                                                                                                                                                  N
      VOLUME ~XXXIX                                                  MAY 1, 1963 - GRAND Rams,  M                                                  UMBER 15
                                                                                                               ICHIGAN


                                                                                                     and these things were governed and ruled by Him Who

               M E D I T A T I O N                                                                   dwells in the heavens.

                                                                                                        The God of Jacob, however, was and is different. When

                                                                                                     Jacob went to that God with strong crying and tears, he
                        A TRULY HAPPY MAN                                                            was helped out of all his calamities. Never did this

                                                                                                     patriarch knock in vain on the doors of heaven. God heard
                "Happy  is he that bath the God of Jacob for His                                     him in that he was helped.
           help, whose  hope is in. the Lord His God."

                                                                             Psalm i46:5                Moreover, the .God  of Jacob became also the name of
                                                                                                     God among the descendants of Jacob. All the god-fearing

                                                                                                     Israelites went to the God of Jacob for strength and help in
     It is-wisdom not to put -your trust in the princes of the
                                                                                                     time of trouble. And they also, like their father, were
w o r l d . .
                                                                                                     helped out of all their distresses. Take for instance the
     Let not the dreams they weave before your longing                                               Godfearing Hezekiah. When he was in dire need of help
eyes charm you to that extent that you place your trust                                              at the time the wicked were lying without the gates of
in them. Because their. breath goeth forth, they return                                              Jerusalem, cursing the Name expressly and wantonly, and
to the earth and in that very day their thoughts perish.                                             when they sent wicked letters to this pious king of the
And you are left destitute in the cold. There is no help in                                          people of God, cursing and mocking the God of Jacob, he
men.                                                                                                 went to God and spread forth these letters before the

O v e r a g a i n s t   t h i s   i d l e   t r u s t   s t a n d s   t h e   c r y   o f   t h e    Countenance. And his cry was heard: Now, therefore, 0

Holy Ghost: Happy is the .man that hath the God of                                                   Lord our God save us from his -hand,  that all the kingdoms

Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.                                               of ihe earth may know that thou art the Lord, even Thou

                                                                                                     only. Do you not notice that the God of Jacob was his
   Let the object of your trust be the God of Jacob.
                                                                                                     help? Neither did he trust in vain. For this God of Jacob
      Then and then alone you are safe for time and for                                              sent His angel and destroyed a hundred and fourscore and
eternity.                                                                                            five thousand of the wicked in one night. And so the name

      Because the God of Jacob is the Almighty God.                                                  of the God of Jacob was to the nation of God's people the

                                                                                                     name of Him Who helped in time of need.
      When the Bible repeatedly testifies regarding the

God of Jacob, the meaning is first of all that this God                                                 Why, even in our day you will notice that when God's
stands over against the various gods in Canaan. There                                                people are in trouble they will cry to Jacob's God. The
were many gods in those days. Every tribe in Canaan,                                                 Holy Ghost leads us to do this. Jacob had a troublesome
sometimes every individual family, ruled by its patri-                                               life. It seemed as though all things were against him. His
arch had its own god. And in time of war or. drought,                                                father, his brother, his uncle, the elements. His sons also,
in all manner of calamities these poor people would turn                                             for they robbed him of his children. All these things are
to their gods and cry out their need of them: 0 help us,                                             against me! Now we know that this was not so. We know.
for the water has come over our souls. It is pitiful to read                                         that all things worked together for good unto Jacob. But

some of the petitions that came down to us through the                                               Jacob did not know this. And therefore he spent his life

ages, testifying of their need of help and the- efforts put                                          in crying to God for help against his distresses. And God
forth to get it from the heathen gods.                                                               heard. From step to step the God of Jacob fought for him

     -Yet all was vain. These heathen gods were no gods,                                             and delivered him.

idle and helpless. Things with them went on just the same                                                                      0 0 0 (f


338                                                              T H E   S--T.iNDAlifi   B E A R E R



       Ah, yes, the God of Jacob is God, the Almighty, Who                                                And the Lord came closer when Jesus was born.

is willing and able to help His people who are in distress                                                For Jesus is Jacob fulfilled. God promised that He would
and trouble.                                                                                        come to Jacob and be his God. Well, this is fulfilled in

       And the God of Jacob is all this because He is the                                           Jesus.    According to the flesh, Jesus is Jacob and- God

Lord God.                                                                                           dwelleth  in Jesus in unity of the Person. Immanuel: God

                                                                                                    with us.
       That has a wonderful significance.

                                                                                                          And with this Jesus the wonder of grace is manifested
       The Lord God.
                                                                                                    to angels also: now they may see it! Glory' to God in the
       He is the Covenant God.                                                                      highest and on earth peace! Now we see it! This babe will

       L o r d   m e a n s :   I   a m   t h a t   I   a m .   T h a t   i s ,   I   a m   t h e    take away all the sin of `Jacob.

unchangeable One. I am the Eternal One, the Immutable                                                     And with this Jesus the fallen world is elevated for
One. There is no shadow of turning with Me. Therefore                                               He climbs the steep sides of the mountain of God's holiness.
He is also the ever faithful One. In His everlasting Counsel                                        Climbing in His resurrection and ascension, He cries out:
He saw Jacob, that is, Israel, that is, the Church of Jesus                                         The glorious gates of righteousness, throw open unto Me!
Christ, that is, the sum total of the elect of God, and seeing
                                                                                                          And the. Lord God came still' closer to Jacob when the
them He couselled peace and security for them in the Son
                                                                                                    Holy Ghost was poured out on Pentecost. Now God
of His love. And because He is the Lord, that is, the
                                                                                                    dwells in the hearts and mind of all the Jacobs, both small
Unchangeable One, He keepeth truth for ever, He is the
                                                                                                    and great. And now we all are temples of the Holy Ghost.
ever faithful Covenant God.

                                                                                                          But the flesh is corrupt and the body is inclined            the
       This Lord made promises. And what promises! I am                                                                                                         to 
                                                                                                    dust. And in the night we hear the groaning of Jacob with
your God and the God of your seed. 1 am coming to you,
                                                                                                    strong crying and tears: 0 wretched man that I am: who
my darling children! I am going to come to you and I will
                                                                                                    shall deliver me out of the body of this death!
come ever closer to you, until you shall be so everlastingly

close to Me that it may be said that I am all and in all.                                                 And God, the God of Jacob hears him,' for He is the

                                                                                                    Lord God. He shall remember His covenant which He
       And nothing can change this promise from its fulfill-
                                                                                                    made from everlasting. The time is at hand that also the
ment.
                                                                                                    bodies of the Jacobs shall be made to conform to the most
       God did come to His own Jacob in a picture. It was                                           glorious body of Jesus.     The lives of the souls of Jacobs
the ftrst heaven and earth. Through omnipotent creation                                             were iirst fruits, but the harvest of the bodies is coming.
he weaved an image of the fulfillment of the promises,                                              He shall raise our mortal bodies through the Spirit that
which is the reason that Genesis 1 and Revelation 22 seem                                           dwells in us. At the day of Jesus!
s o   m u c h   a l i k e .
                                                                                                          And the God of Jacob shall come still closer. For a new
       When this iirst creation went down in the gloom of
                                                                                                    commonwealth is coming. We expect according to His
death and the curse, the Lord came closer. through the
                                                                                                    promises a new heaven and a new earth. And that new
altar and the blood of sacriilcial  animals. He taught His
                                                                                                    commonwealth shall be such that heaven and earth: shall
Jacob that this world which had fallen so low must be
                                                                                                    be united and in the ,:midst  of. them shall descend the
.elevated,  must be raised to new heights of glory. He came
                                                                                                    tabernacle of God out of heaven. Then God shall dwell
closer to Jacob, for He taught Adam and Abel to build an
                                                                                                    with His people and shall be a Father unto them and they
altar, that is, they must take some earth or stones and make
                                                                                                    shall be His sons and daughters. And all the tears of Jacob
a heap or two. It is the exalted and elevated world.
                                                                                                    shall be washed away.
       Later the Lord came closer. Listen to Stephan,  just

before his stoning: . . . David, who found favor before

God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
                                                                                                          What have the sons of man ever done for you? We are
But Solomon built Him a house, The Lord came ever
                                                                                                    killed all the day long by them. We are accounted as sheep
closer. In splendour  of gold of Ophir and the needlework
                                                                                                    for the slaughter by them.
,of artists, God dwelled in the Holy of Holies  and taught

.Jacob  that He loved Him. And He showed His love in                                                      Recall the history of Jacob, What did Jacob get for

manifold tokens and signs and types and washings and                                                help out of Esau and Laban? None at all. But on the

.sacrifices.  God came closer to Jacob for his help for He - contrary: those two relatives brought him much sorrow and

.accepted  the token of blood once every year when the                                              tears. And if it had not been for the help of the God of

High Priest entered His abode. And the angels were very                                             Jacob he would have been swallowed up alive. No thanks

,desirous  to understand this miracle of grace. They bent                                           to Esau and Laban for the revival and survival of Jacob.

forward over the sprinkled blood on the mercy seat.                                                 These evil men were as wild beasts around de turtledove

                                                                                                    of God. Ah, Jacob, thou hast all our sympathy!
                                        11: a tt #                                                   _


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                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D .   -B.EARER                                                                                                                                                 339


   But I hasten to add that Jacob was happy. For happy                      _.... ~.
is the man who has the God of Jacob for his help. Whose                           `.  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                         Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July  and August
trust is in the Lord his God.                             . . . :         Published by the REFOFGZ  FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
   Indeed! All things work together for his good. Even                                                Editor - REV.  Hw HOEICSEX~
                                                                         Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
tears and suffering must serve to bring the promises to                  Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,
fulfillment. That is wonderfully shown in the Christ of                  Mich. Contributions will be limited to 300 words and must be
God. That dark night cannot be spared in the scheme of                                                      neatly written or typewritten.
                                                                         All church news items should be addressed to Mr. J. M. Faber,
things. The strong crying. and tears of Jesus in everlasting                               1123 Cooper, S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
agony are the foundation of all fulfillment of the promises.              Announcements and Obituaries witln the $2.00 fee included
                                                                         must be mailed 8 days prior to issue date, to the address below:
Without them we would cry in hell.                                        All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to
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   But blessed is that man! Blessed now for he wrestles                                                          Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
with God and will not let Him go without the blessing of                     RENEWAL: .Unless  a deiinite  request for discontinuance is
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   And blessed anon in the land that is fairer than day.

There we shall be so blessed, beloved reader, that we shall

never sin any more.     If there was no more revealed than

just that: it would be suflicient  to elicit my highest singing                                                          C O N T E N T S

and praises of God. Not sin any more. Can you imagine                MEDITATION -
anything sweeter?                                                            A Truy Happy Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
                                                                                         Rev. G. Vos
   Oh, even through the dimming tears, I see glory that
                                                                     EDITOW  -
cannot be uttered in the vale1  Not sin any more; nevermore
                                                                              Rank Arminianism in Calvin Seminary. . . . . . . . . . _. . . . . . . . . ,349
to roam. Ah, blessedness unspeakable!                                                    Rev. H. Hoeksema

   Let all of Jacob say: Amen Hallelujah!                            CONTRIBUTIONS -
                                                          G.V.                Report of Eastern Ladies' League . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
                                                                                         Elsie Kuiper

                                                                     OUR  DOCTRINE-

                                                                              The Doctrine of the Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                                                                                                                                                                                                           i . . . . . . . . . . . 343

                                                                                        Rev. H. Hoeksema
                     CALL TOSYNOD                                    A CLOUD OF 'WITNESSES-
                                                                             The Conquest Completed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
   According to the decision of the last Synod, the Con-                                Rev. B. Woudenberg

.&story  of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand            FROM HOLY WRIT -
                                                                              Exposition of I Timothy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          348;
Rapids, Michigan, notifies the churches that the 1963 Synod
                                                                                        Rev. G. Lubbers
of the Protestant Reformed Churches will convene on
                                                                     INIRSFEAR-
Wednesday, June 5, D.V., at 9:00 A. M. in the above men-                      My Father's World (4) ____._...__...............................................  350

tioned church.                                                                          Rev. J. A. Heys

   The pre-synodical service will be held `on Tuesday eve-           CONTENDING FOR TAE FAITH-
                                                                              The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                           352,
ning, June 4, at 8:00 P. M. at First Church. The Rev. C.                                 Rev. H. Veldman

Hanko, president of the previous Synod, will preach at this          THE VOICE OF OUR  FATHWS  -
                                                                              The Belgic Confession. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                            ,354
service.
                                                                                         Rev. H. C. Hoeksema

   Synodical  delegates are requested to gather with the             DECENCY AND ORDER-
Consistory before the service.                                                Re-admittance of the Excommunicated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  356
                                                                                         Rev. G. Vanden  Berg

   Those in need of lodging are to contact Mr. P. Decker,            ALL z`!nOlJND  US -
108 Mayfield  Ave., N. E., Grand Rapids 3, Michigan.                          Religion On Campus, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358:
                                                                              Mergers (continued)                                    . . . . . . .._........................  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358.
                  Consistory of the First Protestant Reformed                 Reformed Church in New Zealand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359:
                                                                                         Rev. H. Hanko
                  Church

                                                                     NEWS FROM OUR CHTJ~~HE~.  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36@
                      Rev. C. Hanko, President                                           Mr. J. M. Faber

                      P. Decker, Secretary

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


                                                                       The only alternative is to teach the Arminian theory of
           E D I T O R I A L S                                     free will. Then we maintain that God will efficaciously
                                                                   apply the atonement of Christ to all men if they only will

                                                                   to be saved. And I believe that must be and actually is

       Rank Arminianism in Calvin Seminary                         the view of Prof. Dekker. If God loves all men, not with a
                                                                   certain `common love" or "`common grace," but His saving

   The question we raised at the close of our previous             and redemptive love, why is it then that all are not saved?

article on the proposition of Prof. Dekker that God loves          The answer is: because they do not will to be saved. Why

all men was: how can Dekker believe in the efficacy of the         is it that while Christ died for all men, and the blood of

atonement and, at the same time, maintain that Christ died         atonement was shed for all men, that all men are not

for. all men?                                                      actually saved? The only possible. answer is: because they

   That the means to maintain both is evident from the             do not will to be saved. And this is what I call "rank

quotation from his article I made in the last number of            Arminianism." If I misrepresent him, I wish that he would

our Stundad  Beayer:  e%icacy  of the atonement means that         explain himself, either in The Reformed Joqnal  or in The

the latter is limited; yet, God's love is universal, and Christ    Sta.n&zrd  Bearer.  He can have all the space he wants.

died for all men.                                                     This is, of course, contrary to the Reformed Confessions
   Is this not a contradiction in terms?                           to which, I suppose, also Prof. Dekker subscribed when he
   It is, indeed, if you understand the term efficacy in the       took his position in the Seminary. We may refer for this
biblical, Reformed sense of the word. For then the term            to the negative part of the Canons, III, IV, art. 5, where we
means that God alone causes the atonement to be efficacious        read:
and that, too, only for the elect and for none other.                 "We reject the errors of those:
   This is evident from the article of the Canons we
                                                                      "Who teach: That the corrupt and natural man can so
already quoted and which Prof. Dekker professes to
                                                                   well use the common grace (by which they understand the
believe. For that article states plainly "that the quickening
                                                                   hght of nature, sic, 1924, H. H. ), or the gifts still left him
and saving eflicacy  of the most precious death of his Son
                                                                   after the fall, that he can gradually gain by their good use
should extend to all the elect." And in article 9 of the
                                                                   a greater, viz., the evangelical or saving grace and salvation
same chapter of the Canons we read: "This .purpose
                                                                   itself, and that in this way God on his part shows himself
proceeding from the everlasting love towards the elect,
                                                                   ready to reveal Christ unto all men, since he applies to
has from the beginning of the world to this day been
                                                                   all sufficiently and efficiently the means necessary to con-
powerfully accomplished . . . so that the elect in due
                                                                   version."
time may be gathered together into one . . ."
                                                                      Or we may consult Art. 8 of the same chapter of the
   This is the Reformed meaning of the term efficacy.
                                                                   Canons which reads as follows:
   The same is evident from Canons III, IV, 11. "But
when God accomplishes his good pleasure in the elect, or               "The Synod rejects the errors of those:
works ins them true conversion, he not only causes the                `Who teach: That God in the regeneration of man does
gospel to be externally preached to them, and powerfully           not use such powers of his omnipotence as potently and

illuminates their minds by his Holy Spirit, that they may          infallibly bend man's will to faith and conversion; but that

rightly understand and discern the things of the Spirit of         all the works of grace having been accomplished, wbicb
God; but by the efficacy of the same regenerating Spirit,          God employs to convert man, man may yet so resist God

pervades the inmost recesses of the man; he opens the              and the Holy Spirit, when God intends man's regeneration
closed, and softens the hardened heart, and circumcises            and wills to regenerate him, and indeed that man often
that which was uncircumcised, infuses new qualities into           does so resist that he prevents entirely his regeneration, and
the will, which though heretofore dead, he quickens; from          that it therefore remains in man's power to be regenerated

being evil, disobedient, and refractory, he renders it good,       or not."

obedient, and pliable; actuates and strengthens it, that like         It is my conviction that Dekker teaches exactly what.

A good tree, it may bring forth the fruit of good actions."        Synod here rejects.

   Now, if this is the meaning of the term efficacy, it               But, after all, in the closing paragraphs of his article,

ought to be evident that one can no longer maintain that           Prof. Dekker denies the truth of limited atonement

Christ dies for all men for the simple reason that God             altogether, in spite of the fact that he first admitted that

applies the atonement only to the elect. Nor can one teach         Scripture and the Confessions are "decisive and convincing"

anymore that God loves all men, for He does not desire             on this score. For there he writes that "the doctrine of

to save all men. Hence, to maintain the Reformed meaning           limited atonement . . . has been used to place a taboo

of the term efficacy and, at the same time, to say that            on the proposition that Christ died for all men and on a

Christ died for all men and that He loves all men, is surely       statement by a missionary to unbelievers such as, `Christ

a contradiction in terms.                                          died for you.l' . . . If the Church is unwilling to say in any


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     341


sense that Christ died for all men and refuses to say to            These I need not review here. But I do wish to call atten-
unbelievers, in addition to `God loves you,' `Christ died           t i o n   brigfly:

for you,' it places the infinite love of God under -an illegiti-        1:. To an article written by the Rev. Rolf  L. Veenstra in
mate restriction."                                                  n&i&  he, in The Banner of Nov. 17, 1961, virtually

   I would like to ask Prof. Dekker and also that supposed          writes the same thing as Prof. Dekker in his article "God

missionary: how do you know that the particular unbeliev&           So Loved-All Men."             "We insist on the universal and

whom you are addressing is the object of God's redemptive           sincere offer of salvation. We do not hesitate to say to any

love? How do you know that Christ died for him? The                 man, <God loves you' . . . . Yet the personal appeal,

answer would, undoubtedly, be: because God loves all men            `Christ died for you,' is suspect in the Reformed circles

and Christ died for all men. This answer would be a lie,            for the simple reason that Arminian ideas are read into it."

for God, according to Scripture and the Confessions, loves          This quotation I make here, not in order to offer my

only His own, whom He has given to Christ; and Christ               criticism on             statement, although I cannot possibly agree
                                                                                    this 
died only for His sheep.       That, therefore, would be a          with it and although  it surely  is unbiblical and Arminian, but

downright lie. All any missionary could truthfully say to           simply to point out that, although Veenstra expresses the

any unbelieving individual is: "Believe on the Lord Jesus           same opinion as Dekker, not a word of criticism was

Christ, and thou shalt be saved."                                   heard by the editor of The Ban.ner  or by anyone else as

   But let us look at this matter from the subjective point         far as I remember.

of view. If anyone is to be saved God must implant the                2. To call. attention to a quotation by Prof. Dekker from

justifying faith in his- heart. Thus it is according to             an article of Prof. John Weidenaar on the Scriptural paisage

Scripture and the Confessions. Does Prof. Dekker believe            found in Rom. 1:18-22. The latter writes: "Paul teaches

this? If he does believe, how can he then say to any                that the. wrath of God is. revealed from heaven against the

individual tibeliever and, in fact, to any man: God loves           unrighteousness and ungodliness of men . . . Three times

you and Christ died for you?" Does he know that God will            Paul utters the ominous words: God gave them up. The

give him -the justifying faith? If he admits that he does           final abandonment is the point at which man becomes a

not know this, then he cannot say to any man "God loves             wp-ibate. This passage, viz. Romans 1:28, is doubtless the

you," or `Christ died for you." If, however, he answers             classic passage together with the context on the biblical

that God will give him the faith, then he must add the              meaning of reprobation . . . Once this is understood, it

limiting clause: if the man wills to receive it. Then he            becomes clear that God never shows any attitude of favor,

believes in the free will of man. Or, perhaps, he will              grace, goodness, kindness-or whatever other symptoms you

preach as many so-called would-be Reformed preachers                might suggest-to the reprobate . . . The reprobate is

and evangelists would say to their audiences: God must              beyond recall . . . The reprobate has committed the un-

save you, but you must pray for it, not understanding that          pardonable sin the essence of which is conscious, voluntary,

the natural man cannot pray.                                        and persistent impenitence."

   Henee, no matter how you put it, if Prof. Dekker or any              Prof. Dekker finds `the thought of Prof. Weidenaar very

missionary would say to any particular man or unbeliever            attractive."     And this stands. to reason, for if God loves all

"God loves you" or `Christ died for you" he does not                men there can be no reprobation, and this is exactly what

speak the truth.                                                    Prof. Weidenaar teaches according to the above quotation,

   In the conclusion tif his article Prof. Dekker flatly denies     For, according to him, reprobation is not an eternal decree
the truth of limited atonement. It is true that he modifies         in God's counsel, but it is in time. Moreover, reprobation is.
his statement concerning this truth by saying "The doctrine         not sovereign on the part of God so that He determines who,
of limited atonement as commonly understood by and                  is to be reprobated, but is in man's power: in the way of
observed in the Christian Reformed Church" but that does            his sin he becomes reprobate, in the way of sin he finally
not make any difference, especially in view of the fact             commits the unpardonable sin.

that he does not explain how he understands it. He wants                We now have, at least three definitions of reprobation:

to maintain the theory that God loves all men and if this               (1). The definition of Barth: all men are by nature
were true, limited atonement is impossible. He closes               reprobates; but Christ becomes the reprobate, and after His

with paraphrasing the text in John 3:16: `<God  so loved            d.eath  on the cross there is no more reprobation.

<tZb men that He gave His only begotten Son." And he                    (2). The def%tion  of Weidenaar: the reprobate is he

expresses--the wish that "this  great truth may permeate the        who is persistently impenitent so -that  he commits the

life and witness of the Church in full power."                      unpardonable sin.

   Prof. Dekker has two more articles on the same subject               (3). The infra-lapsarian definition of the Canons of
as the one to which we already called your attention. In            Dort, I, 15: "What peculiarly tends to illustrate and recom-

the first of these articles he answers various objections that      mend to us the eternal and unmerited grace of elec-

have been raised against his view that God loves all men.           tion, is the express testimony of sacred Scripture, that


342                                           T H E   S.TANDA.I&D   B E A R E R


not all; but some only are elected, while others are passed                He began by saying that the office  of the Ministry was

by in the eternal decree; whom God, out of his sovereign,               ordained by Jesus Christ for service to God and to &he

most just, irreprehensible and unchangeable good pleasure,              people of God. He emphasized the crucial need in our

hath decreed to leave in the -common misery -into which                 churches at the present time. Vacancies are abnormal. Yet

they have wilfully  plunged themselves, and not to bestow               one-third of our churches do not have their own minister.

upon them saving faith and the grace of conversion; but                 Also we do not have enough ministers to send to mXssion

permit them in his just judgment to follow their own ways,              fields when the people ask that one come over to help them.

at last for the declaration of his justice to condemn and               The question may be raised, "Doesn't God call ministers?"

perish them forever . . ."                                              They are called by God, but we do not sit idly by. Faith

       The first two are surely not Reformed, the last is. Barth        is busy using every means and talent to be instruments in

is not Reformed, nor is Weidenaar. The former is a                      God's hands to gather His Church. God lays it upon the

Universalist, the latter is, as far as the doctrine of reproba-         heart of a man to preach, but He uses parents to teach the

tion is concerned . . . nothing.                                        child and nourish love for the truth. If we ask why God

       3. To call attention to one more quotation in the article        does not give us more ministers, we must first examine our-
of Prof. Dekker in- which he answers various objections that            selves. Are we what we should be and doing what we
were raised against his view concerning the love of God                 should do?

to all men. "The general objection seems to be that if God                 Parents must be motivated by good reasons and goals.

hates some men, He cannot be said to love them. The                     The reason is that through the ministry God preserves and

reference most often cited is Rom. 9: 13-`Jacob  _I loved, but          gathers His Church. The goal is that the children preach
Esau I hated.' "                                                        the Word of God, the power of. God unto salvation. The

       The answer of Prof. Dekker to this objection is as fol-          fruits are eternal.

lows :                                                                     The most effective and basic -form of iriducement  is a
       "Does Romans 9:13  mean that God did not love Esau?              family  life where the Kingdom of Heaven is sought- first.
Not at all. For one thing, this is a quotation from Malachi             If the child sees that money and pleasure take the preced-
h:3,  where  it has a specif&  historical setting in contrasting        ence, earthly mindedness instead of zeal for God's house, he
God's dealing with Israel and with Edom.  It does not refer             will not enter the seminary through our influence. We can-
to an absolute distinction. When Edom experienced the                   not profess to love God when love for our churches is ab-
hatred of God in history, this does riot exclude the possibXty          sent. Pray together with  your children. Instruct them in
01 its being the object of His love, I am happy that one of             the necessity and beauty  of the office. Gradually the child
the Editors, Dr. Hemy Stob, has seen fit to deal with this              becomes aware of the churches and learns to love them, and
.~&ject  of divine hatred in some detail. Ht is esseaiially  a          then he can be talked with about going intd the ministry.
               ia E>h~_lcs,  the geld  cf his specialization. The
p.Obklll                                                                   Not all our sons have an inclination io study and -read,
~~+.t~~++
`.L <:;ri'-l-  &
              "- t>e readey  is invited to his article appearing in     which is necessary to be a minister. `LVhen  all our ecergy
?~iiS  iS,-L?S."
                                                                        has been expended we $0 not I;now whether it will prosper,
       &jy cti~tic~si~>  of this interpretation of Rom. 9:13  must      but we leave  it to God.,
wait  for the  nest issue, the Lord willing.
                                                                           A few questions were brcught  up by the ladies arid an-
                                                              H.H.
                                                                        swered by the speaker.
                                                                  II
                                                                           We all joined in singing "Ch&t  Arose" and Psalter No.

                                                                        64 while a collection was taken for Hope and .Adams  Street

                                                                        Protestant Reformed Schools.  We enjoyed the reading by

               .65?pori  cd Easiem Ladies League                        Mrs. C. Westra of a poem entitled "Because."

       The spring meeting of our Eastern Ladies' League was                The minutes of our previous league meeting were read

held the evening of March 38, 1963, at First Protestant                 and Roll Call taken, and the treasurer's report was given.

.Reformed  Church of Grand Rapids, We began with sing-                     The quartet favored us with another song, "`Ride On,

ing Psalter No. 374 and Dutch Psalm 42, verse 1. Our                    Ride On, In Majesty."

,preside::t,  Mrs. J. Kuiper, read Etc. 11 and led us in prayer.           Our president thanked the host society and all wh0 had
       A quartet from our Hudsonville Ladies' Society sang              a part in the program.
.Psalter  No. 47, which was very appropriate for the Lenten                The meeting was closed with singing Psalter No. 19: and
season.                                                                 prayer by Mrs. Dewey Engelsma.
       Mrs. Kuiper then introduced the speaker for the eve-
                                                                            Refreshments were served and a social hour was en-
,-ning,  Mr. David Engelsma. His topic was "Tb What Extent
                                                                        joyed by all of us.
Should Parents Try to Induce Their Children to go into

%he Ministry?"                                                                                         ELSIE KUIPER, Repodel


                                                              .                    ._


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              343


                                                                     weapons.    Its mightiest warrior, the Captain of our salva-

11     0 U R D 0 C T R I w E. I- :-II                                tion, had no place where to lay His head. He refused in the
                                                                     darkest hour -of the battle the help of heavenly hosts, and

                                                                     forbade the use of the sword. He died on the accursed tree.

          THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH                                 There He fought the fiercest battle. And, paradoxical
                                                                     though it may seem from the viewpoint of the warfare of
                           CHAPTER 1                                 this world, His death was His victory. The battle of the

               THE IDEA OF THE CHURCH                                church, therefore, is not physical, but purely spiritual. It

                                                                     has a spiritual cause, the conflict between light and dark-
                           (Continued)
                                                                     ness. It has a spiritual purpose and aim, the glory of God

                                                                     and the cause of the Son of God. It is fought by spiritual
      On the contrary, always, from the very beginning of
                                                                     power and with spiritual weapons: the power of faith, and
history, and throughout the ages, He and His cause are
                                                                     the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. For
manifested in the midst of and over against the world that
                                                                     the battle of the church is the Lord's, never mans.
lieth in darkness. For from the beginning of the world even

unto the end the Son of God gathers His church. That                    Superficially considered, it might seem as if during the

church is His body, as we have already shown from Holy               old dispensation, especially when the church assumed the

Writ. In that church He lives. That church He redeems                form of Israel's national existence, this was different, and

and makes worthy of eternal life, He delivers and sanctilles         as if the battle of Jehovah could indeed be fought with

even unto perfection.     To that church He gives His Word,          material weapons and with physical power. For Israel had

that she might proclaim it.      He calls her out of darkness        its battle hosts, and fought physical battles against physical

into God's marvellous light, in order that she may walk in           enemies with sword and spear, with bow and arrow; and

the light. He draws her out of the alliance with the prince          there was much bloodshed connected with the battles of

of this world by His efficacious grace and into the blessed          Jehovah. Yet it is a mistake to think that in the old dis-

covenant of God's friendship. Yet, though calling her out            pensation the battle was essentially physical, and fought by

of the world in the spiritual sense ,He nevertheless leaves          material means. For even though, due to the fact that the

His church in the world, that she may represent the cause            line of demarcation between the people of God and the

of God's covenant, the cause of the Son of God, as `<sons of         world was national in the old dispensation, the battle of the

God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse          church in those days assumed a physical aspect, yet it was

nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world." Phil.           nevertheless essentially intensely spiritual. Israel was the

2:15.  And as thus Christ becomes manifest in the church,            church. Its kingdom was the kingdom of God. The king

the head is represented in and by the body. And the latter           on Mt. Zion was a type and representative of Christ. Jeru-

is called by sovereign grace to stand for the cause of the           salem was the city of God. The land of Canaan was typical

Son of God in the midst of the world of darkness. The                of the heavenly country. And the underlying motive of all

Word of Christ is realized in her: "If the world hate you,           the hatred of the nations against Israel, of all the battles

ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were             it fought, of all the sufferings it endured, was the cause of

of the.  world, the world would love his own: but because            the Son of God. And therefore, it is noteworthy that al-

ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the            though Israel indeed had its battle hosts and fought with

world, therefore the world hateth you . Remember the word            sword and spear, on these the outcome of the battle never

that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his            hinged. In as far as Israel fought Jehovah's battle, the Son

lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute           of God, the true captain of Israel's hosts, gave them the
you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also."        victory. And if they departed from their God, trusted in

That is the battle of the church.                                    chariots and horses, and fought their own battles, they were
      This battle is, on the part of the church, a purely spirit-    surely defeated and destroyed. On'e could chase a thousand,
ual battle. It is by no means superfluous to remind our-             and two could put ten thousand to ilight.  Without the
selves of this fact. It cannot be compared with the wars             strength of arms Jehovah delivered them out of the land of
and battles of this world. Even as it cannot be explained            Egypt. And while without faith they could not-enter into
from worldly and historical causes, so it does not aim at            the land of Canaan, by faith they i&rally  entered; and the
natural or earthly ends. It does not aim at world power or           Lord literally gave them the land, causing the walls of
world conquest.      The battle is not fought for aggrandize-        Jericho to collapse, raining destruction upon the enemies,,
ment or human glory.        The courage of its heroes is not         and stopping the sun in the heavens and the moon in its
physical, but is always spiritual. Nor does its victory de-          course. With three hundred men Gideon gained the victory
pend at all upon the numerical strength of the armies or             over the host of the Midianites. And with a sling-stone a.
upon its mighty equipment. This battle can, strictly speak-          mere shepherd killed the mighty warrior of the Philistines..

ing, not even be fought with material means and physical             But when Israel forsook Jehovah and walked after the

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


abominations of the heathen it was the same God that              shall have to suffer reproach and shame for Christ's sake.

otherwise gave them the victory Who now delivered them            In fact, the time is coming, and is perhaps not far distant,

over into the hands of the enemy. For also Israel's war           when they shall be outcasts and shall not be able to buy 
                                                          WSLS                                                                 or
the battle of Jehovah. They represented the cause of the          sell, unless they consent `to receive the mark of the beast.

Son of God.                                                       Even so, however, the church shall have the victory. For

   In the new dispensation, however, the battle of the            faith is the victory that overcometh the world. In their

church does no longer assume a physical aspect whatsoever.        spiritual warfare they are of the `party of the living  God,

It is purely spiritual. For no longer is the church a nation      the Potentate of potentates. The Son of God is the Captain

in the midst of other nations. It is the gathering of those       of the hosts, Who has overcome the world, and in Whose

that are called out of every nation. No longer is the cause       strength we also always overcome the world. For all the

of the Son of God represented by mighty battle hosts or           universe-the heavenly hosts, the stars in .their  courses,

valiant warriors. Nor can its battle be fought with sword         and the groaning creation -fight on the side of the. holy

and spear, with bomb and shell, nor by the strength of            catholic church in her battle for the cause of the Son of

unions or associations, by strikes and boycotts. The battle       God. For the Captain of our salvation is exalted at the

of the church is a battle between light and darkness, of          right hand of God, and is clothed with all power in heaven

righteousness and unrighteousness, of Christ and Belial. It       and on earth. All things work together for good to them

is. the battle between the cause of the Son of God and the        that love God.

cause of the dragon. In this battle we certainly must be             Nevertheless, we can make the distinction between the

strong, but we must be strong in the Lord and in the power        church militant and the church triumphant, even though in

of His might. We must not attempt even to be strong in            a sense the church in the world is also victorious. The

our own strength. For fact is that we wrestle not against         victory of the whole church is already attained in principle.

flesh and blood, but against principalities, against.powers,      It is a certain victory, and it can never fail. Though nations

against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the     rage, and though the people imagine in vain thing, and

spiritual wickednesses in high places. Ephesians 6:lO. This       though the kings of the earth set themselves and rise up

spiritual battle must be fought in the world, and in every        against God's Anointed, yea, though all hell break loose,

department of the life of the world. But it must also be          and all the spiritual wickedness in high places furiously at-

fought in the church itself. For always the powers of dark-       tack the church, He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.

ness intrude into the church. For the rest, it must be fought,    The decree concerning His Son shall stand` forever. And

as we have already said, in every department of life: in the      therefore, the entire church, in heaven as well as on earth,

family, in society, in the school, in labor and industry, in      and in earth as well as in heaven, has the sure victory. For

business and commerce, in the state. Always and every-            the Son of God came in the fulness of time; and He fought

where the holy catholic church must live from the principle       the battle of the Lord alone and to the very end. He over-

of the rebirth and according to the Word of God. Hence,           came the powers of darkness. He battled against the prince

the believer must put on the whole armor of God, the              of the world until the devil was cast out. He waged His

girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the sandals    battle against the dominion of sin in the way of God's

of the preparation of the gospel of peace, the shield of          righteousness. For He Himself assumed the guilt and

faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which    responsibility for the sin of His own, and bore the wrath

is the Word of God. Cf. Ephesians 6:10-17. The only               of God even unto the death of the cross. He atoned and

strength of this battle host is the strength of faith. For the    satisfied the demands of God's justice. He removed the guilt

battle is the Lord's; and by the power of faith we are united     of sin and obtained for the church.everlasting  righteousness

with Him.                                                         and life. And thus He deprived sin of its power, and for-

   In this battle the church certainly has the complete vic-      ever broke the yoke of her dominion. And God raised Him

tory. We usually make a distinction between the church            from the dead, thereby condemning the world and justify-

militant and the church triumphant. This distinction, how-        ing the cause of the Son of God. God exalted Him into the

ever, is not quite correct. It is true, of course, that the       highest heavens at His own right hand, and gave Him all

church in the world is militant. But even so, it is also          power in heaven and on earth. He has a name above all

triumphant: not in the sense that the church shall  gain the      names. He has dominion over all.  By His grace and Spirit

world for Christ, for that is absolutely impossible. In the       our victorious Lord rules in and over the church. And bv

world the church shall have tribulation. They must expect         His mighty power the Lord of lords is over the world, so

that, measured by the criterion of outward success, they          that even the powers of darkness are made subservient unto

shall suffer defeat. For almost throughout the history of         His purpose in spite of themselves. Christ has the victory.

.the world the church has but little strength and is com-         Christ has overcome the world. From His throne on Mt.

posed of small numbers. The world-power is usually in the         Zion in heaven He reigns over all things, powers and prin-

hands of the opposition.    And because of this, the church       cipalities being made subject unto Him. And the church,


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                345


both in heaven and earth, has her victory in Christ; by             free from death: they can die nevermore. And they have

faith.                                                              received the'crown of life. They care with Christ, and they

    Faith is the victory that overcometh the world. Of              serve God in His holy temple day and night. However, the
course, the church is still in the world. And the enemy at-         glory and victory of the church in heaven are not yet com-
tacks and persecutes her.      The church is still lying in the     plete. For, fu-st of all, the church is not perfect until the
midst of death and of the suffering of this present time. But       ,!last of the elect shall have been redeemed and glorged.
in the battle she is invincible. And while fighting the~good        The body of Christ must be made full. Also the church in
fight of faith, she is triumphant in the midst of the battle.       heaven has a history. There was a time when it was but
As long as she is strong in the Lord, as long as she fights         very few in numbers. But all through the ages of this
the spiritual battle of faith with the spiritual sword, that is,    present time its numbers were multiplied, and its blessed-
the Word of God, no power of darkness can possibly over-            ness enhanced. The fulness  of time, and especially the en-
whelm her, even for a moment. She does not fight against            trance of Christ into heaven, must have wrought a tremen-
a world that must still be overcome; but she is fighting            dous change in the glorified throng of believers in heaven.
against a defeated enemy.        Outwardly the church may           It was at that moment that the accuser of the brethren was
suffer; and outwardly she may even appear to suffer defeat.         cast out and that the great voice was heard in heaven,
She may even be deprived of all earthly means. She                  "Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of
may suifer  loss of liberty and life. She may become an             our God, and the power of his Christ; for the accuser of
outcast in the world, as will be the case in the latter days.       our brethren is cast down, which accused them before God
As long as she stands in the righteousness of Christ and            day and night." Rev. 12: 10. Yet, even now the victory of
has the testimony of the Word of God, she has the victory           the church in glory is not complete. Their bodies still sleep
also in the world. Triumphant she is, and triumphantly she          in the dust of the earth. Their brethren in the world still
shouts in the midst of the battle: "Who shall separate us           suffer and are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Their
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or         final and public just&ation before all the world has not
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As        yet taken place. And they still cry out, "How long, 0 Lord,
it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long;         holy and -true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood
we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter, Nay, in all            on them that are on the earth?" Rev. 6:lO. And the final
these things we are more than conquerors through him that           salvation has not yet been revealed to them. They are
loved us."    It is the victorious Lord that dwells in the          indeed in glory, but the final victory they have not yet at-
church and that therefore fi,ghts  in and through the church.       tained. Without us they shall not be saved. With the

Fighting, therefore, she has the victory. Battling, she is          church on earth they long for the redemption of their

triumphant. And in hope she looks forward to the final              bodies and the final revelation of the glory of Christ.

revelation of her Lord and His victory in the day of His

coming.                                                                In a sense, we may say that that day is always near. The

   Nevertheless, it must be said that the church in heaven          Word of God very frequently speaks of that day as the day

is victorious in a special sense of the word. Already she is        of the Lord. We must remember that the perfection of the

delivered from the battle and from all suffering and death,         church is not reached in the way of gradual development.

from the sufferings of this present time. And therefore, the        That is not the language of Scripture. The final triumph of

church dwells in glory. Even though it is d.i&xlt  for us to        the cause of the Son of God shall be attained and revealed.

form any conception of the glory of the church in heaven in         in and by the final wonder of grace, the personal revelation.

the intermediate state, before the final coming of the Lord         of our glorious Lord. In that day all His and our enemies:

and before the resurrection, yet we may, on the basis of            shall be consumed by the breath of His mouth, and be

Scripture, make a few remarks about the triumphant church           brought to nought by the very glory of His appearance..

that is in heaven. First of all, there is the fact itself, that     Then the last enemy, that is, death, shall be swallowed up;.

those of the saints that have gone before enjoy a state of          and the whole church shall be raised incorruptible. And.

conscious glory and bliss. They are in paradise, according          through Christ our Lord, God shall judge the world in.

to the Word of the Lord in the second cross-word. They              righteousness. In that day it shall be made manifest before-

are in the house of many mansions, in the house of God,             all the world, before the angels in heaven, but also before-

not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Secondly, we           the host of spiritual wickedness in high places, and before.

must also say that they are delivered from the suffering of         all that hated the church and her Lord in this world, that

this present time, from the battlefield of this world, In that      the cause of the Son of God is the cause of God. He alone-

sense they enjoy the victory with Christ more than the              and He always did have the victory, in spite of all appear-.

church on earth. They are free from sin, and are clothed            antes to the contrary. Then the church, the whole church,.

with perfect righteousness.     They are free from suffering        shall reign with Christ forever over all the work-of God's

and sorrow, and have entered into heavenly bliss. They are          hands.                                                     H.H,

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


                                                                   finally came together it was extremely large, the largest

       A CLOUD OF WITNESSES 1                                      force that Israel had ever met by far. It was gathered from
                                                                   the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites,

                                                                   the Jebusites and others. They met in the plains of the Sea

                                                                   of Merom.until  they appeared as the sand of the seashore
                 The Conquest Completed                            for their very number. With their many horses and chariots

            And the LORD gave unto Israel all the ?and which       they appeared a formidable foe indeed.
          he swaez  to give unto their fathers; and thezj pos-        Because of the unusual circumstances of that which
          sessed it, a.nd dwelt therein.          Joshua 21: 43    threatened, Joshua received from the Lord a message of

                                                                   special assurance and instruction. The message was brief.

   With the victory at Gibeon,  the strength of Canaan was         `Be not afraid because of them," said the Lord, "For to-

broken.     The five kings that came against Israel there          morrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain

represented the strongest force that the Canaanites could          before Israel: thou shalt hough their horses, and burn their

ever hope to muster, and they had been utterly destroyed           chariots with fire." There was no reason for Israel. to fear

in one day, extraordinary day that it was. It could not but        because of the unusual weapons that were being brought

leave the remainder of the inhabitants of Canaan with a            against them in such number. Against them the power of

hopeless sense of terror.     It would be a long time before       God would be as effective as it had ever been. In fact the

any would dare to mount a massive offensive against the            &ttack of Israel against them should be without hesitation

forces of Joshua again. But still for the children of Israel       and immediate, for within the day this great force of the

there was much to be done.                                         enemy was to be destroyed. Neither should Israel begin to

       Once victory had been obtained at Gibeon,  the army of      think that it might capture these horses and chariots to use

Israel turned to the south on an expansive campaign of             them for their own cause. Israel's strength was not to be

conquest. The campaign was hard and long. It must have             in horses and chariots but in the strength of its God. Every

lasted for months and years. Israel had to fight for every         chariot taken should be burned and every horse houghed,

city to which it came.       For, although the inhabitants of      hurt in the hoof so as to be unusable for war.

Canaan were terrified, there remained within them .a strong           Quickly Joshua called his army together and made prep-

hatred for Israel and Israel's God. There never again ap-          aration for battle. Suddenly, almost before the army of Jabin

peared a people like the Gibeonites, who were ready to             realized it was possible, the Israelites had descended

come to Israel and ask for peace, Against each city anew           upon them. The army of these  Canaanitish peoples had

Israel had to marshal a new attack and fight until every           begun to feel quite confident by virtue of its very size;

last inhabitant of the city was destroyed. But the Lord was        but now before this attacking army of Israel it found itself

with Israel, and with uninterrupted success city after city        frozen with fright. It was almost as if some supernatural

and district after district was added to the territory that        hand had descended upon them and swept from them all

Israel now possessed.       Though the pace was hard and           of their strength. It was a tremendous slaughter. All the

wearisome, when all was said and done none could doubt             horses and chariots were completely without effect. Israel

that the divine power of their God gave to them a strength         pursued the fleeing enemy, slaughtering them all along the

in battle which was far beyond anything that mere human            way. As God had commanded, they houghed all the horses

.agency  could ever possess.     It was God that made' Israel's    and burned the chariots with fire until little remained to

cause a complete success.                                          remind them of that great army which had gathered with

   Wen l&rally  the cities of the south had been completely        all its power. Jehovah again had given them the victory.

taken, the armies of Israel turned again into the yet un-             Just as with Gibeon  in the south, this battle opened up

*entered  territories of the north. Here lived kings and           the way to the conquest of the north country. The main

:peoples  who knew about the power of Israel only by rumor         resistance was now conquered and all that remained was

and who were not quite ready to believe it to be as in-            to return to take the cities with the little defense they'  yet

.vincible  as was yaid.  They were sure that if any army of        had left to offer. Still the territory was large and the im-

.sufficient  power and size were gathered it would be able         mensity of this task not to be underestimated. Each city

-to rout the forces of Joshua. Even more, they felt con-           was walled and still had its protections. No more' here

:fident because they possessed weapons which the people of         than in the south was any city willing to make peace as

the south had not and which the children of Israel had             the Gibeonites had. It was the Lord who willed it so and

-never before met, horses with iron chariots. It was Jabin         hardened the hearts of the people that all might be de-

king of Hazor who took the lead. He sent messengers to             stroyed and removed to make way for the children of Israel.

many different kings of many different cities and nations          To Joshua and his army fell the duty of seeing that this

urging them to come and join him in one great battle               was done.

against the forces of Israel. When the army thus gathered             Many years passed by as this work continued and still it


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    347


was not hnished.  There remained most of the coast along          Surely. the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be

the great sea and the northern mountain territories of            thine  inheritance, and thy children's for ever, because thou

Lebanon. These contained many hard and difficult pockets          hast wholly followed the LORD my God. And now, behold,
of resistance. But through the years Joshua had become-a          the LOilD  hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and

very old man, and the children of Israel were weary of            five years, even since the LORD spake the word unto

constant battle. In consideration of all this the Lord came       Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilder-

to Joshua and said, "Thou art old and stricken .in years, and     ness and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years

there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. . . .I        old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that

All the inhabitants . . . will I drive out from before the        Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my

children of Israel: only divide thou it by lot unto the IS-       strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in. Now

raelites for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee. N          therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spake
                                                           OW
therefore divide this land for an inheritance unto the nine       in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims
tribes, and the half tribe of Manasseh."                          were there,  and that the cities were great and fenced: if so

   In a very real sense this announcement was the fulfill-                          D will be witb me, then I shall be able to drive

ment of what had been the hope of Israel for many ages.           them  out, as the  LORD said."-
The individual Israelite was to receive wbat their fathers            Here was an example to be remembered. Aheady many
had never had, a land and possession to call their own. It        of the dddsen  of Israel were hoping to receive portions of               --
was the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham. And still,         land  far removed from what remained of the heathen na-

now that it had come, it did not hold quite the joy for them      tions. They were weary of battle and were hoping that

that might have been expected. In many portions of the            they wodd be left free of the ck$y  of f@ting  farther. Rut

land there were  still Iiving heathen people and the duty         quite d8erent  was the attitude of Caleb Akhougla  a man

of overcoming them  wsdd  now fall to the independent             of eighty five years of age, he had come forward to claim

tribes. If they did not, those heathen would remain to cor-       for Ptinsellf  that portion 0f land in which the fiercest of all

rupt them and to over run them after their strengih  had          the inhabitants of Canaan were dwelling, Hebron the dweh-

increased. Even,m~re, through the years the Hsraelites  had       hag place of the Anakirns  who were giants. These were the
become a nomadic people used to wandering from place to           men who had struck special fear into the ten unfaithful

place. To settle down now in one place with the responsibil-      spies, and now already once Joshua had driven them  from

ity of tilhg  and caring for the land somehow now did not         Hebron and they had returned. To just about everyone this

seem as appealing to everyone as it had behe. Here was a          wodd be sufficient reason to consider Hebron the  least

new way of life which  they would have to become used to.         desired place in all the land; but before anyone else had

   The matter of dividing the land was in itself a difficult      opportunity to receive it, Caleb came forth to claim it for

task. First the  general territories bad to be assigned to the    his own. He did have special claim to it, of CQUIse.  Forty-

various tribes and then the individual portions of land           five years before God through Moses had promised it to

would have to be assigned to families and household until         him and his children as their special possession. The sign-

it could be determined exactly how large a portion  would         r&cant  part was, however, that Caleb claimed it so eagerly.

be needed by each tribe and what its exact border should          That the Anakims were there troubled him not the least.

be. This was possible done? as has been suggested, by using       In his mind there was no question that God would enable

two urns, one filled with names and one filled with designa-      to drive the enemy out. In faith he came to receive the

tions of indivdual portions Of land. One slip was then drawn      promised possession.

from each urn matching a name and a portion of land to-              With Joshua there was not the least hesitation. He knew-

gether. In this way the assignment of land would be free          the faith and strength of Caleb and surely was not going to

from all personal prejudice.    The whole disposing of the        question it. He blessed Caleb and assigned to him Hebron.

lot would be of the Lord.                                         for his inheritance. This was the faith of true Israel. As.

   Before the distribution of land began, however, there          long as it remained within the nation, Israel would go forth
stepped for-ward Caleb who had been the other faithful spy        as conquerers  in the name of the LORD.

with Joshua forty-five years before. To Joshua he spoke'                                                                           B.W..

and said, "Thou knowest the things that the LORD said

unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in                                    RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY

Kadeshbarnea. Forty years old was I when Moses the                   The Board of Adams Street Christian School wishes to express.
servant of the LORD sent me from Kadeshbarnea to spy              its sympathy to a member of the faculty, Mrs. G. SlomD, in the loss.
out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in           of her brother
                                                                                            H E N R Y   A L B E R D A
mine heart. Nevertheless my brethren that went up with
                                                                     May God comfort her in the loss of her brother. Psalm 30:5.
me made the heart of the people melt but I wholly followed
                                                                                                           C. Jonker, President
the LORD my God. And Moses sware on that day, saying,                                                     R. H. Teitsma, Secretary

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


                                                                                                        Thayer in his Lexicon remarks concerning the verb "shew"

     LFROM IWLY  W                                                         R       I      T            1 (deikesei) as follows "spoken of God as the author of
~                                                                                                       Christ's visible return." We are of. the considerate opinion,
                                                                                                        however, that the "manifestation of Christ" will show -who

                             Exposition of I Timothy                                                    is the blessed and only Potentate, the Lord- of lords,. etc.

                                                                                                        That exact point in the manifestation that Unitarian un-
                                    (I Timothy 6:11-16)
                                                                                                        believer, Arians, Socinians, the followers of Rutherford

                                                  d.                                                    (Jehovah-Witnesses ) are unwilling to admit. Nevertheless,

                                                                                                        upon this point we shall adamantly insist; the grammar
          Timothy must keep the commandment blameless and
                                                                                                        in the text leaves no other alternative.
     spotless unto- the glorious appearance of our Lord Jesus
     Christ in His final return and manifestation. He must flee                                            The "manifestation" refers, of' course, to the glorious
     all carnal striving after earthly riches and glory, and must                                       self-revelation of the triune God in the glorified Son of
     do so by pursuing righteousness, godliness, faith, love                                            God in the flesh; it will exactly set forth that he is the "only
     patience and meekness. He has herein a great contest to                                            begotten God in the bosom of the Father.." John 1:X3.
     finish, and must strive constantly to lay hold on, to get a                                        What the Theophanies were in the Old Testament dispen-
     firm spiritual grip on eternal life; he must know God in the                                       sation, and Christ's partial manifestation was in the days
     face of Jesus Christ!                                                                              of his humiliation on earth in his wonders and powers, and
          To impress this upon the heart and mind of Timothy                                            his "glorification on the mount" (Matt. 17: 2, 5; II Pet.
     Paul gives him a commandment before the face of God,                                               2:17,  18) this will be in the final and consummating sense
     who gives life and breath to all things, and before Christ                                         of the word. It will be the Tabernacle of God with man,
     Jesus, who confessed the good confession concerning his                                            the fulfillment of the Decree of God. `I have anointed my
     kingdom, and the nature and purpose of his coming into                                             King in Zion the hill of my holiness" (Psalm 2:s); and,
     the world (Incarnation), before Pilate in the latter's                                             again, "thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee."
     judgment-hall.                                                                                     Truly, that will be Immanuel, God-with-us!
          The implications and motivations of these injunctions                                            Let us attempt to understand the several `elements here

     we have attempted to set forth in bold relief in former                                            in the text.

     essays. We now stand before the difficult task of elucidating                                         What will be manifested, Paul states here, will be in
     t h e   m e a n i n g   a n d   c o n c e p t i o n   g i v e n   b y   P a u l   o f   t h e      `his own time." Here too we are left in the dark as to just

     "manifestation" of Christ in his blessed return. The text                                          when this shall be as far as our astronomical calendar date
     to which we call attention reads, "Which in h& own time                                            is concerned. The day and the hour the Lord has kept

     will shew who is the blessed and O&J Potentate, the King                                           and put in his own power.      Acts 1:7. No one knows just
     of kings and. Lord of bards;  who o&y  hath immortality,                                           when the Lord shall return, not even the angels in heaven,
     dwelling in the unapproacha.ble  light, whom none of men                                           but my Father only. Matthew 24:36.  And to this rule
     hath seen nor is able to see. To whom be honor and power                                           Paul too is bound in his giving this command to Timothy
     everlasting. Amen." Verses 15, I6.                                                                 to keep the commandment until the manifestation of Christ.

          It is quite evident in the Greek text that the relative                                       Only thus will Timothy and the entire church be watchful

     pronoun "which" refers here not to "God who quickeneth                                             and vigilant in hopeful expectation and patience. That time

     all things," nor to Christ Jesus," but refers to the "manifesta-                                   is the proper occasion for this manifestation; it will come

     tion of our Lord Jesus Christ" in verse 4. It is until that                                        at the right moment at the end of history, the history of

     "manifestation," that the commandment to seek the heaven-                                          of nations, of Satan and the dragon; it will come when all

     ly things must be kept by the church as addressed in Timo-                                         the elect of all ages shall have been born, called, justified,

     thy. After that there will be no earthly glory of this world                                       and to be glorified all together. When this manifestation

     to allure, and there will be no evil men to tempt us; then                                         of Christ is realized, history as the unfolding of the Counsel

     all that which is in this world, into which we have brought                                        of God is ended; the meaning of history as given in Col.

     nothing and from which we shall be able to take nothing,                                           I:16  will be evident to all, namely, "that in Him all things

     shall be no more. That final manifestation of Christ is the                                        were created, in heaven and on earth, the things seen and

     purpose of the world, it is the harvest-time, the final                                            the things unseen,     whether they be thrones or lords,

     terminal of history, and the reward of all who pursue                                              principalities or powers, all things were created by him and

     righteousness, godliness, faith, love, meekness and patience.                                      unto him."

     It is definitely this manifestation ("epiphaneins")  of whioh                                         This fact that all is -centered in God's revelation in
     Paul is speaking here, and to which the relative pronoun.                                          Christ, His Son is now not yet evident, except to the eye of
     "which" refers.                                                                                    faith and hope. We do not yet see that all things are

          0, I know that all Unitarians, who deny the Deity of                                          subjected unto Christ. Hebrews 2:8.  All we have seen (the

     Christ, would refer this relative pronoun to "God." Thus                                           eye-witnesses on Olivet) is Jesus crowned with glory and


c -.
                                           T H E   STANDARD.,BEARER                                                           349


honor for the suffering of death; but then it shall be seen.      nations, but what they are executing that which is written

It is, in fact, ready to be revealed, Peter tells us. I Peter     in the "Book" of Him-who sitteth on the throne, and which
1:4. All is prepared in heaven and is kept there for' us.         was given to Christ that he might take it and break the

For this we wait in earnest expectation as does the entire        seven seals of it.

creation with uplifted head. Rom. 8:19.                                 Such will incontrovertibly be revealed in that manifesta-

   What will particularly be revealed, manifested in his          tion of Christ Jesus, unto which time we must keep the

own time is "who is the blessed and only Potentate, the           commandment without spot, blameless.

Lord of lords and the King of kings . . ."                              Furthermore, it should be observed this Lord of lords

   The term in the Greek for Potentate is "Dunastees."            and King of kings is the only one who has eternal life.

The term does not so much emphasize authority as it does          Says the text, "Who only has immortality, who dwells in

innate strength, ability, might; it emphasized that with him      the unapproachable light, whom no man hath seen nor is

nothing is impossible. He upholds all creation, he con-           able to see." Verse 16.

quered death and hell, in which he is revealed to be the                What does this imply that it is said that this Christ

Son of God in power. (dunamis) All his commands are               "only has immortality?" That he "dwells in the unapproach-

executed and he never fails through inability. God's              ale light?" That none of men "have seen him," or are "able

Decree is executed by Him. Hence, he is called the                to see" him?

"blessed" Potentate. This term (mukarios)  in Greek is not              First of all we would reflect on the implications of the

so much a term indicating what men and angels call him            phrase `Who only has immortality." We should observe

in worship, but rather emphasizes what he is in his Divine        that for the second time Paul writes the adverb "only."

self as the Son, whom the Father hath given to have life          Christ is the only blessed potentate. He is in a class all

in himself even as the Father bath life in himself. In him        by himself as such. Thus too her'e Christ is in a class all

is the never ending fulness of the life of the Godhead.           by himself. He is the "one having" immortality alone. He

Does not the fulness of the Godhead dwell in him bodily?          has this as the Son of God who is given to have life in

Col. 2:9.  What a Divine delight there is in the heart of         himself. He is equal with God. He is God in the flesh.

this Potentate, who has established his throne in justice         He is the resurrection and the life. Immortality does not

and righteousness and who has been anointed with the oil          simply mean that we will not die, but rather that we cannot

of gladness above his fellows! Heb. 1:9 (Ps. 45:6,  7).           die. It, therefore, presupposes that we have life which we

Never is his blessedness marred by the fear of weakness,          cannot lose; it is eternal life. Being very God, yet, having

sin, limitation; he need not' fear. Is he not the "only"          come in our human nature and being real man, he has the

Potentate, the blessed one? For as the Song has it "For           distinction that he alone `has immortality." He laid down

who among the mighty shares, the likeness that Jehovah            his life and took it up again. But he never was mortal as

(Jesus ) bears." Has he not wrested all power from Satan,         the Son of God. He is life in the midst  of death. Yes, he

having destroyed all his works, and made an open shame            was found in the likeness of man, and he assumes wholly the

of the powers,    setting them forth as stripped and in           role of a servant, even unto death; yet he is all the while

shame? He has really no foe who can successfully oppose           equal with God, in the very bosom of the Father. While

Him. Has he not redeemed his saints, and will he not              he is on earth he is also in heaven, He ever speaks what

give them a place forever, as heirs, in his kingdom? Is he        he "sees" with the Father in the deep things of God. I Cor.

not Jehovah, the man of war, in our flesh who took captivity      2.

captive  and gives gifts unto men? When the heads of                    It is for this reason that it can be said by Paul that he

royalty fall in this world and all live in mortal fear, they      "dwells in the unapproachable light." He never began to

are not blessed, for they are not the only potentates.            dwell there. "In the beginning was the Word, and the

   But this Potentate's name is "LORD OF LORDS,                   Word was God and the Word was with  God." We only

KING OF KINGS." Is not his vesture portrayed to us by             dwell in the light-rays which shine forth from him. He is

the Seer John on Patmos as being "dipped in blood?" And           %n  that light. -His is the expressed image of God's being, the

is his name not "The Word Of God?" Rev. 19:13 And do              very effulgence of the glory of God. Heb. 1:3,4.  and in the

not his armies follow him riding upon white horses,               Being of God none can ever approach. The distance between

clothed in fine linen, clean and white? Pray, what battalions     him, dwelling in the light, and our walking in the light

and hosts of the angel-world are not under his dominion.          must ever be infinitely great. He is God and we are man!

He is the Head of all principalities and powers. Col. 2:lO.             No man hath ever seen the Son as he is in the depths

What earthly king is there who shall not bow the knee to          of God's light. He is hid in the very effulgence of the

Christ, and what earthly lord is not under his- dominion?         glory. Yes, we shall see God, face to face! I Cor. 13:12.

He is the Lord in the actual `<reigning"  and "lording" of the    Only that will be in the face of Jesus Christ, who is God

earthly or heavenly kings and lords. All angels and men           revealed. We shall see him as he is, holy, just, gracious,

are under his feet. Never is there a decision made or             almighty, but we shall not penetrate into the Godhead

executed among the kings and lords of the earth and the                                 (Continued on page 351)

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


                                                                     .out of His own creation by the unbeliever. But there is no

              I,N  H I S   F E                                       vacuum; and man tries to maintain no vacuum. Oh, no!
                                                                     that place where God IS but which is denied Him by the

                                                                     unbeliever is filled with- man! Man becomes the highest

                     My Father's World                               being in all this wide creation. Although the unbeliever
                                                                     cannot say that all things are of man, and although he
                                (3)                                  likes the very thought that all things are through man, he

       Wherein does the Christian school differ from the             talks boldly of all things. being for man. He claims to be

Public School system.2      What basic principle is there that       the master of his fate and the captain of his soul. This is

makes night-and-day difference between the instruction               bold speech. It is wicked philosophy; but it does not

given in them?                                                       prolong his life. The God of Whom all things are and

       It is this: All the instruction in the Christian school is    through Whom all things are, this unbeliever does not

based upon the fundamental and undeniable truth that of              escape.    But in his foolish pride he lives for a while as

God and through Cod and unto Cod are all things, as Paul             though  the earth and the fulness thereof, the world and

writes in Womans I1:3B;  while in the Public School System           that which it contains are man's And when God crosses

the child is taught that things are not of God, they simply          his path with sickness, pestilence, famine, war and death,

evolve from some pre-existent substance, whose  origin man           he dares to deny that God the right! Man's good is the

cannot explain; many things exist through man, and all               highest goal there is on earth, according to his  evil concep-

things are and must be urrto  man. This difference is                tiion. Even God, if there is a Cod, he declares, must be

expressed also in the title above, `"My Father's World," as          there fior  man's good and not man for God's glory. And

contrasted with the  current geography book that has for             a God Whose will must be done, Who must be acknowl-

its title, `YMan9s  Great Adventure." And there are many             edged as having the right to have His kingdom come,- and

similar geography books with similar titles that are wholly          Whose name MBJST  be hallowed, no matter what the cost

atheistic. And, if you please, the difference is not simply          may be to man's name, is considered to be a cruel despot.

.tbat the one teaches that all things ought to be unto Cod           8 that men would return to the fear of the Lord, instead of

and the other they ought to be unto man. Nay, Paul                   this bold, wicked pride! 0 that men wonld prostrate tbem-

says that all things eye  unto Him. Even the evil and                sdves in the dust before this great and glorious sovereign

corruption of man, even the devil in all his deviltry IS to          God and pray, BEALLY  pray that Lord's prayer in its first

the glory of God, though he has no intention of glorifying           three petitions without any reservations!

God in any  of his works.          For the instruction in the           In paradise we had a mighty and glorious God and a

Christian school is based upon the Word of God. And                  humble little man, who  bowed before this, glorious God,

Scripture declares in Psalm 76:BO, ""Surely the wrath of             saw this God in all His creation and was therefore quite

man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou             qualified to give the proper names to all His creatures.

restrain."    It is not plain that there will then  be no wrath      He was God's friend-servant and happy to be such. He

that does not praise God? All thing ABE unto Him, for                served without a zephyr of discontent and dissatisfaction

they all serve His sovereign and eternal counsel.                    moving across the harp strings of his soul. He was willing

       We expressed this difference between the schools of the       to have this mighty God be God alone and God in all that

world and the schools whose  instruction is based upon the           which the word implies.    But Satan came and said, "Why

W"ord of. God. last time when we pointed out that in the             should there be a God Who is everything and a man who

geography class the child is repeatedly confronted with              is nothing? Why should there be a God of Whom all

God in His sovereignty. We simply cannot get away from               things are, through Whom all things are and unto Whom

that fact. Man as he is by nature wants nothing better than          a11  things WILL be?- And so he whispered the he: "Eat

to avoid and get from underneath that sovereignty of God,            of the forbidden fruit, and change this whole matter! It's

but he never shall, for God remains God, no -matter                  in your power. God knows that you will be like Him. Why

what we try to do. 0, even apart from the Supreme Court              settle for anything less? Why be servant, when you can

decision that no prayers are to be uttered, the child in the         be lord? Why listen to Him and let Him tell you what is

Public School System, is of necessity instructed in such a           good .and  evil, when you can attain to the position where

way that God's sovereignty is either openly denied or                you can deci e
                                                                                    d for yourself what is good and evil?" And

ignored. We say, of necessity, because one who does not              man fell for that lie!

believe in that sovereignty of God and/or hates it cannot               Now all men are born with that lie in their hearts.

be expected to teach it to your child.                               Under its power they are born. In its foolishness they

       Usually-and in textbooks well nigh always-no mention          live ( 2) (Actually this life is now a continual death). Now

is made of God at all in the sense of being God. There is            it is a mighty man and a little god. And then even this

an occasional reference to Providence, Fate, Nature and              god exists for the good of man and not man for his good.

the like, but Jehovah the God of the Scriptures is ruled             That is no God, of course! The lie and the fall of man have


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               351


not changed this mighty God. It has not made Him shrink           resurrection and through His coronation at God's right

from His lofty position.    He is the same, yesterday, today      hand. Or as we read in Revelation 11:15, "The kingdoms

and tomorrow." He has not been altered. How laughable!            of this world are become the kingdoms of our God and of

Puny little man, who depends upon this mighty God for             His Christ." 1 Again in I Corinthians 15:27, "For He hath

every breath of His life, has HE changed the God upon             put all things under His feet. But when He saith all things

Whom he depends for every breath of his life? Can the clay        are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted,

change the potter? Can frail little man with his fist stop the    which did put all things under Him."

onrushing freight train that is thundering down the track?           And not only that we refer here to His human nature,

Much less shall the man of dust change the infiinite and          but also as evidence of the fact that all things are His,

unchangeable sovereign God! Who stands before His                 we can also refer to Colossians I:E5 where we come across

tornado? Who remains steady when He shakes His earth?             the amazing statement. `Who is the image of the invisible

Who puts out his hand and thwarts His lightning flash?            God, the firstborn of every creature." Note that He is the

Who? And who is so foolish as to teach his children or            image; and that can be said only of His human nature.

have them taught, as though that mighty God did not               In the divine He is not the image but God Himself. Note

exist, and as though He is not sovereign? Let little man          also that He is called the firstborn of every creature and so

be careful how he replies against that God. But let him also      is designated as a creature. His human nature is a creature

be careful what he teaches his children about that God.           even today in the glory of heaven. It is the most glorious

Yea, let him beware lest his children be instructed in such       of all creatures, but He is in that human nature a creature.

a way that this God is denied in the very creation which             And that He is the hrstborn  of every creature needs

He has made and by the man who was made in His image!             some explaining, no doubt, Chronologically this is not true.

    The only result of education that rules God out of His        Cain is the hrstborn  of men. Thousands of animals were

own world is that man's calling in that world is also denied.     born even before Cain. It takes nine month for a child to

Insead of man's stewardship over God's creatures and              develop from conception; but many of the animals have

creation you have man's lordship over what is not his. The        their young in far less time than man. So that even though

geography class is a wonderful place to teach this steward-       it cannot be said chronologically that He is the firstborn of

ship, when you see this sovereign God in His creation. If         men, surely it is stranger still to say that He is the firstborn

we see that all things are of Him and through Him, we             of every creature.

will also see that all things are unto Him and that it is            We will have more to say of that next time, D.V., but

our calling to use them all consciously and willingly unto        the point we want to make at the moment is that which we

His glory.                                                        suggested before:        Christian instruction does not ignore

   The principle of stewardship is in part expressed by           Christ. He must be seen in that instruction and have His

Paul in I Corinthians 3:21-23, `"Therefore let no man glory       rightful place. It is not sufficient simply to speak now and

in men. For all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos,       then about God. You could send your children then to a

or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present.    Jewish school which does instruct with reference to

or things to come; all are yours; And ye are Christ's; and        Jehovah. But when the Jew speaks of My Father's World,

Christ is God's"    All things are ours. To be a steward          he means it in quite a different way than Scripture speaks

there must be objects that are given unto us to use. The          of it. And Christian stewardship will have to reckon with

things of Father's world must be entrusted to our care.           Christ and confess Him. If He is left out, the instruction

And the whole creation is ours for Christ's sake. Notice          is not in His fear.

that in the text Christ is mentioned between us and God.                                                                   J.A.H.

All things are ours only because we are Christ's; and

through Him, because He is God's, all these things become                                  FROM   H O L Y   W R I T
ours.
   We may notice those concentric circles. In the very                                   (Continued from page 348)

heart of the matter is this sovereign God, of Whom and            itself. We shall ever prostrate ourselves before God, even

though Whom and unto Whom are all things. Next in a               when we shall behold him, being like unto him. I John

circle surrounding and serving that God is Christ. In a           3:2,  3. Thus there is no conflict between the fact that we

wider circle that touches Christ, and in Him revolves also        shall see God (I John 3 :2, 3) and that none of men ever

around this great God, is His Chuch.  And out on the              saw Him, or are able to see him.

periphery as the widest circle is the world and the                  None shall in the day of Christ's appearance doubt that

creatures it contains as distinct from this Church. All           the Son of Man is indeed God blessed forever, Amen. TO

things are ours because we belong to Christ; and the whole        him is all the honor and power. Worthy is the Lamb to

universe is His. We speak of Christ in His human nature.          receive all glory, honor, power, wisdom and might. In the

Of course all is His in His divine. But no, all power, all        vision of the throne in Rev, 4, one does not hear a Unitarian

authority in heaven and in earth was given Him at His             sing!                                                      G.L.


352                                            T H E   STANDAR-D   B E A R E R


                                                                    blessing of -the bread and wine, he testified, in-express and

          Contending For The Faith                                  clear words, that he gave them his own very body, and his
                                                                    own blood, words which- recorded by the holy Evangel-

                                                                    ists, and afterwards repeated by Saint Paul, whereas they

                                                                    carry with them that proper and most manifest meaning
            The Church and the Sacraments                   :       by the Fathers - it is indeed a crime the most unworthy

            THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION                             that they should be wrested, by certain contentious and

                                                                    wicked men, to fictitious and imaginary tropes, whereby the
 VIEWS ON THE SACRAMENTS (LORD'S SUPPER)                            verity of the flesh and blood of Christ is denied, contrary

                                                                    to the universal sense of the Church, which, as the piZ1~~
                     THE ROMISH VIEW
                                                                    and ground of truth, has detested, as satanical, these inven-

                                                                    tions devised by impious men; she recognizing, with a mind
       The Roman Catholic Church sets forth its conception of
                                                                    ever grateful and unforgetting, the most excellent benefit
the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, very briefly, in its Pro-
                                                                    of Christ.
fession of the Tridentine (of or pertaining to the Council

of Trent) Faith, A.D. 1564, in paragraphs VI and VII, as                                   CHAPTER II. ;

follows: "I profess, likewise, that in the mass there is offered
                                                                         On The Reason 
to God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the                                  Of The Xnstitution  Of This Most
                                                                                           Holy Sacrament
living and the dead; and that in the most holy sacrament of

the eucharist  there is truly, really, and substantially, the        Wherefore, our Saviour, when about to depart out of this

body and blood, together with the soul and divinity of our          world to the Father, instituted this sacrament, in which he

Lord Jesus Christ; and that there is made a change of the           poured forth as it were the riches of his divine love towards

whole essence of the bread into the body, and of the                men, making  a remembkznce  of his wonderful works; -and

whole essence of the wine into the blood; which change              he commanded us, in the participation thereof, to venerate

the Catholic Church calls transubstantiation . . . I also           his memory, and to show forth his death u&Z he come to
confess that under either kind alone Christ is received             judge the world.    And he would also that this sacrament

whole and entire, and a true sacrament."                            should be received as the spiritual food of souls, whereby

       However, the Romish Church sets forth its conception         may be fed and strengthened those who live with his life

of this sacrament more elaborately in the canons and                who said, He that eateth me, the same also shall live by me;

decrees of the Council of Trent, in the thirteenth session          and as an antidote, whereby we may be freed from daily

of that council, held Oct. 11, 1551, under the title: Decree        faults, and be preserved from mortal sins. He would,

Concerning The Most Holy Sacrament Of The Eucharist.                furthermore, have it be a pledge of our glory to come;and

We now quote from these canons and decrees.            1            everlasting happiness, and thus be -a symbol of that'one

                                                                    body whereof he is the head, and to which he would -fain
                        C H A P T E R   I .                         have us as members be united by the closest bond of faith,

On The Real Presence Of O,ur Lord Jesus Chtist In The               hope, and charity, that we might all speak the same things,

            Most Holy Sacrament Of The Euclzarist                   and there might be no schisms amongst us.

       In the first place, the holy Synod teaches, and openly                            C H A P T E R   I I I .
and simply professes, that, in the august sacrament of the
                                                                      On The Exceblen.cy  Of The Most Holy Euchurist Over
holy Eucharist, after the consecration of the bread and
                                                                                    The Rest Of The Sacraments
wine, our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and man, is truly,

really, and substantially contained under the species of             The most holy Eucharist has indeed this in common with

those sensible things. For neither are these things mutually        the rest of the sacraments, that it is a symbol of a sacred

repugnant - that our Saviour himself  always sitteth at the         thing, and is a visible form of an invisible grace; but there

right hand of the Father in heaven, according to the natural        is found in the Eucharist this excellent and peculiar thing,

mode of existing, and that, nevertheless, he be, in many            that the other sacraments have then first the power of

other places, sacramentally present to us in his own sub-           sanctifying when one uses them, whereas in the Eucharist,

stance, by a manner of existing, which, though we can               before being used, there is the Author himself of sanctity.

scarcely express it in words, yet can we, by the understand-        For the apostles had not as yet received the Eucharist from

ing illuminated by faith, conceive, and we ought most               the hand of the Lord, when nevertheless himself afFirmed

iirmly to believe, to be possible unto God: for thus all our        with truth that to be his own body which he presented (to,

forefathers, as many as were in the true Church of Christ,          them). And this. faith has ever been in the Church of God,

who have treated of this most holy Sacrament, have.  most           that, immediately after the consecration, the veritable body

openly professed, that our Redeemer instituted this so              of our Lord, and his veritable blood, together with his soul

admirable a sacrament of the last supper, when, after the           and divinity, are under the species of bread and wine, but


                                           T H E   STANDARD.-  BEA.RER                                                       ,353

the body indeed under the species of bread, and the blood          and triumph of his death are represented. And so indeed

under the species of wine, by the force of words; but the          did it behoove victorious truth to celebrate a triumph over

body itself under the species of bread, and the blood under        falsehood and heresy, that this her adversaries, at the sight

the species of wine, and the soul under both, by the force of      of so much splendor, and in the midst of so great joy of the

that natural connection and concomitancy  whereby the              rmiversal  Church, may either pine awazj  weakened and

parts of Christ our Lord, who hath now risen from th,e  dead,      broken; or, touched with shame and confounded, at length

to die no.m.ore, are united together; and the divinity, fur-       repent.

thermore, on account of the admirable hypostatical union                                   CHAPTER VI.
thereof with his body and soul. Wherefore it is most true,
                                                                     On Reserving The Sacrament 
that as much is contained under either species as under                                              Of The Sacred Eucharist,
                                                                                     And Bearing It To The Sick
both; for Christ whole and entire is under the species of

bread, and under any part whatsoever of that species; like-           The custom of reserving the holy Eucharist in the sacra-

wise the whole (Christ) is under the species of wine, and          cium is so ancient, that even the age of the Council of Nicea

under the parts thereof.                                           recognized that usage. Moreover, as to carrying the sacred

                                                                   Eucharist itself to the sick, and carefully  reserving it for
                       CHAPTER IV.
                                                                   th.is.purpose in churches, besides that it is exceedingly con-

                    On Transubstantiation                          formable to equity and reason, it is also found enjoined in

                                                                   numerous councils, and is a very ancient observance of the
   And because that Christ, our Redeemer, declared that
                                                                   Catholic Church. Wherefore, this holy Synod ordains that
which he offered under the species of bread to be truly his
                                                                   this salutary and necessary custom is to be by all means
own body, therefore has it ever been a firm belief in the
                                                                   retained.
Church of God, and this holy Synod doth now declare it
                                                                                          CHAPTER VII.
anew, that, by the consecration of the bread and of the
wine, a conversion is made of the whole substance, of the               On The Preparation To Be Given That One May
bread into the substance of the body of- Christ our Lord,                       Worthily Receive The Sacred Eucharist

and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance             If it is unbeseeming for any one to approach to any of
of his blood; which conversion is, by the holy Catholic            the sacred functions, unless he approach holily;  assuredly,
Church, suitably and properly called Transubstantiation.           the more the holiness and divinity of this heavenly sacra-

                        CHAPTER V.                                 ment are understood by a Christian, the more diligently
                                                                   ought he to give heed that he approach not to receive it.
      On The Cult And Veneration To Be Shown To
                                                                   but with great reverence and holiness, especially as we read
                 This Most Holy Sacrament
                                                                   in the Apostle those words full of terror: He that eateth and

   Whereas, there is no room left for doubt, that all the          drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to him-

faithful of Christ may, according to the custom ever re-           self. Wherefore, he who would communicate, ought to re-
ceived in the Catholic Church, render in veneration the            call to mind the precept of the Apostle: Let a. man  prove

worship of latria, which is due to the true God, to this most      himself. No ecclesiastical usage declares that necessary

holy sacrament. For not therefore is it the less to be adored      proof to be, that no one, conscious to himself of mortal sin,

on this account, that it was instituted by Christ, the Lord,       how contrite soever  he may seem to himself, ought to ap-

in order to be received; for we believe that same God to be        proach to the sacred Eucharist without previous sacramental

present therein, of whom the eternal Father, when intro-           confession. This the holy Synod hath decreed is to be

ducing him into the world, says: And let all the angels of         invariably observed by all Christians, even by those priests

God adore him.; whom the Magi, falling down, adored; who,          on whom it may be incumbent by their office to celebrate,

in fine, as the Scripture testifies, was adored by the apostles    provided the opportunity of a confessor do not fail them;

in Galilee.                                                        but If, in an urgent necessity, a priest should celebrate

   The holy Synod declares, moreover, that very piously            without previous confession, let him confess as soon as

and religiously was this custom introduced into the Church,        possible . . . (this far or12 quote from Chapter VII of these

that this sublime and venerable sacrament be, with. special        canons and decrees. - H.V.

veneration and solemnity, celebrated, every year, on a cer-           In the seventh chapter Rome would maintain that it is

tain day, and that a festival; and that it be borne reverently     necessary, shall we observe this sacrament properly, to

and with honor in procession through the streets and public        examine ourselves. But we should notice that also this ex-

places. For it is most just that there be certain appointed        amination must proceed along Roman Catholic lines. A

holy days, whereon all Christians may, with a special and          man may ever be so contrite as far as he himself is con-

unusual demonstration, testify that their minds are grateful       cerned, this will not avail him unless he observes all the

and thankful to their common Lord and Redeemer for so              other sacraments of Rome, and this also includes the sacra-

ineffable and truly divine a benefit, whereby the victory          ment of penance as prescribed by Rome.                   H.V.



                            3

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



                                                                    the Holy Spirit, which qualifications were necessary to con-
11 The Voice of Our Fathers:                                  11    stitute him a Savior for us; and because it `was attended

                                                                    with a sense of the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin.

                                                                       From all this it is evident that the truth of the divinity
                   The Belgic Confession
                                                                    of Christ, the truth that He is true and eternal God occupies
                                 X (continued)
                     ARTICLE                                        a fundamental place in the history of the church and its
Importance of this Doctrine (continued)                             confessions, and always has occupied such a place. Anyone

                                                                    who denies that Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, is true
       Also our Heidelberg Catechism lays stress upon the truth
                                                                    and eternal God has no right to the name of Christian. He
confessed in Article X. The doctrine of Christ's divinity as
                                                                    is of the Anti-Christ.
such is confessed in Lord's Day XIII, Question and Answer
33: "Why is Christ the only begotten Son of God, since we              However the denial of this truth does not only belong
are also the children of God? Because Christ alone `is the          .to ancient times. In the earlier times the Arians and others
eternal and natural Son of God; but we are children adopted         denied this doctrine, it is true. Christ was said to be a
of God, by grace, for his sake." And the importance of this         being of very high rank. It was, even conceded that He
divinity of the mediator is very clearly and detailedly             pre-existed before His incarnation. But they denied. that
taught in our Heidelberg Catechism also. We find this,              He is co-essential and co-eternal with the Father. In the
first of all, in Lord's Day V, Questions and Answers I4 and         Middle Ages the nominalistic philosophers, who denied the
15: "Can there be found anywhere, one, who is a mere                truth of the Trinity, also per se denied the truth of the real
creature, able to satisfy for us? None; for, first,  God will       divinity of Christ. Later the Socinians and `the Unitarians
not punish any other creature for the sins which man hath           arose, who also deny qutright  the divinity of our Lord
committed; and further, no mere creature can sustain the            Jesus Christ.

burden of God's eternal wrath against sin, so as to deliver            But we must not forget that this article of our Confes-

others from it.                                                     sion is by no means outdated. It remains today essential to

       "What sort of a mediator and deliverer then must we          the Christian faith. This is true, first of all, from a negative

seek for? For one who is very man, and perfectly, righ-             point of view. Still today, of course, there .are such sects

teous; that is, one who is also very God."                          as the Unitarians, who in their denial of the- Trinity neces-

       Our Catechism further asks the question in Lord's Day        sarily deny the deity of Christ. Besides, there are all kinds

VI, Question and Answer 17: `Why must he in one person              of moderns, who, though not Unitarian in name, neverthe-

be also very God? That he might, by the power of his God-           less deny both the Trinity and the deity of Christ. They

head sustain in his human nature, the burden of God's               preach a pseudo-gospel. They teach that Christ is divine

wrath; and might obtain for, and restore to us, righteous-          because He is so truly human. They proclaim that Christ

ness and life." And further, in Question and Answer 18:             shows the way for man to realize and express and attain

"Who then is that Mediator, who is in one person both very          the divine m him. They preach that Christ is merely a great

God, and a real righteous man? Our Lord Jesus. Christ:              teacher, a reformer, a wonderful example to be emulated

who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness,               by men. But they deny that He is the real Son of God.

and sanctification, and redemption.' "                              This, however, is for us, perhaps, not the most dangerous

       Also the Canons of Dordrecht in the Second Head of           denial of the truth of Christ's divinity. There are those

Doctrine, which speaks of the death of Christ, emphasize            who rather pride themselves, over against all Modernism,

this same truth in Articles 2,3  and 4. Article 2 reads: "Since     that they are "fundamentalists," that they maintain the fun-

therefore we are unable to make that satisfaction in our            damentals of the Christian faith. .And among these funda-

own persons, or to deliver ourselves from the wrath of-God,         mentals of the Christian faith they count the divinity of

he hath been pleased in his infinite mercy to give his only         Christ. That they do this is not wrong in itself, of course,

begotten Son, for our surety, who was made sin, and be-             but entirely correct. For you cannot possibly deny the true

came a curse for us and in our stead, that he might, make           Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ and maintain the Chris-

satisfaction to divine justice on our behalf." Article 3 reads:     tian faith. The trouble is that only too often these present

"The death of the Son of God is the only and most perfect           day fundamentalists deny in a practical sense and by im-

sacrifice and satisfaction for sin; and is of infinite worth and    plication this very doctrine which they themselves main-

value, abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole       tain is a fundamental of the Christian faith. Whether they

world."     And Article 4 especially stresses the deity of the      do so purposely or unintentionally, knowingly or ignorantly,

Mediator and its significance: "This death derives its infinite     is not now the question. Perhaps we may say that there are

value and dignity from these considerations, because the            some of both kinds to be found among them: But thut they
person who submitted to it was not only really man, and             do so is simply a fact. They do so by their Arminianizing

perfectly holy, but also the only begotten Son of God, of           and Pelagianizing tendency, and that too, in ;more  than one

the same eternal and infinite essence with the Father and           way. The redemption and atonement which they preach,



                                                                                                       ,


                                               -:  _'



                                                         `.
                                           THE W~YANDARD' BEA;RE~                                                                  355
                                                                          -_'
which is general and inclusive of all men, but which is'in-        works in,        without        aid. But this is in no wise effected
                                                                                  US        ow 
effectual, is at bottom a denial of the value of Cl&i;&            merely .by the external preaching of the gospel, by moral

sacrifice, and therefore, an evil reflection upon, His deity       suasion, or such a mode of operation, that after God has

and upon the truth that the infinite value and worth of IRs        performed his part, it still remains in the power of man to

sacrifice rests exactly upon that deity. The salvation ,and        be regenerated or not, to be converted or to continue un-

the Savior which they proclaim-a Savior Who on ,His                converted; but it is evidently a supernatural work, most
                                                                          . .
part is willing to save all and every man, and to apply            powerful, and at the same time most delightful, aston-

equally to all the benefits of salvation, but Whose will is        ishing, mysterious, and ineffable; not inferior in efficacy

frustrated and obstructed by the will of the sinner, so that       to creation, or the resurrection from the dead, as the Scrip-

He is impotent actually to accomplish the salvation of all         ture inspired by the author of this work declares . . .`*

men - I say: such a Savior and such a salvation is by impli-       Either, therefore, Christ is the Son of God Who effica-

cation very plainly a denial of the deity of Christ. For if        ciously accomplishes this wonder of salvation; or He is a

Christ is truly God, He is certainly able to save those whom       mere man, and then there is no wonder of salvation.

He wills and whom the Father gave Him; and He is not               Christ's Deity as Expressed by our 
only able, but He actually does save them. The evangel-                                                      Confmsion
                                                                      The truth of Christ's deity, or Godhead, is very briefly
ism which they conduct so enthusiastically, and which really
                                                                   set forth in this article, and that too, both negatively and
presents the gathering of the church as being the worlc  of
                                                                   positively.
man, dependent upon the will of those who do or do not
                                                                      This article, in distincticn  from Article IX, speaks spe-
become members of the church, is by implication a denial
                                                                   cifically of the divinity of Jesus (Christ. In Article IX, it
of the divine power of Him Who as the "Son of God, from
                                                                   is true, this was aheady  mentioned in connection with the
the beginning to the end of the world, gathers, defends,
                                                                   Trinity: for the Second Person of the Trinity is very God.
and preserves to himself by his Spirit and Word, out of the
                                                                   And as we have mentioned before, the truth of the Trinity
whole human race, a church chosen to everlasting life,
                                                                   and the truth of the Godhead of Jesus Christ are insep-
agreeing in true faith."    Reid. Catechism, Q. and A. 54.
                                                                   arably connected.      Rere,  however, the specific subject is
And so, it is in more than one way possible by implication
                                                                   that Je.sz!s C/&t, the Mediator, our Savior, Who was born
to deny this truth of the real divinity of Christ which one
                                                                   in Bethlehem, Who suffered and died on the cross, and was
may formally, and according to claim, profess to maintain.
                                                                   raised again on the third clay, . . . that this Jesus Christ is,
And the sad fact is that some of these very implications
                                                                   according to IIis divine nature, the only begotten Son of
today have found their way into the Reformed family.
                                                                   God. We may further  mention that the relation of the
   Let us never forget, therefore, that if only we under-
                                                                   human nature and the divin ,e nature is not the subject of
stand this fundamental doctrine vitally and its implications
                                                                   this article; that will be treated in a later article of our
for the whole of the truth, it is as pertinent today as it was
                                                                                    and we need net  pay attention to that here,
in the times of the Reformation or in the times of the             @onfession,  
                                                                   lest this lead to coniusion.  The very simple teaching of 
Council of Nicea.                                                                                                                 this
                                                                   rent', articl.~  it-3 that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son

   From a positive point of view, therefore, we call atten-        of God.
tion to the fact that this doctrine of the deity of Christ is         We may note that the virtue of this article is its brevity
essential to the Christian faith, in the first place, because      and succinctness. AZter all, the truth is always very simple
the whole doctrine of vicarious atonement depends on this          and easy to discern in its simplicity. In a few brief words
truth. If Jesus Christ is not the true and eternal Son of          our Confession draws .the line between the truth and the
God, then He Who died on the cross is a mere creature.             he. Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, `begotten
And if a mere man died on the cross, the blood of Christ           from eternity, not made nor created (for then he should
cannot possibly have the power and the value to atone for          be a creature)." And again, "He is the Son of God, not
the sins of the elect, or, for that manner, for any sin at all.    only fsom the time that he assumed our nature but from
And, in the second place, this doctrine is essential to the        all eternity." It is not the truth that is involved and dif-
Christian faith because on this truth rests also the whole         i%ult to apprehend, but it is the lie of the heretics that is
possibility of our actual deliverance from                         always ambiguous and deceiving in its ambiguity. After
                                               the dominion of
sin and death, and of our salvation.      The application of       all, the heretics cannot very well deny that Jesus is the Son
the benefits of Christ's atoning death is also, from the be-       of God, and that He is the only begotten Son of God;
ginning to the end, a divine work. A mere man could not            for this is the language of Scripture. And therefore, they
acomplish  our actual deliverance from sin and death. For          must be ambiguous; and they must continue to use the
as our Canons have it, III, IV, Article 12, when they speak        language and the terminology of the Scriptures, but pour
of our regeneration: `And this is the regeneration so highly       a different content and meaning into that terminology from
celebrated in Scripture, and denominated a new creation:           that which Scripture plainly intends that it shall have.

a resurrection from the dead, a making alive, which God                                  (To be continued)                   H.C.H.


356                                        T H E   S.TANDAR.D   B E A R E R
                                                         :
                                                                     in the &ond  place, the congregation must be informed of

11  D E C E N C Y   a n d   O R D E R   11 this prior to that time in order that opportunity may be
                                                                     given to register lawful  objections with the consistory if

                                                                     there are those in the church  who have such.

         Readmittance of the Excommunicated                             The announcement that is made is provided right in the

                                                                     Form of Re-admitting Excommunicated Persons. This Form
       "Whenever anyone who has been excommunicatkd  de-             contains two parts that are read on two separate occasions.
sires to become reconciled to the church in the way  of              The, first part contains the announcement and the second

repentance, it shall be announced to the congregation,               part is used for the re-admittance proper. We quote here

either before the celebration of the Lord's Supper; or at            the announcement:

some other opportune time, in order that (in as far: as no              "Beloved in the Lord, it is known to you, that some time
one can mention anything against him to the contr+y) he              ago our fellow member N.N., was cut off frdm the Church
                                                                     of Christ; we cannot now conceal from you, that he, by the
may with profession of his conversion be publicly rein-
                                                                     above mentioned remedy, as also by the means of good
stated, according to the form for that purpose."                     admonitions and your Christian prayers, is come so far,
                                           -Article 78, Q.K.0.       that he is ashamed of his sins, praying us to be re-admitted

                                                                     into the communion of the Church.

       When all other attempts to save the sinner have: failed          "Since we, than, by virtue of the command of God, are
the final step of excommunication is applied. This step also         in duty bound to receive such persons with joy, and it being
is designed and purposes to save the sinner. It remains the          necessary that good order should be used therein, we there-
hope and prayer of the church that God will be pleased to            fore give you to understand hereby, that we purpose to
use this final remedy to bring the sinner to repentance.             loose again the aforementioned excommunicated person
Consequently the way must be left open for this posSibility          from the bond of excommunication, the next time when by
so that the penitent may be re-admitted into the church.             the grace of God we celebrate the Supper of the Lord, and
Provision for this is made in the article of the Church              receive him again into the communion of the Church; ex-
Order quoted above and in the Form for the Readmitting               cept any one of you, in the meantime, shall show just
of Excommunicated Persons as found in our liturgy.                   cause why this ought not to be done, of which you must

       There are two things that are required before a person        give notice to us in due time. In the meantime, let kvery

who has been excommunicated can be re-admitted into the              -one  thank the Lord, for the mercy shown this poor sinner,

church. First of all the articles say that he must "desire to        beseeching him to perfect his work in him to his eternal

become reconciled." It is not sufficient  that a friend or           salvation. Amen."

relative perhaps has this desire and for their sakes the ex-            This announcement is made for the explicit purpose of
communicated person gives assent to it. It must be his own           gaining the approval of the congregation. It expresses a
sincere, heartfelt and expressed desire. From this it fpllows        definite intention on the part of the consistory to re-admit
in the second place that this reconciliation in the words of         the brother at the time of the next celebration of the Lord's
the article takes place "in the way of repentance." There is         Supper with the reservation that the approval of the con-
no other way possible. This repentance must evidence the             gregation is gained.    Anyone having objections is duty
sincerity and genuineness of the desire to be reconciled. Fur-       bound to register them in order that they may be seriotisly
ther it must be not only expressed by word of mouth but              coniidered  and if there. are no such objections brought it
shown concretely in deed as well. All doubts must be re-             means that the matter proceeds with, the approval of the
moved and this is not to make it difficult for the e'xcom-           whole church. This is all to clear the way so that, accord-
municated one to be re-admitted but it is necessary for his          ing to Article 78 of the Church Order, the excommunicated
own well being and for that of the church.                           person "may with profession of his conversion be publicly

       Even as the whole church was involved in the excom-           reinstated, according to the form for that purpose."

munication process, so now in regard to the re-admittance of            In connection with this last quoted part 6f the article of

one who has been excommunicated and who has repented                 the Church Order it is to be noted that there is an im-

the church takes an active part. It is to be noted that the          portant omission in our English translation. The Holland

article of the Church Order states, "It shall be annotmced           version has after the word `%e-instated"  the phrase "at the

to the congregation, either before the celebration of the            next celebration of the Lord's Supper." Monsma and Van

Lord's Supper, or at some other opportune time." The reason          Dellen  suggest that this omissionmay have been occasioned

for this announcement is first of all because the re-admit-          by the fact that the first section of Article 78 states that the

tance  itself is to take place, as we shall see presently, &t the    announcement regarding the proposed readmittance may

time of the celebration of the Lord's Supper, Consequently,          be made "either before the celebration of the Lord's Supper,


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B.EARER                                                   357


or at some other opportune time." They explain: "This              text, that the sentence of absolution, which is passed upon

clause merely allows for necessary exceptions to the rule.         such a penitent sinner according to the Word of God, is

Which rule? That readmittance of excommunicated per-               counted sure and firm by the Lord; therefore, no one ought

sons should take place just before the Church celebrates           to doubt in the least, who truly repents, that he is assuredly

the Lords Supper."     This, however, we fail to see. The          received by God in mercy, as Christ saith (John 20),  Who-

time for re-admitting excommunicated persons is always at          soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them.'

the time of the celebration of the Lord's Supper. This the            "But now to proced  to the matter in hand: I ask thee,
announcement of the Form which we quoted also indicates.           N.N., whether thou dost declare here with all thine heart
The phrase of Article 78, "or at some other opportune time"        before God and his Church; that thou art sincerely sorry
does not refer to the re-admittance but rather to the time         for the sin and stubbornness, for which thou hast been justly
of the announcement that is made to the congregation.              cut off from the Church? Whether thou doest also truly
This may be done either at the time of celebration of the          believe, that the Lord hath forgiven thee, and doth forgive
Lords Supper or at some other opportune time. But the              thy sins for Christ's sake, and that thou therefore art de-
re-admittance proper take place "at the next celebration of        sirous to be re-admitted into the Church of Christ, prom-
the Lord's Supper." This phrase should therefore be in the         ising henceforth to live in all godliness according to the
article.                                                           command of the Lord?

    One might object that if the announcement then is made            `Answer: Yes, verily.
at the time of one celebration of the Lord's Supper the in-
                                                                      "We then, here assembled in the name and authority of
dividual must wait thre months to be re-admitted. This is
                                                                   the Lord Jesus Christ, declare thee, N.N., to be absolved
correct and there is nothing objectionable to this.. It gives
                                                                   from the bonds of excommunication; and do receive thee
him opportunity in walk and confession to prove the sin-
                                                                   again into de Church of the Lord, and declare unto thee
cerity of this repentance. Furthermore his excommunication
                                                                   that thou art in the communion of Christ and of the holy
was not done hastily and therefore also the re-admittance
                                                                   sacraments, and of all the spiritual blessings and benefits of
must be done with caution and patience.
                                                                   God, which He promiseth to and bestoweth  upon His

   The Form for re-admitting excommunicated persons is             church; may the eternal God preserve thee therein to the

quite brief and since it is seldom used and undoubtedly not        end, through his only begotten Son Jesus Christ. Amen.

too well known we will quote in here in its entirety:                 "Be therefore assured in thy heart, my .beloved  brother,

   "Beloved Christians, we have the last time informed you         that the Lord hath again received thee in mercy. Be diligent
of the repentance of our fellow-member N.N. to the end,            henceforward to guard thyself against the subtlety of Satan,
that he might with your foreknowledge be again received            and the wickedness of the world, to the end, that thou
into the Church of Christ; and whereas no one has alleged          mayest not fall again into sin; love Christ, for many sins
anything why his re-admission ought not to take place, we          are forgiven thee.

therefore at present purpose to proceed to the same.                  And you, beloved Christians, receive this your brother,

                                                                   with hearty affection; be glad that he was dead and is alive,
   "Our Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 18) having coniirmed  the
                                                                   he was lost and is found; rejoice with the angels of heaven,
sentence of Church, in the excommunicating of impenimnt
                                                                   over this siner who repenteth; count him no longer as a
sinners, declareth immediately thereupon, `that whatsoever
                                                                   stranger, but as a fellow citizen with the saints, and of the
his ministers shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven';
                                                                   household of God.
whereby he giveth to understand, that when any person is

cut off from his Church, he is not deprived of all hopes of           "And whosoever we can have no good of ourselves, let

salvation; but can again be loosed from the bonds of con-          us, praising and magnifying the Lord Almighty, implore his
demnation. Therefore, since God declares in His Word that          mercy."

He takes no pleasure in the death of a sinner, but that he                                                                G.V.d.B.

turn from his wickedness and live, so the church always

hopes for the repentance of the backslidden sinner, and
                                                                              Upon the Lord thy burden cast,
keepeth her bosom open to receive the penitent; according-
                                                                                To Him bring all thy care;
ly the apostle Paul (I Cor. 5) commanded the Corinthian
                                                                              He will sustain and hold thee fast,
(whom he had declared to be cut off from the Church)
                                                                                And give thee strength to bear.
to be again received and comforted, since being reproved

by many, he was come to the knowledge of his sins; to the                     God will not let His saints be moved;
end that he should not be swallowed up with overmuch                            Protected, they shall see
sorrow (II Cor. 2).                                                           Their foes cut off and sin reproved;

   "Secondly, Christ teacheth us in the aforementioned                          0 God, I trust in Thee.


358                                                   T    H    E         SeT+NDA$D  B..E.ARER


                                                                                            -What must we do? On our own feet we must approach
11 A' L L A R 0 U -N D U `S 11                                                           the problems confronting us with a strong belief in science
                                                                                       and logic. We must no longer seek allies in the sky, but must
                                                                             -`I
B                                                                                        look to ourselves to make this world a place where justice and
                                                                                         freedom and all the other good in man can be realized.
RELIGION ON CAMPU
                                                                                       The author of this article begins by giving an attempted
       A brother sent me a clipping from a campus newspaper
                                                                                    definition, but soon turns it into a personal and blasphemous
of one of this country's larger universities. An article en-
                                                                                    diatribe against the truth of Scripture and a mocking con-
titled `Agnosticism Defined" is presented in the paper,
                                                                                    demnation of the saints who have and do confess their
according to the editor, "to put religion in its proper per-                        faith in God. There is no question about it that this type
spective by presenting another side of faith on campus."                            of thing is very common in our                      but it does not
Admittedly, the article is written by a student, and this                                                                 country;  
                                                                                    take away the shudder that comes over one as he thinks
student is only one in thousands. But it shows clearly                              of the awfulness of the sin.
where "religion" goes in this country of "freedom of reli-

gion"; it shows the dangers of attending secular schools                            MERGERS (Continued)

when this stuff is openly encouraged; it shows what happens                            The ecumenical movement with its prosperous mergers
when proud men will no longer bow before the authority                              goes on.
of the Word of God. The following excerpts are taken from
                                                                                       The most talked about of all mergers is the so-called
the column:
                                                                                    "Blake-Pike Plan," which hopes eventually to unite the
                An agnostic believes it to be impossible to know the truth
                                                                                    Methodist, Episcopal, United Presbyterian and United
            concerning the existence of God and the nature of an `Lfter-
       .    life" largely because of the lack of scientihc  evidence on either      Church of Christ denominations. Since these four denom-
            side.                                                                   inations have begun their talks last year, two other denom-

               An agnostic suspends judgment until more facts are                   inations have joined the discussions-the Evangelical United
            presented. He may hold that the existence of God is highly              Brethren Church and .the Christian Churches (Disciples of
            improbable, if not impossible. He may even go as; far as                Christ). 54 delegates from these churches held their first
            claiming that it is not worth considering in practice.~
                                                                                    talks last year in Washington. This year they are meeting
                The agnostic views with uncertainty what constitutes good
                                                                                    in Oberlin, Ohio. Some results of the meeting:
            and evil . . . Sin is not a useful notion, and because of its
            existence we find the concept of hell. Punishment for un-                  - The delegates were asked to secure from their denom-
            desirable conduct is to be commended when it is of deterent             inations authority to participate in the writing of a plan
            or reformatory nature, not when it is inflicted because it is
            thought a good thing that the "wicked suffer."                          of union.

                If a soul is considered to be a spirit which persists after            - A report was adopted which defined Scripture as being
            death, an agnostic is unlikely to believe man has a soul. Most          witness to God's revelation but not as revelation itself.
            agnostics are weary about the body as well as the soul.                 These Scriptures are said to be inspired, but neither the
                Are agnostics afraid of God's judgment in denying Him?              nature nor the extent of inspiration is spelled out. This
            Of course not! I deny Zeus, Juggernaut, Moloch  and Brahma,
            and this causes me no qualms. If there were a God, I think it           fundamental question therefore is left vague and general
            would be highly unlikely that He would be vain enough to be             enough to permit for specific denials of the truth of infal-
            offended by those who doubt His existence.                              lible inspiration in all parts of Scripture. This will now

                The agnostic does not think the Bible to be divinely in-            leave room to compromise all Scripture's truth.
            spired; he regards it as an early collection of myths. He thinks
            its moral teachings to be both'good  and bad. Samuel ordered               -The adopted report also dealt with the problem of
            Saul to kill not only every man, woman and child of his enemy,          the relation between Scripture and Tradition. It is charact-
            but to kill all their sheep and cattle. Saul, however, ,let the         eristically vague on the question of whether there is author-
            sheep and cattle live, and for this the Bible tells us to condemn       ity in Tradition apart from Scripture. Tradition is said to
            him.                                                                    be "the whole life of the Church ever guided and nour-
                Agnostics cannot accept Christ as God, but can admire the
                                                                                    ished by the Holy Spirit, and expressed in its worship,
            life work of Christ as told in the Gospels.
                                                                                    witness, way of life, and its order." In relation to this the
                I do not believe in miracles if one considers them to be
            reversals of natural law. As for the other records of miracles,         Scriptures are said to be "`the supreme guardian and expres-

            I point to the fact that all religions are plentifully supplied         sion of Tradition."
            with legend and folklore. There is as much evidence sup-
                                                                                       - Invited as observer-consultants were representatives
            porting the miracles performed by the Greek Gods of Homer
            as there is for the Christian God of the Bible.                         from the American Baptist Convention, the Anglican
                I do not think life has any meaning. It just-happened. In-          Church of Canada, Standing Conference of the Canonical
            dividual people have meaning and there is little in agnosticism         Orthodox Bishops in the Americas, National Baptist Con-
            to cause them to lose this meaning. I respect the person who            vention of the U.S.A., inc., Presbyterian Church in de U.S.,
            searches for his own meaning without the crutch of religion,            Reformed Church in America, Religious Society of Friends,
            more than I do the person who must look to the sky, for in-
                                                                                    and the United Church of Canada.
            spiration.


                                               T H E   S T A N - D A R D   .B.EA,RER                                         359


    Perhaps the question of the relation between Sm-ipture         that the Methodists now number IO,I53,003;  while the

and Tradition was decided with the delegates throwing side         Southern Baptists have attained to the grand total of

glances towards Rome which makes so much of tradition and          10,193,153.

gives it an authority apart from and independent of Scrip-             Bigness has become an idol. Men worship bigness for
ture. If so, this is a fundamental departure from the Ref-         its own sake without regard to doctrinal intergrity  and
ormation which stressed the authority of Scripture alone.          Scriptural truth. Discipline is outmoded and ignored while

                        0 0 0 0 0                                  the denominations boast of their size. (Although it must
                                                                   be admitted that the Southern Baptists have taken a

    The Methodist are also discussing merger plans with            stronger stand on verbal inspiration than some Reformed

the Evangelical and Reformed Churches. Both have                   Churches; and have ousted from professorship a man i?rho

agreed to form five committees to develop a plan of union.         denied the literal truth of the first eleven chapters of

These five committees are Committees of Faith and Ritual,          Genesis). One wonders how these ecumenically fanatic

Ministry, Ecclesiastical Program and Organization, Rela-           people explain the fact that Scripture repeatedly asserts

tions Outside the U.S.A., and Institution and Property.            that the Church of Jesus Christ is always, through all time,

They will submit the basis for union to the Methodist              only a remnant, and that according to the election of

Conference in 1966.                                                grace.



                                                                   REFORMED CHURCH IN NEW ZEALAND
    On the other side of the globe, merger proposals are
also afflicting the churches in Australia. A commission of 31         In the island of New Zealand just off the coast of
members have recently issued a go-page  report on problems         Australia, there is also a Reformed Church. This Reformed
involved in the merger of the Presbyterian Church and the          Church has close contact with the Christian Reformed
Methodist Church and the Congregational Church. If such            Church, and has in fact, received ministers from the
a merger should ever be successfully accomplished, the red         Christian Reformed Church into  their denomination.

sulting denomination would be called the Uniting Churcq  of            Last Fall these Churches held their Synod with 10
Australia and would have a membership of over 2,000,QOO            congregations represented. The majority of the churches
people.                                                       I    have no buildings of their         and many are without their
                                                                                              own 
   However, there was some dissension within the co'm-             own ministers.

mittee.    A majority and minority report emerged, the                Some of the'decisions which they reached are:
majority favoring the creation of bishops in the Church               - to seek correspondence with the Free (Vrijgemaakte )
and a "concordat" with the Church of South India. A                Churches in the Netherlands.
"concordat" was defined as being more than mere coopera-
tion, but less than full merger. The Church of India also             -to seek union with the Reformed Churches in
has bishops. The minority opposed these points.                    Australia.
                                                             II
   The argument in favor of appointing bishops evidently              -to promote the strengthening of the Reformed
hung on the desire of the majority to seek union shortly           Ecumenical Synod.

with the Church of England in Australia, a denomination               -to retain membership in the International douncil of
numbering 3,700,OOO  members. This denomination has                Christian Churches of which Rev. Carl MacIntyre  is the
always had bishops, following its parent body in the               President.
British Isles.                                                        -to send a missionary to the island of Formosa.
   Although these divisions appeared, leaders felt confident          - to begin work on a new Psalter Hymnal.
that merger could be achieved even though it might take up
to five years for a final vote to.be taken.                           Our Radio Committee has received some correspond-
                                                                   ence from members of this Church requesting pamphlets
                       31; 0 D it n                                and radio sermons.

                                                                                                                      H. Hanko
   Although not directly related to the growing movement

towards merger and outward ecclesiastical unity, it is of

interest to note that last year the Southern Baptist Con-

vention in this country became the largest denomination               `Wherefore, beloved, seeing ye look for such things,
outside the Roman Catholics. Up till last year, the
                                                                   (new heavens and a new earth) be diligent that ye may be
Methodist have held this distinction. But they were at last
passed by the rapidly growing and evangelically minded             found of him in peace,         without spot, and blameless"

Southern Baptists. The latest reports of membership show                                                         - II Peter 3:14


360                                         T"HE~TANDARD  'BEATER

                                                                     (One Sunday a month).

       NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES                                           Classis  also appointed the same committee to meet with
                                                                     the committee of Classis  West to revise this schedule in
               "All the saints salztte  thee . . ." PHIL: 421        the event a minister of Classis  West should transfer to

                                                                     Classis   E a s t .   '

                                                   April 20, 1963       The Consistory of Southwest Church sent an overture to

                                                                     Classis  requesting Classis  to adopt a rule: whereby the
       Rev. H. Veldman, pastor of our church in Redlands,
                                                                     Stated Clerk would forward to -the consistories at least
Cal&  since 1959, has accepted the call from Hope Church
                                                                     two weeks prior to the meeting of. Classis  all the material
in- Grand- Rapids, Mich.
                                                                     appearing on the agenda. Classis  decided to put this in the
       Rev, J. Kortering, of Hull, has declined the call which
                                                                     hands of a study  committee, consisting of. the Revs. G.
came to him from our church in Loveland, Colo.
                                                                     Lanting and M. Schipper with Prof. H. C. Hoeksema as
                 REPORT OF CLASSIS  EAST                             advisor. This committee is instructed to send their report
                         April 3, 1963                               to the consistories two weeks before the meeting of the
           At First Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan                   July Classis  for their study.
       Rev. C. Hanko led in the opening devotions, and                  Classis  voted for the annual Church Visitors. The Revs.
greeted the Rev. R. C. Harbach who attended Classis  East            C. Hanko and M. Schipper were chosen. Rev. G. Laming
for the first time as delegate. Following the' order of              was chosen alternate for. both.
rotation, it became Rev. R. Harbach's turn to preside over              Elder Herman Kuiper was appointed to thank the
this session, He acquitted himself well of his task.                 ladies of First Church for their excellent catering.
       Much of the work of classis  was routine. The transcript         The brethren P. Bykerk and B. Windemuller, who were
minutes of the January meeting were approved. The                    appointed to serve on the fiuance  committee for this
Stated Clerk gave his report re correspondence, and the              session of Classis,  tendered their  report which was adopted.
Classical Committee reported of its activities.                         The questions of Article 41 of the Church Order were
 Classis  West presented a request for classical supply,             asked and answered satisfactorily. The Consistory of Hol-
along with the churches of Southwest and Hope. A com-                land asked Classis  for advice on a certain matter,. and
mittee was appointed in Classis  West to attend our meeting          advice was given.
with a view to arranging a classical appointment schedule.              Classis  decided to meet next time, D.V., on July. 10th
Rev. J. A. Heys and Rev. G. Vanden  Berg were given                  at Hudsonville. After the chairman thanked the Classis
advisory votes along with.Prof.  H. C. Hoeksema, who also            for the cooperation given him, Brother H. Zwak closed this
attended the meeting. A committee was appointed, con-                session with thanks to God.         M. Schipper, Stated Clerk.
sisting of the Revs. G. Lanting, M. Schipper and Elder J.
Kalsbeek to meet with the committee from the West to                    Rev. G. Van Baren,  of Randolph, Wis., will be the
arrange a schedule of appointments. Classis  adopted their           speaker on the Reformed Witness Hour in May. His series
proposed schedule.       The completed schedule for both             of sermons come under the general theme, `<God's Crea-
Ciassis  East and `Classis  West is as follows:                      tion." The topics and dates are as follows: May 5, "The
       SOUTHWEST: Apr. 14-R. Harbach, Apr. 28-G. Laming              Framing of Creation;" May 12, "God's Speech in Creation;"
May                                                                  May 19, "The Reason for Creation;" May 26 "The Final
       i9-G. Vos, June 2-R. Harbach, June 16-G. Laming,
June  30-G. Vos, and July 7-C. Hanko.                                Destiny of Creation."      For free copies of this informative
                                                                     series of sermons, write to The Reformed Witness Hour,
       HOPE: Apr. 21-G. Vos, May 5-R. Harbach, May 26-G.
Lanting, June 9-M.-  Schipper, June 23-R. Harbach, July 7-           Box 1230, Grand Rapids 1, Mich.
G. Lanting, and July 14-G. Vos.                                         At the Spring Mass Meeting of Men's Societies Prof. H.
                                                                     .C. Hoeksema gave a speech on, "The Atonement of Christ,
       LOVELAND: March 31, Apr. 7-B. Woudenberg, Apr.
28, May 5, -12-M. Schipper, June 23, 30, July 7-H. Hanko,            according to Dordt." Plans are being readied to make this
Aug. 4, 11, 18-G. Vanden  Berg, Sept. 8, 15, 22-H. Veldman.          speech available by way of printed copies. This material
                                                                     will be appreciated by all Reformed people who want to
       LYNDEN: Apr. 21, 28, May S-G. Van Baren, May 12,
19, 26-C. Hanko, June 30, July 7, 14-J. A. Heys, July 28,            maintain our Canons in their rejection of the theory that
Aug. 4, 11-J. Kortering, and Aug. 25, Sept. 1, 8-B. Wouden-          God loves all men.
berg.                                                                   Rev. J. A. Heys was the speaker at the April 19 Mr. and
                                                                     Mrs. League which met in Southeast Church. His topic,
       ISABEL & FORBES: Mar. 24, 31-H. Veldman, Apr. 21;
28, May 5-J. A. Heys, May 26, June 2-G Vanden  Berg, Aug.            "The Responsibility of the Christian Toward His Gover-
4,11, 18-H. Hanko, Sept. 1, 8, 15-G. Van Baren.                      ment and Civic Affairs."        Opportunity for discussion was
                                                                     utilized after recess.
       PELLA: April-J. Kortering, May-B. Woudenberg, June-
J. Kortering July-J. Kortering, September-G. Vanden  Berg.               . . . see you in church.                            J.M.F.


