                                         he



                                                 earer


     A   R E F O R M E D   S E M I - M O N T H L Y   M A G A Z I N E





         IN THlS ISSUE:

                      Meditation: The Real Sons of the Kingdom

                      Editorials: Government Aid  - For A Price

                                 More About "Reformed Dogmatics"

                                 A New "Anti-Abstract"  Theolo'gical Method

                      Must the  Churc.h Turn the World Upside Down?
                                                            (see Question Box)

                      Church and State problems (see All Around Us)


~                                                  Volume XLIV / Number 10 / February 15, 1968


218                                                                          THE STAND&D  BEARER


                                                                                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

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       The Real Sons of the Kingdom .- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218                     Department Editors: Rev. David J. Engelsma, Mr. JohnM.Faber,
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       Government Aid - For a Price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221                         Rev. Gerald  Vanden  Berg, Rev. Herman Veldman, Rev.
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  MEDITATION-

                     The Real Sons of the Kingdom
                                                                                    by Rev.  M. Schippev

                           And I say unto you,  That many shall come  from the east and west, and shall sit down
                     with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.                                                  But the children  of  the
                      kingdom shall be cast out into outer  daEarkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing  of
                      teeth.
                                                                                                                                           Matthew  8:11, 12
       The great sermon on the mount had been preached!                                                 had been done in Sodom they would have repented long
       The Lord had returned to Capernaum! His home                                                     ago. But Capernaum did not repent!
when He .labored in the .regi&s of Galilee. The place                                                      Yet in Capernaum there were some who were
where many of His mighty works were done; `The city worthy of the gospel. Of such you read in the context.
which had exalted itself, and made itself unworthy of                                                   The centurion whose faith made even Jesus to marvel!
the gospel. Worse than Sodom, for if the mighty works                                                   A Gentile, who `not only believed that Jesus had the


                                            THESTANDARDBEARER                                                      219


power to heal his servant, but that the Lord's power          Prot-Evangel of Genesis 3:15, and more particularly
was unlimited and omnipotent. He believed the Lord            in the seed of the promise projecting from the loins of
could heal his servant by just speaking the word, and         Adam and into the line of succeeding generations of the'
without being present.      Such faith the Lord had not       believers and their seed. Historically and typically we
found in all Israel!                                          see this kingdom manifested in the theocratic state, in
   This great demonstration of faith became the oc-           the kingdom of Israel. Israel, as a nation, was called
casion for the Lord's prophecy in our text, concerning        God's people,     God was their King, and this ancient
the real sons of the kingdom. Notthose who were Jews          people were His subjects. In the midst of this people
according to the flesh are accepted with Him, but those       He ruled, and that, too, in a land flowing with milk and
who are of like faith with the centurion. These shall         honey, also a type and shadow of the heavenly which
come from the east and west to sit down in the kingdom        was to come. Spiritually and principally this kingdom
of heaven, while the children of the kingdom shall be         is realized in the church of the new dispensation, in
cast out into outer darkness, where there shall be            the hearts of the believers in Christ.
weeping and gnashing of teeth.                                    The children .of the kingdom !
   The real sons of the kingdom !                                 Children of the kingdom cast out!
   Of the kingdom of heaven!                                      By implication this indicates there are children
   This term is used rather generally in the Word of          who remain. These we call the real sons of the king-
God. It is .closely related to and identical with those       dom !
other expressions: "the kingdom of God," and "the                 Speaking of the children which are cast out, the
kingdom of Christ." No essential difference is there          Lord evidently had in mind those children who were
in all three of these expressions. They differ only in        not really the children of the kingdom. They were
view-point.                                                   those who no doubt reckoned themselves to be chil-
   The kingdom of God signifies; first of all, that it        dren, or who were considered by others to be such;
is the kingdom of which God is the King in the most           they appeared to be legitimate children. They were in
absolute sense. He is the .most High Who ruleth with          the first place children of Israel who belonged his-
everlasting dominion. Also it signifies that the king-        torically and typically to that ancient people of whom
dom is a product of His will and sovereign decree. He         the apostle speaks in Romans 3 - to whom pertained
ordained it. He realizes it in His sovereign wisdom           circumcision, to whom were committed the oracles of
and thereby also his sovereign purpose.                       God.      And in Romans 9 they are described as those
   That this kingdom is also called the kingdom of            to whom pertained the adoption, the glory, the cove-
Christ does not at all alter the fact that God is King in     nants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the
the most absolute sense. Rather, that, it is called the       promises. They were therefore considered the rightful
kingdom of Christ, signifies that He has been ordained        heirs of the kingdom. They boasted in Christ's day
and anointed of God to rule in the Name of God and that,      that they were the sons of God, who had Abraham for
too, in human nature. In that nature God has highly           their father, and were therefore free. They dreamed
exalted Him as merit on His work of perfect obedi-            that when the kingdom of Messiah would come, they
ence, and has given Him a Name which is above every           and they only would sit down with Abraham, Isaac,
name, in order that every knee should bow and con-            and Jacob in the kingdom feast. To them the Gentiles
fess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. He       were but dogs, and in their kingdom the heathen could
also must rule over all the works of God's hands, and         have no place. Moreover, these children who are cast
bring all things into subjection to Him. And when all         out are those who today are baptized and perhaps even
shall be subjected, He also shall be subjected, in            make profession of their faith, and therefore belong to
order that God may be all in all (Phil. 2:9-11; I Cor.        the church in a formal and outward sense.
15~27, 28).                                                       But to belong to the typical, outward form did not
   That this kingdom is also called the kingdom of            nor does it now by any means ,certify true sonship!
heaven, points to the fact that this kingdom of God and.      Though circumcision and baptism are proper signs,
His Christ is heavenly in its origin and character. It        they sealed only those who were of the faith of Abra-
does not arise out of the earth. It has nothing in com-       ham. All were cut in the flesh, but not in heart. All
mon with the earth, nor is it in any sense earthly in its `are not Israel who are merely called Israel. These
nature. Rather, it descends from heaven and ultimate-         sons of the kingdom cast out are sons only in form,
ly fills both heaven and earth. Because it is heavenly        and therefore do not. bring forth the fruits of saving
in origin, it is also spiritual in  .nature.  Concerning      faith.    Of these the Lord speaks elsewhere (Matt.
this kingdom the Lord once made the assertion: `-`The         21:43), when He says: "Therefore say I unto you, the
kingdom cometh not with observation, but it is within         kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to
you." It cannot be seen -with the physical eye, even          a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." And again
though it is realized in the midst of the mundane, and        (Luke' 13:28, 29), "There shall be weeping andgnashing
therefore historically makes use of earthly revela-           of teeth, when you shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and
tions and earthly forms and institutions. Nevertheless,       Jacob; and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and
it is essentially spiritual in character.                     you yourselves ,.thrust out. And they shall come from
   `This kingdom of God; of Christ,' of heaven has a          the east, and .from `the west, and from the north, and
historical, organical realization. Its inception is in the    from the south; and shall sit down in the kingdom of


                                              THESTANDARDBEARER


God." Surely, to be a son only in name and in form,              Awful truth!    That cuts right through your own
does not certify true  sonship.     If the fruits of true    flesh and blood, right through your family and church!
sonship are missing the sons only in name shall be               Figurative language, yet horrible reality! A figure
cast out!                                                    depicting the eternal state and condition of the lost in
   And what are the characteristics of true sonship?         hell! There many shall be separated from the fellow-
How do those sons of the kingdom manifest themselves ?       ship and blessedness of the presence of Godmanifested
   Jesus gives a beautiful,picture of such a son in the      in His love.     The place of the damned! "Where the
remarkable illustration of the prodigal. You remember        worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Where
him as the one who spent all his substance in riotous        there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, signifying the
living, and ended up sitting in the pigs sty. When he        anguish of those who are lost. It is the place of eter-
came to himself, he went to his father, repented of his      nal, conscious torment. Like the fruitless branches of
sin, confessed his unworthiness to be called a son. In-      the Vine, they are going to be cut down and cast into
deed, he who is truly a son of God and a child of the        the fire. In this judgment it shall be more tolerable for
kingdom will not boast of any merit, nor presume a           the hotten-tot of the jungles than for those who have
right to citizenship in the kingdom; but he by grace         known the way and refused to walk in it. It shall be
will be truly humbled, expecting no rights in God's          more tolerable for Sodom, than for Capernaum!
house or kingdom. And by faith, he will look away from          .But, 0, how blessed are the sons, the real sons of
himself unto the Only Begotten Son of God Who, by His        the kingdom!
perfect obedience, merited for him the right of sons,
and the adoption unto children. By faith he will trust           They shall come, and shall sit down with Abraham,
through grace that he is an heir of righteousness and        Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven! Literally,
eternal life because he is a joint-heir with Jesus           the text says, "They shall lie down, recline, with
Christ.                                                      Abraham, etc." This reminds us of the custom at
   These sons of the kingdom. are blessed!                   oriental feasts, where the celebrants lay on couches
   Sons only in form are cursed indeed! They are             about festive tables. It holds in it the idea of jubilant
cast out into the outer darkness, where there is weep-       festivity.
ing and gnashing of teeth!                                       With Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! These are the
   Awful end of the ungodly!                                 believing, covenant fathers; who knew of no formal
   0, it makes me to tremble, this mighty Word of God!       worship of Jehovah their God, but who lived and died
   What terrible indictment against mere formal chris-       in the faith of the Lord Jesus; who looked for the city
tians ! P,erhaps  at no other time in the history of the     which has foundations, whose Builder and Artificer is
church is this sham formalism as pronounced as it is         God !    They are the friends of God who inherited the
today. Why, almost everyone is called Christian in our       promises. They wrestled with God and overcame with
time. Many there are who pride themselves in having          weeping and supplication. They were those who knew
their names appear on the records of the church, who         weeping in this vale of tears which is caused by the
rest on their having been baptized, or perhaps on the        spiritual knowledge of sin, and because they were will-
fact that they belong to a long line of forebearers who      ing to bear the reproaches of Christ for a season; but
were members of, the church.        To many it is not a      who looked for the time when all their tears would be
question what one believes, or that one believes, if         wiped away. They were the sons of the kingdom who
only he has some connection with the church - then           became fathers, who obtained the grace of faith, who
all is well. When he is in the church service, it does       battled a spiritual warfare and who overcame. The
not matter whether he is spiritually or physically           spiritual forebearers of the real sons of the kingdom!
awake, just so long as he is there - that is all that            And with the Spirit of the Son in their hearts, tes-
counts  0 When he is supposed to be praying, he takes a      tifying with their spirits that they are the sons of God,
nap; and when he puts his money in the offering plate,       they come !
he actually believes he is giving the Lord that with            They come from the east and the west, to lie down
which He ought to be pleased; and when he sings, his         in the kingdom of heaven!
thoughts are miles away. And to hear a good expository          Where the song of the banqueters will forever be:
sermon causes him to hope for the "amen." Sabbath            the Song of the Lamb that was slain, but Who is alive
after Sabbath he merely goes through the motions of          forever more!
religion, and during the week he lives as do the chil-        And they shall never be ashamed, world without
dren of the world,                                           end!
   Cast out they shall be, into outer darkness !                 Amen, and amen!


   Election is the eternal fountain head of grace and        as if some were better or more willing than others, for
salvation. It is the eternal good pleasure of God, ac-       then the elect would have something whereof to boast
cording to which, for His own name's sake, and, with         in themselves. On the contrary, election is sovereign
absolute sovereignty, He chose out of the whole human and free. It downs all man's pride. And it means that
race a Church ordained unto eternal life and glory. It       God is the Lord also in the matter of salvation.
is not based on any foreseen goodness or faith in man,          - H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of Grace," p0 115


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  221



  EDITORIALS-


                 Government Aid
                                                     - For  a~ Price!

                                              by  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema

The subject of government aid for private (paro-             cially.    And other denominations are also said to be
chial and parental) schools is increasingly in the news.     assisting in various ways. For still another, the argu-
   Here in Michigan, according to a recent Associated        ment that apparently is to be used as a lever to get
Press dispatch, a bill is about to be submitted to the       legislative support is purely a financial one. Here is
state legislature which will seek $21 million in state       the picture. According to State Department of Educa-
funds to help support parochial schools. (This news          tion figures, many public school districts are already
dispatch repeatedly speaks of "parochial" schools;           in serious financial difficulty; 62 districts are already
what it means, of course, is non-public schools,             running in the red, and this number is expected to
whether parochial or parental.) This bill is reported        increase to more than 100 before year's end. More-
to have the backing of CEF, Citizens for Educational         over, the influx of 27,000 private school pupils into the
Freedom. Here, briefly, are the facts about this bill        public schools is already costing taxpayers an extra
as reported in the Grand Rapids Press:                       $18 million per year; and it is estimated that if all
   1. The bill is designed to ease the financial situa-      non-public school pupils were put in the public schools,
tion of non-public schools. The number of pupils in this would cost taxpayers $202 million in operating
non-public schools is said to be about 14 per cent of        costs above what already is being paid. Hence, this is
Michigan's public school enrollment. Costs of operat-        going to be the lever to pry $21 million out of tax-
ing non-public schools. are said to have gone up 147         conscious legislators. The only questions seem to be:
per cent since 1964, resulting in some 27,000 students       1) Whether this lobby (for that is what it is] can lure
being transferred to public schools during the same          the legislature with the bait of paying out $21 million
period, and also threatening some of these schools           rather than an imaginary $202 million. 2) Whether this
with the `necessity of closing.                              devious method of avoiding the charge of violation of
   2. The bill will seek payment of $25 per private          the principle of separation of church and state will
school pupil for each reimbursible course per year.          meet with approval, -first of the legislature, and then
   3. Such reimbursible courses would be English,            of the courts.
mathematics, and science, in which, it is alleged, reli-        There are, it seems to me, several objections to
gion is not taught. The news dispatch does not ex-           this plan and similar ones. Some of these I mentioned
plain why these three courses are singled out, nor in the last issue. Others are rather obvious, it seems
whether they are merely mentioned as examples.               to me. There is, for example, thevery practical ques-
   4. The limit of funds per child would be $50 for          tion where the proposed $21 million is going to come
elementary school children'and  $100 per high school from. The state schools are already caught between
student, except in inner city schools, where the fig-        skyrocketing costs and vanishing local and state tax
ures would be $100 and $150 respectively. (I suppose         resources.        Hence, this can only mean another tax
one might call this discrimination?)                         increase. The state cannot pay out $21 million without
   5. Payment of funds would be to parents, not to           taking $21 million in; in fact, it will cost more than
schools. By this method of financing, backers of the         $21 million, since, as I remarked last time, the govern-
bill believe, the charge of violation of the principle of ment always has to keep its share before it hands any-
separation of church and state will be avoided.              thing back.       There just "ain't no such animal" as a
   Additional items of informatian about this bill are free handout!
interesting, if not ominous. For one thing, a statewide         Secondly, this bill means, in effect, that we are go-
campaign for support of this move has already begun.         ing to be required to help pay for Roman Catholic
For another, not only does the bill have the backing of      schools and Lutheran schools as well as for public
CEF, an organization said to have 15,000 members in          schools. It is bad enough that we are required to pay
Michigan; but, as might be expected, Roman Catholics         for public schools with our tax money, in the name of
(who have 84 per cent of Michigan's non-public school        "neutrality." But there is something particularly re-
enrollment) have already organized parish committees         pulsive to me to have to payfor Roman Catholic schools
in the state's .five dioceses.     This stands to reason,    or any other religious schools other than my own, -
since they will be the greatest beneficiaries  finan-        the more so when I think of the fact that these Roman


222                                           THE STANDeD BEARER


Catholic schools will run off with 84 per cent of this         impossible and practically forbidden that there be any
proposed $21 million;  .And this becomes still more gall-      such a thing as a course "in which religion is not
ing to me when I think of the fact that this also is going     taught."    For we profess to be not schools with the
to be done in the name of neutrality. For, remember,           Bible, but schools founded upon the Bible. We profess
these payments are supposedly going to be made for             to furnish not education plus religion, but education
courses "in which religion is not taught." Meanwhile,          that is intrinsically yeligous, and that too, in all sub-
this same news dispatch already reports that Roman             jects . Our schools aim to furnish the "man of God"
Catholic parishes "may require parents to turn the             thoroughly unto every  good work. They purpose in all
state funds back over to the schools."                         their instruction to prepare the covenant seed to live
   But my chief objection is a principial one. As far as       in every sphere of iife out of. the principle of regenera-
our own schools, - any any other schools which really          tion, and that too, antithetically. Because this is the
purpose to be Calvinistic,  - are concerned, this is           very principle of our Calvinistic, Reformed, Protes-
government aid for a p&e.          And that price is  the      tant Reformed parental schools, it is absolutely im-
fundamentui principal of  OUT  schools.     And that price     possible and unethical to accept government aid upon
is too great to pay!                                           this premise of "reimbursible," that is, non-religious,
   For note that the premise of this entire bill is that       or so-called religiously neutral, courses.
idea of "reimbursible courses." And what is a reim-               The cost is too great, far too great!
bursible course? It is a course "in which religion is             It involves either outright abandonment of the very
not taught.`, Examples of such courses are supposed            principle of our educational system or lying, tongue-
to be science and mathematics and English; And I               in-cheek, hypocritical denial of that principle.
suppose one could argue that penmanship. and art and              Either of the two is a sacrifice of principle.
physical education and geography and even history                 And. such a sacrifice of principle. is .far too great a
could be added to this list.               t,`. .              price to pay for the sake of a few paltry dollars, - or
   This  is the  myth of  ?e&rality.          .  :             for the sake of many thousands of dollars !
   And remember: a myth it is !                                   It would ..be tantamount to selling our birthright
   This is true of the public schools. They are sup-           for a mess of pottage!
posed to be true to the principle of,neutrality; they are         Let, us therefore oppose this movement. And let
supposed to be religion-less. They are supposed to be          us beware of the temptation, in this covetous, material-
neither Christian nor Jewish nor` Mohammedan nor               istic age, to go along with a movement like this.
Buddhist, neither Roman Catholic nor. Protestant nor           Pressures are already mounting among supporters of
Lutheran. And this is ,a nice idea,,_ for the world and        the Christian. school movement generally to view state
for the tolerant (or intolerant?) churches of today. But       aid as a kind of panacea for the financial ills of paren-
let alone the fact that `this idea is causing no end of        tal schools. And, judging from the campaign that will
difficulty for the. public schools themselves and for          be put on for the legislative bill discussed in this
the courts of our'.land,' this is from a Scriptural and        article, pressures will increase still more. Resist
Reformed point of view an utterly false and impossible         these pressures !
principle.                                                        Government aid may be made available even to our
- Let us take an example, a simple one: the subject            schools, - for a price.
of science.    Is science, can science be, a subject in           But the price is too great!
which religion is not taught? Can it be a neutral sub-
ject? To keep the question in simple and general
terms, let us suppose that in a public school God is
left out of the science instruction. Would that make                       RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY
that science instruction neutral? It would supposedly
make the subject literally God-less.         Seemingly it         The Consistory of `the Oak Lawn Protestant Re-
would create a vacuum.          But, in the first place, we    formed Church extends its sympathy to Deacon C.
must remember that in the light of Scripture that which        Haak and his family in connection with their recent
is God-less is ungodly: it is anti-God. It isexactly           loss of their father and grandfather
characteristic of the wicked that "God is not in all                                JOHN HAAK.
their thoughts." And; in the second place, we must
remember that this supposed vacuum does not exist.             Whom the Lord removed from `this earthiy vale of
In the name of being neutral, other gods are put in the        tears on January 17, 1968, at the age of 80 years.
place of God. So-called "neutral" science will elevate            May they experience comfort in the truth of God's
scientific man to the position of the Godhead; or it will      Word in  .Psalm  116:5, "Gracious is the Lord, and
substitute the religion of evolutionism for the true           righteous; yea, our God is merciful."
religion. But religious, not neutral, that science in-                                    The Consistory of the Oak-Lawn
struction will surely be. Its religion will necessarily                                   Protestant Reformed Church
be either the true ,religion,  or the false religion. It                                  J. W. Regnerus, Clerk,
will be either for Christ .or against .Christ. Neutrality
is a myth, a lie !                                                                                     :
   But. certainly'for .our own schools it is principally


                                              TH&TANDARD  BEARER                                                      223



     More About  "Ref,ormed  Dog'matics"
                                                by Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema

   Our readers will be interested in learning that               We certainly agree, especially with that line about
"Reformed Dogmatics" continues to receive favorable           "genuine theological education." That is one reason
notice and recommendation .in the widely `read mag-           why "Reformed Dogmatics" is our textbook for six
azine  Christianity Today.     Its February 2, 1968 issue     semesters of instruction in dogmatics at our Protes-
is devoted chiefly to "Best Books of theYear." In this        tant Reformed Seminary.        It is also a reason why
issue our publication is twice recommended.                   especially our own people should have this work, even
   The lead article is entitled "New Heritage in though it may require some "persevering" reading.
Church History and Theology" and is written by Dr.               Later in the same issue of Chvistianity Today (pp.
Geoffrey  W. Bromiley, professor of church history            12, 13) Robert  L. Cleath includes "Reformed Dog-
`and historical theology at Fuller Seminary, and widely matics' ' in his list of 1967 "Choice Evangelical
known as the translator of Karl Barth's "Church Dog-          Books." Here is his brief comment:
matics." He introduces his article as follows:                       Hoeksema's summa, a modern statement of Re-
      In this survey of recent books in church history,          formed theology (with its insistence on total depravity
   dogmatics, and `related fields, twenty works of partic-       and amillennialism), attempts to synthesize truth ex-
   ular interest or importance are listed first. These           egeted from Scripture into a systematic whole.
   are not, of course, the best evangelical books, nor
   are they necessarily the books that will have the most        We are under no illusions that these recommenda-
   lasting influence.    Not all of them will be equally      tions imply agreement with the theology of "Reformed
   important for all readers. They were selected ac-          Dogmatics."         In fact,  this is not the purpose of
   cording to several criteria, and with an attempt to        Christianity Today's  survey of publications in the
   span the various interrelated areas, though with a         religious field. We do appreciate, however, the fact
   special focus this year on the Lutheran Reformation.       that now for the sixth time this magazine has called
                                                              attention to our publication. ,And we appreciate also
   Number 10 in this list is "Reformed Dogmatics," the fact that they recognize "Reformed Dogmatics"
and here is what Dr. Bromiley w,rites:                        as a worthwhile and solid theological contribution.
                                                                 This ought to be encouraging to all who have had a
       We should not leave the narrower sphere of dog-        part in this publication project also.
    matics without a reference to this very substantial
    attempt at a comprehensive theological statement. At         Our thanks to Chvistiunity Today!
    a time when flighty faddism threatens to destroy true        Incidentally, for those who are interested in what
    theology, it is good to have some more solid works.       is being published nowadays, this issue of Chvistianity
    Persevering and judicious reading of this work will       To@ay is annually a very helpful issue. One can gain
    probably contribute more to genuine theological edu-      from this issue a rather complete information as to
    cation than skimming through the latest Pseudo-           current publications without paging through catalogue
    doctrinal "thrillers ."                                   after catalogue.



                  A New "Anti-Abstract"

                                                       Theologiczil Method

                                                by  Pvof. H. C. Hoeksema

   In my previous editorial on this subject I. continued follow, I pointed especially to them. I also did so be-
to demonstrate that the `new method spoken of by Dr.          cause among our Reformed creeds it is the Canons
Henry Stob in his comments on the Dekker Case just which address themselves specifically to the verysame
prior to the 1967 Synod is not the method. of our con-        issues at stake in the Dekker Case and under discus-
fessions. And because the Canons are so every plainly sion in Dr. Stob's comments. We have seen-that our
an example of the .method~ Dr. Stob..does. not want to confessions are not afraid to address themselves to


224                                          THESTANDARDBEARER


questions of fact, to what Dr. Stob calls scientific        "Did Christ die for everybody?" is: No, He died only
questions concerning an objective state of affairs,         for the elect.
questions such as, "Did Christ die for everybody?"             The first passage is John 10:15,. 27: "I lay down
On the contrary, our confessions are replete with           my life for the sheep, and I know them." I submit: 1)
objective doctrinal statements concerning an objective      That this is a Biblical statement concerning an ob-
state of affairs, to use' again Dr. Stob's terminology..    jective state of affairs, namely, Christ's death and its
    Before I continue my critique of this new method, I     beneficiaries.     2) That those beneficiaries are de-
want to point out briefly and by way of a few examples      scribed in objective language: the sheep. 3) That ac-
that even as Dr. Stob's method does not pass the test of    cording to the context "sheep" is an exclusive con-
the confessions and is not patterned after their method,    cept: it does not and cannot mean "everybody" since
so his method will not pass the ultimate test, the test     Christ also speaks of those who are not His sheep:
of Scripture. I want to do this not because this should     "But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep."
be necessary for Reformed men, who claim allegiance         (vs. 26) 4) That the ultimate limitation of the objec-
to the confessions. For the confessions and an appeal       tive concept "the sheep" is in the fact that they are
to the confessions should be sufficient. No Reformed        those whom the Father gave to Christ, vs. 29, that is,
manmay propose or teach, either publicly or privately,      therefore, the elect. This is the exegesis of the Canons
anything contrary to the confessions, according to the      (II, B, l), and this was the exegesis of the theological
Formula of Subscription.      If he finds fault with the    professors at the Synod of Dordrecht, who almost
confessions, finds that they are not according to Scrip-    snorted at the idea that "sheep" was not an exclusive
ture, then he must follow the method of gravamen            and limited concept and could possibly mean all men.,
first.    But until the confessions are ecclesiastically       A second example is Isaiah 53:10, also quoted in
found wanting, an appeal to the confessions should be       Canons II, B, 1: "When` thou shalt make his soul an
sufficient proof for anyone bound by the Formula of         offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall pro-
Subscription. But I make this direct appeal to Scrip-       long his days, and the pleasure of Jehovah shall pros-
ture because I want to demonstrate that the method          per in his hand." The term seed denotes in objective
followed by our confessions is the style of Holy Scrip-     language a certain group of men who are the bene-
ture.                                                       ficiaries of the sin-offering mentioned in this text.
   The question is:      does Scripture make objective      And further exegesis of the term in the light of Scrip-
statements concerning an objective state of affairs?        ture will show that "seed" is not all men, but the
The question is: can we in the practice of the science,     elect. Even apart, however, from any possible inter-.
or discipline, of theology, of dogmatics, turn to Scrip-    pretation of the term "seed," the fact remains that
ture with a "scientific question concerning an objective    here you have (in predictive form) an objective state-
state of affairs" and expect to receive from Scripture ment concerning an objective state of affairs.
through the process of exegesis a direct and objective         A third example is Romans 8:33, 34: "Who shall
answer, so that we may formulate an objective theolog-      lay any thing to the `charge of God's elect? It is God
ical proposition and so that the church officially may      that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ
lay down a dogma and say, "This is the truth concern-       that died. . ."     This passage also is cited by the
ing that objective state of affairs, and that is the lie    Canons (II, B, 7). And they draw a quick exegetical
concerning it ?" Or will Scripture say to us, in effect:    stroke when they add the words to this quotation:
"You ask the wrong kind of questions. You have an           "viz., for them," referring to the elect. Again, an
insoluble question on your hands ?" This is the issue       objective statement concerning an objective state of
with which we must now turn to Scripture.                   affairs. And a very simple'process of exegesis leads
    And to make the above issue more concrete and           to the answer: Christ died for the elect, not for all
pertinent, let us use exactly the example-question men.
which Dr. Stob proposes. His basic question is: For
whom did Christ die? And that question may be sub-             The fourth passage is Ephesians 5:25: "Husbands,
divided into two further questions: 1) Did Christ die       love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church,
for everybody? 2) Or did Christ die only for some           and gave himself for it." This passage is referred to
men, namely, the elect?                                     in Canons II, A, 9:  "*.  0 who as a bridegroom for his
    Now Scripture is no dogmatics textbook, and no one      bride, laid down his life for them upon the cross."
expects to find in Scripture the systematic develop-        Again, exegesis must supply the content to the con-
ment of dogmas.         But the question is: can these      cept of the church as Christ's bride. But that this is
scientific questions concerning an objective state of       an objective statement cannot be doubted. And that the
affairs be answered through the process of exegesis?        concept of the "church as bride" is an exclusive con-
   My answer is Yes.                                        cept, a limited one, cannot be doubted. And that the
    As textual proofs I will cite four passages, all of     limitation is sovereign election cannot, in then light of
which are either quoted or referred to by the Canons        Scripture, be doubted?
in the Second Head of Doctrine, and all of which refer         Objective statements of this kind could be multi-
to the beneficiaries of the death of Christ in objective    plied. Even when Scripture uses a term like "world"
terminology in such a way that the answer to the scien-     in connection with the love of God and the death of
tific question concerning an objective state of affairs,    Christ, you have an objective Scriptural statement con-


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  225


cerning an objective state of affairs. The term must be     sun in the heavens.
given its proper content through exegesis. And prob-           The method of  ,our confessions, therefore, is a
ably Dr. Stob and I would differ as to whether that         thoroughly Scriptural method. Dr. Stob's method is
content is general or particular; but that a statement neither confessional nor Scriptural, but, as I hope to
like "Cod was in Christ reconciling the world unto show,  rationalistic. Mark you well, I did not call Dr.
himself" (II Cor. 5:19) is an objective statement con-      Stob a rationalist; I said that his method is ration-
cerning an objective state of affairs is as plain as the    alistic.

    A CLOUD OF WITNESSES

                          The Song of the Bow
                                              by Rev. B. Woudenberg

               And David lamented with this lamentation ovey Saul, and ovey Jonathan his son.. .
               The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen!.;..
                                                                                   ti san?ue1 1:17ff

   Returning from his battle with the Amalekites,           out of his hair across his face. Moreover, it soon
David found himself exhausted and rather distraught.        became evident that he was not concerned merely with
The anxiety which he had felt for his family and            announcing a disaster to the camp of Israelites for
friends' was now relieved and the damage which the          his eyes quickly searched out David and he said
Amalekites h d inflicted was more than paid for by          nothing at all until he had approached David and threw
the booty that$ had been taken, but their city was still himself in obeisance before his feet as though he were
in ruins and the question as to whether it was worth-       now a king.
while to try to rebuild themselves homes on Philis-             To David the whole action of this man was over-
tine soil was very much unanswered. Actually it was         bearing, affected and distasteful. For the moment he
not his own circumstances which troubled David the          was not a king and had no desire to be one, and the
most, it was his concern for what had happened in the       implication of this stranger to the opposite he resented
battle between the Philistines and Israel. Perhaps it       very much. Had everything been equal, he would have
had even been a good thing for David that he had had        stopped the man where he was and punished him
the pursuit of the Amalekites to occupy his attention,      soundly; but at the moment there was the possibility
for, if he had had to remain inactive in Ziklag while       that this man possessed knowledge which David him-
this major battle was in progress, the tension for him      self wanted to have. Curtly and impatiently, he roused
would have been almost intolerable. For him the im-         the man with the question, "From whence  comest
pulse would have been almost irresistible to go out         thou?"
and join the battle regardless of what his orders had           This was the opportunity for which the man was
been. And, yet which side would he have gone to aid,        waiting. He sensed the eagerness of David and care-
the Israelites whom he loved but who had rejected           fully began to steer the conversation in a way that he
him, or the Philistines who had protected him but           could. best present the matter as he desired it. His
whom his soul hated. Never had David found himself          answer was designed to leave him a wide opening,
torn so between opposite extremes, and the two days         "Out of the camp of Israel am I escaped." Making
of waiting after he had returned to Ziklag to hear the      himself appear as an actual participant in the battle
news of the battle was almost more than he could en-        was hardly the truth, but it did make him appear more
dure. A thousand times over again he wondered just          h e r o i c .
exactly what he did want the outcome of that battle             Ever more impatient with every delay, Davidnearly
to be.                                                      shouted at the man, "How went the matter? I pray
   It was finally on the third day, after looking almost    thee, tell me."
continuously in the direction of the battlefield so many        Now the man was ready and slowly he began to tell
miles away, that David saw a figure approaching. The        his well rehearsed story, trying as best he could to
man was evidently a runner, a messenger bringing            feel out David's reaction each step of the way. With
tidings of what had happened, except that his gait did      altogether too much detail he began to describe the
not seem to reflect determination of a man who was          battle until finally he came to the fact that both Saul
vitally concerned himself with the message that he          and Jonathan, the king and the heir apparent, were
bore; although, to be sure, as he drew nearer he had        dead. Just as he had expected, it was here that David
all of the appearance of a man who wished to announce       became visibly aroused and counteracted with the
a disaster, for his clothes were purposely torn and         question, "How knowest thou that Saul and Jonathan
the dirty streaks of sweat mixed with ashes ran down        his son be dead?"


  226                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


     This was. exactly the opening for which the man           satisfied to live as an ordinary citizen in`Israe1 until
  was looking so that swiftly he moved `on to tell the         that `day shouid come, and he felt'no gratitude toward
I rest of the story in the way that he had planned. it.        anyone who tried to hasten the day of his coronation.
  "As I happened by chance upon mount Gilboa," he              And then there was another thing too that was even
  said, "Behold, Saul leaned upon his spear; and lo, the       further beyond the grasp of this heathen Amalekite, that
  chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. And           was the feeling of utter abhorrence that was roused in
  when he looked behind him, he saw me, and called unto        the heart of David at the very thought that someone
  me, And I answered, Here am I. And he said unto me,          should dare to lift a finger against one who was
  Who art thou? And I answered him, I am an Amale-             anointed by God in Israel.         Twice in his own life,
  kite. He said, unto me again, Stand, I pray thee, upon       David had demonstrated in the clearest terms that he
  me, and slay me: for anguish is come upon me, be-            would never think of harming the Lord's anointed,
  cause my life is yet whole in me. So I stood upon him,       and to see now a man before him who had come
  and slew him, because I was sure that he could not           boasting of the fact that he had slain the king of Israel
  live after that he was fallen: and I took the crown that     filled him with a feeling of utter revulsion.
  was upon his head, and the bracelet that was on his             One can only imagine the amazed shock of that
  arm, and have brought them hither unto my lord.";            Amalekite man when he found that, rather than arous-
     Here was to be sure a very cleverly concocted             ing in David a warm and exuberant gratitude, his news
  story, in fact, it was nearly brilliant. Although what       contorted the face of this leader with shocked anguish.
  he said was not exactly as things had actually happened      There was cold fury in the next demand of David,
  on the battlefield, they were close enough that no one       "Whence art thou?" and cringing fear in the man's
  would ever be able to disprove his presentation, and         reply, "I am the son of a stranger, an Amalekite." It
  every diversion was carefully designed to serve what         was not an enthusiastic admission, for the Amalekites
  he was sure would be his own ultimate advantage.             had never been friends of the Israelites by any means;
  Moreover, the man beyond `question understood the            but the man dared no longer to distort his story, and
  whole situation in Israel very well, not just in general,    .there  was the faint hope that his status as a stranger
  but even as to David's own particular relationship to        might help to excuse him. But there was no excuse
  the nation was concerned. This man understood that           in the mind of David. His next remark was not a ques-
  the reason why David was where he was in the land of         tion but an accusation as he said, "How wastthounot
  the Philistines was because he was hated by Saul and         afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord's
  had been persecuted until he fled there; but at the same     anointed?" And then without further delay he turned
  time. he realized that David was still at heart an Is-       to one of the young men standing by and said, "Go
  raelite and loved his nation very dearly: and even           near, and fall upon him," which the young man im-
  more than that, he grasped full well that David was          mediately did. Then over the dead body and with tears
  going to be the king of Israel in the end too. Thus the      in his eyes, David spoke his clos.ing words, "Thy blood
  man's whole story had been carefully put together so         be upon thy head; for thy mouth hath testified against
  that it might appear that he was really a friend of the      thee, saying, I have slain the Lord's anointed." To
  nation of Israel and had never at any time done any-. David it seemed the ultimate sin.
  thing that might be interpreted as being hostile to             It was a deep mourning of many days that fell upon
  David's nation.      Nevertheless, even though he knew       the. camp of David as all of his men joined him in his
  full well that Saul had ended his own life quite unas-       sorrow: but from it came a most beautiful song, the
  sisted, he made it `appear that he was the one who had       Psalm of, the BOW written by David and taught eventu-
  finally ended the life of this greatest enemy before         ally to all of the children of Israel: (the translation
  whom' David had so long suffered.        And finally, of is that of Rev. G. M. Ophoff in The Standuvd Beavev,
  course, he made it appear that the real reason why           Vol. 25, page 63)
  he did this was because he wanted to be able to take
  the crown of Israel and present it by his own hands to          The glory of Israel on thy heights is slain!
  this future king of Israel before any one else would be         How are the heroes fallen!
  able to get it. In the .mind of this heathen Amalekite          Tell it not in Gath,
  there was no room for doubt but that David would                Publish it not in the streets of Askelon.
  surely be eternally grateful to him for every thing that        Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,
  he had done. No, this was no concoction of impulsive            lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.
  foolery; this man knew the circumstances in which he            Ye mountains of Gilboa,  be neither dew nor rain
  was dealing and had been extremely careful in every-                on you,
  thing that, he said to .David.                                  Nor fields of offerings;
     As it was, however, there was one thing this man             For there was cast away the shield of the heroes,
  had overlooked, or rather, that, being a heathen, this          The shield of Saul,' unanointed with oil.
  man would never have been able to understand. In the            From the blood of the slain,
  first place, this man could never have understood it            From the fat of heroes,
  that David had no real desire to be king in Israel. Al-         The bow of Jonathan turned not back,
  though he too knew full well that the day was going to          And the sword of Saul returned not empty.
  come when he would sit upon the throne, he was .quite           Saul and Jonathan,- the lovely, and -the pleasant,


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    227


       in their lives and in their death they were not          Thy love was wonderful, passing the love of woman.
       divided.                                                 How are the mighty fallen,
   They were swifter than eagles !                              And the weapons of war`perished!
   They were stronger than lions !                              It stands to the eternal. credit of David that, even
   Ye daughters of Israel weep for Saul,                    after all he had. suffered at the hands of Saul, that which
   Who clothed you with scarlet and with delights, and      stood out in his memory was the wonder andglory
       put ornaments of gold upon your apparel.             which had been wrought through him as, the anointed
   How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!    of the Lord. To this, day, his victory over all hatred
   0 Jonathan, thou wast slain on thine heights,            and bitterness is such as can only make us marvel and
   I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan,           bow our heads in shame for all of our petty animosities
   Very pleasant hast thou been unto me,                    in `life.


   ALL AROUND  US-


                   Church and State Problems

                   Victory for the CLAC

                   Heart Transplants, Brain Tramsplants, Creation 6f Life

                                                by Prof. H. Hank0


CHURCH AND STATE PROBLEMS                                   are on the side of the Amish. It is ironical, to say the
   If the founding fathers of this country thought they     least, that people are forced to flee from our country
had settled the perplexing and nagging problem of the       which was originally settled by those who themselves
relation between Church and State with the First            fled religious persecution.
Amendment to the Constitution, it is well they did not           -In Rhode Island a law was on the books which
live to see the trouble this amendment has caused in        made. legal the loan of textbooks purchased with state
our present age. We have repeatedly called attention        funds to private and parochial schools. This law was
to various aspects of this question in past columns.        now declared unconstitutional. Five taxpayers brought
And the debate goes on. More recent developments            suit against the law holding that it violated the First
include:                                                    Amendment of the Constitution. The judge presiding
   -The United States Supreme Court refused to ac-          in the case ruled that this kind of assistance is differ-
cept jurisdiction in an appeal of a Kansas Amish who        ent in degree and perhaps in kind from the assistance
was convicted on the charge of failing to keep his          given in transporting children of private and paro-
daughter in school. As far as the man himself is con-       chial schools with buses provided by the public funds.
cerned, this means only that he will have to pay a          This kind of assistance has been declared constitution-
fine of $5.00 and court costs amounting to $64.25. But      al by the United States Supreme Court. The judge
the decision has far-reaching implications for the          ruling in the textbook case maintained such aid was
more than 50,000 Amish living in this country. They         unconstitutional. The decision will be appealed.
have made the matter of the education of their children          The whole issue of state aid to education in private
a religious matter and claim that the persistent inter-     and parochial schools has not by any means been
ference of the courts in their affairs constitutes a        settled. There is a great deal of such aid being given
breach of their freedom of religion.  This involves not `at present. In many instances the courts have refused
only the question of how long their children must go to     to rule on the constitutionality of the issues involved.
school as in the above case; but also whether the           But such aid is still being challenged here and there,
schools established by the Amish are meeting state          and the time will come when some definitive rulings
requirements.      Already a group of Amish have moved      will have to be made.
to British Honduras in South America because their               However, regardless of what the courts may ulti-
religious freedom is gradually being taken away. The        mately decide, it becomes increasingly  .clear that
question is, of course, whether the education. of one's     state aid or federal aid means government control.
children is a matter of one's religious obligations or      The lesson of the Amish is an important one. Covern-
one's political responsibilities.. On this question we      ment control is gradually increasing. To stand with


228                                           THESTANDARDBEARER


outstretched hands before the public coffers trying to        Century Reformation Hour" in particular. This doc-
obtain our share of tax monies will invite the disaster       trine is an important consideration in the question of
of increased control. .There is no quicker way to lose        whether the license of station WXUR ought to be re-
our schools.                                                  newed.    This station is. ow.ned by Faith Theological
   -A case of a different kind was recently heard             Seminary of which McIntyre is board president. Thus
`before the Supreme Court of the State of Washington.         McIntyre makes the issue one of freedom of religion
There two Bible Presbyterian ministers brought suit           as well as freedom of speech. He is afraid that his
against the University of Washington for teaching a           program as well as other conservative programs will
course entitled: "English 390: The Bible As Litera-           not be able, to find outlets anymore as stations refuse
ture."       The contention of the plaintiffs in this case    to carry controversial material.
was that public money was being used to support a                While we have very iittle appreciation for McIntyre's
course which openly attacked the Bible and discredited        radio broadcasting, it is clear that this ruling could
its divine and infallible inspiration. They maintained        (and in some instances may already) be used as a tool
that such a use of public money constitutes a violation       to supress any type of programming the government
of the First Amendment of the Constitution and that           happens to dislike. This is dangerous. Opposition to
the University should be prohibited from teaching this        the Fairness Doctrine ought to have our support.
course.
   There is, of course, an element of truth in this           VICTORYFOR THE C.L.A.C.
contention. The bold and unbelieving attacks made on             The Christian Labor Association of Canada recently
Scripture in secular colleges and universities are as         won a favorable decision from the Supreme Court of
much "religion" as the teaching of the truth of God's         Canada which may have far-reaching implications for
Word. But what do these Bible Presbyterian ministers          the right to work in that country. Mr. D. Hoogendoorn
want unbelieving teachers to teach? No religion at            was fired from a factory where he used to work because
all? This also is atheism. The problem is not, really         he refused to pay union dues to the United Steelworkers
all that simple. The miserable dilemma is found in            Union.    As a member of the C.L.A.C. he claimed he
the so-called "neutrality" which the government as-*          was represented by them even though the majority of
sumes is the correct interpretation of the First Amend-       workers in the plant were represented by the Steel-
ment. It so happens that neutrality in religion is im-        workers Union. His case was appealed after two un-
possible.      This dilemma makes any solution to the         favorable decisions in the lower courts. The Supreme
problem an impossible one. The best that can be done          Court ruled that he was unjustly fired.         While not
under the circumstances is "Let the dead bury their           establishing the principle of right to work as such, it
dead" and let covenant parents instruct their children        was most emphatically a step in that direction. If this
in schools in which the truth is taught.                      decision is followed by others, the time may come in
   -An issue of another kind, but closely related to          Canada when a man may work in any plant without be-
the above involves the recent "Fairness Doctrine" of          longing to a union even though the majority of workers
the Federal Communications Commission, which con-             are represented by a secular union.
trols radio and television broadcasting. This new rule
has to do with attacks made against individuals or            HEART TRANSPLANTS, BRAINTRANSPLANkS,
groups over the air waves. It is intended to give the         CREATIONOFLIFE
one attacked an opportunity to defend himself. It re-            The last few weeks have seen the eyes of the world
quires that any station which carries such an attack          turned on a couple of hospitals - one in South Africa
must within one week provide the person or group at-          and one in. this country- where doctors have performed
tacked with 1) notification of the date, time and identity    heart transplants for the first time in history. At this
of the broadcast; 2) a script, tape or summary of the         writing, out of five such attempts, only one has been
attack;. and 3) an offer of a reasonable opportunity to       successful in that the patient is still alive, although he
respond over the station where the attack was first           remains `in the hospital.
made.        To fail to do this makes a station liable to        The next kind of transplant of a major sort being
fines up to $10,000 and may be grounds for refusal to         contemplated is that of the human brain.         Already
renew a license of a station.                                 studies are being made concerning its problems, and
   Broadcasters over the `whole nation are perturbed          preparations`are being hastened to accomplish this.
by this ruling and contend that. it is unconstitutional          All this leads to another closely connected develop-
because it involves a restraint on freedom of spe.ech         ment `in the field of biological science: scientists in
and the press. Appeals are presently filed with United        Palo Alto, California claimed to have produced life
States Court of Appeals. Stations fear that to comply         although in very primitive form. They succeeded in
will require censoring of programs, considerable time         manufacturing (according to their claim) an inner core
and ,outlay  of money; that therefore it is much easier       of a virus from inert chemicals.         Supposedly this
simply to refuse to carry controversial programs.             "core of a virus" was able to perform as a virus; i.e.,
   But no one is quite as alarmed as Dr. Carl McIn-           reproduce itself by invading living cells and altering
tyre, who insists (with some justification) that this         normal functions to produce other viruses.
ruling is aimed at political conservatives and religious         Not all were so ready to claim that life had actually
fundamentalists. in general, and his own  I'Twentieth         been created. For one thing, it is questionable whether


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   229


a virus is truly alive. One of the scientists himself is     little different from losing a leg except that I can get
quoted by  Christianity  Today  as saying: "Different        along without a leg while I need a heart to maintain life.
people mean different things by life; if you grant a         But this is somewhat evasive. If there is no relation
virus is alive or that naked DNA is alive, then this         between the physical blood-pumping organ and what
was a creation of life." But the fact of the matter is       Scripture calls a heart, why then the similarity in.
that viruses are able to multiply only by infecting          names? Is it not just possible that there is, after all,
living cells whose reproductive powers are diverted          a relationship between them? That to transplant life
to serve the end of the viruses.                             may do something to a m.an's moral and ethical life
   Nevertheless, already some are claiming that these        which will have nothing, but deleterious effects? At
advances constitute proof that death can at last be          least the question needs answering  - answering in the
overcome and life indefinitely postponed..                   light of Scripture.
   But several questions arise. For one thing: Is the
transplanting of organs such as the heart and brain              And then there is this `matter of creating life.
morally and spiritually permissible? It seems to me          Whatever the scientists may or may not have accom-
clear beyond refutation that the transplantation of the      plished, it seems to me highly improbable that life is
brain can only be justified on the basis of a rriaterial-    capable of being created in a laboratory. Once again
istic conception of man. Man is what he eats. It is          the supposition is thoroughly evolutionistic. The sup-
                                                             position is that life is nothing more than the proper
based upon a denial of the soul, Scripture teaches           combination of chemicals.
that man has a soul; that this soul of man is the seat                                           This is not Scripture's
                                                             view of life.
of all the powers of man's intelligence: reason, mem-                            Scripture is abundantly clear on. the
                                                             point that life is given by Cod at the moment of crea-
ory, conception, etc.: of man's will and of his feelings.    tion.       Not simply the rational-moral life which man
Inasmuch as the soul is an integral part of man, it          possesses,
seems equally obvious that the soul of man functions                         but equally the life of the animals and
                                                             plants D
through the brain. That indeed, the particular brain
of a man is perfectly adapted in the wisdom of Cod to            At any rate, one thing is certain. Death cannot be
the particular soul which functions through it. To take      vanquished in the test tubes of scientists with their
a man's brain out of his head and transplant it in the       white frocks in sterilized laboratories. Death is the
head of another whose brain has already. `been re-           voice of Cod in the .midst  of creation speaking in His
moved will be to create a monstrosity the functioning        wrath against sin. It is not anatural process, a vestige
of which cannot even be predicted. All this, of course,      of the evolutionary ascent of man. It is punishment for
if life can be sustained. The ethicalimplications sure-      sin, and judgment. It cannot be overcome no matter
ly prohibit this sort of thing.                              how hard man tries to escape Cod's just judgment
   But is it not just possible that the same thing is        upon him. The advances of science in medicine are
true of the human heart? I do not claim to have the wonderful things; the Christian has every right to take
answers to these questions. But they seem to me to           advantage of them. But he does so in the awareness
be questions that need answering before approval can         that all these advances on the frontiers of science are,
be given to such operations. The question that will          finally, so many vanities ending in death after all.
not down is this: Is there any relation between this         They may prolong existence in the world for a time.
heart in my chest cavity which pumps blood and the           But even wicked men question whether this is always
heart referred to in Scripture which is the moral and        desirable and speak of `fthe right to die." They'may
ethical center of man? The question can be shrugged manipulate the human body to serve their own ends.
,aside   .by saying that there is no relationship. The       But Cod will still punish sin. And death is the end.
heart which -pumps my blood is an entirely physical          Except for Cod's people through the power of the cross
organ with no relation to the spiritual. To lose `it is      and resurrection.

       .Qrder  Your  Copy Of The Booklet


                  `cThe Five Points of C!alvinism"

                                                     Enclose $1, and send your order to:

                                              .-,                            Rev. M. Schipper
                                                                             1543 Cambridge, SE.
                                                                             Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506


230                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


THE CHURCH AT  WORSHIP-
                     "0 worship the Lovd in the beauty of h$iness."
                                                             Psalwi  96:9a

                   The Realization of Worship
                                               by Rev. G.  Vanden Berg

    "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the chil-           stored to us, His people. These three phases con-
dren of men, to see if there were any that did under-          stitute one perfect work which is positively essential
stand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they             and without which we remain eternally strangers to
are all together become filthy; there is none that doeth       God's House, no matter how close we may be, in the
good, no not one." (Psalm 14:2, 3)                             physical sense of the word, to that house in the present
    This positively correct evaluation of mankind by           world. A mere form of godliness, devoid of the power
the Lord describes the basic reason that true worship          of God that works salvation, is not worship. An in-
of God among men is impossible.            Idolatrous man      tellectual apprehension of doctrinal theory or mere
worships but the object he serves is only an imaginary         acquaintance with ecclesiastical creeds and history
god. His carnal mind is not subject to the law of God,         does not in itself bring a man into living fellowship
neither indeed can it be. The result of this sad situa-        with God, wherein he enjoys the blessings of true
tion is that "they that are in the flesh cannot please         worship.        Only when the living word of the living
God." (Romans 8:7, 8)                                          God becomes the power that brings man into subjection
    Hopeless as this situation is; a glorious light            in his confession and in his life can it be said that man
shines through in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.         has been taught to worship God.
"As sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace              The first phase of this work of God is the redemp-
reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus         tive advent in which God, in the person of His Son,
Christ our Lord." (Romans 5:21) It is this grace alone         united Himself with us, taking upon Himself the like-
that restores man to his proper relationship to God and        ness of our flesh. Our purpose here is not to discuss
enables him to enter His courts with praise and                the doctrinal implications of the Incarnation of the Son
thanksgiving and to offer our bodies as living sacrifices      of God, but simply to consider its effect and results
unto Him, which is our reasonable service. Important           for us.        Immanuel, God with us, means that God, in
it is that we understand this, for only then will we           taking upon Himself an impersonal human nature,
realize that worship is more than an obligation or             identified Himself with and united Himself with man-
responsibility. It is a blessed p&viZege.  It is the gift      kind, insofar as mankind  .is united with Christ by
of life itself.                                                faith. The union of God and man is now corporate and
   The act of worship on man's part then is never a            individual only insofar as the individual is a member
favor or work which he performs and which obligates            of the body. This means that worship is a corporate
God to return to him a reward. Neither may worship             thing; something possible for and engaged in by the
be construed as man's activity whereby he appeases a           body of Christ and the individual can participate in it
wrathful God .and induces Him to abandon His punitive          only insofar as he is a living member of that body.
work. When man worships God, he is not exercising              God designated then name of His- Son to be JESUS be-
an inalienable human right that is inherent in all men.        cause "He shall save  His  people  from their sins."
The fact is that man has completely lost the right to          (Matt. 1:21) In this very initial step in God's work of
approach God and nothing that he can do is able to             realizing the art of worship, He establishes thefounda-
restore to him that right. When we conceive of wor-            tion for the reconciliation of those whom He has
ship along these paganistic lines, we are altogether on        chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the
the. wrong track and have a completely false perspec-          world. These alone He is pleased to receive into His
tive of this important matter.                                 house as His adopted children and to fellowship with
   In worship, as in all. things, GOD is first and last        them in worship.
and all in all! Without Him we can do nothing. Our                It must, therefore, be added that in this initial
worship .of Him then consists of our actively exer-            step of Incarnation must be included all the work
cising the privilege of participating in His own gra-          which Christ performed in human nature. This would
cious work wherein He restores an estranged relation-          lay special emphasis upon His cross and resurrection.
ship and receives us in fellowship on the.basis of His         In the former He was delivered for our offenses and
own redemptive work. This privilege is not earned              made the propitiation for our sins whiie in the latter,
or merited by us in any way. It is the gift of His free        He was raised again for our justification. Thus He
and,.sovereign  grace. Soli Deo gloria!                        satisfied all the Divine requirements for the re-union
   We may distinguish three distinct phases in this            of God and man; fully satisfied Divine justice; re-
redemptive work of God through which worship is re-            moved every barrier and estrangement; completely


                                             THE-STANDARDBEARER                                                     231


effected a perfect salvation. And this means, as far         of that body. In consequence of this the child of God
as our worship is concerned, that we cannot come to          begins to put off the old man of sin and all his deeds
the Father except by Him and there is no other name          and walks in a new and holy life. This constitutes his
under heaven whereby men can be saved. Always we             worship. Worship, for the child of God, does not then
approach God through our Lord Jesus Christ. "By              consist in a weekly visit to God's House, singing,
Him we have access by faith into this grace wherein          praying, offering and listening to a sermon. Do not
we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." misunderstand this. This aspect of one's worship is
(Rom. 5:2)                                                   not to be minimized but, as we hope to' have occasion.
   The second phase of this work of God is realized in       to demonstrate. later when we discuss the material
the Pentecostal entrance of the Holy Spirit into the         of public worship, this aspect is very vital and funda-
organism of redeemed humanity, that is, the church.          mental and needs to be properly stressed. However,
This is the complement of the Incarnation. Christ,           it remains but one aspect which, if isolated from the
`upon His ascension to heaven, receives of the Father        Christian's life in the midst of the world, reverts to an
the Holy Spirit as the fruit of His work on earth and        empty formalism and becomes an abomination in the
this Spirit He pours out upon the members of His             sight of God. Our point is that the worship in God's
mystic body. The task of this Spirit is to gather the        House by' the people of God must blossom out and be-
church as the body of Christ, to defend and preserve         come manifest in all their living as they give evidence
that body, and to bestow upon it in all her individual       of the regeneration of the Spirit in their walk in every
members the redemptive benefits of Christ's work.            sphere where they are called to labor. Then we wor-
"But all these (gifts of the Spirit) worketh that one        ship God, not one day out of seven, but every day of the
and the selfsame  Spirit, dividing to every manseveral-      week.    Our confession, so beautifully expressed in
ly as He will." (I Cor. 12~11) Again, let us remember        Lord's Day 28 of the Heidelberg Catechism, then be-
that in the way of worshipping God, we can do abso-          comes a living reality, i.e., "That all the days of my
lutely nothing without the reception of these gifts.         life I cease from my evil works, and yield myself to
Our. worship is dependent upon them.' "No may can            the Lord, to work by His Holy Spirit in me: and thus
say that Jesus is Lord,' but by the Holy Spirit." (I Cor.    begin in this life the eternal sabbath."
12:3) Well may we ask the question which Paul raises            In view of all this it is evident, is it not, that God's
in Romans -3127. "Where is boasting then?" .,And em-         work is not yet made perfect in us? Do we not then
phatically we answer with him:         "It is excluded." realize that there is so very much to be desired in the
And again, Romans 3:9, "Are we better than they?" improvement of our worship, that is, our living? Let
The answer: "No, in no wise." The consciousness of           each of us look at ourselves and let us also look at the
this works in us that true spirit of humility that is        church collectively to be thoroughly convinced of this.
pleasing to God and makes us realize the absolute            And when we realize this, do not our hearts burn for
indispensability of that which the apostles writes in        the House of God where we may gather about His Word
Romans 8:14-16, "For as many as are led by the Spirit        to learn more and more of His will concerning our
of God, they are the sons of God. For we have not            lives? Will we not then long for the Sabbath as well as
received the spirit of bondage again to fear: but ye         diligently use the opportunities that are given us during
have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry,        the week in our various church-societies to search the
Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bearing witness with         Scriptures so that our lives may be enriched by them?
our spirit, that we are the children of God." That is        Then the communion of saints becomes more than a
the spirit of true worship.                                  creedal matter. It becomes a living experience that in
   The final phase of God's work, preparing us for           a beautiful way expresses the worship of the people of
and realizing in us true worship, is materialized in         God.
regeneration.      Two things must be said here. First of       Thus, on the basis of Christ's incarnation, through
all, we must understand that this phase of God's work        the outpouring of His Spirit and in the way of the re-
is not to be separated from the preceding. It is part        generating process, God forms a people unto Himself
of it. The Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of regeneration    that shows forth His praise. (Isaiah  43:21) This
and it is through this work that He accomplishes His         constitutes His Church. Those who participate in these
mission of bestowing upon us the benefits of Christ.         benefits are constituted anew as the people of God
Secondly, we use the term regeneration in this con-          who are formed into a body that antithetically radiates
nection in a broad sense, so that included in it are all     its light in the darkness of this present world. Then
the phases or so-called steps in our salvation. It is        they need not tell the world that they are the church,
not so that the Spirit regenerates and from that point       for the world will recognize their identity with Christ
the furtherance of the work is dependent upon man.           and, inevitably, will hate them so that their worship
The same Spirit bestows upon the regenerate the gift         of God will be accompanied with tribulation. "Yea,
of faith, calls, justifies, sanctifies and ultimately        and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
glorifies them.      Salvation is of God alone! But the      persecution." (I Tim. 3:12) May we suggest that the
point is that in this regenerative process the Holy          present circumstances of the church in our land gives
Spirit brings the new creature into real, living fellow-     evidence of a serious lack in our worship? -But let the
ship with Christ.       He incorporates the child of. God    faithful remember the words  of-  Je.sus,  "Be of good
into the .body of Christ and makes him a living member       cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)


232                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



        QUESTION BOX-

                     Must the Church Turn
                                                   the World Upside Down?

                                             by Prof., H. C. Hoeksema


   From a Kalamazoo reader comes the following               and the rulers of the city, when they heard `these
question:                                                    things."
   "What is the meaning of Acts  17:5-6, especially             It seems to me, therefore, that the following is
the following words, `These that have turned the world       evident from this passage as a whole:
upside down are come hither also?'                              1) That Paul (and Silas) had done nothing more or
   "These words have often been used as an example           less than go to church (synagogue) for three sabbath
for the present day churches and Christians to inspire       days; and there, as the opportunity was afforded them,
them to spread the gospel. However, verse 5 indicates        they preached the gospel. This was the extent of their
that these words were spoken by `jealous Jews and            public activity. They did not go about in the city, -for
certain vile fellows.' (ASV) Was this a true or an ex-       example, to the marketplace; where the jealous Jews
aggerated picture of the early church?                       found these "lewd (vile, evil) fellows." In other words,
       "I would be very interested in your interpretation    both from an ecclesiastical and a civil point of view,
of this portion of Scripture."                               they engaged in preaching the gospel in a perfectly
                                                             legal, orderly, quiet manner.. Apart from this, judging
REPLY                                                        from the fact that the house of Jason was assaulted,
                                                             the activities and contacts of Paul and Silas had been
   Welcome to our Question Box. As you may notice,           private, i.e., confined to a private home. They created
I have, as you requested, omitted your name, - some-         no uproar. They fomented no revolutionary activity.
thing which will be done for any questioner, provided,       They conducted no protest-demonstrations. They led
of course, that the question as sent to me is signed.        no marches. They incited no civil disobedience. They
   A proper answer to this question requires, in the         merely p,veached,  and they did so in what we would
first place, that we consider the background. That           call today a church building. And it is important, too,
background is that Paul and Silas went from Philippi         to notice  what  they preached. They preached two
to Thessalonica, "where was a synagogue of the Jews:         things : a) That Christ, the Messiah, of Whom the Old
And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and          Testament Scriptures prophesied (the Scriptures which
three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the             were read and supposed to be believed in the syna-
scriptures, Opening and alleging, that Christ must           gogue), must necessarily suffer and die and rise from
needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead;          the dead. b) That Jesus is that Christ.
and that this Jesus, whom Ipreachunto you, is Christ."          2) That the Lord granted fruit upon this preaching,
The positive fruit upon this preaching of Paul is. so that some of the Jews, as` well as a great number
described in verse 4: "And some of them believed,            of God-fearing Greeks, including, significantly, some
and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout         "chief women," believed; moreover, they manifested
Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not         this faith by associating with Paul and Silas, consort-
a few."                                                      ing with them. This was the positive fruit upon their
   Then follows the passage to which the question re-        preaching, and was undoubtedly the beginning of the
fers, verses 5 and 6, with which I would include             congregation of Thessalonica, for whom the apostle
verses 7 and 8:        "But the Jews which believed not,     gave thanks to God, I Thess. 1:2-7.
moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows            3) That upon this same preaching there was also
of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set           negative fruit, as always.      Some did not believe.
all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of        Some, under the same preaching of the same Christ,
Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. And       were hardened. And even as faith became manifest in
when they found them not, they drew Jason and cer-           the believers associating with Paul and Silas, so this
tain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These     unbelief became manifest in envy, or jealousy. More-
that have turned the world upside down are come hither       over, this jealousy was translated into  deed,s.  And
also; Whom Jason hath received: and these all do con-        these deeds in this case were not limited to the con-
trary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is         fines of the synagogue either.         These unbelieving,
another king, one Jesus. And they troubled the people        jealous Jews fomented a riot. In order to do this, they


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   233


needed help.    What did they do?       They went to the     organizations such as the World Council actually use
idlers in the marketplace, and they enlisted the help        this term "revolution"), then these words are wrongly
of evil men. And when they had "gathered a company," used.
they had a demonstration, setting the city in an up-            3) Was this a true picture of the early church? No.
roar. They engaged in civil disobedience, and that too,      Was it even an exaggerated picture of the early church?
of a violent sort.    They took the law into their own No, it was not even an exaggerated picture: in exag-
hands, assaulted the house of Jason, and apparently geration there is always an element of truth. These
were intent upon some kind of lynching party. When           words of the unbelieving, jealous Jews and of the vile
they failed to find Paul and Silas, they vented their fellows whom they enlisted were an  outright false
wicked jealousy on "Jason and certain brethren," accusation;                By no stretch of the imagination can
dragging them before the rulers of the city.                 preaching of the gospel in an orderly, peaceful, legiti-
   4) That -they accused these brethren of revolution-       mate manner and in its proper and lawful place be
ary activity, first of all: "These that have turned the      equated with turning the world upside down and. with
world upside ,down are come hither also." This is a          treason. But when the gospel is preached according
reference to alleged ,past activities of Paul and Silas,     to the Scriptures, those who preach it may expect to
undoubtedly to their alleged revolutionary activities        be the object of this and similar false accusations and
at  ,Philippi,  Acts  16:19-24 (cf. also Acts  16:35-39).    reproaches on the part of the enemies of the truth of
Evidently the Jews in Thessalonica had received word the gospel.
from Philippi; and now they claim that these revolu-            4) Is there any kind of example given us in this
tionaries, Paul and Silas, are come to Thessalonica to       passage? Yes, there is an example in the conduct of
stir up trouble also. But notice especially that they        Paul and Silas. The example is one of steadfast per-.
accuse them of Yevolution. In the second place, they         sistence in preaching the gospel wherever the Lord
accuse Paul and Silas and the brethren of tveuson:           called them and wherever the Lord gave them an open
"and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar,         door, even in the face of bitter opposition and per-
saying that there is another king, one Jesus." This is       secution.
a familiar charge, the same one that was brought                I have answered this question rather at length be-
against Jesus Himself in Pilate's judgment hall. (cf.        cause of the practical importance of this subject in
John 18:29-38; John 19:7-12)                                 this day when all kinds of wild claims are being made
   In conclusion, then, how must these questions be          as to the duty of the church and the clergy to take the
answered?                                                    lead in social revolution, all in the name of the gospel.
   1) The meaning of the words in Acts 175-7 is that         That social gospel and the gospel of Jesus Christ have
the apostles were accused of revolution by the unbe-         nothing in common.
lieving and jealous Jews, in an attempt to get the city,        I hope that my questioner is satisfied. If not, he
and especially the rulers of the city, against them.         may call again.
   2) If these words areused as anexamplefor present            One more thing.      That, prince & exegetes, John
day churches and Christians to inspire them to spread        Calvin, has some choice words to say about  this
the gospel in the sense so current today, namely, that       passage in his commentary on Acts. Look it up if you
the church must preach and work for  revolution  (and        have Calvin in your library.


        FROM HOLY WRIT-


                          The  Book Of Hebrews

                                                by Rev. G. Lubbers


CHRIST LEARNING OBEDIENCE BRINGS THE                         the land. The term sacrifices (thusias) refers to the
SACRIFICE (Hebrews 5: 7, 8)                                  bloody sacrifices which were slain at the altar by the
   The Old Testament priesthood was called by the            priests in behalf of the sins of the people. The hands
Lord to bring sacrifices and gifts in behalf of sins.        of the priest symbolically transposed the sins of the
The writer speaks of "gifts and sacrifices." Gifts           sinner upon the head of the sacrificial victim. Were
(doora)  evidently- refer to the bloodless sacrifices        it not -for the sins, the missing of the mark of the per-
which were brought in the temple, the firstfruits of         fection of the law of God, no sacrifice would need to


234                                          THE STANDqRD BEARER


be brought, and no priest would need to bring sacri-       Christ "the Son," who is from everlasting, (Vs. 8)
fices.     But now the priest brings sacrifices for the    and the Christ, in the days of his flesh, and the Christ
sins of the people. However, the priests first must        as he is perfected at the right hand of God! (Hebrews
bring a sacrifice for his own sins.- He can do this        1:4;  4:14,  5:9, 10)
since he himself is a sinner, surrounded with weak-           In a sense we can say that Christ is still in the
ness due to sin.                                           flesh, if we understand "flesh" to mean that the
   The entire priestly garment pointed to this fact        eternal Son is united inseparably with the Divine
that the priest stood and aministered before the Lord      nature.      Our Belgic Confession says that the Christ
in behalf of the sins of the people. Particularly we       was not divided as to his two natures even in the
see this in the breastplate of the `high priest. These     grave, (Art. 19)
were twelve stones which represented the twelve tribes        Be this as it may there is still a difference between
of. Israel.     That they were beautiful colored stones    Christ in the "days of his flesh" and the glory which
evidently represented Israel as borne upon the heart       is his now, and which shall be his at the time of his
of God, the heart of the high-priest before the throne     return with clouds, and the renewal of all things. The
of mercy.       It means that one day the entire church    writer says expressedly that in the "days of his flesh"
shall stand before the Lord as so many precious            the Christ leamzed  something. He gained a knowledge
stones, each reflecting the glory of grace in his own      in his suffering which he did not know by experience
way.      Do we not read in Isaiah 54:11-13 "0 thou af-    before. He was truly man and could and did increase
flicted, tossed with the tempest, and not comforted,       in stature, becoming strong in spirit. (Luke 2:52)
behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay    Here the writer says that Christ learned obedience.
thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy        He learned this even though He was Son. The Greek
windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all    here is "kaiper oon Uios." All the while that he was
thy borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children       learning in the flesh, he is still the Person of the Son.,
shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the        co-equal and co-eternal with the Son!         That gives
peace of thy people"?                                      infinite value to his suffering. It was the son of God
    Such was the implication of the breast-plate of the    who learned in the "days of His flesh!" Great is the
high-priest.                                               mystery of godliness! God is manifested in the flesh.
    Such was the duty of the priest to bring the gifts     Immanuel, God-with-us, is He! That makes the suf-
and sacrifices for the sins of the people. Herein he       fering unique! It also makes the learning unique.
shows that he must be able to bear gently with the            Christ learned from which he suffered. According
sins of the people, the weak and the erring. The term      to the tenses in the Greek here the idea is that the
here for bearing gently in the Greek is  "metrio-          ` `learning' ' kept perfect pace with the "suffering."
pathein." This is really a beautiful word and con-         He learned from which he suffered. In the depths of
cept; It means to be moderate, keep measure, to be         hellish agony the eternal Son learned what it means to
of an even temper.       It means to be calm, moderate     be perfectly obedient!      And as he tasted death, raw
in one's anger. Thus the priest was to bear reason-        death and hell, and suffered, bearing the wrath of God
ably with the sins and weaknesses of the people.           against the sins of the people, he learned obedience.
Really, this was only possible when the priest re-         And because he learned obedience exactly according
membered God's grace of compassion for his own to the measure of his infinite suffering he brought an
weakness and sins. This is a rather universal rule         infinite sacrifice.,     And that sacrifice has infinite
in  the, church.     No preacher is able to be a good      value, and infinite sympathy that ,can be touched with
liturgical priest who does not feel great pity for the     the feeling of our infirmities.
weaknesses of the congregation. ..He is indeed a fool         What does it mean that Christ, the Son, learned
and a misfit who is hard, harsh and ruthless in his        obedience? Surely this does not mean that Christ went
treatment of the saints. He has never learned what it      through a process of mortification of sinful flesh to
means "feed my lambs," "tend my sheep." He does            come to a new obedience. He was the eternal Son, the
not have the heart of a shepherd.                          High Priest who is holy, harmless, undefiled and
    Someone has written concerning this "bearing separate from sinners, and made higher than the
gently" with the weaknesses of the people: "here           heavens e     (Hebrews 7:26) But what we ought to ob-
the moderation of tenderness in the judgment formed        serve above all is that the text does not speak of Christ
upon. the errors. of one's neighbor is intended as this    learning obedience in general, but he learned  "the
is wont to. arise from the sympathy the unhappiness of obedience." He learned the sacvificiul  obedience of the
the same which is produced by sin."                        Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. He
  But- Christ, the- Son of- God; far exceeds this; He      learned under law what is means to be obedient unto
can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,        death, the perfect obedience to the law of God, to love
since he was tempted of all, yet without sin. Here is      God perfect, and cry from the depths of hell: I love
a  High-Priest who does far more than bring some           Thee!      In the volume of the book it is written of me.
gifts and sacrifices in a earthly temple.                  (Hebrews 10:8-10)
He sacrificed  himself!                                     .r An interesting matter for study is the fact that the
  ' Her sacrifices himself. in the "days of -his flesh!" Greeks in the Classics did not ever have the term
According to the writer of the Hebrews there is the        "obedience" (puakoee) in their vocabulary. They did


                                                THE STAND&D BEARER                                                    235


not have the promulgated law. They were a law unto              The writer writes the amazing. fact that rho Christ
themselves. Where no law is there is no-disobedience,        was "perfected.'          In the letter to the Hebrews this
neither is there a possibility of obedience. The term        perfection is connected with and based upon his suf-
` `obedience" is a term that fits in the vocabulary of       fering.        .
those who know the law. Christ knew the law perfectly,
and he was perfectly obedient. He learned this while            He is perfected through suffering. (Hebrews  3~10)
he suffered. He walked by faith and humble trust. He            Here too  the. writer speaks of the Christ being
lived, according to His human nature, as the eternal         made perfect.          It is at the very fact of being made
Son, under law and, therefore, in faith to the com-          perfect that Christ became the author of salvation. He
mandment. Because he so trusted in God he could be           is the worker of salvation. He brings salvation about.
so obedient ,, His was a perfect hearty trust. No one        Hence we can cling to him and come with boldness to
can please God without faith. Not even the Son of God        the throne of grace; -we do not apostatize from the
in the days of his flesh.                                    living God, but enter into the rest. He is thus the
   Truly such a Savior can be touched with the feel-         great High-Priest of our profession, perfected through
ing of our infirmities ! He knows what it means to hear      sufferings to bring many sons to glory. Such is his
the great Shamah (Hear, Israel) perfectly. (Deut. 6:4)       perfection.
He bears the wrath, paid the debt, carried away the             He became the author of eternal salvation. He is
sin of the people.                                           the everlasting God in the flesh. In the Old Testament
   What a strong crying and tears this entailed. Hear        dispensation there were many times in which the Lord
him in Gethsemane as he prostrates himself upon the          "saved his people in distress." But it was ever of
earth! Does he not cry so that father Jacob's tears at       short duration. This was especially the characteristic
Peniel seem as nothing. Hear him, a stone's throw,           of the Old Testament priesthood.              It never was an
yet an eternity from his beloved disciples  "0 my            eternal salvation. But Isaiah had prophesied that the
Father,, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me:       LORD would bring back his people from Babylon, and
nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt. And did he      that Israel would be saved with everlasting salvation.
not with strong crying and tears pray himself into           (Isa; ,45,1.7) And that Jehovah does in the Son.
perfect submission when he says the third time `!O my 4 . . 3,
Father, if. this cup may not pass .away from me, exc,ept        And when the Son has thus brought about perfect
I drink it, thy will be done." What a cry with a loud        and, eternal salvation He is greeted by God. He is
voice out `of the darkness on the accursed trke,`when        addressed by God in heaven, as he passes through the
in utter amazement he learns obedience when he suf-          heavens "a priest forever after the order of  Mel-
fers and says "My GOD, my GOD, why hast thou                 chizedek."
forsaken me?"
   Beholdi, then the perfect sacrifice, once and for            Only such a priest is the surety and pledge of
a l l !                                                      eternal salvation.
                                                                Such is Christ appointed by God forever!
THE AUTHOR OF ETERNAL SAL VATION FOR                            Let. us then draw near to the throne of grace and
ALL WHO: OBEY HIM (Hebrews K-9, 10)                          find mercy and receive grace in the time of need.

   The new clerk for Hope Protestant Reformed                                    RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY
Church is: Mr. John Kalsbeek                                    The Ladies Auxilary of South Holland Protestant
             4132 Hall St., S.W.                             Reformed Christian School extends its heartfelt sym-
             Grand Rapids, Michigan 49504                    pathy to Mrs. Jeanette Van Baren, Mrs. John Haak,
 . Please send all bulletin announcements to:                and Mrs. Barney Haak in the recent passing of their
             Rev. J. Kortering                               Father and Father-in-Law,
             1551 Wilson Ave., SW.                                                    MR. JOHN HAAK
             Grand Rapids, Michigan 49504
             Telephone: 453-5875                                May the bereaved be comforted `in the word of God
                                                             found in Psalm 116:15, "Precious in the sight of the
                      IN MEMORIAM                            Lord is the death of His saints."
                                                                                            Mrs. L. Lubbers;Pres.
   On December 14, 1967 it pleased pur Lord to call                                         Mrs. L. Bruinsma, Sec'y.
home unto Himself after an illness of a few days, our
beloved Mother, Grandmother, and Great-Grandmother,
                 MRS. ANNA DDORNBOS
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.                                            N    O    T    I    C    E
                             Mr. and Mrs. Peter ,Doornbos       `Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches
       -                     Mr. and Mrs. George'Moerman     will, convene on March 6, 1968, at 9:00 A.M., in the
                      _      6 Grandchildren                 Protestant Reformed Church of South Holland, Illinois.
                      :      4-Great-Grandchildren                                    Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk


236                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH-

                                      The Doctrine of Sin
                                     The Second Period  - 250-730 AD

                                            The Pelagian Controversy

                                                        Pelagianism

                                                        hy Rev. H. Veldman

       In our preceding article, we noted that the scene               wards the middle of the fifth century, so that the
had shifted to Rome, in connection with the historical                 Roman bishop, Leo the Great, found himself obliged
development of the Pelagian controversy, as presented                  to enjoin on the bishops by no means to receive any
by  Philip Schaff in his History of the Christian Church,              Pelagian to the communion of the church without an
Vol. III, 797  f.f. Pope Innocent expressed full agree-                express recantation.
ment with the condemnation of Pelagius, Coelestius,                       At the third ecumenical council in Ephesus, A.D.
                                                                       431 (the year after Augustine's death), Pelagius (or
and their adherents.           However, Innocent died in 417           more properly Coelestius) was put in the same cate-
and Pope Zosimus, who succeeded  him, at first agreed                  gory with Nestorius. And indeed there is a certain
with the Pelagians and condemned the North African                     affinity between them: both favor an abstract separa-
bishops for their attack upon and condemnation of                      tion of the divine and the human, the one in the person
Pelagius.        The Africans, however, were too sure of               of Christ, the other in the work of conversion, for-
their cause to yield submission to so weak a judgment                  bidding all organic unity of life.     According to the
as that of Zosimus, which was  also in manifest con-                   epistle of the council to Pope Celestine, the Western
flict with that of Innocent. In a council of Carthage,                 Acta against the Pelagians were read at Ephesus and
in 417 or 418, they protested against this decision and                approved, but we do not know in which session. We
                                                                       are also ignorant of the discussions attending this act.
gave  him to understand that he was allowing himself                   In the canons, Coelestius, it is true, is twice con-
to be greatly deceived by the indefinite explanations of               demned together with Nestorius, but without statement
Coelestius.        Subsequently,      Zosimus      changed his         of his teachings.
opinion. and pronounced the anathema upon Pelagius                        The position of  thti Greek church upon this ques-
and Coelestius. We now conclude this historical pres-                  tion is only negative; she has in name condemned
entation by Philip Schaff.                                             Pelagianism, but has never received the positive
          Julian, Coelestius, and other leaders of the exiled          doctrines of Augustine. She continued to teach syner-
       Pelagians, were hospitably received in Constantinople,          gistic or Semi-Pelagian views, without, however, en-
       in 429, by the patriarch Nestorius, who sympathized             tering into a deeper investigation of the relation of
       with their doctrine of the moral competency of the              human fveedom  to divine grace.
       will, though not with their denial of original sin, and
       who interceded for them with the emperor and with               Before we discuss the teachings of Pelagianism,
       Pope Celestine, but in vain. Theodosius, instructed by       we wish to make a remark in connection with the fact
       Marius Mercator in the merits of the case, com-              that Pelagianism has continued to assert itself through-
       manded the heretics to leave the capital (429). Nes-         out the history of the Church of God. It is true that
       torius, in a still extant letter to Coelestius, accords      the Pelagian system had been vanquished by Augustine,
  to him the highest titles of honor, and comforts him
       with the examples of John the Baptist and the per-           and rejected and condemned as heresy by the church.
       secuted apostles. Theodore of Mapsuestia,  the author        This result, however, did not in itself necessarily im-
       of the Nestorian Christology, wrote in 419 a book            ply the complete approval of the Augustinian system.
       against the Augustinian anthropology, of which frag-         Many, even opponents of Pelagius, recoiled from a
       ments only are left.                                         position so wide of the older fathers as Augustine's
          Of the subsequent life of Pelagius and Coelestius we      doctrines of the bondage of man and the absolute
       have no account. The time and place of their death are       election of grace, and preferred a middle ground. And
       entirely unknown. Julian is said to have ended his life      it is simply a fact that Semi-Pelagianism let its pres-
       a schoolmaster in Sicily, A.D. 450, after having sacri-      ence be known in the church throughout the ages. And
       ficed all his property for the poor during a famine.
          Pelagianism was thus, as early as about the year          we are all familiar-with the fact that Roman Catholi-
       430, externally vanquished. It never formed an eccle-        cism is certain pelagian in its conception of sin and
       siastical sect, but simply a theological school. It          grace. Heresies never die; they will continue as long
       continued to have individual adherents in Italy till  to-    as man continues in the midst of this world.


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      237


      PELAGLANISM - PRIMITIVE STATE AND                          tween what man was and what he is now. Fact is,
                      FREEDOM OF MAN                             according to Pelagius, man remained essentially the
    In an introductory statement, Philip Schaff, in his          same,. retained the same freedom of the will. Why,
History of the Christian Church, Vol. III, 802, writes           then, should he stress man's original righteousness?
the foliowing:
           The peculiar anthropological doctrines (the doc-                 Adam, he taught, was created by God sinless, and
    trines concerning man  - H.V.), which Pelagius clearly          entirely competent to all good with an immortal spirit
    apprehended and put in actual practice, which Coele-            and a mortal body. He was endowed with reason and
    stius dialectically developed (logically developed), and        free will. With his reason he was to have dominion
    bishop Julian most acutely defended, stand in close             over irrational creatures; with his free will he was to
    logical connection with each other, although they were          serve God. Freedom is the supreme good, the honor
    not propounded in systematic form. They commend                 and glory of man, the corium naturae, that cannot be
    themselves at first sight by their simplicity, clearness,       lost. It is the sole basis of the ethical relation of man
    and plausibility, and faithfully express the super-             to God, who would have no unwilling service.  lt con-
    ficial! self-satisfied morality of the natural man. They        sists, according to Pelagius, essentially in the liberum
    proceed from a merely empirical (experiential) view             arbitrium, or the possibilitas boni et mali: the free-
    of human nature, which, instead of going to the source          dom of choice, and the absolutely equal ability. at
    of moral life, stops with its manifestations, and re-           every moment to do good or evil. The ability to do
    gards every person, and every act of the will, as               evil belongs necessarily to freedom, because we can-
  standing by itself, in no organic connection with a.              not will good without at the same time being. able to
    great whole.                                                    will evil. Without this power of contrary choice, the
    And then  Philip Schaff proceeds to arrange the                 choice of good itself would lose its freedom, and there-
several doctrines of this pelagian system according                 fore its moral value. Man is not a free, self-deter-
to the, great stages of the moral history of mankind.               mining moral subject, until good and evil, life and
    We wish to make a few comments at this time in                  death, have been given into his hand. Against this
                                                                    view of Pelagius, Augustine cites the declaration of
connection  .with the above quoted paragraph. How true              our Lord, Matt. 7:18, that `a good tree cannot bear evil
that the Pelagian system commends itself "at first                  fruit, nor a corrupt tree good fruit.'
sight by its simplicity and plausibility, and that it ex-
presses the superficial and self-satisfied morality of              This is the only conception-of freedom which Pela-
the natural man! How simple and plausible pelagian-              gius has. We  realize, of course, that this is not the
ism is at first sight, and when viewed superficially!            conception of freedom which is according to the
Pelagianism and Arminianism appear, at first glance,             Scriptures.       For, in the first place, God is free. God
to be so logical! It is this view that emphasizes and            Himself is free, is  free in the highest, the absolute
does justice to man's responsibility! How can man be             sense of  the word. And that God is free certainly does
responsible  if the Lord be sovereign? How can the               not and cannot mean that He is free to do both, the good
gospel be preached to him if he cannot will to be saved?         and the evil. Besides, the child of God will be free in
How can he be held accountable for any action if it be           the perfect sense of the word in everlasting and im-
impossible for him to do otherwise? To maintain the              mortal glory. Now it is true that also Pelagius speaks
responsibility of man it is certainly necessary, is it           of the blessed freedom of the children of God in the
not, to  maintain the freedom of the will! Otherwise             heavenly and everlasting state of glory. We will com-
man is reduced to a stock and block! Of course,                  ment on this, the Lord willing, in our following article.
Pelagianism does not go through to the source of life,           We may observe at this time that Pelagius' conception
stops only with its manifestations. It does not con-             of this everlasting state of freedom is a far cry from
sider the truth of Scripture, and the reality of life,           that conception as taught us in the Word of God. Be all
that man is conceived and born dead in sins and in               this as it may, the freedom of man as taught by Pela-
trespasses.         And it certainly does not take into ac-      gius  and advocated so universally today is surely not
count the Scriptural truth that the Lord is God and He           supported by the Word of God.
alone !      How truly illogical it is to maintain that the         According to Pelagius, freedom is in perpetual
dead sinner can choose both the good and the evil and            equipoise between good and evil, ready at any moment
determine his own' destiny, and to deny the truth that           to turn either way.          As Schaff expresses it: "It is
the Lord is God and He alone !                                   without past or future; absolutely independent of every-
   Concerning the Pelagian conception of the primi-              thing without or within; a vacuum, which may make
tive state. of mankind, and the doctrine of Freedom,             itself a plenum (fulness), and then become a vacuum
Schaff writes the following, Vol. III, 802, f.f.:                again; a perpetual tabula rasa, upon which man can
           The doctrine of the primitive state of man holds a    write whatsoever he pleases; a restless choice, which,
   subordinate position in the system of Pelagius, but the       after every decision, reverts to indecision and oscil-
   doctrine of freedom is central; because in his view the       lation.       The human will is, as it were, the eternal
   primitive state substantially coincides with the pres-        Hercules at the cross-road, who takes first a step to
   ent, while freedom is the characteristic prerogative          the right, then a step to the left, and ever returns to
   of man, as a moral being, in all stages of his develop-       his former position. Pelagius knows only the antith-
   ment.                                                         esis of free choice and constraint; no stages of
    This is understandable.           Pelagius did not em-       development, no transitions  D         He isolates the will
phasize man's original state, IN DICTINCTION  FROM               from its acts, and the acts from each other, and over-
what man is now. He did not draw this dictinction be-            looks the organic connection between habit and act."


238.                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



         TRYING THE SPIRITS-


               :The Impeccability  of  Christ

                                                    by R.  C.  Havbach

        The modern theology and its representatives deny What a think for any other teacher. to say to his dis-
the impeccability of Jesus. Says Emerson, in "Unitar-         ciples , "If ye, then, being evil!" How intolerable,
ian Thought," p. 165 (ital. added), "Tempted in all           coming from any other but Jesus !
points, as we are, and not without sin would he the              Two problems face us here. One is the temptability
logical result from the doctrine of the complete hu-          of Jesus; the other, His peccability.       Could He be
manity of Jesus. From this conclusion the Unitarian tempted, and, could He sin? Temptability seems to in-
does not shrink. He is ready to admit with the utmost volve imperfection. Absolute goodness is immunity to
frankness that in all probability Jesus had hismoments        sin, such as God always has and the inhabitants of
of opposition to the divine will which constitutes the        heaven now possess.         It is true that God cannot be
attitude of sin." But even if it were true that the per-      tempted to sin, and thekefore,  as to His divine nature,
fect sinlessness of Jesus cannot be proved, where are         neither temptability nor peccability can apply to Christ.
the witnesses to Jesus' moments of opposition to the          Yet God can be objectively tempted. Temptation of
divine will? Certainly not in himself, for He said, "I        itself does not necessarily imply the presence of sin.
do always those things that please Him" (John 8:29).          Then it does not follow that since Jesus had a true
Nor in either the prince of this world (John 14:30), or       human nature, therefore He could be tempted to sin.
among the Jews who opposed Him (8:46)! To the con-            For the fact remains, that whether in regard to His
trary, many witnesses testify that He was "holy," divine nature or His human nature, He could be, and
(Luke  1:35), that "He knew no sin" (Paul in II Cor.          was, objectively tempted, but could not be subjectively
5:21); "who did no sin" (Peter in I Pet.  2:22), that         solicited to sin. It is no sin to be tempted. AEven from
"in, Him is no sin" (John in I John 3:5), that He is the point of view of His human nature He could not sin.
"without sin," and "without spot," also "holy, guilt-         Human nature in heaven is incapable of sinning. There-
less, undefiled, separated from sinners (ASV, Heb. fore, Jesus not only avoided sinning, but it was im-
4:15;  9:14;  7:26)"; that never was He guilty of nor possible for Him to sin. Sure "the Son of Man" is not
caught in any lie or unfaithfulness (John in Rev. 3:14);      only the ideally, but also the absolutely perfect Man.
that "this Man hath done nothing amiss (the penitent             So then, the Last Adam was not only sinless, but
thief)"; that "truly, this was a righteous Man! (the impeccable. He was not only without sin; but incapable
centurion) !". Compare also the witness of Pilate's of sin. The first Adam was created sinless, but not
wife (Matt. 27:19)j to which Pilate himself added his impeccable. He was created posse non geccave but not
testimony (v. 24).          Then Judas confessed Him to be    non posse peccave. But the Last Adam was not only
innocent (v. 4), which proves that the testimony of His       able to overcome temptation, He was also unable to
enemies, tacit and told, stands in His favor. From be overcome by it. The Almighty cannot be overcome
them we obtain one fact which dispels all doubt as to                            He is Master and Lord as He claimed
the absolute impeccability of Jesus. Let the modern [ylln  :$!3), and as Peter and Paul testified (Acts
liberal deniers of it consider this fact: He was com-         10:36;  17:24).      He controlled wind, waves, demons,
pletely free of self-accusation. He never had a sense men, diseases and death, so clearly demonstrating
of guilt. No one could justly charge Him, "Physician,         that nothing could master Him.
heal thyself!" He ,-taught His disciples to pray,. "For-         Anotber attribute of Christ, His immutability,
give us," but He never prayed such a petition. He             proves His impeccability. He is "Jesus Christ the
called on men to repent, yet there is not the slightest       same yesterday, and today, and forever (Heb. 13:8)."
expression of His repentance. John the Baptizer, in           His immutability guarantees His impeccability. Sinless
his day, called upon men to turn from sin,.to  confess        angels were not immutable; they fell. Adam was created
their sins and to repent - he called on all men every-        sinless; but mutable. They were creatures. Creature-
where to repent,. except the, one man without sin, his        hood and mutability go hand in hand. The manhood of
Lord the Christ. John assumed that all men, including         Christ was created, but that immutably, from the mo-
himself (Matt. 3:14), were sinners, with but the one          ment it ,was, and since it was, united with His Godhood.
exception he made in Jesus! ,The latter himself testi-           His- attribute of omnipotence, proves His impec-
fied to His sinlessness. He also, as John, taught that        cability. He certainly `was "the Almighty (Rev. l:S).",
all men are totally depraved sinners. He said to His          He had the same omnipotence as the Father. "What
disciples,, "If ye, then, being evil," but He never said,     things soever He (the Father) doeth, these also doeth
"If we, then,  b:eing evil." He. concluded all men under      the. Son likewise -. 0 For as, the Father raiseth up the
sin, but did.' not include himself under that verdict.
                     __          .-~                          dead, -and quickeneth, even so the Son quickeneth whom


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     239


He will (John 5:19, 21)." An almighty person cannot           be defeated, but that is not the same as saying they
yield to sin. The idea is contradictory. Temptation           could not be attacked. Why would `God ordain His Son
to sin proceeds through a creature; is a creaturely,          to temptations? Would not one reason be, to demon-
finite power; but a finite power cannot overcome om-          strate His impeccability? The devil tempting a mere
nipotent infinity 1                                           man is like the throwing of a lighted match into a bar-
   The union of the two natures in Christ proves His          rel of gunpowder. But the devil tempting Jesus is like
impeccability. The human and the divine natures were          the throwing of a lighted match into a barrel of water.
united in the one person of the Son of God. He is him-        Another reason .for His temptation was that so God
self God (Rom. 9:5), and "God cannot be tempted with          would manifest and prove the power of perfect holiness.
evil (Jas. 1:13)," nor is it possible for God to lie (Heb.    A further reason was to reveal the worth of pur re-
6:18).     Christ was "God manifest in the flesh," and        demption. Merely because the Lord Jesus Christ him-
Immanuel,  God with us.       Therefore His personality       self is almighty (Rev. 1:8), it does not follow that His
was not centered in His humanity. His divine person           victory over temptation was accomplished with ease.
took a human nature which was inherently holy,, and,          His conquering cost Him sweat, tears, blood and death.
united as it was with the divine, it was impossible for ,It cost travail of soul. It cost the cry; "0 My Father,
Him to sin. The older theologians taught that im-             if it be possible, let this cup pass from.Me." An army
peccability belonged to God by nature; that it belonged to    may be invincible, but that does not make its victories
Christ, as true man, by the union of the human nature         cheap.
to the divine nature and person. As to His human na-             It is sometimes objectea  that if the divine nature of
ture He was of Adarn, but as to His divine person, He         Christ so sustained the human nature that it was divine-
was not considered in Adam. He was a human being              ly empowered to be incapable of sinning, why was it
without being a human person. He was, is, a divine            not equally sustained against hunger, thirst, wear-
person.      Sin and guilt cannot be imputed to a divine      iness, suffering and death? Further, since Christ did
person. Adam's sin could not, therefore, pass on to           actually suffer all these weaknesses, why then was it
Him.       He had no original guilt, human depravity or       so impossible for His human nature to yield to tempta-
actual sin. He was not able to sin.                           tion? This thinking overlooks the fact that Christ was
    Useless and profane speculation it is to imagine          ordained to die, `but not ordained to sin, and that He
what the human nature of Jesus might have done, con-          was ordained to die in order to save us from sin. A
ceived of separately from the divine nature and divine        sinner does not qualify as Savior.       Christ does so
person. It was never so separated. It is not possible         qualify.     It is normal for human nature to be finite,
either to `mix His natures or to divide His person. We        limited and weak. But sin is not a necessary part of
cannot make of Him a deified man, or a humanized god,         human nature. It is one of the abnormalities He came
or some monstrous demi-god. He is one Person, yet             to destroy.
true man and true God - Emmanuel, God with us, in                Since the Son of God became Emmanuel, God with
our nature, flesh, blood, bone, mind, heart, soul,            us, we would conclude rightly, if we inferred that He
intellect and will. This nature was sinless from its          must therefore be "mighty to save, traveling in the
conception. Nor did He receive His sinless impeccable         greatness of His strength (Isa. .63:1)." The "mighty
nature from a virgin of sinless perfection, herself           God" surely has power to overcome all temptation
immaculately conceived - she was a self-confessed             and sin, not only when it attacks Him, but when it also
sinner (Luke *1:47) - but from a nature created and           assaults His people. He is able to help them that are
conceived by the Holy Spirit.                                 tempted !      There is no power or weapon formed that
   It is useless, even frivolous, to object to this           can stand against Him. Mr. Ready-to-halt and Mr.
doctrine of Christ's impeccability on .the supposition        Much-afraid may therefore turn. to Him in absolute
that it is inconsistent with temptability. It is thought      confidence and receive His gracious aid. Because He
that one incapable of sin is incapable of being tempted.      was victor over sin and death, we too shall be saved
We could say there have been armies which could not           from our constant and our last enemy!

                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                       RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
    The Martha Society of  Doon Protestant Reformed              The Men's and Ladies Societies of the SouthHolland
Church extends its sympathy to Mrs. S. Aardemain the          Protestant `Reformed Church. extends their heartfelt
death of her mother, a charter member of our Church;          sympathy to our fellow, members, Mr. and Mrs. Barney
at the age of 94:                                             Haak, Mr; and Mrs. John Haak, Jr., -and Mrs. G. A.
                  MRS. SARAH ZYLSTRA                          Van Baren in the loss of their father and father-in-law,
"For we know that if our earthly house of this taber-
nacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an                              MR. JOHN HAAK, SR.
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."              May the God of all grace comfort them in this their
II Cor. 5:l.                                                  bereavement.
                          Rev. Robert Decker, President                                Mrs. John Zandstra, Sec'y.
                          Mrs. Henry Bleyenberg, Sec'y.           :                    Mr. Garret Fiikkema, Sec'y.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


                                    NEWS FROM OUR  CHU.RCHES-
                                       January 25, 1968      (from Feb. 1 to Jan. 23) and re-located (from Hope
   The Hope Heralds, our churches' only male singing         church to First) meeting was held in the large room in
group, invited the public to a Sunday evening program        the basement. The Circle had invited all interested
Jan. 21. The men sang some beautiful Male Chorus             ladies to this first meeting of the year, and the entire
numbers; and the program also. included audience             Priscilla Society of First Church attended as this was
participation, which made it seem somewhat like a            their regular Tuesday evening date and they had a
hymnsing. This "hymnsing," like those lately sponsored       special invitation to join the circle for this important
by the Beacon Lights Staff, was well attended. Hope          meeting. The Administrator and Principal of the High
church was comfo,rtably  filled, and that means many         School; Mr. Roland Petersen, spoke to the members
people had an evening of enjoyable Christian fellowship.     concerning the details involving preparation for the
                                                             opening of a brand new school. The building will be
                        * *  *                               constructed of eight inch blocks faced with four inch
   Lynden's Adult Bible Class is currently studying          brick on a concrete foundation. The building committee
"The Three Marks of the True Church." This topic is          is doing everything possible to obtain for the children
worthy of study by all of us in these last days wherein      and their parents the most practicable and economical
those "marks" are rapidly being erased. The first            building their limited finances will allow. Mr. Petersen
evidence of this is usually noticed in the neglect of the    also spoke of the matter of qualified teachers certif-
exercise of Christian Discipline - wielding the Key-         icated by the State of Michigan.      He revealed to the
Power  - which naturally leads to the profanation of         ladies the courses to be offered, which include a choir,
the Lord's Table, and ending in complete erasure             and a band.       Music literature will be taught from a
when Christ removes His Candlestick from that church         Protestant Reformed point of view. Plans have been
when she no longer preaches the true doctrines of Holy       made to provide special attention to slow learners to
Writ, that, church which was formerly called after His       encourage them in their quest for an education which
name, "Christian." This truth which we confess is            shall prepare them for their chosen profession and
found in the 29th article of the Netherlands Confession,     work. Tapes will be provided so that different lan-
and is OUT confession, isn't it?                             guages may be taught. The Administrator also quoted
                        * *  *                               anticipated costs of microscopes (15 needed), of type-
   Southeast's bulletin of Jan. 14 reminded their peo-       writers (24 needed), a piano, the clock system, and of
ple that the Mission Board has published the lecture         all the other items needed for a well-equipped high
series of last winter in a 95:page  booklet. Those five      school. The ladies were agreed that this was a .worth-
lectures may be had for your personal enjoyment for          while evening, giving them courage to go forward with
the cost-price  - $1.00. Your order should be sent to        a renewed zeal to help raise some of the funds neces-
Rev.  M.. Schipper,  1543 Cambridge Ave., S.E., Grand        sary to make this dream of many years become real.
Rapids, Michigan 49506.                                      Miss A. Lubbers, president of the Circle, led in open-
                        B  *  *                              ing devotions, and the usual business was conducted.
   Our latest report from Doon  is that Rev. Decker is       Three new members were added to the rolls, and the
back in full swing again. It would be very difficult to      next time and place of meeting was announced.
determine which of the two is the happier with this prog-                             * * *
ress report, Doon's pastor or his congregation.                 From Redlands' bulletin we learn that a new
                        *  * *                               baptismal font decorates the auditorium as a gift from
   Did you know that our Hull, Iowa congregation has         two families in the congregation; and through the ef-
been offered a new trio of names from which they may         forts of the janitor the front lawn had new shrubbery
choose one minister to come over to help them? The           replaced January 7. (While other church janitors are
trio:    Revs. R.  D. Decker, R. C. Harbach and B.           struggling with snow-shoveling and salt-spreading that
Woudenberg.                                                  the people can enter the church sure-footed!) The
                        *  *  *                              congregation also surprised Rev. Hanko with a very
   The Men's Society of First Church traveled to Hol-        generous purse-to go towards the purchase of a new
land and were the guests of Holland's society on Jan.        car.
22. The January thaw cleaned the roads and the weath-                                 * *  *
er was really conducive to winter travel that night.            Do you know the list of seven things which the Lord
The visiting society furnished the after-recess pro-         hates, yea, which are an abomination to Him? Prov.
gram which consisted of a paper by Mr. P. Bykerk on,         6:16-19. If they are listed in an ascending scale, it is
"The Command to go Forward." This original com-              noteworthy that the third concerns hands that shed
mand found in Exodus 14:15 was viewed in the light of        innocent blood, while the seventh points to him "who
the need of the church of all ages to be strengthened in     soweth discord among brethren." Probably this is one
the face of all obstacles, none of which were ever           of the texts upon which the Communion Form rests
greater or more formidable than the Red Sea which            when it mentions that sin as one that defileth a man
barred the way of Israel.                                    and marks him as "having no part in the kingdom of
                        *  *  *                              Christ."
    The Prot. Ref. High School Circle's re-scheduled                        see you in church.                J.M.F.
                                                                .O..OODO


