        VOLUME  XL                                 JULY  1, 1964 - GRAND  RAPIDS, ~&hIIGAN--                                    NUMESER       18

h-                                                                  d      are bruised reeds because of a livelv consciousness. of God
I/.'   M  E  B:  1  -T  A  T  1.0  ",__il  andofsin:                                             -.                        -
                                                                              Such consciousness reduces you to an extremity.,
                                                                              It makes me think of another text: "And if the righteous
                                   V&LE!                                   scarcely  be &tied,- where  shall the ungodly and the sinner
                                                                           appear?" I Peter 4:3X
            `A bruised. r&d shall He not break, and the smoking
             flax                                                            Come  &pbn a `bruised. reed, and `what is your  Srst im-
                      &all He not quench." Isa. 42:3a                      pulse? To step on it;  to take it and throw it away; or, to
                                                                                                                                      _-
                                                                           ignore it entirely: it's not worth looking at or considering.
       This is a very good text.
       Yes, yes, I know that all texts in God's Word are good.                A bivised reed is so absolutely worthless!
       Don't you see that there is a difference?                                                       *  0  il  D
      This is a classical text.
        For instance, it is a very good text to whisper in the                It is not +ninpch better with the second figure of my good
 ear of a dying saint.                                                     text: "and the smoking flax shall He not quench."
      -. It is also a' good text to whisper into  .the  ear of the            What is a smoking flax?
publican  while he stands there, afar off, in the temple, beat-               The Dutch has  "~laas~ui&,"   that  is, a wick of a candle,
 ing his breast and not daring to lift up his head unto                    made of flax.
 heaven. Go ahead, whisper this text in his ear, and he will
i smile.                                                                      And that wick is still smoking, it has not yet gone  out;
       Whisper this text into the ear  o$ the dying malefactor             but it also has arrived at its last extremity. The figures are
 on the cross!                                                           - alike: they both mean the same thing.
        It will make his dying easier.                                        No, it has not gone out, it is still smoking,  anh you re-
                                                                           member the proverb: where there is, smoke, there is fire.
        Oh yes, it is a very good text.
        It will be my text today for my last meditation.                      But-you are about  to- give up with your smoking  flax-
                                                                           wick. What can you  expect?1   ..
        Therefore I wrote the word VALE! above. It, means
 Farewell! Adieu! Goodbye!                                                    And  the meaning is' clear.             '
                                                                             That smoking flax-wick is the saint who came in contact
                                 0  e  it  v                             with God Who showed him his sin.
                                                                              Aid that is  also  .rhe  way `this saint looked  it himself,
        A bruised reed.                                                   and evaluated himself.
        Well, a reed, at best, is not much.                                   There are examples galore in the Bible to illustrate this
        What shall we say then of a bruised reed?                          truth.
        You realize, of course, that we have a figure here. The               There is David, and what more shall i ssiy of him? Read
 reed stands-for those whose inner--and outer life is hanging              his psalms, and you have enough  witness. What does Datid
 by a thread. .A bruised reed is a man or woman with a                     think of David? F.i., read Psalm 51.
 crushed spirit and a troubled heart.                                         There is  Habakkuk  who was confronted with Jehovah,
        And why?                                                           and what was the  rksult? Listen to him: "When I heard,
        The answer is easy. ,I; really is a twofold answer. They           my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice:  rotten-


     416                                        THE        S'.+L~NDARD                BE'ARE&              '1
     ness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself . . ."            bruised reed; lift it up;  re&w  its strength; and cause it to
            There is Job: "Behold, I am vile . .  ."; "Wherefore I          stand upright..
      abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."                             Do you desire a beautiful example? Or two?          +
            There is Paul:  "0 wretched man-that I am!"                         Come with me to that old rugged cross.
            Or,  let us see the evaluation of God's Holy Spirit with           If  you   want a striking example of  a  bruised reed, you
     regard to the totality of God's people:                                will find it at the right of Jesus' cross. There hangs the
            There is Zepheniah: `3 will alsb leave in  ihe midst of         malefactor. Both the.. Church and the world deemed him
     thee an afflicted and poor people . . ."                               worthy of death and hell. You will fmd no objectors.
            There is Isaiah:  `<Fear not, thou  WOIWX   Jacob, and' ye         No, we know not what he has done. But listen to him:
      men of Israel . . ." Or, "From the soul of the foot even unto         `And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of
      the head there  is  no soundness in it; but wounds and                our deeds . . ."
      bkses,  and  putrifying  sores: they have  not been closed,              I  Bsk you all, dear, beloved readers, is he'not  a bruise$
      neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment." Or,               reed?
      "But we are  all as an u&lean  thing, and all our  righteotis-         .,-Another  question: Did you ever say to yourself, nay, to
      nesses are as filthy rags; and we ali do fade as a.leaf;  and         this malefactor: "Move over, let me hang alongside of you!
      our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."                   I am in the same condemnation!?"            .
            You might also take the time and read Paul's evaluatiqn             Another question: Did you ever consider that right now,
      of ourselves, as it is given in Romans 3:9,18;. It's a foul list.     at this very moment you belong in  heti? Bruised reed,  in-
      But it fits.                                                          iieed!
            Yes, examined carefully, we are like a bruised reed and-            Earlier we wrote about this, and said: "They are bruised
      like a smoking flax.                                                  reeds because of a lively consciousness of God and of sin."
                                                                                Yes, that's the story. If you see God with the &ye of the
                                 0  0  a  D                                 heart, you see your damn-worthiness. And-that's the whole
                                                                            story.
            Oh, it is a good text all right.                                    And you and I, and all the Church of Jesus Christ are
            Excellent text to close my scribblings.                         likened unto a smoking  flax+k. Yes, there  is still  G-e  in
            And the strange part of it is that I did not  choQs& this       that wick, for they  .are regenerated. The  pr&ious seed is
      text myself.                                                         in them. And it still smokes.
            A  lithe while ago a lady asked me to write on this text,           You can tell by our earlier example, the malefactbr.
      and I consented.                                                          He dondemns himself and the other on the left side. And
            If you would have asked  Isaiah who it is that would not' he addresses himself to Jesus: "Lord, remember me!`: Yes,
      break the bruised reed or quench the smoking flax, he                 the flax-wick was still smoldering.                         _
      would have told you  that  it was the  suffering  Servant of              Lord, remember me!
      `Jehovah. And if you would have asked Matthew, where                      There was  .a  time when I thought that this  poor man
      $his same text is quoted, he would  make answer and say:              was asking very little. But not.anymore.
      That is J&us Christ, our Lord.                                            It  !is the sweetest prayer you can ever  pity.. 0 God,
            And, indeed, that is trtie.                                     remember me! 0 God, my Maker, think on me!
            Readbg  the inspired description of this Servant, it                In the midst of my rottermess;my  sins, my guilt, my cor-
      strikes you how strange an Evangelist He proves to be. Not ruption, my death, my curse, my condemnation, 0 my Gsd!
     - at all like our Evangelists of today. '                              think on me!
            But God upholds Him, calis. Him His Elect, has delight              Think on me, Jksus, when Thou anivest into Thy King-
      in Him, and put His Holy Spirit upon Him.                             dom, when the angels usher YOU to the throne of God,. and
            A strange Evangelist: he does  not cry, nor lift up,  ,nor      when YOU reside in His bosom. Then &I&  on me in gena;
      cause His  voice to be heard in the street:  our Stranger of          om UW goedheid eer te geven!
      G a l i l e e !                                                           0, let me translate it for you: Then think on me in Thy
            This suffering  Servdnt  of Jehovah is a very tender            grace, in order to give,honor  td Thy goodness!
S a v i o u r .                                                                 The malefactor prayed for everything.
            He reveals a tenderness that is entirely. foreign to this           When Jesus thinks on you in the bosom of God, it is
      sorry earth.                                             '            well with you.
            No, He will not break the bruised reed.                             Jesus said it: "Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou
I           What then?                                                      be with me in Paradise!"              "
            He will do the very opposite;  .He will strengthen this                                  0     0     0     #,


                                                           THE               ST~ANDARD.`B'EA.R.ER                                                                                                                                         411

           No, this Servant of Jehovah will not break you, although,
      you deserve it.                                .,               .L,                                            `THE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
           No,  He  will not quench you, although you admit that                                       Sembm@dy, except monthly  during June, July and  Augtat
                                                                                                        F'ublished by the &FORMED  F'REX Punnm~~~ C  h?OOLiTION
       it would be  strictest justice.                        t.  ._  .^.                                                        Editur-REV.   HEZIMAN HOEPSEMA
           But He will strengthen you, renew your .strength;                                           Commmicatio~~ relative to contents should be addressed to
                                                                                                       Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,
           He will lift you, poor broken spirit, and set your feet on                                  Mich. Contributions will be limited to 300 words and must be
       the Rock.                                                                                                                      neatly written `or typewritten.
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           No, He will not  quencg   your spirit, and blow out the                                                     1123 Cooper, S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
       light that is in you, but, on the contrary, He will cause His                                    Announcements -and Obituaries with the $2.00 fee included
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                                                                                                                                          Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
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       this time since  uwo 34 (what nonsense I speak, for there                                             Second  Chs postage paid at  Gmnd  Rapfds,  M&h&an
       is no time in eternity)  ; all this  .time he has  been  `singing
       and making music on thte harp of God. And he is waiting                                                                                     C O N T E N T S
     -for all of  us;                                                          "'
                                                           :._  ,.                                 MEDITATION-
           If you see a saint-dying, then whisper in his ear: Jesus                                         Vale!          . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :..__..............  ~.__...............................~  . .._ 469
       will `not break the bruised reed,. my brother; He will not                                                     Rev. G. Vos
       quench the flax-wick, my sister.                         .:                                 EDITORIALS-
           And now: VALE!                                                                  G.V.             Dekker, Kuiper and H.H  .____.............__......,..............................  412
                                                                                                                      Rev. H. Hoeksema

                                                                                                   OUR Docrnnnr -
                                                                                                            The `Doctrine of the Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..___................................  414
                _                                                                                          . Rev. H. Hoeksema
                             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY  -
                                                                                                   THJZ LORD  GAVE THE WORD . . . -
          On June 25, 1964, our parents,                                                                    The Synod on M i s s i o n s   .   .`........______.............,..................   4 1 5
                     MR.  AND MRS. PETER HEETHUIS  (Helmholdt)                                                 Rev. C. Hanko                                                                                                    .
       of 921 Watkins St., S. E., Grand Rapids, Michigan, celebrated their                         SPECIAL  REPORT-
       50th wedding anniversary.                  . Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pipe                                 The Second Vatidan Council (VI) . . . . . . . . _.....,._______..r  .._____......_  4I8
                                                    and 5 grandchildren                                               Rev. G. Van  Baren
I                                                                                                  A  CLOUD  OF WITNESSES-
                             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                            With the Jawbone of an Ass . . . . . . . . . . . . ..____................  ~________..  :..420
          On' July 2, 1964,, our dear parents                                                                         Rev. B. Woudenberg
                        MR. AND MRS. JOHANNES SCHIPPER                                             FROM  HOLY WRIT  -
       will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.                                                       Exposition of the Prophecy of Malachi __.____...._'  _.___.....____........  422
                                                                                                                      Rev. G. Lubbers
          We. thank our covenant God that he has kept them for us and
       for each other these many years and pray that God may sustain                               IN HIS  FEAR'&
       them with  His  grace during their remaining years.                                                  The Next Earthquake . . . . . . . . ..I...................................................  424
                                  Children: Mr. and Mrs. James Dykstra                                                Rev.  J. A. Heys
                                             Mr. and Mrs. Robert  Forsyth
                                             Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Schipper                         THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS-
                                             Oscar Schipper                                                 The Belgic Confession.                                    .__         ..__ . . .                                .___..         426
                                             and 10 grandchildren                                                     Rev. H. C. Hoeksema

                                                                                     _-            THE ckILE=tCH AT WORSHIP-
                            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                          Our Part in God's Covenant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
                                                                                                                      Rev. G. Vanden Berg
          The Sr. Mr. and Mrs. Society of the First Protestant Reformed
       Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan, hereby expresses its sympathy to                          ALL ibouND  Us'-
       two of its members, Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Koerner in the loss of                                       Report o f Synod of 1964 .._ r . . . . . . . . . . . . ..____.................................  486
       Mr. Koerner's father.                                                                                          Rev.  H:  Hank0
          Psalm  li6:15,   "`Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of
       His saints."                                                                                NEWS FROM OUR CH~RCHES....................................,..,.....,..,..........,...,~~~
                                          Rev. C. Hanko, President                                                    Mr. J.  M; Faber
                                            Mrs. Leonard Dykstra, Secretary
                                            `.


412                                        THE  S.TANDARD...B'EARER

                                                                    Synod offers no interpretation and Kuiper does not either,
              E  6 I  .T-O-R:1
                         ._              A L  $,                    the implied. explanation must run somewhat as follows:
                                                                       1.. We are exhorted by the Lord to love our enemies,
                                                                    i.e., those that hate us, persecute us, and commit all man-
                     Diekker, Kuiper, and H.H.                      ner of evil against us.
                                                                       2. If we do, we will be children of God; for He, too,
       Dekker: God loves all men.           .                       loves all men, even all His enemies.
       Kuiper: God loves all  -men, but with a qualitative dis-        3. This love of God to all men is  .manifested  in the
tinction: special love and common love, special grace and           fact that God causes the sun to shine and the ram to fall
common grace.                                                       upon all without distinction, the just ,and the unjust.
       H.H.: God loves the righteous and hates the wicked;             But on this I would make the following remarks:
He loves the elect and hates the reprobate.
       Professor Dekker's position we have been discussing             1. This is contrary to all the teaching of Scripture. The
both in                                                             Bible teaches everywhere that God does not love but hates
            The Standard Rearer and in a speech which Profes-
sor Dekker very graciously invited me to deliver before his         His enemies. Is it possible that God loves all men, includ-
class in Calvin' Seminary. Besides, I am not finished with          ing the wicked reprobate, in order; after their death, to cast
this discussion, as will appear in a following article. -           them into eternal hell-fire? Perhaps, Kuiper would char-
       We will, therefore, now call attention to Kuiper's posi-     acterize this as a paradox, which is only a nicer term for
tion as he expressed it in a recent article                         `contradiction." But I do not believe in paradoxes or flat
                                                 in Torch and       contradictions in Scripture; but believe that the Word of  -
Trumpet, May-June, 1964.                                            God is in perfect harmony with itself and that passages
       Kuiper's position amounts to a defense of-the notorious      which appear to be contradictions to the rest of Scripture
"Three Points" of 1924, i.e., as  .far as God's common love         ought to be interpreted in the light of the whole. At any
or grace is concerned. He quotes or refers for his doctrine         rate, it is the current teaching of the whole of--Scripture
to texts of Scripture such as  Matt.  5:43-45, Ezekiel  18:23;      that God hates His enemies.
33:11, II Peter 3:9, and also to the `Canons of Dorf  III, IV,
8. This is supposed to prove that Dekker is right when he              2. `Secondly, if rain and sunshine is a manifestation of
speaks of the universal love of God or the fact that God            the love of God to all men, the  ,just and the unjust, what
loves all men.                                                      about all the evil forces in nature? They; indeed, `are Very
       Writes he:                                                   many: floods, drought, storms that destroy crops and homes,
                                                                    earthquakes, and `all the rest. If rain and sunshine are
       :`Dekker  has contended right along that God loves all       manifestations of the love of God to all men, the righteous
men. A few of his critics to the contrary, Dekker is here           and the wicked, must these evil  .forces be regarded as the
on solid Scriptural ground. This is not to say that all the         hatred of God to all men, the just and the unjust? This  .is
Scriptural passages adduced by him1 as proof of God's uni-          quite contrary to the teaching of the Heidelberg Catechism
versal love are pertinent. Yet the universal love of God  is        in Lords Days 9 and 10 which read as follows:
unmistakably taught in such a passage, among others, as
Matthew  5343145, Ye have heard that it was said, Thou              "What believest thou when thou  sayest, `I believe in
shalt love thy neighbor and hate  .thine enemy; but  1. say         God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth?
unto you, Love your enemies, and pray for them that perse-             "That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (who
cute you, that ye may be the sons of your Father which is           of nothing made heaven and earth, with all that is in them,
in heaven: for he maketh his' sun to rise on the evil and the       who likewise upholds and governs the same by his eternal
good and sendeth ram on the just and the unjust'."                  counsel and providence) is for the sake of Christ, his Son,
  ` Here we better stop a moment.                                   my God and my Father; on whom I rely so entirely, that I
       For, although I have' repeatedly explained this text, and    have no doubt, but he will provide me with all things
although the Synod of  the Christian Reformed Church,               necessary for soul and body: and further, that he will
Kalamazoo 1924, offers no explanation of the text, and al-          make whatever evils he sends upon me, in this valley of
though  -also. Kuiper gives  ,no interpretation, but merely         tears, turn out to my advantage; for he is  dble  to do it,
quotes, I cannot follow this evil and un-Reformed example.          being Almighty God, and willing, being a faithful Father."
Here, then, follows my interpretation.                                 And in Lord's Day 10:
       Kuiper intends to prove by this text that Dekker is             "`What dost thou mean by the providence of God?
right when the latter repeatedly emphasizes that God loves             "The almighty and everywhere present -power of God;
all men. Now, as I stated before, Dekker can readily                whereby, as with his hand, he upholds and governs heaven
maintain his position by referring to the "Three Points."           and earth, and all creatures; so that herbs- and grass, rain
That this is true Kuiper also proves by quoting the text            and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink,
from Matthew 5, for the Synod of 1924 also quotes the               health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things,'
same text in proof of the "First Point." And although the           come not by chance, but by his fatherly hand."


                                         THE          STANDARD                     BEARER                                              413

    Such is the teaching of the Catechism and of all Scrip-       the preaching of the Word His `grace; the hearers will be
ture, and not that ram and sunshine are manifestations of         saved; if not, they will be damned.
the love of God to all men, the just and the unjust alike.                                      0  0  (t  0
    That Kuiper makes this concession to,  Decker is only             However, Kuiper agrees with Dekkdr also in regard to
because he wants to maintain the "Three Points." And as           the universal love of God as it is, manifested the preaching
long as the "Three Points" stand, the Christian Reformed          of the gospel. Writes he:
Church cannot oppose Dekker.                                          "Likewise Dekker has right along taught that the  uni-
   3. How, then, must the text from Matthew be explained?         versa1 love of God comes to expression in the universal and
In vs. 44 the Lord teaches~His disciples that tbey must love      sincere offer of the gospel, that is to say, in God's  com-
their enemies. What does this mean? How is this possible?         mand to his church to preach the gospel to all men and his
What is love? According to `Scripture, love is the bond of        earnest overture of salvation to all to whom the gospel
perfectness. It is the bond of fellowship between two             comes. There are those - the Reverend Herman Hoeksema,
parties  that are ethically perfect; Now it is evident that,      for instance-who have taken Dekker severely to task for
in the case of loving our enemies, this love must needs be        that position, branding it as `sheer Arminianism.' But again
one-sided. Our enemies are those that hate us. They are           Dekker is right. To quote but a few of several portions of
dose that despitefully use us, persecute, and curse us.           Scripture which prove him to be right, in Ezekiel 18:23 and
Hence, we must love those that hate us. Moreover, our             33:ll  God affirms emphatically that he has no pleasure in
enemies are those that hate us for Christ's sake, that hate .the death of the wicked but therein that the sinner turn
God and Christ. What, then, does it mean to love them?            from his evil way and live, and II Peter 3:9 assures -us that
-It cannot mean that we simply speak' to him in flattering        the Lord is `not willing that any should perish, but that all
words, or play ball with him. But it means rather that that       should come to repentance.' In  harmony'with those Scrip-
we admonish him to depart from his wicked way and thus            tural  passages the Canons of Dort assert: `As many as are
to bless him. 0, to be sure, it may also mean that we bestow called by the gospel are unfeignedly called. For God has
good things upon him in the earthly sense of the word, that       most earnestly declared in his word what is acceptable to
we help him when he is in need, that .we visit him when he        him; namely, that those who are. called should come unto .
is sick, but always with the- chief purpose in mind that he       him"' (III, IV, 8).
depart from his wicked way and live. If he heed our  ad-              There you have it again, the "Three Points."
monitions, which he will if he be one of God's elect and if           To be sure, Dekker can appeal for his doctrine that God
God gives him grace, our love will become mutual and we           loves all men to the declarations of the Synod of 1924.
can have true fellowship with each other. -If not, our love           Kuiper writes that I call the view of Dekker "sheer
`will be to his- greater damnation.                               Arminianism." Perhaps I did; I will not check up on what
  However, the cursing and persecution by the enemy may           I wrote. I will take his word for it. Besides, it is the
never induce the child of God to reward evil for evil. They       truth, But so, are the "Three Points" sheer Arminianism.
must` love their enemies.                                             You see, the fact is that the Synod of 1924 could not
   4. But how about rain and sunshine? Does this not              find Scriptural or Confessional proof for the Kuyperian
prove that God loves all men? If rain and sunshine, which         idea  of "common grace.~' However; in order to cast me out
God bestows upon the~evil as well as upon the good, must          of the Christian Reformed Church, as was their chief
induce the children of God to love their enemies, does this       purpose, they lapsed into the  Arminian  error. This is
not imply that God also loves His enemies? My answer is:          evident from the very. language of the "First Point," as
undoubtedly it does. Oinly, this does not mean that God           well as from the texts quoted. As for the language that is
loves all men. We all are by nature enemies of God, but He        used, it speaks of "the general offer of the gospel" as proof
loves only the elect, not all men. Now, God bestows rain          that the grace of God is to all the hearers without  distinc-
and sunshine and many good things upon all men, and He            tion.  .This  has nothing to do with the Kuyperian theory of
demands that they shall employ them to His glory and as a         "common  grace: It is; indeed, "sheer Arminianism." And
means to walk in the-way of righteousness of life. If now,        the same is true of the texts quoted, the texts which are
with these means they also receive grace, they will serve         also quoted by K&per in the above quoted paragraph.
and glorify Him as the God of  .their salvation. This grace           But about this next time, D.V.                                 H.H.
only the elect receive, and no one else. But if, together with
rain and sunshine and all other earthly means, they receive                           RESOLUTION OF  SYMPATHY
no grace, they will employ all these means in the service of         The Board of the Association for Protestant Reformed Education
                                                                  extends its deepest sympathy to the President of our Boald, Mr. P. A.
sin and receive greater damnation.  -      _                      Poortinga, in  tl+e loss of his father,
            -
    It is with rain and sunshine the same as with the preach-                             MR. ABE POORTENGA
ing of the gospel, God bestows the preaching of the gospel:          May the God of Grace comfort the bereaved.
                                                                                                        G. A. Van  Baren,  Vice President
upon all that hear. And. if God bestows, with and through                                               G. D. Vroom, Secretary


 414                                     T H E   $TAND&@D   ` B E A R E R
                                                                                                                       _      ,.
                                                                      that the Scripture plainly teaches that many that are born
        OU-R  D O C T R I N E                                         under the covenant are irretrievably lost. Besides, also ex-
                                                                      perience teaches that many of the baptized children are
                                                                      not saved. Hence, they must inevitably come to the con-
         THE DlOCTRINE  OF THE CHURCH                                 clusion that a so-called conditional promise to all is a
                         &IAPTER   VIII                               promise the condition of which the baptized child.ren  them-
            THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM                                  selves must and are able to fullill.
                          (co?tinued)                                    Such is indeed the theory of the late Prof. W. Heyns.
    The  above-Mentioned  view proceeds from the idea that            He maintains that to every baptized child is given sufEicient
the promise is for all that are born under the covenant. All          subjective grace to bring forth good fruits and to accept
the children of believing parents that are baptized h&e the           the promise. This means, of course, that the fruit of faith
promise. In the promise God bequeaths all the blessings of            and repentance can surely be realized by all the children
the covenant upon all that are baptized. He gives all the             of  the covenant.  Accprding  to Heyns, all the covenant
children the right to these blessings of salvation. And               children receive sufficient grace either to accept or to reject
therefore one may say to all the baptized children:  `Y               the covenant obligation. The distinction,  therefore,`accord-
                                                               OU
are really in the covenant. You have the right to accept              ing to Heyns, between baptized children and others is that
the promise." However, this promise' must necessarily, ac-            the former receive sufficient grace to accept the covenant,
cording to this view, be presented as conditional. It is con-         to bring forth fruits of faith and repentance, although they
tingent upon the faith of those that are baptized. If the             can still refuse to do this and therefore be lost. This, how-
children of the  covenant  do not believe the  promisg,-  the         ever, is  pure Arminianism and Pelagianism applied to the
promise cannot be fulfilled. So it depends upon man, upon             covenant. And even with this view, the desired certainty
the children of the covenant, whether or not they receive             for all the children of the covenant is not attained: for in
the promise and whether or not the promise-is realized in             that case the covenant is made contingent upon the will of
them. All the children are obliged to receive and accept              the  sinner, and that means that ultimately it has become
the promise. They  are obliged to fulfill their covenant              impossible of realization.
obligation. They must realize their part of the covenant.                That this is indeed the view of  the late Prof. Heyns is
If they fail in this, if they do not accept the promise of the        evident from  his. book,  "Catechetiek,"  particularly  p;lges
covenant, the blessings of  the covenant do not actually              144 and 145. It is Written, of course, in  Dutch; but I will
come in their possession, and instead they fall under the             somewhat freely translate what he writes in this connection:
terrible covenant wrath .and the vengeance of God.~                   "If one wants to do justice to such expressions of Scripture
    It stands to reason that we cannot possibly agree with            (He refers to Jeremiah  8:22 and Ezekiel  33:11),  if he will
tie above-mentioned view.  First of all, it certainly does not        allow them to say what they do say, then one must  c&r-
establish the assurance of which it boasts, that is, the  6b-         tainly  come to the conclusion, whether one wants it or not,
jective certainty that according to the  .promise  of God all         that the Bible teaches us that there is  a,# of subjective
that are baptized are really in the covenant and have a               grace to all the children of the covenant, that is, to  every
God-given right to the blessings  of. the covenant. They              child of believers,  sufficient  to bring forth good fruit. This
speak of a conditional promise. And the condition upon                is given to  euery  covenant child, not only to the elect, be-
which' this promise is contingent is faith and obedience.             cause it is very evident  that it is not a grace that flows
Now the question is: what is faith in relation to the prom-           forth from election. and that is without possibility of being
ise? Is faith excluded from the promise? Or is faith in-              lost. For according to Isaiah 5 and Ezekiel 16 what is said
cluded? Does Gdd also promise faith? If this accepted, and            refers to those who became guilty of the most horrible sins,
if it is still maintained that the promise is for all that are        so that they even offer  the children of the. covenant to
born under the covenant, in the old as well as in the new             Molech.  In Luke 13 it is said of the  fig tree that it is un-
dispensation, it necessarily follows that all must be saved.          fruitful and remains unfruitful. In John 15 and Romans 11
To all God promises the lively faith, whereby they be&me              the same is said of branches  ihat are  brpken  off and cast
partakers of  the  blessings of the covenant. And the promise         out and are burned. It is evident, therefore, that not the
of God is sure. Hence, all the baptized children are surely           elect are meant, but all, the children of the covenant.
saved. The sign and the seal of this alil receive in baptism.            "There is, therefore, a subjective grace which is suf-
And the inevitable conclusion must be that all the children           ficient in connection with the spiritual  laboi performed on
that are born in the line of the covenant are surely saved.           them through the means of grace to the bringing forth of'
    However, you realize that those who maintain this                 good fruits, of faith and obedience, so that God may indeed
-theory  that the promise of God is for all; head for head and        expect that they bring forth good fruits. On the other hand,
soul  for  soul,   realize that the position that all are saved is    however, the possibility is not excluded that the covenant
untenable. They all realize that because it is  simply'not            child, in spite of `the most excellent labor bestowed upon
true and is simply not a fact. They understand very well              him through the means of grace, remains unfruitful, accord-
                                                                                                               , .


                                         THE  STANDARD   BEARER                                                                415

ing to Luke 13, and produces stinking grapes. This therefore
does noi consist in saving grace."                                11 THELORDGAVETHEWORD....  11
   From this, therefore, it is perfectly evident that Prof.
Heyns teaches that there is a certain grace `which enables        II                                             (Psalm  68:ll)  11
a covenant child either to reject or to accept the covenant
promises and covenant obligations.
  This view, however, is not only in conflict with Scripture,                      The Synod On Missions
but also with the plain teaching of our B,aptism  Form. The
expository part of that Form establishes the whole of Gods              There appears a far more comprehensive report of the
covenant and all its benefits as absolutely sure unto "the        actions and decisions of the 1964 Synod elsewhere in this
children of the promise." -It is not a conditional promise.       issue of the Standard  BsaycT. But since the synod devoted
It is not conditional whatsoever. God's part of the covenant      much time to  .our mission program and mission efforts I
is that He realizes it completely, according to the Form --       would like to devote a little space to these matters. Those
both objectively and subjectively, both as to its objective       who were interested in the affairs of the synod have already
establishment.and as to its subjective application. In that       asked, `What was done about Houston?," or, `What are the
Form   we read: "First. That we with our children are con-        plans for Jamaica?, or, `What about calling another mis-
ceived ,and  born in sin, and therefore are children of wrath,    sionary for the field of home missions?" These questions I
in. so much that we cannot enter into the kingdom of God,         want to answer and discuss briefly.
except we are born again. This, the dipping in, or sprinkling           First. of all then, a few remarks about Houston, Texas.
with water teaches us, whereby the impurity of our souls
is signiiled, and we admonished to loathe, and humble our-              Synod did decide to continue the work in that field, at
selves before God, and seek for our puriilcation  and salva-      least for the present. This will be rather  diflicult because
tion without ourselves.                                           we have no missionary to give his undivided attention to
 *I "Secondly. Holy baptism witnesseth and sealeth unto           this field of labor. But the Mission Committee was in-
us the washing away of our sins through Jesus Christ.             structed to contact the various consistories, asking them to
Therefore we are  .baptized  in the name of the Father, and       release their ministers for a period of about three weeks to
of-.&e Son, and of the Holy Ghost. For when we are bap-           visit Houston. In cooperation with the families there these
tized in the-name of the Father, God the Father witnesseth        ministers will be expected to put forth every effort to make
and sealeth unto us, that he doth make an eternal covenant        new contacts in that area, in order to increase,, if possible,
of grace with us, and adopts us for his children and heirs,       the number of interested parties toward a possible future
and therefore will provide us with every good thing, and          organization of a church. Each minister will be expected to
avert all evil or turn  .it to our profit, And when we are        report to the Mission Committee his findings and his advice
baptized in the name of the Son, the Son sealeth unto us,         concerning future labors in the area.
that he doth wash us in his blood from all our sins,  in-               If the work in Houston is to be carried out successfully,
corporating.us into the fellowship of his death and resur-        the families there will be very busy. Their first attempt wi,ll
rection, so that we are freed from all our sins, and ac-          most likely be to obtain church directories of the orthodox
counted righteous before God,  -In- like manner, when we          `evangelical churches in the area and also the names of all
are baptized in the name of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost -interested parties in the community. Thereupon they will
assures us, by this holy sacrament, that he will dwell in us,     be reading pamphlets written by our ministers, in order to
and sanctify us` to be members of Christ, applying unto us        pick out those that will best serve their purpose for propa&
that which we have in Christ, namely, the washing away            gating the truth of God's sovereign grace as we know and
of -our sins, and the daily renewing of our lives, till we        confess it. A wide distribution of these pamphlets and
shall finally be presented without spot or wrinkle among          pointed newspaper announcements may, under the blessing
the assembly of the elect in life eternal."                       of God, open the way for our ministers to make personal
   This is evidently not presented as a conditional promise,      contacts with those who have not yet made acquaintance
but is absolutely unconditional. Fact is that if there were       with our churches, A prayerful, diligent witness should soon
a condition attached to this covenant, it could never be          prove whether or not our God will leave a permanent wit-
realized. But Gods work is never conditional, and it is in        ness of His sovereign grace in that place.
no wise contingent upon the will and work of man. The                   Secondly, there is the Jamaica field.
language of the Baptism Form is as positive `and uncondi-
tional as it could possibly be. And therefore we cannot                 Concerning Jamaica synod decided to continue sending
accept the theory of Professor Heyns, or any theory like it,      all available material for use in their churches. This in-
that speaks of a conditional promise for all the children         cludes such material as catechism books, Sunday School
that are baptized and that are living under the dispensation      Guide,  Standad Bearer, Beacon  -Lights,   pamphlets and
of the covenant.                                         H.H.     sermon recordings.

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

       Last fall about two hundred copies of catechism books          sonally  I am sorry that this matter was  ndt brought to the
were sent to the island. Book One of Bible Stories and Old            attention of Synod. But we do well to consider this in our
Testamknt History for Juniors with the accompanying Work              f u t u r e   p l a n s .
books were given to the various churches. Th,ese  have been               Also matters pertaining to calling a home missionary
gratefully received and diligently used by both old and               were discussed at synod.
young. This year the children should be ready -for Book
Two of Bible Stories and The New Testament for Juniors                    As you may know, there was a request at synod that all
`with its accompanying,work  book. The Standard Bearer and            our ministers be made eligible for the missionary call.' This
.Beacon Lights  have helped to  make'these  churches more             was agreed upon  ' by synod. And this  gives  the calling
fully acquainted with us and with our convictions. The                church many more candidates for a future trio. May the
Sunday Sclaool  Guide has been a great help to both teachers          Lord in His own time incline the heart of one of our men to
and pupils. Both Rev. Frame and Rev. Elliott inform us                take up this work in the future. One big draw back will be
that they have taken the recorder and tapes with them on              the shortage of ministers in our churches. The need .for our
their visit to the various churches, and that the sermons are         outlying churches `is also great and cannot be ignored, but
eagerly  listened to for their  mutual  -edification. They tell       we know that it is Christ Who calls through His Church
us' that the people receive great  spiritual benefit from these       and says -to this one "Come," and he comes, and to that one
sermons and they experience the common  b&d of  .faith                "Go," and he goes. For it is Christ Who gathers, defends
that  unites them to us.                                              and preserves  His own Church even unto the end of the
                                                                                                                            -,
       The synod also decided to make plans for taking Jamai-         ages.
can students into our seminary in the future. It will be a                The synod considered this a very proper time for our
disappointment to some of the Jamaican young men that                 local churches to be active in mission work in  .their own
these plans cannot be realized at once, since they had their          area. Since we have no missionary in the field at present
hopes built up on coming to oUr seminary at once. Yet they            we may be able to concentrate on this  wdrk a little more
will be content to know that this matter is now under study           fully than tie `have done in the past. As you know, it is
by our  Theolo&cal School Committee. Synod decided "to                customary. in the churches to appoint Church Visitors who
instruct the Theological School Committee  td investigate             visit the -churches annually. These church visitors have a
the possibility of preparing a special course of instruction          list of prescribed questions which are  ,asked of the  con-
adapted to the preparation of,these young men (of Jamaica)            sistory. A copy  ot these questions may be found on page
for work in the midst of their own people.`" The following            69 of our Church Order. One of the questions is this,  `2s
grounds were offered for this decision:                               the `congregation busy in the extension of Go&s Kingdom,
       "( 1) Obviously, to give them a complete edudation  such       especially in the promotion of missions, to the best of its
as our men receive takes too many years.                              ability?`, This particular question  raises more discussion
                                                                      than  ahy other. The consistory members wonder just  wha!
       "( 2) It is not necessary for them to receive  education in    they are called to do toward  the- extension of  .God's king-
all the required pre-seminary and seminary  courses to I&I-           dom. They also ask in what way they  may be busy in the
is+ to their own people.                                              prombtion  of missions. And they never fail to inquire as to
                                                                      what is meant by the expression "to the best of its ability."
       "( 3) To meet their needs requires a special course dif-       We can appreciate the fact that the various consistories
fering rather radically from the course now given our min-            want to give an honest and complete answer to this ques-
isterial candidates.                                                  tion and that they are interested in church extension work
 ' "( 4) We should help these people to the extent that +e            in their  o&n area. We also realize that many of them are
Gospel of Christ may be proclaimed in their midst if  pas-            active in various ways. Most of our churches have commit-
sible."                                                               tees,working  in various mission endeavors, -especially in the
                                                                      distribution of pamphlets. But this decision of synod  cati
       There is still another possibility of helping these            encourage them in this York and also help them to expand
churches which look to us for help and guidance. `And that            their program. For synod decided that any local church
is that we send someone to the island again  to spend a few           may appeal to the Mission Commit&e  for assistance-in the
weeks or months there in order to aid them with personal              spread of pamphlets and for financial aid for local radio
counsel and further instruction. Especially the  churches             broadcasting.
with Rev. Elliott, who have not had contact with us as long
as the other churches have, are quite desirous that some-                 There are, of course, many pamphlets available for dis-
one should come to  .visit them again. Recent letters from            tribution. Some of these pamphlets have been available for
them have expressed  the hope that a minister or  even  an            many years and have been sent to almost every part of the
elder  might come to answer their many questions and to               world. Some are of a more recent date. The  Standard
help them with problems connected with orgtinization. Per-            Bearer  Board  has published a few pamphlets under the


                                              T H E   STA-NDA.RD   B E A R E R                                                       4 1 7

      heading of "The Word of Truth." Another series has been                 Thus a closer contact could be established with these
      published by the churches in the South Holland area. Be-                listeners, even though our lack of ministers and facilities
      sides these there is the "Covenant Witness" published .by               prevents  .us from making  a personal contact with them. In
      the Hope Church, and the "Reformed Witness" by the                      the past some very interesting contacts have been made and
      churches in the mid-west. Many of us have felt that this                also our Jamaican field was opened through information re-
      material is far too valuable to  be- limited to such a small            ceived from a listener in England.
       area: Some effort should be put forth `either to unite these              The matters pertaming  to foreign mission endeavor were
       efforts or to give these publications a much broader distri-      -extensively discussed by the synod and were referred to the
      bution. But in any case, these should be made available to              Foreign Mission Committee for further study. It may be
      those churches which desire to send out pamphlets in their              some time before we can reach out into areas where the
      own community.                                                     people have never heard the Gospel. Especially the language
          The suggestion was also made at synod that lectures            barrier may prevent us from doing work among those who
      should be given on timely subjects in  defence of the five         in their generations have been outside of the sphere of the
     points of Calvinism, which are sometimes forgotten and              preaching of the Word. But that does not mean that these
      sometimes attacked; especially the emphasis should be                   areas cannot be investigated. Especially in those areas
      placed on the particular atonement- of the cross.                       where the English or the Dutch language is spoken we may
                                                                              be able to make contact by correspondence, by pamphlets,
         .The radio committee has `been working for some time                 or by radio. .I recall that some years ago a listener of Radio
      on a fifteen minute broadcast that can be used for a period             Hoyer wrote that he had not heard the Reformed truth
      of thirteen weeks. These broadcasts also are intended to                proclaimed since he had left the Netherlands. It was re-
      stress the fundamental issues of the day. The one objection             freshing to him to hear our weekly broadcasts. Through
      to a thirteen week broadcast is the fact that a listening               such contacts maybe areas could be explored where the                          .
      audience cannot be built up in such a short time, unless the            Gospel has not yet been proclaimed. Surely much can be
      program is extensively advertised before it comes on the air.           done even in`this field without laying a great financial bur-
      In areas where such a broadcast is to be used such an an-               den upon our churches.
     nouncement should accompany the distribution of pam-
      phlets, but should also be placed in .the local newspapers,                I have tried to give you an armchair visit to our synod
      and probably even extensively spread abroad by means of                 and acquaint you with the decisions that were made in con-
      postcard or letter.                                                     nection with our mission endeavors. It is our prayer that
                                                                              the Lord may .keep  us faithful to His Word and also bless
          But. all of these means of witness must necessarily be              these efforts toward the proclamation of His Name upon the
      followed up by personal contact. This can be done by the                earth. In the confidence that even weakest means fulfill
      local minister, or by the local consistory members, or even             His will and that His strength is accomplished through our
      by members of the congregation. But such a follow up is                 weakness, we go on in faith that He will work His work to-
      essential if any program of mission endeavor is to bear fruit.          ward the ingathering of His Church and the coming of His
      Prayerfully looking to the Lord for His blessing ,upon  these           Kingdom.  ,When  the Lord builds His House, His laborers
      labors we can fulfill our calling in a time of much apathy              never labor in vain; when the Lord keeps His City, His
       and apostasy, even as our' God has said, `Ye are My wit-               watchers never watch in vain.
      nesses, saith the Lord."                                                                                                             C.H.
          There are a few other items that were  .considered  by
      synod.
          Our radio broadcasting was discussed and various pro-
      posals were adopted.. Most of our stations within the                              Heathen lands and hostile peoples
      United States will be continued for another year. The                                Soon shall come the Lord to know;
      Trans-world station broadcasting from  Monacco  through-                           Nations born again in Zion
      out Europe and into England will also be continued for                                Shall the Lords salvation show;
      another year. That station still brings many interesting let-                             God Almighty
      ters, which give evidence to the fact that there is a wide                         Shall on Zion strength bestow.
      and varied listening audience in many countries. Although
     we are numerically small, this station gives us a wonderful                         When the Lord shall count the nations,                         1
                                                                         1
      opportunity to witness of the Reformed truth in many areas.                          Sons and daughters He shall see,                            _.
      The responses that are received should be  followed,up by                          Born to endless life in Zion,                           I:
      further correspondence. Especially those listeners who show                          And their joyful song shall be,                      -)
      a sincere interest in hearing and searching the truth of                                  "Blessed Zion,                             *
      God's Word should be placed on a pamphlet mailing list.                            All our fountains are in thee."              -                -



I                                                                  _-


-     ..(.
      418 .-.
           .~-._  .--                 .YiiS.     ,.    _I,_ __     T-l!&   S'T A  N-B.J-grj'  ,B E  A.5 E R -_                       .._-.-.-...lL  ..-.           --.-.
                                                                                          ._        .' the conscience be  `true or false concerning faith, provided that
                             SF!E;ClAL REPORT. I -.-' 11                                              the conscience is sincerely followed.
                                                                                                          It labels as  `3ie greatest injury" prevention of a man from
                                                                                          / ..-       worshipping God `and from obeying God according to the
                                                                                          3..i..      dictates of  ,his own conscience.
                                                                                          ,::            It affirms, however, that external manifestation of the
                                                                                          1
                            The Second Vatican Council                                                dictates of conscience is not unlimited and can be regulated
                                                                                                    ' by public authority for the common good.24
                                 ._  ,.          .vl.             "     .'     . .                  It  .would be encouraging, of course, if greater religious
                                                                                 ./ .     freedom is permitted Protestants in Roman Catholic lands.
                                 UNFINISHED.  BUSINESS  ( cont. )                              But it is indeed questionable how much this freedom means
                                                                                          `if Roman Catholic and Protestant. members continue closer
      ECUMENISM                                                                                and closer fellowship and the working toward eventual
               In the last article, I did not conclude the treatment of                   union. Then "freedom of worship" would simply be a term
      the fifth schema.,  Ecumenism.  I quoted a summary of the                           with no practical value. Besides,. the Scriptural view of
      fourth of five chapters: The  Reibions  of the-  Cktholics to                       religious liberty is hardly the same as that presented in this
      the  Jews. There is considerable opposition to this chapter,                             chapter. Could you ever imagine Christ saying that .a per-
                                                                                                                                                                     .
      though there is. evidently nothing in it which conflicts with                            son has "the right . . . to the free exercise of religion ac-
      other Romish doctrine. The opposition probably arises be-                           cording to the dictates of his conscience?"
      cause the Romish churches in Arab lands fear reprisal if                                      Rather interesting is the comment -of Father Baum  .in
      Rome takes any favorable stand regarding Jews. A brief                                                                                                . .
                                                                                          this connection:
      commentary on this chapter is presented by Father Gregory                                          Chapter five on religious liberty is a more difficult question.
      Baum:                                                                                           If the chapter had simply asserted that in our pluralistic
                                                                                                      society of today, we must affirm the principle of religious
                         The  content of the brief chapter is in no way controversial.                liberty, perhaps not a single voice would have objected. How-
                  It tells the story of the Church's foundation in Israel. The                        ever, the chapter is doctrinal: it teaches that religious liberty
                  Church was prepared by the patriarchs and prophets; it was                          is a good given by God to man created in His image, which
                  founded by Jesus and built upon the apostles. It was thus                           good the teaching of Christ  ilhnninates  in a special way.
                  within the people of Israel that the Church came to be. Jesus,                      Religious liberty, therefore, is a good to be announced and
                  Mary, and the Master's disciples were all Jews. For this reason                     defended by the church whatever the sociological or political
                  it is absurd to pin responsibility  for the death of Jesus on the                   situation in which she  finds herself . . .
                  whole Jewish `people, or even the Jewish people living in
                  Judea  at the tune. It is, moreover, most unjust to attribute to                       On the last day Cardinal  Bea  spoke. He said that the
                  the Jews of our day a stigma derived from the events of Jesus'                      reason why we cannot proceed with chapters four and five is
                  death. On the contrary, we know from the Scriptures that                          lack of time. This was true. There was no time for further
                  despite their unwillingness to accept Jesus as savior, the Jews                     discussion. But this did not answer the question of the votes.
                  remain linked to the church by the bond of a common destiny,                        When a week ago it had been announced that the votes on
                  and because-of our common heritage they always remain our                           Chapters four and five would take place "in the next few days,"
                  brothers according to the promises. The chapter condemns                            the moderators must have judged the preceding discussion
                  persecution of and contempt for the Jews, and encourages                           sufficient to justify a general vote. Why did they change their
                  Christians to seek to understand and love their Jewish neigh-                       mind?20                                                               \
                  bors.                                                                             Other Roman Catholics also were disturbed, publicly so,
                         Why was this chapter placed into the schema on ecumen-
                  ism? The reasons are theological. The people  of.Israel  belong         because of the failure of the council to take any decisive
                  irrevocably to the history of salvation; and we cannot under-           action on chapters four and five discussed above:
                  stand the `mystery of the Church . . . . without taking into
                  consideration the mystery of Israel.23                                                 . . . More troubling was the failure of the Fathers to vote
                                                                                                      on those two parts of the ecumenical schema, chapters four
               The final chapter is On  ReZigious   Liberty.   This chapter                           and five, which dealt respectively with the Jews and with
      met also with much opposition by a minority of bishops -                                        religious liberty. More than on any other occasion, this omis-
                                                                                                      sion showed. the  pomwer  of a small minority to frustrate the
      especially from `lands which are predominantly Roman                                            will of a majority; . . . No less distressing, we hate to say,
      Catholic. The Romish church  m the past, and even today,                                       was the failure of the Pope to press the issue in accordance
                                                                                                     with the will of the Fathers.25
      has notoriously suppressed ,a11  religion contrary to its own.
      This chapter appears to adopt a different position. If and                          UNTREATED SCHEMATA
      when the chapter is ilnally  adopted, it would be Worthy  of                                  At the beginning of the second session of the council,
      very careful study. A summary of the chapter follows:                               there were listed seventeen schemata to be acted upon.
                         "On Religious Liberty"  - made two definitions of that           There remain presently ten schemata which have neither
                  phrase. In positive terms, it said, religious freedom means the         been voted upon nor discussed. I do not have at present any
                  right of a person to the free exercise of religion according to
                  the dictates of his conscience. Looked at negatively, it means          information concerning the contents of these schemata, but
                  immunity from all external force in his personal  relatigns  with       I will merely list them for your information: schema  six:
                  God . . .
                         It says, to the contrary, that religious liberty implies a       The  Clergy; seven:  Religious;  eight:  The Lay  Apwtolute;
                  human autonomy enjoyed as regards to external coercion, but,            nine:' The  Easkrn   Chzwches;   eleven:  Pastoral Work;
                  not coming from within. The chapter asserts that every person
                  who follows his conscience in religious matters has a natural           twelve: The Sacrament of Matrimony; .thirteen: The Educa-
                  right to  true religious liberty. It proposes that the Council          tion  of  the  Clergy; fourteen:  Catholic Schools and  Unioer-
                  Fathers solemnly demand religious liberty for the whole human
      1           family, for all religious groups, for each human person, whether        sities;  fifteen:  The Missions;  seventeen:  The Church in the


                                                        -THE  S T A N D A R D   l3EARE.R                                                                       41q
                                                                         %
                           _. .  -?                              ..__                                                                                     .
     Modern  World. It is questionable whether any of these                         history will also  demonst-rate  this.  .What else can we then
     schemata will reach the floor for discussion; rather certain                   conclude but that in its council, Rome will never approach
     it is that many, of them will remain untreated for lack of                     nearer the truth of God's Word, but will only drift farther
     time. It would  seem that the  only hope of treating most of                   away. This will prove true whether it adopts or rejects the
     the subject material would be a council which continues                        proposed schemata.
     working for a decade or more. Some Roman. Catholic the-                            Secondly, most commentaries on the council distinguish
     ologians are suggesting this. possibility:                                     between two .major groups at the council commonly called
                         The Second `Vatican Council is promising to become         the "conservatives" and the `liberals." Again, these two
               the'task  of this generation of the Church. Historians are re-
               calling that, with interruptions, the Council of  Trent  lasted      blocs can be subdivided into various other groupings. The
               19 years. . .  .-as                                                  so-called conservatives seek to maintain the old position of
                                                                                    the Romish Church. They oppose any major changes and
     IN RETROSPECT                                                                  seek development only along lines already laid down in the
             Roman Catholic periodicals in the U.S., in evaluating                  past, as, for instance, development ,of the theories of Mari-
     the  ilrst two sessions of the council, admit that not much                    ology. The conservatives are very much a minority group,
     progress has been made, though at the same time these seek                     but they exercise a power far disproportionate, to their num-
     to convince the readers that the council has nevertheless                      ber. They are being blamed for preventing much positive
     been very successful in uniting the leaders off the church.                    action thus far at the council. Their power is to be explained
     Typical is the following:                                                      by the fact that the Curia (helpers and advisors to the
                                                                                    pope) is largely composed of conservatives. Because of
                   What is the achievement of the second session of Vatican
               II? From the viewpoint of doctrinal formulation little has           their positions, the conservatives have been able to suppress
               been accomplished. The schema on the liturgy (which is ex-           or side-track most of those measures which they oppose. If
               cellent and will have a profound influence on Catholic life)
               and a brief exhortation on the use of mass media were promul-        the conservatives can force their will on the council, it will
               gated by Pope Paul-on December 4. But these were basically           mean that Rome will remain much the same as in the past.
       .i      the work of the first session, The great achievement of this
        ,      (second) session was rather the growing unanimity among the          Its old errors would be as. pronounced as ever, but discus-
               Council Fathers. . . .                                               sions and progress toward union with other church groups
                   The delay in the work of the second session is mainly due
               to the obstruction on the part of a tiny minority, whose in-         would be slowed down.. But success for the conservatives,
              fluence is out of proportion to their  number.a                       if it comes, can"only  be temporary. The `liberal" element is
             The Protestant press was rather more outspoken in its                  far too great to be bound for long by those who refuse to
     evaluation of-the council. One typical summary I quote                         change.
     from  The Christian Century:                                                       The second group, a very large majority of the Romish
e       Reaction~aries  Win Second Rotcrd                                           church, are called "liberals." These favor the changes
                  Progressive  Roman' Catholic bishops who responded eagerly        proposed in the various schemata, specifically, the collegial-
               to John XXIII's prophetic call for a renewed church addressing
               itself to the modem world had cause to leave the second              ity of bishops, the idea of religious freedom, and other such
               session of `Vatican Council II with a heavy sense of despond-        measures which will make the Romish church more ap-
               ency, if -not outright despair. They went to Rome expecting
              much. they returned having achieved little. By overwhelming           pealing to  Protestantsh If these liberals can regain control
               major&y  the Conciliar Fathers early in the session asked for        of the council,`one  will see action taken which will promote
               "collegiality," the right to share the rule of the church with
               the pope. This hope was thwarted by the reactionaries in the         the cause of ecumenism and all that this implies. We must
               Curia. . . . Throughout the second session bishops pressed for       remember, however, that both the liberal and conservative
               the adoption of a schema on ecumenism, including a chapter
              `on the  relationship  of the Church  ,to'the  Jews and another on    are Roman Catholic, and therefore both seek `(though in
              religious liberty. These two chapters were buried, and no one         different  ways) to gather all those called Christian under
              knows with certainty that they will be resurrected in the coun-
               cil's third session in the fall of 1964.27                           the banner of the Romish church.
             Finally, what ought `we to say concerning the Vatican                      Now we await further developments next fall when the
     Council -particularly its first two sessions? It would be                      council convenes for its third session, scheduled to open on
     difficult to .present  a fair and complete evaluation without                  September 14, 1964. What-will happen? Will the liberals
     having a far more intimate contact with the council than                       or conservatives have control? Will the various proposed
     this writer has had. However, on the basis of what we know                     schemata be approved? We do not know. But this is cer-
     of the Romish Church, and in the light of the comments of                      tain:  our God will direct even these events that His Church
     the religious press, several conclusions can be made.                          will be maintained, and finally delivered when Christ re-
       First; Rome has long ago departed far from the main-                         turns in glory.                                                       G.V.B.
     stream of the truths. of  `God's Word. This could be easily                    23.  ?$c,~;~rno~~~uZ,  Father Gregory Baum, O.S.A., p. 393, Dec.
     demonstrated, but for now  1, simply present it as a fact.                          >     .*
                                                                                    24. ~&&Catholic Register,  supplement, Dec. 26, 1963, p. 2
     And Rome has passed the "point of no return." The apos-                        25. The  Common,weal,   p. 384, Dec. 27, 1963
tate church, having, departed from the basic. truths of Scrip-                      26.  Denuer Catholic Register,  Rev. Edward Duff, S.J.,  supp.,  Dec.
ture, rapidly sinks into the mire of .ever greater error. Past                      37. 26, The 1963,  3
                                                                                                     Christian  p. Century, Dec. 18, 1963, p. 156    .


      420                                    TH%  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                         should -have been able to see that it was the wickedness of
                                                                         the Philistines that was being punished by God through
                                                                         the mighty  works of Samson. But spiritual decay had set in
                                                                         and left its mark upon their lives. They wanted peace  -
                   With1 the Jawbone of an Ass                           peace at any cost even if it had to be under the cruel sub-
                                                                         jection of the  Phil&tines.  Samson's mighty exploits spoke
                  And  he found a niw iawbone of an ass, and put         to them only of con&t and trouble., They were dismayed
              forth his hund, and took it, and sle-zv  a thousand men    by them. When Samson returned again to their land, they
              therewith.                                                 let their dissatisfaction with bim be known. They banished
                 And  Sa.mson   said, With the jawbone  of  an ass,      him from their communion. The man of God was left to
              heaps upon. heaps, with the jawbone of an ass hare 1       retire to the rocky cliffs of Etam and dwell in a hollow
              slain a thozwand men.    _                                 cave which he found. The children of Israel did not want to
                                                     Judges 15: l&16     be delivered.
             The Spirit of  God. rested upon Samson. This was per-          The Philistines soon sensed the uneasiness of the chil-
      fectly evident when he tore apart a young lion with his            dren of Israel and were ready to use it. Gathering together
      bare hands, when in a single day he slew thirty men in.the         a large force of armed `men, they marched into the land of
      city of Ashkelon, when he set the fields of the Philistines        Israel. This was exactly what the Israelites had most feared.
,     afire with firebrands carried between the tails of 300 foxes,      Long before the Philisiines had taken all of their weapons
      and when he slew a great number of  Philistiues  hip and           away. They had been allowed not even a blacksmith who
      thigh. This was the Spirit of God in Samson warring against        might be able to fashion a sword, and they had to rely upon
      the enemies of Israel.                                             the Philistines to sharpen their tools Now they were left
                                                                         without defense, and they feared that the Philistines were
             Upon the Philistines, the effect was to harden their        come to expend their wrath against Samson upon them.
      hearts. They had thought that they would be able to cor-           Quickly they sent an emissary to meet de Philisiines and
      rupt him as they had done so many other young men of               ask, `Why are ye come up against us?" The implication was
      Israel by giving him one of their daughters. In this they          plain. They had had no part in the actions of Samson and
      had failed. Rather he had found in his marriag,e  an occasion      did not-wish to share the responsibility for them.        -
      to expose the dishonesty of the Philistine heart. This he did
      not just once, but over  and over :again. Each wicked work            The Philistines were ready with an answer. They did
      of the Philistines led to another, and each one Samson             not fear the rest of the children of Israel and had no inten-
      answered in righteous indignation by bringing down upon            tions of spending their time with them. They feared Samso'n
     them the judgment of God. Surely the Philistines were               and wanted him out of the way. So they said, "To bind
      struck with amazement, for never had they seen a single            Samson are we come up, to do to him as he  bath  done
      man able  to1 do things like this, not even among the  Ana-        to us."
      kim giants that resided in their land. They knew full well         Foolishly and shamefully, the children of Israel were
      the power of great armies; but here was a single man; with-        relieved. So, blind had they become that they thought it
     out unusual stature or size, whom no number of men were             w;ould  be to their advantage if Samson would be turned
      able to overcome. The very sight'of him when moved by              over quietly to the Philistines. Then they would have peace.
      the Spirit of God paralyzed everyone with fear, so that they       No longer were they able to recognize that it was the hand
      fell before his hand as helpless. children. Still, before this     of the Lord that was working in Samson for the salvation of
      great and unusual wonder, the  Phil&tines  were not ready          their nation; or, if  they  could recognize this, they at least
      to give  in.~ Rather they deterrnined to rise and meet the         thought it would be to their betterment to have peace. All
      challenge. They were sure that somehow they could rise             that mattered to them was that they should placate the
      .and  overcome in the end. If only they could find the right       wrath of the Philistines. For that the deliverance of Samson
      combination of force, they could bring Samson down in              seemed a small price. Even more foolishly, they thought
      defeat. This hardness of heart before the judgment of              that this was something they could easily do. Even the
      Israel's God was to be expected, for the Philistines .were a       Philistines knew better than this. They had seen Samson
      godless people and not inclined to repent.                         cut down hundreds upon hundreds of their men while he
             The sad fact was, however, that the effect upon the         remained untouched as though. kept by the hand of God.
      children of Israel was not much better, at least not at the        They, the Philistines, would move against him again if they
      first. They too saw the,works that Samson did, and they had        had to; but they  .far preferred not  ,to do so if it could be
      every reason to understand them better.. In him was the            avoided. No matter how large their force of heavily armed
      same Spirit which their fathers had seen working in Moses          men, they had no desire to tangle with this man of God
      and Joshua, Deborah and Gideon. This was the power of              if there was any other way in which they could get him
      God working to deliver them from their enemies. They               in their power. But the children of Israel  .felt no such


                                          T H E   STANDA.RD   .B'EARER                                                               421.

  restraint. To take Samson seemed to them  but. a small          thrust Samson broke apart the cords as though they were
  thing. They readily agreed to do so and to deliver him          old,. burnt and  iweakened  by  fire. In shocked amazement
  bound to the  Phil&tines as the price which they would          the.:Philistines  drew back trembling, and there at his feet
  pay for peace.                                                  Samson `saw lying the jawbone of an ass which had died
      Quickly they gathered a force of some 3,000 men who         at that spot. Picking it up, he lunged forth once again
  could spread out and search for Samson among the rocks          into the very center of the Philistine army. Though all he
  of Etam. It was, not long before they found him, and they       had was a dry bone while they-were armed with swords
  showed. no hesitation in letting him feel their irritation.     and spears  and. protected by strong  armor, it meant noth-
  "Knowest thou not," they demanded, "That the. Philistines.      ing. Not a sword or spear was able to harm him. Philistine
  are rulers over us? What is this that thou hast done  unto      after Philistine fell before the swing of the ass's jaw,  until
  us?".                                                           no less than 1,000 men lay dead about him. This again
                                                                  was the judgment of God.
      Samson was disheartened. He could fight against the
  Pbilistines;  but these were the people he loved; these were        Exhilarated by that which God had wrought through
  the people he fought to deliver. Still he tried to explain      him, Samson broke forth in song. He cried with a loud
  himself. `As they did unto me; so have I done unto them."       voice,                         '
  He was a judge who had gone against them to punish them             `With the jawbone of an ass,                 -
  move for move just as they deserved. The Philistines were                heaps upon heaps,
  a wicked people who had brought upon themselves all that           with the jawbone of an ass
  he had done.                                                             have I slain a thousand men."
      But the Israelites had no  .time for such explanations.     But then he looked about for his fellow countrymen, and
  Quickly they came to the point,  "`We are come down to, he found that like the Philistines they had fled. At that the
  bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the  hand of the       spirit of depression set in upon him. They had not re-
  Philis tines ."                                                 mained to share his joy. They had left him alone and. did
      Rather than carry on a futile argument with these who       not care if he should- die.  -So troubled was his heart that
  were evidently unreceptive, or what was even worse, to          now'he felt exhausted. A great and painful thirst rose up
  risk- a struggle in which he might have to harm some of         in his throat that seemed greater than he could. bear. In
  his. own countrymen, Sarnson submitted to them after            bis agony he cried to God, "Thou hast given this great
  extracting from them one condition. "Swear unto me," he         deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I
  said, "That ye will not fall upon me yourselves."               die for thirst, and fall into the hand <of the uncircumcised?"
    To this the  .Israelites  readily agreed saying, "No; but        But God was with  him; and there in Lehi (Lehi means
  we will bind thee fast, and deliver  .thee into their hand:     jawbone, and was given that name because of this event)
  but surely we will not kill thee."                              God caused a spring of water to come out of the ground
      It was a triumphant party which  came down from the         to revive him. It was to him the assurance of God's abiding
  rocks of Etam to the camp of the Philistines. In their          love.
  midst they led Samson, strongly bound with new cords               But also after this there was another wonderful thing
  sufficient to hold the strongest of men or animals. They        that took place. The children of Israel, having seen Sam-
. felt proud of their accomplishment, for they had done with      son in actual battle under the Spirit of God, began to re-
  ease what the Philistines had  ,hesitated  to do themselves.    spect him as never before. They received him as their
  They were quite convinced that Samson had submitted             judge, and listened to him when he brought to them the
  to them out of fear of their great power.                       Word of God. For twenty years this continued, as Samson
      Even more overjoyed were the-Philistines. Now they          judged Israel in the name of the Lord.                   '
- would have Samson in their power.  .Already  the plans                                                                            B.W.
  were forming in their minds how they would take him
  back to their `land in triumph. They would hold him as a
  great trophy. They would huiniliate  him and persecute him
  without mercy. They would make him suffer for every
  bit of damage which he had done to them. They would                                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
 show to all the  wlorld that they were stronger and more            The  Con&tory  extends its sincerest sympathy to our fellow
  powerful than this man who stood in the name of Israel's        &ice-bearer,  Mr. Edward Van Egdom, in the recent loss of his
  God. The shout of triumph filled the camp of the Phi&tines.     Father. May the God of all grace and mercy comfort him and his
      It was then, at the moment when the children of Israel      family with the assurance of the faithfulness of His promises.
  turned Samson over to the Philistines, -that the Spirit of                                          Consistory of the  Doon  Protestant
  God came mightily upon Samson. With one powerful                                                            Reformed Church




                                          .

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

                                                                      genius.`of  Israel's existence and meaning the i?rstbom  son of-
                                                                      each family should have served in the temple of the Lord,
                                                                      representing the family. However, the LORD made a dif-
                                                                      ferent arrangement in Israel. It was the law of the redemp-
     Exposition of the Prophecy of Malachi                            tion. of the  iirstbom. Thus we read in  Num:3:11-13:  "And
                     M a l a c h i   3:1-4:6                         ! the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, And, I, behold, I have
                                                                      taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead
 The  Tin&   Of  Reformation.  Chapter  3:2-I&                        of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the chil-
     There can be little or no doubt that the Spirit of Christ        dren of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine; Because
 did signify in Malachi, as he searched out the time and              all the  ilrstborn  are mine; for on the day that  1. smote all
manner of the time of the appearance of the Messenger of              the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I hallowed unto me all
 the Covenant: the dispensation of the fulness- of `times. Eph.       the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall they
 1:9, 10; Gal.  4:4, 5. This same time  (kairos)  is called in        be: I am the LORD." How meticulously the redemption
 Heb.  9:lO the "time of reformation." Generally when we              was executed by the LORD we read in Num. 3:44-51. And
think of  .the time of the reformation we think of the 16th           so the fustbom are represented in the temple by Levi.
 century. However, the great reformation was not in the 16th                 We stated earlier that Malachi employs Old Testament
 century, but it occurred when John the Baptist came and              terminology. Now we add that he also `uses the Old Testa-
preached, and when Christ came to rebuild the temple in               ment pattern of things to make clear what the LORD will
 three days by His death and resurrection. The entire Old             do by the Messenger of the Covenant at the  %me of  ref-
 Testament tabernacle was imposed by the law of Moses,                ormation." Levi shall be fully purified, that is, that work
 consisting in ordinances, until the time of reformation. That        of God in the temple for which Levi stood in the type shall
 was the appointed and- fit time for the ushering in of the ~ be fully realized in its end (telos)  in the better and heavenly
better  .things,  a better covenant, a better priesthood, and         tabernacle. Such is the "purifying" spoken of here in  Mal-
better promises through the better and more excellent sacri-          a&i 3:3. Such it will be in the day of Christ's coming. The
 fice, which was brought about by the blood of the Son of             Old Testament ordinances. will indeed be kept by Christ;
 God in our flesh on Calvary. Then the vail will be rent in           the temple ordinances will be set straight. Christ will be
 twain from top to bottom; and the way into the most holy             truly orthodox. It will be real reformation: that which is
 place shall be opened for all the heirs of the covenant.             crooked shall be made straight, and  the. impure and  de-
     However, the prophet Malachi speaks' of this "reforma-           formed temple service'shall be set according to the pattern
 tion" in  ,Old Testament terminology. Since it is "reforma-          of the ordinances of God to Levi and Israel as a perpetual
 tion" of which he here speaks he refers to the temple                institution. Christ came under the law to fulfil it. But in
 worship, its ordinances, and to the house of Levi. For Levi          so doing he will supersede Levi. He will be the Firstborn
 is the tribe set apart by the Lord to stand and minister             according to the Promise. He.will be redeemed as the first
 before Him, In the narrowest sense Levi is the high-priest-          born son by Levi, set free from the earthly temple service,
 hood of Aaron  `as his family line runs back to Levi over            that he may be busy in the heavenly. Compare Luke 2:23,
 Arnram  and Kohath, and forward over Eleazar and Ithamar.            24 with Ex.  13:2, 13, 15. And in fulfilling Levi's ministry
 Exodus  6:16-13. And in the wider sense Levi is the priest- as the Firstborn son, Levi can not longer redeem the  first-
 hood of the common priests according to their orders in the          born. And this is `set forth by the prophet Malachi in
 .temple  service. In a still wider sense is Levi dwelling in the     chapter  3.~2-4.  Truly, the  sacriiices  will be like in the best
.midst of Israel in the forty-eight Levitical cities. Num. 35:6,      days of Israel, when the temple-service was not in disrepute.
 7. The Tribe of Levi formed the hierarchy in Israel. They            However, it will rise above this in heavenly splendor and
 represented the twelve tribes in the temple worship.. Since          glory. Nothing will stand in that day of  `i-eformation."
 Levi had no inheritance in Israel, and Joseph has two Every elect sinner  will  .confess his sins, and the old and
 tribes (Gen.  4S:8-21),  there are still twelve tribes.              unprofitable ministry shall be totally removed. And the end
     There is a very basic truth which we must understand             of this is the renovation of God's people and the earth, and
 at this juncture. It is that ,Israel is Gods firstborn son! This     the total destruction of all who love the lie. This shall be
 is repeatedly emphasized by  .the LORD in Exodus. This               realized in the last day, when the tabernacle of God shall
 we read in Exodus 4:22, "And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, be with man. And, even now already, continual sacrifices
Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:  ~ are brought to the Lord. Heb. 13:15; I Peter 2:5-IO.
 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that be may serve                      The Lord is just in all His ways. When He removes the
 me . . .  ." It ought to be evident that this being the  Yirst-      ministry of Levi, He does not do something which was not
 born" is not according to the natural birthright, but accord-        according to strict and righteous judgment. He does this
`mg to the promise of God in `Christ. It refers to the ch&cb          because He is faithful to His covenant, on the one hand.
 of the firstborn now in heaven and the entire church  ac-            Therefore He sends the Messenger of the Covenant as we
`cording to the election of grace. According to the very              saw earlier. He is the LORD. The sons of Jacob whom He


                                                                       i


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_.       .__.     :.          4.  :-L         __/i.*L~.  .*__.-i .  2..                                      _ __d . .

-low% are not consumed,  `not- even when the time of  "ref-                                 jiv.Lks  wi.j                                             ._          CA...
                                                                                                           be  d&troyg~:zgfl  ;?tho-&&  &.him~   wif-.&Tq.be


onnation" comes; but exactly  at that  time, they are  snued.                               @t out, and the  rightedus   v& be  bayed;  "Godjhath  given
Mala&i                  `3:6,            -                                                  all judgment to  &Son.   -  ;I .  .-  _ __  --.A=,ez-j:L+.:+   :.:  ..:.
                                                                                                  .-                            _..     L_     .z            I
       It will all be "better" .&hen Levi is removed for its un-                                It will be a wonderful day of the righteous. It will no
profitableness,,  cEver the Levites and Israel turned aside.                                longer seem that the righteous~arellss,~recious  in the sight
This is so masterfully shown by Stephen in his address be-                                  of God than are the wicked.  It"&ll then no longer seem
fore the Jews as recorded in Acts 7. The history of Israel                                  as though the righteous serve God in'+%i.  `The distinction
is the sorry spectacle of falling away and returning to the                                 shall be clear between both believers and unbelievers. Then
LORD and his  wo:ship.  Never were the offerings fully                                      shall the' evil sons of Levisay;-stop  speaking in the NAME
brought. Read Malachi 3:7-9. The tithes were never wholly                                   of Jesus. They  vvillr-  be' convicted of  sin, of righteousness,
brought. The tithes indicated that all belonged to the Lord.                                and of judgment. And  the'righteous  .shall  have great joy,
And the tithes were such that a tenth was given to the                                      both among the natural descendants of Abraham and upon
Levites and to the priests, and the Levites and priests gave                                the elect out of the nations, The righteous shall sit `with
a tenth of their tenth to the High-Priest. And so we have                                   Christ on His throne in judgment, and, the wicked shall be
the truth: all things are of the people, the people are of the                              as ashes under their feet. Mal. 4:3.
Levites, and the  Levites of  th$.High-Priest, and the  High-                                   Yes, Moses will come to his  -oti. And Israel. must  re-
Priest is of God! Thus God was to be all in all, and all                                    member that not one jot or tittle of the law shall fall to'the
was to end in, God. Compare I Cor. 3:23.
>                                                                                           earth till all shall be fulfilled. Elijah; John the Baptist, shall
       But  .that is not the actual history of Israel. It failed                            call to repentance. The statutes of Horeb spoken out of fire
miserably. The law could  ..not make alive. It could not                                    and thunder-and lightning shall stand. Yet, we shall come
write itself in the heart of man. And so Levi perfected                                     to, the other -mount, to mount Zion, the city of the living
nothing,. but desecrated it all. But now a better time is in                                God. And the children of Jacob shall all be saved; the
the offing. The `Messenger of the Covenant will surely                                      hearts of the children shall be brought to the fathers, and
come. It will be a time of reformation indeed. The better                                   the fathers to the children. It shall be one people and one
covenant and  tabernacle,and  priesthood will come. The                                     LORD. And the earth shall indeed be blessed, and not
"windows of heaven" shall indeed be opened. Verse. 10.                                      cursed. It will be the blessing upon Abraham, the heir of
And `there shall not be room enough for the blessing. And                                   the world.
the land shall be delightsome. It will be the new heaven                                        Let Israel then give heed.
and the new earth. And "all nations shall call you blessed."
It will be the era in which "all nations" shall be blessed in                                   Behold, He cometh.
Abraham in the Seed, Christ. Here the horizons lift before                                      It shall be the day of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the revela-
the eyes of the prophet.                                                                    tion of the mystery and of the glory of God in Him.
       It is the time of reformation which has fully come.                                      For the LORD loveth Jacob. He shall do valiantly when
       It is the time spoken of already by Jeremiah the prophet                             all the peoples are gathered to Judah, and no more to Levi!
when he prophesied concerning the last days. Jer. 3I:31-34;                                     It'is difficult to find a good ending for this last essay.
Heb.  8:8-12. For this Messenger of the Covenant reads the                                  This is due to the fact that the book of Malachi is a book
Scroll of God. In the volume of the Book it is written of                                   itself which stands as an open account, awaiting the time
Him; "Behold, I come to do thy will, 0 God." He is better                                   when the things therein `are accomplished. They wait for
than Levi. He has received the hearing ear and the willing                                  the time when Luke can write, "Now it came to pass . .  ."
heart. And He shall surely come. And therefore all will be                                  Luke  1:s.  Zacharias  did not know it, but the Lord came
better at the time of the reformation! Psalm 46:6-S.                                        suddenly to His temple.
                                                                                                                                                                           G . L .
The  Unm.istakeably   CZecar Sound. Malachi  4:1-6.

       The "day cometh." These verses are both an underscor-
ing of what the Lord of hosts had stated in chapter 3, and                                                   In weakness I was pressed with fear,
also a bit more specific as to the details. One gets the im-                                                 But better hopes my spirit cheer;
pression that the LORD would have us understand both                                                         Past mercies lead me to rely
that the clarion gives ,a clear sound, and also what this                                                    Upon the help of God Most High.
sound is.
       The great day of the coming of the Lord is sure. The                                                  Thy deeds, 0 Lord, will I relate
Messenger of the Covenant and His forerunner will come.                                                      And on Thy wonders meditate;
It will be a day of judgment. Then will be uttered the                                                  ' Thy way, 0 God, is just and right,
saying of Christ: Now is the judgment of `the world. Satan's                                                 And none is like to Thee in might.
                         -

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

                                                                  earth is still in a formative state._of evolution and is cooling
             I  N,  I4 I  S  FE A  Ii                             off. He refuses to see God in His own creation and to
                                                                  reckon with God's curse upon the earth. And ruling the
                                                                  Creator out  bf His own creation, exploring the earth and
                                                                  its secrets apart from the fear of the Lord, he does hope
                   The Next Earthquake                            to be able to predict when and where earthquakes will
   A devastating earthquake shook several cities in Alaska        strike and to warn you of the time and place of the next
on Good Friday.                                                   earthquake.
   Its repercussions were felt all down the west coast of            -He knows that according to UNESCO estimates, about
                                                                  15,000 people are killed every year'by earthquakes, and
our country.  And the evidence of that earthquake is still
to be seen, in spite of man's efforts to restore and to return    that there are some 300,000 quakes a year, `most of which
to life as it was before the earthquake struck.                   are weak or take place in uninhabited areas, in the wilder-
   But except to those who experienced it and lost their          ness or under the sea. He knows that on an average two
possessions or loved ones through that earthquake, it is a        major earthquakes occur each year. But, although he has
thing of the past, an almost forgotten event.                     reached more than a hundred miles into the stratosphere
       But there will be a next one!                              and orbited the earth at that great height, he  has. not dug
       You can depend upon that and may expect it to come         very deeply into the earth. What ismore, entrance into the
without fail.                                                     earth even to a depth of 430 miles -where it is claimed that
       Did you know that seismologists declare that a  major      some inland earthquakes begin  - at one point of the vast
tremblor is due in southern California on the southern half       area of the. earth would reveal very little and would surely
of the San  Andreas fault? Did you know that earthquakes          give man nothing wherewith to prevent what he might see
occur there roughly onceevery  160 years and that the last        coming. And so at the present. he is content to  try to dis-
one was in X357? Did you know that seismologists declare          cover  whenand  where; that you and I may be warned to
that the "moderate" shocks since that time have not relieved      get out of.that  area on time.
the pressure and strain that is building up? Did you know             We can give an answer, however,. to the question,
that seismologists, who study such matters and keep record        "When and where will the next earthquake occur?" It will
of earthquakes, expect a big "shake-up" in Japan as well?         be a very general answer, but at the same  time.a:-very
   And you cannot get out of the way!                             important answer and one that needs emphasizing today.
   When the earth begins to shake, when the very founda-          It will occur when and where it pleases God sovereignly to
tion on which man stands begins to move up and down, to           send it. Your flesh will be disappointed in an answer like
slip and slide, he knows not where to go. Will the earth          that. It does not satisfy our native curiosity. It gives noth-
open up. where he stands or to the right or left of him, in       ing to which the flesh can take hold and assures us of no
front of him or behind him? Whither shall he flee?, When          escape from the destruction of that next earthquake. But
he sees the. tornado forming in the sky, he knows in what         in this day and age that is often called the "Scientific Age,"
general direction it will go; and he can flee from its path.      it is refreshing truth that is expressed in that answer. Paul
When he sees the lightning flash and hears the rumble of          warns us against science falsely so-called in I Timothy 6:20.
the thunder, he knows. where he can flee to be safe from              Science is systematized knowledge. But often today
that electrical force. But just where will he go when the         what passes for science is not knowledge, but theory, and is
earth itself begins to move underhis  feet?                       a "systematizing" of opinions that is very  unscientif?c  and
   Earthquakes are dreadful. The destruction pictured in          unsystematic, How can'it be knowledge when it ignores the
newspapers and magazines of the Alaska earthquake reveals         Creator and will not listen to His Word? What is systemati.c
the tremendous force behind it and man's utter helplessness       aboutmthrowing  away the principle of all wisdom: the fear
before such a force.                                              of the Lord? And that is what is being done by well-nigh all
       Escape from  ,the earthquake man cannot. And so the        that is written today about the last and the next earth-
question remains for him;"How can I predict the next one?         quake. Did you read one word anywhere in all the accounts
How can I protect myself- by lmowing when and where it            of "scientists" that this was the wrath of God upon a  sin-
will strike?  Where-  can I go to be in an area other than        darkened world whose measure of iniquity is rapidly being _
where it will do its devastating work?":                          filled?
       Someday the world hopes to be able to give an answer           It bears repetition and emphasis in this so-called scien-
to the questions when and where. Man has no hope of               tific age that GOD will determine when and where the next
preventing them. He never boasts either of being able some        earthquake will do its devasatating work. Or better still,
day to render them impossible. These are matters  ,.he is         God in His own good pleasure will shake the earth where it
willing to concede are beyond his control. He cannot reach        pleases Him. It is His hand that reaches down into the
down into the bowels of the earth and stabalize matters.          bowels of the earth; it is His hand, that is everlasting, there
He does *philosophize about them and theorize that the            inside the  core of our earth and builds up the pressures,


                                        T H E   STANDARD`.BEA'RER                                                          425

moves' the rocks, lifts up the layers  of, granite and shale,
                         -                                       the lie and are under the power of the lie. We will have
opens yawning pits, raises islands in the sea, and causes        an uphill struggle all the way. And only by providing them
volcanoes to appear and to spew' their burning. lava upon        abundantly with the very best and by trebling. our efforts
cities and fertile fields. The omnipotent God does all these     when the world doubles its efforts, and increasing them
things. The ungodly "scientists" may call them natural           still more when the world increases its attempts to mislead,
phenomena and explain to you step by step how all these          can we say that we have been faithful and can we commit
things develop and occur. But he will omit the key to the        our  children, and the instruction which we have given
whole matter when he leaves. the everywhere present God          them, to this Lord of heaven and earth with the prayer that
completely out of the picture. Let it be emphasized that         He will cause the seed to germinate and bring forth fruit
the living God will  det~ermine  where and when He will          in their lives.
shake the earth.                                                    When it does please Him to bring that next earthquake,
   He has a way of putting to naught the wisdom of the           listen to what He  has.to say therein. He speaks of wrath.
foolish. Conceivably, because He is a God of order, man          All earthquakes are signs of God's wrath and  .judgment.
may  come to the point where he can with  some accuracy          The earthquakes at the flood very plainly were judgment.
predict the when and where of another earthquake  -              The earthquake that shook Mt. Sinai again spoke of judg-
though not necessarily the next one - as he learns more and      ment. The earthquake that swallowed up Korah, Dathan,
more of the way in which God is usually.,pleased  to work.       and Abiram did not serve to bring them into heaven's glory
Measuring stress and strain, observing and recording con-        but into hell's agony. The earthquakes at the death and
tributing factors, and relying on computers, man may some        resurrection of the  Son of God in our flesh spoke of judg-
day come up with the right answer. But God has a way of          ment. And the next earthquake will speak that same lan-
showing the folly of the  `Wise': by doing the unexpected        guage. Finally, in terminal judgment God will shake the
and unexplainable. He sent the.flood contrary to all men's       heaven as well as the earth; the  lirmament  shall be rolled
calculations. He made the sun and moon stand still. and          up as a scroll. Present things shall pass away, and a new
the sun dial  to.go back ten degrees. He brought forth His       creation shall appear. And each and every earthquake until
Son from a virgin and raised Him from the dead after three       that time will be the voice of God speaking to His Church
days, Today's scientist in his "wisdom" that is void of the      of that final judgment through which He will bring His
principle of wisdom, the fear of the Lord, says that all this    Church into glory. Be sure that you listen to His voice
is impossible and goes plodding on with his "facts" and          every time He speaks! To turn away is to show great dis-
theories and know-it-all attitude. And as the tornado that       respect for this God of heaven and earth. To listen is to
was not supposed to form because the temperature had not         live in His fear, to stand in reverence and awe before Him
reached 70 degrees, and the frost that could not appear, as      and to rejoice in His faithfulness to His promises.
well as the earthquake that was not supposed to happen,             It is for that reason also that Jesus gives signs of the
come to emphasize the truth that Jehovah in His own good         times to His Church in Matthew 24. Among the signs,
pleasure decided what shall and what shall not be. In due        therefore, we also find earthquakes in divers places.  <It is
time He will also shake the heavens, over which man re-          not a great number of them necessarily, nor the intense sev-
alizes even more keenly that he has no control. And thereby      erity  of them of which Jesus speaks. He speaks of scattered
He will testify to the present generations, as He did to         earthquakes, earthquakes in divers or  digerent places. He
Pharaoh in Egypt, that He is the Lord of heaven and  pf          speaks of the' universality of these quakes, and no doubt
earth. When and where will the next earthquake strike?           exactly in unexpected places, places where the learned
Where the Lord of heaven and of earth has from eternity          scientist did not expect them or `predict them. For these
decreed to realize it. Training our children in His fear         are not, ordinary events but signs and judgments of God:
certainly means that we hold this truth before their eyes           But they speak words of peace to God's Church. These
and repeat it and apply it to all that which takes place in      are the beginning of sorrows, or, as Jesus states it in Mat- '
this world. They know it. They have been told it.                thew 24, the beginning of labor pains, as God is bringing
Indeed, but Satan and his host, the world and its                forth the new creation for His Church. These are not for
wise, fools, its scientists so-called, are doing all they can    the Church pains of. death, but pains of life. Each and
to erase that truth and replace it with the lie. Do not          every earthquake, as well as each and every war and
underestimate their power or zealousness for the cause of        rumor of war is a-sign that the new creation will soon be
evil and of the lie. As the world doubles its efforts, the       born. And although it is not for us to know the  .time and
Church had better treble its efforts to bring up its children    the place of the next earthquake, we do  how and are
in His  `fear. We cannot keep up with less speed than that       blessed to know the reason for it. It will be judgment of
which the enemy employs. We cannot forge ahead by using          our God upon our enemy and a step in the realization of           .
the same amount. We cannot catch up by dragging our feet.        our everlasting home. It will speak of an holy, terrible
And the enemy has a  -head start. Our  children~ come  -into     wrath of God from which the world cannot escape and shall
this world as part of the world and with natures that love                          (Continued on  page 432)

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

                                                                     revelation of the glory of His name in the realization'of His
                                                                     everlasting' covenant of grace.
                                                                        Now when our Confession speaks in this connection of
                                                                     God's "holy will," it-is evident that it means God's counsel.
                The Belgic Confession                                The  meaning  is not that God governs all things according
                                                                     to the will of His command, that He maintains His justice,
                               ARTICLE  XIII                         and that He in His moral government deals with His crea-
                                 (continued)                         tures according to the standard of His law. For however
                                                                     true that may be as far as God's moral creatures are con-
According To His Holy Will                                           cerned, in connection with the truth of God's providence it
                                                                     would make no sense here. The point is rather that  .God
       Basic to the truth of God's providence is the truth of        governs all things according to His eternal counsel. That
God's eternal counsel. Indeed, the doctrine of divine prov-' this is true is evident from the context. In the first place,
idence can neither be understood nor maintained and                  this truth of God's  govetnment  of all things according to
defended over against Deistic and Pantheistic denials of it,         His holy will stands in contrast with the notion that all
except on the  lbasis of the doctrine of God's eternal and           things are  giveri  up to fortune or chance. In the second
sovereign counsel. It is important that we understand this           place, the article states as a consequence of this  troth that
from the outsei:, and understand too that our Confession             nothing happens without his appointment. And, in the
clearly teaches this. Simply stated, the truth of God's prov-        third place, the article immediately intercepts the possible
idence means tht God alorze executes His eternal and tcn-            argument that God is then the author of sin- an argument
changeable counsel.                                                  which would only be raised against the truth that God
       Our Belgic Confessior clearly teaches this in its opening     governs all &ngs according to His counsel, so that nothing
statement: "We believe that the same God, after he had               happens without His appointment.         _
created all things, did  not forsake them, or  give them up             This counsel of God is frequently referred to in Scrip-
to fortune or chance, but that he  rulks and governs them            ture. Included in it is His decree of election and reproba-
according'to  his  ho@ will,  so that nothing'happens in this        tion, according to which He "bath mercy on whom he will
world without his appointment." In fact, it is exactly for           have mercy, and wliom~he  will he hardeneth." Roman5  9: 18.
this reason that our Confession is so concerned at the same          Significatitly  the  ,Scriptures  speak of the goal of that coun-
time to maintain that "God neither is the author of, nor can         sel in Ephesians 1:9, 18: "Having made known unto us the
be charged with, the sins which are committed."                      mystery of His will, according to hi& good pleasure which
       Let us try to understand a little of the all-comprehensive    he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of
signi&ance  of this relationship between God's counsel and           the fulness of times he might gather together in one all
G o d 's   p r o v i d e n c e .   '                                 things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are
       In the first place, let us ask and answer the question:       ori earth." And in this same chapter God's people are de-
what does our lConfession  mean by- this phrase, "according          picted- as having a place in the divine purpose: "Having
to his holy will?"                                                   predestinate,d   US  a unto the adoption of children by Jesus
       You are all undoubtedly acquainted with the distinction       Christ to himself, according to  the, good pleasure of his
that is sometimes made in the will of God b&keen  the will           will." Moreover, it is literally according to Scripture that
of God's command .and the will of God's decree. This dis-            God worketh all things after the counsel of His will: "In
tinction has its merits although it is not entirely without          whom `also we have obtained an inheritance, being pre-
shortcomings. The danger, of course, is that we conceive             destinated according to the purpose-of him who worketh all
of the matter as though there are two wills in God; and this         things after the counsel of his own will:" Eph.  1:5 and 11.
is not true. God has one will. And that one will of God              And so  there are numerous other passages of Scripture
may be distinguished as to its ethical aspect, or the will of        which refer to this  will  of God, to some of which we till
His command, and its  decretive  aspect, or the  ,will of His        have occasion to refer when we discuss the subject of God's
decree,  or counsel. Only we must remember that there is             providence and sin.
the most perfect u&y  and harmony in the will of God be-                 Hence, the Scriptures teach' and our Confession main-
tween those two aspects. On the one hand, God's counsel              &ins that the truth -that is basic to the doctrine of -God's
is characterized by  in&ite righteousness and holiness, as           providence is that of God's holy will. God is a willing God.
our Confession also emphasizes in this connection. And, on           The power that operates the universe is not an impersonal
the other hand, the ethical will of God is served and main-          power. It  iS not a blind "fate." But it is the power of an
tained  throughdut  by God's counsel and by the execution            intelligent, willing, personal God. That will of God,  pr the
~of that counsel, so that we may say that the ultimate goal          power of all-wise, intelligent determination, concerns every
of God's counsel is the maintenance and revelation in  the `creature. It determines the existence of the creature. It
highest possible degree of all God's infinite perfections, the       dete:mines  the  relation of the creature to God. It  deter-


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                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D ' B E A R E R                                              427
mines the relation of the creature to every other creature in        and that God is immanent in the world, and instead identi-
the world. It. determines also the development of  every             fies God and the world. God is the world, and the world is
individual creature, as well as the development of all crea-         God. As'the very name indicates, nil (pan) is God (theism).
tures mutually and of the universe as a whole. Moreover,
that will of God determines the goal of that development               In this connection we want to emphasize,  f&t of ah, that
of all creatures and of the universe, as well as the place and       both of these errors arrive at the same end, namely, the
purpose of each creature in the  .attainment  of that goal.          denial of the providence of God and the exclusion of God as
Then too, the will of God determines the place and function          a willing, intelligent Being from the universe, though along
of each creature when finally that destiny of all things has         different courses. In the case of Deism, God is simply put
b e e n   r e a c h e d .                                            altogether outside of the universe; and in the case of
                                                                     Pantheism, God and the universe are simply confused. In
         It is at this point already that all Deism and Pantheism    the second place, both of these philosophies succeed theo-
diverges from the truth of the Word of God.                          retically in getting rid of God as a personal, intelligent,
         Our Confession does not directly mention the two            volitional, or willing, Being. Deism would probably try to
above-mentioned errors. It makes mention instead of `that            deny this to an extent; but by putting God outside of the
damnable error of the Epicureans, who say that God re-               universe altogether, it to all intents and purposes `denies
gards nothing, but leaves  -all things to chance." The Epi-          His existence as a  wihing  and intelligent God. Pantheism
cureans were an ancient school of pagan philosophy, named            simply denies the personal God completely: God is the
after their founder,  Epicurus.  From the point of view of           great ALL. In the third place, with respect to the moral
the fact that the Epicureans did not believe in God at  .all,        creature, man, both of these errors end by teaching that
but were pagans, it seems strange that they are even men-            somehow or other man is "the captain of his fate, the master
tioned in our Confession. In this connection, however, the           of his soul."
reference is to that element of their philosophy according
to which they taught that the deity took no interest and                Now you may probably be asking what all this has to
no part in and did not interfere in the affairs of the uni-          do with our Reformed faith, and what significance a knowl-
verse and of men. They indeed taught that the deity regards          edge of these errors has as far as our practical religious
nothing, but leaves all things to chance. And the practical          knowledge and life- are concerned. After all, there is no
end ,of their philosophy was the hedonistic and thoroughIy           Deist Church, is there?  And,there is no Pantheist Church?
immoral motto, `Zet us eat and drink and be merry, for               No, but Deism and Pantheism are two philosophies, two
tomorrow we die." This same Epicurean philosophy made                schools of thought, which have had no little influence in
inroads into the Christian church. And especially in the             the church. Modernism, with its theory that man is essen-
modern era it reappeared in the form of what is called               tially divine and its teaching that Christ was divine because
Deism. The error of -Deism  is usually said to consist in the        He was so truly human and that He showed man how to
denial of God's immanence. It exactly teaches that God,              reahze  the divine in himself. is Pantheistic essentially. And
after He had created the world and established the or-               not only has Deism made its influence felt in the modernist
dinances and laws of each creature's existence, withdrew.            church, especially, for example, in Unitarianism; but all
He is not in the universe and in  all'things; but outside it.        Pelagianism and Arminianism, with its fundamental exclu-
He has nothing to do with its, operation and development.            sion of the will of the moral creature from the sovereign
He regards nothing. All things are left to themselves, to            will of God, is Deistic as far as its doctrine of man is con-
chance, to blind `fate." Frequently the example has been             cerned.
used, to illustrate the relation between God and the wodd,              Hence, once more we learn how important it is to hold
of a watchmaker. After he has made a watch and wound                 on to the truth of God's sovereign counsel. And let it be
it up, he has nothing to do with that watch and its opera-           emphasized that this will of God is indeed sovereign. Of
tion any longer. That watch operates independently of its            ah that God wills He has the source and the conception and
maker, and operates. according as it was made. Thus God              the reason .i.n Himself; What He wills God wills according
formed the  worId,  wound it up; so to speak;  and-  now the         to His own good pleasure. There is never any compulsion.
world continues to exist and. to operate and develop in-             or any limitation of the will of God. There is never any-
dependently of its Maker.                                            thing involuntary in God. There is never any conflict in
         Pantheism, the other error which we mentioned, also         God's will. All that God does He wills to do; and all that
denies God's providence. Both of these errors we shall refer         He wills God sovereignly accomplishes. And nothing in
to further as we discuss the truth of God's providence. But          all the universe, let it be added, is excluded from that will
we mention them now because the root of them is a denial             of the divine good pleasure. In the most perfect, free, un-
of the will, or counsel, of God, or rather: a denial of the          hampered, infinitely sovereign sense it is true of the* living
willing God. Often Pantheism is described as denying                 Go,d, without any limitation, that "He hath done whatso-
God's transcendence only, But this is hardly correct. Panthe-        ever He hath pleased." Psalm  1X5:3.
ism denies both that God is transcendent above the world                                                                   H.C.H.


 4 2 8                             /          THE  STANDARD  BEA'RER

                                                                       out of sovereign grace. And that we have such a part is
 11 THE CWURCI-I AT WORSHlP 11 due to the fact that God establishes His covenant with His
                                                                       elect as with moral and rational saints., We are not stocks
II "0 Worship  the Lord in  the beauty  of  holiness:' PsaIm 96:9a II and blocks; but we are rational, moral creatures. With mind
                                                                       and will we can and do respond  ~to God when He estab-
                                                                       lishes His covenant with us.
                  Our Part In God's Covenant                           ,, Our response to God, according to the nature we have
                                                                       inherited from  o,ur parents is such that we are at enmity,
          The covenant of grace, signified and sealed in holy          haters, despisers of God and of all that He proclaims to us
 baptism, is established, realized, maintained, and ultimately         in His Word. Through His sovereign, covenant work this
 perfected by GOD alone. In His eternal counsel He  fore-              is changed: for in establishing His covenant He operates
 knew and predestinated His covenant people unto the                   upon us in such a way that He gives us a new heart, mind
 adoption of chil!dren  according to the good pleasure of His          and will. Then, and then only, is our response to God such
 sovereign and unchangeable will. In time He purchased                 that we love Him with all our heart and mind and soul
 them with the blood of His own Son Jesus Christ, which                and strength. Thus the covenant of God becomes a prac-
 was shed on the cross of Calvary and is.  `the perfect and            tical, experiental reality in our lives; and with an inex-
 effective atonement for sm. ,By the operation of His irresist-        pressible gratitude we taste and see that God is good, the
 ible Spirit He.leads His children through the wilderness of           only good, the fount and source of all blessing. Realizing
 sin, by trial and tribulation, preserves them  -unto the day          this we break forth into singing:
 of their redemption. Finally, He gathers them into the un-                     "hl that I am I  owe to Thee,
 speakable glory which  -He has prepared for them and                            Thy wisdom Lord h+th fashioned me;
wherein they dwell forever in covenant fellowship to be                           I give my Maker thankful praise,
 unto His glorious praise. Indeed, the covenant of grace is                      Whose wondrous works  my soul amaze."
 unilateral, God alone being party to His own covenant.
                                                                          We note that in our Baptism Form this calling is posi-
          In that covenant there are two parts. First, there is the    tively and negatively defined. On the positive side we are
 part described above~and  in which God performs His sov-              admonished to `love the Lord our God." Not only is this
 ereign work. Next, there is the part which He in grace                love to permeate our whole being  - heart, mind, soul,
 gives to His covenant people to fulfill, a part which we              strength  - but in, its very nature it is of the- very essence
 wrote last time is both a privilege and a most solemn re-             of the "new obedience" unto which we are obliged. To
 sponsibility. Now the relation between these two parts in             love God is not the same as talking about Him even though
 God's covenant must not be construed as though the former             that talk consists of nice things; nor is it the same as affili-
 were dependent upon the latter for its fulfillment. This is           ating externally with that which is called "church" in the
 the fundamental error that is made by many. According to              world. Jesus reminds us that there are many who say,
 the popular conception of salvation it is claimed that  .God          "Lord, Lord," but He hastens to -point out the fact that
 has done all that He is able to do and now awaits the will-           these do not enter the Kingdom of God. They are devoid
 ingness of man to accept the provisions of salvation which            of His love. Love is not a philosophical or `theoretic thing
 He has made, in order that by a cooperative effort between            that forms an interesting basis for a discussion or debate
 God and man this salvation may be made reality. If we will            now and then. The love of God is the doing of His will.
 only agree to love God, obey Him, and surrender ourselves             To obey is to hear the Word of God and to transpose that
 to His will,  EIe will bestow upon' us the reward of our              Word heard into concrete deeds. And really to love Him'
 efforts, namely, salvation.' It should not be difficult to see        necessitates that this obedience is followed even when the
 the basic error of this presentation. Not only is it a com-           immediate consequence of it is such that it is painful, and,
 plete denial of the truthtaught throughout the entire Word            from the viewpoint of the present moment, detrimental to
 of God conceming~  the total depravity and inability of man           self.  -Oh, actually this is never the case; because all the
 who is born dead in trespasses and sin; but it follows that           sufferings of the present time are not, comparable to the
 if this presentation were true, no one would ever and could           glory that awaits them that love God, and the sum total of
 ever be saved. Salvation is then only a fantasy.                      our afflictions are but a light weight of the moment. But
          Correctly, the relation between those two parts of the       oft times in our experience it is easier according to the
  covenant is such that  Gods part is the cause of  oiur.   part       fleslr to ignore or disregard the plain demands of the Word
 in the covenant. It is because God establishes sovereignly            of God upon us and follow in paths that are dictated by
 His eternal covenant of grace with us, and because He                 our flesh. To  -do so is to deny His love; and because "our
  realizes that covenant through our Lord Jesus Christ and             sins will always  find us out," the end result is always far
 by His Holy Spirit in our hearts, that we can possibly have           more harmful than bearing the temporary pains of obe-
  a part in the covenant of God. It is the gift of God bestowed        d i e n c e .


                                         TH.E  STAN~.ARLi.`.B'EA.k'E:                                                                     dap

   Therefore, negatively speaking, the love of God' in our            lkw. SIT&~ is' c& beginning of that obedience and how
practical life in this world always and unavoidably neces-         great  isour  sin!  i       i     '     .-c)     ..     .`!,
                                                                                        ..I                                        _
sitates that we "`forsake the world,. crucify our old nature."        Aware of this reality in theexperience  of :the saints, the
That this must be stated arises from the fact that we have         Baptism Form adds this significant paragraph in connection
but a small beginning of the new obedience, that sin still         with our part in God's covenant:
dwells in our members, and that we do not lose the body
of this death until the end. Always we must walk anti-                `And if we sometimes. through weakness fall into sin,
thetically so that we hate all sin and flee even the appear-       we must not therefore despair of God's mercy; nor continue
ance of it. The "world" in this connection must be taken in        in sin, since baptism is a seal and undoubted testimony,
the evil sense. It is the world as the apostle John speaks of      that we have an eternal covenant of grace with God."
it in I John 2:X5-17,  "Love not the world, neither the things        The fact of sin in our lives must not make obscure to
that are in the world.. If any man love the world, the love        us the sign and seal of holy baptism. No matter what hap-
of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world,         pens, no matter what:becomes of the realization of our part
the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the-eyes, and the pride     of the `covenant, always we must be mindful that God's
of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the,       covenant cannot be broken. We may and often do violate
world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth        the covenant of God by our sinful walk, but this does not
the will of God abideth forever."                                  alter the fact that His covenant is  eternal  and therefore
                                                                   unbreakable. HE, not we, is the faithful and eternal One
   That world is the embodiment of  the- manifestation of          Who continues His covenant with us forever. Faith tri-
sin: In the midst of it we, God's covenant people, must live;      umphs over the doubts of unbelief. It does not despair but
and in the midst of that world we must assume an anti-             cleaves to God's mercy in the realization that "He which
thetical relationship. This does not mean that we leave the        hath begun a good work in us will -perform it until the day
world; but it does mean that we  forsake  it, so that we  d.o      of Jesus Christ." Then `again we are able to sing:
not walk in fellowship with it, nor follow its sinful ten-
dencies and so fall into sin. Today, characterized by mate-                "Yea, the Lord is full of mercy
rial prosperity enabling the people of God to have easy                     And  compassion, for  d,istress,
access to worldly pleasures, and with the medium of                         Slow to anger and abundant
television projecting itself with all its `worldliness into the             In His grace  a.nd tenderness.
Christian home, the solemn responsibilities of the Christian                He will not be angry alway,
as set forth in our Baptism Form may well be doubly em-                     Nor will He  forever chide;
phasized. We are to  7o2;e  God, and that love is exclusive.               Thouglz-  we oft have  sinned   against  Him
It is to be such a holy love that it allows absolutely no                   Still His love and  grabe  abide."
room for us to murmur or complain when the demands to                 All this; however, does not give the saint a license to
educate our children in that love, to support God's cause,         sin. He may not continue in sin. As a saint who experiences
the church, and many other causes related thereto require          the above he cannot assume-the profane attitude  ,that sin
such a proportion of our worldly goods as to leave us noth-
ing over wherewith we can indulge in worldly pleasure to           does not matter. Rather he is greatly perturbed by it and
                                                                   longs more fervently for deliverance from it. With the
satisfy our carnal. desires. Otherwise we must change the
song we sang earlier and make it read: "Some, or most, of          Canons V, 12 he confesses:
what we are we owe to Thee."  But, this is not expressive            "`This certainty  of.perseverance,  however, is so far from
of truth and therefore cannot be the praise of the lips of         exciting in believers a spirit of pride, or of rendering them
saints. They must walk  ,in the "new and holy life." It is         carnally secure, that on the contrary, it is the real source of
"new" because its origin is in the new creation. Its objective     humility, filial reverence, true piety, patience in every tribu-
is not the things that now under the curse of God are              lation, fervent prayers, constancy in suffering, and in con-
passing away, but rather it seeks undividedly the things           fessing the truth, and of solid rejoicing in God: so that the
that are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God.        consideration of this benefit should serve as. an incentive to
It lays up treasures of a different sort than men hoard in         the serious and constant practice of gratitude and good
this world, the treasures which moth and rust are unable to        works,  -as appears from the testimony of Scripture, and
corrupt and thieves cannot steal. It -evaluates all things         the examples of the saints."
from a new perspective, the perspective- of the grace of God          And once more, in Article 13, "Neither does renewed
that enables us to see all things in the light of the realities    confidence of persevering produce licentiousness, or a dis-
of the Holy Word:And  this life is `holy" because it is con        regard to piety in those who are recovering from backslid-
secrated  to- God, the  HoIy One. With heart and mind and          ing; but it renders them much more careful and solicitous
soul and strength,  ,with wife and children, houses, lands,        to continue in the ways of the Lord , . ."
jobs, money; possessions . . . yea, all and everything this
object of love, THE HOLY ONE, is sought and served.                                                                                     `G.V.d.B.


430                                            T H E   STANDARD;:@EARER
__ ,.__         .i----.-__                                  :      =-- -- --
                                                                       financially  to married seminary students as well as single
                                                                       students. This matter had been before Synod in prior years;
                                                                       but finally the step was taken.. ;           . .     .
                                                                          hour `people are urged to remember the needs of our
REPORT OF SYNOD OF 1964                      " .                       `Theological School before God  '  in' prayer. The professors
       The Synod of i&Protestant Reformed Churches finished            need, to know of the continual.. support' of our people; and
their work Wednesday morning, June 10. This was an un-                 we must not cease to pray that  God'will  send us men to
usually short Synod, and there are perhaps several reasons             study .for the ministry of the gospel. '
why. In the first place,. there were no candidates that                   Two other decisions were taken with regard to the
needed to be examined; usually this consumes consider-                 Theological School which could have long range implica-
able time. In the second place, the work of Synod moved                tions for our Churches.
forward with dispatch both because the delegates worked                   The first of these is a decision to instruct our Theological
hard and because of the able guidance given to Synod by                School Committee to investigate the possibility of establish-
its president, Rev. C. Hanko. In the third place, the short-           ing a full pre-seminary course for prospective seminary stu-
ness of Synod is also indicative of the fact that there are            .dents. This would mean that our seminary students could
no serious problems in our Churches that came to our `at-
                                   _%                                  expect to be  .tramed in our own schools from high school
tention  in this broadest ecclesiastical assembly. This is             through seminary. To attain this goal would be very desir-
something to be thankful for.                                          able, although it involves a tremendous amount of work. I
   We shall not attempt to give a comprehensive report of, might add as a footnote in this connection that the Federa-
all  Synod's  activities in this article. The purpose is merely        tion of Protestant Reformed School Societies has, in the
to acquaint our people with some of the'matters that were              past, investigated the possibility of training our teachers
treated. For the rest, our people are urged to purchase a              also in a normal school of our own. Whilehothing  more was
copy of the printed Acts that will be available sometime in            done than investigation, surely we are heading in the right
the late summer or early fall. In general, however, the                direction with debisions  such `as these.
unity of the truth that binds us together as Churches was.                The second decision was to instruct our  TheologicaI
evident on Synod. Naturally, differences of opinion were               School Committee to investigate the possibility of  prepar-
present, and not all the voting was unanimous. But the dif-            ing a special course of instruction for possible students from
.ferences  were not basic differences of the truth. Rather, a          the island of Jamaica in which they could be prepared to
fraternal spirit prevailed throughout the sessions.                    preach to their own people on the island. Their present
           Matters dealing with the Theological School- and with       education is not adequate for them to enter our seminary on
Missions occupied the greater part of Synod's time. Perhaps            a full time basis, for many of them are lacking even a full
we may, with justification, conclude that even this is a very          high school training. But it was felt that some efforts ought
healthy evidence of the spiritual strength of our Churches.
           :                                                           to be put forth by-our  Churches to help them by preparing
           To turn  first to matters of the Theological School:        candidates for the ministry of the Word among. their own
           It was evident from the reports that came to Synod that,    people. A special course would be necessary for this. No.
although our school had only one student this past year, the           decision has been taken on the question of whether it would
School flourished. The instruction given in our school is              be wiser to get students from the island to the states to
blessed by God without doubt. It is a school unique in the             study, or whether it would be more prudent to send some
whole country because here, as nowhere else, the truth of              man of our Churches over there to teach possible students
Scripture is carefully taught. And, even from a formal                 -if we should, in the future, decide to help them in this
point of -view, the instruction is second to none.                     matter. But the first steps have been taken.
           We can expect two new students to enter our school this       -To turn now to matters of missions:
coming September; one is from the congregation in Forbes,                  Synod debided `to continue the work in Houston for the
South .Dakota,  and the other is from First Church in Grand            time being. Since we have, at present, no missionary in the
Rapids. Yet the need for students is great. Undoubtedly                field, this will have to be done by the ministers of our
our lack of more students entering the seminary is felt in             churches. The decision was to give the Mission Committee
al1 our congregations - our vacant churches not `only, but             the permission to ask our various Consistories to release
also our churches who must see their ministers absent from             their ministers for certain periods of time to work in Hous-
their pulpits for extended classical appointments; Even our            ton. Rev. G. Lubbers reported on Synod that there is a
mission efforts are being hampered because of the shortage             group in Houston which sincerely loves the truth which we
of ministers.                                                          confess; and Synod was of the opinion that we could not
   There is `one of Synod's decisions which might alleviate            abandon this group. Without a missionary in the field it is
this problem somewhat. Synod decided to extend some aid                difficult to carry on this work; and the conclusion of the



                                                                                                  i


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   .BEARER                                                    431

 matter is that we sorely need more men -ministers in our            ifies of .our Churches. So this question will be discussed for.
 Churches and men to labor in the cause of missions.' This           another year, and it is-hoped that Synod,in  1965 will finally
 is emphasized also by the fact that the church today is             decide ,on this matter,
 rapidly drifting the way of apostasy. This fact alone gives            The question of.participation in the Reformed Ecumen-
 urgency to our calling to speak the truth wherever the Lord         ical Synod  came  up once again. The history of this is in-
`gives us opportunity.                                               teresting. The Christian Reformed Church was the host
    Synod also decided to continue broadcasting over Trans-          Church of this RES that met last year in Grand Rapids. The
world Radio for another year. There was some opinion ex-             Synod of the C. R. C. in 1962 decided not to invite our
 pressed on Synod that we should discontinue this station in         Churches to this meeting because, "1. They have maintained
 order to concentrate our efforts in our own country; espe-          no sister-relation or correspondence with other Reformed
 cially since  ii is impossible to do any follow-up work in          groups. 2. Their history is consistently schismatic. 3. The
 Europe at present. Yet, in my opinion, this would be a              present status of the church. is uncertain." Last year, when
 mistake. Europe also has many Reformed elements in                  these reasons came to the attention of our Synod, these
 various countries; and these elements, judging by the radio         grounds were protested as untrue and slanderous in a letter
 response, we are reaching with our broadcast. The truth is          that was sent to the Synod of the C. R. C. in 1963. The
 being preached on the continent-of Europe where it also             result was that the Christian Reformed Church claimed
 needs to be `heard in these days of rapid spiritual decline.        never to have adopted these grounds which were proposed
 But this question shall come again to Synod next year.              by the Committee of Pre-advice; and at the same time sent
   Jamaica was  also discussed. The work that was done               an invitation to our Churches to send observers after'all to
 this past year and is now being done was reported on. It            the RES. But the invitation came after our Synod of 1963
 is evident that the people there are deeply appreciative of         had adjourned. It was therefore `too late to appoint ob-
 the efforts of our Churches to help them. As has been re-           servers officially. All this additional information came to
 ported previously in the Standurd  Bearer, clothing, Psalters,      this year's Synod. Synod decided to send a letter therefore
 tape recorders and tapes, and printed material are being            pointing out that the false grounds mentioned above were
 sent. These tape. recorders with tapes containing sermons           never repudiated, but that we would be willing to send ob-
 of our ministers are used extensively. The people are gradu-        servers to future meetings of the RES.
 ally learning the songs of our Psalter `- especially from the          These are the chief matters that came before our
`tapes that contain congregational singing. Also printed             broadest ecclesiastical assembly. Perhaps a special word of
 material is being sent  `-  espetiially  Catechism Books. The       thanks is due to our Stated Clerk, Rev. G: Vanden  Berg and
 work-books that our children use  in Catechism are being            our  Synodical  Treasurer, Mr. Charles Pastoor, for the ex-
 used there too, not only by the children, but also by the           cellent work they did on behalf of `our Churches. For the
 adults.                                                             rest, it is our prayer that God will richly bless these deci-
    It is evident that God has His people there on the is-           sions and our Churches, that we may continue to stand in
 land, and we must remember them in our prayers.                     His truth and move forward in the confident assurance of
    If any of our congregations would like to assist in. send-       His indispensable blessing.
                                                                                                                          H.  Ha&o
 ing various materials to Jamaica, I am sure that this would
 be deeply appreciated. Perhaps the best course of action
 would be to contact the Mission Committee (Rev. M. Schip-
 per is the Secretary), in order to find out what to send and               The Lord is just in all His ways,
 where is the most advantageous place to send it.                             In all His works the Lord is kind,
                                                                            And all that call on Him in truth
    As our readers know, last year "a Foreign Mission Com-                   -In Him .a present helper find.
 mittee was established among our Western Churches. They                    He will  fulfil the heart's desire
 reported at last year's Synod and again at this Synod with a                 Of those that fear Him and obey;  "
 proposed Constitution and suggested areas of labor. But                    Their cry the `Lord will surely hear,.  ,.
 Synod was not yet ready to adopt their report, chiefly be-                   And He will save them when they pray.
 cause of the fact that it is difficult to define the differences
 between Foreign. and Domestic missions. The problem                        His great salvation they shall know
 centers around the question of what precisely constitutes                    Who love the Lord's most holy Name;
 foreign missions in our day. If foreign missions is limited                The wicked He will overthrow
 to mission work among those in this world  who- have not                     And put His enemies to shame.
 now nor-ever in the past heard the gospel, the field is very               My mouth shall speak the glorious praise
 limited. The gospel has just about been. preached in all                     Of Him Whom heaven and earth adore;               7
 nations; and to reach a few tribes where the. gospel has not               Let all exalt His holy Name                   :     `:.
 yet been preached seems to be beyond the limited capabil-                    Forever and for evermore.


                         :                           --__
      432  ._. __  "._.  _  :'    .~        T.$-E        STANDARD                       jj$AgR'E'~Jj          - _  -...

                                                                                               May 10 bulletin we learn that Loveland's
          NEW5 F,ROM-.OUR:.CHURCHES                                          Manse'was enriched by one -a baby girl.
;I  "`All  t/y  """"s&te  tiiq,..  :`PHIL.`h:zl  1  `.The Hope School Board, via area bulletins, thanked the
                                                                             donors who made the Spring Deficit Drive such a great
                                                                             success  -  $4,434.00  in cash and pledges!
                                                       June 26; 1964          -The Northwest Iowa Protestant Reformed School Society
          Rev. C. Ha&o,  pastor of First Church for sixteen years,           scheduled a special Society meeting for. June 15 to consider
      has. accepted the call from Redlands, Cal& He has sched-               the purchasing- of Perkins School; Their Annual, Meeting
      uled his farewell sermon  for'  June' 28, and the family's will  be,held,-D.V.,  June 29.
    departure for California June 29.           ~                              R e v . R. C. Harbach, of Kalamazoo, was:the Commence-
          The Radio Choir rendered a beautiful. program in First  _ ment speaker at, the Hope School Graduation  excercises
      Church after the evening service on May 31; The Radio                  held in Hudsonville; Rev. J. Kortering gave the Commence-
      Choir's main purpose is to furnish music for our Reformed              ment address at Hull's Grammar School's exercises; and
      Witness Hour broadcast, and the anthems that made up                   Rev. D. Engelsma gave the address at the Graduation pro-
      their program were for the most part those that had already            gram of  Redlands  Christian School while he was on  Clas-
      been aired on previous broadcasts. The numbers were adap-              sical  appoin~ent   in Redlands
      tations  of the Psalms or  ,direct   quotatiou  from the Scrip-           A "quiet thought" found in Southeast's bulletin: "The
      tures. Probably the best of these was a rendition of Philip-           promises of God are the molds into which we pour our
      pians  2:5  - "Let this mind. be in you which also was.  in            nmvers.,,
      Christ Jesus." When a really good. choral group brings                 r--, ---.
                                                                                 Holland's bulletin  ~reports  a successful financial drive
      Holy Writ in song it often strikes deeper into the. soul that          recently held in their congregation which brought up over
      if the same Scripture were read  `aloud: Surely.  -this -was           $5,000.00  in cash and pledges. Indeed, there never is lack
      one of those experiences. The Choir brought the evening                of opportunity to distribute our tithes!
      to a close with, "The Lord bless thee and keep thee." What                 Oak Lawn's young people invited the adults -to share. a
      a beautiful ending to the Lord's:.Day, a foretaste of the joys         conducted tour of Tribune Tower m-Chicago  June 15.
      awaiting us  inthe  Eternal Sabbath! .                 -          :        Did ZJOU know,that  Rev. D. Engelsma conducts an Adult
          Did  you.  kn.ow that Synod  *declared  all our ministers          Bible Class in Loveland Wednesday evenings' and one  m
      eligible for the nomination for Missionary,. since the pos-            Denver, Thursday evenings.2 The Book of Acts is under con-
      sible list of nominees is, very  ,limited, and our churches            sideration in `both classes.
      should have a missionary as soon as possible?                              Monday evening, June 8, the Standard Bearer Staff met
           Contribution, from- the Radio FCommittee.  After some of          in annual meeting. Some changes in format have been
      his -busy days attending our  Synodical  gatherings. last                    .
                                                                             adopted and, will be realized in the 40th Anniversary num-
      month, Rev. J. A. Heys took time out to record five radio              ber Oct. 1, 1964.
      sermons for our `Reformed Witness Hour. The messages,                      The Senior Young People of First Church used the occa-
      the Lord willing, will be aired on the four Sundays of July sion of their. Annual Church Picnic to raise some more
      and the first Sunday ~of August. Under the general theme,              money to defray the expenses of shipping clothing to Ja-
      "The Battle of Faith," Rev. Heys has chosen for the sub-               maica by providing dessert for the picnickers.
      titles of his sermons: "The Bat&Enjoined" (July  5), "The                  In our vacation travels this summer let us heed the ad-
      Resourceful Opponent" (July  12), "The Believer's Safety"              monition found  in'Hebrews   16!25: "Not forsaking the as-
       (July  19), "The Victory" (July  26.), and, "The  ,Lasting            sembling of .ourselves  together, as the manner of some is . . .I'
      Peace" (August 2). The Program Committee of the Re-                       . . . . see you in church.                             J.M.F.
      formed Witness Hour assures those that hear these Dis-
      tinctively Reformed Radio programs that Rev.  Heysr voice
      was as strong~ and fervent during the f&h sermon as it was
      while he "preached"-his first message of the series. Printed                                       IN HIS FEAR  :
       copies can be obtained by writing to The-Reformed Witness                                   (Continued  from page'423)
       Hour, Box 1230, Grand Rapids, Mich. 49501.                            -if I may use the expression  7 cause the very bottom to
           Bz&&in  Quote  - "A dew-drop does the will of God as              drop out for them. But it will speak of love `and peace and
       much as the thunderstorm." - W. P, Loveless (Oak Lawn's               mercy and grace of God upon His Church.
       bulletin ) .
           Loveland's congregation was invited to read a letter of               Listen to Him in-His fear. And may the intensity of the
       thanks from Lynden's congregation for their collection                next quake speak to you of the intensity of His love. The
       taken for their new church building. The letter, and an               stronger the quake and the more fiercely the earth shall
       accompanying picture of. the .new church, were posted for             shake, may your faith be unshaken and your confidence in
       all to' appreciate.                 :                                 God's promises grow in strength.                           J.A.H.


