      VOLUME  xxxv11                             N                                                                             N
                                                   OVEMBER 15, 1960 - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN'                                    UMBER 4-



                                                                                And what did they receive?
Ii---.                                                                  n
               AA E D I T A T I .O l'+l                                         They obtained a "good report."

                                                                                Who gave that report? The answer is God !

                                                                                And that is immense, amazing.
                    THE `PROMISE DEFE
                                                                                The original word used here for "good report," or, rather,        `

                 "`A41ad  these a,ll,  lm~~i~g  obta.in&  a good f*eport,    for "obtaining a good. report," is a word which reserved itself
                   received not the jwomisc:  God hving  provided            a place in the modern languages of today, namely ,ttzartyr.
                   xome better tlzixg  fo? ws, tha.t they withotct  us       It is used here in the passive aorist form of the verb.
                   sho~uld  not. be ma,de  perfect."  Hebrews 1.1 :39, 40
                                                                                The word "martyr" now means to be a sufferer for a

     This text is `really the theme of the chapter, as well as               cause. But originally this word meant to be a "witness,"
of the whole epistle.                                                        and then a witness for God. But since witnessing for God
                                                                             meant that you would have to suffer for it, the meaning be-
     It hails the ascendancy and excellency of the New Testa-                came more and more as we understand it today: you became
ment over the Old.                                                           a sufferer, you were'hounded  to death; you died on the stake,

     In the Old Testament the saints were happy in their                     or on the gallows,. or in the arena.,

salvation and redemption, but they did not receive the prom-                   But here it means that God gave a good report of them.
ise, that is, Christ. And why not? Because it did not please
the Lord to make the Old Testament Church perfect without                       Look at verse 2 of this chapter: "the elders obtained a
                                                                             good report" ; or verse 4: God reported of Abel that he was
us of the New.
                                                                             righteous, "God testifying of his gifts" (and that was the gift
     There was a better Thing in store, namely, God manifest                 of the little lamb, slain for Abel's sins). And remember
i n   t h e   f l e s h !                                                    that the word "testifying" above is the same as in our text

     These all ! Who are they ?,                                             for "good report."    Look also at verse -5 : Before En&h's

     They are first of all the saints mentioned in chapter 11 :              translation he had'this  testimony (again: the same word as
Abel, Enoch,  Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph,                    in my text) that he pieased  God.
                                                                                                                       ._
Moses, God's Israel and.  Rahab. Later are mentioned yet :                      And that's' the way it is in all of the Old Testament                       _
Gideon, Barak,  Samson, Jephtha, David, Samuel and the                       Scriptures : God gives a good report of His people. He calls
prophets.                                                                    them righteous, children that will not lie, good, kind,.  saints,
     Yes, but even then- you have `not exhausted the "all                    beloved of the Father, etc..                           -

these."                                                                         Think of the psalm where God says : "Beautiful for situa-

     It also includes all `those who are not named. They in-                 tion, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides

clude the whole Church of God of the Old Dispensation who                    of the north, the city of the great King." ,These quotations

walked in their 4000 years of pilgrimage upon this sorry                     can be multiplied over and over again.

earth, They include all the saints of God from Adam to the                      Every student of the Bible knows that God gives a good
last soul that entered in the heavenly rest before the breaking              report of His saints throughout the Bible.
of the walls of partition when Jesus came and died, and rose
                                                                                How did they obtain this good report on the part of God ?
a g a m .
                                                                                The answer is : "through faith."                                       .
     These all! They are all God's people from the pre-delu-

vian world and of the Jewish Commonwealth.,                                     .And  our chapter will give us a definition of that faith:


I
           74,                                          T H E   S~TAND-A-RD   B E A R E R


     .     "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not          But the Church of the 0. T. did receive "the word of

           seen."                                                               promise."

            Well, it is rather plain that the things hoped for, the               Secondly, they received the blood of the innocents. Right

          things not seen, are the same. They are the things of the new         at the start the blood of the innocent did flow: God killed

           world for which we are waiting: -And the "substance" and the         a sheep to clothe both Adam's and Eve's nakedness. They

           "evidence" of these things is -faith.  And that stresses the         are the first type of the cloak of righteousness.

           wondrous truth that every Christian has that new world now              And the blood continued to flow. For four thousand
           already in possession, in his very heart and `mind and soul.         years.
           Our life is hid with Christ in God. You carry with you the
                                                                                   They were the gift of God to His church of the Old
           quality, the savour of the new'world  that is to come in the
           day of Christ.                                                       Dispensation.

                  Faith is the power to see the Invisible God. It is the           And . . . this blood was connected, directly related to the
           power to see the Kingdom of God. It is the living tie that           word of -promise.

           unites you with Jesus, and through Him, with God.                       But few saw the connection. Many of God's people went

                  And that same faith tells you throughout the Bible that       to heaven without ever having had a clear `view of the con-
           God has a good opinion of you. It is faith which tells you           nection between this blood of bullocks and the word of
           every day you are the son or the daughter of God. It is              promise. I know of three-men who saw it. First, Moses who
           faith that justifies you, and that means first of all that your      came back-  from the Mount with a shiny countenance. The
           sins are forgiven you.                                               glory of the heavenly things was reflected on his face. I
                                                                                think he saw the Christ in His unspeakable humiliation, and
                  And that faith cannot be obtained by yourself. It is the
                                                                                the glorification of both the Christ and His Church. Second,
           free gift of God. So there is no boasting by anyone.
                                                                                Isaiah who saw the Cross of Jesus, came home, and weeping
                  That's what. they received.    But they did not-obtain the    wrote his 53rd chapter: "we hid as it `were our faces from
           promise.                                                             Him." Third,, Abraham, of whom Jesus said: "He saw my

                  That sounds strange to our ears, for we read a thousand       day and was glad."

           times that the Old Testament saints did receive the promise             But the great majority did not see this connection.
           and the promises. Look at verse 17 of this same chapter.
                                                                                 Thirdly, the Church of the 0. T. received the faith of
           There we read that Abraham "had received the promises."
                                                                                God. And that made all things well.
                  However,. the difficulty is not serious : you must make a
           distinction between the promise of .God  which came from                They received the Word of the Promise, the blood of
           Adam to the last saint in the Old Testament, and the fz@Z-           the innocent victims, and the faith, and that was sufficient
           scent  of these promises. For both the same word is used.            to make them happy, to save them, and to bring them safely
                                                                                in heaven.
                                       * * + *                                     But they did not receive the Promise in its .fulfilment.

                  Now let us look at exactlywhat the Old Testament saints          The Promise in its fulfilment is called in my text:
           received.                                                            "SOME BETTER THING."

                  First of all, they received the word of promise. Allow me        And what is that?
           to point you' to the Mother of them all, the epevangel given
          `to Eve in Paradise right after they fell into sin. There God            This : The coming, the suffering, the dying, the resurrec-
           promised that He would raise up a Seed who would crush               tion, the ascension and the return of Jesus Christ in the Holy
           the head of the devil.                                               Ghost on Pentecost.                      .

                  Later we hear of God's promise to Abraham, and there             Here is the comparison: "These all,"`, that is the Old
           the form is somewhat different, but essentially it is the same       Testament Church, with but crumbs, plus `faith, received a
           promise: I will be your God and the God of your seed.                good report from God, and they went singing to heaven.

                  -And so I could go on, and write about a thousand pages          But we ! Oh, beloved, what did we receive ? We re-

           of manuscript telling you about the many and various prom-           ceived centrally the whole Kingdom of Heaven! That is, -

           ises which God gave to the Old Testament Church. He                  Jesus Christ the Lord ! Hallelujah !

           would send the Messiah, the Goel, the Redeemer, the Rock,               Now read Hebrews 10 :28, 29 : "He that despised Moses'
           the Tower, the Son of the Virgin, the great King, the                law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of
           Prophet like unto Moses, the Lamb, the Mighty God, etc., etc.        how much sorer punishment suppose ye, shall he be thought

                  And because of this wondrous variety, sometimes you           worthy, `who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and

           read of the "promises," in the plural.                               hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D ,   BEARER-                                                                                                                                               75


sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the                                                  _

Spirit of grace ?"                                                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

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                                                                                                    Editor - REV. HERMAN HOEKSEMA
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                                                                                        Rev.  H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S.E.,
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ment Church exclusively. He would not show that sweetness                  Second Class postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan
to the ante-deluvian world nor to the Jewish nation. He did'

not want to make perfect that church.exclusively.
                                                                                                                        C O ' N T E N T S
      What does it mean "to be made perfect"?
                                                                  MEDITATION-
      That means to take part in the REGENERATION OF                       The Promise Deferred.. . . . .._ ___.  __ __. __ ____.___.___  .__ ..73
ALL THINGS !                                                                 R e v .   G .   V o s

      And that will come in the day of Christ when He re-         EDJTOIUALS-
                                                                           Fast Disintegration ._ . . . .:. .._ __ __ __ __ ___ .._. . ..76
appears on the clouds of the heavens.                                                  Rev. H, Hoeksema

      That will come to pass when all things burn and burn and    OUR DOCTIXNE-
burn. And out of the burning will appear the perfect state.                The Book of Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._....................................... 78
 .                                                                                     Rev.  H.Hoeksema
      This is God's reason for withholding perfection from the
                                                                  A C
ante-deluvian world and the Jewish nation: He .desired  to             LOUD OF WITNESSES-
                                                                           Moses' Rejection of Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~...................  80
save the whole world of His good-pleasure: Jew, Greek and                              Rev. B. Woudenberg
Barbarian !
                                                                  FROM HOLY  WRIT-                                         .
      John the Divine'saw a great multitude standing in heaven             Exposition of I John 2: 18-21.___........______._.........,.......... _ ..___ 82
round about then great white throne of ,God,  and they came                            Rev. G. Lubbers

from out of all nations, and tribes, and peoples and kindreds     IN HIS FENS  -

of the earth, and they sang a beautiful song to God.                       Children of Our Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
                                                                                       Rev. J. A. Heys
      One word of it is in the Hebrew tongue. Your little
children sing it often. It is HALLELUJAH !                        CONTEN&G  FOR THE FAITH-
                                                                           The Church and the  Sacraments . . . . ..___________.__..........................  86
                                                          G.V.                         Rev. H. Vekhnan


                                                                  THE  VOICE  OF OUR FATHERS~
                                                                           The Canons of Dordrecht . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~______,_...,....___  88

                                                                                       Rev. H: C. Hoeksema

               Jehovah's praises sound abroad,
                                                                  'DECENCY AND ORDER-
               Rejoice before the living God ;                             The Formula of Subscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

               Prepare the way that He may come                                        Rev. G. Vanden  Berg

               And make the desert places bloom.                  ALLAROUNDUS-
                                                                           An Important Synod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
                                                                           Church Membership in the United States ..___..___._________.........  92
               A father of the fatherless,                                 Political Pronouncements . . . . . . . . . _. .______ ____ __ ._. .93
               A judge of widows in distress,                                          Rev. H. Hanko

               Is God,-the God of boundless grace,
                                                                  CONTRIBUTIONS-
               Who dwells within His holy place.                           Hull Welcomes New Pastor . . . . . . . . . . . . ..__......................................                                                             94
                                                                                Mr. J. Hoekstra
                                                                           A Letter from Canada. __ _. . .._ ___ ._.___.  __ ____.  __. ___ ._. ._. __ ____ 94
               God frees the captive and He sends                                      Mr. A. D. McClure
               The blessedness of home and friends,
               And only those in darkness stay                    NEWS FROM OUR C6vRc~s...............................................................,9~
                                                                                       Mr. J. M. Faber
               Who will not trust Him and obey.


76 :                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


                                                                   serve the cause of ecumenicity. b. The various stipulations
1            EDIT-tiRIA,LS                                         in the letter of the Christian Reformed Synod have different
                                                                   interpretations among us. c. Discussion should take longer.

                                                                   (I take this to mean that, affer the reunion, there should be
                   Fast Bisimt.egration                            opportunity and time to discuss the Three Points.)

     Last month a special, meeting of the schismatic synod             This motion was discussed and then  tabled.
was called for the purpose of determining whether or not they,         2. Then" there was a motion to adopt the advice and
the schismatic churches, should return to the Christian Re-        decision of Classis East. This classis had decided immediately
formed Church. This, of course,.was  odcasioned  by the last       to join the Christian Reformed Church on the basis of the
letter they had received from the synod of that church in          letter _sent  by the synod of that church to the schismatic
which the latter specified the conditions under which such a       synod. An amendment to this motion was made to insert
reunion could be accomplished. s                                   the words "in substance" so that Gotion  would read: we
                                                                   reply to the Christian Reformed Synod by adopting in sub-
     We will not give a deiailed  report of all the actions of
                                                                   stance the overture of Classis  East. This amendment was
this special synod. But some items are of sufficient interest
                                                                   adopted. But the amended motion failed by a vote of eight
to our readers to report them in our Sta?itdard  Bearer.  On
                                                                   t o   e i g h t .                                  .., .
the whole, all the actions of this synod reveal that the
schismatic churches are fast disintegrating. -There are,               3. The motion that had been tabled (see under .l) was
evidently, groups that are ready to join the Christian Re-         now taken from the table and was  adopted. The vote was
formed Church whether or not the latter maintain the Three         nine to seven. It was decided to appoint a committee to draw
Points ; others rather remain independent and stay by them-        up a letter to the Christian Reformed Synod to explain the
selves ; still others apparently would join the Christian Re-      motion that had just been adopted. We have a copy df this
formed Church on condition that the Three Points  be no            letter and we publish it here:

longer considered as having binding force ; while, finally,            "To the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church.

there is also a group that now feel that they were deceived            "Dear brethrkn  :
by their schismatic leaders and would like to return to the
fold of the Protestant Reformed Churches, something, `how-             "We herewith desire to continue our conversations with

ever, that can be done only in the way of confession of their you regarding union of our two denominations. Please accept
sin of ever having departed from us and of having created          our sincere thanks for the prompt and kind letter embodying
a schism in our churches.                                          your answer to our communication of our Synpd of June,
                                                                   1960. We are happy for this evidence that you, with us, are
     In a way, it is amazing that the disintegration `of the       seeking to fulfill the prayer of Christ, `that they may be one.'
schismatics comes as fast as it does : only about seven years          "In this letter  to us you suggest that `an outright and
after their separation from the Protestant Reformed Churches       official -setting  aside of them (the three points) is unwar-
they already fall apart. But in another way, it is not surpris-    ranted' in response to our request `to consider the Three
ing at all for, after all, the group that departed from us did     Points' of `Common Grace' as `without any further binding
not do so for the sake of principle but, especially as far as      force.'    You also suggest `a more positive basis' as being:
their leaders were concerned, from entirely different motives.     `a. If you will agree that the Three Points are neither Ar-
It is by this time very evident that they never loved the Prot-    minian  or Pelagian ; that in the light of the official inter-
estant Reformed truth. And no church can maintain and has          pretation given by our Synod of 1959, the objection that the
the right to maintain a separate existence except on the           Three. Points are in conflict with Scripture and the Forms
basis of the truth and of definite and distinctive principles.     of Unity is not valid; and that you will agree not to agitate
This certainly was the case with the Protestant Reformed           against official interpretations. b. If we do not require sub-
Churches in 1924, but with those that left us this was not         mission in the sense of demanding total agreement with the
the case at all.- Hence, their fast disintegration cannot sur-     Three Points ; we recognize and bear with scruples which
prise us.                                                          you may have, in the expectation that we together may come

     As far as this special synod is concerned, the following      eventually to a better understanding of the truth;  and not

items are of interest to us.                                       bar those who have certain misgivings or divergent inter-

     1. A motion  was made to request the Synod of the             pretations as long as they refrain from propaganda for their
Christian Reformed Church to reconsider the removal of the         interpretations.'

Three Points so that reunion can be effected only on the               "We have given serious consideration to this suggested

basis of Scripture and the Three Forms of Unity or the             basis on which ?o unite and our Synod ,has not been able to
Reformed Confessions. According to our reporter three              concur in the judgment that this is the better way. There-
grounds were furnished for this motion, namely: a. The             fore we would approach you to ask that you consider again

removal of the Three Points and their binding power would          that our churches unite on the basis of Scripture and the


                                              THE  S T A N D A R D -   B E A R E R                                                    77
                                                                                                                  I


Three Forms of Unity.  We ask this, not out of a stubborn             the unity of the ch&-ch  and it is out of the conviction that

insistence on our own position, but because the calling of            you too seek it that we feel free to address        again.
                                                                                                                       you 
the Lord toward unity is better served in this way. We                   "As far as the matter of procedure is concerned, if you
would ask you to consider the following in addition to that           can accede to our request, we will state that we prefer this
which was advanced in our letter of last year.                        as outlined in point `a' under in your letter of 1960 and ask

   "1. That while the matter of a b&is  for union is one              you hereby to appoint a committee to consummate such

that concerns your church and ours first of all; it'nevertheless      union.

has its impact upon  and will have influence upon the                    "In gny  ever&, we may inform you that we have set the
ecumenical striving as we reach out to other manifestations           date of our Synod of 1961 so .that  it will meet aft&  your
of the body of Christ. We, believe that the results of our            sessions of June, 1961, so that we will be able to consider
striving toward  unity will make a wholesome contribution             any communication ydu may address to us.
toward and give impetus to the true ecumenical d&ire  which
                                                                         "Assurin g you of our desire and pledge to serve the
is to be found in many areas of the Reformed world. For the
                                                                      Gospel of Jesus Christ and the unity of the church, we sub-
fostering of this ectimenical  spirit, the broad and royal basis
                                                                      mit this for your-consideration and await your reply." .
of the Scripture and the- three historic creeds is sufficient.
                                                                         Thus far the letter.
   "2. `By-this action you would serve us and knable us to                                                   _
practisl this unity with far less danger of splintering in our           We just wish to make a few comments,

churches. We reiterate our stand, expressed in our letter  of            1. First of all, the schismatic synod declared' and now
1960, that we no longer charge the Three Points with'being            declares ,again  that the Three Points are not Arminian or
Arminian and Pelagian, nor are we pleading for freedom to             Pelagian. Do they not realize that this is a mere negative
agitate and to cause turmoil `and strife in the churches. We          expression and that this .is not sufficient? They confront
are opposed to agitation, propaganda or any, unseemly or              the question: if they are not Arminian or Pelagian, what are
revolutionary action in the church. We are sorry for such             they then? Let us not forget that the Three Points are
actions of the past as we have pointed out in our letter of           dealing with one of the most fundamental principle_s_  and
1960. But we do plead for full prophetic liberty according            doctrine of our faith : the grace of God. This has been the .
to the Word of God. as bound by the confessions. We will              main question of the Church in the wdrld throughout the
not hide from you that some of us feel that this is not the           ages. It was The question of Augustine against Pelagius: It
case. In order that we may unite as a whole, rather than              was the question that was before our fathers at the Synod
dividing our churches, we make this request again.                    of Dordrecht. It is the chief question of the cl&u-ch today.

   "3. May we also offer for your consideration the                   More specifically expressed, it is the question whether the
declaration, which, we believe, bpth your delegates and ours          grace of God is particular or general, whether God is gracious
make  at the opening of our Synodidal sessions: . . . `All the        to the elect only or to all men. Now, the question which the
congregations of .these  churches believe all the books of the        schismatic sy~iod  must answer is, tiot only,whether  `the Three
Old and of the New Testaments. to be the Word of God and              Points are Arminian or Pelagian, but what, if they are not
confess as the true cotifession  of their faith the Thirty-seven      Pelagian or Arminian, are they then ? Are they Reformed?
Articles of the. Reformed Churches of the -Netherlands,               Why, then, do they object to sign them, as did Van Weelden,
formulated by the Synod of 161%`19,.  together with the               De Boer, and  Sebastian Cammenga before them ?

Heidelberg Catechism and the Canons of the Dordrecht                     I assure you that no Arminian will refuse to subscribe to
Synod.against the Remonstrants (Arminians)  .                         the doctrine that God .iS gracious, in the preaching of the

   " `In conformity with the belief of all these congrega-            gospel to all that hear.  And again, I am convinced that no

tions, we, as members of their Synod; declare'that  from the          Pelagian will have any objection ,to the doctrine that the
heart we feel and believe, that all the articles and~expressions      natural man can do much good through the "common grace"

of doctrine, contained in the three above` named confessions,         of God.

jointly called the Three Forms of Unity, in all respects agree           But no truly Protestant Reformed man will subscribe to
with the Word of God, whence we reject all doctrines                  these false doctrines.
repugnant thereto; that we desire to conform all our actions             More about this next time, the Lord willing.
to them, agreeably to the accepted Church Order of Dord-                                                                            H-H._
recht,  161%`19, and desigpe to receive into ozw clzw~~clz  COWL-~

wvunion eve9ryone that ag9pee.s  to our confession.'

   "We realize, brethren, the many and serious tnatters with                     With endless thanks, 0 Lord, to Thee,
which you will be busy and hope that you wili not con-                             Thy wondrous works will I proclaim,
sider us presumptuous in addressing you once again. Believe                      And in the presence of Thy saints
of us that we feel strongly the injunction of the Lord to seek                     `Will ever hope in Thy good Name.



                                         .


               78                                          T    H    E         ST&NDA.RD         B    E    A    R    E    R         _


                                                                                      eye?y  sense of the word the work of Satan is the parallei with
                       0' ll R D 0 C T R I N E-                                       the works of God. Even as the ultimate purpose of God is
                                                                                     to establish His own kingdom in glory, so the purpose of the

                                                                                      devil is to establish his own kingdom through the power of
                                THE BOOK OF REVELATION                         ~.     Antichrist. And even as in God's plan.  the church is,. 8s it

                                         PART TWO                                     were, the army of the kingdom on earth, but is destined to
                                                                                      rule over the works of God in the new kingdom that is to
                                       CHAPTER  SIXTEEN                              come, so also Satan established his own counterfeit church,

                                   The iW&twy  of t?ze Beast                         in order that also she. may.develop  into a city and ultimately

                                      R e v e l a t i o n   17:7-14                  have control over all things in' the antichristian kingdom.
                                                                                     That city, that center of the antichristian kingdom, that shall
                     As woman, Babylon is symbol of the church, in the first.        cap the climax bf apostate Christianity, shall be Babylon in
               place, as all Scripture plainly indicates. The church, the            character although she shall continue to claim to be the true
               people of God, the covenant people, appear time and again             Jerusalem. And therefore the  warning voice came to. 
               in Holy Writ under the symbol.of a married woman. In the                                                                            US
                                                                                     from  above : "(20,  ye out of hey, my people, that ye may have
               Old Testament, Israel is the wife of Jehovah, pledged to Him          no fellowship with her sins."                       -
               in sacred-bond of marriage in all faith and truth. And in the
               New Testament, the church is the bride of Christ:  Especially             And now we must make a little `&tidy  of the beast that
               in the book of Revelation, so we found, she appears time and          carries the woman Bnd with which she is evidently closely
               again as the bride of Christ, appears again and again as a            allied.'

               woman and mother both. In the twelfth chapter of this book                As to the character and identity of this beast, we need not

               we meet with a rather elaborate description `of the church            be in doubt cery  long. In `fact, in the light of what we have

               symbolized as a woman. And as the church she appears as               discussed in the past, we have already recognized this beast

               the perfected bride of the Lamb, without spot or wrinkle.             as the same as the one that was pictured to us in chapters 11

               And therefore,. the symbol of the woman as stich  is, on the          and 13. It is the antichristian world-power especially from

               basis of Scripture, nothing else than the people of God, the          its political point of view. It is the attempt of the `devil to

               church of Christ, pledged to Him in faith' and truth in all           establish his own kingdom through the agencies of the powers        '
               t h i n g s .                                                         that have been instituted for this present':sinful  world and

                     But we found, in the second place, that this woman is a         dispensation. That this is true is clear, in the first place,

          .    harlot, and as such representative not of the true, but of the        from the fact-that the general desdription here and in chapter

               apostate church. A harlot in Scripture is a married woman             13 is the same. You will remember that in that chapter we

               that has forsaken her rightful husband, has become unfaith-           were told of the beast that rose up out of the sea and that

               ful, and whores after other men, that are strangers. And so           manifested &self  as having seven heads and .ten horns. So

               is the false, or the apostate church. Committing spiritual            also this -beast that is described in our present passage atid
I              %ornication,  she bears the' name of- church. She stands out-         that is carrying the woman is possessed of seven heads and

               wardly in covenant relation to the God of salvation. She              ten horns. In. the second place, it may be noticed that this

               enjoys all the spiritual blessings of that relation to God. But       beast has the same origin as the one pictured in chapter 11.

               essentially she has broken the pledge of faitly  and truth and        True, in chapter 13 he is pictured as coming out of the sea,

               separated herself from the covenant God, in order to ally             which symbolized the tempestuous ocean of the nations and

               herself with the powers of the world and the kingdom of               tribes and tongues of the earth, swept on by war and revolu-'

               Antichrist. She has all the outward appearance of the church,         tion, while here he is pictured as coming up out of the abyss.

               with' ministry and officebearers, with the outward signs of           But this is not necessarily conflicting. We' must remember, in

               the Word and the sacraments. She  is busy in all kinds of             the -first place, that in chapter 11 this same beast, that is

               nominally Christian work, and has perhaps more organiza-              there pictured in his antagonism and hatred against the two

               tions fhan  any other local church on earth. But she denies           witnesses of Jesus Christ and in his war against them, is

               the truth, forsakes her God and Savior, tramples under foot           pictured as coming  up out of the abyss, just as in the passage

     .         the blood of the new covenant. In a word, Babylon, as the             before us.. There can be no doubt about the identity of the

               harlot woman, is the apostate church in this dispensation.            two. The same beast is pictured all the while, in chapters

                     And finally, we.  found that at first consideration. it may     11 and 17. as coming up out of the abyss, and in chapter 13

               seem strang? that this woman also appears as a city. But at           as rising out of the sea of war-  and revolution-swept nations.

               second thought we found that after all this is not strange            And the difference- is simply this, that in the one case he is

               whatever, if only the analogy of the true church is kept in           pictured as .to the idea and spiritual character. Spiritually

               view. Also the true church is finally pictured to LIS as a city,      this beast finds his origin in the abyss, in the, kingdom of

               as the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,             darkn&s,  in the mind of .the devil; and therefore he is

               destined to rule centrally over all the works `of God in the          pictured as rising up out of the abyss. But the devil realizes

               new creation. And the same  is true of the false church. In           his kingdom, this antichristian beast, through the age&y of


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   79


       men and in the course of history ; and for that reason he is         and is not, and is about to `come up out of the abyss,`? and
       also pictured aS coming up out of the sea. In both, therefore,       that "he was, and iS not, and shall be," and the equally myste-

,      it is the same beast. But in the one .case  he is pictured as        rious words, "The beast that was, and is not, is himself also

       being the ultimate historic result of all the. uprisings and         the eighth, and is of the seven." So we read in-this  text a

       developments of the kingdoms and nations of the world, while         detailed explanation of the his&c significance of the seven

       in the other he is pictured to us in his essentiil  and spiritual    heads and the ten horns. Of the seven heads we read that

       origin, namely, in the wicked mind of Satan himself. In the          they are seven mouptains  and seven kings, of which five are

       third place, we immediately recognize this beast as identical        fallen, one still is, and the seventh is still to come in the

       with the one we have studied before because evidently his            future, while the beast as a whole is himself an eighth king-

       relation to the inhabitants of the-earth is the Same,  both in       dom, or king, and *is of .the seven. And of the ten horns we

       regard to the saints and to the followers of Antichrist. In          also read that they are ten kings that  have not yet received

       chapter 13 we read that all the dwellers -of the earth wondered      their power, but that shall receive authority in the future and

       after the beast, were surprised at his wonderful appearance,         shall give their power to the beast, all being of one mind

       admired Ad worshipped him. So in our text we read that               with the beast. All these apparently mysterious details are

       the inhabitants of the earth wondered at the appearance of           added to the information we receive in chapter 13. And hence,

       this beast, especially in view of the fact that he was, and is       it is plain t&t the purpose of this description is different

       not, and yet is. In chapter 13 we read, `however, that those         from that in the former chapter. And that difference, it

       whose names were written in the book of life of the Lamb             seems to me, consists in this, that in chapter 13 the purpose

       were an exception to this rule, since they did not worship the       was simply to picture the terrible opposition of the beast

       beast, neither his image. And so do we read in our chapter           against the kingdom of the Anointed of God, while in our

       that those that worship the beast  are limited as to their           chapt&  this opposition recedes into the background. The .

       number to the ones whose names are not written in the book           purpose of our chapter is in connection with chapters 18 and

       of life from before the foundation of the world. And finally,        19 to reveal the historical development of the antichristian

       in chapter 13 we read that the saints who refused to worship - power, as well as its final defeat and descent into destruction.,

       the beast and his image and to receive th'e sign of the beast        .as are mentioned three times in/ the words of our present

       on their forehead or hand were bitterly hated and maliciously        passage. And then. it `is our conviction that in the heads we re-

       persecuted, so that they could neither buy nor sell. Here we         ceive a picture of the various individual manifestations of the

       read that those that give their power  to the beast are all of       antichristian  world-power in the history of the-world, while in

       one mind,.. also in their war against the Lamb and against           the ten .horns  we have a picture of ?he final formation of this

       the called and chosen and faithful of Jesus Christ. And there-       power, when all the kings of the earth shall unite, being of

       fore, in general there can be no question about the fact that        one mind, to give their power to ,the beast. We must remem-

       here we have again a picture of the final manifestation of           ber that in principle the beast,`representing  the antichristian

       Antichrist, the highest d&elopment  of all the power of the          power of the world, ekists  throughout the history  of the           .

       world, the greatest feat of the devil, the terrible and glorious     world, particularly in the new dispensation. It existed in

       kingdom that shall come in the future to make war with the           Daniel's time in the form of the Babylonian Empire ; and

       Lamb and His people. It is the picture of that great, uni-           Daniel prophesies of different forms of that same world-

       versal kingdom that shall have sway over all the nations of          power that are to manifest themselves as principally opposed

     the world for a time and have control oyer all things; but             to the people of God. He speaks of the Persian, of the

       that shall be the opposition kingdom against the kingdom of          Grecian, of the Syrian and Roman power that is still to come

       Jesus Christ and shall make life unbearable, for the saints of       in the future, each of which are temporary manifestations of

       Jesus. But although the identity of this beast with the one          the world-power in history, so clearly even that in Antiochus

       that is mentioned in chapter 13 is established beyond any            Eiiphanes  we may. find a clear type of Antichrist in person.

       possible doubt, yet it must not be overlooked that in ou;            At any rate, the `world-power ai such always  exists,  and

       chapter he is described from a different point of view and           characteris&cally,  is always opposed to the people of God.

       with a different purpose. That may be regarded as plain from         Instead of being satisfied to occupy their God-ordained posi-

       the simple fact that we have here once more a descriptioti  of       tion in the world, they aim' at absolute control and at the

       the same beast, and that rather elaborately. If the vision in        establishment of one grand kingdom, `in which-man shall be

       this chapter were not for a different purpose and in order to        his own god. The result is that there are various successive

       show the beast from a different point of view, it would have         manifestations of the world-power, and that the latter passes

       been sufficient for the angel to explain to, John that fhis was      through different stages of development. At the same time,
       the same beast as .the one he saw before rising up out of the        we must remember that none -of these realize the entire beast.
       sea. This, however, he does not do; but, on the contrary, he         None of them succee& to establish the universal kingdom for
                                                                            which they strive. On the cdntrary, they all fail ; and in so.
       adds various details in the interpretation which have not been
                                                                            fa; they do not fulfill the symbol of the beast in its entirety.
       mentioned before. In the second place, this is plain from

       these details themselves. We re`ad of this beast.that  "he was,                                                                 H.H.


80                                             THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


                                                                             be easy or that his instruction in the truth could be allowed
      CLOUD OF WITNESSES j                                                   to wait.
                                                                                How frequently during these early years Jochebed was

                                                                             required to bring the child to the palace so that Pharaoh's
                 Moses' Rejection of Egypt                                   daughter could cuddle him and play with him like a toy, we

                                                                             do not know. Neither do we know how often a royal embas-
          By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused
        to be called the son of Pharaoh's -daughter;                         sage approached their humble homk to see if the child was
          Claoosimg  Tather to sufm afflichon  with the people               being properly kept. Those were times of fear, for it was never
       of God, than to enjoy the plaamres  of sin for a smson;               known whether or not the time had come when Moses was
         (Esteeming the reproach of Clhst greater riches t/m                 to be taken away. At such times, while the parents stoqd
        the treumres in Egypg;  for he had respect &to the                   quietly by in the silence of fear, they realized how power-
       recom,pence  of the reward. - Hebrews 11:24-26                        less they were. The life of their child was in th'e hand of the
       And Moses was leamed in all of the wisdom of the                      Lord. For `them  there was only one comfort. From his
       Egyptians, and was mighty in words and &i deeds.
          And when  he was full  forty years old, it came into               earliest years Moses had shown an unusual interest in all that
       his heart to visit his bslthren  the cl%drew  of Israel.              his parents sought to teach him. Eagerly he listened as they
                                                        -Acts 7 ~22, 23      told him over and over again of all that had been passed on

          And it ca.wze  to p.ass  in those da,ys,          Moses was
                                                   when                      from the fathers before them. He memorized and retained
       grown, t?aat he went out unto l& brethren, and looked                 all that was known about their God and His gracious COV-
       on. their burdens.. - Exodus 2 :ll                                    enant promises. He never neglected the opportunity to learn,

      It was an anxious, wondering, fearfui  Jochebed who                    seeming to feel that for him it was of special importance. It
 hurriedly followed her daughter Miriam toward the group                     was evident to th$ parents that the spirit of the Lord was
 of Egyptian women standing by the bank of the Nile. In                     upon him. In.this  they found comfort and gave God thanks.
 the middle of the group was Pharaoh's daughter and at her                   Their prayers never ceased to ascend unto hdaven in Moses'
 feet was the ark of bulrushes which Jochebed knew so well.                 behalf.

 Even as Miriam had excitedly related, these women had dis-                     Finally the much-feared- time came. Pharaoh's daughter

 covered her son. But once she had approached the women,                     decided that Moses should be taken to make his home in the

 Jochebed's face lost its look of fear, her eyes began to sparkle           palace. With heavy-hearts the family made the last prepara-

 with joy, her heart breathed a prayer of thanksgiving, for                 tions for his departure. There were the last words of in-

 Pharaoh's daughter spoke, "Take this child away, and nurse                 struction and warning ; there was the last kneeling together

 it for me, and I will give'thee thy wages." Her son was not                in prayer; and then there were the last farewells. Through

 going to die: in fact, he was to be returned to her own                    tear-blurred eyes the parents watched their .child  being led

 home. The providetice  of God had provided for it, and the                 away. He looked so small, so much in need of his parents'

 authority of Pharaoh's throne had commanded it.                           - care, so incapable of `standing in the midst of an evil world.

      Once again peace returned to the humble home of Ani-                  As the small figure faded into the distance they  knew that

 ram and Jochebed. No longer did they need to fear the foot-                his heart yearned for them even as theirs did for him ; but

 steps that passed by their doorway. The child had been given               henceforth all they would be able to do for him would be to

 an Egyptian name,, Moses, and was known as a son of                        pray. Only the grace of God could enable him to endure.

 Pharaoh's daughter:      An edict of the throne protected him.                 It was a strangely differ'ent%  world in which the child

 Even the threat of poverty and hunger had disappeared. At                  Moses found himself making his home. In place of the un-

 regular intervals funds were receivecl  from the palace suf-               adorned` Hebrew hut, there was the regal splendor of the

 ficient for all of the child's needs and enough for the ,family            palace. In the place of the simple religious instruction of his

 besides. Only one cause for cpncern remained. Moses could                  parents, there were elaborate discourses by the most learned
 not .remain always with his parents. Pharaoh's daughter                    men of the ancient world. In place of the intimate family`

 wanted him for her own. She would allow Moses to remain                    circle, there  was the great household of Pharaoh with count-
 with his parents only  through the tender:years  of early child-           less servants ready at any time to do his every bidding.
 hood when he needed special care. After that he would be                   Gone were the watchful eyes of, his parents, ready to repri-

 taken away to be placed in the courts of Pharaoh's heathen                 mand him for what which was wrong as well as to en-
 palace. There he would be in the midst of the world, far                   courage him in the right. Gone was the intimacy of a home
 removed from all of the children of God. Very early Amram                  united in love and spiritual devotion.      Gone was mutual
 and Jochebed began to prepare the child for that day. There                awareness of a God who has made the world and to whom
 was no time to spare. From the moment the child Moses                      all of the alligiances  of life belong. The new surroundings
 began to show signs of comprehension, they taught  I him the               were entirely different. There were governors and tutors
 truth of the cov`enant  and began to warn him concerning the               who, even though he was young, were concerned with noth-
 dangers which he in a peculiar way would have to -with-                    ing more than winning his favor. There were spectacular
 stand. Never was Moses allowed to think that his life would                rituals and ceremonies which, although engaged in with


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 81


much pretentiousness, were in reality mostly sham. Amid all        for their deliverance. Already to Abraham it had been told

of the pomp and splendor of the court, there was a basic           that after four hundred years deliverance would -come.

shallowness of life in which everyone lived for himself.           Moses could ,not  bind himself to the Egyptians ; he had to

   Of greatest importance for Moses in his young life was          make plans so that he could go with his people.

the opportunity which came to him for learning. As a mem-             Gradually Moses took to walking out in the fields, and
ber of the royal family, it was expected that he would             especially to those places where the Hebrews were working.
eventually become a leader and a judge among the people.           His sympathies were there, and he could not keep himself
In preparation for this the whole of his life was centered.        away. There he saw it in all of its gruesome detail-the labor
For such preparation there was no better place than ancient        and toil, the sweat and the blood, the bodies weary and
Egypt. It was by far the most advanced of all of the ancient       fainting, red with the stripes of whips. Time and again he
kingdoms. It abounded in the knowledge of mathematics,             flinched as he gazed on the blows of the taskmasters; he
astronomy, and chemistry.     Many qf the things known by          groaned within himself along with the cries of the workers;
them we in our day might consider but recent discoveries.          he fled with unbelievable anguish to the peace and quiet of
They were learned in music and poetry, having libraries with       the palace. Still he went again and again to stare with
thousands of volumes. The best, of the instruction that this       glassy eyes. With a pained and weary heart he watched ;
country could afford was given to Moses. Blessed with extra-       and what made it so hard - these were his brethren, the
ordinary ability by God, he advanced very rapidly in his           children of his God.
learning.    Stephen many years later expressed it, "And              Slowly the mind of Moses began to evaluate the facts.
MoSes  was learned in all of the wisdom of the Egyptians, and      God had foretold this all, and the time for deliverance was
was mighty in words and in deeds."                                 approaching. The nation of Israel was great and mighty in
   The struggles that went on `in the heart of Moses all           spite of their cruel oppression. All they needed was a leader,
during these years we can only imagine. Were there not             and who could prevent them from returning to Canaan?
days and weeks on end when he was torn between the                 With the blessing of Almighty God upon them, no one could
immense learning of his.teachers  and the simple faith he had      keep them from going.
learned -from his parents ? Were there not times when `he             Again Moses' mind turned to consider his own  life. There
was sorely tempted to throw  himself into all of the sensual       was first his miraculous preservation from death but a few
pleasures that were waiting for him in that heathen court?         months after he was born, which spoke so evidently of the
Were there not moments when his pride whelmed up within            gracious providence of God. Then there were the early years
him urging him to grasp the opportunities afforded, to make        of concentrated instruction by his parents in all of the truth
for himself a name in the midst of the world ? Were there          of God's covenant. Finally there were the years of special-
not nights when he tossed upon his -bed  with heavy heart          ized preparation in the palace to qualify him as a leader of
because he had allowed himself to follow much farther in the       people and a judge among men. What did it all mean? Could
ways of the world than in his heart he knew was right? Yet         anything be more evident than that God was preparing him
through it all Moses' faith prevailed ; it had to, for he was a    to deliver His people from bondage? The very thought ex-
child of God. As he grew in years he began to realize more         cited the ambition of Moses as nothing before.had  ever done.
and more that all' of the learning of the Egyptians did not
                                                                      Still there were two things that marred Moses' plans for
have the fundamental depth and soundness of the simple faith
                                                                   the future. The first was for him the most painful. The
which he had learned from the lips of his parents. The
                                                                   children of Israel refused to recognize him as their brother.
Egyptians `,had much knowledge and many pleasures, `but in
                                                                   Perhaps they knew that he was a son of Amram  and Joche-
their hearts they had no peace. Living in the midst of the
                                                                   bed ; but that no longer made any difference. When he came
world, Moses &as not of the world. He could not think of
                                                                   into the fields with his royal, Egyptian dress, they-eyed him
himself as the son of Pharaoh's  daughter. All of the treasures
                                                                   with suspicion. While they labored in bondage, he was re-
of Egypt held no real attachment for him ; its pleasures he
                                                                   fined in labor ,and dress. While the taskmasters beat. them       .
could not enjoy. Within his own heart he always  remained
                                                                   into submission, Moses they treated with utmost respect.
the son of simple Amram  and Jochebed, a Hebrew and a
                                                                   `All of Moses' sympathetic looks and words would not.relieve
child of God.
                                                                   their suspicions. As long as this was true, they would never
   Slowly the years went by and Moses came to maturity.            receive him as their leader.
Still Moses took no permanent position in the government,
                                                                      And then there was the one other difficulty that remained :
nor did he engage himself in a marriage. Was this not con-
                                                                   God had not called him to be Israel's leader. All of his plans
trary to the efforts and urgings of his foster-mother and
                                                                   were built upon his own suppositions. Until the Lord spoke,
many others of the royal court? Surely for a man of Moses'
                                                                   he could only wait.
ability the opportunities were many. As he grew ~Moses
withdrew the more from public life. His heart was  with               So the years passed by as Moses planned and waited -
the Hebrews laboring in the field. These were his people           waited for a calling from God.

and he could not forget them. His prayer and longing was                                                               B . W .


8         2                                     THE:STANDARD   B E A R E R


                                                                        earthly sojourn more than ever. We must perfecily  hope
t  ` F R O M   H O L Y   WRIT'/ for the revelation of Jesus Christ in that day.
                                                                                Also the apostle Paul  ends his great book to the Romans,

                                                                        that masterful treatise on the Gospel as a power of God

                                                                        unto salvation, with the very significant words indicating the
               Exposition of I John 2:18-21
                                                                        nature of the "last times" from the -Old  Testament usage of

                                                                        the term. Writes he in Romans 16:25, 26 as follows, "Now

                                     b.                                 to him that is of power to stablish you according to my

                                                                        gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the

     Let us now call attention to two passages from the New             revelation of the mystery, which was kept in secret since the
Testament Scriptures which clearly indicate that the "last              world began, but now is made manifest, and by the Scriptures
times" refer to the New Dispensation from the vantage-point             of the prophets, according to the commandment of the ever-
of the Old Dispensation. To come to thjs conclusion we dis-             lasting God, made known to all nations for-the obedience of
cussed, in our former article, four passages from the Old               --faith. To the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ
                                                                        for ever.  Amen." It hardly needs any further elucidation to
Testament. Thus we saw the meaning of the "last times" in
the prophetic utterances of a dying Jacob to his sons, the              show what this passage teaches us concerning the contrast
                                                                        between the Old and New Dispensations of the grace of
visions of a stubborn Balazim  in the plains of Moab; the great
                                                                        God. The contrast is between what "was kept secret since
and comforting words of Moses, the law-giver, er& he dies,
                                                                        the world began" and "what  is now made manifest" in these
and of the Messia&c  prophecies of the great prophet Isaiah.
                                                                        last times.
Cf. Gen. 49:l;  Num.- 24:14; Deut. 4 :30 and Is. 2 :2. How-

ever, let us now also call attention to the language and                        What we have thus far learned from this survey we may,

thought-pattern of the apostles Peter and Paul on this s&-e.            for clarity's sake, state in the following:

     In I Peter 1 :20 we read the significant and instructive                   1. . That the "last times"      are throughout viewed in
text which is as follows : "Who verily was foreordained be-             Scripture, bo+ in the Old and New Testament, from the
fore the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these             viewpoint of the Old Testament Seers, Jacob, MoSes,  Balaam,
last times, for you."         Now this is a very instructive passage    Isaiah and m&y &hers.

in connection with the idea of the "last times" in Scripture.                   2. That the "last times" refers to the entire New Testa-
From this passage we learn the following: (1) That the                  ment Dispensation, the fulness of times, when all time is
believers are to walk in sanctification aS those who have been          made full, and wherein Christ is exalted on high Lord over
redeemed with the greatest price. They are not bought with              all.                                                       '
corru&ble things as silver and gold, but with the precious _
                                                                                3.    That in principle all things are now already made new,
blood, as of a Lamb without spot or blemish. (2) That this
                                                                        heavenly, and, therefore, this last time must be extended into
was as foreordained before the foundation of' the world. At
                                                                        the very appearance of Christ, his Parotiu.
that time it was not yet manifest. Fact is, that what was

foreordained before the foundation of the world was not                         4.    That all this must be remembered for a correct under-
manifested till the time of .Christ's  suffering and death. The         standing of the "last hour" as here employed by the apostle
prophets in the Old Testament knew that they were not                   John in his epistle.

speaking of the things which they themselves should see and                     Thus we `are in a position to proceed to also try to see
enjoy.    Thus we read in I Peter 1~11,  12, "Searching otit            the meaning, in Scripture, df the "last /ZOUY.)
what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was
                                                                           We are quite aware that the King James Version trans-
in them did signify, when it testified before hand the suffer-
                                                                        lates I John 2 :18, "Little children, it is the last time."  How-
ings of Christ and the glory to follow. Unto whom it was
                                                                        ever, the Greek text does not have the term "chronos"  or
revealed, AaE not unto the9ase2vess, but unto us they did               even "kairos" ("time" and "occasion") but it reads "Hors,"
minister the things, which are now reported u&o you by
                                                                        hozb~.  We believe that we do well that with the Holland
them that have  preached the gospel unto you with the
                                                                        translation tie retain the idea of hour (ure).
Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." It was then clear&

evident to the prophets that they were speaking of the things                   In our determining of the meaning of the term "hour"
                         /
which should be revealed in the "last times." Thus, as we               we must follow the approved method of'interpreting  Scrip-

have seen, Jacob, Balaam, Moses and Isaiah spoke. And thus              ture i_n the light of Scripture. We may not simply think of
it was with all of them. Abraham sees Christ's day "from                "hour" in the sense of our sixty minutes on our time-

afar" and he rejoices. (3) Hence, in the last timey,  accord-           piece of measuring time. That would lead us in the wrong
ing to Peter, it is made manifest what this riches of Christ            direction.        So easily then we wcmld  reason that the last
is, and the fountain in Jacob -is opened. And goti there must           "hour"          is the last period just before Christ returns
be a walking in "fear and trembling" during the time of our             from our standpoint in history, anno  1960, and not from


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     83


that of the viewpoint of the 0. T. prophets,, whose language          (the son of perdition excepted) and all who will believe

John employs. Hence, we will try to show the usage of `the            through their preaching and finally  ihe  entering into the

term "hour" in both the Gospel'of  John and his Epistle.              glory which Christ had with the Father ere the world was.

   Turning to the Gospel of John we see that the apostle                 It is the "hour" of the  gloiification  of the Son and of the

relates that Jesus spoke of both the "hour" and the "last             Father, the triune God, God-with-us, Immanuel.

day." Now it is very clear that the last day refers, in certain          Since this leads to the final manifestation of the "glory'j
passages, to the "day," that is, the very last point in history,      of Christ in his Parousia, this is the "last." And thus the
where it terminates, where the dead shall be raised, and              entire New Testament Dispensation is the last "hour" from
the world shall be judged, and all things made manifestly             the viewpoint that here the Son of God Himself is revealed
new, a new heaven and new earth where righteousness shall             in glory. Listen to -the key-note of the&-entire  epistle of
dwell. Thus we read &John  6:40, `And  this is the will of            Hebrews where this is so wonderfully stated: "God, who in
my Father, that everyone seeing the Son, and believing on             sundry times and in divers manners spake.in time past unto
him, should have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at         the fathers by the prophets, hath in these 
the last day." And, again, in verse 39 (idem). "And this is                                                               last days spoken
                                                                      unto us by his Son, whom  he hath appointed heir of all
the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he            things, by whom. also he made the worlds: who being the.
hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up           brightness of his glory, and thk express image of his person,
again at the last day."        From this it appears that "day"' is    and upholding all things by the- word of his power, when he
not the same as "hour." One could not very well say, "they            had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand
could not take  him for his day had riot  yet come."                  of the majesty on high," Heb. 1 :l-2.          _

   From this it seems to me there must be some peculiar                   Such is the specific content of the "hou;."           ;
significance to the term "hour" in the mouth of Jesus, and
consequently also here, when John speaks of the last "hour."              Here every thing is fulfilment, it is better: a better priest,
It is our understanding that the term "hour" ~ifi  the afore-         a better covenant, a better; promise, a better temple and
mentioned Gospel of John refers to the particular, God-ap-            better sacrifices.

pointed and appropriate time in which the glory of Christ                This should all be kept in mind when John speaks here
shall be revealed through death and through the resurrection          of the last hour. Thus is the very prologue to this epistle
and ascension, In this "hour" something will take place,, God         itself. We read in I John 1 :l, "That which was from the
will come to be revealed in "grace and glory," the glory of           beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with
the only-begotten Son. Here the Mystery hid from the ages             our eyes, which we have looked upon, and. our hands have
will be revealed, uncovered. Great is the mystery of' god-            handled of the Word of life . . ."
liness. God is revealed in the flesh, seen of angels, preached
                                                                         Yes, the "little children" know this one who is from
in the world, beliejed  by men, and taken up into glory !
                                                                      the beginning. They know the love of the Father in him, and
   Such is the Izoztr!
                 . . ,    .                                           have in h&n the forgiveness of their sins, and with this word.
   When Mary; the mother of Jesus, who had kept so many               of life in them they are strbng.and  overconie  the Evil. One.

things in her heart; could not restrain herself any longer, at           But they must, and that emphatically so, keep in mind
the wedding-feast of Cana  of Galilee, and would have Jesus
                                                                      the nature of this last hour. This is alsQ the time when
publicly demonstrate himself, he rebukes her with the words,
"Woman, what is there between me and thee ; mine `hour' is            Antichist  shall come. They mu& truly know their time and
                                                                      conduct themselves accordingly.
not yet come." John 2 :4. And, speaking with the woman,
the Samaritan, at the well of Jacob Jesus speaks to her of a             When they `see men and women leaving the fellowship
time, that shall come and now is, which he calls the "ho&." .         of the sons of God in t&s world they must not stand ap-
In this time inen will not worship either in the hill of              palled ; they must not stand with hearts filled with. dismay.
Samaria,  in the Samaritan temple, nor in the earthly Jeru-           This too must come. It must come exactly in this ."last
salem, the Jewish temple, but the true worshippers shall serve        hour." It could not ,come in any other. For only, when and
the Lord in Spirit and in truth. And ag&n  in John 6:25,              if, the Son of God is come into the world can the Antichrist
"Verily, verily, I stiy unto you, the `hour' is coming and now        come. And this too is the time of many antichrists rising up
is. when the dead shall hear  the voice of the Son of God."           in the midst of the church, and going forth from her because
And does Jesus not pray the great high-priestly prayer in             they must become manifest as not being of the church.

John 17:1, where we read, "These words spake Jesus and                    Little children, it is the last "hour."
lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the `hour' is
come ; glorify thy Son, that thy Son may also glorify thee"?             Know your times and be not dismayed, but stand in the
It is the hour of the power of the Son of God, through                hour of the appearance of Christ without being ashamed nor
death, resurrection and ascension. And this ho& is the                being filled with dread and consternation.
"hour" of the glorification of the Son in keeping the disciples                                                                      G.L.

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


                                                                                         We follow the customs. and habits of our age. We live

                                                                                   in the type of homes built in our age with the labor-saving(-?)

                                                                                   devices of our age.    We ride .in or drive the modern auto-

                                                                                   mobile with its automatic transmission, its tremendous horse-
                                     . .                                           power engines. We,.  communicate with one another with
                     Childferi`bf  Our  A               g                e          2
                                                                                   amazing instruments invented by brilliant minds and put
        : `-.' -(                                 .`- : i          :.              together by clever and nimble fingers. We sing the songs
      We are.                               r        : s
                                                                                   composed in our day. We eat the foods prepared in our

                                                                                   day with an abundance of. ingredients, preserved out of
      We-  are children of Ithe  age in which  we  live.     -~
                                                                                   season by deep-freeze methods that leave so much of the
      And then we do not simply mean.thatwe are children                           fresh taste in them. We speed from'corner  of globe to corner
who live in. this particular- age. That is such an obvious fact                    of globe at breath-taking speeds. We have done away, to a
that there is no need to write about it.' Nor can we do `any-                      great extent, the, chore of chopping wood, of carrying out
thing about that. In His fear we simply stay in that age.                          the ashes, of getting up in a cold house and struggling with
The only way to get out would be suicide, and that is not                          a reluctant furnace. With a flip of the wrist.we  flood a room
in His fear. No, we are here to stay in this age or era .as                        with light and plunge it back again .into'.darkness.  And SO
long as it pleases God to keep us here. Whether the times                          we could continue. We do. live differently than any age. be-
ire evil or good ; whether there is war or peace ; -whether  we                    fore us ; and even the most aged amongst us enter with 
lie on a bed of` anguish and pain or are in full strength of                                                                                     US
                                                                                   into these experiences. Who could deny it?
life and living.is  sweet; whether we have little or whether
                                                                                         But that is not the point. we wish to make. As we began
we have much ; here we are living in the twentieth century,
                                                                                   to say, We commit the sins of our age. We are swept along
in these significant sixties. The world makes much of it that
                                                                                   on a tide of wickedness and rebellion against God. Our flesh
we live in a critical time. It is called the space age, the
                                                                                   commits the same sins that the world commits all around 
atomic age, and who knows what the next phrase will be                                                                                          US.
                                                                                   We are in that respect also children of our age. Ours is. not
that is applied to the days in which we live ? But live in this
                                                                                   the day of literal and open idolatry such as Israel practiced it
age, we surely do.
                                                                                   even in the promised land. But our life is indeed a life of
      To be called children in this age is even to be questioned.                  wickedness before God. .And  we all are not only in that

      Children are quite liable to pass these lines up and not                     world. We live the life of sin of that world according to our
to read them. It is those who have left their childhood be-                        old man of sin, who is with us till the day of our death. Make
hind who will read these lines. And today there is more than                       no mistake about that. He who is wise will not deny this
one generation living in this age. There are the children, the                     but take heed and give it some very serious thought. He
minors who have not come to years of discretion. There are                         who would walk in His fear will seek` God's Word as a
the parents who, instead of being classed as children, now                         lamp for his feet and a light upon his path in the'consci&s-
.have  children of their own. And there are the grandparents                       ness that he does walk through such a dreadfully wicked
and even here and there great-grandparents. Even then we                           world and according to his flesh b part of it.

insist that all these from the gray-haired great-grandparent                             We are willing to concede quite readily that our flesh is

down to the babe that has taken its first breath of life are                       even as the flesh of this world. With David we testify that

children of our age.                                                          -we are also conceived and.born  in sin, and we make no boast

                                                                                   about it that in this respect we, are better than the world.
      And we mean that all these are children who have been
                                                                                   But we ought to go one step further, if we are to speak the
produced by the age in which we live. The extremities
                                                                                   truth and present the picture correctly.. Our flesh is not
of this human race as it is now found on this earth are
                                                                                   simply like the flesh of the world, `our .flesh is part of that
children of this age to a lesser degree than those in the
                                                                                   world. The' flesh of the -Philippian  jailor  was. flesh of the
role of parent and of youngmanhood and youngwomanhood.
                                                                                   world and not simply like that of the world. The flesh of
Yet all from great-grandparent down to the wee infant have
                                                                                   Ruth the Moabitess was not simply like the flesh; of the
been produced by this age.
                                                                                   world, it was flesh of the world. But the flesh of thqse  .who
      The aged among us are greatly children. of the age in                        are born in the covenant sphere is just as much flesh of the
which they spent their lives from childhood through the                            world as those who are born outside that covenant sphere.
prime of their lives. Yet even while they are amongst us                           He is not a Jew tbat is one outwardly, Paul says, but he that
today, they come under the influence of this particular age                        is one inwardly. Outwardly he is Gentile, he is part of this
and are different because of it, be it reluctantly and to a lesser'                world of sinful flesh. What is born from here below is always
degree. `And the infant in arms today will be more the                             part of this world. It is not the earthly father and mother,
product of the years to come than these present days. But                          be they of pure Jewish blood, that brings forth the Church.
he too is for the time being a child of our age.                                   They .only  bring, forth the, world.. AUnd  that we are born in

      And that means that we commit the sins of our age.                           the covenant sphere does not mean yet that we .are- covenant


                                             T H E   S.TANDARD  B E A R E R                                                                            85


children. All those bdrn in the covenarit  sphere as well as                John says, "Love not the world,.neither tl% things in the

those born outside of that covenant cphere,  according to                world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father i$

their flesh are not the church but the ,world. -In the physical          not in him. For all that is in the world, the l&t of the flesh,

sense of the -word we are not- &y in the world btit  also of             the lust of the eye and the pride of life, is not of tlie Father

ihe world; And. that we ai-e of the world is not ..only :-a              but is of the world," I Johr@ 9.5,...-16. The world is wicked,

physical distinction but `also a spiritual orie..`:`:Gy  flesh -is as    but John makes a point of ii that there are wicked things also

much a part of this world as the flesh of Cain, .Nimi-od,                in the world. Sin does not consist in thipgs.  But there surely

Pharaoh, Pilate and Nero. Thel;efore  it is to .be understood            are sinful things, things that can never be used without sin-

that with my flesh I commit the.  same sins that the world               ning against God. The sin is always in the heart of man.

commits. David's mugder  was not different from Cain's.                  But there are things which the world iti- its lust of the flesh,

There is no such thing as a Christian mtirder.  David's                  its lust of the eyes, and its pride of life creates for sinful

murder and-my hatred in my heart are sins of the. world as               practices .and which the heart of man cannot use without

well as .Herod's  and Nero's murder.                                     sinning against God. And the worldly show is one of them.

                                                                         There is entertainment designed, given and sponsored by the
  : For that reason we find SO much of the'-world's sin in' our
                                                                         world into which it always-pours its own spiritually corrupt
own daily lives. We find that we are children of our age also
                                                                         philosophy and standafds.       These THINGS are .sin.  -&nd a
in a spiritual sense. A few examples of this worldliness in
                                                                         child of God cannot seek and enjoy them without sintiing.
our lives is not out of place.. There was a time in a different
                                                                            Let us not take the words of the world, t.o which they
age when the godless entertainment of the world went under
                                                                         themselves give conterit,  and which they choose for their own
the namk of st%ows.  How it was emphasized and stressed that
                                                                         lustful `Ijurposes  to designate their cai-nal  pleasures, and then
to go to shows was of the devil. And we did not go. `l?hen
                                                                         try to deceive ourselves that the entertainment- is harmless'
along comes radio aid ielevisidri  with their spiritually corrupt
                                                                         and that the word they choose `for it after  ail does not have
programs which have nothing of the fear of the .Lord in them.
                                                                         an evil content to it. The shows of the age in which we live:
And these progrims  true to style and correctly expressing
                                                                         are not less corrupt  than the shows wk condemned in another
their ethical character are also called shows. Yet children of
                                                                         age gbne by. And seeking the shows of the world  today,
our age that we are, h`ow frequently do we not hear church
                                                                         whether that be on the screen in the theatre, on the screen ip
members, confessing members in the church of Jesus Christ,
                                                                         the drive-in-theatre,  on the television scr.Gen  or the radio, is
and their children asking each other whether last night they'
                                                                         sin and nothing.but sin. The fear of the, Lord will-have:tioth--
saw this show on TV or-heard- that show on the- radio ?
                                                                         ing to do with any of it.
Where are we going? What has happened to us? God have

mercy upon us as we reveal ourselves to be children of our                  Paul writes, "What fellowship hath rightedusness.  with

age, and when our flesh as part of this world seeks the enter-           unrighteousness ? and what communion hat-h light with dark-

tainment of `the world!                                                  ness ,? And w&t concord' hath Christ with Belial, `or wh2t

                                                                         part-he  that ,beliet<th  with an i&idel  ? And what ag@em&
   0, but you say, That is only a word. There is nothi&
                                                                         hat&,  the temple of God with idols? for ye ar" thhq'@tiple  .:df'
ethical in a-word. We have borrowed a. word that the un-
                                                                         the `living God."     And he concludes,  by`  sayiiig,  "Coti&`%%
believer uses for his entertainment, but what we look at and                                                                        . . I. .
                                                                         from among them, and be ye separate saith the:-Lord,  and.
what we hear is not really a show in that evil sense in which                                                                ;
                                                                         touch not `the unclean thing: and- I will receive  you." II
it was formerly used.                                                                                                                                   I
                                                                         Corinthians 6 :14-17.
   Whom are you trying to deceive ?
                                                                            We have &ore  td say in this respect and m&e  exahples
   Who calls them by that ntime  ? 1s it not the same world              to give to show that we are children of the age in which we
whose entertainment we might not seek before because our                 live, but this will- have to wait until later. Consider all this,
parents and grandparents, who at that time were children of              in His fear.
another age, saw things correctly ? Has that wicked world                                                                           J;A.ti:.
improved and is that why .&heir shows today are quite all

right for the believer to seek ? Are the days of .the  antichrist

not coming now because that world is getting spiritually
                                                                                         Now, therefore, who will lead us on                    .`.
better and better ? Their programs of murder, rape, adultery,
                                                                                           Sin's strongholds to possess ?          :_ .
theft, rebellion against authorities, idolatry and blasphemy ;
                                                                                         No longer cast us off, 0 God,
the cursing and swearing they utter so profusely ; the mock-
                                                                                ._      `. But give our hosts success. _
ery of things. spiritual ; their lewd jokes and indecent dress                                                : _
speak quite a different testimony.'                )     -`.
                                                                                      Give Thou Thy help against the foe,                  -
   How much a child of this age are you ?                                                  For help of man is vain ;

   How much do you intend to try to defend the wor!d                                     Through God we shall do valiantly,

and its entertainment?                                                                     The victory He shall gain.


8         6                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAR.E:R
                                                      -.

                                                                      Thomas Aquinas, and- Duns Scotus.  There was a great

        Cotitending For The Faith                                     revival of learning and culture. And a third characteristic
                                                                      of this periqd  was a widespread and variously manifksted

                                                                      movement of Mysticism, the inner life of the Church, protest-

         The Church and &e Saqmxents                                  ing against the formalism;the corruption and the tyranny of
                                                                      the external Church. '

         THE TIME'OF THE REFORMATION                                     We cannot, of course, treat at length and in details the

                                                                      many mystics in the period before. and during the time of the
               `VIEWS ON THE CHURCH                                   Reformation. S&h a discussion could become too long and

                                                                      tedious. Some' of the mystics, prior to the Reformation,
                  FORMAL PRINCIPLE
                                                                      were pantheistic in their conceptions. Of these pantheistic

                            ( c o n t i n u e d )                     mystics, the most distinguished and influential is said to have
                                                                      been a Henry Eckart. His teachings were condemned by the

     It can hardly be denied that the Mysticism of the                pope, although the pope's decision was not announced until

Middle Ages and at the time of the R&formation was a                  after his death. Eckart maintained that God is the only being;

reaction which  set in because of certain characteristics which       that the, universe- is the self-manifestation of God; that the

marked this period. There was,  first of all, the great develop-      highest destiny of man is to come to the consciqusness  of his

ment of the Latin or Western Chtirch  and of the Roman                identity with God. Another distinguished and influential

hierardhy. This'age  was characterized by the mighty Roman            mystic oi the same class was a.certain  John Ruysbroeck, al-

Church, its worship and formulated doctrines, as well as all          though there are those who question -his pantheistic tenden-

its superstitions, corruptions and power ; the .power of the          cies, tiho doubt whether he was pantheistic in his conceptions.

Roman pontiff, as hd claimed to be tiot only the spiritual head          The reaction which set in-in  .$ie  form of Mysticism as at
and leader of the Churdh  in the midst of the world and also          the time of the Reforniation  is surely understandable. A state-
thk temporal ruler of .the  earth, and: ai he claimed to rule         ment from Hddge is interesting.in  this connection. He writes
over Church and State, to have. the authority to enthrone             as follows in his Systematic Theology, Vol. I, page 80, and
and dethrone kings and monarchs was simfily  fantastic.- The          we quote : "Such a great and general movement of the public
Church, and I speak of the clergy, claime&  the right to              mind as bccurred  during the sixteenth century, when the old
dominate .men's hearts  and minds, to dictate what e&y man            foundations of doctrine and order in the Church were over-
was permitted to teach and believe, simply exercised a                turned, could hardly fa:l to be attended' by irregularities
strangle hold,upon  the souls and bodies of men. And as this          and extravagancies in the inward and outward life of the
Church grew- in pdwer and in authority it also increased in           people. There are two principles advanced, both Scriptural
sin.and  corruption.- Secondly, especially toward the close of        and both of the last importance, .which  `are specially liable to
the' Middle Ages  (the Middles  Ages embrace the period from          abuse in times of popular excitement.
approximately the sixth century to the Reformation) we may
                                                                         The first.is, the right of private judgment. This, as under-
speak,  o.{-Jhe  . development of' learning. Intellectual act&y
                                                                      stood by the Reformers, is the right of every man to decide
was awake&d  in ,the minds of many. This was  manifested
                                                                      what a revelation made by God.  to him, requires him to be'
in the.multiplication.  of the seats of leai-ning, iri the number
                                                                      lieve. It was a protest against the authority assumed by the'
of teachers, and also- in the great  multitudes of students by
                                                                      Church (i.e. the .Bishops),  of deciding for the people -what
which these schools were attended. An interest was  taken by
                                                                      they were to believe. It was very natural t`hat  the fanatical,
all the  classes of people iri various subjects of learned discus-
                                                                      in rejecting the authority of the Church, should reject all
sion. This reviyal  of learning and culture was inseparably
                                                                      external authority in matters of religion1 They understood
connected &tli that. great' movement which is known in
                                                                      by the right of private judgment, the right of every man to
history as the Crusades, a movement which covered ap-
                                                                      determine what  he shduld  believe from the operations of hi;
proximately two hundred years. We must remember that
                                                                      own mind and from his own inward experience, independent-
the people of. the Eastern Empire and of the eastern countries
                                                                      ly of the Scriptures. But as it is palpably absurd to expect,
were far more civilized and advanced in learning-than the
                                                                      on such a subject as religion, a certainty either satisfactory
people of the Western empire, Western. Europe. Contact
                                                                      to our selves or authoritative for others, from our own reason
with the Orient, the Far East, through the Crusades, surely
                                                                      or feelings, it was inevitable that these subiective  convictions
stimulated the- mental life of the people in the various coun-
                                                                      Should be referred to a supernatural source. Private revela-
tries of Western Europe. Hence, from the twelfth century
                                                                      tions, tin inward light, tb.e testimony of the Spirit, came to be
on the medieval darkness of Western Europe was gradually
                                                                      exalted over the authority of the Bible.
being dispelled. Many universities sprang tip in Italy, Ger-

many, France, and England. These universities `could boast               Secondly, the Reformers taught that religion is a matter

of teachers -of `great learning and mental acumen, such .as           of the heart, that a man's a&ept&ce  with God does not

Anselm,  Abelard,  Peter the Lombard,' Albertus  Magnus,              depend on his membership in any external society, on obe-


                                             THE,ST.ANDAX'D  %EARER                                                                 57


  dience  to its officers, and dn sedulous observance of its rites     to be understood or explained, a state in which all thought,

  and ordinances; but on the regeneration of his he&t,  and his        all activity was suspended, .a state of perfect quietude. in

  personal faith in the Son of God, manifesting itself -in a holy      which the s&l is lost in Gbd. The importance of the Scrip-

  life.. This was a protest against the fundamental principle of       tures, of prayer and of the sacraments, .%nd of the truth con-

  Romanism,  that all within the external organization which           cerning Christ was not denied ; but all these were regarded

  Romanists call the. Church, are saved, and all out of it are         as belonging &the lower stag&  of &e divine life. All con-

  lost. It is not a matter of `surprise that evil nien should wrest    scious self-activity must be suspended in order to attain unto

  this principle, as they do all other. truths, to their own  de-      this perfect rest in God:

  struction.    Because religion does not consist in externals,           .The  most permanent and best organized representatives

  -many rushed to the conclusion that exterpals - the Church,          of the principles of Mysticism which appeared in the Church

  its ordinances, its officers, its worship -were of no account.       are undoubtedly the Quakers or Friends. They have now

  These principles were soon applied beysnd  the sphere of             existed as an organized society `nearly two hundred and fifty

  religion. Those who regarded themselves as the organs of             years, and number in Europe and America several hundred

  God, emancipated from the authority of the Bible and exalted         thousands.

  ,abbve  the -Church, came- to claim- e-xemptidn from the author-        They took their origin and name ,from  George. Fox who

  ,ity of the `State. To this outbreak the grievous and long-          was born in England in 1624. He received only  the rudiments

  continued oppression` of the peasantry greatly contributed,          of an English education and was by trade a shoemaker. He

  so that this spirit of fanaticism and revolt rapidly spread over     felt himself called by God, by direct revelat.ion  and inspira-

 all Germtiny,  atid  into. Switzerland and Holland." - end of         tion, to denounce the existing Church, its organization and

  quote from Hodge. In other words, stating this briefly as            officers, and to proclaim a new and spiritual dispensation.

  has been done in the past, when the people were delivered            This dispensation was designed as a restoration of the,

  dram the shackles of Roman Catholicism, it also gave men             apostolic age, when the Church was guided and extended by

  the opportunity to reveal themselves ; and this also means           the Spirit, without the interventions of the written Word, or,

  that also all the evil that is ever present in the human heart       as Fox and his followers maintained, of a special order of

  was now given the opportunity tq reveal itself. That Prot-           ministers, but every man and every  woman spake  as the

  estaniism  broke up into so many fragments, so many different        S$rit  gave them utterance. They were called Quakers either

  "Protestant" churches, is not because the Word of God is             because they themselves trembled when under the influenc?

 -not  sufficiently clear in' its setting forth of the truth,. but     of the Spirit, or because they were in the habit of calling on

only because the human heart resents and rejects the clear             those whom they addressed to quake in fear of the judgment

  testimony of the Word of God.                                        of God. This designation, however, has long since' ceased to

     It is undoubtedly true that few words have been used in           be appropriate, as they are characteristically quiet in their

  such a vague, indefinite sense as Mysticism. A mystic was            worship, and gentle toward those who are without. They

  one who was considered to have been initiated into the               call themselves Friends because they are opposed to violence,

  knowledge of the Greek mysteries, one to whom secret things          contention, and especially to war. At first, however, they

  had been revealed. Hence, a tiystic was.one  who claimed             were~  chargeable with many irregularities, which, in connec-

  to know things hidden from other men, whether this knowl-            tion with their refusing to pay tithes, take oaths, and to per-
  edge be attained by immediate intuition or by inward revela-         form military service, gave pretext to frequent and long con-
  tion. And So a mystic was `one who claimed to be under the           tinued persecutions. The Lord willing, we will continue with
  immediate guidance of God or of His Spirit. Mysticism as-            this in our following article.
  signs more importance to the feelings than to the intellect.                                                                  XV.

  We may say that the fundamental process of all. Mysticism is

  to give precedence to the emotional rather than to the in-

  tellectual element of the human mind. This is considered                     0 God, from Thee the waters fled,
  to be the common ground of all Mysticism.                                    The depths were moved with mighty dread,
     A form of Mysticism which was prevalent during this                       The swefiing  clouds their torrents poured,
  time in the history of the Church in Spain and in Italy was                  And o'er the earth the tempest roared ;
  known as Quietism. The followers of this movement were                       `Mid lightning's flash %nd  thunder's sound
  not pantheistic in their conception, did not believe' that the               Great trembling shook the solid gl;ound.
  human soul was finally absorbed into the substance of God.

  They did believe that the end to be attained was union with                  Thy way was in the sea, 0 God,

  God. By this they did not ilean  what is commonly under-                     Through mighty waters, deep and broad ;

  stood by the Church of God. We must maintain, of course,                    -None understood but God alone, _

_ that the end and purpose of all true religipn  is union, fellow-             To man Thy footsteps were unknown ;

  ship with the alone and ever blessed God. But this union                     But safe Thy people Thou didst keep,
  with  God they regarded as a matter of feeling, not something                Almighty Shepherd of Thy sheep.

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


                                                                     formed doctrine "is nothing more than interpolated Stoicism,
II The Voice of Our Fathers II Manicheism, Libertinism, Turcism." These four "isms," the
                                                                     first of which is a Graeco-Roman philosophy that was current

                                                                     in the apostles' time, the skcond  a type of Gnosticism which

                 The Canons of Dordrecht                             made its appearance in the ancient period of church history,
                                                                     the third an immoral counterfeit of Christian liberty which

                                                                     appeared in the Geneva of Calvin's time, and the fourth
                            PART  Two-                               rkferring to the Turkish Mohammedan doctrine -these four

                                                                     agree in two respects : they are all fatalistic in their view,
                   EXPOSITION  OF THE CANONS
                                                                     and they all are alike opposed to all true morality. By hter-

                                                                     poluted  is meant that the Reformed doctrine is merely the
                          CQNCLUSIOti
                                                                     doctrine of Stoicism, etc., in a modified form, in .a new

                                                                     garb. From the above it is plain that the two following
      Let us briefly take notice of the various calumnies against
                                                                     charges belong with this one: 1) "that it renders men
the Reformed doctrine of predestination that are mentioned
                                                                     carnally secure, since they are persuaded by it that nothing
in this Conclusion. It is not our p&pose in .this connection
                                                                     can hinder the salvation of the elect, let them live as they
to explain all these f&e charges in detail and to refute them.
                                                                     please ; and therefore, that they may safely perpetrate every
This has been done in connection with the &nons  them-
                                                                     species of the most atrocious crimes"; and, 2) "that, if the
selves. In fact, in many cases our Canorts literally face these
                                                                     reprobate should even perform truly all the `works of the
same charges and refute them. Here, therefore, we shall
                                                                     saints, their obedience would not in the least contribute to
simply cite these errors, and point out how and where our
                                                                     their salvation." To mention these charges is to expose their
fathers, in the body of the Ca4nons,  dealt with them.
                                                                     evil and slanderous nature. Anyone who knows the Re-
      The first two charges are closely related : in fact, we may    formed truth as set forth in- our Canons knows that there is
say that they constitute one charge from two different points        no slightest resemblance between our Reformed doctrine of
of view. They are: 1) That the doctrine of the Reformed              predestination and these calumnies. And the various $rticles
churches concerning ~predestination,  and the points annexed         of our Canons which we have already mentioned above make
to it, by its own genius and necessary tendency, leads off           it abundantly clear that this is true.
(leads away) the minds of men from all piety and religion.
                                                                        The same is true of the next evil charge: "that the same
2). That it is an opiate administered by the flesh and the
                                                                     doctrine teaches, that God, by a meie  arbitrary act of his will,
devil, and the stronghold of Satan, where he lies in wait
                                                                     without the least respect or view to any sin, has predestinated
for all ; and from which he wounds multitudes and mortally
                                                                     the greatest part of the wol-ld  to eternal damnation ; and, has
strikes through many with the darts both of despair and
                                                                     created them for this very purpose; that in the same. manner
security. This second statement, by the way, is far from
                                                                     in which the election is the fountain and the cause of faith
literal. It is the expression which has occurred before, "a
                                                                     and good works, reprobation is the cause of unbelief and
cushion, OI? couch, for the flesh," in the Dutch, "een oorkus-
                                                                     im@iety."    There are Reformed people today who are afraid
sen VOOY  hqt 7Aeq.s."    It may readily be seen  &at  these two
                                                                     of the true Reformed view of reprobation and who are afraid
charges really aim at presenting the Reformed doctrine as
                                                                     of this calumny that was brought already against our fathers'
an &~~~o~al  doctrine, contrary to godliness and religion, and
                                                                     doctrine. And. therefore they speak ?f a' "modified" doctrine
for that reason also a wicked doctrine practically speaking,
                                                                     of predestination, which really makes reprobation, and, with
because it leads to despair and carnal security, and is there-
                                                                     it necessarily also election, conditional. They maintain that
fore nothing less than a cunning device of the devil to ensnare
                                                                     a sovereign election and reprobation is arbitrary. This is
God's people. Over against these and like charges the Canons
                                                                     nothing new, of course. And we must remember that this
testify as .far as the doctrine of predestination itself is con-
                                                                     calumny of the Arminians will never be registered against
cerned in the First Head of Doctrine, Articles 9, 12, 13, and
                                                                     any view that denies the sovereignty of predestination. Our
in the Rejection of Errors, Articles 5 and 7. -As  far as the
                                                                     fathers did not face this charge and answer it by teaching
other heads of doctrine ("the points annexed tci it") are con-
                                                                     that reprobation was in some way became  of sin: Nor did
cerned, we have seen repeatedly how our fathers faced this
                                                                     they place sin outside of the sovereign counsel of the Most
objection.    We may mention especially III and IV, A,
                                                                     High. Nor, by any means, did they make reprobation the
Articles 11, 12, 16, 17, and V, A, Articles 4, 5, 9, 10,
                                                                     fountain and cause of sin just as election is the fountain and
11, 12, 13, and V, B, 6.
                                                                     c&se of every saving good. They did rilaintain  that the
      The next slander concerns .God  Himself : "that it makes       decree of reprobation is out  of God's sovereign, most just,
God the author of sin, unjust, tyrannical, hypocritical." Over       irreprehensible and unchangeable good pleasure. And they
against this charge we would mention especially Capzons  I,          did maintain, as infralapsarians, that God decreed to leave
A, 15, 16, and 18, and III.and  IV, 8 and 9.                         the reprobate in the common misery into which they have

      .The "Conclusion" next cites  the calumny that the Re-         wilfully plunged themselves. And over against this charge of


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   s9


arbitrariness they teach very plainly that when God decrees          place, they felt that no occ&ion  should be given for a con:

to cause the reprobate to be condemned and to perish for-            demnation of sound doctrine through association with some

ever, He does this in the w&y of' their own  sin and unbelief.       of these improper expressions. In the second place, it was

This is very plainly taught in Article 15 of the First Head          maintained that the Holy Spirit Himself- uses some such

of Doctrine.      And again, both this charge of arbitrariness       strong ex&-essions  in the Scriptures. And, in the third

and this fal&  presentation of the relation between reprobation      place, it was felt that.matiy  of these expressions, if viewed

and the sins of the reprobate are clearly contradicted in the        charitably, could be very well explained. Hence, the Synod

further treatment by Article 16: "But this doctrine is justly        makes reference to this matter in a different way, and em-

terrible to those, who, regardless oi God and of the Savior          phasizes: 1) That the Reformed faith is not to be judged

Jesus Christ, have wholly given themselves up to the cares           from the calumnies above cited. 2) That it is not even to be

of the'world,  and the pleasures of the flesh, so long as they       judged from the private expressions of a few teachers -

are not seriously converted to God."                                 whether ancient or modern - especially since these expres-

    And finally, the very wicked-because of its sentimental          sions are often dishonestly quoted (something which is very
appeal-charge is mentioned: "that many children of the               simply done through the niere  device of quoting out of con-
faithful are torn,. guiltless, from their mothers' breasts, and      text), or are corrupted and twisted to mean. something quite
tyrannically plunged into hell ; so that neither baptism,  nor       foreign to their intention. 3) But that if any wishes to know
the prayers of the Church at their baptism can at all profit         and to judge properly, the doctrine of the Reformed churches,
by them."       We may cite over against this calumny, first of      the only fair way to do so is from the public and officially
all, the often-discussed Article 17 of the First Head: "Since        adopted dodtrinal  expressions of those churches, namely, from
we are to judge of the will of God from his Word,. which             their confessions, including the Ca.nons  themselves.

testifies that the children of believers are holy, not by nature,       The next section contains a warning to the calumniators.
but in virtue of the covenant of grace, in which they, together      The Synod charges thein with a heavy responsibility indeed,
with the parents, are comprehended, godly parents have no            and evinces a different spirit than that of many compro-
reason to doubt of the election arid salvation of their children,    misers of today, who glibly speak of ecumenicity. The Synod
whom it pleaseth  God to call out of this life in their infancy."    reminds these evil opponents of the deeply serious fact that
Does this careful and quiet statement of the truth sound at          they must one day face the Judge of heaven and earth, the
all like the vicious calumny of the Arminians ? And besides,         .God of His church. And it charges them with a three-fold sin.
who can bring such a charge as this without denying the              In the first place, they are guilty of bearing false witness
age-old doctrine of original guilt? For note that these chil-        against the confessions not only of the Dutch church, but of
dren are pictured as "guiltless" in this accusation. Hence,          many churches which in that day held the same faith. In
we may also mention CaTz.ons  III, IV, A, l-3 in answer to           the second place, they are guilty by their opposition to the
this charge.                                                         truth and their calculated slander of the truth of distressing

    When one takes the time to consider these charges and            the consciences of those who are weak in the faith. And, in
to observe that it is indeed true that the Reformed churches         the third place, they are guilty of trying to .put the truly
neither "acknowledge, but even detest with their whole soul"         faithful in an `evil light, trying to present them as false
all of them, then one can also understand how it is possible         teachers and heretics, and of thus attempting to place them
that our fathers charged their opponents with violating "all         under suspicion.

truth, equity, and charity."     The Arminians slandered the            The last section of this "Conclusion" is an exhortation
truth ; they presented a grossly unfair picture of ihe Re-           to the brethren to use this true doctrine aright.  We need not
formed doctrine in their charges, and thus violated all equity ;     enlarge on this because the Canons themselves also reflect on
.aild they, who attempted to sound so lovely and sentimental,        this matter more than once. The general thrust of this ad-
violated all genuine charity in so doing, because charity seeks      monition is that the truth must be handled piously and
truth.                                                               religiously. This. includes the following elements : 1) Both

    The next section of- the "Conclusion" is an earnest ex-          in teaching and in preaching this truth must be used to the
                                                                     glory of God, unto holiness of life, and unto the consolation of
hortation to the faithful, that is, to "as many as piously call
upon the name of our Savior Jesus Christ," given "in the             afflicted souls. 2) The standard of such  proper use of this
name of the Lord" to judge the doctrine of the Reformed              doctrine is the Scripture ; and the Scripture must control not
church&  from the confessions and from the Canons.. There            only our views, but also our language. 3) We-  must beware
is a bit of history connected with this section. Originally,         that we observe the proper limits of Holy Scripture, and
this "Conclusion" was to contain only a rejection of the             thus abstain from exce:sive  language in the exposition of
.Arminians' calumnies against the truth. Later, however, it          the Word of God, lest we furnish the opponents with a just
was proposed that some of the strong expressions of certain          pretext for attacking and vilifying the doctrine of the Re-
Reformed teachers also be included and condemned. The                formed churches. Suffice it to say that our fathers did not

Synod refused to do this for three reasons. In the first                                 (Continued on       95)
                                                                                                        page 

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


                                                                       Form of Subscription of Dort, 1618-19. Heretics cannot
11  D E C E N C Y - a n d   O'RDER 11 consistently sign this Form."
                                                                          Someone might object that this is "word-quibbling." The

                                                                       same objector, however, will also have to admit that the

              The Formula of Subscription                              careless use of or intentional misuse of a single word can
                                                                       open the way for heretics of every hue to spoil the church

                                                                       through vicious prevarication of the truth. This all reminds
                       Article 53, D.K.O.
                                                                       us of the theologian who insisted that the simple statement,

      In their commentary on the Church Order, Monsma and              "The Bible is the Word of God," must be altered to read,
Van Dellen  sound a warning against certain serious dangers            "The Word `of God is in the Bible." At first glance the
in revising or changing established forms of the churches,             difference in the two statements appears to be negligible.
such. as our Formula of Subscription which every office                Both contain the same words. The only difference is that
bearer is required to sign. They -also  give an illustration in        the order of the subject and the predicate nominative is re-
which they show what may be the result of such changes.                versed and the latter statement has the addition of the word
On page 226 of their book we find the following quotation:             "in." Close analysis, however,' shows that one can subscribe
                                                                       to the latter statement and literally reject ninety-nine percent
      "In times of laxity and doctrinal indifference or in days        of the Bible's content as being anything but the Word of
when under-currents of error seem to be present, the                   God. Any heretic could readily subscribe to it but the former
churches should be very careful not to revise their Form of            statement is exact and can only mean that the complete and
Subscription to their own hurt. A classic example of the               entire Scripture is `of Divine origin.
need of vigilance on this score is the change which was in-
                                                                          Any change, therefore, in our forms of subscription must
troduced into the Form of Subscription by the churches of
                                                                       certainly be free from any dubiousness so that those who are
Holland in 1816. A,slight  change was introduced into the old
                                                                       asked to sign them understand clearly the pledge which they
form of subscription drafted by the. great Synod of Dort
                                                                       make before God.
(1618-19). Accor.ding  to the old form prospective ministers                                                               -
by signing declared that they believed that the Three Forms               In his "Church Right," the Rev. G. M. Ophoff raises an

of Unity agreed altogether with the Word of God. (Our                  interesting question in connection with the-matter of signing

Form reads : we .heartily  believe and are persuaded that all          the Formula of Subscription. He suggests the possibility that

the articles and points of doctrine contained in the Confes-           the signing of this `form, with its promises and declarations,

sions . . . do fully agree with the Word of.God.  - G.v.d.B.)          is incompatible with the exercise of the individual's free-

According to the new reading of 1816, these prospective min-           dom of conscience. Consider that what the subscriber prom-

isters declared that they accepted-the doctrines contained in          ises is that he will do as the Formula requires under a

the Three Forms of Unity, which agreed with the holy Word              severe penalty, namely, immediate suspension from office,

of God. The phrase in question was made to read :~ I.`. . de           in case he violates this pledge. This is interesting because it

leer, welke overeenkowtig  Gods heilig Woord in. de aan-               so often happens that those who become disloyal to the

genomen Formulieren van Eenigheid is vervat, ter goeder                established faith and so violate their subscription promise

trouw aan te nemen en hartelijk te gelooven                            do not readily acknowledge their guilt in violating their oath

                                                                       but rather seek to justify their error with the pious cry that
      "This sounds good enough but it left a loop-hole. The
                                                                       they may not violate their conscience. Their implied argu-
question soon arose whether the `ovel-eertkomstig  had the
                                                                       ment is that it is a higher duty to obey their conscience than
significance of oltida<t  (quia)  `because,' or VOOY  zoover  (qua-
                                                                       to keep the pledge of signing the Formula of Subscription.
tenus)  `in as far.' Those who wanted to be loyal to the
                                                                       Apart from the fact that this whole argument is based on .a
Word of God and the Reformed faith held that the latter
                                                                       faulty conception of conscience, we may say that it is as
interpretation was possible and also intended by the leaders
                                                                       ridiculous as it is false. It is not the conscience that the
of the revision group. Some denied this charge vigorously.
                                                                       heretic seeks to obey but the carnal mind and will that
But in 1835 one of the leaders admitted that the change had
                                                                       refuses to subject themselves to the Word of God. When
been sponsored and made so that a candidate could sign the
Form of Subscription even'if he did not'fully agree with the           one treads this path he inadvertently encounters a severe con-
                                                                       flict with his previously made promise to abide by the doc-
Standards of the Churches. He who signs this document in
Holland today merely declares that he will be loyal to the             trines of Scripture as set forth in the Confessions of the
Three Forms of Unity in as far as these agree with the Word            church.

of God. The result is that even Unitarians and Communists                 Is there not, however, the possibility of and room for

can become Ministers of the Hervormde Kerk in the Nether-              serious differences arising in one's mind concerning some of

lands. The Gereformeerde Kerken  van Nederland, the puri-              the doctrines to which one has previously committed-himself

fied and reorganiied Reformed Churches of Holland, as                  by signing the Form of Subscription ? If this be granted,

might be .expected,  immediately readopted. the unequivocal            does not the. promise to teach and faithfully defend these


            .
                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D .   B'EARER                                                     91
                 **                                                                                                             _. _ _

 doctrines ask too much ? Would it not be far ,better  not to           Church Order .Commentary  states that, "Doctrinal unity

 ever have made such a promise than; having made it, to find            forms the foundation for denomination unity." To hold that

 oneself in a position where this promise cannot be kept be-            nothing or mere generalities in regard to doctrine is binding

 `cause of certain disagreements- which have arisen ? Isn't it          and to allow all sorts of divergent views-within the church

 better to simply request that office bearers maintain and.             is to invite chaos. Did we not almost realize that doctrinal

 defend certain doctrines inasfar  .as they are- able to do so          chaos in our churches when some attempted to teach and

in good conscience before God.?                                         preach.  the anti-confessional doctrine of the general condi-

                                                                        tional promise of salvation ? If this had been condoned -
     Rev. Ophoff says, "This really means that what the sub-
                                                                        and we may humbly thank God that it was not - what would
 scriber promises is that he will preach and defend the doc-
                                                                        prevent others from teaching and preaching the well-meant
 trine contained in the .creeds  involved, and refrain from
                                                                        offer of salvation to all ? This, in turn, could be followed by
 militating against this doctrine by preaching and writing
                                                                        the introduction of the. errors of the Baptists, various shades
 only as long as he can do so with a good conscience before
                                                                        of Dispensationalism, as well as all kinds of denials of the.
 God, but that, if this is no longer possible he will cease
                                                                        cardinal truths of Scripture expressed in our Three Forms
 to preach and defend the said doctrine and agree that by that
                                                                        of Unity and if there was no binding agreement, nothing
 very act he is suspended from his office, has suspended him-
                                                                        could be done about it.
 self from. office. Mark             well, the Classis or Consistory
                             you 
 does not depose that office bearer but _ they simply declare              It might be argued that these extremes are so obviously

 what he through-his act of refusal has done. He has deposed            contrary to the Reformed Confessions that no one would

 himself. And by subscribing to the Formula, the minister               attempt to introduce them into a church that stands on the

 agreed that this act of refusal should have this significance."        basis of those confessions. This argument- does not hold,

                                                                        however, because in the first place the heresy of a general
     This is undoubtedly true. An office bearer who does not
                                                                        conditional promise of. salvation or the well-known Three
 agree with the Confessions of a given church should not
                                                                        Points of `24 are just as obviously anti-confessional and, in
_ remain in office in that church. Moreover, such an individual,
                                                                        the second place, men have attempted with measures of suc-
 if -his convictions mean anything at .all, will not desire to
                                                                        cess to introduce more than pne of these rank errors in
 remain in that church even as a member. He certainly may
                                                                        churches that hold the Reformed Confessions but have dis-
 not remain in office in the church and openly militate against
                                                                        regarded the binding character of the truth expressed in
 the confessions of the church in order to destroy her as some
                                                                        them.
 have attempted to do in our churches.
                                                                           Hence, to maintain her doctrinal purity and so preserve
     We agree, therefore, with this quotation of Rev. Ophoff
                                                                        true denominational unity the Formula of Subscription must
 when it is applied, as it should be, to one who has made
                                                                        be elevated to its proper place in the church and the church
 himself guilty of breach of promise. However, we feel that
                                                                        must insist that each and every office bearer solemnly promise        .
 something else should be added here. When a person who
                                                                        to faithfully maintain the truth expressed in the Confessions.
 has signed the Formula of Subscription later finds himself in
 disagreement with the doctrines he promised to defend, he                                                                    G.V.d.B.

 is certainly confronted with a difficult problem. He must

 Gther~  defend what he himself does not believe to be true (a
 moral impossibility) or he must violate his promise (a                            A T T E N T I O N   C O N S I S T O R I E S

 serious evil). By doing the latter, he, by that very act,                 The following "Forms" are available and may be obtained
 deposes himself from office. However, this is not the only             by writing undersigned. When ordering, kindly specify the
 recourse. The Formula of Subscription itself points .him to
                                                                        number of the particular form ordered is desired.
 and provides for himthe only. proper and orderly course to
 follow. He must, of course, present his grievances to his               - 1. Classical Credential Forms

 consistory, classes and. synod. He must submit to the judg-               2. Synodical Subsidy Forms (Revised 1960)

 ment rendered in each case and if, after the final verdict is             3. Transfer of Membership Forms -
 rendered' in his case, he is unable to acquiesce, .he must be             4. Transfer of Baptized Member Forms
 suspended and deposed from his office. Within a certain
                                                                           5. Certificates of Dismissal
 denomination the office bearer is `bound to uphold the con-
 fessions of that church but he is at liberty to leave that                6. Call Letters         .

 denomination -if he is -unable to do so in good conscience                7. `Ministerial Certificate of` Dismissal and Testimonial

 before God.                                                               8. Synodical Credentials

     From this it should be evident that the demand of the                                    REV. G. VAN&I  BERG,  Sta.ted Clerk

 church that her office-bearers sign a formula of agreement                                   Synod of the Prot. Ref. Churches

 is both just and necessary. To deny this is to destroy the                                   9402 So. 53rd Court

 very possibility of the existence of the denomination. The                                   Oak Lawn, Illinois


9       2                                   T&E   S T A N D A R D   BEA-R%R


                                                                       opposed the Declaration of Principles and stymied the entire

11  A L L   AROUND  U S   11 Synod by repeated. use of the tie vote. Now their own efforts
                                                                       to return to the Christian' Reformed Church are ham-strung

                                                                       by the same tie vote they once used.

An Important Synod                                                         Although the efforts to return synodically failed, it was
                                                                       evidently clear on the Synod that this would not prevent
     Two issues ago in The Standard Bearer we reported the             those ministers and elders and people who wanted to return

matter-  of an overture from Rev. M. Gritters in which he              from carrying out their wishes. If they cannot return synod-

sought an early Synod of the Churches who left              for the    ically, they will certainly return individually.     Hull, for
                                                     US 
purpose of discussin,
                      m the question of an immediate return            esample, already informed their Synod that they had made

to the Christian Reformed Church. Classis  West approved               overtures to Classis  Sioux Center of the,Christian  Reformed

of this overture and contacted Classis East to make the ar-            Church to return to them.

rangements for such a Synod. Classis East concurred in the                 It is also evident from the letter addressed to the Chris-
decision of Classis West and this early Synod met in Grand             tian`Reformed  Church, in which they speak of the danger of
Rapids October 26 through October 28.                                  splintering their denomination by returning without a re-

     Although there were other matters. appearing on the               traction of the Three Points, that there are many of their

agendum  of the Synod besides the matter of returning to the           people who will not go back to a denomination that main-

Christian Reformed Church, this latter matter occupied most            tains the heresy of Common Grace. The tragedy of the whole

of Synod's time. It is not necessary or possible to give a             matter is that these people are being forsaken by their leaders
detailed report of all the motions that appeared on the Synod.         - sheep without a shepherd. We know that seven years
It is sufficient to say that a motion to seek immediate return         have gone by since these people have left us, and seven years

to the Christian Reformed Church failed by a tie vote. This            of history have been made. But we hope and pray that they

motion was to answer the letter of the Christian Reformed              may still see that their only hope for themselves and their

Church with the substance of an overture from Classis  East            children is to return to us.

which advised Synod to take immediate steps to effect such                 Finally, we cannot understand completely why there is
a return. The motion that did carry instead, by a vote-of  9           hesitation on the part of their Synod to return to the Chris-
to 7, was a motion to send another letter to the Christian             tian Reformed Church. On a previous Synod they stated
Reformed Church in which the Synod requested the Christian             that they no longer consider the Three Points to be Ar-
Reformed Church to "consider again that our churches unite             minian  and Pelagi,an.  This they again reiterate in their last
on the basis of Scripture and the Three Forms of Unity."               letter.    "We reiterate our stand, expressed in our letter of
This implies, of course, that once again the Christian Re-             1960, that we no longer charge the Three Points with `being
formed Church is asked to- declare the "Three Points of                Arminian and Pelagian, nor are we pleading for freedom to
 1924" to be without binding. force in the denomination.               agitate and to cause turmoil and strife in the churches. We

     The grounds. given for this.request  were three in number.        are opposed to agitation, propaganda or any unseemly or

Briefly summarized, they were: 1 j Such a basis for union              revolutionary action in the church. We are sorry for such

will have a wholesome effect upon other efforts to unite with          actions of the past as we have pointed out in our letter of

other Church bodies in the strivings of the Church world               1960." If the Three Points are not Pelagian and Arminian,

towards ecumenicity. 2) To unite in any other way will                 they must be Reformed. If they are Reformed, they must be
probably result in the splintering of the Churches since all           the truth of Scripture. If they are the truth of Scripture,
their people are not prepared to return. 3) The Declaration            what could possibly stand in the way of Synod's embracing

. of Unity, read at the opening of each Synod, mentions that           them and returning again to the Church from which they
the Church stands on the basis of Scripture `and the Three             were expelled because of them ? That one statement that
Forms of Unity, and that these Churches who agree to this              they are not Arminian destroys the last barrier to organic
 Declaration "desire to receive into (their) communiqn  every-         church union. I cannot see any other conclusion.
 one that agrees to (their) confession."

                                                                       Church iWewhe&aifi  in the United States
     The conclusion of the matter is, therefore, that the move-

ment to return to the Christian Reformed Church failed on                  Several periodicals have recently carried articles which

the synodical  level. Those men of the Churches who left ours          contain statistics of the recently published "Yearbook of

 and who were in favor of such a return were defeated on the           American Churches for 1961" published by the National

 Synod by a tie vote.                                                  Council -of Churches.

     One cannot help but think of the historical irony of it               These statistics show that although the population of

all, for in the Synods of 1952 and 1953, .just preceding the           the United States has increased 1.8% during 1959, Church

 split in our Churches, the functioning of the Synod was               membership arose only .4%.  Total Church membership in

 hampered also by such a tie vote. At that time, Classis  West         this country now stands at 112'226,905 in 254 different


                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   93


            religious bodies. The Churches gained 2,669,164  new inem-          itarian concept of control." Also they rejected the-resolution

            bers, with 63.4% of the total, population of the United             calling for a ban on capital punishment by the slender margin

            States now belonging to some Church or other. There are             of 248 to 238.

            62$43,502  Protestants, 40,871,302  Catholics, 5,5.00,000  Jews,       The United Church of Canada which was formed through
            20,000 Buddhists. The Catholic Church has shown a con-              mergers of the country's Methodists, Congregationalists, 2nd
            siderably larger. rate' of growth than Protestant `Chu&hes          some 70% of its Presbyterians, and which numbers better
            since Catholics are up 3.4% over last year, while Protestants       than l,OOO,OOO  members, passed similar resolutions. They
            are up 1.7%. The largest group of Protestant Churches is the        condoned birth contrql,  suggested that Canada align itself
            Baptist group with 2O,S79,220  in 27 denominations, while           with the world's neutralist nations, renounced nuclear war,
            the largest single denomination is the Methodist Church             reaffirmed their opinion that the Canadian government should
          with 9,815,460  members.                                              give recognition to Red China and support its admission into

               It is striking, to say the least, that along with this growth    the United Nations, urged the abolition of capital punish-
I
            in Church membership there has been a much greater and              ment.

            even alarming rise in crime and juvenile delinquency. -The             Decisions such as these must be a reflection of the preach-
            sale of all kinds of obscene literature has also risen sharply      ing on the pulpits of much of the Church world. Less and
            in recent years, while all forms of entertainment, as it            less is the Word of God heard from the pulpits of the land,
     '      degenerates morally, is at an all time high.                        and more and more do ministers with the evident approval of

               `Anyone can notice, even on his way to Chuich  on Sunday,        their consistorieS  and congregations speak rather on every

           &at in spite of the increase in Church membership, there is          conceivable kind of social and political problem, while moral-

            little observance of the Sabbath left. We live in an age in         izing in general and vague ways for the "betterment" of their

            which people feel the need of belonging to some Church,             constituency..

            but to. whom Church membeyship  means nothing. We live                 It is no wonder that the spiritual decline of Church life
            in times of increased crime and evil, days in which men are         in the world and specifically in` our own country is hasten-
            entertainment-mad, a period of doctrinal lethargy and sloth,        ing. The Church has only the one callirig  to preach the
            spiritual decline and moral degeneracy. And all this while          Word of God. And in as much as it fails to do this, it
            Church membership continues to soar. One cannot help but            loses its right to be called Church. It is really no wonder
            think of the words of Paul to Timothy, "This know also,             that people no longer care to go to Church while. keeping
            that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men            their names on the membership rolls. It is no wonder
            shall be lovers of their own selves, . . . Having a form of         that a cold and deathly materialism has gripped the Churches
            godliness, but denying the power thereof: . . . Ever learning       of America. It is not at all surprising that *indifference and
            and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." II           lethargy, tolerance and ambiguity have fallen like a pall upon
            Timothy 3 :l, 2, 4, 7.                                              the Churches about us. The Church -has no business making

                                                                                pronouncements and resolutions concerning all these matters,
            Political Pronomcements
                                                                                and continues to do so to her own grave peril.
               There has been a growing trend in our day for denomina-             Our fathers, with gobd  reason, included in our Church
            tions and for councils of Churches to make pronouncements           Order Article 30 which reads, "In these assemblies (con-
            on all kinds of political, moral and social questions. When
                                                                                sistories, classes and synods) ecclesiastical matters only shall
            these Churches come together in their broadest gatherings,
                                                                                be transacted and that in an ecclesiastical manner . . ."
            or when committees of various Councils of Churches meet,
            they cannot resist the temptation to pass motions which spell          While all these Churches are deathly afraid of the inter-
            out their position on all and e&y kind of issue:                    ference of government in the Church-life, and while they cry
                                                                                loud and long-for the separation between Church and state,
               Within the recent past, the National Council bf Churches
                                                                                they continue themselves to deny this principle in practice,
            raised a storm of protest and cotitroversy  with its decision
                                                                                and, meddling in the affairs of the state, they try to take over
            to go on record as favoring the admittance of Red China into
                                                                                the reins of government and make decisions affecting domes-
            the United Nations.
                                                                                tic and foreign policy.
               Recently more Churches have followed this general trend.
                                                                                   Our Churches must ever be on their guard that they do
            The largest Lutheran body in the United States - the 2,500,-
                                                                                not fall into this deadly habit of making decisions on matters
            OOO-member United Lutheran Church in America ---held  its
                                                                                other than ecclesiastical. And this will be done, if from
            22nd biennial convention in Atlantic City recently. This
                                                                                our .pulpits  our- ministers continue faithfully to preach the
            convention is briefly reported in T&be magazine. Among
                                                                                Word of God and apply the eternal prjnciples  of that Word
            other things, 700 clerical and lay delegates decided against the
                                                                                to the lives of God's people, so that they know that they
            testing of nuclear weapons, calling for "such forms of peace-
                                                                                must walk here below as citizens of the kingdom of heaven.
            ful cooperation and competitive coexistence with the Coni-

            munist world as will oppose and seek to overcome ihe total-                                                              H. Hanko


9         4                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
          ..~

                                                                                  preached 0; Sunday evenings, and of course our elders had

               CONTRiBUTl'ONS                                                     their ttirns at reading. Through these various means we
     .                                                                            have been richly blessed by our covenant God.
                                                                                     Now that our pastor -is settled here, having been wel-

                           Hill Welcomes New Pastor                               comed at % reception Sept. 16 atid  ordained on Sept., 22, we
                                                                                  are busily engaged in another year of activities. Being thank-
                 In the early days of November, 1959, the congregation            ful to God for sending to us this youthful servant \irho may
     learned that our pastor, Rev. J. Heys, had accepted the call                 now lead us in the green pastures of His Word, we look
     from our sister congregation of South Holland, IllinoiS.  It                 back and forward with the confidence that God is good to us.
     meant that we as a congregation would have. to face that                                     Co&istory'of Hull Prot. Ref. Church
     period of calling, waiting, learning of decisions - perhaps
                                                                                                                           J.`Hoekstra,  Clerk
     repeated over and over again..

                 We immediately set out to find the man of God's choosing,

     As consistory we made a trio and on Nov. 27 called Rev.
     G. Vanden  Berg. We soon learned that it was not the Lord's                                  W Letter from Canaqia
     will for him "to come over and -help us."                                                                   11 Pineglen  Crescent,

                 By then -we had bid farewell to- Rev. Heys and family.                                          Box 475, R. R. No. 2,

     With hearts filled with deep .appreciation  for his years of                                                Ottawa, Ontario, Canada,
     faithful service, the Word Still  written deeply upon them,
                                                                                                                              October 24, 1960
     ,we saw him leave to labor in.another  flock.
                                                                                  The Editor
                 A short time before we asked the Seminary for the ser-           Tha Standa.rd Beam-
     vices of student J. Korter.ing  duriqg,  the holiday season. He
                                                                                  1139  Franklin St., S. E.
     came into otir midst for the first time on Christmas Eve to
     share the Christmas program with us. During his stay he                      Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

     preached for us seven times.                                                 Dear Sii-,

                 Soon after his departure we called Rev. C. Hanko who                I am possibly your most recent subscriber to The Stund-
     also declined. On February 24 we extended a call to Rev.                     ard Bearer. I have seen only three copies `beginning with
     .R. Veldman, who could not arrive ai a aecision  for us                      September 1, 1960, an< `am perhaps a bit presumptuous:$o
     "mutu&y gratifying." .Our  attention next centered on Rev:                   write a letter to you about the contents of your magazine.
     M.. Schipper.  `who received our call on April 7. He too could
                                                                                     The subject that has prompted me to write is the question
     not h&d' our d&11.
                                                                                  that is apparently before you regarding the possibility of
                 By July  3, candidate Rortering  was  eligible for a call. At    changing your Church Order to allow an extension of the
     the cohg&gatioflal  meeting df July 13 he was elected and the                variety of material allowable to be sung in your churches. I
     call-letter was sent on its .way.  Patiently we waited for six               am not writing with `the request that you publish this letter
     weeks, till on August 24 the letter of acceptance arrived.                   in the magazine, but I do .feel  that I must express my

                 Being vacant for approximately 9 months, our church was          thoughts to you. If you think that the letter has anything in

     &gain sent ariother  undershepherd  by the Lord.                             it of value to your people you are free to publish it, but I
                          ?: -.:.                                                 would request that if you do it be published in full.
                 Looking back over that period of time we are deeply

     `&Xefd  above all to ,our God who So abundantly provided                        My association with Dutch Churches of the Reformation

     for us. Our cry of victory is "Ebenezer, hitherto hath the                   has been fairly short, le?s than four years. By actual contact

     Lord helped us."                There were times when our hopes were         it has only been with the Christian Reformed Church and

     high, but also times when we were discouraged. Through it                    with the Canadian Reformed Church. By correspondence I

     all, God has provided for the needs of our congregation.                     have a very limited knowledge of your church and of thk-Old

                                                                                  Christian Reformed Church; One of the things that has
                 The hand of the Lord often works through means. Iri
                                                                                  surprised me is that these churches considering themselves
     our period of vacancy we have experienced this over and
                                                                                  Psalm singing churches have versions of the Psalms which
     over. Especially are we mindful of our counselor, Rev.  G.
                                                                                  lack faithfulness in reproduction of the thought of Scripture
     Van Baren.  He has helped us in so many ways: leading
     many consistory and congregational meetings, giving us ad-                   both by way of deletion and addition. It has also surprised
     vice, teaching catechism classes, preaching many Sunday                      me to find how averse the Dutch people are to accepting
     evenings even though it meant that he would have to preach                   English metrical versions which are much more faithful in
                                                                                  content.
     three times. We express our thanks to him for his faithful

     con&n  over us. We have also enjoyed classical supply. Rev.                     A Presbyterian minister recently wrote to me, "Armin-

      Woudenberg came on various occasions from Edgerton  and                     ianism has been sung into the church by hymns." Without


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   95


having been there to see I would like to draw you a picture-                        THE VOICE OF `OUR  FATHERS
of what I visualize as having happened to the Christian Re-
                                                                                        (Continued from page 89)
formed Church. The people began to sing popular hymns at
home, at gatherings, and at church meetings other than the           include their own Canorts,  either positive or negative, nor
regular diet of worship.      Doubts of the fixedness of God's       their own "Conclusionj"    both of which contain much sharp
eternal counsel are introduced ; then 1924. In 1935 article          language, noi- the views of -either infralapsarian or supra-
69 is altered, the flood gate is opened, man rather than God         lapsari&, of whom there were many who subscribed to the
becomes the arbiter of what is pleasing. to God and the hymns        Canons, in the excessive opinions and language referred to..

pour in.                                                                And thus' we come to the end of our discussion of the

       It has been intimated by one of your-correspondents that      Canorts.  Well may we in our  day conclude our discussion
the Psalms are the Song Book of the Old Testament only,              with the petition which closes this "Conclusion" : "May Jesus
and that they are not directly applicable to some special oc-        Christ, the Son of God, tiho, seated at the Father's right
casions in the modern church. I would ask the following              hand, gives gifts to men, sanctify us in the truth, bring to
questions. Did the saints of the New Testament Church not            the truth those who err; shut  the mouths of the calumniators
find  them sufficient? If there are -occasions in the modern         of sound docirine,  and endue the faithful ministers of his
church which require song-material not found in the Psalms           Word with the spirit of wisdbm  and discretion, that all their
should we examine those occasions to see if they should be           discourses may tend to the glory of God, and the edificatiori

in the church ? I humbly suggest that the saints found the           of those who hear them. AMEN."
Psalms sufficient, and that they did not celebrate Christmas                                                                   H.C.H.

or Easter. If one examines the mixture of paganism with

things supposedly Christian which passes under the name of

Christianity in South America today it should not be hard                            THE REIGN OF CHRIST '
to see how a yorrupt  church can take a pagan festival and
give it a Christian significance. This temptation is strong in                  0 God, to Thy Anointed King
the rebellious hind of man. God warned the Old Testament                          Give truth ind righteousness ;

Church of @isI  when it was coming into the Promised Land.                      Thy people He will justly judge

They mixed $agan practices` with the worship of Jehovah                           And give the poor redress.
with dire results.

       I beg of ydu, brethren, bend your efforts to find versions               Then every fruitful mountain side
of the' Psalms for the worship of God that are faithful to the                    Shall yield its rich increase,

Scripture, and of which it can truly be said that they are the                  And righteousness in all the land

Psalms of David,, and the inspired Word of God, and to                            Shall bear the fruit of peace.
eliminate from' your Book of Praise any songs which can not

be shown to h&e been'sung by the saints of the Ney Testa-                       The poor man's cause He will maintain,
ment Church.                                                                      The needy He will bless,
                                     Yours sincerely,                           And  He will  break the strength of those
                                               A: D. McClure                      Who would the poor oppress.


                                                                                So men shall fear Thee while the sun

  /                                                                               In daily splendor -glows,

       Lynden's bulletin answers the question, "What should                     And through all ages, while the moon

we pray for.in  the morning of the Sabbath?" by quoting the                       On earth its light bestows.

following from the pen of Thomas Watson: That we may
                                                                                Like rain upon the new-mown grass,
attend upon the Lord without distraction. I Cor. 7:35. It
                                                                                  That falls refreshingly,
is said of Bernard, that when he came to the church door,
                                                                                Like gentle showers that cheer the earth,
he would say, "Stay here all my earthly thoughts." So
                                                                                  So shall His coming be.
should we say to ourselves, when we are at the door of God's

house,      "Stay here all my worldly cares and wandering                       The righteous iti His glorious day

thoughts; I am now going to hear what  the Lord will say to                   - Shall flourish and increase ;            .

me."      Distraction hinders devotion..The mind is tossed with                 The earth, until the moon shall fade,

vain thoughts, and d'iverted.  Distracted hearing is fati from                    Shall have abundant peace.

sanctifying the Sabbath.                                                                                                      Psalm 72


     \                                                          I



                           _.                                        ~~.~~~,-c-~ --~ .------ _                                        ----
          _-.-..-.._-.-  ..--.- _..^       ..___ I           ..i-T..H'E..*-T  A N~D`x.g D'.`B.E x                                                    _ -       _ _ ,-..
          96                                                                                                            R E.~ _               __    _ -- `_
                                                   :
                                                                                                                                       `.
                                                                                                  The Prot. Ref... Teachers' Seminar was scheduled for

                                                                                                  Oct. 21. at Adams St. School. Miss Hulda  Kuiper, an

                                                                                                  Adams `St. teacherj  gave a- paper on "The -Psycholo,  of
                                                                                           - jI&Ir&g,". introducing the subject for discussion.


                                                                                                  - . The newly organized Choral Society, a joint venture of
                                   . ..                       : No.v:  5; lsi60`
                                                                                   . ,"
                                                                         ,                        members of Oak Lawn and South Holland, -held its first
                Kalamazoo's minister;. Rev. A. Mulder, declined the call                     `regular meeting Oct. 26. It was decided to meet in Oak
          extended .him  from the congregation.at  Randolph, Wisconsin.                           Lawn the first and third. Wednesdays of. each month, and
                  _." .-                   : .,         :                     -                   the other-weeks in South Holland:
                Creston's consistory has presented a. new trio- to their
          congregation, consisting of Rev. R. C. Harbach,  of Lynden;                                The South Holland Ladies' Society was host to the Oak '
          Rev. A. Mulder, of Kalamazoo ; Rev. Ri~Veldman,  of South-                              Lawn society Nov. 3. Rev. G. Vanden  Berg, president of
          east church in Grand Rapids.                                                            the Oak Lawn Society, gave a talk on "Faith, Hope and
                                                                                                  Love, As Applied To Our Societies."
                Southeast's congregation is planning a special service to
          be `held on Thursday evening, Nov. 10, to dedicate their new.                              Nov. 10 was the date set for a Question Hour sponsored
          church building; and the Mr. and Mrs. Society of that                                   by a Ladies' School Aukiliary,  members of the South Hol-
          church has issued invitations in all the area bulletins inviting                        land and Oak Lawn Churches. The questions solicited were
          `!a11 to spend a, very interesting evening with us on Sunday,                           to .concern the Prot. Ref. School movement under way in
          Nov. 13, in our new church building. We have a very nice                                their congregations.

          hymn sing planned with Mr. Edw.-Ophoff  as song leader.                                    Many of our readers will no doubt find this contribution
          Proceeds for our new organ fund."
                                                                                                  from the program committee of the Ref. Witness Hour of

          Reformation Day was remembered, by many of our or-                                      interest: "Did y.ou know that the recorded tapes for broad-

          ganizations'  in various ways. Adams St. School gave a pro-                             cast over Trans-World Radio, Monte Carlo, Monaco, must

          gram in Southeast Church, Oct. 29; Hope School chilclren                                be mailed to that station four to. six weeks in advance of

          gave an all school program in First Church, Nov. 3, entitled,                           airing dates ?. At this writing the programs for the remaining

          "Children of the Reformation"; and the fall Mr. and Mrs.                                weeks of 1960 have already been sent to the station's-United

          League meeting featured a speech by Rev. C. Hanko, on                                   States office in Chatham,  New Jersey. From there they are

          "The Reformation In Holland."                                                           airmailed to Monaco. Since Oct. 2 the Ref. Witness Hour

                                                                                                  has been broadcast over Trans-World Radio with England
                The Western-Ladies' League meeting was held Oct. 12 at
_                                                                                                 as its principal target area. A special announcement is made
          Hull, Iowa. Rev. J. Kortering, of Hull, spoke on the topic, and recorded on each tape informing the listeners in the
          "Faith, The Anchor Of Hope." Rev. B. Woudenberg, of
                                                                                                  British Isles that written copies of the radio sermons may be
          Edgerton, Minn., was assigned to answer questions.
                                                                                                  obtained, free, by writing to the Reformed Witness Hour,

                The Eastern Ladies: League meeting was held in First                              114 Wigmore  St., London, W. 1, England. The letters re-

          Church with the Rev. M. Schipper,  of Southwest Church,                                 ceived  at this London address are then forwarded, un-

          as the speaker for the evening.                                                         opened, to our Radio Committee." Our U.S. readers may

                                                                                                  obtain copies by writing to our local address: P.O. Box 8,
                The Adams St. School Athletic-Association again spon-
                                                                                                  Grand Rapids 1; Mich.
          sored  a pancake supper Oct. 29, which brought out a goodly

          number of hungry patrons. Some of the food, and all of the                                 All of the participating churches carried special announce-
          work of about twenty-five men, were donated ; some of the                               ments concerning the 1960 Annual Deficit Drive for our
          supplies were purchased at cost. All of this made it possible                           Adams St. School. The Drive Cdmm. has set the amount of
          to realize a profit which swells the fund of the Association                            $13,839.00  as the goal.for  this campaign to meet the needs
          which supplies playground and athletic equipment.                                       of the school for efficient operation. Whereas two drives are

                                                                                                  usually conducted to bring. 
                The October Beacon Light's Singspiration `was held in                                                                 up the necessary amount, it is
                                                                                                  hoped that one drive will suffice this year. All of the churches '
          Southeast Church with Mr. Chas. Westra as director. The
                                                                                                  are having a special collection Sunday, Nov. 6, to receive the
          program was augmented with some vocal numbers by a
                                                                                                  gifts and pledges of the school's supporters.
          ladies' trio,

                                                                                                     Redlands' Men's Society has recently decided to take up
                Rev. and Mrs. J. Kortering, in a recent bulletin announce-
                                                                                                  the study of the Book of` James after having finished the
          ment,  thanked their congregation in Hull for the gracious.
                                                                                                  first twenty-four chapters of Genesis.
          treatment afforded them at the time. of the arrival of their

          new daughter, Sharon Fae, born Oct. 8.                                                                see you in-church.                               J.M.F.
                                                                                                     . .$ -
                                                                                                       .-h'.
                           . _'


