      VOLmm   X L                                MAY  1, 1964  -  GRANCRAPIDS,  MICHIGAN                            NUMBER   15

                                                                      another, find one another and are bound to one another.
II          M E D I T A T I O N                                       They find their complete delight in one another. And they
                                                                      will sing of it forever.
                                                                         For love is God, and God is love!
                 FOLLdVVEFiS OF GOD                                      God walks in beauty. In the beauty of His own love.
                                                                         And you and I?
      "Be ye therefore followers  of  God, as dear  childma;             God tells us in my text to study Him and to watchHim
         and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and         .how He walks in the beauty of His love, and then to
         bath given Himself for us an offering and a sac$ce           imitate Him.
        to God for a  sweetmelling   savour.n                         Imitate God!
                                            Ephesians 5:  1,2            `By walking in love.                               -
      Imitate God, and walk in  love1                                                                  ,
                                                                                                  it  0  0  F1
      That is an explanation of the first commandment. To
imitate God and to walk in love is the self-same thing.                  Imitate God, as dear childreni
      What does that mean? How am I to understand what                   That last phrase strengthens the idea of the admonition.
it means to walk in' love?: What is love and what is my                  It is entirely comely that you should walk like your
walk?                                                                 Father in heaven walks, for you are His dear children!
      Your walk is not merely -your manifestation in face,               And certainly the child should be like unto the father!
voice and deeds.                                                         Do you notice  with.me that you can do nothing with
      It is much, more more. Your face may be as an angel's          this text with regard to the child of the devil, be he in the
face, but your walk may be like the devil himself.                    church or without the church?.
      Your voice may be ever so sweet,  ,so that people are              This text is for the child of God exclusively. It would
charmed by your conversation, but it is very' well possible          have no sense at all to say to the unregenerate: Walk in
that your walk is dark as darkness itself.                          love! Imitate God! For you are His dear child! If we  did
      Oh; but your walk is ever so <much more than the way           that we would be liars unto God!
you show yourself before the face of man.                                Oh no, but this admonition is for them who are the dear
      I think that I may say that your walk is ZJSU!                 children of God.
      And you are as your heart is.                                      Who are they?
      From the heart are the issues of life.           .                -Well, in Paradise we were the dear children of God in
      If your heart is godly and good, your walk is bound to         Adam and Eve. These two were dear children of God. And
be. good.  '                                                         unto them God.said:  Study Me in My ways and revelation!
      If your heart is evil and dark, your walk is abominable,       And then copy Me in your walk. From the .heart out, walk
even though your face may be wreathed in smiles and your             in love. Draw near to Me in all your heart and thought and
voice ever so wonderful in its tone and quality.                     word and deed. And you will be happy.
      Now then, your walk should be in love.                             Adam and Eve were happy, dear children of God. For
      And what is love?                                              a while. For a very short while.
      Love `is God Himself. John has told us. God is love.               For they fell.
And that means that in all His essence and life He is bound              They studied the devil, and imitated him-.
to Himself in the bond of perfectness. That is `also Scrip-              They followed the devil; and he led them into untold
ture. Love is the bond of perfectness! It is the tie that binds      misery. They did as the .devil did, and they corrupted their
the perfect ones together in wonderful unity and peace.              way upon the face of the earth; And so it was that the
In the atmosphere of perfection the perfect ones seek one            whole earth was filled with violence.


 338                                               THE~,STANDARD   B E A R E R

        By nature, we all are walking in the hatred of God and     damnation, and Who in His Son Jesus Christ took all  your
 of our neighbour.                                                 hell and your damnation upon Himself in order to an-
        And are very unhappy.                                      nihilate them, and that so completely as though they had
        But God remembered His covenant of Love.                   never been.                                     I-.
        And from the very beginning He called His own from            Oh, you would have told him of the love of God's walk
 darkness to light.                                                in .GethSemane  and on the accursed tree. And all for you!
        He did that by spreading abroad the love of God in            You would have told Adam of a love that would come
 their heart. He gave them His own image again, but now            down and become a curse for you. So that you might be-
the image such as it was exalted to the highest heavens.           come the blessed of the Lord.
 The love of God in God's elect children is far sweeter than          And Adam would greatly wonder at such love.
 the love of God as Adam tasted it in his innocent heart.             And he would say: I know not! I cannot follow  you!
 Later I will come back to that far sweeter love.                  Your sermon is too deep for me!
        But now the child of God receives that far sweeter love      The love of God's walk is infinitely sweeter now than
 in the hour of. his regeneration, brought to consciousness it was in that first morning in Paradise where Adam slept.
 <in his conversion.                                                  Adam knew of no forgiveness in the blood of Jesus.
        And so some of the sons and daughters of Adam and             He did know of a walk of love, but not of the walk of
 Eve become again dear children of God!                            the bloody sacrifice and the burnt-offering unto God.
        And to them He says in the words of my text: Imitate          God's child in Jesus! You are infinitely richer than that
 Me! Follow Me! Walk in love! For you are My dear chil-            first  i~ocent child Adam in Paradise!
 dren! The child should behave as the Father behaves!                 But there is your burden!
        Imitate Me by your walk of love! For you are My               You must imitate that God who came to you in Jesus
 dear child!                                                       to prove and to manifest His wondrous love!
                            Q     0     t     8                       Imitate God!           n  0  0  0
        Imitate Me!
        But Lord, how am I to know how I must conduct myself          Oh `yes, imitate God!
 in this walk of love?                                                And to do it: look strongly on Jesus of Galilee!
    And the Lord has given you an'answer. It is ,i.n the text:        Its opportunity?
 `"as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us        Look around you in the church, and with the  ohurch,
 an offering and a sacrifice to God!"                              into the world round about you, and weep!
        This brings me to a mighty and most wonderful thought.        There is the fruit of the evil all around you. People walk
 This reminds me of the sole purpose of the whole universe.        as the Gentiles walk in the darkness of their foolish mind.
 It, is this: God wants to show to untold millions how love-       And in the church there is .also a remnant of that dark and
 able  He. is. That is the reason why He created and re-           evil walk.
 created. He wanted to show us His walk in love.                      Your brother will on occasion bind you and send you to
        A little while ago I promised  .you that I would come      Egypt. You will cry in the pit.
 ,back to the idea of a `sweeter love? Well, here it is.              The power of evil, be it in the world or in the church of
 ' `- Oh yes, if you would have asked Adam: Come, tell me,         Jesus Christ, will lay you low in tears and bitterness. They
 is God a God of love? he  .would have grown `voluble -in          will give you bread and water of affliction.
 telling you of the love of God. He would have pointed                For God's sake, for Jesus' sake and for His righteousness'
 you to all created things, himself included, and say and          sake you will be hated and persecuted.
 sing of the love of God as it was shown to him in the                Listen to your cry: We are killed all the day long! It
 morning and in the night, in the lion and in the sheep, in        is your cry is it not?
 the whale and in the eagle. He would point you to the blue           Oh yes, there is ample opportunity to live this text.         ~
 canopy of heaven and tell you that it all spoke of His won-          Do it then.
 derful love and loving-kindness. And his song would end              Walk in love in the midst of the devils and the children
 with a beautiful stanza about his own life in Paradise: this      of the devil.
 God loves me, o stranger! He loves me and He takes care              When they curse you, bless thou.
 of me from morning till `night, And when I and my wife               When they hate you, pray'thou.
 sleep in the garden, His care is over me and within me. I            When they kill you, forgive them.
 laugh and I leap for joy in this God of my love.                     Imitate God!
        But if you were a child of God through Jesus Christ the       Walk in His love!
 Lord, you would have been able to tell Adam of a love that           Prove to the whole universe that you are "dear children
 is infinitely sweeter than the love of God such as Adam           of God"!
 knew. You would have told him of God who is now known                Ah, but it is wonderful to be imitators of God!
 as Jehovah, who came down to you in your hell and in your                                   #  #  0  0


                                                L


                                                     T H E   S,TANDARD   B E A R E R                                                                                               334:
                                                                                                                                           _ ---
   But why?                                                                                                                                               .
   That you may be unto `God a sweet-smelling savour!                                        T H E .   S T A N D A R D   BEARER
   That is the only purpose.                                                    Senai~&thly,   ex&pt monthly during June,  July  and  Augwt
                                                                                  Published by the REFORMED  FREE  Pwnnrsrrrno hsoCL4TION
   When Christ hung on the accursed tree, God smelled of                                             Editor-m.  Hm Honss=
that sacrifice and He said in the heavens above you: Oh,                        Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
but this love of Mine, there on that cross, smells sweet!                       Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,
                                                                                Mich. Contributions will be limited to 300 words and must be
It shall be to- My glory and praise forever!                                                                neitly  written or typewritten.
   And so it is.                                                                All church news items should be addressed to Mr. J. M. Faber,
   In the midst of the throne shall be the little lamb, stand-                                1123 Cooper, S. E., Grand  Rapids 7, Mich.
ing as if slain. It is the reason for all the singing of heaven.                 Amouncements  and Obituaries with the $2.00 fee included
                                                                                must  be mailed 8 days prior to issue date, to the address below:
   If you return evil for evil in evil hatred, God smells                         All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to
of you, and turns from you in Divine disgust.                                              Mr. James Dykstra; 1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
                                                                                                             Grand Rapids 7, .Michigan
   If you love those that despitefully treat you, and if you                        RENEWAL:  Unless a defkrite request for discontinuance~is
live the life of the Lamb of God, God will rejoice in you.                      received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscrip-
   I think of a certain strain of singing: Let God in His                          tion to, continue without the formality of a renewal order.
                                                                                                     Subscription price: $5.00 per year
people forever delight!                                                               Secotid   Class  postage  paid at  &and  Rapid& Michigan
   Do it, beloved! Imitate God!
   Through His wondrous grace in Jesus Christ our Lord!
                                                                    G.V.;                                           C O N T E N T S
                                                                             MEDITATION -
                                                                                     Followers of God __. _. . . . . . . . .._..____ _.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..337
                            -         -                                                  , Rev. G. Vos

                                                                             EDITORIALS-
                                                                                     De Jong-Dekker .I . . . . . . . . . . . ,.I . .._. ~ . .._______..._..  :.....,........... 340
                    An Urgent Appeal                                                        Rev. H. Hoeksema
   By this time all of our Protestant Reformed  con&tories                   OURDOCTRINE-                      ;
                                                                                     The Doctrine of the Church . . . . .._____...__.....................,............ 342
have been approached,' and the Board of the R.F.P.A. has                               Rev.' H. Hoeksema
tried to reach all our people with a letter setting forth the
financial needs of our Standard Bearer, - needs, due to a                    SPECUL  REpoRT  -
                                                                                     The Second Vatican Council (III)  ._.__................................   `.34.4
sharp increase in printing costs. However, the fact that                                    Rev. G.  Van  Barea
the results of the letter-appeal are slow to come in  has.
moved the Board to make another appeal here, and to                          Trm  LORD   GAVE THE  Wonn-
                                                                                     Long Range Report on Foreign Mission Work . . . . . . .._...........  346
remind you of the urgency of the situation.                                                Rev. C. Hanko
   As this goes to press, according to the finance commit-                   A CLOUD  OF  WITPJSSES   -
tee, there is enough cash on hand for one issue of the                               Samson in  .Timnath ___..............___.........  _ ,.................................
                                                                                                                                                                                    348
Standard  Bea`rer! That means that in the very near future                                  Rev.  B.. Woudenberg
there must be an overwhelming response to the Board's                        FROM HOLY WRIT  -
request for collections and gifts.                                                   Exposition of the Prophecy of Malachi _........' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
                                                                                            Rev.  G. Lubbers
   W e   s u g g e s t :
                                                                             I N   HIS  F&-
   1. That our consistories take note of this, and if you                            The End of Our  ,Faith  ..,...............   ~____..___................................. 352
have not yet taken steps to send in a collection, please do so.                             Rev. J.  .A. Heys

   2.. That individuals take time out to send in special                     CONTENDING  FO~&~E  FAITH  -
gifts by mail.                                                                       The Church and the Sacraments ____                                    _..     .________.      ,354
                                                                                            Rev.. H. Velclman                                                                          ~.
   We underscore this urgent appeal by reminding' you                        THE  RICE  OF  .;)uA  FATHERS  -
that this is the fortieth anniversary year of our Standard                           The Belgic Confession . . . . . .  :.. . . . . . . . . .  ,356
Bearer. When you think of past benefits and past struggles,                                 Rev. H, C. Hoeksema
surely, you will continue to support the Standard Bearer                     cONlRlBtiONS -
r o y a l l y .                            /                 <                       Publicity  - The New Publishing Project .  .._..._..__.....~  .________.__  358
' Truly, as a small band of people we have many causes                                      Permane&  Committee for Publication  of.
                                                                                            Prot: Ref. Literature
to support; and it seems as though there are always requests                                        .  -
for financial help. But: ours is the privilege! Let us not be                NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES.. . . . .  a_ .  .__  _____..   .__ ___  _...  __.__.   .366
weary in well-doing!                                              H.C.H.                 M r .   J .   M .   F a b e r

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

                                                                    104, which reads as follows: "Through thy precepts I get
             E  D  .I T 0  R I  A.L S                               understanding: therefore I hate every false way." And this
                                                                    is supposed to prove that God loves all men, even the-ugh
                                                                    He hates their sin? Again I make the following remarks:
                                                                       a. The text does not say one word about the attitude of
                     De Jong - Dekker                               God to the wicked. The poet speaks of his own attitude
                                                                    to the way of the wicked: he hates every false way. It goes
Hate - Sin or the Sinner?                                           without saying, of course, that God, too, hates every false
       Prof. Dekker, in order to maintain that God loves all        way. But this is not the question and is not the point at
men, as he once more emphasizes in' his article on "Telling         issue. What Dekker must prove is that God, although He
the. News to All Men," attempts to base this heretical view         hates every false way, yet He loves the wicked that walks
on Scripture.                                                       in this way. And this the text does not prove at all.
       First of all, he tries to prove that God hate,s sin but         b. Again I say that, according to this same psalm, the
loves the snmer.  Writes he: "Among passages which speak            very opposite is true. Thus, for instance in vs. 21 we read:
unmistakably of hating sin rather than the sinner are the           "Thou hast rebuked the proud (not their pride, but the per-
following"; here follow several references which we must            sons of the proud, H.H. ), which are  curse,d (does God
briefly examine.                                                    curse those whom He loves? H.H. ), which do err from thy
                                                                    commamlments."  In vss. 84, 85 the poet invokes God's
       1. Psalm 101:3. "I will set no wicked thing before r-nine    judgment on the wicked that persecute him: `When wilt
eyes: I hate the work of them: that turn aside; it shall not        thou execute judgment on them that persecute me? The
cleave to me." On this I make the following remarks:                proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy
       a. First of all, the  psalmist speaks of himself, not of     law." Would Dekker also be able to utter this prayer? Or
God. But the question is not whether the author of Ps. 101          would he, perhaps say that this is a wicked prayer, seeing
loves the wicked (which he does not; see below  ),  but             that God loves all men. Again, in vss. 118, 119 we read:
whether God loves him, for God loves all men! I challenge ,"Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy
Prof. Dekker to quote one passage from Scripture in which           statutes: for their deceit is falsehood. Thou puttest  away
it is shown that God hates the sin of the wicked, but loves         all the wicked of the earth like dross." Would Dekker,
his person. To my mind, Scripture teaches the very oppo-            perhaps, claim that this must be interpreted as belonging
site. Read, for instance, Prov. 3:31-35:  "Envy not thou the        to the Old Testament and `in the light of progressive reve-
oppressor, and choose none of his ways. For the froward             lation." But, then, how about the cry of the saints under
is abomination to the Lord, but his secret is with the right-       the altar that was heard when the fifth .seal was opened:
eous. The curse of the Lord is in the house, of the wicked;         `And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, 0
but he blesseth the habitation-of the just. Surely he scometh       Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge.
the scorners: but he giveth grace to the lowly. The wise            our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" Moreover,
shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of            the Lord answered their prayer, "`And white robes were
fools." Surely, Dekker must admit that these verses do not          given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them,
teach that God hates the sin of the wicked but that he              that they should rest yet for a little season, until their
loves his person.                                                   fellow servants also, and their brethren, that should be killed
       b. But even apart from the fact that the psalmist in Ps.     even as they were, should be fulhlled."
101:3  does not speak of God but of himself, the context               Again, I say that Prof. Dekker should not quote from
clearly shows that the poet does not only hate the sin of           Scripture at random, but should quote and explain any
the ungodly but also. his person. For there we read:  `:A           passage in the light of its context, and in the light of all
froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a               Scripture.
wicked person.  Whoso privily slandereth his neighbor, him             3. The next passage to which Dekker refers is Proverbs
will I cut off: him that hath a high look and a proud heart         8:13.  There we read: "The fear  of the Lord is to hate
will not I suffer. . . . He that-work&r deceit shall not dwell      evil, pride and  arrogancy,  and the evil way, and the  fro-
within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry within        ward mouth, do I hate."
my `sight. I will early destroy all the wicked of the land:
that I may cut off all the wicked doers from the city of               a: Wisdom is speaking here.
the Lord.".                                                            b. I cannot possibly understand how Dekker can pos-
       I am really ashamed that a professor in Calvin Seminary      sibly explain .this text as meaning that God hates sin but
can so quote at random, without any regard to the context,          loves the sinner. The text does not speak of this at all.
to prove his heretical proposition that God loves all men!          The theory of Dekker rests really on the presupposition that
                                                                    God loves all men even though He hates their wickedness.
       2. The next text to which Dekker refers is Psalm 119:        But- this `is exactly what Dekker is supposed to prove. The

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

text does not say anything like it. On the contrary, the text      I despise your feast days, `and I will not  smelI in your
speaks of the fi-oward mouth which, to my mind means the           solemn assemblies."
same thing as the froward speaker or the one that speaks              Again1 remark that the presupposition of Dekker's exe-
frowardly;                                                         gesis of this passage (although he never offers any explana-
   c. Moreover, at the end of the chapter we read: "But            tion, but simply points. to the reference) would be that,
he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all that         although the Lord hates these solemn assemblies, He loves
hate me love death." Still more, the whole book of Proverbs        those that gather in those assemblies. But again, I remark
is full of the antithesis, as is well known. For this I can        that the text does not say one word about this. And I main-
quote at random. God hates sin, but He loves the wicked?           tain that the very opposite supposition is much more to the
Certainly not according to the book of Proverbs. Take, for         point. Is it even possible that  -the Lord would hate and
instance, chapter 10:3:  "The Lord will not suffer the soul        despise those assemblies and, therefore- would refuse to be
of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the sub-           in their midst and even abhor the smell of them, but love
stance of the wicked." In vs. 6: "Blessings are upon the head      them that are thus assembled?
of the righteous: but violence covereth the mouth of the              0, to be sure, a remnant of the people of God always
wicked." Or in ch.  12:2:  `A good man obtaineth favor of          remains, but we may be sure that they are not found in
the Lord: but a man of wicked ,devices will he condemn."           the feasts and assemblies-which, according to the text in
But why quote more? It is simply not true that God hates           5:21, the Lord hates.
sin but loves the sinner or the wicked.
                                                                      7. The next passage to which Dekker refers is Zecha-
   4. Isaiah 61:8 we may omit, for it is addressed, not to         riah  8:7. The text reads as follows: "And let none of you
the wicked, but to the people of God.                              imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor; and love
                                                                   no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith
   5. In Jeremiah  44:4,  to which Dekker also refers to           the Lord."
prove that God hates sin but loves the sinner, we read: "Oh           The words are things do not occur in the original, We
do not this abominable thing that I hate." Here, too, the
implied interpretation which Dekker would give to this             may better translate: "for all these I hate." But this really
                                                                   makes no difference as to the meaning of the text. The
text is that God hates this `Yhing," or this sin, but that He,     only thing that matters here is that when the Lord says
nevertheless, loves those that commit it: I say, "the implied      the Lord hates evil in the hearts of Israel and Judah and
interpretation," for,. in the first place, the text itself does    also the false oath, He -also hates -those that imagine evil
not speak of it; and, in the second place, Dekker does not
offer any interpretation. If he had offered an explanation,        in their hearts against the neighbor and that swear a. false
he would needs have to have referred to the context that           oath. It is this that Dekker denies; and he would maintain
follows vs. 4. For there we read:        ,                         that, although He hates the things mentioned in the text,
   "But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn         He nevertheless loves them that commit them. And again
from their wickedness, to burn incense unto other  god<            I say that there is nothing at all in the text that even sug-
Wherefore my fury and mine. anger was poured forth, and            gests this. The Lord does not merely hate the evil which
was kindled against the cities of Judah and -in' the streets       the simier commits, but also the evil-doer unless, by the
of Jerusalem: and  the-y are wasted and desolate, as at this       grace of God, he repents. The penitent sinner God, indeed,
day. Therefore now thus saith the Lord, the.God  of hosts,         loves, not the impenitent.
the God of Israel; Wherefore do ye commit this great evil             God does not love all men!
against your_ souls, to cut off from you man and woman,
child and suckling out of Judah, to leave you none to re-             8. It is somewhat  di5cult  for me to understand why
                                                                   Dekker refers to the next passage, which is Romans 7:X.
main, In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of
your hands, burning  mcense  unto other gods in the                The text reads as follows: "For that which I do I allow
land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might          not: for what I would, that I do not; but what I hate,
                                                                   that I do."
cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a
reproach among all the nations of the earth? . . . Therefore          Now, it is very evident that the apostle here is not
thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I         speaking of God and of His .hatred,  but of himself'and of
will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all          his own hatred. This is strongly expressed in the following
Judah."                                                            context which is as follows: "If then I do that which I
   Does this sound as if the Lord hates the sin and wicked-        would not, I consent unto `the law that it is good. Now then
ness of the apostate children of Israel, but  .loves  their        it is no more I that do it, but.sin that dweheth in me. For
persons?                                                           I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good
   Far from it.                                                    thing: for to will is present with me; but how to -perform
                                                                   that which is good I find not. For the good that I would
   6. The same is true of the text in Amos 5:21: "I hate,          I do not: but the evil that I would not, that I do. Now if


 342                                         T H E   ST.ANDAR.Dm   .BE:ARER

 I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin
 that dwelleth in me."-                                                r.OUR  DO.CTRINEl
        From all this it is very plain:
        a. That the apostle is speaking, not of God, but of
 himself.                                                                      THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH
        b. That he is speaking of his own hatred of his  own                                   &APTER        VIII
 sinful nature, not of the hatred of God against sin and the
' sinner.                                                                          THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM
        c. That it .ought to be very evident that Paul is speak-                                (continued)  _
 ing here of himself as a regenerated child of God and not,
 as some would have it, as a natural man. The natural man                For this is the covenant that I will make with the house
 could never use such language.                                        of Israel in those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws
        But I say once more that I cannot understand why Dek-          into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will
 ker refers to this text to prove that God hates the sin of            be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And
 man but loves the sinner.                                             they shall not -teach every man his neighbour, and every
                                                                       man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know
        9. The -final passage to which Dekker refers is Revela-        me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to
 tion 2:6: "But this thou ha&, that thou hatest  the deeds of          their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities  will
 the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate."                                 I remember no more. In that he saith, A new covenant, he
        As to these Nicplaitanes we can be brief. It seems that        bath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and
 they were a sect characterized by living  ' a sinful life.            waxeth old is, ready to vanish away." It is evident that the
 Hence "the deeds of the Nicolaitanes." It is possible that            author of the epistle to the Hebrews applied the text in
 vs. 2 also refers to them or that they are, at least, included        Jeremiah to the new dispensation; and therefore the church
 `in the statement: "thou canst not bear them that are evil."          in the old and the new dispensation are one and the same.
        But the point which Dekker wants to emphasize is, of           Once more, this is also evident from a comparison of Amos
 course, that the Lord speaks of the deeds of these evil men           9:11-15  with Acts  15:13-17.  In the passage from  Amos  we
 and not of their persons.                                             read: -"In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David
   But this; in the first place, is nothing but a supposition:         that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof: and I will.
 the Lord surely does not say that He hates the deeds of the           raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:
 Nicolaitanes but loves their persons. And, in the second              That they may possess the remnant of Edom,, and of all the
 place, is this even conceivable? The deeds of any  persqn             heathen, which are called by my name, saith the Lord that
 are inseparable from his person. They proceed from the                doeth this. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the
 heart and the heart is, from a spiritual ethical point of view        plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes
 the same as his person.                                               him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet
        I claim, therefore, that, although the text speaks merely      wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I will bring again
 of God's hating the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, He hates               the -captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the
them, too, unless they repent of their evil deeds.                     waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vine-
        More next time, D.V.                                  H.H.     yards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also  make.
                                                                       gardens, .and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant-them
                                                                       upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out
                                                                       of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy
                                                                       God." When you read this passage, you would certainly
                        EDITORIAL NOTE                                 get the impression that it is nothing but a prophecy of a
                                                                       literal restoration of Israel in their own `land. But now
        We call attention to the fact that elsewhere in this issue,    consider the passage from Acts 15. There we read: "And
 under the title, "The New `Publishing Project," the reader            after they had held their peace, James answered, saying,
 will find complete information in regard to the proposed              Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon hath declared
 publication of Rev. H. Hoeksema's dogmatics. Since there              how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of
 had been many requests for information, and since this                them a people for his name. And to this agree the words
 requires considerable space, it was decided by the  Pubhca-           of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will return,
 tion Committee to ask for publicity in the Standard Bearer.           and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is
 And although the columns .of the Stmdard  Bearer are as a             fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and
 rule not open to propaganda, in this case an exception is             I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after
 made, seeing that this project is'connected with the R.F.P.A.         the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is
                                                           H.C.H.      called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things." It is


                                         T H E   STANDAR-D"  B E A R E R                                                       343

evident that while Amos speaks of the return of the children       know to be believers, that is, to those that confess their
of Israel to their own land, to build again the tabernacle         faith; that it is an established fact that many of the infants
of David, James  ex$ins that this restoration of the taber-        that are baptized in later life prove to be no children of
nacle of David is fulfilled in the new dispensation by the         God at all, and are lost; and that for this reason it is cer-
fact that the Gentiles enter into the fellowship of Christ.
                                                        -          tainly wrong to administer the sign of baptism to children
                                                                   of believers before they have come to years of discretion.
  Thus it is throughout all Scripture. Always the Word of          Against this argument  many -counter-arguments may be
God knows only of one people of God, and of one and the            adduced, such as, the fact that faith can be and is, in fact,
same cover&t.  Only in the light of this is it possible that       in the hearts of infants, implanted immediately by the
Christ is in possession of the keys of the house of David.         Holy Spirit. Although they do not yet actually believe, yet         '
Jerusalem and Mt. Zion are not destroyed, Out they are             they have the faculty, or power, of faith. Moreover, if
realized  in the new dispensation; only the shadows of them        Baptists argue that one must be sure that faith is present
are gone forever: And the same is true of the temple, of           in the heart of anyone before he can be baptized, the
the altar, of the holy place, of the  sacrihces, of the high       Baptist himself cannot baptize on that ground either, for
priest. The land of Canaan is indeed the promised land,            the simple reason that there may be and are, in fact, hypo-
promised to Abraham and his seed as their everlasting pos-         crites among them that are baptized. But de main .
session. But this land is not the earthly country near the         argument which the Baptists here produce turns against                   '
Mediterranean Sea, which only is a shadow of the  tie              themselves. For what they here urge against the baptism
country, but refers to the heavenly country that is to come,       of infants holds in its full force against infant circumcision.
when the New Jerusalem shall come down upon earth from             Yet their circumcision is directly enjoined by the Lord
heaven. Such was the hope of the saints of the old dispen-         upon the seed of Abraham in their generations.
sation. For thus we read in Hebrews  11:8-10:  "By faith
Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which             Also circumcision was a sign of the righteousness which
he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he         is by faith, of spiritual circumcision, of the circumcision
went out, not. knowing whither he went. By faith he so-            of the heart, of regeneration and sanctification, of  .the cut-
journed in the land of promise, as in a strange' country,          ting away of the old man of sin, of the love of God in a
dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs            new heart. In all these respects the significance of the old
with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city             covenant sign is the same as of the sign of baptism. The
which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."           identity of the two signs, though they differ in form, can
And in verse 13 of the same eleventh chapter of Hebrews            be clearly proved from the Word of God.
we read: "These all died in faith, not having received the
promises, but having seen them afar off, and were per-               Let us just quote a few of these passages concerning cir- '
suaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that              cumcision. In Leviticus 26:40 and 41 we read: "If they shall
they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." And. in            confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their.fathers,  with
verse 16 we read: "But "now they -.desire  a better country,       their trespass which they have trespassed against me, and                k
that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be           that also they have walked contrary unto me; and that
called their  God> for he hath prepared for them a city."          I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought
-The entire Word of God, therefore, teaches the unity of           them into the -land .of their enemies; if then their uncir-
the people of God and of all that pertains to them. All the        cumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the
promises are in Christ, and through Him they are for the           punishment of their iniquity." It is evident here that an
true seed of Abraham of all ages, that is, to the elect and        uncircumcised heart is the same as a heart that will not
to the believers only.                                             confess sin and iniquity. To be uncircumcised in heart is
                                                                   to be unconverted. By implication this means that a cir-
  But there is more. Not only are the people of God in             cumcised heart is a regenerated and converted heart, from
the old and in the new dispensation the same, but also             which there arises sorrow over sin and confession of in-
the sign of covenant, though different in form, is the same        iquity. Of such a heart, therefore, circumcision was a sign.
in both dispensations. Those that maintain that the baptism        In this respect, therefore, circumcision has the same sig-
of infants is based on Scripture always call attention to          nificance as holy baptism. In Deuteronomy  lo:16 we read:
this truth, and correctly so: for it is an important and neces-    "Circumcise, therefore, the foreskin of your heart and be
sary link in the chain of the Scriptural argument for infant       no more stiffnecked." Here too it is evident that circumci-
baptism. The objections which Baptists love to make                sion was a sign of a circumcised, that is, of a sanctified
against the baptism of infants is not a Scriptural one, but        heart. Circumcision and baptism, therefore, have the same
rather one which they draw from their own mind. It is              significance. The same is t-rue of Deuteronomy  30:6: "And
that baptism is a sign and seal of the righteousness of            the Lord thy God will circumcise  thme heart,,and  the heart
faith, of the forgiveness of sin, of regeneration, and that        of thy  .seed,  to love the Lord thy God. with all thine
therefore it may be administered only to those whom we             heart., and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live."    H.H.

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

                                                                                       will hear the word of God copiously in its mother tongue,
.~~PECIAL `REPORT                                                                      that will sing its praises, weep for its sins and beg for its
                                                                                       necessities consciously and together; that will know, as the
                                                                                       Council says, how to offer the spotless Victim not only by
                                                                                       the hands of the priest but even with him, and to offer them-
             THE SECOND .VATICAN COUNCIL                                               -selves as well. Think of the priest for whom  the breviary will
                                                                                       no longer be an onerous obligation somehow- to be satisfied in
                      III. Con&t&ion on the Liturgy                                    whatever moments can be snatched from `a busy life, but an
                                                                                       easy turning to God, at natural intervals of the day, that  wilI
          Of the seventeen schemata proposed to the Vatican                            give him orientation, inspiration and comfort. Think of the
Council at its second session, only seven reached the floor                            missionary, the convert-maker, who will no longer be encum-
for discussion, .and of these, but two have been formally                              bered by the  diiliculty of explaining a way of worship utterly
approved by the Council. These two have been promul-                                   foreign and unnecessarily mysterious. In short, imagine a glad
                                                                                       assembly of the redeemed, bringing to the feet of their gracious
gated by -Pope Paul VI at the closing day of the second                                Father a tribute of thanks and praise, not because they must,
session, December 4, 1963. These two,  C&.stitution  on                                but because they want to, because they enjoy it.14           -,
Sacred Liturgy; and Constitution on Social `Commzcnicatior+v,
are now official laws of the Roman Catholic Church, The                           AN- EVALUATION OF ITS CONTENTS
former I will consider in this article.                                              What is this `Constitution" which, hopefully, will ac-
                                                                                  complish so much? Because of its length, and my limited
                                                                                  space, I can touch only upon a few of the high points.
THE CONSTITUTION ON THE LITURGY
          This constitution was approved for discussion at the-first              From a purely formal viewpoint, it surely does introduce
session. The council voted final approval on November 22,                         commendable changes into the  ,Roman Catholic liturgy.
1963 (the vote: 2,158 to 19). It was approved for promul-                         Most striking, I believe, is the introduction of more ver-
-gation  on  .December  4, 1963 (the vote: 2,147 to 4). The                       nacular in the place of the  L.atin formerly used. It has
constitution' (tenth of the seventeen schemata) has been                          been the position of the Romish Church that the Latin
widely hailed in both Protestant and Roman Catholic cir-                          language in use throughout all of its churches was a sign
cles. Liturgy treats the manner, form, or science of public                       of the catholicity and oneness of the Romish Church. The
worship. The "Constitution" is rather lengthy, composed                           trouble was, the common people and even many of the
of seven chapters which deal with various aspects of such                         leaders simply did not understand the words spoken; be-
worship in the Romish Church. Robert M&fee  Brown (a                              sides, there is a. great difference in emphasis and pronuncia-
Protestant writing in a Roman Catholic magazine) explains                         tion of Latin words from. one country to another. Now,
briefly the contents of the "Constitution" thus:                                  greater use of the vernacular is allowed in most of the
                                                                                  sacraments and ceremonials in this church. I quote the
              The principles of liturgical reform embodied within it were         following from the "Constituti.on" to show what is allowed.15
            approved at the first session of the Council, and the subsequent
            chapters of the schema offered this fall are designed to spell               But since the use of the mother tongue, whether in the
            out the details of reform in such areas as the Mass, the sacra-            Mass, the administration of the sacraments, or other parts
           ments and sacramentals, the breviary, sacred music, sacred art,             of the liturgy, frequently may be of great advantage to the
            and so forth. Much greater use of the vernacular will become               people, the limits of its employment may be extended. This
            possible after the promulgation; much fuller participation of              will apply in the first place to the readings and directives, and
            the laity in worship; increasing stress will be placed on Scrip-           to some of the prayers and chants. . . . (pg. I3 ) .
            ture and sermon; more occasions will be provided for  con-                   In Masses which are celebrated with the people, a suitable
            celebration and communication under both species; and  ,greater            place may be allotted to their mother tongue. This is to apply
            adaptability to local situations will be possible, without having          in the first place to the readings and "the common prayer," but
            to clear every change in Rome. . .  .rs                                  also, as local conditions may warrant, to those parts which
                                                                                       pertain to the people. . . . (pg. 18).
          The Roman Catholics themselves have great visions eon-                          . . . The address given by the. bishop at the beginning of
cerning  the beneficial effects of this "Constitution" in their                        each ordination or consecration may be in the mother tongue.
                                                                                       . . . (pg. 24). . . . The prayer for the bride, duly amended
church. Writes William -J. Leonard, S. J.:                                             to remind  both spouses of their equal obligation to remain
                                                                                       faithful to each other, may be said in the mother tongue. . . .
              The Council seeks  through this pronouncement  ,( Constitu-
            tion on Sacred Liturgy) to do two things. It wants above all            (pg.  2 5 ) .
            to  instil a new and quickening life into the worship we Chris-          Another change introduced by the "Constitution" which
            tians offer together to God. . . . . The second thing the Council
            wants to do is to clarify and make easily intelligible the liturgy    could be  1 considered very commendable, were only the
     itself, so that the least gifted, the least spiritually sensitive            truth maintained in these  churches,  is greater emphasis
            among us, may grasp at once  the meaning of the words, the            upon sermons and the reading of Scripture. We have, for'
     _      signs, the gestures and postures employed in the liturgy, and         instance, statements as these:
           may without  diEculty participate  `in them. . . .
              But perhaps we should not dwell so much on the labor of                    Because  the sermon is part of  .the liturgical service, the
          the undertaking as on the  magniilcent prospects that open.                  best place for it is to be indicated even in the rubrics, as far
i           before us. Think, for instance, of a Sunday congregation that              as the. nature of  -the rite will allow; the ministry of preaching

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

     is to be  f&lled with exactitude and fidelity. . . . (pg. 12).                the most excellent fruit of the redemption, and joyfully- con-
     . . . the homily . . . is to be highly`esteemed as part of the                templates, as in a faultless image, that which she herself desires
     liturgy itself; in fact, at those Masses which are, celebrated                and hopes wholly to be. . . . (pg.  31).
     with the assistance of the people on Sundays and feasts. of
     obligation, it should not be omitted except for serious reason.             Now s,uch quotations could be multiplied ahnost with-
     . . . (P&T.  18).                                                       out end. The old wolf has assumed a better-fitting sheep's
        In sacred celebrations there is to be more reading from holy         clothing, but the old wolf can yet be seen. The danger, of
     scripture, and it is to be more varied and suitable. . . . (pg. 12).    course, is that the outward improvements may deceive
            The treasures of the Bible are to be opened up more
     ia&&,  so that richer fare may be provided for the  faithful many into believing that the old Romish errors have been
     at the table of God's word. . . . (pg. 18).                             renounced. Rome remains Rome.

   The "Constitution" orders that the liturgical forms be                    THE  LIE- IN PLAIN ENGLISH
drawn up in such `a way that they be more easily under-                          I would freely concede that the formal changes to be
standable by the common people ( cf. pages 9, 12, and 18 ).                  made according to the  "Cons&ution" are commendable.
   Finally, one cannot help but note that the "Constitution"                 Certainly the Latin language could never edify an English-
allows for a measure of decentralization of the Romish                       speaking people. Could you, for instance, derive any
-Church. There is no change of the old error of papal in-                    spiritual value from a sermon preached in the Chinese
fallibility, but the hierarchy of a particular region is granted, language? None could condemn either the more faithful
greater freedom in determining the form of the liturgy for                   use of the sermon and Scripture reading. But all of this
its local area. For instanee:                                                represents only the outward form in which something is
                                                                             presented. A package may be beautifully wrapped, but
       In virtue of power conceded by the law, the regulation of             that beauty means nothing if the contents are bash.
     the liturgy  witbin certain defined limits belongs also to various
     kinds of competent territorial bodies of bishops. legitimately              The trouble with this "Constitution" lies in this, that
     established. . . . (pg. 9).                                             the formal changes which will be made, are made in order
       Translations from the Latin text into the mother tongue               to promote the lie. The membership in the Romish Church,
     intended for use in the liturgy must be approved by the com-            and prospective converts, will definitely be able to come to
     petent territorial  ecclesi.astical  authority mentioned above.         a better understanding of the teachings of the Romish
                                                                             Church. This can be better done now, for instance, through
   Does the above mean that the `leopard has changed its                     the sermons which must be based both upon Scripture and
spots?" I would point out a few instances which reveal                       church liturgy. Such sermons would mean more intensive
without doubt that such is not true. Notice, in the follow-                  propaganda for the mass, for  Mariology,  for the veneration
ing quotations, that though the preaching and Scripture                      of the saints, for papal infallibility, and, yes, for the doctrine
reading are encouraged, the church retains for itself and                    of justification by works and not grace alone.
the pope exclusive right to direct the "`popular devotions"                      So one could continue. When the basic errors remain,
of its people. The old idolatry of the mass is retained. The                 the external improvements can only enhance the lie. Let
grace of God is- yet said to be in things, i.e., in the liturgy              the Council begin rather to study and renounce their old
itself. Images and image-worship are maintained.  Mari-                      heresies in the light of Scripture. Afterwards .there  would                  '
olotry continues.                                                            be time enough to revise and improve the basic forms of
       Popular devotions of  the Christian people are to be highly           worship. First things should be first. But, of course, this
     commended, provided they accord with the laws and norms                 they neither would nor could do.
     of the Church, above  all  when they  are  ordered by the                   Though I can well imagine that this "Constitution" will
     Apostolic See. . . . (pg. 7).
       . . . The Church has never failed to come together to                 be a means of promoting greater contact with Protestant
     celebrate the paschal mystery . . . celebrating the Eucharist           churches (separated brethren), and might even serve as a
     in which "the victory and triumph of his death are again                basis for discussions concerning reunion; the faithful, surely,
     made present." . . . (pg. 4). They should be instructed by              will not be deceived. Those who continue to cherish the
     God's word and be nourished at the table of the Lord's body;            old truth of justification by grace through faith alone, will
     they should give thanks to God; by offering the Immaculate
     Victim, not only through the hands of the priest, but also with         also continue to hate the old Romish errors  - even though
     him, they should also learn to offer themselves. . . . (pg. 17).        the wrappings have been improved.                                G.V.B .
       . . . From the liturgy, therefore, and especially from the            - - - -
     Eucharist, as from a fount,  ,grace is poured forth upon us. . . .      13.  The  Commonweal, Dec. 27, 1963, p. 396
     (pg.  6).                                                               14.  America,  Dec. 21, 1963, p. 798
       The practice of placing sacred images in churches so that             15. The following quotations are all taken from the booklet  Consti-
     they may be venerated by the faithful is to be maintained..                 tution  on  the Liturgy,  a translation of the  Constitutiop   adopted
     Nevertheless their number should be moderate. . . . (pg. 39).               by the Vatican Council and promulgated by Pope -Paul VI. This
       In celebrating this  annual cycle of Christ's -mysteries, holy            is published by the National Catholic Welfare Conference, 1312
     Church honors with especial love the Blessed Mary, Mother                   Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D. C.' For those desiring
     of God, who is joined by an inseparable bond to the saving                  to study  this Constitution  more carefully, copies can be obtained
    work of her Son. In her the' Church holds up and admires                     for 35c plus postage.


I               346                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE`ARER

                                                                                  . `2:. The "Committee. has also considered the possibility
                  THE  LOIRD GAVE  THE.W~RD....                                   of .inviting young men from the island to attend our semi-
                                                                                  nary as special students for a year or more. In consultation
                                                             (Psalm 68:ll)        with the faculty the conclusion was reached that our
                                                                                  Seminary is not in a position to take any special students
                                                                                  at present and that other' arrangements will have to be
                Long Range Report on Foreign Mission Work                         made before this can be done. Therefore there will also be
                       As I promised you a few months ago, there is still one     a proposal at Synod, coming from the Theological School
                more report that will appear in this column before it is          Committee, that arrangements be made for a pre-seminary
                presented to Synod. This is the Long Range Report on              course in our Theological School, so that students who lack
                Foreign Mission Work.                                             the necessary subjedts  for entry into our seminary may be
                       Before presenting this report, let me keep you informed    instructed in these subjects in our Theological School. This
                on happenings in our Home or Domestic Missions.  AS               will probably be an incentive also for young men in the
                you all know, Rev., G. C. Lubbers, after ten years of de-         States who ,lack the necessary subjects to apply for entry
                voted labor as our Home Missionary, has accepted a call           into our seminary.
                to our Southwest Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.                   In this connection I might mention that another cloth-
                Under the gracious hand of our God, the churches of               ing drive is being arranged for the churches that are with
                Loveland, Forbes, and Isabel were organized through the           Rev. Elliott, which to date have not received clothing
                diligent labors of Rev. Lubbers. They  and we will long           from us. Since the churches in Michigan will be given
                appreciate these fruits which God has given upon his work         opportunity to contribute to this drive, our churches in the
                in those areas. May our Lord continue to `bless him as he         Chicago area or in the mid-west, or even in the far west
                takes up his shepherd staff in the Southwest Churbh  and          might plan a drive for-the churches which are= with Rev.
                use him as a blessing among our churches also in the              Frame. We are informed that the need is still great
                future.                                                           among the children, especially for summer clothing, shoes
                       Upon being informed .of the decision of Rev. Lubbers       and hats, to make it possible for them to attend the
                to leave the field of Home Missions, the committee took           services and school.
                immediate action. In harmony with the Constitution of                In this connection I may also mention that Synod will
          the Mission Committee, the missionary gave them two                     be confronted with the question whether or not the Jamai-
                months notice before leaving the field. Since Rev. Lubbers        can field should be placed in the hands of the Foreign
                has consented to remain in Houston until the 24th of May,         Mission Committee. In 1962 a Foreign Mission Committee
                the Committee had to make plans for supplying this field          was chosen consisting of ministers and elders from our
                after that date. Therefore a nomination. was made of min-         churches in the mid-west. In.1963 this committee presented
                isters who are -eligible for a call and who could be con-         a constitution to Synod, which was also adopted. At the
                sidered for this work. This nomination was presented to           1964 Synod this Committee will present its report of what
                the calling Church, the First Church of Grand Rapids,             has been accomplished during the past year. But to date
                Mich. A trio was made, a congregational meeting was held,         no definite field of labor has been assigned to them. And
                and a call was extended to the Rev. B. Woudenberg of              therefore the question will necessarily be faced sooner or
                Edgerton, Minnesota. It is our sincere prayer that the            later, should the Jamaica mission endeavor be placed in the
                King of His Church may bind this call upon the heart of           hands of this Foreign Mission Committee?
                Rev. Woudenberg and so guide him that he may make a                  Anyone can  s,ee strong arguments in favor of doing just
                decision which is for the welfare of the Church of Jesus          that. The Domestic Mission Committee finds itself occupied
                Christ and the best interest of the ingathering of the saints.    with the labors of the home missionary and the radio min-
     I          It is also our earnest desire that, if the Lord will, another     istry. This  .Domestic  Mission Committee met some fourteen
                missionary may be sent out to proclaim beyond the pale            times during the past year. Obviously they are kept busy
                of our churches that glorious heritage of the truth as it         with home affairs. Moreover, if we speak of `foreign"
                has been entrusted to us in a time when it is opposed so          mission endeavor as anything that lies outside of the
                violently from every side.                                        boundaries of the United States, or even outside of. the
                 It may also be said, ,the Mission Committee will propose         boundaries of our churches, then surely Jamaica will be
          .,    to Synod .to continue the work in Jamaica.                        included under foreign missions. But until now the Domes-
                       1. The Committee advises Synod to continue to send         tic Mission .Committee  has dealt with this field. And that
                the  Stadad   Bearm, Beacon Lights and other available            mainly because of a decision that ,was made by' our Synod
                literature to the various leaders of the churches on the          of 1962. At that  time a rather lengthy report was given
                island; also to supply the churches with catechism books          by the Foreign Mission Study Committee. In this report,
                for the children, .and any other material that may be helpful     which was also adopted by Synod, a distinction was made
                in instructing young and old in the truth of Scripture.           between (1) mission work among the Jews, (2) mission


                                          T H E       STAND,ARD   BEARE,R                                                                   347
                                                                _
work among the "unchurched", (3) mission work among                  churches are not -putting forth -an ;effort to fulfill our calling
those of other church aihliations  that have departed from           in propagating the truth of :-God's  Word- to the far ends of
the  truthand (4) mission work among the heathen. Later              the earth. The reader should also bear in mind that this is a
in this report the remark is made that the distinction of            long range `plan, which possibly cannot be darried  out-im-
"foreign and domestic missions" cuts across this fourfold            mediately, but nevertheless becomes an objective to strive
distinction, `although it may be generally true that our             for in the future.
`foreign' mission work will in most cases be among the                  It is very well possible that the Synod will hesitate to
heathen." And finally the committee recommended that "a              involve itself  too' much in an extensive foreign mission
new standing committee should be appointed who shall                 program because by doing so .we might neglect our home
devote their attention exclusively to mission work among             field or lay an impossible burden upon our churches. It is
the heathen." (See Acts of Synod, 1962, p. 67-76).                   conceivable that Synod may want to broaden out. the pro-
   This last statement that this foreign mission committee           gram for radio broadcasting within the United States,
shall devote their attention exclusively to mission work             rather than add any more stations outside of `our country.
among the heathen closes the door to any work for this               All of these aspects must be considered very carefully and
committee except among those who in their generations                studied very thoroughly. But in the meantime, the work                          -
never belonged to the sphere of the covenant. That ex-               of proclaiming the Gospel to the ends of the earth must
cludes Jamaica from their field of endeavor. And that  also          also be carried out. The hour is growing late, and many
leaves a very small field for the Foreign Mission Committee,         countries are barring religious programs and missionaries
especially in a time when the Gospel has been preached               from their domain because they do not want any outside
almost completely to the far ends of the earth. In the light         interference in propagating their own ideologies. And we
of the entire report as it appears in the Acts of 1962 this          do have a work to perform. With these comments I refer
limitation may even be too restricted. But that is a matter          you to the recommendations of the Long Range ,Report:
for the next Synod, where the entire issue will be discussed,        "II, We come with the following recommendations to Synod:
especially because the Long Range Report on Foreign                    "A. That the suggestions of the Long Range Planning                                '
Mission Work brings up this very matter.                               Committee found in Supplement 8 of the Acts of Synod,
   Turning now to this report, we find that the study com-             1962, be referred to the new Foreign Mission Committee.
mittee gives a brief summary of the past decisions of                    "1. We are aware that, according to Synod's decisions
Synod on foreign mission endeavor.                                       last year, all this work, strictly speaking, belongs to the
   1. In 1961 the Domestic Mission Committee informed                    Domestic Mission Committee.
Synod that they were, working on- a long range plan for                  "2. Nevertheless., we offer the following grounds for
                                                                                                                                      .-
foreign mission work.                                                 this recommendation:
   2. In 1962 this  phan was submitted to Synod and                         `a. Under the present decisions .of Synod, the For-
adopted.~  (See Acts, 1962, art. 59, sup. 8.)                               eign Mission Committee will have absolutely nothing
                                                                            to do in the foreseeable future.
   3. This Synod referred this report both to the Foreign                   `b. This report was referred to the Foreign Mission
Mission Committee and to the Domestic Mission Committee
authorizing them "to carry out those recommendations                        Committee. Why this was done is hard to tell, but
                                                                            it seems to suggest that Synod was at least willing
which are presently feasible."                                            that the Foreign Mission Committee consider 
   Therefore the Long  IRpge  Report informs the Synod of                                                                                    this
                                                                            matter.
1964 that some of this work has already been carried out.
Quoting from the report:                                                    `c. The Domestic Mission Committee is busy with
   "a. All the mail received by the Radio Committee of                      a missionary in the field and cannot devote time to
First Church is referred to us. This mail is sorted accord-                 this business.         . .
ing to countries and locales, answered if necessary (the                    "d. Most of the suggestions will involve some study
Radio Committee fills the requests for sermons,  pa.mphlets,                and investigation which can profitably be done by
etc.  ), and filed away for future reference.,                              the Foreign Mission Committee since each member
   "b. We have also prepared two large maps, one of Eu-                     can work on his own without calling meetings to do
rope and one of the United States with pins used to denote                  a l l   t h i s . '
radio response. These maps you can see hanging in the                       "e. The Foreign Mission Committee has to have
basement of First Church. They have been of considerable                    something to do if it is not to stagnate.
interest to our people and have, we believe, aroused our               "`B. That the Domestic Mission Committee continue to
people to appreciate the work of radio."                               receive the correspondence from foreign broadcasts and
   Finally, the committee comes with a number of recom-                do with it as they have been doing in the past.
mendations which I will quote in full. But before I do so,             "C. That the Domestic Mission Committee report to the
I would like to remark that this report has some far reach-            Foreign Mission Committee on the amount of  corre-
ing plans for the future. It can never be said that our                                    ( C o n t i n u e d   en  page  3 5 9 )


348                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
          . .             _z.    ._

                                                                          `tore it apart as though it were a little kid. Before he realized
fi  A  CLCilJD  OF~~W8TWESSES  11 completely what had happened, he found the carcass of the.
                                                                          lion dead in his hands. Deeply affected, he hid the body
                                                                          carefully and proceeded on his way.
                          Samson in Tinmath                                   For many days thereafter Samson thought and medi-
                                                                          tated upon what had happened. He was deeply impressed;
                 And Samson went  down to  Timnuth, and saw a             but he kept it to himself, not telling anyone, not even his
          woman in Timnath of, the daughters of .the Philistines.         father and mother. This was a power not his own. He
                 And he came up, and told his father and his mother,      could come to no other conclusion; it was the Spirit of
          and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the                 God. Now he knew God was watching over him and work-
          daughiters  of the Phi&tines: now therefore get her for         ing through him. His Nazarite vows were not in vain. He
          me to wife . . .                                                in his generation was found holy before the Lord.
4                But his father and his mother knew not that it was of        It was many days later when this event took on still
          the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the                another dimension. He was returning this time from an-
j       _ Philistines: for at that time the  Phi&tines had do-            other stay in Tin-math when he passed by the place where
          minion over Isra.el. Judges 14:1, 2, 4                          he had been attacked by the lion. That event still played
        Samson had decided upon the course that his life                  upon his mind and he thought about it often. The memory
     would take. He would dedicate himself to exposing the                of it now moved. him to turn aside and look at the carcass
     wickedness of the Phi&tines, to seeking occasion against which he had hidden. There he found a strange thing, for
     them. He .had gone to his own countrymen and had tried               in the. carcass of that mighty beast a swarm of bees had
     to convince them that the Philistines were an enemy against          built their hive. It was now filled with honey, and he took
     whom they must rise up and fight. But the people would               some with him to eat as he continued on his way. As he
     not listen. They were confident that the  Phi&tines were             thought upon it, he seemed to find in this a parable on his
     a trustworthy people and that it was quite possible to               `own life. Out of the eater there came food, and out of the
`co-exist peaceably with them.. Now Samson was determined                 mighty ,came sweetness. So he was assured that out of his
     to show how completely false this was. He would make                 campaign of violence against the Philistines would come a
     his own life a living demonstration of the wickedness of             blessing from God.
the Philistines by joining himself to them in the closest                     All of this time Samson's plans were gradually being
     possible union, in marriage. He could not expect that it             realized.' In spite of their strong objections, his parents
     would-be a pleasant marriage; he could not expect that it            had gone down to Timnath and made the ,needed  arrange-
     would be easy. He would surely end up suffering under                ments for Samson to be married there. The  Philisties also
     the crafty wickedness of those people. But when he did, he           had consented, not because they had any special love for
     would not allow it to be forgotten.  -He would hold. the             Samson, but because they thought that once he was mar-
     Philistines responsible for every dishonest deed that was            ried in their midst they would have him under their in-
     committed against him. He would not let them rest. He                fluence and power. It appeared to  be,a sure way to silence
     would be a thorn in their side.                                      his opposition to them. The result was that the wedding
        It was very soon after Samson made this commitment                was finally ready. To all appearances it would be a gala
     that God in a very special  way set His seal of approval             time such as was customary in that day. The  Phil&tines
     upon it. It was not that God thereby approved the means              especially knew how to make the most of such festivities.
     that were used by Samson, namely, his marriage to the                Everything was provided, even to thirty honorary guests
     woman of Timnath. Samson was still in many ways a weak               to serve as companions for Samson. But underneath it all
     and sinful man, and God did not prevent these shortcom- there was a feeling of tension. Samson had no true love
     ings from exerting themselves. But God did approve of                for these Philistines, and they knew it. There was a spirit
the determination of Samson's heart to wage a personal                    of competition which divided them. The Philistines were
     war against the Philistines. Thereby He gave testimony               determined not to let Samson gain the upper hand.
     to the fact that Samson was a true Nazarite, dedicated to                From the very first day of the wedding feast this divi-
     the salvation of Israel and the destruction of its enemies.          sion -was evident. It was Samson who brought it out into
        It happened in this way. One day as Samson was trav-              the open. Samson gave to his thirty companions what
     eling on the road to Timnath, he was passing .&rough the             would have ordinarily been a friendly challenge; he pre-
     underbrush of a Philistine vineyard when a young lion                sented them with a riddle. The riddle was this, "Out of
     leaped out upon him. NOW  Samson was not a man of                    the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came
     unusual strength or stature, and ordinarily this would have          forth sweetness." -On the surface this was nothing more
     been a fearful thing. But Samson felt no fear. Moved by              than a friendly contest of wits. It was no doubt under-
     an inner power which he had never felt before, he stepped            stood by the thirty men of the wedding party that there
     forward, and grasping the mighty beast with his bare hands,          was some event in Samson's life which could be identihed


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   .BEARE.R                                                         349

in this way. It was now for them to see if they could find        "Thou dost but hate me, and  lovest  me not: thou  hast
it. But underneath there was much more involved. Sam-             put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and
son was setting before them and challenging them to inter:       hast not told it- me.`? There was a point to that which she
pret the deepest riddle of his own life. The meat and             said. If she was worthy of being his wife, she should also
sweetness of his own life was exactly in the strength which       be worthy of- sharing his secret. Yet Samson knew better.
the Lord gave him to devour the Philistines. The Philistines      She was a Philistine and not one with him in her loyalties.
immediately sensed the seriousness of this wager. It was          Though she wept before him, he dared not give in. Again
evident in the size of the stakes which Samson laid before        and again he tried to put her off with the answer, "Behold,
them. If they succeeded in interpreting the riddle, Samson       I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I
would give to each one.ad them a change of garments; but         tell it thee?" It was to no avail. Always she came again'
if they failed, each one of them would have to give the          weeping, and it made the feast for him a week of misery.
same to him. By the outcome of this their future -relations          By the time that the seventh and last day of the wed-
with this Samson would be determined. Samson was not             ding feast arrived, tensions had reached a feverish pitch.
a man of such means that he could afIord to pay a -price         Infuriated by the chiding, of Samson, the Philistines were
like that., If they would succeed, he would be indebted to       determined at all costs to have the answer. Again they
them forever; but if they failed, he would be well on his        came to Samson's wife, this time not just with a request, but
way to prosperity. But Samson did not expect them to             with a demand and a threat. "Entice thy husband," they
succeed. That was evident from the terms.                        demanded, "That he may declare unto us de riddle, lest
    From the moment the riddle was given, the thirty Philis-     we burn thee and thy father's house with fire: have ye
tines applied all of the ingenuity of their minds to inter-      called us to take that we. have? is it not so?"
preting its meaning. Carefully they went over every aspect           Again she returned to Samson, even more insistent than
of Samson's life known ,to them to try to find something         before; and now her pleas were begnming to. wear on him.
which could shed light upon this extremely dark saying.          He was `a  Oman with courage to resist an army; but his
Individually and together they went over it again and again,     nature was such that he always found it difficult to with-
examining it from every conceivable point of view.  Un-          stand a beautiful woman. Finally, at the last hour he gave
doubtedly they carried it with them to their homes and           in and told her about how he had met with the lion and
to their cities, seeking assistance from the wisest people of    how it had led to his riddle. Quickly she hurried to her
the country. By the time that three days were passed,            people and told them all he had said.
they had been brought to the point of desperation. They              It was a jubilant group of men that hurried to search
would have to have help from someone more intimately             out Samson. The hour was late and the deadline dose:
acquainted with Samson, or they would surely fail. And           They fairly shouted at him, "What is sweeter than-honey?
there was only one such whom they knew, Samson's wife.           and what is stronger than a lion?" The whole thing was
Unashamedly they went to her and demanded that she               perfectly transparent; but the Philistines did not care. They
assist them. But even here they met with nothing. Samson         had met Samson's challenge and had won.
had not shared with her his secret. She did not know.                Samson was furious. His actions had had their desired
   Already from the iirst day of the wedding feast,, Sarn- - end. They had brought out into the open the scheming
son's newly married wife, had felt the seriousness of his        dishonesty of the Philistines; but it had surely not been
challenge; and, although she was taking Samson to be her         in the way that Samson had anticipated. Angrily he
husband, her heart was still. with her people. She could         shouted back at them, "If ye had not plowed with my
not countenance the idea that her people should be humili-       heifer, ye had not found out my riddle"; -and he stormed
ated by Samson even if he was her husband. After all, he         out of their presence.
was a Jew, and she was a Philistine. Immediately she                 Now he had a tiue occasion to answer the Philisiines
began to search for a way  to. give to her people some           according to their deserts. The Spirit of God came upon
assistance.                                                      him just as with the lion. He went down to Ashkelon and
   By Samson's riddle the marriage feast, supposedly..a  gay     slew thirty men, taking their garments. These he brought
event, was torn apart by dissension. It was more like a          to the thirty men of Timnath. And with that he returned
field of battle. 6n one side were the Philistines. endlessly     to his parents' home.                                          B.W.
consorting together trying to find the .answer  to Samson's
challenge. On the other side stood Samson, the Jew, self-                          RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
assured and confident, taunting them to show their superi-
ority, to give him his answer. But still, even for him, that        The Ladies Society of the First Prot. Ref. Church of Holland,
                                                                 Michigan expiesses its deep sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. John  Bouw-
wedding feast provided no real pleasure. He had married          kamp in the death, of her brother
a wife, but she would allow him no peace. She was deter-                             J A M E S   GFiASMIDT
mined that she should be in on the answer to his riddle.            The Lord of all comfort sustain-them in this their hour of sorrow.
From the first day she taunted. him with the demand,                                                   hiss  LaFem Kortering, Sec'y.


 359       _                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                  spirit `of Elijah, and thus the `restitution" of all things
,(I,  FR,F,M  H O L Y   W R I T   ] would be initially brought about.- With John!s work merely
                                                                  a beginning of this restitution is made. He is the forerunner
                                                                  of the Messenger of the Covenant, Who will reconcile all
         Exposition of the Prophecy of Malachi                    things in heaven and on earth by the blood of the Cross.
                         Malachi 3:1- 4:6                         Luke  1:17. Furthermore, we have the explicit testimony
, Gmwal  Observations            `.                               of the Lord Jesus that John is Elijah which was to come
    We will begin in this essay our exposition of the last        (Matthew  11:14), and that he will  `<restore  all things."
 two chapters of this unique' prophecy in which all the           (Matthew  17:11). Thus the commonwealth of Israel, the
 former  ,prophets  find their consummation. We may here          true Theocracy of God shall be established in righteous-
 repeat what we wrote in an earlier essay: Malachi is truly       ness forever. The sons of Levi shall indeed be  puriiied,
 the last prophet in the Old Testament dispensation. He           and in the day when the LORD makes up his peculiar
 is. the last before John the Baptist.                            treasure, his jewels, perfect sacrifices shall be brought
    As we give our attention to these chapters and their          continually.
 marvelous unfolding of the mysteries of God's faithfulness           At this point we would also make a few remarks con-
 to Jacob whom He loves, we do well to ask: what is here          cerning what I would call the prophetic character of these
 the `key of knowledge" (Luke  11:52), lest we be num-            announcements respecting the "coming': of the Angel of
 bered amongst the Scribes who have no understanding,             God's Covenant.
 with the very scroll of God in their hands. (Acts  13:27)            In general, I believe we may state, that these two chap-
    We will go and sit at the feet  -of Christ who at the         ters unfold before our believing eyes the new and better
 proper occasion opened the minds of His disciples, and           era of the New Testament dispensation, as it is the dis-
 beginning from Moses, the psalms, and all the prophets,          pensation of the  fulness of times, and the ushering in of
 taught them that the Christ must suffer all these things         the eternal state. It is the time in which the kingdom of
 and thus enter into His glory. Since the prophets wrote          heaven has come upon us. Compare Ephesians 1:9-11  and
 by the Spirit of Christ the time and the manner of the           Luke  11:20! This is exceedingly evident from Christ's word
 sufferings to come upon Christ and the glory to follow, He       to Peter, James, and  John when they descend from the
 could unerringly know their meaning. He was the Author,          Mount of transfiguration. Matthew 17:11, 12. This is Jesus'
 who was explaining His own Book; the Poet reciting His           answer to the disciples who ask, sensing that the kingdom
 own Poem (work)! He is our chief Prophet, Who came to            is near.: must not first Elijah come? They had seen a bit of
 reveal unto us the secret counsel of God concerning our          the "coming" of the Lord in glory on the mount which
 redemption and concerning the restitution of all things in       would be realized through His decease (exodus) which
 heaven and on earth.                                             He was about to accomplish at. Jerusalem. And that would
    We notice then particularly that Christ has interpreted       be the restitution of all things after heaven had received
 for us the two chapters under consideration. He gave us          him for this very purpose. Acts  3:21.  .Of this sp'ake all the
 guide-posts along which we can fill in the particulars from      prophets, Peter tells the church at Jerusalem. And this
 other parts of the Scriptures. The latter also is His inter-     united testimony of the prophets is brought to a focus-point
 pretation of this prophecy, be it then less directly.            here in Malachi. Hence, we may conclude that the last two
    First of all, we notice that Christ interpreted for us        chapters of Malachi indeed speak of the better and more
 Malachi 3: 1. We have this interpretation in Matthew 11: 10,     glorious era of the New Testament dispensation, in which
 Mark  1:2, and Luke  7:27. `At the proper place we will          the least in the kingdom is greater than John. Matthew
 call attention to this interpretive Word of Christ concerning    11: 11.
 Malachi  3:l. Here we simply call your attention to the              More particularly we would emphasize, that notwith-
 fact that Christ did give us in these interpretations the        standing this clear indication that these two chapters speak
 `key" to understand the entire prophecy as given in these        of the -great and better era to come, the beacon light here
 last two chapters. We need not be as blind men searching         is ever a prophetical one. It shines more and more unto
for the light!                                                    the perfect day, to be  irue. However, it does not clearly
    Secondly, we call attention to the fact that Malachi  4:5     delineate the historical steps, the moments in this history.
is also rather clearly and definitively explained and exegeted    No sharp distinction is made between what we like to
for us by the New Testament Scriptures. Gabriel, who              call: the first and the second coming of Christ. Fact is,
 stands before God, `came to announce to Zacharias, in            that in this prophecy, one receives the impression that
the temple, the wonderful birth of his son, John. In eluci-       these two comings are not even explicitly indicated. When
dating upon the calling and ministry which would, be              one reads chapter 3~2-4,  one rather has the impression that
John's, Gabriel cites the last two verses of the prophecy of      this is too eschatological language. It speaks of the New
Malachi. Thus he quoted the last two verses in the Old            Testament era,' and the perfection of the eternal state of
Testament Canon. John would come in the power and                 Christ's  Pmousia  in one breath. Malachi  .speaks  in Old


                                        T     H       E         STAN,D.A.R,D   BE.ARER                                         351
                                                                                                             ._---_..  - _- ..---.--
Testament phraseology and symbolism in these verses, and          But John is the "voice of one crying-in the. wildemess%He
one gets the feeling that he `is' dealing with what is often      is a very distinguished messengen Among all the prophets
called the "`Apocalyptic."                                        born from `women in the Old Testament, none was greater
   It is for this very reason that the `phrase "day of His        than John. Think of Samson, Samuel, David or any of the
coming" does not allow for limiting this to the event of          Old Testament greats. His greatness is that he is "great
the birth of Christ in the night of His nativity, but cer-        before the Lord". Luke  1:15. He is a life-time Nazarite,
tainly refers to the entire coming of Christ as announced         separated unto the Lord's service in the midst of an apos-
by John, who spake of the baptism with the Holy Ghost             tatizing priesthood, the sons of. Aaron. He is the Levite
of Jesus. It must refer to each step of Christ's coming           than which there was none greater among all those sep-
through His state of humiliation and his resurrection, as-        arated unto the Lord's service. He will teach the people
cension and sitting at the right hand of God, and His             the ways of the Lord.
return to judge the living and the dead.                            His greatness is due to his proximity to the Lord  Who
   Finally, we would' observe too that Malachi therefore          is "great". The latter will sit upon the throne of His father
very really speaks of the eternal state here in chapter 3.        David, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.. Before
He spoke of the "glory to follow". I Peter 1:il. Had Mala-        this  ."Lord" John is great! He is called by the LORD of
chi already spoken of the New Testament era in chapter            hosts "My messenger"! He is prepared, called from his
l:ll, that His name would be great among the heathen,             mother's womb, filled with the Holy Ghost. He appears
here the search-light lets us see a bit of what will be. ours     like Elijah, only he is far greater. His place in Judah is
when the inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled and which          what  .Elijah's was amongst the ten tribes. Both prophesied
does not fade away, shall be ours in eternal bliss. The           before the day of the Lord came for Ephraim and Judah
details of this are given us when Christ himself further          respectively. He is a messenger; he bears a message from
unfolds this prophecy in `his words and. works and through        the Lord. His message is gospel-tidings concerning the im-
his suffering and glorification.                                  mediate breaking of the dawn.  -He will prepare the people
   Then shall the' Word of the Lord shine forth' in won-          to be ready to meet their King, the LORD of hosts.
drous lustre that He has loved Jacob, - that the purpose              His final utterance is possibly in that wonderful verse
of election might stand. For underneath all this prophecy         in John 1:29 "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away
is the rock-bottom assurance that He is JEHOVAH, the I            the sins of the world." And then John can bow out of the
AM THAT I AM! That Jacob-Israel is not  consumed  in              picture and decline. His work  is-finished  and he languishes
the judgments of God, as were Esau  .and all the "`rest"          away in prison, and is beheaded, thus joining the ranks
who are hardened, is due to God's faithfulness, Who has           of the faithful prophets who are killed for the Word of
promised! Chapter 3:6.                                            God and the testimony of Jesus.
   Jacob shall do valiantly!                                          Such is "my messenger".
   For in this better and more wonderful and richer dis-              He indeed prepared the way before the Lord. The val-
-play of the sovereign mercies of God, the Angel of the           leys were lifted up and the hills were made low, and the
Covenant shall be the one Lord over all.the house of Israel,      highway of the Lord's work was prepared; and the crooked
both from, those who are near and those who are far.              was made straight, and the ,rough  places were made. plain.
Whosoever shall call upon the Name of Lord shall be               Isaiah 40:3,  4.
saved. And to every one that walketh according to that               And this great and unique prophet must be seen as the
rule there is peace, even upon the Israel of God!                 LORD's messenger. "Behold," says the LORD. Here the
The Messenger Before My (Thy) Face. Chapter 3:l.                  counsel of wisdom and might is being uncovered before
   The LORD of hosts here has a wonderful message of              the believing eyes of the saints. It is the oft-repeated `be-
hope and redemption. Says He "Behold, I will send my              hold" in the Bible whenever the Seer sees more of this
messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and            wonderful work of God into which angels are desirous to
the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple,        look. I Peter 1:12. For here, in the saints, -is revealed the
even the messenger of the covenant, whoin ye delight in:          exceeding mercy and manifold wisdom of `the LORD, in
behold, he shall come sa.ith  the LORD, of hosts."                bringing about salvation, causing Jacob to do valiantly in
   Here we have a unique prophecy. It refers to `iny mes-         the Christ of God. Fact is, that twice in this passage in
senger". This messenger is none else than' John the Baptist,      Malachi 3:l we read this admonition to behold!. We must
the forerunner of Christ. It can be.said of no other prophet      behold the messenger before my face in conjunction with
in the Old Testament that his birth was foretold many             -beholding the "Messenger of the covenant," Christ. We
centuries before, as was that of John. The reason is that         must not behold the one without beholding the other.
he is "more than a prophet". Matthew 11:9, 10. No other           Then we will "behold'" the unfolding of the mystery of God,
prophet had the distinction of being able to baptize and          indeed, hidden from of old, but made known in these last
to point out publicly to Israel, the Lord, Christ. None           days!                                                      G.L.
ever came to run directly before the chariot of the King.                              (to be continued)

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

                                                                      .&em? Of course not. We need them from moment to
                I,Nl  IilS  F E A R                                   moment as means to. carry more life-giving blood to our
                                                                      members. So it is with faith. The end of that faith is salva-
                                                                      tion, but it is not an end for but a time. Without Christ,
                                                                      that is, apart from Him, - whish is the correct translation,
                    `The End of Our Faith                             - we can do. nothing. We will continue to be united to Him
                                                                      by the bond of faith and thus to draw `out of Him all the
        The faith of God's child is everlasting. Jesus tells us in    power to live before God. as His covenant children. We
 John 15:5 that except we abide in Him, - and that means              will not lose these spiritual  -arteries  and capillaries through
 by faith, i we can do nothing. We surely shall `do much in           which all our spiritual life comes to us from Christ. Faith
 the new creation, and that exactly because the bond of               is the means whereby the end, namely, -our salvation, is
 faith wherewith we are united with Christ has not been               everlastingly ours to have and enjoy.
 dissolved but rather come to its perfection. Faith has no
 end in that sense that presently it is not to be found  in US            We do well to consider this -salvation. There are many,
 any more. Paul speaks of his confidence that the good                many facets to that salvation; and much can be and has
 work, - and that includes faith, - which God has begun               been written about it. And yet, as a rule a very superficial
 in us, He will perform until the day of Jesus Christ, Philip-        concept of salvation prevails. A salvation is proclaimed
 pians  1:6. And then it  ,will not, cease to be given us, but        today that appeals to everyone, even to the devil himself.
 given in richer measure and in its perfection. Faith has             Men are coaxed and enticed into a beautiful heaven and
 a beginning, but it has no end as contrasted to the begin-           kingdom where the flesh of every man, woman, and child
 ning. The essential element of faith is trust; and the re-           craves to be. He may not want to "accept" this Jesus that
 generated child-of God shall never lose his trust in God.            is so cheaply hawked and offered. But he will want that
                                                                      salvation,. if only it can be gotten another way. And he
        But we can speak of the end of our faith as contrasted
 to faith as the means unto salvation. Peter speaks that way          most assuredly does not want that hell fire with which he
 in I Peter 1:9. There he states, "Receiving the end of your          is threatened. Neither' by the fear of that fire nor by the
                                                                      allurements of that kingdom,. however, will you get them
 faith, even the salvation of your souls." Faith is presented         to "accept" this Jesus. And to many that is all that there
 as the means. unto salvation in Ephesians 2:8, "For by grace         is to salvation: one is saved from hell's fire to enjoy heaven's
 are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is
 the gift of God." In both of these passages it becomes plain         bliss.
 that the end or goal of faith is salvation. We are saved by              That, of course; is a purely carnal concept of salvation
 means of, or through, faith. And salvation is the end of             and requires no faith for acceptance. The very nature -of
 `our faith.                                                          man, his sinful nature, desires such a salvation. Therefore
        This does not mean that when tbe end is reached, the          the atheist in the face of death and injury can cry out
 means is, discarded. For we do not receive `salvation as a           what men would call a prayer to G,od for salvation., Many
 wrapped-up package at the end of time and after faith has            would be ready to cry out with Peter as he began to sink
brouglit us to the point where we will obtain it. We have             amid the fierce waves, "Lord, save me!" and have no
 salvation in this life from the mom-ent of regeneration and          interest at all in being saved from.unbelief.  Salvation from
 from the moment of ingrafting by faith into Christ. Does             a watery grave or death on the battlefield appeals to all
 Paul not tell us to work out our own salvation? How can              flesh of all mankind. But. what about salvation from un-
 we work out that which we do not yet have? But we do                 belief and sin?
 have it' in this life. For Paul adds in Philippians` 2: 12, I3,          We do well to remember that the whole man fell in
 "For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do             paradise. He fell legally into guilt and the obligation to
 of his good pleasure." We will refer to this text again in           suffer God's wrath in hell. That is the ~punishment  for his
 a moment, but let it suffice for the moment to point out             sin, that agony in hell. And his guilt is the consequence-of
 that this exactly is our salvation. If you have the will and         his sin. He became guilty through sin. But do not lose
 the ability to do God's good pleasure, you have salvation.           sight of the fact that he fell into SIN and that with his
 You are saved from your evil will and works. Your life               whole being. Salvation will have to be far more than the
' is even as that of Christ, the Vine, into Whom by faith             removal- of this guilt and of this punishment. Deliverance
 you have been ingrafted. You do have salvation. You have             from these is important. But if this is all that which we
 the principle of it within you and the beginning of that             have, our faith has not reached the end for which God
 new obedience, And yet through the remainder of your                 designed it.  Nor- have we reached the end to which our
 earthly life you will still have the means. Similarly the            faith looks. Our flesh may look with eager anticipation to
 life-giving blood reaches your organs and every cell in your         an end of suffering and death. Faith looks at something
 body by means of arteries and capillaries. But do these              quite different `and. deeper. For the body did not simply
 arteries and capillaries dissolve thereafter? Can we discard         fall into physical death with all its phases and degrees.


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D -   B E A R E R                                                 353

The death that God predicted and into which Adam fell             And so may you and I. Nor did Jesus rebuke those. who
was not simply physical-death. That death he did not -re-         sought healing and cure for their maladies and physical
ceive  fully the- day he ate of the forbidden fruit. But God      afllictions.~  He' is a merciful ,High Priest, and He shuddered
spoke the truth. Adam. did die spiritually the day he ate         Himself at the awfulness of what He had to suffer in hell's 3.
of the forbidden fruit. `He no longer had in him the will         fire for us. Great drops of blood like sweat gathered upon
and the ability to do God's good pleasure. He became              His brow in Gethsemane in anticipation. But if that is all
absolutely incapable of doing any spiritual good from that        that you and I desire, if salvation for us is no more than
moment and until God began to work salvation in him by            an escape from the wages and punishment of sin, we are.
regeneration. We will need to be saved from that spiritual        not one whit different from Satan and all his hosts.  DO
death. We are ethically'corrupt by nature, as well as legally     you for one minute believe that they look forward to hell
guilty before God. And therefore we need sanctification           and its agony? Do you for one minute believe that they
as surely as we need justification. The end of our faith is       :go there willingly and seek it? And were there a way
that we are made to be holy as well as it is that we are          for them to escape it without anything more, do.you believe
made to be righteous.                                             that they would turn it .down?  But that is not the end of
                                                                  our faith according to the Word of God.
   The regenerated child of God will reveal also a desire
for holiness and not simply for justification. A -so-called            Take note of Hebrews  12:14. We read, "Follow peace
evangelist who comes with a so-called gospel may gather           with all men, and holiness, `without which no';man  shall
greater multitudes than Jesus was ever able to assemble.          see the Lord." And -holiness is not deliverance from the
He may move them to tears and get many "decisions" for            guilt of sin and punishment of sin, from the curse and
Christ. He may  picture.the  glory so wonderfully that no         death. Holiness is deliverance from the pollution, de love
flesh can resist it and depict the horrors of hell so vividly
that all will shudder at its awfulness and consider escape        and the power of sin. As we  aheady pointed out, the
                                                                  essence of. salvation, according to Paul in Philippians 2: 12,
an absolute must. But he has neither preached the gospel          13, is that we are saved from our unwillingness and in-
nor taught his audience the salvation that is in -Christ,
unless he has preached holiness and salvation from sin in         ability to love and serve God and that God has worked
                                                                  in us-both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
every phase and aspect. There are far too many would-be
evangelists who bring a "warm message" of "compassion                  That element ought to be emphasized today in the
for souls" that is obnoxious to the living God. And they          preaching. We purpose, next -time,  D.V., to have more to
preach a "gospel" that is not good news but a deceptive bit       say about this, but let it be stated now. That element must
of philosophy. 0, indeed, in Jesus' day, during His ministry      always be emphasized in the preaching, and. God did so
upon this earth, they flocked from the comers of Canaan           Himself in His first sermon to fallen man. He spoke of
to seek relief from sicknesses -and pain, from afaiction  and     enmity between seed and seed. He promised holiness, sanc-
death. And thousands upon thousands enjoyed the sight             tification. And although justification is there in the cross,
of the sick being healed, the lame being given power to           which is implied .in the bruising of the heel of The Seed
walk, the blind receiving sight. That all looked good and         of the woman, sanctification is surely on the foreground.
gave `such wondrous hope-for their own physical  distiesses       -And since the fear of the Lord is the New Testament faith
and sufferings due to the human race because of the curse.        in God, we may say that in His fear one will seek salvation
They would even be willing to admit that these things             from the love and power of sin in the way of and upon
came into the world because of sin. Just deliver them from
these effects and wages of sin; and everything will be            the basis of salvation from the guilt-and punishment of sin.
wonderful. Jesus will be received with open arms  as; their                                                               J.A.H.
King. And yet somewhat later they all forsook Him and
followed Him no more. IPretty  soon the raising of Lazarus
from the dead becomes the occasion for them to decide that
He and Lazarus both must be put to death. How do you
explain it? A modem would-be evangelist can "pack them                                      Teacher Needed
in" and make salvation so plain and enticing to them. And
Jesus; the Saviour, made such a miserable failure of the              The Hope Protestant Reformed Christian School is in
whole business that His disciples were puzzled and con-.          need of a teacher for the 5th grade. Please address all cor-
fused. Until the Spirit was poured out in their hearts, they
did not understand. But meanwhile there was something             r e s p o n d e n c e ,   t o :
else that still held them  ,to this Saviour, even in the midst                                       Mr. Don Lotterman
of all their misunderstanding~and  perplexity. They desired                                          1926 Porter SW
a salvation that DID include salvation from the love and
power of sin. They desired to be saved from hell's fire.                                             Wyoming, Michigan,`49509


 354                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARE'R

 II                                                                  to the commandments of men, who by their nature are
           Contetiding  - For `The Faith                        II inclined to. deceit and vanity: And whatever our enemies
                                                                     may say against us, we can declare this before God and
                                                                     man, that we suffer for no other reason than for maintaining
                                                                     our Lord Jesus Christ to be our only Saviour and Redeemer,
            The Church and the Sacramerits                           and his doctrine to be the only doctrine of life and salvation.

                                                                        "`And therefore, Sire, in accordance with your promises
             THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION                             of goodness and mercy toward your poor subjects, we
                                                                     humbly beseech your Majesty graciously to examine the
  VIEWS ON THE SACRAMENTS (LORD'S SUPPER)                            cause for which, being threatened at all times with death
                                                                     and exile, we thus lose the power of rendering the humble
                   THE REFORMED VIEW                                 service that we owe you. May it please your Majesty, then,
                                                                     instead of the fire and sword which have beenused hitherto,
        The sacrament of the Lord's Supper is, of course, treated    to have our Confession of Faith decided by the Word of
 in all the Protestant. and Reformed Symbols. We wish to             God: giving permission and security for this. And we hope
  quote, first of all, from the.Gallican Confession, the French      that you yourself will be the judge of our innocence, know-
  Confession of Faith, composed in 1559, approximately the           ing that there is in us no rebellion or heresy whatsoever, but
  same time as our Heidelberg Catechism and our Belgic               `that our only endeavor is to live in peace of conscience,
  Confession. This Gallican Confession was addressed to the          serving God according to his commandments, and honoring
 king of France, having been prepared by Calvin and one              your Majesty by all obedience and submission.
  of his pupils. It might be of interest to our readers to read
 this address to the king, which introduces this confession,            "And because we have great need, by the preaching of
  and we quote: "Sire, we thank God that hitherto having             the  .Word of God, to be kept in our duty to him, as well
  had no access to your Majesty to make known the rigor              as to.yourself,  we humbly beg, Sire, that we may sometimes
 of the persecutions that we have suffered, and suffer daily,        be permitted to gather together, to be exhorted to the fear
for wishing to live in the purity of the Gospel and in peace         of God by his Word, as well as to be confirmed by the
 with our own consciences, he now permits .us to see that            administration of the Sacraments which the Lord Jesus
 you wish to know the worthiness of our cause, as is shown           Christ instituted in his Church. And if it should please
 by the last Edict given at Amboise in the month of March            your Majesty to give us a place where any one may see
  of this present year, 1559, which it has pleased your Majesty      what passes ,in our assemblies, we shall thereby be absolved
 to cause to be published. This emboldens us to speak,               from. the charge of the enormous crimes with which these
 which we have been prevented from doing hitherto through            same assemblies have been-defamed. For nothing will be
 the injustice and violence of some of your officers, incited        seen but that is decent and well-ordered, and nothing will
  rather by hatred of us than by love of your service. And           be heard but the praise of God, exhortations to his service,
to the end, Sire, that we may, fully inform your Majesty             and prayers for the preservation of your Majesty and of
  of what concerns this, cause, we humbly beseech .that you          your kingdom. And if  ,it do not please you to grant us
 wihsee  and hear our Confession of Faith, which we present          this favor, at least let it be permitted us to follow the estab-
  to you, hoping that it will prove a sufficient. answer to the      lished order in private among ourselves.
 blame and opprobrium unjustly laid upon us by those who                "We beseech you most humbly, Sire, to believe that in
 have always made a point of condemning `us without having
  any knowledge of our cause. In the which, Sire, we can             listening to this supplication which is now presented to
                                                                     you, you listen to the cries and groans of an i&rite num-
  a&-m that there is.nothing contrary to the Word of God,            ber of your poor subjects, who implore of your mercy that
  or to the homage which we owe you.                                 you extinguish the fires which the cruelty of your judges
        "For the articles of our faith, which are all declared at    has lighted in your kingdom. And that we may thus be
 some length in our Confession, all come to this: that since         permitted, in serving your Majesty, to serve him who has /
  God has sufficiently declared his will to us through his           raised you to your power and dignity:
 Prophets and Apostles, and even-by the mouth of his Son,               "And if it should not please you, Sire, to, listen to our
 our Lord Jesus Christ, we owe such respect and reverence            voice, may it ,please you to listen to that of the Son of God,
 to the Word of God as shall prevent us from adding to it            who, ,having given you power over our property, our bodies,
  anything of our own, but shall make us conform entirely
  to the rules it prescribes.                                        and even our lives, demands that the control and dominion
                                 And inasmuch as the Roman
  Church, forsaking the use and customs of the primitive             of our souls and consciences, which he purchased with his
  Church, has introduced new commandments and a new                  own blood, be reserved to him.
 form of worship of God, we esteem it but reasonable to                 "We beseech him, Sire, that he may lead you always
 prefer the commandments of God, Who is himself truth,               by his Spirit, increasing with your age, your greatness and


                                                        ,


                                          T H E   STANPARQ  B E A R E R                                                        355

power, giving you victory over all your enemies, and estab-         and in fact that which ,he there sets forth in us; and that
lishing, forever, in all equity and justice, the. throne of your    consequently with these signs is given the  true possession
Majesty: before whom, may it please him that we find                and enjoyment of that which they present to us. And thus
grace, and some .fruit of this our present supplication, so         all who bring a pure faith, like a vessel, to the sacred table
that having exchanged our pains and afllictions for some            of Christ, receive truly that of which it is a sign; for the
peace and liberty, we may also change our tears and lamen-          -body  and' the blood of Jesus Christ give food and drink to
tations into a perpetual thanksgiving to God, and to- your          the soul, no less `than bread and wine nourish the body."
Majesty for having done that which is most agreeable to
him, most worthy of your goodness and mercy, and most                   From these articles it is evident that, in the sacrament
necessary for the preservation of your most' humble and             of the Lord's Supper, the Lord feeds and nourishes us with
`obedient subjects- and .servants."                                 His flesh and blood, so that we may be one in Him, and
                                                                    that our life may be in common with Him. However, lest
    What a beautiful address! It surely speaks of humility.         this be understood either in the Roman Catholic or Luth-
Indeed, the people of God are not a people who live in              eran sense of the word, the articles hasten to add that
open and secret defiance of all order and authority. Notice         Christ is in heaven until He come to judge all the earth,
that in this address we read that the Son of God has given          and that we are strengthened by the secret and incompre-
the king of France power over the property, bodies, and             hensible power of His Spirit with the substance of His body
even the souls of the people of God. Notice, too, that the          and blood. This, we read, occurs spiritually. And when we
people of God, in this address to their' earthly king, declare      read that the body and blood of Jesus Christ give food
that they are not rebels, do not live in rebellion against          and drink to the soul, no less than bread and wine nourish
their monarch, and that anyone is always at liberty to visit        the body, it clearly implies that a distinction must be made
their gatherings, so. that all may know what goes on during         between this spiritual food and drink and the bread and
these services. God's people have `nothing to hide. And             wine which nourish the body, and that therefore the bread
the address concludes with a stirring appeal to the king to         and wine remain bread and wine during the Supper of
listen to the voice of the Son of God, should it not please         the Lord.
him to listen to their voice. After all, the king, although
having power over their property, bodies, and lives, is him-            Chapter 29 of the Westminster- Confession of Faith,  :
self subject to the Son of God; and this Son of God has             1647, discussing the Lord's Supper, has the following:
purchased them with His own blood. How fearful a thing                 "I. Our Lord Jesus, in the night wherein he was be-
it is, therefore, for the king of France to fail to heed the        trayed, instituted the sacrament of his body and blood,
voice of the Son of God and to persecute them who have              called the Lords Supper, to be observed in his Church,
been purchased by His blood! He may well consider the               unto the end of the world; for the perpetual remembrance
fact that, in persecuting the people of God, he is busily           of the sacrifice of himself in his death, the sealing all
engaged in persecuting the cause of the Son of God Who              benefits unto true believers; their spiritual nourishment and
has placed him upon the throne of France.                           growth in him, their further engagement. in, `and to all duties
   In this Galhcan  Confession Articles 36 and 37 speak of          which they owe unto him; and to be a bond and pledge
the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. -                               of their communion with him, and with each other, as
                                                                    members of his mystical body.
   Art. 36. "We confess that the Lord's Supper, which is
the second sacrament, is a witness of the union which we              ~  "II. In this sacrament Christ is not offered up to his
have with Christ, inasmuch as he not only died and -rose            Father, nor any real sacrifice .made at all for remission of
again for us once, but also feeds and nourishes us truly            sins of the quick or dead, but only a commemoration of
with his flesh and blood, so that we may be. one in him,            that one offering up of himself, by himself, upon the cross,
and that our life may' be in common. Although he be in              once for all, and a spiritual oblation of all possible praise
heaven until he come to judge all the earth, still we believe       unto God for the same; so that the Popish sacrifice of the
that by the secret and incomprehensible power of his Spirit         mass, as they call it, is most abominably injurious to Christ's
he feeds and strengthens us with the substance of his body          one only sacrifice, the' alone propitiation for all the sins of
and of his blood. We hold that this is done spiritually, not        the elect." (In this paragraph ,the Confession clearly sets
because we put imagination and fancy in the place of fact           forth that the Lord's Supper is only a commemoration of
and truth, but because the greatness of this mystery ex-            that one sacriilce  of our Lord upon the cross, and that the
ceeds the measure of our senses and the laws of nature. In          Romish mass is most abominably injurious to -the one and
short, because it is heavenly, it can only be apprehended           only sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, the. one and only
by faith."                                                          propitiation for all the sins of the elect. There is therefore
                                                                    no other sacrifice besides the cross, as Roman Catholicism
   Art. 37. "We believe, as has been said, that in the              would have us believe in connection with their Popish
Lord's Supper, as well as in baptism; God gives us really           mass.)                                                    H.V.


     356                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D `B E A R E R

     II                                                                   angel; who "durst not bring against him a railing accusa-
                The Vuice of Our Fathers                            II tion, but said,. The Lord rebuke thee," when he was
                                                                          contending with the devil about the body of Moses.  -
                                                                             2. We learn from Scripture, Revelation  12:7, that he
                         The Belgic Confession                            still has his angels, a large host of which he is the leader.
                                                                          They are the angels "which kept not their first estate,"
                                 hTICLcE  XII
                                                                          Jude, verse 6, and  ,whom Satan dragged with him in 
                                (continued)                   I                                                                     his
                                                                          fall, and of whose rebellion he must have been the insti-
,    The Fall of the Evil Angeb                                           gator. How many they are, we are not told. But if the
             Although there is often a certain attraction in speculat-    heavenly hosts are still an innumerable company of angels,
     ing about things which Scripture does not specifically tell          and if. Satan dragged with him "the third part of the stars
     us, and although also with regard to. the evil angels it is          of heaven," then we may indeed conclude that there is a
     rather easy to give one's imagination free rein, yet we must, large host of devils, still doing the bidding of their demonic
     take care to remain within the bounds of Scripture. And              overlord. Satan is their ruler. For he is everywhere pre-
     then we must note that even if we should purge John Mil-             sented. as the chief of the evil host. He is mentioned by
     ton's presentation of those fallacies which are rather obvi-         name: Satan, - the adversary; - and the devil, - the slan-
     ously not according to, Scripture, and if, then, we should           derer; and the liar, the father of the lie. He is called the
     end with the proposition that Satan's sin was that he was            prince of this world, John  12:31;  John  16:ll. He is the
     lifted up with pride and jealousy over against the Son as            prince of the power of the air, Ephesians 6:11, 12, and the
     He-was destined, according to God's counsel, to be revealed          spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
     as the Firstborn of every creature, yet this rather attractive       Ephesians  2:2. When we assemble some of these facts and
     idea can `scarcely be maintained with any firmness in the            combine the data, we may well be aware of the fact that
     light of Scripture. Not only is this suggestion as to the            the devil and his host constitute a formidable enemy. They
     nature of the angelic sin not directly taught in Scripture,          are great in number and in power. It is indeed true, of
     but the very idea raises questions which are very difficult          course, that also here we must not let our imagination run
     to answer. Were the. angels, and was Satan particularly,             wild, as, for example, the late C. S. Lewis does in his in-
     aware of the whole contents of Gods counsel with respect             teresting book, "The Screwtape  Letters.",But the danger is
     to the Firstborn of every creature? We must remember                 probably that we do not conceive of the power and activ-
     certainly that the angels are creatures, though spirits, and         ities of the devil concretely enough. As we said, the devil
     that-they are neither omnipresent nor omniscient. Also the           is not omnipresent, and he is not omniscient. But he has a
     angels can know only those things which are revealed to              large and organized host ~working for him. Moreover, he
     them. Moreover, if Satan knew of God's purpose to glorify            has access to the heart and mind of man. Still more, he is
     Himself in the revelation of His Son as the Firstborn of             active among the nations of the world. And he is especially
     every creature, does-this presuppose that originally God             active to bring the Antichristian Kingdom about. And if
     purposed to reveal Himself in the Firstborn along a dif-             we are mindful of all that the Scripture says about the
     ferent path than that of sin and grace, death and resurrec-          devil and his host, and of how the Scriptures warn that
     tion? This is on the very face of it' impossible: God's counsel      the devil, our adversary, goeth about as a roaring lion,
     is one, and unchangeable and eternal. But if it be true that         seeking whom he may devour; and if, moreover, we may
     Satan knew of the purpose of God's counsel of salvation in           assume that Satan is now as great and powerful a force for
     Christ, and therefore was lifted  up in pride against the            evil as he was a great and powerful angel for good before
     Son as Firstborn (the Firstborn as He is `presented in               his fall, then we certainly ought not to underestimate the
     Colossians 1: 15, ff .), then it seems to me that the entire         reality and the power and the dangers confronting us in the
     speculative presentation of the nature of his sin is  .self-         activities of the devil and his host. Our Confession is cer-
     defeating: for then the obvious course for Satan to follow           tainly correct in calling attention to this. The evidence is
     would have been not to allow his own sin and his tempta-             on every hand that the devils are watching to the. ruin of
     tion of man to take place and to stand in the service of             the church and every member thereof; aiming to destroy
     the execution of God's counsel. But, as we said, all this is         all by their wicked stratagems.
     speculation, and to be avoided.                                         3. As to the temptation of the devil himself, we may
            Holding ourselves to the Scriptural data, I believe we        say that there cannot have been an outside source of it,
     may establish the following:                                         as was the case with man. The devil was the. first to fall.
           1. Satan was a very high angel,  ~a prince in the angel        Nor are we told in Scripture of any specific object and any
     world. Although we cannot say with certainty that he was             specific command of God with which his temptation and
     the chief of all the angels, nevertheless it is evident that         sin were connected. In the case of man, there was the tree
     he was an angel of great power and glory. It may even be             of the knowledge of good and evil and the probationary
     said that he may have been greater than Michael, the arch-           command; and with these the devil's temptation of Eve, and
                                                                                              .


                                             T H E      STAN,DARD   B,EARER                                                  357

                                        L
of Adam through Eve, was connected. But Scripture is              hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord
completely silent as to any of these details in connection        thy God, and him only shalt thou serve? Matthew 4:7-10.
with the devil's fall. It gives no description of the fall ok     And when for a short time at the end- of the world the
the devil and his angels. We do know, however, that there         devil's efforts are crowned with apparent success, that
was no outside agent in the devil's fall. And although this       success consist exactly in that he replaces God and His
poses the problem of how it is possible that a creature who       Christ in the minds and hearts of the wicked men of the
was created good could possibly thus sin, and although            Antichristian Kingdom. For thus we read in II Thessa-.
we may add at once that we can never fully understand             lonians  2:4 concerning that arch-tool of the devil, the Man
and solve this problem, we may say, in the  iirst place,          of Sin: "Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that
that essentially this problem still remains in the case of        is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God
man's fall," in spite of the fact that there was an agent         sitteth in the temple of God,  shewing  himself that he is
and an objective occasion connected with man's fall. In the       God." The same picture is given us in Revelation 13: "And
second place, we may state as a fact, - in spite of whatever      they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the
problems that fact may present, - that the angels, like man,      beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like
must  have-  been created not merely neutral, but positively      unto the `beast? who is able to make war with him? And
good, yet so that they were lapsibIe, that is, that they could    there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things
by an act of their own mind and will choose the evil and          and blasphemies. . . . And he opened his mouth in blas-
reject the good. In the third place, in the case of the angels    phemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his taber-
who fell, or at least in the case of the devil himself, this      nacle, and them that dwell in heaven. . . . And all that
possibility of sinning may probably'be traced to the power        dwell upon the earth shah  worship him, whose names are
of imagination, whereby it was possible for the good crea-        not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the
ture to conceive of the evil.. His sin then lay in the fact       foundation of the world." vss. 4,5-a, 6,8.
that he also chose and embraced the evil of which he
conceived.                                                           5. Finally, we may note that the election and reproba-
                                                                  tion of the angels is along these lines immediately realized.
   4. As to the precise nature of the devil's sin, Scripture      On the one hand, the elect angels never fall. They remain
furnishes ground to believe that his sin was`that he was          standing by the grace of God. It will readily, be under-
lifted up with pride against God Himself. Not only may            stood that in this connection grace cannot refer to "forfeited
this be based on the text in I Timothy 3:6, which we cited        favor." For the good angels do not first become depraved,
in our previous article. But this is fully in harmony with        in order then to be redeemed and delivered from sin and
the statement of John 8':44 that the devil abode not in the       death. But they never fall. This also, however, is by the
truth. Not acknowledging the truth, the truth of God Him-         power of God's grace operative in them. And it is due
self, the truth concerning God, he did not remain in the          solely to God's' sovereign favor. Also their election, how-
right relationship with God. He did not live the truth; or,       ever, is not as yet ultimately realized. For, in the first
as John uses the expression in his first epistle, he did not      place, there was a breach caused in the-angel-world through
the truth. He was not content to have the status of a mere        the defection  .of Satan and his cohorts. And, in the second
creature in relation to the Most High. He was not willing         place, it remains for the angels, along with all things and
to be clothed with that humility according to which the           along with the elect church, to be united in the glorious,
creature acknowledges himself to be nothing and God all.          heavenly creation at the final revelation of Christ, the First-
He would be Lord, rather than servant. Nor is this as             born of every creature.. Is it for this reason, perhaps, that
speculative as it might seem at first glance. For not only        we read of the angels that they "desire to look into" s the
is the devil's condemnation referred to as a being lifted         things concerning Christ and salvation? Cf. I Peter 1:12.
up with pride; but if we may reason back from his present         On the other hand, the fall of the evil angels is frequently
appearance and activity in the world and among men, as            referred to as "absolute." This can only be true in the light
these are depicted in Scripture, then all this becomes quite      of the fact that the fallen. angels are all reprobate: they
clear. Whenever he appears in the world of men, he always         not only become totally depraved, but they are also not
attempts to usurp the power and authority of God and to           saveable. The same is true also, of course, of reprobate
take the place of the Most High. He began this attempt            men. While all men fall and become totally depraved,
among men in paradise. There he attempted to instill in           among them are the elect, who can be and are saved, while
the hearts of our first parents the lie, "Ye shall be like        the reprobate surely perish. But among the fallen angels
God." When the Lord Jesus sojourned among us in the like-         there -are no elect; all are reprobate, and cannot and will
ness of sinful flesh, the devil's ultimate temptation was  to,    not be saved. And their reprobation is finally realized in
make our Lord acknowledge the devil as God: for he came           the day of Christ when they shall be consigned forever to
to Him with the demand that Jesus should fall down and            everlasting desolation. They are therefore `by their own
worship him. And Jesus discerned the intent of that tempta-       wickedness adjudged to eternal damnation, daily expecting
tion very plainly, as is evident from His reply: "Get thee        their horrible torments."                              H . C . H .


  358                                       T,HE  S T A N D A R D   ;B-,EARER -
                                                                      is ready, we will need much more help. Truthfully, our
                                                                      attendance. has not been as big as we would like to have it.
                                                                      Hence, here is your `urgent invitation' to. j&r!
                                                                          2) If you live too far away to be a.regular  member, but
                The- New Publishing Project                     i     want to be a loyal supporter of this work, then you can
         All our Protestant Reformed people  sho.uld by this time sign up as an associate member merely by subscribing to
  have received their second letter concerning the efforts            the constitution and supporting .the work morally and fi-
  being put forth to publish Rev. H. Hoeksema's dogmatics.            nancially, and assisting us in your own local area. (Note:
  In order to reach those who. might not have received the you are not automatically a member of this organization
  letters, as well as to furnish more complete information            through,~your  R.F.P.A. membership. We state this because
  concerning this project and the organization sponsoring it,         .some have asked about it. )
  the publicity committee was authorized to answer in the
  Standard  Bear&   some of the many questions that have                  Qugstion:  Why is it necessary to do our own publishing?
  arisen. We will do this in question-and-answer form.                   Answer: There are several good  .reasons for this. Permit
                                                                      us to mention three:
                                                                          1) This is apparently the only way to publish our
   Question: What is this new committee which has sent                Protestant Reformed writings at present. Other avenues
  out these letters?                                                  are closed. In plain language, if Protestant Reformed writ-
         Answer: Its official name is: The Permanent Committee        ings are to be published, we must do it .ourselves.
  for the Publication of Protestant  Reformed'.Literature.  It           2) There is a great amount of written material that can
  is called a committee because it is not an entirely inde-           and should be made available in permanent, printed form
  pendent organization, but an arm, or subsidiary, of the             to our Protestant Reformed people of today, and, - do not
  R.F.P.A., the association which publishes our  Standard             forget, -to future generations.
  Bearer.  This arrangement wasmade both in order to avoid               3) This is an excellent way of getting the truth as we
  duplicate organizations and incorporations (the R.F.P.A.            possess it and love it before the reading public. Up to this
  is already incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation), and       time, for example,  Rev. Hoeksema's dogmatics has been lim-
  because our purpose is'entirely  consistent with that of the        ited virtually to our own ministers and seminary students
  R.F.P.A., though this committee will specialize solely in and was available. only in mimeographed form. A work
  the publishing of books. It .isjcalIed  a permunent  commit-        like this should be generally available to theologians, to
  tee, because: 1) It hopes and expects to be permanent, not          seminary students, and to the general public.
  just a temporary, passing thing. 2) It is more than a stand-
  ing sub-committee of the R.F.P.A. Board. It has its own               -Question:  What will this dogmatics  be?"
  organization, constitution, officers, separate treasury, meet-         Answer: Let us divide our answer:
  ings, etc. According to the constitution it  -is allied with the       1) It will be a complete and systematic treatment .of all
  R.F.P.A. as a permanent arm; and as such the R.F.P.A.               of Christian doctrine (divided into the well-known six
  has approved this committee. And it is called a committee           parts: God; Man, Christ, Salvation, the Church, the Last
  for  the  publicption   of  Protestant Reformed literature  be-     Things) written from our distinctive Protestant Reformed
  cause its purpose is "to publish in book form the writings          viewpoint, and written in Rev. Hoeksema's usual clear and
  of our Protestant Reformed professors and ministers." (Con-         pointed and thoroughly Scriptural style. It will be invalu-
  stitution, Article III) In other words, we hope to do more- able as a source-book on our doctrine. It will have literally
  in the future than to publish Rev. Hoeksema's dogmatics.            hundreds of Scriptural references, along with many de-
Other worthwhile writings are literally waiting to be pub-            tailed explanations of texts and terms. And it will have a
  lished; and once we get started, we hope to continue. We complete textual and subject index.
  also hope and expect that if we succeed in this first project,         2)  It will be a theological work; and yet it will be a
  from then on the project will be self-sustaining financially.       book of value not only to ministers and seminarians. Apart
                                                                      from some foreign languages, which are necessary in a book
         Question: How may I become a member of this organi-          of this kind, it is safe to say that any Protestant Reformed
  zation?                                                             home will find it worthwhile having.
     Answer: 1) If you live in Grand Rapids and vicinity, it             3) The dogmatics will be published in one large volume
  is very easy to be  what, the constitution calls a regular          of over a thousand pages. It will be. in every respect a
  member. You subscribe to the constitution, support the quality publication5 excellent paper and printing, substan-
  project, and then attend the meetings; taking an active             tial binding, and attractive appearance. All these matters
 part in the decisions and activities. Thus far our main work         have already been thoroughly investigated by a sub-com-
 has involved investigating publishing and putting. on a              mittee which has' contacted various publishing houses and
 publicity and funds campaign. `When our first publication            made'a complete                 study.     '     _    "


                                               T H E -   S T A N D A R D   .BEARER                                                     359
                                                                   ,               1           `
                                                                                                .                                             1
        Question: How much will this cost?                                   Que&&:  `How `do I go about this?
        Answer:  The publishing of the dogmatics alone will cost             Answer: Please follow these instructions carefully:
.$6000. For this amount we have set our goal. We should                      1/ Make out your check or money-order (or pledge)
     really exceed this goal in order to cover' advertising and          either to the Permanent Committee for the Publication of
     distribution costs. We plan to publish an edition of 1,000          Prot. Ref. Literature (P.C.P.P.R.L., for short), or to Thomas
     copies. This is not a large amount when you consider that           Newhof, Treasurer. Indicate if underwriting.
     better than 500 copies should be sold among our own fami-               2/ If you still have one of the stamped, self-addressed
     lies. Future plans are  to: recover our investment plus a           envelopes which we distributed, use that. Otherwise, mail
margin of profit, and then, after having met our obligations,            it to:
to use the proceeds as a `nest-egg" for more publications.                                      Mr. Thomas Newhof,
     We want to emphasize that no one gets any personal profit                                 2317 Leonard St., NE,
     out of this project. It is strictly not-for-profit; and all pro-                          Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505
     ceeds will be used for more publishing.                                 3/ Be sure to include your own name and address.
        Question; How can I support this project?        .                   4/ Indicate whether you want to become a member,.
                                                                         either regular or associate.
        After:   There are three methods to be used, the first               Hoping we have ,answered  most of your questions, we
two of which were already mentioned in our second letter:                a r e
        1) By making a pledge in any amount, payable by                                               Yours for the truth,
September 1, 1964.                                                                                    Permanent Committee for the
        2) By making a cash contribution.                                                             Publication of Prot. Ref. Literature
        3) By underwiting the project. Under this method you                                                   ,
would subscribe an amount, say, of $100 or $200, or even
more if you can, and give us the use of this money for as
long as we need it without interest. You are merely "back-                               `TliE LORD GAVE THE WORD . . . . .
ing up" the project with your money in order to help us get                                    (Continued from page 347)
started. When the proceeds from the sale of the books
warrants it, you will get Iyour money back, at the discre-                 spondence,  and the' areas from which it comes so that the
tion of the committee, that is, after we have met our obli-                Foreign Mission Committee may have some idea of the
gations. Of course, under this method you cannot claim .a                  response and type of response being received.
deduction on your income tax. A cash contribution or a                     "D. That the' Foreign Mission Committee specifically:
paid pledge can be deducted. But we welcome- all three                        "1. Investigate other possible areas of broadcasting
kinds of support. If, however, you only intend to under-                      outside of our country and in addition to Trans-world
write, be sure to indicate this for our records.                           `Radio and Radio Hoyer.
                                                                              "2. Investigate the possibility of making special tapes
        Question:  To what extent should I support this project?           for foreign broadcasts.
*       Answer: In the first place, the more the better! But a                "3. Make arrangements for a series of articles to ap-
little quick figuring will show what can be done.  .For                       pear in our Church papers to acquaint our people with
round numbers, let us say we have 606 families. An average                    the work being done and contem,plated.
$10 contribution from every family would put us over the                      "4. Make an' effort to contact young men from our
top on our goal. Yes, it's just that easy. Or again: just 60                  Churches to inform them of this work and encourage
contributions of $100 or 100 contributions of $60 would                       them to enter the ministry in order that we may have
give us what we need. .Or even if we had 30 who would                         men to broaden our field of mission endeavor.
underwrite this project for $200 each, or 60 for $100 each,                "E.  That-the Foreign Mission Committee also report
and we would be in business. But we cannot publish on                      regularly to the Domestic Mission Committee as to the
wishes; we need the money. And we urge you to do what                      work they are doing in order that both committees may
you can, whether your contribution is small or. large, and                 keep in contact with each other's labors.             :
to do it promptly! We can go to press as soon as sufficient                `%. That the Foreign Mission Committee study the pos-
funds are available. At our last meeting the treasurer re-                 sibility of doing follow-up work in the future in these
ported that returns were beginning to come in; but the                     countries where our foreign broadcasts are heard and
trickle must become a flood!                                               where response is received. We refer particularly to
                                                                           England.
        Question: When will the dogmatics be published?                     "We hope and pray that these suggestions may receive
        Answer: After we go to press, it will take several months.       the careful consideration of your body, that God may bless
At best, the book will come out in seven months thereafter;              our efforts to' bring His precious Word to those outside of
but it is probably safer to figure on a little longer than that.         our Churches, that Synod may experience the indispensable
We will keep you posted.                                                 guidance of God .in all her deliberations."                  C.H.


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     360                      "~                `TH.E  S `T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                                                                                   .
     IT==-=-                                                                                  :            The Western Ladies' League met April 10 at Edgerton
            MEWS FtiOM  0WR:CHURCiliS . `Church, with the Rev. J. Kortering as principle speaker.
                                                                                                   The subject of his speech was the Jewish-girl-made-queen
                       "5411 the saints  s&de thee . . . . Z' PHL- 4 :21                           whose intercession with King Ahasuerus saved her people
                                                                                                   from extermination, which deliverance was the origin of
                                                                  April 26, 1964              ,the Feast of Purim which the Jews still observe today.
                                                                                              " The bulletins of many of our churches carry identical
            Rev. B. Woudenberg, of Edgerton, has  received%the  call                               announcements-that of after recess discussions in the
     to be Home Missionary, from a trio. which included the                                        Young People's Societies on essays on `Youth and Holiness".
     Revs.. J. A. Heys and J. Kortering.                                                           That is the theme of next summer's `convention to be held
I                                                                                                  in Hope Church,' Grand Rapids. The host society has re-
                            REPORT OF ~LASSIS EAST                                                 quested up to .three essays from the societies to compete
            Classis  East met in Hudsonville April 1, 1964:  Rev. H.                               in a contest covering that subject, thereby preparing the
     Veldman led in the opening devotions, and when  classis                                       delegates for a worthwhile and stimulating discussion on
     was properly constituted, the Rev. G. Vos presided.                                           the mandate: "Be ye holy as I am Holy."
            All the churches were represented by two delegates                                             The Sunday School Teachers' Mass Meeting, April 3,
     each, and a very congenial spirit prevailed throughout the                                    featured the Rev. H. Veldman, speaking on, "The Sunday
     session, which was iinished with its, work by noon.                                           School and Discipline"; the Mr. and Mrs. Mass Meeting,
            Much of the work of  Classis  was routine, reports by                                  April  17; scheduled Rev.  `R. C. Harbach as speaker; the
     Stated Clerk, the Classical Committees, the appointment                                       Men's League Meeting, April 20; heard Rev. C. Hanko
     of a finance committee, consisting of S. De Vries and J. M.                                   speak on, "The Relation of the Magistrate to the Church";
     Faber; the appointment of a committee consisting of Rev..                                     and, the Eastern Ladies' League invited Rev. R. C. Harbach
     H.  Veklman,  and Elders H. G.  &riper  and H. Zwak, to                                       to lecture on "Personal Dedication and Consecration".
     prepare the schedule of classical appointments. Classis West                                          The various Young People's Societies' members em-
     requested appointments from the East forvacant churches                                       ployed different ways to solicit convention contributions
     in the West, and Southwest Church requested appointments                                      from their people. `First's Y.P. canvassed the congregation
     through the month of May.                                                                     personally, while Southeast's Y.P. supplied envelopes after a
            First Church presented an overture to Synod requesting                                 morning service, asking the donors to give their contribu-
     synod to assume responsibility for publishing Catechism                                       tions via envelopes in the collection plate.     '
     books formerly published by First Church.  Classis ap-                                                Radio Program schedule for May: Rev. H. Veldman,
     proved the overture.                                                                          3. and 10 - "Spiritually Minded" R&n. 8:6; 17 and 24th -
            Holland came with a request to ask for collections in                                  "The Carnal~Mind-Enmity  against God" Rom. 8:7, 8; May
     Classis  East and West for the building program they plan                                     31: Rev. C. Hanko- "The Cleansing of the Leper"
     for this summer. Classis  also heeded this request.                                           II Kings 5.
        Two churches requested advice regarding erasing  mem;                                              The' Eastertime  Beacon Lights  Singspiration was held
     bers walking unorderly. Classis  gave advice on these                                         in First Church auditorium. With Cal Reitsema  as  chairman:
     matters.                                                                                      C. Jonker as song leader, Karlene Oomkes at the organ and
            Prof. H. C. Hoeksema was granted an advisory vote                                      Sharon Prince at the piano, a delightful time was exper-
     during his presence at  Classis. Rev. C. Hanko  -was ap-                                      ienced by the sizeable  crowd that came out to close the day
     pointed. to thank the ladies of Hudsonville for, their excel-                                 with singing. Special numbers were furnished by Hope':
     lent catering.  Classis  elected the Revs. C. Hanko and H.                                    Male Quartet and soloist Arnold Dykstra. All of this served
     Veldman to serve as- Church Visitors, with Rev. G. Laming                                     to complete that Sabbath Day's picture of "the Rest  thai
     `as alternate.                                                                                remaineth, to the people of God". Hebr.  4:9.
            Southwest Church .invited the classis to meet there on                                         Most  -of us are acquainted with the Permanent Corn
     July I, 1964, and Classis  accepted the invitation.'                                          mittee for the Pdblishirig  of Protestant Reformed Literature
            Questions of Article.41 of the Church Order were asked                                 sometimes called, The Publication Committee. But, do yor
     and answered satisfactorily.                                                                  know that they are. `crying to raise $6,000.00  for their firsi
                                                                                                   publication: the  "D,ogmatics" of Rev. H. Hoeksema?  Yom
            Rev. R. C. Harbach closed the meeting with thanks to:
     God. In this prayer the Rev. M. Schipper was remembered                                       contribution is urgently being sought so that the materia
     since he has to undergo surgery.                                                         may go to press  as. soon as possible.
                                                                                                                             .-
                                                                                                     `.
                                                   Rev. M. Schipper, S.C.                          . . . . . see you in `church..                          J.M.F


