      _---_---
       \TOLUME  ,=x1x                         OCTOBER  15, 1962 - GRAND  RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                   i%JhtBER~
Ir                                                                   heart knows and loves the idea to stand before His blessed
                  MEDlfATION                                    II face and to be filled with Him as the day is long. A pure
                                                                     heart turns itself to God as the- flower turns itself to the

                                                                     warming rays of the sun. A pure heart hates all evil and

                                                                     loves all `that is good and praiseworthy. A pure heart is
                    THE PURE IN Hf$U3T~                              virtuous in the extreme. Hence, a pure heart is heaven in

            Blessed are the @we in IwaTt: fm- they shnll see God.    p r i n c i p l e .

                                                    Matthew 5 :S        Where does that leave ,ZIS, dear reader ?

                                                                          Listen and we will hear what the Bible has to say on
      What does it mean when w& speak of purity in heart?            that score.       I find the answer in Jeremiah 17 :9. I quote:

      In order to know that, we will have to k*iow  first of all     "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately

what is meant by the Word of God -whtn it speaks of the              wicked : who can know it ?' That is a very exhaustive defini-

heart of man. In Proverbs 4 23 we read the admonitiqn  :             tion of the human heart. Yes, exhaustive and humiliating.

"Keep thy heart with all diligence: for out of it ar&--the           And true. It is the definition of the Holy Ghost whose name

issues of life." And Psalm 64:6  speaks of the heart as very         is the Spirit of Truth. There is no comeback here. Hence,

deep. It shows us that the heart of man is the ethical spiritual     we z1s.o  read in Gen. 6 :5 : "And God saw that the wicked-

center of his existetice.  Because in the Scripture jjust  quoted             of man was great in the earth, and that every imagina-
                                                                     ness 
we heard that out. of it a& the issues of life. Therefore it is      tion of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

plain that the thoughts, the desires, the .imaginations  and              How has that come about?
reflections, together with all your willing and knowing ; your
loving and hating spring from the heart. It is the fountai;z              The answer is : the sin of Adam and Eve in -Paradise.
of all our conscious and unconscious existence. You are not          There the inmost heart of man turned itself from the Eternal
what you say and think, but you are as your heart is. As             and Triune God to the devil and made a covenant with that
                                                                     fallen spirit from hell. Listen again to God's Word: Isaiah
the heart of a man is, so is he,.
                                                                     25:15  : "Because ye have said, We have made a covenant
      Secondly, what does it mean to be pure in heart?               with death, and with hell we are at agreement!" There is

      It is the most wonderful thing that can happen to you.         the record ahd it is against all of             none excepted. There
                                                                                                             us, 
If my heart is pure, I do not really care what happens to me.        is therefore nb one that doeth good, no not one. Ps. 53.

Then I am blessed even when in the midst of the flames and                Thus we can understand that when the Holy Spirit must
smoke of the stake. If my heart is pure,  I have heaven in           define our hearts, He would testify in the Word of God:
my soul. It is the highest good for man.                             Deceitful is the heart above all things and desperately

      And why, you ask ? Well, the word purity here means            wicked !

that the heart has no foreign, alien substances in it. It is as           That means also that all the issues of our hearts are
we speak of pure gold. In that case we have in mind gold             wicked. Oh, I knbw,  I know, that this is not always evident.
that is purified of all substances that are not. gold, but are       That we often times will smile with a cursing heart. That
dross and dirt. -So we also speak of diamonds of the'purest          there are many things that we do and speak which have the
water.                                                               name of goodness tid virtue. But pray, tell me, what is

      Pure in heart we -were when we came out of the hand of         behind all our so-&led nobility, but a heart that ~$1  not

our Creator in Paradise. Adam and Eve walked in the                  give God the praise ahd  hotior that is due Him ? Who among

garden of Eden with pure hearts. And that has some won-              the children. of man will do virtue and honor becn;c&se  lze

derful implications. It is a heart that is rich in God. A pure       loves God? And that is the only virtue worthy of the name.

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


      The Bible tells us, my friends, that all things we do, eating,           My first answer inust be : the pure in heart is Jesus. Oh,

      drinking or ought else, must all be done to His honor and             you may rely upon it: all His heart was and is pure. There

      His glory. In another place it says : All that is not done out        were no foreign elements in the depth of His heart. That is

      of faith is sin !                                                     also the reason why He always spoke for God and unto His

             Hence, we conclude that we all are impure in heart, none       honor.

     excepted. Such is the testimony of Scripture ; such is, the               He knew that He was sent into the world to reveal the

     testimony which the Holy Spirit writes in our hearts when              Father. He knew that He had to show to the whole world

     we are regenerated and converted ; and such is our es-                how lovable and how full of lovingkindness the Father was.

     perience in the midst of the world. That is also the reason           He knew also that this revelation would call for the most

     why a converted soul will cry: 0 God be merciful to me,               horrible suffering for Himself. God wanted to reveal His

     the sinner! At such time you will not make any nice distinc-          love: the children of God that were loved from all eternity

     tions between your so-called good works and your evil works,          must be saved from death and hell and the curse. But the

     but when you stand in the light of God's Spirit and when the          way unto that salvation was the payment of justice and right-

     wisdom of heaven falls into your impure heart, at such times          eousness which were outraged by the children of God. And

     you see nothing but sin, sin, sin. And you find only one              that payment was eternal death for Jesus.           And what
1    name that fits you and that name is sinner !                          did Jesus do ? He was so pure in heart that He said :

                                                                           Not my will but Thy will be done and He trod the way of
            The best man that ever lived said : I abhor myself~  and
                                                                           eternal suffering where His pure heart broke in the cry :
     repent in dust and ashes.        He is Job, the man in the land of
                                                                           Why, 0 my God, hast Thou forsaken Me? It was the ques-
     Uz. We are able to make quite a catalog of the confessions
                                                                           tion of a pure heart which never forsook God. It was His
     of God's saints in the Bible. They all speak one language.
                                                                           meat and drink to do the will of God. And because He knew
     And if that be true of the child of God ; I ask you: where
                                                                           that His torment was the explanation of God's great Love
     shall the wicked appear ? One more testimony : and, remem-
                                                                           and Goodness, He grew still and suffered until the cup of the
     ber., it is a description of the historical church of God. I find
                                                                           wrath of God was emptied to the bottom.
     it in Isaiah 64:66  and 7a: "But we are all as an unclean
                                                                            Jesus is the pure in heart.
     thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we
     all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have                                  * * * 9F

     taken us away.        And there is none that calleth upon Thy            And, in the second place, this Jesus gives Himself through

     name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee . . ."            His Word and Spirit unto the men and women, the children

     There you have our picture as we are by our natural dirt%.            and babes that were given Him of the Father. Go with me

     That is human nature. In this connection I am tempted to              to Paul and he wiif tell you. I quote: I live, yet not I, hut
     ask : what of that celebrated free-will to accept the Gospel ?        Christ liveth in me. And again: Know ye not your own

     The Holy Ghost tells us that no one on earth stirreth up              selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be rep-
     hi&self  to take hold of Thee. That was so in Isaiah's day;           robates? Gal. 2 :20  and II Cor. 13 :5.
     and so it is today.                                                       And the entrance of the Lord Jesus Christ in the depth

                                 *    * * *                                of our hearts is called the new birth, which when coming
                                                                           to our consciousness is called the conversion of the sinner.

                                                                           From that time on the Lord Jesus dwells in us and never
            We, all of us, are impure of heart. Everyone of us has
                                                                           departs from us. And He dwells within us by His Holy
     gone away backward, we have forgotten God. This impurity
                                                                           Spirit that was poured out on Pentecost.
     may be proven very easily. One simple question: why do
                                                                              New creatures, indeed. If any man be in Christ, he is
     you labor and work and sweat in this sorry world ? Many
                                                                           a new creature.
     answers, most of which would be: I want to earn a decent                                 Old things are passed away, behold, all
                                                                           things are become new.
     living on earth and give every one his due. Yes, and what
     about God ? If you would have asked Adam when he still had               Not as though all the evil and wickedness and impurity
     his pure heart, he would have said: I work and keep the               of our nature is removed, but so that in the very depth of
     garden of Eden because I love God. I work unto His honor              our evil heart the obedience and the purity of Christ dwells
     and praises. Ah, you all know that we are selfish by nature.          and works and fights against all the remaining evil in our
     And all that is an expression of the impure state of the heart.       nature, until the time that we are entirely liberated and shall

     The heart is turned to self, our friends, humanity, the world,        dwell in all purity in the abode of the pure ; and that is
     in short to, everything, except to heaven's own God. And              heaven.

     that is also our sin.                                                    Such people are blessed.

            To whom then does Jesus refer in the sixth beatitude ?            And why?

            Well, dear' reader, the answer to that question is the            The reason for their blessedness is stated in the text.
     Gospel of God.                                                        They shall see God.


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                                                                                                27



   I may as well say right at the start that to unregenerated
men that means nothing at :all.  No, that is not correct. It                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                                        Semi-monthly, except monthly during lurk, July and August
does mean something to the:m. The more you talk to them                                  Published by the REFOFWED  FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
of seeing God the more they will hate the very idea. Because                                                           Editor - REV.  HERMAN HOEKSEMA
by nature we all hate the idea of a God that must be loved                              Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
                                                                                        Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,
and obeyed unto all eternity. We will go out of our way and                             Mich. Contributions will be limited to 300 words and must be
send messengers after Him saying: We have no pleasure in                                                                    neatly written or typewritten.
Thy ways, 0 God! Do you not know how His name and                                       All church news items should be addressed to Mr. J. M. Faber,
                                                                                                            1123 Cooper, S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
His day and His church is hated and outraged all through                                 Announcements and Obituaries with the $2.00 fee included
the ages ? No, there is no natural love of God. And when                                must be mailed 8 days prior to issue date, to the address below:
                                                                                         All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to
He shall come in the day of judgment, then the wicked will                                               Mr. James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
say: Mountains fall upon us and hills cover us from the                                                                          Grand Rapids 7, Michigan

face of Him that sitteth upon the throne. For the day of                                        RENE~.~L:  Unless a dehite  request for discontinuance is
                                                                                        received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscrip-
His wrath is come and who is able to stand ?                                               tion to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
                                                                                                                       Subscription price: $5.00 per year
    But if Christ dwells in you so that your inmost heart  is
                                                                                                  Second Class  postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan
pure, there is nothing sweeter to you than to see His blessed

face. Then             say with the poet: When shall I come to
               you 
appear before God.? To see God face to face and to be satis-                                                                              C O N T E N T S
                                                                                 _ .
fied  with such spectacle in heavenly sphere is the highest                      IUEDITA~~N-
                                                                                                The Pure In Heart... . ..__.___._....  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
good for man. It is the cause of much singing and utmost
                                                                                                          Rev. G. Vos
jubilation.

                                                                                 EDITORIALS  -
    When I in righteousness at last Thy glorious face shall                                     Election and Reprobation According to Barth __._............____....  28
see, when all the weary night is past, and I awake with Thee :                                             Rev. H. Hoeksema

to view the glories that abide, then, then I shall be satisfied!
                                                                                 OUR DOCTRINE-
                                                                       G.V.                     Of Justification                      .__,  .__ ..___  . ..__. __ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

                                                                                                          Rev. H. Hoeksema

                  Ladies' League Meeting                                         A CLOUD OF WITNESSES-
                                                                                                 Balasam              . . . . . . . . . . ._._.... ..___.. .._._ ._........ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
    The Eastern Ladies' League will hold its Fall meeting                                .r'              Rev. B. Woudenberg
October lS, 1962, at 8 P. M. in the Hudsonville Protestant
Reformed Church. Rev. John Heys will speak on the topic,                         FROM HOLY WRIT -
                                                                                                Exposition of I Timothy . . .._............_._......................................                                                                                   33
"The Number of Man."          We cordially invite all ladies of the
                                                                                                           Rev. G. Lubbers
denomination to meet with us.
                                                                                 INHISFEAR-
                                Ruth H. Bylsma,  Vice-Secretary                                 A Word to Covenant Youth (2) __._........................................                                                                                             35

                               --                                          ./                              Rev. J. A. Heys
                                                                                 CONTENDIkG  FOR TEE FAITE-
                            I N   M:EMORIAM                                                     The Church and the Sacraments _........................................... 37

   Our Society would like to express its heartfelt sympathy with our                                       Rev. H. Veldman

fellow-member Mrs. P&er  J. Lubbers in the passing of her father,                SPECW  ARTICLE-
                          WILLIAM E. TANIS,                                                     W e Protestant Reiormed! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
aged 81 years.                                                                                             Rev. H. C. Hoeksema

   May our Covenant God heal the broken hearts of the bereaved                   CONTRDWTIONS  -
family and give them His strong consolation.                                                     Annual Report of the Secretary o f the R.F.P.A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
                                          The Ladies' Society                                              Mr. R. Bos
                                                                                                Financial Report of the R.F.P.A  ._.......____..................................  43
                                          Rev. Gerrit  Vos, President                                      H. Velthouse
                                          Mrs. Rhine Lubbers, Secretary                          How to Make the Seminary an Ever Constant Witness........43
 Hudsonville, Mich.                                                                                        Milton H. CoIlmann


                                                                                 DECENCY AND ORDER-
                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                                                                Holy Matrimoliy .__._........_._____.......                                            . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...44
   The Men's Sqciety  of the Doon  Protestant Reformed Church wish                                         Rev. G. Vanden Berg

to express their sympathy to Mr. Wm. Den Besten  and family in                   ALLAROUNDUS-
the recent death of his father-in-law,                                                           Report on Jamaica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _..._....___........................................                                                                     46
                          MR. WALTER BLUM                                                       Ecumenicism (continued)                                           . . . . . . . . . ___....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
                                                                                                           Rev. H. Hanko
   "Casting alI your care upon Him; for He careth  for you."
                                                                 I Peter 5:7.                                             C
                                                                                 NEWS                                          HURCHES
                                                                                                FROM OUR                                             . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~.....4~
                                          Edwin Van Ginkel,  Vice Pres.                                    Mr. J. M. Faber

                                          Peter Van Den Top, Sec'y.


          28                                              T H E   ST-ANDAtiD   B E A R E R
~


                                                                                   Notice :

                                                                                   1. That, instead of total depravity, Barth uses the term

                                                                               reprobation. We believe, of course, that by nature all men

                                                                               are totally depraved. They are, according to Scripture and

          Elecfion  and Reprobation According tie Barth                        the Reformed Confessions, dead in sin and misery. The

                                                                               Bible speaks clear language in this respect. To quote just
                Following the passage we discussed last time in Barth's
                                                                               one passage, in Rom. 3 :9-20 we read : "What then ? Are we
          "Dogmatik" there is a long discussion of Romans 9-11, which
                                                                               better than they? No, in no wise: For we have before
          we will pass, because it really has nothing to do with our
                                                                               proved both Jews and Gentiles, that are all under sin; As
          main purpose which is to show that Barth does not believe
                                                                               it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is
          in reprobation, and also because, in as far as it probably has
                                                                               none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
          something to do with it, our discussion of his exegesis of
                                                                               They are all gone out of the way, they are together become
          this passage of Scripture would mean mere repetition. Be-
                                                                               unprofitable ; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
          sides, the same explanation of this important passage of the
                                                                               Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they
          Word of God is virtually also found in his commentary on
                                                                               have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips;
          the Romans.
                                                                               Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness : Their feet are
                But on page 336 and fo!lowing  pages there is a chapter        swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their
          under the heading: "The election of the individual" which            ways : And the way of peace have they not known: There is
          is important.                                                        no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what
                In an introductory paragraph which is, at the same time,       things soever the law saith, it is said to them that are under
          a brief summary of the entire chapter, Barth writes (I trans-        the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
          late freely) :                                                       may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of

                "The individual man (der vereinzelte Mensch) as he             the law there shall no flesh be justified before God: for by

          stands over against God, is as such reprobated by God.               the law is the knowledge of sin."
                                                                        But
          to be this man can only be his own choice. The witness of               This is the testimony of all Scripture.
          the church of God is that this choice of the ungodly is not             And from our Confessions we will quote Art. 14 of the
          true (nichtig ist), that he from all eternity belongs to Jesus
                                                                               Netherland Confession which reads as follows :
          Christ and he, therefore, is not reprobated, that he is much
                                                                                  "%`e believe that God created man out of the dust of the
          rather klkcted by God, that his wrong notion that God's rep-
                                                                               earth, and made and formed him after his own ima'ge and
          robation appertains to him, is wrong because Jesus Christ
                                                                               likeness, good, righteous, and holy, capable in all things to
          has borne and removed his reprobation, that he on the
                                                                               will, agreeable to the will of God. But being in honor, he
          gr0un.d  of God's election is chosen to eternal life. The prom-
                                                                               understood it not, neither knew his excellency, but willfully
          ise of his election rhust destine him as member of the church
                                                                               subjected himself to sin, and consequently to death, and the
          to bear this testimony into the whole world. And the rev&-
                                                                               curse, giving ear to the words of the devil. For the com-
          tion of his reprobation can only cause him to believe in Jesus
                                                                               mandment of life, which he had received, he transgressed ;
          Christ as the one by whom reprobation is borne and removed."
                                                                               and by sin separated himself from God, who was his true
                `This' is father  clear language.                              life, having corrupted his whole nature; whereby he made

                It means :                                                     himself liable to corporal and spiritual death. And being
                                                     0
                                                                               thus become wicked, perverse, and corrupt in all his ways, he
     '      " 1.`. That all mea  are,  by nattire  reprobate.
                                                                               hath lost all his excellent gifts, which he hacl  received from
                2. That Christ took the place of all men as the sole           God, and only retained a few remains thereof, which, how-
          reprobate.                                                           ever, are sufficient to leave man without excuse ; for all the

                3. That Christ, by His death on the accursed tree, bore        light which is in us is changed into darkness, as the Scrip-

          the reprobation of all men and removed it forever.                   tures teach us, saying: The light shineth in darkness, and the

                                                                               darkness comprehendeth it not: where St. John calleth men
                4. That, therefore, there is, after the death of Christ, no
                                                                               darkness. Wherefore we reject all that is taught repugnant
          more reprobation, and to believe. on Christ is to get rid of
                                                                               thereto, concerning the free will of man, since man is but a
          the false notion that anyone is a reprobate.
                                                                               slave to sin; and has nothing of himself, unless it is given
                5. That, as far as God is concerned, all men are chosen        him from heaven. For who may presume to boast, that he
          unto eternal life.                                                   of himself can do any good, since Christ saith: No man can

                It ought to be abundantly evident that, either Barth does      come unto me, except the Father,  wh&h bath. sent me,..draw

          not understand the Reformed and biblical truth of predestina-        him ? Who will glory in his own will, who  understands that

          tion, election and reprobation, or that he deliberately distorts     to, be: carnally minded is enmity against God ? Who can speak

          it. And I am afraid that the latter is the case.                     of his knowledge, &tce the natural man receiveth not the


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    29


                            3
things of the Spirit of God:     In short, who dare suggest any      tion in Christ, whom he from eternity appointed the Medi-
thought, since he knows that we are not sufficient of ourselves      atdr and Head of the elect, and the foundation of salvation.
                                                                        ,
to think anything as of ourselves, but that our sufficiency is          f`The elect-number, though by nature neither better nor
of God ? And therefore what the apostle saith are justly to          more deserving than others, but with them involved in one
be held firm and sure, that God worketh in us both to will           common misery, God hath decreed to give to Christ, to be
and to do of his good pleasure. For there is no will nor             saved by him, and effectually to call and draw them to his
understanding conformable to the divine will and under-              communion by his Word and Spirit, to bestow upon them
standing, but what Christ hath wrought in man ; which he             true faith, justification and sanctification ; and having power-
teaches us, when he saith, Without me ye can do nothing."            fully preserved them in the fellowship of his Son, finally, to

   And in the Canons of Dordrecht, III, IV, 3 we read:               glorify them for the demonstration of his mercy, and for the

   "Therefore all men are conceived in sin, and by nature            praise of his glorious          .
                                                                                               grace, as it is written: According as

children of wrath, incapable of saving good, prone to evil,          he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world,

dead in sin, and in bondage thereto, and without the regen-          that we should be holy, and without blame before him in

erating grace of the Holy Spirit, they are neither able              love ; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
                                                             1101
willing to return to God, to reform the depravity of their           by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure

nature, nor to dispose themselves to reformation."                   of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein

   2. We ask: is this total depravity the same as reproba-           .he hath made us accepted in the beloved.' Eph. 1 :4, 5, 6. And
tion? This is surely the teaching of Barth. What he calls            elsewhere : `Whom he did predestinate, them he also called,
reprobation is the same as what, on the basis of Scripture           and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he
and the Reformed Symbols, we call total depravity.                   justified them he also glorified.' Rom. 8:30."

   But again we ask, as we did before, what right has Barth                  Of this presentation of election, according to which not

to put an entirely new content in a term that has always been        all, but only some, are chosen, Barth will have nothing. All

used by Reformed men in the specific sense of reprobation?           are chosen, according to him, which is sheer nonsense. He

He has no right to do this whatsoever. By doing this he              must, as we have !:aid before, believe in universal salvation.

deceives the readers. Reprobation, as an element of predesti-        He denies this. But he can only do this on the ground that

nation, is the eternal will and counsel of God, according to         man himself must choose to be elected which, of course, is

which He predestinated some of the human race to eternal             -more Arminian  than Arminius and the Remonstrants them-

damnation in the way of sin. Hence, if all men are reprobates        selves. This, however, we will demonstrate later.

(which is the case, according to Barth) all men are eternally                The  Canons, however, do not only speak of election, but
damned, that is, if the term reprobation is taken in the Re-         also of reprobation. They do so in Chapter I, Art. 15, as
formed sense of the word: 13ut  if Barth does not want this,         follows :
but rather believes that God, on His part, has chosen all men
                                                                             "What peculiarly tends to illustrate and recommend to us
unto eternal life, so that there is no reprobation, then let
                                                                     the eternal and unmerited grace of election, is the express
him not use the term either. In fact, he should not,use the
                                                                     testimony of sacred Scripture, that not all, but some only are
term predestination at all, neither election nor reprobation.
                                                                     elected, while others are passed by in the eternal decree ;
For if there is no reprobation, there is no election. To say
                                                                     whom God, out of his sovereign, most just, irreprehensible
that all men are chosen, as 13arth virtually does in the para-
                                                                     and unchangeable good pleasure, hath decreed to'leave in the
graph we quoted from his Dogmatik above, is nonsense pure
                                                                     common misery into which they have wilfully plunged them-
and simple.
                                                                     selves, and not to bestow upon them saving faith and the
    But that Reformed people believe in reprobation as I de-         grace of conversion; but permitting them in his just judg-
fined it in the preceding paragraph, is evident from the             ment to follow their own ways, at last for the declaration of
Reformed Confessions.                                                his justice, to condemn and perish them for ever, not only

    In the Canons, chapter I, 7 we read about election as            on account of their unbelief, but also for all their other sins.
follows :                                                            And this is the decree of reprobation which by no means

    "Election is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby,           makes God the author of sin (the very thought of which is

before the foundation of the world, he hath out of mere grace,       blasphemy), but declares him to be an awful, irreprehensible

according to the sovereign good pleasure of his own will,            and righteous judge and avenger thereof."

chosen, f1-o~~~  tlze  &ob IZZUUZ~  rnce (I italicized because it            This, you understand, is the infralapsarian conception of
shows that not all are elect), which had fallen through their        reprobation.
own fault (notice that this is infralapsarian), from their
                                                                             But of all this Barth must have nothing.
primitive .state' of rectitude, into sin and destruction, a ceY-

ta& number  of pel7son.s  (I italicized for same reason as                   More of this next time, D.V.
above :.not all are chosen, as Barth would have it) to redemp-                                                                  H.H.


     I         30                                                     T H E   ,STANDARD   B E A R E R

                                                                                      Everywhere in Scripture those that must suffer for

                                                                                      righteousness' sake are comforted and encouraged by holding

                                                                                      before them the glorious eternal' reward. In the Sermon on the

                                                                                      Mount the Lord Jesus Himself declares: "Blessed are th?y

                                                               I V                    which are persecuted for righteousness' sake : for theirs is the
                                            C H A P T E R  
                                                                                      kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you,
                                   OF JUSTIFICATION
                                                                                      and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against
                                             (Continued)                                  falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad : for
                                                                                      you 
                                                                                      great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the
                     In Rev. 11:17, 18 we hear the church, b$ the mouth of the
                                                                                      prophets which were before you." Matt. 5 :10-X The Lord
               twenty-four elders, praising God in the following words : "We
                                                                                      admonishes His disciples that they shall not do their good
               give thee thanks, 0 Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast,
                                                                                      works before men, but before their Father which is in heaven,
               and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great
                                                                                      in the following words : "Take he@d  that ye do not. your alms
               power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and
                                                                                      before men, to be seen of them : otherwise ye have no reward
               thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should
                                                                                      of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore wheri  thou
               be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy
                                                                                      doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the
               servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear
                                                                                      hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they
          .    thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which
                                                                                      may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have
               destroy the earth." And to quote no more, the Lord declares
                                                                                      their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left
               in Rev. 22 :12 : "And, behold, I come quickly ; and my reward
                                                                                      hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may
               is with me, to give every man according as his works shall
                                                                                      be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself
               be."
                                                                                      shall reward thee openly.. And when thou prayest, thou shalt
                     Everywhere in Scripture we find the truth of the reward
                                                                                      not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing
               that shall be given to the faithful servants of Christ. This
I                                                                                     in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they
               reward is repeatedly spoken of in the seven letters to the
                                                                                      may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their
               churches of Asia Minor in the book of Revelation. Thus, for
                                                                                      reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,
               instance, in Rev. 2 :7 : "To him that overcometh will I give
                                                                                      and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which
               to eat of the tree of life, which ds in the midst of the paradise
                                                                                      is in secret ; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward
               of God."    And in Rev. 2:lO: "Be thou faithful unto death,
                                                                                      thee openly." Matt. 6:1-6. In Romans S :17 suffering with
               and I will give thee a crown of life." In Rev. 2 :17  : "To,$im
                                                                                      Christ is evidently presented as the indispensable way to
               that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, `and
                                                                                      glory and to the rewar'd  that shall be given to the faithful
               .will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name
                                                                                      saints : "And if children, then heirs ; heirs of God, and joint-
               written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it."
                                                                                      heirs with Christ: if so be that we suffer with him, that we
               Again, in Rev. 2 :26-23  :        "And he that overcometh, and
                                                                                      may be also glorified together." In fact, the eternal inherit-
               keepeth  my works unto the end, to him will I give power
                                                                                      ance itself is presented as a reward for the faithful servants
               over the nations : And he shall rule them with a rod of iron ;
                                                                                      of Christ in Col. 3 :23,  24: "And whatsoever ye do, do it
               as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers:
                                                                                      heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men ; Knowing that of
               even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the
                                                                                      the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for
               morning star." To the faithful in Sardis the Lord promises :
                                                                                      ye serve the Lord Christ."      And the apostle Paul puts his
               "And they shall walk with me in white : for they are worthy."
                                                                                      trust in the righteous Judge of heaven and earth for the
               And again : "The same shall be clothed in white raiment ; and
                                                                                      reward which He shall give him in the day of Christ, as he
               I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I
                                                                                     writes : "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course,
               will confess his name before my Father, and before his
                                                                                      I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a
               angels." Rev. 3 :4, 5. And the church in Philadelphia receives
                                                                                      crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge,
               the promise : "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in
                                                                                      shall give me at that day: And not to me only, but unto
               the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out : and I will
                                                                                      all them that love his appearing." II Tim. 4:7, 8. And to
               write upon him the name of my God, and the name
                                                                                      quote no more,' we read that Moses had respect unto the
               of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which
                                                                                      recompense of the reward when he refused to be called the
               cometh  down out of heaven from my God: and I will write
                                                                                     son of Pharaoh's daughter: "By faith Moses, when he was
               upon him my new name." Rev. 3 :12. And once more, to the
               faithful in the church of Laodicea, who will hear the Lord's          come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
               voice and come out to Him, the Lord promises : "I will come           daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people

               in to him, and will          with him, and he with me. To him         of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for' a season;
                                     sup 
               that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even        Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the

               as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his             treasures in E,Tpt  : for he had respect unto the recompence  of

               throne." Rev. 3 :20,  21.                                             the reward." Heb     11.24-36
                                                                                                         . . Y.                               H . H .


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   E E A R E R                                                   3 1


                                                                          engaged in battle much sooner than they had expected. But
11 A CLOUD OF WlT`NESS.ES  11                                             God was with them and they,  were in no need ior elaborate
                                                                          preparations. Not only dia  they repel the first attack of

                                                                          Sihon, but they went on to follow with one victorious battle
                              Balsam                                      after another until the whole of the land of the Amorites
        And Balak the son of Z$,POS sa.w  all that Israel had             was subjected. Even more when Og, the king of the neigk-
      d o n e   t o   the Amorites.                                       boring land of Bashan;  saw the moving power of the Israel-
        ;4nd  Moab  zwm sore afraid of the people, because
      they were .maSsy: and .WoaE was distressed Becmue  of               ites, he too gathered together his armies ,and sent them
      the childwn  of Israel . . .                                        against the children of Israel. Soon they too were conquered
        He sewt ,aessengess  therefore mto Balsam  the son                and still another land was subjected under the people of God.
      of Beor  to Pethojr,  whkh  is by the ~vive~ of the hnd  of            All this was taking place on the northern edge of the
      the children of his people, to ca<ll  1&1q saying, Behold,          land of illoab,  and there was considerable misgiving that rose
      tlze+e ;is a people  COWL~Y ou.t jsom iEgypt:  behold, they
      cozw  the face of                                                   in the hearts of the Moabites because of all they saw. Fi-
                            the  earth, a?td  they  abide over against
      `me:                                                                nally the battles were over, their neighbors had been utterly
        C o m e   9faow  therefor.e,   I   /way  thee, curse  `me thk     destroyed, and the children of Israel moved to an encampment
      people; for tlzey are t#go  wighty  for ww: peradventwe             on the very plains of Moab  across the Jordan river from
      I   shall prevaii, that zue  may Smith thmz~, and that I may
      drive them  owt of the' lal~d: for I wot that                       Jericho. Balak, the king of Moab, was ciearly  frightened.
                                                           he whowr
      thoac btessest  is blessed, and he wlzonz  thou  cwsest  is         He could not imagine but that Israel would next turn against
      cursed.                                Numbers 22 12, 3, 5, 6       him and his people. Neither was there any doubt in his

   The journey of Israel was extended considerably by the                 mind but that he would never he able to withstand their

fact that they were refused permission to travel through                  power. He realized that it was not just the armies of Israel

either the land of Edom  or the land of Moab, and God had                 with which they would have to contend but with Israel's

forbidden them to fight for this right. They were forced to               God. If he was to meet their force it- would have to be on

circumvent these lands almost completely, involving many                  the same level.

more miles of travel. But this was the way that the guiding                  Far away at Pethor in Mesopotamia there was living one

cloud led them, and that way they went. The wax  was hard                 of the strangest figures of that day. Actually he was a very

and once God had to provide water for them by l%.is  mirac-               remarkable man, a man familiar with the revelation of God

ulous po)mer.  Finally, however, they had bypassed those                  as it was known in that day. In itself that was not as strange

lands almost completely, a.nd  they were approaching, the                 as it might seem. It is apparent from the histories of Job,

borders of the land of Ammon. To Sihon, the king of Am-                   Melchizedek,  and Jethro that there were various commu-

mon, they addr.essed  a request such ai they had done before              nities scattered throughout the world in that day where the

to Edom and Moab. In the name of Israel the messengers                    true worship of Jehovah was still maintained. Balaam had

said, "Let me pass through thy land : we will not turn into               very likely lived in such a com&unity. There he had learned

the .fields, or into the vine:yards  ; we will not drink of the           and become unusually well acquainted with the Word of God.

waters of the well: but we will go along by the king's high               In fact this was so much true that God had used him from

way, until  we be past thy borders."                                      time to time in the capacity of a prophet. In this way he

   The steady approach of the children of Israel, however,                had served to express the blessings and cursings of God upon

was making the inhabitants of Canaan nervously afraid. The                various individuals and perhaps even upon nations. Invari-

size of the nation in itself was foreboding, and the destructive          ably his blessings and cursings came to pass and soon his

power in which Israel had left the land of Egypt was far                  reputation spread far and wide through the nations. Thus it

from forgotten. Everyone was quite aware of Israel's inten-               was that Balak in the distant land of .Moab  had come to hear      .

tions to settle. in the land of Canaan. The closer the Israel-            about him. Even more, when it became apparent to him that

ites came the more uneasy they became. When, therefore,                   the true nature of Israel's power was spiritual, he deter-

Sihon received the messengers of Israel and  heard of their               mined to send for Balaam and answer the God of Israel with

request to enter into his land, he was frightened and unable              a curse of similar nature. What Balak did not realize was

to believe that they only imended  to pass through and leave              that the source of Balaam's strength was the very same God

him and his people unmolested. To him it was quite evidently              by whom Israel was blessed.

a deception, and he sent the messengers back with a harsh                    Soon the messengers of Balak were' on their way. When

refusal. Even &ore  he gath.ered  his people together and told            they came finally to Balaam they presented him with the

them to prepare for battle. He would not give the Israelites              request of their king.    "Behold, there is a pkople come out

time to work out whatever plans they might have and so                    from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the earth, and

gain an advantage. He would take the offensive and attack                 they abide over against me : come now therefore, I pray thee,

the Israelites where they were. It was a move of wild des-                curse me this people; for they are too, mighty for me: per-

peration.                                                                 adventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that

   Thus it was that the children of Israel found themselves               I may drive them out of the land: for I wot that he whom

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


thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest  is cursed."      the one hand he knew that he could not grant their wish.

With them they carried evidence of large rewards that would          Thus he said to them immediately, "If Balak would give rn'

be given to Balsam  if he would comply with this request. It         his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the

was clear that Balak was ready to pay dearly for his services.       word of the LORD my God, to do less or more." Still it

     It is not unlikely that Balsam  was acquainted with the         was not that their new offer did not have appeal to him. He

history of the children of Israel to which the messengers            wanted the reward badly. Thus he finally went so far as to

referred. The exodus of Israel from Egypt was spectacular            suggest, "Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this

enough for all the world to take note. If he was, then he            night, that I may know what the LORD will say unto me

knew also that Israel's strength was from the same God from          more."

whom he received his power. But Balsam  was a careful man,               To Balaam the new answer of the Lord came as a sur-

and the proffered reward looked good to him. He answered             prise.    "If the men come to call thee, rise up and go with

the men, "Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word           them ; but yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that

again, as the LORD shall speak unto me."                             shalt thou do."    From it he should have realized that he

     During the night God came and spoke to Balsam.  The             would never be able to satisfy Balak and collect the reward ;

conversation that followed showed clearly God's concern ior          but he thought enough of his own ingenuity to expect that,

the mission of these messengers. That was His inquiry,               if only he could get to Moab,,  he would be able to find some

"What men are these with thee ?"                                     way to turn the trip to his profit. He was a happy man when

     To this Balsam  answered very correctly, "Balak the son         he set out on his journey .the next morning.

of Zippor king .of ,Moab,  hath sent unto me, saying, Behold,            God, however, di$  not leave him without a warning

there is a people come out of Egypt, which covereth the face         about  any mistaken intentions he might have. Balaam had

of the earth: come now, curse me them; peradventure I shall          not proceeded>  far and was deep in thought as to how he

be able to `overcome them, and drive them out."                      could  evade the blessing of God upon Israel and  so turn this

     The answer of God left no doubt as to what the facts            journey to his profit. Suddenly'the ass upon which he rode

were. He answered Balaam, "Thou shalt not go with them ;             turned from the way into a field. Impatiently Balaam smote

thou shalt not curse the people : for they are blessed."             the ass to bring it again to the road so that he might return

     The next morning Balaam briefly told the m&serigers             to his thoughts. They  had not gone much farther, however,

that he could not go with them. He did dot explain that the          than the Hss again swerved, crushing Balaani's  foot against

children of Israel could not be cursed because they were             the wall of a vineyard. Incensed, Balaali struck the' animal

blessed of God. He merely said, "Get you .&to your l?nd:             again to return it to the way. And then' `when finally id a

for the LORD refuseth to, give me leave to go with you." He          narrow place between two walls the ass stopped and fell to

felt badly and did not wish to go any further into the matter.       its knees throwing B$laam  to the ground, it was too much.

That was the strange part about Balsam.  Although he knew            Enraged he took his staff and began to beat the beast. So

the Lord so well and had an extensive understanding of rev-          beside himself was he that it did not even strike him as un-

elation, his appreciation $or  it was only intellectual and pass-    usual when the dumb beast spoke, "What have I done unto

ing. His real love was hot for the Word of God but for the           thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times ?" In anger

recognition he gained when serving as a prophet of that              Balsam  merely replied, "Because thou hast mocked me: I

Word. He knew betted  than to go in direct opposition to             would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I

God's command ; but that did not mean he liked it. His heart         kill thee."

was sad as he watched the messengers with their rich gifts               It was then that God opened the eyes of Balaam to see
disappearing into the distance.                                      what the ass had seen all the time. There before him was

     Balaam's feelings, however, were not hid from the mes-          the angel of the Lord with a drawn sword in his hand. Trem-

sengers of Balak. When they made their report they were              bling Balsam  spoke, "I have sinned ; for I knew not that thou

able to assure the king that Balsam  was not as indifferent          stoodest in the way against me: now therefore, if it displease

as his mere words milght tend to indicate. To Balak it               thee, I will get me back again." In his heart he knew that

seemed evident that Bglaam  was just holding out for a               he was proceeding on a very precarious way, for his desire

higher wage, and he was willing to go a long ways to meet            was to go against the will of the Lord. However, he also

this. He quickly sent another embassage of more important            knew better than to oppose the Lord openly and he offered

men with more appealing promises. Their message was this,            to turn back even though his desire was to go on.

"Let nothing, I pray thee, `hinder thee from coming unto me :            But no, it was also God's will that he should proceed.
for I will promote thee unto very great honour, and I will           S~o  He instructed him, T`Go  with the men : but only the word
do whatsoever thou sayesttunto  me: come therefore, I pray           that I shall speak unto thee, that thou shalt speak." Let

thee, curse me this people.`: Balak knew how to appeal to a          Balaam remember the angel of judgment that overshadowed
man's natural desires and did.                                       his path. If he opposed the will of God it would be to, his

     When once again messengers appeared at Balaam's door,           own destruction. He was a man under judgment, not under

it was evident that he was perturbed by their presence. On           grace.                                                  B.W.


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    33


                                                                         is a throne of justice and from it Christ wields the, sceptre

H-1
of rxilteousness.

                                                                            Hence, the need of two or three witnesses.

                                                                            That Paul here insists on the rule being applied when an
                Exposition of I Timothy                                  accusation is brought is not to indicate that in other cases

                                                                         this need of two or three witnesses is not necessary, but
                      (I Timothy 5 :19-21)
                                                                         rather to remind Timothy not to forget this rule.
                                 a.
                                                                            Let it not be overlooked nor let it be forgotten that in the

   Paul is giving Timothy some directives for the proper                 judgment-hall of God, whether here on earth among men, or

attitude toward the elders in the church who rule well ; they            presently in heaven, everything must proceed according to

are to be accounted worthy of double honor. The universal                strictest justice! Small wonder that Paul gives the solemn

rule is here applied as expressed in the law of Moses : "Thou            charge to Timothy: "I charge thee before God and the Lord

shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn."                     Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these

   However, the apostle also has directives for the proper               things without prefe+-&q  one before another, doing nothing
motive and procedure in registering and receiving an "ac-                by pa&aGty!"  Well, must it be understood by all that what
cusation"  against an elder in God's church. The passage here            is bound on earth must be bound in heaven, and what is
reads as follows : `Agdnst an elder  receive ,not  an accusa-            loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

tion, but before two op thee witnesses. Them  t1Lat skt rebltke             Hence, upon two or three witnesses only!
before all, tht o them a,lso  may  fea:r. I charge thee befol<e
                                                                            In the first place, it should be observed that these two or
God, #and  the Lord Jcms  Christ,  a,nd the ehct angels, tlbat
                                                                         three must be eye- and ear-witnesses. They cannot simply be
t1ao.u  o bsel-ve  these tlaihgs  a6thou.t  pvefewing  one before the
other, do&g  `nothing by partiality."                  t                 witnesses who bring an accusation. And no consistory may for
                                                                         one moment entertain such witnesses. They must be sent
   It may occasion som!e  ,surprise  that Paul lspkcifically  iti-       away and admonished not to speak whereof they are not eye-
dicates  that one is not to bring a formal charge ih tge church          witnesses and ear-witnesses. ,They  must have witnessed
against an elder except upon two or three w&&es.  We                     whereof they  speak.
might  ask: why d,ksignate  and specify that an elder be not
formally arraigned in the ecclesiastical court except upon                  In the second place, the witnesses, two or three, must
two or three witnesses ?                                                 agree in their" testimony of whicli they are witnesses. They
                                                                         must not contradict each other. The facts must be sustained.
   That is a good question. Certainly Paul does not write
this for the reason that a formal accusation can be lodged                  In the third place, they must de willing to stand back of
against a member of the congregation who is not an elder                 their testimony even to the extent that upon their testimony
without two or three witnesses. That is the rule laid down               and its authority the accused, if found guilty, shall be called
already by Moses in Numbers 35 :30:  "Whoso  killeth any                 to repent from his sin, be convicted ?nd confess. Should such
person, the murderer shall be slain at the mouth of wit-                 an accused one not confess then he must be put out of the
nesses: but one witness shall  not testify against any person            church of the living God, and be accounted to be a heathen

that he die." Again in Deut. 17 :6, 7 we read : "At the mouth            and a publican  !
of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy                Serious business this is! Well may we take the shoes
of death be put to death : but at the mouth of one witness he            from off our feet here and say with yacob  at Bethel: Surely
shall not be put to death. The hand of the witnesses shall               the LORD is in this place . . . This is a dreadful place ! this
be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the                is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of
hands of all the people.      S;o shalt thou put the evil away           heaven. Gen. 28:16-l%  Here the pillars of the temple are
from among you."       It is very evident that the rule of two           moved at the presence of the Lord; here the Shekinah of
or three witnesses was already taught by Moses to Israel of              the Lord is upon the mercy-seat. Sinful, lying man shall not
old. Besides, does not Jesus in Matthew 18:16  apply this                here stand in the presence of the `Lord, the God of all the
rule for every one who goeth in judgment against his broth-              earth. Here it is said that there are "six things" which are
er ? Says Jesus : ". . . but iE he will not hear thee, then take         an abomination to the Lord, one of which is "A false witness
with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three             that uttereth lies, and he that soweth discord among breth-
witnesses every word may be established."                                ren."    The "Wise man" saith in Proverbs: "As a madman

   The facts must be "established" ; nothing may remain                  who casteth firebrands, arrows and death, so is the man that

doubtful in the spiritual judicatory of the church. The seal             deceiveth his neighbor, and saith: am not I in sport?" Such

of God's approval must be stamped upon it when all has                   is a trafficker, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he

been accomplished. That is the rule of God where he has                  loveth to oppress. Hosea  11 :12.  But notice that "a false

set the judgment and the t'hrone of David. For this throne               witness shall not be unpunished, and he that uttereth lies

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


 shall not escape." Prov. 19 5. Wherefore we are warned:              "partiality" ? It means, according to the Greek term "`p~osfi-

 "Be not a witness against thy neighbor witltout  ca,use  (italics    &s" a leaning toward, a joining the party of one! Then

 mine) and deceive not with thy lips !" For : "A man that             it is not a battle against kvil but `it' is a battle fbr  one and

 beareth  false witness against his neighbor is a maul and a          against the other. Such partiality means a false prejudice

 sword and a sharp arrow." Prov. 24 :28 ; 25 :18.                     has entered in. A judge who has pre-judgment in any case

                                                                      should disqualify himself; he is disqualified. For the judge
       Once more, I say ; to bring an accusation against a man
                                                                      of the whole earth is Christ; all judgment has been given
is serious business; but to bring an accusation against a
                                                                      unto the Lord Jesus, in the day when God shall judge the
 steward in the house of God is very, very serious. It surely
                                                                      world in righteousness.
 must be the zeal of God's house that consumes one to bring
 any accusation in the house of God ; all other zeal are the             Wherefore an "accusation" must not so much as be en-
 fires of hell ! They are the tongue set on fire of hell, the un-     tertained, received when there are not two or three witnesses.
 tamable evil, full of deadly poisoning; they are the very            When in the place of justice iniquity reigns-that is vanity
 works of the devil, whose name is Abaddon and Apollyon,              and a vexation of spirit. It is a grievous sin and an abomina-
 and who is called the "accuser of the brethren." Rev. 9 :ll ;        tion before the Holy God.

Rev. 12 :lO.                                                             Does this protect elders in the church who should per-

                                                                      chance be walking in sin and who are worthless and faithless
       For the two or three witnesses must have agreed to ask
                                                                      stewards in the house of God ? By no means ! However, it
 that a sinning brother or elder be brought to repentance for
                                                                      guarantees that those who are truly evil be brought to
 a sin in the church of God; evil must be desired to be put
                                                                      repentance, that justice does not mis-carry, and that evil is
 out of the church lest .the holy place of God be defiled. Thus
                                                                      put from the house of God in the presence of Jesus Christ as
 writes Moses in Deut. 17 :7: "So thou shalt put the evil
                                                                      Paul writes in I Cor. 5 :3-S : "For I verily as absent in the
 away from among you."
                                                                      body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though
       When any thing is done by "preferring one before the           I ,were  present, c&cerning  him that hath so done this deed,
 pther"  or by "partiality" then evil is not put away from            in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered
 among the saints, but it is an attempt at perpetuating evil          together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus
 in the house of God in the name of righteousness. That is            Christ, to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of
 refined deviltry ! ! God is not mocked ; He cannot be hood-          the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord
 winked ; He tries the hearts and the reins of men. The Son           Jesus."     And because Paul would put evil from the house of
 of Man walking between the seven candle&cks  tries .our              God, and folly out of Israel, he writes in I Cor. 5 :13:
 works whether they are pure.                                         "Wherefore put away from among yourselves that wicked

       Hence, the solemn "charge" of Paul. He places this             person."

 entire business of bringing a formal accusation ("k&e-                  Is such a person then a minister, an elder, a deacon-
 gof+an"  in Greek) in the presence of God Himself. Fact is,          let it be done on the basis of the testimony given and the
 that the church itself is that presence, is the place where the      facts involved. Let it be a righteous judgment, looking
 Lord himself is, Says Jesus: "where two or three have been           neither to the right nor to the left. Only thus will Timothy
 gathered (by men) they am I in the midst of them." There             keep himself pure.
 we see the Son of Man walking between the seven candle-
                                                                         I will close this little essay with a very apt quotation of
 sticks. For the Greek text indicates that Paul here calls Jesus
                                                                      Van Oosterzee, which reads: "In respect to the proper dis-
 Christ : God ! It is the "presence of God and Christ Jesus."
                                                                      cipline which, according to God's Word, must be exercised
 Christ Jesus here and God are the same. Christ is God ; the
                                                                      over t6e  minis&s of the church, there are two perils equally
 glorified Christ is the personal Shekinah  of God, the presence
                                                                      to be avoided. The maxims of espion.nge,  of intimidation, of
 of God personally upon earth. Here too are the elect angels,
                                                                      suspicion, of censure in regard to the most trivial things, have
 which remained standing in their native estate. They are
                                                                      at all times borne bitter fruit. But there can be little good
 ever with Christ as the messengers from his throne. WJ!ien
                                                                      from that moral latitudinarianism, that false indulgence which
 there are but two who age the witnesses, and their witness
                                                                      is on the other side. The best discipline for the spiritual
 stands, then the accusation must be received, but Christ is
                                                                      office is, however, that which the pastor, by th6 light of the
 "with them."     There were once three men thrown into the
                                                                      Word and the Spirit of God, exercises over himself."
 fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar; yet when the king looked                                                                        G.L.
 into the furnace there were four. Christ, the Son of God,

 was there too. He is there with His majestic presence to

 put evil from out of the house of God. He is the Holy One                           God bless the captive and He sends
 of Israel.                                                                         The blessedness of home and friends,

       Who should then dare to sit in judgment in "partiality"?                     And only those in darkness stay

 Let us tremble at the "presence" of the "LORD" ! What is                           Who will not trust Him and obey.


                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     35


                                                                                 pearing  in Volume 38,. the issue of March 1, 1962, page 255.
I               I N   H.IS  F E A R                                              Step by step Solomon traces the deterioration of that once
                                                                       I         strong man and points out the dependency and shortcomings
                                                                                 of this once independent son and daughter. We simply, at

                                                                                 this time, wish to point out that this whole process of deter-
                  A Word to Covenant Youth
                                                                                 ioration, this whole sclerosis-pattern is an indication of the

                                             (2)                                 fact that man goes to his long home. It is the process of death !
                                                                                     And therefore the whole process is there because of sin.
     Youth is the time of strength.                                              The wages of sin is death. All these sicknesses and diseases,

     But youth is also the time of increasing independence.                      hardening of the arteries, deterioration of the muscles and

When  a young  man or woman reaches the period of full                           nerves, all this impaired hearing and sight, all this loss of
     .
physical and mental development, he or she arrives at the                        energy and enthusiasm, this lethargy and sleeplessness is

moment of physical independence from father and mother.                     ,    here because of sin and is a shadow of death. Death casts
     Such a youth is ready and able to support himself finan-                    its shadow over us already in the cradle. And all that tem-

cially. He can get a job and often bring down a bigger pay                       porary strength and beauty of youth does'not deny it. Wise

check than his father is at the moment receiving. With                           Solomon warns against taking the stand that momentary

broader education and specialization in a particular field he                    strength and beauty deny sin and its wages, death. Solomon

may become completely independent of financial help of his                       repeatedly warns you that all is vanity. We need strength for

father. In fact his parents may come to depend upon him                          a little while. According to God's counsel there is work we

for their life and sustenance. Father may be ill, unable to work                 must do, and for it we need a little strength for a little while.

a full day and take a heavy load upon his shoulders. Mother                      The church of today must also bring forth.the church of to-

may need special medical treatment that costs far more than                      morrow. Elect children of Zion must yet be born, cared for,

father can make. Without the help of the youth in the family                     brought up in the fear of God's name, taught and trained.

who are now grown and employed, they could not get along.                        That does take days and years of strength. And there may

          0, but Young People, Covenant Youth, that does not                     be a little earthly beauty as a reflection of the glory of God

mean that you are now their lord and master. This does not                       Himself Who made us in His own image. But do not let it

reverse the fifth commandment so that now they must honor                        deceive you. Do not let it turn your eyes away from the fact

you. It does not `mean that whiie you are under their roof                       that it will soon fade and in the end require burial and hiding

you may do as you please. And you do well to listen to their                     from the eyes (and nose) of man. We all go to our long

advice. You can do your own thinking now. You must do                            home. The moment we are born, we are on the way to the

your own thinking now. You need not run to them to think                         grave.    There is nothing more certain in life than death.

f o r   y o u .   M a n y   o f   y o u r     troubles you keep to your-            And all this is here because of sin, sin,  SIN! Rejoice

self ;      and that is evidence that you have grown up.                         then, 0 young man and young woman ; and let thy heart

You do not come crying home to them every time that                              cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the way of

something injures you. \?ou may even know better ways to                         thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes. But remember

perform the labors they continue to do in the old way. But                       that for this God will call you into' judgment. Yea, and re-

you better listen to them when they give you spiritual advice.                   member that by nature your heart is under the power of sin.

Your financial independence and their financial dependence                       By nature your eye picks the way of Sin. And for these

upon you does not mean that now you may ignore their ad-                         God will bring you into judgment! Your heart is the center

monitions and warnings, their exhortations and instructions.                     of your being from a spiritual point of view. Even as every

Your ability to think for yourselves does not mean that you                      drop of blood that brings the necessities of life to every cell

no longer need the thought that years of experience have                         of your body is sent there by your heart, so from out of your

given them. Rejoice in the days of your youth ; but for all                      heart as the spiritual center of your being comes every

these things remember that God will bring you into judg-                         thought and desire, motive and purpose to every member and

ment.                                                                            cell of your body. And a corrupt1  heart will corrupt every

          Having warned the youth of God's church in regard to                   part of your being. It stands behind the evil eye, the filthy

these matters Solomon proceeds in the next chapter of Ec-                        tongue, the cruel hand, the godless mind and carnal will. Out

clesiastes to point out that days will soon be here when this                    of the heart are all the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23. That is

same youth will say of his days, "I have no pleasure in                          why the psalmist says in Psalrri  15 :l and 2 that the man

them." And this does not come a day or two before he dies.                       who speaketh the truth in his lq.enrt  will abide in God's

Solomon speaks of years also in which that once vibrant,                         house. If the heart beats right, the rest of the body Gil
independent youth shall be sick and weak, shall be carried                       walk in good works. When the heart speaks the lie, the mem-

about and be dependent upon a generation or two younger                          bers live in sin. Thus when the Swiss  movement in your

than he is. For a detailed treatment of this matter see our                      watch speaks the truth, the hands will indicate correct time.

series of articles uqder  the heading, Yoad, Rewwdw, ap-                         But the hands of your watch can never be reliable and serve

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


you with the correct time when the mechanism, the heart              the world. And sometimes even you behave as though y6u

behind the face, does not speak the truth.                           think that it is worth going to hell to enjoy these fleeting

      Because that heart is by nature corrupt, the way that heart    treasures for a few brief moments. You rejoice, but you
                                                                     rejoice in wickedness. You walk, but in the w"y of a perverse
chooses will be the way of sin. Because that heart is corrupt
                                                                     heart and a filthy eye.
by nature, the way of the eyes is always the way of unright-

eousness. And by the eyes Solomon means all of the faculties             But know, that for all these God will bring you into

of sensation in man. Sight is the chiefest of these faculties.       judgment. That is right! He will bring young men and

But we also hear, smell, taste and feel. However we should           women into judgment as well as their fathers and mothers.

not underestimate how greatly we are drawn to the world              When a group of children mocked His servant Elisha and

and its vanities by means of the eyes. At any rate it is             called to him, "Go up thou bald head, go up," God brought

through the eye that the corrupt heart reach&  out into the          these children into judgment. And two she bears were sent

world; and because the heart is evil, the way of the eye is          by Him out of the woods to tear in pieces forty and three of

also evil. When you walk then in the way of your heart and           these children. When the measure of iniquity was full in the

the way of your eye, you will walk a way that God judges             land of Canaan, God sent His people in to possess their land

to be worthy of death and hell.                                      and they slew men, women cEnd children.  Sin is sin whether

      0, that does not mean that you are going to be guilty of       it is committed by children or by adults, by young men and
                                                                     young women or by old men and old women. And listen,
violence, of murder and cruelty. It does not necessarily mean
                                                                     Covenant Youth, you consider yourselves to be your parents*
that your walk is going to be one of open immorality and
                                                                     eqtial. Physically you are their match ; and even as they are
sexual perverseness. It does not mean that you will of neces-
                                                                     independent, you have attained also to independency. In-
sity become profane and blasphemous in your speech. Out-
                                                                     deed, but for that very reason you ought to concede that
wardly you may still behave in a very "refined" way. To the
                                                                     God will also deal with you as He does with them. He will
eyes of men you may still seem to be a Christian young man
                                                                     bring you into judgment.
or woman. But it does mean that you will seek the world

and its deceiving treasures and pleasures. You will find no              Walls then in the way of His fear. Let your heart dictate

time to study God's Word. Your catechism lessons are neg-            that way. And then you will have no fear when you are

lected and at best given a five or ten minute cramming-in            brought into judgment.

benefit. You will fail to prepare yourself for the Sabbath,                                                                       J.A.H.
keep late hours Saturday night and every night of the week:

so that in church on Sunday you sleep through the whole

sermon. The week is so filled with the sins of the flesh and                            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY

the activities of the world that you cannot stay awake to                The Men's Society of the First Protestant Reformed Church of
worship and hear what the Spirit hath to say to the churches.        Grand Rapids herewith expresses its sympathy to two of its members,
      And because you go the way of your eyes you squander           Mr. Bert Korhorn  and Mr. Henry Velthouse in the loss of their'

your pay check on the amusements and pleasures of the                father and father-in-law,

world. You have but a dime or a quarter for the church                                            MR. I. KORHORN

budget per week but free and ready money for pleasure and            Psalm 116:15: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His

fun. You fall for the young men and young women of the               saints."
world because you go in the way of your eyes and not in the                                             Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, President
                                                                                                        J. M. Faber, Secretary
way of faith. You enjoy the company of infidels and blas-

phemers. You can tolerate their cursing and swearing, their
blasphemy and irreligious behavior because they have a beau-         News From  0 ur Churches :
tiful face or a flashy sports coupe. You never speak of your             The Office Bearers' Conference, held in Hudsonville,
faith. Y                                                             Oct. 2, featured our Missionary, Rev. G. Lubbers as speaker.
            OU hide your religion as Queen Esther hid hers in
order to walk in the way of her eyes and become the queen            His topic, "Scripture's Verdict Regarding Unfaithful Stew-
in a godless nation. You hurt no one. You do nothing for             ards" was of timely interest and served to stress the serious-
which the police can apprehend you. But you sin against the          ness of the vow spoken at ordination and the sin of unfaith-
living God.                                                          fulness.

      You approve of what He condemns. You call cute what

He calls corrupt. You love what He hates. You run after                          Mark thou the upright day by day,

that which He casts from Himself as evil and godless. You                        Behold the perfect in his way :

want nothing distinct, even though He has set you aside as                         His journey ends in peace.

His peculiar people.     You must dress and paint and speak                      Destroyed at once shall rebels be;

as the world. Or else you must insist on these things in                         Cut off from all posterity,

others and call "squares" all who refuse to walk that way of                       Their very name shall cease.


                            i'                                                                                                        .TC
                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     31


                                                                     There can bk only one pure church organism. We have al-
II Contending,.For The Faith' /I ready remarked in this series of articles on the distinction
                                                                     between the true and false church that when our Confessions

                                                                     speak of the Church, they refer to both, the institute and the

                                                                     organism. There-can be only one pure organism. This lies in
          The Church and the Sacraments                              the very nature of the case. There can be only one pure

         THE TIJIE OF THE REFORMATION                                manifestation of the work of God's grace in the midst of the
                                                                     world. There can be only one walk which is according to the
               V I E W S   O N   T H E   C H U R C H                 precepts and statutes of the Lord. There can be only one

                                                                     way in which the Holy Spirit operates in the hearts and lives
           T H E   P R O T E S T A N T   V I E W                     of the people of God. The Holy Spirit does not teach one

                                                                     elect to seek the things that are above and another elect to
    What is the language and meaning of our Confessions
                                                                     seek the things that are below. He does not move one sinner
when they speak of the marks of the true church, and that
                                                                     to seek justification as a free gift of God, sovereignly bestowed
these marks distinguish the true church from the false church ?
                                                                     by the Divine gift of faith and another sinner to seek justi-
What do the Confessions mean when they say that the true
                                                                     fication in the way of his own works. He surely does not
church<  can easily be distinguished from the false church?
                                                                     convict one sinner of sin and that all his works, apart from
Does this mean that our Protestant Reformed Churches are
                                                                     regenerating grace, are filthy and wholly corrupt in the sight
the only true church and that all other churches in this
                                                                     of God, and then proceeds to-convince another sinner that he,
country are wholly false? Then it would surely be easy to
                                                                     although unregenerated, can do many things that are pleasing
distinguish these two churches. This was also the stand that
                                                                     to the Lord. The Holy Spirit works only one way in the
was taken by the Liberated. The undersigned recalls this
                                                                     heart and life of a sinner, and there can be only one mani-
vividly from his experiences in Hamilton, Canada. Almost
                                                                     festation of this Divine work of grace in the midst of the
immediately after he became minister in Hamilton, Canada,
                                                                     tiorld. To me, this simply stands beyond dispute and with-
he attended a meeting of the Hamilton Men"s  Society. At
                                                                     out fear of contradiction. I am sure that we all agree on this.
that society meeting one of the members delivered a paper on

the true and false church. And he contended very vehemently             The same also applies to the church institute. There can

that the Protestant Reformed Church was the pure church              be only one pure institute of the church. When we speak of

and that all other churches were false. And we, also recall          the institute of the church, we refer to the Church of God

vividly that we opposed that position of these Liberated im-         as it reveals itself, officially, through its officebearers. The in-

migrants, calling attention to the Scriptural truth that Christ's    stitute of the church refers specifically to the official preaching

sheep hear His voice, and that wherever these sheep are they         of the Word, the administration of the sacraments, and the

hear His voice, and this voice is heard only through the gospel.     exercise of Christian discipline. There can be only one pure

This happened in February of 1950.  It seems to the under-           institute. There can be only one pure preaching of the gospel.

signed that it always was his position that only those churches      The truth, we surely understand, is never relative, it is always

were wholly false who had completely departed from the               absolute. The preaching of the gospel is either according to

Scriptures, where the truth was wholly silenced, and where           the Scriptures or it is not according to the Scriptures. From

there was no longer any remnant of the people of the living          this point of view, we can certainly maintain that there cannot

God. The Reformers did not even call the Roman Catholic              be an absolutely pure institute in the midst of this world.

Church the wholly false church. And the baptism as ad-               How often does it not happen that, having preached on a

ministered in that church was always considered valid. The           certain text of the Word of God, we change our conception

question is therefore valid and pertinent: how must we               of the meaning of that particular text and preach on it dif-

distinguish between the true and the false church?                   ferently years later. Were both interpretations of that par-

   First of all, the true church, according to Lord's Day 21         ticular passage according to the meaning of the Holy Spirit

and also according to Art. 27-29 of our Confession of Faith,         as far as that passage is concerned? Besides, do we not see

refers to the Church of God as it reveals itself in the midst        in a glass darkly? 0, this does not mean that the Church, in

of the world. This is evident from the fact that this church         its official interpretation of the Word of God may be proven

is gathered by the Son of God, not only by His Spirit, but           to have been in error pars later. Then we.could never have

also by His W&d,  the preaching of the gospel. And the Con-          certainty. Then we may always be plagued by the fear that

fession of Faith informs us that the true and false churches         we may be in error. And we surely have the promise of the

are easily known and distinguished from each other. Besides,         Lord that He will direct His Church into all the truth. Never-

we are called to join the true church, and this must tiean           theless, we see in a glass darkly. How incomplete must be

that this church comes to manifestation in the midst of the          our knowledge of the unfathomable Word of God while in

world. Otherwise it would be impossible to join it.                  the earthly house of this tabernacle ! How much more we

   Secondly, we must all surely agree that there is only one         will see of the beauty of the Scriptures when presently this

pure church. There can be only one pure church, institute.           weary night will be passed and we shall see face to face ! Even


                                                                                                             t
38                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


                                                                     that the only discipline that may be exercised is through the
so, be it in a relative sense of the word, there can be only
                                                                     Word, whereas others contend that the Christian discipline
one pure institute of the church, as far as the preabhing  of
                                                                     of excommunication must be strictly applied. But, enough
the gospel is concerned. It is certainly according to Scrip-
                                                                     has been written to indicate that there can be only one pure
ture and our Confessions that God has willed and elected His
                                                                     church institute in the midst of the world. And also with
own, sovereignly, from before the foundation of the world,
                                                                     respect to this, I am confident to say, there is no disagree-
that the sinner is conceived and born dead in sins and in
                                                                     ment among us. However, although there is only one pure
trespasses, so that he is incapable of doing any good and is
                                                                     church institute, does this mean necessarily that this one true
inclined to all evil, that Christ died atoningly upon the cross
                                                                     institute and organism must be viewed as limited to one
of Calvary for the sins of the elect, who had been given
                                                                     church denomination ? May we say, for example, that the
Him by the Father before the world was, that the work of
                                                                     Protestant Reformed Churches have a "monopoly" on this
regeneration and conversion is Divine and wholly irresistible,
                                                                     "one pure church" ?      Is this taught by our Reformed Con-
and that the perseverance of the saints is certain even unto
                                                                     fessions ? Do all the marks of the true church belong ex-
the very end. There are the truths of the Word of God. They
                                                                     clusively to one church denomination, and are these marks
are never relative, always absolute. And anything that mili-
                                                                     wholly lacking in all other churches? But does not Article
tates against these truths is not taught in the Scriptures or in
                                                                     29 of our Confession of Faith teach            that this true church
our Confessions. Indeed, how true it is that there is only                                                        us 
                                                                     is spread over the whole world ? Indeed, the two churches,
one truth of the Word of God ! And the same absolute, either-
                                                                     true and false, can easily be known and distinguished from
or character also applies to the administration of the sacra-
                                                                     each other. But does this mean that it is easy to recognize
ments and the exercise of Christian  discipline. The baptist
                                                                     and distinguish the one true church, denomination, and to
maintains that the infants must not be baptized and that only
                                                                     recognize all other church denominations as wholly false?
they must be baptized who confess their faith in the Lord
                                                                         Thirdly, according to             Confessions (see Lord's Day
Jesus Christ in order that this sign and seal of the covenant                                      our 
                                                                     21),  this true church, whereof our Confessions speak, is
may not lie but speak the truth, and the one of Reformed
                                                                     gathered by the Son of God, and He does this by His Spirit
persuasion contends that infants must be baptized, contending
                                                                     and Word. I consider this to be extremely important. This
that the Church of God throughout the ages is one and that
                                                                     simply means that the true Church of Christ consists there-
to this one Church of God throughout the ages only one sign
                                                                     fore of those who are gathered by the Son of God. This is
and seal  of the covenant has been given: and we feel in-
                                                                     literally stated in Lord's Day 21. And in Articles 27 and 29
stinctively that both conceptions cannot be correct. The one
                                                                     of our Confession of Faith we not only read what the true
contends that the sacrament of baptism is a Divine promise
                                                                     church is but we also read who are the members of that one
and pledge that is given to all those who are baptized, and
                                                                     true church. The members of this true church are the elect,
that each child, in baptism, receives from the Lord the Divine
                                                                     are those who agree in true faith (Lord's Day 21), are those
promise and pledge that He seeks and desires the salvation of
                                                                     who are Saved, who have received Jesus Christ as their bnly
all who receive this sign of the covenant, whereas others, as
                                                                     Savior, avoid sin, follow after righteousness, love the true
specifically our Protestant Reformed Church, vehemently
                                                                     God and their neighbor, who neither turn aside to the right
maintain that the sign of baptism is just as particular as is the
                                                                     or left, who crucify the flesh with the works thereof. All this
cross of Calvary which is symbolized in this sacrament. And
                                                                     is literally stated in Art. 29 of our Confession of Faith. What
we understand that both conceptions of this sacrament cannot
                                                                     does all this mean, as far as the distinction between the true
be true inasmuch as they stand directly over against each
                                                                     and false church is concerned 7 To this, the Lord willing, we
other. Rome believes in the doctrine of transubstantiation,
                                                                     will call attention in our following article.
the Lutherans believe in what is known as consubstantiation,
and the Reformed and Calvinistic view of the Lord's Supper                                                                          H.V.

believes that the bread and wine are symbols of the broken

body and shed blood of the Lord. Rome believes that the

bread and wine are actually changed into the body and blood
                                                                                      RESOLUTION OF SYMP-4THY
of the Lord; Luther contended that, although the bread and

wine are not changed into the actual body and blood of the              The Priscilla Society of the First Protestant Reformed Church of

Lord, that, nevertheless, inasmuch asethe  glorified Christ has      Grand Rapids, Michigan, hereby wishes to express its heartfelt sympa-

become omnipresent, that therefore the real body and blood of        thy to two of our members, Mrs. Henry Velthouse and Mrs. Bert

the Lord are actually partaken of, through the mouth, with           Korhorn, in the death of their father and father-in-law,

the bread and wine. And the Calvinistic conception is the                                  MR. ISAAC KORHORN
symbolical conception, maintains strictly the symbolical char-
                                                                     Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things work together for good
acter of these elements of the Lord's Supper. Of course, we
                                                                     to them that love.dod,  to them who are the called according to His
understand that only one of these presentations can possibly
                                                                     purpose."
be according to the %Vord  of God. And so we could go on.
                                                                                                       Mrs. H. C. Hoeksema, President
Some churches simply have discarded all discipline, contend                                           Mrs. R. C. Ezinga, Secretary


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E - A . R E R                                              39


         WE PBOTE$TA.MT  REFORMED!"                                     because a healthy sense of history and of church history is
                                                                        important generally for the church and is rather sorely lack-
Mr. Chairman, Beloved brethren of the Reformed Free                     ing today; but it is important specifically for us. We have
Publishing Association :                                                entered the second  and even the third generation of OUT
       1: am very happy for the opportunity to be here and to           own history as Protestant Reformed Churches. And we still
speak to you tonight in behalf of the R.F.P.A. and Th                   continue to make history, That second and third geneyation
Stn:ubdar-d  Bemw. I count this a privilege. The R.F.P.A. is            of our churches does not know the history of our origin and
undoubtedly the oldest organization in our churches, and has            the early history of our churches by experience. Some of you
played a very important part in the history of our churches             that are present do. I see in the audience tonight those of
from the very beginning.         And our Standard Bemw has              you who lived through it all and who undoubtedly witnessed
borne witness to the truth for many years already. I am                 and remember rather vividly the significant events surround-

glad to speak, therefore, in its behalf at this annual meeting.         ing the origin of our churches in 1924. But that first gen-

For I love our churches, and I love the truth. And for the              eration is fast disappearing. And many of you in the audience

truth's sake I love our Stagzdard  Bewer  and the R.F.P.A.              do not know these things first-hand. And there are many in
which publishes it. I love you, brethren. I want to say that.           our churches who do not belong to that first generation. And

For I want you to remember that it is from that motive that             I fear sometimes that there is an appalling ignorance on that
I speak this evening.       And if in the course of my remarks          score. This should not be. If we ever forget our history and

I may seem somewhat sharp and critical, I a& you to keep                our origin as churches, we are lost. I mean: lost as churches.

this in mind. I am not of those who seem to hold that                   That will be the end. And it will be the end because as we

sharpness and criticism are inconsistent with love, and who             continue to make history in the present, we will then be

by such claims play into the very hands of the enemy, and               unable to judge the present in the light of the past. We

furnish grist for his mill.                                             will be unable to discern the real trend of church history,
       My second introductory remark concerns the content and           the real trend of what has always been the history of the
the purpose of my speech this evening. You will hear noth-              church and what has been the history of our own churches
ing essentially new tonight: that is not my purpose. My                 specifically.
purpose is to bring certain things in remembrance and to stir              Our history is that we were cast out and declared heretical

     your pure minds by way of remembrance. I believe we
up                                                                      and schismatic by the Christian Reformed Churches in 1924..
need that. Sometimes we have a tendency to become des-                  We were cast out p&~~rily  for the sake of the truth of God's
pondent and gloomy. And frequently with that tendency                   sovereign and particular grace and for the denial that God's

comes an almost imperceptible tendency to slough off the                grace is in any way common or general. And the Three

keen edges of the truth in our testimony, and in our life and           Points of 1924 still stand! They still stand as witnesses of

in our practice to lag, to get in a rut, and to drift along. We         that fact. And they still stand as sentinels, guarding the way

become complacent, self-satisfied. And this is wrong and                into the Christian Reformed Churches, guarding it against

dangerous.                                                              any who deny that God's grace is common or general. Don't

       It is with a view to this that I wish to speak a little while    forget that! The Christian Reformed Church is still closed

on the subject                                                          to any who will insist on the truth of God's sovereign and

                                                                        particular grace as we insist upon it, and it is still closed to
                WE PROTESTANT REFORMED !
                                                                        any who, by the same token, deny that God's grace is com-
       And I want to ask and answer three questions with you:           mon and general. If anyone has any illusions on that score,

                  r. whto L4~g we?                                      let me undeceive you. The fact that some ministers and some
                 II. W!aat Is God's Purpose FOY  Us?                    people from our own number have found their way into the

                III. Wlznt  Is Ozw Callkg?                              Christian Reformed Church does not mean that the Christian
                                                                        Reformed Church has changed, but that they have.
       First of all, then, who are we ? That is an important
                                                                            The secondary reason for our being cast out was the fact
question, and we should be able to give account of it. What
                                                                        that we sought to maintain and to follow the sound prin-
is our identity ? I mean by that not merely what is our name :
                                                                        ciples of church government, especially the principle of what
we all know that. But who are we really? What is and
                                                                        is usually called the autonomy of the local church.
what has been our true identity as churches, as a Protestant
Reformed people 7 What is our origin ? Why are .we here ?                   Such was our origin.

What do we stand for? We ourselves should know the an-                      And our history has been also that the Lord has priv-

swers to these questions, and be keenly aware of our identyty,          ileged us to maintain the truth for which we suffered in

in order that we may also know our purpose and our calling.             1924, and to maintain it through and in spite of many as-

       And I want to answer this question, first of all, from a         saults from within and without, ever since. That is a matter

historical point of view. This is important. It is so, not only         of grace. Let me emphasize that for a moment. Make no
-          -                                                            mistake ! I am boasting tonight ! I want to boast. But I want
*Address given at the annual meeting of the R.F.P.A., published by      to boast in the Lord! What we are and what we have as a

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


Protestant Reformed people is a matter of pure grace. It is         has not infrequently been the reaction of those who came

not of us; it is of the Lord. And when we are privileged to         into contact with our churches on the mission field, for ex-

maintain the truth and to persevere in the truth, then we           ample, when they were asked what really attracted them to

have nothing to boast in ourselves, over against those who          the Protestant Reformed Churches, that it was the preaching,

do not persevere therein ; but our boasting is in the Lord          the beautiful preaching of the Word of God according to the

alone.                                                              Scriptures, as interpreted in our Forms of Unity, that

      But I want to emphasize too that nevertheless it is a @ct     warmed their hearts.

that we have maintained and persevered in the truth.        And        Materially, that distinctiveness consists in the twin truths
when all the "red herrings" are removed from the picture--          of God's absolutely sovereign predestination and sovereign
and there are a lot of them, thrown in the way by those who         grace, on the pne hand; and, on the other hand, of God's
defect-then that one fact remains, namely, that we have             covenant of friendship with His beloved elect in their gen-
the truth, that we have continued in the truth. And even the        erations, as established and realized in Christ Jesus. Or,
opposition has to admit it.                                         synthesizing the two, our distinctiveness consists in the fact
      The conclusion of the matter is this: we as Protestant        that we have maintained and proclaimed that God is God,
Reformed Churches represent the historically Reformed line.         and that He sovereignly establishes and realizes His covenant
And as representing the historically Reformed line, we              in Christ Jesus, accorclin g to His counsel, throughout the
represent the true church, that is: we are the purest mani-         ages, and along the lines of election and reprobation. This
festation of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ on earth.    We      is our distinctiveness, positively speaking.      T h i s   i s   t h e
stand in the forefront! And the practical application of this       tremendous truth that must and does throb and vibrate in
is that we ought to be keenly aware of it. We must not be           all the witness of our Protestant Reformed Churches, and
ashamed to say it. We ought to remember that this is the            that controls and must control all of our existence as churches.
touchstone of our church membership here on earth. We               It constitutes the reason of our existence. Because of this,
ought to consider it a privilege of God's grace that we oc-         we have a place on the ecclesiastical scene ; and without it
cupy such a position. And therefore we ought to be keenly           we have no place.
conscious that ours is a high and a holy calling.
                                                                       And I want to emphasize, in the third place, in this con-
      Next, therefore, we must ask this question from another
                                                                    nection that this implies the negative, namely : that we clearly
point of view. Who are we confessionally and theologically?
                                                                    and unequivocally reject all errors repugnant thereto, both
      And then I want to emphasize that what I just said in
                                                                    in doctrine and life. This is often forgotten and ignored,
the preceding is true only because of and only as long as we
                                                                    especially in our day. It is considered narrow, separatistic,
maintain our distinctive Protestant Reformed character as to
                                                                    sectarian. And, by the way, that term sectariaw  is not new.
the well-known three distinguishing marks of the true church,
                                                                    We have frequently been accused of being sectarian in our
namely, first of all, the preaching of the Word and its purity ;
                                                                    history, really ever since the beginning. But I want to em-
secondly, the proper administration of the sacraments ; and,
                                                                    phasize this negative aspect.    It is highly important. And it
thirdly, the proper exercise of Christian discipline.       And
                                                                    is certainly Reformed to emphasize this negative aspect. In
that last, let me say-the exercise of Christian discipline -
                                                                    every yes there is a no implied. The truth is antithetical.
is fast becoming a lost and a despised art in Reformed
                                                                    And the proclamation of the truth of the Word of God im-
churches generally. Without that last mark, the other marks
                                                                    plies and demands, as also the oath of the Formula of Sub-
cannot be maintained. Where there is no Christian discipline,
                                                                    scription requires, that we shall reject clearly, unequivocally,
there the pure preaching of the Word and the proper ad-
                                                                    articulately, all errors repugnant to the truth. It means that
ministration of the sacraments will not long endure.
                                                                    we shall exert ourselves to oppose those errors in the preach-
      And what is our distinctiveness with respect to these
                                                                    ing and in the instruction. Remember this: when a church
three marks ?
                                                                    begins to depart from the truth, the lack oi this negative ele-
      From a formal point of view, it consists in this, that we     ment is usually the very first sign.
cling strictly to the Word of God as interpreted in our Re-
foimed  confessions.    This is essential. It is the strength of       This, then, is our identity as Protestant Reformed
the church. And it has frequently been said that if you want        Churches and as a Protestant Reformed people. This con-
to come into contact with the distinctiveness of the Protestant     stitutes our distinctiveness.

Reformed Churches, if you want to see and hear what the                In this light I want to ask Andy  answer the question : what,

Protestant Reformed Churches really are, then you must hear         then, is God's purpose with us ?

the preaching. You must not just read about them. You must             Don't worry ! I am not going to assume presumptuously

not just know their history. You must not merely read some          the position of a prophet and attempt to make predictions

dogmatic or apologetic or polemic dissertation about common         concerning the future. I am neither a prophet nor the son of

grace, but you must hear their preaching. That, of course,          a prophet. And I am well aware that I cannot make pre&c-

is always the first and the best way to discern what a church       tions. What I say in this connection is on the basis of God's

is. What does it preach ? And how does it preach 7 And it           revealed will.

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


     And then I want to answer this question negatively, first       to say: no matter what the circumstances may be, and no

o f   a l l .                                                        matter what the future may bring, our God will cer-

     In the first place, it is not GOES purpose that we shall        tainly maintain us as His church <as long as we faithfully

grow and become big and numerous and powerful externally.            occupy that position of .witnesses  to the truth of the gospel,

That never has been His purpose with His church, God's               as long, therefore, as we serve His divine purpose. Of that

church in the world has always been small. It has always             you may be sure. And in that confidence you may labor.

constituted a minority, a remnant. It is, as. our Lord Him-              What, then, is our calling - this is our third question -

self states it, a "little flock."    And history teaches the same    in the light of our distinctive character and in the light of

concerning us as Protestant Reformed Churches. We were               God's purpose with us ?

small from the start. We were in the minority. And we have               Principally, our calling is, first of all, to maintain our

always remained small. And the Lord has even reduced us              distinctiveness as churches. That can never  be emphasized

in numbers. But we must not be dismayed and upset by this.           enough. This is our only salvation as churches, our only

This is nothing strange in the history of the church. More-          hope. And we must not grow weary of emphasizing this;

over, to become numerous and big and powerful is not ow              and our people must beware lest they grow weary of having

concern at all, even though we frequently want to make it            it emphasized. Let this be drummed in our ears. Let it be

our concern. The size of our churches, the numbers of our            imprinted in our minds. Let it be impressed on our hearts.

membership- these things are not our concern: God will               Our calling is to be distinctive, to be distinctively Reformed.

take care of them,                                                   And that means : the truth above all ! In the preaching and

    In the second place, it is ~zot God's purpose with us that       in the sacraments and in the discipline, in the instruction, in

we shall be broad and inclusivistic and ecumenistic. I want to       the catechism class, in the societies, in our homes, in our

emphasize this too, because it is the spirit of the age, also in     schools, in our life and in our waik,  in all our manifestation

the Reformed community. But we may never be any more                 as churches and as a Protestant Reformed people, we must

i&r&e  than the ezc&&?  truth and its rejection of all               be distinctive. We must insist, above all, upon  the truth, the

errors repugnant thereto. You may call this sectarian. That's        truth of God !

a favorite word of reproach today. But it is nevertheless the            In the second place, therefore, maintaining that distinc-

case. The real unity and the real catholicity of the church          tiveness, it is our calling to be a witness. We must witness

consists in its holiness. And the holiness of the church cer-        at every God-given opportunity. We must witness with all

tainly implies that it is consecrated to God in Christ, and,         the means which God provides us. We must carry "Prot-

therefore, consecrated to the truth of the gospel of Jesus           estant Reformed" in our heart; and then we must wear it,

Christ in all its purity in doctrine and in life, and therefore      so to speak, on the lapel of our coat, in order that all may

consists in this, that the church maintains and proclaims that       see. And remember: the very possibility of our witness is
truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ in all its purity. And it        in our distinctiveness. When we are no more distinctive,

is for that reason that the church may never be any more             then we can no more witness. The possibility of that witness

inclusive than the exclusive truth. And we must beware that          is gone then. For when we are no more distinctive, then we

we are not caught in the maelstrom of merger and union and           are like all those around us. And then we have nothing

ecumenicism.                                                         whereof to witness, nor anyone to whom we may and can

 Positively speaking, God's purpose for us and with us               witness.

is that we shall represent His church in the midst of the                Moreover, just as the truth is antithetical, just as in every

world in its purest manifestation. And His purpose is that           yes there is a yto implied, so our witness must also be anti-

as such we shall be His witnesses that He is God. His wit-           thetical. It must be both positive and negative. And nega-

nesses we shall be in the midst of the world. His witnesses          tively, we must be somewhat like a gad-fly. Our calling is

we shall be in the religious and ecclesiastical circle at large.     tenaciously to exercise critique on the whole Reformed com-
But His witnesses we shall be especially in the Reforn;ed            munity, to warn against and to point out error, to stir them

community, and most especially His witnesses to those who            up, and to call them to the way of the truth. And that is a

excelled  us in 1924. our mother. the Christian Reformed             very important aspect of our calling as churches, one that

Church. This I say in the light of our distinctive character         may not be neglected.      Our calling concerns the Reformed

and in the light of our peculiar history.                            community primarily, and our mother, the Christian Re-

    In the third place, therefore, I do not hesitate to say that     formed Church. I am reminded in this connection of an

it is God's purpose to maintain us as His church as long as          article by the old Rev. Danhof in one of the earliest issues

we faithfully occupy that position of witnesses. If ever the         of our Stan&w6  Bmnrer.  Writing in his characteristic style,

time comes that we are no more faithful, that we lose our            he made reference to the words of Hosea  2, and called our

distinctive character as Protestant Reformed Churches, or            people to "Plead with your mother, plead." That is still our

that we lose the will to witness, then the' Lord will no more        calling. And I dare to say that it shall always remain our

maintain us as churches. Then there is no reason any more            calling.

for our esistence.  But at the same time, I do not hesitate              In the third place, our calling is to be filled with un-

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


bounden  zeal. I do not refer in this connection to a mere            to it that our Standard Bewev as to its contents is and re-

shallow, emotional enthusiasm, an enthusiasm that has no              mains such a clear witness.

root, an enthusiasm that can disappear as quick19  as it ap-             With respect to the members of our R.F.P.A. and the

pears when the first contrary wind blows and when the frrst           subscribers to our Standard K~~l~er~ our calling is, first of all,

disappointment comes. But I refer to the steady, deeply-              that we must read it. -4nd  I have a sneaking suspicion that

rooted, warm, spiritual seal of God's hortsg  that should verit-      it is not always as faithfully read and as thoroughly read as

ably consume us. I have said it before - I think, perhaps,            it ought to be. `The Stmtdwd  Bearer does no good, of course,

at one of our R.F.P.A. meetings. But I will say it again: in          if we do not read it. We ought to form good habits in that

view of the precious heritage of the truth which God has              respect in our homes. Moreover, we ought to teach our chil-

given us, in view of our distinctive position as Protestant           dren to read that Stnndard  Bearer  too, as they grow up. And

Reformed Churches, we ought to be the most zealous people             I have more than a sneaking suspicion that this is not done

on the face of the earth. We are not always. I think we shall         as it ought to be. I know that from experience. And, further-

have to admit that. We are inclined sometimes to-drag  our            more, we must support the R.F.P.A. -support it morally,

feet, to faint, to be weary. But we ought to be the most              support it with our time and effort ancl talents, support it

zealous! We ought incessantly to witness, day in, day out,            with our money and gifts. And, if the need is there, by all

at every opportunity, with every possible means, on every             means let us sacrifice in this respect, and sacrifice, if need

occasion, with respect to every issue, whether men hear or            be, until it hurts. We ought to be zealous, far more zealous

whether they forbear. We must witness! "Ye are my wit-                in a practical way, than we frequently are.

nesses, saith Jehovah? that I am God."                                   Finally, the Board has a calling in this regard. Our

      And now let me narrow down that inquiry to our Re-              Board must not be satisfied just to let things run along as

formed Free Publishing Association. What is our particular            they are. Our Board must not be satisfied merely to have

calling ?                                                             things run on an even keel and merely to see to it that our

      It is the peculiar function of our Reformed Free Publish-       Standajrd  Bearer operates in the black financially. But the

ing Association t-o serve in that calling by means of the             Board must give sound, enthusiastic, and forward-looking

prirttsd  word. That means, of course, first of all, our S&&d-        leadership, and must do its utmost in that regard. Also in

ay-d ReareP  as a regular and periodical witness. But that            this respect there is room for progress.

means other publications too. -4nd,  by the way, where are               In conclusion, a word of encouragement. When we Prot-

the brochures and books nowadays that the R.F.P.A. used to            estant Reformed are thus faithful to our calling to be the

publish ? I am sure that if our Protestant Reformed witness           witnesses of our covenant God, it will cost us. It has always

is to go out by means of brochures and books, we must not             cost the people of God to be faithful. It will cost us in

expect others to do it for us, but must take care of it our-          sacrifice. It may cost us in reproach and shame. It may

selves. And we should not neglect this aspect of our work.            cost us in suffering. But we are expendable. And we may

      And the witness of our R.F.P.A. must be twofold. In the         remember, even as our chairman read to us tonight from

first place, our publications, particularly our Standard Beww,        Isaiah 43, that we witness in the consciousness that even in
must serve to instruct our own people. It is essential that           the fire and the water Jehovah our God is with us !

our people be thoroughly instructed and well-informed.                                                                          H.C.H.

Otherwise we cannot preserve our distinctiveness. And re-

member: if that distinctiveness is gone, there will be neither

reason nor will to witness any more. And therefore, our

Standard Becwer must serve as a means to preserve our dis-

tinctiveness primarily. But no less, at the same time our
Standard  Beare-L  and all our publications must serve as a           IICONTRIBUTIONSII
witness outside the pale of our churches. This too must not

be neglected. We must see tc it, to the utmost of our ability,        Annual Report of the Secretary of the R.F.P.A.
that our witness by means of the printed page reaches far and

wide outside the scope of our own churches.                                    (Given at the annual membership meeting,

      In that connection, of course, it must be emphasized that                            September 20, 1962)

by all means the pages of our Standard Bmrer must speak                 Members and Friends of the Reformed Free Publishing

up for the truth, fearlessly, unequivocally, clearly.        Our                                Association,

Standard Bearer must speak out on the issues of the day-              Dear Brethren :

on issues in our own churches, if such arise, and on issues              The Board of the R.F.P.A;  takes this opportunity to in-

that are of importance and concern for the Reformed com-              form you of its activities of the past year.

munity at large. Our Stmzda:)~d BeweT must never degen-                  The activities of the Board are mainly channeled through

erate to the status of "just another religious periodical." And       the three standing committees : the Information and Educa-

it is the calling and responsibility of the editorial staff to see    tion, Finance, and Book Committees.


                                                                                                                                     THE,STANDARD'BEARER                                                                                                                                                                                      43


              The Inforlnation  and Education Committee's interest has                                                                                                                    Disbursements
                                                                                                                                                                                 Wobbema Printing _,.,...,.__,,.._.._........,...,................  $7,600.63
       been in the printing and distributing of two pamphIets  which                                                                                                             Miscellaneous                  ._, ___.  . . ___.  _. . . . . . . . . . .._.. . .._..._                                                      132.18
      have appeared as articles in TIze Standated  Bewer  during the                                                                                                              G. R. Office Supply, 10,000 envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . .                                                                                85.00
       past year. Six thousand copies of each pamphlet have been                                                                                                                 Holland Bookbinding .__ ._ .__ . .._.  ___.  . .._...__  _.                                                                                  !X&.~~
                                                                                                                                                                                 James Dykstra, gift . . .___.  _. . . . . . .._.. . . . .                                                                                       .
      printed. The first one, entitled "The Sovereignly Free Gift
       of Faith," by the Rev. C. Hanko, has been given to our                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           $8,323.01 $8,323.01
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        _---_-
      churches for distribution. The other pamphlet, entitled "That                                                                                                              Balancctm  hand Sept. 10, 1962
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            ...................................................... ...... ............... $1,626.80

       `Horrible' Decree," by the Rev. Gise Van Baren,  will follow
                                                                                                                                                                                 Hudsdnville            .......... ........... .......                                                                                .$      640.00
      later. The work on these pamphlets has been marked with                                                                                                                    First     ........................................................................                                                           7ii.7"
       enthusiasm, and it will be continued in the hope of God's                                                                                                                 Creston        ..................................................................
                                                                                                                                                                                 Hope       .....................................................................                                                             1;&
      blessing on our efforts. This is the continuation of the plan                                                                                                              Southeast           ..............................................................                                                              .II
      to publish two articles a year in Tlze  St,a.ndard Bea.relfl spe-                                                                                                          Southwest          ............................................................                                                              141.11
                                                                                                                                                                                 Holland        ..................................................................                                                             56.30
      cifically written with an eye to later print them in pamphlet                                                                                                              Grand Haven                   ........................................................                                                        11.15
      form, to be given to our churches at their request and be                                                                                                                  Doon       ......................................................................                                                             84.32
                                                                                                                                                                                 Hull         ...................................................................                                                              97.15
      distributed by them at their discretion, that many of those                                                                                                                South Holland
                                                                                                                                                                                                    ......................................................................................................................    1:;;;
      who do not receive The Standaj?d  Beam, can sample of its                                                                                                                  Oak Lawn
                                                                                                                                                                                 Hope (Redlands) ..... ~............................................                                                                           52:21
      contents, that we may further witness of the truth of the                                                                                                                  Kalamazoo          ..............................................................                                                             35.90
      Word of God as it is given to us.                                                                                                 .                                        Randolph ................................................................                                                                     26.70
                                                                                                                                                                                 Edgerton         ................................................................                                                             27.51
             The Book Committee was responsible for the binding and                                                                                                              Individuals           ............................................................                                                            51.00
      sending out of sixty-five bound copies of Volume XXXVII                                                                                                                    Western Ladies' League ........................................                                                                               34.25
                                                                                                                                                                                 Eastern Ladies' League ........................................                                                                               52.50
      of our publication.                                    We would like to remind you that in-                                                                                First Men$ Society ....................... ..; ......................                                                                         50.00
      dividual copies. of back issues are available, as well as bound                                                                                                            First Ladies' Aid ....................................................                                                                        25.00
                                                                                                                                                                                 Mission Committee ................................................                                                                           312.50
      copies of nearly every volume of U1.e Sta.ndard  Bearer. We

      have here a storehouse full of the revelation of the Word of                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    $2,939.91
      God as the church never before has been privileged to have.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          H. Velthouse, Treasurer

             At the present time, the total number of Tke St,andard

      Bemvv  printed for each issue stands at 1053, compared to
                                                                                                                                                                                            How to Make the Seminary an Ever
      1097 a year ago. Of the total, 863 are being mailed out as
     paid subscriptions and complimentary copies, 60 go to our                                                                                                                                                                   Constant Witness

      missionary, the Rev. G. Lubbers, 110 are for bound volumes                                                                                                                 1. Establish assistance funds for our own Protestant Re-

      and stock, and 50 are reserved for mailing margin.                                                                                                                               formed married as well as single students.

             Our Business Manager, Mr. James Dykstra, continues.                                                                                                                 2. Help secure where needed part time work for students.

     to do a very commendable job. The efforts that he has put                                                                                                                   3. Prepare a seminary descriptive brochure and send copies

     forth are reflected by the fact that T/W Standard  Beaver  con-                                                                                                                   to our churches to be distributed and displayed in our

     tinues to operate in the black. Although a large share of his                                                                                                                     church tract racks.

     work involves subscriptions, there are also many other duties                                                                                                               4. Advertise the seminary in TIae Standmpd  Bearer  and

     of the business manager which are efficiently handled, result-                                                                                                                    Beacort Ligglzts.

     ing in smooth operation in this phase of the publication.                                                                                                                   5. By our brochures and magazines, send out a call for

             We are grateful that we may be instrumental in providing                                                                                                                  students from all Protestant denominations. Emphasize

     for the means by which `rlze Stmdard  Bea$rev  may be pub-                                                                                                                        that we preach the infallible Word of God, and the great

     lished. It is our prayer that the blessing of our heavenly                                                                                                                        Reformation theolo,  ; that we separate from the mod-.

     Father may rest on the editorial staff; that the pages of The                                                                                                                     ernist, liberalist-ecumenical movement; that we preach

     Standnlpd  Bearer may ever resound with the truth of the                                                                                                                          and contend for the faith once-for-all delivered to the

     Scriptures.                                                                                                                                                                       saints.

                                                                Respectfully submitted,                                                                                          6.    Have the lofty Christian aim to make the seminary a real

                                                                                   The Board of the R.F.P.A.                                                                           missionary endeavor, a center of biblical-theological learn-

                                                                                                                                     R. Bos, Secretary                                 ing for students from any denomination, who are willing

                                                                                                                                                                                       to study under our God-centered curriculum, earn the
                         Financid  Report of the R.F.P.A.                                                                                                                              diploma then go, after graduation, to wherever the Lord

     Balance on hand Sept. 1, 196B . .._........._....................................                                                                          $2,965.81              may lead them throughout Christendom.
              Receipts                                                                                                                                                                 One hundred students may be taught as well as one ! !
     Subscriptions              . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  $3,448.44
     Membershin                 ..__ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _... . . ._.....  ..:.. . . . .                     130.00                            7. In this way, interest our own, and the young men of
     Gifts __,__..:  . . . . . . . . . ..t..._............................                               ~._..__...........                   2,939.91                                 Protestantism in general in a true, biblical, consistently
     Advertisements                   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .      193.00
     Bound Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..__..................................                                                      272.65             $6,984.00            Reformed ministry of the Word of God.
                                                                                                                                        -      -    -     -            ---__-
                                                                                                                                             $6,984.00 $9,949.81                                                                   (Continued on page 45)





L

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


                                                                    bluntly concerning the realities of married life. Others criti-

[ DE.CENCY   a n d   O R D E R   1                                  cize the fact that nowhere in the form is there a definite or
                                                                    specific statement pronouncing the bride and bridegroom to

                                                                    be husband and wife. Then too, in line with modern thinking

                                                                    about weddings, the objection is not infrequently heard that
                      Holy Matrimony                                "the old form is too long."

                                                                        We do not concur with these criticisms. It may be Zd-
      The last time we wrote that marriage, in the land of our
                                                                    mitted  that our marriage form is a "solemn" confession but
forefathers, took place in three stages. First there `was the
                                                                    this it also ought to be. After an introductory statement the
engagement in which the parties to the marriage solemnly
                                                                    form traces the origin of marriage in the creation of the
pledge themselves to each other. Then there was the actual
                                                                    woman to be an help-meet for man. It points, out that this
solemnization of the marriage by the civil authorities. This
                                                                    creative act of God is indicative of the fact that marriage is
was followed by the confirmation of marriage by the church.
                                                                    pleasing to Him and that, therefore, this holy state ought to
In our present article we are concerned with this final stage.
                                                                    be kept honorably by all. The form then continues to show

                                                                    the reasons that God instituted marriage. These are given

                                                                    as follows : "First, that each faithfully assist  the other in
      Previously we have expressed why the church has a vital       all things that belong to this life, and a better. Secondly,
interest in the marriages of her members and, therefore, also       that they bring up the children, which the Lord shall give
the reason that these marriages should be confirmed by the          them, in the true knowledge and fear of God, to his glory,
church. This we will not repeat but will now concern our-           and their salvation. Thirdly, that each of them, avoiding
.selves  solely with the manner in which this confirmation OZ       all uncleanness and evil lust, may live with a good and quiet
marriage takes place by the church.                                 conscience."

      Strictly speaking the only marriages that are "confirmed"         In the second part of the form it is shown how the hus-
by the church are those that are performed by the chilrch           band and wife are to conduct themselves in the marriage
and  not every wedding that is performed by the minister            relation.    The beauty of this part of the form is its Scrip-
of the Word. The church cannot confirm private weddings             turalness as it portrays the duties of the husband, who is the
even though these may be held in the church building. In            head of the wife, to lead, instruct, comfort, and protect even
such weddings the minister simply functions as an agent of          as Christ is the head, wisdom, consolation and assistance to
the state and performs the marriage but the church has noth-        His church. He is to love his wife and provide for her even
ing to do with it. In real church weddings, however, this is        as Christ loved and provided for His bride. Likewise the
different. In such weddings the church confirms the mar-            wife is exhorted to love, honor, fear and obey her husband
riage with the Form that is adopted for this purpose and            in all lawful things even as the church is subject to Christ in
which is part of the Confessions of the church.                     love.

      All this is very evident from the Form For IMarriage
                                                                        Following the speaking of the marriage vows the form
itself. Strictly speaking this Form cannot be used for private
                                                                    cites two significant passages of Holy Writ to impress upon
weddings. At the very beginning it speaks of the bride and
                                                                    those wedded the binding character of marriage and the
bridegroom, "who desire to have your marriage bond pub-
                                                                    blessedness for those who live therein according to the will
licly confirmed, here in the name of God, before this Church
                                                                    of God.
. . . " This must be altered for private weddings where you

might speak of confirming the marriage "before this assembly            All of this is indeed very solemn. This is proper and that

or gathering." Then it is simply the friends, relatives and wit-    it is not too much so is evident from the fact that even

nesses who confirm the marriage but not the church. A bit           within the church the solemnity of this holy relation is all

further in the Form you find this statement made by the             too frequently disregarded.

minister : "I take you all, who are met here to witness, that           Concerning the second objection that is raised we may
there is brought no lawful impediment." This makes no sense         say that here also the facts of life are clearly stated and this
when the marriage is performed privately since neither the          is as it ought to be. At the beginning of the form, for ex-
church nor anyone else has been given opportunity to object         ample, it is said that married persons are generally, by reason
to the marriage. This is quite different, however, with the         of sin, subject to many troubles and afflictions. This is not
church wedding that is publicly announced on the bulletin of        to paint a dark and pessimistic picture of the marriage state
the church in advance. Then opportunity is given to bring           for those about to enter it. On.the contrary, it is simply ex-
lawful objections to the consistory.                                pressive of the truth, the reality of life. Why present things

      The marriage form that appears in the back of our Psalter     as a bed of roses and ignore the thorns that are there. Real&y

has been subject to much criticism. Some say that the form          is that "by reason of sin" all will not run smoothly. After

is too solemn, too serious. Others object that it speaks too        the honey-moon is over the hard facts of trials, problems and


                                            T    H    E         STANDAR.D.  BEA.RER                                                 45


afilictions  must be faced. Before one enters this state they          mentary" reflecting upon the statement of Article. 70 of the

had better be instructed in these realities lest they wake up          Church Order that, "`the.  Consistories shall attend to it."

later only to be greatly disillusioned.                                This refers, of course, to the pi-oper confirmation af marriage

                                                                       in the presence of Christ's church and acc0rdin.g  to the f&m.
    The marriage form speaks of "whoremongers  and adul-               Monsma and Van Dellen  state :
terers and fornication."     Some object to this language. Do
                                                                          `iThe  present article states that `the consistories shall
they forget that this also is the language of Scripture and
that, therefore, it is proper to warn, as Scripture also does,         attend to it.' Consistories should therefore encourage wed-
                                                                       dings before the church of Christ. The matter should be
that all uncleanness within the marriage state God will surely
                                                                       mentioned to young people's classes, in sermons, at `the time
punish as much as He punishes that which is done outside
                                                                       of family visitations, etc. Church Visitors would do well to
of the marriage state. The marriage state is no license to sin.
                                                                       inquire whether the consistories are faithful in this respect.
It is a holy institution of God and must be honored as such
                                                                       Very often much is made of funerals. A `service' in the
by those entering it or they cannot expect the .blessing  of
                                                                       church is insisted upon. But the confirmation of marriages
the Lord upon them.
                                                                       before the church in Christ is considered as unnecessary. This
   The third objection which is that the form does not in              is not as it should be. Let consistories enlighten their people
so many words unite the parties in marriage, may be an-                regarding these matters."
swered very easily. We ask which of the following is the                                                                     G.V.d.B.

stronger, more emphatic statement :

    1. If a man, be he minister of the Word, says: "I

pronounce thee man and wife . . ."

   2. Or, to quote our form: "The Father of all mercies,                                  (Continued from page 43)
Who of His grace hath called you to this holy state of mar-               As the seminary goes, so goes the church!
riage, bind you in true love and faithfulness, and grant you
                                                                          Make the Seminary a seminary filled with students from
His blessing."
                                                                          the Protestant churches, who are willing to be instructed
   We have no objection to including both of these formula-               and our own young men will be attracted to, the school
tions if that is desired. However, if it is a choice of ex-               and our churches will have ministers.
cluding one or the other the former can be omitted without
                                                                          Keep the Seminary a one-student institution and our
any real loss. The latter must certainly be retaingd.  We are
                                                                          churches and ministers will soon fade away.
speaking about Christian marriage and then it must be re-

membered that it is not man, the church or that stand that                Done in Cons&tory of Hope Protestant Reformed Church

unites in marriage but GOD Himself joins us in holy matri-                                Isabel, So. Dak.,  Ott 2, 1962

.mony.  This the form for marriage clearly states.                                        Milton H. Collmann, Clerk

   The last objection is really no objection at all. That the

form is too loilg  and ought to' be abbreviated is simply not

true. The entire form takes less than ten minutes to read                          Wandering in the wilderness
and bearing in mind that this form is designed for church                            Far they roamed the desert way,
weddings, we aver that if that is too much time the whole                          Found no settled dwelling-place
ceremony isn't worthy to be held in church.                                          Where in peace secure to stay,

   The form for marriage also contains a brief but im-                             Till with thirst and hunger pressed
portant prayer. The church confirms the marriages of her                           Courage sank within their breast.

members also with her prayers. It is through prayer that the                       To Jehovah then they cried
Lord provides His grace and Spirit and without these blessed                         In -their trouble, and He saved ;
gifts it is futile to embark upon the sea of matrimony. The                        He Himself became their guide,
prayer of the marriage form ends with what is commonly                               Led them to the rest they craved
referred to as the Lord's Prayer. This prayer, we believe, is                      By a pathway straight and sure,
to be spoken and not sung, as is frequently done. This is                          To a city strong, secure.
distracting from the prayer.      It does not lend itself to the

proper reverence in prayer. The minister of the Word is                            Sons of men, awake to praise

uttering the prayer when suddenly he seems to be interrupted                         God the Lord Who reigns above,

with the voice of song.     In our ,opinion  this just does not fit                Gracious in His works and ways,

and we prefer to see the prayer cdncluded  as it was begun.                          Wondrous in redeeming love ;

    In concluding this matter of marriage we like .to quote                        Longing souls He satisfies,

the following paragraph from "The Church Order Com-                                Hungry hearts with good supplies.

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


                                                                                       3) We further recommend that in the near future some one

/ALL  A R O U N D   US/                                                             be sent to instruct these ministers and evangelists in the Prot-
                                                                                    estant Reformed truth and in the form of worship as it is

                                                                                    practised  in our churches.

REPORT ON JAMAICA                                                            There are very few remarks which are necessary to make
                                                                         at this time. Yet the following will be of interest:
      As most of our readers know, the last Synod of our

Churches decided tp send to Jamaica two men from our                         1) The first proposal of the committee was accepted by

Churches to investigate that field. There was a history of               the Mission Committee. The diaconate of First Church is

correspondence between men in Jamaica and our Mission                    being asked to take charge of this matter of helping with

Committee which led up to this decision of Synod. Perhaps                clothing. They will undoubtedly contact our other diaconates.

most of our people also know by this time that the Mission                   2) The second proposal was also adopted and placed in

Committee decided to send two laymen to Tamaica  to do this              the hands of a committee for execution.

investigative work. The laymen asked to go were Mr. H.                       3) The third proposal was tabled. It will be discussed
Zwak  from our Hudsonville congregation and Mr. H. Meu-                  further at a meeting of the Mission Committee to be held the
lenberg  from our First Church. Both men are members of the              first part of November.
Mission Committee. These brethren went to Jamaica in Au-                     4) Mr. Zwak and Mr. ,Meulenberg  have indicated their
gust and?  having now returned, have presented their report to           willingness to speak to other groups in our Churches about
the Mission Committee. While many people ,in the Grand                   their experiences as well as to show pictures which they took
Rapids area will hear of their experiences at the Mission                on the island. They both work however, and arrangements
Emphasis Night Program sponsored by our young people,                    will have to be made with them as to the best time available
the Mission Committee decided to publish their report in                 to come.
our Standard Beam*  for the benefit of all our people.                       Whether or not the Lord is opening a door for us as

      The report follows :                                               Churches ; whether there is work to do there ; or whether

           This is a report on our labors in Jamaica. We left Grand      we have the men available are still matters to be decided. We

        Rapids August 13 and arrived in Jamaica August 17. Evan-         commit the needs of our mission labors to the prayers of

        gelists G. R. Dixon and W. Tennant  failed to recognize us as    our people.
        we landed at Montigo Bay Airport, making it rather difficult

        for us to locate the other brethren who had written us. HOW-
        ever, after having rented a car from Hertz, we proceeded to      ECUMENI@ISM  (Cont.)
        Montigo Bay and, inquiring there, we left for Lucea, the

        town nearest to the churches we had to visit. In Lucea we          If in this column we spend an extraordinary amount of
        met Rev. Ii. Thompson who took us up to his place of worship.    time discussing the ecumenical movements of our day, it is
           One thing soon became apparent to us, and will weigh
                                                                         only because these movements dominate the religious news
       heavily in any recommendations we may make. These people
        are very poor, living in the.  hills almost isolated from any    of our times.         Nor are these movements without their im-

        normal transportation. Some of these churches are built on       portance for the Church of Christ. Ecumenicism is the
        top `of the mountains and can be reached only by foot.           clearest sign of the return of Christ in the Church; it is a
           Secondly, the ministers of these churches, with the excep-    movement that commands insistently the attention of be-
        tion of Rev. Frame and Rev. Thompson, are not ordained
                                                                         lievers who are called to "redeem the times."
        men and have had very little education. We met with these

        ministers and their congregations separately and in groups.          Three items recently appearing in the news are of in-
        Also we called a conference of ministers to meet with us on      terest.
        Tuesday, August 21. Besides the ministers, about 50 members
                                                                             The first item of importance concerns the meeting of the
        of the various churches met with us that day. Your commit-
       tee explained to them the doctrine and stand of our churches      Fifth Plenary Congress of the International Council of Chris-

        as well as the form of worship. As far as the doctrine is        tian Churches (ICCC) which met in Amsterdam, Nether-
        concerned, they seemed to agree with us. However, in the         lands last August. This is another of the large associations
       matter of the foml of worship we are quite far apart. Much        of Churches. It has as its president Dr. Carl McIntire, well-
       training and guidance is needed to change them in their habits
                                                                         known to many across the country through his daily radio
        of revivalist worship. Of one thing we are convinced and that
       is their sincerity. Spiritually they are very active.             broadcasts. The ICCC claims in its membership Churches

           As far as we could determine, they live a good moral and      from 53 different denominations and has affiliated bodies and
       spiritual life, and they long to become `one with us. Matter      regional councils on five continents. It is an out-spoken foe
       of fact, they begged us to accept them as members in the          of the World Council of Churches, of Communism and of
       Protestant Reformed Churches. With all these facts before
                                                                         Roman Catholicism. It claims, in distinction from the other
       us we recommend
           1) That 6nancial  help be given these churches in the         ecumenical bodies, to represent the true and evangelical gos-
       form of clothing, etc.                                            pel of Jesus Christ.
           2) That printed  material such as pamphlets, Sunday               Its character can be at least in part determined by some
        School papers and whatever else. can be sent to help instruct
        them in the truth of the Word of God.                            of the decisions that were reached and some of the speeches


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                       47


 that were given at its last meeting. These include a con-          menism Is Fine, But Friendship Is Better." The author

demnation of the Blake-Pike proposal-the proposal to                points out first that the Catholic Church is the only unified

merge into one denomination in the United Church of Christ,         Church -pyeragainst  the endless splitting of Protestantism.

 the Presbyterian Church, The Episcopal Church alli.1  the          He writ&:

 Methodist  Church. It also condemned the invitation oi the                  Of the billion or so Christians in the world, more than
Pope sect to certain Protestant bodies to attend the Vatican              half are Roman Catholics, about a third are Protestants of
Council ; it condemned the Russian blasphemies of denying                 various kinds and the remaining sixth are Orthodox. Of these
God in connection with their space feats; it condemned the                three groups, only we Romans are monolithic -that is undi-
                                                                          vided. Orthodoxy is split along nationa lines. Protestantism
attempts of some to deny the infallibility of Scripture ; and
                                                                          is the major group that is split, fragmented, shattered and
it condemned the actions of the World Council of Churches                 sliced to a fare-thee-well.
particularly in admitting the Russian Churches.                         He finds the greatest issue that divides the issue of the
    It would be interesting to discover what the doctrinal          primacy of the Pope. \J7ith a silly choice of words that so
basis and stated purpose of this organization is.        It is a    often characterizes Roman Catholic writings he says,
movement that is attracting more and more attention. It
                                                                             Protestants in general have more important agreements with
bears watching.                                                           us than differences. We all accept the divinity of Christ, the

    The second item is a report in T&e which speaks of ob-                triune God and the legitimacy of the Bible as revelation. It
jections which Methodists have to the proposed merger be-                 is not oversimplification to say that most of our points of
                                                                          difference can be reduced to one: the primacy of the Pope.
tween the Presbyterians, the Episcopalians, the United
                                                                          If the Pope can be accepted as the legitimate successor of
Church of Christ and the Methodists. The Methodists are                   Peter, on whom Christ founded His Church, all else follows.
the largest  denomination involved numbering about                        We and the Protestants are wedded in Christ, our separation

10,000,000  members ; they are also the strongest dissenters.             is mostly an argument over who's boss in the family.

Strikingly, none of the quoted objections involve questions of         He then goes on to argue that any future merger will only
doctrine but deal, for the most ,part with comparatively trivial    be successful to the extent that the common people and not
matters. For example, according to T~*xB:                           the leaders work towards being friendly towards each other.

    One bishop objected :      "Methodists have the least en-       The more that common people seek each others' fellowship

thusiasm, and with good reason. We're strong ; what do we           and strive to be charitable on the level of local and every day

need ?"                                                             relationships (such as viewing each others' Church buildings
    Another objected to the Episcopalian view of the apostolic      - although not attending services, working in local charities,
succession of bishops. This is a view of the Episcopalians          schools and government together, playing poker together in

which is closely akin to Roman Catholic teaching. The               local parishes - not parish sponsored, meeting in discussion

Episcopalians teach that all ministers must be ordained by a        groups) the more quickly will union come.

bishop who himself was consecrated in the line of succession           He claims that many large Protestant bodies have made

from the time of Christ's apostles. ~The  Methodists deny           overtures towards seeking closer fellowship with the Roman

this unbroken chain of succession.                                  Catholic Church, but the real hope of union lies in a `grass-

   Another objected to the fact that Methodists are against         roots" movement that will grow to a rushing stream- a
drinking, while Episcopalians believe. in moderation.               movement that will bring Protestants to Roman Catholic
   Another said, "I have no doubt that churches and denomi-         fellowship. With monumental conceit he writes :

nations can be too small to function effectively in the world.               There is, then, a great ferment in Christianity, a relaxing
I am just as sure that they can be too big, and I suggest that            of stiff backs, a seeking for common denominators. On the
                                                                         part of all save one of the major parties there seems to be a
20,000,OOO members may be too big. If I could cast one vote              disposition to compromise.      Orthodoxy may well become  one
which would make all Christians Methodists, I would not                  in the fulness  of time, and Protestantism may slowly crawl
cast the vote."                                                          back from the limb to the tree that is Christ. Only the Roman

   Yet another made the distinction between unity (which                 Catholic Church will stay where it is, on orders from above.

he favored) and union (which he opposed). He found the                 He concludes :
strength of Protestantism in their division and differences of               It may be hundreds of years before our brothers the Prot-
opinion.                                                                 estants come home to Rome. Whatever the time required, the

   In all this there is no mention  of the marks of the true             i&l hotiecoming  will occur when Protestants are made to

Church : the pure preachin,
                             m of the Word, the administration           realize that they are simply rejoining friends after an absence
                                                                         somewhat longer than anticipated.
of the sacraments and the exercise of Christian discipline.

Objections of the kind mentioned above mean nothing - a                The author of this article may be correct in his predic-

Church with so little principle could just as well merge with       tions that all the Church world will some day be one again.

the others. It makes no difference either way.                      But he may be sure of one thing - the true Church of Jesus

   The third item concerns an article appearing in a Roman          Christ will have absolutely no part of it at all!

Catholic paper entitled F&Y. The aiticle  is entitled "ECU-                                                                 H. Hanko


4               5                               T    H    E         S`TAN-DA&D           B    E    A    R    E    R


                                                                                     G.L. Nov. 4-M.S.`NoQ.  ll-G.V.  Ndv. i5-H.H. Dec.
     NEfXMROM.OURCHURCHES                                                            9-G.L.  D e c .   16-H.H. Dec.30-G.V.  P&z:  Oct. 2S
                                                                                     -G.V.B. Nov. ll-G.V.B. Dec. 9- J.A.H. Jan.. 20--
                "All t?te sa&s,  salt&e  tke ,...  ? PHIL 4:21                       G.V.B. DOOS:  Oct. 14-B.W.  Nov. ll-B.W. Nov. 25--

                                                                                     G . V . B .   D e c .   2:G.V.B.  D e c .   9-M.S.  D e c .   16-M.S.

                                                                                     Dec. 30-B.W. Jan. 6-J.AH.,  J?n.  13-  J.A.H.
                                                                    Oct. 5, 1962
      :                                                                                 The Stated Cierk presented a report relative to his. cor-
     Doon's congregation has extended a call to Rev. I?. ,Veld-                      respondence, and the Classical Committee reported .on its
man, of Redlands.                                                                    actions relative to the congregations of Kalamazoo and
     Rev. H. Ha&o  declined the call which came to him from                          Southeast. The committee appointed oti- the July Class&  to
Kalamazoo.                                                                           advise on the synodical action relative to the First-Southeast
     Rev. G. Vanden  Berg declined the call -which he had                            case were not yet ready to report, and the committee was
received from the church in Loveland, Colo.                                          continued and will report in January.

     Repo+t  of Clgssis  West - Classis  met in Edgerton,                               Two of our congregations, namely, Creston  and Grani',
Minn., Sept. 19, 1962. Rev. J. A. Heys presided, and Rev.                            Haven decided to dissolve. With sorrow and reluctance the

R. C. Harbach recorded -the minutes. The Church Visitors                             Classis  approved of this action.
reported a spirit of peace and harmony in our churches. The                             Rev. C. Hanko was appointed to thank the ladies of our
only other business before this meeting was the difficult task                       Hudsonville Church for their excellent catering.
of assigning Classical appointments. Because of the many                                Questions of Article 41 of the Church Order were asked
vacant churches and the realization that the ministers must                          of each consistory and answered satisfactorily.
not be absent from their own pulpits too much, Classis  de-                             Classis  decided to meet next time in Southeast Church on
cided to ask Classis  East for help iti supplying these vacant                       Jan. 9, 1963.
churches. The next meeting of Classis  will, D.V., be in                                Rev. Vos made a few appropriate closing remarks which
Doon, Iowa, the third Wednesday in March.                                            were colored by the fact of the two churches dissolving.
                                                                                        Brother P. Koole of Creston  Church closed the meeting
                                     Rev. H. Veldman, Stated Cl&-k
                                                                                     with thanks to God.                   M. Schipper, Stated Clerk.:

     Report of Classis  Ea.st held October 3, 1962, at Hud-

sonville Church.                                                                        The "Mission Emphasis Night," sponsored by the Bencolt

     Rev. M. Schipper who presided over the special classical                        Li;ghts,  and which was widely heralded in our bulletins, was
meeting in August led in opening devotions.                             After the    a sinsilar  success. .Truly, the bulletins did not avouch too

credentials were accepted and the Classis  declared properly                         much when they stated, "this will be an' evening which you
constituted, the Rev. G. Vos presided, while the Rev. Schip-                         cannot afford to miss." Rev. Lubbers gave a r6sumi: of his

per recorded the minutes.                                                            work in Houston, Texas, and in Tripp, S. Dali.  In Houston

     The brethren: Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, Rev. G. C. Lub-                             he held services in a "living room church" in a rented home

bers, Rev. J. A. Heys and Rev. G. Vanden  Berg were                                  partly furnished for a four week stay. In Tripp, amongst

visitors at this meeting and were given advisory vote. The                           much opposition, the Missionary conducted services in the

last two, with Elder L. Lanting of South Holland, were a                             City Hall which has a seating capacity of five hundred, some-

committee from Classis  West seeking aid from our classis                            what dwarfing the "little flock" which regularly congregates

with respect to their classical appointment problem.                                 to hear the truth of Scripture as embodied in the Heidel-

     The committee from Classis  West requested that we as-                          berg Catechism. Rev. Lubbers enhanced his report with the

sist them in drawing up a schedule for classical appoint-                            showing of colored slides.

ments.     Classis  decided to help them. The churches of
Kalamazoo and ~Southeast  having requested appointments                                  The second half of the program was taken up by Mr. H.
also, the chair appointed a committee to meet with the com-                          Zwak and Mr. H. illIeulenberg  who narrated their experiences
mittee from the West to draw up a schedule. We publish                               on their recent trip to the island of Jamaica on behalf of the
herewith the complete schedule from Oct. 14 to Jan. 20.                              Mission Committee of our churches. Colored slides were also
                                                                                     shown giving authenticity to the verbal descriptions of the
     Lovelapzd:  Oct. 21- J.A.H. Oct. 28- J.A.H. Nov. ll-
                                                                                     people and places visited. Further details need not be given
C.H. Nov. lS- C.H. Nov. 25 - J.K. Dec. 2 - J.K. Jan. 6
                                                                                     for the program will be repeated for the benefit of groups
-G.V.B.  J a n .   13-G.V.B.  Ka.lama+zo~o:  Oct. 2 1   -C.H.
                                                                                     that request it. One wonders whether this program, which
Oct. 2s- H.H. Nov. 11 -G.L. Nov. 25-G.V. Dec. 16
                                                                                     underscores our desperate need for ministers, will prove to
- G.V. Dec. 30 - G.L. Jan. 6 - H.H. Isa.bekFo?-bes:  Oct.
                                                                                     be a means to incite young men to heed the call to reap the
21-   J . K .   O c t .   2S-  J.K.  N o v .   4-   J . K .   N o v .   2 5   -
                                                                                     fields white unto the harvest.
G . V . B .   D e c .   2 - G . V . B .   D e c .   9-G.V.B.   J a n .   &--B.W.

Jan. 13 - B.W. Jan. 20-  B.W. So,utheast:  Oct. 2S-                                  . . . . see you in church.                                  J.M.F.


