                                             AUGUST  1, 1964  -  GRAND  F~PIDS,  MICHIGAN              `,'           Nuivmm  19

                                                                     all your problems are solved and your difficulties are re-
             MEWTA%ION                                               moved.
                                                                         This was the experience of the poet, for he went into
                                                                     the sanctuary of God, and then he saw the end of the way
     THE HARD WAY OF THE RIGHTEOUS                                   of the ungodly and, presently, also his own.
           And  if the righteous scarcely. be sa.ved, where shall        And what did he see?
           the ungodly and sinner appear? I Peter 4:X                    That God set the wicked on slippery places and on those       ~
                                                                     slippery places. led- them down unto everlasting woe and
    Never look at the way only!                                      destruction. And, on the other hand, he experienced, that
    Always consider that a way is only a means to an end             God held him by his right hand, and though through a, hard
and, therefore, look toward the goal ahead!,                         and bitter way he must travel, so guided him by,his counsel
    This is, indeed, the constant  aidmonition  of Scripture.        that the way must surely lead to glory!
This was what the author of Psalm seventy-three was for-                 Thus it is always for the people of God.
getting when, for time, he was envious with the wicked and               Thus it is also the fundamental truth in the words of the
saw their prosperity.                                                text I quoted  above.this meditation.     .
   -And, 0, it'was true what he observed, even though be-                Where shall the ungodly and sinner appear? The an-
cause of his one-sided judgment of their life and way, he            swer is not given, or rather is emphatically expressed in the
was guilty, too, of exaggeration. As he saw them and con- `form of a question: .in eternal desolation.
sidered their way without considering their end, he had
reason to be envious with them. There were no bands even               But the righteous shall surely be saved, even though the
in their death. Their strength was always firm. They did' way may be hard to travel.
not suffer, they were not in trouble as other men, they were             Look not on the way only . . .                   i
not plagued as other men. They were full of pride; violence'             Look at the end!
covered them as a garment. They were rich so that their
eyes stand out with fatness.. They had more than heart                                       Q  0  a  Q  -.
could wish. Yet, they were surely wicked and corrupt, and
what is more, they caused the righteous to be oppressed.
They set their mouth against the heavens and they speak                _ Scarcely saved?
wickedly . . .                                                           Can that possibly mean that the salvation of the right-
    Is it a wonder that not only the psalmist, but also the eous is doubtful?
:-people of God, complained as waters of a full  cup- are                Can it mean that God provided a mere opportunity of
wrung out to them? Is it a wonder that they started to               salvation and that now it is up to the will of man whether
moan in their aEliction  and groaned: "How doth God know,            the final salvation of any man is to be realized? Can it pas,-
and is there knowledge in the Most  High? -. . . .                   sibly mean, moreover, that the way of salvation is almost
    0, .to be sure, all this is true; but . . .                      impossible for any man to travel?
   .O, dear and beloved people of God, the trouble is; prin-         ' God forbid!
cipally, that you only look at the way, both yours and                   To be sure, if salvation depended entirely on the will of
theirs.                                                              man, if man must travel that way by his own choice and
   .But rather consider the way in the light of the end, and         by his own strength, it would not only be very hard but

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

 absolutely impossible to make that choice and to travel the       of Christ is always heard. And what does Christ pray for
way of salvation;                                                  His own, whom the Father gave Him from before the
        A sinner, dead in sin, cannot, will not and cannot will    foundation of the world? This:
to choose the way of salvation.                                         "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them
        But thanks be to God who saves by His sovereign grace,     which thou hast given me, for they are thine . . . Holy
without the will of man!                                           Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou
                                                                   hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are."
        The salvation of the righteous is not a question mark.
 The reason? First of all, because the righteous are God's              Any doubt-that the righteous shall be saved?
 elect. They are righteous because of God's eternal decree.             If it is the will of God to save them .: . .
 From ali eternity He. gave them to Christ. He willed that..            If Christ will save them . . .
 they should be.made like' unto the image of His Son. And               How can their salvation be doubtful?
 the will of. God is unchangeable. What God willed from                 It is impossible!. . .
 before the foundation of the world concerning His elect
 shall surely be realized. As certainly as God cannot-change,           Firm as the mountains!
 so certain it is that the righteous shall be saved and enter           Yea, much firmer!
into eternal life and glory.
        There is more.                                                                            0  0  0  0
        Who, we may ask, are the righteous?
        The answer is: those for whom Christ died and shed              Yet, scarcely saved!
 His lifeblood on the accursed tree. God gave His Son for               Why? 0, the salvation of the righteous is firm and sure,
 them and for no one else. Christ  took. the whole  burden,        and it is very glorious.
of their sins upon His mighty shoulders and with that load              But the way of and to that final salvation is' hard, for
of sin He went to the cross' and atoned for all their trans-       the flesh. It leads through the midst of the world. You
 gressions. Hence, the righteous are those who, in the blood cannot compromise with the world.
 of their Saviour and Redeemer, have a right to the eternal
 inheritance. Hence, as sure as God gave His beloved Son                You cannot dance to glory.i
 for them, and as surely as Christ shed His lifeblood for               The way is a way of suffering.
 them, so surely shall the righteous be saved.                          This was, in the supreme sense of-the word, the way to
        There is still more.                                       glory in regard to the Saviour. Of course, it is almost ,blas-
        The righteous are those, to be sure, for whom Christ       phemy to compare His way of suffering with ours. And the
 died, they are, moreover, those that were given to Christ by      comparison is, indeed, impossible as far as His suffering.
j God the Father from all eternity; but they are also those in     Nevertheless, the Lord Himself makes the comparison more
 whom the good work of salvation has already been begun.           than once. Did He not say unto His disciples and, there-
 They did not become righteous by an act of their, own free        fore, to you and to-me: "If the world hate you, ye know
 will, they were not declared righteous by'God  because they       that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of  the
 were willing and revealed their willingness to `accept            world, the world love his own: but because ye are not of
 ,Christ." On the contrary, they also became subjectively          the ,world,  but I have chosen you out of the world, there-
 righteous by a sovereign  .act `of the grace of God. "For         fore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said
 whom he did foreknow, them He also did predestinate to            unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If .they
 be, conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the       have persecuted me, they .vdl also persecute you . . ."
 fistborn  among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did              :     And, 0,  how. they hated. Him! How they persecuted
 predestinate, them he also. called: and whom he `called,          Him! Suffer He did all His life! He endured  .sufIeririg  of
 them he also- justified: and whom he justified, them he also      every kind: suffering in soul and body, in His Spirit and in
 glorified."                                                       His mind, in His will and in His emotions, suffering because
                                                                   He was the Holy One of :God and as such. the world .hated
        Do you not see?                                            Him. Suffer He did until there was no form or comeliness
        The salvation of the elect is absolutely certain: Why?     in Him. He suffered until' His sweat became great ,drops
 Because it is none of self: it is'all of God!    `,               of blood, until the way became so  narrow  that He `could
        Is there any doubt that the righteous shall be saved?      hardly reach the cross . . .
        God forbid!                                                      He  suffered  . . .       .,
 :  ..'                                                  '                                               i
   And why not, we.ask once more?. The answer of Scrip-                  We iimst also suffer!                                ":i
 .ture..is  also: because Christ prays for them and the prayer          .For us it is nothing strange that we must suffer in the. i


  flesh, there is no element of surprise in the fact that we                                                                                                                                                                -
  must suffer. First of all, as has already been said, their                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
  Lord also suffered and-the servant is not greater than his             ~Semi-monthly, except monthly  durinp, June; July and  Augwt
                                                                           Published by the  REFORMED  FREE  P~~LI~~NG  
  master. Secondly, all Scripture emphasizes that in the                                                                                                                                         ~SOCIATION
                                                                                                       Editor  -  REV.  Hn
  world we shall have tribulation. The reason is that the                                                                                                            HOEKSEMA
                                                                          Communications relative, to contents should be addressed to
  life of their Lord is in them and if they manifest that life            Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S.E., Grand Rapids 7,
  in all their way and walk without compromise, the world                 Mich.  Contributions will be limited to 300 words  arid must be
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  will hate them and they must suffer tribulation. Thirdly,               All church news items should be addressed to Mr. J. M. Faber,
  they are still in the flesh, and, therefore, they must ever                               1123 Cooper, S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
  fight the battle against the lust of the flesh. They know of             Announcements and Obituaries with  the, $2.00 fee included
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     All this is hard for the flesh . .- .
     0, to be sure, they are saved. This is without any doubt.
  For in all their suffering in the flesh, the Lord, `their faith`                                                         CO.N,TENTS
  ful Saviour, keeps and sustains them, but the way is  MEDITATION-
  nevertheless, difllcult  to travel. It is, indeed, a hard way.              The Hard Way of the Righteous . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..____.........................  433
                                                                               Rev. H. Hoeksema
     But why must the way be,so hard? Why must it be a
  way of tribulation?  *  .-                                          EDITORIALS-
     The answer is not difficult to find: it is necessary for                 Dekker, Kuiper  and H.H . . .._..__.........._.........................  :...._______  436
                                                                                          Rev. H. Hoeksema
  their salvation.  -For, first of all, it is necessary for the
  Church in the world. Do we not know that, if the world              OURDOCI&NE-
  does not hate the Church, if it does not cause the Church                   The Doctrine of the Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
  to suffer, the world will soon creep into the Church and it                             Rev. H. Hoeksema
  becomes corrupt as was the case with. the Church of Lao-
  dicea.  But, secondly, this is also the case with regard to         A  CLOUD   OF  WITNESSES-
                                                                              The Gates of Gaza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
  the individual believer. He must be sanctified. If every-                               Rev. B. Woudenberg
  thing is sunshine in the world,. he so easily begins to love
  the world. He likes to stay-here as long as possible. He            F~otir  H~LY WRIT  -
  does not seek the things that are above but the things that                 Exposition of Romans  5:12-21.........._._____.......,.......................  444
  are below.                                                                              Rev. G. Lubbers
     Hence, the righteous must travel in a hard and difficult         IN HIS FEAR-
  way.                                                                        The Enorniity of "Little" Sins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._.................... .._ 446
                                                                                          Rev.  J. A. Heys
     He needs suffering and -tribulation in order that pres-
  ently he may arrive at the final goal:                              CONTENLCNGFOR.THE   FAITH-
    Everlasting life and glory1                                               The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._...__.______.._........... 448
                                                                                          Rev. H. Veldman

                                                                      THB VOICE OF OUR FATHERS'--
     But if such a hard way is necessary for the righteous . . ,              The Belgic C o n f e s s i o n   ..__  ._.  ._........  .   .   .   ..___..   _..._......,
                                                                                          Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
     How about the ungodly and sinner? What shall b,ecome
  of him? Where shall he appear?                                      THE CHURCH  AT WORSHIP-
     You understand, of course, that, the ungodly' and sinner                 Infant Baptism ..: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  452
  are  one and the same man. The ungodly is always a sinner,                             Rev. G.  Vanden   B e r g
, and the sinner is always ungodly.                                   ALLAROUNDUS-
     Nevertheless, we may distinguish. Perhaps, we may say                    Synods, Assemblies, Mergers, etc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
  that the term ungodly refers rather to the nature of the                               Rev. H.  Hanko
  sinner. With his whole nature he is ungodly, he is opposed          NEW; FROM OUR CHURCHES.. .__ _____.  ___ _____________. ______ _... . _......_..... 456
  to God with body and soul, with all his heart and mind                             Mr. J. M. Faber
                       (Continued on page 441)


4 3 6                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                                  ._
II                                                                    would almost grow weary trying to interpret passages of
             :EbITORIALS                                           11 Scripture like these. And; perhaps, the reader will also
                                                                      grow weary reading these explanations.
                                                                              Yet, as long as the opponents of particular grace and
                   Dekker,  Kuiper, cpd ?H.H.                         particular love quote these texts for their own purpose, they
                                                                      must be answered.
        Just a word, before I continue my editorial on the above
mentioned subject, on the decision of the last Synod of                       This is true of Kuiper.
the Christian Reformed Church on the "Dekker Case." -                         In order to defend Dekker (and this he surely does), he
        I have been waiting for an official copy of this decision     refers to these passages of Holy Writ.
in the Church papers of the Christian Reformed Church,,                       He agrees with Dekker.
but thus far I have found nothing,. even though other                         Whatever he may write in the rest of the article is of no
Synodical decisions were' mentioned and discussed. Does               avail, as  Iong.as  he agrees with Dekker that somehow God
this mean that doctrinal matters are not considered im-               loves all men.
portant in the Christian Reformed Church anymore? It                          But do the texts from Ezekiel prove this?
would seem so.                                                                Not at all.
       What I write now, therefore, is hearsay, or let me rather              The texts referred to read as follows:
say, is an oral report by one that was attending Synod.                       Ezekiel  18:23: "Have I any pleasure at all that the
      - That report is as follows:                                    wicked should die? saith the Lord  God;-  and not that he
        1. The "Dekker Case" was disposed of by Synod, after          should return from his wicked way and live?"
the matter had first been given in the hands of a committee                   And in Ezekiel 33:ll: "Say unto them, As I live, saith
and the committee reported, in about half an hour.                    the Lord God, I have no  .pleasure  in the death of the
        2. This means, of course, that the report of the commit-      wicked:' but that the wicked should turn from his way and
tee was adopted as a whole.                                           live; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye
        3. Briefly, the advice of the committee which was             die, 0 house of. Israel?"
adopted by Synod was:                                                         On these passages, I make the following remarks:
        a. That the Synod appoint a study committee to in-                    1. In neither of these two passages "all. men" are ad-
vestigate the matter.                                                 dressed. The reference is not to all men, but to the house
        b; That this study committee report to the next Synod         of Israel. In other words, it is not all men, in general, but
if possible but that, in case they could not get ready in             the Church of Christ that is addressed. This is very plain
time, they might take another year.                                   from the context of these verses as well as from the text in
 c. That, in the meantime, Prof. Dekker `would, of                    chapter 33:ll. As far as the context in chapter 18 is con-
course, continue to teach as he had before, namely, that              cerned, we read:
God loves all men with a redemptive love.                                     `Yet ye say, the way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now,
        The above is an oral report. As soon as I receive the         0 house of Israel: Is not my way equal? are not your ways
official report, either in the church papers or in the Acts of        unequal? . . . Yet saith the house of Israel, the way of the
Synod, I hope to inform our readers.                                  Lord is not equal. 0 house of Israel, are not my ways
        I can safely draw the conclusion that, for the time being,    equal? are not your ways unequal? There fore I will judge
Prof. Dekker is justified.                                            you, 0 house of Israel, everyone according to his ways, saith
                                                                      the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your
                             0  0  0  *                               transgressions, so iniquity shall not be our ruin . . ."
        But now we must continue our discussion of the subject                Also in Ezekiel 33:11,  the house of Israel is addressed.
mentioned in the title of this editorial:  "Dekker, `K&per,           The prophet is not enjoined to speak these words to the
and H.&I."                                                            Babylonians, or the Egyptians, or to any other nation, but
        We were going to interpret some of the texts to which          only to the house of Israel.
Kuiper as well as Dekker refers. One of these, Matthew                        2. The point, I wish to make is, of course, the texts
5:43-45,-we  have already treated_We, now proceed to dis-             quoted from Ezekiel cannot possibly be used as a proof
cuss Ezekiel  1823,  33:ll  an';i II Peter  3:9. 0, yes, I            that God loves all men. God loves His people, -the right-
have explained these passages too, more than once. But in              eous, the elect, and no one else. And even the preaching
spite of this, and without. paying. any attention to my in-            of the Holy Gospel is no proof that God loves all men for
terpretation, these texts are, nevertheless, quoted as proof           even  inthe new dispensation the Gospel does not reach all
                                                                       ,..              ..,.                                 ,..
 that. God loves all men or that God is gracious, with the            men but only a .comparat&ely  few.
                                                                                                ,..
so-called common grace, to all men. Besides, they simply                      3: Besides,,. do not overlook the fact that  bot'h  ,these
 quote these texts without any attempt to explain them. One
                                                   -.      ..,.        texts are not general,,.@ very particular. For the Lord, in


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   437

both the passages, does not enjoin the prophet only to tell              phraseology, is a daring man, one who sits in judgment on
his hearers that God has no pleasure in the death of all                 the Scriptures and is not an interpreter of them. But he
the wicked, but only that He has no pleasure in the death                who explains those passages agreeably to the analogy of
of the wicked .that repents; He has pleasure in this "that               faith, performs the duty of a -good interpreter and proph-
the wicked turn from his evil way and live." And who will                esier (or preacher j in the Church of God."
hear this word of God? Who will turn and repent? The                         What, then, according to Arminius, is correct interpreta-
one that received grace from God to do so and no one else.               tion of all such texts. For this Arminius quotes Prosper,
The text, -therefore is not general, but particular.'                    who himself taught that Christ died for all men.
   To be sure, Kuiper blames me for writing that the doc-                    But is it not surprising how many texts those that do not
trine of Dekker is rank Arminianism.                                     believe in the sovereign grace of God can find in the Scrip-
   But what is Arminianism?                                              tures?
   Does not Kuiper know? I suppose he does. But if he                        And now Arminius does not even refer yet to Ezekiel 18
does, he ought to know, too, that the "First Point" of 1924              and 33 or to II Peter 3:9!
is "rank Arminianism," for it teaches that the saving grace                      Of course, if one will only interpret the texts to which
of God is .intended for all men individually, for this grace             Arminius refers above in the light of the whole Scripture,
is manifest in the general offer of the gospel. And, surely,             he will have no difficulty to explain them without seeking
this is the teaching of Prof. Dekker for in the March 1964               refuge in paradoxes as Kuiper does.
`The Reformed Journal" he writes literally: "The Gospel                      Let me quote one more proposition made by Arminius.
is God's good news - the good news that He `so loved the                 It is this:        '
world that he gave his only begotten Son' (John 3:16) and                    "The works of the.unregenerate  can b.e pleasing to God,
that Christ Jesus . . . `gave himself a ransom for all' (I, Tim.         and are (according to Borrius) the occasion, and (accor'd-
2:s ) . For whom is this news? For the world - for all men.              ing to Arminius) the impulsive cause by which God will
God loves all. Christ died for all! It is our joyful task to             be  .moved  to communicate to them his saving grace."
tell all men the news."      _                                               Now, Arminius,. first of all, denies that he ever made
   All this is "rank Arminianism?                                        this proposition. According to him, his opponents (probably
   This is literally-expressed-in the work "The Writings of              Gomarus, H.H.) .invented  it.
Arminius," Vol. I, pp. 316, 317:                         i                   But when he tries to explain the matter, it becomes
                                                                         rather evident that the statement must, nevertheless, be
                       "A r t i c l e   X I I "                          attributed  to'him For he writes:
    `Christ died for all men and for every individual."                      "1. For the word `the unregenerate' may be understood
   "This assertion was never made by me, either in public                in two senses5 a. Either as it denotes those who have felt
or in private (It was, however, made by Dekker and, as                   no motion of the regenerating Spirit, nor of its tendency or
what follows will show, also by Arminius, H.H.) except when              preparation for regeneration, and who are therefore, desti-
it was accompanied by such an explanation as the con-                    tute of the first principle of regeneration. b. Or it may signi-
troversies which excited on this subject have rendered                   fy those who are in the process of the new birth, and who
necessary. Thus it may mean either `that the price of the                feel those motions of the Holy Spirit which belong either to
death of Christ was given for all, and for every one,' or that           preparation or to the very essence of regeneration, but who,
`the redemption, which was obtained by means of .that price;             are not yet regenerate: that is, they are brought by it to con-
is applied and communicated to all men and to every one.' fess their sins, to mourn on account of them, to desire deliv-
Of this latter sentiment I entirely disapprove, because God              erance, and to seek out the Deliverer, who has been pointed .
has by a peremptory decree resolved that believers alone                 out to' them; but they are not furnished with that power of
(mark this expression "believers alone,' -H.H. ) should be               the Spirit by which the flesh, or the old man, is mortified,
made partakers of this redemption. Let those who reject                  and, by which, being transformed to newness of life, is
the.former of these opinions consider how they can answer                rendered capable of performing works of righteousness."
the following Scriptures, which declare, that Christ died for               A strange explanation. Nevertheless, it ought to be
all men; that He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole           evident that Arminius really teaches that the works of the
world (I John 2:2); that He took away the sin of the world               unregenerate (or who' are not yet regenerate) can be pleas- .
(John  1:29)? that He gave His  -flesh for the life of the               ing to God. .
world (John  6:Sl)  ; that He died even for that man who                    But I am digressing. But this proposition, that the un-
might be destroyed with the meat of another person (Rom.                 regenerate can do works that are pleasing to God, reminded
14:15); and that false teachers made merchandize  even of                me rather strongly of the second and third points of Kala-
                                                                    I
those that the Lord bought, and bring upon themselves                    mazoo, 1924.
swift destruction (II Peter 2:1, 3). He therefore who speaks                Next time, D.V., I hope to return to the subject proper.
thus, speaks with the Scriptures, while he who rejects such                                                                        H.H.


                                                                            .


  438                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE,ARER

                                                                   because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all chil-
         0  Ll R  -d  0  C.  T.-R' I  N  .E                        dren: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be calle.d. That is, They
                                                                   which are the children of the flesh, these are not the chil-
                                                                   dren of God: but I the children of the promise are counted
          THE  DOCTRINE OF  THE CHURCH                             for the seed." Always there are in the line of the genera-
                                                                   tions of the people of God the true spiritual seed; but there
                        &CAPTER   VIII                             also develops always again the carnal seed, that live in close
             THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM                              proximity and outward fellowship with the spiritual seed,
                                                                   dwell in the same house with the latter, go to the same
                         ( continued >                             church, are subject to the same influences as these, are
    The truth, therefore, is not that the ground of infant         under the preaching of the gospel, but are not children of
 baptism is a certain presumptive regeneration. `That,  &St.       the promise and receive not the grace of God in their
 Nor is the ground that the promise of the covenant is -for        hearts. And the significance of the presence of this carnal
 all that live under the dispensation of the covenant. That,       seed within the generations of the people of God is very
 second. But, thirdly, the ground rather is that.God  estab-       evident both from Scripture and from actual experience.
 lishes His covenant in the line of continued generations,         Because of the perpetual presence of that carnal element in
 ,-while  in those generations there are children of the prom-     the church `of Christ in the world, the church must fight
 ise, and, at the same time, carnal children that never receive    her hardest battle in her own house. For it is by this carnal
 the blessing of the promise and that trample under foot the       element that the measure of iniquity is filled. And from
covenant of God.                                                   the carnal seed is constantly developing, until the man of
     Thus it-was in. the old dispensation. At that time the        sin be revealed, the son of perdition, the culmination of
 covenant of God was confined within the limits of  .the           all the forces of iniquity. And thus it is, according `to the
 nation of Israel. They formed one nation. They all lived          will of God, revealed in His Word, that the sign of baptism
 under God's dealings  ,with His own. They were all de-            is to be administered to all the children that are born in
 livered with.a mighty arm from the house of bondage. They         the line of the generations of God's people. While the sign
 were all  ' witnesses of God's terrible wonders. They all         and seal of the covenant is a savor of life for the children
 passed through the Red Sea.. And they were all baptized           of the promise, it is at the same time a savor of death unto
 into Moses. They all ate of the spiritual bread and drank         death for the reprobate that trample under- foot the cov-
 of the spiritual rock that followed them in the desert. They      enant of Jehovah.
 were the nation that received the law, to whom the Word              Our calling, therefore, is to watch and fight the good
 ,of God was entrusted, whose were the prophets, the ,priests,     fight even unto the end. We must not say, "We have Abra-
 the kings, the service of the temple, the altar and the           ham to our father." For all are .not Israel that are of Israel.
 sacrifices. Yet, with the majority of them God was not well       Neither are they all children of God because they are of
pleased. There were in the generations of the people. of           Abraham's natural seed. Nor must we ever say that the
 God of the old dispensation two seeds, the true children  of; Word of God has fallen out: for God certainly realizes His
 the promise and the carnal children that despised God's           promise  to-,a11  His people. His Word' never fails! Never-
 covenant and trampled under foot the holy things of the           theless, it is our calling, our sacred obligation, our respon-
 covenant of Jehovah, His Word and His precepts. Yet it was        sibility, to keep our part of the.covenant.  As the Baptism
 the will of God that all would receive the sign of ciycum-        Form has it: "Thirdly. Whereas in all covenants, there are
 cision, the seal of the righteousness which is by faith.          contained two parts (Mind you: not two parties, but two
     Nor is it different in the new dispensation. The church       parts): therefore are we by God through baptism, ad-
 in the world is the gathering of confessing believers and         monished of, and obliged unto new obedience, namely, that
 their children. They form-- one people even `though the           we cleave to this. one God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost;
 course of God's covenant is no longer confined to one single      that we trust in him, and love him with all our hearts,. with
 nation. And to this people God reveals His covenant., `They       all our souls, with all our mind, and with all our strength;
 are called after His name. And outwardly all that belong          that `we forsake the world, crucify our old nature, and walk
 to,them are subject to the same dealings. All are according       in a new and holy life."
 to the will of God baptized in the name of God Triune. To            And the Baptism Form in this part continues: "And if
 all the Word is preached. And all, unless they violate the        we sometimes through weakness fall into sin, we must not
covenant of God before they ever come to confession of             therefore despair of God's mercy, nor continue in sin; since
 faith in the church, celebrate the death of the Lord Jesus        baptism is a seal and undoubted testimony, that we have an
 Christ at the communion table. Yet also to the church of          eternal covenant of grace with God."
 the new dispensation apply the words of Romans  9:6-S::              This, then, is the Reformed and. Biblical conceptiorrand
 `Not as though the word  of, God hath taken none  effect.         presentation of the covenant of God as it runs in-the line of
 For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither,        continued generations. We must have nothing of  presump-
                                                                                               I


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         439     t
         I
tive regeneration, which is not real. We must have nothing        ably to the nature and properties of sacraments, it is called
of the conception of Heyns, which would assign a certain          the body of Christ Jesus."
subjective grace to all the children of the covenant. But            Then in Question 79 the Catechism discusses the fac.t
we must maintain, and strongly maintain, that God's cov-          that Christ calls the bread His body and the cup His blood,
enant runs in the line of continued generations, and that         and that also Paul calls the supper the communion of the.
therefore not all the children are children of the promise,       body of Christ. And this is answered in the 79th answer.
but nevertheless the children of the promise only are                Moreover, in Lord's Day XXX the difference between
counted for the seed.                                             the Lord's Supper and the popish mass is discussed in Ques-
                                                                  tion 80. And in Questions 81 and 82 the subject concerns
                         CHAPTER  IX                              the proper partakers of the Lord's Supper; and the Cate-
                                                                  chism answers that the Lord's Supper is instituted only for
    THE SACRAMENT OF ,THE LORD'S SUPPER                           those who "are, truly sorrowful for their sins, and yet trust
   The sacraments, and especially the sacrament of the            that these are forgiven them for the sake of Christ; and
Lord's Supper, have a large place in the confessions of the       that their remaining infirmities are covered by his passion
chm~h.   `m the Heidelberg Catechism no less than three           and death; and who also earnestly desire to have their faith
Lord's Days are devoted to the discussion of this sacrament.      more and more strengthened, and their lives more holy;
And we will quote at least part of them.                          but hypocrites, and such as turn not to God with sincere
   Question 75 reads: "How art thou admonished and as-            heart, eat and drink judgment to themselves." Thus, in
sured in the Lord's Supper, that `thou art a partaker of that     Question 81. And Question 82 speaks of those who are
one sacrifice of Christ, accomplished. on the cross, and of       wicked and therefore are not to be admitted to the Supper
all his benefits?                                                 of the Lord, and, in connection with this, introduces the
                                                                  idea of the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
   "A. Thus: That Christ has commanded me and all be-
lievers, to eat of this broken bread, and to drink of this           Also in the Netherlands Confession there occur three
cup, in remembrance of him, adding these promises: first,         articles on the sacraments. In Article 33 the Confession
that his body was offered and broken on the cross for me,         speaks of the sacraments in. general. In Article 34 it speaks
and his blood shed for me, as certainly as I see with my          of Holy Baptism in particular. And in Article 35 it speaks
eyes, the bread of the Lord broken for. me, and the cup           of the Holy Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in `the
communicated to me; and further, that he feeds and nour-          latter we read: "We believe and. confess, that our Savior
ishes my soul to everlasting life, with his crucified body and    Jesus Christ did ordain and institute the sacrament of the
shed blood, as assuredly as I receive from the hand of the        holy supper, to nourish and support those whom he hath
minister, and taste with my mouth the bread and cup of            already regenerated, and incorporated into his family, which
the Lord, as certain signs of the body and blood of Christ.' is his Church. Now those, who are regenerated, have in
                                                                  them a twofold life, the one corporal and temporal, which
   And then, further, ins Question 76: "What is it then to        they have from the first birth, and is common to all men:
eat the crucified body, and drink the shed blood of Christ?       the other spiritual and heavenly, which is given them in
   "A. .It is not only to embrace with a believing heart all      their second birth, which is effected by the word of the
the sufferings and death of Christ, and thereby to `obtain        gospel, in the communion of the body of Christ; and this
the pardon of sin, and life eternal; but also; besides that,      life is not common, but-is peculiar to God's elect. In like
to become more and more united to his sacred body, by the         manner God hath given us, for tbe support of the bo*dily
Holy Ghost, who dwells both in Christ and in us; so that          and earthly life, earthly and common bread, which is sub-
we, though Christ is in heaven and we on earth, are not-          servient thereto, and is common to all men, even as life
withstanding `Flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone'; and      itself. But for the support of the spiritual and heavenly
that we live, and are governed forever by one spirit, as          life, which believers have, he hath sent a living bread,
members of the same body are by one soul."                        which descended from heaven, namely, Jesus Christ, who,
   In the same Lord's Day mention is made of the institu-         nourishes and strengthens the spiritual life of believers,
tion of the Lord's Supper, and, in connection therewith,  ;of     when they eat him, that is to say, when they apply and
the promise which Christ gives to those that partake..            receive him by faith in the spirit. Christ, that he might             .
   Further, in Lords Day XXIX, Question 78 we read: f'Do          represent unto us this spiritual and heavenly bread, hath
then the bread and wine become the very body and blood            instituted an earthly and visible bread, as a sacrament of
of Christ?                                                        his body, and wine as a sacrament of his blood, to' testify
   `A. Not at all: but as the water in baptism is not             `by them unto us, that, as certainly as we receive and hold
changed into the blood of Christ, neither is the washing          this sacrament in our hands, and eat and drink the same
away of sin itself, being only the sign and  co&mation            with. our mouths, by which our life is afterwards nourished,
thereof appointed of God; so the bread in the Lord's Supper       we also do as certainly receive by faith (which is the hand
is not changed into the very body of Christ; though agree-        and mouth of our soul) `t&true body and blood of Christ



                                        .


 440                                      T -&I .E .. S T, A N D A,.ti Li .' B E A k fi R

 our only Savior in our souls, for the suipdrt  of our spiritual    tion. According to this view; the sign and the thing signified
 life. Nbw, as it is certain and beyond all doubt, that Jesus       are not identified, yet objectively connected: the body and
 Christ hath not enjoined to us the use of his sacraments in        blobd of the Lord are really present in, with, and under
 vain, so he works in us all that he represents to us by +ese       the bread and wine. Then there is the third view, which is
 holy signs, though the manner surpa+s our understanding,           connected with the name of Zwingli. It probably may be
 and cannot be comprehended by us, as the operations of             called the symbolic view: the Lord's Supper is a mere feast
 the Holy Ghost are hidden and incomprehensible. In the             of commemoration. And lastly, there is the view of the
 meantime we err not, when we say, that what is eaten and           Reformed churches, according to which the relation be-
 drunk by us is the proper and natural body, and the proper         tween the sign and the thing signified are purely spiritual.
 blood of Christ. But the manner of our partaking of the               As might be expected, none of these four views had
 same, is not by the mouth, but by the spirit through faith.        been definitely and distinctly developed in the earliest
 Thus then, though Christ always sits at the right hand of          period of the church. It stands to reason that the church
 his Fathell  in the heavens, yet doth he not therefore cease       first of all simply accepted ,the sacraments and observed
 to make us partakers of himself by faith. This feast is a          them without critically entering into the deeper significance
 spiritual table,  at'which Christ communicates himself with        of them. The church did not at once give herself account
 all his benefits to us, and gixes us there to enjoy both him-      clearly and distinctly of the meaning of the Lord's Supper
 self, and the merits of his sufferings and death, nourishing,      or of the relation between the sign and the thing signified.
 strengthening and t-comforting our poor com$ortless-  souls by     It may be observed, however, that also to this sacrament, as
 the eating of his flesh, quickening and refreshing them by         well  aS to that of baptism, a profound significance was
 the drinking of his blood. Further, though the sacraments          attached by the church generally, although, as I have said,
 are connected with the thing signified, nevertheless both are      she had no idea of its deeper meaning. Nevertheless, it may
 not received by all men: the ungodly indeed receives the           also be remarked that by various writers of the earlier
, sacrament to his condemnation, but he doth not receive the        period of the church the seeds were sown for the develop-
 truth of-the sacrament. As Judas, and Simon the sorcerer,          ment of all the various views of the Lord's Supper that
 both indeed received the sacrament, but not Christ, who            were to be developed in a later period. The present Roman
 was signified by it, of whom believers only are made par-          Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation was entirely un-
 takers. Lastly, we receive this holy sacrament in the as-          known in the first period of the church. Yet, since the
 sembly of the people of God, with humility-and reverence,          church generally held that somehow the flesh and blood of
 keeping up amongst us a holy remembrance of the death of           Christ Were received at the Lord's Supher, and the question
 Christ our Savior, with thanksgiving: making there confes-         as to how Christ was present in the signs was not always
 sion of our faith, and of the Christian religion. Therefore        clearly answered, nevertheless it may be said that the
 no one ought to come to this table without having pre-             tendencies can be found that would point in the direction
 viously rightly. examined himself; lest by eating of this          of the Roman Catholic conception of the Lord's Supper.
 bread and drinking  of this cup, he eat and drink judgment         Then too, the views of Ignatius, -Justin, and Irenaeus re-
 to himself. In a tiord,  we are excited by the use of this holy    mind us of the present Lutheran doctrine. They emphasize
 sacrament, to a fervent love toward God and our neighbor.          the real presence of the body and blood of the Lord with-
 Therefore we reject all mixtures and damnable inventions,          out identifying, however, the sign and the thing signified.
 which men have added unto, and blended with the sacra-             It must? be remembered, however, that also these fathers
 ments, as profanations of them: and affirm that we ought           did not clearly define the manner in which the body. and
 to, rest satisfied` with' the ordinance which Christ and his       blood of Christ were present in the Lord's Supper. The
 apostles have taught us, and that we must speak pf them            North African Church revealed rather clear tendencies to
 in the same manner as they have-spoken."                           what is called the Reformed  view of the sacrament, Origen
        Thus far the confessions.                                   inclining toward the Zwinglian view, but Clement, Tertul-
        Now the main  question  concerning this second  sacra-      liati, and Cyprian adhering rather to the Calvinistic con-
ment is that which is concerned with the  proper interpreta-        ception. The idea of sacrifice in the Roman Catholic sense
 tion of the words which the Savior spoke at the institution        of the word, that, namely, the body and blood of the Lord
  of this sacrament, "This is my body," and,  ."This  is my         are really offered up by the church through the priests,
 bloodl" It deals with the relation between the sign and            was not known in  ,the early church. It is true that  the
 the thing signified. At the present time, four different views     church in that early period does indeed use the term  sac&
 have developed and are held by the church. There is, first         fice in connection with the celebration of the Lord's Supper,
of all, of course, the Roman Catholic view of  transubstan-         but means something radically different from that which
 tiation, meaning that the sign and the thing signified are         the Romish ,Church teaches at the present time. Not Christ
 identified: the bread and wine are changed into the body           is offered, but the church offers herself in prayer and
 and blood of the Lord. There is also, as undoubtedly you           thanksgiving and alms, etc. However, Cyprian, with his
  know, the Lutheran view, which is that .of consubstantia-         hierarchical tendencies, already suggests the idea that not


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      441

only the church, but the priest offers an imitation of tl&           answer is: in everlasting glory. But the ungodly and siimer
sacrifice of the Lord.                                               walks in the way of proSperityi apart from God and against
   In the second period, say, from about 300 to 750 A.D.,            Him. But where shall they appear? The answer is: in ever-
the ideas of'the sacraments in general and of the Lord's             lasting hell and desolation.
Supper specifically were further developed. The relation                 For as Psqlm seventy-three has it:
between Christ and the signs in the Lord's Supper was                         "AEE they that forsajke Thee must perish and die,
often compared to the union of the two natures in Christ.                           But near to my Sa:viour most blessed am I."
But the doctrine of transubitantiation, the Romish view,
certainly was not at this time part as yet of the accepted               And if you should ever become envious. at the easy and
doctrine of the  church.  The bread and wine are called              smooth way of the ungodly and sinner and weary of your
types and antitypes ?f the body and blood of Christ. They            own way of suffering and tribulation, do not fail to go into
are frequently called symbols. Augustine writes that Christ's        God's temple and sing with Asaph:
declaration that He would give us His flesh to eat must                 "As when one awaking forgetteth his dream,
not be understood in the literal sense of the word: "His                 So God will despise them, though great they may seem;
grace is not constied  by tooth-biting." The idea of sacri-              My envy was sensetess,  my grief was for twu?ght,
fic& was still emphasized, although at this period also the              Because I was faithless, and foolish my thought."
term does not convey the same meaning as that of the                                                                                    H.H.
Romish Church at the present time. It was rather conceived
of as a thank-offering, consisting in prayers, alms, etc. But
this was held to be effective both for the living and the dead.                                 Announcement
At the end of this period, however, Gregory the Great                                             PUBLIC LECTURE
plainly speaks of the  eucharist  as a sacrifice which we
offer.                                                     H.H.      Time:             September 15, 1964 - 7:45 P. M.
                                                                     Place:           Oak Lawn Protestant Reformed Church
                                                                                      9536 So.-Minnick  Avenue
                                                                                      Oak Lawn, Illinois
           THE HARD WAY OF THE RIGHTEOUS                             Speaker: Rev. D. Engelsma, from Loverand,  Colorado
                   (Contitillued from page 435)                      Subject: A Phase of Protestant Reformed Education; a
and soul and strength. There is no fear of God before his                             follow-up of the iecture  given by Rev. Engelsma
eyes.  Hk does not know Him, love Him, fear Him. The                                  last March in Doon,  Iowa.
tendency of his inner life is not in the direction of God, but           Sponsored by the Board of the Oak Lawn Protestant
always in the direction of iniquity. But the word sinner                 Reformed Christian School.
`denotes his entire active life and walk in the midst of the             (Delegates to  Classis  West, meeting  -the following
world. He mocks, murders, commits adultery, lies, profanes             day, are..asked  to take notice of this announdement. )
holy things and thus, in his active  life, he reveals his enmity-                                              Louis R. Regnerus, Treas.
against God.
    Who is he? . . .                                                                         WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
    Is he a mere heathen?                                                On behalf of our congregation, the consistory of the Randolph
    0, to be sure, the heathen is not excluded. He, too, is an       Protestant Reformed Church extends congratulations to two of our
                                                                     charter members
ungodly and sinner. But he is not the dnly sinner. You                                     MR. AND MRS. JOHN WESTRA
find him, too, in the Church of God. He walks even as the
                                                     *               who have commemorated their 50th wedding anniversary on July 25,
believers to a cert?in extent.                                       1964. With them, we rejoice  that God has graciously given them
                                                                     these many years together; our prayer is that God may continue  to,
   As l&g as there is no tribulation, no.suffering  for Christ's     provide for them according to His promise in their remaining years
sake connected with the outward fear of the Lord, he re-             here below.
                                                                                                             Rev. G. Van  Baren, President
mains in the Church. Nevertheless, he is a sinner and an                                                     Mr. Dewey  Alsum, Clerk
ungodly man and seeks the things of the world.              1
                                                                                            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
    This becomes evident as soon as the Church must suffer
for Christ's sake and is in tribulation. For, then, he chooses           The Consistory of the Randolph Protestant Reformed Church
                                                                     wishes to express its sincere sympathy to Mrs. Jacob. Lont in the
the world and  turns against Christ and against His people.          death of her husband, a charter member of our congregation and
                                                                     for many years a faithful member of our consistory,
    Where then shall he appear?                                                                  MR.  IACOB  LONT
    The answer is in the question itself.                                May  our gracious heavenly `Father sustain her in the glorious'
                                                                     assurance that  detith for the saints is the passageway to eternal
    The righteous are saved in a-hard way, a way of suffer-          glory with Jesus Christ our Lord.
ing and tribulation. But where shall they appear? The                                                        Rev. G. Van  Baren,. President
                                                                               -                            Mr. Dewey  Alsum,  Clerk
                                                                         . .


 442                                           T H E   S T A - N D A R D   B`EARER                                                        I

                                                                         Lord, whom they should obey and worship, while- the
                                                                         Philistines were a wicked people who were not to be fol-
                                                                         lowed or endured. Once again within the land  ,of Israel
                                                                         the service of God was to be seen and heard.
                        The  Gates  of  Gaza                                Still during this time the, Philistines remained the op-
              And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight,       pressors of the children of Israel. God did not see fit to
         and took the doors of the gate                                  work through Samson a complete victory over the enemy as
                                            of  the city, and the two
         posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put            He. had through Deborah, -Gideon, and Jephthah. Samson
         them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the             was rather preparatory to the work of Eli, Samuel, and the
         top of a.n hill that is before Hebron.         Judges 16:3      kings. Nonetheless, the oppression of the Philistines was
                                                                         surely restricted by the presence of Samson. At Lehi the
      At Lehi the place of Samson. in Israel was changed.                Phi&tines had learned that no matter how great a force
 There he became judge over Israel in the full sense of the              they possessed, and even though- Samson was bound and in
word. Long before this God had called him, and he had                    their hands, they were powerless against him. In Samson
 testified to Israel concerning the truth. But the people had            there was a force which they could not overcome. During
 not received him. They were content  .to continue under the             all `of the years that followed they did not dare, again to
 dominion of the Phil&tines; and when Samson began to                    move in `force against him.. His power was too great. He
 oppose and offend the Philistines, they saw him only as a               was left free to go where he wanted and to do what he
 troublemaker and a disturber of their peace. Even when                  p l e a s e d .
 the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson so that he                         Thus it was that during this period, perhaps toward its
 wrought miraculous works of judgment against the Pbil-                  end, Samson made his way. to the city of Gaza. Gaza was
 istines,  the Philistines began to fear him greatly, but the            one of ,the chief cities of the Philistines and surely one of
 Israelites remained unimpressed. When finally the  Phil-                its strongest. Time and again it had proved itself to be a
 istines  moved into their territory with  a~ large army, deter-         Philistine stronghold against invading forces. This was in
 mined to do away with Samson's interference, the Israelites             all likelihood Samson's reason for coming to Gaza. The
 were ready to help them. With three thousand men they                   Philistiires  considered themselves to be a noble and cour-
 went to the rock Etam, and, taking Samson, delivered him                ageous people. Continually they acted as though they had
 bound into the hands of their oppressors.                               a perfect. right to rule over the people of Israel because of
      It was then that the change took place. While they                 their superior strength. They boasted continually because
 watched, the Spirit of God came upon Samson and,. he broke              of their power. Gaza was the center of this power and a
 apart the new ropes that bound him as though they were                  chief symbol of Philistia's boast. In coming there Samson
 ,old and seared by a fire. Seizing the jawbone of an ass that           was revealing the utter contempt which he held for their
 lay at his feet, he charged into-the middle of the-Philistine           claim. Alone and unarmed he approached the gate of the
 army and slew them heap upon heap. That night in : the                  city; but defiance was to be seen on his face, Let anyone
 houses of Israel there was much soul-searching that took -try to prevent him from entering. But none dared; and ,he
 place. They had seen the Spirit of God working and could                passed through into the city. Back and forth through the
 no longer look upon. it with their former cold contempt.                streets of the city he wandered. The streets were narrow
 They began to realize that Samson was indeed a deliverer                and winding, with many ideal places for a large crowd to
 sent to them by God in grace. When after this Samson                    set upon one man without leaving him room for escape.
 again walked among the people, he found a new respect                   The people knew who Samson was. Since the days of Lehi
 which he had never known before. Now when he spoke,                     the reports of Samson had carried far and wide throughout
 the people listened. They came to him to be instructed and              the land, and he had never hesitated to let himself be seen
 judged. The Spirit of God was upon him,  .and he guided                 by all as he wandered often through the land of the Philis-
 the people-in the way they should go. He was judge over                 tines. Neither did the defiance in his eyes leave ,any room
 Israel in the.name of the Lord.                                         for mistake as to the nature of his mission. Knowing `eyes
      This situation continued much longer than we are apt to            followed him into every street  and along .every step of the
., realize. For twenty years Samson' was the judge of Israel.            way; but none dared as much, as to stop him and ask why
 Of this period we are given no details at all; and we may               he, was there or what he intended to do. Surely no one
 .assume that no outstanding events took place which are                 dared to ask him `to leave the city. The men of  T;inmath
 important for us to know as those which preceded and fol-               had presumed many years before to give him occasion, and
 lowed. Nevertheless, we should not fail to note that there              from it Gaza had learned a lesson. Freely he went wher-
 was this period of considerable length. During that, time               ever he chose, and this mightiest city of the Philistines
,,S,amson,  was the spiritual leader of the people. More and             stood paralyzed before him.                         . .
 more they must have begun to assume his attitude over
   .__  ;,                                                                  At last,. wearied by the failure of the men of Gaza .to
 agai-nst  God .and .over. against their enemies. God was the            meet hisc.hallenge,  and disappointed, Samson gave in .to his


                                       ,  THE  STANl3rr.w.D   PEAPER                                                                 443

besetting weakness. Samson had always had the greatest             steps were quick and without stopping, as though he knew
difficulty coping with his sexual lusts. That was why he           exactly what he intended. Even when he stood before the
had allowed his exploits in Timnath to be marred by his            very gates themselves, he seemed undisturbed by their locks
marriage to a daughter of the heathen Philistines. Soon it         and heavy bars. Rather he reached out and `grasped them
would bring about his final downfall as he would yield to          with his hands. .Then, as those lying in wait looked on, he
the seductions of the wicked Delilah. He was not alone in          gave one mighty lunge and tore them loose from the city
this weakness. We find many other children of God in the           walls, gates, bars,' posts and all. Even more, he hoisted them
Scriptures, heroes of faith, whose lives were marred in a          all to his shoulders and sauntered off into the darkness.
similar way. It is just that in Samson it is so distasteful be-        By the light of the morning sun the city stood naked and
cause he allowed it to combine so closely with his greatest        exposed. This was Gaza, the might and the boast of the
works of. faith. The greatest of the children of God have          Philistine nation. It had stood under the attack of countless
always shown themselves to be far from perfect. Samson in          invading forces. The strength of the city was its walls; and
Gaza turned in to the house of a harlot.                           the strength of the walls was its gates. Many a mighty army
    Even in this, however,"$ere  was a further element of          had tried to destroy them, and they had stood fast. But
defiance. No where in  .a11 of the city would Samson appear        now, and there were a goodly `number of men who could
to be more defenseless. There in the close confines of a           witness to it, one man had lifted them to his shoulders and
private home, it` would appear the easiest thing in the            carried them off. This was Gaza, `standing naked and ex-
world to take him. They could so easily block the door             posed' in the morning sun, without its gates, without its
tight with countless mighty men and leave him no way of            strength, without its boast.
escape. Imprisoned like that, they could destroy him at                And then, as though to make it ti&e &believable  still,
their leisure. But just because it appeared so easy, the           the report came back, the gates had been found with posts
Philistines did not trust it. They `could only read into           and bars and all. They were not in a nearby  fieid; they
Samson's every action a carefully calculated plot to entice        were not downward by the  sea;' they were up on yonder
them into battle. The more, foolish Samson's actions ap-           mountain at its very peak. An army could hardly retrieve
peared,  the m-ore sure they were that he was waiting to           them; but they had been brought there by one man alone.
rise up against them and work a mass destruction. None                 Here was a `sign to which the Philistines might well
dared to move against him. They only waited and watched            listen. The gates represented the strength of their city; and
the door of the harlot's house to see when Samson would            moved by the Spirit of Israel's God, one man had carried
come out and what he would do next.                                them off alone. It could only mean that with all their
    For hours they waited, until at last the darkness fell aud     armies and fortified' town they were helpless before this
the gates of the city were closed. Only then did the hopes         mighty God. In one moment He could root out their
of the .Philistines  begin to rise. Now they knew that they        greatest, strength and carry it far away. They would, do
had him locked within their city until morning. This gave          well to turn from oppressing His people and repent. But                  ,
them time to think and lay their .plans. They knew better          the&were the Philistines, and they would not.
than to mount an open attack against Samson. This had                                                                               B.W.
been tried, and he had proved himself more than equai  to
that. But they did see a possibility in taking him subtly by                       RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
surprise. For this they had all of the night to get ready.            The Men's Society of the First Protestant Reformed Church of
Gathering together the bravest of their men, they put them         Holland expresses its deepest sympathy to Mrs.  J. Bouwkamp in the
carefully in hiding before the gate of the city. By morning,       passing of her husband,
they were convinced, he would be off his guard. He would                                      JOHN BOUWKAMP
.be sure that they had no intentions of meeting his chal-          who, until deprived of his hearing, was a faithful member of our
lenge. But when the morning came, they would leave the             society. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His
gates closed and locked. When he approached them, he               saints." Psalm  116:15.
would find himself closed in; and they would rise and strike                                         Rev. G.  Laming,  President
him. Until nearly midnight they labored gleef,ully,  saying                                          Mr. E. Cammenga, Secretary
to themselves, "In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill
him.`j                                                                                RESOLUTION OF. SYMPATHY
   It was then, at the midnight hour, that the unexpected             The Ladies' Society of the First Protestant Reformed Church of
happened. Samson came out of the harlot's house. This the          Holland, Michigan, herewith expresses its sincere sympathy to  .Mrs.
                                                                   J. Bouwkamp, in the loss of her husband,
Philistines had never, expected. Surely Samson knew that                                      JOHN BOUWKAMP
at this hour the gates of the city were closed and tightly
barred. He could not expect to get out at this hour. How              "The mercy of Jehovah is from everlasting to everlasting upon
                                                                   them that fear Him." Psalm  103:17.
foolish could he be? But there was no hesitation in the                                            Mrs. G. Laming, President
steps of this Israelite as he moved toward the city gate. His
                   .~                                                                                Miss La Fern  Kortering, Secretary


 444                                       T H,E . S T A N ti .A R D- B E A.R.E R

                                                                    justified and sanctified, that is, have complete redemption!
                                                                       Of this Christ and of our redemption in Him we would
                                                                    see a bit more.

             Exposition of $omans 5: 12-21                          `Through One Man Sin Entered Into &e World. Rom. 512.
 Introductory  Observafiions:                                          It`ought to be evident that Paul begins a comparison in
                                                                    Rom. 512 which he does not fmish. Writes he: "Therefore
    Those of us who have given at least a little thought to         even  as by one man sin entered into the world . .  ." He
 the meaning and sense of the Holy Spirit as taught in this         does not finished the comparison here by continuing to
 classic Scripture passage will welcome some reflections and        write . . . "thus also by one man, Jesus Christ, grace is
 expository observations on this teaching concerning Adam           realized." The .comparison is interrupted and not carried
 and concerning Him who was to come, the last Adam,                 through to its conclusion till verse 18. There we read:
 Christ.                                                            "Wherefore then as through one man's transgression (of-
    It is both of interest and of necessity to notice that Paui     fense) death reigned through one unto all men unto con-
 speaks of three great subjects in the letter to the Romans.        demnation, thus also through the righteousness- of one man
 After having spoken of, the great power of the gospel  .unto       (became) unto all men unto justification of life."
 salvation for every one who believeth, he develops the three          It is well to notice that Paul completes this comparison
 great facets of salvation, which incidentally, are the "three      in this way! Thus he gives the fundamental formula in verse
 things" which we must know, while standing in and enjoy-           12, gives the explanation of this begun comparison in the
 ing the only comfort in life and in death. These three things      verses I3 through 17, and sums it up with the clear-cut
 are: 1. the greatness of our sins and misery, 2. the manner        statement in verse 18.. The conclusion of the comparison
 of our redemption in ,Christ Jesus, 3. the concrete and speci-     begun in verse 12 is thus masterfully shown in its great
 fic manner of our living a life of gratitude. In the Chapters      architectural lines; it is the legal architecture of the Cross
 1:18 to 3:20 he teaches that all men, Jew and Gentile, are         as typified already in the first Adam's legal relationship as
 under sin and death. In the Chapters 3:21 to 8:39 he teaches       well as his organic relationship to the human race. Here is
 the manner of our redemption on the Cross, particularly            splendid commentary on Genesis  1:26, 27, as well as on
 also of our justification and sanctification which are ours by     Genesis  2:7, 16, 17 and Genesis 3:1-21. The Cross is no
-faith. And in Chapters 12, 13 he teaches how we shall be           after-thought. For God thus loved the world. `John 3:14, 15.
 thankful to God for redemption .in Christ Jesus, living as         He made Adam the figure of him who was to come. For
 justified and as sanctified in Christ.                             all things were created through Christ, the first-born of all
    It is the great theme of Paul and of the Gospel of Christ       creatures, and unto Him. Col. 1:16.
 that we are not saved by works of law which we perform,               Let it be placed very emphatically on the foreground
 but solely by the righteousness of God in Christ without           that Paul says "through one man sin entered into the
 law. This is thk'repeated refrain here of Paul in this great       world," verse 12. Sin did. not enter into the world by the
 ,epistle. Rom.  3:19-26;   4:1-8,  13, 14;  5:1-11.  We are not    creative act of God. That is excluded by what we read in
 under law but under grace! Rom. 6:14.                              Genesis 1:26, 27. It is emphatically stated in Genesis 1:27:
    To understand that we are not under law but under               "And God created man in his own image, in the image of
 ,grace in Christ Jesus, we must see the great design, aim          God created he him, male and female created he them."
 and grand purpose of God in creating one man, .Adam, as            Hence, sin came into the world by the agency of one man.
 root of the human race, and head, representative head of           It was not by Satan that sin entered the world; sin could not
 ah-men. On the other hand we must see and understand               enter into the human race by any subsequent individual
 that salvation is too by one man, Jesus Christ. Thus we see        who would be born from Adam and Eve, but could only
that Adam is, as representative head of the human race, the         enter into the human race by the particular man, Adam.
 figure, type of the Christ, who was yet to come later in the       The Hebrew reads literally: "Let us make ADAM (man) in
 fulness of times, born from a woman and made under the             our ,image,  according to our likeness . . ." And this ADAM
 law. Rom. 5:14; Gal. 4:4.                                          is the generic man (homo ) because he is the root and
    In this passage in Rom. -5:12-21,  under consideration,         representative Head of the human race! God made man,
`Paul points out the basic substructure of our salvation in         Anthroyos,  when he created Adam from de dust of the
 Christ. The subject in this passage is not the Fall in Adam,       ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and
 but. it is the Free Gift of God in Christ. The two Adams           thus constituted him a living soul. Sin did only come into
 are described in their dissimilarity rather than in their sim-     this world by the agency of one man, but it c&d also only
 ilarity. Adam is only mentioned as the type and picture of         come into the world by man, more particularly by this one
 Christ. Christ is the one  conderning  whom Paul, strictly         man, who is Adam, the first!
 speaking, is writing. Paul here writes concerning the legal         Unless this point be seen con&erning the only possibility
 representation of the one man, Christ, in whom-we  are both        of sin entering into `the  w.orld, and believed and confessed,


                                         " T H E   STA'N.DARD   B E A R E R                                                           445

                                                                       It is important to notice that death came "thpough  the
we will needs fall into the ,maelstrom  of Pelagianism, and         sin." It did not come simply as a  natura.1 consequence of
its necessary counter-part, Arminianism. Thus too we shall          sin, but it came by the judgment of Go,d; it came to realiza-
never see the glory of the Cross and the rockbottomness             tion in the judgment hall of God, a judgment pronounced
of our salvation, namely, that the gift of grace is through         by God in advance, should he transgress. And in this ver-
one man, Jesus Christ, the last Adam. The latter must needs         dict of God upon Adam's sin, offense, death passed through
stand or fall with the former!                                      to all men. Yes "it passed through." It came into this world
   For sin came into the woi%d through one man. It is-not           once and for all. It is not constantly coming into this world-
constantly coming into the world. Paul employs the aorist           And thus too the death is not coming,through  to all men,
tense. It emphasizes the fact that the entire entrance of sin       but it came upon all men, immediately in that very verdict
into the world is a finished fact, once and for -all, and that      of God upon this transgression. That  `<very day" when
it is irrevocably thus. Sin is here. It entered into the world.     ADAM `sinned, was the day when death passed through to
The -gate was the agency of the disobedience and trans-             all men. Paul here too employs the aorist tense! Once and
gression of one man, Adam! The term  kosmos  refers to the          for all death passed upon all men.
entire world of God's creation, `as created in the six days of         But how could,that  be?
the creation week, with man standing at the'head,  with do-            Paul tells us, `because all sinned:" The verb form here
minion over all of the earthly creation. Into this world.over       too for sinned is in the aorist tense. That' means that it
which man rules, under God, sin came. Paul calls it the             refers to that original sin, that primordial sin of Adam. We
sin (hee  Harmartia).  It was the missing of the mark. It           sinned  ,there. We do not agree with the Holland translation
was the root-sin; the  (only sin possible through- which            which says : "in which all sinned" (in  welken).  Rather we
"death" could come into the world and pass through to all           believe that the Greek preposition with the relative pronoun              -
men. It was the transgression of the command of God as              `eph' hooi? should be translated: upon this that, or on the
recorded in Gen.  2:16, 17,  "And the LORD God com-                 basis that, and so: because that all sinned. Legally, juri-
manded the man (Adam) saying, of every tree of the                  dically we all sinned in our representative head. This is
garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowl-        borne out also by the sequence in this passage.
edge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the            What Adam did he did as our representative. Where-
day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." The            fore only through the sin of ADAM could sin enter into the
transgression of the commandment was the transgress, the            world, and could it at that very moment be a condemnation
sin! It was wilful disobedience. It is the root-sin of placing      of the entire human race. All were immediately under sin,
our own chosen ways overagainst and instead of the Word             guilt and death. Dying we all died.
of God. It is therefore the sin which was anti-God, and                Paul gives proof of this proposition from the concrete
will reveal itself in the mystery of iniquity to be anti-Christ.    evidence of the undeniable fact that death reigned as a ,
It was enmity against God. For the issue was "what hath             terrible king from Adam to Moses. For the period of some
God said," in the garden! And the Lord God analyzes the             2000 years or more death reigned, not because of the curse
sin as "Man was become like one from us.". He has acted             of the law expressed in the law of Moses, which says: the
as if he were in our company, sitting -in the midst of the          man that doeth the same shall live thereby, and: cursed is
counselors of God. It was an act of highest sacrilege and           everyone that remaineth not in all things written in the
blasphemy, Such was the sin which came into the world               book of the law to do it. That 1aw"`was  added" (verse 20)
by the agency of the one man, ADAM!                                 centuries after the `Fall of Adam. Nay, the "reigning" of
   That is the key-note of Paul here in Romans .5:12!               death is the evidence that we all were accounted before
   And, now, we must listen a bit more to Paul. Writes. he:         God as having sinned in the one transgression of Adam.
"and through the sin  th.e death." We must here add:                                       (to be continued)
through the sin  came  the death into the world. It came                                                                              G.L.
once and for`all. It came as the execution of the punish-
ment of the sin. It is the "thou shalt surely die" fulfilled.                           WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
It is called "ho Thanafos." It is not simply the death of an           On July 17, 1964, our dear parents,
individual, but it is death in all its scope, compass and im-                     MR. AND MRS. GERRITT BYLSMA
plication: .physical death, spiritual death consisting in our
depravity and guilt, and .eternal  death, sometimes called:         commemorated their 45th wedding anniversary. We, their grateful
                                                                    children, thank our covenant God for the blessings we received
second death which is, prepared for the Satan, the false            through them. May our Father in heaven continue to bless them
prophets and for the dragon. Nothing is excluded from               and lead them through their remaining  da.ys  together.
                                                                                                     Mr. and Mrs.  S'tuart  Bylsma
death in this concept: th.e death.                                                                   Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Bylsma
                                                                                                     Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Koerner
   We shall have more to say .-concerning this concept in                                            Mr. and Mrs. Edward Cammenga
later verses of this instructive section under discussion. See                                        Mr. and Mrs. John Buiter
                                                                                  .-                  Mr. and Mrs. Frank Block
the verses 16, 21, 23.                                                                                    21 grandchildren

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

                                                                   piece `of fruit from off a tree and eat it? 0, we speak of
            IN  HIS  FEAR' .I harmless disobedience. Here, surely, was a harmless deed,
                                                                   if your eye is focused only on man. Eve did no bodily in-
                                                                   jury to Adam. He did not bring any pain to her flesh.
             The Enormity of "Little" Sins                         Neither one coveted what the other had, deceived or stoIe
    "Little sins." `White lies." "The lesser of two evils."        from the other. A little sin? It opened the gates of hell! It
    To these we could add a host of other expressions which        brought the curse upon the whole earth. The wages of sin
 give state the same thought with different words. "Nothing        is death, whether you want to..call it a little sin or a big sin.
 is wrong, if it is not done in excess." "One must sow a few       The wages of each and every sin is death!
 wild oats." "It was only a little harmless disobedience." "The       Uzzah meant so well???!! The ark of God was on a cart.
 end justifies the means." But why go on? It is characteristic     The oxen stumbled, and that glorious manifestation of God's
 of the evil mind of fallen man to excuse his. sin, to minimize    presence and of His mercy and grace threatened to fall into
 it and try to satisfy and soothe his conscience in any way        the mire, be split wide open and be ruined. Uzzah put
 but in the way of repentance and the cross of Christ.             forth his hand to prevent such shame and disgrace! A little
    We have never liked the distinction of little sins and         sin? God smote him for his error (rashness). It was not a
 big sins and of calling people big sinners, as though there       little sin in the sight of God.
 are also little sinners. Of course, as far as men are con-           And Ananias and Sapphira lied. They kept back part of
 cerned it makes a world of difference whether one steals a        the money which they obtained by selling a piece of land.
 penny `from you or ten thousand dollars. It certainly makes       But- they still gave a goodly sum to the Church. They
 a difference also before God whether you are an harlot and        stilled  he1pe.d  many an hungry mouth and empty stomach.
adulteress like Rahab or an adulterer and murderer such            It was harmless disobedience, "What you do not know will
 as `David. There are simple'sins and complex sins. There          not hurt you." And the-rest of the Church knew nothing
 are single sins and double'sins. `One cannot break any one        about it. They received that gift, with thankful hearts and
 of the commandments from two through nine without com-            thought very highly of this "devoted and saintly couple."
 mitting the sin of `idolatry. Whatever sin we commit, it is       But a little sin? God struck both of them down with in-
 always because we have another god before and in place            stant death! He cast them at once into hell!
 of Jehovah. THAT is always `the case. We serve our flesh.            To be' sure, men will be rewarded according to their
 We are a god unto ourselves. That is the sin which Adam           works. By the way, please note that Scripture always puts
 and Eve committed when they ate of the forbidden fruit.           it that way also about the reward of grace. We are re-
 And all the rest of the sins in the world flow forth from and     warded with glory and blessedness not on account of our
 come out of that sm. When we sin, we, disobey God. And            works, not because of. our works, not in view of our works
 that is the same as saying that we do'not have Him for our        but according to our works. That simply means that those
 God. Deception and theft go hand in hand so often. All            with few. good works are rewarded with, less glory than
 theft is not forceful depriving of the neighbour of his goods.    those with many good works. Even then, he who stands in
 Even then, theft and murder or bodily violence go together.       the lowest place in God's kingdom has an indescribable
 And David. showed us that adultery and murder also walk           glory and bliss. Likewise he who stands in the highest
 together - to say nothing of deception - as his subtle deeds      place in hell has an indescribable agony and torment. But
 with Uriah reveal.                                                men certainly are rewarded in accord with the number of
    But a,little sin there really is not. They are all big. In     their works; And we may call them big sinners, perhaps,
 fact they are all equally big in the sight,of God. The judge      in that sense that they have had and have taken the op-
 in,police court may make a distinction and charge you $10         portunity to commit many more sins than others. We may
 and costs for your  iirst offense of speeding and $25 and         even say with Jesus that it will be more tolerable in the day
 costs for. the next. The courts may specify a higher fine for     of judgment for some than for others because of the revela-
running violations than for parking "irregularities." The          tion that they had above others. But that exactly again
 city or village may even make it so convenient for you when       underscores the fact that we ought not speak of little sins.
 you violate the parking laws, that. you need not even appear      These for whom it shall be more tolerable shall still be cast
 in court. Just place your 50$ or a dollar or two in the en-       into hell. They have not added to their sin the sin of con-
 velope provided by the ticketing officer and drop it in a         sciously and willingly resisting a way made plainer to them
 box conveniently located, and forget about the whole busi-        than to others, but they have committed that which has for
 ness. It is after all a minor violation, ,and even the author-    its wages death.
 ities do not.want to be bothered by such little misdemean-           Jesus speaks of the great commandment but not in the
 ors. Yet we insist that before God there are no little sins.'     sense that the punishment for breaking the second com-
    Pray tell me, what do you consider to be a little  sin?        mandment is any the less. For both it is hell fire. And Jesus
    Shall we begin at the very dawn of history and, try to         does teach us that to hate is even as to kill, to lust even BS
find. one? Was it a little sin merely to reach out and pick a      to commit the act of adultery. The act becomes a double


                                           T H E   STAM.D.`ARD.   BEA.R.ER                                                          447

sin and is greater'in that respect. For it `is dommitting it        wondrously at the cross. Christ died for "little" sins and
with the heart and  @e body. It becomes a complex, a                "white" lies  2nd `harmless" disobedience. As we pointed
double sin, for it is not possible  to commit it with the body      out, that which men might. call thhe smallest sin is punished
and not in the soul. There are sins, such as covetousness           by God with hell fire. And .that means that only the'cross
that can be committed only in the soul and lead to theft,           of Christ, that awful agony,. that terror of hell can pay for
mur.der  and acts of the hand, the mouth and the tongue.            such `little" sins and "white" lies. When you stand at the
But we always sin against God and man and never merely              cross or tremble in the dark shadows of Gethsemane and
against man.                                                        hear the Son of God in"our flesh crying with His troubled
   Consider then that every evil deed, no matter how big            soul and see the drops of blood from His brow, from His
or how little it may seem in the eyes of men is always an           hands and from His feet, those "little" sins do not look so
act of hatred against the living God. No< man yet sinned            little anymore. They require an eternal measure of punish-
because he' loved God. That is quite impossible. Once               ment as well as any other act of rebellion. They require the
again, Uzzah's act is callled a rash deed, and you may be           blood of the Son of God to blot them out as surely as
sure that it was an act of hatred agai;lst God. No, you and         murder and theft and idolatry and blasphemy. For essen-
I cannot read the heart and we had better be careful not            tially they are  .no different than these and in principle are
to try to read and judge motives. But the reaction of the           these. For they are acts of rebellion and hatred against. God.
living  And just God to this deed of Uzzah indicates His                 Little sins? That is belittling, is it not?
judgment. He considered it to be sin. He punished it with                Your own are little; but the other fellow's are big? Is
death. Adam and Eve's sin, no matter how harmless it                that perhaps why we want to make the distinction? As the
might have been as far .as mankind is concerned, was an             wicked  Jews who saw the adultery of the woman, and
act of `rebellion. .All sin is' rebellion. That which we call       wanted to cast stones until Jesus pointed out that their
gross sins but also that which m&n label as little sins is          "little" sins also called  for stones? As evil and filthy as
still nothing less than rebellion against the in.i?nite and sov-    adultery is, are your and my sins better sins. How silly!
ereign God. And rebellion roots in hatred. Love manifests           Can you talk of better sins? Well, then you can talk of little
itself in obedience and service. HatrFd manifests itself in         sins too. Every sin is wholly evil. By nature a man can do
rebellion perverseness. Test it out in your own life. Look          nothing that is good. He is spiritually dead, not sick or
and see whether you actually have a good end when *you              weak. Is it' because we do not want the truth of God's Word
feel the need of evil means! Is that end actually the glory         that we want to speak of total depravity that is.not absolute
of God or our own self-vindication or glory? Are we seek-           depravity? Is it because we want to find a little spot of
ing to be pleasing in God's sight or to satisfy our own flesh       good yet in the corrupt man, that we also want to speak of
or that of fellowmen? `Ridiculous!! How can we possibly be          l i t t l e   s i n s ?
striving to please God when to do so we must break one of                Ought we not to stand with the publican rather than
His commandments? Can the end ever justif? the means?               with the Pharisee and with Paul and penitent David? The
Were it not for the redeeming and pardoning grace of God            Pharisee was ready to admit "little sins" even though he was
we could pretty soon talk that over with Uzzah and Ananias          not like other men, extortioners,  Lmjust, adulterers. But he
and Sapphira! And we can be instructed by Abraham and               did not go home justified. The publican saw the enormity
Sarah as far as "white lies" are concerned. `Indeed Sarah           of all his sins and smote his breast in the agony of being
was  Abrahim's  sister. But did all that plague upon the            what Paul calls a wretched man. He found peace  atid went
house of Abimelech come because no sin had been com-                home with the joy of justification.                 .
mitted? Surely, he had to save his life, for the covenant,               Little sins unconfessed, because they are so little in our
promise was to him and to his seed. The land of Canaan              sight, and unforgiven bring an enormously great punish-
had been promised to him. .God would make a great nation            ment and fear upon the death bed. All sin seen in His fear as
of him. The end justifies the means; A white lie can Serve          great wickedness and guilt before God and blotted out by
God's cause. And what  more shall we say? We shall say              the blood -of the cross bring infinite and lasting peace.
this: Abraham's lie was an act of hatred against the living              In minimizing sig we bring ourselves into the terror of
God. In it he rebelled against God. In his flesh dwelleth           these sins and are the like the man who ignored .the little
no good thing. Romans  7:18.  His carnal mind, according            spark in a room filled with gas; or like the man.who  min-
td his old nature, was, not subject to the law of God and           imized the little hole in the bottom of the boat  tihich he
indeed could not submit itself  to' that law. Romans  8:7.          took out far from the shore; or the captain who -ridiculed
Left to himself and apart from the cross and blood of Christ        that little part of the huge iceberg that showed above the
Abraham must perish ev&lastingly.  And what is stated of            top of the water; or even the man who was not afraid of
Abraham- is true of each and every one of us. Our !`little"         that little bare spot on the wire of high v&a&% electricity.
sins call for nothing less than hell fire, for the simple reason         In His fear, `we .have no fear of sins, because, although
that they are always acts of hatred against God.                    ,we see their enormity, we also see. the greatness of God's
  And that, is what makes the  lov,e,  of God  `shine,`foith        love and the power of the crdss.           `.  ..  :  i  :  JiA:.H.


448                                       THkSTANDARD   ,BEARE'R

                                                                   sENTED  unto us His  spiritutil  and heavenly bread  by
          Contq~Iing For The Faith                                 means of the earthly bread and wine. The sacrament of the
                                                                   Lord's  Supper  is a spiritual table, at which Christ com-
                                                                   municates Himself with all his benefits to  us; and gives us
           The  Church  and  the  Sacraments                       there to enjoy Himself with all His spiritual benefits. And
                                                                   we are also informed, in this article, that, though the sacra-
                                                                   ments are connected with the thing signified, nevertheless
            THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION                            both are not received by all men, as the Lutherans declare.
                                                                   Finally,  this article also states that Simon, the sorcerer,
 -VI&%  ON THE SACRAMENTS (LORD'S SUPPER)                          received the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. This  state-
                                                                   .ment is undoubtedly based on what we read in Acts 8:13:
                   THE REFORMED VIEW                               "Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was bap-
                                                                   tized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding
       We now continue with our quotation of Art. 35 of our        the miracles and signs which were done." It may be as-
Confession of Faith, the article which sets forth the Re-          sumed that he, having  received the sacrament of baptism,
formed position on the sacrament of the Lord's Supper:             also partook of the sacrament of  the.Lord'S  Supper. Simon,
       "Further, though de sacraments are connected with the       ai is evident from the words of Peter addressed to him,
thing signified, nevertheless both are not received by all         surely did not believe in a real, spiritual sense of  the word,
men: the ungodly indeed receives the sacrament to his con-         only in an external and outward sense. He evidentiy saw in
demnation, but he doth not receive the truth of the sacra-         his becoming a disciple of. this Lord Jesus an opportunity to
ment. As Judas, and Simon the sorcerer, both indeed re-            improve himself in the worldly and material sense of the
ceived the sacrament, but not Christ, who was  sigxiified          word. And, in the light of what we read in the rest of
by it, of whom believers only are. made partakers. Lastly,         Acts 8, one may well wonder whether `he continued to
we receive this holy Sacrament in the assembly -of the             partake of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.
`people of God, with humility and reverence, keeping up               The Reformed view of the sacrament of the Lord's Sup-
amongst us a holy remembrance of the death of Christ our           per was not clearly understood and set forth until the time
Savior, with thanksgiving: making there confession of our          of the Reformation. As previously stated in preceding ar-
faith, and of the  Chiistian  religion. Therefore no one ought     ticles, there are four views of this sacrament: The Roman
to come to this table without having- previously rightly           Catholic view, known as Tran&bstanti&ion; the Lutheran
examined himself; lest by eating of this bread and drinking        view of Consubstantiation; the Zwinglian view which may
of this cup, he eat and drink judgment to himself. In  a           be called the symbolical view, although it may be ques-
word, we are excited by the use of this holy sacrament, to a       tioned whether the Zwinglign view is presented correctly;
fervent love towards God and our neighbor. Therefore.we            and the Calvinistic view, or sacramental view, according to
reject all mixtures and  da&able   ;hventions,  which men          which  the relation between the sign and the thing signified
have added unto, and  blended~  with the sacraments, as            is purely spiritual.
profanations of them: and affirm that we ought to  rest               During the early period of the Church in the New Dis-
satisfied with the ordinance which Christ  and his apostles        pensation (we speak of the Church in the Ney Dispensa-
have taught us, and that we  must speak of  them.in the            tion as in distinction from the same Church as it also existed
same.manner  as they have spoken."                                 in the Old Dispensation, always bearing in mind that there
       In this &ticle the Fathers declare that we eat and drink    is only one Church of God  throughotit  the ages, even as
the natural and proper body and .blood  of our Lord. The           there is onli one God and one Saviour), until approximately
sacrament of the Lord's Supper, therefore, is not merely a         300 A.D., there was no distinctive and definite conception
remembrance feast, which conception is ascribed to the             developed of  t&is sacrament. The church simply celebrated
Ztiglian presentation of this sign and seal. But we do             this sacrament without inquiring into its-profoundly spirit-
well to bear this in mind also in connection with the Roman        ual significance. And this, incidentally, was surely to b.e
Catholic conception of the sacrament. The Romish view understood, as far as the Church of God is condemed  as in
declares that we actually eat and drink the body and blood         its New Testament infancy. Profound insight into all the
of the Lord. Although we declare this conception to in-            truths of the Word of God, as revolving around our Lord
volve us in an abominable idolatry, nevertheless it is well        Jesus Christ, surely developed  `as the New Dispensation
to bear in mind that the Reformed conception believes in           wore on. However, although not inquiring into the deeper
an eating and drinking of the body and blood of our Lord.          significance of the Lord's  Supper, the early Church was
However, they-add that this eating and drinking does not           surely under the impression that a profound  signi%ance
occur by the mouth, but by the spirit and through faith; We        must be attached  to the sacrament. And this is easily un-
are also instructed that Christ has instituted an earthly and      derstandable. All we need do is  re>d the Lord's institution
visible bread and wine, but that our Lord has  REPRE-              qf this sacrament, and we must realize its importance. The


                                              T-HE  BTAND.ARD`.BEARER                                                              449

   Lord instituted the Lord's Supper in the upper room the             Gregory the Great was the pope from 590 to-604 A.D. He
   evening before His crucifixion,. and He specifically enjoins        is known as the Fast o$ the Latin fathe+ &d the tist of the
   gpon  His Church that they eat and drink in remembrance             popes. It `is .&id of- him -that he believed  firmly in' a papal
   of Him.' In distinction from all the feasts and observances         primacy, and yet that he regarded the four patriarchs of
   of the Church in  the Old Dispensation, this is the only            Constantinople, Alexandria,  Antioch, and Jerusalem as co-
   observance which the Lord enjoins upon His Church, and              ordinate leaders of the church under Christ, corresponding
   this is reason enough to -emphasize the importance of this          .as it were to the four ecumenical councils and the four gos-
   sacrament. Besides, the apostle Paul, not present  in that          pels, as their common foundation. He declared that, al-
   upper room whkn the Lord's Supper was instituted by its             though Christ appeased by His death the judge's wrath, yet
   atqning  Lord, later received by special revelation from the        His sacrifice undergoes its effectual repetition in the sacri&e
   Lord this institution of the Lord's Supper, recorded for us         of the mass provided by the Church. It is prain, therefore,
   in I Cor. 11:23-26.  Hence, the institution of this sacrament       that he plainly spoke of the Lord's Supper as a sacrifice
   in the upper room and its revelation later to the apostle           which' is offered by the Church.
   Paul surely emphasize the importance of the Lord's Supper.
   During this early period of the Church, the Roman Cath-                 In the next period of the Church, from 750 A.D. to the
   olic doctrine,  of transubstantiation was completely unknown,       time of the Reformation, the number of the sacraments was
   although we may say that expressions were used in those             determined to be seven, and the doctrine of transubstantia-
   days which could serve as seeds for the development of              tion became the official doctrine of the Church. At the be-
   this doctrine. We know,  ,for example, that  the word or            ginning of this period the number.  of the sacraments was
   term, sacrifice, was used in those early days. However, the         not yet determined. It was pope Eugenius IV, 1431-1437,
   Lord's Supper was called a sacrifice, not in the sense, as          who finally declared that there were seven sacraments, and
   according to  Rome,   .that Christ offers or sacrifices Himself,    they are: baptism, confirmation, the eucharist, penance, ex-
   but in the sense that the church offers  it3elf   in prayer,        treme unction, holy orders, and marriage. And it was also
~ ..thanksgiving, etc. The Church in that day certainly did not        during this period that transubstantiation became the
   believe in the doctrine of transubstantiation. Besides, how         official doctrine of the Church. Radbertus, Abbot of Corbie,
   could such a doctrine be possible during the New Testa-             in the ninth century, was the first to teach unequivocally
   ment infancy of the Church? Hoiv would it be' possible for          this doctrine. However, this doctrine was not accepted
   the. Church of God to ent&tain  such a conception of this           universally immediately. It met originally with  cdnsider-
   sacrament as in the days of the apostles and their immedi-          able opposition. In the time of Radbertus most of his #con-
   ate followers? When  Ckrist declared in the upper room,             temporaries opposed this view. But, this view or doctrine
"This is  my body," theti everybody knew that the Lord,                gained in popularity and ,acceptance.  After all, according
   referring to the bread He held in His hand, was not identi-         to this view the Roman Catholic plays a tremendous role
   fying Himself with the bread and wine, surely did not               in the administration of the sacrament, and people like and
   mean that the bread and wine were His body and blood in             enjoy power. In 1215, at the Fourth Lateran  Council, under
   the essential sense of the word. And it lies in the nature          Pope Innocent III, it was officially adopted. In this  doc-
   of the case, that the Lord, appearing in the midst of His           t&e, we understand, the idea of communion is replaced by
   disciples .with His body as before His crucifixion and death,       that of a sacrifice. And it is also in the latter part of %his
   did not refer to His body and blood as the glorified Head           period, and in connection with the adoption of the doctrine
   of His Church.                                                      of  tratisubstantiation,  that the cup is withheld from the
                                                                       laity, which perversion of the words of Scripture is denied
      During the second period, from about 3dO A.D. to 750             and rejected in almost all the Reformed symbols and con-
   A.D., the idea of the Lord's Supper was further developed.          fessions.
   The relation between Ch.rist  and the signs in this sacrament
   was often compared to the union of the two natures in                   Since. the time of the Reformation no new views have
   Christ. -And we may also say of this period that the Roman          been developed concerning the Lord's Supper, so that at
   Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation was unknown as              present we have the four different  .views  of t$is sacrament:
   the doctrine of the church. The bread and wine wgre  called         The Roman Catholic view of transubstantiation, the Luth-
   types and antitypes of the body and blood of Christ.                eran view of consubstantiation, Zwingli's symbolical view
   Augustine writes that the words of Christ to the effect that        (the sacrament of the Lord's Suppkr as a sort of remem-
   we must eat His flesh must not be understood in the sense           brance feast, if only we bear in mind .that it may be c&-
   that the grace of Christ is consumed by tooth-biting. This          sidered  highly questionable wheTher  this designation is fair
   certainly indicates that the doctrine of transubstantiation         to the Swiss reformer), and the Calvinistic or sacramental
   was wholly foreign to him. Toward the end df this period,           conce$ion of the  sacramqnt. In our' next article we will
   however, Gregory  the.Great plainly speaks of the eucharist         continue with this discussion, setting forth, positively, thk
   as a sacrifice tihich is -offered by the church, and this cer-      Reformed conception of this sacrament.
   tainly led to the  Ro&sh doctrine of transubstantiation.                                                                      H.:V.

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

I,                                                                  chain of apparently insignificant circumstances-- I say, the
          The Voice of' Our Fathers                                 miment we exclude the least significant item from the di-
                                                                    vti.e counsel, at` that moment we have denied and made
                                                                    impossible an? conception of the sovereignty of God's wili.
                  The  Belgic`  Confession            ,             If the Most High does not govern  all  things,  without ex-
                                                                    ception, according to His holy will, then His government of
                          hTICLE   XII                              nothing  is completely sovereign and sure.
                           (continued  >                                Our Confession, however, Bmphasizes  that this will of
                                                                    God is  holy:  Arid this is' a very significant point in this
According to His Holy Will (continued)                              c o n n e c t i o n .
      We have already emphasized that our Confession in its             Before. discussing the meaning of this truth, we may,
teaching concerning God's providence, and especially con-           make some observations about its mention in this particular
cerning God's providential government of all things, pro-           setting.
ceeds from the idea of God's will, His counsel. That                    In the first place, we observe that here again the truth
counsel is the norm, the standard, according to which the           concerning the counsel of God and its holiness is funda-
Lord  (governs  all things. All  things:are not left to them-.      mental in relation to all'that we believe and confess con-
selves. They are not left to chance, or fate. But God, the          cerning God's providential activity. God's will is His de-
intelligent and willing God, has appointed the place, the           cree, His counsel, His eternal plan and purpose regarding
function, the history and development and the purpose and           all things; God's providence is the will of God in action,
goal of all creatures, both individually and in relation to all     His counsel in its execution in time and history. It follows,
other creatures, as well as in relation to the ultimate goal of     therefore, that if the will bf God is holy, the activity of His
His counsel. Moreover, that  Will of God is sovereign. It           providence is also holy. The latter proceeds from the
is absolutely independent and free: It has its source and           former.  .The holiness of the  fortier implies at once the
reason in God's own good pleasure, so that all that the Most        holiness of the latter. If God's will were unholy-which,
High pleases to decree He wills, and so that `all that He           we add at once, is utterly inconceivable - then His govem-
wills He also accomplish&, and that too, exactly as He              ment also `would be uqholy, and it could not be said that
willed it. This sovereign will of God's good pleasure is the        "he orders and executes his work in the most  extiellent  and
standard of all the activity of God's providence: "He rules         just manner." And, on the other hand, if it would be main-
and `governs" all things "uccording  to his holy will." Nothing     tained that the divine government is not characterized by
ever takes place without His "appointment."                         infinite ethical perfection, it would also have to be main-
       Moreover, it is evident that  our Confession understands     tained that the will in which that government roots and
this in the all-comprehensive and all-inclusive sense of the        which motivates and actuates that government is also un-
word. From this counsel and will of God nothing is  6x-             holy. Such, therefore, is the relationship between the two,
eluded.  I\io creature, great or small, and no event, signif-       God's counsel and His government.
icant or apparently insignificant,.exists  or moves outside of          In the second place, this holiness of God's will is a
God's counsel. No action, either of the brute creature or of        matter of implicit faith. Faith confesses and maintains the
the moral, rational creature, man or angel, lies outside the        holiness of God's will a priori. It is important that we un-
scope of the divine decree. That this is indeed the position        derstand this and remember it, especially in connection
of our Confession is evident from` the fact that in this article    with our consideration of the relation between sin and
the question of the sins which are committed and the unjust         God's  counsel  and  God's providence. Faith does not in-
actions of devils and wicked men in relation to God's gov-          quire whether or not God is holy; it proceeds out of the
ernment is confronted.. To this we shall  gi,ve  our attention      assured knowledge and firm con~dence  that He is the Holy
later. But now we merely want to call attention  to the fact        One. Faith does not investigate whether or not it can be
that in' the statement that "nothing happens without his            maintained that the God Who providentially rules and
appointment," `our Confession obviously includes al&o all the       governs all things is holy in all His ways; it rather acknowl-
actions of the moral creature, be those actions good or evil.       edges spontaneously that no matter what God decrees and
Moreover, in the latter part of the article our Confession          no matter what He providentially brings to pass, He orders
calls attention to the fact that even such apparently in-           and executes His work in the most  excellent and just man-
significant things as the hairs of ou; head, to which we do         ner. Faith does not make the confession of the holiness of
not give a thought when they fall, and the two-for-a-farth-         God and of. His counsel dependent on the ability 1 of the
ing sparrows, are all included in that will of God. And             `puny human intellect to understand the relation between
indeed, the moment we begin to exclude- even the least              the divitie counsel and providence and the unjust actions
significant item from that will 6f God - considering now            of devils and wicked men; it rather simply accepts and
that even we  can frequently see `that some of the most .confesses  from the heart the holiness of Him Who is the
significant events of history are brought About  through a. incomprehensible God. Faith does not ask idly, "Is .there


                                                                                                                                I


                                         T H E S T  A'N,D A-R D  ,B E A R  E.R                                                 451

unrighteousness with God?" It rather affirms : `<God  forbid!" view. For this' same foul calumny is still brought against
Faith cannot raise the haughty question, "Why doth he yet         this truth today. And it is characteristic of the Reformed
`find  Ifault? For who hath  .resisted  his will?" But to that    faith eagerly to engage in polemics in the defense of the
question it responds with Holy Scripture: "Nay but, 0 man,        truth of Scripture. On the other hand, from a more practical
who art' thou that  repliest  against God? Shall the thing        point of view we can understand` and sympathize this ap-
formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me           proach of Article XIII because it was written exactly at a
thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same        time when the "devil and all our enemies" were seeking to
lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dis-         hurt God's people and destroy God's cause. And at such a
honor? What if God, willing to shew  hi; wrath, and to            time what affords more .unspeakable  consolation than that
make his, power known, endured with much longsuffering            rather negative assurance that "the devil and all our etie-
the vessels of wrath fitted untp  destruction: And that he        mies . . . cannot hurt us?"
might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of            Nevertheless, there is-a deeper and more positive side to
mercy, which he had afore  prepared unto glory . . .?,, Ram.      the truth of then holiness of God's will, And from this point
9: 19-23.                                                         of view we now 6all attention to the meaning of the holi-
   I say it is important that we understand this position         ness of God's will.
of faith and bear it in mind, especially with a view to' our         In general, first  of'all, the holiness of God's will follows
later discussion of what our Confession teaches concerning        from the fact that there is perfect harmony between God's
God's providence and sin. We must certainly not make  ow          will and God's Being. God is good. His Being is the im-
confession of the holiness of God's will dependent upon           plication of all infinite  perfedtions.  He is a light, and  in
our own rationalistic attempts to explain the facts of the        Him is no darkness at all. In God there is no evil, only
sinful actions of men and devils in relation to God's sover-      pure goodness, truth, wisdom, righteousness, love. And
eign will. Nor-and this is the  mtich more frequent error         because God's will his always in harmony with His Being,
- must we rationalistically exclude. the unjust actions of        God's will is gdod,  perfectly holy. Negatively, this implies
devils and of wicked men fi-om the sovereign will and prov-       that God can neyer  will anything sinfully. pn the" contrary,
idence of the Mbst High in sham piety in order to maintain        His will is eternally opposed to all that is evil. Even when
what seems to us to be the holiness of God. For then we           it is God's sovereign will that sin and evil shall exist, the
do not maintain the holiness of the Incomprkhensible  One         will of God is perfectly holy and good. The  sin and evil
at all, but the holiness of one who is but an idol of our own     which according to God's eternal counsel are given a place
imagination.                                                      in the whole of the scheme of the universe and its history
   In the third place, we may note that the Confession's          are always tile object of His divine and holy hatred. It can
broaching of the truth of God's holy will is rather negatively    never be said that God has delight in evil.
orientated. This aspect of the truth seems to be viewed              Positively, that holiness of God implies that He is eter-
here almost wholly from the viewpoint of the question con-, nally consecrated to and seeks  Hifnself  and the glory of
cerning  the relation between God's providence and sin. In        His own name, and that too, of the name of Him Who is
fact, in this connection we may note that the entire truth        the implication of all perfections. This,  imp!ies not only
of God's providential government is treated  rather nega-         that all that God wills He wills in 5 holy manner, so that
tively. When the article speaks, of the unspeakable con-          in all He wills God never delights in the evil as such. But
solation which this doctrine affords us, that unspeakable         it means also that in all the execution of His counsel God
consolation is -depicted in. a negative way. It consists in       always maintains His own holiness in all His dealings with
this, that the devil and all our enemies "camot hurt us." the rational, moral creature. Never for a moment can the
Let me point out here, in parentheses, that these two mat-        creature stand in rebellion against that perfect holiness of
ters are related. Do riot forget that those attempts of the       God &ith impunity. God always ieveals  Himsel!f,  according
devil and all our enemies to hurt us belong exactly in the        to His own counsel, as the God Who delights in Himself
category df the unjust actions of devils and wicked men to        as the Holy- One, and Who therefore loves and blesses
which our Confession refers earlier and which it includes         those who are in harmony with the holiness of His own
in the ordering and execution of the work of God, Who             will, while He hates and curses all who stand opposed to
rules and governs all things according to His holy will.          Him. But ultimately this -holiness of God's will implies
   NOW,  to be sure, we can  understaqd   .and' sympathize        that all things must, willingly or in spite of themselves,
with this rather negative approach of our Confession. On          stand ih the service of the revelation of the glory of Him
the one hand, it can be explained  from the desire to main-       Who is a light, in whom is no darkness at all, and that too,
tain the absolute sovereignty of God's providential govern-       in the highest degree, i.e., in the day of the final realization
ment of the world over against those who denied it, and           of His everlasting tabernacle with men in Christ Jesus and
who denied it by making the charge that this .Was a corrupt       the .day of the everlasting destruction of the ungodly.
doctrine because it makes God the author of sin. I say, we           In this connection we must remember that the counsel
can understand and sympathize with it from' this point of         of God's  provide&- i.e., God's counsel in general  ttith


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                                                                                             \                                         I

452                                       T H 'E   STqNDARD   B E A R E R

respect to all things, is never to be separated from His           so many related teachings concerning the nature and trans-
purpose of election (and reprobation) ih Christ Jesus; The         miSsion of sin and the character of God's sovereign grace,
purpose of God's will is to unite- all things  iti Christ `as      that our fathers took up the challenge of the Anabaptists
the Head of the new creation and to preserve and, perfect          and in our Baptism Form we find a brief but vigorous
His covenant and His everlasting kingdom, unto the glory           defense of this truth.
of His name. Unto that end all things in heaven and on                The main arguments of those that depy infant baptism
earth have their place in the will of God - creation, the          may be briefly stated: (1) There is in Scripture no direct
fall, sin and grace, devils and angels, wicked and righteous,      command enjoining us to do so. (2) Scripture speaks of "be-
evil things and good things. All things are destined to            lieving and being baptized," which indicates that faith must
serve that one purpose. of the glorification of all things,        precede baptism. (3) Infants do not have experiential faith;
when the tabernacle of God shall be with men.                      and, therefore, they  cannot  be the subjects of baptism.
       And therefore, God's people, `that is, those who love          The authors of the Baptism Form delve immediately
Him, those who in Christ Jesus are in harmony with His             into the crux of the matter by announcing the main argu-
holy will, that is, those who are the called according to His      ment of the opposition. This is, "Our children do not under-
purpose, knowing that God's holy will is characterized by          stand these things." The  Reformed  Churches do not dis-
electing and redeeming grace, on the one hand, and by              pute this claim as such but rather readily admit it. It can-
repkobating  wrath, on the other, may find unspeakable con-        not be denied that infants are not..conscious  of and do not
solation not only in that the devil and all their enemies          know the implications of the covenant of God, do not un-
cannot hurt them, but in this, that all things must work           derstand- that God establishes His eternal covenant with us,
together for good &o them that love Him.                 H.C.H.    that they are washed in the blood of Christ, that the Spirit
                                                                   dwells in them; neither do they understand anything of
                                                                   their part in the covenant.
.II THE CHURCH AT WORSHIP 11                                          But the conclusion which is drawn from this premise
   "0 Worship the Lord.in the beauty of holiness." Psalm 96:9a     we heartily reject. Indeed, the argument at first glance
                                                                   seems to have some merit. Why should we baptize chil-
                                                                   dren who are entirely unaware of what is going on? Doesn't
                        Infant Baptism                             this reduce incorporation into Christ and His church to a
       The next part of our Baptism Form deals with the sub-       mere formality? Will not such a practice inevitably con-
ject of infant  btiptisin. It must be mentioned in this con-, tinue the superstitious  liotions-  and customs of the Romish
nection that the purpose of this rubric is not to develop the      Church from which the Reformers sought to deliver be-
doctrines that are mentioned in our liturgical forms. For          lievers? The opponents apparently had strong logic on their
the reader who is interested in such a dev$opment  we may          side and they used it relentlessly but the trouble is that their
refer to the  Standard Bearer  rubric, "Our Doctrine," where       logic is faulty. The argument that because children do
in recent issues, beginning with the February 15th issue,          not know anything about the sacrament of baptism, they
our editor, Rev. H. Hoeksema, has been tieating  this very         are not to receive it might have some validity if it were also
subject. Furthermore,. a very lucid, concise, but thorough         true that the reception of baptism and all that it implies
defense of this doctrine may be found in the pamphlet en-          were dependent upon the conscious reception of those that
titled, "The Biblical Ground For The Baptism Of Infants," receive baptism. And this certainly is not the case.
and which may be obtained free of charge from the Sunday              Our Baptism Form argues that even though our infants
School of the First Protestant Reform+  Church in Grand            lack understanding of these things, "we may not therefore
Rapids, Michigan. Let it suffice then that we simply men-          exclude them from baptism." These children are not to be
tion a few  things in connection with this subject in our          baptized because they have understanding, and neither. are
Baptism Form.                                                      they  to' be excluded because they lack understanding. The
       In the post-reformation era our forefathers had not only    question of knowledge has nothing to do with it. The matter
.to struggle with the Roman Catholic hierarchy and to              is  much deeper than this. The view of the opponents of
militate against many heresies as they developed the truths        infant baptism leads to an. unbiblical individualism and
of Holy Writ; but they had within their own ranks those            denies the important Scriptural truth concerning the or-
who entertained unsound views with respect to the matter           ganic and corporate unity or oneness of the human race.
of the place of children in the church. This, naturally, is        On the basis of that truth the Baptism Form argues in
determinative and fundamental with respect to the question         defetise of the practice of infant baptism. And that argu-
of infant baptism.. And contrary to the prevalent spirit of        ment, as Rev. H. Hoeksema presents it in his "Liturgies"
our times, which regards the question of infant baptism as         runs as follows:
rather minor and non-essential, the Reformed leaders in               "The reply is:
those days considered the position of the Anabaptists on            "a. That without their knowledge they are partakers of
this score a serious departure from. the Word. It involved         the condemnation in Adam. If it is true that the grace of


                                          TH,E   S T A N D A R D   wB:EAR.ER                                                           453

God signi6ed  and sealed in the sacrament of baptism can-           if they die in infancy. The Baptist position leads to a hope;
not be received by the smallest infant, it must follow, as the      l e s s   i m p a s s e .   ,_                               .       4
Baptism Form argues, `that also the doctrine of original sin            In the light of the Word, however, we are not at an im:
must be rejected,  and. can never be maintained. Certainly,         passe. Our Baptism .Form points first to the Scriptural truth
our children are conceived and born in sm. They are guilty          that we and our children are in Adam and as such are
and corrupt from their-very birth on, according to Scripture.       `partakers of the condemnation." Dare this be denied? Let
Sin and guilt, corruption and death, develop in the line of         us then turn to the Word for instruction.
continued generations. If that is so (and it certainly.is  . . .        "For there is no man that sinneth not" (I Kings 8:46).
see Romans  5:12-18),  then certainly there can be no objec-        `And enter not into judgment with thy servant; for in thy
tion, from this point of view and on this ground, to the fact       sight no living man is righteous" (Psalm I43:2).  "There is
that infants receive the sacrament of baptism. Just as they         none righteous, no not one; there is none that understand-
do not know that they are conceived and born in sin, just           eth, there is none that seeketh after God" (Rom.  3:10,
as they are not conscious of the reahty  of original  sin; so       11). Plainly we are informed that all this must be traced
they are not conscious and heed not be conscious of the             back to Adam. "Therefore as through one man sin entered
grace that is bestowed upon them in Christ Jesus. This is           the-world, and death through sin, and so death passed upon
the first argument of the Baptism Form.                             all men, for that a11 have sinned" (Rom. 5: 12.). And again
   "b. Secondly the Baptism Form proves from Scripture              that the guilt and pollution of this first transgression is trans-
that God establishes His covenant in the line of continued          mitted to all is evident from I Cor. 1522, "For as in Adam
generations. This is proven by a `text from Genesis  17:7 in        all die . . . . so are they again received unto grace in Christ."
the Old Testament, and a text from Acts 2:39 in the New                 Here the Baptism Form points to the Scriptural fact
Testament.                                                          that believers and their spiritual seed are by grace incor-
   "c. That Christ therefore blessed the little children.           porated into Christ and made partakers of the benefit. This
   "d. That baptism is come in the place of circumcision.           is not conditioned by their acceptance of the Christ or on
This is not explained in the Form, but is taken as an estab-        their having knowledge of this incorporation. Not at all!
lished fact."                                                       `Without their knowledge . . . they are received unto grace
  Under three propositions the same author develops this            in Christ." It is the sovereign grace of God that has its mo-
ground of infant baptism in the pamphlet we mentioned               tivation in His holy will and its basis in His irrevocable
before. With arguments based exclusively on the Scrip-              decree of election. Before the foundation of the world God
tures he demonstrates the truth that:                               has chosen them in Christ unto the adoption of children. It
   "1. There is only one people of God, throughout the              has been said that "Nowhere can we behold more clearly
ages, both in the old and in the new dispensation: the true         the sovereign character  of% God's grace than in infant bap-
Israel, the seed of Abraham.                                        tism."
   "2. Though differingin  form, circumcision and baptism               "To you," says Peter, addressing believers on Pentecost,
are essentially the same in meaning.                                "and `to your children and to all that are afar off even as
   "3. It is the clearly revealed will of God that the gen-         many as the Lord our God shall call, is the promise.". Much
erations   of His people, whether they be among Jew or Gen-         has been written in late years about the promise and its
tile shall receive the sign of the covenant, circumcision as        significance and although the material is both relevant and
long as these generations of His people are among the Jews,         valuable, we must for the, present pass it by. Suffice it to
baptism when these generations are among all nations, Jew           say that the promise of God is centrally Christ and in Him
and Gentile both."                                                  the whole of our salvation. All the ,benefits and riches of
   To deny these truths is very serious. The doctrine of            glory in Christ are efficaciously bestowed upon the heirs
infant baptism is not a minor vein in the body of truth but         of the promise. And again, according to God's, sovereign
is a main artery. As one author put it, "To deny this doc-          good pleasure, these heirs of the promise are found in the
trine is not a minor matter, an insignificant. detail of the        generations of His people, the believers. God establishes
Christian faith. It lies at the very heart of the doctrine of       His covenant in the line of these generations; and although
God's` saving grace. It alone is the key which unlocks the          each one, head for head, is certainly not an heir because
mysteries of the awful plight of man and the redemptive             `they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the
power of God. As in Adam, . . . so in Christ!"                      children of God: but the children of the promise are counted
   Furthermore the denial of the doctrine of covenantal             for the seed", (Rom. 9:S), yet it is clearly the will of God
representation, which lies at the very heart of the truth .of       that these generations be marked with the sign of His cov-
infant baptism, leads to a tragic and hopeless position on          enant, baptism!
another count. Those that uphold the individualist inter-               Infant baptism is indeed a Scriptural practice. ItSr:obser-
pretation of Scripture must either deny the sinfulness or           Vance is mandatory and this must be done `hot out of cus-
depravity of little children (clearly in opposition to the          to-m or supers.titio,n".  but in ,the full consciousness of.its im-
Bible), ,or they must deny the possibility of their;salvation       portance, and then. in sincerity and in truth.           G:V.D.B.


 454                                       T H E   $TAtiDARD   B E A R E R

                                                                    presbyterian witness" in this country. The Presbyterian
  11  Ai.L  ARBUND,U.S   11 Church US decided to ask the Reformed Church in America
  P                                                           q i to include the United Presbyterian Church USA and other
                                                                    Reformed bodies in the talks. They set up a committee
  SYNODS, ASSEMBLIES, MERGERS,. ETC.                                should the Reformed Church agree to this. When the United
        Although many churches held their broadest ecclesias-       Presbyterian ,Church heard about all,this, they eagerly ap-
  tical assemblies the last few weeks, we intend to make only       pointed a committee of their own. But the whole business
 brief reports about the most important actions of the best         gave way when the Reformed. Church turned it down. So
  known- churches. This is mainly due to the fact that this         only the Reformed Church in America and the Presbyterian
 year's ecclesiastical.assemblies  were rather identical in the     Church US continue the talks.
, types of decisions they made and in the meaninglessness of           Yet there is considerable opposition in both denomina-
  these decisions. It was a notably dull year and the actions       tions. In the Presbyterian Church US there are evidently
  were carbon copies of each other. It is doubtful, of course,      three groups:, one very liberal group which wants merger
 whether these churches would agree to this, for they are           with the United Presbyterian, Church; another group which
  undoubtedly rather pleased with what they accomplished.           wants no part of any -of these mergers; and yet another
  But the fact remains that with dreary monotony all they           group that wants union with the Reformed Church at all
  talked about was mergers and racial issues.                       possible speed. The division is seemingly, quite deep, for
        These two issues were the major concerns. ,The fact that    some speak of the fact that the Presbyterians are heading
  churches could spend long hours and make countless deci-          for a major re-structuring. Under the title "When Churches
  sions on these questions shows how far the church world           Fly Apart" the editor of the Presbyterian Journal  discusses
  has strayed from its reformation heritage.  ,Concerned  more      this. He writes:
  with the question of the integration or segregation of the                 Pressure to force a merger between the major Presbyterian
  races than they are for their calling to preach the gospel,             bodies is mounting, paced by equally heavy pressure to discard
                                                                          the ancient faith and order of the Church and create a new
  the whole church becomes a sad spectacle that fittingly                 one. -This combination of pressures can (and possibly should)
  demonstrates the truth of Jeremiah's complaint: "How has                drive irreconcilable viewpoints within the Churches apart.
  the gold become dim."                                                After proving his contentions quoted above, he goes on
                                                                    to say: ~~
        There was also a certain irony about it all: the church                   cept for the more denominational character of our sem-
                                                                          inaries, the description could almost as well be of the US
  is becoming increasingly alarmed by the fact that the State             Church (the editor's denomination, HH) as it is of the UPUSA
  is interfering more and more in ecclesiastical,:,matters.  But          Church. But there is .a possible difference. "Up" there "they"
                                                                          intend to meet the problem by overhauling the Standards in
  while they express horror that the State should ever enter              order to make the Church more "relevant."
  their sacred spheres, the church continues to hand out all                 In the view of these men it is the shackles of the past (all
                                                                          the outmoded doctrines which reflect  i&t century superstitions)
  kinds of free advice to the government and cannot restrain              that are impeding progress. In the US Church the majority
  itself from meddling in every kind of social problem and                opinion still has it that renewal will come when we throw off
                                                                          the accretions of unbelief and  return to the first century gospel.
  international political issue which rightly belongs to the                 In the difference we can see the two  sides-  of modem  Pres-
  magistrate. If some day the State steps into the church and             byterianism tugging against each other.
                                                                             Our prayer is that when the Churches fly apart the greater
  begins to tell the church what it may and may not do, the               part of the Presbyterian Church US will be salvageable -with
church has only itself to blame, for they are constantly in-              the evangelical wing of the UPUSA Church and other evan-
                                                                          gelical and Reformed wings  - to re-establish the Reformed
  terfering with the State and pressing their every whim on               testimony of the Gospel of the  ,Lord Jesus Christ in a strong
  the magistrate. Yet it makes no difference, really. The                 national  - yes, world-wide, even  - Church.
 ' church no longer has the moral and spiritual strength to re-        This same difference of opinion is true of the United
  sist the State, and the leaders of the church seem increas-       Presbyterian' Church where some want union with the
  ingly willing to be nothing but vassals of an all-powerful        Methodists, Episcopalians, United Church of Christ and
  government. As far as merger talks are concerned:                 everyone else that doesn't care too much about doctrine;
        The "Blake-Pike Talks" go on. These talks involve sev-      while others, in the UPUSA Church who are more con-
  eral denominations  - some of the larger ones in the country' cerned about preserving the historic doctrines of the West-
  - including the United Presbyterians, the Methodists and minster Confessions, see their only hope in union with the
  the Episcopalians. The Methodists have become more like           conservative element in the Southern Presbyterian Church.
  a coy girl who seems to be turning away from the atten-              The Southern Presbyterians also made decisions on racial
  tions of a prospective suitor, for they have expressed grave      matters, chief of which was a decision which ordered their
. doubts about the advisability of such a merger. But hopes         churches to integrate with all possible speed. Also this
  continue high that progress will continue and that a large        racial issue deeply divided the Church since these churches
   (20,000,OOO) denomination will be created.                       are predominantly in the south where racial issues burn.
                                                                                                                                  ,
        The Reformed Church in America and the Presbyterian         brightly .these  days.
  Church US (Southern) are also still talking about merging            The church also decided to permit the ordination of
  into one denomination in order to have .a "reformed and           women, and to continue as members of the National  Coun-


                                                              . i
                                                              :- I
                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                            4 5 5

 cil of Churches even though several overtures were treatedI on nuclear war. This was discussed at length and debated
 asking the Assembly to withdraw.                                        extensively. Doctrinal error of the most serious type goes
     On the other hand, the Reformed Church in America                   easily into a committee while Synod becomes deeply in-
 rejected proposals to permit the ordination of women, but               volved in the' hydrogen bomb.
 created a special Race Commission  ,to promote integration                 We have in our Church Order an article which reads in,
 and work for the attainment of negro rights.                            part:  "In these assemblies ecclesiastical matters only, shall
     As an example of how deeply the church is involved in               be transacted . . ." It is this fundamental rule which is so
 matters of social importance only, we list briefly some- of the         flagrantly violated. We are  : aware of the fact that the
 decisions of the United Presbyterian Church. This church                churches which decided on every conceivable matter *would
 made strong recommendations to "all church bodies, pas;                 insist that all these social problems are "ecclesiastical mat-
 to&, and members of the United Presbyterian Church to.                  ters," but the fact remains that. they are not. Ecclesiastical
 redouble their efforts to support and be involved in those              matters are, after all, matters which `deal with the preaching
 groups  - church, private, and-  governmental~   - that are             of the gospel, the administration of the sacraments and the
 working to bring about racial freedom and justice." They                exercise of Christian discipline. That is, really  only. the
 decided that there was nothing wrong with breaking. the                 preaching of the gospel is the business of the Church, for          '
 law of the land under certain conditions to advance the                 the other two are also preaching, in their own unique way.
 cause of negro rights. (It seems that the principle is "the             It is also true that these same churches would plead that
 end justifies the means,? a principle that can only lead to             better housing, foreign trade, smoking, etc. are matters
 every moral crime and to total anarchy if consistently api              pertaining to the preaching of the gospel; but the fact is
 plied). They approved of participating in civil rights                  that they are not; for they are not talking about the gospel
 demonstrations and even commended their stated clerk,' of Jesus Christ, but rather some kind of a social gospel;`,
 Eugene Carson Blake, for being arrested in a demonstra-Y                poles removed from the gospel of Scripture.
 tion in Maryland.                                                          One of the striking things about God's Word is that
    Besides this, the assembly felt the need to comment                  Scripture never cares in the least about such problems as
 favorably on the president's anti-poverty efforts; to  con:             consume the time of today's church leaders. Jesus never
 den-m the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere; to,             once `bothered  ,about  ,such matters as inadequate housing,
 urge negotiations that would ban underground testing; to,               the fishing business at Galilee's Sea, trade with Phonecia,
 urge the government to stimulate world trade for the benefit            race relations, etc. One cannot  hnd a single pronounce-
of the under-developed governments and countries; to  press:             ment of the Lord on the social ills of His time - and there
 for greater measures on the part of the government to erase             were plenty of them.
 poor housing facilities and develop various urban areas;  to!             This does not mean that the gospel itself is without effect,
 declare Bible reading and prayer in the public schools as               also in matters of our lives in `the world. Indeed; when the
 unconstitutional; to condemn smoking and work towards' gospel is preached, the elect are converted and brought to '
 the, erection of clinics for those who want to quit smoking             repentance. And that same gospel is a power within the elect
 but need help.                                                     /    to cause the law of God to be fulfilled in them so that they
    It is almost, unbelievable that a Church historically                walk in the ways of truth and righteousness. A converted
 rooted in the Calvinistic Reformation and committed to  th4             child `of God is one who walks in the ways of Scripture.-  :
 Westminster Confessions can fritter away the days of its as-'              .But this is altogether different  from the pronouncements
 sembly discussing such meaningless trivia  - matters that  ar<          of the church that issues with pompous ecclesiastical dignity
 none of their business. No wonder the Church becomes  in:               its silly platitudes about every kind of ill. It is no wonder
 creasingly apostate, neglects sound doctrine, fails to con!             that hand in hand with this disgraceful conduct goesalso
 tern itself with the preaching of the gospel, enters in mat:.           a total indifference to the gospel and to the preaching of the
 ters of social problems, steps into the sphere of the State,:           truth.. No wonder that the Church which busies itself with
 and,makes  a laughing stock of itself in the eyes of the world.' these things is a church that h.as lost her calling to preach.
    But it `is obvious that the Confessions mean'nothing any                This' is a church exactly that Antichrist wih need when
 more, for this same denomination decided to continue its                he comes to his day of power. A social church that can
 committee to revise completely the confessions they hav$                promote his social gospel; a church totally under his con-
 and which they claim are outdated in our modern. 20th                   trol; a robot church exercising the will of him who, in
 century.                                                                league with Satan, opposes God and Christ. This  `is the
    But even the Christian Reformed Church h&%ot sue-                    destiny of today's church.
ceeded  in resisting the .temptation to enter fields beyond its,         But there is a warning to us and to `ail that love the t&h.
 jurisdiction. While I'do ,nof have a complete report -of' their         We must not be tempted to follow this examp%  Our ca&g
 Synod,, evidently they'referred  the "`Dekker Case" to a.com<           is to preach the gospel. Nothing more; nothing less. In the
 mittee of study there to "die in committee" presumably. But             gospel alone is our strength and `hope. From this `high
`quite an issue was made of a study committee's statement                calhng we must never. be led astray. :.        . .  ' H. Hanko


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                                                                                                                                   __   ---'
 433                                            :
            :                 ~                                     TJGE-S-TA:N-DARD.                                  BEARE.R
                                                                                                      their catering. Classis  decided to meet next time on Oct. 7,
                                                                                                      1964, at First-Church.
                                                                                                         I Questions of Article 41 of the Church Order were asked
                                                                                                       and answered satisfactorily.
                        _'                           ,:_                                                   Rev. G. Laming. closed the meeting with thanksgiving.
                                    I...                                      . ,  J&$0,  1964  .;       :  :.         .                 M. Schinner,  Stated Clerk.
                                                                                                                                                 ..A     ,
    Rev. J. Kortering, of Hull, declined the  call"which came
to him from Forbes, N.D.                   -                                                              The Reformed Witness Hour presents -Rev. H. Hanko,
                                                                                                       of  -Doon, Iowa, during the month of August. The topics
    Lynden, Wash., called Rev. J. Kortering from a trio                                                chosen for this series are: Aug. 9 and 16 - "The Gospel, the
 which included the Revs. G. Vos and G. Vanden  Berg.                                                  Power of the Kingdom"; Aug. 23  - `Seeking the Kingdom";
    First Church of Grand Rapids has called Rev. G. Van                                                Aug.  30-`Watching  for the Coming of the Kingdom."
 Baren  of Randolph, Wis., from a trio which included the                                               Texts taken from the Gospel according to Matthew form the
 Revs. J. A. Heys' and B. Woudenberg.                                                '                  Scriptural basis of these Distinctively Reformed radio mes-
  .' First Church of Grand, `Rapids, Synod-delegated Calling                                            sages.. Free copies may be obtained by writing to The Re-
 Church, has called Rev. R. C. Harbach of Kalamazoo to be                                              formed Witness Hour, Box 1230, Grand Rapids, Mich. 49501.
 Home Missionary for our churches, from a trio which in-                                                   .First Church of Grand Rapids.sadly bade,their pastor of
 cluded tl% Revs.. J. Kortering and H. Veldman.                                                 -       16 years farewell on the evening of June 24. A short pro-
   Report of Classis  East meeting held July. 1 at Southwest                                            gram in the church auditorium was given which included
 Church. Rev. G. Vos, who was to'have  led the classis  in the                                          special numbers, remarks by Rev. Hoeksema, and-the pres-
 opening devotions, but who was not feeling well, asked the                                             entation of a farewell gift. A social gathering -followed in
 Rev. G. Lubbers, now pastor of Southwest Church, to fill in                                            the church parlors, giving opportunity to everyone to bid a
 for him.'                                                  _..                                         personal goodbye to Rev. and Mrs. Hanko and Alyce. Sure-
                                                                                                        ly, First'Church  relinquished to Redlands  a `workman that
    After the  classis  was properly constituted the Rev. R.                                            needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of
 Harbach presided and Rev.- -Lubbers  recorded. the minutes.                                            Truth." The congregation's sentiment was expressed in the
 All the churches were represented by two delegates- each.                                              bulletin thus: "With .gratitude  to God for all His goodness,
 Noticeably the Rev. C. Hanko was absent. After serving                                                 we commend Rev. Hanko and his family to our Heavenly
 First Church and the' classis  faithfully for so many years,                                           Father and bid them Godspeed as they take their place in
 he departed to  Redlands  and  .Classis West. The Stated                                               our sister church of Redlands, California."
 Clerk `was instructed `to send him a- letter of farewell,  ex-
pressing our thanks to God and to. Rev. Hanko for his                                                       Hull's congregation adopted a property settlement
 service to our churches, and  wishing,for him the Lord's                                               whereby they regained their church .property after an eleven
 blessing in his future field of labor.                                                                 year period of dispossession. The settlement sum included
         The agenda was very light and the meeting adjourned                                            a recent re-furbishing of the property. Transfer details were
 about lo:45 A.M.                                                                                       to be completed so that services might be held July 12.
         The Stated Clerk and the Classical Committee gave their                                        What a happy occasion for the people of Hull, especially
 reports. The transfer of Rev. C. Hanko to  Classis  West was `for the many children who knew no other place of public
 taken care of by the Classis.                                                                          worship than a Community Hall!
         First Church requested classical appointments, The fol-                                            Randolph's pastor, Rev. G. Van Baren, has scheduled a
 lowing schedule was adopted: July 12 - both services - H. -~ public lecture on "The Vatican Council" for July 23. Post-
 Veldman; July 19 -both services -R. Harbach; July 26  -                                                cards were furnished the members of the congregation so
 both services - G. Lubbers; Aug. 9 2 evening - G. Lanting;                                             they might invite others to the lecture. Such invitations
 Sept. 13 - evening - G. Vos; Sept. 27 - evening - R. Har- have resulted in  ,the attendance of many visitors to former
 bach; Oct. 4  -  evening-LG.   VOS;  Oct. 11 -evening-G.                                               lectures.
 Lanting.                                                                                                   Southeast, of Grand Rapids, and Edgerton have granted
         The Church Visitors reported that our churches are pros-                                       the request of  Synod  that they release their pastors for
 pering. The classis  filed for information a letter from the                                           three weeks each for work in Houston, Texas.             .
 Stated Clerk of Synod relative to decisions .of' Synod re-                                                       -
 garding overtures of  Classis  East.                  .                                                    Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved
         Southwest Church thanked the ministers of Classis  East                                        I&, and sent his- Sdn to be the' propitiation for OUT sins.
 for services rendered during their long vacancy. _                                                                                                           I John 4:lO
         Mr. Ted Miedema thanked the ladies of ,Southwest  for                                              . . . see you in church . . . .                           J.M.F.
                                    . .                                                   "                                                                                     I


