    VOLUIVIE `XXXIX                         DECEMBER 1, 1962 - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                     NU~MBER  5


                                                                              Oh3  it was no mere gift such as we give to one another.
          M E D I T A T I O N                                    II Millions upon millions are spent throughout all the ages
                                                                      of history in giving from one to the other.

                                                                              But you cannot compare this giving to the Gift of Jesus
                 THE  UNSPEAKABLE GIFT                                by the Father to the Church, the world,, if you please. For            -

                                                                      God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
            TJz,n;nJzs  be w~fo  Go'd for His ztnspmka.ble  Gift!"
                                                                      that-whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, l&t have
                                                    II Cor. 9:15
                                                                      everlasting life. That's the world of God's goodpleasure.

   This is supposed to be. a Thanksgiving Meditation.                  -      It cannot be compared for this Gift is unspeakable. There

   And the above text ought to have given you that impres-            are no words which can translate this gift to us. And there

sion, even though the superscription did not.                         are no words that can- translate the emotion behind this gift.

   From a certain point of view this ought  to be easy: the           That is true even in human emotions. The emotion is always

Gift is Christ, of course. I cannot conceive why some corn-'          richer than the words which translate it.

mentators doubt this. And to write about the Gift, that is,                   But whjt  Bhall  we say .about the emotion in God in the
Christ, ought to be easy. The whole Bible is written around           giving of His Son ?          -
Christ, and you may even say that the Bible is Christ. That's
                                                                            R e f l e c t !
the reason why the Bible is called the Word of God; And
the Word was God and dwelled among us, and that Word                          What did this giving' comprise ?

became flesh.,                                                                God gave Jesus to the wicked, the godless. That's your

   But from another point of view this meditation ought to be         name, my brother. That's the name of all the number of the

the n?oSt difficult I have ever written. Maybe that's the reason      elect. Look it up in your Bible. Adam chooses the devil to

why I never chose this text for Thanksgiving.                         be his god. Noah is drunk. In the household of Jacob there

   Doesn't the text ~say that this Gift is UNsPeAKABLE  ?             are gods, idols. Judah unites his body with- a harlot (he
                                                                      thinks). Israel became so filthy that there was no soundness.
   John tells us that the Son which is in the bosom of the
                                                                      in her anymore, but wounds-and bruises, and putrifying sores.
Father has declared  Him. Well, .this word of my text: "un-
                                                                      The New Testament churches  are barely organized, and Paul.
speakable" is related to the word : "declared." And so you
                                                                      has to defend his apostleship, while the churches are rent by
must read the text this way: The Gift of God cannot be
                                                                      heresies.
fully declared.

   The Holy Bible here tells us that His Gift of Jesus is                     Oh, it's the old story all over again when you wearily look

undeclarable.                                                         through the pages of the history of the church. No matter

   Hence, I must grope for words when I am trying to lead             where you look, in the Old or in the New Testament, in
you in Thanksgiving.                                                  ancient history or in modern history, the church is usually
                                                                      in a dirty mess.
                          * * * :k
                                                                              Now, after almost 6000 years of histo,ry:since  Adam's call

   Let us see.                                                        the purest churches grow  angry when a mati preaches that

   The love of the Father who gave this Gift cannot be fully          the world is 6000 years old, and that the days of creation-are

declared. And I am persuaded that even unto all eternity              24 hours long. Now these purest churches teach that the first

you will never fully understand this love that prompted the           11 chapters of Genesis are myth, that it is very well possible

Gift of Jesus.                                                        that our ancestors hung by their tails from the trees. They

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


also begin to speak of millions and millions of years when                 Yes, I could go on and look at this Gift from another

talking about the age of the world.                                    point of view, and we would see the same thing: it is un-

                                                                       speakable.
        God gave Jesus to a wicked company of men, women and

children.                                                                  Or can you understand the suffering of Jesus ?

        Beloved reader, you do not have to check the Old and               Can you understand how Jesus contracted an eternity

New Testament or the pages of history to see if my charge              of damnation in a short span of human life on earth ? Can

is right: just look in your heart and your history, and then           you understand how Jesus contracted the damnation and

tell me, is not the Gift of Jesus to you unspeakable ?                 hellish torment of many on His poor head ? Can you under-

                                                                       stand that the experience of death and hell and the devils
        I bless the name of the man who composed this line,
                                                                       and the wicked was a constant torture to His holy soul and
telling about this gift of Jesus to him: "To such a worm as
                                                                       spirit ?
I ?'

                                                                           But He continued His journey on the Via Dolorosa, the
        Of course, you are filthy, dirty, guilty unto death, wicked
                                                                       way of eternal suffering.
and corrupt. You are that every day. And  it gets worse. as

you continue your life on earth as a respected member of                   And for whom ?

the church. You grow older, and therefore harder. Just                     For you and me.
be yourself, and the Bible says of you and me that all the
                                                                           Let us look at one example. Let us look at Peter, the
imaginations of our heart are always evil continually.
                                                                       Apostle of the Lamb of God.
        But you say: I am a Christian and I have the Holy
Ghost in me, and I do good works. Alright,  alright,  I believe            There he stands among the soldiers while Jesus is tor-
you, but I would ask you kindly to look again at those good            mented, beaten, scourged and derided. And what does Peter
works and note that God gave them to you, that God pre-                do? He curses and  swears that he does not know Jesus,
                                                                       nor His disciples.
pared those good works for you from before the foundation

of the world that you should walk in them. So be sure                      And what does Jesus do ?

and thank God for your good works. And now look at them                    He looks at Peter. And He prays for him while he is
again and see how you besmirched those good works with                 denying Jesus.
ypur sin.      Your good works must be washed and will be
                                                                           I ask you: how often is this scene repeated by you and
washed before they shall be whiter than snow.
                                                                       me, and by all those who receive this unspeakable Gift?
        Now then, to you God gives Jesus, and He continues
                                                                           Can you understand how Jesus continues to give Him-
to give Jesus, even though you are not worthy' of Him. Is
                                                                       self to you ?
it not unspeakable ?

                                                                           But that is not all, that is only the smallest part of what
                             * * + *                                   I desire to tell you in this paragraph.

        But there is much more.                                            Look again at this Gift of God. Now He stands on the

                                                                       ljottom of hell, and the eternal storms and tornadoes of the
        What `do you think went on in the Almighty God,
                                                                       wrath of God are burning around and within Him. He is
Father, Son and Holy Ghost when Jesus hung on the cross
                                                                       the Recipient of all the wrath of God that otherwise would
in the darkness and cried out: My God, My God, why hast
                                                                       burn you and me in lowest hell.
Thou forsaken ME 7 If it "grieved God in His heart" that

He had made men because of all the evil they did, I ask you                And what is His answer?

what went on in the heart of God when He sent Jesus to                     This: He turns His beaten Head and heart and soul to
everlasting death and hell ?                                           God and says : I love Thee, 0 God !

        Think on it that God the Son sat next to the Father and            And He continues to be your Gift.
the Holy Ghost on the great white throne when the eternal
                                                                           Can you understand that?
Son cried in the human nature of Jesus in the darkness of

Golgotha! No, God is no cold God. Something happened.                      Is not that Gift unspeakable ?

        And what was the result?                                                                 * * * *
        God continued to give this Gift.
                                                                           But there is more.
        But I would plead with you not to ask me to de&-t?
                                                                           I began with the deepest; I end with the things that lie
what went on in God, for this Gift of Jesus in death and
                                                                       at the surface. That is, in relation to Thanksgiving Day.
hell, in, untold anguish and suffering is unspeakable.

                                                                           And then I would connect the foregoing with what fol-
. -`....-                    * * * *


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                                                                                           99                   I



lows. I read: "How should He not with Him freely give US
                                                                                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
all things ?"
                                                                                Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August
    I have not enough space to dwell upon those things at                         Published by the REFOILMED  FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION

large. But I will group them under two heads.                                                                   Editor - FLEX. HERMAN HOFXSEMA
                                                                                Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
    With Jesus you receive all the spiritual gifts in heavenly                  Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,
                                                                                Mich. Contributions will be limited to 300 words and must be
places : regeneration, faith, conversion, justification, sancti-                                                      neatly written or typewritten.
fication, perseverance and glorification. God gives and gives                   All church news items should be addressed to Mr. J. M. Faber,
                                                                                                      1123 Cooper, S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
until you are fully perfected in body, soul and spirit, and                       Announcements and Obituaries with the $2.00 fee included
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                                                                                  All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to
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earthy bounties. I mean the bounties which are constantly                                                                  Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
                                                                                       RENEIVAL:  Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
and exclusively .before  the minds and hearts of most Thanks-                   received it is assumed that  the subscriber wishes de subscrip-
giving Day worshippers.                                                              tion to continue witbout  the formality of a renewal order.
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    But even when you look at the spiritual and earthy                                     Second Class  postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan

blessings which we receive, this Gift is unspeakable.

    When you read this, Thanksgiving Day is past. But                                                                               C O N T E N T S
while I write, it is still future. But no matter: every day               MEDITATION -
and every hour we should give thanks to God for the un-                                  The Unspeakable Gift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
speakable Gift of Jesus.                                                                           Rev. G. Vos

    And so Paul said: Thanks be unto God!                                 EDITORIALS -
                                                                                         Election and Reprobation According to Barth  . .._.._.._..._........ 100
    0 God! Give us grace to pour out to Thee thanksgiving                               Arminius and Arminianism .__.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..__...............  100
for evermore !                                                                                      Rev. H. Hoeksema

                                                               G.V.
                                                                          OUR DOCTNNE-
                                                                                         Of Sanctification                         . _. . . . .lOZ
                                                                                                   Rev. H. Hoeksema

                    RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                                          A CLOUD  OF WITNESSES -
   On October 15, 1962, it pleased our heavenly Father to take                           Moses' Prayer Rejected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._...  105
unto Himself our dear lmsband,  father, and grandfather,                                           Rev. B. Woudenberg

                       MR. JOHN VAN BAREN                                 FROM HOLY WRIT  -
at tbe age of 53 years.                                                                  Exposition of I Timothy . . . . . . . . . . . ..__......................................... 10%
   Our prayer is that God may continue to strengthen and comfort                                    Rev. G. Lubbers

us even as He has in the past few weeks in the assurance of immediate     IN HIS FEAR -
glory for His own who pass tbrougb  the portals of death,  and in the
                                                                                         Righteous Wrath                              ( 2)                      . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
certainty of the bodily resurrection from tbe dead when our Lord
                                                                                                   Rev. J. A. Heys
returns on the clouds of heaven at the end of this  age.

                                Mrs. John Van Baren                       CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH-
                                Rev. and Mrs. Gise John  Van Baren                       The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  111
                                Mr. and Mrs. Donald Hauck                                           Rev. H. Vekdrnan
                                Miss Alice Van Baren

                                Mr. Richard Van Baren                     THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS -
                                Mr. and Mrs. John Jr. Van Baren                          The Belgic Confession . . . . . . . .._..................................................  11.3
                                Miss Ruth  Van Baren                                                Rev. H. C. Hoeksema

                                4 grandchildren
                                                                          DECENCY AND ORDER -
                                                                                         The Objects of Ecclesiastical Censure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  118
                                                                                                    Rev. G. Vanden  Berg
            Our God shall surely come,

                 Nor silence shall He keep;                               ALLAROUNDUS-
            Devouring fire shall herald Him,                                             Growth of Pentecostals                                       . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  118
                 About Him storms shall sweep.                                           Presbyterians                     in Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
                                                                                         More o n the ICCC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
            Then to the heavens above                               ._                              Rev. H. Hanko

                 He from His throne shall call,
                                                                          NEIVS FROM OUR CHUIXHES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         120
            The earth His kingly voice shall hear,                                                  Mr. J. M. Faber
                 He is the Judge of all.
                           /

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


                                                                    Satan. God destines him to salvation and to His service ;
              E D I T O R I A L S                                   he, however, chooses the misery of an existence according
                                                                    to his own arbitrary choice, and fo,r his own honor. In this

                                                                    way the reprobate exist together with the elect. And we

                                                                    would not have understood completely and given an answer to
Election and Reprobation According to Barth
                                                                    the question as to the destiny of the elect, if we would avoid
    This subject we will finish in the present editorial, al-       an answer to the question concerning the others, that is, the
though we could write much more about it. But to do so              reprobate. What does God want with him? What is the
would be mere repetition just as Barth repeats himself time         design, the purpose, and the contents, the purposed execution
and again.                                                          and fulfillment, the meaning and the arrangement of his

   We have tried to prove from his Dogmatik  the following :        esistence,  in as far as also his existence is the object of

   1. That Barth does not believe in reprobation, although          &vine  foreordination ?'

he uses the term frequently. But he employs the term in                    This is surely Arminianism in its, worst form! This is
the sense in which Reformed theology uses the term total            the doctrine of freewill, the doctrine of Pelagius. This means
depravity. For in themselves all men are reprobate.                 that man is stronger than God. God is dependent on man's

   2. That Christ is the reprobate and that He died for             choice. God has chosen man to salvation, but man does not

the reprobates, that is, for all men. Hence, after His death        want it! God is in man's favor, but man does not want His

reprobation is removed and there are no more reprobates.            favor! God even forgives him all his sins, but he must have

                                                                    nothing of it, and that settles the matter!
   3. That, seeing that he does not believe in reprobation,

he cannot believe and does, not believe in election. All men               And what is the conclusion? What does God want with

are elect. All men are, as far as God is concerned, in Christ       him, with the reprobate, that is, with the elect reprobate

who has taken away reprobation. And if any man should               or the reprobate elect?

consider himself a reprobate this can only be his own choice,              You may find the answer to these questions at the very
for God has chosen him unto everlasting life and glory.             end of Barth's chapter on the destination of the reprobate.

   4. That Barth is Arminian and worse than that: he is             God wills that also to him the gospel must come and he

really a universalist. For Arminius, at least, taught that          must hear the promise of his election. He wills that also to

God chose those of whom He foresaw that he would believe,           him the gospel must be preached. He wills that he shall

and He reprobated those that would not believe in Christ.           grasp the Christian hope and that he may live in the hope

But Barth teaches that there is no reprobation, since Christ        that is offered to him in the gospel. He wills that the repro-

is the reprobate, that by His death on the cross He has re-         bate may believe and that as believer he may become an

moved all reprobation and that, as far as God is concerned,         elect reprobate. God surely did not destine him to be a rep-

all men are elect.                                                  robate, but rather that he allows himself to be told, and to

   This is not only Arminianism of the worst sort, but it is        tell himself that he is an elect reprobate. Such is, according
also nonsense. That Barth can teach this, is only because           to Barth, the teaching of the New Testament: believers are
he uses the terms election and reprobation in an entirely           reprobates who are redeemed and delivered out of their rep-
different sense from that in which they are used in Re-             robation. They are reprobates who are as such called to
formed theology.                                                    faith in Christ. They are reprobates who, on the basis of
                                                                    the election of Jesus Christ and with a view to the fact that
   That this is true, we will once more prove in this con-
                                                                    He gave Himself for them, believe in their election.
cluding editorial.

                                                                           Is it not plain that Barth is an Arminian and is worse
   In his Dogmatik  Barth devotes a long section under the
                                                                    than that?
caption Die Bestiimmwzg  Des  T/erwo?-fenen  (The Destina-
tion of the Reprobate). In an introductory paragraph, he                   Let this be the end of our discussion of Barth's conception
writes (I freely translate) :                                       of election and reprobation.                                H.H.

   " `Reprobate' is the man who distinguishes or separates

(vereinzelt) himself over against God by opposing his elec-                         Arminius and Arminianism
tion which is realized in Jesus Christ. God is for him ; he,
                                                                           Recently I read a three-volume work on The Wdt~ings  of
howevey, is against God.         ,God is gracious unto him ; he,
                                                                    Ar&z&, a work that was published by Baker Book House
however,. is unthankful to God. God accepts him ; he, how-
                                                                    in 1956, and which, alfihough  this is not a book review, I
ever, forsakes God. God forgives him his sins; he, however,
                                                                    recommend to our readers.
constantly repeats them as if they never were forgiven. God

delivers him from the guilt and punishment of his apostasy ;               In connection with this work, however, I wish to write a

he, however, lives and continues to live as the prisoner of         few articles on the above-mentioned subject.


                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     101


    And first of all, I give a historical review on the person                     his heretical doctrine from the pulpit. And not only this, but

of Arminius as well as on his views.                                               he also propagated it by other means, until hundreds of min-

                                                                                   isters and others embraced his views and also propagated
   James Arminius or in Dutch Jacobus  Harmsen,  was born                          them and a wide and deep schism was created in the Re-
in 1560 in Oudewater and died October, 1609 in Leyden.                             formed Churches of the Netherlands.
He studied at the University of Leyden, 1575-1582, and at
the University of Geneva, 1582-l 587, under a well-known                              Hence, I say, he may have been as amiable as you make
expounder of the teachings of Calvin. After this he traveled                       him, buf,  he certainly was not honest and, what is more, he
for a year, visited Padua and Rome, and in 1588  he became                         knew it.

minister of the Reformed Church in Amsterdam, Holland.                                The people of his congregation soon noticed that his

                                                                                   views on predestination had changed. In a sermon on Romans
    I must relate in parentheses that his studies at the Uni-
                                                                                   7 :14,  he occasioned an accusation of Pelagianism. At this
versity of Geneva were interrupted and for a year he studied
                                                                                   time he quieted down the alarm by openly declaring that he
at the University of Basle, after which he returned to Gene-
                                                                                   would teach nothing against the Heidelberg Catechism and
va. In Basle the faculty of Theology offered him the degree
                                                                                   the Belgic or Netherland Confession. Also this was dis-
of doctor, which honor, however, he declined.
                                                                                   honest because .he was very well aware of the fact that he
    In Amsterdam there was a certain Coornhert, a layman                           did not agree with the Confessions of the Church. However,
who caused quite a commotion in the church because he                              not long afterwards he preached a sermon on Romans 9
openly attacked the views of Calvin, especially with respect                       which caused new alarm and trouble. Investigations were
to his doctrine of predestination. When, after a disputation,                      made. New disputations were conducted. The only result was
he refused to retract, he was condemned and declared a                             that Arminius became more and more convinced that he
heretic. Arminius was also involved in the dispute and was                         was right and that the Reformed view of predestination and
asked to refute the writings of Coornhert. But after he                            total depravity as well as related doctrines were erroneous.
studied the matter he became more and more convinced that
                                                                                      He should, of course, have been treated and deposed if he
Coornhert was right and that the traditionally Reformed
                                                                                   did not retract. Why was he not? We must not forget that
view of predestination was an error.
                                                                                   the church in the Netherlands at that time was under the
    Here I want to insert a remark. Usually, Arminius is                           authority of the civil magistrates, and the church could not
praised for his upright and amiable character. Thus in a                           even call a synod without their approval. And that many if
sketch of his life in the beginning of the three-volume work                       not most of them were in favor of Arminius and his views
which I mentioned above, W. R. Bagnall writes as follows:                          is plain from the fact that, instead of being disciplined and

    "Thus lived, and thus, at the age of forty-nine years,                         deposed, he was appointed as professor in the University of

died James Arminius, distinguished among men, for the vir-                         Leyden !

tue and amiability of his private, domestic and social char-                           It is said that at that time he had a conference with
acter  ; among Christians for his charity toward those who                         Gomarus who was a strong defender of the doctrine of
differed with him in opinion ; among preachers, for his zeal,                      predestination and who, besides, was a supralapsarian. It
eloquence and success ; among divines, for his acute, yet en-                      is also said that, at that time, the parley between Arminius
larged and comprehensive view of theology, his skill in argu-                      and Gomarus had a satisfactory result. But, whether this be
ment, and his candor and courtesy in controversy. His motto                        true or not, it certainly did not last long. A year after Ar-
w a s :   B O N A   C O N S C I E N T I A   P A R A D I S U S "   ( a   g o o d    minius  was appointed, the disagreement between him and
conscience is paradise).                                                           Gomarus was brought into the open, and that, too, as might

    Nevertheless, he was not honest in propagating his views                       be expected, on the doctrine of predestination and related
on predestination when he found that he agreed with Coorn-                         doctrines.

hert on this fundamental and important doctrine. He knew                               Various conferences were held. Many of the Reformed
that Coornhert was condemned as a heretic. He also knew                            ministers violently disagreed with Arminius and his teach-
what was the Reformed conception on this doctrine as con-                          ings at the University of Leyden. As might be expected, also
tained in the Refo,rmed  Confessions, at that time the Heidel-                     the students of theology in the University became involved
berg Catechism and the Belgic Confession. Before, there-                           in the disputes. The conferences, as might also. be expected,
fore, he openly proclaimed his views from the pulpit of the                        bore no desired fruit. Of these conferences, especially the one
church in Amsterdam, he should either have resigned as min-                        that was held in 1608, we must speak next time.
ister of the church or have put in a gravamen or objection
                                                                                       Then in 1609  Arminius died. But the matter itself was
with the proper eccles3iastical  bodies and in the meantime have
                                                                                   by no means settled.
kept still until the matter was decided by the latter.
                                                                                                                                            H.H.
    But he did nothing of the kind. Instead he proclaimed

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


                                                                       externally preached to them, and powerfully illuminates their
        O U R   D O C T R I N E                                       minds by his Holy Spirit, that they may rightly understand
                                                                      and discern the things of the Spirit of `God ; but by the

                                                                      efficacy of the same regenerating Spirit, pervades the inmost

                                                                      recesses of the man ; he opens the closed, and softens the hard-
                           CHAPTER V                                  ened heart, and circumcises that which was uncircumcised,
                  OF SANCTIFICATION                                   infuses new qualities into the will, which, though heretofore.

                                                                      dead, he quickens; from being evil, disobedient, and refrac-
                           (Continued)
                                                                      tory, he renders it good, obedient, and pliable ; actuates and

    Thus, therefotre,  Scripture emphasizes the necessity and         strengthens it, that like a good tree, it may bring forth the

the reality of the sanctification of the people of God in the         fruits of good actions." And in Article 14 of the same chap-
midst of the world. In principle they are sanctified at the           ter of the Canons our fathers emphasize that faith is not of

moment of regeneration and calling, and they are cleansed             ourselves, but is the gift of God. There we read: "Faith is

and purified. Principally, too, they have already put off the         therefore to be considered as the gift of God, not on account

old man and put on the new. For they are born of God. They            of its being offered by God to man, to be accepted or rejected

are crucified with Christ. They are liberated from the law            at his pleasure ; but because it is in reality conferred, breathed,

of sin and death. They are also being continually confirmed           and infused into him; or even because God bestows the power

and strengthened through grace, and live continuously out             or ability to believe, and then expects that man should by

of the Spirit. And God Himself preserves in them the good             the exercise of his own free will, consent to the terms of`

work which He has begun. At the same time, they themselves            salvation, and actually believe in Christ; but because he who

also perfect holiness in the fear of God. They keep them-             works in man both to will and to do, and indeed all things in

selves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit. They       all, produces both the will to believe, and the act of believing

work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. They            also."    From these quotations it is very evident that our

fight the good fight of faith even unto the end, that no one          fathers attributed the whole work of sanctification to God

take their crown. Thus Scripture presents the truth of sanc-          alone, in Christ Jesus -our  Lord. However, this work of God

tification in all its implications.                                   does not violate the rational, moral nature of man. In the

    We must remember in this connection that also in the              same chapter of the Canons, Article 16, we are taught as

work of sanctification God is first. Without Him we can do            follows : "But as man by the fall did not cease to be a creature,

absolutely nothing. Only when He works in us to will and              endowed with `understanding and will, nor did sin, which

to do of His good pleasure can we work out our own salvation          pervaded the whole race of mankind, deprive him of the

with fear and trembling. Only when God realizes His prom-             human nature, but brought upon him depravity and spiritual

ises unto     so that we actually have hold of those promises,        death ; so also this grace of regeneration does not treat men
          US, 

can we cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of      as senseless stocks and blocks, nor take away their will and

the spirit, and perfect holiness in the fear of God. Our work         its properties, neither does violence thereto; but spiritually
is rooted in the work of God, and is the fruit of His work in         quickens, heals, corrects, and at the same time sweetly and

us. He constantly works in us the spiritual power, or the             powerfully bends it; that where carnal rebellion and resist-

spiritual energy, the living, spiritual strength, to work out         ance formerly prevailed, a ready and sincere spiritual obe-

our own salvation and to walk as children of light. All               dience begins to reign ;     in which the true and spiritual
spiritual power is alone from Him. From Him is life. From             restoration and freedom of our will consist. Wherefore un-

Him is the gift of regeneration. From Him is the gift of              less the admirable author of every good work wrought in
faith, love, hope, purity of heart, the illumination of our under-    us, man could have no hope of recovering from his fall by
standing, knowledge, righteousness and holiness. All this is          his own free will, by the abuse of which, in a state of in-
of God alone. And His work always precedes anything that              nocence, he plunged himself into ruin."

we may do. Nevertheless, we must also understand that God                In the same chapter of the Canons our fathers also em-

preserves us, not as stocks and blocks, but as rational and           phasize the necessity of the use of means, namely, of the well-

moral creatures, so that we bear fruit consciously and will-          known means of grace, the preaching of the gospel and the

ingly, and perfect holiness in the fear of God. God works             use of the sacraments and of Christian discipline. For we

within us not without our will, but rather in such a way that         read in Article 17:     "AS the almighty operation of God,
we willingly present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God          whereby he prolongs and supports this our natural life, does

and make our members subservient to righteousness. This is            not exclude, but requires the use of means, by which God

also the teaching of our Reformed confessions. In the Canons          of his infinite mercy and goodness hath chosen to exert his

of Dordrecht, III and IV, Article 11, we read: "But when              influence, so also the beforementioned supernatural opera-

G&d  accomplishes his good pleasure in the elect, or works in         tion of God, by which we are regenerated, in no wise ex-

&em true conversion, he not only causes the gospel to be              eludes,  or subverts the use of`the gospel, which the most .wise


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B,EA.RER                                                       103
I

     God has ordained to be the seed of regeneration, and food               of denying the truth of free grace and justification by faith.

     of the soul. Wherefore, as the apostles, and teachers who               After his death some others propagated the antinomian views.

     succeeded them, piously instructed the people concerning this              Among the English Calvinists of the seventeenth century

     grace of God, to his glory, and to the abasement of all pride,          there were other theologians who were reputed to be an-

     and in the meantime, however, neglected not to teach them               tinomians. We must not forget, however, that it makes con-

     by the sacred precepts of the gospel in the exercise of the             siderable difference who writes about them and characterizes

     Word, sacraments and discipline ; so even to this day, be it            them as antinomians.    Many of the quotations made from

     far from either instructors or instructed to presume to tempt           their works that are supposed to reflect antimonian errors are

     God in the church by separating what he of his good pleasure            thoroughly sound and Scriptural. Others may appear to be

     hath most intimately joined together. For grace is conferred            erroneous when considered all by themselves ; nevertheless

     by means of admonitions ; and the more readily we perform               these also may be interpreted in a sound sense when they are

     our duty, the more eminent usually is this blessing of God              taken in their proper connection. There are, for instance,

     working in us, and the more directly is his work advanced ;             quotations like the following, taken from the sermons of Dr.

     to whom alone all the glory both of means, and of their sav-            Crisp, who died in 1642: "The law is cruel and tyrannical,

     ing fruit and efficacy,  is forever due. Amen."                         requiring what is naturally impossible." Again : "The sins of

        Thus, then, .God works continuously in us to will and to             the elect were so imputed to Christ as; that, though He did

     do of His good pleasure. He it is that regenerates               not    not commit them, yet they became actually His transgres-
                                                              us, 

     only in principle; but He also sanctifies us through the Spirit         sions, and cease to be theirs." Once more: "Christ's right-

     of Christ continuously. Nevertheless, that work of God in               eousness is so imputed to the elect that they, ceasing to be

     us is of such a nature that we now consciously and willingly            sinners, are as righteous as He was, and all that He was."

     bear fruit unto righteousness. It is not thus, that God works           The following quotation, however, is rather confusing  : "An

     our sanctification, and that we work also, as the synergists            elect person is not in a condemned state while an unbeliever.

     would have it, and that these two aspects of the work of                And should he happen to die before God calls him to believe,

     salvation stand independently from each other, or must                  he would not be lost." And once more: "Repentance and

     be conceived as an irreconcilable contradiction. Nor is                 confession of sin are not necessary to forgiveness. A believer

     it thus, that God must do it, and that we are being dragged             may certainly conclude before sonfession, yea, as soon as he

     along as stocks and blocks on the way of sanctification, as is          hath committed sin, the interest he hath in Christ, and the

     the presentation of the antinomians.                                    love of Christ embracing him." On the other hand, however,

                                                                             that Dr. Crisp does not deny the calling to live in a new and
        Concerning these antinomians we must also write a few
                                                                             holy life may be evident from the following: "In respect to
     words.
                                                                             the rules of righteousness, or the matter of obedience, we are
        The term a:hzodaw  is derived from the Greek preposi-                under the law still, or else, we are lawless, to live every man
     tion anti, meaning "against," and the Greek noun nomos,                 as seems good in his own eyes, which no true Christian dares
     meaning "law."    Literally, therefore, the term denotes those          as much to think of." As I said before, it makes a great deal!
     that are opposed to the law.                                            of difference whether one who writes about those so-called!
        What then do the antinomians really teach ?                          antinomians is himself in sympathy with  the truth of sov-

        There appear to have been some antinomians in the very               ereign grace and absolutely free justification, or opposed to

     early age of the history of the New Testament church, per-              it ; whether he is an Arminian or a Calvinist. The Arminian

     haps even already at the time of the apostles. It would seem,           Dr. Orme, in his "Life of Baxter," II, 243, certainly shows

     at least, that the epistle of James is largely directed against a       no sympathy for the doctrine of antinomians, nor, for that

     class of Christians whom we in our day would call antino-               matter, of Calvinists in general. He writes that this doctrine

     mians, or against those that emphasized faith without works.            "withers and destroys the consciousness of human respon-

     And in the fourth century Augustine suggests in one of his              sibility. It confounds moral with natural impotency, for-

     works that there were antinomians even before his day. But              getting that the former is a crime, the latter only a mis-

     one of the fathers of the more recent antinomians is Agricola,          fortune; and thus treats the man dead in trespasses and sins

     who lived at the time of the Reformation and was a supporter            as if he were already in his grave. It prophesies smooth things

     and colaborer of Luther. Luther himself in his defense of               to the sinner going on in his transgressions, and soothes to

     justification by faith over against Roman' Catholicism some-.           slumber and the repose of death the souls of such as are at

     times gave the impression of being inclined to antinomianism ;          ease in Zion. It assumes that, because men can neither be-

     but this is probably to be attributed rather to a strong op-            lieve, repent, nor pray acceptably, unless aided by the grace

     position to the Romish doctrine of good wo,rks.  When, how-             of God, it is useless to call upon them to do so. It maintains

     ever, Luther and Melanchthon  enjoined all the pastors that             that the gospel is only intended for elect sinners, and there-

     they should diligently teach and exhort their flocks to teach           fore it ought to be preached to none but such. In defiance;

     the,  commandments, Agricola accused them of backsliding and            therefore, of the command of God, it refuses to preach the:

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


glad tidings of mercy to every sinner. In opposition to Scrip-        nomians, to the question concerning the relation between

ture, and to every rational consideration, it contends that it        the work of God and our work. We reject the theory of the

is not man's duty to believe the truth of God - justifying the        Pelagians, which teaches that the relation between the work

obvious inference that it is not a sin to reject it. In short,        of God and our work is such that we must work and that if

its whole tendency is to produce an impression on the sin-            we work, God.will  help us to a life of sanctification. Also this

ner's mind that, if he is not saved, it is not his fault, but         theory, as well as the others we mentioned, is not according

God's; that, if he is condemned, it is more for the glory of          to Scripture. But the true conception of this relation is al-

the divine sovereignty than as the punishment of his guilt.           ways thus that we work out of the power of the work of God

So far from regarding the moral cure of human nature as               in us. God is always first, and we always follow. God is the

the great object and design of the gospel, antinomianism              fountain out of which we live, God works our salvation to

does not take it in at all, but as it exists in Christ, and be-       will and to do of His good pleasure ; and we work out our own

comes ours by a figure of speech. It regards the grace and            salvation as the fruit of the work of IGod.  God is light; we

the pardon as everything, the spiritual design or effect as           are always light-bearers, and no more. God energizes us

nothing. Hence, its opposition to progressive, and its zeal           through Christ, and we manifest this energy as rational, moral

for imputed sanctification: the former is intelligible and            creatures. He gives, preserves, and strengthens our life; and

tangible, but the latter a mere figment of the imagination.           we live. He works and continues to work in us the true faith ;

Hence its delight in expatiating on the eternity of the divine        and we believe. He works in us continued conversion, and we

decrees, which it does not understand, but which serve to             turn and repent. He gives us and preserves in us the love of

amuse and to deceive, and its dislike to all the sober realities      God, and we love Him and taste His love. He works within

of God's present dealings and commands. It exults in the              us the sorrow after God, and we call upon Him in penitence

contemplation of a Christ Who is a kind of concretion of all          for the forgiveness of sins. He gives us true humility, and

the moral attributes of His people ; to the overlooking of            we walk in meekness of heart and life. He enlightens us, and

that Christ Who is the head of all that in heaven and on              we know with a true, spiritual knowledge of God. He leads

earth bear His likeness, and while unconscious of possessing          us by His Spirit, and we walk. He makes us hungry am1

it. It boasts in the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints,      thirsty for the bread and water of life, and we hunger and

while it believes in no saint but one, that is, Jesus, and            thirst after righteousness. He calls  us efficaciously, and we

neglects to persevere."                                               come to Him. He give us the power to persevere, and we

                                                                      persevere.    The power and the operation of the power, faith
       However, if by antinomians are meant those that teach          and believing, love and loving, hope and hoping, the eye and
that Christ has so fulfilled the moral law, considered as the         the seeing, the ear and the hearing, the understanding and
law of love, that believers have nothing to do with it any            the knowledge, the will and the willing, the power to fight
more, if we may indeed believe that they deny sanctification          and the fighting- all this in connection with gifts and
and the calling to put off the old man and put on the new             talents, with means and circumstances, is from God alone.
man and to walk in a new and holy life, who, moreover,                He sanctifies us, and we walk in sanctification. But exactly
make such a separation between the old and the new man of             because of this arises the possibility and the high calling of
the Christian that the believer is no longer responsible for the      the people of God to work out their own salvation with fear
sins committed in the flesh and does not have to be sincerely         and trembling, because all this does not violate the moral,
sorry for them- if all this is supposed to be implied in              rational nature of the sanctified people of God, but rather
antimonianism, it must be condemned as a very serious error.          always preserves it. We must not say, therefore, "Work out
At the same time, however, it is safe to say that in this sense       your own salvation with fear and trembling, but God must
no true believer can be antimonian, either doctrinally or prac-       do it." Still less must we say, "Work out your own salvation,
tically.                                                              and thm God will do it." But according to Philippians 2 :13 :

                                                                      "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for
       I am of the opinion that some sincere antinomians place        God works in you to will and to do of His good pleasure."
a wrong emphasis on justification at the expense of sanctifica-       Of Him and through Him and unto Him are all things : to
tion. They place all the emphasis on the work of Christ for           Him be the glory forever!
US and in our behalf and in our stead. And they do this at
                                                                          We must still briefly discuss the theory and the teachings
the expense of the work of Christ in us and through us by His
                                                                      of the perfectionists. According to this doctrine, which is
Holy Spirit. Their motive is, no doubt, the fear to minimize
                                                                      defended by all that make salvation dependent on the free
the work of free grace, the'fear to give any credit to man,
                                                                      will of man, it is possible for the child of God in this world
and the desire to let God in Christ be all and let the sinner
                                                                      to attain to complete perfection in this life, and therefore to
be nothing. By doing this they undoubtedly detract from the
                                                                      walk without sin. And they also appeal, of course, for this
glory of Christ as a complete Savior.
                                                                      teaching to the Word of God.

 ,,    Let us return now, after this brief discussion of the anti2                                                                H.H.


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 105


                                                                            place: and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities be-

IrA CLOUD OF WITNESSES /                                                    cause of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return unto
                                                                            our houses until the children of Israel have inherited every

                                                                            man his inheritance." With this condition understood, Moses
    `\
                                                                            gave his reluctant approval.     It was another event which
                  M o s e s '   P r a y e r   R e j e c t e d               served to stress for Israel the importance of the promised

            Alrd I besoqlht  the LORD at tht time, saying,                  land which they were about to inherit.

             0 Lord God, thou host begun to slzew  thy serva*nf                With the conclusion of this event there came to Moses
          thy gp-eatncss,  and ti+y mighty laand:  fos wht God is           an overwhelming realization of the difficulties that were still
          there iv& heavev~ or in em&, t1za.t  can do according to          lying ahead of Israel. Problems would continue to arise,
          thy works,  md arcording  to thy hght?                            requiring bold and courageous leadership. All the time, more-
            I pray thee, let me go over,  and see the good land tht         over, he could not forget that he would not be allowed .to
          is beyond Jordan,  that goodly  ulsountain, and Lebanon.          provide that leadership. God had told him that he could not
            But the LORD was rem&  with `Mze  for your sakes,               enter the promised land. Nor would God allow him to forget
          and would  not lteav  me: and the LORD said unto  me,
                                                                            this. He came to him again and said, "Get thee up into the
          Let it mffice thee; speak no moYe unto  -me of this mati
          ter.                                             Deut. 3 23-26    mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given unto the
                                                                            children of Israel. And when thou hast seen it, thou, also shall

   Israel was encamped on the plains of Moab closely border-                be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was

ing the river Jordan. They had only to look across the ex-                  gathered. For ye rebelled against my commandment in the

panse of the river and they could see the promised land which               desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me

they had come so far and waited so long to inherit. Even                    at the water before their eyes; that is the water of Meribah

more, they had been given a foretaste of the power with                     in Kadesh  in the wilderness of Zin."

which they would enter that land. Not only had they won                        In concern for Israel Moses answered back, "Let the
great victories over the armies of Og king of Bashan  and                   LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over
Sihon king of the Amorites, but they had go,ne  forth to                    the congregation, which may go in before them, and which
punish and destroy the Midianites for the sin which they                    may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the
had instigated in Israel according to the suggestion of Ba-                 congregation of the LORD be not as sheep which have no
laam. There could no longer be any doubt for them or anyone                 shepherd."
else that the power of God was with them.

                                                                               To this the Lord gave immediate answer. "Take thee
   Every day the excitement and anticipation was growing
                                                                            Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay
stronger in the camp of Israel as events pointed more and
                                                                            thine hand upon him ; and set him before Eleazar the priest,,
more to their entrance into the promised land. Everything
                                                                            and before all the congregation ; and give him a charge in
seemed to say that the time was near.
                                                                            their sight. And thou shalt put some of thine honour  upon
   One of the first such events took the form of a crisis. One              him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may
day the heads of the tribes of Reuben and Gad came to Moses                 be obedient. And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest,
and Eleazar the priest and announced their desire not to pass               who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim
over the river Jordan at all. They had been looking at the                  before the LORD : at his word shall they go out, and at his
land of Bashan  and of the Amorites which they had con-                     word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of
quered and had decided that it was as good a land for their                 Israel with him, even all the congregation."
                                                                                                        :
cattle as they could ever desire. To Moses the words were
                                                                               In obedience to God Moses did as he was commanded,
like treason. Violently he reacted, "Shall your brethren go
                                                                            He took Joshua and set him before Eleazar and before the
to war, and shall ye sit here ? And wherefore discourage ye
                                                                            congregation of Israel. There he laid his hands upon Joshua
the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the
                                                                            to symbolize that his position and autho,rity  was being laid
land which the-  LORD bath given them ? This did your
                                                                            upon Joshua. Joshua was to take Moses' place before the
fathers, when I sent them from Kadeshbarnea to see the
                                                                            children of Israel.
land . . ."       He could no't understand that any should be

hesitant to enter the land of promise. To him lack of                          This was a difficult ceremony for Moses to perform, per-

courage was the only real reason which they could have had                  haps one of the most difficult in all of his life. Moses' life

for their request. Stung by the severity of Moses' attack, the              from its very beginning had been centered in the hope of

leaders of Reuben and Gad quickly modified their request.                   return to the promised land. From his very earliest years

"We. will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for              he had been schooled in the promise by his faithful parents-

our little ones: but we ourselves will go ready armed before                Through the years in Pharaoh's court he had nurtured that

the children of Israel, until we have brought them unto their               hope until he had become convinced that God was preparing

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


him to perform an important part in the redemption from               Moses knew well how effectual the fervent prayer of a

Egypt. For a time the hope had dimmed as he fled an exile           righteous man could be. Often he had prayed in almost im-

to Midian;  but even then there was always the possibility that     possible situations and God had listened to answer him in

he could join his nation should they pass through the wilder-       grace. Through his prayers Israel had repeatedly been saved.

ness on the way to Canaan. When finally God had extended            But for this prayer, as earnest as it was, there was no such

to him that almost unbelievable calling and he actually went        answer. Rebukingly God replied, "Let it suffice thee ; speak

forth to give leadership to Israel, his hope grew clearer and       no more unto me of this matter."

more vivid than ever before. During the years that he guided           To Moses these words were harsh; but they were God's
Israel through the wilderness his calling had brought him           wo'rds and they were final. And, when he at last reconciled.
before countless trials which defied human faithfulness and         himself to this end, he saw also the reason for it. At the
courage. Still he had endured. It was the power of faith that       close of his earthly sojourn he could say to Israel, "But the
had upheld him with strength from on high. Holding firmly           LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not
to God's promise, he had gone on in the assurance that Israel's     hear me."    It was not because God hated Moses and sought
return to Canaan would surely come to pass because the word         vengeance upon him that he would not allolw  Moses to enter
of the Lord had promised it.                                        Canaan. Moses was a child of His love and before divine

    And now suddenly in the closing stages of the journey           justice his guilt was completely covered by the redemption of

Moses found this promised land slipping away from him.              the promised blood. But still for the sake of Israel Moses
God in faithfulness to His promise was,  still giving it to         could not be allowed to enter in but must perish east of
Israel ; but Moses personally was being denied it in his earth-     Jordan.

ly life. He had sinned by striking the rock at Meribah in-             It was just exactly because Moses was so close to God at
stead of speaking to it as God had commanded, and because           all times that when he sinned his judgment had to be so sev-

of that he was being denied the right of entering Canaan.           ere and so definite. Israel must be given no occasion to, accuse

He might go up to the very edge; he might gaze upon it from         God of being a respecter of persons. Time and again Moses

across Jordan's waters ; but he might not enter in. This was        had been used as an agent of God to announce judgments

God's judgment upon his sin,                                        upon those who had erred and broken His commandments.

    One can hardly imagine a greater disappointment than            To serve in this capacity  was a privilege but also a great
Moses must have felt, From the moment that God pro-                 responsibility. He could never be allowed to leave the im-
nounced this judgment he knew that it was right; but that           pression that because of his intimate relationship to God he
did not take away the longing which he had always nurtured          was above living as purely as he demanded from others.
in his heart as a good thing. The hope of his life lay fractured    When, therefore, Moses fell openly into public sin and rebel-
and hurting in his heart, never to be realized. Surely he was       lion, God could not allow it to appear for a moment that he
not above the rebellious feeling that God was unjust in             was less strict with His demands upon Moses than upon
punishing him so severely for so little. How often must he          others. For the sake. of Israel, that it might be spared from
not have cried out in angnished  repentance for his foolish         any misconceptions, God imposed upon Moses a public pun-
lapse of obedience. And then as the time for Israel to cross        ishment for his error, and from it God would not relent even
over Jordan came near and he saw the anticipation of the            when Moses' repentance was sincere and his prayers long and
-people growing eager, how lonely he must have felt because         repeated.

he was to be left behind. And when troubles arose as those             Even more, however, was this punishment necessary be.-
with Reuben and Gad which only his definite and determined          cause of the danger which confronted the future generations
leadership could straighten out, did he not wonder how Israel       of Israel. As time passed by the danger would become very
could do without that? and can tie blame him for thinking           great that Israel would begin to look back upon Moses as
those thoughts ? But God's word was unwavering. The                 a man worthy of special recognition and of worship. There
leadership of Israel had to be turned over to another even at       would be a tendency to place Moses in the place that belongs
this critical juncture of affairs.                                  to God. It was necessary, therefore, that Israel should be

    For Moses it was almost too much. It seemed almost im-          left with one indisputable testimony of the fact that Moses

possible far him to reconcile himself to this judgment of God.      was only a man and imperfect. Should anyone ever feel in-

Again and again he found himself crying out through tears           clined to deify Moses, they would always stand before the

to God. "0  LORD God, thou hast begun to shew thy servant           fact that as important as Moses was as a servant of God

thy greatness, and thy mighty hand : for what God is there in       he could not enter the land of promise because he had sinned.

heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and         For the sake of Israel and its future generations this testi-

according to thy might ? I pray thee, let me go over, `and see      mony had to be allowed to stand so that to God alone the

the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain,          glory of all ages might be given.

and Lebanon."                                                                                                                 B.W.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                          I
                                                                                                                                  107


                                                                     lated `slave' instead of `servant' or `bond-servant,' under-

fi      F R O M   H O L Y   W R I T   1 standing though that the slavery of Judaism was not the cruel
                                                                     system of Greece, Rome and later nations. The prime thought

                                                                     is sc&ce; the servant may render f+eel  service, the slave
                 Exposition of I Timothy                             obGgatwvy,  wsC&ted  sewice.."

                         (I Timothy 6 :l, 2)                             Paul is here addressing the lattei. He characterizes their

                                 a.                                  legal position as being "under the yoke." Paul is addressing

      We now come to Our  exposition of two very interesting         slaves who are under the system of Roman slavery, who, are
verses from the pen of Paul. They are directives, admoni-            obliged by their very legal status to serve their legal master.
tions of the gospel, for the saints in Christ, who in the prov-      Under Roman law such a man or woman was a legal posses-
idence of God were "slaves" when they were called by God             sion. It is well to bear this too in mind when we hear Paul
                                                              c
into the grace in Christ Jesus. By virtue of this calling they       admonish these "slaves" to show all honor to their master
are no longer slaves of sin, servants-of unrighteousness, but        (Despotees). The term "under yoke" is very expressive.
are free-men and free-women in Christ, because the truth has         It should be borne in mind that a "yoke" proper is such as
made them free. They are children of Sarah, born from                is put on draft-cattle. Such cattle were those uzed for draw-
above. They are not children of the bond-woman, Hagar, but           ing the wagon and the plow. It is, therefore, not a very
are children of the free-woman. Citizens they are of the             exalted and ennobling metaphor when applied to, man. Paul
heavenly Jerusalem, the mother of us all!                            employs the metaphor of the law, the principle of "law" : the
      Since they are "free" in the Lord it was so very natural       man that doeth the same shall live! It is a reference to the
th'at the question of their legal status in relationship to their    "law"  as a burden which neither the church of Peter's day
earthly masters should come to stand in a new light too. The         nor the fathers were able to bear. Acts 15 :lO; Gal. 5 :l. It
question was whether they could serve the Lord Jesus Christ,         was the hard yoke of the servitude of the law: the curse of
their KURIOS,  and still serve their DESPOTEES, their                the law ! These saints here referred to as "under the yoke" are
earthly master, whether he be an unbeliever or a believer            definitely those who are legal slaves of unbelieving masters.
in Christ.                                                               Fact is that Paul speaks very definitely of "their own"

      Concerning this question Paul writes as follows: `(Let as      masters. It might not be so difficult to cultivate a proper
wmny  semmnts  as are under the yoke cownt their ozvn m,astey.s      attitude, Christian honor, toward the master of another slave,
worthy of all hon,ouy;  that the navne of God and t!go doctrine      to another master not one's o.wn.  But the shoe would pinch

be not blasphemed. And they that have belie&g master-s,              when it would be their o'zer~b  master, who had absolute legal
let them n,ot despise them, because they me b,retlwen;  but          authority over them, and to whom they owed mandatory
rather do them seTvice, beca,use  they are fa&&l  [believing]        service and obedience ! To this master they owe "all honor.`"

and beloved, pa&akers  of the benefit. These things teach omd            Let us try to understand what this implied.
exhort" (vss. 1, 2) .                                                    In the first place, they are to account them "worthy of al?

      What Paul writes here is to be a rule which must be            honor." It should be understood that Paul intentionally speaks

followed by all `<who  are under the yoke" without exception,        here of "honor" and not simply of "service." The latter

as is evident from the addition "as many as" ! It is good            would not be as difficult. For to render service cduld be

that this be remembered at the outset of our explanation.            done with a purely utilitarian motive; it would be satisfied

Besides, it must not be overlooked that Paul enjoins Timothy         simply with the outward act, and would yet say nothing

to `(teach  and exhort" this instruction to the church. This         about the spiritual disposition of the heart as, an act of faith

alone is sound teaching, consonant with the Christian calling        and hope in Christ. But to give one %ono'r" means that otie

of a slave to work out his salvation with fear and trembling.        acknowledges the st&ts q~o of being a slave, as having the

      It is interesting to notice that the Bible uses the term       sanction of God and of Christ as sanctioned by Roman law.

"slave," as given in the King James Version, but twice. W.           For honor is accorded to God, to Christ, to kings, to parents

E. Raffety in the International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia         and to all that are in authority. Well, then, such ho#nor must
writes the following interesting and instructive paragraph.          be given to the master, even if he is not "good and gentle"

"The origin of the term `slave' is traced to the German              (I Peter 2 :18) but is froward. This is one of the things

skla`ve, meaning a captive of the Slavonic race who had been         which Timothy must teach and exhort. Furthermore, Paul
forced into servitude (cf. Slav), French es&&e,  Dutch slaaf,        exhorts that "all" honor be accorded these masters, their own

Swedish slaf,  Spanish esclavo.  The word `slave' occurs only        masters.

in Jer. 2 :14  and in Rev. 18 :13,  where it is suggested by the         In the second place, we would underscore that these

context and not expressed in the original languages (yelddlt         Christian brethren who were legal slaves (see letter of Pa&

bay&h,  `one born in the house,' Gr. SO~~SI,  `body'). However,      to Philemon) count their own masters worthy of all honor-

the Hebrew word ebhedh in the O.T. and the Greek word                This "worthiness" is not necessarily a personal, moral worthi-

doulos  in the N.T. more properly might have been trans-             ness, but it is a worthiness based upon a divinely sanctioned red


108                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEkRER


lationship of a superior to a subject. Incidentally, it too should     Matt. 5 :13-16. Such must be their evaluation of their posi-

be observed that Paul does not give as motivation for this "ac-        tion. And they must see that counting their olwn  masters

counting wo,rthy"  of all honor because it is the ideal relation-      worthy of a.ll  honor is the only possible walk which is con-

ship which shall too obtain in heaven, or even in the church           sonant with their being the light of the world and the salt of

on earth. In heaven and in the church on earth all are                 the earth !

brethren, and one is Lord, even our Lord Jesus Christ. How-                This is evident from what Paul adds here in the final

ever, that ideal kingdom, as to its manifestation, is, not yet.        clause : "in order that the name of .God and the doctrine be

At the time of the apostle Paul the slavery of the Roman law           not blasphemed."       Let us attempt to understand this.

obtained. And even as Christ paid tribute to Caesar and                    It is well to understand the implication of the term

acknowledged the authority of Pontius Pilate (reminding him            "blasphemy." We are told by the lexicon that blasphemy is :

whence he had obtained it), so also the slave is to account            to speak reproachfully, to rail at, to revile, calumniate. When

his own master worthy of all honor.                                    we turn to the O.T. we notice that the greatness of David's

                                                                       sin with Bathsheba, the sin of adultery, and the subsequent
    In the third place, this is a matter of sph-hd  accowdimg.
                                                                       sin of murdering her husband, Uriah, is that David has be-
In the Greek, the verb is eegeomai:  to deem, to consider, to
                                                                       come the occasion that the name of ,God be blasphemed by
account. "Such accounting is belief based upon due considera-
                                                                       the enemies of the LORD. The term (rtaaph)  in Hebrew
tion of external grounds, the weighing and comparing of the
                                                                       means: to deride, to despise, to reject with contempt and
facts" (Thayer).      0 urs is a reasonable service (logikee
                                                                       derision, to cause to speak evil of. II Samuel 12 :14. See also
btreh)  (Romans 1.2 :l). There are several interesting and
                                                                       Ps. 74:10,  18. A somewhat stronger term in the Hebrew
instructive instances in the New Testament Scriptures which
                                                                       language is that used in Numbers 23 :8, where Balaam says :
illustrate the act of faith and hope implied in the term "to
                                                                       "How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed, and how shall
account" worthy of all honor. We have a very striking in-
                                                                       I defy who,m the LORD hath not defied?' And in Lev.
stance of this in Hebrews 11 :ll in the case of Sarah. Sarah
                                                                       24:11, 16 we read of the incident of the son of the Israelitish
is both barren and old. There is, as far as her body is con-
                                                                       woman, whose father was an Egyptian, who "blasphemed the
cerned, no hope at all -that she shall still have a child. How-
                                                                       NAME and cursed."          The verb here used is nakhabk: to
ever, faith does a bit of accounting. It places the living .God,
                                                                       pierce ! It was with piercing cursing that this man made light
His power and faithfulness, on the one side of the ledger, and
                                                                       of the great NAME of God.
her own impotency and deadness on the other side.
                                                                           From being the cause of such blasphemy of the Name of
Conclusion ? There is indeed hope. For her accounting is God the brethren "under the yoke" should shrink; they
that God is faithful who has promised. That is the accounting,
                                                                       should in their evaluation of their position see that by being
the rationalization of faith. Faith drew the proper logical
                                                                       the occasion for such blasphemy 04 the part of the unbelieving
conclusion from the premises taught in God's Word and
                                                                       master, they would not be the light of the world, they would
posited by faith. Another equally forceful and striking in-
                                                                       not be ready to give an answer to their master of the hope that
stance we have in the case of Moses, as given in Hebrews
                                                                       is in them : presently to be free men in glory ! Rather they
?1:26. Here Moses is presented as choosing the lot of the
                                                                       must press the footsteps of Christ, who'  suffered, the just for
afflicted people of God for himself. He who could have be-
                                                                       the unjust. I Peter 3 :18-20.
come the next Pharaoh of E,gypt, schooled and educated in
                                                                           It has been said truthfully: the only Bible the unbeliever
all the learning of the Egyptians, decides to! leave the court
                                                                       readls  is the book of the life of the Christian. Writes Paul to
of Pharaoh, and deliberately decides to: suffer the affliction
                                                                       the Corinthians : "Ye are our epistle, known and read by all
of Christ. Moses had done a bit of "accounting." He had
                                                                       men." II Cor. 3 :2.
placed all the treasures of.E,Tpt on one side of the ledger and
                                                                           The slave of the unbeliever must remember that.
the afflictions of Christ on the other side. Conclusion of
                                                                           This calls for much patience and well-doing, looking for
faith ? It is the same as, that given by Paul in Rom. S :16  that
                                                                       the reward of their KURIOS, to whom they belong in body
the two are really not comparable. The affliction of Christ
                                                                       and soul for tim'e and eternity, even in -this relationship of
which works patience, approved and hope is of far greater
                                                                       being a slave.    Here is the wisdom of God. Heaven is, in
value to Moses than all the treasures of Egypt.
                                                                       readiness to receive these slaves in the great year of Jubilee.

    Such is also to be the spiritual activity of the believers,        But, if need be, for a little season, they must be slaves, that

who are %nder  the yoke." They must properly evaluate their            the approvedness of their faith, which is far more precious

position in life and the opportunity that it olffered  to them         than gold tried in the fire, may be found to the praise and

to work out their. salvation with fear. and trembling, to be           honor of ,God in that day !

Some  shining lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse                Forsooth, the slave is a free man in the Lord. In the

generation, holding forth the word of life in their difficult          proper accounting of faith the galling "yoke" is, seen as a

station in life; they are to be .a light on the candlestick, a city    means to the end of the final freedom: bearing the easy yoke

on a .hill-top,  the light of the world and the salt of the earth !    and light burden in the eternal kingdom of glory.            G.L.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    109


                                                                       fellowship. It cannot be otherwise. For man was made to
            I N   HIS  F E A R                                         live antithetically opposed to evil. He Was made to be God's
                                                                       friend-servant. And -as God's friend-servant in Paradise he

                                                                       hated the devil, until the devil deceived him by the lie where-

                                                                       by he caused man to hate God. Man is never neutral. It is
                     Righteous Wrath
                                                                       either God or his awn flesh that he loves. He does not love

                                (2)                                    the devil ; and th'e temptation of Satan in Paradise did not

    How can a man love what God hates and still love God?              have for its purpose the affections of man for the devil him-

    Indeed, we must love our neighbor. In fact we must love            self. No, he is perfectly content that the sinner loves himself.

him as ourselves.                                                      His purpose in the temptation in Paradise was to get man

    However this love is not something sentimental. It is not          to hate God. In this he succeeded. And so today man either

something ,of the flesh. God is love. But God has no flesh.            loves God or hates Him. And he either hates God's enemies

And .when we speak of the love of IGod,  we are not speaking           or he .hates.God. One cannot love two extremes at the same

of an activity of His mind and will that is characterized by           time. He cannot desire light and dark at the same time. He

human sentimentality. If we may say it, God is not squeam-             cannot enjoy heat and cold at the same moment. And he

ish. He is not emotional as man is touched in his flesh. And           cannot love God and God's enemies at the same time. Shall

when God demands of us that we love the neighbor, He                   we love  God's name and then love those who take it in vain?

does not mean that every neighbor should have  a fleshly               i7 an you love your father and mother and also love those who

attraction for us. Some men you simply cannot love in                  insult and defame them? As a neighbor we will love him in

that fleshly sentimental way. The seventh commandment                  the sense that we will still seek his good because we love

forbids us to lave another man's wife, another woman's hus-            God. But as God's enemy we have no delight in his. fellow-

band. And the same God Who moved John to write, "For                   ship.    \Ve have only a strong urge to withdraw from his

this is the message which ye heard from the beginning, that            ~WITO?Z.  It is not simply from his sin but from his person that
we should love one another," in I John 3 :11  had already              we are repelled. As God's enemy we have a strong revulsion

moved him ta write in I John 2 :15,  16,  "Love not the world,         from him. We camlot say that he is good and a nice fellow.

neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the          We cannot invite him into our homes, and spend an hour of

world, the love of the Father is not in him." That is right,           jzoy  in his company. We have a strong feeling of aversion for

the love of the Father is not in him. There is then a hatred           &n-not simply his works. And that is hating him.

that is demanded of the child of God in order to love God.                How can a man love what God hates and still love God ?

And the love that he must have for his neighbor cannot be                 Did Jesus simply hate the works of those evil doers  whom

in conflict with that hatred which he must have of God's               He drove out of the temple? Why did He drive them ,out ?

enemies.                                                               Why not, in a tone that oozed with what men call love, plead

    That love for the neighbor is a matter of his will. It             with these nice people to get these wicked things out of the
must be his love for God. Jesus, speaks of the first table of          temple? And does. the sin consist in things, or in the use of
the law as the gl-eat  commandment, and the second is Cdke             these things  by me%?  Jesus called the Pharisees whited
24.nh.1  it. This love for the neighbor is, not something different    sepulchers that outside looked nice and clean but inside were
from the love to ,God. It is the same love as it goes, out now         filled with dead men's' bones. and of all uncleanness. Matthew
to God's creature. It is the desire to do' with that creature          23 :27. And He pronounced woes upon them., Does one in
what God wants us to do with that creature. Once again,                love pronounce woes? Did He mean that their works were
John says in I John 5 :3, "Fo,r this ia the love of God, that          so terribly `evil but they themselves were so lovely and
we keep .His'  commandments : and His co,mmandments are                precious? The very opposite is true. Outside they looked
not grievous."    If we love God we will want to please Him.           beautiful. As far as man's eye could see, they were indeed
And therefore, if we love God we will desire ta deal with              the righteous among the righteous.. But Jesus tells them that
the neighbor in the love of God. We will want t,o obey that            as God sees th'em, they are utterly filthy. THEY ! They are
neighbor when God invests him with authority over us. We               filthy and full of uncleanness.    It is not simply a question of
will&t  want to injure him, steal his goods, defile him, speak         their works.. God hates the sinner as well as his sin. And
evil of him or even covet his goods. We will know that the             with a perfect hatred we are to hate those that hate God even
best way to serve God with the neighbor's goods is t.o leave           while in the love to God we do only good to our neighbor.

them in that neighbor's possession.                                       And  the brother? Because he is born again with the life

   However, in 8s far as this neighbor performs acts of                of Christ, because he is a fellaw citizen in the kingdom of

hatred against God we cannot love him. We still, in the love           heaven, we love him with the love which we have towards

of God, will not `hurt him, but we will not be attracted to            God. Him we cannot hate without hating God, for the life

him, will not enjoy his fellowship but will find' in `our souls        of God is in him. He is the product of God's work of grace.

an ,unchangeable  loathing of his works and abhorrence of his          And he that loves Ctid Whom he has not seen, surely loves

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


the brother in whom be sees the Spirit and life of God.            polluted with sin. Yet the child 0-f  God may and must be-

       That does not mean that we cannot become angry when         came angry when he sees sin in the Church and hears false

we see him walk in evil ways and propagating false doctrines.      doctrines. Otherwise he must brand himself a Laodicean who

It does not mean that this anger may not be very intense, SO       is spiritually dead. The dead are not affected-by your actions

that it becomes a righteous wrath. Satan would like to have        and words, even though you  may kick their dead bodies and

us believe exactly that! It would please Satan very much           speak exceediixgly  insulting words about them.

to have you and me have a love for the sinner that opposes                 Were there only more love ta God in this big church

God. In that way heresies can be fostered; evil practices will     world in which we live today, there would not be so much of

not be halted. And the cause of Satan is prospered by this         this false ecumenicity in the church. There would not be

so-called lo,ve,  this false love which is hatred of the living    so. much giving up of doctrinal; positions for social security,

God. But we maintain that the more we love God, the more           for the sake of numbers, for honor and fame, for the satisfac-

indignant we will become at evil practices and God-insulting       tion of the flesh. So much of this ecumenicity is possible

doctrines. And to be lacking in anger when these things are        exactly because the love of men waxes cold. Under the guise

being done simply means that our love has waxed cold.              of a love for man, they perform deeds that do not spring

       That was the trouble with the church at Laodicea in         forth from the love to God. And one who is, affected by that

Revelation 3 :14-20.  They were lukewarm. Nathing bothered         which insults the living God, denies Him His. glory and

the congregation. There was no enthusiasm for the truth and        reduces Him to a creature with all the weaknesses and sen-

for good Biblical preaching. The congregation could go to          timentality of human flesh is branded as a child of the devil,

sleep aid  leave the services untouched by the Word when it        because he does not show "love" toward mankind. Thus it

was preached by a guest minister.        Their own minister        has always been. The prophets who loved God and ripped

preached heresy, was a modernist and spoke a line of philos-       into the false teachers and workers of iniquity were stoned.

ophy. That is why' Christ knocks on the door of that church        Stephen says, "Which of the prophets have not your fathers

(not man's heart) and calls the elect out of that church to        persecuted?' Acts 7 52.         Micah complains in Micah 2 :6,

reorganize and reconstitute so that He can come in and sup         "Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy." Paul

with them in their new church. Where Christ is not preached        speaks of the days in which we now live that men "will not

there can be no presence of Christ to bless the preaching.         endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall heap

But that heresy and God-insulting preaching did not bother         to themselves teachers, having itching ears." II Timothy

them either. They were DEAD! The lie did not disturb               4 ~3. And he adds, "And they shall tu& away their ears from

them. And the truth did not move them. God forbid that.            the truth, and shall be turned to fables."

we should be like that!                                                    What is the conclusion of the whole matter?

       The lie must bother us. And its effect upon us must not             It is this: Show me a man who. becomes. angry when the
be that we grow in our love of that individual who insults         lie is presented and maintained, and I will show you a man
the living God therewith. We must become angry and at              that loves God. Show me a man that can continue to smile
times even reach the point of righteous wrath! As Peter            and affectionately put his arms around one who persists in
writes (I Peter 2 :5), we are "lively stones" in God's "spirit-    preaching and defending the lie, and I will show you a man
ual house." There are no dead stones in His house. If we           who loves the world, and therefore in whom is not the love
live, and by God's grace we do, we will be affected by sin         of the Father.
round about us. It will fill us with loathing. It will bring               It makes no djfference  how pious he may speak other-
tears to ,our eyes and heaviness in our souls. As the psalmist     wise. It makes no difference how tender and gentle he may
says in Psalm 119:134, "Rivers of water run down mine              be and how much fleshly love he bestows upon his fellow men,
eyes, because they keep not Thy law."                              he does it at the expense of the love of God. Such an one
       And that it is a brother in Christ who practices and        plainly does not hate sin, does, not make plain to his brother
defends sin, that it is one in the Church of Jesus Christ who      that it IS sin. Do that and the erring "brother" will soon
spreads and promotes the lie, does not rule out that anger         care not at all for youi  presence and fellowship.
and righteous wrath. As we pointed ,out last time, anger and
                                                                           The enmity IS there 3s God predicted and promised in
wrath are not the opposite of love but can be rooted in love.
                                                                   Paradise.
The opposite of love is hatred. We do not hate the brother
                                                                           It is a sign of sanctification to be filled with righteous
when we become angry. Hatred seeks to destroy* But anger
                                                                   wrath. And it is a blot on one's name to have it said, as
can very well be rooted in the desire to save. Why all the
                                                                   Paul dqes  in Romans 1:32,  that one sees evil and has pleasure
time spent to try to convince the brother of his error? Is it
                                                                   in them that walk therein.
hate, or is it love ? Why the concern for his wellbeing and
his rejection of the lie? 0, we have our flesh too, and often              He wha fears God loves Him.

we raise our voices and sometimes speak very unadvisedly.                  And that love will always be displeased with sin and the

Sin cleaves unto us in all our works, and our best works are       lie.                                                       J.A.H.


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                111


                                                                     in his Church, unto the end of the world; for the perpetual
II Contending For The Faith                                          remembrance of the sacrifice- of himself in his deith,  the
                                                                     sealing al111  benefits thereof unto true believers, their spiritual

                                                                     nourishment and growth in him, their further engagement i%,

                                                                     and to all duties which they owe untp  him ; and to be a bond
          The Church and the Sacraments                              and pledge of their co,mmunion  with him, and with each

         THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION                                 other, as members of his mystical body." And then this Con-
                                                                     fession continues, in its description of this sacrament, as.
               V I E W S   O N   T H E   C H U R C H                 follows: "The outward elements in this sacrament, duly set

                                                                     apart to the uses ordained by Christ, have such relation to
                  T H E   P R O T E S T A N T   V I E W
                                                                     him crucified, as that truly, yet sacramentally only, they are

    As one might expect, the Westminster Confession of               sometimes called by the name of the things they represent,

Faith, 1647, also has something to say in connection with            to wit, the body and blood of Christ; albeit, in substance and

the sacraments in general. The .sacraments  are treated in           nature, they still remain truly, and only, bread and wine, as
Chapter XXVII of this confession. Paragraph I reads: "Sac-           they were before." Hence, also, in this confession it is stated
raments are holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace,           very clearly that the sacraments are efficacious only to tihe
immediately instituted by God, to represent Christ and his           believer, and that the wicked can receive them only to their
benefits, and to confirm our interest in him: as also to put         condemnation. In the sacrament of the Lord's Supper faith

a visible difference between those that belong unto the              receives and feeds upon Christ crucified and all the -benefits
Church and the rest of the world; and solemnly to engage             of His death, but the wicked partake of this sacrament only
them to the service of God in Christ, according to His Word."        to their condemnation. This is clearly stated in these wor&:
In Paragraph II this Confession includes the sign and the            "Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible ele-
thing signified in the sacrament as such, as, for example, that      ments in this sacrament, do then also, inwardly by faith,
the water of baptism is called  Regeneration: "There is in           really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally, but spirit-
every sacrament a spiritual relation or sacramental union, be-       ually, receive and feed upon Christ crucified, and all benefits
tween the sign and the thing signified; whence it comes to           of his death: the body and blood of Christ being then not
pass that the names and the effects of the one are attributed        corporally or carnally in, with, or under the bread and wine;
to the other."      However, this Confession denies that the         yet as really, but spiritually, present. to tihe faith of believers
grace of God is conferred by any power in the sacraments as          in that ordinance, as the elements, themselves are, to their
such, and it also denies that the efficacy of a sacrament is in      outward senses . . .     Although ignorant and wicked men
any sense dependent upon the piety ,or intention of him who          receive the outward elements in this sacrament, yet they re-
administers it, in the words of Paragraph III: "The grace            ceive not the thing signified thereby ; but by their unworthy
which is exhibited in or by the sacraments, rightly used, is         coming thereunto are guilty of the body and blood of the
not conferred by any power in them ; neither doth the efficacy       Lord, to their own damnation. Wherefore all ignorant and
of a sacrament depend upon the piety or intention of him that        ungodly persons, as they are unfit to enjoy communion with
doth administer it, but upon the work ,of the Spirit, and the        him, so are they unworthy of the Lord's table, and can not,
word of institution, which contains, together with a precept         without  great sin against Christ, whi.e  they remain such,
authorizing the use thereof, a promise of b&et2  to worthy           partake of these holy mysteries, or be admitted thereunto."
receivers." So, the efficacy  of the sacrament depends wholly        From all this it is perfectly obvious that this Confession
upon the work of the Holy Spirit.                                    emphasizes the spiritual character of the sacraments, stresses
   Concerning the sacrament of baptism, the Westminster              the connection between them and faith, that only the believer
Confession of Faith declares in Chapter XXVIII: "Bap-                is spiritually nourished, and that the unbeliever: partakes of
tism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus          them unto his own condemnation.

Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the party bap-             We wish to quote from one more Reformed Confession,

tized into the visible Church, but also to be unto him a             the Second Helvetic  Confession, Art. 19. This is a lengthy

sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his, ingrafting into      article, but we wish to quote it because it sets forth very

Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his. giving    clearly the Protestant conception of the sacraments over

up unto God, &rough  Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of             against the view of the Romish church. This article reads

life: which sacrament is, by Christ's own appointment, to be         as follows : "God even from the beginning added unto the

continued in his Church until the end of the world."                 preaching of the Word his sacraments, or sacramental signs,

   Concerning the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, in Chap-           in his Church. And to this does the holy Scripture plainly

ter XXIX, this Confession declares: Our Lord Jesus, in the           testify. Sacraments are mystical symbols, or holy rites, or

night wherein he was betrayed, instituted the sacrament of           sacred actions, ordained by God himself, consisting of his

his body and blood, called the Lord's Supper, to be observed         Word, of outward signs, and of things signified: whereby


                    I





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


he keeps in continual memory, and recalls to mincl,  in his        (Heb. 10:12) ; and that Lamb of God slain from the founda-

Church, his great benefits bestowed upon man ; and whereby         tion of the world (Rev. 13 :S) ; that rock, also, of which all

he seals up his promises, and outwardly represents, and, as        our fathers drank (I Cor. 10 :4),  by whom all t,he; elect are

it were, offers unto our sight those things which inwardly he      circumcised with the circumcision made without hands,

performs unto us, and therewithal strengthens and increases        through the Holy Spirit (Col. 2 :ll, 12), and are washed

our faith through the working of God's Spirit in our hearts;       fro,ti all their siins (Rev. 1:5),  atid  are nourished with the

lastly, whereby he does separate us from all other people and,     very body and blood of Christ unto eternal life (John 6 :54).

religions, and consecrates and binds USI  who'lly unto himself,        Now, in respect of that which is the chief thing, and the

and gives us to unclerstand  what he requires of us.               very matter and substance of the sacraments, the sacraments

                                                                   of both co,venants are equal.    For Christ, the only Mediatoi
       These sacraments are either of the Old Church or of the
                                                                   and Saviour of the faithful, is the chief thing and substance
New. The sacraments of the Old were Circumcision, and
                                                                   in them both : one and the same God is author of them both :
the Paschal Lamb, which was offered up ; under which name,
                                                                   they were given unto both churches as signs and seals of the
reference is made to the sacrifices &hich  were in use from
                                                                   grace and promises of God ; which should call to mind and
the beginning of the world. The sacraments of the New
                                                                   renew the memory of God's great benefits to them, and shoul'd
Church are Baptism and the Supper of the Lord.               _
                                                                   distinguish the-faithful from~  all the religions in the world ;
       Some there are who reckon seven sacraments of the New       lastly, which should be received spiritually by faith, and
Church. Of which number we grant that Repentance, Matri-           should bind the receivers unto the Church, and admonish
mony, and the Ordination of ministers (we mean not the             them of their duty., In these, I say, and such like things, the
popish, but the apostolical ordination) are very profitable,       sacraments of both churches are not unequal, although in the
but no sacraments. As for confirmation and extreme unction,        outward signs they are diverse.
they are mere devices of men, which the Church may very
                                                                       And, indeed, we do yet put a greater difference between
well spare, without any damage or inconvenience at all ; and,
                                                                   them; for ours are more firm and durable, as those which are
therefore, we have them not in our churches, because there
                                                                   not to be changed to, the end of the world. Again, ours
are certain things in them which we can by no means allow
                                                                   testify that the substance and promise is already fulfilled and
of. As for that merchandise which the Romish  prelates use
                                                                   performed in Christ, whereas the other did only signify that
in ministering their sacraments, we utterly abhor it.
                                                                   they should be fulfilled. And again, ours are more simple,
   The author and institutor of all sacraments is. not any man,    and nothing so painful, nothing so sumptuous, nor so full of
but God alone : for man can by no means ordain sacraments ;        ceremonies. Moreover, they belong to greater people, that is
because they belong to the worship of God, and it is not for       dispersed through the face of the whole earth ; and because
man to appoint and prescribe a service of God, but to embrace      they are mole  excellent, and do by the Spirit of God stir up
and retain that which is taught unto: him by the Lord. Be-         in us a greater measure of faith, therefore a more plentiful
sides, the sacramental signs have God's promises annexed to        measure of the spirit does follow them.
them, which necessarily require faith: no'w faith stays itself
                                                                       But now, since Chr'ist  the true Messiah is exhibited unto
only upon the Word of God; and the Word of God is re-
                                                                   us, and the abundance of grace is poured forth upon the
sembled to writings or letters, the sacraments to seals,
                                                                   people of the New Testament, the sacraments of the Old
which the Lord alone sets to his own letters. And as the
                                                                   Law are surely abrogated and have ceased ; and in their
Lord is the author of the sacraments, so he continually
                                                                   stead the sacraments of the New Testament are placed -
works in that Church where they are rightly used ;
                                                                   namely, for Circumcision, Baptism ; and for the Paschal Lamb
so that the faithful, when they receive them from the min-
                                                                   and sacrifices, the Supper of the Lord."
isters, do know that the Lord works in his own ordinance,
                                                                       The Lord willing, we will continue with and finish this
and therefore they receive them as from the hand of God;
                                                                   quotation from the Second Helvetic  confession in our follow-
and the minister's faults (if there be any notorious in them)
                                                                   ing article.
can not hurt them, seeing they do ackno,wledge  the goodness
of the sacraments to depend upon the o'rdinance  of the Lord.                                                                H    .    V    .

For which cause they put a difference, in the adhinistration

of the sacraments, between the Lord himself and his minister ;                      Anxious and despairing,
confessing that the substance of the sacraments is given them                         Many walk in night;

by the Lord, and the outward signs by the ministers of the                         But to those that fear Him

Lord.                                                                                 God will send His light.

   But the principal thing, which in all sacraments is offered                     In His care confiding,

by the Lord, and chiefly regarded by the godly of all ages                            I will sweetly sleep,

(which some have called the substance and matter of the                            For the Lord, my Saviour,

sacraments),     is Christ our Saviour - that only sacrifice                          Will in safety keep.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   113


                                                                     Scriptures."        And still you are confronted by a choice of

         The voice of Our Fathers                                    faith in your everyday, concrete life as a church-member who
                                                                     professes the Reformed faith. You are confronted with such
 i                                                                   a concrete situation every time your minister takes his place

                 The Belgic Confession                               at the pulpit on the sabbath and you occupy the pew and
                                                                     listen to his sermon. You are expected to believe what is

                         ARTICLE VII                                 preached, to bow before the authority of that sermon, to do
                                                                     what is enjoined upon you from the pulpit. But why ? Is it
                          (continued)
                                                                     because your minister is an educated man, and might prob-

The Incompamble  Vahse  of Scr@%we                                   ably overwhelm you with his learning if you should venture

                                                                     to disagree with him ? Is it because he has all the fathers
      Our Confession now draws a conclusion in connection
                                                                     on his side, and can cite an Augustine and a Luther and a
with this doctrine of the sufficiency of Holy Scripture. That
                                                                     Calvin and a Kuyper and Bavinck  to support him? The
conclusion is in the form of a very practical statement of
                                                                     sole question is : did he preach the Word of God? If he did
faith. It is presented as follows: "Neither do we consider of
                                                                     you have no choice but to bow. If he did not, you may never
equal value any writing of men, however holy these men may
                                                                     bow, even though you should be cast out of the synagogue,
have been, with those divine Scriptures, nor ought we to
                                                                     should lose your ecclesiastical status, or should forfeit your
consider custom, or the great multitude, or antiquity, or
                                                                     life. Your consistory, or your classis, or your synod makes
succession of times and persons, or councils, decrees or             a decision, a "decree."      No one seems to discern any wrong
statutes, as of equal value with the truth of God . . ."
                                                                     in it. No one raises his voice in protest. That is, the great

      We have already noted in our remarks concerning the            multitude lend their authority to that decree. But you are
battle for this truth that our Reformed fathers had in mind          convinced before the face of God that said decree militates

particularly the position of the Roman Catholic Church wheti         against the Word of .God. What must you do? Will YOLI
they mention the various elements which they do not consider         bow, or will you protest? Your faith says : "Scripture is

of equal value with Holy Scripture. In the concrete, histor-         solely sufficient, and I consider nothing else of equal value

ical situation in which faith found itself at the time our Con-      with those divine Scriptures." And if you take that faith

fession was composed those were -the isdues.  Faith had to           seriously,      will never bow before any other claimed au-
                                                                                 you 
take a position on those issues. Faith is not concerned with         thority.

some merely theoretical propositions. It never is. Faith is
a matter of life, of living; and therefore, it always faces              Or have you never considered what imps of unbelief lurk
issues. If you would answer the question, "What do you               in such expressions as,        "My church takes the position
believe ?" you must needs make a choice and answer also the          that . . ." Or: "Our leaders say . . . And they are educated
question, "What do you not believe?" Moreover, when you              men ; they ought to know." Or : "Synod has decided . . ."
answer these questions, you must also act upon your answers,         Or again: "I agree with the position of the Protestant Re-
follow them up in actual life. When you say, "I believe              formed Churches. I believe they have the truth and that
the doctrine of the sole sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures as       their preaching is according to the Scriptures. But . . . they
the only rule of faith," you will be faced concretely with the       are so small. . . . I hate all that trouble and fighting. . . . I
opinions and writings of men, even of saints ; you will be con-      can't see that these things are so important." Or yet again:
fronted by custom, by public opinion, by the decision of the         "It's no use to' protest ; you won't get any place anyway." Or
half-plus-one, by tradition and by ancient practice, by a            still another familiar refrain : "We mustn't have a split; we
claimed apostolic succession and authority ; it will be de-          must keep peace." Have you never considered what a deniai
manded of you to bow before the decrees and statutes of              of the faith is really implicit when one allows such
ecclesiastical councils. And you will be compelled to make           considerations to determine his course of inaction ? Have
a choice, even as our fathers did, and that too, sometimes           you never considered that if such had been the posi-
at the risk of their very lives. You must express yourself.          tion of our Reformed fathers, you would never find this
You will be asked: do you acknowledge and will you bow               seventh article in our Confession ? Have you never stopped
before the authority of a11  these ? And the answer, the prac-       to consider that if such considerations had motivated cer-
tical, concrete, down-to-earth, answer of faith is: "Neither         tain men in the 16th century' there would never have been
do we consider of equal value with those divine Scriptures"          a Reformation, and we would have no Reformed fathers,
anything else. Such is life, the life of the Christian!              but would still be in the Roman Catholic Church?

      Times change. But faith does not change. And the con-           Positively speaking, therefore, the Reformed faith holds

crete problems with which faith is confronted may change.            that Holy Scripture occupies an altogether unique place in

But the basic issues. remain the same. Still the position of         the church. This unique place is .due to the fact that the

faith is : "I believe the doctrine of the sole sufficiency of the    Scriptures alone are sufficient. They fully contain the. will


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      114                                       :THE  S T A N D A R D   BE,ARER


     of God. This does not mean that Scripture merely occupies           eqval  value with the tp& of God." In the second place, we

      the highest place. Scripture is unique. All else is of author-     should note that our Confession maintains that the Scrip-

      ity only in so far as it derives its authority froti and is        tures art the sole source of the truth of God. For it adds

     based upon Scripture.                                               the negative statement : "for all men are of themselves liars,

                                                                         and more vain than vanity itself." In other words, no man of
             This also clarifies at once the position of the Reformed
                                                                         himself can ever write or speak the truth. He always lies.
      believer with respect to the various "authorities" mentioned
                                                                         If a man would speak the truth, he must receive it from God
     in. this article. We certainly do not throw out the writings
                                                                         Himself; that is, from the Holy Scriptures.
      of holy men. We like to consult the fathers. We need com-
     mentaries. We want our dogmatical writings, in which the                But from a practical, spiritual point of view, notice to
      truth is systematically set forth. We are, and ought to- be,       what a high plane our Confession lifts us here. "The truth is
      a people that respect custom and precedent. We are  not            above all." What a foreign note this is in our modern religious
      u&mindful of the consensus of the church in the past. We do        world ! The truth ? That really does riot count at all ! Unity
      not individualistically despise the decisions and decrees of       counts for something. And ecclesiastical peace is valuable.
      church councils. We do not cast but our creeds and confes-         And for these we must not be too insistent upon truth. We
      sions. But we hold that ScripFure  occupies the controlling        can give and take a little on that score. And we ought to
     place. Even our confessions are,subordinate  to the Scriptures      be tolerant over against the views of others. Such is the
      and are of value'only  in`so far as they meet the test of Holy     modern spirit. And the Reformed community is by no means
      Scripture.                                                         free of this cancerous disease. And many a Reformed church
                                                                         member admittedly sacrifices the truth, that truth that is
        Practically speaking, we must remember, however, that
                                                                         "above all," for his own, personal, selfish reasons. Our own
     this very principle of faith implies a heavy responsibility
                                                                         Prot. `Ref. communion has again recently witnessed the spec-
     for the believer. He does not individualistically judge that
                                                                         tacle of members who by their own admission forsook
     something is not according to the Scriptures and then go
                                                                         churches who have that truth that is "above all." They said,
      his own way. It is his calling, if he is convinced that his
                                                                         "I know the Protestant Reformed Churches have the truth,
     church is not walking the Scripture-ordained way, to make
                                                                         but . . ." Yes . . . but: the fact remains that it is Reformed
     the utmost effort to convince them. This holds true both
                                                                         to believe that the truth is above all! That means that there
     with respect to the confessions themselves and with respect
                                                                         are no legitimate reasons for forsaking the truth. That means
     to all the official actions and decisions of the church. When
                                                                         that the Reformed believer is filled with a warm devotion
     a church departs from the Word of God, that is a very seri-
                                                                         to the truth, a fiery zeal for the truth, a readiness to defend
     ous matter. And no believer can in good conscience keep
                                                                         and to fight for the truth. That truth, the truth of Scrip-
     silence or simply go his individual way and let his fellow
                                                                         m-e,  rules.    It dominates all, - our confession, our speech,
     believers proceed unhindered and unwarned in that unscrip-
                                                                         our walk, our preaching and teaching, our mission work,
     tural way. Only when the way of protest has been seriously
                                                                         our worship and liturgy; our polity, our government, our
     followed to the very end, and when the way for further
                                                                         discipline. By all means, we must have the truth! For the
     objection appears closed, only then do the believers resort
                                                                         love of God's sake, we must have the truth!
     to the course of reformation by way of separation. This is
     the church political application of the principles laid down            Such is our Reformed faith.

     in Artidle  VII of our Confession. And this is the rule of

     Article 31 of our Church Order.

        Notice, too, that oiu- Confession furnishes a very funda-            In the foregoing we have already treated the thought of

     mental reason for the position which it takes. We read: "for        our Confession that Scripture is the sole criterion, the sole

     the-truth is above all: for all men are of themselves liars,        standard of judgment, according to which all that is written

     and more vain than vanity itself." In this connection we            and developed and taught in the church must be judged. We

     may note, in the firit place, that our Confession simply equates    may point out in this connection, however, that our Confes-

     the Scriptures and the truth of God. They are the same.             sion very solemnly accentuates the negative, and that it places

     This is plain from the fact that in the preceding statement,        this confession in the mouth of the believers personally:

     concerning the incomparable value of Scripture, our Con-            "Therefore, we reject (we: not' j'usf  our church, our min-

     fession uses these terms interchangeably. On the one hand,          isters, our synod, etc.; but we, believers) with all our hearts,

     we read: "Neither do we consider 19 equal value any writ-           whatsoever dath not agree with this infallible rule, which the

     ing of men, however holy these men may have been, with              apostles have taught us, saying, Try the spirits whether they

     those divine Scri$  twes."    In the .second half of that state-    are of God. Likewise, if there come any unto you, and bring

     ment, on the other hand;we  read : "nor qught  we to consider       not this doctrine, receive him not into your house." Faith,

     custom, or the great multitude, or antiquity, or succession         therefore, is in its very nature a rejecting faith as well as an

     of times and persons, or councils, decrees, or statutes,`as  of     accepting faith.


                                                   T H E S T A N D A R D .B I? A-R-E-R                                                            115


    But we call special attention to this particular statement               doctrine in our Reformed Confession we certainly learn one

of our Confession because of the reference to "this infallible               fact, namely: it is Reformed $0  hold the Scriptures in ex-

rule." And we do so because in the recent controversy in the                 tremely high regard, to accord those  Scriptures an altogether

Christian Reformed Church there was debate about this ref-                   unique place.  They constitute the very foundation of the

erence. The question is : does the phrase "this infallible rule"             whole structure of the Reformed faith. If that foundation is

refer to the whole of Scripture as infallible? Then, of course,              weak and untrustworthy, the whole structure of the truth is

you have a clear statement of our Confession that Scripture                  endangered. The most crucial error the church can make is

is infallible. Or does the phrase refer to the two statements                to tamper with the infallibility of the Scriptures, the founda-

from the epistles of John which follow, so that it merely                    tion of the truth. This was the position of our fathers.

means that thoSe two statements constitute an infallible rule?                  Let the church today listen to the voice of our fathers.

Those who tend to deny the infallibility of Scripture maintain                                                                           H.C.H.

the latter interpretation ; those who maintain that our Con-

fession teaches that Scripture is infallible hold to the former

position.                                                                            THE LORD THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE

    Concernifig  this question we may note the following:                      Whole-hearted thanksgiving to Thee I will bring,

    1) First of all, the truth of the infallibility of Scripture               In praise of Thy marvelous deeds I will sing,             ' .

does not stand or fall in our Confession on the basis of this                  In Thee I will joy and exultingly cry,

one point. Even if the Confession did not use the term i?z-                    Thy Name I will praise, 0 Jehovah Most High.

fdlible  at all, the fact remains that the doctrine of infallible
                                                                               My enemies turn and are scattered in fear,
inspiration is plainly taught.
                                                                               They stumble and perish because Thou art near;
    2) In the second place, even if the weaker of the two in-                  For Thou hast defended my right and my cause,
terpretations is followed, the fact remains that here too the                  Thou sittest  in judgment, upholding Thy laws.
idea of infallibility is implicit. If the one rule of the apostles,
"Try the spirits, whether they are of God," is an infallible                   Rebuked are the nations, the wicked destroyed,
rule, then by implication the whole of the apostles' teachings                 Their memory perished, their dwelling-place void ;
and the whole of Scripture is infallible.                                      Enthroned and eternal,  Jehovah shall reign,
                                                                               The peoples to judge and the right to maintain.
    3) In the third place, linguistically there can scarcely be

any question as to the meaning. In our English translation                     Thou Lorcl, art a refuge for all the oppressed ;

the use of the pronoun "which" might leave the impression                      All trust Thee who know Thee, and trusting are blest;

that the article is speaking of an infallible rule which the                   For never, 0 Lord, did Thy mercy forsake

apostles have taught us, and that this infallible rule is then                 The soul that has sought of Thy grace to. partake.

quoted in the two texts from I John 4:l and II John 10.                        Give praise to Jehovah, the mighty deeds tell
Neither in the French nor in the Dutch translation, however,                   Of Him Who has chosen in Zion to dwell,
does the relative pronoun "which" appear. It would be much                     Of Him to Whom justice and vengeance belong,
more proper to read here: "Therefore we reject with all our                    Who visits the lowly and overthrows wrong.
hearts whatsoever doth not agree with this infallible rule,

ns the apostles have taught               saying . . ." Or : "as we learn      Behold my affliction, Thy mercy accord,
                                  us, 

from the apostles . . ."    Then the meaning is clear. There is                And back from deathfs portals, restore me, 0: Lord,

an infallible rule, norm, canon. That infallible rule is the                   That I in the gates of Thy Zion may raise

divine Scriptures. The apostles have taught us to reject what-                 My song of salvation ad show forth Thy praise.

soever doth not agree with this infallible rule. And this we                   The sins of the nations their ruin have wrought,
do. This is in accord with the French original, which reads:                   Their own evildoing destruction has brought;
"C'est  pourquoi nous rejetons de tout notre coeur tout ce                     In this the Lord's justice eternally stands,
qui ne s'accorde a cette regle infaillible, comme  nous sommes                 That sinners are snared in the work of their hands.
                                                                                                                                   _i
enseignes de faire par les Apotres, disant . . ." It is also in
                                                                               The wicked shall perish, the nations shall fall, -..'
harmony with the adopted Dutch rendering: "Daarom  ver-
                                                                               Forgetting their God, Who  is God over all ;
werpen wij van ganscher harte al wat met dezen onfeilbaren
                                                                               But God will remember the prayer of the weak,
regel niet overeenkomt,  gelijk ons de apostelen geleerd heb-
                                                                               Most sufely  fulfilling the hope of the meek.             .::-i
ben, zeggende . . . ."

                            * 8 * *                                            Arise in Thy justice, 0 Lord, and TLy.might,
                                                                               No longer let sinners prevail in Thy sight;

    This marks the end of the doctrine of Holy Scripture in                    Great Judge of the nations, in judgment appear

our Belgic Confession.      From the extensive treatment of this               To humble the proud and to teach them Thy fear.

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


                                                                     every member would have to be censured and ultimately ex-

1  D E C E N C Y   an-d  O R D E R   1                               communicated. This, however, is not the case. All sin is
                                                                     not censurable sin and all sinners are not outside of the

                                                                     church. Our Church Order speaks of those who commit

                                                                     "gross, public sins" and who "err in doctrine or offend in
         The Objects of Ecclesiastical Censure                       conduct" and so give public offense. Rev. H. Hoeksema

       Upon whom is the labor of ecclesiastical discipline and       wrote in Vol. 37, pg. 388 of Tlr, StartdGrd Bearer: "As I
censure to be applied? This question is of significance, not         have said before, there is, ultimately, only one sin that may
only to those who are entrusted with the responsibilities of         or can lead to excommunication and that is the sin of &t-
this labor, but also. because the effectiveness of the work is       penitence. One who does not repent before God and man
determined by its being performed upon the proper object.            cannot receive forgiveness."    This is certainly in harmony
Discipline applied unnecessarily (i.e. unlawfully) loses its         with Article 76 of the Church Order which states : "Such
effectiveness as a power from Christ, binding on earth and           as obstinately mjeci the adwzox.&on  of the consistory, and
in heaven, and discipline neglected cannot be a force remov-         likewise those who have committed a public or otherwise
ing offense from the church and reconciling the sinner to the        gross sin, shall be suspended from Lord's Supper" (italics
church. -                                                            mine, G.V.). R. D. Eagleson  says, "We must also remem-
                                                                     ber that discipline is concerned with what are known as
       Reformed Churches have never accepted the notion and          scandalous sins.    ( T he word scandal in its religious use
practice of the Roman  Cathoiics according to which censures         means : [a] discredit to religion occasioned by the conduct
are applied to buildings> lands, hooks, etc. For this no Scrip-      of a religious person; also perplexity of conscience occa-
tural warrant can be found. Neither can this ecclesiastical          sioned by one who is looked up to, as an example; [b] an oc-
power be applied to lifeless objects as, for example, false          casion of unbelief or moral lapse; a stumbling block. -
teachers who have passed on to their eternal reward. An-             Student's Oxford English Dictionary. - Briefly, a scandal
other error of Rome in this regard is their practice of ap-          is a publicly known sin.) It is visible sins ~which  are the
plying censures to those outside of the church. Once a per-          subject of discipline, for we are dealing with the Visible
son severs his membership in the organized, instituted               Church, and elders are not meant to know the secrets of
church, the discipline of that church upon him has no force.         men's hearts.    We are not concerned in searching out the
Quite often memhers who are the proper objects of discipline         private trespasses in a man's life, but only with the public
will resort to this serious sin of resigning their membership        scandal of an openly profane life or a private sin which has
in order to escape the full force of ecclesiastical censure. This    grown public afterwards by the offender's obsthucy  (italics
is not only very sinful but it is very deceptive. In effect they     mine, G.V.) following admonition."
reveal that they xrevefuse  to be reconc&d  to the church (and

to Christ) and so excowwwaicate  themselves. They deceive               It is, of course, quite impossible to enumerate all of the

themselves by thinking that Christ,,  Who applied His cen-           specific sins that fall into this category. Commentaries on
sure through His church, can be served in another fellowship         the`~ Church Order, however, do, frequently mention specific

where sin is condoned. God is not mocked! But, from the              sins which the church regards as censurable and those who

viewpoint of the church, discipline and censure cannot be            live in such sins are considered the proper objects of ec-

applied to those outside of her membership and, therefore,           clesiastical discipline. On this we want to share with our
when members persist in running away from the admonition             readers the writing of Monsma and Van Dellen  as found on

of the Word, the labor of the church-`tiith  respect to them         pages 295 ff. of Tlze  Chztrch  Order Commentmy.  They write

ceases. The church commits such to the righteous judgment            about the stand of the Christian Reformed Church in regard

of God.                                                              to lodge and union membership ; a stand that is antiquated

                                                                     in those churches today. We quote at length:
       Our Church Order explicitly defines  the objects of cen-

sure as "sinners."     On the one,hand  this means th`at'no one         "It is the stand of our Churches, by Synod&l conclusion,
is exempted. Rich and poor, children and adults, men and             that if it becomes manifest that a member belongs to a secret,
women, office-bearers and members, civil rulers and subjects         oathbound organization, he shall be disciplined. (Cf. Gen.
are all alike placed under the jurisdiction of the church (ol        Rules, Art. 55, 1881.) In harmony with this decision it is
Christ). Rome exempts the Pope and the Episcopalians and             the duty of Consistories `to put the question to those who
Lutherans have exempted civil rulers but in the Reformed             desire to be received as members and admitted to the Lord's
churches there is no partiality.                                     Supper whether they belong to any society bound by oath or

       On the other hand, to define the objects of discipline as     solemn vow.' (Cf. Acts 1567, Art.. 15.) The implication is,

"sinners" and then to say no more is to include all and every        of course, that those who do belong to a lodge are not to be

member of the church. All have sinned and do sin daily.              admitted to the Lord's Table. Their profession of faith is

This would mean that there could be no church for all and            unacceptable.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                        117


    "Why do the Christian Reformed Churches hold to this             charitable in judgment of my brother members-. . . I zwilE

position regarding lodge-membership ? Strictly speaking, be-         render @lC a.llt$ance  to tl&  un.ion and wever come& to satb-

cause these organizations are essentially anti-ChristiXn  in         o?dinate  i t s   I'hVEsts  fo those  o f   Lv2.y  oth- o?qmia&% oj
character.      The teachings of the lodge imply that if. one        rerlzich  I alqz                OY `Mzaly  lze'l-eajteu  become a- member." (Italics
                                                                                          ~zoa!  

lives up to the ideals and standards of the lodge, all is well.      mine, G.V.)

He who dies as a good lodge member is considered. to be                   I,f wards, promises and pledges mean anything, this
saved, even though he did not believe in Christ as Son. of           means that everyone joining the Teamsters places the union
God and only Saviour.       Thus the lodge`is essentially anti-      before the church; puts the god of unionism which is the
Christian. It is indeed religious, but its religion is not           god of Materialism before Christ; and places man before
Biblical Christianity. It is far rather a modernistic, paganistic    GOD ! What is the difference, as far as the magnitude of
corruption of Christianity. By joining the lodge one ex-             sin is concerned, between this and joining the lodge?
presses agreement with its doctrines. Which means that when
                                                                          Concerning Union Membership then the C1rm~lz  Order
one joins the lodge he denies Christ as Savior and he denies
                                                                     Cowmentwy  says, :
Biblical Christianity. All this takes place upon fearful oaths.

We object to the uncalled for secrecy of the lodge and to the            "Regarding Church membership and membership in our

fact that members are asked to swear to matters which are            so-called neutral labor unions various Synods have made

only revealed to them after they have sworn to them ; we             pronouncements. Particularly the Synods of 1904 and 1916

object to the worldly atmosphere which the lodge fosters, etc.       dealt with this matter. The latter Synod was somewhat more

But our essential objection to the lodge is its false, anti-         tolerant in its conclusions than the Synod of 1904 had been.

Christian teachings. If the lodge is right, Christianity is          However, the conclusions of 1916 did not settle the issue. To

false. No man can consistently be a member of the lodge              the mind of many these conclusions were taken: prematurely

and also of the Church of Christ.                                    and without'suf%ient  warrant. The matter continued to be

                                                                     a subject of debate and study. Synod of 1928 accepted a
    "It is interesting to note that the Synod of the Reformed
                                                                     number of clear-cut resolutions regarding this question. (Cf.
Churches of Holland, Utrecht, 1923, Art. 143, came to the
                                                                     Acts of Synod, 1928, pp. 91-96 or J. L. Schaver  Ciwistia~
following conclusions regarding the Independent Order of
                                                                     Reformed Chwch  Order,  pp. 116, 117.) "
Odd-Fellows :

                                                                         We have no space to publish these "clear-cut resolutions"
    "a. That Consistories must continue to admonish mem-
                                                                     here. We will do so, D.V,  next time. We quote one more
bers in full, and members by baptism, to sever their connec-
                                                                     statement from page 297.                    "Our ecclesiastical decisions, con-
tions with this Order.
                                                                     cerning anti-Christian lodges, unions, etc., are as such not
    "b. That Consistories must discipline those who con-             disciplinary decisions against these organizations, but ec-
tinue in this evil.                                                  cles.iastical  conclusions mutually arrived at by all the

    "It should be clear that the issue.is  not at all whether        Churches concerned, according to which Consistories are to

the Churches can censure societies or groups of members.             admonish and discipline Church members  if need be."

To do so would be un-Reformed. To this all agree. But this               In light of this statement, together with the clear-cut con-
is the issue : Does lodge-member&p involve, expressed or             clusions which are to follow, we conclude with the question:
unexpressed, a denial of fundamental Christian doctrines or          "What has happened to the discipline in the Christian Re-
not? Our Churches have answered this question in the af-             formed Churches ?"
firmative. We are fully persuaded on this point, and con-
                                                                         The answer is not : "It is going" but "IT HAS GONE !"
sequently anyone who joins a lodge and refuses to break
                                                                                                                                               G.v.d:B.
with it is censured for his anti-Christian profkssion and con-

duct. It may safely be said that he who joins the lodge sins

against the First Commandment, for the God of Unitarian-

ism, Modernism, and Lodgism is not the God of thg Bible
                                                                                               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
and of the Ten Commandments."
                                                                        The Mr. and Mrs. Society of the Hope Protestant Reformed
    Before we continue to quote these authors on their writ-         Church expresses sincere sympathy to two of our members, Mr. and
ings on Unionism (with which the Christian Reformed                  Mrs. Arnold Dykstra, in the death of their son,
Church is full today), we want to insert the "Teamster's                                                 CARL LEE DYKSTRA
Pledge of Allegiance" as published in Life magazine, May
                                                                     at the age of two months, on Thursday, November 22.
18, 1959 and furnished us by Rev. R. C. Harbach. It reads
as follows :                                                            "He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in
                                                                     His bosom." Isaiah 4O:ll.
    "I will use all honorable means to p$$ure  employment                                                               .Rev,  H. Hanko, President
for brother members . . . I will be obedie&  to authority . . .                                                        Mrs. J. J. Dykstra, Secretary


1    1    8                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


                                                                      the knowledge of the truth. For the life of a Christian that

I/  A L L   A R O U N D   U S   11 is pleasing  in the sight of God is a life that is deeply rooted
                                                                      in the faith of the truth of God's Word, and thus in Christ

                                                                      Himself.

GROWTH OF PENTECOSTALS                                                   Besides, evidently these Pentecostals also conveniently
                                                                      forget that the apostles did not simply bring together people
     Surprisingly enough, the fastest growing denomination in
                                                                      into meetings ; rather they organized congregations with the
both North and South America is a denomination known
                                                                      institute of the Church playing an important part. Office-
as the Pentecostals. Their missionary efforts have produced
                                                                      bearers were appointed ; ministers were ordained to preach ;
converts almost faster than they can immerse them for bap-
                                                                      fundamental rules of discipline and church government were
tism. In a recent article in ?:if+ze  the startling growth of this
                                                                      laid down; even those who possessed the spiritual gifts of
sect was described.
                                                                      the Spirit were admonished to use them decently and in good
     In Latin America, mostly nominal Roman Catholics (of             order and for the edifying of the Church through growth in

which there are thousands) are attracted to this group. They          doctrine. There must not be in the Church confusion and

outnumber other Protestants by better than four to one.               vain babbling.

They have, at last count, a million and a half members in                Pentecost was not, after all, only an emotional experience.
Brazil ; 700,000 in Chile which has a total Protestant popula-
                                                                      Peter himself explains Pentecost as being the outpouring of
tion of only 835,000; one out of two Protestants in Puerto            the Spirit of Truth that would lead and guide the Church
Rico ; they have 112 churches in Buenos Aires, Argentina
                                                                      into the truth of the resurrected and ascended Christ.
alone and 1200 churches in Old Mexico. In this country,
they are found mostly among Spanish-speaking migrants in                 When this is forgotten, any Church such as the Pente-
the large cities such as New York, Chicago, Houston.                  costals is nothing more than another sect that  rises in our day
                                                                      of sects. It is another indication that the church of today
     Mostly missionary work is done among the poor and
                                                                      has abandoned sound doctrine.
slum dwellers. The church buildings are usually vacant and

run-down buildings such as old stores.
                                                                      PRESBYTERIANS IN KOREA
     As far as the theolo,  of the Pentecostals is concerned,

it is very haphazard.    Their churches are hardly organized             The Presbyterian Church in Korea celebrated its "jubilee)'

at all. Whether in the local congregations or in the denomina-        - fiftieth anniversary - last month. The celebration was

tion, there is no institutional organization or denominational        however rather sad as the Church pondered the many schisms

unity. They claim to go back to Pentecost and try to live a           that had torn it apart in past years. There was htipe that

life which was the life of the early Church described in Acts         before another "jubilee" would be celebrated, these groups

-without the sharing of earthly goods. They claim to hold             would be merged back again into one denomination.

to a traditional view of Scripture and emphasize salvation               The main group of Presbyterians constitutes about 49%
through repentance. But their services are almost entirely            of the total Presbyterian membership in Korea. It is the
an appeal to the emotions. They hold these church services            largest Protestant body numbering 374,000 members (the.
every night of the week, and they usually last for about two          closest to this is the Methodist Church with 235,000 mem-
hours.  But there is little preaching in the Scriptural sense         bers) . This group is associated with the Presbyterian Church
of the word. Anyone can get up and speak as he is moved by            U.S.A. in this country and is a member of the Korean Nat'1
the Pentecostal Spirit. There are loud Bible readings and             Council of Churches and supports missionary work sponsored
spontaneous testimonials.       There is usually a lot of shouting    by the World Council of Churches. In fact, it is this
and singing accompanied by rhythmic clapping, guitars,                ecumenical interest of this Presbyterian Church that accounts
drums, tambourines, bass viols and pianos. They believe in            for one of the splits. The group that split away constitute
baptism by the Holy Ghost with its gift of speaking in other          now about 32% of the Presbyterian ccnstituency.  They broke
tongues -and rather wild demonstrations of this "gift" are            away in 1959 exactly on the ecumenical issue and united
not uncommon in the meetings. Their moral code is very                themselves with another group that had broken away from
limited -no smoking, no drinking, no make-up, etc. They               the main body in 1951. They are opposed to both the WCC
concentrate on a narrowly limited, morally upright life.              and Dr. Carl McIntire's International Council of Christian

     Their claim however, to go back to the early Church and          Churches. They are most closely connected with the Ortho-

to Pentecost is a false claim. In their emotional religion, they      dox Presbyterian Church in this country. They met last

forget that the apostles instructed the new converts to the           month also to celebrate their "jubilee," but the meeting was

Church in the truth of the Word of God. Paul wrote his                marred by another split of a small group that separated from

profound doctrinal epistles to newly established New Dis-             them on the same ecumenical question. This small group

pensational congregations in order that they might grow in            supported the ICCC of McIntire  and.  wanted the entire
                          `.


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                   119


denomination to go along. When they refused, this group left.                    Its doctrinal basis is contained in article II of the Con-

                                                                             stitution and reads :
    From here the Presbyterian picture in Korea gets rather

complex. CJa&&z&ty  Today  describes the situation as fol-                                 Among other equally Biblical truths, we believe and main-
lows :                                                                                 tain the following:
                                                                                           a. The plenary Divine inspiration of the Scriptures in the
             The ROK Presbyterian Church represents approximately
                                                                                       original languages, their consequent inerrancy and infallibility,
          15 percent of the Presbyterian constituency and is a more
          liberal schism related to the United Church of Canada. It                    and, as the Word of God, the supreme and &al authority in
                                                                                       faith and life;
          separated in 1954. The Korye Presbyterian Church (about
          2 per cent of the constituency) is what was left of the 1951                     b. The Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

          schism when one large segment of that church refused to                          c. The essential, absolute, eternal Deity, and the real and
          enter the anti-ecumenical reunion of 1960. All the rest (about               proper, but sinless, humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ.

          2 percent) are splinters, like the Reconstruction Presbyterian                   d. His birth of the vir@n  Mary.
          Church which still keeps alive the issue of compromise with                      e. His substitntionary,  expiatory death, in that He gave
          Japanese shinto  worship; the Bible Presbyterian Church, 1960                His life `<a ransom for many."
          McIntire schism; and this week's latest (the schism referred to
                                                                                          f. His resurrection from among the dead in the same bddy
          above, H.H.) McIntire schism which will have nothing to do
                                                                                       in which He was crucified, and the second coming of this same
          with the former M&tire  schismatics  but which is now form-
                                                                                       Jesus in power and great glory.
          ing its own 20-man  assembly.
                                                                                           g. The total depravity of man through the fall.
    From this distance, with our limited knowledge of the
                                                                                          h. Salvation, the effect of regeneration by the Spirit and
issues it is impossible to. tell whether the Church of Christ                          +&e  Word, not by works, but by grace through faith.
is fighting a battle for survival in all this: stress and strain ;                        i. The everlasting bliss of the saved, and the everlasting
and, if it is, precisely where that battle is really being fought.                     suffering of the lost.
This is sure: the church in Korea is having its troubles.                                 j. The real spiritual unity in Christ of all redeemed by

                                                                                       His precious blood.

MORE ON THE ICCC                                                                          lc. The necessity of maintaining, according to the Word of
                                                                                       God, the purity of the church in doctrine and life; and still
   Several issues back, the undersigned wrote a brief article                          believing in the Apostles' Creed to be a statement of Scriptural
in The Standard Belarer  on the International Council of                               truth, we therefore incorporate it in these articles of faith.

Christian Churches of which Rev. Carl McIntire is the pres-                      It is quite striking that nowhere in these articles appear

ident and which recently met im Amsterdam, the Nether-                       the historic Presbyterian truths incorporated also in the

lands. At the time I mentioned that it would be interesting                  Westminster Confessions of Predestination and sovereign

for our readers to know more of this movement, its basis,                    grace.

purpose, etc. Rev. R. Harbach, from Lynden, Washington,
                                                                                The organization includes churches from all over the world.
who is well acquainted with Presbyterian movements and
                                                                             Some examples : St. Thomas Evangelical Church from India,
trends, sent me considerable material. Some of it is worth
                                                                             Baptist groups from England, churches from Korea and For-
passing on to you.
                                                                             mosa where also the ICCC does most of its. missionary work,
   Rev. Carl McIntire is a minister in the Bible Presbyterian                churches from Australia and Tasmania - Baptist, Method-
Church. This group split away from the Orthodox Pres-                        ist and Reformed Presbyterian.
byterian Church on issues of Fundamentalism, Arminians,
                                                                                In their plenary sessions and national conferences they
Pre-Millennialism, and Christian Liberty -the Bible Pres-
                                                                             concern themselves mostly with decisions of a political and
byterians are opposed to any use of alcohol even in com-
                                                                             ecumenical nature. They have gone on record, e.g., as op-
munion services.
                                                                             posed to sending wheat to Red China, opposed to Socialized
   The Rev. McIntire is a well-known radio speaker who                       Medicine, opposed to Postal Subsidy of Communist Propa-
has a network of over 330 stations for his Twentieth Century                 ganda. They have vigorously fought against the WCC
Reformation Broadcast in which he fights vehemently against                  meeting in New Delhi, against the "Blake-Pike Proposal" of
Communism, ecumenicism and Roman Catholicism.                                Church union. They hold rallies to protest the coming to

   The ICCC, of which McIntire is president, expresses its                   this country of the Archbishop of Canterbury and to support

purpose in the Preamble to its Constitution:                                 the abolition of the income tax.

             . . . for fellowship and cooperation on the part of Bible-         One gets the impression that this group is more interested
          believing churches for the proclamation and defense of the         in politics than the truth of Scripture ; in international affairs
          Gospel, for the maintenance of a testimony pure, stedfast and
          world-wide to those great facts and revealed truths of historic    than ecclesiastical matters ; in earthly battles rather than the . .
          Christianity, and especially to the great doctrines of the         battle of faith. It is exceedingly dangerous for even ec-
          Protestant Reformation . . . to make known the Gospel of           clesiastical assemblies to cease treating ecclesiastical matters
          Christ to every kindred and tongue and tribe and nation . . .      and busy themselves with all kinds of other affairs belonging
    (to be) without compromise or evasion, unreservedly dedicated
                                                                             to the sphere of the state.                                     H. Hanko
          as a witness to "the faith for all delivered to the saints."


     __ ---__-.-_-----~
120 -----                                 T    H    E         STAfiDtiD  BEAkEk


                                                                   lectured in South Holland, Nov. 15 ? The topic was, "God's

    NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES                                         Wise Reformation Plan."
                                                                      and, that Southwest's Mr. and Mrs. Society on a recent
             "All the saints salztte thee -. . ." PHIL. 4 :21      after recess program, discussed the question, "What should

                                                                   our churches do about the missionary work begun on Ja-

                                                                   maica ?'
                                               Nov. 20, 196'2
                                                                      cmd, that Hope's Ladies' Aid Society recently discussed
    Rev. C. Hanko declined the call that came to him from          the question, "Why is Art. 70 of our Church Order not

Southwest Church. The consistory has announced a new               followed in our churches ?"

trio : Revs. J. 4. Heys, B. Woudenberg and G .Vanden Berg.            a&, that the Boacon Lights special Thanksgiving Hymn-

    Doon's new trio consists of the Revs. H. Hanko, J. A.          sing drew a capacity crowd in Hope Church, Nov. 18?  Mr.

Heys and J. Kortering.                                             Edw. Ophoff led the spirited singing, and special numbers

    Rev. J. A. Heys, of South Holland, has received the call       were rendered by the Hope Heralds and by Mr. John Bult.

from Loveland. With him on the trio were the Revs. H.                 The Mission Committee of our Churches have asked our

Hanlo  and' B. Woudenberg.                                         Deacons to-conduct a drive for summer clothing for the con-

    Kalamazoo has extended a call to Rev. B. Woudenberg of         gregations of Jamaica. All of our people are urged to con-

Edgerton, Minn.                                                    tribute good dresses, work clothes and children's wear on

    Thanks to Oaklawn's bulletin from which we culled the          Dec. 5, 6 and 7. This plan is no doubt the result of the visit
above information &z toto.                                         of the Mission Committee's delegates to that island who re-
                                                                   ported the dire poverty of the Christians they contacted. Well
    Rev. C. Hanko, of First Church, filled a Classical ap-
                                                                   may we all heed, the admonition of Paul to the Corinthians
pointment in Loveland, Nov. 9 and 16, in compliance with
                                                                   in his second Epistle, the 8th chapter, as he spoke of the
the request of Classis  West which was granted by Classis
                                                                   fellowship of the ministering to the saints (verse 4), when
East at its last meeting. On his way back Rev. Hanko
                                                                   he~added  (verse 7) : "Therefore, as ye abound in every thing,
planned to preach in Edgertan  an Thanksgiving Day while
                                                                   in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence,
Rev. Woudenberg preached in Loveland. Rev. and Mrs.
                                                                   and in your ldve to us, see that ye a-boztnd  ir, this grace also."
Ha&o  also planned' a short stopover in Tripp, S.D., to visit
                                                                      Nov. 12 the Hope Men's Society was host to the Men's
Rev. and Mrs. Lubbers and other friends there.
                                                                   Society of First Church. IYltmreas:  When a work force is
   Our Missionary's Thanksgiving Day sermon was based on           doubled, the output will also be doubled: but, contrariwise,
Acts 14:15-17, under the theme, "God's Testimony In Fruit-         when two societies meet together the Bible discussion does
ful Seasons."                                                      sot result in twice the quantity studied ; i$zerdore  : one must
   The Lord willing, Rev. H. Hoeksema  will be the speaker         conclude that the quality of the discussion has doubled in

on the Reformed Witness Hour during the next few months.           value. (The above mentioned meeting covered only the

Following the usual pattern the pastor will begin his radio        verses 22 and 23 of Romans 11.)
ministry in December and will conclude his series on Resur-           We note from the bulletins that congregational meetings
rection Day (April 14). Continuing with his series on the          are scheduled for late November and early December. In all

Epistle of Peter, begun last season, the speaker will proclaim     cases consistory members will be chosen to serve their ap-

the truth that Christ is "The Great Shepherd and Bishop of         pointed tenure of office. May the King of His Church give

our Souls" (Dec. 2) ; bet.  9 the message will be entitled,        abundant grace to those office bearers that they measure up
"Living Unto Righteousness"; Dec. .16  the speaker will ex-        to the criteria submitted in I Timothy 3 :l-13.
plain the meaning of "God's Un-common Grace," proclaiming             Future program scheduled: Christmas program by the
the truth that "while Gbd hates the wicked every day, He           Hope Choral Society in their church, Dec. 16; a program by
loves His people with an everlasting and unchangeable love."       the Hudsonville Choral Society in their church, Jan. 6.
Rev. Hoeksema's sermon, celebrating the Savior's birth,               While Rev. Kortering was on classical appointment in
(Dec. 23),  will be, "Born in Bethlehem." The fifth Sunday         South Dakota he was unexpectedly called home to conduct a
the subject will be "God's People Abiding Forever." Special        funeral for one of his parishioners. With an exchange of
music by the Radio Choir,       assisted by the Junior High        pulpits with Rev. Woudenberg, and a re-arrangement of cate-

Choir of the Adams St. Chestian School will `be aired `on          chism classes, he was able to meet the change of schedule and

the programs of Dec. 9 and  16. The Radio Choir will furnish       return to the Dakotas to finish his assignment.
special Christmas music .on Dec. 23. Printed copies of the             Bulletin quote (Lynden's)  : "It is human to err, devilish
radio messages may be had by writing to The Reformed               to continue in it, and` supernatural to rise from it."
Witness Hour, P:O. Box 1239,  Grand Rapids 1, Mich.                                                                    - Augustine

   Did ~0.u kfzow  that, Rev. H. Hanko, of Hope Church,               . . . . see        in church.                            1 .M.F.
                                                                                      you 


