              VOLUME XXXVII                  AUGUST 1, 1961 - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                              NUMBER 19

                                                                    kind, immorality, adultery, idolatry and enmity against God.

                                                                    And so it was a city which could be representative of
piTGxiMEU[TATION(                                                   Canaan, and of the wicked world generally.

                                                                       Rahab was a citizen of Jericho : a harlot. It figures. And
       `,.
                   ii HARLOT JUSTIFIED                              it is mentioned purposely to indicate that she was a partici-
                                     ,. .
                                                                    pant of Jericho's sinful life. She was Jericho's representative,
              "Likewise also was not Raltab the h~~lo~.ju.$ijied    as also yours and mine. You often find that in Scripture.
               by works, when she had received the wsesiengers.,
               and -had sent them .out another wuy." James 2 :25    Think of laughing Sarah, sinful David, lying Rebekah, curs-
                                                                    ing and swearing Peter, etc. They represent us.
              "B$ faith. the imPlot  R&ab pei-i&&d  not z&h them
               that believed not, ,wlzen  she had received th          Another point : note how wonderfully truthful is God and
               spies with peace."                Hebrews 11:31      His Word. It never glosses over the evil of God's people.

                                                                    It tells the story just as is.
   From our point of view, the most important question is :

Am I a friend of God or of the world ?                                 But Rahab had faith. We must emphasize this, otherwise

                                                                    we will depart from the true and faithful way of God.
   If the former, I will hate the world ; if the latter, I am

a hater of God.                                                        Her works were not the works of the law,

   There is no other alternative.                                      They were the works of faith.

   If you love God, it is proof that you have faith and the            Let's look- at the history,

works of faith.      .                                                 There come the masses of Israel, the nomad people.

   These works `of faith had Rahab. And so, she opposed               And make no .mistake  : this Israel is the God's Kingdom
Jericho's cause, her own city. And `she cast -her  lot with         which is going to destroy the kingdom of Satan. The King-
God's Kingdom which came to destroy Jericho.            .           dom of God will be founded on the ruins of the kingdom of

   And she was justified by her works.                              S a t a n .

   To that we want to call your attention.                             The world is always perishing, and the Kingdom of God

                                                                    is always progressing, even on the foundation of -the  world's

                           * * li: *                                ruins. These two always go together. And it will be beauti-
                                                                    fully shown at the end of the ages. Then the world will go

   Rahab was a harlot. That is, she had been a harlot: she          down in flames  at the same time when God's Kingdom will

was so no more. She had become converted. That is sure.             stand in all its glory before the face of God, His Christ,' the

                                                                    angels and the righteous.
   But she had been a harlot, and so she was a worthy

representative of that wicked city Jericho.                            Rahab believed that.

   Jericho was a city of great significance in the plan to             She had received the excellent gift of God. And as soon

occupy the Holy Land. It was the very key for the conquest.         as that faith reached'her consciousness, she was loosed from

And that is the reason why Israel must receive that city            Jericho. And in her heart and mind she was a justified

from God Himself.                                                   person.

   It was a strong city, with strong men and strong walls              She believed in the cause of God. She had heard of that
round about it.                                                     cause. -She  knew .the `wondrous history of Israel's redemp-

   Spiritually it was a city filled with iniquity of. `every        tion out of the house of bondage. And she believed it too.

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



       And therefore she speaks of that which she believed.             But here is the point: The Holy Scripture does not say

       With heart and soul she is in favor of God and His cause,     anything about her lying and deception, but says much about

and against her own city.                                            the greatness of her faith and works of faith.

                                                                        Her work of faith is great. She is surrounded by the

                            * G * *                                  people, the soldiers and the might of the world. But she

       Faith causes us to choose sides. She is for God and His       stands foursquare on the cause of God. She turns against

party in the world.                                                  her own people and casts her lot with God and His cause. At
                                                                     the danger of losing her own life. Her life was at stake at
       Faith that speaks but does not work is dead. It is the
                                                                     the very moment when the servants of the king knock on
faith which makes the devils tremble.
                                                                     the door of her house and question her. But it does not deter
       Rahab chooses for God.                                        a person who has the living faith. Her works will accompany

       The spies came as friends of God, and knocked at her          that faith. Even at the danger of losing her life. That is the

door. .                                                              great thing in the works of Rahab.


       Well, she receives them, protects them and cares for them
                                                                                                * * * *
to the very end.

                                                                        And so Rahab is justified.
       Rahab is a friend of God in her works.

                                                                        Now let us get one thing very straight: Rahab was not
       And she is against Jericho. And that is quite correct.
                                                                     justified became of her works.
You cannot serve two masters,       If you love the one, you will

hate the other. That is the antithesis. That is the way it is           Why not?

throughout all the ages.    If ycu are a friend of God you are          Because she was already justified before the world was
a hater of the world.                                                created. God loved her from everlasting to everlasting. She

       And that is the way Rahab acted too. The king of              was given to Jesus Christ in the quiet wakes of eternity

Jericho hears about these two men, and that they had found           before the world began.

refuge in the house of Rahab. He sends his servants to in-              Second, because she was justified before God's tribunal
quire.    He knew that these men of Israel had come to spy           before her faith had a chance to work. As soon as faith
out the city and the land.        "Give those men up to me !"        resides in you, you are justified before God's throne. Such
That is the command of the king to Rahab.                            is the nature of faith. Faith is the avenue to God's heart.

       And what are her works?                                       Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Faith means that this

                                                                     Jesus is in your heart. And He gives you the spiritual power
       She chooses for the spies and against her king.
                                                                     to draw out of Himself all you need to live forever.
       She looked at the recompense of the reward. She is sure
                                                                        And, third, because no works of faith can wash away
of Israel's victory and flees the wrath to come, She seeks
                                                                     sin. Suppose that the works of faith could wash you clean
the peace of Jerusalem and works the works of a living faith.
                                                                     as far as the present and the future are concerned. Even that

                            * * * *                                  is not true, but suppose it to be true for the sake of argument.

       That was great !                                              But what about the past and all its guilt and evil ?

       Oh, I know that Rahab has been severely criticized for           No, but Rahab was justified in the way of her works. She

her lying and deceiving.      She went to the door and said:         was saved by means of the works of faith.

"Oh yes, there were two men here, but they are gone !" And              And that is exactly the case in this history.
all the time they lay upstairs under the stalks of flax ! She
                                                                         Suppose that Rahab had spoken, but not acted ? Suppose
continues :    "Be sure and follow them and you will catch
                                                                     she had talked and talked to these spies about God and Israel
them !" But she is a deceiver. She will contrariwise give
                                                                     and their cause and prospects, but not acted ?
advice to the two men so that they may elude their pursuers !

                                                                        Then she would have perished with Jericho.
       What must we say about this lying and deceiving ?

                                                                         A faith that talks and does not work is dead, and is like
       That is very simple. She should not have done that. She
                                                                     the faith of the devil. He believes that there is a God, but
should have trusted in the Almighty God! There is no
                                                                     he trembles.
problem here at all. The Holy Scripture simply shows

Rahab to be just as frail and weak as we are. We are all                 There is plenty of such faith today, but it does you no

liars, everyone of us.                                               g o o d .

       No, we will never defend the lie and deception. And               James militates against that kind of faith. Remember

God does not either. God forbid. His Name is ,Holy. Far              how he said: Suppose that a brother or a sister is naked

is the Almighty from doing iniquity.                                 and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them:


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                                                                      435



Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled ! But you do not

give them a scrap of food or a rag to put upon their chilled                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                       Semi-monthly,  except monthly during June, July and  August
body ?- Could such  a faith profit `you ? Of course not.
                                                                         Published by the REFo&m  FREE  PUBLISHING  Assommo~
   So also here. If Rahab had talked theology and doctrine             P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7: Mich.

until she was blue in the face, and had not protected and                                       Editor-RnEv.  I&AM  HOEKS~

cared for these spies, she would have-been destroyed after the         Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
sevenfold walk about the city.                                                            Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 i%nklin  St., S. E.,
                                                                                                                      Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

   But now she believed, and spoke, a.%6 acted; proving that           All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
she had a living faith. The scarlet thread hung out of the                                James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
                                                                                                                 Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
window on the wall. It was seen. And she was saved.                    Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
                                                                       address and will be published at a fee of $2.00 for each notice.
   And the harlot Rahab was justified.
                                                                       hrmwa:  Unless a def?mite  request for discontinuance is re-
   And she received the unspeakable honor to become the                ceived it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
                                                                            to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
mother of Jesus.
                                                                                                       Subscription price: $5.00 per year

   She is waiting in heaven for you.                                         Second Class postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan
                                                            G.V.


                            -         -
                                                                                                                            C O N T E N T S


                    ACTS OF 19131 SYNOD                             MEDITATION-
                                                                            A Harlot Justified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
   The Acts of the 1961 Synod of the Protestant Reformed                                 Rev. G. Vos

Churches are now available. You can purchase yours for
                                                                    EDITORIDS  -
$1.00 from the minister or clerk of your church or send $1.00                The Hymn Question Before Our Synod . . . . . . . . . .._..................  436

to undersigned.                                                                          Rev. H. Hoeksema

                                                                             Correspondence Between Our Synod and Government
   Get your copy today and keep informed on the important                          Officials Concerning Sunday Military Training ._,............_  437

issues decided by the Synod.                                                             Rev. H. C. Hoeksema

                                      Stated Clerk of Synod
                                                                    OUR   D O C T R I N E -
                                      G. Vanden  Berg                        The Book of Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

                                      9402 South 53rd Court                              Rev. H. Hoeksema

                                      Oak Lawn, Illinois            A CLOUD OF WITNESSES-
                                                                             The Song of Moses... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
                            --                                                           Rev. B. Woudenberg


                    Notice for Classis West                         FROM  HOLY WRIT  -
                                                                             Exposition of I Timothy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
    Classis  West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will                               Rev. G. Lubbers

meet, the Lord willing, in Doon, Iowa, on Wednesday, Sep-

tember 20, 1961. All matteis  for this classical agendum must       CONTRNDING  FQR  THE  FM~-
                                                                             The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._. _.. . . . . . . . . . .._ 448
be in the hands of the Stated Clerk not later than thirty                                Rev. H. Veldman

days before the meeting of Classis.

                                                                    TIIE  VOICE OF OUR  FATHEES-
            I'LL                 Rev. H. Veldman, Stated Clerk               The Belgic Confession.. . . . . . . . . . . . . _. _. _. , . . . . . . ,450

                                                                                          Rev. H. C. Hoeksema



                                                                    DECENCY AND ORDER-
          The foes of Zion shall be brought                                  Partaking At The Lord's Supper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . _. _. ,452

            Td hopeless flight and put to shame ;                                         Rev. G. Vanden Berg

          Their wicked plans shall come to nought
                                                                    ALLARouNDus-
            And all mankind forget their name.                               On the Convention                                       Road.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _. ,454
                                                                             Caricatures                      of Reformed Truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455

                                                                                          Rev. H. Hanko
          To them no kindly friend shall say,

            God bless you now and speed you well;.                  NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,456
          Mb grateful hea&  for them shall pray,                                          Mr. J. M. Faber

            May God's rich blessing on you dwell,


436                                         T H E   STANDARD.   B E A R E R


                                                                      the Holy Spirit but God was grieved with the generation of

              E D I T O R I A L S                                     the unbelievers that could not enter into the promised rest.
                                                                      Nor do we read of the Holy Spirit in the infallible com-

                                                                      mentary we have of this passage of Psalm 95 in the third

                                                                      chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews.
        The Hymn Question Before Our Synod                               Now what is the point I wish to make ? It is this that,
       We were discussing the hymn question as it was before          if we would make the Church of the new dispensation sing
our last Synod.                                                       the Old Testament Psalms, it will be necessary to introduce
       Those that argued against the motion to adopt hymns to         New Testament elements in the versification of the Psalms.
be sung in our churches objected that there was no need of            This is true emphatically of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit
hymns for the simple reason that there is sufficient material         but also of other truths.
in our present psalter for almost every occasion. It was                 As far as the Holy Spirit is concerned, that it is quite
granted that this is not the case with respect to the resurrec-       impossible to sing of Him in the Psalms unless New Testa-
tion of Christ and the doctrine of the Holy Spirit as He was          ment elements are introduced, is very evident, for the simple
poured out on the day of Pentecost.                                   reason that the Holy Spirit was not yet. Thus we read in
       As to the latter, the Psalter has a few references to the      John 7 :39: "He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath
truth concerning the Holy Spirit.                                     said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But
       If you will look to the back of your psalter, you will find    this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on Him
the following references: 85, 141-143, 255, 287, 389-391.             should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet (given),
       Now, as far as the first reference is concerned, I can find    because that Jesus was not yet glorified." In the old dis-
no mention of the Holy Spirit here at all, neither in the             pensation, therefore, the Spirit of Christ, was not yet. This
versification nor in the original, Ps. 33, as we find it in our       had to wait until Christ had been exalted at the right hand
English Bible. This is, therefore, an error.                          of God. It is true, in the first place, that the Spirit was given
       But we do find mention of the Spirit of God in numbers         to the officebearers, to prophets, priests and kings. Secondly,
141-143, as well as in the psalm itself. In the versification we,     that the Church, in general, received operations of the
read the well-known stanza :                                          Spirit, is also a fact. No doubt, they were regenerated. But
                "Gracious God, my heart renew,                        the contents of these operations of the Spirit and of that
                 Make my spirit right and true ;                      regenerated life were very limited in comparison with the
                 Cast me not away from Thee,                          life of the Church of the new dispensation. Believers of
                 Let Thy Spirit dwell in me ;                         the old dispensation were always led by the Spirit to the
                 Thy salvation's joy impart,                          shadows, to temple and altar, to priest and sacrifice. And,
                 Steadfast make my willing heart."                    although these shadows pointed to Him that was to come,

       And this is a versification of Psalm 51 :lO-12 : "Create in    they did not understand these shadows. But all of a sudden,

me a clean heart, 6 God ; and renew a right spirit within me.         when the Holy Spirit was poured out, they understood, as

Cast me not away from Thy presence ; and take not thy holy            is evident from the sermon preached by the apostle Peter

spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation ; and        on the day of Pentecost.

uphold me with thy free spirit."                                         But if the Old Testament Psalms are poor in contents as

       Then we have the next reference in Psalter No. 255 the         far as the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is concerned, the New

last stanza, which reads as follows :                                 Testament is abounding in reference concerning- the Spirit of

                "While He proffers peace and pardon                   Christ.
                                                                         And the same is true of our Confessions as well as of our
                  Let us hear His voice today,
                                                                      liturgical forms. Thus we read in the Heidelberg Catechism,
                  Lest, if we our hearts should harden
                                                                      question 53 : "What dost thou believe concerning the Holy
                 We should perish in the way ;
                                                                      Ghost? First, that he is true and co-eternal God with the
                  Lest to us, so unbelieving,
                                                                      Father and the Son; secondly, that he is also given to me to
                  He in judgment shall declare:
                                                                      make me by a true faith, partaker of Christ and all his bene-
                  Ye, so long My Spirit grieving,
                                                                      fits, that he may comfort me and, abide with me for ever."
                  Never in My rest can share."
                                                                      When in our churches we preach:on  this particular Lord's

       This is supposed to be a versification of Psalm 95 :lO, 11:    Day and we look for numbers in the Psalter that befit the

"Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and             subject material expressed in this Lord's Day we find this

said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have        very nigh impossible. The same is true of question 35 :

not known my ways : Unto whom I sware in my wrath that                "What is the meaning of these words -He was conceived

they should not enter into my rest.",                                 by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary? That God's

       We may notice that in the text of Psalm 95 there is no         eternal Son, who is and continueth eternal God, took upon

mention of the Holy Spirit as it is in the versification. Not         him the very nature of man, of the flesh and blood of the


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D . B E A R E R                                                    437.



virgin Mary, by the operation of the Holy Ghost; that. he            in the gospel, and assures us by the sacraments, that the

might also be the true seed of David, like ur$o his brethren         whole `of ,our Salvation depends upon the one sacrifice of

in all things, sin excepted."      Can anything be' found in` the    Christ which he offered  for us on the cross."            .

Psalter that even approximates this truth, not only as far as            Again, in Question 69 we read:

the Holy Ghost is concerned, but also with reference to the              "How art thou admonished and assured by holy baptism,

virgin-birth of Christ? I do not believe it.                         that the one sacrifike  of Christ on the cross is of real s'alva-

   I do npt belittle the Psalter. Most (and I mean most,             tion to thee? Thus : That -Christ appointed this external

not all) of the nulibers contained therein are beautiful. ~The       washing with water, adding thereto this promise, that I am

fact remains, however, that they were writ&n  in the old             as certainly  washed by his' blood and Spirit from all the

dispensation, and this is the reason why some  of the doe-           pollution of my sdul,  that is, from all my Sins,  as I am

trines, like that of the Holy Ghost, hardly receive mention.         washed externally with water, by which the filthiness of my

The reason being, as I have pointed out before, that "the            body is commonly washed away :. ."

Holy Ghost was not yet because Christ was not yet glorified."            And in question 72 : "Is then the external baptism with

   Nor am I in favor of adopting the hymns that are sung             water the washing away of sin itself? Not at all: for the

in most of the American churches. Recently I attended one            blood of Jesus Christ only, and the Holy Ghost cleanses us

of these churches, and the hymns they sung there were not            from all sin."

only  superficial but positively sickening, and I could not              And again, in question 73 :

sing them. It was all about the lovely and lowly Jesus that              "Why then doth the Holy Ghost call baptism `the wash-

will come into our hearts if we only open the door and let           ing of regeneration,' and `the washing away of sins'? God

Him in. It struck me that, ,in many of them God was not              speaks thus not without great cause, to-wit, not only thereby

even mentioned !                                                     to teach us, that as the filth of the body is purged by water, so

   No, but I ati in favor of composing our own hymns,                our sins are removed by the blood and Spirit.of Jesus Christ;

hymns that are true versification  .of Scripture and that shail      but especially that by this divine pledge and sign he may

not be sung in the churches until the Synod has set its stamp        assure us, that we are spiritually cleansed from our sins, as

of appproval upon them.                                              we are externally washed with water."

   But I was saying that, not only in Scripture, but also in             Remember that I refer to all this because that it was

our Confessions and in our Liturgical Forms, the doctrine of         remarked by some at Synod that we do not need hymns see-

the Holy Ghost occupies an important place. And this is not          ing that the Psalter is quite sufficient for all our needs as far

surprising. If we only consider the doctrine of the Holy             as singing in the worship of the church is concerned, and that

Spirit as such, in the limited sense of the word, it would not       one of the exceptions is the day of Pentecost and the doctrine

be so serious that we find hardly any mention of Him in              of the Holy Spirit. I claim that, even if this were true, there

the songs we sing in the Church. But the importance of this          is ample reason to introduce some New Testament hymns

omission we are bound to realize as soon as we bear in mind          which are nothing else than versifications  of Scripture and

that we ought to sing of Him in our worship as the Spirit            are approved by Synod.                                         H.H.

of Christ, as the One that is the author of our faith, as the

One that applies unto God's people all the blessings of our

salvation. As such He is presented in Scripture, and in that

capacity He alSo occurs in our Confessions and in our

Forms.

   Thus, for instance, we are taught in the Heidelberger,
                                                                         Of interest to our readers will be the following corres-
question 65 : "Since then we are made partakers of Christ
                                                                     pondence concerning Sunday military training. Through the
and all His benefits by faith only, whence does this faith
                                                                     courtesy of our Stated Clerk, the Rev. G. Vanden  Berg, we
proceed ? From the Holy Ghost, who works faith in our hearts
by the preaching of the gospel, and confirms it by the use of        have received copies of various replies to letters sent by our
the sacraments." Such, indeed, is the importance of the doc-         Synod of 1961 concerning this matter.

trine of the Holy Ghost. It is He that makes the means of                Upon overture frdm our Creston  Consistory and from

grace efficacious. He it is that works faith in our hearts and       Classis  East, the Synod decided to send the following letter

He it is also that confirms it.                                      to Major General Donald W. McGowan, Chief, National

   The same truth, namely, that the Holy Ghost is the                Guard ; Chief of Reserve Affairs, Department of the Army

author of our subjective salvation, is expressed in question         (Navy, Marines, Air Corps) ; and Robert McNamara,  Sec-

and answer 47 of the Catechism:                                      retary of Defense.

   "Are  both word and sacraments, then, ordained and                    "We the Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches of

appointed for this end that they may direct our faith to the         America in session June 7, 1961, at GraGd  Rapids, Michigan,

sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, as the only ground of        .wish to make`it  a matter of record that we are opposed to the

our salvation? Yes, indeed: for the Holy Ghost teaches us            policy of military training on the Sabbath Day: It is our


438                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE.ARER


conviction that members of our churches who are subject to             of interest to our readers were received. We submit them

military training should not be compelled to violate their             for your study.

convictions concerning the use of the Sabbath Day.
                                                                                      Congress of the United States
       "Our chief objection concerns the use of the Sabbath Day
                                                                                          House of Representatives
for types of training which can be easily accomplished by
                                                                                              Washington, D.C.
other means and at other times. We wish to emphasize that

we are speaking of training for reservists or members of the                                                         June 20, 1961

National Guard and not for men on regular military duty.               Rev. Gerald Vanden  Berg

       "We ask you to take such necessary steps as may be              Synodical Stated Clerk

required to insure that military trainees do not have to be            Protestant Reformed Churches of America

deprived of the opportunity to attend their church services            9402 South 53rd Court

and of the privilege of observing the entire Sabbath accord-           Oak Lawn, Illinois

ing to their Christian convictions.
                                                                       Dear Rev. Vanden  Berg,
       "We have churches in several states in our country and

the problem is causing increasing difficulty. We recognize                Thank you for your letter of June 12th enclosing a copy

the need for military duty on the Sabbath Day under war-               of the resolution adopted by the Synod of the Protestant

time conditions, but we ask you to adopt a policy which does           Reformed Churches of America concerning military training

not require military training for reservists and National              on the Sabbath Day.

Guardsmen on the Sabbath Day."                                            I am pleased to know that you have sent copies of this

                                                                       statement to the Secretary of Defense and to those who ad-

   A copy of the above letter was forwarded to Represent-              minister our Reserve and National Guard program.

ative Gerald R. Ford with the following letter.                           The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower, the

                                                                       Honorable Carlisle P. Runge, has overall supervision of the
"Gerald R. Ford
                                                                       training policies involving military forces. I have, therefore,
"351  House Office Building                                            written Secretary Runge enclosing a copy of your resolution
"Washington 25, D.C.                                                   and asking that as the representative of the Secretary of

                                                                       Defense he do everything possible to carry out the request of
"Dear Mr. Ford,
                                                                       your resolution which I personally endorse. Enclosed is a
       "You probably recall that you received a letter dated           copy of my letter to the Secretary.
March 20, 1961 from the Creston  Protestant Reformed                      Kindest personal regards,
Church iri which the Consistory asked you to take into con-                                            Sincerely,
sideration their objections to the need for Army Reserve                                                Gerald R. Ford, Jr., M.C.
members training on Sunday. This letter you answered by

asking Creston's Consistory to notify you if the young man                                                           June 20, 1961
in question was penalized for refusing to train on Sunday.             The Honorable Carlisle P. Runge
       "Creston's Consistory has brought this matter to the at-        Assistant Secretary of Defense (n/Ianpower)

tention of the Synod of our churches (Protestant Reformed              Washington, D.C.

Churches) with the request that a letter be addressed to the
                                                                       Dear Mr. Secretary,
proper authorities to ask them to change this rule with respect

to Sunday training. This the Synod has decided to do since                Enclosed is a copy of a resolution adopted by the Synod

this is a problem in other of our churches throughout the              of the Protestant Reformed Churches of America and signed

country.                                                               by Rev. G. Vanden  Berg, the Synodical Stated Clerk.

       "Grateful for the kind attention you have given this               A copy of this statement by the Synod has been sent to

matter in the past, we are asking your assistance once again.          the Secretary of Defense and other offices of the various

We have addressed letters, a copy which is enclosed for you,           services charged with administering the Reserve program.

to the Chiefs of Reserve Affairs of the Army, Navy, Marine                A large number of sincere and conscientious citizens in

Corps and Air Corps; to the Chief of the National Guard;               my congressional district as well as in the other parts of the

and to Robert McNamara,  Secretary of Defense. We would                country are deeply concerned with any requirement that men

appreciate your help in gaining a favorable decision with              be required to carry on military training on the Sabbath in

regard to this matter as well as any further advice you can            violation of their conscientious objections to unnecessary

give us,                                                               work on that day.         .

       "Thanking you for your kind attention in the past and              I have discussed this matter on many occasions with

for your present efforts to assist us, we remain,"                     officials in the Department of Defense and with officials in

       In reply to these letters of our Synod the following letters    the Michigan National Guard.


                                           T H E   S T A N . D A R D   .B.EARER                                                  439


   You will note from the enclosed resolution that the                The effectiveness of our reserve components is best

Church has not objected to necessary work by regular mem-          measured by their readiness for employment in the event of

bers of the Armed Forces on the Sabbath. Neither does              an emergency. As one means to improve this readiness, our

the Church object to necessary work on the Sabbath in time         efforts for the past few years have been concentrated on unit

of a national emergency. But it does raise objections to com-      training rather than basic individual training. This has equal
pelling sincere Christian citizens to violate their religious      application to the reserve components of the Army, Navy,
                                                                   Air Force and Marine Corps. Realistic and effective unit
convictions unnecessarily and without compelling cause.
                                                                   training requires time and space that is not available in a
   I personally share the view outlined in the enclosed state-
                                                                   two-hour drill period at night in an armory. Excellent train-
ment and would urge that the position presented be taken
                                                                   ing is accomplished, however by consolidating four armory
into consideration in the establishment of any policy concern-     drills into a training exercise of 48 hours or more. In view
ing the training of our reserve forces.
                                                                   of the fact that our reservists are civilians and must earn their
   Warmest personal regards.
                                                                   livelihood in civilian occupations, it is not feasible to conduct
                             Sincerely,
                                                                   these consolidated drills during the middle of the week, and,
                                Gerald R. Ford, Jr., M.C.
                                                                   instead, such exercises are conducted on weekends.

               Congress of the United States                          As pointed out in Chaplain Clark's reply to Reverend

                   House of Representatives                        Vanden  Berg, a copy of which is attached, these exercises do

                      Washington, D.C.                             not exceed an average of one weekend per month. In keeping

                                                                   with the long established practice of the armed forces, mili-
                                            June 28, 1961
                                                                   tary personnel even when engaged in intensive training are
The Reverend Gerald Vanden  Berg
                                                                   habitually given the opportunity to attend church services of
Synodical Stated Clerk
                                                                   their choice. In the case of the reserves, many units have
Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches
                                                                   their own chaplains who conduct religious services during
9402 South 53rd  Court, ,Oak Lawn, Illinois
                                                                   periods of field training. In the event chaplains are not avail-

Dear Rev. Vanden  Berg:                                            able, reserve commanders are authorized and encouraged to

   Enclosed is a copy of a report I have just received from        make it possible for their personnel to attend nearby civilian

the Assistant Secretary of Defense concerning Sunday               churches.

drilling by reserve forces. The Secretary sent me a copy of           The feeling of the Synod of the Protestant Reformed

the letter which is addressed to you by Chaplain Clark on          Churches of America is appreciated. However, in considera-

June 16.                                                           tion of the contribution of weekend training periods to the

   I feel that neither of these letters get to the crux of the     readiness of the Reserve forces, we feel  that the continuation

matter which both you and I attempted to point out to defense      of this type of training program is in the best interest of the

authorities. I do hope, however, that the protest lodged by        Nation.

the Protestant Reformed Churches of America and others                With best wishes.

will have the effect of cutting down the number of drills                                    Sincerely yours,

scheduled for Sundays.    I trust that eventually the Depart-                                                    Carlisle P. Runge

ment of Defense, which is under the Executive Branch of the
                                                                                       Department of Defense
Government, will be able to revise its policies in this regard.
                                                                                  Armed Forces Chaplains Board
                          Sincerely,

                                  Gerald R. Ford, Jr., M.C.                              Washington 25, D.C.

                                                                   The Reverend Gerald Vanden  Berg
              Assistant Secretary of Defense                       Synodical Stated Clerk
                    Washington 25, D.C.                            Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches

                                            June 27,196l           9402 South 53rd Court

M A N P O W E R                                                    Oak Lawn, Illinois


Dear Mr. Ford:                                                     Dear Rev. Vanden  Berg

   This is in reply to your letter of June 20, 1961 forwarding        Your letter to the Office of the Secretary of Defense

a copy of a resolution adopted by the Synod of the Protestant      relative to military training on the Sabbath Day has been

Reformed Churches of America pertaining to the conduct-            referred to this office for reply.

ing of Reserve training on Sunday. The resolution has been            Every effort is being made by the Department of Defense

received in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and was         to maintain an effective National Guard and reserve program

answered on June 16 by Chaplain, Colonel, William L.               and at the same time to preserve the religious traditions of

Clark, Executive Director, ,Armed  Forces Chaplains Board.         our nation. Due to continuing advances in modem warfare

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



techniques, constant emphasis must be placed upon reducing            responsibility for conducting that training. Current training

the mobilization readiness time of our reserve forces. National       directives require a number of extended training periods

Guard and reserve units must be ready for immediate mobil-            (one- or two-day assemblies) for the Army National Guard.

ization or they will be of no value to the defense of our nation.     These assemblies generally held on Saturdays or Sundays, or

       Classroom training periods, normally held at night, are        both, are the best means of providing the additional training

effective only in presenting theory; longer periods are re-           which is essential if the maximum mobilization readiness

quired for the practical application. Since most reservists           required of our present day forces is to be achieved.

are dependent upon their civilian occupations for their bread            Recently, an article by the wife of a National Guardsman

and butter, they are not available for longer training periods        was published in a newspaper in South Carolina. It expresses

at aq ather  tiiw than weekends.                                      with evident  honesty and frankness her oplnlon  in regard to

       Maximum participation of reservists will not exceed an         Sunday training, and I would like to quote from it as a part

average of one weekend per month. To compensate for                   of my reply to you. She was concerned about a resolution

this, chaplains when available are assigned to units to pro-          adopted at a conference of ministers.

vide adequate worship services at the training site. When                "I am wondering if those . . . against the Sunday drills
chaplains, are not available, commanders have authority to            ever voted against soldiers fighting on Sundays to protect
authorize personnel to attend nearby churches for worship.            the country in World War II and during the Korean conflict?
       National Guard and reserve programs as they are now            Have they ever voted to stop all military personnel from
organized are popular with most reservists. The present               performing any kind of work on Sunday? Would they have
system allows them to maintain their affiliation without jeo-         the entire defense of the nation come to a complete stop on
pardizing their civilian occupations. It is felt that a reorgan-      Sunday ? Would they cease the operation of radar scopes
ization of the program to eliminate weekend training periods          which would pick up signals from enemy planes, and just
would reduce it to such a point of noneffectiveness that the          hope the enemy planes wouldn't bother to come around on
program could not be maintained nor justified. It would also          Sundays ? Would (they) . . . have the youth of America go
result in an undue hardship on the majority of the partici-           into battle totally unprepared as far too many of them did
pants.                                                                during World War II? . . . Did they investigate and find
       Commanders of National Guard and reserve units. are            out that religious services are available to every Guardsman
being encouraged to give their personal attention to the              during every Sunday drill on a voluntary basis ? . . . My hus-
establishment of adequate worship programs for their per-             band has been attending Sunday National Guard drills for
sonnel.                                                               some eight years now. His opinion . . . is that some of the

       Your interest is fully appreciated, and we hope that this      best sermons he has ever heard were the sermons at Sunday

reply will help you to understand our position on this matter,        Guard drills. There are many who attend these religious

                                S i n c e r e l y   y o u r s ,       services at Sunday drills who do not attend church at other

                                           William L. Clark           times. Would (they) . . . prefer that Guardsmen attend a

                                           Ch., Colonel, USAF         one-hour service at their respective churches, then spend the
                                           Executive Director         remainder of the day playing golf, or riding around on

                                                                      dangerous highways, or looking at TV shows at home? . . . I

                      National Guard Bureau                           wish (they) . . . would spend at least one Sunday with a

                                                                      Guard unit and see not only what fine religious services they
                                                 June 16, 1961
                                                                      are offered, but what excellent use is made of the day to
The Reverend Gerald Vanden  Berg
                                                                      train these young men, most of whom would otherwise be
Synodical  Stated Clerk
                                                                      idling their Sundays away on some much less worthwhile
Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches
                                                                      recreation. I might also mention that possibly a nice share
9402 South 53rd Court
                                                                      of the money they receive for their Sunday training eventu-
Oak Lawn, Illinois
                                                                      ally will find its way into the collection plates of their

Dear Reverend Vanden  Berg:                                           respective churches."

     ,This is in reply to the statement issued by members of              I appreciate the concern of the members `of the Synod of

the Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches in session              the Protestant Reformed Churches about Sunday training

on June 7, 1961, at Grand Rapids, Michigan, relative to the           and hope this reply will present a point of view which here-

conduct of National Guard training on Sundays and their               tofore may not have been considered.

concern for the religious welfare of those involved.                                           Sincerely,

:      The law provides that the discipline, -including `training,                                   D. W. MCGOWAN

.of National Guard units shall conform to that of the Army                                           Major General

and/or Air. Force, respectively, and gives the States the                                            chief,  National Guard Bureau


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   441


                 Headquarters Dep't of the Army                       Your interest in this matter is fully appreciated and I

                                                                   trust the foregoing will'be of assistance to you.

A R R O T C   4 6 1 . 0 1                  June 22, 1961                                     Sincerely yours,

                                                                                                      JACK M. TUMLINSON

Reverend Gerald Vanden  Berg                                                                          Major, Infantry

9402 South 53rd  Court                                                                                Executive Officer

Oak Lawn, Illinois                                                                    Department of the Navy

                                                                               Office of the Chief of Naval Operations
Dear Reverend Vanden  Berg:
                                                                                        Washington 25, D.C.

    This is in reply to your recent letter in which you ex-        Dear Rev. Vanden  Berg:
pressed your church's opposition to military training for

reservists and National Guardsmen on the Sabbath Day.                 We, in the Navy, share your concern for the spiritual

                                                                   welfare of the patriotic Americans who serve in the Naval
    The unsettled international situation which exists in the
                                                                   Reserve.
world today, has placed some rather stringent demands upon
                                                                      Although the Navy has been very sincere in its attempt to
all of us. Our Armed Forces are required to be maintained
                                                                   observe the religious aspects of Sunday, it has been found, in
in a continued state of combat readiness which will permit
                                                                   some cases, that its members must perform military duties
rapid response to any threats to our national security. Since
                                                                   which may interfere with their participation in Sunday Divine
we are maintaining minimum strengths in our regular forces,
                                                                   services. For the active forces we have been very successful in
our Reserves must be maintained in a-state  of mobilization
                                                                   reducing such interferences. However, some of our Reserve
readiness that will permit their rapid mobilization and
                                                                   forces present a different problem. Our Reservists are civilians
deployment to augment and reinforce other Army forces.
                                                                   first, and military men second. Their primary responsibility,
Such a situation imposes exacting training demands on the
                                                                   in our way of life, is to provide for their families. Those who
Reserve forces and requires some training beyond that which
                                                                   belong to the Reserve must provide this support and in ad-
can be accomplished during the regular two-hour weekly
                                                                   dition relinquish some off-work hours to military training.
training periods of Reserve units. Consequently, current
                                                                   In general, the current working habits of the country require
Department of the Army training policy prescribes six mul-
                                                                   most of our Reserves at their civilian jobs during the day-
tiple drills or weekend training assemblies for each United
                                                                   light hours of the normal working week. For the majority,
States Army Reserve unit during the training year. (Multiple
                                                                   therefore, only the evenings and weekends remain for them
drills consist of at least eight hours of training in one day,
                                                                   to devote to military training.
and weekend training assemblies consist of at least four hours
                                                                       Most of our Reserve programs take advantage of the
of military training on two consecutive days of a weekend.
                                                                   weekday evening hours ; however, in some cases, Reservists,
Either of these two types of training might require
                                                                   such as those in the Naval Air Reserve and the Reserve
reservists to train on Sunday or the Sabbath). These longer
                                                                   Crews for our ships, must have operational training as a
training periods are used for instruction in those military
                                                                   team. Since most of the Naval Air Reserve and all of ,the
subjects which require considerable time for organization and
                                                                   ships, manned by their own Reserve Crews, are in the highly
conduct of training, such as small-unit exercises, range firing
                                                                   specialized business of anti-submarine warfare, their training
and staff training.
                                                                   must be done over a longer period. This period is one week-          .
    Directives of the Department of the Army and subordinate       end per  month plus one two-week cruise per year. All of
headquarters prescribe that when units conduct training on         the participants in the weekend training programs have joined
Sunday or the Sabbath, unit commanders will arrange, where         them voluntarily. However, all of our Naval Air Stations have
possible, for the conduct of appropriate worship services at       a chaplain attached and time is allocated from training for
the training site for members of their command who desire          men to attend religious services. Aboard ship where there
to attend, or excuse personnel to attend civilian church           are no chaplains we have a "lay-reader" program and time
services of their faith.                                           and space are made available there for religious services.

    In view of the provisions to permit each individual to             I appreciate your interest in the Naval Reserve and am

worship according to his own faith and the pressing require-       pleased to have had this opportunity to explain the Navy's

ment to keep the United States Army Reserve in a state of          Reserve weekend activities through which our citizen sailors

readiness, the Department of the Army considers that the           are contributing so significantly to our efforts to combat the

policy discussed above will permit both the moral and spirit-      Soviet submarine threat.

ual development of our nation's youth and meet the demands                              Sincerely,

of national defense. Our survival is dependent upon ever-                                      w/s J. A. Tyree, Jr.

ready `defense forces as well as a continuing reinforcement of                                 Ass't. Chief of Naval Operations

the moral fibre of our people.                                                                                             H.C.H.


442                                           T H E   STANDAliD  B E A R E R


                                                                      whose builder and maker is God." And in verse 16: "But

                                                                      now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly : where-

                                                                      fore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath
If                                                            -JI
                                                                      prepared for them a city."    And in Rev. 3 :12  we read the
              THE  BOOK OF REVELATION
                                                                      following: "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the
                          PART TWO                                    temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will

                          CHAPTER XXI                                 write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the
             The Blessedness of the New Jerusalem                     city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh  down

                        Revelation 21 :l-4                            out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my

       We have seen that the new creation and the new Jeru-           new name."    As to this new Jerusalem, we understand, of

salem are united in Christ. Christ is the head of the church          course, that we must not think of a literal city. There are

not only, but also the head of the new creation. And because          indeed those who maintain that it is, who claim that also

Christ is the head of all, therefore the new Jerusalem and            this description must be taken in a literal sense of the word.

the new creation are very glorious. In fact, they are so              However, that is quite' impossible. Against this idea is the

glorious that we cannot even conceive of the glory that shall         text itself. Already in this present passage there is an indica-

be. We can only imagine and speak of that glory in earthly            tion that this new Jerusalem is the bride of the Lamb. This

terms, as also Scripture does. But sure it is that the new            is also expressed in verses 9 and 10 of this same chapter.

creation will be exceedingly glorious, far more glorious even         The new Jerusalem and the bride of the Lamb are identical.

than the first creation before the fall of man. And as the            Now the bride of the Lamb surely is no city in the literal

old creation is earthy, so the new creation will be essentially       sense of the word. Against this idea is also the development

heavenly. Adam was of the earth, earthy: and so was the               of Jerusalem as it occurs in the Word of God. As shown

old creation. But Christ is the Lord from heaven ; and as             before, Jerusalem is manifested in a three-fold form. First

He is the head of the whole new creation, that creation also          of all, it was the capital of the old land of Canaan. Secondly,

will stand forever in heavenly glory.                                 it is also the church of the New Testament in the broadest

      We further read in this same passage of the book of             sense of the word. This is also very plain from Scripture,

Revelation that the sea was no more, or, there will be no             and I do not have to quote to corroborate this idea. But, in

more sea. This translation, that is, "and there was no more           the third place, Jerusalem is also the perfected church, the

sea," leaves the impression that there will be no sea at all in       bride of the Lamb in glory. Hence, Jerusalem is the church

the new creation. But for that same reason, and also because          triumphant in perfect glory. And if you ask the question

the text is more definitely and correctly translated in the           why this city is called the new Jerusalem, then we answer,

Revised Version. The Revised Version, as we already sug-              in the first place, that the idea of Jerusalem was that it was

gested, translates more literally, "and the sea is no more."          the city of God. There God dwelt among His Old Testa-

This does not refer' to the sea of nations, as some have it.          ment people Israel. From there He had communion with

For although the sea sometimes has that significance in the           them ; from there He blessed them with all the blessings of

book of Revelation and also elsewhere in Scripture, the               salvation as it was shadowed in the old dispensation. From

present context forbids this interpretation. Nor does it neces-       there He reigned over them and protected them against the

sarily mean that there will be no sea at all in the new crea-         enemies that were round about them. But we must remem-

tion. And therefore, I prefer the meaning, as also is evident         ber that the earthly Jerusalem was imperfect. It is true that

from the context, that the expression means that the old sea          God dwelt among His people ; but He did not dwell in them.

is no more. The sea as a barrier between nation and nation,           The relation in the old dispensation was more or less external.

between people and people, the sea as a dangerous element             Nor did the presence of God ji12 the city: He dwelt in the

in the present creation will be no more. The sea was originally       temple, particularly in the most holy place. Hence, in the

created without the curse of sin. And therefore the meaning           old dispensation Jerusalem existed only in a typical form.

is undoubtedly that in the new heavens and the earth there            And that typical form was ended through the cross of our

may be a new sea, but the old sea will be no more. There will         Lord Jesus Christ. In His death the old Jerusalem passed

no more be a sea that causes separation in the new creation.          away, as is evident from the fact that the veil of the temple

      And then we read in vs. 2 : "And                                was rent in twain. And therefore, the new Jerusalem is first
                                      I John saw the holy city,
new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven," etc.              of all realized in the church of the New Testament. It is the

Concerning this new Jerusalem, let us note, in the first place,       holy city of the new dispensation. It differs from that of the

that it is the perfect antitype  of the old Jerusalem, the city of    Old Testament form, first of all, in that it is no city of brick

God, now, that is, in the new creation, perfected and glorified.      and stone. The believers themselves are the dwellingplace of

Cf. Gal. 4:26;  Heb. 11 :lO, 16; Rev. 3 :12.  In the first passage    God. In the second place, it differs in that God does not

we read: "But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is              merely dwell a?+zo?lg  His people, but in them. Through the

the mother of us all." And in Heb. 11 :lO we read : "For he           Spirit of our -Lord Jesus Christ God dwells in their hearts.

~(that  is, Abraham) looked for a city which hath foundations,        And therefore, they have spiritual communion, are spiritually


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   -BEARER                                                     443


blessed. The Lord reigns over them from within. But also            hath spoken it."     And almost the entire sixtieth chapter of

this New Testament form of the new Jerusalem is still im-           Isaiah refers to the same thing. We will quote verses 1s and

perfect: first of all, because the entire church is not filled      19: "Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting

with God's presence.    There are in the midst of the church        nor destruction within thy borders J but thou shalt call thy

as it develops in the world in the line of continued genera-        walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. The sun shall be no

tions unbelievers and hypocrites. Moreover, the communion           more thy light by day ; neither for brightness shall the moon

between God and His people is not perfect : for sin still reigns    give light unto thee : but the Lord shall be unto thee an ever-

in their members. Perfectly God dwells only in Christ. And          lasting light, and thy God thy glory." We could continue

therefore the new Jerusalem is realized ultimately in the           this, as, for instance, in verse 20: "Thy sun shall no more

perfected church triumphant. That perfect church, that church       go down ; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself : for the

triumphant, is the perfect city of God. In it is neither un-        Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy

believer nor hypocrite. In it there is no sin and no power          mourning shall be ended."

of evii. The communion between God and His people in the               In verse 4 we read: "And God shall wipe away all tears

new Jerusalem is perfect. And therefore, we may briefly             from their eyes."    A state of blessedness results from God's

summarize all that we have said of Jerusalem by the follow-         fellowship with His people that is described here in terms

ing remarks. First, the new Jerusalem is the perfect anti-          that denote the absence of all suffering and sickness and

type of the old Jerusalem, the city of God perfected and            death. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: that

glorified. Cf. Gal. 4:26; Heb. 11 :16;  Rev. 3:12.  In the          is, He shall comfort them for all their suffering which they

second place, it is the perfected and glorified church, pre-        endured while they were in the present world, causing them

pared as a bride adorned for her husband. In the third place,       to inherit the exceeding great reward of heavenly glory. And

this new Jerusalem comes out of heaven to dwell on the new          too, there shall be no more cause for weeping forevermore.

earth. In the fourth place, it comes from God as its author.        And thus the text continues : "And there shall be no more

Cf. Heb. 11 :lO. And finally, it is a holy community, free          death."    Death is completely and in all its forms and opera-

from sin and consecrated to God, and therefore,. beautiful,         tions swallowed up in victory. Positively, this indicates, of

adorned as a bride for her husband, that is, Christ.                course, that the saints shall live forever in glory with Christ;

   The passage continues by emphasizing the cause of the            and they shall reign forevermore. Death can never enter in

great blessedness that will be in the new creation, particularly    the new Jerusalem and in the new creation. It follows that

in the new Jerusalem. Thus we read in verse 3: "And I               there shall be no more sorrow, which means, positively

heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the taber-        speaking, that there shall be everlasting joy and gladness.

nacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and          There shall be no more crying, but everlasting rejoicing,

they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them,       with songs of gladness. There shall be no more pain, but

and be their God." This is undoubtedly the principle and the        everlasting well-being and prosperity. For all these - sor-

cause of the blessedness in the new Jerusalem. "I heard a           row, crying, pain- are implied in and are the result of

great voice," the apostle says. This great voice, whose author      death. When death is swallowed up and everlasting life

is not mentioned here, expresses emphatically the central idea      reigns supreme in Christ, none of these shall ever enter into

of the new Jerusalem, "the tabernacle of God is with men."          the glory that shall then be revealed. "For the former things-

This idea is further explained in what follows : "He will           are passed away."     This is stated as the reason for the ab-

dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God him-         sence  of all suffering. The "former things" are the present

self shall be with them, and be their God." The idea of the         economy of things since the fall, since sin entered into the

tabernacle of God is undoubtedly the perfect fellowship of          world. For then we are under the curse, characterized by

God's covenant. That covenant with its perfect fellowship of        death and suffering. And these are now passed away forever-

friendship is now fully realized and is the essence of the          more. And therefore we can shout with the apostle Paul in

blessedness of the city of God. This is also the ultimate           I Corinthians 15 :51-57:  "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We

realization of all prophecy. Thus, for. instance, we read in        shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment,

Ezekiel 37 :27  : "My tabernacle also shall be with them :-yea,     in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet

I will be their God, and they shall be my people." The same         shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and

is truly expressed in Isaiah 25 :6-S : "And in this mountain        we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on in-

shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat         corruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So

things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of         when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this

marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he wiil              mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought

destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over         to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in

all people, and the vail that' is spread over all nations. He       victory. 0 death, where is thy sting ? 0 grave, where is thy

will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will             victory? The sting of death is sin ; and the strength of sin is

wipe away tears from off all faces ; and the rebuke of his          the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory

people shall he take away from off all the earth : for the Lord     through our Lord Jesus Christ."                           H.H.

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



                                                                       hovering cloud of Jehovah urging them to go onward into

                                                                       the very depths of the sea and swinging around behind them

                                                                       to separate them from Pharaoh's army only after Moses had

                                                                       raised his rod to divide the sea asunder; the singular night-

                     The Song of Moses                                 time passage through the deep with the winds of heaven hold-
                                                                       ing the tempestuous waters in walls beside them while light-
          Then sang  Moses and the children of Israel th&  soltg       ning and thunder flashed and rumbled overhead, and the glow
          unto  the Lord . . .                       Exodus 15 :3      of the pillar of fire gave light to guide their feet; the ascent

                                                                       from the sea as though from the very bosom of death to stand
       Under the full light of the morning sun, Israel found itself
                                                                       finally upon land that was free ; the final justification of
in the quiet stillness of the wilderness. The air hung in hushed
                                                                       Jehovah over his enemies as He brought the walls of water
silence except for the gentle sound of the waves lapping
                                                                       flowing in upon them in their rash and foolish pursuit through
rhythmically upon the seashore. The expanses of the desert
                                                                       the sea.                All these memories pressed upon them as they
stretched out before them in peaceful serenity. But within
                                                                       stood amid the quiet stillness of the wilderness, basked in the
the children of Israel were in turmoil from the unprecedented
                                                                       rays of morning light. Only the bodies of the Egyptian army
variety of their thoughts.
                                                                       lapped up on the shore by the waves were to be seen as a re-
       Suddenly they knew themselves to be free men. All of            minder of all that had transpired through the hours of the
their lives they had lived in the bondage of Egypt. They               night.
were used to rising wearily every morning to the call of their
                                                                               That morning as never before, the Israelites understood
Egyptian masters. They were used to spending their days
                                                                       the greatness of Jehovah their God. Even as His name im-
at the sole command of others. They were used to bending
                                                                       plied, He had been faithful to His covenant. For all that had
their backs to the cry of cruel taskmasters. They were used
                                                                       taken place, they could take none of the credit. They had
to ending their days in utter fatigue without one thought or
                                                                       proved hesitant and even rebellious; but Jehovah had gone
consideration to their own,, personal desires. Now suddenly
                                                                       forth in His love to punish their enemies, to bring them out
they were free; free to live their lives according to the wishes
                                                                       of bondage, and with many miraculous works to carry them
of their own hearts ; free to return to a land that they them-
                                                                       on their way victoriously. Their hearts swelled within them
selves could possess; free to-labor for their own benefit and
                                                                       at the greatness of their God.
that of their families; free, above all, to worship Jehovah
their God in liberty after the manner that they ought. The                    At last there burst forth from the lips of Moses and of
newness of this feeling, the exuberance of spirit it aroused in        Israel a song of adoration to their God. After an opening re-
their hearts, the very joy with which it filled their souls was        frain expressing the theme of praise, three glorious verses
almost more than their minds could begin to. comprehend.               followed. Each verse opened with an expression of praise to
                                                                       Jehovah after which the first and second verses recounted His
       And then there was t&e  torrent of memories that surged         victory over Pharaoh and the third gave expression of their
again and again though their hearts ; the memory of Jeho-              faith in the promises yet to come. So they sang:*
vah coming to them through Moses to take their part against

the enemy and to strike the Egyptians with judgments nine              Sing will I fo the Lord, for highly exalted is He,

and ten times over again ; the memory of that final midnight           Horse and Lois  rider He hath thrown into the sea.

hour when the angel of Jehovah passed through the land
                                                                       My stmx.gth  CLrtd  so'ng is JAH (Jehovah),
smiting with pestilence and death the firstborn of every house
                                                                       He became my salvation;
that was not covered by the sign of the redeeming blood ; the

memory of that last symbolic meal composed of the flesh of             He is ytzy God, whom I extol,

the lamb with bitter herbs and unleavened bread, and eaten in          My fathetis  God, whom I exalt.

haste, fully dressed and ready for travel because it was to            Jehovah: is a Man<  of way:

serve as a source of physical and spiritual strength to carry          Jehovah is His name:
them on to the promised land ; the memory of their triumphal           Pharaotis  char/i&s  and his might He cast into the sea,
departure, urged on by the trembling Egyptians who willingly
                                                                       And the choice of his krtights  were drowned in the Red Sea.
pressed into their hands jewels of silver and gold, an un-
                                                                       Floods covelv  them;
expected payment for all of their years of labor ; the memory

of that strange and mysterious journey that brought them to            They go dozem into the deep like stone.

their freedom; the joy of those first few days of travel when          Thy right hand, Jehovah, glorified ix pozaer,
the cloud of Jehovah appeared to lead them toward the
                                                                       Thy right hand dashes i?&  pieces the ertemy.
south ; the feelings of consternation and dismay when they
                                                                       In the ficlness  of Thy majesty Thou @lest  down Thine
found themselves closed in on every side by the sea and the

mountains and Pharaoh's army so that even the bondage of                                opponents.

Egypt seemed better to them than their expected end ; the
                                                                       * T h e   t r a n s l a t i o n   i s   t a k e n   f r o m   t h e   c o m m e n t a r y   o f   Reil  Sr  D e l i t z s c h .


                                             T H E   ST.ANDf-iRD   B E A R E R                                                 445


And by the breath of Thy no&ills  the waters heaped them-              When at last thev  resumed their journey, there was con-

           selves up;                                              fidence in every step.- Here and there-among the. throng there
                                                                   could still be heard the verses of Moses' song coming' from
The flowi?zg  ones stood like a heap.
                                                                   the lips of those who even as they walked continued to' sing.
The waves congealsd  in the heart of the sea:
                                                                   The conversation flowed freely as friends walked and talked
The enmy said: I pursue, overtake, ,divide,  spoil,                together on the way. Only gradually did the people begin to
My mu1 becomes full of them;                                       notice how different the land was from that which they had

I draw my sword, my hand will root them out.                       left. Gone were the fertile valleys of Egypt with their ever

Thou didst blow with Thy breath;                                   flowing fountains and springs., Gone was the rich vegetation
                                                                   of trees, vegetables, and grain. All that was to be seen were
The sea covered them.
                                                                   the barren expanses of desert with only the thinnest covering
They sank as lead in the mighty waters.
                                                                   of wilted grass. Dominating the scene was only the glaring

                                                                   blast of the mid-day sun with its burning, oppressive heat.
Who is like unto Thee among the gods, 0 Jehovah?
                                                                   But that was not a d&y  in which to worry. They had tasted
Who is like unto Thee, glorified in holiness?
                                                                   the joy of victory through the power of their God.
Fearful for praises, doing wonders,
                                                                       It was not until the second and third day afterward that
Thou stretchest  out Thy hand, the earth swallows them.
                                                                   the feelings of the people began to waver. Their joy they
Thou lcadest through Thy mercy the people zvhovvt Thou
                                                                   still remembered, but the monotony was beginning to tell.
           redeeviest;                                             Everywhere they looked there were the glaring rays of the
Thou. guidest  them through Thy might to Thy holy                  sun reflected from barren wastes. True, they did not-suffer,

           hgbitation.                                             for the cloud of- Jehovah sheltered them' from the -greatest

People hear, they are afraid;                                      heat of the daytime sun ; but it was oppressive just the same.
                                                                   And'then there was the complete lack of fresh water. `That'
Trembling seizes the inhabita.nts  of Philistia.
                                                                   which they carried `in their skins had become iYarm  and un-'
Then are the princes of Edom  confounded;
                                                                   inviting to the taste, and even that was about gone. Con-
The mighty meu of Moab, trembling seizes them;                     versation began to lag, and the song of Moses was no longer
All the inhabitants of Canaan despair.                             heard ; the joy of the nation so soon was changed into morbid

Fear amd dread fall upovz  theuut; for the greatness of Thine      silence.

           arm;                                                        It was on the third day that the crisis came. The.word'

They ,are  dumb as stones, till Thy people pa;rs  through,         was passed through the camp that water had been seen in

Jehovah, till the people which Thou hast p,urchased  pa.ss         the distance. The strongest hastened ahead so as to be the

           through.                                                first to receive its refreshment. They stooped to drink deeply

                                                                   only to rise spewing it out and crying, "Marah  !" The water
Thou wilt bring and pla.nt them in the vnountain  of Thine
                                                                   was bitter. One after another they tried it, but the result was
           inheritance,
                                                                   always the same. The water was too bitter to drink. A tide
The place which Thou hast Imade  for Thy dwelling-@ace,            of rage quickly passed through the people until they turned

           Jehovah,                                                to Moses and said, "What shall we drink?"

For the sanctuary, Lord, which Tly hands prepafed.                     It was Moses who went in prayer to God. He was shown
Jehova<h  will be King for ever and ever.                          a tree which when it was cut down and cast into the water

                                                                   the waters became sweet. The people were able to drink.
   The voices of the men of Israel resounded from the
mountains of the wilderness and re-echoed across the waters           But something had happened at Marah.  By the Red Sea
of the sea. The sound of victory literally filled the air. Even    there had been a joy and confidence that they thought would
as they sang, the women of Israel with Miriam at their head        never end. But now it was known that weakness still re-
took up the opening refrain. With timbre1 and dance, they          mained. The Song of Moses they knew in principle ; but only
responded again and again, "Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath       in the life to come would they be able to sing it with such
triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown       confidence again.
into the sea."         To the Church of all ages the joy of the                                                             B.W.

children of Israel expressed in this song stands as a picture

and a type of the triumphal rejoicing of the saints in New

Jerusalem when they in like manner shall sing the song of

Moses and of the Lamb (Rev. 15 :3). In that day all glory             What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits

was given to God. Could this nation ever doubt his power           towards me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon

again ?                                                            the name of the Lord.                         Ps. 116:12, 13.


446                                          T H E   S:TrANDAR,D   B E A R E R
                                                                    _.

                                                                   employ the trowel. In this instance it means that we must

                                                                   not be content to show that the Arminians misinterpret Paul,

                                                                   as do also the Christian Reformed on this point, but we must

                                                                   listen to the positive instruction of Paul in this passage, to

                                                                   wit, that prayers be made for all men by the church !
                  Exposition of I Timothy
                                                                          This calls for a careful reading of the text, the context,

                       (I Timothy 2 :l-7)                          the rest of this letter, and of the entire Scriptures which shed

                                                                   light upon this question.
                                a.
                                                                          The text itself reads in full as follows: "I exhort, there-

   Many of us are acquainted with this passage from the            fore, that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and

pen of Paul, written by the Apostle as he was driven by the        giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings and for all

Holy Spirit, in which he enjoins Timothy to teach the church       that are in authority ; that we may lead a quiet and peace-

at Ephesus that prayers be made for all men. It seems to me,       able life in all godliness and honesty. For this is, good and

that, the reason and occasion for our being acquainted with        acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour ; who will have all

this passage, is not that we were deeply and profoundly in-        men saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For

terested in the problem of prayer for all people ; rather our      there is one God and one Mediator between (of) God and

interest centered in the question of refuting the errors of the    men, the man Christ Jesus ; who gave himself a ransom for

Arminians and "Common Grace" enthusiasts, who appealed             all (a testimony) to be testified in due time, whereunto. I am

to this passage, each to sustain his respective errors !           ordained a preacher, and an apostle (I speak the truth in

                                                                   Christ, and lie not) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and
   The particular part of this entire passage to which the
Arminians referred, as well as the Common Grace theorists,         verity" (verses l-7).

the Christian Reformed Churches, is found in verses 3 and 4,              It is our settled conviction, that, as far as the objects of

where we read : "This is good and acceptable before God, our       our prayer is concerned, we must settle what Pad has in

Savior, who wills to save all men, and unto the knowledge          mind when he writes here that prayers must be made for al2

of the truth to come."                                             men!  That is the duty of exegesis. It is the science of deter-

                                                                   mining the meaning of the Author, God in Paul. That is
       It was because we took and take exception to the er-
                                                                   all-determinative.
roneous interpretation of those who advocate general. atone-

went, as well as of those who advocate a son-saving  grace of             Now if a word has a certain meaning in text and context

God, that we took a second look at this passage from Scrip-        it has that meaning throughout. We may not arbitrarily make

ture and took pains to demonstrate that the exegesis of the        words mean what we will them to mean ; that is not inter-

Arminian teachers, being weighed in the balances, was found        pretation but interpolation !

wanting.                                                                  The question is: is there anything in the text and con-

       And, thus doing, we performed an admirable and neces-       test which gives us the key to the proper understanding of

sary service to the church of God in the world.                    what Paul means with "all men"? A careless, superficial and

                                                                   painstakingless reading of the text might lead one to read into
       Possibly it is not redundant to remind ourselves at this
                                                                   the text what Arminians and the Christian Reformed Synod
juncture, in the interpretation of the passage under con-
                                                                   of 1924 (and subsequent Synods ! !) think they read in the
sideration, that we should beware of two pit-falls. On the
                                                                   text, namely, the intention of God to either save all men,             t
one hand we must not fall into the exegetical error of the
                                                                   since Christ, so they say, "died for all and for every man,"
Arminians and of all heretics to simply lift this passage out
                                                                   or, what is principally no different, Christ's death is the ev-
of its context, and place it in the preconceived framework of
                                                                   idence of a "favorable attitude for all to whom the gospel is
their Arminian view of a "double predestination"; a pre-
                                                                   preached"! The former is the view of the Arminians and
destination unto faith and a predestination unto salvation, and
                                                                   the latter of *the  Christian Reformed Churches.
say then explicitly or implicitly "agreeably thereto, Jesus

Christ, the Saviour of the world, died for all men and for                It should, therefore, interest us what Paul himself means

every man, so that he has obtained for them all, by his death      with the term "all men."

on the cross, redemption and the forgiveness of sins . . . ."             In the first place we would observe, therefore, that the

Thus do the Arminians. They fail to interpret Scripture in         concept "all men" is by no means the same as the concept

the lig-ht  of Scripture, and thus do violence to the word of      `<every  man."     Paul writes the former and not the latter.

God. That we must avoid. We must fearlessly let the Scrip-         There is a difference and a fundamental distinction between

tures speak. Our dogmatics may not determine our exegesis.         these two. The former is collective, while the latter is

On the other hand, we must also beware of simply showing           distributive in nature.; the former does not count noses, the

what the text does not teach. This latter is always true. We       latter does. When you say "every man" as do the Arminians

must do more than simply handle the sword ; we must also           in Point II of the F&e  Articles of the Remonstrants, you


have allowed for no exceptions. Every is every! But in the            is clear, beyond any shadow of doubt, in a kindred, passage in

case of the latter, namely, "all men," there are exceptions to        Titus 2 :l 1 quoted above.     There too `fall  men" refers to all

those who are saved and for whom Christ died.                         kinds of men, from every walk of life, Jew and Gentiles, bond

    A fine point, indeed!                                             and free, male and female, adult and children. In a word:

                                                                      all men, without distinction of rank or social standing among
    Let us keep this in mind.
                                                                      men. This is evident from the various admonitions which
    It ought to be closely observed, that Paul speaks more
                                                                      Paul writes in Titus 2 :l-11. He has a special admonition for
than once of "all men" and of "all" in the text. Thus in
                                                                      "aged men" (grave, temperate, etc.), for the "aged women,"
verse 1 we read: ". . . and giving of thanks, be made         abl.
                                                           for        the "young women," the "young men," "servants" and
men."    Again in verse 4 we read: ". . . who will have al2
                                                                      "masters."      And the reason for this all is given in Titus
qpcem  $0 b,e saved and come to the knowledge of the truth."          2:ll:     "for  the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath
And in verse 6 we read : ". . . Christ Jesus ; who gave him-
                                                                      appeared to all when."      Obviously, one does not expect Paul
self a raw.sos$ for all"  ! Besides we should notice, that, in
                                                                      to prove that his admonitions are for "every class of men"
chapter 4:lO we read: ". . . because we trust in the living
                                                                      by appealing to "universal salvation" and "a general attitude
God, who is the Savior of all `YM~,  specially of those who           of favor," but rather that "all men" is simply a summing up
believe."
                                                                      of all the different classes who had been admonished by him
    To this may be added, moreover, what we read in Titus             in the foregoing verses: aged men, aged women, young
2 :ll : "For the grace of God, that bringeth salvation, hath          women, young men, servants, masters. And even by implica-
appeared to all men."                                                 tion     "children."    Compare the classes Paul addresses in

   I ask now in all candor: is it not imperative, in the light        Ephesians 5 :22-Ephesians 6 :9. Compare the Decalogue it-

of such frequent usage of the term "all men" to pay rather            self in Exodus 20!

close attention to the text and context in determining the               We might point out that in the King James version the
meaning from this usage? We may safely speak of Paul's                rendering of Titus 2 :ll is not "the grace that bringeth salva-
current zbsage  of the term. Especially if one bears in mind          tion to all men hath appeared" but rather "the grace of God
further what we read in I Corinthians 15 :22  : "For as in            that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men." In the
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."             one case the reference is to the "preaching" which comes to

   What shall we say of this ?                                        "`all men" inclusive of the admonitions to each class amongst

   Shall we say with the Arminians, as the Remonstrants               men. The other speaks of the grace which "saves" every

expressed their sentiments in Point II: ". . . Jesus Christ,          class of men as we read in Galatians 3 :27-29 : "For as many

the Saviour of the world, died for all men for every man, so          of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

that he has obtained for them all, by his death on the cross,         There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor

redemption and the forgiveness of sins . . ."?                        free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in

                                                                      Christ Jesus." Here too the term is "all," that is, the entire
   Lest we be accused of being unscientific in our exposition
                                                                      distinction of Jew and Greek is gone. The middlewall of
of the Scriptures, I wish to state here and now that I believe
                                                                      partition has been removed once and for all !
that it is a sound rule in the science of interpretation of

any document that the less clear passages be interpreted in              And thus it is in Titus 2 :ll !

the light of the more clear passages, and not conversely. The            No less, however, is this the case in I Tim. 2 :l, 4 and 6.

latter is the method of those who would obscure the sense of          Also here the term refers to "all men, for kings and for all

the Scriptures, and thus pervert the Scriptures to their own          that are in authority."

destruction.                                                             However, we would caution here not to limit "all men"

   When the rule of exegesis is applied that we interpret             to kings and all in authority. It is for all men in the sense of

Scripture in the light of Scripture, and less clear passages in       every class of men, and, therefore, also for those in authority

the light of the more clear passages, it appears, that we shall       as a "class" ! These must not be excluded for they are a part

not have any difficulty in understanding the meaning of the           of the "all" for whom prayers must be made as one of the

text, particularly, what Paul has in mind with "all men" !            classes of men  for whom Christ died.

   Paying close attention to the text here in I Tim. 2 :l-7              We cannot in this installment enter in detail into the
we notice that Paul in admonishing Timothy to instruct the            matter of the reason for Paul's enjoining that "first of all"
church to pray for "all men" modifies this by adding "for             prayers,    supplications, intercessions and thanksgiving be
kings and all who are in authority." This last phrase, placed         made for all men. However, we would caution the reader to
appositionally to "all men,"     shows that Paul is not here          bear in mind that this exhortation is not liwited  for kings and
thinking of "every man" in general as think the Arminians             all who are in authority. These prayers are for the entire
nor of "everyone to whom the Gospel is preached" as do the            church, every class of men !

Christian Reformed Churches, but rather that he is referring             More of this next time, D.V.

here to every class of men amongst men. I believe that this                                                                       G.L.


448                                            THE ,s.TANDARD  B,EARER


                                                                        for the sacraments besides the Lord's Supper and Baptism?

          Contending For The Faith                                      Is it not particularly true of these other five sacraments that
                                                                  I     Rome's Scriptural proof is woefully weak? What Scriptural
                                                                        ground does Rome have for its conception of the Papacy,

                                                                        with which conception its entire structure stands or falls ?
            The Church and the Sacrcanerits                             Was this conception not based upon two gigantic frauds, the
           THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION                                  Donation of Constantine and the Isidorian Decretals?

                                                                          Roman Catholicsm  ascribes the same authority to Tradition
                 V I E W S   O N   T H E   C H U R C H
                                                                        as it does to the Holy Scriptures. These traditions are called

        INFLUENCE OF THE MAIN PRINCIPLES                                unwritten because they are not contained in the Scriptures.

                   O F   T H E   R E F O R M A T I O N                  They are, for the most part, now to be found written in the

                                                                        works of the Fathers, decisions of councils, ecclesiastical con-
       The main principles of the Reformation, we have noted            stitutions, and rescripts of the Popes. The Romish Church
in previous articles, are usually considered to be two: the             teaches that Christ taught many things which were not com-
formal and the material. According to the formal principle, the         mitted to writing, that is, not recorded in the Sacred Scrip-
Reformation acknowledged only one source of authority, the              tures. Rome also maintains that these instructions have been
Holy Scriptures. With this principle they stood opposed to              faithfully transmitted, and preserved in the Church. And that

Roman Catholicism, False Mysticism (Quakers, Anabap-                    Church also maintains that these traditions constitute a part

tists, etc.), and to Rationalism. The Roman Catholic Church             of the rule of faith for all believers. Moreover, Rome main-

acknowledged, besides the Word of God, also Tradition as a              tains that the Scriptures can be understood and embraced

source of authority; Protestantism recognized only the sixty-           only in the light of Tradition, that only the Church, and this

six canonical books. The Roman Catholic Church claimed                  means fundamentally the Pope, is able to explain and inter-

that the right and power to interpret the Bible belonged to             pret these traditions, so that, according to Rome, the faith

the clergy, and this means, we understand; the Pope ; Prot-             and doctrine and life of the people of God is exclusively

estantism maintained that every Christian is able and has               dependent upon the clergy, and this, we understand, means
the right to interpret the Word of God. False Mysticism is              the Pope.

characterized by its rejection of the objective authority of               This Roman Catholic position on Tradition is surely set

the Bible and reliance upon the "inner light"; Protestantism            forth in a set of Roman Catholic books, known as "Radio
claimed that the objective revelation in Scripture must be              Replies" by the Rev. Dr. Leslie Rumble, M.S.C., and edited
the sole and only reliable canon for faith and life. And Ra-            in collaboration with Rev. Charles Mortimer Carty, a dio-
tionalism would subject all things, even the Holy Scriptures,           cesan missionary. This set of books is a volume of three
to Reason; the Reformers subjected Reason to the revelation             books which contain questions addressed to and answered
of the Word of God. The material principle of the Reforma-              by the Rev. Dr. Leslie Rumble. Question 472, Volume II,
tion is expressed in the words: Justification by faith only.            reads : "Do you place' more reliance on Catholic dogma and
And, we understand, of course, that in this expression faith            tradition than on the Bible ?" And the answer reads as fol-
must be viewed as the free and sovereign gift of God, and               lows :    "As remote sources of Christian doctrine Catholics
that therefore our justification is purely a gift of God and            accept equally the Bible and authentic Christian tradition.
not by works in any sense of the word. The Roman Catholic               These constitute the written and unwritten Word of God.
Church had become pelagian in its conception of sin and                 The immediate guide of Catholics is the official teaching of
grace, and held that we are justified also by works. The Re-            the Catholic Church. That Church expresses from time to
formers rejected this view and maintained that the believer             time in a dogma the exact sense of some doctrine contained
is justified only by faith. And this is surely also the un-             either in Scripture or tradition. As divine tradition can
doubted and undeniable testimony of our Confessions, as we              never be opposed to Scripture, and Catholic dogma can never
showed in our previous articles.                                        be opposed to either Scripture or tradition, there can never

       It lies in the nature of the case that the influence of these    be any question of placing more reliance on one than on the

principles, the formal and material principles of the Reforma-          others. Of course, where a person's private interpretation of

tion, was great and profound. A considerable part of the                Scripture conflicts with a dogma of the Church, I would cer-

Roman Catholic doctrine concerning the Church, the priest-              tainly place more reliance on the dogma of the Church than

hood, the pope, the sacraments, etc., was not based on the              upon that person's private interpretation of Scripture."

Word of God at all, but simply on Tradition and upon the in-            Notice, please, the following in this quotation. First, the

stitutions of men. What Scriptural grounds does Rome ad-                Bible and authentic Christian tradition are accepted by

vance for its conception of the sacraments ? Rome has seven             Roman Catholicism EQUALLY. Secondly, the immediate

sacraments. They are, besides the Lord's Supper .and  Bap-              guide of Catholics is the official teaching of the Catholic

tism : Confirmation, Penance, Orders,. Matrimony, Extreme               Church. That expresses from time to time in a dogma the

Unction. What Scriptural grounds and proof does it advance              exact sense of some doctrine contained either in Scripture or


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D .   .BE.ARER                                                      449
                                                                                                              _ .

traditon. This means that the clergy, that is the pope, has the     not the average reader gain a knowledge. from the Bible of

sole right in the Roman Catholic Church to interpret and            the whole body of: Christian doctrine in general?         '

explain Scripture and tradition.                                        That would not be possible, for Christian doctrine in its

                                                                    totality is not to be found in Scripture. Much of Christian
    Then, the Rev. Dr. Rumble had been confronted with
                                                                    doctrine is contained not in Scripture but in tradition ; and
the proposition : "Tradition is no more reliable as evidence
                                                                    a clear understanding of Christian doctrine requires in many
than mere gossip or rumor." To this Dr. Rumble answers as
                                                                    cases the precise definitions of the Catholic Church under
follows in Answer 473 : "You are using the word tradition in
                                                                    the guidance of the Holy Spirit. (In connection with these
a sense other than that intended by the Church  in this mat-
                                                                    answers 516 and 517, we would make the following observa-
ter. We intend' as a source of Christian truth, that divine
                                                                    tions.    First, Protestantism recognizes, of course, the truth
tradition which is the collection of doctrines taught by Christ
                                                                    that the Scripture is a most profound book. However, we
and the Apostles, but which were not written in the New
                                                                    also maintain the perspicuity of the Scriptures. This means
Testament. They have been written in various `Creeds,' and
                                                                    that, although it is true, on the one hand, that the Bible is a
`Professions of Faith,' and are supported by the unanimous
                                                                    most profound book, it is also characterized by the fact that
consent of the Fathers who lived in the first centuries and
                                                                    it is transparently clear, so that a child can understand its
knew the Apostolic teaching. St. Paul said to Timothy,
                                                                    most fundamental teachings. And, secondly, Answer 517
`The things you have heard of me by many witnesses, the
                                                                    teaches clearly that the Word of God, the Bible, is not suf-
same commend to faithful men who will be fit to teach others
                                                                    ficient by itself, and that the totality of Christian doctrine is
also.' II Tim. 2:2. The early ecclesiastical writers recorded
                                                                    not to be found in Scripture. - H.V.)
the teachings  of these `faihful men' : and those teachings

are an authentic source of the revelation of Christ to be trans-        515. Tell me this. Are all Roman Catholic doctrines

mitted to posterity. Later, and merely human traditions, have       founded upon the Scriptures.? Not all Catholic doctrines are

nothing to do with this divine tradition, which has been            to be found in the Bible. But none of them is opposed to

specially safeguarded by the Holy Spirit." In this answer           any teaching of Scripture.       Some Catholic doctrines are

Dr. Rumble replies that the Roman Catholic Church means             found directly recorded in Scripture ; others are logically

with tradition a collection of doctrines of Christ and the          derived from teachings recorded there ; others are founded

Apostles that are not written in the New Testament. And             upon divine tradition. Scripture itself guarantees divine

we understand, of course, that these sayings of Christ and the      tradition to be a sound source of doctrine. Thus St. Paul

Apostles were written down by these men merely from                 wrote to the Thessalonians, "Brethren, stand fast, and hold

memory. Christ and the apostles did-not  dictate these sayings      the traditions which you have learned, whether by word or

to these men who wrote them and which now constitute a              by our epistle." II Thess. 2 :14.  The traditions which the early

part of the Roman Catholic tradition.                               Christians learned by word, and which were not included in

                                                                    the New Testament writings, have been preserved in the
   In Volume III' of this set the Roman Catholic doctrine on
                                                                    Catholic Church. (In connection with this statement we
tradition is more elaborately set forth, in Questions 516-528.
                                                                    would remark the following. Notice that some of the Roman
We will quote these quotations.
                                                                    Catholic doctrines are not founded upon the Scriptures what-
    516. Has the ordinary reader no chance whatever of              ever. Some of their doctrines are found directly recorded in
arriving at the correct sense of Scripture? In very many            Scripture; others are logically derived from teachings re-
isolated passages of Scripture he could certainly do so. In         corded there ; others are founded upon divine tradition. In
a great many passages he would scarcely be able to do so.           other words, some of the Roman Catholic doctrines are not
In many others he would have no chance at all. There is no          even logically derived from the teachings recorded in the
doubt whatever that the Bible is one of the most difficult          written Word of God. Some of their doctrines have no
books to understand. One needs a vast knowledge of ancient          Scriptural basis whatever.    And as far as the reference to II
languages, history' and customs ; and must be quite at home         Thess. 2 :14 is concerned [should be II Thess. 2 :15] we may
with Hebrew and Greek allegorical, metaphorical, and typical        remark that the Thessalonians are exhorted by the apostle to
expressions, quite apart from the spiritual insight required        hold fast that which had been taught them by Paul and other
to penetrate the loftiest mysteries. How many individuals           apostles, whether by word or as embodied in his epistles.
are thus qualified ? The untrained lack the historical and          This has nothing to do with the Roman Catholic doctrine of
philological information necessary to appreciate the true sense     Tradition, as teaching things not even based upon the Scrip-
of what is written, and therefore make isolated texts mean          tures. - H.V.)
what they wish, without adverting to either context or                                                                             H.V.
parallel passages. In the "Merchant of Venice" Shakespeare

puts upon the lips of Bassanio the famous words, "In religion                    The Lord will send His blessings down,

what damned error' but some brow will bless it, and approve                      And harvest all our land shall crown ;

it with a text."                                                                 Before Him righteousness abides,

   517. Even though he were to fail here and there, could                        And in His steps our feet He guides.


                                               THE  S.TANDAl$.D  .BEARER


                                                                         voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend."

                                                                         The psalmist testifies in Psalm 139, when he contemplates the

                                                                         omniscience and omnipresence of Jehovah : "Such knowledge

                                                                         is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it."

                                                                         Ps. 139:6. And in vss. 17 and 18 of the same Psalm: `fHow
                      The Bellgic Confession                             precious also are thy thoughts unto me, 0 God! how great

                                ARTICLE I                                is the sum of them ! If I should count them, they are more in
                                                                         number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee."
                               (continued)
                                                                         And the psalmist of Psalm 145 extols God as follows : "Great

        It stands to reason, therefore, in the light of what we have     is .the Lord, and greatly to be praised ; and his greatness is

     said previously (confer May 15 issue) concerning this attri-        unsearchable." Ps. 145 ~3.  In Isaiah 40 we read: "Who hath

     bute of God's eternity, that it is ultimately impossible to         directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor  hath

     produce a definition in the true sense of the word. This is in      taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed

     a way true concerning all God's attributes, but especially ap-      him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him

     plies to those attributes which we sometimes call "incom-           knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding ?

     municable."    The truth of God's simplicity, together with the     Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted

     divine incomprehensibility, precludes this. God in His eter-        as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the

     nity is the Incomprehensible One. As time cannot comprehend         isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to

     eternity, and as the creature of time cannot fathom the Eternal     burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.

     One, so it is impossible to define and to delimit this attribute    All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted

     of God's eternity. He that fails to reckon with this fact makes     to him less than nothing, and vanity. To whom then will ye

     a fatal error. For in nevertheless attempting to define the         liken God ? or what likeness will ye compare unto him ? . . .

     indefinable and from the vantage point of time to delimit the       There is no searching of his understanding." Isaiah 40 :13-l&

     eternal, he will say very loudly "Man, creature, time," when        28. And the note of the incomprehensibility cannot be missed

     he thinks to say "God, Creator, Eternal One."                       in the doxology of Remans  11:33-36  : "0 the depth of the

                                                                         riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! how un-
        If with this in mind we must nevertheless make a "defini-

                                                                         searchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
     tion" of this attribute of God, we may say that it is that

                                                                         For who hath known the mind of the Lord ? or who hath
     attribute of God according to which He, negatively speaking,

                                                                         been his zounsellor  ? or who hath first given to him, and it
     is not bound to any time and, positively, that attribute accord-

                                                                         shall be recompensed unto him again ? For of him, and
     ing to which God, as being above time, lives His infinite,

                                                                         through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory
     perfect life unceasingly with perfect consciousness.

                                                                         for ever. Amen."
        The significance of this attribute is broad, especially

     when we take into consideration the fact that implied in this          What is implied in this incomprehensibility of the living

     divine perfection are the truths that God is the Uncaused One,      God ?

     the Independent, the Unchangeable, the Incorruptible. He is            In the first place, we must be careful to maintain, in the

     the I AM. And the practical significance for the faith of the       light of Scripture, that God's incomprehensibility does not

     child of `God is quite clear in this connection. God's counsel,     mean that we can know and understand nothing of the living

     God's purpose, God's work, God's election, God's love, God's        God. God is the incomprehensible, but He is not the unknow-

     grace, God's mercy, God's promises-these all are eternal            able. A god whom you and I Can comprehend is not God;

~    as God is eternal. And before that eternal God I shall humbly ,     but a God Whom you and I cannot even know cannot be the

I    confess my dependence on Him alone, never ascribe to Him            object of-our faith. Faith in the Unknowable is a contradic-

     sin, corruption, dependence, change, or any lack or imperfec-       tion in terms. In the second place, we must always remem-

     tion, trust in Him completely, and hope for eternal glory           ber that while God is not the unknowable, but certainly can

     according to His eternal promises.                                  be known by His creatures, He can be known only z&en  aad

                                                                         in a,s far as He Himself makes  Hbwelf known  to the creature.
     2. God is Incow@-ehemible                                           In other words, God can be known only by revelation. Even

        When the Sovereign of heaven and earth reveals Himself,          as God Triune alone knows Himself with an infinitely perfect

     it is always as the Incomprehensible One. And therefore,            and eternal knowledge, so it is He only that is able to impart

     while again we may point to passages of Scripture which             His knowledge to the creature and to reveal Himself. In the

     directly teach this incomprehensibility of God, we must never-      third place, while the Lord our God knows Himself and

     theless remember that God never reveals Himself in any              fathoms His infinite essence eternally and consciously con-

     other wise than as the unfathomable God. Elihu  testifies :         templates His own glorious perfections from eternity to

     "Behold, God is great, and we know him not, neither can the         eternity, it must nevertheless be remembered that when He

     number of his years be searched out." Job 36:26.  And in            reveals Himself and makes Himself known to the creature,

     Job 37 :5 he states: "God thundereth marvelously with his           this does not mean that He forms a creature capable of re-


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   451


ceiving  His own infinite and eternal knowledge of Himself.           any thing, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee."

Such a creature would have to be infinite as God is infinite.         From the above it is also evident that the-  invisibility of God

But that God reveals Himself implies that God speaks con-             is one of the basic implications of the' second coinm8ndment~

cerning Himself and imparts the knowledge of Himself in a              In John 1:18 we read : "No man hath seen God at any time ;

form in which the creature can receive it and in a creaturely         the only begotten So,n,  which is in the bosom of the Father,

measure. Behind and beyond the plane of revelation there              he hath declared him."     Romans 1:20 also teaches this in-

always remain infinite depths of the divine Being and perfec-         visibility of God: "For the invisible things of him from the

tions which we can never fathom. In revelation God gives              creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by

His Word a finite form and comes down to us. And while He             the things that are made, even his eternal power and God-

reaches out for us and speaks to us in a form that is adapted         head." In Colossians 1 :15  Christ is referred to as "the image

to our capacity, God through that very means of revelation            of the invisible God." This same attribute is mentioned in I

at the same time deeply impresses upon our minds and hearts           Timothy 1:17  : "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, in-

that He is always infinitely greater than His own revelation,         visible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and

so that while through that revelation we know Him, we                 ever. Amen." And again, in I Timothy 6:16  it is taught as

know Him only as the Incomprehensible One. To sum up,                 follows : "Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light

therefore, the divine incomprehensibility is that perfection of       which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen,

God according to which, in relation to our creaturely knowl-          nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting.

edge and understanding, God is always infinitely greater than         Amen."       Finally, in I John 4:12 we read: "No man hath

that knowledge, so that we can never rationally search Him            seen God at any time."

out and explain Him.                                                      What must we understand by this invisibility of God ?

    The practical spiritual significance of this perfection of        Does it merely mean that God is beyond the range of our

God must be evident. In the first place, it implies that we           earthly vision ? Or is there more implied in God's invisibility ?

shall not rationalistically construe our own conception of            Furthermore, does not the Word of God also teach that we

God, which can only be an idol, but let ourselves be instructed       shall see .God face to face, I Corinth. 13 :12  and I John 3 :2 ?

and guided by His own revelation of Himself. In the second               As we mentioned already, this attribute stands closely
place, the faith that God is incomprehensible impels one              connected with the truth that God is a Spirit. And not only
diligently and prayerfully to search the revelation of the living     does it mean that God is not material, like the visible crea-
God for an ever clearer and fuller knowledge of Him. And,             tion, so that He is beyond the range of our earthly percep-
in the third place; it implies that we shall ever approach that       tion. But God is essentially invisible. In this respect He is
revelation in a humble and worshipful attitude and in the             distinguished also from the angels. The angels are heavenly
profound consciousness of the depth of God's riches.                  spirits; and as such they are invisible to us who are on the

                                                                      earth now. But they are not absolutely invisible. They are

3. God is Invisible.                                                  merely invisible to our earthly and material vision. God,

                                                                      however, is pure and absolute spiritual Being. His attributes
   This attribute of God, which is closely related to the
                                                                      do not inhere in any substance ; He is His attributes. And
essential spirituality of God, is literally taught in Scripture in
                                                                      as pure Spirit, God is at once absolutely and essentially in-
more than one passage. In Deuteronomy 4:12, 15-19, 23 we
                                                                      visible. No man hath seen Him, nor can see Him. He can
read: "And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the
                                                                      be known only by revelation. And while the mode of that
fire  : ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude ;
                                                                      revelation changes from the plane of the earthly to that of the
only ye heard a voice. Take ye therefore good heed unto
                                                                      heavenly, even as we shall be changed from the earthly to the
yourselves ; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day
                                                                      heavenly, this can never mean that we shall see God in His
that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of
                                                                      Essence. In Himself God is the Invisible One. And that we
the fire: Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven
                                                                      shall see Him face to face never can mean that we shall see
image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or
                                                                      Him without revelation, but that we shall see Him always in
female, The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the
                                                                      the face of our Lord Jesus Christ.
likeness of any winged fowl that flieth  in the air, The like-
ness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness              The significance of this attribute lies, first of all, in the
of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: And              prohibition of the second commandment, namely, that I shall
lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest         in no wise represent the infinite and invisible God by images.
the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of            And, positively, it implies, in the second place, that I shall
heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them,          humbly and submissively and joyfully inquire concerning
which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under            Him in His own revelation and shall long for that perfection
the whole heaven . . .                                                wherein I shall see Him face to face through Jesus Christ
                          Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye
forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made               our Lord.

with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of                                                                     H.C.&.


452                                      T H E   S'T-ANDAR?  B.EARER


                                                                    idopted  the rule: "Consistories are instructed to inquire of

11 D-ECENCY  a n d   O R D E R   11 those who ask to be examined previous to making public con-
                                                                    fession `of their faith and partaking of the Lord's Supper as

                                                                    to their stand and conduct in the matter of worldly amuse-

                                                                    ments, and if it appears that they are not minded to lead the
             Partaking At The Lord's Supper                         life of Christian separation and consecration, not to permit

                                                                    their public confession." Although the Synod did not attempt
       According to our Church Order, one of the requirements
                                                                    to catalogue worldly amusements, it did single out at the
for admission to the table of the Lord is that a confession of
                                                                    time the familiar trio of theater-attendance, dancing, and
the Reformed religion be made by the applicant. This means
                                                                    card-playing. With Monsma and Van Dellen  we agree when
that in Reformed Churches the principle of "closed commun-
                                                                    they write :    "None of us would care to maintain that all
ion" is maintained. Only those who are believers in con-
                                                                    amusements are in themselves evil. There are many forms
fession and life have the right to the sacraments.
                                                                    of amusements which are wholesome and good. Neither
       We added the words "and life" in the last sentence be-       would we care to claim that all amusements which are con-
cause Article 61 of our Church Order stipulates in addition         taminated with sin, and which are used by the devil to further
to the aforementioned requirement, a second in the words,           his cause, are in themselves altogether evil. But we do
"besides being reputed to be of a godly walk." Confession           maintain that all amusements which clearly hurt our spiritual
and life are inseparable. When the consistory interrogates          life and tend to stem normal, Biblical, spiritual devotion, and
one who desires to make confession of faith, questions of a         which break down the God-built barriers of spiritual separa-
doctrinal and practical nature are asked. The reason for            tion between the Church and the world, should be left alone
this should be evident. Doctrinal questions are necessary in        by all Christians. (Cf. I Cor. S :9, James 4 :4, Col. 3 :l, 2,
order to make plain that the one making confession knows            Matt. 16 :24,  18 :8,9.)
what he is confessing. To make confession of the Reformed
                                                                       "Anyone who desires to indulge in practices which have
religion necessitates that one is acquainted with and under-
                                                                    constituted a damaging, down-breaking force to spirituai liv-
stands the Reformed Faith. However, a mere intellectual
                                                                    ing, and who is not ready to forsake these things after the
understanding of the doctrines of the church does not qualify
                                                                    sinfulness of these amusements and their evil influence has
one for a place at the table of the Lord. It must also be
                                                                    been clearly demonstrated to him, by fhat very attitude gives
evident that one is resolved, by the grace of God, to con-
                                                                    just `reasons  to do,ubt  the sincesity  of h,is  heart, a,nd @st
duct himself in all things in agreement with that faith.
                                                                    reasons to question his spiAtzt.a.1  jihess for ndwksion  to the
       Back in 1900 the Christian Reformed Churches estab-          Lord's Table. Consequently, our Churches are right in nor
lished a synodical  ruling that required every consistory to        permitting to the Lord's Table those who do not intend to
ask each person making confession of faith whether he or she        lead a life of Christian separation."
is a member of any secret, oath-bound society. (Acts 1900,

Art. 84,  Schaver's Church Polity. j The                               This is all well-said. But why then are those members
                                             Claw~l~  Order Cow-
~~,zentn~y  points out that, "Those who are lodge members are       who openly admit attending the theatre (or imbibing the

not to be admitted. One main reason for withholding the             same filth of Hollywood via T.V.) not forbidden access to

Lord?s  Supper and membership rights from lodge-members             the Lord's Table ? Why are not those who give preference to

is that the lodge is representative of a false, anti-Christian      the ball games over an evening of catechetical instruction

religion. The lodges teach that if a man is a good lodge mem-       disciplined ? What is the reason that society night in the

ber, even though he fails to believe in Jesus Christ as the         church cannot be set on the same evening that is popularly

only Savior, he will be saved. Consequently lodge-member-           designated bowling night ?

ship and Church-membership cannot go together." With this              To these and similar questions, several answers can be
position we fully agree but it must be pointed out that this        given. First of all, the cause can be found in that the anti-
rule has become obsolete in the Christian Reformed Church           thetic note and emphasis in the preaching has been replaced
today. Apart from whether lodge-membership is condoned              by a social gospel that is conducive to church and world
(we believe there are instances where this is the case), the        amalgamation rather than separation. Secondly, the discipline
undeniable fact is that the church is full of members who           of the church has become weakened to the point where it is
belong to anti-Christian,  godless, oath-bound, worldly or-         virtually non-existent.     0 1
                                                                                                 n y in extreme cases is the key-
ganizations such as the so-called neutral labor unions of OUT       power exercised. Under the guise of a distorted conception of
day. These too are representative of a false, anti-Christian        "individual liberty" and through an attempt to save the sinner
religion. Does not the Lord through His apostle remonstrate         in man's way instead of the only God-appointed way, the
against such practices in I Corinthians lo:21  : "Ye cannot         practice of tolerating evil in the church has become accepted.
drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils : ye cannot        The Biblical examples in both the Old and New Testament
be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils"?      as well as the practices of our Reformed fathers are a far

       Likewise in 1928 the Synod in Article 96 of its Acts         cry from this. Indeed the church has fallen considerably and


                                            T H E   `SYTANDARD  .BEARER                                                            453


is falling from her steadfastness in the truth. And, .finally,  it    ing with the congregation.     This is especially noticeable in a

may be added that a large contributing factor in this decline         small church. Our observation is that such members, though

is the fact that the parents of the `present generation are           they are sound in faith and upright in walk, do not request

leading the way in this mad-craze for fun and pleasure at             the right to exercise the privilege of partaking at the table of

the expense of the cultivation of spiritual life. This is a           the Lord. We often wonder why this is so. Is it because

dangerous age and unless the tide is reversed the next gen-           they are too timid to approach the consistory with this re-

eration will give evidence of still less spirituality. Through        quest? In some cases this might be the case but not always.

all these practices the table of the Lord not only becomes            Is it perhaps, as is sometimes said, that they do not feel ?he

corrupted but, as the Form for the Lord's Supper clearly              need of the Lord's Supper because they either just had it a

expresses, the judgment of God descends upon those who                few weeks prior in their church or it will be celebrated in a

attempt to lead a double life ; to serve God and Mammon ; to          short time? But, certainly there is no objection to partaking

have a place in church while living the life of the world.            `of the Supper of the Lord more frequently than at the four

    It is, therefore, according to the answer of Question 82          times stipulated annually if the occasion arises. The Lord's
of our Heidelberg Catechism, "the duty of the Christian               Supper is an instituted means by which the Lord feeds and
church, according to the appointment of Christ and the                nourishes His church in the blessings of His grace. One
                                                                      ought to join not only in the singing, praying and preaching
apostles, to exclude such persons (unbelieving and ungodly)
from the table of the Lord lest the covenant of God be                of the church but also in the celebration of the sacrament if
profaned and His wrath l&&dled  agakt the whole congrega-             the opportunity is present.

tion."    It cannot be emphasized too strongly that thorough              To do this as a visitor in another church one must receive

and careful interrogation of those seeking admittance to the          permission from the consistory. It is proper that if one knows

Lord's Supper in regard to matters of doctrine and life is            they are going to be in a certain church on a Sunday when

imperative. And each preparatory service must bring these             the Lord's Supper is to be served, they take with them a

things before the consciousness of the congregation so that           testimonial from their consistory. On the basis of this the

the privileges of saints be not abused.                               consistory that is asked can readily grant the request. But

  Without this twofold testimonial, that is, concerning a             this is not always possible. They may not know until they

confession of the Reformed religion and being reputed to be           arrive at the church that the Lord's Supper is being cele-

of a godly walk, Article 61 stipulates that Yhose who come            brated. Even then, however, they can approach the con-

from other churches shall not be admitted." This rule was             sistory before the service and, if possible, take with them a

first instituted to curtail an evil practice according to which       witness who will testify concerning their sound faith and

unworthy persons, looking for money and support, would                upright walk. Then, if the request is granted, an appropriate

move from place to place and with pious talk gain admittance          announcement is made informing the congregation that these

into the church. At that time they were simply accepted               members are to be received at the table of the Lord. Is such

upon the basis of their own testimony.         To prevent this        hesitancy perhaps due to the fact that we are not always
Article.$lLmakes  it mandatory that they receive a testimonial        prepared to come to the table of the Lord and since our

from the church they had left and this was to be presented            Confession states that, "No one ought to come to this table

to the church they sought to join. Today this is done by the          without having previously rightly examined himself," we do

issuance of the transfer of membership papers, a matter we            not dare ask because we have not made the necessary self-

will discuss in connection with another article of the Church         examination. `This, too, should not be the case. Preparatory

Order. Although the rule of Article 61 historically applies           self-examination is not a thing that must be practiced once in

to persons moving from one church to another within the               three months hut a daily exercise of faith. Always we must

same denomination, it also has force with respect to those            be in readiness to commune at the table of our Lord for that

who come from other churches. It stands to reason that if a           fellowship with Him and His people is the essence of our life.

Baptist or Methodist or Roman Catholic desires to affiliate           Hungering and thirsting for the true meat and drink, we shall

with a Reformed church, he must comply with this two-fold             seek His table where we may exercise the privilege of grace

requirement before he can be admitted and receive member-             and receive the blessings of salvation.

ship privileges in the church. There is here no difference.                                                                  G.v.d.B.

The fundamental principle of Article 61  is that it maintains

"closed" communion which means that only those that agree

in faith and life can commune together at the table of the
                                                                                 Again refresh us, Lord,
Lord.
                                                                                    With Thy reviving love,

   In this connection we must comment yet upon the practice                       And be Thy blessing poured

of receiving visitors at the table of the Lord. It sometimes                        In mercy from above ;

happens that on the Sunday that the Lord's Supper is being                        By grace revive our hearts again,

celebrated there are members from sister churches worship-                       As streams refreshed by copious rain.

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


                                                                  united church truly Catholic, truly Reformed, and truly

                                                                  Evangelical."

                                                                     Although enthusiasm for the plan runs high in the United

                                                                  Presbyterian Church, there is considerable ~opposition  to the.

                                                                  plan in other circles.
ON THE CONVENTION ClRCUlH
                                                                     Although the Protestant Episcopal Church will not re-
   The summer months are the days for ecclesiastical, assem-      ceive this invitation officially till its convention in September,
blies. Synods, Conventions, Conferences, or whatever they         nevertheless several dioceses have already spoken out against
may be called,have  met throughout the country, have adopted      the plan. The Diocese of Long Island, New York is afraid
their resolutions for good or for bad, and have gone home.        that such a proposal will undermine the confessional basis of
Reading over the countless reports of all these ecclesiastical    their church ; the diocese of Maine believes it would be m&e
assemblies, one is struck by the fact that the main topic of      appropriate to seek affiliation with the Eastern Orthodox
discussion and resolution throughout practically all of them      Church.
was the topic of church merger. There have been several              The Southern Presbyterians were also invited to discuss
important developments.                                           merger with the United Presbyterian Church. They turned
   The United Church of Christ is a reality. This merger          down the invitation because the United Presbyterian Church

between the Congregational Christian Churches and the             was contemplating merger with denominations of different

Evangelical and Reformed Churches has been in the making          dogmas and church polity than that to which the Southern

now for several years ; yet it was .not until this summer that    Church was committed. Others in the Southern Church have

the final steps to realize union were accomplished. The new       proposed that the liberals in their church get out to join the

denomination numbers 6,422 congregations and 2 million            United Presbyterian Church, while the conservatives in the

members to constitute the seventh largest Protestant church       United Presbyterian Church get out of their denomination

in the United States. Elected as the new president is Rev. D.     to join the more conservative church in the south.

Ben M. Herbster of Norwood,  Ohio. This man is a native               All these mergers and merger discussions point to the

of Prospect, Ohio, has been pastor of the Zion Evangelical        trend, increasing daily in momentum, to unite all churches

and Reformed Church in Norwood  for 30 years, and was             together into one denomination. This will have to be accom-

active for some time in the National Council of Churches. He      plished first of all among Protestants, but there are already

has already &pressed himself on various issues which are          those who are advocating affiliation or, at least, closer contact

currently being discussed in the new church -medical care         with the church of Rome. These churches, while succeeding

for the %ged  through Social Security (he is in favor of it) ;    in their efforts to grow to almost unbelievable sizes, never-

right to work laws, (he is opposed to them) ; United States       theless fail entirely to reveal the body of Christ upon earth.

recognition of Red China in the United Nations, (he favors        On the altar of merger they sacrifice the truth of the Word

it). This new denomination has kept the wheels of merger          of God, in the lust for material and physical strength they

turning by inviting the Disciples of Christ; to join their de-    prostitute their calling to represent God's cause in the world.

nomination. If this should become a reality, the new denom-           A little closer to home there is also talk of merger on a

ination'would  number 14,000 congregations and 4 million          smaller scale. The Christian Reformed Church decided at

members.                                                          their last Synod to seek closer affiliation with the Orthodox

   However, this same denomination is deeply involved in          Presbyterian Church. These two denominations have had

further merger plans with other denominations. W.e have           fraternal relations for several years already, but are seeking

reported more than once in this column on the plan advanced       now a closer union with hopes of future denominational

by Eugene Carson Blake to form a denomination of four             merger.

major Protestant bodies in the United States. This proposal           Also the Christian Reformed Church, in their Synodical

was first suggested by Dr. Blake in a sermon in the Cathedral     sessions, responded to a request from the "De Wolf Synod,,
                                                                             -
of Bishop James Pike in San Francisco. It called for a merger     of last year which asked the Christian Reformed Synod to

of the Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, the         declare the three pdints  non-binding. This the Synod refused

United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., and the Prot-           to do ; but guessing correctly that it would make very little

estant Episcopal Church.    This merger would unite almost        difference anyway, they formulated steps to be followed for

20,000,OOO  Protestants or l/3 of the total Protestant popula-    the "De Wolf Synod,' to h&urn  to them.

tion in this country into one large denomination. The United          The Synod of the former Protestant Reformed ministers

Presbyterian Church, of which Dr. Blake is Stated Clerk,          and churches met this past week. Although the Christian

has already decided favorably on this merger-deciding to          Reformed Church had not heeded their request, this did not

invite "the Protestant Episcopal Church meeting in general        prevent them from passing a motion.to  return. The vote was

convention in Detroit, Michigan, in this same year, to join       12-5.

with us in an invitation to the Methodist Church and the              This m&&g,  while this article is being written (July

United Church of Christ to explore the establishment af  a        14), the schismatics  are attending the "funeral,' of their


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                        455


denomination in the last session of their Synod. Somehow                  viously all do not repent and mend their ways and receive Christ;
                                                                          most go to the hell they merit.
the whole thing fills one with sadness. Not because their                   Calvin postulated that since God as Creator of all things is om-
decision affects our churches in any adverse way - we go                  niscient, knowing the future and the past as one, he knows in ad-
                                                                          vance who will be saved. And since God is omnipotent -able to
on as Protestant Reformed Churches as we have in the past                 save all men if he wills - the damned are damned by God's consent,
with vigor and zeal. But these men and the people they are                damned eons before they were born, and there is nothing they can
supposed to represent once stood with us in the battle lines              do about it.
                                                                            To predestination Calvin added such corollary conclusions as
of faith. They have forsaken these lines to retreat to a church           "particular redemption" (God's picking and choosing the elect),
that no longer fights this battle with complete faithfulness              "moral inability" (the impossibility of doing anything to save one-
                                                                          self), "invincible grace" (the impossibility of doing anything to damn
and -perseverance. Once with us, they are with us no longer.              oneself if God has decreed otherwise) and "&al perseverance" (the
Rather than marching forward in our ranks, they have slipped              guarantee that all the elect will reach heaven - no matter what).
                                                                              It is interesting to note that at least T&+e's  religious edi-
backward where to fight the battle of faith becomes ever more
                                                                          tor gives credit to Calvin for standing on Scripture in his
hopeless. They have, by returning, adopted theological and
                                                                          defense of predestination. In some respects, his presentation
doctrinal tenets which they know and once said were not
                                                                          of Calvinism is correct; in others it is a serious caricature
Reformed. They have entered a denomination that has fer-
                                                                          bound to deceive. From the religious editor of Time such a
vently denied the principles of Christian conduct and life; We
                                                                          caricature is somewhat to be expected, for he may not 
are sorry to see them go, for we had hoped they would return.                                                                             know
                                                                          exactly what Calvinism is. But when this happens also in a
    Nevertheless, they have not all been in favor of returning,
                                                                          Christian Reformed periodical, that is quite a different story.
and are not today. Perhaps by this time, those who do not
                                                                          Rev. Rolf L. Veenstra writes in a recent issue of The Bavmer :
want to make the long and dark trip back will see that their

calling is indeed to come to us. As their denomination fades                   Unhappily, it is to be feared that much of what passes for
                                                                          predestination in Reformed circles is little better than Mohammedan
away, may God grant that they see this and have the courage               fatalism. Many people have the mistaken notion that the will of God
to act.                                                                   is a cold and inflexible scheme that was completed before the  be-
                                                                          ginning of the world, with which our prayers have little or nothing
                                                                          to do, and which God is as incapable of changing as the  Medeo-
CARICATURES OF REFORMED TIRUTH                                            Persian monarchs were the very laws that they  themselves had made.
    There are many thousands and even millions of Prot-                   We must not think  of God in terms of human time, as though He
estants today who have severed the last ties which bound                  flnished His planning and thinking and willing on such and such a
                                                                          day in human history. The Bible gives the lie to that crude notion
them to the Protestant Reformation. They are the ones who                 in describing God's response to human behavior and pious prayer as
hate the Reformed truth and will have nothing of it. This is              reported in Genesis 6:6, II Kings 20, Exodus 32:14,  II Samuel 24:16,
                                                                          etc. God is the eternal Now, and His plan for our lives: and the
really not so strange, and in fact, is to be expected. When               world does not exist apart from Him, the way a~ architect's blue-
the fundamental truths of God's Word are emphasized, it                   print does.
                                                                              When it comes to the matter of personal salvation, let us be
stands to reason that there will be all kinds of opposition from          done once and for all with the idea that if we are elect we are going
those who have fallen into Arminianism and Modernism.                     to be saved in spite of ourselves, and if we are not elect there is
                                                                          nothing that we can do about it. (This is a caricature of Scripture as
Expecting this, it is not too difficult to put up with it.                much as the opposite Arminian error that God himself cannot save
    But these same'men who deny the fundamental truths of                 you unless you are willing.) The problem of predestination vs. free
                                                                          will, on which is spent so much -time that could more profitably be
God's Word commit a more serious sin. They do not simply
                                                                          given to other Scriptural subjects, is, like many of our problems,
deny the truth of God's Word, but they make all kinds of                  purely a theoretical one. That is, nobody ever wanted to become a
caricatures of it. They slander the truth and describe Re-                Christian and couldn't: nobody in hell will deny that it was his free
                                                                          choice. The problem is real and practical only when predestination
formed believers as holding to truths which in fact they do               becomes, as it is in many minds, fatalism or determinism.

not hold to at all. They do this sometimes out of ignorance                  This certainly cannot be explained as ignorance. At least

no doubt, but oftener out of a desire to make the truth repug-            if it must be explained that way, it is a shame. Rev. Veen-

nant to others.                                                           stra may have a certain group of people in mind when he

  Such a caricature of the truth was recently made in T&se                writes this way - people who actually do make of predestina-

in a lengthy discussion of church merger. Discussing the                  tion and God's counsel a certain fatalism ; but it is obvious

views of John Calvin, Tdme  writes:                                       that `he `also refers to those Reformed people who still main-

                                                                          tain the truth of God's Word. He himself slips into the worst
    As a young man at the University of Paris, John Calvin caught
the fervor and excitement of Luther's break with Rome and became          sort of caricature of God's counsel when he obviously means
one of the keenest theological thinkers Christianity has produced.        to maintain that the counsel is flexible, adaptable td human
Most of his body of thought, set forth in his book, "The Institutes
of the Christian Religion," first written when he was only 26, has        responses and therefore changeable. All he writes is quite
survived the passage of time. One major Calvinist tenet now gen-          contrary to the Canons of Dordrecht which it would be ad-
erally discredited is the doctrine of predestination -which he him-
self called "the horrible decree."                                        visable for him to read. In a truly Reformed community, a
    Calvin founded this belief on the inexorable_ deterministic logic     man would be censured for writing these things. Rev. Veen-
of Augustine in that saint's 5th century controversy with Pelagius,
British heretic. Pelagius' heresy- too widespread in the modem            stra writes that too much time is being wasted on the problem
world to raise an eyebrow- was that Adam's disobedience had               of predestination vs. free will. It would be advisable for the
affected no one but himself; all men are not born sinners, but free
to opt for good or evil, salvation or hell. Standing i?rmly  on Scrip-    brother to spend a little more time bn the problem that he
ture, both Augustine and Calvin after him held that Adam's fall           may learn the creedal  position of his church on the matter.
was man's; all men are born in sin and deserve damnation. God in
his love sent men the means of salvation in Jesus Christ, but ob-                                                                   H. Hanko


                                                                            churches, a convention here presents'financial problems. We

                                                                            hope- that everyone will reme-mber  to send his (or her) dona-.

                                                                            tion in soon. If the donation envelopes .provided  for your' .

                                                                            church have all been used, just send your donation to Mr. ,.

                                                                            Harlow &riper,  750  Jefferson Ave., Loveland, Colo. Thank-
   ::.

          1                                    J u l y   2 0 ,   1 9 6 1    you very much." Aiid  zwe  add : have you heeded this plea, and

                                                                            so deserved those thanks ? If not, you'still have three-weeks
  1'Report of Classis  East. meeting, July 5, at Hudsonville,

                                                                            to speed your gift to-Loveland before the convention is called.
Mich. : Rev:  R. Veldman led in the opening devotions, and

declared `Classis  properly constituted after the credentials of               Lynden's congregation was sorely disappointed in their-

the delegates'had been accepted. All the churches of Classis                plans to move the former "Gospel Hall Building" to the lots

East were represented by two delegates except Creston,                      next to the parsonage. Because of.neighborhood  protest the

which had only one.                                                         city counsel decided to invoke an 11 year old city ordinance

   Rev. G. Vos, following the order of rotation, presided                   which prohibits the moving or erecting of any building not in

efficiently over this meeting. As usual, there was very little              harmony with the general character of the buildings in the

on the agenda of this July Classis, and Classis  was finished               vicinity of the intended site. This means for Lynden that in

with its work before noon. `The routine reports of the Stated               order to use their newly acquired building they will have to

Clerk and the Classical Committee were read, and accepted.                  obtain other lots not in a "new home" area to which they

The Church Visitors gave. a very favorable report of their                  may move this "old" building.

visits to the churches of the Classis.  The,reports  noted that                The appearance of the Oak Lawn's Church property was
there is.a "strong bond of. love and faith that unites us in                enhanced recently through the efforts of an individual who
the Lord."                               .~                                 planted flowers, and trimmed and nursed the shrubbery in

   Three churches were given Classical appointments as fol-                 front of the church. The bulletin carried the thanks of the

lows : Grartd Hamen.:  Aug. 13 - G. Lanting, Aug. 20-R.                     Consistory to Mr.. S. Schaafsma for this kindness.

Veldman, Aug. 27 -H. Hanko, Sept. 3 - G. Vos, Sept. 10                         Another item in Oak -Lawn's bulletin was a call for volun-
- M. Schipper, Oct. 1 -A. Mulder, Oct. 8 - G. Vos.
                                                                            teer painters to ply their trade at their new school in South
Cresston  : July 30 - M. Schipper, Aug. 13-A. Mulder,                       Holland. Additional assistance (ladies too) was solicited to
Sept. 3 - G. Lanting, Sept: 17 - R. Veldman, Sept. 24 - G.
                                                                            prepare some used desks for re-finishing. We predict that
Vos, Oct. 1 - C. Hanko, Oct. 8-H. Hanko. Randotph:                          those volunteer workers, will feel a greater delight of owner-
July 30 - R. Veldman, Aug. 20 - C. Hanko, ,Aug.  27 - C.                    ship in the building than those who merely give of their
Hanko, Sept. lo- A. Mulder, Sept. 17-H. Hanko, Oct. 1
                                                                            abundance.
-G. Lanting, Oct. 8-M. Schipper.
                                                                               Hope's Pamphlet Comm., which publishes "The Covenant
   Rev. H. Hanko was appointed to thank the ladies of our
                                                                            Witness" used a recent bulletin to quote excerpts of a couple
Hudsonville church for their excellent catering. Questions of
                                                                            of letters received from grateful recipients of their pamphlets.
Article 41 of the Church Order were asked and answered
                                                                            One was from a minister in Piedmont, SC., who thanked
satisfactorily. Rev. H. Hanko closed this meeting of Classis
                                                                            them "for sending me the `Covenant Witness.' The great
with thanks to God.
                                                                            truth of Sovereign grace is the great need of the age. In
   Professor-Emeritus, Rev. G. M. Ophoff, has returned to
                                                                            this so-called Christian belt, the Piedmont region is so filled
his home at 1126 Eastern Ave., S. E., and seems to have
                                                                            with Arminianism it is hard to find one that believes these
completely recovered from the effects of his last stroke.
                                                                            great truths . . . . a The God of Grace knows what a blessing
   By the Program Comm. of the Reformed Witness Hour,                       the `Covenant .Witness'  has `been to me . . ."
we are informed that the Rev. J. A. Heys, minister of the
                                                                               From Doon's bulletin we learn that another issue of "The
Protestant Reformed Church in South Holland, Illinois, has
                                                                            Reformed Witness" has been published. This one was writ-
recorded four radio sermons which, D.V., are to be broad-
                                                                            ten by Rev. .G. Van Baren,  and is a treatise on the subject,
cast during the month of August. The titles of his radio mes-
                                                                            "God, Servant Or Sovereign?" This newest issue was dis-
sages are, "The God Whom I Confess," "The God Who
                                                                            tributed to 1852 addresses in the Menno-Tripp-Scotland  area,
Saveth Me," "The God To Whom I Pray," and "The God
                                                                            665 in Edgerton  area, and 221 into miscellaneous areas. After
Whom I Serve." We urge the readers of this page to either
                                                                            having posited that God is not servant, but Sovereign, Rev.
listen to, or read these radio messages. Printed copies may
                                                                            Van Baren  rejoices with the Apostle Paul, as it is recorded
be had by writing to The Reformed Witness Hour, P.O. Box
                                                                            in Romans 8 138, 39: "For nothing can separate me from the
8, Grand Rapids 1, Mich.
                                                                            love of God which is in Christ Jesus my Lord." God is
   From the Newsletter for the 21st Convention of our
                                                                            eternally God.
Young People we re-print the following paragraph: "Be-

cause Loveland is small, and quite distant from our other                      . . . . see you in church.                            J.M.F.


