                                                             NOVEWER  15, 1.961 - GRAND  FSAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                   NU~MBER  4

                                                                                                But all the while God's people dwelled in their midst,

                                                                                             and they also heard of the coming of this great and terri-

                                                                                             ble host of the Medes and the Persians.

                                                                                                And what of this slave people? Where was their en-

                          ISRAEL ENCQU.RAGCD                                                 couragement ?

                                                                                                Here it is :    "But thou, Israel, art My servant, Jacob
             `~"Fcar   n o t ;   fou  I   CLWL  with   t h e e :   be  n o t   dismayled;    whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham My friend. Thou
             for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I -z&F                           whom I have taken from the ends of the `earth, and called
             lzclp thee; yea, I will ztplzold thee z&la  the Tight lmnd                      thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou
            o f   hfjr riglzte0umes.s."                                          41 :lo
                                                                          ISA.               art My servant ; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away."

          This text is not of my choosing this time.                                            And then follows the test of this mother in Israel whom

          It came to me through a sister in the Lord whom we laid                            we laid to rest last week. Here it is :

       to rest last week. I was told by those dear to her that mother                           "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed;
       loved that test above all. And so I thought to write some                             for I am thy God : I will strengthen thee ; yea, I will help
       kind of epitaph in remembrance of her.                                                thee ; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My

                                                                                             righteousness."
                                       * * *         :g                                                                                 I
                                                                                                So, Israel does not have to ,turn  to [the  vain idols of

          The prophet wrote these words because of a prophetic                               Chaldea, but her help and encouragement come from Him

       vision God gave him. He saw Israel in captivity in Chaldea.                           who made the heavens and the earth, from Him who re-

                                                                                             deemeth Israel of all the ages.
I         And Chaldea was moved. Indeed, the isles saw a terrible
~
      conqueror, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid,

       drew near, and came. (I am using Isaiah's words.) A                                                             * * *: *

       great conqueror came from the east' and from the north,

       and swallowed up all and every nation in his pathway. His                                The recipients of this encouragement are historically

       name ? Cyrus, God's servant.                                                          Israel, God's servants, Jacob whom God chose, the seed of

                                                                                             Abraham His friend.
          As a result, everyone helped his neighbor, and everyone

       said to his brother, Be of good courage!                                                 They are God's peculiar people, and remained that even

                                                                                             though they found themselves between the rivers Euphrates
          And what did the isles and the ends of the earth do in
                                                                                             and Tigris ; even though they had become a slave people to
       the face of this mortal danger? This: `(the carpenter en-
                                                                                             the heathen. They were not cast away, >even  though they
       couraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the
                                                                                             were sorely tried in this captivity.
       hammer encouraged him that smote the anvil, saying, It is

       ready for the soldering: and he fastened it with nails, that                             And they were God's peculiar people not because of any-

       it should not be moved."                                                              thing in them, for they were CHOSEN. They were the

                                                                                             chosen people of God because of reasons within the God-
          In other words: the world looked to their gods, and,
                                                                                             head.
       setting up their idols, they lamented and cried for help in

       terrible danger !                                                                        All the years of their captivity God had kept His eye

                                                                                             and His heart on them.
          The encouragement of the world were idols, vain and

       empty.                                                                                   And when they also joined in with the heathen, and fell



I

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


to fear and dismay because of the steamroller which ad-                  Our deepest fear and dismay is because of sin and guilt

vanced to Chaldea, God comes to them in this captivity and           and death and hell.

gives them wondrous encouragement: Fear not, and be not                 Who would not tremble when he thinks of the aveng-
dismayed.                                                            ing God, the Judge of all the earth ?

      The beauty of all this is that Isaiah saw all these things        And every Sunday morning Jehovah cometh  to His pecu-
many years before their happening. 0 yes, God is God, and            liar people and says : "Grace, mercy and peace be unto you !
He tells the things that are going to happen from the be-            Fear not, and be not dismayed !"
ginning. He knows; our Father knows !
                                                                        And why not?
      But, beloved reader, this message of wondrous encour-
                                                                        Because I am with thee ! and : I am thy God !
agement goes deeper, much deeper.

                                                                        Do you know, beloved reader, that the above statements
      The historical Israel is a type of the Israel of God of
                                                                     are about the same as the blessed name IMMANUEL?
all the ages. This Israel of Isaiah and of my text are

you !                                                                   Listen once more to the same Isaiah: "Great is the Holy

                                                                     One of I&ael in the midst of thee !"
      It is the church which always is in the midst of the heath-

en, of the world.                                                       That makes all the difference in the world. They trust

                                                                     in chariots and in horses. In modern language that would
      That church, even as the historical Israel, is chosen and
                                                                     be men, warships, cannon, bombs and stockpiles of bombs.
called. They are His peculiar people.
                                                                     But we trust in the NAME. It is IMMANUEL. God is in
      They also came out of Egypt, the house of bondage ;            your midst.
they also went dryshod  through the Red Sea, and after see-
                                                                         Why then should we fear?
ing the death of Egypt, they always set their faces to the

promised land. They all dream of Jerusalem the golden, and                                     *     * * *
at times cry out : For Thy salvation I wait, 0 Lord !

                                                                        But even now I have not fathomed the depth of the text.
      And that spiritual Israel also is in the midst of horrible

things, threatening things.                                              In the midst of the historical Israel ; in the midst of the

                                                                     church of God of all the ages there is a very illustrious Per-
      Come to yourselves a moment. View the things that are
                                                                     sonage : the lowly Christ of God. He is THE Servant of
happening around you.       Do you not hear the voices of ca-
                                                                     Jehovah. A little further in Isaiah's prophecy he will draw
lamity and dread ?
                                                                     His picture, hanging on the cross, chapter 53. He is a very
      Do you not hear the voices of the heathen, speaking to         peculiar Child of Jehovah.
his brother and to his neighbor : be of good courage!
                                                                         Israel heard the thunder of hoofs and of the war char-
      Have you not seen how everyone of them speak to the            iots of Cyrus. The church hears the thunder of the wrath
goldsmith; he again to him that smootheth with the ham-              of men and of devils all around them. And in the offing they
mer, and also to him that smites the anvil ? The gods are            see the black thunder of the law of God that curseth  and
ready for soldering: soon it will stand, and it will so stand        curseth.
that it will not be moved.
                                                                        But this Man of God, this Christ, not only heard all the
      Yes, have you not heard how everyone of them build             thunder and the malevolent cries of wicked men and devils,
their hopes on stockpiles of bombs and rockets ?                     but He was the recipient of all the waves and billows of the

      But oh, the fear and the dismay of all the isles of the        wrath of God !

sea, and of the ends of the earth!                                      Fear and dismay ?

      Did it Got rub off on you? Did you not tremble and                 0, they were the portion of the Heart of Israel!
quaver at the sound of the bomb tests ?
                                                                         See Him as He bows into the dust of Gethsemane's gar-
      All right!                                                     den. Listen to the most awful cry of God's Universe: 0 My

      Listen to this: God comes to you today with this age-          God, My God ! why hast Thou forsaken Me ?

old text of Isaiah, and says to you and me: Fear thou not!               That is the depth of it all.
and : be not dismayed !
                                                                                                *    9 * *
      But even then we have not told you all the truth of this

fear and dismay.                                                         But God give.5 encouragement.

      The greatest cause' of `this fear and dismay is not our            The historical Israel does not have to fear. Dismay is out

present-day conquerors. Forget about Cyrus, the tyrant               of place. They need not fear Cyrus, even though Chaldea

who swallowed up all the.nations  before him.                        should.


                                           T    H    E         STANDAKI:  f3EARER                                                                                                                                             75



   Cyrus is God's servant. God uses him to bring God's

people back again to Palestine. Listen to Isaiah: (God)                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A H P R

saith of Cyrus, He is My shepherd, and shall perform ail                      Semi-monthly, except monthly .durin.g  )une,  July and August
                                                                               Published by the                                               F
My pleasure : even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built ;                                                    REFORMED   REE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
                                                                              P. 0. Box 8S1, Madison Square Station. Grand Rapids 7. Mich.
and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
                                                                                                      Editor - I?Ev. Hx~~~AN HUEKSEMA                                                                                             )1
   God was the help of Israel, the strength of Jacob, the
                                                                                             Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 riankin  St., S. E.,
upholding of His chosen people.                                          II Communications relative to conte&s sh&d be ad&esbr(l tcl
                                                                                                                     Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

   So also with respect to the spiritual. Israel. God always                 All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
helps His people. In deepest darkness and the thunder of                                     James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
                                                                                                             Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
events, God helps and redeems Israel.                                        Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
                                                                              addres  and will be published at a fee of $2.00 for each not&.
   Why? Great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of
                                                                              RENEWAL: Unless a de6nite  request for discontinuance is re-
thee. That's the only reason. Jesus is in our heart. And                      ceived it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
Jesus is delivered out of all His troubles.                                        to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
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   Yes, He lay on the ground of Gethsemane,  while thick                            Second Class postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan
drops of blood fell in the dust. But an angel came to streng-

then Him.

                                                                                                                       C O N T E N T S
   Out of t,e'tornadoes  of God's wrath He reappeared in
the resurr&tion.  And at this time of my writing He sings                MEDITA-IT~N-
                                                                                    Israel Encouraged                       . ___ ___ .____.  . . . _.. .._ ..73
the swe i&t songs of God's covenant. And the church and                                     Rev. G. Vos
         7
the angpls  sing with Him.                                               E D I T O R I A L S -
                                                                                    Question: The Saints Ih Heaven Before the Second Coming..76

                              * * * *                                               Another          Question                                               ..__  ___..  __. . ..____..  . . . ____ __....  ..77
                                                                                         Rev. H. Hoeksema

    0 God of eternal miracles! How did this all come about?              OUR DOCTFJNE-
                                                                                    Regeneration              __.                                         .___  _.__  ___ __. ._. __. ..__ ..75
   By the right Hand of God's righteousness.                                                Rev. H. Hoeksema

   Historical Israel ?                                                   A CLOUD OF \'ITNESSES-
                                                                                    The Covenant With Israel ____....................................................                                                        SO
    Isaiah: Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, ancl                                      Rev. B. Woudenberg

her converts with righteousness.                                         FROM HOLY WRIT -

                                                                                    E,xposition        of I Timothy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  82
   The Church of all the ages ?
                                                                                            Rev. G. Lubbers

   Isaiah: By His knowledge shall My righteous servant                   IN HIS FEAR -
justify many.                                                                       God's Royal Priesthood ( 13) ._,............_____...............,............  84
                                                                                            Rev. J. A. Heys
   And Jesus ?
                                                                         CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH-
    Isaiah: The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His                           The Church and the Sacraments ___........................................,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              86

hand.                                                                                       Rev. H. Veldman
                                                                         THE VOICE                  OUR FATHERS -
    Hallelujah !                                                                             OF 
                                                                                    The      Belgic       Confession                    . . . . . . . . ..___.  ~.___..____,...,..._.......................                    88.

                                                                 G.V.                       Rev. H. C. Hoeksema

                                                                                                   ORDER-
                                                                         DECENCY AND 
                                                                                    Special Prayer Days ._. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...' . . ..______._____.........................  9@

                                                                                            Rev. G. Vanden  Berg


                          IN MEMORIAM                                    ALLAROUNDUS-
                                                                                    Lutherans and Rome ._ .._ . . ..______.  ..__ .,...........  .92
   The Hudsonville Ladies' Society herewith wishes to express its                   The Dignity of Labor? .___...  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._.................................                                             91,
sympathy with our fellow member, h/Irs.  Gerald Vander Kooy,                        The Moral Problems of Fall-Out Shelters ._,__.__,_.__.,..___....... 92
in the loss of her father,                                                          Mergers and Splits                                      __. __. __. .__ _..  .   .   .   _ _ _   _ _ _ _   .93-

                    JOHN KAMP, aged 82 years                                                Rev. .H. Hanko

who passed away Friday, October 27, at Denver, Colorado.                 CONTRIXTIIONS -
                                                                                    A n   A l l e g o r y   _.              . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..I . . . . . .._.__.......................... . . 9 4
   May our Lord visit the bereaved family with His wonderful                                Mr. J. M. Faber
comfort, and dry their tears.                                                       Report of Eastern Ladies' League h4eeting  __ ____ .._, ..__..  ____ . ..9%
                                                                                            Mrs. E. Kooienga ,
   Rev. 21:4.

                                 The Hudsonville Ladies' Society                   FHOA~ O
                                                                         NEWS                      UR CHURCHES _,,.._..._  .'........................................,.,..........~~
                                    Rev. Gerrit Vos, President                              Mr. J. M. Faber

                                    Mrs. Rhine Lubbers, Secretary


76                                           `I- I-I E S T A N D A R D 13 E A R E R


                                                                       what I wrote has absolutely nothing to do with the so-called

                                                                       "rapture"    of premillennialism or dispensationalism.      The

                                                                       Pre's believe as follows:

                                                                          a. The Church and the Kingdom of God are not identical
         uestisn:  The Sain'ts  In Beaven  Before                      as to the members or citizens of each: the Kingdom is for

                    The Second Coming?                                 the Jews only, the Church is gathered from the Gentiles.

                                                                          b. The Jews reject Christ as their King and the cross is
      On the above-mentioned subject I received a question
                                                                       the result. God now, while the Jews are in the dispersion
from the Men's Society of Oak Lawn as follows:
                                                                       and in captivity, gathers His Church from the Gentiles.
      "Dear Rev. Hoeksema :
                                                                          c. Toward the close of this dispensation He gathers those
                                                                                                          ,.
      "For the past two years our Men's Society has been dis-          believers that look for His coming as well as those who are
cussing the Book of Revelation. In discussing chapter 16               raised from the dead and takes them, not into heaven, but
we were confronted with a question which we decided to'                with Him into the air. This is the "rapture." And mark
submit to you. Our problem has to do with understanding                you well, this "rapture" is for the very purpose that the
your writing in the October II 1960 issue of the Standard              saints do not come in the great tribulation. You understand
Bearer. On page six you wrote as follows:                              that I, in my series on the Book of Revelation, teach noth-

      "`Thus shall the evil intentions of the nations and of the       ing of the kind.

beast and of the dragon be turned against themselves. In                  d. At the end of the "rapture" Christ returns to this

that last battle the people of God shall have no part. They            earth to usher in -the  Millennium. He destroys the anti-

shall be taken away. . . . The Lord will come as a thief, un-          christ, establishes'.the  throne of David and reigns with the

expectedly, unawares, with His judgments, but also to take             saints over the Jews in the promised land. During the period

His people away from the earth. He shall come and go, and              of a thousand years the devil is bound.

no one shall have noticed that He shall have been.' ,The na-             e. Toward the close .of the thousand years, Gog and '
tions shall continue to rage and blaspheme the God of heav-            Magog will rise up and come up against the Holy' City which t.
en ; but the church of God shall be upon earth no more.                is, literally, Jerusalem. Christ will destroy the. hordes of

       "Will you kindly clarify this for us ? Do you not teach         Cog and Magog; will raise the rest of the dead, will judge

here two future comings of the Lord ? Is it your position              the world and take the Church into heaven while the Jews

that there will be no saints upon the earth at the final com-          will forever 1ive"on  the new earth. Thus the Church and

ing of Christ? Do not certain dispensationalists teach some-           the Kingdom of God will forever be separate.

thing similar to this in the `rapture' theory?                            4. This, in general, is the millennial view even though

       `fWe  would appreciate it-if  you would elucidate. upon this    the Pre's do not agree with one another in every detail.

in a future issue of our Sta&al*d  Beal*@lp.                              But note now the difference between this view and ours:

                                  "w.s.  M. De Vries, Secretary"          a. According to the millennialists the "rapture" is be-

      Answer :                                                         fore the great tribulation, is for the very purpose that be-
                                                                       lievers that look for the coming of the Lord may escape the
      1. First of all, I wish to thank brother De Vries and the        great tribulation, and they shall not be in heaven but with
Oak Lawn Men's Society for their manifest, interest in my              the Lord in the air. According to our view, there will be
articles on the Book of Revelation. It is always encouraging           no such, rapture but the resurrection of the dead and the
for any writer to discover that what he writes is read. This           change of the living will take place in two stages with the
is especially true of articles on the Book of Revelation               destruction of Gog and Magog in between.
which is not easy to interpret.
                                                                          b. According to the millennialists' view, the destruction
      L. It is also Interesting  tar me to notice that the             of Gog and Magog will not come till after the millennium ;
Lawn Men's Society do not merely take for granted that                 according to our view, there will be no reign of Christ on the
what I write is true. It is evident from their question that           earth for a special thousand years, but "the nations that live
they study the matter and there is even a note of disagree-            on the four corners of the earth," and that will encompass
ment with what I wrote, in the above quoted paragraph.                 the "camp of the saints" (as they imagine), will be destroyed

I wish to assure the brethren that I. can and do commend               immediately before the end of this present time. Besides, we

them for this also. We are all prophets and as such are able           receive the impression from Rev. 20:9 that there will be no

to interpret the Scriptures. Besides, I have been asked about          real battle between the antichristian nations and Gag and

the very same paragraph by more than one before, although              Magog for there we `read "and fire came down from God out

they did not intend their questions for publication.                   of heaven and devoured .them.`i

       3. Now, as to the question proper, I wish to say that               I realize that it is very difficult to conceive of the time-


    . . . ,;`:_,,.' .-...*:I.                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      .77
                   . `Z ,z.: &&~+~~



  order with regard to the last things. One thing is sure, and            was discussing in the context from which Mrs. Jonker quoted

  that is that, at the coming of the Lord, every eye shall see            the above lines. For he to whom the threat applies that God

  Him and this cannot be in our present bodies but must be in             shall take his part out of the book of life and out of the

  the bodies of the resurrection, both of the wicked and of the           holy city, is the one that deliberately changes the words of

  righteous. I realize, too, that you can ask many questions              the prophecy of the book of Revelation and also of the whole

  which I or anyone else cannot answer just because they,                 of Scripture to suit his own fancy. Now why should he do

  partly, belong to the end or beyond the end of time. Never-             this ? I answer : because he knows very well that, on the

  theless, on the basis of Scripture, we may visualize some kind          basis of Scripture, he cannot have any hope and cannot even

  of order in the doctrine of the last things. And this is what           live in the hope of his own imagination. And, therefore, I

  I have been attempting to do.                                           still maintain that the unregenerate very well knows that he

                                                               H.H.       is not converted and that he will not go to heaven (the Scrip-

                                                                          tural heaven) when he dies.

                                                                             Secondly, let us not forget that I was trying to explain
                                 Another Question                         Rev. 22:1S,  19: "For I testify unto every man that heareth

      Mrs. D. Jonker of Grand Rapids, Michigan, sent to me                the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add

  the following missive and question:                                     unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that

      "Dear Domine  :                                                     are written in this book. And if any man shall take away

                                                                          from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take
      "You will undoubtedly remember that some time ago in
                                                                          away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city,
  catechism we had a discussion on whether the unregenerate
                                                                          and from the things which are written in this book." It
  knows that he is not a converted man and knows that he
                                                                          was my main purpose to explain and to emphasize that this
  is not going to heaven when he dies. You emphasized then
                                                                          cannot mean that there is falling away from grace. Hence.*
  that no one ever dies imagining he is going to heaven and
                                                                          I wrote: "They are addressed to him that heareth the words
  awakes in hell (met een ingebeelde hemel  naar de hel) .
                                                                          of this prophecy, who therefore becomes acquainted with its
      "I was just about converted to the idea, domine. Now I
                                                                          contents. He can change the book so as to suit his own fancy
  read your article on Revelation in Oct. 15 Standard Be:wer.
                                                                          and his own purpose, so that after all the kingdom of the
  On page 31, next to the last column, about 15 lines from
                                                                          world is confused with the kingdom of God in Christ. He
  bottom of $ge,  you write: `nevertheless, it is possible to go
                                                                          can do that by adding unto the book or by detracting from
  through that' experience, to imagine without any basis in
                                                                          the book. The book can indeed be so augmented and can
  Scripture that one shall have part with the tree of life,' etc.
                                                                          be so abridged that the light of the truth of this prophecy
      "Am I getting this right that one may imagine that he
                                                                          is bedimmed, particularly the truth that Jesus is coming.
  has part with the tree of life, while he does not have 7"
                                                                          And the punishment that is threatened is, negatively, that he
      The close of her letter shows that Mrs. Jonker did not
                                                                          shall be deprived of his part with the book of life and of his
  intend to have her question with my answer published in T/M
                                                                          part in the holy city. Of course, this must not be interpreted
  Standa.rd  Bearer.  Yet, seeing that the question concerns
                                                                          as if there is a falling away from grace. All Scripture em-
  both what I said in my catechism class and what I wrote in
                                                                          phasizes that such a falling away is impossible. God
  The Startdalal-d`Bearev,  I asked Mrs. Jonker whether I might
                                                                          preserves His people. And through the power of God's
  answer it in our publication, and she gave her consent.
                                                                          preservation they certainly will persevere." This I em-
      What shall I say and how shall I answer the sister's
                                                                          phasized in connection with the text in Rev. 22 :lS and 19.
  question ?
      First of all, I would emphasize once more that what                    Nevertheless, in the third ,place,  I must confess that, in
  some time ago I said in my Wednesday evening catechism                  the portion to which Mrs. Jonker refers, I did not express
  class, namely, that he that is not regenerated and, therefore,,         myself very clearly, and I left the impression that the un-
  walks in unbelief, cannot fail to know that he is not con-              believer and ungodly may imagine to the very end that they'

,. verted and that he is not going to heaven. I do not remem-             will go to heaven. And this is not true. I should have em-
  ber just what I said at the particular occasion, but if that            phasized that they never had a part with the `tree of life-

  question would arise now, I would have many reasons on the              Xnd, not only this, but I also should have written that God,

  basis of which I would maintain my position. The unregen-               through His Spirit, impresses upon their mind that, seeing

  erate does not love God, but bates Him. How, then,                      that they willfully distort Scripture, they must know, and
                                                               co~~lcl
  he long to go. to heaven where he shall see God in Christ face          be conscious of the fact that they have no part with the real

  to face. The Holy Spirit does not testify in his heart that             tree of life and with the real holy city, but with a tree of

  he is a child of God, but witnesses, through the Word, that             life and with a holy city of their own creation and of their

  he is .a. child of the devil. He has no faith and, therefore,           own willful imagination.

  no hope, that is, he has no expectation, no assurance and no               This, therefore, is my answer, with thanks to Mrs.

  longing for eternal glory. This is .evident  from the text I            Jonker for her correct remark.                                H.H.



                                                                                                                                 . .

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


                                                                         recreative; -act of God. Besides, we must not forget that
11 0 U R D 0 C T R I N E /I the apostle Paul preferably speaks of the calling, in which
                                                                         the work of regeneration is implied and included. By this

                                                                         calling of God the apostle understands that creative and

                                                                         onlnipotent  act of God by which that which He calls also
       The apostle Paul mentions regeneration literally only in          really comes into existence. For God quickens the dead,
one passage, namely, in the well-known passage of Titus                  and calls those things that are not as if they were. Cf. Ram.
3 :5. God saved us, "Not by works of righteousness which                 4 :17. Those whom He foreknows and ordains to be like unto
we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by                 the image of His, Son He also calls. And those that are
the washing        of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy             called are quickened with Christ, raised with Him, and placed
Ghost." Often in these words an indication of or reference               with Him in heaven, enter into death with Him  through
to holy baptism is found. Baptism, according to this explan-             baptism in order to arise in newness of Iifs.,, Cf. Rom. S :30  :
ation, is the washing of regeneration. But although it is                Col. 3 :l-3. He and all the believers with him rejoice: "I
true that holy baptism can indeed be conceived of as a wash-             am crucified with Christ : nevertheless I live ; yet not I, but
ing of regeneration, when regeneration is conceived of in the.           Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the
broader sense of the word, yet it is not correct to say that             flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me,
the apostle here calls baptism the washing of regeneration.              and gave himself for me." Gal. 2 :20;  Eph. 2 :l, 5; Rom.
Principally there is no objection to calling baptism a wash-             6 :3, ff. ; Eph. 5 :14. The work of God which the apostle de-
ing, or bath, of regeneration. Scripture itself points             in
                                                           us            notes by the term "calling," therefore, is the same as re-
that direction.     For according to Scripture, in baptism we            generation.
are buried with Christ into His death ; and through baptism
we rise with Him in newnesi  of life. Cf. Ram.  6 :4. Ac-                    Even as with the apostle Paul the calling stands on the
cording to this presentation, the' old man in principle is left          foreground, so the apostle John preferably speaks of regen-
behind in the bath of baptism; and from that bath the new                eration. The main thought in his First Epistle is undoubt-
man in Christ arises, justified and sanctified, and therefore            edly that believers are partakers of the life of God in the
regenerated. When, therefore, we conceive of regeneration                light. For that reason he views believers constantly in the
in the broader sense of the word, namely, a changing and                 light of the fact that they are children of God. They are
sanctifying of our consciousness and a recreating of us in               born of God: hence, they possess the life of God. And hav-
Christ Jesus to a new man, baptism in its essential signifi-             ing communion with God through that life, they walk in the
cance is indeed the washing of regeneration. Nevertheless,               light.    "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath be-
the truth is that in Titus 3 :5 the apostle probably very indi-          stowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:
rectly refers to baptism. However, he does not literally                 therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him
speak of it, but he speaks of regeneration only. He does                 not."     I John 3 :l. And again, "Now are we the sons of
not call baptism a washing of regeneration ; but, on the con-            God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we
trary, he calls regeneration a washing. Regeneration itself              know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him: for
is conceived as a bath, a washing from all iniquity and from             we shall see him as he is." I John 3 :2. He that committeth
all corruption.                                                          sin is of the devil, but "whosoever is born of God doth not
                                                                         commit sin ; for his seed remaineth in him : and he cannot
       But although the word "regeneration" occurs only once
                                                                         sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God
in the epistles of the apostle Paul, the fact itself is referred
                                                                         are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doet'n
to in many places in the epistles of Paul. Thus, for instance,
                                                                         not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not
he teaches us that he that is in Christ Jesus is a new crea-
                                                                         his brother."    I John 3 :9, 10. And once more: `<We are of
ture: old things are passed away, and all things are become
                                                                         God: he that knoweth God heareth us, he that is not of
new. We are the workmanship of God, created in Christ
                                                                         God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth,
Jesus, created unto good works, which God has afore or-
                                                                         and the spirit of error." I John 4:6. This being born of
dained that we should walk in them. When the apostle calls
                                                                         God reveals itself in true, saving faith. For: "Whoso-
the believer a new creature, when he calls the work of grace
                                                                         ever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and
whereby the sinner is changed and enabled to walk in a!1
                                                                         every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is
good works a new creation, this is not to be uliderstood  as
                                                                         begotten of him." I John 5 :l. In that faith he that is born
if the sinner became essentially another creature. Through
                                                                         of God overcometh the world. I John 5 :4. Thus, through-
regeneration he does not receive a new body or a new soul?
                                                                         out his epistle the apostle John emphasizes the true, spirit-
or even another spirit. He is the same person both beforz
                                                                         ual, ethical sonship  of God, caused by the work of regener-
and after the work of God which is called regeneration. It
                                                                         ation.
is plain that according to the apostle Paul the spiritual, ethi-

cal change which is wrought by grace in the sinner is effec-                 It' is no wonder, but lies in the very nature of the case,

ted by nothing less than a creative, - even though it be a               that all rationalistic and Pelagian movements repudiate this


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  79


radical and fundamental change in man that is called re-           Fourth Heads of Doctrine give us a beautiful description

generation.                                                        of that divine work that is called the new birth, or regenera-

                                                                   tion. In Article 11 we read : "But when God accomplishes
   According to them, man is not spiritually dead. He is
                                                                   his good pleasure in the elect, or works in them true con-
not totally depraved. He is not wholly incapable of doing
                                                                   version, he not only causes the gospel to be externally
any good. .He is not inclined to all evil. He is only sick.
                                                                   preached to them, and powerfully illuminates their minds
But his nature as such has remained unchanged, that is, it
                                                                   by his Holy Spirit, that they may rightly understand and
has principally remained unchanged from an ethical and
                                                                   discern the things of the Spirit of God; but by the efficacy
spiritual point of view. His salvation therefore depends on
                                                                   of the same regenerating Spirit, pervades the inmost r&es-
his own free will, and it is effected by human words of per-
                                                                   ses of the man ; he opens the closed, and softens the hardened
suasion and wisdom. One must work upon the will of man
                                                                   heart, and circumcises that which was uncircumcised, in-
through appealing to his intellect. He must be persuaded
                                                                   fuses new qualities into the will, which though heretofore
through words and example.      And this change in his think-
                                                                   dead, he quickens; from being evil, disobedient, and re-
ing and willing which Is being effected by human persua-
                                                                   fractory, he renders it good, obedient, and pliable ; actuates
sion is really regeneration. And this is the only regeneration,
                                                                   and strengthens it, that like a good tree, it may bring forth
according to them, that ever takes place in the heart- of the
                                                                   the fruits of good actions."
sinner. 0, to be sure, they still speak of rebirth. But! they

attach an entirely different significance to the term than is         The same we read in Article 12: "And this is the regen-

meant by Scripture and than is meant also by all orthodox          eration so highly celebrated in Scripture, and denominated

confessions.    They have no place for regeneration as it is       a new creation: a resurrection from the dead, a making

mentioned and explained in Scripture. They have, of course,        alive, which God works in us without our aid. But this is

no place at all for a regeneration that is effected only by        in no wise effected merely by the external preaching of the

almighty grace. They have no place for a regeneration which        gospel, -by  moral suasion, or such a mode of operation, that

takes place even below the consciousness of man, that takes        after God has performed his part, it still remains in the

place in the very depth of his existence, and which consists       power of man to be regenerated or not, to be converted, or

in the fact that the sinner receives a new principle of life.      to continue unconverted ; but it is evidently a supernatural.

They have no place for any regeneration the effect of which        work, most powerful, and at the same time most delightful,

is new spiritual powers that are infused into the very depth       astonishing, mysterious, and ineffable ; not inferior in effica-

of the heart of the sinner. As I said, that stands to reason.      cy to creation, or the resurrection from the dead, as the

For by such a conception of regeneration. every possibility        Scripture inspired by the author of this work declares; so

that the sinner can at all cooperate in his own salvation is       that all in whose heart God works in this marvelous manner,.

cut off. Regeneration in the Scriptural sense of the word,         are certainly, infallibly, and effectually regenerated, and do,

therefore, leaves the sinner wholly passive, and attributes        actually believe. - Whereupon the will thus renewed, is not

the work of salvation only to the absolutely sovereign power       only actuated and influenced by God, but in consequence of

of grace. God is merciful to whom He will be merciful ; and        this influence, becomes itself active. Wherefore also, man

whom He wills He hardens. Of this the rationalistic theo-          is himself rightly said to believe and repent, by virtue of

logians, even though they appear to pseach  the truth of the       that grace received."

Word of God, must have nothing.                                       Here, then, is a fundamental difference between the Re-

   Our Reformed confessions emphasize this work of the             formed confession and the Pelagian and rationalistic philos-

new birth. Especially is this true of the Canons of Dord-          ophy.

recht, as we might expect. It is true, also the Confessio             There always has been difference of opinion, and
Belgica, the Netherlands Confession, mentions regeneration         sometimes a rather heated controversy among Reformed
in Article 24. But it is evident that in that article the ref-     people and Reformed theologians, about the question of the
erence is only to regeneration in the widest sense of the word.    relation between regeneration and calling. In our opinion
The reference is really to sanctification. This is evident from    there is very little cause for such a heated controversy about
the fact that Article 24 speaks of "Man's Sanctification and       this question. If only we distinguish correctly and accurately,
Good Works."       It then continues: "We believe that this        the difference can easily be obviated. In a certain sense it
true faith being wrought in man by the hearing of the Word         can indeed be maintained that calling precedes regeneration-
of God, and the operation of the Holy Ghost, doth regenerate       if only it is,,clearly  defined what is meant by the calling and
and make him a new man, causing him to live a new life,            what is meant by the rebirth. In another sense, however, it
and freeing him from the bondage of sin." It is evident            must very definitely be maintained that regeneration is the
from these words that the Belgic Confession does not speak         very first work in the heart of the sinner, and that there can
of regeneration in the narrowest sense of the word, but only       be no question of a saving hearing of the gospel without this.
in the widest sense, .that is, in the sense of sanctification.     regeneration of the heart being accomplished by the almighty

- The Canons of Dordrecht,  however, in the Third and              power of the grace of God.                                I-1.1-I-

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


                                                                                               plained in greater detail the words of His law. Beginning

                                                                                               with the most important matter of true worship, He said,

                                                                                               "Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have

                                                                                               seen that I have talked with you from heaven. Ye shall not

                                                                                               make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you

                                                                                               gods of gold," and God went on to explain the true way in
             And Moses wl-ote  all tlze  wosds  of the Lord, an.d  YOSY?                       which He was to be worshipped by means of the altar built
          up ea"rly  in the wm*n~~~g,  and builded  a,n  altw under the
                                                                                               of unhewn stone. God had shown clearly to them that He
          hill, and twelve pillaf*s,  acuwdhg  to the twelve trz:bes
          of Ismel.                                                                            is far too great to be represented by any image formed by

             And he smt  young men of the childyepL  of Israel,                                man's hand. Henceforth there would never  be excuse to
          wlaicl~ ofwed  burnt  ofe&g.s,   a                n    d         sacr$iccd  peme     worship Him in a way other than He had given command.

          offwhgs  of oxen  I&o the Lord . . . .                                               Thereupon, God went on to explain to Moses many matters

             Awd  Moses took the blood, and sphmkled  it ON  the                               pertaining to all of the commandments of the law, matters
          people,?  and   s a i d ,   B e h o l d   the  b l o o d   o f   t h e   covena,&    pertaining to masters and se'rvants and their duties to each
          which the Lord bath made with YOM concern&g all &se                                  other as they follow from the fifth commandment of the law,
          words.                                                 Exodus 214,  5, 8
                                                                                               matters relating to personal injuries and the sixth commancl-

        Israel had heard the voice of Jehovah speaking the ten                                 ment of the law, matters of personal property and the eighth

 words of His law from the summit of Sinai and found it                                        commandment, matters of marriage and the seventh com-

 disconcerting. Before the signs of God's righteousness and                                    mandment, matters of truthfuhless  and the ninth command-

 justice, thundering and lightning, the sound of the trumpet,                                  ment, matters of religious festivities deriving from the fourth

 and the smoking of the mountain, they had trembled and                                        commandment of the law. Finally God returned again to the

 fled away. The Israelites were beginning to realize how im-                                   primary subject of true worship ; only, this time, He included

 possible it was that they should ever  satisfy the demands uf                                 with it a glorious promise.    "Behold, I send an Angel before

 God's law, and how terrible would be the judgment of                                          thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the

 Jehovah if they did not. Boldly they had said, "All that the                                  place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his

 Lord hath spoken we will do," but now they were beginning                                     voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your trans-

 to realize how presumptuous this promise had actually been.                                   gressions : for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeecl

 The very sound of God's voice was more than they could                                        obey ,his  voice, and do all that I speak ; then I will be an

 endure. To stand any longer in His presence, they no longer                                   enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine ad-

 felt able to do. They needed someone who could stand be-                                      versaries. For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring

 tween, who could intercede for them, who could be a media-                                    thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Periz-

 tor between them, a sinful people, and Jehovah, the perfect                                   zites,  and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites : and

 and righteous God. -With a new sense of humility they came                                    I will cut them off. Thou shalt not bow down to their gods,

 to Moses and pleaded, "Speak thou with us, and we will                                        nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt

 hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die."                                            utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.

        Moses' answer was kind and full of comfort. He said,                                   And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless
 "Fear not, for God is come to prove you, and that his fear                                    thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away
 may be before your faces,, that ye sin not." The presentation                                 from the midst of thee . . . ."

 of God at Sinai had been designed exactly to instruct them                                       Moses returned from the mountain to the camp with these

 in the truth. Israel must know that God is holy and ju$  in                                   words of God resting upon his heart. The people were watch-

 his every demand. The purpose was not to frighten them,                                       ing and waiting to hear what he had to say. Slowly ancl

 but to show them the way of salvation. It was necessary                                       exactly, he repeated to them all that the Lord had said. The

 that they should feel the need of a mediator. This would                                      people remembered the wonder of the voice of jehovah which

 become even more evident in the future.                                                       they had heard from the mountain ; only, by now, some of the

                                                                                               fear had subsided. Still there was enthusiasm and interest
        While the people watched from afar, Moses took up their
                                                                                               in what God had to say, and they listened to Moses atten-
 cause and drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.
                                                                                               tively. Boldness and confidence had returned. With a loud
 There, in behalf of the people, he talked with God. They
                                                                                               voice they responded, "All the words which the Lord hath
 were chosen to be a nation of priests, but many years, even
                                                                                               said will we do."
 .centuries,  would have  to pass before they would be able to

function individually as such. First the perfect mediator                                         That night in his tent, Moses wrote all that God had

 would have to come and implant His Spirit in their hearts.                                    spoken to him in a book.           He called it the book of the

 Then every true, spiritual Israelite would be able to draw                                    covenant.

 nigh unto the presence of God.                                                                   The next morning early, Moses rose and began to gather

        There on the mountain, God spoke to Moses. He ex-                                      stones for-  the building of an altar. According to the corn-


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  8L


mand of God, he took the stones directly from nature, uw                same blood would be sprinkled, as the blood of reconciliation,
hewn and unpolluted by the tools of man, twelve in number.              upon His people. In this way, and in this way alone, they

For some time, he had been serving typically in the position            would be drawn into covenant communion with God. Even

of mediator between God and His people; but, only through               more, it would be the blood of sanctification by which the

the recent events were the people beginning to realize his              children of God would be enabled to say in truth, "All that

importance in this of&e.  Today, however, it was to be                  the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient." Through

brought even more emphatically to their attention. With his             the work of this mediator the covenant of God is established.

own hands, Moses built the altar, and around it he set up                  But still the functions of that day were not finished.
twelve pillars Gf stone representing each of the tribes in              Moses called together Aaron and his two oldest sons, Nadab
much the same pattern in which the twelve tribes later were             and Abihu, the future priests of God, with seventy of the
to be encamped about the tabernacle. Then he called together            elders which represented all Israel. Together they ascended
a group of young men to serve as his assistants.                        the mountain, for they were now cleansed by the sacrificial

    By the t&e  this work was accomplished the rest of the              blood. The covenant was now established and even the

camp had arisen and the people were standing about watch-               people, represented in the elders, were enabled to draw nigh

ing. They realized that something of great significance was             unto the presence of God. There on the mountain, they saw

about to take place even though Moses as yet had said noth-             God. We are not told in what form God appeared. It was

ing. As the people watched, Moses comnianded  the young                 beautiful for sure.    Not, indeed, as glorious as the vision

men to gather together sacrificial animals and to offer them            Moses was later to see. Not, perhaps, even as great as the

on the altar, first a series of burnt offerings and then a series       radiance that later would reflect from Moses' face so that

of peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord. Moses himself                 the people could not endure to look. But, nonetheless;beauti-

provided for the blood of these sacrificial victims. One half           ful so as to defy description by human lips. Now there were

of the blood he put in basins, and the other half he sprinkled          none of the threatening signs of judgment, thunder, and

on the altar.                                                           lightning, and smoke. All was peaceful and serene. The very

                                                                        rocks in their appearance were transformed, clear and bril-
   The children of .Israel  watching realized well what these
                                                                        liant like sapphire of heavenly origin. Even the seventy
actions meant without need of any explanation. They were
                                                                        elders, mere ordinary men, stood in God's presence and were
used to the typical ceremonies of `Old Testament times. The
                                                                        not consumed, the hand of the Lord did not touch them.
burnt offerings offered were an atonement for sin. The peace
                                                                        This was the blessedness of God's covenant. They stood
offerings were a sacrifice of thankfulness and dedication.
                                                                        before the face of God and were given to eat and to drink,
These sacrifices were being offered by Moses, but in behalf
                                                                        to partake of a table prepared by the Lord.
of the people. The people, indeed, had promised, "All the

words which the Lord hath said we will do," but that mere                  There, in symbolic beauty, was realized the blessedness

affirmation of intention did not make them worthy of the                of life in the covenant of God's grace. For all who are in

favor of God. Atonement had to be made for them. This                   spiritual reality taken into God's fellowship, all these very

was being provided by the sacrifices of Moses. The blood                same things are true. In the covenant God reveals Himself

sprinkled upon the altar symbolized that the atoning sacrifice          to His. people. Not to all, indeed, does God reveal Himself

was being given unto God for the satisfaction of His judg-              in some visible form as was seen there by the elders, and

ment. All was accounted for but the blood that Moses still              later by Moses alone, and by Isaiah, and by Ezekiel ; but, to

held in the basins. Thus Moses turned to the people, and                all of God's people is given the much more enduring revela-

before them opened up the book of the covenant and read.                tion of God in spirit and in truth. It is an experience peace-

The children of Israel, deeply impressed by the solemnity of            ful and serene as though radiating with the brilliance of

the occasion, gave close attention, and again, with enthusiasm          sapphires from heaven. For the true covenant child, gone are

responded, "All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be              the judgments, the thunder and lightning and blackness of

obedient." Then Moses took up the basins of blood and                   smoke. The hand of God's anger will not touch them. Thq

sprinkled their contents on the people. Even as he did so, he           are made to eat and drink of the bread and waters of eternal

spoke,     "Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord             life spread by the hand of the Lord. In a figure, those elders

bath  made with you concerning all these words."                        of old were made to know the blessedness of true covenant

                                                                        life. 1
   The symbolism of this event was beautiful. Moses as a

typical mediator was demonstrating to the children of Israel               Once this heavenly meal was finished, the elders were

the Gospel of the true mediator which was to come in ful-               told that they with Aaron and his sons m&t tarry behind

fillment of the promise given to their fathers. Even as Moses           in the camp while Moses and Joshua went on farther. God

oLZered  the sacrifices amid the pillars of Israel's twe!ve  tribes.    was to give to Moses instructions concerning a more endur-

so some day the true mediator would offer Himself as the                ing sign of the covenant, the tabernacle which He would

Ferfec:    sacrifice in the midst of the people He loved. His           establish in Israel's midst.

blood would be shed in an offering of love to God, and the                                                                      B.W.


$2                                            .TIlE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   .


                                                                     Adam in distinction from the creation of Eve. Writes Paul:

        F R O M   H O L Y   WRIT                                     "For Adam was first created and then Eve."

                                                                        We do well to observe that this is not simply a trite say-

                                                                     ing on the part of Paul. He here posits a basic truth. There

                                                                     is something unique about the "forming" of Adam. God so
                  Exposition of I Timothy
                                                                     formed and constructed Adam that he is not simply created

                                                                     "first" in the sense that it refers to the order of time, but
                       (I Timothy 2 :8-15)                           also in the sense that Adam was so formed that he is "first"

                                                                     as to his God-ordained place in the created world. He is so

                                d.                                   formed that he has the pm-csninence!

                                                                        When God as the sovereign potter took the earth from

      We shall now turn our attention to the most fundamental        which he formed "Adam" he made a vessel of him that was

Scriptural motivation for the proper place of the woman in           pre-eminent ! Man is the glory of God. He made the "man"

the church respecting the teaching office. The place of the          so that Eve is created &z him. For this reason he made but

woman is that of subordination. She is to learn in silence           one individual man. He did not make many men, bringing

in all subjection.                                                   forth each man individually from the earth. Thus He must

                                                                     have made the male animals and also the female animals.
      The term in the Greek for silence is "Heesuchia," that is,
that quietness which is rooted' in the fear of God and which         Says He: `<Let the earth bring forth animals . . ." However,
                                                                     in the case of Adam not so. Here but  one individual man.
is descriptive of one who remains at home doing his own
                                                                     And, this very distinction in creation, Adam must be taught
God-ordained task without officiously meddling in the affairs
                                                                     to see when God brings the animals to him to see what he
of others.
                                                                     would name them.     And this pre-eminence of Adam over
      And the term subjection comes from the Greek term              Eve is emphatically underscored when God causes a deep
"upotagee."     In the classic Greek this term has an active         sleep to fall upon Adam and he takes Eve out of Adam,
sense: subjecting others. However, in the New Testament              separates her from him by His creative act. Then, when
the term is used in a passive sense: that of being subjected.        God brings the woman to' Adam, he interprets this act of

      The term itself is a composite of "upo"  and "tagee.".  The    creation thus : "This &zc God hath made this bone of my

latter comes from the verb "tassoo" which refers to that             bones and flesh of my flesh." And ever the ordinance of

which is placed in a certain "order." God has assigned each          God is that the "man was not formed for the woman, but

creature his own place, dignity, honor. Thus the angels              the woman was formed for the man." That is not simply true

have their own "order," man has his own "order" in all               physically, but this is also true psychologically. In her very

things, and &ist is also said to have His own peculiar               nature the woman is a "help-meet." I was once in the house

order in all things as the first-born out of the dead and the        of representatives of a certain State of our Republic. There

first-born of all creatures. When this order is disarranged          were women representatives. I observed that they were

by sin we have revolution, the overturning of the ordinances         rather "helpers" of the male representatives. They could not

of God. The recruit in the army must not attempt to parade           rise above their own created limitations.

with the uniform of the five star general! He will be court-            Such is the lesson of creation.
martialed.

                                                                        And in the annals of history such too is ever the case.
      Applied to the subject at hand here in the test this
                                                                     "Adam" is lx-e-eminent! And although the woman shares
means that God has assigned the woman a place which no
                                                                     equally in the grace in Christ Jesus with the man, her posi-
one may or can take from her with impunity. However, that
                                                                     tion in this world is that of "subordination." Sin did not
place is that of "subordination" to the man. Hers is the
                                                                     destroy this created ordinance of God; it can only pervert it.
place of obedient subjection to her husband in the home
                                                                     And, for this perversion of this ordinance, godly women must
and in the church. What a place `of glory this is in the plaa
                                                                     needs allow no room in their lives as they work out their
of the history of the church and the salvation of the redeemed
                                                                     salvation with fear and trembling !
of all ages we have pointed out in our former esgay.

                                                                        In the pre-eminence of their husbands, women professing
      Paul points out the place of women by pointing to two
                                                                     godliness will see the prototype of the mystery of godliness
matters recorded us in the book of Genesis. The first is
                                                                     that is great, to wit, that Christ as the first-born, the last
that of the manner of the creation of Adam in distinction
                                                                     Adam, has the pre-eminence over all things, subjecting all
from the creation of Eve. The second is the prominent place
                                                                     things unto himself. He has his own "order," rank, dignity.
of Eve in thk fall in distinction from Adam.
                                                                     And so does the man in relationship to the woman. This
      We do well to pay close attention to both.                     "order" of the man is perverted by sin in sinful lordship

      In the first place then the manner of the creation of          and tyranny. But the ordinance, as created by God, is


                                         - T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                83


maintained by Christ in the church and restored to, its in-         Paradise she could not, when she went out of her role, be an

tegrity and dignity as it was "from the beginning." He              instructor. She corrupted the text of God when she spoke to

sanctified it in his blood on the Cross of Calvary. It is part      the Serpent.

of our salvation here in this life ere we enter the life to            Hence, when a woman, professing godliness, must com-
come where men do not marry, but are like the angels in             plain about her flesh in which "dwells no good," but is "sold
heaven. And that pre-eminence a godly woman will honor              under sin" she has a different complexity of sin than has the
in the Lord.                                                        man. Her nature, the old man, is very subtle. She does

   Hence, a godly woman will reverence her husband, as              well when she doesn't speak in the church!

she does the Lord himself. And such reverence is of great              A godly woman who knows the greatness of her misery

price before God.                                                   as. confessed in the Heidelberg Catechism says: "I cannot

                                                                    keep the commandments perfectly." I am prone, as a zv~wam
   However, there is also the lesson of the fall of man.
                                                                    is prone, to hate God and my neighbor. And that is the
   In his fall the woman, Eve, played the prominent role.           experience in the church.
Writes Paul: "And Adam was not beguiled, but the woman
                                                                       Wherefore let her learn in ,arl subjection. It must be
being beguiled hath fallen into transgression."
                                                                    total subjection. That is her freedom. Thus she is the very
    The Greek here in the text is instructive on two points.        opposite of the tempting Eve. She is the picture of the saved
The first point deals with the term where it is said that           church. She is, in her subjection, as picture to Adam of
"the woman was beguiled." The form of the verb, "@-apa-             the new obedience. Instead of a temptation to sin to her
teetheisan" seems to point toward the fact that the woman           husband, she is the "help-meet" in the Lord to strengthen
was cowpbetely beguiled by the Serpent. She was beguiled            him in his calling as "Adam." Next to and under her hus-
once and for all, and that, too, irreparably! She reached the       band she rules over the children, demanding the same sub-
point of no return. Hence, she came into the state of per-          ordination in her children, which she exhibits in her life.
manent transgression when Adam was still in the state of!           Where such a "quiet" godly woman dwells we have the
rectitude. When Adam was still in the original state-sand           perfect "kindergarten"     of the Lord, where children are
condition of rectitude, Eve was in the sta;te  of having fallen.    brought up in the fear and nurture of God. The honor that
Such is the implication of the perfect tense in the Greek "en       the children accord their father will reflect the honor and
parabasin gegonen," that is, became into the permanent state        subordination a wife accords her husband.
of having fallen. She had become an enemy of God, hater of
                                                                       In this new obedience we will have a strong church and
God and her husband. She ha,d  become  incapable of doing           homes.
any good and had become prone to all evil!
                                                                       And when presently the church shall be in glory in the
   Let us underscore this from the actual account in Genesis        full silence of obedience to Christ, then it will be seen that
3. The moment Eve ate of the tree of knowledge of good and          the godly woman was the picture of the church in relation-
evil, she turned to give to her hdsband.  She could do nothing      ship to Christ.
else but be the accomplice of the Devil. She could no longer
                                                                       Such is the "mystery" revealed.
live with a good husband. She became a temptress, a verit-

able Delilah! And that is ever the role of the sinful in               Small wonder that those who would teach a social gospel,

history. There are  many Cleopatras in history. Such,are  the       the experts in the field of marriage relationship, and mar-

deep intrigues in national and international life. Women,           riage counselors are themselves the blind that lead the blind.

sinful women, are not to be trusted. And the fact that Eve,         A noted marriage counselor was himself divorced. ,Yet he

the woman, was first in the transgression is not to be              posed as a know-all before a large radio audience. And the

minimized! Eve sallied forth to tempt Adam and drag him             name of such counselors is legion.

with her into her own destruction. It is, stated very simply           We have the more sure prophetic word unto which we

and factually in Genesis 3 : "And she gave also unto her hus-       do well to give heed as unto a light shining in a dark place

band z&L  ke?r and he did eat." But God knows the prom-             until the day dawn and the day-star arise in our hearts.
inent role that Eve played in this "transgression)' for he says        No "Dorothy Dix" advice which is at best earthy, natural
to Adam, "Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of             and devilish! What we have here is the fear of the Lord
thy zuife . , . ."                                                  which is the beginning, the principle of wisdom.

    God has put this in His book of remembrance.                                                                             G.L

    It is written for -our instruction and admonition.

    In the church and in the Christian home this is still to                  Then, safe within Thy fold,

be remembered. The "flesh" in the Christian wife is still the                       We exalt Thy name ;

same flesh of Eve that was first in the transgression. And,                    Our thankful hearts with songs of joy

therefore, the woman must be in subjection. At her best in                          Thy goodness will proclaim.


                                                                                                                               P




                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
c4
`



                                                                        We are indebted to that great creed of the Church, the

             I N   H I S   F E A R                                  Heidelberg Catechism, for an explanation of this office of
                                                                    .khg.    As far as Christ in His kingly office is concerned the

                                                                    %atechism  declares that He "governs, defends and preserves"

                  God's Royak Priesthood                            His Church in the enjoyment of the salvation which He has
                                                                    prepared for them. Here already you have clearly the idea

                                (13)                                of strength. Indeed, one must have knowledge to rule and

                                                                    govern. One must be dedicated to a cause to defend it and
      The prophet of God knows God and serves Him with his
                                                                    to preserve others for the enjoyment of the benefits of that
mind and mouth.
                                                                    cause. And a king is not a man with nothing more than
      God's priest loves Him, is dedicated unto Him with all        strength. He has wisdom and needs much wisdom to rule.
his life, talents and possessions and serves Him with his           (Solomon prayed for wisdom to be able to rule.) He has a
heart.                                                              will and is always dedicated to some principle or cause. But

      But you understand, of course, that there is no man who       he works in the sphere of power. And Christ as our eternal

is merely a prophet of God; and there is no man who can             king governs us according to the truth which He knows as

serve as priest who is not likewise the prophet of God. How         our chief Prophet and in whole-hearted dedication to the

can a man dedicate himself with all his life and talents and        cause of the glory of God's name as our only High Priest.

possessions unto God unless he knows that God ? AncS  how           And even as the prophet needs strength to confess and teach,

shall the prophet serve God with his mind and mouth un-             to praise and to magnify God ; and even as the priest like-

less he has first dedicated these unto God as His priest?           wise needs strength in order to present Himself, his body,

In the office of every believer we are prophet, priest and          his talents and possessions as a sacrifice unto God ; so the

king of God and not one or the other. Surely it is impossible       king with a mind that knows God and a heart that is filled

to be a priest of God and a prophet of the devil. The Chris-        with love to Him serves Him with his strength in governing,

tian, for his very name declares that, serves in the three-         defending and preserving.

fold office of Christ as prophet, priest and king. And in the          A king that does not know God and does not love Him
new Jerusalem there will not be prophets, priests and kings         does not serve Him consciously and willingly. He rules. He
but a royal priesthood that praises God forever. Each and           even rules in God's name, that is, as appointed by God, but
every saint walking the street of gold shall be both prophet,       he will not govern according to the principles of God's law.
priest and king.                                                    He will not seek to lead his people in a life of love and

Indeed, you cannot point to the moment that you became              devotion to God. These are quite impossible. But Christ as

a prophet or priest or king. Although these are distinct            our chief Prophet and only High Priest does exactly govern

areas of our life and phases of our calling and service before      us in the way of love to God. He defends and preserves that

God, it is impossible to distinguish the moment when we             Church that is precious in .God's sight, because He loves

first knew God and had not yet dedicated ourselves unto Him.        God. He knows God. He loves God. He serves God.

We need not, therefore, ask the question either as to which            And there is our whole life as God's royal priesthood
of these is first. The whole tree is in the acorn; and the whole    likewise. We know God. We love God. We serve God. Or,
man of God in his three-fold office is in the seed of regen-        if you will, we .know Him in love and therefore consciously
eration.                                                            and willingly serve Him in love. We love Him because of

      And this applies also to our office of being kings.           what we know about Him: that He is God. We serve Him

      That man who is a prophet of God and a priest of God          as the God Whom we love. It is not a service under a heavy
will most assuredly also be His king. While it is impossible        yoke of law that is over us. It is not serving Him out of
to be king without being prophet and priest, it is likewise         external compulsion. It is serving Him because the law is
impossible to be prophet and priest and not be His king.            written in our hearts ; and there is an inner power that
We have those three faculties in our lives : mind. will and         impels us to serve Him. That inner power is love, the law
strength. These comprise the whole man. And the whole               of God written in our hearts.

man is a child of God. That is, the new man in Christ em-              Of this the Heidelberg Catechism also speaks and de-

ploys all three of these faculties, alid  we become God's royal     clares that our three-fold office manifests itself in fighting

priesthood that praises Him everlastingly in the glory of His       against sin and Satan in this life, and afterward in reigning

kingdom. As His kings we rule in God's name and serve               with Christ over all creatures everlastingly in the world to

Him with our strength. We have a kingdom, a realm over              come. For us it is chiefly a matter now of fighting. We are

which we exercise rule. We also have a kingdom which we             kings that are on the battlefield. We are in the church

fight. We have subjects whom we rule. And we have sub-              militant. But this, of course, implies soldiers wherewith we

jects of an enemy-kingdom against which we wage continual           as kings fight. It implies a kingdom to which we belong and

warfare.                                                            over which we even rule. It speaks of that which we must


                                             T.HE ST.AN,DARD   B E A R E R                                                      85


,defend. And even as Christ defends His Church, we as              And that sin assumes so many, many different forms be-

kings under Him have that which we must defend.                    cause Satan is ELI& a subtle enemy. Make no mistake '

    First of all, we may say that we as kings are to preserve      about it: he is tremendously resourceful ! If one method of
that which we as prophets have received and as priests love:       attack does not produce the desired result, he has many
the Word of God. The truth is constantly being attack&l            other ways of capturing your mind and heart and strength.
from every angle and by various subtle means and in many           That sin, therefore, that God's royal priesthood must fight
wicked ways. As kings we do not idly sit by, shake our             is not, in the first place, to be found in society round about
heads and say, It is too bad. No, we take up the sword of          him. It is not even in the local church or congregation to
the spirit which is the Word of God and fight the lie in every     which he belongs. It is right in his own soul. It is in his .
form and shape. If we do not do so, we may not call our-           own body. Stretch out before you your two hands! Stand
                                                                   before your mirror and look yourself square in the face ! You
selves laingsl of God; and most  assuredly it means that we
care not either for our office of prophet. It means that we        see ten fingers, two eyes, two ears, one mouth, and now open
are not wholly dedicated to God as His priests and do not          that mouth a moment and you see one uncontrollable tongue.
love Him. In the measure that we fail to fight false doc-          These are your citizens together with the rest of your whole
trines, in the measure that we have no interest in the truth       body and soul. These are the subjects over which you are
and in preserving the truth, we are not God's royal priest-        enthroned as king. Here the battle against sin and Satan
hood but Satan's shameful priesthood. We are in his service.       begins and not in Tom, Dick and Harry who belong to your
And rather than to be called Christians, we must be called         congregation or place a cruel yoke on you at the shop or
anti-Christians. Nothing less than that will do. It is either      office. where you work. Forget all this social improvement
. . . or. He that is not with Christ is against Him. Jesus         and betterment of society! Start at the beginning and con-
said so Himself in Matthew 12:30.                                  cern yourself with this kingdom over which God has made
                                                                   you king!
    In this life God's royal priesthood wears the uniform of

a soldier. In the kingly aspect of his one thrCe-fold  office         Your fingers, do they serve God ? Your eyes, do they

he has a warfare to wage that demands of him constant              turn away from or unto sin? Your ears, are they itching

vigilance. He is admonished in Scripture to be sober and           for filth and the lie, for sin and whisperings of darkness and

vigilant, because his adversary, the devil, goeth about as 2       evil? Your mouth, does it speak God's praises, does it con-

roaring-lion, seeking whom he may devour. I Peter 5 :S. He         fess Him or curse and blaspheme His name, insult Him with

is exhorted to put on the whole armor of God that he may           false doctrines and deny Him His glory? Well, you have
withstand the wiles of the devil. And he is reminded of the        your hands full as His king ! First cast the mote out of

fact that he wrestles not against flesh and blood, but agamst      your own eye, then you shall see clearly to cast the beam

principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness      out of thy brother's eye.    The evidence that you are God's

of this world; against spiritual wickedness in high places.        prophet and priest will be manifest in the control you eser-

Ephesians 5 :ll, 12. Yea, from the very begirining  he was         cise  over this kingdom of your own body and soul. You
taught that there are two seeds in the world, the seed of the      must be a Y-o$ priesthood or you are not a priesthood ;)f

serpent and the seed of the woman. Between them there is an        God. You must be king under Christ by His Spirit or you

enmity that does not fade away. Generations do not outgrow         are not God's royal priesthood.

that hatred. Time does not heal it. The memory does not                                                                   J.A.FI.

fail and thus lessen the tension and animosity. Rather does

the battle become fiercer and fiercer. The one generation

hands dowr,  to the next a deeper loathing and hatred of the

one for the other. As time marches on, the one seed sees                    Men's idols of gold and silver

the' other seed more clearly and distinctly as its mortal                       Can speak not, nor hearken, nor see;

enemy. And may God's royal priesthood only see that and                     Like them shall their makers be helpless,

fight against sin and Satan in this life!                                        Unblest shall their worshipers be.

   For, although it is absolutely true that the seed of the

woman becomes more and more bitter toward that wicked                       Ye people who worship Jehovah,

seed of the serpent, and although the .seed of the serpent                       His praises with gladness proclaim;

becomes more desperate in its hatred of the Church, we must                 His servants, and all ye that fear Him,

never lose sight of the fact that by nature those who are                        Sing praise to His glorious Name.

the seed of the woman are also seed of the serpent. This

warfare begins with an ,inn.pr  conflict within the soldier oE              0 Church of our God, sing His praises,
the cross himself. There is the continual, unrelenting struggle                  For with you and in you He dwelis :
between his old man of sin and his new man in Christ,                       0 sing Hallelujah before Him,

   The Catechism says that we must fight "sin and Satan."                        Whose glory all praises excels.

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


                                                                      That cannot be right. If you believe in Christ, you must

11          Contending For The Faith 11                            consider as necessary what Christ believed necessary. To
                                                                   wish to believe in Christ without believing in the Church is

                                                                   a great mistake. For centuries Christians have said, not only,

                                                                   "I believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord," but also, "I believe in

            The Church and the Sacraments                          the Holy Catholic Church."        They made an act of faith in

                                                                   both Christ and His Church. If you no longer believe in a

            THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION                            Church, something has gone wrong somewhere.


                V I E W S   O N   T H E   C H U R C H                 287. Christ does not say, "Come to My Church." He

                                                                   says, "Come unto Me."
              THE ROMAN CATHOLIC VIEW
                                                                      We come to Christ by coming to His Church. As a mat-

      In this article we will proceed with the Roman Catholic      ter of fact, the Church, in the person of the Apostles, first

conception of the Church. According to Rome, the Church            preached Christ to the early converts to Christianity. The

is a company of men externally bound together by the pro-          first fact for the early Christians was, therefore, the Church.

fession of the Christian faith, united in the communion of         They experienced faith in the mission of the Church, and

the same sacraments, under and subject to the government           because of that, believed in her teachings about Christ. YOU
of legitimate pastors, especially the pope. Rome practically       will notice, in the Acts of the Apostles, when Saul was per-

identified the Church with the pope. No member of the              secuting the Church, Jesus appeared to him, and even identi-

Roman Catholic Church has the right to believe in views            fied Himself with the Church, saying, "Saul, Saul, why

which are not in harmony with the official interpretation of       persecutest  thou Me ?"    The denial of the Church is there-

the Church, as set forth by the pope of Rome, and as resting       fore really a denial of Christ, if people but realize it. (Is

upon tradition as well as the Holy Scriptures. Tradition is        this what Jesus means when He asks Saul this question on

of equal authority with the Word of God. Before we now             the latter's way to Damascus and as Saul approaches the

proceed with the Romish view of the Church, we would make          city ? Does Jesus mean to say that Saul was really persecut-

one observation. Rome believes that the Church is infallibly       ing Him inasmuch as he was persecuting His Church? Or

guided and led by the pope. His opinion may never be               does He mean to say that, while Saul was persecuting the

challenged. Blind and complete submission to his interpreta-       Church, the primary object of his relentless persecution was

tion of the truth is mandatory. What is the result of this?        n.ot the church but the Lord Jesus Christ? This is surely the

This, that ignorance and superstition are rampant in the           implication of the question as put to Saul by the resurrected

Church of Rome. The admonition of the Scriptures, that we          Lord. - H.V.)

must study the Word of God, that the Word of God must
                                                                      285. People are rapidly coming to the conclusion that,
be a lamp before ~tty  feet, and a light upon PX,~  path surely
                                                                   without ceasing to profess Christianity, they can dispense
goes unheeded among the members of the Roman Catholic
                                                                   with Churches.
Church. The study of the Word of God is not necessary for

them. The Word of God is simply explained for them. And               I admit that that is the logical ultimate result of Prot-
the result is that ignorance is rampant in that Church. Be-        estantism. The Anglican Dr. Goudge recognizes this. "<We
sides, whether one believes personally in the Saviour, that        are," he says, "congenital individualists, and exceedingly LIII-
 his sins are blotted out solely in and because of the bhd         willing, in religion as elsewhere, to recognize our dependence
 of Christ, is no guarantee for salvation. If anyone fails to      on others.    It appears to            obvious that our religion is
                                                                                                   us 
recognize the authority of the Bishop of Rome, refuses to          wholly bound        with our individual relation to God, and
                                                                                     up 
place himself under his guidance and jurisdiction because          that others are not concerned with it. We become members
there is no name under heaven by which man can be saved            of Christ, so we think, by our individual faith alone. This
than by the name of Jesus, he is pronounced anathema, and          is the Protestant view. The result is that we neglect the
he cannot possibly be saved. This is the standpoint of Rome.       doctrine of the Church. It is not so much that Protestants

      We will now continue with Rome's conception of the           have a false conception of the Church as that they seem to

 Church, as set forth in "Radio Replies by Fathers Rumble          be without any clear conception of it. We all tend to be

and Carty,"  Volume III, paragraphs 285-298.                       hazy on this subject. Yet the doctrine of the Church is,

                                                                   next to the doctrine of God and His redemption, the most
      285. Do not Roman Catholics make too much of the             important doctrine of revealed religion, both in the (31  and
 doctrine of the Church ?                                          in the New Testament." (That people are rapidly coming
      They give it that place in their faith which Christ in-      to the conclusion that one can dispense with churches with-
 tended.                                                           out ceasing to profess Christianity, that one can be a Chris-

      2S6. We Protestants have a great respect for Christ, but     tian without belonging to a church, may be the conception

 we do not have faith in any Church.                               of some "Protestants" in name, but is certainly not Z%C


                                          T H E   STANDARD.BEARER                                                                  87


Protestant view, as is evident from the Protestant symbols,             That cannot  be right.    If you believe in Christ, you must

,as, for example, specifically set forth in our Confession           consider as nec&ary  what Christ considered necessary. T
                                                               of                                                                   O
Faith, or the Netherlands Confession - H.-V.)                        wish to believe in Christ without believing in His Church is

                                                                     folly itself. As a matter of fact, Jesus did not preach to the
   289. I can be religious without the Church.                       first converts ; the Church preached Jesus to the people, and

   But you cannot thus be religious in the way God wants             on the testimony of the Church, they believed in Christ. And

    to be ;e!igious.  And since religion is concerned with           the first fact for the early Christians was belief in the mission
you 
duties to God, it is for God to dictate the terms and con-           of the Church. Through their acceptance of the Church and

.ditions,  not for us. Your attitude is due to lack of knowledga     her authority they were led to faith in Christ.

and thought. You are contenting yourself with no more thau              293. You make too much of the word Church, and not
a vague religious sentiment. But religion demands a devoted-         enough of the Savior, who is supreme-over all things.
ness of the whole nian to God, a devotedness of mind and                Jesus is certainly supreme over all things. And the
heart and will. That means that we must believe what God             Catholic Church exists to bring souls to the Person of Christ.
has taught, love Him above all else, and serve Him both by           She ever bids her children to love Him, and insists that they
worship and obedience to His law. For all this a man must            can never love Him too much. Meantime, those who obey
study and know just what God has revealed, and not be                our Lord by submitting to the Church He founded make
content with a merely vague religious outlook. And as he is          more of Him than those who do not, but who insist on
not only individual, but also social by his very nature, man         dictating their own terms. If I speak often of the Church it
must render both private and public worship to God. Christ           is because of the nature of the questions sent in. And that
established a Church to teach all nations and to gather to           is because non-Catholics, instead of making much of Christ's
itself all whom it leads to a belief in Christ. One who says         doctrine concerning His Church, simply ignore it as if It
he is religious, yet who refuses to have anything to do with         had not the same value as His other teachings. A man who
the Church Christ established, simply does not know the              is not wrong in what he says, may be quite wrong in what
Christian religion.                                                  he omits. Love Christ by all means. But do not let your

   290. The Church as I understand it is in the          of men.     love of Christ serve you as an excuse to repudiate His
                                                    souls 
                                                                     Church, and to assert that it is of no importance whatever to
   If the Church is an invisible quality confined to the souls
                                                                     find that true Church He thought fit to establish.
of men, then no human being could say where the true Church
is to be found, and no one could hear its voice or obey                 294. I can't find references to any definite religion of
its precepts. No. Our Lord established a visible society in          Christ in either the Old or New Testaments.

this world, even though not of this world. And He com-                  If so, it is certainly not because the references are not

pared it to a city set upon a hill which cannot be hid. One          there. Take one classical passage from the Old Testament:

of the visible and organized Churches in this world today is         The prophet Isaiah, II,      2-4, certainly predicted a very

His. And the Catholic Church alone can show the character-           definite and new form of religion to be given by Christ. The

istics which He declared should be those of His true Church.         passage says, "The house of the Lord shall be prepared on

                                                                     the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the
   291. The Church is formed, not of those who belong to
                                                                     hills ; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people
a visible organization, but of those who are born again from
                                                                     shall go, and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the
above and endowed with the Holy Spirit.                              Lord, and tb the house of the God of Jacob ; and He will

   That could not be judged by men. No one could tell who            teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths. For the
belonged to the true Church, and who did not, according to           law will come forth from Sian; and the word of the Lord
that theory. Christ established a visible Church and ap-             from Jerusalem. And He shall judge the Gentiles and rebuke
pointed visible Apostles. And those belonged to the Church           many people." - end of quote thus far from paragraph 2%.

who accepted the teaching of the Apostles, and persevered               In this answer to the implied question, 294, a correct
in the discipline imposed by them. In Acts XX, 28, we read :         sense of this passage is offered. The Lord willing, we will
"Take heed to yourselves, and to the whole flock, wherein            return to this answer in our following article, which, we
the Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops to rule the Church            understand, is of such a nature that the text in Isaiah 2 :2-4
of God." How could bishops rule the Church if they did not           refers to the Roman Catholic Church. This is supported from
know who belonged to it? (In connection with the word                certain quqtations from the New Testament.                 H.V.
"bishops," as it appears in this paragraph, in the translation

of Acts 20~25,  we have no objection. However, we do well

to bear in mind that this word does not apply here to the                       Delay not, lest His anger rise,
apostles, but to the elders of the church of Ephesus. - H.V.)                     And ye should perish in your way ;

   292. I have a great respect for Christ, but very little for                  Lo, all that put their trust in Him

the Church.                                                                       Are blest indeed, and blest for aye.


88                                        TH'E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


                                                                   and divinity of God ; and he who works with that book and

          The Voice of Our Fathers                                 comes to opposite conclusions has not produced science,.
                                                              \    knowledge, but its very antithesis. To be sure, the above
                                                                   is based upon the premise that the controlling spiritual,,
                    The Belgic Confession                          ethical disposition of a man's heart comes into play when

                                                                   he reads God's book of creation. But such is indeed the.
                     ARTICLE II (continued j
                                                                   position of our Confession too. And that is Scripture, as.
      Already at this juncture we may point out partially the      we shall see in the sequence.
practical significance of this confession. In the first place,        But now let us return to teachings of Article II con-
what we have observed in our previous installment should           cerning this first means.
caution us- against simply identifying the claimed discov-
                                                                      We may ask the question in this connection: why does
eries and proofs and conclusions of natural science with
                                                                   the universe testify of God ?
God's revelation of Himself in the book of the creation and
preservation and government 6f the universe. This is often            And then we must remember that while the figure of
done, or at least suggested.    In the controversy concerning      speech of our Confession is in a way very apt, nevertheless.
the harmony of science and Scripture, it is sometimes              that book is not like a dead handwriting. God speaks in and
claimed or implied that the findings of the scientist con-         through that book. This is true, in the first place, of
stitute the testimony of so-called "general revelation." In        creation. That creation testifies of God because He created
other words, the "discoveries" of science are equated with         it through His Word and by His Spirit. The result is that
revelation. And the next step is, of course, that since there      every creature is a word of God, and the universe is the
can of necessity be no conflict between God's revelation in        Word of God created. In the second place, not only did
the things that are made and His revelation in Scripture,          the universe receive its original existence through God's
therefore one's interpretation of Scripture must be adapted        speech ; but it is because God continues to speak that the
to the discoveries of science. But this reasoning is alto-         world continues to exist. He is the Sustainer of the uni-
gether specious.     For, apart now from the fact that it is       verse. He upholds all things by the Word of His power.
based on a faulty conception of the relation between God's         Hebrews 1 :3. And the same is true concerning God's gov-
revelation in creation and His revelation in Scripture- a          ernment. Not only does He uphold all things and preserve
subject which we shall discuss later - it is simply not true       them, even as He is immanent in them by His Word and
that scientific findings and conclusions are the same as that      Spirit; but God governs all things by that same Word and
book of the creation, preservation and government of the           Spirit in such a way that all history is an unfolding and
universe. The latter sets forth objective facts and realities;     manifestation of His divine thoughts and counsel. Nothing
the former consist of what someone cla&~~  to have read in         takes place, no sparrow falls to the ground, no hair falls
God's book. Suppose that science claims that the earth is          from your head, but by His will and government. Hence,
millions of years old, and that there is scientific evidence of    the entire universe, created and upheld and governed by
this. Does this mean that we can simply claim that "gen-           God is a speech of God. You can distinguish and differenti-
eral" revelation teaches this ? Or must we still carefully dis-    ate many words in that speech, yet all those words form
tinguish between God's revelation and man's scientific             one speech. They bespeak the living God Himself.

"findings" ?    And must we not above all remember that the           Moreover, our Confession mentions the contents of that
book of the creation, preservation, and government of the          speech in brief: ". . . . wherein all creatures, great and
universe must be read and can be properly read only in the         small., are as so many characters leading us to contemplate
light of God's holy and divine Word, the Scriptures ?              the invisible things of God, namely, his power cmd  divinity."
      Secondly, we are clearly taught here that even as far as     This is a reference, of course, to Remans  1 20: "For the
the things that are made are concerned, there is no true           invisible things of him from the creation of the world are

science, knowledge, apart from the knowledge of God. That          clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
elegant book of the creation and preservation and govern-          even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are with-

ment of the universe sets forth the knowledge of God, the          out excuse."    In this connection, we may point out that from
Creator, Sustainer, and Preserver of the universe. That            this book of the creation, preservation, and government of

book betrays the Author Whose handiwork the book is. It            the universe Scripture teaches us that God's wrath may be

speaks always and only ,of Him. And the would-be scientist         known. This is evident in general in the curse that rests

who busies himself with God's book, delves into the con-           upon creation and from the vanity of the creature.        B u t
tents of that book, studies its letters, and then wisely an-       especially in Remans  1 we learn that the wrath of God is

nounces that the universe was not created, but evolved over        revealed in God's dealings with men, according to which

a period  of billions of years, is no scientist at all. He is a    He gives them over from sin unto sin and from corruption

Tool and an ignoramus, who says in his heart, "There is no         to corruption.    "For the wrath of God is revealed from
Go-l."    That book sets forth objectively the eternal power       heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      89


 who hold the truth in unrighteousness." Rom. 1 :lS. We             the eternal power and divinity of a God Who -apart now

 also may know of God's wisdom, and. to an extent, of His           from His revelation in Christ Jesus and in the Scriptures

 .goodness from this first book.                                    -is the terror of man. No where in all the testimony of

                                                                    that book of the creation, preservation, and government of
    However, even as      revelation implies that God speaks
                                                                    the universe can you detect one note of mercy, of love, of
 not only to Himself, but of Himself to another being out-
                                                                    grace.     The only God Whom fallen man can apprehend ix
 side of Himself, so the knowledge of God implies a lnow-
                                                                    the things that are made is the God Who curses him, Who
 ing creature, a being who can receive and understand God's
                                                                    pursues him unto death, Who in His holy wrath slays him.
 speech concerning Himself.         This too is implied in this
                                                                    and from Whom he desires to flee away.
 article. We know Him by two means. And in some sense
                                                                        However, still another change was wrought through the
 it is also true of those who are left "without excuse." Ail<!
                                                                    fall, a change xffecting  man himself, as the subject of the
 this being is man, man as he was originally created, first of
                                                                    knowledge of God. Through sin man lost all his spiritual
 all. God created man a living soul, endowed with His own
                                                                    light. 
 image.    And in that first man the light of the Word shone                  In fact, all the light that was in man became, from a
                                                                    spiritual point of view, darkness. The image of God in him
clearly and brightly. First of all, God endowed man with
                                                                    was perverted into its very opposite. The result is that
 so-called natural light, the light that lighteth every man
                                                                    fallen, natural man can no longer truly hear the Word of
 that cometh  into the world. Coming into contact through
                                                                    God, not even in the things that are made. What he reads
 his' senses with the speech of God in the things that are
                                                                    in that book of creation he no longer truly understands. To
made, man became the recipient of that speech. By his
                                                                    be sure, he is still able to an extent to read that book. For
 power of perception man was able to interpret the things
                                                                   through the fall he did not lose his mind and become an
which he apprehended through his senses.           And by the
                                                                   irrational beast. He retained some remnants of his natural
power of intellect he was able to understand the work of
                                                                   light. And by those small remains of natural light he is stii!
God and to come to the knowledge of God. Thus man was
                                                                   able in a way to read that book. He still sees and perceives
created.- But man was endowed as well with true, spiritual
                                                                   and from an intellectual point of view understands the
light. I-Ie not merely knew of God; he knew God. His knowl-
                                                                   things that are made. And in this sense he still 
edge was not merely that of the head, but of the heart, a                                                                 ksozws; he
                                                                   can receive God's speech through those things that are
knowledge of love, so that from his heart man responded in
                                                                   made. God Himself takes care of this: "Because that which
love to the speech of God concerning Himself. To know
                                                                   may be known of God is manifest in them; for God bath
God was his life. Moreover, gifted as he was with the
                                                                   shewed  it unto them. For the invisible things of him from
power of speech, man was also able to give expression to
                                                                   the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
what he apprehended of the speech of God in the things
                                                                   by the things that are made, even his eternal power and God-
that are made, and so to declare the glory of God.
                                                                   head: so that they are without excuse." Rom. 1:19.  20. But
    Such was the original state of things, therefore.              two facts must be remembered concerning this "natural

    But sin and the fall occasioned an important change in         light."      In the first place,    by comparison with Adam's

that original state of things. In the first place, as it were a    original light, man's light in his fallen estate is but very

new chapter was written in that book of the creation, pres-        dim. He has only remnants. He can by no means read that

ervation, and government of the universe. A new speech  of         book of creation any more, for example, as Adam did when

God is heard. To be sure, the invisible things of God from         he named the animals. He has enough light so that he may

the creation of the world are clearly seen, namely, His            be convinced that God is, and that He is to be feared and

eternal power and divinity- seen clearly enough indeed             glorified, and so that, perceiving that God is the One to

that men may be left without excuse. Indeed, God sti!i             be thanked and glorified, he stands without excuse in the

projects His Word into the universe in such a way that             just judgment of God. And it is in this sense only that the

He can be known as the God that must be feared and                 natural man can be said at all to know God. And, in the

thanked and glorified. But since the fall and entrance of          second place, even that small remnant of natural light is

sin into the universe, there is heard the speech of God's          from a spiritual point of view darkness. There is no grace

holy wrath : "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven             revealed whatsoever ir, that natural light and that natural

. . . . " The creature is made to bear the curse of God and        knowledge of God. The natural man can never attain to

is subjected to vanity. And man himself pines and dies             the knowledge of God which is life. He is darkened in his

through the fierce wrath of God upon him. This cannot be           understanding and is become a liar,             Knowing God, he
otherwise, for the simple reason that even after the fall God      refuses to glorify Him as God, neither is thankful. Elf:

continues to speak concerning Himself. And when the liv-           always changes the truth of God into a lie, and worships

ing God speaks concerning Himself through a fallen uni-            the creature rather than the Creator. He can                lie abont
                                                                                                                      only 
verse, that speech can only be the speech of His holy ,wrath,      the iiving God. This is the fundamental reason why, reacl-

Indeed, therefore, the eternal power and divinity of God           ing that book of the creation, preservation, and government

are  set forth through the things that are made, but they are                             (Confined on page 95)

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

                                                                        wishes to have close fellowship with God must be ab-
/i  D E C E N C Y   ancl  O R D E R   /I stemious in order to become a pure vessel of the Spirit.
                                                                        Especially in the Roman Catholic Church fasting is con-

                                                                        sidered to be meritorious. These are the things that the

                       Special Prayer Days                              Reformation condemned and rightly so.

                                                                            It is debatable whether or not the discontinuance of all
           `ln time of war, pest~ilence,  national calav&ies,  and
                                                                        fasting for these reasons is justified. It cannot be denied
       0 tlaer great a*ff lictions, the prcs.mre  of which ,i.s felt
                                                                        that Scripture sanctions the practice when it is done as it
       througlzoz~t  the churches, it is fitting that the clflssis
                                                                        should be. In Old Testament times it was, among other
       prochim  a da.y  of prayer:"
                                                                        things, one of the visible expressions of repentance and
                                               Article 66, D.K.O.
                                                                        sorrow for sins committed. `:The Church Order Com-
      Already in the earliest redaction of our Church Order,            mentary" speaks of Scriptural fasting as a practice which
provision was made for the calling of special days of prayer            "aims to repress and curb the flesh and so constitutes a
in the churches. Originally the above article of the Church             spiritual exercise. Fasting should be practiced to repress.
Order read as follows:                                                  the flesh and to prepare for prayer and humiliation before
                                                                        `God." The latter was the view of Calvin. When you con-
      "In times of war, pestilence, depression, persecution of
                                                                        sider that in former times the people of God in the Re-
churches, and other general calamities, the ministers of the
                                                                        formed Churches would gather in the house of God for a
churches shall request the government that upon its author-             whole day without food or drink to listen to two sermons,
ity and order public fast and prayer days be appointed and              the reading of portions of Scripture and offer many prayers,.
h a l l o w e d . "                                                     you cannot condemn this practice absolutely. It displays a

      Our present reading of Article 66 differs from the                richer spirituality and consciousness of dependence up.on

original in two respects. It omits the provision calling for            God than one sees in our times when people complain that

fasting and it designates the Classis  rather than the gov-             the sermon is more than fifteen minutes and the entire
ernment as the body that is to call the day of prayer.                  service extends beyond an hour. The danger of external-

      In the latest proposed revision of the Church Order by            ism, superstition and abuse in worship is just as real as
the Christian Reformed Church the provisions of this article            these same dangers in connection with "fasts" and yet, we
are .combined  with those of Article 67. It is substantially            do not discontinue the entire practice of worshipping God
the same as appears in our Church Order with the excep-                 because of those things.

tion that it leaves the matter of calling special days of                  Even the practice of calling special days of prayer, as

prayer up to each church individually although this does                provided in this article of the Church Order, is not without
not exclude the classis or even the synod from doing so.                its dangers. Not that it is wrong for the church in times

The proposed revision inasfar as it concerns the article we             of stress to assemble for the purpose of caliing  upon the

are discussing reads: "In time of war, pestilence, national             name of God. On the contrary for we would emphasize that
calamities, and other great afflictions, the presence of which          this is a very desirabie and necessary thing, but the perver-

is felt throughout the churches, it is fitting that they pro-           sion of it comes when the prayers that are offered are
claim special days of penitence and prayer."                            flagrantly in conflict with the principles of God's holy Word.

      It is not strange that the church in former times prac-           Then the very purpose of Prayer Day-which ought to be
ticed fasting in connection with these special prayer days.             that it causes within us humiliation and arouses a deeper
To fast was a common thing already in the Old Testament.                spirituality -is defeated. This is unquestionably the case
We read of it repeatedly and sometimes for a rather ex-                 with many such special days that have been called by our
tended period of time. Long before the Reformation it had               own government in the past few years and which many
been introduced in the Roman Catholic Church and it is                  churches have heeded. Could it be that this very thing is
common knowledge that even today that church has its days               the reason such services have not been observed in our
of fasting. The churches of the Reformation, however, did               churches. We do not call days of prayer because it is the
not go along with this idea. This was not because they felt             popular thing but, to quote from the 66th Article, "be-
the idea of fasting in itself was sin. This they did not do             cause the pressure of affliction is felt throughout the
as is evident from the fact that at different times it was              churches."

introduced also in these churches but the practice was never               In times of war, pestilence, national calamities, and

retained very long. The reason for this is to be found in               other great afflictions the church must see the hand of God.
that the Reformation churches condemned the abuses and                  She must understand that in these things the Lord speaks
superstition that were often associated with fasts.            For      as He lowers His hand of judgment upon the earth. The
example, it is a very old and widespread belief that with               pressure which is felt in the church as well as throughout
food demons enter into the body of man. Hence, he who                   the world is brought about by that hand. Today that pres-


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                91

sure is felt as never before. Tensions and fears grow              judgmknt  postponed but through fervent prayer will seek

.stronger  by the day. The possibility of self-destruction for     the hastening of the coming of the Kingdom.

mankind has become reality. War, with untold horror and               Our Church Order states that "it is fitting that the
misery,      lurks in every corner of the globe. Want and          Classes proclaim a Day of Prayer." This does not mean
privation persist for millions while others bathe in luxury        that it is wrong. for the Synod to proclaim such a day for
.and over-abundance causing bitter resentment., greed and          all the churches. Neither does it deny the individual con-
hatred, which things in turn produce more misery. Must the         sistory the privilege of doing so if and when it should feel
church in such circumstances call special days of prayer?          this is desirable. It designates the classes because, generally
Indeed so, but not in a proud attempt to dictate to the Most       speaking, the needs and circumstances of churches within
High as to how He is to govern the affairs of the world or         a limited territory as defined by the cJassis  are the same
to outline before Him a humanly devised program that               and so each classis  may determine for itself whether such a
,would correct the evils of the world. We must not become          proclamatioy! is desired.
so arrogant as to think that we can instruct God how to
                                                                      In the churches of `Holland this is somewhat different.
improve His management of world affairs. God Himself
                                                                   They say, "In time of war, etc. . . . a Day of Prayer shall
has put      "enmity between seed and seed" in order that
                                                                   be appointed by the Classis  appointed for this purpose by
through the way of struggle and adversity His wondrous
                                                                   the last General Synod."     A certain Classis  is designated by
glory may be made manifest in the revelation of His grace
                                                                   each general Synod, which is charged to appoint special
to His people. We would with our carnal prayers obliterate
                                                                   days of prayer for all the churches of the denomination
that antithesis so that the glory of man, united in his
                                                                   whenever this classis may deem such a step advisable.
sinful purposes, may be extolled. How foolish and abomin-
able such prayers are. Rather let the people of God assemble          In spite of the rulings of the Church Order, however,
to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God ; to             we seem to be reverting back to the old practice of having
patiently wait His deliverance and to? implore His grace and       the government, rather than any ecclesiastical body, perform
Spirit that they may continue faithfully amidst mounting           this function. If the president issues a proclamation, the
pressures unto the very end.                                       churches readily respond. This sense of patriotism is re-
                                                                   flected in the modern prayers and practices that center in mJ

   The church that lives in the consciousness of the truth         the slogan, "Our country and God." The latter is made a

of the Word of God is able to face the adverse facts of            secondary agent to be employed in the interests of the

life realistically. She knows that there shall be wars and         former. Such prayer days do not aim to seek God but they

rumors of wars unto the end of all ages. She understands           are called to promote worldly interests. Such prayers will

that the disruptions in nature causing affliction and sorrow       not be rewarded.

for man are in effect the operations of the Divine wrath              Let us rather heed the good Word of God in Hebrews
upon the earth that was cursed because of man's transgres-         12 ~28,  "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot
sion. She realizes that for His own purposes God some-             be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God
times releases the powers of wickedness that they may              acceptably with reverence and godly fear." And pray with-
ruthlessly torment and persecute His church, the helpless          out ceasing till that Kingdom is revealed.
widow. She is not oblivious of the fact that in this sin-torn                                                             G.V.d.3
world there is nought but "vanity of vanities." In the midst

of all this the church cannot remain unaffected. She feels
                                                                                    In glory exult,
the pressure, endures hardship, suffers pain, is terrorized
                                                                                       Ye saints of the Lord ;
by the powers of evil but steadfastly and perseveringly she
                                                                                    With songs in the night
continues to march like a mighty army of God onward and
                                                                                       High praises accord ;
upward to Zion. To pray that all these things would be
                                                                                    Go forth in His service
otherwise is for her an impossibility and that for several
                                                                                       And strong in His might
reasons. Firstly, she knows that prayer is not designed to
                                                                                    To conquer all evil
change the plan of God but it is the experience of solitude
                                                                                       And stand for the right.
that brings the child into submission to the Father's good

purposes.     Secondly, prayer in its real meaning is not self-                     For this is His word ;

centered and aims not to realize man's foolishness but has                             His saints shall not fail,

its purpose in the glorification of God and, therefore, seeks                       But over the earth

the fulfillment of that purpose of His will in which His                               Their power shall prevail ;

Name shall be praised continually. Thirdly, knowing that                            All kingdoms and nations

all things work together for good .to them that love Go:1                              Shall yield to their sway.

and the same things ripen the wicked for the day of judg-                           To God give the glbry

ment, she will not ask that this good be disrupted or the                              And praise Him for aye.

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

                                                                             This vast theological chasm is not so much as                   re-

IIALL                 ARQLJND                         U       S              11ferred to in the report of this movement. But then,.
                                                                             doctrinal matters and questions of the truth seem to

                                                                             concern very few people and churches any more today.

LUTHERANS AND ROME                                                           Yet, in considering our own heritage- the heritage of the
                                                                             Reformation- we do well to remember that the main reason
      It is the time of the year when the Protestant Churches                for thanksgiving is that the Spirit of Christ has led His.
ponder their heritage- especially the heritage of the Ref-                   Church out of the doctrinal slavery of Roman Catholicism
ormation. Especially among the Reformed Churches, this is                    into the truth of Scripture. This is the principal importance
an occasion for gratitude to God Who so remarkably and                       of the Reformation, especially for us.
graciously delivered His Church from the bondage of Rome.

One would expect that this same gratitude would character-                   THE DIGNITY OF LABOR?

ize also the Lutheran Churches who stand especially in the                      Originally appearing in the Michigan  Altmw~zzts  Quarterly

tradition of the Reformation, bearing the name of the first                  Review, and quoted in the latest issue of the Reader's DJgest
of the Reformers. Perhaps it is true that most of them do.                   is the following interesting article :

It is quite obvious that some do not.                                                 In the United States at large there is no universal regard

                                                                                   for hard work. Look around you at the restricted outputs
      There is, in the land of Luther, a top Lutheran clergy-                      common in the building trades. Watch the slow-motion pace
man who is trying to lead his church at least part way back                        in many of our factories, where contract provisions bar any
to the Roman Catholic Church. This man is Dr. Hans                                 increase in work tempo. Observe the functionless fireman

Christian Asmussen who preached at one time in a parish in                         aboard a diesel locomotive, or any of the other workers idle
Kiel,  but who is now retired from this church and lives in                        under    a variety of feather-bedding practices. Tour one of
                                                                                   our leading aircraft plants, where a survey showed that the
Heidelberg. He has gathered about him a group of men
                                                                                   work force was productively occupied an average of only 63
called Die Sant,&z~vzg  (The Gathering) , and concentrates on                      percent of "he  so-called work day.
making his movement more wide-spread through the influ-                               It's not only the manual workers. Look into the coffee

ence of his paper --a sixteen page newsletter with a circula-                      shop of any large office building. Stand in the doorway five

tion of about 1,700. On the one hand this man wants to lead                        minutes before quitting time. Walk through the offices and
                                                                                   observe the white-collar workers who manage to chat away a
the Lutheran Church closer to Rome. He wants the church
                                                                                   third of the day.
to give greater recognition to the pope and his authority ;                           The terrible conclusion is that as a nation we are devdop-
he wants to reclaim much of Romish liturgy ; he has already                        ing a negative reaction toward work. We are placing more and

re-established the confessional and persuaded many churches                        more emphasis on doing only what we have to in order to

to do likewise ; he likes the emphasis placed on saints, and                       eke out the kind of living we want, and less and less on doing
                                                                                   the job conscientiously.
especially on the Virgin Mary; he is even in favor of an un-
                                                                                It can perhaps be argued, and is already argued in many
married clergy especially in these times of crisis.
                                                                             places, that the contributing factors to such idleness are in-
      But, on the other hand, he feels that the Romish Church                creasing dependence upon the welfare state, increasing usur-
lives too much in the dim past and is often not alive to the                 pation of authority by the labor unions, increasing preoc-
issues of the day. For this reason he would like the Lutheran                cupation with leisure and entertainment. Yet is it not true
Church to preserve a measure of its own identity and tradi-                  that the only possible solution to the problem lies in grace
tion. As one theologian of Asmussen's following expressed it :               for the child of God ? "Servants, be obedient to them that

           We want LO say yes to tradition but no to traditionalism,         are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and
        yes to the office of the Pope but no to papism, yes to the           trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; Not
        right of the church but no to legalism, yes to the praised           with eyeservice, as menpleasers ; but as the servants of Christ,
        mother of the Lord but no to Marianism, yes to the spiritual         doing the will of God from the heart ; With good will doing
        center of Rome but no to centralism and Romanism.
                                                                             service, as to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing that what-
      Luther would be shocked could he know what is happen-                  soever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive
ing to his Church.      The striking part of it all is, though,              of the Lord, whether he be bond or free." Ephesians 6 :5-8.
that the emphasis falls on the liturgy and external aspects of
                                                                                The shadow of the cross falls also upon the place where
the Church of Rome. It seems to be such things as form
                                                                             we work.
and ritual, saints and sinners, pope and priest which attract

these Lutherans. This was not, in the first place, important                 THE MORAL PROBLEMS OF FALL-OUT SHELTERS

to Luther. It is true, he severely attacked them alid they too                  Some time ago when the subject of fall-out shelters was

fell beneath his hammer blows. But Luther saw, and cor-                      just becoming a topic of national interest, a man wrote an

rectly so, that the basic evil in the Romish Church was their                article in a prominent magazine informing the public that

doctrine of justification by works. It was with Luther a doc-                he intended to stock his fall-out shelter with a gun and a

trinal question, a matter of the truth of Scripture. Settle                  good supply of ammunition to be used when his foolish neigh-

that  all-important matter and the rest would follow of itself.              bors who did not build their own shelters stormed his to


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     93


find shelter when the bombs began to fall. He maintained                      with its almost unbelievable destruction will precede the reign

that to shoot his neighbors was an obligation he had, for if                  of Anti-Christ? Is the only way to a universal kingdom over

he would allow all his neighbors to crowd his shelter his own                 which Anti-Christ must rule the way of nuclear war? Or

family would die.                                                             will the disagreements between the nations be settled without

                                                                              war at the world's conference tables ? No doubt one's deci-
   This article raised a storm of protest and argument                        sion to build or not to build a fall-out shelter will rest in
throughout the country as ministers and priests and laymen                    part at least upon his answers to these questions.
,debated  the matter from every conceivable point of view.                        But should you build a fall-out shelter, what about these

   The Roman Catholic point of view was recently given in                     moral problems ? What would you do ?

answer to a question. The questioner asked about the moral

right of shooting neighbors who tried to force their way into                 MERGERS AND SPLlTS
the shelter he had built. The answer :
                                                                                  The proposal by Eugene Carson Blake made sometime

             While many people question the value of fallout shelters         ago and referred to on various occasions in this column has
     in case of an atomic attack, many others are asking questions            now been approved by the last major body to whom the
     like yours.     Others, while not discouraging family shelters,          proposal was directed. Blake originally called for the merger
     `think that group shelters would be much more effective for
     survival and recovery than family shelters. Maybe millions               of the United Presbyterian, Methodist and Protestant Epis-
     and millions of rosaries more would make any kind of a fall-             copal Churches into one huge super-denomination embracing

     out shelter unnecessary, inasmuch as they would bring the peace          ahnost  a third of all Protestants. The proposal had been
     that Our Lady of Fatima promised if there are enough prayers             accepted by the United Presbyterian Church and by the
     and sacrifices.                                                          Methodists; it was also accepted now by the Protestant
             In an article entitled "Ethics at the Shelter Doorway" in
                                                                              Episcopal Church which recently met in Detroit. The resolu-
     the Catholic weekly America for Sept. 30, 1961, Father L. C.
     McHugh, S.J., offers a partial code of essential shelter moral-          tion included several conditions for merger talks: the talks

     ity.                                                                     must be "based upon the Bible as the revealed Word of God
             1. If you are an unattached individual and wish to yield         and rule -of faith ; acceptance of the Apostles' and Nicene
     your shelter space to others, God bless you. You can show no             Creeds; use of the two sacraments, always administered with
     greater love for yonr neighbors.
                                                                              Christ's own words of institution ; and a ministry of the
             2. Think twice before you rashly give your family shelter
     space to friends and neighbors or to the passing stranger. Do            Word based on the apostolic succession as well as the in-

     your dependents go aiong with this heroic self-sacrifice? If             ward call."     It appears as if the machinery is about ready
     they do, and you have not yet built 9 shelter, don't bother to           to roll.
     do so. Go next door and build one for your neighbor. In an
     emergency, he can take refuge there more quickly if it is ou                On another church scene a new denomination was recently

     his own property instead of yours.                                       formed. When the Congregational Churches and the Evan-
             3. When you have sheltered your family, you may make n           gelical and R f
                                                                                               e armed    Churches united to form the United
     prudent judgment as to whether you may admit any others                  Church of Christ, there were many congregations which re-
     to your sanctuary without undue risk to the essential welfare
                                                                              fused to go along with the merger. This was especially true
     of those who are most closely bound to you in justice and
     charity. It would be hard to prove that you have any grave               of the Congregationalists. Recently meeting in Cheyenne,

     obligation to do so.                                                     Wyoming, these churches formally re-organized as the Na-

             4. If you are already secured in your shelter and others         tional Association of Congregational Christian Churches.
     try to break in, they may be treated as unjust aggressors and
     repelled with whatever means will effectively deter their as-                Among the Presbyterians, there was a group that split

     sault. If others steal your family shelter space before you get          from the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 1937 on the

     there, you may also use whatever means will recover your                 question of premillennialism.     It became known as the Bible
     sanctuary intact.                                                        Presbyterian Church. This group split again with the Col-
             5. The careful husbandman who           no heroic aspirations
                                             has                              lingswood (New Jersey) Synod becoming a separate body
     will take precautions now so that his shelter will be available
     for those for whose safety it was built. If it is marginally             and retaining the name, while the other group, meeting last

     equipped, it would be a normal exercise of prudence to conceal           July in Tacoma, Washington, decided on the new name of

     the entrance, if feasible, or make it inaccessible except to the         Evangelical Presbyterian Church. This latter group re-
     members of the family. Does prudence also dictate that you               affirmed its premillennialism as its doctrinal confession. The
     have some "protective devices" in your survival kit, e.g., n
                                                                              Evangelical' Church has about 70 congregations through-
     revolver for breaking up traffic jams at your shelter door?
     That's for you to decide, in the light of your personal circum-          out the country.                                      H. Hanko

     stances. But as Civil Defense Coordinator Keith Dwyer said

     in the Times story:      "There's nothing in the Christian ethic
     which denies one's right to protect one's self and one's fam-                   When God the righteous judge appeared

 i l y . "                                                                                To save the meek from wrong and shame,

   We know that before the return of Jesus Christ Anti-                              The earth stood still Andy greatly feared ;

christ must still reign. Is it then possible that a nuclear war                           Then forth from heaven His sentence came.

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

                                                                       topic being "The Basic Significance of the Reformation."

                                                                       The summary of the speech is as follows:

                                                                           Next Tuesday we celebrate what is really a great Holy

                                                                       Day for the church : "Reformation Day."

                          An Allegory                                      There was other reformation in the past. But never

                                                                       one like this. How we should thank God today and every
      Once upon a time, when Earth was young, there was but
                                                                       day for that work of His Grace. It is well that we celebrate
a single single Watershed, with its Pools and Streams flow-
                                                                       it as we do,
ing into the Sea. In those Waters were many fish, Little

and Big, all gathered into one School.                                     The main significance of the Reformation has to do with

                                                                       the Word of God itself.
      As Earth grew older Little Fish in Big Pools strove to

become Big Fish in Little Pools, and Noxious Fish began                    Of that Word of God, the Bible, the Roman Catholic
to pollute the Streams.                                                Church had robbed its people during the ages preceding the

      (,, . . . Q nrt was ca,st  into the sea., and  ga.thmed  of      Reformation. Doctrines and institutions of the people were
tz~~fy  kind: zerl~~cl~,  z&en  it was  j&, they drew to show,,        declared to be of equal value with the Word of God. The
and sa,f down, an.d ga.thered  the good into vessels, but cast         result was that gradually all those things were placed above
the bnd  a.way.")                                                      the Word of God and the latter fell into oblivion. There was
                                                                       no real need of the Bible; it was only one of many infallible
      The dragnet, drawn by Invisible's Hand, cause separa-
                                                                       writings. Besides, the church declared that she only had the
tion in the Watershed so that new Streams were made to
                                                                       right and the light to interpret the Word of God, and every
flow into newly formed Seas, each at its own level, where-             member of the church should abide and live by that inter-
in were spawned new Schools.                                           pretation.

      And it came to pass, in the beginning of Earth's latter
                                                                           All this was changed by the Grace of God through the
days, that Seining activities involving Little, Big and Nox-
                                                                       Reformation.
ious Fish caused another School to be spawned, which at-

tempted to seek a new level between two existing Seas.                     The reformation again affirmed the authority of the

Barely surviving Eight Waterfalls, the new School learned              Bible only. All the works of men are of value only in as

that there was not enough room for its own Watershed, and              far as they are based squarely on the Word of God. The

was irresistibly drawn into the neighboring Sea.                       Reformation again affirmed the office of all believers. We

                                                                       all are prophets and may and qust work with the Word of
      Truly, Invisible's law for Earth is sure: ,W'ate?,  seeks its
                                                                       God.
own level.

                                                       J.M.F.              The reaffirmation of these principles produced many

                                                                       other fruits.


                                                                          Through the Word of God the full Truth again became

                                                                       known. Many Creeds were born at that time. The blackout
Report of the Eastern Ladies' League Meeting                           had come to an end and the light went on again all over the

                                                                       world.
      The meeting was held Thursday evening, October 2&h,

at the Hope Protestant Reformed Church.                                    To bring to pass this wonderful work of God, God used

      The organ Prelude'was played by Miss Sybel Engelsma,             many men, especially the brilliant and God-fearing Martin
after which the meeting was opened with prayer by odr                  Luther.

president Mrs. D. Jonker.                                                 We know how the seeds of the Reformation were gradu-

      Singing of the theme song from our Psalters, No. 374,            ally sown in his heart through his providential contact with

verses 1, 2, and 5, and also sang the customary Holland                the Word of God, first while studying at the University of

Psalm 89, verse 1.                                                     Erfurth and later in the monastery. It was especially, how-

                                                                       ever, as professor at the university of Wittenburg that he
      Our president, Mrs. D. Jonker, gave our scripture read-
                                                                       drew nearer and nearer to the full light. There he studied
ing from Psalm i19 verses 97 through 112.
                                                                       and lectured and preached a great deal. All was exposition
      The Hope Society gave a vocal number "In Heavenly                of the Holy Scriptures. Thus the Grace of God gradually
Love Abiding," Mrs. H. Hanko as accompanist. Mrs. A.                   prepared him for the mighty work of the Reformation,
Langerak, Mrs. J. Boomers, Mrs.. J. Kuipers, Miss Sybel                wherein he became a mighty God-ordained means to bring
Engelsma, P. Zandstra and Mrs. R: Bloem.                               thf church of Christ back to the full and blessed Word of

      Rev. R. Veldman was our speaker for the evening, the             God.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                        95

,Conclusion -                                                                          THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS

    Let us appreciate anew what we have in the Bible. Let                                   (Continued from page 89)
us give that Word its proper place in our lives-D&&                  of the universe, the natural man always perverts its testi-

so we shall experience in ever richer measure the wonderful          mony and contradicts it and proposes in the place of that

power of that Word unto eternal life and salvation. Thus and         testimony `of the living God the very opposite.

thus only it will be well with our souls, now and forever.
                                                                         But we, that is, the believers, renewed in Christ Jesus.

    The speech was very timely and was enjoyed by all.               and possessing the light of God's revelation in Christ Jesus

    The program was continued with singing of Psalter No.            --we know God, know Him also by means of that fir.+:
128, all three verses. The minutes of our Spring League              book, and are able to read that first book in the light of
meeting of April 20, 1961 were read by our secretary, Mrs.           the Holy Scriptures.
J. Kuiper, and approved.                                                                                                          H.C.H.

   The roll call revealed a very good attendance with most
                                                                                                IN MEMORIAM
churches represented.
                                                                        Our Society wishes herewith to express its sympathy with our

   The collection was taken for the Beacon Lights and the            fellow member, Mrs. Alvin Garvelink, in the loss of her mother,

Standard Bearer. The Collection amounted to $105.00.                          MRS. ELIZABETH GARVELINK, aged 76 years

    Our Financial Report was given by the treasurer, Miss               May our Covenant God heal the broken hearts, and comfort
Audrey Rietsma.                                                      the bereaved family with the glorious truth of the resurrection.

                                                                     Isaiah 41: 10
   Mrs. John Lanning honored us with two organ numbers
                                                                                                         The Hudsonville Ladies' Society:
-"Just a Closer Walk with Thee" and "Beside the Still
                                                                                                          Rev. Gerrit Vos, President
Waters".                                                                                                  Mrs. Rhine Lubbers, Secretary

   The Holland Ladies' Society honored us with a round

table discussion on the topic "Psalms versus Hymn&"  by                          The glorious gates of righteousness
Mrs. J. Van Kampen, Mrs. L. Elzinga and Mrs. Lavern                                   Throw open unto me,
Casmier.                                                                         And I will enter them with praise,

   Installation of the new officers: Mrs. John Kalsbeek                               0 Lord, my God, to Thee.

replacing Mrs. C. Hanko as Vice President; Miss E%ie
                                                                                 This is Thy temple-gate, 0 Lord,
Kuiper .replacing  Mrs. J. Kuiper as secretary; and Mrs. B.
                                                                                      The just shall enter there ;
Meyering replacing Mrs. George De Vries as Vice Treas-                           My Saviour, I will give Thee thanks,
urer.                                                                                 0 Thou that hearest prayer.

   The new and retiring officers sang from Psalter No.
                                                                                 The stone rejected and despised
247, verses 1, 2, and 6.
                                                                                      Is now the corner-stone ;
   A word of thanks was given to all taking part in the pro-                     How wondrous are the ways of God,
gram, and the host church for having the meeting which                                Unfathomed and unknown !
was Hope Church and Crescent for helping.
                                                                                 In this day that Thou hast made
   The meeting was closed with the singing of Psalter No.                             Triumphantly we sing ;
50 verses 1 and 3. Mrs. J. Kalsbeek, our new Vice-Presi-                         Send now prosperity, 0 Lord,
dent, closed the meeting with prayer.                                                 0 Lord, salvation bring.

   Refreshments were served after the meeting by the Hope
                                                                                 Hosanna! Ever blest be He
and Crescent Ladies' Societies.
                                                                                      That cometh  in God's Name,
                              Submitted by Mrs. E. .Kooiengs                     The blessing of Jehovah's house

                                                                                      Upon you we proclaim.


                                                                                 The light of joy to shine on us
                         IN MEMORIAM
                                                                                      The Lord our God hath made;
   The Mary-Martha Circle of the Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed                   Now be the precious sacrifice
Church extends its heartfelt sympathy to Mr. Dale Huizenga and                        Upon His altar laid.
daughter Christine in the death of their wife and mother,

                 MRS. DOROTHY HUIZENGA                                           0 Lord, my God, I praise Thy Name,
   "For none liveth  to himself and no man djeth  to himself."                        All other names above ;
Romans 14:7..                                                                    0 give Him thanks., for He is good
                                    Mary-Martha Circle
                                                                                      And boundless is His love.
                                    Janice Triezenberg, Secretary


                                        / i . _~-~~_-~I  _.___ _ -__-__~-. --i  - - - - - _~_-
96                                      - - - T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                    closing prayer. This .Hymnsing,  as others before it, helped

      NEWS FROM  OUR CHURCHES                                       us in realizing the answer to the 103rd question of the
                                                                    Heidelberg Catechism.
              "All the saints salute thee . . ." PEIL. 4:21             The Annual meeting of the League of Men's Societies was

                                                                    held in Hope Church Oct. 30. The League president, Rev. M.

                                              NOV. 5, 1961          Schipper,      led in opening devotions and introduced the

      Randolph's congregation has called the Rev. A. Mulder,        speaker, Rev. H. Hanko. The title of the speech was, "Ref-
of Kalamazoo, to be their pastor. Rev. Mulder has been              ormation, a Manifestation 0 God's Wisdom." The speaker

granted an extension of time to answer the call from Isabel-        examined the reformations of Luther and Calvin from the

Forbes because of a congregational meeting in those churches        viewpoint of the relationship to each other, showing the

regarding a new location for church and parsonage.                  proper place of each Reformer in God's Providence to build

      The Radio Committee or the Reformed Witness Hoiur             the Church and keep her in the Truth. This discourse was

wishes to remind our readers of the special program to be           a unique approach to a well-known subject and yas out-

held, D.V., Thursday evening at 8 P. M. Jan. 25. This               standing among the usual run-of-the-mill Reformation Day

special program will be held in the First Protestant Reformed       speeches. Special music was furnished by the Protestant

Church in Grand Rapids to commemorate the 1,OOOth  broad-           Reformed Men's Chorus which favored            with two numbers.
                                                                                                               us 

cast of this Distinctively Reformed Radio Mi$stry. A very           The after recess period was taken up by some general re-

interesting program has been arranged - -including  music'          marks concerning the Reformers as the comprehensive cov-

written especially for this event - also a twenty minute radio      erage of his subject precluded the usual questions asked of

sermon by Rev. Herman Hoeksema. The Committee is sure               the speaker. After the Secretary's and Treasurer's reports

that an hour and a half of Christian fellowship will be ex-         were read Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, president of First's Men's

perienced by all those attending . . . "see you in church" . . .    Society, led in closing prayer.

Thursday evening, January 25. The Committee.                            First Church's Nov. 5 bulletin carried this item: "During

      The Dedication of the Protestant Reformed Christian           the past week it has been determined that the condition of

School of South Holland, Illinois, was held Oct. 27, with           Rev. H. H. Kuiper (of Loveland) is more serious than ap-

Prof. H. C. Hoeksema giving the dedicatory address. The             peared at first, since they have found evidences of cancer.

printed programs posted several milestones in their history         He is content in his God and requests `the prayers of our

       to that point -from the organization of their school         churches for himself and his family. May our God give him
up 
society Nov. 30, 1955,  to the formal opening of the school         and his family abundant grace according to their every need."

Sept. 5, 1961. In less than six years the members of the            Because of this situation the Revs. Hoeksema and Hanks

South Holland and Oak Lawn churches, under the continual            were given permission by their consistory to visit Rev.

encouragement of the Revs. H. C. Hoeksema, G. Vanden                Kuiper and to preach in Loveland the following Sunday.

Berg and J. A. Heys, saw their plans come to realization.           The Lord willing, they will entrain for Loveland Thursday,

Truly, the dedicatory service might be a time of rejoicing,         Nov. 9, and return to Grand Rapids the next Tuesday.

that "hitherto hath the Lord been with us."                             Statistics vital to this page: Church bulletins, which are

      From the October issue of the Adams St. School An-            the chief sources of the news, come to us very regularly from

nouncer we partially quote from Mrs. Veltman's editorial :          most of our correspondents : but, in these ten months of 1961

"Report cards aren't merely children reporting and parents          we have received but ten issues from one church, 7 from an-

commenting. They tell the parents how their child has used          other, 4 from a&her,  2 from still another, and from two

the talents God has given him . . . The aim of parents and          churched we have received none. But for those faithful cor-

teachers is to teach our children to glorify God in all that        respondents this page would itself be listed with the vital

they see, think, and do . . . working and praying together will     statistics,

bring God's blessing upon our homes and our school."                    Quotation from Loveland's bulletin, when Rev. Kuiper

      The October Beacon Lights Hymnsing  was held in South-        preached on the Fourth Petition, "All successful prayer is

west Church. The rainy" weather did not deter the loyal             a prompting from' the Father. My prayer does not change

supporters of Beacon Lights from attending. The singing             His mind, it is His mind that dictates my prayer. Efficacious

was directed by Mr. Phil Lotterman, with Mrs. Letterman             prayer is not so much a petition as a prophecy : it is my Father

at the organ and -Miss Lois Schipper at the pian?  - all mem-       saying to me, `This is My will . . . ask this'." Matheson.

bers of Southwest Church. Arnold Dykstra ghve a vocal                   May we as denomination be mindful of Jesus' instruction

solo, a medley of hymns, with Jim Jonker at the piano.              as to our prayers : `iThe  harvest fimly  is. pl'mztqus.,  ,lmt  the

Another special number was an organ solo by Jim Jonker,             labo?-ers  are few; pmy ye therefwe  the'Lo?d  of the ha&&t,

entitled, "The Church's One Foundation." The songs were             that He wilt  send forth  laborers into His harvest."

chosen to fit the occasion of celebrating Reformation Day.                                                            illatt. 9 :37,  35.

Ed Langerak opened the meeting and Rev.  Schipper led in                . . . . see you in church.                              J.M.F.


