    VOLUME  XXXVII                           FEBRUARY  15, 1961 - GRAND  RAPIDS,  MICHIGAN                               NU~JEER  10


Y-                                                                          What is the meaning of "My laws" ?
             M E D I T A T I O N                                   II       I think we can safely say that their expression is found
                                                                   `1    in the ten commandments, Oh yes, we must say more, and

                                                                         we will. A little later in another connection. But I am sure
       THE MORE GLORIOUS COVENANT
                                                                         that we are rieht  when we refer this to the law of the ten
             "For  this is the coz~enant  tht I will make zwith          words of God. You know, Paul writes about the same theme
              the huse of Israel  after those days, saith the            as the writer in my present text, namely, in II Cor. 3.
              Lord; I z&l p-ut .My laws into their mind,  md
                                                                         There Paul compares also the Old Testament covenant and
              write them  in their lzea.rts:  and I zuill be to them
              a God, and they shall be to Me a people: and               ministry with the New Testament covenant and ministry.
              they shall not teach  evefry man his brother, say--        And in the course of his comparison he also speaks of the law
              ing,  Know the Lord: for all shall know Me, fr0.m          of God. And says : "But if the ministration of death, mitten
              the least to the greatest. For I will be mmif~~l           a.n.d engraven  in stones was glorious," etc. The words which
              to the&  ml-igMeoztsness,  a,nd  the&-  sins and thei
              &q&es                                                      I wrote in italics show that the law of God which he referred
                         z&l I remember no mof-e."
                                               HEBREWS  8 :10-K?         to was indeed the law of the ten commandments. And the

                                                                         same is true here.
   In the context there is a contrast between the Old Testa-

inent High Priest and Christ, between the Old Testament                     That law is the reflection of God's ethic%1 life. And

sanctuary, tabernacle, temple, and the real sanctuary; the               therefore it is fulfilled in just one word : LOVE !

former being pitched by man, the second by Christ. A con-                   Jesus says this to the inquirer: The whole law is ful-
trast also between the Old Testament offering and the sac-               filled into these words: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
i-ifice of the New Testament. The earthly priests must have              with all thy  heart. with all thy mind.  with all thv soul and
something to offer, and they did : the innocent animals. The                        <                                           d
                                                                         with all thy strength, and the second like unto  it: thou shalt
New Testament Priest must have something'to offer also:                  love thy neighbor as thyself.
He offered Himself on the cross. A contrast also between
                                                                            Now then, this law is put into our minds and written
the mini,stry. Moses, Aaron, and all the High Priests had an
                                                                         into our hearts, expressing our uiiity  with that law of God:
escellent  ministry to perform, but Christ's ministry is in-
                                                                         the child of God loving his Father in heaven, and his brother
finitely more excellent than theirs.
                                                                         o n   e a r t h .
   Why ?
                                                                            And God adds : and I will be to them a God and they shall
   Because the latter was the Mediator of a better Covenant,
                                                                         be to Me a people. Both are an echo and fulfilment of the
established on better promises.
                                                                         covenant with Abraham.
   AK? all this according to the Old Testament prophecy.
                                                                            And that is the utmost happiness for a man : God our God,
   My text, indeed, is a quotation from Jer. 31 :31-34, quoted
                                                                         and the church our brethren and sisters.
by the Holy Ghost. The prophets of the Old Testament al-

ways looked forward to the fulfilment of these wonderful                                           8: *    **.                              i
promises.

   And they are fulfilled.                                                  What a contrast with the Old Testament condition!

   Let's 16ok at them.                                                      Suggested in the negative language of our text : they shall

                           *    JF * *                                   not tea&  every man his neighbor and every man his brother,

                                                                         saying: Know the Lord!
   Here is the better promise: "I will `put My laws into

their mind and .write  them in their hearts."                               Not that the ministration of the Old Covenant and the


218                                         T H E   ST.ANDA,RD   B E A R E R                                                              1:


Old Sacrifices was without glory.          Oh, no! It was so          tion, but the mi.nistration  of righteousness. Everyone of us

glor'ious  that Moses had to cover his face.                          knows now that God prepared a righteousness for us from

    But the contrast is great.                                        all eternity ; that He gave that righteousness to us centrally
                                                                      and historically when Jesus died and rose again, for He did
    How little knowledge of God was there!
                                                                      so "for our justification." That He gives that righteousness
    The prophets, priests and kings did have to go about              in our hearts by faith; and that this righteousness of Jesus'
teaching, and admonishing from city to city and from village          ministration shall be fully revealed when the Bride of Christ
to village, saying: Know the Lord!                                    shall be manifested at the day of Christ without blemish or

    But not anymore.                                                  any such thing.

       Now the oracle tells us : You have no need that anyone             Therefore the first covenant disappeared and the second,

teach you! You have the unction of the Most High, and you             or the last, Covenant took its place.

know all things.                                                                                  * * * *
    Let a minister now get off the true pathway of the
knowledge of the Lord, and he is jumped at once ! Every                   And how blessed is that Covenant !

one knows the Lord., Even a child knows the fundamental                 Listen: I will be merciful to their unrighteousness!

truth of God.                                                             Imagine !

    How great a difference in the Old Testament times !.                  Again ! The old covenant had blessednesses. Listen to
                                                                      this: 1) The light of the glory of God shone in the Mount
    How little of, the Bible was there.
                                                                      at the time Moses was with God ; 2) Moses' face shone be-
    How poor was the revelation of the love of God: a sheep,          cause of the glory of God ; 3) It taught the people of God ; 4)
a lamb, a heifer, a pigeon, a priest, a prophet, a king, a city,      The church loved it, and sang ; oh how love I Thy law : it is
a country, a tabernacle, a people.                                    my meditation all the day ; 5) Paul lauds it in II Cor. 3 ;
    But now, in one word : there is Jesus !                           and there God's Spirit says : "For if that which is done away

    There is the Triune God, represented by Jesus Christ,             was glorious," etc.

hanging on the awful cross at the crossroads of the world,                But now! God is merciful to our unrightebusness !
shedding His heart's blood for the sins of the people!                    Every day and every night we bow down in the dust and
    And behind that cross and above that cross we hear                cry to Him : 0 God, be merciful to me, the sinner ! And every
the voice of that Triune God: Look upon the Gift of Our               day and every night He says to us: Be of good cheer, My
heart !                                                               son ; be of good cheer, My daughter : thy sins are forgiven

    Now look at the contrast: there is Abel, sobbing out his          thee ! And note this : we know this to, be true. It is amply
heart by a little hill. It is the hill of one of the first altars.    explained in the New, the eternal Covenant of grace of the
And on it lies a little lamb.                                         New Testament. A child will lead you.

    Now, today, -in the New Testament, we look and we see                 Further : "And their sins and their iniquities will I re-
Jesus, crowned with glory and honor at the right hand of              member no more !"

God, in the throne of God! And we begin to sing.                          When I was  a child I listened to the prayers of old men

    But look at the Old Testament: we see Aaron in the                who came together to visit, and before they went home again,
Tabernacle made with hands. Watch him : he is carrying a              they would say: Let us have a word of prayer! And very
bason with the blood of a heifer.                                     often I heard them say in their prayers: 0 God, who hast
                                                                      cast our sins behind Thee in the ocean of everlasting forget-
    What was there? The letter, tables of stone, ministra-
                                                                      fulness !
tion of death, ministration of condemnation. Glorious ? Oh
yes, but not the glory of the New ministration of Jesus. Not              It has made an impression on me ever since. .-c
the glory of the New knowledge of God, written not on                     Later, much later, I found texts which substantiated such

tables of stone but in the fleshy heart of the child of God.          prayers.     I read that God has cast all the sins of His people

    Now, beloved reader, we have the ministration of the              into the depth of the sea. And. also that He has cast those
Spirit of Christ. The text .says that God will write His law          sins behind Him. Oh, it is true alright!

into our minds and hearts, so that we do not have to have                And it is taught here.

a teacher saying: Know the Lord !                                         How can God say : I remember them no more ?

    What does that mean ?                                                 They are, and they were so real!

    It means that Jesus came into our hearts ! And that niake:            Here is the answer: it is because of the far better min-

all the difference in the world. And the oracles of-God are           istration. Let me say it. somewhat differently : It is because

complete.                                                             of the better MINISTER! And I have in mind the only true

    Therefore we do not have the ministration of condemna-            Minister there ever was.


                                               THE sTA~D:AKD  GARER                                                                                                                           219


   Minister means SERVANT! Will you, please, remem-

ber that? There is a lot of nonsense, wicked nonsense about                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
the ministry.                                                                  Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, july  and August
                                                                                Published by the REFOIPIGII FREE  PUBLISHING  ASSOCIATION
   If you want to be pre-eminent; if you want to be great;                     P. 0. BOX  881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

if you want to excel, there is only one way: become the                                           Editor - RIZV. HERMAN  HOE~SEMA
SERVANT of all! That is God's injunction to all of us.                         Communications relative to contents should be addressed to

   A minister is a servant.                                                                Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
                                                                                                             Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

   And such a servant was Jesus.                                               All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
   When He came into the world He saw a great mountain,                                     James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
                                                                                                         Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
and He saw a great void, emptiness.                                            Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
   And God said to Him: My Son, you must remove that                           address and will be published at a fee of $2.00 for each notice.
mountain, and you must fill up and exalt that great void,                      RENEWAL:  Unless a detite  request for discontinuance is re-
                                                                               ceived it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
that emptiness.                                                                   `to continue without the formality of a renewal order.

   I am talking of the mountain of our sin and guilt, and                                         Subscription price: $5.00 per year
                                                                                   Second Class llostage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan
of the great void of having failed in fulfilling the law.
                                                                         I'
   And our Lord, our Mediator began His work, His un--

speakable task. Oh how great a Minister. He became. What                                                         C O N T E N T S
kind -of Servant, slave, groveling in the depths of eternal              MDITATIoN  -
                                                                                  The More Glorious Covenant ..___.__.__.__,._.__.........,..,...........  `.. 217
death, under the outpouring of the fierce wrath of God!
                                                                                        R e v .   G .   V o s
   And He labored so long and so intensively until all our
                                                                         EDITORIALS  -
sins and all our iniquities are gone, and He has filled the                       "The Adam Question". __ . . . ____. __ ____ ._. _. ._. __, .%?o
void, exalted the doing of the commandment of God, until all                               Rev. H. Hoeksema

God's sons and daughters are in the bosom of God!
                                                                         OUR DOCTIUNE-
    That Jesus is written in your hearts and written in your                       The Book of Revelation . . . .._...__................. . .._._.__._____........... 222
minds !                                                                                    Rev. H. Hoeksema

                                                                 G.V.    A CLOUD OF WITNESSES  -

                                                                                  The Word of God in Egypt- ..__.............___.............,,...............  225

                                                                                           Rev. B. Woudenberg

           Attention - Synodical Committees                              FROM  HOLY  WRIT -

    All Synodical Committees (Standing                                             Exposition        of I Timothy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._.......................... 227
                                                 Cowtzittees  a+zd
                                                                                           Rev. G. Lubbers
Special Shdy  Conzmittees)  are herewith reminded that their

reports to Synod are to be prepared for publication with the             IN HIS FEAR  -
regular Synodical Agenda.                                                          "The Life You Save . . ." _._..._.............................  __._._.___,.____  229
                                                                                           Rev. J. A. Heys
    These repbrts are to be sent to the undersigned not later

than April 15, 1961.                                                     CONTENDING FOR  THE  FAITH-
                                                                                   The Church and the Sacraments . .._._..___._.____.....................  231
                                Stated Cle&  of the Synod of the
                                                                                           Rev. H. Veldman
                                Protestant .Reformed  Churches

                                    G.                                   THE  VOICE OF OUR FATHERS  -
                                       VANDEN BERG
                                    9402 South 53rd Court                         The Belgic Confession .________.._............................,.................  233
                                                                                           Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
                                    Oak Lawn, Illinois

           .*-                                                           DECENCY  AND  ORDER -
                                                                                  The Baptism of Adopted Children . . . . . . . . . . .._____........ ,..__.._____...  235

                                                                                           Rev. G. Vanden  Berg

                             1N  MEMORIAM

                                                                         ALL  AROUNII  Us -
   The Priscilla Ladies' Society of the Oak Lawn Protestant Re-                   Federal       Aid to Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
formed Church expresses deep-felt sympathy to one of its members,
Mrs. B. Zandstra and family, in their SOXTOW occasioned by the                     A    Covenant         Child "On His Own"?. .._. __. ._. ___ ,238
sudden removal from this life of her mother                                                Rev. H. Hanko

                             MRS. P. BOER
                                                                         CONTRIBUTIONS  -
who passed away on February 1, 1961,  at the age of 54 years.
                                                                                   Missionary         Notes        _     _                   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3 9
   "And God shalt wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there                           Rev. G. Lubbers
shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall
there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away."
                                                                         NEW FROM OUR CHURCHE.S..  ._ ._ . . __ __ __ __                                                 __ __
Revelation 21:4.
                       ,-            Oak Lawn Ladies' Society                              Mr. J. M. Faber
                                     Mrs. E. Medema, Secretary


220                                        T H E   ST.A.N.D.ARD   B E A R E R


-Tip--------. views of history." This includes the interpretation of the
II           E D I T O R I A L S                                    word "day" in Genesis 1.       If we would explain the word
                                                                    "day" in the literal sense of the word, we would impose upon
,If-
                                                                    it an "unnatural framework" instead of "the framework of
                  "The Adam Question"                               faith."    Hen&e,  according to the Commission, it belongs to
       We still must say something about the report of the          the framework of faith that we must interpret the word "day"
Theological Commission that was before the General Synod            in Genesis 1 as meaning long periods.
of the Reformed Church in America last year.                           But I would say that this is exegetically impossible. First
      And first of all we wish to quote from that report:           of all, every one of the days of creation is limited by eve-

       "There is a diversity of opinion among the members of        ning and morning. Is there any reason in the text itself to

the Commission relative to the manner in which the various          interpret that between these evenings and mornings there

details of these accounts [in Gen. 1-3, H.H.] are to be             were thousands and, perhaps, millions of years of light and

understood. In this we believe we reflect a general condition       again millions of years of night-darkness ? Such an inter-

in the Reformed Church, and Protestantism as a whole, but           pretation of the word day is, evidently, absurd and impos-

one which should give no cause for alarm. How one inter-            sible. It is not in the "framework of faith," but in the

prets e.g. the word `day,' the geography of the garden, the         framework of the theory of evolution that such an inter-

speaking of the serpent, the angel with the flaming sword,          pretation can possibly be given. In other words, this is not

does not determine one's understanding of the essential             an interpretation of the text at all, but stands in flagrant

word which God is speaking to us in these accounts, nor the         contradiction to the text in Genesis 1. Why not frankly ad-
genuineness of one's faith. We believe that the Church must         mit that this cannot possibly be the meaning of the text but

allow for a certain latitude in the understanding of details,       that, in order to cater to the theory of evolution, we corrupt
especially in accounts where symbolic language is evidenced.        and contradict the text. This would be, at least honest. Be-
It is not possible to establish certain canons of interpretation    sides, we read in all Scripture that the world was created by
which enable the interpreter to determine infallibly the ex-        the word of God. This is also evident from the first chapter of
tent to which the details are to be viewed as literal or sym-       Genesis. Thus, for instance, in regard to the first day, we
bolical. But we are unanimous in our conviction that the            read that "God said, Let there be light : and there was light."
Church insist that the events described are events in history.      Can this possibly mean that God spoke millions of years and
      "We recognize two inherent dangers in interpreting            that thus gradually light was created or rather came into
Scripture. On the one hand there is the danger of imposing          existence ? Again we must admit that this is no interpreta-
an unnatural framework on these narratives and reading              tion of the text but an imposition of the "framework" of un-
them in the light of secular views of history, instead of the       believing science upon the text of Genesis 1. Again, how
framework of faith. On the other hand, there is the danger          about the fourth commandment. We read in Ex. 20 :8-11:
of severing these narratives from their actuality in history        "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt
so that they become simply a reflection of every man's uni-         thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the
versal experience. Both dangers must be avoided. The Re-            sabbath of the Lord thy God : in it thou shalt do no manner of
formed Church, as part of Protestantism, has always had a           work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant,
real concern for the message of .the Bible. God must be free        nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that
to speak His word in His own way."                                  is within thy gates : For in six days God created heaven and
      Thus far my quotation.                                        earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh
      And about this I wish to make a few remarks.                  day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hal-
      First of all, I would say that, if the Theologidal Commis-    lowed it."    Is not one of the soundest exegetical rules that
sion had never heard of the theory of evolution, it never           the same word in the same context must have the same
would have entered their minds that the first three chapters        meaning ? If this be true then `the word day or days .of the
of Genesis must be interpreted, not as a literal record of          creation week must be the same as the days of our week. II

events, but as a matter of symbolism.                                  I could say more about this but I will refrain. I only
      What, for instance, is there in Gen. 1 that is symbolical?    want to say to the Theological Commission that they cannot

In fact, there is nothing in that entire chapter that is not        possibly impose the framework of natural science upon the

literally meant and that can even be interpreted as symbol-         first three chapters of Genesis. And in the `framework of

ism. The Commission speaks of the "framework" of faith.             faith" they can never make long periods of the days of

Of this "framework" I have heard before. And whatever               Genesis 1.

the expression may mean (and I confess that I do not under-            And there certainly is not even a semblance of symbolism

stand it) it, evidently, stands opposed to a literal inter-         in this chapter.

pretation or, as the Commission expresses it, to "imposing. . .        But how about chapters 2 and 3 ?

on these narratives and reading them in the light of secular           The Theological Commission also suggests that in these


                                              T H E    S T A N -D A R D B E A R E R                                               221
                                                                                   _. ._


chapters we have symbolism.          We read that "the geography       the desert, the pinnacle of the temple, and the high mountain.

of the garden, the speaking of the serpent, the angel with             In the case of the temptation of man, he made use of the

the flaming sword, does not determine one's understanding              serpent.

of the essential word which God is speaking to us in these                2. It. is evident that the serpent was an entirely different

accounts, nor the genuineness of one's faith. We believe that          animal than before he was used in the temptation of Eve. For,

the Church must allow for a certain latitude in the under-             in the first place, we read that he was more subtle or wiser

standing of details, especially in accounts where symbolic             than any beast of the field, Gen. 3 :l. And, in the second

language is evidenced. It is not possible to establish certain         place, we read that, after the temptation, "the Lord God said

canons of interpretation which enable the interpreter to               unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed

determine infallibly the extent to which the details are. to be        above all cattle, and above all the beasts of the field ; upon

viewed as literal or symbolical."                                      thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days

        Of course, if we interpret the sixth day, the day in which     of thy life."

Adam was created, as representing thousands or even mil-                  3. Hence, the serpent surely was the most fit instru-

lions of years, it stands to reason that also the events re-           ment for Satan to tempt the woman. Whatever language the

corded in chapters 2 and 3 must be interpreted in a way                serpent as an instrument of the devil was speaking, it is

different from the literal sense. For in that case Adam was            evident that Eve could understand him. Nor was she sur-

not really created, but developed gradually from some lower            prised that the serpent spoke to her.

animal. Then the account we have in Gen. 2 :7 that "the Lord              We believe, therefore, that even in respect to this speech

God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed             of the serpent, we cannot possibly find any symbolism here.

into his nostrils the breath of life: and man became a living              We now have come to the end of our discussion of the

soul" also is symbolism and cannot be literally true. The              report of the Theological Commission. But we must still

same is true of all the rest of the chapter. Then the account          call attention to a final "Note" that was added to this report.

of Paradise, of the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge         It is this:

of good and evil, of the' fall of man and of the speaking of               "One member of the Commission has expressed his con-

the serpent -all this cannot be literally true, but must be            viction that the name `Adam' as a proper name, should be

interpreted as "symbolism."                                            included in the report. Other members also, while recogniz-

        But the question is, first of all: why? Why cannot these       ing that the term `Adam' is used to represent mankind, never-

chapters be interpreted literally? Why cannot man have been            theless would be inclined to see this as the proper name of

created as it is narrated in Gen. 2 :7? Why can there not              the first man. But some of us, since we are doubtful that it

have been a literal garden of Eden? Why cannot the tree of             was the concern of the sacred writer to describe in factual

life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil be inter-          detail particular events and to make an identification of

preted as literal trees? Why cannot Satan have spoken to               particular individuals, would prefer to keep as primary the

Eve through a serpent?                                                 emphasis on the symbolical nature of the events described

        Secondly, if we cannot believe the account of Gen. 2, 3        and the representative nature of the persons involved in

as literally true,       what is the truth which the "stories"         these chapters."

represent? If the "story" of man's creation as recorded in                 There you are.

     Gen. 2 :7 is not literally true, what is the truth which ,it          The language of the Commission is still vague, as might

represents? The same is the question about Paradise with               be expected. Personally, I doubt whether they can give a

its two special trees and the speaking of the serpent. Who             clear account of what they are writing. But one thing seems

can interpret this so-called "symbolism"? What does all this           rather plain and that is that they deny that Adam was a real,

symbolism stand for? I am sure that no one can give a                  historical person.

satisfactory answer to these questions.                                    And' by this `they deny really all that Scripture teaches,

6       Thirdly, I claim that there is not even a trace of symbol-     not only about Adam, but also about several other important

ism in these chapters. The whole of the contents of these              truths such as, for instance, the doctrine of original sin,

chapters makes the impression of being a literal account of            original guilt and original corruption. Just read Rom. 5 :12

what was actually there and what actually took place. Per-             ff. : "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world,

haps, you object that, certainly, the speaking of the serpent          and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that

is an exceptior  ? I would answer as follows:                          all have sinned," etc., etc.

        1.    The devil certainly needed some kind of an instrument        Surely, the Commission cannot interpret this as sym-

to reach man. He could not reach the heart and mind                    bolical language as they do with respect to the first three

directly, beLause  man stood in the state of righteousness and         chapters of Genesis. The only thing they can say is that

was without sin.          The same was true of our Lord Jesus          Adam was, according to Paul, a historical person and that

     Christ. In order to tempt Him the devil could not enter           in this he was mistaken.

,into His heart but had to use outward means: the stones in                And thus we lose the whole of Scripturz.              H.H.

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


                                                                         as a center of world-power, and all the kings and the great

11 0 Ll R DO C T R I N E                                           11    of the earth commit fornication with her. She is pictured as
                                                                         a center of commerce, of the commerce of the earth ; and she

                                                                         has control over every article that sells on the world's

            THE BOOIK OF REVELATION                                      market. She is portrayed too as a center of industry and
                                                                         art and science: for every craftsman and artist finds his

                          PART TWO                                       home in Babylon. But above all, she is presented as the
                                                                         great center of luxury and dissipation, and, in close connec-

                        CEIAPTER  X V I I I                              tion with this, as the embodiment of the wickedness of the

                                                                         earth. Her sin rises up to heaven; and in her is found all
                        The Voice of Joy                                 the blood of the saints and apostles and prophets that have

                                                                         died because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
                        Revelation 19 :l-5
                                                                         And hence, her doom and punishment is inevitable. She

           1. And after these things I heard a great voice of            falls ! Concerning her fall specifically, we found that the

           much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and       manner of it is not revealed to us, but that it appears to be
           glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:          sudden and complete and final. Babylon becomes a hold of

           2.    For true and righteous are his judgments: for he        demons ; and after her fall she is utterly desolate, never to

           hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the            be rebuilt. We found too that this fall of Babylon is the
           earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood        fall of the entire antichristian power, that because of her
           of his servants at her hand.
                                                                         greatness and worldwide significance it is plain that without
           3. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose          her the world-power cannot exist. And therefore, it is
           up for ever and ever.                                         completely destroyed. That is true for the very reason that

           4.    And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts      the kings of the world and merchants and sailors and ship-
           fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne,          masters and all classes of people weep and wail over her
           saying, Amen; Alleluia.
                                                                         destruction. And finally, we found that the people of God are
           5.    And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise      admonished to separate themselves from Babylon- an ex-
           our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both      hortation which implies, no doubt, in the first place, that the
           small and great.
                                                                         children of the kingdom must separate themselves spiritually

   From one particular point of view the scene of the end                from the wicked city, so that they have no fellowship with

has now been pictured in detail; and along just one line we              her sins. But in the second place, it becomes a powerful and

have reached the very end of history. Babylon, as we saw,                irresistible call, taking the people of the Savior to glory

was the ultimate outcome of the line of false religion, of               immediately before the very last and final punishment of

apostasy from the living God, of faith in the lie of Satan,              Babylon.

"Ye shall not surely die, but ye shall be like God." The                    And now we have a different scene, a scene of joy and

principle of this lie is that it rebels against the living God           exultation. We may observe, in the first place, that with our

and tries to work out its own salvation and come to the                  chapter we meet once more one of those remarkable contrasts

establishment of its own kingdom, without God and without                of which the book of Revelation is full, and, in fact, that are

Jesus Christ. And the development of this lie in the new                 numerous throughout the Wo'rd of God. The same event

dispensation is that the apostate church commits fornication             leaves different impressions and arouses radically different

with the powers of the world, aids them in their efforts to              sentiments.    When the Savior is born and there is joy in

establish that one and final, powerful kingdom, which shall              heaven and the angels come down to shout of the glad tidings

exalt itself against the living God and do wondrous things.              for the earth, the shepherds of Bethlehem in joyful expecta-

That church as an institute shall be done away with by the               tion direct their way to the manger of Bethlehem, and even

very powers that courted her favor, so that her spirit and               the wise men from the distant east follow the star of the

principle shall ultimately embody itself in the great city               King with keenest interest and deepest concern; but, on the

that bears her name, Babylon. But as we saw in the                       other hand, you find that Herod  is deeply worried about this

preceding chapter, also this great city shall be destroyed,              event and makes the treacherous attempt to remove the Babe

and that by the power of God through Jesus Christ. As we                 from the earth before it can rise to glory, and the scribes and

studied the ultimate downfall of this Babylon, we had at the             pharisees, the wise men of the nation, evidently meet it with

same time a most beautiful opportunity to obtain a glimpse               stoical indifference. At the cross, which for a moment ap-

of her real character, as it becomes manifest from all that is           pears to the bystanders as the last and complete defeat of

said of her in the eighteenth chapter of Revelation. We found            the Man of Galilee, you may note the women that used to

that in every respect Babylon appears as a great world-                  follow Jesus and Mary and John filled with astonishment and

center, as a city of worldwide significance. She is pictured             sorrow because of the things that happen ; but also the exult-


                                                                                                                                 223
                                           THESTA~~ARDBEARER

ant joy of the leaders, of the scribes and pharisees, comes          row and grief. The kings of the earth express their grief. The
here to its manifestation-a joy aroused by the same event            merchants wail and weep over the loss of Babylon. And the
as the grief of the disciples.                                       shipmasters and sailors stand afar off to shed their tears of
   At the resurrection morning the disciples joyfully meet           grief over Babylon's desolation. But it is a sorrow of the
one another with the exultant greeting, "The Lord is risen           world. They are sorry not because the iniquity of the city
indeed." And their hearts are filled with a new-born hope.           called for the punishment of the Almighty. They are sorry
But the same fact of the resurrection caused the enemies to          not because they have so greatly sinned and provoked the
flee in dismay and filled the hearts of the leaders with devilish    wrath of the Most High. But they are sorry because of
apprehension. Thus the illustrations might be multiplied.            material loss and because they cannot now  continue to en-
The same events, connected somehow with the kingdom of               gage in wanton rebellion against the Most High and enjoy
our Lord Jesus Christ and its coming, are the cause of fear          the pleasures of sin. It is the sorrow of the world. They are
and sorrow to some, of joy and gladness to others. Thus it           tears of sin and selfishness, not of true repentance, which

was with Babylon, the great city. For some time it had been          are shed by the world over the destruction of Babylon. But

the cause of dismay and fear and terror to the people of God.        however this may be, fact is that all the inhabitants of the

For Babylon embodied all the principles they hated, and,             earth are pictured as in misery because of the destruction of

therefore, became the cause of their persecution and tribula-        the great and glorious city. But in heaven there is an entirely

tion. But the great of the earth committed fornication with          different scene. The very same event that causes so much

her, and the masses in general were wondering at her glory           misery and sorrow on earth among the people of the world

and filled with joy because of the greatness of her power.           fills the heavens with joy and causes them to rebound with

But now the scene has changed. Babylon is fallen. And even           a fourfold kaZZeZztjah,  to the glory of Him that sitteth upon

as her glory was the joy of the world and the grief of the           the throne. A tremendous contrast, therefore, is caused by

children of the kingdom, so also her downfall causes a two-          the fall of Babylon, a contrast that finds its principle in the

fold sentiment to come to manifestation. But this time the           attitude of men to the Lamb. On earth were the followers

joy is of God's people, and the grief is expressed by the            of the dragon, the subjects of the beast, the worsbippers of

children of unbelief.                                                his image, who expected their all from him and his reign.

    Let us notice concerning these singers, in the first place,      And therefore they are disappointed at the desolation of

that they are in heaven: "After these things," so John in-           the great city. But in heaven are the Lamb and his one

forms                                                                hundred forty-four thousand and the holy angels, they that
       us, "I heard a great voice of much people in heaven."
The scene of this chapter, therefore, connects itself with that      serve and love and fear the Lord and His name and look for

of the preceding. It takes place after what has been recorded        the kingdom of God and His righteousness in perfection.

in chapter 1s. In fact, what is described here is occasioned         They naturally are filled with joy because the destruction of

by what is told us in chapter 18, and the scene here described       the great city is their glory and victory. The joy is in

takes place in heaven. Heaven and earth are still separated.         heaven.

In fact, I imagine that there never was a moment in the                 In the second place, we may ask the question: who are

history of the world that the gap between heaven and earth           these that sing at the destruction of Babylon ? Must we think

was so wide as at this present moment. Because of sin a              here of a particular class of people, as some venture to guess ?

breach was- made between heaven, the dwellingplace of the            Must we separate the people of God in heaven ? Must we

Holy One and all His holy servants and of the saints that            say that they are only those that have suffered directly from

have gone before, and the earth, condemned and cursed be-            Babylon at the time of her culmination and greatest glory,

cause of the entrance of sin. Originally this was not so. There      the saints that were on earth at that time ? I do not think

was harmony and unity between heaven and earth, a harmony            that we are warranted at all in so interpreting the scene.

which was purposed to grow and increase till all the world,          True, it must be confessed that not all have been in contact

heaven and earth, had become the glorious kingdom of our             with Babylon in her clearest and most impudent manifesta-

God in perfection. But sin made the breach, a breach which           tion. Not all have suffered from her in an equal degree.

was scarcely visible in paradise, but which becomes wider            But the fact remains that in principle Babylon always existed

and wider as history develops, until, at the time of Babylon's       and that she has always been the enemy of the people of God.

culmination and destruction, it had reached its climax. The          Besides, it is simply a monstrous and inconceivable assump-

man of sin has developed to his last stage. The iniquity of          tion to suppose that part of the people of God should sing

Babylon cried unto heaven, cried to Jehovah Sabaoth ; and            the praise of the Almighty while others            be profoundly
                                                                                                                wo~~lcl  

at this moment all that is left upon earth is a mass of misery       silent in comlection  with the fall of Babylon. If it is true in

and desolation. Children of God there are no more upon the           regard to the suffering of this dispensation that all the mem-

earth. The picture presents us with a scene of misery and            bers suffer where one member is in tribulation, it is equally

desolation, wept over and bewailed by the great and mer-             true that in the state of glory all shall rejoice even though

chants and all the people of the world. It is a picture of sor-      not all have been in equally close contact with the cause of


224                                       T H E   s$..ANDAIW  B,EARER
                                                   ._

this joy personally. Besides, in the preceding chapter we           is destroyed. For He receives praise and adoration from all

read, in the first place, that Babylon is to blame for all the      His creation, and His name is glorified; Hallelujah.is  a word

suffering of the children of God and that in her is found the       that occurs nowhere else in Revelation, and, in fact, nowhere

blood of all the saints, of all that have been slain upon the       else in the entire New Testament. Here it occurs four times

earth. And, in the second place, we find that' the call comes       in practically the same song.          In the Old Testament it oc-

to all, the zipostles  and prophets and saints, to rejoice over     curs very frequently, especially in the Psalms. It is a Hebrew

the fall of Babylon, vs. 20. The song of this multitude in          word. The first part of it, hallelzt,  means "praise .ye,"  while

heaven is undoubtedly the response to that voice. Still more,       the second part of this compound noun is an abbreviation of

the text is careful to mention all the  people of God and, in       Jehovah, the covenant name of God. And therefore, the en-

fact, all the animate creation, as participants in this joy over    tire word simply means, "Praise ye Jehovah ; praise our

fallen Babylon. In a very general way John tells us, in the         covenant God."        The reason for this praise of Jehovah is

first place, that he heard a tremendous voice, as of a great        further set forth in the following sentence of the song of the

multitude, in heaven without specifically stating who belongs       multitude : "Salvation, and glory, and power belong unto our

to this multitude. Even if he had not informed us furthey,          God." It is because the salvation and glory and power be-

we would not have the right to limit their number to any            long to God that He must be praised. All these three at-

particular class. But he does speak more specifically too. He       tributes of God, all these three ascriptions of praise, must be

tells us that the twenty-four elders - representatives, as we       taken in their most comprehensive sense. Salvation belongs

know, of the entire church, both of the old and of the new          unto our God, that is, salvation to its fullest extent. This

dispensation - fall down and worship God and join in with           multitude stands at the close of history. Babylon is already

the HaUeluja.lz  that rebounds through the heavens. And not         destroyed, and the power of Antichrist is broken. All things

only they, but the four living creatures-representative of          are ready for the coming of the new heaven and the new

the glorified creature delivered from the bondage of corrup-        earth and the complete glorification of all God's saints and

tion -worship Him that sitteth  upon the- throne. And               of all God's creation. The multitude naturally looks on salva-

finally, the voice comes from the throne, calling upon all the      tion from this comprehensive point of view, salvatioil  of

servants that fear the Lord, both small,and  great, to call upon    body and soul, salvation of man and the whole world, the

the name of Jehovah in exultant praise. And therefore, the          complete salvation and restoration and glorification of that

text rather leaves the impression that this multitude em-           entire kingdom which God created at the beginning, which for

braces all the saints and even all the inhabitants of the           a time seemed to be in the hands of the devil, but which is

heavens, and, still more widely, embraces all the animate           redeemed by the Lamb.                                              H.H.

creation, that sees in the destruction of Babylon its own

restoration and deliverance. Abel and Noah, Abraham and

Isaac and Jacob, Moses and Joshua, all the patriarchs and
                                                                                          WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
prophets and saints of the old dispensation, and all the
apostles and martyrs and saints of the New Testament day               On February 22, 1961, our parents
join in with this song and give praise to God Almighty and                             MR. AND MRS. RICHARD DYKSTRA
                                                                    hope to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. We thank our
unto the Lamb. And as they sing, the angels respond in              heavenly Father that He has blessed them for each other and for us
songs of joy and gladness, and all creation as it is represented    these many years; and%  is our prayer that He will be with them in
                                                                    the years to come.
in the picture of the glorified economy in heaven worship                                                Mr. and Mrs. Arie Dykstia
and praise and sing their Halldujahs  to the glory of the                                                Mr. and Mrs. Simon Dykstra
                                                                                                         Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Cdle
Most High God.                                                                                           Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Nyenhuis
   As to the song, we may remark, in the first place, that                                               Mr. and Mrs. Ben Huizinga
                                                                                                         Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Postema
the glory of God is very emphatically the main theme of                                                  Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Klinge
the entire praise that .flows  from the lips of this tremendous                                          Mr. and Mrs. Richard Dykstra, Jr.
multitude. It is noteworthy that four times the `shout of                                                38 grandchildren
                                                                                                         3 great grandchildren
praise, "Hallelujah," is repeated by them, that the voice

from the throne has but one message, "Give praise unto our

God," that the multitude sings, "Salvation, and glory, and
honour, and power belong'unto  our God," and, finally, that                                    IN MEMORIAM

the four and twenty elders and the four living creatures fall          The Ladies' Society of the South Holland Protestant Reformed
                                                                    Church wishes to express its sincere sympathy  to our fellow member,
down to worship, repeating the "Hallelujah, Amen" of the            Mrs. Ben Bosman, in the loss of her Mother,
saints and the holy angels. There is in this song nothing of                                 MRq   P E T E R   B O E R
man, nothing of the creature; it is all of God and His glory           May our Cod comfort the hearts of the bereaved with His
that all the creatures sing. And the purpose of all Goss            glorious erace.
                                                                                                             Rev. John A. Heys, President
plans and wo$&  is certainly plainly reached when Babylon                                                    Mrs. F. Van Baren,  Secretary


                                                   T H E   STAN,DARD  -B.EA'RER                                                                   225


                                                                                   court of Pharaoh. The message which they bore was simple

11 A CLOUD OF WITNESSES 11 and direct, "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my
                                                                                   people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilder-

                                                                                   ness." This was no mere suggestion ; nor was it in any sense

                 The Word Of God In Egypt                                          a request; it was very clearly a direct command. It was
                                                                                   this that aroused Pharaoh's anger and moved him to retort.
        And Moses and Aaro.pL went a,nd  gathered together                         "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let
     all the elders of the children of Israel;
                                                                                   Israel go ? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go."
        And Aaron spa.ke  a.11 the words which the Lord land
     spoken unto Moses, a.nd  d,id  the signs in the sight                         Pharaoh was not one accustomed to receiving orders or com-
                                                                            of
     the  p e o p l e .                                                            mands. He was the king of Egypt, the most powerful sover-
        And he people believed: and when they ha;vd that                           eign in all the earth. The very thought that anyone should

     the Lord lrnd visited the clziMren  of Israel, and that he                    think to command him, whether Moses or Aaron or even
     had   l o o k e d   ,uport  t,`zek  affliction, then they b o w e d   the@    their God, only made him furious.
     heads and worshipped.
                                                                                         To some it would seem that this reaction of Pharaoh was
        An.d a,fteyward  Moses a.nd  Aaron went in, a%d told
                                                                                   quite natural, almost to the point of being excusable. After
     Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,  Let 99~~
     people go, that they muy  hold a feast u?Lto,  vxe in the                     all, what did he know about the God of Israel ? As far as he
     wildemess.                                                                    knew, what Moses and Aaron spoke were just words. There

        And Phamoh  said, Wlw is the Lord, that I should                           had been as yet no proof that their God was real and worthy
     oliey his voice to let Israel go? I know vtot  the  Lord,                     of being listened to. Furthermore, the words of Aaron were
     neithefr ~21 I let Israel go, - Exodus 4 129 - 5 ~2.                          notedly without tact. Two men merely burst into his pres-
   With the burden of God's Word resting upon their                                ence and, claiming to speak in. the name of their God, de-
hearts, the two brothers, Moses and Aaron, entered the                             manded, "Let my people go !" There was no recognition of
land of Egypt. After four hundred years of silence, God had                        his position and authority as king of Egypt. There was no
revealed Himself again. During that time He had not                                allowance for the fact that he had his own gods which he
changed ; His promises of former years were still faithful                         worshipped. There was no acknowledgment of his superior
and true. .,Soon  it would be unquestionably demonstrated in                       power and might over Israel. With blunt and uncompromis-
Egypt, God's love for His chosen Israel. That truth would                          ing terms they merely issued a demand.              They treated
determine the great events soon to take place in the land of                       Pharaoh as a mere, ordinary man. Was it then surprising
bondage. So immense were these events to be that even                              that he reacted so sharply ?
Moses and Aaron could not as yet imagine it. With signs                                  Such speculation, however, is after all superficial. Phartioh
and wonders God would extract His people from the cruel                            was not as ignorant of the God of Israel as at first it might
clutches of sin. Let all who would oppose Him beware!                              seem. Had not .he and his predecessors been trying now for

   Upon entering the land, Moses and Aaron gathered to-                            many years to break the power of Israel as a nation ? Yet

gether the elders of Israel. To them first they made known                         their greatest efforts had proved to be of no avail because

the will of the Lord. How different it was from the first                          the God of Israel sustained them. Again, -did he not know

time that Moses had sought to establish himself in Israel.                         the history of his own nation and the great power that had

Then his whole concern had been with proving himself.                              been demonstrated among them in the days of Joseph ? Even

His whole effort had been to show himself able and willing                         besides this, Pharaoh had but to look to the heavens to see the

to b? for them a leader and savior. In doing so he had                             glory of God, or to the firmament to see His handiwork. Had

failed. But now he merely came, and, without one reference                         he the least bit of discernment or honesty he would have

to himself, spoke the Word of the Lord. In humble silence                          known that this was not the work of his gods, idols of wood

the people listened. They heard again the promises of grace                        `and of stone. Moreover, if Moses and Aaron represented the

which had been received by their covenant fathers, Abraham,                        true God, as they said they did, how could they possibly come

Isaac, and Jacob. They were told that God looked upoh them                         in any other manner than they did? God, if He be God in
in their affliction and would come as the I AM to save them                        truth, can not come to man merely requesting or suggesting,

with a mighty hand. They gazed in wonderment upon the                              offering, begging or pleading. Such would in effect place

signs, the rod changed to a serpent, and the leprous hand                          him  down on the level of man, an abrogation of His right to

which was cleansed. Having heard and seen it all, they                             divinity. There is only one way that God can come to any

believed. They were the children of God within whom was                            man, even though he be a king, and that is with the authority

the beginning of faith. In humble thanksgiving they bowed                          of a direct command.

their heads and worshipped. Surely great and wondrous                              *-    The history which was shortly to follow would demon-
things were soon to be done ; the I AM had promised it.                            strate  evidently enough what was the real reason for Phar-

   Encouraged by the reception they received from the                              aoh's response. It was pride. Pharaoh had determined long

Israelites, Moses and Aaron proceeded immediately to the                           before that he          be the supreme authority in his own
                                                                                                      would 

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


life. It was the working of sin such as is found naturally in      as mere peasants negligent in their labors. "Wherefore do

the heart of every man.    He wanted to be as God. He rec-         ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works ? get

ognized the gods of Egypt only because they were of wood           you unto your burdens. Behold, the people of the land now

and stone so that he could use them as he would. When,             are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens." More-

therefore, Moses and Aaron came in the name of a God with          over Pharaoh was a man of action. No sooner were Moses

an authority greater than his, he met it as a personal chal-       and Aaron dismissed from his presence than he summoned

lenge. It was not the fact that Pharaoh did not know               his subordinates which were in charge of the taskmasters of

whether the God confessed by Moses and Aaron was real or           Israel, saying, "Ye shall no more give the people straw to

not that kept him from acceding to their demand. It was not        make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for

even actually a fear lest he should lose the advantage of part     themselves. And the tale of the bricks, which they did make

or all of Israel's service. It was the principle of the thing.     heretofore, ye shall lay upon them ; ye shall not diminish

An authority had appeared which claimed to be greater than         ought thereof : for they be idle ; therefore they cry, saying,

his own. His pride would not allow this to go unchallenged.        Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let there more work

The more that the power of Israel's God would become               be laid upon the men, that they may labour  therein ; and

evident, the more he would set himself to prove that it was        let them not regard vain words."

not greater than his. It was not because of ignorance that                  Life for the children of Israel soon became even more
Pharaoh refused ; it was because the very word of another          bitter than before. In the making of bricks which was re-.
authority set his heart in rebellion. The more he would            quired of them they had to mix straw or stubble to give the
learn, the greater this rebellion would become, This was the       bricks strength. Formerly the Egyptians had supplied the
hardness of heart of which God had spoken. It had begun            large quantities of straw which" they needed ; but now they
at Pharaoh's birth. It would continue until his final destruc-     were told to gather their own material where they could
tion. The Word of God only hastened it on its way. God             while producing the same number of bricks as before. This
was setting up Pharaoh as an example to all ages of the            was an impossible task. The Israelites had always been
rebellious working of sin. It was the same hardening which         diligent in their work, and, when many of them were taken
is found in the heart of every natural man. It is the harden-      from actual production to go out and gather stubble for the
ing which only the grace of God can break ; but for Pharaoh        work, it became impossible to maintain their former quotas.
no such grace existed.                                             But the Egyptians were unrelenting. Bending over them

   Moses and Aaron patiently proceeded to explain them-            with whips the Egyptians exclaimed, "Fulfil  your works,

selves further. "The God of the Hebrews hath met with us:          your daily tasks, as when there was straw. Wherefore have

Pet us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert,      ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and

and sacrifice unto the Lord our God; lest he fall upon us          today, as heretofore ?"       With furious effort the Israelites

with pestilence, or with the sword." They set before Pharaoh       labored as never before, but all to no avail. They could not

a minimal requirement. Moses knew that God's intent was            make enough bricks.

to deliver Israel completely from the land of Egypt. He knew                The children of Israel had believed when Moses and
that in the end it would be so. However, it was first to' be       Aaron had brought to them the Word of God, but as yet their
demonstrated that Pharaoh would not accede to the least            faith was weak and wavering. Almost immediately under this
demand no matter how small it might be. The requirement            new affliction they disowned the leadership of Moses. They
was perfectly sensible. Israel's God had a right to the service    sent new leaders to Pharaoh to try to make peace with him.
of His people. Moreover, it was quite impossible that such         These leaders presented their case, "Wherefore dealest thou
service should be rendered amid the alien religions of Egypt.      thus with thy servants ? There is `no straw given untb thy
Not only would that be a mockery to Israel's God, the Egyp-        servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy

tians themselves  would not stand for it. Thus the thing to        servants are beaten ; but the -fault is in thine  own people."

do was to remove themselves from the borders of the land.          But Pharaoh's wrath was not so easily soothed. He answered

Surely if Israel did not render due worship to its God,            back, "Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go

that God could be expected to turn upon them in judgment.          and sacrifice to the Lord. Go therefore now, and work ; for

Pharaoh could easily see that this was so.                         there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the

                                                                   tale of bricks."
   It is quite futile for us to speculate at this point as ts
whether, if Pharaoh would have granted this request, God                    In bitterness .the children of Israel turned upon Moses
would have returned Israel afterward to Egypt. It was              and Aaron. Angrily they accused,them,  "The Lord look upon
ordained not to be so.                                                      and judge ; because ye have made our savor to be ab-
                                                                   you, 
                                                                   horred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants,
   But Pharaoh was not to be changed. He had set his               to put a sword in their hand to slay us." They were yet far
course and from it he would not waver. He would not eve11

recognize Moses and Aaron as messengers of God, but only                                   (Continued on page 230)


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              227


                                                                        1. He has the earmark of apostleship because he had

                                                                     seen the Lord; he had been an eye-witness of Christ, the

                                                                     exalted Lord. It is true that he had not been with Christ

                                                                     and the other `apostles from the baptism of John unto the

                  Exposition of I Timothy                            day that He had been taken up into heaven. Such was

                                                                     necessary in an apostle according to Peter's address as.
                      (I Timothy 1 :l, 2)                            recorded in Acts 1:15-26.  Paul was an apostle extra-

          "Pa.&,  an apostle of Christ Jems  according to the        ordinary. But he was an apostle nonetheless. He was one
      cowumndw~ent  of God oacr Satior,  and Ch.rist  Jews           as "born out of due time" (I Cor. 1 :S). Paul had seen the
      ow  hope; unto Timothy  my-  tvue  child iti the faith:        Lord, however. He is on this count a bona fide apostle.
      G,race,  mercy, peace, from God the Father a%nd  Christ           2. He has the earmark of having been instructed by the
     Jesus ow  Lord."
                                                                     Lord Jesus Hivwsi9j.  He did not receive his knowledge in
   It is our plan to write a series of sketches on this first        the mystery of God's will through and from the other apostles.
epistle of Paul to Timothy. We believe that this pastoral            We know that he received his knowledge of the Lord's
letter is full of instruction, correction, reproof, in order that    Supper from the Lord Himself, as he writes in I Cor. 11:23  :
the man of God be thoroughly furnished unto every good               "For I have ,received  from the Lord, that which I also
work. .Although  this letter is addressed to Timothy, it can-        delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which
not, therefore, be. said that its instruction is meant only for      he was betrayed . . ." And, in Gal. 1 :l, Paul emphasized
him. It is, indeed, a letter for the entire church ; only in this    that he is "an apostle-not from men, neither through men,

instance it gives various directives to Paul so that he may          but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised
be able to conduct the affairs in the church. Paul does not          him from the dead." And, again, in Gal. 1:12 Paul ex-

touch upon everything in this letter; he merely writes the           plicitly states that the gospel which was. preached by him
essentials and matters which were pressing. The rest he              was not after man, whereas he says: "For neither did I
will set in order when he comes.                                     receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me

   It seems that when Paul writes this letter he has left            through the revelation of Jesus Christ." Paul received noth-

Ephesus for Macedonia ; he has left Timothy at Ephesus.              ing second-handed as did the prophets, evangelists, shep-
And now he will write a letter to the young preacher. This           herds and teachers.

letter is a gem for every preacher of the Word of God. In               3. Paul also has the third earmark of being an apostle.
a way it is a veritable textbook of practical instruction for        He was called directly and personally by Christ Himself. He

the church. It is a kind of "church-order" on doctrine and           was not chosen by the congregation, nor was he appointed by

customs.                                                             the laying on of hands by the other apostles. He was arrested

    Without entering too much into detail as to the purpose,         by Christ Himself on the way to Damascus. We read in
place and time of the writing of this letter, we shall proceed       Acts 9 :3-6 as follows : "And as he journeyed, it came to pass
to our exposition of the verses 1 and 2 of this first chapter.       that he drew nigh unto Damascus : and suddenly there shown
    As in all of his epistles, so also here, Paul writes in the      round about him a light out of heaven: and he fell upon the
deep and firm confidence that he writes as an "apostle of            earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why
Christ Jesus."    He is an apostle of Christ in the sense that       persecutest thou me ? And he said : Who art thou, Lord ?
he belongs to Christ, called by Him into His service in the          And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: but rise,
Gospel. That he is an apostle is due to the great mercy of           and enter into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou
God upon him. Paul was appointed to the service of Christ,           must do."    Hence, Paul was directly called by Christ Him-
and he is empowered by Him so. that he has all the ability           self. Jesus, whom he persecuted in His church, met him
which this office requires (I Tim. 1 :ll, 12) _ God counted him      upon the way, and mercifully took him up into His service.
trustworthy ; he may take care of the ministry entrusted to          For when Ananias feared to go to see Saul at the street
his care. Hence, he stands in the service of the Anointed            called Straight, the Lord reassured Ananias that it ,would  be
One of God, the Christ, and may labor in the gospel of Him,          very safe to go and see him. He says to Ananias : "Go thy
who is "Jesus," that is, of Him who "will save his people            way: for he [Saul] is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my
from their sins" (Matthew 1 :21).  He is Immanuel, God-              name before the Gentiles and kings and children of Israel:
with-us I                                                            for I will show him how many things he must suffer for my
    And thus Paul takes                                              name's sake" (Acts 9 :13-16).
                           LIP the pen to write. He is clothed
with a3postolic  authority. He is an apostle of this Christ              Small wonder that Paul writes, "Paul, an apostle of

Jesus.                                                               Christ Jesus."    This indeed he is. But it is not so strange

    The office of apostle was unique in the church. And Paul         either that Paul adds, "According to the commandment of

insists that he is an apostle, equal to any of all the other         God our Savior, and Christ Jesus our hope." Paul is under

apostles. He has all the credentials necessary to prove his          order. He knows himself a servant and a minister. How-

apostleship. This is evident from the following:                     ever, the phrase "according to the commandment of God OLIN


228                                       T.HE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


Savior" means far more than simply a limited command to            is a tremendous concept. It refers to that sure and certain

Paul. This term here really anticipates the meaning of the         future of the believers  in Christ which is and has been

sovereign will and purpose of God,in our salvation in Christ.      brought about through the resurrection and ascension of

That Paul is an apostle fits with, is in harmony with the          Jesus Christ. It is the promise of the renewal of all things.

great plan of God in the salvation of Jew and Gentile. It          We look for and expect a new heaven and a new earth where

refers especially to God's decree that in the Dispensation of      righteousness shall dwell. In this new heaven and new earth

the fulness of times, God would have the Gospel proclaimed         Christ is the first-born. He must have the pre-eminence in

not merely to the Jews, but that now  the Gospel shall be pro-     all things, He has made peace ; He reconciled all things unto

claimed to "all men." The middle-wall of partition has been        the Father. And herein God is glorified in the Son.

broken down; the enmity between the circumcision and fore-             In this great work we can say that, whereas Christ will
skin is gone. Thus we read so beautifully in Rom. 1695,            bring this all about, as the anointed Mediator of God and
26: "Now to him that is able to establish you according to         men, He is the hope. He is our peace. He is the hope of
my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to          glory. And thus is the "commandment of God our Savior."
the revelation of the mystery which hath been kept in              And, in accordance with this great commandment, Paul is an
silence through times eternal, but now is manifested, and by       apostle of Christ. Thus it is in the text here.
the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the conapzzand-.
                                                                      What a grandeur this lends' to Paul's office !
ment  of the eternal God, is made known unto all the nations -

unto obedience of faith."                                             And well may we give believing heed to what he has to

   In accordance with this plan of salvation, and God's -          write.

commandment that the mystery of salvation no longer be                He writes in this capacity to Timothy. Timothy was from

kept in silence, Paul is made an apostle. For let it not be        the city of Lystra. He was a companion of Paul in travel,

&erlooked  that Paul speaks here of the commandment of             born from a Greek father and a Jewish mother. From earliest

God, our Savior. We must not attempt to put another mean-          childhood he had been instructed in the Scriptures by his

ing than that of the Bible into the term "Savior." It is true,     believing grandmother Lois, and his equally believing mother

as Thayer points out in his Lexicon, that the term Savior-         Eunice. Paul had circumcised Timothy because of the Jews

(Sooteer) was `(a name given by the ancients to deities, esp.      who knew that his father was a Greek.

tutelary deities, to princes, kings, and in general to meri            It is especially the gift of "peace" that is spoken of in
who had conferred signal benefits upon their country, and          this apostolic greeting. Paul speaks of a "peace" which is
in the more degenerate days by way of flattery to personages       joined with Itgrace  and mercy." The term peace is the
of influence." It would be an entirely wrong methodology to :      "Shalom" of the Old Testament. Only the term is greatly
reason from the usage of the term "Sooteer" among men,             enriched in the New Testament  in the light of the work of
and then try to apply such to the term when used of God            Christ on the cross. A greater riches has been put by God
in Scripture. This has been attempted. And they, who               into this term in the sending of His Son in the flesh. It is
thus attempted to construe the term, did this in' order to show    for this reason that when Christ is born thk multitude of the
that God is the Savior of all men in the sense that His prov-      heavenly host sing "Glory to God in the highest, and pea.ce
idential care is over all men and over all His creatures. Now      among the men of his good-pleasure." The reason is that a
surely the latter is true. But it does not follow that one can     Savior is born to us, who is Christ, the Lord. And for this
simply interpret the concept that "God is Savior" in such          very reason Jesus, speaking with His disciples at the  occa-
a sense. The Scriptures too definitely indicate everywhere         sion of tlie last Passover, said, "Peace I leave you, my peace
that God is Savior in the sense that He delivers the creation      I give you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not
from the curse and the bondage of corruption, and that He          your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14 :27).
saves His people from their sins, from the guilt and pollution     And, again, it is for this reason also that Jesus, when He
of sin, and exalts them ti, the glory of the heavenly through      appears to His disciples after His resurrection, says, "Peace
the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And that is some-      be unto you," while showing them His hands and His side
thing far different and also far more exalted than simply          (John 20 :20).
referring God's being Savior to His providential care over
th 3 cosmos.                                                          This is the peace which Paul has in mind. It is a peace
                                                                   which in the `!grace" of God the Spirit effectually works in
   The addition of the  pronoun "our" with "Savior" indi-
                                                                   our hearts, and which is rooted in and springs forth from
cates that Paul has in mind that God is our Savior from sin
                                                                   "mercy." Grace meets us as we are-unworthy -while
and death, as He is the God of our salvation and worketh all
                                                                   mercy reaches us in our utter helplessness.
things after the Counsel  of `His will. For the commandment

according to whiih Paul is an apostle refers to the will and          And thus from God the Father and from Christ our Lord

purpose of God ,$ich He executes in Jesus Christ, our hope. .      we receive the peace that passeth  understanding. And in

   Let us try to understand this just a bit.                       that peace Timothy is addressed and we witb him.

   When !hF Scriptures speak of Christ as our "hope" this                                                                     G.L.


                                           THE STAND,A~.D  B~~~RER                                                                229


                                                                      members ?) gloating over a record of traffic violations or of

            IN'HIS  F E A R                                           violations that were cleverly. performed without being seen
                                                                      by the 1%~ enforcement officer.

                                                                         And let it be clearly understood that "there is no power

               "The Life Yeau  Save . . . ."                          but of God: the powers that be arc ordained of God. Who-

                                                                      soever resisteth therefore the power, resisteth the ordinance
   Quoted in its entirety the slogan is, "The Life You Save           of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves dam-
May Be Your Own."                                                     nation"    (Romans 13 :l, 2). Traffic laws are made for the
   All of our readers, no doubt, know that this slogan is             well-being of man. They are there to protect man even from
used to strive to bring about. more sanity in our driving             his own"carelessness  and foolishness. And the authorities, or
habits and to keep down the mounting toll of lives that are           powers, as they are called in the King James version, have
lost daily on our highways. The slogan makes a direct ap-             the God-given right to make laws for our driving behaviour
peal to the motorist to consider that he endangers his own            as well as for any other phase of our earthly life. When we
life as well as that of others when he drives carelessly.             disobey these traffic laws as well as our taxation laws, we

   And the slogan undoubtedly is concerned only with salva-           resist the ordinance of God and oppose Him. Shall we boast

tion in the sense of escape from physical death. It does not          about such things ? Shall we laugh about it or laugh it off?

speak of saving in the theological sense that the word is             Nay, not in His fear. For in these things we show utter

used in Holy Writ. It has no thought of salvation from sin            disregard for the fifth commandment, the sixth command-

and guilt, death and the fierce wrath of God. No, it is con-          ment and the first commandment. We hate God and will not

cerned only with a prolongment of this life on this earth.            ascribe to Him the right to place authorities over us. We say

And you will not be rebuked for asking, "And what does all            that He may not be God alone. And we are unconcerned

this have to do with the fear of the Lord?"                           with His command that we do not kill. Make no mistake

   An answer might be suggested, in vindication of this               about it, God gives the authorities the right to make the
matter for an article In His Fear, by pointing out that the           traffic laws they deem necessary for the well-being of man.
slogan is purely one that concerns itself with earthly, carnal        And He insists that to disobey them authorities, as well as
things. The slogan breathes nothing spiritual. It presents            the king on the throne, is to walk in sin. We must not keep
even a very selfish reason for driving safely. It does not            these laws simply to avoid a fine or to prevent the loss of our
stress that we are our brother's keeper and that by careless-         right to drive a car on the highways and streets.  The very
ness we might become murderers. It does not call us to our            fact that these authorities have that right to fine us and to
God-given duty to seek the well-being of the neighbour. And           take away our driver's license, yea, the very fact that they

it does not even suggest the oft-quoted "Golden Rule" : Do            have the right to license or refuse to give a license already

unto others as you would have them do unto you. All this              indicates that they have authority from God, and to resist

is very true. But all this still would not explain the reason         them is to resist God.

for this article under the heading of In His FeaT-.  We cer-             And we do not have simply' in mind those reckless deeds
tainly should not drive with care simply for our own sake.            of the youth of our land when they use their cars to play
But as is the case with all our activities and work, it all           such deadly games as "Chicken" and the like. No covenant
ought to be in His fear. And we like to write a few lines             youth will so play with his life. Not because he fears a
about that at this time. It is not simply a case of striving to       violent death and severe bodily injuries. But once again
warn you to save your earthly life. It is the far more serious        exactly because he fears God and desires to keep His com-
matter of living to the glory of God and of using all that            mandments. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wis-
which He gives us as good stewards of His goods.                      dom. And that covenant youth is wise. He sees the folly of

   Surely there is something wrong when we can laugh                  sin in these things. But there are so many other deeds of

about our traffic violations and boast of how many tickets we         carelessness in our driving habits that reflect our proneness

were given. In His fear we hang our heads in shame when               to live out of His fear rather than in it. We speed through

we have transgressed the law, and we flee to the cross with           a residential district or even a school zone were children may

all our disobedience. Our sin does not become a piece of              suddenly dart out in front of us. The speed limit is clearly

entertainment. It. does not become a thing of which we are            posted, and we know at what-speed we may safely go, and

proud. In the world you can expect such things. For the               over which we may not go. But our plans and purposes are

world is sold under sin. They practice evil, and as. Paul             more important to us than God's ordinances and the safety

writes to the Church at Rome, they "have pleasure in them             of others. How many are the character traits which we reveal

that do them." The world looks up to the evil doer and wor-           in our driving habits. Here surely the old slogan of "Ladies

ships him often as a liero.  n/Ien  strive to set a record even in    first" is wholly in discard. .A driver is a driver, and a car is

evil deeds. All they know is sin, and the fear of the Lord is         just another car. Nor do we say that it should be otherwise.

not in them. But in the Church . . . .? ! How sad a picture           It would be quite some confusion at the traffic light, if it had

that is of covenant youth (and maybe parents and confessing           to change according to whether a man or woman sat


230                                      T - H E   ST-ANDAR.D  BE%IRER


behind the wheel at the intersection. But courtesy is             what wilt Thou have me to do ? And we may be sure that

so hard to find. When a man gets behind the, wheel,               the answer which He will give is not, "Keep the traffic laws
yea even the meek little man, and he feels the power              when convenient and break them when you can get away
of a mighty engine in his grasp and under his control, he         with it, only be sure that you do not get caught. For that
almost becomes another person. He behaves so differently          would bring shame to My cause and to My Church that you,
from what he does when he is not behind that wheel.               a member oi the body of Christ, have resisted the ordinances
Suddenly he feels important and he thrills at the power  which    which I have established."    No, it will not be that! But it
he has at his command. Bravely he races in and out of the         certainly will be in the vein of what He said through Peter
traffic pattern. He lies on the horn to make you keep your        about servants. They must be subject to their masters when
place and he jumps ahead of you when the light changes to         they are froward as well as when they are good and gentle.

green. Walking on the street he may not have the nerve to            We may not see the sense in some traffic laws. It may

speak to you. In a room `full of people he may retire to the      seem better to us to ignore them. A speed limit may seem

quiet corners and fear to voice his opinion on any con-           quite arbitrary and entirely uncalled for at certain hours of

troversial matter. But get him behind the wheel and you           the day. But it is the law. The authorities call it a violation

see something in him you would not believe could be there.        when you break it. And so does God Who gave these author-

                                                                  ities the right to make laws in their sphere of rule over us.
       And how often have we not had the experience of riding
with a shrewd business man who weighs each purchase care-            The Jews thought that they had quite a point when they
fully and gives close attention to the small details that an-     asked Jesus whether they ought to pay tribute to wicked,
other might ignore. A few pennies saved here soon amourit         Gentile Caesar. But without going into the matter of whether
to a dollar, and over a period of time these dollars wisely       the tax was called for and necessary or not, Jesus called
invested bring in a pleasing amount of interest. Caution is       attention to the fact that we must render unto Caesar the
the word. Ignoiing  none of the details is a must. And yet,       things that are Caesar's ivz order  to render unto God the
when they get out on the highway they will risk that life,        things that are God's.  And unto God we owe that honor
without which these things of material wealth have no             that we acknowledge His right to rule us also in our driving
value, by passing on hills and curves, speeding around curves,    upon the highways and streets through wicked, foolish and
following cars and trucks ,so closely and at high speed that      depraved men. In His fear be sure that you do not deny
it would be impossible to stop in time, should the driver         that He is GOD !                                        J.A.H.

ahead suddenly make an unexpected move.

       Shall we dismiss all this as nothing more than poor

driving habits? Shall we say that it is a fine display of                           A CLOUD OF WITNESSES

nerves of steel and that the more cautious driver is simply
                                                                                      (Continued from page 226)
being timid ? Shall these be our heroes and shall we try to       from the position of strength where they would be able to
duplicate their driving "skill" ?                                 follow the way of the Lord unto deliverance.
       Indeed all are not good drivers. And there are many,           Even the strength of Moses was not yet fully developed.
many poor drivers on the highways. `All do not have the           In despair he turned to the Lord and asked, "Lord, where-
same amount of good judgment or+the  same skill in handling       fore hast thou so evil entreated this people ? why is it that
an automobile. Some will never learn to be good drivers.          thou hast sent me ? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in
There is even such a thing as being too cautious, that is,        thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou
one can be so overly concerned with what the other driver         delivered thy people at all." Moses, like the children of
is doing or going to do that he fails to pay attention to his     Israel, had yet to learn that the way of God's people is never
own driving and is simply confused by the host of circum-         easy upon this earth. Slowly the Lord was teaching them.
stances that surround him. Such is the case when a highway                                                                  B.W.
driver finds that he must drive through a -thickly congested
area of a large city with three or four lanes of cars around                               .-

him, traffic lights and signs, the noise and speed of the
                                                                                `Notice for Classis West
flow of traffic- faster than he can think. And we are not

writing about driving skills or the lack of it. We are not            Classis  West of -the Protestant Reformed Churches will

even writing about courteous driving. What we write about         meet, the Lord willing, in South Holland, Illinois, on Wed-

is not even approached from the point of view of safe driving.    nesday, March 15, 1961 at 9 A.M.

What we want to leave with you is this, that you must do all          The consistories are reminded of the rule that all matters

things in His fear. And therefore also our driving habit?         for the classical agenda must be in the hands of the Stated

and behaviour must be in His fear.                                Clerk not later than 30 days before the date of Classis.  And

       And that surely means that we keep the laws set for us     all matters that are to be brought to Synod must also be

by those whom it has pleased God to set over us in this           presented at this classis.

sphere. It means that here too we ask the question, Lord,                                       REV. H. VELDMAN,  Stated ClwK


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   /:BEi,R'ER                                                     231


                                                                         Of coursk,  ;t'is very t&e that "things are in the Bible because
11       Contending For The Faith 11 they are true." However, in the mouth of the Rationalist
                                                                         this has an altogether different meaning than as expressed by
I'                                                                 J[
                                                                         one who bows before the authority of the Holy Scriptures.

           The Church and the Sacraments                                 The Rationalist, we understand, does not believe the things

                                                                         that are in the Bible merely because they are in the Bible.
          THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION                         j          He believes the things that are in the Word of God only

                                                                         when he is able to understand and comprehend them. If, for
                 VIEWS ON THE CHURCH                     '
                                                                         example, he believes in the immortality `of the soul (and this

                   FORMAL PRINCIPLE                                      truth is, of course, taught in the Word of God), then he
                                                                         believes in this doctrine only because it is reasonable to him.
                            (continued)'                                 If, for example, he does not believe in the doctrine of. the

      In our preceding article, appraising that form of Ra-              Trinity, that God is one in essence and three in Persons, and
tionalism which is known as Deistical Rationalism, we ob-                this truth is also taught in the Scriptures, then he does not
served, in the first place, that it is surely contrary to the            believe in it because it is not reasonable to him. The argu-
teachings of the Word of God. And, in the second place, we               ments which can be advanced against this doctrine far out-
also pointed out that this presentation is contrary to all that          weigh, as far as the rationalist is concerned, those that can
which is taught us by history. However, this is not all.                 be set forth in favor of it. It means nothing to the Rationalist
      In the third place, we also wish to remark that Scripture          that the doctrine of the Trinity appears in the Bible and that
alone directs us to the0 only way out of our present misery              writers of old have recorded it. This also applies, of course,
and shame and death. Why criticize the Word of the living                to other doctrines such as the creation of the world, the in-
God when one is utterly helpless to furnish relief and point             carnation of the Son of God, the re-creation of new heavens
the way out? Why reject the Word of God when one cannot                  and new earth. He does not believe things merely because they
put anything in its place? The Word of the living God                    are mentioned in the Word of God but only because they fall
alone is a lamp before our feet and a light upon our path to             within the scope of his human intellect and understanding.
lead man to life and glory. This lies surely in the nature of            We repeat: that sacred writers have recorded these things
the case. How could the mind of man possibly serve to lead               means nothing to him. These writers may have been in error:
him to life and peace ? Hdw could man's reason possibly lead             They undoubtedly were in error. Just because some-
the way out of misery and the abyss of his shame and cor-                thing may have appeared reasonable to them does not mean
ruption and death into life and immortality ? How can man                that they are therefore reasonable. What people may have
who is from below lead mankind to the things that are above?             believed to be true in days of old may not necessarily be true
Is it reasonable or rational to assume the possibility of this ?         today. God, then, may have revealed to fallible men what He
Can any mortal who cannot save himself from death lead                   wanted them to write, but He did not inspire them infallibly.
mankind to life and peace, through death and the grave, and              The Lord simply left it to them to write as they wanted to

beyond the grave into the land of eternal life and heavenly              write. These writers were no stenographers, we must under-
immortality? Do not the Scriptures obviously declare the                 stand (although permit me to add that we do not believe either

truth when they teach that "to us have been -revealed the                that they were mere stenographers). God did nof tell them,

things that could never arise within the heart or mind of                word for word, what to write, but simply told them in

man"? The proud and abominably conceited rationalist re-                 ,general  terms, but left the actual writing to them. And these

jects the Biblical revelation in the Scriptures, but he himself          writers were undoubtedly influenced by the times and circum-

can only plunge mankind and himself into greater shame and               stances of their particular age. They may have written-things

debauchery and destruction. Indeed, his attitude toward the              which were currently accepted as truth in their day, may

Word is surely not reasonable or logical, but purely spiritual.          have written in harmony with and according to popular

He rejects the Scriptures not because he cannot understand               opinion. And they may surely have been in error. The Scrip-
or comprehend them, but only because, hating God, he also                tures, therefore, abound with misapprehensions, with in-
hates the Word of God. His heart and mind are dead in                    conclusive arguments and accommodations to Jewish errors,
sins and trespasses, and his entire attitude is simply one of            superstitions, and popular beliefs. In' those days of old, for
hatred and enmity against the living God.                                example, people believed that the earth was flat and that it

      Until now we have called attention to that form of Ra-             Fested  upon foundations and pillars, that the sun moved

tionalism which is known as Deistical Rationalism. This                  around the earth rather than that the earth moved around

form of Rationalism denies Divine revelation.                            the sun. We know better today, of course. And what must

      Another more common form of Rationalism admits that                now determine what is truth and what is not the truth ?
the Scriptures contain a supernatural revelation. It main-               Man's reason must surely supply the answer. To separate

tains, not that the things are true because they are in the              the wheat from the chaff, the true from the false is the task

Bible, but that they are in the Bible because they are true.             of the regson and mind'of man. He will believe and accept


232                                   TH.E  $_lIAAN?ARD              B     E    A     R    E    R
                                                                     _... ..~.


to be true only that which is in harmony with his human             bkdy  and a soul, and that his body and soul are wondrously

intellect and understanding.                                        adapted to each other. He does not doubt his own personal

                                                                    existence, does he ? Consequently, when he declares that he
       In, our appraisal of this form of Rationalism our first
                                                                    rejects the truths as set forth in the Word of God because
observation is that when it declares to believe only that which
                                                                    he cannot comprehend them, he is surely not speaking the
it is able to understand and comprehend it is not speaking
                                                                    truth. Another motive surely dominates him in his rejection
the truth. The Rationalist is silllply  lying when he claims  to
                                                                    of the Word of God. The reason why he rejects the Word of
maintain this. Does he reject such doctrines as the Trinity
                                                                    God is not because he cannot comprehend it, but because he
and the Incarnation of the Son of God in our flesh and blood
                                                                    does not want the things that are contained in it. He
because he camlot  understand them ? Of course not ! Fact is,
                                                                    hates the living God and refuses to submit himself to what
he does not understand anything. All of life is a profound
                                                                    that living God has. revealed in his infallible Word and
riddle and mystery to man. Does a child understand that
                                                                    testimony. It must be very obvious that the Rationalist is
certain people are his (or her) parents and does it therefore
                                                                    .not controlled exclusively by his reason and thinking after
address them as its father and mother? Does anybody under-
                                                                    all. He is principally controlled and dominated by his heart,
: stand the feeding qualities of foods and the potent qualities
                                                                    and that heart is evil.
of various medicines and therefore partake of them ? Does a
farmer understand how a kernel of corn can -grow into an                  A second observation which we wish to make in connec-
ear of corn, how the seed of wheat and oats can grow and            tion with this form of Rationalism concerns the written  Word
mature into wheat and oats, and does he for this reason plank       of God, the Holy Scriptures.          To understand this, we must
his crops in the springtime of the year? We know better:            bear in mind that some forty writers were instrumental in
Does the evolutionist believe in the theory of evolution, that      the composition of the Bible. The first writer of the Bible
.one  species can develop into another. because it is reasonable    was Moses and the last writer was J'ohn.:as  he wrote the
to him and he is able to understand it? Does he fully under:        Book of Revelation. These writers covered-a period of timk
stand and comprehend the process of life, and can he explain,       which lasted approximately fifteen to sixteen hundred years.
rationalistically and logically, how one species develops into      And these writers were not in touch with one another when
another? The Scriptures teach                                       they wrote the Scriptures. The one was completely unaware
                                  us that God created Adam
out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils        of the other. Now this is surely a very remarkable phenom-
the breath of life, and that man thus became a living               enon. And the reason why this is so remarkable is that all
                                                           sou!.
This is Scripture's description of the creation of man. And         the writings of these forty or more writers are characterized
it also s&s forth the Divine creation of all the animals of ths     by a wonderful unity of thought ! There is no discrepancy or
earth. Now man has been trying to find the "missing link"           difference of conflict between them. Their presentation of
between man and the animal world, between the rational              the living God and His dealings with the children of men is
and irrational creation. Until now he has been completely           absolutely the same in all their writings. And this becomes
unable to furnish this "missing link," has been utterly             all the more remarkable if you bear in mind the time and
                                                            un-
able to explain how an irrational creature can develop info         age in which these various writers contributed to the Word
a creature with a mind and a will, that is, a moral-rational        of God. Most of them lived and wrote in the Old Dispensa-
creature. .And  this, we understand, is quite a probl'em.  And      tion, the tinie of the symbols and types and shadows. This
it becomes more of .a problem when attention is called to the       means that they lived and wrote in a day when the main
fact that, within the last six thousand years, no such develop-     theme of their writings was as yet to be fulfilled. They did
ment or transition has been discerned anywhere in this crea-        not write, as far as this fulfillment is concerned, of that which
tion. Man, we say, has been quite unable to supply this             had happened but of that which as yet had to happen. We
"missing link." Yet, he rejects the Scriptural account of the       :challenge  the Rationalist, who wants to believe only the
creation of man and of the entire animal world. Why ? Be-*          things he is `able to understand and comprehend, to esplain
cause this Scriptural account does not fall within the -scope of    this indisputable and amazing phenomenon. To write about
his natural understanding and thinking ? Of course not ! If         things which were not as yet, and about things which they
be would believe only that which he is able to understand           understood themselves so imperfectly and vaguely, and yet
and comprehend, why, then, ,does  he believe in Evplution  ?        that all their writings are characterized by an amazing unity
Rationalism does not believe in the Scriptural presentatioh         of thought is surely a striking and phenome!lal  characteristic
of the living God, the Creator of the heavens and the ear+,         of the holy Scriptures.                                     H.V.

because he cannot comprehend it with his natural mind and

thinking? Fact is, however, he cannot even understand the

creature. Does he accept himself to be a fact? He does not
                                                                                     The wicked would destroy my 
comprehend the Scriptural truth of the Trinity becausk  his                                                        soul,
intellect cannot grasp the truth that God is one in essence                            But on Thy truth I muse with awe:
and three in Persons. So he claims. Yet, he certainly  cannot                        Imperfect I have found all else,    '

understand his own being, that he is a human being with a                              But boundless is Thy wondrous law.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B'EARER                                                    233
                      ./,._    -    -


                                                                    Reformed believers maintained the truth of the Word oE
II The Voice of Our Fathers II God and that they therefore were not to be persecuted as
                                                                    heretics." In the second place, there were still many to be
P-                                                            J[    reached in the Romisk  Church with the pure gospel of the
                  The Belgic Confession                             reformers. Also with a view to these, the confession aimed

                INTRODUCTION (continued)                            at demonstrating that the Reformed Churches were not heret-
      In connection with this bit of history we must explain, in    ical, but proclaimed and maintained the truth of the gospel,
the second place, the anti-Anabaptist position which this con-      that which the Romish Church should have mAintained  and
fession so emphatically and openly assumes. We shall not            claimed to represent in the name of Christ, and- that which
enter in detail into the history of the Anabaptist excesses of      Rome in fact denied and corrupted. Wherever there  were
this period. Those who are interested may study this his-           true people of God who had not as yet broken with Rome,
tory for themselves. But to explain why our confession is           the most powerful appeal to them was the simple and positive
so emphatically opposed to the position of the Anabaptists          presentation of the old truths. And, in the third place, it is
and refers to their errors more than once we must remem-            simply not true that ,the Belgic Confession  is weak and com-
ber, in th: first place, that at the time of the Reformation        promising or even silent and neglectful as over against
in the Lowlands the Anabaptist movement also made its               Roman Catholicism. This is not the time and place to go
appearance.    Secondly, while it may be conceded that not all      into detail in this respect. But a hasty reference to those
the Anabaptists were of the same extreme type, nevertheless         articles which speak, for example, of justification, of good
their principles reached their logical and inevitable mani-         works and sanctification, or of the sacraments will make it
festation in the anarchistic and revolutionary actions of ex-       abundantly clear that our Confession assumes a very distinc-
tremists like Thomas Munzer, John Matthyszoon, and John             tive position and that it leaves no room for and condemns the
Beukelszoon (Jan van Leyden) and their followers. These             perversions of Rome. And most admirably the Confession
with their followers engaged in such revolutionary and im-          succeeds in stating the distinctive position of the Calvinistic
moral and communistic practices that they brought ill fame          Reformation.
                                                                                             :I: J; * *
upon the Reformation itself. In the third place, as is so often

the case in history, due sometimes to simple ignorance and              We must now give our attention to the further history of
sometimes to wilful wickedness, the tendency. was to judge          that little book that was tossed over the wall of the castle of
all the followers of the Reformation in the light of the ex-        Doornik on that November night in 1561. How came it to
cesses of these relatively few extremists. Reformed and             be the Confession of Faith of the Reformed Churches ? And,
Anabaptists were lumped together as being anarchistic and           in connection with this question, we also face the question
revolutionary in the minds of the Spanish rulers. And all           whether we are justified in calling it the confession of the
those who were anti-Roman Catholic were likewise con-               church at all ? Is it not rather strange that this confession
sidered to be politically dangerous and revolution-minded.          drawn up by Guido de Bres should be called the confession
Hence, in order to disprove any connection between the              of the church ? Our Canons were drawn up by an entire
Reformed and the Anabaptists and to divorce themselves              Synod, semi-international in character. The Heidelberg
from these revolutionaries in the minds of the Spanish rulers       datecl&utz  was officially authorized by the Elector Frederick,
our confession was in part composed, and in it the position         who wanted his province to be Reformed, and, besides, was
of the Anabaptists is literally repudiated. It was in part for      composed by theologians.    Our ecumenical creeds were like-
this same reason that Guide  de Bres accompanied his con-           wise the product of the church itself. But is not our Belgic
fession with an address to the magistrates. As a means of           Confessiolz  the work of an individual, and that too, a rather
stilling the storm of Romish persecution and of Spanish             itinerant preacher and a refugee ?
tyranny, however, the attempt was a practical failure. Never-           There are several factors to be considered in this connec-
theless, that it was a failure is not the fault of the Reformed     tion.
believers. They made it very plain that they were not to be             In the first place, we must not forget the character of the
associated with the revolutionary Anabaptists, but that they        times in which our confession came into being. They were
were a law-abiding and honest people, who feared God and            unsettled times, due to persecution and tribulation. Times
honored the king.                                                   they were in which the labors `of the church were often well-

      At the same time, in the third place, .we  must by no         nigh impossible and had to be carried on secretly. Times they

means imagine that just because our confession does not             were too when the Reformed churches in the Netherlands

mention the Romish Church by name it is weak and com-               were only in the process of formation, when the impact of

promising in this respect. True, the Belgic Confewion  is           the Reformation was only beginning to be felt in its full

largely positive in its development of the truth as over against    power. There was no nationwide organization of the church

the Romish corruptions that led to the Reformation. But we          as yet. In fact, there was v&-y little organization of any kind

must remember, first of all, that historically it was exactly       among the Reformed churdhes  of this time. Congregatiom

the purpose of this little confession to demonstrate that the       there were; but even these led a very unsettled life because

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


of persecution. And ,there  was a degree of contact and fellow-         Christ."    Nor was this an idle claim. Guido de Bres was
ship between the various communities of Reformed believers.             in consultation with men like Godfried  van Wingen,  Cornelis
Fellowship there was too .between  pastors a&l leaders of the           Cooltuyn, Petrus Dathenus, and Caspar van der Heiden, as

churches, sometipes  brought about through the very circum-             well as others. And there is evidence in the writings of the
stances of pe&cution and flight to cities where the Reformed            time that his confession was early acknowledged as the con-
faith was tolerated or .welcomed.  But of organization and              fession which "we Reformed of the Netherlands have given
unified life and activity among the Reformed churches there             over to the King of Spain."      Besides, we may mention that

was very little. It was silnply  out of the question, therefore,        the important church at Antwerp  appears to have had a

at that stage of history and under those circumstances to have          part in its production ; at least it was soon known as the

a creedal  statement produced by the official assemblies of the         Confession of Antwerp.
churches. All this does not mean, however, that the Reformed               Hence, there can be no doubt that already prior to its

churches of that day and the body of believers shared no                official adoption by the Reformed churches the Belgic Con-

common faith and confession.                They did. And it only       fession was in reality the expression of the faith of Reformed

remained for a man or men who were of the church and who                believers throughout the Lowlands.
lived close to the heart of the church and who perceived the               And what took place subsequently simply confirms what

faith of the church pulsating through the entire organism to            we have said.
spell out that faith and set it forth in concise and systematic            In 1562 the first Dutch edition of this creed made its

form, so that later the churches might adopt that expression            appearance, necessitated by the fact that both the Dutch

as their own by official action. It has been said that a genuine        and French languages were used in the Netherlands prov-

confession arises out of the very bosom of the churches as a            inces at that time. Not long thereafter the confession became

spontaneous expression of faith. Well, if ever that was the             the official creed of both branches of the Reformed churches

case, it was true in this instance. The Belgic Confession               in the Netherlands. A Synod at Armentiers in 1563 already

came into existence in the most spontaneous way possible.               required subscription to the creed by officebearers.             The

Born from the impulse of a living and vibrant faith from                Synod of Antwerp  in 1566 revised the French text somewhat

within and under the pressing necessity of a fierce and                 and also required subscription. Various Dutch synods con-

bloody persecution from without, it is the living and sponta-           cerned themselves with the text. The original Dutch edition

neous expression of the faith of the fathers. And the Lord              was recognized as the official edition until the Synod of

graciously gave to His church His servant Guido de Bres,                `s Gravenhage in 1553, which approved an edition produced

a man who was able to perceive and to express the very                  from the French text of 1566 by Arent  Cornelissen, minister

genius of the Reformed faith, in order that he might be the             at Delft. In 1611 still another Dutch edition appeared at the

mouthpiece of the "voice of our fathers."                               behest of the Synod of Veere in 1610. This one was pro-

                                                                        duced by Faukelius, Walaeus, and Bucerus, among others.
       In the second place, and in close connection with the
                                                                        Besides, numerous Synods set their stamp of approval on
above, Guido de Bres is not to be viewed as an isolated in"-
                                                                        this confession in the period before the National Synod of
dividual, separated from the main stream of the Reformed                Dordrecht, 1618-`19.  The Convent of Wezel (1568) de-
faith and speaking individualistically. On the contrary, he             manded agreement with it on the part of ministers. The
is a son Qf the Reformation. His life and work betray the               Synod of Emden  (1571) required that the ministers sub-
influence and instruction of John Calvin. And his confession
                                                                        scribe to it. The Synod of Dordrecht required that elders
gives abundant evidence that it is the work of one who was
                                                                        and deacons subscribe to the confession in 1574 ; and in 1578
well acquainted with Calvin's Institutes of the Chistim                 the Synod of Dordrecht required the same of professors of
Religion, first of all.                   there can be no doubt that
                            SeCQndy,                                    theology. In 1581 the Synod of Middelburg required that
de Bres followed in no small degree the French Confessiola
                                                                        also the school teachers subscribe to this creed.
of Faith (1559), of which Calvin himself was the composer
                                                                           Hence, from the very beginning the Belgic Confession
in behalf of the French churches. In the third place, there
                                                                        has been acknowledged and              as the official expression
is evidence that de Bres forwarded his articles in their ear-                                          adQpted  
                                                                        of the faith of the Reformed churches.                   H.C.H.
liest form to Calvin and the other Geneyan theologians for

advice. And while Calvin is said to have counselled against

introducing another confession in the French-speaking                                            IN MEMORIAM

Netherlands, just as he was at first averse to the formulation             The Men's Society of the Edgerton  Protestant Refomled  Church
of a creedal  statement for France, but instead advised using           takes this opportunity to express its sincere sympathy to a former

the French Confession of 1559, this nevertheless shows us               member, Mr. J. Van Nieuwenhuizen, whom the Lord has brought to
that de Bres took no isolated, individualistic action. Finally,         sorrow by calling unto Himself his wife,

it is to be noted that the original title of de Bres'  confession                        MRS. J. VAN NIEUWENHUIZEN
                                                                                           Nee LUCY VANDE STRl2EK
read : "Confession of Faith. Made with one accord for th$
                                                                           May his heart be comforted by our heavenly Father.
faithful .wandering  in the low countries, who desire to live
                                                                                                            Rev. B. Woudenberg, President
according to the purity of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus                                                     Dale H. Kuiper, Secretary


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                         235


                                                                   that, in certain abnormal circumstances, Scripture allows an

I/  D E C E N C Y   a n d                     ORDER.11             abrogation of the normal, direct responsibility of parents to
                                                                   train their children.

                                                                       "(2) The right or wrong of giving out of children for

          The Baptism of Adlopted  Children                        adoption is to be judged by the Scriptural principles adopted

                                                                   under A and B ; initially by the parents or parent involved,
    Is it proper for the church to administer the sacrament        and if called into question, by thk proper ecclesiastical proc-
of baptism to children that have been adopted ? Quite              esses."                                                 .:.
naturally this question should be preceded by another. Is it
proper to adopt and to give out children for adoption ?                We may sum up the decision               Synod by saying thati the
                                                                                                             of' 
                                                                   Synod saw and warned against several grave dangers and
    Both of these questions have come before the Synod Qf          real, possible sins involved in the adoption matter but also
our churches so that we have an official pronouncemerit by         allowed, under certain cirkumstances,  the possibility of the
our churches on this subject. The latter question appeared         giving of children fpr adoption. Although not expressly
first. In 1951 two protests were brought to the Synod              stated, this position of Synod would certainly imply that it
against a Consistory that was involved in an adoption case.        is therefore not wrong as such to                 a child.
In brief the position of the consistory was that : (a) It is                                                  adQpt  
not principally wrong to give out children for adoption, (b)           This brings us before the question whether such chiidren
Although not principally wrong, it may not be done unless          as are received through the processes of adoption should also
the parents or parent have the assurance that the child will       be baptized. Although this question, in its direct form, has
be placed in a covenant home, be baptized and receive cov-         not been before our                  a matter very closely related to
                                                                                            SynQd,  
enant training; (c) If at all possible the parent or parents       it was introduced to the Synod of 1959 and decided only last
should keep their children and bring them up themselves in         year. The question there was, "When should adopted chil-
the fear of the Lord. But since there is no principle involved,    dren receive baptism ?"       In treating this matter it appears
and if the parent is motivated by a sincere desire for the         that the Synod proceeded on the assumption that such bap-
welfare of the child, and has the assurance mentioned above,       tism was proper and that the only matter of concern had to
the possibility or impossibility must be left to the conscience    do with the time of its administration. In 1960 the following                   '
of the parent.                                                     decision was reached :

   The protestants, on the other hand, took the position that         "Adopted children shall be baptized only when their  legal
there is a principle involved here and that under all circum-      adoption shall have been made final. Grounds:

stances it is wrong for covenant parents to give out their             "1. It is altogether desirable that our churches have a

children for adoption and, consequently, it would also be          uniform policy in matters of this nature. The immediate bap-

wrong to adopt children.    All the written material of this       tism of these children is often a tender matter with the

case is too lengthy to produce here but it may be found in         couples involved. It is not good that the privilege is granted

the printed Acts of 1951 and 1952. The Synod appointed a           in one church while it is denied in another.

committee to study the question and then in 1952 made the             "2. If people were to know beforehand that the child
following `decision. We insert in the quotation only the           was to be in their home for only a year, they                       not
                                                                                                                                  WQdd  
positive decision and omit defeated motions and amendments.        think of requesting baptism. That such is not actually the
In this way we can see clearly just what Synod decided.            case is not really determined until the adoption has been

   "A. In all nonnul  circumstances, that is, ig such circum-      made final.

stances in which the father or mother or both, of the child           "3. The third of the baptism questions cannot properly

can assume full responsibility foa the child and its training,     be answered in the affirmative until the adoption has been

the position that it is always the calling and responsibility      completed. `When come to years of discretion.' There is no

of parents to train the children that God has given them, is       legal assurance that the couple will still have the child when

correct. (Synod added three                  here.)                that time comes. `Whereof              are either parent or witness.'
                                grQUndS                                                            you 
   "B. The normal position being clear, the question arises        Strictly speaking, they are not the parents as yet. The agency
whether Scripture allows abnormal, that is, such circum-           assures us that. really these children belong to the courts
stances as make it inadvisable or impossible for father or         during this probation period.

mother or both to assume responsibility for the child and its         "4. There can be no reasonable objection to waiting a
training, circumstances to affect the above rule and whether       year, while.there  are strong objections to immediate baptism.
Scripture allows the possibility of the rule being abrogated          "5. This is the position of the Christian Reformed
in certain abnormal circumstances. We believe that.  Scrip-        Churches, as appears from their 1949 decision: `Synod de-
ture makes this allowance.                  adopted one ground
                                (SynQd                             clares that no adopted child should be baptized until the
here.)                                                             probation period is over and the adoption made final, because

    "C. Conclusion: (1) We believe it has been established         adoption results only when the final step is taken and parents


                                           T H E   STANDAR-D   B E A R E R


must be sure the child is theirs before they can assume the        referred to a study committee. This committee reported in
baptismal vows'."                                                  1936. -The committee was composed of nine members. Four
                                                 .                 submitted a majority report. Three members delivered a
    Insofar as this decision of Synod m&es  the practice of        minority report. Two members offered a third report. After
baptizing adopted children uniform in all our churches, we         consideration of these reports the Synod decided: "That
feel it is a good decision. What is valid in one church in the     there is not sufficient ground to reverse the decision of the
denomination should` be valid in all the `chtirches.  However,     Synod of 1930 upholding the permissibility of the baptism
.with  regard to the question whether adopted children should      of children born outside of the covenant circle and adopted
be baptized before they come to years, there has been con-         by believing parents." To this the Synod then added: "That
siclerable difference of opinion in the past.                      this 1930 decision in no way justified the molestation of any-

    Rev. Ophoff expresses the view that "they may be, if           one who, whether as church member or in the specific capac-

the parents were believers, otherwise not." Monsma and             ity of officebearer, may have conscientious scruples against

Van Dellen  state, "Consequently, the present writers believe      the administration of the sacrament of baptism to such chil-

it is better to postpone the baptism of adopted children in        dren." Just what this means is not clear. Does it, for ex-

question. until they manifest themselves as Christians" (p.        ample, mean that a church member or office bearer who

234, Clzu~ch  Order Collzvtzentary).  The same authors refer       might adopt such a child and is of the opinion that it should

to Dr. Bouwman's Gel-efonneeq-de  Kerk+echt and add, "It           not be baptized until maturity may not be troubled about the

may also be said that the recent or present clay leaders of        earlier baptism of the child ? Or does it mean that a minister

the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands are, a! far ai            who holds the position that such baptism is improper may

we know, all opposed to the practice of baptizing chilclreri       not be coerced to administer the sacrament if the occasion

of non-Christian parentage, though adopted into Christian          presented itself? The meaning is not plain.

homes."    In the same commentary it is pointed out that the          Finally, in 1949 the Christian Reformed Synod took the
great Synod of Dort already faced this question .in conned-        position that we referred to earlier and that is similar to that
tion with children of pagan origin who came from the Dutch         taken by our last Synod.
East Indies and were adopted in Christian homes. Monsnl-a
                                                                      We do not know why our Synod did not enter into the
and Van Dellen  say that, "The Synod judged that these
                                                                   question of the propriety of baptizing all adopted children.
children should not be baptized until they in due season
                                                                   Our position now is that it is proper to baptize all of them
should make profession of faith." Then they quote the fol-
                                                                   as long as they are legally adopted. Whether this position is
lowing part of the Synod's decision: "Concerning children
                                                                   wholly correct is subject to debate but we will have to wait
of pagans which, because of their youth, or because they
                                                                   until next time to present some arguments which Monsma
cannot understand the language, have not been able to receive
                                                                   and Van Dellen  raise against this practice.
instruction from the Christians, although they may have
                                                                                                                             G.V.cl.B.
been incorporated into the homes of Christians by adoption,

it was also judged by majority vote that these should not be

baptized before they have come to such years that they can                             Adams Street School'
be instructed in the first principles of the Christian religion       Will need four Protestant Reformed teachers to com-
according to the measure of their understanding, and after         plete its teaching staff this coming fall, 1961-1962.
 such has also taken place."                                          Please give this your earnest prayer and consideration
    Prof. W. Heyns, however, in his "Ha&book  For Elders           that our children may be brought              in the knowledge ancl
                                                                                                          up 
and Deacons" judges that those who do not favor the, bap-          fear of our God.
tism of adopted children of non-Christian birth cannot appeal                                          Education Committee
to the Synod of Dort. His claim is that the question did not                                           G E R R I T  PIPE
concern adopted children but rather children who wey=.                                                 1463 Arclmore  St., S. E.
brought into Christian homes as slaves and occasionally were                                           Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
later removed from these families and fell back again among

the heathen. Such children were not to receive baptism.
                                                                                       WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
The literal w&lifig  of the synod's decision, however, appears
to disprove this contention of Heyns.                                 On February 24, 1961, our beloved parents
                                                            . .                     MR. AND MRS. BEN WIGGER
    In the Christian `Reformed Church this question has ap-        will, the Lord willing, celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.
peared on more than one synod. In 1910 the Synod left the             We are grateful to God fo; the privileges and blessings of His
matter of the baptism dr non-baptism of adopted children of        covenant grace in which they and we have shared through the
                                                                   years, and for the assurances given us for the futmc.
non-Christian parentage to the judgment of each consistory.
                                                                                                 T h e i r   children:
However, twenty years later th-  Synod answered this ques-                                            Mr. and Mrs. John Wigger
tion $1 the affirmative. Against this decision of 1930 various                                        Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wigger
                                                                                                      Mr. and Mrs.. Peter Haverkanlp
&protests were brought with the result that this question was                                         9 grandchildren  .


                                                 T'HE  STA`N'D'XRD   B E A R E R                                                  i `237.



                                                                             @edera  assistance, if there has to be such assistance, should

                                                                             be rkstricted,  to public schools."

                                                                           The whole problem does not simply involve, however,

                                                                        federal aid to private schools, but also involves the free

                                                                        transportation of children attending piivate  schools on public
FEDERAL AID TO SCHOOLS                                                  scho61  buses as well as the participation of private schools in
   For a considerable time the question of government                   the government's free lunch program. Ow  Sunday Visitor,
aid to schools has appeared on the front pages of newspapers            a national Catholic action weekly, has gone on record in a
and in various articles in church periodicals. On the one               series of articles as favoring federal aid to private schools as
hand, when Russia launched its first sputnik and the people             well as public schools. In answer to the objection that if
of America were given a glimpse of the scientific progress              people do not want to take advantage of the free education
of their enemy, the immediate reaction was to l&me the                  of public schools, but prefer the education of private inst`itu-
American educational process for falling behind in the educa-           tions, they must pay the consequences, the Catholic `press
tion of its children and young citizens. There were not                 insists that this is denying the citizens of America their
enough schools, not enough teachers, not enough good educa-             religious rights and freedoms. Because they chose to instruct
tion, not enough emphasis on science in the present schools.            their children according to their own faith, they are dis-
The solution to the problem was sought primarily in federal             criminated against, in the allocation of federal funds, and
aid to education to step up the building program, raise the             all but forced to send their children to public schools. This
salaries of teachers to attract more and better people to the           involves a violation of their rights to believe and teach as
profession, and gear education to a scientific society. This            they please.
issue of federal aid to education is still an issue            and
                                                       today,              Whether the Catholics will be successful or not in gain-
President Kennedy has made various proposals to Congress                ing federal aid for their schools and all private schools re-
to accomplish this objective.                                           mains to be seen. But should aid be offered to our own
   On the other hand, this question also affects those                  schools, the temptation would be very strong to accept this
churches who operate parochial schools or whose parents                 aid and relieve somewhat the burden carried by our people in
operate private schools not supported by the government.                supporting a school for their own children. Yet such an
These schools include primarily the Roman Catholic Schools,             acceptance of funds from the government would be very
Baptist Schools, Lutheran Schools and schools of parents of             dangerous and wrong. It is not difficult for one to see the
Reformed persuasion. The parents who through societies or               j.ustice  of the government's giving relief to our people and
churches operate such schools not only must pay taxes for               others who support schools .of their own through excusing
the existing public schools, but also support their own private         them from taxes or through making tuition deductible on
schools through tuition, church collections and drives.                 income tax returns.      But direct aid by ihe government to
   This whole matter is of importance also to our Protestant            our schools we should never accept. Certainly, in the first
Reformed people who must, through taxes, support the public             place, if we sincerely desire the distinctive education for our
schools in their districts, but who must also support the               children which our own sdhools  provide, we alone must pay
schools to which actually they send their children. And most            the cost of educating them. It is our covenant responsibility,
likely, taxes would go up if the federal government engaged             and therefore also our financial responsibility. On the other
in a gigantic spending program to aid public schools.                   hand, it is impossible to imagine that the government would
   The immediate question is whether or not federal aid to              2ontribute  sums of money to the operation and maintenance
education should also be given to private and parochial                 of our schools without also determining ho+  that money
schools ; and whether or not we would be justified in accept-           should be spent. They have the right, and no doubt will
ing such aid should it be offered. The proposals now                    exercise  that right, to lay down certain conditions which must
before Congress specify only public schools. Francis Cardinal           be met before the money can be used. This is especially true
Spellman  sharply denounced this entire proposal on the                 since the immediate occasion for the granting of federal
grounds that private schools had as much right to federal aid           funds rises from the fear that the Russians are out-stripping
to education as public schools. He said in a recent speech,             us in scientific technology. These conditions will involve not
         "I cannot believe that Congress would discriminate against     only the building of schools as such, but also what must be
     Lutheran, Baptist, Catholic or Jewish parents - Americans all -    taught in the schools, and perhaps even what must not be
     in the allocation of educational funds."                           taught in them.
With these sentiments, Dr. Oswald C. `J. Hoffman of the                    Now also the government, whether federal or local, has
Lutheran Churches did not agree. He responded,                          a certain amount of control over our schools. They have a

         "Let Cardinal Spelhnan  speak for himself. He does not         building code which must be met, and they even determine
     speak for us Lutherans. As Americans who accept the tradi-         to a certain extent the c&iculum which must be taught in
     tional American policy of Church-state separation, we Luther-      order for schools to gain accreditation. This is bad enough,
     ans would not feel discriminated against if Federal funds were
                                                                        and has recently led to trouble for some of the existing
      appropriated for public schools only. In fact, we think that


~    i38                                                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   .BE'ARER

     Christian Schools. We should be very wary therefore of                                                                     Arminianism inherent in the Baptist's position. All kinds of

     any more government control of schools, for if we do not,                                                                  questions necessarily arise. When do God's promises cease

     we will gradually lose our own schools where our children                                                                  to be effective? At the time when a child makes confession

     can be and are taught the truth as we confess it. This may                                                                 of faith? But what if he never makes confession of

     require considerable sacrifice on our part, but if we ever                                                                 faith ? Is he heir to those promises always by virtue of

     succumb to the temptation of letting the government direct                                                                 his not making confession of faith? Or does a child reach

     what' may be taught even through the allocation of funds,                                                                  a certain age when suddenly those promises cease regardless

     we are better off without our schools altogether.                                                                          of whether he .makes  confession of faith or not? Does this

                                                                                                                                mean that once he was an heir to the promises of God, but

     A COVENANT CHILD "ON HIS OWN"?                                                                                             suddenly ceases to be ? And if only confession of faith will

            In The BanneT  of January 13, under the column "A                                                                   restore those promises to him, what did it mean in the first
     Reader Asks," a question appears and is answered concern-                                                                  place  when he had them ? What good did they do him ? Is it

     ing the matter of when a covenant child is "on his own."                                                                   only in case he should die that the promises which he received

     Evidently the reader had been arguing with a Baptist about                                                                 through his parents were of any value ? By what power does

     when a child reaches the "maximum age at which covenant                                                                    he make his personal commitment to Christ? Is this the

     children can still be -regarded as being under the parental                                                                power of his own will if it is not the power of the promise?

     wing and therefore the object of covenantal promises made                                                                  Is it true then that the promises of God can be trusted, to

     to parents and their children." The implication of this ques-                                                              carry a child through only a brief period of his life, to be

     tion is that there comes a time in the life of a covenant                                                                  followed by a period in which he is thrown on his own

     child when the promises made to his parents and therefore                                                                  resources ?

     to him are no longer valid, and the child stands on his own,
                                                                                                                                  Of course, it is evident that this position follows from the
     his salvation dependent upon his own personal commitment
                                                                                                                                position which the Christian Reformed Church has taken
     to Christ. This is evident from the fact that the question is
                                                                                                                                regarding the character of the covenant. They have defined
     phrased,
                                                                                                                         _~     that covenant as an agreement between two parties, and by

                    "Suppose a 17- or 18-year-old  child of covenant parents dies                                               doing so have committed themselves to the position that the
                without making public confession of his faith, is he lost since                                                 covenant is not in force until the child born within the church
                he failed to give confessional evidence of covenantal  life by
                that age? Or may he be regarded as saved? At what age is                                                        has accepted that covenant and entered into its agreement.
                the dividing line?"                                                                                             But then it is also no longer true that that child can be car-

            After pointing out that the Baptists have as `great or even                                                         ried through infancy.on  the strength of the promise of God.

     a greater problem than the Reformed, `the answer is given,                                                                 For where no covenant is, there can also be no promises. If
                                                                                               :                                the copenant  is not established with children, as it cannot be
                   "There is no Rat, dei?nite  answer that can be given. We cannot                                              if the covenant is an agreement between two parties, then
               say, for instance, that at the age of 15 the promises per se cease
                and personal responsibility takes over. There are many factors                                                  the promises of that covenant cannot be claimed by children
                that enter into this important decision of taking a public stand                                                either. But then one must retreat to the position of the Bap-
               for Christ. There are some who reach maturity much sooner
               than do others. Our business as parents is to acquaint them with                                                 tists, for the ground for infant baptism has been destroyed.
                the riches. of God's forgiving grace, remind them that they                                                     Baptism is a sign of the covenant, established in the line of
                must personally plead for forgiveness and lay personal claim
                to the covenant promises in Christ, and urge them to follow                                                     generations. And this certainly means that the covenant is
                through in the promises symbolized in their baptism by making                                                   established with believers and their spiritual seed; that the
                a personal commitment to their Savior. There is no one set aie
                to press these claims home. Some may be ready for it at 14 or                                                   promises of the covenant are to these believers and to their
                15; others are hot. Evaluate their stage of maturity and when                                                   spiritual seed ?hroughout  their entire life; that thes: same
                you judge that they have reached the level of responsible deci,
                sion, bring to bear upon them these claims of Christ and pray                                                   promises.  of the covenant are the power in the hearts of the
                the Spirit to impel them to confess before men that they are                                                    spiritual seed to lead them to confession of their faith.and  to
                on the Lord's side."
                                                                                                                                cling to the cross of Jesus Christ. For these promises include
            It is obvious that the main point of the questioner, a point                                                        also the gift of faith merited for the spiritual seed of the cov-
     conceded by the answer, is that there is a certain period in a                                                             enant, and given by grace alone. But then the covenant is not
     child's life when the promises of God are sufficient to save.                                                              an agreement any more between two parties, but it is a
     But there is also a point which is reached in a child's develop-                                                           gracious bond of fellowship which God mercifully and gra-
     ment, somewhere in his teens usually, when these promises                                                                  ciously establishes with     and with our children, and which
                                                                                                                                                          us 
     are null and void, and the covenant youth stands before God                                                                He Himself maintains throughbut life, yea, into all eternity:
     without the strength of these promises, his salvation now

     dependent from that point on on his own personal acceptance                                                                  To speak of the covenant as an agreement between two

     of Christ.                                                                                                                 parties is to undermine the foundation of the whole of salva-
            This is a very strange view zind  certainly not iri harmony                                                         tion. It is a position that must carry one into the camp

     w i t h   S c r i p t u r e .   I n   f a c t ,   i t   i s   a   p r i n c i p l e   c o n c e s s i o n   t o   t h e    of the Baptists and into the Arminianism inherent in the

     Baptist's view of adult baptism and a capitulation to the                                                                  Baptist views.                                        H. Ha&o


                                                                                            . .
                                                                   L                   :


                                                T H E   STANtiARD  B'EARER                                                                 239


                                                                          played at the Legion Hall. Incidentally there-were several ol

I/ C Q N T R 1.B u T,l Q N S /I                                           the people who came to the lecture who also took one or
                                                                          more pamphlets with them. Wilmar Jansma from our Hull
I    I    -    -    -                                                     church accompanied us as the pianist and Mr. and Mrs. John
                          Missionary Notes                                Blankespoor also went with us.

          There was one lecture which the undersigned gave in                      It was a good evening. Eleven people came to hear the
1960 which was not mentioned in the former issue of TCae                  lecture in Tripp besides those who came with me from N.W.
Sta.ndard  Bearer under "Missionary Notes." I refer to the                Iowa. The undersigned spoke on the subject, "The Infallible
lecture which was held by the undersigned in the American                 Earmark of the Last Hour," after being fitly and properly
Legion Hall at Tripp, S.D. This lecture was held December                 introduced by the Rev. G. Van Baren.  After the lecture we
14, 1960.                                                                 drove back to Iowa yet that same evening.

          Permit me to tell you something about this lecture and                 The audience listened well. There was one individual
the experience we had at this city of South Dakota.                       who remained to talk with us. He told Rev. Van Baren that

          In the first place it should be noticed that Tripp, S.D., is    had he been aware of the nature of our churches and the

on route U.S. 18. This is 99 miles straight west from                     calibre of the address he felt certain more people could have

Doon,  Iowa. It is, therefore, in the southeastern part of                been made interested to come and hear the lecture.

South Dakota. Isabel is in the N.W. part of South Dakota.                         Incidentally, none of the families and individuals we visited
It is about 375 miles from Isabel to Tripp and about 200                  prior to the lecture made it a point to come to hear. I be-
miles from Aberdeen to Tripp. One should consult a map                    lieve that the method of lecture and follow up is the only prac-
of South Dakota to appreciate this.                                       tically possible one. One could not very well work with a list

          The town of Tripp, S.D., .itself  has about one thousand        of names and simply make personal calls, and then, should

or more inhabitants. It has a Methodist Church, a Congrega-               there appear sufficient interest, announce a meeting for a lec-

tional Church, two Lutheran Churches (American Lutheran'                  ture. The method of announcing a lecture and then follow up

and Missouri Synod), Roman Catholic and a Reformed                        has been designated by some as "from-the  top down." It is
Church. This latter church, the Reformed, is really, origi-               difficult to see the propriety of this designation, even from
nally of the Reformed Church, U.S.A: (German Reformed)                    a formal point of view.

but has merged with the Evangelical Church so that this                            As of now your Home Missionary has a mandate from
merged church since 1940 has been known as the Evangelica.                the Mission Committee to return to Tripp and hold other
Refomed Chztrclz. Now this church has again merged with                   lkctures.  If possible we should also attempt a service on
the Congregational Church and this new formation is called                Sunday, after a few personal visits to those interested.
"The United Church of Christ."
                                                                                   Until such a time as Sund%y  services can be aI;r%ng.ed,iti
          In this town we found a very commodious auditorium in
                                                                          Tripp, it seems to me, reason dictates that the Home Mission-
the American Legion Hall. We found it immaculately clean
                                                                          ary seek to find a-vacant pulpit in one or more of our churches
and the acoustics in it are excellent. A helpful printer gave             . .
                                                                          in the vicinity. It would hardly do to sit in Tripp doing
us a front-page write-up, and we put a paid announcement
                                                                          nbthing  when one can fill a pulpit in Doon `on a given Sun-
in the paper, and had some placards made, advertising the
                                                                          day, when Rev. J. Van Baren is away preaching by classical
meeting. We also made a few calls on people whose ad-
                                                                          appointment.
dresses we received from our people in bpth Isabel and
Forbes.                                                                            -May  I make a request ? Will you remember this labor in
                                                                          your prayers ? Sometimes I gain the impression that' this is
          Since- it took a little time to get the ground-work laid
                                                                          not always done; .I only hope to be proved in error in this
here in Tripp and since I would not be able.to preach, as yet,
                                                                          feeling.
on Sunday, I returned for the week-end to Hull, Iowa, where
Mrs. Lubbers and I stayed at the paisonage  of Hull, the                           Let us not forget that there are still Reformed people in
home of Rev. J. Kortering. We took charge of the catechism                t'hose  parts df South Dakota for whom the future, from a
classes on Saturday, preached twice on Sunday and led fhe                 Reformed point of -view,  is the very opposite of being prom-
Y. P. Society on Sunday evening. Rev. and Mrs. Kortering                  ising.      They will be the victim of the maelstrom of church-
and children were in dur churches at Isabel and Forbes for                mergers ever remerging.         And in the process the Reformed
three Sundays.. Thus we had a good place of lodging and                   truth disappears altogether.
could employ the mimeograph of the Hull church for song-                                                                                  G.L.

sheets for-the lecture at Tripp. Rev. G. Van Baren graciously

consented to cancel an evening of listening to a rendition of                      Bulletin Quote (Lynden's) : God has always saved the

the oratorio, the "Messiah," and accompanied us to Tripp to               church. He has always saved it, not by theological pacifists,

serve as the chairman. He took along a goodly and represent-              but by sturdy contenders for the Truth.

ative number of the Sunday School pamphlets which we dis-                                                             -J. Gresham Machen


                                                                             servative estimate of WFUR's actztal  audience is at- least
    NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES                                                   100,000. Its potential audience is much larger than this figure.
                                                                             Broadcasting charges for this station each Sunday from 4 :00
               "`dll  the saints scdztte `thee  . . ." PHIL. 4:Zl            to 4:30 P. M. - $27.00. Station OBOE, located in Oska-

                                                                             loosa, Iowa, covers a radius of. about 50 miles and has a
                                                  F e b .   5 ,   1 9 6 1
                                                                             potential of 950,000 listeners -cost per half hour broadcast,
    A tiew  trio has been named by the consistory of Crestqn
                                                                             $16.60. Trans-World Radio, Monte Carlo, Monaco, which
Church as follows: Revs. H. J. I&per, G. Van Baren and
                                                                             beams our Distinctively Reformed program to the British
R. Veldman.
                                                                             Isles and parts of Germany, France, Luxembourg and all of
    Rev. Lubbers has declined the call extended him-by th&
                                                                             the Netherlands, costs the n/Iission Board of our Prot.' Ref.
Isabel-Forbes congregations.
                                                                             Churches about $100.00 per 30 minutes broadcast. Feb:.i9
    From the Adams St. School "Announcer" we quote th&
                                                                             marks the 945th broadcast of the Ref. Witness Hour-which
paragraph from the pen of Mrs. D. Slomp: "It seemed like
                                                                             means that we as Prot. Ref. believers have been privileged
old times to be back again. I am sure we third graders are
                                                                             to proclaim the Truth of God':.  Word for over 20 years by
happy although we had to say `goodbye'.to  Mrs. R. Vkldman
                                                                             means of the air waves ! May our gracious God continue to
for a while. We hope she is having a good rest from her
                                                                             bless our radio work !"
work at school and that the Lord will bless her and us."
                                                                                Hudsonville's Church has a library of books which may
The Principal, Mrs. J. Veltman, rejoiced that the sixtli
                                                                             be borrowed for home reading: We wonder if any of our
graders are becoming aware of current events, in the follow:
                                                                             other churches can duplicate this service.
ing excerpt : "They are beginning to read the headlines, .and
                                                                                The following changes in your Year Book may be noted:
we hope they will read the news articles, too. There is some-
                                                                             New 
thing in the Press besides the fun page and Ann Landers."                            Clmks  - Peter Schipper,  263 E. 11th St., Holland,
                                                                             Mich.;  M. Gaastra, 302 W. Lugonia, Redlands, Calif.  ; J.
From the last statement on Mrs. Veltman's page it appears
                                                                             Flikkema, 18285  Ada St., Lansing, Ill. (South Holland's j ;
that her children have learned to sing Psalm 42:l  in tge
                                                                             P. Dekker,  108 Mayfield  Ave., Grand Rapids, Mich.  (First
Holland language !
                                                                             Church) ; Donald Dykstra, 3855  Van Buren, Hudsonviile,
    We have heard that about 100 people came out to hear
the lecture given by Rev. H. Hanko, of Hope Church iti                       Mich.;  B. Van Maanen, Hull, Iowa; L. Regnerus, 9245 S.
Grand Rapids, Mich.,  at Hull, Iowa, Jan. 26. The size of                    85th Ave., Oak Lawn, Ill. ; Ted Engelsma,  2333 Clyde Park
the audience was especially appreciated by the Lecture Com-                  Ave., S. W., Grand Rapids, Mich.  (Southwest). New
mittee because of the fact that the temperature was 20 de-                   T,reaswreps-  J. Van Kampen,  315 W. 24th St., Holland,
grees below zero with a strong northwest wind to buffet the                  Mich.; W. Buiter, 9615 Noitingham,  Oak Lawn, Ill.; John
brave visitors from the Hull, Doon  and Edgerton  congrega-                  Flikkema, Jr., 44s Eleanor, N. E., Grand Rapids, Mich.
tions.                                                                       (Southwest).
    The first transfer of membership papers of a member of                      it is gratifying to notice that the spiritual well-being of
one of our newest congregations was noted when First                         the young people is of vital interest to their consistory, as
Church received Mr. Donald Hauch  from the church in                         intimated in a recent announcement in Redlands' bulletin call-
Forbes, North Dakota.                                                        ing a special meeting of all their young people - evidently to
    The January 22nd issue of Edgerton's bulletin car.ried t@s               bolster up flagging interest in their Young People's Society.
announcement : "The pastor and his wife would express their                     The Young People's Society of Hull is currently engaged
appreciation to the congregation for the well-wishes anti the                in the study of the Book of Esther, with a varied after recess
gift which they received at the recent adoption of their son,`.'             program, usually announced in the bulletin.
    The Beacon Liglzts Singspiration held in Southwest                          In a January meeting of Oak Lawn's Y. P. Society a
Church, Jan. 29, was followed by a singspiration in Hudson-                  question was answered by Bill Rutgers regarding the har-
ville Church sponsored by a male quartet from that church,                   monization of Psalm 139 :21, 22 and Matt. 5 :44. For your
Feb. 5.                                                                      edification look up those texts and contemplate what your

    Here are a few facts of a financial nature furnished.by  the             answer would be.
Station Committee of The Reformed  Witness Hour which                           Growth and progress in Lynden's congregation was re-,

might be of interest to our readers, especially those who tune               ported by two announcements; one, the birth of a son in the

in each Lord's Day to this radio program: "The cost of oGr                   Andrew Vander Top family, and the other of the public con-

weekly broadcasts varies. Each station's charge for broadcast                fession of faith of Miss Alice Vander Meulen.

time is determined by the area and population it `covers.'                      We see that the Hope School Circle is serving another

For example, radio station WFUR, Grand Rapids, Mich.,  is                    soup and spaghetti supper in the Hudsonville Church parlors.

a non-directional station, which means that it beams at least                The proceeds, as before, go to the fund being raised for the

35 miles in every direction, and with favorable weather con-                 addition of one more classroom in their school.

ditions can be heard up to 70 miles from origination. A con-                   , f , J see             in church.                    J.M.F.
                                                                                               you 


