       VOLTJXS   X L                                                  APRIL  15, 1964  - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                         NUMBER 14

                                                                                                         to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in
t      h      e         F    a    c    e         o    f         J      e      s      u    s         C     h       r    i    s    t    .    "
                                                                                                           Look at the world: `7 am the Light of the'world!"
JESUS' APPEARANCE TO THE, MhGDALENE                                                                        And the government? "Unto Me is given all power in
            "Jesus saith unto. her, Wo'man,  why weepes't  thou? She,                                    heaven and earth."
             supposing Him to be the gardener, saith  un.`to Him,
             Sir, if  t7wu have borne Him hence, tell me where                                             The grave?  "0 death-where is thy sting? 0 grave where
             thou bust &cl Him, and I ,wiEl take Him away. Jesus                                         is thy victory?"
                                                                     -_        _.
            saith unto  her,  May.  ,She turned herself, and saith
            ,unto Him, Rabboni; which is to say,  Master."                                                 And what about that dark future? "Behold, I make all
                                                                                                                                                J
                                                                            John  20:15, 16.             things newl"
     All creation seems to be enveloped in darkness. .                                                     And it is  :alI due to the resurrection of Jesus Christ our
                                                                                                         Lord!
      The heart of man is dark, confused, chaotic.
      The whole world lieth in darkness; and darkness in Scrip-                                                                            n  *  * 4
ture is the embodiment of all that is ugly, filthy, wicked
and corrupt.                                                                                               No, no one has seen the resurrection of Jesus.
     The government is  d,ark, all government is  fin darkness
until now. For proof of this you go to the sessions of the                                                 None of the evangelists attests to the resurrection as such.
United Nations (sic!  ) .                                                                                  Matthew approximates nearest to it: a great earthquake is
      The grave is dark. We all move around a number of                                                  seen; an Angel of the Lord rolled back the stone; there is
years, and we grow uglier by the year. We,stumble a little,                                              the shaking watch; and the angel sitting on the rock.
and fall into the grave. They bury us, and our place knows                                                 What are we to say of this greatest of all miracles?
us no more.                                                                                                Well, for one thing it is called in the Bible "`the begin-
     The `future is dark. There, is an agonizing cry coming                                              ning of the creation of God." And Jesus- is called `the
from the `heart of `all men: Who will show us any good?                                                  beginning, the Firstborn from the -dead." He is called, be-
And there is no answer.                                                                                  cause of His resurrection "`the foundation of the Kingdom
     But attend to this: "The people that walked in darkness                                             of God," the Firstfruits of a glorious harvest which shall
have seen a great light: they that dwelled in the land of the                                            comprise a new world.
shadow of death upon tbemhath  the light shined,"                                                          And ,according  to the style of this resurrected Lord shall
      That was written  many years ago as a promise.                                                     the Building stand in all its beauty and glory.
     Well, the promise is fulfilled. Jesus came!                                                          Jesus is both resurrected and risen. According to His
                                                                                                         Godhead He arose. According to His manhood He was
     And coming, He suffered and died, but rose again on the                                             resurrected.
third day according to the Scriptures.                                                                     For Christ Himself this resurrection is the beginning of
     And now all is different. -                                                                         unutterable beauty and  glory:~  the Light of God's love re-
     Look at the heart of man: "For God who commanded                                                    placing the outer darkness of hell and damnation.
the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts,                                              The resurrection of Jesus told Him and us that the Father


314                                       T H E   S~LND&&D~   B E A R E R

had accepted the price of the -ransom of the brethren and               She is one of the women who had followed Jesus on
sisters.     -     .-                                             His trip to  Judea.  And those women ministered unto Him
                                                                  and unto the other apostles. They reminded the men when
  Moreover, God made Him Lord and Christ. God set Him             it was time to eat and to drink. They reminded the men
at the apex of the new creation: a name that is above all         when it was time to put on clean clothes. And so on.
other names in this world and in the world to come.
                                                                        Yes, this Mary was delivered by Jesus out of great misery.
  And His reward is with Him: a name above all names,             Hence, a great and burning love for Jesus.
the new world, the Church as His glorious Bride, absolute
victory over all His and our enemies, all the reward of                 And that is very evident: she.is the last at the cross and
grace.                                                            the--first at the sepulchre. She seeks and she weeps for
                                                                   esus.
  For us, the Church of God?                                      J                 +
                                                                        See how the love of God is without fear. She is not at all
  Christ's resurrection is our Light!                             afraid in the presence of angels, She investigates, answers,
  What does that mean?                                            and queries the angels. And then there is that Unknown
  This:                                                           behind her: she supposed Him to be the gardener.
                                                                        Beloved reader, this Mary is  the representative of all
  Absolute  justiilcation,  and that entails a perfect right-
eousness, forgiveness of all our sins, adoption unto children     God's beloved people, In themselves unclean and possessed
                                                                  with devils. But as called and cleansed by Jesus. And all
of God, the right to eternal life, and peace with God.            of them from the smallest to the greatest possessors of de
  But there is still more.                                        love of God.
  It also means the power of a new life. Attend to  this                Henceforth, all of them, like Mary, seek Jesus.
Scripture: "And what is the exceeding greatness of His
power to usward who believe, according to the working of                But let us return to Mary.
His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He                   She had come early to the sepulchre with the other
raised Him from the dead. . .  ." Note, that the same great       Mary, Salome, Joanna, and the others. They had `bought
and exceeding power which God wrought in Christ when              spices and saw where they had laid Him. And then they
He  raised Him from the dead,  He also wrought in us unto         rested according to God's commandment. But .at the dawn-
faith. In other words, the power of faith is the same power       ing of the day on that first New Testament Sabbath, they
that raised Jesus from the dead.                                  came with the purpose to anoint the dead body of Jesus
                                                                  as a last gesture of genuine affection for Him.
  And finally, the resurrection of Jesus is the earnest of our
blessed resurrection.                                                   As soon as our Mary saw the stone rolled away and the
                                                                  grave empty, she ran and told the disciples. And she fol-
  He arose: the Head!                                             lowed slower than Peter and John who ran. The women
  But the Head has our glorified body, soul and spirit with       had left, and the disciples had left. But Mary must needs
Him in the Throne of God!                                         stay. She loved Him so very, very much.
  And where the Head is, the Body must be!                              And then she saw the angels. Whom seekest thou,, why
  We are surely to follow Him in the resurrection from            weepest  thou?                                                                I
the dead!                                                               She answered and then saw that MAN behind her.
  What blessed comfort there is in Jesus' resurrection!
                                                          L,.                                 15  0  0  0
                         0  Q  0  e
                                                                        And the MAN spoke!                                                 ~
  Now let us attend to the seeking Mary.                                It  i&the voice of the Son of God who was beginning to
  Who is she?                                                     be glorified.
                                                                                                                                           I
                                                                        `Woman, why  weepest  thou?"
  She is Mary of Magdala, a village in Galilee.
                                                                        And Mary with her one-track mind says: I want Jesus!          I
  A woman who had an awful past: she had seven devils                                                                                 I
in her. She must have been a devilish woman, and I do                   Of course, Jesus knew. He simply wanted to draw her
not think that people allowed her to forget her past. That's      out. He wanted to bring her mind from the grave to
the way we are.                                                   Himself. .


                                                                                                             I

/

                                                            T H E .         STANDARD  RliARER                                                                                                                                   3 1 5

              But Mary imagines Him to be the gardener and wants                      -
            to know where he had laid the body of Jesus.                                                  T.HE  S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R
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                                                                                                                     Editor-Fbv.   HERMAN HOEKSEMA
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                                                                                                           1123 Cooper, S. E.,  Grand- Rapids 7,  Mich.
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              It is the eternal foreknowledge of love and lovingkindness.             2
              Mary!                                                                                                                   C.ONTENTS
     ~                                                                                MEDITATION  -
              It is the irresistible call that always will have an answer.                     Jesus' Appearance to the Magdalene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
                                                                                                         Rev. G. Vos
              In Mary's case: "Rabbonil"                                                                                                 I.
                                                                                      EDITORIALS-
              And that means: Master mine!                                                    D e Jong-Dekker ~ . . . . . . . . . . . .._.................................................. 316
                                                                                                         Rev.  H,.Hoeksema
              The irresistible call of Jesus gives content  .to. a burning
            heart of love.                                                            OUR DOCTRINE -
                                                                                               The Doctrine of the Church . . . . . . . . . . .._____._......................... . 319
              But Mary must learn that from then on there would have                                     Rev. H. Hoeksema
            to be another way of communion with her Lord. No longer                   _            _
            would she have that wonderful communion with Him on                       3PECIAL J%PORT  -                                                                                                                                    ~
                                                                                               The Second Vatican Council ( II) . .  ..__..________....  .  .321
            their travels from Galilee to  Judea,  and from  Judea to                                    Rev. G. Van  Baren
     i      Galilee; No longer would she do her nart in the ministering
     ~ to Jesus and His-disciples.                   -                                A  CLOUD  OF  WITNESSES   -
                                                                                               Samson Moved by the Spirit ____.  ..:  _._..._.._____.......  . . . . . 323
              But she would have the communion such as we have it                                        Rev. B. Woudenberg
            today: through His Word and Spirit.                                       FROM  HOLY WRIT  -
               Beloved reader, do you seek and long and yearn for                              Exposition of the Prophecy of Malachi . .  ..__.........................  ,325
            Jesus, the lover of your squl?                                                         `, Rev.. G. Lubbers
               There is only one answer left for you and for me: Master               IN HIS  FEAR-
                                                                                               Seeds of Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
            Mine!                                                                                        Rev. J. A. Heys
               Fall down on your  lmees and reach for Him who is the                  THE  VOICE OF  OUR  FATHERS  -
            Delight of the angels, and acknowledge that He owns you,                           The Belgic Confession . . . . . . . .  .._  .._.  .._.  __.... . .  _. .  .._...._ 329
            body and soul, for time and eternity. Master mine!                                           Rev. H. C. Hoeksema  '
                                      \                                        G.V. l%IE CkIUPdX AT WORSHIP-
                                                                                               The Form for Infant Baptism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
                                                                                                  R e v .   G .   Vanden  B e r g
                               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                 ALLi  ARouNn us  -
              The Men's Society of the Protestant Reformed Church of Holland                   A Lesson in Apostasy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
          express their deepest sympathy to Mr. Albert Klomparens in the                                 Rev.  H.. Hanko
            loss of his Brother,
                                                                                      CONTRIBU'ITONS  -
                                    MARINWS KLOMPARENS                                         Rank                     Arminianism  .                                           _.              _. .                           ,335
              May he experience the comfort of the Holy Spirit in this time of                           G.  Vanden Berg
            sorrow, is our prayer.                                                    NEWS FROM OUR C~uncu~s  . .                                                            I . . . . 338
                                                          Rev.  6.  Laming,  Pres.
                                                          B.  WindemuRer, Sec'y.                         Mr. J. M. Faber
                                                                                      f


316                                      THESTANDABD   BEABER

                                                                 read: "For thou  love&t me before the foundation of  the-
          EDlTChUALS                                             world."
                                                                  3. God loved, not all men, but His people, those whom
                                                                 the Father has given Him. Thus we read in I John  3:l:
                  De long- Dekker                                "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
                                                                 upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." That
Redemptive  - Redeeming love                                     this love is not for all men is evident from what follows
  In my` last article on the above mentioned subject I           in the same  verse: "therefore the world  knowetb  us not,
emphasized that, whether one uses the term redemptive or         because it knew him not." In I John  4:9: "In this was
kdeeming  love of God, it is certainly Love.                     manifested the love of God toward us, because that God
                                                                 sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we  might-
  With this Prof. Dekker fully agrees, as is not only evident    live through him." And in vs. IO of the same chapter:
from his chief proposition: "God loves - all men," but also      "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but he loved us,
from his latest article in the Reformed  JournaZ under the       and sent  his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." And
caption "Redemptive Love and the Gospel Offer." In this          that the personal pronoun in these verses does not refer
article he first of all mentions and criticizes the "Three       to all `men is very evident from the context. There we read
Points" of 1924, and then he continues: "But is not the offer    of `false prophets" that "are gone out into the world." In
of the gospel redemptive in character? Does it not pertain       vs. 5 ff. we read: "They are of the world (the world of
directly to redemption? Is there not then ample reason for       evil men, H.H.): therefore speak they of the world, and
speaking- of divine redemptive love toward all men?              the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth
  "As a matter of fact, I am ready to go one step further        God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us.
and say, as I have said previously in the Reformed Journal       Hereby know we the spirit' of truth, and the spirit of error."
discussion of the love of God and missions, that there is          4. The fruit of this love of God to us is, of  .course,  that
only one love of God to sinners and that this one love           we love God and also love one another. For this I do not
may be characterized as redemptive."                             have to quote: for, in the first place, this is evident from
  I have also explained that the term "`redemptive" is never     all Scripture, and, in the second place, we are writing
used in Scripture. The Bible speaks of redemption and            about the love of God to men.
redeeming love of God, but never of God's redemptive love.         Now, how in. the light of Scripture as quoted above,
  It almost seems that Dekker identifies "redemption" and        Dekker can maintain' that ~God loves all men is, I confess,
"redemptive." For  in. the quotation mentioned above he          impossible for me to understand.
writes that the "offer of the gospel is redemptive in char-        Nor can I understand  the distinction which he makes
acter," and that it "pertains directly to.redemption."           between "redemptive" and "redeeming" love of God. Fact
  Now, I have no objection that "there is only one love of       is, I doubt very much whether he understands this himself.
God to sinners," and  that this one love of God is surely        If he does, I wish he would make it clear. Thus far he has
redeeming. However, Dekker, when he writes that there            failed to do so, at' least, as far as I am concerned.
is only one love of God to sinners, means to say that God          In the next article, published in the Reformed Journal of
loves  all sinners; and this is neither Scriptural nor Re-       March, 1964, Prof. Dekker expresses himself very boldly
formed. This is, as I wrote before, pure universalism.           and also very heretically. In the very first paragraph he
  What is the love of God? In answer to this question I          writes :
would briefly say the following:                                   "THE GOSPEL IS GOD'S GOOD NEWS-THE GOOD
  1. First of all: "God is love." I John  4:8, 16. This means    NEWS that He `so loved the world that he gave his only
that love is the most essential virtue or attribute of God.      begotten Son' (John  3:16)  `and that Christ Jesus . . . gave
It means, too, that God lives the life of pure love. It,         himself a ransom for all' (I Tim.  2:5). For whom is this
finally, implies that God loves Himself, and that as the         news? For the world- for all men. God loves all! Christ
triune God He lives the life of most perfect and intimate        died for all! It is our joyful task to tell all men  the, news.",
fellowship within Himself and loves the creature -for His          It stands to reason that, if it be true that God loves all
name's sake.                                                     men, He can hate no one. It is for that reason, no doubt,
  2. Secondly, God loves Christ, His only begotten Son           that Dekker, in a footnote attempts to explain away the
in the flesh. Repeatedly He announces from heaven: "This         meaning of the term `hate" in Scripture. He makes three
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And in            observations. First, he writes that there is a difference be-
that high priestly prayer we find in John  17:23  ,we read:      tween hating sin and hating the sinner. Secondly, he ob-
"That the world may know that thou hast sent me, and             serves that `hate" in Scripture sometimes has the meaning
hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." And in vs. 24 we        of `love less.`? And thirdly, he writes that the word "hate"

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

in Scripture;. at least- in-the Old Testament, must be seen      it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As
in the light of progressive revelation. Of course, the reader    it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
understands that even so Dekker does not and cannot deny         (Rom.  9:lO).
that in several passages of Scripture the word means "hate         Then, after Calvin has contradicted Pighius' contention
persons." He merely does not mention this.                       that such passages as these are better left' alone, because
  But let us see.                                                the reader cannot properly understand them, he continues:
  In the Old Testament the Hebrew word for "hate" is               "The apostle places before us the two sons of Isaac, who,
SANEE. It is used of both persons and things. In some            when begotten together in the secret and sacred womb of
forms of this verb it means a hater, one that hates, an          nature, as in a temple. of God, as it were, were neverthe-
enemy. And derived from the same verb is a noun that             less, while in the womb together, separated by the oracular
means hatred.  -But always the word simply means `hate"          word of God to an entirely  different  destiny. Now the
and never `love less." Thus the word is used in Ps.  5:5:        apostle assigns the cause of this difference (which other-
"The foolish shall not-stand in thy sight,  thou  hatest all     wise might have been sought in the merits of the lives of
workers of iniquity." Does God love all men, Prof. Dekker?       these two children) to the hidden counsel of God. `That
Are not all the workers of iniquity excluded?                    the counsel of God might stand.' We here distinctly learn
  Then there is the passage of Malachi  1:2, 3: "Was not         that it was determined of God to choose one only out of
Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob,         these two children. And yet, Pighius by a senseless cavil,
and I hated Esau." Dekker likes to interpret this passage        as by a hog's snout,  tries to root up these words of the
as meaning "I loved Esau less than Jacob." Writes he:            apostle with all their positive plainness of meaning. He
"Perhaps, Romans  9:13, which quotes Malachi  l:l-5, is to       replies that the election of grace here means that Jacob
be understood in the same  way.:' But this is impossible as      had merited no such thing beforehand. But since the apostle
far as the text in Malachi is concerned for as I said above,     commends this electing grace of God on the very ground
`the verb SANEE used in Malachi never means anything             that while the one was elected, the other was rejected, the
else than hate. For the same reason also the verb used in        vain fiction of Pighius falls to the ground at once. The
Romans 9: 13 (emiseesa) must mean the same thing.~               apostle does not here simply, say that Jacob was appointed
  In this connection I, too, would adduce a few quotations       heir of life, that the election of God might stand, but that
from Calvin as Dekker also does. It is true that Calvin          his brother being rejected, his brother's birthright was con-
wrote many things, and he is not always the same. I prefer       ferred on  lzim. I am fully aware what some other dogs
to quote from the book that was given to me by Hem-y             here bark out, and what are the murmurings of many
Atherton after I preached in Grove Chapel, London, on            ignorant persons, that the testimonies of the apostle which
July 21, 1929. This work of Calvin is almost entirely con-       we have cited do not treat of  etemuZ   life, nor of eternal
troversial and that, too, on the important subject of pre-       destruction at all. But if such objectors held the  true prin-
destination, election and reprobation. He also writes on the     ciples of theology in any degree (which ought to be well
passage of Scripture found in Romans 9 and the truth that        known by all Christian men),' they would express their
God loved Jacob and hated Esau. And this is the reason           sentiments with a little less confidence and insolence. For
why I quote him in this connection.                              the answer of God to Rebecca's complaint was designed
                                                                 to show her that the issue of the struggling which she felt
  Here, then, follow a few quotations:                           in her womb would be that the blessing of God and the
  "Now let that memorable passage of Paul ( Rom. 9:  lo-         covenant of eternal life would rest with the younger. And
13) come forth before us. This passage alone should              what did the struggling itself signify, but that both the
abundantly  suffice to put an end to all controversy .among      children could not be heirs of the covenant at the same
the sober-minded and obedient children of God. And al-           time, which covenant had already, by  the secret counsel
though it is no wonder that that eyeless monster, Pighius,       of God, been decreed for the  one.=
should mock with contempt the words of the apostle him-            Calvin mentions still other objectors who hold that the
self, yet I hope I shall bring all readers of a sound mind       covenant referred to the land of Canaan. Thus according
to abhor such barbarous audacity in profaning the Scrip-         Malachi. To this Calvin replies that the land of Canaan
ture as this monster evinces. . .  ."     .                      was, indeed, promised to Abraham but, nevertheless, it
  Then Calvin first of all cites and explains the promise        was only a symbol of a better inheritance. And then Calvin
to Abraham that Sarah shall have a son. And then he con-         continues: "These great ends and objects are those which
tinues: "And not only this ( saith the apostle), but when        the prophet is revolving in his deep and reflective mind.
Rebecca also had conceived. by one, even by our father           In a word, the prophet is holding Canaan to be the sacred
Isaac (for the children not yet born, neither having done        habitation of God. And as Esau was deprived of this habi-
any good or evil, that  the. purpose of God according to         tation, the prophet sacredly gathers that he was hated (not
election might, stand, not of works but of him that calleth),    loved less, H.H.), because he had been thus rejected from


318                                        ,THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

the holy and elect family on which the love of God perpetu-         "`If Pighius be anxious here to dwell upon the longsuffer-
ally rests. . . . The  ap.ostle expressly declares that the      ing of God, I fully agree with him; this fact, nevertheless,
brothers were thus separated, and this difference made           remains fixed and unaltered, that the reprobate are set
between them, before either of them had done any one             apart in the purpose of God, for the very end that in them
thing good or evil. From these facts the apostle solemnly        God might show forth his power. And that the longsufFering
settles it, that the difference made between the children        of God is, in the present instance, far removed from the
was not from any works whatever, but from the will of            apostle's mind and argument is evidenced from his imme-
him that called."                                                diate inference, when he observes `Whom he will he hard-
  Pighius also avers that God's election is based upon the       eneth.' . . . . . And most certainly the expression `raised up'
foreseen works  -of the elect. To this Calvin replies: "Why      comprehends not less distinctly than summarily, what he
`does Paul so particularly say that the children had done        had touched upon both concerning the elect and the repro-
neither good nor evil? but that he might do away with all        bate, since he is claiming for God the right ,and the power
respect of merit in them? Why? But that he might positively      to have mercy on whom he will, and to harden whom he
a&m  that God drew his reasons from no other source than         will according to His own pleasure and purpose." . . .
from his own mind and will when he pronounced so differ-            . .  * "After the apostle had shown that God had made a
ent a judgment on the twin brothers. . . . But I would first     distinction between the elect and the reprobate by his in-
of all ask this question, If Esau and Jacob had been left to     comprehensible will, he draws in the same context the
the course of  .their own common nature, what greater            inference: `For he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy;
amount of good works would God have found in the latter          and whom he will he hardeneth.' n `Calvin's Calvinism,"
than in, the former? Most decidedly the hardness of a stony      ,pp. 55, ff.
heart in both would have rejected salvation when offered."          I could quote a good deal more, but let this be sufficient.
  He also quotes from Augustine (as, in fact, he does more          Sufficient it is to prove that Calvin certainly does not
often), as follows:                                              agree with Prof. Dekker's main proposition that God loves
  "That the redeemed are distinguished from the children         all men.
of perdition by grace alone, which redeemed ones that               Sufficient it is, too, to show that Calvin does not teach
common mass of original corruption would have gathered           that God loved Esau less than Jacob, as Dekker suggests,
to the same perdition but for the free grace of God. Whence      for he says repeatedly that God hated him.
it follows, that the grace of God to be preached is that by         Finally, Calvin speaks repeatedly of election and reproba-
which he makes men elect, not that by which he finds             tion, which Prof. Dekker does not and cannot believe.
them. such."                                                        But we are not finished yet with Dekker's latest article.
  To this Calvin adds the following comments :                   More next time, the Lord willing.                       . H.H.
  "If God foresees anything in his elect, for which he sep-
arates them from the reprobate; it would have been quite
senseless in the apostle to have argued that it was not `of
works, but of him that calleth,' because God had said, `the                       Ccl11 to Synod of 1964
elder shall serve the younger,' when the children were not          According to the decision of the Synod of 1963, the
yet born."                                                       Consistory of the First Protestant Reformed Church of
  Hence, Calvin rejects the theory proposed by the oppo-         Grand Rapids, Michigan, hereby  notiiies the churches that
nents of election and reprobation that predestination is         the 1964 Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches will
based on foreseen good or evil and finds the only ground         convene  on- Wednesday, June 3, at 9:00 A.M. in the above
in the absolutely free and sovereign will of `God.               mentioned church, D.V.
                                                                    The pre-synodical service will be held on Tuesday eve-
  Calvin, moreover, also,refers  to the case of Pharaoh as it    ning, June 2, at 8:00 P.M. at First Church. Rev. J. A.
is quoted in the further context by the apostle:       :         Heys, -president of last year's Synod will lead the service.
  "We have next to consider the remaining. members of the           Synodical-  delegates are requested to meet with the con-
apostle's sentence concerning the reprobate. Of these Paul       sistory before this service.    *
brings before us Pharaoh as the most signal instance. For           Delegates in need of lodging should contact Mr. C.
God himself thus speaks of him, by Moses: `And in very           Jonker, 835 Geneva Ave., S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan,
deed, for this cause have I raised  thee up, for to show in      49507.
thee my power.' . . . Pharaoh, therefore, is declared to be                        Consistory of the First Protestant Reformed
put forth openly and prominently as one whom God makes                             Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan
a memorable example of his power. . . .                                                 Rev. C. -Hanko,  President
  He continues :                                                                        C.`Jonker, Secretary


                                           T H E   ` S T A N D A R D '   BEARER                                                 319

                                                                    whether they ime of the Jews or of the Gentiles. Moreover;
11  0-U R  I3 0 C T R I  N E  11 the text emphasizes that only in that sense is he the father
                                                                    of circumcision. Not. all `of the circumcision are the true
                                                                    seed of Abraham, but only those among them that believe.
         iHE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH                                 For he is the father of circumcision, that is,  "to them who
                        C H A P T E R   V I I I                     are not of the circumcision only, but who `also walk in the
                                                                    steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had
              THE SACRAMENT OF-BAPTISM                              being yet uncircumcised." Thirdly, to this one spiritual
                         (continued)                                seed there is one and the same promise, the promise, name-
                                                                    ly, that they should be heirs of the world. They which are
  That this is true can be proved from'many passages of             merely of `the law and of the flesh are not heirs of the
Holy Writ. Thus, for instance, in Romans 9:6-8 we read:             promise at all, but only they which are of the-faith of our
"Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect.              father Abraham, who is the father of us all. One father
For they are not all Israel,. which are of Israel. Neither,         Abraham, one seed of Abraham, one In-omise  to Abraham's
because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all chil-            seed, one way to obtain the promise, the way of the right-
dren: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They         eousness which is by faith,  - this is the clear teaching of
which are the. children of the flesh, these are not the chil-       this passage of Holy Writ.
dren of God: but the children of the promise are counted
for the seed." It is evident from the`context, as well as from      The same truth is taught us in Romans  2:26,29:   `<For  he
the text itself, that the apostle is here speaking of the Jews      is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that cir-
of the old dispensation. Secondly, it is evident that the           cumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew;
apostle makes a distinction between those that are c$ Israel        which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart,
and those that  are Israel indeed. The people as such, the          in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of
nation, were all of Israel; but `even in the old dispensation       men, but of God." Here too we are very plainly taught              _
all was not Israel, -In the third place, it is also evident that    that `the mere Jew was never the seed of Abraham. Only he
according to the passage referred to, only, spiritual Israel,       was a true Israelite in whose heart was present the spiritual
believers, they that were born of the promise, by the power         reality corresponding to the sign of circumcision, -faith.
of the promise, as Isaac was, are counted for the seed. The         Believers only, therefore, are the true seed of Abraham.
Jews as such were never the seed of Abraham, although                 And that the people of God both in the old and new
the seed of Abraham for a time were confined to the nation          `dispensations are one people is very plainly taught in Gala-
of Israel.                                                          t&n:  3,:7-g, 16-29, and Galatians  4:1-7. In 3:7-9 we read:
  The same. truth is taught in Romans  4:11-16: "And he             "Know ye therefore that they which are of faith,`the  same
received the sign of circumcision, the seal of the righteous-       are the children of Abraham. And the scriptures, foresee-
ness of the `faith which he had yet being uncircumcised:            ing that God would justify the heathen through faith,
that he might be the father of all them that believe, though        preached  .before  the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee
they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be im-            shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith
puted unto them also: And the father of circumcision to             are blessed with faithful Abraham." In the same chapter,
them who `are not of the circumcision only, but who also            16-29, we  read:  "Now to Abraham and his seed were the
walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham,              promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many;
which he had being yet uncircumcised. For the promise,              but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this
that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abra-           I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God
ham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the right-        in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years
eousness of faith: For if they which are of the law be heirs,       after, cannot  disannul,  that it should make the promise of
faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:            none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no
Because the law worketh  wrath: for where no law is, there          more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith, that it might        Wherefore then serveth the law? It -was added because of
be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all            transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the prom-
the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that         ise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand
also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of         of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one,
us all." Also from this passage it is very evident that not         but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of
the Jews as such, but only believers are `the true seed of.         God? God forbid: for if there. had been a law given which
Abraham, and that too, both in the old and in the new dis-          could have given life, verily righteousness should have been
pensation. Abraham is  ,here  called the father of all them         by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under
that believe, both of those that are of the circumcision, the       sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given
Jews, and of those that are of the uncircumcision, all na-          to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept
tions. Hence, they that believe are'the seed of Abraham,            under the law, shut up unto the faith which should  after-

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

  wards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmas-             of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be
  ter to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by          measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in
  faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under         the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my
  a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith         people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons
  in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized           of the living God. Then shall the children of Judah and
  into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor            the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint
  Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male        themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the
nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye             land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel." This passage
  be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs accord-          speaks evidently of the ten tribes of Israel, and is a proph-
  ing to the promise." And in  4:1-7 we read: "Now I say,             ecy of a great and glorious restoration in which Israel shall
  that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth  nothing from    be changed from being called Loruhamah into the state
  a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and        of being called the sons of the living God. Such is the
  governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so           meaning of  Hosea  1:lO and 11. But in the passage from
  we, when we were children, were in bondage under the                Rornans 9 the apostle does not hesitate at all to interpret
  elements of the world; But when the  fulness of time was            the passage of  Hosea in such a way that it applies to  then
  come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made                 church of the new dispensation. The text reads as follows:
  under the law, To redeem them that were under the law,              `<Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but
  that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because             also of the Gentiles? As he saith also in Osee, I will call
  ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into         them my people, which were not my people; and her be-
  your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. wherefore thou art no            loved,  which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass,
  more a servant, but a `son; and if a son, then an heir of           that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not
  God through Christ."                                                my people; there shall they be called the children of the
    The real seed of Abraham, therefore, according to the             living God." We readily understand, of course, that such
  texts we quoted above, are the believers, or tbe elect. This        an application of the text in  Hosea  could never be  made
  is true not only of the new dispensation but also of the            except on the thoroughly Scriptural basis of the' unity of
  old. Centrally the seed of Abraham is Christ. The apostle           the church of the old and new dispensations. We may also
  even draws an argument from the fact that the singular,             compare Jeremiah 31:31-34 with Hebrews 8:6-13. The pas-
  seed, is used instead of the plural, seeds. Centrally, there-       sage from Jeremiah reads as follows: "Behold, the days
  fore, Christ is, as we have said before, the only seed of           come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant
  Abraham. Secondly, however, if Christ is the seed of Abra-          with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not
  ham in the central sense of the word, it stands to reason           according to the covenant I made with their fathers in the
  that they only can be  ,seed  with Christ that are in Him,          day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the
  whether they be of the old or of the new dispensation. Gal.         land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although
  3:7. Thirdly, the entire passage emphasizes that there is           I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall
  only one promise for the one seed of `Abraham, and that             be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel;
  therefore believers are the only heirs of the promise. Gal.         After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their
  3:29. Fourthly, note that the apostle compares the church           inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their
  of all ages, of the old and of the new dispensation, to a           God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach
  growing child. In the old dispensation it is the heir that is       no more every man his neighbour; and every man his
  still a child and is therefore under the tutorship of the law.      brother, saying,  KnoW the Lord: for they shall all know
  But now, in the new dispensation, it is grown up into an            me, from the.least-of  them unto the greatest of them, saith
  adult; it is a son who has received the inheritance. The            the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will re-
  point is here that the church of the old and new dispensa-          member their sin no more." And the passage from Hebrews
  tion are likened unto one person. when a  child grows into          8:6-13 reads as follows: "But now hath he obtained a more
  an adult, it does not become an altogether different person,        excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of
  but is the same individual. It is therefore the clear  teach-       a better covenant, which was established upon better prom-
  n&of  the Word of God that there is only one people of              ises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then
  God; and that this people of God is called the seed'of Abra-        should no place have been sought for the second. For
  ham in Christ, and that therefore the seed of Abraham is            finding fault with  them, be saith, Behold, the days come,
  not the Jews as such, neither the Gentiles as such, but the         saith the Lord, ,when I will make a new covenant with the
  believers  with faithful Abraham, of the Jews and of the            house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according
  Gentiles both.                                                      to the covenant that I made with their fathers in' the  -day
    The same truth will be evident to us by a comparison              when I took them by the hand to lead,  them out of thealand
  of  Hosea 1:lO and 11 with Romans 9:24-26. In the passage           of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and
  from  Hosea 1 we read: "Yet the number of the children              I regarded them not, saith the Lord.                    H.H.


                                                 T    H    E         S.TAtiDARD   .BEAR.ER                                                   321
                                                                                             . .        _                -
L____                                                                       WHAT VATICAN II CANNOT DO
             SPECLAL REPORT                                          I When the council was fist announced, some naively
                                                                            spoke of the possibility that several of the more offensive
                                                                             (to Protestants) dogmas might be revised or revoked by
       THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL                                           the  cotid. Among these, the most commonly suggested
                                                                            was the dogma of papal infallibility. Other dogmas were
                                    II.                                     also mentioned: those concerning Mary, the mother of
                  THE PWosi OF v.m&4iV 11                                   Jesus; the  .Eucharist  or Lord's Supper; and even the sub-
THE CONVOCATION  OF VATICAN II                                              ject of justification by works.
                                                                              But Vatican II cannot and will not either revise or  rep
 The official text of the Vatican statement which first an-                 voke any of these dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church.
nounced the proposed council, read:                                         Let this be clearly noted and remembered! First, justifica-
        On the occasion of his visit this morning to the Patriarchal        tion by faith vs. justification by works is considered a dead
     Basilica, the Supreme Pontiff John XXIII, after assisting at the       issue. Most Protestants are no longer offended by the
     Papal Chapel, delivered a discourse to the eminent Cardinals           Decrees of Trent on- this question - how could they be, in
     present at the solemn rite.
        His Holiness dwelt on several of the more important aspects         light of what they themselves teach? Hans  Kiing  (Swiss
     of apostolic activity, which had come to his notice during these       Roman Catholic theologian, and one of the foremost ad-
     first three months  of  his pontificate . . .                          vocates of'reform) correctly states concerning most Protes-
       As supreme pastor of the Church, he underlined the daily             tant theologians:
     increasing perils threatening the spiritual lives of the faithful,
     notably errors which are  inhltrating their ranks at various                  Even Protestant theologians admit today that  Luther  (and
     points and the immoderate attractions of material goods which               hence the other-Reformers too) did not have St. Paul and the
                                                                                 Scriptures behind them in all their declarations and demands,
     have increased more than ever with the advent of technical                  and were to this extent mistaken in particular points  of their
     progress.                                                                   understanding of the Faith. Even those who see much that
       . . . The convocation of the ecumenical council, in the                   is positive in  them cannot simply regard Luther and the Re-
     thoughts of the -Holy Father, aims not only at the edification              formers as perfect hearers of the Word of God. . . .
     of Christian peoples, `but is intended also as an invitation to
     the separated communities in quest of unity, to which end                     This is shown, among many other things, by that very
                                                                                 articie of faith which was once regarded as the theological
     so many hearts aspire in so many parts of the earth.7                       root of the schism of the Reformation, but which could
                                                                                 scarcely serve today to bring about any division  from the
  Two -statements in this official text, possibly deliberately                   Church  whatsoever: the doctrine of the justification of the
vague, gave rise to erroneous conclusions in some "Protes-                       sinner by God's  grace."9
tant" circles.-  According to the Pope, the Council aims at the
"edification of Christian peoples," not only, but it is. also                 Besides, it is the position of the Romish Church that its
"an invitation to the separated communities in quest of                     dogmas are infallibly inspired andOadopted  by the church.
unity. . . .= Some concluded that the council possibly would                Thus, it is impossible that error should be found in adopted
be a gathering of delegates of all churches, under the                      dogma. For instance, the decrees of Trent cannot be
sponsorship of Rome, to discuss and seek solutions to dif-                  changed. Papal infallibility remains an eternal truth These
ferences separating the churches. Or, at least, so the spec-                dogmas, once adopted, can be elaborated upon and de-
ulation ran, Rome would invite a number of participating                    veloped, but never, never rescinded. The reform-minded
delegates from other churches.                                              Kiing reminds. us very forcefully of this fact:
  But soon it became evident that the council was wholly                           We cannot speak of any "deformation" in the Church's
a Roman Catholic affair. In time, invitations were issued to                     dogma, such as is possible in theology, nor, in consequence,
certain receptive churches to.send observers; but, of course,                    in this sense, of a "reform" of doctrine. What the Catholic
they had no vote nor any opportunity to present their ideas                      Church does recognize in her dogma is the giving of new
before the council. The reason for calling the council, ac-                    forms or more developed forms to a doctrine which has not
                                                                                 in every respect achieved its complete form; as the Vatican
cording to Pope John, was to "renew" the Roman Catholic                          Council defined it, a growth and advance. . . .
Church in order to make it more "up-to-date," and thus                             Can we be Christian without-though in a different way  -
also more attractive to the "separated brethren." The New                        being  Marian too? Can we work at Christian theology without
Repuldic  magazine gave this summary of the official Romish                      - though in a different way  -  worhtig at  Marian theology too?
attitude concerning the purpose of the council:                                  Considering how often it took centuries to plumb the depths
                                                                                 of scriptural meaning, is it not possible that here too there
       (The Council) is to engage in an inner purification and                   were precious treasures lying hidden for quiet meditation and
     realization of the Church, so that it may offer more of what                prayer to discover? Can there, finally, be any reunion in Christ
     the Pope has termed "a gentle invitation" to non-Catholic                   which would leave the mystery of Mary to one side? Do  -we
     Christians. The word  - which defies translation  - most fre-               not here again need the undiminished Gospel, given its un-
     quently used to describe the end toward which the Council                   diminished value and brought out into the full light of  day?"10
     will strive, `is  uggiornomente,  to renew the life of the church
     in the light of new  circumstances.s                                     If there is yet any doubt whatsoever, let us listen to Pope


322.                 .-              : :               -THE'  S$AMDARD   B.EARER
     John XXIII himself as he spake the opening address to                       of its dogmas, but streamline or bring up-to-date its out-
the Vatican Council:                                                             ward appearance and its mode of operation. I conclude,
           In order that this doctrine  iniluence the numerous fields of         that the reasons for this modernization are threefold: (1)
          human activity, with reference to individuals, to families and         to facilitate the spread of Roman Catholicism (through the
          to social life, it is necessary  hrst of all that the church should    revision of its liturgy, by sending more ordained men on
          never depart from the sacred patrimony of truth received from
          the fathers. . . .                                                     the mission fields, etc. ) ; (2) to encourage the return of the
            . . . The salient point of this Council  is  not, therefore, a       "separated brethren" (through the removal or minimizing
          discussion of one article or another, of one fundamental doc-          of traditional objections especially toward the hierarchy,
          trine of the church, which has repeatedly been taught by the           and by encouraging a certain "holy liberty" of expression
          fathers and the ancient and modern theologians, and which is           at the council which many Protestants thought impossible
          presumed to be well-known and familiar to all.
            For this a Council was not necessary, But from the renewed,          in the Romish Church) ; and (3) to increase the power and
          serene and tranquil adhesion to all the teachings of the church        influence of the Roman Catholic Church in the world  (es-
          in its entirety and preciseness, as it still stands resplendent in     pecially in promoting itself as the most promising  i.nS~U-
          the acts of the Councils of Trent and Vatican I, the Christian,        ment for establishing peace on  ea.rth). As you read of
          Catholic and apostolic spirit of the whole world expects a             future decisions of the council, observe how these decisions
          step forward toward a doctrinal penetration. . .  .11                  will readily serve one or more of the above three purposes.
                                                                                   To my mind, the council represents a long step toward
     WHAT  VATlCAbl II STRIVES TO ACCOMPLISH
       If Vatican II cannot and will not reform its dogma, then                  the establishment of the one united church of the antichrist
                                                                                 which will exist briefly at the end of time. I dare not say
what is this "`doctrinal penetration" of which Pope John
     spake? We can determine this somewhat from the schemata                     precisely how the decisions of this council will serve that
presented to the council for, consideration. The following                       end, but the way is definitely being opened. There is, addi-
                                                                                 tionally, the deliberate  attempt  to establish peace, not of
appear to be the principal problems to be confronted:  (I)                       Scripture-but of that final antichristian kingdom (the Rom-
the question of the "separated brethren" and their "return";                     ish Church is hardly alone in seeking that peace). Thus,
     (2) Mariology;  (,3) the Bible, tradition, and their relation-              not the cause of Christ, but the cause of the antichrist is
     ship; (4) the relationship between science and religion;                    being advanced. Time magazine (March 13,  1964),  speak-
     (5) the influence of the church upon world peace; (6) the                   ing of the rapid rise and increasing popularity of the
relationship of church and state in the field of education;                      ecumenical movement, concludes, "Yet even churchmen who
     (7) decentralization; (8) the relationship of church and                    do not want, or foresee, the ultimate creation of one great
     state in the sphere of "religious liberty"; (9) the `lay                    Christian church believe that the ecumenical tide cannot
     apostolate.                                                                 be stemmed, nor should it be. `What it really amounts to,'
       The late Pope John himself declared:                                      says one Catholic priest in Pittsburgh, `is a diminuation of
            The forthcoming Council will meet, therefore, and at a
          moment in which the Church finds very alive the desire to              suspicion and an acceleration of good will. We sirnply aren't
          fortify its Faith and to contemplate itself in its own  awe-           fighting each other any more."' The Vatican Council; to
          inspiring unity. In the same way it feels more urgent the duty         a very large degree, has fostered this situation. The coun-
          to give greater efficiency to its sound vitality and to promote        cil, then, ought to be a reminder to each of us again how
          the sanctification of its members, the  diffusion of revealed          very near we are to the end of time.                         G.V.B.
          truth, the consolidation of its agencies. . . .
             Then,' at a time of generous and growing `efforts which are          7.  The  New  York Times,  January 26, 1959, page 3
/         made in different parts for the purpose of rebuilding that              8. The New Republic,  November 6, 1961, pg. 7
I         visible unity of all Christians which corresponds to the wishes         9. Hans  Skiing,  The Council, Reform and Reunion,  Sheed and Ward,
b         of the Divine Redeemer, it is very natural that the forthcoming            pp. 74, 116
        Council should provide premises of doctrinal clarity and of              10.  ibid., pp. 112, 128
          mutual charity that will make still more alive in our separated        11. New York Times,  October  12, 1962, pg. 8
          brethren the  -wish for the hoped-for return to unity and will         12. Pope John XXIII,  Christmas Day Bull  - 1861
          smooth the way. . . .
            And finally, to a world which is lost, confused, and  anxious
          under the constant threat of new, frightful conflicts, the forth-
          coming Council must offer a possibility for all men of good                               Ladies League Meeting
          will to turn their thoughts and their intentions toward peace,
          a peace which can and must, above all, come from spiritual               The Eastern Ladies' League will hold its Spring Meet-
          and supernatural realities, from human intelligence and con-           ing on Thursday evening, April 23, at 8:00 P.M., at the
          science, enlightened and guided by God the Creator and
          Redeemer of  humanity.]-2                                              Hope Protestant Reformed Church. Our speaker will be
                                                                                 the Rev. R. Harbach, who will speak on "Personal Dedica-
       We ought to note the pope's emphasis upon the `hoped-                     tion and Consecration". We invite all our ladies to meet
     for return-to unity," and secondly, the seeking of an earthly               with us and enjoy an evening of Christian edification and
     "peace." The aim of the council, then, doubtlessly is to                    fellowship.
modernize the Roman Catholic Church-not retract any                                                                               Vice Secretary

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

                                                                 even  moFe....so because they knew the child was at heart
11 A CLOUD `OF  W.CTNES$ES  `11 good andGod-fearing. They were careful to keep him faiih-
                                                                 fully according to his Nazarite vows; but beyond that, they
                                                                 found it hard to deny him the pleasures that he wanted,
       ,_ Sakson Moved By The Spirit                             nor was the child above taking advantage of  tbis. As he
                                                                 grew older, Samson more and more dominated the home;
       And the woman  bare, a son, and called his name           and his parents appeared to be little more than his servants.
     Samson: and the child grew,.  arid the LORD blessed         It was a disturbing mar in an otherwise beautiful home.
    -him.
       And the spirit of the LORD began to  mooe him at
     times in the camp  of  Dan. between Zorah and Eshtaol.        In addition, neither was it possible to keep the child
                                             Judges  13:24,25    completely  ,free  from the influences of the day in which
                                                                 they lived. The boy was an outgoing child who found it
  In due time there was born unto the wife of  Manoah            easy to mingle with people. He could converse`easily and
a son, just as the Lord had promised them. It was surely         had a pleasant touch of humor. As he became older,- he
an occasion of greatest joy. Not only had they as much as        roamed freely from home until he became a familiar figure
given up all hope of having any children, but now they           in the territory of Dan around Zorah and the borders of
had the assurance of the Lord that this son would live           the Phil&tines.
before His face, and that, in a very special way, he would                   :.
begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.          By the time Samson came of age, he was indeed a strange
This was to them a wonderful assurance, for in the younger       and enigmatic figure in the land. His appearance was un-
generations those who remained faithful to the service of        mistakable, with his long uncut hair marking him a  Naz-
Israel's God were hardly to be found. The Phi&tines had          arite  dedicated to the service of Jehovah. Nor can we
overrun the land, and the younger people stood in great          doubt that this was evident also in his conversation. He
admiration of their power. Even more, the Philistines were       was a man of faith who loved God and his chosen people.
always ready to invite the young people of Israel to join        Accordingly he hated the Philistines and counted them his
them in the worship of their idols, and few any more re-         enemies. Whenever Samson talked to his fellow Israelites
fused. Philistines and Israelites everywhere were visiting       he was sure to remind them of their heritage before  Jk-
together, worshiping together, and marrying each other.          hovah, and. that the Phil&tines  were a wicked .people whom
Few of the children of Israel even thought any more of           they all should treat as enemies. Even when Samson talked
resisting the domination of these heathen. It was easier to      to the Philistines themselves he left no question but that
leave things. as they were. But  Manoah  and his wife were       he considered them to be antagonists of his  .God. But it
different. They still feared the Lord and were overjoyed         was an easy-going day, and no one was inclined to get
in the promise that their son would do-so also.                  excited over  ;Vhat  Samson said. Although many  of. the
                                                                 children of Israel may have agreed with him in private,
  From the `moment of his birth, and, in fact, even before,      no one was ready to show any outright opposition to such
this child was dedicated to the Lord. He was to be a             overwhelming power as the Philistines possessed. They just
Nazarite; and all of the while that he was being carried,        let Samson go his own way, hoping that he would not
Manoah's  wife was careful to keep herself from the fruit        get into too much trouble. Even the Philistines were in-
of the vine. Once the child was born, `a razor was never         clined to take him philosophically. They realized that he
brought near his head, for he belonged to God and not to         was really opposed to them; but he was an interesting
man. But most important of all, from the moment of awak-         character and fun to have around. The fact was that Sam-
ening comprehension, the child was instructed in the fear        son was more and more to be found among the Philistines
of the Lord. In the midst of the evil of that day the home       in spite of his expressed convictions, and they seemed to
of  Manoah  glowed with a spiritual light. It was like an        receive him rather freely.
oasis in the wilderness, and like an isle` in a troubled sea.                      :`.
Day after day those two old people did their very best to          At last the time came when disaster struck in the home
guide their child, instruct him, and give to him an example      of  Manoah  and his wife, at least in so far as they were
of godly life. And what was even more wonderful, the             concerned. Samson returned from one of his frequent jour-
child received it. He had the love of God in his heart and       neys into the land of the Philistines with the announcement
believed all that was taught him with faith. He was a            that he intended to take one of the daughters of the  Phil-
source of constant joy to his parents.                           istines to be his wife. Even more, he wanted that his
                                                                 parents should go to her parents and make arrangements
  Still, neither the child nor his parents were free from        for their marriage. From the parents there went up a cry
sin. It was perhaps quite natural that those two old people      of  anguish.~ For a long  time they had been watching Sam-
whose lives were so completely centered in their child           son's more and more frequent. visits in the land of the
were unable to resist the temptation to spoil him. This was      Philistines with dismay. Now it seemed that the  .worst


 3     2    4                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A ` R E R

 was being realized. In their despair they answered Sam-          true, and that a peacefullcoexistence  `with them was not
son, "Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy           possible.
 brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take
 a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?"                          Finally, in his frustration, Samson decided that he had
                                                                  to go out among the Philistines and gather concrete proof
      But Samson had long since ceased to fear the disap-         that they were not honest and true, as everyone wanted
 proval of  his, parents. Their discipline had never been         to maintain.  Again  and again he went out into the land
 severe, and through the years he had learned how to get          of the Philistines to observe for himself what they  -were
 his way quite well. He did not argue with them. He did           like. Neither did it take him long to find enough to more
 not show any anger. He did not `try to excuse or explain         than convince himself that he was right; these were a
 himself. Quietly but firmly he merely repeated his wish          godless people who had no feeling at all for right or wrong,
 as one who was accustomed to-being obeyed, "Get her for          fairness or justice, honesty and truth. And yet, as much as
 me; for she  pleaseth  me well." Besides, he realized that       he could tell for himself from watching them and listening
his parents would never understand the true motives which         to their speech, these were not the kind of things which
 .he held in his heart.                                           he needed to convince his fellow Israelites. He had to
                                                                  have concrete examples of the deceitfulness of these  Phil-
      Actually Samson was a very complex character who even       istines. He had to have real instances from his  pwn  life,_
- today is not very clearly understood. The fact was that in      which he could point to and say,' "Look, this is what they
 Samson's own mind his motives were not too clear. There          did to me; is that what you call honest dealings and
 was, of course, the surface motive which Samson had for          tdh?"
 wanting to marry this woman, and which he expressed to
 his parents very bluntly, `She  pleaseth  me well." Samson         Thus it was that he finally decided to go all of the way
 was not one to deny himself anything he really desired.          and actually join himself to that heathen nation, so as to
 From his youth.. he had grown up demanding what he               let them show whether their dealings with him would be
 wanted, and he was not now about to change. He had met           straight or not. By this time he had -met a girl which
 this girl; he liked her; and he wanted to marry her. In  his     pleased  him and with whom he might choose to live. He
 mind this was perfectly clear, and reason enough. But for        would marry her and live among the Phil&tines.  The Phil-
 that reason also his parents were quite right. Although, istines in turn would be forced to deal with him in real
 they were not without blame for this weakness in Samson's        and concrete terms; and he would watch and judge them
 `character, what they said was true. Samson did not belong       according to an unwavering standard of justice and right.
 with the Philistines. `He belonged to the nation of Israel,      Whenever they were dishonest with him, whenever they
 and in the nation of Israel he should have found his wife.       did anything to him that was not strictly honest and true,
 When he yielded like this to his baser desires,, he was whenever in any way they failed to live up to what they
 making himself guilty of a very serious sin. They were           claimed, he would not allow them to smooth it over or
 right, and Samson was wrong.                                     pretend that it was not important. He would hold  -them
                                                                  responsible: He would  .proclaim  from the hills of Dan
      Nevertheless, there was also a deeper motive which lived    what had been done by the Philistines under the name of
 in the heart of Samson. This was the reason which he had         justice. Even more, he would punish them in just measure
 had in the first place for frequenting this heathen land.        for everything they did amiss to him.
 As we have said, Samson was basically a man of faith. He
 believed the Word and promises of God; he loved the peo-           Samson was a man of faith. He loved his God above
 ple-of God and accordingly hated the Philistines as `aliens      everything else, and that love was the deepest motivation
 and enemies. And being the man that he was, he had often         that directed his life. He was also a man who could sin
 tried to express .what he felt. Again and again he had gone      and did; the record leaves no doubt as to that. But under-
 out among the children of Israel and had tried. to tell them     neath there was faith which moved him to live as he did.
 that the Philistines were their enemies, whose basic desire
 was to destroy the nation of Israel. It had been a frustrat-      `In spite of their objections, Samson's parents were not
 ing experience; for no one would take him seriously. They        able to resist his will. Sad of heart his father went down
 laughed and said that he was overly suspicious and had- into the very country of the Philistines, a country in which
 no proof for his claims. They all felt confident that if         he had probably never been before. There, with a strange
 they would be good to the Philistines and not cause them         people whom he despised, he made arrangements for the
 trouble, the Philistines would be honest and fair in return.     marriage of his son. His heart was about to break, for he
 All of the troubIes which they had had with the Philistines      did not realize that it was underneath a true faith that mo-
 in the past were really only their own fault because they        tivated his son, nor that in this way the will of God and the
 had provoked them so often. Samson could not convince            prophecy made before Samson's birth was being fulfilled.
 anyone~  that the Philistines were not basically honest and                                                             B.W.


                                           T H E      ST.ANDARD  B E A R E R                                                      325

                                                                    in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among
                                                                    them: I am thy part and thy inheritance among the  chil-
p-iijiT~]                                                          dren of Israel. And, behold, I have given the children of
                                                                   -Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their
      Exposition of the Prophecy of Malachi                         service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle
                                                                    of the congregation. Neither must de children of Israel
                     Malachi 1:6 - 2:17                             henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation,
                                                                    lest they bear sin and die. But the Levites shall do the
The LORD'S  BiZl of  Pmt&ubm Against-  Lmi.                         service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they
Malachi 2: 1-17.                                                    shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute forever through-
  What we have here is a basic description and  delinea-            out your generations, that among the children of Israel
tion of the sin of Levi. Reference is here made not simply          they shall have no inheritance. But the tithes of the children
to personal sins, but to the official sins of Levi in Judah!        of Israel, which they offer as a heave-offering unto the
The deep reason and legal ground. for Levi's being removed          LORD, I have given to the Levites to inherit:. therefore I
out of Israel with the entire temple service of the Old Testa-      have said unto them,  Among the children of Israel they
ment dispensation is here set forth in bold relief.                 shall- have no inheritance."
The  Lords  Covenant with Levi. Vss. 5-7.                             Thus de LORD's covenant was with Levi!
  When the prophet speaks here of Levi, we must not                   Of this the LORD speaks here in Malachi  2:5. We read
simply think of the individual whom Leah named Levi.                there, "My covenant was with him of life and peace; and
He was the third son born to Jacob from  Leah; His name             I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me,
means: joined. Said Leah, "NOW this time will my husband            and  was  afraid   before   my  name.~p
be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons:
therefore was his named called Levi." Gen.  29:34.  This              Of course, this does not mean that the LORD's covenant -
Levi, together with his older brother Simeon, avenged their         was not with Judah and with the elect out of all the tribes
sister, Dinah, by killing Hamor  and Shechem with the edge          of Israel. For truly God loves Israel-Jacob, that is, all whom
of the sword; causing Jacob to cry out, `Ye have troubled           He  foreknew  in every tribe. And he put His covenant in
me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the                 the hearts of all of them. What this does refer to is that
land. . .  ." This  Levi found a sepulchre in the land of          .the LORD placed as a dispensation., an arrangement of
Egypt; he died at the age of one hundred and thirty-seven           the divine grace to his people under the shadows and types,
years. We know that Levi stood at the bedside of the                in the ministry of the Levites as they culminated in the
dying patriarch Jacob when he blessed his sons, and said            Old Testament high priesthood of Aaron! They were the
of Levi: "&neon  and Levi are brethren; instruments of              appointed stewards of the mysteries of God in the temple
cruelty are in their habitations. 0 my soul, come not thou          as these all pointed toward the Christ of God. Christ is the
into their secret; unto their assembly, mine  lnonor,  be not       end  (tebos)  of the law for righteousness to every one that
thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their      believes. Rom.  10:4; I Cor.  4:1, 2. And it is sought in a
selfwill  they digged. down a wall.  .Cursed be their anger,        steward that he be found faithful. The Levites were to
for  ,it' was fierce; and their wrath for it was. cruel: I will    bear the sins of the' people in the Old Testament substitu-
divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel." Gen.             tional manner, as we quoted earlier, "But the Levites shall
49:s7.                                                             do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and
                                                                   they shall bear their  iniquity.~  Numbers  18:23a.
  Yet, the LORD made His covenant with Levi. The proph-
ecy of Jacob, concerning the things which would befall                Such was the covenant with Levi!
Levi in the latter end, dove-tailed  com$etely  with this             It was a priesthood which pointed toward the finished
curse upon Levi's wrath and cruelty. For Levi is scattered         and completed work of Christ at Calvary, where Christ died
in Israel and is "joined" to the twelve tribes dwelling in at his own time for the sins of the people!
the Levitical cities, forty-eight in number! Num.  35:2, ff.       Leds  Bless& Turned  Ido a Curse. Verses l-3.
  This is the Levi spoken of in this second chapter of the
prophecy of Malachi! This Levi was separated unto the                 The LORD of hosts has a commandment for the  apos-
LORD from all-the tribes. By the law of the redemption             tate priests of Malachi's day who corrupt the Levitical
of the first-born, the Levites were to aid the priests, the        institution in ihe tabernacle of the congregation by bringing
sons of Aaron in the temple worship and in the instruction         in polluted bread and calling the Lord's altar and table
of the people concerning the worship of God as His  re-            a contemptible thing. He has turned their "blessing" into
deemed people! These received from the tithes of the  a  "curse"'
people. Thus we read in Numbers  18:20-24: "`And the                  It is well to take a bit closer look at the term "command-
LORD spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance  _ ment" here. The Hebrew term is mitszmh., a commandment,


  326                                       T H E '   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                       .-....
  precept. It is interesting to notice that this term is trans-      passages as Gen. 3: 14, 17; 9%; Deut;. 27:  X%26;= 28: X-19;
  lated in the King James Version some 173 times as com-             Jer.  11:3;  17:5;  20114,  15;  48110.                           .,..
  mandment, once as .luw, once as ordilzance  and four times           This means that all  tl& bringing of sacrifices is .of no
   as precept. The Hebrew verb from which this noun is               avail. They continue in polluting the temple. They have
  formed is tsavah. It means to set up, to place,. to consti-        caused many to stumble at the law, they corrupted the
  tute, to appoint. It is translated 422 times as command,           covenant of the LORD with Levi to bear the sins of the
  6 times as appoint, and 24 times as charge. There. is a dif-       congregation in the temple-pointing to Christ! It is all
  ference between charge, command, and to determine. The             made Christless! It is the salt which has lost its savor! It
   commandment implies that it is authoritative. It is the           is  .good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden
   last word, and it -brooks no contradiction or change of           under foot of men.
  venue. It is emphatically pointed out in this `bill of par-
  ticulars" to Levi that this commandment is the LORD's              The Great ADULTERY in Judah. Vss. 14-17.
  ultimatum to them. It touches them not as persons, first             In  these verses the Lord speaks of a particular sin of
  of all, but refers to them in their official ministry which        Levi and of Judah. It is the sin of putting away their wives.
  they are ,. corrupting! This command is really the `thus           Such  :a wife is called the "wife of thy covenant," vs.  14b,
  saith the LORD" pin-pointed in its content.                        and the "`wife  of thy youth," vs. 115b.
                                                                       Why does the LORD bring up this particular sin in this
     That the LORD  thus addresses these priests is because          connection? Were there no other sins which they commit-
  .he is jealous of His Name as revealed in the temple in, the       ted by breaking other commandments? And is the law not
  services of the Levites. A hasty survey of these four chap-        one, so that he who hateth his  .brother  liath broken the
  ters of Malachi will verify how the LORD has deep con-             entire law? Why then enumerate this sin at great length?
  cern for his NAME. He will make his name great among
  the Gentiles. It is really the Name of Jehovah, as it spells         The answer must undoubtedly be found in the fact
  salvation and mercy toward his people. Thus we read in             that really the covenant of God in Christ is the great cove-
  Malachi  1:6, "And ye say,  whqein have we despised thy            nant, and that the marriage-tie is a picture, an earthly
  name?" Or look at verse 11 of this same chapter, where             manifestation of that covenant relationship between God
  we read, "My name shall be great among the Gentiles."              and his people. See Gen.  2:24 and Eph.  5:21, where Paul
  Then in this commandment to these priests He says, "My             speaks of this mystery of Christ in marriage when he says,
  name is dreadful among the heathen." Vs. 14. The LORD              "For this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother,
  amrounces  in chapter  2:2 that "if ye will not hear, and if       and shall be joined to his wife, and they two shall be one
  ye will not lay it to heart; to give  gZory unto my name,"         flesh.' This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning
  then  ,he will bring upon them the curse. In verse 5 of this       Christ and the church."
  second chapter we are told that the LORD gave his cove-              Such was also the fundamental relationship of  .Israel to
  nant to Levi "for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was         the Lord, Isaiah' 54: 5, where we read, `For thy Maker is
  afraid before my name." And, `finally, % chapter 3: 16 we          thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy
  read of the future glory of the redeemed people, and of            redeemer the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified
  their godliness, ". .I. and' a book of remembrance was writ-       thee."
  ten before him for them that feared the  LORD; and that              The putting away of wives is ever rooted in the deeper
  thought upon & name."                                              evil of not understanding or willing to know the basic rela-
     But now the blessing which should accrue from the               tionship of God to His people in Christ. This relationship
  ministry of the Levites shall be `changed into a curse. This       was present in the ministry of the priests in the temple.
   curse is the direct opposite of the blessing. It is noteworthy    But this they trampled horribly underfoot.
  that the prophecy of Malachi speaks in such strong and               They weary the LORD! And, what is worse, they brutal-
  ultimate language about this curse. The term  cume  as a           ly ask: wherein have we wearied thee?!!
  noun occurs three  times in this prophecy. In chapters  2:2,         Where is the God of judgment?                                 G . L .
  3:9, and  4:6. It is the Meerah which means: that which is
   abhorred, detested, and cannot stand before the LORD. It                                  Announcement
  refers to the blessings which come from God in His house.            The South Holland-Oak Lawn Protestant Reformed
   But that shall be no more. Instead the judgment of the            Christian School is in need of two teachers: Grades 1,' 2
   Lord will begin in the house of God. The house shall              and 3, Grades 4, 5 and 6, to complete its teaching staff
  be left desolate. Upon these priests and by means of their         this coming fall, 1964-1965.
- false ministry will come the very opposite as the blessing           Kindly address your correspondence to:
 of Abraham. Here is spoken of the terrible curses of the                                                       Gysbert A. Van Bar-en
  law: cursed is he that does not walk in all that is written                   .:                              R.R. 1, Box 240 A
  in the book of the law to perform it. It is in line with such                                                 Chicago Heights, Illinois.


                                           THE  S..T-ANDARD  B-EA-R.ER                                                       327

II                                                                  Dr. Benjamin' Speck  is quoted as stating that children today
              I N   H I S   F E A R                                 are "greatly troubled by coldwar  anxieties" so that between
                                                                    25 and 50 percent believe that there will be a nuclear war.
                                                                    "Young children," he declares,  `ivorry most about being
                     Seeds of Violence                              separated from  ..their  parents in a disaster and about the
                                                                    death or maiming of their parents or themselves." It is
      For a world that boasts of being cultured, civilized; and     violence then which they fear.
possessive of social refinement we certainly produce an               The, article goes on to point out another evidence of fear
abundance of violence. The sons of Cain are more than               of violence and the seeds of violence. Marchers represent-
legion. If it is true, and it is, that history repeats itself,      ing the "Parents against the Encouragement of Violence"
then it is abundantly evident that the violence first dis-          were picketing the 61st American Toy Fair which was
played by Cain repeats itself ten thousand fold and then            displaying all the current toys of violence together with
some, by thousands upon thousands. Newspapers and news              other toys wherewith modem children will amuse them-
broadcasts seldom can avoid mentioning a new outbreak               selves. The latest toy of suggested violence is called the
of violence. If there is no development of sin, what then           "Time Bomb." It is made of plastic, and children are en-
shall we call this increase in brutality, violence, and blood-      couraged to set the timer and then toss the bomb at each
shed? Never did the world live in more fear of men, in              other, trying not to be caught with the "bomb" when it
spite of augmented and strengthened police forces. Never            goes boom. This explains the title to the article, "Ticking
was there need for such great forces to combat violence             Away." The manufacturers of such toys, together with toy
and to protect the innocent.                                        guns, rifles, and the like, are quick to answer that such
      Race riots have become so common that they do not stir        toys do not encourage or lead to violence in the real life
up the flesh the way they did at first. We do become ac-            of the child. The signs, `Let's Disarm the Nursery" and
customed even to violence. Labor riots likewise have be-            "Is Killing Kid Stuff?" do not please the manufacturers of
come so common place that we rather expect them than                such items. But is there a measure of  truth in the charge?
are surprised to hear of them. Nation rises up against              Is it harmless to let our-. children run around shouting
nation and kingdom against kingdom. Always there has                "Bang! Bang! you're dead!"? Are these the toys and the
been the undercurrent of crafty theft and fraud. It is an           games for covenant seed who have been instructed in the
age old practice of taking the neighbor's goods and resort-         law of God, "Thou shalt not kill"? May then they play
ing to murder when it becomes necessary to get his gold.            that they are sinning? And does this have no effect at all
There `was much violence in the, early days of the settlement       on their walk of life? Is all this "In His Fear"?
of our country. It was called the `Wild and Woolly West"              Another magazine article: in the  Scientifio  American  of
for a reason. Men were a law unto themselves; and that              February, 1964, entitled, "The Effects of Observing Vio-
simply means that they were outlaws, men living outside             lence," written by Leonard Berkowitz has this subtitle,
of the law. Our land has known violence and the violent.            "Experiments suggest that aggression depicted in television
And we might just as well be honest about it. We also by            and motion picture dramas, or observed in actuality, can
nature enjoy reading about these days of violence. It makes         arouse certain members of the audience to violent action."
interesting reading for the flesh. And `Western stories" are        Aware of Aristotle's theory that watching drama could
still a main attraction in the television field. The raw bru-       "accomplish a purgation of such emotions" Mr. Berkowitz
tality of it all, the cruel violence, cannot be so easily por-      set out to experiment, in order to prove or disprove Aris-
trayed by mere voice and sound effects to make a radio              totle's contention. If Aristotle is correct, then we should
serial popular. But. with the advent of the television screen,      seek drama with violence and brutality to get it out of our
the violence and brutality of western movies has come to            systems and to prevent us from performing  the deeds them-
its own in widespread observance even by the very young!            selves. Would it not be wonderful, if we could get rid of
      Violence has always been a problem for the world. Mil-        all our evil that way? Just watch others in drama, movie,
lions have been spent to try to curb it. Thousands upon             or television commit crimes of violence and purge our
thousands of men have been hired to guard against it and            souls of the desire to do so ourselves.
to apprehend those who commit it. Special studies have                Mr. Berkowitz proved the contrary to be  true. Exposing
been made in an attempt to cure it. This article on "Seeds          his voluntary subject (who did not know the nature of the
of Violence" was suggested by articles in two diverse maga-         experiment but thought he was helping determine physio-
zines which show the concern of the world today in regard           logical responses to certain stimuli) to an intelligence test
to this plague of violence. In the Newsweek Magazine of             in which he was nettled by one of Mr. Berkowitz's assist-
March 23, 1964 under the title of "Ticking Away" appears            ants, who posed as another voluntary subject, and then
an article wherein, first of  .all, is pointed out the growing      subjecting him to a seven-minute film of violence in a
tension- among children, not as in times past, for the `yschool-    boxing match, which was then followed by another test
yard bully," but in regard to world affairs.  The well-known        wherein the subject had to express approval or disapproval


  328                                      T.HE  S T A N D A R D   ,BEARER

  of a floor plan of a house, Mr.. Berkowitz discovered that        excites him, draws him and feeds his evil nature. The seed
  the subject pressed repeatedly the button that he was told        of violence is born ,in his soul; but it is fanned and fed by
  would give electrical shocks to his co-worker, thereby ex-        that which he sees.
  pressing disapproval for the floor plan of the house. When,        Cain committed violence without seeing murder before.
  however, the subject was not nettled in the intelligence test     He did not kill by imitation. But there can be no doubt
  and shown a travel movie, he did not make such frequent           about it that the long length of life of the sinners before
  use of the shock button, Although Mr. Berkowitz concludes         the flood caused the world to be ripe for judgment at such
  that the "effect of filmed violence is temporary," he says        an early age. They were able to hand down their sin to
  of the catharsis or purging of the. emotions by the sight         many generations and to show sin, wherein they had them-
 .of violence, "I would not deny that it exists. Nor would' selves developed by a long life, to children and children's
  I reject the argument that a. frustrated person can enjoy         children.
  fantasy aggression because he sees characters doing things
  he wishes he could do, although in most cases his inhibi-           Violence and all manner of sin is there in the soul of the
  tions restrain him. I believe, however, that effective cathar-    child when he is born. Just read Romans  3:10-18 for a
  sis occurs only when an angered person perceives that his         picture of the natural man that is far from flattering and
  frustrator has been aggressively injured. From this I argue       yet very true. And that child can be taught more evil
  that filmed violence is potentially dangerous. The motion         exactly because it is there from birth. In Cain's murder
  picture aggression has increased the chance that an angry         we see what was in Adam's and Eve's heart when they ate
  person, and possibly other people as well, will attack some-      of the forbidden tree. It was no innocent  little act of eat-
  one else."                                                        ing. It was bold, defiant, hateful rebellion. When God told
                                                                    Satan that He would put enmity between seed and seed,
    All this, of course, is entirely apart from the Word of         it is evident that what Adam and Eve at the moment had
  God. It was not an experiment in His fear or conducted            in their hearts was enmity against God. Their deed was
  in His fear. It is nevertheless revealing and has its value.      one of hate, of enmity; and the sin of Cain, -in fact, all
  There are tunes when we do not want to listen to the              the sin that is in the world today and as it shall develop
  Word of God and prefer to listen to men. There are times          until the man of sin appears,  - shows what was really in
  when we will not live in His fear and will be guided by           Adam's heart.
  the fear that men instill in our hearts. We will refrain          Shall we plant further seeds of rebellion in our children?
  from evil not because it is displeasing in God's sight and        Shall we fan it to `a bright flame? Shall we water and feed
  lacks love to Him, but because we fear what men can and           the seed of evil that is there from birth? And if we do not
  will do to us.                                                    want to take.the  Word of God,.v&ill the word of man bring
    The Word of God has made a case of it for thousands of          some sense into our heads? In many a covenant home the
  years that seeing violence breeds violence. Holy Writ has         only violence to be advocated is a smashing blow to the
  warned covenant parents for centuries that seeing sin fosters     television set, that is, if we cannot control the switch in
  sin, exactly because the heart of man is by nature corrupt        His fear. If it is better to enter into heaven with one eye
  and, delights in sm. Why, did you ever ask yourself, why          and to lose the other, then by all means it is better to do
  did Ham delight in Noah's sin of drunkenness? And why             violence to the television set so that we and our children
  did his brothers even refuse to LOOK at it? Why did God           may live in His fear. The seeds sown today, will bear
  tell Moses to destroy all the idolators in the land of Canaan     fruit tomorrow. God is not mocked.                    J.A.H.
  together with their idols? We read in Exodus  34:12-15,
I "Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the
  inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a
  snare in the midst of thee. But ye shall destroy their altars,                 0 happy land, when flock and field
  break their images, and cut down their groves: For thou                        Their rich, abundant increase yield,
  shalt worship no other god, for the Lord whose name is                             And blessings multiply;
  Jealous is a jealous God; Lest thou make a covenant with                       When plenty all thy people share,
  the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after                       And no invading foe is there,
  their. gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and `one call                       And no distressful cry.
  thee and thou eat of his sacrifice."
    .Man does not sin by imitation. The child is not born                        0 happy people, favored land,
  with a clean slate on which you can write violence or love.                    To whom the Lord with liberal hand
  He comes .into this world, with a wicked heart, one totally                        Hath thus His goodness shown;
  depraved and that delights in all manner of sin, the quiet                     Yea, surely is that people blest
  forms as well as the violent. And he will  sinregardless  of                   By whom Jehovah is confessed
  what he sees or does not see. But seeing evil entices him,                         To be their God alone.               Ps. 144


                                             T H E      TdNDARD  B E A R E B                                                  329

II                                                                  which was instigated by the Devil, who had by that time
          The Voice of Our Fathers                             II already brought about the rebellion in the angel-hosts. Now
                                                                    this is an interesting and significant fact concerning the
                                                                    Scripture record. And it is undoubtedly due to  this,  that
                                                                    Scripture is not interested as such in the history of the
                  The Belgic Confession                             angel-world and its fall and salvation, but in the fall and
                            hTICLE XII                              salvation of the church. Hence, as far as is necessary-the
                                                                    Bible brings in the actions of the angels and of de devils
                            ( continued )                           too; but for the rest, it assumes, rather than states, the
The Fall of the Evil  Alagels                                       various circumstances and occasions and causes and events
      As we have had occasion to note before, our Confession        which lie behind this appearance of the devils upon the
devotes no little attention to the subject of the evil angels,      scene of human history. In the second place, we may also
or devils, and their fall. First of all, in speaking of the         note that there are a few passages which refer rather di-
creation of the angels, the Confession says:  ". . . some of        rectly to the fall of the evil angels, or demons. Let  US,  in
whom are fallen from that excellency, in which God created          order to have all the significant data before us, quote these
them, into everlasting perdition; and the others have, by           at the outset. In John  8:44 the Lord Jesus refers to the
the grace of God, remained steadfast and continued in               Devil as follows: "Ye are of your father the devil, and
their primitive state." And concerning the fallen angels our        the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer
Confession goes on to describe their depravity as follows:          from the beginning, and abode- not in the truth, because
"The devils and evil spirits are so depraved, that they are         there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he
enemies of God and every good thing, to the utmost of their         speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the fader of it."
power, as murderers, watching to ruin the Church and                In I Timothy  3:6, in speaking  of. the requirements of a
every member thereof, and by their wicked stratagems to             bishop, the apostle writes: "Not a novice, lest being lifted
destroy all; and are, therefore, by their own wickedness,           up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil."        "
adjudged to eternal damnation, daily expecting. their  her-         This is a reference which, I believe correctly, has often
rible torments."                                                    been interpreted as pointing to the fact that the sin of the
      It is but natural, perhaps, especially in the light not       Devil was that "he was lifted up with pride." In the epistle
only of the fact that Scripture furnishes us so little data         of Jude there is, first of all, verse 6: `And the angels which
concerning this fall of the angels, but also because the            kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he
Devil and his host play so large a part in the history of           hath reserved  .in everlasting chains under darkness unto
salvation, from the very beginning of the fall of our first         the judgment of the great day." And in vs. 9 of the same
parents to the time of the final manifestation of the Anti-         epistle we find reference made to the relation between
christ, that we should  Iwant to inquire into the circum-           Michael and the Devil, as follows: `Yet Michael the arch-
stances of their fall. When did the angels fall? How and            angel, when contending with the devil he disputed about
why did they fall? What was the sin of the angels who               the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing
fell? And what is the present status of the fallen angels,          accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee." (Cf. also II
their power,  .thei.r work? And it certainly is not improper        Peter 2:4 and 11.) And finally, there are references in Reve-
to make such inquiries in the light of Scripture. This is           lation 12,  - the passage which probably became the occa-
more than idle curiosity and speculation. For if we con-            sion of some of John Milton's poetic fantasies in "Paradise
sider the Devil and his host to be our enemies, enemies of.         Lost," - which also shed some light on our questions. First
the cause of Christ, and consider too that according to all         of all, in vss. 3 and 4 mention is made of  "a great red
Scripture the demonic hosts constitute a very formidable            dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven
foe of the church of Christ, as also our Confession empha-          crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part
sizes, and play no little part in history, so that, for example,    of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth. , . ."
the binding and loosing again of Satan himself forms an             This dragon, according to the same passage, is the Devil
integral part of the events which lead to the consummation          himself, for we read in verse 9: "`And the great dragon
of all history (Rev.  20), then it is certainly necessary that      was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan,
we understand as much as possible of this formidable foe            which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out .mto the
of the church of Christ.                                            earth, and his angels were cast out with him." And, sec-
      When facing these questions, however, we may also note        ondly, we must not overlook verses 7 and 8, even though
at once that there is little mention of these matters in            they do not speak-directly of the original rebellion and fall
Scripture. First of all, the Bible nowhere sets. forth the          of, the angels under Satan: "`And there was war in heaven:
history of the rebellion and fall of the angels. This is rather     Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the
assumed; and, after creation, sacred history deals immedi-          dragon fought and his angels; And prevailed not; neither
ately with the temptation and fall of our first parents,            was their place found any more in heaven." These are the


330                                        TH~~EsSTANDARD.~EABER

main passages of Scripture which make reference to the fall         was attracted in his youthful days. These took the dualistic
.of the  Devil"and  his demons. There are, of  cou.rsej  other      position that the devils have their origin of themselves, were
passages which shed some light on our questions; but to             not created,  .and certainly were not created good, but are
these we may refer as occasion warrants.                            the embodiment of an eternal principle of. evil. And while
  When we ask as to the time of the fall of the evil angels,        such crass dualism today finds no acceptance among Chris-
we receive no definite answer from Scripture`. We may,              tians, yet a certain practical dualism, according to which
however, pinpoint the time of that fall in relation to crea-        the Devil and his host are conceived of as powers next to
tion, on the one hand, and the fall of man, on the other,           and alongside, of God, rather than as creatures who even
and say that it must have taken place some time after the           in their fallen state are strictly subject to His sovereign
former and sometime before the latter. This is based, of            counsel and providence, may well be warned against.
course, on the obvious fact that at the time when the                 Certain it is, too, that the angels were all created orig-
Devil, through the serpent, came to tempt Eve, he had               inally good. The very thought that God created evil crea-
himself already fallen from his own high estate and dragged         tures and is thus the Author of evil is blasphemous. That
a goodly number of angels along with him. And, in the               limits us, therefore, to the general position that the Devil
second place, we know too that prior to, and including the          and his host were created good, that somehow sin was
seventh day also, there was no sin: for "God saw everything         introduced after creation among the heavenly hosts, and
that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the            that the Devil (as chief) and with him a large part of the
evening and the morning were the sixth day. . . . And on            angels fell into condemnation, having rebelled against the
the seventh day God ended his work which he had made;               Most High. But then the questions remain as to how this
and he rested& the seventh day from all his work which sin arose. among the angels that were originally created
he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanc-             good, and what was the nature of their sin. And perhaps
tified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work       in no little degree some of these questions must remain
which God created and made." If; therefore, as we may               unanswered as to the details.
properly assume, the host of heavenly spirits is included in
the above, it certainly follows that the fall of the evil angels      The poet Milton ("Paradise Lost") has, as we said, a
took place after the seventh day and before the temptation          highly imaginative presentation of these events. His entire
and fall of Eve. Further than that the Scriptures do not go         conception of the history of creation and his view of a first
in delimiting the exact time of the fall. If, however, we may       creation, preceding the present one, is, of course, apart from
believe that God does not delay in executing His counsel,           Scripture. But in some respects his suggestion concerning
but follows a straight course toward the omega of the day           the sin of the angels is at least  at&-active,  though it un-
of Christ, then we may also assume that the state of recti-         doubtedly cannot be Scripturally substantiated. For the
tude did not long endure, either for the angels or for man,         sake of interest, let me quote a few excerpts from Book V
and that the fall of the Devil, followed soon by the tempta-        of `Paradise Lost," in which Raphael is relating to Adam
tion and fall of man, took place not long after the seventh         the fall of the angels. I begin at line 594:
day. With exactitude, however, the time of the fall cannot                . . . . "Thus when in orbs
be stated.                                                               Of circuit inexpressible they stood,
                                                                         Orb within orb, the Father Infinite,
  As to the nature of the sin and rebellion of that part of              By whom in bliss embosomed sat the Son,
the angel-hosts which fell away, there has been a good                   Amidst, as from a flaming mount, whose top
deal of speculation. How did this fall' take place? How                 Brightness had made invisible, thus spake:  -
did sin arise among the angels? What was its occasion?                      " `Hear, all ye Angels, Progeny of Light,
                                                                         Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers,
While, in the  ,case of man, there was a tempter in the                  Hear my decree, which unrevoked shall stand!
form of the serpent and a temptation that was concretely                 This day I have begot whom I declare
attached to the tree' of knowledge of good and evil and the              My only Son, and on this holy hill
probationary command, how did sin and the temptation to                  Him have anointed, whom ye now behold
sin arise among the angels?                                              At my right hand. Your head I him appoint,
                                                                         And by myself have sworn to him shall bow
  It is probably in part the very scarcity of Scriptural in-             All knees in Heaven, and shall confess him Lord.
formation on these questions that has tempted many to                    Under his great vicegerent reign abide,
run wild in speculation. The  Sadducees  of Jesus' time al-              United as .one individual soul,
ready altogether denied the existence of angels and spirits,              For ever happy. Him who disobeys
                                                                          Me disobeys, breaks union, and, that day,
and therefore also of devils. This is the position of `ra-                Cast out from God and blessed vision, falls
tionalism, which also today makes the same denials, and                   Into utter darkness, deep engulfed, his place
which; in so far as it troubles itself with Scriptural mention            Ordained without redemption, without end.'
of these realities, attributes such mention to poetic imagina-              "So spake the Omnipotent, and with his words
tion. Our Confession also rejects flatly the theory of the               All seemed well pleased; all seemed, but were not all.
                                                                          . . . , . . . . . . . . .              But not so waked
Manichees, a sect to whom the church father Augustine                                     (Continued on page 332)


                                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D .   B E A R E R                                        331

                                                                           be the case. It is to be regretted that this more complete
                                                                           and accurate heading is lost in our English Psalters for even
                                                                           though it may be a bit cumbersome because of its length
          "0 Worship the Lord in the  beauty  of  holiness."               we would like to see above the Baptism Form the words:
                                                                           "Form for the Administration  .of Baptism to the Infant            I
                   The Form for Infant Baptism                             Children of Believers".
         The heading or title that appears in our English Psalters            The Baptism Form begins with the statement: "The prin-
       above the Baptism Form reads: "Form for the Administra-             cipal parts of the doctrine of holy baptism are these three":.
       tion of Baptism." It is alleged that other tides appeared           This beginning has been criticized as being far inferior to
       in various and older editions of this form. In the very             the beginning of the Form for the Administration of the
       oldest Holland edition the heading is supposed to have              Lord's Supper. In the latter  form we begin with: "Beloved
       read:  "Formuliei  om den Heiligen Doop  aan de  kinderen           in the Lord Jesus Christ, attend to the words of the insti-
       te bedienen". Translated this is: `<Form for Holy Baptism to        tution of the Holy Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ as they
       Be Administered to  .Children".  Then some time later, at           are delivered by the; holy Apostle Paul. . . ." Then follows
       the time of Rutgers, Bavinck and Kuyper, this heading is            a literal quotation of the passage of Holy  .Writ found in I
       supposed to have been changed slightly. The modified form           Corinthians  II:233-30.  There is something impressive about
       allegedly read: "Formulier om den Heiligen Doop te  be-             all this. Believers, as the  -beloved.in  Christ, are called to
       dienen  aan de kleine kinderen  der geloovigen". Translated         listen to Christ speak as He comes' to them through the
       this would be: "Form of Holy Baptism to Be Administered             holy apostle Paul and instructs them in regard to the sig-
       to Infant Children of Believers".                                   nificance of the -holy sacrament they are about to celebrate.
                                                                           Would it not be preferred to begin the Baptism Form in a
I        Upon casual reading the change in this heading may
       not have been noticed and the significance or purpose of            similar way. We might, for example, begin something like
~ the change left unfelt. It  ,only. involves a matter of two              this: "Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ: Listen to the words
       or three words and these do not appear to be important.             of the institution of holy baptism which are given to us by
       Whether then they are included or omitted from the head-            our Lord and Savior in Matthew  28:19, `Go ye therefore,
       ing above the Form is inconsequential. In fact it might             and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
       even be  .argued  that whereas the older forms omit them,           Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching
       and for the sake of brevity, their omission is to be preferred.     them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
         However, a more careful consideration of the historical           you.' "
       background and doctrinal reason for the insertion of the            : In commenting upon this, we probably ought to observe,
       words "infant" and "of believers" leads us to the conclusion        first of all, that the fact that we are so very familiar with
       that the matter is not as inconsequential as we first thought.      our Baptism Form may very well be the cause of our
       There may have been two arguments of position bolstered             failure to appreciate it and to see anything special in it.
      by this maneuver. First, there is the,Reformed emphasis on           In the second place, it can hardly be expected that the two
      the'doctrine  of infant baptism which insists that not just          forms we have compared could be alike even from the
       children are to be baptized but  infant  children. The form         formal aspect because the differences in the sacraments
      itself devotes some attention to this question and adduces           themselves must be remembered. Baptism is the sacrament
       strong proof which we may consider later but this empha-            of incorporation; the Lord's Supper of indwelling. Through
       sis must also be projected into the heading of the formulary.       baptism, we are buried with Christ into death and raised
      Secondly, it is distinctly a Reformed view that baptism is           again in newness of life, while in the Lords Supper we
      a covenant sign and seal, `and therefore is not to be admin-         commune with Him in that new life. In baptism there is
      istered promiscuously to children, to all children, to all           a certain passivity on our part, while in the Lord's Supper
      infant children, but to children of hezievers.  God maintains        we are active through faith. These differences are reflected
      His covenant with believers and their seed in generations            even in the form of the Form and consequently, even the
      for an everlasting covenant, and baptism is the sign admin-          approach in the Baptism Form is different'from  that of the
      istered to these generations whereby they are distinguished          Lord's Supper.
      from the world. They must not be marked alike, for they                The Baptism Form itself divides into two main parts, a
      are not identical. Baptism, therefore, is not a sign that can        doctrinal part and a liturgical part. We deal with the doc-
      or may be aflixed  to all without dis&ction; but it must be          trinal part first, which in turn is again divided into several
      administered only to the children of believers. The insertion        parts. There is a part that explains the meaning of baptism
      of the words,  `bf believers", in the heading accentuates a          in general, and then there is a part devoted to the explana-
      needed emphasis upon the particular character of the sacra-          tion of the doctrine of infant baptism. Concerning the first
ment. The Reformed of the Rutgers-Bavinck-Kuyper era                       of these two it must again be noted that, to quote the
     felt this keenly, but it is indeed a sad commentary upon             Baptism Form, "the principal parts of the doctrine of holy
      the present generation that this can no longer be said to           baptism are these three."

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

       Three parts! That's rather striking, isn't it? Why aren't       portant  practical questions in connection  with- the practice
     there four or perhaps seven principal parts to this doctrine?     of baptizing infants.
     And that number three we recollect we have encountered              With this in mind we will scrutinize the three principal
     before. Pondering that a moment we remember that in               parts of the doctrine of holy baptism. The first of these
     Scripture this  rmmber is the number of God. It denotes           parts has to do with a statement which is at the same time
     His Deity. He is the Triune God, three in one! Perhaps            a confession concerning the truth of our total depravity.
     we ought to remember this, so that we .may be impressed           We and our children are:
     by the  signi&ant  part that must be ascribed to God in                            CON&~   AND  BORN   IN SIN
     the doctrine of Holy Baptism. But that number three also            The statement of the Baptism Form is signihcant  enough
     appears in our Confessions. We think especially of our            to quote in its entirety. Each phrase of the two short sen-
     Heidelberg Catechism with its  -familiar division of the          tences it contains ought to be carefully pondered. And we
     knowledge of sin and misery, redemption, and gratitude.           must see how this undeniable fact of depravity  .is related
     To even the most casual reader the explanation of the             to the truth of baptism. The statement then is:
     Biblical teaching in the Baptism Form reveals a close simi-         "First, that we with our children are conceived and born
     larity to that contained in the Heidelberg Catechism. Here        in sin, and therefore are  ohildren  of wrath, insomuch that
     we find the fundamental truths of our misery because of           we cannot enter into the kingdom of God, except we are
     sin, our deliverance by the grace of the triune covenant          born again. This, the dipping in, or sprinkling with water
     God, and our Christian duty of gratitude. In each case            teaches us, whereby the impurity of our souls is signified,
     reference is made to the symbolism of baptism. We con-            and we admonished to loathe, and humble ourselves before
     fess that both we and our children are conceived and born         God, and seek for our  purifmation and salvation without
     in sin. Thus the sprinkling with water admonishes us to           ourselves."
     loathe and humble ourselves before God and seek for our             The logic of the above is exact. The major premise, the
     purification and salvation apart from ourselves in divine         basic fact, is the truth taught in all Scripture that we are
     mercy.                                                            conceived and born in sin. In consequence of this we are
       -We likewise confess  ,that baptism is a sign and seal of       "children of wrath". Resultant therefrom is our inability
     the washing away of our sins. The rich provisions for sal-        to enter God's Kingdom. This necessitates rebirth, regenera-
     vation made by our covenant God are clearly and concisely         tion, renewal, which is signified in the dipping in, sprin-
     set forth. We are charged to look to the Father, Son and          kling, or `pouring of the water of baptism, The instruction
     Holy Spirit for all things necessary to salvation. And,           obtained through the symbolism humbles us (We are taught
     finally, baptism is a sign and seal of our  covenantal  sepa-     by the Word; and the Word applied brings forth the fruit
     ration from the world. Thus, in thankfulness for divine           of humility in us. ) ; and this results in our repudiation of
     grace we obligate ourselves to walk in the ways of the Lord.      self  and. the seeking of our salvation outside of ourselves
                                                                       in Jesus Christ, our Lord.
       It is therefore the experiential approach that' we have           Next time, D.V., we will consider these elements in
     to do with in the Baptism Form. It is not the dogmatic            greater detail, for they must be part of our consciousness
     or theological that predominates in `our consideration of the     ere we can proceed to' understand the work of the Triune
     baptismal truths, but the form is designed to impress upon        God in baptism.                                            G.v.d.B.
     our consciousness the awareness of the glorious salvation
     symbolized in the sacrament. In that light we will consider                      THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS
     the doctrinal part of the form somewhat.in  more detail.                               (Continued from page 330)
       Further the explanation of infant baptism likewise fol-              Satan  - so call him now; his former name
     lows the Scriptural pattern. Here is a rich arsenal of truth           Is heard no more in Heaven. He, of the first,
                                                                            If not the first Archangel, great in power,
     for those who would defend this precious practice. We                  In favour, and pre-eminence, yet fraught
     believe. that also our children belong to God. Just as with-           With envy against the Son of God, that day
     out their knowledge they by nature he in the midst of                  Honoured by his great Father, and proclaimed
     death, so too are they by grace received into God's cove-              Messiah, King Anointed, could not bear,
     nant. Nowhere is the sovereignty of God in the work of                 Through pride, that sight, and thought himself impaired.
                                                                            Deep malice thence conceiving and disdain,
     salvation more vividly demonstrated than -in extending His             Soon as midnight brought on the dusky hour
/    covenant mercies to such infants. It is therefore under-               Friendliest to sleep and silence, he resolved
     standable that all who reject infant baptism must deny                 With all his legions to dislodge, and leave
     the doctrine of original  .sin as taught by Scripture, or else         Unworshiped, unobeyed, the Throne supreme,
     deny the possibility of the salvation of all who are not old           Contemptuous, and, his next subordinate
                                                                            Awakening, thus to him in secret spake:  -"
     enough to exercise active faith. Room is given here for the            (And then follows a further account of the supposed con-
     consideration not only of the Biblical proof. of a doctrine            spiracy among the angels.  * H.C.H.)
     of fundamental importance but also to raise various  im-                                                                      H.C.H.


I                                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                             333

                                                                                        A little later he writes:
                                                                                                  For whom  did  Chist die? The usual answer to this question
                                                                                             in the Christian Reformed Church is that Christ died for the
                                                                                             elect. That answer, in fact, has been given  official  sanction
                                                                                             in our synodically published Compendium of  Christian  DOC-
     A LESSON IN, APOSTASY                                                                   trine. . . .
                                                                                                  To answer the question, "For whom did Christ die?" by
       The Christian Reformed Church adopted the three points                                saying, "the elect", is an answer that is neither complete nor
     of common grace in 1924. It was claimed at that time by                                 accurate according to Scripture and the confessions. . . . "For
     Revs. Hoeksema, Ophoff, and Danhof that these three                                     whom did Christ die?" `Will the believer then quote the  answer
     points vitiated the truth and destroyed the foundation of                               he learned from the Compendium as a catechumen? If he does
     the Christian's antithetical walk in the world. The Chris-                              so, he will distort the gospel, confuse the unbeliever, and he
                                                                                             may lose the  opportunity for further witness. It  seems to me
     tian Reformed Church hotly denied this. and insisted that                               that the proper answer, with suitable elaboration,' would run
     there, was no threat at all to the doctrinal and spiritual                              something like this: "Christ died for all men. This is what the
     well-being of the denomination.                                                         Bible tells us. His death is  sufficient  for you. He desires  YOUI
       History has sadly proved the charge that was made to                                  salvation. God will forgive your sins if you repent and believe.
     be correct; history has conclusively shown that the forcible                       _    Christ died for you!"
     denial of the charge amounted to little more than batting                          In a footnote on the subject of the wrath of God, Dekker
     the air.                                                                         writes :
       To anyone who is at all acquainted with what is going
     on in this denomination, it is evident that the road. of                                     Scripture passages which speak of the hatred of God must
                                                                                             be taken into account. `Without giving them detailed considera-
     apostasy begun in 1924 is being swiftly traveled to a  ter-                             tion here, the following factors  may  be noted:
     rible destination. The "liberals" in that Church have seized                                 (a)  There  is a difference between hating the sin  &cl hating
~ the banners and are marching boldly and relentlessly the                                   the sinner. . . .
     way of false doctrine. They are taking the Church with                                       (b)  "Hate" in Scripture sometimes means "love less" rather
     them. And no one seems able or willing to stop them.                                    than the very opposite  of love. . . .
                                                                                                  (c) "Hate" in  the Old Testament must be seen in the light
       The last issue of the  Reformed  Journal was, from cover                              of progressive revelation. . . .
     to cover, an illustration of this. In article after article the
     push is one to hurry the Church on the way of heresy and                           By point (c) Dekker means that the hate of the people
     worldliness. And, so often, the appeal is made to the doc-                       of God in the Old Testament was changed by command of
     trine of common grace to justify this conduct.                                   Christ to love in the New Testament. The whole footnote
       A brief sampling of this current issue will -demonstrate                       is, of course, a complete denial of the hatred of God. It is
~ the truth of this.                          i                                       di%?cult  to understand why Dekker does not honestly say
                                     0  #  0  *                                       that he stands in basic conflict with our Canons and that
       Prof. Harold Dekker is writing again about his current                         he desires that the Church dispose of them at once.
     heresy of God's love to all men. We need not go into a.                            In connection with this same point, James Daane has
     discussion of this; our editor has been and still is showing                     also a few brief comments in another article. He is afraid
     the falsity of the whole position. But a few quotes show                         that the doctrine of common grace has often been  m&in-
     how insistent Dekker is on his position and how easily                           terpreted by the people of the Christian Reformed Church.
     he brushes aside all  ~&the careful exegesis that has condemned                  In fact, even by the Synod. The misinterpretation has been
     his position.                                                                    that the Church distinguished between common grace and
       In commenting on John 3: 16, Dekker writes:                                    special grace. This is correct, as is evident from what the
                 So the question  .remai.ns:  Which people are the object of God's    Synod said on this point in 1959:                _
           love in Christ,  all  or some? If we emphasize cosmic totality,                        "The doctrine of irresistible grace would indeed be jeopard-
           are not all people included? If we emphasize sinful totality,                     ized, if we held. that the grace shown to the elect is the same
           are not all sinners included? No matter how agile one may                         as that  shown'to creatures in general. We would then be guilty
           be in elaborating the concept of totality as an interpretation                    `of the error of  .the Arminians who teach that all men enjoy
           of "`world", sooner or later he must face the basic question as                   the same grace."
           to  .which persons this  .totality includes. To this question there
           are two possible answers:  all men or the  L?lect. The former is             But Daane thinks this is a serious mistake. Such a dis-
           the plain, common sense reading. The latter seems to be es-
           sentially theological exegesis. . . . When faced with the alterna-         tinction undermines the sovereignty of God. And the same
           tives that "world" in John  3:16 means all men or the elect, I             thing is true of God's love. In the current discussion  don-
          hold that it means the former.                                              cerning  Dekker's views on God's love, some want to make
                 I am, therefore, ready to say to any man, "God loves you!"           a distinction (and, at times, it seems as if Dekker also
           In so saying I believe  .that I am saying what God has said in             makes this point) between a kind of love that is shown to
           His Word and what He wants me to say. For God has declared
           that He loves all men and He has given me, and all believers,              all men but does not save, and a' love shown only to the
          the task of telling them that He loves them. . , .                          elect which does save. But Daane does not want anything

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

of this distinction. The concept  .of sovereignty is then, Canadian Christian Labor Association - Messrs. Antonides
sacrifked.                                                                 and Vandezande, and  Mr; Joseph  Gritter, Secretary of the
        It seems to escape notice that when the two kinds of grace         Christian Labor Association in this country.
        or love are posited, the free sovereignty of God, which the          It is not my purpose to enter into this discussion eider.
        distinctions were `intended to protect, is in fact surrendered.    Especially I have no intention of coming to the defense
        If there is a divine love or grace that is in its nature an
       electing and saving love, then election and salvation are           of separate Christian organizations. But I do wish to com-
   n e c e s s a r y . Rut a divine love and grace that by its nature      ment on the strong pleas being made by the  Reformed
        necessarily elects and saves, undermines the free sovereignty      JCXW&  editors for participation in so-called "neutral" labor
        of God. Similarly, a divine love and grace that by its nature      organizations. The editors do not want to condemn Chris-
        cannot elect and  cannot save also undermines the free sover-      tian organizations out of hand. They are good in their way;
        eignty of God.                                                     they have their place; they may serve a useful purpose,
  Daane does not draw the conclusions of this position. He                 under certain conditions. But, not only is membership in
says that he does not want to enter into the controversy.                  neutral labor unions a thing to be permitted; it is to be
But he is surely carrying the whole matter to its logical                  encouraged.
end. The conclusions are obvious: there is only one kind                     Once again the blame for this position must be laid. at
of grace and one kind of love after all. Common grace-is                   the feet of the Christian Reformed Synod which refused
special grace, and special grace is common grace. There is                 to condemn membership in neutral labor unions; but the
only- one love of God. And this love is the same to all                    fact remains that  the  editors of the  Reformed  JournaZ  are
men. No fine theological distinctions on this matter of love               militant in their defense of such membership and are..deter-
and grace. It is the same  alway$`jo  all.                .     I          mined to wave the banner of these unions in the Church.
                             4  0  13  0  `-                               They want to hasten the ride down the road of worldliness.
                                                                             Prof. Henry Stob discusses the matter at length. Surpris-
  In 1951 the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church                       ingly, he frankly admits that the unions are organized for
made a decision with respect to movie attendance. This                     the express purpose of bringing force to bear on the em-
decision followed upon another decision taken in 1923. I                   ployer so that management is compelled to capitulate to
do not have these decisions before me; but evidently                       union demands. This lies in their very nature.
Synod did not condemn movie attendance outright,. but                             The fact is that labor unions and political parties, whether
`rather issued a strong warning against them. Synod refused                     Christian or not,  are "power structures." They are  this because
to condemn them as always sinful.                                               they have, and of necessity must have,  in their possession
  At present an argument is once again going on as to the                       certain  instruments and techniques of constraint.  Without
interpretation of Synod's decision. Rev. J. B. Hulst, repre-                    these instruments and techniques of constraint, without the
senting a committee from Northwest Iowa  wl$& is studying                       "force" and "compulsion" that `they can bring to bear upon
                                                                                people, they would cease to be what they are.
the question, wants to maintain that although Synod did not                      It should be obvious that without the "strike weapon" a
condemn movies per se, their decision was tantamount to                         labor union ceases to be a labor union. Without the power to
this. Daane dissents, and insists rather that this is exactly                   ."compel" management to yield to its demands a union is
what Synod did not do. He rather maintains that Synod                           nothing but an educational institute or a propaganda agency;
precisely encouraged movie attendance, if proper selectivity                    it is not a  union.  A labor union, from its very nature is unlike
                                                                                a Church or a School or a Newspaper or a Radio Station or
was exercised.                                                                  any other such thing. Churches, schools, and similar organiza-
  I have no desire to enter the discussion as to what their                     tions teach, proclaim, witness, persuade, convince, and thereby
Synod meant with these decisions. Much less do I care                           "exert  iniluence," but they do not have the capacity or the
now to -condemn or defend Synod's position. The point is                        right to "constrain," `force," or "compel." This is because they
that the  Reformed  .loutwl   wants to go on record as en-                      are not in their nature "power structures" as labor unions
                                                                                assuredly are.
couraging movie attendance. This may be Synod's fault,
but  the additional step into the world is being encouraged                  His conclusions are:
by this "periodical of Reformed comment and opinion." The                         My own position is that separate Christian organization
paper ought to be condemning it and urging Synod to re-                         is neither principially impermissible nor principially mandatory.
tract' it's'decision. But this is what common grace is doing.                   I hold that separate Christian organization represents respon-
                                                                                sible  Christian strategy;  that it constitutes a way or  method
                             xt  0  xt  0                                       by which to implement a Christian concern for society and
                                                                                the state; that in some countries and at some times it is the
  In past months, a heated argument has developed be-                           best way to implement this concern, but that in other coun-
tween the editors of  the Reformed  Jo~nal and certain                          tries' and at other times this may not be the case. . . . I hold
individuals in the Christian Reformed Church over the                           that separate Christian organization is  not itself  a principle
question of separate Christian organizations - particularly                     nor immediately derivable from a principle. . . .
Christian political parties and Christian labor unions. Those                     I hold furthermore, that labor unions. and political parties
                                                                                can be neutral.  This does not mean that any man can be neu-
who are carrying the burden of the defense of Christian                         tral. Every man is either in Christ or out of Him and is, deep
organizations in labor and politics are two men from the                        down, operating either in the service of de City. of God or


                                             T          H              E                 STAEjDARD   BiiARER'                               335

      of the City of the World.. But these two  sorts  of men  rn&               that we take the initiative by applying for a cure of our
      co-operate  in this world, and I hold that they  colt do this, and         spiritual malady and that we cooperate in this. These are
      sometimes  should  do this, in neutral, i.e., non-ideologically            inferences by brother Nobel. They are not the statements
      structured, organizations that are established to achieve goals
      common to Christians and non-Christians.                                   of Dr. Payson.
                                                                                    3. We appreciate brother Nobel's fear of Arminianism
   This matter of neutrality of labor unions is the key point.                   and his strong emphasis upon the truths of total depravity,
 But how in the world an organization can be neutral while                       the importance of the WORD in salvation and the truth
 a member of it cannot be is a mystery to me. Is not the                         that "it is God which worketh in you both to will and to
 organization exactly its members? Would there be an or-                         do of His good pleasure" (Phib 2: 12,13).  When a fair inter- .
 ganization without any members? And surely the very fact                        pretation is given to the statement of Dr.  Payson, we fail
 that a labor union is a "power group" to force its position                     to see where these truths are denied.or  jeopardized.
 on the employer already makes mockery of its neutrality.                           4. Dr.  Payson speaks of  the "symptoms  of spiritual de-
   Prof. Lester De Koster writes even more passionately in                       cline." This immediately presupposes that he is speaking of
 defense of membership in these unions. We have not the                          and to the spiritually living, i.e., the regenerated. A spir-
 space to make any quotes from his article; but he turns his                     itual  decline is possible  onZy in them and not in those that
 able and fluent pen to a defense of the proposition that we                     a r e   d e a d .
must exert our Christian influence in these "neutral" organi-
 zations. He wants no' part of any contention .that member-                         Dr.  Payson  sounds a warning  where such symptoms are
 ship in these unions involves one in their sin. He reacts                       in evidence. "Be alarmed! Your spiritual health (note: not
vigorously against any talk of the antithesis in this                            life') is in danger.1" Need we be reminded that the sound-
                                                               COMIC-
                                                      _  _       _          _
tion  - at least inasmuch as membership might be a denial                        ing of such warnings is according to Scripture?
                                                                                                                              * ,
 of the antithesis; and he pleads with the membership in                            `Ye shall even warn them (brethren) that they trespass
 the Church to accept their Christian responsibilities in                        not against the Lord, and so wrath come upon-you and
joining in these movements because "God has used others                          upon your brethren;  this do,  and ye shall not trespass."
to give of their sweat, of their blood, and of their women's                     (II Chron. 19:iO).
 tears to erect the far-flung battlements of labor".
   The Christian Reformed Church has gone a `long way                               "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet,
 in a short time. Why do not those who deplore all this                          and shew my people their transgression, and de house of
 stand up and shout? Can they? Will they?_                    H. Hanko           Jacob their sins." (Isa.  58:l). But see also I Thess.  5:14;
                                                                                 Ezek.  33:7-Q.
                                                                                    The sounding of the warning is imperative, also today!'
                                                                                 Do you  see. any symptoms? There is no Arminianism in
                                                                                 preaching the warning!
11  C 0 N  T:R I  B U T I  0.NSI(                                                   Dr. Payson gives advice where the symptoms of spiritual
                                                                                 decline are perceived. Again, it takes eyes to see. The
                                                                                 dead are blind but this instruction is for the living. The
                    Rank  Apninianism                                            Dr. warns against the use of patent  meditiines,  self-made
                                                                                 remedies (cures of Armiuianism) but writes: `Apply im-
Dear Editor of the Standard Bearer:                                              mediately to the Great Physician." Do you have better
   In response to the contribution of Mr. A. -Nobel, Jr., in                     counsel? Did not the Great Physician Himself say: "COME
de April 1 issue of the                                                          TO ME" and His words did  NOT "presume the structure
                              St&wkrd   Bearer,   I would like to
place the following comments in the                                              of doctrine that Arminians would use." Christ's words har-
                                            Standard Bearer.                     monize with this: "ALL that the Father giveth unto Me
   1. I must disagree with Mr. Nobel's contention that Dr.                       shall come" just because "it is God who worketh in you
Payson's  quote is "a spiced  Arminian  pill" and the "rank-                     both to will  `and to do of His `good pleasure." The call is
est type of Arminianism." This conclusion is reached by                          particular but the proclamation of it is general. And God
Mr. Nobel, not from a fair interpretation of what Dr. Pay-                       works out the pleasure of His will through the  means of
son wrote, but by unjustly imposing inferences, deductions,                      warnings, exhortations and admonitions in the Gospel. (I
and implications of his own upon the statement of Dr.                            Cor.  1:20).  Let us not be remiss in sounding them nor
Payson.  By `such methods it is not  diflicult to make any                       accuse unjustly of Arminianism when they are sounded.
author the "rankest Arminian."                                                     We have more but the allowed space for contributions
   2. Mr. Nobel contends that the quote denies total de-                         i s   f i l l e d .
pravity, teaches the  Armiriian  lie that  "the human is able                                                   Fraternally in the Lord,
and willing to turn to Christ" without the grace of God;                                                       ,G.  Vanden  Berg


                                                                                                             ",
                                       s                                                                   ,  .`*'
`336           _-. --                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                 :
                                                                                      :;
                                                                           In executive session,  Classis  treated an  appe$..to'Synod
         NEWS FROM OURXI-IURCHES                                         against its (Classis)  ,former  ,decision  in a discipline case.
                                                                         In another case,  Classis approved the decision for the Sec-
                "AL! the  saiizts   s&de  thee  . .  ." PHIL:  4  :21    ond step of censure. Truly at such times one is strongly
                                                                         reminded of the fact that the church on earth has not yet
                                                                         been perfected, but `must  stnrggle  always against sin and
                                                      April 51964        evil.
                                                                            Subsidy requests were received from all the churches ex-
   Rev. J. ,A. Heys has received a call from Lynden, Wash.               cept  South!Holland  and Pella. Three other of the churches
                                                                         requested subsidy only if they received a minister.
                       CLA~~IS   WEST  REPORT.                             It was" decided to hold the next meeting of  Classis  at
                                                                         South Holland, Illinois on Wednesday, September 16, 1964.
    Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches met                   After the questions of Article 41 were answered satisfac-
 for the first time since 1953 in the church building of our             torily, the chairman spake a few closing remarks, the dele-
 Edgerton congregation. Though the building has been                     gatks  rose to sing the doxology, and Rev. H. Hanko closed
 there for many years, most of the delegates had never been              the meeting with prayer.
 inside of it before. This meeting was held on Wednesday,                                                             Rev. G. Van Baren, S.C.
 March  16.
    Four churches were represented by but one delegate and                        . .  :.
 one church was not represented at the meeting. Rev. G.                     CLASSICAL APPOINTMENTS FOR  CLASSIS   WEST  A.ND
 Vanden  Berg served as president, and Rev. G. Van  Baren                                         CLASSIS  EAST
 recorded the minutes..
   After the routine committee reports,  Classis treated the                Redlands-`Apr. 5, 12, 19: H. Hanko; May 10,  17,24:  H.  -1
 new business of the day. Classical appointments were                    Veldman; June 7, 14, 21: D. Englesma; July 12, 19, 26: H.
 granted to Forbes, Isabel, Pella, Lynden, and Redlands.                 Hoeksema; Aug. 9, 16, 23: B. Wouderiberg.
 Included in the schedule of appointments was a request                     Lynden-  Apr. 19, 26, May 3: G.  Laming; May 10, 17,
 that  Classis East assist  Classis West in supplying some               24: G. Van  Baren; June 7, 14, 21: J. Kortering; July 19, 26,
 of. the necessary appointments. The Loveland consistory                 `Aug. 2: D. Englesma; Aug. 23, 30, Sept. 6: J. Heys.
 also officially thanked the  Classis for the pulpit supply it             Isabel-Forbes  -Apr. 12, -19, 26: B. Woudenberg; May
 had received during its vacancy.                                        10, 17, 24: J. Heys; June 21, 28, July 5: H. Veldman; July
   There was a request at the meeting for approval of the                12, 19: G. Vanden  Berg; Aug. 2, 9, 16: H. Hanko; Aug. 30,
 Classis  for dissolving the old agreement for calling one               Sept. 6, 13: J. Kortering.
 minister to serve the two congregations of Isabel and                     Pellu  - Apr.: G. Van Baren; May: G.  Vanden  Berg; June:
 Forbes. The motion to grant this request was ruled out of               G. Vanden  Berg; July: G. Van Baren; .Aug.: G. Van Baren;
 order on the ground that this was not a matter for  Classis             Sept.: G.  Vanden  Berg.
 to determine, but was to be decided by the local churches                  Southwest-  Apr. 5: G. Vos; 19: R.  C:. Harbach; 26: G.
 mutually. The two churches .were  then informed that since              Vos; May 3: R. C. Harbach; 17: C. Hanko; 31: G. Vos.
 they both had decided to dissolve this agreement, they were                Lynden's congregation held a special worship service
 free to make trios and call ministers as individual congre-             Friday evening, March 13, to formally dedicate their new
 gations.                                                                church building `to the Name of Almighty God, God the
    Redlands, upon their request, was granted the right to               Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, one Eternal
 call, ministers again who had been called less than one year            God in three divine persons." The special bulletin carried
 earlier. The basis for requesting this, and granting the re-            seven dedicatory statements naming the multiple reasons
 quest, was that  Redlands  could not make any more trios                why that house of God was erected. It -also carried the  ,,
 (or even duos.).                                                        prayer offered by the congregation through  Rev. R. C. Har-
    Election of minister delegates to Synod followed. The                bath, their former pastor; who conducted, the service. The
 primi `delegates are Revs. H. Hanko, J. `A. Heys, G. Van                next Sunday's bulletin expressed: ". . . on that occasion the
 Baren,  and G. Vanden  Berg. The remaining ministers serve              Lord filled the auditorium, spoke the word of the pure
 as alternates. Voting for elder delegates resulted in, the              gospel to us, and, in the enjoyment of refreshments after-
 election- of Wm. Feenstra, H. -Huisken,  Wm. Huizenga, and              ward, gave us a happy time of fellowship together. God's
 L. Lanting; for alternates, elders G. Broekhouse, M. Gaastra,           earthly tabernacle, appropriately complemented with beau-
 P. Ipema, and C. Vander Molen were elected. The Revs.                   tiful floral displays,  ,provided  the ceremonies with an
 J. Heys and G. Van Baren were re-elected as church visitors.            atmosphere of joy, which certainly was evident in our
                                                                                                                           .-
 Rev. D. Engelsma was elected for a three year term as                   hearts; . . ."
 delegate  ad-exa.mina.                                                     .- . . see you in church.                                 J.M.F.


