     VOLUME  XXXVII                                JULY  1, 1961 - GRAND  RAPIDS,  MICHIGAN                               NU~L~ER  15       :.'
                                                                                                                                                   -8
                                                                                                                                              ,_.  `.

                                                                           things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him              -;.L ;;'
                                                                                                                                                         i ,_l
           .:MEDI[TATION                                                   that filleth all in all."                                                     . . . . .
                                                                                                                                                    ..-

                                                                               That Lord now, Paul addresses first of all. He is the               .* ;--'
                                                                                                                                                    `:7' '
                                                                                                                                                   .,
                                                                           first and the high tribunal.                                                  +.
       SUBPLICATION  FOR CONSOLATION
                                                                               That raises a question: why Christ first in this petition

                                                                           and then God ? The petition reads : Now our Lord Jesus
                "Now  OZH  Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God,
                 even ow  Fathey,  which  hatl~ loved us; and lmth         Christ and God even our Father! Is that not strange? Should :                       .*
                 aizren  zis ev&a.stina  consola&m  artd aood h.oW         not God come first?

                 hroztqh  pace,  colnvfort  your heac/ts,  aLd  stabbih        And the answer: no, that is not strange. Christ comes
                 you ik e6ery good ward and work."
                                                                           first, not because He is greater than the Triune God: the
                                                  II Thess. 2:16,  17
                                                                           thought is blasphemy. But that is the established order:

     The main thrust of Paul's prayer here is that the Thes-               "No one cometh  to the Father but .by Me !"

salonians may be consoled.                                                     See-11  Cor. 13 :lJ: "The grace of the Lord- Jesus Christ

     And well he might, fcr they were in.awful  straits. He                anh the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost
speaks of "all your persecutions and tribulations that ye en-              be with you all, Amen !" Note the same  order as in my text.

dure" ; verse 4 of chapter 1.        Also in verse 5 "for which ye
also suffer," and in verse 6 "that trouble you." Atid in chap-                                          *    * *`*

ter 2 "that ye be not soon shaken in mind and troubled."

     Hence, Paul supplicates Christ and God  our Father that                  And so .Paul  addresses the Mediator *between  God and

the Thessalonians may be copsoled  in their hearts and set                 man in behalf of these poor and yet so rjch Thessalonians

firm on the only foundation unto all good words and work.                  that He may console their troubled hearts and minds.

                                                                              And what is the ground of that petition?
                              *    *' * *


                                                                              This : "which hath loved us."

     Let us look at the word order  first. That is lost in our                Refers first of all to the Thessalonians. God had shown D
1    1 I.         *                , . -1 XT              T 1 T--..-
rranslarlon  wnere we reaa simply : luow  our Lora  J esus                 that love clearly. He had sent Paul to them qd  they were
Christ Himself, etc. However, here is the order of words                   called from darkness to light. And through the pbwer  of
as the Holy Ghost expressed it: Himself now our Lord                       both Word and Spirit they had been formed into the church
Jesus Christ, etc. That is important, because in many lan-                 that was at Thessalonica.
guages the emphasis falls on either the first or the last word
                                                                              Second, God had shown that love to them by the sending
in the sentence,. mostly the first. Stresses the fact in this
                                                                           of His Son into the world.for tjse?n.  Certainly a proof that
instance that Jesus Christ our Lord is, in fact, the Lord .and
                                                                           God loved us. For He came and went to the Cross of Gol-
Ruler of the Christian Church. And that thought is in com-
                                                                           gotha, there to pay for all our sins and guilt and to merit
plete harmony with Sciipture.  See, f.i., Ephes. 1:20-23  :
                                                                           eternal salvation for us.
"Which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from

the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly                   Third, it refers to all Christ's and God's word and work

places.      Far above all principality and power and might and            from the very beginning of time. Listen to this: God who

dominion and every name that is named not only in this                     at sundry times and diverse manners spake in time past unto

world but also in that which is to come: and hath put all                  the fathers by the prophets . . ." All that revelation was a

things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over al1                token of His `eternal love- for us.

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


       But, finally, it refers to the depths of love of God from    depth of that Godhead comes the Water of the river of Life,

everlasting to everlasting. Attend to this : "Yea, I have loved     and that is Christ Jesus our Lord.

thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness           Grace is that atmosphere of salvation.
have I drawn thee !" Jeremiah 31:3.
                                                                       When you havk read your Bible with a believing heart
   And here is the second ground for Paul's prayer. "Hath           and you close its covers, then the grace of the good hope
given us everlasting consolation and good hope through              steals into your heart. Then you look towards the heavens
grace."                                                             and meditate on the coming of the Savior from heaven. Then

       Everlasting consolation, what is it?                         the good hope in the atmosphere of God Himself causes you

       The word consolation means to call someone alongside         to whisper : Come quickly, Lord Jesus !

one's self in order to dry his tears and to fold such a one                                  8    4: 8 4
into one's bosom.

   And note that this consolation is called everlasting.               Now then, what is the content of this petition ?

   From all eternity, as old as God is, before this world was          Comfort vour hearts !
                                                                                    ,
created, God's thoughts were all for your and my consola-              That is the same word as consolation, that is, the calling
tion. From all eternity it was God's plan to call you along-        alongside one's self in order to whisper good words of en-
side Him in order to speak to you His comfortable words of          couragement and comfort.
consolation. You can see that clearly when Jesus came to
earth. Remember His comfortable words: Be of good cour-                Paul means to say: 0 Thessalonians ! that Christ Him-
`age, my son, all your sins are forgiven you ? That is the          self and our Father in heaven may call you alongside of
expression in time of that which is in God from everlasting.        Himself in order to comfort your hearts that are now SO
                                                                    troubled because of afflictions and tribulations you endure
   That consolation for God's own is further shown in the           for His name's sake!
incarnation of the Son of God. Still further in the gift of
the Holy Ghost on Pentecost. Then further in our own                   Your hearts !

regeneration, and finally it will be shown to angels and devils,       That is important. The heart is you in the very depth of

to the good and to the wicked in the day of Christ. Then the        your being. When you are troubled in your heart you are

whole Universe will see how God always planned to call the          at a complete loss, what to think or to do.

poor church alongside Him in order to dry their tears and             And it is the fervent prayer of Paul that these troubled
to speak eternal words of comfort to them, words that will          hearts may be enwrapped in the bosom of Christ and of God
make heaven musical forever.                                        our Father !

                            :t    +    4: *                            And that is good!

                                                                       I can imagine that your fathers and my fathers 
   And this also is given to the Thessalonians: good hope                                                                  SO went
                                                                    to the stake and the scaffolds of the persecutors, and died
in grace. Yes, your English Bible says though  grace, but
                                                                    singing the Psalms of David!
that is not correct. The original has it: irt grace.

                                                                       When you rest in the bosom of God you are not afraid
   Hope, and good hope, what is it?
                                                                    of anything or anyone. Then  your tears are dried and you
   Ah, but there is a beautiful story.                              experience heaven in principle.

       Hope is the yeaining  love of God which is spread abroad        And that is what Paul wants for them.
in our hearts through the Holy Ghost that is given unto us.
                                                                       And for us all.
       Hope is essentially longing for God! Oh, I can under-
                                                                                                * * * 4:
stand that Jesus calls heaven the simple seeing of God!

Attend to the beatitudes: Blessed are the pure in heart for            But he prays for more than that.
they shall see God!
                                                                       Stablish you in every good word and work.
   And God gives that to us: He gives us good hope. Ah
                                                                       Stablish you means that you are founded, that your feet
yes, that hope of the Christian is good hope indeed.
                                                                    are set on a rock, and the Rock is Christ Himself.
       And that good hope you experience in gt'ace!
                                                                        If that happens you are+ble  to stand, and to stand firmly
       You know, grace, the grace of God is the very fountain of    against all the onslaughts of the devil and of the world and
all salvation with all its blessings. Everything lovely and         the flesh. Then nothing can unsettle you or trouble you.
beautiful and attractive in the entire economy of salvation         Then you stand and say with the prophets: I shall not be
springs from that grace as from a fountain.                         moved even though the mountains be carried into the midst

       Grace is the lovely Godhead Himself. And out of the          of the sea.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                                                     411



  In every good word and work..

                                                                                    T H E   ` S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
   That's next. And that is beautiful.
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   I can imagine that Stephen was so stablished.                       Published by the REFORMED  FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
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   While they aimed the rocks and the stones at his poor
                                                                                           Editor - Rm.  Hm HOEK~EMA
head, he stood on the Rock that is Christ. And all we see             Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
and hear are good works and words.                                                Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,

                                                                                                   Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
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stones of the cruel persecutors, he speaks his good words,                         James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.

and what wonderful words they were: "Lord, lay not this                                         Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
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   Then you are worthy followers of God.

                                                                                                      C O N T E N T S
   Then y&r life is an echo of Him who said through the
prophets : They have given Me hatred for My love !              XI
                                                                IuEDITATION  -

                                                                          Supplication         for     Consolation . . . . . .._..__._______..............................                                               409

   Then you have good works too. Then you ,echo Christ's                         Rev. G. Vos

good works : "Then I restored that which I did not take

away !"                                                         EDITORIALS  -
                                                                          The Hymn Question Before                            Our Synod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
   Then God is pleased with you, for He saw His own                              Rev. H. Hoeksema

image ! Amen.                                           G.V.
                                                                OUR   D O C T R I N E -

                            --                                            The Book of Revelation .._ _.__  .._ __.  _. .____.__  _.  .   .______.  ._..  4                                                             1      4
                                                                                 Rev. H. Hoeksema

            A SALVATION FOR THE WORLD

                                                                A CLOUD  OF %kNESSES  -
              Unto God our Saviour                                        Led Through the Sea ..__................ . . . . .._........_____.....................  417

                 Sing a joyful song;                                             Rev. B. Woudenberg

              Wondrous are His doings,
                 For His arm is strong.                         FROM  HOLY WRIT  -
                                                                          Exposition of I Timothy... . . . . .__. _____. ..419
             He has wrought salvation,                                            Rev. G. Lubbers
                 He has made it known,

              And before the nations                            I N   H I S   F E A R -

                 Is His justice shown.                                    God's     Royal Priesthood              (7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
                                                                                  Rev. J. A. Heys

              Joyful, all ye people,

                 Sing before the Lord ;                         CONTENDING  FOR  THE  FM~-
                                                                          The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
              Shout and sing His praises
                                                                                  Rev. H. Veldman
                 Now in glad accord ;

              With the harp and trumpet                         SPECIAL  ARTICLE  -

                 Joyful praises bring,                                    An Evaluation of the Modem Educational Process (cont.) 425

              Come, rejoice before Him,                                           Rev. R. C. Harbach

                 God, the Lord your King.
                                                                DECENCY  AND  ORDER-

                                                                          Confessing        the     Reformed             Religion . . . . . . ..__________......................  427
              Waves of mighty ocean,
                                                                                  Rev. G. Vanden  Berg
                 Earth with fulness  stored,

              Floods and fields and mountains,                  ALLAROIJNDUS-

                 Sing before the Lord ;                                   Synod of 1961 . . ..__._..._._._..........................................................                                                   429

              For He comes with justice,                                          Rev. H: Hanko

                 Evil to redress,
                                                                NEWS     FROM       OUR CHURCHES.. _. _. .432
              And to judge the nations                                            Mr. J. M. Faber
                 In His righteousness.              Psalm 9s

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


                                                                       This the committee did, and they reported as follows:
               E D I T O R I A L S                                      "The Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches con-

                                                                    vened in First Church, Grand Rapids, Mich.,  June 7, 1961.

                                                                       "Esteemed Brethren :
       The Hymn Question Before Our Synod
                                                                        "Our committee originally appointed to study the pro-

   The Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches, 1961,             posed change of Article 69 of the. Church Order was given

is again a matter of history.                                       the following mandate by the Synod of 1960: `A motion is

   After a prayer service, on Tuesday evening, June 6, in           made to refer this matter back to the Study Committee to
the First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids,               furnish grounds, and report to the next Synod. Carried.'
Mich.,  which was conducted by the Rev. C. Hanko, the               Art. 55.

Synod opened its sessions the following morning, June 7. A             "Our original report can be found in Supplement XXIV

"moderamen" was chosen consisting of the Rev. M. Schipper,          of the Acts of Synod of 1960 and we will not return to it
president, the Rev. H. 1% Kuiper,  vice president, the Rev.         here.
J. A. Keys, clerk, and the Rev. H. Veldman, assistant clerk.           "I. We would however, propose one change in the pro-
Under the very able leadership of the chairman, the Rev. M.         posed revision we advised last year. That change is to make
Schipper, the business of Synod was conducted in an orderly         the word `hymns' to read `songs.' Our reasons for this
way and on Friday, June 16, the Synod was closed with               change are :
prayer and thanksgiving.
                                                                       "1. There is some misunderstanding regarding the use
   During the entire Synod it was very evident that the             of the word `hymns.' Although the word can, no doubt, be
Lord our God heard our prayers and His blessing rested              used for versification of Scripture, it has come to mean much
upon us.       To be sure, not all thought and expressed their      more in our day. And although the word is clearly defined
opinion in the same way on the different matters that' were         in the article itself, we wish to leave no room for misinter-
brought to the attention of Synod. But the love of God in           pretation.
Christ and the love of the brethren reigned in our hearts.
                                                                       "2.      There is, by the change of this word, no fundamental
Personally, I am of the opinion that the Synod of 1961 was
                                                                    change in the article itself.
one of the most harmonious synods we ever had.

   It is not my purpose to discuss, in this editorial the              "II. With respect to the grounds we were asked to draw
various matters that were decided. Perhaps, I may do so in          up in support of this change of Article 69, we advise Synod
some future article, the Lord willing, after the Acts of Synod      to adopt the following:

have been published, which, of course, will be available to -all        "1. It is the express purpose of this revision to keep

our people. But there is one item, that was tabled by Synod         from our worship services the hymns commonly in use in

for the very purpose that the matter involved may be publicly       other churches which are not faithful versifications  of Scrip-

discussed by all our people before a final decision is taken.       ture. Our reasons for this can be found under `B' of our

That is the matter of the "hymn question." This question I          original report, and there is no need to quote them here.

will now introduce in the hope that as many as possible will           "2. The grounds for including versification of Scripture
express their opinion @TO and con and will take part in the         are the following:
discussion.
                                                                       "a j We are already singing them in our churches contrary
   The matter of the hymn question first of all concerns            to the original Article 69. Examples: `Praise God from
a proposed change in Art. 69 of the Church Order which              whom all blessings flow' ; `The Lord's Prayer.'
reads as follows:                                                       "b) There are other parts of Scripture which are written

    "In the churches only the 150 Psalms of David., the Ten         in poetry and which are sluitable  for versification. Examples :

Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the Twelve Articles of             1) The song of Moses. 2) Habakkuk. 3 j The songs of Mary

Faith, the Song of Mary, Zacharias, and Simeop, the morn-           and Zacharias. 4) Parts of I Corinthians 15. 5) Parts of

ing and evening Hymns, and the Hymn of Prayer before the            Romans 8. 6) Parts of the book of Revelation.

service shall be .sung."                                                %j The Psalms speak of the revelation of God from the

   This matter was brought to Synod, first of all, in 1959          viewpoint of the types and shadows of the Old Dispensation.

when a committee was appointed to study the matter of the           The New Testament Scriptures, written after the fulfillment

revision of article 69 especially with a view to the hymn           of the promise, speak more clearly and directly of that

question. This committee reported to Synod in 1960. Then,           promise since the shadows fell away. While it is not impos-

at the Synod of 1960, a motion was made and carried to              sible to interpret the Psalms in the light of the New .Dis-

refer this matter back to the Study Committee to furnish            pensation, there cannot possibly be anything wrong with

the grounds and report to the next Synod.                           using other parts of Scripture including the New Testament


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             413


Scriptures as a basis for the versifications to be used in the       Now, one would think that if the grounds which the

church.                                                           committee proposed to substantiate the motion were valid

   "d) It is evidently a legitimate occupation of the church      and true and were adopted by Synod, as thei vvere,  the
organism to provide the church here on earth with songs to        motion must necessarily be adopted. If not, the Synod merely
sing even in its worship services, This task ought not to be      adopted grounds without a `motion. Yet, this was not the
discouraged by limitations bindjng  the church to the Psalms.     case: while the grounds were adopted as valid and true,
                                                                  more than one argued against the motion proper. And the
   "3. Our grounds for the phrase `in each case the geneml
                                                                  grounds on which they argued certainly, could not possibly
synod be&g  the judge' are:
                                                                  be against the motion as such. How could one possibly be
   "a) No individual congregation should introduce ad-
                                                                  against the singing of songs in the worship of the church
ditional songs by itself.
                                                                  which are : 1. faithful versiiications of Scripture, and 2. the
   "b) The Synod must have the authority to determine             correctness and validity of which are to be judged by the
the worth of any particular song.                                 Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches ? This is, ev-
   "c. This will safe-guard the introduction of unsavory          idently, .impossible.  But the grounds, as far as I remember,
songs into the church.                                            were twofold, namely, 1. There is sufficient material in the

   "4. Ai far as the original redaction of Article 69 is con-     150 Psalms of David, so that there is no need of other songs

cerned, we point Synod to the following:                          or hymns, and, 2. The peace of the churches: if hymns

   "a) The `150 Psalms of David' evidently refers to the          should be introduced by our Synod even though they were
Dutch Psalm Book.                                                 faithful versifications of Holy Scripture, and although in
                                                                  each case the approval of Synod would be required, the
   "b) The other songs mentioned are not available to the
                                                                  churches and the people would, nevertheless, be disturbed
English-speaking church.
                                                                  and afraid that heresy would be introduced into our Prot-
   "c) We have not adhered to the literal reading of Article
                                                                  estant Reformed Churches.
69 since the beginning of our existence as Protestant Re-

formed Churches.                                                     As the first ground, it was admitted that in our Psalter

                                                                  nothing can be found on the resurrection of Christ that can
   "5. The Psalms of David are mentioned specifically in
                                                                  be sung on Easter Sunday, nor can anything be found on
the proposed revision of this article because the emphasis
                                                                  the Holy Spirit that can properly be sung on the day of
should fall on them in all our singing.
                                                                  Pentecost. But for the rest our present Psalter is entirely
   "6. Finally, we hope that the clarification of this article    sufficient1 Now, let us suppose for a moment that this is true
through the proposed revision will:                               (which <t is not), would not this be sufficient ground to
   `(a)  Keep our churches and our people from bringing           compose some hymns that,must  be approved by the Synod of
into the church the hymns in common use in the American           our Churches that may be sung in our public worship ? Is
church world.                                                     not the resurrection of Christ, Who "was raised for our

   "b) Inspire and encourage talented people within our           justification,`.' one of the most fundamental doctrines of all

fellowship to add to the songs we already have.                   Scripture? Does it not occur as such in our Confessions ?

                                                                  The Heidelberg Catechism has this to say on the resurrec-
 "May God's richest blessing rest upon your Synod, and
                                                                  tion of Christ: "What does the resurrection of Christ proSt
may you be guided by the Spirit of truth in all your deci-
                                                                  us ? First, by his resurrection he has overcome death, that
sions."
                                                                  he might make us partakers of that righteousness which he
   Thus far the report.
                                                                  had purchased for us by his death; secondly, we are also by

   On the advice of the Committee of Pre-advice this report       his power raised up to a new life; and lastly, the resurrection

was virtually entirely adopted. The only exception is that        of Christ is a sure pledge of our blessed resurrection." And

Synod preferred to retain the term "hymn" instead of the          also in the Netherland 06 Belgic Confession we read of the

word "songs" as the original committee advised.                   resurrection of Christ in article 20: "God therefore mani-

   But a rather long discussion ensued when the original          fested his justice against his Son, when he laid our iniquities
motion proposed by the committee to the Synod of 1960 was         upon him ; and poured forth his mercy and goodness on us,
being debated. This proposed motion may be found in               who were guilty and worthy of damnation, out of mere and
Article 85 of the Acts of Synod, 1960. It reads as follows:       perfect love, giving his Son unto death for us, and raising
"A motion is made to adopt the advice to change Article 69        him for our justification, that through him we might obtain
of the Church Order to read: `In the churches only the 150        immortality and eternal life."

Psalms of David shall be sung, as also such Hymns which              We hope to continue this in the next Standwd  Bearcy,

are faithful versifications of the Holy Scriptures, in each       D.V.

case the General Synod being the judge, on the basis of
                                                                                                                           H.H.
the grounds proposed by the committee'."


414                                                T H E   STANDA&D  B E A R E R


                                                                      not be gaged by man's finite existence, but must be viewed
   11 O       U     R            DOCTRINE,jlin the light of the terrible nature of sin as committed against
                                                                      the infinite majesty of the ever blessed and glorious God. In

                                                                      that light we can somewhat understand that Satan and all

               THE BOOK OF REVELATION                                 his subjects, the beast and his worshippers, shall be tormented
                                                                      night and day forever and ever.

                                PART TWO

                                                                                                         C H A P T E R  X X
                           C H A P T E R  X I X

                                                                                                  The Final Judgvmnt

   The Bindhag of Satan With a View to Gog'and Magog
                                                                                                   Revelation 20 :l l-l 5
                         Revelation 20 :l-10

                                                                                 11.     And I saw a great white throne, and him that  sat
    f) That fire from God out of heaven destroys them is                         on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled
evident and clearly stated in the text. We must also in this                     away; and there was found no place for them.

connection confer chapter sixteen, verse 21. There we read :                     12.     And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before

"And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every                       God; and the books were opened: and another book was

stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God                       opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were
                                                                                 judged out of those things which were written in the
because of the plague of the hail ; for the plague thereof was
                                                                                 books, according to their works.
exceeding great."     Moreover, we can refer also to chapter

nineteen, verse 21 : "And the remnant were slain with the                        13. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it;
                                                                                 and death and hell delivered up the dead which were
sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceed-
                                                                                 in them: and they were judged every man according
eth out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their                   to their works.
flesh."    All these passages refer to the same end although the
presentation differs. In 16 :21 it is the great hail that destroys               1 4 .   A n d   d e a t h   a n d   h e l l   w e r e   c a s t   i n t o   t h e   l a k e   o f
                                                                                 tie.  This is the second death.
them. In 19:21  it is the sword that proceeds out of the

mouth of Christ that slays them. Here it is fire from God                        15. And whosoever was not found written in the

out of heaven. The idea is that all the wicked shall be killed                   book of life was cast into the lake of i?re.

in that last day in order to pass through the resurrection of            John now records here a new vision, as is evident from
damnation and to appear before the judgment seat pf God in            the introductory "And I saw . . ." History has been brought
Christ.                                                               to a close in every respect, and now follows the vision of the
    Finally, in verse 10 of this chapter we have the judgment         final judgment of the world, before the description of the

of Satan recorded: "And the devil that deceived them was              New Jerusalem and the new creation in the following chap-

cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and         ters. The throne here is not the same as the one mentioned
the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night           in Revelation 4:2. It is here a throne of judgment. It is
for ever and ever."      We may note here, in the first place,        described as "great," indicating the magnitude of the judg-

that by deceiving the nations that live on the four corners           ment that is to take place. And besides, it is described as

of the earth Satan performs his last act of wicked deception          "white," symbolic of the glory and holiness and righteousness
and rebellion against the Most High, and thereby fills the            of the Judge. He that sits on this throne is evidently God:
measure of iniquity, thus becoming ripe for judgment. In              for He is not further described, but we read that from His
the second place, we must note too that, like the beast and           countenance the heaven and the earth flee away. And in

the false prophet, he is here presented as being unworthy             verse 12 we read that the dead stand before God. This is
even of any public and formal judgment. He is immediately             not in conflict with the teaching of Scripture that we must

cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, that is, into hell.         all appear before the judgment seat of Christ and that Christ

Cf. 19:20.  This is true not of his fellow devils, but of Satan       shall appear as the Judge of the whole world. For God

himself, as the prince of devils, alone, even as it is not true       judges the world in and through Christ, Who is His revela-

of the followers and worshippers of the beast and his iinage,         tion and representative also in the hour of judgment. Then

but of the beast and the false prophet only. In the third place,      we read, as I already quoted: "from whose face the earth

we may also note that this punishment consists in continuous          and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place.for

torment, day and night, and that too, without end, forever and        them." The last clause explains the first. It tells us that the

ever. Those who teach that the agents of darkness will                earth and heaven so "fled away" from the face of God that

ultimately be annihilated and who deny eternal punishment             they completely pass away and completely disappear. The

may base their view on falsely conceived humane considera-            fashion of this present universe must pass away, according

tions ; but Scripture everywhere contradicts this doctrine.           to Scripture. It will be consumed in the final world-fire, to

The justice of divine retribution rendered to the wicked can-         make room for the new heavens and the new earth, in which


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D .   B E A R E R                                                    415


righteousness shall dwell. This we may also read in II Peter         in Christ as God sees them, as perfectly righteous in Him.
3 :lO-14 : "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in          Further we read: "And the dead were judged out of those
the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a           things which were written in the books, according to their
great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the      works."     In their works the true, ethical worth of all be-
earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.        comes manifest. This is not only true of the works of the
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what           wicked ; but it also includes the works of the saints in Christ,

manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and        the works of faith, of repentance, of sorrow over sin, the
godliness, Looking for `and hasting unto the coming of the           work of sanctification, in order that it may be manifest that
day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dis-          the saints, although their own works were wicked, never-
solved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Never-        theless were perfectly righteous and' judged as righteous
theless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens           before the throne of God in Christ.

and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore,             In verse 13 we read of the "second resurrection." In this
beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that       verse, therefore, we have an explanation of the fact that the
ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blame-            dead could appear before the judgment seat of God. They
less."    The fashion of this present universe, therefore, must      were first raised from the dead. From this it should be
pass away.     Thus it is presented in the vision, *namely,  as a    evident that all- the dead -not only the wicked-are here
fleeing away of the earth and heaven before the face of God.         presented as raised, and that the bodily resurrection is the
There was no place for them. Further, we read of the resur-          "second resurrection," in distinction from that mentioned in
rection of the dead in this same passage: "And I saw the             verses 5 and 6. Further we read: "And the sea gave up the
dead, small and great, stand before God." John saw the dead,         dead which were in it," etc. The idea is that all the dead,
all the dead, small and great, rich and poor, righteous and          no matter how they died, whether they were drowned in the
wicked. He beholds the' dead and beholds them as dead, that          sea or burned in the fire or buried, were raised. That is
is, as those who passed through physical death. From this            why we read in this verse that death and hades were cast
and from the fact that the judgment is described before the          into the lake of fire, and that this is the second death. And
resurrection we may not conclude, of course, that the judg-          all that were raised were judged. For so we read: "And
ment will actually take place first. It is evident from the          whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
last part of verse 13 that this is not the case. The order,          into the lake of fire."      This, therefore, is the final punish-
therefore, is rather thus, that the dead before the throne of        ment. Death and hell are here personified. They have done
God and the judgment are described first, and then it is             their work, and they are now completely overcome by Christ,
explained whence these dead here appear before the throne            consigned to their proper place, hell. Cf. I Corinthians 15 :26.
of God, namely, as out of the resurrection. "Small and great"        This, then, is the second death. And that second death im-
may mean children and adults, but it may also refer to the           plies eternal desolation in hell. For "whosoever was not
different stations and positions they occupied in this present       found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of
life. Or at all events, the description is derived from their        fire." The wicked too are cast into hell. Of the reward of
earthly position and relative difference in this world.              glory of the righteous, whose names are in the book of life,

                                                                     we do not read h&e,  but will read of it in the following
    Then we read : "And the books were opened : and another
                                                                     chapter.
book was opened, which is the book of life." Here we may

find proof that indeed all the dead appear here be'fore  the

throne of God-righteous and wicked, the godly and the                                             CHAPTER XXI

ungodly. That the books were opened is a symbolic rep-
                                                                                  The Blessedness of 
resentation of the truth that all men must be revealed in                                                   the New Jerztsalevtz

their true ethical character, in their right moral value. All
                                                                                                Revelation 21 :l-4
must be made manifest before the judgment seat of God in

Christ. Our works must be exposed before our own con-                             1. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the
sciousness, as well as before all the world, in their proper                      first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and

light. The reason is, of course, that God must be justified                       there was no more sea.

when He judges. The "book of life" is God's own record of                         2 .    And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, com-
His elect saints. They were redeemed by the blood of their                        ing down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride

Lord and Savior. Through that blood they were justified ;                         adorned for her husband.

and they were also sanctified in Christ Jesus. This book is                       3. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,
also opened. For when men are judged according to their                           Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will

works, the work of Christ for, in, and through the saints, the                    dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and

elect whom God hath given to Christ from before the founda-                 L     God himself shall be with them and be their God.

tion of the world, must also be exposed. Therefore they can                       4 .    And God &all wipe away all tears from their eyes;

never perish in the judgment. And they shall see themselves                       and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor


416                                            T H E    S T-A N D `A -R D, B E A R E R


             crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the    thanks unto the Father, which hath  made us meet to be
             former things are passed away.                           partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hat11

   The description of the judgment upon the powers of                 delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated

darkness, the devil, the beast, the false prophet, and all their      us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have

host of wickedness, is now complete. However, with this               redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins."

negative result the book of Revelation could not be complete.         And then follows the passage which we have particularly in
It must needs end with a description of the glorious realiza-         mind in this connection: "Who is the image of the invisible
tion of all the promises of God, the final and everlasting re-        God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all
ward of the righteous. This is presented in chapter 21,               things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth,
verse 1, to chapter 22, verse 5, which speak of the new               visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions,

creation, the new Jerusalem, and the tabernacle of God                or principalities, or powers : all things were created by him,

with men.                                                             and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all

                                                                      things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church:
   Innverses  1 and 2 we read of the new creation and the new
                                                                      who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead ; that in
Jerusalem. In verse 1 we read : "And I saw a new heaven and
                                                                      all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the
a new earth." The new creation is the end of all prophecy that
                                                                      Father that in him should all fulness dwell ; And, having
is revealed in Scripture. Thus we read already in Isaiah
                                                                      made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to rec-
6.5 :17 : "For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth :
                                                                      oncile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they
and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into
                                                                      be things  in earth, or things in heaven."
mind." And also in Isaiah 66 :22 : "For as the new heavens
                                                                                                                                        H.H.
and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before

me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name re-

main."    And in II Peter 3 :13 we read: "Nevertheless we,

according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new                                      Announcement
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." Concerning this new
creation we may briefly remark, in the first place, that it               Classis  East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will

will be a new heaven and a new earth. This is emphatically            meet Wednesday, July 5, at 9 A. M. in the Hudsonville

stated in the test here and in other passages of Scripture.           Protestant Reformed Church. Delegates to this classis  will
The heaven and the earth constitute the two main parts of             please take note of the time and place.
the original creation as mentioned in Genesis 1 :l. Both
are affected by sin. Both will be renewed and united in a                                              REV. M. SCHIPPER, Stated ClePk

higher unity than before. Secondly, it will be radically new.

For "the first heaven ancl  the first earth were passed away."

Isaiah 65 :17; II Peter 3:10, 11. This does not mean that
                                                                                                 IN MEMORIAM
it will be a new creation out of nothing. For although the
present world will be destroyed by fire, nevertheless it will            The Ladies' Aid Society "Ruth" of Hope Protestant Reformed
not be annihilated. Even as the resurrection of the body is           Church expresses heartfelt sympathy to Mrs. T. Kievit  and Mrs. J.
                                                                      Kamps, in the loss of their husband and father,
not a new creation, so the renewal of the universe is not a
creation out of nothing. Yet nothing of the present world                                       M R .   T E D   KIEVIT

will enter into that new creation. Old things are passed                 Ps. 116:15,  "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of

away. In the third place, we notice that in this new creation         his saints."
                                                                                                                 Rev. I-I. Ha&o,  President
heaven and earth and all things contained in them will be                                                       Mrs. Jay Bomers, Secretary
united in one, namely, in Christ. For thus we read in

Ephesians  1:9-11: "Having made known unto us the mystery

of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath

purposed in himself : That in the dispensation of the fulness
of times he might gather together in one all things in                                0 who will lead our hosts
Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth ;                              To triumph o'er the foe,

even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance,                            If Thou shalt cast us off, 0 God,

being predestinated according to the purpose of him who                                 Nor with our armies go?
worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." And

thus also iri Colossians 1 :lO, ff. : "That ye might wa&
                                                                                      The help of man is vain,
worthy of the Lord, unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every
good work, and increasing in the knowledge of, God ;                                    Be Thou our helper, Lord ;

Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power,                         Through Thee we shall do valiantly

unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness ; Giving                            If Thou Thy aid afford.


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     417


                                                                                    It was after the departure from Etham that Jehovah com-

                                                                                manded a very amazing thing. He commanded Moses to

                                                                                turn from the road leading to Canaan and travel to the south.

                                                                                At another time many of Israel might have objected to this
                 Led Through The Sea                                            move, but faith in Jehovah was high and without murmuring

              A n d   t h e   Lovd said  u n t o   M o s e s ,   Whe~*efo?*e    the people followed the guidance of the cloud. Little did the
           criest thou  unto  me? speak unto the child?-en of                   people realize the hardships that this would imply. The route
           Isfrael,  that they go forward:                                      on which they were being taken was long, and it led through
              But lift thou up thy rod, amd  stretilz out  t&e                  hot and barren deserts. Months and years would pass in
           hand ovw tlae  sea, and divide it: and the clrild~dn                 which they would find nothing on which to survive except
           of Ismel shall go on dry ground  th+oltg!i  the  midst
                                                                                the sustaining power of their God. Complete trust and con-
           of the sea. - Exodus 14:15,  16
                                                                                fidence in Jehovah would be the only source of strength. That
    As a great tidal wave of humanity the children of Israel
                                                                                was exactly the divine wisdom of this way. Jehovah was not
gathered themselves together and moved toward the borders
                                                                                to be misled by the apparent enthusiasm of the moment. He
of Egypt. They numbered in the millions : 600,000 men
                                                                                knew the hearts of m.en  and was able to discern the weak-
plus women and children.         An aura of joy and confidence
                                                                                nesses of Israel. Only by passing through the hardships of
shone from their faces.       From bondage they had been de-
                                                                                the wilderness, could the children of God grow sufficiently
livered by the power of their God. They were bound for the
                                                                                in faith to inherit the promised land. Only by tasting of the
promised land, the covenant inheritance of their fathers.
                                                                                barrenness of this earth and of their own strength, could they
Behind they left their cruel task masters, terror-stricken and
                                                                                come to rely solely upon their God. The way of hardship
silent. The dominion of Egypt over Israel was broken.
                                                                                was for them the way of grace.
    With the children of Israel there went a great., although
silent testimony of the faith in which they went. They car-                         Besides this there was also another reason why the Lord
ried the bones of Joseph.       It was he who had brought the                   led Israel in the way He did. Yet one more judgment was
children of Israel into Egypt to save them from the famine                      to be brought upon the Egyptians. As Israel was starting on
in Canaan ; but always his testimony had been that to                           its journey, E,gypt  was just beginning to recover from the
Canaan they must return. Even in his death he had assured                       stunning effects of the last plague. Egypt had been humbled
them, "God will surely visit you ; and ye shall carry up my                     but it had not been brought to repentance. It had acknowl-
bones away hence with you." Over 400 years had passed,                          edged the greatness of Jehovah God, but it had not come to
and still his bones remained waiting, a testimony of faith                      conversion of heart. In fear Pharaoh had pleaded` for a
that Israel belonged in Canaan. Now finally the bones of                        blessing, but he despised the very God of whom he asked it.
Joseph were being carried to their final resting place.                         No sooner did Pharaoh hear of the strange, southerly route
                                                                                that Israel followed, than he eagerly laid hold upon it as
   From Rameses to Succoth the Israelites traveled and
                                                                                proof that the wisdom of Israel's God was foolishness. Ignor-
then on to Etham at the edge of the wilderness. It was as
                                                                                ing the humiliating defeats pf the past, his pride was only
they made this journey that a marvelous reality did appear.
                                                                                too ready to believe again that it could gain a final victory
Against the azure sky there loomed a great, white cloud
                                                                                over Israel's God. With arrogant glee Pharaoh concluded
stretched as a pillar from heaven to earth. As the people
                                                                                of this latest move, "They are entangled in the land, the
moved, the cloud went before them guiding them on the
                                                                                wilderness hath shut them in. Why have we done this, that
way. When darkness fell the cloud was transformed and
                                                                                we have left Israel go from serving us ?" With bitter en-
began to glisten with the radiance of a heavenly light. In
                                                                                thusiasm Pharaoh prepared his chariots to follow after Israel,
the cloud was Jehovah, or, more specifically, the Angel of
                                                                                determined to justify himself of his greatest enemy. It was
Jehovah. Through it J esus Christ functioned in His Old
                                                                                of the Lord. Finally and fatally He had hardened Pharaoh's
Dispensation form. The Shekinah, as it has come to be called,
                                                                                heart. Not Pharaoh but Jehovah was to be conclusively
was to be the constant manifestation of Jehovah's presence
                                                                                justified.
to the children of Israel throughout their wilderness journey.

It was to be the source of continual blessings. Not only did                        Only gradually did the implications of the route they were

it serve to guide Israel through the trackless wastes of the                    traveling dawn upon the children of Israel. At first they were

wilderness and provide them with light in the dark hours of                     perplexed, but this soon turned to dismay. As they proceeded

the night, but it would serve as a shield to protect them                       there emerged on the left the shores of the Red Sea, and as

from their enemies and a shade to shelter them from the                         they looked ahead, they saw the looming peaks of an im-

burning rays of the desert sun. Before it the believing chil-                   passable mountain range reaching out also to cut them off on

dren of Israel would learn to know the blessedness of dwell-                    the right. It was then that they turned their heads and saw

ing in the presence of their God. Only through the power of                     to their astonishment the distant glint of sunlight on steel.

God in the cloud would Israel be able to endure the hardships                   Soon they were able to discern the chariots of Pharaoh

of the journey in months and years to come.                                     coming upon them in hot pursuit. In a matter of moments


41s                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


all of the former enthusiasm had died. Conviction and con-         he said, "Know ye not, that so many of us' as were baptized

fidence gave way to the same carnal reasoning that had             into Jesus Christ were Saptized  into his death ? Therefore we

tempted Pharaoh. Only the cloud of God's presence con-             are buried with him by baptism into death : that like as Christ

tinued to proceed steadily on the way, but the people were         was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even

confused and troubled, refusing to follow. In a faithless          SO `we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have

prayer of complaint, they began to cry out unto the Lord,          been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall

but the heavens remained unmoved and silent. Finally they          be also in the likeness of his resurrection" (Rom.  6:3-5).

turned to Moses laying upon. him all of the blame. "Is not            That Moses and the people might more clearly under-
this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us       stand, God commanded Moses, "Lift thou up thy rod, and
alone, that we may serve the Egyptians ? For it had been           stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the
better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die      children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst
in the wilderness."     Here it was suddenly manifested how        of the sea." This Moses did and immediately there arose a
strong Israel really was. On the tide of victory the people        strong east wind forcing back the waters of the sea and
had counted themselves strong, exclaiming the praises of their     making the ground underneath dry. With walls of water on
God. But now in the face of difficulty where only faith could      each side, a dry path was made through the bottom of the
conquer, they revealed how weak they still were. They were         sea. Meanwhile the Angel -of  Jehovah in the cloud removed
willing to exchange the way of faith for the former bondage        and went behind the camp of Israel dividing them from the
of sin. No wonder they could not go directly-to Canaan. Is-        armies of Egypt.
rael had yet much to learn.
                                                                      Night was falling as Israel began to pass through the

       Even Moses had begun to waver. He had only one duty         depths of the sea. The enemy was close behind them, yet
to perform, to lead the people on, following the cloud. Dis-       could not approach because the cloud was to the E,gyptians
tracted by the complaints of the people, he had yielded and        an impassable wall of darkness. The sky grew dark above
stopped. The cloud went on alone until it hovered over the         Israel but the very cloud which was darkness to the Egyp-
sea. This was the way of saivation, a way impossible to the        tians was to them a glowing column of light shining behind
eyes of the flesh, a way that only the strongest faith could       and above them to guide their feet so that not one foot was
follow. But even Moses did not have that. Rather he turned         made to stumble. There was humble wonderment in the
to the people and said, "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the     hearts of the children of God as they made this amazing pas-
salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for       sage in their journey. They had marveled at the power of
the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day,, ye shall see them         God as He had revealed Himself in E,gypt,  and now even
again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and          more wonderful works than those they were experiencing.
ye shall hold your peace." Words of faith ? At certain times       They had doubted the possibility of salvation as they stood
and in certain places they might have been. Moses was cor-         by the shore of the sea, and now they knew how foolish they
rect in that he looked to Jehovah for deliverance, but one         had been, for nothing could withstand the hand of the Lord.
thing he neglected, he forgot the guidance of the Lord in          As Israel passed through the sea, they worshipped.

the cloud. The answer of God was a reprimand, "Wherefore              Through the hours of the night only the Egyptians were

criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that       apprehensive. Did they perhaps hear through the darkness

they go forward."      This was the way of salvation, to follow    the sounds of Israel's passage ? Anxiously they sought to

the guidance of the Lord even when it led into the very depths     pierce the blackness with their eyes. Not until morning

of the sea. The Lord would provide salvation for His people        dawned and all of Israel had left the shore did God lift the

but only through the way that He had determined, not by            cloud and allow them to see. In complete amazement they

bringing them along an easy road as the fleshly desires of         beheld the last of the Israelites passing between the waters.

Israel wanted, not by engaging the Egyptians in open battle        But God had hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not

as Moses had evidently expected, but by leadsng  them              hesitate in his determination even at the sight of so evident

through the -depths of the sea. That way, we are told in the       a miracle. With reckless abandonment he led his army into

New Testament (I Cor. 10 :l, 2)) was a symbol of baptism           the depths of the sea in pursuit of his enemy. It was when

in the blood of Jesus Christ. In the cloud was the Angel of        the last Israelite had reached the shore and the E,yptians

Jehovah, Jesus Christ in His Old Testament form. Israel            were pursuing wildly through the depths of the sea that

must follow the cloud in faith, and following it must pass         God commanded Moses again to stretch forth his hand. The

under it even by passing through the depths of the sea, which      wind subsided and slowly the waters began to settle again

sea was a symbol of death. The Gospel was being unfolded           into their place. Before the eyes of all Israel the chariots

that the believing children of Israel might see and learn of       were stopped, the horses were covered, all of the host of

the only way of salvation. Although in the shadow of Old           Pharaoh were devoured by the closing sea. Finally and

Testament type, the chosen people of God had to learn the          forever Jehovah was justified of a nation that before His

same truth that was later set forth by the apostle Paul when       very presence had hardened its heart.                    B.W.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                419


                                                                   was not only true of Hymeneus and Alexander, but this is

                                                                   also true of "some" others in the congregation at Ephesus !
Ijm/
                                                                      The term to "cast away" is a very strong one. It means

                                                                   to deliberately reject and cast off. Thus the Israelite who
              Exposition of I Timothy                              did his neighbor wrong thwst off Moses, saying, who made
                                                                   thee a ruler and judge over us. Acts 7 :27.  And in Romans
                      (I Timothy 1:18,  19)
                                                                   11 :l, 2 the question is asked : Hath God cast az~ay  his people ?

                           Continued                               And in Acts 13 :46 Paul says to the Jews : "It was necessary

                                                                   that the -word of God should first have been spoken to you :
   We were going to discuss the matter of what happened            but seeing ye put it fro% yo,u, and judge yourselves unworthy
to "soin&'  in the church at Ephesus, who had cast away a          of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles." From these
good conscience, and who as a result, and that, too, as the        passages it is evident that the term in our text "cast away"
just judgment of God suffered shipwreck in the faith!              is a very strong term indicating a deliberate act. The text

   What happened to these "some" in the church, among              employs the aorist tense. It refers to the definite act of

whom are particularly Hymeneus and Alexander, must                 putting away a good conscience and the faith. And in that

serve to underscore for Timothy the urgency of this matter,        very act they suffered "shipwreck" as to the faith.

that no other doctrine be taught than what had been given             Now the idea of "suffering shipwreck" is certainly that of
them by Paul, the apostle. This underscores the majesty of         irreparable loss -not arriving at the destination, the harbor
the gospel of the glory of the blessed God.                        to which sail was originally set. The anchor, safe and sure

  Writes Paul concerning Hymeneus and Alexander, "whom             within the holy place, does not hold. They are drift-wood

I have delivered unto Satan, in order that they may learn          under the wrath of God. The assurance of the forgiveness of

not to blaspheme."                                                 sins is gone.    Faith is interrupted. There is nothing left.

                                                                   The thing that they lost in the "ship-wreck" is 
   When I read this sentence I shudder ; it is truly a terrible                                                          faith. They
                                                                   lost it in the objective sense of%e  truth of the gospel. That
reality which is here uttered by Paul. It sobers one to think
                                                                   Christ was delivered for our offenses and raised for our
that one would be "delivered to Satan." None can sin in
                                                                   justification they no longer hold and believe. And the result
God's church with impunity. God is not mocked. One puts
                                                                   is that when they try to find some stability they are simply
off the shoes from his feet here; the ground is truly holy and
                                                                   cast from one error and demoniacal lie to the other. Never
the place is terrible ; it is the house of God !
                                                                   finding rest for their souls, they go from bad to worse.
   Just who this Hymenetis  and Alexander were we do
                                                                       Such was the lot of "some" in Ephesus.
not know. That Hymeneus is mentioned twice by Paul in

the New Testament Scriptures, and both times is mentioned              But this was in a marked degree the case with the two

first, seems to point to the fact that he was the leader.    He    mentioned men, Hymeneus and Alexander !

and Alexander are, according to the text, guilty of blasphemy.        These latter two Paul had "given over to Satan in order
In II Tim. 2:18 Hymeneus is mentioned together with Phil-          that they might learn not to blaspheme."
etus. Here the sin of Hymeneus is that he teaches that "the
                                                                      The question is: what does Paul have in mind when he
resurrection is already past" ! That was a casting away of a
                                                                   says that he has given these over to Satan ?
good cbnscience  and of the truth in Jesus ! And the result is

that his teaching did eat like a cancer in the church. It             In the main there are two different interpretations of

would be like a little leaven which leaveneth the entire lump.     this matter.

Instead of a godly walk, in hope of the blessed resurrection,         On the one hand there is the interpretation which holds
men would be induced to walk according to the slogan, "Let         that the apostle is here speaking an extraordinary chasfise-
us eat and drink for tomorrow we die" (I Cor. 15 :32).  In-        ment; a miraculous subjection to the power of Satan, such
stead of a godly walk of thankfulness of Christian deliverance.    as involved special evils, and which could only be effected
men would walk according to the idle dream of Epicureanism.        by apostolic authority, and, therefore, peculiar only to the

   Now it had not gone well .with  this Hymeneus and               age of the apostles. This is the view held by the Romish

Alexander, and with "some" others in the church. They had          Church from earliest times, and it was much used to enhance

not heeded the work of Paul to walk as children of light,          the terrors of the priestly excommunication, and to justify

and to reprove the unfruitful works of darkness (Eph. 5 :ll).      the deliverance of ecclesiastical offenders into the hands of

Not heeding the warnings of putting off the old man and            the civil authorities for punishment. Such an exegete as

puttting on the new man, they had not walked as children of        Meyer advocates this view of this passage, of course, with-

the light. Instead they cast away a good conscience! The           out falling into the error of the Romanists. He takes the

wrath of God, which comes upon the children of disobedience,       stand that Paul is here speaking of special authority which

came upon them. They suffered shipwreck in the faith. This         is his by virtue of his apostolic office to deliver an erring and

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


recalcitrant sinner over to the power and torment of Satan.            and true. It is, of course, not to be denied that Paul had

Writes he : "[it is] the characteristic designation of the higher      power of excommunication. All the elements mentioned

grade of excommunication with which there is essentially               above are correct. However, to make this also a bodily af-

joined the ordaining in the power of the apostolic office-             fliction is not necessarily true in light! of the text in I Cor.

that Satan should plague the person delivered over to him              5 :5, nor in I Tim. 1:20.  It should not be forgotten that even

with corporal inflictions."                                            what is called the "less severe form of excommunication"

    On the other hand there is the opposite view of Calvin,            performed by the congregation is really not less severe. When
Beza, Turretin  and others who hold that the formula "to               a man is "accounted to be a heathen and publican" by the
deliver a person to Satan" is only a more solemn mode of               church, what is "bound upon earth is bound in heaven" !
stating the fact of excommunication as expressed by our                The key-power of Paul is no different in its meaning and
Lord in Matth. 18 :?7 where we read :` "and if he heed not             intention than that performed by the church through her
the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen and a publican."         regular offices. In either case a man is put outside of the
                                                                       kingdom of heaven and is thereby placed in the realm of the
   Such are, in the main, the two interpretations of this pas-
                                                                       dominion of Satan. Compare Col. 1:13.  A man who is ex-
sage under consideration.
                                                                       communicated goes from the church to where the gates of
   What are we to say about them ?                                     hell prevail upon him. Let that not be forgotten! And there-
   Dr. Kling in the Lange Se&s  holds to the position that             fore it is rather dangerous to speak of a severe excommunica-
Paul is here speaking in the formula "delivered over to                tion in distinction from a milder form of it. Excommunica-
Satan" concerning the special apostolic deliverance to Satan.          tion is ex-communication.      It is putting outside of the king-
He reasons as follows:                                                 dom of God and of Christ upon God's command and injunc-

   1.      Taking his starting point in I Cor. 5 :5 he reasons that    tion.

on the one hand Paul is speaking of excommunication from                   Since the text does not necessarily imply bodily afflictions     .
the church. The "giving over to Satan" refers to the                   but simply be given over to Satan's terrorizing, accusing of
"removal from among you" of the incestuous person (I Cor.              those who have "cast away" faith and a good conscience, I
5 :2) and also to the "putting away the wicked one from                rather believe that Paul states here the awful implication of
among your own selves" (I Cor. 5 :13). Hence, so Dr. Icling,           "excommunication" !
it must refer to the category of excommunication when Pau.1
                                                                           For let it not be overlooked that Paul speaks here of
speaks about delivering over to Satan.
                                                                       the purpose of this excommunication. It is that "they learn
   2. On the other hand what Paul has in mind in "giving               not to blaspheme."     Their evil . "flesh" must be destroyed.
over to Satan" is more than regular excommunication as                 They must learn to humble themselves before God. Whether
exercised by the church. Meyer gives the following reasons             Hymeneus and Alexander actually learned this we are not
for this view:                                                         told. We do know from II Cor. 2:s that the incestuous

   a. The peculiar phrase itself. It is affirmed that the              person spoken of in I Cor. 5 did repent with a godly re-

formula "Deliver over to Satan" cannot refer to the common             pentance not to be repented of. But here we are left in the

and regular excommunication as performed by the church                 dark. However this may be, fact is that such is the intent

according to Matthew 18.                                               of "excommunication."        It is the last remedy. It is very

                                                                       severe; it is exceedingly painful and humiliating.
   b. That the phrase "for the destruction of the flesh" in

I Cor. 5 :5 must refer to some affliction, sickness which was             However, these men blasphemed Christ, the gospel and

afflicted by Satan, so that through the sickness such an one           all the truth in Jesus. We are told that they preached a

would have the "flesh" destroyed, that is, the fleshly lusts.          "different doctrine." They did not desire the doctrine of free

                                                                       and sovereign grace. That Christ came into the world to
   c. And that Satan would then, in spite of his own evil
                                                                       save sinners they would not believe or teach. They lie about
designs, need to be a willing tool to terrorize his victim, that
                                                                       the Cross of Christ and scoff at it. And that they will learn
God's design of Messianic salvation be his ultimate portion.
                                                                       xot  to do, either in heartfelt repentance or in their going
   Those who hold such a position on the matter in I Cor.
                                                                       down under the wrath of God.
5 :5 also hold that Paul is speaking in I Tim. 1 :20 of such an
                                                                           If Paul has given such over to Satan how much more
apostolic and special form of excommunication. For it can-
                                                                       must Timothy, command certain in the congregation not to
not be denied that Paul had apostolic authority. For such
penal power reference is then made to Ananias and Sapphira             teach a different doctrine.

(Acts 5 :l) and the case of Elymas (Acts 13 :9ff.). Here,                 Mockers and scoffers take notice ! See what happened

so it is reasoned, we do not have simply excommunication,              to these two men. A similar fate will befall you, should you

but the intensified form reserved for. Paul in the power of            not beware.

Christ.                                                                    Our God is a consuming fire !

   There is much in this presentation which sounds correct                                                                         G.L.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              421


                                                                   dared to oppose the forces of darkness and to maintain the

              I N   HIS  F E A R                                   cause of Christ against overwhelming odds, they are gone.
                                                                   We stood side by side with some of them for a time, till God

                                                                   called them out of this life. We could literally for a time
                           oyal Priesthood                         gather at their feet and listen to the words of their mouths

                                                                   as Israel gathered before Moses, before Isaiah, Jeremiah,

                               (7)                                 Ezekiel, Daniel and the minor prophets of the Old Testament

                                                                   times.
   The promise, Peter says on the day of Pentecost, is to
                                                                      And, lo! the wonder of God's grace, when we look back
us and to our children, to all who are afar off, even as
                                                                   we see that they are taken away ; and when we look forward
many as the Lord our God shall call. God gathers His
                                                                   we see our children springing up as little prophets beside
covenant children in the line of continued generations. He is
                                                                   us to carry on that truth and that praise to God which we
pleased to gather His children out of our children. And as
                                                                   received and passed on to them. Instead of our fathers -who
a result there are also little prophets among us. Attend to
                                                                   have departed and gone the way of all flesh-now stand
the Word of God in Psalm 45 :16, 17, "Instead of thy fathers
                                                                   before us our children, God's royal priesthood. Budding
shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all
                                                                   prophets they are, of whom Jesus says that these least in
the earth. I will make thy name to be remembered in all
                                                                   the kingdom of heaven are greater than John the Baptist. As
generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever
                                                                   we pointed out, they are not greater in glory than John in
and ever."
                                                                   the .kingdom.  Jesus does not mean to declare that John is
   We go the way of all flesh. Our fathers and mothers             not in the kingdom today. He surely is and is a mighty
have been called out of the earthly prophetic sphere, out of       prophet in that kingdom. Though he is with those whose
all the preparatory stages of that office into the glory of the    souls are under the altar and cry to God for vindication,
kingdom, to praise this God from Whom all blessings flow           John the Baptist in the glory of heaven sings loudly the
unhindered by the flesh and its motions of sin. That has           praises of the God from Whom all blessings flow. Of that
been left behind in the grave. But there is no void. They          you may be sure. Our children, however, budding little
taught us God's praises. To us they handed down the glories        prophets that they are, have a richer revelation of the God
bf the kingdom of God. Faithful they were to their calling.        of our salvation in Christ than John had when he stood by
And what they saw on the mountain-top of revelation, what          the River Jordan preparing the way before Christ; John
they learned from the Word of God during their earthly             must send to Jesus out of prison and ask whether He is the
pilgrimage, that they shared with us. And by God's grace           coming one or whether they must look for another yet after
we have received that truth. We know it, and it has become         Him. Your and my children KNOW that He is the coming
precious to us. From that generation it has been handed            one and that in Him all our salvation is realized. John was
down to our generation. And, according to the truth of             disturbed because he saw no earthly kingdom of David
Psalm 75 it may, by God's grace be sung:                           restored. Your and my children look not for such an earthly

                                                                   kingdom, but now they see Jesus crowned with glory and
  "lnstmrcting  ow sons  we gladly record
                                                                   honor at God's right hand, and they expect Him to come
   The  praises,  the works,  the might  of the Lord,
   For He ha.th  co~wmanded  that what  He ha.tJc dpk$e            from heaven for a heavenly kingdom at the end of time.

   Be passEd  in tuaditiox  ~YOWZ.  f&er to son.                      How faithful our Covenant God is!

                                                                      He takes away out of this life and unto Himself His

                                                                   saints after a pilgrimage of some seventy or eighty years. He

                                                                   gathers His Church in the glory of heaven. But He also con-

                                                                   tinues to gath&  His Church here below, regenerating those

                                                                   whom we have generated, blessing our prophetic toil with
   The story be told,, to warn  and rest?-ain,                     children who also prophesy to the glory of His name. John
   Of hearts that were hard, 1-elx&ou.r  and vain,                 says in III John 4, "I have no greater joy than to hear thgt
   Of soldiers who  fnbtm-ed  when  battle wax ma,                 my children walk in truth." And that joy He gives us in the
   Who  kept not GoGs  covemnt  WY walked in His fear."            children who are our own flesh and blood. Again, how

   That, by God's grace we have done. And, as we said              faithful is our covenant God!

above, There is no void. The mighty princes, the pillars of           But how faithful are you and I ?
the truth, the staunch men and women of faith, not only
our natural fathers and mothers but also our spiritual fathers        IS it really true of us ? that,

and mothers, those mighty men who penned down our beau-               rClmtmtctCng  om- sons we gladly yecord

tiful confessions, those faithful soldiers of the truth who            The  praises, the  works, the wtk@  t of the Lord."


     422                                         T H E   STANDA~RD   B E A R E R
I
            Do we instruct them as faithful prophets alwayS  do ? DO       those that scatter abroad ? And how can we seriously expect

     we gladly record these things, or do we do it grudgingly and          God to make our children princes in the .earth and gather

     under silent protest 3 Do we with resentment pay the finan-           His children out of our children when we give them whose

     cial cost of what it requires to train them in their prophetic        only activity can be that of scattering abroad instead of

     office ? Surely we dare not give them over unto the world,            gatheting  with Christ ? But "God is not mocked ; whatsoever

     do we ? To save a few pennies, to have more of this world's           a man soweth, that shall he reap." %alatians  6 :7. Let the

     goods and pleasures we do not deny our children this COV-             prophet of God provide then for his children the instruction

     enant training which they need and it is our calling to               that will train them for their prophetic office.

     provide, do we ? If you do, do not be surprised if this word             And we make bold to state that any prophet who will go

     of God is not fulfilled in your children and grandchildren.           up the mountain of God's revelation, that prophet who

     Do not find fault with God when He does not instead of                listens to God and runs to Him to have his mind filled with

     your fathers give yous  children to be princes, His princes           knowledge and wisdom, will come down from that mountain-

     in the earth, heirs of the new creation and of the salvation          top of revelation with nothing less than a firm conviction

     that is in the Prince of Peace! This promise of God is for            that the world is not fit to teach his child and that, cost what

     those who say in the next verse, "I will make Thy name to             it may, he has no choice but to provide, to the utmost of his

     be remembered in all generations, therefore shall the people          power, instruction for his child in harmony with the doctrine

     praise Thee for ever and ever." If you fail in your prophetic         taught in God's Church. Still more, that parent who with an

     office over against your own children, do not find fault with         open mind and a willing heart comes to stand before God and

     them either for not proclaiming God's praises. It does not            asks, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do," that parent is

     depend upon our work. God can and will save His elect                 going to provide not only instruction in harmony with the

     children and make them prophets and princes even when we              truth taught in God's Church but instruction that is the truth

     are so very unfaithful. But if we do not provide them with            taught in that Church.

     the truth and instruction based upon His Word, we have no                We said at the outset that the prophetic office is ex-
     right to expect that His promise will be fulfilled in our             pressed in I Peter 2 :9 in the phrase, "that ye should show
     children, and we certainly will have nothing on which to              forth the praises of Him Who hath called you out of dark-
     base our hope that they will be princes of God on the earth.          ness into His marvellous light." The parent who is faithful.
            The world in its schools cannot possibly prepare your          in his own prophetic office of teaching his own children -
     children for their prophetic calling. That world does ,not            either personally or through the teachers he hires-will re-

     itself see the praises of God, and what it sees of Him it             alize this and want the praises of God taught his child. The
     hates. That world has not the beginning of wisdom, which              Psalmist says, "Unto Thee, 0 God, do we give thanks, unto
     is the fear of the Lord, and cannot possibly teach your chil-         Thee do we give thanks: for that Thy name is near Thy
     dren the wisdom that they as prophets must know. And not              wondrous works declare." Psalm 75 :l. God's name is near
     only is the world not able to give your children anything that        in all His works. Shall we not provide the budding little
     they require, not only is that world in absolutely no position        prophets, our own flesh and blood, the children whom we
     to train your child as a prophet of God; but what is far              love, with instruction day after day wherein they see that
     worse, that world can only oppose you in such training and            name of God in geography, history, civics and science but

     oppose the child in his ofice of prophet of the living God.           also in the world of numbers, of letters and words ? It is

     Opposing him in his office as prophet it will also oppose him         there for us to see. The believing teacher sees it and can
     in his office as priest and king. Of this we will have more           transmit it to your children. `The world that hates that name
     to say, D.V., when we consider these two offices  somewhat            camlot  provide your children with such instruction.

     later. But be wise in the fear of the Lord yourselves, parents,          Prophets! Teach your children and provide for their
     and understand that the ungodly can never train God's royal           teaching in His fear. And remember that you do teach them
     priesthood. The Roman Catholic priest candot  teach your              also when you-send them to the world for instruction. But
     Protestant child to partake properly of the sacrament of Holy         what you teach them then is not God's praise. You have
     Communion. The Communistic leaders cannot teach your                  served your children in that respect as a false prophet. For
     child to respect a democratic president. The blind cannot             here too you have not gathered with Christ but scattered
     teach you how to see. The spiritually depraved cannot teach           abroad.
     your children to be God's royal pi?esthood.  But they surely                                                                   J.A.H.
     will oppose your child in his calling as God's prophet, priest

     and king.

            There is no such thing as spiritual neutrality. Jesus says,                 They that trust in treasured gold,

     "He that is not with me is against me." Matthew 12 :30.                            Though they boast of wealth untold,

     What is more He adds, "And he that gathereth  not with me                          None can bid his brother live,

     scattereth abroad."      How dare we entrust our children to                       None to God a ransom give.


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    423


                                                                       righteousness, which can be approved of before the tribunal
II Contending For Phe Faith II of God, must be absolutely perfect, and in all respects con-
                                                                       formable to the divine law; and also, that our best works in
I'                                                                I
                                                                       this life are all imperfect and defiled with sin" (it is this truth,
           The Church and the Sacraments                               namely that our best works are all imperfect and defiled with

          THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION                                  sin, which is condemned by Rome - H.V. j . Then, we read

                                                                       in Question 63 : What! do not our good works merit, which
                VIEWS ON THE CHURCH
                                                                       yet God will reward in this and in a future life ? And the
                  M A T E R I A L   P R I N C I P L E                  answer reads: This reward is not of merit, but of grace.

                               (continued)                             And this Lord's Day concluded with Question 64: But dot11

      In our preceding article we concluded our quotations             not this doctrine make men careless and profane? And the

from the Decrees of the Council of Trent as setting forth the          answer reads: By no means: for it is impossible that those,

Roman Catholic position of "Justification by Works." We                who are implanted into Christ by a true faith, should not

also quoted from John Calvin, in which he emphasized that              bring forth fruits of thankfulness.

we are justified solely by faith and not by works. We will                Also Lord's Day 26 has something to tell us about this

now quote from our Reformed Symbols in connection with                 subject. Question 70 reads : What is it to be washed with

the truth of Justification.                                            the blood and Spirit of Christ? And the answer reads : "It

      In Lord's Day 7 of our Heidelberg Catechism, in answer           is to receive of God the remission of sins, freely, for the

to the question, "What is true faith ?", we read that "True            sake of Christ's blood, which He shed for us by His sacrifice

faith is not only a certain knowledge . . . .) but also an as-         upon the cross ; and also, to be renewed by the Holy Ghost,

sured confidence, which the Holy Ghost works by the gospel,            and sanctified to be members of Christ, that so we may more

in my heart; that not only to others, but to me also, remis-           and more die unto sin, and lead holy and unblamable lives."

sion of sin, everlasting righteousness and. salvation, are             Also in this answer the Catechism emphasizes that we re-

freely given by God, merely of grace, only for the sake of             ceive freely the remission of sins, only for the sake of the

Christ's merits."    Notice, please, that EVERLASTING                  blood of Christ.

RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SALVATION ARE FREELY                                    Finally, as far as the Heidelberg Catechism is concerned,
GIVEN BY GOD, MERELY OF GRACE, ONLY FOR                                Question 86 reads: Since then we are delivered from our
THE SAKE OF CHRIST'S MERITS.                                           misery, merely ,of  grace, through Christ, without any merit

      In Lord's Day 23 the truth of our justification by faith         of ours, why must we still do good works ? This concludes

is beautifully set forth in one of the beautiful Lord%  Days           our quotations from the Heidelberg Catechism.

of our Catechism. In answer to Question 60: How art thou                  Our-Confession of Faith, the Thirty-Seven Articles, has
righteous before God?, we read: "Only by a true faith in               also much to say on this subject, in Articles 22-24. Article
Jesus Christ; so that, though my conscience accuse me,                 22, entitled: "Of Faith In Jesus Christ," reads as follows:
that I have grossly transgressed all the commandments of               `<We  believe that, to attain the true knowledge of this great
God, and kept none of them, and am still inclined to all               mystery, the Holy Ghost kindleth  in our hearts an upright
evil; notwithstanding, God, without any merit of mine, but             faith, which embraces Jesus Christ, with all His merits?
only of mere grace, grants and imputes to me, the perfect              appropriates Him, and seeks nothing more besides Him. For
satisfaction, righteousness and holiness of Christ; even so,           it must needs follow, either that all things, which are re-
as if I never had had, nor committed any sin: yea, as if I             quisite to our salvation, are not in Jesus Christ, or if all
had fully accomplished all that obedience which Christ has             things are in Him, that then those, who possess Jesus Christ
accomplished for me: inasmuch as I embrace such benefit                through faith, have complete salvation in Him. Therefore,
with a believing heart." And, then, to emphasize the truth             for any to assert, that Christ is not sufficient, but that some-
that we are justified solely by faith, without any merit on            thing more is required besides Him, would be too gross a
our part, the Heidelberger asks Question 61 : Why sayest               blasphemy: for hence it would follow, that Christ was but
thou, that thou art righteous by faith only? And the answer            half a Savior. Therefore we justly say with Paul, that we
reads : "Not that I am acceptable to God, on account of the            are justified by faith alone, or by faith without works. Hox-
worthiness of my faith: but because only the satisfaction,             ever, to speak more  clearly, we do not mean, that faith itself
righteousness, and holiness of Christ, is my righteousness             justifies us, for it is only an instrument with which we em-
before God: and that I cannot receive and apply the same to            brace Christ  our Righteousness. But Jesus Christ, imputing
myself any other way than by faith only."                              to us all His merits, and so many holy works which-He has

      In Lord's Day 24 the same truth is set forth by the              done for us, and in our stead, is our Righteousness. And

Heidelberg Catechism. Question 62 reads: But why cannot                faith is an instrument that keeps us in communion with Him

our good works-be the whole, or part of our righteousness              in all His benefits, which, when become ours, are more than

before God? And the answer reads: "Because, that the                   sufficient to acquit us of our sins."

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


       Article 23 of our Confession of Faith, entitled: "Of Justi-    do good works, but not to merit by them, (for what can we

fication,"    reads as follows: "We believe that our salvation        merit?) nay, we are beholden to God for the good works we

consists in the remission of our sins for Jesus Christ's sake,        do, and not he to us, since it is he that worketh in us both

and that therein our righteousness before God is implied: as          to will and to do of his good pleasure. Let us therefore attend

David and Paul teach us, declaring this to be the happiness           to what is written: when ye shall have done all those things

of man, that God imputes righteousness to him without                 which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants :

works. And the same apostle saith, that we are justified              we have done that which was our duty to do. In the mean-

freely by his grace, through the redemption which is in Jesus         time, we do not deny that God rewards our good works, but

Christ. And therefore we always hold fast this foundation,            it is through his grace that he crowns his gifts. Moreover,

ascribing all the glory to God, humbling ourselves before             though we do good works, we do not found our salvation

him, and acknowledging ourselves to be such as we really              upon them ; for we can do no work but what is polluted by

are, without presuming to trust in any thing in ourselves, or         our flesh, and also punishable ; and although we could per-

in any merit of ours, relying and resting upon the obedience          form such works, still the remembrance of one sin is suf-

of Christ crucified alone, which becomes ours, when we                ficient to make God reject them. Thus then we would always

believe in him. This is sufficient to cover all our iniquities,       be in doubt, tossed to and fro without any certainty, and our

and to give us confidence in approaching to God ; freeing the         poor consciences continually vexed, if they relied not on the

conscience of fear, terror and dread, without following the           merits of the suffering and death of our Savior." In this

example of our first father, who, trembling, attempted to             article of our Confession of Faith it is surely clearly stated

cover himself with fig-leaves. And verily if we should ap-            that our good works are.  never meritorious, that they are

pear before, relying on ourselves, or on any other ci-eature,         never of any account toward our justification. That they are

though ever so little, we should, alas ! be consumed. And             of no account toward our justification is because our good

therefore every one must pray with David : 0 Lord, enter not          works are exclusively the fruit of faith in Christ Jesus, and

into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no             this faith is the gift of God, so that all our good works are

man living be justified."      In this article our fathers again      nothing else than the fruit of that which was merited for

declare that we are justified freely by God's grace, through          us by Jesus Christ. Indeed, the fathers do not deny that the

the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, quoting in these             Scriptures also speak of rewards, that the Lord rewards

words the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 3 :24.  And             our good works, but all this is through the grace of God, and

they also state that our only trust and confidence is not in any-     it is the Lord Who crowns His gifts.

thing in ourselves; does not rest upon any merit of our own,             The position of the Reformers on this subject of our
but solely in the obedience of the crucified Lamb of Calvary.         justification and good works is therefore clear. Protestantism

       Article 24 of our Confession of Faith treats the subject:      does not deny the necessity of good works. It does not sub-

"Of Man's Sanctification And Good Works." In this article             mit to a "rocking chair" theolo,gy.  Neither does it deny that

our fathers declare, literally, that our good works are of no         God rewards our good works. It understands very well that

account toward our justification. But let us quote this article :     the Word of God speaks repeatedly of everlasting life and

"We believe that this true faith being wrought in man by              glory as a reward. The parable of the talents is a strong

the hearing of the Word of God, and the operation of the              Scriptural passage to this effect. However, the Reformers

Holy Ghost, doth regenerate and make him a new m&l,                   emphatically deny that our good works contribute anything

causing him to live a new life, and freeing him from the              to our justification. They emphatically deny that our good

bondage of sin. Therefore it is so far from being true, that          works are meritorious.    They maintain that we are justified

this justifying faith makes men remiss in a pious and holy            by faith. And when it is maintained that we are justified

life, that on the contrary without it they would never do any-        by faith, then this faith is not presented as another work,

thing out of love to God, but only out of self-love or fear of        as something we must do prior to the  work of God. Faith is

damnation. Therefore it is impossible that this holy faith can        a gift of God, unites us with Christ. Faith and works are

be unfruitful in man: for we do not speak of a vain faith,            connected, according to our Reformed Symbols, as are a

but of such a faith, which is called in Scripture, a faith that       tree and its fruit. We owe everything to grace, the sovereign

worketh by love, which excites man to the practice of those           grace of our covenant God. Our good works are therefore

`works, which God has commanded in his Word. Which                    never meritorious. For it is given unto us of grace, not only

works, as they proceed from the good root of faith, are good          to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for His sake. The

and acceptable in the sight of God, forasmuch as they are             only merits which we possess are the merits of Christ, Who

all sanctified by his grace ; howbeit they are of no account          was eternally anointed as our Mediator, and it is only through

towards our justification. For it is by faith in Christ that          Him that we have access to the living God and are heirs of

we are justified, even before we do good works; otherwise             everlasting life and glory.
they could not be good works, any more than the fruit of a                                                                      H.V.
tree can be good, before the tree itself is good. Therefore we


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 425


     AN EVALUATION OF THE MODERN                                   ing fathers, and carried it to the unwarrantable, untenable

             EDUCWTIONWL  PROCESS                                  extreme of "antinomianism."       It is one thing to flatly and
                                                                   groundlessly reject the testimony of a credible witness. It
                         (Continued)                               is another thing to so interpret his testimony as to `make it

                                                                   suit our own ulterior ends. But it is perfectly legitimate to
   But there is more that we may learn from Dewey,
                                                                   examine the valid testimony of the accredited witness, search
especially when he advocates the teacher's forming a proper
                                                                   out its basis, seek to comprehend its depths and make it our
attitude in the pupil to the subject under study, and to all of
                                                                   own as a result of personal, individual, intelligent investiga-
life in general. The most important attitude, he says, is the
                                                                   tion.
desire to go on studying. We agree that this is a very im-

portant attitude, but it certainly is not the most important.          Another extreme to avoid, as Reformed believers, is that
The most important attitude is that whether we eat or drink        too much education, or too much reading has a tendency lo
or study or whatever we do, we do all to the glory of God ;        lead one to stray off into the mazes of false doctrine. It is
that we seek first God's kingdom and God's righteousness in        probably true that some who became voracious readers found
all of life. However, there is a proper attitude toward study,     this intensive contact to be a springboard which threw them
viz., to go on studying, always to learn all through life. This    into heresy. But that avid reading leads to false doctrine is
attitude we must strengthen, intensify and use to enlarge          a Y&on  sepitw  : it does not follow. "Children who read om-
our capacities, so that we are fitted to serve God in the place    nivorously"    may develop into book-worms; and that is an
He gives us in His kingdom.                                        extreme to be avoided. For the book-worms fail to develop

   To develop this proper attitude toward study, we must           their "social and executive abilities and skills" (p. 649). The
avoid extremes in the educational process. Dewey urges that        pupil must be taught to read well, be encouraged to a wide
we avoid such fanatic devotion to a leader or to a system          range of reading out of an insatiable hunger for knowledge
that there is no room for thinking the issues through for          and an unflagging interest in the mysteries of God's creation.
ourselves, but merely swallow down whole the regurgitations        He must also learn to study to show himself approved unto
of another without rumination or assimilation. A man of            God, a workma~z  (not a mere book-worm) that needs not to
originality and unusual power may have such influence on           be ashamed. The workman must realize a sense of accopll-
others that they may blindly and slavishly adhere to his cause     pl~&-lz~>~.en.c  in the kingdom of God, which he does, in part, by
or party. Such extreme devotion to a man and his work may          judicious reading, as proper reading is rvork; but this ac-
hinder intellectual progress.    "Those influenced by him often    complishment is produced by much more than mere reading
show a one-sided interest; they tend to form schools, and          - by willing the will of God ! by learning to will and to work
to become impervious to other problems and truths; they            for His good pleasure!

incline to swear by the words of their master and go on
                                                                       We must now say a word about traditional versus pro-
repeating his thoughts after him, and often without the spirit
                                                                   gressive education. Dewey is definitely not of the traditional
and insight that originally made them significant" (p. 634).
                                                                   school system. But neither will he have anything of the
This Dewey-an criticism is not without justification. We do
                                                                   idiosyncracies  of the progressive system. From Dewey we
not want our pupils or any of our brethren to take what we
                                                                   may learn of certain weaknesses in the traditional system.
teach them, or what our ministers believe, and automatically
                                                                   The traditional school continued for years without a con-
acquiesce to that teaching merely because it is our teaching,
                                                                   sistently developed philosophy of education.        It continued
or the doctrine of one of our founding fathers. Rather we
                                                                   with the implied presupposition that it could get along just
would instill the attitude of the noble Bereans who "received
                                                                   as well without a well worked out view of education. About
the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the
                                                                   all that it had was a smattering of abstract terminolo,T  like
Scriptures daily, whether those things were so" (Acts 17 :11) .
                                                                   "culture," "discipline," and "our great American heritage,"

   However, there is an opposite extreme to be avoided,            etc. This paucity was furthered by failure to develop these

which Dewey does not mention. It is either to depart from          concepts ;    and so educational guidance was provided not

the teaching of our founding fathers, or to take their teaching    from them, but from worn out custom and stereotyped

and pervert it, or carry it to an extreme. Suppose the former      routines (p. 661). But progressive education, on the COP

were done with respect to the principles of our American           trary, "requires . . . a philosophy of education based upon a
Constitution. That could open the doors to Communism and           philosophy of experience" (p. 662). We believe that educa-

the worst anarchy. Suppose the latter were done with respect       tion ought to be based not on philosophy, or a philosophy of

to it ! That' could make such a totalitarian god of democracy      education, but upon a Christian world and life view. TVe

that the most democratic would be regarded as enemies of           want a truly Reformed view of education -a Protestant

the state. In our churches tie have suffered the results of        Reformed view of education. This being so, we do not for

these two extremes. For some repudiated the teaching of our        a moment believe that such Reformed principles of education

founding fathers, and went to the extreme of "conditional          are based upon human experience. This would place our

theology," while others perverted the teaching of our found-       system of education upon the level bf trial-and-error, and

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


would mean that we must proceed from the false to the less          content by modern scientific thought. In scientific thought

false in a continual attempt to approximate if not actually         we reach intellectual advance. This advance may cause a

reach the truth. Our principles would then not be based on          certain amount of loss of joy and inspiration, together with

the truth, but upon results in search for truth. This implies       an increase of widespread uncertainty. But there is no profit

that truth is purely relative, and amounts to that which a          in going back to religious views which have become in-

man finds, as a result of experiment, to work and obtain            credible, and only lead to confusion. This criticism is also

results for todky.  But Reformed principles of education are        applied to so called liberals, the Modernists, for their views

based on the revelation of God as found in the sixty-six            tend to emotional hypocrisy, phrase-mongering, and the use

books of the Old and New Testaments. Here we have the               of terms which say one thing, but mean the opposite (p.

truth and the foundation of all truth. "If they speak not ac-       706). We agree with this last remark so accurately describ-

cording to this Word, it is because there is no light in them"      ing tilodernism,  but disagree with the thought that science

(Isa. 8 :20).                                                       has voided Christianity.     True science does  not have this

                                                                    effect. It is not science, but some philosophy which stands
   Many educators, with Dewey, would today agree with his
                                                                    in conflict with the Christian religion. It is the spirit of
criticism of traditional education that it does not approach
                                                                    "Seek ye first the kingdom of democracy and of modern
by half the democratic ideal of American life that the pro-
                                                                    science, and all these things - including the best in education
gressive movement does. Traditional education is too en-
                                                                    -
crusted with an autocratic spirit (p. 662f). Traditional                 will be added unto you !" To make this our primary quest,
                                                                    religion must not be taught in the public schools. For to do
education may be contrasted with progressive education in
that the former is dictatorial and harsh, while the latter is       so is, under the guise of culture, to form habits which are
democratic and humane. It would appear a distinct advantage         at variance with the spirit of democracy and science. In
                                                                    fact religion ought not to be taught in any (of the private)
if progressive education be really democratic and so won-
                                                                    schools, for religion is unscientific, and all modern science
derfully humane! But we are reminded that the spirit
                                                                    has shown religion to be empty. Religion does not belong
of democracy which pervades progressive education is one
which, although it is not against religion (which, by the way,      in the schools, and this "is not laziness nor cynicism which
should not at all be taught in the public schools), but against     calls for this policy; it is honesty, courage, sobriety and faith"
organized and institutional religion. Democracy is against          (p. 706). Is th'IS not a note of emotional hypocrisy and
the multiplication of rival and competing religions (p. 713).       phrase mongerin,
                                                                                      m struck here in the use of terms such as

We ask, Where then is the guarantee of the American Con-            "honesty," "courage," "sobriety" and "faith" which "really"
stitution that men may come to this land and worship ac-            import the opposite from that of Scripture terminology and
cording to the religion of their choice ? According to the          that of the Reformed Faith!

principles of democracy, is it not the will of the people, at            Why is the American tradition so strong against any

present at least, that multiplied and competing religions exist?    connection of state and church ? Not because of the Reformed

Is democracy a vacillating, weather-vane genius ? Or does           principle of "sphere sovereignty," namely that the home,

democracy, if truly followed, lead to a merger of all               church and state are separate spheres of life, each with its

religions to form the one-world Religion of Man ? If this is        own authority and calling.      But this practice stems from

the proper concept of democracy, it is certainly viciously          the Greek idea that the state is of more importance than the

subversive of Christianity. For this understanding of democ-        success of any segment of iife, or any class. For this reason,

racy makes       "instituted religion" a segregation movement       religion was not permitted to interfere with the state. The

which thrives on social division and renders impossible the         converse was not considered-that the state must not inter-

promotion of social unity (p. 713). This is a latent if not         fere with religion. Thus the American tradition is not based

blatant attack on the Church of Jesus Christ, which God has         on the Scriptural principle of the authority of these three

instituted on earth under the headship  of His Son. It is           divinely appointed spheres of life, but upon the heathen Greek

particularly a blow directed against the divinely instituted        conception of all of life sacrificed to a democratic state.

religion of the Reformed Faith. Modern education brands                  But if religion is not to be taught in the schools on the
Christianity and Christians as most offensively ,un-demo-           ground that to do so would be neither democratic nor scien-
cratic, and intolerable enemies of the American State. Dewey-       tific, then may not, at least, virtue be there taught? But
an thought may be neither traditional nor progressive, but it       Dewey, like Plato, does not know what virtue is, nor whether
is also neither constitutional nor humane.                          it may be taught (p. 708).     "Virtue" is another abstraction

   What is this modern view with respect to the schools             which the traditional public schools invented to slow up

and religion ? It is not only contemptuous of Modernism and         education into a routine existence. Furthermore, and it is

inimical to Romanism, but, because of its purely Atheistic          wisely queried, If religion is to be taught by the state schools,

spirit, also opposed to supernatural religion in any form. It       which religion is to be taught ? the Jewish religion ? Many

is particularly hostile to consistent Calvinism as advocated        schools are predominantly Jewish, and are supported by

in the Reformed Truth. To disparage the truth, it claims            Jewish taxes. Also the Jews are among the loudest an-

t5at  supernatural religion has been emptied of meaningful                               (Continued on page 431)


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   427


                                                                   also be said that a brief refresher course in the fundamental

11  D E C E N C Y   a n d   ORDER-11 doctrines of the Reformed Faith is always beneficial. In that
                                                                   respect it might be well to have all the members of the

                                                                   church take such a course every four or five years. However,

                                                                   we would also point out that if the pre-confession class
        Confessing the Reformed Religion
                                                                   serves only the purpose of informing those who are about

                                                                   to make confession of their faith of the questions which they
   One of the requirements, according to Article 61 of our
                                                                   will be asked when they appear before the consistory, it
Church Order, for admission to the Table of the Lord is
                                                                   would be better to omit them altogether. Then our same
that the participants shall make a confession of the Reformed
                                                                   objections hold which we raised against adopting a definite
Religion. This refers first of all to those who are members
                                                                   set of questions which are to be used for this purpose.
of the church by baptism although it applies also to those who
                                                                   Confessing faith must be a `free and spontaneous act-an
come from churches other than those of Reformed persuasiori.
                                                                   outpouring of the soul- and those practices that tend to
Confessing the Reformed Religion applies to the practice that
                                                                   make it a mere mechanical act are to be avoided.
is commonly denoted in our circles as making confession of

faith. The expression that is found in the Church Order has            In our churches three questions are asked when con-

preference in this case because it is more specific and implies    fession of faith is made publicly before the church. The first

that one who makes confession expresses agreem.ent  with           deals with acknowledging the doctrine of the church ; the

the particular creed of their church. Confessing faith in the      second with a promise to adhere to this doctrine and to

Reformed Churches involves more than assenting to the              reject all heresy;        and, finally, a question in which it is

broad and general principles of Christianity. It involves          promised to submit to the government of the church in case

agreement with the particular creed of the church as well as       of delinquency. When a favorable answer has been given to

the promise to ward off any heretical or contrary teaching.        these questions the minister will exhort and encourage from

                                                                   the Word of God those who have made their confession to
  Rev. Ophoff in his Chz~ch Right makes the obs,ervation           adhere, by the grace of God, to the way of truth and to be
that our churches should have a definite set of questions          faithful even unto death. No form is read.
that are to be asked of one making confession and also a

"form" to be used upon the occasion when that confession               In the Christian Reformed Church a form for the public

is made publicly in the assembly of the church. His reason-        profession of faith has been adopted. It reads as follows :

ing is that, "We have forms for the administration of the              "Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ:
sacraments but not for this solemnity." In this judgment
                                                                       i`We thank our God concerning you for the grace of God
we do not concur. If such a set of questions were officially
                                                                   which was given you in Christ Jesus, that you were made
adopted for use in our churches, the matter of making con-
                                                                   desirous of professing your faith publicly, here in the presence
fession of faith would be in danger of becoming too mechan-
                                                                   of God and His holy church, and of obtaining the privileges
ical. One would then merely memorize the answers to these
                                                                   of full communion with the people of God.
questions and be prepared to appear before the consistory to

make his confession. It is, in our opinion, far better if              "You are now requested to answer sincerely the follow-

the applicant does not know what questions are going to            ing questions :

be asked. The consistory, by open interrogation, can deter-            "First: Do you heartily believe the doctrine contained in
mine much better not only how well versed one is in the            the Old and New Testament, and in the articles of the Chris-
doctrines taught by the church but also the individual's           tian faith, and taught in this Christian church, to be the true
sincerity. It is no doubt true that this procedure makes it        and complete doctrine of salvation, and do you promise by
more difficult for the one making confession of faith but a        the grace of God stedfastly to continue in this profession?
matter of such importance should not be made too easy.
                                                                       "Second: Do you openly accept God's covenant promise,
   A few things might also be said in this connection about        which has been signified and sealed unto you in your baptism,
the custom of conducting pre-confession classes for those who      and do you confess that you abhor and humble yourselves
express a desire to make confession of faith. These classes        before God because of your sins, and that you seek your life
are conducted for a period of several weeks for the purpose        not in yourselves, but only in Jesus Christ your Savior?
of preparing those who will make confession of faith for that
                                                                       "Third: Do you declare that you love the Lord, and that
time when they shall appear before the consistory for in-
                                                                   it is your heartfelt desire to serve Him according to His
terrogation. Some things may be said both for and against
                                                                   Word, to forsake the world, to mortify your old nature, and
this practice. In favor of it may be said that such classes
                                                                   to lead a godly life ?
are useful in impressing upon the confessors the seriousness

and solemnity of the occasion. It may also be helpful in               "Fourth: Do yoi~  promise to submit to the government or'

building up confidence in those that are timid. And it may         the church atid  also, if you should become delinquent either


4 2 8                                        T>HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


in doctrine or. in life, to submit to its admonition and dis-            they become of age. In the church of Christ the children of

cipline ?                                                                believers are members even though they do not exercise their

                                                                         rights and privileges as members. This they do when they
    "I charge you, then, beloved, that you, by the diligent use          attain spiritual maturity and confess their Lord and Savior.
of the means of grace and with the assistance of your God                Doing this they seek admission to His table and to all the
continue in the profession which you have just made. In                  privileges of the communion of saints.
the Name of Christ Jesus our Lord I now welcome you to
full communion with the people of God. Rest assured that                    In The Chwch Order Cowwmnta:ry  the authors suggest
all the privileges of such communion are now yours. And                  that, "If ever Article 61 should be revised it might be well
the God of'all grace, who called you unto his eternal glory in           to make it read somewhat as follows: `None shall be ad-
Christ, after that ye have suffered a little while, shall him-           mitted to the Lord's Supper except those who, according to
self perfect, establish, strengthen you. To him be the domin-            the usage of the church with which they stand connected by
ion for ever and ever. Amen."                                            reason of their baptism, shall have made confession . . . .' *'
                                                                         We would favor such a revision although it is doubtful
    The questions that are asked in this form are a revision             whether that alone would eradicate the misconception from
of those formerly used and still used in our churches. In                the minds of many who think that confessing faith is
connection with this we would call attention to just two                 equivalent to joining the church. To accomplish this will
things. First of all, the question dealing with the promise to           require more than the revision of an article in the Church
reject all heresies repugnant to the true doctrine is no                 Order. The church must be instructed in the truth with
longer asked. This can only mean that in the Christian                   regard to the covenant, church membership, baptism, and
Reformed Church those who make confession of faith are                   similar doctrines. Where these are understood, we will re-
no longer required to do this. The reason for this is also               frain from speaking of joining the church as though it were
obvious from these revised questions for, in the second place,           only a society or some other organization in which member-
we must notice that a new question is inserted which in part             ship is a voluntary thing.    God Himself places us in His
reads, "DO you openly accept God's covenant promise . . . ?"             church and makes us members of the same when He causes
This question indicates that their conception of the promise             us to be born in the generations of His people. The obliga-
of God is that it is a conditional offer, an offer on the part of        tions and seriousness of that membership must be impressed e
God that becomes valid only upon our acceptance. This itself             upon us from childhood in order that when we come to years
is heresy for it is in direct conflict with the Word of God              we may know our duty to confess His Name and seek our
which teaches us that the promise of God is His oath-bound               place in the communion of His church where we may enjoy
word to His people (Hebrews 6:14-18). Hence, it is quite                 the privileges and blessings of the means of grace.
impossible to ask of those who make confession of faith that                                                                    G.v.d.B.
they will reject all heresy when at the same time they are

requested to embrace heresy. Consistency demands that the

former question be dropped as it has also been.

    There is one phrase in Article 61 that has led to some                        THE BELIEVER'S ONLY COMFORT

misconception. It is the part which we italicize. "None shall
                                                                                    Substantial comfort will not grow
be admitted to the Lord's Supper except those who accord-
                                                                                       In nature's barren soil ;
ing to the usage of the chz,tirch  w&l'z which t,`zey ,unite tjLelt$-              All we can boast, till Christ we know,
selves . . . ." This phrase has led some to think that making
                                                                                       Is vanity and toil.
confession of faith is equivalent to "joining the church." We

frequently hear people speak this way. Young people ask                            But where the Lord has planted grace,
each other when they are going to join the church. This is                             And made his glories known ;
incorrect and stems from a thoroughly non-Reformed concep-                         There fruits of heav'nly joy and peace,
tion of the covenant of grace. According to our Reformed                               Are found, and there alone.
views, believers and their seed are members of the church.

The children of believing parents are members.of  the church                       A bleeding Savior seen by faith ;
by virtue of their baptism for the question is asked of the                            A sense of pard'ning love ;
parents whether their children, though conceived and born                          A hope that triumphs over death,
in sin, ought, as members of Christ's church, to be baptized ?                         Give joys like those above.
They do not become members of the church when they make

confession of faith any more than natural born citizens of                         To take a glimpse within the veil ;

the United States become citizens of this country when                                 To know that God is mine ;

they reach the age of twenty-one years. In the latter case they                    Are springs of joy that never fail,

simply receive their rights and privileges of citizenship when                         Unspeakable ! divine !

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


                                                                        The fact that the work was done carefully was evident in

                                                                   the first place from the time the committees took to do their

                                                                   work. Only one committee was prepared to report Thurs-

                                                                   day morning when Synod began its. deliberations. Besides,

                                                                   Synod had to adjourn all day Monday to give the committees

                                                                   opportunity to finish the work assigned to them. While this

     The Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches of 1961         may seem to some as a needless delay and an inexcusable
 is now part of the archives of our denomination. The deci-        prolongation of Synod's sessions, it is nevertheless this fact
 sions however are not dead statutes destined to collect dust      that made Synod's work easier and its decisions more exact
 in some obscure filing cabinet; they will live on in the life     and definite. One could not help but be impressed with the
 of the churches. No doubt our people are vitally interested in    fact that Synod did its work thoroughly and carefully and
 the matters that concerned them as a whole as these matters       made the best possible decisions because of the preparatory
 were treated by our highest ecclesiastical body. The detailed     work of the committees of pre-advice.

 report of all that Synod did will, of course, appear in the           That these committees did their work well was evident

 "Acts" that will be off the presses sometime later this sum-      in the second place from the fact that, on the whole, their

 mer or the early part of next fall. But a brief report by way     work was adopted and their advice accepted. Synod seldom

 of summary and comment will not be out of order.                  had to overthrow the work of the committees and never felt

    Before we turn our attention to particular matters that        the need to instruct them to re-study a matter and report
 occupied Synod's attention, I would like to make a few gen-       later.

 eral comments.                                                        In the third place, there was on the Synod what can

    The pre-synodical prayer service was held in First Church      perhaps be called    "an evident spirit of progress."       Our

 on Tuesday evening, June 6. Rev. C. Hanko  preached on            churches are moving forward. This is especially emphasized

 the text Phil. 2 :5. He spoke of the fact that' the mind of       by the fact that those wJ>o left us in 1953 are rapidly dis-

 Christ to which this text refers was the utter humility of our    integrating as churches and returning to the Christian Re-

 Lord and His perfect obedience which was revealed in His          formed Church from whence they came out. We may be as-

 suffering and death for us. He applied this to Synod by           sured that God is richly blessing us in the cause of the

 calling the attention of the delegates to the fact that they      Reformed faith and the truth of His Word. Our churches

 were not at the Synod to serve themselves or their own            are not looking backward .and retracing footsteps that once

 cause and personal desires, but they were called to deliberate    have been taken. We are looking ahead and moving ahead.

 and decide on the problems and matters confronting our            This is abundantly evident from many of the things that

 churches in the consciousness that they serve God, Christ's       transpired at Synod to which I will call your attention in a

 church and one another. I mention briefly this sermon be-         moment.    But, let our people not forget that they have

 cause this was indeed the spirit that prevailed at Synod.         abundant reason for daily gratitude to our covenant God

 Anyone who had the privilege of attending any of the ses-         Who has. so singularly blessed us and given us the privilege

 sions could not help but be struck with the fact that, as far     of manifesting His cause and truth in the midst of the world.

 as it is possible for sinful men endowed with the grace of        But may this also be a further incentive to move forward in

 God, our delegates sought the welfare of the church of Jesus      faith, developing the truth and fulfilling ever more our

 Christ. This was especially evident because there were many       obligations as members of the eternal church of Jesus Christ.

 difficult and worrisome problems confronting the churches

 which required a considerable amount of wisdom and humil-         MATTEWS  QF OUR  THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL

 ity. But the evidence of the mind of Christ was clear - most,         With regard to the particular matters that were before
 if not all, of the decisions were made by unanimous or nearly     Synod, we may turn our attention to our Theological School
 unanimous vote.    Our churches can rest assured that the         first of all. That our school has had a fruitful year is evident
Lord will certainly bless what has been done.                      to our churches in Miclaigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin, for
    In the second place, it was striking that the committees       they have had the services of our student, Dave Engelsma,
 of pre-advice did exceptionally fine work. These committees       on various Sundays since the first of February. The sem-
 are indispensable to the work of Synod. They prepare the          inary is now located in a very agreeable room in the base-
 way for concentrated deliberation on the matters for deci-        ment of First Church especially prepared by First Church
 sion ; they formulate possible decisions to be made ; they are    for our school. Several cabinets, besides the bookcases the
 instrumental in seeing that the work is done with the proper      school already owned, were built for our library. This is
 measure of dispatch and care. In years gone by this has           probably the opportunity to inform our people of the fact
 not always been the case. The result was that Synod's work        that our library has been carefully catalogued,  all the mimeo-
 was made tedious and difficult. This cannot be said of the        graphed notes have been bound with plastic bindings, and a
 committees of this year's Synod.                                  catalogue of all the notes is being prepared so that they may

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


be sold to our ministers and people should they desire to          fields of labor. Something concrete is now being done about

purchase any of them.      Many of these notes are of our be-      this by the Mission Committee, and this work was approved

loved Rev. Ophoff whom the Lord has taken out of our               by Synod. All the correspondence of the Radio Committee

school. He is at present back in the hospital, although he         of First Church is being turned over to a sub-committee of

expects to return home again soon. May God bless him in            the Mission Committee for information and filing. The sub-

the evening of his life as well as the professors that carry       committee hopes to purchase maps of the United States, pin-

on this important work.                                            point the correspondence exactly on these maps, and use this

   The first books have also been purchased for the Memorial       as a means to follow up radio mail and to determine other
Library, a fund for which was started at the anniversary of        fields of labor. We are hoping to. make contacts with believers
Rev. H. Hoeksema last summer. We want to remind our                in the southern states, perhaps among the Southern Pres-
people of this fund, for it is dependent upon the gifts and        byterians or Southern Baptists.

offerings of our people and churches. It will be a library            3) The Foreign Broadcasting from Monaco also goes on.

devoted primarily to works in dogmatics since this is the          Synod approved another year of broadcasting and decided to

main branch of learning in which Rev. Hoeksema was en-             assess our people $2.00 per year to pay for this broadcast.

gaged. Any gifts, no matter how small -or large-will               This is a good opportunity to inform our people that con-

be deeply appreciated and used exclusively for this library.       siderable response - some very favorable and encouraging -

   Concerning students in our seminary, Synod made the             has already been received from across the ocean. Most letters
following decision (Quoted from the report of the commit-          come from the British Isles, and particularly England, but

tee of pre-advice, which was adopted, H.H.) : "Synod shall         there is, to my knowledge, also a letter from Finland where
instruct the Theological School Committee to continue to           our broadcast is also being heard. We urge our people to

make repeated appeals to young men to prepare for the min-         support this broadcast fully. Perhaps in the near future this

istry in our churches by means of our periodicals (Beac0.n         column will carry quotes from some of the foreign mail.

Lights as well as The Standard  Bea:rer), this appeal to be

done by way of announcement and articles and by personal           SUNDRY MATTERS

letter to young men who have been  recommended by local                1) This year there will be made available some of the

Consistories to the Theological School Committee."                 new Catechism books to be used by our children in their final

   Our Consistories also are therefore urged to inform the         form. These books have been revised by the Catechism Book
Theological School Committee of qualified young men so that        Committee several times ; they were in the hands of a re-
the School Committee can get in contact with them and en-          viewing committee that went over them all carefully and sug-
courage them in this most blessed and important calling.           gested extensive changes ; they will now be revised for the
But, as always, this encouragement must come first of all          last time and be published. These books have been used by
from our covenant homes. Our parents are therefore also            most of our churches already, but they were not in their
urged to encourage their young men to seek the high calling        final form- only in a form for trial and criticism. A
of the ministry of the gospel, that our churches may receive       tremendous amount of labor has been put into the prepara-
shepherds to lead them.                                            tion and publication of these books, and a word of apprecia-
                                                                   tion is due this committee.
MATTERS OF MISSIONS                                                    2) We hope to have a new copy of the Church Order
   Concerning missions, there were several important deci-         available for our people this year. The last edition is no
sions taken by our Synod.                                          longer available, and has in fact, been outdated. A committee

   1) We notice from the report of the Mission Committee           has prepared a new and up-to-date edition that is ready to

that several areas were investigated this past year by our         go to press. It will include again all the pertinent decisions

missionary.    He worked extensively in the area of Pella,         of the past Synods underneath the articles that are relevant;

Iowa ; he investigated the area of northern Missouri ; he kept     it will also include the new rules of Synod and of procedure

in contact with the ,people  in Rock Valley. For the most part,    at Synod, the revised Constitutions of the Theological School,

however, he has labored in the Tripp-Menno  area of south-         the Theological School Committee, the Emeritus Committee,

eastern South Dakota. Revs. Van Baren,  Woudenberg and             as well as all the other Constitutions and forms that now

Kortering  have assisted him in this area. Our missionary          appear in our Church Order. One addition is the Declara-

reports with enthusiasm concerning his work there, and we          tion of Principles. Since this form was originally adopted

have every reason to believe that the Lord is using Rev.           to be used in our Mission work, the Synod decided to in-

Lubbers very fruitfully among these people. We perhaps             clude it in the Church Order. This tiew "little green book"

sometimes fail to realize the difficulty of the work of mis-       should be in the hands of all our people ; so watch for its

sions ; it is well that our people be reminded to remember         appearance and be sure to obtain your copy.

our missionary in their prayers.                                      3) Finally, our people are probably wondering what hap-

   2) The Mission Committee has long been seeking other            pened to the proposed change to Article 69 of our Church


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   431


Order which deals with what shall be sung in the churches.          The state schools (p. 723) ! But what is the future of educa-

This matter has been reported on extensively by a study             tion, according to this humanistic philosophy? It is fraught

committee (the report appears in the 1960 "Acts"), and              with much risk, no matter what course of action we may

has been discussed in our Sta:ndard  Bewer.  Synod took no          choose. For "fortune rather than our own intent and act

action on the proposed change other than postponing action          determines eventual success and failure . . . We survey con-

on it for a year and referring it to the general discussion of      ditions, make the wisest choice we can; we act, (then) we
our people. We hope that our people will take the opportu-          must trust the rest to fate" (p. 279).

nity to read the report of the committee, and discuss this             What admitted miserable failure in the modern educa-
matter both in our papers and amongst themselves. Espe-             tional principle and process ! It proceeds from no better

cially it would be profitable for our young people to discuss it    motive than the good of the state. This is far from the

in the Bencon  Lights.                                              highest good. For whatsoever is not of faith is sin. It pro-

   And so the Synod goes down in history- the history of            ceeds according to no standard, depending entirely upon

the Church.                                                         human experience for guidance. This also is sin, for it rejects

   One remark by way of conclusion : I think that our people        the standard of God's Word to revert to the wisdom of men.

could show a greater interest in the affairs of the Synod.          It moves to no purposeful end, because it does not know

After all, this Synod is the Synod of our churches and be-          whence it is, why it is here, or where it is going. This, too,

longs to our people. In it all of you have a vital interest.        is sin; for the chief end of man is to glorify God and fully

The lack of interest was shown in the poor attendance at the        to enjoy Him for ever. It has no unifying principle, and

pre-synodical prayer service -poor if one considers that            so utterly lacks cohesion. Tk,is is sin, for the true unifying

the church could easily have been filled to capacity if our         principle for all of life is the covenant of friendship in whit!?

people had been willing to come. But this lack of interest          God, our Sovereign Friend, makes us His redeemed friends.

was also shown in part by the poor attendance at Synod's            The unifying principle of true Christian education is the
sessions. I know it is difficult to "get away" from the             aim to have home, church and school train the covenant child
obligations of daily life ; but our people should attend Synod      to live as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven in every aspect
if at all possible, and as much as possible. The fact that          of life. This is no abstract idealism. It means that the child
there were not many visitors however is also Synod's  fault.        is divinely called to love the Lord his God with all his being,
There were times when visitors came but had to go back              and evidence that love in seeking the welfare of the church.
home because of executive sessions. No doubt, Synod itseif          In the Christian school he is to learn to devote his whole life
should try to encourage more interest in their meetings -           to the church for the sake of God's kingdom. The school must
and one way to do this is to hold as few executive sessions         train him to dedicate himself in total consecration to the cause
as is absolutely necessary.                                         of God and truth. His Christian training must lead him to
                                                                    know the truth, speak the truth, love the truth, walk in the
   May God bless the decisions of our Synod to our
                                                                    truth with his family, in office, shop or farm, with his wages,
churches; may we go on in the faith that our cause is the
                                                                    in his contacts with the world, weighing every thought, desire
cause of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that it will certainly
                                                                    and action in the light of God's glory and the good of the
be victorious.                                       H. Hanko
                                                                    church. It is no education, if it does not prepare and enable

                                                                    the child of God to enter upon life with his wife and children,

                                                                    his money, his home, his possessions, his talents, his gifts,

                                                                    bodily and mental powers, his education, knowledge, prayers

                                                                    and love- all in the service of God's kingdom, as mani-
                   (Continued  from page 426)                       fested in the church of Jesus Christ!

tagonists against religion in the public schools. What then?                                                                    R.C.H.

Shall we there teach Christianity ? U%clz  Christianity ?

Romanist  "Christianity" ?      Modernist "Christianity"? Bap-                           WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

tist Christianity (p. 709) ?                                           On June 22, 1961, our parents,

                                                                                   MR. and MRS. MARTIN CASEMIER
   No, religion must go, and especially every form of super-
                                                                    have celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary.
natural religion. But if we bring about this complete dis-             We are thankful to our Heavenly Father for giving them these
appearance of the dogmatics of theology, that would not be a        many years together. It is our prayer that He may continue to

sign of growing irreligion. It would be a sign of increasing        bless them in their remaining years together.

knowledge of nature and of natural piety. Orgoz&ed  religion                                       Their children:
                                                                                                Mr. and Mrs. Richard Taylor
must have a short-lived influence, since it lacks cohesion.                                     Mr. and Mrs. Albert Casemier

But this does not mean that religion is on the decrease.                                        Mr. and Mrs. John Casemier
                                                                                                Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Casemier
Monopolistic religion is on the decrease. But the religion  of                                  Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Dozeman
democracy produces a fruit of a broader humanism (p. 71.5).                                     Mr. and Mrs. Lavem Casemier
What is the support and stay of this "broader humanism"?                                        The grandchildren and great-grandchild
                                                                    Holland, Michigan


                                    _~~____                                zp __~__~.
43,j .         _- . ,_                - . THE-,iTANDARD   B E A R E R

                       .
                                                                         The Program Committee of the Reformed Witness Hour

    NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES                                            announces the following schedule for the month of J~ily  :.Prof.
                                                                      H. C. Hoeksema will be the guest speaker. Under the gen-
             `RI1 the saints  salzcte  thee . . . ." PHIL. 4:21       eral theme, "The Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures" the

                                                                      speaker will broadcast five sermons entitled, "All Scripture
                                                 June 20, 1961        Inspired," "The Wonder of Divine Inspiration," "Organic-

   The 1961 Synod is history. The immediate effects of                ally Inspired,"     "The `Authority of Holy Scripture," and

the meeting were ,felt  in all our: churches; with the exception      concluding with, "The Perspicuity of Scripture." - Printed

of Lynden, perhaps. Pulpit supplies were arranged and re-             copies of these sermons can be procured by request. The

arranged, with reading services and two and three-way                 address - The Reformed Witness Hour, P.O. Box 8, Grand

pulpit exchanges not uncommon. The result of                          Rapids 1, Mich.
                                                           Synod's
decisions upon the denominational life of our churches is                Commencement exercises of Adams St. School were held

not yet known, except that we will keep the $5,000 radio              in First Church, June 9, with the Rev. M. Schipper  of

station in Monaco for transmitting our European radio                 Southwest Church giving the message to the graduates.

broadcasts. The entire report will be in the Year Book, of                Rev. A. Mulder, of our Kalamazoo Church, was` the
course, which you will all want to read.                              speaker at the Commencement Exercises of Hope's School

   Did yozt  knoze,  that a pre-Synodical prayer service was          held in the Hudsonville Unity High School gym.

held in First Church, with. the Rev. C. Hanko officiating?               All of our consistories in Classis  East received an official
and, undoubtedly many of our people heeded the various bul-           visit from the Church Visitors, Rev. G. Vos, of Hudsonville,
letins' pleas to pray for our Synod and our churches, but -           and Rev. C. Hanko, of First Church, as stipulated by Article
   Do yozi.  know why so very few of us pray w& the                   44 of the Church Order.
Synodical  delegates in those pre-Synodical prayer services
                                                                          Our Missionary, Rev. G.. Lubbers, is currently working
held each year?
                                                                      in South Dakota, using the Tripp City Hall for public wor-
   Our beloved Rev. Ophoff suffered another slight stroke
                                                                      ship services each Sunday morning.          Before these lo:30
and has been hospitalized. Plans are to have. him complete
                                                                      services Rev. Lubbers conducts a Sunday School at- 9 :30
his recuperation at home as soon as it is advisable. Your
                                                                      for young and old. In the Sunday School a rather thorough
greeting cards may be sent to him in care of Pine Rest Hos-
                                                                      and basic study is being made of the Book of Genesis : Crea-
pital, 6850 S. Division Ave., Grand Rapids 8, Mich.
                                                                      tion, The Fall, The Great Promise in Christ, the History of
    One of Hope's bulletins announced a special congrega-
                                                                      the world before the Flood. Rev. Lubbers thus advertises:
tional meeting and mentioned some proposals of the con-
                                                                      "Come one, come all! Learn about the Reformed world-
sistory regarding some building plans. The next bulletin
                                                                      and-life view !"
amlounced  that the proposals were adopted, and resulted in

an increase in their monthly building fund assessments from               Lynden's parsonage housed two Rev. Harbachs for a few

two to four dollars. Do we jump to conclusions when we                days in June. Lynden's Pastor was host to hiss brother,

judge that they are `going to build an addition to their audi-        Clark, Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Stafford, Kan-

torium which is now serving capacity duty?                            sas, who was touring the Northwest with his family.

    The results of a special congregational meeting of South              To you who celebrate a birthday in July we offer this
Holland's church were, among others, these decisions: To              `poem of birthday dedication by Chas. Wesley, quoted in
install a public address system with a loud-speaker in the            Lynden's bulletin :
basement for overflow audiences; to install an exhaust fan                        God of my life, to thee
in the attic for cooling purposes ; to appoint a committee out                      My cheerful soul I raise ;
of the congregation to work with the consistory to.investigate                    Thy goodness bade me be,
various phases of bdding  a new church.                                             And still prolongs my days ;
   -This joyful announcement was found in Lynden's bulle-                         I see my natal hour return
tin : "The consistory has made a down payment on the former                         And bless the day that I was born.
Gospel Hall building. We expect to obtain a permit from the
                                                                                  My soul and all its powers,
city council to move the building to our plots adjacent to
                                                                                    Thine, wholly Thine, shall be ;
the parsonage property. We are grateful to God for the prog-
                                                                                  All, all, my happy hours
ress made in this direction, and our prayer is that we shall
                                                                                     I consecrate to Thee ;
soon have the joy of worshiping in our own meeting place."
                                                                                  Whate'er  I have, whate'er I am,
We pass this bit of information along to you that we, the
                                                                                     Shall magnify my Maker's name.
"Haves," may rejoice with the "Have-not? as they count

their many blessings, one by one.                                         . . . . see you in church.                           J.M.F.


