            VOLUME ~VIII                                                    M                                                                                  NUMRRR   1 2
                                                                                 ARCH 15, 1962 - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN


                                                                                                               as well as the second and last. Witness the nameless sorrows

                                                                                                               now, and presently in the lake of fire for devils and wicked

                                                                                                               men. Hell and its utmost agony must be explained from

                                                                                                               this righteousness.

                                          RECONCILIATION                                                          For this God is eternal, and so His virtues are eternal.

                                                                                                               He cannot change ; He may not change ; and He will not
                         "1
                               . . . .    ~iglzteomness  and peace hawe kissed . . . . .".                     change. Even in the sweetest chorus of the Gospel you will
                                                                                    Psalm 85 :lOb
                                                                                                               ever hear the refrain: Zion is redeemed with judgment and

           Above all the history of the world is written: The Right-                                           His converts with righteousness.

     eousness of ,God !                                                                                           But this same God is also Peace, and, mind you, with

           That explains all the blood and tears of the human race.                                            regard to some happy men who also had sinned.


           And that is not all : it also spells inexpressible suffering                                           Now peace and love are akin to one another.

     for the future. There is one question thrusting itself upon                                                  Peace is that virtue of God wherein He is eternally in
     our consciousness continually: How shalt thou, 0 man, ap-                                                 harmony with Himself in the glorious Covenant life. Always.
     pear righteous before the Face of God ?                                                                   dwelling in love and lovingkindness with Himself in the

           And there is also one hunger and thirst in the heart of.                                            adorable Essence of God.

     the godly: righteousness ! It is worth more to us than life.                                                 Its very opposite is discord, rebellion, strife and war.

           If no righteousness is forthcoming,' there is only one thing                                           And the eternal Gospel tells us that God has had thoughts
     remaining, and that one thing is hell!                                                                    of peace towards us from all eternity.


                                                                                                                  These thoughts of peace toward His people are irresist-
                                                * * * 4
                                                                                                               ible. They are from everlasting to everlasting. And they

                                                                                                               proceed through creation, the fall into sin, through death and
           Our text is the everlasting Gospel: righteousness and
                                                                                                               corruption until all God's people are at peace with Him in
     peace have kissed!
                                                                                                               the heavenly Paradise. Hence, He is always at peace with
           Righteousness : what is it?                                                                         His own,

           We will have to begin with God. From everlasting right-                                                Listen to the eternal Word of God that cannot lie: Great
     eousness roots in the Essence of God. And therefore His                                                   peace have they that love Thy law!
     paths were always equity and justice.

                                                                                                                                        * * * +
           First, with respect to Himself.


           He is and does all things in harmony with the highest                                                  But that poses a problem.
G o o d ,   a n d   t h a t   i s   H i m s e l f .   T h e   F a t h e r ,   t h e   S o n   a n d   t h e       ~~
                                                                                                                  How can both righteousness and peace go to work with.
     Holy Ghost are always right over against one another. There
                                                                                                               fallen man ? They exclude one another. How are they ever
     is not the least ripple of discord on the infinite Qcean  of                                                                                                                i
                                                                                                               to be harmonized with me ?
     God's Being. All Three in One delight in righteousness.

                                                                                                                  Look at righteousness at work.
           Therefore, the Triune God is right and just over against

     His creatures. He is right to them, and He demands right                                                     It destroys me. It kills me. Righteousness is the virtue

     from them. And the;xe  is no exception unto all eternity.                                                 of God that always rewards the good and damns the guilty-

     Righteousness is the basis unto all eternity for the first world                                          everlastingly. And no exception ever.


266                                         T H E   S'TANDARD   B E A R E R



       But then we are lost. Because we are evil from our             existence God's peace was tasted by the church. All through

youth and add daily to our sin and guilt and damnworthiness.          their weary pilgrimage the children of God were visited by

There is finally an eternal mountain of guilt that has to be          the Dayspring from on high, and they sang of peace, blessed

paid somehow.                                                         peace.    From a great distance they even saw the roseate

                                                                      beauty of another Paradise, the glory of a new heaven and
       Listen to God: There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto
                                                                      a new earth where righteousness would dwell.. And sub-
the wicked. And every day, and every minute there are a
                                                                      jectively they experienced this blessed peace.
thousand voices that cry out in my hearing : You are wicked !

And my sad heart answers : Amen !                                         Righteousness and peace ?


                               * * * *                                    There is a dilemma, a paradox. How can they be har-

                                                                      monized ?


  And I like to add a postscript here : That is the reason why            The text says : they have kissed.

the Christian's life is such a tragedy. I have'heard wonderful            Here is the question: How can God make peace for us
men cry out : 0 wretched man that I am ! Therefore I abhor            when His righteousness forbids it?
myself, and repent in dust and ashes ! 0 God, be merciful to

me, the sinner! Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful                                           * * * *
man! and so forth.

       The righteousness of God pierces us, and we see Whom               The answer is beautiful.

we have pierced.                                                          Very simply stated, the answer is THE BLOOD.

                               * * * *                                    A little while ago I spoke of the roseate beauty of another

                                                                      Paradise. Well, the church saw it through the prism of that

                                                                      B L O O D .
       And now, see the peace of God at work.

                                                                          The Gospel in the Old Testament consisted of Jehovah
       God is the Peace-Maker, and so is Christ. His name is
                                                                      and blood, even though it was merely the blood of animals.
the Prince of peace.
                                                                      But blood, nevertheless.

       Peace for the fallen race of men is absolute restoration to
                                                                          And ,with  that Jehovah and Blood there was the Word of
quietness, harmony with God, rest for the weary soul and
                                                                      prophecy. It was explained to the saints. Some of them
body in God's House.
                                                                      received a very clear view. For instance Isaiah.

       It means that all war and rebellion is taken away.
                                                                          The blood of the sacrifices slowly on pointed to a Man,

       Historically we      see God slaughtering an animal, and       and what a Man! From the blood of animals Isaiah was

taking its hide to cover Adam and Eve.                                transported to a view of the Cross of Golgotha. He ceased

       Later, we see the High Priest Joshua with his filthy           speaking of lambs and oxen, and spoke of that Man of Sor-

clothing in heaven, and the devil to resist him. But there            rows. He saw Him hanging on the cross in utmost misery.

comes the sweet voice of the Lord, and he said: Take awa)             And the eyes of everyone turned away from this Man. We

the filthy garments from him. And: I will clothe thee with            hid as it were our faces from Him. We esteemed Him not.

change of raiment.                                                    His very name was a reproach.

       Peace is at work.                                                  But here is the heart of it: the chastisement of our peace

                                                                      was upon Him !
       Later, we see Mary of Bethany  kneeling at the feet of

Jesus, looking up into the eyes of the Saviour. She is at                 Oh, what a beautiful story !

peace with Jehovah.                                                       It is ever new: we never tire of it. We will sing of it

       But why enumerate more? The whole Church of God                unto all eternity. It solves all our riddles, our questions, our

we see and hear as they cry out with great rapture: I love            wonder. There is no dilemma or paradox anymore. It is very

Thee, Lord ! You sing it sometimes in church.                         plain, even though marvelously wonderful.

       Yes, righteousness is at work both on this sorry earth             From the point of view of this great and glorious Man

and in the present hell. And many men weep. Even the                  it is a matter of strictest justice. But from the point of view

Church of God is weeping often as they lament their sin and           of the saints of both Old and New Testament it is a matter

guilt. Listen to some of David's psalms. You will weep with           of sweetest mercy.

him. Or listen to Heman,  the Ezrahite in the 8Sth  Psalm.                Remember the paradox?

Read it sometime.
                                                                          How can God maintain His equity, justice and righteous-

       But also peace of God is at work.                              ness which must be satisfied, and at the same time show

       Throughout all the six thousand years of the world's           marvellous  love, lovingkindness and peace to the earth ?


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                                                                                     267

    The answer is Jesus Christ our Lord.

                                                                                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A K E R
    His very name is The Lord, our Righteousness.
                                                                                 Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August

    All the sin of the church, all their guilt and damnworthi-                    Published by the REFORMED FRFZ  PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
ness was loaded on this Man of sorrows.                                          P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station. Grand Rapids 7: .Mich.

                                                                                                              Editor - 
    We read that the wrath of God is revealed from God in                                                                          REV.  ~~TRMAN  HOEKSEMA
                                                                                 Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
heaven over all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who                                       Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 r'ranklin  St., S. E.,
hold the truth in unrighteousness. `That is a foretaste of the                                                             Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

wrath of God which shall one day be revealed without mix-                       Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the address
                                                                                below and will be published at a fee of $2.00 for each notice.
ture upon the reprobate world. In one word, that will be                         All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
awful. And the smoke of their burning and suffering shall                                         James Dykstra,  1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
                                                                                                                      Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
ascend forever.

                                                                                 RENEWAL: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
    Well, the wrath of God that would have been the portion                     ceived it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
                                                                                     to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
of the elect world howled around about Jesus Christ from
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the moment of His birth. And the greatest onslaught of that
                                                                                      Second Class postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan
wrath descended on the Lamb of God when He hung in the

three hours' darkness on the cross of Calvary.


    Yes, we,have  heard the tornadoes of nature. It is nothing                                                                  C O N T E N T S

compared to the tornado which descended on Jesus. What                      MEDITATION-
awful hour !                                                                         Reconciliation                      . . . .                                       . . . . . .._. .._ __. ..___.__.. .___.. _____..  265

                                                                                                Rev. G. Vos
    And it howled and burned until the majestic righteousness

of God was completely satisfied.                                            EDITORIALS  -

                                                                                     J&w Should the Schismatics  Return? . . . . . .._..__..._____...............  268:
    Satisfied ! There you have a word rich in the writings of                                    Rev. H. Hoeksema
Reformed Divines. God must be satisfied. There is no ex-                              The Issues in the Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._.._................ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
ception. Not even when God's beloved Son roared in all                                           Rev. H. C. Hoeksema

His sufferings. Listen to the pitiful cry: My God, My God,
                                                                            CONTRIBWllONS  -
why hast Thou forsaken Me!?                                                          Observations                     . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :... ..____...  .._____.....  .___......._____..  273

    And on that cross and in that Jesus my text is fulfilled:                                    Mr. D. H. Kuiper

R I G H T E O U S N E S S   A N D   P E A C E   H A V E   K I S S E D !     Om DOCTRTNE-

    It grows still around that cross. Listen : It is finished !                       Saving Faith                     ( Continued)                           . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._____........................ 274
                                                                                                Rev. H. Hoeksema
                                                                    G.V.

                                                                            A CLOUD OF WITNESSES-
                                                                                     A Holy Nation                           . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275:

                                                                                                Rev. B. Woudenberg
              Notice for Classis  West
                                                                            FnoAr  HOLY Wwr-

                                                                                     Exposition of I Timothy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
    Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will
                                                                                                Rev. G. Lubbers
meet, the Lord willing, in Randolph, Wisconsin, on Wednes-

day, March 21, 1962, at 9 A. M.'                                            iN HIS FEAR  -

                                                                                     Youth, Remember!                                ( 3 )         . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279:
    The consistories are reminded of the'rule that matters for                                  Rev. J. A. Heys

the classical agenda must be in the hands of the Stated Clerk
not later than 30 days before the date of Classis.  And all                 CONTENDING FOR TRE Fm-
                                                                                     The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
matters that are to be brought to Synod must also be pre-                                       Rev. H. Veldman

sented at this classis.
                                                                            DECENCY AND  ORDER  -
                                 REV. H. VELDMAN, Stated Clerk                       The Hymn Matter (Continued)                                                            . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
                                                                                                R e v .   G .   Vanden   B e r g


                                                                            ALL ARomm  Us -
                                                                                     Miracles              _. __ .._. ._. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286.
                                                                                     Predictions of the End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
              The stone rejected and despised                                        A New Solution to School Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
                                                                                                Rev. H. Hanko
                Is now the corner-stone ;

              How wondrous are the ways of God,                             NEWS FROM OUR  cHuRCHES................................................................28~`
                                                                                                Mr. J. M. Faber

                Unfathomed and unknown !

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



                                                                           `d.        This is a trampling of the Church Order, especially
II               EDITQRIALS                                            Art. 84 which forbids lording it.
                                                                            `e. Rectification of sin must be made where sin has been

                                                                       committed, not elsewhere.

           How Should the Schismatics  Return?                              `3. Creston  therefore fraternally requests :

       The answer to the above question is, of course: They                `a. That Southeast rescind its action.

must return with confession of the sin they have committed.                `b. That Southeast apologize for its assumption of Cres-

                                                                       ton's jurisdiction.
       What is the specific sin they have committed ? The an-
                                                                           `c. That Southeast refer the Doezemas to Creston's con-
swer to this question is also evident: they must confess that,
                                                                       sistory'."
in 1953, they agreed with the statements made by De Wolf

from the pulpit of the First Protestant Reformed Church in                 To this missive they received, according to the protest,

Grand Rapids ; they thereby departed from the Protestant               no reply. But in the bulletin of Southeast the following

Reformed truth and from our churches.                                  notice was given to the congregation: "Mr. and Mrs. J.

                                                                       Doezema were accepted by our consistory as members in full
       Now at the last two meetings of Classis  East the ques-
                                                                       communion. They come to us from the now disbanded Prot.
tion was discussed and answered: to what consistory and
                                                                       Ref. Church of Creston.  Mr. and Mrs. Doezema have two
congregation must this confession be made? And this was
                                                                       children, Marvin Jay and Lary Ray, and reside at 4245
the subject of some protests that were before classis.        T h e
                                                                       Leonard St., N. E. We welcome this family into our fellow-
answer of classis was : to the parties against which the sin
                                                                       ship."
was committed. These protests and their answer by classis

I started to publish in abbreviated form in our                         Then the consistory of Creston  sent another letter to the
                                                        Stmzdwd
Ueareuel*  and I now will continue to do so. All our people are        consistory of Southeast. This ,was  on Sept. 29, 1961. In

and should be interested in this matter and, therefbre,  should        this letter Creston  pleaded with Southeast to undo the wrong,

know all about it.                                                     at the same time informing them that they would formally

                                                                       protest against them if they received no reply.
      Next, therefore, I here publish the protest of our Creston

Church against the consistory of Fourth Church. This also I                However, Creston  did receive a reply in which Southeast

do in abbrevi&ted  form.                                               expressed the following :

      After a brief introduction the consistory of Creston  offers         "With respect to your request that we undo the wrong:

the following statement of facts:                                          "1. If by that you mean that we shall rescind our action of

      "1. At a consistory meeting sometime prior to August             accepting the family, we must reply that before God and man

18, 1961, the consistory of Southeast accepted this family             we cannot. We accepted them in the best of faith. We were

[of Doezema, H.H:]  into their communion.                              certain that they were not under censure. We had your own

                                                                       testimony to this effect. Having accepted them they are
      "2. After this action was taken, two consistory members,
                                                                       under our spiritual care and we cannot let go of that respon-
Rev. R. Veldman  and Mr. J. Swart, attempteg  unofficially to
                                                                       sibility.
obtain a transcript of Creston's minutes in regard to the
                                                                           "2. If you mean that we must apologize for assuming
Dokzema family from elder P. Koole of our consistory. In
                                                                       your jurisdiction, that in good conscience we cannot do this.
the course of this conversation, Mr. Koole was informed of
                                                                       It was our right to deal with this brother. He came to us as
Southeast's action. He also informed these brethren that
                                                                       one that had been dismissed by your consistory and who had
he could not of his own accord furnish those minutes. Sub-
                                                                       been in the De Wolf denomination for seven years.
sequent arrangements were made for the two consistories to
                                                                           "3. If you mean that the Doezemas must be reinstated
meet together at Creston.
                                                                       by you, we reply that this cannot possibly be your jurisdic-
      "3. At the August 30 meeting, we filed the following
                                                                       tion. You dismissed them clearly."
objection with the Southeast consistory :

                                                                           Then follows the protest proper. And for this Creston's
      `1. That Creston  has been informed that Southeast has
                                                                       consistory furnishes the following grounds :
decided to accept the J. Doezema family as members 3f
                                                                           1. Southeast consistory violated Art. 61 of the Church
Southeast.
                                                                       Order by accepting members without proper attestation.
      `2. Creston  objects to this action because:
                                                                           a.       Mr. and Mrs. Doezema were under the jurisdiction of
      `a. These people were under the jurisdiction and dis-            Creston  at the time when they asked for and received dis-
cipline of Creston  when they left and joined the schismatics.         missal papers and went to the schismatics.

      `b. They were actually in process of discipline at the               b. They were in process of discipline for neglect of the

t i m e   c o n c e r n e d .                                          means of grace, mutiny and rebellion. Their censure was not

      `c. Southeast has not even bothered to investigate before        recorded in their dismissal papers, but they were under

acting.                                                                censure nevertheless.


                                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                 269



   c. Those matters were never rectified and reconciliation                                  a reiteration of the statement that in this way reconciliation

never took place.                                                                            should be made.

   d.    Creston  refers to the well-known case of Byron Center                                   This is, in brief, the protest of brother Pipe.

vs. Hudsonville.                                                                                  T h e r e   w a s   a l s o   a n   a n s w e r   o f   t h e   c o n s i s t o r y   t o   t h i s

   2. Southeast violated Art. 84 of the Church Order. They                                   protest which contains nothing of importance, unless the

received members that were under censure and ignored the                                     statement of the consistory "that Mr. Pipe did not protest

censure imposed upon them by t&e consistory of Creston.                                      against the Doezema family acceptance until four months

   a. Southeast took this action without even contacting                                     after we had taken action,"' may be considered relevant.

Creston.

   b. In spite of Creston's objection at the joint meeting of
                                                                                                  We must now consider the report of the committee that
the consistories on August 30, 1961, Southeast made a public
                                                                                             was appointed by classis  to give advice in the matter. Also
announcement on their bulletin that the members concerned
                                                                                             this report we will try to give in abbreviated form.
were received by them.
                                                                                                  First of all, then, there is an introduction in which the
   c. This is a failure to recognize the jurisdiction and dis-
                                                                                             committee states :
cipline of a sister church.
                                                                                                   1. That the protests which the committee had to advise
   d. Once more, Creston  refers to the Byron-Hudsonville
                                                                                             classis  were all directed against the consistory of Southeast
case and to the decision of classis  in this case.
                                                                                             Church. They were three in number and all have to do
   3. Southeast violated a fundamental ethical principle                                     with the way in which the consistory of Southeast Church
namely, that an offense between two parties can be removed                                   received certain members and families  who left our churches
only by reconciliation of the parties involved. If A sins                                    in 1953 and now desired to return by way of the aforemen-
against B he must confess his sin to B and not to a third                                    tioned Church.
party. This is also plain from the articles of the Church
                                                                                                  2. Then the committee states that they deemed it ad-
Order that speak of reconciliation. And this is the plain
                                                                                             visable to treat the protests separately in the following order :
teaching of Scripture. Matthew 5 :23 ff.
                                                                                             that of First Church, that of Creston,  that of brother Pipe.
   In conclusion Creston  begs classis  to advise the consistory
                                                                                                 3. Next the committee states that when first they made
of Southeast :
                                                                                             study of the protests and all kinds of details that were men-
   "1. To rescind the wrong decisions made in this matter.                                   tioned in them such as the violation of articles of the Church

   "2. To make due rectification and apology to all parties                                  Order, the question of jurisdiction, the violation of the

concerned.                                                                                   denominational bond, of the autonomy of the local church,

    " 3 .   T o   l'efer   t h e   D o e z e m a   f a m i l y   t o   the  Creston  con-    they became more and more confused. And also there was

sistory, in order that they confess their guilt there before                                 the question whether the "De Wolf" group could be con-

they are accepted as members in .good standing in the South-                                 sidered a legitimate denomination.

east congregation."                                                                               4. However, finally the committee saw the light, namely,

   This is the protest of Creston.                                                           that the crux of the matter in all three protests lay in the

                                                                                             fact that the members and families that were received by

                                                                                             S o u t h e a s t   C h u r c h   w e r e   i n   u n r e c o n c i l e d   r e l a t i o n   t o   t h e
    We still have the protest-of Mr. G. Pipe. On this we
                                                                                             churches of which they were members prior to the split of
can be very brief because the protest itself is brief.
                                                                                             1953. With this matter only the classis  is or should be con-
    First of all brother Pipe mentions the sins which those
                                                                                             cerned.
that in 1953 separated themselves from the First Church and
                                                                                                  Thereupon the committee treats the protests proper.
from Creston  committed: they "severed all relationship with
                                                                                                   And, first of all they present the facts in the case. And.
the .church  which we believe and confess to be the truest
manifestation of the body of Christ." In doing so "they                                      they are as follows:

sought to bring in strange doctrine, created schism, conten-                                       1. First the committee quotes from the minutes of First.

tion, and strife, which is contrary to Scripture and is still                                Church (>which quotation is also in the protest) as follows:

an offence  unto many." Further Mr. Pipe states that "it is                                        " A r t .   1 9 :   R e v .   R .   V e l d m a n ,   R .   E z i n g a   a n d   J .   S w a r t

but proper and in accordance with the Word of God" that                                      from our Southeast Church enter the meeting as a commit-

"one seeking to be reinstated into the fellowship of the church                              tee from their consistory. They report that they received

would . . . seek if at all possible to remove all misunder-                                  the papers of Mr. and Mrs. G. Gritter Sr. and Mr. and Mrs.

standing and offence  with those with whom he was formerly                                   Arthur Gritter (former members of our church) from the

a member."                                                                                   First Orthodox Prot. Ref. Church. In dealing with these

   Hereupon brother Pipe cites several passages of SC-p-                                     people they want to know if there is any information that they-

ture as the basis for the abpve statements. And he closes with                               should have from our consistory.


2 7 0                                                             T H E   SI`ANDARD   B E A R E R



         "Article 20. After some discussion the committee is ex-                                             In connection with this quotation, note the following:

cused and advised that they will give them an answer by                                                      1. That this case merely involves a member who has

letter."      This was on Sept. 25, 1961.                                                                resigned, or, as we would say, has been dismissed at his own

     2. This letter was sent to Southeast. In this letter the                                            request.  The question says nothing of any other wrong-doing,

consistory also objected to the position held by the committee                                           any censurable sin. Nor does it either affirm or deny that in

of Southeast which visited the consistory of First Church on                                             the meantime the person concerned affiliated with any other

Sept. 25, 1961. This letter was dated Oct. 10, 1961.                                                     church. The point is that he left one congregation of the

         3. The consistory of First Church received a letter from                                        Reformed Churches and later wanted to affiliate with an-

the consistory of Southeast Church on Nov. 13, 1961. In                                                  other congregation of that denomination.

this letter the latter consistory expressed disagreement with                                               2. This, therefore, is very similar to the way in which

the consistory of First Church and notified the latter that                                              Southeast presents the case under discussion: a mere matter

they "must proceed on the basis of their deepest convictions."                                           of membership.

The consistory of First Church decided to file a protest with                                               3. That as far as admitting to membership is concerned.

classis   a n d   s e n d   a   c o p y   t o   t h e   c o n s i s t o r y   o f   S o u t h e a s t    Bouwman simply says that it is a most natural thing that

Church. This was done on Nov. 27, 1961.                                                                  the consistory the of man's new residence must do the actual

     4. On this letter the consistory of First Church received                                           admitting. Apparently, therefore, this quotation favors the

an answer from Southeast. This was largely an answer to                                                  stand of Southeast. But remember now that this matter of

the letter sent by First Church on Oct. 10, 1961.                                                        actual admission to membership is not the issue ; and, besides,

     ,5. The protest of First Church reveals that before the                                             Bouwman here is speaking from the point of view of the'fact

consistory of Southeast had sent the letter of Nov. 6 (re-                                               that in the Netherlands each church has its own definite and

ceived by the consistory of First Church on Nov. 13, 1961 j                                              inviolable district.

they had already received in their membership the above                                                     4.    That, as far as the question of wrong-doing and recon-.

mentioned families. Discussion, therefore, was no longer                                                 ciliation is concerned, Bouwman states :

possible and the consistory sent their protest to classis.                                                   a. That the @.st thing to be done is to get in contact

     We will continue this next time, the Lord willing.                                                  with the former consistory, in order to find out what was

                                                                                            H . H .      wrong when the man left.

                                                                                                            b. That only when the information from that former con-

                                                                                                         sistory is of such a nature that it constitutes no obstacle to

                                                                                                         renewed membership and when confession of sin of the `per-
                          The Issues in the Case                                                         son concerned is satisfactory, only then can the person be
                                        (Continued)                                                      admitted to the Lord's table.

                                                                                                             It is very plain, therefore, that reconciliation with the
         And now I will cite the authorities, whom I have con-
                                                                                                         offended party, i.e., the first consistory, is the principle
sulted at length from their writings. For the benefit of those
                                                                                                         taught here.
who have difficulty with the Holland language, I will quote
                                                                                                             In .his "Iierkelijke Adviezen," Vol. II, page 314, Prof.
them in translation.
                                                                                                         Rutgers is speaking of the readmittance of excommunicated
     ,The first quotation is from the monumental work of Dr.
                                                                                                         persons.    But the fundamental issue is, as is plain also from
H. Bouwman on the Church Order, Volume II, page 464,
                                                                                                         the articles of our Church Order which deal with censure
paragraph t :           "How. must it be dealt with, when someone
                                                                                                         and excommunication, that of 1-crconcilia.tion.  Here is the
has resigned his membership, and, having moved to another
                                                                                                         quotation :
place, wants to join the Reformed Church there ? Must he

first get matters in order in the church where he formerly                                                   "As a rule the readmission then will take place in and

lived, and then come with an attest [certificate of transfer,                                            by the church which expressed the excommunication, some-

H.C.H.] and present himself at the consistory in his new                                                 thing that lies in the nature of the case and which is expressiy

residence, or must the consistory in the place of his present                                            presupposed in the Form for Readmittance . . . As a rule

residence admit him? Naturally, it stands to reason, that the                                            that is certainly the best way ; especially in cases (which

consistory where he now lives must do the admitting. But                                                 come to light also) where nothing was known of his ex-

this consistory can first admit him after correspondence with                                            communication in the place where the person now resides . . .

the church from which he separated himself, in order that                                                There are cases conceivable, however, in which it would be

they may know what the causes were for his breaking with                                                 objectionable to let the readmittance take place in the place

the church. And then, when the information is of such a                                                  where the excommunication was expressed. But also then

nature that it is no absolute obstacle, and the confession of                                            the consistory of his new residence would not be able to

sin of the person concerned is satisfactory, the consistory at                                           proceed without consultation with the church which ex-

which he applied can again open the way. to the Lord's table."                                           pressed the excommunication, nor also without the approval


                                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   '                                                         271


of that church. And in case of difference of opinion, the                                              [denominational tie, H.C.H.] take place not without con--

Classis or Synod must decide."                                                                         sultation with and approval of the consistory of the church

      This citation; from one who is known for his strong em-                                          where the excommunication took place."

phasis upon the autonomy of the local church, is crystal clear.                                            Here again, the principle of reconciliation and removal

Notice :                                                                                               of the offense to the satisfaction of the original cdnsistory

      1. That this quotation exactly refers to the reconciliation                                      is insisted upon throughout. And again, also Jansen insists

of grievous sin, without which, of course, readmittance of                                             that in case of difference of opinion no action may take place

excommunicated persons cannot take place.                                                              before consulting classis.

     2. That, according to Rutgers, it is a concession and an                                              To this same principle Monsma and Van Dellen  adhere

exception that such readmittance (reconciliation) takes place                                          in their Ch:b~,ch  O&er  Cowwzentary, page 312, writing on
elsewhere than where the sin was committed and the ex-                                                 Article 75 :

communication expressed.                                                                                   "Supposing one who is being admonished and censured

     3. That even then, the reconciliation must be to the                                              moves and becomes a member of another of our Churches,

satisfaction of the original consistory, so that the latter must                                       which Consistory should then complete the reconciliation, re-

not only be consulted but must also give its approval.                                                 voking the suspension, etc.? The consistory of his new

                                                                                                       Church. By this Church he has been received as a censured
     4. That in case of difference of opinion, i.e., between the
                                                                                                       and erring member, and the new Consistory always continues
two consistories, the Classis  or Synod must decide.
                                                                                                       the process of censure where the former Consistory left off.
     Again, therefore, while the details differ, the principle is
                                                                                                       But our confederation, our bonds of Church unity, would
very clearly the same one insisted upon by the majority
                                                                                                       require that the former Consistory, which initiated the
report.
                                                                                                       censure be recognized and be asked for their approval, for
     And Ds. Joh. Jansen takes the same position in his com-                                           they may know the case far better than the new Consistory.
m e n t a r y   on  t h e   C h u r c h   O r d e r .   H e   w r i t e s   o n   p a g e   3 2 3 ,    In case of extreme sins generally known it is advisable, both
paragraph 5 :                                                                                          for the Church and for the sinner, that announcement of the

     "Where must lifting of suspension take place in case of                                           transgressor's repentance be made to the former Church also..

change of residence ? [Her is not speaking of suspension of                                            When serious differences of opinion arise between two Con--

an officebearer, but of suspension of a member. H.C.H.]                                                s&tories in cases as suggested, the advice of Classis  should

There, where the suspended one now lives and is accepted                                               be sought."

on the ground of his attest [certificate of transfer, H.C.H.]                                              Concerning this last quotation :
as a censured member. There only can one judge concerning
                                                                                                           1. Also these authors are noted for their insistence on
his repentance. But then the church-connection [kerk  ver-
                                                                                                       the autonomy of the local church and their agreement in this
band,  denominational tie, H.C.H.] demands that lifting of                                             respect with the view of Dr. Van Lonkhuyzen.
censure [i.e., reconciliation, H.C.H.] cannot take place with-
                                                                                                           2. While the detailed question is different in that it
out the knowledge and approval (bezedliging,  agreement, con-                                          c`oncerns  the transfer of a censured member and the recon-
sent) of the consistory which has expressed the censure. In
                                                                                                       ciliation and reinstatement after his transfer, the fundamental
case of gross sin, which gave offense in the former congrega-
                                                                                                       issue is the same.
tion and which is not yet forgotten there, both consistories

can judge it necessary that the censured `one first reconcile                                              3. And as to this fundamental issue, they plainly insist

with his former consistory (and congregation). In case of                                              on reconciliation to the satisfaction of the former Consistory,

mutual disagreement the classis  must decide.                                                              4. And their view of autonomy is such that they insist

     "But- when a censured member removes without asking                                               that "our confederation, our bonds of Church unity," require

for an attest to another church, what then ? Voetius [often                                            this.

called the father of Reformed church polity, H.C.H.] gives                                                 5. And they also teach that where there are serious dif-

advice, that the consistory of the former congregation ad-                                             ferences of opinion between the two Consistories, the advice

monish him to come over and still make confession of sin, in                                           of Classis should be sought.

order that he may receive a good attestation. When he                                                      It is plain beyond question, therefore, that all the recog-

refuses this, and at the same time refuses to ask for an                                               nized authorities insist on the very principle maintained by

attest on which censure must be noted, he withdraws himself                                            the committee in its majority report. Indeed they knew that.

through his own fault from the church."                                                                Matthew 5 123, 24 is in the Bible ; and they adhered to this.

     On page 335 of the same commentary, Jansen is speaking                                            principle strictly.

of re-admittance of excommunicated persons taking place in

a new church in cases which are very old and forgotten in                                              The Codmts  of the Ca,se

the original church. And he opines as follows : "But also in                                               Applying the above principle, we come now to the ma-

this case readmittance may because of the church-connection                                            terial aspect of the present case. Also about certain funda-


  272                                                          ' T    H    E         ST,ANDARD                     B    E    A       R    E    R



  mental aspects of the case from this point of view there has                                                  "1. That you have grievously erred when you subscribed

  been considerable discussion. And I would like to point out                                             to the heretical statements made by the Rev. H. De Wolf in

 that for all of us there are two main propositions which                                                 his sermons of April, 1951 and September, 1952.

  cannot and may not be denied.                                                                                 "2. `That you have erred when you condemned the legal

         1. The first is that sin has been committed by those who                                         action of the Consistory of the First Prot. Ref. Church of

  affiliated with the De Wolf group in 19.53-`54. This has been                                           Grand Rapids, Michigan, by which they suspended the Rev.

  minimized in all kinds of ways in the discussion. There has                                             De Wolf and deposed some of his elders, an action which

  been reference to the general bitterness of both sides. There                                           was sustained by the sessions of Classis  East in April-May,

  has been reference made to our sins as well as those of the                                             1953, and sealed in its session of October 6, 7, 1953.

  schismatics. And who would deny our own imperfection                                                          "3. That you recognize as the legal Consistory of the

  while maintaining nevertheless the principal truth and right-                                           First Prot. Ref. Church the body whose pastors are Rev.

  eousness of our stand ? There has been reference to ignor-                                              H. Hoeksema and C. Hanko and whose clerk is at present

 ance, to being misled, to being deceived, etc. Nevertheless,                                             J .   M .   F a b e r .

  that the schismatics have sinned is simply undebatable in                                                     "4. That you recognize as the only and legal Synod of
 our churches. This is true because it has been decided,                                                  the Prot. Ref. Churches the churches that were gathered in

  without any objection or protest on the part of anyone, by                                              Hudsonville from June 16 to June 22, and which consisted
  both classis  +d synod. And the autonomy of our churches                                                of the delegates from the legal Classis East and the legal

 zrhhin he chzwclz-connection  demands that this be recog-                                                Classis West, the latter  comprising the churches of Doon,
 nized by all our consistories. The proof of this first proposi-                                          Edgerton, Hull, Lynden, and Redlands.
 tion you have in the classical decision of October, 1953. But                                                  "May the Lord God so impress this missive of the Synod
 it is very clearly stated in the letter adopted by the 1954
                                                                                                          of the Prot. Ref. Churches upon your heart that you give
  Synod. In the first paragraph of that letter, printed and
                                                                                                          heed, repent and return to the fold of our churches. This is
  distributed to all the schismatics, you read already : "You
                                                                                                          our prayer."
 have become schismatic, and separated yourselves from the
                                                                                                                Again in 1959 our Synod took the same position.. And
  Protestant Reformed Churches, so that you have no longer
                                                                                                          in a letter of admonition it mentioned in detail the sins of
 any right to the name `Protestant Reformed, a name which
                                                                                                          which the schismatics were guilty, and adding in its conclud-
 we on our part mean to keep and protect, if necessary through
                                                                                                          ing and warm appeal:                      "Believe us, we fervently wish for
 legal channels. [And now notice that Synod even recognizes
                                                                                                          your return, for your repentance and confession before God,
 the possibility of ignorance and misinformation, H.C.H.] We
                                                                                                          for again clasping the hand of brotherhood." See Acts of
 do not know in how far you are acquainted with the facts that
                                                                                                          Synod, 1959, pp. 109, 110. And also this letter was sent
 caused the schism in our churches. Many of you are un-
                                                                                                          out by our various consistories to those who left us.
 doubtedly misinformed. And therefore, in the following
                                                                                                                No consistory has the right, within the church-connection,
 pamphlet our first purpose is to acquaint you with the bare
                                                                                                          to go contrary to these decisions. This is an undebatable
  facts and causes of the schism. And, whether you know the
 facts or are still ignorant of them, in this pamphlet we come                                            matter in our churches.

 to you with a word of admonition, to repent of your evil                                                       2. The second proposition, equally undebatable, is this:

 way and to return to the truth and the fellowship of the Prot-                                           these sins must be confessed by those who would return to

  estant Reformed Churches in the only proper way, which                                                  our churches. This too has been minimized and even denied

 we hope to describe below." And then, after stating the facts                                            in the discussion. And it has been claimed especially that in

  clearly and in detail, this same letter concludes as follows:                                           1959 Synod decided that this confession before the church

 "Nevertheless, we cannot consider our task completed before                                              was not necessary. That Synod, according to Article 105 of

 we have addressed to you a word of brotherly admonition                                                  the Acts, failed to pass an amendment to insert in the letter

i n   t h e   n a m e   o f   o u r   L o r d   J e s u s   C h r i s t ,   t h e   King   o f   H i s    of admonition the words "and confession before God and the

 church. We cannot forget that you once walked with us in                                                 church."           And it adopted an amendment to insert the words

 the same way of the same truth for which we were ousted                                                  "and confession before God." In regard to this the following :

 in 1924 from the fellowship of the Chr. Ref. Churches, and                                                     a. This defeated amendment merely means that Synod

 that has always been and still is very dear to our hearts.                                               decided not to insert this in the letter. It does not mean that

 You are walking in the way of schism and rebellion, which                                                Synod decided that confession before the church was not

 is very sinful before God. And therefore we appeal to you                                                necessary.          This is plain from the very form of the amend-

 in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you return from                                                ment.

 your evil way, and at the same time in true repentance return                                                  b. The Synod never retracted the decision of 1954, which

 to the fold of the Prot. Ref. Churches, of which once you                                                literally mentions confession before the church. This decision

  w e r e   a l l   m e m b e r s .   B u t   y o u   m u s t   d o   t h i s   i n   the  p r o p e r    still stands and is binding.

 way, by confessing before God and us:                                                                          c. How can any consistory know that one has confessed


                                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                    273

before God unless it inquires ? In other words, confessioti                                              had to make reconciliation with the Consistory of Doon  before

before God implies confession before the church.                                                         he could obtain a "clean" transfer to Rock Valley. He bowed

     I am afraid, however, that Southeast has not required                                               before this principle at the time, made his confession, and

such confession. And I base this on the fact that on page S                                              immediately demanded a transfer to Rock Valley, where he

of their answer they do not speak of a confession of sin, but                                            remained for some 14 years.

merely of ascertaining that the schismatics "repudiate their                                                Perhaps there have been more cases. These come to

former position."                                                                                        mind. And at any rate, there is no historical evidence to the

                                                                                                         contrary at this point.
      Finally, in this connection, I want to say a word about
                                                                                                         Con&h&on
an argument that has been raised rather frequently, namely,

that this case involves denominational sin, and therefore in-                                               In the light of all the foregoing, I submit, Mr. Chairman:

volves sin that can be confessed at any consistory. I deny                                                  1. That the position of the majority report is not at all

this. In fact, I do not know what is really meant by "denomi-                                            sectarian, but fully in harmony with the main line of Re-

national sin."           The sins committed were to a large extent                                       formed thought.

denomination-wide, although even this does not take into                                                    2. That the position of the majority report does not

account matters which only a local consistory would be in                                                deny the autonomy of the local consistory within the church-

a position to know and to judge concerning its own members.                                              connection, but that on the contrary, the position of Sputh-

But, strange as it may seem in the light of all the reference                                            east is fundamentally that of independentism.

to autonomy, this argument is really based on a hierarchical                                                3. That this position will not be destructive of our Prot-
or collegialistic conception of the churches and the Church                                              estant Reformed Churches, but exactly will serve to maintain
Order. There is no such thing as a denomination except as                                                our churches in their distinctive position.
a federation of local, self-governing churches. And I cannot
                                                                                                            4. That the door will not be shut completely to the
sin against the denomination except as a member of a cer-
                                                                                                         schismatics, but will be open in all our churches to those
tail1  local church and except by sinning against  my local
                                                                                                         of the schismatics who want to return in the proper way,
consistory. And while there  has been much talk about the
                                                                                                         that of confession and reconciliation.
fact that we cannot simply treat all those who return alike

- s o m e t h i n g   w i t h   w h i c h   I   f r e e l y   a g r e e - i t   m u s t   b y   t h e                                                               H . C . H .

same token be kept in mind that only the local consistory

can judge that degree of responsibility properly.


H i s t o r i c a l l y   C o n s i d e r e d   .
      It has also been claimed that what the majority report

now advises is contrary to all that our churches h&e  done

in the past in matters of this kind. And I want to comment                                                                          Observations

briefly on this.                                                                                                One does not have to be a scientist to see

      1. The case of the Danhof group has been cited. It has                                                    How we as churches have greatly changed

been claimed that those who returned to our church in Kala-                                                     Since we were cast out, three decades ago

mazoo from this group were not required to make confession.                                                     and more, by a church going wayward,

The minority report mentions this too. And apparently some                                                      There was a time when our leaders talked

testimony has been obtained to this effect from members who                                                     And wrote against the hymn convincingly ;

returned at the time. The facts are : 1) That we do not have                                                    When they criticized `others for elevating man

the minutes in this case. They are not available. 2) Per-                                                       By naming buildings for late benefactors.

sonally, I received unsolicited testimony to the contrary some                                                  Today we are being led to the hymn

time ago from one who was pastor of Kalamazoo at the time,                                                      And little memorials all our own.

the Rev. H. Veldman. He wrote me that he was sure that                                                          What must we say ? Does truth change?

these people came back to our church in Kalamazoo by way                                                        Or does it stand immutable as our God.

of confession. 3) The very best that can be said of this case,                                           Loveland, Colorado                               D .   H .   K u i p e r
therefore, is that it is questionable. It has not been proved

one way or the other, because we have conflicting testimony.

     2. The Hudsonville-Byron Center case, which has been                                                            When His righteous judgments come,

mentioned here and which was treated by the Synod of 1944,                                                             Strong to bless and to destroy,

very plainly maintains the principle of the majority report.                                                         All iniquity is dumb,

     3. And long ago- some of our older ministers will re-                                                             All the righteous sing for joy;

member it first-hand -there was a case involving Doon  and                                                           Who Jehovah wisely heed,

Rock Valley, in which it was insisted that a certain party                                                           In His works His mercy read.

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


                                                                                                                    ils  the salvation merited for us by Christ Jesus our Lord-

                                                                                                                    There are no conditions which man, on his part, must fulfill

                                                                                                                    in order to receive salvation from God. Faith is a free and

                                                                                                                    sovereign gift of God to the sinner, and that too, to the

                                                                                                                    elect sinner. Nor may we present faith as the hand by which
                                           CHAPTER III                                                              we, on our part, accept the proffered salvation. Also this

                                                                                                                    conception of faith is often expressed and presented. Salva-
                                     SAVING FAITH                                                                   tion, in that case, is `presented as a beautiful gold watch

                                                                                                                    which is freely offered to someone. And extending the hand,
                                             (Continued)
                                                                                                                    the one that offers that beautiful watch begs the person to

                                                                                                                    whom it is offered to take it, if he only also extends his
       In our definition of saving faith we emphasized that faith                                                   hand to accept that gift, it will be in his possession. Buf he
is that gift of God `whereby we are ingrafted into Christ and
                                                                                                                    will never actually possess that watch unless he will extend
whereby we receive all the benefits that are in Christ Jesus                                                        his own hand to .take  it from the one that offers it. Thus
our Lord.                                                                                                           faith is presented as the hand  by which we receive and take

       By faith we are ingrafted into Christ. It is the means,                                                      hold of the proffered salvation as it is presented in the gospel

the spiritual means, whereby we are united with Christ. It                                                          and preached by men. Also this must not take the place of

is the spiritual bond whereby we are made one body, one                                                             the definition of faith which we offered, namely, that faith is

plant, with Him, so that by faith we live out of Him, and                                                           that gift of God whereby we are ingrafted into Christ. Faith

out of Him draw all our spiritual benefits. This is also true                                                       is a profound, spiritual gift, and also a profound, spiritual

of the description of faith given by our Heidelberg Catc-                                                           activity of the entire soul.    Man by nature has no hand

chism. And this is very important. We certainly should not                                                          whatsoever to receive and accept the salvation which Gcd

change it into anything else. The answer of the Catechism is                                                        presents in the gospel. Faith is a bond, a spiritual bond,

very definite. It indeed might easily be changed into some-                                                         whereby we are so united with Christ that by it we live out

thing that appears to be similar, but is nevertheless quite                                                         of Him. Let us never forget that all our salvation is literally

radically and fundamentally different. Thus, for instance,                                                          in Christ. In Him is our redemption. In Him is the for-

faith might be defined as that act of man by which he accepts                                                       giveness of our sins. In Him is the adoption unto children.

Christ Jesus as his personal Savior. To many unskilled                                                              In Him is the eternal and perfect righteousness, knowledge

Christians this answer would seem to be the same as the one                                                         of God, wisdom, freedom from the dominion of sin,  alicl

which the Heidelberg Catechism gives and as we have given                                                           sanctification, glorification, and  eternal life and light ancl

in our definition of faith. An answer like this would at the                                                        joy. Remember that all these blessings of salvation are not

same time be very popular and can easily be understood. In                                                          only merited by Him, but are also very really in Him. And

fact, you might even say that faith is indeed a gift of God.                                                        therefore, in order to obtaill  all the blessings of salvation we

Yea, further, you might even maintain that this gift of God                                                         must be spiritually united with Him. And faith is the living,

is bestowed only upon the elect. Even then no Arminian                                                              spiritual bond whereby we are united with Him, or ingrafted

 w o u l d   d i s a g r e e   w i t h   t h i s   d e f i n i t i o n   o f   f a i t h .   F o r   t h e   Ar-    into Him. You understand, of course, that in a sense there is

 minian would circumscribe faith in this case as that gift of                                                       a figure of speech in the words "ingrafted into Christ." It

 God that is bestowed only upon the elect; but he would add                                                         is the figure of a branch of one tree that is grafted into an-

 that the elect of God are those whom God knew from before                                                          other tree. And that ingrafted branch becomes one organism

 the foundation of the world to be willing to receive that faith.                                                   with the tree upon which it is grafted, so that from that tree

 43,  to be sure, salvation is, also according to the Arminians,                                                    it receives all its life-sap. And this figure is certainly entirely

 all of God, from beginning to end. It is all of sovereign grace.                                                   Scriptural. In the gospel according to John, 15 :l-5, the

 But whether the sinner will receive that sovereign grace is                                                        Savior compares the relation between Himself and believers

 ultimately dependent upon his own will. And therefore it is                                                        to that between the vine and the branches: "I am the true

 very important that`we  leave the definition which we gave of                                                      vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me

 saving faith just exactly as it was formed. Faith is the gift                                                      that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that
 of God whereby the sinner is ingrafted into Christ. Faith is                                                       beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more
 in no sense a work or act of man by performing which he
                                                                                                                    fruit. . . . I am the vine, ye are the branches : He that abideth
 becomes worthy of salvation and righteousness and eternal
                                                                                                                    in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for
 life. All the,  work that makes us worthy of salvation, of
                                                                                                                    without me ye can do nothing." The same truth is expressed
 eternal life and glory, has already been performed and com-
                                                                                                                    in different words in Romans 6 :5 : "For if we have been
 pletely finished by Christ Himself. This is true even of the
 gift of faith. He merited that gift of faith for us by His                                                         planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also

 perfect obedience.                 Nor may we ever say that faith is a con-                                        in the likeness of his resurrection."

 dition, upon our fulfillment of which God is willing to give                                                                                                                    H . H .


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  275



                                                                     and he was worthy to serve as the servant of God in the main

 [A CLOUD OF WITNESSES 1                                             ceremony of the day.
                                                                         The principal sacrifice of the great day of atonement

                                                                     centered in the two sacrificial he-goats. These two young

                                                                     kids, as similar in size and appearance as possible, represented
                        A Holy Nation                                one sacrificial offering. They were two in number so that

                                                                     they could represent the two different aspects of blessing

                                                                     that arose from the atoning sacrifices made before God.
           And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,                        Once the ceremony for the high priest was completed, the
           Speak unto all the congregutiom  of the children of       first of these goats was slain as a sin offering for the people.
         Israel, a.nd say unto them, Ye shall he holy: for I the
                                                                     As in all of the sacrifices, this typically and symbolically
         LORD yaw  God am holy.                 Exodus 19:1,  2
                                                                     manifested the promise of God that He would exact punish-

                                                                     ment for the sins of believing Israel upon the substitute

    One of the most beautiful and most expressive of the             which was presented upon the altar, typically the goat in this

forms of worship instituted for Israel while encamped in the         case, in reality Jesus Christ at His coming in the fulness of

wilderness was that of the great day of atonement. It was a          time. With the blood. of this sacrifice the high priest could

new institution related directly to the tabernacle in its typical    once again enter into the inmost sanctuary, the dwelling place

function as the dwelling place of God. It presented one of           of Jehovah, now as the representative of the people of Israel.

the clearest revelations of the covenant of grace with the ap-       This blood of Israel's sacrifice was also sprinkled upon the

proach of God's people into the blessing of Jehovah's pres-          mercy `seat and before it seven times. The symbolism of this.

ence.                                                                was very beautiful. It meant that Israel because of the aton-

   The great day of atonement came at the conclusion of the          ing sacrifice was accepted, representatively in its priest, be-
many laws which God had given concerning the tabernacle              fore the face of Jehovah its God.     _

and its services. It served to give in fullest detail the mean-          When the high priest came forth from the tabernacle

ing and significance of the altar and its sacrifices that were       again, the second young goat was brought forth. This was.

offered daily before the Lord. In terms as clear as could be         the scapegoat or Azazel. Upon the head of the live goat Aaron

had in the Old Testament shadows and types, it anticipated           laid both of his hands and made confession of all of the sins.

and foreshadowed the work of atonement that in the fulness           and transgressions of Israel. Thereupon the goat was 1ecL

of time would be realized by Christ.                                 out into the wilderness far from Israel's camp and left free

   Summoned by Moses, Aaron was called at the opening                to wander by itself. Symbolically, the sins of Israel were.

of the designated day to the tabernacle of God, there to wash        carried away into an uninhabited land, never to return again..

himself at the laver in the court of the tabernacle and to              Symbolically, this ceremony gave to the sacrifices of the

dress himself in the holy garments of the high priest. With          tabernacle a very rich revelation of meaning. While all of

him were brought four sacrificial animals: a bullock, a ram,         the sacrifices of the tabernacle represented symbolically the

and two small he-goats as similar in appearance and size as          promise of God that the Redeemer to come would bear the

they could be, to be presented before the Lord. Between the          guilt of Israel's sins before the wrath of God, this ceremony-

two he-goats a lot was cast to select the one as the scape-          revealed to them in lucid, although figurative, terms the

goat, or Azazel as it was known by the Hebrews, and the              blessings that would arise from the sacrifice. On the one

other as the Lord's.                                                 hand, the true children of Israel would be received with favor

   First in the ceremonies of the day was the atonement              into the presence of God, and on the other hand, the guilt of-
which was made for the high priest himself and for his house:        their sins would be carried far away never to return to them.
It was of utmost importance at all times that the priests cf         again.    Israel in that day could not know as clearly as we
God should be free from all guilt when serving in their office       how this would be realized, but surely from this very beauti--

as representatives of the people before God. Thus in the first       ful ceremony the believers of Israel came to understand some

ceremonial function of the day, the bullock was slain as a           of the blessedness that would be theirs in the coming of the

sin offering for Aaron the high priest. Once this sacrifice          true Redeemer. Through faith it was for them a source of'

was completed, he could go in his own behalf into the inmost         comfort and peace.

sanctuary of the tabernacle, the Holy of Holies,  to stand              Finally, the ceremonies of the day were brought to a con--

before the mercy seat in the presence of the Lord. Twice he          elusion  when Aaron went again into the tabernacle to wash

went, once with a tenser filled with burning incense, and            himself in the Holy Place, to put upon himself another change

once with the blood of the sacrificial bullock to sprinkle it        of garments, and to return to offer the ram as a burnt offer-

seven times before the mercy seat and also upon the mercy            ing to the Lord. The burnt offering too was a sacrifice of-'

seat itself. The significance of this was evident; it meant          atonement, but included in it also the aspect of complete:

that the atonement for the high priest was accepted of God,          dedication to the Lord. Standing at the conclusion of the-


 276                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER



 rituals of that great and significant day, it gave expression      riage might reflect the relationship of love between the Lord

 to the truth that through the means of the atoning sacrifice       and His Church. There were also laws relating to the neigh-

 Israel was presented as a nation dedicated and holy unto the       bor in his life and his possessions. The neighbor was at all

 Lord.                                                              times to be respected in the position given him by God. No

        As the ceremony of the great day of atonement stood at      one by his own choosing had any right to harm or terminate

 the end of many lengthy commandments concerning sacrifices         the neighbor's life. No one might deal dishonestly so as to

 and the cleansing from sin,     it formed the introduction to      infringe upon the neighbor's rights of possession. Such ac-

 many laws that were to follow concerning Israel's respon-          tions were to be punished with severity. The neighbor's

 sibilities as the people who had been brought into communion       very reputation was to be respected in the use of words.

 with God. The gift of this typical gospel by which the be-         Notably these rights extended even to the poor, to slaves, and

 lievers in Israel received the promise of complete and perfect     to strangers. The poor were to be cared for in love. The

 redemption was purely of grace, but for them it implied great      slaves were to be treated kindly and respected in their rights.

 responsibilities. Through atoning grace, they were the people      All were to be respected as creatures of God. Generally all of

 of God, and to them was the command, "Ye shall be holy:            these laws followed the principle so often quoted in the New

 for I the LORD your God am holy." There followed weeks             Testament Scriptures, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy-

 and months through which the many implications of this were        self: I am the LORD."

 explained. Many religious, civil, and ceremonial laws were              Finally God prescribed laws governing the relation of the

- given which would guide Israel in its national life so that it    Israelite to the land. This was in itself a promise, for as yet

 might appear as a distinctive nation dedicated in the service.     the nation of Israel had never owned a land that it could call

 of its God.                                                        i t s   o w n .   B u t   t o   t h e m   w a s   t h e   p r o m i s e .   A s   t h e   s e e d   o f

                                                                    Abraham the land of Canaan would be theirs. The laws given
   Among these were many laws which dealt with the relation
                                                                    to govern the manner in which the land was to be kept held
 of the people to their God. Some of them gave specific instruc-
                                                                    the clear implication that Israel would not be left an out-
 tions for the keeping of special festivals and ceremonies
                                                                    cast and a wanderer. Israel should be prepared to enter into
 through which the nation would conduct its religious worship.
                                                                    its promise and to treat it as a land held in stewardship for
 Others were enlargements of the first four commandments of
                                                                    the service of Jehovah God.
 the law. The importance of these commandments was brought
                                                                          "Ye shall be holy : for I the LORD your God am holy" ;
 very forceably to the fore in the instance of a young man who
                                                                    this was Israel's command1  It was a nation that formed the
 sinned against the fourth commandment of the law. The
                                                                    peculiar possession of God. It formed a nation born again
 young man was a son born from the marriage of an Israel-
                                                                    unto covenant life in highest liberty before God. It was not
 itish woman with an Egyptian husband. While fighting with
                                                                    a liberty of the flesh to live according to the whims of the
 a man of Israel, this young man very determinately gave ut-
                                                                    sinful flesh. Rather the flesh in its sin was to be bound that
 terance to an angry and blasphemous harangue against the
                                                                    wickedness might not bring forth the fruits of confusion and
 name of Jehovah. The people were shocked with what they
                                                                    death. The liberty of Israel was a liberty of the heart which
 heard, and the judges before whom he was brought were at
                                                                    lived in peace and love before the blessings of its God.
 a loss to know what the punishment should be. Finally the
                                                                          But Israel as a nation was God's chosen people only in
 case was brought to &Ioses,  and he in turn laid it before the
                                                                    type. There were many in its midst who would not submit
 Lord. In answer the reply was given, "Bring forth him that
                                                                    to the binding of the flesh. To them the law was but a
 hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him
                                                                    scourge that drove them deeper into sin. And even for the
 lay their hands upon his head, and let all of the congregation
                                                                    faithful, the `law was only a schoolmaster that taught them
 stone him. And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel,
                                                                    of the terribleness of their sins and brought them to cry the
 saying, Whosoever curseth  his God shall bear his sin . . ."
                                                                    louder to God for the full realization of the promise through
 It was a warning to Israel that any purposeful transgression
                                                                    which the law would be written with love in the heart.
 of God's sacred law was a most serious offense, and this
 principle should be maintained by exacting upon the perpe-                                                                                                       B . W .

 trator of such the most severe punishment for it. Only in this

 way would Israel remain a nation holy before the Lord.                                                    IN MEMORIAM

        Again there were many laws given which had to do with            The Mary Martha Society of South East Protestant Reformed

 the relation of the Israelite to his neighbor. These were in       Church wishes to express its sincere sympathy to one of its mem-
                                                                    bers, Mrs. George Stuursma, in the loss of her husband
 effect an enlargement upon the second table of the law. They

 touched upon many different aspects of human life. Extensive                                     MR. GEORGE STUURSMA

 legislation was given concerning the holy institute of mar-             May our Lord comfort the bereaved family.

 riage. The relationship between man and woman was at all                Romans 8:37: "Nay, in alI these things we are more than con-
                                                                    querors through Him that loved us."
 times to be kept clean from adultery and fornication. It was
                                                                                                                            Mrs. R. Veldman,  President
 to be characterized by continence and faithfulness that mar-                                                               Mrs. K. Ezinga, Secretary


                                                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R                                                                277



                                                                                                                   ly : the act of par&ipafiion.    Food and marriage were created

 11  F R Q M   H O L Y   W R I T   11 not to be placed on the shelf, on the "Index" ; they are not a
                                                                                                                   redundant creation of- God for which no legitimate and useful
                                                                                                             1,
 1'
                                                                                                                   place can be found. It is the design of the Creator that these

                           Exposition of I Timothy                                                                 shall be participated in ; they are for man's benefit !

                                                                                                                      However, Paul states a certain limitation. And the limita-
                                      ( I   T i m o t h y   4 : 1 - 5 )                                            tion is not such, that, after all, it still is a question whether

                                                                                                                   food and marriage are "good creature." It is not simply
                                                     C .
                                                                                                                   according to the mores and the slogans : as long as one does

       And now, in conclusion, we must still call attention to a                                                   not do too much! Paul is here not writing a "health book,"

 few elements in the text concerning the positive teaching of                                                      recommending moderation in all things. That we can leave

 God's Word concerning the creature of God, to wit, "that all                                                      to the moralists, and t`he  cults. Paul is not writing a rule for

`creaturehood of God is good, and nothing to be rejected being                                                     man, as man, in the use of the creature. He is writing the

 received with thanksgiving, since it is sanctified by the Word                                                    r&e  of faith. He is writing for those who believe and know
 of God and prayer."                                                                                               the truth ! Hence, the %&tatil;on  is stated as follows : "with

       In these words Paul shows in a pithy and convincing                                                         thanksgiving." Really, here we may quote Paul that he says,

 way how demoniacal is that teaching which forbids marriage                                                        in, effect: "Whether therefore ye eat or ye drink, or what-

 and commands men to abstain from meats.                                                                           soever ye do, do all to the glory of God." I Cor. 10:31.

       Let us attempt to understand the teaching of Paul here.                                                        This is a far cry from what is called "Cultural Mandate,"

 He is really not directly arguing .for the fact "that every                                                       namely that man must subdue the earth, fill the earth, and

 creature of God is good" from an academic standpoint! He                                                          thus bring out the potentialities of creation in science, art,

 is interested vitally in the question of such godliness which                                                     industry, education. For that was not the design of God.

 has not simply a form, but which has power to overcome the                                                        The design of God in Creation and as stated in Genesis 1 :26

 world by faith, and "subdue" every creature to the service                                                        was most closely interwoven in man's being created in God's

 of God. It is everything pro YP~C,  for the King! That is the                                                     image and likeness, in true knowledge, righteousness and holi-

 mystery of godliness which is great. God is revealed in the                                                       ness, that he might rightly know God His creator, heartily

 flesh.                                                                                                            love Him, and live with Him in eternal blessedness, to praise

       It is an interesting fact that Paul indicates that the good                                                 and glorify Him!

 use of the "creature" is not simply a matter which is pos-                                                           God did not design and create the world in order that

 sible and obtainable by the Christian, but that he teaches that                                                   man should simply use the creature for his own "gladness of

 the "good creature" was "created by God in olrder  that                                                           heart." Truly thus the heathen, who were left to walk in
                                                                                                            it
 be used by those who believe and acknowledge the truth"                                                           their own ways, used the creature. They had joy and glad-

 (verse 3b). The Greek here reads : ha ho Theos  ektzbn  e&                                                        ness of heart, but not thankfulness. They "participated" in the
 metaleempsin  . . . tois pistois  kczi efiegnookosi teen aleetheian.                                              good creature with gladness of heart. A good rainshower
 It waS  God's purpose, His design (tis)  that the creature be                                                     gave them joy. They commented favorably about the weath-

 used with thanksgiving by the believers ! The "truth" here                                                        er - if it was good! They really never acknowledged the

 referred to ,is the truth of God in Christ, the great Mystery                                                     truth of the fact that the "whole creation groaneth." That

 of godliness overagainst the lie of the teaching of devils,                                                       they could not reconcile with their idea of a "good" god! So

 which denies marriage and the use of food to the church.                                                          they were neither patient in adversity nor thankful in pros-

 Thus they place themselves opposite to the very design of                                                         perity. For faith in Fatherly providence &d counsel is not

 the Creator and Architect, the very Workmanship of God!                                                           a mixed article of faith, shared by wicked and righteous

       It is an interesting fact that the Greek term "metaleemp-                                                   alike, but it is an article of our undoubted Christian faith!

 sin" which in the King James Version "received," making                                                           One must believe in "God the Father, Almighty, Maker of
 no distinction in the translation between the Greek                                                               heaven and earth" to be thankful, and to receive all as 
                                                                                                  "w&eta-                                                                        out
 leempsin"  a n d             "lav&a~no9utenon."                  However, the Holland                             of His fatherly hand ! That the heathen did not do. And that
 ( S t a t e n   v e r t a l i n g )   d i s t i n g u i s h e s   t h e   t e r m s   a s   f o l l o w s   :     also the modern man does not do. And all theories of Com-
 "nuttigen" and "genomen zijnde." The German translation                                                           `PIton. Grace (Gemeene Gratie - A. Kuyper) do not alter this
                                                                                                                   fact. For man is by nature wholly corrupt, unable to do any
 of Luther distinguishes the two terms in the ,Greek  as fol-
                                                                                                                   good and prone to all manner of evil (Rom. 3 :lO ff. j . There-
 lows :     "su nehmen" and "empfangen." The former in the
                                                                                                                   fore, be it said again: man may have creaturely joy in the
German translation is a more actiive  notion, the latter a more
                                                                                                                   good creature of God, but he is not thankful!
 pas&c  one. In the Holland the term "nuttigen," to my

 mind, underscores the idea of having a part dn, to profit by                                                         Thankfulness is a gift of grace in those who believe and
 it. I believe that the Holland translation is very good. The                                                      acknowledge the truth ! It is the fruit of the Spirit; it be-

 term in Greek, acco.rding  to Tjzayer's  Lexicon, means exact-                                                    longs here to the firstfruits of the Creation of God. James

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



1 :lS. It is the portion of those who have been brought forth                                               some foolishly conceived-of "aeon," but rather God Himself

by the word of truth!                                                                                       the Son, the Logos, by whom and through whom all things

       The term in the text "with thanksgiving" is quite ex-                                                were made, so that when Christ came "into the world" he

pressive.        The fundamental notion of the preposition in the                                           came to his own things, to save his own world!

phrase referred to is "in the midst of." The term in aGreek                                                    And thus the creature is indeed good.

is `(meta"!  Only when our participating is in the midst of                                                    Nothing is to be rejected if received with thanksgiving.

thankfulness, in the midst of acknowledging the creator, our                                                   Concerning the fact that the creature is good we must
heavenly Father, is the design of God met with. Our act                                                     yet say a word. We would, first of all, say a word about the
of participating must be accompanied with the act of faith Qf                                               text. In the King James Version we read: "Every creature
thankfulness. It must thus be placing all creaturehood upon                                                 of God is good." Every has a distributive force ; it looks at
the altar of dedication. Of the latter we have but a very, very                                             all the parts and thus comes to the whole. Now the Holland
small beginning. That will be perfectly accomplished in glory,                                              and the German text here are noteworthy. In the Holland
when we are perfectly redeemed from all sin and vanity.                                                     we read: "Alle  schepsel Gods is goed" ; in the German we '

       I n   h e a v e n   i t   w i l l   b e   v e r y ,   v e r y   .perfectly  :   u s i n g   the!"    read : "Alle Kreatur  Gottes ist gut." Both the Holland and

creature with thanksgiving. That is the glory of our maker,                                                 the German could have, following the King James Version,

who did not simply create the creatures of "food" and drink,                                                translated with "ieder" and "jeder"  respectively. However,

but also created man so as to "receive it with thanksgiving."                                               in not doing so they are correct. They are a faithful trans-

For it should not be overlooked that the term to "create" is                                                lation of the Greek text ; they emphasize the whole of creation ;

not a term which is used only for the first creation' in Adam,                                              they stand on the viewpoint of Gen. 1 :31:  "And God saw

the creation in the beginning, but that it is a term which                                                  everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good."

describes God in His peculiar relationship toward His people,                                               Incidentally, it may interest the reader that in Genesis 1 we

as their Redeemer and Savior. Thus we read in the Old                                                       read six times : "and God saw that it was good," while finajly

Testament Scriptures that beautifully comforting word of                                                    God took, as it were, an over-all view of creation and saw
Isaiah, "But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, 0                                                   that it was "very good." It was just as he had designed and
Jacob, and he that formed thee, 0 Israel, Fear not for I                                                    contemplated it in His Counsel.
have redeemed thee, I have called thee by name ; thou art
                                                                                                                However, the mere fact that the creation is "good" is not
mine." Is. 43 :l. Notice the terms here which are used by.                                                  yet its "sanctification."    The creature, apart from man, that
our God: such terms are created: to form, to carve out,
                                                                                                            is, from those who believe and know the truth, cannot be
(bma. in Heb.  j and the term to ~OYW.  Thus did the LORD                                                   sanctified. If God had not formed man after his image and
do to us as, our Goel, our Redeemer. He claimed us as His
                                                                                                            likeness there would be no one to "sanctify" the creature.,
own from death and hell. Or, again in Is. 43 :15, where.
                                                                                                            Man no longer sanctifies the creature ; he changed the glory
we read; "I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of
                                                                                                            of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of
Israel, your King." It is really remarkable how closely the
                                                                                                            corruptible man, four-footed beasts, birds and creeping things.
reality of God's being the Holy One is connected with God's
       `.                                                                                                   He refused to be thankful and to glorify ,God.  He would not
makmg  us, creating us unto a holy people. And the purpose
                                                                                                            sanctify God. And now elect man is again created in Christ
of God in thus fof8&pzg  us (yatsar) is that we should be a
                                                                                                            unto this very good work. For God is "revealed in the
thankful people, bringing the continual offering of thankful-
                                                                                                            flesh . . . . believed on in the world, taken up in glory." And
ness, and thus have fruit upon our lips. Thus we read in Is.
                                                                                                            in this Lord of glory, by faith, we now sanctify the creature.
43 :21:       "This people have I formed for myself; they shall
                                                                                                            Paul reasons here from the general to the particular, of
shew forth my praise."
                                                                                                            course. All creaturehood is sanctified, and, therefore, also
       In the New Testament Scriptures it is no different. Thus                                             bread and matrimony.
in Ephesians 2 :lO we read: "For we are his workmanship,
                                                                                                                Only the thankful sanctify the creature !
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath
before prepared that we should walk in them." Or, again, in                                                     Let it not be overlooked that thankfulness is more than
this same chapter, verse 15, where we read: "for to                                                         feeling and sentiment. It means actually giving unto God
                                                                                               make
                                                                                                            His due, as this must needs come from the creature, whom He
[`c+ea,te' in Greek] in himself of twain one new man, so mak-
ing peace."          Thus Paul in Ephesians 4:24  speaks of the work                                        has formed after His own image. It is to acknowledge God

of regeneration and conversion as our being                                                                 in His works, wisdom, majesty, power, grace and mercy, in
                                                                            `%reated  in true
knowledge and holiness."                                                                                    all things. To be priest, prophet and king of the Most High

                                                                                                            God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
       Hence, God did not simply make the creature, nor even
simply make man, the first Adam, adaptable to receive with                                                      And that is done in the chief part of thankfulness, prayer.
thanksgiving, but he has made those that "believe and know                                                  And this prayer clings to the Word of God which sets ail
the truth" his new creation, adapted to fulfill the design of                                               in the service of God!

creation. For our God in Christ is not some "between-being,"                                                                                                             G.L.


                                         THE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    279



                                                                   profession, what field of labor shall be theirs. Admittedly

           I N   H I S   F E A R                                   there are fields of work wherein covenant youth cannot serve
                                                                   God anymore in this day and age. There are fields where

                                                                   he must needs practice evil in order to conduct his business
                    Youth, Remember!
                                                                   or experience failure. In the highly competitive age wherein

                              (3)                                  he must vie with unscrupulous, unregenerated men, he
    Nowhere among the offspring of the beasts of the field         cannot make a go of it without practicing the same deception.
.or in the insect world will you find a creature as helpless as    Inexperienced as he is, too proud to ask an older generation,

the human babe.                                                    considering his parents old-fashioned and antiquated in their

    The young of the beasts of the field shift for themselves      thinking, youth will plan its own future and choose its own

very shortly after birth. While the child of one year remains      vocation and profession or field of labor with a misplaced

a helpless babe that cannot defend itself and still depends        confidence in what the future holds. Rarely will he admit

upon its parents for food, shelter and clothing, the beasts of     his inability to make a good decision for himself. Granted

the field and of the wood at that age may be a direct menace       that one does better work in a field where he enjoys what he
and peril to full grown men. While the year old child is still     is doing, this is by no means the only or even the first
"all thumbs," the little spider of only a few weeks can already    consideration. A work that takes one away from the Church,
spin its geometrically perfect web without ruler or compass.       necessarily requires unequal yoking with unbelievers or de-

The offspring of birds are able to find their own food and         pends upon evil practices is a work covenant youth may not
fly with grace through the air before the child, born the day      choose. And to choose it is to declare that one does enjoy
they hatched from their eggs, is able to take its first clumsy     sin. We all are at our best in the work of sin, because it

step.                                                              always is a work we enjoy. Youth, remember your Creator
    But let that offspring of man come to years of discretion      in the choice of a vocation, profession, field of labor. Choose'
-and indeed, you sometimes wonder where the discretion             only that field where you can serve Him as your Creator.
is-and it will suddenly assume a know-it-all attitude and
                                                                      And it is in youth that one makes another tremendously
sneer at all the other creatures over which God had placed
                                                                   important decision. Youth begins to look forward to mar-
man at creation.    Youth does not even have time to give
                                                                   riage. They begin in the days of youth to pick out their com-
thought to the saying in German dialect that declares that
                                                                   panions and mates for life. At a very early age already they
we get old too soon and smart too late. Youth will not even
                                                                   begin to tease each other about this or that boyfriend or girl-
hear of such a thing. He soon forgets his very slow develop-
                                                                   friend. Even small children are conscious of this choice
ment. And although he glories in that lofty position wherein
                                                                   which in their teens already youth -is beginning to make.
the Creator has placed him over all the creatures of the
                                                                   Gradually it begins to dawn on him what he intends to seek
earth, he quickly forgets and ignores that the Creator has
                                                                   in such a companion. And who dares to deny that the world
done this. He does not remember his Creator even when he
                                                                   takes a large part in holding up before covenant youth what
deals with the creatures which this Creator has placed at hi.s
                                                                   ought to be looked for and considered when seeking a life's
disposal and over which He had made him to be a steward.
                                                                   mate ? Hollywood, radio, TV and magazines all seek to poison
    Likewise will youth relegate to the museum those older
                                                                   the minds of covenant youth and play up to them what makes
than his generation and scorn their advice, ridicule their
                                                                   a congenial and to-be-preferred mate. And because he does
knowledge gained by experience and choose his own way.
                                                                   not find Hollywood "stars" in his church, a young man will
King Rehoboam  was a classical example of this foolhardi-
                                                                   seek places of worldly entertainment or the like to find what
ness. And though covenant youth have been told that story
                                                                   has been drummed into his ears and held before his eyes as
time and again together with the miserable results and tragic
                                                                   the ideal "playmate" for life.
fruit of that immature judgment, youth finds a reason for

believing that it does not apply to his generation and his            Marriage is a serious business, and God made Eve as an

situation. Youth feels that it has outgrown the fifth com-         help urz&  for Adam, not an helpmate. But youth so often

mandment and sees all kinds of reasons for not honoring            has no time for such old fashioned ideas and kill-joy sermons.

father and mother. Youth challenges the work of the Church         Youth is life, and life must be fun. A pretty face, eyes that

fathers and puts on trial the teachings of the Church. Cov-        sparkle with inner laughter, hair of the right hue and cut, a

enant youth does that, for by nature that flesh of the cov-        readiness for sport and fun, or perhaps a certain natural

enant youth is a part of the wicked world in which they and        shyness, clinging vine type to accentuate the male superiority,

we live. Indeed, Solomon had his reason for counselling  youth     or even a possessor of a flashy car, a padded billfold that

to remember its Creator in the days of its youth.                  opens easily, a certain stature and athletic achievements are

   And, if you please, it is in this age that youth must make      the things to look for and guide in the choice of a life's mate.

many momentous decisions that will bear their fruit through        And then covenant youth soothes its conscience a wee bit if

the remainder of their earthly life. In the immature age of        it can find along with these a little spirituality, a little in-

youth they begin to decide their careers, what vocation,           terest in the things of God's kingdom and a willingness to

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


join his or her church for the sake of convenience. There is,        "picking them up" in any other sphere.

after all these other things. are sought, a little remembering          Youth will come in contact with "promising candidates"

of that Creator. And were it not for the fact that the Creator       at work or in connection with daily work ; but then again

remembers His covenant youth, we would all follow Holly-             before anything else is considered and anything is done along

wood's lead and drop all consideration of the spiritual char-        that line, covenant interest, spiritual depth and sincere faith

acteristics of that future husband or wife. He is merciful and       must first be determined. In fact these must be ascertained

in His mercy also recreates us in Christ and gives His cov-          before the first date. If there is anything questionable about

enant youth spiritual wisdom and discretion. He is our Re-           it, if there is any doubt about it, we have no business in the

creator as our Cr,eator.  Otherwise the matter would be ut-          company of such lest Paul shout the Word of God to us,

terly hopeless.                                                      "What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness ?

       But that does not mean that our youth today should not        and what communion hath light with darkness ? And what

be warned and be given good counsel. That there are our              concord hath Christ with Belial ? or what part hath he that

covenant youth who do take this matter seriously and prayer-         believeth with an infidel ? And what agreement hath the

fully does not mean that even they cannot receive further            temple of God with idols, for ye are the temple of the living

guidance. And this merciful Creator guides them and keeps            God. . . . Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye
                                                               ::
them from such covenant foolishness exactly through His              separate, saith the Lord," II Corinthians 6:14-17.

Word as it is taught unto His covenant youth. Therefore                 The world places its stress on physical beauty and what

lines such as these are not only beneficial but also necessary;      it calls fleshly compatibility.    God's Word places the em-

especially in the evil age in which we live.                         phasis upon spiritual compatibility. If two do not stand on

       The Word of God has something very definite to say on         the same spiritual ground with the same faith they cannot be
this subject. Scripture pays very little attention to that pretty    physically and psychically compatible unless they have not the
face, the attractive smile, the gentle nature, that poise and        life of the kingdom in them. Light cannot have fellowship
fun-loving nature. Abraham sought a wife for Isaac, and              with darkness, but two kinds of darkness can get along.
                                                                        Youth, remember that the future husband and wife must
God prospered him in the way. God did not accuse him of
being overbearing and cruel to his son. Abraham's considera-         be one who will help you and your covenant seed to remem-
tion was first and last a believing wife. Nothing else entered       ber their Creator. Another life's companion you may not
into the picture at all. He gave no further qualification to         have. Only such is an help meet (that is spiritually fit and
his eldest servant, and he sent him where he believed that           suitable) to you. In His fear seek such only.            J . A . H .

such a wife could be found. And Isaac married her with a

veil over her face!                                                     CALL TO ASPIRANTS TO THE MINISTRY

       Even farther removed from our present day freedom and            All young men desiring to study for the ministry of the

practice was God's ordinance in regard to the covenant in-           Word in the Protestant Reformed Churches kindly appear

heritance. Just turn to Deuteronomy 25 :5 and 6 where, we            at the next meeting of the Theological School Committee

read, "If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and          which will be held, the Lord willing, on Friday evening,

have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without          April 6, 1962, at 8 P.M. in the parsonage of the Hudsonville

unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her,         Protestant Reformed Church, in Hudsonville, Michigan.

and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an hus-            The qualifications requisite to enrollment in our seminary

band's brother unto her. And it shall be, that the firstborn         are the following :

which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother               1. You must present a letter from your local consistory

which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel." Now,         certifying that you are upright in walk and pure in doctrine.

of course, we are not advocating anything like today when               2. You must have a certificate of health signed by a

the land of Canaan had ceased to be a type of the promise.           reputable physician.

Nor do we recommend the procedure of Abraham in regard                  3. You must be a graduate from High School and show

to a wife for Isaac to our covenant parents. But what we do          evidence that you have completed a one-year course in High

want to stress in the light of these instances is that covenant      School in History General and Church History; and have

considerations come fir&  and not last. All other things being       also completed the following College courses : Latin - two

equal our youth indeed may have their preference to the oni:         years, Greek - two years, German - two years, Philosophy

young man or young woman.       But the primary consideration        - one year, Psychology - one year, Logic - one semester.

must be the spiritual qualifications. It is not a case of "going        All correspondence relative to the above announcement

around" for a while with one whose faith or doctrinal posi-          should be sent to the undersigned:

tion is either known to be contrary to one's own or of doubt-                       Secretary of the Theological School Committee,

ful content and then try to pattern it after one's own. The                                  REV.  M .   S C R I P P E R ,

very first consideration must be to find that companion in                                   1636 Martindale Ave., S. W.,

the sphere of the Church. And we simply have no business                                     Wyoming 9, Michigan.


                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               281


                                                                          salvation.    `Without me ye can do nothing' (John 15 :5).  2.

            Contending For The Faith                                      Because those whom God has chosen to the end, which is
                                                                          eternal life, them he has also chosen to the means, which

                                                                          consist in the inward and outward call. Hence, although the

              The Church and the Sacraments                               elect are not always members of the visible church, yet they

                                                                          all become such before they die." - end of quote. Notice

              T H E   T I M E   O F   T H E   R E F O R M A T I O N       that Ursinus in this answer writes that the elect are not

                                                                          always members of the visible church, but that they all be-
                 V I E W S   O N   T H E   C H U R C H
                                                                          come such before they die. This certainly implies that the

                     T H E   P R O T E S T A N T   V I E W                Lord can and does save some of His elect at the moment of

                                                                          their death, and that He does this sovereignly without the

        We concluded our preceding article with the observation           regular means of the Word and of the sacraments. And what

     that the Reformed view of the church, although agreeing prin-        must we say of the elect of God who die in their infancy ?

     cipally with the Lutheran conception of the same, neverthe-
                                                                             We also wish to quote Ursinus as he writes on the sub-
     less does reveal certain peculiarities or differences which are
                                                                          ject of the church invisible and visible, setting forth the
     not unimportant. In the first place, the Reformed conception,
                                                                          Reformed position that the invisible church is the church as
     with respect to the institute of the church, declares that,
                                                                          consisting only of the elect, whereas the visible church is the
     although the Lord ordinarily bestows the benefits of Christ by
                                                                          church as it also consists of unbelievers and as it reveals itself
     means of the Word and of the sacraments, He is nevertheless
                                                                          in the midst of the world as also consisting of hypocrites. In
     not bound to them and, be it rarely, also bestows salvation
                                                                          his explanation of Question 54 of Lord's Day 21, and asking
     outside of the institute of the church.
                                                                          the question : "How manifold is the Church ?" he writes as
        A second distinctive peculiarity of the Reformed concep-          follows, and we quote: "The church is either true, or false.
     tion of the church is that it connected the church very in-          When we speak of the church, however, as f&e,  we do not
     timately with the doctrine of election and therefore conceived       use the term in a proper, but in an improper sense ; and mean
     of the invisibility of the church somewhat differently than          by it every assembly which arrogates unto itself the name ol
     the Lutherans. It is true that Zwingli first applied the in-         the Christian Church, but which, instead of following it,
     visible aspect of the church to the church universal which was       rather persecutes it. The &us  church is either tril&*r%phant,
     scattered over the whole earth and could not be discerned            which even now triumphs with the blessed angels in heaven,

     empirically by anyone, in contrast to the church as particular       and which will at length obtain a complete triumph after the

     which was present in a definite place and could be seen. Later,      resurrection ; or ~~&tant,  which in this world fights under

     however, he understood the church invisible to refer to the          the banner of Christ against the devil, the flesh and the world.
     communion of the elect, as it.is  the object of faith in the 12      The church militant is either visible, or invisible. When

     Articles of faith and would be visible only in the day of our        spoken of as visible, it means an assembly of persons, who
     Lord Jesus Christ. And in distinction from it he called the          embrace and profess the entire and uncorrupted doctrine of
     church universal and the church particular a visible gathering       the law and gospel, and who use the sacraments according
     of believers in which also hypocrites are present. He declares       to the appointment of Christ, and profess obedience to the
     that the church upon the earth is invisible insofar as it con-       teachings of God's Word. The visible church consists of

     sists only of the true believers, and visible insofar as all, in-    many who are regenerated by the Holy Spirit through the
     cluding the unbelievers, belong to it.                               Word unto eternal life, and many also who are hypocrites and

        Calvin adapts himself to this terminology. However, be-           unregenerated, but who nevertheless consent to the doctrine,

     fore we turn to the writings of the reformer of Geneva, let          and conform to the external rites of the church. Or, the

     us first call attention to the writings of Ursinus, to his ex-       visible church may be defined to be the assembly of those

     planation of the Heidelberg Catechism. The reader will recall        who assent to the doctrine of God's Word, among whom

     that we stated that it was truly the Reformed position that,         there are, however, many dead members, or such as have not

     although the Lord ordinarily bestows His salvation and the           been regenerated. `Not every one that saith unto me Lord,

     benefits of Christ by means of the Word and of the sacra-            Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven' (Matt. 7 ~21).

     ments, He is nevertheless not bound to them, and, be it              We may here also appropriately cite the parable of the wheat

     rarely, also bestows His salvation outside of the institute of       and tares, and that of the net, which gathered of every kind,

     the church. In his explanation of the Heidelberg Catechism,          the good and the bad. The &uisible  church consists of those

'    explaining Question 54 of Lordls  Day 21 (the Lord's Day             who are chosen unto eternal life, who are also regenerated,

     on the holy catholic church), he asks the question : "Is there       and belong to the visible church. It lies concealed in the

     any salvation out of the Church?" And this is his answer,            visible church, during the whole of the struggle, and conflict

     and we quote : "No one can be saved out of the Church ; 1.           which is continually going on in this world between the king-

     Because out of the church there is no Saviour, and hence no          dom of light and darkness. It is likewise called the church

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


of the saints. Those who belong to this church never perish;                                                  as it manifests itself in the midst of the world, as consisting

neither are there any hypocrites in it; for it consists only of                                               of elect and reprobate, of the wheat and the tares.

such as are chosen unto eternal life, of whom it is said: `No                                                     This same distinction is also maintained by Calvin. Cal-
man shall pluck my sheep out of my hands.' `Nevertheless                                                      vin writes on this subject in his Institutes of the Christian
the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The                                                    Religion, Book IV, Chapter I. In chapter I, paragraph II, he
Lord knoweth them that are his' (John 10 :28, II Tim. 2 :19).                                                 writes : "That article of the Creed, in which we profess to

       "It is called invisible, not that the men who are in it                                                believe THE CHURCH, refers not only to the visible Church

are invisible, but because the faith and piety of those who                                                   of which we are now speaking, but likewise to all the elect of

belong to it can neither be seen, nor known, except by those                                                  ,God,  including the dead as well as the living. The word

who possess it; and also because we cannot with certainty                                                     BELIEVE is used, because it is often impossible to discover

distinguish the godly from those who are hypocrites in the                                                    any difference between the children of God and the ungodly,

visible church.                                                                                               between his peculiar flock and wild beasts." And in para-

       "Furthermore, the church, both visible and invisible, is.                                              graph VII he writes: "From what has been said, I conceive
either universal or particular.                                                                               it must now be evident what judgment we ought to form
                                                      The u&iversal  visible Church
consists of all those who profess the doctrine of God's Word,                                                 respecting the Church, which is visible to our eyes, and falls
in whatever part of the world they may be. The                                                                under our knowledge. For we have remarked that the word
                                                                                         pa.rtdcdm
                                                                                                              CHURCH is used in the sacred Scriptures in two senses.
zdsibk  Clzztrch  comprehends those who, in any particular
place, profess this doctrine. The visible church is universal                                                 Sometimes, when they mention the Church, they intend that
in as far as it has respect to the profession of one faith in                                                 which is really such in the sight of ,God, into which none are
Christ, one doctrine and worship ; and it is particular in as                                                 received but those who by adoption and grace are the children
far as it has respect to place and diversity of rites and cere-                                               of God, and by the sanctification of the Spirit are the true
monies. So also the invisible church is universal, inasmuch                                                   members of Christ . . . . But the word CHURCH is fre-
as all the elect of whatever place they may be, and in                                                        quently used in the Scriptures to designate the whole multi-
w h a t e v e r   t i m e   t h e y   m a y   h a v e   l i v e d ,   h a v e   o n e   f a i t h   ;         tude, dispersed all over the world, who profess to worship
and it is particular as in this, or that place, they have                                                     one God and Jesus Christ, who are initiated into his faith by
                                                                                                              baptism, who testify their unity in true doctrine and charity
t h e   s a m e   f a i t h .    A l l   t h e   p a r t i c u l a r   c h u r c h e s   a r e   p a r t s
of the universal church ;                                                                                     by a participation of the sacred supper, who consent to the
                                                and the different parts of the
                                                                                                              Word of the Lord, and preserve the ministry which Christ
visible, belong to the universal church. And it is of this
                                                                                                              has instituted for the purpose of preaching it. In this Church
universal invisible church of which this article of the Creed
properly speaks, saying,                                                                                      are included many hypocrites, who have nothing of Christ
                                        I believe in the Holy Catholic Church.
These properties are also attributed with great propriety to                                                  but the name and appearance; many persons ambitious,
the church, because it is holy, and because it is here that we                                                avaricious, envious, slanderous, and dissolute in their lives,
find the true communion of the saints with Christ, and all                                                    who are tolerated for a time, either because they cannot be
his members. The `difference which exists between the visible                                                 convicted by a legitimate process, or because discipline is
                                                                                                              not always maintained with sufficient vigour. As it is neces-
and invisible church is very nearly the same as that which
                                                                                                              sary, therefore, to believe that Church, which is invisible to
exists between the whole and a part; for the invisible church
                                                                                                              us, and known to God alone, so this Church, which is visible
is concealed in the visible, as a part in the whole, which is
                                                                                                              to men, we are commanded to honour, and to maintain com-
also corroborated by the declaration of the Apostle, where he
                                                                                                              munion with it." From this quotation of Calvin it is evident
says, `Whom he did predestinate, them he also called' (Rom.
                                                                                                              that the Reformer of Geneva also maintained the distinction
8 :30).  This calling, however, which God addresses to men
                                                                                                              between the church visible and invisible in the sense that the
is two-fold, inward and outward. Paul declares that the in-
                                                                                                              invisible church is the church as consisting solely of the elect,
ward call is made according to the purpose of salvation. The
                                                                                                              whereas the visible church consists of both elect and repro-
elect are called in both respects, whilst hypocrites have noth-
                                                                                                              bate.
ing more than the mere external call. It is in respect to this

outward call that the visible church is termed the church of,                                                                                                            H . V .

the called, in which hypocrites are also found ; whilst the in-

visible is called the church of the elect." - end of quote

from Ursinus in his Explanation of the Heidelberg Cate-

chism.                                                                                                                 They borrow oft and pay not back;

       It is evident from this quotation from Ursinus that this                                                        But righteous men do nothing lack,

co-author of our Heidelberg Catechism, when speaking of                                                                   And give with gracious hand;

the distinction between the church invisible and visible, means                                                        Those cursed by Him shall be destroyed,

that the church invisible is the church of God as consisting                                                           But such as have His grace enjoyed,

solely of the elect, whereas the church visible is the church                                                             They shall possess the land.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                      283



                                                                             "1. There is some misunderstanding regarding the use

 11  D E C E N C Y   and'ORDEk  11 of the word `hymns.' Although the word can, no doubt, be
 11                                                             -II    used for versification of Scripture, it has come to mean much
                                                                       more in our day.
                    THE HYMN MATTER
                                                                        "2. There is, by the change of this word, no fundamental

                           (Continued)                                 change in the article itself."


       Although a formal motion to do so was not passed by                  The synod discussed this matter at some length and then

 the synod of 1960, it appears as though the synod was in-             decided to retain the word "hymns" in preference to "songs

 clined to go'ahead  with the overture of the First Church and         which are literal versifications of Scripture." From this

 revise Article 69 of our Church Order so as to make provision         decision alone it should be obvious that what is wanted is

 for hymns in our churches. At least when the study commit-            lzymns  and with this goes unavoidably the rejection of the

 tee advised that the article should be revised to read: "In           P s a l t e r   i n   t i m e .   N o   c h u r c h   (,ours   i n c l u d e d )   w o u l d   e v e r

 the churches only the 150 Psalms of David shall be sung, as           admit when it began to toy with this thing that this was the

 also such hymns which are faithful versifications of the Holy         case but without exception the lesson of history is plain.

 Scriptures, in each case the General Synod being the judge,"          _. And now the grounds offered by the committee. We shall

 it was moved that this advice be adopted (Art. 85, Acts 1960).        first quote them from the report:

       Synod must have felt, however, that the grounds for doing            "1. It is the express purpose of this revision to keep

 this as submitted in the original overture of First Church            from our worship services the hymns commonly in use in

 were not adequate and since the study committee offered no            other churches which are not faithful versifications of Scrip-

 grounds whatsoever for this proposed revision, something              ture. Our reasons for this can be found in our conclusions

 else would have to be done before this motion `could be               under `B' of the original report and there is no need to quote

 passed. The whole matter was therefore given back to the              them here.

 study committee which was instructed to "furnish the grounds
                                                                            "2. The grounds for including versifications of Scripture
 and report to the next synod."
                                                                       are the following :
       This entire procedure in our opinion is wrong and must
                                                                            "a. We are already singing them in our churches con-
 be cited as an added reason we are opposed to seeing hymns
                                                                       trary to the original Article 69. Examples : `Praise God From
 introduced into our churches in this way. The fact is that
                                                                       Whom All Blessings Flow,' `The Lord's Prayer.'
 First Church came with a request to revise Article 69. The

 study committee advised such a revision, although we do not                "b. There are other parts of Scripture which are writtell

 understand how the committee could do this in the light of            in poetry and which are suitable for versification. Examples :

 its own study conclusions. This we showed last time. This             1. The Song of Moses, 2. Habakkuk 3, 3. The Songs of

 is nevertheless the case and, therefore, we contend that this         Mary and Zacharias, 4. Parts of I Corinthians 15, 5. Parts

 proposed revision of Article 69 could be considered by the            of Romans 8, 6. Parts of Revelation.

 Synod only in, the Light of the gromds  of the ohginal!  overtam.          "c. The Psalms speak of the revelation of God from the
It was not the work of the study committee to formulate                viewpoint of the types and shadows of the Old Dispensation.
 grounds for the overture but their task was to study and              The New Testament Scriptures, written after the fulfillment
 evaluate the overture, its grounds and the related material           of .the  promise, speak more clearly and directly of that prom-
 submitted to it. It is plain that by this time the synod had          ise since the shadows fell away. While it is not impossible to
 discarded the overture and was dealing with something en-             interpret the Psalms in the light of the New Dispensation,
 tirely new. It also appears obvious that the study committee          there cannot possibly be anything wrong with using other

 would not advise synod to revise Article 69 as requested by           parts of Scripture, including the New Testament Scriptures,
 First Church, that is to say, on the grounds First Church             as a basis for the versifications to be used in the church.

 had presented. Synod, in its attempt to get this thing into
                                                                            "d. It is evidently a legitimate occupation of the church
 the churches, is guilty of procedural bungling. The product
                                                                       organism to provide the church here on earth with songs to
 that comes forth from this must then not be adopted but
                                                                       sing even in its worship services. This task ought not to be
 rejected.
                                                                       discouraged by limitations binding the church to the Psalms.
       Another year went by. At the synod of 1961 the study-
                                                                            "3. Our grounds for the phrase `in each case the general
 committee submitted its report containing the gro,unds  the
                                                                       synod being the judge' are:
 synod had requested. The committee, however, in its report

 proposed one additional change in its original advice to                   "a) no individual congregation should introduce additional

 revise Article 69. This had to do with changing the word              songs by itself.

 "hymns" to "songs." (See the revision above.) The reasons                  "b) the synod must have the authority to determine the

 for this the committee gave as follows:                               worth of any particular song.

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


       "c) this will safeguard the introduction of unsavory songs      change advisable ? Is it necessary ? Is it in the best interests

into the church.                                                       of our churches ? Is this decision going to enrich our churches

                                                                       and direct them in the right way with respect to their wor-
       "4. As far as the original redaction of Article 69 is con-
                                                                       ship songs ?" To answer that we must weigh not only the sis
cerned, we point Synod to the following:
                                                                       reasons that are given for it but also all the objections that
       `<a)  The `150 Psalms of David' evidently refers to the         are raised against it and if the latter are more cogent than
Dutch Psalm Book.                                                      the former, the motion with its grounds must still be defeated.

       "b) The other songs mentioned are not available to the          Then the grounds advanced are not sufficient to warrant pas-

English speaking church.                                               sage of the motion.

       "c) We have not adhered to the literal reading of Article          I will illustrate this point very simply. Suppose that be-

69 since the beginning of our existence as Protestant Re-              fore me there is a very delicious looking meat pie. I am very

formed Churches.                                                       hungry at the moment. My hunger would appear to be a

                                                                       valid ground for me to proceed to devour that pie. However,
       "5. The Psalms of David are mentioned specifically in the
                                                                       I happen to know that the pie is poisoned and to eat it will
proposed revision of this article because the emphasis should
                                                                       mean that I die. This consideration is a cogent reason that
fall on them in our singing.
                                                                       I should not eat that pie in spite of my hunger pangs. Must
       "6. Finally, we hope that the clarification of this article     I nevertheless go ahead and eat it because I have already
through the proposed revision will:                                    decided that I am hungry and this is a good reason to eat?

       "a) Keep our churches and our people from bringing into'        Or must I consider all the facts and act in the best way which,

the church the hymns in common use in the American church              in this case, is to abstain? Must synod now pass the motion

world.                                                                 before her because she has approved of six grounds ? Or must

                                                                       she decide the passage of the motion in the light of all the
       "b) Inspire and encourage talented people within our fel-
                                                                       evidence, including the reasons that would motivate or
lowship to add to the songs we already have."
                                                                       ground a negative vote ?
       Here then we have the basis on which the synod would
                                                                           In light of this, we give just two considerations to these
proceed to revise Article 69 of our Church Order. All of our
                                                                       grounds adopted by the synod. These considerations are:
readers can learn from Article 20 of the 1961 Acts of Synod

that all of these grounds have already been adopted by the                 1) Are these grounds true, i.e., factually correct?

synod. The only thing that remains is to .pass  the motion                2) If so, are they sufficiently weighty to necessitate the

to revise Article 69 as proposed on these grounds. Rev. H.             introduction of hymns into the worship of the churches over-

Hoeksema  seems to feel that this will not happen (Standard            against the many objections that have been raised to this in-
Bearer,  Feb. 15, 1962) and we hope that in this he is correct         novation ?

but in lieu of the fact that these grounds have already been               It is my contention that the arguments presented in these
adopted, it is doubtful to us that this trend that has been            grounds are not entirely valid and in the measure they are
pushed now for three years will be reversed.                           correct they do not outweigh the objections that have been

       Of course, the argument that was advanced on the floor of       raised. We will make a few comments yet on the grounds

the last synod that "if the grounds are adopted, the motion            offered by the committee.

must be passed" has no validity. On the surface this might                The first ground argues that this revision is necessary to

seem to be the case but it is not so at all. It is argued that if      keep undesirable hymns from our worship. This is hardly a

you approve of grounds for a certain motion (those grounds:            valid argument in view of the fact that the present Article 69

must be good or they would not be adopted), then it follows            has kept these hymns from our worship as long as our

that the thing itself must certainly be adopted on the basis of        churches have existed. But it will be argued that we do not

those grounds. Hence, if (and synod has already done soj               observe the present article. Literally, of course, this is true.
synod says "Yes" to the six reasons advanced as to why Art.            However, our churches have felt the main intent of this
69' should be revised, she cannot say "No" to the question :           article and this they have also observed. That undoubtedly

"Shall it now be revised ?"                                            is that we should be a Psalm-singing church. The proposed

       But is this actually the case or is this a maneuver to force    revision will not assure us that this will continue to be the

the issue by circumventing the main issue? Let us suppose              case. On the contrary, other songs will be introduced and

momentarily that all of these grounds are valid and we say             although we might keep out Arminian hymns, we will lose

"yes" to each of them. All that we, in effect, have done so            the Psalms in the process and the latter end will be worse

far is to say that the possibilhy  of changing Article 69 is real.     than the first. The proposed revision is not necessary to keep
We have a proposed change and we have grounds or reasons               out undesirable hymns. The article can be revised much

to make such a change. At this point we are ready to face              more simply to achieve this end as well as to keep out other

an entirely different question. That question is: "Is this             songs that would tend to replace the Psalms. We say that


                                             T H E   S-TA-NDARD   B E A R E R



the proposed revision is in conflict with the expressed intent                              T H E   C R O S S   O F   C A L V A R Y

of the Synod of Dordt.
                                                                                    My God, My God, I cry to Thee ;
    The second ground adduces several reasons why literal
                                                                                  : -0 why hast Thou forsaken Me ?
versificationj  should be included. The committee cites two
                                                                                 ,, `Afar from Me, Thou dost not heed,
examples from our present usage to show that we are in con-
                                                                                    -Though  day and night for help I plead.
flict with the present Article 69. Now the committee knows

that the first example is not even a "literalf'  versification  while               But Thou art. holy in Thy ways,

-the second is. But be this as it may and let it be granted that                    Enthroned upon Thy people's praise ;

this inconsistency is wrong, such wrong doing cannot be a                           Our fathers put their trust in Thee,

ground for revision. The way is not to change the Church                            Believed, and Thou didst set them free.

Order to harmonize with the wrong doing but rather to cor-
                                                                                    They cried, and, trusting in Thy Name,
rect the wrong and bring it in harmony with the established
                                                                                    Were saved, and were not put to shame;
rule. What is then presented under points b through d under                         But in the dust My honor lies,
ground 2 we will not dispute. We only contend that this
                                                                                    While all reproach and all despise.
does not yet demonstrate the necessity of moving in this

direction nor the desirab;lity of it in view of historical pre-,                    My words a cause for scorn they make,
cedents where many churches have attempted ihis.  We say                            The lip they curl, the head they shake,

again, let the church learn to understand and appreciate the                        And, mocking, bid Me trust the Lord

Psalms and let the church organism occupy itself with the                           Till He salvation shall afford.

task of Psalter improvement. We must not neglect this area
                                                                                    My trust on Thee I learned to rest
of labor in preference to the making of new songs.
                                                                                I'. When I was on My mother's breast;
    Ground three presents reasons why the General Synod                           I From birth Thou art My God alone,
should judge the songs to be adopted. This ground assumes                           Thy care My life has ever known.
that the main proposition will be adopted and if that assump-

tion is granted then it would indeed be logically correct that                      0 let Thy strength and presence cheer,

the Synod (not individual churches) decide this even though                         For trouble and distress are near;

such a position is not without its dangers.                                         Be Thou not far away from Me,

    The fourth ground is valid as an argument for revising                          I have no source of help but Thee.

Article 69 so as to make it applicable to the English speaking                      Down unto death Thou leadest Me,
churches but it has no validity as an argument for the in-                          Consumed by thirst and agony ;
troduction of a new element in Article 69 that is foreign                           With cruel hate and anger fierce

to the original intent of the Article itself.                                       My helpless hands and feet they pierce.
    The fifth ground is undoubtedly well-meant but we do

not think that the church, five or ten years from now, will

take cognizance of the position in which the Psalms are men-

tioned in the Article. The emphasis will easily shift to the
                                                                                               WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
last part of the article. We may cite the experience of the
                                                                            On March 21, 
Christian Reformed Church in this regard.                                                     1962, the Lord willing, our dear parents

   The final argument is hardly a ground. It expresses a                                    MR. AND MRS. NEIL DYKSTRA

"hope" that the common hymns of the American church                      hope to celebrate their fortieth wedding anniversary.

world will be kept out and that our talented young people                   We thank and praise our heavenly Father for using them to
                                                                         instruct us to walk worthy of the calling wherewith we are called
will produce songs which can be added to those we now
                                                                         and continually holding before us the precious heritage which we
have. We do not "hope" but we "`fear" this will indeed be                have in Christ.
the result so that the present beautiful, antithetical Psalms
                                                                            In their remaining years may they experience Isaiah's words,
will be buried under the new "hymnal." We would rather                   "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on
hope that a revision of Article 69 keeping out other songs               thee because he trusteth in thee." Isaiah 26:s.

would "inspire and encourage talented young people in our
                                                                                                           Their grateful children
fellowship to employ their talents to improve the versifica-
                                                                                                                Mr. and Mrs. Rex Clawson
tion of Psalms as we have them today."                                                                          Mr. and Mrs. John Voss

   Here the matter rests. The motion is before the synod                                                        Mr. and Mrs. James Dykstra
                                                                                                                Mr. and Mrs. John Dykstra
and must be decided in June unless synod finds a way to
                                                                                                                Mr. and Mrs. Louis Dykstra
postpone it again for a year or two. The next time, D.V., we                                                    Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Dempsey
will present the opinion of others on the matter of hymns.                                                      and 17 grandchildren
                                                           G.v.d.B.      Byron Center

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


                                                                                                        stay away from faith healers while charging that faith

/ALL  A R O U N D                                                                 US/ healers :
                                                                                                                       Fail to recognize as God's gift to man proven scientific

                                                                                                                   methods.

                                                                                                                       Endanger the whole spiritual life of believers by . . . leav-
MIRACLES                                                                                                           ing the implications that failure to be cured is due to lack

                                                                                                                   of faith on the part of the afflicted.
       There have been in the past..  are now, and always will                                                         Make a spectacle of human misery and exploit the hopes
be those who claim to have the power to perform miracles.                                                          and fkars,  the frustrations and disappointments of the des-

For centuries the Roman Catholic Church has given credence                                                         perate, the disturbed, and credulous.

to miracles performed, for example, at the shrine of Lourdes,                                                 One remembers also the famed days of Amy Semple

in France. Today there are many sects throughout this coun-                                             McPherson.

try and others who have evangelists roaming about who are
                                                                                                              There are several points to be remembered in considering
"faith healers."             A n d   S c r i p t u r e   e m p h a t i c a l l y   w a r n s   t h e
                                                                                                        these claims of miracles :
Church that Antichrist himself shall do wonders and shall-
deceive many by his miracles.                                                                                 1) According to Scripture, miracles are always signs.
                                                                                                _       They point to the wonder of the grace of God in the salvation
       Recently a magazine called "Faith Digest" came into my                                           of the elect. They are therefore preeminently signs of the
hands. It is published by a certain evangelist whose name-is                                            incarnation of Jesus Christ Who came into our flesh to save
T. L. Osborn, who is conducting crusades throughout the                                                 His Church. This incarnation is the central and principal
country and in Canada. In this February issue he speaks of                                              m i r a c l e   o f   t h e   a g e s - a l l   o t h e r   m i r a c l e s   p o i n t i n g   t o   i t .
many of the miracles which he performed. At a crusade in                                                Modern "miracles" have not this aim, but deliberately turn
Stockton, California a "demon-possessed woman" was dis-                                                 attention away from the wonder of grace to the "healing"
rupting the meeting with her frantic shrieking. It was but                                              itself.
the work of a moment for the crusader to jump from the
                                                                                                              2) Miracles were always performed by the prophets and
platform, lay hands on the woman, and drive Satan out so
                                                                                                        the apostles as signs that accompanied the preaching of the
that she was restored to normality and converted. This, ob-
                                                                                                        gospel, for the gospel was the Word of Jesus Christ. We may
viously, had considerable to do with the success of the
                                                                                                        be sure therefore that where the gospel is not preached,
crusade.
                                                                                                        there no miracles are performed. Those that corrupt and

       Osborn was once a missioOnary  to the heathen, but con-                                          distort the gospel according to the perversions of wicked men

cerned that his native country of America was more in need                                              and make mockery of the truth of God may lay claim to

of the gospel than the heathen, he has returned, and with                                               performing miracles, but they lie.

dramatic results. To quote the magazine:
                                                                                                              3) Miracles were performed in the Old Testament be-

            A book could be written unfolding the many accomplish-                                      cause the attention of the believers was directed to the prom-

         ments of these crusades. I recall a night of particular blessing
                                                  .   .                                                 ise of God realized in the coming of Christ. Miracles were
         in Detroit, Michigan. Brother Osborn preached one of his                                       performed by Christ that the power of His divinity might be
         dynamic faith messages in the lovely Ford Auditorium. Nu-                                      revealed with incontrovertible proof. Miracles were per-
         merous miracles took place and the auditorium was turned
                                                                                                        formed by the apostles because the Scripttires had not yet
   i n t o   a   `Xouse  o f   p r a i s e . "      Those who received healing ran up
         and down and [should, no doubt, be "the," H.H.] aisles glori-                                  been fully recorded and God used miracles to seal the truth

         fying God for His healing power. In practically every service                                  of the gospel through the preaching of the Apostles. From

         across North America, hearing aids, glasses, trusses, or other                                 this it may be safely concluded that, since Scripture is com-
         "crutches" have been discarded as the afflicted have joined in                                 plete, there is no longer any need for miracles. It is therefore
         "the prayer of faith" and received complete healing.
                                                                                                        highly doubtful whether God still performs miracles to seal

       Recently                                                                                         the gospel. Surely the history of the true Church has not
                    Time devoted a brief article to this matter of
faith healing.         The article speaks of the fact that: '                                           been a history of miracles, but a history of the power of the
                                                                                                        gospel in the gathering of the Church. Neither the Reformers
            The faith healing service at which a minister lays hands                                    nor the faithful in the Church since the Reformation have
         on the lame, the halt and the blind while praying for a cure
                                                                                                        ever claimed to have power to perform miracles - especially
         from God, is a growing U.S. religious practice. Pentecostal,
         Preacher Oral Roberts, best known of the nation's circuit-riding                               of healing.

         faith healers, has made the practice a standard feature of his                                      4) This does not mean that God cannot, if He will, still
         big-time revival meetings, which draw crowds of up to 33,000.
                                                                                                        perform miracles. But surely the greatest wonder of all per-
         Even some Episcopal ministers conduct healing services.
                                                                                                        formed every day, is the wonder of regeneration and conver-

       The article calls attention to a committee appointed by the                                      sion wrought by the power of God in the salvation of His

United Lutheran Church which studied the matter and re-                                                 elect. If, at the end of the ages, God again uses miracles to

ported its findings. This committee warned the Church to                                                preserve His Church until the Lord returns, our God is able


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                       287



to do this. But this is a distant cry from the evil claims. 6f      have to w&t  utitil A.D. 2000 before the planets come together

Rome and of "faith-healers" that are so common today.               again.

  5) Always those who are enemies of the gospel and op-                 It would almost seem as if the fear and terror of the

ponents of the Church try to establish their wicked claims by       coming of Christ that fills the hearts of the wicked prompts

imitating the miracles of Christ and His apostles. They make        these wild and futile predictions of the coming of the end

claims to miracles to give their false religions some credence.     of the world. But God moves the planets in their orbits, and

They try to imitate the gospel of Christ by these wicked            while, no doubt, a certain amount of concern fills the hearts of

means. This is also the purpose of Antichrist, when he              the `people of God at the thought of the events that must still

makes claims to have the power of miracles. But Jesus warns :       take place before Christ comes, nevertheless they look to that

"Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come             coming with calmness and serenity. They know many things

in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.            must still take place. They know too that they shall never

And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.         be able to say exactly at what moment the Lord will return.

Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or          But the coming of the Lord is their redemption. It remains

there ; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and    ftir them to watch and to pray.

false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; in-
somuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very       A NEW SOLUTION TO SCHOOL AID
                                                                       It has recently been reported that at last Congress has
elect. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is
                                                                    found the key to the puzzling problem of school aid. There
in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret cham-
                                                                    is, of course, the proposal bf President Kennedy to give aid
bers, believe it not." Matthew 24:4,  5, 11, 23-26.
                                                                    to public schools, but this has generated a prolonged con-

                                                                    troversy between those who support the bill and those who
PREDICTIONS OF THE END                                              insist that private schools also have rights to this aid. It is
   It is not only the claims of faith healers that show ~the
                                                                    claimed by the President that any aid to private schools would
extremes to which false religion will go; cults and sects and
                                                                    be a violation of the First amendment and a destruction of
even nominal Christians often concern themselves with
                                                                    the principle of separation between Church and State.
predictions of the time of the end of the world. There comes

to the attention of those who read newspapers and news                 The solution, is rather clever. Aid will be given to public

magazines groups who periodically make their guesses as to          schools without any strings attached ; but aid will also he

the time of the end. Many were sure that this year once             given to private schools for those branches of study which

again was the last year of history, and that February was the       do not have any religious content. Aid for science buildings

last month. This was due to an unusual conjunction of planets       and science teachers will then be granted to all schools on the

in the sky. Sometimes two planets come close together, some-        basis of the principle that in this field no religion is taught.

times more. This year occurred the very extraordinary con-          To quote one commentator :

junction of all seven planets. They were within sixteen                       This means that, to get federal aid, any college, for in-

degrees of each other.    An astronomer in Belgium said that             stance, operated by a religious body must physically separate

this was closer than all seven had come to each other since              the classes. wherein religious .teachings  are given from those
                                                                         where teaching of ordinary school subjects is carried on. Cer-
A.D. 1186  when they were bunched within twelve degrees.
                                                                         tainly in the teaching of physics or any other scientific subject
   But astrologers had their heyday waiting for the predicted            or in the teaching of mathematics, there is no likelihood of

event. In India all kinds of natural calamities such as floods           any religious doctrine being introduced.

and earthquakes were predicted. Some &imed  there would                Obviously, this is an unacceptable compromise. It has
be only two days of danger; others said the world could not         always been the principle of our own Christian schools that
relax for five years. The masses were frantic.                      the truth of God must be the basic principle of every subject

   But if this was true in India, it was also true in civilized     of the-curriculum. In fact, we have always maintained that

America. The Hayden Planetarium of New York was called              our schools are only "Christian" to the extent that history

by many people for reassurance that nothing would happen.           and geography, physics and mathematics as well as Bible are

Especially in California, the home of cults,`people  were wor-      taught from the viewpoint of the truth of Scripture. Our own

ried and unsettled. One woman lived in a tent on a vacant lot,      teachers' seminar is busy with this problem at present. Each

sure that that would save her. A group from Santa Cruz              subject is discussed from the principles of the truth of Scrip-

fled to Cleator,  Arizona convinced that that town would be         ture. And this is surely correct, for the truth of God is one.

spared by the disasters. Radio Station KNX  scheduled a             It is impossible to say, Here in Bible religion is taught;

program in Los Angeles on the earth's astrological peril.           there in chemistry the Word of God and the knowledge of the

Heightening the sense of disaster was the fact that at the time     Lord do not apply.

of the conjunction of the planets there was also a sun eclipse         But at least Congress is happily anticipating a solution to

that could be seen from the Pacific Ocean.                          a knotty problem that will still keep them popular at the polls.

   But nothing happened, and the superstitious will now                                                                       H. Hanko


                                                                  ~__                      .~.
288                                                     Tti`-E       S T A N D A R D   BEARER----------



                                                                                           items are planned for these news bulletins, such as letters

   ,NEWS FROM QUR CHURCHES                                                                 from our listeners, future plans of the Radio Comm., etc. As
                                                                                           you no doubt know, the Ref. Witness Hour is "sponsored by
                   `All the saints salute thee . . ." PHIL. 4:21                           the Protestant Reformed Churches of America," therefore

                                                                                           the newssheets will be mailed to all our congregations for

                                                              M a r c h   5 ,   1 9 6 2    distribution to our Prot. Ref. people. The Comm. hopes that
                                                                               _           these publications, the first to be distributed this month, will

       R E P O R T   O F   CLASSIS  E A S T ,   F e b .   1 4 ,   1 9 6 2 .   -            prove to be interesting and informative to all of those who

       Rev. H. Hanko, chairman of the January meeting.led  in-                             s,upport-  our .Ra+o-Ministry.

opening devotions. Roll call showed that in two or three                                    `l?ron&e&ands'  bulletin we learn that the Sunday School

instances alternate delegates had replaced those present at                                teachers asked the people to meet a few moments after the

the January session, and that no delegates from Grand Haven                                morning service, Feb. 11, to invite them to join the Sunday
made their appearance during this three day session.                                 :-
                                                                                           School in a "songfest" on Easter Sunday.

       The Committee which had been appointed at thk January                                  Redlands' Ladies' Aid Society sponsored a social, Feb.
session to advise Classis  on the matter of the three protests.                            23, the proceeds therefrom earmarked to help pay the ex-
presented its report. There appeared a majority and a minor-                               pense of instructing their children in the Christian Day
ity report. Classis decided after the reading of both reports.                             School. A short program was planned, including some Psalter
to treat the majority report seriatim.                                                     smging by the Sunday School children.
       After three days of study and debate, the Classis  adopted
                                                                                              Hudsonville's Mr. and Mrs. Society is starting a program
with two or three amendments the report of the majority
                                                                                           of special missionary activity. Their first move was a letter
committee which sustained the protestants. The gist of that
                                                                                           to our denominational Mission Committee inquiring into
which was adopted by Classis  may be briefly stated as fol-
                                                                                           various possible modes of endeavor.
lows: That those who left our churches in the split of 1953
                                                                                               Hudsonville has recently organized a Choral. Society
and who desire to return to our churches must return to the
                                                                                           numbering twenty-one charter members, with the prospect of
churches of which they were former members for reconcilia-
                                                                                           increasing the rolls in the future.
tion before they can be received as members by any `other of

the churches.                                                                                  Did YOU  Know that our Iowa churches did not have

       In the.answer  of the defendant Consistory it became plain                          services Sunday, Feb. 18? Doon  reports that a Saturday

to the committee and to Classis  that one of the protestant                                snowstorm left over twenty-four inches there. We wonder

Consistories had apparently measured with two measures in                                  what the ministers did with that unexpected vacation with

its treatment of certain other members who had returned  to                                its resulting time saved-that of making two sermons.

our churches. Classis  decided that the same committee be ap-                                  The latest pamphlet to come off The Reformed Witness

pointed to investigate this matter and report to the April                                 presses is, "The One Mediator," written by Rev. `J. Korter-

meeting. Mr. H. G. Kuiper who resigned from. the committee                                 ing, of Hull, Iowa. The author divided the material of his

was replaced by Mr. K. Lanning.                                                            message under three headings, "The Need of a Mediator,"

       Rev. M. Schipper was appointed to thank the ladies  of                              "What Kind of a Mediator," and, "Who the Mediator Is."

Creston  and First Church for their excellent catering services.                           Thus the witness of our Western Churches goes forth to

       Classis  decided to meet next time in Hudsonville on Wed'                           many hundreds of. readers outside our denomination. May

nesday, April 11, at 9 a. m.                                                               the King of His Church bless these means to the gathering of

       Questions of Article 41 of the Church Order were ask&l                              His harvest.

and answered satisfactorily.                                                                   Our Missionary, Rev. G. Lubbers, has unsuccessfully

       After the chairman made a few appropriate remarks,                                  attempted to conduct a series of lectures in Menno,  South

urging prayer for peace and unity in the favor of God, and                                 Dakota. To this date all buildings suitable ior public gather-

the minutes had been approved, Rev. G. Vos led in closing                                  ings, either private or public, have been denied him for this

prayer.                                                                                    Furpose.    Even in our country which is founded upon the

       Thus ended a long and trying meeting of Classis.                                    precept of freedom of religion the true church will increas-

                                              M. Schipper, Stated-Clerk -.                 ingly experience persecution,     even until all public  worship

                                                                                           will be forbidden upon pain of death. May we correctly in-
       From the Radio Comm. of our Reformed Witness Hoqr
                                                                                           terpret this sign as one of the fulfillments of the prophecies
we have received the following contribution: The Publicity
                                                                                           concerning the last things and heed the warning of our Lord,
Comm. of the Radio Comm. has been given the assignment
                                                                                           "Watch ye therefore for ye know not the day nor the hour
of compiling information regarding our Distinctively Re-
                                                                                           wherein the Son of Man cometh."
formed Radio Programs for a "Newssheet" which, D.V., is

to be published two or three times a year, Many interesting                                    . . . . see you in church.                           J.M.F.


