                                             APRIL 1, 1963 - GRAND R                                                 N
                                                                        APIDS, MICHIGAN                                   UMBER 13


                                                                    It is indicative of utter contempt. Contempt can assume such
            MEDlTATION                                              awful proportions that its subject is indifferent to the object.
i                                                                   That is the bathos of hate.

                                                                        And you and I know it. It is much easier to hear the
                         PASSER-BY                                  utterances of hatred flung into our teeth, than to see the

       "And they `th& passed by reviled Him" Matt.  27:39a          antagonist strutting past, not even deigning to look upon us.
                                                                    Say there, you, who are passing by-is it nothing to you

     Ages ago a certain saint suffered deeply from the in-          that I hang here in utmost agony?

difference of his fellows. He was afflicted, steeped in a sor-          It is so unnatural.
row which had no equal. Naturally he longed for compas-
sion, for loving mercy, sympathy. But they passed him by.               God made us a race, an organism, a body, fitly joined to-
                                                                    gether, every member supplying the cement of love, every
     That hurts.                                                    member going out in harmony with the entire race so that

      Listen to him: "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?    the whole might be unutterably happy in love and friend-

Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow,         ship. And the whole body fitly joined together, would.

which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted            reach out to God, blessed forever!

me in the. day of His fierce anger?"                                    Indifference is the expression of death!.

     That hurts. We can all' speak of thishurt. Somehow,
                                                                        Yes, there is regard for external behaviour and good.
somewhere, to some degree we have tasted of this indiffer-
                                                                    conduct, but I speak of the image-bearer of God. Man,.
ence of our fellows.                                                made in the similitude of God, is a creature with a heart.

     It is so unnatural. Lack of .interest  in the sorrow of our    And from that Heart are the issues of life. Nothing short

~fellows smells of sulphur. Its origin is hell and the devil.       of heart-life is demanded by God and man. Does not the

      You see, dear reader; when we come with the age-old,'         law of God speak of .a love that is so sweet that you love
Biblical doctrine and confess that man, all men, are haters         the neighbour as you love your selves? Indifference is its.
,of God and haters of their neighbour, made in the similitude       extreme opposite. Unnatural monster it is.

of God, it is so extremely difficult to elicit agreement. Well,         How different is the Christ of God.
they will admit that man is indifferent to real Godliness, to
                                                                        Behold Him! He is leaving Jericho on His way to the:
real interest in God and man, but then the word hate is so
                                                                    Cross. And coming events cast their shadows before. He is.
strong! Are you not somewhat extreme in your views,
                                                                    full of that Cross. It is revealed in utterances on that last:
brother? Everybody is surely no hater of God and man!
                                                                    journey to the city of God. It is revealed in His mien. The:
Witness the thousands of churches and "some regard for                    .1               7    ., c- 11 l-T 11               1 7
                                                                    apostles are amazea  as tney ionow.  kie walks  on aneaa.
virtue, good order in society, and for maintaining an orderly

external deportment.1" How about the thousands of hospitals             A great m,ultitude  follows Him. The sound of many-

and institutions of purely human and humane mercy? Eh?              shuffling footsteps is heard on the dusty road that leads.

Is there no inclination to onesidedness with you and your           southward.

extreme theology?
                                                                        All of a sudden a piercing cry is heard: "Have mercy-

                           0 (I 0 0                                 on us, 0 Lord, Thou Son of David!" We have been blind,.
                                                                    lo, these many years ! And our fellows are not only indiffer--

     Still, when all is said and done I am convinced that the       ent to us, but they even tell us to hold our peace, when we.4

passing by of man is the strcmgest  expression of hate ever.        hear in solemn refrain the throng's reply: Jesus of Nazareih-

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


passeth by! They would even rob us of Thy wondrous com-              agony of the brother who is made in the similitude of God,

passion. We have heard so much of Thee, 0 Jesus! And                 blessed forever.

we have faith in Thee. We know of Thy compassion  for                        Certainly there are the hospitals and institutions of
others. At last we have heard the answer which we have               human mercy, but they are the attempts of external deport-
waited for so dreadfully long: Jesus of Nazareth passeth by!         ment and outward behaviour. The ever-repeated call from
And they will cry all the more for the shown indifference of         the blessed heavens is not to appear beautiful outwardly,
the multitude: Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on               but to be filled with bowels of mercy, with inward compas-
us!                                                                  sion for all the misery of man. And that requires a regener-
                           0 4% B 0                                  ated heart, first of all. And as an immediate corollary, that

                                                                     requires hospitals for the sickness of the soul, institutions
       And Jesus?                                                    against iniquity and trespasses.

       Is He like the rest of mankind? Is He not even now                   Tell your doctor, while you are lying on his operating
filled with nameless dread? Is His soul not troubled unto            table, that he is on the way to hell because of his corruption:
death? Does He not see the awful monster of eternal death            endeavour to preach the Gospel to him - and he will pass
which He must swallow unto victory? Can He, will He take             you by. The poor man has only external observance. He is
time out for merely two blind tramps?                                akin to the god-forsaken mass of Israelites of whom the

       Ah, but He is Jesus !     He is not merely a man, but He      Lord complained: This people worship me with their lips,

is the perfect man, the good Man. He loves His neighbour             but their heat?  is far from Me!

as Himself. He is indeed willing to lay down His life for                   Indifference, passing by our brother in his utmost agony,
His sheep. And in the midst of the many different noises of          it is the curse of spiritual death!
the highway, He hears the voice of faith. And behind it all

He hears the voice of His Father: See to it, My dearly                                           * a 0 1):
Beloved, that Thou lose not one of them. It is the will of

God, Jesus' Father, that He lose none of them.
                                                                            And Jesus?
       No, Jesus is not indifferent. He stands still. He does not
pass by in indifference even as you and I. He takes time                    Throughout His whole life He stood still, enquired;was
out for these two miserable wretches. No, that is not correct.       intensely interested in the suffering of His sheep.

His standing still for these two is part and parcel of His life,            He went through the land doing good. When He saw

He is the Saviour.                                                   and heard the widow who brought her only son to the grave,

       Read it and weep for shame: He had compassion.  Read          He was filled with untold compassion. He halted the bier
it and weep, for we are indifferent. We would pass by. It            and spoke the word of life: I say unto you, young man,
is nothing to us that our brother's sorrow is like unto no           arise! And again, heaven appeared. And note the pathetic
other sorrow. We can enjoy ( ?) ourselves in the very midst          touch: "And He delivered him to his mother!"

of untold suffering that is around us.                                       Ah, Jesus stands still. And the place of His pausing is

       We pass by. That's the curse of our corrupt natures.          your and my misery, brother. No, no, Jesus of Nazareth
                                                                     does not pass by. He stands still to save.
       Not so Jesus. He touched their eyes while His spirit is
overwhelmed because of impending agony, He touched their                     And how have we requited Him for His standing still?

blind eyes and immediately virtue goes out towards them:                     Come with me; I will lead the way. We are ascending

they are receiving their sight and they follow Him. That is:         the place of the skull. Here we are. Do you hear that

Heaven is born for them.                                             groaning, do you see that twisting of the limbs? Well, that

       On the way to hell, Jesus prepares heaven for others.         is the agony of them that die the accursed death of the tree.
                                                                     These three forms are two murderers and the only real

                                0 0 n St                             merciful Samaritan that ever lived. All other real mercy is
                                                                     but the outgoing of His virtue in others. He is the only

                                                                          Merciful One. Yes, and there He hangs now, between two

       There is your and my example, brother. Are you not            murderers. That is His wages of the world and of the

blushing for shame.2 Compare it with your and my cursed                   apostate church. When the mob summed up His life, they

life of hatred and malice and envy and jealousy, yes, and                 found that He was a malefactor, a rebel, inciting others to

indifference.                                                             rebellion, and that He made Himself a King and the Son

       Go to now, you would-be merciful Samaritans! You,                  of God. A hellish mixture of truth and the lie. But that is
you, the old man of sin and corruption, never stirs a foot out            His reward for doing good to you and to me.

.of the indifferent, selfish way that you tread. Ah, the mercy

of the world is cruel. Hold thy peace! This to the cry of                                         a # # 0


                                                  T H E   STAVDARD   B E A R E R                                                                                                                                                          291


      And, finally, notice! Do you notice that there are passers-

by? Matt. 27:39. Yes, there are passers-by.                                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R - E R   `.

                                                                                        Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August
      I have searched in all my commentaries for the identity                            Published by the                                                       FREE  
                                                                                                                                       REFORMED                                PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
of the passers-by and there are many. Many learned answers                                                           Editor - REV. HERMAN HOEKSEMA
I have found. Still, methinks, they do not fully fit the case                           Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
                                                                                        Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., SE., Grand Rapids 7,
in hand. The real point at issue they passed by. Certainly,                             Mich.  Contributions will be limited to 300 words and must be
they have been historical persons and I have no quarrel                                                                    neatly written or typewritten.
                                                                                        All church news items should'be  addressed to Mr. J. M. Faber,
with their learned answers as far a.s they went.                                                          1123 Cooper, S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
      But here is the full answer: These passers-by are we,                              Announcements and Obituaries with the $2.00 fee included
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are the human race, are the corrupt world of so-called                                   AU matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to
merciful men and women.                                                                               Mr. James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
                                                                                                                               Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
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Zijn kroon had gevlochten, Zijn beker gevuld!"                                          received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscrip-
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my nature and your nature.        It is the man of sin that `has

hated Him without cause" !                                                                                                              C O N T E N T S

      And this is the tragedy of my life: I still pass by, as far                   ~~~~~~~~~

as the old man of sin is concerned. It is the cause of the cry                               Passer-By                 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._.... ..__....._.. __....__  .._....._ 289
                                                                                                        Rev. G. Vos
of the night: Be merciful to me the sinner                             1
      But this is my song in the night of my sin: Jesus of                          EDITORIALS -
                                                                                             Rank Arminianism  in Calvin Seminary . . . . . .._._....._..................  292
Nazareth still stands still!                                                                            Rev. H. Hoeksema

      Here is more than human, here is Divine mercy1
                                                                                    OUR DOCTRINE-
      And they follow Him.                             >                                     Preservation and Perseverance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._............................ 294
                                                                                             The Doctrine of the Church.. . . . . . . . ._ _. . . . . _. ,294
      And that is heaven!                                                                              Rev. H. Hoeksema
                                                                            G.V.
1'                                                                                  A CLOUD OF WITNESSES-
                                                                                             The Gibeonites . .._ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

                                                                                                        Rev. B. Woudenberg


                       A n n o u n c e m e n t   .-                                 FROM HOLY Wm -
                                                                                             Exposition of I Timothy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300,

      All Standing Synodical Committees are reminded that                                               Rev. G. Lubbers

their reports for the Synodical Agenda must be sent to                              INI~ISFEAR-

undersigned by the April 15th deadline. Supplemental re-                                     M y Father's World,  ( 2 ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,302;
                                                                                                        Rev. J. A. Heys
ports may be submitted later but material for the Agenda

                                                                                                                                    FAITH-
must be in at this time. Please cooperate.                                          CONTENDING FOR THE 
                                                                                             The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304:
                                Stated Clerk of Synod                                                   Rev. H. Veldman

                                     REV.  G. VANDEN  BERG                          THE VOICE OF OUR FATHI& -
                                                                                             The Belgic Confession __.._....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306:
                                     9402 South 53rd Court
                                                                                                        Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
                                O a k   L a w n ,   I l l i n o i s

                                                                                    DECENCY AND ORDER-
                                                                                             Discipline and Censure                                      . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ..308 :
                       Announcement                                                          Silence Censure ._. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308.
                                                                                                        Rev. G. Vanden  Berg

      Classis East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will
                                                                                    ALL AROUND Us-
meet, the Lord willing, on Wednesday, April 3, 1963 at                                       Another Attack on the Bible . . . . . . . . . . . .._................................... 3109
                                                                                             Another Merger Proposal ___.....  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,310 :
9:00 A. M. in the First Protestant Reformed Church of                                        Lenten Nonsense ____....,._,._....._................................................                                                         311
Grand Rapids, Michigan,         Consistories will please consider                            Tax Reform and Charity Contributions                                                             ___ _....______  ._ . . . . . . . . . . . . ..311_
                                                                                                        Rev. H. Hanko
this an official announcement and appoint their delegates

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             312,
accordingly.                                                                        NEWS FROM OUR CH~RCHES.......................:......................................                                                                 
                                                                                                        Mr. J. M:Faber
                                        M. SCHIPP~, Stated Clerk


292                                         TH.E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                      -_ ._ .                       -


                                                                         What shall we say of all this? I will make the following

                                                                     remarks:

                                                                         1. Is it not striking that, in this controversy, always

                                                                     the "Three Points" of Kalamazoo, 1924, must needs enter
        Rank Arminianism in Calvin Seminary                          into the discussion? Is it not very evident that those "Three

                                                                     Points" are not Reformed, but principally Arminian? What
   Before I continue my discussion of Prof. Dekker's
                                                                     principal difference is there between saying that God loves
view that God loves all men, I like to refer to an editorial
                                                                     all men and saying that God is gracious in the preaching of
in The Banner in which the editor, the Rev. John Vander
                                                                     the well-meant offer of grace and salvation to all that hear
Ploeg criticizes and condemns the view of Prof. Henry Stob
                                                                     the gospel. Or, what difference is there between the theory
as set forth in the article in The Reformed Jownal.  It is
                                                                     which Prof. Dekker proposes and that which the editor of
the view that God hates no man: He hates sin, but not the
                                                                     theBawner  wants to emphasize in his editorial: "Even so,
sinner. This is, of course, the negative side of the position
                                                                     while God hates sinners, He still loves them with the love
taken by Prof. Dekker that God loves all men. And, there-
                                                                     of benevolence, and He graciously bestows His blessings
fore, it is not at all surprising that the latter agrees with
                                                                     upon them?"
Prof. Stob.
                                                                         2. Prof. Stob writes, in The Reformed Journal, that
       However, the editor of The Banner apparently does not
                                                                     God does not hate the sinner, but his sin. But does not
:agree  with him.
                                                                     the Rev. Vander Ploeg know that the late Rev. H. J. Kuiper,
       I say apparently because, although he writes many good        in his interpretation of the "Three Points," wrote the same
things on this subject, he fundamentally weakens and                 thing? Vander Ploeg must have none of this. But instead
destroys his own position by writing that God is gracious            he writes-`that God both loves and hates the sinner at the
to all men in His "common grace." Writes he:                         same time."    This, according to him, is what the Bible
       "First, let it be clearly understood that this is in no       teaches. But to me, this is sheer blasphemy. The Rev.
sense intended as a denial of common grace. While hating             Vander Ploeg would complete the text in Rom. 9:13  as
the sinner, it is possible for God at the same time to show          follows: "Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated, though
a favorable attitude which He extends to mankind in                  I have loved him too." The same is true, of course, of all
.general.  If, according to Scripture, these two exist side by       the texts which the editor of The Banner quotes himself.
side, then the matter is settled for us, no matter how               Thus, for instance, he quotes Ps. 5:5: `"Thou hatest all
difficult it may be for us to comprehend the mystery of this         workers of iniquity." This he would complete by: but Thou
twofold divine relationship . . . The question whether God           lovest  them, too. He quotes also Ps. 11:5:  "Jehovah trieth
loves men in general with what has come to be known as               the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence
common grace is definitely not the issue."                           his soul hateth," to this, too, the editor of The Banner

       And again:                                                    would add: but he also loveth the wicked. Again, he

       "But - and this is a serious though not an insurmount-        quotes Prov. 6:16,19:  "There are six things which Jehovah

:able but - does the Bible not say that God shows his                hateth . . . A false witnes that uttereth lies, And he that

love even to sinners? Indeed it does.                                soweth discord among brethren;" this, too, means, accord-

       "Not that God loves all men with a redemptive love            ing to the Rev. Vander Ploeg, that the Lord loveth a false
that is infinite, but He does show His favor to men in               witness that uttereth lies.

.general  by bestowing many blessings upon them, by re-                   I can add many more passages of Scripture which the

straining the full development of sin, by enabling even the          editor of The Banner would distort in the same way. Thus,

reprobate to perform civil good, and also by coming to them          for instance, in Prov. 3: "For the froward is abomination to

with the Well-meant offer of salvation.                              the Lord: but his secret is with the righteous." vs. 32. This

       "Does this mean, then, that God loves and hates sinners       according to Rev. Vander Ploeg must mean the very

.at the same time? That's what the Bible teaches. It is a            opposite also, so that we must add: the froward is also
-mistake to suppose that it must be all one or all the other.        pleasing to the Lord. And in the same chapter, vs. 33, we
`That will be true in the hereafter when the antithesis will         read: "The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked:
-be absolute, not only in principle as it is already now, but        but he blesseth the habitation of the just." According to
.also  in its consummation. However, while he is still in the        Rev. Vander Ploeg, we must add: but the blessing of the
*day of .grace  and on this side of his eternal destiny, the         Lord is also in the house of the wicked. But why quote
sinner may still be the object of God's love as well as of           more? The whole Bible condemns the view of Prof. Stob
                                                              his

Yhate  at the same time                                              and also that of the Rev. Vander Ploeg.
       " . . . Even so, while .God hates sinners, God still loves         3. One more item I must mention. The Rev. Vander

-them with the love of benevolence, and He graciously                Ploeg writes in the editorial from which we already quoted:

bestows His blessings upon them."                                    "It is a mistake to suppose that it must be all one or all the


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 293


other. That will be true in the hereafter when the anti-           the proposition is not that the preaching of the gospel is

thesis will be absolute, not only in principle as it is already    available, is of profit to all men, but that the atonement

now, but also in its consummation," etc. See above.                of Christ itself is`of advantage to all. And that means that

   On this I have a remark and a question.                         the atonement of Christ is proffitable for every single
                                                                   individual of the whole human race that ever lived, that
   a. The remark is the following: the antithesis is not in
                                                                   does live now and shall live in the future. This would be
the hereafter, but only in the present time. God be thanked
                                                                   Barthian. For Barth teaches that there is no reprobation.
that there will be no more antithesis in heaven, nor in the
                                                                   Of course, if Dekker maintains that God loves all men, he
new creation, but there will be only the eternal thesis.
                                                                   can, strictly speaking, not maintain reprobation either.
   b. And the question is: does God love the wicked no

more in the "hereafter" or in hell? If not, why not? Is the            But let us suppose that Dekker does not mean this. Let
mere fact that the wicked dies and that too, after he has          us say that he means that the atonement of Christ is avail-
done civic good by the "common grace" of God, sufficient           able for all that come under the preaching of the gospel.
for God to withdraw His grace from him and to love him             Even then the proposition that the atonement of Christ is

no more?                                                           available, i.e. is of advantage or profit to all men, i.e. to all
                                                                   that hear the gospel, is not true. It certainly is not of
   At any rate we now have three propositions:
                                                                   advantage or profit to the unbeliever, to him that rejects
   a. God loves all men and hates no one: Dekker, Stob.
                                                                   the gospel, to the reprobate. For, do not forget that the
   b. God loves and hates the wicked at the same time:             preaching of the gospel is a savor of death unto death as
Vander Ploeg.                                                      well as a savor of life unto life.
   c. God love the righteous and hates the wicked: The
                                                                      You know, of course, that I do not believe in the so-
Prot. Ref. view; Scripture.
                                                                   called "well-meant offer of the gospel" in the Christian
   -Now.  we must continue our ..discussion  of Dekker's           Reformed sense of the word: to me that is, indeed, a farce.
proposition that God loves all men.                                But I will pass this up for the time being.
   The last time we discussed Prof. Dekker's conception of
                                                                       Of more importance is the text which Dekker quotes,
the atonement of Christ. It includes, according to him
                                                                   Titus 2~11.  There is, first of all, a question as to the text
especially four elements, namely, sufficiency, availab@y,
                                                                   itself, not only with regard to the proper translation, but
desire, and efficacy.
                                                                   also as to the original Greek. The King James Version
   The first of these ideas, namely, sufficiency, we have          translates : "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation
already briefly discussed.                                         hath appeared to all men." But the Revised Version which

   Now, therefore, we come to the question of availability.        Decker  quotes (and I can readily see why) has it: "For

On this Prof Dekker has the following to say:                      the grace of God hath .appeared,  bringing salvation to all

                                                                   men."
   "Second, is the salvation which the atonement provides
a&ZabZe  to all men? Indeed it is. Otherwise the well-                 I cannot enter into a discussion of the text-criticaI
meant offer of the gospel is a farce, for it then offers           question. But I will remark the folowing:

sincerely to all men what cannot be sincerely said to be              1. Thayer's Lexicon prefers the reading that must be

available to all. Moreover, Scripture, such as Titus 2:ll  is      translated, "the grace of God that bringeth salvation."

very precise at this point:    `for the grace of God hath             2. To my mind, the reading of the Revised Version is

appeared, bringing salvation to all men.' "                        somewhat clumsy even though it follows the text literally.

                                                                   It leaves the grace of God standing all by itself, without
   NOW, the question is, first of all: what is the meaning
of availability? Or, in this connection: what is the meaning       any modifier: "the grace of God hath appeared."

of the availability of the atonement for all men. It seems            3. But even if Dekker prefers the reading of the Revised
to me that the term, in the connection in which Prof.              Version, to which he has the perfect right as far as the

Dekker uses it, is rather ambiguous. According to Webster          original is concerned, it does not help him to .support  his
the chief idea of the verb to avail is to be of advantage, to      proposition that the atonement of Christ is available, of

profit. And the noun availability, therefore, denotes the          advantage to, or profitable for all men. For:

quality of being of advantage, of being profitable.                   a. As I explained above this simply is not true even for

                                                                   those that hear the preaching of the gospel.
   Apply this to the sentence: "The salvation which the
atonement provides is available to all men," and what do              b. Because the context reveals very plainly that "all
you get? This, that the atonement of Christ is of advantage        men" in the text does not mean all human individuals, but
or is profitable to all men. Would even .Prof.  Dekker dare        all classes of men.

to maintain this? I hardly think so. If he would maintain             We hope to continue this discussion time, the Lord

this, he would be worse than Arminian, he would be. a              willing.

universalist. He would be a Barthian. For, mark you well,                                                                     H.H..


294                                         T H E   STANDAR.D.   B E A R E R


                                                                     because -ye  are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My
11 -0 U. R D 0 C T R I N E                                      11 sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow
                                                                     me: And I will give unto them eternal life; and they shall

                                                                     never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my

                                                                     hand. My father, which gave them me, is greater than all;
                            CHAPTERVI
                                                                     and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

                                                                     I and my Father are one." And again, in Philippians 1:6 we
        PRESERVATION AND PERSEVERANCE
                                                                     read: "Being confident of &is very thing, that he which

                            (Continued)                              bath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day
                                                                     of Jesus Christ." And, to quote no more, in I Peter 1:4, 5

       That this is indeed the true significance and interpreta-     we read: "To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled,

tion of this passage is evident from the illustration which          and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who

the author uses at the close of the passage. It is the               are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation

illustration of a field. And in that held  is the good seed,         ready to be revealed in the last time." The certain perse-

but also the seed of thorns and thistles. If no rain would           verance of the saints is rooted in God's eternal election.

come upon that field, neither the good seed nor the seed             It is guaranteed by the work of the Holy Spirit and the

of thorns and briers would ever become manifest. But now             gifts of grace,    which are without repentance.            It is

through the rain that often comes upon that field, the field         guaranteed, moreover, by the very intercession of Christ

brings forth two crops: the crop of thorns and briers and            for His own people, whom the Father gave Him. For His

the crop of good corn and grain. In the one case that field          prayer will surely be heard. And finally, it is in the very

receives a curse from God in the very rain that falls upon           nature of the spiritual life of the saints. For that life is

it; in the other, however, it receives a blessing through the        eternal life: and therefore, it can never perish. He that

same rain. The same is true of the rain of the Word of               believeth in the Son bath eternal life. And therefore, that

God. Also this rain has a two-fold effect. For that rain             eternal life can never be destroyed. God, Who has implanted

falls upon the reprobate, as well as upon the elect. In the          that eternal life in his heart, will preserve it unto final glory.

heart of the reprobate is the seed of sin. And the rain of

the gospel cometh upon that seed in the heart of the                         THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH
reprobate, serves to manifest the corruption of sin that is

in that heart. It is, therefore, a savour of death unto death.                                 CHAPTER1

In the heart of the elect God implants the seed of regenera-
                                                                                   THE IDEA OF THE CHURCH
tion. And when the rain of the Word of God falls upon

that regenerated heart, the fruit brought forth is that of              Following upon the doctrine of salvation is the doctrine

repentance, righteousness, and eternal life. And so, while           of the church. And the doctrine of the church includes

the one receives a curse through the same Word of God,               an exposition of the means of grace, namely, the preaching

the other receives a blessing from God.                              of the Word and the celebration of the sacraments. That

       Scripture, therefore, as well as the Reformed confessions,    the latter are included in the doctrine of the church is

teaches the perseverance of the saints because of God's              because they are instituted in the church and are observed

infallible preservation.     The perseverance of the saints,         by the church.

therefore, may be called that act of the grace of God                   First of all, then, we will discuss the idea of the church.

whereby He preserves the believers and saints in Christ              The Heidelberg Catechism gives the following description,

Jesus in His power and through faith to the very end, until          if not definition, of the church: "That the Son of God from

salvation and glory, so that they fight the good fight of            the beginning to the end of the world, gathers, defends,

faith and so that they can never fall away from the grace            and preserves to himself by his Spirit and word, out of the

they once received.       This is indeed the teaching of the         whole human race, a church chosen to everlasting life,

Word of God throughout. Thus, for instance, we read in               agreeing in true faith; and that I am and for ever shall

John 6:37-40: `All that the Father giveth me shall come to           remain, a living member thereof." Lord's Day XX.

me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.               Also in the Belgic Confession we find a description of

For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will,                the church, in Article XXVII, under the heading "Of the

but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's           Catholic Christian Church." This article reads as follows:

will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given             "We believe and profess one catholic or universal Church,

me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at            which is an holy congregation, of true Christian believers,

the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that         all expecting their salvation in Jesus Christ, being washed

every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may             by his blood, sanctified and sealed by the Holy Ghost.

have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last           This Church hath been from the beginning of the world,

day." Again, in John 10:26-30 we read: "But ye believe not,          and will be to the end thereof; which is evident from this,


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               295


that Christ is an eternal King, which, without subjects,          developed in external power and glory in the world, es-

cannot be. And this holy Church is preserved or supported         pecially from the time of Constantine the Great. It assumed

by God, against the rage of the whole world; though she           more and more the form of a kingdom, that is, of a kingdom

sometimes (for a while) appears very small, and in the            of this world. At this time there was a controversy about

eyes of men, to be reduced to nothing: as during the              the purity of the church and the question of church

perilous reign of Ahab, the Lord reserved unto him seven          discipline between some sects and the church catholic.

thousand men, who had not bowed their knees to Baal.              Some maintained that the church visible must be pure, and

Futhermore, this holy Church is not confined, bound, or           advocated strictest discipline. For the church consists,

limited to a certain place or to certain persons, but is          according to them, only of the true, spiritual people of God.

spread and dispersed over the whole world; and yet is             On the other hand, however, Augustine, one of the best

joined and united with heart and will, by the power of            known church fathers of this period, admitted the necessity

faith, in one and the same spirit."                               of church discipline, but maintained that absolute purity

   In harmony with these quotations from our confessions,         could not be attained for the church in the midst of the

we may say that the church is the body of Christ, an organic      world. The two distinguishing marks of the church, accord-

whole, of which they who are chosen from before the               ing to Augustine, are catholicity and apostolicity. For the

foundation of the world constitute the members, gathered          church of the new dispensation is founded by the apostles.

by the Son of God through His Spirit and Word, in all ages        It was generally held that membership in the true catholic

and from all the nations ,of the world, and manifesting itself    church was strictly necessary unto salvation. As Augustine

on earth as the gathering of believers and their seed. This       had it: "Whoso is not in this church cannot now receive

definition implies that the very essence, the attributes, and     the Holy Ghost."     According to another of the church

the calling of the church are not to be determined by that        fathers in this period, heretics are unworthy of life and

which we observe of the church as an historically existing        cannot escape the wrath of God unless they come into the

assembly in the world. On the contrary, it must be under-         fold of the Holy catholic church. The doctrine of the

stood from God's own revelation in the Scriptures. The            church, up to the time of the Reformation, was chiefly

church is not a human institution. Men do not bring her           characterized by the emphasis on the supremacy of the

into existence. God alone determines her being, nature,           pope of Rome. The popes themselves defined their power

purpose, and calling, even as He alone gathers and preserves      and position, not only with relation to the church, but also,

her. Hence, it is from the Word of God alone that we can          with relation to temporal governments. It was taught by

derive our knowledge concerning the church. And whatever          some of them that although the primary and principal.

men may postulate about her nature and calling that is            foundation of the church is Jesus Christ Himself, the only

contrary to the Word of God must be rejected. It is only          begotten Son of God, the secondary foundation of the

on the basis of Scripture, through God's own revelation,          church is Saint Peter. According to some, Peter is the vice--

that one can say, "I believe an holy, catholic church."           regent of Him to Whom belongs the earth and the fuhress:

   The early church fathers linked salvation and the church       thereof. As the moon derives its light from the sun, and is

inseparably together.    They all taught and emphasized in        inferior to it in quantity and quality, in position as well as.

their writings that salvation is only in and with the church,     in effect, so the regal power of temporal sovereigns derives:

and that there is no salvation outside of the church. As we       its dignity from papal authority. One of the popes issued

consider the views of the early church fathers, we must           the following decree: We declare, say, define, and pro-

bear in mind that their conception of the church was not          nounce, that to be subject to the Roman pontiff is for every

clearly defined. In appreciating them, we must remember           human creature an altogether necessary condition of salva-

that they made no sharp distinctions, as, for instance,           tion." We can easily understand that this conception led

between the church visible and invisible, the church as an        to spiritual despotism. And it was even defended that here-

organism and as an institute. One of these church fathers,        tics and schismatics  should be brought to repentance by

Irenaeus by name, maintained that in the church all the           physical punishment. Even capital punishment was held to.

treasures of truth are deposited. Outside of the church are       be none too severe for heretics. If a temporal lord was held.

only thieves and robbers, pools of foul water, referring, of      to fall short of showing his allegiance to the Roman pope,.

course, to them that professed to be Christians but were          he was excommunicated and his domain was placed under-

not connected with the church. Another of these church            the ban, and all his subjects were released from submission.

fathers, namely Clement of Alexandria, defines the church         to him.

as the society of the elect, and compares her to a mother            The Reformers broke quite principally with this con--

to whom the whole of our spiritual life and nourishment           ception  of the church. In fact, it is well known that the.

belongs. The church is the body of the Lord, outside of           main principles of the Reformation of the sixteenth century.

which there is no salvation. Virtually the same was taught        are usually considered to be two. There is, first of all, the:

by all the early church `fathers. In a later period, that is,     principle that the Reformers acknowledged but one source

from about the fourth to the eighth century, the church           of authority, that is, the Holy Scriptures, or the Word of

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


God. With this principle they stood opposed to the Roman           life. But the protestants had an entirely different conception

 Catholic Church, as well as to false mysticism and to             of the church. According to them, the church consists

rationalism. To the Roman Catholic Church they stood               essentially of the fellowship of all that are united by the

opposed, because it acknowledged, besides, the Scriptures,         bond of faith. To the church belong all the elect, of the

also tradition as a source of authority, while the protestants     past, of the present, and of the future. The true church

rejected everything as having authority, except the Word           on earth is invisible as- far as its spiritual fellowship is

of God. Besides, the Roman Catholics include the apo-              concerned, but becomes manifest as the church visible

cryphal books in the Bible; protestants recognized only the        where the Word of God is purely preached and the sacra-

sixty-six canonical books. Roman Catholics claimed that the        inents are rightly administered and where the Christian

right and power to interpret the Scriptures .belonged  to the      discipline is mamtained.  All believers are priests, not only

church only, that is, to the clergy; protestants maintain that     a separate class of clergy. Yet the church functions through

every Christian is able and has the right to interpret the         its duly ordained and called office-bearers in the ministry of

Word of God. By this same principle, however, as I already         the Word, the administration of the sacraments, and the

said, the Reformers were opposed to false mysticism. The           exercise of Christian discipline.

latter is characterized by the rejection of the objective au-          Since then this doctrine concerning the church has been
thority of the Bible and by relying upon the inner light.          embodied in all the confessions of the protestant churches.
Protestants claim that the objective revelation in Scripture       This is true of the Heidelberg Catechism, in Lord's Day
must be the sole and only reliable canon for faith and life.       XXI, Question and Answer 54, as we have already quoted
And in opposition to rationalism, the Reformers maintained         above. And the same is true of the Con.@ssion  Belgica,
that reason must be subjected to the Scripture as the Word         Article XXVII, which we also quoted. According to this
of God.                                                            article, the holy catholic church is an object of faith; and
    But if what may be called the formal principle of the          it is not con&red to a particular group or nation, but is
Reformation was the authority of the Word of God as                spread over the whole world. And it is gathered through-
contained in the Holy Scriptures, the material principle           out the history of the world. It includes all that are saved,
was justification by faith only. The Roman Church was              and excludes all that are not saved. In other words, it
Semi-pelagian, and held that justification is also by works.       includes all believers in Christ and excludes all unbelievers.
But the Reformers rejected this idea, and maintained that          It claims that within its confines are all the benefits of
the believer is justified only by his faith.                       salvation; and without these limits there is no possibility of
    The influence on the doctrine of the church of these two       salvation.
principles is very evident. In the first place,~a  considerable
part of the Roman Catholic doctrine concerned indeed all              This is further emphatically confessed in Article XXVIII
that concerns the church. The priesthood, the pope, the            of the same confession, which emphasizes that everyone is
sacraments, and related doctrines, - all this was not based        bound to join himself to the true church: "We believe, since
on the word of God at all, but simply on tradition and on          this holy congregation is an assembly of those who are
the institutions of men. All this, however was rejected by         saved, and that out of it there is no salvation, that no
the Reformation. Besides, by virtue of the principle that          person of whatsoever state or condition he may be, ought
                                                                   to withdraw himself, to live in a separate state from it; but
man is justified also by works, especially by the external
observation of ecclesiastical ordinances, the Roman Catholic       that all men are in duty bound to join and unite themselves
Church `had gradually assumed the position of mediator             with it; maintaining the unity of the church; submitting
between Christ and the believer. But the Reformers must            themselves to the doctrine and discipline thereof; bowing
have none of this. They swept away the institution of the          their necks under the yoke of Jesus Christ; and as mutual
church from between God and the individual believer. The           members of the same body, serving to the edification of
Romish view of the church is most clearly and ably ex-             the brethren, according to the talents God has given them.
pressed by Roert Bellarmin, a Jesuit, 1542-1621. According         And that this may be the more effectually observed, it is
to him, the church is a company of men, externally bound           the duty of all believers, according to the word of God, to
together by the profession of the same Christian faith, the        separate themselves from all those who do not belong to
communion of the same sacraments, under the same govern-           the church, and to join themselves to this congregation,
ment of legitimate pastors especially the pope. Hence, he          wheresoever God hath established it, even though the
excluded from the church all that are professed unbelievers,       magistrates and edicts of princes were against it, yea,
all that do not partake of the sacraments, and all that do         though they should suffer death or any other corporal
not recognize the pope as the head of the  entire church.          punishment. Therefore all those, who separate themselves
But included are all others, whether they be godly or un-          from the same, or do not join themselves to it, act contrary
godly, elect or reprobate. He therefore made no distinction        to the ordinance of God."

between the church visible and invisible. The pope, accord-           From this it is very evident that the Reformers took the

ing to him, is infallible in matters pertaining to faith and       doctrine of the church very seriously, and did not teach


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             2 9 7


any false multiformity of the church. It was indeed possible      Christ the Savior, by the Word of the Holy Spirit, and who

to join one's self to the true church. But exactly becauie~       by faith are partakers of all those good graces which are

of this, it was necessaryj  according to them, that we must       freely offered through Christ. These all are citizens of one

be able to distinguish between the true and the false             and the same city, living under one Lord, under the same

church. And in order to be able to do this, one  must know        laws, and in the same fellowship of all good things; and

what are the marks of the true church. Of these, again, the       the apostle calls them `fellow citizens with the saints, and

Confessio  Belggica  speaks in Article XXIX: `We believe, that    of the household of God' (Eph. 2:19); terming the faithful

we ought diligently and circumspectly to discern from the         upon the earth saints (I Cor. 4:1),  who are sanctified by

Word of God which is the true church, since all sects which       th.e blood of the Son of God. Of these is that article of

are in the world assume to themselves the name of the             our creed wholly to be understood, `I believe in the holy

church. But we speak not here of hypocrites, who are              catholic church, the communion of saints.'

mixed in the  church with the good, yet are not of the                    "Annd, seeing that there is always but `one God, and
church, though externally in it; but we say that the body         one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ'
and communion of the true church must be distinguished            (I Tim. 2:s); also, one shepherd of the whole flock, one
from all sects, who call themselves the church. The marks,        head of this body, and, to conclude, one Spirit, one salva-
by which the true church is known, are these: if the pure         tion, one faith, one testament, one covenant, -it follows
doctrine of the gospel is preached therein; if she maintains      necessarily that there is but one church, which we therefore
the pure administration of the sacraments as instituted by        call catholic because it is universal, spread abroad through
Christ; if church discipline is exercised in punishment of        all the parts and quarters of the world, and reaches unto all
sin; in short, if all things are managed according to the         times, and is not limited within the compass either of time
pure Word of God, all things contrary thereto rejected, and       or place. Here, therefore, we must condemn the Donatists,
Jesus Christ acknowledged as the only Head of the Church.         who penned up the church within the corners of Africa;
Hereby the true Church may certainly be known, from               neither do we assent to the Roman clergy, who vaunt that
which no man has a right to separate himself. With respect        the Church of Rome alone is in a manner catholic." And
to those, who are members of the Church, they may be              the last part of this long chapter speaks of the marks of i+e
known by the marks of Christians: namely, by faith; and           true church as follows: "Furthermore, we teach that it is
when they have received Jesus Christ the only Saviour, they       carefully to be marked, wherein especially the truth and
avoid sin, follow after righteousness, love the true God and      unity of the church consists, lest that we either rashly breed
their neighbor, neither turn aside to the right or left, and      or nourish schisms in the church. It consists not in outward
crucify the flesh with the works thereof. But this is not to      rites and ceremonies, but rather in the truth and unity of
be understood, as if there did cot remain in them great           the catholic faith. This catholic faith is not taught us by
i&.rmiti&;  but they fight against them through the Spirit,       the ordinances or laws of men, but by the Holy Scriptures,
all the days of their lif,e continually taking their refuge       a compendious and short sum whereof is the Apostles'
in the blood, death, passion and obedience of our Lord            Creed. And, therefore,, we read in the ancient writers that
Jesus Christ, `in whom they have remission of sins, through       ,there  were manifold diversities of ceremonies, but that
faith in him.' As for the false church,  she ascribes more        those were always free; neither did any man think that the
power and authority to herself and her ordinances than to         unity of the church was thereby broken or dissolved. We
the Word of God, and will not submit herself to the yoke          say, then, that the true unity of the church does consist in
of Christ. Neither does she administer the sacraments as          several points of doctrine, in the true and uniform preaching
appointed by Christ in his Word, but adds to and takes            of the gospel, and in such rites as the Lord Himself has.
from them, as she thinks proper; she relieth more upon men        expressly set down. And here we urge that saying of the
than Christ; and persecutes those, who live holily  accord-       apostle very earnestly, `Let us, as many as are perfect, be:
ing to `the Word of God, and rebuke her for her errors, COV-                minded: and if in anything ye be otherwise minded,.
                                                                  thus  
etousness, and idolatry. These two churches are easily            God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, where-
known and distinguished from each other."                         unto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule,.
   The Second Helvetic Confession has a long chapter on           let us mind the same thing.' (Phil. 3:15, 16)"
the holy catholic church, Chapter 17, from which we quote
                                                                          Also the Wesfminster  Confession has an article about
the following: "Forasmuch as God from the beginning would
                                                                  the church, in Chapter XXV, 1 and 2: "The catholic or.
have men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of
                                                                  universal church, which is invisible, consists of the whole-
the truth (I Tim. 2:4),  therefore it is necessary that there
                                                                  number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be.
always  should have been, and should be at this day, and
                                                                  gathered into one, under Christ the head thereof; and is.
to the end of the world, a church-that is, a company  of
                                                                  the spouse, the body, the fulness of him that filleth all in.
the faithful called and gathered out of the world; a com-
munion, I say, of all saints, that is, of them who -truly know    all.
and rightly worship and serve the true God, and Jesus                                                                      H.H..


298                                          T H E   S7.ANDAg.D   B E A R E R
                                                                        -.

                                                                      hear what these men had to say, they heard a very simple
11 A CLOUD OF WITNESSES 11 explanation. "We have come from a far country," said the
                                                                      men, "Now therefore make ye a league with us."

                                                                              The request of these men took the elders of Israel by
                         The Gibeonites                               surprise.     This was something with which they had never

                                                                      expected to be confronted. They knew, of course, that the
            And when the inhabitants of Gibeon  heard what
                                                                      heathen nations of the land were frightened by their pres-
         Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai,
                                                                      ence in Canaan. But they also knew that those same na-
            They did work wilily, and went and made as if
                                                                      tions were very determinedly wicked. They hated Israel
         they had been ambassadors. . . .
                                                                      and could never be expected to suggest even the possibility
            And they went to Joshua  unto the camp at Gilga.l,
                                                                      of making peace with them. This was just as well, for God
         and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, Ws be
         come from a far country: now therefore make ye a             had forbidden them to make peace with the inhabitants of
         league with  US. . . .                                       the land of Canaan. The command of God was to destroy

            And Joshua made peace with them, and made a               them. This they had to do, and it would be a lot easier if
        Zea.gue  with them, and let them live: and the princes        they did not have to do this over against a lot of requests
        of the con.gregaeion  sware unto them.                        to ~make  peace.
                                             Joshua 9:3,  4, 6, 15
                                                                              But these men said that they were not inhabitants of

       Two cities had fallen before the march of Israel; Jeri-        the land, or at least they said that they came from a far
cho's walls had crumbled into dust; Ai had been burned                country. This would make quite a difference, for God had
with fire. With these victories still fresh in their minds, the       not commanded them to make war with the nations out-
children of Israel were brought to stand overagainst each             side of the boundaries of Canaan. With such they could
other upon the slopes of Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal.                suite properly make a league of peace. But could they be
There they were called to affirm their dedication to God              sure? They turned to the men and addressed them again,
and His law as they took up their places in this new land.            "Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we mZke
It was a thing that could not be allowed to wait. It had to           a league with you?"

become immediately apparent that God was not destroying                  The answer they gave came as a surprise. They turned

one people just to replace them with another, He was de-              to Joshua and said, "We are thy servants." What they

stroying the wicked that the righteous might inhabit the              evidently meant by this was, `We are at your mercy. If

land. Nothing could reveal that more clearly than that                you do not trust us or what we have said, it is within your

great congregational meeting at Gerizim and Ebal. From                power to do with us what you want."

the valley in between was read word for word the whole                   It was hard to reject such words of humility and be
law; from the mountain sides above echoed the affirming               harsh on people like that. It surely wa&  entirely different
"Amen" of the people to blessings and cursings both. These            from anything that they had ever heard about the Canaan-
were a people that were different. They were dedicated to             ites, of the land. With a new warmth of kindness in his
the service of Jehovah God and His law.                               voice, Joshua turned to them and asked, `Who are ye? and

   From Gerizim and Ebal, Joshua led the people to Gilgal             from whence came ye?"

where they encamped so as to make provisions for their                   The Gibeonites immediately felt that they had come a
farther advancements. While they were there a very strange            long way with their soft answer to the accusation of the
situation suddenly developed. There appeared one day at               eledrs. They had turned away that feeling of suspicion
the gate of the camp a delegation of men in the most dila-            which surrounded them almost from the very  moment they
pidated state imaginable. Their clothing was almost literaily         had stepped into the camp. Joshua was beginning to take
rags. They were old, and where they had torn and worn                 an attitude of kindness toward them, and that was half of
through they were crudely mended as though by inex-                   the battle won. With a new feeling of confidence they
perienced hands. Their shoes too were old and hardly hung             began to talk. "From a very far country thy servants are
together. The sacks and wine-skins which held their provi-            come because of the name of the LORD thy God: for we
sions and drink had tears and holes in them that had merely           have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt,
been tied shut with pieces of twine. The provisions them-             and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, &at
selves were so moldly, dry, and stale that to eat them was            were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og
hardly conceivable. The men asked, to speak to the leader             king of Basham,  which was at Ashtaroth. Wherefore our
of Israel whoever he might be. Thus they were brought to              elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to us,
the tent of Joshua. There it was discovered that these men,           saying, Take victuals with you for the journey, and go to
as incongruous as it appeared, were actually an official dele-        meet them, and say unto them, We are your servants: there-
gation representing another nation.                                   fore now make ye a league with  us. This our bread we

    Once Joshua had called together the elders of Israel to           took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             299


came forth to go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry, and        could do. They had given their testimony under oath that

it is mouldy: and these bottles of wine, which we hlled,          they would not destroy these Gibeonites; honesty before

were new; and, behold, they be rent: and these garments           God and man demanded that such an oath should be kept

and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long           unless it should give rise to some future sin. That was not

journey."                                                         so in this case, and their obligation now was to abide by

                                                                  what had been promised. Neither could the Gibeonites be
   The elders of Israel were thrilled by what they heaiX
                                                                  given the whole blame. The means had been there for them
To them it was a wonderful thing to hear strangers testify-
                                                                  to receive infallible instructions from God- and they had
ing to the greatness of Jehovah God with warmth and ad-
                                                                  neglected them.    For this they themselves were to be
miration. It must have seemed strange at first that the men
                                                                  blamed and no one else. When the people came murmur-
did not mention the most recent and greatest works of Jeho-
                                                                  ing to them for that which they had done, all they could
vah, the passage through the Jordan river, the fall of
                                                                  answer was, "We have sworn unto them by the LORD
Jericho, and the destruction of Ai. But when they stopped
                                                                  God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them. This
to think of it, that was as it should be. If these men had
                                                                  we will do to them; we will even let them live, lest wrath
come as far as they said they did, they must have been on
                                                                  be upon us, because of the oath which we sware unto
their way already when these things had happened, and
                                                                  them."
they had not even heard of them yet. Actually when one

tried to figure out how long these men had been traveling,           However, although the Gibeonites could hardly be

it was hard to imagine. Everything about them was so im-          destroyed any more, neither was it necessary to let them

possibly old and worn.    In all of Israel's journeys in the      go unpunished for their deception. Thus the princes of

wilderness, no one had even begun to look anything like           Israel decreed, "Let them live; but let them be hewers of

that. But then, God had been with them and had preserved          wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation,"

them from any harm on their journey. These men hust have
                                                                     Joshua summoned to him the representatives of the
come a terribly long way to arrive in such condition.
                                                                  Gibeonites and gave to them the verdict of the princes of
   Actually, of course, when it tames down to it, these men       Israel. He said, "Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying,
had not answered the question of Joshua as to who they            We are very far from you; when ye dwell among us? Now
were and where they were from. But was it necessary to            therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be.
push the point with men who so apparently had come so             freed from being bondmen,  and hewers of wood and
far? The elders took the food that was left and passed it         drawers of water for the house of my God."
among themselves. Just one taste was enough to convince

anyone that it was terribly old. One could hardly help but           If Joshua had thought to see the Gibeonites dismayed

sympathize with anyone who had to live on food like that.         by this announcement, he must have been rather amazed

It did not take them long to agree that it surely would not       by their reaction. The Gibeonites were only too amazed

hurt-  to make peace with these men. It was a pleasure to         themselves that the children of Israel should think to abide

make peace with those who showed such humility, and               by an oath so extracted. To them the duties laid upon them

there was proof  enough that they must have lived outside         were good enough in exchange for the saving of their lives,

of the territory of Canaan proper. Joshua, standing as Is-        As they answered to Joshua, "Because it was certainly told

rael's spokesman, made the testimonial to these men and           thy servants, how that the LORD thy God commanded his.

their nation. The princes of Israel then rose and all gave        servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all

their oath to stand by the terms of this league.                  the inhabitants of the land from before you, therefore we-

                                                                  were sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have done
 Once again both Joshua and the princes of Israel had
                                                                  this thing. An now, behold, we are in thine hand: as it.
made a very critical error.    Convinced of the validity of
                                                                  seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do."
their own judgment, they had gone on to follow it to its

conclusion without consulting with their God as they were            Neither in all of this, should we forget the fact that God.
supposed to. It was really the same error which they had          was giving the guidance of His providence. The Gibeonites.
made before attacking Ai, and just as that time, it came          were manifestly a people different from the rest of the-
back to plague them again. Within three days the report           Canaanites. It could be said of them as of the rest, that:
came to them. Those with whom they had made peace                 they had filled their cup of iniquity. They were assimilated-
were not from far away but lived in the very heart of the         as servants into the nation of Israel, and there is no reason.
land of Canaan. In fact, when Israel started traveling            to-think anyone ever came to regret the arrangement. They-
again, their's were the hrst cities that they came to, Gibeon,    were faithful in their service, and neither do we ever read.
Chephirath, Beeroth, and Kirjathjearim.  Nor had the at-          that they were the cause of Israel falling into sin. Appar--
titude of the people been misrepresented. They greeted the        ently they were taken into the promise of God's covenant..
children of Israel with open gates as friends.

   Now there was little more that the children of Israel                                                                  B.W.-


300                                           TH'E  S,TANDARD   B E A R E R



                                                                   sin of covetousness, love of money, that he loses his useful-
L F R O M   H O L Y   W R I T                                      ness in God's service, in the service of the heavenly King.
                                                             1     He must not defile the garments of his office, but always be

                                                                   able to teach that godliness with contentment is great gain.

                                                                   Such must be the inner nature of his walk and conduct.
                  Exposition of I Timothy
                                                                   Besides, he must keep this commandment so that he is un-

                       (I Timothy 6:11-16)                         rebukable. The flesh in the members of the congregation,

                                                                   and the enemies of Christ and of Timothy as a true preacher

                                  b.                               of the word, must not be able to get their hooks into Tim-

                                                                   othy and say when he preaches the contentment of godli-
       Timothy is a man of high position in Gods Church. He        ness "look at your own walk." That would, once more, cause
is a man of God. He must give heed to the doctrine and to          the name of God to be blasphemed. It would be au in-
himself that he may save himself and those who hear him.           dication that Timothy took heed to the doctrine but not to
I Tim. 4:16.  This will require great endurance and strength       himself. Thus his effectiveness as a minister would be gone.
overagainst the many, many temptations. These tempta-
                                                                      There is a solemnity here .which  we must not overlook
tions are from within and from without.
                                                                   in Paul's warning to Timothy. We refer to the "I give thee
       We noticed in our former essay that Paul admonishes         charge in the sight of God . . ." The term which Paul em-
Timothy to "flee" from all love of money, of earthly gain          ploys here for "give the charge" is worthy of notice in the
and prestige and honor whi.ch is so much idolatry. He must         Greek. The King James version translates more than one
flee this in his personal life. To do so he will need to run       word in Greek by the English word "charge." In verse 17
after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and          of I Thess. 5 Paul says: "I charge you by the Lord that this
meekness. That will be a veritable contest, a running of a         epistle be read in all the churches." Here the term charge
race keeping his eye upon, laying hold on, getting and keep-       is really I adjure thee, put you under oath before God. Re-
ing a good grasp on eternal life.                                  peatedly we read that Jesus charged his disciples not to tell

       Unto this Timothy has been called by God.                   that he was the Christ, or that he had performed a certain

                                                                   sign. Here the term is really ("dimtel~oomai?)  to give a
       He is a soldier in God's army and must not get entangled
                                                                   distinct order, which was distinctly given and understood.
with the affairs of this life!
                                                                   In that sense it was an order, a charge. Here the term in
       It is really awe-inspiring the way in which Paul under-     the Greek is not that which Paul so often employs when he
scores this `command" to Timothy. For this is not merely           gives a charge ("diamarturomai") to call God as a witness,
some personal advice from Paul, which Timothy can take or          to charge religiously (I Tim. 5:21;  II Tim. 2:14,  II Tim.
leave at his own discretion, but it is the order which comes       4: 1) ). The term here is one which suggests the relation-
directly from the chief Potentate, from the Divine and glori-      ship of a superior to a. subordinate in the military ranks.
fied Christ to his servants.                                       It is the term which suggests that this is an order-from the

       In verses 13, 14 we read the following charge of Paul       Military Commander which must be passed along the line

to Timothy, which reads: "`I give thee charge in the sight         by the subordinates. This fine point we ought not overlook.

of .God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus,          When we thus understand the term, "I charge," we be-
who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, that        gin to see the implications of the addition: "in the sight of
7t72ou  keep this cornrnand~ent  without spot, mrebukable          God and . . . Christ Jesus." In passing we would point out
until the appeating  of our Lord Jesus Christ . . ."               that in this phrase there really is not any essential differ-

       Timothy must "keep" this commandment. The term              ence between God and Christ. As is indicated by the article

keep in the Greek is "tee&n."  This term in its current usage      in Greek with God (tou Theou) and its absence with Christ

implies that one has in his possession something and that          Jesus, in the mind of the apostle Christ Jesus is really co-

he must not lose it by giving it up; he must keep it and           equal and co-eternal with God. He who is in the "sight of

must prize it highly for his life's sake, and no enemy of          God" is such because he is this in God in Christ. Not only

,God and of His church may take it from him. He must keep          is this evident from the article referred to, but this is equally

this short formula, "Thou, 0 man of God, flee these thing          evident from what follows in the text concerning the "ap-

.and pursue a.fter righteousness, godliness, etc. And then it      pearance of Christ" as the only and blessed Potentate, who

.is not immaterial how he lceeps it. He must do so "with-          only hath immortality, etc. The `order" which Paul gives

,out spot." That is a negative way of stating that he must         Timothy and which must be passed on along the entire line

Ikeep this commandment perfectly, he must do it in such a          of the ranks of the ministry even today, is from God in

way that he does not defile it, and thus not lay hold on           Christ, who stands between the seven candlesticks and who

.eternal  life. He must not make common cause with those           has the seven stars in his rigbt hand. It is this glowing con-

who seek the things below, neither in his teaching nor in          viction'and truth which impels Paul thus to write to Tim-

his conduct. He must not in anyway so get involved in the          othy as "man of God."


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               301


   Particularly noteworthy is what Paul writes concerning         Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of

God and concerning Christ Jesus. And what he writes is a          waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder, to cause it to

motive for keeping the commandment spotlessly and ir-             rain on the earth where no man is; on the wilderness where

reproachably.                                                     there is no man, to satisfy the desolate and waste ground,

                                                                  and cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?"
   Let us try to see each of these in their own proper light.
                                                                     How utterly man is dependent upon God who quicken-
   Writes Paul concerning God: "who quickeneth all                eth all things. Says He: "Canst thou bind the sweet influences
things." There are those who desire to refer this to the fact     of Pleiades, or loose the bands of (Orion?  Canst thou bring
that God gives the life of regeneration and of the blessed        forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst  thou guide Arcturus
resurrection in Christ's day. Although this is true in itself     with his sons . . . .Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds,
and the teaching of Scripture in many parts, the question         that the abundance of waters may cover thee? .Canst  thou
may well be raised whether Paul has this in mind here in          send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee: here
this passage. The context rather suggests that Paul has in        we are!! . . . . Who provideth the raven his food? when his
mind that God is the One who gives life to "all things" in        young ones cry to God, they wander for lack of meat."
the entire universe. He rules all things by His counsel and
                                                                     Even in the most common place God revealed His ma-
providence. Besides, we might point out that the term,
                                                                  jesty and power by the things made. Hear Him describe a
"who quickeneth" is a rather peculiar term which does not
                                                                  horse as he gives him life: `hast thou given the horse
suggest "bring forth into life from death" but rather that
                                                                  strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? Canst
of creative bringing forth of life, giving birth to life. The
                                                                  thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? The glory of I;is
construction in the Greek text is such that emphasis is
                                                                  nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley, and rejoice&
placed on the essential character of God rather than on the
                                                                  in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men. He
acts. of God; or if you will, the character and essential
                                                                  mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted;  neither turneth he
nature of God, as the fountain of life, as manifested in all
                                                                  back from the sword. The quiver rattleth against him, and
of creation and in "all things." The term "zoogoneoo"  is
                                                                  glittering spear and the shield. , , . . He saith among the
used here in this text and in Acts 7:19.  In this latter pas-
                                                                  trumpets: ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the
sage the term is used to indicate the evil purpose and intent
                                                                  thunder of the captains and the shouting. . . ." Job 38,39.
of the Egyptian policy of casting out the young children

(males) so that they might not live, that is, might not bpirzg       Must I still call attention to the fact that the Lord

forth children and thus multiply exceedingly. We conclude,        sitteth upon the flood, yea, the Lord sitteth King forever?

therefore, that the text under consideration, translated          Psalm 29.

"quickeneth all things" refers to God's giving life and              Small wonder, that, in this world of greed and lust for
breath and all things. Acts 17.                                   money and idolatry of every kind, Paul calls attention to

   Who does here not think involuntarily' of that tremen-         God who "brings forth all life" as the motive for seeking

dous word of God to Job, when he speaks to him in a theo-         righteousness, godl@ess,  faith and to lay hold on eternal

phany ("out of the whirlwind"), in which address, as in           life. It is to see God from the vantage-point of Job lying

mighty crescendo he points out his own divine greatness in        in the dust and saying: Behold I am vile: and what shall I

every creature which he has made, thus subjugating                answer thee, I will lay my hand upon my mouth, once have

Job in the dust? The poetic grandeur of God's self-de-            I spoken, yea, twice, but I will proceed no farther.

fense (?) would be marred if we tried to give it in our              Here a preacher too prays: give us this day our daily
own prose.    Listen to God speak to Job, and stand in awe        bread. Here the Christian is content in godliness, ending
before him: `Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words          not in the gift but in the. GIVER!
without knowledge.2    Gird up thy loins like a man: for I
will demand of thee and answer thou me. Where wast thou              He who ses God as the One who gives all life and ac-
when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou        knowledges Him as such, he is rich in God. Such must be
hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof,           the race we run; such is eternal life, the contentment of
if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?          godliness, whether one is bond or free. He sings not so
Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who            loudly, `this is my country," but when the strains of `this
laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang        is my Father's world" reach his ear in lyric notes, then his
together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who         heart expands as do the tender buds in the spring-time.

shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth as if it had         Pass the word along to keep the charge of fleeing love
issued out of a womb. . . . Hast thou entered into the            of money and to pursue righteousness in the sight of the
treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of         God who bringeth forth all life, yea, who hast clothed the
the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble,      horse's neck with thunder.
against the day of battle and war? .By what way is the light
parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?                                                                       G.L.


302                                         .THE  S T . A N D A R D   B E A R E R


                                                                    come to pass, as it is written on the pages of this book, but
                   I N H I S F E A;R:                               causes them to take place. The wars, the earthquakes, the
                                                                    storms at sea, the industry of man, the curse upon the plants

                                                                    and animals are all His work. And all this must not be lost
            .,(


                      My Father's World                             sight of in the Geography class. 0, that does not mean that

                                                                    we give the children a lecture on the Book of Revelation, or
                                (2)
                                                                    that we give them a course in Christology. Not at all. But it
       Surely it is in the Geography class that the child can be    does mean that if we lose sight of this in our teaching, we
made to see most clearly that this is his Father's world.
                                                                    do not see this earth in the right light together with all that
He sees the mountains and the streams, the rich soil and            which it contains.
the minerals, the plants and the animals, the food and &he
                                                                        Geography is a very rich subject and has many sides to
water for his life. And, if he has had a covenant training,
                                                                    it. Webster tells us that Geography is "the science of the
if he has been taught in this subject by a believer, by one
                                                                    earth and its life; especially the description of the land and
who gave instruction in His fear, that child will in rever-
                                                                    sea and air, and the distribution of its plant and animal life,
ence and awe cry out: "My Father's world!`>  0, reader of
                                                                    including man and his industries." There is in the first place
these lines, do you want your child to do that?
                                                                    that which is called Mathematical Geography. As the name
    All too often all these wonderful works of God's hands
                                                                    suggests, it deals with figures, nurnbers, length and breadth,
are attributed to anything but-God's wisdom and power.
                                                                    distance from one point to another. The chief tool of in-
All too often the Creator is denied by the creature that He
                                                                    structing in this Mathematical Geography is a set of maps.
has made. For little children are taught to grow up in His
                                                                    The size, shape of continents, seas, rivers, relative size also
world to use it to oppose Him. And even a Christian school,
                                                                    are all clearly demonstrated to the child. He learns to see
unless it is one in more than name, misses a glorious op-
                                                                    the comparative size of his own country. He sees the vast-
portunity when it does not present Geography in such a
                                                                    ness of the oceans and the fact that the greater share of the
way that the child sees that it is his Father's world. A Chris-
                                                                    earth's surface is covered with water. He gets a general
tian school is not one that is simply called such. A Christian
                                                                    view of the planet on which God has placed him. And when
schqol, surely, is not one that caters to antichristian scien-
                                                                    he looks at a globe, he sees his Father's world in the shape
tists' theories and philosophies. A Christian school is not
                                                                    and form that God was pleased to create it. And even here
even one that has the Bible as a subject that is taught. It
                                                                    already the child can be taught to say in truth, "How great
is not a school with the Bible. It is a school in which all the
                                                                    Thou art!"
subjects are taught in the light of the Bible. It is a school
wherein all the instruction is based on the Bible and the              There is that which is called Physical Geography which
teacher is able to say of all his instruction: "Thus saith the      treats the three physical aspects of that earth on which we
Lord about His own world." It is a school built upon the            live :the soil with its minerals and resources; the water and
Bible. The Bible is no side issue, it is that which rules all       its distribution and uses; the atmosphere and its effect upon
the teaching.                                                       that soil and water. So much can be said about these ele-
   And Geography is such a rewarding subject and lends              ments; and each makes an interesting study in itself. We
itself so easily and richly to instruction of the covenant          are reminded of what Moses declared to Israel after he had
youth to see that the world in which he lives, together with        been on the mount with God, "And thou shalt teach them
all that which it contains is GOD'S and that this God is            (the words of the law of God) diligently to thy children,
his God forever and ever. Yea that this God is his Father           and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and
in Christ. For as we remarked last time, Christian instruc-         when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down,
tion does not ignore Christ. And He spoke of the geo-               and when thou risest up again." Deuteronomy 6:7. For al-
graphical extent of the missionary work upon which He               though the text speaks of the teaching of God's law to our
sent His disciples, pointing out the geographical areas and         children throughout the day and in connection with all that

progress that the Gospel would enjoy, But Geography is              which we meet, we are to teach our children that all t&t

not taught from a Christian point of view when it ignores           which we see when we walk by the way speaks of one God

Christ. He came to this earth, was exalted above this earth         and no God besides HIM! It is the soil of ONE God, the

and returns unto it again at the end of time. Meanwhile He          water of ONE God; and the air we breathe belongs to this
is in heaven.with  all authority over the earth as well as over     ONE God. It is our Father's world and His alone. There

all that which is in heaven. That is what He told His &-            is no God besides Him! And all that which we see in the
ciples just before He ascended up into heaven. He said,             variety of soil - the barren desert too - the numerous rivers
"All authority . . ."    And although our English translation       and waters must be seen as Gods. Here again the child
has, `All power is given me . . .," Jesus spoke of authority.       must be taught to say of that God, besides Whom he may
He does have power over all these as well; and nothing              have no other god, "How great thou art!"

happens on this earth except by His power. He opens the                There is what is called G'eomorphology  which is that

book with the seven seals, not only reads what must shortly         phase of Geography that deals with the form of the earth's


                                          T H E   S.TAN.DARD  _.B:EA:RER                                                          303


crust, the lofty and majestic mountains, the deep chasms and      Psalm  24:l.  The cattle upon a thousand hills are His, and

ravines, the slopes and level valleys. This too effects man       so are those hills on. which they -graze. Likewise the men

in several ways and determines what his crop shall be             who tend them, slaughter them, tan their hides, cut the

which he shall plant and what his industry shall be. It           meat into choice cuts, package and ship it through the

takes us to places hundreds of .feet below sea level and to       length and breadth of this land. Really it makes no differ-

the top of mountain peaks that reach well above 14,000            ence how you look at this rich and broad subject of Geog-

ft. sea level. It speaks of the Plains States, of the Ohio        raphy, it is not difficult  to view it in the light of God's

and Mississippi valleys in our land, of Seaboard States, Gulf     Word. We say, again, surely in the Geography class the

States, and Plateau States. And traits that differ, as well as    truth that this is our Father's world is clearly- ,and  most

industry that is varied, will be seen in each of these areas.     literally to be seen. And a Geography textbook that would

                                                                  look at the whole of this vast subject in the light of God's
   Political Geography deals with the distribution of the
                                                                  Word would be a very valuable book to have on the shelf
population upon the earth; and here of course the Scriptural
                                                                  at home as well.
teaching of the confusion of tongues at the tower of Babel
                                                                      We purpose to say a few more things about this truth
with its resultant scattering of man and his division into na-
                                                                  that in Geography we must be taught that this is our
tions must be borne in mind and the reason of God for this
                                                                  Father's world. But in conclusion for this time we want to
scattering. We repeat that instruction to be Christian must
                                                                  remind ourselves of that most basic of all principles that
not only recognize Christ but honor Him as The Christ.
                                                                  governs all Christian training and education'and may never
And that means that His Church is to be reckoned with in
                                                                  be lost sight of in any instruction, whether it be in the day
the Geography class as well as in the Bible class. God
                                                                  school or the Church school. Paul expressed it in Romans
scattered the nations for the wellbeing of His Church and
                                                                  11:36:  `Of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all
set in motion the work which has resulted in today's distri-
                                                                  things: to Whom be glory forever. Amen." Of Him is all
bution of His highest earthly creature. It is not true that
                                                                  Geography also in all its .phases  and aspects. And this must
you can teach this subject apart from the Word of God, and
                                                                  be seen and be believed. It is just as true that that all these
do it justice. Tracing these nations and races and tribes the
                                                                  things are through Him. Woe unto that man who foolishly
unbelieving scientist still comes to the conclusion that the
                                                                  tries to keep them from being z&o -H&n.  In His fear we
area where the Bible says that the ark of Noah came down
                                                                  will stand in awe and sin not. We will put our hands to
is the "cradle of civilization." Here, too, of course, is the
                                                                  our mouths and remove them only to do as Paul does:
explanation to the child of the physical form and shape of
                                                                  ascribe all glory to Him. The heavens declare His glory.
OUT  earths crust. The layers of rock that are exposed in
                                                                  Shall we who were created with mouths do likewise?
mountainous regions, are broken off and form many angles.,
                                                                                                                               J.A;H.
the deep ravines and chasms, the Great Lakes and boulder

strewn fields all have their explanation there. And Geog-

raphy depends, for a proper explanation of all the physical                              Announcement
features but also the distribution of man upon this earth,
upon the Word of God. Again whether he likes it or not,                    INTERMEDIATE TEACHER NEEDED!

the unbeliever cannot get away from that Word of God                 The South Holland - Oak Lawn Protestant Reformed

and from Christ. Repeatedly you will hear him speak of            School is in need of a teacher for Grades 5 and 6.' Here is

this or that date B.C. and of 1963 A.D. He must speak of          an excellent opportunity for a qualified teacher. ]If in-

a period before Christ and of the year of our Lord. He            terested, and if you are willing to consider this position,

finds that he cannot even speak intelligently to his fellow       please correspond with our Assistant Secretary:

men without referring to Christ in regard to time. And, if                                           MR. WILSUR  BRUINSMA
you please to Christ's birth! Soon enough he will be con-                                            17341 Lorenz Avenue
cerned with Geography when this Christ returns to this                                               Lansing, Illinois
earth; and he will call for the hills and mountains to fall

upon him and hide him from the Christ Whom he hates.

Be he scattered over the face of this earth, he will be gath-                       RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
ered in one place to be judged of that Christ.
                                                                     The Men's Society and- the Eunice Society of South West Prot.
   We could also point out that there is Commercial Geog-         Ref. Church express their sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Albert Talsma
                                                                  in the passing of her brother
raphy that treats the distribution of the world's wealth and
                                                                                      MR. MARTIN DE KRAKER
production. And the child is taught where certain minerals
                                                                     May the God of grace comfort the hearts of the bereaved family.
are found, what the industries of the various countries are
                                                                                                   Men's Society
and how the human race is fed and clothed with materials                                               N. Dykstra, Vice President
from the four corners of the earth. The covenant child, of                                             H. Kuiper, Secretary

course, is taught here that the "earth is the Lord's and the                                       Eunice Society
                                                                                                       D. Lotterman, President
fulness  thereof, the world and they that dwell therein."                                              Mrs. E. Kruisenga, Secre&-y

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


                                                                                                      III.

               Contending For The Faith                                    How can water do such great things? Answer:

                                                                           It is not water, indeed, that does it, but the Word of

                                                                        God which is with and in the water, and faith, which trusts

                                                                        in the Word of God in the water. For without the Word of
                    The Church and the Sacraments
                                                                        God the water is nothing but water, and no baptism; but

                    THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION                         with the Word of God it is a baptism -that is, a gracious

                                                                        water of life and a washing of regeneration in the Holy
              VIEWS OF THE SACRAMENTS (BAPTISM)                         Ghost, as St. Paul says, Titus, third chapter (III. 5-6):

                                                                           "By the wa.&ng  of regeneration, a,nd renewing 
                        THE PROTESTANT VIEW                                                                                      of the
                                                                        Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abwuluntly  through Jesus

                                                                        Christ our Saviour;  that being ju.&fied  by his grace, we
          Although the Reformation was a movement which de-
                                                                        should  be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
       livered the Church of God from the hierarchy of the Roman
                                                                        This is certainly true (Or, `This b a faithful saying,' ver.  8).
       Catholic Church, championed the truth of the Word of God

      that justification is only by faith and wholly without works,                                   IV.
      and returned the Word of God to the people of God, wrest-            What does such baptizing with water signify? Answer:
     - ing it from the Romish Church, this does not mean that the
                                                                           It signiiies  that the old Adam in us is to be drowned by
I     reformers were in complete agreement on all matters of
                                                                        daily sorrow and repentance, and perish with all sins and
       doctrine and of the truths of the Word of God. As we
                                                                        evil lusts; and that the new man should daily come forth
       noticed at the conclusion of our preceding article, Luther
                                                                        again and rise, who shall live before God in righteousness
       did not break completely with Rome on the doctrine of the
                                                                        and purity forever.
      sacrament of baptism. He also differed from Calvin intheir
                                                                           Where is it so written? Answer:
      views of the Lord's Supper. But at present we are interested
                                                                           St. Paul, in the 6th chapter of Romans, says:
      in the Protestant conception of the sacrament of baptism.
                                                                           "We are buried with Christ by baptism into death; that
      And we concluded our preceding article with a quotation
                                                                        like as he was raised up from the dead by th.e gEoy  of the
      from the Lutheran Augsburg Confession, Art. IX.
                                                                        Father, even so we also should wallc  in newness of life."
          In Luther's Small Catechism, the Reformer devoted
      Part IV to the sacrament of baptism. In this catechism the           It surely is evident from the short catechism of Luther
      German reformer explains how this sacrament should be             that he did not rid himself completely of the Roman Cath-
       clearly and simply explained to every household by the           olic conception of the sacrament of bapism. It is true that
       head of the family. This is set forth in this catechism as       there is a marked difference between the German reformer
       follows :                                                        and Rome, a difference which also applies to their concep-
                                                                        tions of the Lord's Supper. Even as in connection with the
                                     I.                                 Lord's Supper, Luther did not advocate any change of the

          What is Baptism? Answer:                                      substances, bread and water, themselves, but emphasized
                                                                        that faith was absolutely indispensable in the eating and
          Baptism is not simply common water, but it is the water
                                                                        drinking of Christ's body and blood, so also, in connection
      comprehended in God's command, and connected with
                                                                        with the sacrament of baptism, he declares that, without
       God's Word.
                                                                        the Word of God, the water is nothing but water, and no
          What is that Word of God? Answer:                             baptism. Rome simply lays all emphasis upon the external
          It is that which our Lord Christ speaks in the last chap-     administration of this sacrament.      However, `Luther also
      ter of Matthew (XXVIII. 19) : "Go ye (into all the world),        declares in this short catechism that the water in Baptism
       and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the         is not common water, and that therefore all the benefits of
       Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."                  this sacrament are connected with the water. And he aiso
                                                                        declares, even as in connection with his conception of the
                                    11:                                 Lord's Supper, that the water can do the great things it does

        What-does Baptism give, or of what use is it? Answer:           because of the Word of God which is with and in the water,

                                                                        and faith which trusts in the Word of God in the water. So,
          It worketh forgiveness of sins , delivers from death
                                                                        the Divine working of regeneration is inseparably connected
       and the devil, and gives everlasting salvation to all who
                                                                        with the water itself.
      believe, as the Word and promise of God declare.
                                                                           Also in Reformed circles, as we will readily surmise,
          What are such words and promises of God? Answer:              there is no unanimity of opinion in respect to the sacrament

           Those which our Lord Jesus Christ speaks in the last         of baptism. And then we wish to state at this time that, al-

       chapter of Mark: "He  that betieveth  and is baptized, sha.11    though many view the sacrament as being dependent for its

       be saved; but he that btilieveth  not, shall be damn&."          efficacy upon the will of the recipient of the sacrament, the


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA.RER                                                   305


truly Reformed conception of baptism stresses that the              hearts, with all our souls, with all our mind, and with all

sacrament speaks not merely of something that will happen,          our strength; that we forsake the world, crucfiy our old

but that it emphatically emphasizes what has already oc-            nature, and walk in a new and holy life.

curred, stresses the fact of our salvation as a Divine, un-            And if we sometimes through weakness fall into sin, we
changeable fact. It is simply the age-long controversy be-          must not therefore despair of God's mercy, nor continue in
tween the Reformed and Arminian conception of salvation             sin, since baptism is a seal and undoubted testimony, that
which also applies here. It is the same old question whether        we have- an eternal covenant of grace with God. - end of
`the salvation and promise of the Lord is alone dependent           quote from our Baptism Form.
upon the one and only sovereign God or upon the will of the
                                                                       Space forbids us to dwell at length upon this beautiful
sinner. It is the old question whether the sacrament of bap-
                                                                    form, surely one of the most beautiful forms in our liturgy.
tism is a Divine pledge of the salvation which He bestows
                                                                    We would make the following remark . It is true that we
in His sovereign grace and mercy upon whom He wills to
                                                                    read at the close of this form of our obligation before God.
bestow it, or whether that sacrament is simply a Divine
                                                                    Our attention is called to the fact that there are contained
pledge and assurance of the Lord of what He will do,
                                                                    in all covenants two parts. We note that we do not read of
provided that the sinner is willing to accept the same.
                                                                    two parties, but of two parts. And our part in this covenant
   That the sacrament of baptism is a Divine pledge of sal-         of grace is that we are admonished and obliged through this
vation as a Divine, unchangeable fact is evident from our           sacrament of baptism unto new obedience, to cleave unto
beautiful Baptism Form, from which we now quote:                    the one God, to trust in Him, and to love Him with all

   The principal parts of the doctrine of holy baptism are          hearts and souls and minds and strength. This is our calling

these three:                                                        and obligation because of the sacrament of baptism. Why?

                                                                    Because the promises of the Lord depend upon our obe-
   FIRST. That we with our children are conceived and
                                                                    dience? Because the Lord would establish with us His cov-
born in sin, and therefore are children of wrath, in so much
                                                                    enant of grace, give us everlasting life if only we believe in
that we cannot enter into the kingdom of God, except we
                                                                    God, trust in Him, love Him with all that we are and have,
are born again.    This, the dipping in, or sprinkling with
                                                                    forsake the world, crucify our old nature, and walk in a
water teaches us, whereby the impurity of our souls is
                                                                    new and holy life? Indeed not! Notice, please, that this
signified, and we are admonished to loathe, and humble our-
                                                                    beautiful baptism form begins with a statement which
selves before God, and seek for our purification and salva-
                                                                    establishes our hopeless misery, that we and our children
tion without ourselves.
                                                                    are conceived and born in sin, and that we cannot enter
   SECONDLY. Holy baptism witnessed and sealeth into                into the kingdom of God except we are born again. This
us the washing away of our sins through Jesus Christ.               statement of our utter sin and misery certainly closes the
Therefore we are baptized in the name of the Father, and            door to us as far as OUR entrance into the covenant of
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. For when we are bap-             grace is concerned. Then, in the second paragraph, we read
tized in the name of the Father, God the Father witnesseth          that the Father has established an everlasting covenant of
and sealeth unto us, that he doth make an eternal covenant          grace with us, and that the Son has washed us in His blood
of grace with us, and adopts us for his children and heirs,         from all our sins, incorporating us into the fellowship of his
and therefore will provide us with every good thing, and            death and resurrection. What does all this mean? That
avert all evil or turn it to our profit, And when we are            God's establishing of His covenant is dependent upon our
baptized in the name of the Son, the Son sealeth unto us,           new obedience? Of course not! But it does mean that our
that he doth wash us in his blood from all our sins, in-            new obedience is the fruit of God's establishing of His
corporating us into the fellowship of his death and resurrec-       covenant, and that we are admonished unto this new obe-
tion, so that we are freed from all our sins, and accounted         dience because God HAS established His covenant of grace
righteous before God. In like manner, when we are bap-              with us, the Son HAS washed us in His blood, and the
tized in the name of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost assures         Holy Ghost DOES dwell in us. Our calling, therefore, is
us, by this holy sacrament, that he will dwell in us, and           the fruit of grace.                                      H.V.
sanctify us to be members of Christ, applying unto us, that

which we have in Christ, namely, the washing away of our

sins, and the daily renewing of our lives, till we shall finally
                                                                                 Office-Bearers' Conference
be presented without spot or wrinkle among the assembly

of the elect in life eternal.                                       will be held April 2 at 8:00 P. M. in the First Protestant

   THIRDLY. Whereas in all covenants, there are con-                Reformed Church. Rev. C. Hanko will speak on "What is
tained two parts: therefore are we by God through baptism,          the Calling of the Office-Bearers with respect to the Sick
admonished of, and obliged unto new obedience, namely,              and Indigent in the Congregation," All office-bearers and
that we cleave to this one God, Father, Son, and Holy               former office-bearers are urged to attend.

Ghost; that we trust in him, and love him with all our                                                   J. BOMERS, Secreta


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                                                                    the sole sufficiency of Holy Scripture as the only canon of

          The Voice of Our Fathers                                  faith. Hence, the Confession would be in conflict with it-~
                                                                    self if it now taught that there is another, separate SOLUTE!

                                                                    of the knowledge of the truth, namely, observation and ex-

                                                                    perience.
                  The Belgic Confession                                Positively speaking, therefore, we must remember, in

                                                                    the first place, that the knowledge of which our Confession
                    ARTICLE  IX (continued)                         speaks here is not a mere intellectual knowledge, but the

                                                                    knowledge of faith, a living, spiritual knowledge, a knowl-
Proof from Their Operation
                                                                    edge that is part and parcel of the very life of the Chris-

       The opening statement of this article, which, purposes       tian - a knowledge, therefore, of experience. In the second

to set forth the proof on the basis of which the faith of the       place - and quite in harmony with the above -the Trinity

church that God is Triune rests, refers to two elements of          is a matter of our experience and our life. That God is

proof, or rather, to a two-fold proof. To the one aspect of         Triune is not simply an abstract theory and a fact con-

that proof we have already given our attention, namely, the         cerning God which is, perhaps, nice to know, but which

testimonies of Holy Writ. But the article also states that we       has nothing to do with us, as if that Trinity exists com-

know this truth, that God is Triune, "from their operations,        pletely outside of and apart from our life. That would be

and chiefly by those we feel in ourselves."                         impossible. God is the Triune God. As such He has re-

       We must be careful not to misunderstand this presenta-       vealed Himself. As such, that is, as the Triune God, He

tion of our Confession. It certainly is not the intention of        operates in all His works.    And thus He has made Himself

the Confession to teach that there are two separate                 known in His Word, the Word of the Scriptures. It follows,

sources of the knowledge of the truth, and that we                  therefore, in the third place, that our experience of those

may learn and know and believe that God is Triune in                works of the Triune God, especially of those operations

two different ways. We must not understand this statement           which take place within us, and more especially still our

of Article IX as meaning that, on the one hand, we know             experience of the operations of the Triune God as the God

that God is Triune from the testimony of Scripture; and             of our salvation within us, will be in agreement with w&t

that, on the other hand, we know this same truth entirely           we learn of Him in His Word. Hence, in the fourth place,

independently of the Scriptures, from observation and from          this proof from our observation and experience of the

experience. For this is; in the first place, utterly impossible.    operations of the Triune God is of a subordinate nature.

We cannot learn that God is the Triune God from so-called           It does not stand next to the proof of Scripture, but it stands

general revelation, or from our observation of the operations       in connection with it. It is not of an independent char-

of the Triune God in creation and in history, apart from            acter, but of a confirmatory nature. It can never have any

Holy Scripture.      Nor do we have any experience of the           significance apart from Scripture. It could not even be dis-

operations of the Triune God as the God of our salvation            cerned and interpreted apart from Scripture, It is only

apart from Holy Scripture.       Indeed, we may experience          in connection with the Scriptures that that experience can

the operations of the Triune God as the God of our salva-           be interpreted and known. And, moreover, that experience

tion. We may know Him as the God and Father of our                  of faith can never stand in conilict with Scripture; nor can

Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath begotten us again unto a lively         it serve as a test of the truth revealed in Scripture. But on

hope. We `may know that the Triune God reveals Himself              the contrary, it must itself always meet the test of Scrip-

as our -Savior  and Redeemer through His only begotten              ture.

Son in the flesh. And we may have the experience of .His               It is to this proof from the operations of the Triune God

saving operation in the knowledge that all our sins are             that our Confession refers when it says: "Moreover, we

blotted out and forgiven in Him. And we certainly may               must observe the particular offices and operations of these

have the experience of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost' as         three persons towards us. The Father is called our Creator,

the Spirit of Christ, Who sanctifies us and applies unto us         by his power; the Son is our Savior and Redeemer, by his

that which we have in Christ, namely, the washing away of           blood; the Holy Ghost is our Sanctifier, by his dwelling in

our sins and the daily renewing of our lives until we shall         our hearts." We have already called attention to these

finally be presented without spot or wrinkle among the as-          offices and operations in connection with the Oneness of

sembly of the elect in life eternal. But all this experience        God in our treatment of Article VIII (cf. Feb. 1 issue of

we have not apart from., but only in intimate connection            The Standard Bearer). And we need not repeat what we

with the testimonies of Holy Writ. In the second place, it          have written there. Let it be sufficient to add here, in the

wou1.d  be contrary to the Confession itself to maintain that       first place, that not only is it true from a doctrinal point of

there are two separate sources of proof, or evidence, that          view that we may not make a tritheistic separation between

God is the Triune God. For do not forget that our Confes-           the work of the Three Persons of the Trinity; but it is also

sion in the articles just previous to these articles on the         true that such a tritheistic separation is contrary to our ey-

Trinity has very succintly  maintained the sole authority and       perience and our faith. That is, we do not experience the


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 307


offices and operations of the Three Persons as operations .of     without. We may note here also that our Confession gives

three separate gods (which is the error of tritheism); but        expression to its ecumenic  faith not only as far as the officiai

we experience those operations precisely as the operations        confessions of the church in the past are concerned; but it

of the Triune God. In the second place, we may note that          also gives expression to a proper respect for and unity -with

our Confession makes a distinction between those opera-           the "orthodox fathers" and to that which "is agreed upon

tions of the Triune God which take place outside of us and        by the ancient fathers," in so far as it is2conformable  to the

those operations which take place within us; and it makes         creeds of the church. We must not mistake this reference

the point that we may know that God is Triune chiefly             to the fathers as a denial of the sufhciency  of the Scriptures.

from those operations which take place within us. By the          We will recall that in Article VII our Confession has re-

works outside us are meant such works as creation, prov-          pudiated the Romish acknowledgment of tradition and the

idence, and God's revelation in the work of redemption as         attributing of normative value to the declarations of the

it is accomplished objectively in Christ, His death, His res-     ancient fathers in the following language: "Neither do we

urrection, etc. By the operations of God within us are            consider of equal value any writing of men, however holy

meant such works of God as His preservation and govern-           these men may have been, with those divine scriptures, nor

ment of our natural life and existence, and especially His        ought we to consider custom, or the great multitude, or

application of the benefits of salvation which are in Christ      antiquity, or succession of times and persons, or councils,

to us. Especially in the latter we know God as the Triune         decrees or statutes, as of equal value with the truth of God."

God of our salvation. For by the application of these benefits    This does not mean, however, that the Reformed faith has

of salvation we are taken up into the fellowship of His own       no respect for and attaches no value to the labors of the

covenant life. We must not limit this application of the          church in the past. On the contrary, the`Reformed  church,

blessings of salvation in Christ to the office and operation      just because it believes that the Holy Spirit, through the

of the Holy Spirit. For even though it is true that all these     Scriptures, leads the church into all the truth, has a high

operations take place through the Holy Spirit as the Spirit       regard for the labors of the church in the past and for its

of Christ, Who applies unto us that which we have in Christ,      exposition and defense of the truth. It certainly is not

nevertheless we may make distinction, though never separa-        Reformed to despise all that the church in the past has ac-

tion. In the regeneration and quickening of the dead sin-         complished in the development and formulation of the

ner we know the Triune God as the Father-Creator, Who             truth. It is Reformed that we take pains to discover

has `begotten us again unto a lively hope, through the            whether, and to declare that we stand in the line of the

resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." In the calling       church of all ages and in the line of the orthodox faith. And

to conscious faith by the Word, in the being incorporated         that discovery that we are in harmony with the faith of the

into His body, and in justification and the forgiveness of        church in the past may always serve, in a subordinate way.

sins, we know the Triune God as the Redeemer-Son. And             for the confirmation of the orthodoxy of our faith. The faith

in the indwelling of God in us, in the communion of saints,       of the ancient fathers has no normative value by itself. The

in our being cleansed from sin and corruption and conse-          ancient fathers, even the majority of them, cannot deter-

crated to the living God, we know Him as the Sanctify&g           mine for us what constitutes the orthodox faith. Also here

Spirit. And thus, in the experience of our faith God Triune,      it must be borne in mind that Scripture is the only canon

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is glorified.                        of faith. But it certainly is of coniirmatory  value for our

                                                                  faith to know that we stand in the line, the historical line,

                                                                  of the truth. And it is to this that our Confession calls
In Harmony with the Orthodox Fathers
                                                                  attention at the close of this article.
   The conclusion of Article IX speaks of the defense and

maintenance of this doctrine by the church in the past:              There is a rather formidable array of anti-trinitarians

"This doctrine of the Holy Trinity hath always been de-           mentioned in this article, from which it is evident that the

fended and maintained by the true Church, since the time          doctrine of the Trinity has in one form or another been

of the apostles, to this very day, against the Jews, Moham-       frequently attacked - so frequently, in fact, that heretics,

medans, and some false Christians and heretics, as Marcion,       of the modern age who attack this doctrine do not even

Manes, Praxeas, Sabellius, Samosatenus, Arms, and such            bring any new arguments, but simply resurrect old here-

like, who have been justly condemned by the orthodox              sies. We may also note that almost without fail the attacks

fathers." Then, after declaring its acceptance of the three       on the doctrine of the Trinity have centered on the doctrine

creeds, that of the Apostles, of Nice, and of Athanasius) the     of the Christ. This may serve to remind us of the crucial

article further declares its acceptance of "that, which, con-     importance of this doctrine from a practical, spiritual point

formable thereunto, is agreed upon by the ancient fathers."       of view. If you deny the Trinity, you deny the Christ. And

   Here, therefore, the church in its Confession distin-          if you deny the Christ, you deny the whole of the truth of

guishes itself as the true church, standing in the line of the    salvation. No one who denies the Trinity, therefore, has

church of all ages, and that too, over against all deniers        any right whatsoever, even in the broadest sense, to the

of this doctrine of the Trinity, both from within and from        name "Christian."                                        H.C.H.

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


                                                                             Christian discipline is so designed as to spare the brother as

11  D E C E N C Y   a n d   O R D E R   11 much as possible and to bring him to, repentance with the
                                                                             least amount of public exposure, this problem becomes a

                                                                             rather serious one. It isnot just a matter of knowing what

                                                                             consitutes  the right procedure but it is the difficulty of
                  Discipline and Censure
                                                                             following through this procedure step by step in such a way
   "Such as obstinately reject the admonition of the con-                    that the order and decency of the discipline process is not
sistory, and likewise those who have committed a public                      disrupted. To this problem we have no immediate solution,
or otherwise gross sin, shall be suspended from the Lord's
Supper. And if he, having been suspended, after repeated
admonitions, shows no signs of repentance, the consistory                                         Silence Censure
shall at last proceed to the extreme remedy, namely, ex-                        Article 76 speaks of "suspension from the Lord's Sup-.
communication, agreeably to the form adopted for that
                                                                             per." Although this is certainly a disciplinary measure, it
purpose according to the Word of God. But no one shall
be excommunicated except with the advice of the classis."                    is not part of the excommunication process which consists
                                          -Article 76, D.K.O.                of three distinct steps and is described in Article 77. From.

                                                                             the very beginning Reformed Churches have used suspen-
       "After the suspension from the Lord's table, and sub-
                                                                             sion from the Lord's Supper as a disciplinary measure. In.
sequent admonitions, and before proceeding to excommuni-
cation, the obstinacy of the sinner shall be publicly made                   his Church Order Calvin already provided for this. Its
known to the congregation, the offense explained, together                   aim is to bring the sinner to the consciousness of the serious
with the care bestowed upon him, in reproof, suspension                      consequences of his impenitence in order that he may
from the Lord's Supper, and repeated admonition, and the                     realize that continuance in sin will debar him from the
congregation shall be exhorted to speak to him and to pray
                                                                             fellowship of Christ and His church. No announcement of
for him. There shall be three such admonitions. In the
first, the name of the sinner shall not be mentioned that he                 this is made to the church for this is what is referred to as
be somewhat spared. In the second, with the advice of the                    "silent censure."
classis, his name shall be mentioned. In the third, the                         The phrase in Article 76 and 77, "suspended from the
congregation shal be informed that (unless he repent)  he                    Lord's Supper" is not entirely correct. It does not fully
will be excluded from the fellowship of the church, so that
                                                                             express the force of this silent censure. It stands to reason.
his excommu~cation,  in case he remains obstinate, may
take place with the tacit approbation of the church. The                     that one who is suspended from the Lord's Supper is also
interval between the admonitions shall be left to the dis-                   forbidden the use of the sacrament of baptism. Those two.
cretion of the consistory."                                                  cannot be separated. We could speak here of one being
                                         - A r t i c l e   7 7 ,   D.K.O.    denied the use of the sacraments. However, even this ia

       Although the steps followed in the exercise of christian              not all for suppose that while one was silently censured a

discipline in Reformed Churches are not involved and                         congregational meeting was called by the consistory for the:

difficult to comprehend, there is in general a lack of under-                purpose of electing office bearers. Such a person could not

standing this process. Even office bearers, when confronted                  participate in the voting,    His membership privileges are.

with a concrete case in which disciplinary measures must                     temporarily suspended and he must be made to feel that

be used, are sometimes confused as to how to go about to                     his walk of sin places him outside of the communion of the,

do this. This is not due to ignorance of the church order                    body of Christ.

and the procedure of discipline outlined in it, but it stems                    This initial step in the discipline process is therefore a.

from the practical fact and difficulty that especially in small              very serious one.    Although it does not strictly belong to

churches it is a virtual impossibility to follow these steps                 what is referred to as the first, second and third steps of

consecutively. The point is that in small churches the act                   censure, it may not be taken lightly. Sometimes a distinc-.

of suspending from the Lord's Supper (Art. 76) which                         tion is made between these two by referring to the former

precedes the three steps of discipline proper, is tantamount                 as a `temporary suspension" while the latter is then called

to the second step mentioned in Article 77. When a                           a "definite suspension." Then again the action of Article 76

member of the church is suspended from the Lord's Supper,                    of the church order is called "excommunicatio minor," that

the entire congregation not only soon knows ,about  this but                 is, a minor excommunication. This is "minor" only in the

also knows the name of the member and the sin for which                      sense that it can be lifted at any time there is evidence of

this suspension had been imposed. This is almost unavoid-                    repentance while the "excommunicatio major" permanently

able where a small church lives in close unity and fellow-                   deprives the impenitent of his membership privileges and

ship and then if the first two steps of Article 77 have to                   such a one can receive these again only by the form for

follow, the whole process is reduced to a mere formality.                    the re-admittance of excommunicated persons which we

How to avoid this and how to keep the identity of the                        hope to consider later.

person involved from the congregation until the proper                          This final excommunication does not occur very often

time are the practical digiculties  that confront the con-                   in the churches. This is not because there are no deflections

sistory. And when you consider that the whole structure of                   or that the church has but few members who by their


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              309


sins and refusal to repent make themselves worthy of                    The second instance mentioned in this article refers to

excommunication. But the  reason is to be found in the fact          those who have committed some public or gross sin. This

that usually those members who are under discipline and              calls for immediate suspension from the Lord's Supper and

refuse to repent break with the church to avoid their                even if there is an immediate confession of guilt it is not

excommunication. In effect such members excommunicate                said that the eonsistory can at once restore to such a person

themselves. This is a serious thing against which the most           his membership privileges.    It may be that it is advisable,

solemn warning must be sounded. In these matters we deal             if the sin is committed shortly before the time of de

not with men but with the living God and His Christ. His             celebration of the Lord's Supper, that such a person be told

word of admonition comes to us through His church and                to abstain at least from that celebration so that within a

from this we cannot run away with impunity. In 1918 the              reasonable time the matter may be completely straightened

Synod expressed itself in regard to this as follows:                 away. This may be the best for the congregation lest there

   "Synod, considering that the withdrawal from discipline,          be an offense at the table of the Lord.

to which one has freely subjected himself, and the breaking             Then there may be instances where there is trouble

off of the fellowship with the church to which one belongs,          between two or three brethren of the church and the

for reasons which cannot stand the test of God's Word, is            consistory may deem it best to advise all concerned to

a sin which should not be esteemed lightly, and that those           abstain from the Lord's Supper until the guilt ELII  be

who do so should be supplicated continuously and earnestly           determined or the matter resolved. And where such things

that they return from their erroneous way, and that these            might even affect the whole church or a large part of it

should not be released hastily; but (considering) also that          so that there is a wide-spread disturbance, it may be

*one's  affiliation with the church as an organization as well       necessary to postpone temporarily the celebration of the

as one's continuation in the organized church, should remain         Lord's Supper. This should not be done except for weighty

to be, according to church governmental principles, an act           reasons and when it is done it must be remembered that

.of each one's own personal choice,  (therefore Synod) judges        this is not a disciplinary act but only a means to prevent

that no one can continue to be an object of church discipline        the desecration of the sacrament by which dishonor is

if he persists in resigning his membership."                         brought upon the name of God.                       G.V.D.B.

   Now there are two things that must be noted in connec-

tion with Article 76. In the erst place, it makes plain that

the right to exercise discipline resides in each church.
                                                                       CALL FOR ASPIRANTS TO THFa  MINISTRY
Although it is true that final excommunication cannot take

place except with the advice of Classis, this does not abro-            All young men desiring to study for the ministry of de
gate the fact that intrinsically every church has the right to       Word in the Protestant Reformed Churches kindly appear
govern itself. This advice and consent of the other churches         at the next meeting of the Theological School Committee
is designed to give assurance that there has been no parti-          which will be held, the Lord willing, on Friday, April 26,
ality or ill-will in a given case but that the treatment of the      1963 at 8 P. M. in the parsonage of the Hudsonville Prot.
matter by the consistory involved has been proper in every           Ref. Church, in Hudsonville, Michigan.
respect.                                                                The qualifications requisite to enrollment in our Sem-
   In the second place, this article speaks of two instances         inary are the following:
for which members are to be suspended from the Lord's                   1. You must present a letter from your local consistory
`Supper.    Both of these are properly described by the word         certifying that you are upright in walk and pure in doctrine.
`"`impenitance"  but there is a difference. In the first instance
                                                                        2. You must have a certi&ate of health signed by a
the article refers to those who "obstinately reject the
                                                                     reputable physician.
admonition of the consistory." The supposition is, of course,
that they have been found guilty and that the sin has been              3.    You must be a graduate from High School and show
                                                                     evidence that you have completed a one-year course in
clearly pointed out by the consistory. The sinner has been
                                                                     High School in History General and Church History; and
oft and repeatedly admonished and urged to repent. All
                                                                     have also completed the following College courses: Latin -
this the sinner obstinatelv reiects. He mi&t  do that in
                            , ,                                      two years, Greek - two years, German - two years, 
several ways. He might refuse to listen tithe pleadings                                                                    Philos-
                                                                     ophy - one year,     Psychology - one year, Logic - one
of the office bearers and simply refuse to consider that his
                                                                     semester.
walk is evil. Or again he may even acknowledge that he
has guilt but fail to show any amendment of life and by                 All correspondence relative to the above announcement
continuing in the sin he manifests this obstinate rejection          should be sent to the undersigned:

of admonition. Then again he may show only temporary                              Secretary of the Theological School Committee,

amendment and thereby reveal. that his professed repent-                          REV. MARINUS SCHIPPER

ance is not sincere. For the sin, whatever that may be, he                        1543 Cambridge Avenue, S. E.

is not debarred but for his impenitence.                                          Grand Rapids 6, Michigan

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


                                                                             any book of the Bible is not a matter of supreme im-

/ALL                    A R O U N D   US 11 portance. We do not know for sure, e.g., who wrote the
                                                                             epistle to the Hebrews. Nor do we know who wrote the

                                                                             book of Esther. But this is a relatively unimportant ques-

                                                                             tion only because the Holy Spirit Himself is the primary
ANOTHER ATTACK ON THE BIBLE
                                                                             Author of all Holy Scripture. This the Church has always

       Throughout the ages the Bible has been the constant                   insisted upon. This the Scotsman denies. And, because the

object of attack. The devil knows that if he can destroy the                 Holy Spirit is the primary Author of all Scripture, all

Bible, he can destroy the Church of Christ. And so his                       Scripture is also the absolutely infallible rule of doctrine

relentless and bitter attacks have never ceased.                             and life. All that Scripture says is true. And when Scrip-

       A Scats  minister by the name of Rev. Andrew Morton                   ture itself says that Paul wrote Timothy, this is true. No
has recently taken it upon himself to prove that not all the                 modern computer can overthrow the testimony of the Spirit.

epistles usually said to be written by the apostle Paul were                     It is the miracle of God's gift of faith to His people that

actually written by him.            In fact, he claims that only             the Bible has stood unscathed as the living confession of

Romans, I and II Corinthians and Galatians were written                      all the saints of all ages against all the attacks of so many

by Paul, while the rest of the epistles - Ephesians, Philip-                 wicked men.

pians, Colossians, I and II Thessalonians, I and II Timothy,
                                                                             ANOTHER MERGER PROPOSAL
Titus, Philemon-were actually written by at least three

other men. The means he used to come to this conclusion                          During the 18th Century, the Church of England,

are rather interesting. He reasoned that any author of any                   founded under the influence of Calvinism in that country,

work has his own unique style of writing. This will show                     became somewhat weak and sunk in dead orthodoxy. John

itself in various subconscious ways, among them the use of                   Wesley, who .set about to reform the Church and call her

certain words. So he took the word "and" and tested his                      back from the ways of spiritual lethargy, succeeded only

theory with certain ancient Greek authors. He found that                     informing a new denomination - the Methodist Church in

this theory was correct.         So he decided the same method               England which has grown since that time to become the

could be used in determining the authorship of the Pauline                   second largest denomination in the island. Several weeks

epistles. He fed all the sentences of all the books usually                  ago the first steps were taken to bring these two Churches

attributed to Paul into some giant computer. He used this                    back together.

machine to count the times the word "and" appeared, and                          If the plan goes into effect, each denomination will have

to determine the pattern in which the word "`and" was used.                  to make one major concession. The Church of England,

He used the book. of Galatians for his standard since he                     better known as the Anglican Church, will have to give up

was sure that this book at least was written by Paul. When                   its status as the State Church. This means that it will have

the computer finished its computations, it was clearly evi-                  to ask Parliament to pass a bill cutting it off from the

dent, according to him, that Paul could not have written all                 privileges and protection of the British government. Meth-

these books which the Church has claimed were written by                     odists, on their part, will have to accept the Anglican doc-

him; that, in fact, only four books are truly his. In his own                trine of Apostolic succession. The Anglicans teach that

words,                                                                       the rule of their bishops descended, through the laying on

            There are four Epistles which were written by a man              of hands, directly from the twelve Apostles. Methodists are

         whose vocabulary had a proportion of "ands"  in it, who used        traditionally and bitterly opposed to this.
         his `ands" in a consistent pattern and who, by definition, must         The plan to achieve union is well prepared in advance.
         be the Apostle Paul. The other ten Epistles exhibit diverse
         characteristics and must have come from at least three other        First it must be considered by both the Anglican Convoca-
         hands.                                                              tion which meets in May; then by the Methodist Confer-

       What then about the fact that Paul himself says, in these             ence meeting in July. Then the proposal is to be discussed
                                                                             on the parish and district level for two years. Only after
books, that he is the author? No matter, says this Scot
                                                                             this, when discussions are over, will other problems be
minister; the Bible cannot be taken literally anyway.
                                                                             faced such as whether the Methodists should use wine in-
       Thus he shows that really all his research was intended               stead of grape juice in their communion services. But if the
as an attack on the Scriptures. To quote Time magazine,                      churches agree to move ahead, then a period of "intercom-
            Morton believes his discovery to be a hard blow against all      munion" will be held. Churches and chapels across the
         hinds of Fundamentalists, who take the Bible literally. "This       nation will share in "reconciliation services." If all goes well,
         is one in the eye for all the Bible thumpers," he says. But he
                                                                             the new church will be called the Church In (rather than
         argues that his study "in no way detracts from the Epistles'
         value as church scripture," since the churches have always          "Of") England, with the Methodists becoming a sort of
         accepted them, regardless of authorship, as accurate reflections    e v a n g e l i c a l   b r a n c h .
         of Pauline teaching.                                                    It will be a large denomination since the Anglican

   It is true, of course, that the secondary authorship of                   Church numbers 9,748,OOO  confirmed members, while the


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D ,   ,B..EARER                                            311
L'..: _



Methodist Church numbers 1,081,OOO  members.                     payer was obligated to itemize his deductions. If he chose

   No mention has been made up to this time of the fact          not to itemize them, he could claim a standard deduction

that the Anglican Church rests upon the conparatively  strict    of about 10% of his income.

Calvinistic Confession - The Thirty-Nine Articles of the            The new tax bill proposes to change all this. If the
Church of England with the Lambeth Articles; while the           proposal is adopted by, Congress and made law, (this seems
Methodist Church is historically Arminian;  But then, this       to be highly doubtful according to news commentators ) , all
follows the general pattern of church merger - unity with-       deductions, whether given to churches, schools, or hospitals
out consideration of doctrine.                                   would be subject to a 5% "floor." This would mean, in
   It is also interesting to note that the Anglican Church       effect, that itemized deductions would be limited to those
has talked recently about possible relations with the Roman      in excess of 5% of a taxpayer's adjusted gross income. A

Catholic Church. This certainly is an added factor.              tax paye; would have to add up all his deductions (includ-

                                                                 ing charitable deductions, medical expenses, interest pay-

LENTEN NONSENSE                                                  ments, etc.) and then reduce them by 5% of his adjusted

   In a Roman Catholicnewspaper there recently appeared          gross income.

an interestng article concerning the observance of Lent in          Church leaders have expressed grave concern about this

the southern part of the United States. Part of the obser-       new proposal. They are very much afraid that, if this

vance of Lent is supposed to be self-denial as a means of        proposal should become law, contributions to churches and

penance.    One article, appearing elsewhere in the paper,       to schools would drop alarmingly. They claim it is difficult

headlined "Through self-denial, we climb to sanctity and         enough now to raise money without the added burden of

help atone for the sins of the world."                           trying to raise money when contributions are not deduct-

   It seems however, that, while the law in the Roman            able in full from income tax.

Catholic Church in this country is that-its members must            This fear on the part of church leaders implies that
abstain from meat on Friday as a means of doing penance,         people gives to churches only because they can escape
this is not true in Mexico. Evidently, centuries ago the         greater tax payments. If this escape is closed, their con-

Pope granted a dispensation (i.e., a right to refrain from       tributions would cease. This does not speak very highly of
obeying certain Church laws without penalty) to Spain and        the spiritual life of church members.
all her territories, which permitted these countries, includ-       Many times one hears this kind of a charitable giving
ing Mexico, to eat meat on Friday. Now a problem has             advanced as proof of the theory of "common grace" - that
come up. El Paso is a border town in southern Texas,             the unregenerate man is capable of performing a surprising
and just south of the border lies Juarez, Mexico. The Cath-      amount of good in the world. Now it seems as if Church
olics who live in and around El Paso always-do their shop-       leaders are not so sure of this "good" even among church
ping on Friday so that they can slip across the border for       members. That spirit of humanitarianism and concern for
supper and eat meat without committing a sin. When the           the well-being of one's fellow man is perhaps not quite-as
author of this particular article questioned certain of her      great as it was thought to be. It evidently was a giving that
friends about it, they answered that they could see nothing      wa simply an escape from paying the government while at
wrong in ib that, in fact, many priests did the same. The        the same time making a name for one's self.
author felt that there was something wrong with it all,             But this is not the kind of giving of which Scripture
although she had to admit it was not a sin. She didn't           speaks. When God commanded Israel to bring their offer-
think Christ would do it.                                        ings for the building of the tabernacle, God said to Moses,
   An article like this, while perhaps of minor  importance,     "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an
certainly shows the utter folly of making rule upon rule         offering: of every man that giveth willingly with' his heart
and piling precept upon precept. All it does is destroy the      ye shall take my offering." Exodus 25:2.  Jesus commends a
true worship of God and make detestable hypocrites' of           widow for giving her penny while the Pharisees cast in an
people. But that's what Lent does.                               abundance. But the widow gave `of her penury" and "cast

                                                                 in all the living that she had." Luke 21: l-4. Paul urges up-
TAX REFORM AND CHARITY CONTRIBUTIONS                             on the Corinthian Church the need for contributing to the

   Income tax reform and tax cuts are big news items these       collections for the Jerusalem Church with this encourage-

days.                                                            ment: "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart,

   There is a provision in President Kennedy's tax proposals     so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God

which church leaders are discussing with considerable dis-       loveth a cheerful giver. " II Corinthians 9:7. In other words,

may. This proposal of the tax bill deals with charitable con-    the giving which is approved by God is, that which comes

tributions. In previous years the tax law permitted deduc-       from a heart that loves the kingdom of God and the cause

tions of charitable contributions up to 20% of .gross  income    of that kingdom in this world. He gives then out of love

and up to 30% in the case of donations to churches, educa-       and devotion to God apart from any other consideration -
tional institutions and hospitals. If this were done, the tax    income tax included.                               H. Hanko

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


                                                                   in the last issue) four of Hull's congregation. Rev. Korte-

       NEWS FROAA tXlR. CHURCHES                                   ring's sermon topic for the occasion was II Tim. 3:14, 15.

              "RI1  the saints salute  thee . . ." PHIL: 4 :21      '    The Iowa-Protestant Reformed School Society sponsored
                                                                   a lecture in Doon March 19. The speaker: Rev. J. A. Heys

                                                                   of South Holland.
                                         -
                                              .March  20, 1963
                             _.  `.                                      Rev. H. Hanko, so recently transplanted in Doon,  has

Calls: Lynden  -,Rev.  J. Kortering, of Hull, from a trio          already been fitted into the place left by Rev. Van Baren -

which included the Revs. G. -`Laming  and Hi Veldman.              that of co-operating with Revs. Kortering and Woudenberg

Hope - Rev. H. Veldman, of Redlands,  -from a ,&o' which           in supplying one another's pulpits while the regular pastor

included Revs. C. Hanko and J. fteys.                              is away on Classical appointment.
                                  -,.

   Declined: Rev. J. Kortering - Southwest. Rev. G. Van-                 Hull's Ladies' Society, on an after recess program,

den Berg - Hope.                                                   recently discussed "The Tongue, an Instrument for Good

                                                                   or Evil." We wonder if they came to the conclusion that
   New Trios: Southwest-Revs. H. Veldman, J. Heys,  B.
                                                                   the "evil" flowing from that fountain contributes the lion's
Woudenberg. Loveland - Revs. J. Kortering, H. Veldman,
                                                                   share of the manifestation of our "old nature."                z
B. Woudenberg.

                                                                         First Church's bulletin revealed that Mrs. H. Hoeksema
       The League of Men's Societies has scheduled their
                                                                   has been transfered to Pine Rest Hospital for professional
Spring Meeting for April 15 at Southwest Church. Prof. H.
                                                                   care and treatment.
C. Hoeksema will speak, D.V. on "The Atonement of Christ,

`4ccording  to Dort."    This should be of value for those of            Rev. H. Hoeksema conducted Prayer Day services in

us who are following the controversy concerning the state-         First Church, preaching on the words, "The Lord is my

ment, "God loves all men." So, men, whether you are a              shepherd, I shall not want." If one thinks that that text

member of one. of the societies or not, you are urged to           would not make a good Prayer Day sermon it only means

attend this meeting..                                              that he was not there to hear it!


       Advance notice: Adams St. School Mothers Club is                  Other Prayer Day texts: Redlands'- "Give me neither

sponsor&&a  program featuring the school's Junior Choir            poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me;.

and the Radio Choir. This program will be held, D.V. in             Lest I be full, and deny These,  and say, Who is the Lord?.

First Church, April 21. These choirs, under the direction          or lest I be poor and steal, and take the Name of my' God

of Roland Petersen, either singly or in combination, produce       in vain" (Prov. 30:8a,  9). @&lawn  -"Let us come boldly

some really fine music.     You can depend upon it that this        to the throne of Grace" (Heb. 4:16).

program, like all their public performances, will .only  in-
                                                                         The Association of Sunday School Teachers have Fall
clude music that is conducive to the praise of .God.
                                                                   and Spring Inspirational Meetings. The first to give an.
       Rev. H. Hoeksema, who has been the regular speaker
                                                                   inspiration to the teachers at the. beginning of the season;
on The Reformed Witness Hour since Dec. -2, will preach
                                                                   the latter evidently is -to bolster the-morale of the teachers:
D.V. the 22nd and concluding radio sermon of his current
                                                                   so they can say that it really was worth it after all. Rev. M.
series .April  28. The April 7th sermon topic will be "R,e-
                                                                   Schipper,  of Southeast, will address the Spring Meeting in
jetted  by the World Powers." April 14 (Resurrection Day)
                                                                   his church March 22.
the glorious message cpncerning,  ."`The Resurrection of

Christ" will be aired, proclaiming de truth "that Christ,                The newest controversy kindled in the various church.

Who is the first-born of every creature, is also the first-.       papers concerning the statement "God loves all men" are

begotten of the dead." April 21, the pastor hopes to explain       having a salutary effect in our circles as evidenced in the:

the reason for our Lord's resurrection in a sermon entitled,       fact that both Southeast and First Church's young people's:

"The Heavenly Lord and His Heavenly People." "A Glori-             Societies are independently studying the so-called "Corn-.

ous Change".(l  Cor. 1551, 52) is to be the theme of the           mon Grace proof-texts."

pastor's final radio message of the season, April 28. Printed
                                                                         Hudsonville's Mr. and Mrs. Society was host to that of
copies of these radio sermons can be obtained by. writing to:
                                                                    Southeast March 19. After recess the members enjoyed.
The Reformed Witness Hour, Box 1230, Grand Rapids 1,
                                                                   some of -Mr. Seymour Beiber's collection of beautiful.
Mich.  Next month, the Lord willing, Rev. G. Van Baren of
                                                                   colored slides.
Randolph, Wis., will be the speaker-on `our' Distinctively

Reformed radio broadcasts.                                               Quiet Thought (from Southeast's bulletin): Many-
                                              -_, .                 Christians call God their Father, and act as orphans.
       Add to the number., of young. people who publicly

confessed their faith March 3rd (to -the  twelve mentioned               . . . . see you in church.                          J.M.F..


