    VOLl3sfE   X L                                MAY  15,1964   - GRAND  Rams,  MICHIGAN                              NUMBER 16

                                                                           You see, those cruel enemies required of them a song!
                                                                       They said: Come, sing us that tionderful  psalm of yours:
                                                                       `t Hijgend hert der jacht or&omen, schreeuwt niet sterker
                                                                       naar `t genot van de frissche waterstroomen, dan mijn ziel
                                                                       verlangt naar God!
                      LOVINGKINDNESS                                       But how could they do that! You don't sing Psalter
      "But Zion  saith, The Lord hath forsaken me,  and my  Lord       Number 115 in a saloon among the scoffers and drunkards!
     hath forgotten, me.  Gun  a woman  forget her sucking child,
     that she should  not  huve compassion on  the son of her womb?    Although, come to think of it, Jesus sang His song among
     yea, they  m'ay forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I     the murderers on the cross. He sang Number 47. Remem-
     have  graven  thee upon the palms of My hands, thy walls are      ber? It begins thus: "My God, My God, I cry to Thee; 0
     continually before  Me."  Isa.  49:14-16.                         why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
   It is an overwhelming truth that these words of un-                     But Zion could not do that.      -
speakable comfort were written many years before they
would be of full application. They were written while                      They said: "Not songs but sighs to us belong when
Zion was safely in Palestine, and the  Chaldeans  afar off.            Zion's walls in ruin lie; How shall we sing Jehovah's song
                                                                       while in an alien land we die?"
   But God'knows  the things that happen from all eternity.
And He prepared this word of comfort for Zion when they                    But. hark!
would be in the hands of their enemies far from Jerusalem                  In the midst of all their sighing and crying there is the
and the Holy Temple.                                                   song of the Nightingale: "Sing, 0 heavens and be joyful 0
 Let me assure you that it was night for Zion when they                earth and break forth into singing 0 mountains, for. the
were taken to Babylon. They were in one word a slave                   Lord hath comforted His people and will have mercy upon
people.                                                                His afllicted."
  And while there, they bewailed themselves.                            Yes, that is the song of the Nightingale. Do you note
                                                                       that I write it with a capital letter? I should, for I have
   And the worst of the situation was that all they could              reference to the Voice of Almighty God. I have reference
blame was themselves. They had provoked the Holy One                   to the voice of prophecy which Israel had, even there in
of Israel; they had followed after other gods,. turning away           Babylon. Isaiah had written those words while they were
backwards. God's prophets were mocked, derided, perse-                 still in the Holy Land. At that time they had not seen the
cuted and killed. They had forsaken the Lord who alone                 import but now it was of direct application,
could help. The measure of their iniquities was full, and
then comes the chastisement.                                               And what was the reaction in Babylon?
   There came the hordes of the Chaldeans, and God gave                    This: Zion continues to grieve and to mourn.
them the victory. Old and young, sick or well, they were                   They said: The Lord has forsaken me, and my Lord bath
ruthlessly tom from their heritage and driven into the Baby-           forgotten me! And they seem to have a good case. They
lonian captivity, there to sigh and weep for seventy years.            will point out to you that they are nevertheless in Babylon,
   We still have the songs they sang inthat sorry estate:              that they are .a slave people. Moreover, Jerusalem lies
                                                                       waste and the temple is burned with fire. Neither have
           By Babel's streams we sat and wept,                         they anymore the feasts and the Sabbaths or the new moons.
           For memory still to Zion clung;                             There is no regular hublic tiorship anymore. They are sur-
           -The winds alone our harpstrings swept,                     rounded by mockers and scoffers. All the day long  ~they
            That on the drooping willows hung.                         hear their bitter words: Where is thy God?

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

        The answer to the wonderful song of the Nightingale is:             It is not probable, but possible that an earthly mother
  I am forsaken, of my God: He has utterly forgotten about              will forget her sucking child. There is a terrible word in
  us. In Babylon we are and in this alien land we die. That's           our vocabulary: FOUNDLING!
 the long and the short of it.                                              But . . .
        Sighing and crying is heard on every side.                          Even if they forget, I will not forget thee!
                             0  if  *  *                                    Beloved! that is the everlasting Gospel of God!
        Now, of course, it was very foolish of Zion to so conduct           His love and His lovingkindness are eternal, from  ever-
 themselves. It is.foolish to grieve when the Divine Nightin-           lasting to everlasting.     '
 gale sings His wonderful song in the night.                                How? and why?
        Yes, I think that that is the Divine Word of the nightin-           You see, God is not subject to change such as we are.
  gale. It is the bird that only sings in the night. `When                  We change, and then we will point to reasons why we
 God planned creation, He filled it with symbols of Himself             change our love from the object. Even a mother (?) who
 and His Kingdom. And the place of the nightingale in  1 forsakes her baby will give you reasons for her change
 nature is to visibly show what God has for His people in               of heart.
 the midst of the devils and the wicked. I remember lying                   And we too. I heard of a lover among the show people
  awake  -in the dead of night and listening to his sweet               who simply adored his bride, but after a comparatively
 melodies. But that was long ago and far away.                          short time he threw her through the french windows. At
        And the refusal to listen spiritually to his wondrous           one time they say and sing: "You are Divine, dear!" and
                                                                        the next moment they curse the object of their affection.
 melody of comfort is very foolish.                                         But God?
        First, because you make your nights still darker.                   He is Jehovah, and there lies all the difference. Jehovah
        Second, because you rob yourself of the only  thing  that       means tl&nchangeable.  He is the ever present I AM!
 is- able to comfort you in your night of misery.                           In darkest night He remembers  His flock.
        Third, because it is diametrically opposed to  reality:             Not even the streams and billows of sin and corruption
God is your God and all is well, no matter where or what.               that Zion commits can change His lovable heart.
 All things work together for good unto those that love God,                He loved us while we were yet sinners!
 that are the  .called  according to His good-pleasure.            '       And when His righteousness demands satisfaction, He
                             0  CL  *  II;                              finds the WAY, and the WAY is the Suffering Servant of
        There is really no reason to lament, no, not even in the        Jehovah of whom you read in the context of my text. Read
 midst of the devils and the wicked. No, not even in Baby-              Isa. 49:1-12.  It is all about that Servant who will redeem
 lon, far from the Holy land.                                           God's beloved church from among the Israelites and from
                                                                        the Gentiles. `Read it. And His full image will be revealed
        And there is plenty proof.                                      a few chapters later in the same prophecy of Isaiah, chap-
        God urges His people to look around. There is abundant          ter 53.
 proof that God loves them and will love them unto all                      No; God never forsakes or forgets His people. Already
 eternity.                                                              in chapter 40 He had commanded His pro,phet  to enunciate
        Look at the millions of mothers! Does any one of them           that comfort, saying, Comfort ye, comfort ye My people,
 ever forsake her child so that she would not have compas-              saith `your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and
 sion on the son of her womb? Did you ever see that? And cry unto her: that her warfare is accomplished, that her
 itmakes no difference whether you look at the God-fearing              iniquity is pardoned for she hath received of the Lord's,
 mothers or the wicked mothers: the mothers will- fight. to             hand- double for all her sins.
 the death for their'darlings. What mother would not gladly
 give her life for the son of her womb? Did you ever see                                           a  0  0  0
 the compassion of a woman when her son is deathly ill,
 and struggling with death? Did you ever hear that groan-                  When we love, we have an image of the loved one;
 ing cry of anguish of the suffering mother?                            first in the heart, and then also in a picture, snapshot, pho-
        And yet, they may forget.                                       tograph,  statuary, painting, anything. And according as we
                                                                        love, we yearn to have the image as close to us as possible.
        Yes, I chill in my bones, I tremble and shudder at the          I heard during the war that some girls slept with the pic-
 thought, but there are mothers. who forget and forsake nrre of their beloved under their pillow. You s,hould never
 their child. Yes, there have been such monsters.                       laugh at that.' It's beautiful.
        God knows this and. therefore He says: "Yea, they may              Well;,God  has also your image with Him. The image
 forget! !"                                   ..                        of Zion is graven upon the `palms of His hand.
                                                                                            .


                                              ,THE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                                                  363

     No, beloved, be assured, that image is not as you are                                                                                                                                                     -
 now in your sins and corruption, your iniquity and filth.                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
 We loathe our image as poor miserable sinners.                                Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and  Aftgust
                                                                                Published by the  REFORMED   FREE   PWBLISEIING   ASSOCUI~ON
     But God has your image as He conceived of you from                                                     Editor - REV. HEXMAN HOEKSEMA
 all eternity.                                                                 Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
                                                                               Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,  Grand  Rapids 7,
                                                                               Mich. Contributions will be limited to 300 words  u,Ad  must be
     And you are grouped about the Image of His dear                                                             neatly written : or typewritten.
 Son. Jesus Christ is in  .the very center of God's hand,                      All church news items should be addressed to Mr.  J. M. Faber,
 and Zion is grouped about that Son. And even though                                                 1123 Cooper, S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
there is a great variety of beauty among God's children so                      Announcements and Obituaries with the  $2.00  fee included
                                                                               must be mailed 8 days prior to issue date, to the address below:
 that no two are alike, yet, all of Zion look like Jesus.                       All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to
                                                                                               Mr. James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
     Paul speaks of that when through the Holy Ghosts he                                                       Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
 reveals that "whom .He did foreknow, He also did predes-                             RENEWAL: Unless. a deiinite.request for discontinuance is
                                                                               received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscrip-
 tinate to be conformed to the IMAGES  of His Son, that He                       tion to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
 might be the Firstborn among many brethren," Worn. 8:29                                                    Subscription price: $5.00 per year
                                                                                 t      Second  Clans postage paid at Grand  Rapids, Michigan
     Now then, God looks continually at that image of Zion,
 and conforms us all to the Image of His Son.
     And the day will come that we all shall look like Jesus                                    .                            C O N T E N T S .
~Christ, as His Bride, without spot or wrinkle.                                                                                           :
                                                                         MEDITATION  -
     L&e+ beloved, listen to the song of nightingale in all                           Lovingkindness _.  __.  ___. . . . . . . .  .._ . ..361
                                                                                                Rev. G. Vos
 your night of misery and darkness. Jehovah always re-
 members you!                                                    G.V.    EDITORIALS-
                                                                                      ParticuIar  Throughout ___  _. . ..!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._..._ _.. ..364
                                                                                                Rev. H. Hoeksema                                :

                                -        -                               OUR D~c~.~NE  -
                                                                                      The Doctrine of the Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
                                                                                                R e v .   H .   Hoeksema

                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY --                             SPECIAL  &PORT-
                                                                                      The Second Vatican Council (IV) . . . . . . . ..~..........~...................  370
    The Board of The Association for Christian Education express                                R e v .   G .   V a n   Baren
 their deepest sympathy to our fellow Board member, Mr. S.  Looy-        A CLOUD .OF WITNESSES-.                                                :
 enga, in the loss of his mother,                                                     Samson's War ___.  __.  ._  _...  ._......... . . . . . ,372
                      M R S .   L O U I S   LOCYENGA                                            Rev. B. Woudenberg

    Our prayer is that our faithful and merciful God will send His       FROM  HOLY WRIT  -
 Holy Spirit to comfort the bereaved Brother.                                         Exposition of the Prophecy of Malachi  _._.............._______________  374
                                                                                           Rev. G. Lubbers
                                     Dr. D. Monsma,  Pres.
                                                                         IN HIS FEAR-
                                     It. H.  Teitsma,  Sec'y.                         The End of Faith (2) . .._... .~....,................................................ 376
                                                                                                Rev.  J:.A.  Heys

                                                                         CONTE~DJGFOR THEFAITH.-
                                                                                      The Church and the Sacraments . . . .  __..  __. . ..378
                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                  Rev. H. Veldman
                                                                         T                                                                                                                                     -
    The Senior Mr. and Mrs. Society of the First Protestant  Re-              HE &URCH AT WORSIXIP-
                                                                                      The Baptism Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ..:. .  ..380
 formed Church expresses  .its heartfelt and sincere sympathy to four                           Rev. G. Vanden Berg
 of our members, Mr. and Mrs. Ted Looyenga and Mr. and Mrs.
 Stuart Looyenga in the death of their mother,                           iLLhOUNDuS-
                                                                                      Rockefeller's Divorce .:. .                                                                                                   .382
                      MRS. LOUIS LOOYENGA                                             The Church's Witness __ . . . . . . .._ ______.  _______ ___ ____.________ ________ _._ __.. 382
                                                                                      Atheism in Russia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._....__________..................................                           382
    May our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is for us the Resurrection and                     Decline of Parochial Schools? ___.                                                ._..           .._            ._            ,383,
 the Life, use this departure to reassure them and us that `he that             _ `A Way to More Church Union ____________.__.___........  ~ ._..._......,...__  383
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he  live",                                      Rev. H. Hanko

                                     Rev. C. Hanko, President            NEWS FROM OUR CH&XES ~  .._.__....._.__...   z,I  .__.__.__..,......,....   384
                                                                                                Mr. J. M. Faber                                  :
                                     Mrs. Leonard Dykstra, Secretary


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364                                       .THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                       "THE GOSPEL IS GODS GOOD NEWS -THE
11           EDITOR.lALS                                   `-       GOOD NEWS that He  `so loved the world that he gave
                                                                    his only begotten Son' (John 3: 16) and that `Christ Jesus,
                                                                    . . . gave himself a ransom for all' (I Tim. 2:5). For whom
                      _ Editorial Note                              is this news? For the world-for all men. God loves all!
       On Friday, May 1; the Rev. H. Hoeksema, at the per-          Christ died for all! It is our joyful task to tell all men the
sonal invitation of Prof. Harold Dekker, addressed the Mid-         news."
dlers Class of (Calvin Seminary on the subject, "Particular            In a note` Prof. Dekker mentions three things: 1) That
Throughout." (Our seminary personnel, accompanied also              there is a difference between hating sin and hating the
by the Revs. H. Veldman and G. Vos, were. also present              sinner; and he mentions several passages of Scripture to
by invitation. The lecture was followed by an abbreviated           prove this. With his exegesis I do not agree, but I have
session of questions from the students.                             no  time to explain all the passages which Prof. Dekker
       It is not my purpose to attempt an estimate of the value     mentions here; and besides, you can read my exegesis in
and effect of this meeting. I can report, however: 1) That,         these passages in the Stwdard Bearer.
as all will recognize, this was a very unusual event and               2) Prof. Dekker makes the statement that "`hate" in
opportunity both for the speaker and for the audience. 2)           Scripture sometimes means "love less." And under this
We experienced a very cordial reception. .3 ) The possibility       proposition he also mentions Malachi  l:l-5 and  Remans
of and hope for further contact and opportunity for dis-            9:13. Also with this I do not agree; and again I say that
cussion were expressed; and to such further discussion,             I have no time to elaborate on this statement.
possibly in the fall, as Prof. Dekker suggested, when school           3) He makes the statement that `hate" in the Old Tes-
resumes, we look forward.                                           tament must be seen in the light of progressive revelation.
       For the rest, because of the .wide interest expressed, we    And to prove this statement he refers especially to Psalm
present the text of Rev. Hoeksema's lecture in the Standard         139:21  and 22 in comparison with Matthew 5:43-48.  Again
Bearer. With the exception of a very few remarks which              I say that I do not have the time to go into this in detail.
were here and there inserted, this is the lecture as it was            One or two more remarks I must make before I turn
delivered to Prof. Dekker's class in missions.          H.C.H.      to my main subject. In the first place, Prof. Dekker always
                                                                    makes the distinction between redem.ptiue  and redeeming
                   Particular Throughout                            love. On this I remark:
Introduction:                                                          1) That to me this distinction is false. Redemptive and
Esteemed Professor Dekker and Audience:                             -redeeming tb me mean the same thing. How can God'love
       I was rather pleasantly surprised when -Professor Dekker     with a redemptive love that does not redeem?
called  me- and told me that he would like to come over.               2) That Scripture never speaks of redemptive love, but
I was still more surprised when he asked me whether I               only of redeeming love.
would speak for his class in Calvin  S~eminary. And, of                In the second place, in connection with his- proposition
course, I gladly accepted that invitation; and. hereby I try        that Christ died for all men, he also speaks of the efficacy
to ful5.l my promise to speak to you.                               of that redemption of Christ. Christ died for all men, but
       Prof. Dekker, as well as you all, know by this time that     that redemption is e5cacious only for the elect. However,
I do not and cannot agree with him on his main proposi-             in the context of his whole article, it is evident that this
tion, that- God loves-all men. And therefore,' neither he nor       efficacy must be dependent upon the will of the sinner.
you will be surprised when my speech will be a contradic-           For if efficacy is taken in the Reformed sense, namely, that
tion to the chief tenets of his theology. However, this does        the author of our salvation and of the efficacy of the death
not mean that my speech today will be controversial. In             of `Christ is solely and only the Holy Spirit, His work being
that case what I have to say this morning would be mainly           not dependent upon the will of man, then it is impossible
negative; and I would rather speak positively. And there-           to maintain that Christ actually died for all men and that
fore, after I have briefly stated what are the main tenets          it was His intention to die for every individual.
of Dekker's. theology, I hope to speak on the subject,                 But-now I must turn to the main subject of my lecture.
"Particular Throughout." And under this, I expect to ex-            And first of all, I speak on the Particular Gospel.
plain especially three items:                                          What is the gospel? For this we must turn to Scripture.
                    I. A Particular Gospel                          The Bible speaks very frequently of the gospel, either
                      II. A Particular Promise                      directly or indirectly. In a sense, we can say indeed that
                  -. III. Particular Love                           all of Scripture is the gospel. Scripture speaks of the gus-
       First of all, then, I will briefly-mention the main prin-    pel of God. Thus in Romans 1:l: "Paul, a servant of Jesus
ciples of Professor Dekker's theology. This is rather. easy         Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel
because he mentions these principles in the very first para-        of God." Similarly, in II Corinthians  ,11:7: "Have I com-
graph of his last article in. the Reformed Journd, that is,         mitted an offense in abasing myself that ye might be
the issue of March, 1964. There he writes as follows:               exalted,. because I have preached to you the gospel of God


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                                              T H E   STANDA,RD   B E A R E R                                                           365
I                                                                               - -
     freely?" The same term is used in I Thessalonians 2:8, 9.               market, you will readily admit that the subject of the gospel
     Also there Paul calls the gospel the "gospel of God." Again,            is a very important subject.
     the same phrase is used in I Peter 4:17: ". . . what shall                 Now I said that this gospel of Christ and the gospel of
     the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" The                God is a particular gospel. By this I mean especially, first
     meaning of this is very `plain, The gospel is God's gospel,             of all, that Jesus, according to the Scriptures, actually and
     not  ,ours. He conceived of it in His eternal counsel. He               fully saves. He is Jesus not because He offers salvation or
     realized it in time. It is He, too, that causes the gospel to           created an opportunity of salvation, but simply because He
     be proclaimed by men. Consequently, if we would preach                  actually accomplishes our salvation from beginning to end,
     the gospel, it may be regarded as of prime significance                 and that too, through the Spirit of Christ and by His Word.
     and importance that we learn from Him, that is, from His                In the second place, I mean that Jesus, according to the
     Word, what are its contents and how it ought to be pro-                 Scriptures, actually saves not all, nor is intending to save
     claimed. And let us not forget that among the evil tenden-              all, but only His own people, the elect, given to Him by
     cies of our age that are destructive to the church of Christ            the Father from before the foundation of the world. And,
     and subversive of sound doctrine, I consider the fact that              in the third place, this Jesus, according to the Scriptures,
     the gospel is corrupted in our day one of-the most sinister.            must indeed be preached, to the ingathering of the elect
     Men pretend to preach the gospel, but certainly not the                 and to the condemnation of the powers of darkness and of
     gospel of God, namely, that God saves His people through                the reprobate. And through the preaching of the Word
     His Word and Spirit and by iwesistible  gra.ce.                         He certainly saves all those whom the Father hath given
         As to the contents of the gospel, it is called the gospel           Him, and no more. In that sense of the word the gospel
     concerning the Son of God. Thus we read in Romans 1:3,                  of God and the gospel of Christ is particular.
     where the apostle writes that the gospel- of God is the                    We can also say that, briefly, the main contents of the -
     gospel "concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord." And                  gospel is the promise. The Word of God frequently employs
     again, in verse 9 of the same chapter, we read: "For God-               two terms that are as closely related in their signiilcance
     is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel                as they are in the original Greek similar in sound. They
     of his Son . .  ." Also in Mark  1:l: "The beginning of the             are the words epaqjgelia  and euanggelim,  the first mean-
     gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God . . ." In the gospel,            ing "the promise," and the second being the word we
     therefore, God declares something about His only begotten               translate by our `gospel." That they are closely related in
     Son. And we must be anxious that by our presentation we                 our thoughts is evident from the rather common expres-
     do not distort the image of the Son -presented by it. It,               sion that is frequently used and is employed, too, by our
     is also called the. gospel of Christ, according to Romans 15: 1         confessions, that is, the promise of the gospel. It empha-
     19, where the apostle writes that he has "fully preached                sizes that the gospel contains the promise. But this close
     the-gospel of Christ." Also in I Corinthians 9:12, where the            relation between the promise and the gospel will become
     apostle writes that he is willing to suffer all things that             still more evident and will be seen in a somewhat differ-
     he might not hinder the gospel of Christ. Cf. Galaiians                 ent light if we turn to Scripture and discover that accord-
     137; II Corinthians 212; 9:13,; 10:14. It is further described          ing. to it the gospel is essentially the gospel of the promise.
     as  &e gospel of the glory  of  the blessed God. And our                Directly this is expressed in Galatians 3:8 and Acts 13:32.
     presentation of it may not tend to mar or bedim that glory..            In the former text, that in Galatians, we read: "And the
     I Timothy 1:ll. And the glory of Christ shines forth from               scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
     it and must be declared by it. II Corinthians 4:4. It is also           through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham,
     the gospel of the kingdom. Matthew  4:23;  9~35;  24:14.                saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed." Notice that
     And this kingdom as to its idea, origin, realization, and
     future must be correctly set forth whenever the gospel is               in the last expression you have the promise. Now accord-
     preached. And such further definitions as the gospel of                 ing to the text, when this promise was given to Abraham,
     grace, of i&e grace of God, the gospel of your salvatibn, the           the gospel was preached unto him. The gospel and the
     gospel of peace, Acts 20~24; Ephesians  I: 13; 6: 15, further           promise are therefore inseparably connected. In fact, we
     serve to impress on our mind the fact that he that deals                may say, as I said before, that the gospel i.s the promise.
     with the gospel has to do with  something  divine, very                 In Acts  13:32  we read: "And we declare unto you glad .
     precious, exalted in origin and contents, which may easily              tidings, (or: `preach the gospel unto you,' euunggelizo-
     be marred and corrupted by the handling. And consider-                  methu), how that the promise which was made unto the
     ing that it is incumbent upon the church of Jesus Christ                fathers, God bath  fulfilled unto us their children, in that
     to preach the gospel, this gospel of  .God,  of His Son, of             he hath raised up Jesus again." It will be evident that
     Christ,  of. the kingdom, of grace, of salvation, of  peace,            the promise made unto the fathers and realized unto us,
     of the glory of God and the glory of Christ,  to. all crea-             their children, is the same as that mentioned in Galatians
     tures, according to the command left her by her Lord,                   3. And it is also evident that here, as in the former pas-
      considering that at all times, and especially in our own,              sage, the apostle speaks of declaring that promise as being
     there are many would-be preachers  -of the gospel that                  the preaching of the gospel, or proclaiming glad tidings,
     present it as if it were the cheapest article on the public             The gospel, then, is essentially, according to its idea, the


366                                       T H E   S.TANDdRD  --B'EARER

gospel of the promise. And to this promise we-shall have           9:s. It points out the heirs of the promise and co-heirs of
to call attention, in order to explain the gospel according        the promise. For not all men have received the promise.
to the very presentation of Scripture.                             Hebrews 6: 17; ll:9. And at the beginning of the new dis-
       Very often the Bible speaks of the promise. Some-           pensation it announces: "For unto you is the promise, and
times it refers to it in the plural, to express the riches of      to your ~children, and to all that are afar off, even as many
its implications. More often the singular is used, to denote       as the Lord our God shall call." Acts 2:39.
its unity and identity. But always it is the same `promise.           Now the question is:, is this promise for all men, or is it,
It is the promise that is given to Abel,  Enoch, Noah, to          even as the gospel, particular? My answer is that also ,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For, having mentioned these             the promise is not for all men, but only for those whom
saints of the old dispensation, and having spoken of their         the Father hath given to Christ. In a way we may say
life and death or translation by faith, the eleventh chapter       that this ought to be already plain from the nature and
of the Hebrews tells us: "These all died in faith, not having      contents of the promise. The promise is by no means the
received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and          same as an offer in the modem sense of that word. I know
were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and con-                very well that also the Canons  speak of an offer, an offer
fessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."        of salvation. But this evidently has the meaning only of
Hebrews  11:13. And having reviewed the life and battle            presenting salvation. But the modem sense of the word
by faith of many more of the great cloud of witnesses, and         ofler is quite different. Usually by "offer" in de modem
including them all in his view, the-author of the Hebrews          sense we mean something that is indeed presented to us,
finally states: "And these all, having obtained a good report      but that we can refuse or accept. And that is not the offer
through faith, received not the promise." Vs. 39. It is            of the promise. It is true also in the latter the person who
evident from these passages that all through the old dis-          makes the offer declares his willingness to give something
pensation there was a promise given unto the saints which          to the person to whom the offer is made. But for its
they embraced and believed, by which they lived and died,          realization the offer in the modem sense of the word is
for which they were willing to be strangers and pilgrims           contingent upon the willingness of the second party, upon
in the earth, suffered hunger and exile and imprisonment,          his consent to the offer. But a promise is quite different.
endured cruelty and mockeries and scourgings,  were slain          It is a declaration, written or verbal, which binds the
with the sword and sawn asunder, wandered about in                 person that makes it to do, or forbear to do, the very thing
sheepskins and goat&ins, ail&ted,  destitute, and tormented.       promised. It is an engagement, regardless of any corre-
And in the greatness of that faith and endurance and in            sponding duty or obligation on the part of de person to
the severity of their sufferings we may see reflected the          whom the thing is promised. A promise, therefore, implies
beauty and riches of the promise which they possessed and          the declaration of a certain good, together with the posi-
saw afar off. Galatians 3 is a classic chapter on this subject     tive assurance that this good shall be bestowed upon or
of the promise. It emphasizes that the promises were made          performed in behalf of the person to whom the promise
to Abraham  and his seed, and that this seed of Abraham is         is made. This certainty of the promise is, as regards the
centrally and essentially Christ. Cf. `vs. 16. It is plain that    promise in Scripture, emphasized by the fact that it is God
Christ, the Seed, Who is the fulfillment of the promise, is        Who makes the promise. God conceived of the promise.
at the same time also the chief recipient of the promise. It       He it is that realizes the thing promised. He declares the
states that the law, which came four hundred and thirty            promise. This implies, in the first place, that the promise
years later than the promise to Abraham, could not possibly        cannot be contingent. For God is God, and His work
make the latter of none effect, vs. 17; and that God gave          certainly cannot be contingent upon the will of the crea-
the inheritance to Abraham by promise, vs. 18. It reaches          ture. And, secondly, this signifies that the promise is as
the conclusion that if we are Christ's, then are we Abra-          faithful and true as God is unchangeable. He will surely
ham's' seed, and heirs according to the promise, vs. 39.           realize the promise. When He binds Himself to do or to
And as to the contents of this promise, Scripture speaks           bestow anything, He is bound by Himself and all His
of it as the promise of the Holy Spirit which is given to          divine virtues to realize the `promise unto them to whom
Christ, Acts  2:33,  and to them that are of Him by faith,         it is made. For He cannot deny, Himself. And the idea
Galatians 3:14. It is the promise of life, I Timothy 4:S; II       of the promise necessarily implies that it is made to a
Timothy 1:l. It is the promise of eternal life, I John 2:25.       definite party. An offer, that is contingent upon the ac-
It is the promise of Christ's coming, II Peter 3:4. It is the      ceptance and consent of the second party, may be general.
promise of entering into His rest, Hebrews  4:l. It is the         A promise, that binds the promising party and that is cer-
promise of becoming heir of the world, Romans  4:13. It            tain of realization, requires a definite second party. And
is the promise of raising up a Savior from the seed of             thus it is in Scripture. For the promise is centrally made
David, Acts  13:23. Hence, it also speaks of the Spirit as         to Christ, and through Him to the seed of Abraham, to
the Spirit of promise, Ephesians  1:13, of the children of         the children of the promise, to those that are called heirs
the promise, that is, of children that are born in the line        and co-heirs of the promise. And that this certainly is the
of the promise, by the power of the promise, according to          idea of the promise is clearly expressed in Scripture. For
the promise, and upon whom the promise rests, Romans               we read in Hebrews  6:13,  14, and 17: "For when God


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B.EAREk                                                     367 ,
                                                             . .            -_
made `promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no              an inheritance, being predestinated according to the pur-
greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will        pose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of
bless thee, and multiplyiug I willmultiply thee. . . . Where-       his own will." Eph.  1:ll. And again, "For the children
in `God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs             being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil,
of the promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed           that the purpose of God according to election might stand,
it  ,by an oath!" To the heirs of the promise the promise           not of works, but of him that calleth; It was said unto her,
is certain because it is rooted in the immutable counsel            The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob
of the Most High.                                                   have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Rom. 9:11-13.  "For
   From this it follows necessarily that the promise, as well       he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
as the gospel, is particular. The promise of God is not             mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have
for all, but for those whom the Father hath chosen from             compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of
before the foundation of the world. It is not true that             him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. . . .
Christ died for all. It is not true that Christ intended to         Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy,
die for all. For He knows His sheep. And His sheep follow           and whom he will he hardeneth." Rom. 9:15,  16, 18. "For
Him. And no one can pluck them out of His hand, or                  whom he did foreknow (that is, in sovereign, causal, divine
even out of the hand of the Father. John 10.  One must              knowledge of love), he also did predestinate to be con-
choose between these two. Either the promise is for all, and        formed to the image of his Son, that he might be the
Jesus purposed to save all, in which case, however, He is           firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did
only a possible Savior; or Jesus came to s,ave His people,          predestinate,- them he also called: and whom he called,
the elect, unto eternal life, and in that case, - and in that       them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also
case only,  - He actually saves. Oh, I know that this is            glorified." Rom. 8: 29,30.
really for the reprobate and for the carnal mind an un-                In contrast to the unbelieving Jews at Capemaum, Jesus
believable doctrine. But it is nevertheless the  truth of           refers to His own when He says, "All that the Father
Scripture. I know too that men have always tried to cor-            giveth me shall come to me; and him that  cometh to me
rupt -this doctrine, in order that they may preach a Jesus          I will  ii? no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven,
for all. That; of course, is tie of all Pelagians and Armin-        not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
ians. I will not stop now to refute the Arminians  in their         And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of
interpretation of a few texts  in- which they pretend to find       all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but
support for their presentation. They never weary of oppos-          should raise it up again at the last day." John 6:37-39.  The
ing the doctrine of sovereign grace by appealing to sundry,         unbelief of the Jews that had seen so many miracles of
separate passages from Scripture  in which the word "world,"        Him is explained by the words of Esaias: "Therefore they
as in John 3:16,  is used, or' in which the word "all" occurs.      could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath
Let it be sufficient to state now that I am fully prepared to       blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they             -
prove that in all these passages neither `world" nor "all"          should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their
can possibly have the meaning of all human beings, of               heart, and be converted, and I should heal them." John
every man living. Rather will I utilize the rest of my lec-         12:37-40.
ture to emphasize that Sdripture  abundantly testifies that            Nor is it different in the Old Testament. For He saith
salvation is of sovereign grace and that Jesus saves the            to His people: `Yet now hear, 0 Jacob my servant; and
elect only and unconditionally. This is emphasized already          Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus saith the Lord that made
when the angel announced the name He shall bear. "For,"             thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help
says he, "he shall save his people from their sins." And            thee; Fear not, 0 Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun,
always the Scriptures set forth the name Jesus, that shall          whom I have chosen. For I will pour water upon him that
save His people, that is, the elect, from their sins. For God       is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my
"`bath blessed us with  all spiritual blessings in heavenly         spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring."
places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him             Isaiah  44:1-3.  And again, "This people have I formed for
before the foundation of the-world." .Eph. 1:3, 4. That is,         myself; they shall shew forth my praise." Isaiah 43:21.  `Ye
the bestowal of the spiritual blessings in Christ takes place       are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I
according to the standard of eternal election. And this             have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and under-
election is not because of foreseen faith or goodness in the        stand that I am he: before me there was no God formed,
elect. For He chose us not because we were, but "in order           neither shall there be after me." Isaiah 43:lO.
that we should be holy and without blame before him in                 In the light of the Word of God, therefore, we come to
love." Eph.  1:4. And again, "Having predestinated us unto          the conclusion that the  ,gospel  is glad news about the
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, accord-        promise of our salvation, about the sure promise of God
ing to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise .of the         that He will surely deliver us from all sin and guilt, cor-
glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the         ruption and death, and translate us into the highest con-
beloved." Eph.  15, 6. "In whom also we have. obtained              ceivable,  - or .rather, humanly inconceivable, - bliss of His


368 .                                    T H E   STAND.ARD   B E A R E R

heavenly kingdom and covenant. And the gospel declares,           and the spirit of error." From all this it is perfectly clear,
in the first place, that God objectively realizes all the ful-    and it is also clear from all Scripture, that God does not
ness of His salvation in and through Christ Jesus, His            love all men, but loves only His own people, those whom
humiliation and exaltation; and, in the second place, that        the Father hath given to Christ our Lord.
God subjectively realizes and applies all the blessings of            I know that `Professor Dekker quotes John 3:16 in order
salvation through the Spirit of promise and through His           to prove that God loves all men. God loves the world, SO
Word; and, in the third place, that He realizes His work          he says, and that world is all men. I will not take much
of salvation to whomsoever He wills, that is, His people, the     time to contradict  this explanation of John  3:16. If you
elect, they that believe in Christ, the humble and broken-        consult Scripture, you will find that the word `ivorld" has
hearted, the weary and heavy laden, all they that mourn in        many different meanings. It means the world of evil men,
Zion.                                                             as I have already suggested. It means the world of evil  '
   Whatever is true of the gospel and the promise of the          men in more than one passage of Scripture,  - which I will
gospel is, as stands to reason, certainly true of the love of     not quote. It means the world as the totality of creatures
God. God- does not love all men. What is the love of God?         in the world. But it certainly also means de totality of
In answer to this question, I would briefly remark the            all God's elect children. That this is true is also evident
following:                                                        from more than one passage of Holy Writ. But I will only
   1) First of all, as also Professor Dekker reminds. us, God     refer at this time to II Corinthians 5:18-21: "And all things
is love. This means that love is the most essential virtue,       are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus
or attribute, of God. It means, too, that God lives in Him-       Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
self the life of pure love. He does so as the Triune. God,        To wit, that God was in -Christ, reconciling the world unto
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The Father loves the Son             himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath
and the Holy Spirit. The Son loves the Father and the             committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then
Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit loves both the Father and        we are ambassadors for Christ,  as though God did beseech
the Son. This implies, we must remember, first of all, that       you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled
God loves Himself; and as the Triune God He lives the life        to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew
of the most perfect and intimate fellowship within Himself.       no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God
And He loves the creature for His  name's sake.                   in him." And that in these verses the pronouns `us" and
   2) Secondly, God loves Christ, His only begotten Son           "we" are not all men is evident in itself; For we are rmm-
in the flesh. Repeatedly God armounces this from heaven:          c&d, and God does not impute our  t~espa.sses  unto us. If'
"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."              this refers to all men, then it stands to reason that all men
And in that high-priestly prayer which we find in John            are reconciled, that God does not impute trespasses unto
17:23  we read: "That the world may know that thou hast           any man,  - in other words, that all men  are  suued. And
sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." And         that certainly is not Scripture.
in vs. 24.of the same high-priestly prayer we read: ". . . for        Hence, we conclude that not only the gospel is particu-
thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world."              lar, not only the promise is particular, but that also God's
   3) Thirdly,  (God loved not all men, nor does He love          love is particular. God does not love all men. To maintain
all men, but His people, those whom the Father hath               that all men are the objects of the love of God is a denial
given to Christ. For thus we read in I John 3:l: "Behold,         of the truth of reprobation. It is universalism. It is Barthian-
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,             ism. Barth, as you know, maintains that Christ is  the
that we should be called the sons of God." That this. love        Reprobate, and that as such He died on the accursed tree.
is not for all men is evident from what follows in the same       Hence, by His death He forever removed reprobation. And
verse: `therefore the world  knoweth  us not, because it          although Barth denies that he is a universalist, the fa&t
knew him not." In I John 4:9 we read,: "In this was mani-         remains -that if there is no reprobation, and that if by the-
fested the love of God toward us, because that God sent           death of the cross Christ removed reprobation, .all men are
his only begotten Son into the world; that we might live          elect. Christ died for all men; and all men are saved. The
through him." And in vs. 10 of the same chapter we read:          same is the case with the doctrine that God loves all men,
"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved         whether you call this universal love redemptive or re-
us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."        deeming.
And that the personal pronoun in all these verses does not            And therefore, I .stress  once more that the gospel is not
refer to all men is very evident from the context. For there      universal, but particular, although the preaching of the
we read of "false prophets, that are gone out into the            gospel is promiscuous; that the promise of the gospel is not
world," vs. 1. And in vss. 5, ff., we read: "They are of the      universal, but particular; and that also the love of God is
world (the world of evil men is meant): therefore speak           not for all men, but only for the elect. This is Scriptural.
they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are             And this is the truth as it  is.  e-xpressed  in our Reformed
of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of         c o n f e s s i o n s .
God heareth not us. Hereby know we the. spirit of truth,              I thank you.                                           H.H;

                .


                                      .    T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA-RER                                                  369

                                                                     baptism. Thus, we read, in Colossians  2:ll and 12: "In
11 .O U R D 0  C T R I N  E  11 whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made
                                                                     without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the
                                                                     flesh by the circumcision of  Christ: Buried with him in
        THE DOCTRIINE  OF THE CHURCH                                 baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him. through the
                                                                     faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from
                        CHAPTER  VIII                                the dead." Here the apostle plainly identifies the sign of
            THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM                                 baptism and that `of circumcision with respect to their sig- _
                                                                     nificance.  He writes to the church of the new dispensation
                          ( continued)                               that believers are circumcised in the spiritual sense of the
                                                                     .word, and that this spiritual circumcision- took place when
   It is evident that circumcision was a sign of the work of         they were buried with Christ in baptism. A more direct
God's grace in the heart, whereby the heart is filled with the       proof that circumcision and baptism are essentially. the
love of God; and therefore, it was a sign of the same grace          same in meaning, the change of form being due to the
that is signified in baptism. Again, attend to the word in           transition from the old into the new dispensation, that is,
Jeremiah 4:4: "Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take           from the dispensation of the shadows to that of fulfillment,
away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and                could not be given. At the same time, this passage also
inhabitants of Jerusalem." If we translate this in the lan-          implies that baptism is come in the place of circumcision,
guage of the New Testament, it would be as follows: "Put             as all our Reformed fathers always taught. The same is
off the old man of sin, and put on the new man, which is             true of Philippians 3:3: "For we are the circumcision, which
renewed after the image of God in true righteousness and             worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
holiness." It is very clear, therefore, that circumcision and        have no confidence in the `flesh." Here the apostle does
baptism are essentially the same in meaning. Finally, I              not  .mention baptism, neither does he refer to it. But
will also refer to Romans 4:Il: `And he received the sign            nevertheless he maintains that not the Jews, but the church
of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith,           of the new dispensation in Christ are the circumcision.
which he had yet being uncircumcised." In this passage               Essentially, therefore, circumcision has not been discarded,
circumcision is presented as a sealing of the righteousness          but is continued in the church of the new dispensation in
which is by faith. God seals in the sign of circumcision             the sacrament of baptism,
that He justifies the believers by faith, and .counts  their
faith for righteousness. And this is also the same as baptism.          The Baptists, of course, deny that baptism has come in
   It is evident -that what we wrote in the immediately              the place of circumcision, as is expressed in our Baptism
preceding section is entirely according to Scripture. That           Form. Yet nothing could be-more evident from `the Scrip-
this is true will be clear if we compare with the  above-            tures. It is simply an historic fact too that baptism forced
mentioned passages of Holy Writ those that speak of the              circumcision out of the way. When baptism came, circum-
significance of baptism. Thus, we read in Acts 2:38: "Then           cision must be discarded. For a time they existed side by
Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of            side, especially in Jewish Christian communities. And cir-
you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,           cumcision tried to maintain itself alongside of baptism. But
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Baptism,           this proved to be- impossible. Circumcision was forced to
therefore, is a sign of the remission of sins, or, if you please,    surrender its place in the church. And what is the reason?
of the righteousness which is by faith. This is also clear           The reason is that the Word of God plainly teaches, as we
from Acts 22~16: "And now, why tarriest thou? Arise, and             have shown, that essentially baptism has the same  signih-
be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name             cance as circumcision, that the two signs with the same
of the Lord." And in Romans 6:4 we read: "Therefore, we              meaning could not exist side by side, that circumcision
are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as              belongs to the time of, the shadows, and therefore must
Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the               make room for baptism as being the sign of fulfillment.
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."             Hence, if one would still insist that circumcision were
Baptism, like circumcision, is a sign of renewal, that is, of        necessary for the Christian church, he could only do so
the renewal in Christ. In baptism we die with Christ, and            because he attached signilicance  to it as an element of the
we are raised with Him in newness of life and walk. The              law, sought the righteousness which is of the law, so, that
same is expressed in Galatians 3:27: "For as many of you             Christ had become of none effect to him. And surely, bap-
as have been baptized into Christ have put on  C,hrist."             tism, as being the same sign essentially, and having the
Baptism, therefore, is a sign of putting on Christ, that is,         form proper to the new dispensation, has come in the place
of being renewed in Him. These passages may easily be                of circumcision. There can be no question about that as
multiplied; but the above texts may suffice.                         far as Scripture is concerned. So true this is, that the
   Finally, I want to call your attention to the passages in         apostle can write that we, who are baptized, are the
Scripture that simply identify the two, circumcision and             circumcision.                                          H.H.

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

                                                                                 Roman Catholic councils, when the adoption of a measure
II                   SPECIAL REPORT                                        II is certain, most of its .opponents will also cast their votes
                                                                                 in favor of it -,to show a nominal unity in the church. It
                                                                           `,
-                                                                                would be difEcult,  from my vantage-point, to explain such
                The  ,Second  Vatican Council                                    strong opposition; I suspect, however, that it was not merely
                                                                                 the "railroading" which was resented, but also the fear
             IV.  DECREE ON COMMUNICATION MEDIA                                  that the implied censorship and control of the media of
       The second of the two schemata finally adopted and                        communication  bye the Roman Catholic Church would
promulgated by Pope Paul VI on December 4, 1963, the                             frighten away the "separated brethren" whose favor was
closing day of the second session of the Council, was the                        being sought with a view towards eventual reunion.
Decree on the Media of Social  Contpnunicaiion.  This de-
cree, approximately one-fourth the length of the first one,                             Criticism of this decree in Roman Catholic -periodicals
resulted in much criticism both within and outside of the                        in the United States is, understandably, rather muted. The
Roman Catholic Church. The expressed hope of many is                             decree is church law; it can be explained, defended, further
that future sessions of the Vatican Council will somewhat                        defined,. but not rescinded. Yet it is obvious that Roman
mitigate the action taken in this official decision. It has                      Catholics in our land are not very happy with the decree.
been said that even as the first adopted schema on liturgy                       One finds no long articles by Roman Catholics on the ad-
was a step forward in the "renewal" of the Roman Catholic                        vantages and benefits which will accrue to the church as a
Church, so the second adopted schema on the communica-                           fruit of this decree - as were written concerning the Con-
tion media is a step backward.                                                   stitution on the Liturgy.
THE CONSTITUTION ADOPTED                                                                But strong criticism has arisen among Protestants. One
       The following is a brief s,ummary of the decree:                          such Protestant, Robert M&fee  Brown, writing in a Roman
             Originating as a 40-page document in the first session, this        Catholic periodical, expresses many doubts:
         text'was reduced to nine pages for presentation to the second                        As an exercise in exegesis, I have tried to read the schema
         session.                                                                         (Social Communication) from the point of view of one who
             Chapter 1  - "The Teaching of the Church" -was approved                     wonders what it might mean to the ordinary man, particularly
         with 1,832 affirmative votes, 92 negative, and 243 approvals                    if he is a non-Catholic. And I cannot avoid drawing the fol-
         with reservations. A foreword notes' the power of mass com-                     lowing implications from it:
         munications (television, radio, the press) media for good or                         a) All people who use instnunents  of mass communications
         evil. This chapter then points to the duty the Church feels to                   must meet the church's standards as to what a "correct con-
         use such media to preach the Gospel, and her right to use                        science': is (whether they are Catholics or not), or fear the
         them in Christian education and the salvation of souls. Those            c o n s e q u e n c e s .
         who uiilixe  mass media are cautioned to recognize `their power.                     b ) News can be censored if it does not edify, and art can
             The second chapter  -  "On the Pastoral Activity of the                     be suppressed if it does not teach.
         Church"  - advises the faithful to work for effective use of                         c) Novels or plays that do not at all times teach a par-
         modern communications, including anticipation of harmful                         ticular and  precisekind  of moral rectitude are inadmissible.
         developments. Pastors are told to join in this work. A truly                         d) The opinion of competent authorities must be sought
         Catholic press is called for. The decree specifically orders that                by those who read, watch, and hear the wrong things  - a no-
         national offices for affairs of the press, films, radio, and  tele-             tion that implies the rights of censorship, boycott and reprisals.
         vision be established.16                                                             e) The task of the church is to protect and insulate youth
       This decree apparently was forced through the Council                              from all possible contamination in the area of mass media,
with little or no discussion. Time magazine reported:                              -      rather than to help youth develop criteria for making their
             Last week the council railroaded through without discus-                     own discriminating judgments.
         sion a schema on communications that tolerates state censorship                      f )      Reporting of the news about the church must not be
         of mass media, suggesting civil authorities prevent "harm to                     critical.
         the morals and progress  ,of society through the bad use of                          g) Civil authorities must legislate widely in the field of
         these instruments."17                                                            morals of mass communications.
       Very evidently there was much misgiving on the part                                    h) Catholics should be encouraged to develop a cultural
,of many of the "church fathers" concerning  this schema.                                 ghetto of Catholic press, Catholic radio, Catholic television,
The vote for final adoption was 1,598 to 503. This is only                                and so forth, rather than making it their primary task to raise
                                                                                          the general level of all the mass communications media.
 190 votes above the two-thirds majority required for 6.&l                                    i)       All that Catholics do in the field of mass communica-
adoption. That represents very strong opposition, particu-                                tions should be under the strict supervision of church au-
larly when one compares this to the mere 19 votes cast                                    thorities. . . .
against final adoption of the Constitution on the Liturgy.                                             Nevertheless to their eternal credit, 503 of the fathers
Even on December 4, 1963, when a final vote was taken to                                  voted  ,orz  placet.rs
declare this a Conciliar decree to be officially promulgated,                           I present the above quotation, not because I can agree
there remained 164 votes in opposition with 27 abstentions                       with all of the criticisms against the decree, but rather to
 (only four voted against the official promulgation- of the                      show,that the decree has caused very real doubts and fears
Constitution on the Liturgy). Very' striking is such opposi-                     in the minds of Protestants who have desired to seek closer
 ,tion when one considers the fact that usually at these                         union with the Romish Church.


                                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     371'
I
           AN EVALUATION OF THE  CONSTlTUTlON                                         Questions must be asked. Who determines what are
I             Despite the criticism leveled against this decree, I find            these "norms of morality," "the objective moral order,"
           several points which I believe to be worthy off commenda-               "sound public opinion," and "an upright conscience?" The
           tion: There is first of all the recognition of the media of             Romish Church certainly could, not maintain that these
           communication (radio, T.V., newspaGers,  magazines, books)              are universal principles to which all agree. Rather, the
           as instruments which can be used for good or for evil.                  Romish Church for itself has determined the content of
                    The Church recognizes that these media, if properly  utiI-     "morality," "sound public opinion," etc., in accordance with
                ized, can be of great service to mankind, since they greatly       its own dogmas. All men, then, must conform to Roman
                contribute to men's entertainment and instruction as well as to    Catholic standards of morality. And notice the emphasis
                the spread and support of the Kingdom of God. The Church           upon that: "it is most necessary," "all must hold," "all mrcst
                recognizes, too, that men can employ, these media contrary to
                the plan of the Creator and to their own loss. (pg. 3)ra           strive." There is a very strong imperative here. Surely, the
              Secondly, there is a recognition of the wonderful use                Romish Church must use all of its powers to carry out what
           to which these means of mass communication can be put                   it considers absolutely necessary. What does this mean for
           by the church in the spread of the gospel. The trouble is               individuals who live in predominantly Roman Catholic coun-
           that the Roman Catholic Church does not desire to spread                tries, which individuals have not the same standards of
           the, Gospel, but rather its own gospel through these  in:               morality?
           struments.                                                                 There is also, very definitely, implied church censorship"
                    (The Church) considers it one of its duties to announce        It is true that the decree appears to concede that supervi-
                the Good News of salvation also with the help of the media         sion over public media of communications is the duty of
                of.sociaI communication, . . . (pg. 4)                             "public authority" which has "`the duty of -protecting and
              Thirdly, there is a certain recognition of the spiritual             safeguarding true and just freedom of information" and "to
           dangers to the users (especially the young) of the media                encourage spiritual values. . . ." Yet it is evident that the
           of communication. A warning is issued which we do well                  Council has its own standards for regulating what may and
           to consider for ourselves and our families.                             may not be presented to the public. Again, it will use its
                   Those who make use of the media of communications,              power and influence to enforce these standards.
                especially the young, should take steps to accustom themselves              In society, men have a right to information, in accord with      ,
                to moderation and self-control in their regard. They should,            the circumstances in each case, `about matters concerning indi-
                moreover, endeavor to deepen their understanding of what they           viduals or the community. The proper exercise of this right
                see, hear or read. They should discuss these matters with their         demands, however, that the news itself that is communicated
                teachers and experts, and learn to pass sound judgments on              should always be true and complete, within the bounds of
                them. Parents should remember that they have a most serious             justice and charity. In addition, the manner in which the news
                duty to guard carefully lest shows, publications and other              is communicated should be proper and decent. This means that
                things of this sort, which may be morally harmful, enter their          in both the search for news and in reporting it, there must be
                homes or affect their children under other circumstances.               full respect for the laws of morality `and for the legitimate
                (P. 7)                                                                  rights and dignity of the individual. .( pg. 5)
              But criticism and fears of this decree are largely justified.                They (newsmen, writers, actors, etc.) must adjust their
           Briefly, the criticism centers about the threat of church                    economic, political or artistic and technical aspects so as never
           control over and censorship of comnmnications  media *as                     to oppose the common good. (pg. 7)
                                                                                            They should see to it that communications or presentations
           well as a certain thought-control over all men (not only                     concerning religious matters are entrusted to worthy and experi-
           Roman Catholics  ) . Though couched in stately language,                     enced hands and are carried out with fitting reverence. (pg. 7)
           the decree reminds one of the beast of Revelation 13. Now,                 Just one question: what would happen to our own "Re-
           Roman Catholics in this country would doubtlessly reject                formed Witness Hour" if this decree were fully carried
           such ideas, but the decree speaks for itself. Notice, first,            out? Think you that it would conform to the Roman Catb-
           the implied thought-control over all men.                               olic standard of the "common good?-  Also, what would be
                    It is most necessary that all who employ (these media) be      done when the Romish Church is condemned over the mass
                acquainted with the norms of morality and conscientiously-put
                them into practice in this area. (p. 4)                            media, when, according to their standards, this would not
                   The second question deals with the relationship between         treat `ieligious matters" with "fitting reverence?"
                the rights . . . of art and the norms of morality. Since the          I could point out how that this decree encourages the
                mounting controversies in this area frequently take their rise     control over and ownership of means of mass communica-
                from false teachings about ethics and esthetics, the Council       tion by the Romish Church in order to form, support, and
                proclaims that all must hold to  the absolute primacy of- the
                objective moral order. . . . (pg. 5)                               advance `public opinion in accord with natural law and
                                                                                   Catholic teaching and precepts." National offices are or-
     i              - All must strive, through these media as well, to form
                and. spread sound public opinion. ( pg. 6 )                        dered in the various areas of the land in order to carry out
                   In order that those who make use of these media may ful-        the decree most effectively.
                fill the moral code, they ought not to neglect to inform them-        What do we read in Revelation  13:5? "And there was
                selves in time about judgments passed by authorities competent
                in these matters. They ought  ,also to  f&low  such judgments      given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blas-
                                                                                                                     . . .
                according to the norms of an upright -conscience.- (pg. 6)                              (Continued  0~ page 375)

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

                                                                  wife and gave her to one of the companions of his wedding
11 A  iLOUD OF  W.lTNESS~ES   11 feast, supposedly his friend. Nothing would hurt him more
                                                                  when he returned~  to claim her.-
                                                                     Neither were these Philistines far from the truth. For a
                                                                  time Samson remained in the home of his parents; but soon
                       Samson's  War                              he began to long for the wife that he had married. She was
                                                                  a heathen woman and had treated him falsely; but he loved
           And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be        her nonetheless. What was more, she was his wife and
        more blumeless thun the Phi&in+ though I do them          his responsibility. At last he determined to return to Tim-
        a  displeaszwe.  Judges  15~3                             nath and live with her. With him he took the gift of a
       Samson was at war with the  Ph.&tines. It was a            young kid to show that he bore no bitterness as he came
lonely war; he stood all alone in Israel for the cause of God.    openly and unashamedly into Timnath. The town  was
The Philistines were the enemies of all Israel; but the           waiting. They had expected his return and were eager to
opinion had become quite general that if they would only          see his reaction when he discovered that his wife had been
give a little, the Philistines would be satisfied, and they       given to another. Awaiting him also was his wife's father,
would be able to live peaceably together. Unable to con-          but not nearly with so much eagerness. He was afraid of
vince his countrymen that the Philistines were an  un-            his own countrymen, knowing how cruel. they could be,
scrupulous and immoral people, Samson went himself to             and had done with his daughter what they demanded.
demonstrate and prove that this was so. It was so that  he        But at the same time he could not forget what Samson had
might have occasion to do just that that Samson joined            done to the lion -in the vineyard and to the thirty men of
himself in marriage to the woman of Timnath. It did not           Ashkelon. Apologetically he met Samson at-de door and
take long for this course of action to produce the expected       tried to explain. "I verily thought that thou hadst utterly
effect. Already within the wedding week, the men of the           hated her," he said; "Therefore I gave her to thy com-
wedding party coerced Samson's wife to obtain and reveal          panion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take
the answer to the' riddle which Samson had challenged             her, I pray thee, instead of her."
them to interpret. No doubt the Philistines thought that             Immediately Samson saw that this was de doing  of:  his
they-were being quite clever. They were in actuality doing        enemies. Knowing his father-in-law as he did, he recognized
exactly what Samson had wanted. It was now perfectly              that what had been done was not his own doing; it was
evident how unscrupulous the Philistines were, for there          an intentional affront on the part of all of the Philistines.
could be little question but that they bad obtained his           They wanted to insult and belittle him. They wished to
secret by consorting underhandedly with. Samson's own             show by their actions that .they did not need to recognize
wife. Nor, now that it was done, was he about to let it           his rights, they did not have to treat him honestly and
be forgotten. Samson would himself in the name of Je-             fairly, they did not even have to honor his marriage. Right-
hovah exact the just deserts of these men upon their nation.      eous indignation against these godless people again began
       Moved by the Spirit of God, Samson went down to            to bum fiercely within him. Boldly he announced, "Now
Ashkelon. This was one  pf the five great cities of the           shall I be more blameless than the Phil&tines, though I
Philistines. What happened here. would be broadly pub-            do them a displeasure"; and in anger he left the village.
licized and remembered, much more so than if he had                  Smugly the people of Timnath watched his retreat. This
acted in Timnath. There he found a company of thirty              time, they thought, they had gotten the better of him. They
men. Falling upon them, he slew them and took their gar-          had stolen his wife; they had aroused his anger; they had
ments. These he returned to his thirty companions of the          wounded his pride; but he had dared do nothing in retalia-
wedding feast as he had promised. They would have their           tion. He had not tried to take his wife back by force;
payment, but at the expense of their own nation. Even             he had not threatened his wife's new husband; he had not
more, let them take notice of the power of Samson. He             lifted a finger against her father; he had left without harm-
had stood-alone against thirty. They were fallen, and he          ing a person of their village. After all, he was only a
remained unscathed. None could doubt but that it was a            Hebrew, and they were the mighty  Phil&tines.  Proudly
wonder and a miracle. The Spirit of God was upon him              they gloated in their victory, until at last they looked out
that he might strike out in judgment against the Phil&tines.      fr,om  the village upon their fields. There they saw smoke,
Then, filled with anger and abhorrence, Samson returned           and then fire. It was the season of harvest, and the fields
to the home of his parents.                                       were white with a new crop of ripening grain. Their fields
       But the Philistines were not so easily daunted. They       were fertile fields, and this year their crops showed rich
knew the weakness of Samson and how to touch it. The              promise. The rains had come at the proper time, and the
fact was that Samson loved his wife and would not.quickIy         sun. The grain had grown tall, and the heads were heavy
forget her.  .They would meet Samson's challenge once             with wheat.. They had all the promise of a prosperous
more. In a spirit of bitter reprisal, they took Samson's          year ahead. And now they saw fire, not just in one place,


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R - .                                           373

all around them on every side. Through the dry stalks it         the sin of the Phil&tines by bringing the judgment of God
raced and leaped with a driving ferociousness, eating up         upon them. He came into the land crying, `Though ye
their food for the year with a mighty roar. There was            have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after
little that they -could do to stop it. The very ripeness of      that I will cease." Without mercy he descended upon the
the grain, which for them had held such great promise,           Phi&in& and slew a great number of them.
now guaranteed a continuous supply of fuel for the insati-          Through all of this the children of Israel had remained
able hunger of the flames.. At best, they could only use         silent. At. last they saw in their number one man who was
their feeble efforts to try to save their homes and village,     willing to carry the battle of de Lord into the very camp
while the confiagration  surrounded and threatened them on       of the enemy. Surely, they could not have failed to see
every side.                                                      the repeated wickedness of the Philistines. They had
   Samson had indeed left the v&age, but he had not gone         thought that it was possible to live peaceably with the
far. Out in the hills beyond the village he had begun to         Ph.&tines; but Samson had clearly demonstrated that they
catch foxes, not just a few, but dozens of  them until he        were a godless people who could only follow injustice
had three hundred. It was by all measures, of course, an         with injustice, sin with sin. Even more they must have
impossible task. What mere man could in a matter of              understood what power it was that moved Samson. This
hours catch so many wild foxes and hold them? But Sam-           was the Spirit of Jehovah warring against the enemies of
son was not alone; with him was the power of his God.' Israel, just as it had done in Moses and Joshua and Gideon
SureIy  there must have been wrought within the foxes            and others. But still they would not gather behind Samson
themselves a degree of cooperation with Samson which was         to follow him into battle. Rather, they drew back from him
contrary to their very nature. From their dens they crawled      more in dismay than anything else. This was trouble, and
to meet him and to be captured without resistance; Once          many years of prostrating- themselves before idols had
taken, they must have stood quietly by, like gentle sheep,       sapped all their courage away. They wanted peace above
while Samson tied a flaming firebrand between the tails of       all, even if it was the peace of spiritual death under the
every two foxes. Only then did the wildness of their nature      sword of the Ph.&tines.
return. Goaded on by the searing heat, the pairs of foxes           Returning to his own country, Samson found himself
ran pulling against each other along eratic courses, back        more of a stranger &an ever before. His own people,, for
and forth, around and around. And yet also here the              whom he had fought, treated him as a trouble maker and
miraculous entered in, for the foxes always ran toward and       an enemy. Everywhere he turned he found animosity
through the standing grain, where Samson headed them.            heaped upon' him. For Samson this was almost unbearable.
There could hardly have been a more effective way for            He could take the hatred of the Philistines and remain
one man to set so large an area into %ames so quickly. By        undaunted. But these were his own countrymen, the people
the time the 150th pair of foxes had been released with          of God, those that he loved. Alone and dejected, Samson
its  %aming brand, the valley of Timnath was like one            withdrew himself and found a cave high .in the rock of
roaring furnace, or like the valley of Sodom in its judgment:    Etam. There he dwelt with no one to commune with but
Once again through Samson the hand of the Lord was               his God.                                                  B.W.
stretched out to punish the  Phi&tines in their wickedness.
   When at last the flaming destruction had burned itself                    CALL TO SYNOD OF 1964
out, a very large portion of the land of the Philistines lay        According to the decision of the -Synod of 1963,  -the
a charred ruin. This was a calamity of national importance.      Con&&y of the First Protestant Reformed Church of
As the people came out of their shock the cry went up            Grand Rapids, Michigan, hereby  noii%es  the churches that
everywhere, "Who bath done this?" And it did not take long       the 1964 Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches will
to find the answer, for Samson had made no attempt to            convene on Wednesday, June 3, at 9:00 A.M. in the above
keep his actions a secret. The answer came back, "Samson,        mentioned church, D.V.
the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he had taken his             The pre-synodical service wiJ.I be held on Tuesday eve-
wife, and had given her to his companion." Actually this         ring, June 2, at 8: 00 P.M. at First Church. Rev. J. A. Heys,
explanation was false. There had been many involved in           president of last year's Synod will lead the service.
this sin besides Samson's father-in-law. But the Philistines        Synodical  delegates are requested to meet with the
were not a people inclined to acknowledge their own guilt.       consistory before this service.
They were only too glad to have in their hands a culprit            Delegates in need of lodging should contact Mr. C.
they could blame. Samson they did not have; but his              Jonker, 837 Geneva Ave., S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan,
father-in-law and wife they did. These they took, and            49507. GL 2-4251.
upon them they heaped all of their wrath. They. burnt                             Consistory of the First Protestant Reformed
them with fire.                                          :                            Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
   Once again the Philistines had sinned; and once again                         . Rev. C. Ha&o,. President
Samson would not let the matter rest. He would point out                          C. Jonker,`Secretary


  374                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   .BEARER .
                                                                       ?zarn,t! What is specified in the text is that this is a messenger
           F R O M   H O L Y   WRIT                                    of the covenant-`ivhom  ye delight in."
                                                                          .What does this mean? Here we must  try to answer
                                                                       various questions. What is the implication of the term
         Exposition  of  the Prophecy of  Malachi                      covenant in the text? What is the place of this "messenger"
                          Malachi 3:1-4:6                              in this covenant? Why is this messenger the "delight" of
 The  MIZSWI~~T  Before' My (Thy) Face - contirwd.                     Israel as he shall come to his temple and purify the sons
     Whereas Malachi writes before the actual  comiw2 of               of Levi, and make the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
 Christ in the flesh he does not write "Behold my messenger,           pleasant and lovely?
 and he shall prepare the way before thee," but he says "he               In the light of all of Scripture the covenant here is the
 shall prepare the way before ME." This fact is noteworthy             Covenant of God as it was. raised up with Abraham and
 and also important to be understood. A comparison of the              with his Seed forever in thousands of generations. The
 text here in Malachi 3.: 1 with that of Mark 1:2 is insiruc-          term,here  in the Hebrew is berith. Since the definite article
 tive. In the latter passage we read "which shall prepare              ha&Se,  is added, we may conclude that the Lord calls
 the way before thee." In Malachi 3:l the pronoun is in the
 first person and refers to the speaker: the LORD of hosts;            attention to the well-known and only covenant of God. It
 here in Mark 1:2 the pronoun is in the second person and              is the covenant in which God alone passed between the
 refers to Jesus Christ, the Son of Godin  our human nature, pie.& of the slain and  disected  animals which Abraham
 as appears from Mark 1:l. This distinction is maintained              prepared as recorded in Genesis 15. He alone will pass
 also by Christ himself in Matthew ll:lO, where we read                through blood and eternal darkness to deliver his people
 "For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my              from the bondage of Egypt, sin death and hell. Such is the
messenger before tlay face, which shall prepare the way be-            covenant with Abraham. The term berith comes from the
 fore' thee!" Here too we  ,have the Lord' not speaking of             verb which means: to cut. Evidently, the term reflects the
 the messenger before His own. face but before the face of             custom  of.two or more parties who covenanted; they would
 Christ, His Son.                                                      pass between the bodies of the slain animals, cut in half
         How must we account for this?                                 and laid opposite each other. The covenanting parties
         Did the Lord Jesus misquote the passage from Malachi          would then walk together between the pieces. However,
 3: 1 `in Matthew ll:lO? And did Mark not quite understand
 in giving the k,ey-note  and beginning of his gospel with             in the case of Abraham in Gen. 15 Abraham did not walk
 the change from  `iny face" to `thy face"? Or do we have              between the pieces with the LORD, but God walked here
 a case here of inerrant interpretation of the sense of Malachi        all alone. He will bring it to pass. God's covenant is the
 3:1? A careful look at the text in Malachi  3:l will show             realization of. His sure and immutable promise to the heirs
 that a definite distinction is made between the "Lord" who            of the promise. His covenant is His testament. The Sep-
 will come to his temple and the "LORD of hosts" who. makes            tuagint- translates covenant (berith) here with the term
 the announcement. It is like the distinction in  Psalm  11O:l         diathekee:  testarnent. This covenant is the covenant ever
  "The LORD said unto my Lord, sit, thou at my right hand.             again referred  `to by God in the prophets. Because the
  . . ." The Lord to whom it is said to sit at the LORD's              Lord so often repeated this covenant it is called the "cove-
 right hand is Ado&. He is the heir and possessor of all               nants," although there is but one covenant of the Lord
 things as the Son in our human nature, the Firstborn among            with His people in Christ. This covenant is never called an
 many brethren. And, as such, he is the servant of the                 agreemeat  between two parties in Scripture. It is the cove-
 LORD. He is  .the one sent by the Father. However, in
 the time of Malachi he was not yet in the flesh, and whereas          nant which is "my" covenant. Gen. 6:lS; 9:15, 16; 17:2, 4,
 the LORD is also the Adonai (Lord) Emanuel, God-with-                 7, 9; Ex. 2:24; 6:4, 5; Lev. 26:42,  44. Its fulfillment wholly
  us, the two terms "my face" and `thy face" are interchange-          depends upon  .the LORD.. It is as sure as His word of
  able. That Christ speaks of before "thy face" is because he          promise. And the Scriptures often repeat what is revealed
 thus understood himself to be the `Adonai" and that the               in the name JEHOVAH: I Am that I Am. He is faithful
 LORD was speaking this word concerning the forerunner                 who hath promised it. Heb.  10:23;   11:ll; I John  1:9.         '
 to him. Wherefore in Matthew 11:lO  Christ can truly speak               It is interesting to notice that in the KJV of the Bible
  of the greatness of John in relationship to Him, the Christ          the Greek term diutheekee  is translated some 20 times as
  of God. Here we see more clearly the doctrine and teaching           covenant. However, here 6 times there is a marginal note
  of the Trinity of God unfolded. It is a great step from              which says "testament." .And it' is translated 13 times as
  Malachi 3:l to Mark 1:2 and Matthew 11:IO. Between two               testament. However, it is `never translated as agreement.
  passages is the wonder 04 God, the Son, having been made             For that the Greek has the `term: syntheq?,  like our Eng-
  flesh, and to dwell amongst us, so that we might behold              lish synthetic, which means  .to place together. In this
  His glory, glory as of the only-begotten Son of God. John
  l:I4.                                                                <ovenant  of God, God and the heirs are not' contracting
                                                                       parties. The covenant is unilaterally brought `about and
  The Messenger of the Covenant. Mala& 3: l-6.           *             realized by the Lord. Himself alone! That he does for His
         It can be stated without, fear of  contradiction only here    `Name's sake, and the glory of His' grace!
  in Malachi 3:l do we read the title: Messenger of the Cove-          :1-. This is not. the place to` give a treatise on the term


        I                                   T - H E   S T A N D A R D   BE`ARER                                                              375

 covenant. We merely call attention to the meaning of this              through the eternal Spirit. Heb,. 9:14.
term to orient ourselves in properly interpreting the term                  That the true Israel of God may not faint in their long-
 covenant in the phrase, "<messenger  of the covenant."                ing delight in which they cried: how long, Lord, and let it
    The term "messenger" is really angel. He is a sent one.            repent Thee concerning Thy people and Thine inheritance,
 It therefore refers to the "Lord" here in his human nature            the Lord of hosts who dwells between the  cherubims  in
 as he is the sent one of God. Christ often calls himself               His high and lofty heaven, as pictured in the most holy
God's apostle. He speaks of the will of him who sent me.               place in the temple, gives His word of assurance here that
Jolm  5:38;   6:29, 57;  7129;   17:3,  18;  20:21; Acts  3:20.  He    this great and desired Messenger shall surely come. He
is the great messenger who speaks the things which He                  shall come "suddenly to his temple." This temple was, in-
sees and hears with the Father. John 3:ll; 3:32. When all              deed, an earthly replica, fashioned after the heavenly real-
the prophets have been sent as messengers, even John the               ity. Thus Moses saw the pattern of the heavenly on the
Baptist, the greatest of them all, God &rally speaks to us in          mount of God. Was not Moses admonished of God when
these last days through his Son. This Son is the MESSEN-               he was about to make the tabernacle in the wilderness "see
GER of the covenant.                                                   that ye make all things according to the pattern shewed
    All the prophets seanched  out the time and manner of              thee on the mount." Heb. 8:5. What Moses made was "the
the time of the coming of his Messenger. I Peter 1:12. We              patterns of things in the heavens.`" Heb. 9:23.  Moses must
think here of Haggai 2:7 who speaks of this messenger as               have seen what John saw in the vision as recorded in Rev.
the "Desire of all nations," who shall come, and then shall            4:2 `And, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sit-
the house of God be filled with glory. For the glory seemed            ting thereon." For when Moses begins to- make "the pat-
to have departed from Israel with the destruction of the               terns" of the heavenly he first made the Ark of the covenant.
temple of Solomon at the Babylonian depprtation.  For the              Ex. 25:9, 10. It is the mercy-seat and the throne of grace
temple rebuilt under  Zerrubabel  was but a poor excuse                unto which we can draw nigh with uncovered faces. He,
for the temple of Solomon. Yet the Lord himself was                    God tabernacles with His people. The tabemahle  of God is
breaking down the glory of the type (which really had no               with man. Rev. 21:3.
glory by reason of the more excellent glory, II Cor. 3:lO)                 What a comforting word here to the waiting saints.
in order that Israel might set their expectation and &e&ion            Daniel can now rest in peace awaiting the latter days. ; His
upon the greater glory to come, when God shall not only                prayer, so beautiful  ,and expressive of the heart of the true
shake the earth,, but also the heavens, that He may give us            Israel, is heard. God heard him pray this prayer of all the
the abiding inheritance and covenant which cannot be                   saints "0, Lord, according to all thy righteousness, 1; be-
shaken and moved. Haggai  2:6; Heb. 12:26-29.                          seech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away
   We cannot agree with Calvin when he opines that the                 from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because of: our
phrase "Whom ye delight in" is merely irony of the part                sins, and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem andi thy
of the LORD of hosts; that the LORD meant to say that                  people are become a reproach to all that are about us.!. : .
they did not delight in him. I believe that in this entire             0 Lord, hear; 0 Lord, forgive; 0 Lord, hearken and, do;
section we have the word of God to the true sons of Jacob,             defer not for thine own sake, 0 my God: for thy city :and
the Israel of God's good-pleasure, who will be purified and            thy. people are called by thy name."
set before the Lord in His temple worship. We think here                   Yes, this Messenger will come "suddenly" to the temple.
of people such as we see the last remnants of in the aged              He will come to his "own  things" (John 1: 11) and `will
Zacharias and. Elizabeth, the shepherds in the fields of               cleanse the temple, and restore the pattern of the things
Ephratha,  and the aged widow Anna as well as the old                  which are heavenly. However, he will go far beyond this.
Simeon, who waited for` the Lord's Christ, and who now                 He will bring about the things of heaven itself. The ,law
die since he has seen the Lord's salvation!! Yes, Abraham              was given through Moses, but grace and truth become a
saw it from afar. Moses saw it on the mount and the                    reality through Jesus Christ, our Lord, the Messenger of
glory of the vision radiated from his face so that Israel              the Covenant.                                                        G.L.
begged him to put a covering on it. Luke  1:5, 6; 2:8-10;
Luke  2:25-32.  What a fond delight in this  &.ild on the                                        SPECsAL  REPQRT
part of these waiting saints. Yes, Moses wrote concerning                                   (Continued from page 371)
him in all of the first five books of the Bible. John 5:46.            phemies; . .  ." The decree surely is aimed in the dire&on
Is He not a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of             of giving the beast that "mouth" in the use of the media of
God's people, Israel whom He hath loved?                               communication. .                                                G.V.B.
   Yes, He, the long expected one and the one hoped for,               16. Denver Catholic Register,  Dec. 26,  1963,.supplement,  pg. 4
will come as the Messenger of the Covenant. He will un-                17.  Time, Dec. 6, 1963, pg. 52
fold the unsearchable riches of the glory of grace and mercy           18.  The  Cqmmonweal,   December 27, 1963, pg. 396
in the most holy place. He will establish the covenant of              19.  This  and following quotations are from the  Decree on the  &iedia
                                                                           of  Socid  Communication, National Catholic  Welfare  Conference,
God forever in His own blood, and offer up himself once,                 Washington 5, D. C.

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

                                                                          Shall we deny the power of the cross of Christ? Shall
               IN,  -HIS  F E A R                                     we relegate it to the background and soft-pedal it in the
                                                                      preaching? God forbid! Paul preaches nothing less than
                                                                      the cross of Christ; and all preaching that ignores and soft-
                     The End of Faith (2)                             pedals that cross is a  Christless preaching, regardless of
                                                                      how often His name is used therein. But we say that it is
        Holiness belongs to salvation as well as righteousness.       a corruption of the truth of that cross and a wrong em-
        The deliverance from the guilt of sin is a precious gift      phasis upon it that knows nothing but a love of God to
 to God's child. It is basic and fundamental. Without it              save from hell by that cross. God loves everybody? And
 he will never obtain holiness. Even though it would give             He wants to save them all in that love? From what does
 us the right to escape hell's torment, it cannot, however,           He want to save them, simply from hell? He does not love
 bring us into heaven. In Hebrews 12:14  we read, "Follow             them so much that He wants to make them holy? Well,
 peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man               then why does He not do so? A love that can and does
 shall see the Lord." There it is! Without holiness we shall          not is not much of a love in my book. 0, He loves them
 not see the Lord.                                                    so that He- does not want to force His will upon theirs?
        That does not mean that God ever gives us only one            What kind of love is  the, `mother-love" that allows her
  of these. ". . . whom He justified, them He also glorified."        child to refuse the necessary medicine for recovery from a
 And do not forget that holiness is the glorification of the          critical disease? And God's love is not strong enough to
 soul. God has glorified us. He will glorify our bodies in the        save all from hell whom He wants to save? Indeed, we
 day of Jesus Christ. But whom He predestinated and jus-              have swung far to the left, and have a God left who is no
  tii?ed He also glorifies in this life. He makes the soul beau-      God. We have the kind Satan is quite content to have
, tiful by the work of sanctification. And this is necessary.         us worship, the flesh of man that lords it over Jehovah and
  We shall not see God without holiness.                              makes decisions for Him.
        This, therefore, ought to receive far more emphasis in            Nay, but in a divine, efficacious love God wills to make
 the preaching than it usually receives in this day and age.          His people holy. And yet men fear to have this as their
  Holiness must come to its own in the preaching of the               starting point in missionary activity. No, the approach
  gospel. In this day and age of a sentimental love of God            must be God's love to bring man out of hell. The preach-
 that actually denies love to God, we had better get our              ing must either coax a man into heaven or frighten him
 feet back on solid ground. Satan gave a wrong -picture               out of hell. And God and His holiness must take a back
  of God in paradise and succeeded in bringing the friend-            seat. You can begin to talk about that later on, after you
  servant of God into .a life of rebellion against God. And           have gotten the "decision" for Christ. But understand well
  thus it has been through the ages. All false doctrines, in          that holiness is rooted in and characterized by love to God.
  one way or another, from one viewpoint or another, present          That without holiness no man shall see God means that
  a corrupt picture of God. If it is not -His sovereignty that        without the love of God in his heart, no man shall see God.
 is denied,`it  is His justice. If it is not His righteousness, it    And God's love to the world is not a sentimental sensation
 is His love and grace. Satan is not particular which doc-            whereby He offers, -if  ahnighty  man will let,  - to lift a
 trine you corrupt, as long as you present God in such a              man out of hell's torment; but it is that efficacious impulse
 way that holiness does not follow in your life.                      of God's will whereby He puts His love in us. It is not a
        And it is quite possible to preach a love of God that         matter of  sentirnent&y,  but of sovereign, unchangeable
  actually has no love to God in it. We have swung far to             will.
  the left as we have reached the end of the ages. Sin came               It may sound so sentimentally sweet to say that God
  into this world with a philosophy and lie that God was not          loves everybody and wants to save them all from hell. But
  man's friend, lied to man and was afraid of man. He was             does such a position express and stem from a sincere love
  presented as not really loving us; and that lie served to           for HIM? Does it reveal a sincere desire to do HIM jus-
  turn us from Him. Now a sentimental love, in which                  tice? He forbade  .Paul and Silas to go into Bithynia and
  God has all the foolishness and foibles of our flesh, is            preach the gospel. Throughout the whole Old Testament.
  presented at the expense of His own love to Himself and             dispensation He sent His prophets to only one nation and
  His Son. The Almighty, Independent, Self-sufficient One             had the truth preached in a very narrow confine. Is the
  can actually be brought to tears by a speck of dust that            love of God for everybody a New Testament change in
  spurns Him!! His plans are shattered! His hopes are cast            this Unchangeable One? Does it explain that He is a con-
  down! The sinner does not respond to His love, and God              suming fire? Does it explain that before the children were
 must enter an eternity of sadness that He has been rejected          born, or had done good or evil, He loved Jacob but hated
  and of shame that the creature has triumphed over Him;              Esau? Does it take fully into consideration His righteous-
  and Satan's work succeeds in spite of God's promise to put          ness? How can The Righteous One love the unrighteous?
  enmity in the heart of the woman's seed.                            How can the Holy One love the unholy? 0, indeed, if you


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      377

throw election away,  - and that is not an act of love to         man is under that law, under its condemnation and as its
Him, - you can speak of a sentimental, emotional love of          slave. But preach it as the pattern after which we are to
the flesh in One Who has no sentimental, emotional flesh          fashion our lives. Jesus said that not one jot or tittle would
and is a Spirit of infinite perfections. But you accuse Him       pass away till all shall be fulfilled He did that for us., He
of injustice! If Christ did not represent definite people,        fulfilled every smallest demand of it by His perfect obedi-
chosen in Him from eternity, where is the justice of God          `ence. But to the salvation which is the end of our faith                      -
to punish Him for their sins? It may be sentimentality            (I Peter  1:9) belongs this wonder-work of God,  that' we
for a judge to punish an innocent one to get others whom          once again are able to keep every .jot and tittle of that iaw.
he loves to flee from a particular sin; but it is far from        We will so be filled with the love of God that with mind
justice and righteousness. And is it love for a God simply        and will, soul and body-and all their faculties we shall serve
to make salvation possible? Do you not magnify and do             God unceasingly. That is the salvation of the soul of
justice to God's love rather by maintaining  that He DID          which Peter speaks. If you are only interested in the salva-
blot out guilt and remove it completely by the cross? God's       tion of the body, you do not know what salvation is. If all
love. is eternal, without beginning or end. He loved us           you have to offer to man is a love of God that is senti-
before the foundation of the world, and in that love sent         mental about salvation from pain and death and hell, Iyou
His Son as our head and representative, - not as one Whom         may deceive them into wanting that which does not exist;
we might accept as such or not,  - and punished all our           but you have not done God, His love, and His glory justice:
sins in Him. He had them paid for in full, and not condi-                What is more, to be under grace means exactly that.
tionally. His love does not change, diminish, or fade away.       We are under the power of God's grace whereby He makes
   What is more, The Unchangeable One, The I Am Who               us to be holy. We are not under the curse and condemna-
never says, "I was" or, "I will be," and declares unequivo-       tion of the- law. But being under grace, God exactly makes
cally, "I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God visiting . . .      us cry out with the psalmist, "0 how love I Thy law! it is
iniquity . . . upon those that hate me," does He love Him-        my meditation all the day." See Psalm 119:97.  Is that, old
self, if, without a legal basis such as election and the cross    fashioned and only an Old' Testament joy? Nay, without.
of Christ to pay in full for the sins of these and of these       holiness no man shall see the Lord. Again Hebrews 8:8-10,
only, He can desire merely to save all men from the tor-          "Behold the days come, saith  the Lord, when I will make
ment of hell? Nay, in His love He desires to make  hoZy,          a new covenant with the house of Israel. . . . For this is
to .make obedient children, who love Him. That is the end         the covenant that I will make . . . I will put my laws into                         _
or goal of our faith. To the Philippian  jailor Paul most         their minds and write them in their hearts . . ." Not under
assuredly said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou       the law, but that is, because the law is IN us. And this is
shalt be saved from such evil deeds as you were about to          declared unto the New Testament Church, quite in har-
commit." For faith IS the victory. John does not say that         mony with the psalmist in Psalm 119.
faith gets the victory. It IS the victory. See I John  5:4.              What is the salvation you desire? Merely of your body?
And that end God's love always reaches. His arm is not            You are no different from the devil. Is it holiness which
shortened, but neither is His love. It reaches its goal. And      you desire? Well, then you have the beginning already,
those whom God loves are made holy. Whom then does                for that is part of holiness. and of salvation. Then you seek
God love? Only those whom He causes to become holy so             salvation in His fear and not in hell's fear. Be of good
that they do see the Lord.                                        cheer, although your sins still rise up against you prevailing
   Let emphasis be placed upon this in the pulpit and in          day by day, the end, of your faith is sure because God's love
the mission field as well. We do not and may not despise          is unchangeable and He is the Almighty One.
justification and the cross. The foundation of the house                                                                  J.A.H.                           -
is extremely important. But let us not stare at the founda-
tion in such a way that we fail to see the superstructure.                       '  :  TEKXERS  NEEDED                    i
It is a beautiful temple that God has built. A new and holy              The Hope Protestant Reformed Christian School is in
man, reflecting all the glory of God, comes forth as the          need of a teacher for the 5th grade Please address; all
end of faith, a new race, each member of which, is as. spir-      correspondence to :
itually beautiful as Christ, is what God's love produces.                                         Mr. Don Lotterman            ,
Let us look at the foundation of that temple. Let us ap-                                           1926 Porter, S.W.
preciate to the full the cross which makes it all possible                                        Wyoming, Michigan, 49509.
and upon which the whole temple stands. But let us also                  The .Free Christian School of Edgerton  is in need of a
remember that we are forgiven and justified in order to be        teacher to teach the lower grades. Please send applications              .,
sanctified. We must not simply be delivered from physical         to:
death and hell, but from spiritual death  -and rebellion                                                                       I
                                                                                                  Art Ver Hey
against the living God.                                                                           Box 50
   Go ahead then. Preach the law! Preach it not so that                                           Edgerton, Minnesota


 378       _                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA.RER

 IL                                                                 but spiritually, receive and feed upon Christ crucified, and
          Conttending -FOP The Faith                                all benefits of his death: the body and blood of Christ
                                                                    being then not corporally or carnally in, with, or under the
                                                                    bread and wine; yet as really, but spiritually, present to
           The  ,C:hurch   &d the Sacraments                        the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements
                                                                    themselves are, to their outward senses. (In this article, we
            THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION                             understand, the Westminster Articles of Faith combat the
 VIEWS ON THE SACRAMENTS (LORDS SUPPER)                             Lutheran conception of the Lord's Supper. H.V.)

                      THE REFORMED VIEW                                "VIII. Although ignorant and wicked men receive the
                                                                    outward elements in this sacrament, yet they receive not
       "III. The Lord Jesus hath, in this ordinance, appointed      the thing signified thereby; but by their unworthy coming
 his ministers to declare his word of institution to the people,    thereunto are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord,
 to pray, and bless the elements of bread and wine, and             to their own damnation. Wherefore all ignorant and  un-'
 thereby to set them apart from a common to an holy use;            godly persons, as they are unfit to enjoy communion with
 and to take and break the bread,  .to take the cup, and            him, so are they unworthy of the Lord's table, and cannot,
 (they communicating also themselves.) to give both to the          without great sin against Christ, while they remain such,
 communicants;  but to none who are not present in the              partake of these holy mysteries, or be admitted  thereunto."
 congregation. (In this article the Romish doctrine that the           Before quoting from our own confessions, the Belgic
 Lord's Supper may be imparted to the people of God in              Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism, we, wish to
 private, apart from the congregation, and that only the            quote from the Second Helvetic Confession of Faith, 1566.
 bread is given to the laity whereas the wine is withheld           Many of these confessions were composed at approximately
- from them, is denied. But  this, is specifically set forth in     the same  time, the middle of the sixteenth century, not
.the following article. H.V. )                                      many years after the Reformation, 1517; This Second  Hel-
                                                                    vetic Confession is an important confession, and presents
       "IV. Private masses, or receiving this sacrament by a        a clear exposition of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper
 `priest, or any other, alone; as likewise the denial of the
 cup to the people; worshipping the elements, the lifting           in Chapter XXI. It is lengthy but also interesting, and we
                                                                    will quote it in full:
 them up, or carrying them about for adoration, and the
 reserving them for any pretended religious use, are ahcon-            "The Supper of the Lord (which is called the Lord's
                                                                    Table, and the Eucharist, that is, a Thanksgiving) is, there-
 trary to the nature of this sacrament, and to the institution      fore, commonly called a supper, because it was instituted
 o f      christ.                                                   by Christ at his last supper, and does as yet represent the
       "V. The outward elements in this sacrament, duly set         same, and'because in it the faithful are spiritually fed and
 apart to the uses ordained by Christ, have such relation to        nourished. For the author of the Supper of the Lord is not
 him crucified, as that truly, yet sacramentally only, they         an angel or man, but the very Son of God, our Lord Jesus
 are sometimes called by the name of the  things  they repre-       Christ, who did first of all consecrate it to his Church.
 sent, to wit, the body and blood of Christ; albeit, in sub-        And the same blessing and consecration does still remain
 stance and nature, they still remain truly, and only, bread        among all those who celebrate no other but that very
 and wine, as they were before. (In this statement, the truth       Supper, which the Lord did institute, and at that do re-
 of Scripture is set forth -that the relation between the           cite the words of the Supper of the Lord, and in all things
 elements of the Lord's Supper and the body and blood of            look unto the one Christ by a true faith; at those hands,
 Christ is sacramental, that, although they are called the          as it were, they do receive that which they do receive by
 body and blood of Christ, they remain bread and wine,              the ministry of the ministers of the Church.
 even as they were before. H.V.)                                       "The Lord, by this sacred rite, would have that great
       "VI. That doctrine which maintains a change of the           benefit to be kept in fresh remembrance which he pro-
 substance of bread and wine, into the substance of Christ's        cured for mankind; ,to wit, that by giving up his body to
                                                                    death and shedding his blood he has forgiven us all our sins,
 body and blood (commonly called transubstantiation) by
 consecration of a priest, or by any other way, is repugnant,       and redeemed us from eternal death and the power of the
 not to Scripture alone, but even to common-sense and rea-          devil, and now feeds us with his flesh, and gives us his
                                                                    blood to drink: which things, being apprehended spiritually
 son; overthroweth the nature of the sacrament; and hath
 been, and is the cause of manifold superstitions, yea, of          by a true faith, do nourish us up to life  .everlasting. And
 gross idolatries.                                                  this so great a benefit is renewed so oft as the Supper is
                                                                    celebrated. For the Lord said, `Do this in remembrance
       "VII. Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the  &-       of me (Luke 22:19).'
 ible elements in this sacrament, do then also inwardly by             "By this holy Supper also it is sealed unto us, that the
 faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally,         very body of Christ was truly given up for. us, and his. blood


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 379

~ shed for the remission of our sins, lest our faith might some-       Lord saying, `The bread that I will give is my flesh, which
  what waver. And this is outwardly represented unto us by             I will give for the life of the world' (John 6:51) ; also it is
  the minister in the sacrament, after a visible manner, and,          the spirit that gives, life:. `the flesh' (to wit, corporeally.
  as it were, laid before our eyes to be seen, which is in-            eaten)  `profiteth  nothing; the words  which I speak unto
  wardly in the soul invisibly performed by the Holy Spirit.           you, they are spirit and they are life' (Jn. 6: 63). And as we
  Outwardly, bread is offered by the minister, and the words           must by eating receive the meat into our bodies, to the end
  of the Lord are heard: `Take, eat; this is my body'; and,            that it may work in us, and show its efficacy in us (because,
  `Drink ye all of it; this is- my blood' (Matt. 26:26-28;  Luke       while it is without us, it profiteth us not at all) ; even so it
  22:17-20).  Therefore the faithful do receive that which is          is necessary that we receive Christ by faith, that he may
 given by the ministers of the Lord, and do eat the bread              be made `ours, and that he live in us, and we in him. For
  *of the Lord, and do drink of the Lord's cup. And at the             he says, `I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall
  same time inwardly, by the working of Christ through the             not hunger, and he that believeth in me shall not thirst
  Holy Spirit, they receive also the flesh and blood of the            any more' (John 6:35); and also, `He that eateth me, shall
  Lord, and do feed on them unto life eternal. For the flesh           live through me; and he abideth in me, and I in him'
  and blood of Christ is true meat and drink unto life eternal:        (John 6:50)."
  yea, Christ Himself, in that he was delivered for us, and            L  j We will pause here with this quotation from the Sec-
  is our Saviour, is that special thing and substance of the           ond Helvetic Confession of Faith and resume this quotation
  Supper; and there we suffer  nothing to be put in his place.         in our following article. In conclusion, at this time, we
     "But that it may the better and more plainly be under-            wish to call attention to two important matters. It is evi-
  stood how the flesh and blood of Christ are the meat and             dent, generally speaking, that in the Confessions of the
  drink of the faithful, and are received by the faithful unto         Reformed truth we may quote, two matters are emphasized
  life eternal, we will `add, moreover, these few things:              in all the writings of our Reformed fathers. In the first
     `Eating is of divers sorts. ( 1) There is a corporeal eating,,    place, they maintain that the elements in the Lord's Supper,
  whereby meat. is taken into a man's mouth, chewed with               the bread and wine, remain exactly as they are, bread and
  the teeth, swallowed down, and digested. After this man-             wine, and that they are emphatically merely signs and
  ner did the Capernaites in times past think that they should         symbols of our Lord's broken- body and shed blood. The
  eat the flesh of the Lord; but they are confuted by him              fathers maintain this truth over against the conception of
  (John  6:30-63,). For as the flesh of Christ could not be            transubstantiation as maintained by the Roman Catholic
 .eaten bodily, without great wickedness and cruelty, so is it         Church. On the other hand, however, they also emphasize
  not food for the body, as all men do confess. We therefore           that the Church of God, observing the sacrament of Holy
  disallow that canon in the Pope's decrees, Ego Begengarius           Communion, partakes of Christ in a very real sense of the
  (De  Consecrat.  Dist. 2). For neither did godly antiquity           word. The  L-ord's  Supper is not merely a remembrance
  believe, neither yet do we believe, that the body of Christ          feast. The Church of God does not merely partake of
  can be eaten corporeally and essentially, with a bodily              ordinary bread and wine, although it is emphatically -true
 m o u t h .                                                           that the bread and wine remain as they are. We eat
                                                                       Christ's body and drink His blood. This does not mean
     "( 2) There is also a  qkitzral  eating of Christ's body;         that we eat and drink Christ's body and blood in a physical
  not such a one whereby it may be thought that the very               sense of the word, as Rome teaches, and as the Lutherans
 meat is changed into the spirit, but whereby (the Lord's              also teach with their doctrine of consubstantiation. We eat
 body and blood remaining in their own essence and prop-               and drink the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ
  erty) those things are spiritually communicated unto us,             spiritually. We eat. and drink Him as He, in the wayj of
 not after a corporeal, but after a spiritual manner, through          His atoning suffering and death, is our Bread and Water
 the Holy Spirit, who does apply and bestow upon those
 things (to wit, remission of sins, deliverance, and life              of Life; we partake of Him and all His spiritual benefits,
                                                                       through the Holy Spirit, and by a  `true and living faith.
  eternal) which are prepared for.us  by the flesh and blood           The eating and drinking of the bread and wine is a truly
 of our Lord, sacrificed for us; so that Christ does not live
 in us, and we live in him; and does cause us to apprehend             spiritual activity, and the Church of God eats and drinks
 him by truth faith to this. end, that he may become unto              Christ, in all His spiritual significance:                H.V.
 us such a spiritual meat and drink, that is .to say, our life.
 For even as corporeal meat and drink do not only refresh                 The South Holland-Oak Lawn Protestant Reformed
 and strengthen our bodies, but also do keep them in life;             Christian School is in need of one teacher, Grades 1, 2,; 3,
 even so the flesh of Christ delivered- for us2 and his blood          to complete its teaching staff this coming fall, 1964-1965.
 shed for us, do not only refresh and strengthen our souls,               Kindly address your correspondence to:
 but also do preserve them alive, not so far as they be                                               Gysbert A. Van Baren         /
 corporeally eaten ,and drunken, but so far as they are com-                                          R.R. 1, Box 240A
 municated unto us spiritually by the Spirit of God, the                                              Chicago Heights, Illinois  1

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

                                                                         ness of perdition the sinner sufEers  without alleviation the
         THECHURCH.ATWORSHIP                                             horrors of the divine wrath. This is our portion. It is all
                                                                         we deserve. We have nowhere else to go and nothing else
   "0 Worship the Lord in. the beau@ of holiness."                       to expect. We are children of wrath!
                                                                            "Except we are born again". 0 glorious exception! Out-
                                                                         side of the Kingdom of God are we, except we are born
                      The Baptism Form                                   again. Into the Kingdom of God, which  is. light and life
       Three parts there are to the doctrine of holy baptism.            and love, we cannot enter except through the new birth.
Though these three may be distinguished, they are not to                 There are no conditions to fulfill.  Works performed by us
be separated since baptism is one; and therefore- the doc-               will avail nothing toward this objective, for they can only
trinal facets are to be integrated. The three parts of the               aggravate the wrath under which we as  sinners  die. Offers
doctrine of holy baptism are like three links of a chain,                and promises we could not accept if they were offered to
welded together by God in such a way that they cannot be                 us. There is only one thing that will suffice and only one way
severed.                                                                 that entrance into God's Kingdom is obtained. That  nece-s-
       The first of +these  parts is the doctrine of total depravity.    sitates a domplete renovation. This renovation or new birth
Two sentences is all that our Baptism-Form contains and                  is the work of God, performed in grace, sovereignly exe-
in which the  i?rst part of this doctrine is expounded. These            cuted, so that the recipients of it are made to partake of
two sentences, however, are quite sufficient. The brevity                the heavenly life and given in principle all the blessings
of the matter in no way detracts from its significance.                  04 eternal salvation. "Verily, verily, I- say unto you, except
Rather, it may indeed be conducive to conveying not an                   a man be born again he cannot see the.kingdom  of God."
intricate exposition of the details of truth but to impress              (John 3:3)
upon our deepest consciousness the importance of this                       Now the dipping in or sp?i.nkling  with water in baptism
truth in relation to the holy sacrament of baptism. Without              is a symbol of all this. We note that to the fathers the
this we cannot see the sign!                                             question of immersion or sprinkling was a matter of minor
       Several significant things are to be noted in this descrip-       consequence. Both have been used, and whichever is used
tion of our depravity. The form speaks of  "we and our                   can serve the symbolic purpose. That is what counts. We
children" which points to the organic, covenant idea rather              will discuss these elements in baptism more fully later. The
than, or in distinction from, the individualistic approach               point here is that in the symbol of baptism we see the
which is always followed by the Pelagians and Arminians.                 "impurity of our souls," our total corruption and depravity,
We in our generations are "conceived and born in sin."                   and the washing of those souls by the reality signified in the
This thoroughly Scriptural statement ( Cf. Psalm  51, Romans             poured or sprinkled water. The rite of baptism does not
5, etc.) includes both the legal and moral aspect of sin. As             deliver us from this depravity, nor save us; but it "teaches
we enter the world, we are already guilty, and our nature                us," - it causes us to realize that we are corrupt sinners, in
in its totality is corrupt. Such must not only be our con-               need of a thorough washing and renewal: for without it we
fession; but as  we- present our children in baptism, we                 have no fellowship with God.
must realize this consciously before God and the church.                    Hence, the ceremony of baptism in itself is immediately
In fact, this is not simply an admission on the part of the              an "admonition" to the church. This emphasis is striking
parents who present .their  children in baptism; but this is             in our Reformed Confessions. We have no room or place
the confession of the entire church.                                     in our doctrine for admonitions? Let the reader consult
       Resultant from this depravity is the fact that `We are            the Heidelberg Catechism -and take note that in treating
children of wrath". Borrowing the language of the apostle                both  -of the sacraments the question is asked: "How art
Paul in Ephesians 2, we observe that this statement means                thou admonished and assured . , .?" (Lord's Days 26,s 28).
not only that we are by nature the objects of God's holy                 Assurance comes through and in the way of admonitions.
and just wrath; but our natural origin and destiny both                  So here baptism admonishes us, and to reap the benefits
are described  0y the term "wrath". We  .are born out of                 of the sacrament we must be able to hear and receive the
wrath, and it is for that reason that we are by nature                   admonitioa. It contains three elements: (1) that we loath
haters of God and despisers of all the holy things. Wrath                ourselves. (2) that we humble ourselves before God. (3)
encompasses us daily, for  %he wrath of God is revealed                  that we seek for our purification and salvation without
from heaven upon all ungodliness of men. . .  .," Romans                 ourselves.
1:18. This we attempt to avoid recognizing, and are natur-                  Scripture may be abundantly brought forth to substan-
ally prone to  try at least to find in the cursed world of               tiate this admonition. We are told that unless we are able
our existence some manifestation of Rove and kindness and                to hate ourselves, we can have no part in Jesus. This fol-
grace on the part of God to all men. But it isn't there.                 lows because there is nothing in us to love. Remember,
Children of wrath we are, who pine away in wrath; and SO                 we are children of wrath, children of corruption. This in us
OUI:  ultimate and eternal end is wrath. In the eternal dark-            we must hate. And it follows then, too; that we loath all


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     i 381

the works that proceed from ourselves; for they are no             takers of His life is the essence of His covenant.  ,The
better than their source. The proud. God hates and will            covenant is not a pact, agreement, promise or alliance be-
bring them low, but the humble He will exalt in due time;          tween parties. It is the relation of highest fellowship
Always we are enjoined to humility. Let us be very low             between God and His people in Christ. Again we observe
and raise the Name of our God on High. No other Name               that in baptism God does not witness and seal to each child
is worthy to be exalted save the Name of Him Who is                individually that receives the outward sacrament that He
Lord of lords and King of kings forever. And so we will            will do this. The viewpoint of the Form is the organic
not, yea cannot, expect any salvation out of ourselves but         view, according to which believers and their spiritual chil-
will seek it elsewhere. We will not even entertain the             dren are organically the recipients of these blessings. With
thought that somehow our salvation is a co-operative en-           them, according to His own sovereign purpose and. the
deavor in which  .God and we mutually participate, but we          good pleasure of His unalterable will, God the Father m'akes
will look solely to the God of our salvation and put our           His covenant. Unconditional and sovereign is His work
hope and trust in Him alone. Salvation is from the Lord!           of grace.
He is our help and our shield! Nothing in our hands we                 `<God the Son seals unto us that he doth wash us in His
bring. Simply to the cross we cling!                               blood  .from all our sins, incorporating us into de fellowship
                                                                   of his death and resurrection, so that we are freed from
                       SIGN  AND SEAL                              all our sins, and accounted righteous before God." This,
                                                                   too, is the work of God which is the making of His cove-
   The second part of the doctrine of Holy Baptism in-             nant. It views, that work as it is objectively realized in the
structs us that baptism is a sign-and seal. A sign is a visible    Son of God, Who was revealed in the fulness of time. It
token of some invisible reality. A seal is an authoritative        directs us to the basis or foundation on which that cove-
pledge. Here the invisible reality that is pledged by divine       nant rests. This is the work of Christ in our stead. As our
authority is the "forgiveness- of sins". This glorious blessing    Mediator, Surety, and the Head of the covenant,  He laid
must not be isolated as a singular gift of God to us, but          the foundation on which He builds the house of God.: On
rather it must be construed as the very basic gift of salva- that foundation He sets His people so surely that they are
tion. Essentially forgiveness is salvation. "Blessed is he         "accounted righteous before God." It is as if they them-
whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed     selves had satisfied in their own persons for all their sins;
is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity."              and God, receives them in perfect righteousness unto Him-
(Psalm  32: 1, 2) Such a man has~the whole of salvation.           self, dwelling with them, imparting the blessings of' His
   This salvation is in Jesus Christ. There is no other name       covenant fellowship.
under heaven whereby we are saved. This Jesus was so                  And, finally, "in like mumwr," the Holy Spirit "`assures
named of the angel of God because `he shall save His peo-          us, by this' holy sacrament, that be will dwell in us, and
ple from their sins." (Matt. 1:21) Thus does baptism signify       sanctify us to be members of Christ, applying unto us, that
and seal the salvation of grace to  usand our children, who        which we have in Christ, namely, the washing away of our`
are conceived and born in sin, children of wrath by nature,        sins; and the daily renewing of our lives, till we shall finally
regenerated by the Spirit. Otherwise stated, we may say            be presented without spot or wrinkle among de assembly
that baptism is the sign of the covenant. The unspeakable          of the elect in life eternal."
riches of the covenant of grace are visibly signified and             Blessed Spirit! Applying the benefits of Christ's work
sealed in this sacrament. In that light we may consider            to the heirs of the covenant, and that in the same sovereign,
the beautiful description of the work of the Triune God            unconditional manner. He will assuredly do this. Baptism
in baptism. This work depicts Him as the Covenant God,             signifies and seals it unto us. The sacrament each time con-
Who unilaterally establishes, maintains, and perfects His          fhns the conviction of the faith of the church that it is
covenant with His people.                                          `hot by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the
   In His Name we are baptized. Father, Son, and Holy              Lord." (Zech.  &6)                                     G.v:d.B.
Spirit, as three distinct Persons and yet of the same Essence
perform each His work in the salvation of God's covenant
people; and the work of each is individually signified as
we are baptized in these names.
   "God the Father witnesses and seals unto us that He
doth make an eternal covenant of grace with us, and                             S T A F F   ANNOTJNCEMENT
adopts us for his children and heirs, and therefore will
provide us with every good thing, and avert all evil or               The Standard Bearer Staff will meet Monday evening,
turn it to our profit." To be noted here is that in the making     June 8, in First Church in Grand -Rapids.  Will all the stafE
of' the covenant and the adoption of children there is a           members please take note? The meeting begins at 8
parallelism. These are in essence one. The work of God             o'clock.
by which He takes us into His family and makes us par-                                               J. -A. Heys, Secretary z


            .'

                                                                                                                              1


382                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   `B E A R E R                    .

                                                                              erations. The Word of God must .be preached within the
IIALL  A R O U N D   US/l established Church. Not only is this for the purpose of
                                                                              feeding the saints; but it is also in order that the Church
                                                                              u-ray be gathered from the children of believers. This is
ROCKEFELLER'S DIVORCE                                                         primarily where God does gather His Church. And the
       The question has repeatedly come up in the last months                 Church is not simply talking to herself when she is busy
whether Nelson Rockefeller's recent divorce and remarriage                    with this important work.
`are--going to harm his political career, and particularly, his                  An article of this nature tends to strengthen our sus-
chances for the Republican presidential nomination.                           picions that often times the Reformed- churches in this
   The editor of the Roman Catholic paper "Our Sunday                         country are more interested- in those in heathendom than
Visitor" writes about this:                                                   they are concerned for the seed of the covenant. They do
            A Baptist minister, who had urged his people to vote against      all in their  ,power to bring the gospel across the oceans
        Nelson Rockefeller on the moral issue of Rockefeller's divorce,       while the seed of the covenant is neglected. This is a
        changed his mind recently and said his earlier words should           serious mistake.
        be ignored.
            The minister explained he had talked with Mr. Rockefeller
        and in a private talk Mr. Rockefeller had given him informa-          ATHEISM IN  R&IA
        tion that led. the minister to believe there were mitigating             Communism has always maintained that. `i-eligion  is the
        circumstances.                                                        opium of the people". Avowedly atheistic, Russia has waged
            We. think the minister has now reached the right conclu-          several campaigns to eliminate religion altogether from
        sions but for the wrong reasons.                                      the Soviet Union.
            It is not right to use a religious principle  -as a test for a
        candidate. Mr. Rockefeller's divorce is not a legitimate issue           But these efforts, from the Russian point of view, have
        in the campaign. It never has been. It is possible to judge Mr.       failed. There are still 50 million members in the Russian
        Rockefeller on the purely  ,secular  principle of loyalty to his      Orthodox Church, 25 million Moslems, 3% million- Jews,
        wife of many years but when the voter demands that candi-             and many thousands affiliated with Baptist, ,Seventh-day
        dates adhere to the religious principles they do not hold  -
        obviously Mr. Rockefeller's religion did not make it impossible       Adventist and Jehovah's Witness denominations. All this
        for him to divorce - then the voter' is applying a religious test     in a population of about 260 million people.
        that is not in the spirit of our national history or our consti-         Now a new campaign against religion is being launched.
        tution.                                                               The announcement comes from the Communist Party's
            The editorial writer is not a great admirer of Nelson
        Rockefeller, but Mr. Rockefeller deserves to be judged on his         Central Committee, which expresses concern about the
        merits as a political leader, not on his private life'.               failure to eradicate religion from an atheistic society. More
   The fact remains that Nelson Rockefeller, governor of                      effort obviously must be put forth. The emphasis this time
New  *York, divorced his wife and remarried a divorced                        is to be on education. Courses in the indoctrination of
wqman.  It is a sad commentary on American moral stand-                       atheism are to be made compulsory in Soviet universities.
ards when such a man's actions are not only approved, but                     A central agency to coordinate activities is to be set up;
when he is even seriously considered for the highest office                   trained propagandists are to be given thorough instruction;
in the land.                                                                  special atheistic celebrations are being planned to take the
                                                                              place of Christian holidays; competitions are being held for
                                                                              the best atheistic plays,  fihns, paintings, and photographs.
THE. .CHURCH'S WITNESS
   In a recent article in the "Banner," Rolf Veenstra writes                  According to  Time  one entry shows believers gloating over
                                                                              a collection plate.
under "Word a Week" an article entitled "Sing!" He makes
the following comment in this article:                                           The Church press is rather aroused by` this- under-
            The fact that she  (.the Church) preaches more to herself         standably. The World Council of Churches have made some
        than she witnesses to the world is just as unflattering as when       pious pronouncements about it - although they are reluc-
        any person talks to himself more than to others.                      tant to condemn it too strongly, seeing the Russian Ortho-
   I doubt whether Veenstra means to condemn the fact                         dox Church often supports the Communist Party and is
that the Church preaches every Lords Day in her own                           itself a member of the. WCC. Various Church papers are
established congregations. At least it seems ahnost impos-                    bemoaning this increased attempt to make all Russia
sible that he would do this. But there is a very serious                      conform to the atheistic materialism of the Soviet Union.
error in this brief remark nonetheless. We do not mean                           There are no doubt people of God yet in! Russia; and
in any way to disparage missionary work, of course. We                        they are going to have a hard time of it - especially if the
are fully aware of the fact that throughout the new dispen-                   State resorts once again to persecution. But the irony of
sation God ingrafts into the lines of the covenant genera-                    the whole thing is that what Russia makes ,bold  to state
tions who are born outside. But the fact remains that                         as its official policy is plainly practiced in these Western
Veenstra wholly ignores the central truth of all Scripture                    countries that are enemies of Communism. If atheism is
that God gathers His Church in the line of continued gen-                     not taught in the schools in this country, one wonders by


                                              THti  STANDARD   - B E A R E R                                                                ; 383
                                                                                               .
what name it can be called. The Supreme Court has banned                   A  WAY  i0 MORE CHURCH UNION
all religious instruction, all prayer and Bible reading; evo-                 Dr. Ben M.  Herbster  is president of the United Church
lutionism is not only the only doctrine taught in the class                of Christ. In an editorial by him in the "United Church
room, but it has the official sanction of the State; false                 Herald", he writes about `Steps Toward Local Church
religion is so prevalent that it is difficult to find churches             Unity". He quotes a couple of statements issued with the
today which still maintain the truth of Scripture; every kind              approval of the United Church of Christ that spell out
of sect grows by leaps and bounds; materialism is even                     various ways of encouraging church union.
worse in this country of plenty than in Russia; moral stand-                  These statements read:
ards are so low that even the world is shocked sometimes                           I would propose we decide that from a given date all
at what goes on.                                                                funds for new church development will be expended through
                                                                                the division of home missions (of the National Council of
   Although this deliberate pursuit of atheism needs con-                       Churches). We will create a pool of resources to be used by
demning as it appears in Russia, it is hypocrisy to call our-                   the wisest and most impartial statesmen we can assemble.
                                                                                New churches will be founded without any denominational
selves a Christian country in distinction from them. Perhaps                    designation. At the end of a period of five years, the mem-
even this superficial Christianity of Western countries is                      bers of the church will themselves decide where they wish to
more  insidious~  than the outright atheism of the Soviet                       place their denominational affiliation. If this seems too ex-
Union. At least if it. is called by the right name, there is                    treme, perhaps someone will provide a milder proposal that
little danger of being fooled by it.                                            does not return us to the present chaos.
                                                                                   In cooperation with the conferences, we will encourage our
                       .
            :                                                                   local congregations and help them to enter into ecumenical
DECLINE OF PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS?                                                   conversations- and negotiations looking toward solutions to the
   The Roman Catholics are beginning to abandon their                           problems of fragmentation of Christian witness and competi-
parochial schools and send their children instead  .to the                      tion of institutional church life in town and country  commti-
public schools. This all began with what was called a                           ties as may be appropriate, such as federation, denominational
                                                                                and interdenominational group ministry, larger parish and yoked
shared-time plan - a plan in which certain Roman Catholic                       field, denominationally related community church through
children were sent to public schools to be taught so-called                     mergers, withdrawal of one or more denominations (including
secular subjects. But now, in some places, the Church is                        our own) from the field. This  list.is not intended to  ex&de
going a step farther and abandoning  the'parochial  schools                     other possibilities which may emerge from local studies.
altogether.  Time  writes:                                                    The editor himself sums up these statements as follows:
            The parochial-school system, which for the past 80 years               1. God calls his church to unity. That unity does not, have
      has been the well-spring of the Roman Catholic Church in the              to wait upon church union.
      U. S., is changing its patterns. In Cincinnati, Archbishop  Karl             2. In face of the world and national situation, the de-
      J. Alter announced that because of high costs and overcrowded             nominations dare not siphon off their energy and resources in
      classrooms the parochial schools in his archdiocese would close           needless competition.
      their first grades next September: 10,000 children in an area                3. Cooperation and unity mean very little unless they are
      that includes Cincinnati, Dayton, and Springfield will enroll,            made local.
      instead, in public schools.                                                  4. To make these principles effective, we  must  have
            In suburban Milwaukee, the Rev. Oscar  Wimringhoff of               support and action on the local level. As long as half-dying
      St.  Aloysius' parish, said that his school would discontinue the         churches (churches too weak to carry on an adequate ministry)
      first four grades in September of 1965. Having failed to per-             are perpetuated in cities or in villages simply because "Grandpa
      suade the local public-school board to build a new 24-room                was one of the founders" or "Aunt Susie is buried in the
      school to educate children of his parish in secular subjects,             churchyard,:' we will never have unity, no matter  how>  many
      Father Winninghoff said: "I'm going to quit talking.  I'm'say-            statements are issued by the Division of Church Extension.
      ix, `Here are 600 kids-you solve the problem. And I'm
      giving you a year and .a half to solve it."' Some parochial:            All this heavy language adds up to saying that if the
      school classes have closed in Green Bay, Wis., Saginaw;  Mich.,      United Church of Christ has its way, there will be no more
      and in northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D. C.; in            room for any kind of home missionary work or church
      Williamsport, Pa., the 50-year-old St. Mary's High School shut       extension work any more. This is a kind of evil competi-
      down last year, leaving 208 pupils to be absorbed in public          tion, divisive and threatening to church unity, that has to
      schools.
            : . . A-  new book, by a Catholic mother of five boys who      be abandoned.
      have variously gone to public- and Catholic schools, suggests           If therefore, our own churches wish to bring the truth
      that the church should go out of the school business alto-           outside of- our denomination and use our available means
      gether. . . .                                                        to witness to our heritage, this will be forbidden.. This
    One wonders if this strategy is not intended to put                    would be harmful to efforts at church union because the
pressure on the government to persuade them to give fed-                   people we are speaking to, already belong to some church.
eral  aid- to private schools as well as public schools. But               This ought not to be tolerated.
it shows that Roman Catholics are not at all adverse in                       I suppose someday this will actually happen.
some cases to giving their children over to the public                        But it is the Christian's assurance that the gates of hell
schools and sacrificing their own Church Schools rather                    cannot prevail against the Church of Jesus Christ.
readily.                                                                                                                             H. Ha&o


384                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEZER

                                                                     to be reminded that in the matter of their salvation the
                                                                     work of the Triune God is initial, abiding and conclusive.

                                                                        Loveland's congregation rejoiced to hear the public con-
                                                                     fession of faith of Ivan, Linda and.Melvin  Griess and Mari-
                                                                     lyn-  Sdhwarz.  Loveland's bulletin also announced the
                                                    May 5,1964       summer change of schedule: the two  o'clobk  -afternoon
                                                                     service `moved up to 7 o'clock evening time.
       Rev. B. Woudenberg declined the call to be the Home
Missionary of our Churches.                                             Rev. G. Vanden  Berg, of Oak Lawn, has been secured
                                                                     to address the Young People's Societies in the Grand Rapids
       The shortage of ministers .i.n our clmrches is very keenly    Area as they attend their annual Spring Banquet May 12
felt in our Western churches. That situation seemed to be            in First Church.
the special reason why Rev. Woudenberg felt he could not
leave his congregation at this time. This condition necessi-            Hudsonville has begun their Sunday School session for
tates frequent classical appointments for all the ministers,         this season. They invite the 3 year olds to begin this class-
with the accompanying travel expenses and irksome ab-                room method of enjoying the familiar Bible stories already
                                                                                                               -
sences from home and congregation. It is not unusual that            heard at their mother's lmee.
a vacant  chur& has reading services, but our situation                 Southwest Church is looking forward to the arrival of
unavoidably forces this upon churches with a regular pas-            their new minister, and a congregational meeting has been
tor.  Yolcng  men, does this not move you to ponder whether          called to reconsider their budget needs which can include
or not you should give serious consideration to the calling          their new obligations.
of the ministry as your `life's vocation? With this in mind
Lynden's bulletin carried this prayer: "Almighty God, look              Monday, May 4, the Society for Secondary (High
mercifully upon that world which Thou hast redeemed by               School) Protestant Reformed Education met in Annual
the blood of Thy dear Son, and by Thy Holy Spirit incline            Meeting. New  Bo.ard members elected were, John  BOS,
the hearts of many of Thy servants to dedicate themselves            Cornelius Doezema and Jacob Kuiper. Reports  were read
to the sacred ministry of Thy- Church,  through Jesus Christ         that revealed the Board purchased `a 10 acre plot near
 our Lord, Amen."                                                    Hope Church; that the weekly envelope system brought
                                                                     up over  $3,000.00  this past year; that a balance of over
       Southeast's pastor is spending a four to six week Doctor-     $S,OOO.OO is on the credit side of the ledger. The secretary
 sponsored vacation, the first week of which was in a surgical       reports a membership of 106; that work is being done in the
ward of Butter-worth Hospital in Grand Rapids. According             realm of curriculum planning; that potential teacher supply
 to reports Rev. Schipper's  progress toward active duty is          is promising. But, of course, it was quite evident to the
 approaching realization steadily.                                   society that much more folding money is needed in the
       The Young People's Society of Southeast Church spon-          treasury before a building can be realized. Have any of
 sored a "Home Talent" program in their church April 21.             our readers a solution to this problem?             '
 Many of our oldsters can remember when this was the only                Oak Lawn's congregation bade farewell to one of their
 kind of entertainment church members enjoyed. Certainly             young men, Ken Haak, as he left for a two-year hitch in
it is pleasing to our King that His subjects enjoy the music         the Armed Forces. In this  .case the whole  ,congregation
 of His praise rather than the raucous music of the "Holly-          will miss him every Sunday, for he is one of the tu;o regular
 wood Talent" variety which lauds the vices of fallen man-           organists!
 kind.                                                                   The April 20 meeting of the Men's League featured
       Two of our churches foster lively choral societies, and       Rev. C. Hanko in a speech on The Relationship between
 both have given public programs recently. Hope's was held           the Magistrates and the Church, in the light iof Article 36
 April 26 and Hudsonville's was on May 3. Both choirs                of the Belgic Confession. Many questions were raised by
 joined the Hope School choir and the Hope Heralds in a              the speaker, which if not entirely answered, :left the men
Choir Festival sponsored by the Hope School Circle which             food for thought regarding future commitment to govern-
 was scheduled for Friday evening, May 8 in the First Re-            ment aid for our parent controlled schools, and our personal
 formed Church in Hudsonville.                                       attitudes in the election and support of government officials.
       Rev. C Ha&o is leading his congregation; in a series              Consider  these two  sufhcients:  `%fftien.t   untomth-he   dug
 of Sunday evening services, in a re-evaluation of the Order         is  the  evil thereof'-Matt.  6~34;  "My grace is  suficient   fm
 of Salvation: Regeneration, Calling, Repentance, Faith,             thee"-11  Cor. 12:9.
 Sanctification, Glorification. This is proving to be a worth-
 while effort because the people of God need constantly                  . .  * see you in church.                               J.M.F.


