     T7OLuh42  xxx1x                              JANUARY 1, 1963  - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                   NUMBER 7



                                                                               It camlot  be shortened or lengthened, no, not even when
               MEDIITATION                                                 we commit suicide, which God forbid.

                                                                               The Bible is clear on that. Read Psalm 39:5,  "Behold,

    THE BAYS OF THE YEAWS  OF OUR LIFE                                     Thou hast made my days as an handbreadth . . ."

       Tlae days of OUY  years  are threrscore  yeam  and ten;                 God makes your days. He makes them long or short, but
            and if b_v yeason  of sttvenjtla  they be fowsco^/e  years,    He makes them.
        yet 4s the& strength  labow  and so&oru;  for it k soon                And when the last second is lived, He comes to get you,
        cut off  and zefe  &I azvay."  Psalm 9O:lO
                                                                           ready or not. The Bible calls it "This night thy soul shall be
    The days of our years !
                                                                           required of thee . . ." Luke 12 :20b.

    When we are hard, superficial, indifferent, callous, it
                                                                               Old year's eve is a messenger of God to-all of us. And his
 seems as though there is no end of them.                                  testimony is : Redeem your time !

    And who is not hard, superficial, indifferent, and callous ?

                                                                                                      * 6 * 8
     Don't throw these adjectives away from you: they are

 your calling card. That is, for the most of your days and
                                                                               How brief are our days of the years of our lives !
 years, even at best.

                                                                               They are seventy years.
     Let's admit it: we commonly drift on the stream of time

 in our little boat. And we seem to drift endlessly. It is no                  But that does not mean that every one attains unto them.

 wonder that the wicked say : my house shall stand for aye !                   In fact, most people do not live that long.

    That is especially so when we attain to threescore years                   Even if we attain unto the span of seventy years,. how
 and ten, or fourscore years.                                              brief are they.

     In         case it is difficult to imagine that soon we will
            such                                                               No, it does not seem so when we stand before the seventy
 be no more. We do not live  with that thought. Our hearts                 years.      Then it seems as though we have oceans of time. It
 say: tomorrow we will do this and the other thing. There is               really seems as though there is no end.
- always tomorrow!
                                                                               No, but it is that way when we look backward. The
    When we get to be a little older and celebrate our birth-              present writer is two years short of that span of seventy, and
 days, we grow still. When we come to the end of a year, we                when I look back it seems but yesterday when I began my
 grow stiller.                                                             weary walk through the years.

    Another year came to its end! 0 God!                                       Our years are seemingly carried away as with a flood ;

     Oh, it is good to count our days in order that we may                 they are as a sleep when one awakens; they are as a tale that
 apply our hearts unto wisdom.                                             is told.

    Look at the clock, and look especially at the second hand.                 That is especially so when viewed in the light of eternity.

 See how it visibly spins around 7 And then think on this                  Then one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years,

 truth: some day, some hour, some minute, some second that                 as one day. As a watch in the night ; as yesterday when it is

 hand will stand still: it will be the second of my death.                 past.

     Yes, the days of the years of our lives. There is a certain               Come on, think of your yesterday while you read this.

 span of time given to each and every one. It is measured off              What is it then? Twenty-four hours ? Oh no, but really it

 in eternity, and given in history, in time.                               is as a light mist. It is seen for a moment and it is gone.

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


   And this brevity of our days is a serious thing.                   And the horror for man is that he shall be judged as

       It tells you that you are not made for time, but for       though nothing changed. Remember the parables of the talents
                                                                  and the pounds ?
eternity.

   You are rocked in the cradle of the deep, of the deep God !        When we come to the last second in our lives and we
                                                                  fly away, we fly directly to God. And that God demands ab-
   The last evening of the year is a messenger of God.            solute perfection. of everyone. He demands perfect work,

   And he says : Return ! You are getting closer and closer       happy work, and full hands of praises to God.

to God's face. Here on earth you receive many messengers of

God, but there comes a day, an hour, a minute, a second,                                    4: * * *

when the last messenger has spoken his tale, and then you

will see Him!
                                                                      And the deepest reason why our days, our best days, are

                                                                  labour  and sorrow is this : the wrath of God.
                           * * * *
                                                                      The Lord God walks among us and cuts off the stream of

    Look at your days.                                            time allotted, and says at every sickbed which turns into a

    If by reason of strength you receive many of them, you        deathbed: Return, ye children of men! Return to destruc-
will note that even their very strength is labour  and sorrow.    tion !

   The word "strength". here means the prime, the very                God carries our days away as with a flood. Our days are

best of your days.     Now then, the very best of the days of     consumed by His anger, and by His wrath our days are

your life are labour  and sorrow.                                 troubled. In fact, all our days are passed away in Thy wrath,

                                                                  the days wherein Thou hast afflicted us.
   Labour  in my text means wearisome and painful effort,

travail, misery, anguish, incessant toil, without getting any-        Here we stand at the end of another year that was given

where.                                                            to us, but the end of that year says: it is soon cut off and

                                                                  we fly away !
   And sorrow means literally to be nothing, not to be: a

negative power in your life. As in other languages : no, nie,         Yes, we soon fly away like iron to the magnet. And the

na, non, nay, etc.                                                MAGNET here is God! The moment we die `we see God,

                                                                  the living God.
    Or as in the German, which is almost literally Hebrew:

ohne, which means to be without.                                      Uou see, He gathers us in, both the good and the bad.

                                                                  No one ever escapes from this ingathering.
   At the strength of my years, there I stand with empty

hands.                                                                And when the last man is gathered in at the end of the

   If you raise a doubt about that, think on the long days        ages, the books shall be opened, and the dead, both small
when you shall be dead and buried, always lying down and          and great shall be judged according to what is written in
looking up at the cover of your coffin.                           those books.

   Do you know what the Bible says about that? This : and             And let me tell you right here that if there were no Jesus,

their place shall know them no more!                              all of us would be cast into everlasting hell.

   Think of the dead in your own circle. They flew away,              Even God's people, with all their good works, would be

and where is their place ? In most instances another took         lost if it were not for Jesus.

that place. Those that wept and shed bitter tears at your             In order to know that, look at your good works. Go ahead,
bier are now smiling and laugh. They have forgotten.              look at them.

                           * * * 9                                    If you look long enough, with the spectacles of the Word

                                                                  of God on your nose, and the Spirit of truth in your heart,

    No, man was not ever thus.                                    you will blush. You never did a good work that was abso-
                                                                  lutely perfect. Besides, also look at all the filth and corrup-
   There was a time when he was very happy in his work.           tion you are, spoke, did and thought. Oh yes, you will blush
And he stood before the face of God with his hands full to        alright.
,overflowing.  His hands were raised to the heavens full of
the praises of God.                                                   Listen to Moses, he will tell us: "Thou hast set our
                                                                  iniquities before Thee, our secret sins in the light of Thy
   But fallen man labors and gets nowhere.                        countenance."

   Result? Sorrow, nothing, vanity. Read Solomon.                     Yes, it grows very still in the waning hours of the last

   Remember how one called this earth a vale of tears ?           evening of. nineteen hundred and sixty-two.


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                                                                  147



   You know, I think that a very good prayer in that last

night would be : 0 God, be merciful to me, the sinner !                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
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                                                                         Published by the REFOFMED  FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION

                                                                                                    Editor - REP.  HERMAN HOEKSEMA
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   Yes, there is a Jesus!                                               Mich. Contributions will be limited to 300 words and must be
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   He was a man in everything like us, .sin excepted.                   All church news items should be addressed to Mr. J. M. Faber,
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   And He wrought, He worked, He labored.
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wrath and damnation. And He did it for you, my brother.                 received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscrip-
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He did it for you, my sister. The Bible speaks about the labor                                      Subscription price: $5.00 per year
of His soul. Read Isaiah 53. Oh yes, his days were filled to                  Second Class postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan
the brim with work. He was Prophet, Priest and King in

our stead. He loved God above all and His neighbour as

Himself. He fulfilled the law of the ten commandments and                                                               C O N T E N T S

exalted it. He loved God while laboring in hell.                   MEDITATION  -

                                                                            The Days of the Years of Our Life . . . . . . .._____._..___...................  145
   Later, oh my God, how much later, an'eternity later, He                             Rev. G. Vos
poured out the Holy Ghost into His own, God's own, and
                                                                   EDITORL~LS  -
leads them through the dreary years of their pilgrimage. And
                                                                            Arminius and Arminianism.. __. ._. ._ ____ _.. .._ ___.  ..148
He makes them work the work of God amid much stumbling                      Rank Arminianism in Calvin Seminary ___.....______..____..,..,........  149
and falling. But they ever rise again, and continue to look                            Rev. H. Hoeksema

up to the final city, the city of God.
                                                                   OUR DOCTIXNX  -

    In the Old Testament you read of it. Look up and read                   Of Sanctification                          . ____ ___ _.. ___ ._. .._ .150

Ezekiel 9, and especially verse 4. An angel put a mark on                              Rev. H. Hoeksema

the foreheads of some, while the others were slaughtered.          A CLOUD OF WITNESSES -

   It grows rather still on Monday night, December 31, 1962.                At the Entrance to Canaan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
                                                                                       Rev. B. Woudenberg
   But let your last thought or word, or prayer be: Thanks
                                                                   F
to Thee, 0 great Shepherd of the sheep, for Jesus: Jehovah          ROM HOLY WRIT  -
                                                                            Exposition                 of. Matthew 2:1-12  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Saves ! Amen.                                                                          Rev. G. Lubbers
                                                           G.V.

                                                                   IN HIS FEAR  -

                                                                            Righteous                 Wrath (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ,...158

                                                                                       Rev. J. A. Heys
                      Announcement
                                                                   CONTENDING FOR TRE  FAITII-
   Classis  East of the Protestant Reformed Churches meets,                 The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..___............. . . . . . . ..___..  160

the Lord willing, on Wednesday, January 9, 1963 at 9 a. m.                             Rev. H. Veldman

in the Southeast Protestant Reformed Church, 1535 Cam-
                                                                   TI-IE  VOICE OF OUR FATHEXIS  -
bridge Ave., S. E. (near Boston), Grand Rapids, Michigan.                   The Belgic Confession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Consistories will please take note in the appointment of their                         Rev. H. C. Hoeksema

delegates.
                                                                   DECENCY AND ORDER -
                             REV. M. SCHIPPER,  Stated Clerk                More Sin and Ecclesiastical                                               Censure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    164

                                                                                       Rev. G. Vanden Berg

                      Announcement                                 ALL AROUND Us -

                                                                            Union with Rome _. __ .._. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
   An Office-bearers Conference will be held Tuesday, Janu-
                                                                            Mixed Marriages and Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
ary 8, at S :00 p. m. at Southeast Church. The Rev. G.                      What to Call the Minister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Lanting will speak on the topic "The Deacons' Place in the                             Rev. H. Hanko

Consistory."    All ministers, elders, and deacons are "urged"
                                                                   NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES ._..........____.....................................                                                                  . . ..___._..  168
to attend.                                                                             Mr. J. M. Faber

                                  JOHN DE VRIES,  Secretary


14s                                        T H E   STANDARD   B E A R E R
                                                                      -_ .                           -


                                                                    is the reason why I directed the thesis to be composed in the

              E D I T O R I A L S                                   very words of the Confession, when, on one occasion, I had
                                                                    to hold a public disputation before my private class in the

                                                                    University. This kind of predestination also agrees with the

                                                                    reasoning contained in the twentieth and fifty-fourth question
               Arminius and Arminianism
                                                                    of the Catechism."
       In my la&  editorial I was discussing the "sentiments" of
                                                                        But let us see how true or untrue this is.
Arminius concerning predestination and related doctrines as
he explained them before the magistrates who, at that time,             The sixteenth article of the Belgic or Netherland Confes-
had final authority, not only over the State, but also over the     sion reads as follows:

Church.                                                                 "We believe that all the posterity of Adam being thus

       He presented before them four propositions which I           fallen into perdition and ruin, by the sin of our first parents,
quoted verbatim. And under them Arminius presented some             God did manifest himself such as he is ; that is to say, merciful
                                                                    and just; Merciful, since he delivers and preserves from this
twenty explanatory articles in which he defended the four
above named propositions. I wrote that I was going to ex-           perdition all, whom he, in his eternal and unchangeable coun-
plain and criticize especially the sixth of these explanatory       sel of mere goodness, hath elected in Christ Jesus our Lord
articles.                                                           without any respect to their works: Just, in leaving others
                                                                    in the fall and perdition wherein they have involved them-
       Before I do this, however, the reader must understand        selves."
clearly that Arminius, in his four propositions, presents pre-
                                                                       Now, how does Arminius wish to change the words of
destination, both election and reprobation, as based on the
                                                                    this part of the Confession ?
foreknowledge of God. The Most High did not sovereignly,

in His eternal decree of predestination, election and reproba-         Thus, that instead of reading `all whom" or according to

tion, determine who should be saved and who should be               the French version "those whom," "ceux que,"  we must read

damned, regardless of the merits and demerits of man; but           "believers," and instead of reading "others," we must read

He determined that those should be saved whom He fore-              "unbelievers."    The sentences as a whole, therefore, would

knew and foresaw that they would believe in Christ and              read: "Merciful, since he delivers and preserves from perdi-

repent, and likewise, that those should be damned whom He           tion believers whom he in his eternal and unchangeable coun-

foreknew  and foresaw that they would not believe and repent.       sel of mere goodness, hath elected in Christ Jesus our Lord

That such is his teaching is evident from the propositions          without any respect to their works: Just, in leaving unbe-

which I quoted especially from the second and fourth. In            lievers in the fall and perdition wherein they have involved

the second he writes that God decreed to receive into favor         themselves."

those who repent and believe . . . and "to effect the salvation        This appears rather ingenious on the part of Arminius.
of such penitents and believers as persevered to the end ; but
                                                                       But, in the first place, we may say that the Confession
to leave in sin, ana under wrath, all impenitent and unbe-
                                                                    does not say this and Arminius has no right to change the
lievers, and to damn them as aliens from Christ." The fourth
                                                                    words of the Confession. He has to leave the very words of
proposition is virtually the same. In it he states that "God
                                                                    the Confession as they stand. If he wanted a change, he would
decreed to save and damn certain particular persons. This
                                                                    have to put in a gravamen and ultimately, let Synod decide
,decree has its foundation in the foreknowledge of God, by
                                                                    upon such a proposed change.
which he knew from all eternity those individuals who would,
                                                                       In the second place, however, this would be quite a funda-
by his preventing grace, believe, and, through his subsequent
                                                                    mental change in the words of the Confession. It would mean,
.grace would persevere . . . and, by which foreknowledge, he
likewise knew those who would not believe and persevere."           indeed, that, instead of believing in the absolute sovereignty
                                                                    of the counsel of predestination, we would have to make that
    And this Arminius `repeats again and again in all his           counsel dependent on the will of man, on the contingency that
writings, as we shall have occasion to show in later connec-        man would believe or not. Indeed, in that case, it woulcl  be
tions.                                                              true, as Arminius would have it, that in His counsel God

       Now, this he attempts- to prove as being in harmony with     foreknew  and foresaw from all eternity who would believe

the Reformed Confessions. Writes he:                                and who would not believe.

       "It likewise agrees most excellently with the Dutch Con-         But, in the third place, the change which Arminius would

fession and Catechism. This concord is such, that, if in the        propose does not even fit in the rest of this article of the

.Sixteenth  article these two expressions `those persons whom'      Confession.     Just consider what the confession states : 1. The

.and `others' be explained by the words `believers' and `un-        counsel of God is eternal and unchangeable. 2. The counsel

believers,' these opinions of mine on predestination will be        is of mere goodness. 3. The counsel of election is without any

comprehended in that article with the greatest clearness. This      respect to the works of men, i.e., of course, also of the works


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      149


of faith and unbelief. Hence, & order to change this sixteenth                It ought to be evident that Armii;ius  did not believe a word

article of the Netherland Confession, the entire article would         of all this. The Catechism teaches here : 1. That the church

have to be re-written.                                                 is gathered by the Son of God, who gathers, defends, ancl

                                                                       preserves His Church. Hence, the church is surely gathered
    Did not Arminius know this ? He certainly must have
                                                                       and kept unto the end. arminius  did not believe this. 2. That
for all his writings reveal that he was quite a logical thinker.
                                                                       this church is chosen to everlasting life. Also this Arminius
What then ? In my opinion, as I said before, he was not
                                                                       did not believe: he believed that election is based on the fore-
honest. Instead of confessing that he did not agree with the
Confession, and instead of admitting that the Reformed the-            knowledge of God. 3. The Catechism teaches that once a
ologians and people of that time never believed God's counsel          believer is a member, he will forever remain a living mem-
                                                                       ber. Also this Arminius did not believe. Faith can be lost.
of predestination to be a mere matter of the foreknowledge

of God, he made it appear as if he had the Confession on his                  Hence, I say once more that I cannot understand how

side.                                                                  Arminius could possibly base his doctrine on this question and

    But Arminius also refers to the twentieth and fifty-fourth         answer of the Catechism.                                      H.H.

question of the Heidelberg Catechism.

    The twentieth question and answer read as follows:                          Rank Arminianism in Calvin Seminary

    "Are all men then, as they perished in, Adam, saved by                    There was a rumor that Harold Dekker, associate profes-
Christ ?                                                               sor in missions in Calvin Theological Seminary, must have

    "No; only those who are ingrafted into him, and receive            said to his class of students that if they did not believe that

all his benefits, by a true faith."                                    God loved all men, they would have no place in his class.

    This question of the Catechism has nothing to do with the                 This I could hardly believe.

question-concerning the basis of the foreknowledge of God                     But after reading an article in the Reformed Journal, writ-
in regard to predestination. It speaks, indeed, of faith. But it       ten by the above named professor, I am compelled to believe
speaks of `faith as a gift of God. For, before it declares that        it.
they, believers, receive all his benefits by a true faith, it                 The article is written under the caption: "God So
teaches that "they are ingrafted into him." Hence, faith is a
                                                                       Loved . . . ,422 Men!"
gift of God that is in no wise dependent on the will of man
                                                                              I will first give a brief outline of the article in order,
but only upon the sovereign grace of God.
                                                                       in the next number of our magazine, to express my opinion
    Does not Arminius know this ?                                      and criticism.
    But, nevertheless, he camouflages this Reformed doctrine                  In an introductory paragraph the author writes that the
in such a way that he maintains .the error that the decree of          "most basic and comprehensive principle is the love of God."
election is based on the foreknowledge of God. For he teaches,
                                                                       Missions have their motivation, their methododogy and their
of course, that "those persons will be saved or they have been
                                                                       message from the love of God.
predestinated, who, God foreknew, would believe by the as-
                                                                              The greatness and unlimitedness of the love of God is re-
sistance of his preventing grace and would persevere by the -
                                                                       vealed in the fact that He sent His only begotten Son into the
aid of his subsequent grace," to put it clearly: God will give
faith to those who will have it. Not only this, but even when          world. And he asks the question whether so great a love can
                                                                       be limited in its scope. In other words, "can an unrestricted
he has received the gift of faith, he can still lose it and fail to
                                                                       love be restricted in those whom it loves." His answer is:
persevere.
                                                                       this is neither possible nor biblical. According to Scripture
    But this certainly is not the teaching of the Heidelberg
                                                                       God loves all men.
Catechism in the twentieth question and answer.
                                                                              This universal love of God is, according to the author,
    How Arminius could appeal to the fifty-fourth question
                                                                       revealed in the Old Testament a@, well as in the New. This
and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism is a mystery to me.
                                                                       is also evident from the sincere gospel invitation or offer to
This question and answer speaks of the Church. And although
                                                                       all men. Also the Canons of Dordrecht clearly speak the
it is well known, I quote it here:
                                                                       same truth. Besides, this sincere invitation proves the desire
    "What believest thou concerning the holy catholic church           on the part of God that it will be accepted by all. Also Calvin
of Christ?                                                             teaches this: He would have all men to be saved. It is a

    "That the Son of God from the beginning to the end of              regrettable fact that some theologians in order to maintain a

the world, gathers, defends, and preserves unto himself by             limited election, give a limited interpretation to the passages

his Spirit and word, out of the whole human race, a church             of Scripture that plainly speak of the love of God to all men.

chosen to everlasting life, agreeing in true faith, and that I                Finally, he devotes all the rest of the article to the ques-

am and for ever shall remain a living member thereof."                 tion of limited atonement. He criticizes in this connection


150                                            THE  S:TAN~:DA.:~:D,.B-EARER


Berkhof who, in his Systematic Theology., teaches that the

atpgement  is limited, that is, that Christ did not die for all

men but only for the elect. But Scripture, according to Dek-

ker, teaches that Christ died for all men, for all, for the whole

world.                                    u
                                                                                               C H A P T E R  V
   In this connection he also quotes the Canons, although it

is not very clear what he intends to prove by this quotation.                         OF SANCTIFICATION

As was the case with Arminius  and still is the case with all
that do not believe in sovereign election, so also Dekker                                      (Continued)

speaks a double language. On the one hand, he writes : "When

it comes to the efficacy of the atonement there can be no                This means, of course, that the Christian, the child of God,
doubt that its existential limitation is to be explained ulti-        must be constantly converted during his whole life. Conver-
mately in terms of the sovereign disposition of divine grace."        sion may be defined as the work of God whereby the regen-
On the other `hand he, evidently, wants to maintain that              erated sinner, through the Spirit and Word, is efficaciously
Christ died for all men. For he writes : "The doctrine of lim-        turned about from the way of sin to the way of righteousness,
ited atonement as taught by Berkhof and others has common-            or from the service of the devil to the service of God. The
ly been used to place a taboo on the proposition that Christ          fruit of conversion is, of course, that he hates sin and eschews
died for all men and on any statement by a missionary to un-          it and flees from it, and that too with his whole heart. It is
believers such as `Christ died for you.' Supposedly such              true that in our confessions no clear distinction is made be-
language is Arminian. Actually it is not necessarily so. There        tween conversion and regeneration. But we must remember,
is no warrant -in Scripture or the Reformed confessions for           nevertheless, that regeneration is always first. A man must
disallowing such expressions when they are used in any one            be born again before he can even see the kingdom of God, and
of the first three meanings explained above. If the church is         he must be born of water and of the Spirit before he can
unwilling to say in any sense that Christ died for all men and        enter it. Besides, we must remember that we ascribe this
refuses to say to unbelievers, in addition to `God loves you,'        whole work of conversion to God. There is nothing of man
`Christ died for you,' it places the infinite love of God under       in it. On the other hand, we must also remember the truth
an illegitimate restriction.                                          that God in the work `of conversion never treats man as a

   "The doctrine of limited. atonement as commonly under-             stock and block, but always deals with him as a rational and
stood and observed in the Christian Reformed Church im-               moral creature. And therefore God's work of conversion
pairs the principle of-the universal love of God and tends to         bears the fruit that we turn and that we eschew evil and flee
inhibit missionary spirit and activity. God so loved all wmz          from it, and that we love the law of God, His precepts; and
that he gave his only begotten Son! May this great truth              keep them with our whole heart.
permeate the life and witness of the Church in full power."              The result is, however, that the regenerated and converted
                                                                      child of .God,  as he.lives from the regenerated heart, has a
   Next time our comment, D.V.
                                                                      continual struggle. Of that struggle the apostle Paul speaks
                                                             H.H.
                                                                      in Romans 7 :15,  E. : !`For that w&h I do I allow not : for

                                                                      what I would that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If

                                                                      then I do that which I would not,,3 cbnsent  unto the law that

                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY -'                           it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that
          ,..                                                         dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh),
qn Deqember  17, 1962, our dear parents
                                                                      dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but
                 MR. AND MRS. PETER M. HOEKSTRA                       how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good
celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary.                            that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I
   We give thanks to our Heavenly Father, who has spared them
for us and each other these many years. Our earnest prayer-is that    do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it,
He may further bless them in the way which lies ahead.                but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I

                                Their grateful children:              would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the

                                    Mr. and Mrs. Martin Hoekstra      law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in
                                    Mr. and Mrs. Gerrit Brummel       my members, warring against the law of my mind, and b,ring-
                                    Mr. and Mrs. George Hoekstra
                                    Mr. and Mrs. Donald Hoekstra      ing me into captivity to .the law of sin which is in my mem-
                                    Mr. and Mrs. Ted Hoekstra
                                    Mr. and Mrs. Bert Van Maanen      bers. 0 wretched man that I am !.who  shall deliver me from
                                    Mr. and Mrs. Ray Bnmsting         the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
                                    Mr. and Mrs. John Hoekstra
                                    Mr. and Mrs. Peter Hoekstra       our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of
                                    Rev. and Mrs. Alvin Mulder        God ; but with the flesh the law of sin."
                                    Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hqekstra
                                                                         Many indeed deny that the apostle. Paul speaks of him-
                                     and 56 Grandchildren


                                          THE.STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                             151


self here as a Christian. It is also noteworthy that in general     what clear conception of the life of the Christian from a

it is those that try to defend the free will of man and deny        spiritual, ethical viewpoint-of the--old  and of the new man

the total depravity of the natural man who want to apply            in him, and also of the battle between the flesh and the Spirit

what the apostle writes       here to the natural man, the          which is being fought by him and through him. The be-

unregenerate. Men like Pelagius, Erasmus, Socinus,  Ar-             liever is regenerated. And regeneration is the principle of a

minius,  Episcopius, Grotius and all the Remonstrants in            new and of an altogether different life. It is a principal

general, have always attempted to explain this passage as           renewal, a radical translation, a total change of heart. It is

referring to the apostle before his conversion. This attempt,       a transition from death to life, from darkness into God's

however, is evidently vain and impossible. In the first place,      marvelous light. The Christian is a new creature in the

such explanation of the passage certainly does not fit in the       strictest sense of the word. Old things have completely

context of the chapter, nor in the preceding and following          passed away ; all things have become new. If this were not

context of the entire letter. In the second place, such an          the case, if regeneration were simply the beginning of a cer-.

interpretation certainly brings us in direct conflict with the      tain moral reformation, the apparent dualism in the life of the
doctrine of Scripture in general, which certainly denies that       child of God could probably be explained rather easily. But

the natural man has a delight in the law of God, that he            now it is different. The Christian became a totally different

hates sin, and that he serves with his mind the law of God.         man. He is born out of God. The seed of God remains in

The- natural mind is enmity against God, according to Scrip-        him, and he cannot sin. He lives, yet not he, but Christ lives

ture, and is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can      in him. Yet it seems that this renewal, this radical change in

be. It certainly does not consent to the law of God, that it        the life of the child of God often comes to manifestation but

is good, as the apostle does in these verses. In the third          very little. So much in his life and walk cannot be explained

place, it is true that the apostle in this passage employs some     from that root, or seed, of regeneration. And he himself con-

very strong expressions when he speaks of himself as carnal         fesses that in him there is only a small beginning of the new

and sold under sin. But in the light of the context these ex-       obedience. And Holy Writ speaks of the flesh and the Spirit

pressions evidently-refer to his members, to the old man of         warring against each other, of the old and the new man which

sin that is still within him, while according to the inner man      place the Christian in the position of continual battle.

he has a delight in the law of God. And understood in this             Although, therefore, the language of Romans 7 certainly
light, there is nothing in these expressions that also in other     is the experience of every child of God, it cannot be denied
passages of Scripture is not clearly taught, nor anything that      that its apparent dualism cannot easily be explained. One
every child of God that knows himself cannot take' upon his         would almost reach the conclusion that in that chapter two
own lips. He certainly sub,scribes to all that the apostle          entirely different persons. are speaking. It would seem im-
expresses of himself in the passage we quoted. In his letter        possible that one and the same person could say of himself
to the Galatians the apostle writes almost literally in the same    what is expressed here in the verses of Romans 7. On the
style, when he says that the "flesh lusteth against the Spirit,     one hand, the apostle Paul speaks in that passage of a person
and the Spirit against the flesh ; and these are contrary the       who testifies of himself that he is carnal and that he is sold
one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye           under sin. He speaks of a person who does not perform that
would."    And finally, it must be noted that in the entire pas-    which is good. For the good that he would he does not, but
sage of Romans 7 the apostle writes in the first person and in      the evil which he would not, that he does. On the other
the present tense, so that it camlot  very well be doubted that     hand, however, he speaks of a person who is filled with a
he describes his spiritual, ethical experience and condition        deep love of the good and of God, and is motivated by a
as it was at the very moment of his writing to the Romans.          deeply rooted hatred against the evil. The good he wills; the

   Hence, .according  to the presentation of Holy Writ, as          evil he wills not, but hates it. He has delight in the law of God

well as in harmony with the experience of the people of God         according to the inner man. With the mind he serves the law

in the world, believers know of a battle between flesh and          of God. Notice, however, that in this passage the apostle

Spirit, between the old and the new man, the law of the Spirit      does not speak of two persons, but always of the same person,

of life and the law which is in their members - a battle that       the same ego, the same I. And that one person does not speak

is fought to the very end of their life. And this raises a ques-    of experiences in different times, but of his experience at the

tion. The question is: what is the old, and what is the new         same time. The same person at the same time wills to do the

man ? How is it possible that these two can exist next to           good and does not do it. The same person hates the evil, yet

each other in the same Christian? What is the relation of           he does it. The same person serves with the flesh the law

these two to each other, and what does it mean that we must         of sin, and with the mind the law of God. The question is,

put off the old man and put on the new man ? It is of greatest      therefore, how is such a sharp conflict and contrast conceiv-

importance for the doctrine of sanctification that we give as       able in one and the same person and at the same time?

clear as possible an answer to these questions.                        Different attempts have been made to explain the ap-

   It is not easy, but indeed very difficult, to form a some-       parently irreconcilable contrast between the old and the new


152                                         T H E   ST.ANDAR-D   B E A R E R


man in the Christian. On the one hand, it'was maintained              more organic figure has been used of the cultivated twig that

that regeneration is really not a renewal of the heart, but the       has been grafted upon a wild tree. By the process of grafting

increating of an entirely new man within the sinful man. The          the tree has become essentially a cultivated tree. !?et, for a

Christian is really `a dualism, and he lives a dualistic life.        long time the trunk of the tree will shoot forth wild branches.

He is not one, but two persons. There are in him two egos.            Also to explain the operation of a sinful nature the figure

In actual life this view led to antinomianism. In the one per-        of a tree that has been cut down has been used. Such a tree,

son the Christian can never do any good, and he is delivered          of course, is really dead. It has been separated from its root.

over unto corruption. In his other person, however, the               Yet it will happen, according to Kuyper, that by virtue of the

Christian can never sin: for he is born of God. Hence, the            life that is still in the tree, it will for a while still shoot forth

one person in the Christian does not hold himself account-            branches. All these figures and others are used to explain the

able for what the other person does; and the attempt to fight         life of the Christian as he is regenerated in the very center

against and to overcome sin, overcome that evil person in the         of his ego, and yet brings forth wild fruits of sin.

Christian, is simply vain.    It is evident that this presentation       It is evident, however, that this explanation is not in
does certainly not solve the problem. Nor is it in har-               harmony with the Word of God. According to this theory,
mony with Holy Writ, nor with the Christian's experience              the regenerated person or ego of the Christian really stands
in the world. Holy Writ, which speaks exactly of the same             outside of his sinful life. That person, or ego, is regenerated,
person as being under the influence of flesh and Spirit both,         and therefore holy. The pith of his ego always does that
does not speak of two persons, but rather of two different            which is good. The person of the Christian, therefore, really
natures. Others have tried to explain this apparently irrecon-        is presented as standing outside of his own sinful deeds, and
cilable contradiction by distinguishing between the person, or        cannot be held accountable for them. In this way this theory
the ego, and the expressions or manifestations of that ego in         means to account for the expression in Romans 720,  "It is
the nature, in the mind and will of man, that is, of course,          no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me."
of the Christian. The person, according to this presentation,             But this is certainly not in harmony `with the language of
is entirely renewed. He is a completely new man. But the              Romans 7. It is very evident in this passage that the one that
manifestations and expressions of that renewed person in              speaks there does not put his person, or his ego, outside of
the consciousness and will of the Christian are still under the       his sinful deeds. For the person that speaks there says: "1
influence of the operations of sin.                                   am carnal ; I am sold under sin ; I do not what I will ; I do

       Dr. A, Kuyper Sr. wants to make the distinction between        what I hate ; I do not do the good that I will do ; I do the
the center on the periphery of our life. That center, accord-         evil that I do not will: and I serve with the flesh the law of
ing to him, is the kernel, or pith, of our ego. From that ego         sin."    Besides, it is the same person that speaks in the con-

the lines run to the periphery. And in that periphery lies            text.    There the apostle writes, in vs. 7, ff. : "What shall we

our consciousness, our perceptions, our inclinations and de-          say then ? Is the law sin ? God forbid. Nay, I had not known

sires, our will, and also our acts, personally and in relation        sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law

to others and in relation to the whole world, as well as in           had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by

our relation to God. Now according to Kuyper, the pith of our         the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupis-

ego is being regenerated. And from the center of that regen-          cence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive

erated ego also our consciousness, our desires, our inclina-          without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin

tions, our will, our mind are influenced in conversion. But           revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was

on the other hand, there are also according to him reacting           ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking

influences from the periphery upon the regenerated ego. And           occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew

those reacting influences are not holy, but sinful. And thus          me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy,

Dr. Kuyper explains that the regenerate man always sins, and          and just, and.good.  Was then that which is good made death

yet remains holy in the very center of his person or ego.             unto me ? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin,

Different figures have been used to elucidate this relation be-       working death in me by that which is good ; that sin by the

tween the regenerated ego and the so-called periphery of the          commandment might become exceeding sinful."

regenerated man's life. The figure of a steamboat has been                The question, therefore, that must be answered is: how

used- a steamboat that runs, say, in a westerly direction,            can one and the same ego speak in such apparently contra-

but whose engine is suddenly reversed, so that the boat now           dictory language about his own life from a spiritual, ethical

as far as the engine is concerned runs in an easterly direc-          viewpoint ? And this question is not-being answered by saying

tion. Then, according to Kuyper, the momentum of the boat             that the very pith of the ego, or person, is regenerated, and

will for a while still run in a westerly direction even though        therefore completely holy, and sins no more. For the apostle

the engine is put into reverse. This is supposed to explain           teaches in Romans 7 exactly that the ego of the Christian

the relation between the sinful motions in the members of             sins indeed. When the apostle says, "I myself serve the law

the Christian and his regenerated ego, or person. Also the            of sin with the flesh," he admits indeed that it is in his flesh,


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     153


that is, in his old man, that he serves the law of sin. Never-       their body, and therefore upon their nature. And because of

theless it still is `his person that is serving sin. And if the      that dirt on their nature, they say: "I am dirty." And when

theory of Dr. Ku.yper  were correct, namely, that the ego is         presently they both wash themselves, they simply undergo a

entirely holy and separated from sin, it would be entirely           change in the appearance of their nature ; and both say : "I

impossible that the same ego still serves sin. This explana-         am clean." In that case the negro does not say : "A while ago

tion, therefore, is not in harmony with Holy Writ.                   I was white, and now am black." And the white European

                                                                     does not say: "A moment ago I was a negro, and now I am
    How true this is may be ascertained when we pay atten-
                                                                     a white man." But both say: "A while ago I was dirty, and
tion to another figure which Dr. Kuyper  uses in the same
                                                                     now I am clean."      The condition of the ego is being deter-
connection in De Getlsecne  G&e. Writes he: "The com-
                                                                     mined by the condition of the nature. And in a spiritual,
parison of a negro who works' in a plaster mill and a white
                                                                     ethical sense this is no different.
European who works in a coal mine makes this distinction
perfectly lucid. When they should meet each other and look               Therefore we cannot agree with the interpretation of Dr.
into a mirror, the negro somewhat white because of the               Kuyper.  By the concept person,  or ego, we refer to a mere
powder of the plaster mill, and the white European black as          formal and psychological distinction. It is without any spirit-
                                                                     ual, ethical content. The person is simply the subject of all
coal, as he crept out of the coal mine, they might; judging
by experiences, indeed maintain that the negro is less black         our actions from a natural, psychological viewpoint. The per-
than the European. But the negro knows very well, never-             son remains the same, whether before or after regeneration.

theless, that he is black, even though he appears for the                This is also evident from the incarnation of the Son of

moment somewhat white. And the European claims with                  God. We confess that the Person of the Son of God assumed

perfect assurance: I am white, even though you see him               an impersonal human nature from the virgin Mary. May

before you black as coal. And when the same European                 we say now that the entering in of the Person of the Son of

laborer, who appears black for the moment, boasts over               God made the sinful human nature holy? Or is the Person

against the negro, `Nevertheless I am white,' comes home and         of Christ in the human nature holy in virtue of the fact that

his child jumps up to him and wants to embrace him, the              He is the Person of the Son in a sinful human nature? Of

father will say to his child : `Just a moment, darling, for I        course not. The Person of the Son of God had not been

am black.' Are there then two egos, a black ego and a white          able to assume a sinful human nature, for the simple reason

ego in that man? Of course not. It is one and the same ego           that in that case also the ego, or the Person, of Christ in

who one moment boasts: I am white, and who the next                  that sinful human nature would have become unholy. And

moment acknowledges : I am black ; and which of those two            it were blasphemous, even to conceive of such a thing. But

he will say depends entirely upon the contrast. Over against         the fact is that the Person of the Son from the womb of the

the negro, who disputes the now hidden whiteness of his              virgin Mary through the conception and operation of the

skin, he maintains definitely: Not true, I am entirely white,        Holy Spirit assumed a sinless and holy human nature. And

there is no black spot on me. But over against his child, who        only in this way is the Person of the Son of God also in the

would become defiled by touching him, he acknowledges: I             human nature a holy ego.

am completely black. The same is true of the regenerated                 It is not the person which is, as I said, a formal, psycho-

man. Over against the man who disputes the work of God               logical concept, but the heart of man, which represents a

in him he will boast: `I am holy, and cannot sin.' But over          spiritual, ethical concept, that is regenerated. Scripture very

against his brother and before God on his knees he will con-         frequently speaks of the heart. And although in Scripture

fess: `I am a miserable man'." From this figure it appears           the terms sp@t,  soul, and w&d are sometimes interchanged,

very clearly that it is not the condition of the ego which deter-    yet in general we may say that by heart Scripture usually

mines the condition of the nature ; but on the contrary, it is       denotes that spiritual, ethical center of man that is in regen-

the condition of the nature that determines the condition of         eration radically turned about. It is therefore not the person

the ego. Just analyze the figure above quoted. Will the              of the Christian that is regenerated, but the heart, and from

negro maintain that he is white because there is some                that heart the nature. The essence of the nature in regenera-

plaster powder on his face ? And will the white Eur-                 tion is changed radically, that is, from a spiritual, ethical point

opean acknowledge that his skin is black because he just             of view. This is also plain from a comparison with what took

comes out of the coal mine? Of course not. But both the              place through the fall of man. We do not say that through

negro and the white European will certainly say: "I am               the fall the person was corrupted, but the nature. Through

dirty."    And this is certainly true. But notice in that case:      the fall of our first parents our nature was so corrupted that

both admit that their person, their ego, is dirty.. They say:        we are wholly incapable of doing any good, and inclined to

"I am dirty." Nor can either of them say at the same time:           all evil. This we must surely bear in mind if we would under-

"I am not dirty."     And what determines that dirt of their         stand somewhat what the Scripture means when it speaks of

ego ? Is their person dirty, and consequently their nature ?         the flesh and spirit, and of the old and the new man in the

Of course not. The very opposite is true. The dirt is upon           child of God.                                               H.H.


I    154                                                    T    H     E         STANDAH--D  BEAR.ER
I
I
                                                                                            Salvation,"    the foretype  of Jesus in His final victory in
      [ A-CLOUD OF WITNESS,ES j                                                             heaven.
                                                                                                When the days of mourning for Moses were accomplished,

                                                                                            God came to Joshua and spoke, saying, "Moses my servant is

                      At the Entrtince to Canaan                                            dead ; now therefore arise go over the Jordan, thou and all of
                                                                                            the people, unto the land which 3 do give to them, even to

                  Now  after  the death of ,Vloses  the sermnt  of the                      the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your feet
              L O R D   i t   came  t o   p a s s ,   t h a t   the  L O R D   spake a&o    shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto
              Joshua the SON of Nm, Moses min&ter,  sa.yirng,                               Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the
                Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, 90                           great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites,
              ovev this Jordan, Hwrt,  and all b4i.s people, unto  the lartd
                                                                                            and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun,
              zulzich  I do give to them,  even to the chiMmn  of IsmeB.
                                                                       Joshua 1 :l, 2       shall be your coast. There shall not any man be able to stand
                                                                                            before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I
                By faith the haAot Rabb  perislzcd  not with them
                                                                                            will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be
              that believed  n&,  z&n  she  received the spies in peace.
                                                                      Hebrews 11:31         strong and of a good courage : for unto this people shalt thou
                                                                                            divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their

            For thirty days a heavy shadow of sorrow hung over the                          fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very coura-

     camp of Israel encamped upon the plains of Moab. In itself                             geous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the

     this was not new. Sorrow and gloom had often before formed                             law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not

     the prevailing atmosphere in Israel's camp. But this was                               from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest

     different. Often before their sorrow had been one of sullen                            prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall

     unbelief and dissatisfaction with Moses, their leader ap-                              not depart out of thy mouth ; but thou shalt meditate thereiu

     pointed by God. Now Moses was gone, and his -absence left                              day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to

     them with the feeling that the glory had departed from                                 all that is written'therein; for then thou shalt make thy way

     Israel. Although they had often murmured against what he                               prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have

     said, there had always been the fact that Moses talked with                            not I commanded thee ? Be strong and of a good courage ; be

     God face to face. Now that he was gone they realized that 90                           not afraid, neither be thou dismayed ; for the LORD thy God

     one would ever completely take his place. The intimate rela-                           is with thee whithersoever thou goest." With this there could

     tionship between Moses and God would never again be re-                                be no question in Joshua's heart but that he was appointed

     peated until the Messiah would come. In sorrow and .tears                              by God to take up the work of Moses, and that the blessing

     they mourned his departure.                                                            of God would sustain him as he went.

        Still it was not as though God had left them without a                                 Having heard thus from Jehovah, Joshua passed the com-
     leader. Almost from the time that they had left Egypt he had                           mand on to the people. He called to him the officers of the
     set aside Joshua to be the servant of Moses in a very special                          people and said, "Pass through the host, and command the
     sense. It was Joshua who had led the armies of Israel against                          people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days
     the Amalekites already at Rephidim. It was Joshua who had                              ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land,
     gone with Moses to Mount Sinai and had waited for him                                  which the LORD your God giveth you to possess it."

     there upon the mountain side for forty days and forty nights                              Again Joshua went specially to speak to the children of

     until Moses returned from talking to God. It was Joshua who                            Reuben, Gad, and n/Ianasseh who had taken up residence on

     zealously, even though mistakenly, had defended the exclusive                          the eastern shore of the Jordan. To them he said, "Remem-

     right of Moses to prophesy in Israel and sought to have                                ber the word which Moses the servant of the LORD com-

     those men silenced who prophesied in the camp apart from                               manded you, saying, The LORD your God hath given you

     Moses. Finally, and foremost, it had been Joshua who with                              rest, and hath given you this land. Your wives, your little

     Caleb had given the good report of the spies and had urged                             ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the:land  which lMoses

     the children of Israel to go into the land of promise in faith,                        gave you on. this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your

     rejecting the evil report of the ten. In all of this God had                           brethren armed, all the mighty men of valour,  and help them ;

     been preparing Joshua for the day when he would take up                                until the LORD have given your brethren rest, as he hath

     the leadership of the nation where Moses left off. In a way                            given you, and they also have possessed the land which the

     Joshua could never take the place of Moses. The intimate                               LORD your God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the

     relationship which Moses had known with God he would not                               land of your possession, and enjoy it, which Moses the

     have. But in another way he in his work rose above the ac-                             LORD's servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the

     complishments of Moses. While Moses had died without the                               sunrising."

     borders, it was Joshua who led the people into the land of                                To this they gave immediate answer, "All that thou com-

     rest and promise. As his name implied, he was "Jehovah's                               mandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B-EARER                                                            155


will go: According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things,         out hesitation or question she hurried them up unto the roof

so will we hearken unto thee: only the LORD thy God be               of the house and hid them under the stalks of flax which she

with thee, as he was with Moses. Whosoever he be that doth           had drying there. Only then did she let the soldiers in and

rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto             said to them, "There came men unto me, but I wist not

thy words in all that thou commandest  him, he shall be put          whence they were: and it came to pass about the time of

to death: only be strong and of a good courage." There was           shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went

no question but that they received Joshua in Moses' place            out: whither the men went I wot not: pursue after them

completely.                                                          quickly ; for ye shall overtake them."

    Still Joshua was making his plans carefully. It was im-             Here was a strange thing which they could not under-

portant that especially here at the beginning of his work he         stand. But they heard the soldiers leaving, and they heard

should show discretion in all that he did. He was very much          Rahab coming again to the roof of the house. But there was

concerned with what changes may have taken place in the              no need for them to ask. Of her own accord she began to

attitude of the inhabitants of Canaan since he had spied out         explain.    "I know that the LORD hath given you the land,

the land forty years before. But at the same time he was             and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the in-

fearful lest. some timid spies might return to discourage the        habitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard

people as had happened in the days of Moses. Thus he called          how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you

two young men to him secretly and without the knowledge              when ye came out of Egypt: and what ye did unto the two

of the people sent them forth as his own private investigators,      kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side of Jordan,

who were to report not to the people but to him personally.          Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. And as soon as

The command which he gave them was this, "Go view the                we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did

land, even Jericho."                                                 there remain any more courage in any man, because of you:

    Jericho was directly over the river from where Israel was        for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in

encamped and about eight miles from the river bank. The              earth beneath. Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by

men crossed the river secretly and then, pretending to be            the LORD, since I have shewed  you kindness, that ye will

Canaanites, walked calmly to the city of Jericho. It was a           also shew kindness unto my father's house, and give me a

rich and beautiful country which they observed on their way,         true token : and that ye will save alive my father, and my

with a semi-tropical growth of gardens and trees. Without            mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they

incident they passed through it and entered the city of Jeri-        have, and deliver our lives from death."

cho. Walking slowly through the streets of the city they                Here was a strange thing, the last thing which the spies

sought as best they could to judge the feeling of the people.        had expected to meet. They had come as spies of Israel into

As they did so two things became apparent. One was that              a heathen land of wicked inhabitants. They had turned to

the people were in a state of high agitation because of the          the lowliest of all the inhabitants of this Godless land, a

children of Israel encamped on the other side of the river.          harlot, hoping to find safety in her moral indifference. And

The other was that the people recognized them as strangers           what did they find ? -a woman ready to risk her own life

and looked upon them with suspicion. This latter fact left the       to hide them from the pursuing enemy- a woman with a

spies in a very bad position. The day had just about drawn           confession of faith in Jehovah their .God more strong and

to its end. For them at this hour of the day to try to leave         clear than that of many who had lived in the very midst of

the shelter of the city for the insecurity of the open fields        Israel for many years.           Even more, from her they learned

would have been a suspicious act which would in all likeli-          what they had come to find out. The witness of Jehovah and

hood result in their immediate capture. However, they could          His greatness had gone before them. Even here in this

hardly remain in the open streets after dark, and if they            heathen city it had its effect. Just about all of the inhabitants

would seek to take      lodging in a public inn it would give im-    of this city were struck with terror before the power of Israel
                  LIP 
mediate rise to inquiry concerning their nationality and their       which was closing in upon them. Still, it had only aroused

mission. This seemed to leave but one alternative. They              them to hate Israel more and to set themselves against them

sought out the home of a harlot in the hope that a woman             just as had done Sihon and Og. But in a few, namely, in

such as that would be indifferent to their nationality and           Rahab and her family, it had aroused the beginning of faith.

purpose in the city. Thus it was that they came into the             They were ready to renounce their places in this heathen

Jhome  of Rahab, a woman who lived on the city's wall.               nation and to take             the cause of Israel, even to the danger
                                                                                            LIP 
   The men were hardly prepared, however, for the closeness          of their own lives. Now, God in his infinite greatness and

with which danger was following them. Almost immediately             wisdom had brought them to the door of this very house to

there was a knock on the door of Rahab's house. The king             show to them what He in the powerful working of His Word

had already learned of their presence in the city and his            had already accomplished in this land. How could they doubt

soldiers had learned of their presence with Rahab. But               but that He in all of His greatness would surely cause that

neither were they prepared for the reaction of Rahab. With-          all of His promises would come to pass.                         B.W.


     156                                         T H E   ST~AND'ARD  BEARER


                                                                             fell down and wwshipped  him and when they had  opened

     11  F R O M   H O L Y   W R I T   11 tk& treamres,  they presepzted unto him gifts; gold, f~mk-
                                                                             incense and ,myrrh."  Matt. 2:1-11.
I                                                                       1
     I'
                                                                                 It is of importance to answer, first of all, the question who

                      Exposition of Matthew 2:1-12                           these wisemen  were. The Greek text calls them iklaggi  from the

                                                                             east.
            The Bible presents the coming of Christ into this world

     as the Son of God, and His reception from men as it truly is.               We should then notice that the text does not say that
                                                                             there were "three wisemen." This is the traditional view and
            In the first place, we may say that His coming into the
                                                                             the popular one. It is not supported in the actual wording
     world was the fulfilment of the gospel promise, which was
                                                                             of the text. That there were three is merely an inference
     first of all revealed by God in paradise, afterwards proclaimed         made from the threefold gifts presented to Christ: gold,
     through patriarchs and prophets, portrayed through sacrifices
                                                                             frankincense and myrrh. However, as far as the text is con-
     and other ceremonies of the law, and finally fulfilled in His
                                                                             cerned it could have been but two men, or ten or twenty.
     well-beloved Son.                                                       Nor does the text say that these  men were kings. The song

            Matthew presents this "becoming" of Christ in this world         which goes "We  three kings of Orient are" speaks indeed of

     as the salvation which is out of the Jews, from Abraham to              kings; however, the text itself says nothing concerning the

     David, from David to the Babylonian captivity, and from the             fact that they were kings. Neither of these two presentations

     Babylonian captivity to the birth of Christ. Christ came forth          rests upon solid exegesis of the text. And, again I must in-

     from the sawed-off trunk of Jesse. A virgin conceived and               sist that these wisemen  were not in Jerusalem and in Beth-

     bore a Son, and they called His Name JESUS. He is IM-                   lehem on the night of the nativity of Christ. Such we might

     M A N U E L ,   G o d - w i t h - u s .                                 gather from the free artistry on certain Christmas cards

           What is strikingly told us by Matthew in his Gospel, the          which we receive in the mail. Fact is, that the text gives
     second chapter, is the twofold attitude revealed: the attitude          reasonable assurance that Jesus was already two years old
     of faith and of unbelief in the Christ of God. This is a note-          when the Magi arrived in Bethlehem. For Jesus had already
     worthy fact already in Bethlehem, the city of David where               been circumcised on the eighth day,~  and presented by Mary
     Christ is born. On'the one hand there were the shepherds,               and Joseph on the fortieth day according to the law of Moses
     keeping watch over their flock by night. They are filled with           -prior to the coming of the Magi. For Christ is taken im-
     joy and proclaim the tidings far and wide that the Savior is            mediately after the appearance of the Magi to Egypt upon
     born ,unto them, `who is Christ the Lord. On the other hand             direction of an angel of the Lord in a dream to Joseph.

     there is unbelief which allows no room for Him, and upon                    So much for what we believe the text does not tell LIS
     whom comes the terrible judgment of the slaughter of their              concerning the Magi and their visit to Bethlehem.

     sons from two years old and under. When we turn to Jeru-                    It seems quite certain from the text that these men were

     salem, the city of the great King, we also find this twofold            Magi. They were not simply astronomers, men who studied

     attitude revealed. There were the aged Simeon and Anna in               the stars, but they were evidently astrologers ; they were men

     the temple waiting for the consolation of Israel on the one             who were pagans in background, steeped in the study of

     hand, and on the other we have Jerusalem, which is spiritually          the meaning of the constellation of the stars and their omens

     Sodom and Egypt, caring less about the Christ in the same               and meaning for history and special events. Fundamentally

     measure that they are assured that the Christ has come.                 they were no different than those who are engaged in the

           But there is possibly still another contrast. Is there not        dark cult of idolatry, the mysterious crafts of Satan, the so-

     a great contrast between the heathen wisemen  who come from             called "secrets" of the Orient, the Mysteries of Lodgism and

     afar and the Idumean Herod, that true son of Esau, who                  all "secret" societies. Was not Abraham called from beyond

     feigns interest in this Child, while he conspires to slay Him ?         the river, a Hebrew, from the idolatry of his father's house?

     What a contrast between these wisemen  from the east who                    Furthermore, they came from the east, or, as the Greek
     come with their treasures - gold, frankincense, myrrh, and              text has it, "from the risings of the sun." They may have
     their humble and believing adoration-and the attitude of                come from Babylon, Persia, Media. No definite land is in-
     *evil  Herod.                                                           dicated. Evidently, it was not important that we should know

            How simple and wondrous is the account of Matthew:               this exact detail. I like to think that they came from the

     ."llrozv  when Jesus- was born in Bethlehem of Jztdea  in thr           midst of the "dispersed Jews," the eastern Dispersion, from

     days of Herod  the k&g, behold  them came                               the home of Ezekiel and Daniel who prophesied in that
                                                        wisemen  from
     the east to Jerusdeuut,  saying,  where Ir he that is born k,ing        strange country, when the pious did hang their harps upon
     .of the Jews? for we hame  seen his sta,r  Gn  the east, and are        the willows at the streams of Babylon, and wept ! They were

     .come  to worship him. ., . . And when they zvere co'me  i,nto  the     men who somehow must have come into contact with the

     ho,use,  they sazv &%F                                                  "oracles of God" which spoke of the Christ which was to
                            young ch.iid  zvitlz iU!a,ry  his mother, and


                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                157


          be born, the Son which was to be given, upon whose shoulders       saying: I see Him but not now, behold! a star shall rise in

          would be the government, whose Name is Wonderful, Coun-            Jacob. Here is the day-spring from on high !

          selor,  the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of         Their hope is not put to shame.

          peace! They must have known about the seventy weeks of                Herod  summons the scribes of the people and the priests.
          the vision of Daniel and concerning the Christ which was to        They find the passage in Micah 5 :2. It is in Bethlehem-
          come, "King of the Jews."                                          Ephratha. Here is born One whose going forth is from

             For notice that these were men who had faith-saving             eternity. And they depart and wend their way toward Beth-
                                                                             lehem. Here the angels had c$roled  on that wondrous night ;
          faith, justifying faith ; they had a/ faith that worked by love
                                                                             here David had kept the sheep of his father, from which
          which was shed in their hearts by the Holy Spirit and which
                                                                             sheep-tote he had been fetched by God Himself, the man after
          is worked by God through the preaching of the Gospel. Their
                                                                             God's heart. Ah, here Ruth the Moabitess had gleaned in
          faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of
                                                                             Boaz' barley fields during the time of harvest, and he had
          things not seen. For, mark you well, their faith was such
                                                                             become her Goel, here in the land of Immanuel!
          that it combined spiritual things with spiritual, it combined

          the sign of the "star" with the fulfilment of the word oE             See these Magi walk. And suddenly, "behold, the star

          promise concerning the Messiah which was to come. For              that they had seen in the east went before ihem until it stood

          do these men not appear in Jerusalem with the certain coli-        over the place where the young child was."

          fidence that the King of the Jews "is born," and that He is           What a joy of heart this afr'orded  these earnest seekers !

          born with the intent of becoming the renowned King, prom-             After this long journey and  the experiencing of the cal-
          ised in the prophetic word? They say to>  Herod: Where is          loused indifference of the custodians of the Oracles, it must
          He that is born King of the Jews ; for we have seen His            have pleased these Magi no end that God confirms the read-
          star in the east and are come to worship Him! They are as          ing of the prophecy with the appearance of His wondrous
          certain of the fulfilment of prophecy as were the shepherds        "Star," prepared by Him.1    Had God's face not gone before
          "that this thing had come to pass," told them by the angels.
     I                                                                       Israel in the desert, the cloud of His presence? Is this star

             Besides, these Magi believe that this King of the Jews          not the symbol of the hope of the new day ; is it not the
          is worthy of worship. He is God. He is the mighty God; He          harbinger of the eternal morning in the benighted life of these
          is the true God and eternal life. Furthermore, there is not        erstwhile pagans ?

          any doubt in their mind that Jerusalem ought to know about            As they enter the house they see the Child and Mary His

          the birth of this long foretold King; that His birth has           mother. And they open their treasures. Their coffers are

          peculiar and unique meaning for this city of the great King.       opened. And what a gift. They were gold, frankincense and

                                                                             myrrh. All of these were gifts which are associated with the
I            And thus in faith these Magi are earnest seekers.
                                                                             altar of dedication in the Temple. Was not the altar over-

             Small wonder that Matthew writes-about the appearance           laid with pure gold, and is f&&incense  not the symbol of

          of these men on the streets of Jerusalem, at such a time as        the God-accepted sacrifice of the lips and prayers, and myrrh

          Jesus' birth.    "Behold, there appear wise men from the           is that not which we associate with a King Divine?

          East"! This was truly a unique phenomenon. It was the                 And they worship !
          fulfilment of Scripture itself.     For these do not come as          It was not very long. They soon return to their owu
          captives of war behind the triumphal wagon in the procession       country. We never read of them again. They  evidently
          of some worldly monarch and conqueror, but they come               returned to their own country. But now with Simeon they
          drawn by the inner compulsion of the love of God and faith         can depart in peace for their eyes have seen the Savior. Many
          wrought by the Holy Spirit.        And they ask: Where is H.e      generations desired to see this from Eve till now. But it
          that is born King of the Jews ? They seek the Savior. This         was withheld from their eyes. And God suffered the heathen
          is not merely an intellectual quest, for they do not rest until    to walk in their own ways. But wondrous grace, here is the
          they have seen the Lord's Christ! They came to ZUOY.X~~:$          firstfruits of the full harvest of the Gentile world, you and
          Him. What a longing, a hunger and  a holy thirst of the soul.      I. Were not my father's fathers pagans; were we not in-
          Is not this Christ the hope of Israel and the light of the         grafted in, and did we not turn from Woden, that dumb idol,
          nations ? ! All else has failed to satisfy the longing of their    to the worship of the living God in Christ, God-with-us, Im-
          heart, the need of their souls. The secrets of heathen cults do    manuel ?
          not show them God; but here is the Mystery of God, hid in             And now we pour out our heartfelt jojis before the
          God before endless ages, but now manifest in the fulness  ot`      throne: worthy is the Lamb!
          time ! He is not a greaf teacher amongst other teachers ; here
                                                                                It is the new song which the redeemed of the Lamb have
          lies in Bethlehem, in the.arms  of the blessed among women,
                                                                             learned to sing by grace.
          the Redeemer, the Goel of Israel and of the Nations, who

          Abraham saw from afar, and of whom Baalam  prophesied                                                                         G.L.


158                                           T H E     S ,T. A N D A G-e  D :B E A R E R


                                                                         parents smiling to hear that their children have absorbed

              IN  H I S   F E A R                                        some of the sins of the world. Why is it that parents will
                                                                         become greatly alarmed when the child's temperature reaches

                                                                         106 degrees; but his sinful speech and evil practices amuse

                                                                         them as cute little tricks ? But, as we began to say, there are

                        Righteous Wrath                                  those who by nature are slow to anger who also in the spirit-

                                                                         ual sense of the word ark slow to wrath. They can live with

                                                                         sin. Oh, the grossest forms they will notice, and they will
                                  (4)
                                                                         speak a few words against  it; but for the greater part they

                                                                         can tolerate heresies and sins. Let us beware of this.
       Let us be sure that it is a righteous wrath.
                                                                            In the first plade,  therefore, we ought to examine our-
       It is not difficult to'be  filled with wrath. But unless it is
                                                                         selves when we are filled with wrath to determine whether
a righteous wrath, it is to be condemned in no uncertain                 it is wrath against sin, and whether it is wrath against false
terms. Jesus says in Matthew 5 22, "But I say unto you, That             cloctrines  that are being practiced and taught. The disciples
whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be             were displeased when women brought their children to Jesus
in danger of the judgment." Of course, one is never angry
                                                                         to have Him bless them. They were wrong. They were oh,
without a cause. The idea is that one is angry without a                 so wrong ! And though they did not in so many words accuse
good cause, without a righteous cause.                                   these mothers of a sinful walk, they were displeased without

       Let us be sure, then, that we are right in our anger.             a good cause. Jesus needed to show them that they, not the

                                                                         mothers, were mistaken.
       Let us first of all then do a little self examination and

search our own hearts and souls. One who is quickly angry,                  We may remember first of all that sin does not consist

one who can be moved to boil with rage at the drop of a                  in the thing. The sin was not in the golden calf that Aaron

hat had better be quick also to diagnose his anger and stifle            made but in the hearts of the Israelites who used it as a

it when it proves itself to be an anger of the flesh. Let us be          representation of Jehovah. Paul tells Timothy in I Timothy

sure that' it is not a personal slight, insult or injury that            4 :4 that "every creature of God is good, and nothing to be

moves us rather than a righteous cause. One can fight for                refused, if it be received with thanksgiving." There are cer-

one's own pet interpretation or way of stating a fact and fly            tain objects such as clothing - or the lack of it today - that

into a rage when others express it differently and then be               may be used in sinful way.     But the sin is not in that clo,th,
guilty of an unrighteous wrath. Paul and Barnabas had a                  that material. It is in the heart of the man or woman who

contention about the taking of John Mark along on the sec-               uses it for a sinful purpose. If we take the position that sin

ond missionary journey. It became so hot that they had to                is in the things themselves, there is nothing left for us to use

separate and each take his own man along. It could not have              and to receive with thanksgiving. The beatnik has his beard

been righteous wrath for both. And we do well when we feel               and his mustache. Hence all those who-even for a day or

anger rising to ask ourselves whether our displeasure is one             two - sport either a beard or mustache are walking in sin ! ! !
of the flesh or of the spirit.                                           The gangster has his gun ; hence the policeman who also

                                                                         wears one is a criminal and ought to be the object of our
       There is, of course, also the opposite danger. There are
those who naturally are slow to anger. You can walk all over             rebuke when we meet him !-! ! ! Many of the Hollywood
                                                                         "stars"
them, and they will take it in meekness. These will likewise                        (but they do not shine except in filth) smoke their
let you have your heresies and evil practices and never rebuke           pipes with regularity. Hence the man who does likewise is
you or raise a voice in protest. And we do wrong when we                 to be called an immoral advocate of trial marriages, divorce
call such charitable. For it is a weakness of character rather           and all the rest ! ! ! No, let us be careful in our evaluation and
than the true meekness of the child of God. In many respects             not become angry because of THINGS. Sin is in the heart,
there is all too much of that in the church today. Even among            and the natural man can -use nothing aright.  But a child of
people who are quick tempered and feel their blood boil at               God may and can by God's grace use all things to His glory.
a moment's notice. These are often spiritually very slow to              He may have to smash the object to pieces as Moses had to
anger.     They know no spiritual displeasure or even                    do with the golden calf. But there are also many objects
                                                             danger.
Why is it that parents, who would be frightened                          used by the world to further themselves in their corruption
                                                        exceedingly
to hear that their children were exposed to polio, are not at            that the child of God may use to God's glory and receive from
all disturbed to learn that their children have' been                    Him with thankfulness. How true of all the musical in-
                                                            exposed
to false doctrines and godless practices ? Their children they           struments used for carnal dances and yet capable of use in
will scrub immediately with soap and water. They will take               the church. Think of the organ and trumpet.

them to the doctor for shots and watch them oh, so carefully                Let us be sure that our displeasure and criticism is due to

for days to see that nothing' comes of it. Yet we often find             a righteous'wrath rather than a personal like or dislike and


                                          T H E    S T A ti D A R D -`B E-A R E R                                                 159


ask ourselves whether we are not also using objects used by        de@&  to advocate these same evils? That does make a dif-

evil men.                                                          ference.

   In the second place a righteous wrath will never show               Even then we ought to determine how much is ignorance

itself in a haughty,      "I-know-it-betterithan-you" attitude.    and how much is willful departure. If after repeated instruc-

What we have, we also have received. What we are, we owe           tion and a series of admonitions one still holds fast to one's

to God. A righteous wrath will never ignore this fact. Per-        sin and false doctrine, it can no longer be called ignorance.

haps we have received grace from God to see a matter more          If one refuses to go ahead because of fleshly considerations,

clearly. Perhaps He has graced us to see the truth more            after it has been made plain to him that this is the only way

quickly than the other. Perhaps we are even by His grace           to walk by faith, it may no longer be called the way of cau-

more spiritual than the brother. Will a righteous displeasure      tion. God called Moses at the burning bush, gave him signs

with sin and the lie produce patience with the brother who         and answered all his objections. And when Moses still per-

does not yet see it, or to a sweeping denunciation of him as       sisted that God ought to send someone else, we read, "And

a faithless, unspiritual and worthless church member?              the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses . . ." Ex-

   Remember that very often in Holy Writ men, who are              odus 4:14. Indeed ! Moses refused to go the way of faith

mentioned in Hebrews 11 as "heroes" of faith, had to ask           after a direct and personal call by God with God's oral prom-

God for more than one sign because they were not ready to          ise to give him the victory. It could no longer be called

go forward in faith. Moses was showered with si,ons at the         ignorance. It was a sinful refusal. And that same anger may

burning bush before he finally went to Pharaoh. At the Reel        be in the church when those, who profess to be God's chil-

Sea- after ten tremendous plagues -he still called upon            dren, persist in their evil after repeated instruction and ad-

God, .and  God said to him, "Wherefore criest  thou unto me ?      monition. Especially is this true when they refuse to listen

speak to the children of Israel that they go forward." Exodus      to such instruction and admonition. Then the anger grows

14:15. Even Moses did not pay attention to that pillar oE          into a righteous wrath.

fire that had begun to go across the Red Sea, which cloud              And that church is far safer that is moved to righteous
they were to follow. Gideon, who is also mentioned in              wrath at the appearance and practice of sin than that church
Hebrews 11 had to ask for more than one sign, and the sign         that can harbor and tolerate these sinful actions. The former
of the fleece and the dew in reverse order before he was           shows spiritual life. The latter shows either spiritual death,

ready. Yet he is called a "hero" of faith; and a man of faith      if the unconcern is total, or tremendous spiritual sickness and

he most assuredly was.                                             weakness. Such a church may find the need of an ecumenical

   No, righteous wrath does not move to impatience. It car-        movement to try to get a little "life" into its dying frame. It
ries the weak and instructs him further till he arrives at the     may seek a transfusion in the way of further coriuption:
stage of spiritual growth we desire to see. God Who always is      letting go even more of the truth in order to make the merger.
filled with righteous wrath is very patient with His people.       But it will prove to .be a poisonous transfusion ; and bloocl

The Canons of Dordrecht in Chapter 1, the 16th article also        will be introduced that will ultimately kill the church.

declares this in connection with the doctrine of election and          The only proper union, the only beneficial one, the only
reprobation in these words, "Much less cause have they to be       Scriptural one is that which results from a common desire
terrified by the doctrine of reprobation, who, though they         to maintain the fine points of the truth. Only those churches
seriously desire to be turned to God, to please Him only, and      that have a healthy conscience can possibly realize the one-

to be delivered from the body of death, cannot yet reach that      ness of which Christ speaks in John 17 :ll. For Jesus speaks

measure of holiness and faith to which they aspire; since a        of the oneness between His Father and Himself. And they

merciful God has promised that He will not quench the              are one in their utter abhorrence of all sin and every form

smoking flax, nor break the bruised reed. But this doctrine        of the lie.

is justly terrible to those, who, regardless of God and of the                                                                 J.A.H.

Saviour Jesus Christ, have wholly given themselves up to the

cares of this world, and the pleasures of the flesh, so long

as they are not seriously converted."                                             Long the clouds of evil lower;

   Indeed, that does make a difference. The man who knew                            Bless us now with gladsome  days;

better and departs from his sound doctrine is in quite a dif-                     Let Thy servants see Thy power,

ferent category from the man who gropes to see the. light,                          Let their children learn Thy praise.
who wrestles with a problem and is not sure of either the                         On us let the grace and beauty
doctrine or the walk which should be his. We can be filled
                                                                                    Of the Lord our God remain,
with righteous wrath when we see the world walk in its sin,
speak its atheistic philosophies and evolutionistic theories.                     Strengthen us for noble duty

But how much more when that which calls itself the church                           That our work be not in vain.


I    160                                           T H E   S-TANDA.RD   B E A R E R
I

                                                                                of original sin, and to restore that grace forfeited by our first

               Contending For The Faith                                         parents which is absolutely necessary for the attaining of our
                                                                          I     eternal destiny.     Christ Himself insisted that one must be

                                                                                born again of water and the Holy Ghost.


                 The Church and the Sacraments                                      801. How can a man be born again?

                                                                                    Just as the soul is the life of the body, so grace is the
                 THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION
                                                                                `life of the soul in the supernatural order. Now life is attained

                      V I E W S   O N   T H E   C H U R C H                     by birth. We are born into this earthly existence from our

                                                                                earthly parents. But we are born without the principle of
                      BAPTISh!I   ( R O M I S H   V I E W )                     God's grace which carries with it a right to a life of eternal

                                                                                happiness with God. Thus a man must be born into the life
            The Roman Catholic view of the sacrament of Baptism is
                                                                                of grace by water and the Holy Ghost, if he wishes to p.ossess
     set forth in the canons and decrees of the Council of Trent,
                                                                                the birth-right to eternal supernatural happiness.
     adopted in the seventh session of this council, as follows:

            Canon I. -" If any one saith, that the baptism of John had              802.     Do you insist that Baptism is necessary to salvation ?

     the same force as the baptism of Christ: let him be ana-                       Yes. Christ came to save men, and He has the right to
     thema."                                                                    dictate the conditions of salvation. If      offered me a fortune
                                                                                                                         you 
            Canon II. - "If any one saithi  that true and natural               provided I would go to London via Suez, particularly in-

     water is not of necessity for baptism, and, on that account,               sisting that I should go via Suez, it would be little use my

     wrests, to some sort of metaphor, those words of our Lord                  saying, t`Oh, I'll go via  Panama : it's a much more sensible

     Jesus Christ: Un&.ss  a wLap&  be bow agazh  of                            route."
                                                               water and the                 You would reply, "But I want you to go via! Suez,
     Holj  Ghost: let him be anathema."                                         or there will be no fortune." Now Christ distinctly com-

            Canon IV. - "If any one saith, that the baptism which is            manded Baptism as a condition of salvation, and no argu-
     even given by heretics in the name of the Father, and of the               ments of men, who cannot save us, are of any avail against
     Son, and of the Holy Ghost, with the intention of doing what               the authority of Christ. It is necessary to be baptized, or we
     the Church doth, is not true baptism: let him be anathema."                shall never see God and rejoice in the happiness of Heaven.

            Canon V. - "If any one saith, that baptism is free, that                803. Then are all the unbaptized lost, whether it be

     is, not necessary unto salvation: let him be anathema."                    their own fault or not?

            Canon VII. - "If any one saith, that the baptized are                   No one will ever be lost save through his own fault. Christ

     freed from all the precepts, whether written or transmitted,               is God, and, as God, can work with secondary causes or

     of holy Church, in such wise that they are not bound to ob-                without them. The ordinary means of salvation is by Bap-

     serve them, unless they have chosen of their own accord to                 tism, and one who is convinced of the necessity of Baptism

     submit themselves thereunto : let him be anathema."                        yet deliberately refuses to receive it cannot be saved. But

                                                                                God can supply the grace usually given by Baptism, and does
            Canon XII. - "If any one saith, that no one is to be
                                                                                so without the actual sacramental rite in two cases. If an
     baptized save at that age at which Christ was baptized, or in
                                                                                unbaptized person dies a martyr for Christ he is credited with
     the very article of death: let him be anathema."
                                                                                Baptism of blood. Baptism of desire counts for the man who
            Canon XIII. - "If any one saith, that little children, for          repents of his sins and dies with the sincere will to do God's
     that they have not actual faith, are not, after having received            will, yet who, through no fault of his own, does not realize
     baptism, to be reckoned amongst the faithful; and, that, for               the necessity of actual Baptism by water, or is unable to re-
     this cause, they are to be rebaptized when they have attained              ceive it.     (In this connection, one might ask an interesting
     to years of discretion ; or, that it is better that the baptism            question ? If Baptism, the baptism by water, is necessary for
     of such be omitted, than that, while not believing by their                the destruction of original sin and to restore that grace for-
     own act, they should be baptized in the faith alone of the                 feited by our first parents, which is absolutely necessary for
     Church: let him be anathema."                                              the attaining of our eternal destiny, how is it possible for an

            Of interest is also what we read in the Radio Replies of            unbaptized person to repent of his sins and die with the

     the Fathers Rumble and Carty, as they answer questions put                 sincere will to do God's will? - H.V.)

     to them in connection with the sacrament of baptism. In                        804. Would you explain more fully this Baptism of de-
     Volume I of these Replies Questions 800-512  treat this sub-               sire ?
     ject as follows :
                                                                                    Every human being has a conscience which dictates a
            800. You connect Baptism with original sin?                         natural law of moral obligation at least when he comes to the

        Yes. Baptism was instituted by Christ for the destruction               age of reason. If. a pagan knows nothing of Christianity,


                                           T H E   STAN-DA.RD   B E A R E R                                                  161


and is ignorant of it through no fault of his own, he can at       natural grace which is not due to human nature, and without

least repent of his personal sins against his conscience, and      which no one can enter Heaven. Christ offers that super-

desire to do the right thing. God gives every man the grace        natural grace to such of Adam's children as receive Baptism.

to do this much. Now we know that a man should receive             It is His sheer goodness that He does so, and those who have

Baptism. If the pagan knew this he would receive Baptism.          been baptized have but to congratulate themselves. Unbap-

This sincere desire to do all-that God would require implicitly    tized infants, who have never committed any personal sins,

includes the desire of Baptism, and God takes the will for the     will never endure any actual and positive suffering. But they

deed, granting sanctifying grace. Thus such a pagan would          will be content with natural happiness only, and will not be

be saved. As is clear, anyone who has attained to the use of       able to complain that they do not possess the supernatural

reason would be capable of this Baptism of desire. (In this        happiness of seeing God face to face, and being happy with

connection, the undersigned would make the following com-          His own supreme happiness. If I bestow a gift upon a beggar

ments. When, in the preceding answer the Fathers Rumble            in the presence of another, that other cannot tell me that I

and Carty declare that none is lost save through his own sin,      am obliged in justice to give him a gift also. Since the fall

although it remains true that all fault lies with the sinner,      of the human race? we are all beggars before God as regards

they nevertheless give expression to the Roman Catholic doc-       supernatural happiness. I admit that it wouId  be unjust if a

trine which denied Divine reprobation. And in this answer          child innocent of any personal sin had to suffer the miseries

Roman Catholicism gives expression to its teaching of Pela-        of Hell. But such is not Catholic doctrine, as I have ex-

gianism.    God, we read, gives every sinner the grace to be       plained. (Here we surely have a strange concoction of Roman

able to repent of his sin. This simply means that the sinner       Catholic sophistry. How Roman Catholicism maintains its

is not dead in sins and in trespasses as apart from regenerat-     conception of the sacrament of Baptism, connecting regenera-

ing grace. The grace which the Lord gives him is not sancti-       tion with that sacrament, and thereby connecting regeneration

fying grace, but merely the grace to be able to feel sorry for     with the Roman Catholic hierarchy ! In Answer 80.5 the

his sins. This reminds us of the Heynsian conception of the        Fathers Rumble and Carty had stated that no unbaptized in-

sacrament of. baptism, which also taught that at baptism each      fant can enter Heaven. And in Answer 803 they had declared

child receives from God the ability to accept the gospel and       that all unbaptized are lost. Now we know that the Scrip-

the offer of salvation which would be extended to him in           tures speak only of Heaven and Hell. There is no other

the preaching of the gospel. And we would also like to point       destiny for the children of men. So, an unbaptized person

out that this answer declares that a heathen knows nothing         does not enter Heaven and must be lost. It is true that the

of Christianity and is ignorant of it through no fault of his      Romish view speaks of the baptism of desire, but this, we

own. This is surely contrary to the teachings of the Word          understand, does not apply to infants. They cannot have this

of God in Romans 1 where the present condition of the              baptism of desire. And now we are told in Answer SO6 that

heathen world is directly attributed to the fact that the          the question of injustice is not involved in the presentation

heathens rejected God and refused to acknowledge Him Who           that an unbaptized infant should be lost through no fault of

was clearly revealed to them.)                                     its own. In Answer 803 these Romish leaders tell us that no

                                                                   man is lost except through his own fault. And now in this
   805. Then an unbaptized infant cannot attain Heaven7            answer they grant that an infant does not enter into Heaven

   An unbaptized infant cannot attain Heaven. Christ has           through no fault of his own. Only, they concoct the fantastic

said very definitely, "Unless one be born again . . . he cannot    theory that such a child does not enter heaven or hell, and

enter the Kingdom of God." Jn. III, 3. I am not more severe        that he enters a place of eternal natural happiness. And the

than Christ in my denial.        He declares that the ordinary     Scriptures teach that all men are born dead in sins and

principle of life received by human generation is insufficient.    trespasses, and that all are worthy of eternal damnation. j

We must receive an additional life of grace by baptismal re-
                                                                       807. Do you suggest a special state for unbaptized in-
birth. An unbaptized infant has received natural life only
                                                                   fants ?
and had one birth only. If it dies without Baptism it has no
claim to the supernatural happiness of Heaven. (Here the               Yes. We call it the Limbo of unbaptized children. The

Roman Catholic view is set forth that no unbaptized infant         word Limbo is derived from the Latin word Lhbus,  which
can enter into Heaven. Of course, the truth of John 3 :2           means a bordering place. Limbo is an intermediate state of

stands, but Roman Catholicism connects this spiritual rebirth      purely natural happiness. In that state unbaptized children

with the sacrament of baptism.)                                    will receive all the happiness proportionate to their natural

                                                                   capacity. (Imagine such a conception ! This natural happiness

   806. Is it not unjust that such a child should be lost          certainly excludes God and fellowship with God. Imagine

through no fault of its own ?                                      children who will be happy forever, merely naturally, without

   Injustice is not involved in this question. When treating       God and His Christ and His fellowship ! - H.V.)

of original sin I explained how such a child lacks that super-                                                             I-T.V.


162                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                      ,~

                                                                     of early Christianity. It was explained to the catechumens

          The Voice of Qur Fathers                             1     at the last stage of their preparation, professed by them at
                                                                     baptism often repeated, with the Lord's Prayer, for private

                                                                     devotion, and afterwards introduced into public service. It
                   The Belgic Confession                             was called by the ante-Nicene fathers `the rule of faith,' `the

                                                                     rule of truth,' `the apostolic tradition,' `the apostolic preach-
                              VIII (continued)
                   ARTICLE                                           ing,' afterwards `the symbol of faith.' But this baptismal

The Trinity im he Conjessdons                                        Creed was at first not precisely the same. It assumed different

                                                                     shapes and forms in different congregations.
       It is probably better for the sake of background and com-                                                         Some were
                                                                     longer, some shorter ; some declarative, some interrogative
parison, that we call attention to the ecumenical confessions
                                                                     in the form of questions and answers. Each of the larger
concerning the Trinity at this stage of our discussion. These
                                                                     churches adapted the nucleus of the apostolic faith to its
are actually mentioned in another connection in Article IX.
                                                                     peculiar circumstances and wants ; but they all agreed in the
But it is well to mention them here, in order that we may see
                                                                     essential articles of faith, in the,general  order of arrange-
our own Nether-land Confession in its relation to these creeds.
                                                                     ment on the basis of the baptismal-formula, and in the prom-
Incidentally, it would be beneficial that not only our Apostles'
                                                                     inence given to Christ's death and resurrection. We have an
Creed, but also the. Nicene Creed and the so-called Athana-
                                                                     illustration in the modern practice of Independent or Con-
Sian  Creed be printed in any future edition of our liturgy.
                                                                     gregational and Baptist churches in America, where the same
These confessions belong to us in common with the entire
                                                                     liberty of framing particular congregational creeds (`cov-
Christian church ; they are truly ecumenical in character.
                                                                     enants,' as they are called, or forms of profession and en-
They are mentioned in our Belgic Confession, moreover; and
this mention has no significance for Reformed believers un-          gagement, when members are received into full communion)
less they have access to these creeds. And, besides, most of         is exercised to a much larger extent than it was in the
                                                                     primitive ages.
our people have no easy access to the confessions in question.
It would be very appropriate, therefore, if these creeds would          "The first accounts we have of these primitive creeds are
be included in the future. Besides, their formulation is worth-      merely fragmentary. The ante-Nicene fathers give us not the
while studying.                                                      exact and full formula, but only some articles with descrip-
                                                                     tions, defenses, explications, and applications. The creeds
    The first of these creeds mentioned in Article IX is the
Apostles' Creed, well-known to us all not only because of its        were committed to memory, but not to writing. This fact is
liturgical use in our churches, but also because it forms the        to be explained from the `Secret Discipline' of the ante-
                                                                     Nicene Church. From fear of profanation and misconstruc-
basis of the discussion and teaching of a large section of our
                                                                     tion by unbelievers (not, as some suppose, in imitation of the
Heidelberg Catechism. It is to be remembered, however, that
the Apostles' Creed, at least in the form in which we have it,       ancient heathen Mysteries), the celebration of the sacraments
was not first in order of time, and did not come into general        and the baptismal creed, as a part of the baptismal act, were
                                                                     kept secret among the communicant members until the Church
use in the form in which we have it until about the eighth
                                                                     triumphed in the Roman Empire.
century. Because it is well known, we need not quote it here.
But because this creed did not especially come into being               "The first writer in the West who gives us the. text
through a process of controversy,~  but rather grew up in the        of the Latin creed, with a commentary, is Rufinus, towards
consciousness of the church, it is interesting to trace its his-     the close of the fourth century.

tory, and to observe how from the beginning there was a                 "The most- complete or most popular forms. of- the bap-

trinitarian consciousness in the. church. We quote the ac-           tismal creed in use from that time in the West were those

count of Philip Schaff  in "Creeds of Christendom," .Volume          of the churches of Rome, Aquileja, Milan, Ravenna, Carthage,

I, pp. 16, ff.                                                       and Hippo. They differ but little. Among these, again, the

    "As to the origin of the Apostles' Creed, it no doubt            Roman formula gradually gained general acceptance in the

gradually grew out of the confession of Peter, Matt. 16:16,          West for its intrinsic excellence, and on account of the corn-.

which furnished its nucleus (the article on Jesus Christ),           manding  position of the Church of Rome. We know the

and out of the baptismal formula, which determined the               Latin text from Rufinus (390),  and the Greek from Mar-

trinitarian order and arrangement. It can not be traced to an        cellus  of Ancyra (336-341). The Greek text is usually re-

individual author. It is the product of the Western Catholic         garded as a translation, but is probably older than the Latin,

Church (as the Nicene Creed is that of the Eastern Church)           and may date from the second century, when the Greek lan-

within the first four centuries. It is not of primary, apostolic,    guage prevailed in the Roman congregation.

but of secondary, ecclesiastical inspiration. It is not a word          "This Roman creed was gradually enlarged by several

of God to men, but a word of men to God, in response to              clauses from older or contemporaneous forms, viz., the article

his revelation. It was originally and essentially a buptdmml         `descended into Hades' (taken from the Creed of Aquileja),

confes&or,  growing out of the inner life and practical needs        the predicate `catholic' or `general,' in the article on the


                                                   T H E   STAN-"DAliD,--TZ:EA,RER                                                                        q63


Church (borrowed from Oriental creeds), `the communion                      And sitteth on the right hand of the Father;              .-.
                                                                            And he shall come again, with glory,                    .<\
of saints' (from Gallican sources), and the concluding `life                   to judge the quick and the dead;
everlasting' (probably from the symbols of the churches of                  Whose kingdom shall have no end.
                                                                            And I believe in the Holy Ghost,                 z::                    ._
Ravenna and Antiochj. These additional clauses were no                      The Lord, and Giver of life;
doubt part of the general faith, since they' are taught in the              Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son;
                                                                            Who with the Father and the Scm  together.
Scriptures, but they were first expressed in local creeds, and                 is worshipped and glorified;
it was some time before they found a place in the authorized                Who spake by the Prophets.
                                                                            And I believe in one holy catholic and
formula.                                                                       apostolic Church;                                             .<
   "If we regard, then, the present text of the Apostles'                   I acknowledge one baptism for the                       _ _: j
                                                                               remission of sins: -
Creed as a complete whole, we can hardly trace it beyond                    And I look for the resurrection of the dead;
the sixth, certainly not beyond the close of the fifth century,             And the life of the world to come."

and its triumph over all the other forms in the Latin Church            Finally, Article IX makes mention of the Athanasian

was not completed till the eighth century, or about the time         Creed, now generally conceded not to be Athanasian, and

when the bishops of Rome strenuously endeavored to con-              sometimes referred to as the Symbolum Quicunque. Its Trin-

form the liturgies of the Western churches to the Roman              itarian section is as follows:

order. But if we look at the several articles of the Creed              "Whosoever will be saved: before all things it is neces-

separately, they are all of Nicene or ante-Nicene origin,            sary that he hold the Catholic Faith: Which Faith except

while its kernel goes back`to  the.  apostolic age. All the facts    every one do keep whole and undefiled: without doubt he

and doctrines whi.ch it contains, are in entire agreement with       shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholic Faith is this :

the New  Testament. And. this is true even of those articles         That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity ;

which have been most assailed in recent times, as the super-         Neither confounding, the Persons : nor dividing the Substance.

natural conception of our Lord (camp. Matt. 1 :l&; Luke              For there is one Per,son  of the .Father  : another of the Son:

1:35), the descent into Hades (camp.  Luke 23 :43 ; Acts 2:31;       and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead- of. the

I Pet. 3 :19 ; 4 :6), and the resurrection of the body (I Cor.       Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is: all one:, the

15 :20, sqq., and other places) ."                                   Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal, Such as the Father is:

   Such, then, is the history of this beautifully simple little      such is the Son: and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father

creed which still has a large place in the hearts of God's           uncreate: the Son uncreate: and the Holy Ghost undreate,.

children. And this history shows very plainly that from ear-         The Father incomprehensible: the Son incomprehensible : and

liest times the confession of the church of our Lord Jesus           the Holy Ghost inComprehensible.  The Father eternal: the

Christ was trinitarian, so thoroughly trinitarian that the           Son eternal: and the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet t&y ;are

whole arrangement of the Apostles' Creed is determined by it.        not three eternals: but one eternai. As `also there are,&

   The background of the Nicene Creed we shall not give at           three untreated:  nor three incomprehensibles,  but one un-

this time. That background lay in controversy, and the dis-          created: and one incomprehensible. So likewise the Father

cussion of this matter belongs to Article IX. We will quote          is Almighty: the Son Almighty: and the Holy Ghost Al-

it here, however, and that in its enlarged and revised for-n;,       mighty. And yet they are not three AIrnighties:  but one Al-

which dates not from the Council of Nicea, 325 A.D., but             mighty. So the Father is Gox:`the  Son is God: and the Holy

from the Council of Constantinople, 381 A.D. For this reason         Ghost is God. And yet they are not three Gods: but one

it is sometimes referred to as the Niceno-Constantinopolitan         God. So 1ikewise"the'Father  is Lord.;, the Son Lord: and the

Creed. It is as follows (in its Western form) :                      Holy Ghost Lord. And,  yet not'  &ree `Lords : but one Lord.

                                                                     For like as we ark' $mpelle,d.~$  the Christian verity: to
      "I believe in One God The Father Almighty,           ,_
       Maker of heaven and earth,                                    acknowledge ever>  `Person by,.  ;h;r$elf  to be God and `Lord :
       And of all things visible and invisible.                      So are we forbidden,by  the, C$hol$c  Religion : to say, There
       And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
            the only begotten Son of God,                            be three Gods, or three Lords:: Th$.~~ather  is made of none :
       ~ogdott~~~he  Father before all worlds;                       neither created, nor begotten;-,The,  S.O~Y+ is o,f the Father alone:

       Light of Light,                                               not made, nor created: but `begotten. The Holy Ghost is of
       Very God of very God,                                         the Father and of the Son: n&r made, nor created, nor
       Begotten, not made,
       Being of one `substance with the Father;                      begotten : but proceeding. So there is -one  Father, not three
       By whom all things were made;                                 Fathers : one Son, not three Sons : one Holy Ghost, not $ree
       Who, for us men, and for our salvation,
            came down from heaven,                                   Holy Ghosts. And in this Trinity none is afore,  or after
       And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of                        another : none is greater, or less than another. But the whole
            the Virgin Mary,
  .I:,:  And was made man;                                           three Persons are coeternal, and coeq&l. So that in all things,
       He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate;                 as aforesaid: the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity,
       And suffered and was buried;
       And the third day he rose again,                              is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be. saved, must
                                                                                                                      . .
       According to the Scriptures;                                  thus think of the Trinity."                                                   H.C.H.
       And ascended into heaven,       "' ' "-' - "'


1    6    4                                T H E -   S T A N D A R D   B.EARER


                                                                      grace theory are already plainly visible in the life of the

     DEthKY                     a n d   O R D E R   11 Church."
                                                                         Once more we quote from page 79. "The real view of this

                                                                      third point, in connection with the second, may be briefly

          More Sin and EcClesiastical Censure                         and correctly expressed by saying, that man would harue  becw
                                                                      wholly depraved and incapable of doing any good ZJ time

     It is quite impossible to compose a complete list of-con-        were no influence of common grace. Now, however, he is not

crete sins that require the application of Christian discipline       wholly corrupt. One may, then, still maintain that this view

by the church. We have already discussed the matter of mem-           is not Pelagian because it clearly teaches that the natural man

bership in worldly organizations and we intend to mention a           is incapable of doing any sfinhml  good, the fact remains, that
few other things yet before leaving this subject. In this             according to this theory he lives a good world-life before

connection The Clzzrrch  Order Cowtwvmtary  by Monsma and             God, just as good as that of the unregenerate, if not better.
Van Dellen  mention the evil of worldliness as expressed in           The antithesis is obliterated and the chasm between the

the sphere of amusements. The Synod of the Christian Re-              Church and the world is removed, and the former is justified

formed Church in 1928 passed a series of resolutions regard-          in making common cause with the latter in the things of this

ing worldliness, which also concern the matter of discipline.         present life. Even as in principle the first point denies the

The Synod had dealt with this problem already in 1926 but             truth that grace is particular, so the last two points deny the

the decisions were not made until two years later. Significant        Reformed truth that man by nature is wholly depraved, in-

it is that the broadest gatherin,
                                 w of the church was confronted       capable of doing any good and inclined to all evil. And it is

with this amusement question just two and four years after            only by a good deal of sophistry that this real implication of
the same church had officially adopted the doctrine of COW            the third point can be denied."

Inon grace. This is not strange but rather a perfectly logical           The point we want to make here, first of all, is that in
sequence.      The adoption of the doctrine of common grace is        spite of the pronouncements of the Synod of 1928, the leaders
an invitation to worldliness since it obliterates the antithesis      of the Christian Reformed Church have no moral right to im-
and bridges the gap between the church and the world.                 pose discipline upon their members who, participating in

     This has been clearly shown in The T+le Breach. by Rev.          worldly amusements, logically pursue the tenets of the doc-
H. Hoeksema. On page 76 he wrote: "Against this view                  trine adopted in 1924. On the basis of the doctrine of com-

[the third point) we have many objections of a general doc-           mon-grace all attempts to stem the influx of worldliness into

trinal nature. First of all it may be observed that this view         the church are doomed to end in failure. Likewise it ought to

certainly lowers the moral, ethical standard of life, of what is      be evident that any attempt to build a principally sound

good and evil. The attempt to maintain, on the one hand, that         structure of Christian education on this basis is futile. Con-

man is wholly depraved and, on the other, that he is able to          sistency demands that practice be in accord with the doc-

perform good works leads to the view that good may be evil            trinal basis from which it ensues and where the latter is un-

and evil may be good at the same time. It leads to the con-           sound the former inevitably reveals itself in various forms of

ception of the relativity of good and evil. Prof. Berkhof             worldliness.

speaks of a good that is at the same time sinful and of sin that         In the second place, it is deplorable that the church is

is relatively good. He speaks of good in the full sense of the        coerced to legislate in matters of this kind. This should not

word and `what is truly good,' implying naturally that an             have to be. The question as to whether or not members of

ethical act may also be half good and half evil. _4nd he even         the church may participate in worldly pleasures is not debat-

considers the view that maintains that the natural man can            able. Should we even have to ask whether children of God
only sin, an absolutism that is to be condemned. I consider           may participate in card-playing, dancing, the theatre, etc.?
this introduction of the notion of relativity into the sphere         Yet, the fact is that we are living in an age that has gone
of ethics and morality positively pernicious, and the evil effects    pleasure mad and the church has not been left unaffected.
of this view are observed but too plainly in the actual life of       This crippling malady that stifles spiritual: life and hampers

the people of God in the world. All lines of distinction are          the organic functions of the church is one with which youth

being obliterated on the basis of this philosophy. A sphere           alone is not infested but parents and children together are

of transition, a common sphere of life is created by it, a do-        smitten by this deadly epidemic without seeming to realize
main where the righteous and the ungodly have fellowship              its destructive potential.

with one another and live the same life.."                               The cure to this evil in the church cannot be found in the

     On page 77, "But the third point lowers the ethical stand-       church assuming an indifferent attitude toward the conduct

ard of life, amalgamates light and darkness, causes the               of its members. Neither is the oft heard plea of members

Church to be swallowed up by the world. It is detrimental             legitimate that this is a sphere of personal Christian liberty

to the fear of God in life. And the effects of this common-           in which the church has no right to legislate. Such .an argu-


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   $EARER                                                        165


ment is using liberty as "a cloak of maliciousness" and "an            children instructed through these appointed channels of the

occasion for the flesh" which Scripture emphatically forbids           church thereby sin as grievously as if they themselves ab-

(Gal. 5:13,  I Peter 2 :16). With Monsma and Van Dellen                stained from the worship services and participation in the

we can agree when they point out that "it certainly                    sacraments. Such a walk is a repudiation of the Christian

would be unwise and unbiblical for our Churches and Con-               faith and must be characterized as ungodly conduct.

sistories to single out sins of worldliness and apply discipline           In the second place, it is obviously a repudiation of the
regarding these, while passing by other evils, greater perhaps         sacred vows assumed before God in connection with the bap-
in some instances than those singled out. No Consistory                tism of these children. God is not mocked. When, therefore,
should raise the familiar trio of theatre-attendance, dancing,         parents are reminded that baptism is not a custom or super-
and card-playing to shibboleths for membership in good and             stition and in that consciousness they are called to answer
regular standing in its Church while passing by many other             sincerely before God and His church to various questions,
forms of sin, such as dishonesty ; road-house or night-club            they cannot play with such vows with impunity. *One  of these
attendance ; Sabbath desecration ; the reading of harmful, im-         questions asks whether "you promise. and intend to see this
pure, lustful literature ; drunkenness, profanity; the practice        child instructed and brought up in the aforesaid doctrine (the
of unbiblical birth-control ; etc. etc."                               doctrine of this Christian church in which the child is bap-

    Consistories, in other words, are not to arbitrarily select        tized) to the utmost of your power ?" Can any parent answer

certain sins of worldliness and punish these with discipline           that affirmatively and then withhold their children from cate-

but are to exercise the God-given power of discipline with             chism without making a mockery of a most sacred vow ? Such

respect to worldliness in whatsoever form it may manifest              sin may not go unpunished and the church is duty bound to

itself. The Synod of 1928 (Chr. Reformed) instructed Con-              exercise the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven against such

sistories "to inquire of those who ask to be examined previous         as persist in this evil.

to their making public profession of faith and partaking of                In this connection we also want to discuss the question
the Lord's Supper as to their stand and conduct in the matter          whether parents are duty bound to send their children to the
of worldly amusements, and, if it appears that they are not            Christian schools ? Whether Protestant Reformed parents
minded to lead the life of Christian separation and consecra-          are to be disciplined if they refuse to use the facilities of
tion, not to permit their public profession." Concerning               Protestant Reformed education when these are available to
the enforcement of this decision Monsma and Van Dellen                 them? How does the baptism promise stand related to the
write : "Let us be thorough and unafraid, but let us also              instruction of the children in the school ? This matter we will
avoid legalistic externalism.    And as to discipline, let us not      discuss, D.V., in the next issue.
hesitate to do our full duty, but neither let us set up legalistic,                                                           G.v.d.`B.
partial standards." If only the church today had the courage

to enforce this position, she would stand in a different spirit-

ual light. But the fact is that worldliness in a most glaring

form (membership in worldly organizations) has been con-                     ASPECTS OF THE DIVINE CHARACTER

doned so that the result of any attempt to combat it in other
forms proves futile and the church is left standing "having a                  Among His people God is known,
form of godliness but denying the power thereof" (II Tim.                        Most glorious in His might and grace ;
3 :5). If strong and uncompromising discipline is not main-                    He makes Jerusalem His throne,
tained against the evils of worldliness, this end is inevitable.                 Her peaceful hills His dwelling place.

                                                                               When God the righteous judge appeared
                           * * * *
                                                                               :. To save the meek from wrong and shame,

                                                                               The earth stood still and greatly feared ;
    Another sin that demands the application of discipline by
                                                                                 Then forth from heaven His sentence came.
the church is that of parental refusal to have the children of

the covenant catechised.  This has always been- the Reformed                   The wrath of man shall praise the Lord,
position although today, in many would-be Reformed circles,                      Restrained by His almighty will ;
it is no longer deemed necessary to catechise  children until                  Your vows to God the King record,
they are almost of the age that Calvin said they should be:                      Your covenant made with Him fulfil.
about ready to make confession of faith. But the Synod of

1588  already ruled that in case parents refuse to send their                  Let all to Him their presents bring,

children to the catechism classes they shall be admonishecl,                     To Him Whom all the world should fear;

and if need be, disciplined to excommunication. This is proper                 Ye kings and princes, own your King,

for more than one reason. First of all, catechism is a means                      With reverence and with awe draw near.
of grace and, therefore, parents who refuse to have their                                                                    Psalm 76


166                                                 T H E   .S.TANDARD   B E A R E R


                                                                                    such as the recital of Paternosters and Avemarias,  fasting,
                                                                                    alms-giving, confession to the priest, and pilgrimage to a holy
hLL  A R O U N D   USI                                                              shrine.    Good works were measured by rhe  quantity rather
                                                                                    than the quality, and vitiated by the principle of meritorious-
                                                                                    ness which appealed to the selfish motive of reward. Remission
                                                                                    of sin could be bought with money; a shameful traffic in
                                                                                    indulgences was carried on under the Pope's sanction for
UNION WITH  ROME                                                                    filthy lucre as well as for the building of St. Peter's Dome,
                                                                                    and caused that outburst of moral indignation which was the
                                                                                    beginning of the Reformation and of the fearful judgment on
       A series of meetings, not at all unusual these days, was                     the Church of Rome.
recently held in London, England, between Roman Catholics
                                                                                 But to say that the Refosmation  was limited to the cor-
and Protestants. At the last meeting the speaker was Father
                                                                              rection of moral abuses is to deny the real significance of
Gordon Albion, a Roman Catholic historian. Among other
                                                                              the work of God through the Reformers, Above all else, God
thinps.  this Father is quoted as saying,
       0  I                                 . -.                              used the Reformers to bring the Church back to the truth of
               If Martin Luther returned today he would find to his           Scripture.
         astonishment a Roman Church which he would never have
         attacked in her present aspect. Above all he would see that             There was the Pelagian  doctrine of salvation by good
         not one of the abuses which were the actual cause of his
         break wi&  Rome remain in existence.                                 works that had become part and parcel of Romish dogma,
                                                                              ,and  which our fathers described as being an error brought
       Is this true ?
                                                                              out of hell. Overagainst this doctrine Luther developed and
       It certainly seems to be the opinion of many Protestants               maintained the truth of justification by faith. And, later,
today. They are eager to return to Rome and stumble over                      Calvin emphasized the sovereign grace of God in the entire
each other in their frantic efforts to gain the favor of the                  work of salvation.
Vatican. It seems that they ale content to agree with this
                                                                                 There was the evil belief of Rome that Scripture was not
Roman Catholic priest that the Reformation was only a
                                                                              the only authority of the truth. The fathers and tradition
protest against certain abuses in the Church, abuses which
                                                                              could speak with equal authority, and the pope could make
since the 16th century have been corrected.
                                                                              any doctrine binding upon the Church by his infallible dictum.
       But this is certainly a terrible travesty of the Reformation.          Luther fought strenuously against this terrible evil and

       All the Reformers emphatically insisted that the Ref-                  brought the Scriptures back to their proper place-the only
ormation was not simply a protest against certain abuses in                   infallible rule of doctrine and life.

the Romish Church, but was a Reformation in doctrine, a                          Rome placed the clergy between the beli&er and his God,
return to the purity of the truth of the Word of God. Not                     and took away from the believer the anointing of the Spirit
that the abuses were not so flagrant as to demand Reforma-                    of Christ. Luther insisted upon the office of believers and
tion.  The corruption of the Romish Church was almost be-                     the priesthood of all the saints, and made this a cardinal
yond  belief. A certain historian has said:                                   tenet of the Reformation.

               The  papacy was secularized, and changed into a selfish           These are doctrinal matters. These evils have not dis-
         tyranny whose yoke became more and more unbearable. The
         scan+1  of +e papal schism had indeed been removed, but              appeared with the ages, but have rather been re-emphasized
                                                         1
         papal morals, atter a temporary Improvement, oecame  worse           and strengthened. The reasons that existed for the 16th Cen-
         &an  ever during the years 1492 to 1521. Alexander VI. was
         a monster of iniquity; Julius II. was a politician and warrior       tury Reformation exist today. No one can go back to Rome
         rather than a chief shepherd of souls;  and Leo X. took far          without turning his back upon the entire -work of God which
         more interest in the revival of heathen literature and art than
         in religion,  and is said to have even doubted the truth of the      He performed through Dr. Martin Luther.

         gospel history.
               . . .Shony  and nepotism were shamefully practiced.                                         * * * *
         Celibacy was a foul fountain of unchastity and uncleanness.
               . . Discipline was nearly ruined. Whole monastic estab-
         lishments and orders had become nurseries of ignorance and
         superstition, idleness and dissipation, and were the objects of         All this was smoothed over by Father Albion. He con-
         contempt and ridicule. . . .                                         eluded his speech with the remark, "The (Roman Catholic)
               Theology was a maze of scholastic subtleties, Aristotelian
         dialectics and idle speculations, but ignored the great doctrines    Church must be intolerant to the utmost degree over the ve&
         of the gospel. . . .                                                 last article of Faith." He added the sly statement that many
               The priest's chief duty was to perform, by his magic words,
         the miracle of transubstantiation, and to offer the sacrifice of     eminent converts had never had to deny any doctrine they
         the mass for the living and the dead in a foreign tongue.            had previously held but had only to add to those in which
         Many did it mechanically, or with skeptical reservation, es-
         pecially in Italy. Preaching was neglected, and had reference,       they already believed.
         mostly, to indulgences, alms, pilgrimages and processions. The
         churches were overloaded with good and bad pictures, with               In commenting on the  recent Vatican Council, a contribut-
         real and fictitious relics. Saint-worship and image-worship,         ing editor of Chriskzbnity  Today deplores, sometimes with
         superstitious rites and ceremonies obsticted  the direct worship     bitter sarcasm, the eagerness with which many Protestants
         of God in spirit and in truth.
               Piety which should proceed from a living union of the soul     bask in the sunshine of Rome's favor. He writes,
         with Christ and a consecration of character, was turned out-
         ward and reduced to a round of mechanical performances                         How long ago was it that Protestants believed that Rome


                                              T H E   STAN`DARD.::B.EARER                                                                 167


      was the "whore of Babylon" and the "antichrist"? Has some-          ultimately place the stamp of approval on the Reformation,
      thing happened to Rome or to us since those awful terms were        condoning the right of Protestants to leave the mother church
      used? It seems to me the words arose when men were having
      their heads chopped off because they opposed Rome. Have             and go their separate ways. An article in the Roman Catholic
      we changed or has Rome changed, in Colombia or Spain, for           press pointed out that "With the low level of faith today the
      example? (Where Roman Catholic persecution of Protestants
      continues today-H.H.) There is a monument of repentance             average mixed marriage constitutes a menace to the Chris-
      in Geneva because Calvin should not have had a hand in the          tian faith."
      burning of Servetus. That sort of thing we are ashamed of
      and the-monument says so. Where is the monument which tells             With this latter statement we heartily concur. Without             ,
      us about Rome repenting for the Inquisition?
                                                                          agreeing with Rome's elevation of marriage to the position
    In connection with unity with Rome this editor writes:                of sacrament, it surely is true that mixed marriages continue

                                                                          to be a problem-not so much for Rome, but for the Church
          We-cannot and, must not think about ecumenical movements
      which "blur the differences." John Calvin. . .engaged  in many      of Christ. In these days of doctrinal decline and loose morals,
      colloquies shortly after the Reformation began in efforts toward    it is important that covenant parents warn their children
      union with Rome. So did Melanchthon and Bucer, and Calvin
      reports on them in one of his letters: "Philip and Bucer have       repeatedly against the dangers of mixed marriages - not only
      drawn up ambiguous and varnished formulas. . .to try whether        between Protestants and Rome, but also between our
      they could satisfy the opposite party by giving them nothing.
      I cannot agree to this device. . . for they hope that in a short    Churches and other Protestant and even Reformed bodies.
      time they would begin to see clearly if the matter of doctrine
      be left open; therefore they rather wish to skip over it, and do
      not dread that equivocation than which nothing c&n  be more
      hurtful.                                                            WHAT TO CALL THE MINISTER

   The editor points out that Radio Vatican has said that                     Ministers do not want to be called "Reverend" any more.
there is only one road to unity and that is the road back to
                                                                             They are trying to find all kinds of substitutes as "Mister",
Rome. He concludes :
                                                                          "Preacher", "Brother", "Pastor" or "Father." Some even

         There will be no .equivocation  in Rome; don't look for it       prefer to be called by their first names: "Harry" or "Joe."
      and don't build your hopes on it. The Vatican Council affects       A Presbyterian presbytery in New Mexico passed a resolu-
      so many people in so many ways; in me it arouses cynicism
      and a certain sadness as I watch all those goings-on and think      tion "that all members, friends and enemies of the Presbytery
      of the Man of Galilee.                                              of the Rio Grande are hereby dissuaded and/or discouraged
   The devil is behind all these movements towards unity -                from using `reverend' henceforth as a form of address to any-
and especially the movement towards unity with dome. And                  one."    The resolution added that it is "blasphemous and
the devil never budges one inch. To him union always means                idolatrous" to use the term as a title for any clergyman. An
destruction of the truth.                                                 Episcopalian who is chaplain at the University of Michigan's

                                                                          Medical Center composed the ditty,

MIXED MARRIAGES AND ROME                                                                  Call me Mister, call me friend
                                                                                          A loving ear to all I lend

   The Vatican Council intends at some time in its future                                 But do not my soul with anguish rend,

sessions to discuss the subject of mixed marriages. The                                   PLEASE stop calling me Reverend.

Roman Catholic Church takes a very strong stand on this                      The argument is that rLrev&end"  is an adjective which

point. No marriage is, in the eyes of the Church really a                 means "worthy of reverence,. revered" ; and  is not therefore

marriage unless it is performed in the Church and by a                    applicable to a minister. (It is worthy of note however, that

priest. If a Roman Catholic marries a Protestant the Prot-                the new Webster's Unabridged  Djctionary  lists "revere@,d~~'

estant must promise to refrain from attempting to convert the             as a noun also.)

Catholic mate to Protestantism and to give up all children to                While it is true that the t&m "reverend" is not ideal as a
the baptism and instruction of the Catholic Church.                       title for a minister, it is difficult to find a substitute. Perhaps

  There are many in the Romish Church who favor a relaxa-                 "pastor"    would be preferable, except that today it carries

tion of these rigid rules in order to soften the harsh and ex-            with it the connotation (among various churches) of an un-

clusive impression that Roman Catholicism leaves with Prof-               ordained clergynian.  It is however, Scriptural. The danger

estants. But other Romish theologians, especially those from              is that, as is sb commonly true in our day, all respect for the

Italy, deplore this. They insist that a change in this position           office which a minister holds.is lost. Ministers show this same

would involve broad changes in the whole structure of Roman               disrespect for their own office when they suggest that they
Catholic thought. To change this position would mean that                 would prefer to be called "Mister" or "Joe." After all, the
marriage would have to be discarded as a sacrament. They                  minister carries in his office the authority of Christ Himself
point out that it would involve a deniaI  of the position of the          the true Shepherd and Bishop of His people. This authority
Church that it alone is the true church outside of which there            and this respect for it is iost only at grave cost to the well-
is no salvation-a doctrine long cherished and still main-                 being of the Church.

tziined  officially today. They claim that this would really                                                                       H. Hanko


                                               T.H'E  S T A N D A R D   BEA-RER                         .
I    iii

I    L- -                                                             rl       The Adams St. School .M&hers'  Club advertised in the
     Il. ,,NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES area bulletins for discarded zevintu clothing for their January
                                                                            S and 9 Rummage Sale. The discarded                       clothes were
                    "All the saints salute thee . . ? P                                                              ~`2477~~~7~  
                                                         HIL. 4:21    II    all on the high seas!

                                                                             From Redlands, Calif., we learn that the Young People's

                                                    Dec. 20, 1962           Society meets after the morning service while Sunday School
                                                                            is in session. We believe that this arrangement is unique in

            Rev: H. Ha&o, of Hope Church has received a call from           our denomination. Their bulletins also reveal a healthy Men's

     our church at Doon.                                                    Society which is currently studying the Epistle of James.

            The Adams St. School All-Purpose Room was the scene                Hope's annual congregational meeting resulted in a cleci-

     of intense activity for several evenings in December. The              sion to purchase land for a new church. Hope's congregation
     clothing drive for~the Christians in Jamaica, as reported last         is gradually outgrowing its present auditorium:

     month, met with an overwhelming response! All of the                      The Program Committee of The Reformed Witness Hour

     churches in Classis  East and the two western churches in              contributed the following: The Lord willing, Rev. H. Hoek-

     Illinois participated in this "ministering unto the saints."           sema hopes to continue his radio ministry during January

     The Deacons of First Church, according to the Mission Com-             with sermons based on texts taken from chapters 3 and 4 of

     mittee's directive, worked several evenings folding and pack-          the First Epistle of Peter. The pastor's first radio message

     ing the gifts, which were of very good qualsty. Used summer            of the New Year is entitled "The Just For The Unjust"

     clothing had been specified and over a ton of wearing apparel,         (I Peter 3 :18). The following Lord's Day verses 20 and

     including 500 women's dresses, was collected and shipped.              21 of this chapter are treated under the theme "Saved By

     Thirteen huge boxes, averaging 100 cubic feet apiece, were             Baptism."    On Jan. 20, "The Exaltation of Christ" (verse

     carefully packed and sent on their way, Dec. 12. This con-             22) will be discussed. Sunday, Jan. 27, Rev. Hoeksema ex-

     signment traveled by train to New York and by boat to the              plains verse 1 of chapter 4 in which Christ's "Suffering in

     port of entry in the Island. The total weight of the shipment          the Flesh" is the subject material. The prayer and hope of

     was 2700 pounds and the freight charges to New York a-                 the Radio Committee of the Reformed Witness Hour is that

     mounted to $150.00. The cost for shipping the rest of the              the Lord may continue to bless the radio endeavors of the

     way was not yet known, but the addition of the export and              Protestant Reformed Churches during the coming New Year.

     import fees will swell the entire expense to an estimated                  Now that Christmas 1962 is past did we really celebrate
     $600.00. In order to make this a denominational venture the            the birthday of our King ?        Or did we join the groping
     churches which were too distant to furnish used clothing will          crowds experiencing electronic cheer as loudspeakers blared
     probably be given opportunity to share in defraying the                their unholy alliance of the sacred and secular? Did we en-
     shipping charges with the others. May this work of mercy,              courage the greeting card companies who happily announced
     in as far as it proceeded from the good root of faith, be good         that "they had Christmas ( 1) cards from one cat to another
     and acceptable in the sight of God and be sanctified by His            and from dog to dog"? Did our children gambol under the
     grace.                                                                 glowing goodwill of that grotesque Gentleman in the gala

            Seminarian Robert Decker joined his colleague Dave              gatidery,  or did we teach them the true joy of Christmas as

     Engelsma in "speaking a word of edification in the churches."          pealed forth over the fields of Bethlehem by the angelic choir

     His first sermon was delivered in Holland's Church Dec. 9,             that night? Did we preserve the true Christmas spirit with

     and Dec. 16 Huclsonville welcomed the youthful aspirant to             true-to-the-Scripture carols ?

     the-.ministry  to their pulpit. This newest gift from our Sem-             Do you agree that, crass commercialism has coarsely car-

     inary eases the minister shortage just a little but the need for       icatured Christ out of Christmas even for conscientious Chris-

     workers in the Lord's harvest is still critical.                       tians ?

            All the bulletins that came our way this month (and                 You have observed in your practical life with the Apostle

     presumably those which failed to come) reflect the season of           James, "Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth";

     the year with announcements of curtailment in Sunday School            but, have yoti also discovered with him that the tongue is a

     memorization due to Christmas Proram  practice. That shows             fire, a world of iniquity ? Then let us be characterized as

     that at least for one hour we might celebrate the true com-            "wise and endued with knowledge" and "let us show out

     memoration of the birth of The King.                                   of a good conversation our works witli meekness of wisdom."

            Southeast's Men's Society examined Canons 1:17  to see              "Happy is the people whose God is the Lord" is the
     whether it teaches that "all children of believing parents that        jubilant shout of the Psalmist of Psalm 144. And in that spirit
     die in infancy are saved."     The question was answered by            we wish you a happy New Year !

     Mr. Gerald DeVries  and was then discussed by the society.                 . . . . see you in church.                                 J.M.F.


