                                                  J                                                               c
                                                       ANUARY 15, 1961 - GRAND  RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                              NUMBER 8

                                                                                No, his heart is set on the world that is coming, the world

                                                                            that will stand unto all eternity.

                                                                                                        * * * *


                     THE  SINGING  PILGRIM                                      This pilgrim has another name, and it is closely related
                                                                            to the name "pilgrim."      In fact, some of our modern lan-

                  "Thy stdttes  have bsen my songs in the house             guages have translated the last word of my text: "stranger-

                   of 0&y  pi2gri%w,ge."  Psalm 119 :54                     ship."

                                                                                That other name is "stranger." And it is really another
        A pilgrim is a person who travels through foreign lands;
                                                                            aspect of the name pilgrim.
     specifically one who journeys to some sacred place in the
     performance of a vow or to obtain some form of Divine                      A pilgrim is necessarily also a stranger.

     blessing.                                                                  It relates to his contact with the present world.

        The pilgrim of my text is the child of God, travelling                  He is strange to the Ways  of this world in which we live.
     through the wbrld  to the heavenly Canaan. Yes, he has taken           He does not fit here at all.
     a vow, and expects some form of Divine blessing. Moreover,
                                                                                You see, he is born from %od  arid from heaven.      That is,
     he is travelling through this present world to the country
                                                                            he is regenerated. His root is different, and so his life is
     of his second birth.
                                                                            different.
         The spiritual pilgrim is a visionary.
                                                                                Oh,.  it does not mean that he fails in his vocation and
         And his vision is the New Jerusalem, the New world of              calling. Not at all. His endeavor is to be the best in his class.
I
     God's pleasures that is coming.                                        He wants to be the best carpenter around, or brick layer, or

                                                                            mason. He wants to do his job well. He knows that God
         He knows that the old world is fast passing away. By
                                                                            wants him to be in this world for a spell, and to do all things
     the Word of the Lord that old world is on the way t6 its
                                                                            for God's sake, and to do them well. And so he farms, does
     final burning, and out of this burning the New world will
                                                                            carpenter work, clerks in stores, works in an office, etc.
     appear. And the pilgrim knows that he will have his portion
                                                                            And he desires to excel.
     in that New world.

         Therefore, he has his heart, soul and mind on the New                  But here is the point: all through his work-a-day life, he
     world.                                                                 has his eye on God, on heaven, on the glory of God's Name,
                                                                            on the revelation of that Name in Christ Jesus the Lord.
         This present world has no charm for him ; in fact, he
     hates this present world. He knows that the character of this              Yes, he possesses a wife, but as not possessing ; he pos-
     present world is the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and       sesses land and houses and money, but as not possessing.

     the pride of life.                                                         For he is a stranger here.

         And so we hear his chant: Do not detain me, for I am                   His life is God, heaven, and eternity.
     going where the streams of life are ever flowing. Whatever

     you do, do not detain me: I can tarry, I can tarry but a day!                                      * * * *

         You cannot even say that his heart and soul are set on

     the present heaven where God is seated on His throne, and                  Finally, there is a third word in this connection which

     the angels and the souls of men made righteous are singing              we must look at. It is in close connection to the other two

     and making music.                                                       names : pilgrim and stranger. That third name is "sojourner."


     170                                           T H E   S-TANDARD   B E A R E R


        That name indicates that because of the fact that he is a       strolling in the beautiful garden of Eden. They love God

pilgrim and stranger, he sojourns iti this world. And that              and His law.

word means that he lives `!alongside"  the world. It means                 But as soon as you depart from that law or word there
that he is spiritually entire&  different from this world.              is horror for you, Listen to the verse preceding my text:

            The life of this present world is wholly corrupt, as in-    "Horror hath taken hold upon me, because of the wicked
dicated above. It is full of the lust of the eye, the lust of the       that forsake Thy law !"

flesh, and the pride of life.                                              But how about our singing pilgrim? Is he not a sinner

~       Hence, he lives alongside.                                      like unto the rest?

            That quality of our pilgrim was plainly shown by the           Yes, but here I must say two things. First, he is born

great sojourners Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God purposely               again.    I believe I told you that already. Well, that means

sent these three men into the world in order to be a constant           that in the depth of his heart he loves the law of God again,

reminder to His church throughout all the ages that we are              as also His Word. And through ,the  further operation of

going where the streams of life are ever flowing.                       God's grace and Spirit, he attempts every day to live accord-

        These three men did not own a house, ever. They lived           ing to that law and Word, even though every night he lies
in tabernacles, that is, in tents. .For. 100, 180, and 147 years        in the dust and cries : 0 God, be merciful to me, the sinner !
respectively.                                                           And, second, this singing pilgrim looks at the statutes of God
                                                                        and His Word, through the prism of the Cross of Calvary.
        There they go : up and down Palestine, sometimes a little       And therefore he sings his merry song. He knows that God
while in Egypt, but ever dwelling in taberriacles. Alongside
                                                                        has forgiven him all his transgressions, and prepared for him
the world.                                                              an everlasting righteousness in Jesus the Lord.

        All they ever owned was a buryingplace for themselves              David sang his tune in the Old Testament for he saw
and their wives.
                                                                        Jehovah and the blood.of  the innocents. And far off he saw

        And they are the types of all God's beloved people of all       also the Messiah.
the ages.
                                                                           \xJe sing this song looking back of the blood of The In-
            In the world, but not of the world.                         nocent, namely, Jesus, our beloved Redeemer.

        Do you see our pilgrim, stranger, sojourner?                       I've heard them singing : I will sing of my Redeemer !
                                                                                                                          5. :,

                                                                           And so our singing pilgrim goes on his way, ever sing-
                                 * * * *
                                                                        ing the songs of redemption and salvation. God's law is

                                                                        sweet to him, sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.
        Listen, he sings his songs.
                                                                                                   ****
      He is the happiest man alive. His happiness is the only

happiness in this Godforsaken world. You may hear laughter                 Wonder what makes him sing so sweetly !

in the world, and hear of pleasure and joy, but it is not true.            What is the motive, what is the main thrust of his song ?
     Believe it not. Even in their joy they taste the bitterness
                                                                           I will try and tell you.
,of death. I have tasted it myself.

                                                                           The sweetest chord of his music, the sweetest strains of
            Let us listen to his songs.
                                                                        his singing is this : he beti God.
        Thy statutes have been my songs in the home of my
                                                                           You see, beloved reader, you cannot separate God's
pilgrimage.
                                                                        statutes and His Word from God Himself.
            Thy statutes !
                                                                           God's statutes are a reflection of the sweetness of God's
            What are they ? They are the same as God's mercies,         inmost heart.
saliration,  word, judgments, law, precepts, testimonies, com-
                                                                           Did you not hear the fathers say: The law of God is ful-
mandments or name! I have taken the foregoing from the
                                                                        filled in just one word, namely, love ?
verses immediately preceding, and a verse or two further.

     Psalm 119 extols the Lord because of His wonderful law and            There is your answer. This pilgrim loves the Lord, and

word.                                                                   therefore he loves His statutes.

        You know, there is such a thing as the law of God. Or              That love of God is spread abroad in his heart at the

the Word of God.                                                        moment of his regeneration, and that same love came to his

                                                                        consciousness in the moment of his conversion. And that
            As soon as God created a moral, rational, ethical being,
                                                                        love of God is ever his portion here on earth.
     He also created a law, a word for him. And if that creature

lived according to that law or word, he would be wonder-                   You may kill him ; you may fix him on the stake ; you

fully happy and content. Look at Adam and Eve, as they are              may torture him in the chamber of horrors : but he will never


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   -BEARER                                                                                                                                                                      171


cease to love God. And in his dying breath he will say:

Lord, forgive them : they know not what they do ! He is                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER-

Iaught such by the sweetness of the love of God.                            Semi-monthly, except monthly. during June, july and August
                                                                             Published by the REFoR~~ED  FREE PUJXISHING  ASSOCIATION
   And so our pilgrim is singing, although I must add one                   P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

more element. His voice often breaks while he is singing.                                                Editor - REV. HERMAN HOEK~EMA

                                                                            Communications relative uo  contents should be addressed to
   And the reason is, first, because he is still a sinner.                                   Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
                                                                                                                        Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
   And the second reason is that he is still so far from his
                                                                            Al.l  matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
Home.                                                                                    James Dykstra,  1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.

                                                                                                                  Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
   He longs for God, and yearns for heaven, and thirsts for                 Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
the companionship of the rest of the church and the holy                    address and will be published at a fee of $2.00 for each notice.

angels of God.                                                              RENEWAL:  Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
                                                                            ceived it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
   But he will keep on singing, until God will say: Come                         to continue without the formality of a renewal order.

higher, up, My dear child! Your place is now ready!                                                      Subscription price: $5.00 per year

                                                                                 Second Cluss  postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan
   And then the tears are wiped away!



                                                                                                                              C O N T E N T S

                                                                         MEDITATION -
   I wrote the foregoing as a sort of epitaph for our brother
                                                                                 T h e Singing                     Pilgrim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Bern Lubbers.                                                                               Rev. G. Vos

   He sang the songs of David on his plow and harrow. His                EDITORIALS -
song  was in tune with heaven.                                                   "The Adam Question" ..__ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,172

                                                                                            Rev. H. Hoeksema
   But suddenly God said to him : It is enough ! Come home !

                                                                         As To B
   His song is now perfect, for he sings in heaven! Amen.                           OOKS -
                                                                                  The Old Testament View of Revelation ____...  . . .._____.. .._ .__.______  17.4
                                                                 G.V.             T h e Church's                      Witness                   to the                 World.. . . . .__  . . . . . ..___ ._........_.. 174

                                                                                  T h e       Stranger               of Galilee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..__._......................................                                                 174

                                                                                  The Theology of Karl Barth . .._.............___................................  174
                                                                                             Rev. H. Hoeksema


                           IN MEMORIAM                                   O U R  DOCTRINE-
                                                                                 The Book of Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
   Suddenly the Lord tdok to Himself our Beloved Husband, Father,
Grandfather, Great-Grandfather, and Brother,                                                 Rev. H. Hoeksema

                BERNARD LUBBERS, aged 79 years.                          A CLOUD OFWITNESSES-
                                                                                  Moses and "I Am" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
   We know that his life was Christ, and therefore his death was                             Rev. B. Woudenberg
gain. That is our comfort in this piercing grief.

                     Mrs. Bernard Lubbers-Meyer                          FROM HOLY WRIT  -
                     Mr. and Mrs. Dick Klamer-Lubbers                             Exposition of Matthew 18: 15-20.  ..: . . . . . . . ..: ._....... ..179
                     Mr. and Mrs. Gerrit Lubbers-&hut                                        Rev. G. Lubbers

                     Mr. and Mrs. George Schut-Lubbers
                     Mr. and Mrs. Jolm Lubbers-Klomp                     IN HIS FEAR -
                     Mr. and Mrs. Reynold VanBronkhorst-Lubbers                   Children                of Our Age                            (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

                     Mr. and Mrs. Fay Cornell-Lubbers                                        Rev. J. A. Heys
                     Miss Geraldine Lubbers
                     Mr. and Mrs. Rhine Lubbers-Veltema                  CONTENDING FOR THE FAXXH-                                                                    -
                     Mr. Cory Lubbers                                             The Church and the Sacraments ______._______,.__..........................  183

                     33 grandchildren                                                        R e v .   H .   Veldman
                     28 great-grandchildren
Psalm 119:54                                    Hudsonville, Michigan    SHOULD  OUR ADOLESCENTS BE ENCOURAGED TO PARTAXE
                                                                                  OF THE LORD'S  ~WPER?............................................................~~~
                                                                                             Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
                           IN MEMORIAM

                                                                         DECENCY AND ORDER-
   Our Men's Society wish to express their sympathy wi&  their                    The Sacraments .__................................................................... 188
fellow members Gerrit Lubbers, John Lubbers and Rhine Lubbers                                Rev. G. Vanden  Berg
in the loss of their Father,

                        BERNARD LUBBERS                                  ALLARouNDus-

                                                                                  Segregation in South Africa . . .._......_.__.__................................  190
whom the Lord took to Himself Wednesday, December 28, 1960.                       The Support of Our Christian Schools ____................................  190
   May the God of all grace comfort their hearts at the thought of                            Rev. H. Ha&o
the glorious resurrection from the dead.
                                                                         NEWS  FROM OUR CHuRcms  _____...___..,...,............................................  192
                                   The Hudsonville Men's Society
                                                                                              Mr. J. M. Faber
                                   Rev. Gerrit Vos, President
                                   Harry Zwak, Vice-President


 1     7    2
            . --       .                .    i .H i -!$?A  N b. i R D..::B  E A R E R                                  . _._ __.. _....


                                                                          With this we can all agree.  The opposite of this is sheer
II          El .D `I 9r 43' R. I A L s                                 hierarchy.
                                                                           As to the statement itself which was adopted by the

                                                                       General Synod, it is, evidently, the s&me  that was proposed

                    "The  Adam  Questiod'                              by the Theological Commission, which is as follows:
                                                                           "Fathers and brethren :
      The above is the title .of a pamphlet I received contain-            "Three matters were referred to the Theological Com-
ing a criticism of a certain decision adopted by the General           mission by the General Synod of 1959. The overture from
Synod of the Reformed Church in America. The criticism                 the Classis  of Pella, relative to the preparation of a New
was made by the Sixth Reformed Church of Paterson, New                 Statement of Faith, by its very nature a long range project.
Jersey and was published in pamphlet form by the Con-                  The Commission is making this matter the subject of a con-
sistory of that Church.                                                tinuing study in line with the overture. The overture froln

      The reader will probably remember that, some time ago,           the Classis  of Paramus, relative to the Inspiration of Scrip-

I wrote about the case-of a certain candidate for the ministry         ture, presents basic questions of the meaning of revelation,

who failed in his classical examination because he denied              the nature and function of creedal  statements, the interpreta-

that Adam was a historical person which denial was, of                 tion of the Belgic Confession, etc. After considerable dis-

course, also a denial of the historicity of the second and             cussion the Commission felt it advisable to make this subject

third chapters of the book of Genesis. I did not follow the            a matter of special study and present a statement on it to

case which, if I remember well,  was appealed to Synod, but            the next General Synod. Relative to the overture from the

as one reads this pamphlet one receives the impression that            Classis  of South Grand Rapids on the historicity of Genesis,

Synod virtually takes the same position as the candidate.              the Commission offers the- following declaration.

      In this pamphlet the Consistory of Sixth  Paterson, first            "The members of the Theological Commission are unan-
of all, enters in6the legal question. It maintains that Synod          imous in affirming the historical character of the Book of
did not have the right to maintain the itatements  in question.        Genesis. The biblical writer intended it to bea  presentation
We read:                                                               of history, and it ,was so understood by the New Testament
                                                                       writers. However we must be clear as to the nature of this
      "Does a :General  Synod have a legal right to adopt a
                                                                       history.
statement as to the belief of the churches and give it official            "It is of the essence of biblical faith that God is active in,
sanction, or even a semi-official  sapction,  without any referral
                                                                       and reveals Himself through events. God makes known His
of it to the classes and churches, without any previous dis-
                                                                       justice through acts of justice, His mercy through acts of
cussion of it in the classes and churches, and without  a vote'
                                                                       mercy, His salvation through acts of deliverance. God has
of approval of it by the classes and churches ?"
                                                                       carried forward His redemptive activity through the- events
      This question the Consistory answers in the negative:            recorded in the Bible. Therefore, when Israel confessed her.

      "We hold that General Synod does not have a leg&l  right         faith,,ahe  did so by recounting God's mighty acts on` her
to do so, because obviously, in the nearest comparable case,'          behalf. The significance of the Exodus e.g. was memorial-
it is unlawful for a General Synod to amend the.Constitution.          ized in the formula, "I am the Lord your God who brought
Any attempt to do so would be rejected as an unwarranted               you out of the land of Egypt," and was remembered and
and illegal usurpation. Synod can only recommend that the              celebrated at the great religious festivals. The preaching of
,classes  approve an amendment. `The classes discuss it, and if        the early church was, likewise, a recounting of God's re-
two-thirds of them approve it, only then can General Synod             demptive activity in the life, ministry, death, resurrection
,declare  it in effect as law.                                         and exaltation of Jesus Christ. Two things stand out in

      "Now if such is the case with the Constitution, so that          biblical faith : 1. God is personally active in His world ; 2.

no single session of a General Synod has the right to amend            Events are important because of their meaning for faith.

it, then certainly, in a tiuch  more serious case, the adoption, of    From this standpoint the narratives in Genesis are to be

statements affecting the Standards, which are above the Con-           viewed- as recounting how God is active in these events,

stitution, with which the Constitution must be in harmony,             anti as significant because of what has been revealed through

then how much less does a General Synod have a right, nay              them. The faith of the Bible is inseparably tied to historical

rather, how much more must it be illegal to decide theological         events. We protest against all attempts to divorce faith from

,questions  in a single session of General Synod. At the very          history and to reduce the word which God would speak to us

`least, the statement of the Theological Commission ought              to abstract information about His nature  and/or universal

to have been sent to the classes and churches and vote there-          principles of moral behavior."

.on. At the very least, no statement of such a nature should              Here we must stop a moment.

`be adopted or issued in the name of the Reformed Church in                We naturally ask the question: what do the members

America without the concurrence by vote, of two-thirds of              of the Theological Commission mean when they speak of

the classes."                                                          "history"     and of "events."    They affirm unanimously the


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D  B'EARER                                                      173


historical character of the book of Genesis. They say that          answer to the questions we asked. From this part of the
                                                     _ _
"the biblical writer intended it to be a presentation of his-       report of the Theological' Commission we still do not learn

tory." At the same time, however, they state that "we must          what they mean by history.     Negatively, indeed they state

be clear as to the nature of this history."                         that "by and large the writers of Scripture are not primarily

   What do they mean ?                                              interested in recording history in the manner of modern

   Do they mean that the first three or the first eleven chap-      scientific research, i.e., in presenting the exhaustive and de-

ters of the book of Genesis present a record of "events" or of      tailed accounts of what actually happened."

facts as they actually occurred? Do they believe that God              But what are they interested in?

created the world in six days ? Do they believe that it is an          Are they recording actual facts or are they not? To be

actual fact that Adam was the first real, historical person,        sure, in the "events" God revealed Himself to His people,

that God formed him out of the dust of the ground and               although He also revealed Himself in the spoken Word and

breathed .-into  his nostrils the breath of life? Do they be-       not only in the facts of history. But what we are interested

lieve that God formed the first woman from a rib of Adam?           in is an answer to the question: were these "events" actual

Do they believe, when they speak of the history recorded in         facts and did they ieally  happen just as they were recorded?

the book of Genesis, that the garden of Eden was an actual          If they were not facts and if they did not actually take place,

garden and that the tree of life and the,, tree of knotiledge       and if the biblical writers, nevertheless, presented them as

of good and evil were actual trees ? Is it actual history, not      historical facts, they are simply liars, and God surely does

only that man fell but that his fall consisted in the disobe-       not reveal Himself through the lie.

dience of eating of the forbidden fruit? Do they maintain              To my mind, the Theological Commission and also the

that Satan tempted the woman and, through the woman,                General Synod that adopted this report do not believe that
tempted Adam, and `that the devil came in the form of a             the first three chapters of Genesis record actual history. This
serpent?                                                            is also evident from what follows in this same report:

   In one word: what do they mean by the history recorded              "All the members of the Theological Cpdmmission  hold to

in the first chapters of Genesis ? What kind of history is it       the fact of creation by God." We ask how? As it is recorded
that does not record actual "events" or facts ?                     in Genesis 1 ?

   They furnish us with an answer, although the answer is              They also hold "to the reality of the fall." Again we ask

vague, in what follows. And now we quote again:                     how? As it is recorded in Genesis 3 ? They hold to the fall
   "It is of the essence of biblical history that it is always      of man "as an event within history." We naturally ask : what

placed in a religious context. The prophets and apostles are        kind of history ? Why do they not define history? And they

the great writers and interpreters of history. It was God's         also hold to "the involvement of the entire race in sin." And

purpose, through the Scriptural authors, to communicate to          again we ask : how? Was it because, as Scripture presents
the covenant community the religious meaning of events.             the matter, the historical Adam was the head of the entire

This is specialized. treatment of selected events. By and large     human race and his first sin is imputed to all so that, as' the

the writers of Scriptur'e  are not primarily interested in re-      Bible clearly speaks of it, we must believe in original guilt?

cording history in the manner of modern scientific resetirch,       And was the entire race organically in the loins of Adam, so

i.e., in-presenting .the, exhaustive .and detailed accounts of      that we must also speak of the original corruption of the

what actually happened. What is set forth is a witness, a           human nature ?

proclaiming. `from faith to faith' the mighty deeds of God             More of this in our next issue, D.V.

for our redemption, together with their .significance  for life.                                                              H.H.

Through various literary means - poetry, prose, parable,

sage,  etc. - God is concerned to reveal that in history which

transcends mere factual ,report - e.g. the spiritual forces at
work, the divinely appoint$ goal, the divine activity, the                      Teaching  Positions  AvaiIabIe

piace  of the event within the divine program and its signif-          The South Holland-Oak Lawn Protestant Reformed
icance for faith. It is just this beyondness, this transcendent     School Association plans, D.V., to open its school in Sep
element, which makes history important to the biblical au-
                                                                    tember of 1961.
thor. `We believe that the book of Genesis should be read in
the light of this biblical faith and this understanding of his-        In accordance with the rules of our Federation that

tory. It is out of a deep religious concern for the biblical        "schools are permitted to advertise their need for personnel

word that we wish to caution against a superficial treatment        as soon as a vacancy becomes known," we hereby notify all
of biblical history which imposes upon it a framework bas-          teachers and prospective teachers that teaching positions will
ically secular and essentially foreign to it. All such attempts     be available for grades one through Junior High.
are bound to lead to error and misunderstanding."
   There you have it.                                                       The Association for Protestant Reformed Education

   It is all very general and vague. It does not furnish an                 9402 South 53rd Cdurt,  Oak Lawn; Illinois

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


                                                                            The style is clear and the language is good. I recom-
 II             A S   T"O  B O O K S                                 II     mend this book to our readers. It may also be used as a
                                                                            guide for the discussion of this Confession in our societies,

                                                                            for which it was originally intended.
       The Old-Testament View Of Revelation by James G. S.                    Of course, this does not mean that I subscribe to. the
  S. Thomson. Published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing                       entire contents of the book. I do not, for instance, agree with
  Company, Grand Rapids, Mich.,  Price $2.50.                              what the author writes about "the small remnants" on pp.

       This is in many respects a valuable book. It can be read,           263 ff.                                                      H.H.

 I think, not only by theologians, but also by any intelligent
 reader. The transcribed Hebrew terms will cause not much                      The Stmsgei  of Galilee by R. E. 0. White. Published by
 difficulty .because  they are translated and explained. The               Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Mich.  Price $3.50.

 author begins by giving his definition of revelation and then,                This is, in my opinion, a beautifully and spiritually writ-

 in the first chapter, continues to discuss the vocabulary of              ten "life of Christ."    It speaks of Jesus' preparation for the

 revelation, its necessity, act, word and response in revelation,          ministry, of its beginnings, of H.is miracles and teaching, of

 its possibility, and closes this chapter by a page or two on              His being rejected, of His final suffering and death on the

 man's knowledge of God in which he emphasizes that man                    cross, of His resurrection and exaltation and in the last chap-

 can never know God fully but only in part. The next two                   ter of Jesus as the Master of men, as the Son of God, as the

 chapters speak of the means whereby God reveals Himself                   Lord of life ; of the Spirit given to and dwelling in the

 such as the acts of God, dreams and visidns, the Angel of                 Church and, finally, of His coming again on the clouds of

 Jehovah, etc. In chapter 4 he discusses the Word of God                   heaven.

 both as the spoken and written Word. And in the two clos-                     The style and language of the book is quite in harmony

 ing chapters he speaks of the God of revelation.                          with its richly spiritual contents.

       The weakne;$  of the book is, to my mind, exactly that                  I could wish that what the author writes on p. 15 were a
 the  author, as the title of the book already indicates, treats           slip of the pen ; it is this : "God had done much to make
 of revelation in the Old Testament only. Yet, even so he                  straight his way, but the doors  of the human heart only
 could and should have found the revelation of Christ (taber-              human hands can open."       If this were true no one would be
 nacle and temple, sacrifice and shadows) also in the Old                  saved. This should be: no human hands but only God can
 Testament. This he does not do. This is already evident                   open. the doors of the heart of man.                         H.H.

 from the definition he offers of revelation : "the self dis-
                                                                               The Thmlogy  of Karl Barth, by G. C. Berkhouwer. Pub-
 closure of .God," or : "it means quite simply that God mikes
                                                                           lished by Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids,
 Himself known." This should be: "the self disclosure of
                                                                           Mich.  Price [paperback) $2.45.                         :
 God in Christ." Apart from Jesus Christ there is no revela-
tion of God, not even "in nature."                                             This book is translated from the Dutch by Harry R.
                                                                           Boer who, by the way, made an excellent.job  of it. The com-
       Nevertheless, this book is very much worth reading and
                                                                           plete title is : The T&W@  of Grace  Zs$  the Theology of
as such I recommend it to the intelligent reader.             H.H.
                                                                           Karl Ba;vth. It was first published in the Dutch in 1956.

       The Chuc4's Witness To The World, by Dr. P. Y. De                   From this viewpoint the book is somewhat premature for
Jong. Published by the Pella Publishing Inc., Pella, Iowa.                 since that time I have received more volumes of Barth's
Price $3.95 ; paper copy $3.00.                                            Dogmatics.
                                                                               Nevertheless, if anyone is interested in studying the
       In a Preface the author writes: "This book attempts too             theology of Karl Barth (I mean any theologian, not the
much and accomplishes too little." I do not know whether                   general public) he cannot afford to miss reading this book of
,or not this is true, but I did have the experience that when              Berkhouwer. It will serve as an excellent introduction to
I read the title of the book The Chu&`s Witness To The                     the study of Karl Barth. It is by no means easy to become
 LVorld and then opened it and started to read it, I was                   acquainted with this theology. Barth is, to my mind, a j
somewhat surprised'for  the title caused me to expect some-                very dark writer. To me he leaves the impression, not so
thing different from what the contents of the book offers.                 much that he is intentionally dark and ambiguous, but `rather
       The book is a rather elaborate and thorough as well as              that the concepts which he attempts to develop are not clear
sound exposition of the first fifteen articles of the Belgic or            before his own mind. As an illustration I may point to his
Netherland Confession. of Faith.                                           view of the chaos mentioned in Gen. 1 :2. I quote from Berk-

       The author first writes a rather long but very interesting          houwer's book p. 58:

introduction in which he discusses the rise of the Reforma-                   "Here we read of the `tohu wabohu' (without form and

tion, the author Guido de Bres, the official adoption of the               void) and of the antithesis between light and darkness. Barth

Confession, etc. Thereupon he begins to discuss each article,              rejects the interpretation that Gen. 1:2 Iteaches  a state of

i n c l u d i n g   a r t i c l e   1 5 .   `.                             chaos which preceded the act of creation, as also the view


                                            T H E   STANND-ARD   . B E A R . . E R                                                  175



that it teaches the existence of an as yet unformed material
mass which God fashioned into a harmonious cosmos. He                    7'.
                                                                              O U R   D O C T R I N E                                 1
believes a third interpretation is possible, namely that the

tohu zPrab,o?r.u  speaks of the earth as chaos and darkness,

abyss, utter darkness, nothingness, vanity, `a situation with-                      THE  BOOK  OF REVEZATION
out hope.' The darkness which was on the face of the deep

means danger.  This does not imply a dualistic cosmogeny,                                       PART TWO

but points precisely to the victory of God, to the tria&%phant

Yes which becomes evident in this, that God overcomes  the                                  CHAPTER  SEVENTEEN
danger that threatens His creation."

   And further :                                                                             The Fall of Babylon

   "Gen. 12. does not speak of a world which God created,
                                                                                       Revelation 18 (See your Bible)
but precisely of a world which God did not create and which,

in fact, he passes by in disdain."
                                                                            There is no cry of the suffering. There is no groan of
   And again :                                                           the poor. There is no complaint of the wronged. There is
   "In the act of creation God excluded this other, this dark            the gathering of all the blessings of science and art and
possibility. This does not mean, however, that this other,               industry. There is equality and justice and brotherhood.
this rejected world does ,not have reality. Also this rejected           There is found the climax of man's attainment, the realiza-
possibility is reality. Also this world, albeit `in its own ab-          tion of the number Six &ndred s&y-six.  But there is also
surd manner,' leas  reality. It was in its reality- though               found the very height of iniquity and godlessness. Of her.
rejected -active as a shadow which also lay on the world                 we read that her sins have reached to heaven, and they have
which God willed and created." . . . .                                   risen mountain-high, so that she deceived'all  the nations of

   I ask the question : does Barth clearly understand his own            the earth with her sorceries, and that the blood of prophets

language 1 Or is he intentionally vague and ambiguous ?                  and saints and of all that have been slain upon the earth is

    The same is true of Barth's conception of election and               flowing through her streets. Her antitype, therefore, is

reprobation which also Berkhouwer criticizes, p. 111 ff. Ac-             Sodom and Gomorrah, the wicked center of godlessness and

cording to Barth, Christ is the reprobate or rather He took              luxury of old. Also there was luxury and splendor and
all reprobation upon Himself and through His death took                  riches and no want. But also there the voice of their iniquity

all reprobation away forever. On the other hand Barth                    cried to Jehovah Sabbaoth, so that He remembered their

denies universalism  or the apokatasis  pantoon.  Here, it               sins. In the pride of her wantonness and the rottenness of

seems to me, he uses terms that have always been under-                  her luxurious living she blasphemes the name of Jehovah'.

stood by the church and in the history of dogma in a certain             She arose in wanton rebellion against the Almighty, fought

definite way and attaches an entirely different meaning to               against the Lamb and against His saints, and proudly mani-

them. But again I ask : .does Barth understand his own                   fests the emblem of the image of the beast. She is also

terms ?                                                                  world-controlling in her wicked luxury and godlessness.

    But let this be enough.                                                 As to the fall of this great, metropolitan city, we may
                                                                         remark, in the first place, that the manner of it is not
    I wish to repeat that one that wishes to study the theology
                                                                         definitely described in the chapter. In the first place, we
of Karl Barth cannot afford to ignore this book of Berk-
                                                                         may notice that this is generally the case when pictures con-
houwer. It is true that his criticism of Barth is very mii&
                                                                         cerning the end are held before us in the Word of God. We
but this may be even a good feature of the book.
                                                                         usually are not told in detail just exactly how the end shall
    In a closing chapter Berkhouwer offers a rather severe               be. We are informed that Christ shall come, and that He
criticism of Van Til's views on Barth's Theology.                H.H.
                                                                         shall come with the clouds; but we are not told the details

                                                                         of `that coming. We must be content with the facts. We are

                                                                         told that God's people shall be delivered and that they shall
                         IN MEMORIAM
                                                                         have no part with the very final judgment of the world ; but
   The Ladies' Society wishes to express its sympathy with our
                                                                         exactly how this shall take place is hidden behind the veil of
fellow members, Mrs. Gerrit Lubbers, Mrs. John Lubbers, and Mrs.
Rhine Lubbers, who suddenly lost their Father;                           symbolism. We must be satisfied with the facts. The New
                      BERNARD LUBBERS                                    Jerusalem is to come down from heaven and shall have domin-

                                                                         ion over the new heaven and the new earth ; but also this
   May God in His great mercy remember them and the bereaved
family in this grievous loss. May we all remember that there is but      greatest of all events is clothed with the garb of highest sym-
one step between us and death!                                           bolism, and the manner how is left in the dark. The same
                                  The Hudsonville Ladies' Society        is true of Babylon. We are told that she shall come to her
                                  Rev. Gerrit Vos, President
                                                                         final destruction. As we have remarked in a former connec-
                                  Mrs. Bert Maring, Secretary


176                                        T H E   S:TANDA.RD  B E A R E R


tion, we are also told in general outlines that the devil shall       the fall of Babylon, namely, that it shall evidently be com-

be the cause of his own destruction-a fact which is re-               plete and final. It shall be the last of Babylon and her anti-

peatedly become plain in history and which lies in the nature         Christian power. She shall never be rebuilt. `Her utter

of, the case. He shall rouse the nations against his own king-        desolation is directly pictured in the words of the mighty

dom, not indeed for that purpose, but to war against Jehovah.         angel, vs. 2 : "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is

But in the meantime he shall fulfill God's own counsel, and           become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul

he shall work for his own destruction. But exactly how the            spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." So

devil shall do this we are not informed. Most natural it is,          the prophet Isaiah had pictured the fall of Babylon before,

indeed, to assume that the satanic influence of Antichrist            a fall which was particularly fulfilled in the destruction of

in the world of nations that live at the four corners of the          literal Babylon, but which shall reach its complete realization

earth shall ultimately have the result that they rise in enmity       in the fall of the great antichristian power: "And Babylon,

against the world of Christendom, which is really the anti-           the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency,

Christendom of the beast; and, thinking that they shall strike        shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It

at the Lamb and His people, they shall destroy the beast.             shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from

For that same reason I would take the address in verses 6             generation to generation : neither shall the Arabian pitch tent

and 7 as meant not for God's people, but rather for the na-           there ; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But

tions that must execute God's wrath upon Babylon. Out-                wild beasts of the desert shall lie there ; and their houses

wardly it would seem to contradict this statement. For we             shall be full of doleful creatures ; and owls shall dwell there,

read :    "Reward her even as she rewarded you," which                and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the

evidently would be addressed to the people of God. But in             islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their

the original this impression is not given. We simply read :           pleasant palaces : and her time is near to come, and her days

"Render unto her even as she is rendered, and double unto             shall not be prolonged." Isaiah 13:19-22.  The same is in-

her double accor,ding  to her works: in the cup which she             dicated in verse 8 of our chapter, were we read: "Therefore

mingled mingle. unto her double. How much soever  she                 shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and

glorified herself and waxed wanton, so much give unto her             famine ; and she shall be utterly burned with fire : for strong

of torment and mourning."         It is true, the nations that        is the Lord God who judgeth her." And lastly, this is pic-

execute this wrath of God upon Babylon will have an entirely          tured once again in verses 22 and 23 of our chapter, where

different purpose in mind. Their purpose will undoubtedly             the angel announces her future condition: "And the voice of

be to strike at the power of the Lamb and His people. And             harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall

this very purpose becomes their sin and their guilt. But              be heard no more at all in thee ; and no craftsman, of what-

the fact remains that through this God may execute His                soever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee ; and the

own will and counsel, even as through the pride and self-             sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;

exaltation of Jehu, for which he was afterward rebuked and            And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee ;

punished, God sent His punishment upon the house of Ahab.             and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be

However this may be, Babylon shall fall. That is the cer-             heard no more at all in thee." In a word, it is a picture of

tainty of our text and of our chapter. And this is pictured           utter desolation that is drawn before our eyes. Instead of

twice. In the first place, it is announced by the strong and          the splendor of her appearance, she now shows the appear-

powerful angel with great authority who comes down from               ance of a hole of demons and evil spirits and wild and un-

heaven and shouts, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great." The         clean beasts. Instead of the joyful light and illumination of

certainty of her fall is indicated in the perfect tense. The          her festive streets, there is now absolute darkness: for even

.angel speaks as if the city is fallen already, even though           the light of a candle shall shine no more. Instead of the bustle

evidently that fall is still anticipated, to indicate that her        of machinery, the joyful sound of music, the glad voice of

,doom  is certain. And again, the certainty `of her doom is           bride and bridegroom, there is now a doleful and gloomy

.also  expressed in the repetition of the word "fallen." Babylon      silence. Babylon is turned into a region of death and destruc-

shall surely fall. The certainty of that fall is so great, and the    tion. All her glory is gone in one hour, and that forever. It

fall is SO imminent, that it is as though it had already taken        is the final and complete judgment upon Babylon. She has
place. And, in the second place, we are told of this fall of          committed fornication with the kings and princes of the

Babylon symbolically in the picture of the angel that comes           world. She has made the nations drunk with the wine of her

.down  from heaven and, taking up a great millstone, casts it         fornication. She has deceived them all with her sorceries. In

into the sea, explaining, "Thus with violence shall that great        her was found the blood of all the saints and prophets. She

city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more               has made war with the Lamb throughout the ages. Her in-

.at all." And therefore we receive the information that the           iquity rises to heaven. Therefore, in one hour is her final

fall of Babylon is certain, as well as that it shall be sudden        and complete destruction come. God judges her rightly:

and complete and that it shall be found no more at all.               according to what she has done she is rewarded.

       The last consideration leads us to the second thought on                                                                 H.H.


                                             T      H    E     STAND,ARDBEARER                                                      177


                                                                           had given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the promises: that
I/ A CLOUD OF WTNESSES 11                                                  He would be a God unto them, that He would bless them,
                                                                           that He. would give to them the land of Canaan and to their

                                                                           seed forever. His very name implied faithfulness to these

                        Moses and "I Am"                                   promises. He would no; change ; no one could force Him to
                                                                           change ; He was able to bring it to pass. Israel would be
            And God said u.nto Moses, I AM THAT I AM:                      saved from the bondage of Egypt unto the land of covenant
         and h.e said, Thus  shalt thou say unto the children of
                                                                           promise. This would be His memorial unto all generations,
         Israel,  I AM hat12 sent we z&n&  310~.
                                                                           God's people would surely be saved.
            . . .    This is my YMZWM  for ever, a.md  this  is why
         memo9+al  2mto all generations.            Exodus 3 : 14, 15         In the presence of God Moses trembled and quaked. He
                                                                           was so very small. For forty years in the wilderness he had
   I AM THAT I AM, this is a most profound and glorious                    been pondering this fact. He had learned to recognize and
n&me.                                                                      acknowledge the folly of his youth when he had thought to
   It is to this name that the heart of every man aspires. NO              do something for God. He had learned the wickedness of
desire is more dear to man than to be able to say, "I am                   his impatience when he had not waited for a calling and an
that which I have determined myself to be." Was not this                   authoritative name in which he could act. He had learned to
the dream that filled the heart of Eve when she rejected the               know his sin. Through the years of wandering in the wilder-
word of God for the promise of the devil, "ye shall be as                  ness he had become ever smaller in his own esteem. But now
gods, knowing good and evil" ? It is a deep-set urge, to be                he stood in the presence of God and he was not yet small
self-sufficient, to be self-determining, self-providing, and,              enough. Quickly he shed his shoes, but the dust and sin of
could it be, self-existent. But, in spite of all this longing and          the ways he had trod still seemed to cleave to his feet. He
even trying, it can not  be. Man is what he is made to be, by              covered his face for shame, but still the uncleanness of his
his heredity and by his environment, by the constant flow of               face and lips seemed openly exposed. He was afraid, and at
influences which press in upon his life, by his friends and                the sound of that voice he trembled. He was so very small,
foes, by riches and poverty, by prosperity and adversity, by               and he stood in the presence of God.         '
wars .and peace. Pride tells man he should be self-made.                      Then God spoke, "I have surely seen the affliction of
Reality is that countless determining factors mold him from                my people . . . Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto
without. If he is honest, man must say, "I am what God                     Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children
has determined that I should be."                                          of Israel out of Egypt."

   He before whom Moses stood said, "I AM THAT I                              Moses heard these words with amazement. At this

AM," and He said it in truth. He was Jehovah God, and                      moment he felt his own nothingness as never before, and at

He is the ,.same  even now. He is the source of His own                    the same moment God was telling him that he must go to

being, His own life, His own existence. There is nothing                   deliver Israel from Egypt. This was to his mind impossible.

that forms or molds or influences Him from without. He has                 Forty years before he would have welcomed the opportunity ;

determined what He shall be, and even so He is. There is                   but not now. He had learned to know himself too well. He

none over Him ; there is none next to Him ; there is no one                was not the man to do a work like that. "Who am I," he

to whom He must adapt. Nothing can change Him; nothing                     answered back, "that I should go unto Pharaoh, that thou

can degrade Him or raise Him up ; nothing can make Him                     mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of

be different. This is even more wonderful when we con-                     Egypt."

sider that within His being there is a cotisel concerning all                 God spoke again "Certainly I will be with thee ; and this

things that take place in time. He does not exist alone, in                shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou

isolation from all of the vicissitudes of time.               His being    hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve

stands in immediate contact with them all. But still He                    God upon this mountain." Moses need not fear his own in-

remains the "I AM THAT I AM." He influences all the                        ability. God would be with him. That he was nothing in

circumstances of time ; but Himself is influenced by none. He              himself did not matter.     God would be there to supply all

determines all things; but Himself is determined by none.                  that he lacked. God would even give to him a token of his

He sustains all things ; but Himself is sustained by none. He              calling, a promise that they would come to worship at the

creates all things ; but Himself is created by none. He is the             very mountain where he now stood.

greatest of all, the only "I AM THAT I AM"; He is Jeho-                       But Moses was not afraid just of himself. He feared the

vah God.                                                                   people. What would they say ? Would they receive him as

    "The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham,                     a leader? He remembered so well those taunting jeers from

the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" spoke unto Moses                   the past, "Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us ?" How
applying unto Himself that name. This made His presence                    could he possibly make them understand ? How could he

so eminently iinportant.  The same Who called Himself I                    convince them that this time it was different? What would

AM identified Himself as the God of the covenant. He                       be the proof of his authority ? To Moses it appeared to be


17s                                        Tl3E. S.T.ANDARD   B E A R E R


hopeless, and he feared even to try. `He dared not return to        passed down for many generations, "Because thou hast done
those ,who  had rejected him before. "Behold, when I come           this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast

unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God       of the field ; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou
of your fathers hath sent me unto you ; and they shall say          eat all the days of thy life."    The serpent was a symbol of
to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them ?"              Satan and his wicked power. In revulsion and fear Moses

   It was then that God answered, "I AM THAT I AM:                  drew back. But according to the command of God he reached

Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath          forth his hand to grasp the serpent by the tail, and it was

sent me unto you." With that name Moses could go forth in           transformed to a rod again. It meant that Moses' rod would

boldness to speak to anyone, it mattered not who. He could          have complete control over the power of Satan to release it

speak to the people of Israel ; he could speak to the elders of     and control it according to the power of God.

Israel ; he could speak to Pharaoh himself. That which he              Again God spoke unto him. "Put now thine hand into thy
would announce in the name of the I AM did not depend               bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he
upon their response. Moses need not go trying to convince           took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow." This re-
or persuade those to whom he spoke as though the desire of          flected upon Moses himself. Leprosy is a horrible disease
God depended upon them. He is self-determining and able             with which the body very literally rots away. In the old
to perform His own will. This was of utmost importance for          dispensation this disease was considered a symbol of the
Moses to understand. Because he was going in the name of            corruption of sin. Of those who had this disease it could be
I AM, he need have no fear for what the outcome would be.           seen that their bodies were literally dying, even as sin is
He could be confident that, regardless of what men might do,        always killing the soul. Now suddenly Moses found himself
God's purpose and promise would be realized. God told him           to have contracted that terrible disease. It was as though all
beforehand- what he should say to Pharaoh: "Say unto him,           at once the sin which he knew was within him had come to
The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now               the surface. To Moses it was as though he was being exposed
let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilder-    and condemned before the justice of God. But again God
ness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God." Even more,        spoke, "Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put
God warned him beforehand that, although that command of            his hand into his bosom again ; and plucked it out of his
Pharaoh wo.uld  be minimal, Pharaoh would not listen. "And          bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh."
I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not       Here again was the power of the I AM symbolically pre-
by a mighty hand."      But this mattered not; God would tell       sented, a power able even to wash away the corruption of sin.
Moses beforehand what the end result would be. "And I will
                                                                       Still there was more. God continued to speak. "And it
stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders
                                                                    shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two
which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will
                                                                    signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of
let you go. And I will give this people favour in the sight of
                                                                    the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and
the Egyptian: and it shall come to pass that, when ye go, ye
                                                                    the water which thou takest out of the river shall become
shall not go empty." God's will would surely be performed.
                                                                    blood upon the dry land."     This was to be the first of the
       Still Moses hesitated. He feared the people, for he knew
                                                                    ten great plagues that would come in judgment upon
how obstinate they could be. Mere words would not be
                                                                    Egypt. Each in its own way would demonstrate the power
,enough  for them even though they were the people of God.
                                                                    of the I AM whose will none can resist.
"`Behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken to my voice:

for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee."              Moses did not want to go back to Egypt. He was afraid,

       "And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand ?    afraid of Pharaoh, afraid of the children of Israel, afraid of
And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground.             himself. Almost as a move of desperation he presented one
And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and          more excuse. "0 my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither hereto-
Moses fled from before it. And the Lord said unto Moses,            fore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant; but I am
Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put           slow of speech, and of a slow tongue." Through the years of
forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his           lonely wandering in the desert his tongue had grown thick,
hand."     The rod had served to identify Moses as a shepherd       his words were slow and halting. But what was this before
in the land of Midian.  Henceforth it would serve to, identify      the Lord.    "Who hath made man's mouth ? or who maketh
him as the shepherd of God's chosen people. Through that            the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind ? have not I the
rod marvelous works would be performed. The power of                Lord ?" In fact when Moses continued to object, the Lord
Moses' calling would be made clearly manifest. Even now as          told him with a tone of anger that preparations already had
he cast the rod to the ground it was changed into a serpent.        been made. "Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother ? I know that
Moses knew the significance of a serpent. As a child upon           he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh  forth to meet
.his  parents  knee he had been told of the use to which the        thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.
serpent had been subjected in the garden of Eden. He re-            And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth :

membered the word of God to the serpent as it had been                                  (Conttnued  on page 180)


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   -B&A.RER                                                      179


                                                                     his sin and unrepentance, then it is not up to us whether
11  F R O M   H.OLY  Ii'RIT 11                                       such a one shall be "considered,' a heathen and a publican,
                                                                     but the command of Christ is, "Let him then be unto you" a

                                                                     heathen and publican. It has the sanction  of God in Christ !
          Exposition  of Matthew  18: 15-20                             That this is a most tender and loving and righteous task

                                                                     on the part of him whs  would seek to restore an erring
                               a.
                                                                     brother is clearly taught in Matthew 18. And that this is

   The well-known passage from Matthew 18 which we will              difficult, that it is really the straight and narrow way is

now consider is not always understood ; it often is referred to      equally obvious from the text.

merely as a formal, mechanical rule and norm for dealing                Jesus begins by pointing out a definite "case." It is the

with an offending brother without understanding its spiritual        most difficult case thinkable. It is the case when a brother

import ; that it is a fundamental order in God's church who          has sinned against me. Jesus says, "If thy brother shall

must exercise the keys of the Kingdom of heaven. That it             trespass against thee."    This is objectively possible. It often

is a good and proper way is then understood. But that only           happens. And thus Jesus states the matter.

she is the church who walks in this way is then not fully               It should be noticed, first of all, that the man who sins

grasped ; where this way of the Key-power that leads either          against me is my brother in Christ. Since the Scriptures are

to heaven or to hell clearly and unequivocally confessed.            masculine it may also mean rra  sister." It is at least one who

    Only the church that insists that its members walk in this       confesses to believe in Christ, to be a believer in the Lord, a

way has the right to call itself church. Be it then two or           new creature in Christ, who daily must put off the old man

three who gathered in Christ's Name, there is Christ in              and put on the new man. He inust  be daily sincerely sorry

their midst; here Christ stands in the midst of the candle-          for his sins, that he has sinned against God, and have a true

sticks. All~other  methods of bringing men to repentance soon        joy in God through Christ, and with love and delight to live

reveal themselves to be shot through with worldly diplomacy,         according to the will of God in all good works.

leaving the church guilty of the blood of those who perished            Such is the brother and sister who has s'inned  against us.

in their sins. Thus we read in Ezekiel 3 :lS-21: "Son of man,           There is a difference in the reading of -the  text which

I made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel ; therefore          should be pointed out. It is the matter of whether we should

hear the word at my mouth, and give them wwuzing  from me.           read : "If thy brother has sinned,' or "if thjr brother has

When I say unto the wicked thou shalt surely die ; and thou          sinned ag&mt  thee."       It is quite evident from the entire

givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked              Scripture that if a brother has sinned a sin-we are to

from his wicked way, to suve his life; the same wicked man           restore such a one in the spirit of meekness. We are to do

shall die in his iniquity ; but his blood will I require at thine    this irrespective of whether this was a sin against our person

hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his          or not. See Gal. 6 :l where we read: "Brethren, if a man be

wickedness, nor from his wicked -way, he shall die in his            overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an

iniquity ; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, when a           one in the spirit of meekness . . ." See also James 5 :19, 20 :

righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit           "Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one con-

iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die ;      vert him ; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner

because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his         from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and

sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be           shall hide a multitude of sins." However, the question is what

remembered ; but his blood will I require at thine hand.             does Jesus teach us here in Matthew 18 ? Does he merely

Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the right-         refer to a brother who sins, or does he refer to a brother

eous sin not, and he doth not sin, because he is warned ; also       who has sinned against us, against me?

thou hast delivered thy soul."                                          We believe that the reading followed in the King James

    Such was the burden of Ezekiel in his day in Israel.             Version, the Holland Staten Vertaling  and the German trans-

    And such is also the burden upon each one, who has a             lation is correct. The reading "sinned against thee" must be

brother sin against him, in the New Testament church in              retained. In the first place, it seems to us, because that is the
the world.                                                           way Peter understood the expression, when he said, "Lord,

    For, let it be clearly understood at the outset of this          how often shall my brother sin against me (eis eme) and I

essay, that it is not simply left to our discretion, whether we      forgive him ?'    Peter does tiot  ask simply "how often shall

desire to "gain the brother" who has either sinneg  in general,      my brother sin" and nothing more. In the second place, be-

or more particularly against us, but such is the precept of the      cause jesus follows through with this question, this outburst

Lord to us; such is our high and holy calling to every one           of Peter, and tells him that it must be till seventy times seven

who has sinned against us. Let it be understood that we              times, and illustrates the point with the beautiful and in-

become guilty of the "blood" of such a one who has sinned -          structive parable concerning forgiveness from the heart. And,

if we do not reprove and warn him of his sin! And if finally         in the third place, because Jesus here really teaches what full

someone does not kecd  the warning and hardens himself in            forgiveness is. It is the acid test of real. Christianity. It is


180                                        T H E   ST:fiN.QARQ  .B%:ARER


the most difficult case. If one can walk this last pile of love      see the brother who has sinned against him is love. It may

and forgiveness, one has come to what John calls "perfected          be a long walk to see, the. offending brother. Particularly

love."    Then one is perfect even as our Father in heaven is        when the flesh enters in. Hodever;  wher&bve  impels us that

peyfect.  When one can perform this act of faith and lqve  one       way is very short; the commandment to. see the brother is

can do anything to restore the brother also in sins which are        not grievous.              _., " . .
                                                                                               . .
not committed against his person.                                        We will then be very eager to see the brother.

    The text therefore stands: If thy brother have sinned                It may be that we need to pray much before we go to

agajnrf  thee !                                                      see the brother; we will then understand the love of the

    Another element which we must too underscore is that             shepherd who goes  to find the sheep that was lost. Maybe an

we must be certain that what the brother has done was                "eye must be pulled  out" and a "hand cut off." It is possible

indeed sin on the part of the brother! This element is rather        that, when we must go all a.lon,e that we will once more exam-

important to be remembered. It must be, objectively con-             ine the facts, humble ourselves, remember the time(s) that

sidered, sin! There is a difference between giving offence           we ourselves were guilty of the same sin, and go to the

and taking offence.  Besides, what the brother has done              brother in the "spirit of meekness." We will first pull the

"against" us must be of such a nature that it is "sin," it must      beam out of our own eye.         However, then if we are fully

be against the law of God, and, therefore, incompatible with         certain that the brother has "sinned" and that if he does

the end of the law, to wit, love out of a pure heart, and of a       not confess it he will perish in his impenitence ; that un-

good conscience and of faith unfeigned. For the brother must         less he is told by us we will be guilty of his blood, then we

not be attacked, but must be sawed,. he must be gained. The          can go in a good conscience in the hope of winning a brother.

sin must be of such a nature, that, if not confessed he will             Nay, not simply win a brother to ourselves, but win him

pevisls  in this sin! And, if finally this has been brought to       first of all for the Lord, His kingdom, the church, and for his

the brother's attention and the brother is "convicted" he will       own good and free conscience to fight against sin and the

needs have to be accounted a "heathen and a publican" !              devil !

    Such is the "case" Jesus here presents to the disciples.             He that thus is the means for the conversion of a sinner
    And it is intended to show who is really great in the king-      (brother) from the error of his way has saved a soul from
dom of heaven:; who is really like "this child,,' having a child-    death and has covered a multitude of sins.
like faith and love, which will believe all things, hope all             Now there is a possibility that the brother is not "gained."
things and endure all things. It is a love which is vitalized        He does not at all show signs of true repentance.
by the thought that it is not the will of the Father that one
                                                                         Although he is "convicted,' he will not confess that he is
of these shall perish, and that I have a dalling  toward the
                                                                     sincerely sorry ; he will not ask for forgiveness, but continues
brother lest I be guilty of his blood when he perishes.
                                                                     to walk in this "sin."    Then of course the first step is really
    Now in such a case there is one mapner of procedure
                                                                     there already for his ultimate "excommunication," that is,
which has the sanction of Christ, and only  one!
                                                                     that he be considered by the entire church, before the face of
    If I am to gain this brother I am to "go and tell him his
                                                                     God, as a heathen and a publican. For when "sin" is in-
fault between thee and him alone." The term "tell him his
                                                                     volved, actual sin,.then  it is a matter of life and death.
fault" really should read "go and convict him between thee
.and him alone." There must be a conviction of sin! It must              Then the church is brought in.

not simply be brought to his attention that he has sinned in             For the word must be established. And this must be

your opinion, but it must be shown to him that what he did           thus not simply before men, but before God. For the word of

-toward you W&Z  &deed  sin! He must be convicted that he is         two or three witnesses shall stand.
guilty. It must be bound upon his sanctified conscience. He              More of this next time, D.V.                               G.L.

must be overcome by the "argument," by the statement of the

facts, and that too, in such a way, that should he not give

heed in his own mind and conscience, he is `convicted of sin
                                                                                         A CLOUD OF WITNESSES
.by the Holy Ghost. Unless that is done - one is still guilty
.of  such a man's sin.                                                                   (Continued from page 178)
    And this must be done by us all alone. It must be most ab-       and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will
solutely alone. Only the Lord may be present. And this means         teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman
?hat not only the visit must be alone, but it must not               unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee in-,
-have become the common knowledge of everyone else, if the           stead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.
.sin is not public. And that has a good discipline in it. It is      And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou.
-the discipline that calls for love. And, if one does not desire     shalt do signs."

to go to his offending brother, one does not desire to save              Moses himself was the first to learn that it was impossible

him from sin at all. He hates the brother even though he             to resist the I AM. "And Moses went . . .`,'

would like to make himself believe that his not_ going to                                                                       B.W.


                                                    T H E   ,-ST:AND.ARD.  BE:A`RER                                                       181


                                                                      called everlasting life. But there is' a beginning to it. Yoti

                                                                      cannot come to the end of the measurement `into the future:

                                                                      but you` can find the :beginni?rg  from which you would' try .%

                                                                      measure. But Gods.  life.cannot  be. measured on either;'  &d,

                  Children  of Our Age                     .          for the simple reason that it has no end and has'fio .be-
                                                                                                                                     6
                                                                      ginning.)                                           /     ;LT `:
                               (4)                                       And because we have` that everlasting life which comes

    Sad to say that is so very, very true.                            to us from out of heaven, we can and we do perform other

   As far as our flesh is concerned, as far as that which we          deeds than those of the flesh. We fight against that flesh.

have from our earthly parents is concerned, we are children           We oppose ourselves as children of our age and seek to walk

of the wicked age in which we live. We are surrounded by              with all our members as children of the everlasting age.

those who live according to the evil spirit of that age. But             That everlasting age is the age when the New Jerusalem

we also belong to that wicked world and are part and parcel           shall be established on the new earth with which the new

of it. When it develops in sin, we develop in sin with that           heaven shall be united. Then only righteousness and `love

world. When it branches out into a new series of sins and             shall dwell on that earth. The evil doers will all have, been

after a new pattern of evil, we go along as much as we dare.          cast into the lake of fire, and God's people shall fill the earth.

And in our hearts we go all the way with the world in its             Only obedience will be seen on that earth. The love of God

devilishness. Sin is not something strange to us. Walking in          shall characterize all that transpires there. No word shall

obedience before God is strange unto us.                              be uttered, no thought shall arise, no desire shall come into

   It is nothing wherein to boast to say that we are children         our hearts but thatirwhich  is>wholly  to the glory of God.

of our age. It is not to our credit that all this must be said           Of that age we are children by virtue of our rebirth. John

of us. Shame should cover our faces, and with the Apostle             says of this in I John 3 ~9,  "Whosoever is born of God doth

Paul we, ought to cry out, "0 wretched man that I am, who             not commit sin ; ,for His seed remaineth `- in him : and he

shall deliver me from the body of this death ?"                       cannot sin because he is born of God." That is what

   Let it be that way.                                                it means to be children of the everlasting age. It

   0, perish even the thought that we should say by word              means that we are chil,dren of God, children who are, as

or by deed, YSo what?" May it be far from us that we assume           Peter says in' his second epistle, partakers of the divine

a careless attitude about all this and speak of it in a fatalistic    nature. II Peter 1:4.  No, .we  do not become divine. We are.

way. That is not the idea at all behind these lines that have         not partakers of the divine essence. But.  we are partakers

been written under the heading Children of Our Age these              of the virtues of the divine nature. Such we were in the

last two months. Indeed, we tried in many ways to show that           beginning. We shone with God's righteousness, with His

we are even as the world and that we find also in ourselves           holiness, with His knowledge and wisdom. We lost, it and

that devilishness whereby we try to defend all this wicked-           for that reason became children of our age. Our minds became

ness in which we walk. But our purpose was not to try to              filled withthe lie and foolishness. We were unrightkous'land

salve the conscience and to whittle down the law whereby we           unholy, workers of evil, enemies of the living God. Thus, the
                                              <I
must walk. We have no desire to try to, excuse all the evil           greater percentage of the human race is today., `And for'

that still cleaves to us in this life. Such action does not           that reason the antichrist will soon arise and bring sin to its

belong under the title In His Few but rather under the                climax. All the evil that is in man will come out. And that

words : In Hatred of Him.                                             man hates God will become abundantly clear to all. But in

   What shall we then say to all these things?                        a comparatively few God plants the life which is from above,

   What is the conclusion of the whole matter? Surely it is           the life of Christ so that these again shine with God's right-

not that now you and I should not expect much else and                eousness, holiness, wisdom and knowledge. These are the'

should be far slower in applying the rod of discipline to our         children of the everlasting age.

children or the keys of the kingdom to the members of His                These children do not approve of all*.that  evil which we

Church.                                                               perform because of our old nature. These children do not

   We are children of our age.                                        laugh at sin. 0, the flesh does that: And your and my flesh

   By God's grace however we can and'do  say more.                    does that. We can sometimes laugh quite heartily about sins

   In the wonder of God's grace we are.also children of the           of our youth, ,about  the evil tricks we played, the bold deeds

everlasting age. We have been born from above as well as              of sin which we committed. We find joy in relating these

from below. We have a carnal and temporal life in us, but we          deeds of wickedness which we committed in the days of our

also have a spiritual and everlasting life. (We prefer to say         childhood. But that new principle of life that makes us to

it that way, even though our English translation speaks of            be children of the everlasting age does not join in that mer-

eternal life. Only God has eternal life. And by that we               riment and carnal mirth. We read the testimony of one of

mean not simply everlasting but without beginning as well as          those children of the everlasting age in Psalm 119, when in

without end. Our life lasts forever and is therefore rightly          verse 136, he says, "Rivers of waters run down mine eyes,

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


because they keep not Thy law." Children of the everlasting           past, the church that disregards the truth as it was delivered

age weep about sin. They do not rejoice in it. Children of            to the Church in the past, will find increasingly that it defends

the everlasting age find delight only in the ethical perfection       the walk of the children of this age. It begins to see less and

which will fill the earth when that age dawns upon the new            less evil in the world. It begins to speak of the good that the

creation.                                                             evil world is yet able to do. It fails to discipline those who

       And you that read these lines, is that also your ex-           walk as .the children of the age and only feebly speaks of the
perience ? In the one child of God it is more pronounced than         beauty and glory of being children of the everlasting age.
in the other. The one feels it more keenly than the other.            Woe unto the church that does not fight the good fight of
The one weeps more often about the evil that surrounds him            faith ! Woe unto the church that seeks unity for the sake of
and is in him. But every regenerated child of God has this            unity and for the sake of numbers and carnal boasting !
hatred of sin and delight in the glory of God to one degree or        Pretty soon you will find in it only the children of this age,
another. If we do not find it in ourselves, we can only say           and the children of the everlasting age will find it necessary
that we are children of our age and therefore children of             to heed the call of Christ to come out in order that they may
wrath. But when we find this hatred of sin and this love of           have the joy of having Him come in and sup with them.

God in us, we know that we are children of the everlasting               What shall we say to all these things ?
age and that we shall enter into a kingdom where this love               First of all this: Surely it is not of him that willeth, nor
of God will be perfected.                                             of him that runneth but of God Who showeth mercy. As

       In the providence and grace of God there is one thing that     children of this age we will sin ands run in the way of sin.

serves to uphold this child of God in the midst of the world          No salvation for us then. But in the mercy of God we

that develops in sin. God causes His Church to develop in             become children of the everlasting age. We will say then

the truth. Parallel to this development of sin there is the           with Jonah : "Salvation is of- the Lord," Jonah- 2 :9.

steady growth of the Church in the doctrine and truth of                  Further we- will say this : Let us flee to the cross with
God's Word. In fact God uses that very world in its develop-          all these sins we commit as children of our age. And let us
ment in sin to serve the growth of the Church in the truth.           as children of the everlasting age flee to God in prayer, be-
The world persecutes, and the world as it appears in the form         seeching Him in His mercy to strengthen us so that we may
of the false church comes with increasingly subtle forms of           more and more live as such children, not being conformed to
the lie. The Church is kept alert, and the Church in the grace        the world but being transformed to show forth His glory
of God searches the Word more carefully and studies it more           in the darkness of this night of sin.
thoroughly to combat these new forms of the lie. As a result                                                                      J.A.H.
the Church is led deeper and deeper into the truths of that

Word of God.

       Such is the clear testimony of history. It is the contro-

versy, it is the heresy that lifts its proud head that God uses to                              I N   MEMORIAM
cause His Church to search more deeply and thoroughly.
                                                                         The Consistory of the Hudsonville Prot. Ref. Church wishes `here-
And rather than to deplore the fact that heresies lift their
                                                                      with to express condolences to their fellow members, Mr. Rhine
proud heads, we ought to appreciate the fact that through             Lubbers and Mr. Bernard J. Lubbers, in the death of their Father
these the Church has come to a richer understanding of the            and Grandfather,

truth exactly because God led His Church in connection with                                  BERNARD LUBBERS

these errors to see some new facet of the truth. The Roman            who died very suddenly in a train-car accident. But we believe that
Catholic Church became exceedingly corrupt before to the              God called him to heaven, and so we wish God's consolation on the

eyes of men it became plain that this was not the church of           above brethren, as, also to the whole bereaved family.

God and that the truth of that Word of God was no longer                                                       Rev. Genit Vos, President

heard. Luther himself tried all the prescribed works to attain                                                 Mr. Harry Zwak, Clerk

to the peace of justification only to find that he found no

peace for his soul in this way. But he turned to the Word of                                    I N   MEMORIAM
God and the truth of justification by faith and not by works
                                                                         The Board of the Hope Protestant Reformed Christian School
came to the fore as the Church had not enjoyed it before.
                                                                      hereby expresses its sincere sympathy to one of its members, Mr.
And the same thing is true of all the reformations on smaller         Gerrit Lubbers, in the death of his father,

scale that have occurred since that time. The Church of
                                                                                          MR. BERNARD LUBBERS
today is richer in the truth as the Spirit continues to lead her

more and more deeply into its beauty as we approach the               whom the Lord took so suddenly.

days of the antichrist.                                                  May our heavenly Father, Who does all things perfectly, com-

                                                                      fort him and his family by His Word and Spirit and give them
       The church that does not develop in the truth, the church      peace.
that does not build on the shoulders of the church in the                                           Richard Bloem, Secretary of the Board


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D .   B E A R E R                                                 183


                                                                      tained his arrangement of the book: of the New Testament.
11          Contending Folr The Faith. - 11                           The Rationalists, of course, revived, intensified, and carried
                                                                      to qcess  the bold opinion of Luther, but in a spirit against
II                                                                    which he would himself raise the strongest protest.
             The Church and the Sacraments                                The Reformed divines were more conservative than

             THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION                              Luther in accepting the canonical books, but more decided
                                                                      in rejecting the Apocrypha of the Old Testament. The
                 VIEWS ON THE CHURCH                                  Reformed Confessions usually enumerate the canonical books.

                                                                         .Zwingli objected only to the Apocalypse and made no
                    FORMAL PRINCIPLE
                                                                      doctrinal use of it, because he did not deem it an inspired
                             (continued)                              book, written by the sa,me  John who wrote the fourth Gospel.

      He objected to the Epistle to the Hebrews because it            In this view he has many followers, but the severest critical

seems to deny (in chs. 6, 10, and 12) the possibility of              school of our days (that of Tubingen) assigns it to the

repentance after baptism, contrary to the Gospels and to              Apostle John. Wolfgang Musculus mentions the seven Anti-

Paul, and betrays in ch. 2 13, a post-apostolic origin. He            legomena, but includes them in the general catalogue of the

ascribed the authorship to Apollos by an ingenious guess,             New Testament; and Oecolampadius speaks of six Anti-

which, though not supported by ancient tradition, has found           legomena (omitting the Hebrews), as holding an inferior

great favor with modern commentators and critics, chiefly             rank, but nevertheless appeals to their testimony.

because the authorship of any other possible writer (Paul,                Calvin had no fault to find with James and Jude, and

Barnabas, Luke, Clement) seems to offer insuperabIe  dif-             often quotes Hebrews and Revelation as canonical books,

ficulties, while the description of Apollos in Acts 18:24-Z&          though he wrote no commentary on Revelation, probably

compared with the allusions in I Cor. 1:12; 3 :6; 4:6;  16 :12,       because he felt himself incompetent for the task. He is silent

seems to fit exactly the author of this anonymous Epistle.            about Second and Third John. He denies, decidedly, the

      He called the Epistle of Jude an "unnecessary epistle," a       Pauline authorship, but not the canonicity, `of Hebrews. He

mere extract from Second Peter and post-apostolic, filled             is disposed to assign Second Peter to a pupil-of Peter, who

with apocryphal matter, and hence rejected by the ancient             wrote under the auspices and by direction of the Apostle;

fathers.                                                              but he guards in this case, also, against unfavorable inferences

      He could at first find no sense in the mysteries of the         from the uncertainty of origin.

Apocalypse and declared it to be "neither apostolic nor                  Calvin cIearIy  saw the inconsistency of giving the Church

prophetic," because it deals only with images and visions, and        the right of determining the canon after denying her-right of

yet, notwithstanding its obscurity, it adds threats and prom-         making an article of faith. He therefore placed the canon on

ises, "though nobody knows what it means"; but afterwards             the authority of God who bears testimony to it through the

he modified his judgment when the Lutheran divines found              voice of the Spirit in the hearts of the believer. The eternal

in it welcome weapons against the church of Rome.                     and inviolable truth of God, he says, is not founded on the

      The clearest utterance on this subject is found at the close    pleasure and judgment of men, and can be as easily distin-

of his preface to the first edition of his German version of          guished as light from darkness, and white from black. In the

the. New Testament (1522),  but it .was suppressed in later           same line, Peter Vermilius denies that "the Scriptures take

editions.                                                             their authority from the Church. Their certitude is derived

      Luther's view of inspiration was both strong and free.          from God. The Word is older than the Church. The Spirit

With the profoundest conviction of the divine contents of the         of God wrought in the hearts of the hearers and readers of

Bible, he distinguished between the revealed truth itself and         the Word so that they recognized it to be truly divine." This

the human wording and reasoning of the writers. He says of            view is clearly set forth in several Calvinistic Confessions,

one of the rabbinical arguments of his favorite apostle: "My          such as the Second Helvetic  Confession, the Belgic Confes-

dear brother Paul, this argument won't stick."                        sion, the Gallican Confession, and the Westminster Confes-

      Luther was, however, fuIly  aware of the subjective and         sion. In its exclusive form it is diametrically opposed to the

conjectural character of these opinions, and had no intention         maxim of Augustine, otherwise so highly esteemed by the

of obtruding them on the church: hence he modified his                Reformers : "I should not believe the gospel except as moved

prefaces in later editions. He judged the Scriptures from an          by the authority of the Church."

exclusively dogmatic, and one-sidedly Pauline standpoint,                But the two kinds of evidence supplement each other. The

and did not consider their gradual historical growth.                 human authority of tradition, though not the final ground of

      A few Lutheran divines followed him in assigning a              belief, is indispensable as an historical witness of the genuine-

subordinate position to the seven Antilegomena  of the New            ness and canonicity, and is of great weight in conflict with

Testament; but the Lutheran church, with a sound instinct,            Rationalism. There is no essential antagonism between the

accepted for popular use the traditional catholic canon (not          Bible and the Church in the proper sense .of the term. They

even expressly excluding the Jewish Apocrypha), yet re-               are inseparable. The Church was founded by Christ and the

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


apostles through the preaching of the h&g Word .of  God,           all the leading facts and truths of the gospel, and overthrow

and the founders of the Church are also the authors of the         the very foundations of Rationalism. With the Christ of the

written. Word, which continues to be the shining and guiding       Gospels, and the Apostle Paul of his acknowledged Epistles,

light of the Church ; while the Church in turn is the guardian,    Christianity is safe.

preserver, translator, propagator, and expounder of the Bible.         Rationalism was a radical revolution which swept like a

       3. The liberal views of the Reformers on inspiration        flood over the continent of Europe. But- .it is not negative

and the canon were abandoned after the middle of the six-          and destructive only. It has made and is still making valu-

teenth century, and were succeeded by compact and consolid-        able contributions to biblical philology, textual criticism, and

ated systems of theology. The evangelical scholasticism of the     grammatico-historical exegesis. It enlarges the knowledge

seventeenth century strongly resembles, both in its virtues        of the conditions and environments of the Bible, and of all

and defects, the catholic scholasticism of the Middle Ages         that belongs to the human and temporal side of Christ and

which systematized and contracted the patristic theology, ex-      Christianity. It cultivates with special zeal and learning the

cept that the former was based on the Bible, the latter on         sciences of Critical Introduction, Biblical Theology, the Life

church tradition. In the conflict with Romanism  the Lu-           of Christ, the Apostolic and post-Apostolic Ages.

theran and Calvinistic scholastics elaborated a stiff, mechan-         5. These acquisitions to exegetical and historical theol-

ical theory of inspiration in order to set an infallible book      ogy are a permanent gain, and are incorporated in the new

against an infallible ,pope.  The Bible was identified with the    evangelical theology, which arose in conflict with Rationalism

Word of God, dictated to the sacred writers as the penmen          and in defense of the positive Christian, faith in the divine

of the Holy Ghost. Even the classical purity of style and the      facts of revelation and the doctrines of salvation. The con-

integrity of the traditional text, including the Massoretic        flict is still going on with increasing strength, but with the

punctuation, were asserted in the face of stubborn facts,          sure prospect of the triumph of the truth. Christianity is in-

which came to light as the study of the origin and history of      dependent of all critical questions on the canon, and of hu-

the text advanced. The divine side of the Scriptures was           man theories of inspiration.; else Christ would himself have

exclusively dwelled upon, and the human and literary side          written the Gospels, or commanded the Apostles to do so,

was ignored or virtually denied. Hence, the exegetical pov-        and provided for the miraculous preservation and inspired

erty of the period of Protestant scholasticism. The Bible          translation of the text. His "words are spirit, and are life."

was used as a repository of proof texts for previously con-        "The flesh profiteth nothing." Criticism and speculation may

ceived dogmas, without regard to the context, the difference       for a while wander away from Christ, but will ultimately re-

between the Old and New Testaments, and the gradual                turn to Him who furnishes the only key for the solution of

development of the divine revelation in accordance with the        the problems of history and human life. "No matter," says

needs and capacities of men.                                       the world-poet Goethe in one of his last utterances, "how

       4. It was against this Protestant bibliolatry and sym-      much the human mind may progress in intellectual culture,

bololatry that- Rationalism arose as a legitimate protest. It      in the science of nature, in ever-expanding breadth and

pulled down one dogma after another, and subjected the             depth: it will never be able to rise above the elevation and

Bible and the canon to a searching criticism. It denies the        moral culture which shines in the Gospels." - end of quote

divine inspiration of the Scriptures, except in a wider sense      from Philip Schaff  on his "The Reformation and Rational-

which applies to all works of genius, and treats them simply       ism" as written by him in Volume VII, pages 26-42. We

as a gradual evolution of the religious spirit of Israel and       will continue, the Lord willing, with this subject of Rational-

the primitive Christian Church. It charges them with errors        ism in our following article.                                     H.V.

of fact and errors of doctrine, and resolves the miracles into

legends and myths. It questions the Mosaic origin of the

Pentateuch, the genuineness of the Davidic Psalms, the

Solomonic writings, the prophecies of Deutero-Isaiah and                                       IN MEMORIAM

Daniel, and other books of the Old Testament. It assigns              The Priscilla Ladies' Society of the Oak Lawn Protestant Re-
not only the Eusebian Antilegomena,  but even the Gospels,         formed Church expresses its heartfelt sympathy to Mrs. E. Rutgers,
Acts, the Catholic Epistles and several Pauline Epistles to        in the passing away of her father, and to Mrs. H. Rutgers, Mrs. J.

the post-apostolic age, from A.D. 70 to 150.                       Regnems, Mrs. G. Vroom, Mrs. M. De Vries and Mrs. W. Buiter,
                                                                   in the departure from this life of their grandfather,
       In its later developments, however, Rationalism has been
obliged to retreat and make several concessions to orthodoxy.                            M R .   W I L L I A M   V E G T E R

The canonical Gospels and Acts have gained by further in-          who, at the age of 91 years, entered his final  rest on January 5, 1961.

vestigation and discovery ; and the apostolic authorship of            "He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will

the four great Epistles of Paul to the Romans, Corinthians,        wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of His people

and Galatians and the Apocalypse of John is fully admitted         shall He take away from off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken
                                                                   it" (Is. 25:s).
by the severest school of criticism (that of Tubingen). A
                                                                                                              Oak Lawn Ladies' Society
most important admission : for these five books teach or imply                                               Mrs. E. Medema, Secretary


                                                                                                              ,

                                           T.HEE.  SrAN.DARD.   B E A R E R                                                      185


         SHOULD  OUR ADOLESCENTS  BE                                further choice to the one who knows the heart, cleaving to
           ENCOURAGED  T'q PARTAKE                                  His word. And we have our newborn children baptized.
                                                                    But in the same way of thinking, it also fits then that the
              OF THE  LORD'S  SUPPER?
                                                                    baptized child, as soon as it awakens to self-consciousness

                               (4)                                  should come to confession, not as proof of learning or of
                                                                    spiritual certainty, but as consequence and outflowing of his
    We are still occupied with the question whether our
                                                                    baptism and at the same time as transition to communion."
adolescents should be encouraged to make early confession

of faith (at the age of 12 to 15) and thus partake of the               Dr. H. Bouwman, on the other hand, maintains a dif-

Lord's Supper. And, .having  mentioned some of the argu-            ferent outlook in his "Gereformeerd Kerkrecht," II, p. 384:

ments advanced in favor of this idea, we shall now try to           "To make confession at a very young age is as a rule to be

formulate a conclusion and produce reasons for it.                  rejected (avoided). At the age of 13 to 15 one's judgment is

                                                                    not ripe, and his knowledge is not pure. The custom of the
    And then, by way of introduction, I want to state that
                                                                    Reformation period, which is still followed in some countries,
my answer to this second question would not be a flat No,
                                                                    gave occasion for the decadence of the church. As a rule
but a qualified No. My reasons for this wiil become more
                                                                    we may fix  the age of 17 to 21 as the most indicated (favor-
clear in the third section of this discussion. But I want to
                                                                    able) time for the making of confession of faith. It is good for
emphasize, first of all, that I do not believe that a definitely
                                                                    one to make confession while young because thereby he feels
fixed and precise age can be established for the making of
                                                                    himself closely bound to the church, because he gives himself
confession of faith. Hence, while I believe as a general rule
                                                                    consciously under church discipline, and this at the same
that early adolescence'is not the time for confession of faith,
                                                                    time can serve as a restraint for a restrained and Christian
I would not exclude the possibility that occasionally a youth
                                                                    life. But this last may not be the motive of confession. After
of 12 to 15 years old is spiritually and psychologically ready
                                                                    all when public confession simply must serve as a bridle, it
to confess his faith. And, in the second place, while you may,
                                                                    becomes de-natured and a mere mouth confession is given
in general, follow the rule that confession of faith should be
                                                                    shelter. In the age of crisis the young man or young woman
made by the time one reaches adulthood, nevertheless within
                                                                    has need of spiritual guidance. And they must not make con:.
that limitation the making of confession of faith is an in-
                                                                    fession  otherwise than with self-consciousness, with knowl-
dividual matter. And not only do you run the risk by
                                                                    edge of the truths of salvation, according to the rule followed
attempting to legislate an exact age when confession of faith
                                                                    by the church. He who is unfaithful, however, and follows
must be made of de-emphasizing the spiritual character of
                                                                    the world, who despises the confession and the sacrament,
such confession, but, to my mind, there are many more
                                                                    must be ecclesiastically admonished, and, in the case of stiff-
detrimental aspects to such legislation which would outweigh
                                                                    necked persistence in that evil, excommunicated."
whatever demerits our present practice may have.

    We may also observe by way of introduction -that  there            I find myself in substantial agreement with these remarks

has never been unanimity of opinion on this subject among           of Bouwman, and I submit the following considerations

Reformed authorities. Dr. A. Kuyper  probably comes nearest         against this second proposition :

to the view suggested under "II." He proposes the age of               1) While it is true that early confession of faith finds
16 as the proper time for confession of faith. In "Onze Eere-       historical support in the fact that confession at the age of 14
dienst," page 436, after a lengthy discussion of the transition     was the rule during the Reformation period, it is also true
from baptism to communion, he presents what to my mind is           that this very custom was an important factor in producing
a faulty argument, writing as follows (I translate) : "It is        a doctrinally weak church, so that soon Arminianism could
therefore so much better to connect the making of confession        run wild in the Dutch church.
more nearly and more closely to baptism, and to put it at

the close of the age of childhood and before the rise of in-           2) Especially the age of early adolescence is still in every

tellectual pedantry. To say that this may not be and cannot         respect - physically, psychologically, and spiritually -a

be because a young man or young lady of 16 cannot judge             formative, unstable, and immature period. The early adoles-

concerning their state will not do, because this same allega-       cent is just beginning to think for himself, form his own

tion would also hold as to baptism, since no father or mother       opinions and judgments, and arrive at his own conclusions.

is in a position to judge concerning the state of the new-          He does not yet act and must not be expected to act as a

born infant. In the case of baptism it goes on the ground of        mature individual. And if we may assume that one's spiritual

the confidence of faith, not upon selection. Whoever would          development and growth runs, generally speaking parallel to

make selection, judgment, would first have to wait for the          his physical and psychological development and growth - as

age of adulthood in order to baptize. . . . . Not from yourself,    I think we may- then we should not expect an adolescent

nor from your child, but from your God and His covenant             to act as a mature individual spiritually either. To do so

must the reckoning proceed. If His word testifies that the          nevertheless could lead to grave spiritual consequences, both

children of believers are indeed holy, then we leave the            for the church and for that individual. And, while we are


186                                          T H E   S,TANDA&D   B E A R E R


on this subject, anyway, personally I think that nowadays we       objection here. How many of our elders would be prepared

encourage and even force those who are still very much chil-       to classify as unbelieving and ungodly-or even to begin

dren to act far too "grown up" for their own age and their         to think of one as unbelieving and ungodly -those who have

own good. Too many young people today are given the                not made confession of faith by the age of 15 or 16 ? Con-

privileges and prerogatives of a more advanced age while           sistories can already be slow to treat a baptized member in

they are both unwilling and unprepared to bear the respon-         his twenties; and they certainly would not be ready to dis-

sibilities -or even to discern the responsibilities - that are     cipline in the negative sense of the word one who is in his

paired with these privileges and prerogatives. And we must         mid-teens.

not fall into the same snare spiritually.                             7) Nor should we forget that historically the Reformed

       3) In our doctrinally weak age we ought not to de-          churches have allowed infant baptism (that is, baptism with-
emphasize the doctrinal and intellectual aspect of confession      out a confession of faith) up to the age of 14 and even 15
of faith, but rather emphasize it more. After all, faith is        years. Whether you agree with this or not, the fact remains
knowledge  as well as confidence. And the latter is impossible     that this has been practiced. And it is an indication that at
without the former. Besides, in the very questions for public      least they have not considered those in their early teens to be
confession of faith our young people are asked to express          ready for confession of faith.

agreement with the doctrine taught in our churches. How,              8) This practice would either lend itself to the revivalistic
pray tell, can they ever do this unless and until they have        spirit of our American religious age and result in immature,
been thoroughly instructed in this doctrine ? In our churches      emotional confessions of faith, or it would lend itself to a
their formal doctrinal instruction does not even begin until       dead orthodoxy and the resultant mechanical and automatic
they are at least 13 years old. And when I consider how            confession of faith of all early teenagers. In both cases the
woefully weak some of our covenant youth can be in knowl-          confession of faith would be unconsidered, lightly made, and
edge of distinctive Reformed doctrine even when they appear        just as lightly denied.
at the cons&tory meetings for confession of faith in late

adolescence, `I tremble to think what the results would be if      III. ?&to&d  we encourage ow adolescents at all to partake
they made confession of faith before they were even 15 years       of the Lord's Supper?
old. I am afraid you would have to reduce the doctrinal
                                                                      To this my answer would be : Yes, by all means !
requirements to the barest generalities, and thereby also
throw away the future doctrinal strength of the church.               And under this answer I want to make the following
                                                                   observations :
       4) I believe it would be both unfair and impossible to
                                                                       1) It should always be remembered that confession of
make a distinction among the communicant members of the
                                                                   faith is an individual matter. Within the broad period of
church by requiring part of them to continue their cateche-
                                                                   adolescence no minimum age for confession of faith can be
tical  instruction after they have made confession of faith and
                                                                   fixed. Nor should confession of faith become a mass activity
been admitted to the Lord's Supper.
                                                                   and a sort of democratic thing. Our young people should be
       5 j The proper way to combat false notions of church        warned against this too, lest one makes confession of faith
membership and evil tendency on the part of covenant youth         just because another, possibly his friend, does so, and be-
to %ow their wild oats" and to postpone confession of faith        cause he does not like to go before that "austere" consistory
with the false notion that as long as they are not communicants    alone.
they have a certain license to live more loosely is not by an         2) As a general rule, late adolescence - let us say, ap-
enforced and mechanical and legislated early confession of         proximately from one's seventeenth to his nineteenth year -
faith. The problem is mainly a spiritual one. And `the means       is the time for a maturely made, knowledgeable confession of
to combat this evil, to the extent that it exists, must also       faith. Here again, I want to qualify this by emphasizing that
be spiritual. From the pulpit and in the catechism class, by       you cannot legislate this as the only time for confession of
instruction, by warning and admonition, by a clear and firm        faith. But generally, this age is indicated by:
insistence upon the covenant calling of our youth, by stern           a) The very nature of this age of adolescence.          Late
and loving discipline, and also by the covenant instruction
                                                                   adolescence is the time of decisions in much of our life. It
of home and school, this evil must be fought. There is no
                                                                   is at this time that one takes up or decides upon his life's
other successful means than that of fostering in our children
                                                                   work. It is at this time that one begins to think seriously
a keen covenant consciousness and sensitivity and a. warm
                                                                   about, and even to choose, his life's partner. From this same
covenant zeal to the utmost of our power. True, this must
                                                                   point of view, it is at this age that one comes to a mature,
be done from childhood on ; but the critical period of early
                                                                   firm knowledge and assurance of his living part with Christ.
adolescence is especially the age for this.
                                                                      b) By the fact that at this age one's doctrinal training and

       6) I would also cite our slowness and even loathness to     instruction has been completed in our churches as far as the

discipline members by baptism, especially adolescents, as an       formal instruction of the catechism class is concerned. That


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 187


doctrinal instruction should include a study of the Heidelberg        come to ohen  alienation with respect to the church and reli-

Catechism of approximately two years, a study of the Nether-          gion has its inception in this period. G. Brillenburg Wurth

land Confession of two terms of catechism, and if possible            discusses this aspect of our subject capably, I think, in his

some study of the Canons and of the history and doctrinal             Chvistelijke  Zieborg, pp. 177, ff. And he makes the point

issues of 19.24. Such a basic doctrinal course is not designed        that up to about the age of 15 it is quite possible to keep a

to make little theologians out of our covenant youth, but             hold on the young people, but that when the time comes that

to furnish them with the basic doctrinal equipment which a            they become more or less independent, find their own work

Reformed believer needs. And one should not neglect his               circle, come into contact with a different spiritual milieu,

opportunities for doctrinal training in order to make early           then it becomes more difficult to maintain contact with them

confession of faith. This is not to say, of course, that              any longer. And therefore, this period is not the time of

doctrinal instruction and study should be neglected after-            positive decision, but the time for counsel and guidance with

wards. For there is plenty of room for further study even             a view to confession of faith in late adolescence. If then,

after confession of faith.                                            however, late adolescence passes without confession of faith,

                                                                      there is cause for concern. And, depending, of course, on
   3) Confession of faith should be increasingly the goal
                                                                      individual circumstances, the church should not be slow to
that is held before covenant youth as they `enter  the period
                                                                      deal with such delinquents as "covenant-breakers."
of adolescence. This, after all, is the very purpose of their

catechetical instruction. And our youth should be reminded               For we must always remember that the church consists

of this. Along these lines, I would suggest the following:            of believers and their children. And while adolescence is a

                                                                      period of transition also -spiritually, if one is neither a be-
   a) The spiritual aspect of catechetical. instruction should
                                                                      liever nor a child he has no place in the gathering of the
receive a greater emphasis than it usually does. The doc-
                                                                      church on earth, and should be made to understand this. For
trinal instruction should be qbplied.  Covenant youth must
                                                                      his own sake, for the sake of the purity of the church, for
be made to understand that catechism is not simply a matter
                                                                      the sake of the sanctity of the means of grace, and for the
of knowledge and understanding in the intellectual sense,
                                                                      sake of the holiness of our God this must be strictly main-
much as any course in school, but a matter of &+ieliez*~ng  witilz
                                                                      tained in the church. But by the same token, the church
the heavt. I fear that this is often neglected in the catechism
                                                                      must labor mightily with its children and youth, instructing
room.
                                                                      and training them in the way of God's covenant, with the

   b) To these sa&e matters the preaching of the Word                 positive purpose in view that they may in due time, in God's

must call attention. Our youth must not be permitted to get           own time, assume their place consciously in that covenant.

the impression that the preaching of the Word is for their            And we have God's promise appended to such training:

parents and for communicant members, and for themselves               "When they are old, they shall not depart therefrom."

only when they "get good and ready for it."                                                                                  H.C.H.

  c) Our pastors (and elders), particularly in the work of

family visitation, have an excellent opportunity to give wise

spiritual counsel to the youth of the congregation., By this

I do not mean that all covenant youth should be bluntly told

in their teens that they should make confession of faith, but                    Let all who seek Thee now rejoice,
rather that a pastor should talk with and to his young                              Yea, glad in Thee abide,
people, counsel with them, help them to gain an insight into
                                                                                 And, loving Thy salvation, say,
the matter, to see the seriousness of it, aid them with their
questions and doubts.     This is a spiritual art. But every                        The Lord be magnified.

pastor should strive to get `close to his young people above                      My lowly state and bitter need
all and to gain their confidence and respect, so that they seek                     The Lord has not forgot;
his help and counsel and prize it.
                                                                                 Thou art my Saviour and my help,
   4) Errant youth should be dealt with very promptly and                           Come, Lord, and tarry not.
firmly and seriously. They should be the object of the special

attention and care of pastors and elders. And disciplinary

labors in the sense of admonition and warning should not by

any means be neglected. For this period of early adolescence

is frequently a crisis-period in a negative sense especially. It
                                                                                Let children learn God's righteous ways
is not so much the case that covenant young people come to
                                                                                   And on Him stay their heart,
conscious conversion in the full and mature sense of the
word in this period of their lives; but rather, in a negative                   That they may not forget His works

sense, a tendency to rebel and to be indifferent and even to                       Nor from His ways depart.

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


                                                                            "The Sacrament of Baptism shall be administered to
11         DECEkY  a n d   @RDER  jl children of communicant members, (z&o tlze children of
                                                                         Christians) in the public assembly of the congregation when
I     -                                                            I
                                                                        the Word is preached. Consistories shall urge parents not
                           The Sacraments                               to postpone the baptism of their children needlessly (as SOO~Z

           Beginning with Article 56, our Church Order devotes          as the ad~+r&&tiafi~on  thereof  ,i.s feasible). If parents are
nine articles to the subject of the Sacraments. The first five,         prevented by lingering sickness or death, or for some other

Articles 56 to 60 inclusive, deal with various questions re-            valid reason, from presenting their child for baptism, others

lating to the sacrament of Holy Baptism and the last four,              shall present such a child for baptism in the capacity of

Articles 61 to 64 inclusive, treat the subject of the Lord's            sponsors.    Only such sponsors shall be approved by con-

Supper. In our discussion of this subject, we are not to                sistories as are in a position to take upon themselves the

treat the doctrhml  aspect of the sacraments. This belongs              baptismal promises. (Our Church Order makes no provision

to another department in our Standard Bearer and, there-                for sponsors in baptism.) Baptisms administered by other

fore, our discussion must be limited to questions of order              Christian denominations, or in groups of believers by one

that relate to Baptism and the Lord's Supper.                           authorized by such groups, shall be acknowledged as valid

           Before introducing these questions to our readers, it may    if it can be ascertained that the parties concerned were bap-

be of interest to see what changes the Christian Reformed               tized in the Name of the Triune God." (Our Church Order

Church makes in these articles in their proposed revision of            is also silent on this matter, the recognition of baptisms by

the Church Order. In this revision two articles are devoted             other groups.)

to the sacrament of Baptism and two articles deal with the                  "The Sacrament of Baptism shall be administered, upon

Lord's Supper. One article is devoted to the treatment of               a proper profession of faith, to adults who have not been bap-

the sacraments in general. We will quote these articles and             tized previously. When such adults are baptized, they are

insert in parentheses for purposes of comparison those parts            by that fact admitted to all privileges of the church. (Adults

of our own Church Order that relate to these revisions. In              are through baptism incorporated into the Christian church,

this way we can readily see what changes are made in the                and are accepted as members of the church, and are there-

formulation.                                                            fore obliged also to partake of the Lord's Supper, which

           Article 62 of the revision reads: "The administration of     they shall promise to do at their baptism.) " Of interest in

the sacraments shall take place only upon the authority of              this connection is the fact that the revision speaks of mem-

the consistory, with the use of the ecclesiastical forms, and           bership "privileges"  while our Church Order uses the term

in a public gathering of believers."                                    denoting "ob2igation.s."

           This article deals with the sacraments in general. In our        Articles 57 and 60 of our Church Order are omitted

Church Order there is no specific statement to the effect that          from the revision. The former provides that "The ministers

the sacraments are to be administered only upon the author-             shall do their utmost to the end that the father present his

ity of the consistory. This is obviously taken for granted.             child for baptism."    The latter deals with the recording of

The composers of our Church Order felt no need to express               "the names of those baptized, together with those of the

this since no Reformed person would question the validity of            parents, and likewise the date of birth and baptism."

this statement. The very nature of the sacraments themselves                In the proposed revision Articles 65 and 67 deal with

is indicative of the fact that they cannot be administered              the Lord's Supper. The 66th article of this revision treats

anywhere besides in the instituted church and such ad-                  another matter which is of no concern to us in this connec-

ministration would naturally fall under the authority or juris-         tion. Concerning the Lord's Supper the aforementioned

diction of the consistory. However, in our day of general               articles have this to say:

ignorance regarding Reformed principles, it may not be                      "Members by baptism shall be admitted to the Lord's

superfluous to express this.         What could obviously be as-        Supper and all membership privileges after they *have  made

sumed in a period when Reformed theology flourished is                  profession of the Reformed faith and have manifested their

not so evident any more today.                                          faith by a godly conduct."    This article corresponds to our

           Our Church Order does specify that both the sacraments       61st Article which reads: "None shall be admitted to the

are to be administered with the "respective forms drawn up              Lord's Supper except those who according to the usage of

for their administration" (Arts. 58 and 62). Likewise does              the church with which they unite themselves have made a

our Church Order provide that the sacraments are to be                  confession of the Reformed religion, besides being reputed

administered only "in the public assembly where the Word                to be of a godly walk, without which those who come from

of God is preached" (Art. 56) or "where there is super-                 other churches shall not be admitted."

vision of elders, according to the ecclesiastical order and in              Article 67 of the revision: "The Lord's Supper shall be

a public gathering of the congregation" (Art. 64).                      administered at least every two or three months. (This is

           Articles 63 and 64 of the proposed revision deal with        the same as our Article 63.) Every church shall administer

Baptism. These articles read :                                          it in such a manner as it shall judge most conducive to


edification, provided, however, that the outward ceremonies         exception.adults  and their families were baptized immediatejr

as prescribed in God's Word are not changed, and all super;         upon their. conversion to Christ.-    ..

stition is avoided. At the conclusion of the sermon and the            -The  Reformed fathers always advocated early baptisms.

usual prayers, the form for the Lord's Supper, together             Guido de Bres, author of our Belgic Confession, is said to

with the prayers incorporated in that form (t%e  pmyms  for         have had his child baptized on the day of its birth. It was

tha.t purpose),  shall be read. (The same as our Art. 62.)          not an uncommon practice in Reformed churches that chil-

Each administration of the Lot-a's  Supper shall be preceded        dren were baptized on the first Sunday after their birth and

by a preparatory sermon and followed by an applicatory              in some instances baptism was even administered during- the

sermon.,,    This last provision is not included in our Church      week-day services. Time was not given to the mother to.

Order but it is found in the questions asked of each con-           recover her strength after child-birth. She was not present

sistory by the church visitors. Nothing of the four articles        at the baptism. The father, as the head of the family,

found in our Church Order and dealing with the Lord's               presented,the  child for baptism. It must be remembered that

Supper is omitted in the proposed revision. The content of          the Reformed fathers did not advocate early baptisms for

these articles is condensed into two articles with the one          the same reason that the Roman Catholic Church does. This

addition mentioned above. With the exception of that addi-          practice of Rome, according to Monsma and Van Dellen,

tion, one would wonder why a revision is desired or neces-          "rests on her belief that baptism imparts regeneration, `and

sary. Is this a case of desiring a change just for the sake of      that if an infant die's unbaptized it cannot be saved. Its soul,

change ? Is the formulation of these articles in the proposed       if it dies prior to baptism, goes neither to heaven nor to hell,

form such a big improvement? We fail to see that it is and          but to a special place indicated by the Latin term 7iYutbu.s

would, therefore, also fail to find any reason that Articles 61     infantum.'  In this abode of infants the souls of these chil-

through 64 cannot remain as they are in our present Church          dren are ever doomed to continue in an intermediate state,

Order.                                                              experiencing neither joy nor sorrow without ever being able

                         Infant Baptism                             to escape.`,    Our fathers repudiated that theory but never-

   "The covenant of God shall be sealed unto the'children  of       theless advocated early baptisms mainly for the following

Christians by baptism, as soon as the adm&i.stration  thereof       reasons :

is fea,.sdble,  in the public assemb2y  when the Word of God            1. Baptism is the token `of ,the covenant and children,

is preached" (Art. 56, D.IC.0.).                                    therefore, who are born in the historic line of the covenant

   It is tempting, to say the least, to commence our discus-        ought to receive that sign as"&%n as possible.

sion of this article by treating the matter of the covenant,           2. Circumcision in the Old Testament was administered
the seal of the covenant which is baptism, and questions re-        eight days after birth. Seven days, pointing to sin and im-
lating to the validity of the practice of infant baptism. To        purity, had to be fulfilled before circumcision could take
do so, however, would.be  to intrude into the department of         place but for the New Testament believers this ceremonial
doctrine. Interesting and important though these doctrines          barricade has been removed and, therefore, the sign of the
are, we will not introduce them here but rather limit our-          covenant should be administered as soon as possible.
selves in the consideration of this article of the Church Order        3. It would be a sign of ingratitude to postpone baptism
to these questions :                                                for our children.
   1. At what time should children be baptized ?
                                                                       4. The examples of Scripture point to early baptisms.
   2. Which children are to receive the sacrament of bap-
                                                                       Perhaps the original position of the fathers was a bit
          tism ?
                                                                    severe and extreme but it is far better than the opposite posi-
   3.     By whom is baptism to be administered ?
                                                                    tion of fixing the time of baptism according to personal con-
 , 4. Where must the sacrament be administered ?
                                                                    venience and often postponing it for all kinds of trivial

                                                                    reasons. Perhaps the parents desire a certain minister, the

   Our Church Order states that baptism should be admin-            baby needs certain new clothes, friends or relatives from a

istered "as soon as feasible."    Rev. Ophoff points out in his     distance must be present who cannot make it at an earlier

Church Right that the original reading of this article was a        date, etc. We do not now mean that there are no legitimate

little different. It read: "as soon  as possible." That these       reasons to postpone baptism, as for example, the sickness of

two are not the same is plain. The latter expression points         the child, but that is something else. To use baptism as a

to an earlier baptism since what is possible may not always         superstitious custom or an emotional ritual is to play lightly

be feasible and if, therefore, feasibility is to determine the      with the holy ordinances of ,God  and this is no small sin.

time of baptism, it could easily be postponed for a matter of       Then our fathers' position of insisting that baptism be admin-

weeks. The main objection that Rev. Ophoff brings against           istered as soon as possible is to be preferred. There is, how-

this substitution of words, however, is that according to Scrip-    ever, no violation in the practice that is current in our

ture baptism was always administered just as soon as pos-           churches to have the child presented in baptism as soon as
sible. Especially the book of Acts testifies to this for without    the father and mother are able to do so together.      G.V.d.B.

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


                                                                    the government and the church the world over, and the fact

11     A L L A R 0 U N D ii .S 11                                   that should the church change its stand, the government will
                                                                    eventually have to do likewise.

                                                                       Our churches as a whole, nor, to the best of my knowl-

                                                                    edge, any individual congregation has never faced the ques-
SEGREGATION IN SOUTH AFRICA                                         tion of integration, nor made any decisions concerning it. It

       The problem of racial segregation in this country has        seems to me that the question, from a Scriptural point of

been primarily a social one. The subject appears in the             view, is not as easy as it is sometimes made out to be. There

newspapers when it involves the public schools, the equal use       is no question about it that since the church of Jesus Christ

of parks, lunch counters, busses, etc. by both black and white,     is gathered from all nations and tribes and tongues, there

the participation in politics and the right of Negroes to vote      are members of the black race which are also included with-

in elections. This has not prevented various churches in our        in that church. Furthermore, there is no question about it

own country from speaking out on this problem and taking a          that within the church at least, there is no class system which

stand with respect to it, and even the Christian Reformed           would place the negro in a position inferior to the white. Be-

Church discussed the problem some years ago, but it has not         sides, it is also evident that the unity of the church of Jesus

primarily affected the churches. This is not the case in the        Christ precludes any spiritual segregation, or the denial of

Union of South Africa. There the probl5m  has always had            any privileges and rights to the negro in his membership in

strong religious overtones. This is due in part to the fact         the church. But whether it follows from this that complete

that the Reformed Church in- South Africa, a church of              integration of the white and the negro in the family, the

strong Calvinistic traditions, has run the country for many         school, the church is required, is another question. I cannot

years through its political party. In fact, the present Premier     see how, from a principle point of view, and within the life

is a member of the Reformed Church. Although in reality             of the church, that segregation in these institutions denies

there are three Reformed Churches, the Nederduitsch Her-            either a negro or a white certain privileges and rights. Maybe

vormde Kerk and the Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerken of              in practice that is the outcome of the matter; but it seems as

Cape and Transvaal, they have usually stood united against          if it need not necessarily follow. Why segregation of the

any form of integration. They have maintained this position,        family, the school, or the church places the negro and the

so they claimed, on the basis of Scripture itself. For their        white in an inferior position is difficult to see. But the prob-

position they have been severely castigated by other church         lem is perhaps worth some discussion.

bodies throughout the world ; and, in fact, at one time there

was a movement afoot in the World Council of Churches,              THE SUPPORT OF OUR CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS
to .which  these Reformed Churches belong, to' force them to           In the January issue of the Torch and Tmz-npet,  Rev. H.
change their.racial  ways or bar them from membership.              J. Kuiper  faces the problem of the financial support of the

       Recently there have been some minor changes in the posi-     Christian Schools in an article entitled, "The Financial Prob-

tion of the Dutch Reformed Church there. These changes              lem of our Christian Schools." He introduces his article by'

have been reported in a recent issue of Time- magazine. The         stating that the reason for the fact that the support of our

occasion was a seven day "consultation" on "South Africa's          schools is such a great problem is due to their continual

racial problems between six representatives of the World            growth and the need for more buildings and larger plants.

Council of Churches and ten delegates from each of South            Besides the cost of education is going up with an increase in

Africa's eight Protestant Churches that are World Council           the cost of tuition, which makes it difficult for parents with

Members."       Although the council was strongly critical of       three or four children attending the schools to meet the cost

segregation, ,the  significant fact remains that several dele-      of education and the responsibilities of supporting the schools

gates from the Dutch Reformed Churches backed the resolu-           in collections and drives.

tion, and the two larger of the Reformed Churches expressed            He mentions three different ways in which this problem
that although "a policy of differentiation can be defended from     has recently been faced in various congregations. The first
the Christian point of view," it suggested that black Africans      is by the establishment of an endowment fund, the interest of
who are permanent dwellers in white areas should be granted         which could be used for the running expenses of the school.
a share in government. This was interpreted by everyone,            He admits that this may be a step in the right direction, but
the Council itself, the government, and leading churchmen,          raises the objections that it is impracticable and may lead to
as being a fundamental departure from the position of the           the loss of personal sacrifice of the people in the support of
church. The premier, Hendrik Verwoerd, was highly dis-              the schools. The second means used is for churches to assume
pleased with it, and interpreted it as an attack on the policies    an ever greater share of the financial responsibility of sup-
of his government.                                                  porting the schools. But he feels that this is dangerous, for

       The excitement over the decision is due to the tremendous    it leads to parochial schools. And while the churches should

 amount of criticism which formerly had been directed toward        give all the moral and financial support of which they are


   capable, and while it is better to have parochial schools than       gone. If this is, all that can be said, it follows that's Chris-

  to allow the financial burden of the parents to become too            tian education is not at all mandatory, for this same parent-

   heavy, nevertheless, this is not a trend in the right direction.     child relationship is present in the world. And if, in turn,

   There `is finally the possibility of Booster Clubs which under-      this is true, then the people will not be ready to support such

   take the full cost of the tuition of the children within the         Christian institutions at such considerable cost.

   church which they represent. Although this may be a partial             I too agree that if the covenant is to be defined as an
   solution to the problem, it in turn raises its own problems,         agreement between two parties, this doctrine of the covenant
   such as the refusal of these Booster Clubs to contribute to          cannot possibly be used as a basis for Christian education of
   emergency deficit drives.                                            the youth of the church, for they cannot be included in such

      The real solution to the problem, however, the author finds       a covenant; they cannot enter into an agreement. But cer-
   in the serious lack of knowledge among the people as to the          tainly, it is altogether incorrect to define the covenant in such
   true nature of Christian giving. He makes the points : 1)            a way. It is a gracious bond of fellowship and communion
  that all members of the congregation and not only those who           between God and His elect people, established by God
   have children in school are responsible for the financial            through Jesus Christ, and including in it elect believers and
                                                                sup-
  port of the schools. 2) that giving should be proportionate to        their spiritual seed. If we maintain this as the truth of God's
   our financial ability, should be sacrificial and should be sys-      everlasting covenant of grace, we have a firm foundation upon
  tematic. 3) that the best way to accomplish these goals is            which to build our schools, a firm need of such schools, and
   through tithing, which, while desiring to avoid the legalism         a firm obligation to support these schools in which the COV-
   of it, he nevertheless strongly advocates.                           enant  seed is trained. And indeed, it must be remembered
                                                                        that the obligation to support the schools where the seed of
      It is certainly a fact that our schools face the same prob-       the covenant is trained is not only the obligation of parents
  lems of financial support as do the existing Christian schools.       with children in schools, but the obligation of the entire
   Perhaps our problem is not quite as acute as the problem of          church. If these points are clearly made and remembered,
   some of the other schools, but it is here nonetheless. Not           then I can agree with Rev. Kuiper when he says,
   only do our school boards have a constant struggle with

  finances, but our parents oftentimes have heavy burdens to               "The nub of the financial problem of our Christian schools

  carry.                                                                    is the fact that the burden of the support of these schools
                                                   1 I
                                                                            rests on too few people, namely on the parents whose
      It is altogether possible that one reason for the difficulties
                                                                            children attend these schools. There are too many'fam-
  in the Christian schools other than our own is to be found in
                                                                            ilies in our congregations which have a good income and
  the struggle within the Christian Reformed Church for the
                                                                            could make substantial contributions to this worthy
  need of Christian Schools at all. If the people are not fully
                                                                            cause but fail to do so because they are unmarried or do
  convinced that there is a need for Christian Schools, then, of
                                                                            not yet have or no longer have children who attend.
  course, there will be problems of support. I make this state-
                                                                            What they fail to realize is that the @oper ka&ring  of
  ment because some time ago there was an exchange of articles
                                                                            OUT children .~~,.good citizens and worthy members of
  in the Refoml.ed  Jo,wwal  and in the Torclz  and Trwqbet  dis-
                                                                            the church should be a matter  of deep concerm  to every
  cussing the basis for Christian education. A writer in the
                                                                            single family  and wzembev of the ~&rch."
  Refomxed  Jozmtal  maintained at that time that the doctrine

~ of the covenant'could not possibly serve as a basis for Chris-
                                                                           I know that this is done through church collections. Many
  tian education, it being the basis only for missionary work.
                                                                        people in our churches without children of their own in
  The basis for Christian education was to be found rather in
  the parent-child relationship. This was disputed by another           school contribute generously towards the education of our
  writer in the Torch and Trumpet,  who maintained that the             children. And this is good.

  covenant of grace had to be the basis. But the point was
  made once again in the Reformed                                          It is another matter whether parents with three or more
                                       Journal that the doctrine of
  the covenant of the Christian Reformed Church was that the            children in school can always meet their tuition. It seems as

  covenant was an agreement between two parties. And since              if the churches do have a responsibility here through the

  the covenant tias such an agreement, it followed that children        diaconate to help their members who cannot pay their tui-

  could not enter into it by way of such an agreement; that             tion. But it is even possible that parents without any chil-
  therefore the schools where chiidren  were educated could not         dren in school, but with financial means to support children,
  be based on the covenant. Rather the purpose of missionary            could assume the responsibility of the cost of educating one
  work was to secure such an agreement from the objects of the          or two children as `long as this would be necessary. It is
  church's missionary endeavor.
                                                                        at least worth thinking about.

      It stands to reason that should the basis for schools be a

   parent-child relationship, all reason for Christian schools is                                                            H. Hanko


                                                                   to worship at 9:30 Sunday mornings, instead of at 10

                                                                   o ' c l o c k .

                                                                      Hudsonville's Christmas Day bulletin carried this para-.

                                                                   graph: ,"The second collection next Sunday is for the

                                                                   Gideons who place Bibles in hotels, motels,, prisons, ,etc.,  all
                                              January 5, 1961      over the world, and. which is a wonderful assist to pure-mis-

     Randolph's congregation called Rev. R. C. Harbach  of         sion work. Today's bulletin cover is provided by the Gideons,

Lynden, from a trio which included the Revs. C. Hanko and          so that we may learn what they do.`,'

M               .                 Scmpper.                            Do, you agree - that beca*use  C1zristma.s Day  feli o*n Sum-

     The `Prot.  Ref. Men's Chorus rendered their Christmas        day this year,`fhe  world  was not quite so successful as o&r

Program on Christmas Day, after, the evening service, in           years  i.m. robb&g  tis of ow church  holiday?,

First Church. The Chorus opened the program with two                  We learn from Oak Lawn's bulletin that Rev. A. Mulder,

prayers,    "Let Thy Holy Presence" and "0 Jesus, Grant            of Kalamazoo, was scheduled to lecture in South Holland,

Me Hope And Comfort." A few intricate numbers such as,             Jan. 6, the topic of the lecture being, "Gog and Magog."

"By Babylon's Wave, " "Listen To The Lambs," and the               The announcement advertising the lecture posed this ques-

final number, "With A Voice Of Singing" demonstrated the           tion, "Do you know what Ezekiel 38 and Revelation 20

Chorus' ability. Familiar Christmas Carols brightened the          mean for us today?'

program in unfamiliar arrangements for male voices. The               The South Holland-Oak Lawn Choral Society meets
Chorus, under the direction of Mr. Ronald Petersen, and            regularly every Wednesday evening at South Holland. They
accompanied by Jim Jonker, pleased the large audience              are preparing for a public concert at some future date, tenta-
gathered in the auditorium (some for the fourth time that          tively set for April 9.
day) and fittingly brought to a close a day set aside for the          South East's Church was the meeting place for the Office
praise of the King born' in Bethlehem's cattle stall. The          Bearers' Conference held Jan. 3. The occasion drew one of
men were assisted by a soprano soloist, Mrs. Walter Decker,        the largest gatherings of office bearers in the history of the
of First Church, and by a brass quintet from Adams St.             Conference. Rev. H. Hanko, of Hope Church, was the
School. Two visitors to the concert, Mr. and.Mrs.  I. Kor-         speaker, and his assigned topic was of initial importance, an-
horn, of Hope Church, were struck by .a car as they were           swering two questions, "What is our calling towards those
crossing the street to .the church. Mrs. Korhorn received          who .left  us in `53 ?" ; and, "What should we require of them
bruises, and her husband suffered a broken hip in the acci-        for t.heir  re-admittance ?" The speaker mourned the fact that
dent. The police ambulance answering the call was operated         our experience knows no analogy in the history of the church,
by Officer George Ophoff, Jr., member of First Church, on          and therefore the Church Order does not provide us with a
ambulance duty that evening.                                       clear-cut answer to the problem. Article No. 75 speaks of

     Rev. C. Hanko was granted a two week leave of absence         sinners who are still members of the church, and Article No.
from his duties at First Church tolabor in Manhattan, Mont.,       78 deals with the reconciliation of an excommunicated per-
at the request of the Mission Committee. The request origi-        son. The Reverend nevertheless. drew from these Articles the
nated in an urgent .appeal  to.the  Mission Committee for some-    broad principles that the returning sinner must come back by
one to guide a remnant of the congregation there who are           way of reconciliation ; that said reconciliation be effected by
opposed to the direction taken by their brethren as to their       confession of sin, thereby giving evidence of the sincerity of
denominational affiliation.  During his colleague's absence the    his repentance; and, that said confession must be made in
Rev. H. Hoeksema took up the full burden of pulpit supply          the consistory against which he sinned, that that which
for New Year's Eve and the two New Year's Day services.            caused the breach may be removed. The speaker further

     Well, Christmu  programs are over for another year; does      contended that, maintaining our position as the historical

that mea?1 we have to wait  another year for`s  Christnzas         continuation of the Protestant Reformed Churches, it is our

sermon?                                                            calling to place them before their obligation to join the purest

     Mr. Peter Kooistra, member of First Church and the            manifestation of the Body of Christ on earth. After recess
oldest member of the entire denomination, celebrated his           questions were raised and answered, and opinions were aired,
96th birthday anniversary Christmas Day. That day's bul-           providing guidance for the consistories represented by the
letin read, "With him we rejoice in all the blessings of the       office bearers present.

Lord that he might experience through these many years, and            A call to all consistory clerks: Please send us the names

together we are gratified that he can still be active in and       of Clerks and Treasurers, if other than listed in the Year

about his home as ,he witnesses of the faithfulness of his         Book, that we may report this information to our people by

God."                                                              way of this page.

     Holland's consistory has decided to call the congregation         . . . . see you in church.                            J.M.F.


