                                                                                                                                  -_ .- .

    VOLlJhLE  XXXVI                           SEPTEMBER  15, 1960 - GRAND  IcLpms,  M                                      Nmm~~21
                                                                                          ICHIGAN


                                                                              And never forget: that Law of God was beautiful. Read

             Ad  E   D.1  T A   T   I O   4i                               the three verses which precede my text and ~you will see it:        .
                                                                           "Keep therefore and do them ; for this is your wisdom and

                                                                           your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall

                                                                           hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this .great  nation is
     THETHINGS THINEEYES,HABESkEN                                          a.wise  and understanding .people.  -Fort what:  nation is there

           "Only take heed to thyself, amd  keefi  thy soul                so .&eat, whohath  a God so nigh unto them, as the' Lord
               difiigently,  lest thou forget the things which t?&e'       our .God is in all things that we call upon Him for? And`
               eyes have seen, and lest they d~ecart from thy              what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judg-
              .Jaead  a,lk the days of thy life: b;clt  te;ach thqm thy    ments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you
              sons, and thy sons' sons, @e&ally'  the da*y  that           this day?'
               thou stoodest before thy Gad in Horeb, when  the
              L.ord  sa4id  unto  me, ,Gather  Me the people to-              In particular, the things which their eyes had seen were
              gether, and I z&l make #hewa  keay My words,                 the facts that Israel stood under the mountain of God and
               that they my learn to fear Me all the days that             saw and heard the burning with fireunto  the midst of heaven,
               they shll  live upon  the e&h,  and that they may
               teach their children." Deut. 4 ~9,  10                      the darkness and the clouds and the thick darkness, the Ten
                                                                           Words; declaring His Covenant, commanding Israel to
   T H E   T H I N G S   W H I C H .   T H I N E   E Y E S   HAVE          perform the Ten Words, as also these Ten Words written,
SEEN ! What are they 7                  '                                  engraved on two tables of Stone.

   In general we may say that they are the things of God's
                                                .                             All of that Israel saw and heard.
Covenant.

   Positively, they are-  Moses, -Aaron and Miriam ; the                                              +    + * *
deliverance from Egypt's bondage, the Passover, the j&rney
through the Red Sea, and through the wilderness so far.                       But we live several thousands of years later.       ,

   Negatively, they are the destruction of Pharaoh and his                    All the above is fulfilled in our Lord and Saviour Jesus

host, the plagues upon them, the,`beginning  of the destruc-               Christ.

tion of the wicked in Canaan, as also the destruction of                      Jesus stood under the Mount of God: the commandment
Amelek.                                                          . .       was His, as also the Darkness, Clouds, and Thick Dark-

   They also included the destruction of the wicked among                  ness. The Law of God was carved in granite : there -was no

them, Korah, Dathan and Abiram, and also whatever  seed of                 change possible. There He stood in the trembling of eternal
                                               .I.
the devil was among them.                                                  death.

   They all are the things .which their eyes had seen.                        Did you see it?

   But there is more.                                                         It is. of the ,utmost importance that you SEE this.

   They also included the Law in its broadest sense of the                    Listen to this: Except a man be born again, he cannot

word. The Law as the Self-revelation of that great and                     see the Kingdom of God.
                                   -
terrible God. I                                                               Listen to Paul : But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them

   I said, in the broadest sense of the word, because this                 that are lost, in whom the god of this world hath blinded

Law covered the entire life of Israel, and comprised the                   the minds of them which believe not, lest the. light- of the

moral law, or the 10 words ; their civil life and the ceremonial           glorious Gospel of Christ .who  is the Image of God should

side of their existence.      I                                            shine' unto them. .. .          '


                                                          z :
482                                               TH&?ANDARD   B - E A R E R


           Or listen to Mark :-And  He said ,unto them, Unto you it          Kingdom which was beautiful: and the Protestant Reformed

is given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God: but                      Churches were born.

unto them that are without all these things are done in                 -          We sustained a grievous and severe test in the years 1949-
parables : that seeing they may see, and not perceive ; and                  1953, but we emerged from this test victorious, though our
hearing they may hear, and not understand ; lest at any time                 number sunk.
they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven
them.                                                                             The majority rejected. the purest view of God and of
                                                                             Christ, and they are in the process of returning to their own
           However, on. the other hand, listen to the LIVING                 vomit. God will judge in that great day. We have .a deep
 Christian :` But we see Jesus, who- was made a little lower                 pity for them. They knew not what they did.
than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with
glory and honor . . ,. .                                                           But you may be sure of this : the view is gradual. All do
                                                                             not see the beautiful fire on the Mountain of God. Nor the
           The same thing pertains to the church today as in the             great darkness and the thick darkness of Golgotha. None
days of Moses, Aaron and Miriam: we see the things of the                    see it as %od and Christ see it. And the angels. But the
 Covenant of God.                                                            more you see these things of the Kingdom of God the more
 :         God's people are still standing under the Mount of God:           you have heaven in your hearts. And `you tremble. Was it
 trembling because of the sound and the sight of everlasting                 Isaiah who said that there is a people that tremble at His
 burnings and darkness.                                                      Word ?

           It is the fulfilment when Christ suffered and- died on                . And how many of you heard that strange song : "Were
 Golgotha and two kinds of people trembled: the wicked with                  you there when they crucified my Lord ? Did you tremble
 a trembling of the fear of death, and the good and"faithfu1                          ?"
                                                                             ,. . . . .
 who also trembled, but it was the trembling of the fear of                        That is true.
 God which is clean.
                                                                                   The Crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ is the greatest

                                                                             fact of history by far. It is the Focal Point of all history
                               * * 9 *                                       of creation and of re-creation. Of time and of eternity.

           And here we are today, so many years later.
                                                                                            . .       ..* + 8 `4=
           But the things which Moses mentioned, the things as-

 serted by Paul and Mark and Jesus are still with us. And
                                          -
 still -the people tremble.                                                        And what shall we do with that Focal Point?

           And as your view is so you tremble.                                Take heed to thyself!

           There was a lot of trembling here a few yearsago when                   What does that mean ?           -
 Jehovah paid us a special visit: a tornado.
                                                                                   It means that you watch over yourself; that you listen to
           There is much of the same kind of trembling in the                yourself ; criticize yourself; condemn your wicked self.
 depths of the hearts of wicked men, but we see it not. It is
                                                                                   Its implications are that you keep your soul diligently.
 hidden. Only God knows of that trembling. God wrote of it
                                                                             -That you save your soul, that you keep it as a peculiar
 often in the Bible. There is always that trembling, a slavish
                                                                             treasure. Listen to Jesus : "For'what is a man profited, if
 fear of God.
                                                                             he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ?"
           And in the great day of Jesus Christ this trembling will
                                                                                   Listen to Moses in my text: "Lest thou forget the things
 become visible and audible. For then the nations of the
                                                                             which thine eyes have seen and lest they depart from thy-
 world shall say: Mountains fall upon us and hills cover us
                                                                             heart...." - .-'
 from the EYE of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from                                                                                        .'
 the wrath of the Lamb !                                                           Learn' to fear Me !

           You see, it was always there, but in unrighteousness the                Note : it is a matter of learning !

 wicked always kept it under, and so you did not see it. But                       Why do you think did we build our own schools ? And
 it is there.
      :                                                                      why did we do this at a great expense and sacrifice again and
           So also the trembling which has its source in the fear of         again ?

 God and the love of God.                                                          And here is the answer : "Teach them (i.e. the Things of

           And here is a fundamental point: ins the same measure             the Kingdom of God and of His Covenant) thy sons and thy

 that your view of the things of the Kingdom of God is pure,                 sons' sons."

 so you tremble.                                                                   You saw the~vision  yourself. And there is a hunger, a

            In 1924 ,we were given a view of the things of God's             yearning. in your heart that your children and children's


children also may see the same things- that is, the same God

and the same Christ under the ,Mountain  of God.                                                  T - H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                               Semi-nwnthly;  except monthly &r&g  June, July and August
       Shall we send our children to the. Public School ? God                   Published by the 
forbid.                                                                                                                  RBFOR~~ED.@'REE  PUBLISHING ASSOWQION
                                                                               P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, GrandRapids  7, Mich.

       Shall we send our children to the Christian Reformed                                                E d i t o r - R E V .   H E R M A N   H O E K S E M A
Schools ? God forbid.                                                          Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
                                                                                                Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
       No, but we shall send them to tbe schools that teach                                                             Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

those things of God, of Christ and of His Covenant such as                     -Ah  matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
                                                                                                James Dykstra,  1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
we have loved for so long !                                                                                        Grand Rapids 7, Michigan

     "Gather Me the people together !"                                         Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
                                                                               address and will be published at a fee of $2.00 for each notice.

       That is the Voice of God Himself !                                      RENEWAL: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
                                                                               ceived it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
       What shall we say and do then ? When. He speaks it is                         to continue without the formality of a renewal order.

the end of all argument.                                                                                   Subscription price: $5.00 per year
        .._'
                                                                                     Second Class postage paid at Grand Rapids; Michigan
       We will gather the-people of God together in the church,

the catechism, the home, but also the school. For the-object

of this gathering is "learning to fear Me."

                                                                                                                             C O N T E N T S
-       And the extent ? "All the days that they shall live upon

the earth."                                                               MEDIATION-
                                                                                     The Things Thine Eyes Have Seen . . . . . . . . . .._...................... . . 481
        And that they may teach their children.                                                Rev. G. Vos

        This is a call to the dedication and re-dedication of the

whole church of Jesus Christ.                                           E D I T O R I A L S -
                                                                                     As to Being Protestant Reformed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
        if the majority .be proven disloyal, disobedient, and if the                       `Rev. H. Hoeksema

number of those that tremble be' small and ever smaller, we,
                                                                          O
shall continue to teach our children the learning of God, the                  UR DOCTRINE-
                                                                                     The Book of Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
learning of the Cross, the learning of the Covenant of God.                                    Rev. H. Hoeksema

        The day will come, and thinking of it makes me tremble,
that .the  children-shall condemn the parents before the face            .A CLOUD OF wITNES&ES-
                                                                                     Jacob Blessing His Sons.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,.488
of God.                          _                                                         Rev. B. Woudenberg.

        Then they shall say: Why did you not tell us of these
things ?                                                                  FROM HOLY WRIT -
                                                                                     Exposition of I John 2: 12-14 . . . . ..,.......................................,.. 490
        Rather, let us take heed to ourself; let us keep, save                                  Rev. G. Lubbers

our soul diligently; and let .us tell our sons' sons, both by

ourselves and through others, the beautiful things of God!                INHISFEAR-
                                                                                     The Freedom of "Bigotry". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,492
                                                               G.V.                             Rev. J. A. Heys



                                                                          CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH-
                                                                                     The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..494
                .-
                      Notice of Annual~Meeti~g  -                                             .Rev.  H. Veldman


                                                                          THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS  -
        The annual membership meeting of the Ref. Free Pub-
                                                                                     The Canons of Dordrecht . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
lishing Association will be held Thursday evening, September                                    Rev. H.` C. Hoeksema

29,8 :06 oJciock  at Southwest Prot. Ref. Church. The speaker

`will be Rev. Herman Hanko. The Board of the R.F.P.A:                    `ALLAROUNDUS-
                                                                                     The Antithesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .498
invites all our Prot. Ref. men to join with us in this work                                     Rev. M. Schipper

     of witnessing for the truth and urges all members to attend
                                                                                     FROM~ O
this important meeting. Selection of four new board mem-                  N E W S                       UR       CHURCHES ..__ .:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..__...__........  500
                                                                                                Mr. J. M. Faber
bers is to be made from the following nomination: G. E.

     Bylsma, A: Dotter,  T. Engelsma, F. Huizinga, N. Slaver,             hJ3EX To VOLUME XXXVI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..___...._..__  501

     C. Ruiper, T. Reitsma, G. Sehimmel.


,484                                        THE,   S T A N D A R D .   B E A R E R
                                                                                                               -_..
I
                                                                      ministers, but against the decisions of the Synod of 1924.
     r  E D I T O R I A L - S                                       _ Also such a protest -must, of course, go through the legal
                                                                      channels of consistory-classis-synod.

                                                                          3. However, Classis  East took up the matter as if the

              As to Being Protestant Reformed                         Synod of 1924 had demanded or advised discipline and
                                                                      proceeded to discipline' the Consistory and the pastor of

      There is one more item in the letter by the schismatic          Eastern Ave. on its own authority or rather on its assumed

Synod to the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church to                authority.

which we must call attention. I am referring especially to               4. It was against this action of Classis  East that, first
the following words : "On our part we humbly, confess that            the Consistory of Eastern Ave. and later also the pastor,
there should have been a proper appeal to the Synod of                protested and appealed to the Synod of 1926. In its first
1926 and that we should not have proselytized during such             answer to Classis  East'which  demanded that they must place
an appeal in your communion as `Protesting Christian Re-              their pastor before the question whether or not he would
formed -Churches.'      On ,the other hand, for the sake of           abide by the Three Points of 1924, they state: "For all these
Christian charity and freedom of conviction allowable under           reasons the Cons&tory  is convinced that the Classis,  in its
the Word of God, we cannot concede to any implication or              decision to demand of -the Consistory that they place their
charge of heresy and schism against us, unless through                pastor before the question whether he fully agrees with the
persuasion and conviction from the Confessions or the Word            three points, goes beyond. the decisions of Synod. The
of God."                                                              Classis  has no right to do this. The Consistory appeals for

      Now, in the first place, there is a flagrant contradiction     this opinion to the decisions of Synod of 1924. The Con-
:between  these two sentences. For, either we did not make a          sistory, therefore, kindly and urgently requests Classis  not
proper appeal to the Synod of 1926 and then our action of            to abide by its decision. If Classis  should nevertheless main-
temporarily organizing as "Protesting Christian Reformed             tain its `,decision  the Consistory must protest and appeals
Churches" was an act of schism ; or we did make such a               against the decision of Classis  to the next Synod."

-proper appeal and then it was perfectly proper' that, after             In reply to another communication of Classis  East the

Classis  East and Classis West ignored our appeal and de-             Consistory' of Eastern Ave. concludes as follows :      '

posed the office-bearers of Eastern Ave., Kalamazoo, and                 "Therefore be it resolved by the Consistory of the

Hope, we organized as        "Protesting Christian Reformed          Eastern Avenue Christian Reformed Church :
Churches."      The letter of the schismatic Synod takes the             "a. To appeal for the interpretation of said decisions of
former standpoint: our appeal to the Synod of 1926 was not            Synod 1924 ir, ?`e protests against our pastor, Reverend H.
a proper appeal. But in that case we were certainly schismatic.      Hoeksema, as set forth by said Consistory in the above com-
Hence, there is a plain. contradiction in the two sentences          munication to Classis  Grand Rapids East, and against the.
quoted above from the letter of the schismatics.        .
         \                                                           interpretation of these same decisions of said. Synod 1924 as
     But in regard to our appeal, whether it was proper or not,      set forth by Classis  Grand Rapids East in the communication

consider the following :                                             of said Classis  to said Consistory of the Eastern Avenue

                                                                     Christian Reformed Church; dated November 24, 1924.
      1. It is evident that the Synod of 1924 did not advise
.-discipline in case the Rev. H. Danhof and undersigned re-              "To request Classis  Grand Rapids East to defer any and
fused to sign the Three Points. Although in the only speech          all action said Classis  might contemplate against the Con-
I was allowed to make on the floor of the Synod I clearly            sistory of said Eastern Avenue Christian Reformed Church
expressed my disagreement with the Three Points ; and al-            until such time as Synod shall have acted the appeal of
though the Rev. H. Danhof offered a protest against the              said Consistory `and rendered final decision in the matter."

Three Points which was read and received by the Synod;                   After this communication of the Consistory of the Eastern

and although the' committee of pre-advice `had clearly ex-           Avenue Christian Reformed Church, Classis  decided now

pressed that disciplinary action should be taken if the two          to place the pastor of that Church directly before the ques-

ministers would refuse to abide by the doctrine of the Three         tions which the Consistory had refused to ask of its pastor.

Points; yet, the Synod did not adopt the advice of its com-          The latter composed a written reply. But before this answer

mittee and, therefore, clearly refused any disciplinary action.      was delivered to Classis,  the Consistory composed another

                                                                     written protest in which they stated: "The Consistory
      2. The case, therefore, was finished. The matter of
                                                                     decides to protest against the action of Classis,  whereby,
"common grace" had come before Synod in the proper way:
                                                                     disregarding the appeal of the Consistory to Synod, it
from consistories, through classes. And the Synod had de-
                                                                     placed its pastor directly before its question.,'
cided upon the matter. `The case was, for the time being, at

least, closed.. If anyone did not agree with the decision of             And for this it produced the following grounds I

Synod, he would have to protest, not against the two accused             "a. The action is wholly against the Reformed Church


                                         T H E   STAtiDARD  -B.-R-AR&                                                         485


Polity and that according to the very communication of             life,. in the meantime, pending our appeal, we, i.e. the con- .

Classis  dated Nov. 24, l924, to said Consistory of the            gregations of Kalamazoo, Hope, and-  Eastern Avenue organ-

Eastern Avenue Christian Reformed Church, in which corn-           ized as Protesting Christian Reformed Churches.

munication Classis declares that any form of discipline must          It was the only thing we could do. And only after the
be exercised by the ecclesiastical bodies in the order of          Synod of 1926 had rejected our appeal did we adopt the
Consistory, Classis and Synod.                  '                  name of Protestant Reformed~  Churches.

   "b. It is a form of discipline applied by a broader gather-        This rather lengthy criticism of the document which the
ing directly to an officebearer of a congregation and proceeds     schismatic Synod sent to the Synod of the Christian Re-
from the assumption that Classis  has superior authority, a        formed Synod of 1960 we deemed necessary in order to
certain guardianship over churches, yea, over the very per-        show that the appeal we made to the Synod of 1926 was
sons of the churches. This is still worse than Collegialism.       the only proper appeal we could make at the time. Any
It is popish. . .                                                  other form of appeal was made a practical impossibility by

   "c. Because the action was taken in spite of the fact,          Classis  East.

that the Con&tory. had appealed to Synod, as is evident
                                                                                               * * + *
from its communication to Classis  Grand Rapids East, dated

December 8, 1924."
                                                                      But now we must consider the answer of the Christian
   I will not -quote  here the answer of the pastor of the
                                                                   Reformed Synod to the letter of the schismatics.
Eastern Avenue Christian Reformed Church. This is not                                                            b- `. _ .'
necessary. All I wish to prove in this connection is that also        I quote it here in full:

he appealed-to Synod against the action of Classis  Grand              "To the Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches,
Rapids East even at this time and not only after he was            Grind  Rapids, Michigan.
deposed from office. He did this in the following paragraph :         "Esteemed Brethren :

   "That undersigned, therefore, also appeals to Synod                 (`We thank you for the fraternal -and  cordial reply to our
against the interpretation Classis Grand Rapids East offers        Synod.`s  letter to you in June 1959. In -reply to this, your
of the decisions of Synod 1924 ; this appeal to take place in      communication, we wish to observe that we appreciate the
the same manner as that of the Consistory of the Eastern           general tenor of, this document, which indicates that there
Avenue Christian Reformed Church, as contained in said             is on your part a sincere desire for reconciliation and uni-
communication of said Consistory of Classis  and dated Dec.        fication With our church.
8, 1924." ..
                                                                       "Addressing ourselves to the main thrust of your letter
   Now, why do I write all this 7          _                       (paragraph 4, page 1) `May we urge you, therefore, to
    .
   Srmply  to prove that our appeal to Synod `was not made.        consider the Three Points of common grace as without
after my Consistory was deposed from office  and I was             further binding, force? .we conclude that this question is the
suspended and, when I did snot  submit to my suspension,           heart of the matter which you present to our Synod. You `are
also deposed, but much earlier, and that it was directed           asking our Synod simply to set aside or discard, without any
against the illegal. actions of Classis  Grand Rapids East. I      restrictions or qualifications, that which was done by our
had hopes that after my protest and appeal Classis  would          Synods of 1924 and 1959. This is evident from your state-
not continue with our suspension and deposition but would          ment (second part of paragraph 3, page 1) `We, therefore,
wait until the Synod of 1926 had expressed itself.                 do not desire to maintain the Three Points or any new
                                                                   formulation -or interpretation as necessary for a church to
   But in this I was disappointed.                                 stipulate and insist upon for unification of churches.'

   It is true that, -when the Classis  had finished their- evil        "Synod may on occasion be compelled to make emergency
work and had deposed my Consistory and myself, the case            decisions which serve a clefinite  purpose' in a given historic
became virtually hopeless. It may be said that we should           moment. Such emergency decisions are dated and may in
have submitted to our deposition pending our appeal.' But          time become inactive because they have served their purpose
this was impossible. How could my Consistory have cast the         and are no longer needed. Reflecting. however on the syn-
Congregation to the wolves of Classis  East, a Congregation        odical decisions of 1924 respecting the Three Points, we
of five hundred families and that, too, for a year and a half?     believe that an outright and official setting aside- of them
The Congregation stood' virtually as a man behind -the  Con-       is unwarranted for the following reasons :
sistory. Besides, the Classis  had, made no provision for
                                                                       "a. The serious situation in 1924 which called these
such a contingency. They had not ,provided  for pulpit supply
                                                                   Three-Points into being.
nor for the election of new officebearers. And, therefore, my

Consistory and I remained in office in spite of the action            "b. The salutary effect of `these Three Points in produc-

of Classis East. And, in order to have some form of church-        ing peace and rest in the churches.


`486                                             T H E -   S T A N D A R D   BEA-RER


        "c. The fact that such`setting aside of the Three Points

-would run counter to and nullify a large measure of agree-

 ment which had been achieved.                                             L,
        `(We are of the opinion that such a simple discarding of
                                                                                       THE BOOK OF-REVELATION
`the Three Points,' as .well as the elucidation -and interpreta-

 tion of those .given  in a letter of our Synod of, 1959, is not                                   P A R T   T W O
 desirable. We would rather point out to you a more positive
 basis upon which we may seek for unification. This positive                                  C H A P T E R   F I F T E E N                      i
 approach is not to be sought by requesting our Synod virtu-                                                                             `1-7
                                                                                            The Battle of Armageddon
 ally to discard what it deemed to be necessary to state in

 1924 and what is still necessary to maintain at the present                                       Revelation 16 :lO-21,

 time; nor in demanding of you an expression of total agree-                   Let me then remind- you of the fact that in the literal
 ment with the Three Points as formulated in 1924, and                     sense the river Euphrates, flowing- through Mesopotamia
further elucidated in 1959, but rather by accepting a basis                and Chaldea for hundreds of miles, wide and deep, and
 on which we can unite.                                                    emptying itself in the Persian Gulf-that this river in the

        "It is our considered judgment that in as much as both             old dispensation formed the,.boundary  line between the na-

your clendmination  and ours subscribe to the Word of God                  tion of Israel and the heathen nations, the boundary line,

and the Three Forms -of unity, unification of our churches                 therefore, between the people of God in the outward sense

could be effected :                                                        of the word and the nations of heathendom. As such it is a

        "a. if you will agree that the Three- Points are neither           fit symbol of the boundary line between the Christian nations
 Arminian nor Pelagian ; that in the light of the official inter-          and the heathen nations in the new dispensation, the line of
 pretation given by our Synod of 1959, the objection that the              demarcation- and separation between Christendom and Gog
 Three Points are in conflict with Scripture and the Forms of              ,and Magog. At this time, when Christendom shall be Anti-
 Unity is not valid ; and that you `will agree not to, agitate             Christendom, it will naturally be the boundary. line between
`against the official interpretations. '                                   Antichrist and the nations that live on the four corners of
                                                                           the earth. Some take it that with his sixth vial the river
 - "b. if we .do  not require submission in the sense of                   Euphrates shall be literally dried up, so that the nations may
 demanding total. agreement with the Three Points ; we rec-                pass through it. Of course, there is nothing against such an
ognize and bear with scruples which you may have, in the                   explanation. It is very well possible for God to do so if it
expectation that we together may come to a better under-                   pleases Him. No one can doubt this. But, this is not very
 standing of the truth ; and not bar those who have certain                likely the explanation. Evidently we again must think of
misgivings or divergent interpretations as `long -as they                  symbolism in connection with the sixth vial.        If the nations
refrain from making propaganda for the interpretations..                   wish to gather for battle, a river would surely not keep them

        "As `to the method of effecting such a union we suggest            from it, even if it is never dried up. And therefore, the

.that :                                                                    drying up of the river merely refers to the removal of all

                                                                           obstacles from the external point of view. There shall come
        "a. If this is to be-worked out on a denominational basis,
.a committee- of your church be appointed to confer with a                 a time that these nations on the four corners of the -earth
committee of our church, or,                                               shall be capable of meeting the armies of the civilized world.
                                                                           They shall gradually be prepared, till all external obstacles
        "b. if this is to be worked out on a local basis, this is to be    shall have been removed.
left to the individual consistories and classis in which such
                                                                              At the same time, however, there is a spiritual agency at
attempts towards union would be made."
                                                                           work among these nations. We read: "And I saw three
        This document was signed by the Synod of the Christian             unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the
`Reformed- Church through its clerk R. J. Danhof.                          dragon, and out of the mouth of. the beast, and out of the

   Discussion of this letter in the next number of our                     mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of devils,
.Sta.ndayd  Bmrer,  the Lord willing.                                      .working  miracles."     Many attempts have been made to
                                                                 H.H.      ascertain definitely what these three evil and unclean spirits
                                                                           might signify. And often they have had personal application,

                                                                           But naturally the very question is irrelevant, is at least im-

                                                                           possible to be answered definitely from the text.. And there-
    All zeal is not commendable, as Oak Lawn's bulletin points
                                                                           fore the answers that have been suggested are naturally
out : "Four sorts of zeal are to be condemned: blind zeal,                 absurd. All we can do is follow the text and gather from it
Rom. 10:2; bitter zeal, James 3 :14; &o,ud  zeal, II Kings-lo;             the information that it affords. In the first place, it tells us

pa&a2   z e a l ,   M a t t .   2 3   :23.                                 that the unclean. spirits proceed from the mouth of the in-


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   ` B E A R E R                                                487


fernal  trinity - the dragon, the beast, and the. false prophet;    Christian world itself among .the nominally Christian nations
-The  dragon, you recognize, is the devil, the old serpent, who     against the central government of Antichrist. But at the
is after all the real king over the kingdom of Antichrist. The      same time the nations that live at the four corners of the
beast is the monster with its ten horns and seven heads, Anti-      earth shall `fully-wake up. They shall look upon these nom-
christ from its political aspect. And the false prophet is the      inally Christian nations, that fight against the throne of the
same as the second beast, that has the two horns, as a lamb,        beast, as being true Christenclom, against which their hearts
but speaks like the dragon. And we may also remember that           have been filled with hatred-by the three unclean spirits. They
the relation between these three is- such that the beast, or        shall come up for war against the civilized nations. They shall
Antichrist, is the representative of the dragon upon the earth,     gather their armies, and so shall the n_ations  of Europe and
exists for him and works for him, and that the false prophet        America. All the world shall fly to arms. And all the na-
in turn labors and deceives the nations in behalf of the beast      tions of the world shall gather for battle, so our text tells us,.
and its image. The Christian nations have been deceived by          at the place which is called Armageddon. Armageddon liter:
their work. They make an image for the beast, and worship           ally means "Mount Megiddo." Historically and geograph-
him. They are filled with enmity against God and His Christ         ically it is the mount situated on the great plain of Esdraelon
and His saints. But the nations that live at the four corners       in Issachar, near the famous valley of Jezreel. It was one of
of the earth are not so easily converted. They do not under-        the great battle fields of Canaan. It was on that field that
stand this establishment of the kingdom of Antichrist. They         Josiah, the God-fearing king of Judah; was slain when he
are heathen. They serve their idols. They cannot erect the          went to war against Pharaoh-Necho, king of Egypt, II
image of the beast and fall down before it. And therefore the       Kings 23 :29-30. It was there too that Ahaziah, king of Judah,
infernal trinity work together to convert the whole world for       fleeing together with Joram  before the face of J&u,-  was'
Antichristendom. Just as it is the. task of Christianity to         killed. But in connection with the words of our text it must
preach the gospel to all nations, so that they all may bow          be taken in a different significance. It was on the battle-
before the. God of heaven and His Christ, so the dragon and         field of Megiddo that Deborah and Barak had their great
the beast and the false' prophet cannot rest before all the         victory over the Canaanites that had opposed the people of
nations of the earth have come under the influence of their         God. Of it Deborah sings : "The kings came and fought, then
antichristian principles. The principles of that kingdom must       fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of
be spread. They must be disseminated among the Gentiles.            Megiddo," Judges 5 :19. And it is undoubtedly in the light
They must be preached far and wide over the whole world,            of that historical event that the field is mentioned in this
so that finally all the world shall have been won for Anti-         connection. Whether the last battle of the nations shall be
christ. It is to my mind this antichristian missionary work         literally fought in that neighborhood, which is very well pos-

which is symbolized in these unclean spirits proceeding out         sible, or not, fact is that the symbolical significance of the

of the mouth of the infernal trinity. They are unclean spirits,     battlefield, of Megiddo is such that it represents the defeat of
demons in nature, naturally, for they preach opposition             the enemies of the kingdom of God. The unclean spirits,

against God and His Christ. They spread and sow the seed            therefore, although their purpose is far different, gather the
of infidelity and conscious opposition against Almighty God         armies of the nations on the battlefield of their final defeat

and His people. They go forth unto the kings of the whole           by Christ and His saints. The devil is ultimately but an instru-

earth, our text tells us, evidently referring to the kings that     ment in the hand of God to work his own destruction. And
rule at the four corners of the earth. Everywhere they preach       all things must work. together in such a way that the plan

their infernal doctrine, that the whole world may be civilized      of the Almighty is carried out to the full.

in the antichristian sense of the word. But God also uses              There, then, are the nations gathered. It is the last battle
evil spirits to reach His purpose. For the text tells us -that      that shall ever be fought on earth. It is the battle that. shall
in very fact they gather the nations for the great day of the       finish all. It is-the battle that shall lead to the destruction
war of God Almighty. Of course, that is not the dragon's            of all  the enemies of God and of His Anointed. Terrible is
purpose.    His purpose was- to gain these nations for his          the bloodshed that shall then be witnessed. And the nations
own kingdom, But through these evil spirits the Almighty            shall destroy one another. They are in the great winepress
gains His own purpose. For Christ rules the world, and rules,       of the wrath of God. But still more: as they are battling,
all things for the completion of His kingdom.                       the seventh vial is poured out into the air, and a voice is

    What then is the relation of things ? At the same time          heard, "It is finished." ,The voice proceeds from the temple

that these evil spirits sow, the seeds of hatred against Christ     of heaven, from the throne. It is no doubt the voice oft

and against God Almighty and against His people in the              Christ that is here heard. Once before He used these very

hearts of all the nations outside of the pale of Christianity       words when the battle was finished in principle on the

the throne of the beast is darkened, and the terrible. plagues,     bloody cross. Then. He fought the battle as the suffering

from which also Gog and Magog suffer, are upon the earth.           Servant, and finished it. But since then He has been exalted.

As I have suggested before, I imagine that-the darkening of         And as the exalted .Son of Man He continued the work

the throne of the beast will consist of an uprising in the anti-    throughout the ages of the new dispensation.               H.H.


488                                          THiE  S T A N D A R D .   .BEARER


                                                                      fruits of Jacob's strength, oidained  by God to be the firstborn
 A          CLOUD OF WlTN@ES /                                        of the children of Israel. But there belonged to him one
                                                                      besetting-weakness and sin : he was unstable, rash and im-

                                                                      pulsive. This sin had manifested itself in the past when he

                                                                      had defiled his father's bed with the terrible sin of incest.
                   Jacob Blessing His Sons
                                                                      It, moreover, was carried on by his children into the future

       Atid Jacob c,alled zt.nto his sons, and said, Gather yoztr-    So that we find of his tribe Dathan and Abiram, leaders in
selves together, tht I may tell you  that which shall befall          thk revolt against Moses and Aaron. For this reason he
you in- the last davs . . . .                                         could not serve as a leader and savior to Israel as ordinarily
    And this is 6 that their father spake unto them, and              his birth  right would imply. Reuben would not obtain pre-
blessed them; every one~according  to his blessing he blessed         eminence. It was a warning to hi& and his children of the
theta.                                          Genesis 49 :l, 28
                                                                      seriousness of this sin.

 Jacob was dying, and he called his sons unto him that                    "Simeon and Levi are brethren ; instruments of ciruelty
he might impart unto them his final blessing. It is important         are in their habitations., 0 my soul, come not thou into their
.that we.should  understand this final act of Jacob aright.           secret ; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united :

       The blessing which Jacob gave unto h& sons was not             for in their -anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill  they

just a `matter of personal opinion. A father upon his death           digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce ;

bed may easily -be inclined to express a wish or a personal           and their wrath, for it was cruel ; I will divide them in Jacob,`

prediction concerning the future state of his children. But           and scatter them in Israel."     Simeon and Levi were born

we should not evaluate this act of Jacob as being nothing             second and third among Jacob's sons; but they too must be

more than that. He predicted the futui-e  of his children, and        passed by as the leaders of Israel because of their sin. They

he did so with an authority that was sure. It is true that            had shown strong inclination toward unrighteous wrath and

some of the blessings were based dn the individual actions            anger, particularly in the rape of Shechem. Because of this,

of his children, and some were:  even based on the meaning            their position in Israel was to be very indistinct. Both tribes

of their names. In this Jacob revealed a sharp spiritual dis-         became scattered through the- nation.. Nonetheless, Levi

ckrnment as to which of each son's characteristics would              eventually did receive the privilege of the priesthood. Was

.continue  to live on in their children. However, the?e  predic-      it perhaps because Levi  particularly took to heart this ad-

tions were not based on mere personal opinion,; it was .re-           monition of his father?

vealed  to him through faith by God. Thus we find blessings               "Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy
which were both positive and negative in their content.               hand -shall be in the neck of thine enemies ; thy father's cbil-
Some were promises of great good; others were warnings                dren shall bow down. before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp:
against weaknesses and sins.                                          from the prey, my son, `thou art gone up : he stooped down,
  -Generally speaking, the blessings that Jacbb  spoke `that          he couched as a lion, and as an old lion ; who shall rouse
day were materialistic. They were concerned with the posi-            him up 7 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the
tion which each tribe would have in the nation of Israel              law-giver from bettieen-  his feet, until Shiloh come; and
and particularly in the promised land of Canaan. But this             unto him shall the gathering of the people  be. Binding his
does not mean that they were devoid of spiritual import. It           `foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine ; he
is to be remembered that the land of Canaan was in the old            washed his garments in wine and his clothes in the blood of
dispensation typical of the ldngdom  of heaven. For those of          grapes,* His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white
Israel .who were of spiritual discernment, the place which            with milk." Having-passed by three of the sons with,  ad-
they filled in the land of promise was a visibl_e  representation     monitions, Jacob now comes to the one upon whom he may
of the spiritual place which they filled in the Church of God.        lay the greatest blessings, and his words wax particularly
Merely tb be included in that nation and that land, was for           eloquent. in Canaan he would possess the marks of blessing.
the spiritually minded a blessing of greatest value: It was           Vines would so abound in his land that they would be used.
an assurance for them that they had a place in the spiritual          as hitching-posts for the animals. His clothes would be
`union of God's chosen people and in the Messiah, the prom-           washed as it were with juice because of the abundance of
ised Seed of Abraham, in whom _a!1  the nations would be              grapes he would tred.       His eyes would be dark and his
blessed.                                                              teeth white from the abundance of wine and of milk. But,

       In the consciousness of this al! Jacob spoke.                  even more, to him would be strength. As a young lion, he

       `(Reuben, thou art`my firstborn, my might, and the be-         would be strong to conquer ; and as an old lion, he would be

 ginning of my strength; the eFcelle$zy  of dignity, and the          immovable. Judah would be the ruler of the nation. The

 excellency of power  : unstable as water, thou'shalt not excel ;     scepter would be in his hand, resting between his feet. Jacob

 because thou wentest up to thy father's bed ; then defiled&          saw, as it were, the strength and glory that would be seen

 thou it I he went up to my couch." Re&en  was the first-             in the kingdom of David. In fact, he saw even more than


                                            T H E   `STANDARe   B E A R E R                                                     4 8 9


 that the coming of Jesus Christ, the Shiloh under `whom the              "Out of Asher  his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield

 people would receive eternal rest. In this Jacob's blessing          royal dainties."    Unto Asher  was given one of the most

 came to its greatest height.' This was the heart of the whole        fruitful portions of Canaan. As Jacob foresaw, the portion of

 blessing. Before Shiloh all the tribes would bow down. As            Asher  brought forth. some of the richest delicacies of Canaan.

 Judah's name implied, he would be "praised."                             "Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words."

    "Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the seal  and he             The truth of this prophecy manifested itself most clearly in
 shall be for an haven of ships ; and his border shall be unto        the time of Deborah. The men of Naphtali were swift in
 Zidon."    Zebulun was to dwell at the northern border of            battle. They constituted with Zebulun the army of Barak.
 Israel close to the shore of the sea. Jacob. gives a play on         As Deborah and Barak afterward sang, "Zebulun and
 the name Zebulun, which means "dwelling." The thought is             Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the
 that Zebulun would be the commercial gateway of the nation.          death in the high places of the field . . . They fought from
 This would give to Zebulun a great opportunity to serve as           heaven ; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera."
 a witness to the nations of the distinctiveness of Israel. But       The very song itself is our best example of Naphtali's "goodly
 with it there was also a danger, the danger that Zebulun             words."

 would let~itself  fall under the influence of the wicked.                "Joseph is a fruitful bough even a fruitful bough by a          /

                                                                      well ; whose branches run over the wall : the archers have
   "Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two
                                                                      sorely grieved him, and shot at, and hated him: but his bow
burdens: and he saw that rest was good, and the land that
                                                                      abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made
 it was pleasant; .and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became
                                                                      strong by the hands of the mighty God. of _ Jacob:; From .
 a servant unto tribute." Issachar would taste of the blessed-
                                                                      thence is the shepherd, the' stone of Israel ; even by the God
 ness of Canaan and its -pleasantness.  It was to be a tribe
                                                                      of thy father, who shall help thee ; and by the Almighty, who
 given to healthy labor and the satisfaction of receiving its
                                                                      shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of
 fruits. But Jacob discerned in Issachar's  name, meaning
                                                                      the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of
 "hire" or "wages," a hint of predominant weakness which                                                                                       .
                                                                      the womb : the blessings of thy father have prevailed above
 he would pass on to his children. Issachar desired` rest.
                                                                      the blessings ,6f my progenitors unto the utmost bound of
 It was not the spiritual rest of God which they sought. They
                                                                      the everlasting hills : they shall be on the head- of Joseph,
 were hesitant and lethargic when it came to striving with
                                                                      and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from
 the enemies of Israel. They found it easier to submit and
                                                                      his brethren." Once again Jacob returned with enthusiasm to
 pay tribute. _
                                                                      his favorite son Joseph. Now before the brothers he related
    "Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of              the essence of the blessing which previously he had laid upon
 Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, adder in the path,        the sons of Joseph privately. In accord with the deep desire.
 that biteth the horse's heels, so that his rider shall fall back-    of Rachel, Joseph would be a fruitful bough blessed by the
 ward."     Dan's name meant "to judge." Building upon this,          hand of the Lord. With the double portion of the blessing
 Jacob -proclaimed that Dan would judge his people. Thus it           he would manifest miraculous growth of the nation which is
 was that Samson came from Dan as a judge of Israel:  There           blessed of the Lord.
 also was revealed a certain concern for justice in the removal,
                                                                          "Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall
 of Dan to Laish. However, Dan was tempted as a tribe. to be
                                                                      devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil." -
 subtle and crafty in its ways. This weakness was clearly
                                                                      Benjamin was to be warlike as a hunting wolf. Fighting the
 demonstrated in their taking of the young Levite from the            battles of the Lord, his sons would divide the spoils of the
 home of Micah. It brought them deeply into sin.                      enemy.. The Scriptures abound with accounts of the war-
    Suddenly Jacob's thought pattern was interrupted, and             riors of Benjamin, slingers and archers, men like Ehud, Saul,
 he exclaimed, "I -have waited for thy salvation, 0 Lord."            and Jonathan. Actively they took part in the battles of
 Struck by the strength and weaknesses of his sons, he could          Israel.
 not restrain himself from this cry. In the waiting for the               "All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it
 salvation of God would be Israel's strength. The neglect             that their father spake unto them, and blessed them ; every
 of this principle would be its weakness. It was a cry of             one according to his blessing he blessed them." As in a
 admonition which his sons could well' take to heart. Only            vision, Jacob saw the great nation which was being formed
 after he had expressed it could he continue.                         in Egypt spread out through the coasts of Canaan. In its

    "Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall over-              blessings and riches and strength, as well as in its weak-

 come at the last." It was Gad more than any other tribe              nesses, it would be the nation blessed of the Lord, each tribe

 that in latter years was overrun by invading tribes of enemies.      fitting in its place -to make the whole. But even in that it was

 They tasted bitterly the hatred of the enemy. But under its          but a picture, a figure and a type, of the greater nation yet to

 affliction Gad became strong and brave in the cause of the           come, the holy nation which is the body of Jesus Christ ruled

 Lord. They overcame in the fear of the Lord.                         eternally by the lion of Judah's tribe.                   B.W.


490                                           THE..STAND+D~   B E A R E R
                                                        _`.


                                                                          "I write unto you, littEe children, became you;v  sins are

                                                                        forgiven y&t `for his name's sake. I wr&e.ztnto you, fathers,

                                                                        because yo&-  have ktbown  .hi~~ that is ~YOWZ  the beginning. I

                                                                        -write unto you, yoatng m?en, beca.t&se  ye have overcome `the

                                                                        .evil  one. I have written  u,nto YOU little children because ye
                Exposition of I John 2:12-14                            have knb-w+z  the F&her.  I have written unto yoti, fathers,

                                                                        because ye h.ave known him that is f~oyn.  the beginning. I
                                 a.
                                                                        have written' U&O  yo,u, yowng  men, becaztse  ye are strong,

    There is a fundamental truth of Scripture which must                and the. word of God abideth in yoz~, and je have overcome

ever be kept in mind, shall -we rightly ,understand  the Word           th.e wicked one." Verses 12-14.

of God and rightly divide it. I refer, of course, to the fact               We do well to establi+h at the very outs& that those
that there are a two-fold people in the world: the children of          addressed here by the apostle John are the children of God.
God and the children of the Devil. This we read in .I John              They  have received the right and authority. fro&  God to
3 :lO, "In this the children of God are manifest, and the               become the-children of God (John 1.:12)  ; they have believed
children of the.Devil."  God has put enmity between the Seed            in Christ's Name, .and  are born `not of the will of man, nor
of the woman and the seed of the serpent, when he preached              of the will of the flesh and by the call of blood, but they are.
and revealed the first gospel, the Protevatigel,  to him:  Gen..        born out of God. John 1:12, .P3 ; John 3 :3. By the Spirit of
3 :15.                                                                  regeneration they have been brought forth as some first-frtiits

    In close connection. with the foregoing there is still ari-         of God's creation. Wherefore John exclaims in I John 3 :I,
other matter of great and relevant importance for the prqper            "Behold, what manner of- love the Father bath  bestowed
understanding of the Word of God..  It is the oft-reieated              upon us, that we should be called the .sons  of God; therefore
truth that he whq has, shall receive more and .,have abun,              the world knoweth us not because it knew him not."

dance, and he who has not, from him shall be taken what he                  Such are those who are here addressed.
thinketh to have. This is the truth singled out by Jesus in
                                                                        " John writes to them in our text and designates them as
Maithew  13 :l 1, 12, "And answkring he said, &to you it
                                                                        "little children," "fathers" and "young men."         '
hath been given to know the mysteries Of the kingdom of

heaven, but unto them it bath  not been given.. For whosoever               The question-is: what is meant by each of these?

hath,  to him it shall be given and he shall have m&e  abun-              It is our settled conviction that the triad here indicated
dance ; but wh-soever  hath not, from him shall be taken away           by John in the te+ does not refer to the distinction in age
even that he bath.!' See also Mark 4:25  and Luke-8:18.  The            from a purely natural point of view. Notice the order : little
impolLtance  of this tremendous principle is underscored in             childTen,  fathers and yomg men.         Surely  that is not the
the last chapter of the book: of Revelation, where we rea-d  in         natural order of ascending scale. Then we would read: little
verse 11, "The one who is unrighteous let him be .&right-               children, young men, fathers, or conversely in- descending
eous still, the filthy olle let him be filthy still, `and-the right-    scale: fathers, young men, little children. But now this
eous let him be righteous. still, and he that is holy let him be        order is broken ; it is : little children, fathers, young men !
holy still."
                                                                           H&e, we do not have here the natural order !
    Our text speaks in line with this truth of God's Word.

                                                                         Rather, it must be maintained that we have here the
    In our text, taken from I John 2 :12-14,.  Paul assigns the
                                                                        entire congregation from a threefold aspect of her relation-
grou.nd  for addressing the believers. He addresses them on
                                                                        ship to God in Christ and all the riches of salvation. I write
the ground (because of) of what they are in Christ, and
                                                                        this advisedly. I do not hold that the apostle is viewing here
because of what they have experienced of God in Christ by
                                                                        thde gyoz@s  in the church. Such is .really  the view of none
a living faith. It has been alleged that unless one has a
                                                                        of the accredited Bible scholars. At best they  posit two
general promise to preach to all upon condition of faith, or
                                                                        separate groups here `In  the ihurch: fathers and young men,
unless .one preaches a well-meant offer of the gospel to all
                                 .- *,+ I.                              while "little children" refers then, to the entire congregation,
who hear, that one then 1acks:`uhe  "concrete addressable-
                                       I                                old or young ! I do not believe that the distinction between
ness"  <n the preaching. The latter we, of course, deny. John
                                                                        "fathers" and "young men"  can be one strictly of age-level.
does not have a well-tieant  offer to all here, but a very
                                                                        It is rather one of relationship to God and to the world-at
definite and particular message to a very definite and partic-
                                                                        whose head we find the "wicked.one."
ular people, whom he -designates as being "my beloved"

or ;`rny  little children," and he addresses theni because-they             But we are anticipating.        -

are who they are!                                                           Let us notice then first of all, that the designation "little

       We do well to take careful notice of the text which reads        children" (teknia and neaniskoi) is a term which John uses

in full as follows :                                                    throughout. this entire epistle while add,vessing the entire


                                              T H E   STANDA-fi"D  -BEARER                                                              491


congregation. And; it seems to me, that here wk dave the.              my la&&~  their  hearts, an8 in their minds will I write

key to the prop`er  understanding of the text. If "little chil-        them; and thei;  sins and iniquities will I'remember.no  moie"

dren" must refer to people who are. octogenarians (past                (Jer. 31:33  and Heb. 8 :12).

eighty !), then fathers too can have a broader cotlnotation,              -Such  is the name of Jesus, Jehovah-saves : He saves his
`and the same holds true for the term "young. men" ! A                 people from their sins. That is his great and glorious name;
superficial perusal of this epistlq of John `will bear out that        his honor  which he gives to none other ! I am the LORD !
 "little children" rkfers  to the entire congregation in their
                                                                           In this name and for the sake of this name the "little
new relationship to Christ, as new-born babes in Christ. Thus
                                                                       children" have their sins forgiven them, and as such they
in I John 2 :l we read, "My little children, these things write
                                                                       are concretely addressable. And only in this capacity are they
I unto you, that ye sin not . . ." Again in chapter 2 :18 we
                                                                       addressable. They are delivered from the house of bondage;
read, "Little children, it is the last hour . . ." And, again,
                                                                       they have the redemption in Christ's blood of the Covenant,
in verse 28 of this same chapter we read, "And now, little
                                                                       the forgiven&s of sin?. To stress this actuality of the posses-
 children, abide in him . . ." Or read I John 3 :7, "Little
                                                                       sion of the forgiveness of sin?,  the covenant written in their
children, let no man deceive you . . .' In verse 18 of this
                                                                       hearts, John uses the perfect -tense. It is theirs as -an ever
same chapter we read, "My little children, let us not love in
                                                                       present possession, completed up till the present moment!
 word, neither in tongue . . ." And in the last sentence of this
                                                                       Writes he: because youi-  sins a.re forgiven you. Hence, they
epistle (chapter 5 :21),       "Little children, keep yourselves
                                                                       are consciously living in the favor of God as sons. They may
-from idols."
                                                                       remember their sins, but God is greater than their heart and
        In all of these instances John is addressing the `entire       knoweth all thirigs. .Yoti  stand ih ihe  n&v @la&ship,  the
 congregation. The term indicates that the addressees are              covenant relationship. Your sins are remembered no more
 children_of  John in the limited sense that he is their spiritual     by the Lord, and he has ivritten  his Jaw  upon your hearts
 father and adviser. in the Lord. The deeper sense is that             and in your mind.
 they are the children of God. It is the most endearing term
                                                                           I write you, little children  !            -
 of the apostle. It speaks of the gl'eat  and tender love of God
 which moves the apostle thus to write.                                    I have written you,. little children !

        Let it then be established that the term. "little children"        You need this warning,             admonition, correction, little
 refers to the entire c&gregation  and not siliply  to the -little     -children,  ~exactly  because you are such little children. It
 children &Z the congregation.                                         fits with none other; it could not possibly be addressed to
                                                                       anyone else. Yours is the calling to daily repentance, and to
 - Of these "little children" John writes two things, which
                                                                       flee from worldly lusts and pleasures ; to work out your salva-
 at once are the. "grou&"  for his addressing the&:
                                                                       tion with fear and holy trembling in an evil world !

        a. Because thTyy-  are those whose. sins are `forgiven for         Thus the entire congregation is addressed.
 His name's sake, verse i2 ;
                                                                          Such is the need of old and young in the church in the
        b. Because they are such who know the Father, verse            world, the militant church-which must wage her spiritual
 12.                                                                   warfare and battle for the name of God in the world. Such

        Concerning the first  of these we would notice that the        is. the enmity in which she is placed in the world. She is in
 phrase "His name's sake" evidently refers to Christ; the one          the world yet not of her. The world does riot know  her.                 D

 who is our advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the right-             Here is no antinomian license. Here is the str$ssing  of

 eous one. He suffered and died. In his perspn and work                the need for walking in all good works. The little children

 he revealed the. Father to us, declared him &to us. The law           have the law written ,in their hearts and upon their minds.

 was given through Moses, but grace and truth became                       I write you little children..
 through Jesus Chl'ist. John 1:17.. And all that is revealed
                                                                           I have written you, little children !
 of the person and work of Christ-that is his Name. His

 is the name which is above every name. There is none other                I do nit tempt God in the church by separating what he

 name given under heaven by which we must be saved. Heb.               hath in his good-pleasure joined together, namely,. that God

 1 :l-4; Acts 3 :6b. Into ,this "riame"  they are baptized. It is      conf.ers the grace of obedience through admonition.

 the "name" of the Father, the Sbn and the Holy Ghost. It                  For in this having your sin*  forgiven you, ye know the
 is what God the Father determined to do, what God the                 Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and his infinite                 '
Son did for us, and what God the Spirit of Christ does in us.          forgiving love.
 Such is this name! It means to be taken up into the cov-

 enant .of God, the New Testament in his blood. Thus we                                        (to be continued)
 read in Hebrews 10:16,  "This is the Covenant that I will

Fake  with them after those days, saith the-  Lord, I, will put                                                                        G.L.


 492                                          T H E   .STANDARD  BEARER   .


                                                                      doctrines of the way and nature of salvation. It may even be

                                                                      _argued  that in this respect much similarity and agreement

                                                                      can be found between the Roman Catholic Church and many

                                                                      Protestant Churches.      If we rule out the modernistic

                                                                      churches, who are classified in Protestantism and deny

                  The Freedom of "Bigotry'!                           many of the cardinal truths of Scripture and, doing, so, are
                                                                      farther departed from the truth than the Roman Catholic

                                                                      Church, it may be pointed out that both Roman Catholicism

        That is, indeed, a'nasty word.                                and Frotestantism agree in general upon the doctrine of The
                                                                      Trinity, The Virgin Birth of the Saviour, The Divine Nature
        Webster- gives this definition of it : "Bigotry - State of    of Christ, The Atonement of the Cross, The Resurrection of
 mind of a bigot, also of beliefs ensuing from such a state."         the Body and Life Everlasting, to mention a few.
        And ior bigot he has the following to .say, "One ob-

stinately and intolerantly. devoted to his own church, party,            But it is the stand of the Roman Catholic Church that

 belief or opinion."                                                  the Pope is not only the head of the church on earth but

        He presents enthusiast as a synonym for bigot. The            also of the state that makes church affiliation an issue in this
 differende  which he points out between an enthusiast and a          campaign. And coupled with this is the fact that it is Roman
bigot -is also interesting. "An enthusiast," he states, "is a         Catholic doctrine that- the Pope has power to cast into hell
person of keen and ardent interest; the term sometimes im-            those who depart from the ways of his church and do not
plies a subordination of judgment to enthusiasm ; as the              seek its advantage at every turn. Therefore the fear arises
dreams of an enthusiast." But of the bigot he says, "A bigot          that he can wield tremendous influence and power over such
 is obstinately, often blindly devoted to his own (especially         a candidate, should he become President of the united
 religiouj:)  beliefs or opinions ; as compaked  with fanatic and     States. Whether this fear is wellfounded, whether a Pres;
zealot, bigot implies dogged intolerance rather than mis-             ident  alone can turn the tide in America to Roman Cathol-
guided zeal."                                                         ism is not our concern in this article. However we are'
                                                                      firmly convinced that we may not before God support or
        We have heard that word recently, and we will hear it,        invite anything that would threaten the truth as it was given
more in the coming political campaign for the presidency of           .to the Church through the Reformation. We will therefore
these United States of America. One who refuses to vote               also somewhat later quote to you that which is taught in
for Senator Kennedy because  he is a Roman Catholic will be           Roman Catholic schools today.
 called a bigot. If his religion is the reason for the negative

vote, the decision to vote against him roots in bigotry and is           As we said, this is not.  written to serve as political

an act of bigotry.       It may be `argued, of course, that `the      propaganda. What we wish to pbint  out at `this time in this

 Roman Catholic citizen who' votes for him because he .be-            series is that no child of God -may be anything else than

longs to the same church, and uses this solely as his reason          obstinate in his faith and intolerant with all wickedness. It

is likewise guilty of bigotry. And strangely enough that men          simply belongs to the luke-warm age in which we live that

 will vote for a candidate simply because he is a Republican          men  are so tolerant with evil and false doctrines and have

 or a Democrat, that one votes for the candidate of his party         no deep, serious and unshaken convictions. Men are noi

.in nothing else than loyalty to that party, is never called          obstinate in the truth, but as James writes in his epistle,
                                                                                   _
bigotry but praised as loyalty.                                       they are doubleminded. Today men will place Protestantism,

        But is it so that to vote against a man because of his        Roman Catholicism, Mormonism, Buddhism and Moham-
 religious convictions makes one guilty of bigotry ? And              medanism on the same level. They are all good religions.
having serious scruples against a candidate because he is             Take your pick. You cannot go wrong with any one of
 eithe_r a Roman Catholic, or is not, is that so terrible a crime     them. The main thing is that you believe something. What
to deserve such a nasty name.-?                                       you believe is not so important. And the other fellow's faith
                                                                      and religion is always just as good as yours. If you deny
        We are not going to tell you how to vote. And these           that, if you obstinately maintain your faith and are intolerant
lines are not meant to be political propaganda for either             with false doctrines, you are a bigot.
majbr' political party. If it does serve that purpose, it is

 simply due to the fact th&  a candidate for the presidency              Then we say, Give us the freedo&  of "bigotry !"

 has been nominated who belongs to the Roman Catholic                    What ?
 Church .and to the fact that this Roman Catholic Church has
an entirely different view of the relationship between Church            Should we be expected to be obstinate and intolerant in
and State than Protestantism. That is what makes church               devotion to our, country, t6 our political party and not to
membership an issue in this campaign. It is not that these            ourGod?'

 two main branches of Christianity in our land have differ&              Are we bigots when we vote against our party's can-


didate  because of his religion and traitors .when.-we.claim  to       But btir .chiiff..doncefn  -at- the moment is, as we -&dd;-$

see something good in Communism ? Are we bigots  when we            point out that we ,must  `be intolerant with  the lie-and ob-

obstinately hold fast that which God has revealed to us of          stinate in our stand for the -truth'  of the Word ofl($~$  ,a?d
                                                                                                - -.- _ -1    - 1 :.a..*  .    L. _
the truth ; and does freedom of religion in our land mean that      for His Church. Would to God we had more men today

viie have to be. disloyal to our God and the faith He has           who would .stand  unshaken in their faith and would turn a
                                                                                                                                       . .~
given us in order to remain a loyal citizen and a' faithful         deaf ear to praise of men and gold and silvey,  fo walk straight-

party member? Then give us no freedbm-  of religion but             forward in the cause of God's kingdom. We are not in-

freedom of "bigotry."      We will still place  it ,in quotation    terested in men either, for that &atter, who can claim to beg

marks, because we do not believe that such a vile name fits         of one faith and can mix with other faiths and attend .

and ought to be applied to a man tiho  is intolerant for the        churches of other faiths with joy and -relish. Let a man

truth's sake and obstinately devoted to the only true God:          stand for tihat  he believes. Let him be honest before God.

Jehovah the God of our salvation in Christ.                         Let hi&  search the Scriptures and make an honest gnd

                                                                    serious attempt to compare all the isms with the Word of
   We frown on men  who defect to Communism. We would
                                                                    God, and then. let him be faithful unto God, faithful unto
be labeled as .being "Red," or surely bright "Pink,' if we
                                                                    death. L&t him dare to do that which will possibly bring
were to say that the communistic form of government is just
                                                                    him the title of bigot. .And  when faith in God.  demands  it,
as good as the democratic form, that whether a man is ruled
                                                                    let him choose bbgtinately  to be faithful  to his God .at the
by a dictator or by the people themselves through free votmi
                                                                    expense of being loyal even to his country. For here we
makes little difference and that Cuba and Africa have a
                                                                    have no abiding city, but we seek one whose builder and                                   s
perfect right to. go communistic and to spread its propaganda       maker is God. Let us walk as citizens of that kingdom. For
through South America. ,No,  you must be obstinately op-            only in'that  way  can we be pleasing td our God. And that                           '
posed to all this.    You must be intolerant with all the at-       counts above all. Peter said that we ought to obey God
tempts of the Russians t6 go forward and spread their lies
                                                                    rather than man. And we may add that we .ought  to be loyal
and hate against the free nations.                 .'
                                                                    to God also rather than to man. When our loyalty and

    But is Russia greater than our God ?                            obedience to man and his earthly welfare and ambitions

                                                                    mean;  disloyalty to God and His truth and glory, we have
    Hate against Him, the lie concerning Him and His Son,                                                                                                     --
                                                                    no choice but to be obstinate and intolerant in our devotion
idolatry and image worship, blasphemy and mockery must
                                                                    t o   H i m .
be tolerated ? May we sin again& our consciences and
defend the lie in any form and to every degree? According              Therefore next time, D.V., we like to call your attention
to some that is the very idea and value  of freedom of              to a. few passages of Holy Writ which have something to
religion. It means that the lie must have the  same freedom         say about this firmness of faith and loyalty to God which
that the truth has to be spread and to be cherished by men. To      may, in man's eyes, class us with the bigots. 0, to be free
them it makes no difference what a man's church affiliation         from fear of men, from lust of eye and flesh to stand  firm
is, and the one faith has as much right to' triumph over ;he        in the truth, to be intolerant with all evil, to hate it in every
-other as the one political party has the right to triumph over     form and to despise all wickedness ! Give us that freedbm  of
the other. If only it means a few more dollars in the               "bigotry"     rather than this lukewarm, indifferent, carnal
pocketbook or bank, if only it means that we are kept from          attitude  -that bread and butter, gold and silver, wages and
poverty and war, lrom social unrest and crime,' it- makes no        .earthly peace are worth more than the favour of our God
.difference  what opinions of `God aie held by the citizens of      and life everlasting. in His kingdom of true peace and joy.

.our land. One is considered to be a bigot, if he votes against                                                                                J.A.H.
.a candidate because he considers the religious beliefs of that

candidate to pose a serious threat to his own church and

faith. But nd one `thinks of calling the candidate a bigot

because he obstinately holds on to his religious faith  even
.though  that\  faith in times past has shown  itself to be in-                         THE ISSUES OF LIFE

tolerant to Protestantisni to the extent of bloody and viblent                   O'er thein soon shall rule the just;
persecutions, and shows schools that yet t6day teach the                         All their beauty turn to dust;
children to be obstinate in their stand for this church and                      God my waiting soul shall save,
-its earthly head, and frown very strongly upon marriage with                    He will raise me from the grave.
mates of another iaith.                                                          Let no fear disturb your peace

    If such a candidate may -and indeed by the decrees of                        Though one's house and wealth inch-ease
`his church, he must-be infolerant of ail other faiths? we                       Death shall end his fleeting day,               .
should not accuse those oi bigotry who for these reasons vote                    He shall carry naught away.
-against   h i m .                                                                                                                      Psalni 49 :3


I

                                                 .THE~~~~T'AND,J-+D   B E A R E R


                                                                     '    the body and blood of Christ thus locally and substantially

             Contending For- The Faith                                    present. in the Eucharist are offered as a true propitiatory
                                                      :.                  sacrifice for the. forgiveness of sin, the application of which

                                                                          is-determined by the intention of the officiating-priest.

              The Chtiich  and the Sacxaments                                 7.    Idolatry consists not only in the worship of false gods,

                                                                          but in the worship .of the true- God by images. The second
              THE,TIME  bF THE REFORMATION
                                                                          Commandment of the Decalogue' expressly forbids the bow-

                    VIEWS ON-THE CHURCH                                   ing down to, or serving the likeness of anything in heaven

                                                                          `above or in the earth beneath. The precise thing, therefore,
                      -,FORMAL  PRINCIPLE
                                                                          that is forbidden is that which the Church of Rome permits

                                 (continued)                              and enjoins, namely, the use of images in religious worship,

                                                                          prostration before them, and doing them reverence.
        4. The doctrine of the merit of good works as taught                8. Another great error of the Church of Rome is the
     by Romanists is another most prolific error. They hold that          worship of saints and' angels, and especially of the Virgin'
     works done after regeneration have real merit (meritum               Mary: It is not.merely  that they are regarded.as,  objects of
     condigni), and that they are the ground of the sinner's              reverence, but that the service rendered them involves the
     justification before God. They hold that a man may do                ascription of divine attributes. They. are assumed to be
     more than the law requires of him, and perform works of              everywhere present, able to hear and answer prayer, to help
     supererogation, and thus obtain more merit than is neces-            and to save. They become the ground of confidence to the
     sary for his own salvation and beatification. That this super-
                                                                          people, and the objects of their religious affections. They
     fluous merit goes into the.treasury  of the Church, and may
                                                                          are to them precisely what the gods of the heathen were to
     be dispensed for the `benefit of others. On-this `ground in-
                                                                          the Greeks and Romans.
     dulgences are granted or sold, to take effect not only. in this
     life but in the life to come.                                            Such are some of the errors taught by the Church of
                                                                          Rome, and they prove that that Church instead of being in-
        5. With this is connected the further error concerning
                                                                          fallible, is so corrupt that it is the duty of the,people  .of God
     Purgatory. The Church of Rome teaches that those dying in
                                                                          to come out of it and to renounce its fellowship.
     the communion of the Church, who have not in this life made

     full satisfaction for their sins, or acquired sufficient merit to
     entitle them to admission into heaven, do at death pass into            The Recognition  of an Infullible  Chatrch  I~mmspatible
     a state of suffering, there to remain until due satisfaction is                    with e&hey  Religious or Civil Liberty

     made and proper purification is effected. There is no                    A Church which claims to be infallible, ipso facto, claims
     necessary termination to. this state of purgatory but the `day       to be the mistress of the world ; and `those who admit its in-
     of judgment or the end of the world. It may last for a               fallibility, thereby admit their entire subjection to its author-
     thousand or many thousands of years.' But.  Purgatory is             ity. It avails nothing to say that this infallibility is limited
     under the power of-the ,keys'.  The sufferings -of souls in that     to matters of faith and morals, for' under those heads is in-
     state may be alleviated or shortened by the authorized min-          cluded the whole life of man, religious, moral, domestic,
     isters of the Church. There is no limit to the power of men          social, and' political.
     who are believed to hold the keys of heaven in their hand,
     to .shut  out' and no man opens, and to open and no man                  A church which claims the right to decide what is true
     shuts. Of all incredibilities the most incredible is that God        in doctrine and obligatory in morals, and asserts the power
     would. commit such power as this, to weak, ignorant, and             to enforce submission to its decisions on the pain of eternal
     often wicked men.                                                    perdition, leaves nq room for any other authority upon earth.
                                                                          In the presence of the authority of God, .every  other dis-
        6. The `Romish Church teaches grievous error concern-             appears.
     ing the Lord's Supper. It teaches, (1) That when conse-
     crated by the priest the whole substance of the bread and                With the claim to infallibility is inseparably connected
     the whole substance, of the wine are transmuted into the sub-        the claim to pardon sin. The Church does not assume merely
     stance ,of the body and blood of Christ. (2) That as His             the right to declare the conditions on which sin will be for.-
     body is inseparable from His soul and divinity, where the            given at the bar of God, but it asserts that it has the prerog-
     one is there the other must be. The whole Christ, therefore,         ative to grant, or to withhold that forgiveness. "Ego te ab-
     body, soul, and divinity, is present in the`consecrated wafer,       solvo," is. the ,formula  the Church puts into. the mouth of the
     which is to be -worshipped  as Christ Himself .is worshipped.        priesthood. Those who, receive that absolution are saved ;
     This is the reason why the Church of England in her Hom-             those whom the Church refuses to absolve .must  bear the
     ilies pronounces the service, of the Mass in the Romish              penalty of their offences.

     Church idolatrous. (3) That Church further teaches that                 An infallible church~is  thus the only institute of salvation.


                                            `T.8E.  S-T.ANBA*l?n  B,EARE-R.                                                       495,


All within its pale are saved ; all -without it perish: .Those?       this in m&d.  This means, of ,course~~  that lwhatever  a pope

only are in the Church who believe what it teaches, who do'           has declared in the past, also in connection with the.-Roman

what.  it commands, and are f subject to its officers, and            Catholic doctrine that the pope is the temporal ruler of the

especially its head, the Roman pontiff. Any `man, thereforej          world as well as the spiritual head and ruler of the Church

whom the Church excommunicates is thereby shut out of the             cannot be altered or violated, inasmuch as any declaration

kingdom of heaven ; any nation placed under its ban is not            to that effect was by Divine inspiration and all such utter-

only `deprived of the consolation of religious -services, but of      ances are infallible. We now wish to call attention to the

the necessary means of `salvation.                                    view of the Church of the Reformation as this stood opposed

                                                                      to False Mysticism. .False  Mysticism is characterized by
    If the Church be infallible, its authority is no less absolute
                                                                      rejecting the objective authority of the Bible and relying
in the sphere of social and political life. It is immoral to
                                                                      upon "inner light" ; Protestants claimed that the objective
contract or to continue an unlawful marriage, to keep an
                                                                      revelation `in Scripture must be the sole and only reliable
unlawful oath, to enact unjust laws, to obey a sovereign
                                                                      canon and rule for all faith and life.
hostile to the Church. The Church, therefore, has the right

to dissolve marriages, to free men from the obligations of              We must distinguish, of course, between Mysticism -and

their oaths, and citizens from their allegiance, to abrogate          False Mysticism. There is, we surely understand, a certain

civil laws, and to depose sovereigns. These prerogatives have         type :of  Mysticism in the sound and Scriptural sense' of. the

not only been claimed, but time and again exercised by the            word and that must be maintained. True Christianity is

Church of Rome. They all of right belong to that Church,              surely mustical in a very realsense of the word. Christianity,

if it be infallible. As these claims are enforced by penalties        in the true and living sense, is certainly never to be divorced

involving the ,loss of the soul, they cannot be'resisted  by          from an .inner, spiritual and living fellowship and experience-

those who admit the Church to be infallible. It is obvious,           of the heart. .True Mysticism is certainly expressed by the

therefore, that where this doctrine is held there can be no           psalmist in Psalm 66:16,  and we quote: !`Come  and hear,

liberty of opinion, no `freedom of conscience, no civil, or           all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done -

political freedom. As the recent ecumenical Council of the            for my soul."    And this also applies to what we read in

Vatican has decided that this infallibility is vested in the          Galatians 2 :20, and we again -quote  : ."I am crucif?ed  with

Pope, it is henceforth a matter of faith with Romanists,' that        Christ : nevertheless- I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in

the Roman pontiff is the absolute sovereign of the world.             me : and the life which. I now live in the flesh I live by the      _

All men are bound, on the penalty of eternal death, to believe        faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself -

what he declares to be true, and to do whatever he decides is         for me." The opposite of Mysticism in the sound and Scrip-

*obligatory. - end of quote from Hodgej  Vol. 1, pages 13%            tural sense of the word is dead orthodoxy, a dead intellectual-

150.                                                                  ism,. a dead and lifeless agreement with and assent to the

                                                                      truths of the Word of God. If it be true that to divorce

                                                                      one's inner and spiritual life an'd  experience from the ob-
        THE REFORMATION VERSUS FALSE                                  jective standard of the Word of God will deprive a child of
                        MYSTICISM                                     God of all firm assurance and confidence and will ultimately-

                                                                      lead the Church of God into gross error, it is just as true
   The reader may recall that we are discussing the views
                                                                      that to divorce all knowledge of the Scriptures from an inner
-on the Church during the time of the Reformation. We have
                                                                      and living experience of the same will plunge the Church of
noted that the main principles of the Reformation' of the
                                                                      God headlong into the midst of the world. True religion is
sixteenth century are usually considered to be two. and
                                                                      certainly mystical in the true sense of the word. This must
-distinguished as the formal and material principle. The
                                                                      be maintained. However, we must be on our guard against
-formal principle of the Reformation is that the Reformers
                                                                      False Mysticism. And False Mysticism is oftentimes the
:acknowledged  only one source of authority: the Holy Scrip-
                                                                      reaction against a cold and dead intellectual assent `to the
tures. With this principle they stood opposed to Roman
                                                                      truths of the Word of God. It is to this False Mysticism
Catholicism, False Mysticism (Quakers, Anabaptists, etc.)
                                                                      and the stand of the Church of the Reformation against it
.and to Rationalism.` We are still discussing this formal prin-
                                                                      that we wish to call attention in subsequent' articles.    - -
ciple of the Reformation. We have called the attention of
-the reader at length to the view of Roman Catholicism which                                                                     H.V.

claims-that the right and power to interpret the. Bible belongs

-to the Church, that is, to the clergy, and this means ul-

timately to the pope who has been declared'infallible  by that
                                                                                The heavens and earth, by right divine,
Church whenever he functions and acts officially. This doc-
                                                                                The world and all therein, are Thine ;
trine of infallibility, established by Rome during the last
century, means, that the pope has always been infallible, ever                 The whole creation's wondrous frame

since he succeeded the apostle Peter. It is well that. we bear                  Proclaims its Maker's glorious Name.


496.                                                   T.H.E STAND:ARD   B E A R E R


I                                                                        seed out of which we are born is corrupted already at the
        The Voice bf Our Fathers, a                                      time of our conception. And therefore, it cannot last : it .has
                                                                         in it the principle of death. `The result is, as far as our

                                                                         first life is concerned, that dying we die.
                     The Canons of Dordrecht
                                                                            But now the apostle says that this seed of regeneration,

                                P&T Two                                  that is, this very first, inner principle or' beginning -out of

                                                                         which all our life as saints springs, is not a corruptible, but
                        ESPOSITION  OF THE CANONS
                                                                         an incorruptible seed. Not only is there no corruption in it,
                        FIFTH H            OF D
                                   EAD             OCTRINE               but it is not subject to corruption, is not able to be cor-

               O                                                         rupted. There is no death in it, and it is not subject to
                    F THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS
                                                                         death. The reason for this is, of course, the fact that the
                       REJECTION OF ERRORS
                                                                         life-principle of this seed is Christ, Who is incorruptible.

                           Article 8 (continued)                         Because Christ died as the Prince of life in behalf of His

                                                                         people, He overcame death in their behalf. ' His life, and
     Our fathers obviously cite the text in' I Peter 1:23 in
                                                                         our life in `Him, is resurrection-life, life that is victorious
order to make one point, namely, that we are born again
                                                                         over death in the absolute ;sense of the word. This life
out of imormptible  seed. This, to them, makes the Arminian
                                                                         Christ through the Holy Spirit imparts unto l%s own. And
teaching of regeneration that can be lost and of -frequent
                                                                         so the seed that is implanted in the elect is incorruptible.
regenerations of the same individual absurd. That this is
                                                                         Out of that seed that life of regeneration springs. And it
indeed the fathers' `p.urpose in quoting this, passage is plain
                                                                         can never die. T\To  more than Christ and His life are subject
from their reply to the Arminians: "For these deny by this
                                                                         to death, no more are the elect and their life in Christ subject
doctrine the incorruptibleness of the seed of God, `whereby
                                                                         to death. Regeneration can never be lost. And there is never
we are born again." This, then, is their sole point. In &elf
                                                                         any need, for a repetition of regeneration. Once regenerated
it makes no difference what you say about the interpretation
                                                                         is always regenerated. And it is all of grace. There is no
of the passage. IN itself it makes no difference whether you
                                                                         falling away of the saints.
speak of mediate or immediate regeneration in this connec-

tion. Over against the Arminians this passage p.roves plainly               And now we return to the matter mentioned in the be-

that we are born again-out of incorruptible seed, that therefore         ginning of our discussion of this article, namely, that of

this regeneration cannot be lost, that thus there can be no              mediate or immediate regeneration. As we mentioned, this

necessity of- and no room for frequent regenerations.             .On    question arises, or rather, is introduced, in connection with

this single term hinges the truth, that once regenerated means           this article. And we are therefore almost forced to discuss

forever regenerated, and that there cannot possibly be a                 it also. even though it is not as such pertinent to a treat-

falling away of those. who are regenerated. You would have               ment of our Ca.n,ons.  Nor would we deny that a discussion

to blot this term out of the Scriptures in order to maintain             of this subject can be beneficial, even for a better under-

that a-single regenerated saint could ever lose his regenera-            standing of the truth of perseverance as set forth in our

t i o n !                                                                Canotis.  For, in the first place, the more one considers this

     For what does the contrast between corruptible and in-              entire passage in I Peter 1~23-25,  and that too, in connection

corruptible seed mean ? Abstractly considered, a corruptible             with this "incorruptible seed" which our fathers point to,

seed is a seed that is subject to corruption from without, able          the more one can understand the beauty and the strength

to be corrupted. And the permanence, the abiding character,              of our Reformed position, and the more one can see the utter

therefore, of that which is able to be corrupted is, of course,          absurdity:of  the Arminian position. In the .second  place,

not at all guaranteed. If our life of regeneration were out of           while we certainly would not deny that truly Reformed men

corruptible seed, then there would at least be always the                have maintained that regeneration is mediate, we believe

possibility that finally the power of corruption would gain              that the stand of those who maintain mediate regeneration,'

entrance into us, and that we would finally succumb to that              even though unintentionally, allows room for a misunder-

power of corruption, and thus lose our regeneration. That,               standing that could ultimately land one in the camp of the

as such, is the meaning oi corruptible seed. If we were born             Arminian. For if one maintains that regeneration is through

again out of a corruptible seed, then the very principle and             the means of the-preaching of the Word, and then changes

the beginning of our whole existence would be subject to                 the preaching of the Word into an Arminian well-meant

corruption.          Concretely, however, the ap.ostle  undoubtedly      offer or invitation, dependent upon the acceptance of the

has -reference in this passage to the contrast between our               hearer, it is not difficult to become entirely Arminian and to

first birth and our second birth, and therefore means by this            adopt the position which our fathers reject in this ,very

corruptible seed .the human seed out of which we are born,               article. Let me emphasize: no truly Reformed man, even

the seed of a human being in conception. That human seed                 though he believes regeneration to be mediate, would. coun-

is corruptible, that is, subject to corruption. In fact, the             tenance this Arminian heresy. But the possibility is there.


                                        T H E   STANDD:ARD   B E - A R E R                                                     497


And that possibility is not there if regeneration is immediate,    human understanding, begins something he cannot finish. It

And, in the third place, this question is important with. a'       is.much more in, harmony with Scripture in the case of little

view to the matter of infants in the covenant of grace.- For       children to reckon with the word of promise given to the

either those who believe in mediate regeneration must ex-          children of the Church; for where the Word, or preaching of

clude the regeneration of infants, or they must allow for an       the Gospel is not, there the promise of the Spirit is. also not

exception in the case of infants of believers- an exception        pledged to the children. The word therefore also in the case

which then becomes much more common than the rule. This            of children is before the Spirit; the Holy Spirit follows the

latter difficulty many adherents of mediate regeneration pass      Son in the preached word, just as the Son follows the Father
by without an acceptable and satisfying answer. Hence, we          with the word according to the line of election.

may profitably give our attention to this whole question in            "In regeneration the Holy Spirit prepares the heart as
connection with this passage from I' Peter 1.                      fruitful soil, through which the seed of the word finds re-

    First of all, however, I wish to quote from the com-           sponse in the heart, and; being accepted through faith, is

mentary of Ds. T. Bos on this article of our Cu*nons.  He          kept. Now that word, having fallen in the heart, having

enters into this question at some length, in order at the          been accepted, having become a reality, and having its `effects

very end of his comments to deal with the main issue of the        upon `the  entire heart, on the entire soul-life with all its

article, i.e., the Arminian heresy, I quote in free translation    faculties, and thus on one's entire life; that word abides

from pp. 250-252:                                                  because it is an incorruptible seed, and so it always continues

    "Here there is mention of the `seed of God,' which is          to work on, in greater or smaller measure, again and again
the seed of regeneration, in connection with Peter's teaching      strengthened under the application of the Spirit."
concerning the `incorruptible seed.' In that connection it            After thus elaborating on this whole matter` of mediate
becomes plain to us how our fathers, gathered at the Synod,        regeneration, the author devotes brief attention to the
conceived of these words of Peter, in distinction from the         Arminian error discussed in the 8th article of Cunons  V, B.
interpretation .which  some give. Peter places the living and      Quite obviously he was bent on putting across the notion of
abiding word of God over against all flesh and all glory of        mediate regeneration.
man: that latter is as the flower of the grass, -which  withers     We cannot finish our discussion in the present issue.
and falls away, and is thus corruptible. Moreover, he` says        For the time being, however,.we point out:

of the Word of the Lord that it abideth, the word, namely,            1) That it cannot be said on the basis of this article that

that is preached unto them.                                        the fathers ,of  Dordrecht were given to the view of mediate

    "Now the Son is never called `the word of God,' only the       regeneration. In this particular article they give absolutely
Word. And that Son can also not.be  called `the seed of God,'      no indication of this.

as- that seed appears here. The seed of God and the word of           2) That the isme  in mediate v<rszts  immediate regenera-

God and .`the word of the Lord' is the preached word of the        tion is not whether there is a connection between regenera-

,Gospel.  Here then is indeed proof that the preached word,        tion and the Word. The issue is rather: what is the con-

the word of the Gospel, is here considered as the seed of          nection between the two'? Is the Word preached the means

regeneration, as the Apostle Paul also speaks of a `being be-      of regeneration, or must regeneration itself precede any

gotten' through the word.                                          spiritual hearing of .the  Wordy  preached ? The matter must

    "The connection between regeneration and Word' may             certainly not be presented thus, that the adherents of im-
not be broken because the Scriptures lay that connection           mediate regeneration deny the general principle of a connec-.
and because in our Confessions that connection is maintained.      tion between regeneration and the Word preached. Nothing
    "That connection, however, does no injustice to the            could be farther from the truth.

Scriptural doctrine that the Holy Spirit implants the. new            3) It is gross over-simplification to say that those

life in a man, changes the heart, gives conversion unto life,      who bring up the case of infants are guilty of bringing Scrip-

.and regenerates. The acceptance of the means is no denial         ture in conflict with Scripture-instead of comparing Scripture

of the operation of the Workmaster'. How the Holy Spirit           with Scripture. This is simply an easy way of lightly dis-

`uses the preached word in regeneration will indeed never be       missing the problem rather than facing it. If, however, one

fully explained by us.                                             compares Scripture, with Scripture, and then finds that his

    "To let go of the connection between word and regenera-        particular view of regeneration stands in conflict with a

tion with an appeal to the case of infants, who can be             plain Scriptural truth, is -it not much more correct to say

regenerated before they can ever understand the word-              that it is high time to re-examine one's view ? But one must

this is to use the one'  truth of Scripture in order to oppose     not imply that the adherents of immediate regeneration op-

the other truth, something that is highly dangerous, because       pose one truth (supposedly the "truth" of mediate regenera-

then one does not `compare Scripture with Scripture, but           tion) with another truth (the truth of infant regeneration).

brings Scripture in conflict with itself. Whoever wants -to                                  (to be continued)
-explain everything in this area, or solve everything for our                                                             H    .    C    .    H    .


498                                 .i-    THE-STANDARDT~EAR&R


                                                                   for the devil. We say there are many also in :Reformed

                     AR.OUND                        US il circles who have this same conception. We do not accuse
                                                                   Rev. Kuiper of; presenting this dualistic conception, yet we

                                                                   are not so sure that those of his readers who hold to this

The Antithesis.                                                    dualistic view of antithesis will not be strengthened in their

                                                                   view by the reading of his article.
       The Rev. H. J. Kuiper, managing editor of Torch qnd
Trumpet, writes in the July-August, 1960 issue on "The                 Here are two examples of what we mean. Writing under
Antithesis as a Cornerstone of Christian Life and Action."         the sub-division / "Division for Christ's sake in the home?"
This article we read not only rather carefully but also            Kuiper says: "However, it is bound to be seen in a home of
critically. The subject has always been intriguing to us as        the world where God enters with his grace into the heart of
we believe it should be to anyone who loves the Reformed           one or more in that home without saving all its members ;
truth. -                                                           and it is also seen in that Christian home where `one or more
                                                                   have chosen the side of the evil one and live a life of sin"
       Writing under the sub-division "The Antithesis In
                                                                    (Italics mine). Again, writing under the sub-division : "The
Theology," Rev. Kuiper tells us: "We do not speak of the
antithesis as the cornerstone but as a cornerstone of Christian    Antithesis in the Church," he says: "One congregation may
                                                                   be on2 the side of the seed of the, serpent while another con-
life and action." We have always associated the cornerstone
                                                                   gregation of the same communion, located perhaps in the
with that dedicated and ceremoniously laid stone which
declares the purpose of the whole building which rests upon        same city, may be on the side of the Seed of the Woman,
                                                                   namely Christ."
it. It must mean then that in Rev. Kuiper's conception there
are several more such stones in the building of the truth.             Now, we do not' believe that Kuiper wants this dualistic
                                                          _ -
But of these `he does not speak.                                   conception himself. But it certainly behooved him to -make
       Nor does Rev. Kuiper tell us what moved him to write        clear both-in his definition of-antithesis and in the rest of his.
on this subject. W.e  can only guess, and our guess may be         writing that there is day and night difference between dual-
wrong. Was it because he sees so much synthesis in the             ism and antithesis.
church he serves that has no place for this doctrine in theory         Rev. Kuiper's definition and understanding of the doc-
or practise ? Was it perhaps the recent controversy in the         trine of the antithesis is expressed in the following two
Christian Reformed Church on the Nigerian question in              paragraphs :

which a large element favored a synthetical theological sem-           "By antithesis is meant the fundamental contrast, divi-

inary? Or, was it perhaps the fact that a group of erstwhile       sion, and antagonism between the people of God and those

Protestant Reformed people now seeking entrance into the           who are of the world, between the thinking of those who are

Chr. Ref. Church, people who once were grounded in the             Christians and those who are not, between the activities of

doctrine of the antithesis, -and who perhaps evinced some          Kingdom workers and those outside the Kingdom of God. The

antipathy to the doctrine. of common grace and the Three           antithesis is the result of the existence of two diametrically

Points. because it destroys the antithesis? We wonder.             opposed `forces in the human race. -The one is man's sin, the

   Though the editor gave his readers a long article on the        other God's grace. If either of these forces had not entered

subject, attempting to show how the antithesis is brought or       the world, there would have been no antithesis. If sin had

should be brought to manifestation in every department of          not come, all of man's thoughts and actions would be pleasing

life, there is much wanting in his article and also some with      to God and mankind would be one under God. If after the

which we entirely disagree.                                        entrance of sin God had not caused his grace to enter the

   Through the years we have come into conversation with           hearts of some, all of man's thoughts and actions would have

people who are supposed to be of Reformed background, also         been antagonistic to God.

people in the- Christian Reformed Church, who prate about             "The antithesis dates from the day, after Adam's fall,

their peculiar doctrine of the antithesis. But our conversa-       when God said: `I will put enmity between thee and the

tions revealed that their conception of antithesis was nothing     woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise

more than a dualistic conception. Some years ago we heard          thy head, and thou. shalt bruise his heel.' This enmity or

of an old Arminianistic-Methodist preacher who spoke to            hostility is produced by God, not by man. It does not justify

an audience of ministers of a certain rural community              or imply hatred on the part of believers against their fellow-

gathered for the purpose of effecting some kind of legislation     men, but it does mean that there is a division, an, ineradicable

that would keep out of the community certain forces for            line of separation, between the party of God and `the party

evil. He spoke rather enthusiastically of a great tug of war       of Satan. That division puts an unbridgeable gulf between

that was going .on. He said, God was on one side, at one           the ideals and strivings of believers on the one hand and

end of the rope, and the devil on the other end. And with all      unbelievers on the other:"

the oratory he could muster, he urged his audience to hurry           Now no one who understands the word and the doctrine
up and get on God's side, lest the tug of war end in victory       of the antithesis will deny that it `implies "the fundamental


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA.RER                                                      499


 contrast, division, and antagonism between the people of            devil, the. world, .and their own sinful flesh, always opposes

 .God and those who are of the world," etc. But if you say no        them. O,-it is true that, as Rev. Kuiper writes, "if God had'

 more,`this  definition can very easily be understood to imply       not caused his grace to enter the hearts of some, all `of man's

 the dualistic conception of God versus the devil, light versus      thoughts and actions would be antagonistic to God." .The
 darkness, truth versus the lie, etc., and each of-  these con-      reason is that God's people by nature, like the wicked world
 trasts vying for supremacy,                                         out of which they are born, stand in open rebellion against

     Nor could any deny that "this enmity or hostility is            God and all that is holy. But there is much more to be said.

 produced by God, not by man." If Rev. Kuiper had developed              In the final sense of the word, the antithesis is planned by

 this thought we might have had a much better article. Fact          God to, serve' not only his own glory, but also the glory of

 is, in our explanation of this doctrine, this truth must receive    his redeemed people. Is it not true that according to Scrip-
                                              . .
 the emphasis.                                                       ture all things work together for good to them that love

                                                                     God, the called according to his purpose ? Is it not true that
    Moreover, it should not pass our notice that Rev. Kuiper
                                                                     ultimately the- devil, the world, the darkness, death and all
 has his dates mixed up a bit. He tells us that "the antithesis
                                                                     that seems to oppose God's people, become servants divinely
 dates from the day after Adam's fall," etc. But is it not true
                                                                     purposed to bring us to glory ? And if that is true ultimately,
 that God introduced `the antithesis already before the fall
                                                                     is it not also true right now while they experience the op-
 when he placed man before the trees of life and of the
                                                                     position ? The answer must be : Yes, of 
 knowledge of good and evil ? Is it not true ,that historically                                                         course.

 man did not know anything but the word "yes" until God                  Let no one conclude from what we have just written, that
 showed him the word "no" by the tree of knowledge of good           the antithesis -is not real, that darkness, lie, devil, wicked
 and evil ? The answer' to both of these -questions is un-           world, etc., do not really exist, do not really oppose. Nor
 doubtedly `affirmative. The point we are making is that antith-     should anyone conclude that the opposition the powers of
 esis is not something accidental; something that is brought         darkness exert against the Lord and His Anointed, and which
 on by the fact of sin, historically speaking, but antithesis is     is also raised against His people in the world, is of no con-        .
 the working out of the divine plan that God would reach his         sequence. Indeed, the devil, the world, and my own sinful
 highest glory through the way of sin and grace. God not             flesh are formidable opponents, and of them all the latter is
only "produced" the antithesis, but he willed it. For a              undoubtedly the most formidable and the most treacherous
 correct conception of antithesis, we shall therefore have to        to withstand.

begin and end with God.                                                  Was it not the warfare of the flesh'against the Spirit in

    It should be clearly understood that in God himself there        the apostle Paul that made him cry out in Romans 7, "0,
 is no antithesis. Though the antithesis is of Him, it               wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me out of the
                                                           is not
 in Him. God is pure thesis. The word "antithesis," as any-          body of this death?" As the English preacher_once  said:
good dictionary will tell you, is composed of two words:             "My greatest enemy I carry under my own waistcoat." 0,
                                                            amti
and.tlLe.s&. A& means, against. Thesis comes from a Greek            indeed, the antithesis is real. But let it be emphasized: "In
 word meaning: to place or set. Thesis, therefore, is that           all these things we are more than conquerors through him
 which is put.. or set; while antithesis is that .which  opposes     who loved us. Thanks be unto God who giveth us the
that which is set. Now, God is, as we said, the thesis. He           victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

is light, and there is no darkness in him. He is the truth,             We said in the beginning that there were some things                   .

and there is no lie in him. He is righteousness, and there is        which Rev. Kuiper w,rote  with which we cannot agree.

no unrighteousness in him. God never, from this point of             Let me mention one or two things.

view, suffers opposition, experiences contrary winds, has               In the first place, as we have indicated above, we do not
:any antithesis in himself. If there is any antithesis, and          agree with the apparent tenor of his article, as though it is
-there is, he creates it. Of this he speaks in Isaiah 45 :7 : "I     up to the believing Christian to realize the antithesis. Ac-
form the light, and create darkness : I make peace, and create       cording to Kuiper the Christian is to realize the antithesis in
evil ; I the Lord do all these things." See also Amos 3 :6.          the home; school, church, science, theology, society, politics
,God willed and created the darkness that he might forever           and art. We believe the Christian is to live thetically as a
hate it; and on the other hand, ,he willed to reveal all the         child of light in all these spheres. When he so lives, he will
glory of his thetical  being on the dark background of sin and       of necessity experience the antithesis, the opposition of the
-evil and so creates the darkness to be a servant.                   forc,es of darkness.

   And the truth is that God also put the thesis. in his                In the second .place, when Rev. Kuiper writes under

:people  by his grace. And so he commands them to live thet-         "The Antithesis: in the Social Sphere," he appears to be in

ically in every department of life as lights in the world of         conflict with himself when he tells us. on the one hand, "corn-

,darkness.  Just because the thesis is put in his people they        mon grace makes some cooperation` of a limited nature with

shine as lights in the world, are a savory salt that is pleasing     non-Christians possible ;" and on the other, "however, in

to him. And just because they are of God, the antithesis,`the                                (Continued on page 501)


                                                       T H E ,   S T A N D A R D   BE,ARER                                                   . . .


                                                                               it was a red letter day for Rev. and Mrs. Ophoff too, for
        11 NEWS FROM OUR CHUR&ES  `11                                          they were remembering their fortieth wedding anniversary
        IL-----                                                                on that date. Following the opening prayer we enjoyed some
                      "All the. saints sahte  tlaee  1 i J' PHIL.  .4 :21-    group singing, featuring Dutch Psalms exclusively. The

                                                                               canopy of tall shade trees, under which the tables were
                                                           Sept. 5, 1960
                                                                              grouped, served as an admirable cathedral in which to sing
           Candidate J. Kortering  has accepted the call from our Hull
                                                                               the songs of Zion.
        congregation and has already taken up residence there. His
                                                                                  The afternoon program featured a speech by the Rev.
      installation into oflice  awaits his examination before Classis
                                                                              H.oeksema's  colleague in -First Church, Rev. C. Hanko. The
        West, September 21. _
-.                                                                            speaker reflected .upon  the Word of God as found in Gen.
           Grand Haven has submitted another trio `consisting of
                                                                              49:22-24,  drawing a parallel between the lives of those two
        the Revs. H. Hanko, R. C.- Harbach and G. Lubbers.'
                                                                              men of God, Joseph and the guest of honor at the picnic.
           Our two newest churches, Isabel and Forbes, have jointly
                                                                              Truly, it ,might  be affirmed that "the archers have sorely
        called the Rev. C. Hanko from a trio which included Rev.
                                                                              grieved him, ,and shot at him, and hated him," and no less
        Harbach and Rev. Lubbers.
                                                                              might be confessed that "his bow abode in strength, and the
           Edgerton's school opened the 60-61 year with a half day
                                                                              arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the
        session August 28,. with Dale Kuiper and Evelyn Huizenga
                                                                              mighty God of Jacob."
        comprising the teaching staff. Hope and Adams St. Schools
                                                                                  Rev. G. Vos  asked the blessing before supper, and Rev.
        opened their doors after Labor Day.
                                                                              _R. Veldman opened the evening program with prayer. The
           At a recent congregational meeting, First Church decided
                                                                              Hope Heralds, a male choir from Hope Church,- rendered
        to make some alteration in the church basement, partitioning
                                                                              two fine selections from the Psalter; and Arnold Dykstra,
        the large catechism room to furnish a new room which will
                                                                              from Hudsonville, praised God with the singing of-a vocal
      .- be given to the Theological School for classroom use. The
       Theological School has been holding classes in our Adams St:           solo.
                                                                                 ~ Rev. M. Schipper, the speaker of the evening, shared
      School for the last few years, but Adams St. needed the room
                                                                              with us a few incidents from his early acquaintance with the
        due to increased enrollment. So, once again, .an emergency
       has been met benefiting all concerned.                                 Dominee, and then spoke on the admonition found in God's
                                                                              Word as it is recorded in I Thes. 5 :12, 13. This speaker
           Doon's  bulletin reveals that two young men have been
                                                                              stressed the point that we owe esteem to the workers in
       added to their list of confessing members by public confession
                                                                              God's vineyard for their work's sake. Indeed, both speakers
       of faith in-their church ; and, from Edgerton  comes the notice
                                                                              of the day led us in the contemplation of God's grace unto
       that they have accepted the confession of faith of six of their
                                                                              His Church in the gift of men appointed .and equipped by
       young people. How happy we may be when we recognize
                                                                              Him to gather His Church through the foolishness of preach-
       this internal growth to be the evidence of God's favor upon
                                                                              ing. Both speeches forbad our praise of men, but definitely
       us as He produces fruit upon the pure preaching of the
                                                                              fixed it upon the glory and honor of the `God of our salva-
       Word among us. I Cor. 3 :6, 7.
                                                                              tion.
           All of our church bulletins carried ~invitations  to help
                                                                                  A generous offering was taken to start a fund for a "Rev.
      First `Church celebrate the forty-fifth anniversary of Rev.
                                                                              H. Hoeksema Memorial Library', to be administered by'the
       H. Hoeksema's installation into the office of the Ministry.
                                                                              Theological School Society.
       The response was very gratifying, for visitors included those
       from Muskegon, Grand Haven, Holland and Kalamazoo,                         Rev. Hoeksema was then called to the microphone by the
       Michigan; from South Holland, Ill., and from South Dakota;             master of ceremonies, Prof. H. C. Hoeksema. The Reverend
       and even one well-wisher from far off California! At this              reminisced about his first year skirmish in his forty-five years
       celebration were.Mrs.  Hoeksema, Rev. M. Schipper and his              battle for the Truth, the first one being the truth of the cov-
       father and mother, and Mrs. N. Jonker, who were also .at               enant responsibility of the parents in Christian instruction
       the Dominee's installation service forty-five years ago, they          for their children. He agreed with the preceding speakers,
       being members of his first congregation in Holland, Mich.              ascribing all thanks, honor and praise to the.  King of the
       It was an old -fashioned picnic that was prepared for the              Church, who alone provideth the means listed in I Cor. 12 :28
       celebration, old fashioned because it. was an afternoon-emve-          for the gathering of His elect. He then led us in closing
       ning affair -with a serious speech on each program - speeches          prayer, confessing our sins, and praising God for the gift of
       and group singing as we used to enjoy them when picnics                His Son Who took our sins upon Himself, thereby redeem-
       were annual events instead of weekly outings as we know-               ing His own unto all eternity.

       them today.                                                               May this `be our prayer : "Lord, make me to know my
           Rev. G. M. Ophoff opened the afternoon program with                end, and the measure of my days, what it is ; that I may know

       prayer. We were all happy that .Rev. Hoeksema's best friend            how frail I am." Psalm 39:4.

       and stalwart ally was able to do this for him. By co-incidence            . . . . see you in church.                        J . M . F .


                                                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   .BEARER                                                                                                                                                            501
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    .--
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Page 
                                        ALL AROUND: US                                                                     SUBJECT :                                                                                                         Author                     No.
                                                                                                        Gene& 39:20,  21. ........................................................ B.W.                                                                         226 10
                                 (Continuhd  from page.  499)                                           Genesis 41:14, 2 5 ........................................................ B.W.                                                                        248 -11
 most social organizations important issues. will arise which                                          .Genesis 41:38-40                                                    -.
                                                                                                                                                         ............. .......................................... B.W.                                          274 12
 reveal- irreconcilability of viewpoint between Christians and                                          Genesis 42:5, 8 .......................................................... B.W.                                                                         298 13
                                                                                                        Genesis 43:11, 13, 14 ................................................ B.W.                                                                             322 14
 non-Christians. That is particularly true of prganizations
                                                                                                        Genesis 43:15 .: ........................ ................................... .B.W.                                                                     346 15
 which concern themselves with the most fundamental needs                                               Genesis 44:16, 30-34 ....... . ......................... ..; ..............B.W.                                                                         369 16
 and relationships of men, as for example labor unions."                                                Genesis 45:28 .............................................................. B'.W.                                                                      394 17
       We believe that consistency demands that if the former is                                        Genesis 47:1, 2, 7.. ...................................................... B.W.                                                                        417 18
 true, the latter must also follow; i.e., if there is some co-                                          Genesis 47:23-25                                ........................................................ B.W.                                           442 19
                                                                                                       Genesis 47:29 .............................................................. B.W.                                                                       464 20
 operation, be it of a limited nature, with the powers of dark-
                                                                                                        Genesis 49:1, 2 8 ........................................................ B.W.                                                                        488 21
 ness on the basis of common grace, then it follows not only                                           Genesis 54:1-3                             ............................................................ B.W.                                             369 16
 that I may but also must seek that cooperation in: the un-                                            Deuteronomy 4:9, 10 .................................................... G.V.                                                                           481 21
 godly .labor unions. We -do not believe, of course, either -in                                        Deuteronomy 24: l-4 .................................................. H;H.                                                                             254'  11
 -common grace or in affiliation of Reformed Christians in                                             Job 42:5, 6 ........................................................ . ......... G.V.                                                                     25 2
                                                                                                       Psalm 16:ll ................................... T.. ............................ G.V. 73 4
 ungodly labor unions. It appears that Rev. &riper  does not                                           Psalm 19:12 .................................................................. G.V.                                                                       49 3
 believe there is much common grace operative in the labor                                             Psalm 22~2 ~ x.. ............................................................. G.V.                                                                     265 12
 unions for he says, "As a rule cooperation in this and many                                           Psalm 23:5                         ................................................... .I .............. G.V.                                            169 8
 other so-called neutral organizations is possible only at the                                         Psalm 27:4 .................................................................. C.H.                                                                      385 17
                                                                                                       Psalm
 cost, of a surrender or denial of Christian principles and                                                             34~8 .................................................................... G.V.                                                         217 10
                                                                                                       Psalm               36:7-g              .............................................................. G.V.                                               97 5
 convictions."                                                                                M.S.     Psalm 39:9 ..................................................... ............... G.V.                                                                   433 19
                                                                                                       Psalm 68:19, 2 0 .   :.............................................   G . V .                                                                           193 9
                                                                                                       Psalm 73:25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.V.
                                     Announcement                                                                                                                                                                                                              362 16
                                                                                                       Psalm 103:3, 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G.V.              337 15
       Classis  East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will                                          Proverbs 28:13                             ............................................................. G.V.                                           241 II
 meet on Wednesday, October 5, at 9 A. M. in the Hudson-                                               Matthew 2:1, 2 ............................................................ G.V.                                                                        421 6
                                                                                                       Matthew 19:7, 8 ..... ..?. .............................................. ..H.H.                                                                        254 11
 ville  Protestant Reformed' Church, D.V.                                                              Matthew 27~25                              ..................................................... . ..... G.V.                                           289 13
       Consistories will please consider this an official announce-                                    Mark 5:18, 19 ........... . .................................................. d.V.                                                                     457 20
 ment and accordingly appoint delegates to attend this                                                 Mark lf$6 ............................. . ...................................... G.V.                                                                   313 14
meeting.                                                                                               Luke 1:46-52 ................................................................ G.L.                                                                      132 6
                                                 R                                                     Luke 1:57-66                            .............................................................. G.L.                                             155  7
                                                    EV. M. SCHIPPEIZ,  Stated Clerk
                                                                                                       Romans 15:9b ....... . ...................................................... G.L.                                                                        11 1
                                                                                                       Remans 15:10, 11 ........................................................ G.L.                                                                           36 2
                                     Announcement                                                      Remans                 15:12 .............................................................. G.L.                                                         59 .3
       Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will                                           Romans 15:12 ............................................. . ................ G.L.                                                                       83 4
                                                                                                       Romans 15:13 .............................................................. G.L.                                                                        108 5
meet, the Lord willing, in Doon,  Iowa, on Wednesday,                                                  Romans 15:14-21                                  ........................................................ G.L.                                          iS0 8
September 21, 1960. The consistories are reminded of the                                               Romans 15:22-29                                  .......... ........ ;I.. .................................. G.L.                                       203 9
rule that all matters for this classical agendum must be in                                            Romans 15:30-35                                  ............ ........ .................................... G.L.                                        228 10
-the hands of the- Stated Clerk not later than thirty days be-                                         I Corinthians 15:1-11 .................................................. G.L.                                                                           `250      l-l
 fore the meeting of Classis.                      Anyone who is in need of lodg-                      I Corinthians 1'5: 12-19 ...................... .._....................... .G.L.                                                                        276 12
                                                                                                       I Corinthians 15:20-28 ............................................ . . ..G.L.                                                                          300 13
ing should write James Blankesppor, Box C, Doon,  Iowa.                                                I Corinthians 15:20-28 ................................................ G.L.                                                                            3 2 4 '   1 4
                                                  REV. H. VELDMAN, Stated Clerk                        I Cotinthians                       15:29-34 ................................................ G.L.                                                      348 15
                                                                                                       I Corinthians 15:29-34 ................................................ G.L.                                                                            371 16
                                                                                                       I Corinthians 15:35-38 ................................................ G.L.                                                                            3 9 6   .17
       I - N D E X   T O   V O L U M E   XX2iVI                                                        I Corinthians                       15:35-38 ................... ..................... ........ G.L.                                                    419 18
                                                                                                       I Chnthians 15:39-49 ................................................ G.L.                                                                              .444  19
                                          TEXT INDEX                                                   I Corinthians 15:51-58 ........... .I ............................ . ...... G.L.                                                                        466      30.
                                                                                                       Galatians 5:22-23 ................... ................................. H.C.H.                                                                          409 18
            SUBJECT                                                           Author       Page No.    Philippians 2:12b, 13 .................................................. G.V.                                                                              1 1
*Genesis 32~3, 6, 7 ........ . ............................................. B.W.            9 1       II Timothy 2:1, 2 ........................................... . ............ti.H.                                                                         4 1
.Genesis  32:lOa ............................................................ G.V.         145 7       Hebrews ll:21 .......... . .................................................. B.W.                                                                      464 20
.Genesis 32:31 ............................................... .:. .............B.W.        34 -2      I John 2:12-14                             ............................................................ G.L.                                            490 21
*Genesis 33:1, 3, 4 ...................................................... B.W.             57 3       Revelation 12: l-6 ................. . ...................................... H.H.                                                                         7 1
*Genesis 34:1, 2, 25-26 .............................................. B.W.                 81 4       Revelation 12:1-6 ........................................................ H.H.                                                                          30 2
.Genesis 35:l ................................................................ B.W.        106 5       Revelation                    12:7--12                ......................... .: ..................... . ...H.H.                                       32 2
.Genesis  .37:3-5 .............................................. . ..... .I ...... B.W;    130 6       Revelation 12:7-12 .................................................... ..H.H.                                                                           54 3
.Genesis 37~28 ............................................ .I ................ B.W.       153 7       Revelation 12:7-12 ...................................................... H.H.                                                                           78 4
,Genesis 38:26 ................... . ....... r:. ................................ B.W.     178 8       Revelation 12:13-17 .................................................... HYH.                                                                            78 4
*Genesis 39:2-4, 20 ............ .x.. ..................................... B.W.           201 9       Revelation 12:13-17 ......................... ........................... H.H.~                                                                         102 5


502                                                                                  T H E -   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                  t
                                   ..C. -.-. w~.~  ._...-. _____..


           SUBJECT                                                                          Author Page No.                              -SUBJECT                                                               Author        Page No.

Revelation 13:1-10 ... . ........................ . ....... . ................. H.H._                      126          6     _     Ciiristelijke  Encyclopedic  by F. W. Grosheide
.Revelation  13:1-10 .......................... . ................ . .......... H.H. '                     151          7                  and G. Van Itterzon .................................... H.H.                      271 12
Revelation 13:11-18 .................................................... H.H.                              176 8                    Christianity and Liberalism by J. G. Machen.. ..H.H.                                      270 12
Revelation              13:11-18            .................................................. H.H.        198 9                    Christian Perspectives by Dr. Van Riessen,
Revelation 13: 11-18 ...... . .............................. I.. ............H.H.                          223 10                          Prof. Farris and .Dr. Runner ...................... H.H.                          .318  14
Revelation 14:1-5 .... . .................................................... H.H.                         223 10                   Epistle of Paul-to  Colossians and to
Revelation 14:1-5 ............ . ........................................... H.H.                          247'   1 1                      Philemon by H. M. Carson ..... . .................. J&H.                          390 17
Revelation 14: l-5 ....................................................... .H.H.                           27i'   1           2     Epistle of Paul to the Philippians
Revelation              14:6-13           .................................................... H.H.        273 12                          by R. P. Martin .......................................... H.H.                    342 15
Revelation 14:6-13 ...................................................... H.H.'                            294         13           Epistle to the Romans by J. Murray ................. H.H.                                 342 15
Revelation              14:6-13           .................................................... H.H.        319 14                   God Hath Spoken by T. R. Philips ........... ......... H.H.                               318 14
Revelation 14:14-20 ............... . .................................... H.H.                            319 14                   Gospel According to St. John
Revelation              14:14-20           ............................................... :..H.H.         343 15                          by R. V. G. Tasker .................................... H.H.                       342 15
Revelation 15: l-8 ....................................................... .H.H.                           366 16                   Luther's Works by C. N. Impeta .................... H.H.                                  150 7
Revelation 15:1-S .... . ................................................... H.H.                          391 17                   Tempest Over Scotland by N. E. Nygaard ...... H,H.                                        270 12
Revelation, 16:1-9 ......................................................... H.H.                         414 18                    Witness of the Spirit by B. Ramm ................ ..H.H.                                  318 14
Revelation 16:1-9 ......................................... . ..............H.H.                          438          19     Bountiful Host ............................................................ G.V.                169 8
Revelation 16:10-21 .................................................... H.H.                             440 19              Burden of Jesus' Blood .............................................. G.V.                      289  13
Revelation 16:10-21 .................................................... H.H.                             462 20
Revelation 16:10-21 ............................ . ....................... H.H.                            486 21


                                                                                                                                                                               - c -
                                                SUiJECT  INDEX

            ,                                                                                                                 Calvin and the Burning of Servetos                          ........................ R.V.      `Zli 9
                                                           -A-
                                                                                                                              Canons of Dordrecht:
Advisory Members of Classis ............................ ..G.V.d.B.                                        188          8           Head V, Chapter 12 ............ .......................... H.C.H.                          17 1
Air Force Training Manual Draws N.C.C. Fire.. ...... M.S.                                                 286          12           Head V, Chapter 12 ...................................... H.C.H.                           42 2
A-Millenarianism                  ....................................................... .H.H.           364          16           Head V, Chapter 13 ...................................... H.C.H.-                          43 2
An Attempt To Discipline ..... ................................... H.H.                                    125          6           Head V, Chapter 13 ...................................... H.C.H.                           63 3
An Attempt T o Discipline                            .........................................H.H.         148          7           Head V, Chapter 13 ...................................... H.C.H.                          `89 4
An Attempt To Discipline ........................................ H.H.                                     172          8           Head V, Chapter 13 ...................................... H.C.H.                         ,114 5
Another Attempt To Unite the Liberated                                                                                              Head V, Chapter 14 ................................. . .... H.C.H.                        138 6
       and Synodicals                     ............................................. .;. ... .M.S.     215           9           Head V, Chapter 14 ...................................... H.C.H.                          186 8
Antithesjs,            The ....................... ..................................... MS.              498          21           Head V, Chapter 15 ...................................... H.C.H.                          .209 9
Apartheid - Is It Really Race Discrimination.. ...... M.S ..                                              430          18.          Rejection of Errors, Art. 1 ............................. H.C.H.                          234 10
Appeal Denied ........................... . ................................ H.H.                         174           8           Rejection of Errors, Art. 1 ........... . ................ H.C.H.                         258 11
Are Officebearers Bound In Their Beliefs.. ..............M.S.                                            - 287         12           Rejection-of Errors, Art. 2 ............. ...............H.C.H.                           282 12
As To Being Protestant Reformed ..................... ....... H.H.                                          53          3           Rejection of Errors, Art. 3 ............................ H.C.H.                           306 13
As To Being Protestant Reformed ............................ H.H.                                         100           5           Rejection of Errors, Art. 3 ............................ H.C.H.                           330 14
.As To .Being Protestant Reformed ............................ H.H.                                       -124          6           Rejection of Errors, Art. 4 ............i.. .............H.C.H.                           331 14
As To Being Protestant Reformed ............................ H.H.                                         173           8           Rejection of Errors, Art. 5 ............................ H.C.H.                          . 354 15
As T o Being Protestant Reformed ............................ H.H.                                        196           9           Rejection of Errors, Art. 5 ............................ H.C.H.                           377 16
As To Being Protestant -Reformed                                 .......................... :.H.H.        220          10           Rejection of Errors, Art. 6 ............................ H.C.H.                           378 16
As To Being  Protestant Reformed ........................ ;...H.H.                                        244          11           Rejection of Errors, Art. 6 ............................ H.C.H.                           402 17
As To Being Protestant Reformed ............................ H.H.                                         268          12           Rejection of Errors, Art. 7 ............................ H.C.H.                           425 18
As T o Being Protestant. Reformed ............................. H.H.                                     2 9 3         13          . Rejection of Errors, Art. 7 ............................ H.&H.                           450 19
As T o Being Protestant Reformed ................... . ........ H.H.                                      317          14           Rejection of Errors, Art. 8 ............... . ............H.C.H.                          472 20
As To Being Protestant Reformed ............................ H.H.                                         436          19           Rejection of Errors, Art. 8 ............................ H.C.H.                           496 21
As T o Being Protestant Reformed ............................ H.H.                                        460       2 0       Capitai     Punishment Wrong?                   ..... .1.............................  M.S.      67 3
As T o Being Protestant Reformed .:. ......................... H.H.                                       484       21        Caught on the Horns of a Dilemma .......................... M.S.
                                     .                                                                                                                                                                                         46 2
                                                                                                                              Christ and Moses Concerning Divorce .................... H.H.                                   254 11
                  .                                        -B- -                                                              Christian Education in Our Country ...................... H.H.                                  292 13
                                                                                                                              Christian Education in Our Country ...................... H.H.                                  316 14
Bad Conditions                  .................................. .`........... ............H.H.         269          12     Christian Education in Our Country ...................... H.H.                                  340 15
Benefactor, The Great ........................................ . ....... G.V.                             337          15     Christian Reformed Synod Faces Nigerian
Blessed Knowledge of the Path of Life .................. G.V.                                               73         4            Question Again ................................................... .M.S.                  429  18
Bless the Lord ................................................... . ........ G.V.                        193          9      Church And Sacraments               ............. .; ... . ......................... H.V.       40 2
Books, As To:                                                                                                                 Church And Sacraments               .................................. . ......... H.V.          61 3
       Abraham Kuyper by F. Vanden  Berg ..............H.H.                                               .271      12        Church And Sacraments               ............................................ H.V.            87 4
       Calvinism by A. Kuyper .................................... H.H.                                   150          7      Church And Sacraments               ..................................... ....... H.V.          112 5
       Calvin on Scripture and Divine Sovereignty                                                           . .,              Church And Sacraments               ........................................ ;...H.V.           136 6
                 by J. Murray ............................................... H.H.                        390       17        Church And Sacraments               ........................................... .H.V.           159 7
       C,ahinistic  Concept of Culture by H. Van Til.. ..H.H.                                             246       11        Church And Sacraments               ................................ . ...... .....H.V.         184  8
       Calvin's Doctrine of the Christian Life                                                                                Church And Sacraments               ............................... . .... :;. .... :H.V.       207 -9
          .. by R. S. Wallace ....................... . ................ H.H.                             150          7      Church And Sacraments               ........................................... .H.V.           232 10


                                                                                  T H E   S T - A N D A R D   BllAIil?R                                                                                                                      503


                 SUBJECT                                                                     iuthor        Page No.                     SUBjECT                                                                      Author       Page No.

 Church And Sacraments .......................................... ..H.V.                                  . 280    12                                                        - F -                                                :
 Church And Sacraments                       ............................................ H.V.             304     13
                                                                                                                             Fear That Removes Fear ..............                        .......................
 Church And                                                                                                                                                                                                          J.A.H.            13      1
                         Sacraments          ....... .:..................................                                                                                          I..
                                                                                             .H.V.         328     14
                                                                                                                             Feature Articles' Schedule for 1960
 Church And                                                                                                                                                                               ............. . ....................
                         Sacraments                                                                                                                                                                                                    20      1
                                             ..................... ............... .I ..... H.V.          3 5 2    15
                                                                                                                             Feature Articles:
 Church And Sacraments                       ............................ . ................ H.V.         .375     16
                                                                                                                                    Calvin and .the Burning of
 Church And                                                                                                                                                                   Servetus .................. R.V.                    211 9
                         Sacraments          ........... i .................... . ........... H.V.         `400    17
                                                                                                                                    Christ and Moses Concerning
 Church And                                                                                                                                                                         Divorce ............H.H.
                         Sacraments                                                                                                                                                                                               254         11`
                                             .......................................... ..H.V.             423     18
                                                                                                                                    Knox, John, and the Reformation
 Church And                                                                                                                                                                                    .................. G.V.B.          362 13
                         Sacraments ........................ .`........ .... . ...... H.V.                 448     19
                                                                                                                                    Proper Relation Between Church and School....C.H.
 Church And                                                                                                                                                                                                                       161 7
                         Sacraments          ............................................ H.V.             470     2 0
                                                                                                                                    Reformation Prepared In Luther's Soul
 Church And                                                                                                                                                                                              ............
                         Sacraments                                                                                                                                                                                      C.H.          15      1
                                             ............................................ H.V.             494     21
                                                                                                                             Fight Against Obscenity
 Church And School ....................................................                                                                                             ............................................ M.S.             118 5 (
                                                                                                  C.H.     161          7
                                                                                                                             For the Next Census
 Churches of the Dakotas                                                                                                                                       .................................................. M.S.            167 7
                                             .......................................... ..M.S.             358     15
                                                                                                                             Freedom of `Bigotry," The
 Church Order:                                                                                                                                                           .................................... J.A.H.              492 21 -
                                                                                                                             Freedom of Speech ..................................................
        Article 39 ......................................................                                                                                                                                            J.A.H.
                                                                                    G.V.d.B.                                                                                                                                           38     2
                                                                                                            19 1
                                                                                                                             Freedom of Speech
       Article 4 0 ..... . .................. . ..................... . ....... G.V.d.B.                                                                    ............................. ..................... J.A.H.                 85     4
                                                                                                            44 2
                                                                                                                             Freedom of Speech .................................................. J.A.H.
       Article 4 0 ............................................. .......... G.V.d.B.                                                                                                                                              110         5
                                                                                                          .. 65 3
                                                                                                                             Freedom of Speech ...... -. ..........................................
       Article 41 ......................................................                                                                                                                                             J.A.H.
                                                                                    G.V.d.B.                                                                                                                                      134 6
                                                                                                            66 3
                                                                                                                             Freedom of Speech ..................................................
       Article 41 ......................................................                                                                                                                                             J.A.H.
                                                                                    G.V.d.B.                                                                                                                                      157 7
                                                                                                            91` 4
                                                                                                                             Freedom of Speech ..................................................
       Article 41 .;. ...................................................                                                                                                                                            J.A.H.
                                                                                   G.V.d.B.                                                                                                                                       182 8
                                                                                                           116 5
                                                                                                                             Fruit of the Spirit ............ . .....................................
       Article 41                                                                                                                                                                                                H.C.H.
                            ...................................................... G.V.d.B.                                                                                                                                       409 18
                                                                                                           140 6
       Article 41 ....................................................... G.V.d.B.                         164 7
       Article 4 2 ...................................................... G.V.d.B.                         188 8                                                             - G -   I
       Article 43 ...................................................... G.V.d.B.                          236 10            Graeser, Reply to Mr. Vernon .................................. M.S.                                 454 19
       Article 44 ...................................................... G.V.d.B.                          260 11
       Article 44 ...................................................... G.V.d.B.                          284 12
       Article 4 4 .............................................. . ....... G.V.d.B.                       -308    .13                                                       -H-
       Article 45 ................................. ..................... G.V.d.B.                        -332 14            `Heads As Well As Hearts ....................................... .M.S.                               406        1 7
       Article 46 ...................................................... G.V.d.B.                          356 15            History of the Protestant Reformed Church :. ........ W.G.                                           256        11
       Article 47 ................................................... .r.G.V.d.B. 356 15
       Article 4 8 ......... I.. .......................................... G.V.d.B.                       3 7 9   .16
       Article  49 .......................1.............................. G.V.d.B.                         379 16                                                            -I-
       Article 4 9 ...................................................... G.V.d.B.                         404 17            Ideology and Co-existence                  ....................................... .M.S.             406 17
       Article 5 0 .................................................... ..G.V.d.B.                         405 17            Interest Upon The Principal .................................... J.A.H.                              421 18
       Article 5 0 ...........................................                     G.V.d.B.                427 18            Interest Upon The Principal .............. . ...................... J.A.H.                           446        19
       Article 5 0 ........................................ I.:..[:::::[:::G.V.d;B.                        452 19            Interest Upon.  The Principal ..: .I.. ............................. J.A.H.                          468 20
       Article 51 ..................................... i.. .... . ......... G.V.d.B.                     `474 20            Inter-s-ynodical       Correspondence             .......................... G.V.d.B.                379 16
Church Visitation                 .............................. . ...... ;;. ........ G.V.d.B.            260 11            Is Anti-Semitism Also Anti-Christian?                              ................... .M.S.         239 10
,Church           Visitation      ........... . .................................... G.V.d.B.             - 284 12           Israel Before Pharaoh ............................................... .B, W.                         417 18
Church Visitation                 ................................................ G.V.d.B.                308 13            Israel's'. Children Reunited ........................................ B.W.                           369 16
Classis,         The ......................................................... .G.V.d.B.                    66 3             It's Wrong But ....................................................... M.S.                          190 8
Conservatives and Liberals in the Southern                                                   *                                                                                                    .

       Presbyterian Church ...........................................H.H. 388 17
Correction and Instruction ........................................ M.S.                                                                                                     -J-
                                                                                                           215 `9

                                                                                                                             Jacob and Joseph Reunited ...................................... B.W.                                394 17
                                                                                                                             Jacob Blessing His Sons ............................... .: ........... B.W.                          488        2 1
                                                                                                                             Jacob Preparing To Meet Esau
                                                   .-D-                                                                                                                       ................................. B.W.                   9      1
            %                                                                                                                Jacob Prepares For Death ........................................ B.W.                               464 20
Deacons' Meetings ......................... . ...................... G.V.dL:B.                            4 4           2    Joseph and Potiphar .................................................. B.W.                          201
.Deacons'  Meetings ................................................ G.V.d.B.                               65     3         Joseph. Before Pharaoh .............................................. B.W.                           248        1;'
IDebate  over Divine Election .................................... M.S.                                     6 7         3    Joseph In Prison ...................................................... ..B.W.                       226        10
IDog's Vomit ........................ ...................................... ~... J.F.                      23          1    Joseph Ruler of Egypt ............................................ B.W.                              274 12
.Dreamer,           The ...................................... . ..................... B.W.                                  Joseph's Economic Policies ...................................... ..B.W.
                                                                                                           130          6                                                                                                         442 19
Drug Price Investigation ............................................ M.S.                                . 167         7    Joseph's Meeting With His Brothers` ...................... B.W.                                      298        13
                                                                                                                             Joseph- Sold By His Brothers .................................... B.W.                               153         7



                                                      -E-                                                                                                                -K-

                                                                                                                             Knott's, Rev. E's Position Regarding Reunion
:Ecclesiastical  Censure .._._............_.......................,  G.V.d.B.                              236 10                  in Question ........................ . .......... . ...................... M.S.                334        14
ZEconomics and Scripture ........................................... .V.G.                                 431 18            Knox, John, and the, Reformation .......................... G.V.B.                                   302 13
-Editorials (Listed Alphabetically Under Separate .Headings)

-Eligible For A Call ....... ............................................. M.S.                            143          6                                                    - L - .
Fvolution,  Long Periods, or Days .......................... ..H.H.                                         52          3
Exhortation To ,Theological  Professors .................... H.H.                                            4          1    Lessons o n Matthew 5 ................................................ M.S.                          118 5
Explanation             ................................... i ............................ H.H.             77' 4            Life's Desire. ............................................................... ..G.V. .. 362                    16


                                                                      -_--                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       .
                                                                           -                                                                                                                                                                                                                   . .
                SUBJECT                                                                                    Author            `Page No.                                    SUBJECT-  :                                                                                                                    Auihor                            Page` No:
   . _                                                                                                                                                    c
                                          "                       -M-, y' ; ::                                                                                                    ; .,                                                             -R-  :...: ..: -
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               .
Making Molehills Out of Mountains ............ .............MS.                                                               262       11            -Reformation Prepared in Luther's Soul . . . . . . . . . . .;:..::...;C.H.                                                                                                            15      1
Meditations  (Listed Alphabettcally  Under. Separate Titles)                                                                                           Report`of'Easfem  Ladies' League . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :.:.R.C.
                                                                                                  ...                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       9 2     4
                                                                                                                                                                                               _.
Meeting .of Jacob and Esau .... <. ..................... ..r. ........ B.W.:                                                 .57- 3                    Report of Eastern Ladies' League : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.W.                                                                                       383 16
Mission Order,                                                                                                                          2 9
                                ........................... ..~ ... . ..I.. ..... ,.:.:.....:.,.G.V.a.B ...                   474 .-                   Report of Western Ladies' League . . :.: C.K;                                                                                                                                  :     93     .4
                                                                                                                                                                                               . _.
More Comment on'the  Liberated Synodi<alMerger..M.S.                                                                          310      ,li             Report `of Western Ladies' League . %... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._ G.H;                                                                                               393     1 7
More Debate ~Respectiug                                  &fallibility ...... .I:..... .... . ...M.S.                         196                       Resurrection, The `-. . . . . . . . . . . . ..:... . . . . . ..G.V.                                                                                                                 313 14
                                                                                                                       .~                              Rehirning~To~B&hel                                            .._.... ii.i . . . . . . 2.i..i  . . . . ii . . . . . . . ;...;.:..:  . . . . B.W., : -106                                     5
                                                                                                                              _-
                                                                                                                                                       Ii&rn.T~ Egypt . ..__._..__._..........,........,...............,..,...  ~.B.WV;  322                                                                                                       14
                     .            .            .             . .-N-                 . . . . . .                                                        Rights of Consist&y Members At Congregational-                                                                                                                : . . .
Nation&  Council of Churches .................... ....... .... :..:.H.H.                                                       2 8       2                         Meetings                      . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M.S.               68      3
Needed: A Philosophy of Christian Education ...... ..M.S.                                                                     166 7                    Roman Cathohcs Becoming More Tolerant? . . . MS.                                                                                                                                    286 12
News From Our Churches                                       .................................... J.M.F.                       2 4            1        Rome ,Speaks With Authority . . . . . .M.S.                                                                                                                                         335 14
News From Cur Churches                                       .................................... J.M.F.                       48 1      2
News %rom  Our Churches .................................... J.M.F.                                                            71        3                                                                                                         -s-
News From Our Churches                                       .................................... J.M.F.                       9 6       E
News From Our Churches                                       .................................... J.M.F.                      120                     Secret Errors ................................................................. G.V.                                                                                                  4 9 ,   3
News From Cur Churches                                       .................................... J.M.F.                      144 6                    Sin of Judah .............................................................. B.W.                                                                                                    178 8
News From Our Churches                                       .................................... J.M.F.                      168 7                   Shechem                      ....................................................................... B.W.                                                                             81 4
News From Our Churches                                       ................. ................... J.M.F.                    -192        8             Some Thoughts o n Infant Baptism ............................ MS.                                                                                                                    94 4
News From Qur Churches                                       .................................... J.M.F.               _ 216             9             Speech of True Penitence ........................ . .................. G.V.                                                                                                          25 2
News From Our Churches                                       .................................... J.M.F.                      240 10                  Standard Bearer's Witness .........................................B.W.                                                                                                               69 3
News From Our Chruches                                       .................................... J.M.F.                      264 11                   Statistics                   ............. . ........................................................ M.S.                                                                          335 14
News From Our Churches                                       ..... .:.......................  ::. ...J.M.F.                   288 12                   Strong Protest Against N.C.C.C. ...................... .......... M.S.                                                                                                               21 1
News From Our Churches                                       .................................... J.M.F.                      312 13                   Study Posits Hell On W.ay Out ................................ M.S.                                                                                                                  94 4
News From Our Churches                                       ............................... .: ..% J.M.F.                    336       14            Suffering Worshipper ................... .;............................. G.V.                                                                                                        265 12
News From Our Churches                                       .....................................J.M.F.                      360       15            SynodThe                           ............... . ....... . ........ . ............................ G.V.d.B.                                                                      356 15
News From Our Churches                                       ... . ................................ J.M.F.                    384 16                  Synod, The ........ .;... . .............................................. G.V.d.B.                                                                                                  405 17
News From Our Churches                                       ...... .............................. J.M.FI                     408 17                 Synod, The ..: ...................................... . ........ . ........ `.G.V.d.B.                                                                                                427 18
News From Our Churches                                       .................................... J.M.F. ..                   432.      18            Synod,. The ............................................................ G.V.d.B.                                                                                                    452 19
News From Our Churches .;. ................................. J.M-.F,   4 5 6   1 9                                                                     Synod Of The Protestant Reformed
News From Our Churches ....................... .I .............J.M.F.' .                                                      480       -20                        Churches,                         1960             .............................................. H.C.H.                                                                412 18
News From Our Churches ...................................... J.M.F.`-                                                        500 1     2 1            Synod Of The Protestant Reformed
                                                                                                                                                                   Churches,                         1960 ............................... .:. ................H.H.                                                                         478 20
                                                                                                                I."                                   Synodic$~ Committees .... . ..................................... G.V.d.B.                                                                                                           379     16,
                                                                  -0-l                                                                               `Synodical Committees .......................................... G.V.d.B.                                                                                                             404 17

Observations                 .............................................................. J.A.H.                            3 9 8 '   1 7
One Desire .. . ............................................................... C.H.                                          385 17                                                                          .                                   -T-
Only Theology The Bible Knows .............................. M.S.                                                             166 7                   Taxation and the Churches . . . . . . . .._ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MS.                                                                                  214      9
0 Taste and See ......................... :. ..... .... ................... G.V.                                              217 10                  Ten .Brothers  .With  Benjamin Before Joseph. ...... .:B.W.                                                                                                                          346     15.
Our Children Belong To God ..... ;.;. ........................... M.S. r 429                                                            18            Things Thiue Eyes Have Seen, The .......................... G.V.                                                                                                                     481     21
                                                                                                                                                      Three Points Still Binding? .........................................M.S.                                                                                                            476     26
                                                                   -P-                                                                                Treatment Of Our Sins .............................................. G.V.                                                                                                            241     11
                                                                                                                                                   . True- Church, The .,.....................................................  M.S.                                                                                                       381 16
Passing Over Penuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                                                                                                         ..B.W.                34 2
Population Problem ................................................... .M.S .                                                 142 6                                                                                                               -u-
Praise of God's Lovingkindness                                        ................................ G:V.                   ~97- 5,
Prayer, Refused                        ......................................................... .G.V.                       4 5 7   .20              @ion? .._ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  : . . . . . H.H.                         7 6     4 '
Precedents                Considered                ...................................... ..G.V.d.B.                         356 15                  +organized                            Churches                        . . 1............:  . . . . . . . . . . G.V.d.B.                                                                19      1
Proper Mood ................................................................ G.V.                                             145 7
Punishment or Praise                                                                                                                                                                                                                              -V-.
                                                 ...................... . .... . .................. J.A.H.                   205 9
Punishment or Praise .............................................. J.A.H.                                                   230        16            Visit of the Wise Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..__. G.V.                                                                                           121 6
Punishment or Praise ................................................ J.A.H.                                                 252 11
Punishment or Praise ........................... .:. ................J.A.H.                                                  278 12                                                                                                                     w
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 -.                       -

                                                                                                                                                      What About The Children? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J.A.H.                                                                                                  326 14
                                                                  -Q-                                                                                 What About The Children? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ;T.A.H.                                                                                 350 15
Questions of Article 41, D.K.O. ........................ G.V.d.B.                                                                                     What About The Children? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J.A.H.
                                                                                                                             116 5                                                                                                                                                                                                         373 16
Questions of Article 41, D.K.O. .......................... G.V.d.B.                                                                                   Why, Jews Remain
                                                                                                                             140 6                                                                          Jews? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M.S.                                               238 10
Questions of Article 41, D.K.O. ........................ G.V.d.B.                                                                                     Will Religion Be'  An-  Issue in the 1960 Election......M.S.
                                                                                                                             164 7                                                                                                                                                                                                         214 9
Question of Re-union ............................................... .H.H.                                                   101         5            Work Out Your Salvation . . . . . .._.................... . . . G.V.                                                                                                                   1      1
Records of Ecclesiastical Assemblies ........ . ....... G.V.d.B.                                                              332.  1 4                                                                                                                    Index by Rev. G. Vanden  Berg


