    V0LUM.E  xXx1x                              A                                                                   NUMBER  14
                                                PRIL 15, 1963 - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN



                                                                          But, wait, here is another sojourner on the way to Em-

          M E D I T A T I O N                                          maus.  Let us fall back and see what He wants. Listen, He
                                                                       will speak to our downcast friends.

                                                                          What manner of communications are these that ye have
                 JESUS' RESURRECTION                                   one to another as ye walk, and are sad?

                                                     Luke 24: 13-35       Oh, oh, that question found no friendly home. We can

                                                                       see that in one glance. The one, named Cleopas, turns him-

   It must have been rather late in the afternoon when                 self impatiently to the questioner with somewhat of a stern

two of the disciples of Jesus left Jerusalem for the village           rebuke: Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not

called Emmaus.  Rather late, because the distance was about            known the things which are come to pass there in ,these

7 miles and when they arrived there, it was toward evening             days?

and the .day  was far spent.                                              Oh, let us not be hard on Cleopas. The intended re-

And'w.hat   a   d a y   i t   h a d   been!~                           buke has a rather weighty reason. The things that happened

                                                                       there in Jerusalem were to them the most terrible that could
   On the afternoon of that day of Jesus' resurrection, we
                                                                       have happened. Their very lives and hopes for the future
see two men leaving the gates of the. holy city in order to
                                                                       were all wrapped up in Jesus of Nazareth. We can under-
direct their steps to the village called Emmaus.
                                                                       stand the annoyance of Cleopas and his friend. Besides, the
   We shall do well to be quiet. We want to listen in on               things -alluded to are about the most important ones of all
                                                                                                   ._
their conversation. They are certainly enwrapped in it.                the ages. So important-that Paul after due study and con-
,Question  follows question, remark follows remark. They               templation, born of the Rely Spirit of God, came to the
speak and ask again.       And `ever the same answer: No, we
                                                                       conclusion that Jesus' cross would .have  to be the sum and
cannot understand why Jesus had to die! Oh, why did He                 substance of his -preaching. Come now, stranger, are you
have to- die? Who can understand that awful cross? Here                the only stranger here in Jerusalem? Dost thou not know
we had placed all our hopes on this wonderful prophet. He              of the cross of Jesus?
would be the great general who would lead our legions in
                                                                         But our stranger on the road to Emmaus  insists: What
`order to once more vanquish the armies of God's enemies.
                                                                       things?
But no, without striking one solitary blow, He gave Himself

to a handful of soldiers and servants, armed -with swords                 And then the floodgates of their hearts are opened; The

and sticks. When they scolded Him and-  struck Him, He                 words gush out.. You cannot help but notice how eagerly

grew silent. He even rebuked one of us when we would                   they relate the whole grievous story in well  chosen words;

strike and kill and destroy!                                           the whole sad problem, including the main question that

                                                                       bothered them: "and how the chief priests and our rulers
   And yes, now He is gone.1          Nevermore to return. And
                                                                       delivered Him to be condemned to death, and have cruci-
did we not love Him? Oh, we love Him still even though
                                                                       fied Him!"
He is gone forever.       For He was so good and wise and

wonderful in all His words and deeds! Our hearts are weep-             __ TWO things stand- out in their version of Gdlgo-
ing within us for the Christ of God who died and went His              tha and a11 that. related to it. First, .that they could

solitary way!                                                          find no place for that cross. Everything else concerning

   And thus they talked and talked.                                    .Jesus  they could understand, nay, worship. He was a
                                                                       prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the

                                                                       .people. In a few words you have all.their happy experience
                            It * .# 0


I    314                                       T H E   STANDARP   B E A R E R


     of the last three years.    They had been witnesses. of the       needs suffer and die for them, so that He might bring all

     Dower  of God unto salvation. The dead arose, the sick were       these sons and daughters to glory,

     Healed,  the elements were but servants in His hand, the              The two wayfarers have grown silent. Not one question
     poor received life and substance. And unto the spiritually        they asked. Far from interrupting the stranger, they have
     hungry the Gospel was given. But that Cross, oh, that Cross!      hung on every word He uttered. They drink in every word,
     We find no place for that cross. We thought that He would         every phrase, every thought expressed. Their eyes shone,
     be the promised redeemer from the yoke of the heathen.            their faces lit up, their every mien and bearing expressed
     But no. He was crucified and is now dead and buried three         exultation.
     days.
                                                                           What strange, passing strange scene we are witnessing.
                              0 0 II 8

                                                                           A preacher of the Word of God. Yes, but He is both

         And the second thing we note is their love for the            subject and object of His sermon. He preached the Christ

     Christ. Listen to Cleopas, he will tell you. Certain women        and He is the Christ. What authority rang in every word.

     have been at His grave. They tell of a vision of angels, of           And what audience to this perfect sermon. They are
     the unbelievable story that He lives - but, stranger, Him,        silent in admiration. They are taught heavenly wisdom. 0
     oh, Him they saw not!                                             happy souls. Would you not have liked to be there? But

         But as soon as they are silent again, He says to them: 0      then, let us make no mistake. We have the sermon in Old

     fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have     and New Testament. And when the Holy Spirit has opened

     spoken! Your problem is no problem at all. You find no            our hearts we also may sit at Jesus' feet to listen and drink

     place for that awful cross, do ye? Well, that cross is the        of the water of life. And we do unto God's praises.

     Divine answer to all your sad questions. It fits with Heaven-
                                                                                               0 0 1) 0
     ly accuracy. But you have been and are fools and slow of

     heart in believing. Had you read your Bibles with more
                                                                           But watch the closing scene.
     belief in your hearts you would have seen that the Christ

     of God in order to be Christ ought to suffer the things that          Talking and listening the miles have dwindled away.

     you could not understand, in order that He might enter into       There are the first houses of Emmaus.  They approached

     His glory!                                                        their own dwelling. But the stranger held Himself as though

                                                                       He would go farther.
        Don't you know the Scriptures?

                                                                           But no, stranger, no, that may not be. Please, enter our
        Come, let us begin with Moses. Don't you remember the
                                                                       dwelling. There must be more to say, to listen, to enjoy.
     first Paradise and the happy pair of mortals that dwelled
                                                                       This is heaven to our souls. (Our  hearts are burning within
     there? HOW they sinned and how Jehovah slaughtered an
                                                                       us and it is all because of Thy words and sermon.
     innocent animal in order to cover their nakedness? See the

     flood of innocent blood that was shed in history by sacrifices        Sweet, simple, lovable children of God! They had en-

     and offerings. Come with me and I shall show you, slow of         joyed the bread of angels. And would fain prolong such

     heart, the cross in Isaiah's prophecy. Listen to the roaring      bliss. It is not every day that we may sit at the feet of such

     of the Christ in the psalms of David. You will hear the exact     a Teacher and Preacher. Oh, the Saviour's  audience was

     words that reverberated the hills of Judah a few days ago.        indeed appreciative.

                              (1: 0 n e                                   Yes, they constrained Him. It has become history. Cleo-
                                                                       pas said: Abide with us, fast fall the eventide! The day, 0

        No, we have not the exact words of the sermon, but we          stranger, is far spent! Note the words that convention dic-
     have the beautiful text. It is the Bible. It is the exposition    tates. Their plea is: Abide with us! And here are the reas-
     of the Son of God.                                                ons, 0 stranger! It is toward evening. And: the day is far
                                                                       spent! Yes, but Jesus knew the real reason: they had learned
        And here is the emphasis: Christ must suffer and die in
                                                                       to love this stranger! Their shining eyes have told their
     order to enter into His glory. Do you see it, Cleopas? To-
                                                                       story.
     gether with your friend?

        It must happen. There was a Divine necessity. God                                      # 0 0 #

     wanted to glorify Himself in His children. The elect chil-
     dren of God whom He loved, had by His determinate coun-              And He went in to tarry with them. Angels hovered
                                                                       near their Lord and His children. Scene of heavenly har-
     sel fallen into sin and subsequent guilt. Yet He loved them
     even while they were sinners. And He determined to have           mony and bliss. Our hearts grow weary with longing for
     them with Him in heaven forever. And since the Son of             heaven and heaven's God .

     God was made their Head in His counsel that Son must                 Yes, and He was invited to sit at meat with them.


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                          315



        And then the second miracle happened. The first miracle

     was that Jesus would deign to appear to them in earthy                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   -
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     their eyes just functioned as earthy eyes should function,                                     Editor  - REV. HERMAN HOEKSEMA
     they would not know Him. But now the second miracle                         Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
                                                                                 Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,
     happened.                                                                   Mich. Contributions will be limited to 300 words and must be

                                                                                                          neatly written or typewritten.
        When He took bread, blessed it, and brake, and gave to
                                                                                 All church news items should be addressed to Mr. J. M. Faber,
     them, their eyes were opened and they knew Him.                                            1123 Cooper, S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

                                                                                   Announcements and Obituaries with the $2.00 fee included
        Do you not notice how the mouth of Cleopas already                       must be mailed 8 days prior to issue date, to the address below:

     opens to say: My Lord and my God!? But too fate. He                           All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to
                                                                                              Mr. James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
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     Holy Ghost that was given unto them.

        Are they sorrowing because Jesus disappeared out of

     their midst? Oh, why should we ask such a foolish question.                                               CONTE,NTS

     Watch Cleopas and his companion. They rose up the same                   MEDITATION -
     hour and back they went the same journey to Jerusalem.                           Jesus'     Resurrection       .___... .____.....  . __.__......... . . . . . 313

     They will multiply the joy that burns within  them. Oh, why                              Rev. G. Vos

     do you think we speak and sing and make music this day?                  EDITORL~L~  -

        The day is far spent and yet our Lord abides with us.                         Rank Arminianism in Calvin Seminary ,_..__........__..__..............                     316
                                                                                              Rev. H. Hoeksema
     And He shall abide until life's journey is over. Then again

     He will take the chief seat at the table of the Lord in His              OUR DOCTRINE-
     Father's house. To take the bread and bless and give it.                         The Doctrine of the Church ____..._____.....___................................             318

                                                                                              Rev. H. Hoeksema
        Unto our eternal joy and singing.

        The Lord is risen indeed and appeared unto His own.                   A CLOUD OF WITNESSES -
                                                                                      Victory     in      Canaan    _. . _. ._ _. _. . . _. . . _. . . . ,322
     Hallelujah! Amen.                                                G.V.
                                                                                              Rev. B. Woudenberg


                                                                              FROM HOLY WRIT-

                                                                                       Exposition of I Timothy .__._ ___________......  . . . . . . . . 324

                                                                                              Rev. G. Lubbers
I                         RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY

                                                                              TNHISFEAR-
        The Consistory of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand                My Father's World (3) __._......................................................
                                                                                                                                                                                 326
     Rapids, Michigan, hereby expresses our sincere sympathy with Eider
     and Mrs. 0. Vander Woude in the loss of their daughter, and with                         Rev. J. A. Heys
     Deacon and Mrs. Wm. Corson in the loss of their sister,
                                                                              CONTENDING FOR TEE FAITH-
                  MRS. JANE (VANDER WOUDE) REDDER                                      The Church and the Sacraments .__......................................... 328

        May they experience the comforting presence of the Spirit of                          Rev. H. Veldman
     Christ, Who still says to us: "I am the resurrection, and the life:
     he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."        THE VOICE OF OUR FATHFSIS -

                                         The Consistory,                               The      Belgic     Confession    ._... .._. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
                                              Rev. C. Ha&o, President                         Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
                                              P. Decker, Secretary
                                                                              DECENCY AND ORDER -

                                                                                       The Steps of Excommunication _.._ _____._ __... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
                          RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                              Rev. G. Vanden  Berg

        The Priscilla Society of the First Protestant Reformed Church of
     Grand Rapids, Michigan, hereby wishes to express its heartfelt sym-      ALL AROUND Us -
     pathy to one of our members, Mrs. Otto Vander Woude, in the                       "The Way of the Cross for Teachers". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
     death of her daughter,                                                            Evolutionism in the Reformed                 Church        . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

                  MRS. JANE (VANDER WOUDE) REDDER.                                            Rev. H. Hanko


        Deuteronomy 32:4:  "He is the Rock, his work is perfect; For ail      NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES .,.._______ ____....____......................................  335
     His ways are judgment: A God of truth and without iniquity, Just
                                                                                              Mr. J. M. Faber
     and right is He."
                                   Mrs. H. C. Hoeksema, President
                                   Mrs. R. Carl Ezinga, Secretary


     316                                       T    H    E     STANDARD  B-EARER
                                                                          -. .                      -~-


                                                                       have already shown. Can God's desire for the salvation of
                 E D I T O R I A L S                                   all men-be dissociated from His design in the atonement?
                                                                       Not according to logic or, more decisively, Biblical teach-

                                                                       ing. I Tim. 2:4-6 says about the design of God's desire:

            Rank Arminianism in Calvin Seminary                        `Who would have all men to be saved, and come to the
                                                                       knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, one mediator

        We were discussing what Prof. Dekker calls the design          also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus, who

     of the atonement or the question whether the atonement is         gave himself a ransom for all'."

     limited or unlimited.                                                 As far as the text quoted by Dekker is concerned, on

        Before I continue this discussion, I must call attention to    this I have already made my comments, and I will not

     part of a second article written by Prof. Dekker in the           repeat. Cf. Stand  Bearer, March 15, p. 269.

     Reformed Journal of March, 1963, under the caption, "God's            I must, however, briefly comment on the question which
     Love to Sinners - One or Two?" He writes as follows:              Dekker asks and also answers not only by logic but also

                                                                       from Scripture. The question is this: "Can God's desire for
        `The Three Points on Common Grace enunciated by the
                                                                       the salvation of all men be dissociated from His design in
     Christian Reformed Church (Synod of 1924) have left us
                                                                       the atonement?" My answer is the following:
     a heritage of ambiguity regarding the nature of divine

     grace.    Although the three points do not teach it, they per-        1. Not if you first establish that God desires the salva-

     mit the view that the general offer of the gospel belongs         tion of all men. But this must first be proved, and this is

     to common grace, for they use the general offer of the            not proved, not by Prof. Dekker in his article on "God SO
     gospel as an evidence for `a certain favor or grace of God        Loves -All Men," neither by the text he quotes from I

which He shows to His creatures in general.' If one holds              Tim. 2:4-6. Besides, all Scripture militates against the

     that the general offer of the gospel is an expression of com-     proposition that God desires the salvation of all men, and,

     mon grace, and if one also holds that common grace is             therefore, I deny it.

generically different from special grace, then the general                 2. Hence, I also deny that the design or purpose of

offer of the gospel is rooted in f-d expressive of non-re-             God in the atonement is to save all men. If that were God's

demptive divine love.          Can non-redemptive love offer re-       purpose or design in the atonement, then all men would

demption? Is this not a sheer anomaly? Is it not, moreover,            surely be saved, or we must conclude that salvation depends

destructive of the very character of the gospel offer as sin-          on the free will of man and that man is stronger than God.

cere and well-meant to all?"                                               It is a striking fact that in the course of the history of

        I said before and I repeat it here, that Prof. Dekker in       the Church and its doctrine there were but very few periods
his writing on the proposition that God loves all men, even            in which the doctrine of sovereign grace and predestination
though he also criticises  the "First  Point," as he does here         was maintained. Augustine taught and maintained it over
in the above paragraph, stands principally on the basis of             against Pelagius and the Semi-pelagians, but before very
the "Three Points" of 1924.                                            long Semi-pelagianism gained the upperhand. And the
                                                                       Semi-pelagians taught:
        Do not forget that the Synod of 1924 meant to support
                                                                           1. That God desires the salvation of all men as far as
the common grace theory as it was proposed by Dr. Abra-
                                                                       He is concerned.
ham Kuyper  Sr. But the leaders of that Synod also wanted
to condemn the Rev.' H. Danhof and myself. In order to do                  2. That for this reason God causes His call to salvation
so, however, they needed proof from the Confessions. And               to be issued unto all men. According to the Semi-pelagians,
because the Confessions do not even mention common grace               this is true, not only of those that live under the preaching

as commonly understood, but always speak of saving grace               of the gospel, but also of those that have never heard the
and condemn Arminian common grace, therefore, the Synod                gospel, because even through the law of nature all that will

of 1924 adopted, especially in the "First Point," the Ar-              can be saved.

minian  view by declaring that God, in preaching of the                   3. However, while God in His unmerited grace offers

gospel is gracious to all that hear this preaching.                    salvation to all men, they will not all accept it. They only,

                                                                       therefore, are saved that believe, that accept the offer, who
        But now I must return to what Dekker writes on the
                                                                       accept the help of grace through faith and thus make them-
question of limited. or unlimited atonement.
                                                                       selves worthy of salvation. God's grace and the will of man
        We already discussed what he wrote on the sufficiency          unto the obedience of faith co-operate unto salvation. For
and availability of the atonement for all. And now we come             man has a free will; he can accept salvation, but he can
to the question whether God desires the salvation of all               also reject it.
men. On this Prof. Dekker writes the following:
                                                                          4. Predestination, therefore, is based on the forelmowl-

_       "Third, does God desire the salvation of all? This we          edge of God. It means that God chose those unto salvation


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  317


whom He foresaw or foreknew  as those who would believe               and others has commonly been used to place a taboo on

in Christ.                                                            the propostion that Christ died for all men and on any

   Thus it was already at the time of Augustine.                      statement by a missionary to unbelievers such as, Christ
                                                                      died for you.' Supposedly such-language is Arminian. Ac-
   And thus it is always in the history of the church. Cal-
                                                                      utally it is not necessarily so. There is no warrant in Scrip-
vin, as is well known, taught the truth of divine predestina-
                                                                      ture or in the Reformed confessions for disallowing such
tion. Soon Arminianism arose and denied this fundamental
                                                                      expressions when they are used in any one of the first three
truth. The result was that at the Synod of Dort the Canons
                                                                      meanings explained above.      If the Church is unwilling to
were composed and adopted. But Arminianism continued
                                                                      say in any sense that Christ died for all men and refuses to
to be taught in the churches. The Westminster Confession
                                                                      say to unbelievers, in addition to <God  loves you,' `Christ
was the last official document that maintained the doctrine
                                                                      died for you,' it places the infinite love of God under an
of predestination and related doctrines. After this, the
                                                                      illegitimate restriction.
Church seemed to have no more or very little interest in this

doctrine until in the nineteenth century, in the "Afschei-               "The doctrine of limited atonement as commonly under-

ding," 1834, and in the Doleantie," 1886, it was emphasized           stood and observed in the Christian Reformed Church im-

once more. In the Christian Reformed Church in our own                pairs the principle of the universal love of God and tends

country it was also maintained officially, because they stood         to inhibit missionary spirit and activity. God so loved all

on the basis of The Three Forms of Unity. But in 1924 the             men that He gave His only begotten Son! May this great

Synod of Kalamazoo adopted the notorious "Three Points"               truth permeate the life and witness of the Church in full

which are Arminian. And Prof. Dekker draws the final con-             power."

clusion of the "Three Points" or, at least of the first of them,          This is the end of the quotation and, at the same time,
by teaching that God loves all men.                                   the end of the-first  article of Prof. Dekker.
   Will the Synod of the Christian Reformed Churches de-
                                                                         Now, what shall we say about this?
mand that he retract this heresy or depose him? I do not

believe it. They cannot do this as long as the "Three Points"             I do not want to repeat what I have already written

still stand as the official doctrine of the Church.                   about the question of limited or unlimited atonement.

   But let us now return to what Prof. Dekker further                 Nevertheless, I must make the followingremarks:

writes under the theme: "God So Loved - All Men!" To                      1. In the first paragraph quoted above, Prof. Dekker

do him justice I quote him literally and extensively to the           reiterates what he has written before about the three senses

end of the article for the reason that not many of our                "in which we may legitimately speak of the atonement as

readers receive "The Reformed Journal." Here, then is the             being universal in design."    I will not repeat the criticism

quotation:                                                            I have already offered in regard to these "three senses."

    "There are, therefore, three senses in which we may                  2. But then Dekker apparently admits that there is one
legitimately speak of the atonement as being universal in             sense in which Scripture and the Reformed confessions
its design, i.e., the sufficiency and availaability  of the salva-    speak of the atonement as being limited in its design. I say
tion for all men and the divine desire  that all will receive         intentionally that he admits this uppu?mtZy. For, in the
it. The only point at which Scripture and the Reformed                first place, the language he uses is such that he leaves the
confession point to a limited design in the atonement is at           impression that, after all, the atonement in unlimited in
the point of efficacy. Only there can a doctrine of limited           spite of Scripture and the Reformed Confessions. Notice
atonement be formulated which does not do clear violence              that he writes that Scripture- and the Confessions "point to"
to Biblical teaching concerning the universal love of God.            a limited design in the atonement. I would never ex-

    "Seemingly, Berkhof did not recognize adequately the              press myself thus, nor would any truly Reformed theologian.

complexities of the concept of design with respect to the             I would say that Scripture and the Reformed Confessions

atonement. But he has faithfully and cogently set forth the           emphatically teach that Christ shed His lifeblood on the

essence of the historic Calvinistic view that as far as the           cross and died, not for all men, but only for the elect.

actual salvation of men is concerned there is a limitation of         Notice, in the second place, that the limited atonement of

numbers which is embraced in the eternal purpose of God               Prof. Dekker is such that it "does not do clear violence to

and in the design of the atonement. When it comes to the              the Biblical teaching concerning the universal love of God."

efficacy of the atonement there can be no doubt that its              Now, if we understand limited atonement in the biblical

existential limitation is to be explained ultimately in terms         and Reformed sense of the term, this universal love of God

.of the sovereign disposition of divine grace. On this score          is an impossibility. What is the meaning of limited atone-

the Scriptures, explicated by the Canons of Dort, are                 ment? It is simply this: Christ did not die for all men, but

decisive and convincing.                                              only for the elect. And why did He not die for all men?

    "The doctrine of limited atonement as taught by Berkhof           Why did He not die for the reprobate but for the elect


`318                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A . R E ' R


only? The answer is plain: God's love is not universal. His

eternal love is limited to the elect. It is evident, that, when     l[OUR
                                                                    DOCTRINAI
you believe in limited atonement, you can no longer speak

of the universal love of God.

        This, and nothing else, is the plain teaching of the                THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH

Canons of Dort. For in II, 8, to which we have called at-
                                                                                               CHAPTER I
tention before, but which can bear repetition in this con-

nection, we read:                                                                  THE IDEA OF THE CHURCH

        "For this was the sovereign counsel, and most gracious
                                                                                               (Continued)
will and purpose of God the Father, that the quickening

and  saving efficacy of the most precious death of His Son
                                                                       "The visible church, which is also catholic or universal
should extend to all the elect, for bestowing upon them
                                                                    under the gospel (not confined to one nation as before
alone the gift of justifying faith, thereby to bring them
                                                                    under the law) consists of all those, throughout the world,
infallibly to salvation: that is, it was the will of God, that
                                                                    that profess the true religion, and of their children; and is
Christ by the blood of the cross, whereby he confirmed the
                                                                    the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family
new covenant should effectually redeem out of every people,
                                                                    of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of
tribe, nation, and language, all those, and those only, who
                                                                    salvation."
were from eternity chosen unto salvation, and given to him
                                                                       Now what is the idea, what is the being, or essence, of
by the Father; that he should confer upon them faith, which
                                                                    the church of Christ? Scripture is rich in terms that describe
together with all the other saving gifts of the Holy Spirit,
                                                                    the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is, first of all,
he purchased for them by his death, should purge them from
                                                                    the well-known term <`body  of Christ." The church is the
all sin, both original and actual, whether committed before
                                                                    spiritual body of which Christ is the head and of which all
or after believing; and having faithfully preserved them
                                                                    the elect are members. For God has revealed His exceeding
even to the end, should bring them free from every spot
                                                                    great power in that He raised Jesus Christ from the dead
and blemish to the enjoyment of glory in his own presence
                                                                    and set Him at His right hand in heavenly places and put
forever."
                                                                    all things under His feet, "and gave him to be the head
        This is the language of the confessions thruout.            over all things to the church, which  is his body, the fulness
  This is Scripture.                                                of him that filleth all in all." Ephesians 1:20-23. And in

        And this is solid comfort for the people of God, while      that marvellous passage, Colossians 1:15-20, Christ is de-

there is no comfort at all in a vague so-called universal love      scribed as the f&-firstborn  of every creature, by Whom and

of God.                                                             unto Whom all things are created, "and he is the head of

        Besides, this is the only basis on which the missionary     the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn

can preach the gospel to Jew and Gentile. Why should the            from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-

missionary approach his audience in the mission field with a        eminence." In the twenty-fourth verse of the same chapter

lie in his right hand. For that so-called universal love of         we read: "Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and

God is nothing but a lie.                                           611 up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in

                                                                    my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church."
        But we have more to say about that "efhcacy"  of which
                                                                       The same organic idea is expressed in John 151-5,
Prof. Dekker speaks.
                                                                    where the church is compared with a vine and its branches:
        The question naturally arises: how can Dekker speak of
                                                                    "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
.`?unlimited  atonement" and of "the universal love of God'
                                                                    Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away:
and at the same time maintain the saving efficacy of the
                                                                    and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it
death of Christ?
                                                                    may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the
        This, however, must wait for the next issue of our mag-     word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I
azine, D.V.                                                 H.H.    in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it

                                                                    abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

                                                                    I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me,
                        Announcement                                and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for

        The Free Christian School of Edgerton, Minn.,  is in        without me ye can do nothing." The same idea is expressed

need of 2 teachers for the 1963-64 school term. A principal         in the figure of the olive tree in Romans 11. There the

for grades 5,6,7  and 8; and a teacher for grades 1,2,3 and         apostle writes, in verses 1.6, ff.: "For if the firstfruit  be holy,

4. Address all correspondence to:                                   the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the

                                     MR. ARTHUR VERIBY              branches. And if some of the branches be broken off, and

                                     Edgerton, Minnesota            thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them,


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              319


and with them partakest of the root and fatness of. the            and from  which one cannot subtract any part or any mem-

olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou            ber without marring the whole. Moreover, each metiber

boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. The;          occupies his own definite place in the whole. And in that

wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might          particular place each member serves his own purpose in the

be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken          body. The church, therefore, is not an indefinite crowd.

off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but            Just as a temple is not a mere pile of stones, so the church

fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take             is not a mere multitude; but it is a well-ordered, harmoni-

heed lest he also spare not thee," And then, in verse 24           ous, and beautiful whole, dominated and determined by
of the same chapter, the apostle writes: "For if thou wert         one idea. Each part, each stone, each beam, each pillar,

cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert        each window, each ornament fits into the whole and serves

graffed  contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much       the beauty of the whole only in its own place. When the

more shall these, which be the natural branches, be g&fed          temple is finished, you cannot arbitrarily insert one more

into their own olive tree?" And in I Corinthians 12: 12 and        stone or remove one single ornament without marring the

13 we read: "For as the body is one, and bath many mem-            harmony of its architecture.    The same is true, of course,

bers, and all the members of that one body, being many, are        of a body. Also a body is not an arbitrary number of mem-

one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all          bers; but it is one whole, or a complete and perfect unity.

baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles,            It is not a mere arbitrary number of saved men; nor is the

whether bond or free; and have been all made to drink into         whole determined by men or by the will of men. Also the

one Spirit."                                                       human body is a beautiful, harmonious whole, in which

    From a slightly dif!Eerent  point of view, the church is       all the members occupy their own place. And so it is with

also called the temple of God, or the city of God, the new         the church. All the members, all the saints, occupy their

Jerusalem, or Mount Zion. "Know ye not that ye are the             own place and serve to reveal the idea and purpose of the

temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?         whole. That purpose is, of course, the glory of God in

If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy;        Christ Jesus our Lord. And the number of members, that is,

for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." I Cor.        of the church, is determined only by the will of God. And

3:16,  17. And also in II Corinthians 6:16-U  the same figure      that will of God is His eternal decree or counsel. The num-

is used: "`And what agreement hath the temple of God with          ber of members, therefore, that fit into the whole body is

idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath        no more determined by the will of men than the number of

said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will           stones that are fitted into the walls of a temple is deter-

be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore               mined by the stones or by the desires of the dealer in

come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the            building materials to sell as many stones as possible. It is
Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and  I will receive         the will and conception of the divine architect as deter-

you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons        mined by His eternal decree that determines before the

and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."                           foundation of the world both the idea of .the church and

                                                                   the number  of its members.
    The same idea is expressed in Ephesians 2:19-22,  where

believers are also called the habitation, or the household, of        In the second place, the church as described in the texts

God: "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreign-          quoted above, and in many other passages, is a living,

ers, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the house-         spiritual organism, of which Christ is the head and all the

hold of God; And are built upon the foundation of the              elect are members. This too, is expressed especially by the

apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief        figure of the body, but also by the figure of the vine and

cornerstone; In whom all the building fitly framed together        the olive tree. The watch you carry iu your pocket or on

groweth into an holy temple in the Lord: In whom we also           your wrist is also one whole; but is not an organism, but

are builded  together for an habitation of God through the         a mechanism. The watch did not grow organically from a

Spirit."    And in Galatians 4:26 the church is called Jeru-       common principle.    On the contrary, its parts were manu-

salem: "But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the         factured separately, and afterwards assembled so as to

mother of us all." In Hebrews 12:22,  23 we read: "But ye          constitute the watch. On the other hand, an oak, or an elm,

are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living          or any other tree, is an organism. The trunk and the

God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable com-            branches and the leaves of a tree are not mechanically put

pany of angels, To the general assembly and church of the          together, but they develop from a common principle from

firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the             within. This is true also of the church. It is a living organ-

Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect."        ism, the body of Christ. Christ is first, and He is the head.

   There are several other passages in Holy Writ that              In Him is all the life of the members of the whole body.

speak of the church. But the above passages reveal, in the         From Him, through His Spirit, all the members receive their

first place, that the church is one whole, and a1s.o that there    life and power and energy.      He lives in them, and they

is a definite number of members, to which one cannot add           live out of Him. As the Lord expresses it in that marvellous

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


prayer which is recorded in John 17: "That they all may             the reprobate elements in humanity. And, in the third place,

be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they        we understand that the reprobate shell in time lives under

also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou         God's providence in natural, organic relationship, as chaff

hast sent me." VS. 21. And in verse 23 of the same chapter          with the grain, with the elect organism. Elect and repro-
we read: `7 in them, and thou in me, that they may be               bate are in a natural, organic sense of the word temporarily

made perfect in one; and that the world may know that               one. The reprobate shell serves the organism of the elect,

thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved          that is, of the church. The two are separated along the
me."    Thus it is with the whole church. The mind            of    lines of election and reprobation by an ever-continuing

Christ is their mind. His will is their will. His blessings         process. And in the end of the world the organism of the

are  their blessings. His resurrection life is their life. Apart    elect church will be finally and completely separated from

from Him they are nothing and can do nothing. Apart from            the reprobate shell. This is, of course, the supralapsarian

Him they cannot live; they are not living. The church is            conception of the church. According to the infralapsarian

a beautiful, harmonious, spiritual body, of which Christ is         presentation, God created a perfect and original organism

the head and all the elect  are the members, that must              in Adam. This original organism is being marred and

serve the purpose of revealing the glory of the life of the         spoiled and corrupted by sin. And God restores this original

Triune God through Jesus Christ our Lord.                           organism in the church by recreation. Our chief objection

                                                                    against this mild Reformed conception is that according

    When we conceive of the church in this light, it will be        to it, after all something falls really in the hands of Satan

evident that all the elect, and they only, belong to the            and is lost. The devil after all gains a certain victory,

church. This is clearly expressed by the Heidelberg Cate-           although God restores His marred creation and has the final

chism in Lord's Day XXI, and also very definitely by the            victory. According to our conception, God from eternity

T%`estminster  Confession, which we quoted above. More-             purposed to create the church in Christ. That church was

over, this is squarely based on Holy Scripture. Ephesians           created in the loins of Adam organically, together with the

1:3 and 4 reads as follows: "Blessed be the God and Father          reprobate shell of the human race. And in the line of

of our Lord Jesus Christ, who bath blessed us with all              election and reprobation God separates the pith from the

spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According         shell, and brings His elect church to glory. Nothing is lost.

as he hath chosen us in him before the  foundation of the           Sin and Satan must simply serve the purpose of realizing

world, that we should be holy and without blame before              the church of Christ. And God maintains His counsel. This

him in love." And again, in verse 11 -of the same chapter:          is the teaching of Holy Writ. We read in Ephesians 1:lO:

"`In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being               "That in the dispensation of the fulness  of times he miglat

predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh           gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are

all things after the counsel of his own will." The same truth       in heaven, and which are on earth." In Isaiah 43:3,  4 we

i.s taught very plainly in I Peter 2:4-9: "To whom coming,          read: "For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,

as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen        thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and

of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up       Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my sight,

a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual        thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore

sacrii?ces, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore            will I give men for thee, and people for thy life." I may

also it is contained in the scripture; Behold, I lay in Sion        also refer, as I have often done, to Colossians 1:15-20,  which,

a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth        however; I will not quote again. Hence, the entire number

on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which            of the elect togetiler constitute the church as the body of

believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient,         Christ: The elect from the past, the elect in the present time,

the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made           and the elect in the future. And from this viewpoint we

the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a             can distinguish the church as the church militant, the

rock of offence,  even to them which stumble at the word,           church triumphant, and the church latent.

being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy            The church militant is so-called because she has a battle

nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the            to fight. The deepest cause of this battle is that she repre-

praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his         sents the cause of the Son of God in the midst of the world
marvellous light."    From these passages it is very evident,       that lie& in darkness, that stands in spiritual alliance with

in the first place, that God has chosen the  church as church.      the devil, the prince of this world, in enmity against God,

By this we understand that God from eternity willed the             and in opposition to the cause of His Son. In order to

organism of the church under her head, Christ Jesus our             understand this battle and the cause of the Son of God, we

L&d, And, secondly, it means that He created that church,           must remember that God created this world and all things

from the beginning of the world, organically, that is, witbin       that are therein for His own name's sake unto the praise of

the organism of the human race, which, of course, included          His glory. He made the world a kingdom, with man, who


                                          T H E   ST,ANDARD   B E A R E R                                                  321
                                                                                                                           -

was created after the image of God, as the center and             Whom- all things, both that are in heaven and that are on

pinnacle, the head and king, of all created things, that is,      the earth, must be united in the heavenly kingdom  of the

the  created things that were on the earth. Man was made in       new creation. This Son of God, this anointed Servant of

he  image of God. He stood in true knowledge of his God,          the Lord, was ordained to come into the  world, to unite

in righteousness and holiness, that he might gather the           Himself with human nature and to become l&e unto His

praise of God reflected in all creation and express it in         brethren in all things, sin excepted. In the world He was

conscious adoration before the face of God, love Him with         to represent God's cause, His eternal covenant, His truth

all his heart and mind and soul and strength, and conse-          and righteousness, His sovereignty and lordship, His love

crate himself and all things to his Creator, the sovereign        and mercy, His glory and honor. Out of the world He must

Lord of all. Representing all creation, man stood in cove-        redeem and save His people in the way of perfect oKe-

nant relation to God, and therefore was God's friend-             dience, even unto death. And He must form  them into a

servant. As God's friend, as the representative of God's sov-     people of God that will live in God's house and that will

ereignty, in complete subjection and perfect obedience            extol His praises. He is anointed to overcome all the power

of love to his Creator, man had dominion over all things.         of sin and death, to dispossess the devil and the wicked,

He reigned over all the earthly creation. He was king             and finally destroy them by the breath of His mouth. And

under God, and therefore, servant-king. All creatures must        having overcome all His enemies, He is to submit Himself

serve him, that he might serve his God. And serving Him,          and His kingdom to the Father, in order that God may be

man enjoyed the blessed fellowship of the Most High, and          all in all.

tasted that the Lord is good.                                         This is what we call the cause of the Son of God.

    In this original economy of things a breach was struck            The result is a battle throughout the ages. The world
by the fall and disobedience of this friend-servant of God,       hates Christ and all the powers of darkness unite themselves
this representative of God and of God's supreme and only          against Him, to oppose His cause, to bring Him to defeat,
Lordship in the visible world. Its beginning is traced by         and to destroy His kingdom. Because it is the purpose of
Scripture to the world of heavenly spirits. Satan, perhaps        Satan and his .host and of fallen man, in alliance with this
the highest of angels, stumbled over his own glory. And           host of darkness, to retain their lordship over the world in
being puffed  up with pride, he pursued after the insane          the service of sin, unrighteousness, and corruption, the
idea of his vain and haughty imagination  to be as God.           world is principally anti-Christ. Most clearly this becomes
And with this most fundamental of all lies, he invaded the        evident in the fulness of time, when He personally comes
world of man, tempted God's friend-servant, the king of           into the world to fight the battle, to reveal Himself as de
the earthly creation. And the latter listened to the lie of       representative of God's righteousness, to overcome the

the devil, He violated God's covenant of friendship, and          power of sin and death, and to wrest from the prince of de

concluded a spiritual alliance with the prince of darkness.       world his usurped power and authority, and to establish the

He plunged himself, and with him the whole human race,            everlasting kingdom of God on the foundation of tnrth and

into corruption and death, so that out of him the world           justice. All the forces of iniquity rise up against Him. They
develops from the principle of enmity against God, always         oppose and contradict His Word. They despise and heap

realizing the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and      contempt upon Him. And they persecute Him even unto
the pride of life. Moreover, on the other hand, the wrath         death, the cruel and shameful death of the cross. But in
of God is revealed from heaven against that world and all         and through it all He fights the battle of Jehovah and is
its ungodliness and unrighteousness, so that under the            victorious. He reveals and glorifies the Father, takes away
influence of this divine wrath, and impelled by its own evil      the sin of His own, that are given to Him by the Father,
lusts from within, it increaseth in iniquity, until the man       by becoming obedient unto death, overcomes the prince of
of sin, the son of perdition, shall be revealed at the time of    this world, death and hell, and is raised to glory at the

Antichrist.                                                       right hand of God. And now He has a name that is above

   However, God will give His glory no other. God is              every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should
                                                                  bow, and every  tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord,
the Lord. He is always Lord over all things, even over the
                                                                  to &e glory of God the Father. Such was the battle for
fal&  and corru$ion  of man.     And He accomplishes all His
                                                                  the cause  of the Son of God when He was in the world.
gaod  pleasure, through the vain imagination of Satan and         The world hatetd Him and hated His cause. But He over-
the fall of man prepares the way for His Son to come into
                                                                  .came the world and its prince.
the world. That Son He had anointed from before `he

foundation of the world to be the head of the church, the            However, it is not only in the. fulness of time, during

heir of all things, the Lord of lords and King of kings, the      the few years of the earthly sojourn and ministry of our
everlasting representative of God's Lordship over all created     Lord, that the Son of God is in the world and that His

things. He is the real and perfect Servant .of God. He is         cause is represented.

the eternal Servant-King under God, in Whom ancl  under                                                                  H.H.

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


                                                                        Acting quickly, Adoqizedec  called together four other
   -A CiO-UD OF WITNESSES j                                          kings of other cities in the vicinity. His message to them
                                                                     $a$ this "Come up unto me, and help me, that we may

                                                                     smite Gibeon:  for it bath made peace with Joshua and v&h
                    Victory in Canaan                                the children of Israel." Even if they themselves might hesi-

                                                                     tate to mount an attack directly against the armies of Israel,
          So the sun stood still in the midst of hea.ven,  and
                                                                     they could at least pnuish those who gave up without a
        hasted not to go down about a whole day.
                                                                     fight. Upon the Gibeonites they dare pour out the frustra-
          And there was no day like that before  it or a.fter it,
                                                                     tion which they felt before that threatening power of Israel
        that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man:
                                                                     drawing closer every day.
        for the LORD fought for Israel.        Joshua 10:13, 14
                                                                        Once the Gibeonites had discovered this plot of the five

       Strange and extraordinary was the surrender of the            kings, there was only one thing left for them to do. This

Gibeonites to the children of Isarel. It began with an elab-         force of the combined armies of the kings was much too

orate plan of deception perpetrated by the Gibeonites in             great for them even if they had been in a position to wage

the fear which they felt for Israel and the power of Israel's        a battle. Quickly they sent off a message to Joshua in the

God. It reflected poorly on the children of Israel in that           camp at Gilgal.    "Slack not thy hand from thy servants;

they proceeded to make a truce with the Gibeonites while             come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us: for all the

failing to consult with their God as to the propriety of this        kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are

move. It revealed the overshadowing providence of God                gathered together against us."

in that the truce made served to preserve that nation from              Already the armies of the Amorites were camped about

among the Canaanites, which was not as evil as the others,           Gibeon.  There was no time to lose if Gibeon  was to be

and which actually could be incorporated into the nation             saved. Neither did Joshua hesitate. Immediately he called

of Israel and become part in the covenant of God. But                all of the fighting men of Israel together and led them ford

above all this, surrender of the Gibeonites was significant          on a forced march toward the beseiged city. Only one thing

because of the terror which it struck in the hearts of the           did he pause to do before they left the camp. He went to

remaining nations of Canaan.                                         the Lord in prayer to ask if it was proper for them to pro-

   After the fall of Jericho and the destruction of Ai,              ceed in that way, and if the Lord would give them the

Gibeon and its surounding towns had been next in Israel's            victory. The answer that came back was this, "Fear them

line of advance. To the rest of the inhabitants of Canaan            not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall

this had provided at least a small measure. of comfort.              not a man of them stand before thee."

Cibeon  was a great city, a royal city, and among the                   All through the night the armies of Israel marched, so

strongest in the land of Canaan. It surely would serve to be         that by morning's dawn they were within attacking distance

much more of a test of Israel's strength than Ai ever was.           of the armies of the Amorites. This was a complete surprise.

Maybe Gibeon  would have been able to stop the armies of             The five kings had never thought that Israel would take its

Israel. And, if not, it could have at least beeh counted on          truce with Gibeon  so seriously as to come out and fight in

to take a big toll from Israel's strength. To have Gibeon            the city's defense; and surely they had not expected Israel

give a good battle to the children of Israel surely would            to come so swiftly. They had thought that the only prob-

have been of advantage to all of the rest of the land of             lem of the morning for them would be how to penetrate

Canaan. When, therefore, the report went out that Gibeon             the defensive walls of this city. Instead upon awaking they

had surrendered without a fight, that the city had ab-               found themselves pressed between the attacking armies of

dicated all of its rights, the rest of the land of Canaan was        Israel and the closed walls of Gibeon.  It was an impos-

filled with consternation. They became furiously angry.              sible situation, indefensible from both sides. The resistance

The whole thing looked like treachery to them.                       they were able to muster was only token. Almost imme-

   Among those most concerned was Adonizedec king of                 diately they felt that there was nothing else for them to do

Jerusalem. He had watched the advance of Israel very                 but to turn and flee. This they did.

closely. He was troubled by the destruction of Jericho and              There were several advantages which these inhabitants

the defeat of Ai; but the voluntary surrender of Gibeon              of Canaan had over the children of Israel when they turned

made him furious. He had been counting strongly on                   to flee. They were familiar with the land over which they

Gibeon because his city was next after it in Israel's line of        traveled while the Israelites were not. And neither did they

advance. He especially felt betrayed by that. He felt he             feel any of the weariness from a night-long march as the

,had to do something to retaliate. But discretion made  him          children of Israel did. As the Amorites fled from Gibeon,

hesitant to advance against the Israelites. What he wanted           the possibility appeared good that they would be able to

was to make the Gibeonites stand up and fight as he felt             out-distance the armies of Israel and regroup themselves in

%hey  ought.                                                         a more favorable position of defense. Then Jehovah inter-


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    323


fered. Within moments there formed across the heavens            to the simple mind of faith this all is of no matter. God
the towering clouds of a great storm. From the                   rules the sun and moon and the rotation of the earth just as
                                                      cloucls
began to hurl down giant stones of hail. Never before had        completely as He rules everything else. In simple faith we
the land of Canaan seen a hailstorm like this. The stones        only accept as Israel recorded it in one of its books of songs,
were tremendous in size, able easily to kill a man with one      "So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted
blow. They could be compared only with those hailstones          not to go down about a whole day. And there was no day
which had fallen upon Egypt during the plagues. Even             like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened
more strange, however, was the fact that these stones which      unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel."

fell came down only on the army of the Amorites. Soon the            Before this amazing power even the wicked determina-

way was littered with the dead bodies of Amoritish men           tion of the five kings of the Amorites finally faltered. AlI

who were struck and slain by these stones. The number of         hope of regrouping their forces had been as good as wiped
them went into the thousands. But the children of Israel         out. Their only remaining hope was that somehow they

that pressed them so closely from behind remained un-            might spare their own lives. Together they forsook the

touched. Even if a man of Israel pressed ahead into the          leadership of their armies and went to hide themselves in

very midst of the enemy army where these great stones            a cave at Makkedah. But when evening failed to come at

from heaven were falling heavily all around, he remained         its usual hour, and the searching men of Israel continued

untouched. This was no natural phenomenon, no mere CO-           to scour the land, even this was discovered. The report of
incidence of nature; this was the hand of the Lord reaching      this find was quickly brought to Joshua, and at his com-

out against the enemies of His people.                           mand the cave was shut up tight with large rocks until the

                                                                 last of the enemy forces had been found and slain. Then
   Already early in the day it became evident to Joshua          only did he return with the army of Israel to the cave of
that the enemy was completely rooted. Now all that re-           the five kings, to open it and lead them forth. .With  this
mained was to finish the victory and make it decisive. And       a great ceremony was held to mark the complete and amaz-
even after many had been killed by the hailstones from the       ing way in which God had given them the victory. First
sky this remained quite a task. The terrain in which they        the five kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and
fought was mountainous and rugged. The enemy was scat-           Eglon, were made to lay prostrate upon the ground while
tered in many different directions with many places to hide.     each of the captains of Israel's army came and placed his
Even more, they were desperate and determined men. They          foot on the neck of each of them. As they did so Joshua
hated Israel and would fight until the very last. If any         said, "Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good
reprieve was to be allowed them in their ilight,  they would     courage: for thus shall the LORD do to all your enemies
surely come together and start the battle anew. What Israel      against whom ye fight."          When this was done, the kings
needed to prevent this was time, time to hunt out and            were slain and their bodies hung upon a tree. It was a sign
destroy every pit of resistance. Feeling it to be a critical     of the curse which God had placed upon the nations of
need that this battle should be brought to a swift and           Canaan which had filled their cup of iniquity. Only there-
decisive victory, Joshua turned to God and prayed that           after did the sun continue once again in its course across
added time might be given to finish this battle. In answer       the heavens. It was the longest day of all history that came
God gave him permission to perform one of the most amaz-         to its close as the children of Israel took down the bodies
ing victories of all time. Once this permission was received,    of these kings and cast them once again into the cave in
Joshua stood up in the midst of the pursuing host of the         which they had sought to escape by hiding. Before the
Israelites, looked up unto the sun and moon which could          mouth of the cave once again a great pile of stones was
both. be seen within the heavens, and addressed them.            erected. It was a memorial of the great victory which God
"Sun," he said, "Stand thou still upon Gibeon;  and thou,        had given His people in that longest of all history's days.
Moon, in the valley of Ajalon."
                                                                                                                                 B . W .

   It was amazing when it happened. The forces of Israel

went on to pursue the hiding enemy. Hour after hour they

went searching out and destroying the scattered forces of                          RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
the enemy throughout the hills and rugged mountains slur-
                                                                    The Senior and Junior Mr. and Mrs. Societies of the First Prot-
rounding Gibeon.  It was a hard and time-consuming task,         estant Reformed Church express our sympathy to fellow members
but the sun held still in the heavens until all was accom-       Mr. and Mrs. William Corson and Mr. and Mrs. John Vander  Woude

plished. From our scientific point of view, this was perhaps     in the death of their sister,

one of the greatest miracles ever performed during the days                MRS. JANE REDDER, nee VANDER WOUDE

of Scripture. It must have effected the very rotation of the        "So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts

earth on its axis, or the position of the sun in space. It       unto wisdom." Psalm 90:12.
                                                                                                       George Yanker,  Jr., President
presents scientific .problems defying humaneonception. <But                                            Fred Hanko, President

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



                                                                   was set before Christ and the joy and prospect of the final
 LFROM HOLY WRI-~- /                                               reward which shall be to all who keep this commandment,
                                                                   to him that overcometh in the battle of faith and hope.

                                                                       Let us attempt to understand this a bit better.

                  Exposition of I Timothy                              It is well to understand the import of the phrase "before

                                                                   Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before
                      (I Timothy 6:11-16)
                                                                   Pontius Pilate."


                                 C.                                   We are of the considerate opinion that this phrase
                                                                   "before Pontius Pilate" must not be generalized to mean

       It is a veritable contest in which Timothy and every        simply "at the time when Pilate was governor," but that it

servant of God is engaged; the prize for which we strive           refers to the very definite, historical and dramatic confes-

and run is to lay hold on eternal life. There seem to be           sion, an epic in all the words of Christ, which he confessed

two anchor points in that running. The one is the point            when he, the Lord of glory, stood before the judgmennt

of departure, which is the confession in our Lord which we         seat of Pilate in the judgment hall of the latter in Jeru-

make before many witnesses. The other is the point of ar-          salem; it refers to the confession recorded in John 18:36.

rival, which is the glorious Parousia of Christ, called in the     Our reasons for believing that Paul has this in mind are

text the "manifestation" (epiphaneim)  of our Lord Jesus           more than one. In the first place, because the phrase `<who

Christ.                                                            witnessed" in the Greek is a participle in the Aorist tense.

    Paul charges Timothy before God and the Lord Jesus             It is point action, and refers to a definite, once-for-all con-
Christ, that is, before God in Christ, to keep and cherish the     fession. In the second place, because the exact point at
commandment to flee from the error of making godliness a           issue before Pilate, the nnt;ure  of Christ's Kingdom, is also
matter of worldly aggrandizement and that he pursue                the exact issue here in Paul's admonition to Timothy, to
after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and          wit, the question of the relationship of both slaves and mas-
meekness. This is a command, a charge which Paul must              ters to Christ, the Lord. The issue is that of the "new
pass on from God in Christ and which should be passed on           dimension" which Christ brings into every relationship by
from Timothy to all who are in the ranks of the runners of         his spiritual Lordship in our life and lives. In the third
the race.                                                          place the sequence of the text here speaks of the relation-
                                                                   ship of Christ to all the kings and lords of the earth, which
    This must be done till the appearance of Christ. The           relationship was not "manifest" in Pilate's judgment hall,
question as to how soon this phrase presupposes the return         but which will be the point and the substance of the mat-
of Christ to be, is not difficult to answer. We should bear        ter "manifested" in God's own time in the return of Christ,
in mind that the apostles were not told the exact time when        the Parousia.
the kingdom would be established. The times and the sea-

sons God has put in his own power. The time of the return,            This latter point calls- for just a bit of elucidation.

the exact time, even the very angels in heaven do not know.           It should.then be observed that Paul denominates this

Matt. 24:36,  Acts 1:7. It is as one writer states it, "the        answer of Jesus in Pilate's hall at the occasion of his trial to

prophecy was, in its nature, a dim one, only to be inter-          be `the good confession." It is quite evident that this con-

preted by history; and it is natural that to them the lofty        fession was rather well-known in the churches. Paul uses

truth should be a present reality" The fact is that for each       the article "the" with "confession" in the sense of a demon-

of us, as far as our eye of faith and hope is concerned, this      strative pronoun. The churches must have remembered

appearance of Christ is equally near at hand, whereas none         this, even so much so that the phrase found a place in the

knoweth the exact hour. This makes it possible for Paul to         Apostolicum.

write to Timothy, and, in him to the church, to hold the              Besides, we should notice that it was rather singular
commandment fast until the glorious appearance of Christ.          that a man witnessing in his own defense would be said to
And this reality in no way conflicts with the truth that "sal-     "confess." Here it is called a good, a noble, an honorable con-
vation is now nearer than when we first believed" as stated        fession. It was "kales,"  good! It is really the one beautiful
by Paul in Romans 13: 11.                                          confession, than which there is none better. Truly it is an

    There is a most intimate relationship between the "good        epic in the drama of the history of the God of our salvation

confession of our Lord Jesus Christ before Pilate, and the         saving His people in Christ. First of all, it was beautiful in

"manifestation" which in God's own time will show who is           content. Here is royal dignity in the form of the Servant

the `blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and the         of God. He is the King of peace, the King of righteousness,

,Lord of Lords. . . ."    Moreover, there is also here a strong    and he is such not by usurpation of power but as directly

motivation for Timothy and all of us to keep the Command-          appointed by God in His decree "I have anointed~my  King

ment until that glorious event. It is really the joy which         in Zion." He it is who was ever coming to Zion, and wh,o


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              325


now has come, meek and lowly and riding upon the ass,              confession.      That comforts and gives assurance, and the

the foal of an ass. He is the blessed Potentate, not acclaimed     future beckons us onward in hope for his final "mani-

thus by men, but inwardly blessed and assured that his             festation."

throne is established in righteousness, that he loveth right-         Who is this King of glory? sings the Psalmist in the
eousness and hateth iniquity, and that he is anointed with         twenty-fourth Psalm. The refrain is "Lift up your heads, o ye
oil of gladness above his fellows. He is the King-Priest           gates; and be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors; and the
forever after the order of Melchizedek, Heb. 1:8, 9. It is a       King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The
good confession also as to form. For the crucial question          Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift
is really whether he has disturbed the people, forbidden           up your heads, o ye gates: even lift them up ye everlasting
to pay tribute to Caesar and is, therefore, an insurrectionist,    doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this
or whether he is innocent. Now Christ was innocent from            King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of
the charges as determined by Pilate. Says he "I find no            .glory."  Psalm 24:7-10.
fault in him." Now Christ could have been silent as far as            When this shall all be fulfilled we do not know. No
the charge went. But he did not. He confessed the good             man can pin-point it on the calendar. It will be in `his own
confession. He confessed that he was a King and that he            times." It will be a time which is appropriate, when all
had a Kingdom. In this "confession" the following ought to         history shall have been written by God from the book, the
be noticed. This Kingdom is "not of this world." It is not         Scroll in his right hand, and when history shall have "come
on the plain of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Macedonia and                to pass."
Rome. Were it such a kingdom he would have had his
                                                                      But what a manifestation that will be!
soldiers fight for him. But soldiers he does not have to keep
                                                                      He will be manifested as the king of glory, according to
him from being taken by the Jews. Hence, his kingdom
                                                                   the text:
cannot be from hence. Pilate and his soldiers cannot meet
Christ's army. There is none as the kings of the nations               1. In his relationship to all the kings and potentates of

have. This confession is forensic in the highest sense. It         the angelic hosts as welI as the potentates among men, and
meets and neutralizes the accusation of the Jews head on.          that, too, in contradistinction from the prince of this world,
And, lastly, this good confession convinces the judge,             the Devil, who once "offered" him all these things if he

Pilate. He sees that he is harmless. But, then, it still           would but worship him.

puzzles him and causes him amazement. All the Evangel-                2. In his relationship to all death, the only one having

ists register Pilate's amazement: Tlzozc  art then a King??        immortality and life, who was dead, but lives forevermore!

Thou?? For Christ had posited that he was a King. He               He, the LORD of glory, will then be seen as the light which

did not have soldiers, his kingdom did not interfere with          is unapproachable in the glory in all the saints. For tbi's

paying tribute to Caesar, his disturbance of the- people           Christ is God in the flesh, the Shechinah  of glory in his

was not insurrection against Rome, the `powers that be";           holy temple, his people!

yet he is a King! That he is innocent Pilate is convinced             What an incentive to hold fast the commandment!

of, but the manner of this King Pilate does not grasp. He             What a glorious prospect to presently say: this is our
has come into the world to bear witness of the truth??!            God, for him we have waited, in his strength we have run

What is ?ruth,"  asks this Roman skeptic!                          the race, and from him we receive the crown of life and

                                                                   of glory.
   We, who with Timothy have confessed his name before
                                                                                                                            G.L.
many witnesses, have heard his "voice." We heard it be-

cause we are no longer out of the father of the lie, but have

been born from above, we are "out of the truth." And
                                                                                  Who is this glorious King that comes
now we look for the manifestation of this King when he
                                                                                    To claim His sovereign right?
shall be manifested, that is, gloriously set forth as the King
                                                                                  It is the Lord omnipotent,
of kings and the Lord of lords.
                                                                                    All-conquering in His might.

   The last time we wrote on this passage (see former issue

of the S. B.) we noticed what it meant that God "quick-                           Ye everlasting doors, give way,

eneth all things." That causes us to see the transcendent                           Lift up your heads, ye gates,

God in his immensity of power and wisdom and might,                               For now, behold, to enter in

causing Job to prostrate himself in the dust. Here we see                           The King of glory waits.

the King before Pilate.    Before both of these Timothy is

admonished to hold fast the commandment. On the one                               Who is this glorious King that comes

hand this causes us to tremble in holy awe and reverence,                           To claim His rightfun  throne?

and on the other hand to be confirmed that we stand in our                        The Lord of Hosts, He is the King
confession with him who is the Author of our salvation and                          Of glory, God alone.

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


                                                                  su-bject  ,of geography must not be and is not the emphasis

                                                                  tipon that love, mercy and grace. In fact there is so much

                                                                  in: the lesson that denies these virtues of God and gives

                                                                  quite a different picture.    The child learns of floods and
                    My Father's World                             tidal waves that periodically destroy and afflict certain com-

                              (3)                                 munities. He learns of desert regions where death stalks
                                                                  those who dare to enter. He is told of thin top soil and
       The invisible things of God from the creation of the
                                                                  barren soil that cannot support the millions of people that
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
                                                                  God has placed there.
are made, even His eternal power and Godhead. This i.s                                      The hardships and difficulties of
                                                                  peoples living in bitterly cold regions, the misery and dis-
the testimony of Paul to the church at Rome. That there
                                                                  ease of insect-infected tropical swamplands, and the all-
is a God and that He is a God of power is evident to every
                                                                  too-short growing season that greatly decimates the amount
rational-moral being. Man may not be willing to concede
                                                                  of crops grown hardly speak of God's mercy and grace
that this God is Jehovah. But he will not get very far iu
                                                                  Likewise the twisting layers of rock, the abundance of
his stand that there is no God. Follow the professed atheist
                                                                  volcanic ash and evidences of thundering avalanches and
around, and you will soon be able to point out to him that
                                                                  the like hardly impress upon him the idea of a gracious,
he does put his trust in certain things, worships them and
                                                                  loving Father who cares for all His creatures. And we will
serves them. As long as all goes well with him in the
                                                                  not get very far in trying to assure the child that the
materiai sense, he may seem to be an atheist. But let him
                                                                  glory of God's love, mercy and grace shine forth from the
get in trouble, and he will soon show you that he believes
                                                                  works of His hands to be seen in that which is treated in
in a power above him, and that he seeks help from his god.
                                                                  the geography class. Nor is the geography class the place
       The glory of God is to be seen in all the works of His
hands. The heavens declare His glory, so does the little dr's-    to distinguish between the peoples in given areas as Church
                                                                  and world. That may better be done elsewhere.
ease germ.     The mountains reflect His majesty but so does

the little blade of grass. The storm speaks of His glory, and        But that particular virtue of God that comes to the fore

so does the zephyr breeze that cools the summer day. But          in geography is His sovereignty. The glory of His wisdom

all things do not reflect that glory of God in the same way       and power shine forth. And, as we already stated, the child

or reflect the same phase of -His glory. God's glory is the       should come away from the geography class and say,

radiation, the shining forth of His virtues. Whenever and         "How great Thou art."     The class that did not serve this

wherever you see one or more of God's virtues displayed,          purpose, has failed to give Christian instruction and has

you see God's glory. These virtues are many and are usually       not been conducted in His fear, which is the beginning of

divided into two groups. We speak of those which are to           wisdom. But the underlying principle in the whole course

be found exclusively in God such as His infinity, unchange-       in geography must be to show the glory of God's sover-

ableness, -simplicity, oneness, and independency. And we          eignty. God's indeed is a super reign. That is the derivation

speak of those of which there is a creaturely reflection in       of the word "sovereign" and that is what God's reign is.

man. These are those of His will, intellect and power such        He reigns over all things.     "The Lord reigneth, let the

as His love, grace, mercy, wisdom, knowledge righteous-           nations tremble. He sitteth between the cherubim, let the

ness, holiness and truth.                                         earth be moved." Psalm 99:l.  In His sovereignty or super

   In his formal training the child is to see God in these        reign the earth is moved, earthquakes occur in diverse

virtues. If he does not see them as God's virtues, he does        places, the mountains stand as they do and rise to their

not know God. If he attributes them to the creature, hc is        towering heights, the canyons appear in awesome depth,

idolatrous. We know God in His names, attributes, Persons         barren soil and scanty topsoil, cold and heat are all there

and works. And in the formal training in the institutions         because He has been pleased to put them exactly where

of learning, wherein the child is prepared for his position       they are. He has moved peoples to the regions where they

and calling in his, natural life, he must know God in these       live. The deep pools of oil and schools of fish in the seas

attributes or virtues. As we said before, a Christian school      are there by His decree. The wheat will grow where corn

is not a school with the Bible but one based upon the             will not ripen, trees will appear only to a prescribed eleva-

Bible. In each and every subject the glory of God must be         tion on the monutain side, and man must move raw mats-

seen from one point of view or the other. The virtues of          rials over miles and miles of land to combine them with

God must shine forth from the lesson so that the child does       materials grown and found in an entirely different corner

not see God's creation apart from Him, but sees God in His        of the globe because God is sovereign. It is not due to

creation.                                                         some foolishness on God's part. It is not due to poor

   In the geography class then the child is not taught the        management and planning. He does not attempt to reign.

love mercy and grace of God. Occasionally by contrast             He reigns. And He has His own good purpose in all the

these may be brought in, but the primary interest of the          works of His hands.. Let the child understand that this is


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              327


his Father's world in the sense also that He may and &&s            against finding fault with God's ways and point them to the

do with it as He pleases.1    And all creatures are where they      cross as the only way out in a sovereign grace.

are exactly because He is pleased to have them there for                Let every covenant child learn to say not by tradition

His own glory and not for man's convenience and flesh. If           but conviction: "This is my Father's world." And then let

there is one virtue of God we ought to point out and em-            him learn to say with the apostne Paul, Of my Father,

phasize in the geography class, it is this virtue of His SOV-       through my Father and unto my Father in heaven are all
ereignty.                                                           things. Man may be conceited enough to think that he

   What can we change about it? Can we make the rivers              could do a better job of creating and distributing the goods

run in the opposite direction? Can we lower the mountains           of this earth. He may be bold to criticize creation as it is

and move the topsoil? Can we hold back the floods and               today. But let us remember that this is due to the fact that

control the weather? What is there in God's own sovereign           he has another goal in mind than Gods. Although he can-

distribution of this earth's goods that we can change? Mm           not deny that all things are of God, man insists that all

learns to control the melting snow and direct it to his fertile     things must be unto him, unto his flesh and carnal ambi-

soil by irrigation ditches and a series of control dams. He         tions. They may be of God and through His providence,

learns to fertilize and replenish his soil, to catch the fish of    but proud man insists that they be for man's good. This

the sea, to preserve foodstuffs and meats. Yet is it not very       would be sin even apart from the fact that man wants this

plain that he must be so careful also in all these things or        whole earth for the practice of sin. This is the very matter

else God's unchangeable laws whereby He sovereignly con-            that brought all sin into this world. Adam and Eve sang

trols His creation will still destroy him? Let him be lax in        that as their morning song and as .their even song: "This is

adding his ice and refrigeration to his perishable foodstutis       my Father's world."    And Satan came and said, "Make it

which he rushes across the country. Let him lower the               your own world!" All that which was of God and continued

temperature of the food that he seeks to preserve in cans           only through His infinite power, Satan suggested could and

and glass container. He will find that sovereign God there          should become man's for his goal. And today in geographv

with death and disease! And repeatedly He will find this            that is exactly what we see: Gods world pressed into the

God sovereignly sending His storm, His flood, His pests             service of a sinful man who appropriates that which is

and diseases as He pleases.      Man is helpless before them.       God's, boldly digs into His earth, mines out its resources,

A sovereign God, Who asks no permission of man, forbids             plows His fields and milks His cows, gathers His creatures

any and all criticism of man and goes His own way with              from one corner of the globe to the other all that man's

His own creation stands there on every page of the geo-             flesh may be satisfied. Yea, worse than that, That world

graphy book. And if you want to see Him in His sovereign            which is of God and through God man now subdues in

grace, love and mercy, you must look for Him in His Word            order to oppose God, to dethrone Him and to rule Him out

and not in creation.                                                of that very creation which He has made. He dares to

   It is also a sovereign righteousness and holiness, a sov-        criticize the works of this sovereign God not only, but he

ereign justice wherein this God brought the curse upon all          denies God the right to criticize his wicked works. Because

that which is treated in geography. This may not be lost            he has no power to do otherwise, he is willing to let all

sight of in Christian education. These things are not simply        things be of God and through Him but it all must be unto

there. They are not simply there by God's sovereignty.              man. He says: "This is my world."

They are there because of His sovereign displeasure with               Therefore there is in the Christian school another ele-

the workers of iniquity. Let no man challenge His right             ment that must be brought to the fore as much as possible.

to punish the whole world because of man's sin. Let no              Exactly because this whole creation is made and is upheld

man try to explain all the calamities and disasters in the          by a sovereign God, the rational-moral creature which He

world in any other way. The ground is cursed for man's              made in His own image is obliged to be a steward of God's

sake. And God cursed it. In the geography class the                 goods. That also is included and implied in that expression:

teacher will, of necessity, always be dealing with that which       This is my Father's world. He may do with it as He pleases,

is under the curse and not that which is under grace. He            but I must also do in it what pleases Him! And I must

may be dealing with children who are under grace; but he            remember that all things are unto Him also in the sense

deals with objects that are under the curse. And these he           that I must work with a view to His revealed ultimate

must show to his children as suffering and even groaning,           purpose with th& creation.     It is my Father's world to

according to the apostle Paul, under a curse which God              destroy also by fire when it pleases Him and to bring forth

sovereignly and in righteous wrath brought upon ALL the             a new and glorious spiritual realm. Because it is my Father's

earthly creatures.    The new creation because of God's love        world, He may cause HIS kingdom to come. Of these mat-

in Christ will display His love and shine with His mercy            ters we plan to write next time. Meanwhile, in His fear; "let

and grace. But the earth of today reveals all the scars, the        us consider this truth that we live in the world of a sov-

agony, death and maladies of the curse. Warn the children           ereign God.                                           J.A.H.


328                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B.EARER


                                                                    cause it depends for its fulfillment upon the faith of the
II                                                                  one baptized. That the sacrament of baptism is a Divine
          Contending For The Faith                             II pledge of a general and conditional promise is also the view
                                                                    of the Liberated.

                                                                       However, the Protestant conception of the sacrament
            The Church and the Sacraments
                                                                    maintains that baptism is a Divine sign and seal of the

            THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION                             salvation of the Lord as an accomplished fact. How beauti-

                                                                    fully this is set forth in our baptism form. According to this

        VIEWS ON THE SllCRAMENTS  (BAPTISM)                         form, we are baptized in the name of the Father, because

                                                                    the Father thereby witnesses and seals unto us that He
                  THE PROTESTANT VIEW                               makes an eternal covenant of grace with us, and adopts us

                                                                    for His children and heirs. And we are baptized in the

       We have already called attention to a three-fold distinc-    name of the Son, because the Son thereby witnesses and

tion between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant con-             seals unto us that He washes us in His blood from all our

ception of the sacrament of baptism. First, Rome maintains          sins, incorporating us into the fellowship of His death and

that the water in baptism is essential unto salvation, speaks       resurrection, so that we are freed from all our sins, and

of that water as the water of regeneration in that literal-         accounted righteous before God. Notice, please, that this

natural sense of the word; the Protestant view emphasizes           form here speaks of two fundamental truths: God's eternal

the symbolic significance of the sacrament and refuses to           covenant of grace and the Divine adoption of His children

ascribe any magical power to the water of the sacrament             to be His children and heirs, and, secondly;.of the work of

itself. Secondly, Rome rejects the baptism as administered          redemption upon the cross of Calvary, that we are freed

by John the Baptist as having the same force as the bap-            from all our sins and incorporated into Christ. The sacra-

tism instituted by Christ; the Protestant view maintains            ment of baptism speaks of: the Divine work of redemption.

that it does have the same significance as that of Christ.          This is plain. The water in baptism is a sign of the blood

Thirdly, the Protestant view, in distinction from Rome, lays        of Christ. What water does to the body the blood of Christ

all emphasis upon the one atoning sacrifice of our Lord             does spiritually to the soul. Even as water washes away

Jesus Christ. Rome speaks very little of the sacrifice of           our physical filth, so the blood of Christ washes us from

Christ. The Romish view stresses the essential significance         all our sins. And this, mind you, happened upon the cross

of the sacrament itself. In fact, it is a striking distinction      of Calvary. This is a fact that has been accomplished, once

between Rome and Protestant&m  that the former stresses             and forever. The eflicacy  of this work of the Son of God

the Romish hierarchy and the sacraments whereas the latter          upon Calvary does not depend upon us or upon our faith.

emphasizes the Word of God. We now wish to call atten-              It is not so that the cross of Christ will become efficacious

tion in more detail to the Protestant conception of the sacra-      only if and when we believe. Fact is, we believe because

ment of baptism.                                                    the Son of God died for our sins; our faith is dependent

       First of all, the sacrament of baptism, according to the     upon the cross and not the cross upon our faith. Besides,

 Protestant and Reformed conception of the same, em-                does not the introduction to our baptism form teach us

phasizes most emphatically that salvation is a fact that has        that we with our children are conceived and born in sin,

been accomplished and which is not in any sense dependent           and that the sacrament of baptism teaches us to seek for

for its fulfillment upon the will of the recipient. Some in-        our purification and salvation without ourselves? And be-

terpret the sacrament of baptism as a Divine seal and pledge        cause the sacrament of baptism is a Divine seal and pledge

 of His promise. Against this one could not have a principal        of our redemption by the Son of God upon the cross, there-

objection if only the promise were interpreted as particular,       fore it is also a Divine seal and pledge of God's eternal

 as only intended for the elect people of God, and as having        covenant of grace and that He had adopted us to be His

 been fulfilled and accomplished upon the cross of Calvary.         children and heirs. These two truths, our redemption upon

 However, this particular view of the sacrament generalizes         the cross and the Lord's eternal love, are inseparably con-

 the promise of God, extends it to all who are baptized, so         nected. Christ, of course, died only for the elect. He gave

 that at the administration of the sacrament God, as it were,       His life only for His sheep that were given Him by the

 speaks to every child: "I love you and I want to save you;         Father. This is most beautifully stated in John 6:9: "And

 this baptism is My Divine pledge to that effect; only, if          this is the Father's will which hath sent Me, that of all

 you are to be saved, and if My promise will actually be            which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should

realized in you, you must believe." Hence, according to this        raise it up again the last day." Notice, please, this is the
                                                                                                         _.
 view, the sacrament of baptism is a Divine pledge and seal         Father's will, that is, the Father's mandate, charge which

 of a general and conditional promise, general as far as the        He gave to His Son, namely that He should save those, and

 Lord and His intention are concerned, but conditional be-          only those whom the Father had given Him. Hence, Christ


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               329


did not receive from His Father a charge to save or try .to            Secondly, the Protestant conception of the sacrament of

save all men, but only His sheep, His elect sheep whom             baptism emphasizes the activity of faith, and that the sacra-

the Father gave Him from before the foundations of the             ment is a sign and seal of the righteousness which is .by

world. It lies in the nature of the case that Christ's redemp-     faith. This is clearly stated in Romans 4:ll  (stated of

tion of His people upon the cross of Calvary and God's             circumcision): "And He received the sign of circumcision,

everlasting love of them are inseparably related. Fact is          a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet

Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost, His           being uncircumcised: that the might be the father of all

elect sheep that were lost. He dies upon the cross of Cal-         them that believed, though they be not circumcised; that

vary for their sins.    He comes into this world with their        righteousness might be imputed unto them also." And this
iniquities and guilt upon His shoulders. He represents them        is also clearly set forth in Question and Answer 67 of our
in His suffering and death. And all this is possible only          Heidelberg Catechism, and we quote: "Are both word and

because He is their Head, their eternally appointed Head,          sacraments, then, ordained and appointed for this end, that

because God has loved them eternally and in Christ from            they may direct our faith to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on

before the foundations of the world. The particular char-          the-cross, as the only ground of our salvation? Yes, indeed:

acter of the cross of Golgotha has it cause in the eternal         for the Holy Ghost teaches us in the gospel, and assures us

and unchangeable love of God.                                      by the sacraments, that the whole of our salvation depends

                                                                   upon that one sacrifice of Christ which He offered for us on
   This truth is, of course, of the greatest significance. In
                                                                   the cross."
the light of this truth, a general and conditional promise is

surely impossible.      The sacrament of baptism points to            We must notice that the sacraments direct and point our
Christ's redemption of His own upon the cross. This means,         faith to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, as the only

must mean that the sacrament is as limited as the cross is         ground of our salvation. Rome simply ascribes magical
limited. It cannot embrace those who are not covered by            power to the water of baptism. The Protestant conception,

the blood of Calvary. The cross of Calvary is the reality          however, emphasizes the importance of faith. Why? The

and the sacrament of baptism is its symbol and shadow.             sacrament of baptism is a sign and seal of the righteousness

The shadow can never be greater in its scope than the              which is by or of faith. This is an objective truth. That

reality which it symbolises and reflects. And, secondly, this      this is a righteousness "by faith" certainly means, negatively,

also explains the last part of the baptism form which we           that it is not by works. We never attain unto this right-

have quoted. In this part of the baptism form, we are told         eousness by our own works. This is a fundamental prin-

that, whereas there are contained in all covenants two parts,      ciple of the Reformation against Roman Catholicism. And,

so we, too, are admonished through baptism unto new obe-           positively, that it is a righteousness by faith does not mean

dience, to cleave to the one God, love Him with all our            that it is dependent upon our faith, but surely that it is

hearts and souls and minds and strength, forsake the world,        given us and realized in us by God, and that through faith.

crucify our old nature, and walk in a new and holy life.           Faith, in Scripture, always stands opposed to works. Faith

This does not mean, we understand, that everything now             is a gift of God. Faith is the bond uniting us with Christ.

depends upon what we do, that God's adoption of us to be           Faith emphasizes our utter hopelessness and helplessness,

His children and heirs, Christ's redemption of us upon the         does not set forth what we must do or what we can do, but

cross, and the Holy Spirit's dwelling in us all depend upon        what we cannot do. This is a righteousness by faith be-

our resolve to walk in a new and holy life. It is in this man-     cause it is based on Christ, realized by His blood, and it

ner that some would explain that part of the baptism form          can never become ours except it be given us and we are

where we read that the Holy Spirit will dwell in us and            united with Christ, even as lamps can never cast any light

sanctify us, which means, then, that the Holy Spirit will do       except they are united with the powerhouse. Now we also

this if only we on our part resolve to walk in a new and           understand why the sacrament of baptism is a sign and seal

holy life. But this concluding part of our form evidently          of the righteousness which is by faith. Fact is, the sacra-

means that this is the fruit of God's eternal love and Christ's    ment speaks of our sin and the hopelessness of our guilt

redeeming blood and grace; because of this love of God             and damnation. It also speaks of the blood of Christ. And

and the blood of Christ upon the cross of Calvary                  it therefore speaks of a righteousness which we could never

we are now admonished to cleave to God, love Him                   merit, which is rooted in Christ, which we can receive only

wholly, and walk in a new and holy life. It is well,               when given to us, and this occurs through faith, the gift

when we come to this concluding part of our Baptism Form           of God. And it is also for this reason that the sacrament

that we all bear in mind that which precedes it, that the          speaks only to the believer, that it is only the believer who

Lord has established with us an everlasting covenant of            is able to appropriate the blessed significance of this sacra-

grace, and that the Son of God has washed us in His blood.         ment unto himself, and the believer, of course, is none

Our walking in this new obedience is always the fruit of           other than the elect of God.

God's irresistible grace.                                                                                                    H.W.

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


I      I7                                                                                            ii    Aiius and his heresy were condemned in the Niceno-Con-

      11 The Voice of Our Fathers,                                                                   11 stantinopolitan Creed of 325-381 A. D.
                                                                                                                                         hTICLJ3x

                                                                                                                            We believe that Jesus Christ, according to his divine

                               The Belgic Confession                                                                  nature, is the only begotten Son of God begotten. from
                                                                                                                      eternity, not made or created (for then he should be a
                                                                                                                      creature), but co-essential and co-eternal with the Father,

                                  ARTICLE IX (continued)                                                              the express image of his glory, equal unto him  in all
                                                                                                                      things. He is the Son of God, not only from the time
                                                                                                                      that he assumed our nature, but from all eternity, as
      h Harmony with the Orthodox                                                                                     these testimonies, when compared together, teach us.
                                                                Fathers (continued)                                   Moses saith, that God created the world; and John saith,
                                                                                                                      that all things were made by that Word, which he
           In general, ,as the article suggests, these attacks have                                                   calleth God. And the apostle saith, that God made the
      been from two quarters: from without the church and from                                                        worlds by his Son; likewise, that God created all things
                                                                                                                      by Jesus Christ. Therefore it must needs follow, that he,
      within. First of all, mention is made of the Jews and of                                                        who is called God, the Word, the Son, and Jesus Chribt,
      the Mohammedans. By the Jews, of course, is meant the                                                           did exist at that time, when all things were created by
      unbelieving Jews. And it is their denial of the Christ that                                                     him. Therefore the prophet Micah saith, HIis goings
                                                                                                                      forth have been from of old, from everlasting. And the
       also leads them to deny the Trinity. This is necessarily the                                                   apostle: He hath neither beginning of days, nor end
      case. You cannot deny Christ, the only begotten Son of                                                          of life. He therefore is that true, eternal, and almighty
                                                                                                                      God, whom we invoke, worship and serve.
       God, and still maintain the doctrine of the Trinity. The

      Mohammedans, who also today constitute some of the most                                              Importance of This Doctrine
     formidable opposition in foreign mission fields, believe in
      Allah, a god who is only one, that is, one in being and one                                             That "Jesus Christ, according to his divine nature,  is the
      in person.         Theirs is a dead god, rather than a living, fel-                                  only begotten Son of God . . . co-essential and co-eternal
      lowshipping God in Himself.                                                                          w?th the Father" is an indispensable tenet of the Christian
                                                                                                           faith. That this is true is evident both from Scripture, and

             In the second place, the article mentions several `false                                      from history. And all who in any real sense call themselves

      Christians and heretics," that is, anti-trinitarians who arose                                       Christians must and do confess the true deity of our Lord

      within the church. Mention is made, first of all, of Marcion,                                        Jesus Christ.

      one of the most dangerous representatives of the Cnostics,                                              One need not search long in order to discover that the

      who made his appearance upon the scene of the church                                                 Scriptures lay great stress upon this truth. Passages which

      about the middle of the second century, A. D. Briefly,                                               mention it come readily to mind. At Caesarea Philippi, in

      Marcion  was one of those who denied that Jesus Christ                                               response to Jesus' question, "But whom say ye that I am?"

      was come in the flesh, and who therefore also denied that                                            Peter says: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."

      He was the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity.                                             And Jesus' own answer to Peter's confession reveals the

      Manes can himself hardly be classed as a "Christian" here-                                           fundamental character of the confession made: "Blessed

      tic. He and his peculiar doctrines had -their origin really                                          art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not

      outside the pale of Christendom. But his doctrine and his                                            revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
      followers, the Manicheans (whom the great church father,                                             And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon

      ,4ugustine(  also followed for a while), found their way into                                        this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall

      the Christian church. The Manicheans had an involved and                                             not prevail against it."      Matt. 16:13-l&  The apostle John

      fantastic system of doctrine.                   But with respect to our pres-                        devotes the Fourth Gospel to the theme that Jesus Christ

      ent subject, they too denied the Trinity because they de-                                            is the Son of God, as is evident from the very first chapter:

      nied the incarnation. Praxeas was really a Unitarian, who                                            "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with

      taught the error that is called Patripassianism, the doctrine                                        God, and the Word was God , . . And the Word was made

      that the Father Himself became man and suffered and died                                             gesh,  and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the                  -

      in Christ. By his doctrine he lost the independent person-                                           glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace

      &ty of the Son. Sabellius was also a Unitarian of the Ante-                                          and truth . . . For the law was given by Moses, but grace

      Nicene period. Briefly, he denied the Trinity by making                                              and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at

      the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost only temporary phenom-                                               any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the  bosom of

      ena and successive revelations of the same God. Samo-                                                the Father, he hath declared him." John I:&  14, 17, 1.8.

      satenus, or Paul of Samosata, who was bishop of Antioch in                                           In John 6 he records the well-known response of the dis-

      260,4.  D., was a very shrewd Unitarian or monarchian, who                                           ciples, through Peter as spokesman, to Jesus' question, "Will

      denied the personality of the Son and of-the Holy Spirit,                                            ye also go away.?"       And in that response the same funda-

      a n d   c o n s i d e r e d   t h e m   m e r e l y   p o w e r s   o f   G o d .   But  the most    mental element is on the foreground: "Theri  Simon Peter

      notorious of these heretics was Arius, whose heresy denies                                           answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the

      the deity of Christ and also the deity of the Holy  Ghost.                                           words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that


                                          T H E   STANDAR'D   B E A R E R                                                    331


thou  art that Christ, the Son of the living God." John           make mention of this cardinal truth. And from these it is

6:67-69.  llnd  at the conclusion of John 20 we find the well-    evident that this doctrine of the true Godhead of Jesus

known words: "And many other signs truly did Jesus in the         Christ is indispensable unto salvation.

presents of his disciples, which are not written in this              And the very fact that in the history of the church of

book:  But these are written, that ye might believe that          the new dispensation this was one of the first elements of
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye        the truth to come under attack is also proof that the very

might have life through his name." John 20~30,  31.  The          devil himself discerns in this doctrine a most fundamental

same note is found in the epistles. In Romans 1:3, 4 we           element of the Christian faith and, at the same time, a

read: "Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which            truth that is most emphatically the object of faith. If only

was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And         the church could be persuaded to deny this truth, then the

declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the        devil would succeed in moving the church from the founda-

spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." And       tion of the gospel in such a fundamental respect that the

again, in Romans 95: "Whose are the fathers, and of whom          whole structure of the truth and of the church would topple

as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God         and fall. He that den&h  the Son is none other than anti-

blessed forever. Amen." In Galatians 2:20 we find the same        christ!

truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God: "I am crucified
                                                                   As we remarked already in connection with Article IX it
with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth
                                                                  was not the doctrine of the Trinity directly that came under
in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by
                                                                  the attack of heretics in the early centuries of our era; but
the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave him-
                                                                  it was especially the doctrine of the deity of the Christ
self for me." The epistle to the Hebrews `stresses the excel-
                                                                  which was attacked, and through this attack the Trinity
lence of the new dispensation over the old from the very
                                                                  was at the same time denied.
point of view of the fact that "God . . . hath in these last

days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed                These attacks took various forms, and all sorts of here-
heir of all things, by whom also he made the world; Who           sies were developed in the course of the early centuries of
being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of       church history. There were the earlier sects of the Alogians
his person, and ~upholding  all things by the word of his         and Ebionites, who attacked the true deity of Christ and
power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down           who conceived of the Christ as a common man, equipped
on the right hand of the Majesty on high." Heb. l:l-3.            with extraordinary powers by His baptism. There were the
And undoubtedly because of the peculiar error which he            Docetes, who denied that Jesus Christ was come in the
combats in his first epistle, the apostle John strongly em-       flesh. They denied the true humanity of Christ. There were
phasizes this aspect of the truth of the gospel. Let us note      the Gnostics,  who attempted to synthesize various elements
just a few instances. In I John 2~22: 23 we read: "Who is a       of heathen dualism and Hellenistic philosophy with the
liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is anti-    gospel of Jesus Christ, and who frequently arrived at formu-
christ, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever de-        lations that were nothing less than fantastic. There was the
nieth the Son, the same bath not the Father." In chapter 4        notorious Arms, who denied that Jesus, Christ is truly God
of the same epistle, vss. 14 and 15, we read: "And we have        and taught that He was the most important creature of the
seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the        Father, It was in connection with the Arian &ontroversy
Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus          that the battle arose which is sometimes said to have re-
is the Son of God, God dwelleth  in him, and he in God."          volved about a single letter: homoousios (Christ was of the
In I John 55: "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he        same substance as the Father) or lbmoiousios  (Christ was of
that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" And in vs. IO       similar substance). And after the Arian controversy was
of the same chapter we read: "He that believeth on the Son        supposedly settled at the, Council of Nicea  in 325 A. D.,
of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not         the conflict continued to rage, now concentrating on the
God bath made him a liar; because he believeth not the            question of the two natures of Christ and the relation be-
record &at  God gave of his Son." And in vs. 13 we read:          tween  the natures and the Person and the relation between
"These things have I written unto you that believe on the         the natures mutually. And while it is true that we may
name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have             distinguish various aspects of this controversy, we must
eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the          nevertheless remember that this question of the true deity
Son of God." And fially, in vs. 20 of I John 5 we read: "And      of Christ is the fundamental one, and that ultimately it is
we know that the Son of God is come, and bath given us            this truth of the deity of Christ that is at stake even in the
an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and          controversies which involved His incarnation and His hu-
we are in him that is true, even his Son Jesus Christ. This       manity and the relation between the two natures of Christ.
is the true God, and eternal life."                               If in' these latter respects one departs from the truth, the

   These are but a few of the passages of Script&  which                             (Continued on page 333)

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


                                                                    shall be exhorted to speak to `him and to pray for him."

                                                                    Now all of this takes place through the three admonitions
  (/  D E C E N C Y   an.d .ORDER /I directed to the church. It is important then that all this be
                                                                    done properly. It is first of all important that when the con-

                                                                    sistory makes an announcement to the church about the
               The Steps of Excommunication
                                                                    matter, this announcement should be prepared in writ-

         The seventy-seventh article of the Church Order out-       ing but it should not appear on the church bulletin.

  lines the steps or procedure that is to be followed in ex-        It must be read from the pulpit. The reason this an-

  communicating the impenitent sinner from the church. It           nouncement should be prepared and read is because it

  must be remembered that this is not a punislzment  of sin         might be that the guilty person or another member of

  but it is the final means used in an attempt by the church        the church may raise possible objections and may even

  to save the sinner from the inevitable punishment which           take the matter to Classis.  Should that happen, then there

  God Himself will surely inflict. The church does not in-          should be a record of exactly what was said or announced

  flict punishment for sin.    She leaves that to God. In civil     to the congregation. The CF,urch  Order C~mmcnta~y tells

  spheres, since the state is given the sword power, a specific     us that when the first announcement is made it should con-
  punishment is written upon the statute books for every            tain the following: "The statement must be strictly accurate

  violation of law but this is not the case in the church. The      and objective. As the first section of Article 77 demands,

  Roman Catholic Church has something like this but this            tihs announcement should indicate (a) the nature of sin

  is contrary to Reformed principles. In Reformed Churches          committed, (b) the obstinacy of the sinner, (c) the dil-

  all sin is not censurable for then every member of the            igence of the Consistory in admonishing the party con-

  church must be excommunicated .for all sin. Some sins call        cerned and in suspending him from the Lord's Supj?er  and

  for admonition and correction' while public, gross sin that       in admonishing him still further, (d) and @ally  the ad-

  gives offense in the church of Christ has to be dealt with        monition to the Church to pray for the transgressor." This

  according to- the steps of discipline and censure. The final      is sufhcient  although it may be added that in connection

  end of this is excommunication.                                   with point (a) above the specific sin should be spelled out
                                                                    as a direct violation of one of the commandments of the
         The actual process of excommunication takes place in 3

                                                                    Word of God.
  distinct steps. The Church Order calls these steps adme&

  tions. This does not mean that in these steps the sinner is          The announcement which is to be made in connection

  admonished. This is to take place repeatedly before as well       with the second admonition, according to the same com-

  as during the process of excommunication. But the attention       mentary, should contain.the  following:

  is now diverted to the whole church. In these three steps            "(a) the character of the sin committed and the name

  the congregation is admonished and urged to labor with            of the sinner; (b) the obstinacy of the transgressor also

  the sinner in an attempt to still bring him to repentance.        after the first admonition to the church; (c) an exhortation

  The prayers and pleadings of the church are sought in an          to the church to speak to the erring one, and to pray for

  attempt to do what apparently the private labors of the           him."

  consistory has failed to accomplish. Hence, in the first step        There are essentially two differences between this an-

  or admonition the church is informed of the actual situation      nouncement and the first one. The name of the sinner is
  without mention being ,made  of the sinner involved. In the       now mentioned and this is done with the consent of the -
  second admonition the name of the sinner is given to the          Classis. We purposely speak of "consent" here because that
  church. This second step takes place only after the advice        is the way it has been translated in the Church Order. Our
of the Classis has been sought. In the final step the con-          redaction has corrected this and rightly so because the
  gregation is told that unless there is evidence of repentance     original Dutch text does not read "met toestemming der
  the sinner will be excommunicated from the church on a            Classe," but "met advies  der Classe." The word "advise"
  specified date.                                                   then is correct and this is necessary to safeguard against

         In connection with this process there are a few matters    possible prejudice, partiality or unfair censure. When a

  concerning which we must briefly comment. Article 77 of           consistory seeks this advice of the Classis,  however, this

  the Church Order states, "After the suspension from the           does not mean that the consistory can do as it wishes re-

  Lord's table (silent censure, Art. 76) and subsequent ad-         gardless of what advice the Classis has given. Jansen em-

  monitions, and before proceeding to excommunication (the          phasizes that this "does not mean: with the permission of

  actual excluding from the fellowship of the church) the           Classis, for that would conflict with the fact that each

  obstinacy of the sinner shall be publicly made known to the       Church is essentially a self-governing body under Christ,

  congregation, the offense explained, together with the care       and that there is no superior authority which can dictate

  bestowed upon him, in reproof, suspension from the Lord's         to the particular church above the Consistory in the strict

  Supper, and repeated admonition, and the congregation             sense of the word. Neither does the expression: with the


                                                               T H E .   ST:ANDARD   B E A R E R                                                              333

                                                                                                            :
advice of Classis  mean: after Classis has been consulted.                                       Christ (Malt.  IS), who saith,  that whatsoever his ministers

In that case the consistory could ask for advice formally                                        bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven. Further, we ex-

and then do as it saw fit. The expression means: according,                                      hort you, beloved Christians, to keep no company with him,

or in harmony with, the advice of Classis. This is one of                                        that he may be ashamed; yet count him not as an enemy,

the matters in which the individual churches have agreed                                         but at all times admonish him as you would a brother."

not to follow their own judgment independently of the                                                This is quite different than the governing rules of the

other churches, but to follow the judgment of all the other                                      Roman Catholic Church on this matter. The late Rev. Op-

churches meeting as Classis for mutual deliberation and                                          hoff wrote that in the Roman Catholic Church the following

counsel. The particular churches, united in federative bonds                                     rules are held:

according to their intrinsic unity in Christ and the injunc-                                         "1.    The members of the church may not hold conversa-

tions and examples of Holy Writ, have agreed to abide by                                         tion with the sinner.

the opinion of the majority unless to the mind of the church                                         `2. They may not pray with him.

or consistory concerned the opinion of the majority is clearly                                       "3. They shall refrain from showing him any honor or

a violation of God's Word and our basis of union. In that                                        respect such as greeting him in public.

case the way of protest and appeal is open, and ultimately,                                          `4. They shall not cohabitate with him, eat and drink

if need be, acquiescence under protest, or if the voice of                                       with him at the same table, work with him and admit him

conscience will not permit this, separation."                                                    into their assemblies."

     Of course it must be understood that when a consistory                                          To this Rev. Ophoff adds that "to these rules so many

takes' a matter of this kind to the Classis the individual                                       exceptions were allowed as to nearly nullify them."

being treated must be informed. This is to give this person                                          Concerning the Reformed position he then added: "The

the opportunity to be present at the Classis if desired to                                       Reformed refrained from laying down all kinds of rules.

defend himself in the matter. If he is not present                                               They perceived that this is impossible. They took into ac-

t h e   Classis   c a n   o n l y   g o   o n   t h e   r e p o r t   g i v e n   b y   t h e    count the purpose of the excommunication which is to

consistory but even then the following must be established                                       shame the sinner in order that he may repent. Their posi-

before the Classis can advise to proceed in the censure: (a)                                     tion was this. The brethren may not break off all relations

that the sin committed is censurable; (b) that the admoni-                                       with the sinner, and behave as if he no longer existed. But

tions and suspension from the Lord's Supper according to                                         they must so behave toward him that under the pressure of

Article 76 have taken place; (c) that the first admonition                                       the approbium  he repents. It means that they must let the

to the church has been properly made; (d) that the &on-                                          sinner feel and know by word, deed, look and attitude that

sistory has labored sufficiently with the erring member after                                    they censure in their hearts his obstinacy and are sorely

the iirst announcement to the church; (e) that it is clear                                       grieved by it. They must break off all intimate fellowship

that the transgressor is and remains impenitent and ob-                                          with the sinner. They must not take him to their bosom

stinate in his rejection of all admonitions.                                                     as if he were their dearest friend. They must not shine

     The third and final admonition to the church is then                                        upon him with the light of their countenance but on the
given. This can hardly be .construed  as an admonition. It                                       contrary they must hide their face by excluding him from
is more of an announcement in which the church is in-                                            their Christian fellowship. Doing this, they follow the ex-
formed that the sinner remains obstinate and that unless                                         ample of their heavenly Father. For He, too,.hides  His face
repentance is forthcoming the excommunication will take                                          from His child who sins and will not repent, so that the ob-
place in the near future.                 The consistory must determine                          stinate one for the time being no longer enjoys His fellow-
                                                                                                 ship."
the time at which this will take place and the congregation                                                                                             G.v.d.B.

must also be informed of this. Circumstances may alter this

but it is generally accepted that this time interval is about
four weeks. This gives anyone in the congregation op-                                                            THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS
portunity to show the consistory just cause why the excom-                                                           (Continued from page 331)

munication should not take place and if this is not done                                         final  result is that he loses Jesus Christ as the only begotten

the excommunication, as Article 77 states, "takes place with                                     Son of God.

the tacit approbation of the church."                                                               It is for this reason that the church has from the very

    The question remains as to what should be the relation-                                      beginning given such careful attention to this doctrine in

ship between the members of the church and a brother or                                          its confessions, so that there are no less than three articles

sister who has been excommunicated? Concerning this the                                          also in our Belgic Confession which deal with this matter:

form of excommunication has this to say:                                                         the present article on the true deity of Christ, Article XVIII
    " . . . so long as he obstinately and impenitently persists                                  on the incarnation of Jesus Christ, and Article XIX on the

in his sins, and is therefore to be accounted by you as a                                        union and distinction of the two natures in the Person of

heathen man and pubiican, according to the command of                                            Christ.                                                 H.C.H.

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


                                                                                                                 students. But if I should ever need help myself, let me not be

                                                                                                                 too proud to ask for it.
     11 A L L A R 0 U N D ij S 11                                                                                                     Veronica Comforts Our Lord
                                                                                                                    Veronica had the courage to do what her kind heart sug-
                                                                                                                 gested. Many times each day I see ways of helping others but
                                                                                                                 fear of what people will think keeps me from acting. From

     "THE WAY OF THE CROSS FOR TEACHERS'                                                                         now on, 0 Christ, help me to be kind no matter what it costs.
                                                                                                                                      Jesus Falls The Second Time
            It is sometimes argued that the Roman Catholic Church                                                   0 Jesus, Your second fall was far worse than the Srst  be-
     cannot be as evil as our fathers often described it because                                                 cause You were too weak to break the force of the fall.
                                                                                                                    My second fall was worse than the first. Pupils of whom
     this Church still maintains the fundamental truth of the                                                    I expected the best became miserable failures scholastically,
     atonement of Jesus Christ. After all, the truth of the blood                                                or worse still, morally. `What's the use?" I asked myself. I
                                                                                                                 was tempted to change my profesion as teacher for something
     of atonement forms the fundamental confession of the                                                        more profitable. But no, like You, Lord, I got up again and
     Church in the world. He who denies this truth cannot be                                                     went on carrying my cross.

     called "Christian" even in the broadest sense of the word.                                                             Women Of Jerusalem Weep Over Jesus
                                                                                                                    The Savior was grateful for the sympathy of these coura-
     But, it is said, the Roman Catholic Church has not yet                                                      geous women but He wanted them to weep for their sins
     denied this truth, and must not be considered, as our fathers                                               which were the cause of His suffering. We, too, should be
                                                                                                                 grateful for sympathy but not always asking for it. Let us
     maintained, Antichristian.
I                                                                                                                tell our pains, labors and worries to God Who is always dwel-
            In a recent article in the Roman Catholic paper 0.u~                                                 ling within us.

     Sunclay  VititoT,  an article appears which clearly shows that                                                                   Jesus Falls The Third Time
                                                                                                                    So terrible was this fall that Jesus may have thought, "1
     t h e   t r u t h   o f   t h e   c r o s s   i s   v e r y   r e a l l y   d e n i e d .   T h i s         caMot  go on. This is all I can take!" But no; He gets up and
     article is intended to be a means to encourage teachers to                                                  goes on to the place of crucifixion.
                                                                                                                    There are moments in my teaching day when it seems to
     pursue their teaching vocation with dedication by con-                                                      me I cannot  go on. Doing my duty is simply impossible!
     templating the passion of Christ. Some of the article is, on                                                But the truth is that there are no limits to what a man can
                                                                                                                 do if only he wiIIs  to do it. In those impossible moments, 0
     the surface, false; much of it is blasphemous; all of it clearly                                            Jesus, support my weak will!

     indicates that the truth concerning the cross is denied. The                                                              Jesus Is Stripped: Of His  Garments
     article reads, in its entirety:                                                                                What shame Christ must have endured when He was
                                                                                                                 stripped of His clothes before a huge crowd! I will probably

                       THE WAY OF THE  CROSS FOR TEACHERS                                                        never be asked to suffer anything like that. At least I can
                                                                                                                 bear patiently the ridicule I sometimes receive from my pupils
                                                   Preparation
                                                                                                                 because of my stupid mistakes and absent-mindedness.
                   0 Greatest of Teachers, You taught much during the three

             years of your public life, but the most important lesson You                                                             Jesus Is Nailed To The Cross
              ever taught was here on the road to Calvary. Let me follow                                            At this moment, when He is being nailed to the Cross,
             You on this sorrowful journey and learn from You. Already I                                         Christ truly looks like a victim. He is the teacher dying be-
              see one lesson you wish to teach me -not to expect gratitude                                       cause of the ingratitude of his pupils. Later St. Cassian will
             from those I teach.                                                                                 die for the same reason and so will many other teachers in
                                                                                                                 countries behind the Iron Curtain.
                                     Jesus Is Condemned To Death
                                                                                                                    If I am not asked to suffer physical martyrdom for the
                   0 Christ, how could these people whom You taught so
                                                                                                                 sake of Christ, at least I may become the victim of injustice at
             lovingly, now turn on You and ask that You be crucified? I
                                                                                                                 the hands of modem pagans.
              ought to lmow.  Often I am itching to say an unkind word to
             my pupils; to make a sarcastic remark. I know it hurts You                                                                 Jesus Dies On The Cross
             but I do it anyway. My excuse is, "It's only a venial sin."                                            When you explain the crucihx to a little child, there is one
              Help me to stop this rationalizing and recognize a sin for                                         question he is sure to ask: "Why did God die like that?" And
             what it is -the greatest evil in the world.                                                         when you tell the child that God did it because He loves us,
                                                                                                                 then the child will kiss the crucifix and give his whole heart
                                         Jesus -4ccepts  The Cross
                                                                                                                 to God in return. As an educator, I have the glorious privilege
                   The soldiers did not need to force You to take up your
                                                                                                                 of repaying love for love by leading the little ones to the
              Cross. You stretched out your arms willingly and carried it
                                                                                                                 Crucified Christ.
             joyfully.
                   The life of a teacher is one of sacrifice. Each morning I                                                 Jesus Is Taken Down From The Cross
             will take up my cross and carry it with You, 0 Lord. At times                                          As she holds the dead body of her son on her lap, Mary
              I may be utterly exhausted but I will never lose my inner joy.                                     can see at close range what the sins of men have done to her
                                                                                                                 child. But Mary is not bitter. Like Jesus, she prays with her
                                       Jesus Falls The First Time
                                                                                                                 whole heart, "Father, forgive them."
                   I was a very young teacher when I had my first fall. I
                                                                                                                    With this sorrowful picture before me, I resolve always to
             saw the contrast between the lovely picture I had formed at
                                                                                                                 be merciful. No matter what I may have to suffer at the hands
             Teachers' College and the stark reality of actual teaching.
                                                                                                                 of my pupils or their parents I will always be ready to forgive.
             And I fell. But I did not quit and get a different job. No, I

              got up and tried again. It was You, Jesus, Who  helped me.                                                              Jesus Is Laid In The Tomb
                                         Jesus Meets His Mother                                                     After the burial of Jesus what gave Mary the courage to
                                                                                                                 console the griefstricken John and to go home with him? It
                  The most sorrowful meeting in the world took place when
                                                                                                                 was her faith. Christ had said that He would rise again and
             You met your Mother on the road to Calvary. Perhaps at this
                                                                                                                 she believed Him. That was all. 0 Mary, help me to have a
             moment You decided to give Mary to John and to all of us as
                                                                                                                 faith like yours. Then I will be an optimist in the best sense
             our Mother. I can best show my gratitude by being absolutely
                                                                                                                 of the word. After all, the only real evil in the world is sin
             loyal and devoted to my Mother and to impart this loyalty
                                                                                                                 and that can be avoided. So I will take St. Paul's advice and
             and devotion to my students.
                                                                                                                 rejoice always!
                                     Simon Helps Carry The Cross
                  Jesus gratefully accepted Simon's help in 
                   Jesus gratefully accepted Simon's help in  carrying.~His
                                                                                     carrying.~His             O-- -`- -----2-  ----`wry  of the cross is as bad as the motley
                                                                                                               Such crude mockery of the cross is as bad as the motley
              cross, though it must have been very humiliating for Him to
             do so.                                                                                         rabble of Jews that railed on Christ from Calvary. There
                                                                                                                           ; that railed on Christ from Calvary. There
                   0 Jesus, let me always be eager to help all with whom I                                  is no mention of the fact that Christ bore the wrath of Cod
                                                                                                                           of the fact that Christ bore the wrath of Cod
             come in contact: my principal, my fellow teachers and my


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                            335


against sin. There is no mention of a ticarious  atonement.               Testament inasmuch as these Old Testament Scriptures all

There is no mention of the sins of God's people being taken               spoke of Christ, and the Jews refused to believe in Him.

away by the suffering and death of Christ. Christ is little               But this is precisely the point. -The  Old Testament Scrip-

more than an example, and a rather poor example at that.                  tures spoke of Christ because they too were written by

This is not the Christ of Scripture; this is blasphemy.                   Christ Himself. They too must be considered the Word of

                                                                          Christ.

                                                                              The author then, in a few short paragraphs, turns hi's
EVOLUTIONISM IN THE REFORMED CHURCH                                       attention to the question of evolutionism. He writes:

    In the Church Herald, official weekly organ of the                               And indeed it used to be said to them of old time, by Arch-

Reformed Church in America, appeared a symposium en-                            bishop Usher and the scholars of his day, that the world was
                                                                                created about 8,000 years ago. Now we know that the light
titled "What Does the Bible Teach Concerning the Origin                         from the distant galaxies has been four or five billions of years
of Life and of Man?" An answer to this question was given                       on its way to our eyes.
                                                                                     In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
by Dr. Paul W. Harrison who was all his life a medical mis-                     It took billions of years. The geologist has learned to read a

sionary in the Arabian Gulf area and who passed away late                       little of that scroll . . .
                                                                                     And then the creation of life, and after that the mind and
last year.                                                                      after that the soul . . . millions -and  millions of years . . . the
                                                                                creation of the brain to carry that  mind and soul stretched over
    Quotes from his article show how little he cared for the                    myriads of millenniums. God is never in a hurry.
truth of Scripture, and how openly he dared to teach an                              One of the tragedies of our day was the determination of
                                                                                the church to pit herself against evolution, our best friend. It
evolutionism that sounds very much like Pantheism. It is,                       was a beautiful vision that she lost. The whole divinely
however, not simply his forthright evolutionism that strikes                    ordered universe pointed in one direction, upward, and pro-
                                                                                ceeding century after century, millennium after millennium,
the reader; it is rather his careless disregard of the whole                    following the undeviating divine purpose. It has made the
question.l.To  him, it seems, the whole matter is hardly worth                  position of the atheist forever untenable.
                                                                                     The heavens do indeed declare the glory of God, but the
discussing. With callous indifference he ignores the truth                      atom declares it just as wall. That incredibly tiny thing has
and shrugs off the whole Scripture-especially the Old                           the energies of God enclosed in it. Harnessed by evil it can
                                                                                destroy this whole earth. God willing, it is going to be
Testament. And this is permitted in an official paper of the                    harnessed by His will and for it, to make human life more
Reformed Church!.                                                               powerful, more beautiful, more divine, than it has ever been.
                                                                                We will send up a prayer for the scientists and for the church.
    The author first of all discusses the authority of Scrip-                   May God give them wisdom.
ture in a few brief sentences. His argument seems to be                       It is obvious from all this that anyone who wishes to toy
that there is no final authority in Scripture concerning the              with evolutionism must, of necessity toy also with the Scrip-
truth; only perhaps in the words that Jesus spoke. But                    tures. If the authority of Scripture is denied in one single
especially the Old Testament cannot be taken seriously. He                part, the whole of Scripture is inevitably lost. Lose creation,
writes :                                                                  and Christ will also be lost. Eliminate creation from `the

            These early accounts (of the origin of all things) have       confession of the Church, and Christ will also be eliminated
      neglected the time element. The supposition that we have
      here accurate dates and duration lengths is obviously a mis-        without fail. May God give us grace to combat this terrible
      take. Also we must remember that recording an event does            heresy.                                                      H. Hanko
      not imply divine approval of it; also, what was God's will
      once is not necesarily  His will for always.

            Here as elsewhere the most important part of the Bible
      is not the Old Testament, but the New. Most especially, of
      course, Jesus' teachings, His "words" as He called them . . .
            Men do not like Jesus' authority. They never have. Jesus          NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES
      was talking to earnest devotees of the Old Testament when                             "All the sain.fs  salztte  thee . . ." PHIL.;~:~~     II
      He said, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you saying, `This people
      honoreth me with their lips but their heart is far from me
      but in vain do they worship me, teaching as their doctrines of
      men'." (This quotation is evidently a misquotation of the text.                                                              April 5, 1963
      H.H.) Sometimes in our earnestness we forget that the five             Rev. J. A. Heys of South Holland, has declined the call
      points of Calvinism are precepts of men as are the Canons of
      Dort.                                                               from our Southwest Church in Grand Rapids.
            Jesus went to great lengths to bring the Old Testament           Rev. J. Kortering, of Hull, has declined the call from
      down to the time of the disciples. "You have heard that it
      was said, `An eye for an eye, and a too&  for a tooth.' But I       Lynden, and is still considering the call from Loveland.
      say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one
      strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also . . .                          CLASSIS  `WIZST mPORT
      You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say            We enjoyed a meeting of Classis  West which was char-
      to you, Love your enemies . . ."
            And we will pass from verbatim quotations to something the    acterized by              and harmony throughout the meeting.
                                                                                             unity 
      same. Psalm 137 says, "Happy shall he be who takes your             We met in our Doon church, and did not adjourn until
      little ones and dashes them against the rock!" Jesus says,
      "Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me:      about 10 P. M. Rev. H. Hanko was welcomed into our
      for such is the kingdom of heaven."                                 classis,  having transferred to us from our Hope church in

    The quotation that the author uses from Isaiah was not                Classis  East.

written against earnest devotees of the Old Testament; it                 ' The usual matters were treated at this spring' classis.

was spoken by Jesus against those who corrupted the Old                   Various subsidy requests were approved, and the delegates


336                                        THE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


for Synod were chosen. The classis also treated a protest           @anko  was the speaker;  and his topic was of deep impor-
against-one of our consistories, and the consistory was sus-        tance ,,to each &ice  bearer in the denomination. Surely,

tained in this matter.                                              the poor attendance. at these conferences does not indicate

Of particular interest, treated at this classis, was  t&            our lack of need of Scripturally based instruction in the

matter of church visitation. Our Loveland Church had                duties which the` offices entail! Rev. Hanko's subject, The

drawn  .up, last year, an overture fpr Synod, and  in this          Calling of Office Bearers in Respect to the Poor and Indi-

overture they sought synodical  approval to conduct church          .gent"  was of heavy import. The speaker provided a com-

yisitation  in the way of correspondence., In their answer to       plete outline of his-  speech for each of his listeners which

this overture, Classis  maintained the position that this           they might follow as the speech unfolded. This method

pTork  of church visitation should be conducted, as according       proved so successful that it would be desirable to see it

to Art. 44 of our Church Order, by two ministers who are            followed in the future. The three main divisions were,

Appointed to visit the various churches. However, the               The Calling, The Manner, and The Fruit. The second divi-

classis did decid.e on certain measures to improve this work        sion was of practical value for the moment and was the

of church visitation. It was decided to advise the various          kernel of the speech, that which the office bearers might

con&stories that it would be to the edification of the              carry with them into their own fields of visiting. The

churches involved that the church visitors, if asked by the         speaker stresses that they go as servants of Christ in proper

churches, lecture while conducting this work. The classis           humilitjr,  but also in the confidence that Christ sends them

also considered it advisable that more time be spent on the         with authority; that Christ accompanies them with His

questions that are asked by the church visitors,  and that          \J70rd  and Spirit - that therefore they must not just chat,

there be more discussion, and that, in connection with this,        but speak t&e Word of God. Finally, that they must offer

only one church be visited an evening.                              a brief prayer that points to the personal need of the

       In connection with the matter of classical appointments,     moment, making it possible for the sufEerer to pray with

Classis  West decided, in addition to the schedule which            them. The speaker gave his audience this comfort: Office

it drew up, to ask Classis  East for assistance in the matter of    bearers who are faithful in their calling may hear from I

classical appointments. The following schedule was drawn            Peter 54, "And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye

up: Isabel-Forbes: March 24, 31- Rev. H. Veldman; April             shall receive a crown of glory  that fadeth not away."

211  25,  May 5 - Rev. J. A. Heys; May 26, June 2 - Rev. G.            First Church's congregation came out full strength

Tianden  Berg; June 23, 30, July 7 - Classis  East; August 4,       Thursday evening, April 4. The occasion was a public re-

11,lS  - Rev. H. Hank&  Sept.  1,8,15  - Rev. G. Van Baren.         ception for their pastor, Rev. Hanko, in which his congrega-

For Pella: April-Rev. J. Kortering; May-Rev. B. WOU-                tion celebrated with him his 15th anniversary of his labors

denberg;  June - Rev. J. Kortering; July - Rev. J. Kortering;       among us. The theme of the evening was, "Thanksgiving

,4ugust  - Classis  East; September - Rev. G. Vanden  Berg.         and Praise for Dedicated Service." The Sunday School, the

For Loveland:. March 31, April 7 - Rev. B. Woudenberg;              Radio Choir, and each of the societies were represented

May 5, 12, 19 - Classis  East; June - 23, 30, July 7 = Rev.         on the program which gave thanks to the King of His

H. Hanko; August 4,11,18  - Rev. G. Vanden  Berg; Sept. 8,          Church for the gift of His dedicated servant. A purse was

X,22  - Rev. H. Veldman. For Lynden: April 21,28,  May 5            given their pastor as a token of the congregation's love.

-Rev. G. Van Baren; May 26, June 2, 9 - Classis East;               Rev. Hoeksema also gave a testimony of his love and appre-

June 30, July 7, 14 - Rev. J. A. Heys; July 28, August 4, 11        ciation of his colleague, and led the meeting in closing

- Rev. J. Kortering; Aug. 25, Sept. 1, 8 - Rev. Woudenberg.         prayer. After the program a social hour was held in the

       The following delegates were chosen to represent Classis     church parlors giving opportunity.for  individual expressions

West at Synod - Ministers: Primi:  H, Hanko, J. A. Heys,            of esteem and appreciation.

G. Van Baren,  G. Vanden  Berg; Secundi: J. Kortering, H.              A Study in Co-operation: (One  day in March Rev. G. Van

Veldman, B. Woudenberg. -Elders: Primi:  W. Griess,  P.             Baren left Randolph for South Holland (about 200 miles).

Hoekstra, L. Lanting,  C. Vander Molen;  Secundi: E. Hauck,         That same morning Messrs. Edw. Kooienga, Peter Reitsema

P. Van Den Top, E. Van Ginkel, C. Van So&n.                         and Chas. Kregel, members of the Radio Committee, left

       This is, in brief, my report of our meeting of Classis       Grand Rapids for South Holland (about 200 miles). There

West. We enjoyed the meeting very much, and, as usual,              they met Rev. Heys at his church. The Radio Comm. engin-

were royally received and entertained by the ladies of our          eers set up their redording  equipment, taped four (4) ser-

Doon Church. Rev. Kortering presided at our meeting,                mons which Rev. Van Baren delivered at that time. Later

very ably, and our gathering was closed with a w&d  of              in the  day they recorded four (4) of Rev. Heys' sermons de-

prayer by Rev. H. Veldman.                                          livered then.

                  Fraternally, Rev. H. Veldman, Stated Clerk           The "Dogmatics" committee is scheduled to meet in

       The Office Bearers' Conference was held in First Churdh      Hope church April 25.

April 2, the evening before Classis  convened. Rev. C.                  . . . see you in church.                           J:M.F.


