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      VOLxTMJ3  .mv1                                 JULY 1, lbf3U .-  G R A N D  RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                . NUMBER 18



                                                                                  And the works of the flesh are manifest . . . They are all

                                                                               that-is contrary to the law. And the gospel of grace always

                                                                               conveys the warning that there is no room in the kingdom

                                                                               of God for the flesh and its works: "They that do such

                   THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT.  .- `-:                            things shall not inherit the kingdom of God:"

               But the fruit of the Spirit .is JOhe, `joy, peace,                 But the fruit of the Spirit . : . is the ve,ry opposite.       .
               longszt#ering,~  gentleness, goo&&s,  fqi@~,  meek2                Against that fruit of the Spirit of liberty there is no law.
               ness,  te9vLpernnce:  a.gainst  WL$Z  &4er&  -& n o   laze:     How could there be ? For the fruit of the Spirit is love.
                                                    Galatians 5 :22, 23        And  all the law is fulfilled in one word: Thou shalt love thy
                                                                               neighbbur as thyself !
     Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
 free, the liberty whereunto ye have been called by and                                                  *    * * *

through the Spirit of Pentecost, the indwelling Spirit of our

 Lord Jesus Christ!                                                               Not nine different, unrelated fruits does the apostle men-

  If thus ye stand, as being led of the Spirit, ye are not                     tion here. Nor simply a series of nine. orderly. fruits does he

.under  the law. That law can no more condemn you and.,'                       enumerate. But he speaks of fruit in the singular, a nine-
 curse you.       That law can no more doom you to the bondage                 fold fruit. And a careful examination' of this fruit as

 of sin and death. That law can no more function as a heavy i described in the text in connection with the context reveals

burden of outward constraints and compulsions which `it is ' you cannot at random change the order of these various

.impossible  for you to carry. Even when you experience ..) terms. There is a main idea in that fruit of the Spirit; and

that the flesh, your flesh, lusteth against the Spirit, and the               there is a particular order of development.

 Spirit against the flesh, and that these are contrary the one- :                 The fruit of the Spirit is, first of all, a love-fruit. And

 to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would i that love is characterized by joy and peace. This is the first

 (and, in fact, do the things that ye would not !) - even triad in the text. And `it is basic to all the rest. That fruit

 then stand in your liberty, and remember that, led by the                     which is essentially love manifests itself in the Christian

 Spirit of liberty, ye are not under the law!                                  virtue of longsuffering, which is in turn characterized by

   And remember too, 0 free child of the Spirit, that liberty                  "gentleness" and-  "goodness." These form the second triad

 and license are mutually exclusive! License means that you                    in the text. And, in the third place, that fruit. of the Spirit

 corrupt your liberty, make a mockery of it, and give free                     which is essentially love. and which, reveals itself as long-

 rein to the flesh and its works.` It means that you,care not                  suffering will. be manifest in the spiritual disposition of

 for the law and the precepts -of your God. It means that                      "faith," characterized by "meekness" and "temperance." But

 you indulge the flesh and its lust against the Spirit. Liberty the essence of the entire fruit is love.                             '

 means that the law is written in your heart,. and that from                      The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace.

 the inner principle of that love of God in your heart you                        And it could not be otherwise. God is love. And the

 find free and spontaneous delight in then precepts of your                    Spirit Who dwells in the church and in the `saints and Who

 God, that you find yourself impelled to do His will. It means                 leads them, the Spirit of liberty,~is  the Spirit of Christ. And

not that you care not .for the law, abut  rather that you medi-                the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of God. How, then, could

tate in God's law day and night and that you fulfill the law.                 `His fruit be, anything else than love? _

 Walk in the Spirit, walk in your liberty, and ye shall not                       True, the apostle has in mind love':. in its par.ticular

fulfill the lust of the flesh. Use not liberty for an occasion                 aspect of the love of the neighbor, and;: more particularly,

 to the flesh.             .                                                  the love of the brethren, of the fellow-saints. This is plain
     For then ye will do the works of the flesh.                              from the, context.~  But love of the neighbor is not a different             i


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          4          1      0                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


                          love. God is love. And love-all love- is of God. Fun-                  born of God.. Their love is the heart-action that arises out of

                          damentally love is always the same, whether it is'& love of            a spiritual bond of unity between souls that are spiritually

                     God to-Himself,  the love`of God to us, the love of us to God,              akin. In that love they rebuke one another's darkness and

                          or the love of God in us toward the neighbor. God is love ;            condemn the works of the flesh. In that love they seek to

                          and love is of God. But here the emphasis is on the ultimate,          draw one another always more and more into the light. They

                          concrete, practical manifestation of that love in the love of          delight not in sin ; but they have pleasure in the work of

                          the brethren as the fruit of the Spirit.                               God's grace and in the reflection of God's own love as they

                             Love is the bond of perfectness, the bond that unites-  in          behold it in one another.

                          the sphere of spiritual, ethical perfection. It implies, in the            That love is characterized by joy. Here too it is joy in

                          first place, that the subject of that love; the one who loves, is      one another that the apostle has in view. That joy is difficult

                          perfect. His heart and mind and soul are spiritually, ethically        to define. It emphasizes the spontaneous delight of that

                          perfect : true, righteous; holy. It implies, in the second place,      love. It means that we find delight in one another's fellow-

                          that this ethically perfect lover longs for, wills, has pleasure      ship, even as we have spontaneous delight in the same things,

                      in a perfect object, the one who is loved. There is no love                in the same Christ, the same gospel, the same salvation, the

                          in darkness, only hatred. Love requires a perfect subject              same precepts of our God. It is the joy of the psalmist who

                      and a perfect object. It implies, in the third place, that the             said.: "They  that fear thee will be glad when they-  see me,.

                      perfect subject is attracted to and attaches himself with all              because I have hoped in thy word."

                      his heart and mind and will to the perfect, object, to that                    And, of course, paired with that joy is peace, peace with

                     . which is perfect,, and, by the same token, abhors all that               one another;~ growing out of love. It is the opposite of war,

                          which is imperfect, all that is of sin and darkness. It means          the opposite of the will to destroy, the opposite of the will

                          that the perfect subject of that love at all times seeks, delights     to bite and devour and consume one another. How can you

                      in, longs for, breathes after, maintains, defends that which is            be war-minded against him whom you love? It is the relation

                      perfect, strives to manifest and realize it, and, by the same              of harmony and unity and agreement according to which one

                      token, condemns and hates all that which is-imperfect and of               always seeks and desires the good of the perfect object' of

                      the darkness. And love implies a bond, a mutual bond of                    his love. Or rather, it is the virtue of the heart that results

                      fellowship and delight between them that are perfect.                      in such a relation of harmony and unity.

                                 That love is eternally and unchangeably in God Triune:              Love, joy, peace-the fruit of the Spirit !

                          For God is love !, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are `united
                      in a mutual bond of divine friendship and love and seek and                                                 + * *    *
                          delight in one another in the sphere of infinite perfection.
                                                                                                     Yes, and. love wili  necessarily be manifest, especially as
                      That love is in God toward us from eternity through Christ
                           esus.    $Ie  first loved us ! For while that divine. love finds      iong as that object of our love, the fellow-saint, is only
                      J                                                                          principally perfect, as long as in him too the flesh wars against
                      us as the totally unfit object of love, finds us in -sin and
                                                                                                 the Spirit, so that he cannot do the things that he would - it
          ~          death and corruption, that is only because from eternity, by
                                                                                                 will be manifest in the fruit of longsuffering.
                      sovereign election, God Triune beholds us in Christ Jesus
                      as the perfect object and loves us. That same love, therefore,                 For love suffereth  long, and is kind.

                      is revealed and commended to us mthat  while we, were yet                  Longsuffering is passive. It implies that my imperfect

                      sinners,. Christ .died  for us. And we always taste that love,             brother causes me suffering, hurts me. And it means that .I

                      first of all, as God's love to us, revealed in His Son, and                bear long with him- not with his sin (for love cannot

                          shed abroad in our hearts by the Spirit that is gjven  unto            tolerate sin !); but with him, the brother. It means that I

                      us. Then we know that He loves us. That selfsame  love                     continue to love him in my heart because he is a brother, and,

                      we express as love to God too. We love Him, because He                     in fact, .especially  to love him at such a time.

                      first loved us. We love Him and delight in Him, seek Him                    Such ldngsuffering'will be-manifest in the fruit of "gentle-

                      and serve Him because He is God, the Perfect Object,                       ness, " crgoedertiel-enkeid,"     or kindness, the inner attitude of

                      righteous, just, holy, true, gracious, merciful, full of loving-           mind and heart according to which I am tenderly affectioned

                      kindness, altogether lovely. We love Him- with all the '                   toward the brother and will and desire his good, his salvation,

                      exertion of our heart, even as we find Him in humility and                 his repentance. It is the very opposite of the will to get even,

                      contrition of heart in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord. It               the will to get satisfaction, the will to humiliate and to hurt

                      becomes then our meat to do His will.                                      the brother. It will be manifest in what the text calls "good-
               -             Now `then, that love of God 7 such is the fruit .of the             ness." This is the virtue of beneficence or benevolence. Ac-
                                                                          `_
                    -`.. Spirit - is realized finally as love to one another. The saints         cording to it I actually do my brother good. I will to bestow

                    behold one another as those who have been conformed to the                   upon him actual, concrete benefits both materially and spirit-

                    image of God's Son. And thus-in  the sphere of perfection,                   ually. I seek his well-being. I will lay down my life for the

     -                in -the sphere of the light they know and seek and find and                brother. I speak to him words of light, and that too, in kind-

          _           desire and delight in one another. Subject and object are                  ness. I rebuke his darkness and his sin, not because he has


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D .   -BE*AREE:R-                                                                                                                                                                       411
                                                                                                                           -.- _ - -- --- --
                                                   .-.

 hurt my person, but out of. the desire to save him and to                   -

 walk in the light with him; that our love may be perfect.                                 .--.:-  T H E .   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                                    Sem&nionthlyi  except monthly during June, July and August
                            * *-*  `*                                                Published by the REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
                                                                                    P. 9. BOX 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
    But do not forget: the.  subject of that love here below is
                                                                                                                 Edit& - REV.  HERMAN HOEKSEMA
-imperfect too. In me also the flesh lusts against the Spirit,
                                                                                    Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
 so that I cannot do the things that I would. I cannot love                                     Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St:, S. E.,
                                                                                                .:
 as I would. I cannot be kindly affectioned as I would. I                                                            G r a n d   R a p i d s   7 ,   Mich.   .

 cannot do good as I would. The-biggest obstacle to that love                       All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
                                                                                                       James Dykstra, 1326 W. .Butler  Ave.,, S. E.
 is after all not in my imperfect brother, but in &~;tze!                                                                    Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
    The fruit of the Spirit . . . . is faith. Here that faith is                    Announcem&ts  and Obituaries must be mailed to th.e above
 not in relation to God but in relation to the saints. It is to                    " address and will be published at a fee of $2.66 for each notice.

 be taken in the sense of faithfulness, trustworthiness, depend-                    RENEWAL: Unless a de&rite  request'for  discontinuance is re-
                                                                                    ceived it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
 ableness, constancy. It emphasizes that love.does not forsake                             to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
 its object in time of difficulty. It does not leave the brother                                 `.               Subscription price:  $5.00 per year

in his sin, especially when that sin is against self:,`But it                              Record Class postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan

 remains constant and true in the hour of the deepest` need

 and ,the greatest difficulty. For that love is characterized by

 meekness, the ability to bear personal insult and revilement                                                                            C O N T E ' N T S   -

and smiting without being provoked and resentful. It is the                   MEDITATION  -
ability, in the knowledge that I am the chief of sinners, to                               The Fruit of the S&it . . . . . . . . . . .._.._.................... I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
                                                                                                       Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
 be trodden doyn as long as it' concerns only my I, my ego.

 It is the willingness to suffer everything in .regard  to my                 EDITOVS  -
 person, but not to budge or compromise an inch in the cause                               Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches, 1960 . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
                                                                                                       Rev. H. C.. Hoeksema
 of- the truth and the cause of righteousness and the cause of

 Christ., And paired with such meekness is temperance, self-                  OUR DOCTRINE -
 control-even of one's own carnal wrath, lust,--envy, revenge,                       `-    The Book of Revel&ion.. __.  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .:. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
 strife, contention in the face of provocation.                                                        -Rev. H. Hoeksema

     Against such like there is no law. For they ,are the ful-                A CLOUD OF WJTR-JESSES  -
 filling of the law.                                                                       Israel Before Pharaoh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l.................. I....... :...:...
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 .417

     And they are the fruit of the Spirit, that which He-surely                                        Rev. B. `Woudenberg

 produces in whosesoever heart He takes up His abode.                       FROM HOLY WFUT -
     They ari the fruit!                                                                   Exposition of I Corinthians 15 (8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . z . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
  And thus the exhortation follows : "If we live in the                                         R e v .   G..Lubbers

 Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."                                     INHISFEAR-

                                                                    H . C . H .            Interest upon The Principal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421

                                                                                                       Rev. J. A. Heys


                                                                              CONTENDING  FOR THE FAITEI-
                        A n n o u n c e m e n t                                            The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

                                                                                                       Rev. H. `Veldinair
    The Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches con- -                                                                                                                                                                    .

 vened in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on June'  3, 196p,  has                     THE VOICE  OF OUR FATHERS -

 examined brother Jason Kortering and declared the afore-  .-                              The         Canons                of Dordrecht  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._........._....  425
                                                                                                       Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
 mentioned brother a Candidate for the Ministry of the Word

 and Sacraments in the Protestant Reformed Churches.                          DECENCY AND &mm.  -                                                           .

     Candidate J. Kortering's  eligibility cominences  on July 3,                          The General Synod .: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
                                                                                                       R e v .   G .   Vanden   B e r g
  1960, one month after the completion of his praeparatoir

 examination. .                                                               ALLARouNDus-  -

                                    Stated Clerk of the Protestant                         Christian Reformed .Synod  Faces Nigerian Question Again.429
                                                                                           "Our Children Belong to God" . . . .._...__...................................  429
                             R e f o r m e d   C h u r c h e s .
          -                                                                                "Apartheid" -' Is It Really  Race "Discrimination"? .._......... 430

                                                                                                       R e v .   M .   Schipper  ;


                                                                              CONTRIBUTION                    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._. . .._...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431

                            N O T I C E   ~.                                                           Mr. Vernon Graeser

                                                                              NEWS         TROM .OUR                     C~onc~~s.  . . . . . . . . . . . . .._...........  .._.....  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I.......... 432
     As is customary, Ti'ze Standard Bearer will appear `only                                    M r .   J .   M .   F a b e r

 once a month during June, July, and August.



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



  17                                                                  Examination and Graduation and Theoldgical
               E D I-T 0 R-I A L S                                    S c h o o l   M a t t e r s
                                                                          The first order of business.this  year was the examination

                                                                      of Student Jason Kortering, who had finished his course at

    Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches                         our seminary.      His sample sermon on the assigned text of
                               1960                                   Isaiah 40:9, 10, having been preached and approved on
                                                                      Thursday morning, he was then examined on Thursday
         As these lines are written, our annual Synod has com-        afternoon .by Rev. H. Hoeksema in Dogmatics, New Testa-
  pleted its sessions and already belongs to the past.    -           ment exegesis, and confessions. This examination was con-

         It is our purpose to report the highlights of Synod's        tinued on Friday morning with the undersigned examining

  sessions, so that you need not wait until the appearance of         in Church Polity, Old Testament History, and Old Testa-

  the printed Acts to. obtain information as to the various deci-     ment Exegesis, and the Rev. C. Ha&o  conducting the exam-

  sions made, and at the same time to kindle your interest            ination in Practica.  It was a joyful moment for our new

  sufficiently to induce.you  to buy a copy of the Acts of 1960       candidate and for Synod when Mr. Kortering was informed

  when that. little book appears. ,Our efficient Stated Clerk,        that he was made a candidate for the ministry in our

  Rev. G. Vanden  Berg; will undoubtedly see to it that all           churches.'

  our consistories have a supply of copies for sale by early fall.        We interject the remark at this point, however, that we

  Make it a point to get a -copy ; you will not be disappointed.      should safeguard against making these examinations too

  In the meantime, here is our unofficial, preliminary report.        much of a mere formality. To this observer, the examina-

                                                                      tipns have been becoming less stringent and less thorough
  Organization                                                        through the years. And though perhaps any student would
  ~ Synod met this year at the First Protestant Reformed              claim that they are "rugged" enou_gh,  a little more time might
 Church of Grand Rapids. The president of the 1959 Synod,             well be allotted to the various subjects at future occasions.
  Rev. J. A. Heys, preached a fitting pre-synodical sermon on         The faculty may have a fairly good idea of the student's
  the Tuesday. evening before Synod convened, which sermon            abilities -after three years ; but the Synod itself must be con-
  will appear in full in the Acts. To this observer the size of       vinced that he is qualified for the ministry.
  the audience was disappointing, and almost disheartening.               Graduation exercises on the following Monday evening
  One almost receives the impression that in the minds of many        were witnessed by a goodly audience at our Hope Church.
  this service is meant only for the delegates and that there         Mr. Kortering spoke on "The Unity of the Church..`:' And the
  is not too much interest and "living along" as far as our                                                                  : ' `iThe
                                                                      rector's address. by the Rev. H. Hoeksema was on
  Synod is concerned. And this ought not to be. Synod is not          Minister of the Word." Once again we might join in thanks-
  a mere convention of delegates, but the broadest assembly of        giving that God has signally blessed our seminary. And our
  our Protest&t Reformed Churches, and as such should have            churches may look forward soon to having the "minister-
  the interest and intense concern of all our people.                 shortage" reduced by one. .May  God bless the candidate and

         As usual, the Wednesday morning session was, devoted         sobn give him a place in the ministry.

  to organization and division of labor. At this Synod the Rev.           As to the future of our school ? Next fall, the Lord

- C. Hanko-  functioned as our capable, and sometimes neces-          willing, MI-. Dave Engelsma will begin his seminary course.
  sarily longsuffering, chairman. The Rev. H. Veldman had,            And our school will return to the basement of First Church,

  by his own testimony, the easiest task, that of vice-president.     due to the fact. that Adams Street School will be in need

  And the Reverends M. Schipper  and J. A. Heys served as             of the room we have been using. However, it is easy to see

  clerks. Notably absent from the Classis  East delegation was        that we face a shortage of ministers for dome years to come,

  the Rev. G. Vos, who because of his heart condition was             and a shortage that may well become more severe before it

  not permitted to attend, and who was replaced by Rev. H.            becomes better. May the Lord incline the hearts of more of

  Hanko. And the Rev. H. H. Kuiper could not attend as                our young men to prepare for the ministry ! There is no

  delegate from Classis  West due to illness. Rev. R. C. Har-         more ,glorious  calling than that off the ministry ; and the

  bath  replaced him. Both of these brethren were remembered          candidate who graduates from our school is to be. envied in

  in prayer often during our sessions. For the rest, we had           the good sense of the word.      May our churches remember

  full delegations from both classes throughout eight days of         the school and its. labors in their prayers. And let us trust

  meeting, And these delegates labored diligently and unitedly,       that the Lord will provide also in this respect.

  as well as congenially. This was a pleasant Synod.

         Because the amount of work was large this year, espe-        Mission Matters
  cially due to a great number of committee reports, there were           Under this heading we note, first of all, that the churches

  four committees of pre-advice appointed. These went to              of Isabel and Forbes, who had already applied last year, were

  work Wednesday afternoon and prepared their reports to              received this year into our denomination. This was upon the

   guide Synod's deliberations.                                       advice of the Mission Committee after a year during which


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 4 1 3


various ministers served these churches for brief periods and        the right to vote and to discuss matters appealed from classis

at the same time investigated the field further. While all the       by the delegates of the classis concerned. In 1957 Synod

delegates were convinced that our Dakota brethren are one            had concerned itself with these problems in a concrete case.

with us in the -Reformed faith, all were not convinced as to         This year a study committee brought a divided report on the

the proper course to follow. After a thorough discussion,            protest. And Synod was involved in a lengthy discussion of

however, Synod. decided to receive them. The two churches            these reports. It is this reporter's candid opinion that as

were duly notified. And we are glad that they are with us.           far as the concrete case of 1957 is concerned Synod actually

The two little flocks hope to share one minister. May the            made no advance over the previous decision. And as far as

Lord bless .and prosper them spiritually.                            the related problems involved in `that case are concerned,

   Our home missionary, the Rev. G. Lubbers, was present             Synod decided nothing helpful. The problems are particularly

at Synod. And Synod also had reports of his activities dur-          acute because of bur two-classes system. But the interested

ing the past year. Of late he has been laboring in the Pella-        reader may study the reports and decisions in the Acts. It

Sully area in Iowa. And these labors will be continued at            remains, of course, to be seen whether the protestant is satis-

the discretion. of the Mission Committee. Let us all remember        fied by the decisions taken.

our missionary in prayer. His labors are often difficult, and

somewhat discouraging are. the results frequently. Our con-          Varia
fidence is that the Lord will surely maintain the cause of His          Last year an overture from Southeast's Consistory as to

<truth  and will gather and keep His church.                         the proper time for the baptism of adopted children was

   The third item of note under this heading is the decision         referred to's study committee. This year the report of this

of Synod to begin a "foreign mission" project by broadcasting        committee was considered, and Synod adopted the. general

from "The Voice of Tangiers," a station which reaches a              rule that adopted children shall be baptized only when their

goodly part of western Europe. Just.  when this broadcast            legal adoption shall have been made final. This rule was

will begin the undersigned does not know. It will be financed        adopted, I believe, in harmony with Southeast's overture, -

by our Foreign Mission Fund at a price that will consume             and on the grounds presented by them.

about all of the present fund for one year's broadcasts. But            An overture from First Church in regard to Article 69

we are told that the coverage is -well worth the price. This         of the Church Order, often misnamed the "hymn question,"

also gives our churches an' incentive, by the way, to con-           was also referred to a study committee last year. This study

tribute generously to the two foreign mission collections            `committee presented a lengthy and detailed report on the

which every congregation is supposed to take per year.         ~.    hymn question, and concluded with a suggested revision of

   Under the heading of Mission Matters we may also men-             Article 69. Synod, however, was not satisfied as to the
tion the Foreign Mission Study Report which was before               details of this  reformulation, nor ready to adopt it without
Synod again this year.     No conclusion was reached in this         good grounds and a clear understanding of its implications.
matter. Various principles and distinctions were discussed,          Hence, the matter was returned to the study committee.
and the report `was given to a new study committee, which is         There seems to have been a good deal of fear, especially in
to report next year.                                                 the west, about this matter. Personally, I think these fears
                                                                     are a bit groundless and based on misunderstanding. None

                                                                     of our churches are ready `for hymns in the ordinary sense
Matters of Church Order
                                                                     of. the word. And I think if the suggested reformulation in
   A matter of major interest in this connection is the fact
                                                                     its reference to "faithful versifications  of Scripture" is clari-
that a project of several years' duration has now been
                                                                     fied next year, we will discover that this is nothing new for
finished. Our Church Order manual has been re-edited
                                                                     our churches, but something on which we have worked in
(not revised),    and the various rules and regulations
                                                                     the past in connection with the Psalter-revision project. And
appended to some of the articles, as well as the rules gov-
                                                                     then we can come to unity of opinion too. Meanwhile, I sug-
erning synod and its committees,- have been brought up to
                                                                     gest that some discussion of this matter in our Standard
date as much as possible.       We may also note that the
                                                                     Bearer would not be amiss if conducted in a calm spirit.
Declaration of Principles in its corrected form. will appear in
this new edition. Many -of our members and especially our             Synod adopted, upon overture from Doon, a new subsidy
officebearershave expressed a desire for copies of the Church        form, one which should clear up many of the difficulties of
Order. And this valuable little book will soon make its ap-          the past in connection with the information given with sub-
pearance. Be sure to procure a copy!                                 sidy requests. The form is not involved. But let our con-
                                                                     sistories take a little time to fill it out accurately. Synod is
    Under this heading we may also mention the protest of
                                                                     rather far removed from the consistories, and cannot do much
Rev. G. Vanden  Berg against an action of Synod in 1957:
                                                                     with misinformation. It is up to' each consistory to justify
This protest was of a couple years' standing, and it had been
                                                                     its own subsidy request clearly.
committed to a study committee. We cannot enter into all
the details in this brief report. Suffice it to say that the case        While we are on financial matters anyway, we may also

concerned some rather knotty problems in connection with                                  (Continued on page 428)


414                                                 T H E   STAND,ARD   B E A R E R


                                                                             very appearance. They have come forth out of the temple of
        O U R   D O C T R I N E                                               God, which  is filled with the smoke of His holiness, ready
                                                                             -to fill all the earth and to reveal itself as wrath over the

                                                                              ungodly and oppressors of His people. And in their hands

              THE BOOK OF REVELATION                                         ' they hold seven vials, or bowls, filled with the wrath of God.

                                                                              When these shall have been poured out, God's wrath shall
                              P A R T   T W O                                 have been spent, and all is finished. This is indicated by the

                                                                              number seven, symbolic of completeness with a view to the
                           CHAPTERFOURTEEN
                                                                              coming of the kingdom in this dispensation. But this was
                                                            -
                          The First  Few l&ls                                also directly stated by John when he says that in these is

                                                                              finished the wrath of God. And this does not mean that the

                            R e v e l a t i o n   16:1-9                      wrath of God is finished in these seven plagues with a view

                                                                             to eternity,.but  that this dispensation shall have been finished.
              1.     And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying       The power that opposes the -kingdom of `God shall forever
              to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the             have been destroyed, and the way is open for the-descent of
              vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.                       the city of our God upon the new earth.

              2. And the first`went,  and poured out his -vial  upon           `- We found, in the second place, that these singers are in-
              the earth;  and there fell a noisome and grievous sore          dicated as those that have not worshipped the beast and his

              upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and               image, but that they have been victorious. First of all, by.

              upon them which' worshipped his image.                          these that are mentioned in this section are indicated those

                                                                              that have lived in the time. of the greatest and most powerful
              3. And the second angel poured out his vial upon the            manifestation of Antichrist. They have fought the battle at
              sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and
                                                                              its very climax. They were deem&  worthy to belong to the
              every living soul died in the sea.
 .                                                                            picked, or -selected, forces of Christ. They. are also un-

              4. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the             doubtedly worthy of receiving double honor and of being

              rivers `and fountains of waters; and they became as             capable of occupying a special place in the new temple of

              blood..                                                         God. But they are not the only ones. For, in the first place,

                                                                              the power of Antichrist rages throughout the ages, be it not
              5. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art            in that form and with that power as it shall be revealed in
              righteous, 0 Lord, which art; and wast,  and shalt `be,
                                                                              the-last time. In the second place, and for-that reason, the
              because thou hast judged thus.
                                                                              battle is in principle the same throughout the ages, not only

              6.     For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,     in the new dispensation but even in the old. And therefore

              and thou hast gi?&  them blood-to drink; for they are           God's people of all ages fight in principle against the beast.

              worthy.                                                         And finally, the subjective longing of all the children of God

                                                                              is for this day of the Lord, in the which He may destroy the
              `7.    And I ,heard  another out of the altar say, Even so,
                                                                              enemies and establish His kingdom in glory, forever. And
              Lord God Almighty, true and righteous. are thy- judg-
                                                                              therefore, all believers here stand at the crystal sea, which is
              ments.
                                                                              symbolic of the glory and holiness of God, now reflecting the

              8.     And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the        wrath of the Almighty, and of which the Red Sea was a type.

              sm;  and power was given unto him to scorch men with               In the third place, we had our attention called to the song
              fire. .
                                                    : .                       itself. It was the song of Moses and of the Lamb. .We found

                                                                              that this does not indicate two songs, but only `one., It is-
              9. And men were scorched with great heat, and blas-
                                                                              the one song, and also the one -multitude that sings this
              phemed the name of God,-which  hath power over these

              plagues: and they-repented not to. give him glory.              song, the song. of Moses being typical of and .essentially  the

                                                                              same as the song of the Lamb. And we found in it but an-

       It will now be plain that chapters 15 and 16 belong to-                other indication that in eternity. there `shall. not be two

gether, and that chapter 15  constitutes a mighty prelude to                  forces and two kinds of people of God, but one multitude,

the events pictured in the sixteenth chapter of our book.                     singing one and the same song, the song of Moses and of

There we found mention of the song of Moses and of the                        the Lamb. Moses is the type of Christ. I He is the mediator

Lamb. r We found that this song was sung at the occasion of                   of the old dispensation. He led his people out of bondage ;

the eve of the pouring out of the seven `last' plagues. Seven                 so did Christ. He was pursued by the enemy; so are

angels stand in battle array; ready to receive the .command                   Christ and His people pursued by the enemy of God's king-

out of the temple to go and pour out the last of the plagues                  dom. He led his people through the sea of salvation, and of

of God. They are brilliantly arrayed with costly, precious                   wrath at the same time, `that is, the Red Sea ; so does Christ

stones ; and there is a reflection of the holiness of God in their            finally cause His people to be delivered through the sea of


                                                            . . .,'

                                                      .

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


     the wrath of God that completely destroys the enemy and                interpreters tell us in. all seriousness and sincerity that we

      that is symbolized in the sea of glass. Moses, finally, taught        have here a prophecy of the victory of Napoleon in the

      his people to `sing a song of deliverance and glory and tri-          regions of the Alps over the enemy at the very rivers of

     umph ; so does Christ teach `His people to sing of victory, to         Switzerland, turning its rivers into blood by the many slain

      the glory of God. It is a song all of God, a song extolling           ones, his victorious entry into Rome, and the subjection of

      the glory and holiness, the righteousness and the. truth and.         the pope. Or, `it represents the corruption of the sources of

      justice of God as having become manifest in all His works             life and thought in the spiritual sense of the word. And so,

      and ways.. _                                                          finally, the fourth vial is interpreted in different ways. It is

         Now the command goes forth to the angels to pour out               poured out upon the sun. That sun is Napoleon, who receives
      the bowls into the earth. Even though the angels have al-             power to scorch the nations of Europe by his military genius
      ready received their vials .of wrath, they must still wait for        and becomes a veritable plague to all peoples of the con-
      the command from the temple. For everything proceeds                  tinent. Or it is Christ, scorching those that reject His name
      orderly even in the pouring out of the wrath' of God, and             with the fire of His wrath.

      only at the exact moment may God's judgment begin. And                    Such, and'other  interpretations, have been given of these

      therefore we are now called to discuss the .seven  last vials         firsts.  four vials. But we cannot agree with this method of

      of the wrath of God. Four of these are mentioned in the               interpretation of the book of Revelation. In the first-place, as

      passage we are now discussing.                                        `we have remarked time and again, we must not take anything

         In regard to the general character of these first four             in the spiritual sense unless the book plainly indicates such.

      vials, or bowls, I want `to call your attention, first of all; to     That the beastthat rises out of the earth is not a real animal,

      the fact that we must not fall into the rut of false spiritualiza-    but something extraordinary, to be interpreted in the sym-

      tion and allegorization of the text. As with many portions            bolical sense of the word, is something that needs no argn-

      of the book of Revelation, so -also with this part this has           ment.  Everyone admits that this is so. Its appearance, as

      been done -by many. There are `those that allegorize prac-            well as all that he does, plainly indicates this. ,That  the

      tically every element of the text and give it a spiritual mean-       harvest in chapter 14 is not a real harvest of grain and

     ing. When the text speaks of the earth, it has a' different            grapes is also beyond dispute.- The book indicates very

      significance than the literal meaning. When it speaks of the          clearly when we must think of symbolism and spiritualiza-

      sore boils, it means something spiritual. .When  it speaks of         tion. But surely that is not the case here. Our text speaks

      the sea, it refers to the sea of nations. And the rivers and          of the pouring out of the vials upon the earth, into the sea,

      fountains of water are spiritual rivers and spiritual fountains.      and into-the rivers and fountains of waters without anything

      When we read that the first vial is poured out upon the               else. It telfs us that the fourth angel pours his vial upon the

      earth and causes a sore boil on those who worshipped the              sun, and that the effect is that the sun increases terribly in

      beast and his image, there are interpreters who inform us             heat, so that it scorches men. And there is absolutely no in-

      that this is a spiritual boil, a sore of the mind `and of the         dication that we must or may interpret them in the spiritual

\     heart, caused by the dissatisfaction that naturally. follows all      sense. If nevertheless we attempt to do so without any in-
      the service of idols, the sad disenchantment of all idolaters.        dication and *guide  from the text, the question immediately

      Or, according to others, who can follow the book-of Revela-           arises as to which interpretation is the correct one. Are the

     tion and trace it page after page in the .history of mankind           rivers and fountains of waters springs of life and thought?

      in chronological order, it refers to the sore of infidelity that      Is the sore boil a symbol of the corruption of the church ? Or

      had been festering for a long time, but that ripened under            _ is it the sore boil of infidelity ? Is the sun Napoleon, ori

      the influence of such men- as Paine, Voltaire, and Rousseau,          Christ, or .perhaps something else ? And who will answer

      and. finally broke out `in the terrible French Revolution. Or         these questions? The result is that we leave the book and

      it is made to mean the corruption of the church just before           its interpretation in. despair,    deeply dissatisfied and quite

      the Reformation. The second angel pours out his vial into             convinced-that we have not hit upon the right interpretation,

      the sea, which means, of course, naval battles, coloring the          leaving it to the future perhaps - perhaps even to eternity -

     sea red with the blood of the slain, turning the ocean into            to unveil the hidden depths that here are concealed from our

      blood. And then it is made to refer especially to the naval           eye. So much as to the false allegorization of the text. And ~

      battles that were fought between Protestant England and the           as to' the historical interpretation, we have partly the-same

      Catholic countries of the continent between 1793 and 1815,            objection. Who will tell us exactly what period of history

      resulting in the defeat of the Catholic naval powers and the          is represented by each -plague ? Is it the period of the

      victory of the Protestant one. Or, since the sea is the symbol        Reformation ? Or is it that of the French Revolution ? And,

      of nations' and tongues and tribes, the second vial is inter-         in the second place, it is entirely against the plain indication

      preted as referring in general to the disintegration of the           of the significance of the seven vials themselves. For we are

     papal power and the shaking off of the yoke of the pope by             plainly told that in these the wrath ,of God is finished. Each

      many kings and powers. in Europe. The third angel pours               of these seven vials must pour out the wrath of God upon

      out his vial upon the.  rivers and fountains of waters. And           a certain sphere. And although the wrath, of God is not

                                                                               . -
                                                                                                                                          _ -

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


 finished to the full in each of them separately, yet it is cer-       of these vials. Do not say that we have arbitrarily separated
 tainly complete with a view to the sphere -in: which it is            them from the rest: for that is not the case. It is very plain
 poured out. But -what completion is there in the naval                that there is a difference between the first four and the rest.
 battles of 1793 to- 1815 ? Did that color the entire sea, so          -The first- four all relate to different spheres of nature : the
 that every living creature in it died ? Or were they perhaps          earth, the sea, the rivers and fountains of waters, the sun in
 the'last naval battles that were ever fought, so that the sea         the heavens are all affected by these first four vials. And
 is never colored again ? History of a later date reveals to           they all form a part-of nature. But the fifth.vial  is poured out
 us a radically different picture. If the sore boil that breaks        upon the throne. of the beast. The sixth prepares the battle
 out with the first vial is the sore of infidelity breaking out in     of Armageddon. And the seventh is indeed poured out in
 the French Revolution, is it true then that there were never          the air, but is universal in its effect. And therefore we have
 such vials poured out again ? Was it the last of its kind ?           here a group of four. Four is the number of the world as
 Was the wrath of God finished in that sphere? And if the              creation. And it is creation that is-here immediately affected.
 third vial represents the battles of Napoleon fought over the         Then, as we have said before, there is absolutely no reason
 rivers of Switzerland, is.it true that it was the last battle of      to. take the terms eartlz  and ica, &)ers  md foztntains  of
 the kind? And did not God pour out these vials repeatedly             waters, and SUN  in a symbolic sense, since there is nothing
 in history ? If the sun is Napoleon, are there then not many          in the text that warrants such an interpretation. And finally,
 of these. suns in later history ? Indeed such interpretations         there is an unmistakable correspondence between the first
 of the Word of God'can hardly be taken seriously, and they            four vials and the first four trumpets. The first trumpet
 lead ,us to hopeless confusion.                                       affects the earth ; so does the first vial. The second trumpet

    And therefore we maintain that the first four vials refer          affects the sea ; so does the second vial. The third trumpet
 to natural phenomena - natural not in the sense that they             affects the rivers and fountains of waters; `so does the third
 shall not be extraordinary in measure and scope, for they             vial. The fourth trumpet affects the heavenly luminaries ; so
 surely shall -be. But they are natural in this sense, that they       does the fourth vial. And .since,  `as we proved at that time,
 all affect a sphere of nature. In other words, we take this           the first four trumpets all relate to phenomena in nature,
 portion in the literal sense of the word. Of course, there is         so it is also the case with the first four vials. And therefore,
 symbolism in the picture. John beholds a vision. And in               once more : the earth is the earth,- the sea is the-  sea, the
 one vision he beholds mighty things, things that will perhaps         rivers and fountains of waters are exactly as indicated, and
 take years to be accomplished and completed. The vial is              the sun is the heavenly luminary as. we know it.. The first
 naturally symbolic. No one of us will imagine that in the             four vials, therefore, represent the plagues of God in nature.
 end of time it will be possible that God pours His wrath              And then, of course,. these various spheres of nature as they
 into seven vials in the literal sense of the word and has them        affect in turn the world of man.                              * H.H.

 poured out upon the wicked world. Wrath is not a-substance,

 and therefore cannot be poured out. No one is there that

-does  not understand this. But for the rest, we may safely                                        IN MEMORIAM

 take the portion in as literal a sense as possible and as                On May 30, 1960:  it pleased our heavenly Father to take unto
 referring to- phenomena `in nature. In the first place, we may        Himself our dear wife, mother and grandmother,

 never forget that it is. necessary that by the seven last                                  ?VlRS.   E D W A R D   B Y L S M A

plagues creation is affected. The earth and the sea, the               at the age of 81 years..

 rivers and fountains of waters, yea,' even the sun in its effect         May the God of all consolation comfort our hearts in these days

' upon the earth, belong to the kingdom which God originally           of sorrow and direct our eyes to the glorious resurrection.-
                                                                                                           Mr. Edward Bylsma
 created with man as its head. And even though man became                                                  Mr. and Mrs. George Spruyt
 a subject of the kingdom of Satan, he yet knew in part how                                                Mr. and Mrs. John Bertelds
to subject the powers of the world to be subject unto his ends.                                            Mr. and Mrs. Adrian Griffioen
                                                                                                           Mr. and Mrs. Ralph H. Meyer
And therefore, also that, world must be subjected to the                                                   Mr. and Mrs. Gerard E. Bylsma

 plagues .of God. In the second place;as  we have pointed out                                              Mr. and Mrs. George DeVries
                                                                                                           22 grandchildren and
before, it is on that creation, on the earth and the sea and                                               18 great-grandchildren

 the rivers and fountains .of water, that man is absolutely

 dependent. It is through them that God reaches man. It is                                         IN MEMORIAM

through all kinds of agencies that God reaches the health of              The Eunice Society of the First Protestant Reformed Church of

man and sends unto him sickness and disease.                ,It' is    Grand Rapids wishes to express its sincere sympathy to three of our
                                                                       members, Mrs. George Spruyt, Mrs. Ralph Meyer and,Mrs.  George
 through affecting the atmosphere and the heat of the sun              De Vries, in the recent loss of their mother
that God sends scarcity and famine. And thus God controls                                   MRS. EDWARD BYLSMA

 the history of the world also through affecting the various              Psalm  116:15:  "`Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of
 spheres of nature. In the third place, this is! a-plain in&a-         His saints."
                                                                                                               Mrs. D. Jonker, President
 tion of the text. First of all, let us notice that there are four                                             Mrs. .H. Velthouse, Secretary


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   :                                           4 1 7


                                                                        .tion of their fathers, to keep sheep and cattle and to continue
 11 `4 CLOUD OF W,lTNESSES /I                                            to live as shepherds. It is remarkable how that throughout
                                                                        the old dispensation, from Abel to David and even to the

                                                                         shepherds on the .fields of Ephratah, the covenant people of
                  Israel Before Pharaoh
                                                                         God were. always closely identified with the keepers of sheep
         Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and

      my brethren, and theil, flocks, and their herds,  and all that    and cattle. God had a purpose in causing it to be so. The
      they Aaue,  are come out of the land of Canaan; and behold,       shepherd is a nomad who in his wandering serves ,as a figure
      they are in the land. of-Goshen.  - And .he took some of his
      brethren, even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh . . .    of the beiiever's pilgrim journey upon the earth. Even more,
      And Joseph brought in Jacob- his father, and set him before       it kept the people of God in close familiarity with the animals
      Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.        GENESIS 47:1,  2, 7
   There were seventy souls of the household of Jacob which             whose sacrifice filled such an -important. part in prefiguring
 came from the land of Canaan to sojourn in Egypt. The                  the bloody death of Jesus Christ upon Calvary. Joseph
number seventy here undoubtedly has special significance                seemed to sense the importance of his brethren maintaining
 ordained by the counsel of God and brought about by His                this manner of life even while sojourning in`Egypt,  a land not
providence. It is the product of seven multiplied by ten.               generally adapted to the keeping of cattle and sheep.. More-
 Seven is the number used in Scripture to symbolize the cov-            over, in continuing to live as shepherds, the children of Israel
 enant.  of God. Ten is the number of completeness. The                 would erect a natural defense against the dangers that threat-
number seventy in this connection, therefore, symbolizes the            ened them in this new land. It would serve to prevent them
complete covenant people of God. This is precisely what                 from making close social ties with the Egyptians,- for the
Jacob's family was.    It, in distinction from all of the other         shepherd was an abomination to the Egyptians. The Egyp-
nations of the earth, was chosen to be the peculiar people of           tians considered a keeper.of livestock to be on the lowest level
God, to partake of His- covenant, and to live in communion              of society, and, if the Israelites would continue to care for
of life with Him. It was now that family which had been                 their herds, the Egyptians would consequently make little
brought, according to the counsel of God, to sojourn in the             effort to mingle with them or intermarry. This had been their
land of Egypt. Once.the reunion of Joseph with his family was           greatest danger in Canaan, and it could thus be prevented in
complete, Joseph began to set forth his plans for their future.         Egypt. Again, it would prevent them from becoming overly
It was not to be thought that;  with the immigration of Jacob's         attached to the land as such. Quite naturally a shepherd in his
family to Egypt, all of their problems were immediately                 wandering does not form the attachment to particular plots of
cared for. `True, the famine was for them no more a cause               .land  as, for example, a farmer does to the piece of land which

for concern ; but there were now some new and grave dangers             he works. Thus~  the Israelites would be the more ready to
which had to be avoided. In the first place, care had to be             leave Egypt when the time of their sojourn was ended. Finally,

taken that the children of Israel did not become separated              it would necessitate their dwelling in Goshen,  the only portion,

from each other, scattered through the land of Egypt. They              of Egypt adapted to .the keeping of extensive herds of cattle,
were still a peculiar. people distinct from all other nations of        and the advantages of that would be many. First, Goshen
the earth. It was necessary for them to maintain the unity              wason the outer fringes of Egypt and inhabited by an alien
of life and communion of saints which is always becoming                people. By settling there the children of Israel would not
to the khildren  of God. In the second place, the danger had            be infringing upon the .rights  of the Egyptian people. Sec-
to be avoided of developing permanent attachments to Egypt.             ondly, there was a natural boundary between Goshen  and the

God had given His approval to their immigration, but only               rest of Egypt. Kept there by their occupation, the Israelites

as a temporary measure.. They might not remain there for-               would not be inclined to drift into other parts of Egypt.
ever. Canaan was still the promised land, and only in                   Finally, it was the portion of Egypt closest to the land of

Canaan could the final blessing of their nation be re-                  Canaan. Travelers from Canaan would constantly be passing
alized. To that land of' promise they had to return: Finally,           by them reminding them of their promised inheritance, and,
it was necessary for them to keep, themselves free from                 when the time came for them to return, they would not be
contamination by the spiritual corruptions. of Egypt. Al-               required to cross over other portions of Egypt. These various
though there were undoubtedly a number of Egyptians that                considerations all served to crystallize Joseph's plans for the
had been brought to conversion by the witness of Joseph,                future very clearly.

such as Joseph's wife, Pharaoh, the steward of Joseph's                   Still it was necessary before Joseph's .plan could be car-
house, and others, the Egyptian people generally formed a               ried out that he obtain permission from Pharaoh. Neither
very wicked nation. They were a highly civilized nation,' and,          must we think that this was a mere technicality.a  We are apt
for that very reason, their sins were very subtle and appeal-           to think sometimes that because in the past Pharaoh had

ing. The children of Israel could not afford to become very             given so much power into the hands of Joseph, he must have

closely associated with them or to allow `themselves to be              himseif been a rather weak and poor king. Actually the-op-

influenced by them.                                                     posite was true. It is the nature of a weak king to keep all

   Within the mind of. Joseph the conviction had arisen                 of his power jealously to himself, wielding it whimsically to
,that  his family had to be maintained in the hereditary o&upa-         serve his personal desire. It was a sign of greatness on the


4 1 8                                        :  T H E   STA'NDA.RD   B ' E A R E R


 part of Pharaoh that he recognized the even greater wisdom            is something extremely affecting about that meeting between
      with which God had blessed Joseph and.delegated  sufficient      those two. Each spoke to the other from a position of per-
 authority to him to enable him to use his ability fully in the        .sonal  dignity,, but with deepest respect for the other. The
      serving of the nation. But by the same measure we may be         attachment which they felt for each other was immediate and
      sure that he watched over Joseph carefully that he did not       real, for they shared together a paternal affection for the
      subject his power to misuse. Moreover, because Joseph was        person of the same son. To Pharaoh, Joseph was the young
 a prudent and faithful servant, he was not willing to pursue          man whom he had lifted out of prison unto a position of

 personal plan for himself and his family without gaining full         highest power and glory, and of this exaltation Joseph had
 approval from Pharaoh.                                                proved himself more than worthy. To Jacob,, Joseph was

 -       With great care Joseph instructed his brothers so that        the seed of his own loins and the son of the wife that he
 they might properly make their need known before Pharaoh.             loved, and to him also Joseph had ever shown a most favor:
 It was important that they should not appear before Pharaoh           able response of love. Moreover, the relationship that both
 as rough and crude men merely trying to gain what was best            had maintained toward Joseph was of the deepest spiritual
 for themselves.: They should come, rather, in an attitude of          kind. From the earliest years Jacob had instructed his son
 humble gratitude for the privilege that Pharaoh had given             in the truth that had been given to him from God, and had
 them to dwell in his land and manifesting an honest concern           always rejoiced -in the willingness of Joseph to learn., For
 for what would be best for the E,qptians  as well as for              many years they had shared. together their deepest spiritual
 themselves. Carefully he advised- them, "I will go up, and            love. And the relationship between Pharaoh and Joseph had
      shew Pharaoh, and say unto him, My, brethren, and my             been much the'same,  just that Joseph had been the teacher
 father's house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come            and Pharaoh the one that learned. Howe  many hours and
 unto me ; and the men are shepherds, for their trade hath             days they had spent together like this we can only imagine ;
      been to feed cattle ; and they have brought their flocks, and    but it was sufficient to arouse within'pharaoh  a. deep respect
 their herds, and all that they have. And it shall come to pass,       for the people of God. Now that these two men, sharing
 when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your              together a mutual love, met and talked together, we might
 occupation ? that ye shall `say, Thy servants' trade hath been        wish that their full conversation were recorded for us. Surely
 about cattle from our youth even until. nowi'both  we, and            they had much in common.

 also our fathers : that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen  ;             Nevertheless, no sooner did the two.meet  than it became

 for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians."             immediately evident whose dignity was the greater. Pharaoh

 Thereupon Joseph` selected the five brothers best capable of          was the head of a great and mighty nation ; Jacob was the

 presenting their case to Pharaoh and brought them to the              head of .the covenant people of God: It speaks well, once

 king. As Joseph had said, it was not long before Pharaoh in-          again, for Pharaoh that he immediately recognized himself

 quired' concerning their occupation. Bearing in mind the              as a mere child in faith. when compared to this great

 instructions of their brother, they answered, "Thy servants           .patriarch  of so many years of experience in the matters of

 are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers." Humbly they            the living God: With humble gratitude he bowed his head

 stated their request, "For to sojourn in the land are we              to receive through the patriarch the blessing' of his Almighty

 come: for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks; for          God. Finally, after gazing upon the years of experience

 the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we           `written across the face of the patriarch, himself having grown

 pray thee; let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen."             in a land where people died much younger, he could only in-

 Pharaoh did not give' them an immediate reply. He waited              quire in frank wondermentj  "HOW old art thou?" The answer
 kvidently  to give to their request careful consideration. Only       of Jacob shall ever live on as a classical example of self- "

 then did he call Joseph to tell him, "Thy father and thv              evaluation,. "The.  days of the years of my pilgrimage are an

 brethren are come unto thee : Tie  -land of Egypt is before           hundred and thirty years': few and evil have the days of the

 thee ; `in the best of the land make thy father and brethren          years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of

 to dwell ; in the land of Goshen  let them dwell : and if thou        the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrim-

 .knowest  any man of activity among t:lem,  then make them            age." Jacob was not complaining, nor-did he hold the least

 rulers over my cattle." Pharaoh was well pleased with' the            spirit of discontent. Honestly he evaluated his life. He had not

 plan .which had been suggested. Not only did it give him              attained to the years of his fathers, but during his life he had

 opportunity to repay Joseph in a small way for all. that .he          experienced very much in the way of sin and evil. He had

 -had  done, but it allowed him to do so without causing undue         nothing wherein to boast. He anticipated the thought of the

 tension among his own people. According to the counsel of             Psalmist, "The days of our years are threescore years and

 God, Israel was brought for an extended and most significant          ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years,.yet

 sojourn in the land of Egypt, one which would-have a great            is their strength -1abour  and sorrow; for it is soon cut off

 effect on the future history of His chosen peopie.                    and we fly away" (Ps. 90 :lO)  .         I

         Once the family was fairly settled in the land of Goshen,         Giving Fharaoh once more his blessing, Jacob turned

 Joseph brought also -his father to meet with Pharaoh. There           from him and. departed,                                  B . W .


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D '   B E A R E R                                                   412


                                                                      Hence, .a transformation is imperative. A change must

      F R O M   .HOLY  WRIT                                           come! But shall this come to pass then the present body
                                                                      must -die~.andIbe~made  alive. This does not mean that the

                                                                      same form shall return. No, the body shall be made alive.

           Exposition of E Corinthians 15                             All death shall be destroyed in it. But it must die in order
                                                                      to live. The grave is necessary. It is not a necessary evil.
                               V I I I .                              We do not refzbrn  from the dead but we pass through death !
                                                                                                                                 .
                    (I Corinthians 15 :35-38)                         And this is-necessary. _

                                                                         This is the simple yet tremendously profound lesson
                                  b.                                  which we can learn in our own garden, if only we have eyes

   We now come to the discussion of the particular elements           to see it. True, this is something which we can only see now

taught by Paul in this passage concerning the ?tia%ner of the         that the Word has become flesh and dwelt among us. He,

resurrection from the dead.                                           suffered and died ! And he pointed out to us this central

   We have noticed in the former essay that Paul is an-.              fact of his labors, bringing forth as a good scribe things old

swering the skeptic, and that he does this not .on the basis of       and new from the treasures of the kingdom. Take notice of

unbelief, but rather on the basis of faith in the revelation of       this, dear reader! Observe this mighty fact with believing

God in Christ as well as the revelation of God in all of the          eyes! _

works. of His hands.                                                     More of this -will be said when we come to the verses

   One aspect of the lesson concerning the resurrection of            39-49.

the dead that was noticed.is  that every plant in creation lives         The second element to which we here call attention is

only because in a certain sense it has died. Jesus points out         one upon .which we have reflected somewhat in our former

this lesson concerning his 0w.n death and resurrection in             essay. It is the fact, that in this .transformation,  whether this
John 12 :24-26 where he says: "Verily, verily, -1 say unto            be in the plant. world of creation, or whether this be in the

you, except a grain of wheat fall into the ,earth  and it die,        final resurrection of the saints, or the final renewal of all

it abideth by itself alone, but if it die it beareth much fruit.,'    things, is not simply a matter of natawat  process, but that it

    Such was the truth which Paul enunciates here when he             is most eminently an act of God's will!

says, "Thou fool, that which thou sowest  is not. quickened              In all of its transformation it is nothing but what God

except it die.:' That is the lesson concerning the resurrection       giv&s it. It is quite evident that the text does not merely-

of the dead and the transformation of all things as increated         state' that God works it, brings it about, but that emphasis

into every plant that groweth~upon  the face of all the earth.        is placed upon the fact that whatever the plant receives is

It is a universal law. The truth of the resurrection stares one       God's particular gi;ft to it. That is true of every plant. The

in the face on every hand !                                           thing made cannot ever say to its Maker, why hast thou made

However, the text teaches us more!                                    me thus ? It is God's sovereignly determined gift to each

   Paul also teaches us three elements concerning this trans-         plant, each creature ! `And that should be the' rock-bottom

formation through the death of -that  which- is sowed, be it          comfort. for us, .his children, when we think of this our

wheat or some other ~grain.                                           present body in the. light of the' hope of being clothed upon

   The first element is that .what  is sown is not the body           f r o m   a b o v e .

tha't  shall be. It is merely bare grain that is sown. Now this          Thus also is the ,resurrection  body. Our present body
grain may be wheat or some other grain. This is true `of              which we received from our mother's womb is a gift of God.

whatever is `sown.      It is ever simply bare grain. Nothing         It is as he willed it. It is the body which is ours and which

more. The body which shall be. comes to manifestation and             shall remain ours to eternity- just as is the case with our

comes forth from this bare grain through its dying. And               .soul. The body is not merely something temporary and

unless it die there shall not be a tr&zsformation  into the body      transient. It is a part of our very nature. And when presently.

which shatl be !                                                      we receive the resurrection body it will be simply as God
    Now this we ought to-underscore just a bit. If one leaves         willed it. It is not a mere process of nature, but it is. an

wheat in the bin in the granery it simply remains as it. is.          efficacious, recreative ,act of God.

It may eventually perish. But shall it continue to live and              That too is the end of all contradiction to faith. For if

remain living wheat then it `must be sown, and thus it will           it is an act of the sovereign God who raises the dead to live

die in order to live. This -is what any farmer knows. He              and calls the things that are not as if they were, then the

knows that if seed grows too old it will simply be'left alone         skeptic is as he is because he will- not believe in God: The

and perish. It will be good for nothing finally. But if it be         articles of faith concerning the resurrection of the body is

sown and die then it is transformed into a new organism and           faith in God the Father, and-in  God the Son, and in God

lives and bears much fruit.                                           the Holy Spirit. He who denies that God is the creator, who

    Thus also the resurrection of the body. The body must             upholds and rules all .things  by His counsel and providence,

die; Flesh and .blood  cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven.          must needs deny that this same ~God  gives .a body to each
                                                                                .


420                                          -    T    H    E         STANDA,RD          B    E    A    R    E    R         t


creature as He wills, and that He will give to each man a                   stance. It is not immaterial. This must be true of the body

body in the resurrection as he wills!                                       whether this be in earthy form or whether it be in the form

       The third element to which Paul calls attention is that              of the heavenly. Secondly, the body of man has a certain

Godgives to "every seed his own body."                                      form. God for+%ed  man out of the dust of the earth. Thus

       Paul does not here speak of the "plant," but of the                  we read in verse 49: "And as we have borne the image of

"seeds."     He makes the seed the point of comparison. It is               the earthy, we shall also bear the image of- the heavenly."

the point of the sowing which counts here. The body is                      Thirdly, we should remember that `every body is, as respects

sown. Hence, it is like seed entrusted to the ground. It is                 man, personal. There' is personality written in the body of

not Christian to try to preserve this body as did the Egyp-                 man. He is created after the image of God, and this is some-

tians: We need not attempt, to keep it above the ground.-                   how reflected in eyes and ears, nose' and mouth, in hands and

Nor is it Christian to destroy the body by fire as men do by                feet! Every person is such that he is a personality in ,body

modern cremation ! Neither one reckons with the reality that                as well as in soul.

the body is sown!  They deny that the body is seed. The one                      NOW we do not believe that the "own body"  means that
denies it by trying to keep the body from corruption, and the               .every  particle of dust is gathered by God into the same body.

other goes to the other extreme by wholly denying the value                 Yet, we believe that God will bring forth the self-same body

of the body. Here the extremes meet as is so often the case !               from the grave in that day.

       However, Paul insists that the body that is sown' is seed.                He will give to every seed his own body.

It is not to be neglected. A Christian burial is sowing of                     Since the body is more than a temporary prison-house, a

the dead ! It is as much seed as is any plant. It is possibly               transitory abode, we believe that God will bring back our

seed in a far higher and loftier sense. For when once this                  bodies from the grave. They have been redeemed by Christ

seed has died and brings forth its own body by God's al-                    as well as our souls. It is our only comfort in life and in

mighty, &creative  act, then the finalharvest  has come: That               death, that we are not our own, but that we belong to our

is the end. It will never be sown again. It will never die                  faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.

again.    It is not merely the picture. It is the reality.                      -No one denies that the very ugly caterpillar and many

 And each seed receives its own body.                                       other worms and grubs change into beautiful winged

       First of all this is true of the .seeds of the plants in the         butterflies; It is the same body in a different form. No one

whole order of vegetation.      On the third day of creation God             denies that the very ugly tulip bulb is changed into a most

made the plants. Thus we read. in Genesis 1 :ll -as follows :                beautiful flower, far more fair than Solomon in all his glory.

`And God said, let the earth bring forth grass, herbs' yield-                Why then should anyone deny .that  the very bodies in which

ing.seed,  and fruit-trees bearing fruit after their kind;wherein            we were born and .die can come forth from the grave far -

is the seed thereof upon the earth; and lit was so." Hence,                  more glorious through death !?

there is not .a transition from the one plant to the other. Oats                 And to all who deny this hope of the resurrection, claiin-

does not become wheat through its sowing. A tulip bulb does                  ing that it is irrational and contrary to all sound imderstand-

not bring forth a gladiolus flower. Grapes .cannot  be gotten                ing, we say with Paul: "Thou foolish one, that which thpu

from a bramble bush. Every thing is a.jt@r its kind. That is                 sowest  is not quickened except it die."

because God has so determined it and so maintains it. He                         It is not the believer in the resurrection who is devoid

gives each plant its own body. It has its own body in. the                   of a reasonable. hope and service of God. Such is the sad,

sense that it belongs peculiarly to that plant. The blade, the               lot of him who denies the resurrection. He has his eyes

stem and the ear all belong peculiarly to each plant. Fact is,              closed for the glory of the creator in the entire world about

that such is its -distinguishing character.                                  him. He does not see the glory and divinity of God in the

       Thus it is `also in the resurrection of the dead,                     things made, and is, therefore, blind for the power ,and

       Each person will then receive from God his own body.                 `divinity of God in the resurrection of the damne&as'well  as

       The question may be raised here: just what belongs to                 in those of the blessed resurrection. .I,.                             G.L.

the body: This question is especially to the point in view of

the .fact that physiologists inform us that the body of each

person is wholly replaced every seven years by the process
                                                                                                                                                        .
of breaking down of cells and tissues and their being re-                                                         Iti MEMORIAM

placed by others and new ones. Hence, the question is : what                     The Consistory of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand

is the body?                                                                 Rapids, Michigan, hereby expresses its sincere sympathy to its
                                                                             members, Elder Ralph Meyer and Deacon George De Vries in the
       We believe that the body,`the "soma"  is more than what
                                                                             recent death of their mother-in-law,
can be touched and handled. It is not to be identified with
                                                                                                         M R S .   E D W A R D   BYLSMA
flesh and blood. Possibly it is best to state that it seems quite               . -
in harmony with the teaching of Holy Writ that the body of                   Psalm  116:15,  "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His
                                                                             saints."
man is composed of the following elements. In the first place                                           The Consistory of the First Protestant Ref. Church
the body of man is material. It is made of a certain sub:                                               (2:. H. Stadt, Clerk        _

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


                                                                     Jesus' parable. Solomon has a word for it also; "For God
              I N   HIS  F E A R                                     giveth to a man that is good in His sight wisdom and knowl-              _
                                                                     edge and joy; but to the sinner He giveth travail, to gather

                                                                     and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before                   _

              Interest upon The Pkncipal                             God." Ecalesiastes 2 :26. The interest we have gotten upon

                                                                     our investments, the profit upon the works of our hands that
    A sum of money deposited in the bank draws interest.             is used to satisfy our flesh, we-not only lose in the moment

     Money invested in a Savings and Loan Association                of death ; it testifies against us in the day of days. But the

usually draws a bit more interest.                                   earthly goods we use in the service of our God follow us into

    And if you lend a sum of money, you will obtain even a           the glory of His kingdom. Revelation 14:13.  That gold, that
greater amount of interest upon that sum. If you are the             silver, those houses and that land does not follow us. It
one who borrows the money, you will be the one who pays              perishes with the'  earth in the-fire. of God's righteous judg-
that greater interest.                                               ment. But the work we performed with them in seeking
                                                                     first, last and always the kingdom of God is rewarded in'.
    The amount upon which that interest is paid is called the        God's grace. And we have not lost these things, we have --
principal.                                               ~.          used them as God demanded of us and find the fruit in ever-

    Please do not confuse that with our theme which.we               lasting life by His grace.     But "me first" and then God .

have placed above. We are quite money-conscious in these             means that I never come to stand before God in glory; My..

days. Making a living is an old-fashioned practice. Today            luxuries and my pleasures, my keeping up with the Joneses,

one must see how much he can acquire-and lay away for his            my social standing, my flesh first, and I `will find that God

flesh to enjoy. Today one must keep up with the Joneses.             puts me last. You simply do not seek the things of this world

Today one must ever strive for more and more luxuries,               and find the kingdom of heaven. Nor does one who seeks

more pleasures,' more of this worid  and satisfy more of the         the kingdom of God, who lays aside first the support of God's

lust of the flesh, the lust of the .eyes  and the pride of life.     kingdom and refuses to touch it for that which is above his

S$ply$o  have food, clothing'and  shelter is, according to.          physical `needs -and they are usually far fewer than the

modern `standards and today's way of thinking, to be in.             things we are accustomed to receiving- nor will such find
                  .' -" .v
abject poyerty.  The. Government better subsidize such and           that they are cast into the poverty of hell. Seeking. that king-
                   _
send its"welfare  agencies to see what can be done about such        dom first in this life, all we need for -the seeking of that king-

mise&le'  p,eople. Therefore we have used the theme above            dom will be added to us, while we travel through this valley

also to.catch the eye and to seek to bring God's people down         of- tears ; and presently the riches of that kingdom shall be
  `?Y&
to the- earth, or better still to cease setting the affections on    added to us everlastingly.                             *.,a, 1
the earth and to cause them to be set on the things above;              For that reason we are not going to write about interest
that `they may be. sought "and their joy may be experienced.         upon the principal. Rather we chose to write on interest on

    We,,..placed  over these `lines the words "Interest upon         The principal. And; as you surmised, by that we mean in-

The Principal" and not ?Interest.upon  the Principal:" There         terest upon spiritual things. Interest in the principal things

is a tremendous difference. We are not thinking of gold and          of `God's kingdom. Webster has: this to say : "Principal,

silver,- of houses and of land, of worldly pleasures and lux-        adjective. Highest in rank, authority, or importance, chief,

uries. He who seeks them will lose them all in the moment            main." A little later he writes, "2. A capital sum placed at

of death. `Jesus once said, in Luke 17 :32,  "Remember Lot's         interest, due as a debt, or used as a. fund ; - distinguished

wife."    We say also, "Remember the Rich Fool in Jesus'             fr0.m  interest and profit." And once again, `:3. A fundamental

parable." We have no money for God's Church. The cause - point ; -now confused with principle." With interest"in  the

.of Christ's kingdom can suffer, and it does not phase us in         sense of usury or compensation for the use of a sum of money

the least.~  We have not the money for' the cause of Christian we,,ye not at the.moment  concerned in these lines. And with

education for our children. And we give all kinds of other           principal as a "capital sum placed at interest" we likewise do

"excuses" and arguments against it. In our folly we think            not wish to be busy at the moment. That all will take care

that we shall get away with it before the All-wise and All-          of itself, if we have interest in the principal things of God's

knowing God. We heard a rather clever statement over the             kingdom, We speak of interest here in the sense of concern,

radio this morning. It was used for gathering financial sup--        of having the attention excited and active. He who has

port of a certain radio broadcast and the institution that           concern for God's kingdom, which is The Principal thing, will

sponsored it. But there is an element of truth that is im-           also make good and proper use of his money and possessions.

plied in it that can be applied to all support of God's kingdom      He will not be squandering it upon pleasures and using it to

in every sphere of the, work. The statement? Well, it was            heap up more treasures. at the expense of God's kingdom.

this : "Do your giving while you're living, while youfre  know-      You will not find him ready to pay for sports and entertain-

ing where it's going."        Ah, yes., remember the Poor Fool       ment,  for -luxuries and dainties when he knows that it means

-did we call him the Rich Fool. a moment ago ?--  in                 that `he will not have it for kingdom causes. He will not

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


 array himself in silk and. satin when he sees the church of           which we `attended as far as our physical presence is con-

  God -suffer' want in any- form; He will not be paying for            cerned. But there is no interest in going back again, and

 worldly things and things of the flesh  while the:.things  6f         this ti@ to pay `attention. All too` quickly likewise, we find

  God are prbvided  for his spiritual enjoyment. And  -the ease        a reason for not going. There are, of course, instances where

  of obtaining and the abundance of these things for the flesh         God Himself makes that impossible. But we ought, before

 today' do result in a despising and turning .away from. the'          His face - and not behind man's back- to examine our
                                            .   .
 things' spiritual.                                                    "excuses" and see once whether the rest of our life on the

        What we believe is an evidence of this and is the occa-        other six days-bears out our "excuse." We repeat, God leads
                                                                       some of His children in a waq' which `clearly indicates that
 sion for these lines and, -we believe, shows the trend all
                                                                       they would be showing sinful disregard for the physical well-
 through the life of many in God's church today, we observed
                                                                       being of the bodies He has given us to care for in His fear.
  tlie earlier' part bf this month. The broadest gathering of
                                                                       But when during the week the same exercise or exertion does
  our  chur&es assembled for a prayer service the night
                                                                       not harm us when it comes to worldly meetings and gather-
 -before the sessions of the Synod began. It was a solemn
                                                                       ihgs,  when it does not hurt us to sit for longer periods while
  occasion. Vital questions and important matters were to be
                                                                       busy with other earthly activities, we better examine.  our-
  treated by Synod for solutions that would be pleasing in
                                                                       selves before His face. Such better ask themselves what their
cod's  sight.  A student was to be examined as to his beliefs          _P
                                                                       interest is and what to them is the principal thing.
  and qualifications for that highest office that man can receive

  in this life: Minister of the Word of. God. The following                   The same thing may be said about the season that  is

  week his graduation exercises were held. Another solemn and          upon us.      All too often the principal thing is that vacation

  momentous occasion. A night in which the church of God               and the physical-rest or diversion of one's a&&ties  that goes

  may well rejoice and give  thanks for God's abiding faith-           with it. And the Day of Rest, the things of God's king?lom

  fulness.                                                             are forgotten. What? Go to church on my -vacation? Leave

                                                                       all this quiktness and peace by the lake to go to church ? And
        The interest ?
                                                                       go twice a Sabbath while on vacation ? Some "church&" ( ?)
        Here were principal things!                                    also _ take vacations according to their bulletin boards. No

        Do I hear Webster's words beaten out with clear and            interest upon principal things ! And what if Jesus comes

  forceful accent? : Highest in rank; highest' in authority ;          while that church is on vacation? Will He wait for them-all

  highest in importance ; chief; main !. Do we think's0 ? Little       to come home and re-assemble as His Church? Those not

  interest &as  shown in these principal events. There were            interested in Him must not expect Him to be interested in

  little Gideon's bands that did show in&-e&;  aed  by God's           waiting for them So that He may save them. And likewise

 -grace  they shall also receive interest and did receive interest,    those who - though their  church does not takk a vacation -

  spiritual interest. But for $he  greater part we fear, it was        take -a vacation from the church must not expect Him to be

  interest in other things, lowest in rank, lowest in importance.      interested. in their  spiritual well-being. He is interested in

  Man has interest in something. He must. He cannot be                 the physical and spiritual well-being of His people ; and that

 without interest as .a rational-moral biing.  Perhaps that in-        we will treat next time, D.V. ; but such can have no assurance

  terest is in nothing more than idleness, slothfulness. But           of this while they  have.no  interest in Him and in His cause.

  he has .interest.  He always has that which arrests and excites             In His fear we have interest in Him and the principal
  his attention. He always  gives attention to something.              things of His cause.

        And although, as we wrote above, the occasion for these                                                                                     J.A.H.

  lines was the lack ,of interest by so many for the principal

  things at the two occasions mentioned above, that alone

  would never induce us to write these .lines. But we are fully
                                                                                            WEDDING ANNMZRSARY
  aware of the fact that this same lack .of interest reveals itself

  in so many other ways. Sports, entertainment, television,                  On July 22, 1960, our beloved parents

  radio, books and magazines of the world are the.interest  of                         MR. and MRS. IAMMERT  LANTING
  many church mer+bers  to such an awful extent that they
                                                                       will, the Lord willing,  celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.
  have no time or interest in the study of Go&s Word. The
                                                                             We are grateful to God for the privileges and blessings of His
  study of God's Word in society, the personal. study of that
                                                                       covenant grace in which they and we- have shared through the
  Word, the reading of religious literature are rejected because       years, and for the assurances given us for the future.

  there is no interest in them.. Shame qn us ! No interest in
                                                                                                         Their children:
  the principal things ? The important things ?
                                                                                                              Mr. and Mrs. .Peter Koole"

                                                                                                              Rev. and Mrs. George Lanting
        The same may be said about Sabbath attendance. Once
                                                                                                              Gekie
  a Sunday is quit: enough -(or maybe too much ?) . We may                                                M r .   a n d   M r s .   P e t e r   K n o t t
  have  slept the greater part even of_ that one worship service                                              Mr. and Mrs. John De Vries


                                                        _.                                                   ; :
                                                   7





                                              T    H          E         STA,NDARD.      B     E    A    R      E    R         ._            42:3


                                                                                  Also the late Dr. H. Bavindk has expressed himself on
  II Contending For The Faith. II this subject. Writing on the attributes .of the-Holy Scrip-
                                                                               tures in his Dogmatics, Vol. I, pages 420-422, he expresses

                                                                               himself; ,&id we translate : "The doctrine of the affectiones  S.

             The Church and the Sacramelik                                     Ser.  (attributes of the Sacred Scriptures, H.V.) has devel-

                                                                               oped -itself entirely out of the struggle against Rome and
             THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION
                                                                               Anabaptism. In the. confession of the inspiration and author-

                   VIEWS ON THE CHURCH                                         ity of Scripture there was agreement, but for the rest there
   I
                                                                               was in the locus of Sacred Scripture a great difference be-
                     F O R M A L   P R I N C I P L E
                                                                               tween Rome and the Reformation. The relation in which

                              (continued)                                      Rome had placed Scripture and church to each other was

        Rome, therefore, contends that the Church, as an external              changed principally in the Reformation. With. the church-
  and visible society, consisting of those who profess the                     fathers' and the scholastics the Scriptures still stood, at least
  Christian religion, united in communion of the same sacra-                   in theory, far above the church- and tradition ; it rested in
  ments and subjection to lawful pastors, and especially to the                itself, was the normal rule for church and theology. Au-
  Pope of Rome, is divinely appointed to be the inftillible                    gustine reasons in such- a way that the truth of the Holy
 -teacher of men in all things pertaining to faith and. practice.              Scriptures depends solely upon itself. All (including Bona;
  Rome is qualified `for this office -of teacher because it pos-               Ventura, Bellarminus, etc., H.V.)--were  of the opinion that
 sesses  the' plenary (full) revelation of the truth in the written            Scripture could be proved sufficiently to be truth out and           1
  and unwritten (tradition) word of God and by the super-                      by itself; the church with its tradition might be reguia fidei                 .
  natural guidance of the Holy Spirit which has been vouch-                    (a rule of faith, H.V.) , it was not fundamentum fidei
  safed to the bishops as official successors of the Apostles, too,            (foundation of faith, H.V.). Scripture `was that alone.

  to the P,ope as the successor of Peter in his supremacy over                    More and more, however, the church withy its office and

  the whole Church, and as vicar of Christ on earth. There                     tradition began to assume an independent position in Rome

is, as. Hodge continues to remark, something simple and                        and to receive authority next to the Holy Scriptures. At

  grand in this theory.    It is surely wonderfully adapted to the             first the relation of both:(church  and the-scriptures, H.V.)             -

  tastes and wants of men.       It relieves them of all personal              was not further defined, but-soon it demanded a better or

  responsibility, It makes things so easy. Everything is                       clearer arrangement (eene betere regeling) . And when  the

  decided for them. Personal study and examination of the _ church continued, to increase in power .and self sufficiency

  Scriptures is no longer necessary; All they need do is listen                the authority of the Scriptures was more and more removed

  to"and  submit to the teachings and decrees of the Church.                   to the church. Various moments in history. indicate the

  In this-connection the question might arise whether it would                 process by which the church exalted itself from a -place

  not have been a great blessing had Christ instituted `such                   underneath the Scripture to a place next to the Scripture,

  an office in His Church and endowed a man with that in-                      and finally to a place above Holy `Writ. The question, which

 `failible  guidance of the Holy Spirit so as to be able to speak              of the two, Scripture or the church, had the preeminence,

  infallibly and unerringly with respect to all matters of doc-                was first clearly `and consciously set forth at the time of the

  trine and walk ? However, what positive purpose would this                   reform councils (reformatorische concilien, H.V.) . In spite

  serve ? We know that when Christ was on earth ail people                     of the opposition of Gerson, d'Ailly,  and especially: of

  did not believe on Him. And when the apostles were still                     Nicolaas van Clemange;  it was decided .in favor: of the

  living and divers miracles- and gifts of the Holy `Spirit                    church. Trent has sanctioned this over against the Reforma-

  confirmed their authority,      the Church was nevertheless                  tion. In the struggle against Gallicanism" the question was

  distracted by heresies and schisms. We are all familiar,,more                more precisely stated and set forth, and in the Vaticanurn .of

or less, `with the sinful conditions and practices that .were                  1S70  it was so resolved that. the church was declared in-

  rampant already in those days, as in the churches of Corinth,                fallible. However, the subject of this infallibility is not the

  Galatia, etc. An ou? \;ard  and external conformity -to what                 ecclesia audiens  (the people of the church), nor the ecclesia

  the Church may hold to be true cannot and does not reach                     docens  (the teaching element of the church), nor even all

and affect the heart. A perpetual body of infallible teachers                  the bishops as gathered in a -council, ,,but particularly the

  would .only result in an outward and rigid unity and con-                    pope, And then again the pope not as private person, neither

  formity. Besides, of course, we must not be wiser than God.                  as bishop of Rome or patriarch' of the West, but .as the

  It is simply a fact `that the Lord has not willed to appoint                 supreme shepherd `of the entire church. It is true that he

  `such an official and infallible succession of the apostleship.              possesses, this infallibility as the head .of the church and not

  It is His will that pastors and teachers be ordained, through                apart from the church, but yet he possesses it not by or with

  the appointment of the Church, who will preach and -teach                    it (the church, H.V.), but above and in distinction from it.

  the Word of the living God. :And His way is surely always                    Even the bishops and councils share in this infallibility, not

the best and the -wise .way. -                                                 as'separated  from but only `as Kunity'with  and in subjection





                                                                                         -


 424                                    TH,E  S T A N D - A R D   BE'ARE'R


 to the pope. He stands above all, and alone renders the           his baptismal- vow. According to `that baptismal vow he

 church, tradition, the councils and canons or decrees infal-      promises before God and His Church to see that his child or

 lible. Councils without the pope can err and have erred. The      children shall, when come to the years, of discretion, be in-

 whole church, -docens  as well as audiens,  is infallible only    structed and brought up in the aforesaid doctrine as it is

 with and under the Roman pontiff. With this conception the        taught in his local Christian Church. If he departs from a

 whole relation of church and the Scriptures has been turned       certain teaching which is the official doctrine of his particular

 about. The church, or more concretely the pope, goes before.      church, he certainly owes it to that church to reveal his

 and stands above the Scriptures. The infallibility of the         grievances and make them known in the proper church and

 pope. renders the infallibility of the church, of the bishops     ecclesiastical way.

 and councils, and thus .also  of the Scriptures. unnecessary.        Finally, while busy with this subject, it would be well

 Out of this Romish conception of the relation of the              to call attention to Rome's claim of the. infallibility of the

 church and the Scriptures all the differences arise and flow      Church, that is, of the pope. It is clear that Rome's con-

 forth, which exist in the doctrine of Scripture between Rome      ception or development of the doctrine of infallibility is

 and the Reformation. They (these differences, H.V.) con-          founded. upon the false assumption of the perpetuity of the

 cern especially the necessity of the Holy Scriptures, .the        Apostleship. In this connection we would quote at length

 apocrypha  of the Old Testament, the editio Vulgata, the in-      from the Systematic Theology of Hodge, Vol. I, pages 138- -

 terpretation of Scripture and of tradition. Formally this         l-50, in which this writer very clearly repudiates this claim of

 change in the relation of Scripture and church is revealed        ,Rome. Unto that end Hodge shows the following: 1. Mod-

 most clearly herein, that the new Romish theologians treat        ern prelates are not apostles. 2. Infallibility is founded on

 the. doctrine of the church in the pars formalis (formal          a false interpretation of the promise of Christ. 3. The doc-

 part) of the dogmatics. The church belongs to the principia       trine'contradicted  by facts. 3. The Arian apostasy. 4. The

 fidei (principle of faith, H.V.). ,Even as what the Scriptures    Romish evasion of. this argument. 5. The Church of Rome

 are for the Reformation, so the church, or really the pope is     rejects the doctrines of Augustine  6. The Church of Rome

 the formal principle, the fundamentum fidei, in the Romish        now teaches error.      7. The Recognition of an infallible

 conception" -end of quote from Bavinck.                           Church incompatibie  with either religious or civil liberty. We

        The late Dr. H. Bavinck, therefore, maintains that, ac-    will now proceed with this quotation.

 cording to Rome, the pope stands above the Holy_ Scriptures         `<AS  the first argument against the doctrine of Romanists
 and virtually renders the infallibility of the Word of God        as. to the infallibility of the Church is, that it makes the

 unnecessary. And this, to be sure, lies in the very nature of     Church of Rome to be the body to which the attributes,

 the case. No one, according to Rome, has the right to in-         prerogatives, and promises of Christ to true believers be-

 terpret the Word of God, to teach anything-that is contrary       long ; the second is that it limits the promise of the teaching

 to the "Mother Church." The pope alone has the right, the         of the Spirit; to the bishops as successors of the Apostles.
 ability to interpret the Word of God. Hence, all true under-      In other words, Romanists falsely assume the perpetuity of
 standing of the Scriptures is completely dependent upon one       the Apostleship. If it be true that the prelates of the Church
 man, the mortal who occupies the chair of Saint Peter.            of Rome, or of any other church, are apostles, invested with

 Besides, Tradition is of equal value with the Scriptures. And     the same authority to teach and to rule as the original mes-
 also here it is only the pope who can interpret them. None        sengers of Christ, then we must be bound to yield- the same
 may even dare to dispute his findings. None may go to the         faith to their teachings, and the same obedience to their
 Scriptures for instruction and comfort. The pope alone is         commands, as are due to the inspired writings of the New
 the sole teacher of mankind.                                      Testament. And such is the doctrine of the Church of Rome."
                                                                   The Lord willing, we will continue with this quotation in our
        The Reformation has changed `all this: Every child of
                                                                   following article.
God has the right and the ability to interpret the Word of                                                                           H.V.

 God. This-is literally taught in I John 2 ~27,  and we quote :

 "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in

 you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the                                   I N   M E M O R I A M

 same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and         The Consistory of the Southeast Protestant Reformed Church
 is no lie, and even as it hath taught you,' ye shall abide in     herewith e.xpresses  its sympathy with its fellow member, Elder

 him.`: Of course, there is such a thing as denominationalism,     William Klaassen, in the loss of his mother,

 denominational activity.    The principle of the Reformation                             MRS. A. KLAASSEN --

 d.oes not mean that everybody has the right in a particular          May the God of all grace comfort our brother and his loved
                                                                   ones and grant them His peace.
 church, denomination to interpret the truth and teach it as                                         `:I will say to the Lord, He is my
                                                                   refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust." Psalm  913
 contrary tolthe  teachings of the particular church whereof
                                                                                                      The Consistory of the Southeast
 he is a member.;  He may interpret the Word of God as he                                             Prot. Ref. Church of Grand Rapids
 wishes, but then' he must affiliate himself with those who                                           Rev. R. Veldman,  President
 are of similar persuasion. This is certainly the meaning of                                          J. Vehman, Clerk

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                                                                                            9
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                                                    T.H:E. STAND,ARD  EiEAiXER ~.                                                          425


                                                                              sion is of value for,more than one reason. In the first place,
       The Voice of Our Fathers                                               this is one of the instances from Scripture which the Ar-
                                                                              minians often cited as proof of the falling away of the saints.

                                                                              In the second place;there is an apparent reason in Scripture

                    The- Canons of Dordrecht                                  .for citing this as proof. The Arminians, who, by the way,

                                                                              are often literalists, can point to the fact that the Scriptures

                                PART Two .                                    themselves speak in this connection of a falling away, as well

                                                                              as `of those who believe for a time, Luke 8 :13 i "They on the
                      EXPOSITION OF THE CANONS
                                                                              rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with

                      FIFTH HEAD OF DOCTRINE                                  joy ; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and

              O                                                               in time of temptation, fall away." And, in- the third place,
                   F THE PERSEVERANCE-OF THE SAINTS
                                                                              this treatment is valuable because our fathers with a few
                     R E J E C T I O N   O F   E R R O R S                    brief strokes draw the line of the truth that is set forth in

                                                                              the Parable of the Sower, thus exposing the Arminian error
               Article 7. Who teach: That the faith of those, who             once more.                                              -
               believe for a time, does not differ from justifying and
                                                                                  Let us then, first of all, say a few words about this error
               saving faith except only in duration, For Chr&  him-
                                                                              and its implications.
               self, in Matt. 13:20, Luke 8:13,  and in other places,

               evidently notes, besides this duration, a threefold differ-        The Remonstrants taught that there is only a difference

        .-     ence  between those who believe only for a time and true       of `duration between true, saving faith and the faith of those

               believers, when he declares that the former receive the        wha  believe for a time, or so-called temporary faith. The

               seed in stony ground, but the latter in the good ground        emphasis, of course, falls upon the fact that the Arminians

               or heart; that the former are without root, but the latter     maintain that there is only a difference of duration. Accord-

               have a firm root; that tb.e  former are without fruit, but     ing to them, there is no other. difference ; and this difference

              that the latter bring forth their fruit in various measure,     of duration is the fundamental difference. All depends upon.

               with constancy and steadfastness.                              whether your faith is permanent or temporary, whether you

                                                                              persevere, therefore, or whether you fall away. The faith is
    We have no major corrections to make in the above trans-
                                                                              the same ; the difference is solely in duration. Now we
lation. There are, however, a few minor differences to be
                                                                              too, of course, believe that there is a difference of duration
noted : 1) Instead of "notes" it would be more correct to'
                                                                              between saving and justifying faith and the faith of those
have "posits" or "establishes." 2) The phrase "besides this
                                                                              who believe for a time. For it is in the nature of the case
duration" is in the-original simply "besides." If the term
                                                                              that saving faith is permanent and temporary faith is
is to be expanded in translation, it would be better to have
                                                                              temporary. But we do not believe that this is the only
"besides this difference of duration." 3) The terms "former".
                                                                              difference, first of all. Nor do we believe. that this is the
and "latter" are in the original "those" and "these.": 4) The
                                                                              essential difference, as becomes very clear in Article ,7. The
terms "constancy" and' L`steadfastness!'  could probably better
                                                                              question is : why do some fall away, and from. what do they
be translated "faithfully" and "perseveringly," eliminating the
                                                                              fall away? And : why do some persevere, and in what do they
preposition "with."
                                                                              persevere ? What is. the underlying reason why temporary
    We also have a .suggested  correction as to the textual'                  faith is necessarily only for a time and why saving faith is
references in the article.- They are not accurate either in the               necessarily permanent? When these questions are asked, the
.original  or in the translation The reference from Matthew                   Arminian and the Reformed views come to a radical parting
13 should include verses 21 and 23. And the reference from                    of the ways. And basically, these questions all revolve around
Luke 8 should include verse 15. That this is true is evident                  the one question : what is saving faith ? If you give the
from the fact that the article makes a comparisons  which it                  correct answer to this question, you cannot avoid giving the
is impossible to make except'with the additional verses men-                  correct answer to the question treated -in this article : what      L
tioned. Besides, the reference to "faithfulness" and "per-                    is the real difference between saving faith and temporary
severance" is ,found  directly in. Luke 8 :15.                                faith.

    The error that is treated in this -article is quite clear in                  The Arminians - such is the implication of their error -
itself, and, we may add at once, quite consistent with the                    admit of no true, saving faith in distinction from the faith
fundamental Arm&an position. This, at least, may usually                      which Holy Scripture denotes a "dead faith" or a "vain
be said for the Arminians - and it is no compliment -                         faith." They make no essential distinction between a true
that they are consistent in their erroneous views.. They want                 faith and a show-faith, a counterfeit faith. There is only a
nothing of the truth, but insist upon their own lie all the                   distinction of time: the faith of the one perseveres unto the
way through, even when it is obviously contrary to Scripture.                 end, and the faith of the other is lost. In other words, the

    The treatment of this error in the article under discus-                  so-called temporary faith is also true, saving faith ; and the
                                                                                                                  . .      . .


                         ;

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


only difference is that the believer `does not keep his faith.          the Parable of the Four Kinds of Soil. They single out just

                                                                        two of the four kinds of soil for this comparison; and they
       Now we may note, first of all, that the Arminian is tom-
                                                                        make their cqmparison  only with reference to the question.
pelled  to teach this. He who maintains that there is a falling
                                                                        at stake in this Arminian error, namely, the difference .be-
away of the `saints, of. the- true believers, must necessarily
                                                                        tween a temporary faith' and true, saving faith. In order to
teach that this temporary faith of those who fall away is
                                                                        understand and benefit from this comparison we should have
 essentially true, saving faith. Either this is the case, or else
                                                                        the Scriptural -references to the stony ground and the good
there is no ,falling  away, that `;s, no falling away of the saints.    soil in mind. In Matthew 13 you have the-picture and the

    ,But -we may well observe, in the second- place, that this          explanation of the stony soil into which the,seed of the Word

view of the .Arminian  is thoroughly in harmony with his                falls in verses 5, 6, 20, 21 : "Some fell upon stony places,

idea of faith itself. - We must always keep in mind that,               where they had not much- earth: and forthwith they sprung

.according  to the Arminian, faith is, first-of all, a dged, an act,    up,, because they had~ no deepness of earth: And when the

 not a bond and a power. According to him, faith is not                 sun was up, they were scorched ; and because they had no

 something which you possess or do not possess, but `it is              root, they withered away . . . But he that received the seed

always-something which you do or don't do. If you believe,              into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and
 then `you are a believer, a saint ; if you do not believe, and         anon with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself,

 as soon as you do not believe, then you are, not a saint. And          but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution

 secondly, according to the Arminian, that deed -of .faith is           ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended." In

 always the deed of the human will, not the -work of the Spirit         the same chapter you find the picture and the explanation of

 of God. Faith is not in final analysis a gift of God at all,           the good soil in verses 8 and 23: "But other fell into good
 but a work of man. Hence, it is at any given moment up                 ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold,
 to man and his free will whether he will believe or not be-            some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold . . . But he that received
 lieve, whether he will persevere in faith or whether he will           seed into the good. ground is he that heareth the word, and
 cease believing. When at a given moment he ceases believing,           understandeth it ; which also beareth- fruit, and bringeth
 there is no more faith inthat  man: for faith is only in the-          forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." In
 deed, and when that deed is not performed, there is nothing'           Luke 8 you find the same parable. And because of some dif-
 left but. unbelief. Hence, such a man is a saint that has              ferences in. presentation we will also quote from this chapter.
 fallen away. He might return, according to the Arminian,               The stony soil is pictured and explained in verses 6 and 13:
 and again believe ; he might also never believe again, and go          "And some fell upon<a  rock; -and  as soon as it was sprung
 lost forever. Such is the Arminian, free-willist  position.            up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture . . . They
                                                                        on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the
       Of the Scriptural teaching that man is by nature dead in         word with joy ; and these have no root, which for a while
 trespasses' and sins, incapable of any good, and inclined to           believe, and in time of temptation fall away." And Luke
 all evil, the Arminian wants nothing ; and .he~ refuses to             presents-the Lord's description of the good soil in verses 8s
.proceed  from this truth.     Of the Scriptural teaching that          and .15  : "And other fell on good ground, and sprang up,
 true faith is essentially l;fe,  implanted in the dead sinner by       and bare fruit an hundredfold . . . But that on the good
 almighty grace through the wonder of regeneration, without             ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having
 the aid of that sinner, the Arminian will not hear.` Of the            heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience."
 truth that only they who have the life of faith in them are            The same parable is also recorded in Mark 4 :3-S, 14-20  ; but
 iri a position to believe, and that this believing continues           we need not quote that passage here since there are no
 because the life of faith cannot die, the Arminian will admit          additional points of note.
 nothing. And the truth that it is God Who works that life

 in a man, thereby setting him in livings  communion with                      The fathers call attention to a three-fold distinction be-

 Christ, and Who quickens that life of faith into conscious,            tween those represented by these two kinds of soil. In .the

 activity, thereby bringing him into conscious possession .of           `first p&e,  there is a difference of soil: stony soil or good

 all the benefits `of salvation merited by Christ --that truth          soil, representative of an evil heart or a good heart. In the

 too the.Arminian  denies.                                              second place, there is a difference of root : temporary, faith is

                                                                        without root, and true faith is characterized by a firm root.
       To these truths our fathers call attention, maintaining          In the third place, there is a difference of fruit: temporary
 that the difference between true faith and temporary faith is          faith is void of fruit, and true faith brings forth fruit faith-
 much more than a difference of duration. merely, but an                fully and perseveringly, though in various measure.
 essential difference. A temporary faith can never be a true             _.

 faith ; and a true faith can never be temporary.                              To. the details of this three-fold distinction we must ~give

                                                                        our attention next time, D.V.
       And the fathers do-  this by referring- to' the so-called

 Parable of the Sower, which might more accurately be called                                                                       H.C.H.




                              __ -


                                        _                                       .

                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D , .   BE-&RR  ~-                                -.         427


                                                                    to somewhere between two and three dollars per family per
.I[,DECENCY-and                               O R D E R   11 year. This is certainly negligible if the positive gains from                   '
                                                                    an annual. Synod are considered.

                                                                        As far as the second objection is concerned, we may
                     The General Synod                              point out that ,the same elders do not attend the synod every

                                                              -.    year and,. consequently, this objection too falls away. The
                      (Article 50, D.K.O.)
                                                                    elders can be remunerated for the time they spend'at Synod
                      Frequency of Meeting                          and when this happens only once in perhaps three or four

                                                                    years it does not create an imposition or hardship upon any
    If the rule of Article- 50 of the Church Order were ob-
                                                                    one. Very seldom do we hear the elders themselves raising
 served, our Synod would meet every other year instead of
                                                                    this objection.
 every year as it does now. Joh. Jansen tells us that the

 Reformed Churches had originally desired an .annual synod              On the other hand there are definite advantages in hold-

 but due to disturbed civil conditions and intervention by the      ing a synod every year. The Synod deals with a great variety

 government this ideal could not be realized. This explains         of matters that are of concern to all the churches. It is good

 the provision of the Church Order stipulating that rrthe           to have these things continuously before the consciousness
 gerteral  synod shall ordinarily `meet owe every two pars          of `the churches and this is accomplished more fully the more

 unless there be &gent need to shorten the t&e."                    frequently such meetings are held. Then, too, in a certain

    For a long time the Reformed Churches -in America               way' the bonds of denominational unity are strengthened
followed the established custom of the Netherlands and held         through the meetings of Synod and this is a very necessary -
 their synodical  meetings every two years.. In 1936 the Chris-     gain to all the churches. In 1936 Classis  Sioux Center over-
 tian Reformed Churches revised Article 50 ,of the Church           tured the Christian Reformed Synod to hold annual meet-
 Order so that it now reads, "The General Synod shall or-           ings and gave five reasons for this request. They' were :

 dinarily meet annually . . ."    Since the organization of our         `<a. This is in accordance with the spirit of the Church

 Synod in 1940, we have also met annually although we have          Order, which favors frequent meetings, Articles -37, 41, 47..

 not changed the Church `Order. We have adopted certain                "b. This will make for shorter meetings of Synod. Our
 rules by which the meetings of the Synod are to be regulated.      Synods at present are too long. Delegates complain that it
 These rules were revised in 1958 and combined with other           is difficult for them to be away from their work for so long
 rules for parliamentary procedure that .had  been adopted in       a   t i m e .
 1957 and the first of these states that Synod shall meet on
                                                                       "c. This will expedite matters in cases of protests and          ,
the first Wednesday of June each year (unless otherwise                                    .-
                                                                    appeals.
designated by the preceding synod).
                                                                    "d. This will open the way for a: reduction in the mem-
    To hold the meetings of Synod annually is not a. viola-
                                                                    bership of our Boards.
tion of the Church Order because insofar--as Article 50 states                                       .,                  . .
the time of meeting, it -is not definite and the very formula-         "e. This will promote ~contact  between the various parts

tion of this article leaves room for more or less meetings          of our .church,. which is in harmony with ,the -spirit of the

than stipulated. It speaks of "ordinarily" meeting once every       C h u r c h   O r d e r . "

two years and it adds "unless there be urgent need to shorten          Although all of these reasons are perhaps not applicable
the time." Obviously our churches, and other Reformed               to our circumstances, some of them are very cogent and, if
churches too, have felt that this urgent' need existed, and,        consideration is given to them, it will be seen that the
therefore, make provision for the annual meeting -of the            merits of annualsynods far outweigh the demerits.
s y n o d .

    We believe that this is also in the best interest of the                           Constihency  of Synods
                                                                                                            _
churches. About the only arguments that we have ever en-               Article 50 also has something to say about the number

countered against this practice are: (1) financially it is not      of delegates that shall constitute a synod. Although it--does
feasible and (2) it is too demanding upon. the time ,that           not state specifically how many these shall be, it does specify
especially the elders must spend away from their work to            that there shall be three ministers and three elders out of

attend the synod.                                                   each classis. And again there is no definite rule that
      3:.
    Now it is true that synods cost money. However, it must         designates the number of classes that are to be represented

also be,remembered  that when we consider the total budget          at the synod but the implication of this article is that it is

of the churches, the actual cost to hold a synod is a very small    quite a few. This is .plain  from. the last part of the article

part of the whole. In our churches it amounts to about 7%           which states that it requires at least three classes to convene

of the total budget. In actual figures this would mean that         an early synod. But we shall come back to this later.

if we would hold our -Synod once in two years instead of               The Christian Reformed Church has also changed this

every year, as we do now, the actual savings would amount           rule. They have two ministers and two elders from each


s-    428                                           T H E   S.TANDARD   B E A R E R


      classis delegated to the the general synod. In, our. churches,          of a free election should be sacrificed' (KoYte  Verklaying,

      where we have only two classes, there are four' ministers               p. 225.).

      and four elders delegated to synod. It appears from all of                     Some years ago there were evidently some classes in the

      this that the number of delegates is not so' very important.            Christian Reformed Church that followed the rotary system

      It is a rather arbitrary things  that is to be determined to a          of selecting synodical -delegates. This occasioned an overture

      great extent by circumstances. It cannot be fixed by a hard             from Classis  Pella  in 1938 requesting the synod to adopt the

      -and  fast rule. For this very reason it would seem better not          following resolution :       y

      to include it in the body of the Church Order proper but-to                    "`Synod of 1938, having taken note of the fa.ct that more

      state it in a by-law since each church body determines this             than one classis  has adopted the practice  of delegating its

      for itself anyway and it appears that these decisions differ in         ministerial  delega.tes  to synod accord,ing  to the rotation plan,

      many cases. What is more, a rule of this nature is naturally            hereby issztes  a word of serious warning against the dangers

      subject to change from time to time. When the number of                 involved in this method of delegation to synod, and declares

      classes increases the delegation from each would have to be             that this vxethod of delegation is not in accord with the

      reduced lest the synod becomes too large. Although our                  genius and letter of our Church Order (cf. Art.. 41),  and

      Synod in 1959 decided that `5ctndtrr  tlze present circuvtzstances      furthermore resolves to urge all the classes to send its del-

      it is plain  from tlze investigatiort  c$ the study coGtn&ee  (ap-      egates to synod only by choice of ballot.,,

      pointed for this purpose) that a change to a three. classes                   _ But obviously the wording of this resolution was a bit

      system is highly.  impractical". (Art: 86 j . It is debatable           too strong for the synod and the following recommendation

      whether the practicalobstacles to this idea are as insurmount-          of the advisory committee was- adopted :

      able as they `may appear. It is also undoubtedly true that                    "Synod declares that there is no wa?ra&  .in Articles 41

      there are definite advantages to such an arrangement and                and $0 of the Uztrch  Order for synod. to enj0i.n  upon the

      should this `ever materialize we would again change our rule            classes a definite method of selecting its-delegates to syrtod

      and very likely have three ministers and three elders dele-             but, with a view to the `welfare .of the churches, it advises

      gated to synod from each classis instead of the present four.           against the rotary method of selecting synodical delegates."

             More important is the question, "How should the dele-                   This method of appointing delegates by rotation is desired

      gates to synod be chosen ?'      There is the method of voting          by some because it avoids the possibility of the same men

      by ballot, as practiced in our churches, and there is the               being delegated to synod year after year. It is argued that

      method of rotation. The latter is followed by consistories              this may lead to hierarchism and against this evil the

      when they send elders to classis but it is generally not ac-            churches should be very careful to guard themselves. How-

      cepted as a proper method whereby sgnodical delegates are               ever, it is not said that the classes have to choose the same

      chosen.                                                                 men every year, nor is the conclusion justified that because

             Prof. H. Bouwman of Kampen  wrote, "(It is not desirable         certain men attend synod regularly they are lords of. the
      to designate these delegates by ratatioi instead of by ballot-          church. This danger can be combatted without sacrificing

      ing. For indeed, not all ministers and elders are qualified to          free elections in choosing synodical delegates.

      consider weighty questions of church govmunent.  --This                                                                          G.V.d.B.

      becomes very e&dent  when  very involved problems regarding

      the- Confession ave to be considered, as wm the case at the

      Synod of Do&.  For these reasons it is advisable that the best                                      EDITORIALS

      qualified and WLOSC  experienced brethren be- delegated,, (Ge-                               (Continued from page 413)
      reformeerd  Kerkrecht, Vol. II, p. 155).                                mention that Synod adopted a new policy in regard to mov-

             Ds. Jansen also writes about this. In answer to the ques-        ing expense for needy churches. Rather than the old and

      tion, balloting or rotation? he writes : lrFrom  the very outset,       sloti method of collections in the churches, the new policy

      free election by ba.llot  was the rule. As a result very often          was set that needy churches may be helped with their mov:

      the same  individuals were delegated, because they tiere the            ing expenses from the `needy churches fund by the Synodical

      uhost capable. Co?+laints  were someti,mes  made concerning             Finance Committee.

      this fact, for example, at the Synod of 1581, Middelburg,  at            -     And a last item, which will undoubtedly be good news to

      which synod the question was asked, whet,&)*  it would not              some of our smaller churches especially: synodical assess-

      be well that the saute sinister  should not be delegated twice          ments were reduced this year by $5 per family for the 1961

      in succession, in o'&er  that tke othms  might  also learvz.  But       fiscal year. Quite an item in these days of rising living costs !

      the synod T;eplied  tkat the comsistories,  classes, and synods         It was due to an increase in our total number of families.

      s?Lould  be free to send `those wkovi  they deem to be qualified'             Here ends my report. There were more matters before

      . . . ; Ecclesiasfiica.1  assemblies a?re no schools sf lcar&ng  and    Synod. But these>were  the major ones.

      practice but assemblies for government and discipline, at                      A good spirit prevailed throughout all our sessions, and

      which the strongest qplen  (beste krachten)  are needed. And            the evidence of the Lord's blessing on our churches was

      the danger of hi~)~arcl~i~  is not so grea.t  that the advantages       abundant.                                                  H.C.H.


                                             T      H      E                STANDAA.RD  -BEARER.                                          429


                                                                           presentation is the correct one, we agree with him that the

        ,ALL   A R O U N D   U S                                           ecumenism referred to "is modern ecumenism, and modern
                                                                           ecumenism is essentially modernism as applied to ecclesiology

                                                                            (the doctrine of the church). Such ecumenism is concerned

 Christian Refovwaed  Synod Faces                                          about the outward unity of the church, not about its purity
                                      Nigedan
                                                                           in doctrine."
 Question Again-                                                ._
                                                                                 We will be looking for further word about what the synod
        The reader may recall that about a year ago attention              will do with this matter.
 was called to the problem facing the Christian Reformed

 synod relative to a Theological College of Northern Nigeria.                                                   i
                                                                           "Our Children Belong to God!"
The synod at that time took a definite stand in respect to this

problem.                                                                         On this subject Rev. Irving .E. Howard writes in the

                                                                           June 14th issue of Christian Economics..
        Now, once more, according to the May-June issue of

 To&z an.d Trumpet,  the synod of 1960 Will have to cope with                   The author points up that there are States in the Union

the. Nigerian question, only this time from a slightly different           which are jailing Amish fathers for refusing to send their ,                    -
                                                                                                                                     <
angle.                                                                     children to public schools.

        It appears from the information given by .Rev. H. J.                    He `cites the case of Henry Herschberger, an' Amish

Kuiper  that. the General -Conference of missionaries on the               patriarch, who explained that the Amish do not want their

 Nigerian field and a majority on the Mission. Board of the                children attending pub1i.c  schools "because they do not be-

Christian Reformed Church are flaunting the decisions made                 lieve in the `monkey theory of man' and because the Amish

at the 1959 .synod  relative to the Nigerian pr,oblem.  Also               people object to motion pictures and dancing." He states

we are told a minority group on the Mission Board is ap-                   further that "other- reasons have been given, but when the

pealing the decisions taken by the Board, and two classes and              conflict is reduced to. the basic issues it is found that the

a consistory are sending overtures to synod protesting the                 Amish people believe, first, that children belong to God, not

action of the Board of Missions.                                           to the State and, second, that education is a religious function

                                                                           which cannot be separated from religious convictions."
        As to the decisions of the 1959 synod, it must be remem-

bered that synod was asked to collaborate with  others of an                 _ He concludes his article by saying, "The American people

un-Reformed background -in the establishment of a Theolog-,                are indebted to the simple Amish folk: By their obduracy

ical College in Nigeria. Synod decided, however, first, "to                they have brought into the `open the silent assumption of the

participate in TCNN only to the extent of loaning Dr. Boer                 educational `profession ; namely,. that children belong to the

as teacher of Reformed theology in the TCNN" ; and second,                 State and that parents' rights are secondaryln'  the matter of

"synod  decided, in view of a previously expressed declaration             t h e i r .   e d u c a t i o n .

,concerning  `its total commitment to. the Reformed faith,' to                  "It is. time Christian people informed themselves. about -
"instruct the Christian Reformed Board of Missions and the                 the origin of our public school system and discovered that
Nigerian General Conference to maintain and develop the                    it is not as indigenous to our Republic as educators .have
Reformed Pastor's Training program in Nigeria with a view                  tried to make us think. In fact, public education is an alien
to hopefully establishing a Reformed Theological Seminary.' "              importation from Prussia involving assumptions far removed

        Briefly, the above decision came down to this, that the            from those implicit in the U.S. Constitution. Indeed, far                  _

synod of 1959 did not want to go in the direction of estab-                removed also from what -Jesus  meant in His words misused

lishing an un-Reformed theological school, but felt itself                 by Judge Donald Young: `Render unto Caesar the things

committed to establishing a Reformed theological school of                 that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's'

its own. Considered by itself, this was a commendable posi-                   -"Our children belong to God, not to Caesar !"
tion to take. However, we hasten to. add that we believe it
was a mistake to, at the same time, loan Dr. Boer to the un-                    Concerning the above, we.  make two remarks :

Reformed College and offer to support him. Consistency, it                      1. It is an alarming thing when under the freedom of our

seems to me, would have demanded that the Christian Re:                    U.S.. Constitution there are States enforcing the divergent

formed synod would have nothing to do with an un-Reformed                  law which demands that all children attend the public schools.

Theological College. It. is perhaps because of this inconsist-                  2. It is commendable that there are those who dare to
,ency  that the 1960 synod will be faced with the same problem             defy this unconstitutional ruling and insist that the education
again.                                                                     of our children is not the work of the State, but of the              I

        It appears from Rev. H. J. Kuiper's understanding of               parents who brought them into the world. We can envision

"The Theological Background of T.CNN,"  that `he is not at                 the day when we as parents will no longer be able to realize
   .
all m agreement with the promoters of `the movement on                     our Christian and covenant duty to bring up our children in'

their idea of. ecumenicity. If Kuiper's interpretation of their            the fear of the Lord, and according to our religious principles.

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


"Apartheid" - Is It Really Race "Disc&&&on"?                         is. considerable misunderstanding' in respect to the intention

      The subject of "Apartheid" has been discussed freely of        of the white South African. He points up that many, even

late in periodicals religious and secular. Most of these             in the U.N., have been conditioned to believe that apartheid

periodicals condemn the idea of Apartheid. Few have been             is not differentiation but discrimination. Writes he, "Leav--

i t s   d e f e n d e r s .                                          ing aside, for the moment, the question of discrimination

      Writing under `the above title, Wentzel- `C. du Plessis,       based on religion, the question must be asked : Is it true that
former Ambassador of the Union of South Africa to the U.S.,          differences between people based on race, color, language and
offers some cogent remarks in its defense. He claims that            sex are discriminatory ? It need not be true and by and
the word "discrimination" has been blown out of proportion.          large it is not- true. In the great majority of cases race, color
He advocates "it would -be a good thing, not only for the            and language, far from being discriminatory, can be identified
friendly intercourse between people but also for the peace of        as the unifying factor -in any particular group. They dis-
the world if more discrimination were to be applied in the           tinguish people from one another and, unless one actually
use of the word `discrimination'."                                   wants this drab universality, it is necessary that people be
                                                                     distinguished from. one another, just as the myriad of ele-
      Writes he, "It is often used as a weapon against those
                                                                     ments in nature are distinguished from one another and, yet,
who prize the-things proven by tradition, and who set their
                                                                     in the sum total of their diversity form one'glorious  whole."
standards by the good and the beautiful handed on to them by

a Western heritage which, thus far, has withstood the test of            Mr. ,du Plessis,` I believe, presents a clever, but solid argu-
the centuries reasonably well."                                      ment to demonstrate his concept of differentialism when in

    -He admits "that the word `apartheid, has become un-             the following paragraphs he answers the question: "What

acceptable to the world at large.. But that is not because the       about discrimination based~on  sex? This is as big a misconcep-

concept is wrong; it is because the word has become twisted          tion as the others already mentioned. When Adam told God

-and distorted in a process of, brainwashing of such scope and       that he was lonely and wanted a mate, God fortunately did

of such viciousness that one. can only be filled with a sense        not create another Adam to alleviate his loneliness but`in His

of foreboding as to what else cannot be done in this world           wisdom He created another human being so different' that,

in which we live.                                                    even to this day, woman remains one of God's  creatures that

      "The fact is that the relationship of individual toward        man does not properly understand. And how happy we can

individual, family toward family, -group toward group, and           be that, in a world steadily being pushed toward uniformity,
nation toward nation, rests squarely on the concept of apart-        this differential, this mystery, remains. Out of this differ-
heid - that is to say on `differentialism' and all that it im-       ence, life, and also hope; are constantly-born anew and when
plies. And what it implies is a recognition of the fact that         it ceases humanity's hour will indeed have struck.

people, in being. different from one another, yet `share a               "Differentiation `based on sex cannot by any stretch of the
common humanity but that, in this sharing, the highest hu-           imagination` be called discrimination because it, too, is based
man right which any man can have is that based on his own            on a fact in nature. If it is discrimination then the whole
i n d i v i d u a l i t y .                                          world, in all spheres of the human, animal and plant king-
      "It also implies that, if any being claims for himself this    dom, is riddled with it. That is not to say that inequalities
right to be himself, he must, because this right is inalienable,     do not result. Of course they do. How could it be otherwise ?
also concede it to his fellow man.                                   But inequalities do ,not of themselves mean injustice. It

      "The -white South African, therefore, does not wish to         is only when the element of injustice enters that discrimina-

imitate the Bantu, neither does he wish to force the Bantu           tion also enters.

to imitate him. He wishes to preserve his own identity,
                                                                      "Therefore, it remains important, and will.  always so
based on his own culture and his own way of life and this
                                                                     remain, to distinguish between discrimination, differentiation,
he also concedes to the Bantu.                            .          inequality and, finally, injustice.`,
      "Whatever the Bantu wishes to accept from the white

man's way of life he~must  do voluntarily, but neither is going         The author's concept of uniformity with rich distinction

to allow the other to force him into a common mold. Not              will stand. However, there is one concept which he fails to
all the immense pressure which the world can exercise will           develop in his thesis and that is the reality .of sin and the

accomplish this because, in fact, if it is accomplished it will      corruption of `the race due to sin. It is because of this
mean the death of white as well as Bantu society. The                factor that injustices that are discriminatory enter into the
~resistance  -of. this will, therefore, come not only from. the      various relationships that are different. We believe it is also

whites but also from the Bantu, except from those who do             because of this factor that a corrupt human race always at-

not cherish an own identity and who have lost their self-            tempts to erase the lines of demarcation and set up a unity
respect."                                           _.               in which the Man of Sin rules supreme.. In this attempt

     The author of the above lines as they appeared in the           even the modern church will take part and give it leadership.

June 20th U.S. Nervs  8~.  World Report, believes ~that  there                                                                    M.S.





                                                          .


                                             T H E   STAND.ARD   B E A R E R                                                                 431


                                                                                      CALL TO ASP&ANTS  TO- THE
   C O N - T R I B U T I 0 N . S                                                                     MINISTRY .

                                                                                All young men desiring to study for the ministry of the

Editor of the S. B.                 Tucson, Arizona                     Word in the Protestant Reformed Churches kindly appear

Rev. Herman Hoeksema                June -12, 1960                      at the next meeting of the Theological School Committee
                                                                        which will be held, the Lord willing, on Thursday, July 14,
D e a r   S i r :
                                                                         1960 at 7:30  P. M. in the consistory room of First Prot-
    Written in the June 1, 1960 issue of The Standard Bearer            estant R.eformed  Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
under the .title  "All Around Us" is an article by the Rev.                     The qualifications requisite to enrollment in our Seminary
M. Schipper. It deals with economics as does another article            are the following: . .                   `
by the same author which appeared in the Jan. -1, 1960 issue
                                                                                1. You must present a letter from your local consistory
of The Stand&  Beayer  entitled "Drug Price Investigation."
                                                                        certifying that you are upright in walk and pure in doctrine.
I read these articles with interest since I enjoy studying
economics as a sort of hobby. Especially at this time our                       2. ,You must have a certificate of health signed. by a
national economy seems to be at a crisis. We are all faced              reputable physician.

with the problem of creeping inflation, mounting taxes and                      3. You must be a graduate from High School and show.

the problem of full employment. Since the `Rev. M. Schipper             evidence that you have completed a one-year course in High

has taken the initiative in the discussion of economics it might         School in History General and Church History; and have

be well to go a little further and see if Scripture has anything        also completed the following .College  courses : Latin -two

to say on these problems. I wonder if the Rev. M. -Schipper             years, Greek - two years, German - two years, Philosophy

could write a few articles in Ths Standard Bearer answering             - one year, Psycholo,gy  - one year, Logic - one semester.

a few questions I- would like to have answered.                                 All correspondence relative to the above announcement

     Is the Christian to confine himself to merely spiritual            should be sent to the undersigned:

matters or `is he also concerned with ,material  matters. If I                             Secretary of the Theological Schoul  Co'wmittc?e
may explain in a little more detail, would it be wrong for                                 REV. M. SCHIPPER
him to attempt in accordance with God's will to remove                                     1636 Martindale Ave., S'. W.-
poverty, promote peace, overcome disease, improve educa-                                   Wyoming 9, Michigan
tion, etc. Or should he take the attitude,. this is not our

permanent home. I'm simply passing thru, therefore I need

not concern myself with the material things of this life.                       The Standard Bearer `has edited a pamphlet entitled

Should a Christian confine himself to only discussing spiritual                         "Unbiblical  Divorce- and Rewmriage"
things, to the exclusion of all else.                                    dealing with the divorce and remarriage question.
   . Now. I do not believe. that we are to seek first this
                                                                                Free copies are available from the Business Manager,. Mr.
present world, nor do I believe this world will ever gradually
                                                                         James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,
improve until it reaches perfection, neither do I believe that
                                                                         Michigan.
God is dependent upon us to accomplish his purposes, but. I

would still like to know if it would be wrong for a Christian

to attempt to remove poverty, promote peace, overcome dis-              -.                        Announcement
ease, improve education, etc. in accor.dance  with God's will ?                 Classis  East of the -Protestant Reformed Churches will
     We have Christian Doctors, Christians  Educators, Chris-            meet on Wednesday, July-  6, 1960, in the Southwest Prot-
tian Hospitals, Christian Psychiatrists and we have even had             estant Reformed Church at 9 A. M. Consistories will please
a Christian Prime --Minister,  Abraham Kuyper, why noI                   take note of the time and place in the appointment of dele-
Christian Economists ?                                                   gates.
     When Christian doctors seek to re-establish health in the
                                                                                                         REV. M. SCHIPPER, Stated Clerk
sick brother, when a Christian school teacher seeks to im-

prove education, when a Christian Philanthropist donates

gifts to the needy brethren, is this wrong? Does he by these                                         I N   MEMORIAM

actions become materialistic and humanistic? Is it possible                   The l?rotestant  Reformed Men's Chorus hereby wishes to express
for these people to do all these works of charity and still              its heartfelt sympathy to one of its members, Mr. George Spruit, in

place the Kingdom of God first?                                          the death bf his mother-in-law,

     Would the Reverend please answer?                                                          MRS. EDWARD BYLSMA

                An interested reader, just a layman,                            May our God comfort the bereaved kunily  in the assurance that
                                                                         "those that believe that Jesus died and rose- &gain,  even so them aho
                                         V E R N O N   G R A E S E R
                                                                         which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."
P.S.      Concerning "Moral Rearmament" I am in the main in                                                     Mr. H. Meulenberg, President
     _ agreement with M. S.                                                                                     Mr. S. Beiboer, Secretary


                                                                                   ________-~-
432                                                    T H E   S T A N - D A R D   B E A R E R



                                                                             the platform in the same capacity. His message to the gradu-

                                                                             ates was an euhortation-to  be prepared to fight- the battle of '

                                                                             faith, the battle. in which the Church Militant is always en-

                                                                             gaged and which is centrally fought around ,the banner of the

                                                                             truth of -the Scriptures; The speaker ended his address to
                                                    J.une 20,196O
                              `-                                             the class with the words : -"Never forget, graduates, `you.  have

       Rev. G. Van Baren;  of Doon, has declined the-  call from             been taught in the Truth of the Word `of God: walk in that
                                                                             Ti;uth  !"
o u r   c h u r c h   i n   R a n d o l p h ,   W i s c o n s i n .   .-.

       Candidate Jason Kortering will be eligible for a-call one                . . . June 12,,  g 
                                                                                                   a ain-1 at Hope Church. where the Hope

month after his appointment, and will have the usual six                     Heralds gave an after-service program. This group is a male

weeks to make a decision.                                                    chorus, twelve members of Hope Church. One of their mem-

                                                                             bers, Roger Kooienga, could not sing with  them-due to in-
       Professor H. C. Hoeksema will be the guest speaker on
                                                                             juries suffered in an auto accident several months ago. The
the Ref. Witness Hour for the five Sundays of July. The
                                                                             chorus was assisted in presenting the program by trumpet
subject for his radio sermons is taken from the Prophecy of
                                                                             soloist Donald Knoper and by vocalist Arnold Dykstra.
Hosea,  chapter 7, the general theme .being,  "The Apostasy
                                                                             The men sang without a director, following the lead of their
of' the Church."       The speaker has labeled his sermons with
                                                                             able accompanist, Lois Schipper.
titles taken directly from Scripture, and. are : "The Unturned

Cake," "The Inconsistent Mixture," "The Silly Dove," "The                       . . . If you were unable to attend any or all .of these

Deceitful Bow," and, "The Church that Misses the Mark."                      events you missed something very worth while.           '

Read and study this portion of Holy Writ and be prepared                                                                    :
to listen to the Ref. Witness Hour each Lords Day for the                       Did ybzt know  . . .-

distinctively Reformed exegesis of this chapter.                                That a new organization- has been born in our circles ?

                                                                             It is "The Covenant Witness Committee," and is to be found
       Were you there? . . .
                                                                             in the congregation of the Hope Protestant Reformed Church -
       . . . May 22, at First Church where the Prot. Ref. Men's              of Grand Rapids, Michigan; and is directly answerable to
Chorus rendered their Spring Concert. The director, Mr.
                                                                             the Consistory of that church. --In a letter accompanying their
Roland Petersen, chose-to render some of the old favorites
                                                                             first mailed pamphlet we find this paragraph: `lWe believe
and some that were-new to the audience. .The  program was                    that, as a congregation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
augmented by a male quartet from Southwest Church and by                     it is our calling to witness to the truth which our God has
a ladies' trio. from Southeast Church.' The final number,                    given us.    Since the very heart of this truth is the doctrine
"Creation," by Richter, was a stirring climax to the program,                of God's everlasting covenant of grace, we believe this
and `one fitting to climax the entire Day of praise-worship.                 deserves our, special attention . . . . To this end, we' -have

       . . . June 6, at Hope Church where the Commencement                   decided to compose. and send out a series of pamphlets dealing
Exercises of our Seminary were held. The lone `graduate,                     with this and related subjects to be mailed to all who are

Candidate Jason Kor.tering,  spoke on "The Unity of the                      interested throughout the country. This project will cover a

Church." The Rector, Rev. H. Hoeksema, gave-an address                       number of pamphlets that will arrive at your home at
answering the question, "`What is a Minister of the Word?"                   regular intervals in the future. The pamphlet which is en;

This listener got -a mental picture of a mother in the home                  closed with this letter is introductory." And another sentence

serving the best of food to her hungry family, when the                      which the ,Committge  will appreciate in this column: "In

speaker described the Minister of the Word as -one who al-                   order to accomplish our purpose as effectively as possible,

ways serves the Word to God's hungry flock. The speaker,                     we covet your ,aid in sending us names and addresses of
in his personal message to the graduate, stressed that the all               people whom you know to be interested in these pamphlets, so
important labor of his calling was `to minister the Word of                  that we can enlarge our mailing list." More about this wide-
God without equivocation, thereby also refuting the lie of                   awake organization, and an excerpt from .the first pamphlet,

Satan to which the flock of God' is continually exposed.                     in our next issue.

       . . . June 10, at First Church, `where our Adams St.                      In our vacationing this summer, shall we "remember the
School had its Commencement Exercises. The Class .of 1960                    Sabbath Day to keep it holy"?
holds a unique position in the school's history, for it is the                   Let us heed the conclusion of Ecclesiastes : "Fear  God,
first class to have attended Adams. St. school from kinder-
                                                                             and keep his commandments ; for this is the whole duty of
garten through the-ninth grade. They were the first to have
                                                                             man. For .God shall bring- every work into judgment, with
the privilege of having ten years of Protestant Reformed edu-
                                                                             every secret thing, whether it be.good,  or whether it be evil."
cation on the grammar school level. Rev. H. Hoeksema, who

was the. Commencement speaker 10 years ago, was again on                         . . . . see you in church.                               J . M . F .


