                                                                                                                               -    -

    V O L U M E   XXXVI  '                     JUNE 1, 1960 - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN               -..           , Nu.m&  17


                                                                        Many and varied, even furiously conflicting desires storm

                                                                     through our souls every moment of the day, and often far

                                                                     into the night.

                                                                        Yet : One thing have I desired ! When I search my heart, i
                         ONE DESIRE                                  I find that there is actually only one desire that is of chief

                                                                     importance. :~There is one desire that includes all my pure
                 One thing .kave I desred  of the Lord; that
              will I seek after; that I may dwell %z the house of    desires and suppresses every evil wish.
              the Loyd  all the days of my life, to b,ehold  the        One thing have I desired in the past.
              beauty of the Lord,  and to enquire in his temple.
                                                 - Psalm 27 :4          Only one thing do I desire now.

    One desire. '                                                       There can be but one single desire in the future, I know.

   One desire singled out of many.                                      That will I seek after.

   For many desires flooded the soul of the psalmist, even
                                                                        Profound desire.
`as many desires fill our souls.

   We have many desires, because- we experience many                    That I may dwell. in the house of the Lord all the days
needs as dependent creatures of God. There are our physical          of my life.

needs, a few of which are food and drink, health and strength,          When David spoke of the house of the Lord his thoughts
clothing and shelter. We have need of family and friends,            turned to the tabernacle as it stood first in Shiloh and later
of home and school and church. There are.the  spiritual `needs       in Jerusalem. The temple of Solomon was not yet built; the
of forgiveness of sins and- strengthening of faith, daily justi-     Lord still dwelt behind curtains. This tabernacle represented
fication and sanctification, peace with God and fellowship with      the intimate fellowship which God had established with His
the Father, hope and joy in our future blessedness. These are-       chosen people. God dwelt there behind the veil, so that any-
but a few of the many needs that press upon us from day to           one who came in that tabernacle was in close proximity to
day.                                                                 God. There he could see the blood of atonement that opened

   And our needs can even be increased at any-  moment by            the way for the sinner to approach the Holy One. There
change of circumstances. New problems arise. New difficul-           was the altar `of incense, representing the. prayers of the
ties confront us. New temptations beset us, often when we            saints which ascended before the face of Jehovah as a sweet
least expect them. The devil, the world of sin, and our own          savor before Him. There the types and shadows were prom-
sinful flesh so readily.form an alliance against us to destroy       ises of better things to come, for they spoke of the ~coming
us. The battle is long and hard,. oftentimes. even almost to         of Christ, His suffering and death, and the glory that would
the point of despair. The psalmist refers to just that when          follow. Everything testified of the `eternal, sovereign love of
he speaks of being afraid because of the wicked, even his            God that is higher than the heavens and deeper than the
enemies and his foes, who encamp as a host against him.              sea, broader than the great expanse of the universe and wider
There are many needs, which cause many desires to arise              than our small comprehension can ever grasp. Everything
within us.                                                           focused the attention of the believer on his God,, Whose
                                                                     heart of compassion embraces His people, Whose eye of
    But there are also desires that we would rather pass by          mercy is- ever upon them, Whose ear is patiently attentive
in silence, yet they c&not be ignored. We have a covetous            to all their needs, Whose palm, in'which  they are engraven,
nature. We crave the treasures and pleasures.of  this world.         reaches out to them to bless them.
We' lust after sin. Even though we will the good, the evil
is still always present with us.                                        Even for David the tabernacle could not be a real dwelling


     386                                            T H E   S:TANDARD   B E A R E R


     place. He c&Id not possibly desire to spend all his days and         Spirit in our hearts, we would turn about and flee away in

     nights there. For no one did. Not even the priests. But it           terror. But we know that the Lord receives those whd  come

     did represent to him that which was foremost of all his              to Him in true humility.

     desires, covenant fellowship with the living God, abiding in
                                                                             There we hide our faces with shame, for the burden of
     His nearness and be'fore  His face.
                                                                          our guilt weighs heavily upon us and the sense of our

        Just as the poet of Psalm 84 expresses it, "How amiable           depravity causes us to blush. We can only confess : "If thou,

     are thy tabernacles, 0 Lord of hosts ! My soul longeth, yea,         Lord, shouldest mark ,iniquities,  0 Lord, who shall stand ?

     even fainteth for the courts of the Lord ; my heart and my           But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be

     flesh crieth out for the living God. . . . For a day in thy          feared."    How wonderful the experience that our transgres-

     courts is better than a thousarid.  I had rather be a door-          sions are forgiven, our sin is covered. How blessed the

     keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of         assurance that we are righteous before God in Christ Jesus,

     wickedness."                                                         our Lord. What a privilege to come unto Him as His sons

            Or as Asaph `declares in Psalm 73, "Whom have I in            and His daughters.

     heaven but thee ?-and  there. is none upon earth that I desire          .There  in the fellowship of Father, we can pour out our

     beside thee." -                                                      souls, making all our needs known. As the psalmist expresses

            Oni; thing worth seeking after.                               it in this Psalm : "For in the time of trouble he shall hide
                                                                          me in his pavilion : in the secret of his `tabernacle shall he
            OGe profound desire.                                          hide me ; he shall set me up upon a rock." And again : "I

                                                                          had  fainted,. unless -1 had,  believed to see  the goodness of the
            And that one desire has but a single ,,pui-pose,  which       Lord in the land of the living. W&t on the Lord ; be of good
     makes it so essential to our lives : "To behold the beauty of        courage, and he shall strengthen thirie heart: wait, I say, on
     the Lord, and to enquire in his temple."                             the. Lord." ,'
            The beauty of the Lord is His grace.                             There in the House of Prayer all is made plain. There we
            Jehovah is the God of all grace. He is' altogether beauti-    experience that God loves us, is gracious to us, is even slow
     ful. Gracious is He. Who is like unto Him, or with whom              to anger and plenteous in mercy; Even though He tries us as
     would you compare Him? He is Life, evkn the fultiess  of all         by fire, yet He does so in love. Though He chastens us sorely,
     life. He is the Light, :in Whom is no darkness whatever.             He never causes us to sufier  more `than we can bear. Even
     He is Power, even almighty power, for all power. is His,             then His grace is sufficient, for He is our Light and our
     even as all power in heaven and on earth is His..  He is             Salvation.
     Holy and Righteous: He is Truth and Lode. .Goodness,                    Whom, then, shall I fear? The devil, the world, or my
     mercy, IoTiing  kindness, atid  patience belong to His virtues.      bwn sinful flesh  ? Sin or death ? Persecution or trial ? I am
     What tongue can ever finish telling His wonders ?                    r&e than. conqueror.

            He is our God, Who reveals His. glories to us. 1.~               For there I shall be satisfied!
5    Christ Jesus He draws near as Jehovah,  the Almighty, Un-
                                                                          `- What can be better than `that ?
     changeable, Covenant God, Who. keeps  covenant in infinite

     faithfulness forever. He speaks to us through His Word and
                                                                           . One thing have I desired.
     by His Spirit in our hearts. He tells us His Name, which is

     Wonderful. He shows us His eternal $erfe&ioris',  the perfec-            Or to put it in our manner of speaking: There is bnly

     tions of the ever adorable God, Who is blessed forever. He           one thing that I .want,  and that one thing is that I may just

     reveals to us His love in our Saviour, Jesus Christ. He pours        sit and sit in the nearness of my God, in order that I may

     out the secrets of His heart, telling us of all His plan? and        gaze dnd gaze upon His face, to think and think upon His

     purposes concerning us, which can only be realized in' the           gracious dealings with me. That I desire from Him, Whose

     perfection of the new creation. He takes us into His family,         Name is Jehovah, that I will seek after in ail my life until `I

     and shows us the plans of the Father's House with its many           taste and see that God is good, good even to me.

     mansions, where we shall dwell before His face forever.                  That I desire of the Lord.
            0, to behold the beauty of the Lord!
                                                                             To whom else could we go to obtain this indispensable
            And to enquire in His temple.                                 gift than to God Himself? There is no person who could
            There in the presence of Jehovah, as we look' upon His        give it to me, no matter how much he might wish he could.
     beauty, we can search Him out and concentrate our attention          There is no one who can attain to it by his own efforts or
     upon His dealings with us.                                           worthiness. How could a mere man bestow the gifts of grace

            There we drop our heads in deep humility, .for we are         upon another? How could a mere creature ever find his
     mere specks of dust who stand in the presence of the Most            way into the presence of God and be accepted ? The very
     High God. If it were not for the reassuring testimony of His         desire to draw near to God is the fruit of His drawing near


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                                                 387



 to us. When He draws us to Him, we come. And only
 when He draws. When He calls we hear, but only because                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

 He gives us ears to hear. And thus we come with the Spirit-               Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August
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                                                                                                       Editor - REV.  HF,RMAN HOEKSEMIA
 43 : "0 send out thy light and thy truth I let them lead me :             Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
 let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles."                              Rev. ,H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
                                                                                                                    Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
    Only then we can sing:
                                                                           All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
 In sweet communion, Lord, with Thee I constantly abide ;                               '      James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
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    That will I seek after.                                                address and will be published at a fee of $2.00 for each notice.

                                                                           RENEU;AL:  Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
    Again, not as if that would be my effort in attaining my               ceived it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
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 when I seek, I seek it from Him in prayer; asking, seeking,                                            Subscription price: $5.00 per year

 k n o c k i n g .                                                               Entered as Second Cluw  matter at Grand Rapids, Michigan

    Then I also seek it in my walk, since that becomes the

 impelling motive in my life.    For I know that to live apart                                                          CONTENTs
 from God is death. Even my walk must be a walk in prayer,          MEDITATION -
                                                                                   One Desire                . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._....  . . . ..___ ..__ ._.._.....___.._.. 385
 praying without ceasing. For I am dependent upon my God
                                                                                             Rev. C. Hanko
 for all things. I can do nothing without Him. I need His
                                                                    EDITORIALS -
guiding hand, lest I wander into ways of sin. I need His                           Conservatives and Liberals in the Southern
 power and grace to fulfill my calling and to serve the purpose                        Presbyterian                Church              . . . . . . . . . . .._._._.  . . . . .._ .._......... . . 388

 which.He  is realizing in my life.                                                          Rev. H. Hoeksema
                                                                    As To Boogs  -
    And I shall also attain that which I seek. No, that                            Calvin on Scripture and Divine Sovereignty . . . .._.................. 390
                                                                     .-
 statement is':not  too bold to make. For it arises from the                       The Epistles of Paul ,to the Colossians and Philemon..........390
 confidence of faith in which we pray, assured that `our God                                 Rev. H. Hoeksema
                                                                           _.
 will grant us far above all that we can ask or think.              OURDOCTRINE-  .'
                                                                                   The Book of Revelation. ._.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  391

    I have the evidence of the saints. of the past. Enoch                                    Rev. H. Hoeksema

 walked with God. Noah found favor in His sight. Abraham            CONTRIBUTIONS -

 was a friend of God. David .was a man according to God's                          Report of Ladies' League.. . . . .._._____  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
 heart.                                                                                      Mrs. George Hoekstra
                                                                    "fi CLOUD OF b%T'NESSES  -
     The same applies to us in our own small way, even when                        Jacob         and Joseph Reunited . . . ..___............................................
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    394

 we are privileged to be doorkeepers in the house of our God.                                Rev. B; Woudenberg

                                                                    FROM .HOLY WRXT  -
     Already now the Lord says: Seek ye My face. And my                            Exposition of I Corinthians 15 (7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
 heart responds with joy: Thy face, Lord, will I seek.                                       Rev. G. Lubbers

     And this I know, that afterward He will take me into           INHISFEAR-
 His glory.                                                                        Observations                  . . . . . . .._.._____..........  . .._................ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..398
                                                                                             Rev. J. A. Heys

     There we shall see face to face. And know as we are            CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH -

 known.                                                                             The Church and the Sacraments _........................................... 400
                                                                                             Rev. H. Veldman
     Always desiring, and always experiencing the satisfaction      THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS -
 of that desire in endless perfection.                                              The Canons of Dordrecht . . . . . . . . . . . . ..`.... . . . :.. . . ..402
                                                                                             Rev. H. C. Hoeksema.
     0 God, how great Thou art!                                     `DECENCY AND ORDER -
                                                           C.H.                     S ynodical Committees                            . _. _. . . . . . . . _. . . . _. . . _. .404
                                                                                    The General                 Synod ._ __. . . . . . . . .._.._.  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
                                                                                             Rev. G. Vanden Berg

                                                                    ALL AROUNJJ  us -

                                                                                    Heads A s Well A s Hearts _........... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .`........ 406
                                                                                    Ideology and Co-Existence                                   . . . . . . .._........ . . . . . . . . .._...... . . . . . . . . . . 406
                               NOTICE                                                        Rev. M. Schipper

                                                                    NEWS F
     As is customary,                                                                ROM OUR CHURCHES.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._.  . . . .._ . . ..___... . . . . . . . . . ..408
                         The Standard Bearer will appear only                                Mr. J: M. Faber
 once a month during June, July, and August.

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


II                                                                       Dr. Thompson adds that it was, nevertheless, the convic-
             E D I T 0 R I A L S                            II       tion of the apostles that God had sent an angel to release
                                                                     them from prison.

                                                                         This shows, not only that Dr. Thompson is an unbeliever
      Conservatives and Liberals in the Southern.
                                                                     and that he contradicts the language of Scripture ; but also
                     Presbyterian Church                             to what utter nonsense and foolishness a supposedly wise and

       Another copy of the "PresbyterianLaymen"  was sent to         learned man can resort when he does not believe the Bible

me. It is a paper that represents the conservative element in        and, nevertheless, poses as a commentator of the text.

the Southern Presbyterian Church and that opposes the                    But the sad thing- is that the General Assembly was not
strong liberal element in that Church.                               able to depose Dr. Thompson years ago when a protest was
       In the present copy of the "Presbyterian Laymen" a            lodged with that body against him.
description is given of both, the conservatives and the liberals.        But there is more.
       The former it describes as follows:
                                                                         The National Council of Churches, to which also the
       "A CONSERVATIVE can generally be classified as one            Southern Presbyterian Church belongs, introduces all kinds
who accepts the Bible as the Word of God without question            of literature which is supposed to be used by all the churches
and believes the basic doctrines of the Christian faith such         connected with that council. I quote from the "Presbyterian
as, the Inspiration of the Scriptures, the Virgin Birth, Orig-       L a y m e n "   :
inal Sin, the Deity of Christ, the Atonement,. the Bodily
                                                                         "The Church Extension study in 1957 was prepared by
Resurrection as FACTS, clearly taught in the Scriptures."
                                                                     the Christian Relations Division and was on Christian Citizen-
       To this any true Presbyterian undoubtedly would add           ship. They brought into our Church so called study books
the doctrine of Predestination, both election and reprobation,       prepared by the National Council of Churches which was
as well as Particular Atonement, the doctrine that Christ died       purely race mixing propaganda of the worst sort, written
only for the elect.                                                  by `some of the most radical crusaders and extremists in

       The Liberal is characterized as follows :                     America, many of them having been connected with com-

                                                                     munist fronts. One of these books, Sense and Nonsense,
       "A LIBERAL can generally be classified as one who
                                                                     About- Race, by Ethel J. Alpenfels states `that both man and
.says that `the Bible contains the Word of God,' that he
                                                                     ape have a common ancestor millions of years back . . .'
believes that some of the Bible is the inspired Word of God
and other parts are not inspired. We have never been. able               "One of the books recommended by Miss Ruth See, then

to understand how he can determine which is inspired and             Editor in Chief of the young people's materials in our Church,

which isn't. We have to accept it all or none as the inspired        to our young people in order that they might be truly Chris-

Word of God. He considers the basic doctrines of the Chris-          tian in race relations was FAMOUS NEGRO MUSIC

tian Faith as theories, not facts, and he believes that there        MAKERS, by Langston Hughes."

are other theories that are just as acceptable and of equal              This same Langston Hughes wrote a very wicked and
value. They emphasize Christ as a Teacher .and an Example            .blasphemous  poem which is such an ungodly piece of liter-
more than as Redeemer and Saviour. They do not have a                ature that I hesitate to quote it here, but which is quoted
conviction about Original Sin, the Atonement and Hell such           by the "Presbyterian Laymen', in order that the readers may
as the Conservative has. Lacking a saving gospel to preach,          know to what influence especially the young people in the
.they  emphasize a social gospel, and are convinced that the         Southern Presbyterian Church are exposed. For this same
main mission of the Church is to provide a better environ-           reason I quote it here.
inent  and world for man to live in." Etc.

                                                                                            "GOODBYE CHRIST"
       As an example of such a liberal in the Southern Pres-
byterian Church the paper refers once more to -Dr. E. T.                                      by Langston Hughes
                                                                                                                                 *
Thompson, professor at Union Theological Seminary in                          " L i s t e n   C h r i s t ,
Richmond, Virginia. He is quoted as the author of a Sunday-                    You did alright  in your day, I reckon ;
school-lesson in the October 26, 1959 issue of the Presbyter-                  But that day is gone now.
ian Outlook. He comments on the text in Acts 5 where we                        They ghosted you up a swell story,
are told that the, apostles were cast into prison, that, how-                 ., Called it the Bible -
ever an angel of the Lord came, opened the prison door and
                                                                               But it's dead now.              .
thus released the apostles. And in his comment he explains
                                                                               The popes and the preachers
that here we do not have a miracle at all. "The escape of the
apostles might have been due to the ingenuity of a fellow                '     They have sold you to too many.
Christian, or to the connivance of a friendly jailor,  or to the               Kings, generals, robbers and killers -
`accidental' failure of a lock:"                                               Even to the Czar and Cossacks,


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               389


       Even to the Rockfeller's Church,              -              modernistic element increase so that finally they gain a

       Even to the Saturday Evening Post.                           dominating position in the Church.

       You ain't no good no more.                                      Personally, I am looking forward to the report of the

       They've pawned you too                                       committee that was appointed to compose a "brief statement"

       Till you've done wore out.                                   of the faith of the Southern Presbyterian, Church. This

       Goodbye                                                      report is to come before the next General Assembly.

       Christ Jesus, Lord God Jehovah                                  About this statement Dr. C. L. King; pastor of the First
       Beat it on away from here. .                                 Presbyterian Church of Houston, Texas, has the following
       Make way for a new guy with no religion at all.              t o   s a y :
       A real guy named -
                                                                       "I am pleased to be able to tell you that all of the mem-
       Marx Communist Lenin Peasant Stalin Worker ME.
                                                                    bers of the committee are absolutely true to the Faith of the
       I said ME.
                                                                    Church. I have not .encountered  any view  on the part of any
       Go ahead on now.
                                                                    member of this izommittee  that would lead me to believe that
       You are getting in the way of things Loi-d
                                                                    Modernism or even Liberalism is making an inroad into our
       And please take St. Gandhi with you
                                                                    church. For instance, without a dissenting vote our belief
    W h e n   y o u   g o
                                                                    in the virgin birth of Christ will appear in the Brief State-
       And St. Pope Pius
                                                                    ment, even though other important beliefs will not be men-
       And St. Aimee McPherson
                                                                    tioned for the reason that space will not permit. You can have
       And big, black St. Pecton
                                                                    every coniidence  in the soundness of our church."
       Of the consecrated dime
                                                                       This last statement can hardly be true in the light of what
       And step on the gas Christ.
                                                                    has been said of the teaching of such men as Dr. Thompson
       Move
                                                                    at the Union Theological Seminary which has been main-
       Don't be so slow about moving
       The works is mine from now on-                               tained by the General Assembly. The "`Presbyterian Lay-
                                                                    men" has this to say about' the above quoted statement by
       And nobody is gonna sell ME
       To a king or general or a Millionaire."                      D r .   K i n g :
                                                                       `"In all of his teaching and preaching Dr. King has in-
   The writer of this article in the'"`Presbyterian  Laymen"        dicated.  that he personally believed that our Confession of
suggests that ""The quickest and surest way to, prevent our         Faith sets forth a proper interpretation of the Bible. How-
young people from being exposed to such poisonous propa-            ever, in the past he has su@ported  some of the liberal projects
ganda as this is, to see that not one penny of our money            in our church in every way possible, such as the proposed
goes to any agency or Board in our Church that promotes             plan to take us into organic uhion with the Northern Pres-
such things and programs as- this."                                 byterian Church. His statement 'you `can have every con-

   With this 1 camlot  agree., It is, of course, true that the      fidence in the soundness of your church' will not stand up

people of the Church eught  not to support with their money         `under  an examination of the facts."

such wicked propaganda. But the way which the writer                   I am alsb a little suspicious of-the statement of Dr. King
suggests may be the surest way, but it is not the ecclesiastical    that other important beliefs will not be mentioned in the
way. The ecclesiastical way is not to tighten our purse             Brief- Statement because of lack of space. Should not a
strings but it is the way of protest to the very end. Let the       Brief Statement, be it ever so brief, give expression to all
conservative element in the Southern Presbyterian Church            the important doctrines of the Church such as the infallible
register a protest in the proper way with the Gen&al  -As-          inspiration of Scr$ure,  predestination, particular atonement,
sembly demanding that the Church separate itself from the           total depravity, and the preservation and perseverance of the
Xational  Council of Churshes. If the General Assembly re-          saints ? All these truths are expressed in the Confession. And
fuses to act, because the liberal element in the Church             if the Brief Statement is meant, not to corrupt or to weaken,
dominates that Assembly, then the only proper thing to do           but to represent the Confession, it, should give expression
is that the conservatives separate themselves from the liberals     to all these beliefs of the Church.
(which they should do anyway) and become a separate                    But we will. see.
denomination.                          _                                                                                      H.H.

   They may be loath to do so, but it is the only proper and

ecclesiastical way.

   I know by experience that it is not easy, that it causes                                 ATT              I
much misery to separate from a Church in which you have                 The  Sta,ndcwd  Bcc~er-  staff will hold its regular amiual
been raised. Neve&heless,  the truth is above all and               -meeting, D.V.,  on Thursday, June 2, 8 p. m., in the con-
that truth the Church must maintain. Besides, it causes much        s&tory room of the First Protestant Reformed Church of

more misery than a separation will ever cause, to see the           Grand Rapids.

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


I/                                                                   paragraphs Murray has weakened his argument by which he
                    AS TO BOOKS`                            ~ II meant to prove that Calvin took the position that the autog-
                                                                     rapha  were verbally inerrant.

                                                                        In the second chapter the author does not deal only~with
       Calvin on Scriptztl*e  artd Divine Sovereignty, by John
                                                                     the authority of Scripture but also with other subjects such
Murray. Published by Baker Book House, Grand Rapids,
                                                                     as the relation between Christ as the incarnate Word and the
Mich.  Price $1.75.'
                                                                     written Word of God; and the relation between the latter
       This is a very good book which I recommend to all our         and the testimony of the Holy Spirit. In regard to the
readers.     On the inside of the cover we read, the following       authority of Scripture, we must distinguish, thus he writes,
by the publisher : "The three chapters of this book have their       between the authority intrinsic to Scripture and our sub-
origin in a series of lectures on certain aspects of Calvin's        jective conviction of that authority. On this distinction,
theology, delivered by John Murray, Professor of Systematic          Murray writes, Calvin is not quite clear. This has led some
Theology at Westminster Theological .Seminary,  Philadel-            to the conclusion that the basis of the authority of Scripture,
phia. The occasion was the 450th anniversary of the birth            according to' Calvin, is in the internal testimony of the Holy
of John Calvin and the 400th anniversary of the appearance           Spirit. Yet, this is not the case, according to Murray. On
of the final edition of Calvin's immortal work, The Instiitaztes     the contrary, `Yor  Calvin the authority of Scripture does
of the Chistian  Religion..?                                         not reside in the internal testimony but in that which Scrip-
      The first chapter deals with Calvin's Doctrine of Scrip-       ture is by reason of divine inspiration."
ture; the second treats Calvin and the Authority of.Scripture,          This chapter I consider one of the less clear parts of
the third chapter treats the subject Calvin on the *Sovereignty      Murray's book, due, perhaps to the fact that Calvin himself
of God.                                                              leaves room for misinterpretation.
       In the first chapter the author lays great stress on the         In regard to the third chapter I may be brief. First,
fact that Calvin maintained the verbal inerrancy of Scripture        Murray treats of Calvin's conception of God's sovereignty
in'distinction from those who hold that Calvin taught  that          according to His decrees, particularly of the. decree of pre-
the infallibility of the Scriptures has reference, not to the        destination, election and reprobation ; and, secondly, of God's
words of the Bible, but to matters of faith and doitrine  only.      sovereignty in His providence.
The latter, according to Murray, Calvin denies, and he                 As I remarked in the beginning, this is a good book
maintains the verbal inerrancy of the original autographa. _         which I recommend to all our readers. Although the subject
       Yet, on the other hand, according to Murray, "Calvin          material is profound, Murray has a very ~clear  style so that
does recognize that the writers of Scripture were not always         our readers with a little study ought to be able to under-
meticulously precise on certain details such as those of num-        stand him.                                                H.H.
ber and incident. And this means that the Holy Spirit, by

whom, in Calvin's esteem, they wrote, was not always                    The Epistles  of Paul  to the Colossians amd to Philemon,
"meticulously precise on such matters." If this means anything       by Herbert M. Carson. Published by Wm.  B. Eerdmans
it means that, according to Calvin and also to Murray,' certain      Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Mich.,  price $2.00.
minor errors in the autographa are quite consistent with
their inerrancy. With this I cannot agree: the Holy. Spirit             This is another commentary in the Tyndale series. Al-
would not inspire even such minor errors.                            though in reviewing commentaries I usually do not read the
       The au&or concludes with the following paragraph : "We        notes on every verse, in this `case I made an exception. I
need not dotibt  that  it was distinction between pedantic preci-    can recommend it to all our readers. On the cover we may
sion on the one hand, and adequate statement, that is, state-        find a note stating that this commentary is "a concise, work-
ment adequate to the situation, and intent, on the other, that       able tool for laymen, teachers and ministers." And this is
Calvin had in mind, when he-said that `the apostles were not         true. For, although this commentary is based on the original
so punctilious as not to accommodate themselves to the un-           Greek, this will be no handicap for the average layman. The
learned.'     We are not necessarily granting that Calvin's          style is very clear, and also popular.
remarks are the best suited to the questions that arise in              In an introduction the writer speaks of the church to
connection with Acts 7 :14 and Heb. 11 :21. We may even              which the epistle to the Colossians is addressed, of the author-
.grant  that the language used by Calvin in these connections        ship of the epistle, and of the teaching of the epistle ; and,
is ill-advised and not in accord with Calvin's usual caution         finally, he writes about Philemon and about slaeery.

when reflecting on the divine origin and character of Scrip-            The exegesis is good, based on the original text. But I

ture. But, if so, we should not be surprised if such a prolific      cannot agree with the interpretation of vs. 1%. Writes the

writer as Calvin should on occasion drop remarks or even             author: '

express positions inconsistent with the pervasive and govern-           "He is supreme, first of all, in creation, being described
ing tenor of his thinking and teaching." etc.                        as `the firstborn of all creation.' This must not be twisted, as

       Nevertheless, I am of the opinion that in the last two        it often has been, to mean that Christ stands at the apex of


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              391


creation, but :is still a created being. On purely grammatical
grounds it would be. possible to- take this phrase with this                  O U R   D O C T R I N E                             II
meaning.    Thus `all creation' would be the totality of which

the Son is the firstborn. But the'context  rules this out com-

pletely. We must therefore take the genitive as being quali-                  THE- BOOK OF REVELATION
fied by the element `first' in the compound `firstborn.' This                              PART. TWO
then underlines the Son's `primacy. He is begotten of the
Father, not created ; and as firstborn, prototokos,  He is be-                          CHAPTER THIRTEEN

fore all creation."                                                            The Song of Moses and of the La,mb
    With this, namely, that the reference here is to the Son
                                                                                         Revelation 15 :l-8
of God in His divine nature only, I do not agree. And for

this I have the following reasons:                                     Enoch  already spoke of it against the wicked world of

    1. The context. Carson claims that "the context rules this     his day. And the souls under the altar cry for it day and

out completely."       He, however, does not explain why the       night. All the history of the world looks forward to this

context rules this out. I claim that the context favors the in-    day. Is it conceivable, then,  that only a small part of the

terpretation that the reference in vss. 15-20 is to Christ in      people of God are standing here at the sea of glass, now God

his human and divine natures both. In vs. 14 we read: "In          is about to reveal His righteousness and power over the anti-

whom we have redemption through His blood, even the for-           chiistian  enemy, to sing this song of victory? No, we do not

giveness of sins." And then the apostle continues in vs. 15 :      believe-this. All the saints, all those that have been faithful,

"Who is the image of the invisible God." Now the pronoun           from Abel to the last witness, in the kingdom of God on
"who" in this verse certainly refers fo the same person as         earth shall stand there at the sea of .glass to join the
the phrase ?n whom" in vs. 14. And the latter phrase               victori'ous  crowd in singing their song of Moses and of the
certainly does not refer to the Son.  of God in the divine         Lamb. And as we shall see presently, this is supported by
nature only but to Christ, the Son of God  incarnate. The          the fact that the song they sing is that of Moses and of the
same is the reference of "who" in vs. 15.                          Lamb, combining therefore the Old and the New Testament
                                                                   in one.
    2. When, in vs. 15 it is said that the person to whom
                                                                      They stand by the sea of glass. We have met with this
is the reference, is the eikoon tou Theozt tou aoratou, the
                                                                   sea of glass, shining like crystal, before in the fourth chapter
image of the invisible God, the term God in this phrase does
                                                                   of this book. You remember how there it was pictured as
not refer to the Father as the first person of the Holy Trinity
                                                                   being part of the dispensation of perfection that is to displace
but to the Triune God: Of that triune God Christ, the in-
                                                                   this dispensation of sin. Especially did it symbolize the
carnate Son is the image.
                                                                   truth that in the new creation the glory of God  shall be
   3. The term "firstborn" certainly puts Christ in His            reflected in all His works. Well, here we meet with the sea
human nature as the One, that certainly stands as the firs;        of glass once more, though from a slightly different point of
and as the head of every creature or of the whole creation         view. It tells us, in the first place, that these singers are no
(pasees  ktiseoos) but, nevertheless, also places Him with         more on earth. In the ciays  when the seven vials shall be
creation or with every creature. In His human nature Christ        poured out and destruction shall be completed God shall.have
was a creature. This is the only meaning the term "first-          His people with Him. It is the church in glory. And the
born" can have. When, among men, we speak of a firstborn           sea of glass is here mingled with fire because it reflects the
son, the meaning is that others will follow or have already        wrath of God as He shall presently reveal it over the wicked
followed that are like the firstborn. Thus also with Christ.       world and for the salvation and glory of His people. And
He is the firstborn among many brethren and became like            thus the entire scene reminds us of the children of Israel
unto His brethren in all things sin excepted. This is also the     standing at the border of the Red Sea, looking back upon that
meaning in the phrase "the firstborn of every creature or of       sea that had become the sea of wrath for the enemies, but at
all creation."                                                     the same time the sea of their own salvation. Even as the
   4. When we read in vs. 16 that by him were all things           children of Israel stood by the sea, reflecting the wrath of
created, the preposition "by" is in ' the original "in" and  it    God, so stand these victorious ones by the sea of glass
is better to translate it thus. This means that in the divine      mingled with fire. Even as that sea in the case of Israel had
conception of things they iI1 were in Christ; and this divine      become the  cause of destruction for the enemies of God, so
conception will be realized when Christ, the incarnate Son,        also this sea of glass symbolizes the reflection of God's, wrath
has died, was raised, exalted in glory, the Church has been        that will destroy the Antichrist and his kingdom. Even as
gathered, and the new heavens and earth are created, in            in the case of Israel the same sea that was instrumental in
which God through Christ .will  be all in all.                     destroying the power of opposition was their own salvation,.

   However, I heartily recommend this commentary to our            so also shall these victorious ones enter into their full in-

readers.                                                 H.H.      heritance if God shall have caused the vials of His wrath to

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


be poured out over the wicked world. And even as the                 pensation. Even as Moses, `so Christ leads His people out

children of Israel at the Red Sea sang of victory,. so do            of the house of the bondage of sin. Even as Moses and his

these victorious ones exalt the arm and the righteousness            people, so Christ and His people are the object ,of the pursu-

of the Lord, the God of their salvation.                             ing wrath of `the  enemy. But even as Moses, so also Christ

       Let us then for a few moments pay attention to their song.    leads His people safely through the waters of separation and

In the first place, it may not escape our attention that they        of wrath, strikes those waters of ,the wrath of God, so that

sing their song on harps of God. That is, God Himself had            they become at the same time a means of salvation for His

given them their instruments of music. He is -the author of          people and a means of destruction for the enemy. Now then,

their harps. He is at the same time the author of their song.        at this moment the people of Christ stand at the sea of glass,

Never would they have sung this song were it not for the             all delivered from sin and from the oppression of the enemy.

grace of God. Never would they have remained faithful un-            And they see how God will pour out His wrath upon the

less God through Jesus Christ had sustained them by His              enemy. Yea, they already see that wrath poured out and the

grace.     Never would they therefore have been able to sing         enemy destroyed. They place themselves upon the standpoint

this song, were it not that God Himself had formed them to           of the completed and `full wrath of God. And therefore, their

be His people. They have harps of God. In the second place,          condition is now exactly like that of Israel after they had

it may draw our attention that their song is designated as           passed through the Red Sea and had seen the destruction of

being the song of Moses and of the Lamb. Evidently this              their oppressors. And for that same reason they now sing

does not imply that this multitude is singing two songs, one         the same song, exalting the power of Jehovah, the salvation

of Moses and another of the Lamb, but that the same song             of His people, and the wrath visited upon the wicked power

is at the same time the song of Moses and the song of the            of opposition. Truly, the song of Moses ;X the song of the

Lamb. Once more, it points to the fact that history repeats          Lamb. Even as Moses taught his people to sing his song, so

itself, and that one phase of history in Scripture is typical of     the Lamb taught His people to sing this song. And essentially

the other, so that it may be said that Israel of the old dis-        they are alike, sing of the same theme, the one being merely
pensation already sang the song of the Lamb, and vice versa,         a type of the other.

that the. people of the Lamb of the new dispensation also               What then do they sing+     "Great and marvellous are thy
sing the song of Moses. OSd and new dispensation shall be            works, 0 Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are
one. There is no break, no difference between them in                thy ways, thou King of the ages; Who shall not fear, 0
glory. They form one ,multitude,  and they sing one song.            Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all
And that one song, sung by one multitude, is the song of             nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy righteous
Moses and of the Lamb. And therefore, also here the miser-           acts have been made manifest." Let us briefly note the main
able world-conception of those that postulate an eternal             features of this song. In the first  place, it cannot escape our
difference and separation between Jew and Gentile is con-            attention that there is nothing in this song of man, but that
demned. Jew and,Gentile,  one in Christ, sing the same song,         it is -from beginning to end an exaltation of the greatness
the song of Moses and of the Lamb.                                   and power and,  glory of God. It is God's greatness, God's

   As to the meaning of this expression, it can not be               truth, God's righteousness, God's holiness, that is here cele-
difficult to understand it. As we have already indicated, the        brated. In the second place., it must draw our attention that
whole vision plainly refers to the passage through the Red           from the very contents of the song it becomes plain that
Sea by the children of Israel, which constituted their final         these singers already live by sight, not by faith. Here upon
deliverance from Egypt. They had been oppressed by the               earth we also glorify God's greatness and His power and
mighty arm of Pharaoh, but by a still mightier arm they had'         righteousness and truth and holiness. But it is a glorification
been delivered. But the enemy pursued them and aimed at              by faith, that is an evidence of things unseen. These attri-
their destruction. At the Red Sea arrives the critical moment.       butes of God Almighty have not yet been fully revealed.
Through that sea God causes His people to pass in safety.            But now it is different. God's greatness is now clearly, mani-
But by the same instrumentality He destroys the enemy.               fested in all His works. His truth and righteousness is now
Just as the flood was both a means of salvation for God's            distinctly displayed in all His ways. His holiness has been
people and a means of destruction for the wicked world, so           revealed. It has all been realized. In this dispensation it
was the Red Sea the means whereby God saved Israel .and              seemed that the devil and the Antichrist were mighty, were
at the same time destroyed the pursuing enemy. And as the            true, and, in fact, were righteous, and that God would not
enemy is destroyed and the people are safe on the other shore,       have the victory, but suffer defeat. Long was the period of
Moses composes this song of victory, in the which he exalts          longsuffering. And often the people of God asked with the
the arm of Jehovah, sings of joy over the destruction of             poet of old, "Is there no knowledge with the Almighty?'
Pharaoh and his, host and because of the salvation of God's          But when the vials of God's wrath shall have been poured
people. Cf. Exodus 15. Now this entire incident is typical of        out, it shall be publicly manifest, and that before all the
Christ and His salvation. Moses as the mediator of the Old           world, that God Almighty sits in heaven and `laughs `and
Testament is type of Christ, the Mediator of the' new dis-           realizes all His counsel in spite of the workings of Satan and


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B.EARER                                                                       393


 his servants. His truth and His righteousness and His power          on to endure the battle, such as the girdle, breastplate,

 and holiness shall then be revealed. And, .-in the second            sandals, shield, helmet and sword. In this light he showed

 place, we may notice too that these multitudes also sing of          how the Christian soldier must endure the blows of .our ad-

 the final fulfillment of all prophecy, namely, of this, that now     versary by putting on the truth that fits as a girdle. That

 all nations should fear Him and glorify His.name. It seemed          truth is God, and can be known and had only in the knowl-

 for a time as if all nations should glorify and fear the Anti:       edge of God. To this truth attach the breastplate of right-

 Christ. But now it is all different. They were not the nations       eousness which we have in Jesus Christ. That righteousness

 that feared Antichrist; they were the branches of the nations        secures and merits our friendship with God. If God be for

 that were to be cut off and cast into outer darkness. The            us who can,be  against us. Then put on the shoes of the

 nations have been preserved, and they are in this multitude,         gospel of peace, that promise of God revealed to the church

 represented by it. Presently the new heavens and the new             that keeps us ready for battle, gives us strength and courage

 earth shall appear in glory, and then all nations shall fear         to stand. With the peace of God we can go forth boldly

 and glorify the mighty acts and name of the Lord God                 ready to fight  the battle of the Lord. To this armour  we add

 Almighty forever and ever.                                           the shield-of faith, warding off the attacks of the enemy, the

     We ,too, while we are still in this world, may indeed            lie. Then the helmet of salvation, the covering. of our life,

 sing this song of Moses and of the Lamb, though not yet in           the work which God has provided sending the spirit into the

 perfection. We are still in the world. And in the world we           soul that we have been redeemed from our sin. Last we add

 are still in the midst of battle. But by the grace of God we         the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God which God brings

 can listen to the song of the redeemed, and learn it, and            into our heart enabling us to believe. This is the spiritual

 look forward to the day when we all. shall stand by the sea of       strength the whole armour  of God, all serves to keep and

glass, delivered from sin and oppression, delivered from the          protect u-s. `-Armament  which we have in Jesus Christ,

 enemy that always surrounds us, free to serve and glorify            providing full protection of life which the church and family

 the God of our salvation, in order to sing the song of Moses         and we must put on. We have them by grace, and must learn

 and of the -Lamb. May our faith cause us to look forward             how to use and wear them. We have to feed our lives and

 in hope and teach us to sing this song of victory in the             be busy using these blessings that we may grow and become

 midst of the present battle.                               H.H.      more adept to fight the battle of faith. We as mothers must

                                                                      `instruct our children how to use these so the church may go

                                                                      on fighting and conquering, taking up the armaments, wear-
                 CONTRIB~UTIONS                                       ing it-and fighting wearing it in the cause of Jesus Christ."

                                                                          Hull gave a number consisting of a vocal duet. Then we

                Report of Ladies' League                              were favored by Rev. Woudenberg leading the question hour
                                                                      in place of Rev. Van Baren, who was absent due to church
     On the warm, windy afternoon of April 22 the Doon,               visitation. The questions answered were : Whether it is better
 Edgerton  and Hull women left their household duties to              to marry or stay single according to I Cor. .7:34. Does Heb.
 spend an afternoon of fellowship in the Doon  church. Our            6 :4 teach the falling away of saints ? Explain II Sam. 23 5.
 meeting was opened with a few Psalter numbers, Eel.  lo:12               The Edgerton  women presented a panel discussion on
 thru chapter 11 was read and prayer by our president, Mrs.           "Corporal Punishment in our Schools."
 G. Broekhouse. After the previous minutes `and treasurer's               Our meeting was closed with singing, and prayer by Rev.
 report were given, our new officers were elected which are,          Woudenberg. Doon  served us a delicious lunch. All in all
 Mrs. W. Kooiker, president; Mrs. Dick Bleyenberg, secretary          we had a wonderful afternoon of Christian fellowship and
 and Mrs. Egbert  Gritters, vice-all. The offering then taken         might go home once again refreshed to take up our duties.
 was for The Standard Bewe-v  amounting to $25.90.                                                       Mrs. George Hoekstra, reporter
     We were then favored with a speech by Rev. Woudenberg

 on the theme, "Christian Armour," chosen from Eph. 6 :lO-

 18. He spoke on "how we live in a spiritual evil day espe-                                        I N   M E M O R I A M
 cially for the soul, that there is an abundance for the flesh           ,.On  April 26, 1960, the Lord suddenly took unto Himself our
 such as materialism, wealth, etc., immorality, spiritual in-         dearly beloved husband, father, and grandfather,
 difference, a day of idolatry. That our adversary is the very                             MR. GERARD VANDER TUUK

 devil himself, one who has lived in heaven and cast to the           at the age of 75  `years.

 earth, setting himself against the church, seeking to destroy           The fact that he is now rejoicing with Christ and all the saints
 our spiritual life. He has false prophets whose -most subtle         before the throne alleviates our sorrow and encourages us to seek

 way to wage war in the general spirit of worldly-mindedness          the things above.
 that settles around us in conversations, friends, business, etc.,                                    The family,
                                                                                                                 Mrs. G. Vander Tuuk
 soaking up our thoughts and interests. Now when we examine                                                      Mr. and Mrs. R. Teitsma
 ourselves do we wonder how the church can endure. He                                                            M r .   a n d   M r s .   H .   Scholten

 went on to show us the armour  that the Roman soldier put                                   -c                  and 11 grandchildren


                                                                           Moreover, it soon became apparent how deeply the love
l!A CLQUD  bF WliNES.ES 11                                            of God had become implanted in Joseph's heart. Not only
                                                                       had lie forgiven them their sin against him, that for the

                                                                       brothers would have. been more than enough reason to be
               Jacob and Joseph Reunited                               forever grateful, but he laid before them his most gracious

                                                                       plan for the future. "Haste ye, and go up to my father, and
            And Israel said, It L enough; Joseph my son is             say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me
            yet a.live:  I zvill go and s&e  kivvt before I die.       lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not: and thou
                                                     Genesis 45 ~28    shalt dwell in the land of Goshen,  and thou shalt be near unto

    Terror struck like a bolt of lightning into the hearts of          me, thou, and thy children, and thy children's children, and
Jacob's sons when the Egyptian ruler dismissed his servants,           thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast : and there
including his interpreter, and in their native tongue said, "I         will I nourish thee ; for yet there are five years of famine ;
am Joseph."    The greatest sin of their lives .had been com-          lest thou, and thy household, and all that- thou hast; come to
mitted against him, and now they saw him standing before               poverty." That Joseph's love for his father would continue .
them with absolute power as one who was raised from the                could be understood, but that they should all be included in
dead. -The brothers were dumb with fear. Joseph, however,              a plan to care for all of their needs for the future, was more
knew the answerto  their fear. In his own life he had known            than their minds could understand. It was a glorious example
many such times of .trouble  and worry. Comfort he had                 of the,`extent  .of Godly love.
always found in only one place, with God. Thushe  directed                 Fear had subsided and in its place came a joy too great
his brothers also toward Him. "I am Joseph your brother,               to be expressed. The words of Scripture speak for them-
whom ye sold into Egypt. N                                             selves.
                                 OW, therefore be not grieved,                    "And he (Joseph) fell upon his brother Benjamin's
nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God             neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck. More-
did send me before you to preserve life. For these two years           over he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and
hath the famine been in the land : and yet there are five years,       after that his brethren talked with him." Only one who has
in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. And            experienced the forgiving p ower of the love of God can
God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the              appreciate the greatness of the joy that found expression that
earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now           day through tears.
it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath                   It was not long before Pharaoh heard of the fact that
made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and            Joseph had met with his brothers. His reaction is the best
a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt."                             demonstration we can have of the love which he felt for
   With these words ringing in their ears, there could be              Joseph. Immediately there arose in his heart the same
little doubt left with the brothers that this was really Jpseph.       thought which had arisen in Joseph's. He summoned Joseph
His appearance was still quite different. He was a mature              to him and commanded, "Say unto thy brethren, This do ye;
man now, dressed after the fashion of an Egyptian lord. But            lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan ;
now that he had dismissed his interpreter and spoke in their           and take your father and your households, and come unto me :
                                                      -.* . .
native tongues, the&  was the old familiar ringsin  his voice.         and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye
But even more familiar were the words that he spoke, words             shall eat the fat of the land." Pharaoh's appreciation for
that spoke of God and of His covenant grace toward His                 Joseph knew no ,bounds.  He looked upon Joseph, not just as
people; This had always been Joseph's chief characteristic,            a counselor in material things, but as a spiritual companion
a. readiness to speak concerning their relationship to God.            and advisor. He was more than willing to receive into his
Then they had scorned him for it. They had ascribed it to              land all of the believers in Joseph's God. Lest Joseph should
pride, as though he were trying to make himself more right-            hesitate at his overflowing generosity, he added also this,
eous than they, thereby impressing their father. Now they              "Now thou art commanded, this do ye." He would use his
recognized that same familiar faith in God ; but it struck             full authority to do what was best for Joseph. All of their
them `quite differently. They themselves were diRerent  men.           needs were to be fully provided for. "Take you wagons out
Then they had been living in sin and in arrogance and ~ had            of the land of E,gypt  for your little ones, and for your wives,
counted any sign of faith in God a matter of self-righteous-           and bring your father, and come. Also regard not your stuff ;
ness and pride. But now they had been brought unto humble              for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours."

repentance ; the- same faith, which before they had despised,             Joyfully the brothers set forth on their way. bearing the

brought a glow of warmth into their souls. His faith looked            message of Joseph, "Haste ye, and go up to my father, and

upon their lives from a viewpoint which they had not *so               say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me

much `as dared to imagine. So great had been the grace of              lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not . . . And

God for them that, while they had yet been revelling in                ye shall tell my father of all my- glory in Egypt, and all that

their sins, He had been directing their lives so that even             ys have seen; and ye shall haste and bring down my father

their iniquity might be turned unto their good.                        hither." It was beyond a doubt the most wonderful message


                                           THE..ST.~M.D;4~~~:.:BEA~R~E.~                  _                                     _ 3%


they could' ever bring to-their father. Jacob. had never really    of Canaan for an extended length of time. The land of Canaan

been able to reconcile himself to the idea that his son Joseph     was their home in a very peculiar sense of the word. Not

should be dead. There had been something in Joseph's youth         only had they and their fathers. lived there for many years,

that made him feel that God, `had ,had a further purpose for       but the land had been given them as an eternal inheritance by

Joseph to fulfill. That it had come to nought, -he never could     covenant promise of God. Although`they  moved to Egypt,

completely accept. The brothers knew this and could visualize      Canaan would always be their, home. None actually realized

the pleasure which their .,message, would bring. Nonetheless,      how long their stay in Egypt would be, but even the thought

to be the bearers of this message would from another point         of a temporary stay away from the promised land could not

pf view be very hard: For years on end they had lived under        leave them without a taint of sadness.

the pretense that they knew nothing more about Joseph's                It was not until they were  started on their way, however,

end than a blood-stained coat could tell. It would be a relief     that doubts began to trouble Jacob. Ever since he had heard

for them to unburden their conscience before their father, but,    of the Lord's gracious care for Joseph, his spiritual convic-

as is always true, this confession would still be hard. Very       tions had flashed more brilliantly than ever before. It served

discreet had been the parting command of Joseph, "See that         so wonderfully to verify all that he had ever learned about

ye fall not out. by the way."    There was a real danger that      the covenant faithfulness of Jehovah. But as he thought upon

as they looked forward to the explaining of all that had           the covenant of the Lord, he remembered how that its prom-'

happened before their father, they would begin to point            ises and blessings had always. been immediately connected

fingers at each other, looking for one upon whom the greater       with the promised land of Canaan. His fathers before him

blame might be laid.. Joseph wisely warned them to guard           had fled that land because of famine and the results had been

against such temptation, causing a falling out among each          most sad. His own twenty years in Haran  had been as

other on the way.                                                  years of banishment. Thinking upon this he hardly dared to

   With amazement Jacob saw the approach of his children.          proceed. Not knowing what to do, he stopped at Beersheba
Not only were all eleven of his sons to be distinguished, but      to sacrifice to God. That night God appeared to him in a
they wore new and costly garments upon their backs, there          vision and said, "Jacob, Jacob. I am God, the God of thy
were many more animals in their procession besides those           father : fear not to go down into .Egypt  ; for I will there make
with which they had left, behind them they drew wagons             of thee a great nation : I will go down with thee into Egypt ;
such -as were unknown at that time outside of the land of          and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall
Egypt, and all were burdened down with vast amounts of             put his hand upon thine eyes." Arising in the morning Jacob
food of many different kinds. But, if what Jacob saw was           proceeded joyfully upon his way.                  i
amazing, it could not begin to compare with the words that             Approaching the land of Egypt, Jacob sent Judah ahead
fell upon his ears, "Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor       to announce their arrival. Once Joseph had heard that his
over all the land of Egypt."     It was more than Jacob could      father was approaching near, he could withhold himself no
believe, and his heart grew faint within him. Year upon year       longer. He summoned his chariot and hastily set forth to
had passed and, he had never been able. completely to b,elieve     meet them. Many years had passed since they had shared
that Joseph was really dead, and now that he heard otherwise,      their spiritual joys together; yet very few days had passed
that too was too much for him to accept. Only after he had         when they had not thought each one about the other. Many
heard the whole story from beginning to end, and after             a prayer had ascended unto heaven in each other's behalf.
examining again and again the gifts, did he finally find the       Their final reunion was marked by a long and tearful em-
strength of conviction to answer, "It is enough; Joseph my         brace. The depth of Jacob's feelings is best seen in the
son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die."             prayer that finally escaped from his lips. "Now let me die,
   There was a feeling of suppressed excitement in the             since I have seen  thy face, because thou art yet alive."
household of Jacob as they made preparations for their                                                                          B.W.

journey to Egypt. There was ample reason for eagerness.

Soon all reason for worry and fear about the shortage of
`food and the famine would be gone. `They would be amply                              WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

supplied out of the bounty of Egypt. In fact, they would be           On Thursday, June 16, 1960, our dear parents,

recipients of royal favor as the family of Joseph. Most of all,                    MR. and MRS. GEORGE SPRUYT

they were all caught up into the eager anticipation of Jacob       hope to commemorate their 40th wedding anniversary. We are
as he looked forward to his reunion with Joseph. None              thankful for the Heavenly Father's many blessings upon them and us.
theless  there were also those things which suppressed their       We pray for their continued complete faith and assurance in the
feelings and even contributed a tinge of sorrow. First of all,     promises of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

of course, there was the responsibility of the elaborate prep-                                          Mr. and Mrs. Morris Campbell
arations which had to be made so that every member of the                                              Mr. and Mrs. John Jansma
                                                                                                       Mr.  and Mrs. Del Groeneweg
household could safely undergo the move. But even more                                                 10 Grandchildren
there was the fact that they were going to leave the land          Grand Rapids, Michigan


     396                         .                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


                                                                          will, shall needs have to pay very close attention to the

     11  F R O M   H O L Y   W R I T   11 revelation which here lies before us, and pray that the Lord
                                                                          open our eyes to behold wondrous things out of his Word !

                                                                              I believe that often the form and content of a question
                 Expoktion  of I Corinthians 15                           tells us about as much as the answer, provided the question

                                                                          is well put. And, in this case, we have a very well formulated
                                      VII.
                                                                          question. It is: how are the dead raised? We believe Paul

                           (I Corinthians 15 :35-38)      * '             limits the answer in verses 36-38 to this question.

                                                                              We should notice concerning this question, first of all, that
                                       a.                                 the term "the dead" are those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.

                                                                          Paul is standing in the midst of the church. Hence, he is not
        We should remember that we have now come to con-                  ~speaking  of the dead in general, but most specifically of the
     sider the last major section of I Corinthians 15. In this part       dead, the saints who have passed on to glory, and whose
     Paul discloses some more mysteries of the resurrection of            bodies are in the grave. This is evident from verses 16, 17
     the dead.. Paul is indeed like a scribes which is instructed         where Paul speaks of the dead, as well as from the entire
     unto the kingdom, and like a man who is a householder,               sequence in this chapter. And, secondly, these dead are here
:    who brings forth out of his treasure things new and old !            considered as a class from another class. They are all the

         Paul is answering two very definite questions in connec-         rest of the church in distinction from the church which is now

     tion with-the blessed resurrection of the dead. Incidentally,        on earth and the church latent, which must still be born in

     it should be remembered that Paul speaks here exclusively of         the future. And they are the church as gradually they are

     the resurrection of the dead who have fallen asleep in the           brought to glory, while at the same time the realm of Sheol,

     Lord. And in connection with the resurrection of these dead          the grave, is more and more the .realm  of "the dead." Thirdly,

     the apostle replies to two questions which are evidently raised      they are the dead of whom Paul writes so comfortingly in

     by the skeptics. These questions are, and we quote, "How             Romans 8:ll: "Now if the Spirit of Him who raised up

     are the dead raised up and with what body do they come               Jesus dwell in you, he that raised up Jesus shall also quicken

     forth ?" Verse 35.                                                   your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwells in you."

        It is the former of these questions which Paul is answer-         It is the Spirit of Christ in us, the risen Lord, who is the
     ing in the verses 36-38. Here we read,: `rTho~  fool, `that          firstfruits of the full harvest.
     which thou Sowest <is not quickened except it die: amd that             This latter point is very, very necessary for a correct

     which thou sowest,  thou sowest  not that body w.hidh shall          understanding of the analogy which Paul draws between the

     be, `E&t  bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of soiize  other    sowing of grain and its coming forth a new plant and the
     grain. But God giveth it a body as it hath ple,med~him,  and         sowing of the human body and the ++zanrter  of its coming forth
     to eve?y  seed his own body."                                        in the resurrection. There is a germ of life. in this. dead

                                                                          body of ours. It is here on earth already "`indwelt" by the
        It would be a very serious error to overlook at this
                                                                          Holy Spirit through regeneration, sanctification as really as
     point that Paul .does more than merely repeat what he
                                                                          it will be presently in the glorification. See the "golden chain"
     had already taught these Corinthians, while in their midst,
                                                                          in Romans 8 :30.
     as a father, who had brought them forth in Christ. Paul is
     here "making known" in the sense that we have here a.fuller              Now the question is how are these to be "raised up."
     "revelation" of the mysteries of the kingdom. The things             The term in the Greek means : to arouse, to stand up ! And
     that were secret in God are here disclosed by -Paul  according       thus they come forth, go forth from the grave. And then
     to the grace given him. See verse 1 and Eph. 3 :1-U We               they are clothed with immortality not only in their soul, but
     have pointed out in the first essay in this series, when we          the body also shares in the resurrection life, the life of
     discussed verses l-10 of this Chapter, that the term "to make        glory.

     known" in the Scriptures, when applied to Christ and the                And the question is "how" ?

     apostles, is the same as "to reveal." ,No minister climbs on            The question of the manner, the mode  might mean: by
     the pulpit and says "today I revea,l  to you the truth . . .'       whose power, either by that of God in Christ, or by man
     If he be at all orientated in Reformed language he will say          himself. However, what follows here in the text points in a
     that he preaches, instructs, anno'unces,  declares, war&.  But       different dire&ion.  It refers, evidently, to the inner connec-
     he does not "reveal."      He preaches what God has already          tion between the present body and the resurrection body.
     revealed. That is the apostolicity of the church.                    There is identity and yet also a difference. How do we come

        Howbeit, here we are dealing with revelation on the part          from the one to the other?

     of Paul.                                                                This question here is asked by the skeptic.

        And we, shall we really preach this revelation of God's              He casts doubt upon the reality of the resurrection by


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    397


  questioning the manner. None, of course, has ever observed          its own laws. God does no longer by His counsel and prov-
 that process, they say. And Paul answers any one who                 idence bring forth each creature, maintaining the original
 might skeptically raise that question. It makes no difference        creation ordinance.

  whether this be the out-and-out skeptic and unbeliever, or                   To both of these Paul deals the death-blow.
  whether this be the flesh and doubts of the saints.                          He is not fighting these two explicitly. That is true. How-
     To all of these Paul says : "Thou fool,' ! !                     ever, Paul does start on his own basis of implicit and explicit

     The term fool in the Greek is a very strong term. It             belief in God. And when this is held fast one is wise and
  means to be wzindless,  unintelligent, without the true .wisdom     not a "fool."        For "by faith we understand that the worlds
  that sees the nature of God's work in creation and in re-crea-      were framed by the Word of God so that the things which
  tion. Christ applies the term, in the parable of the rich           we see are not made of things which do appear." Heb. 11~3.
  farmer, to a man who was -rich in material things and not           We see creation not by the eyes of experience, but first of
  rich in God. God says to him, "Thou fool." That very night          all and primarily through the eyes of faith. We believe and
  his soul was required of him. And, again, this term is em-          therefore we understand. We believe in the Creator and
  ployed by Jesus, when, speaking to the Pharisees, he chides         therefore the centire universe is a book wherein we know God.
 them for cleansing the outside of the cup in their legalistic        Hence, we know God "first by creation, preservation and
  self-righteousness, but do not cleanse the inside of the cup        government of the universe ; which is before our eyes `as a
  in true righteousness ! And in Eph. 5 :17 where the term            most elegant book, wherein all creatures, great and small, are
  "fool" is the opposite of seeing the practical relationship of      as so many characters leading us to contemplate the invisible
  the course of our walk to the will of Christ.                ' 1     things`of~~  dad, namely his eternal power and Godhead, as
                                                                      the apostle Paul saith (Rom. 1 :20)  ."
     In the text here Paul is speaking of the folly which does
                                                                               And now this phrase of Paul comes to stand before us in
  not observe the most simple and beautiful analogies of the
                                                                      bold relief, does it not?
  blessed. resurrection in the plant world, right in our own
  back-yard. God's Name is very near, his wondrous works                       He giveth to each a body as He. wills !
                                                                                    * .
  declare! And these are placed here by God, each season                       And if God does this with each creature, each year, and
  anew, that they be observed by us. Says Paul: "Thou fool,            in every land and clime, what will prevent him from doing
  that which thou sowest  is not made alive except it die."           the same with our mortal body by His Spirit Who dwells

     Permit us a remark here concerning the general approach           in `us ?
                                                                      -' L.
  of Paul to this question of the resurrection!                                The first point, the chief lesson to observe all about us

                                                                       in the plant world is that nothing is made alive unless it first
     Paul points. out the increated nature `of the plants and
                                                                       die. It is this truth that Christ applies to Himself in John
  herbs and trees, as well as the distinctive nature of each
                                                                      ,12 :24 where we read : "Verily, verily, I say unto.you,  Except
 body in the universe, sun, moon and stars, fish and fowl and
                                                                       a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone :
  beast and man. -
                                                                       but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit." Jesus is here
     That this. can be done by the apostle is based up,on an-          referring to his death and resurrection. There is a divine
  other .general  truth of Scripture. It is that Paul proceeds         vmst in this. This isnot only true because this is written in
  here from the premise, the prejudice of faith that he beliezys       Moses, the Psalms and ailthe prophets: Luke 24:25.  There
  in God! He believes in God the Father, Creator of heaven             too it is written upon .every  page that the Christ must die
  and earth, who also by His counsel and providence upholds            in order to live. However, this is also written in the world
  all things. He directs the life and existence of each creature.      created by God in six days in the beginning. Whether this
 There is nothing but what it lives and moves and has its              was there from the moment of creation, or whether this is
  being in the almight  of God. His is the strength of all             due-to a drastic change in the constitution of the creation due
  strength, and. the power of all power. This is stated by Paul        to the fall and the curse, is, of course, a question. But the
  in verse 38, "But God giveth the same a body even as He              whole creation points toward Christ. If we could see all the
  wills."                                                              details we would see Christ written in every plant and

      Now this "as He zuUs" is a tremendous concept in this            flower. Christ is named as the Lion, the star, the sun, the

  connection here. This as he wills is his determining will in         tree and the vine. Christ is stamped into the very nature of

  providence. It cuts off both the pantheistic theory and the          all things. He is the firstfruits of creation.

  deistic. The former believes that all things are God. Here                   And therefore also the truth that nothing -grows and
  the will of God has no place. There is no counsel or prov-           becomes alive except it die is a revelation and creaturely
idence. God and the world are identified. There can be no              manifestation of the resurrection of the body.
  resurrection.    ,And the plants do not receive a body as he                 The Yvzode of the resurrection is very evident.
  wills. Deism conceives of all things as being divorced from
                                                                               This' we hope to point out in our next essay, D.V.
  God. There is nothing but laws of, nature. God has, so to
  speak, in some way put the world here, and now it runs by                                                                           G.L.


 398                                        T     H      E               STAND.&RD  BEA;R.%:R                                     ..~ _


                                                                          And some of the sentiment we have read and heard expressed
 II             Ihi  M I S   F E A R                                      in connection-with Mother's Day clearly indicates that many
                                                                         7 on that day at least - deny or question very strongly that

                                                                          mothers are conceived and -bori?`in,  sin, have` the flesh and
                         Observations                                    its motions of sin and as though mothers in general are ready

       For this issue we would make a few observations about              to go to heaven without Christ and are really too good- to
 matters here and there. These matters we do not wish to                  stay here in this sphere of sin. Paul makes a point in I
 treat `at length. And we do `not want to devote an entire issue         Timothy 2 :14,     `"And Adam was not deceived, but the
' to each item. Therefore we list them under the title of ob-            woman being deceived was in the transgression." Indeed,
 servations, of course, in His fear. These matters are not re-           there are godfearing mothers, women strong in faith. There
 lated to each other in any other way than that they all are             is a Sarah whose faith was at times stronger than Abraham's,
viewed in His .fear ; and the order in which they are treated            and he was a giant of faith. There was a Hannah, a Ruth,
 also is not to be ascribed to any other inner relationship be-          a Deborah to mention only a few. And throughout history
tween the matter.                                                        there were countless numbers of women who sacrificed,
                                                                         prayed, taught their children God's ways and manifested the

                                                                         virtues of God's kingdom. Those of us who believe do owe

       When these lines appear in print and reach our readers            our mothers much for the early training in His fear that we
and subscribers, we will be about. half way between Mother's             have. But let us not forget the God who gave them these
Day and Father's Day.       We did not have a Mother's  Day              virtues in Christ. And let our worship services be worship
sermon in our church, and we do not intend to have a                     of God and not of man.
Father's Day sermon either. We have had those who looked                    And now we come to'the point. Sad to say, in many of these
askance at such a remark try to defend such a practice as                churches that will devote a whole sermon to honor motherhood,
quite the `Christian thing to do. But we cannot help but                 fatherhood, childhood, and think it ill of you if you do not
remember every year when these days are again with us the                do the same, think nothing at all of NOT having a worship
theme of a Fatherls  Day sermon we saw listed on a bulletin              service on Ascension Day. Some will even fail to have special
board outside of- a' church in Hamilton, Ontario, some ten               sermons on Pentecost. The Church holidays that are com-
years ago: Fathers are Funny. Well, I suppose we have to                 mercialized as Christmas and Easter they will set aside for
try to defend a thing like that also.                                    special sermons and messages., But for the rest Mother's Day
       But that is not the observation which we wish to make at          and Father's Day have the preference. Worship of man, we
this time. And we do not make this as a blanket condemna-                say, instead of God. This.is not in His fear. And there is
tion of every church wherein a Mother's Day sermon was                   something radically wrong not only with this situation, but
delivered and wherein Father's Day sermons are contem-                   my dear reader also with YOU when you can stay home
plated. We simply want to give a word of warning lest we                 from a special Ascension Day service and welcome the
become worshippers of man rather than of God. A Mother's.                Mother's Day and Father's Day sermons that put a little
Day sermon, that is, a serinon delivered on Mother's Day,                feather in your cap and fail to tell you that without Christ,
that taught the Scripturai  truth that we must honor father              yea without this ascended Christ, all motherhood and father-
and mother we certainly would not condemn. A Mother's                    hood ends in hell! Maybe that theme of "Fathers are
Day sermon, wherein it is pointed out that the b&e&g                     Funny" is not so far off. Make it, "Fathers are Foolish," and
mothers in Israel prayed and looked for a man-child with a               then have in mind and point out.that  it is the height of folly
view to the promise of a Redeemer, would be spiritual food               fo,r chwck-fathers  to advocate and extol natural man and to
for God's people, if this all is explained as the work of the            ignore the Ascended Christ, Who gives the gifts whereby
Holy Spirit in the hearts of God's covenant people. But then             mothers and fathers are able to be faithful to God and to
the sermon is not in keeping with man's idea of the day and              His Covenant children, to love them spiritually and to care
not only could be preached any other Sunday just as well,                for their spiritual needs, and then you have seen things in
but it also ceases to be a celebration of Mother's Day and is,           His fear.

as all other Sabbaths, a celebration of the Rest Day.                                                                       `_
       Mother's,Day  and Father's Day are not Church Holidays.           Do We Understand?

They find no basis in Holy Writ. Simply to extol mother-                    The Agendum for our Synod has been distributed to the
hood and fatherhood- and pretty soon on Children's Day,                  various consistorjr members in our denomination.                  Others
childhood- has no particular spiritual value, and does not               `will either have to borrow a copy or wait until all this material
belong on the pulpit and in the worship service where God's              with synod's decisions is printed in the Acts of Synod. It is
people come to be fed with the bread of life. When `Jesus                not .dur purpose to try to make propaganda for any of the
Himself was busy in the temple with spiritual things, He                 matters coming to the attention of our synod. We .simply
said to His mother, "Woman, what have I to do with thee ?"               want to make a, few observations about a matter mentioned
He was not being disrespectful, but He did speak the truth.              in the "Hymn Question."


                                             VTHE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     399
                                             ..: .i               :.
                           _-._.i .                      . i                        _.                                     . ._
    Our  observations have to do with the conclusions of the            of G&l's  `retribution ; -the `damnation of the wicked ; election
 committee and the article of the Rev. H: Hoeksema, trans-              and reprobition  - e.icept  in the &il s&se  of election in time,
 lated from the April 15, 1928 Standard Bearer. As to the               thus : "There's a new name written down in glory," denying
 conclusions of the committee, we are one hundred percent in            that na?%zes  were written in the Lan@`s;book of life from all
 agreement. We are and always were strongly  opposed to the             eternity ; total  depravity ; all have died in Adam and so many
introduction of hymns into our Psalter and worship. Some                more truths taught in the Psalms. (And let us say in par-
 may have misunderstood because we did make known ous                   entheses this trend today to set the hymns. of the church in
 belief, as the committee has it in point 7, "Faithful versifica-       the modern swing-style and accentuated beat is likewise not
 tions of Scripture, other than the Psalms, may be sung in the          in His fear but simply musical entertainment that grieves the

 churches." But our stand has`always  been against what men             Spirit  in the Church.)    It simply is not in His fear to ignore
usually mean today when they soeak of hymns.                            so niuch of what He says concerning Himself. Let us in His

    But the matter that. we write about is in point 5 of the            fear teach our children - and study a little ourselves also -

committee's conclusions and point  a/l/ of the Rev. Hoekse-             the truths of the Word of Gbd.  We, mind you, in this great

ma's proposed grounds. in 1928 for the rejection of hymns.              day of enlightenment, of literacy, of books, of schools of
.As we said, we are not`trying to make propaganda for this              higher and lower education. Let our Christian Schools teach
matter before Synod even reads and discusses the matter.                these truths in every sphere of life; and our children will
Therefore we do not intend to quote either the committee's              enjoy the Psalms as God's people did in the past. God is
complete advice pr conclusions -or the other grounds proposed           he. But He is love only in that way in which He remains
by the Rev. H. Hoeksema. Here, then, is what. the Rev.                  God, soy$reign,  in all His works. Do we underst;dnd  that?
Hoeksema wrote, "There is no need of hymns alongside of the             Then we will want to sing it.

psalms which are presented to us in the Holy Scriptures:

 1) There is in those psalms a spiritual riches wherein also

the heart of the New Testament congregation is able to ex-                 At the summit they found an abyss. Man had climbed
press itself perfectly, provided one learns to understand those         and looked forward to this climb. Four men were to meet to
psalms well." And the committee writes under point 5, "In               work for peace. Instead they found themselves on the brink
the Psalms of David resounds the ever abiding and eternal               of war. An awful abyss appeared. Hopes were shattered.
keynote of the godly mind, while hymns usually bear a                   -Fears and terrors  increased.
temporal character, marking the one-sided conception of the                An American plane flying at the summit of man's ability
moment in the Church of God (Kuyper)."                                  to wing through the thin stratosphere became the occasion for

    Two things we would observe. First of all, if the argu-             the "summit" of man's attempt to achieve world-wide peace

ment is raised that for us on this side of the birth and cross          and lasting peace to fail and to bring man at the edge of the

of Christ the Psalms are not adequate to express our faith in           abyss of war. Only God knows whether it will come today

Christ and our praise to God, then we surely must say that              or tomorrow.

they were not adequate either for the Old Testament Church                 But be not deceived. It was not that American plane that

that had not seen Him and known Him in the cross. Then                  spoiled this "promising"      summit meeting from achieving

the Old Testament saints sang very unintelligently and weakly           peace. And it was not the childishness and hypocrisy of the

concerning this Christ. Then the Old Testament Church                   head .of a spy-country - where a man will spy on his own

needed these hymns more than we do today with our richer                father and mother-and is known for trickery, deception

revelation. How poor they must have been ! ! ? ? Not so, a              and intrigue that burst the bubble of man's dreams. It was

thgusand  times not so: The faith of some of these saints               the Prince Who was not there and was not invited.

towers far above the faith we see in many in the church of                 Shame o.n us to expect peace where the Prince of Peace

God today. And do not rule out the Spirit Who worked in                 is unwelcome.- He alone can give us peace and has given us

them and taught them through type and shadow. We today                  peace with God. ,He must come again' and therefore men's

should see much more in these psalms than the Old Testa-                plans and works in defiance of Him can only lead to the Anti-

ment saint did in his day.                                              christ, that great battle of Armageddon and wars and rumors

    We say, Shame on us and on our children if with all the             of wars, that the way may be prepared for Him to give His

added light on this side of Calvary and Pentecost we do not             Church peace on the new earth in which righteousness shall
know that truth and are not able to sing it as God spokk  it            dwell.                            `. .,

in the hearts of His Old Testament .cz$nts. Our question is,               Look for The Summit. Look  tb The Summit. He is at

Do we understand or are we also caught u'p by that super-               God's right hand at the summit of all things. Look for Him

`ficial  and sentimental idea of God that all you can say of Him        to corn...  again  and lift His Church to the suminit of all the

as to His Godhead is that He is love ? And then of a love that          glory and beauty of His Kingdom of Heaven which God

is in conflict with His justice, His holiness and righteousness.        has prepared in His blood. `Then you live ?n His fear and

That-is.why  in the second place we would observe that these            have no fear of what man can or may do unto you.

hymns  do not - as the committee points out -earlier - speak                                                                       J.A.H.

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


     II                                                                    faithful, and that in all causes, the decision of which belongs
                Contending For The Faith                             1     to the Church, recourse may be had to his tribunal, and that
                                                                           none may re-open the judgment of the Apostolic `See, than

                                                                           whose authority there is no greater, nor can any lawfully
                 The Church and the Sacraments                             review its judgment. Wherefore they err from the right

                THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION                                course who assert that it is lawful to appeal from the judg-

                                                                           ments of the Roman Pontiffs to an oecumenical Council, as
                      VIEWS ON THE CHURCH
                                                                           to an authority higher than that of the Roman Pontiff (please
                         FORMAL PRINCIPLE                                  compare this decree of this Romish Council with statemerits

                                 (continued)                               made recently by Roman Catholic priests, who .would have

            We will now continue with our quotation of Chapter 3 of        the people believe that they believe in the separation of
     the Dogmatic Decrees of the Vatican Council of 1570,                  Church and State, whereas the Romish Church has certainly
      "Hence we teach and declare that by the appointment of our           declared in the past that the Roman Pontiff is not only the
     Lord the Roman Church possesses a superiority of ordinary             supreme head of the church in the midst of `the world, but
     power over all other churches,, and that this power of juris-         that he is also the temporal prince of and over all the powers
      diction of the Roman Pontiff, which is truly episcopal, is           of the earth-H.V.).

     immediate ; to which all, of whatever rite and dignity, both             If, then, any shall say that the Roman Pontiff has the

     pastors and faithful, both individually and collectively, are         office merely of inspection or direction, and not full and

     bound, by their duty of hierarchical subordination ahd true           supreme power of jurisdiction over the universal Church, not

      obedience, to submit not only in matters which belong to             only in things which belong to faith and morals, but also in

     faith and morals, but also in those that appertain to the dis-        those which relate to the discipline and govermnent  of the

      cipline and government of the Church throughout the world,           Church spread throughout the world ; or a&e&  &at hk

      so that the Church of Christ may be one flock under one              possesses merely the principal part, apd not all the fulness of

     supreme pastor through the preservation of unity both of              this supreme power; or that this power which he enjoys. is

     communion and of profession of the same faith with the                not ordinary and immediate, both over each and all the

     Roman pontiff. This is the teaching of Catholic truth, from           churches, and over each and all the pastors and the faithful:

      which no one can deviate without loss of faith and of salva-         let him be anathema."

     tion.                                                                    And, in chapter IV of these decrees of this Vatican
            But so far is this power of the Supreme Pontiff from           Council, concerning the infallible teaching of the Roman
      being any prejudice to the ordinary and immediate power of           Pontiff, Rome expresses the following: "Moreover, that the
      episcopal jurisdiction, by which Bishops, who have been set          supreme power of teaching is also included in the Apostolic
     by the Holy Ghost to succeed and hold the place of the                primacy, which the Roman Pontiff, as the successor .of Peter,
      Apostles, feed and govern, each his own flock, as true pastors,      Prince of the Apostles, possesses over the whole Church, this
     that this their episcopal authority, is really asserted, strength-    Holy See has always held, the perpetual practice of the
      ened, and protected by the supreme and universal Pastor; in          Church confirtis,  and oecumenical Councils also have de-
     accordance with the words of St. Gregory the_ Great: %lTy             clared, especially those in which the East with the West met
      honor is the honor of .the whole Church. My honor is the             in the union of faith and charity. For the Fathers of the
     firm strength of my brethren. I am truly honored when the             Fourth Council of Constantinople, following in the footsteps
     honor due, to each and all is not withheld.'                          of their predecessors, gave forth this solemn professioti:

            Further, from this supreme power  possessed by the             The first condition of salvation is to keep the rule of the true

     Roman Pontiff of governing the universal Church, it follows           faith. And because the sentence of our Lord Jesus Christ can

     that he has the right of free communication with the pastors          not be passed by, who said: `Thou art Peter, and upon this

     of the whole Church, and with their flocks, that these may            rock I will build my Church,' these things' which have been

j    be taught and ruled by him in the way of salvation. Where-            said are approved by events, because in the Apostolic See the
     fore we condemn and reject the opinions of those who hold             Catholic religion and her holy and well-known doctrine has

     that the communication between this supreme head and the              always been kept undefiled. Desiring, therefore, not to be in

     pastors and their flocks can lawfully be impeded ; or who make        the least degree separated from the faith and doctrine of that
     this com'munication  subject to the will of the secular power, so     See, we hope that we niay deserve to be in the one com-

     as to maintain that whatever is done by the Apostolic See, or         munion, which the Apostolic See preaches, in which is the
     by its authoiity,  for the government of the Church, cannot           entire and true solidity of the Christian religion. And, with
     have force or value unless it be confirmed by the assent of           the approval of the Second Council of Lyons, the Greeks
     the secular power.                                                    professed that the holy Roman Church enjoys supreme and

           And s&e dy the divine right of Apostolic. primacy the           full primacy and preeminence over the whole Catholic

     Roman Pontiff is placed over the  universal Church, we                Church, which it truly and humbly acknowledges that'it has

     further teach and declare that he is the supreme judge of the         received with the plenitude of `power  from our Lord himself


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   401


in the person of blessed Peter, Prince or Head of the                   But since in this very age, in which the salutary efficacy

`Apostles, whose successor the Roman Pontiff is ; and as `the       of the Apostolic office is most of all required, not a few are

Apostolic See is bound before all others to defend the truth        found who take away from its authority, we judge it alto-

of faith, so also, if any-questions regarding faith shall arise,    gether  necessary solemnly to assert the prerogative which the

they must be defined by its judgment. Finally, the Council          only-begotten Son of God vouchsafed to join with the

of Florence defined : That the Roman Pontiff is the true vicar      supreme pastoral office.

of Christ, and the head of the whole Church, and the father             Therefore faithfully adhering to the tradition received

and teacher of all Christians; and that to him in' blessed          from the beginning of the Christian faith, for the glory of

Peter was delivered by our Lord Jesus Christ the full power         God our Saviour, the exaltation of the Catholic religion, and

of feeding, ruling, and governing the whole Church.                 the salvation of Christian people, the sacred Council approv-

    To satisfy this pastoral duty, our predecessors ever made       ing, we teach and define that it is a dogma divinely revealed:
unwearied efforts that the salutary doctrine of Christ `might       tha.t the ,Roman  Pontiff, when he speaks w cai%edra,  that is,
be propagated among all the nations of the earth, and with          when in discharge of the office of pastor and doctor of all
equal care watched that it might be preserved genuine and           Christians, `by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority, he
pure where it had been received. Therefore the Bishops of           defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the
the whole world, now singly, now assembled in Synod, follow-        universal Church, by the divine assistance promised to him
ing the long-established custom of churches, and the form of        in blessed Peter, is possessed of that  infallibility with which-.
the ancient rule, sent word to this Apostolic See of, those         the divine Redeemer willed that his Church should be en-
dangers especially which sprang up in matters of faith, that        dowed fortdefining  doctrine regarding faith or morals; and
there the losses of faith might be most effectually repaired        that. therefore such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are
.where  the faith can not fail. And the Roman Pontiffs, ac-         irreformable of themselves, and not from the consent -of the
cording to the exigencies of times and circumstances, some-         Church.
times assembling oecumenical  Councils, or asking for the              But if any one-which may God pervert-presume to con-
mind of the Church scattered throughout the world, some-            tradict this our definition : let him be anathema." end of quote
times by particular Synods, sometimes using other helps             of chapters 2-4 of the Dogmatic Decrees of the Vatican Coun-
which Divine Providence supplied, defined as to be held those       cil concerning the Catholic Faith and the Church of Christ.
things which with the help of God they had recognized as               We must bear in mind that the Romish doctrine with
conformable with the sacred Scriptures and Apostolic tradi-         respect to the infallibility of the pope is that he is infallible,
tions. For the Holy-  Spirit was not promised to the succes-        when he speaks "es cathedra,"  that is, when he is acting in
sors of P.eter,  that by his revelation they might make known       discharge of his office. This means that he speaks infallibly
new doctrine ; but that by his assistance they might inviol-        when he speaks or writes officially. And we must also bear in
ably keep and faithfully expound the revelation or deposit of       mind that the Ron&h doctrine of the infallibility of the pope
faith delivered through the Apostles. And, indeed, all the          means that the pope has been infallible throughout the ages.
venerable Fathers have embraced, and the holy orthodox              Fact is, Peter became infallible and the popes are the suc-
doctors have venerated and followed, their Apostolic doc-           cessors of this apostle. This implies, of course, that although
trine ; knowing most fully that this See of holy Peter remains      this doctrine was not officially declared by Rome until 1870
ever free from all blemish of error according to the divine         the infallibility of the Roman Pontiff dates back to the very
promise of the Lord our Saviour made to the Prince of his           first pope of Rome. And Rome makes this preposterous
disciples: `I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not,         claim in spite of the fact that it is known that popes have
and, when thou art converted, confirm thy brethren.'                erred in the past. So, whenever the pope at Rome speaks or
                                                                    writes officially he is infallible, unerringly directed by the
   This gift, then, of truth and never-failing faith was con-
                                                                    Spirit of God and of Christ Jesus.
ferred by heaven upon Peter and his successors in this chair,
that they might perform their high oflice  for the salvation of                                                                  H.V.

all (here we have another example of Rome's way or method

of interpreting the Scriptures. When Jesus told Peter that He                                   OUR THANKS
had prayed for him that his faith should not fail, He surely           We take this means of acknowledging the numerous cards and
meant that his faith would not fail or perish in that dreadful      letters received from brothers and sisters thruout our denomination

hour of the cross and specifically when he would deny his           during our recent illness. Thanks to my fellow ministers for their

Lord three times. It certainly does not refer to the supposi-       telephone calls during that time. We are grateful for your concern,
tion that Peter would become infallible. - H.V.) ; that the         well-wishings and prayers for recovery. We believe the Lord of His
                                                                    Church is granting those requests. We are thankful to God that we
whole flock of Christ, kept away by them from the poisonous         might return to our home and yesterday (May 15) -were able to          .
food of error, might be nourished with the pasture of heavenly      preach one sermon again. Truly, God is good! May He reward
doctrine ; that the occasion of schism being removed, the whole     your every kindness with His marvelous grace.

Church might be .kept  one, and, resting on its foundation,                                       Your brother in His cause,
                                                                                                                 REV. H. H. KUIPER
might stand firm against the gates of hell.       ,                 Loveland, Colorado


4       0      2                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


                                                                         answer is not. For there are those who succumb to this
11. The Voice of Our Fathers                                       11 argument and in effect adopt the Arminian position while
                                                                         they still claim to be Reformed. And over against those who
I'                                                                " I
                                                                         maintain the true Reformed position they will bring this same
                    The Canons of Doidrecht                              Arminian argument. In the name of the Reformed faith they
             PART Two - EXPOSITION OF THE CANONS                         charge that the Reformed doctrine makes men careless. and

                     FIFTH HEAD OF DOCTRINE                              profane. And this is indeed worse than Arminian. Hence,

              OF THE PERSJNERANCII  OF THE SAINTS                        let us analyze'the  answer of our fathers both negatively and

                    R E J E C T I O N   O F   E R R O R S   :            positively. In order to do this, let us cast the Arminian argu-
                        Article 6 (continued)                            ment in the form of a syllogism, as follows :

      In brief this objection of the Arminians is that the doc-          Major premise: The Reformed doctrine is the doctrine that

trine of the certain perseverance of the saints: and of the as-             the true believers possess the certainty of perseverance

surance thereof is intrinsically an immoral doctrine: it leads              and salvation as an absolutely free gift of sovereign grace.

necessarily and inevitably to carelessness and profanity. It             Minor premise : This doctrine in its very character and nature

is a soft cushion on which the flesh may recline in ease and                is a cause of indolence and is destructive of godliness,

utter unconcern for morality and godliness. The Arminians                   good morals, etc.

argued that on the basis of this doctrine one will certainly             Conclusion: The. Reformed doctrine is an immoral-and

assume that he has "arrived." There is nothing more to be                   therefore, false - doctrine.

done: There is no more battle to be fought. There is ab-                 There are two conceivable methods of Proving that conclusion

solutely no reason and no incentive for godliness, good                  to be false. The one would be to attack the major premise

morals, prayers, or any other holy exercise. Nothing we do,              and to deny that it is a proper statement of the Reformed

nor anything that we fail to do, can at all affect our salvation         doctrine. Then you would change that statement and in-

and its certainty. If we lead a pious and moral life, we will            troduce an element of the free will of the sinner and of the

be saved ; but if we lead an ungodly and immoral life, we will           work of man alongside the sovereign grace of God. You

also be saved just as surely. If we pray, we will be saved ;             would make that certainty conditional. You would, in the

but if we fail to pray, we will as certainly be saved. If we             name of Reformed doctrine, adopt the Arminian position.

are diligent in attendance upon the Word and sac.raments                 This is what many in our day are quick to do. But this is

and in the giving of alms and in other holy exercises, we                exactly what our fathers refuse to do. If they had done this,

will be saved ; but if we fail utterly in all these, we will be          there would have been no Arminian controversy ; and con-

saved with equal certainty. Thus the Arminian argued against             sequently, there would never have been any Canons. If they

the Reformed truth of perseverance, intending to present that            had done this, the Arminians would never have presented

doctrine as something grossly and preposterously immoral,                that minor premise. They would have said instead that this

and at the same time attempting to reduce that doctrine to a             doctrine is productive in its very character and nature of

monstrous absurdity.                                                     spiritual diligence, of piety and good morals, etc. And their

      At the same time, as appears also from this article, there         conclusion would have been that this is a moral-and there-

was a positive side to this Arminian position. The Arminian              fore, true - doctrine.

taught that it is "praiseworthy to doubt concerning the cer-                The second conceivable method to destroy this conclusion

tainty of perseverance and salvation." One could as well say :           is to attack the minor premise. If it is false, then the con-

it is praiseworthy to doubt concerning our perseverance and              clusion must be changed to read: the Reformed doctrine (as

our salvation.       For if you doubt concerning certainty, you          stated in the major- premise) is a moral doctrine, and there-

have no more certainty at all, but only doubt. And this `was             fore true. .

indeed the Arminian position. The Christian must be and                     And this second method our fathers follow in this very

must be kept in a continual state of doubt. And that doubt               article. For they state: "For these show that they do not

must be the spur, the whip, the threat that scares him into              know the power of divine grace and the working of the in-

a godly and moral life, that compels him to pray and to en-              dwelling Holy Spirit.",    In other words, if the Arminians,

gage in other holy exercises. Only when one continually                  who bring this argument, knew the power of divine grace

doubts `and remains uncertain of his final salvation will there          and the working of the indwelling Holy Spirit, they would

be any true morality. Only when the longed-for prize is                  never bring the claim that this doctrine is per se a cause of

kept just beyond his grasp will the Christian keep on pursu-             indolence and is injurious to godliness, good morals, prayers,

ing that prize and strive to attain to the goal. Hence, all              and other holy exercises. And mark you well, what our

assurance must be frowned upon ; and instead, that Christian             fathers say here does not only apply to a lack of intellectual

who always is in doubt is to be lauded as a spiritually healthy          knowledge, so that they merely mean to say that the

Christian. Such is the Arminian position.                                Arminians do not understand and that their logic is faulty.

      Now what is the answer of our fathers to this argument?            This is never the case. The truth is not simply a matter

      It is well in our day that we note, first of all, what their       of cold logic. It is a spiritual matter. And the knowledge


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  403


  and understanding of the power of divine grace and the              reward of merit, no pay, attached to that service. And so

  working of the indwelling Holy Spirit are spiritual. They           the evil consideration of the heart of the natural man leads

  are the knowledge and understanding of one who experiences          him to the view that it is praiseworthy to doubt, and that if

  the power of divine grace and the working of the indwelling,        ever a man is to have a reason for morality, he must all his

  Holy Spirit. -The natural man understands not the things of         days be torn between heaven and hell. And he holds under the

  the Spirit of God. And not understanding, he cannot and             truth in unrighteousness.

  will not receive them. They are spiritually discerned. That             No, I am not saying that all Arminians go lost. That is

  is the basic trouble of one who really and truly brings this        not my affaie;  What I am saying is that the Artiniun  view

  argument. He does not have experiential knowledge of the            is fundamentally the outlook of the natural man. And I will

 , power of divine grace and the working of the indwelling            insist, with Holy Scripture, that one who truly knows the

  Holy Spirit. If he had that knowledge, he would never bring         power of divine grace and the working of the indwelling

  this argument. If he had true knowledge, he would exclaim           Holy Spirit cannot possibly maintain that view in his confes-

  at the very moment that this argument was raised or at the          sion and in his life. That very grace and indwelli,ng  Holy

  moment this wicked and carnal thought occurred: "God                Spirit will not allow him thus to insult and to slander His

  forbid! how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer           own work.

  therein ?"                                                             Nor do our fathers come with a logic here that is not

     For he who knows the power of divine grace and the               sanctified by the Spirit and based upon the Scriptures. They

  working of the indwelling Holy Spirit knows that the same           cite, first of all,. the clear proof of I John 3 2, 3 : `"Beloved,

  Holy Spirit, dwelling in the heart of God's elect child, works      now are wc the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what

  in him the a&urance  of his final salvation nnd works in him        we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we

  spiritual diligence, godliness, good morals, the will and the       shall be like him ; for we shall see him as he is. And every

  ability to engage in prayer and other holy exercises. He            man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he

  knows that the Holy Spirit works the former always and only         is pure."    Notice, briefly : 1) That the apostle is speaking

  in connection with the latter, in the way of the latter, and        here of the final salvation. We are the sons of God,  but the

  never in separation from the latter. He knows that the same         perfectibn  of that sonship  does not yet appear. It shall ap-

  Holy Spirit Who preserves the new life in the child of God          pear, and then we shall be perfectly like God. 2) That the

  impels that child to walk in a new and holy life. He knows          apostle is spetiking  of the assurance, -the certainty, of that

  that the love of God, shed abroad in the heart of God's child       final salvation -and therefore also of the certainty of per-

  by the Holy Spirit, kindles the reaction of love to God-            severance unto that final salvation.       For he says, "We

  ward on the part of that child of God. He knows what it is to       know . . ." And he says not, "If it shall appear," but, `VVh~n

  serve God as the need of his soul, out of love, for the blessed-    it shall appear . . ." And he speaks of this as our hope, which

  ness of that service itself. He knows what it is to hold  sweet     in Scripture never implies doubt, but assurance. 3) That the

  communion with God through prayer.                                  apostle posits as a general fact the self-purifying of those

     But the natural man knows none of this. And it is                who have this hope in them. He does not say: "He that
  fundamentally the position and viewpoint of the natural man         hath this hope in him should purify himself even as he is
  that is expressed in this Arminian error. It is not pious.          pure."    That would be q`uite Scriptural ; but it would be an
  It is not religious. It is not moral. It is not a position that,    admonition. He does not even say: "He that hath this hope
  on the basis of grace,. you can ever assume. It is not the          in him has the power and the incentive to purify himself."
  position of one who has been instructed.by  the Scriptures and      But he states a fact, and that too, ,as a general rule, a rule
  taught by the Holy Ghost. No, the Arminians had been to             that applies to anyone that has this hope in him: "He that
  school with the Socinians, who deny the working of the in-          hath this hope in him does  pz&rijy  himself . . ." That hope
  dwelling Holy Spirit. And they adopted a doctrinal position         is wrought by the indwelling Holy Spirit, of course. And
  which was shaped under the influence of the foolish and             that indwelling Holy Spirit, working the hope in us, works
. evil nature of sinful man. That nature has in it no impulse         thereby at the same time the power and the incentive and im-
  to pray and to do good works. It is a nature that is driven         pulse to purify ourselves and to walk in sanctification of life.

by pride, that is motivated by the seeking of a reward that              Finally, the fathers point to experience, but they also do

  is of merit, the. mercenary desire for pay, or that is driven by    this on the basis of Scripture. They point to the example of

  fear. It is a nature that hates all that God  wills and opposes     the saints of the Old and New Testament. Carefully examine

  His commandments. Only the fear of punishment, the terror           them all. You will find that they were assured of their

  of everlasting desolation, and the dangling of a meritorious        perseverance and salvation, and that at the same time they

  reward can compel that nature 7 such is its view-to do              were constant in prayers and holy exercises. Of none of them

  good works and can force it to pray. The natural man can-           will you find the contrary to be true. There never was an

  not see that there'is any incentive for good works once that        assured saint -and there never will be one- who was

  terror of hell is removed. He cannot understand that anyone         careless and profane. The nature and character of divine

 `cah `love- God  and can- willingly serve Him when there is no       grace forbids it.                                         H.C.H.

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


                                                                                          Committee, seldom had any work to do. If, during  the time

                          DECENCY and ORDER                                               that Synod was in session, things arose that needed attention,
                                                                                          $ynod  either took immediate action or appointed a special

                                                                                          #study  committee for the task. And when matters arose dur-
                                S y n o d i c a l   C o m m i t t e e s   -               ing the interim of Synods which were referred to the Syn-

                  In our previous writing we began to discuss the 49th                    odical Committee, its hands were tied because its mandate
           article of .our  Church Order; an article that treats the sub-                 was so limited. The Synodical Committee became a commit-
           ject of the appointment of synodical committees. Today the                     tee in name only and virtually every year its report to Synod
           provisions of this article apply to all of the committees .which               would in effect be that the committee had done nothing
           are appointed by the Synod whereas originally it applied                       because Synod had not given to it any specific mandate.
           Specifically to one central committee. Various committees are                      In 1956 the consistory of South Holland overtured Synod
           given different mandates and, functioning during the interim                   as follows :
           between Synods, they are to "egecute everything ordained                         "The consistory of `South  Holland instructs Classis  to
           by Sinod . . .?                                                                `ove&t.ye  Synod to elimi~nate  the Synod&l Committee as one
                  More specifically, however, we may s"y that this article                of OUT standing  committees on the ground that it is useless:

           alludes to those functions that are performed by the Synodical                    1. The committee's constit~~tion  .allows  it only `to. execatte

           Delega,tes Ad Examinn  and to the Synodica.1  Committee.                       those decisions, with wlaicla  the Synod has charged it, conform
0
                  The first  of these consists of a committee of three, with              the Chzmh  Ovdey.'

           their respective alternates, that is appointed not by the Synod                   2. Howevey,  Synod has seldom, if ever, in the history of

           but by the Classes. These appointments are submitted to the                    our churches  chavged this committee to execute my decisio,ns,

           Synod for approbation and so they become "Synodical Oep-                       so tlzat  this committee has beert imctiive."
           %&?s.~' Their function is to "sz~pervise  all the examzhatiorts                    Classis  West hesitated to advise the outright elimination
           of j%t~L~~~e  &ni.st~rs."  The rules governing this committee are              of this committee. Their decision in the matter was to re-
           three in number  and are found on page 58 of our Church                        quest "synod to consider the advisability of continuing the
           Order manual. They read :                                                      synodical committee."
                  "14rticle   1 .   A t   the concl,&pn  o f   the exa:Anation,   a t         When the matter was taken up by the committee of pre-
           which. they shall have the p&vilege  to cross  question the                    advice at synod, it was decided to advise synod to appoint a
           ca,ndidate,  these delegates shall submit a joilzt  report aad                 study cominittee  to consider ways and means by which the
           their reaso42  fby  their- advice.                                             synodical committee could serve some useful purpose. (Acts
                  "Article 2. If the vote of the chssis  is contra7my  to- the            of Sinod,  1956, p. 74.) It appears as though there was a
           #adtiice  of tlae delegates, an,d no agj-eeme&  can be rea.ched, the           feeling that the committee should be retained but at the same
     -.    question qf adw~i.ssion  shall be decided by sy~~od.  Until SUCJL              time a rather strong conviction that the committee should be
           time the ordination. of the cai-ndidate-shall  be posteoned,  axd-             given something to do. The committee of p&advice  further
           ,iiyb  the ;I9bea~mhile  no `comgmgation.  of am0 they cla.sss shall           suggested three possibilities :
           have the Iright to exte~~.d a call to him  .a,%d  ,PZO  cla.ssis  shall be         "2.. Tht the committee could be made respo~mible,  mder
           p em& ted to enmG,e  hh.                                                                  reghtions,  for the cahg  of early syp$o'ds,
                  "`-/lI-t,icle  3. TlLte delegates  for e.xaminzatio~.  skull mbmit a    CW~&L  
                                                                                             2. That the co~mmittce  co,uld .adjust  assessments  in case
           repor-t of aall  tk& ackivities  to synod."
                                                                                          of changes ,im the financial situatim  of ow chmhes  d,uhg
                  In addition to this function, the Church Order ,in Articles
                                                                                          the ,ixterim  b&wren  synods,
           11 and 79 requires the presence of these synodical deputi`es
                                                                                             3. That the committee coahld  apj'axge  subsidy for newly
           whenever a case of dismissing or deposing a ministen- of the
                                                                                          orga,n:ixed  co ~L.gregyations  dakng  the iuzte&z,  between synods."
           Word appears at the classis.  This is a very serious matter
           and cannot be done except with the advice of these `deputies                      At the synod of 1956 this matter was committed to a
           any more than the examination of a candidate with a view                       study committee that reported back to synod the following
           to being admitted into the.ministry  can take place in their                   year. The report of this committee is found on page 159 of
           absence. In both cases the above rules would apply, i.e., if                   the 1957  Acts and is marked "Supplement XVII." It is
           no agreement can be reached the matter would have to be                        too lengthy to quote here but we will cite the conclusions
           decided by the synod and these activities of the deputies must                 which the committee %ame to after their investigation of the
           all be reported to synod.                                                      matter. They are :
               Since 1957 our churches have not had a standing `(Syn-                        `"That the Church Order itself does not preschbe  a stand-
           .odica.l  Committee." Prior to that year we did and, in compli-                ing synodicnl  committee.
           ance with- the 49th article of the Church Order, this com-                        &To+eotie?~,-  that it could  prove very  davtgeroats  to hve a
           mittee ivas limited "to en-ecute  those decisions with which                   stand&g  comkttee  of this nature, zwlzich  woarld  be charged
           the sypzod  had charged if (Art. 4 of the Synodical Committee                  to act with synod,ical  aa&oAty..

           Constitution, p. 54, D.K.0.)  . As a result of this the Synodical                 And, finally, that there is no specific task that coztld not


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                       405


 be done either by standing committees or especially appointed          every classis  shall be delegated. If it becomes necessary in

 co9nmiftee.s."                                                         the opinion of at least three classes to call a wteeting  of synod '

     The suggestions of -the committee of pi-e-advice of the            z&thin two years, the local church designuted  for this purpose
 19.56 synod were also considered by this committee for study           shall determine time  and place." - Article 50, D.K.O.

 and with respect to these they found.:                                         In 1936, the Christian Reformed Church revised the above
    1. That Article 50 of the Church Ordm takes care  of the            article so that their redaction of it now reads :
 matter  of calling ari early synod.                                           "The Geueral  Synod shall ordinarily meet annually. Each
     2. That the matter of adjusting subsidies can best be              Classis  shall delegate tzwo ministers  and tzwo elders to this
 left to the Classis  or at least the Classis`  could provide ways      Synod. If at least a majority of the Classes'deem  it necessary
 to help in cases of real need. It is dangerous atid  may lead          that the Synod  meet either earlier  OP later than the regular
 to hierarchy to put such authority in the hands of one com-            time, the local I church charged z&h  cotivening  the Synod
 mittee.                                                                shall it& due seaSon deter&ie  when and where it is to meet."
    3. Subsidy arrangements for new churches are generally                      The main change here is that the revision specifies annual
 left to Synod itself.                                                  meetings of Synod instead of once in two years as in the
     As a result of this study, the committee then came, to             original. A further change is in the number of delegates from
 the following conclusions and advice :                                 each Classis.  In effect, our churches have also changed this

     "`1. ,Your  covtzvttittee  can find  no basis for such a synod-    Article by making provision for annual meetings and specify-

 ical committee in our Church. Order.                                   ing the number of delegates under the "Rztles  and Regula-

     2. Your'coumnittee  can find no need for one, as 0%~ past          tions of Synod." For sake of clarity and to avoid contradic-
 history has proven.                                                    tions, however, it would be better if our Synod proceeds with
                                                                        the plan to reprint our Church Order that the wording of
     3.. Yozbr  committee proposes to synod to follow the advice
                                                                        articles like these be changed to conform with current prac-
 of the South Holland consistory,  to henceforth eliminate  the
                                                                        tices  .
 synodical committee as a standing committee  of synod."
                                                                                The latest proposed revision of the Church Order by the
     In Article 106 of the minutes of the 1957~  synod this ad-
                                                                        Christian Reformed Church adds the following to the above
 `vice of the committee was  adopted `and since then we have
                                                                        article :
 not had a synodical committee.                                         1'                                  . .
                                                                                cc. . . in consulta'tiou z&h the Synbdic'al  Committee: The
     The interesting point about all this centers in the two
                                                                        task of the synod shall be to establish and ma&ah  the con-
 alternatives we face in considering the propriety of a standing
                                                                        fessions, the Church Order, the liturgical songs and Foruts,
 Synodical Committee. On the one hand, if such a committee
                                                                        and the 
 is to function, it must have authority to do so and since it is                       order of wor&ip."

 a committee that would have to deal with matters in the in-                    Our comments on matters pertaining to the General
 terim between synods that are really synodical matters, such           Synod will have to wait until the next time.
 a committee would have to be vested with a measure of                                                                              G.V.d.B.

 synodical authority. This raises the question whether synod

may'ever delegate its authority to another body. On the other

 hand, to have a committee in name only, with no authority to

 act when situations arise is quite pointless and useless. It                                 WEDDING `ANNIVERSARY '

 is better then to eliminate this standing committee as has
                                                                              On June 8, 1960, our dear parents,
 been done. Furthermore, not only is the former alternative
                                                                                           MR. and MRS. RALPH BOVERHOF
 dangerous and contrary to Reformed Church Polity but the
 very fact `that the synod now meets annually makes it even             hope to commemorate their 40th wedding anniversary.

 more unnecessary to have a standing synodical committee. In                    We are thank&I to God that He has blessed and kept them
 most cases matters can wait until the time of the annual               these many years. Our prayer is that they may continue to experience
                                                                        His loving kindness in their remaining years.
 synod and should an emergency situation arise that is really
 critical, it would be much better to call an early synod than                                              Mr. and Mrs. William Boverhof
                                                                                                            Mr. and Mrs. Henry Boverhof
 to permit two or three men to decide for the whole church                                                  Richard Boverhof
 in a situation like this.                                                                                  Mr. and Mrs. John Pepper

                                                                                                            Mr. and Mrs. John Boverhof

                     The General Synod                                                                      Mr. and Mrs. Hilbert Boverhof
                                                                                                            Mr. and Mrs. Albert Boverhof

     "The general synod shall ordinwily  meet once every two                                                Mr. and Mrs. Gerrit Boverhof
                                                                                                            Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Johnston
 years unless there be urgent need to shorten the time.                                                     21  grandchildren ..

     To this synod three ministers and three elders out of              Byron Center, Michigan

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


                                                                         money, increase production, achieve better secular and spirit-
II : A'LL  A R O U N D   ,US                                             ual education, reduce crime, promote peace and abolish war.
                                                                            "To be sure Christian dedication and devotion come first

                                                                         but there unto must be added skill and competence if we are

Heads As Well As Hearts                                                  to be effective cooperators with God in achieving the kind of

                                                                         world we believe He has designed for his children."
   Writing under the above title, one, of the editors of            .       It appears from the above that "the kingdom of God"
Christian Economics writes The Sermonette for the May 3rd                which we are to seek first is the present world which can
issue. The sermonette was built around the text fou.nd in                be attained only after we help God straighten out the mess
Matthew 6:33, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and                 which men have made in it. The author of the sermonette
his righteousness ; and all these things shall be added unto             doesn't seem to know anything about another world that is
you.)).  .                                                               spiritual. and heavenly in character and in which the king-
  .- It appears that the author of the sermonette had been               dom of God will be perfected. He wants "head" and `rheart"
criticized by a correspondent for having been "concerned with            to be united in making this present world a better place to
economic problems."      The correspondent, quoting the text             live in, and only then will the kingdom .of God arrive. He
in Matthew, exhorted the author to confine himself "to dis-              is still not only materialistic, but also postmillennial and
cussing spiritual things." Whether the correspondent suc-                humanistic in his views. It seems that it did not help a bit
ceeded in converting the author of the sermonette the under-             for the correspondent to scold him.
signed would have the reader judge. It is his opinion that

the correspondent not only failed, but he also evoked from               Ideology and Co-Existence.

the author statements highly characteristic of the modern                   Such is the title of a pamphlet recently mailed to me, and
pulpit, Writes the author of the sermonette:                             I suppose to many other American citizens as well as to
       "It should be noted that Jesus admonishes us to seek              some 83,000,OOO  other people throughout the world. No
`first' the kingdom of God but not `only' the kingdom of God.            single person claims to be its author, though the predominat-
We ,are in perfect agreement that the most important task                ing spirit that pervades the pamphlet is that of Dr. Frank
of man is to seek reconciliation to God. But no one of, us               Buchman, the father of the movement known as Buch-
should stop there. God has work for everyone of us to do                 mar&m.
and if we stop when our hearts are cleansed and our attitudes               The purpose of the pamphlet is to counteract the ideology
are right we will be of small value as servants `of God in his           infiltrating` our world today with its destructive forces, and
efforts to produce a better world.                                       known as Communism. The pamphlet knows of no other

       "God needs useful people as well as good people. To be            force able to destroy the communistic ideology than the

useful, one must be more than just good. All of us, I think,             ideology it cherishes, namely, Moral Re-Armament. Moral

have known good people who were rather.ineffective  when it              R&Armament claims to be "a superior ideology, with a

came to conquering poverty, promoting peace, overcoming                  superior strategy, because it meets the needs of the whole

disease, finding ways to improve' education, lift the cultural           man and because' it is available for all men everywhere-

level of the race or achieve a larger measure of understand-             non-Communist and Communist alike. It is far more than

ing and goodwill among men. It is not enough to be good;                 the answer to Communism. It is the revolutionary idea that

we must be good for something and contribute to the solution             is putting right what is wrong and producing for every

of the problems that`vex mankind and hold him in bondage                 nation the incorruptible and inspired leadership that alone

to ignorance, disease, poverty; war, injustice and cruelty."             can create a full and free life for every nation."

   After quoting the following texts, I Cor. 14:20; Phil..                  Even Radio Moscow, according to the pamphlet, ad-
1 :9 ; II Peter 1:5 ; II Tim. 2 :15 ; the sermonette continues.:         mits that "Moral Re-Armament is a global ideology with
   "Jesus himself told us to .be `wise as' serpents.' In fact            bridgeheads in every nation in its final phase of total ex-
we find the Scriptures filled with emphases upon the im-                 pansion throughout the world. It has the power to capture
portance of becoming competent and useful by acquiring                   radical revolutionary minds.    It is contaminating the minds
wisdom and knowledge so that we may determine and exe-                   of the masses. It substitutes for the inevitable class war, the
cute right action. Good intentions are fine and love in a                eternal struggle between good and evil."
sick room is always useful; but no intelligent person would                 The principle of the Moral Re-Armament ideology is set
stop there. We always want the physician with his great                  forth most clearly on page 13 from which we quote:
knowledge and skill.                                                        "Moral Re-Armament is giving men a moral ideology, a
   " `Seek you first the kingdom of God' ! . . . but if we are           new motive for industry and trade, and a new basis for
to be successful in our quest we must study long and earnestly           united action. Dr. Buchman says:

to acquire the knowledge and skill that will make us                        " `Only a new spirit in men can bring a new.  spirit in

effective servants of God for the solution of many knotty                industry. Industry can be the pioneer of a new order, where

problems such as how to avoid inflation, maintain sound                  national service replaces selfishness, and where' industrial


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     407


     planning is based upon the guidance of God. When labor,                    We confess that when we read in the pamphlet the name
     management and capital become partners under God's                 of Dr. Frank Buchman, we became not a little suspicious.
     guidance, then industry takes its true place in national life.'    And, as we suggested above, if he is not the author of the
        "The new type of man that Moral .Re-Armament is                 pamphlet, his spirit certainly predominates in it.
     producing finds that the basic problem of industry is not
\                                                                               Concerning Dr. Frank Buchman, whose spiritual antics
     economic but moral. The four moral standards-absolute              are rather thoroughly discussed in The Chaos of Cults by
     honesty, absolute purity,     absolute unselfishness, absolute     J. K. Van Baalen,  and again by Charles W. Ferguson in his
     love-make it possible to decide issues on the basis of what        The New Books of Retielations,  a little must be said. He was
     is right and not who is right.                                     of German-Swiss Lutheran descent. He was born in Penns-

        "This is the alternative to the class struggle for industry     burg, Pennsylvania, in 1878. He studied at Muhlenberg

     and it is through the adoption of the class struggle by labor      College and at Mt. Airy Seminary, and was ordained to the

     and management that Communism has been able to make                ministry, serving his first charge at Overbrook, Pa., where

     such inroads into key industries. Its grip can only be broken      he organized "a settlement house for boys." We are told

     by .men and women armed with the strategy, the unity. and          that when he had a clash with some board members, he re-

     the commitment of a superior ideology. This comes through          signed. Thereupon he toured Italy and England, where "he

     the acceptance, of the guidance of God when every man can          had his first heart-changing experience under the preaching

     know the immediate action he can and must take."                   of a .woman whom he heard speak at Keswick on the

        The Moral Re-Armament ideology claims for its en-               Cross."
     thusiastic adherents such names as, John Riffe, Executive                  Buchman, it seems, did not follow. any particular dot-
     Vice-President of the C.I.O. ; Philip. Murray, ex-President        trines ; in fact, he did not care much for doctrine. Buchman
     of the C.I.O. and United Steel Workers ; Conrad, Adenauer          believed "that religion is not so" much a -matter of emotion,

     and Robert Schuman, leaders of West Germany; the late              nor- of ,doctrine,  as of the will. His task now became two-
     General John J. Pershing and Admiral Richard E. Byrd; the          fold : to be led. by God's will, and to induce others to be led          i
     Commander-in-Chief of the NATO forces in Central Europe,           by God's will." From The Chaos of Cults,  p. 197, we quote
     General Valluy; General Beth&art, Member of the',French            the following paragraph which pretty well describes the
     Senate for Morocco ; Air Commodore Nigel Blair-Oliphant,           philosophy of Buchmanism :
     Director of Weapons Engineering of the British Air Min:            _.      "Pondering further the problem of sin, having seen his
     istry;, General, Guisan, ,wartime  hero and Commander-in-          own sin at the Cross and surrendered his pride, he reached
     Chief of the ,Swiss  Army,; Vice Admiral Morton L. Deyo,           .this conclusion: `The degree of our freedom from sin is the
     wartime Commander of the North Atlantic Destroyer Fleet;           degree of our desire to be free.' `Further,' says Russell, `he
     Niro Hoshijima,     senior Member of the Japanese Diet;            believes that wherever possible one should not only hate sin,
     Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of the Mahatma of India; and             but confess sin and `forsake sin, making restitution to the
     many other dignitaries; as well as former leaders who have         person sinned against.' "
     broken with the Communist `party.                                          This philosophy "Frank," as he is called by his followers,
        As to.the  term "co-existence," the' pamphlet explains the      carried into-  the colleges and universities in England and
     Soviet version of this concept. k!Ir. Kruschev, so the pam-        America in the hope of "cleaning them out." He conducted
     phlet asserts, made this observation in 1956:                      "house-parties", where young men and women would gather
        "But of course we must realize that we cannot &exist            to confess openly to all present their secret sins.

     eternally. One of us must go to his grave. We do not want                ,. _It is not our purpose here to describe in detail the antics
     to go to the grave.. They (the Western powers) don't `want         of Buchmanism. We only mention the above for the unin-
     to go to their graves either.     So what must be done ? We        formed reader that he may know that Buchmanism is not a
     must push them to`their graves."                                   movement connected with any church, but a mystical move-
        The pamphlet concludes, "Moral Re-Armament is democ-            ment initiated by Frank Buchman which is now bent on also
     racy's true ideology. It gives democracy the moral fiber `it       cleaning up the political mess in the world on the basis of
     lacks today. That is why the choice for the world is not war       the philosophy,, or as they prefer to call it, the ideology of
     or co-existence. It is Moral Re-Armament or Communism."            Moral Re-Armament.                                              M.S.

        The pamphlet, therefore, insists that everyone must have

     some ideology. It insists that there are only two ideologies

     from which you must choose one: Communism, which is the

     materialistic ideology; or Moral Re-Armament, which is the                 Classis  East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will

     spiritual ideology. If you do not choose for the latter, you       meet on Wednesday, July 6, 1960, in the Southwest .Prot-
     will be brought under the destructive power of the former.         estant .Reformed  Church at 9 A. M. Consistories will please

     Very impressively the pamphlet sets forth its objective, and       take note of the time and place in the appointment of dele-

     if you don't ask any questions you may easily be carried           gates.

     along with its philosophy.                                                                          REV. M. SCHIPPER, Stated Clerk


                                                                           I _.. .__               A_<_,    ._' ,,,  .
II                                                                                    Southeast's building committee is utilizi.ng volunteer help
      NEwsN0i1 OUR CMURCH~ES il I,to -attack the debris .at the. new church site with shovels and
                                                                           rakes :as..weapons.  - . . : . .: .                     _. .,;     - __. ..-
          ,    "`k!ll  the saints sabe thee . . T PHIL.`.4  :21
                                                                           1 .,-:Tke',~`do'it-yourselh  spirit- ,is - being- evidenced at. Oak

                                               May 20,-1960,  i '          Lawni;to-o;  &with. volunteer. painters redecorating the interior
       Randolph has named a new-  trio which consists of the               `of-;-~~e~:~h,~r~h~~with.  paint  `furnished. -by- the building, com-
Revs:R:  Harbach,, M. ,Schipper.,and  G. Vanden  Berg: - :                 mitt&-~  That  also homes  -under-the heading; labor of -love;

- Rev. M. Schipper  declined the call from `Hull.                 ." .I                                     R e f o r m e d   .Witne.i~`~iYOzii  Nei&  ..' -
       Rev. H. -H. Xuiper;*  of ,Loveland;  has been ,gaining                                                                         _,._,, .___ . _... L.
                                                                                em_  -`?Tlie  Program'  C&&ii&e  reports that during the-month
strength Isteadily  since `our last- report. He has led-:a  few            of. June'  Rev. C.' Hanko  of First Chur&  wili  speak to the
`meetings and also' conducted' one service on Sunday, May 15.              radio audience bn the subject, `Doctrine `of -the Last Days.'
       Rev. Woudenberg informs us that Rev. Van Baren  read                                                               ^ .,.
                                                                           The ^mo*nth,  of July, D;V., Prof..  H. C. Hoeksema, from our
the form for his installation instead of Rev. Vanden  Berg                 Prot: Ref. `Theological Seminary,' will be the guest speaker.
as reported last month. It: must have'been a pleasure for Rev.             The' Comniittee'  further `informs us that `in addition to Radio
`Van Baren  to install his former classmate into office in a               Stations WFUR, ~%raricl  Rapids,; KELO, Sioux  Falls, So.
neighboring church:       The close friendship enjoyed in their            Dakota;, KLIR, Denver, `Colo. ; KBOE, Oskaloosa,.  Iowa;
College and Seminary years can now be renewed as they                      KSJB;  Jamestown, No:' Dakota, `the program will be heard
are again within visiting distance of one another.                         over Radio Hoyer,  Curacao, Neth. West Indies, as a station
                                                                                             .,
       At the May Mothers' Club meeting` at Adams St. School               sponsoi.eei'by  the Mission Committee. The Radio Committee
Miss Ruth Dykstra, kindergarten teacher, showed pictures of                is investigating the possibility of. adding another station to
the last five kindergarten classes. Do you suppose the fourth              this list. `May our Covenant God continue `to bless our
graders would have recognized themselves if they had, seen                 Radio~Miriistry,  is our prayer."
the pictures ?
                                                                                 .Rev.`R.`Harbach  writes in the Lynden bulletin of May 8 :
       Reminder : Did -you  send in your contribution to the
                                                                           "Religion `is not a perusal of good books. It is not even
Young People's Convention Committee ?
                                                                           prayer, `praise, `preaching or attending the house bf God.
       Rev. H. Hanko, of Hope Church, is spending three
                                                                           These are indispensable to religion. There can be-no'  religion
weeks of May in the Dakotas upon the invitation of the
                                                                           without them. But religion- is a being?bound  to God by the
Mission Committee, giving the people of Isabel and F&es
                                                                           bond of perfectness - love ! and in a -communion of friend-
opportunity to dispense some of their famous German
                                                                           ship `and fellowship with-Him."
hospitality in appreciation for `the shepherding of the flock                         -.
in the green pastures of God's Word.                                                        Redlands' new bulletin cover pictures their new church
       Rev. G. Van Baren  served on the Classical Church Visita-           and parsonage on the front, and the back lists the names of
tion Committee in the place of Rev. Kuiper. Hjs April 24th                 the consistory members, societies and their meeting dates,
bulletin carried .greetings  to his people from the members of             regular and special collections, &d special committees. This
                                                                                 _
Loveland, Lynden and Redlands  congregations.                              .is the only bulletin we receive that shows a palm tree across
                                                                                                                                                                  ,_i
       Rev. Lanting, reporting `the completion of the catechism            the street from the chur&
work, found that the assistance given the catechumens  by                                   We have received, two bulletins from. Pella recently be-,
their parents was evident, and finds comfort in the Knowlton               cause. our Missionary is working in that .area at present. Rev.
                                                                     /
edge that their labors will bear much fruit.                                    Lubbers conducted a Holland language service on the after-
       Bulletin quote (Holland's, but appropriate in all our               noonof  April 24 .and.  drew some~twenty  .outsiders  who came
bulletins) : "All the societies have recessed for the summer               to hear a Dutch sermon. Rev. Lubbers ,also  gave a lecture
months. Let us, however, remember that~individual  as well                 -in Sully; Iowa. The topic was, %od's Unchangeable Mar-
as family study and meditation of the Scriptures and related               r i a g e   - O r d i n a n c e . "   - _

material should not cease, lest we become prey to the many                                  Bulletin quote (Holland's) : That which is often asked
temptations about us."                                       \             of God is not so much His Will and Way, as His approval

        Lynden's newest bulletin cover is a lithographed scene of          on OZ~Y  way.

a beautiful sunset reflected on a broad stream, with two trees                   ` I First Church's Sr. Mr. and Mrs..  Society held their an-
 silhouetted in the foreground.                                            -nual banquet in the church parlors May 11 and featured a
        The first Tuesday in May was the date of a combined                talk by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema on "The Christian and Secular
 meeting of South Holland and Oak Lawn Young People's                           Music."
 Societies in the Oak Lawn church. The program in?luded                    .                "0 give thanks unto the Lord ; for he is good : for his
a short talk by Rev. Heys and miscellaneous numbers~by  the                mercy endureth for ever." Psalm 118:29.  *
two societies. After the program the young people enjoyed

 refreshments and games.                                                                    . . . . see you in.church.                  .-                     J.M.F.


