, not affiliated with any church body. We were
in Joseph's garden for their justification, could this covenant         served by a minister from the Evangelical Reformed denomi-
be fully realized in all its blessedness. In the Old Dispensa-          nation. This minister  served our congregation from the late
tion it was always by promise. In the New Dispensation it               1930's until 1954, even though he had never been officially
is fully realized thr&gh  Jesus Christ who is the Bridegroom            installed here, as he was an ordained minister of a congrega-
of the church.                                                          tion in a nearby town. The consistory was of the opinion that
                                                                        there was no reformed preaching anymore and thus was at
      -And  therefore while every marriage consummated in life          a loss as to what to do..
is a picture of the relatipn  between Christ and His church,
                                                                             In the summer of 1954 dne of the elders went to visit
this was preeminently true of the marriages in the Old Dis-
                                                                        relatives in Isabel, South Dakota, and while there attended
pensation. The marriages of the saints were pictures and
                                                                        the Isabel German Reformed Church there. Rev. H. Mensch,
types of the coming marriage when  the Bridegroom would
                                                                        who was then serving this congregation, was absent from
come into our flesh .and suffer for us and die for us to
                                                                        his pulpit -that  Sunday. The elder of Loveland made him-
take us into the embrace of His loving arms and make us
                                                                        self known and inquired about their minister And left his name
His wife forevermore..
                                                                        with them. When Rev. Mensch returned to Isabel and heard
       And so, with all the types of the Old Dispensation, this         about this, he wrote the brother in Loveland and offered to
type also was imperfect. It pointed ahead to a realit?  that            come to Loveland to get acquainted and also to preach here
was to come. But in pointing ahead, it fell far short in im-            if so desired. Although only three of the five consistory
perfection. As lbng  as the glorious reality was not fully              members were in favor of such action, Rev. Mensch was
realized, the shadow of the reality could not be perfect.               asked to come to Loveland and also preach for the congrega-            '

       But now the true marriage has been realized and the              tion. Rev. Mensch complied and it became evident after he

church looks forward with eager anticipation to the time                preached here twice, that there was an element in the con-

when her- Bridegroom shall come again to take her into His              sistory and the congregation who did not care for the Re-

perfkct  covenant in glory. And so what stained the type and            formed truth. Rev. Mensch then visited with the group that,

made it imperfect before this reality, must now be taken                was in favor of his preaching. They inquired of him as to

away. While divorce and even remarriage under certain con-              the possibility of becoming affiliated with the Classis  that

ditions were never condemned.,& the Old Testament, it must              he was affiliated with, namely, the Eureka Classis  of Dakota.

be severely condemned in the New. We live no longer in                  Rev. Mensch advised this group against such action, but on


                                                   TH.E  S T A N D A R D ,   B E A R E R                                              257


  the contrary advised them to contact the Protestant Reformed             ated with the Prot. Ref. Churches and was taken in as a

   Churches of Michigan. It was the preaching of Rev. Mensch               sister congregation.

  that caused. -the division-to-become evident. in the congrega-           .-- By-  this-time Loveland had greatly enjoyed hearing the

   tion. Rev. Mensch then returned to Isabel, S.D.                         Reformed truth and was blessed with Classical appointments

            There he contacted the Home Missionary of the. Prot-           until November, 1958, when Rev. H. H. Kuiper' accepted our

  estant Reformed Churches.                                                call. He has served us since that time.

            In the spring of 1955 Rev. Mensch and Rev. Lubbers re-            During the period of a little over a year of Rev. Kuiper's
  turned to Loveland and at this time Rev. Lubbers became                  labors among us, some changes have occurred. The Catechism
  acquainted with the congregation in Loveland. Reverends                  Class, formerly the whole congregation as a unity, has been
   Mensch and Lubbers then left Loveland.                                  divided into proper age groups, using the books written by
  .__-._                                                                   different ministers in -our denomination. Also the Sunday
            It then was evident that the Hope Reformed Church of
                                                                           School has been revised so as to properly teach each group
   Loveland was sharply divided to the point where there could
                                                                           by its own teacher.      The method is" quite similar to that
  be no fellowship with each other anymore. A special con-
                                                                           in our other churches, with what we` believe to -be the'
  gregational meeting was called, at which the Consistory was
                                                                           beneficial difference that we here also have an adult class.
  asked to seek the services of a different minister. Rev.
                                                                              Due to the fact that a part of our congregation lives in
   Mensch was notified of this action and was asked for ad-
                                                                           Denver, a distance of some 55 miles from Loveland, two
  vice and how to get in touch with the Mission Committee
                                                                           catechism classes and an adult Bible Class are held there
  of the Prot. Ref. Churches. Rev. Mensch then forwarded
                                                                           each week. In Loveland Catechism classes are held Wed-
  the request to the Mission Committee.
                                                                           nesday afternoon and evening. An adult Bible Class is also
            Reverends Lubbers and C. Hanko then came to Love-              held here on Tuesday evening. These Adult Bible Classes
  land and the latter remained and preached on Sunday to the               are similar to the Mr. and Mrs. Societies in our other
 entire congregation. After the service the consistory met,                churches.    At present we are studying the Epistle to the
  but could not come to an agreement, as the group -which  was             Romans. The Young People's Society, studying the book of
  against Rev. Me&h's preaching insisted that they wanted                  Acts, meets Sunday afternoon. This little group of eight is
  to keep their `old minister.            )                                led in their study by the pastor.

            The group which was in favor of Rev. Mensch's preach-           Viewing the various activities above and conscious of
  ing, and by this time also with the teaching of the Prot. Ref.           the regular preaching of the truth twice each Lord's Day
  Churches, were told to resign from their' office. This they              (all of which are well attended) the Consisfory expresses its
  refused and again called Rev. Lubbers and told him of the                thanks to God for the gift of our pastor, and for His provi-
  developments. Rev. Lubbers then offered to meet with the                 dence whereby the riches of His,mercy have become a reality
Mission Committee to see if they could come to the aid of                  among us. A word of gratitude is also due our Home Mis-
  Loveland.                                                                sionary for his faithful labors, the Mission Committee for

            After Rev. Lubbers came here to begin his labors, the          their aid and advice and the different congregations for the

  group that had contacted him was notified' that they                     use of their ministers during, the time of our vacancy.

  no longer could use the church building and the locks on the             Finally a word of thanks goes to Rev. Heys, who `advised

  church were changed to. keep them out. Preparations were                 and helped us as our .moderator.  And now, with our under-

  made to rent a school building. This was done and Rev.                   shepherd, we look to the future in the confidence of faith.

  Lubbers began his three and one half years of labors here.               May the Lord supply .faithfulness  to continue in the way of

  The group which had forbidden us the use of the building                 His truth that all praise and glory may be to the name of

  was contacted, and after fruitless efforts to meet. with them            our wonderful covenant God:

  the split was evident.' The matter of the church occupancy                    Consistory of the Loveland Prot. Ref. Church,
  was then presented to the civil court for action. After much
                                                                                                                   Wm. A. Griess, Clerk
  preparation and time the trial was held. The decision of

  the judge was of such a nature that it was impossible to

  carry out. He requested the two groups to go back together;                                      Announcement
  elect a new consistory and call a new minister. The group

  which later became the Prot. Ref. Church, of Loveland then                  The Hope Protestant Reformed Christian Schoolwill be

  decided to give the others the church property, remain in                in need of teachers for grades 2, 3, 4, and 5, 6 and 7, for

the school building and continue under the teachings of Rev:               the school year 1960-1961.

  L u b b e r s .                                                                                  Contact ,Mr. D. Meulenberg
            In March of 1958 Rev. Lubbers finished his labors here                                        1743 Moelker, S. W.
  and left our midst.                                                                                     Grand Rapids 4, Michigan

            In June of the same year Loveland became officially affili-                                   AR 6-3742

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


                                                                    ism, no matter how nicely it is garbed, no matter in what
I The voice- of Our Fathers'                                        Scriptural terminology it is clothed, no matter how it may
                                                                    mouth such terms as "election" and "gift" and "grace" and

                                                                    "atonement?' and "the death of Christ," is an essential denial
               The Canons of Dordrecht                              of free salvation.


                           PART Two                                    As to .the positive error that is `rejected here, we should

                                                                    observe that the Arminians employ the usual complicated

                 EXPOSITION OF THE CANONS                           language to cover up their error. First of all, they speak

                                                                    of perseverance as a condition of the new covenant - a cov-
                 FIFTH HEAD OF DOCTRINE                             enant that is essentially a covenant of works, not of grace.

          OF THE PERSWERANCB  -LIP THE SAINTS                       It is in this way that they succeed in denying that persever-

                                                                    ance is a gift of God that is gained by the death of Christ,
                R E J E C T I O N   O F   E R R O R S
                                                                    while at the same time they continue to speak of the death

                    Article 1 (continued)                           of Christ. We must remember what they taught concerning

                                                                    the death of Christ. Its purpose (Canons II, B, 2) was not

   As we remarked earlier, the fathers in this article clash        that he should confirm the new covenant of grace through

head-on with the Arminian error, and that too, in regard to         his blood, but only that he should acquire for the Father

the most fundamental aspect of the truth of perseverance and        the mere right to establish with man such a covenant as he

the'Arminian  denial of the same. They turn immediately to          might please, whether of grace or of works. In the second

the question of cause and source. Is perseverance an effect         place, they taught, according to Canons II, B, 3, that Christ

(fruit) of election, or not? Is perseverance a gift of God,         by his satisfaction merited neither salvation itself for any-

or is it the work of man alone? Is this perseverance gained         one, nor faith, whereby this satisfaction of Christ unto salva-

by the death of Christ, or is it obtained by man through the        tion is effectually appropriated, but only that he merited for

fulfillment of a condition ? These questions, you understand,       the Father the authority or the perfect will to deal again

go to the very heart, of the matter. And this is to be ex-          with man,`. and to prescribe new conditions as he might

pected: After all, the basic Arminian error was the denial          desire, obedience to .which,  bowever,  depended on the free

of sovereign election.' And since all the blessings of salvation    will of man, so that ,it therefore might have come to pass

flow forth from election as their cause and fountain, the           that either none or all should fulfill these conditions. We

Arminians are compelled in their denial of election to do           may note here that in connection with perseverance this

violence to the relation between those blessings of salvation       article means too that a man might for a while fulfill these

and election. They must at each stage deny the proper rela-         new conditions of a new covenant and then cease fulfilling

tion. They must reverse it. Thus it is here with regard to          them, or he might continue to fulfill them to the very end, -

the perseverance of the saints: the Arminian denial of sov-         all depending on his own free will. Thirdly, according to

ereign election leads inevitably to a reversal of the relation-     Canons II, B, 4, the new covenant of grace which God the

ship between election and perseverance, and this leads in           Father, through the mediation of the death of Christ, made

turn to `a denial of the certain perseverance of the saints.        with man, does not herein consist, that we by faith, in as

   Let us notice the various- elements in the Arminian error        much as it accepts the merits of Christ, are justified before
here rejected. The negative side of that error, first of            God and saved, but in the fact that God, having revoked the
all, contains three elements. The Arminians deny that               demand of perfect obedience of faith, regards faith itself and
the perseverance of the true believers is an effect (fruit)         the obedience of faith, although imperfect, as the perfect
of election. Secondly, they deny that the perseverance of the       obedience of the law. And here again, the Arminian multi-
true believers is a gift of God. And thirdly, they deny that        plies conditions. Not only faith and the imperfect obedience
the perseverance of the true believers is gained by the death       of faith are conditions of salvation, but also perseverance in
of Christ. These three elements in themselves are quite             the faith and in the imperfect obedience of faith is a condition
clear, and they need no further elucidation. We may observe,        unto salvation. One might fulfill the condition of faith for a
however, that they stand closely related. If you deny that          while, and thus also have salvation for a while ; but he must
perseverance is an effect of election, you must needs deny          also persevere in the faith to the end, .or else he loses the
that it is a gift of God and that it is gained by the death         salvation which once he possessed. And once again, this
of Christ. The solid ground of the truth that salvation, in-        perseverance is a condition, not a benefit of the death of
cluding the blessing of perseverance, is a gift, a matter of        Christ.

grace, merited by the death of Christ, is always the truth of          All this, in turn, stands in close connection with the
sovereign election. Deny the latter, and you are shut up to         A-r-minian  view of perseverance and election. Before man is

the view that salvation is a matter of works and of human           decisively justified (and therefore saved), and before man
achievement. This we ought always to remember. Arminian-            is decisively elected, he must of his .own free will meet the


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  259


 condition ,of persevering to the end. This decisive justifica-       that point of decision it would be folly to speak of any con-

tion and election comes, therefore, at the moment of his              ditions or lack of conditions any more. The.`:point  of deci-

 death. Up to that time the possibility exists that he will           siveness is the point when one has persevered. unto the end.

 through negligence. forsake again the first beginnings of his        It is the end, namely, death. Then at last the` decision falls.

 life in Christ, return again to this present evil world, turn        Besides, this so-called decisive election is itself conditional,

 away from the holy doctrine dkhvered  him, lose a good               that is, it is preceded by the condition of perseverance. Hence,

 conscience, and become devoid of grace. (Remonstrance, Art.          as I, B, 5 has it: "The complete and decisive election oc-

 V.) But let us notice in this connection that the fathers            curred because of foreseen perseverance unto the end in faith,

 call our attention to the complicated Arminian view of elec-         conversion, holiness and godliness." Here you have. exactly '

 tion by which they always attempted to deceive people. The           the same error as in V, B, 1, only treated from the viewpoint

 Arminians could never get away from the fact that in Scrip-          of election. That this is true is plain from the rest of I, B, 5 :

 ture the idea of absolute certainty and decisiveness, finality,      "and that this is the gracious and evangelical worthiness, for

 is always associated with the idea of election. Hence, in            the sake of which he who is chosen, is more worthy than he

 their presentation they somehow had to leave this same               who is not chosen ; and that therefore faith, the obedience of

 impression of certainty and finality. And at the same time           faith, holiness, godliness and perseverance are not jvztits of

 they had to keep the notion of conditionality and uncertainty.       the unchangeable election ztnto  glory, but are conditions,

 Hence, as we learn from Canons I, they devised a clever and          which; being required beforehand, were foreseen as being

 complicated way of doing this, to which the fathers refer            met by those who will be fully elected, and are causes without

 when they say: "which man before his decisive election and           which the unchangeable election to glory does not occur."

 justification (as they speak) must fulfill through his free          .Such  is the Arminian position. They follow a very circuitous

 will." Instead of teaching that election, the only election that     path. But it all comes down to the very opposite of the,`Re-

 there is, is decisive, they speak of a decisive election. But        formed position. The Arminian says: perseverance is the

 that was only one'kind of election ; there is also an indecisive     cause, and the unchangeable election unto glory is the effect.

 election. This is their error in Canons I, B, 1 already: "The        The truth is : perseverance is the effect, and the unchange-

 will of God to save those who would believe and wo,ttld  per-        able election unto glory is the cause that produces that effect.
 scveye in faith (italics supplied, H.C.H.) and in the obedience      The Arminian says : perseverance is a condition, required
 of faith, is the whole and entire,decr&e  of el&tion'imto  salva-    beforehand and foreseen as being &et  `fiy,  those who will be
 tion."    To maintain this they had to come to the view con-         f&y elected. The truth is: perseverance is a gift of God, r
 demned in Canons I, B, 2 : "That there are various kinds of          gained by the death of Christ, for those who have been
 election of, God unto eternal life: the one general and indef-
                                                                      elected unto glory and given to Christ. The compromise of
 inite, the other particular and definite ; and that the latter
                                                                      these diametrical opposites is impossible!
 in turn is either incomplete, revocable, non-decisive and

 conditional, or complete, irrevocable, decisive and absolute.           For the Scriptures are the court of appeal in this matter,

 Likewise: that there is one election unto faith, and another         and they are clear. Election is always the starting-point in

 unto salvation, so that election can be unto justifying faith,       them. Thus it is in Romans 11 :7, the first text cited : "The

 without being a decisive election unto salvation." This is           elect obtained it, and the rest were hardened." Detailed

 further explained in Canons I, B, 5. It is here that you find        exegesis here is not necessary. Suffice it to say : 1) That the
 the error that occurs again and is condemned in the article          apostle is speaking here of perseverance, of the obtaining of
 under discussion. On the one hand, the Arminians taught              the promise and of righteousness. 2) This obtaining of the
 that `<the incomplete and non-decisive election of particular        promise and of justification, is ascribed to election. 3) The
 persons to salvation occurred becauseof a foreseen faith, con-
                                                                      Arminian would have to change this around and say: those
 version, holiness, godliness, which either began or continued
                                                                      that obtained it, that is, those who persevered unto the end,
 for some time."    This, of course, was an election that was
                                                                      will be fully elected. And the passage from Romans 8 is
 revocable and that could and would be recalled as soon as
 one's faith and conversion ceased in God's foresight. One            equally clear. Concerning it we remark : 1) That its main

 who was elect in this sense could at any moment become               thought is: no one shall separate us from the love of Christ.

 non-elect, or reprobate. But'was  there also a complete and          2) This is attributed .not to the believer himself, but to

 decisive election'in  any sense? Yes, but that point of deci-        Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension and .sitting  at the

 siveness was never reached until one had actually persevered         right hand of God. 3) That also here the final cause is elec-

 unto the end. And if God foresaw that one would persevere            tion : "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect ?"

 to the very end, then'U?Ie elected bne in the decisive and ab-       And it requires the grossest kind of opposition to' the Scrip-
 solute sense of the word. This is the election which the             tures to read anything else than this simple truth in the. pas-
 Arminians denoted as "complete, irrevocable, decisive, and           sages mentioned.
 absolute." But notice that even the Arminians in I, B, 2 do

 not call that an uncondifiional  election; `Why not? Because at                                                                H.C.H.


 2           6         0                       T.HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


 II                                                                         6. After covtzpleting the visitation. of a.ll%e  cong%ga%ions,
             `DECENCY and ORDER 1                                        the visitors shall with requisite discretion, compose a report
                                                                         of their .activities  to be delivered at the next following classis."

                                                                             In addition to all of this, we find on pages 59-61 of our

                       Church Visitation                                 Church Order, a list of some thirty-six questions that are

                                                                         .asked  by the church visitors of the consistories they visit.

       The 44th Article of our Church Order reads as follows :           To these questions we will refer a bit later for in the light

       "The classis  shall authorize at least two of her oldest,         of all of this material we are to discuss the important matter
 most experienced  and nsost competent ministers to visit all            of church visitation.

 the. churches once a yem mid to take-heed whether the win-                  The readers. of OUT- Standard Bearer will perhaps recall
 ister and the consistory faithfully perforuz the duties of their        that about a year ago the Elders' Conference of Classis  East
office, adhere to sound doctrine,- observe in all things the             requested Rev. H. Hoeksema, the editor of our paper, to
 adopted order, a.nd properly promote as much as lies in them,           answer a question regarding the origin and history of this

  through word and deed, the upbuilding of the congregation,             article of the ' Church Order. Thereupon the consistory of

 in particular of the youth, to the end that they "nay in time           the First Church asked that his answer to this question be

 fraternally admonish  those who have in anythitig  been                 .published  in The Standard Bearer. This it was and those
  negligent, and sjg.ay  by their advice and assistance help direct.     who are further interested will find this instructive article on

  all things unto the peace, @building, and greatest profit of           p. 198 of Vol. 35 of our periodical. We intend to incorporate

  the churches. And each clussis  may continue these visitors            some of the pointers of this article in our future comments 011
  in service as long as it sees fit, except where the visitors           this article.                                            .
  themselves request to be released for the reasons of which                 In his mimeographed notes on Church Right the Rev. G.
  the classis  shall judge."                                             M. Ophoff also makes several striking observations on the

       The above article, though quite lengthy, consists of only         matter of Church Visitation. For the benefit of our readers

  two sentences. In the Christian Reformed proposed revision             we will reproduce these notes in full.here  before -we proceed

  of the Church Order, the first sentence of this article is left        to treat the. contents of Article 44 and related matters. Rev.

  unchanged but the second sentence is made to read: "Per-               Ophoffwrites: ' .i-                    ~.

  v&nency  in the co?Lmittee  is to be sought, so that continuity            "1. The character of the function -of the chat& visitors.
  of supervision may be obtained." And, to the article the               The church visitors form a committee of two appointed by
  following new element is added in the proposed `revision:              the Cl&is.  We thaws  dea.1 here with a committee of tke
  "The churches are free to call on their church visitors when-          Classis.  Thus the church visitors no more  than the classis
  ever serious  problems arise."                                         are a higher po-wer  over the chuxh,es.  They are not vested

       Our churches have appended to Article 44 of the Church            z&la key-power over the churclaes. They cannot place flMze%z-
  Order the following decisions :                                        hers of tlae consistory or the whole consistory under the first,
                                                                         secortd and tlaird  step of censabre,  depose them from ofice
       "Chuxh.  visitation which is required to be done in the
                                                                         and e-~mmvaunicate  them in a body or singly out of the
  congregations, requires for its efficient prosecution -the fol-
                                                                         Cl&&an  chatrch.  Hence, the church visitors aYe not a sub-
  lowing:                                              I
                                                                         stitute of the monarchial  bishop in the Rovvtan  Catholic
       1.. Each `classis  shall appoint from  her midst :at least two    Church. Like the classis  they can only advise the churches.
  WYtinisters  and their alternates.                                     In and through these visitors the churches take heed to one

       2. The visitors shall give the congregatiorts  at least eight     ariother  .as autonomous Ylzembevs  of the church federatiou.

  days' notice of the day >and  hour of the proposed visit.                  2. The famction  of the chatrch visitors. Their function, as

       3. The consistory shall see to it that all the consistory         stated by Article 44 is to take heed to the churches and the
  members  are psesent at the meeting which is appointed for             office  bearers thereof and to admonish the negligent, and
  church visitation. Any mmber failing to be present shall be            advise, assist, and help.

  required to give the meeting good reason for his absence.`If               3. Their pat.rpose.  Their purpose is to help direct all
  one-half of tlae members  are absent tlae visitation cannot be         things unto the peace, upbuilding, and greatest profit of the
  curried out.                                                           churches.

       4. The consisto-vy  shall see to it that the record books             4 I The qatestion whether the institution of church visitors
  are at hand for the inspection by the visitors.                        had the sanction of the Scriptures. We believe that it has.

       5. of the visitors, one shall functiola  U+Y chairman and the     As it is the calling of nil the common members of the church

  other as secretary. They slaall  record their findings and             to take heed to one another and advtionish  one another ,if
 actions in' a book, .which  ca.n be consatlted  a,t the next visita-    there is need; so certainly it must  also be the calling of all the

  tion, and which can be kept in the classical archive.                  chatrches  .of the.smne  household of faith to ta.ks heed to one


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARE~R                                                         261


another and to be of mutual spiritual help to one..another             and to this belongs -the function of exercising mutual super-

without the one setting itself up as a higher power over the           vision over one another. The necessity of this follows from

other, or over the others.                                             the Reformed conception according to which one church does

                                                                       not stand above another but all are equal in rank and auton:
   5. The article requi+es that the church visitors be at
                                                                       omy. In a federation of such churches there must be some
least two of the oldest, most experienced, and competent
                                                                       form of supervision but since there is no higher ecclesiastical
ministers, the reason being that the task that must be per-
                                                                       order above the local church to enact this; the only way it
fornaed  is a weighty one.
                                                                       can be done is by mutual agreement and the mutual delega-'
   6. The chu&  z+itors  are not appointed by the president            tion of authority which is done through, the Classis  in the
of the classis  but they are chos'en by the whole classis.             appointment of church visitors. And the purpose of this
 7. There `is. the question- whether the coming of the                 work, `as the Article itself states, is "the atpba&ilding  -of the
church visitors should be announced to the congregation.               congregatz'on."    This spiritual aim or objective must be con-

Some  say it should be announced and give their reason that            stantly kept in mind because where it is ignored or forgotten

the comvmn  members in the congregation, if they h3ave  a              the work of church-visitation will be unfruitful regardless of
grievance  against the consistory, should have opportunity to          how it is performed and if it is properly kept upon the fore-
reveal the same to the church visitors in order that the dif-          ground, many of the problems, difficulties and questions that
ficulty may be settled and removed.  We do not favor this view.        frequently arise in. connection with this work will dissipate.
Certainly such members must first reveal their grievance to                If, therefore, the church visitors are regarded as a couple
the consistory and from the consistory the way leads not to            messenger boys. who are sent around to all the churches to
the church visitors but to the classis,  and the classis  meets        simply ask of each consistory a series of form-questions, it
four times in the year.                                                is certainly far better that these questions be printed in the

    8. The question might  also be asked why the churches              form of a questionnaire and either mailed to each church or

should be visited by the church visitors, seeing that the              distributed to the delegates -at the classis.

Classis  could place these very questions to the consistories on           If, on the other hand, the church vi,sitors  are erroneously
the classical meeting and actually does put some of these              regarded as a super-power in the church sent to lord it. over
questions to them. The only answer is that oa&r  Reformed              consistories and to introduce tyranny in the church of Jesus
fathers deemed ,the institution if Church Visiting necei-              Christ, it would be better if they were not given so much as
sary.                                                                  a hearing for such evil cannot possibly serve the spiritual

   9. The couxplaint has often been made  that. church                 ,welfare  and upbuilding of the congregation.

tisitivtg  is so .maechavtical  and bears so little fruit. To the          Neither must the church visitors.be  regarded as "trouble-
complaint that church visiting is mechanical, it may  be replied       seekers." Although it is unavoidable that they will be con-
that this is not tlae  fault of the institution but of the chamh       fronted with problems and troubles that exist in the churches,
visitors a.nd the consistom'es.  Church visiting, like family          their aim is not to` see how much trouble they can uncover.
visiting is emctly what `mela  make it. The question put must          Their primary purpose is not to investigate but to %elfi
be truthfaJly  anszvered  and the consistories advvconished  ac-       difect  all things atnto  the peace, upbatilding,  and profit of the
cording `as there is need. In the degree that this is done,            churches" by their advice and assistance.
will church visiting bear fmit.                                            Regarding these brethren then as competent, experienced

    10. Should the chatrch  z&itors  report to-clcmis  tlaeir find-    advisors who are authorized and empowered by all the

ings? Ordinarily  not. But certainly serioats cases ,of dis-           churches to perform this work of mutual supervision in

orderly behavior on the part of a consistory that will not             which the welfare of the churches is sought, the labor will be

nzend its ways after having been adutonished  by the church            performed with joy and profit. Then they will not be bound

visitors shou.ld  be reported to the classis."                         to a set of stereotyped questions and the consistories will not

    Apart now from various questions and problems that may             feel that they are overstepping their bounds when they in-
arise in connection with the subject of church visitation, tie         quire into matters that are not specifically mentioned in the
may observe in the light of all the above that this work is            "book." There will be a certain measure of latitude in this
of a very serious and important nature. We do not mean                 work which will be healthy for all concerned and the danger
that it is serious simply because it may involve the churches          of its becoming a meaningless, mechanical process will virtu-
in the expenditure of a rather large sum of money. That                ally be obliterated.        -
too, of course. Any work of. the church that involves large                                                                      G.V.d.B.

monetary costs must certainly be important. No church may

spend large sums for non-essentials.

    We have in mind, however, that it lies in the very                     A "quiet `thought" found in Southwest's bulletin : "Criti-

nature of the work of church-visiting that it is a serious             cizing another's' garden will not keep the' weeds out of your

work. The task `of the classis is the task of all the churches         own."

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


II                                                                   mountain of sound doctrine. Concerning the first, he insists
              A L L   A R O U N D   U S   --I that moral standards are being flouted. Concerning the sec-
                                                                     ond, sound doctrine is disparaged.

                                                                         Under the sub-title "Moral Standards Flouted," the editor
"`Malting  Molehills out  of Moztntains."                            writes :

      -Such  is, the title of an interesting and timely editorial        "Mention may very well be made of three aspects of

appearing in The Balaney  bf February 5, 1960, written by            contemporary life as evidence that .the moral standards of

`the Rev. John Vander Ploeg.                                         God%  law are being flouted, and that in so doing our genera-

       The editor begins by reminding his readers that things        tion is guilty of making molehills out of mountains.

formerly were in reverse. It used to be that they "made                  "1. A look at the field of entertainment is immediately at

mountains out of molehills." He cites an instance out of             hand. The recent expose of rigged TV quiz shows revealed

the past where at a congregational meeting a warm and                much that is morally unpalatable, not only about those who

animated debate was had on the subject "whether or not it            did the deceiving, but also about others who are uncon-

was wrong .to have fire insurance on the church property."           cerned that they have been deceived.

Those against fire insurance argued that it was in defiance            "There are those who frankly make no bones about it to
of Providence. The minister, who otherwise was quite level-          say that they see no moral issue involved in all this. Incap-
headed and calm, at last could not contain himself "and in           able of moral indignation themselves, they blandly dismiss all
Dutch he exploded, `If that's true then you may not even             the fuss and the fury as making a mountain out of a molehill.
pluck a louse off your head."' The editor informs us that            It was good fun while it lasted, and as long as everyone had
 "Fortunately, the advocates of fire insurance carried the day,      a good time, what's the difference?
either at that meeting or later. Of course, they were right,
                                                                         " `We are at one of those critical junctures of history,'
and moreover their foresight was justified when several years
                                                                     says `someone, `where- men have discovered the almost right-
later their church buildings were reduced by fire to a total
                                                                     ness of a great deal that is wrong, and the almost wrongness
loss."
                                                                     of a great deal that is right.'
       He continues,    "How times have changed. We have
                                                                         "The report has gotten around pretty well by this time
changed and the churcla  has changed, in some respects for
                                                                     about the school teacher with a class of young people, some
better, and in other respects for worse.
                                                                     of whom could see nothing wrong in rigging a TV'quiz  show.
       "The danger today is that we make molehills out of
                                                                         "Giving a very difficult`test, the teacher slipped the an-
mountains? whereas years ago the church had a weakness
                                                                     swers to three mem,bers  of the class. Imagine the disappoint-
of making,mountains  out of molehills.
                                                                     ment of the class when almost everyone, including the top
       "Old-timers still tell of this. The innovation of English     students, flunked the test, with the exception of those three.
instead of exclusively `Dutch services, individual communion
                                                                         "And then try to imagine their resentment and howl of
cups, and also other changes encountered stiff opposition
                                                                     protest when thereupon the teacher admitted to them what
 which was sincerely believed by some to be a matter of
                                                                     he had done. Let's hope he got his point across.
principle.

       "Third-generation -members of the Christian Reformed              "2. Or take the case of l+zodern  fiction. Talk about flout-
 Church may be amused at, all this. We have come a long              ing moral standards and making a molehill out of the moun-
way from the conservatism of grandpa and grandma and                 tain of right and wrong, here is one that takes the prize,
from the heated controversies about picayune matters which           if the prince of smut has one to offer :

agitated our denomination of half century or more ago. At                " `My novel,' says Robert Graves of his latest (the choice

times they made mountains out of molehills.                          of a book society), `is full of sex, drink, incest, suicide, dope,

       "But it could. have been worse. Let's not be too sure         horse racing, a scandalous legal procedure, with a good public
that it may not actually be worse in our time. Our forebears         hanging attended by 30,000.'

wronged both .themselves  and the Lord's cause when trivial-             "Object to such putrid slop, and you run the,.risk of

ities led to hot heads and cold hearts as they made moun-            being ridiculed as being `priggish' or `Puritanical.' Muddle-

tains out of molehills. But we shall wrong ourselves and His         headed Bohemians, who pride themselves on being sophisti-

cause even more if we now go to the opposite extreme of              cated in this, may even try to justify what they are reading

making molehills out of mountains."                                  or writing by an appeal to common grace, meanwhile con-

       The reader understands of course that the terms "moun-        fusing it with common garbage.

tains" and "molehills" are used figuratively. Rev, Vander               "The need for talented writers of respectable Christian

Ploeg has in mind especially two mountains which he claims           fiction in which moral standards are held in honor is positive-

attempts are made in our day to make molehills of them. The          ly acute. The responsibility for the fearful harvest of moral

first is the mountain of moral standards ; the second, the           insensitivity and loose living is one from which.;the  purveyors


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         263


of printed filth can by no means dissociate themselves. And          or teaching. Paul mentions `sound doctrine' in I Timothy

by all means, may their tribe decrease !                             1 :lO and `good doctrine' in I Timothy 4 :6, clearly implying

   "3. Another area in which secularism is determined to             that there can be no substitute for this.

make molehills out of the mountains of the moral standards'              "The doctrines of creation, providence, divine sovereignty,

of God's law is that of marriuge  and divorce.                       the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture, heaven and hell,

   "According to The World `Alutzanac,  1959, the approxi-           sin and grace - these and all other doctrines revealed in the
mate ratio of divorces to marriages in the United States in          Bible and set forth in creeds founded on the Bible are indeed
1890 stood at 1 in 17. Thirty years later, in 1920,' it was 1        like a mountain towering over all the wrecks of time.

in.7%, and in 1957 it was 1 in 4.                                       "Any offhand or deliberate attempt to disparage or to

  "Someone reports that the Arabs have a unique and                  make a molehill out of the doctrine of Scripture-which we

very interesting approach to the divorce problem. The judge          believe Reformed doctrine to be- is nothing less than an

orders the couple seeking a separation to live for a time            attempt to' sabotage the church of Jesus Christ.

with some elderly man of the tribe, someone both wise and                "The sound doctrine of Scripture is disparaged not only

austere. Being thus under observation, at the close of which         when one snipes at it or makes an open attack upon it, but

period a report is to be made to the judge as the basis for          also when anyone who professes to believe it, simply re-

his decision, both husband and wife are at their best to             mains indifferent with respect to a careful and prayerful

prove that the fault lies on the other side. The results are         statdy of it.

very gratifying, the honeymoon starts all over again, and                "A United States Senator in a press. release of a few

harmony is frequently restored.                                      days ago relates the following experience of an. American

   "The .Arab method has much to commend it, but mean-               exchange student .at Moscow University.

while Scripture still provides the only real solution to the             " `He was vacationing last summer at Sochi, a resort on
distressing problems of marriage and divorce. Husbands and           the Black Sea. Relaxing on the beach, he and some of his
wives must make sure that they are living with God, and              friends saw a group of some 100 Chinese students, dressed
that He is really living with them. Courtship `and marriage          in very heavy clothes.
are successful and yield happiness only to the extent that               `I `They lined up on the beach, and for one hour did
the parties to them regard one another and live together in          exercises in unison. Thereupon, hot and tired as they were,
the consciousness of `Thou God seest me.'                            instead of going swimming, they formed: a circle-to discuss

   "The moral standards of God's ordinances governing                the principles of'Marx  and Lenin for another hour.

matters of sex and*  marriage are as lofty and enduring as               " `This was their concept of recreation.'

the mountain dn which the Divine Lawgiver once gave them                 "What a challenge! Not only to study the principles of -

on two tables of'stone. All the carnal efforts of the godless        democracy, but above all to explore,`to  know and to find our
to throw down these lofty heights to the level of molehills          safety in the mountains of Christian doctrine as we are

can have only one result-moral bankruptcy and trouble                guided by the living Word that does not pass away.
always going from bad to worse."                                         "Our security and future- are to be found only in the

   Under the sub-title "Sound Doctrine Disparaged," the              mountains or everlasting hills to which God directs our eyes.

editor writes :                                                      To insist upon making molehills of these is suicide !"

   "Doctrine and denominationalism both have fallen upon                 The undersigned said at the beginning that he believed
evil days in our time in that the importance and necessity of        the, editorial quoted almost in its entirety was both interest-

them are widely disparaged. The following lines of Robert            ing and timely. The serious-minded reader will no doubt

Loveman  strike a responsive chord in many and, are eagerly          agree.

endorsed by them :                                                       We were impressed especially by the last part which dealt

                   What care I for caste or creed ?                  with sound doctrine. The thought could not be suppressed,

                   It is the deed, it is the deed ;                  "Would to God that all our people, especially the young,

                   What for class or what for clan ?                 would take it to heart."      Would that in and under the

                   It is the man, it is the man . . .                preaching they would understand that sound doctrines are

   "But what does the Bible say? Anyone who'takes Scrip-             the 1 everlasting .rnountains of God's Word. Would that in
ture seriously soon discovers that doctrine, or rather the           catechism and in the societies of our churches each one would
doctrine, looms there as high; as solid and as massive as a          consider the importance of knowing and professing these
mountain. Anyone bent upon making a molehill out of Chris-           eternal truths. And would to God that the spiritual lethargy
tian doctrine must first give the lie to the Word of God.            and indifference to sound doctrine were disparaged. Per-
   "In the New Testament one may find the term doctrine              haps this is the reason for the controversies that characterize
or teaching 48 times, the same word being used in English            the history of the church, that she may be alerted once more
for two Greek words. It is important to note that the New            to the importance and beauties of the everlasting mountains.

Testament places before us `a very specific kind of .doctrine                                                                  M.S.


                                                                   _.;~  . . . . . . .

264'-  _- L-1  . . ..__ ~.                _ ."           `~THE%TANDARD  B'EARER ,
                                            I                                                                                .
                                                                                         _
      _'              _ .
                                                                                        dren whose fathers ate wild. grapes. . . Many more questions
             ~I'@&  `FRO'kJ
                             .            ~dl@ Cl-lUI$CtiES                             were. answered in: the ,hour, but the one that received the
            .-.
      .                                                                            lion's share of examination was that which dealt with the
                             "All `the sa&.s salute thee.. .`."`PRIL.  $:21`
                                                                                        events which precede the Judgment Day as `delineated in

                                                                                        Revelation. 11, I Cor. 15, and I Thess. 4.

                                           ,.     .,_. ' F e b .   19,196p  -'
                                                                                        _ Like all of our churches, Hope also studies the Heidel-
             ,The `congregation at ii[ull  .has, named the following trio               berg Catechism by preaching on the subject material of one of
from which to elect. a-man they shall `call to come over and                            the,Lord!s Days each Sunday. Feb. -7 was Preparatory Sun-
help. them::. Revs. G. Van Bar-en,. M.` Schipper  and. R.
.'                                                                                      day and. the schedule called-for the discussion of Lord's Day.
V e l d m a n .                                                                         Thirty "which treats the Sacrament of Holy Communion,

                                                                                        givi,ng  the pastor, Rev. H. Hanko, the opportunity to preach
             Doon's consistory has decided, to conduct`an adult Bible                   a sermon under the theme, "True Self Examination."
class Friday evenings.,. Rev. Van Baren will treat the material

found in the catechism `book, "Essentials of Reformed Doc-                                    In our next issue we should be able to give you some

trine."            The method of teaching will be that of lecture and                   news regarding a missionary project in the form of radio

discussion. The consistory invites all confessing members                               broadcasting. Hudsonville's consistory has , accepted a sug-

who seek a better understanding of the basic doctrines of the                           gestion from their Mr. and Mrs.- Society -and  is proposing

Scriptures and the Reformed faith. At their second meeting                              the adoption of it at a mass meeting of the congregation

the discussion was on the determination of the canon of                                 scheduled :for Feb.- 19. The,.radio. station they would use is

Scripture, and on the questions of inspiration and infallibility.                       situated in the nearby'city of Holland.


             Doon is one. of our churches, though they do not have a                          South Holland's Men's Society, in their first February

Sunday School, yet give Sunday School papers to the chil-                               meeting discussed the text, "Let your moderation be known

dren each Sunday. The Prot. Ref. Sunday School Associa-                                 to all men. The Lord is at hand," found in Paul's Epistle

tion, as in past years, sends out weekly papers. to all vvho                      ;,to then Philippians.. _, -_ 1 ..;.,.-    `.
                                                                                                                                   ,?a
ask for them.. Is' your church. taking `advantage of this
privilege ?                                                                                   On the Sunday that Rev. Harbach treated Lord's Day
                                                                                        49, Lynden's bulletin requested the members to memorize

             First' Church's bulletin reveals that the annual family                    this verse: "The burden of the sorrowful the Lord will not

visitation has been. completed. The committees. report, "That                           despise; He has not. `turned from those that mourn, He

the Lord is blessing us as families as well as.congregation."                           hearkens to their cries. His goodness makes me join the

                                                                                        throng where saints His praise proclaim, and there will I

             Feb, 15 Rev. G. Lanting and `his Men's Society travelled                   fulfill my vows `mid those who fear His name."

from Holland to Grand Rapids to meet with First Men's
Society. The visiting Chairman conducted the after recess                                     Have you noticed  that ~0% church's news does not find
program which consisted of a paper read by .Mr. Elzinga of                              its way into this column ? Perhaps it's due to the fact that
the Holland society. The paper was an interesting account                               your bulletins do not find their way here. Society secretaries
of the history of the beginning of. the Reformed `Church in                             please `note : Send in the news from your society which might
Germany, including the authorship -and  the compiling of                                be of interest to, or inspiration for other societies' program
the Heidelberg Catechism,- so dear to all of us.                                        committees.

                                                                                              Scanning the bulletins we perceive that many opportun-
             First's Ladies' Aid Society, in a February after recess
                                                                                        ities are provided, our membership "That the man of God
program, .discussed  the question of singing hymns in our
                                                                                        may be. perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."
worship services ; and also considered the moral issues in-
                                                                                        All of our societies. are busily engaged in the study of the
volved in the growing practice of giving and receiving
                                                                                        Scripture which       "is given by inspiration of God, and is
prizes for making purchases at the neighborhood merchants,
                                                                                        profitable for doctrine; for reproof, for correction; for in-
as they answered the question "Should Christians participate
                                                                                        struction in righteousness."
in numbers contests ?"
                                                                                  `.
                                                                                              This issue's Proverb is found in' the third chapter, verses
             Rev. H. Hoeksema conducted- a Question Hour for a Mr.
                                                                                        5 *-and  6 : "Trust .in the Lord with all thine heart; and
and Mrs. Society recently. The Reverend answered the ques-
                                                                                        lean  not .unto' thine own understanding. In all thy ways
tion of the possibility of breaking God's covenant as described
                                                                                        acknowledge,Him,  and He will direct thy paths."
in Jeremiah `3x:31. He also explained the figure, found in

the same chapter, of the setting on edge of the teeth of chil-                                . . . . see' you in church.                         J . M . F .


