               LXXXIX                        S
   VOLUhm                                    EPTEMBER 1, 1963 - GRAND FLIPIDS,  MICHIGAN                         NUMBER 20


                                                                   He says to his Judge:     Thou hast proved my heart; Thou
         ikE D I TA T IO N                                    (I hast visited me in the night; Thou hast tried me!
                                                                      Happy is the man that is searched thus and who can

                                                                   say: and Thou shalt find nothing!

                         A CRY FOR,  IELP                             Such was the case with David. Whatever this case has

                                                                   been, David knew that he was innocent. He knew that God
         Hear the right, 0 Lord, attend unto my cry, give          needed no witnesses to swear to the innocency  of David.
     ear unto `rn,y  prayer, thut  go& not out of feigned lips.    God had looked. And God had made David acquainted
                                                    Psalm 17:l     with His searching visit.

   Many, many years ago, it happened that a piercing,                 Do you remember, brother, when God visited you in the
thrice-repeated cry ascended to the heavens. It was David,         night?
and, as was very often the case, David in trouble.                    That season, the night, is a wonderful time for God's
   Thrice repeated in his crying to God. We refer to the           searching visits.    During the day your world is so large,
opening of the seventeenth psalm.                                  the creatures surrounding you are so many, the voices of
Hear! Attend! Give ear!                                            them are so loud. Life is so rich that we hardly hear the
   Involuntarily we will repeat our cries of anguish. And          searching voice of the Inquirer.
in the same measure that we are in trouble, we will also              But the night came.       A cloak of darkness rests upon
repeat our cries for help.                                         your world. You see and hear nothing. And there is the
   So also David, he was in great trouble. We do not               Judge. Insistently He asks and prods and digs, until He
know the historical background. It may have been at the            talks within the depths of your heart.
time that he had to flee from Saul.                                   So He did with David. And. he knew that God found
   At once, at the very beginning of the outpouring of his         nothing.
cry to God, he points the Almighty to the sincerity of his            No, David was not perfect. But with respect to the case
prayer. It did not come from feigned lips.                         at hand he was innocent. Moreover, he had purposed with-
   You must be very sincere when praying to God.                   in himself not to transgress with his tongue. We often spoil
   Oh yes, when asking for help of an earthly individual           a good cause with our foolish babblings. Be still; give place
you may be able to fool him. You may act as though you             for the wrath of God! He will fight your fight, if it is a
are in the last extremity, while you are really not afraid at      good light.
all. It may be possible to deceive your fellow man; but to            How was it possible for David to remain so clean in his
try to deceive God is horrible indeed.                             cause? Was he not surrounded by the bad example of them
   But listen to David: he requests a favor from God. He           that are called the destroyers ? Yes, he saw the evil example
                                                                   of the wicked on every side. But he possessed a reservoir
wants the Lord to inquire into his case. He presents him-
                                                                   of power that lifted him above the common mass of evil
self before the bar of God's justice. At once, in the very
                                                                   doers: the Word of God. He says: I kept myself from evil
beginning of the psalm  we hear the same thing: Lord,
                                                                   paths by the words of Thy lips.
hear the right!

   David was in trouble with man. There was a case                    Wondrous power of the Word of God!

pending. And David had received the worst part. He                    Long ago I have experienced this wonderworking power.

lived under the shadow of a false accusation. It seemed            Just stay out of the church for a few Sundays. Neglect

as if all else had failed. He is appealing his case to the         your communion with those that hold forth the words of

highest court: God.                                                life. Just close your Bible and fail to read its pages for

   The preliminary was already past. David knew this.              some days, weeks, months . . . .

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


   And the results will be that you depart from the high-          description of them: They are the wicked, the deadly ene-

way to heaven. You walk in darkness again. You begin to            mies of God's people, who compass them about, like as the

destroy. You become foolish.                                       hordes of the enemy's hosts. And they are the wicked be-

   The Word of God is .a light on our pathway. It keeps            cause they reveal themselves as very proud.
you from ways of wickedness, displeasing to the Lord . . . .          Ah, yes, proud they are. And pride is the worst of all

   But if this is so, how do you explain the devilish work         sins. It is the very root-sin of man and angels.

of Judas, performed in the very presence of the Word be-              To be proud means that you conceive of yourself and

come flesh, that is, Jesus? If anyone had access to the words      act as though you are very God yourself. That was the

of God's lips, it was Judas. And so we could continue to           idea of the devil when he fell himself, and that was also

ask: If the words of God's lips keep us from the paths of the      his idea in the temptation of man: ye shall be as God! And

destroyer, how is it that you find so many wicked evil doers       thus it shall be when sin shall have come to full completion.

in church?                                                         Then the sinful man shall sit in the temple of God, acting

   The answer is: you have not said enough when you state          as though he were God!

that God's Word is a power that keeps us from evil deeds.             To be proud is very foolish. Oh, why should the spirit

One thing must be added. And that missing element we               of man be proud? We are so utterly dependent upon God.

fmd in the next verse. "Hold up my goings in Thy paths,            We are also so sinful and abominable. We ought to hide

that my footsteps slip not."                                       our faces from God, man and angel. "Dan zou geen schaamt'

   That is the work of the Spirit of God. The Word with-           mijn aangezicht bedekken!" is the cry of God's child.

out the Spirit works death unto death to me. It makes me              And David has recognized them as being proud. Think-

worse than before I heard. And that is so, not because of          ing themselves to be sovereign upon the earth, they handle

the word, but because I am evil.                                   creation as though it were their own. They compass the

   No, the Word must be preached and the Spirit must               righteous, they lurk like lions for their prey. They have set

apply it to me. And then I keep myself from the paths of           their eyes bowing down to the earth in order to follow the

wickedness.                                                        footsteps of the poor and needy, of the righteous whom he

   In a figure I may say: God must hold up my goings in            will devour.

His paths.                                                            Therefore he cries to God: Arise, 0 God1 Do not allow

   A wonderful picture. I see the picture of a mother who          me to fall into their hands. Personifying all his enemies

holds her child under the arms and teaches it to walk. My          into one individual, he cries to God: disappoint him, cast

goings would bring me to destruction without that constant         him down, deliver my soul from the wicked,. which is Thy

guiding, lifting, steering power of the Spirit of Christ with-     sword!

in. The Word for wisdom and the Spirit for its application            This last clause brings a deep truth to the foreground.

and then all is well. Then my course is laid for the ever-            All these wicked people that compassed David were in

lasting haven of rest.                                             reality the hand and the sword of God. The next verse

   And David returns to cry for help. Hear my speech, 0            calls them the hand of God.

God!.  He will bring his cause before the tribunal of heaven.         The men of the world are God's sword and God's hand.

       There are those that rise up against him. David realizes       Miserable creatures they are. Every dog has his day.

that their intent is destruction. They will kill him if they       Yes, and they have their day too. And their day is the now

could.                                                             and the here.

       Over against this terrible and threatening danger he in-       Listen to David's description of their lot.

vokes God's help.                                                     They have their portion in this life. Who does not

   And God's help is pictured here in the most wonderful           think on the rich man and Lazarus in this connection? Yes,

phrases. He calls it the marvellous lovingkindness of God.         they have their portion in this life. And what a portion!

       Marvellous is -the lovingkindness of God. It will bring     Being created in God's image so that this very creation calls

about your complete deliverance from all your enemies,             for God's communion, they only receive bread and drink,

worst of them being guilt and sin.                                 clothing and shelter, gold, silver and possessions, etc. They

       The lovingkindness of God is Jesus on the cross of Gol-     receive the things that are seen, that are temporal, that are

gotha,  because it is called the saving of those that trust        transitory. They need spiritual things most of all. They will

in God, by His strong right hand.                                  surely die and continue to die if they do not have God for

       Saving them, because they are surrounded by imminent        their portion, but they only receive the husks, that is, the

,dangers.  .There  is the flesh, the world and the -devil. But     earthly things.

they are the very apple of God's eye. They are loved from             Note that God fills their belly.

.a11 eternity. And they must be saved. If one elect child of          Well, you must have some things in your stomach if

,God would be really hurt: God would be hurt. They must            you are to live upon this earth. You must have some bread

be saved therefore.                                                and some water. You need some rags to cover your naked-

       And David has recognized his enemies. He gives us a         ness and -to protect you from the cold. You must have


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   , - B E A R E R                                                                                                                                                 459


shelter. You must have all these things if you are to live

upon this earth. Still, these things are not essential to your                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   .BEARER

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                                                                                                      Editor - REV. HERMAN  HOEKSEMA
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                                                                   MEDITATION -
    Here a wicked man wonders.                                     L9p.  . . . . .._..................................................... draH "oJ d13 v
                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

    When they hear you say that the choicest and the most                               Rev. G. Vos

delightful thing for you is wrapped up in this: that you           EDITORIALS-

may see God, they wonder.                                                   Single Or Double Track Theology? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._. .._. ,460
    But we know and therefore we also sing in the long-                                 Rev. H. Hoeksema
ing of our deepest heart:       "Wanneer zal ik ingaan en voor
Uw aangezicht verschijnen?"                               G.V.     OUR DOCTRINE  -
                                                                            The Doctrine of the Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..___ 462
                                                                                        Rev. H. Hoeksema

                       Announcement
                                                                   A CLOUD OF WITNESSES -
    The  1963 - `64 term of the Theological School of the                   The Judges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ..~ . . . ..__ f . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
Protestant. Reformed Churches will begin, D.V., on Tues-                                Rev. B. Woudenberg

day, September 10, at 9 a. m.
                                      REV. H. HOEKSEMA,  Rector    FRoM  HoLY  wRIT -
                                                                             Exposition of II Peter 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
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                                                                                                                                                                                                                             .._.__...  . ..470
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                                     Catechism Book Committee
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the decision of the classical committee of Classis  West).                               Rev. G. Vanden  Berg

All matters for the classical agendum must be in the hands         ALLAROUNDUS-
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                  REV.  G. V                                         EWS FROM OUR CHURCHES  .,..,_.,.___._._............................................                                                                              480
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460                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   .B.EARER
                                                                   I _

                                                                            That, in this preaching of the gospel, God "offers"
                                                                    ' c.
             E D I T O R I A L S                                 Christ to all. He, as it were, extends His hand to all the
                                                                 hearers, and in this hand are all the blessings of salvation.

                                                                 He wants all to take those blessings. But if they refuse,
          Single Or Double Track Theology?                       He can do nothing more about it: they are lost.

       Single track theology is a theology that, while it is         This is what I&riper  teaches. If this is not his inter-
based on Scripture, at the same time applies the rules of        pretation of the term "offer," I wish he would let me
logic, exegetically, to all its principles. It proceeds from     know, for it is not my purpose to misrepresent him.
the sound supposition that Scripture itself is logical and           However, this is not the teaching of the Canons. The
that there are no contradictions in the Word of God.             term "offer" in this article of the Canons simply means
                                                                 "`to present," nothing more or less. In the gospel or in the
   On this presupposition I have always labored and ex-
                                                                 preaching of the gospel, Christ is "presented" to all the
plained the Word of God.
                                                                 hearers.
   Double track theology, on the other hand, which is
                                                                     And to be sure, by nature they can and will surely
&riper's,  proceeds from the supposition that there is a
                                                                 reject that presented Christ as is also explained in that
fundamental contradiction in Scripture, which, although we
                                                                 very article of the Canons in which the term "offer" occurs,
may never be able to explain it, we must nevertheless ac-
                                                                 but by nature they will never and they can never accept
cept by faith. On the one hand, there is the doctrine of
                                                                 Him. How, then, it is possible that God, on His part,
the sovereign grace of God, the truth of election and rep-
                                                                 sincerely and in love to all without distinction and without
robation; on the other hand, however, there is also the
                                                                 exception "offers" Christ in the sense in which Kuiper
doctrine that God, in His love to all men, seriously and
                                                                 would explain the term? Does God mock the sinner?
well-meaningly offers salvation to all men: He wills that
                                                                 Be it far from us even to make such a suggestion!
all men shall be saved!
                                                                     But this surely is not the meaning of the Canons!
   The latter is the doctrine of Arminius, the former. is the
doctrine of R. B. Kuiper and also of Prof. Dekker.  In other         In general, and emphatically so in the Canons, the
words, Kuiper pretends to believe both: Arminianism and          Reformed Confessions teach the follo,wing:

the Reformed truth.                                                  a. God from all eternity predestinated a people in free

   But Kuiper contends that the fathers of Dort, in the          and sovereign love.      Them, and them only, He chose in
Canons, teach the same thing.                                    Christ from before the foundation of the world. He chose
   2. And, therefore, the question is: Is this true? And my      them, and them only, unto eternal glory and that, too,
answer is: By no means.                                          through the deep way of sin and death and grace.

   It is true that the Canons use the word "offered."                b. For them, i.e., in their stead as well as in their

They do this in III, IV, 9, which reads as follows:              behalf, Christ came into the world in the likeness of
   "It is not the fault of the gospel, nor of Christ, offered    sinful flesh. He took all the sins of the elect upon Him-
                                                                 self and for these sins He suffered all His life but especially
therein, nor of God, who calls men by the gospel, and
confers upon them various gifts, that those who are called       on the accursed tree. By His suffering and death He fully
by the ministry of the word, refuse to come and be con-          satisfied for all the sins of the elect and theirs only, so
verted: the fault lies in themselves; some of which, when        that in Him they have the right to everlasting righteousness
called, regardless of their danger, reject the word of life;     and glory.

others, though they receive it, suffer it not to make a iast-        c. But there is more, and there must be more. For if

ing impression upon their hearts; therefore, their joy, aris-    God merely "offered" all the blessings of salvation and did

ing only from a temporary faith, soon vanishes, and they         nothing more, no one would ever be saved: for they would

fall away; while others choke the seed of the word, by           all. reject the proffered salvation. But Christ did not only

perplexing cares, and the pleasures of this world, and           die. But He was also raised from the dead, ascended

produce no fruit - .    This our Saviour teaches in the para-    into heaven, was exalted at the right hand of God and

ble of the sower. Matt. 13."                                     received the Spirit. Through that Spirit of Christ and by

   What, we ask, is the meaning of the word "offer" as           the Word preached in the gospel, the elect and they only,
used in the Canons at this place?                                are irresistibly and efficaciously called into the fellowship
   As Kuiper uses it, and also as it is used in the First        of Christ through the bond of faith, are justified, sanc-
Point of 1924, it denotes:                                       tified, and ultimately glorified.

   a. That God, on His part, is willing and eager that all           d. All this is, according to Scripture and the Reformed

who hear the gospel should be saved.                             Confessions, absolutely sure. If they were left to themselves,

   b.    That, therefore, He causes the gospel to be preached    they would surely perish; but now, by the same efficacious

to them. This preaching of the gospel is motivated by love       grace, they are preserved and through the power of this

and grace on the part of God.                                    divine grace they will persevere unto the end.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            461


   e.    It follows, and is certainly in harmony with Scripture    doctrines are in irreconcilable conflict with each other.

and the Reformed Confessions, that the preaching of the            Kuiper claims that they are not contradictory for there

gospel is, neither in God's intention, nor in actual fact,         can be no contradictions in Scripture, but this is a mere

a mere "offer" of salvation in the sense in which Kuiper           statement without any support.

would have it, nor is it grace to all the hearers.         But        And now the text in II Peter 3:9.
it is and is intended to be grace for the elect and for the
elect only.                                                           As I already mentioned, Kuiper does not explain this
                                                                   passage himself, but quotes the interpretation of Calvin.
   Kuiper may call this "one track theology," but it is
                                                                   In brief Calvin explains this text as referring, not to the
nevertheless the only theology Scripture and the Reformed
                                                                   hidden, but to the revealed will of God. In other words,
Confessions know and support.
                                                                   according to the so-called secret will of God, all men
   First of all, I will refer to Scripture, and I will explain     are not saved and are not intended to be saved; but, ac-
those texts to which Kuiper and also the Christian Re-             cording to the revealed will of God, as in this text, God
formed Synod of 1924 refer.                                        does, indeed, not will that any man should perish, but

   The iirst of these texts to which Kuiper refers, although       that all should be saved. I beg to differ ,with Calvin on

he does not interpret, but rather lets Calvin explain it,          this interpretation. The distinction between the secret and

is the well-known passage from II Peter 3:9.  But before           revealed will of God is false, for the simple reason that

I go into this I must needs quote from the context of              also the so-called hidden will of God is revealed. It is

Kuiper's article in "Torch and Trumpet" to prove that he           true, of course, that there are many things in regard to

very really teaches such a conception of the "offer of             the counsel of God that are not revealed: the number `of

salvation to all that hear the preaching of the gospel" as         the saved, who will be saved, .the day and manner of

stands in irreconcilable conflict with the truth of sovereign      one's death, etc. But the fact that God wills not that all

grace or with the doctrine of predestination, election and         men should be saved and that some must perish, in other

reprobation. He writes:                                            words, the counsel of predestination, election and rep-

                                                                   robation, does not belong to the hidden but to the re-
   "However, that was not the entire picture (Kuiper is
                                                                   vealed will of God.
writing about Arminianism). A significant phase of a

radically different kind of universalism,  Scriptural univer-         As to the text in II Peter 3:9, the following:

salism, also came into purview. The Arminians contended               1. There are in the main three different interpreta-
that the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination cannot pos-        tions of this passage of Scripture:
sibly be harmonized with the universality and sincerity
                                                                      a. There is the explanation that makes this text of
of the gospel offer. They argued that, if God decreed irrev-
                                                                   universal application. God as far as He is concerned wills
ocably from eternity that only certain persons would be
                                                                   that every human being shall be saved. For this reason
saved and that all others would be lost, it is inconceivable
                                                                   He gives to every man abundant opportunity to come to
that God would in all sincerity invite all men without
                                                                   repentance. This is the interpretation of all Anninians.
discrimination to eternal life. Therefore, embracing the
latter doctrine, they rejected the former. And they told              b. Secondly, there is the explanation that finds in this
the Calvinists that, in case they held the former, they            -text an expression of the revealed will of God. According
would by all rules of logic have to renounce the latter.           to the secret will of God's decree, He does not will that
From the viewpoint of finite human reason the Arminians            all men should be saved, but according to the revealed
were right. Thus the Calvinists confronted a strong temp-          will of God He does will that all come to repentance and
tation. Did they yield? By the grace of God they did not.          should be saved. These two wills of God we cannot har-
They subjected human logic to the divine logos.  Convinced         monize, neither do we need to harmonize them; we ac-
that the two doctrines concerned were both of them un-             cept them by faith. This, as we have seen, is Calvin's
mistakably in the infallible Word of God and therefore             explanation. And Kuiper agrees with him.

in reality could not be contradictory, they accepted both             c. Thirdly, there is also the interpretation that explains
uncompromisingly."                                                 the word "all" in the text as referring to the elect only,

   Now, I could wish that Kuiper would have quoted the             the people of God. God is longsuffering over His people:

Arminians particularly about their basing their doctrine           He will not let the end of the world come until all the

on human logic rather than on the Word of God. As it               elect, all the people of God, are brought into the kingdom

stands now, we simply have to take his word for it.                and are saved. This is the interpretation of men like Dr.

                                                                   A. Kuyper Sr.
   But what I wanted to point out is that Kuiper's doc-

trinal train runs, indeed, on a double track and that,                Let us investigate this text and see which is de correct

while on the one track runs the doctrine of predestination         interpretation.

and on the other that of sincere offer of salvationj  the two                                                             H.H.

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


                                                                   suits that unite men. There is the unity of nations that

         0 U R D 0 C T R I N,: `I!                                 dwell in the same country, under a common government,
                                                                   and whose citizens speak the same language. There is,

                                                                   therefore, a natural unity among men. However, even

           THEDOCTRINEOFTHECHURCH                                  though there is a small remnant of this among men, we
                                                                   must never forget or overlook the fact that this natural
                             CHAPTER  III                          unity and fellowship is spiritually corrupt because of sin.

                                                                   In Adam the whole human race, in all its natural relation-
 THE ATTRIBUTES OR VIRTUES OF THE CHURCH
                                                                   ships, lies in sin and death. Men have become darkness.

                       ( C o n t i n u e d )                       Their nature is become perverse. They `are not motivated

                                                                   by natural love any more, but rather, in the first place,-
       It will be evident from all that we said about the unity
                                                                   by enmity against God; and in this enmity against God
of the church that it is in no sense the work of man. The
                                                                   they hate one another.    They are lovers of self, and they
unity of the church cannot be established by man. The
                                                                   pursue the lusts of the flesh and the lusts of the eye and
unity of the church is not sustained or continued by man.
                                                                   the pride of life. Hence, the natural affinity  of the race is
Nor can it ever be destroyed by man. The unity of the
                                                                   corrupted by spiritual hatred and enmity. And the result
church does not come into existence through the fact that
                                                                   is war, revolution, deceit, covetousness, murder and des-
men congregate and agree upon a certain platform of
                                                                   truction.
principles, upon a confession of faith and upon certain

principles of church government, or upon a certain form                However, as I already mentioned, the unity of the
of worship. All these may be manifestations and expressions        church is not natural, but spiritual. It is not the brother-
of the unity of the church, but they themselves do not             hood of natural man, but the fellowship of: the saints in
constitute that unity.       The fellowship of the church is       Christ. It is a fellowship that is spiritual because it is
not established by the will and efforts of men, like that of       entirely controlled by the Holy Spirit. It is in no wise
a mere human society. On the, contrary, it is established          a unity that is based on blood relationships or on social
only by Christ. Men cannot organize a church and establish         standing or on similarity in character, or on national or
its- spiritual fellowship, except where it pleases Christ to       racial affinity. It transcends all these, and it is based on the
dwell through His Spirit in the hearts of men. Nor is it           oneness of the Spirit of Christ, Who bestows the fuhress  of
in the power of any man to join himself to this communion          Christ on the members of His body. Hence, they all par-
and make himself a member of this fellowship. One be-              take of the same blessings.     By the Holy Spirit they are
comes a member of this union only by the act of Christ             called out of darkness, out of the darkness of their natural
whereby He receives him into the organism of the body.             corruption and death, into the marvelous light of right-
The unity of the church is based on the fellowship of              eousness and life. The life they receive through the Spirit
the church with Christ. This fellowship is not established         is not of this present world. It is the life of Christ, which
and can never be established by the will of the members;           is free from sin, free from corruption, free from death. It
neither can it ever be dissolved by them. It is dependent          is the resurrection life of their risen Lord. It is the life
only on the will of Christ. When, therefore, we confess to         from above. Their life is hid with Christ in God. The
believe that the church is one, that it is the communion           world is crucified to them, and they are crucified unto the
of saints, we do not mean that we must strive for such             world. The Spirit of Christ works in all the same faith,
unity, but that it actually exists and that its existence          the faith in Christ, Who is the revelation of the God of
rests solely on the will of Christ, Who by His Spirit              their salvation. The same righteousness, the righteousness
dwells in the whole church and in all the members of the            of God in Christ, dwells in them. The same holiness,
body of Christ.                                                     - consecration to God in Christ, - the same spiritual knowl-

       Moreover, it follows from this same truth that the           edge of God, - which is life eternal, -the same love, - the

unity of the church is spiritual. There is also, as I have          love of God in Christ, - the same obedience, -whereby

already expressed, a natural unity of the human race in            they hate and flee from sin and keep the Word of Christ,

Adam. For God hath made of one blood all nations of                 -the same meekness, the same lowliness of mind, the

men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth. Cf. Acts            same humility, the same repentance, the same patience,

17:26.  And in virtue of this natural unity of the human            the same hope, -for they are begotten again unto a lively

race, there is, a natural affinity and fellowship of men,           hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the

which has its center in the family and which expresses              dead; and they look for the city that hath foundations,

itself in various ways. There are ties of nature, ties of           whose builder and maker is. God, - all this dwells in the

natural love, - of man and wife, of parents and children.           whole church and in all the members. One faith they have,

There are ties of social fellowship and friendship. There           one hope, one love, one purpose, - the glory of God in

is affinity of character.     There are common aims and pur-        Christ. And all these spiritual virtues are.  wrought and


                                        THEN  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


maintained in them all by one and the same Spirit of one        in the midst of the world, the question arises, surely: in

and the same Lord, the Spirit of Christ. And therefore,         what way does the church, living from the one faith and

the unity of the church is not of this world. It is not         the one love manifest that she is really one? And in what

natural. It is a spiritual unity. In the good sense of the      way can and must she strive for the realization and mani-

word, the fellowship of the body of Christ is other-worldly.    festation of this true unity in the midst of the world?

                                                                That the church is one, as we know her and as she appears
    However, this unity does not mean that all the members
                                                                in the midst of the world, is far from being actually real-
of the church are identical. On the contrary, this unity is
                                                                ized. The church in the world is far from being in accord
characterized also by diversity, If it were not so, if all
                                                                with this confession concerning the spiritual unity of the
the saints were absolutely identical, there would be no
                                                                church. This is an undeniable fact. The church on earth
body, no fellowship. The members of my body all partake
fof the same life. They are all controlled by the same          is divided, not only because of the natural causes of sep-
                                                                aration, such as distances, language, differences in races
mind and will; but they are not all alike. They are not
                                                                and nationalities, but also in regard to doctrine, confession,
identical, so that they are all absolutely the same. If they
                                                                form of worship, and church government. And the question
were, each would be complete and self-sufficient. Now
                                                                is: how must this be remedied? What must be the attitude
they have no significance in themselves. They exist only
                                                                of the church and of the individual believer over against
in the union with the whole body and to serve the whole.
                                                                this failure of the church to realize her true unity and to
Each member has its own peculiar attribute, or virtue,
                                                                manifest that there is one Lord, one Spirit, one faith, one
place, and function in the body. It is exactly because of
                                                                doctrine, one calling?
this diversity in their unity that together they constitute

the organic whole of the body. When a chorus of 300                Especially in our day there are indeed many who find

voices renders Handel's "Messiah," the whole choir is a         the cause of all this dissension and division in the church

unity and sing the same oratorio. Yet there is diversity of     in too much doctrine and in too many creeds that are too

voices. And it is the harmonious blending of all these          specific in their doctrinal declarations. They therefore ad-

different voices that makes for the beauty of the rendering.    vocate that all these specific declarations of faith, by which

And it is the harmonious blending of all these different        each church erects a wall of separation around itself, be

voices that makes for the beauty of the rendering.              forgotten, erased, eliminated. The creeds, or confessions,

    The same is true of the church. Her members are all         of the church must be broadened, must be generalized.
one in Christ. They all have the same Spirit.and  the same      And only on the basis of this broad declaration of general
spiritual blessings. They all live in the same faith. They      principles must the various denominations merge. In that
all are motivated by the same hope, the hope of eternal         way, and in that way only, according to them, can the unity
life and glory which shall be theirs in the day of our          of the church be realized.

Lord Jesus Christ. And they all live from the same love,           However, it should be very evident that in this fashion
the love of God in Christ. Yet, although this is all true,      a certain outward unity may indeed be attained and ef-
and although they all have the same spiritual gifts prin-       fected, but only at the expense of the truth, at the cost of
cipally, there is nevertheless in them and among them an        the church's faith, which is the same as saying that it is
endless variety of individual diversity. Even though they       a unity without the Christ of the Scriptures. We must
are all partaking of the same Christ, nevertheless each one     remember that the church, the true church, even in the
of the individual members receives grace according to the       midst of the world, is. not interested in a mere external
measure of Christ. Each one of tire  members manifests          unity that reveals itself in a mighty human institution, as,
the glory of Christ in his own way. Each one sings the          for instance, in the presently existing World Council of
praises of God in Christ with his own voice. Each one           Churches. Such a so-called external unity has nothing to
serves the whole of the body of Christ in his own way           do with the true, spiritual unity of the church in Christ.

and in his own place. Not one of the individual members         The church, the true church in the world, can never

has any significance apart from the body; yet not one           cooperate with such humanisting, faith-destroying, Christ-

of the members can be missed without marring the whole.         despising movements of amalgamation. The true unity of

When the church of which we are now speaking and which          the church is always a unity in Christ. And therefore, if

is conceived as the object of our faith will be completed       the church is to grow in this true unity, she must certainly
and shall once be presented without spot or wrinkle before      grow in Christ, and in Him only. She must not have less

the face of God, it will be like a grand, heavenly choir,       of Christ, but rather more, as she grows in the grace and

the millions upon millions of voices of which will blend        knowledge of our Saviour.     Always she must appropriate
together in one mighty harmony, to extol the praises of         the Christ of the Scriptures. And therefore, she must always
Him that called them out of darkness into His marvelous         instruct and be instructed in the truth as it is revealed in

light.                                                          Holy Writ. She certainly must not seek her union in the

    Now in view. of the unity and diversity of the church       way of less, but rather in the way of more and richer

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


doctrine. Always she must set aside all doctrines of men;         SO that it can no longer bring forth any good fruit. But

and she must ever grow in the doctrine of Christ. Let the         this tree of the human race receives a new root; and that

true church be ever so small in the world: she dare not           root is Christ. Grafted on that new root, the tree is saved,

and may not seek the realization of her unity in any other        is transformed into a far more glorious tree than the original

direction than that of growing in the knowledge and grace         or than the original could ever have become in Adam. But

of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who is the only             the life of this new root does not flow through or permeate

head of the church, "till we all come in the unity of the         the whole tree, but only the organism of the body of

faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a             Christ, that is, the elect. But this does not change the fact

perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness       that the tree on the whole is saved, even though many

of Christ." Only they that strive to approach that stature        branches are cut off. The church, therefore, is not a gather--

are really working for the manifestation of the unity of          ing of a few or of many individual human beings, while

the church. And whatsoever is more than these is of the           the race is lost; but, on the contrary, it is the saved human

Evil One.                                                         race, redeemed, delivered, sanctified, and glorified, holy

                                                                  unto God, as God conceived of that race even before the
       The true unity and the true catholicity of the church
                                                                  world was. And it is the lost that represent the members
are closely related. When we confess that the church is
                                                                  that are cut off. This is the fundamental idea of the true
catholic, we do, of course, not refer to any particular in-
                                                                  catholicity of the church.
stituted church in the world that may claim the sole and

exclusive right to the name "Catholic," as is the case with          Even as the unity of the church is rooted in the one

the Roman Catholic Church; but we are still speaking of           Christ, so the catholicity of the church, the universal, all-

the church as an object of faith, the spiritual body of           embracing, all-natural-relations-transcending character of

Christ, her Lord. The church of which in any period of            the church, is determined by Christ her head. Christ is

history there is but a very small part and imperfect mani-        strictly catholic. For, as we already quoted, "The same

festation on earth is strictly catholic in character, and is      Lord is rich unto all that call upon him," and therefore,

also catholic in scope.    When we confess that the church        "there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek,"

is catholic, or, if you please, universal, in character and in    and, "whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord

her very essence, we mean that in her very nature she is          shall be saved."    That one Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ,

such that she is capable of transcending all natural differ-      is rich with salvation for all the nations of the earth. In

ences and distinctions, -racial, national, social, or even        that Christ `there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither

sexual. Men and women of every class, standing, race,             bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye

tribe, or nation the church is capable of embracing, of           are all one in Christ." Gal. 3:28.  So catholic, so all-com-

receiving into her communion, and of uniting them in a            prehensive, so universal, is our Lord Jesus Christ that "it

higher, spiritual bond of fellowship. The confession con-         pleased the Father that in him should all the fulness dwell;

cerning the catholicity of the church does not mean, to           and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by

be sure, that she actually receives all men individually in       him to reconcile all things unto himself, whether they be

her communion. We must remember that the church is                things in earth or things in heaven." Col. 1:19,20.  And

limited by election from God's viewpoint, and by faith on         again, it is the good pleasure of God's will "that in the

the part of her members.    But it does mean that the church      dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather to-

extends over all the world, embraces the entire human             gether in one all things ,m Christ, both which are in heaven,

race, is gathered from the beginning of the world even unto       and which are on earth." Eph. 1: 10. That strictly catholic

the end, and from every nation, tribe, and tongue.                Christ is the head of the church; and in Him the church

                                                                  is truly universal, or catholic.
       The human race as such is, of course, also an organic

whole. But from that organism of the human race the                  It seems that in the old dispensation this catholicity

organism of the church is gathered, and that too, in spite        of the church does not appear, at least not very clearly.

of the fact that many members of the original organism            We might say, in fact, that it is a mystery in those days.

of the human race are cut off and lost. From this funda-          In that dispensation it appears as if the church is destined

mental truth we must proceed if we would understand the           to be limited to a particular family, to a single line of

true catholicity of the church of Christ. Suppose that we         generations, to one nation. Before the flood the church

compare the human race in Adam to a tree, with Adam               runs in the line of the generations of Seth. Sharply the

as its root, and its descendants developing into families,        sons of God in the generations of Seth are distinguished

tribes, and nations, as the trunk and the branches. When          from the daughters of men in the generations of Cain. And

Adam falls, through his wilful disobedience, and becomes          toward the close of that period the church is almost

subject to the wrath of God and to death, the whole tree          extinguished; and few, that is, eight, souls are saved by

of the human race became corrupt in its root. And from its        water, by the water of the flood. After the flood God does

root corruption and death entered into all its branches,          indeed establish His covenant with Noah and .his seed.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      465


But the line of Ham is cursed in Canaan; and Shem is              all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to

singled out as the one in whose generations the Lord will         destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and

continue' His church and covenant. After the organism             I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting

of the human race is forcibly torn apart into tribes and          coven&t between God and every living creature of all flesh

nations at the time of the building of the tower of Babel         that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is

and of the confusion of tongues, and scattered over the           the token of the covenant, which I have established between

earth, God calls Abraham out of Ur and Haran,  and once           me and all flesh that is upon the earth." Here, therefore,

more separates one family in their generations from all           the covenant, and therefore also the church, is presented as

the families of the earth, that in them He may build His          strictly catholic and universal in scope.

church. From Abraham, the father of believers, the line              Moreover, also with Abraham and his seed God estab-

runs over Isaac and Jacob into the nation of the twelve           lishes His everlasting covenant. But to him was the catholic

tribes of Israel. And in Israel it appears that the church        gospel preached, "In thee shall all the nations of the earth

must indeed remain f?xed  within the narrow confines of           be blessed." Genesis 12:3.  Moreover, the vision of the

national boundaries. For the church is placed under the           prophets ,of Israel embraces in its scope the salvation of the

law at Horeb, and all the forms in which the church is            Gentiles, and looks forward to the day when the mountain

to become manifest are strictly Israelitish. By the shadows       of Jehovah shall be exalted above the mountains, and many

- the temple, the altar, the sacrifices, and the priesthood -     nations shall flow unto it, to worship the Lord their God.

she is separated from the nations. Salvation is of the Jews,      Isaiah proclaims a catholic gospel, although its fulfillment

but it is also strictly limited to the Jews. That the same        lay still in the future:    "Look unto me, and be ye saved,

Lord is rich over all that call upon Him, and that in their       all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none

Lord the church is catholic certainly seems hopelessly in         else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my

conflict with reality.                                            mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto

                                                                  me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear."
   Fact is, however, that even in the old dispensation the        Isaiah 45:22,23.  Israel of the old dispensation sang of the
catholi&ty  of the church, the truth that she will be gathered    glorious future, when all the earth should worship Jehovah,
from the whole human race, is never completely hid. The           Psalm 66:4,  when all the kings of the earth should fall
promise of the- gospel is always universal. Immediately           down before the Messiah, all nations should serve Him
after the fall God announces the devil's defeat in the well-      and call Him blessed, Psalm 72:il,  17, and the Lord would
known protevangel:        "I will put enmity between thee and     count the sons of Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, and
the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall            Ethiopia, as being born in Zion, Psahn 87.
bruise thy head, but thou shalt bruise his heel." Gen. 3:15.                                                                         H.H.

This universal promise is for the seed of the woman. It

is therefore catholic in scope. True, after the fIood  Shem

is separated from the rest of his brethren. But before this                   NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING

God had established His covenant with Noah and his                                              of the

sons and their seed, and even comprehended all creation              REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
within the scope of that covenant, giving His bow in the                                 to be held at the
clouds as the visible pledge of this universal promise. For
                                                                    SOUTHEAST PROTESTANT REFORMED CHURCH
thus we read in Genesis 9:8-17: "And God spake unto
Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I                     on September 26, 1963 at 8:00 p.m.

establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after             Rev. H. Veldman will speak on the theme `Our Standard
you; And with every living creature that is with you, of the      Bearer." Three board members are to be chosen from the
                                                                  following nomination:       R. Bloem, J. Bos, G. Bouwkamp,
fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with
                                                                  J. W. Faber, P. Koole, T. Reitsma. The board of the R. F.
you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the       P. A. invites all our Protestant Reformed men to join with
earth. And I will establish my covenant with you; neither         us in this work of witnessing for the truth and urges all
shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a            members to attend this important meeting.

flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy

the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant
which I make between me and you and every living creature                          RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY

that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my           The Ladies' Society of the South Holland Protestant Reformed
                                                                  Church expresses its sympathy to one of its members, Mrs. John Van
bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant       Baren,  in the death of her mother,
between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass,                                       MRS. BOOMSMA
when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be        !`But  the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon
seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant,               them that fear Him." Psalm 103:17.
                                                                                                         Rev. John A. Heys, President
which is between me and you and every living creature of                                                 Mrs. G. Vroom, Secretary

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


                                                                    their power; in the land into which He led them He gave

II.34 CLOUD OF..W.l.TNESSES  11 them prosperity beyond compare; He dwelt with them in
                                                                    covenant love as a God in the midst of His people. But

                                                                    the people of Israel, rather than growing in gratitude for

                                                                    all this, became complacent and even discontent. They
                         The Judges
                                                                    went searching about among the heathen for pleasures
           And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of      beyond those given them by God. They forsook their God
        the LORD, and served Baulim  . . . .                        for the service of idols. It was then that God expressed
           And the anger of th.e LORD was hot against Israel,       this verdict. Henceforth the life of Israel would be under
        and h,e delivered them into th.e hands of the spoilers      constant trial. The nations after whose sins they lusted,
        that spoiled them . . . .                                   God would strengthen again that Israel might be con-
           Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which            stantly tested by them. Whenever Israel sinned God would
        delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled        send these heathen nations to descend upon them and
        them . . . .                                                punish them for their sins.
            An>d it came-  to pass, when the judge was dead,
                                                                       But still it was not that God in His righteous anger
        that they returned, and corrupted themselves more
                                                                    had forgotten His covenant love for His people. Surely it
        than their fathers, in following other gods to serve
                                                                    was not that this sin of Israel had caught Him unawares
        them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not
                                                                    as though He had not expected it. He was God and He
        from their doings, nor from their stubborn way.
                                                                    knew the sinfulness that was always there among His
                                           Judges 2: 11-19          people. Through those early years in Canaan God's un-

   It was a strong and faithful generation which had come           diluted blessings rested upon Israel until it became evident
with Joshua into the land of Canaan. It had tasted of' the          that this was not sufficient to keep them grateful and true.
greatness of Jehovah God and remained true to the wor-              Israel needed chastisement also to remind it constantly
ship of Him all of its days. Still in one ,respect  this genera-    of the seriousness of sin. Henceforth God would give also
tion also failed; it did not drive out all that remained of         this. The heathen nations which brought out Israel's sin
the Canaanitish nations as God had commanded to be done.            would also be used to punish it. But neither would the
The children of Israel were content to let these nations            nation be left to die. Whenever Israel repented and cried
dwell among them in the promised land. Only after this              to its God for forgiveness, He would return to deliver them
generation had passed away and a new generation arose               in accord with His undying love.

that had not tasted the chastisement of the wilderness did             The history of the judges was a constant, vivid illustra-

the danger of this become apparent. This generation did             tion of this unfailing love of God. The sinfulness of the

not feel so strongly the seriousness of sin and unfaithful-         people of Israel was always and again becoming evident as

ness to Jehovah.        Not only did they dwell among the           they followed the heathen nations in idolatry and sin. Each

Canaanitish people, they began to associate with them.              time God would punish them by sending invading hordes

Soon they were joining those heathen peoples in the                 of heathen peoples to overrun their land until they cried

sensual pleasures of their idol worship. Israel was started         in anguished repentance for deliverance from their God.

on its way to losing its identity as the distinct and peculiar      In mercy He would hear them and raise up judges and

people of the living God. Only the interference of Jehovah          deliverers to save them from the wicked.

Himself prevented it.                                                  The judges were a remarkable group of people. They

       From the time that Israel first forsook the covenant         were called judges because they represented the righteous-

of God to bow before the idols of the heathen, the anger            ness of God in judging the people and their sins. In some

of God was kindled in righteous indignation. The time. had          cases they sat in formal judgment of individual people.

come once again for Israel to be shown the seriousness of           with their troubles and transgressions, as Deborah did

forsaking the commandments of its God. Thus God spoke,              under the palm tree in Ephraim and Samuel in his circuits

"Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant             among the people. But in every case the judges were those

which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened             who spoke the righteousness of God in judgment over the

unto my voice; I also will not henceforth drive out any             nation and the tribes when they departed in the way of

from before them of the nations which Joshua left when              error and sin. These were faithful and believing members

he died: that through them I may prove Israel, whether              of the nation who were aroused and appointed by the

they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as              Spirit of God to speak out against the wickedness of the

their fathers did keep it, or not." The pattern of Israel's         people. Even more they stood courageously against the

future history was set. God had blessed them as a nation            overwhelming power of Israel's enemies, the heathen na-

with the richest conceivable blessings. Against their ene-          tions with their idolatry and sin, condemning them and

mies He strengthened them so that none could withstand              striving against their influence and power. Calling the


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             467


people to repentance, they led them in pleading for mercy         at the mercy of an oppressor. It was powerless. to interfere.

from God until His mercy returned to deliver them and             For eight years the army of the invader sallied back and

restore them to the full joy of covenant life.                    forth, plundering the land at will.

                                                                     Finally a new spirit began to stir among the people.
   Each judge in his work was actually a wonder of grace.
                                                                  So suddenly removed from the prosperity to which they
They were more than just national heroes as they might
                                                                  had become accustomed, and oppressed by a heathen king
appear to be if one would consider only the fact that they
                                                                  and his army, they began to think again about the God of
delivered the people from invading foreign powers. The
                                                                  their fathers who had given them the land through victory
inspiration which moved them was not just a spirit of
                                                                  over all of their enemies. Remembering this, they turned
daring and of loyalty to their nation., They were moved
                                                                  from their iniquity in repentance and cried to Jehovah
by spiritual faith which held fast to the truth and righteous-
                                                                  once again.
ness of Almighty God.       Through this faith they stood
                                                                     In answer to this cry God sent Othniel the son of Kenaz
.against  all of the power of an evil world. For this faith
                                                                  to be the first judge in the nation of Lsrael.  He was a
they were ready to give their all even unto death. In
                                                                  Godfearing man of remarkable background. Of the tribe
this they typified the miraculous power of grace which God
                                                                  of Judah, he was both nephew and son-in-law of Caleb,
works within His people and for His cause.
                                                                  the other faithful spy with Joshua. Already when Caleb
   First of the invading forces to be sent by God for the         was clearing his inheritance in Judah of the heathen in-
chastisement of Israel was the army of Chushanrishathaim,         habitants, Othniel had demonstrated his courage for the
king of Mesopotamia.     Actually, it was not so very long        cause of God by driving out the inhabitants of Kirjath-
after the children of Israel first came into the land of          sepher. It was in recognition of this that Caleb had given
Canaan. The generation which came with Joshua across              to Othniel Achsah his daughter to wife. Through the years
the Jordan remained faithful to its calling as long as it         Othniel had continued as a spiritual leader in Judah, the
endured. As long as its restraining hand guided the nation        tribe which more than any other remained faithful in the
they remained distinct and separate from the heathen,             service of Jehovah God. NOW it was he who was appointed
worshipping God alone. They had tasted too deeply of              by God to deliver repentant Israel from the first of its
those painful years in the wilderness to think lightly of         invading enemies.
arousing the anger of Jehovah again. But no sooner had               Upon him the Spirit of the Lord descended. It was
that generation passed away than the life of the nation           the Spirit that moved all those who were appointed to
began to change. The younger generation had been long             spiritual offices in the old dispensation. Basically, it was
enough in the land to feel secure in their inheritance,           the Spirit of God which was preparing the people of God
even to the point of thinking that it was perhaps because         for the Gospel and the coming of Christ. Moved by this,
of their own excellency that they prospered. Confident of         Othniel went out to lead the people of Israel in the'way
themselves, they began to look about for new and different        of repentance. Outwardly his work was to gather the forces
pleasures, beyond those which they already possessed.             of Israel together and to `rally them against the armies of
Soon they were mingled in tiith  the heathen while giving         Mesopotamia. But his real work was much more basic
very little regard to what God had said. The years were           than this. No matter hour large an army might be gathered,
not many before the idolatry of the heathen had been              it would have no strength at all except it stood in the
taken by them as their own. Then it was that God sent             faith of God. This was Othniel's  chief work. He had
Chushanrishathaim to punish them.                                 to express and instruct the people in the way of spiritual

    Very little.  is known about Chushanrishathaim other          truth. This no mere man could ever do. The Spirit of

than that he came with his armies from the land of                God was necessary. He came upon Othniel and he went

Mesopotamia.    This in itself, however, was highly unusual       forth in spiritual strength. As a judge he reproved Israd

and worthy of special note.    It was far ,from  customary for    for its sin and instructed it in the way of righteousness.

kings in that day to make forays so far from their home           He led the people in the way of faith. God returned in

land. Many centuries had yet to pass before that would            mercy and made them strong before the enemy. Going

become an expected thing. This was undoubtedly the                forth against Chushanrishathaim, the hand of Othniel and

working of the hand of God. As yet the nations of Egypt           his people prevailed in battle. The armies of Mesopotamia

and Canaan had not sufficiently recovered from their battles      were driven out. And peace .returned  unto Israel.

with Israel to be able to form an oppressing force. Neither                                                               B.W.
did they have the courage to take Israel on after all that

had happened in the past.      Thus God brought this great
army from a distant eastern land which had never engaged                         My honor is secure with God,
with Israel in battle. Against it the resistance of Israel                         My Saviour He is known;
was completely without effect. God was not with them                             My refuge and my rock of strength
as He had been in the past. Suddenly Israel found itself                          Are found in God alone.

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


                                                                identity but in their mode of existence under the dispensa-

11 FR0.M  H O - L Y   W R I T                              11 tion of God and his mighty judgment of all wickedness,
                                                                whereby, incidentally, the entire creation is subjected to

                                                                vanity in the hope of its own final liberation to share in
               Exposition of II Peter 3                         the glory of the sons of God. But, even so, the perspective

                               C.                               and scope here is that of the heavens and the earth, that

                                                                is, the entire created universe after the creation and by
   Peter is speaking of the mockers who will appear dur-        virtue of it, and prior to the ushering in of a new heaven
ing the last days, and who will particularly put in derision    and a new earth.                      `-
those who hope upon the Lord's final and blessed return            The point is that now the entire world is kept by the
upon the clouds of heaven to judge the living and the dead.     Word of God as a treasure stored up unto fire! Fire is the
   We have noticed the thrust and point of their wicked         element now! And just as the world was contained by
jest and scorn in our former essay. Their false claim and       the Word of God in water and out of the water then,
boast is that there is nothing in all of history and in the     so now by the same Word of God it is kept unto fire.
very constitution of heaven and earth to indicate this          Here too the very element of its existence will be the
return of the Lord! However, Peter calls attention to a         medium by which the Word of God will destroy the world!
very telling point which these mockers wilfully  omit when
                                                                   It is of interest to properly understand this word of
they `pretend and allege to be quoting the record. They
                                                                Peter here concerning the "5re"  to take notice of the fact
wilfully forget and omit that the world before the Flood
                                                                that after the Flood there is fundamentally a twofold usage
and after the Flood are not the same, but that in the
                                                                of fire as the manifestation of the justice and mercies of
very manner in which all things are contained by the Word
                                                                God; the justice and wrath upon all who work unright-
of God before the `Flood and after the Flood there is a
                                                                eousness and live ungodly lives, and the mercy of God upon
difference. The difference is such that all things loudly
                                                                those who wait for his redemption.
proclaim that Christ will return, that the elements will
                                                                   Let us. attempt to show this from the Scriptures.
burn with a fervent heat, and that God will bring about
a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness shall             First of all we must take careful notice of the iruth  and
dwell.                                                          confession already uttered by Moses to Israel, and recorded
                                                                in Deut. 4:24, "For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire,
   In the last essay we called attention to the world be-
fore the Flood. We noticed that then all things were            even a jealous God."     Israel is admonished to keep the
"out of the water and in the water." Water was the element      Covenant, and walk as a peculiar people with whom God
                                                                only talked and gave such holy oracles! They must not
in which all was contained, held together by the Word of
God. And by this very -element God also destroyed the           add to the word nor detract from the words of God's
world.                                                          Covenant.    They must look to the coming of God to sal-
   It is our purpose now to call attention to the words         vation, and wait for the power and coming of our Lord
of the Apostle Peter in the verses 7 and 10, where we read      Jesus Christ. They must not have any other gods before
respectively the following:                                     Him, nor make any graven images. For God is a jealous
   "But  the heavens and the earth which are now, by the        God.    He is worthy of all Israel's worship and praise. And
same word. of God are kept in store, reseTved  unto fire        those who re@se to walk thus will experience that God
against the day                                                 is a consuming fire.    They must not make the matters of
                of judgment and perdition of ungodly men"       God, his temple, his worship "common'" and profane. Those
(vs. 7).
   "But  the day                                                who do not hold to the blood of Jesus, which speaketh better
                     of the Lord will come as a thief in the
nigh.t; Zn the which the heavens sha.llJ  pass away with a      things than Abel, will certainly lmow  that they have to do
great noise, and the elements shall mek with fervent heat,      with God, the living God as IIe  is a consuming fire. Thus
the ea.& also and the works that  are therein shull  be         the writer of the book of Hebrews ends the twelfth chapter
                                                                by writing, "For our God is a consuming fire."  Heb. 12:29.
burned up."

   Let us pay a bit more close attention to this awesome           That God is a consuming fire really indicates that in

truth and revelation from the pen of Peter and from the         his holy jealousy He insists that all things were made by

will and counsel of God.                                        Him and for Him (Rev. 4: 11). God is worthy to receive
   The perspective here too is not merely the "earth",          all glory, honor and power.1    And then He is such, so to

nor merely the "heavens"; Peter speaks quite deE.nitely         speak, both positively and antithetically. He is a con-

of the "heavens and the earth which are now". They are          suming fire both toward his beloved and redeemed people

the same heavens and earth which were formerly, that' is,       as well as toward those who go awhoring  from Him and
before the Flood and by virtue of God's creation in the         break His commandments and precepts!

beginning. However, they are the same identical heaven            A very striking manifestation of God's being a consum-

and earth with a difference. The difference is not in their     ing &e toward Israel we have in the vision of God at


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          469


the mount of God to Moses while he was tending Jethro's           when the Lord sent fire from heaven on Mount Carmel             s

sheep in the wilderness.    There the fire is in the bush,        ?pon  the prayer of Elijah to consume the sacrifice (I Kings

yet it did not consume it. Thus Israel is in the fire of God's    i&38).

chastisement without being destroyed by it. Yet this same             For our God is a consuming fire in his holy temple!

ilre  when turned in holy jealousy against Pharaoh because            His ways and goings are in the holy place!

He is jealous of His name and honor utterly consumes the              Against this background it ought to be quite evident

Egyptian king when He sends upon him and his people               that there is nothing strange or contrary to the holiness

the ten great plagues!                                            of God in reserving the heavens which are now and the

   Especially do we see the consuming i+e  in Israel when         earth unto the great day of judgment and perdition of
those who break the covenant rise up against the Lord             ungodly men. All of the footsteps of God in history speak
and His anointed ones. Think of what happened to the              of it!

,Captain  of fifty with his fifty  when they would come and           Only those who are willingly ignorant do not perceive.

bring Elijah to terms after he had foretold to Ahaziah                The entire world today is surrounded by fire? Nay, the
that he would not rise from his bed. It is then that the          entire world is really fire.    There was more truth in it
Lord, upon Elijah's word, sends fire  from heaven and kills       than what the astronaut himself understood, when re-enter-
them. Only after this is repeated does the message go             ing into the earth's atmosphere through the'  very "heavens"
home to the Captain of the third band of fifty, who pleads        he said and exclaimed, "What a ball of l&-e!  !" Is not the
for mercy (II Kings l:lO-12).                                     entire world rocked from within by fiery volcanoes? And

   That God is such -a consuming i&-e  in his holy jealousy       is what the modern scientist has found not true when he

is indicated shortly after the Flood in his dealings with         "discovered" the atom? When he split it and found that

the cities of the plain, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and               the very elements burn? Was not Hiroshima a little Sodom

Zeboiim. He rained fire and brimstone upon them in His            and Gomorrah? But wait! God will presently cause the

holy and righteous jealousy and anger. He told Abraham            very elements to burn with a fervent heat. What man

the reason for it and also that Abraham might explain             "plays" with will then be dread reality. The entire world

as a prophet to his succeeding generations the meaning of         desires to keep the nuclear bomb under control. But wait!

it so that they might walk in holy fear (Gen. 18:17-20).          Presently God will show that this entire wodd is indeed a

Often the Lord refers to this "example" set, as it were, as       heavens. He will then shake not only the earth but also

a warning on the doorstep of the post-diluvian world in           the `tfire-ball".

the very morning of the seasons after the Flood, in Moses,            All the things in the world shall be destroyed in one
the prophets (Deut. 29:23, Isaiah 1:7; 13:19-22).  And            moment. What a great noise that will be! It will be the
~Christ  speaks of it repeatedly as the great "example" of        voice of God; it will be the fury of the Almighty. Behold,
the judgment. of God which shall finally come upon all the        He comes and will not keep silence. Then shall all these
world (Matt. 10:15;  11:23,24).        -                          mockers of whom Peter here speaks be in silence and in

   It may be well to notice that Peter himself, in this very      utter desolation and perdition.

Epistle, speaks of this fire of God's judgment when he                It will be- the judgment of ungodly men. Men are

says, "and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into          afraid in our day. They are afraid of the elements of the

ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them               earth.

~112 etiamp2e  unto those that after should live ungodly" (II         Yes, the Bible is quite up-to-date. It speaks eternal
Peter 2:6), And Jude 7 tells us, "Even as Sodom and               truth. And what it says is corroborated by the very stones
,Gomorrah,  and the cities about them in like manner, giv-        from which the manium  is taken. In those eternal (?)
ing themselves over to fornication, and going after strange       mountains there is the speech of God. Here is piled up the
flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance      stock-pile of God for the destruction of the world. And
of eternal fire."                                                 these hills will cover and these mountains will fall upon

   Such is the severe justice of God which must be satisfied.     wicked man!

   God wholly consumes and claims wholly His own honor                The Lord shall come. It will be suddenly. He "shall

in His revelation from heaven of His wrath. It does not           have come" is really the force of the verb in the Greek

wait till the final hour. His wrath is revealed both in time      "eexei".  It has the force of the pluperfect tense. Suddenly

and in eternity over the wicked.                                  the Lord will come. And when these elements burn then

   Yes, there is a sense too in which the fire wholly con-        shall the fearful truth register in the anguished hearts of

sumes the thankoffering upon the altar. Such was the speech       men: `the  Lord has come." The promise of His coming is

of the burntoffering. It was the fire from heaven, holy fire      fulfilled.

(contiasted  with "strange" fire) which consumed that which           Then shall the righteous stand unashamed in that day!

was on the altar in the times of Aaron and of that of                 Let not these mockers draw you away from your own

Solomon (II Chron. 7: 1) . It was nothing new and different       stedfastness!                                          G.L.

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


                                                                    YOU  will note that the answer again contains all the numbers

                                                                    from 1 through 9, even though they are in a different order.
1'           I N   HIS  F - E A R                             I Add them up, and again the result is 45.
                                                                       Here is another striking result:
                      My Father's World                                    123456789 x 9 +lO=  1111111111

                               (9)                                         123456789 x 18+20=  2222222222

                                                                          123456789 x 27+30=  3333333333
   "The earth and the fullness with which it is stored,
                                                                          123456789 x 36 + 40 = 4444444444
the World and its dwellers belong to the Lord."
                                                                           123456789 x 45+50=  5555555555
   Every creature whether liquid, solid or vapour, what-
                                                                          123456789  x 54+60=  6666666666
ever is visible or tangible, microscopic or telescopic, you
                                                                           123456789 x 63 +70=  7777777777
name it, it belongs to the Lord Who made it and upholds
                                                                           123456789 x 72+80=  8888888888
it, sees it and employs it rightfully to the glory of His own
                                                                           123456789 x 81+90=  9999999999
Name.

   Therefore in teaching geography to our children we                  It may be noted here among other points that the

must cause them to see that it is their Father's world              number 9 figures so prominently again. For in the second

which they are examining and upon which they live. In               column we find that number 9 x 1,9 x 2 ( 18), 9 x 3 (27)

the history class His hand again must be seen in every              and so on down the whole line.

event that has taken place upon the face of the earth.                 Let us give only two more examples of many, many

And heaven also has its own history as part of His world.           others that can be found and recorded.

   But there is another part of His world from which we                    1 x g--/-2=  11

may not expel Him in our teaching. We do very frequently,                  12 x 9+ 3 = 111

and not necessarily because we want to do so or set our-                   123 x 9 + 4 = 1111

selves to do this evil, but because we find it very difficult              1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111

in our fallen state to see Him and present Him in that                     12345 x 9 -j- 6 = 111111

sphere of His creation.     We are speaking of mathematics,                123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111

the world of numbers. In fact the whole world of thought                   1234567 x 9 + 8 = lllllill

and `of reason, of the abstract sciences as well as natural                12345678 x 9+9=  111111111

sciences belongs to Him.        And it makes no, difference         and again,
whether'in the field of mathematics we are teaching arith-                 1 x S+l=  9
metic, algebra, calculus or geometry, it all is God's world.               12 x 8 + 2 = 98
   How frequent indeed does the number of the triune
                                                                           I23 x 8 + 3 = 987
God Himself appear in this world which He has made.                        1234 x 8+4=  9876
There is length and height and breadth. There is root,                     12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765
trunk wi'th its branches and fruit. Father, mother and
                                                                           123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654
children form the complete family. There is planting,
                                                                           1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543
cultivating and reaping of the foods we need for our
                                                                           I2345678 x 8 -+- 8 = 98'765432
existence. We speak and use subject, predicate and direct
                                                                           123456789 x 8+9=  987654321
object. We eat, we sleep and we work. But why continue?
The Father is to be seen in His world of mathematics in             Why is all this?

so many other and more revealing ways.                                 It just happens that way? This is the product of the
   We refer you to the Standard Bearer, Volume XXXV,                ingenuity of the mind of man? Listen, man could not
pages 1533  and 85 for a series of articles which we wrote          change that no matter how hard he tried. And it is that
on Jehovah, the God of A&hmetic.  Therein we pointed out            way because this is our Father's world! Behind this amaz-
several unique and intriguing aspects of the number nine.           ing set of numbers, wherewith we deal every day in all
We will not duplicate them here, although we will give a            our earthly lives, is the God Who has designed them all.
few additional observations in this world of numbers of             And you could never teach a child anything else than two
Father's world. Note the following:                                 and two are four. Never could you get him to believe that
      45 equals 9 plus 8 plus 7 plus 6 plus 5 plus 4 plus 3 plus    two and two are three or five or any other number than
2 plus 1. Now write these numbers in this order and under-          four. You could c&Z the product of two and two by an-
neath in the opposite order and then subtract the lower             other name. But you could never get the child to take
number from the upper, thus:                                        two objects and add two objects to them and get anything
         987654321                                                  else than what we call four objects. You can never make
       - 123456789                                                  any of the above intruiging sets of numbers do anything

         864197532                                                  else than produce the answers that they do when used in


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    471


the order pointed out for us. Yet some would like to              self-righteous Pharisees who point to others and thank God

have us believe that this just happened or is one of those        that they are not like so and so! In the arithmetic class

things. We know that behind all this amazing system of            the glory of an unchangeable God may be caused. to

numbers wherewith we deal in mathematics is the all-wise          shine forth and ought to shine forth, for this also belongs

,God Who designed every bit of it. This all belongs to            to His world.

His world.                                                           In this connection it may be pointed out to the child

                                                                  how serious one little slip is. Have every step in multi-
   There are then especially two attributes of God that
                                                                  plication or addition or subtraction of a list of numbers
must be brought to the child's attention when you teach
                                                                  correct, but err only by one numeral at one stage of the
him arithmetic. First of all is His virtue of unchangeable-
                                                                  process, and the answer is wrong. It is not almost right.
ness. These numbers have not changed from the creation
                                                                  It is wrong. Two plus two is five is not almost right. It
of the world; they never will change in the new creation.
                                                                  is no more right than two plus two is fifty. God does not
We find in the new creation the same order of numbers.
                                                                  say that we almost kept His law. We keep it or we break
There are still twelve tribes mentioned as. dwelling in the
                                                                  it. We love Him or we hate Him. We behave as though
new Jerusalem. There are 144,000 upon Mount Zion. But
                                                                  it is His world, or we behave as though it is ours and we
the point is that God Himself never changes, and for that
                                                                  are our own to do as we please with this creation.
reason the system of numbers never changes either. And

the mind of the child can certainly receive this truth that          And that same unchangeableness of God, we might
God Whose world this is changes not and reveals this              even say His intolerance with nothing but perfection, is
truth in the unchanging system of numbers. We need not            to be seen in other spheres where we use numbers. Water
necessarily apply this spiritually to show that His promises      freezes at 32 degrees. Fahrenheit. God does not change
are sure for that reason. We need not necessarily point           that. And whether they are the water pipes of the sinful
out that we can take Him at His word and that the Scrip-          road house or of the church building that are exposed, the
tures also are infallible because He speaks in them and.          water in them will freeze and do damage. When the room
through them to His Church. But especially to the youth           of a den of iniquity is filled with gas and a match is lit,
of God's Church must the truth be brought home that He            the whole business goes sup in one tremendous explosion.
is unchanging in His demands. No more than He ever                But it is no different when a church building is likewise
makes two `and two equal five does He change His demand           filled with gas and a spark appears from one source or
that with all things at all times in every way we serve Him       another. So intolerant He is with all sin. Not a fraction of
in love. Let the little children learn that and learn it well!    disobedience -, if indeed we can speak of fractions - would
Let them learn it in order to learn to know themselves            be ignored by Him or discounted. With Him it is per-
as the sinners that they are in need of the atoning blood         fection that is demanded. And the world of numbers under-
of Christ. Let them learn it in order that they may ap-           scores and illustrates that fact.
preciate the full and free salvation that they have in Christ.
                                                                     Numbers are important for us- in our life. We deal with
They that are whole have no need of a physician. But how
                                                                  them every day.      But God deals with numbers too. A+
terrible for those who need one and know it not! Grad-
                                                                  our sins pile up heap upon heap, He keeps an exact record,
ually the cholesterol fills the blood vessel, and the victim
                                                                  never misses one or adds up to get one too many. And
has no knowledge of it, for it happens inside where he
                                                                  early we ought to learn how exacting He is. How unchange-
.cannot  look, and it does not as yet make itself known by
                                                                  able He is in His demands of us. And childhood is the
pain and discomfort. And then suddenly the heart attack
                                                                  time to begin to learn of His unchangeable demands that
takes place. 0, if we had only known, we could have gone
                                                                  we may grow up in His fear.
for treatment and medicine and avoided that crippling
                                                                                                                                J.A.H.
and killing malady. Silently and umroticed  a small tumor

appears. It is so small that it gives no pain. When it has

grown and begins to bother, there are so many explanations

for that pain and discomfort that the idea of a tumor is                            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY

not even considered. Or a tumor in the brain brings dis-             The Consistory  of the Oak Lawn Protestant Reformed Church
tress and pain in the area of the kidneys and the X ray           extends its sympathy to fellow-member, Mr. Martin De Vries,  in the

shows nothing there.    And so the little malignant tumor         passing away of his Father,

has spread and made great progress through the body be-                               MR. HERMAN DE VRIES

fore its presence is fully known. 0, if we had only known         whom the Lord took unto Himself at the age of 61 years. May the
                                                                  bereaved be comforted in the knowledge that his confession also
that it was cancer, we would have had it cut out long
                                                                  was, "Thou shah  guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive
ago and spared this life that now is swiftly departing            me to glory." Psalm 73:24.
from a loved one. How needful that we know our                                                     Rev. G. Vanden  Berg, President
spiritual misery too. Let us not bring up a generation of                                          Louis R. Regnerus,  Clerk

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


                                                                 by the Council of Constance, by which Communion is given
Il. Contending -For The Faith 11 to the laity under the form of bread only is to be so ob-
                                                                 served that no one may condemn it, nor, without the

                                                                 authority of the Church, depart from it?" From this

                                                                 it is clear that the law dates from the beginning of the
         The Church and the Sacraments
                                                                 fifteenth century."

                                                                    So, this is where the sophistry of Roman Catholicism
         THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION
                                                                 leads us. The reason, according to Rome, why it has be-

                                                                 come universal practice in the Romish Church for the laity
 VIEWS ON THE SACRAMENTS (LORD'S SUPPER)                         to partake only of the bread and not of the wine, is be-

                                                                 cause Christ is entirely present under either kind, the wine
                   THE ROMISH VIEW                               and the bread, and therefore when we partake only of the

                                                                 bread we receive the Christ wholly and completely. This
   We wish to continue with our quotations from Volume
                                                                 is what happens when once Rome has decreed that the
II of the Radio Replies by the Fathers Rumble and Carty.
                                                                 bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of the
It is our desire and wish to expose the Romish desecration
                                                                 Lord. And we do well to notice also that the questions
of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper as set forth in its
                                                                 put to the Wycliflltes  and Hussites contained also this that
doctrine of transubstantiation, also and particularly as that
                                                                 this practice adopted by the Romish Church may never be
church attempts to maintain this conception upon the basis
                                                                 condemned without the authority of the Church, and this,
of Holy Writ. It is well that we understand the absurdity
                                                                 we know, ultimately means without the authority of the
and wickedness of this conception which is called by our
                                                                 pope at Rome. So, purely because of the authority of one
confessions a gross and accursed idolatry.
                                                                 man, the pope at Rome, no man may ever condemn this
   787. When did it become universal for the priest only
                                                                 practice or depart from it.
to receive Communion under both kinds, and what circum-
                                                                    This is not all. Rome concedes that it was the practice
stances led to this law.
                                                                 among the early Christians to receive Communion under
   "The -general law really dates from the Council of Con-
                                                                 both kinds. Question 788 reads: You admit that the early
stance in the year 1415. The circumstances leading up to
                                                                 Christians received Communion under both kinds? And
this law were as follows. From the earliest times, Com-
                                                                 the answer is as follows:        "In the early Christian Church
munion was given to the laity under both kinds, or under
                                                                 it was the normal practice to give Communion under both
either kind. The general rule was to give Communion under
                                                                 kinds. But the discretionary power of the Church was in
both kinds, but at times, Communion was given under the
                                                                 use even then. Sick people, prisoners, and martyrs received
form of bread only, or from the chalice only. All admitted
                                                                 Communion under the form of bread only. Infants often
that Christ was entirely present under either kind, -and
                                                                 received under the form of wine only, a drop or two being
never was there any law commanding reception under both
                                                                 placed upon the tongue. All knew that the practice was
kinds by the laity. As years went on, variations in practice
                                                                 perfectly valid in these cases, despite the normal custom
arose, and there was no uniformity. The Church permitted
                                                                 being otherwise."
local customs to be observed. The custom of giving Com-
                                                                    Also of interest are questions 789 and 790. Question 789
munion under the form of bread only, however, becdme
                                                                 reads: Christ gave both in remembrance of Him. And
more and more widespread, chiefly for reasons of reverence
                                                                 the answer:    "Q ui e
                                                                                        t    so. And both kinds must be used in
and convenience. About the twelfth century, however,
two erroneous doctrines began to manifest themselves.            the commemorative Sacrifice of the Mass. But Communion
One declared that the custom of giving Communion under           deals with the Sacramental, not the Sacrificial aspect of
one kind only was a sacrilegious abuse; the other, that          the Eucharist. Therefore, St. Paul says, `He who eats or
Christ was not completely present under either kind. It          drinks unworthily is guilty of the body and of the blood
was the growth of these errors which led the Council of          of Christ.' I Cor. 11:27."

Constance in 1415  to define that the complete Christ is            So, it must be conceded that Christ gave both in re-

present under either the appearances of bread or the ap-         membrance of Him. One might well ask the question:

pearances of wine; that the custom of giving Communion           "Why should Christ give both in remembrance of Him if
under the form of bread only was most reasonably and             He be wholly present in the bread? If the bread be wholly
wisely introduced; and that it is heretical to say that Com-     sufEcient,  and if, as Rome contends, the blood is also in

munion must be given under both kinds. Three years later,        the body, why would it not have been suflicient  for Christ

in 1418, amongst the list of questions to be put to the          merely to institute the bread as a sign."

WyclifIites  and Hussites in order to test their orthodoxy,         790. If we can receive both body and blood under the

the following was included: ."Do you believe that the            one form of bread, why should our Lord have instituted

custom observed by the universal Church, and approved            the two forms at all?


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               473


   "Because the Holy Eucharist was instituted not only as          of return to the Catholic Church. In 1215,349  years earlier;

a Sacrament, but also as a Sacrifice, For the Sacramental         the 4th Lateran  Council consecrated the word transub-

reception of Christ, one kind only is sufficient, But as a        stantiation as expressing correctly the Christian doctrine

Sacrifice representing the separation of Christ's body and        of Christ's real presence by conversion of the substance

blood on the Cross, the Eucharist requires the external           of bread into the substance of His body. In 1079, 500

significance of separate consecration under the solid ap-         years earlier, Berengarius declared in his retraction, "I ac-

pearances of bread and the liquid appearances of wine.            knowledge that the bread is substantially changed into the

Though there can be no real separation of Christ's body           substance of Christ's body." Everybody who possessed the

and blood, now that He has risen to die no more, the              true Christian faith, until this year, 1079, believed in the

separation which took place on Calvary is symbolized by           substantial change, and there was no need to insist upon

the apparent separation of the two elements in the separate       the word, since no one denied the nature of the change.

consecration. Thus, our Lord said, "As often as you do this       In the 4th century all the great Fathers and writers ad-

you shall show the death of the Lord until He come."              mitted that by consecration bread was changed into Our

I Cor. 11:26.  Both kinds are necessary, therefore, for the       Lord's very body. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, who died

Sacrifice of the Mass; either kind will do for Sacramental        about 107 A. D., wrote: "Heretics abstain from the Eucha-

Communion, If a priest offers Mass, he must receive under         rist because they do not confess the Eucharist to be that

both kinds; but if he does not wish to say Mass, yet desires      very flesh of Jesus Christ which suffered for us." And that

to receive Holy Communion, he receives under one kind             doctrine is all that is expressed by transubstantiation. At

only, just as the laity, and is quite content to do so."          the Last Supper Christ said, "This is my body which is

   So, both kinds, the bread. and wine, are necessary             given for you." Luke 22:19.  Now He either gave them His
because of the Mass. And the Mass is the sacrifice of             body or He did not. But He gave them His Body, for we
Christ which occurs through a priest. And this is necessary       dare not say, "Lord although you say, `This is my body,'
because upon the cross of Calvary our Lord gave both,             it is certainly not your body." However it was not His
His body and blood. Hence, there would be no real Mass,           body according to appearances and visible qualities, and
no real sacrifice if both, the bread and wine, were not           it could have been His body only according to substance.
present. But, as far as the Eucharist is concerned, our           Therefore Our Lord i?rst taught this doctrine  of substantial
eating of the bread and drinking of the wine, only one            change at least implicitly."

kind is sticient, inasmuch as Christ is completely present            So, our Lord taught this doctrine of substantial change
in either kind. But, fact remains that our Lord Jesus Christ      at least implicitly. This certainly means that He did not
has commanded His Church to eat of the bread and to               teach it directly. How strange, is it not, that our Lord,
drink of the wine. And it is surely most presumptuous on          even according to Rome, should not teach this doctrine
the part of the Church, in fact on the part of one man,           directly. Besides, what did the disciples eat that night
such as the pope at Rome, to remove this injunction of            before our Lord's death upon the cross? Did they eat
the Lord and simply decide that, although the Lord Jesus          Christ's body as it was glorified after His death and res-
has commanded His Church to partake of both, it is quite          urrection? Do not the words of Christ, if taken literally,
sufficient for the laity to partake only of one.                  simply mean that they ate His body, His flesh? But this

   Of interest are also a few questions that appear in            does not make sense, and that for the simple reason that

Volume I of these "Radio Replies" by the Fathers Rumble           He stood before them and His body had as yet not been

and Carty. Interesting, I am sure, is what we read in             broken upon the cross. It is evident that the words of Luke

,Question  859: The Apostles' Creed, the Athanasian, and          22:19  must be understood symbolically. But, this is not all.

the I Nicene do not mention transubstantiation. There is          We are not too concerned about these words of Ignatius.

no record of such a doctrine until 1564 when Pius IV put          They can certainly simply mean that the Eucharist is the very

it into his creed. Are we to believe the early Christians,        flesh. of Jesus Christ, symbolically, even as we also read

or the doctrine of a thousand years later?                        in the Scriptures that Jesus is the door. But, please notice

   "The doctrine is not in the three Creeds you mention.          the following. Rome concedes that this doctrine is not
                                                                  mentioned in any of the creeds mentioned in Question 850.
But they do not contain the whole of Christian doctrine.
They are partial statements insisting upon certain doctrines      And what does Rome quote for proof? All they quote is
                                                                  from certain church councils which are evidently sympa-
against special errors of those times. It is true that Pius IV
                                                                  thetic to the Romish Catholic position. And when they
included the doctrine in his profession of faith, but you
                                                                  would quote from the Word of God, from Jesus Christ
are wrong when you say that there was no mention of the
                                                                  Himself, all they quote is Luke 22: 19, and this text certainly
doctrine until then. In 1551, 13 years earlier, the Council
                                                                  cannot be quoted as Scriptural proof for the Romish doc-
of Trent taught the doctrine explicitly. In 1274, 290 years
                                                                  trine of transubstantiation.
earlier, the 2nd Council of Lyons insisted upon the ad-

mission of transubstantiation by the Greeks as a condition                                                                  H.V.

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


                                                                         than the Confession, is more complete on this score. There

                                                                         we .read,  Lord's Day XX:       "What dost thou believe con-

                                                                         cerning the Holy Ghost? First, that he is true and co-

                                                                         eternal God with the Father and the Son; secondly, that he

                   The Belgic Confession                                 is also given me, to make me by a true faith, partaker
                                                                         of Christ and`all  his benefits, that he may comfort me and

                             ARTICLE XI                                  abide with me for ever."

                                                                            I venture to speculate that if a Reformed man would
                 We believe and confess also, that the Holy Ghost,
              from eternity, proceeds from the Father and Son; and       have to compose a creedal  statement on the doctrine of
              therefore neither is made, created, nor begotten, but      the Holy Ghost today, such a statement would be more de-
              only proceedeth from both; who in order is the third       tailed, especially in regard to the subject of the Holy Spirit
              person of the Holy Trinity; of one and the same es-        as the Spirit of Christ dwelling in the church. Even by
              sence, majesty and glory with the Father, and the Son:
                                                                         the time our Canons were drawn up by the Synod of
              and therefore, is the true and eternal God, as the Holy
              Scriptures teach us.                                       Dordrecht in 1618 - `19 there had been further development

                                                                         in regard to the work and the importance of the work of
Introductory Remarks                                                     the Spirit in the consciousness of the Reformed fathers, as

                                                                         is evident from an article like Canons III, IV, 11, as well as
   It is rather obvious, it seems to me, that in the minds
                                                                         Canons V, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10. Since that time there has been
of our fathers, -the author of our Confession included, the
                                                                         further attention devoted to this doctrine. And again in
doctrine of the Holy Spirit did not occupy as large and
                                                                         our own day there is renewed interest in the work of the
as important a place in the structure of the truth as the
                                                                         Holy Spirit, although it must at once be added that it is
doctrine of the Person and work of Christ, nor, in fact,
                                                                         not all holy fire that is found on the altar in this respect.
as several other doctrines that are explicated in our creed.

In the f&t place, what is stated in the above article con-                  What we stated above does not at all imply that our

cerning the Holy Ghost is very brief, though it is essen-                Confession is heterodox on this score. That the statement

tially complete. Our Confession painstakingly sets forth cer-            of our Confession is rather meager is simply due to the fact

tain other truths, but devotes relatively little space to this           that the Confession is the product of its times. On' the

truth. In the second place, the Confession passes by the                 one hand, there was at that stage not as much attention

Scriptural proof of this doctrine with the mere general                  devoted to this doctrine; and consequently there was not

statement,    "as the Holy Scriptures teach us." By com-                 as full a development of this truth as yet. On the other

parison, it offers much more detailed proof of the deity                 hand, - and this fact must not be overlooked by any means,

of Jesus Christ; and it devotes an entire article to proof               -there was not such heated conflict between Romanism

for the Trinity. In the third place, the article says nothing            and Calvinism in regard to this subject, while there were

whatsoever about the Holy Ghost as the Spirit of Christ,                 indeed other aspects of the truth that required more at-

poured out on the day of Pentecost and dwelling in and                   tention in the Confession because of the conflict of those

abiding with the church forever. It is, of course, true that             times. And finally, we must not overlook the fact that the

our Confession speaks elsewhere of the work of the Holy                  fuller development of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit re-

Ghost. In Article XXII it states that the Holy Ghost kindles             ceived its impetus from the Reformation.

faith in our hearts. And in connection with the doctrine                    Nevertheless, as we stated at the outset, the statement

of sanctification, Article XXIV, mention is made again of                of Article XI is essentially complete.

the Holy Ghost:        `We believe that this true faith being

wrought in man by the hearing of the Word of God, and                    The Procession of the Spirit
the operation of the Holy Ghost, doth regenerate and make

him a new man . . . , " Article XXVII speaks of the church                  Very briefly our Confession states the distinct persona1

as being "sanctified and sealed by the Holy Ghost." In                   property of the Holy Spirit:    "We believe and confess also,

connection with holy baptism Article XXXIV says: "so doth                that the Holy Ghost, from eternity, proceeds from the

the blood of Christ, by the power of the Holy Ghost, in-                 Father and the Son." And again: "but only proceedeth

ternally sprinkle the soul . . . . m And also Article IXXXV,             from both." The latter is negatively emphasized by the

the lengthy article on the Lord's Supper, speaks of the                  words:    "and therefore neither is made, created, nor be-

operations of the Holy Ghost as being `bidden and incom-                 gotten." It is evident from the latter expression especially,

prehensible." Nevertheless, Article XI itself does not speak             that this matter of the distinct personal attribute of the

of this aspect of the doctrine of the Holy Ghost. And we                 Holy Spirit stands closely connected not only with His

may say that the truth concerning the Holy Spirit as the                 distinct personality, but also with His Godhead.

Spirit of Christ is in our Confession implicit, rather than                 The personal property, or attribute, of the-Third Person,

explicit. The Heidelberg Catechism, though still more brief              therefore, is expressed in His name, Spirit. He is the Ruach,


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             475


the Pneuumm,  wind, breath. He is "breathed forth," and as          without insisting.very  strongly on the orthodox doctrine of

such proceeds from the Father and the Son. We must re-              the Filioque.

member that the name Spirit does not refer to His essence.             This, is neither the time nor the place to go into a de-

Essentially the Father and the Son are spirit also. God is          tailed account of the whole history. Nevertheless we must

a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in             understand a little of the background and history, in order

spirit and in truth.       The name Holy Spirit, however, de-       to see the importance of this issue.

notes the Third Person of the Trinity as to His personal               The final cleavage between east and west did not take
position, in relation to the Father and the Son. He is not          place until the year 1054 under Pope Leo IX, who excom-
the Father, and His personal attribute is not that of gen-          municated the patriarch of Constantinople for several her-
eration, begetting. Nor is He the Son, the only begotten;           esies, among which was a denial of the Filioque. When one
and His personal attribute is not that He is eternally              studies the history of this period as recounted by Schaff,
generated of the Father.        For then there would be two         `History of the Christian Church," IV, pp. 304 - 325, 476 -
Sons of God. But He is the Spirit. And just as the names            488, the impression cannot be escaped that the Filioque
Father and Son express the personal properties of the First         and the other doctrinal issues involved constituted a political
and Second Persons of the Trinity, so the name Spirit de-           football in the struggle for power between Rome and Con-
notes the distinct personal property of the Third Person.           stantinople. And to be sure, when doctrinal issues become
The Spirit proceeds from the Father, as the Spirit of the           mere tools in a struggle for power, it is always deplorable
Father, to the Son; and He returns, as the Spirit of the            and to be condemned as down-right wicked, whether one
Son, to the Father. Thus the circle of the eternal life of fel-     be orthodox or heterodox. Neither' the popes of Rome nor
lowship of the Triune God is complete. The Father knows             the patriarchs of Constantinople and their adherents were
and loves the Son, in the Spirit. And in that same Spirit,          in an ethical position to read the Ten Commandments to
the Son knows and loves the Father. And the Spirit searches         one another in those days. And from that point of view,
the depths of God, and knows and loves the Father and               the doctrinal issue receded into the background, so that as
the Son in Himself. Hence, of the Father, through the Son,          far as the individuals were concerned the question of or-
and in the Holy Spirit, the Three Persons of the Holy               thodoxy or heterodoxy was of little importance.
Trinity live an eternally perfect life of divine friendship.           Nevertheless, we must remember, in the first place, that

  It is to be noted that our Confession teaches the SO-             the history centering about the 8nal separation in 1054 was
called "double procession" of the Spirit, that is, that He pro-     but one phase of a long history, that dated  from the time of
.ceeds  from both the Father and the Son. It even empha-            the Council of Nicea  in 325 and the Council of Constanti-
sizes this doctrine by its second statement, `but only pro-         nople in 381. In the second place, while the attitudes and
ceedeth from both." This reminds us of the long controversy         motives of the men directly involved at the time of the
,concerning  the Filioqzce,  a Latin term which means "and          final separation between East and West may have left much
the Son." This controversy was between the Eastern                  to be desired, the issue itself was much larger than this.
(Greek) and Western (Latin) branches of the church. The             And the Lord so directed the course of history that the
latter, following especially Augustine, insisted that the Spirit    Roman Catholic Church at that time, for whatever may
proceeds from both the Father and the Son, e x Pat T e              have been their reason and motivation, clung to the Filr
F i 1 i o q u e.    The former denied this, and taught the pro-     ioque, so that the Reformation churches in the sixteenth
cession from the Father only. This constitutes the chief            century simply followed in the same direction, and, so to
doctrinal issue separating the Eastern and Western                  speak, inherited the doctrine of the double procession.

Churches up to the present time. It is true, of course,                For while neither Nicea  nor Constantinople in the time

that there are other issues that separate Rome and the              of the Trinitarian and Christological controversies expressed

Eastern Orthodox Church, such as the immaculate concep-             themselves on the ,doctrine  of the double procession, they

tion, the primacy of the pope, the infallibility of the pope,       at the same time had not excluded this doctrine. The result

-matters that are under consideration at the so-called              was that for a long time the difference beween East and

ecumenical council that is to be re-convened by Rome in             West on this score smoldered in the bosom of the church,

the near future, a council which supposedly aims also at            the West maintaining and the East denying the double pro-

reunion of east and west. But the chief doctrinal issue             cession of the Spirit. And while no ecumenical council exa

was that of the Filioque.       It is alleged also by some his-     pressed itself on the matter, in 559 A. D. the Synod of

torians that here is an example of useless theological              Toledo (which was Western) inserted this little phrase,

wrangling that separated whole segments of the church by            "and the Son (Filioque)," into the Niceno-Constantino-

insistence upon or denial of one little word. The historian         politan Creed officially.

Schaff, who is always of a rather irenic  spirit, is one of            And important and Scriptural this doctrine is, as we

these. And he mourns the whole controversy and separa-              hope to see next time.

tion as "deplorable," without really assessing the blame and                                                               H.C.H.

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


                                                                  to the consistory and not to the individual. The consistory

11 D.ECENCY a'nd  O R D E R   11 expresses that "we hereby- transfer our brother and sister
                                                                  to the Protestant Reformed Church of _...: ._... ._. .._ ____ ___ com-

                                                                  mending them to your Christian fellowship and requesting

             Certificates of Membership                           the consistory . . . . "    In view, therefore, of this wording
                                                                  it appears permissible that these be sent directly from one
   The eighty-second article of the church order treats the       church to another. If it were a hard and fast rule that
matter of the consistory issuing certificates or attestations     these might be given only to the individual member re-
of membership to those who remove from the congregation.          questing them, it seems to me that the forms should be
We have already pointed out that in our churches there are        re-written so that they contain a direct testimonial from
two such certificates. One is a transfer certificate that is      the consistory to the individual member.
used when -members, baptized and communicant, move
                                                                     The point. must not be overlooked, however, that mem-
from one church to another within the denomination. The
                                                                  bers have the right to personal delivery of their attesta-
other is a dismissal certificate that is issued to those who
                                                                  tions and this may not be denied them. A member may
leave the churches.
                                                                  withdraw his membership from any church if he so chooses.
   The question sometimes arises as to whether member-
                                                                  He may be wrong  in doing so and the consistory can and
ship certificates should be given by the consistory to the
                                                                  must then also admonish him and urge him not to proceed
persons requesting them or whether these should be sent
                                                                  in his wrong doing but if he insists the consistory cannot
directly to the consistory of the church with which they
                                                                  refuse him a membership attestation. It has often been
intend to affiliate. On the basis of the church order it
                                                                  said that the membership papers are the property of the
appears that the former of these two alternatives is the
                                                                  individual and not the @-operty  of the church. That would
only correct one because Article 82 says, "To those  who          also then imply that the responsibilities of that membership
remo,ve  from the congregation, a letter or testimony con-
                                                                  are the individual's and not that of the church. The church
cerning their profession and conduct shall be given by the
                                                                  has the responsibility to demand that her members comply
consistory." It then becomes the responsibility of the in-
                                                                  with the `doctrine and practices of the church as long as
dividual to bring his or her certificate to the church with
                                                                  they are members but the  church has no authority to de-
which he or she intends to affiliate.
                                                                  termine who shall be members of the organization and
   However, since this procedure is frequently not fol-
                                                                  neither can she determine the validity of a reason or reasons
lowed, we must ask whether it is wrong for a consistory
                                                                  a member may choose to give for the withdrawal of mem-
to mail a certificate of membership directly to another
                                                                  bership. hembership is a matter of voluntary and individ-
consistory upon the request of one of its members. Monsma
                                                                  ual responsibility.
and Van Dellen  express the opinion that this is quite per-
missible. They write:    "But by this we do not mean to              Perhaps it is for this reason that our churches also leave
say that a Consistory should refuse to mail a certificate         the matter of affiliation with a particular church in a given
directly to the Consistory of the Chtich a member seeks           locality up to individual choice. In the Reformed Churches
to join. Not at all. If a member specifically prefers to have     in the Netherlands geographical boundaries have been set

his certificate sent to the Consistory of the Church of his       up according to which members of a certain denomination
new location, there are no reasons why it should refuse           of churches living in a certain area are compelled to belong

to do so. For some members this may be a very good                to a particularly designated church while those living in
procedure. But, this is the point, the Church Order gives         other areas must belong to the church in that area. This
our members a right to personal delivery of their attesta-        avoids members passing up one or two churches of the
tions, and in the interest of self-assertion it is well to en-    same denomination to belong to a third church on the other
courage them in doing so."     Besides we can see reasons         side of town. In the Christian Reformed Church and in
why a consistory would do this in many instances. First           our Churches this is not maintained. Each one is at liberty
bf all it often happens that a family will inform the minister    to choose the church of their affiliation and should they
or clerk of the consistory that they are going to move to         desire to transfer membership to another church in the area
another place and would like to have their membership             the consistory must give them an attestation. The pros and
transferred to the church there. The next consistory meeting      cons for maintaining boundary lines can undoubtedly be

may be two or three weeks away. In the meantime the               given but it appears that our practice is in line with the
family has moved and has left no forwarding address.              fact that this responsibility must rest with the  individual.
The consistory is unable to send the membership certifidates      The Church Order Commentary, however, intimates that

to them. In such a circumstance it would seem proper that         its authors regret that the Christian Reformed Church does

these are sent directly to the consistory. In the second          not maintain boundary lines between the particular churches

place, it is to be noted that the transferal forms used in our    and in a foot note advances nine reasons for this.  They are:

churches are written in such a way that they are addressed           "1. Believers should manifest the body of Christ in the


                                             T H E   STANDAR.D   B E A R E R                                                     477


place of their providentially determined residence. 2. It is             Article 83 as it appears in our church order might con-

against the intent of-Article 82; 3.    It fosters the overgrowth     ceivably leave a very strange and altogether wrong im-

of some churches-and the undergrowth of others. 4. It pro-            pression with the reader. It might be interpreted to mean

motes `floating'.    5. It promotes a one sided development           that those who are poor and desire to remove from the

 (Birds of a feather flock together). 6. It stimulates unholy         church can apply to the diaconate for travel assistance.

competition. 7. It promotes slothfulness in catechism at-             This, however, is not the case. This article has a `history

tendance.    8. It promotes needless Sunday travel. 9. It             and it is only in the light of that history that the prin-

constitutes a practical denial of the communion of saints."          ciples underlying this article can properly be elucidated.

    Some of these reasons undoubtedly have some validity             Before referring to that history we should also keep in

but whether they are of such magnitude as to warrant con-            mind that this article is related to the preceding one so

sideration of a reversal of our current practice in this             that the poor mentioned here receive this travel assistance

matter is again another thing. Do any of these reasons               from the diaconate in connection with their attestation of

appear weighty enough to justify depriving the i$ividual             membership when they remove from the church. It is not

of his right to worship in the church of his choice?~                something given entirely by itself.

We, do not see any likelihood that our churches will es-                 In the early days of the Reformed Churches of Holland
tablish boimdaries.                                                  many of the members of these churches were dispersed for
    One other problem that must be considered in connec-             various reasons. Some were scattered in quest of work be-
tion with membership attestations is that which arises when          cause of severe edonomic  conditions. Others were forced
members leave a certain-church and community without re-             to flee to other cities because of the oppressive power;  of
questing an attestation of membership in the church and              persecution. These destitute refugees frequently called
without informing the consistory as to their desire and in-          upon the deacons in whatever city they were to help and
tent with regard to their membership in the church. Of               assist them on their journey. Now to help those who in,
course this should not happen but the sad fact is that it            such circumstances really needed help, the deacons in most
sometimes does. If the consistory knows where these mem-             instances were most willing even though this imposed a
bers have moved they can still contact them and this they!           difficult burden upon them since they also had the poor
also should do so that the matter can be resolved. But               of their own congregations to care for. But what aggra-
what if the members leave no forwarding address and all              vated the situation was the fact that often there were those
attempts to contact them through acquaintances and rel-              who were not even members of the Reformed Churches
atives fail? What then must the consistory do? In some               and they also availed themselves of this opportunity to
churches these members are simply carried on the rolls from          get money.       They were tramps who posed as persecuted
year to year. This is not proper. Dating back to 1910                Christians.
there is a decision of the Synod of the Christian Reformed
Church that stipulates that such members shall be retained               To prevent these  abuses the Synod of Emden,  1571,
on the rolls of the church for a period of one year and six          decided that all who moved from one place to another
weeks but this too is rather arbitrary. It seems to me that          should carry with them an attestation or certificate. Those
the consistory would have to determine specifically what             who failed to show this could not expect help from the
is to be done in each individual case. The time duration             diaconate of the various churches. If one had to flee
may differ in individual cases but the consistory can only           quickly before they could obtain an attestation they would
drop the membership of such individuals because of neglect           be examined thoroughly regarding their faith, etc. These
and withdrawal and if in the future the consistory is able           attestations the synod decided should indicate the full
to locate them, they should be notified that this has been           name of the holder, his native country, trade, reason for
done. It certainly is a sad reflection upon the spiritual            moving, time spent in the church giving the attestation,
,caliber  of members of the church who conduct themselves            conduct, date of departure, destination, etc. It tias  further-
in this manner. Our membership in the church of Christ               more provided that those who moved should receive money
must be a matter of prime concern and may never be re-               sufficient to bring them to the next Reformed Church
                                                                     through which their journey would lead them. Each church
garded with such slothful indifference.
                                                                     should write on the attestation how much money had been
                     Assisting the Poor                              given them, by' whom, etc. At the end of the journey

   "Furthermore, to the poor, removing for sufficient rea-           the Reformed Church there would help them and also

sons, so much money for traveling shall be given by the              destroy the attestation.    And it was out of t&s situation

deacons, as they deem adequate. The consistory and the               that the rule of Article 83 of our church order was born.

deacons shall, however, see to it that they be not too much          The next time we hope to see the meaning of this article

inclined to relieve their churches  of the poor, with whom           for today and also consider the principles on which this

they would without necessity burden other churches."                 ruling rests.

                                           -Article 83, D.K.O.                                                             G.v.d.B..

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


                                                                  It spoke of "suspicions" that had been raised in the denom-

                      A R O U N D                    U S   11 ination by these articles; ancl it used these suspicions as
                                                                  a- ground to ask Synod to examine Dekker as required in

                                                                  the Formula of Subscription "so that if Prof. Dekker's

SYNODS, CQNVENTIQNS,  CONFERENCES . . .                           position be truly Reformed and Scriptural, synod may clear
       It was a comparatively quiet summer in the highest         him of suspicion; and should synod iind  his position not in

ecclesiastical assemblies of the nation's Protestant denomi-      harmony with the Scriptures and the creeds, that synod

nations.                                                          take appropriate action `to preserve the uniformity and

       This is in sharp contrast to the past several years.       purity of doctrine' in our church and seminary."

       The winds of ecumenicity and church merger have been          The committee of pre-advice was divided: the majority

blowing strongly in years gone by, and news often broke           advising Synod to adopt the overture of Classis  Orange

faster than one could report it. Churches came together           City; the minority advising "that Classis  should supply

in some instances; committees were formed to talk over            grounds for its charge or submit sufficient grounds for its

diff&ences  in other instances; but this summer it seemed         suspicion."    This recommendation (although slightly al-

as if there was a &ollective  pause while everyone caught         tered) was adopted, and Synod did not go into the doc-

their breath for the next surge of activity.                      trinal questions raised by Prof. Dekker's articles.

       Besides, last summer the .most  conservative denomina-        (We refrain from comment on the church political

tions were caught in the throes of discussions on the ques-       issues involved inasmuch as Rev. Hoeksema is busily en-

tion of the infallibility of Scripture. This was true of the      gaged in discussing this matter, and will-undoubtedly knter

Southern Baptist Church, the Lutheran Church (Missouri            i&o this question. )

Synod), the Southern Presbyterian Church, the Christian              There was an interesting side-light to this decision.

Reformed Church and the Reformed Church in America.               A delegate requested Prof. R. B. Kuiper's opinion of the

This summer these storms seemed past; there was hardly            recommendation of the minority report. But before he

any trouble over this fundamental question, In some cases         could give his opinion, the president, Rev. WiEam  H&ver-

at least one wonders whether the controversies that stirred       kamp, warned Prof. Kuiper that he would be speaking

a year ago were not a kind of a last gasp of a dying              under restrictions. When the professor asked what these

denomination.                                                     restrictions were, he was told that he could not enter into

       Briefly reviewing some of the most important decisions     the doctrinal questions invilved. This ruling brought ap-

of some of the nation's denominations we find the following:      plause from the visitors of Synod. Rev. Kuiper informed

                                                                  the Synod that in that case he could not answer the
The Christian Reformed Church                                     question addressed to him, for an adequate answer nec-
       Decisions were made to continue the building program       essitated entering into some aspects of the question. One
at the new campus on Knollcrest. An auditorium-music-             observer of the Synod's actions referred to the whole affair
speech building and a physical education plant were author-       as "Synod's disgraceful moment." He wondered whether
ized at a cost of about $l,OOO,OOO  each. Synod also approved     "this was a demonstration of that `love' we hear so much
of the building of a natatorium (a unit housing a swim-           about." Prof. Kuiper later presented a protest to the Synod
ming pool) if funds could be raised for it outside of usual       on this matter which was ruled by the president to be an
church sources and methods.                                       appeal from the ruling of the chair. A vote was called to-
       Although Synod received two reports from an equally        see whether Synod would uphold the chair's ruling, which
divided committee of pre-advice, the decision was made            it did. The president first ordered the protest and the
to continue to operate the hospital on the Rehoboth mission       action of the Synod on it to be recorded in the Acts; but
field. The arguments to close the hospital were summarized        the next morning he ruled that it would be deleted.
in the words of Torch and  Trumpet: `the medical needs               Although this was -supposed to be the year in which
of the Indians can be adequately met in government hos-           the revised Church Order was voted on for adoption, Synod
pitals in the area; missionary personnel can receive medical      appeared reluctant to do this -mostly because there had
attention in other hospitals with the aid of hospitalization      been some agitation in the Church against various proposed
insurance; the hospital is no longer an effective aid to evan-    revisions throughout  the year. Again there was a majority
gelism; the continuance of the hospital would call for two        and minority report. The final decision postponed the ques-
full-time doctors; more nurses, more equipment, and in ten        tion of final adoption till 1965 in order for the churches
years a new building."                                            to have time for further discussions and to present ad-
       The Dekker case marked the Synod this year with an         ditional amendments if they desire.
indelible mark. The case came on Synod through an over-

tie from Classis  Orange City. This overture registered           Southern Baptist Churches
"serious objections" to Dekker's views expressed in his              Last year the trouble in this large Protestant body cen-

articles in the Reform& Journal on God's love for all men.        tered about the question of whether the fu-st  eleven chapters


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           479


of Genesis were true history or whether they had only a          of money to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

symbolical meaning. The question came up through a book          headed by Dr. Martin Luther King.

written by Ralph Elliott, a professor in the Old Testament

in Midwestern Seminary and entitled "The Message of              Lutheran Church - Wisconsin Synod
Genesis."    The Convention last year aheady  had treated           This branch of Lutheran&m  decided to withdraw com-
this question and had decided that the trustees had to take      pletely from the federation of Lutheran Churches in protest
appropriate action to see to it that "liberal" views were        over the, liberalism which is increasing among Lutherans
banished from the seminary. This decision was the basis          and especially among the Lutherans of the Missouri Synod
for the removal of Elliott by the board of trustees. But the     Branch. This friction between the Wisconsin Synod and the
question would not die. The trouble was that there were          Missouri Synod has been increasing for some time, and
evidently many others throughout other seminaries that sup-      reached its climax this year,
ported Elliott's position.    But the Convention refused to

take any further action on the matter, deciding that the
                                                                 Wesleyan Methodist Church of America
decision of last year was su5cient.  The result is a deep
                                                                    Besides deciding questions of racial policy (it approved
and widening split between liberals and conservatives in
                                                                 negro efforts to gain equal rights), this denomination de-
the Church.
                                                                 cided to reopen negotiations with the Pilgrim Holiness

                                                                 Church in efforts to accomplish merger. Delegates ordered

                                                                 a committee to draw up a merger plan to be submitted
The Reformed Church in America
                                                                 to the 1967 Conference.
   The Synod met in Pella,  Iowa this year and was mainly

characterized by cautiousness and inactivity.

   Before it was the major question of ecumenical ties           Baptist General Conference
with the Southern Presbyterian Church. The Synod decided            The main problem before this 85,000 member body
only to continue discussions with this denomination. Also        was the resolution that called for prayer for peace and sup-
a statement of doctrine previously drawn up by the two           port of reduction of armaments in order to lessen tensions
committees of the Reformed Church and the Southern Pres-         that lead to war.

byterian Church was considered. This statement was

sharply criticized by the editor of the Prcssbytwian  Journal    The Pentecostal Church of God of America
as being too general and vague, and it was roundly con-             Their only decision of worth was a decision which op-

demned for omitting such important doctrines as the doc-         posed the Supreme- Court ruling banning Bible reading and

trine of the vicarious atonement, and the election of grace.     devotional acts in the Public School system.

There were two overtures from Classes North and South

,Grand  Rapids requesting the Synod to permit churches to        Jehovah's Witnesses
remain outside the merger without loss of property rights           This dangerous and evil sect heard reports at its Inter-
if congregations by a two-thirds vote decided to "retain         national Conference which claim for this group the distinc-
their identity." The requests were referred to the com-          tion of being. one of the fastest growing religious bodies
mittee on ecumenics.                                             in the world. In 1939 there were 41,000 witnesses in 2,425
   The Reformed Church has membership in the World               congregations in the United States. At present there are
Council of Churches. When the question of communistic            308,000 members in 4,708 congregations in this country,
influence in the World Council of Churches came up, these        while Witnesses claim a world membership of about
questions were referred for study to the committee on            l,OOO,OOO.  This body also condemned the United Nations
the WCC.                                                         as a symbol of "idolatrous worship," and pledged that they

   One overture from California petitioned the Synod to          would never worship any organization which stands for

reconsider its membership in the WCC, but no action was          world sovereignty of political men.

taken on this overture.                                             Reviewing all these Conventions, Synods, Conferences

    Only on the question of race problems did the Synod          and what have you there is one impression that stands

take definite action. The Synod decided to "convey to the        out above others: while the church world drifts rapidly on

President of the United States its hearty agreement with         the currents of terrible apostasy, these conventions and

all steps taken by his administration to eliminate racial in-    conferences and synods sit back and pass their time in

justice," and to "commend the negro sit-inners and non-          exercises in trivia and making decisions that are of no

violent demonstrators for their courage, their willingness       concern to them or anyone else. They preside over the

to suffer for the sake of freedom, and their self-discipline     destruction of the Church while m.aking  silly motions

and non-violence in the face of extraordinary provocation."      about sillier things.
Synod also decided to accompany this decision with a gift                                                          H. Hanko


                                                                                                                                          ,
480                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER


                                                                     fourth of the series is "The &Ian  of Sin" (Sept. 22). "The

       NEWS FROM OUR. CHURCHES                                       Number of Man," concludes- the series September 29.
                                                                     Printed copies of these messages may be obtained by writ-
                `All  the saints  salute thee . . . :' PHIL: 4 21
                                                                     ing: to The Refqrrned  Witness Hour, Box 1230, Grand

                                                                     Rapids Mich.  49501.

                                              August 20, I963           Hope Church has instituted a new order in the celebra-
                                                                     tion of the Lord's Supper. The communicants now all par-
       Redlands' newest trio consists of the Revs. J. Kortering,     take of the bread and of the wine -in unison.
G. Vanden  Berg, and Candidate D. Engelsma.                             Harry Rutgers,. of _ the South Holland Y.P.S. recently
       Rev. C. Ha&o-  has- received- a call from- our Southwest-     gave an essay which purported to answer. the question,
Church in Grand Rapids.                                              "How was it-possible for Noah to keep all those animals in

       Our Missionary, Rev.      G. Lubbers, has been recalled       the Ark for such a long period of time?"

from Houston to investigate areas in the eastern part of                Did you know that last month a couple of pranksters

the U. S.                                                            stole the,  clapper from the bell in the steeple of First

       Candidate D. Engelsma is presently considering calls          Church? One evening two young boys entered the building

from Loveland, from Lynden and from Isabel-Forbes.                   and proceeded to the belfry (a height of a 5 story build-

       A new organization has been born in our denomination,         ing) by means of the inside ladders, and removed the 25
one with a noteworthy purpose:            to publish in book-form    lb. clapper from the 2000 lb. bell. Quite a feat! They were
the writings of our Prot. Ref. professors and ministers.             seen leaving the building with the cumbersome piece of
We are confident that this new Publication Committee will            cast-iron, but eluded their pursuers. A temporary clapper
receive the support of our people because it is so vitally           has been concocted by welding a few pieces of iron to-
important that the Word of God be maintained in this age             gether, and so - the bell of First Church is still heard each
of apostasy and modernism. Membership in this Committee              Sabbath Day before services, albeit with an inferior sound.
is of two kinds: Regular members whose support shall be                 It has been noted that collections have been. taken in
that of sharing the expense and the work involved: and               all our churches to help defray the building expense in-
associate members who cannot help with the work but who              curred by Lynden's people for their new church.
nevertheless do share by supporting the cause morally and               Have you obtained your copy of the Acts of Synod,
financially. So the way has been opened for all of you to            1963?  Besides the pre-synodical sermon by Rev. C. Hanko
take part in this titanic venture. The first book is designed        (which alone is worth the price of the book) you will hnd
to be Rev. H. Hoeksema's "Dogmatics." Watch this page                all the decisions taken by Synod, an interesting report of
and your church bulletins for further details concerning             the Mission Committee, plus many other items of interest
your part in this ambitious resolution of the Publication            to all who live along with the affairs of our denomination.
Committee.                                                           Get your copy from your pastor or clerk for only $1.00.
                                                                         Here is a clever filler in Southeast's bulletin but without
       Did you attend the Pre-Convention Hymnsing  held at
                                                                     the source of the quotation: "Too many Christians have
First Church Aug. ll? If so you very likely shared the view
                                                                     been starched and ironed, but never have been washed."
of those who reported it to be "the best ever.*
                                                                     It somewhat reminds one of the priest and the Levite
       At this writing Rev. and Mrs. C. Hanko and Mr. and
                                                                     and the Samaritan on the Jericho road.
Mrs. H. Meulenberg have just recently returned from their                `< . . . . the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-
plane trip to Jamaica.       Details of their missionary journey
                                                                     suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance;
will be divulged at various times and places that we all
                                                                     against such there is no law."                    - G a l .   5~22~23.
may know the results of their labors.
                                                                         . . * . See you in church.                               J.M.F.
       Radio Comm. contribution: During September Rev. C.

Hanko, pastor of First Church in Grand Rapids, is to be

the speaker on our distinctively Reformed radio broadcast.                             RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY

With the general theme - "The Rise and Developme.nt  of                 The Men's Society and de Mary-Martha Society of the, Hope
a World Empire" - Rev. Hanko introduces his first of five            Protestant Reformed Church of Redlands, California, wish to ex-
                                                                     press their sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Larry Huisken,  in de death
radio messages proclaiming the truth "that the rise and              of their infant daughter,
development of the kingdoms of this world point ever                                          DARLA JEAN HUISmN

more emphatically to a sure and speedy return of the Lord."          II Corinthians 1:3,4:     "Blessed be God, even the Father of our
September 1st message is entitled, "The Rise of a World              Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all com-
                                                                     fort; Who comforteth us in alI our tribulation, that we may be able
Empire." The second (Sept. 8) concerns "The Tower of                 to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith
Babel."      An exposition explaining "Nebuchadnezzar's              we ourselves are comforted of <God."
Golden Image" will be aired Sept. 15. The subject of the                                               Mr. GeraId  Feenstra, Secretary
                                                                                                       Mrs. Otto Gaastra, Secretary


