    VOLUME XXXVII                                 MAY 1, 19Gl  - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                      NUMBER 15

                                                                         only because I adorn it. Art Thou not pleased at the acquisi-

                                                                         tion of my glittering self?

                                                                            All b-cause it is so .difficult  to learn the first lesson in

                                                                         the art of pleasing God.

            COUNTEBFEITS OF THE XIiGDOM                                     We will keep days and months and years ; we will drink

                                                                         and eat the spiritual food; we will hasten our footsteps and
              "FOY the kingdom of God is n.ot  mea$  asd drink;          keep our face from smiling, while the noisy laughter bz
               but ~ighteowness,  nnd peuce,  a.nd joy       the Holy
                                                      in                 damned! We will do all this and at the completion of the day
               Ghost. For he t1za.t  in these things serveth Christ
               is acceptable to God; and upproved  of men."              ask the Lord of the heavens and the earth: Am I not
                                                Romans 14:17, 1s         nice ? And is the rest not abominable? And preening and
                                                                         strutting and glittering in tinsel of selfpraise we continue on

    Because of outward, external, unessential things, brother            our sojourn.

would destroy brother at Rome (Remans  14).                                 That is the man who pockets the counterfeits of the

    All because they did not fully understand, that God be-              Kingdom, while the waters of Life eternal flow away under

holdeth the heart and not the face.                                      the icy surface of his Pharisaical selfrighteousness. 0, God,

    God is God. He cannot be pleased with rivers` of oil, ten 0 how longsuffering and forebearing Thou art with us!

thousands of rams, nice, pious faces, while the heart of man                And yet we say sometimes: If it lay with me, I would

is far from thoughts of the Almighty. David lifts up his                 save the entire world and not only the elect. The liars, If

voice and weeps: Thou desirest not sacrifice? else                       it lay with me, I would only save me, for I love only me.
                                                             wodd  I
give it.                                                                 The age-old sin: ,Ye shall be as gods. That is, selfsufficient

                                                                         and allsuficient.  Are we not? Another word for it is
    Ah, if God only would desire sacrifice, that is, money,
                                                                         selfishness, that is, when the creature attempts to clothe him-
bodily movements. the keeping of the assemblies, new moons
                                                                         self with Divine virtue.
and sabbaths : how pleasurable for the flesh would then                                                              ~_ .

religion be ! Then %ve  could be an object of God's loving-                 We might as well admit it : we are all abominable sin-

kindness and at the same time we might safely murder the                 ners in this respect, and no one is without this pharisaical

brother ! How exceedingly nice that would be! We "then                   selfrighteousness, while damning the brother.

might safely damn him ancl  curse him and rail at him, or                   Nay, the Kingdom is not meat and drink. Perish the
rather, behind his back so that we reduce his name and                   thought. God has something better in store for us.
repute to frazzlings - and then turn in our prayer-chamber                                           *    * * *
and with honey-swee<  words approach the Almighty and

sing, ever so sweetly: Oh, how love I thy law.                              What then is it 7 What are the things of the Kingdom ?

    With the face of an angel and the heart of the devil                    Turn to Romans 14:17,  1S and there we read the defini-

himself before the great white Throne! Ah, a Paradise for                tion of the things of the Kingdom: They are: righteousness

the detestable hypocrite! "I thank Thee, God, that I am not              and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.

as other men are?  extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even                Sang the poet: "Hoe zult gij rechtvaardig verschijnen
as this publican  !"    Of course, we all have our publican  judg-       voor God'"

ing eye.     Not only do we reckon ourselves to be better than
                                                                            Ah, that is. the question ! How shall I appear righteous
the rest, on whom we may pour out the vials of our scorn,
                                                                         before God's throne ?
condemnation and damnation. "Or even this publican  !" But

I, oh,' God! I am much better. Thy heaven will be heaven                    Nay, the?e  is not a speck of this righteousness with you


338                                       THE  STANDARD~EARER


or with me, brother. We are unrighteous. Hence, the ques-          sible. Yonder stands the glory of Israel's commonwealth:

tion, the wailing cry: How shall I appear righteous while I        the Pharisee. But my ptiblican  stands in the shadows. Also,

am crooked and perverse ?                                          mark you well: he smites his breast which is the outward

       We are crooked. In thought, word and deed. In all the       token of inward penitence. And now listen: Oh, God, be
issues of the heart. For the heart itself is: "deceitful above     merciful unto me, the sinner!

all things, and desperately wicked, who shall know it?"                It is the first inkling of the righteousness of God.

Jer. 17:9.                                                             Oh, show me a man or woman who is justified before

    AndOthe  most abominable picture of such a .state  is when     the throne of God and I will show you a person that is meek

oui  flesh comes in contact with the Kingdom ; and we try          and lowly. I will show you that justification before God and

to acquire righteousness by the deeds of the flesh. Abhorrent      His holy angels goes hand in hand with the right evaluation

counterfeits! Then the face, bodily movements, deeds of the        of self and the brother. Ah, then the brotherhood and sister-

body and honeyed words form a terrible antithesis to the           hood is far superior than I am. I am so wicked. That is the

heart that is like a den of grasping, ravening wolves.             speech. And they are much better than I am. I am the chief

                                                                   of sinners.
    And God's Son utters the indescribable curse on it : Woe,

woe unto you!                                                          Nor could it ever be any different. Of course, I will admit

    Righteousness : how different it is from our counterfeits !    that we see one another's sins. And they grieve us too. But,
                                                                   here is the point :, We see our own heart and we cannot see
    It is the will that wills the highest Good !                   the hearts of our brethren. Therefore the justified. soul is

    That is the reason why God is righteous. He wills only         much more grieved about himself than about the brother.

the Highest Good, that is, Himself. In all the willing and         He leaves the brother to God and hastens to upbraid himself.

loving and praising, God is ever directed to Himself. Hence        Oh, God, be merciful to, THE SINNER. That is: the

all His ways are righteous : just and right is He.                 sinner above all sinners.

    Nothing can ever come into that path of the Almighty              All because right thinking and right willing has descended

to obstruct it. His eternal will it is to save His own church      through the Holy Ghost into his inmost heart. And by the

SQ that she might be to the praise of His glory. But that          lovable light of such life he beheld the movements of sin.

church is in the depth of hell! Never mind. But in order              And following it he would cleanse himself. In a word:
to save her, God must come Himself to save her and that            he hungers for more righteousness. He wants to be accept-
through the untold humiliation of the Son ! Never mind.            able to God, nay, not through his own works but through
But that means that God will have to shed His own blood on         the life  and walk of sanctification that is the gift of God and
the Cross in the nature of man ! Never mind, I am RIGHT-           the handiwork of Christ's Spirit.
EOUSNESS. Hence, the Cross, where the everblessed

Jesus becomes a curse for His bride, she who became a whore                                     4 * * $

historically.

                                                                      And as a first corollary heavenly peace descends into
    It is the righteousness of God revealed in history.
                                                                   his turbulent soul.
    And that righteousness of God that shines in the death
                                                                      Peace, how wonderful a boon!
and resurrection of the Christ, becomes our own in the way

of faith.                                                             Three things ought to be remembered when we are dis-

                                                                   cussing this wonderful gift of God, this fruit of righteous-
    Then we draw as it were that righteousness in us, then
                                                                   ness.
the Lord imputes that right thinking, willing and desiring

before the face of God unto us and we are righteous before            Firstly, that it is harmony with God. And that ought to

Him. Fulfilling His immutable decree where we were right-          be clear. When a soul does the same thing God does, that

eous in Christ before the world began. Oh, blessed thought.        is, seek God as the highest good as to his willing, thinking,

                                                                   loving and praising, then it must follow that he is in step
    And on the basis of that justification .we  become right-
                                                                   with God's own life, for God does the very same thing eter-
eous.
                                                                   nally. When my regenerated and justified sinner sings : Oh,
    Right thinking.                                                God, how good Thou art! then it constitutes the echo of the

                          * * *      *                             same speech of the Triune Covenant life. For that is also

                                                                   the recurrent theme in the eternal Song of God's love and

    Will you notice, my brother, how it acts ? Come then           friendship. Such is peace, wonderful peace.

with me and we will go to the temple. Behold that wretch!             And secondly, because such life of harmony with God's

His name is publican. He is the offscouring of respectable         own life is ordained by God, is ordered by Him for the

(sic !) society. All but the lowest rascals shun him. But          rational creature, such peace is the life that is lived according

listen, nay, look. He remains in obscurity as much as pos-         to the Law of God. It is the continuous life of the justified


                                                                            THE STAN.DARD   B E A R E R                                                                                                                                              339



sinner to be in conformity to the Law of the ten command-

ments. It is his rule of life, his only rule.                                                                                                  T H E   .STAb?DARD   B E A R E R

                                                                                                                             Semi-monthly, except monthly during  June, July and August
     And, thirdly, such life springs from the love of God.
                                                                                                                              Published by the 
The same Spirit that justified him spread abroad that love                                                                                                            REFORMED FREE PUBLBFIING  ASSOCIATION
                                                                                                                             P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
in his heart, causing it to be the mainspring of all his think-                                                                                       Editor - REV. HERMAN HOEXSEMA
ing, speaking and acting.                          His life becomes more and more                                            Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
the manifestation of the love of God.                                                                                                        Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
                                                                                                                                                                  Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
     We sing of all three in one solitary line: "Great peace
                                                                                                                             All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
have they that love Thy law !"                                                                                                               James Dykstra,  1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.

                                                                                                                                                                Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
                                              8 * * *                                                                        Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
                                                                                                                             address and will be published at a fee of $2.00 for each notice.

      Small wonder that such a soul is joyous in the Holy                                                                    RENEWAL: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
Ghost. `-                                                                                                                    ceived it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
                                                                                                                                  to continue without the formality of a renewal order.

     It is the second corollary to the righteousness of God                                                                                            Subscription price: $5.00 per year

which is his portion.                                                                                                              Second Class postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan

     He is the only one who has the right and the fitting

wherewithal to be glad.
                                                                                                                                                                       C O N T E N T S
      No, it is not the boisterous laughing of the worldlings.
                                                                                                                         M E D I T A T I O N -
It is far from the insane yelling of godless glee.
                                                                 __ _                                                              Counterfeits             of the Kingdom...: . . . . . . . .._..______............................ 337

      It is the feel of the well-being before the ey.es  of God                                                                             Rev. G. Vos

and His angels. It is the cause of his song: It is well with                                                             EDITORL~.L~  -
my soul. He realizes that all things are for him, because                                                                          Schism          and       Schismatic.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . _. . _. -340

God is for him in Christ. He is joyous because he knows                                                                            The Importance                      of Discipline... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ____ 340

that his indwelling righteousness, wrought by Christ's Spirit                                                                               Rev. H. Hoeksexna

is the firstfruits of a wonderful harvest, against the time when                                                         OUR DOCTRINE-
he shall dwell in a world and in the midst of a common-                                                                            T h e Book of Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .__.......__ ,342

wealth that shall abound in this same righteousness.                                                                                        Rev. H. Hoeksema

      The firstfruits  of more than angelic joy. "They shout
                                                                                                                         A CLOUD OFWITNESSES-
for joy, they also sing !"                                                                                 G.V.                    Further Signs In Egypt ____........................................................
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      345

                                                                                                                                             Rev. B. Woudenberg


                                                                                                                         FROM HOLY WIUT  -
                                           IN MEMORIAM                                                                             Exposition             of     I     Timothy __..__  .._ . . . . . . .._ __._..___._.__  347

                                                                                                                                             Rev. G. Lubbers
     The Consistory of the Loveland Protestant Reformed Church

hereby expresses its sincere sympathy with elder Fritz Schwarz in                                                        INH&FEAR-
the loss of his sister                                                                                                             God's Royal Priesthood (5) _..______.______..................................  349
                                         MRS. ERNA NUSS                                                                                      Rev. J. A. Heys

and with our beloved pastor Rev. H. H. Kuiper, in the loss  of his

father                                                                                                                   CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH-
                                        HENRY KUIPER Sr.                                                                           T h e Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
                                                                                                                                             Rev. H. Veldman
     We trust that the Word preached at both occasions of burial may

be the source of rich comfort to all  the bereaved and we all may                                                        THE VOICE OF OUR FATHFZS-
rest in the assurance that also thru these events our covenant God is                                                              `J& Belgic              Confession ____. __ __.__  __ _____ __ __. . .._.__. __. __. ..353

realizing his Kingdom.                                                                                                                       Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
                                                          The Consistory of the Loveland

                                                          Protestant Reformed Church                                     DECENCY AND ORDER-
                                                                                                                                   Adult Baptism .___ . __.._ _..__  ._. .._... ._. __.... . . . . . . . . . .__ . ..355
                                                          Wm. A. Griess, Clerk
                                                                                                                                   Baptismal            Records            .___  . . . ._.. . . . ..__. _____ . . . . . . . . . . . . ..356

                                                                                                                                             Rev. G. Vanden  Berg

                                           IN MEMORIAM
                                                                                                                         ALL AROUND  Us-

     `The Ladies' Aid,                 "Ruth," herewith expresses its sympathy to                                                  Quotes from The Banner . . . ..________.__.......................................... 35'7
o n e   o f   i t s   m e m b e r s ,   M r s .   G e r a l d   K o r h o r n ,   i n   t h e   l o s s   o f   h e r              Religious Life in Great Britain .,......._,__._...............................  357

brother,                                                                                                                           Presbyterian               Realignment                __ ._. .._ ___.__ .__ . . . . .._ . .358

                                   M R .   S I D N E Y   KORHORN                                                                             Rev. H. Hank0


 . For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Phil. 1:21.                                                          NEWS F R O M OUR .CHuRctxxs..  __....____  __ _._ ___ . . . . .._._..__._.  . . . ..___. .._ ._. .__ .359

                                                               Rev. H. Hanko, President                                                      Mr. J. M. Faber

                                                               Mrs. Jay Bomers, Secretary

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


                                                                      negatively  on the denial of the "Three Points"; and, posi-
               E D I T O R I A L S                                    tively, on the basis of the Three Forms of Unity.
                                                                          But the schismatics do not stand on the basis of any

                                                                      principle at all; and this is the fundamental reason why they

                                                                      seek to be swallowed         by the Christian Reformed Church.
                                                                                                up 
       Somzone  asked me the question what is the meaning of              Without a distinctive principle a church has no right to
the term schism and why I usually called those that, in 1953,         or basis for a separate existence.
left our churches schismatics.                                                                                                 H.H.

       My answer to the latter part of this ,question is that it

is the simple truth. .                                                             The Importmace  of Discipline
       Schism, according to the dictionary, is derived from the
                                                                         In connection with our discussion of the P~*esbytc/*ia:~z
Greek word sch&~za  which, in turn, comns  from the verb
                                                                      Layvpcera  and of the trouble in the Southern Presbyteyian,  we
scl&ze&  which means to split. The term is most generally
                                                                      repeatedly noted the importance of Christian discipline. If
used in the ecclesiastical sense of the word and signifies a
                                                                      a church fails to exercise discipline over its members and
split in the church or to cause such a split. Again, according
                                                                      over its office-bearers, it cannot expect to remain pure in
to Wtbster's Dictionary, it is "the offense of seeking to
                                                                      doctrine. No protests or anything else can take the place of
produce division in a church without justifiable cause."
                                                                      the key-power which Christ has bestowed upon His Church
       A schismatic, therefore, is one who causes a schism or         in the world.
who commits the offense above named.                                     We pointed out that also the Westminster Confession has
       Such a schism in the church may be caused on either            a separate chapter on this subject.
doctrinal or church-political grounds.                                   Our own Three forms of Unity speak repeatedly of the

       Those  who departed from the Protestant Reformed               key-power. Thus the Heidelberg Catechism devotes an en-

Churches in 1953 did cause a split in our churches, b.oth             tire Lord's Day, with three questions and answers to this,

with regard to doctrine and respect to the church-political           important subject. According to it, the key-power consists

way in which they caused the division.                                of the preaching of the holy gospel and Christian discipline

       As to the latter, it is a well-known fact, thjt some of the    (Lord's Day XXX!, question 83). Then, in-question 54 it

delegates to Classis  East, when a certain serious matter             first treats of the key-power of the holy gospel and then, in

was decided by that Classis  contrary to their wishes, they           question and answer 85, it speaks more particularly of Chris-

simply left the Classis  instead of appeaiing the matter to           tian discipline as follows:

Synod. This act was schismatic because it was a violation of              "How is the kingdom of heaven shut and opened by

the Church Order to which they had subscribed. And when,              Christian discipline ?

shortly afterwards, they organized a new' so-called Classis              "Thus: when according to the command of Christ, those,
East, they performed another schismatic act for the same              who under the name of Christians, maintain doctrines, or
reason as mentioned above. Moreover, when their so-called             practices inconsistent therewith, and will not, after having
Synod recognized the schismatic Classis  East by receiving            been often brotherly admonished, renounce their errors and
their delegates, that so-called Synod proved that it was itself       wicked course of life, are complained of to the church, or to
schismatic.                                                           those who are thereunto appointed by the church; and if

       As to the former, namely, that they caused a split in the      they despise their admonition, are by them forbidden the use

Protestant Reformed Churches with respect to doctrine is,             of the sacraments ;       whereby they are excluded from the

by this time, very evident to all that can read for they, the         Christian church, and by God Himself from the kingdom of

schismatics, are more and more repudiating the stand taken            Christ; and when -they promise and show real amendment,

by the Protestant Reformed Churches in 1924 with regard               are again received as members of Christ and his church."

to the "Three Points" and join the Christian Reformed                     It is evident that in this answer the Catechism speaks
Church.                                                               especially of private sins which "are complained of to the
       This, then, is in brief my answer to the question.             church, or to those who are thereunto appointed by the
       And this is also the answer of history; For, who ever          church."    This is in accordance with Matt. 18 :15ff:  "More-
saw a church disintegrate so fast as that of the schismatics ?        over if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell
In about seven or eight years they are virtually lost and are         him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear
willing to admit that the "Three Points" are Reformed, at             thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear
least, that they are not Pelagian or Armiliian,  which means          thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the
the same thing.                                                       mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be estab-

       Our Protestant Reformed Churches sti.11 stand on the           lished. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the

basis of the same principle on which they always stood, i.e.          church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B'EARER                                                    341


thee as a heathen man and publican. Verily I say unto you,          member is about to be excommunicated, he asks for a

Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven:         certificate of membership. Of course, the consistory, in that

and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in           case, may not give him clean papers, may even write on his

heaven."                                                            certificate of membership that he (or she) was on the verge

                                                                    of excommunication ; nevertheless, such a member escapes
   However, there are also public sins. These the consistory
                                                                    excommunication. He (or she) violates the vow made at the
must treat immediately.
                                                                    occasion of public confession of faith.

   Also the Netherland or Belgic Confession has an article
                                                                       Also in the Form for the Administration of the Lord's
on Christian discipline which reads as follows:
                                                                    Supper excommunication is mentioned in the following

    "In the meantime we believe, though it is useful and            paragraph :

beneficial, that those who are rulers of the Church, institute         "Therefore, we also according to the command of Christ
and establish certain ordinances among themselves for main-         and the Apostle Paul, admonish all those who are defiled
taining the body of the Church ; yet they ought studiously to       with the following sins, to keep themselves from the table of
take care, that they not depart from those things which             the Lord, and declare to them that they have no part in the
Christ, our only Master, hath instituted. And therefore, we         kingdom of Christ; such as all idolaters, all those who invoke
reject all human inventions, and ali laws, which man would          deceased saints, angels, or other creatures ; all those who
introduce into the worship of God, thereby to bind and              worship images ; all enchanters, diviners, charmers, and
compel the conscience in any manner whatever. Therefore we          those who confide in such enchantments.; all despisers of God,
admit only of that which tends to nourish and preserve con-         and of his word, and of the holy sacraments ; all blasphemers ;
cord, and unity, and to keep all men in obedience to God.           all those who are given to raise discord, sects and mutiny
For this purpose excommunication or church discipline is            in church or state ; all perjured persons ; all those who are
requisite, with the several circumstances belonging to it,          disobedient to their parents and superiors ; all  murderers,
according to the Word of God."                                      contentious persons, and those who live in hatred and envy

   The "several circumstances belonging to it" refers, of           against their neighbors ; all adulterers, whoremongers, drunk-

course, to the way in which discipline is to be applied. Excom-     ards, thieves, usurers, robbers, gamesters, covetous, and all

munication from the church is the final step in discipline,         who lead offensive lives.

but can never be applied immediately ; several steps precede           "All those, while they continue in such sins, shall abstain
and must ~precede  that final excommunication. There is what        from this meat (which Christ has ordained only for the
is called silent censure which is not announced to the con-         faithful), lest their judgment and condemnation be made the
gregation, then there are the first and the second step of          heavier."
censure which are both announced to the church, the latter
                                                                       This is virtually a form of excommunication, for to be
with the name of the offender and after advice from the
                                                                    barred from the Lord%  table is the first step of discipline
classis.  This advice from the classis  does not mean that
                                                                    and leads to excommunication unless the guilty ones repent
the classis can exercise discipline as was done in 1924. Only
                                                                    of their sin and amend their lives.
the consistory may do this. If there should be difference of

opinion between the consistory and the classis, and the former         It stands to reason that also the Form of Excommunica-

does not heed the advice of the latter, appeal can be made to       tion speaks of discipline. .But  this Form emphasizes the

Synod and the latter should decide against the consistory and       seriousness of discipline and of excommunication in the

in favor of the classis  and the former still insists that it is    following words :

right, all the broader gatherin,
                                u can do is to declare such a          "Therefore we, the ministers and rulers of the church,
consistory and the Church which it represents outside of the        being here assembled in the name and authority of our Lord
denomination. But the broader gathering, classis and synod          Jesus Christ, declare before you all, that for the aforesaid
may never exercise discipline. This belongs only to the con-        reasons we have excommunicated, and by these, do excom-
sistory.                                                            municate N. from the church of God, and from the fellowship.

    Discipline is also mentioned in the questions that are          with Christ, and the holy sacraments, and from all the spirit-

asked of those that make public confession of their faith.          ual blessings and benefits, which God promiseth and bestows

The third of these questions reads as follows: "Will you            upon his church, so long as he obstinately and impenitently

submit to church government, and in case                            persists in his sins, and is therefore to be accounted by you
                                             you should become

delinquent (which God may graciously forbid) to church              as a heathen man and a publican, -according to the command

discipline ?'                                                       of Christ (Matt. IS), who saith, that whatsoever his min-

                                                                    isters bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven."
    There `is, perhaps, no promise that is more often violated
than the one that is expressed in this third question asked of         Lack of space forbids me to continue. I -hope to do so
those that make confession of faith. In my ministry I very          in our next issue.

seldom have excommunicated a member. Usually, when a                                                                         H.H.

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


                                                                    the thousands. The days of tribulation for the church of
   11 O    U      R           DOCTRIN'E 11 Smyrna are ten. The number of the servants of God that
                                                                    are sealed are. ten times ten times ten, multiplied by one

                                                                    hundred forty-four. The number of those that appear on Mt.

                                                                    Zion with the Lamb, that have His Father's name written
            THE BOOK OF REVELATION                                  on their foreheads, is one thousand times one hundred forty-

                                                                    four. Cf. Rev. 14. The antichristian beast appears with ten
                         PART TWO                                   horns. The length and breadth and height of the New'

                                                                    Jerusalem are twelve times a thousand furlongs. In the
                         CHAPTER XIX                                light of all these facts, as well as in connection with the

                       Revelation 20 :l-10                          apocalyptic character of the book of Revelation in general,

                                                                    we are certainly justified in saying that it would be arbitrary
  The Binding of Satan With a View to Gog and Magog                 to insist that the thousand years of Revelation 20 must be

                                                                    understood in the literal sense of the word.
   The devil, therefore, is very securely bound. And he is
bound with respect to these heathen nations as such in the              Now, the number itself suggests completeness, a fulness
passage we are now discussing. The passage teaches, there-          of measure. It is a round number. All the instances in
fore, that the devil is bound in such a way that he cannot          Scripture where this number occurs, denote the same idea.
marshal the nations of Gog and Magog to battle against the          There are ten plagues upon Egypt, indicating the fulness of

church, the beloved city, or, if you please, against the Chris-     the wrath of God upon Pharaoh and his people. There are

tian nations. He may in this very period of his restraint do        ten commandments, expressing the fulness of God's ethical

many things, both among the nominally Christian nations and         will for men. We feel, as it were, spontaneously that there

the people that are called Gog and Magog. He may go about           could not be either nine or eleven commandments. There are

as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, as he actually       one hundred and forty-four thousand people of God according

does also, But he is prevented from deceiving those nations         to the election of grace, i.e. ten times ten times ten times

so as to gather them to battle. And the period of this              one hundred and forty-four. Thus there are ten virgins, ten

restraint is designated as a thousand years. Again, it              talents, and ten days of tribulation for the church of Smyrna.
                                                           would
be very arbitrary to interpret this number in its literal sense.    In all these instances the number ten, evidently, expresses the

For, in the first place, all Scripture attaches a symbolical        idea of f&less or completeness. It represents the idea of

significance to numbers, as it also does to colors and dimen-       completeness determined by .the  will and counsel of God.

sions. Numbers such as one, three, four, six, seven, ten, and       Now, the number thousanci  in the text is the number ten in

twelve, and their combinations and products, represent certain      the third power. Besides, it does not speak of days or even

realities of the kingdom of God. The earthly relations are          of hours, but of years and, therefore, it suggests the idea of a

also in their numbers the picture of the heavenly and spirit-       long period. On all these grounds we interpret the text as

ual realities of God's covenant. That this is true is evident       indicating a long period of time, fully determined by the will

as soon as we call to mind that, for instance, in our weekly        and c&nsel  of God, a period which must be fulfilled before

period of time there is a combination of six'plus one, labor        the devil can be permitted to deceive the nations that live

and rest, time and the eternal sabbath, the completion of the       on the four corners of the earth.

kingdom of God ; that seven in Scripture, and especially in            The above interpretation is based on the text. This is fully

the book of Revelation, occurs evidently as the combination         justified by the entire character of the book of Revelation.

of three and four, the Triune God and the world, the perfec-        It is also in harmony with the line of Scripture in general.

tion of God's covenant. Besides, the number twelve occurs as        Of all this there can be no doubt. Besides, this explanation is

the product of three and four, which is evidently the number        capable of application to history itself and to actually existing

of the eiect-  reason why there are twelve tribes, twelve           conditions in the world of today. The period of the thousand

apostles, twelve times twelve thousand servants of God that         years is to be applied to this entire dispensation until the

are sealed, twelve plus twelve elders around the throne of          time shortly before the second coming of the Lord on the

God and of the Lamb. These numbers abound in Scripture,             clouds of heaven. The fact that the vision in the passage we

and more emphatically in their symbolical significance in the       are now discussing follows the vision of the second coming

book of Revelation. The whole book is based on the scheme           of Christ mentioned in chapter 19 cannot be adduced as an

of the number seven. There are seven seals to the book that         objection against this view for the simple reason that the

is opened by the Lamb. The seventh seal dissolves itself into       order of the book of Revelation is not chronological but

seven trumpets. And the seventh trumpet reveals itself as           rather idealogical. Repeatedly the book follows the develop-

comprehending seven vials. There are seven golden candle-           ment of the world to its very end from a certain point of

sticks, even as the complete picture of the church in the world     view in order then to resume the drawing of the same

is represented by the seven churches of Asia. But this is           picture from a different viewpoint. Thus, for instance in

equally true of the number ten and its products, especially in      chapter 6:12-16;  11:15-19; 14:17-20; 16:17-21;  18; 19:11-


                                               T H E   - S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 343


     21. In the chapter we are now discussing we have the same          that these "souls of them that were beheaded" should be

     phenomenon, now from the viewpoint of the history and end          transformed into the resurrected saints in their glorified

     of Gog and Magog. The nations of Gog and Magog that                bodies. If he does not succeed in this, his interpretation of

     live on the four corners of the earth, I would identify as the     the entire passage must needs be regarded as false. Hence.

     peoples, that in the New Dispensation never played a part          he argues that in this expression we have an illustration of

     in the history of the world, but that, in our very day are         the figure called synecdoche, according to which a part must

     waking up. I refer to the overwhelmingly strong heathen            be taken for the whole. As we speak of so many sails,
     world, the nations of China and Japan, the great and strong        meaning ships, as we speak of a hundred head, meaning

     multitudes in India, the followers of Confucius and Buddha,        cattle, so the Scripture speaks of souls, signifying persons.

     of Islam and Brahmism, the millions of Africa and of the           All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt were threescore

     islands of the sea. What it would mean if. these nations were      and ten. In the ark few, that is, eight souls, were saved. On

     permitted to unite and marshal1 their tremendous forces            the day of Pentecost about three thousand souls were added

     against the nominally Christian nations can easily be sur-         to the church. And there were in all two hundred three-

     mised. The Church would have no place in the world, no             score and sixteen souls with Paul in the ship. Gen. 46 :27  ;

     nor room for development. But the devil is bound with              I Peter 3 :20  ; Acts 2 : :41;  Acts 27 :37.  Hence, the Chiliast

     respect to them. In the old dispensation he might repeatedly       argues that we must interpret the expression "the souls of

     deceive the nations to come against Israel. Egypt and As-          them that were beheaded" `in the same figurative way, as

     syria, Babylonia and Persia, Greece and Rome, all had a            referring to resurrected persons.

     controlling influence in the history of the world. In the new          There are, however, two weighty objections, against this
     dispensation, however, this relation is exactly the opposite.      mode of interpretation, which prove it false beyond a shadow
     The Christian are historical powers : Gog and Magog were           of doubt. The first objection is that whenever the above-
     hitherto apparently asleep. The prince of this world is            mentioned figure is employed, whether in our daily language
     restrained from employing these forces against the church,         and secular literature or in Holy Writ, uniformly a numeral
     the beloved city, the camp of the saints. The devil is             is used in connection with it. We can speak of a hundred
     bound, as we said, in regard to the nations of Gog and             head and fifty sails ; but we do not merely speak of head and
     Magog.                                                             of sails. And in all the instances quoted the Bible follows

        And now the vision changes. For John tells us that he           the same rule. Seventy souls came with Jacob into Egypt.
     "saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was             Eight souls were in the ark. Three thousand souls were
     given unto them."     This part of the picture evidently re-       added to the church. Two hundred seventy-six souls were
     presents a people that reign, a royal people. For such is          in the ship. But in Revelation 20:4  we simply read, "And I
     the meaning of their sitting on thrones, as well as of the         saw the souls."     John does not employ the figure in this
     statement that judgment was given unto them. For to judge          instance.    And the second objection is in the addition "of
     is a function of royalty, impiles authority to rule. The ques-     them that were beheaded." What a strange way of referring
     tion, however, is : who are these royal people ? Directly the      to persons in the body, whether corruptible or resurrected, it
     text does not answer this question, does not inform us who         would be to speak of the souls of them that were beheaded.
     they are, nor where we must look for their thrones. But in         The Chiliast must admit this. He must relinquish the at-
     the latter part of verse 4 John plainly describes these same       tempt to save his theory of the earthly millennium by thus
     people, as he continues : "and I saw the souls of them that        imposing his interpretation upon the simple and strange
I    were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of         words of Scripture.

     God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his              And surely, the statement in verse 5 that "this is the

     image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads,         first resurrection" does not change matters whatsoever. The

     or in their hands ; and they lived and reigned with Christ         Chiliast indeed adduces tlhis clause in support of his conten-

     a thousand years."    That the thousand years refer to the         tion that verse 4 refers to risen saints. Nevertheless, he is

     same period as that in which the devil is bound with respect       mistaken. The text plainly says : "Tl& is the first resurrec-

     to Gog and Magog is self-evident. In that entire period            tion." And the pronoun "this" refers back to the statement

     these people reign with Christ. And they are saints in glory       in verse 4 concerning the souls that reign with Christ. In

     before the final resurrection, the resurrection of the body.       answer td the question, therefore, what is the first resurrec-

     For the expression "souls of them that were beheaded" per-         tion, we cannot introduce our own preconceived notion ; but

     mits no other interpretation.    The Chiliast denies this in       we are bound to the text, and are therefore constrained to

     order to be able to save his theory of an earthly millenium        say: The reign,  of the sods of f%etvM  that were beheaded for
     and of a separate resurrection of the saints. But the denial       the witness of Jesus is the first resairrectiion.  Scripture speaks

     is without support in Scripture. It is rather strange that he      of the resurrection of the dead in more than one sense. It

     who always would insist on a literal interpretation of Holy        refers to regeneration in John 5 :25  : "Verily, verily, I say

     Writ in this case looks about for a figurative explanation.        unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead

     Yet so he does. It is essential to his theory of the millennium    shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear

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


shall live."      The same resurrection is meant in Ephesians          These blessed and glorified saints, then, reign with Christ.

5 :14: "Wherefore he saith, Awake, thou that sleepest, and          On earth they endured suffering for Christ's sake. It was

arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." In          given them of grace to have the testimony of Jesus and the

Revelation 20:5, however, the first resurrection refers to          word of God in their hearts and in their mouths. And there-

the state of the saints in glory immediately after death.           fore, it was given them also in the cause of Christ to suffer

They are delivered from battle and from persecution and             with Him. Cf. Phil. 1:29. For they had this testimony in the

from the suffering inflicted on them by the antichristian           midst of an antichristian world. That the antichristian power

forces that are always in the world throughout this dispensa-       is here described as it will manifest itself in its ultimate

tion, and they reign with the Lord. The expression "the  first      realization and consummation does not signify that only the

resurrection,"     therefore, does not refer to a separate group    saints that shall live and suffer in the last days, shortly

of saints that are raised first, in distinction from the raising    before the coming of Christ, are included in these saihts

of the wicked a thousand years later as the second resurrec-        that reign with Christ. Essentially the power of Antichrist,

tion, but to a state or degree in the resurrection of the           the beast and his image, are always in the world. And always

saints. That this is the correct interpretation a comparison        the believers have the testimony of Jesus and the Word of

with the similar expression "the second death" corroborates.        God. And they always refuse to worship the beast and his

For "the second death" refers to the ultimate state of death        image, and refuse to' receive his sign in their right hand or

in hell. Rev. 20:14.  First and second death, therefore, are        in their forehead. And therefore the entire church triumphant

different stages of death, and not different groups of dead         in heaven is meant by these reigning saints. They reign and

people. But surely, this establishes beyond any reasonable          judge the world with Christ. Now they are in glory with

doubt that the first resurrection also refers to a stage in life    Him and are free from all suffering and persecution. It is a

and glorification. If we may complete the parallel, we would        reign which commenced in heaven with the exaltation of their

say that even as the first death is physical death, so the first    Lord at the right hand of God. That the saints who over-

resurrection is the glory that follows immediately upon             come and endure unto the end shall reign with thl Lord in

physical death, so the first resurrection is the glory that         glory is a common idea in Scripture. "And he that over-

follows immediately upon physical death ; and even as the           cometh  and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I

second death is the state of perdiiton of body and soul in          give power over the nations : And he shall rule them with a

hell, so the second resurrection is the final state of glory        rod of iron ; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken

after the resurrection in the glory of the body. Hence,             to shivers : even as I received of my Father." Rev. 2 :26, 27.

"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrec-       And again : "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with
tion: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall        me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down
be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a         with my Father in his throne." Rev. 3 :21.  Concerning this
thousand years."
                                                                    reign with Christ, it is evident that centrally and essentially

   Finally, as an objection against this interpretation the         it is a reign of the exalted Lord, to Whom is given all power

millennialist cannot adduce the first part of verse 5, "But the     in heaven and on earth, a name that is above all names. But

rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were      even as the saints while they are still in this world and must
finished." Certainly, the rest of the dead are the ungodly          suffer in the cause of Christ nevertheless have the victory
dead. And it may be frankly admitted that the form of the           and overcome and judge the world by faith in Christ, so
expression would almost invite us to complete it as follows:
                                                                    they shall participate in His glorious reign in heaven, when
"Then they also shall live again." But it must be remembered
                                                                    they shall be completely delivered from all the power of the
that the text does not say this and that we have no authority
                                                                    enemy and be with Him forever and ever. And thy shall be
to add to Scripture. Besides, even the millennialist would
                                                                    given to know His works with regard to the firal realization
not venture to finish the expression in that fashion. For al-
though also the wicked shall have a certain rising from             of the kingdom of God, even as He knodvs  the Father's coun-

their graves and receive their bodies again, it cannot be said      sel and is found worthy to open the book with its seven seals.

of them that they shall "live" again. Their resurrection will       They shall perfectly know the mind of Christ, and He shall

be a resurrection to eternal perdition. And Scripture clearly       have no secrets for them. They shall concur in His judg-

teaches that this goin g forth out of the grave unto*perdition      ments of the world, and thus shall partake in them. And they

will take place a tthe same time, as in one hour, with the          shall rejoice in the full realization of His perfect victory.
resurrection of the righteous unto glory. Cf. John 5 :29. So,       And, finally, this reign of Christ with respect to the world
then, the text in Revelation 20:5  can only mean that while         is such, that almost until the very end the devil shall be
the souls of the righteous were seen as living in glory and         bound with respect to Gog and Magog, so that he cannot
in power, the rest of the dead had no place in this picture
                                                                    deceive them and gather them for battle against the camp
at all, and did not live again. And when they do appear once
                                                                    of the saints.
more, it will be to be sent into perdition, to be cast into the

lake of fire, which is the second death.                                                                                     ,H.H.


                                                        .THE ST'ANDARD  B-,E:A.RER                                                              345


                                                                                      waver; he, Pharaoh, was becoming afraid. Both to maintain

j A CLOUD OF WITNESSES /                                                              his pride and to hide his fear, Pharaoh did: not as much as
t                                                                                     answer Moses. In stubborn determination he would not as
     c                                                                                much as take his cattle from the field even though within his

                                                                                      heart he knew that' it was best. In all of Egypt there were
                         Further Signs In Egypt
                                                                                      but a few who would listen to the warning of Moses because

            Aped thr Lord said zrnbo ~~IOSPS,  Go in u,nto Phnmoh:                    they had learned to fear the word of Israel's God.

          for  I   ha'cv  htrl-drmd   h i s   hart, a&  t h e   hpall*t  o f   his       Once again Moses raised his rod, this. time toward the
                                 iuight  
          sermmts,  that I              slz cw these my signs befoW  him:             heavens. On the horizon the storm clouds gathered, strangely
            i-lnd                                                           a&
                       t!zat  thou maycst tell in the cars of thy son,                foreboding in a land of few storms. Swiftly it advanced to
                                                                        Egypt,
          0) thv son's sou, what things I have wro,ugght  *in                         overshadow the land, and the earth shook with the roll of
          crnd ,&.?I  vigor r                   done 
                              Lhkl~ I have              a~mong  them; t1za.t  ye
                                              LOT-d.         Exodus lO:l, 2           its thunder. Lightning like fire lashed forth from the clouds,
          .rway  l&ow  that I am the                                                  running across the ground and striking out this way and

     The land of Egypt lay desolate; the people were dis-                             that, much too swiftly for any to escape. And then came

mayed ; the s:rvants of the palace were apprehensive ; and                            the hail, large like rocks, able to bruise, able to hurt, able

Pharaoh was distraught. Six times devastation had swept                               to kill; and they did. Animals and men lay dead in the

through the country, and everyone knew in his heart that                              fields: trees and plants hung broken and limp, stripped of

there was more yet to come.                  War had been declared against            their vegetation; but none dared go out to investigate. Only

Egypt by Israel's God. In pride Pharaoh had said, "I know                             in the land of Goshen,  where the children of Israel were, did

no Jehovah."             Now he was being shown; and the more                         the land and the people remain untouched.

Pharaoh saw, the more he rebelled.                                                       In the palace even Pharaoh crouched and trembled while

     A third series of three plagues was beginning, and God                           the hail drummed on the grouncl and roofs like the hoof

said again unto Moses, "Rise up early in the morning, and                             beats of thousands of horses. He was beginning to know

stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the                                what it was to taste fear. How was he to resist this power?

Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may                              In desperation he called for Moses ; and Moses came through

serve me. For I will at this time send all my plagues upon                            the midst of the storm unscathed, as though overshadowed

thine heart, and upon thy servants, and-  upon thy people ;                           by the hand of the Lord. While anxiety contorted his face,

that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the                           Pharaoh blurted out, "I have sinned this time ; Jehovah is

earth. For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite                           righteous, and I and my people are wicked." Were these

thee and thy people with pestilence ; and thou shalt be cut                           the words of Pharaoh ? What was it that he wanted ? for-

off from the earth. And in very deed for this cause have I                            giveness ? salvation ? peace with God ? No, "Intreat Jehovah

raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my                             that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I

name may be declared throughout all the earth. As yet                                 will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer." That the

exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not                           thunder and hail should stop, that was all he wanted.

let them go? Behold, to morrow about this time I will                                    Calmly Moses answered, "As  soon as I am gone out of

cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hat11  not been                        the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto Jehovah: and

in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now. Send                            the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail;

therefore now, and gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast                          that thou mayest know how that the earth is Jehovah's.

in the field ; for upon every man and beast which shall be                            But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not

found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail                           yet fear Jehovah God.".

shall come down upon them and they shall die."                                           Soon all was silent again ; the thunder and hail had

     Once again as Pharaoh stood by the river bank vainly                             ceased ; even the rain no longer fell. With a sigh of relief,

offering oblations to his god, Moses appeared and brought                             Pharaoh returned to his normal self. He dared ask of himself

the message of Jehovah. Pharaoh knew by now that the                                  the old question again, "Who is Jehovah that I s!lould  let

God of Moses was a terrible enemy. He had learned to hate                             Israel go ?" With boldness he issued the order that the

and even fear these visits from Moses. Never had an enemy                             Israelites should continue their work.

behaved like this. He amlounced  to Pharaoh each step of the                             It was then that God came to Moses and said, "Go in

way just exactly what He was going to do; He told Pharaoh                             unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart

why He was doing it; and He warned him what the results                               of his servants, that I might shew these my signs b-fore

would be. This very fact infuriated Pharaoh. The God of                               him : and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and

Israel was treating him as a potter might treat his clay. The                         of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and

fact that he was the king of Egypt seemed to make no differ-                          my vigor which I have done among them ; that ye may know

ence at all. And yet a new feeling was beginning to find its                          how that I am Jehovah."    This gave the basic reason for the

way into his life. Even as Moses said these plagues were                              plagues. They were a means of revealing the power of God;

beginning to touch his heart; his courage was beginning to                            they were a means of hardening the heart of Pharaoh and

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


thus revealing the power of God ; they were a means of              the earth. Soon all that could be heard was the crunching

bringing about the deliverance of Israel from Egypt; but            of thousands of jaws consuming the land. No piece of green

more than anything else they were a testimony of God's              vegetation was safe ; they devoured it all.    Even the roofs of

righteousness and mercy which would work in the hearts of           the palace afforded no sanctuary from this. The loc*usts

His people through all generations.                                 poured in upon Pharaoh in his privacy until once again he

       Once again Moses appeared before Pharaoh and said,           knew the choking grip of fear even stronger than before. No

"Thus saith Jehovah God of the Hebrews, How long wilt               matter where he fled the grizzled faces of the insects were

thou refuse to humble thyself before me ? let my people go,         there to remind him of his sin. To them his pride could

that they may serve me. Else, if thou refuse to let my people       no longer provide an answer.

go, behold, to morrow will I bring the locust into thy coast:          At last in haste he sent for Moses and Aaron, and he

and they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be      fairly shouted at them when they appeared, "I have sinned

able to see the earth ; and they shall eat the residue of that      against the Lord your God, and against you. Now therefore

which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail,           forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and intreat-  Jeho-

and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the           vah your God, that he may take away from me this death

field: and they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of thy        only." Even the colossal pride of Pharaoh was being bowed

servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither        before the judgment of God. Not that there was any repent-

thy fathers, nor thy fathers' fathers have seen, since the day      ance. The similar prayer of a few weeks earlier was already

that they were upon the earth unto this day."                       forgotten. But even a heart of solid wickedness could no

       Furious with indignation, Pharaoh remained sullenly          longer deny the power of Israel's God. It was not really the

silent until Moses turned and left. It was in the servants          forgiveness that he wanted ; it was deliverance from those

that stood by that the misgivings arose. Could their country        insect ,jaws of death.

endure any more destruction ? Carefully formulating their              Without as much as honoring this hypocritical prayer

words so as not to offend, they said to Pharaoh, "HOW long          with an answer, Moses went out again. Soon there came a

shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they        West wind to cast the locusts into the sea. But Pharaoh's

may serve Jehovah their God: knowest thou not yet that              pride was still there. With resilience, it sprang back as soon

Egypt is destroyed ?"     Bitterly they laid all of the blame at    as the plague was lifted. He would not let Israel go.

the feet of Moses; but the fact could not be escaped that they         The answer of the Lord was swift. He commanded

were afraid.                                                        Moses, "Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there

       It was in the mind of Pharaoh that this remark gave rise     may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which

to a new thought, a new compromise that he could seek to            may be felt."

negotiate with Moses. Quickly he commanded that Moses                  Without warning to Pharaoh it came, but he knew full

and Aaron should be called back into his presence. Almost           well from whence. Such darkness had never been known

triumphantly he spoke as soon as they entered, "Go, serve           before. It was more than an absence of light. In this darkness

Jehovah your God : but who are they that shall go ?,'               a fire was of no use, and a lamp could not penetrate its

   Sensing the deception that hung heavy upon Pharaoh's             depths. This darkness could be felt. For three days not an

words, Moses answered positively and with care. "We will            Egyptian dared stir from his place. The land was shrouded

go with our young men and with our old, with our sons and           in an earthly figure of their obdurate hearts.

with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will            Torn between fear and resentment, Pharaoh decided to
we go ; for we must hold a feast unto Jehovah."                     make one more attempt to negotiate with Israel's God. He

       Taken back by the finality of Moses' answer, Pharaoh         called Moses to him and spoke through the darkness, "Go ye,

nonetheless could not resist expressing the compromise that         serve Jehovah ;    only let your flocks and your herds be

would be acceptable to him. liLet  Jehovah be so with you, as       stayed : let your little ones also go with you."

I will let you go. And your little ones, look to it, for evil is       Patiently Moses answered, "Thou must give us also

before you. Not so: go now ye that are men, and serve               sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto

Jehovah i for that ye did desire." Israel might go but only         Jehovah our God. Our cattle also shall go with us; there

on Pharaoh's terms. As though concerned for the women               shall not an hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take

and children, he would not allow them to go out into the            to serve Jehovah our God ; and we know not with what we

evils of the wilderness. Only the men might go. But this            must serve Jehovah until we come hither." He demanded

was quite unacceptable to Moses and Aaron, and in rage              of Pharaoh a complete surrender.

Pharaoh drove them from his presence.                                  It was too much. Pharaoh's pride would not surrender.

       Moses raised his rod, and immediately a strong wind          Screaming with fury he cried out, "Get thee from me, take
sprang up from the east. The next day the locusts appeared          heed to thyself, see my face no more ; for in that day thou

As a black cloud they came in the East blotting out the rays        seest my face thou shalt die."

of the morning sun. Their approaching wings beat a deafen-             There was somber warning in Moses' answer, "Thou hast

ing roar until they settled like a smothering blanket over          spoken well, I will see thy face again no more."          B.W.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    347


                                                                        space, heaven and earth. One is either in the Kosmos, and

11      FROM  H O L Y   W R I T   11 then a creature. Outside of the Rosmos there is no creature.
                                                                        Above and beyond the Kosmos  is God. In the beginning

                                                                        was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word

                                                                        was God. That is above, beyond and "before" the creation
                  Exposition of I Timothy                               of the Cosmos,  heaven and earth. He who dwells there beyond

                                                                        and above the Rosmos is God. And beyond this Cosmos  is
                      (I Timothy 1 :12-17)                              also the Son, the Christ in the bosom of the Father. John

                                                                        1 :l-3, 18.
                                  b.
                                                                           To this preexistence Paul refers when he says, "Christ

      The truth that Paul received mercy from Christ, being             Jesus ca1@8B  into this world."

counted faithful unto the ministry, certainly supports the                 This world, this cosmos, is referred to in Scripture from
thesis that salvation is not of works of law which we perform,          more than one point of view. In the first place this term
but is $mply  a matter of sovereign grace and mercy. This               cosmos often refers to the entirety of God's creation, heaven
is abundantly evident from Paul's calling unto the ministry.            and earth from the viewpoint of Satan, the prince of this
According tc the rule of the works of the law Paul could                world, and as he rules in the demon world and also in the
never rate. He was not simply not faithful, but he was a                world of evil men. John 14:29. This is the world spoken of
blasphemer, a persecutor of the church, and an injurious                in I John 2 :15-17 which we are admonished not to love.
person.                                                                 It is the entire creation as in its totality it is harnessed

      But Paul has one more arrow in his quiver which he                against God, Christ, His Church. The kingdoms of this

will place upon his bow.     He will show that also in his per-         world it is!

sonal life it is exemplified that salvation is from mercy and               This world is also looked at as the object of God's
the love and the longsuffering of God in Christ.                        love. John 3 :16.  In this passage from John 3 :15 the term

      For the word of the Gospel is true.                               world is "cosmos" in the Greek. Here it is the entirety of the

                                                                        creation, heaven and earth, created by God in the beginning
      Paul writes the very beautiful and instructive polemic in
                                                                        as it presently shall be made new. We look for a new heaven
the verses 15-17 which read as follows: "This is a jaif%fzd
                                                                        and new earth where righteousness dwells.
saying,  and zero&y  of al.8 accept.atioN,  &at ChrLrt  Jesus
 came h&to  the world to save s&nel-s;  of ~1~0%  I am chkf.                Now Christ came into this world. And He came  &to
Howbeit  for this muse I obtained mercy, t1m.t  in. me first            this world. Christ came into this world which is under the
J'esus Clwist  m.ight  shew forth all longsuffe-/ing,  for a, j&tern    dominion of sin in its totality. Everything is affected by
to tl,em zehich shoztld afterzvard  believe o'n hina to eve&sting       sin. Also the heavens above. In this world men and women
l,ife. Now unto the King eternal, immo&aJ,  invisible, the              live who are elected unto everlasting life. However, they are,
only wise God, be honor and glory for ever a.md  ever. ANaen."          as far as the Christ came into Uzz%  world to save them, sin-
                                                                        ners ! And let it also be underscored that he came into this
      The great and all-important fact is "that Christ Jesus
                                                                        world. He was preexistent to it. We did not come into this
came into the world to save sinners"!
                                                                        world. We were never outside of and above the cosmos. We
      It is of importance, first of all, to notice the implication      were made in Adam from the dust of the ground. We were
of a few of the elements here in this gospel fact, this great           simply born, and formed in our mother's womb in a most
mystery of godliness.                                                   wonderful way. But we were not such that we "came into

      We would then ascertain just what Paul has in mind                this world."    The very expression is so unique and meaning-

with the term "world" here in the test. The term world in               ful as to fit only the coming of the Son of God in flesh.

the King James Version of the Bible is the translation of                   Besides, it must not be overlooked that the Son was sent
two or more different words in the Greek text of the New                into the world, when he came into the world. He is the
Testament. There is first the term in the Greek, translated             anointed of God. He is the Christ, who is our chief prophet
"world" but which could better be translated "age." It refers           who is come to reveal to us the secret counsel and will of
to the entire creation, the life of men and angels and all things,      God concerning our redemption ; He is our only High-priest
from the view-point of time, succession of events, ages and             who came to give His life for us as a ransom for our sins ; He
definite periods in the history of the world. Now it is a               is our eternal King, who rules by His Word and Spirit. His
peculiar and revealing fact that while we do read of the "end           name is Christ.
of the ages" in the Bible (Matt. 13 :39,  I Cor. 10 :ll) we do
                                                                           And historically He is Jesus, Jehovah saves, or Jehovah
 not ever read of the end of the world in the sense of the
                                                                        is salvation. He is the mighty God, the everlasting Father,
end of all things, the entire Cosmos. For the term Cosmos
                                                                        the Prince of peace.
 (Iiosmos)  is the term which Paul employs here in the Greek.

Cosmos refers to the entire universe from the view-point of                 His coming into this world was to save sinners.


34s                                                 T H E   h+NDAR-D.   B E A R E R


       And His entire coming into this world, at every step of               having the weight of, weighing as III~&  as. It is a comparison
the way, and in every moment shows this design of saving                     of values of some sort. To that the term often refers. Thus

slmiers.                                                                     in Remans  8 :18 we read that Paul does not account the

       For when the text speaks of Christ Jesus coming into                  sufferings of this present time to be worthy to be compared
this world this does not merely refer to the fioint  of enhance.,            with the glory which is about to be revealed in          The values
                                                                                                                                  us. 
but refers to the entire way of Christ from the incarnation                  of the one and the other are compared. All the sufferings
unto his sitting at the right hand of God, Lord over all                     of this present time of the church for righteousness' sake, all
things. Heb. 1 :l-4. It refers to Christ's incarnation, and the              the tears, the heartaches of the saints under the altar, who
entire history leading up to it, as told in Matt. 1 :1-S,  where             cry: "How long, 0 Lord, and let it repent thee concerning
we are shown the "becoming (genesis) of Jesus Christ," the                   thy servants." And when all the measure of the sufferings of
Son of God. One can see that even in the generations from                    Christ are filled             then their value and meaning are so
                                                                                                   up, 
which He came there were great "sinners." We read of                         insignificant that they cannot be worthily comparecl  with the
Tamar (Judah), Rahab the harlot, Bathsheba, the wife of                      glory which shall be revealed.
Uriah. The coming into the world of Jesus Christ was thus.                       Here in this passage Paul is speaking of the ire& c;Z the
He came to save sinners. Even the sinners of the genera-                     poor sinner on the one hand, the superabunclance  of sill,  the
tions from which, according to the flesh, He was born.                       exceeding sinfulness of sin. On the other hand, there is
                                                                             that great fact of Christ coming into the world to save sin-
       We said that Christ's coming into this world did not                  ners. And the latter fact is wholly "worthy" in the light of
merely refer to His point of entrance.                                       all the sin. Where sin abounds , grace did much more abound,
       It refers, therefore, to Christ's suffering under Pontius             Rom. 5 :20. The sin of the sintier,  whom Christ came to
Pilate, His death, His resurrection, His ascension at the                    save, is never as great as the love of God ! This grace is
right hand of God. And always in each step is this saving                    infinite, this love is great, and this mercy is rich.
design evident. In each step an element of our salvation is                      And, therefore, one may very well cling to this saying  as
made secure. He is delivered for our offenses and raised for                 to the Rock of ages in the sea of his troubled               an1  con-
                                                                                                                                  soul 
our justification. Ram. 4:25, Is. 53 :4, 5. If we are saved                  science overagainst all the wiles of the Devil. All the as-
through His death we shali                    V~OYC  be saved through His
                                 77~74~7~                                    saults of Satan must be so much fruitlessness in the light of
life. Rom. 5 :9-11. Or as we read in Ram. 8:31-34:  "What                    the "worthiness" of this saying.
shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be                       Wherefore this saying is also said to be "faithful." Some-
against us? He that did not spare his own Son but delivered                  thing is faithful when it fulfills its assigned commitment. The
him up for us all, how shall he not also freely give us all things           Bible speaks of a faithful servant, and minister of the gospel.
with him ? . . . It is God that justifieth, who is he that                   See I Cor. 1 :9 ; 10 :13,  where God is called the faithful God,
condemneth ? It is Christ who died, yea, rather who is risen,                who hath promised. It is the anchor of the soul within the
who is even at the right hand of God; who ever liveth to                     holy place that God is faithful. Heb. 10:23.
pray for us."                                                                    Repeatedly Paul used this phrase "Faithful is the word" !

       Thus Christ camk into this world to save sinners.                     No less than five times, and all in the pastoral letters.

       He saved                                                                  It is a faithful word and worthy of all acceptation that he
                    us on the Cross and in His resurrection.

       He saves        now in His state of glory at God's right              who desireth the office of a Bishop desireth a good work.
                    us 
hand.                                                                        It is a faithful saying that if we die with Christ we shall also
                                                                             live with him. I Tim. 3 :l ; 4 :9 ; II Tim. 3 :8, and see also
       He came into this world, this cosmos, and He will never
                                                                             l'ia1s  3 23.
leave it.
                                                                                 How Paul rejoices in the faithfulness of God, and that,
       And when the last "sinner" is saved, the elect are                    too, as this faithfulness is expressed in this faithful worcl  con-
gathered and called, then shall also the entire "cosmos" be                  cerning the coming of Christ to save sinners!
made new.        Now it still "waits for" the final adoption of                  Of this we hope to see more in the next issue.
the children of God. Rom. S 23.

       Now this word of the Cross is really worthy of all accep-

tation. Says Paul, referring to the cqming  of Christ Jesus into

the world to save sinners, "This is a faithful saying and                                                  IN MEMORIAM

worthy of all acceptation."
                                                                                 The consistory of the South Holland Protestant Reformed Church
       It is entirely possible that this was a "saying" among                herewith expresses its sincere sympathy to our fellow consistory
                                                                             member. Elder Gilbert Van Baren.  in the sudden bereavement of
the churches of Christ; a kind of holy slogan; the gospel in                 his wife;
a nutshell. Be this as it may.                                                                     MRS. ANNA VAN BAREN

       That Paul says it is wo&y  of acceptation calls for a bit                 May the God of all grace and mercy comfort him with the truth
                                                                             that all things work together for the good of those that love God.
of explanation. The term in the Greek for worthy is "Axios,"                 Romans 8 ~26.
and comes from the verb agoo, axoo : drawing down the scale,                                                              Rev. John A. Heys, Pres
                                                                                                                          John Flikkema, Clerk


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 349
                                                                                                                             z


                                                                   public pr;ograms and sports.    But listen, we `will meet you 01;
            I N   H I S   F E A R                                  that ground to show you that you are not since&.  A ten
                                                                   minute sermon is all your people can take and all you can

                                                                   dish up after a week of "strenuous" and faithful work as

                   Go& Royd Priesthood                             God's prophet in your study ? We will concede that your
                                                                   ability to make more than a ten minute talk about a text is

                                (5)                                the coritrolling factor and that your people cannot sit any

                                                                   longer than an hour at the very most. It still is God's day.
     Silent-  does not always mean consent.
                                                                   Remember that. Well now then, make arrangements to
     A man who votes neither for nor against a matter in efiect    have three services a day instead of two. Your sheep will
does give consent by his silence. At any rate he does not          at least get three-we will not say square meals of spiritual
register a vote against thz  matter and does not prevent it        food that day, but then three- portions of spiritual food
from taking place.                                                 instead of the starvation rations of but two very brief con-

     However there are times when silence is entirely wrong,,      tacts with the Word of God. What? You have only one

yea  the revelation of great wickedness.                           service, and that service is all over in an hour? We have

                                                                   heard of the wicked idea that the days of creation-week
     How wicked when the prophet of God keeps silent !
                                                                   were billions of years long; but this is a new one that the
     It lies in the verji  nature of the case that the prophet     px-esent-day  Sabbath is one hour long! We have heard of
of God must speak. His mind is a precious gift of God, so          reader's digests and of condensed books, we have heard of
that he may receive from God the revelation He is pleased          shortened work-weeks and of shorter forms for filing income
to give. And his tongue belongs to that mind to give utter-        tax returns, but we want to hear nothing of shorter Sab-
ance to the praise of God which that mind has received. We         baths. Presently there comes the eternal  Sabbath.;. Can the
said, last time, What if Moses did not at God's command            man who longs for it, sincerely longs for it, clamor for
climb ~113  Mt.    Sinai to receive that revelation which God      twenty-three hours for the flesh on our present-day Sabbath
intended to give ^:    But we can add the new question, "What      and grudgingly concede one miserable little hour to divine
if he k:pt silent after he had been on that mo'unt for forty       worship services  ? Show me a prophet of God, and I will
days? \Vould Gocl not smite him to the ground in His hot           show you a man who condemns all this carnality ! The
displeasure ?                                                      prophet of God wants to speak His Word. He is eager to

     Zacharias would not believe the word of the angel that        teach God's people and to train them for the praise of Him-

he and his aged wife were to have- a son. That means that          from Whom all blessings flow. And he will also desire to

he would not listen to what God had to reveal to him. There-       listen that he may learn more of this God to praise Him

fore, as a fit sign, he was struck with dumbness ; and though      more fully.

he desired greatly to do so, he was utterly unable to speak           But there is another side. Ye all are partakers of Christ's

of that wonderful truth that God had revealed to him in the        anointing.     We all stand in the office of all believers. And
&nple.  But to be able to speak, to have the truth and then        then indeed silence is not consent. How is it that we can
to keep silent in regard to it is a great evil. And there is       speak so fluently and even forcefully about natural things?
all too much of it to be seen today.                               It is hard to get a word in edgewise when it comes to

-    To be sure the minister of the Word, the official prophet     politics, cooking, farming, business and entertainment. But

on the pulpit of today's church must speak. And be sure            when it comes to speak about spiritual things, we have no

that you do not ask him to keep still! God has given us a          words to utter. Why? Why does the church member have

whole day for our Sabbath, and the whole period of twenty-         nothing to say as God's prophet? Why does he not have the

four hours are His day. And yet ,how we clamor for a half          truth to speak  and confess ? He has not listened to God's

hour, a twenty minute, perhaps even a ten minute sermon !          revelation. We have nothing to say of ourselves. And what

Shame, double shame on God's royal priesthood that does            we would say of ourselves in the sphere of the spiritual things

that. Shame, a hundred times shame to the minister who             would be the lie and foolishness; but only as we listen to

makes a farce of the things spiritual, who will devote hours       God, only as we live in His Word, only as we seek it as a

and hours to recreation and entertainment but cries for            lamp for our feet  and a light upon our path, will we have

shorter and shorter divine worship services, whose sermons         something to say. Then we will confess God before m:n, and

become shorter and shorter, because he will not spend the          we will not be silent.

time during the week on the mountaintop of revelation! You            Let man speak his philosophy, let him utter forth his

can say it all in ten minutes ? Brother, you have not bezn         foolishness, let him try to spread his false doctrines; the

listening to God during the week ! He spoke for forty days         prophet of God in the new dispensation will speak up and

on the mount to Moses. Your congregation grows wea.ry,             declare his "Thus saith the Lord." He will be a witness OF

and the whole service has to be concluded in less than an          his God. Let the wicked blaspheme His name, let them curse

hour? Come, come, observe them before their TV sets, at            and swear, let them heap ridicu!e upon the Church of Go.:!.


350                                         T H E   ST,ANDAiXD   B E A R E R


God's royal priesthood will continue to praise Him and re-              I can turn away from the writings of ungodly men. I

buke those who take His name in vain. Of that you may be             can refuse to read their evil philosophies and foolish theories.

sure. And you ? You are God's prophet? You are a                     I can even say to my brother in the Church of God that I do

partaker of Christ's anointing ? It will be seen in your walk        not have time to read the book he has written on a particular

of life.                                                             subject. I may even tell him that I cannot afford to purchase

       Then, too, there is such a spirit of indifference today in    all the books he has written. And I can say this to the
regard to the revelation of God, that one does begin to repeat       worldly author or to my brother in Christ without hating
the words of Jesus, "When the Son of man cometh, shall He            him. Indeed I do hate those wicked philosophies of the
find faith on the earth?" Luke 18 ~8.  Faith, Paul says in           world. But I do not hate the man. I may not hate him. But

Romans 10:17, "cometh by hearing." And of course that                the point is that I am not called to listen to him. I am

means also that by reading it is strengthened, and we are            under no obligation even to my brother in Christ to purchase
edified. But reading, that is, reading the things that are           and read all the books which he has written. `But  when the

spiritually good, is becoming a lost art. There was a time           Living God speaks, as He does in His written Word, and

when every home had its own library of books on doctrinal            as He is pleased to do so through His servant upon the pulpit
matters, and religious magazines were read faithfully and            on the Sabbath, I reveal nothing less than hatred against the
eagerly. The family had a time for -discussion of the things         God Who commands tie to listen, when I turn away and

spiritual. The sermon was discussed when the family came             satisfy my flesh.

home. A lecture on some spiritual subject was a treat and               Prophet of God, take inventory!
not a chore. Men looked forward to it and attended with a
                                                                        Compare the number of worldly magazines to which you
capacity audience.
                                                                     subscribe with the number of those that contain spiritual
       But look about you today. Where is there interest in          food for the souls of God's people. Contrast the time spent
such things ? It is so easy to- sit home in your most comfort-       on your newspaper and worldly magazines with the time
able chair and watch the world entertain you and feed your           spent in contact with the Word of God itself or discussions
lust. The world is so very close to us today. Instead of being       and essays based upon that Word. While you are at it, you
upon the mountaintop of revelation, so that we may be able           might also check the amount of money paid for each and ask
to show forth God's praises, we prefer to stay down in the           yourself why there should be such a great difference. Com-
valley where before our TV set we may watch the things               pare the hours spent before the TV and radio with the
that come up out of the abyss. Children have no time to              minutes spent before the Word of God. Contrast the hours
memorize a few texts from Holy Writ. The answers they                spent each week listening to the news from the four corners
are to learn to the questions prepared to lead them step by          of the earth with the minutes spent listening to the Good
step into the truth are considered of minor importance. And          News, the Gospel, from heaven itself.
you must not insist that they know many facts of truth
                                                                        And you still say you are a prophet of God ?
recorded in God's Word. Parents will defend their  children

and quickly rush to their side to agree that it is expecting            Be careful lest it become necessary for men then to say

too much of a child. And yet these same children will re-            that you are a false prophet. If you listened to God, you

veal that they can learn and memorize facts of the godless           would condemn your carnality and never defend it. No

entertainment world in a matter of moments. That wonder-             prophet of God ever defended evil in Israel. Always they

ful mind, that incomparable intellect which God has given to         condemned it in no uncertain terms.

man, that with it he might praise God and learn to know                                                                       J.A.H.

Him as God, we press into the service of our own lusts. The

revealed Word of God is covered with dust. The Word of

God is not precious to us anymore.

       And is it any wonder then that there is so little con-

fession of God's name in this world?  Men are silent. And a          Christian School Teachers and Teachers-To-Be:
silent prophet is a sinful prophet. Yea, when we keep silence
we cease to function as God's prophets. And if it is because            Whereas the Loveland Prot. Ref. Christian School So-

we will not turn to the Word of God wherein He reveals the           ciety plans, D.V., to open its own school in Sept. of 1961,

truth to His prophets in this present dispensation, then we          the Board encourages ALL interested teachers and teachers-
likewise do wickedly and despise the very thing we need              to-be to inquire for further details. It is requested that ap-
most of all in this life. A deaf prophet will indeed be a
                                                                     plicants include name, credits or degree, experience, if any,
dumb prophet. Yea- rather, he who  turns a deaf ear to God's
                                                                     and expected salary. Contact :
Word can never, never s'erve as a prophet of God. He will
                                                                                                        Gilbert Griess, Secretary
never praise God from Whom all blessings flow. But his
very turning away from that Word of God, or if you will,                                                Route 1, Box 282

his very failure to turn to it, indicates that he hates God.                                            Loveland, Colorado


                                                 THE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      351`


                                                                           life, keep the commandments. Wherefore, when receiving
II Contending For The .Faith                                               true and Christian justice, they are bidden, immediately on
                                                                     II    being born again, to preserve it pure and spotless, as the

                                                                           first robe given them through Jesus Christ in lieu of that

            The Church and the Sacraments                                  which Adam, by his disobedience, lost for himself and for
                                                                           us, that so they may bear it before the judgment-seat of our
            THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION                                    Lord Jesus Christ, and may have life eternal."

                 VIEWS ON THE CHURCH                                           In this article the Roman Catholic Church sets forth what

                    M A T E R I A L   P R I N C I P L E                    Justification is. Besides speaking of the final cause, efficient
                                                                           cause, and the meritorious cause of this justification, that
                                (continued)                                Church also speaks of its instrumental cause: the sacrament

                                                                           of baptism. And that the Lord justifies us, through the
     We will now continue with our quotation of Chapter VII
                                                                           sacrament of baptism", means that we are renewed in the
of the Sixth Session of the Roman Catholic Council of Trent,
                                                                           spirit of our mind, and that we receive, in this justification,
devoted to the subject of Justification: "Of this Justification
                                                                           together with the remission of sins, all these gifts infused
the causes are these : the final cause indeed is the glory -of
                                                                           at once, faith, hope, and charity. And then this article
God and of Jesus Christ, and life everlasting; while the
                                                                           declares that faith, without hope and charity, means nothing,
efficient cause is a merciful God who wc&es  a& sa.mtifies
                                                                           does not make one a living member of the body of Christ.
gratuitously, sig&g, and anointing with the holy Spirit  of
                                                                           And it quotes the passage from the epistle of James, which,
promise, z&o ,is the pledge of our inlzeri~ance;  but the
                                                                           we understand, does not speak of faith but of a faith without
meritorious cause is his most beloved only-begotten,              otir
                                                                           works, and therefore of a dead faith.
Lord Jesus Christ, who, when we were enemies, for the m-

ceeding  &a&jr  wherewith he loved `us,  merited Justification
                                                                                                    CHAPTER VIII
for us by his most holy Passion on the wood of the cross,
and made satisfaction for us unto God the Father; the in-                    In What Manner It Is To Be Understood, That Tlze
strumental cause is the sacrament of baptism, which is the                       Impious  Is Jztstified By Faith, And Gratuitously

sacrament of faith, without which (faith) no man was ever                      "And whereas the Aopstle saith, that man is jztstiified  by
justified ; lastly, the alone formal cause is the justice of God,          faith and freely, those words are to be understood in that
not that whereby he himself is just, but that whereby he                   sense which the perpetual consent of the Catholic Church
maketh us just, that, to wit, with which we, being endowed                 hath held and expressed ; to wit, that we' are therefore said
by him, cere  renewed in the             of 0th~ nzind, and we are not
                                 spirit                                    to be justified by faith, because faith is the beginning of
only reputed, but are truly called, and are just, receiving                human salvation, the foundation, and the root of all Justifica-
justice within us, each one according to his. own measure,                 tion; without -which it is impossible to please  God, and to
which  the Holy  Ghost d,istAbuted  to every one as he                     come unto the fellowship of his sons: but we are therefore
           and according to each one's proper disposition
-W-i&-,                                                                    said to be justified freely, because that none of those things
and co-ope'ration. For, although no one can be just,                       which predede justification      -whether faith or works -
but he to whom the merits of the Passion of our Lord                       merit the grace itself of justification. For, if it be a. grace, it
Jesus Christ are communicated, yet is this done in the said                is not YLOW  by works, otherwise, as the same Apostle says,
justification of the impious, when by the merit of that same               grace is no wz0.w  grace."
most holy Passion, the cha:rity  of God is powred  forth, by                   In this article the Romish Church attempts to explain
the Holy Spirit, in the hearts of those that are justified, and            the words of Scripture that we are justified by faith and
is inherent therein: whence, man, through Jesus Christ, in                 freely. And, to be justified by faith simply means that faith
whom he is ingrafted, received, in the said justification, to-             is the beginning of human salvation, thereby allowing for
gether with the remission of sins, all these (gifts) infused at            the possibility that what follows is not by faith but by works.
once,  faith, hope, and charity. For faith, unless hope and                And that we are justified freely simply means that none of
charity be added thereto, neither unites man perfectly with                the things that precede this justification merits the grace itself
Christ, nor makes him a living member of his body. For which               of justification. This, we understand, according to Rome,
reason it is most truly said, that Faith wit&out  works is dead            does not apply to that which follows, our works by which
and profitless ;    and, In Ch&t  Jesus neither cimt.&siorz                we merit and can merit eternal salvation.
availeth any thing nor zmcircumcision  , but faith which

worketh by charity. This faith, Catechumens  beg of the                                              CHAPTER IX
Church-agreeably to a tradition of the apostles -pre-
                                                                                    Against The Vain Confidefzce  Of Heretics
viously to the sacrament of Baptism ; when they beg for the

faith which bestows life everlasting, which, without hope                     -Notice, please, how the Roman Catholic Church denies

and charity, faith can not bestow: whence also do they im-                 in this article that we are justified by faith alone, and that

mediately hear that word of Christ: If tltoa$ wilt enter Pinto             the child of God can enjoy perfect and complete assurance


352                                                  THE STAN,~A-R~3,B.~ARREli
                                                                          .L_

of his X justification and the forgiveness of his sins while in                                    C H A P T E R  X I I
this life. .The :Romish  Church teaches in this article that the                                  :
                                                                            In Article XI, which we will not quote, the Council of
child of God, when he regards himself and his own weakness
                                                                        Trent sets forth its doctrine on the necessity and possibility
and indisposition, may have fear atid  apprehension touching
                                                                        of keeping the commandments of God. Now we understand,
his own grace and also that he cannGt  know with a certainty
                                                                        of course, that the Reformation did not deny the necessity or
of faith. But, we may now quote this article : "But, although
                                                                        possibility of the keeping of the commandments of the Lord.
it is necesary  to believe that sins neither are remitted, nor
                                                                        This is simply camouflage on the part of the Church of
ever were remitted save gratuitously by the mercy of God
                                                                        Rome. But that Church also declares in this eleventh article
for Christ's sake ; yet is it not to be said, that sins are for-
                                                                        that they are opposed to the orthodox doctrine of religion
given, ,oi- have been forgiven, to any one who boasts of his
                                                                        who assert that the just man sins if, in his good works, he
confidence and certainty of the remission of his sins, and
                                                                        performs them as having in view the eternal reward in order
rests on that alone; seeing that it may exist, yea does in our
                                                                        to excite their sloth, and to encourage themselves to run in
day exist, amongst heretics and schi&atics  ; and with great
                                                                        the course. However. we surely perform good works as having
vehemence is this vain confidence, and one alien froni all
                                                                        our eye upon the eternal reward. This is surely Scriptural.
godliness, preached up in opposition to the Catholic Church.
                                                                        But this is far difierent  than to assert that we, by our good
But neither is this to be asserted- that they who are truly
                                                                        works, also merit that eternal reward. In Article XII  the
justified must needs, without any doubting whatever, settle
                                                                        Romish Church calls attention to a rash presumptuousness
within themselves that they are justified, and that no one is
                                                                        in the matter of predestination which is to be avoided. And
absolved from sins and justified, but he that believes for
                                                                        now we quote this brief article: "No one, moreover, so long
certain that hz is absolved and justified ; and that absolution
                                                                        as he is in this mortal life, ought so far to presume as
and justification are effected by this faith alone: as though
                                                                        regards the secret mystery of divine predestination, as to
whoso has not this belief, doubts of the promises of God, and
                                                                        determine for certain that he is assuredly in the number of
of the efficacy of the death and resurrection of Christ. For
                                                                        the predestinate; as if it were true, that he that is justified,
even as no pious person ought to doubt of the mercy of God,
                                                                        either can not sin any more, or. if he do sin, that he ought
of the merit of Christ, and of the cirtue and efficacy of the
                                                                        to promise himself an assured repentance; for except by
sacraments, even so each one, when he regards himself, and
                                                                        special revelation, it can not be known whom God hath
his' own wejkness  and indisposition, may have fear and ap-
                                                                        chosen unto himself."
prehension touching his own grace: seeing that no one can
                                                                            In this article the Romish Church denies the personal
know with a certainty of faith, which can not be subject to
                                                                        assurance of a child of God is his eternal election. Now we
error, that he has obtained the grace of God."
                                                                        must bear in mind that the Romish Church, although main-

                                                                        taining, in its own way, the doctrine of election, denies the
                                 C H A P T E R  X
                                                                        doctrine of reprobation. This can be verified by quotes of
                    The hci-msc  O f   Jztst,ifi,ca,tio?z  Receimd
           O n                                                          Roman Catholic authors and writers. But, in this article the
       In this article the Romish Church declares that we can           Romish Church surely contradicts the Holy Scriptures when

increase in that justification which we have received through           they assert that nothing can separate us from. the love of

the grace of Christ, and that this increase is efiected  by the         God in Christ Jesus, even as we read it in Remans  S :35-39  :
cooperation of our faith with good works. We quote : "Hav-              "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor
ing, therefore, been thus justified, and made the friends and           angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
"domestics of God," advancing "from virtue to virtue," they             nor things to come. Nor height, nor depth, ,nor any other
are "renewed," as the Apostle says, "day by day ;" that is?             creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
"by mortifying the members "of their own flesh, and by                  which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." And it also denied the
"presenting them as instruments of justice unto sanctifica-             word of God in I Thess. 1 4: "Knowing. brethren bz!ove.l,
tion," they, through the observance of the commandments of              your election of God."
God and of the Church, faith co-operating with good works,                                                                                H.V.
increase in that justice which they have received through

the grace of Christ, and are still further justified, as it is

written : "He that is just, let him be justified still ;" and                                     IN MEMORIAM

again, "Be not afraid to be justified even to death ;" and also,           The Ladies Society of the Protestant Reformed Church of South
`<Do you see that by works a man is justified, and not by               Holland, Ill., mourns the less  of one of its members whom  the Lord
                                                                        yaddenly  translated out of this  life and hereby expresses heartfelt
faith only." And this increase of justification the holy Church         sympathy to the husband and children of
begs, when she prays, "Give unto us, 0 Lord, increase of
                                                                                        MI%.  GILBERT VAN BAREN, SR.
faith, hope, and charity."           The reader will notice that we,
                                                                           May they experience iii their deep sorrow that  the grace of God
when quoting these quotations, place those expressions in               is sufficient for every need and that all things work tbgether  for
quotation marks which appear in the original quotations in              good unto the salvation of His people.
italics, and are quotations from Holy Writ.                                                                         Rev. John Heys, President
                                                                                                                     Mrs. P. A. Poortenga, Vicar


                                             T H E   STANDA.RD   B E A R E R                                                   353


                                                                   are .over against Theism (the belief in the immanent-trans-
II The Voice of Qur Fathers II cendent God) Pantheism, which identifies God and the world,
                                                                   Deism, which places God entirely outside the world, Evolu-
CA
                                                                   tionism, which teaches that the world is self-originating and

                 The Belgic Confession                             self-developing, and related errors. In the third place, one's
                                                                   conception of the relation of God and man is necessarily

                                                                   dependent upon his conception of God. One's view of the
                           ARTICLE I
                                                                   nature of man, of God's image in man, of sin, of Christ,

                           (continued)                             of salvation, of the church, of the end of all things- these

                                                                   all have to do with a correct conception of God. In this
God-c&tered  Confession                                            respect, as is plain also from the fact that our Belgic Confes-

    The chief subject of this first article is God, His Being      5on deals with this subject immediately after this article
and His attributes. This is uniquely Reformed, and it is           concerning God and bdore all other doctrines, there is the
indeed important. It means that the entire outlook of our          position of Fslith  a,nd Revelation over against Agnosticisni,
confession is theological ; our faith and our confession is        which maintains that God cannot be known, Skepticism,
theocentric, God-centered. And this is characteristically          which says, "I doubt whether God is," Atheism, which says,
Reformed. Lutheranism has always been rather anthropolog-          "There is no God," and Relativism, which says, "What is
ical and soteriological in its outlook. It is concerned mainly     truth?" and which denies all real and objective difference
with the ~question of man and his salvation: how is man            between the truth and the lie.

saved ? The Reformed faith considers the doctrine of God               By the same token, all of doctrine becomes in a very real
all-important. The glory of God, not the salvation of man,         and practical sense of the word, theology. In other words,
is the purpose of all things. This has been historically the       not only is it true'that  your conception of God will neces-
case from the outset of the Reformation and its two main           sarily affect your conception of all other things ; it is also
streams, Lutheranism and Calvinism. As we well know,               true that in the deepest sense of the word you cannot say
Luther himself was concerned about the question of his             anything about the universe or about man without at the
justification. And this affected the entire direction of the       same time saying something of your God. This relationship
Lutheran Reformation.      C 1
                             a vin,    however, from the outset    is sometimes transparently clear. To mention but one ex-
had a deeper insight, and saw the glory of God as all-im-          ample, think of the fact that you cannot deny the divinity of
portant. Accordingly, the chief emphasis of the ,Reformed          Christ without at the same time denying the Second Person
faith has always been on God, His Being, His attributes, His       of the Trinity. In other cases, the relationship may not be
Persons, His decrees, His works of creation and salvation.         so obvious. But always it exists : ultimately you can make
This difference is reflected in the respective confessions of      no doctrinal pronouncement on anything without saying
these two branches of the Reformation. And especially in           something about God. And this becomes of immense practical
our Belgic Confession the theological outlook of the Reformed      and spiritual significance the moment you think not in terms
faith is evident from its very first article.                      of mere academic doctrine, but in terms of faith and confes-

   Let us understand what this means. It does not imply            sion. Then it becomes clear that the most serious aspect of

merely that the doctrine of God is first and foremost, and         any error or heresy anywhere along the whole rank of

that all other branches or departments of doctrine are more        Christian doctrine is that it involves God! The Christian's

or less * secondary and coordinate. But it means that the          faith concerning creation and man, concerning sin and the

doctrine of God stands at the head, and all the rest of            fall, concerning Christ and redemption, concerning salvation

doctrine - or, if you will, of our confession -is subordinate      and grace, concerning the church, concerning the end of all

to our conception of God. Our conception of God is. deter-         things, is always in the deepest sense faith in God ; and his

minative with respect to our entire view of reality and our        confession about all these is his confession of faith in God.

entire religion. A correct conception of God, therefore, is        The name and honor and glory of his God are at stake,

of fundamental importance. Without it one cannot maintain          therefore. That is why it is so tremendously important a

a correct conception of any doctrine at all. It is evident,        spiritual exercise to maintain and confess the truth, the

first of all, that such a correct conception of God is neces-      whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Because of this rela-

sary with relation to Himself, His Being, His attributes, His      tionship, in the second place, it is also true - and true not

Persons, His immanent works. In this respect there is              merely theoretically, but historically -that an at first small

Polytheism (belief in many gods) over against Monotheism           and apparently rather insignificant departure from the truth

(belief in the one God), and Unitarianism (the error that          results, in the course of years and generations, in a complete

God is only one) over against Trinitarianism (the faith that       denial of the truth and modernism's unbelief. That com-

God is one in Being and three in Persons). Such a correct          plete denial is implicit in the slight departure. When you
theology is necessary, in the second place, with relation to       stand in the railroad switch-yard in Chicago, the separation

one's conception of God and the world. In this respect there       between the track to New York and the track to San Francisco


                                                                              :'

  354                                       T H E   S?C,:~ANDA~RdBEARER


  is at first but a fraction of an inch. But the cleavage becomes    define God would be to include Him in a certain class ol

  wider and wider, until finally the two tracks run in opposite      objects and then to distinguish Him from other objects in

  directions. Thus it is with our confession. When error is          that same class or category by mentioning His distinguishing

  first introduced, it may appear very insignificant, and men        characteristics. And this is impossible. There cannot be any

  will urge this insignificance upon you, telling you not to make    higher concept than our idea of God. There is no category

  an issue of it, assuring you that they are still Reformed, that    in which God can be placed and classified. The very statement

  "we are all Christians;" that "we all believe in the same God,"    of our confession precludes this: He is the one only Being.

  that "we all are going to the same heaven." If you insist upon     Nor does the Confession attempt such a definition, or even

  the truth, you may be dubbed a troubler of Israel, a fanatic,      attempt to set forth all the implications of the perfections of

  a separatist. But observe the course of that error in the          God that are mentioned here. In fact, one could even specify

  generations to come, in your children and your children's          the attributes of God more narrowly than is done in our Con-

  children: as a rule, you will find that it has gained in           fession, and mention more of them. But here we have the

  significance. Trace it farther in the course of church history,    most direct and simple expression not of dogmatical con-

  and you will find that it has become very fundamental, that' it    structions, but of .the faith of the church, an expression which

  has indeed affected the faith and the life of the church. And      any believing child of God can grasp and go along with: one

  follow it to the terminal, and you will discover that it has       only simple and spiritual Being . . . God.

  ended in the camp of unbelief and of the Antichrist. The im-
                                                                         Let us briefly take note of these attributes and their
  plicit denial has become explicit !
                                                                     significance.

         Hence, "We all believe with the heart and confess with
                                                                         1. God is One.
  the mouth . . . . God !" The church, and the individual be-

  liever that is a member of that church, believes in God -              So abundantly do the Scriptures reveal this oneness of

  the God of the Scriptures, the God and Father of our Lord          God that it is hardly necessary to mention specific passages.

  Jesus Christ, the true and living God, Who is GOD. Not a           So inherent is this perfection in God's Self-revelation that

  mere belief in some god, some deity, is meant here. Not a          we frequently pass it by in our reading of the Scriptures

  mere belief that there is a god, a supreme being, is intended.     without special notice. It is revealed, for example, every time

  All this has nothing to do with faith. Not even a mere             the Lord addresses us and says, "I . . ." But let us never-

  certainty that God exists is expressed here: in this sense also    theless cite some proof-texts, so that it may be plain that

  the devils believe, and tremble. But by faith we know and          our Confession is directly based on Scripture. In Deuteron-

  confess the only true and living God as He has revealed Him-       omy 6:4 we find the well-known words: "Hear, 0 Israel:

  self in our Lord Jesus Christ, His revelation being contained      The Lord our God is one Lord." In Deuteronomy 32 :39 we

  in the Holy Scriptures, know and confess Him as the over-          read: "See now that I, even .I, am he, and there is no god

  flowing fountain of all good, Whom to know is lifk eternal!        with me : I kill, and I make alive ; I wound, and I heal :

  Moreover, we believe in Him with the heart. We do not              neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand." "Thus

  prove or attempt to prove, and we have no necessity of             saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord

  proving, that He is and that He is the rewarder of them that       of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me

  diligently seek Him. Faith needs no proof; and God cannot          there is no God." Isaiah 44:6. And to Cyrus the Lord says,

  be proved. He can only be the object of faith. Furthermore,        Isaiah 45 :5, 6: "I am the Lord, and there is none else, there

  we "call" Him God, not because we have discovered Him              is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not

  and searched out His Being and virtues, but because He has         known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun,

  revealed Himself and made known to us His Name, in order           and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the

  that we might speak of Him and to Him, and drink from              Lord, and there is none else." The New Testament speaks

  the overflowing fountain of all good, unto the praise of His       the same language very directly. In I Corinthians 8:5, 6 we

  glory.                                                             read : "For though there be that are called gods, whether in

     And knowing Him, we are able to confess His perfections.        heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many),

                                                                     But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all

                                                                     things, and we in him ; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom

The  Perfections of God's Behg                                       are all things, and we by him." Galatians 3 20 teaches us :

         "We all believe with the heart and confess with the         "Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one."
  mouth that there is one only s&&e  and spi~&z~~l  Be&g  ,. . ."    And in Ephesians 4:6  the apostle speaks of "One God and
                                                                     Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you
     With striking brevity and succinctness the church con-          all."
  fesses its faith concerning God's Being. Do not mistake the

  intent of this statement, It does not attempt the impossible,          Very obviously, therefore, the truth of the oneness of

  namely, to define God. For "to whom then will ye liken me,         God stands on the foreground in Holy Writ, and it is to be

  or shall I be equal ? saith the Holy One." Isaiah 40 25. To                           (Continued on page 356)


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                355


                                                                     not able to assume the obligations involved without a measure

11  D E C E N C Y   a n d   O R - D E R   11 of intellectual and spiritual `maturity. Questions of this
                                                                     nature cannot intelligently be put to small children for they

                                                                     are not able to give a responsible answer. Specifically then

                                                                     the question is : "At what age does one attain unto this
                          Adult Baptism                              maturity so that he can receive baptism as an adult?'

    A practical problem that arises in connection with the               To this question different answers have been given. Some
administration of adult baptism concerns the age limit where         would set the age at twelve years because it was at this age
infant baptism ceases and the subject of baptism must be             that children were taken to participate in the Passover in
treated as an adult. A very significant difference in infant         the Old Dispensation. By the same token, it is reasoned,
and adult baptism lies in the fact that in the former the            children of this age should be admitted to the Lord's Supper
parents assume the responsibility for the covenant instruction       and, therefore, if they have not received baptism in their in-
and training of the child that is baptized while in the latter       fancy they should be regarded as adults after they have
the subject of baptism hz%zseZf  assumes these baptismal obliga-     reached the age of twelve.

tions. His baptism follows upon his confession of faith. In             Although no binding rule has ever been adopted, the Re-

his confession he not only expresses agreement with the              formed fathers generally agreed on the age limit of fourteen

articles of the Christian religion but he promises to live a         or fifteen years. According to Joh. Jansen the years of youth

Christian life as is becoming a member of the church of Jesus        leading to full manhood or womanhood are generally agreed

Christ. All this is plain from the questions which are put           to divide themselves into three equal periods of seven years.

to him and which he answers affirmatively. These questions           During the first period, ages one through seven, all are

are :                                                                agreed that these, as far as their years are concerned, are

    First: Do you believe in the only true God, distinct in          rightful subjects of infant baptism. By common consent it is
three persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Who has made              also agreed that those belonging to the last period, ages fif-
heaven and earth, and all that in them is, of nothing, and           teen through twenty-one, are to be admitted into the church
still maintains and governs them, insomuch that nothing              only through adult baptism.     The difficulty arises with the
comes to pass, either in heaven or on earth, without His             middle group and especially those of the ages twelve through
divine will ?                                                        fourteen. As far as their years are concerned, children of that
                                                                     age could have a basic understanding of the fundamental
    Second: Do you believe that thou art conceived and born          truths of the Word of God but it is questionable whether they
in sin, and therefore art a child of wrath by nature, wholly         are sufficiently matured intellectually and spiritually to com-
incapable of doing any good, and prone to all evil ; and that        petently assume the obligations implicit in confession. Then
thou hast frequently, in thought, -word  and deed, transgressed      there is the added factor to be considered that all children
the commandment of the Lord, and whether thou art heartily           are not the same: Some develop more rapidly than others.
sorry for these sins ?                                               Some are matured at an earlier age than others.

    Third: Do you believe that Christ, Who is the true and              No fixed rule, therefore, can be established. It must be
eternal God, and very man, took His human nature on Him              left to the judgment and determination of the consistory to
out of the flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary, is given thee         decide in each individual case. The consistory would have to
of God to be thy Savior, and that thou dost receive by this          interrogate the individual to determine his extent of knowl-
faith, remission of sins in His blood, and that thou art             edge, ability, attitude toward God and His church, and in
made by the power of the Holy Ghost, a member of Jesus               general his spirituality. If they found him to be mentally and
Christ and His church ?                                              spiritually sufficiently matured they would receive him into

    Fourth: Do you assent to all the articles of the Christian       the church through baptism as an adult. If they found this

religion, as they are taught here, in this Christian church, ac-     not to be the case they must insist that the parents have the

cording to the Word of God ; and purpose steadfastly to con-         child baptized as an infant.    In either case the parents of

tinue in the same doctrine to the end of thy life ; and also         such a child should be willing to submit to the judgment of

dost thou reject all heresies and schisms, repugnant to this         the consistory.

doctrine, and promise to persevere in the communion of the                                    :I: -+ * Q
Christian Church, not only in the hearing of the Word, but

also in the use of the Lord's Supper ?
                                                                        When an adult is baptized, he promises (see the fourth
    Fifth: Have you taken a firm resolution always to lead           question above) and is obliged to partake of the Lord's Sup-
a Christian life ; to forsake the world and its evil lusts, as is    per. Although it is certainly true that participation at the
becoming the members of Christ and His church ; and to sub-          table of the Lord is a blessing and privilege which is given
mit thyself to all Christian admonitions ?                           to God's people, it is viewed here as an obligation. This

    Now all of these questions reveal very clearly that one is       responsibility rests upon those who confess Christ Jesus their

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


Savior and testify of the experience of His grace and salvation    latter should be the case; such members must be cut off from

because that life of regeneration in them must be nourished        the church. The principle must be maintained that those who

by the use of the means of grace. In their baptism they re-        are baptized and by confession are members of the church of

ceive the sign of their being incorporated into Christ and         Christ must faithfully use the sacraments. Failure to do so

through their constant and faithful participation in the Lord's    is a serious offense.

Supper they have signified to them and sealed upon their                               Baptismal Records
faith the sign of His saving fellowship. To neglect this
obligation is to make their own confession false and this is           "The nuvvles  of those bafitised,  together with those of ths

a sin of no small consequence.                                     @rents  and likewise the date of birth and baptisw~,  shall be

                                                                   recorded."                                   Article 60, D.K.O.
       Now it seems that this was not always understood. In
the Netherlands, for example, where we find the State                  On the surface it would seem that the intent of this article
church, it was not uncommon that one would apply for full          is so evident that it would be quite unnecessary to say any-
membership in the church only because church membership            thing more about the matter of maintaining good baptismal
was required to hold certain positions in the government.          records in the church. However, there are some matters
They had no care for the Lord's Supper but simply sought           here to which we will come back, D.V., in our next article.
to use the church for their own secular advancement. Some2         For the present it may be sufficient to notice that this article
times membership in the church is sought because one mar-          requires the recording of four things. Each of these is im-
ried a young man or woman from the Reformed Church and             portant for, as Rev. G. M. Ophoff points out: "Should the
no ecclesiastical confirmation of such marriage could be           date of birth be omitted, the records would not show whether
obtained if one of the parties to the marriage was outside of      the one baptized was baptized in his infancy or as an adult.
the church. And again, sometimes persons were very young           Should the date of baptism be lacking, the record would fail
who sought full membership in the church and these were            to show that he was baptized at all. Should his name be
often hesitant to come to the Lord's table. Although these         omitted, it could not be learned who the baptized one was.
same circumstances may not exist any more today, it may be         And the recording of the name of the parents is necessary to
said that our age is not entirely free from wrong motives          show to whom the child that was baptized belonged."

and practices that bring people to seek membership in the              Although it is important that records be kept and in

church and the result is that when these are followed it is        spite of the provisions of this article it sometimes happens

usually not very long before it becomes evident that such          that churches are not faithful in fully observing the require-

people's attitude toward participation in the Lord's Supper is     ments of this article, yet there are other things connected

a very careless and sinful one. All of this is very wrong and      with this article that the parents as well as the consistories

entirely contrary to the Church Order, Young people must           should observe. The intent of the Church Order is not to lay.

be impressed with the fact that when they make confession          down rules by which the consistories alone are to act but the

of faith and are admitted into full membership in the church,      Church Order is designed for every member of the church.

this confession and membership imposes upon them the               It may seem that this rule of Article 60 concerns only the

ob&gation  to use the means of grace faithfully.                   consistory and the common member of the church has noth,

   A word might be said yet in this connection about some          ing to do with it but this is not so. It is true that the con-
who are very remiss about coming to the table of the Lord          sistory must record these things and preserve these records
because of a sickly and altogether mystical conception of sal-     carefully in a safe place but this task of the consistory, unim-
vation.    They base their whole conception upon subjective        portant though it may seem, is of significance to every mem-
experience rather than upon the objective testimony of the         ber of the church. This we shall try to make plain the next
Word of God. They feel that virtually perfect holiness must        time.                                                  G.V.d.B.

be felt before one is worthy to eat and drink at the Supper of

the Lord and since they can readily find  many things in                          THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS

themselves, that fall short of that holiness, they absent them-                       (Continued from page 354)

selves from communion. When and if they make confession            maintained over against all Polytheism and Dualism. The

of faith they understand that to simply mean that they make        latter, which is after all but a form of polytheism, teaches

an objective profession of the truth rather than a profession      that there are two eternal beings, or powers, or principles.

of the experience of their salvation in Christ Jesus, the Lord.    God and the devil, light and darkness, good and evil, spirit

They mean that they simply acknowledge the truth of the            and matter. It has assumed various forms not only in pagan

Word of God or express agreement with the Reformed Con-            philosophy, but also in Christendom, which in early church

fessions but they do not confess thereby any personal appro-       history borrowed it from paganism. And even today dualistic

priation or experience of that truth. Such should be instructed    tendencies intrude themselves into the doctrine of the church.

with persistency and patience. Through the means of such           Not infrequently, for example, the truth of the antithesis is

instruction they will be led to recognize the need of the          mistakenly changed into a form of dualism which is contrary

sacrament or their insincerity will become manifest. If the        to this perfection of God's oneness.                    H.C.H.


                                                                         T H E   STA'NDAR.D   B E A R E R                                                                                                               357


                                                                                                                   extensive report concerning religous life in the British Isles

                                                                                                                   written by Gilbert W. Kirby, General Secretary of the Evan-

                                                                                                                   gelical Alliance with headquarters in London.

                                                                                                                       In the first part of his article Mr. Kirby weighs the
Q U O T E S   FBOM   T H E   BANNER                                                                                relative strengths and weaknesses of the church life in Britain

                It is with great joy that the consistories of the Calvin Chr.                                      as a whole. In doing this the report is very pessimistic.

          Ref. Church and the First Chr. Ref. Church of Rock Valley                                                There is mostly bad news to report.
          make the following announcement.

                During the course of the past few months we have been                                                 There were many in England who had hoped that the

          privileged to receive into our respective fellowships the fam-                                           crusades of Billy Graham held in 1954 and 1955 would result
          ilies of the Rock Valley Prot. Ref. Church (De Wolf group).                                              in a religious awakening.                      But this did not happen. And,
          The congregation held a final communion service on January
                                                                                                                   although other crusades followed those of Graham conducted
          52, 1961. Since then they have disbanded and the majority
          of these families have united with the Chr. Ref. church of                                               by other evangelists, nevertheless they have had little effect

          their choice in Rock Valley. We  are indeed thankful to our                                              on Britain's spiritual life. Mr. Kirby writes :

          God that the breach which has esisted  for many years has

          been healed. We heartily welcome the brethren back into                                                             The nation as a whole remains indifferent to spiritual

          our fellowship with the prayer that we may be a blessing                                                      things. Nearly 99 percent of London's teen-agers and more

          to them and that together we may build and promote the king-                                                  than 99 percent of all British people do not regularly attend

          dom of Christ to his glory.                                                                                           place of worship. In many areas there is virtually no
                                                                                                                        =Y 
                                                                                                                        effective evangelical witness. It is not uncommon to see places
               A special meeting of Classis  Sioux Center'was held at the                                               of worship shut or used for other purposes. One can enter
          Inwood Christian Reformed Church, Inwood, Iowa, on January                                                    churches with a seating capacity of 1,000 and find a dozen
          11 for the purpose of considering the request of the Hull                                                     in attendance.
          Protestant Reformed Church to be admitted as a congregation                                                         . . . In many churches a spirit of apathy accompanies the
          together with its pastor in the Christian Reformed Church.                                                    work of the Gospel, while in others worldliness cripples ,their
               After due deliberation on all the matters concerning this                                                spiritual impact. One is conscious of growing disregard of the
          reunion, classis  adopted a resolution to receive this congrega-                                              Lord's Day. Excursions and special outings more and more
          tion into the fellowship of the classis  and denomination. A                                                  commonly are arranged on Sunday, and parents tend to motor
          resolution was adopted to appoint the Classical Committee to                                                  their families to the coast week after week during the summer.
          supervise  the reception of this congregation into our denomi-                                                To meet this situation many churches have transferred Sunday
          nation with the understanding that the classis  would be- free                                                schools from afternoon to morning hours.
          as soon as feasible, but no later than at the September classis,                                                    . . .    Probably the most tragic factor of all is that the
          to reorganize this congregation if that is deemed for the best                                                churches of Britain have lost their touch for the most part
          interest  of the congregation.                  Rev. John De Jong then will be                                with the industrial classes. Those who do go to church are
          released from this congregation and will be declared eligible                                                 largely drawn from the professional classes. There is a notice-
          for a call to other churches in our denomination.                                                             able preponderance of womenfoIk in most churches. It is not
               A colloquium~doctum                 was conducted by Rev. Henry Peter-                                   difficult to find packed congregations here and there, but al-
          sen. With the concurring advice of the synodical examiners                                                    most invariably these are in better-class neighborhoods.
          present, Mr. De Jong was admitted to the ministry of the                                                      Churches in the industrial areas are for the most part virtually
          Christian Reformed Church. The congregation has decided to                                                    empty.
          call itself the Hope Christian Reformed Church of Hull, Iowa.

                                                                                                                      There is one good entry on the other side of the ledger
      From a report of Classis  Grand Rapids East:
                                                                                                                   according to Mr. Kirby:
               The requested and recommended colloquium doctum with

          Rev. L. Doezema of the local Protestant Reformed Church (De                                                        Probably the most encouraging feature of the post-war era

          Wolf                was scheduled for next May.                                                               has been the growth of Christian youth movements in various
                   group) 
                                                                                                                        churches. The number of young people who spend their sum-

                                                                                                                        mer holidays in camps and houseparties where they receive

RELlGlOUS LIFE  WJ GREAT BRITAIN                                                                                        not only physical and mental relaxation but real spiritual

                                                                                                                        blessing is phenomenal. Chris!ian  Unions at the major uni-
      There is a considerable interest in our churches as there                                                         \,ersities   h a v e   g r o w n   n u m e r i c a l l y   i n   t h e   p o s t - w a r   y e a r s .

ought to be concerning the spiritual and doctrinal strength                                                             Furthermore, there has been a remarkable increase  in the nmn-

of denominations other than our own. This interest extends                                                              ber of Christian Unions attached to factories and offices, and

                                                                                                                        in schools.
n o t   o n l y   t o   v a r i o u s   d e n o m i n a t i o n s   i n   o u r   o w n   c o u n t r y ,   but

to churches in other countries as well. Recently, our Mission                                                         R/Ir.  Kirby then goes on to discuss in a little more detail
Committee has begun a broadcast in Europe which is trans-                                                          the strength of various denominations. His attention is first
mitted from Monaco and is beamed particularly to the British                                                       of all occupied with the Anglican Church or the state church
Isles. No doubt our people have wondered somewhat con-                                                             of England. Within this denomination there can be found,
cerning the church life of the people across the sea - whether                                                     says he, two distinct factions. On the one hand there are
there is yet a Reformed Church movement in Britain and                                                             those who have drifted farther and farther away from the
whether there is spiritual interest in the truth of Scripture.                                                     heritage of the Reformation in the direction of the Roman

      In the last issue of Clwisticmity  Toda.y  there is a rather                                                 Catholic Church. These are extreme Anglo-Catholics who


358                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B'E'ARER`


emphasize liturgy, hierarchy in church government, sacer-                 8 All of this does not sound very encouraging for the

dotalism  and clo?er  ties with Rome.                                     strength of the church in Great Britain. There does seem to

                                                                          be an element, extremely small, no doubt, which still clings
       There is, however, also a strong evangelical movement.
                                                                          to the Reformed faith that.once  was predominant in England.
What is meant by evangelicalism is something difficult to say
                                                                          It is certainly to be hoped that our radio broadcast there can
exactly, for the term is quite broad. Although Mr. Kirby
                                                                          reach those few who still maintain the truth, that it can be
himself does not define the term, it usually refers to any
                                                                          a means of strengthening them and encouraging them to be
church or denomination that stands in the tradition of the
                                                                          faithful even overagainst much of evangelicalism that is
Reformatiori, with strong maintenance of the cardinal doc-
                                                                          also a corruption of the gospel of Christ.
trines of Scripture such as the infallibility of Scripture, the

vicarious atonement of Christ, the Virgin birth, etc. Its                    If the hopes for a revival are pinned on Billy Graham's

worship services are usually stripped of the pomp and cere-               crusades, we hope that there are those who will not support

mony of Roman Catholicism, and it emphasizes the preaching                him. It is highly dubious whether the preaching of Dr.

of the Word as central to worship. It claims missionary work              Graham can ever save anyone, for, on the one hand, he is

among its chief callings, if not its only calling. It is usually          not sent out by any church institute whatsoever; and, on the

considered to be the opposite of both modernism which                     other hand, he certainly does not preach the gospel.

denies the cardinal truths of Scripture, and Roman Cath-

olicism with its emphasis on liturgy and sacerdotalism. How-              PRESBYTERIAN RIEALIGNMENT

ever, as commendable as all this may seem, evangelicalism is
                                                                             There has been a novel reaction to the proposal of Dr.
also on the whole thoroughly Arminian. It, as a rule, favors
                                                                          Eugene Blake. This proposal, formerly discussed in this
the general atonement of Christ, the universal offer of the
                                                                          column, was to unite the United Presbyterian Church, the
gospel, the invitation to arouse a decision in favor of Christ,
                                                                          Methodist Church and the United Church of Christ into one
the corresponding down-play of predestination and the truth
                                                                          super denomination. The reaction was found in the editorial
of sovereign grace. It will often emphasize the social aspects
                                                                          column of the Pr&yt&a%  &m-d&m and reported in Ch&-
6f the gospel rather than the truth as such. It is, so to
                                                                          tianity  Today. The reaction is in the form of a counter
speak, somewhere between modernism and the ,Reformed
                                                                          proposal in which the author suggests that if this ,merger
Churches that maintain the fundamental truths of the sover-
                                                                          would go through, Presbyterianism would vanish from
eignty of God.
                                                                          America `swallowed up in superficial ecumenicism. The solu-

       Mr. Kirby sees signs of the growing strength of evan-              tion lies in forming a new Southern Presbyterian Church.

gelicals in the church of England.                                        Those leaders and people in the United Presbyterian Church

                                                                          and in the Southern Presbyterian Church who favor the
       He next turns his attention to what he calls "Free
                                                                          Blake proposal could join in the merger. Those conservatives
Churches," meaning various other denominations such as the
                                                                          in the United Presbyterian Church who oppose the Blake
Baptist, Congregational and Methodist churches. While
                                                                          proposal could affiliate instead with the Southern Pres-
there is a certain hard core of evangelical men within these
                                                                          byterian Church, where they would find a welcome home. In
Free Churches, there are grave dangers as well. The two
                                                                          this way all who are in favor of the union can have their
gravest dangers are, according to the reporter, the danger
                                                                          way, while those who are opposed to it will continue to
of all out enthusiasm for the ecumenical movements, and
                                                                          preserve and perhaps even recover the Presbyterian and
the strong tendencies towards liberalism. in theology.
                                                                          Reformed faith with increased vigor and a purer testimony.
       After discussing several bther churches of minor im-
                                                                             We have heard recently from our editorial columns in The
portance and far from the main line of Reformed thought,
                                                                          Standard  Bea.rm  that there is a strong conservative element
the reporter calls attention to a' rather interesting debate
                                         ., .a                            present in the Southern Presbyterian Church. It woul!
that is presently going on among evangelicals.  He writes:
                                                                          seem as if this is a good solution to the vexing problem of
            A controversy which is currently the talking point among      modernism in that church which threatens to destroy it. Our
        many evangelical leaders is the &ininian-Calvinist  debate. In    editor pointed out that the chief evil of the Southern Pres-
         the  last SLY  years or so there has been a deEnite swing to
                                                                          byterian Church was their laxity in discipline. Perhaps the
         Calvinism and an increasing interest in the writings of the
        Puritans. Some leaders who supported Dr. Graham's cam-            church could purge itself in this way and restore once again

        paigns in 1954-1955 now seem reluctant to pledge their sup-       also discipline to its proper place.
        port. It is doubtful as to how far this discussion has per-                                                           H. Hanko
        colated through to the man in the pew, and the general feeling

        is that when Dr. Graham comes to Manchester (in a few

        weeks, HH), the weight of evangelic& will be solidly behind

        him . . .                                                                    Among the nations, Lord,

       He closes his report with the hope that Great Britain                           To Thee my song shall rise ;

may esperience  a spiritual revival as this is the only real                         Thy truth is great above the heavens,

answer to the needs of the country.                                                    Thy mercies reach thk skies. _         `. ". ,


                                          T H E   STAND'ARD   B E A R E R                                                       359


                                                                   that Rev. Lubbers is conducting preaching .services - each
     NEWS FROM OUR,CHURCHES                                        Wednesday evening and each Sunday evening. The mid-
                                                                   week services are expositions of the Heidelberg Catechism,
             "'iIll  tlze mints  s&12 thee. . .'> PHIL. 4:21       and the Sunday evening services in April were on the appear-

                                                                   ances of the Risen Lord. Another pamphlet was distributed

                                                April 20, 1961     in the area, this one by Rev. B. Woudenberg on the Bible,

    Report of Classis  IEast held April 5, 1961, at Hope           developing the theme that the Scriptures cannot be broken.
 Church: Rev. M. Schipper, chairman of the January Classis,        The author closes the pamphlet with this paragraph: "True

led in opening devotions, and declared the Classis  properly       faith must come to the Scriptures in humble reverence. It

constituted after all the Credentials were received. All the       is not for man to add to, or subtract from, or misconstrue.

Churches were represented by two delegates, except Grand           The cl&sing  words of John in the Book of Revelation may

Haven. Rev. R. Veldman served as chairman for this ses-            be applied equally well to all of Scripture. `And if any man

 sion. Most of the work of Classis  was routine, and handled      shall take away from the words of this prophecy, God shall

with dispatch. Classis  adopted the following schedule for        take away his part from the book of life" (Rev. 22 :19).

Classical appointments : Creston, April 23 - G. Vos, April            From Lyndex  comes this contribution: "In our Adult

30 -H. Hanko, May 14 - C. Hanko, May 28 - G. Lanting,              Bible Class we are studying the Book of Genesis and are

June II-  M. Schipper, June 18  - G. Vos, July 2 - R.             now in our fourth year of study. The class makes use of
Veldman. Gmnd  Haven, April 16 -C. Hanko, April 30 -              mimeographed material containing expositional, doctrinal and
M. Schipper, May 7 -RR. Veldman, May 21 -G. Vos,                  homiletical notes. As each chapter is completed, the notes
June 4 -A. Mulder, June 25 - 6. Lanting, July 9 - H.              are sent to subscribers, fifteen in all, in Mass., N. J., N. C.,

Hanko. Randolph, April 23 - G. Lanting, May 71 A. Mul-            Ariz., Kan., Ia., and Cal. The subscribers include four min-
der, May 2S-  C. Hankoj  June 4 -H. Hanko, June ll-               isters ; one a professor at the Reformed Episcopal Seminary;

R. .Veldman,  June 25 -A. Mulder, July 9 - M. Schipper.           one seminary student (Westminster), one a former airline
Classis  West requested that the ministers of Classis  East       hostess, another a converted Russian Orthodox Catholic and

supply them with sermons. This was granted. The Con-              another a former Roman Catholic. `These  studies now con-

sistory of Creston  presented an overture to Synod in which       -sist of one volume of nearly 200 pp., which means over 5000

request was made to appeal to the authorities to eliminate        sheets of notes have been distributed among our 14 members

Sunday drill for our men in the military reserve or National      and the correspondents. .From time to time we receive mail

Guard. Classis  sent this overture on to Synod with approval.     from our interested subscribers, sometimes with small gifts,

Revs. C. Hanko and G. Vos were chosen Church Visitors             assuring us of the blessing they receive in this communion of

and Rev. M. Schipper alternate for both. Rev. G. Vos              saints. We have also sent these contacts our Prot. Ref.

thanked the ladies of Hope Church for their excellent cater-      tracts, Beacon Lights, etc. It is a blessing to us to be instru-

ing. Classis  decided to meet next time, D.V., on July 5 at       ments in God's hands for the spreading of His truth !"

Hudsonville. Questions on Art. 41 of the Church Order were            The Reformed  Witness How  schedule for May: Rev. C.

asked and answered satisfactorily. Brother J. Meninga of          Hanko, of First Church, the speaker ; topics, May 7 - Christ

Kalamazoo closed the meeting with thanksgiving.                   Gone Into Heaven, May 14-  Christ in Heaven, May 21-

                                  M. Schipper, Stated Clerk       Christ In Our Hearts, May 28-  Christ Preserving Us By
                                                                  His Power.

                                                                     April 11 the Senior Y.P. Society of First Church invitei
   The Men's League held their Spring meeting April 13 at
                                                                  the cdngregation  to take a trip with them behind the Iron
Southwest Church. The meeting was opened by Mr. G.
                                                                  Curtain-by means of an illustrated lecture. At this Trav-
Bylsma, vice-president of the League. He read Eph. 4 and
                                                                  elogue an offering was taken for our Foreign Mission Fund.
led in opening prayer. The Hope Heralds sang two numbers
which was followed with a lecture by the Rev. H. Hoeksema.           The Reformed Action Committee, of Hull, Doon, ana
                                                                  Edgerton  churches, is busy printing and distributing pam-
The topic was, "Sanctification" which the speaker defined
                                                                  phlets, 2500 of each issue. Besides the one mentioned above
as "that work of God according to which, in Christ Jesus,
                                                                  by Rev. Woudenberg, Rev. Van Baren wrote one on "Hold
by the spirit of Christ, through the Word, he delivers his
people from all spiritual pollution, and gives them power to      Fast To The Truth," and the third will be off the press in
                                                                  May on "Every Tongue Should Confess" by Rev. Kortering.
walk in all good works."    The speaker examined the subject
by way of eight propositions, and, after recess, answered            A late Spring snowstorm caused the cancellation of Grand
                                                                  Haven's evening service April 16 because the hazardous
questions regarding his subject. In the short business meet-
ing minutes were read, the treasurer's report was read, and a     driving conditions prbhibited  their supply, Rev. C. Hanko,
                                                                  from attending. The program by the Hope Heralds scheduled
decision was reached to disburse $75.00 to Tlze  Stafzday-d
Beayer  and $25.00 to Beacort  Lights. The meeting was closed     to be given in Southeast Church was also cancelled that eve-
with prayer by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema.                              ning.

   News from the Mission Field in Tripp, S. Dak., tells us           . . . . see you in church.                             J.M.F.


                                                           _____
                                                                   --;-`f--T-?~-.               ------__ __
360. ~. ..:               .      ^ . _ -        .+. H E .g:+*. NI9ARR"EARE-R  '



                       CAL:L TO SYNOD                                                                 `WEDDING ANNIVERSARY -+

 .-                                                                            The Lord God .Jehovah  has been with us. It is therefore w&h
       According .to the decision of the last Synod, the Con-
                                                                           .gratitude and p.raise  to our covenant God that our beloved parents,
sistory of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand
                                                                                               MR. AND MRS. RALPH VAN SPYKER
Rapids, Michigan, notifies the churches that the 1961 Synod

of the Protestant Reformed Churches'will convene on Wed-                   may commembrate their 45th wedding anniversary on May 4, 1961.

nesday, June 7, D.V., at 9:00 A. M. in the above mentioned                     Innumerable are the `joys and blessings which God showered

church.                                                                    upon them. And though grievous trials came -and went, the Lord
                                                                           proved faithful and merciful.         May the Lord continue to be with
       The Pre-synodical service will be held on Tuesday eve-              them in grace and loving-kindness. This is the prayer and wish of
ning, June 6, at 8 :00 P. M. at First Church. The Rev.. C.                 their grateful children.

Hanko is scheduled to preach at this service.                                                                      Evelyn Van Spyker

       Synodical  delegates ate requested to gather with the                                                      Mr. and Mrs. Hemy Vander Kolk
                                                                                                                   Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Van Spyker
Consistory before the service.                                                                                     Mrs. Alvin Schreur
       Those in need of lodging are to contact Mr. P.`Decker,                                                       1 0   G r a n d c h i l d r e n

108 Mayfield  Ave., N. E., Grand Rapids 3, Michigan.'                      R.R. 3, Zeeland,  Michigan

                                             P. DECKER, Secrhw~r

                                                                                                           IN MEMORIAM                                 `.


             Call to Aspirants to the Ministry                                 Hereby, the Board of the Protestant Reformed Chris&an School
                                                                           Society of Loveland, Coloradb;expresses  its sympathy on behalf of

       All young men desiring to study for the ministry of the             the Society to all the relative members of our departed sister

Word in the Protestant Reformed Churches kindly appear                                          .I           ERNA NUSS

at the next meeting of the Theological School Committee                        And to its fellow. member and advisor, Rev. H. H. Kuiper, and

which will be held, the Lord willing, on Thursday, May 18,                 family, in the passing of his father,

19Gl at 8 :00 P. M. in the parsonage of the Hudsdnville                                                  HENRY KUIPER, SR.

Protestant Reformed Church, Hudsonville,  Michigan.                            May the comfort be theirs that these pilgrims have completed

       The qualifications requisite to enrollment in our seminary          their earthly journey and arrived in the realm of eternal peace.

are the following :                                                                                            Gilbert Griess, Secretary of the Board

       1. You must present a letter from your local consistory

certifying that -you  are upright in walk and pure in doctrine.                                            IN MEMORIAM

       2. You must have  a certificate of health signed by a                   The Board of the Association for Protestant Reformed Education
reputable physician.                                                       wishes to extend its sympathy to two of its members, Mr. G. Van

       3. You must be a graduate from High School and show                 -Baren  in the loss of his Wife and to Mr. A. Zandstra in the loss of
                                                                           his mother-in-law
evidence that you have completed a one-year course in High
                                                                                                       MRS. ANNA VAN'BAREN
School in History General and Church History ; arid have
also completed the following College courses : Latin -two                  whom the Lord took unto Himself at the age of 60 years. We pray
                                                                           that             Covenant God may comfort and sustain the bereaved in
years, Greek-two years;' Ge&an  - two years, Philosophy                             OLV 
                                                                           their sorrow.
- one year, Psychology - one year, Logic -one semester.
                                                                               Psalm 116:15, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of
       All correspondence relative to the above announcement               His saints."
should be sent to the undersigned :                                                                                             Louis R. Regnerus, Pres.

                Secretary of the Theological School Committee.                                                                  William Buiter,  Sec'y.
                                                                           South Holland
                REV. M. SCHIPPER                                           Oak Lawn
                1636 Martindale Ave., S. W.

                Wyoming 9, Michigan                                                                        IN MEMORIAM


                                                                               The undersigned hereby e.xpress  their Christian sympathy with

                               IN MEMORIAM                                 the relatives of our departed sister

                                                                                                             ERNA NUSS
       The Board of the  Hope Protestant Reformed Christian School
hereby extends its sincere sympathy to its office,  secretary, Mrs.         as well as with Rev. H. H. Kuiper and family in the passing of
Gerald Korhorn, in the death of her brother,                               their father

                         SIDNEY KORHORN                                                                  HENRY KUIPER, SR.

       May the iestimony  of the Spirit of Christ, through His Word,           May also these events increase the desire to taste the final "power
impart comfort and peace to her and her family.                            of His resurrection"         so that thereb.y  our hearts may attain Lmto
                                             Dewey Engelsma,  President    wisdom.
                                            Richard, Bloem,  Secretary                                  Prot. Reformed Adult Bible Class of Denver
Grand Rapids, Michigan                                                                                  Prot. Reformed  Adult Bible' Class of Lovekand


