    VOLUME ~VIII                             FEBRUARY 15, 1962 - GRAND RAPIDS,  MICH?.GAN                           NUMBER 10

                                                                    old. He pecomes  rusted in `his iniquity There is no chance

                                                                II to soften his hard heart. Wrinkles, the stooped posture, his
                                                                    old age tells a prophecy: he is running fast toward that hole

                                                                    in the ground where he will rot!

            THE LORD OUR RIGHTECWSNESS                                  He-lies there, with empty eyes looking upward to the

                                                                    cover of the coffin, while his soul cries out in the flames of
            iT% was  delivered for our offenses aind  was raised
                                                                    hell : "for I am tormented in this flame !" Luke 16 :24b.
           again for our jz&ification..  Rom. 4:25.

                                                                        And his only prospect is the lake of fire and brimstone

    Satan has always attacked the wonder of Christ's resur-         where he will lie unto everlasting suffering, weeping, gnash-

rection.                                                            ing his teeth. -.

    But the gates of hell shall never prevail against the               That is the life of the world.

Church of Jesus Christ. The Church receives the faith, and              Man, notwithstanding all civilization, inventions, com-
through faith we always will believe that Jesus rose from           forts ( ?) of life, space age, power and wisdom, is going
the dead. And through that faith we are justified.                  down,  descending from age to age, until he shall sit in the

    Look at it!                                                     Temple, telling the whole IJniverse  that he is Jehovah! But

   The resurrection of Jesus is attended by many witnesses.         it's a lie !

.Their  names and their story are carefully recorded in the             The world should never use the word : Excelsior !

B i b l e .                                                             But : Bathos ! (To the depths !)

    And the Bible has been carefully preserved for us for
                                                                                              + + * *
centuries.

    And the result is that the whole church of Jesus cries              My brother : why don't you join him ?
out in great triumph : Christ is risen indeed !
                                                                        My sister : Why don't you weep too ?
                            *<    * * 8
                                                                        The answer to that question is: Jesus was given over,

    Look at its contrast!                                           delivered for our offenses.

   The world is rushing downward: And this downward                     No, you and I are not any better than the world. In a
rush of the world is accompanied by carnality, earthiness,          sense, you are worse.' For you know better. That makes
                                                                    your sins and iniquities more heinous. .
stooping, and searching, yearning and: lusting after many

things.                                                                 Now think on what I wrote above: the downward rush-

    It begins with the life of the lit&child : poor, pitiful,       ing world from infancy to the wrinkles of old age, and then
befuddled children. Soon he is a young man, but it does             further to hell and damnation.

not get any better: you can see the character of this sorry             And that is the life of Jesus Christ.

world-life: .the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the          Isaiah seems to have received a view of this. Christ. He
pride of life? His whole life is filled with vanity, emptiness,     testifies of His visage in' Isaiah 52 34 : "And many were
folly, and violence.                                                astoniecl at Thee ; His visage was so marred more than any

    All the' imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only       man, and His form more than the sons of men."

evil continually.                                                    We have seen many pictures of Jesus : it is all the.

   It is further strengthened when this.  young man grows           product of imagination     There is no likeness of Jesus' face

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


and form on earth. But whatever picture of Jesus we looked                First a few weeks on earth, appearing and appearing

at was beautiful. I do not believe it. Isaiah tells us that He        again unto His beloved Church which He loved so much.

was not beautiful to look at.      And I can believe it.              And then came the moment of Olivet. And while they stood

       Many, many years ago I brought a friend to Mayo's              beholding, a cloud took Him out of their sight. But Jesus
clinic.     He was operated there.                                    went higher, ever higher.     He arrived before the gates of
                                       And I went to the old
Union Depot to get him from the train many weeks later.               heaven, and then the angels sang : "Ye gates, lift your heads,
I can never forget how his pain and suffering was etched              the glad summons obey, Ye doors everlasting, wide open the
on his face. What transformation !                                    way ; The King of all glory high honors await, the King of
                                                                      all glory shall enter in state."
   ,And  that was little.
                                                                         And the doors of heaven swung open, and Jesus en-
       But Jesus ? !                                                  tered in.

       He carried all the wrath of God on His earthly frame.             And He went through all the heavens until He arrived
Don't you think that His outer visage and form bore the               before the very throne of God. And then God stooped down
imprint of His daily and nightly hell ?                               and caught up the Child Jesus and placed Him,  in His own

   All our offenses - and that is an eternal mountain - were          throne, at His right hand.

upon Him. And He carried it for more than 33 years.                      Jesus, the King of the Universe. Under God Triune !

       The last we saw of it is this: He bowed: the head.
                                                                                                * * * *
       Some. of the poetic fathers, centuries ago, were asked

what this bowing of the head meant. One said: He bent His
                                                                         And what does that mean for you, beloved?
beloved head towards the Church for a kiss.

                                                                         It means that you are justified,
    Do not believe it: He bowed the head because He could
no more lift it up. The burden was too heavy. He died.                   It's too bad that this word is so strange to the ear. It's

                                                                      my experience that it takes many months to make it plain to
       This being delivered by God for our offenses was His
                                                                      the majority of God's children.
utmost humiliation. No, there is not one like the lowly

Jesus, no not one, no not one!                                           Justification is "RIGHTEOUSMAKING." God makes
                                                                      you righteous.
       This I know, and my soul is singing: when He bowed
the head in death, my offenses were gone, never to return.               This righteousmaking has four chapters.

Hallelujah ! .                                                           First He made you righteous in eternity. As old as God

                             * * * *                                  is so old is your justification. It is from eternity.

                                                                         God wanted to glorify Himself, that is, He desired to

       Peter and John had seen a little of this terrible spectacle    have millions and millions of gloriously happy creatures

on the cross. They thought that it was the end. And the               standing around Him, and tell Him in music and singing

whole church agreed.                                                  how wonderful He is.

       But not so God. God had measured the distances, and               He determined their essence, nature, name and number

they are not measured in miles, or in light-years.                    from all eternity. And He engraved all these happy beings

                                                                      in the very palms of His hands.
       God had tasted the selfless, obedient, loving sacrifice of

Jesus, and the Almighty God everlastingly rewards virtue.                 He determined also that they should `see His deepest

                                                                      heart of love. And so He counseled history, including crea-
       And here it is: "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted
                                                                      tion, fall, and their miserable estate here on earth. But He
Him !"
                                                                      also counseled Jesus Christ and in that counsel He would
       And what is it? It is this : God put Him in His own            show His unbelievable love and lovingkindness, namely,
throne !                                                              that He Himself would come on earth to save them by pun-

       There came a moment (and what a moment !), when the            ishing Himself with hell and damnation.

lowly, human Jesus heard the voice of the Godhead: Awake,                 Second, you are justified when Jesus Christ came actually
My Son ! Awake from the dead, and the everlasting Light               on earth and did all the labor of His soul to save you. He
of My exalted Covenant life shall bathe you!                          was born, suffered, died, and rose again for your justification.

       That happened locally, really, in the garden of Joseph.        That is, He made-it -possible that God could forgive all your

It happened in the very dawn of that first Sabbath of the             sin, that you could be adopted to be children of God, that

New Testament.                                                        you should be clothed with the clothes of righteousness, and

                                                                      that you would have the peace of God in your heart.
       And from that moment on it was excelsior for Jesus. Ever

higher !                                                                  In other words, your historical justification is simply the


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                                                                             219



realization of the Counsel of God of which I spoke in the

first place.                                                                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                               Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August
    Third, you are justified when all the foregoing is actually                  Published by the REFORMED  FREE PUBLISFIING  ASSOCLCION
placed in your heart by the power of faith. That is the reason                 P. 0. Box  881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

why you read in Rom. 5 :l : "Therefore being justified by                                                         Editor  - REV. HERMAN HOEIISEMA
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus                           Communications relabve  to contents should be addressed to
Christ."                                                                                             Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
                                                                                                                                Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

   Through that third justification you receive heaven in                      Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the address
your heart here on earth.         And that glorious heaven is so               below and will be published at a fee of $2.00 for each notice.
                                                                               All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
wondrous that you are able to be burned for your faith with                                           James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
a smile. No one can  separate you from that marvellous love                                                                 Grand Rapids 7, Michigan

of God and of Christ. That is the peace which passeth all                      RENEWAL:  Unless a de&ite  request for discontinuance is re-
                                                                               ceived it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
understanding.                                                                          to continue without the formality of a renewal order.

    But there is also a fourth chapter of this justification.                                                     Subscription price: $5.00 per year
You see, there are many that speak contrary to all these                                 Second Clms  postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan

good tidings of the Gospel. The devil, the law, the conscience,

the brethren sometimes, and you yourselves at times cannot                                                                            C O N T E N T S

believe this unbelievable report of Isaiah.                               ~ELIITATION  -
                                                                                         The Lord Our Righteousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
    And therefore all things in connection with the justifica-                                      Rev. G. Vos

tion of the Church are crying for a final revelation of tl%               EDIXORLUS  -

wonder of grace, and then such a revelation which shall stop                             About Infallibility . _. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  ,228

all criticism of this the most wonderful work of God.                                    The Hymn Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  220
                                                                                         How Should the. Schismatics                                                Return? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 228
    And that fourth chapter is finished when the Church                                              Rev. H. Hoeksema

shall be revealed in the day of Christ as the beautiful Bride             As To Boo=  -

of Jesus Christ, without spot and wrinkle or any such thing.                             Pentecost: and Missions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  222
                                                                                          Sharing His Suffering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
    And then they shall begin to be merry.                                         .     David Brainerd the Beloved Yankee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

                                                                                                    Rev. H. Hoeksema
    It seems I can hear their beauteous singing now.
                                                                          OUR  
                                                                G.V.                    DOCTRINE-
                                                                                         The Calling ( Continued) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._........._._............  228
                                                                                         Saving Faith _. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,224

                                                                                                     Rev. H. Hoeksema
                  Notice for Classis West                                 A CLOUD OFWITNESSES-
                                                                                         The Tabernacle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
    Classis  West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will                                           Rev. B. Woudenbhrg
meet, the Lord willing, in Randolph, Wisconsin, on Wednes-                FROM HOLY WRIT -
day, March 21, 1962, at 9 A. M.                                                          Exposition of I Timothy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   228

    The consistories are reminded of the rule that matters for                                       Rev. G. Lubbers

the classical agenda must be in the hands of the Stated Clerk             IN HIS FEAR -
not later than 30 days before the date of Classis.  And all                              Youth, Remember!                                   . . _. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23@
                                                                                                     Rev. J. A. Heys
matters that are to be brought to Synod must also be pre-
sented at this classis.                                                   THE VOICE OF OUR FATHEN  -
                                                                                         The Belgic Confession . . . . . . . . . . . . . _. . . . . . _. . . . . . . . . . ,232
                                 REV. H. VELDMAN, Stated Clerk                                       Rev. H. C. Hoeksema


                                                                          DECENCY AND ORDER-
                                                                                         The Hymn Matter ,:( Continued) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

                    WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                              Rev. G. Vanden  Berg

                                                                          ALLARolJNDus-
    On February 24, 1962, our beloved parents,                                           The Bible and Theistic Evolution _.._........................................ 236.

                MR. AND MRS. JOHN HOEKSTRA.                                              Scientific Atheism __.........................  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

will, D.V., celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary.                                                Rev. H. Hauko

   `We are grateful                                                       CONTRIBUTIONS -
                           to our God Who has blessed them and kept
                                                                                         The Hymn Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                           ~..................  23&:
them for each other and for us these years. We pray that He Who
                                                                                                     Rev. H. Veldman
was our help in the past, may be our only hope in the future.
                            Beverly Hoekstra                              NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES. . . . . . . . . . _...............,  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2403
                            Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Driesen  and Sherilyn                               Mr. J. M. Faber

                            John Hoekstra

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


                                                                         One more matter demands our attention. It is the follow-

                                                                      ing decision of Synod  :

                                                                         "After all matters pertaining to the infallibility question

                                                                      had been disposed of, Synod decided to continue Dr. Krom-

                      About Infallibility                             minga  as President of the Seminary for one year."

                                                                         For one year! Not for three years and not permanently.
       The second ground of proposal (C) which I quoted in            To me that means that Dr. Kromminga receives a year of
the last number of our Standard Bearer was adopted by                 grace.     Perhaps, if he is careful he will be gppointed  per-
Synod. My remarks on this second ground I already made,               manently at the next Synod. ,4fter  all, the Synod did not
and I shall not repeat.                                               quite trust the matter no matter how he tried to explain the

       For the rest, there is not much that is of vital interest      term periphery.

to us. There is Point D which was adopted without any                    Perhaps, we will still review the entire Study Commit-

discussion and which reads as follows:                                tee's report which, as I wrote, is now in my possession.

                                                                                                                                    H.H.
       "That Synod declare that the specific charge that Pres-

ident Kromminga committed himself in his policy to a

drastic interpretation of Articles III to VII of the Belgic                                The Hymn Question

Confession is unsubstantiated."                                          The reader will have noticed that the Rev. Vanden  Berg,

       Also this we already discussed and, therefore, we need         in The Startdard  Bearer  of Feb. 1, 1962, is also, writing on
not repeat.                                                           the hymn question in connection with Art. 69 of the Church
                                                                      Order. But since he wants no debate, I will not, for the
       For the rest, there was nothing of importance on the
                                                                      present, offer my criticism of his article. Most likely, he
question of infallibility. The only matter we may still men-
                                                                      will write more on this matter.
tion is the remark made by Rev. H. A. Venema which be-
                                                                         Do not misunderstand my purpose in writing on this
came the occasion of a final decision of Synod. The remark
                                                                      question. It certainly is not my purpose to try to force
was the following:
                                                                      Synod to adopt the overture of First Church regarding this
       "The issue of infallibility did a lot to disturb our Church    matter. I do not believe that Synod will adopt it. And what
and did not help our seminary as much as it should. Synod             is more, I do not believe that Synod slw,uld adopt it until all
spoke about the ambiguity in connection with the terl?                our churches are ready for it and the decision of Synod can
`periphery.' And now to put the mind of the Church in a               be unanimous. We surely should not have dissension in our
proper focus I believe it would be very felicitous to adopt           churches on a matter of this nature. There are more im-
this. We don't mention Prof. Kromminga here. I believe                portant matters than this.
we need this kind of thing. I hope you back me up on it."
                                                                          Nevertheless, we can very well discuss this. And I would
       That which the Rev. Venema, who was a member of the            like as many of otir people as possible to take part in this
Advisory Committee, proposed reads as follows:                        discussion. As long as this is done in decent 1anguFge  and

       "The undersigned, member of the Advisory Committee             without "getting hot under the collar," no harm will be done.

on Infallibility, while in agreement with the recommendation              I, too, will refer to Article 69 of the Church Order, as

submitted by this committee, recommends: That, in view                does the Rev. VandenBerg.

of the possible ambiguity in the use of the term `periphery'              But before I do this, I would like to present a few hymns
(however intended), Synod finally commends to the Church              that could very well be sung in our churches.
the approach of childlike, humble faith in regard to the in-              Here is one on the suf%ering  and death of Christ on the
fallibility of Scripture."                                            cross :

       There was some discussion on this matter on the floor of                  Jesuj  Christ, o,ur Lord most holy,

the Synod. The result was, fii-st, that the matter was recom-                    Lamb of God so pm-e  atid lowly,

mitted to the Advisory Committee, and, secondly, the Synod                       Blameless, blameless, on the cross art offered,

adopted the following motion :                                                   Sintess,  &less; for our sins  hast sufiered.

       "Synod affirms the faith of the Church in the infallibility               Weep now, all ye wretched crea*tures,
of Scripture and urges upon the Church the approach of                           As ye view his gracious features.
humble faith in the Word of God."                                                Jesus, Jesus, on the cross & $ying,
                                                                                 No&ye,  nature, in dark gloo&  is sighing.
       Well, this is a rather pious ending. It is, evidently,
rooted in the fear that the Church, when reading the reports                     Christ, his last  word huvitig  spoken,
of the Advisory Committee, of the Study Committee, and of                        Bows his head as life is broken.
the decisions of Synod, will not be quite satisfied. And well.                   &lownful,  rtzownjut, stands his ,wmther  weeping,
may they assume that attitude.                                                   Loved ones, loved oozes,  silent watch are keeping.


                                           T     H    E     STANDARDWE-ARER                                                 221


       The great veil was torn asunder,                            Psalms of David, also some hymns may be sung in the

       Earth did quake `uiid roars of thunder,                     churches, namely, "The Ten Commandments, the Lord's

       Boulders, boulders, into bits were breaking;                Prayer, the Twelve Articles of Faith, the Songs of Mary,

       Sainted, sainted dead from death were waking.               Zacharias and Simeon, the Morning and Evening Hymns,

                                                                   tid  the Hymn of Prayer before the sermon."
       As-  his side with spear was riven,
                                                                      We remark in this connection :
       Blood and water forth were given.

       Jesus, Jesus, sinness'  only Savioztr,                          1. That Art. 69 is principally not opposed to the singing

       Mercy, mercy, grant to us for ever.                         of hymns in the churches, but that it confines this singing

                                                                   of hymns rather arbitrarily to those that are mentioned in
   This hymn is a versiiication of Matt. 27:5Off.                  the article.

   The following is a hymn on the resurrection of Christ:              2. That most of our churches violate this article (I

                                                                   wonder whether Oak Lawn does this, too) by singing the
       Jesus Christ is risen today. Alleluia!
                                                                   well-known doxology :
       Our- triumphant holy day, Alleluia.!
                                                                          Praise God from.  Whom  atl blessings flow,
       Who did once,  upoa the cross, Alleluia!
       Suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!                               Pmise Him  all creatures here below,
                                                                          Praise H.&z  above, ye heavenly host,
       HyNt.ns  of praise then let us sing, Alleluia!                      Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
       Unto Christ, our heavenly King,. Alleluia!

       Who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia!                      3. That most of the hymns mentioned in Art. 69 we

       Sinners to redeem and save. Alleluia!                       cannot sing and do not even know, as, for instance: the Ten

                                                                   Commandments, the Twelve Articles of Faith, the Morning
   The following is a hymn on total depravity, based on            and Evening Hymns, the  Hymn of Prayer before the Ser-
Rom. 3 :lOff. :                                                    mon. The Rev. VandenBerg  suggests that this could be

       Lord, I'm evil all the way,                                 remedied by simply eliding the parts that have become ob-
       For I am guilty and undone;                                 solete. Very~  well, but that means, nevertheless, that we
       None is righteous, no not one;                              revise the article. And, if we do this anyway, can we not
       Att, yea, all have gone c&my;                               substitute a few other hymns ? I ask: why not?

       None there is that seeketh Thee,                                4. But even the rest of the hymns that are mentioned in
       None that understands the right,                            this article, except the Lord's Prayer, are so poor that no
       All are evil in Thy sight.                                  one ever cares to sing them. Besides, they are not true ver-
       0, be waercifut  to me!                                     sifications of Scripture. Who would ever think of singing

       Like the open grave, indeed,                                Mary's song :

       Are our throats; and with ow tongue                                 Our souls shall magnify  the Lord,
       Fraud we use; our lips do zewong,                                   In God the Sa.viour  we rejoice;
       On the poison of asps they feed.                                    While we repeat the E'irgin's  song,
       Full of cursing, bitter glee                                        May the same Spi&  tune our voice.
       Is our mouth; and swiyt  our feet
       Run the way to murd'rous  deed.                                 Or this:

       0, be merciful  to me!                                              He spake to Abraham  and his seed.

                                                                           Yn thee shall a.8 the earth be blessed;"
   And here is one more, based on Rom. 8 :14 :
                                                                           The memJry  of that ancient word

       As sons of God, by SpiTit led,                                      Lay long in his etemal breast.

       We live before His face,
       Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Who shed                     The following is not even in the song of Zacharias :

       His blood for us in grace.                                          John was the prophet of the Lord,
        Yea,. som of God are we indeed,                                    To go before his face;
       Adopted in his love;                                                The,  herald which OUY  Savioztr  God
       And through the Spirit He will  lead                                Sent to prepare his ways.
       To life in heaven above.

                                                                           Behold the Lavhb of God, he cries,
   Let this be sufficient for the time being.                              That takes our guilt away;

    We must still, briefly, discuss the last part of Art. 69 of            I saw the Spi+it  o?er  his head,
the Church Order. There we read that, besides the 150                      On his baptizing day.. .


222                                         T H E   STANPA&&),  B-JZ:AR&R


       And this from the Song of Simeon:                                    This the consi.story  of First. Church did. They sent a

          Lord, in thy temple we appear,                             communication to Southeast consistory. And I quote: "In
          As happy Siqtieon  came,                                   this communication we stated our objections to their receiv-
          And hope to meet our Saviouy  here;                        ing families with&t an attempt on'the  part of these families
          Oh! make our joys the same.                                to become reconciled with the church against which they have
                                                                     sinned. . . . .At the meeting of our consistory of Nov. 13,
          With what divine and vast delight                          we received a reply to our communication consisting of only
          The good old man was fill'd,                               a few brief lines. In this reply the consistory brushed aside
          When fondly in his z&her'd  arptis                         all our objections with the mere negative statement: `We
          He clasped the holy child!                                 cannot agree with your conclusions.' . . . They made no

       Well, if we must revise Art. 69 anyway and may not            attempt to justify their own position in the matter . . . . In
substitute sofne  decent hymns, let us, at least, cleti  up this     this same reply to our letter, the Southeast consistory in-
whole mess which to niy mind is nothing but what is known            formed us that they must proceed op the basis of their
as "rijmelarij" in Dutch. Then we have nothing but the               deepest conviction&, . . . . The cons&tory of Southeast simply
150 "Psalms of David,' and the Lord's Prayer left.                   informed us that they were going ahead with the matter.
                                                           H.H.      Finally, from; the notice on their bulletin it has become
                                                                     evident that even before we had received their reply at our

                                                                     consistory meeting, Southeast consistory had already taken

                                                                     action and had received the families concerned as members
         How Should the Schismatics Return?                          of their congregation."

    Our first answer to this question was: they must confess                Against this the consistory registered their protest.

their sin of causing schism in our churches.                                The grounds of their protest we hope, D.V., to record

    My second answer is: they must confess their sin before          next timC

the consistories and churches against which thky have sinned.                                                                        H.H.

This is the contention of the protest of the First Church

that was before the last Classis  and also, of our Creston
                                                                     I f                                                                d
Church. My limited space does not allow me to print the en-          11 AS T-O BOOKS !I
tire protest for it is rather lengthy. I will, therefor`e,  quote    Ii                                                               -.I[
enough of this protest to give the readers an idea of what it

is all about.                                                               Pentecost and &lissions  by Harry R. Boer. Published

    The first part relates the history of the case.                  by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Mich.
                                                                     Price $5.00.
   The protest is "against one of our consistories, namely,

the consistory of the Southeast Prot. Ref. Church. Our                      This book is written, as tie learn from a "Foreword,' by

protest concerns the action of the above named cons&tory in          W. A. Visser `t Hooft,  as a doctor's thesis. But let no one,

receiving into their communion former members of our con-            for this reason, be induced not to procure and read it. The

gregation . . . . without requiring of these families first to       book is written in a very lucid style and may readily be read
come to us to confess the sin which they have committed              by any intelligent reader. The author i.s at present a profes-
against us .and  against  the congregation, so that these fam-       sor at "The Theological College of Northern Nigeria," some-

ilies stand in an unreconciled relation toward the church of         thing which has been an object of criticism and a bone of con-
which they formerly were members."                                   tention by the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church.

    This, therefore, is the crux of the matter.                             As to the contents df the book we must necessarily be
   The history of the matter is, briefly as follows:                 brief even though  it is worthy of a detailed discussion. The

    "At our consistory meeting of Sept. 25, a committee from         heart of the book is clearly expressed in its title: "Pentecost

the Southeast consistory appeared at our meeting, informing          and Missions."       The author finds that the motivation of

us that the Gritter families desired to affiliate with their         missions of the early church was not found in what is called

congregation. In connection with this information, they              the "Great Comniission" but rather in the outpouring of the

asked the rather strange question, whether we had anything           Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. To this outpouring of the

against these families prior to the split of 1953. . . . . Our       Spirit the attention of the reader is, therefore, chiefly called

cons&tory informed the committee that we had nothing                 throughout the book. He speaks of Pentecost and missions, of

against these families prior to the split, but that we very          the meaning of Pentecost, of Pentecost and the witnessing

definitely had something against them because of their action        Church, etc. He, gives a definition of the central task of

in connection with the split. The consistory also  told the          missions on p. 251: `the central task of missions is to be

committee that we would inform the consistory of Southeast           instrumental in transmitting the life of the Spirit to those

by letter concerning our stand in the matter."                       who do not yet enjoy it."


                                         T H E   STAN-DA~RD;  -B`EARER                                                                    223 '


  He writes rather extensively on the well-known text in            the world. The main thought of the chapter is that the

John 7:39:    "The Holy Spirit was not yet." Whether he             Church and the believer must improve or revolutionize the

succeeds in explaining this verse is not quite clear to me.         world by improving social conditions, which is not true at

To me it means that, although the Holy Spirit as the Spirit         all.

of Christ, was present with the people of God of the old                    On the whole I may remark that those sermons are the
dispensation, He could not possibly bestow the fulness of           best in which. the author takes a text and exegetes it.
all the blessings of salvation upon them, because Christ was                                                                          H.H-
not yet glorified. I would like to write a little more on this

important question, but space-limit forbids.                                David Brainerd the Beloved Yapzkee,  by David Wynbeek-

   Now I have one word of criticism. It concerns the last           Published by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Price

part of the book under the heading: "Unity in witness."             .$3.75.
If I understand Dr.' Boer correctly he means to say that the
                                                                            This book might be called a historical novel. The main
missioaary must not bring the various differences. in doctrine
                                                                    character in the book is David Brainerd "the Beloved
that characterize the home Church to the mission field. TO
                                                                    Yankee."        He was missionary among the Indians for some
me this appears. impossible, unless the missionary fails to
                                                                    years during his brief life. The book is largely based on
bring the entire contents of the Word of God. On p. 24G
                                                                    his own diaries in which he tells, not only of his labors, but
the author speaks of "central beliefs" which the missionary
                                                                    also of his own soul struggles. The book is divided into five
must preach. They are, according to, him, as follows : "By
                                                                    parts: The Initiate, The Probationer, The Evangelist, The
the `central beliefs' we refer especially to the doctrine con-
                                                                    Apostle, The Saint.
cerning the person and work of Christ. Here, too, differ-
ence of opinion is possible with respect to certain aspects                 This is, indeed, a very interesting story. If I would
from which the person and work of Christ may be viewed.             make any critical remark it is that there are too many de-
But there is no room for a difference of opinion with respect       tails recorded in the book which makes the story rather long
to the reality of Christ's atonement, His physical resurrec-        and drawn out. But I may recommend this book not only
tion from the dead and His return to judge the world at             to adults but also to boys and girls.
the end of time."                                                                                                                     H.H.

   But how about other fundamental truths? What about

the doctrine.of  election and reprobation, about limited atone-

ment, of sovereign grace, of the perseverance of the saints,                              Teachers, Please Note

of the covenant and infant baptism and other fundamental                    The Free Christian School Society of Edgerton, Minn.,.
truths? Must they not be taught in the mission field?               will be in need of a Principal to teach the four upper grades,
   If the answer to these questions by the missionary is            5, 6, 7, and 8, for the term 1962-1963.                .
negative then he not only fails to bring the whole Word of                  If more information is desired, please write or send
God, but he must needs distort the rest of these fundament-         application to H. Miersma, Secretary, Woodstock, Minn.
al truths, in fact, he cannot preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.                                                H. Miersma, Secretary
   But although I cannot agree with this last part of the

book, I commend it to the discerning reader.

                                                          H.H.
                                                                                                  IN MEMORIAM

                                                                            The Protestant Reformed Men's Chorus hereby wishes to express
   Shurzhg  His Suffe&g,  by Peter H. Eldersveld. Pub-              its heartfelt sympathy to one of its members, Mr. George Spruyt,  in
lished by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rap-            the recent death of his brother,

ids, Mich.  Price $2.50.                                                                       MR. PETER SPRUYT

                                                                            May our God comfort the hearts of the bereaved.
   This book contains a series of radio sermons delivered                   "For we know that if our earthly  house of this tabernacle were
on the "Back to God Hour." This book leaves the same im-            dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,
                                                                    eternal in the heavens." II Cor. 5:l.
pression on me as do the sermons that are preached by the
                                                                                                             Mr. J. Sjoerdsma, President
author over the radio. Some of these sermons are orthodox                                                    Mr. S. Beiboer, Secretary
and edifying; some of them are, I will not say modern, but

not Scriptural. As an example of the former, I may refer                                         IN MEMORIAM

you to very first chapter of the book entitled "The Cross                   The Mr. and Mrs. Socie'e  of de Hope Protestaat  Reformed
of Christ." As an example of the latter turn to the chapter         Church expresses sincere sympathy to two of our members, Mr-
                                                                    and Mrs. Ira Veenstra, in the death of Mrs. Veenstra's mother,
on "The Way of Persecution." This iis supposed to be on                                        MRS. EDITH FOUR
the text from Acts 22 :4 where Paul speaks of his having
                                                                            May our God  comfort t&e  bereaved family.
persecuted the Church of Christ unto death which, of course,                                              Rev, H. Ha&o,  Fresident
is quite the opposite of the Church's being persecuted by                                                Mrs. Arnold Dykstra,  Secret& '


224                                       T H E   STANDARD.BEARER


                                                                    preaching of the gospel He surely saves His elect; but under

                                                                    that same preaching of the gospel He certainly hardens the

                                                                    reprobate. It is, therefore, only the internal aspect of the

                                                                    calling as it comes to the elect that is efficacious unto salva-

                         CHAPTER II                                 tion.
                                                                        However, it is through the preaching of the gospel that
                      THE CALLING                                   the twofold effect is realized : the salvation of the elect and

                                                                    the hardening of the reprobate. The minister of the Word
                          (Continued)
                                                                    must not change the Word of God into anything else. He

                                                                    must be willing always to serve God's twofold purpose. He
    And we may also refer to Romans 9:1, ff.: "I say the
                                                                    is a savor of life unto life, but also a savor of death unto
truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me wit-
                                                                    death - always. And no matter whether the minister of the
ness in the Holy Ghost, That I have great heaviness and
                                                                    Word is the one or the other, he must simply always be
continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself
                                                                    faithful in bringing nothing but the Word of God. For
were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen
                                                                    thus it is written in II Corinthians 2 34-17:  "Now thanks
according to the flesh: Who are Israelites; to whom per-
                                                                    be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ,
taineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and
                                                                    and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in
the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the
                                                                    every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ,
promises ; Whose.are  the fathers, and of whom as concerning
                                                                    in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one
the flesh Christ came, who'  is over all, God blessed for ever.
                                                                    we are the savour of death unto death ; and to the other the
Amen."    All these Israelites, therefore, in the old clispensa-
                                                                    savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these
tion, as well as in the beginning of the new dispensation,
                                                                    things ? For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of
were under the influence of the gospel, the promises, the
                                                                    God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God
covenant. Yet it is evident that not all were called in the
                                                                    speak we in Christ."    Even through the preaching of the
saving sense of the word. And how must that. be explained?
                                                                    gospel God is merciful unto whom He will be merciful ; but
The apostle writes in verse 6: "Not as though the word of
                                                                    He also hardens whom He wills. And anyone who does not
God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which
                                                                    want to serve this twofold purpose can never be a minister
are of Israel : Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham,
                                                                    of the Word of God. But he who through divine grace has
are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
                                                                    learned to will the purpose of God may be assured that in
That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are
                                                                    the proclamation of the gospel he is always well-pleasing to
not the children of God: but the children of the promise are
                                                                    God Who sent him.
counted for the seed." And then the apostle calls attention

to the examples of Jacob and Esau, who before they were

even born, or had done any good or evil, were already char-                                 CHAPTER III
acterized in God's counsel as elect and reprobate. Thus we                               SAVING FAITH
read in vss. 10, ff. : "And not only this ; but when Rebecca
also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac ; (For             What is saving faith?

the children being not yet born, neither having done any               Saving faith is that gift, or work, of God in the elect,

good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election         regenerated, and called sinner whereby the latter is ingrafted

might stand, not of works, but of ,him that calleth ;), It was      into Christ and embraces and appropriates Christ and all His

said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is          benefits, relying upon Him in time and eternity.

written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." And               All our confessions ,speak of saving faith. Thus, for in-

then the apostle puts the question : "What shall we say then ?      stance, in the Heidelberg Catechism, Questions and Answers

Is there unrighteousness with God ? God fo,rbid."  And              20 and 21: `Are all men then, as they perished in Adam,

then the answer by the apostle is not finished by human             saved by Christ? No ; only those who are ingrafted into him,

reason, but only by referring to the will of God, and that too,     and receive all his benefits, by a true faith. What is true

according to the revealed Word of God: "For he saith to             faith ? True faith is not only a certain knowledge, whereby

Mo,ses,  I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I         I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in his word,

will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So             but also an assured confidence, which the Holy Ghost works

then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,        by the gospel, in my heart; that not only to others, but to

but of God that sheweth mercy." And the conclusion is               me also, remission of sin, everlasting righteousness and salva-

found in vs. 18: "Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will           tion, are freely given by God, merely of grace, only for the

have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." And there-              sake of Christ's merits."

fore, that not all to whom the gospel Es preached are called           Also the Belgic, or Netherland, Confession speaks of faith

in the saving sense of the word is in the ultimate sense due        in Christ, in Article 22, as follows: "We believe that, to

to God's good pleasure and His eternal counsel. Under the           attain the true knowledge of this great mystery, the Holy


                                          T    H    E         STANDARD  B:E'ARER


,Ghost kindleth in our hearts an upright faith, which em-           of their sin and death lies beyond their individual existence
braces Jesus Christ, with all his merits, appropriates him, and     and responsibility, and that they are born in guilt and damna-
seeks nothing more besides him. For it must needs followj           tion ? Would it not then be most rational to conclude that
either that all things, which are requisite to our salvation,       God will certainly save every individual of the human race?

are not in Jesus Christ, or if all things, are in him, that then        In our day, as well as in the past, there are those who

those who possess Jesus Christ through faith, have complete         attempt to answer this question in the affirmative. They

salvation in him. Therefore, for any to assert, that Christ         usually argue from the fact that salvation is through Christ,

is not sufficient, but that something more is required besides      and that there are large numbers of men who in this life never

him, would be too gross a blasphemy: for hence it would             had an opportunity to come into contact with Him. The

follow, that Christ was but half a Savior. Therefore we             majority of men die without having ever heard of the Savior.

justly say with PaulTthat  we are justified by faith alone, or      And therefore they argue that somehow all men finally must

by faith without works. However, to speak more clearly, we          have an opportunity to come to Christ. There are different

do not mean, that faith itself justifies, us, for it is only an     shades of universalists. Some claim that there will be an

instrument with which we embrace Christ our Righteousness.          opportunity to accept Christ after death. Some even main-

But Jesus Christ, imputing to us all his merits, and so many        tain that there will be an opportunity given to all men after

holy works which he has done for us, and in our stead, is           the day of judgment. Others maintain, among whom also

our Righteousness.    And faith is an instrument that keeps         we may list Karl Barth, that there will be no eternal punish-

us in communion with him in all his benefits, which, when           ment, but that those who stubbornly refuse to accept Christ

become ours, are more than sufficient to acquit us of our           will be annihilated. It stands to reason that these universalists

sins."                                                              of different shades also appeal to Scripture for their con-

   And also in the Canons of Dordrecht, III, IV, 14,, faith         tention and for their false doctrine. This, of course, is
is described as follows: "Faith is therefore to be considered       usually the case. They appeal to such passages of Scripturk
as the gift of God, not on account of its being offered by God      as, for instance, Matthew lo:15  : "Verily I say unto you,
to man, to be accepted or rejected at his pleasure ; but be-        It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Go-
cause it is in reality conferred, breathed, and infused into        morrha in the day of judgment, than for that city." Again,
him ; or even because God bestows the power or ability to           they refer to passages like LMatthew  11 :20-24  : "Then began
believe, and then expects that man should by the exercise of        he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works

his own free will, consent to the terms of salvation, and           were done, because they repented not : Woe unto thee, Chor-
actually believe in Christ ; but because he who works in man        azin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works,

both to will and to do, and indeed all things in all, produces      which were done in you, had been done in T,yre  and Sidon,
both the will to believe, and the act of believing also."           they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes-
   The Heidelberg Catechism, therefore, approaches the ques-        But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and
tion of saving faith from the point of view of this other           Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou,.
question : "Are all men then, as they perished in Adam,             Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought
saved by Christ?' This indeed is an important question. It          down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done

is of grave significance. The question concerns men, all men,       in thee, &ad  been done in Sodom, it would have remained
as they are perished in Adam. But the question does not so          until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more
much concern men ; but principally it concerns God. The             tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than
question what may become of all men is. one that concerns           for thee."    And, once more, they appeal to Luke i2 :47, 48,.
God in His dealings with men>  with all men in the world.           where the Lord makes a distinction between the servant that
For the question is not whether somehow it happens that all         shall be beaten with many and him that shall be beateg.with

men are saved. Nor does the question mean to inquire into           few stripes. In none of these passages, however, universal

the success of a determined attempt to save all men. Nor            salvation. is taught. It is evident that they only make a

does it mean to ask whether all men, are willing to be saved,       distinction of degree in the measure of punishment that is
or whether all men have a chance  of salvation. The question,       to be inflicted upon the wicked. Again, they refer to John

once more, is not whether salvation is offered to all men.          15 :22-24 : "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they

But the fundamental ~question  is whether God is willing to'        had not had sin : but now they have no cloke  for their sin.

save all men and does save them. For, after all, salvation-is       He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done

of the Lord! And therefore the question must mean whether           among them the works which none other man did, they had

God saves all men. And, mark you well, the Catechism                not had sin : but now have they both seen and hated both me

speaks of nlE  llten  as they perished in Adam. But if this. `is    and my Father."      Also these words do not teach the con-

the case, if all men really perished in Adam, is it not quite       clusion which the universalists draw from them. They claim

rational to suppose that God will also save all men ? Is it not     that the words of this passage teach that no one has sins un-

true that, granted that all men also bear individual responsi-      less he first comes into contact with Christ. But this is cer-

bility for their sin, the fact remains that the fir&beginning       tainly contrary to all the teachings of Scripture.        H.H,-

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


                                                                      God. Only the best and richest of materials could be used,
 1 A CLOUD OF WlTNESSkS 11 for Jehovah could not be served through anything that was
                                                                      inferior and marred. Even more it was required that all

                                                                      that was brought for this cause should be given with a will-

                        The Tabernacle                                ing and God-fearing heart. God could accept no gift that
                                                                      was given for any motive less than pure and undefiled love.
           And it ca.me  to pass  in the first month in the second    Soon the many different materials needed for the tabernacle
       yea:y, on fhe first day of the month., tht the tabernacle      were being brought to Moses in abundant supply. All man-
       zwas  yea:red  up . . .                                        ner of jewelry made of gold, and silver and precious. stones
           Then a cloud covered the test of the congrega*tzlon,       was brought as willingly as it had been brought to
       a.nd the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle,.             Aaron before for the golden calf, but with a much deeper
                                                 Exodus 40:17,  34    joy and confidence. The golden earrings given to Aaron had

   It was during the first forty-day stay on the mountain             been offered recklessly in an abandonment to just. Now all

that God revealed to Moses the plan for His holy tabernacle.          was being brought with hearts joyful and free, thankful for

It was a wonderful plan for a beautiful tent constructed of           the privilege of giving their best to the Lord. In addition there

the richest materials through which Israel would be able              was brought fine linen of blue and purple and scarlet, goat"s

to worship its God in truth. With the plan came the gracious          hair, and skins of rams and badgers, shittem wood, brass,

promise that Jehovah would dwell among the children of                spices and oil. All that was needed for the tabernacle was

Israel and would be their God. While Moses had rejoiced               presented before Moses and much more besides.

in the beauty of the plan unfolded by God, Israel had not                Soon a great bustle of activity was to be seen through-

been ready to receive it.         Much had yet to transpire before    out the camp of Israel. A feeling of vital concern for the

the people would be able to appreciate the institution pf ihe         sanctuary of God had entered and filled the hearts of the

tabernacle and its worship.          First there had to take place    host of God's chosen people. It stirred them with a zeal of

the sin of the golden calf and its grievous results. It was           holy dedication. The dwelling place of Jehovah had to be

a sad and disappointing history through which they had to             built, and it was a work that had to be done exactLy accord-

pass, but it was necessary for Israel to come to a full con-          ing to the pattern revealed upon the mountain. Everyone

sciousness of its own innate wickedness and corruption. Once          according to his or her personal ability wanted to. serve this

the people had come to a humble awareness of their own un-            cause. Some worked in preparing the materials, metal and'

worthiness' they would be able to, appreciate the fact that           wood and fine twined threads. Some worked in fashioning

God had made His dwelling in their midst; but not before.             the material, molding, carving, weaving and embroidering.

   Now this had all happened. Israel had sinned its great             Finally there were two men, Bezaleel and Aholiab, who

sin by imitating the orgies of the heathen in the very shadow         were especially qualified by God to put the last finishing

of God's holy mountain. Only by the faithful intercession of          touches upon each piece that was made that it might con-

Moses had they been saved from the judgment of God and                form in closest detail to the pattern that Moses had received

eternal destruction. At the same time Jehovah had made                from God. No piece could be too carefully wrought; no

clear that as He continued to go. on in their midst, it would         standard was too'  exacting; this was God's work and it had

be in perfect holiness.      He would have mercy upon whom            to be good. Days and weeks and months passed by as Israel

He would have mercy, but He would also judge whom He                  applied itself with diligence to the beauty of this task; but

would for the hardness of their hearts. This had been made            the people did not tire. So great was the zeal that the time

perfectly clear to Moses during the second period of forty            came when more than eno,ugh  work had been done, and

days when the glory of God passed before him on the moun-             they had to be ordered to stop. At last each completed piece

tain. This time when he returned he did not find Israel               was deposited before Moses in the form that had been des-

again engaged in sin. The consciousness of guilt weighed too          ignated by God, and Moses declared it to be right. All had

heavily up& their hearts for them to be able to give them-            been done just as the Lord had commanded them, and Moses

selves again to open abandonment and sin. When Moses                  blessed the people for the faithfulness of their labor.

Bppeared  before them the very reflection of the holiness of             Nearly six full months had been spent in preparing the

God from his face was more than their guilty hearts could             beautiful tapestry and furnishings for the tabernacle ; but as

endure. They pleaded with him to cover his face with a                yet none of the parts had been assembled. It remained. for

veil. The sinfulness of Israel was not yet gone, but they had         the day appointed by God that the tabernacle should be

come to a new spirit of humble repentance. Now they were              raised as a completed and holy sanctuary unto Jehovah.

ready to receive the ho,ly tabernacle of the Lord, for the            That date was of monumental importance, for God appoint-

tabernacle was designed to be a blessing only unto those              ed it to be the day which marked the first anniversary of

who came to it with humble and repentant hearts.                      Israel's departure from Egypt. It was a day well chosen to

Calling the people together, Moses liid before them the               remind Israel of the great blessings it had received.

need which they had for materials to build the tabernacle of             Early  in the morning of the appointed day the children

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


of Israel began to gather about the space that had been allot-      with them. Whenever the individual believer felt in his heart

ted for the tabernacle. As the people watched in solemn             a need for spiritual strength and assurance, he could go to

silence, the walls of the tabernacle were erected and the           the tabernacle and commune with God through the cere-

beautifully woven coverings of the tent were draped over            monial means that were instituted; and receive the testimony

them. Into the inmost sanctuary the ark of the covenant             that he was accepted. It was as though God were continuously

with the carefully fashioned mercy seat was placed, and the         repeating His covenant promise to everyone who had eyes

fine twined linen veil was hung before it that henceforth no        to see and a heart to understand, saying, "And I will establish

human eye but those of the high priest might gaze upon its          my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in

glory. Next the golden furnishings of the foremost sanctu-          their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God un-

ary, the table of shew bread, the candlestick, and the altar of     to thee, and to thy seed after thee" (Gen. 17:7).  God's faith-

incense, were carefully put in place. Fresh bread was placed        fulness in friendship and love was set before their eyes to be

on the table; the lamps were lit; incense was offered upon          seen through the power of faith ; God was with them.

the altar; and again a veil was stretched before them.                 But the tabernacle was more than that. It set forth the

Before the door of the tabernacle the altar of burnt offering       Gospel as a Gospel of grace. It testified that the blessings

was set up, and a burnt offering and a meat offering were           of the covenant were a free gift of grace from God to His

offered upon it. Between the altar and the tabernacle the           people and not the other way around. As they came to the

laver of washing was placed, and around the tabernacle and          tabernacle, each step of the way testified of that. No sooner

its court a fine linen curtain was hung upon pillars of silver.     had they entered the court but they stood before the altar

Many, many different pieces were involved in this all ; but         testifying that because they were sinners they could stand

there was a place for everything and each piece fit precisely       before, God only through a sacrifice of atonement in the

into its place. There was wonderment justi in watching the          shedding of blood. Even at that they could go farther only

sanctuary rising smoothly and in order from the maze of             through their representative, the priest, who was washed in

materials that had been setting all around. Finally, when the       the laver and could serve typically as their mediator before
whole of the building had been erected, Aaron and his sons          God. For them the priest could enter the sanctuary where

were called forth to be clothed in their rich, flowing robes        were the visible representations of the bread of life sufficient
so that they might serve as a- holy priesthood unto the Lord.       for the whole of God's Church in the twelve loaves on the

The last finishing touch was applied when Moses took the            golden table, the light of covenant life shed abroad by the
oil of consecration and sprinkled it over all, over .the  taber-    Holy Spirit in the seven golden lamps filled with the con-
nacle, over its furnishings, and over the family of Aaron           secrated oil, and the intercessory means of acceptance for the
which henceforth was to spend its life in holy consecration to      prayers of God's people in the altar of incense which gave
the Lord. This oil was a symbol of the Holy Spirit by whose         forth a sweet smelling savor before the face of God. Even
power alone this tabernacle could be dedicated in complete          more, within the inner sanctuary there was the ark of the
consecration to the pure and holy service of Jehovah God.           covenant with its mercy seat upon which rested the cloud of

   The blessing of God rested upon the work of Israel, they         God's presence. The Angel of Jehovah dwelt there filling
knew, for as soon as all had been consecrated the cloud of          the tabernacle with the glory of God. Once every year the
His presence descended upon the tabernacle, and, His glory          high priest as the mediator and representative of the people
filled it throughout. Henceforth He would make His dwell-           of God was permitted to enter that holy sanctuary with the
ing place in the inmost sanctuary upon the mercy seat. Jeho-        blood of the great day of atonement as a testimony that some
vah had come to make His dwelling place in their midst.             day when the blood of atonement was perfectly shed the
So great was His glory revealed in the tabernacle that day          people of God would be brought into the very presence of
that even Moses could not enter in. Israel could only stand         God. The whole of the tabernacle gave a visible expression
at a distance and worship.                                          to the wonder of .grace  and blessing which one day would be
                                                                    fulfilled in the promised seed yet .to come. In type and
   Henceforth the tabernacle, and the temple that succeeded         shadow it testified of Jesus Christ.
it, would be one of the richest blessings that the Old Testa-
                                                                       Considering all this, we can understand the Psalmist who
ment Church would ever have. In the tabernacle the Gospel
                                                                    wrote, "One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I.
was set before them in term,s which they, in their day of
                                                                    seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD aIT.
limited revelation, could understand.                         .     the days of my life, to behold the beauty ,of the LORD, and
   In the tabernacle the truth of God's covenant of grace           to enquire in his temple" (Ps. 27 :4).                    B.W-
was symbolized, and from the tabernacle the actual expe-

rience of the covenant went forth. In the tabernacle God
dwelt upon the mercy seat, between the golden cherubim. His                    Salvation's joyful song is heard
dwelling was in the very heart of Israel's camp. Whenever                        Where'er the righteous dwell ;
the children of Israel would look to the tabernacle, they                     For them God's hand is strong to save
received from its very presence the testimony that God was                       And doeth all things well.


228                                        T H E   .STAN:D.#.RD  B"EkRER


                                                                     proper use to "unbelievers" of what is only intended for the

                                                                     proper use of those who believe and know (acknowledge)

                                                                     the truth ; as is done by humanism which makes man the

                                                                     measure of things ; which is also done by the Co~+~o;n  Grace

                                                                     theorists.
                  Exposition of I Timothy
                                                                         It should be observed that Paul speaks of the Spirit's say-

                        (I Timothy 4:1-5)                            ing expressly that "some shall fall away." We would note

                                                                     that it is only "some."      It shall never be all. And these
                                 a.                                  "some" that fall away shall thus rise in the bosom of the-

       We now come to chapter 4 of Paul's first epistle to           church and not those outside of the church. That this occurs

Timothy. And, as so often is the case in the study of God's          should not too greatly disconcert the faithful ; it does not

holy Word, so also here a little thought and prayerful reflec-       belong to the unexpected.

tion, comparing Scripture with Scripture, nets a great gain             What does it mean to "fall away." It means that they
of a better understanding of the meaning of the Spirit.              shall become apostates, that is, those who leave the estab-

       It is not our intention to entirely by-pass the verses 15,    lished truth and doctrine and Christian ethics which are im-

16 of chapter 3 in our exposition. The careful reader will           plicit in the gospel. An apostate is not one who is seeking

have observed that in our consideration of Paul's instruction        the truth, and, therefore, approximates it. He is not moving

concerning the offices in the church of the living God, we           toward the truth of the Gospel, seeking the way of salvation.

incidentally did call attention to these verses which speak of       He has definitely turned his back to the truth and despised

"the pillar and ground of the truth," to wit, that "great is         the truth. Thus in Romans 1 :18 ff. the wrath of God is not

the mystery of godliness ; God is revealed in the flesh, justi-      upon the innocent seekers of truth, but upon those who knew

fied in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached among the nations,      what was manifested concerning the invisible things. of God,
believed on in the entire world (cosmos) and was received            both his eternal power and godhead; and upon them is the

up in glory."                                                        wrath revealed so that they proceed from bad to worse, being

                                                                     given over to all uncleanness with greediness. Thus it is also.
   We shall again have opportunity to call: attention to the
                                                                     here. Those, who are apostates, know the content of the
"pillar of the truth" in connection with the concept "faith"
                                                                     "faith," that God is revealed in the flesh, and that all things
as employed b,y Paul when he says that "some shall fall away
                                                                     are subjected unto Christ in glory; that all things are of us,
from the faith," and that, too, in the "latter times." For
                                                                     we of Christ and that Christ is God's ! I Cor. 3 :23.
only when we see that "God is revealed in the flesh,," do we
have the solid and ind.estructible  basis for the teaching that         For the term "faith" here in the text definitely refers to
"every creature is good" and that the creature is "sanctified        doctrine, to what is necessary for a Christian to believe, and
by the Word of God and prayer." It takes sound "theology"            does not refer to the subjective befeving. We base our in-
to have good ethics and Christian liberty without license !          terpretation upon the following considerations in the text.
                                                                     In the first place, because the notion "falling away from"
   And it ought to be observed at the outset that only when          really has implicit in it: leaving an esihblished  position, that
and where this "faith," this "mystery of godliness is re-            is, the statzts  quo,  which is ours in Christ. And, in this in-
vealed," is there a possibility for Satan and all his demon-         stance, it definitely refers to leaving the teaching that "God
hosts to contradict the truth, using men who are seared in           is revealed in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels,
their conscience with a branding-iron !                              preached among the nations, believed on in the entire cosmos,

   The text reads verbatim as follows : "Now the  Spirit             and taken up in glory."        Such "faith" is definitely the
spwaketh  e,qWessly,  that in the btter &es some  shall de@rt        "mystery of godliness" that is great. This very "godliness"
fro~m  the faith, givhg heed  to seducing spirits, and doctrines     is denied by these apostates ! In the second place, as we
of de&%; spcakirtg  lies hz hypoc&y; ha.z&g  theiv  conscience       hope to point out a little more in detail presently, , the fact

seared with a3 hot &on; forbidding to marry,, amd covutuutanding     that we now live in the "latter times" (en huterois `kairois j
to a.bstain  from meats, which God h&z  created to be receded        points in the direction of the time when in the "dispensation
with tlaanksgiz&ag  of them which  beEeve  and know the              of the fulness of times God would reunite all things" under
frutih..  For every creatinre of God is goosd, and noth&ng to        one head in Christ. Ephesians 1 :lO. Lastly, because the
be refused; if it be retched with thanksgiving:  for it ds           interpretation which makes "faith" simply subjective faith
smctified  by the word of God atid prayer." I Tim. 4:1-5.            cannot escape teaching a falling away of saints, as do the

   This passage contains various elements which call for some        Arminians. Some believers would then "fall away." This is
careful interpretation. This passage warns against the du-           against the exegetical rule of the reg&z  fide&  the general
alistic-heathenish conception of Paul's day as well as the           teaching of Scripture : the rule of faith.

Anabaptism of today, which too is based on a dualism be-                As we suggested in the foregoing paragraph, we will now

tween spirit and matter, as well as against assigning the            also consider the meaning of the phrase "latter times." We


                                            T H E   `ST.ANDARB  .BEARER                                                             229


might ask the question: just why would the Spirit expressly          the "great mystery of godliness." That ought to be obvious.

say that this apostasy from the faith will occur among "some"        The particle de in Greek, translated in the King James

in the "latter times" ?                                              Version by "now," certainly means in the light of the great

                                                                     mystery of godliness, revealed in Christ's incarnation, and
    To answer this question we call attention to the following.
                                                                     exaltation through death and the resurrection, the Spirit ex-
In the first place, we should notice the implication of the
term "times." In the Greek the term is kairoi~. Now kuirois          pressly says. It can almost be translated as well by "but."

is a term which refers not simply to time in general as does            Just how we are to conceive of the Spirit's speaking ex-

the Greek term clzronos.  (Compare our English term                  pressly, is not here stated by Paul. The adverb "expressly"

chronology.)'  Chronos is time simply from the viewpoint of          (Heetoos) means: to express in words. It only occurs here

time in general, the mode of existence of the creature in dis-       in this text in the N. T. If it means: expressed in zprords,

tinction from,  the Creator. But hunlros  is a term referring to     the question is : what words ? .Evidently  words spoken to

an appropriate season. There are certain times and seasons as        Paul. We have an indication of this in John 16:13  where

appointed and determined by God. The Old Testament dis-              we read: "Now when he shall come, the Spirit of truth,

pensation was the time (kairas)  of the types and shadows of         he shall lead you into all the truth, and whatsoever he

Him who was to come. The New Testament dispensation                  heareth he speaketh -and shall declare  unto you all things."

is the.  time (hair-of)  when Christ is come, has suffered and       Or compare Acts 16 :6 : "And they went through the region

died, was seen of angels, and was preached in the Gentile            of Phrygia and Galatia, kavhg been forbidden of the Holy

world, and was believed on in all the kosmos (men and                Spirit to speak the word in Asia."

angels) and was taken up in heaven as the Lord of glory !               Now we ought to observe that even though we do not
It is the dispensation which makes all the times run their           wholly understand just how the Spirit spoke to Paul, the
course and fills them up till there be no more times left in         fact is nonetheless established for us as Bible-believers!
history.
                                                                        And, if the Holy Spirit expressly states that such
   Such is the "times" here in the text.                             apostasy is the peculiar phenomenon in the New Testament

   It is for this reason that these "times" are called the           dispensation we do well to inquire into the reason for this.

"`latter" times. The term is "latter" (hztteroiis).  According to       In general the answer is twofold.
the Old Testament Scriptures the latter times are those
                                                                        On the one hand it is because now angels and men and
which begin with the birth of Christ. See Numbers 24:14,
                                                                     Satan and all his hosts see the unfolding of the mystery of
24 :20 ; Deut. 4 :30 as well as Gen. 49 :l. From the view-
                                                                     God. God comes to stand forth very clearly in all the world.
point of the 0. T. prophets and seers, who saw things from
                                                                     Especially does the mystery of God come to stand forth in
afar, the New Testament is the latter times. Thus in I
                                                                     the church of the living God. Here we see, by faith, the
John 2 :18 ,these  latter times are called the "last hour."
                                                                     pillar and ground of the truth displayed.
   We do well to remember this in our interpretation.
                                                                        On the other hand there is the constant raging of Satan
 For latter times is not as restricted in sense as is the "last
                                                                     in history. He has raged against God from the very moment
time" of I Peter 1 :5, where Peter definitely restricts the
                                                                     of his fall in the beginning of the world's history. He is the
sense to the very last moment of time, when Christ will be
                                                                     liar from the beginning and the father of the lie. John 8. The
revealed in all His glory in the inheritance in the saints.
                                                                     more he sees of the revelation of God the more he rages
Here the term is not that restricted. In the first place
                                                                     against God and His Christ. Since Christ, the Man-child
this appears from the use of the plural: times. There are
                                                                     was taken up to heaven (Rev. 12) he now persecutes the
various times within the New Dispensation of God in Christ.
                                                                     woman, the church. Always he would rob her of her song, in
And, secondly, the apostle here does not employ the adjective
                                                                     which she sings : "Now is come the salvation, and the power;
"last" (eschatos)  but he uses the term "latter" (huteros).  He,
                                                                     and kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ:
is not referring to the last times within these latter times,
                                                                     for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accuseth
but refers to the latter times in general, that is, to the entire
                                                                     them before our God day and night . . ." Rev. 12 :lO.
New Testament dispensation.
                                                                        For the truth is that "the devil is gone down unto you,
   The question is: why does the Spirit expressly state that         having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time."
the phenomenon of apostasy fropl*  the faith will occur within       Rev. 12 :12b.                                                 G.L.
the New Testament dispensation ? Why is this a New Testa-

+nent  phenomenon ?

   Paul says "now the Spirit expressly says." We should

notice the transition from the last two verses of chapter 3,                          Then in the Lord be joyful,

the verses 15 and 16, to what Paul states concerning the                                In song lift up your voice ;

"expressed" revelation by the Holy Spirit. What the Spirit                            Be glad in God, ye righteous,

"expressly" says is only possible against the background of                             Rejoice, ye saints, rejoice.

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


                                                                       However we like to begin with the approach to youth that
              I N   H I S   F E A R                                 Scripture uses. Youth, remember! Remember now thy
                                                                    Creator in the days of thy youth!

                                                                       That God is our creator means that we owe all our
                     Youth, Remember!
                                                                    existence to Him. Not only is every bit of the work necessary

       In one of the better known magazines that can be found       for our existence and connected with our existence to he

on today's newsstand is an article with the title, What  Not        attributed to Him alone; but the very thought, the desire,

to Tell a Child About God.                                          the plan to have us on this earth is with God from eternity.

       This definitely is the negative approach. And it seems as    We are not the product of our own work. Neither are we
though modern child-psychology finds it quite difficult to          the product of our own wills. We are what He is pleased to
avoid negative statements and negative instruction.                 make us. And we are on this earth because it pleased Him
                                                                    to bring us into being. And that in itself already has tremen-
       It is not our purpose to criticize this magazine article,
                                                                    dous implications for us and for our youth.
even though we certainly do want to teach our children some
of the things presented in that article as damaging to the             Since we are the product of God's labor and owe all our
spiritual life of the child. We certainly intend to teach our       existence to Him, we also owe unto Him all the thanks and
children that God sees all that which we do and keeps a             praise for what we are and have. We have nothing that we
perfect record of it. We certainly do intend to continue to         have not received from Him. For all things, therefore, we
give instruction to our children, in the family and in the          owe Him praise and thanksgiving. We do not do that. We
church, that because Jehovah reigns, all things work together       eat His food, and we forget all about Him. We breathe His
for good to those that love Him. These things are taught in         air, walk on His earth, see His handiwork in all the things.
the Word of God. We dare not deny them or keep them                 round about us. We enjoy His sunlight and rain. We plow
from His covenant seed. In passing we would state that the          in His earth, plant His seed, reap His fruits, grind His
profound weakness of the whole article is that although it          flour to make our bread. But in it all we have no thought
speaks of God, it does not turn to what He has spoken in            for Him. And in the days of our youth, we seek so many of
His Word. There is not a reference in the whole article to          the things in His universe as though they belonged to us. We
the Word of God. But rather than to. go into a detailed             eat and drink and are merry. All thought of God is far
criticism of that article and point out in detail its teachings     removed from our minds. For the greater share of the day
and what the Word of God says about these matters, we would         He does not exist in our lives and thoughts. We wake up
take the positive approach and say a few things about what          in the morning thinking of things, of creatures that He has
we ought to tell a child about God. That in this instance           made and of opportunities to satisfy the lust of our flesh,.
surely is far better.                                               the lust of our eyes and the pride of life with His goods. But
                                                                    we have no thought of Him except, perhaps, because we
       And we suggest that our covenant parents place these
                                                                    were trained that way, and it has become only a habit, we
lines under the eyes of their covenant seed to read and con-
                                                                    do lift up a fleeting, hurried prayer to Him at set times in
sider. They too must walk in His fear. The Word of God
                                                                    the day: when we eat and before we go to sleep, perhaps,
has something very specific to say to them. For through
                                                                    But for the rest, we simply have no time - and sad to say,
Solomon, that wisest of all mortals, God said in Ecclesiastes
                                                                    often no use-for God.
X2:1, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth,

while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when            0, youth, remember! Remember thy Creator.

thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them." And just before           Fun ! Pleasure ! Amusements ! Dates, picnics, banquets,
these memorable words youth had been addressed thus, "Re-           games., sports, eating and sleeping ! These are the life of
joice, 0 young man, in thy youth ; and let thy heart cheer          youth. These are the things for which he lives. Take these
thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine        away, he does not care to live. And God is not in all his
heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that          thoughts ! Covenant youth, let that not be said of you ! Re-
for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. There-      member your Creator, and remember to praise a_nd  thank
fore remove sorrow from thine heart, and put away evil              Him for life and health and strength and a sound mind and
from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity."                body, for allowing you to walk on His earth and breathe His

       Here surely you do have the command of God that youth        air. Thank Him the first thing in the morning for having

be taught that God is looking down upon him and sees him            kept your heart beating while you forgot all about that im-

in all that which he does. How else could He bring youth            portant function of life and closed your eyes in sleep. Thank

into judgment? Surely far better is it - and we do not know         Him for having kept you inhaling the life giving oxygen and

the stand of the author of this magazine article in regard to       for continued breathing all night long. While you slumbered

this matter -to teach .a child that God is looking down and         and slept, He watched with constant, unfailing care. 0,

judging whether we are doing good or `evil than to teach him        indeed, remember to thank and praise your Creator for all

that Santa Claus does these things !                                His care and protection.


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   231


    And if it has pleased Him to give you other things, afflic-     things of this earth. And should He take work away from

tions, sickness, frailties of flesh and blood, if He has made it    us and give us skyrocketing hospital bills to pay and broken

impossible for you to walk on His earth, and you must in-           health, would we have any room to complain?

stead lie upon a bed of affliction, then still remember Him.           Youth, remember your Creator when He supplies you.

And remember that He still is your Creator. He made you             with the things of this earth. Hold them in your hand, but

that way, and He has the sovereign right to make you that           say then to yourself and to Him, These are not mine but

way. You can never, never change it that He is your Creator.        Gods. I am thankful for having the opportunity to use them

You cannot undo that fact. And you are solemnly obliged             in His service.    I will seek the Kingdom of God and its

to live according to that fact. Remember that your Creator is       righteousness first, and I know that what earthly things I

the Sovereign God Who does all His Own good pleasure.               need to continue this, God will add to me. My pay check

Never deny Him the right to do with you what He pleases.            is His gift to me. I may have earned it as far as the man

You did not create Him. He does not exist because you               through whom He gave it to me is concerned, but I surely

willed to have Him be the God that He is. And though we             did not earn it from God. He gave it to me. And I will use

fuss and fume, complain and criticize, find fault and offer         it as a wise steward of His goods, for He is my Creator and

,objections,  He is not affected by all this in the least. He       I am obliged to serve Him.

,does  not cease to be absolutely sovereign and right in all           "Rejoice, 0 young man (and young woman), in thy
that which He does.                                                 youth; `and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth,
    Besides, that He is your Creator means that you are             and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine
solemnly obliged to serve Him every step of your earthly            eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring
way with all that which He has given unto you. You are              thee into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from thine
not your own, and you can never make yourself your own.             heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and
You are His and have your calling from Him.                         youth are vanity."              I
    And He is the Creator of all things, of all the things that        And parents, tell your children these things. They were
you and I see and use every day. These are His, and He              given to you to care for until they come to the years when
gives them to us only in the sense that He supplies us with         they can know these things for themselves and can remem-
means wherewith to serve Him. Remember then, 0 youth,               ber their Creator. Become not weary in welldoing. Keep at
that even time is His creation. Be careful what you do with         it. Continue on your part to remind them, remind them and
time. Heed the words of the Apostle and redeem the time.            remind them again of these things. Only in that way do you
Buy it out.' Make good use of every moment as God's                 as well remember your Creator and walk in His fear.
creature !
                                                                       Youth may squander his money and spend his time in
    Why is it that youth can spend goodly sums of money             fun and pleasure ; but parents may not squander their chil-
for a night's entertainment and grudgingly drop a dime or           dren and seek the line of least resistance, state a principle and
quarter in the collection plate on Sunday? Surely it means          sit back in ease when it is not carried out by youth. Remem-
that we do not remember our Creator. We buy that old                ber to keep teaching them to remember their Creator.
jalopie or shining new car. We can spend fabulous sums to
                                                                                                                             J.A.H.
keep it in showroom beauty and splendor. Gadget after

gadget, ornament after ornament, with total disregard of

the cost, must be added. But the cause of God's kingdom,                     Notice to all interested Teachers:
whether in church, or school, or house of mercy must be                If you are eligible to teach and interested in obtaining
told that we cannot afford anything more. Young men and             a position in a Protestant Reformed Christian School, please
young women bringing down salaries equal to, if not at times        notify the Teacher Placement Committee by writing to the
even more than, married men, have at the end of the year            following address :
nothing to show for it. And then this is not because they                                         Teacher Placement Committee
have given anywhere near a tenth of it to the cause of God's                                      852 Sigsbee St., S. E.
kingdom but, as we said before, fun, pleasure, amusements,                                        Grand Rapids 6, Michigan
dates, sports, banquets and entertainment have so filled our

lives we have thought for nothing else. And we have no

money for God's cause.                                                          My soul in death's dark pit

    What if God would forget us as we forget Him? What                             Shall not be left by Thee ;

if He had no more thought for us than we have for Him ?                         Corruption Thou wilt not permit

We would be mighty poor.       If He gave no more thought                         Thy holy one to see.

to us than we do to Him, nothing would go right in our                          Life's pathway Thou wilt show,

lives and all would go wrong. Dare we then complain when                           To Thy right hand wilt guide,

it looks as though He has forgotten us? Should we not say,                      Where streams of pleasure ever flow,

Yea, Lord, I deserve to be forgotten and to be denied the                         And boundless joys abide.

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


I    tr                                                               II    Testament :    "And the scripture cannot be broken." John
     11 The Voice of Our Fathers 11                                         10 :34-36.
                                                                              But by the same token, we must be deeply aware of the

                                                                            fact that when we speak of inspiration and of the inspired

                                                                            Scriptures, we stand face to face with a wonder. And no
                        The Belgic Confession                               more than we can fathom any of the divine wonders, no more

                                                                            can we comprehend this wonder of inspiration.
                                 ART&Z  III
                                                                               `For .a wonder it certainly is. Not only is revelation itself

                                 (continued)                                already a wonder. But add to this the fact that God causes

                                                                            His Word of Self-revelation to be communicated through the
     Moved by tt%g  Holy Spiviip/if                                         agency of mere, finite, imperfect (though holy) men, and

                                                                            through the medium of finite, limited, human, earthly kin-
            The positive side of the truth of inspiration is also set
                                                                            guage,  in such a way that it is and remains His Word, and
     forth by our Confession very briefly and by means of a simple
                                                                            we can begin to sense the mystery of this wonder somewhat.
     quotation of Scripture itself. For our Confession continues.
                                                                            It requires a boldness which is. possible only by faith to
     with its quotation of II Peter 121: ". . . . but that holy men
                                                                            single out from among all the multitudinous writings of men
     `of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, as the
                                                                            this one book, the Bible, and to confess of it, without any
     apostle Peter saith."
                                                                            reservation or limitation : "This is the Word of God !"
            We may notice that our Confession adds nothing in ex-              And this is exactly what faith confesses. It does not
     planation of this simple statement. And perhaps we wonder              require a prior investigation. It does not insist on com-
     why? Certainly, this is not because there is no room for and           prehending. It does not first demand an explanation of the
     no need of any exposition of the text. For there is much               rrhow"  of inspiration. Faith lays hold on the wonder,
     that can be said about it. Nevertheless, as far as the main               Well may we bear this in mind when we consider the
     thought is concerned, the statement is perfectly clear: it is          various questions that arise in this connectioti.  I do not mean
     capable of but one interpretation. And that one interpreta-            to say that these questions may not be asked, nor that we
     tion is that the Scriptures are the Word of God Himself.               may not attempt to answer them. But we must be careful,
     They are to be attributed, as far as the origin and nature and         lest we begin to base our belief of the truth of inspiration
     contents are concerned, to the Holy Ghsst. When holy men               upon our would-be solutions to oztr problems. For then we
     from God spake, they spake as being moved, borne, by the               are on the road of rationalism already. And that road of
     Holy Ghost. The words which they spake, or wrote, and                  rationalism is the road of unbelief. It is the road that ends in
     the message which was conveyed by those words have none                the denial of the infallibly inspired Word of God. If my faith
     other for their author than God Himself. Men spake. Men                in inspiration is founded on my ability to find a satisfactory
     wrote. But what they spake and wrote was the Word of                   answer to every question and every problem that may be
     God. And that this is the evident meaning of the statement             raised in regard to this truth, and if then I cannot iind  a
     from II Peter 1 quoted by our Confession is plain from the             solution that in every way satisfies my puny mind, then my
     contrast in the text : "For the prophecy came mot in old time          faith in inspiration falls with my inability to find an answer.
     by the wilt  of mm, but . . . ." All that stands after this "but"      If my faith in inspiration is based upon my ability to harmo-
     stands in contrast with "by the will of man."                          nize the historical testimony of Scripture with the testimony

            And this is the self-testimony of all Scripture. The well-      of so-called secular historians, and if then I cannot accomplish
     known words of II Timothy 3 :lG teach the same truth: "All             such a harmony, then my faith in inspiration falls. If my
     Scripture is given by inspiration of God . . ." Notice, too,           faith in inspiration is based upon my ability to produce a
     that "given by inspiration of God" is in the original Greek            "harmony of the gospels," and if I cannot do so, then skep-
     simply "God-breathed."            That is, all Scripture is so com-    ticism and doubt must needs result. If my faith in inspiration
     pletely the Word of God Himself that it is the product of              depends on my ability to explain in a fully satisfactory man-
     His very breath, of His Spirit. It is breathed forth by Him.           ner that inspiration is not "mechanical," and if I cannot do
     Apart now from the fact that we read in hundreds of passages           so, then I must needs end in a denial of inspiration.

     that we are confronted by direct quotation of the Lord, as,               And therefore I want to emphasize that our approach in

     for example, is the case with such expressions as, "And the            considering the meaning and the manlier  of inspiration must

     Lord said," or, "And the Lord spake unto Moses," or "saith             ever be that of faith. There is even a certain danger that as
     the Lord of hosts," Scripture simply confronts us always with          we contemplate some of the questions connected with this

     absolute authority, an authority that stems from the fact that         subject, we almost unconsciously fall into a rationalistic frame

     it is God's Word; and it simply expects unquestioning ac-              of mind. Supposing that you and I cannot answer all the

     ceptance. Nor have we any clearer acknowledgment of this               questions that arise, does that change "this Word of i;od"?

     than in the words of the Son of God, "whom the Father hath             Does that mean that we must begin to waver, that our faith

     sanctified, and sent into the world," Who said of the Old              must change to doubt? Should the attacks made up&  thiS


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   233


truth cause us to panic when we cannot meet the opponents             maintaining that Scripture is the Word of God. It is this:

on their own ground, and should they cause us in our panic            how is it possible, if men played the part which these theories

to attempt to find all manner of "gimmicks" whereby we may,           claim they did in the production of Scripture-how is it

so to speak, squirm out of the stern implications of the truth        possible that the Bible is the Word of God? And this is a

that the Bible is God's infallibly inspired Word? Is not              far more difficult problem, and one that is far-reaching in its

faith's fundamental and spontaneous answer expressed in this,         consequences.    Hence, let us keep in mind the fact that this

"Let God be true, and every man a liar"? Hence, let us                subject of the manner of inspiration demands discussion and

keep the following in mind:                                           elucidation only when your view of inspiration is that of

                                                                      Scripture and our Confession. And this means, remember,
    1) All the attempts to meet objections raised against this
                                                                      that inspiration is, in the first place, plewa<vy.  That is, it is
truth in unbelief will not satisfy unbelief. The unbeliever
                                                                      full, complete. The proposition that "this Word of God was
will always have a new objection, to serve as an excuse for
                                                                      not sent, nor delivered by the will of man, but holy men of
his unbelief.
                                                                      God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" concerns

   2) The Word of God in its divinely inspired and infallible         the whole of Scripture as the one Word of God ; and it con-

character towers far above both the sinful efforts of men to          cerns all the parts of Scripture, without exception. Scrip-

contradict and destroy it and our merely human efforts to             ture is from beginning to end the Word of God. And, in

defend it. Its veracity transcends both.                              the second place, inspiration is verbail.  That is, the being

    3) All our attempts to explain and to understand some-            "moved by the Holy Ghost" of II Peter 1:21, or the being
what the meaning and the method of inspiration must take              "God-breathed" of II Timothy 3 :16, extends to the exact
                                                                      words and expressions of human language by which the
place within the framework of faith. This means, in the first
place, that they must take place within the limits of the             Word of God is conveyed to us. This is, indeed, a necessary
truth that the Bible is infallibly inspired. And it implies, in       corollary of plenary inspiration. The latter cannot be main-
the second place, that we must-  be guided and instructed by          tained without verbal inspiration.

that infallibly inspired Word in our contemplation of these              One would-be theory of the nature and manner of in-
questions. And it includes, in the third place, this, that the        spiration is the so-called m&,a&ul theory.
more we contemplate the various .questions  concerning in-

spiration, and the more we come into contact with the riches             The question ma; well be raised, however, whether any

of -this truth,  the more our faith comes to stand directly before    reputable theologian would ever adhere to this mechanical

the wonder of a sovereign God.                                        theory as it is usually presented and in all its consequences.

                                                                      Rather is this mechanical theory not a theory of inspiration
    Keeping the above in mind, we may be enriched and
                                                                      at all, but a charge used by the opponents of the truth of
strengthened in our faith as we study the Scriptures in rela-
                                                                      inspiration in order to demonstrate the impossibility and the
tion to this truth of inspiration.
                                                                      folly of this truth. When it is maintained that prophecy came

   When we discuss the nature and manner of inspiration,              not in old time by the will of man, when it is maintained that

it is well to limit that discussion from the outset. Those who        the Bible is completely the Word of God, infallibly inspired,

seek in one way or another to deny the truth of inspiration           and when it is maintained that inspiration is therefore both

as set forth in our Confession  also have no problem as to            plenary and verbal, then the opponents of this truth try to

the manner of inspiration. The problem really is : how did            reduce it to absurdity by the objection that such a view of

God make use of holy men in the production of Scripture in            inspiration is thoroughly mechanical. They claim that it re-

such a way that what was written by them came not by the              duces the act of inspiration to mere dictation, and that it

will of man, but was solely the Word of God ? Those who               reduces the "holy men of God, mozved  by the Holy Ghost,"

deny in any degree the truth of inspiration have at once              to mere stenographers, puppets, automatons. They claim that

destroyed this problem for themselves. As soon as they                such a view of inspiration would necessarily imply that the

allow room for the idea that Scripture came in part by the            individuality and personal peculiarities of character and

will of man, or came by the will of man and by the will of            style of these "holy men of God" must have been entirely

God, they have no difficulty whatsoever in explaining the             suppressed. And, of course, the second step in the argument

so-called "human factor" in Scripture. Take, for example,             is that a very superficial reading of the Scriptures makes it

the well-known theory of `(thought-inspiration," according. to        plain that the individuality of the human instruments was

{which  God imparted His divine thoughts to men, but left it          not suppress&d. Therefore, they argue, the doctrine of

to the various individual writers of Scripture to formulate           plenary, verbal, infallible inspiration is both an impossible

those thoughts in human language of their own. This theory            doctrine and one that is in confiict  with the testimony of

has no problem in respect to the part of men in the produc-           Scripture itself.
tion of Scripture. And so it is with the various other theories
which we mentioned previously also. The problem confronted               What must be said of this argument?

by them is'a much greater one, if they are at all serious about                                                                 H.C.H.


.

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


                                                                           that does so, in our opinion, acts unwisely. If, on the other

                                                                           hand, the synod gained the sentiment of the churches and it

                                                                           became evident that the churches wanted this innovation

                                                                           (which it will not), the synod could proceed to institute this

                                                                           change in the confidence that.the  churches would support it.
                        THE HYMN MATTER
                                                                              We want it understood that our argument here does not

                                 (Continued)                               nullify the functioning of the synod as the broadest gathering

                                                                           of the churches. It might be said that if synod does this with
        We have taken cognizance of Rev. Hoeksema's editorial              weighty' questions it might just as well `not exist but that
     comment in the January 15th issue of Ths Standard Be;arer             matters simply be decided by majority opinion of the con-
     relative to our writing on the hymn matter in connection              sistories. This is not true. If this were a matter of doctrine,
     with Article 69 of the Church Order. We will not, how-                of our missions, of our theological school, etc.. the matter is.
     ever, at this time interrupt our present discussion to reflect        entirely different. These are things that the Synod is called
     upon these editorial comments but choose to continue to dis-          upon to decide and this they must do. We, as churches, have
     cuss the history of this question as it has been an issue before      been singing from our Psalter for decades and evidently have
     our Synod especially the last three years. Later we hope to           been satisfied with this arrangement. Must a change be
     comment upon all that our esteemed editor has written on              coerced upon us by the synod. without the churches' being
     this question during this same time. But this must wait until         given the opportunity to say what they think about it? We
     we have completed our series and presented all our reasons            feel that it should not and we regret that twice the synod
     for objecting to the introduction of hymns into our churches.         refused to give the West this opportunity.

        Last time we gave you various objections that were                    Though synod in 1959 rejected the advice of its commit-
     raised by the consistories of Classis  East and with which we         tee of pre-advice, it did not apply itself to a study and in-
     concur. We also said that the overture of First Church, to-           vestigation of the merits of the proposed overture either. It
     gether with all the opinions of the consistories in Classis  East,    did not consider the validity of the grounds offered even
     was brought to the Synod of 1959. Following the customary             thsugh  these had been questioned and criticized by various
     procedure of synod, this matter was put into the hands of             consistories in Classis  East. It obviously did not even take
     an advisory committee.        The advice Gf this committee to         too seriously the fact that this overture came without the
     synod was very brief. It consisted of two parts which  are:           approval of the Classis.  Had the synod done this at that

            "First that synod table the hymn question until the next       time it would likely have come to the conclusion that the

     synod, meanwhile giving our churches in Classis  West the             overture with the grounds presented would have to be re-

     opportunity to express themselves in regard to this matter.           jected. We base this on the fact that when the study com-

                                                                           mittee came a year later with a proposal to change Article 69
        "Second to eliminate from the printed Acts all the answers
                                                                           somewhat in line with the request of the overture, the synod
     of the various churches re the hymn question."
                                                                           sent the committee away for another year in quest for
            None of this advice was adopted by synod. Oh, there            groztnds..  It is evident that the original grounds presented by
     was a motion to adopt the first part'but  this was ruled out          First Church were not valid in the mind of the synod for
     of order on the ground that motion militates against the rules        otherwise it could have simply used them. So what the
     of synod re tabling. The same motion was repeated only this           synod in effect did was accept the idea of the overture (the
     time the word "postpone" was used instead of "table." But             request for hymns) but sought to supply that idea with its
     this was defeated. Now it is interesting to observe that this         own grounds since those offered were admittedly invalid.
     same matter came up again at the synod of 1961 and once               This we believe, too, is wrong. Synod should have judged
     again it failed to pass.    It appears that synod is quite deter-     the matter in 1959 and rejected this overture and its grounds
     mined not to let the churches of the West have an opportunity         as Classis  East had done. But synod liked the idea and put
     to express themselves in regard to this question. This is             all the material in the case in the hands of a study committee.
     another reason we are opposed to this overture and its treat-
                                                                              This study committee reported to the synod of 1960.
     ment by the synod. We realize,  of course, that the synod
                                                                           Their report is very lengthy and it is not necessary to re-
     does not have to do this. It has the prerogative to decide
                                                                           print it as any interested reader can find a copy of it in the
     matters that concern the churches in common without con-
                                                                           1960 Acts of Synod. Concerning this report, however, we .-
     sulting the churches. However, we feel that with a question
                                                                           have a few things to say:
     of this  nature, the synod has no right to &?@OSB  hymns upon

     the churches against their desire unless synod can show (as              First, we must note that the committee evidently did con-

     we wrote last time) that the churches in their present                siderable work and conducted a thorough research into the

     practice of singing are principaDy  wrong. Synod has no               question of hymnology.       However, what strikes us in this

     right to impose a change merely for the sake of change or             lengthy report that includes a long historical survey, an

     because a small minority of the churches want it and a synod          exegetical study and various conclusions, the comm&tee  sgys


                                          T H E   STANDARDABEARER                                                                235


exactly nothing about the material committed to it for study.           "c. But do admonish the churches to keep themselves in

To this committee was given the original overture, the ex-           public worship to the Psalms of Scriptures.

pressions of all the consistories in Classis  East, and the deci-       "d.. At the same time to admonish the leaders and the
sion of Classis.  Synod mandated it to study this material.          consistories especially to cooperate in reviving the psalms in
We understand that the intention of the synod was that this          the consciousness of the congregations : Grounds -
committee should appraise the overture and its grounds,                 "a. There is no need of hymns alongside of the psalms
evaluate the arguments of the consistories and come to the           which are presented to us in the Holy Scriptures : (1) There
synod with sound advice regarding action to be taken in this         are in those psalms spiritual riches wherein also the heart
matter. This the committee did not do. It quoted the over-           of the New Testament congregation is able to express itself
ture at the beginning of its report and beyond that no further       perfectly, provided one learn to understand those psalms well.
mention is made. of the material committed to it for study.          (2) The congregation knows only a few of the psalms. Com-
`The synod could just as well have appointed a committee to          paratively speaking only a few of the rich psalms are sung
study the matter of hymnology in general.                            in public worship. Let the congregation first learn the riches

    Secondly, the report as it is, however, does bring out that      of the psalms before she begins to speak of the need for

historically the introduction of hymns into the church has           other songs.

not been unto her spiritual profit. We like to quote just a             "b. Today is not the time to introduce hymns: (1)

few things from the report which bolster our antipathy to            Spiritual life is not of a high degree today. In order to sing

this innovation.                                                     spiritual songs a church must be full of the Holy Ghost.    (2)

                                                                     The knowledge of Reformed Truth is at a low degree, as
    Quoting Dr. A. Kuyper  the committee offers six proposi-
                                                                     appears from the contents of the Three Points which are
tions. They are:
                                                                     adopted by our church in 1924 and which were just now
    "1. That Holy Scripture did offer us a separate volume           withdrawn by our churches. (This advice naturally presup-
of Psalms, but no separate volume of prayers.                        poses that olne accepted our first advice. That first.)

    "2. That the Psalms in depth of spiritual process by far            "c. History teaches us a lesson here: (1) The hymns

transcends that which afterwards presented itself as church          which were abolished in the Netherlands by the church of

song, or endeavored to place itself above the Psalms.                the separation were full of the spirit of Remonstrants. (2)

    "3. That the hymns almost nowhere insinuated them-               And by means of those hymns the heresy of free will was
selves into the churches, but they soon revealed the inclina-        easily introduced."

tion to first replace the Psalms, and afterwards to put them            With exception to the part above that refers to the adop-

aside.                                                               tion of the Three Points of 1924, which the Protestant Re-

                                                                     formed Churches have always rejected, we could desire that
    "4. That in the Psalms resounds the abiding, eternal
                                                                     Rev. Hoeksema would give our own synod this same advice
keynote of the godly mind, while all hymns bear a temporal
                                                                     today. We need it! We are in full agreement with it and
character, stamping the one sided conception of the moment
                                                                     synod has here a ready made decision with its grounds. We
in the church of God.
                                                                     would be for rejecting the motion that is now before the
    "5. That the hymn almost everywhere has led to all kinds         synod and then proceed to adopt this in its entirety, omitting
of choir singing, while the congregation finally fell silent.        only the last part of the second part of "b" under the grounds.

    "6. That in the struggle between hymn and Psalm, the                It might be argued that the knowledge of the Reformed

indifferent in the congregation all took part against the Psalm      Truth is not at a low degree in our churches today since we

and for the hymn, while the godly more and more chose for            have not adopted heresy or the Three Points. Our churches

the Psalm and against the hymn.                                      are strong in the Reformed Truth and, therefore, we can

    "We do not mean with this distinction that all who               certainly introduce hymns without fear of evil consequences.
pleaded for the hymn by the same token would stand outside           With this argument we cannot agree. Evidence to the con-
the gathering of the godly. Who would exclude Luther from            trary is all too abundant.    We are living in a spiritually
the company of the godly 7                                           dangerous age. Let us be humble and thank God with all
                                                                     our heart for what we have and never tempt Him with our
    "But in general it seems to us that the above 6 proposi-
                                                                     own substitutions. Standing, let us take heed lest we fall.
tions in their context express the truth in this sphere."
                                                                                                                           G.V.d.B.
   The same report quotes Rev. H. Hoeksema's advice to

the synod of the Christian Reformed Church in 1928 when

said church confronted this same question. His advice was :                   Thy burden now cast on the Lord,
    "a. Not to proceed to the introduction of hymns in the                       And He shall thy weakness sustain ;
public worship of her churches.                                               The righteous who trust in His word

   "b. Neither to appoint a committee to study this matter.                      Unmoved shall forever remain.

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


                                                                                   the field of real potential of contribution-that in releasing

I/  A L L   A R O U N D   U S   /I                                                 Truth from the restrictions we have been prone to(place  upon
                                                                                   it, we can really view it in the true tiess which the Chris-

                                                                                   tian perspective gives us.

                                                                                This Dr. Mixter, referred to above, has recently written:

THE BIBLE AND THEISTIC EVOLUTION
                                                                                        Genesis 1 is designed to tell Who  is the Creator, and not

       In the February issue of 2'ovcck and TrumpeP  appeared a                    necessarily how the full process of creation was accomplished.

very interesting and instructive article written by Dr. Henry                    However, Dr. Morris must have nothing of this entire
M. Morris, head of the Civil Engineering Department at                       view. His reasons are sound and convincing, and worth a
the Virginia Polytechnic Institute. This article deals with                  summary here.
the question of whether theistic evolution is compatible with                   His first reason is that theistic evolution conflicts with
the truth of the Bible.                                                      Genesis, particularly with the account of creation in the first
       Theistic evolution is intended to be' a Christian interpreta-         two chapters. He gives six specific conflicts.
tion of the theory of evolution as first advanced by Charles                     1) He maintains that theistic evolution requires that the
Darwin. Although evolutionism always implied a denial of                     days of Genesis 1 be made long periods of time. Yet, he says,
the existence ,of God, certain theologians in the Church and                 this is impossible.
"Christian" scientists took over this view of evolution and                      a) The context does not allow for such an interpretation.
tried to make it compatible with the confession of the Church.
                                                                                 bj There is at least one other good Hebrew word (olam)
These theistic evolutionists also spoke of the fact that the
                                                                             which means "a long time" and which could better have been
origin of all things was by way of biological development
                                                                             used if this was the intention of the Holy Spirit.
from lower to higher forms of life with the species best
adapted to their environment surviving the struggle for sur-                     cj There are only very rare instances in the Old Testa-
vival. They differed from atheistic evolutionists only in                    ment where the word "day" means a period of time ; and then
putting God at the far end of the evolutionary process as the                it is plainly indicated in the context.

One Who had started the entire train of development, and as                      d'j The word "day" is never used with a, limiting num-

the One Who exercises a certain amount of control over the                   ber or ordinal (e.g., "the first day," "the second day") unless
process in course of time. The so-called "period theory" is                  it means a day of 24 hours.

a form of theistic evolution, and is an attempt to harmonize                     ej When the plural "days" is used as in the law (". . . in

this type of evolution with the Genesis narrative of creation.               six days, the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and ail

       By way of introduction Dr. Morris speaks of the inroads               that in them is") it is always used in the literal sense.

which these views have made in Christian theology, He                           2) Moreover, theistic evolution conflicts with Genesis

writes :                                                                     because the account literally states that various kinds of or-

            Orthodox Christians may not yet be generally aware, how-         ganisms were made and that to reproduce after their kind.
         ever, of the serious inroads evolutionary thinking has been         This is stated nine times in Genesis 1, and yet is denied by
         making in Christian theology and Biblical studies in recent         theistic evolutionists.
         years, even in hitherto conservative circles. Theistic evolution
         has, of course, been generally adopted in modernistic and               3) The author states further that the order of creative
         liberal churches and seminaries for almost as long as Darwin-       events differs from the order deduced from evolutionary his-
         ism  has been popular among scientists. Fundamentalist and          torical geolo,oy.    To give but one example: in the Genesis
         other conservative schools and churches have, for the most          account, fruit trees were created before fish. But geologists
         part, reacted healthily against these trends and have main-         deny this on the basis of the order of fossils found in rock
         tained a vigorous insistence on the full reliability of the
         Biblical account of origins by special creation.                    strata.

                                                                                 4) The words for "morning" and "evening" are found
       In support of the fact that theistic evolution has grown
                                                                             more than one hundred times in the Bible and always have a
in popularity, he refers to the case of the American Scientific
                                                                             literal meaning. This must also be the case in Genesis 1.
Affiliation which is an organization of some eight hundred
                                                                             Yet the period theory must necessarily deny this.
evangelical scientists committed to the belief that the Bible
is the inspired Word of God. The president of this society,                      5) The Sabbath marked the end of God's creative work.
Dr. J. Frank Cassel,  recently wrote an article in the journal               Thus it is impossible to reason back to the nature of the
of this organization in which he is quoted as saying:                        creation on the basis of the earth as we know it now.

                                                                                 6) There was no death or suffering prior to the fall, for
            Thus, in fifteen years we have seen develop in A.S.A. a
         spectrum of belief in evolution that would have shocked all         death came as a result of the curse. So all the fossils of dead
         of us at the inception of our organization. Many still reserve      animals must have been since the time of the fall, not prior
         judgment but few, I believe, are able to meet Dr. Mixter's          to it. Yet these dead fossils form one of the chief arguments
         challenge of, "Show me a better explanation." Some  may             in support of theistic evolution as this evolution took place
         see in this developing view the demise of our organization,
                                                                             before the fall.
         but it seems to me that we only now are ready to move into


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                             237


    In concluding this first argument, the author writes :                Church expressed in her confession ; the faith of the believer

                                                                          in his trust in God.
         Such facts as outlined above are increasingly recognized

      by Bible scholars today, so that the "`day-age theory," for
      harmonizing Genesis with evolution, is not nearly as popular        SCIENTIFIC ATHEISM,
                                                                             Comments on an interesting article that appeared in Tke
      as it once was. A more common device now, reflecting the
      influence of neo-orthodoxy, is to treat the creation narrative      Soviet Revdew  are found in a recent issue of The Barmer.
      as a "poem" or "allegory," designed merely to express in            This article was a report of a conference of the members of
      dramatic form the great truth that all things originally came       the medical profession in the Soviet Union. The subject of
      from God. In this view, none of the details are to be taken         this conference was "The Physician's Role in Educating the
      as actual statements of historical fact, but merely as stressing
                                                                          Working People to Scientific Atheism."
      the orderliness and purposefulness of creation.

         Obviously, such a method of exegesis will enable one to                   Often the word of *he  doctor is taken as law, not only by
      dispose of any other portion of Scripture, which, for one                 the sick, but by the well individual.
      reason.or  another, he &ads  distasteful. One wonders why the                (It is lamentable. that) even in some of the institutions in
      Holy Spirit bothered to insert so many irrelevant details in the          our capital city there are among our medical personnel per-
      account!                                                                  sons belonging to religious organizations. This means that the

                                                                               propagation of atheism must be reinforced in every way.
   The second argument against theistic evolution is that it                       (In performing his service) the physician should show how
conflicts with the New Testament. His point is that time                        science struggles for the  health of the individual, how much
and again the authors of the New Testament in speaking of                       damage is done by religious prejudices.

creation always referred to it as literally true. "Thus deny-                      We know that many religious believers never attend lec-
ing the historical validity of the creation account also, under-                tures on atheism but will gladly go to lectures on biology and
                                                                                medicine. Thus it is the skill of the physician-lecturer that
mines the authority of the New Testament and of Christ                          determines the degree to which, without ridiculing the re-
himself !"                                                                     ligious sentiments of communicants, he is able, by combining

   Thirdly the author argues that theistic evolution is anti-                  medical and atheistic material, to convince his listeners of the
                                                                                correctness of materialistic views. Today medicine offers so
Christian. He makes especially two points : 1) "The genius
                                                                               many "miracles" greater than those of the gospels that their
of evolution is the struggle for existence and the attendant                   mere description acquires a distinctively atheist character.
extermination of the weak and unfit." But the author main-                         A Catholic once quipped that "God in creating man, did
tains that this is precisely the basis for Communistic and                      not provide him with spare parts." Today, however man is

Fascistic morality and is directly opposed to Christianity                      "improving on God" and creating `spare parts" for his own
                                                                               body. Today there are corrugated nylon and capron tubes of
which is founded upon the principles of love and selflessness.
                                                                               various lengths which may be used to replace damaged blood
2) Secondly, the author argues that the purpose of God                         vessels; a complete hip joint has been made of plastic; it is
in creation was the creation and redemption of man. Yet                        possible to replace the esophagus and other organs. After all,
how strange it is that God would spend aeons of time in                         the mean life expectancy in our country has risen to 68,

"tortuous drama and evolution" to reach this goal. Such a                      whereas in pre-Revolutionary Russia it was 32. Is this not
view is a denial of the fact that God pronounced His crea-                     proof that God's will has nothing to do with such matters?"

tion as being "good" and does away with all purpose in                       Apart from the outrageous blasphemy and willful ignor-
God's work. In connection with this the author also points                ance of the Soviet scientist, the fact is that in the Soviet
out that evolutionism in any form must necessarily conclude               Union science has become the god in whom men trust.
that man is still evolving upward. But this is simply a denial            Openly and boldly they deny the existence of the God of
of the fall and of the need of a Saviour.                                 Scripture and set up their idol of scientific advancement as

                                                                          their certain salvation.
   Finally the author briefly mentions that theistic evolution
                                                                             But one wonders if really it is any different in our own
is even without scientific basis. He writes :
                                                                          country. True, the name of God is still occasionally men-

         The supposed scientific basis of evolution, when critically      tioned, and no one is so foolish as to deny flatly that God
      analyzed, is extremely nebulous and contradictory, and has          exists. But the name of Christ is never heard. Sin is a thing
      been adequately refuted time and again. The only reason why         of the past. The blood of atonement and the sovereign salva-
      most people believe in evolution is because "most people be-
                                                                          tion of God through the blood of the cross is pointedly
      lieve in evolution" - a kind of mass delusion fostered by
      group pressure and fear of being thought old-fashioned. The         ignored and even mocked. Here too science has become the

      Biblical Christian, in the judgment of this writer, should          idol of men. To science men look for salvation from suffering
      reject theistic evolution wholly and unequivocally.                 and sickness and death. The man in the white coat with a

    In all this we concur. Surely when Scripture speaks of                test tube in his hands is the man of the hour. The laboratory

the fact that it is by fa& that we understand that the worlds             is the place where heaven is created. The advance of tech-

were framed  by the Word of God so that things which are                  nology is the guarantee of utopia. The satisfaction of all man's

seen were not made from things which do appear, it means                  wants and needs is in the hands of man himself. Is this any

that all theories contrary to this Scriptural statement of                different from the atheism of Russia?

creation are outside of the sphere of faith-the faith of the                                                                       H. Hanko


~    2 3 8                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                          ment versifications into the singing in our public worship-

       HCONTRIBUTIONSII                                                      Secondly, it is my humble opinion that the need for this

                                                                          change in our psalter is not nearly as great as some might

                                                                          possibly think it is. It has been stated that it is only with
                           The Hymn Question                              the greatest difficulty that we can "find" psalter numbers to,

                                                                          be sung at our special services. Is this difficulty, however, as
              Although I do not believe `that silence in regard to the
                                                                          great as some might think? We have several special services,
       proposal to introduce New Testament versifications into our
                                                                          throughout the year. Our psalter can certainly supply us
       singing in our public worship necessarily means that it must
                                                                          with many appropriate songs for the following special
       or will be interpreted as agreement with this proposed in-
                                                                          services: New Year, Prayer Day, Good Friday, Ascension
       novation, the undersigned wishes to offer a few remarks and
                                                                          Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Old Year. I am sure that we
       comments with respect to this proposed change.
                                                                          have no difficulty selecting psalter numbers to be sung at
              First of all, a hymn-singing church becomes more and        these special services. One might ask: but what about
       more a hymn-singing church and less and less a psalter-            Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost? The undersigned, of
       singing church. I am aware of the fact that the proposal           course, concedes that it would be wonderful to sing songs
       which now confronts our churches concerns only the versifica-      upon these special occasions which, when sung by the whole
       tion of New Testament Scriptures. Rev. Vanclen Berg in-            congregation, can also be `sung with understanding by the
       tends to call attention to the original proposal that was sub-     ENTIRE congregation, including the children. However,
       mitted to our churches, which proposal advocated the in-           are we, even upon these special occasions, in such dire
       troduction, not of versifications of Scripture, but of hymns,      straits? Do we not have the songs of Zacharias, Mary, and
       and the undersigned will not call attention to this. However,      of S&neon  for our Christmas services ? Do we not have Psalter
       I do wish to ask the question : why is it that the introduction    Numbers 28,29,48,49,  261, 318-320 for our Easter services?
       of hymns into public church services has for its result that       And do not these psalms qualify as Easter songs, refer di-
       the hymns become increasingly popular and that that church         rectly to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and have
       becomes less and less a psalter-singing church? The reason         they not been quoted by our Saviour to that effect? Is it
       for this is obvious. People, especially young people, clamor       not wonderful that already in the fold Dispensation the
       for hymns because they do not understand the psalms. The           Church was led by our Chief Prophet to speak and sing of
       psalms are too profound to be understood by them. They             His coming suffering and death and resurrection, that this
       like to sing songs which they understand. This being the           was foretold in the dispensation of the shadows, and that
       case, it lies in the nature of the case that to cater to this      therefore everything was established already from before the
       desire to sing songs which are understood, we will not be          foundation of the world ? And, how difficult would it be for
       drawn closer to the psalms but we will be increasingly weaned      the parents to call the attention of their children to these
       away from them. Then we certainly will not grow in our             numbers and teach them their wonderful significance ? Our
       knowledge and love of the psalms. To satisfy the appetite for      greatest difficulty concerns Pentecost Sunday. This, I be-
       songs that are more easily understood can only have for its        lieve, lies in the nature of the case. Pentecost, of course, is
       result that those songs will become increasingly popular and       tlze feast of the fulfillment, is so strictly New Dispensational.
       our. present psalter will fall increasingly into disrepute and     Yet, we also have songs that are appropriate for this "day
       ill-favour. And this would surely be a calamity! The pro-          of days."    I again ask the question: Is the need for a revi-
       found richness of our psalter, of the "one hundred and fifty       sion of our psalter so terribly great? Besides, it has been
       psalms of David," must never escape us or be taken away            said that there are songs in our psalter that are peculiarly
       from us. What constitutes this richness ? This : these psalms      Old Dispensational, really do not apply to the New Dispensa-
       present to us a complete picture of the Christian's spiritual      tion. The psalmist, for example, sings of "making atonement
       life, his needs and his struggles in the midst of the wo,rld.      for our ,sins." And it is said that atonement has. now been
       This can hardly be said-of our modern or current hymns.            made upon the cross of Calvary, that therefore the church
       One of the reasons why Reformed synods have clung tena-            should not use this language of the Old Dispensation. But,
       ciously to these "one hundred and fifty psalms of David" is        does this mean, or would this imply that therefore the psalter
       that, whereas the introduction of hymns will always neces-         would eventually not be used anymore because we live in the
       sitate the introduction .of. other hymns with each passing age,    New Dispensation ? The reader will understand that I am
       the psalms apply to all ages and they can always be sung (see      merely asking this question.
       J. Jansen's explanation of Art. 69 of our Church Order).

       The popularity of hymns is surely rooted in the failure to            Thirdly, I would like to suggest that our Protestant

       appreciate and understand the psalter as we have it. This          Reformed homes become more familiar with our psalter. I

       has, I dare say, always been our stand. I want to mention          have already remarked that our parents should instruct their

       this although I know that the hymn question in our churches        as we sing them. However, I have also something else in

       today concerns only the introduction of faithful New Testa-        children in regard to the beauty of our psalter, to the psalms


                                                        -`,
                                                               , /_ `_



                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                         239
                                                                                  `(

 mind. When we gather in our homes about the piano (and              complete picture of the Christian's spiritual life, his needs,

 how often do we do this ?), what songs do we sing? Do not           and his struggles in the midst of the world. But, did not

 misunderstand me.       I certainly do not wish to leave the        our fathers know all about this ? So, this is my question :

 impression that we should not sing hymns. But, how often            why is it that our fathers, knowing all this and fully aware

 ,do we sing from our psalter ? Why is it that our young             of it, nevertheless clung to the 150 psalms of David, laid

 people and children are often so much more familiar with            these songs upon the church, and were extremely hesitant

our modern hymns than they are with our psalter? How                 and reluctant to add other songs to what are mentioned

 ,often does it not happen that we, when we sing or hum to           in Art. 69 of our Church Order? J. Jansen, in his com-

 ,ourselves,  sing or hum modern or current hymns, but no            mentary upon the Church Order, mentions exactly this in

 psalter numbers ? Our psalter is so wonderfully and inex-           his explanation of Art. 69 of the Church Order. I certainly

 pressibly rich. Does this unfamiliarity with our psalter not        would like a- complete answer to this question before I could

 have something to say to us ? I think it has. I know of people      ever possibly go along with the proposed change.

 who have come to us from other churches who have expressed                Finally, one more thing. The opposition to the proposed
 amazement at the profound beauty and richness and depth             change of our psalter is great and, deeply rooted in our
 .of our psalter. May we never lose it ! 0, I do not .mean  to       churches.          Of this there is not the slightest doubt in my
 suggest that our churches are in danger of losing our psalter.      mind. And it is also my conviction that we must not ignore
  But I do wish to emphasize the wonderful beauty of our             this deeply seated feeling among many of our people. Be-
 psalter, and I may certainly express the personal wish that         sides, I have .great  respect for this "conservative" element
  we never lose this wonderful collection of songs as sung in        in our `churches. I use the word "conservative" here only
 our public services.                                                because I wish to emphasize that they wish to retain the

     Fourthly, Rev. Hoeksema in The Standard Bearer  of              present psalter as it is.      I have great respect for the reason

 January 15, 1962, while commenting on Rev.. G. Vanden               why they are .opposed  to this change. They are opposed to

  Berg's resolve to treat this hymn question in The Standard         this change because they fear for the welfare of our churches

 Beayer  in connection with his discussion of Art. 69 of our         should this proposed change be adopted. As of now, I con-

 Church Order (the issue before our churches today would             sider this change, also for this reason, to be extremely ill-

 revise this article), calls attention to the fact that, although    advised at our present time. Our churches are small. I dread

 Art. 69 speaks of the "150 psalms of David," we do not even         the idea of a change in our psalter which would cause ex-

 have the 150 psalms of David. In this article Rev. Hoeksema         treme anxiety and apprehension among our people. Frankly,

  writes that there are no 150 psalms of David, that we do not       I do not believe it is worth it.

 know how many of the psalms were composed by David, that                                                                 H. Veldman

 quite a few of the psalms were composed by others. He also

  writes that we cannot sing the psalms of David, and that
                                                                              DIVINE POWER IN MANIFESTATION
  we never do. What we sing is not a psalm of David but a

 versification of it. And he also writes, in the third place,             Now unto Jehovah, ye sons of the mighty,
 that we certainly do not sing the 150 psalms of David, but                 All glory and strength and.dominion  accord ;
 many more. Is this argumentation as potent and as cogent as              Ascribe to Him glory, and render Him honor,
  it may sound ? With all due respect to Rev. Hoeksema, I do                In beauty of holiness worship the Lord.
 not think so. At least, it raises a question in my mind. Art.
                                                                          The voice of Jehovah, the God of all glory,
  69 of our Church Order speaks of the 150 psalms of David,
                                                                            Rolls over the waters, the thunders awake;
 and tells us that these are psalms of David. I realize that
                                                                          The voice of Jehovah, majestic and mighty,
  Rev. Hoeksema also comments on this. We cannot sing the
                                                                            Is heard, and the cedars of Lebanon break.
 psalms of David, and we never do. This, of course, we

 concede. We never sing the psalms as David wrote them.                   His voice makes the mountains and deserts: to tremble,

 It would be impossible for us to sing them as he wrote them.               Wild beasts are affrighted, the forest laid bare,

  All this we concede. But, to all this we reply : what of it?            And through all creation, His wonderful temple,

  Did not our fathers know this ? Did not our fathers know                  All things He has fashioned His glory declare.

 this when they composed Art. 69 of our Church Order? !                   The Lord ruled in might at the flood of the waters,
  Did not our fathers know that Ps. 89 :7 and 8 (Rev. Hoekse-               A King Whose dominion is never to cease ;
 ma quotes these verses as they appear in our Holland psalm               The Lord will give blessing and strength to His people,
  book) are not a literal presentation of the inspired Word of              The Lord all His people will comfort with peace.
  God but to a great extent a versification of it? ,Of course,

  we must understand that the versification which accompanies

  or characterizes each psalm is based upon that particular                Bulletin quote (Lynden's) : Faith is a grace whereby the

  psalm. It is exactly this which adds to, and establishes the       elect .are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls (Heb.

  beauty of our psalter. I repeat: our psalter presents to us a      10 :39).


                                                                             ileged to broadcast our messages throughout the United

          .- N~~SFROMOURCHURCl-iES                                           States, the British Isles,, and some parts of Continental
                                                                             Europe.
                   "All the saints salute 
     I                                   &ee  . . . ." PHIL. 4:21      II
                                                                                February 5 was the date scheduled for a lecture by Rev.

                                                                             J. A. Heys, of our South Holland Church. The lecture, on

                                                                             "The Kingdom of Anti-Christ" was given at Isabel while
                                                       Feb. 5, 1962          Rev. Heys was in the Dakotas on Classical appointment. The

                                                                             next lecture on the calendar is scheduled to be given in Ed-
.         The taping of, the 1,OOOth broadcast of the.Reformed  Wit-         gerton, February 22, by the local pastor, Rev. B. Wouden-
     ness Hdur was accomplished in a public gathering Thursday               berg. Tht title of this lecture is "The Chris&n's Attitude
     evening, Jan. 25. Rev. H. Hoeksema preached the sermon and              Toward War."
     music was furnished by the Radio Choir -and by congrega-
                                                                                Southeast's Men's Society was host to that of First
     tional singing. Beginning with this broadcast, which will be
                                                                             Church, February 5. The after recess program consisted of
     aired Sunday, March 11, the program will be announced as
                                                                             a paper answering the question, "Is Cremation Permiss-
     being "sponsored by the Protestant Reformed Churches of
                                                                             ible?' by John Flikkema, of the visiting society. He took
     America"    instead of "sponsored by the First Protestant
                                                                             the position that Scripture describes cremation only-as a
     Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan." All
                                                                             picture of the wrath of God upon sin; that the saints were
     future programs will continue to be the responsibility
                                                                             said to be buried ; that God buried the body of Moses in a
     and under the supervision of the Consistory of the First
                                                                             cleft of a rock; and, that God Himself ruled that Adam and
     Protestant Reformed Church as before. After the broadcast
                                                                             his posterity should return to the dust from whence he was
     was recorded the audience was favored by a special program
                                                                             taken. Many other passages of Holy Writ were adduced to
     planned by the Radio Committee. On the printed programs
                                                                             support his position, which was generally accepted by the
     was found this paragraph: "With humble thanks to our ever
                                                                             members.
     gracious Covenant God, the Radio Committee of the Re-

     formed Witness Hour dedicates this special program, cele-                   First Church's bulletin carried an urgent request for

     brating the 1,OOOth broadcast of our Distinctively Reformed             summer clothing and shoes from the churches in Jamaica who

     Radio ministry, to our beloved pastor, the Rev. Herman                  have been corresponding with Rev. Hanko and receiving our

     Hoeksema."     Due to malfunction of the church's public ad-            literature and who express a keen interest in our doctrine.

     dress system the special program was somewhat curtailed, and            The consistory decided to heed the plea and the Deacons

     though the disappointment suffered by the Radio-Committee,              boxed and shipped the donations contributed by the congre-

     who had been planning this occasion for a half year, was                gation.

     of "Cape Canaveral" proportions, the -audience enjoyed the                 The latest pamphlet issued by the Reformed Action
     program nevertheless.        The music was furnished by the             Society of our Western churches is entitled, "The Shape of

     usual radio talent : a duet by Mr. and Mrs. C. Jonker ; solos           the World to Come," and was written by Rev. G. Van Baren

     by Edw. Ophoff, Gerald Kuiper and John Bult. The Radio                  of Doon,  Iowa.

     Choir, Hope's Choir, the Men's Chorus, and Hope's Heralds                  Rev. Lubbers  writes that he has completed a year of
     rounded out the program with choral numbers. Organists                  regular Sunday worship services in Tripp, South Dakota.
     were Mrs. Cornelius Lubbers and Miss Bonnie Bylsma. Mr.                 The people who attend those services rejoice in the fact that
     Charles Kregel,  president of the Radio Committee, opened the           the Protestant Reformed Churches, through their Missionary,
     meeting with prayer and was master of ceremonies throughout             maintain the Word of God as confessed in the Heidelberg
     the evening. Clarence Prince explained the mechanics of the             Catechism.
     broadcast and Peter Reitsema was the announcer. Roland                      South H.olland's  Church parlors have been improved by
     Petersen and Gerald Kuiper directed the different choral
                                                                             removing a wall between the two north rooms, providing a
     groups. Rev. H. Hanko, of Hope Church, led the gathering                large room for society meetings. A public address system
     in .thanks  to God for His mercies displayed to us in the past          has also been installed downstairs for the be&it  of those
     twenty years of continuous broadcasting. After the program              who must leave the service in the auditorium.
     the entire audience was invited to partake of refreshments in
                                                                                Hope's School Board, via a bulletin announcement,
     the church parlors served by the radio committee personnel
                                                                             thanked all those who labored and contributed to the recent
     and their wives. It truly was a memorable evening and will
                                                                             deficit drive which netted over thirty-three hundred `dollars,
     long be remembered by those attending. That we have been
                                                                             and giving all honor to the Lord Who again supplied the
     permitted to broadcast for 1,000 times carries with it the
                                                                             means to continue the Protestant Reformed education of
     great responsibility that we are called to proclaim God's
                                                                             their own children.
     Word in all the world until our Lord returns on the clouds

     of heaven, and evokes our sincere thanks that we are priv-                 . . . . see you in church.                         : J.&&e


