                                                JULY  1, 1962 - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                  NUMEEX  18



                                                                           Yet, in my sorrow I rejoice.

                                                                          The righteous man perisheth, and I have seen him perish

                                                                       for years. I saw him in all his glory and it was great. How

                                                                       great, only God knows. But what we saw was great, and it
                     HE WAS TAKEN'AtiAY                                became greater as he walked on in his integrity.

          "The YTighteous  man  pe&heth, and no wuxn  layeth  it           I saw him first, sitting on the,iron railing along the side-

           to hmrt: and wzemAj%l men we taken away, none corn--        walks in front of LaGrave  Avenue Church. It was recess of

           side&g that the vighteous  (is taken .amny f~owa  the ; Classis  East or West, I do not know.

           evil to come, HCZ  .shalI  enter &to peace: they shall      -. At that historical Classis  meeting I heard his voice for
           rest in their beds, each one walking in his ujwigla~t-      the first time.
           ncss."                                  Isaiah 57:1,  2
                                                                          And that voice never wavered, neither then nor in later
   Isaiah is the royal prophet: the prophet par excellence,           years.

the pre-eminent prophet.
                                                                          In,,the  connection of that Classical meeting, now about 35

   His nomenclature is the highest in the entire Old Testa-            years ago, I think of Moses. George chose ,rather  to suffer

ment : his vocabulary is by far the widest and the most poetic         with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for

and beautiful.                                                         a season ; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches

   Also, he prophesied in the darkest period in Israel's              I than the treasures of Egypt: for ,he had respect unto the
history.                                                               recompense of the reward.

   In his day Israel filled up the- cup of their iniquity, and            I plead with you not to quarrel with me : all he received
became worthy to be thrown into terrible captivity.                    was suffering, and the reproach of Christ.

   But this prophecy is also the sweetest and the most com-               It was so when he was young, vibrant and strong. It

forting of all. He is the only prophet who clearly described           was more so as he continued his path as Protestant Reformed
the agony of Jesus. There is only one Isaiah 53 : the descrip-         minister and professor.

tion of the Way of Sorrows.                                               From year to year the battle of the ages waxed more

    Oh yes, there was a remnant. (No one of the other                 furious, and the sufferings of God's people increased.

prophets use that word as often.)                                         The years of `51 to `62  were the bitterest. -They are the

   And Isaiah loved the remnant. That remnant walked                  years of the traitors. And they continue.

among the "sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer               But from 24 to `62 his name is the warrior for God. It

and the whore." verse 3.                                               was George who made the statement so many years ago, a

    Beloved, believe it or not: we live in the days described          statement which I could never forget: "Everybody pities
by Isaiah, only more so, for it is getting very late on' God's        man, but where is the man that pities God ? !" That question-
clock.                                                                ing :sentence  describes him best. In that sentence you hear
                                                                      the heart-throb of the real Ophoff.
   Let us listen to Isaiah's evaluation of the death of that
remnant.                                                                  Who pities God?
                             :k'*** ,
                                                                          For almost 6000 years God has been attacked, maligned,

                                                                      offended, PIERCED !
   Yes, my heart is very `heavy : my beloved brother was

taken away.                                                               And who pities the Godhead,?


410                                        T H E   ST.ANDA&D   B E A R E R



       The church made a wall of protection around the rep-               Who considers that one of our professors died? Who is

robate: that is the dogma of the THREE POINTS OF                     going to make  much ado about such an insignificant incident ?

KALAMAZOO ! But where is the wall which the church                   Life goes on.

should ever make and defend around the dogma of the beau-                 The church world barely knows of it.
tiful Jehovah ? Who makes himself hot and bothered about
                                                                          But if you consider that our churches, and our faithful
the justification of the Most High ? The saints of all the
                                                                     ministers and so-called laity harbor the most precious SEED,
ages did: the prophets, the Apostles, Paul especially, Johli
                                                                     the matter becomes more important.
HUSS, Luther, Calvin, etc.

                                                                         The whole church world should lay it to heart that George
       All those who defend the Godhead are the righteous, and
                                                                     passed away to his eternal reward of grace. The whole church
they belong to the remnant.
                                                                     should ~midcr  ic.

                           *`8 * *                                        There is no church on earth that surpasses ours in purity

                                                                     of doctrine, the doctrine of God and His revelation. And
       But the remnant perisheth, the righteous man is taken         there is not one of us who fought more for the truth and
away.
                                                                     suffered more as a consequence than he.

       And silently we take them to the grave, and sow their
                                                                          And it should be diligently considered and laid away in
bodies like a seed against the day of the resurrection.
                                                                     the heart and pondered.

       So they did with our beloved brother George.                       He left a precious heritage: the truth as he lived it and

 And he is well off. For he is taken away from the evil              testified it.

to come.

       The burden of the suffering of God's people, and the                                     *    * * +

reproach of Christ do not press him anymore. At this heavy

hour while I am writing, he is singing the beautiful melodi&              He shall enter into peace.

of heaven, the angels listening. He sees David and Jonathan,              That is beautiful.
Peter and Paul, but most of all, he sees Jesus, the Face of
God. We do not sorrow so much that he is gone, but that                   Peace, blessed peace ! What art thou?

we must stay and cannot go too.                                           Peace, beloved reader, is harmony between your heart

       But no more evil for him.                                     and God's heart. Both beat in unison.

                                                                          Its opposite is war, and that is our natural heritage. We

                                                                     are born in war and proceed in war, and it is war when we

       He walked in his uprightness.                                 d i e .

       What is uprightness ?                                              Look around you, and you will see it.

       It is that virtue where your inside and your outside are           Man is very wise and proficient, able and deep. So deep

the same. When you scowl, you are angry inside. When your            that I cannot begin to follow them. And they prove it. Re-

smile is sweet, your hear-t beams with kindness for the object.      member Glenn and Grissom and Carpenter? Also Hiroshima

                                                                     and Nagasaki ?
       That's a correct description of our beloved brother. We

who walked so close to him remember.                                      But with all our bathtubs, radios, pianos, television, dish-

                                                                     washers, automatic washers and dryers, air-conditioners,
       Yes, and that is also a description of Jehovah. It was
                                                                     autos, trains, jets, and what have you, we are still at war.
Jehovah who gave him all that uprightness : it was outstand-
                                                                     At war with everybody and everything.
ing in him. God gave him a goodly portion.

                                                                          No, there is no peace to the wicked.
       And that was his walk. As long as I have known him he

br&hed  uprightness. He would rather die than deceive. Oh,                The heart of man is so weary, no man can tell it.

believe me, ye daughters of Jerusalem, God gave him a goodly              But the man of God's remnant has peace. He has peace
portion of uprightness. That is also the reason why he was           in his heart, on his way, and at the end.
so cordially hated and despised.
                                                                          He shall enter into his peace.
       Because of this gift of the Almighty his remembrance
                                                                          That peace, that harmony between God and his heart was
shall be unto all the ages. It shall never be forgotten. .Because
                                                                     established really from all eternity.
this very gift is one of God's own attributes.

                                                                          Before the world was created God knew George, and He
                           * *      * *
                                                                     loved George in that knowledge : it was the foreknowledge of

       But no one considers. How true.                               love.


                                               T    H    E     STA~YSARDBL~T~ER                                                                                                                                                                                     411



        And the Lord also prepared George in all the generations

     of his fathers and mothers.                                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                               Sem%-monthly,  except monthly during  June, July and August
        And he was born and raised and prepared by Jehovah to                   Published by the REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
     play his part in the struggle for the tiuth from `24 to `62.            "P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
                                                                                                                                  - REV. HERMAN HOEKSEMA
                                                                                                                 Editor 
        And when that period was ended in God's counsel, God                 ,`Conimunications  relative to contents should be addressed to
                                                                             :,Rev.  H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,
     said : "That is enough, George ! Now come higher : your place             Mich. Contributions will be limited to 300 words and must be

     is prepared for you. You may now enter the place which the                                                        neatly written or typewritten.
                                                                               All  church news items should be addressed to Mr. J. M. Faber,
     Prince of Peace, My Son, has prepared for you."                                                 1123 Cooper, S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

        And so our beloved brother entered into peace.                          Annduncements and Obituaries with the $2.00 fee included
                                                                               must be mailed 8 days prior to issue date, to the address below:

        It must be wondrous to awake in heaven.                                 All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to
                                                                                                 Mr. James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
                                                                                                                            Grand Rapids 7, Michigan

                               * * + *                                                RENEWAL: Unless a detite  request for discontinuance is
                                                                               received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscrip-
                                                                                 tion to continue without the formality of a renewal order.

        And he shall rest in his bed.                                                                            Subscription price: $5.00 per year
                                                                                         Second Class  postage p&d at Grand Rapids, Michigan

        Yes, of Stephen we read that "he fell asleep."

        God's people fall asleep when they die.                                                                                       C O N T E N T S

        No, not their spirit. They cannot sleep. They stay awake,          MEDITATION -
                                                                                      H e Was Taken Away . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
     and they fly upward to the throne of God. They are welcomed
                                                                                                  Rev. G. Vos
     when they come near the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem, and
                                                                           EDITORLALS  -
     they are directed to a special place that was prepared in ad-
                                                                                      Election and Reprobation According to Barth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
     Vance.  And they do not sleep there. They are always awake                       OnIy  Two Churches? . . ..__._........................................................
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       413
     and they sing and speak and tell the story : saved by grace !                    Entered Into Rest.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

                                                                                                  Rev. H. Hoeksema
        But the body sleeps, and we carry it to the grave. And
                                                                                      T h e Three Points Still Binding! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
     the body will sleep on until the Trump of the Arch-angel.                                    Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
     Then, while Jesus comes on the clouds of heaver?,  George will        ouR DoCTRPiE

     wake-up  and will see his spirit coming which Jesus `will bring
                                                                                      O f Justification                            . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
     with Him. And then, body and spirit united, we will all sing                                 Rev. H. Hoeksema
     forever the praise of Jehovah, o& beloved Father.
I                                                                          bSOLUTION                  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   417
        Oh yes, believe me, he entered into God's peace !
                                                                          _ A CLOUD OF WITNESSES -
                                                                 G.V.                 Korah, Dathan,                              and Abiram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .,.. 418

                                                                                                  Rev. B. Woudenberg


                                                                           FROM HOLY WRIT  -

                                                                                      Exposition of I Timothy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

                                                                                                  Rev. G. Lubbers
           .Thy counsel through my earthly way

              Shall guide me and control,                                  INHISFEAR-

            And then                                                                  T h e Light For Your Path . . . . . . . . . . .._..._..._._........................  . 422
                         to glory afterward
                                                                                                  Rev. J. A. Heys
              Thou wilt receive my soul.

                                                                           CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH-
            Whom have I, Lord, in heaven but Thee,                                    The Church and the Sacraments. . ..`... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

              To Whom my thoughts aspire ?                                                         Rev. H. Veldman

            And, having Thee, on earth is nought                         _ THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS -
              That I can yet desire.                                                  The Belgic Confession __. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .426

                                                                                                   Rev. H. C. Hoeksema

            Though flesh  and heart should faint and fail,
                                                                           DECENCY AND ORDER -
              The Lord will ever be
                                                                                      Hymns and Our Radio Broadcasts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
            The strength and portion of my heart,                                                  Rev. G. Vanden  Berg

              My God eternally.
                                                                           ALLAROUNDUS-

                                                                                      Synod of 1.962 . .._......................................................................  430
            To live apart from God is death,
                                                                                                   Rev. H. Hanko
           ;-, `Tis good His face to seek;

            My refuge is- Q$X&ng God,                                      N E W S    F R O M OUR                      CHURCHES . .._ ..__ __....._....  . . . . . .._ 432
                                                                                                   Mr. J. M. Faber
               His praise Illong to speak.

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


                                                                       selves, and not to bestow upon them saving faith and the

              E D I T O R I A L S                                      grace of conversion ; but permitting them in his just judg-
                                                                       ment to follow their own ways, at last for the declaration of

                                                                       his justice, to condemn and perish them forever, not only on

Ekfion ad Reprobation According to Ba+                                 account of their unbelief, but also for all their other sins.

                                                                       And this is the decree of reprobation which by no means
       In Clwistiautity  Toda31  there occurred an article under       makes God the author of sin (the very thought of which is
the heading: "The Enigma In Barth." The article especially             blasphemy) but declares him to be an awful, irreprehensible,
has reference to the fact that Barth, in his Dogmatics, quotes         and righteous judge and avenger thereof."
frequently from Scripture in spite of the fact that he em-
                                                                           Aiso in this article of our&onfession  it is very plain that,
phasizes, at the same time, that there are errors, both his-
                                                                       through the fall, not all men, although they were under the
torical and theological, in the Bible. This, according to the
                                                                       wrath of God, became reprobate. It is evident that when Barth
article, is the enigma in the Swiss theologian.                        uses the term reprobation he gives it a new meaning and

       But this is, by no means the only enigma in Barth. This         content.

is also true and emphatically so, with respect to his treatment            On the same page of his Dogmatics, Barth writes that
of the doctrine of predestination and especially in regard to          reprobation in which all men have fallen, so that all men
his view of the truth of reprobation. For this I quoted him            must suffer death and are under the wrath of God, He has
from his Dogmatics.        We wrote that Barth teaches that            laid upon Christ and Christ obediently bore the same on the
Christ suffered and died, not only for the sin of His people           cross and in His death. "Ja, es ist eben der von ihm verlangte
but that He took upon Himself the reprobation of all men               und geleistete Gehorsam seine Willigkeit, die giittliche  Ver-
so that after His death, there is no more reprobation for any          werfung der Anderen auf sich  selbst zu nehmen . . . ." Christ
man.                                                                   willingly took the reprobation of men upon Himself.

       That this is his view is evident from many passages of              Again, on page 134, Barth writes that we, i.e., all men,
his Dogmatics. This is plain from what he writes on page               through the fall of man had delivered ourselves to the wrath
132. There he writes, first of all, that man, through his fall         of God and to reprobation, but that Christ bore the wrath of
was made subject to reprobation (man is "zu seinem Feind               God and our reprobation. It seems that Barth identifies the
geworden und also der Verwerphung verfallen) . This means,             wrath of God with reprobation: Christ bore the wrath
of course, that in Adam, through his fall into sin, all men            of God and thus He bore our reprobation.               But this
became reprobate and as such are guilty of death. We ask               is certainly not the meaning of the term reprobation in
the question: what does Barth mean by the term "reproba-               Reformed theology. And the question is: what right does
tion." Certainly, he does not use the term in the same sense           he have to employ a term that is so well known in Reformed
it means in our Reformed Confessions nor as it occurs in               dogmatics as well as in all Reformed Confessions and give
Holy Writ.                                                             it an entirely different meaning?

       In the Netherland Confession, Art. 16, we read:                     This, to my mind, is not honest. It is deceptive.

       "We believe that all the posterity of Adam being thus               Again, the same idea is strongly expressed on page 135.

fallen into perdition and ruin, by the sin of our first parents,       Christ as the Son of God is reprobated for the sake of His

God then did manifest himself such as he is ; that is to say,          own but even as the Reprobate He remains the elect.
merciful and just: Merciful, since he delivers and preserves               And once more, on page 36 he writes that faith in Christ
all whom he in his eternal and unchangeable counsel of mere            means that the believer has cast his own reprobation behind
goodness, hath elected in Christ Jesus our Lord, without               and under himself. Reprobation is no more because Christ
any respect to their works: Just, in leaving others in the             bore their reprobation.
fall and perdition wherein they have involved themselves."
                                                                           From page 136 to 175 Barth offers a long discussion
       This certainly cannot mean that, after the fall, all men are    about supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism and he finds
reprobate.                                                             in the theologians of the seventeenth century also a middle

       The same is evident from the Canons of Dordrecht. In            position, especially in Petrus of Mastricht.  We will not

I, 15 we read :                                                        enter into this discussion, as presented by Barth, in detail.

       "What peculiarly tends to illustrate and recommend to us        We have already briefly explained the terms supralapsarian-

the eternal and unmerited grace of election, is the express            ism and infralapsarianism before. The terms concern the

testimony of sacred Scripture, that not all but some only are          question whether God, in His eternal decree, elected and

elected, while others are passed by in the eternal decree,             reprobated out of a treatable  and fallible human race, out of

whom God, out of his sovereign, most just, irreprehensible             a human race which, in God's eternal conception, was yet

and unchangeable good pleasure, hath decreed to leave in the           to be created and was to fall (supra : above creation and

common misery into which they have wilfully plunged them-              above the fall) or out of a created and fallen human race

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


(infra: below the creation of man and below the fall). Ac-            ante  itself is a work of faith.) No new birth without the

cording to infralapsarianism,  the order in God's decree is:          gospel. (Also this I do not believe. The text quoted by the

Creation,, the fall, election and reprobation ; according to          author from I Peter 123  does not speak of the gospel but

supralapsarianism the order is : Predestination (election and         of the living and abiding word of God. It is true that

reprobation), creation and the fall. My own position in this          this living and abiding the Word of God is "by the gospel"

matter I have already indicated in a former article.                  but itself is not the Word of God. H.H.) Eternal life a

    What is Barth's position on this question is not quite            present possession. Eternal security of the saved. (This we .-

clear though he seems to favor the supralapsarian position.           also believe; believers are preserved by God and, therefore

To my mind, he cannot take any definite position whatsoever           they' persevere.)
                                                                                                                                        4
for the simple reason that he does not believe in reprobation             I hope to continue this in our next issue, D.V.

in the Reformed and biblical s&se of the word.          According                                                             H.H.

to him, as we explained before, through the fall, all men are

reprobates and Christ took reprobation upon Himself, so that
after the death and resurrection and exaltation of Christ there                            Entered Into Rest.

is no more reprobation. Hence, it stands to reason that he is             I cannot refrain to say a few words about the Rev. G.

neither supra nor infra. If anything, he is a universalist.           M. Ophoff who on Tuesday, June 12, entered into `the rest

And this he denies.                                                   that remains for the people of God and for whom funeral

    But let this be in parentheses.                                   services were held in the First Protestant Reformed Church

   We have still more to say about Barth's conception of              of Grand Rapids, Mich.

predestination.                                              H.H.         I knew him for. over forty years, when he was still a

                                                                      student in Calvin College, but I started to know him more

                                                                      intimately since 1924 when he took our side in the con-

                                                                      troversy on the issue on "common grace" and against the

                   Only Two Churches?                                 notorious "Three Points."

    I received several copies of a pamphlet called "Biblical              He was at that time minister of the gospel in the Hope

Contender."                                                           Christian Reformed Church, and was, together with the Rev.

   There are several good elements in these pamphlets, ex-            H. Danhof, deposed from office by the then Classis  West

pressions of Doctrine,' to which I heartily subscribe. The            of Grand Rapids.

author, pastor Eddie K. Garrett of Hamilton, Ohio, a Bap-                 Ever since that time I learned to know and to love him

tist minister, writes :. "Some of the reasons set forth in this       as a faithful brother.

article for being a Baptist are believed by some; other reasons           He knew and loved the Reformed truth and, often in a

are believed by none but Baptists. It is these doctrines that         fiery way, defended it. He never wavered but stood fast on
are believed by none but Baptists that make me a Baptist."            the foundation of the truth as exp,ressed  in the Reformed
   He then sets forth various doctrines which, evidently, are         Confessions. Also in 1953, when `many, under the influence
not and cannot be the particular reasons why he is a Baptist.         of the liberated theology of the Netherlands, departed from
Some of these doctrines are: the Bible is alone our only and          the truth as confessed by our Protestant Reformed Churches,
all-sufficient rule of faith and practice.    (By the way, I would    he stood fast and remained faithful to that truth.
insert here the word "infallible.") The doctrine of the divine            He knew by experience the grace of God.
Trinity: one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. An inerrant
                                                                          This was evident in all the work he performed for our
Bible. The Genesis account of creation (six days, no periods ?
                                                                      churches, especially as co-editor of The Standard Bearer  and
H.H.). The fall of man, not the man-made theory that in-
                                                                      as professor in our seminary.
fants are born in a state of innocency.  The sovereignty of
                                                                          But this became more evident still during the last four
God. Unconditional election. Salvation by grace without
                                                                      years of his life when the Lord seriously afflicted him by a
works. A regenerated membership of the Church. (The
                                                                      stroke from which he never recovered. He gradually became.
question is here : who determines who is regenerated and who
                                                                      worse in the physical sense of the word, until, finally, I and
is not. And in connection with this: may infants also be
                                                                      others with me longed that the Lord would take him into the
regenerated ? In a note, the author writes : "Many of the
                                                                      rest that remains for the people of God. And th& certainly
Protestants teach the necessity of regeneration, for without
                                                                      was his hope as he witnessed to me even the last time when I
it no one is saved, but it is left to the Baptists alone to
                                                                      visited him in Pine Rest.
demand that an applicant for membership to declare that God
has worked a work of grace in his heart." But if the fact of              Yes, indeed, the Rev. G. M. Ophoff was, to me, a faith-
regeneration and the knowledge of it is based solely on the           ful brother but what is more, he was a humble child of God.

declaration of the applicant for membership one still cannot              May our God comfort his wife and the rest of his rel-

be sure.) Repentance before faith. (This is not true: repent-         atives !                                                H.H.


I                                                                                                                                            1

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


                  The Three Points Still Biding!                         "settled and binding" in the churches. And, in the second
                                                                         place, the Rev. Van Dellen  certainly at one time insisted em-

            In De Wachteg,  (Dutch weekly of the Christian Reformed      phatically on the binding character of the Three Points. For

     Church), June 19 issue, appear articles from the Rev. Martin        it was this same Rev. Van Dellen  who claimed in De Wachtzr
     Monsma and the Rev. Idzerd Van Dellen  dealing with over-           that while the Synod of 1924 had made no provisions for the

     tures to set aside the Conclusions of Utrecht at the 1962           exercise of discipline on the Revs. Hoeksema and Danhof, it

     Synod of the above-named church. In the present editorial           had exactly been the purpose of the synod to leave all actual

     we are not particularly interested in what becomes of the           discipline to the minor assemblies and to have it initiated by

     Conclusions of Utrecht, but rather in certain remarks made          the consistories of the two pastors. And thus he wrote in De
     by Revs. Monsma and Van Dellen  in connection with this             Wachter.
     subject concerning the official status of the Three Points.             Of course, in order to present such a confusing and ap-

            The trouble, both with the report of the Study Commit-       parently compromising position, a good deal of maneuvering

     tee on the status of the Conclusions of Utrecht (which also         is necessary.    But the Rev. Monsma proves himself rather

     mentions the Three Points of 1924) and with the explana-            inept at such maneuvering, at least to anyone who takes the

     tions given by Monsma and Van Dellen,  is that they are             trouble to examine his reasoning and his presentation of the

     characterized by a very confusing brand of: ecclesiastical          facts. The question arises in my soul: how often can the

     double-talk. One gets the impression that the Christian             Christian Reformed constituency be fooled? How long will

     Reformed Church is striving valiantly (?) to straddle the           those who love truth and righteousness and who are really

     issue, or perhaps to walk a tight-rope, that they try to in-        concerned about the Reformed faith tolerate such double-

     sist, on the one hand, that certain doctrinal expressions are       mindedness ? When will some wake up and actually protes`t

     binding and must be maintained, and yet, on the other hand,         against it for conscience' sake ?

     that they are not so binding that they in any way must serve
                                                                             Let us follow the Reverend Monsma's reasoning, and
     as a criterion for membership and office-holding. To this we
                                                                         point out its fallacy.
     shall point presently.
                                                                             1. Monsma remarks that in the past there have been
            Let us now observe that it is rather difficult, and also
                                                                         those who proceeded from the viewpoint that such doctrinal
     false, to say two opposite things at the same time. Either a
                                                                         expressions (Conclusions of Utrecht, the Three Points of
     doctrinal utterance of the church is binding or it is not bind-
                                                                         1924) lie on the same plane as the confessions.
     ing; it cannot be both . . . and . . . Let us observe, in the
     second place, that in actual fact (as far as the Three Points           Co~+~~~~~ent-.  Was that not exactly the case with the Three
     are concerned) these doctrinal utterances are indeed binding        Points. In fact, was not the Formula  of Sztbscriftion  used
     - no matter how some may strive to soothe their consciences         in connection with the deposition of ministers and consistories
     and smooth the way for the entrance of certain renegade             in 1924 ? Was it not insisted upon that the Three Points
     Protestant Reformed ministers and members by attempting             were binding doctrinal expressions, exactly of equal force with
     to soften the impact of that hard fact. By this I mean not          the Confessions, so that no one might disagree with them
     merely that they wlepe  considered binding in 1924-`26,  but        nor oppose them ? Such is history.

     that they have Zleen  E?ind&g  ever since, and s&i12  are today.       2. Monsma raises the question whether it was the

     They are binding upon every office-bearer, but also upon            Synod's intention to raise these doctrinal declarations to the

     every member ; and they are also binding upon everyone who          level of the confessions, and whether synod intended to make

     seeks membership and office in the Christian Reformed               an addition or a broadening out of the confessions. He an-

     denomination. Monsma and Van Dellen,  c&t% soc&,  being             swers in the negative, and produces reasons subsequently. To

     fully aware of the entire history of 1924 as well as the            this we attend later.

     decisions of 1960 on this score, are themselves undeceived             Comment. In the first place, it has exactly been our claim
     on that subject; but they must not attempt to fool anyone           both that the Three Points were additions to the confessions,
     else, above all not their own sheep. I dislike speculation on       and that as additions they were in conflict with the confes-
     a subject like this, but one gets the impression increasingly       sions. For that claim faithful officebearers were deposed and
     that the Christian Reformed Church will do almost anything          whole congregations set outside the Christian Reformed com-
     in order to make room for others in their denomination who          munion. That Protestant Reformed claim the Christian
     are willing to be satisfied with the placebo of an apparent         Reformed Church refuses to this day to discuss! But, in the
     compromise, and then try to maintain a very uneasy peace            second place, if, as Monsma wants to claim, they were only
     - or is it only a truce ?                                           interpretations of the confessions, he confronts the inevitable

            In the third place, it ought to be remarked that both        question: why should they not be binding? And if, as sup-

     Monsma and Van Dellen  should know better. One reason               posed interpretations, they in every respect agree with the

     is that both these men are reputed as experts on the Church         confessions, is not all the binding power of the confessions

     Order, and therefore, on the question of what is considered         themselves behind those Three Points ? Why not be con-

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


sistent? If the Three Points are confessional, maintain them        wrath that struck so furiously in 1924. If Monsma, or any-

without dilly-dallying around. If they are not, don't set them      one else, does not believe it, let him try it! And if any of

aside, but repudiate them and confess all the wrong-doing           those who left the Protestant Reformed Churches in 1953-`54

connected with their adoption in 1924.                              (or `62) soothe themselves and their consciences with the

                                                                    sop that Monsma offers, let them become undeceived !
   3.    Monsma tells a half-truth when in his negative answer
to the preceding question he states that the Synod of 1924             And the proof? In 1960 the Christian Reformed Church
demanded of no one, not even of the chief figures in the gen-       refused `to take away the binding power of the Three Points.
eral grace dispute, an expression of agreement with the             They refused to set them aside. To join the Christian Re-
Three Points.                                                       formed Church one had to agree "That the Three Points are
                                                                    neither Arminian or Pelagian . . . .that the objection that the
   Proof. In the first place, the Synod "admonished" Danhof
                                                                    Three Points are in conflict with Scripture and the Forms
and Hoeksema  to abide by these points, even though it did
                                                                    of Unity is not valid . . . . a.nd not to agitate against official
not threaten or advise discipline. In the second place, Classes
                                                                    interpretations,"    as well as to "refrain from propaganda for
Grand Rapids East and West did indeed make this`demand,
                                                                    their interpretations."    Cf. Letter from the Ch. Ref. Church
and insisted that ministers and consistories must subscribe
                                                                    to the De Wolf group. If this is not binding, what is ?
to the Three Points. And, in the third place, the Synod of
1926 set its stamp of approval on these actions. Monsma                And why should any denomination be ashamed of the
knows this, and he ought to tell the whole truth. I mean this       binding power of its doctrinal declarations, provided it has
for his own  good, and for the good of his constituents.            the courage of its convictions ?
                                                                                                                                    H.C.H.
   4. After claiming that the basis" of the Chr. Ref. Church

is the Three Forms of 1Jnity  only, and after conceding that

synods may from time to time make explanations of the

creeds and issue declarations in cases of differences, he de-                             II Corinthians 5:l
nies that such explanations and declarations have the binding,
                                                                      This 
authoritative force of the confessions. And he states : "Such                  body is my house; it is not I;
conclusions are not more than expressions of the synod,               Herein I sojourn, till &z yonder sky

adopted by unanimous or majority vote, in order that every-           I lease a fairer dwelling, built to last,

one should know what the official judgment of the churches            When al2 the carperttry  of life is past:
is concerning points in dispute" (translation mine, H.C.H. j .

    Comme7zt. In the first place, is that really true, namely,        When from my high place v5ewing  this bn.e  star,

that such expressions of synod are for the mere purpose that          What  shalt I care where these $00~ timbers are?
everyone should know the official judgment of the churches ?          i%%at, tho' the crumbling walls turn into dust and loam.
Monsma knows better. He knows that "whatever is decided               I shall have left them for a better home.                .
by majority vote is settled and binding unless it be proved

contrary to the Word of God and the Church Order." Synod              This body is my house; it is not I.
is not an information bureau ; it is an ecclesiastical assembly.
                                                                      Triztutzpjzant  in this faith, I live and die.
It has jurisdiction in the denomination. And, in the second
place, the question continually presses to the fore: if such                                                             - Selected

explanations or declarations of Synod are in complete har-

mony with the confessions, express and interpret the doctrine

of the confessions, why, pray tell, should they not be binding                           WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

in the churches, and that too, with all the binding power of           On July 28, 1962, the Lord willing, our dear parents
the confessions behind them? Why set them aside- pro-
                                                                                     MR. AND MRS. DICK KOOIENGA
vided, of course, that what Synod expresses is indeed,- in
                                                                    hope to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary. We are thankful
harmony with the confessions, which the Three Points are            that the Lord has spared them for each other and for us these many
not ?                                                               years. May we ever follow their example and waJ.k  in the fear of

    Finally, in answer to both Monsma and Van Dellen  let           the Lord.
                                                                                           Their grateful children:
the record show that the Synod of the Christian Reformed
                                                                                                       Mr. and Mrs. Robert Miedema
Church never changed, and did not want. to change the bind-                                            Mr. and Mrs. Earl Dykstra
ing power of the Three Points of 1924. They are still in force.                                        Mr. and Mrs. Roger Kooienga

Their force is not diminished one iota. This is very evident                                           Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Dykstra

from all that has been decided in the matter. Let anyone in                                            Mr. and Mrs. Donald Sall
                                                                                                       Mr. and Mrs. Donald Kooienga
the Cliristian Reformed Church openly militate against the
                                                                                                       Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Dykstra
Three Points, and he will soon feel the same hierarchical                                              and 24 grandchildren

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


                                                                      believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteous-

11  O U R   D O C T R I N E   11 ness; but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
                                                                      justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."

                                                                      And this is the fundamental keynote of all Scripture regard-

                           CHAPTEI~  I V                              ing justification by faith.    And why is a man justified by

                                                                      faith, without the works of the law, or any works on his

                     O F   J U S T I F I C A T I O N                  part? Because we receive Christ by faith. And therefore,

                                                                      according to the article, justification is solely the work of
                            (Continued)
                                                                      God in Christ and is solely by grace.

       In the Second Helvetic  Confession, Chapter XV, we read :         The same is emphasized in our own Belgic Confession,

"To justify, in the apostle's disputation touching justification,     Article 22 : "We believe that, to attain the true knowledge of

doth signify to remit sins, to absolve from the fault and the         this great mystery, the Holy Ghost kindleth in our hearts

punishment thereof, to receive into favor, to pronounce a             an upright faith, which embraces Jesus Christ, with all his

man just. For the apostle says to the Romans: `God is he              merits, appropriates him, and seeks nothing more besides

that justifieth. Who is he that can condemn ?' (Rom. 8 133,           him. For it must needs follow, either that all things, which

34). Here to justify and to condemn are opposed. And in               are requisite to our salvation, are not in Jesus Christ, or if

the Acts of the Apostles the apostle says, `Through Christ is         all things are in him, that then those who possess Jesus Christ

preached unto you forgiveness of sins: and from all things,           through faith, have complete salvation in him. Therefore, for

from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses,             any to assert that Christ is not sufficient, but that something

by him everyone that believes is justified' (Acts 15 138,  39).       more is required besides him, would be too gross a blas-

For in the law also and in the prophets, we read, that `If a          phemy : for hence it would follow, that Christ was but half

controversy were risen among any, and they came to judg-              a Savior. Therefore we justly say with Paul, that we are

ment, and the judge should judge them ; that is, justify the          justified by faith alone, or by faith without works. However,

righteous, and condemn the wicked' (Deut. 25 :l). And in              to speak more clearly, we do not mean, that faith itself

Isaiah 5 :22,  23, `Woe  to them which justify the wicked for         justifies us, for it is only an instrument with which we `em-

a reward.'                                                            brace Christ our Righteousness. But Jesus Christ, imputing

       "Now, it is most certain that we all are by nature sinners,    to us all his merits, and so many holy works which he has

and before the judgment of God convicted of ungodliness,              done for us, and in our stead, is our Righteousness. And,

and guilty of death. But we are justified, that is, acquitted         faith is an instrument that keeps us in communion with him

from sin and death by God the judge, through the grace of             in all his benefits, which, when become ours, are more than

Christ alone, and not by any respect or merit of ours. For            sufficient to acquit us of our sins."

what is more plain than that which Paul says ? `All have                 The same is espressed~  in the Heidelberg Catechism,
sinned, and are destitute of the glory of God, and are justi-         Question and Answer 60: "How art thou righteous before
fied freely, by grace, through the redemption which is in             God? Only by a true faith in Jesus Christ; so that, though

Christ Jesus' (Rom. 3 :23,  24).                                      my conscience accuse me, that I have grossly transgressed all

       "For Christ took upon himself and bare .the sins of the        the commandments of God, and kept none of them, and am

world, and did satisfy the justice of God. God, therefore, is         still inclined to all evil ; notwithstanding, God; without any

merciful unto our sins for Christ alone, that suffered and rose       merit of mine, but only of mere grace, grants and imputes to

again, and does not impute them unto us. But he imputes               me, the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of

the justice of Christ unto us for our own ; so that now we            Christ; even so, as if I never had had, nor committed any

are not only cleansed from sin, and purged, and holy, but             sin : yea, as if I had fully accomplished all that obedience

also endued with the righteousness of Christ; yea, and ac-            which Christ has accomplished for me ; inasmuch as I em-

quitted from sin, death, and condemnation (II Cor. 5 :19-21) ;        brace such benefit with a believing heart." And then also

finally, we are righteous, and heirs of eternal life. To speak        ins  Question and Answer 61: "Why sayest thou that thou art

properly, then, it is God alone that justifies us, and that           righteous by faith only? Not that I am acceptable to God

only for Christ, by not imputing unto us our sins but im-             on account of the worthiness of my faith ; but because only

puting Christ's righteousness unto us (Rom. 4 :23-25).                the satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, is my

       Then the article continues that we receive this righteous-     righteousness before God; and that I cannot receive and
ness of God not by any works on our part, but by faith                apply the same to myself any other way than by faith only."

alone, even as the apostle Paul teaches in Rom. 3 :28:  "We              But the question is : how is this imputation possible ? Is

conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the works          there not rather a double injustice involved in this reckon-

of the law."     The same is true of Rom. 4:2, 3, and 5 : "if         ing of Christ's righteousness to us ? Christ, the Innocent,

Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to boast;            the perfectly righteous, is condemned to death and hell ; and

but not of God. For what saith the scripture ? Abraham                we, guilty sinners, go free and are considered worthy of

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


eternal life. Would not such imputation in any human court       obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Rom. 5 :15-

of justice be considered. the height of injustice? How then      19. Hence, in His death Christ stands before God at the head

can God justify the ungodly by simply imputing a righteous-      of all the elect.

ness which is not ours, but which Christ hath obtained for                                                                    H.H.
us?

       This question is perfectly proper, because it proceeds

from the assumption that God's verdict whereby He declares

us free from all guilt must have a basis in fact. The ques-                    STAFFANNOUNCEMENTS
tion proceeds from the truth that God Himself is true, holy,

righteous, and just. He camlot  deny Himself. If He renders          Tlze Sfaxdag*d  Bearer Staff decided at its June, 1962,

the verdict that we are righteous, that sentence must be         meeting to remind our readers:
based on truth. He is the Righteous One. He is the im-
                                                                     1. That the standing rule limiting contributions to not
plication of all infinite perfections. His will is always in

harmony with His own Being. If, therefore, He declares           more than 300 words and requiring that they be neatly writ-

the sinner righteous, His verdict is itself based on His own     ten or typewritten must be adhered to.

righteousness and justice. God cannot simply pardon the
                                                                     2. That all church news items should be sent to our
sinner, that is, excuse him from paying the penalty for his
                                                                 aews editor, Mr. J. M. Faber, 1123 Cooper, S. E., Grand
sin. Although this may be possible in human justice, which

is always imperfect, this is not possible with God. Yet we       Rapids 7, Mich. . Our ministers and clerks of consistories

read in Scripture that God justifies the ungodly. And, there-    are especially reminded of this. It takes only a few minutes

fore, we must ask and answer the question: how is this           each week to send Mr. Faber a bulletin or to write up any
possible ? Or : what is the ground of the verdict that God       special news items. And we all like to hear from you.
declares the sinner righteous ?


       In this connection, we must remember that Christ and

His people are before God a legal corporation, of which He

is the Head and all His people are members. This corpora-
tion was established by God Himself and in His eternal                                    Resolution

election. We are chosen in Christ before the foundation of
the world, Eph. 1:4. In the same way Adam is the head of             The Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches, in

all mankind in the legal sense of the word. In that capacity     session June 13, 1962, adopted the following resolution :

he sins for all ; and in him we are all condemned. For thus
we read in Rom. `5 :12,  16, 17, 18, and 19: "Wherefore, as      To the Ophoff family:

by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ;           We, the Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches,
                                                                                             .
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."
                                                                 have received notification that `your dear one, and our faith-
And again : "For the judgment was by one to condemnation."

And again: "By one man's offense death reigned by one."          ful leader, minister, and instructor, the Reverend G. M.

And once more : "By the offence  of one judgment came upon       Ophoff, was yesterday taken to be with the Lord. We mourn
all men to condemnation." And finally: "By one man's dis-
                                                                 with you because we, with youj~have  been sorely bereaved.
obedience many were made sinners." From this whole pas-

sage it is evident that there was a legal relation between          We rejoice with you that-our beloved brother .has been

Adam and the human race, so that they formed a corporate
                                                                 taken from his suffering and enjoys the reward of the Lord's
body of which Adam was the head and all men are members.

The same is true of Christ and His elect. In this respect        faithful servants and shall now serve the Lord in perfection.

Adam is the figure of Him that was to come, Rom. 5 :14.          And we pray that the Lord may give you and us grace to

And the apostle Paul in this same chapter draws a parallel
                                                                 believe that our God causes all things to work together for
between Adam as the head of all mankind and Christ as the
head of the elect. If through the offence  of one many be        our good. Romans 8 :28.

dead, the grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by
                                                                                          Yours in the Lord,
one man Jesus Christ has abounded unto many. And the

free gift is of many offences  unto justification. And again,                                     The Synod of the Protestant

"As by the offence  of one judgment came upon all men to                                          Reformed Churches

condemnation ; even so by the righteousness of one the free
                                                                                                      Rev. C. Hanko, President
gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by

one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by .the                                             Rev. H. Hanko, Clerk

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


                                                                           These men, each prompted by his own personal ambi-

 11 A CLOUD OF WITNESS&ES  11 tions, were united in one primary goal. They had to remove
                                                                        Moses and Aaron from their positions of political and reli-

                                                                        gious authority. Moreover, their attempt to do this had to

                 Korah, Dathan, and Abiram                              be more than just a personal attack. Israel was a religious

                                                                        nation, and any action of such great importance would have
           Now Kol*ala,  . . . Dathn  and Abimm  . . . rose ztp be-
          fore Moses with  cerha of the clzi&en  of Israel:             to have a religious justification. But for men as determined
           And  they gathmed  themselves together agahst  Moses         as they were, this was not hard to find. They laid hold upon
         and aga:bst  Aaron, an,d sa.id  wnto  tkew~, Ye take too       the promise of God given at Mt. Sinai, "And ye shall be
         much ufion  yoq  seeing at2 the congregat4ori  we holy,        unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." Their
         every one of them,  and the LORD is awwng  them:               reasoning was simple. Because all of God's people were
         whrefore  then lift  ye up yourselves .above  the congrega-
         tion> of the LORD?                       Numbers 16 :l-3       priests, it was presumptuous for Moses and Aaron to set
                                                                        themselves above the rest. It was an implied denial of the
        During the wilderness journey, there were many in Is-
                                                                        Word of God. What these men failed to consider was not
 rael who were children of God in name but not at heart. This
                                                                        only that Moses served as mediator between Israel and God
 became ever increasingly evident. Through the months and
                                                                        upon the people's own request, but even more that both
 years the great and marvelous works of God were multiplied
                                                                        Moses and Aaron were appointed to their positions by the
 one upon the other. In fact, the very continued existence of
                                                                        same God who had spoken this promise. But the men were
 such a great nation in that arid, barren land was an astound-
                                                                        not interested in understanding the will of God ; they wanted
 ing miracle in itself. But this did not mean that the respect
                                                                        only to justify their own sinful desires. Thus they came to
and gratitude of the people increased accordingly. Rather it
                                                                        Moses and Aaron and laid down their accusation, `<Ye take
was their indifference, discontentment, and rebellion that in-
                                                                        too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy,
 creased. In Israel there was a hardened core of reprobate
                                                                        every one of them, and the LORD is among them : wherefore
 men, and this was the natural reaction of their hearts to the
                                                                        then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the
greater revelations of the Lord.
                                                                        LORD ?"
        It was not long after Israel was turned back from the
                                                                           Moses had learned through long experience how to cope
 borders of Canaan that another rebellion arose in the camp.
                                                                        with rebellious people. He knew better than to answer them
 Four of Israel's malcontents had found sympathy in each
                                                                        in a heat of anger, or to engage them in an extended debate.
 other for their mutual complaint. They were Korah, Dathan,
                                                                        First he bowed before the Lord in prayer, and then he
Abiram, and On. Together they were agreed that they had
                                                                        rose to answer Korah and his company. "Even to morrow
good reason to complain, for they felt that they had not
                                                                        the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy ; and will
 received the position and recognition in Israel that they
                                                                        cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath
 deserved. The most outspoken and the leader of them was
                                                                        chosen will he cause to come near unto him. This do; Take
 Korah, a Levite of the family of Kohath. As such he took
                                                                        you censers, Korah, and all his company ; and put fire therein,
 part in some of the most important functions of the taber-
                                                                        and put incense in them before the LORD to morrow: and
 nacle. It was an important position in itself. But, as is so
                                                                        it shall be that the man whom the LORD doth choose, he
 often the case, a little taste of honor begat the desire for
                                                                        shall be holy: ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.`!
 more. He looked upon Moses and Aaron and could see no
                                                                        With this Moses put them to the test. If it were true that
 reason why their still higher positions should not be his.
                                                                        all the people were holy without exception and regardless of
 And the feeling of Dathan, Abiram, and On was much the
                                                                        their spiritual attitude of the heart, and if it were so that
same. They were of the tribe of Reuben. They could not
                                                                        such an innate holiness of the people held precedence over
 forget that Reuben had been the oldest son of Jacob, and
                                                                        all of the rest of the Word of God, then all had a perfect right
 they thought it quite unjust that the highest positions -in  the
                                                                        to take the holy censers of the priest and stand before the
 nation had been given to Levi and Judah. Sharing their dis-
                                                                        face of God. But if this were not true, their action would be
 satisfaction together, the four men soon became very bitter.
                                                                        a terrible presumption which would surely bring down upon
 Neither did they find it difficult to kindle the same feeling in
                                                                        them the wrath of God. Through this test it would be made
 others. No less than two hundred and fifty of the princes of
                                                                        known who were truly holy before the Lord. But Moses
 the nation were soon gathered to their cause. It was the
                                                                        warned them, "Ye take too much upon you."
 working of sinful pride. Men never find it difficult to feel

 bitterly discontent with the place that the Lord has given                Neither .did Moses allow his warning to rest with that.

 them. A little taste of glory so easily whets the appetite for         He separated out the leaders of the movement according to

 more and a bitter discontentment when it is not immediately            their individual responsibility and warned them personally.

 obtained. On this the devil thrives. Of these men it appears           First he spoke to Korah who as a Levite already served in

 that only On came to an understanding of the wickedness of             the tabernacle of God and therefore had the best reason to

 their movement and forsook it in repentance.                           understand the seriousness of their claim. He warned him,

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


"Seemeth  it but a small thing unto you, that the God of            them in .a moment."      In this He assured them once again

Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel,          that they as typical mediators were all that stood between

to bring you near to himself to do the service of the taber-        the nation and destruction. They were not only the leaders

nacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation             of the nation ; as types of Christ they were the nation's

to minister unto them? And he hath brought thee near to             saviors. In faithfulness to their calling, they fell on their

him, and all the brethren the sons of Levi with thee: and           faces before God and prayed in Israel's behalf, "0 God, the

seek ye the priesthood also? For which cause both thou and          God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt

all thy company are gathered together against the LORD:             thou be wroth with all the congregation ?" Their prayer was

and who is Aaron, that ye murmur against him ?" But Korah           not for the hardened wicked but for the true congregation of

was determined a.nd  would not listen.                              the Lord. God heard their prayer, and there could be no

   Next Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram who were                   doubt of the validity of their offices.

Reubenites and whose sin therefore was of a different motive.           The time had come for the test. The men had presumed

But the men felt their inability to defend themselves before        to appear in the presence of God with the holy censers of

Moses and sent the answer back, "We  will not come up: is it        the priesthood in their hands, and now the Lord would speak

a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land            as to whether they were received or not. Moses turned to

that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness,     the congregation and spoke, "Depart, I pray you, from the

except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us ? More-        tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of their's, lest

over thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with         ye be consumed in all their sins." Defensively and defiantly,

milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vine-         Korah, Dathan, and Abiram had withdrawn to their own

yards : wilt thou put out the eyes of these men ? we will not       tents. Warned `by the words of Moses, the people did not

come up."    Not knowing how to defend their new claim,             dare to follow until the three tents stood out as islands in

they fell back upon all of the old, personal accusations against    the sea of people.    By the tents stood the three men with

Moses: in taking them from Egypt he had taken them from             their families, except for the children of Korah who being

a good land ; for the sake of his own glory he was willing to       older had rejected the cause of their father. Once again

sacrifice the lives of the people ; he had not and never would      Moses spoke to the congregation, "Hereby ye shall know

bring them into the promised land ; and with his words he           that the LORD hath sent me to do all these works ; for I

only blinded the eyes of the people, and therefore they would       have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the

not come to talk to him personally. Dathan and Abiram had           common death of all men, or if they be visited after the

set for themselves a goal of sin, and they would give no one        visitations of all men ; then the LORD hath not sent me. But

the opportunity to try to defer them from it. Out of love for       if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her

their personal ambitions, they forsook all love for God, for        mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto

His Word, for His people, and for truth.                            them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall

   Troubled by the hardness of the men, Moses once again            understand that these men have provoked the LORD."

called them all together to re-emphasize the seriousness of the         For a moment there was a terrible silence, and then there    ~

test to which they would be put on the morrow. To them he           came the sound of the earth tearing asunder. Before the

said again, "Be thou and all thy company before the LORD,           eyes of the people, three great pits opened up to swallow

thou, and they, and Aaron, to morrow: and take every man            Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and all that they possessed. The

his tenser,  and put incense in them, and bring-ye before the       judgment of the Lord had spoken.

LORD every man his tenser ; two hundred and fifty censers ;             In utter fright the mass of people turned and ran. Their

thou also, and Aaron, each of you his tenser."  In a nation         sympathies with the men had been all too great. With burning

that had tasted so often of the terrible judgment of God, it        consciences they feared "lest the earth swallow us up also."

would have been expected that they would think twice before             But even as they ran, the judgment of God spoke yet once

performing an act of such presumption. But the men were             more. The fire of the Lord swept down and consumed the

determined to follow through every implication of their sinful      two hundred and fifty men who had joined cause in the rebel-

claim.                                                              lion.

   Morning came and found Korah, Dathan, and Abiram                     Still one more thing remained to be done. The two

with their two hundred and fifty followers gathered before          hundred and fifty golden censers which the men had used

the tabernacle. In their hands were the holy censers which          were gathered at the command of God. They were hallowed

were ordained only for use by the priests. Near by stood the        instruments, and from their gold were made plates of gold

people of the nation waiting with mixed feelings to behold          to cover the altars of the tabernacle. It was a memorial to

the outcome of this latest attempt to take over the leadership      the people of the judgment of God upon those who presume

of the nation.                                                      to be holy of themselves apart from the Word and com-

   First God spoke to Moses and Aaron. "Separate your-              mandments of God. Even in those early days the error of

selves from among this congregation, that I may consume             Pelagius would not be endured.                         B.W.


        420                                          T'.H. E' ,S..T A N'D!&R'Ij: .B E k R E R


                                                                              from her "silence" of widowhood. And she whispers in hope :
        I FROM HOLY WRIT Come Lord Jesus, yea, come quickly. ,In living hope she lifts
                                                                              her longing eyes and hears the Spirit and the Bride say:

                                                                              Maranatha, Jesus comes ! The consolation of Israel is so

                         Exposition of I Timothy                              very, very real to olie who is a widow indeed. She has set

                                                                              her hope upon God!
                                   (I Timothy 5 :l-16)
                                                                                 In the loneliness of her widowhood she con/&ties in

                                           b.                                 prayers and supplication.     It is prayer for her,  by day and

                                                                              by night, to the God of Jacob, who is not a God of the dead
               We were speaking in our former essay of those who are          but of the living.    She presents her cause, the &dozer's  cause
        widows indeed ; those who are actually widows, answering              before God's throne. What a tender care she receives ; she is
I ,     to the Scriptural portrait of a widow. A widow, we saw, is            heard ere she asks. Asking more grace, she receives more
        one who is "bereft" of a husband. According to the Hebrew             grace from the never-ending fountain of mercy ! The fountain
        term ahmnah  she is one who is "silent." A woman who has              never runs dry. God is never weary of hearing the cry of the
        put on the garments of widowhood has put on the garments              widow. He will speedily justify her cause and destroy all
        of silence.                                                           those who perpetrate injustice toward her.
               Concerning such widows Paul gives Timothy some very
                                                                                 Not every widow, however, is such a widow. There are
        definite instructions !
                                                                              also widows, particularly young widows, who live wantonly,
               It should be remembered that such a widow, who is a            are dead while they are living. Their real condition is that
        widow indeed, is one who has no earthly means of susten-              they are dead. As much as the "real widow" is constantly in
        ance. She has no children or grandchildren ; there are none           loneliness and yet in fellowship wiih God, so `these are in the
        to provide her with earthly necessities of food and clothing.         midst of death; dead in trespasses and sins they are. They
        She has all reasons for anxious care and to say: what shall I         live only for the present, and that, too, for fleshly delights
        eat and what shall I drink, and wherewithal shall I be clothed.       of the senses. Their purpose in life is to eat, drink and be
               When such a widow is a Christian (and that is the view-        merry.    Strangers and pilgrims upon earth they are  not.
I       point here in the text), she is characterized by being "alone."       When loneliness consumes them they seek  relief in attempt-
        That is her perpetual state.       She is such up till the present    ing to destroy their problem, rather than in solving it. At-
        moment; it is not such for a few moments and then is past.            telnpting  to "live it up" they are very really dead. They join
        She has, in fact, really nothing else to look forward to. As          the people of the "loneiy  hearts club," only to find that misery
        far as this present life is concerned the candle of her hope          loves company, and that the miserable are very poor com-
       is extinguished. Her husband has died and he shall not                 forters. Such are guilty with the sin of voluptuous sensuality
        return. Another husband she does not anticipate to have.              as described in Ezekiel 16 :49  : "Behold, this was the iniquity
        She is therefore very much alone. And she would live utterly          of thy sister Sodom; pride, fulness  of bread, and prosperous
        alone were it not that the LORD is her husband!                       ease was in her and in her daughters ; neither did she

               All her hope is placed upon the Lord. Each morning and         strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." Again we are

        evening, by night and by day, she turns to the LORD, her              here reminded of what we read in Amos 6:4:  "that lie upon

        faithful covenant God for help and for strength. She hath             beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and

        her hope set upon God. The tense in the Greek is the perfect          eat lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst

        tense! Constantly up till the present moment you find her             of the stall; that sing idle songs to the sound of the viol . . .

        rejoicing in God her Savior. She is the perfect picture of            that drink wine in the bowls and anoint themselves with chief

        devotion. You see her sitting alone at the table with the bare        oils ; but they are not grieved with the affliction of Joseph."

        necessities of life. Luxuries she does not permit herself, nor            Such are the widows who live sumptuotisly  and riotously;
        does she covet them. Bread and water is her staple of life.           these are dead while they live.
        The Bible lies before her with its well-worn and thumbed                  Such must not be sustained and reckoned with those who
        pages as the Bread of life. Folding her wrinkled hands and            need to receive gifts of mercy! That is only for those who
        bony fingers and closing her eyes in prayer, she walks as             are widows indeed!
        seeing the unseen God in faith! Upon Him is all her hope
                                                                                  Let it be remembered !
        and from Him alone is all her expectation for both the neces-
                                                                                  There is a saying, a Jewish saying, that goes as follows:
        sities of this life and the life to come. Living alone she is
                                                                              "The righteous live while in the midst of death ; the wicked
        never alone. He is always near to her; His presenct  she
                                                                              are dead while they live."
        experiences.     The night seasons are for her the quiet hours

        of the heavenly Father looking down upon her from His                     We intimated that there are widows and widows. Not

        celestial pavilion. She hears the footsteps of the Almighty in        only are there godly widows in distinction from evil ones, but

        the changing seasons ; for the Lord is coming to deliver her          there are also need31 widows in distinction from those who


                                            THE   S T A N D - A R D   `BEAR'ER                          i i _                        4X


have none of their kith and kin to support them. There ai-k            gray. It' is most unchristian ! 0, the blessedness of stand&

widows who have childrtn,  grandchildren and nephews.                  next to the coffin of the deceased parents as `g child and be

When widows have such relatives it is the duty of them to              able to say : I have no regrets ; I have honored my .parents  in

support their widowed mother and grandmother. The duty                 their life, and now in a good conscience I bury them in the

does not fall upon the state, upon old age pension, upon social        same hope of the resurrection in which they lived. On the

security, nor does it fall upon the diaconate in the church.           other hand, all the hot tears of remorse, because of neglect,

There is a saying : charity begins at home !                           cannot atone for the lack of "piety" shown to parents!

    It should be borne in mind, that, strictly speaking, the               Only the latter is well-pleasing before God. Writes Paul :

support of an aged, z&dozved  mother is not charity in the             "For this is well-pleasing to God." The term well-pleasing

usual sense of the term. Rather it is repaying a debt; it is to        harks back to the idea of the sacrifice upon the altar of con-

"requite the parents."     This is not simply an act of love ; it      secration. It means that such conduct is life consecrated to        ,

is really one of strictest jztsfdce  too. It is certainly the judg-    God. It is placed upon God's altar and God accepts it. T'nat

ment of Almighty God upon a people when this "requiting                Paul writes "before God" implies that this conduct is per-

of parents" is substituted by "State relief," and "medicare            formed before the face of Him before whom all things are

for the aged."     What cannot be done by sense of duty and            open and naked ; before Him who searches and tries the

Christian stewardship will then be done by dent of necessity           hearts.

of law! Let it not be forgotten. This is even understood in                No work of sinful philanthropy, humanistic good works

the world where men have natural light, have a sense of right          as are performed by unregenerate sinners is acceptable to

and wrong in things natural. In the ethics of the Greek                God. The "Good That Sinners Do" is a title of a book writ-

thinkeis  the care for the' parents is a law of nature. It is          ten many years ago by a Christian Reformed minister. The

related that Aristotle said: "We must care for our parents             Lodge cares for the "brothers," and engages in erecting chil-

rather than for ourselves, and must give honor to them even            dren's hospitals. But it is not acceptable to God. It does

as they to the gods." And Plutarch says: "that all people              not proceed from faith, is not according to God's law and unto

say, even though some may think differently, that it is                God's glory. They sin grievously in their philanthropy. It is

den<anded by nature and the law of nature, that next to the            a stench in God's holy nostrils. They do not put God's saints

gods, the highest honor must be accorded to parents; that              to shame. They out-do those who "deny the faith" to be sure,

nothing is more pleasing to the gods, than willingly care for          but they do not out-do the saints who walk in faith. They do

parents, and that there is no greater evidence of lack of              not at all compare ! !

reverence for the gods, than to despise parents. The daugh-               Let the "Common Grace" enthusiasts, silly doves that

ter of Simon is reputed to have nursed her father from her             they are, take notice! Let them not manipulate their glib

own breast in prison. And Aeneas delivered his aged father             cliches. Go to now all you who parrot others in alleging that

from burning Troy, and carried him upon his back from the              the denial of "Common Grace" rests upon rationalistic prin-

ruins of the city."                                                    ciple. Read the Bible if it is not a closed book to jrou and see

    When Paul, therefore, teaches that they who despise their          which works are acceptable to God, and have the sanctified
aged parents, do not lend them support, are worse than un-             confession that glories alone in the Mystery of godliness as
believers he has the testimony `of history concerning the con-         the fountain of all godliness. Then will you in glad and
duct of unbelievers on his side.                                       joyful confession be acceptable in your "piety" shown aad
                                                                       not in the millions given in "glittering sins," as saitli 
    The Scriptural motivation is that of the Fifth Command-                                                                       Au-
                                                                       gustine.
ment : "Honor thy father and thy mother, that it may go well
                                                                          Meanwhile let us "keep on learning" to show piety. And
with thee and that thou mayest live long on the earth." And
                                                                       let us admonish thus to walk in practical godliness, in the
also : "He that curseth father or mother, let him die the
                                                                       "charity" which begins at home. For if one cannot do this
death." Those who care for their parents do so with a living
                                                                       "in his own household" he cannot do it elsewhere. God is
faith that is energized by love. Now one who cares not for
                                                                       not mocked.
his parents is a most ungrateful person. He lacks even natural
affection.                                                                Only then shall widows and those who support them be
                                                                       without reproach in the world and acceptable to God!
    It is a very, very evil sign when children would cast their                                                                                 1
                                                                          Only those who thus care for their parents, showing piety,
parents upon others when they are in a position to give this
                                                                       shall be free from sin, and do not "deny" the faith ; such walk
aid themselves. It is not simply a question of "philanthropy" ;
it.is a matter of showing piety, reverence, godliness rooted in        in the ordinances of God as they were from the beginning.
                                                                       Of this the most holy has but a small beginning. And if the
the Mystery of godliness that is great. And this is something
                                                                       righteous are hardly saved, where will sinners appear and
which must be "learned"! So easily we bring our.parents to
                                                                       those who teach men to believe that they  are righteous when
"institutions."    It is a tragic thing that a mother can pour
                                                                       they are but white-washed sepulchres ?
out her life for eleven children and many grandchildren, and

that these all cannot take care of her when she is old and                                                                        G.L. .


422                                         T H E   ST,ANDARD  BEARER


                                                                     intend to walk ? Sad to say this is true of such a few. Yet

              I     N            HiS FEAR                            every one-  of God's people ought to be able to say, Thy word
                                                                     is a light for MY feet and for MY path.

                                                                        From birth to death we all have our own individual path-

                                                                     way on which we must walk. It may be long or it may be
                   The Light For Your Path
                                                                     short. It may lead us into fields of misery or in pleasant

                                                                     places. But each has his own path on which he must walk
    Up and clown this vast land of ours from the Canadian
                                                                     and shall walk. No two walk on that same pathway, not
to the Mexican borders, from the Atlantic coast to the shores
                                                                     even identical twins. The beginning, the end and all that
of the Pacific' Ocean children, young men and young women,
                                                                     lies between is distinct for every man, woman and child,
men and women have graduated from institutions of learning.
                                                                     designed by God from all eternity with all its details. Paul
Hundreds upon thousands of diplomas have been handed to
                                                                     says that in Ephesians 2 :lO .when  he says that our good
those who finished their prescribed courses. Degrees have
                                                                     works are "before ordained that we should walk in them."
been conferred. Congratulations have been extended. But
                                                                     The psalmist says the same thing when he writes in Psalm
if that instruction was not in the fear of the Lord, wisdom
                                                                     139 :3, "Thou compasseth my path and my lying down, and
has not been imparted by those who taught. The fear of the
                                                                     art acquainted with all my ways." And again in verse 13,
Lord is the beginning, the principle of all wisdom. If we miss
                                                                     "For Thou hast possessed my reins : thou hast covered me in
that fear of the Lord, we miss wisdom completely. In I
                                                                     my mother's womb." Nothing comes by chance or accident.
Timothy 6:20 Paul speaks to Timothy of "sciefice  falsely so
                                                                     All is ordered by God. That is exactly why He knows the
called."    That is what all knowledge is apart from the fear of
                                                                     day of Christ's return. That is why He knows the end from
the Lord. Science is a system of knowledge. The very word
                                                                     the beginning. All the prophecies of Revelation shall be ful-
science comes from the Latin verb "to know." Our word con-
                                                                     filled exactly as they are there presented exactly because God
science as well - which clearly contains the word science in
                                                                     has it all planned. It is all in the book with the seven seals
it - also comes from this same Latin word which means to
                                                                     to the last detail in the life of every man, woman and child.
know. Only here you have "to know with." But any system
                                                                     No wonder the psalmist says in Psalm 139 :6, "Such knowl-
of science that rules out God and is conducted apart from His
                                                                     edge is too wonderful for me ; it is high, I cannot attain to it."
fear is utter folly and will only lead man to folly and destruc-

tion.                                                                   But that individual way on which each and e;ery one of

                                                                     us walks is not the pathway of which the psalmist speaks
       Scripture teaches us in the Book of Revelation not only       when he says that God's Word is a light unto his path. It
but throughout its pages that all that which man has made,           is true that he speaks of I&  path. However he does not
all the achievements of which he now boasts, all the goals he        mean this in the sense of my distinct, individual path but
has reached apart from God will all go up in smoke. And              rather for him, not for all, there is a light upon the path on'
their works shall not follow them. In hell there will be no          which he walks. The whole psalm speaks of another way,
skyscrapers and majestic suspension bridges, no colleges             another path. It is the one on which all men travel or rather
and universities, no television sets and jet planes, no trips to     must travel. And it is the path on which the regenerated
the moon, no delicious meals and,museums  full of graceful           child of God does travel. It is'the way of life. It is the way
sculpture work, paintings and ceramics, no beautiful literature      of God's law. Each one upon his own individual way must
and symphony orchestras.         All these the ungodly will leave    walk on that path. Only a few do and attain to the life that
behind the day they die and they will find nothing of the kind       is at its end. It is the way of love to God and leads directly
in their everlasting habitation in hell. The fear of the Lord        to everlasting life before God's face,
is the beginning of wisdom ; but those devoid of that fear
shall soon learn the folly of their empty and godless life.             That path runs through the night of sin and death. In
                                                                     Paradise the sun went down behind the mountain of guilt and
       And so we speak to you about the Word of God that             sin. The light was cut off and man cannot see or find that
ought to be the light for our path. These are the words of           path. The sun has gone completely behind the horizon and
the same psalmist who declared in the verses 9s through 100          not the smallest part of light now shines in this world. We
of Psalm 119. "Thou through Thy commandments hast made               live in a world that is as dark as the darkness in Egypt and
me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. I             at the cross of Christ. A darkness it is that can be felt. A
have more understanding than all my teachers: for Thy                total eclipse of the sun of spiritual light has taken place, so
testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the            that we cannot see the path, &d  we know not where to put
ancients, because I have kept Thy precepts." This same               our feet.
psalmist declares in verse 105,  "Thy word is a lamp unto
                                                                        And that way is as straight as an arrow and very narrow.
my feet, and a light unto my path." ban all those who

graduated this past month say that? Was the Word of God                 That way leads directly toward God and points the man

the tight  that shone on their pathway? In its light do they now     who  walks upon it unwaveringly toward the Living God.


-_              _ _ -                      T,HE  S     T    A    N    D      A    R    D         B    E    A     R    E    R                             423


The difficulty is not that the way winds and twists so much                quicksands which open LIP -to receive him but refuse to let

that we have difficulty following it. The way is straight,                 him go. There are steep chasms with sharp, jagged rocks at

as straight as an arrow. But the fault is in us. We                        the bottom which threaten instant and awful death. There

cannot walk straight but always turn to the right or to                    are wild beasts lurking along that way who glory in the dark

the left, `even after God puts our feet on that path. We are               and seek to devour the traveler who has no light. There are

born off that path. And we are born with one leg shorter                   sweet siren songs that come floating out of the woods to lure

than the other so that in the darkness of that night of sin we             US into traps and snares. There are serpents who fear and
walk in circles, always being drawn and inclined to go away                hate that light and are always to be found alongside of that

from the straight line of God's law. We are told that a                    path. They are ready to bite the heel and kill the traveler

man lost in the woods always gets himself deeper and deeper                who seeks to walk that narrow way.

into his troubles exactly because we cannot walk in a straight                It all underscores the truth that we need a lamp for our

line, because even in the physical sense of the word, one leg         feet and a light for our path. None is so strong in himself

is slightly shorter than the other, and we always are inclined             that he does not need it. None of himself has such keen

to walk in circles. Spiritually this certainly is true. `We have           eyesight that can pierce this awful and total darkness to see

the old man of sin with us as well as the new man in Christ                the way, to recognize the enemy, to avoid the serpents and

in us. There is the flesh that always pulls us off that path               walk to life. In fact on top of all this terrible darkness is

that is so very, very straight.                                            the fact that each and every one of us by nature is spiritually

      Not only that, but consider also that this path of God's        blind. If the stm shone in all its power and beauty, we still

law, the way of life is so very narrow. It is just wide                    would not see that path or know the way. For many this

enough for one foot at a time! To walk on it we must place            light has no meaning at all. Were you to put that lamp in

one foot in front of the other in a straight line or we put           their hands, they still would not see the path nor walk even

that foot off the path. It is not a comfortable road to travel.            one step of the way upon that narrow path.

There is a broad way that gives men much leeway and does                      That light is of value only to those whom it pleases God

not hem us in or limit our movements. But that is the                 to regenerate by the Spirit of His Son. It is of value only to

way to destruction. This way on which all are called to walk          those who are born again and have the life of Christ in them.

is very, very narrow. And therefore it requires our attention         They have the eye of faith. They can see in the light of that

every step of the way. We cannot be careless to walk upon             lamp. And that is why the psalmist says that God's Word

it. We will not accidentally keep our way upon it. One                is a lamp unto his  feet and a light unto k&x  path. He is a

glance away fom that path for a fleeting moment, and we               regenerated child of God. And though he still lives in this

may be sure that our foot has left the straight and narrow            sphere where the night of sin and death has descended, he

line to the right or to the left. We will not. be walking upon        can use that light of the Word of God and can find hiss  way

it. The psalmist speaks of a lamp for his feet because those          to walk the path he is called to travel. God's Word is a

feet need watching to keep on that narrow and perfectly               lamp for his feet and a light for h& path.

straight path.                                                                                                                                      J.A.H.

      And horror of horrors ! that path runs, as we said, through

the night of sin and death. It is bad enough that we have to
                                                                                                                IN. MEMORIAM
walk such a narrow and such a straight way. It will take
all our concentration in .the broad daylight. But it is night !               The Ladies' Aid Society and the Men's Society of the Doon
                                                                      Prot. Ref. Church wish to express their sincere sympathy to Rev.
And the night is so very, very dark! You cannot see your
                                                                      and Mrs. G. Van Baren in the loss of their stepmother
hand before your face.      How can we see our feet and that
                                                                                                           MRS. JOHN BUITER
narrow path on which we are to travel ? We will need a light.
Without a light it will be quite impossible and hopeless. How                 "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
                                                                      worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in
awful to drive a car in the dense fog when the white or               US." Romans 8:lS.
yellow line in the middle of the road cannot be seen! How.                                                                         Mrs. H. J. Blankespoor&

awful when you cannot see the front of your car and do not                                                                         Mrs. Peter Van Den Top

know where you are! Imagine driving on a mountain pass

with a winding, twisting road on-a dark night and the lights
                                                                                                           ANNOUNCEMENT
on your car fail. Even when the light is very faint, you will

proceed at a very slow speed and almost feel your way over                    Classis  East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will

that mountain pass.                                                   meet Wednesday, J~rly 11, 1962, at 9 A. M. in the Hope

      And though our way is not a winding, twisting mountain          Protestant Reformed Church.                               The consistories of the

trail, it is lined with hazards and dangers far more terrible.        churches of Classis East will please take note of this in the
There are swamps and marshes of filth and sin along that              appointment of their delegates.

way which swallow the man who leaves the path. There are                                                              Rev. M. Schipper,  Stated Clerk


424                                             T H E   ST.ANDARD   B E A R E R


                                                                      elusion  of Chapter 4 the holy writer had called attention to

           Contending For The Faith                                   J&us Christ, our High Priest, through Whom we have access
                                                                      unto the throne of God's grace. How arbitrary on the part

                                                                      of Rome to apply Heb. 5 :l to every Roman Catholic priest !

             The Church and the Sacraments                            It is evident, throughout this portion of the epistle to the
                                                                      Hebrews, that the inspired writer is calling attention to Jesus

             THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION                              Christ, our only High Priest, mentions in chapter 5 :l the
                                                                      high priests of the Old Dispensation, later, as in verse 9,

                  V I E W S   O N   T H E   C H U R C H               calls attention to the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ is be-

                                                                      come the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey
                   T H E   P R O T E S T A N T   V I E W              Him.)


        We concluded our preceding article with the remark that          1393. But the Priest says the Mass in Latin.

we would comment in this article on the claim of Rome that               That is a sacrificial action offered to God. Latin is the
it is truly the Catholic, universal Church of God and of Christ       `liturgical language of the Catholic Church, just as Hebrew is
in the midst of the world.                                            the official language still used in the Synagogue. (Is it any

        In the first place, the name, "Roman Catholic Church,"        wonder that Rome is accused of reverting to the symbols and

is certainly a misnomer. That church calls itself the Roman           shadows of the Old Testament? - H.V.)

Catholic Church. Hoti can a church be catholic, universal,
                                                                         1394. Do the worshippers understand all that the Priest
and at the same time Roman ? Does not the name, Roman,
                                                                      says in the Latin Mass ?
limit that church so that it is no longer catholic or universal ?

0, we know that Roman Catholicism teaches that the name                  Not all Catholics understand Latin, by any means. But

or word, Roman, is added because its "headquarters" are in            they are all quite at home when assisting at Mass. They

Rome. However, why is it, if that church be truly catholic,           know what is being done, even though they cannot under-

that so many popes have been Italian ? And, `secondly, if the         stand all that is being s&d.  And it is not necessary that they

Church be catholic, why does it have an official language, the        should follow the sense of every word used during' the

Latin language 7 Must a universal church have one language ?          sacrificial rite of the Mass. However, every Cathol&  can

In this connection, .concerning  this official language of the        know what the Priest is saying, should he wish to do so.    He

Roman Catholic Church, we wish to quote again from                    has but to secure a prayer book containing the translation

Volume I of the Radio Replies of the Fathers Rumble and               of the Latin to English. Most prayer books give the Latin

Carty, questions and answers 1392-1397.                               and the English of the Mass side by side, in columns.


        1392. Why, in all ceremonies and sermons, do Priests             1395. Why does the Church cling to Latin, a dead lan-

speak in Latin ?                                                      guage ?


        In the Epistle to the Hebrews, V., I., you will find these       For one reason, precisely because it is dead! In modern

words,      "Every Priest is ordained for ~MY$  in the things         and living languages, words are constantly changing their

that pertain to God, that he may offer up gifts  and sac@cgs          meaning whilst in a dead language, such as Latin, they do

for sins."     A Priest has two chief duties: to offer sacrifice      not. The essential doctrine and significance of Christianity

to God, and to sanctify men by his teaching and instruction.          must not change, and the safest way to preserve it intact is

Now, when a Priest is spealiing,  not to men, but to God in           to keep it in an unchangeable language. Again, a universal

the name of men, he speaks in the language of the Church -            Church must have at least her chief form of worship in a

in Latin - a language God certainly understands, as does the          universal language. Christ came to save all men, and wherever

Priest. When on the other hand he speaks to the people he             a member of the true Church may be in this world he should

speaks in their own language-; ,in France, in French ; in Eng-        be able to find himself at home at the central act of Christian

land, he uses English ; in Germany, German. Sermons are               worship. The Mass, being said in Latin, is the same in all

always give in the vernacular, and not in Latin, because they         lands. If a Frenchman, who could not understand a word of

are addressed to the people. Go into any Catholic Church,             English, were to enter a Catholic Church in London, he

and you will never hear any sermons in Latin. (In connec-             would be at home the moment the Mass began. An Eng-

tion with this the undersigned wishes to remark the follow-           lish service would be a mystery to him. I myself have said

ing.       Heb. 5 :l reads: "For  every high priest taken from        Mass with as many as fifteen different nationalities present,

among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God,            and not all could follow my discourse when I spoke to those

that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins." Wfiat          present, though I spoke for a few minutes in English, in

right does Rome have to apply this text to every priest in the        French, and in Italian. There were still many who could

Roman Catholic Church ? Notice that the text does not                 not understand any of these languages, but being all Cathy

simply speak of "priest," but of "high priest." At the con-           olics, they were quite at home the moment I turned  to thk

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


Altar and went on with the Mass in Latin. It brings out the       why tli&e should be one official language in-a-church that
wisdom and the universality of the' Catholic Church. The          1s universal, has certainly not answered the objection that
Priest ascends the Altar to intercede with God on behalf of       such a language is in conflict with the idea of catholicity.

the people. Those present kneel, and in their hearts pour out     H . V . )

their prayers for their own necessities. They feel no more
                                                                      1397. Is it not a short-sighted policy, since God hears
need to know just what the Priest is saying than the Jews
                                                                  hearts rather than words ?
who knelt at the foot of the mountain felt the need of knowing                              :.
just what Moses was saying to God on their behalf at the top.         No. The Catholic Church is the greatest Church of all,
And here once again let me say that if anyone should complain     and has preserved her unity despite her vast expansion. Those
of the use of Latin, it should be those who have to endure it.    smaller Churches, on the other hand, which adopted national
And I have never yet heard a Catholic soul complain that it       languages are divided one from the other; are national in
caused difficulty, or that he or she would like it changed.       character; and are splitting up into innumerable sects as
(Just a few remarks by the undersigned in connection with         their doctrines change with every change in the sense of
this Romish answer. I trust that it would do very little good     modern words.

for anyone in the Romish Church to change this custom in              How superficial and contrary to the Word of God is the

the Romish church, namely the use of Latin as the official        Roman Catholic view of the catholicity of the Church of God

language. I believe it would do very little good to voice any     in Christ! In the second place, besides the strange fact that

desire for a change in something that has been officially         a universal church should have one official language, it would

adopted in the Romish Church. Secondly, that reference to         establish Rome's claim that it is the true church of God be-

Moses on the top of the mountain when Israel was gathered         cause, whereas the Protestant churches are segments that

before Mount Sinai surely does not hold. The reason why           have severed themselves .from the Romish church, the Roman

the people did not understand Moses was not because he            Catholic church has continued intact throughout the ages.

talked with God in a strange language, but was because he         Is this true? Is Rome's claim true that the Roman Catholic

was so far away from them. And the reason why Moses. wai          Church has been preserved throughout the .ages, wherever it

so far away  from them, on the top of the mountain and alone      has been called into existence? Of course not! What, then,

with God, was because none among the children of Israel           must Rome's judgment and evaluation be of all those churches

had the right to approach unto the living God. Only Moses,        that formerly existed in Asia Minor and in northern Africa

the Mediator of the Old Dispensation, had that right to           and exist no longer today ? The Book of Revelation speaks

approach into the very presence of the Lord of hosts. And to      of the seven churches to whom the seven epistles were ad-

Rome we declare that this wall of partition between God and       dressed, and recorded for us in Rev. 2 and 3: the churches

His people has now been removed, once and forever, by the         of Ephesus, Pergamos, Smyrna, Philadelphia, Thyatira,

Mediator of a better covenant, our Lord Jesus Christ, and  we     Sardis, Laodicea. All these churches disappeared long before

have no desire to join with Rome and to reestablish this          the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century, in fact

custom which characterized the Old Dispensation. When we          long before the Great Schism between the East and the West

read in this answer of the priest as he ascends the altar and     in the eleventh century. Where today are these churches that

intercedes for the people who are kneeling, shall we say, be-     are mentioned in Rev. 2 and 3 ? Where today are the churches

low, it surely reminds us of the symbols and shadows so           in Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and in northern Africa?

prevalent in the Old Testament. - H.V.)                           And why is it that it is impossible to preach the gospel in

                                                                  these places with any hope of success? If the trueness of the

   1396. What good can result to the people if they cannot        Roman Catholic Church must be sought in its unbroken con-

know what.the  Priest is asking in their name?                    tinuity, what about these former "Roman Catholic" churches

                                                                  in Asia Minor and northern Africa? Thirdly, Rome calls
   I have said that they know if they wish, for they will find
                                                                  attention to its catholicity, and would maintain that this
an English translation of the Mass in their prayer books.
                                                                  catholicity must especially be understood in that sense that
But' even if they could not kndw, the Latin prayers could
                                                                  the church, wherever it exists, must count a multitude of
win for them the graces requested. If a German friend prayed
                                                                  members among all the peoples of the earth which is striking
for you in German, would that prayer be useless because you
                                                                  to the eye. Rome, then, is the true church, if you please,
do not understand German ?    (What a strange philosophy we
                                                                  because it is greater than `any sect in particular, probably
have here.    A German prays for me, in my behalf, and this
                                                                  greater than the total membership of all "sects" combined.
prayer would not be useless ? Presuppose that that Gerlilan
                                                                  However, to this we will continue to call attention in our
prays in my behalf, for the forgiveness of my sin, and I walk
                                                                  following article, when we continue to discuss Rome's claim
in sin and show not the least inclination to have my sins
                                                                  that it is the catholic, universal church.
forgiven. Would that prayer be heard, because he prays for

me? I think not. I must surely knock, ask and seek. Besides,                                                              H.V.

these radio replies have not as yet answered the objection


426                                        T H . E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
 _---------.~~~.~~~~~                                                Indeed, in the faith of the Christian the Scriptures are
II The Voice of Our Fathers                                         on a pedestal. They occupy a position above all other writ-
                                                               II ings. No, the Christian does not worship the Bible. He is
                                                                    not guilty of bibliolatry. He worships God, and bows before

                   The Belgic Confession                            Him. And because he does the latter, he acknowledges the
                                                                    absolute authority of God's i7'o&,  the Holy Scriptures.

                         ARTICLE V (continued)                          For it is undoubtedly with respect to the latter idea,
                                                                    that of authority, that our Confession speaks here of these
Holy and Cnnonical                                                  books being holy and canonical, in the first place. It is just

       "We receive all these books, and these only, as holy and     because the Scriptures are God's Word, i.e., because the au-
canonical . . ." This is a statement of the faith of the church     thority of God Himself underlies all that they contain, that
and its members concerning "these books," that is, concerning       these Scriptures are in the most absolute sense of the word
the books mentioned in the preceding article. In Article III        authoritative.    Their authority is divine. Authority is the
is the doctrine of the inspiration of the Scriptures. In Ar-        majesty and the prerogative to declare what and how the
ticle IV is the list of the canonical books. In the pres-           creature shall be and shall do. It is to "have the say-so." And
ent article is the statement of our faith with respect to           God is the only Sovereign of heaven and earth. His author-
these books that constitilte  the inspired Scriptures of the Old    ity is not derived, but original. It is not limited, but absolute.
and of the New Testament.                                           He has at2 to say over all things and over everyone. Through
       In the first place, we acknowledge them as canonical.        the Scriptures He comes, with the divine authority. And be-
What this means need not be discussed again: for it has been        fore it there is nothing to do but to bow. You may not - no,
dealt with in our treatment of Article IV. Two things must          you in the deepest sense cannot -put that authoritative
be emphasized in this connection. First of all, we receive          Word aside. If you attempt to do so, it condemns you. You
these books, that is, acknowledge them: And, in the second          cannot say, as you might with any other word, that you are
place, our acknowled_gment  of these books is such that there       not yet convinced, that you must first give it some thought.
can be neither exception to it nor addition to it. None of          The Scriptures do not come with an attempt to persuade you.
the sixty-six books is either more or less canonical than the       Nor do they approach merely the intellect and its thoughts.
others. They all occupy their own, indispensable place in the       They do not ask you to discuss things, to "talk them over,"
whole of the canon. And no other books occupy a similar             to see whether it is possible or not to believe what they say.
place : we receive these 0921~  as canonical. This is undoubted-    That Word demands. It insists. It approaches the heart.
ly a reference to the fact that others, specifically the Roman      It has authority without first attempting to convince. It has
Catholics, would give a place to the apocryphal books in the        authority over against whatever may be our "convictions." It
canon. And while a separate article is devoted to this subject      calls forth faith. And faith is obedsience  - unreserved, un-
in our Confession, we take note of the fact that here already       conditional, unreasoned obedience. That Word of God is the
the apocryphal books are excluded from the canon in the             end of all contradiction.    "It is written" is the unconquered,
faith of the church. Among all other books, therefore, in the       but all-conquering, weapon !

mind of believers the Scriptures occupy a unique place. They           From this primary idea of the divine authority of "these

only are canonical.                                                 books" follows the truth that they are holy also in respect to

       In the second place, we must note that these canonical       their dignity, as is already implied above. They are unique

books are holy,. according to this confession. The term             when considered from the viewpoint of their intrinsic value

cuno9icd  is more or less a formal term. The term JzoLy             and import, and separate from all other books in that respect.

describes these canonical books ~~~~terially.  They are books       Moreover, as the article emphasizes strongly, they are holy

set apart, separate, from all other books. There are no other       as to their contents. Also this follows from the fact that these

books like them. In fact, in this world of sin and darkness,        Scriptures constitute the Word of God, Who cannot lie.

in which it is impossible that a holy book be written by man,       Hence, these books are such that we believe, without any

mere, natural man, and in which all that is written is innately     doubt, all thkgs  conta&aed  therein.

unholy and impure, these books alone are unsullied, unbe-              This is not the proper occasion for an extended discussion

smirched by the corruption of sin and darkness. Other "holy"        of faith verszbs  doubt. But because this phenomenon of doubt,

books may be produced by pens of saints. But they are holy          especially with respect to the Scriptures, is not uncommon,

only in principle. And, besides, their holiness can only be a       particularly among Christian young people, and more partic-

derived holiness. They are holy only in so far as they derive       ularly among Christian youth of an intellectual bent, so to

their contents from the Scriptures and base their authority,        speak, it may be well to make a few brief points in this con-

or claim to authority, upon the Word of God. But these              nection. And let me insert here that this whole matter of

books, in distinction from all others, are absolutely and per-      Christian youth's doubts could well stand more lengthy treat-

fectly holy.                                                        ment. Briefly, however, we remark the following: 1) Faith

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


and doubt stand diametrically opposed to each other. Doubt              ture with respect to things historical, but to maintain that

is principally unbelief. In the case of the Christian, therefore,       authority &h respect to things normative, :that is, %things

doubt does not have its brigin in the regenerated, believing            that have to do with faith and life, then this distinction is

heart, but in the old man of sin.      2) Doubt in regard to the        nothing but an arbitrary and sinful attempt to drive a wedge

Word of God, the Scriptures, strikes at faith's most precious           of dualism into the Scriptures. But if employed Scripturally,

treasure and at the very foundation of faith. Without the               the distinction is sound, and it simply formulates a truth con-

Scriptures as the Word of God, the whole structure of the               cerning Scripture which we all recognize at once. Let me

truth of the gospel topples. Hence, without faith in the Scrip-         employ an example that is often used. Job's friends had a

tures, all faith is essentially impossible. It is characteristically    certain theory as to the explanation of Job's sufferings. It

at this faith in the Scriptures that the devil aims his tempta-         was a corrupt theory. That entire theory of Job's friends

tion in the case of Christian youth, who is "strong, because            is recorded for us in the book of Job. That they held this

the Word of God abideth in him." I John 2 :13-14. 3) This               theory is simply a fact of history which the Bible records for

doubt is not basically an intellectual problem, though it may           us faithfully. In regard to that fact the Bible has historical

appear such, but a spiritual one. And its cure is not an in-            authority. But in recording the view of Job's fr.iends,  Scrip-

tellectual one primarily, i.e., the cure of reasoning and argu-         ture also makes it plain that their view is to be condemned.

mentation, but a spiritual one, i.e., `the cure of the Spirit and       Their theory has no positive, normative authority for our

grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the Word of God.                  faith and life. The same is true of Pilate's cynical, skeptical

    In this connection we may note that principally the situa-          `question, "What is truth ?"    That Pilate said this is the truth
tion is just exactly as it is described in Article V. Faith             of Scripture ; but z&at Pilate said is. not the truth, but the
believes, emphatically withoztt  any doubt, all things contained        lie. Never, therefore, may this distinction be used in order
in the Scriptures. Privscipdly,  I say, it is exactly thus: at          to justify the false doctrine that God's Word is to be sought
any juncture introduce a single doubt, just a little seed of            in the Scriptures, and that the so-called historical passages
doubt, in regard to an apparently insignificant thing, and the          are not inspired while the normative portions are inspired.

door is opened to doubt all. I know very well that appear-                   Bearing all the above in mind, we may note that Article
ances would seem to belie this. It is apparently possible to            V sets forth a three-fold relation between faith and the Scrip-
doubt certain things contained in the Scriptures and yet to             tures :

believe in God and in Christ. But principally this is not so.                1) The Scriptures are for the regz&ioon  of faith. They are

And not only is he who begins to doubt on. very dangerous               a divinely appointed canon, a rule. As such, they serve as a

ground spiritually; but brutal experience has shown only too            criterion to distinguish the truth from the lie, and thus serve

often to what  fatal proportions that first little seed of doubt        as a guide for doctrine and life.

can grow, both in the life of the individual believer and in            -    2) The Scriptures serve as the foundation of our faith.

the faith of the church as a whole.                                     Scripture is the only ground on which the Christian faith is

    Moreover, in close connection with what we said abov:               based, and that too, just exactly because it is God's Word.

concerning the authority of the Word, it must be remembered                  3) The Scriptures serve for the confirmation of our faith.

that this "believing, without any doubt, all things contained           By means of the Scriptures faith is nourished and strength-

therein" is a` priopi the position of the Christian. It is the          ened. All that can ever nourish and strengthen faith is the

beginning of the expression of faith, not the end. It is the            Word of God Himself. And without the Scriptures, there is

Christian's starting-point, not the end of a long process of            no Word of God -and, no faith.
investigation and argumentation. Tb be sure, this does not                   I cannot refrain from applying the truth of this article

mean that the believer has no problems with anything what-              for a moment. For us this article certainly contains a fact of

soever in the Scriptures. It does not mean that he at once              spiritual life that needs repeated emphasis. If it be true that

understands all things. In this respect it always remains               we receive these Scriptures "for the regulation, foundation,

true that we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But it              and confirmation of our faith," let us live  according to this
does indeed mean that the Christian's approach is not that of           article of faith. And that means that we and our children live
doubt, and that he does not insist that first he must have all          close to the Word of God in our homes, in the midst of the

problems solved and must understand fully all things con-               church, and in our schools. We evince far too much disdain

tained in the Scriptures, and that then only can and will he            for the Scriptures frequently (as our lethargic, hit-and-miss
believe.                                                                society life plainly witnesses). And far too often, even in our

    In this same connection we may say a few words about                homes, we give those Scriptures only a little passing notice.

the distinction between historical and normative authority              And only one thing can result from this : our faith must needs

of Holy Writ. And, in the first place, we would sound a                 suffer and become weak. If we are a people whose confession

note of caution. If this distinction is employed in order to            is genuine, therefore, let us live and walk day by day and in

escape the absolute authority of the Scriptures, it must be             every sphere of life by and from the infallible Word of God,

discarded. If the intention is to deny the authority of Scrip-          the Scriptures.                                           H.C.H.


428                                       T H E   S$A.NDARD   B E A R E R


                                                                       the radio program, the consistory of South Holland advises

1 WCENCY  and.ORDER 1 the Classis  to express :
                                                                          "1. That radio programs officially sponsored by the

                                                                       church should be considered official mission work.

           Hymns and Our Radio Broadcasts                                 "2. That therefore, the music used on such programs
                                                                       should be consistent with the liturgy of the church as de-

       Further expressions of the consistories on the above sub-       scribed and adopted in Art. 69 of the Church Order. Grounds :

ject are continued in this article. The consistory of Hope                "a. This will safe guard our churches from introducing

Church expressed :                                                     into our radio witness as well as our church services ques-

       "Without entering into the question as to whether an            tionable hymns or other music contrary to the doctrine we
official radio broadcast of the Word by a Protestant Reformed          proclaim.

Church is on the same level :with  divine worship in the house            "b. This will tend to unify the witness of all those

of God' we do wish to express the following concerning the             churches sponsoring radio programs.
singing of hymns on such a broadcast:                                     " c. This will remove the possibility of offense which

       !`l. That we believe that hymns ought not to be sung            may be taken by individuals or churches as reflected in the
                                                                011
such a broadcast : (a) because we should put up every pOs-             protest above referred to."

sible guard against the introduction of hymns into divine                 Hudsonville said :

worship, (b) because, although our distinctiveness is in the              "In as much as Classis East requested all our consistories
truth which we proclaim, we must guard that distinctiveness            to study the protest of Oak Lawn's consistory against the
as carefully as we can.                                                consistory of the First Church, Grand Rapids, and come to

       "2. However, we believe that those anthems and hymns            classis with our findings, we submit the following:

which are literal quotations from the Scriptures set to music             "We believe that in a radio broadcast such as ours, one
not only may be used on such broadcasts but in some in-                should expect a distinctively Protestant Reformed program.
stances may even have the preference over the Psalter ver-             And we are of the opinion that Oak Lawn's consistory holds
sification.    (a) We have in mind such pieces as `Remember            that this distinctiveness is questioned as long as hymns are
Now T,hy Creator,' `I Know Whom I Have Believed,' `Send                allowed to be sung. In so doing we are not heeding Article
Out Thy Light,' `God So Loved the World,' and the like.                69 of our Church Order: `The Psalms, hymns and spiritual
(b) These without a doubt are purer than some Psalm                    songs mentioned in this article are from the divinely inspired
versifications which often require a synonym for metric reas-          word of God.' They are very distinct. We, as Protestant
ons or for rhyming purposes and can thus give a different              Reformed Churches, should always abide by the musical
shade of meaning from the original.                                    songs of David,  the Psalter. The 150 Psalms of David are

       "3. We are also of the opinion that it would be advisable       sufficient. They can be used at all occasions, i.e., Easter and

that our Psalter revision committee explore the possibility of         the like. They are God-centered. They beautifully portray

versifying the Christmas story, the Resurrection story, as             the New Dispensation in the light of the Old. They comprise

well as the Crucifixion story and such passages of Holy Writ           a full orbed gospel.     The Psalms contain and portray the

with a view to setting them to music for our Psalter. (a) If           righteous and holy wrath against the ungodly sinner on the

the Old Testament Psalms  can be versified and sung we see             one hand and announce the love of God to the Christian on

no reason why the New Testament passages may not be                    the other. Nowhere as in the Psalms of David can a Chris-

treated the same way. (b) The spirit of the Church Order               tian living in the consciousness of the distinct Protestant

which allows versifications of the Lord's Prayer, of the Song          Reformed truth derive such comfort. On the contrary, the

of Mary and the Song of Simeon surely is not violated when             sweet hymns of our clay speak only of the love of God and

further passages of the New Testament are versified without            that often in a very sickly way and also of the Arminian and

a departure from the over all teachings of Scripture."                 conditional approach unto salvation and thus k~~~~y  is szbtzg

                                                                       z&o t1zg C~LUYCJL.  As watchmen on the walls of Zion it is our
       Grand Haven merely stated, "that we express ourselves
                                                                       calling to be on our guard. Let us not deviate from the truth.
to be in agreement with the protest submitted by the con-
                                                                       One error is sure to lead to another which is plainly seen in
sistory of Oak Lawn Protestant Reformed Church and the
                                                                       the Christian Reformed Churches. First they had the Psalter,
grounds the&n  set forth and as sustained by the minority
                                                                       then the Psalter hymnal. Putting the Psalter on a par with
of the committee appointed by Classis in re this matter."
                                                                       the hymns is essentially casting out the Psalter. Brethren let
       From the consistory of South Holland came the follow-           us remain faithful to Article 69 of the Church Order and
ing :                                                                  watch and pray that no strange fire be offered on the altar

       "Re the protest of Oak Lawn against the consistory of the       (Leviticus 1O:l).  And so we come with a unanimous stand

First Protestant Reformed Church re the use of hymns on                supporting the position of Oak Lawn's consistory."


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                       429


    From Holland's consistory a lengthy opinion was sub-           August 29, 1951, No. 4 where they themselves maintain that

mitted.                                                            the ministry of the Reformed Witness Hour is an official

                                                                   proclamation of the Word. (cj From the argument of the
    "In reference to the decision of the last Classis  in which
                                                                   Oak Lawn Consistory that `we do not grasp the implication
they referred the matter of the protest of the consistory of
                                                                   of the statement in your letter: The program itself is purely
Oak Lawn against the consistory of First Church relative the
                                                                   a congregational venture and responsibility.' Surely this can-
matter of using hymns on our radio programs, called the
                                                                   not mean that the congregation is responsible for the broad-
consistory to study and give advice on this Classis. The con-
                                                                   cast to the exclusion of the office bearers ? We understand
sistory of Holland comes to Classis  with the following:
                                                                   that it is a congregational venture just as the sending of a
    "1. The question that must decide the issue. Is the radio      missionary would be. We also understand that it is the con-
program known as the Reformed Witness Hour sponsored               gregation's responsibility to support the work she undertakes
by the First Church : (a j Mission work in which the doc-          but we also understand that the responsibility of properly
trines of the Protestant Reformed Churches are officially          executing this work the congregation lays upon the office
preached in a distinctively Reformed radio ministry under          bearers whom she calls unto the work. It is the congregation's
the direct supervision of the consistory in harmony with the       responsibility to preach the Word each Sabbath also, and
standards of. the Protestant Reformed Churches and our             upon her elders she places the task of supervising this work
Church Order ?                                                     that it is properly done. Hence, whereas this is also true of

   "`Under the classification above the Reformed Witness           the radio ministry, we fail to see the exact intent and mean-
Hour takes on the nature of mission work by the official           ing of this argumentative statement in your letter. (d j Finally
preaching of the Word under the `direct supervision of the         the answer of the First Church consistory to Oak Lawn on
consistory and as such comes under all the requirements of         this argument : `We heartily agree that radio ministry can be
the official Church Order of the churches. (bj Is this radio       characterized as official mission ministry.'

program a public testimony or program by a group of per-               "3. From all these arguments by both the consistories it

sonsin  the name of the congregation without the direct super-     is clear that the consistory of First Church admits, does not

vision of the consistory, functioning by permission of the con-    deny, that they consider the radio program of the Reformed

sistory in the sphere of the consistory's jurisdiction ? Under     Witness Hour as an official proclamation of the Word.

this classification the Reformed Witness Hour functions in             "Conclusion : Therefore the cdnsistory of Holland judges
the same category as our Men's Societies, Ladies' Aids,            that the consistory of First Church has no right to violate the
Choral Societies, etc., functioning in the sphere of the juris-    articles of the Church Order of the Protestant Reformed
diction of the consistory. Each. society is sovereign in its       Churches whose communion she enjoys. Grounds : (1) The
own sphere within the limitations of the constitution or char-     consistory of First Church admits that the Reformed Wit-
acter approved by the consistory in which sphere they operate.     ness Hour is an official proclamation of the Word. (2 j By
In this category the Reformed Witness Hour does not take           the public announcement that accompanies each broadcast the
on the nature of mission work by the official preaching of         announcer identifies the Reformed Witness Hour as `a dis-
the word for there is no direct supervision of the consistory      tinctively Reformed radio ministry.' Therefore various ar-
which is always required when the Word is being officially         ticles of the Church Order are affected.. Article 69 in essence
preached. Again in thi.s  category the Reformed Witness            means that with this official preaching of the Word only the
Hour does not take on the nature of officially preaching the       1.50 Psalms of David, etc., shall be~sung  in our churches.
Word and is only a local program sponsored by a local church
without the supervision of the consistory and should, there-           "Therefore, on the above grounds the consistory of the
fore, not be identified as a distinctively Reformed Radio          Protestant Reformed Church of Holland advises Classis  East
ministry for it is no ministry of the official Word when not       to uphold the protest of the consistory of Oak Lawn and so
under the supervision of the consistory.                           inform both the consistories involved."
                                                                                                                                G.v.d.B.
   "2. From the correspondence relative the case we `find

the following : (a j On July 2, 1951, the letter from the Oak

Lawn's Consistory to the Consistory of the First Church the                                   I N   MEMORIAM

following: `1. The fact that we believe that the radio min-           The Martha Society of the Doon  Protestant Reformed Church
istry is the official proclamation of the Word of God by the       wishes to express its sincere sympathy to one of its members, Mrs.

church.    This formerly, under the Prot. Reformed Hour            Henry Stellinga,  in the loss of her brother,

was not the case. We ask you to refer to page 12 of Rev.                               MR. HENRY KELDERMAN

Hoeksema's book In t/z@  Sanctuary where he advances the           May our Lord comfort the bereaved family. Romans 8:37:  "Nay, in

reason for refusing to ,pray  publicly on the radio that the       all these things we are more than conquerors  through Him that
                                                                   loved us."
ministry was not the official proclamation of the ,Word.'  (b j
                                                                                                       Rev. G. Van Baren,  President
This is further confirmed by the First Church in letter of                                             Mrs. H. J. Blankespoor,  Secretary


I    430                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


                                                                          felt the loss of our cherished leader deeply, there were also

            A L L   A R O U N D   US                                      silent prayers of thanksgiving that our Lord had delivered
                                                                          Rev. Ophoff from his suffering and from the battle in which

                                                                          he had so long and faithfully fought. Because God took him
     SYNOD OF 1962                                                        home during the sessions of Synod, the delegates were able
        The Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches of 1962
                                                                          to attend the funeral services in First Church as a body.
     is part of the history of the Church of Jesus Christ. This
                                                                          Friday afternoon our delegates and people gathered to hear
     brief article is intended as an enumeration of some of the
                                                                          Rev. H. Hoeksema speak on the comforting words of Psalm
     impressions left with undersigned as well as a &sum& of some
                                                                          73 :24:  "Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and after-
     of the decisions that were taken. It is not in any sense com-
                                                                          ward receive me to glory."         It is surely the prayer of our
     plete ; our readers are urged to purchase a copy of the printed
                                                                          Churches that God will provide us with men who can fill the
     Acts to learn of all the work that was done and the many
                                                                          vacancy left by our departed brother ; men who are moved by
     decisions Synod made.
                                                                          the devotion that moved him ; men who are faithful as he
        Synod opened Tuesday evening, June 5, with the pre-
                                                                          was ; men who will be, under God's guiding hand and in-
     synodical prayer service. Rev. M. Schipper,  president of last
                                                                          dispensable benediction, a blessing for our Churches as he
     year's Synod preached the sermon. He preached on the text,
                                                                          was.
     "Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of
     Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I            This is perhaps the place also to report that Rev. Vos
                                                                          was not able to attend Synod, although he had been delegated.
     may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with
                                                                          Because of a recurrence of his heart trouble, his doctor forbade
     one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; And in
                                                                          him to attend. Many years he has sat with the delegates of
     nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an
                                                                          Synod ; this year his presence was sorely missed. We are
     evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that
                                                                          however, thankful to report that God has enabled him to take
     of God." Philippians 1 :27,  25.  It was the very definite im-
                                                                          up his labors in. his own congregation although his lab,ors
     pression of all the delegates that this Word of God which was
                                                                          must also be limited to his congregation lest too great a load
     brought to the Synod indeed characterized Synod's labors.
                                                                          be placed upon him.
     There was no question about it that those who represented
                                                                             The two main matters that were discussed at Synod were
     our Churches in this highest ecclesiastical assembly strove
                                                                          matters of our Theological School and matters of Missions.
     earnestly together for the faith of the gospel.
                                                                              Turning first to the affairs of our seminary:
            It was an unusually busy Synod. It was busy not only
                                                                              1) Prof. H. C. Hoeksema was appointed and accepted the
     because there was much work to be done, but also because
                                                                          appointment for a four year term. Synod learned from the
     there were difficult problems that required many committee
                                                                          Theological School Committee of the excellent instruction that
     meetings. One committee of pre-advice, in fact, worked
                                                                          was given through our professors - instruction that surely
     every day during noon hours and sometimes early in the
                                                                          prepares our young men for the ministry of the gospel.
     morning and reported finally their finished work during
                                                                             2) Synod learned too of the excellent studies of our Stu-
     Synod's last session. All the delegates labored long and
                                                                          dent, D. Engelsma who will enter his last year, the Lord
     earnestly in      their duties with seriousness         applying
                                                                          willing, this coming September. We can also anticipate an-
     themselves to their labors. Sometimes in the past this has
                                                                          other student next fall, Mr. Robert Decker, who has com-
     been different. There have been synodical meetings that were
                                                                          pleted his studies in Calvin and who will begin his work in
     less serious than this one, sessions in which delegates paid
                                                                          our seminary.
     less attention to business. There was none of a spirit of frivol-
                                                                             3) Interestingly, there were several requests from men
     ity, of time-consuming discussions over trivialities ; Synod
                                                                          outside our Church for information concerning our seminary
     was hardworking and earnest throughout. This was partly
                                                                          and possibilities of studying there. One of these was pre-
     due to the efforts of the president, Rev. C. Hanko, but also
                                                                          viously treated by the School Committee and did not appear
     to a considerable extent to the attention and earnestness of all
                                                                          for decision on the Synod; one was referred to the School
     the delegates.
                                                                          Committee for answering; one was not treated because the
            For this reason too, a spirit of unity prevailed on the
                                                                          request was temporarily withdrawn.
     Synod. Although there were differences of opinion (which
     is natural and good) major decisions were made by unani-                It would, no doubt interest our people to hear one letter
     mous-vote. This spirit of unity was evident in the quiet op-         that appeared :

     timism that moved the delegates to look ahead, in the devo-                     For some time I have been desirous of uniting with a strict
                                                                                  Calvinist church of the Reformed Faith. I have been led to
     tion to the cause of our Churches that was rooted in a serene                this decision by studying the Gospel in the  light of the In-
     assurance of God's blessing.                                                 stitutes of the Chrktian  Religion. I was reared a strong Prot-
                                                                                  estant in the Methodist Church. While I was in high school
        During the sessions of Synod, God took from the midst                     the preaching of that particular congregation became strongly
     of our Churches our beloved brother Rev. G. M. Ophoff.                       infected with Modernism. I was convinced that this was not
                                                                                  the true gospel teaching and sought elsewhere. I was too young
     Although the delegates as well as our Churches as a whole                    and unlearned in matters of theology and rashly entered Roman

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


      Catholicism only to be shortly disillusioned while pursuing        Mission Committee. The Committee is also empowered to
      academic studies in a Catholic college where a great deal of       pursue this work should the investigation warrant it and the
      theology was taught (nevertheless' I did learn there the basic
      esse+ials  of theology without which I could not have studied      means be available. Our readers will recall that there was a
      further on my own).                                                brief report some time ago concerning contacts that had been
         After graduation I separated from the Roman Church. I
      clung firmly to the Gospel but was still confused on some          made in Jamaica by our Mission Committee. At the time, the
      points. Yet I seemed to have an instinctive distrust of Ar-        Mission Committee felt that it had not the authority of
      minianism. For a time I attended the Russian Orthodox
      Church, nor formally joining it. I thought perhaps to pursue       Synod to pursue this work further. The result was that
      theological courses in that faith, making some arrangements in     the matter was dropped and the Methodist Church stepped
      that direction. But a careful reading of Calvin and other Re-
      formed works convinced me that I had never understood the          into the field and took over the administration of several
      Gospel. I have embraced the principles of the Reformed Faith       Churches there. However, recently one minister from the
      and my wife (a former Catholic) has also come to the Gospel.
                                                      I dllld Ill! e0
         My prLne 2ere11-  is /Leolo&  lcl,  wUh  
      devote myself exclusively. At present, I am occupied in teach-     Methodist Church and still wanted very much to have our
      ing school. I am writing to you for advice as to how I should
      proceed further in this matter. I wish to express my thanks        Churches send someone down there. This Synod decided to
      for taking time to read this letter from a perfect stranger.       do. The advantages of the field are obvious : its nearness to
    In this connection, it is well to note that Synod is still           our own country and its English-speaking populace. Besides,
disturbed over the lack of prospective students coming from              the repeated call for help must surely be an indication that
our Churches. It would be ironical to say the least if students          God calls us to investigate, for it is a call that cannot be
had to come to our school from outside while our own young               ignored.
men held back. Again, our young men are urged to consider
                                                                             There are several matters that we can also briefly report
prayerfully  this high calling in the Church of Christ.
                                                                         on at this time.
   Secondly, with respect to matters of missions, our Synod
took some important and far-reaching decisions.                              1) A committee to study long-range emeritation plans for
    1) With respect to work now being done by the Mission                our ministers was continued from last year. The committee
Committee, Synod approved of the work of Rev. Lubbers and                tias enlarged to include men who are acquainted with this
the dkcisions  of the Missioti  Committee in Houston, Texas.             type of work and who can give advice on technical matters.
Since matters in Tripp are developing rapidly, our Mission-              This committee is mandated to study pension and retirement
ary will return to Tripp to labor for awhile ; but Houston will          plans in view of the fact that the cost of supporting emeritus
not be forgotten. Tripp is the area that demands immediate               ministers will no doubt continue to increase in our Churches.
attentioin,  but there are people in Houston who have shown                  2) The last of the Catechism books, some of which have
considerable interest in the truth as brought to them by our             already been printed and are. in use in our Churches, will be
missionary.                                                              prepared for publication this year. When this work is finished
   Besides, since the mail response from Trans-world Radio               our Churches will have all new Catechism books, books of
has continued to be encouraging, Synod decided to continue               their own, so that our children may be taught the truth which
this radio work for another year. In the near future this                we have learned to love and'cherish.

column can perhaps report on some of the correspondence                      3) The "hymn question" came up for final decision at

received from this station.                                              this Synod. Although there was still difference of opinion on

   Synod was told also of some of the difficulties and strug-            the entire question, and perhaps in part becahcse  there was

gles which our missionary encounters in laboring outside our             difference of opinion, the motion to* change Article 69 of the

Churches. It is seldom realized completely by our people                 Church Order was voted down unanimously. The Synod felt

the difficulties of such labor and the opposition which often-           that there were pressing practical reasons why a matter of

times our missionary must face. We should surely remember                this nature should not be brought into our Churches at this

our missionary and his work before the throne of God's grace.            time. One could almost say that the "hymn question" died

   2) `Two reports were received and treated from study                  in three minutes - unmourned.

committees dealing with foreign missions and long range mis-                Although there were difficult questions and trying mat-

sion work as that is connected with radio broadcasting. The              ters that engaged Synod's attention, and which cannot be

result of these reports was that a special committee was ap-             reported on here, one may surely characterize this Synod as

pointed which will deal exclu&ely  with matters of foreign               optimistic concerning the future of our Churches ; as forward

missions in distinction from our present committee which                 looking in matters that engage our calling to promote the truth

concerns itself with domestic missions. This committee was               of the gospel ; as deeply concerned for the well-being of the

appointed froin the Iowa-Minnesota area, is composed of two              cause which God has given us to promote.

ministers and,  three elders and is instructed to come to the               May the prayers of our people ascend daily to the throne

next Synod with  a proposed Constitution and recommenda-                 of grace that God will use us to hasten the day of Christ's

tions for future work.                                                   coming ; and may our people be filled with faith to believe

   3 )The Synod also decided to send two men to Jamaica                  that our cause is the cause of God and that if God is for us,

to investigate this field and report to the present Dbmestic             nothing can be against us.                          H. Hanko


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                                           I-
                                                    ^V
432                                    THG  S.TANIP~EARER
-

                                                                     White for your free copy today - our address is : The Re-

                                                                     formed Witness Hour, P.O. Box 8, Grand Rapids 1, Mich.


                                                                        The 1962 Synod finished its work Friday morning after

                                                                     many strenuous sessions, the results of which will` no doubt

                                                                     be found elsewhere in this issue. We believe that the work
                                              June 20, 1962          might be made easier for the delegates if each were convinced

                                                                     that the prayers of the whole denomination were being offered

       Rev. G. -Canting, p astor of Holland's church since 19i9,     for them. A true token of such unity might have been (but

declined-  the call from our Loveland congregation.                  was not) graphically displayed by a large attendance at the

                                                                     pre-synodical prayer service.    Rev. M. Schipper, of South-

       Rev. G. Van Baren,  Doon's pastor since 1956, accepted        west Church, preached the Word of God as found in Philip-

the call extended him by our Randolph church.                        pians 1 :27,  28, "Stand fast in one spirit, with one mind

                                                                     striving together for the faith of the gospel ; and in nothing

       Rev. M. Schipper, pastor of Grand Rapids Southwest            terrified by your adversaries ; which to them is an evident
Church, has received the call from Doon from a trio which            token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God."
included the Revs. G. Vanden  Berg and G. Lanting.                   Rev. Schipper admonished the Church, as represented by the
                                                                     synodical  delegates, that it was the church's only ca\ling  to

                                                                     strive together for the faith of the gospel, and explainyd  how
       Our beloved Rev. G. M. Ophoff, Emeritus Professor, was        to realize that calling, and gave the incentive for suekdstriving.
taken to his, heavenly rest Tuesday, June 12, at the age of
                                                                     With such Scriptural inspiration any session of Synod should
71 years. Southwest's bulletin expressed it this way: "After
                                                                     be able to work in the spirit of love and harmony.
standing in the line of battle for the truth, God has given His

servant rest and a wreath of victory." Rev. OphoK's  old-time           From the Northwest Iowa Prot. Ref. School Society  we
friend and colleague, ,Rev. H. Hoeksema, preached the funeral        received their News Letter No. 12 which gave a brief r&urn6
sermon and Rev. C. Hanko spoke at the graveside. Rev.                of the progress made in the past year. Though  the Board is
Hoeksema's text was Psalm 73 :24,  Asaph's beautiful                 not presently occupied with the routine matters of running
confession : "Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and after-       a school, it is laboring to establish a good foundation upon
ward receive me to glory."       Rev. Ophoff will be missed by       which they can,  D.V., build their .own school in the future.
all of us, but he has left us a legacy in the volumes of l%e         The letter says, among other things, "We are not' standing
Sfa%dalTd  Bea.rev, as over the years he has delved ilito  the       still. We are pressing forward, laboring with joy in this
nooks and crannies of the Old Testament Scriptures from              essential aspect of our Christian calling." An Inspirational
whence to bring out its treasures, new and old. "Know  yg            Meeting has been planned for June 22 in Hull, with the Rev.
not that theve b a prince and a great man fallevb  today in          Kortering speaking on the subjects,  "End-time Education."
Israel ?,,

                                                                        Rev. R. C. Harbach receives and accepti  many opportu-

       Youfig  wwn,  this was the concluding paragraph of- South-    nities to cause his influence, and that bf the Prot. Ref. Church
west's account of Rev. Ophoff's demise: "The ranks are               in Lynden, to be felt. May 24 he addressed the Christian

thinning. Who will see it his duty to fill in the gaps ? Young       School Mothers' Club, speaking on, "The Covenant"; the

men, our churches need recruits !"                                   next week he spoke at the local Christian Rest Home ; and

                                                                     the following morning spoke at the teachers' devotions at

       The Program Committee of The Reformed Witness Hour            Drayton  School. Thus we see, way up there in Lynden, the
reports : Rev. C. Hanko has completed the recording of five          striving to bear out the Scriptures that "a little leaven leav-
sermons which, D.V., will-  be broadcast during July. These          eneth the whole lump."

messages have as their general theme., "The Return Of Our
                                                                        Hull's pastor, Rev. Kortering, went to the Dakotas on clas-
Lord" and proclaim the truth that "the end 05 all things is
                                                                     sical appointment in June, and while there lectured in Isabel
at hand, and that it is therefore the calling of every true be-
                                                                     on "The Inspiration of Scripture"; at Forbes Rev. Kortering
liever to be sober and to watch unto prayer." Sermon titles
                                                                     assisted the Elders in Family Visitation.
of these broadcasts are, July 1 - "The Coming of the Lord" ;

July 8 - "Christ Is Coming Again" ; July 15 - "Our  Lord's
                                                                        Bulletin Quote (Hull's9 :      "The Church is not an art ,,
Speedy Return" ; July 22 - "The .Nearness  of the Lord)s
                                                                     gallery for the exhibition of eminent Christians, but a school
Coming" ; and on July 29 - "Present Day Signs of Christ's
                                                                     for the education of imperfect ones."
Coming" will be pointed out to the listeners. These five fine

sermons by Rev. Hanko are now available in a single booklet.            . . . . see you in church.                              J.M.F.


