      The

     BEARE
        A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE       R

       For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy
     God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a
     special people unto himself, above all people that
     are upon the face of the earth.
       The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor
     choose you, because ye were more in number than
     any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
       But because the LORD loved you, and because
     he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto
     your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with
     a mighty hand,. and redeemed you out of the house
     of  bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of
     Egypt*
       Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is
     God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant
     and mercy with them that love him and keep his
     commandments to a thousand generations.-
                                     - Deuteronomy 7:  6-9




c                                     Volume LI, Number 20, September  I,1975  -


458                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER




                           CONTENTS:



 Meditation  -
   The Glorious Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .458
 Editorials  -
   Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .460
   Home Again! _. . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . .461
   Our Anniversary Celebration . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .462
Question Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .462
All Around Us  -
   Christian Schools and the Law . . . . . . . . . . . .  .467
Guest Article  -
   The Idea of the Sabbath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .470
Signs of the Times  -
   The Big "Eye" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .472
The Strength of Youth  -
   Keep Thy Tongue! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .474
From Holy Writ  -
   Exposition of Hebrews 13: 5, 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . .477
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .479




MEDITA TION

                                        The Glorious Future

                                                                Rev. M. Schipper
              "For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know irz part; but then
             shall I know even as also I am known. "
                                                                                                     I Corinthians 13 : 12.


  In the text and throughout the immediate context                         faculties we possess as children are then perfectly
the apostle compares the present with the future. In                       realized. They are not then different faculties, but
the context he informs us that now we know in part                         they are then matured.
and prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect
is come, then that which is in part shall be done                            In the text this comparison of the present with the
away. He also by way of comparison uses the figure                         future is most beautifully expressed, and it seems that
of a child over against that of a man. When we are                         the apostle now reflects on the spiritual faculties of
children, we are complete, all the faculties of what we                    sight and knowledge. Now we see through a glass
shall be are there; but we are not yet perfect. All the                    darkly, and now we know only in part. But when that
faculties we possess as children are not yet fully                         which is perfect is come, we shall then see face to
developed. When, however, we become men, all those                         face, and know even as we are known.


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                              459


   That the apostle in the text changes the relative           man may by the grace of God see many things
pronouns from the plural to the singular, need not             spiritually, but a spiritually blind man sees nothing at
confuse us. If you look back into the chapter, you             all. And such we are by nature. By nature we are not
will note that he does this throughout. A  -study of           only blind but  ,spiritually dead. But, 0 wonder of
these passages shows that what is true for the apostle         grace, when we are made alive, and we see spiritual
is also true of all of us. He individualizes and makes         things spiritually, what a blessed sight! And the same
concrete the truth which is applicable to us all.              is true respecting our knowledge. By nature we are
   The little conjunctive word "for" which introduces          spiritually dead, and we know nothing. But when we
our text indicates that the text is a further explana-         are by the grace of God made alive, we know all
tion of what the apostle had written in the immediate          things (I John  2:20). Blessed knowledge, indeed!
context, especially in verse 11. The idea is, that when          And the wonder becomes even more blessed as we
I see through a glass darkly, and know only in part, I         see and know more and more!
am like the child; speaking as a child, understanding            Yet it is all in a mirror and in part.
as a child, thinking as a child, When, on the other
hand, I see face to face, and know as I am known; I              The mirror which the apostle has in mind and uses
am like the man. I have come to maturity, to                   as a figure, was not that of glass, as we are
perfection. And the former things of my childhood              accustomed to, but of highly polished steel. But
may be put away.                                               regardless of its constituency, such an instrument
                                                               reflects images.
  Indeed, we have here the glory of the future
presented in the light of the present.                           However, the apostle does not have in mind that
                                                               we look into the mirror to see our own reflected
  That in no way is intended to minimize or dep-               image, but looking into this mirror we see the face of
recate the beauty of the earthly present.                      God in Christ Jesus. To understand this figure we
  Perhaps you are inclined to be so impressed, but             ought to conceive of ourselves as standing with our
this is not the intention of the apostle at all.               backs toward heaven, and with our faces turned away
  Mistakenly we might conclude when the apostle                from heaven looking into the mirror which is the
compares the present with the future, or sets forth            Word of God. What therefore is revealed from heaven
the future in the light of the present, that the present       by God is reflected in that Word.
is worth very little, that it is unimportant. To draw            That we are said to see through a glass darkly
such a conclusion would be a serious error. The                cannot mean that there is something wrong with the
apostle does not mean to say that looking in a mirror,         mirror, e.g., that it is darkly tinted, or besmirched.
as we do now, is of no value. He does not mean to              But as the original suggests, literally we read, we see
minimize the significance of our present impartial             now through a mirror in an enigma; i.e., in a dark
knowledge. Fact of the matter is, that our experience          saying. And that means that, the Word of God speaks
of the present is very important, and exceedingly              to us in dark sayings which we are not now com-
beautiful.                                                     pletely able to penetrate into their depths. We there-
  The object of our sight, though it be in a mirror, is        fore. now need constantly to have that Word
beautiful indeed! Whatever that object is, he does not         interpreted to us. This in no way denies the perspi-
say. But as we shall learn in a moment that object is          cuity of the Scriptures, but it emphasizes the fact
most beautiful and attractive. In reality that object          that God has provided ministers of His Word who
which we see in the mirror is the same as that which           say: "Thus saith the Lord." The same is true of our
we shall see face to face.                                     present knowledge. With all our knowledge of
                                                               Scripture we still know so little. But when we shall
  And the same is true also of our impartial knowl-            see face to face and know as we are fully known, then
edge. Though it is true that we know now only in               it will be as we read of the  Que'en of Sheba who was
part, yet that object of knowledge is most beautiful.          told of the wisdom and glory of Solomon, but who,
  Most assuredly it is a most blessed thing that we            when she saw him in the flesh, exclaimed: "the half
see and know now!                                              only was told me." That we know now only in part
  That we are no longer blind and ignorant is indeed           does not mean there is something wrong with our
a wonder of grace!                                             present knowledge, but it means that we do not
                                                               know, that our knowledge is not as comprehensive as
  As we are by nature, we are born blind, just as              it will be when we shall know even as we are known.
really as the man to whom Jesus gave- sight was born
blind (John 9). And with him we may say: once I was              0, the glory of the heavenly future!
blind, but now I see. Only the blindness of our                  It is the glory of reality in the fullest sense of that
natural depravity is worse than the blindness of the           term. Then all the dark sayings are past. Then we see
man whose sight was given to him. A physically blind           the glory of reality, not as in a mirror, but face to


460                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


face. No longer will our knowledge be partial, but             As far as the present is concerned, it should spur us
complete. Now with all the knowledge we have, and           on to a whole-hearted participation in it.
in which we may increase,  - still there are so many           How  wrdng our attitude. often is toward the
questions. Not so in the glorious future.                   present! Isn't it true that often we find so little
  It is the glory of perfection!                            enjoyment looking into the mirror now? In the
  How glorious to see face to face perfectly! It is the     busyness of our present life in the world the reading
difference of looking at the object we love in a            of God's Word is pushed into the background. And
picture, and then seeing that object in reality. Though      when we go away for a vacation to get away from
all the lines of His face are beautifully etched in the      that busyness for a little while, we may even forget to
picture, there is nothing like seeing Him as He is.         take God's Word with us. And, 0, how little is the
Also, if what I know now in part is wonderful, I can        partial knowledge we now possess!
only conclude that what I shall know then perfectly            Only as we whole-heartedly participate in the
shall defy all description now.                             beauty of the present, shall we enjoy the blessedness
  Perfect sight!                                            and have the hope  for the future. Refuse to look in
                                                             the mirror of God's Word now, and you will not
  We shall see God! The Eternal, Infinite, Invisible        recognize the face of the Son of God after a while. But
God!                                                        looking faithfully into the mirror now, we shall be
  Of course, in as far as He is pleased to reveal            changed into the image of Him Whom we expect to
Himself to us in  the,face of Christ Jesus our Lord.        see in the glorious future face to face. (II Cor. 3: 18).
  No, we shall not see God as He is, nor shall we              And our attitude toward the future will be one of
know Him in the sense that we shall be able to              hopeful anticipation.
comprehend Him. For God is incomprehensible, and
no man by' searching can find Him out, as Job                  Not a mystical, sickly, longing to be delivered from
understood God's knowability, and so understand-            the present. The Apostle Paul also had a strong desire
ingly expressed it.                                         to depart and to be with Christ, but he also had a
                                                             desire to remain so long as the Lord willed that he
  Also in perfection we shall be bound by revelation.       labor in His church. (Phil. 1:  23,24)
And revelation now, and as we shall forever experi-            But a spiritual longing of hope for perfection!
ence it, is God's condescension to make Himself
known unto us. Undoubtedly also in heaven we shall             To see Him Whom my soul  1oveth;Whom  I can see
not know immediately all things, but also then our          now only in an enigma, but then face to face; that is
                                                            my hope.
knowledge will be progressive. Yet there will be no
more flaws, weaknesses, that which is in part; but we          And to know Him Who has from everlasting known
shall know perfectly.                                       me in His elective grace, that is the object of my
                                                            hope. And to dwell with Him in Father's house, that
  And God is pleased to reveal Himself only in and           constitutes the longing of my heart as it stretches into
through His Son, and that Son as He came into the           the future.
flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ. In Him dwells all the            And this shall not fail, as the apostle John so
fulness of the Godhead bodily. Unto all eternity all         clearly states it: "Beloved, now are we the sons of
that we shall see of God will be revealed in Him. Now       God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but
we see Him, but in a glass darkly. Then we shall see        we know that; when we shall appear, we shall be like
Him face to face.        '                                  him; for we shall see him as he is." (I John  3:2.)
   Surely this glorious prospect of the future as it is        May that be your longing, too, dear reader; for
seen in the light of the present should temper our          Jesus' sake!
attitude to both the present and the future.                   Amen !

EDITORIALS

                                             Editor's Notes
                                                ProJ: H. C. Hoeksema

  Publication Delay. Earlier we announced that              Christ and the Church  was scheduled to appear in
Rev. D. Engelsma's book,  Marriage: The Mystery  of         June. Sorry, but there has been unavoidable delay at


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                               461


the bindery. To those who have already ordered the             Our Theological School will open its doors for the
book: don't worry; our Business Manager has your            new term, D.V., on Wednesday, September 3, at 9:00
orders and will fill them as soon as the book is avail-     A.M. Convocation will be at 8:00 P.M. in our South-
able.                                                       west Protestant Reformed Church. The public is
                        *****                               cordially invited. Prof. H.  `Hank0  will deliver the con-
   Annivemary Recordings,.  Elsewhere in this issue         vocation address. We expect an enrollment this fall
you will find an announcement concerning avail-             of 15 pre-seminary and seminary students. We beg you
ability to tape recordings of all three programs cele-      to remember our seminary in prayer.
brating our Fiftieth Anniversary.  Beacon Lights,  our                             *****
young people's magazine, plans to print the three              In this issue a large section is devoted to  Questiorz
addresses; and the  Standard Bearer  also plans to print    Box.  We hope to get caught up in this department in
these addresses  - if possible, in the next issue.          the near future. We have a few more questions on
                                                            hand; most of the current material in this department
                       *****                                was prepared, however, before our Australasian tour.

                                              Home Again!
   Late on Thursday night, July 31, the Rev. C.             the Lord gave us an open door; and we believe that
Hanko, Mrs. Hoeksema, and I arrived home to the             there is definitely work for our churches to perform
greetings of a large number of family and friends,          in various places. We may not be selfish, but must be
after an extended tour in behalf of our churches in         prepared to share our heritage as churches with
New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, and Singapore.           others.'
   We are glad and thankful to be home again, thank-           In the second place, we take this opportunity to
ful to the Lord for His safekeeping throughout our          express our public thanks to all those who had a part
long journey, and thankful, too, for the many con-          in coordinating our tour and in arranging the various
tacts we might make in behalf of our churches. It was       meetings, particularly to Mr. W. van Rij, of Christ-
good, too, by the way, to be back home in time to           church, New Zealand, to the Rev. Charles  Rodman,
share in the denominational celebration of our              of Launceston, Tasmania, and to the Rev. John
Fiftieth Anniversary as churches.                           Stafford, of Sydney, Australia. Without their help our
   Many have already inquired as to a report of our         tour could not have been successful. We also express
tour, and not a few have suggested some gatherings at       our thanks to the many, many people who opened
which we may report orally to our people and show           their homes to us along the way; these are too
some of our many pictures. Such reports will indeed         numerous to mention by name, for, with few excep-
be forthcoming. First, however, we must have time to        tions, we stayed in private homes throughout our
prepare our detailed report for the  synodical Com-         tour, often tarrying but a day or two. And though we
mittee for Contact With Other Churches and,                 were total strangers to many of the people, they
eventually, for Synod. We have detailed notes to            gladly opened their homes and their hearts to us and
digest; and our report, I assure you, will be a lengthy     showed us truly Christian hospitality. Brother
one. For we contacted many churches and indi-               Rodman humorously  ..expressed  the hope when he
viduals, and we participated in a total of some 40          introduced us at a meeting in Tasmania that we
meetings (lectures, cottage meetings, and church serv-      would afterwards say, "The barbarians showed us no
ices) in a span of 38 days. In that time we made 21         little kindness in their island." Well, they did; but they
separate plane flights, not to mention several trips by     were no barbarians!
train, bus, and private car. You will understand,
therefore, that we have  -much to report. As soon,            In the third place, we were repeatedly struck by
however, as our report is finished, we will also begin      the fact that our Protestant Reformed Churches are
to report in our editorial columns and will try to          known in the various localities we visited through our
arrange for some public gatherings in various locali-       literature  -  our  Stavzdard  Beaver,  our pamphlets, and
ties.                                                       our books. These have been instrumental in spreading
                                                            our witness. But let me add: there is even more in this
   Already now, however, there are a few things which
need saying.                                                respect that can be done and that ought to be done.
   In the first place, we believe that the Lord has           Finally, we express our gratitude to our people and
greatly blessed our tour. Contacts were made, and           our churches for the confidence expressed in dele-
lasting bonds of friendship were established. And           gating us to represent our churches and for the many
these were not only between individuals, but between        prayers sent to the throne of grace in our behalf
churches down under and our churches. Moreover,             during our absence.


4     6    2                                   THE STANDARD BEARER


                        Our Anniversary Celebration

     What was undoubtedly the climax of this year of        throughout this. celebration. In the  first place, as
celebration of our Fiftieth Anniversary as Protestant       Protestant Reformed people we still have and deeply
Reformed Churches took place in Grand Rapids on             appreciate our heritage. This was evident not only
August 5, 6, and 7 in connection with our annual            from the various speeches, but also from the conver-
Young People's Convention. We celebrated. Oh, how           sation of our people and the comments about the
we celebrated!                                              program. In the second place, in a very concrete
     Our Young People had cooperated with the               fashion we experienced with a thrill of spiritual
denominational Anniversary Committee in making              delight the firm bond of unity which joins our people
the theme of their convention "God's Covenant Faith-        and churches. This is difficult to describe to those
fulness." On this theme the three convention                who were not present. But the experience of this
addresses concentrated., And our people from near           unity was very real, and it was electrifying. The
and far `gathered in large numbers to listen to the         fellowship in the faith and the bond of love were
addresses and to join numerous times in lifting hearts      concretely tasted in such a way that one almost began
and voices in joyful praise to our faithful Covenant        to wish that these days of celebration would not have
Jehovah. From east coast and west coast, from               to end. We had a little bit of heaven on earth! In the
Houston, Texas and from Edmonton, Alberta, and              third place, and quite appropriately, there was
from all points in between, our people came together.       nothing of  m&i and of self in all our celebration. It all
And what was undoubtedly the climactic event of             ended in ascribing praise and glory and adoration to
these three, days was the old-fashioned Field Day held      the sovereign God of our salvation!
at Douglas Walker Park, south of Grand Rapids. Some           A word of appreciation is due to all those, young
1900 people  - well over half of the membership of our      and old, who -worked hard and long to organize these
denomination  - came together on that  never-to-be-         events and to carry them off successfully. That there
forgotten day. The only note of regret which I heard        were many hours of planning and preparation on the
was the regret of those who came from far away:             part of various committees was very evident. In fact,
they were sorry that their fellow members could not         seldom have I seen evidence of such thorough and
all have shared in the joy of the occasion.                 painstaking work.
     Some of us had feared that there might be a let-         And now, in a way, it is "back  t,o normal." And yet
down after the Field Day. But on Thursday evening,          we do not return the same. We return with renewed
after  the Federation Banquet, there was again a            confidence and zeal and with renewed dedication, as
capacity audience in the auditorium of the Calvin           well as with strengthened conviction that the cause of
College Fine Arts Center to listen to the stirring          our Protestant Reformed Churches is the cause of the
address of Prof. Hanko.                                     Lord our God.
     There were three things which impressed me               May He preserve us and keep us faithful!



QUESTION BOX

                                                ProJ H. C. Hoeksema


CONCERNING A DIALOGUE CHURCH

     One of our California readers asked me to make         My colleague, Prof. Hanko, made some comments on
some comments about the idea of a dialogue church,          this subject not long ago in his department,  All
sometimes also called a modalities church. My               Around  Us. With these comments I am in agreement,
questioner left his question general, but I assume that     and the whole current idea of dialogue  isas abhorrent
he desires some comments on the right or wrong of           to me as it is to him.
such a dialogue church, as well as on the dangers of it.      Now, however, the subject is that of a so-called
                                                            dialogue church, or modalities church. What is this?
Reply                                                       In brief, we may describe it as follows. In the first
     I will not comment on the whole idea of dialogue.      place, a modalities church is a denomination of


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  463



churches in which there is an orthodox and a hetero-         attempt is made, of course, to justify such a situation
dox element, an element which adheres to Scripture           on the basis that the local congregations, and even
and the Confessions in its preaching, administration         whole groups of congregations, are indeed mani-
of the sacraments, and discipline, and an element            festing the marks of the church. But this does not
which does not do so. In the second place, these             take into account  the,matter of denominational unity
groups are rather well-defined. In such a modalities         and denominational and corporate responsibility. I
church you do not find orthodox and heterodox                am not now speaking of Reformed believers and
elements scattered throughout all the congregations,         Reformed churches which have differences  withivz  the
but rather entire segments of the denomination which         Confessions; this is possible. But I am referring to
are either heterodox or orthodox. Entire congre-             those who differ specifically with respect to the
gations will be of one or the other kind. An orthodox        Confession, to those who live together under the
congregation will be exclusively so, in its constitu-        same denominational roof with those who explicitly
ency, as to its elders and deacons, and as to its            deny  the. Confessions. This, it seems to me, becomes a
minister. And sometimes a number of such orthodox            matter of being unequally yoked together with un-
congregations, which adhere to the confessions, will         believers.
band together for the purpose of maintaining their             In the second place, this whole matter involves the
orthodox position, and will constitute a definite            calling of the church to reformation. And specifically,
wing, or modality, within the denomination. In the           it involves the calling of the church to reformation by
third place, in such a situation the so-called orthodox      way of separation and instituting the church anew, if
wing is usually, if not always, a minority of the            need be. This was done, for example, in the Nether-
denomination, If it were in the majority, it would be        lands. In fact, it was done twice: in 1834 and again in
able to expel the heterodox minority. And in such a          1886. But there still remains an element in the
situation the orthodox minority of churches and the          Hervormde Kerk, for example, which considers its
heterodox majority live together under one denom-            duty to be to reform the church from within. And
inational roof. Either by express or tacit agreement,        then the question arises, of course: just how long
 they live in a situation of what might be called            does that process of reformation from within con-
detente. And, finally, as to motivation, not in-             tinue? And my answer is that when the point is
frequently this situation. is justified by the orthodox      reached that the heterodox element is in the majority
minority on the basis of the claim that they desire          and in control of the denomination, and when heresy
and strive to reform the church from within. Now             is openly and officially endorsed and tolerated, then
admittedly the above description is brief and does not       it becomes one's calling to separate. Usually, such
enter into detail. But broadly speaking, this is the         separation, if the orthodox element is militant and
kind of situation which has prevailed for many years         vocal, will come about through a process by which
already in the so-called national church of the Nether-      the heterodox element simply casts out the orthodox
lands, the Hervormde Kerk. You will find something           element. If, however, this does not take place, it then
of the same situation in the Reformed Church in              becomes the calling of those who adhere `to the
America. In fact, you will  find a situation of this kind    Confessions to take the initiative and to separate.
existing to a degree in many of the larger denom-
inations in this country which once upon a time were            Finally, the argument is sometimes made that such
Reformed or Presbyterian. There are signs that a             reformation by way of separation is no better than
similar situation is developing in the Gereformeerde         the attempt at reformation from within, and no more
Kerken in the Netherlands, although it remains to be         successful. In fact, there is some discussion going on
seen whether such a situation will become permanent          about this very subject in the Netherlands at present.
in that denomination. There are even occasionally            And those who are in favor of a modalities church
both signs and claims made that such a situation is          and who claim to be in favor of reformation from
developing in the Christian Reformed Church in this          within point to the alleged uselessness and failure of
country.                                                     reformation by way of separation. In fact, they are
                                                             pointing at present to the Gereformeerde Kerken as
   What is involved here, basically, is the matter of        an example. The question is raised: what is the use of
the marks of the church, of the church's calling to          reformation through separation? After all, it is
manifest those marks, and of the believer's calling to       claimed, ultimately the church which separates will
join himself to the true church wherever it is man-          again itself become corrupt; and then a new sepa-
ifested. It seems to me that confessional believers and      ration becomes necessary. And so the chain of sepa-
`churches which live together with liberal churches          rations becomes endless, and the church becomes
under the same denominational roof are violating             fragmented. Historically, of course, there is an
specifically Article 29 of our Belgic Confession,            element of truth in this. But I would call your
which speaks of the marks of the church. The                 attention to the fact that this is strictly a utilitarian


 464                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



 argument. We must not judge our calling by the              grace, according to which "God by the general opera-
 results or possible results. But we must consider our       tions of His Spirit, without renewing the heart of
calling in the light of the question what is right and       man, restrains the unimpeded breaking out of sin, by
 what is wrong before the face of God and in the light       which human life in society remains possible."
 of\ Scripture and -the. Confessions. And then there can       Concerning this, we must remark, in the first place,
 be no question about the fact that it is the calling of     that the idea of the Second Point, in its teaching of a
 God's church in the world to adhere to the truth of         restraint of sin in the life of the individual man and in
 the Word of God and not to make common cause                the community by virtue of common grace, is not
 with unbelievers and deniers of that truth.                 merely the teaching that the sinner is restrained,
                                                             limited, and controlled in his outward actions, so that
 AKUi- COMMON GRACE AND  THE                                 he cannot fully execute and always carry out his evil
 RESTRAINT OF SIN                                            intentions. The latter  is a thoroughly Reformed
                                                             doctrine. It is Reformed to confess that God holds in
    A Christian Reformed reader wrote in some time           His power and completely controls by His providence
 ago with a problem about common grace. He did not           all the deeds of the wicked, both of devils and of
 specifically write in to Question Box, but hoped that       men, so that they can accomplish nothing against His
 the matter mentioned in his letter could be cleared up      will. God does this directly by His power, frequently
 in an editorial some time. However, I will try to say a     frustrating the counsels of the ungodly in a way
 few words in this department about the problem              which is even beyond our comprehension: for the
 which he raises. He writes, in part, as follows:            very thoughts and desires of the wicked are in His
    "I asked for a definition of common grace, and           hand and under His control. However, God also
 Rev. . . ., who leads the group, stated something like      controls and restrains the wicked indirectly and
 this : `Common grace is the source of all order,            mediately. The ungodly are dependent upon and are
 refinement, culture, common virtue, etc., which we          limited by time and occasion and circumstances, by
 find in the world; and through it the moral power of        their place and position in life, by their talents and
 the truth upon the heart and conscience is increased        power and means, and by their own ambitions and
 and the evil passions of men are restrained. It does        fears, as well as by the power of the magistrates. In
 not lead to salvation, but it keeps this earth from         fact, the ungodly are limited in their sinful deeds by
 becoming a hell. It arrests the complete effectuation       their own character and disposition. All this, how-
 of sin, just as human insights arrest the fury of wild      ever, constitutes an outward restraint of the sinner
 beasts. It prevents sin from being manifested in all its    which has nothing to do with an operation of  grace.
 hideousness, and thus hinders the bursting forth of         And it is not this external restraint of the sinner in his
 the flames from the smoking fire. Like the pressures        sinful deeds to which the Second Point of 1924
 of the atmosphere, it is the universal and powerful         refers. What I have described above is taught, for  ?,_
 though unfelt.'                                             example, in Art. 13 (and in part in Art. 36) of our
    "What confuses me is this: if the unbeliever,            Netherland Confession.
 unconverted, reprobate is accountable to Almighty             Common grace teaches that there is an inwardly
 God on the day of judgment for all of his earthly           restraining operation of the Holy Spirit upon the
 blessings, and his punishment will be more severe,          heart of the natural man  - an operation which is not
 how can this be called grace. If it was called the          regenerating  - whereby the progress of the corrup-
 restraining power of God, that I could understand. I        tion of sin in the human nature is checked and
 can see where it is grace for the believer, but how can     restrained in such a way that a remnant of the
 it be for the unbeliever. It seems to me if this was        original goodness of man in the state of righteousness
 grace, it would be more grace if they had never             is constantly preserved and also caused to bear fruit
 received these blessings."                                  in many good works in this-present life. There are
                                                             especially the following elements in this theory:
 Reply                                                          1) That there is in the sinner a remnant of natural
    I can very well understand that my correspondent         good. This "natural good" is distinct from spiritual
 is confused by what is presented above. I must              good, by which is meant the good that is wrought in
 confess that I am also rather confused. And the chief       the depraved nature by the Spirit of Christ and which
 reason for this confusion lies in the fact that there is    is rooted in regeneration. Natural good is supposed to
absolutely no proof either from Scripture or from our        be a good that is not wrought by regenerating grace,
 Reformed Confessions for the above view. And yet I          but remains in man since the fall. It is supposed to be
 detect in the description of "common grace" which is        a remnant of his original goodness or righteousness.
 offered above basically the view of the Second Point        This "natural good" is said to include such important
 of 1924, which teaches a restraint of sin by common         elements as a seed of external righteousness,  recep-


                                                THE STAN'DARD BEARER                                                                        465


tivity for moral persuasion, receptivity for the truth,        of the fall until the present day there is supposed to
a will that is susceptible to good motives, and a              have been the operation of this restraining grace in
conscience that is receptive for good influences, good        the heart of man, preserving in him the remnant of
inclinations and desires, of which the Holy Spirit can        his original goodness, according to which he is able to
make use in restraining sin. You will recognize some          live a tolerably` good world-life,
of these elements in the description quoted above by
my correspondent. You see, common grace is said to               In the second place, this alleged restraint of sin by
have operated immediately after the fall of man,              common grace implies the error of  resistible grace.  In
preventing and restraining the corrupting power of            the description cited by my correspondent mention is
sin. If there  ,had not  beensuch  an immediate restrain-     made of the idea that the evil passions of men are
ing operation of common grace upon the nature of              restrained, that this earth is kept from becoming a
man, so it is said, he would have become utterly              hell, that the complete effectuation of sin is arrested,
corrupt then and there. Man would have changed into           that sin is prevented from being manifested in all its
a devil, the development of mankind would have                `hideousness, etc. But if all this were true, there would
become an utter impossibility, and this earth would           be no development  ,of sin whatsoever. However, it is
have become a hell. But the restraining power of  the.        an undeniable fact of history, and plainly revealed in
Holy Spirit operated upon man as soon as he had               Scripture, that sin and corruption do continuously
sinned, so that he did not fully die, did not become          develop and increase in the world until the measure
completely corrupt, but retained some light and life,         of iniquity is full and the man of sin can appear. In
a remnant of his original goodness.                           fact, it strikes me that the whole idea of a restraint of
                                                              sin by common grace in our present world is a very
  2) The second element in this theory is that of the         unrealistic idea. We live in a time when sin in-
operation of the Holy Spirit,, whereby that original          creasingly develops and breaks out in all its foul
good that remains in man since the fall is con-               corruption. Increasingly the signs are there that we
tinuously guarded against further corruption by the           are moving rapidly toward the end and toward the
checking and restraining of the progress of sin. Even         time when the Anti Christ shall appear in his final
that remnant of good in man, so it is said, would have        manifestation. But how is this possible in the light of
become corrupted long ago if there had not been a             the theory of common grace? This can only be due to
constantly restraining operation of grace in the heart        the fact, then, that the Holy Spirit releases His
o f   m a n , an operation, however, which is not             restraining hold upon the sinner and gives him over in
regenerating but preserving in nature.                        unrighteousness. And if you inquire how this must be
                                                              explained, then the answer is that the sinner resists
  3) The third element is that there is an operation          this restraining influence of grace, and thus goes from
of the Holy Spirit by which this remnant of natural           bad to worse. But this, you understand, is the error of
good in the sinner becomes active. The seed of                resistible grace. The power of the Spirit in such a case
external righteousness brings forth fruit, so that the        is not efficacious. Man is stronger than God!
natural man performs good works in the sphere of
natural and civil life. This is especially the teaching of      I n   t h e   t h i r d   p l a c e ,   t h i s   t h e o r y   c o n c e i v e s
the Third Point of 1924. The practical result of this         dualistically of sin in relation to God. It implies a
restraining operation of the Holy Spirit is then said to      denial of the absolute sovereignty of the Most High
be that the natural man is able to live a naturally           even over the powers of sin and death. It presents sin
good and morally sound life in this world. He is not          and death as powers next to God and operating
regenerated, is not ingrafted into Christ by a true and       independently of Him. These powers are able to work
living faith. He performs no spiritual good. But by           corruption in the heart and nature of man. But God
virtue of the remnant of good that is in him and by           checks this power, restraining a power that operates
virtue of the constant operation of the Holy Spirit           independently of Him. This is dualism. Scripture
upon him, this natural man really lives a weakened            teaches, however, that sin and death are not powers
form of his original Paradise-life. He can perform            which work independently of God, but that they are
good works in this world and live a good world-life.          the result of His own cursing wrath against the sinner.
  Now there are many objections that can be raised              There is much more that can be said about this
against this theory.                                          theory. But let the above suffice.
  In the first place,  - and this is always the chief           Over against this, we maintain that the natural
objection  - this whole theory is a very evident denial       man, ever since the fall of our first parents in
of the total depravity of the natural man. For the            Paradise, is wholly darkness and foolishness, corrupt
simple fact is that according to this theory there            before God in all his ways, incapable of doing
never has been a totally depraved man in the world            anything that is pleasing to God, always inclined only
since the fall of Adam and Eve. For  fromthe moment.          to evil, unless and until he is regenerated by the Spirit


466                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



of Christ. This is Reformed. Surely, there is left in        third place, sin is determined and limited by various
him a remnant of natural light. He remained a                and often conflicting motives, such as fear and shame,
rational, moral being, endowed with reason and will,         ambition and vain-glory, natural love and carnal lusts,
able to distinguish between good and evil. This has          malice and envy, `hatred and vengeance. It is also
nothing to do with' any so-called common grace,              influenced by the power of the magistrates and by
however. And by the way, we must remember that               the fear of the sword-power. But in all these channels
sin and the fall did not change things  essentially.  The    and under all these controlling and determining
whole idea that man would become a devil or a beast,         factors, the current of sin and corruption moves
that this earth would become a hell, were it not for         onward without restraint and interruption, until it
common grace, is nonsense. Sin did not change the            shall have served God's purpose and the measure of
nature  of things. Man remained man. The devil               iniquity shall be filled and the Man of Sin shall be
remained a devil. The animal remains an animal. The          revealed.
earth remains. earth. But sin changed things
spiritually, ethically. Man, a rational, moral being,
became a  depraved  man. There is nothing left in him        ANOTHER QUESTION ABOUT MATTHEW 5: 45
of the light and knowledge according to which he                From a California reader I received this question
may know and love that which is good, nothing left           some time ago:         .
in him of righteousness and holiness, nothing left of           "Are editors supposed to have a facility with words
his original moral integrity.. From the moment of the        and able to put `handles to meaning'? We have heard,
fall he became totally corrupt. His knowledge of God         `Motion is not always action,' and, `If the job is not
changed into darkness, his righteousness into un-            worth more than the pay, it will never pay more,'
righteousness, his holiness into corruption. At the fall     and, `The grace of gratitude,' and, `Particular grace,'
his nature became exactly as corrupt as it could             etc., etc.
become. This is the teaching of our Confessions,                "Now there are other graces and blessings to men
particularly of Canons III, IV, l-4.                         and animals, Jew and Gentile alike, of which Jesus
  Nor do we deny that there is development of sin in         Himself speaks in Matthew  5:45.
the world throughout history. But we maintain that
the manifestation of this corruption of the human               "What, in one short sentence, could these be
nature in the actual sins of the human race goes hand        called?"
in hand with the organic development of the human
race and follows this development. Adam's sin was a          Reply
root sin, which bears its fruit in all the actual sins of      We have written about this passage several times of
the entire race until the measure of iniquity is filled.     late. But in reply to this question I wish to point out:
As the human race developed and as life with its                1. That the text itself does not call rain and
many and various relationships becomes more com-             sunshine graces, blessings, or tokens of God's love and
plex, sin also reveals itself as corrupting the whole of     favor. This is the mistake which is commonly made in
life in all its relationships. And this organic develop-     interpreting this passage. The text does indeed say
ment of sin takes place exactly as fast as possible.         that God sends rain and sunshine upon the just and
However, this progress of sin is controlled and limited      the unjust. It  .does  not  say that rain and sunshine are
by many factors. First of all, there is the all-over-        blessings, or manifestations of God's love to all alike.
ruling power of God, Who, in His providence indeed
gives men over unto unrighteousness and in His                 2. We may indeed call these gifts of God. More-
righteous judgment punishes sin with sin, but Who            over, they are in themselves good gifts, too. Scripture
also in this very process controls the progress of sin       itself speaks such language, Acts 14: 17: "Nevertheless
and leads it into those channels which are conducive         he left not himself without witness, in that he did
to the realization of His counsel. In this connection,       good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful
in the second place, there is the limitation that is         seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness."
imposed upon every man by the measure of his gifts,            3. Whether these gifts which are bestowed upon
his powers and talents, his time and place in history,       the just and the unjust constitute blessings or curses is
by occasions and means and circumstances, by                 another question. We must remember, that neither
character and disposition. Every man does not com-           blessing' nor cursing resides in things as such. The
mit the same sins. Each person sins according to his         question of blessing and cursing is a question which is
place in the organism of the race and in history. This       one of the attitude of God. And this question, in
is not difficult to understand. Cain, for example,           turn, is inseparably connected with God's counsel of
could not commit the same sins as did Pharaoh at the         election and reprobation. The Lord our God bestows
time of Israel's bondage: the circumstances and              all things upon His elect people in Christ in His favor,
opportunities and means were not the same. In the.           blessing them. He bestows all things upon the  repro-


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     467



bate in His eternal hatred and wrath, cursing them,           of blessing is efficacious: it effects the very blessed-
setting them in slippery places, and bringing them            ness which it pronounces. Our word of blessing is not
down unto destruction.                                        efficacious, that is, it cannot effect that which it
                                                              states.
QUESTIONS ABOUT LOVE  AiD GRACE                                  In, the third place, without going into great detail
  From the same California reader I received the              let me say a few words about the question of the
following:                                                    distinction between God's love and God's grace. All
  "Could you explain some day the difference, if              such ideas as that of God's love, God's grace, God's
any, between God's love and God's grace.                      mercy, God's goodness, and God's compassion are
  " `It is  fun  to be saved' is a common expression in       closely related in Scripture. In general, we may say
our days among some. Is not fun something you                 that love is that spiritual bond of perfect fellowship
make yourself? So you save yourself. I can only make          that subsists between ethically perfect, personal
myself say: `It  is  a  blessing  to be saved' (by Christ,    beings, who, because of their ethical perfection have
from death and hell).                                         their delight in, seek, and find one another. And the
                                                              attribute of the love of God is the infinite and eternal
  "Now one may be able to wish a blessing upon                bond of fellowship that is based upon the ethical
someone, but only God can bless or  give  a blessing.         perfection and holiness of the divine nature, and that
Right?                                                        subsists between the Three Persons of the Holy
  "Returning to the first question, we can say that           Trinity. Grace, as an attribute of God, is that divine
God  is  love, and that (sometimes) we  have  love. Also:     virtue according to which God is the perfection of all
God is grace; but can any of us extend grace?"                beauty and loveliness, and contemplates Himself as
                                                              such with infinite delight. For a more complete
Reply                                                         explanation of these ideas, I refer the reader to H.
  First of all, I can agree with my questioner con-           Hoeksema's  Reformed Dogmatics, pp. 103-l 12.
cerning the expression, "It is fun to be saved." This            Finally, with regard to the last question on this
kind of language is heard not infrequently from a             subject, my questioner is correct, on the basis of
certain type of very shallow "happiness evangelists."         Scripture, when he states that God  is  love, and that
But it is neither Biblical nor correct. My questioner is      we  have  love. To this I would add: we  have  love,
certainly correct in speaking of salvation as a blessing      when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by
bestowed by God in Christ Jesus. And Scripture uses           His Spirit. In this same connection my questioner
this language very, very often. And in this connec-           asks whether any of us can extend grace? To this my
tion, we must remember, too, that this blessing of            answer is: no. God alone can and does extend grace
being saved, according to Scripture, involves pain,           to His people in Christ Jesus. We can, of course, wish
anguish, sorrow, because of our sins and misery. And          one another God's grace, or pray for God's grace
he who thinks that salvation is "fun" has not learned         upon one another, in the same sense in which we can
the a-b-c of salvation.                                       wish a blessing upon someone.
  In the second place, my questioner is correct as to           The above answers are very brief, and they deal
the matter of blessing. It is certainly correct that we       with important Scriptural concepts, as anyone will
may be able to wish a blessing upon someone, but              understand. If my questioner is not satisfied, he may
that only God can bless or give a blessing. God's word        call again.


ALL AROUND  iIS

                    Christian Schools and the Law
                                                   Pro$ H. Hanko

  Several decisions which have recently been made             "IRS Bars Discrimination in Tax-Exempt Church
by the courts have repercussions for our Christian            Schools" speaks of an Internal Revenue Service
Schools. The first has to do with matters of racial           ruling. We quote the article here in its entirety. The
discrimination and tax exemption.                             whole article is not altogether clear on some points,
  A recent article  in  the Grand Rapids Press, entitled      but the general thrust of the ruling is clear enough.


468                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



          The Internal Revenue Service announced Thursday               Christianity Today  commented also on this:
       that tax-exempt status would henceforth be denied  to
       church-affiliated  primaly  and secondary schools that                 A court in Richmond, Virginia, in ruling that
       refuse to accept children from all racial and ethnic               blacks cannot be barred from private schools because
       groups.                                                            of race, upheld a lower-court ruling based on the
                                                                          1866 Civil Rights  ,Act. The act prohibits refusing to
          Tax-exempt status will be denied even in cases                  enter into a contract with blacks because of their
       where the denomination running the school claims                   race. If upheld by the Supreme Court, the decision
       that its exclusionary policies are required by its                 will affect the hundreds of segregated schools that
       religious beliefs, the IRS said.                                   were organized to skirt the high court's 1954  public-
          Such a claim has no more validity under the first               schools desegregation ruling. Many of the schools are
       amendment than the claims previously rejected by                   run by churches.
       the Supreme Court that the use of illegal drugs in                     Relatedly, private schools would be required to
       religious rites is protected by the First Amendment,               submit annual proof of racial non-discrimination in
       the IRS said.                                                      order to qualify for income-tax exemption under an
                                                                          Internal Revenue Service proposal.
          Private schools with discriminatory admissions
       policies, other than those that are church-affiliated,           It is clear from the ruling of the IRS that  tax-
       were denied tax-exempt status under a ruling issued          exempt status will no longer be granted to any private
       by the IRS in 1971. The question of tax-exemptions           school which practices racial discrimination. It is also
       for schools with religious  affiliations was left open at    clear that the IRS is making plans to withdraw
       that time because IRS officials found it a difficult
       issue that they wanted to consider at greater length.        tax-exempt status from those private schools which
                                                                    now have such status, but which practice discrimina-
          A grant of tax-exempt status under Section 501            tion. This latter will take a little time, according to
       (C) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code means that              the article; but that day is near. It is also clear that
       contributors to the exempt church, school or other
       organization may deduct those contributions on their         this will have a profound effect on many  existing
       tax returns. This is generally considered an important       p r i v a t e   s c h o o l s .   ~
       incentive for such contributions.                                There are however, a couple of points which are
          The ruling issued Thursday will halt any new              not so clear. One point that is not clear has to do
       grants of exempt status to denominational schools            with the last paragraph in the  Press  rep.ort. The
       that discriminate in admissions.                             paragraph reads: "Neither would the ruling affect
          It is likely to be some time, however, before any         exclusionary policies that were solely religious. A
       present tax-exemptions are revoked under the ruling.         denominational school could restrict its students to
       An-IRS  offidial explained that the agency had not yet       the members of that denomination and retain its
       written its instructions to its field offices.               tax-exempt status." This paragraph seems to mean
          He said the agency hoped to have these instruc-           that as long as a particular school limited its  enroll-
       tions completed before the start of the next school          men  t to members of the denomination which
       year.                                                        operates the school, such a school could keep its
          IRS officials were unable to say just how many            tax-exempt status. But there are questions. In the
       schools might be affected. They noted that in addi-          first place, does this apply to parental schools which
       tion to schools, that exclude blacks, which are chiefly      are not denominationally operated,, such as our own
       but not solely located in the South, there are some          Christian Schools? If our schools would, for example,
       denominational schools that bar whites which would           limit enrollment to children of parents who are
       also be affected.                                            Protestant Reformed, would this satisfy the IRS? The
          Some schools run by Black Muslims and some                answer is not clear.
       schools in Hawaii fall into the latter category, an             In the second place, the paragraph speaks of
       official said.                                               "exclusionary policies that (are) solely religious."
          The ruling affects only schools that operate an           Does this mean that, if our schools could prove to the
       educational program that is a recognized substitute          IRS that the truth as we believe and confess it is
       for public schooling in the grades where school              taught in every subject in the curriculum, and that
       attendance is mandatory.                                     our discriminatory policies were not on the basis of
                                                                    race,  but on the basis of  creed,  that then we could
          Thus it would not affect any educational institu-         retain our status? This has always been our policy. We
       tion above the high school level.                            have never given any thought to discrimination on the
          Neither would the ruling affect exclusionary              basis of race, color or national origin. But we have
       policies that were solely religious. A denominational        discriminated sharply on the basis of creed. Is this
       school could restrict its students to the members of         sufficient to satisfy the IRS? Again, the answer is not)
       that denomination and retain its tax-exempt status.          clear at this point.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                            469



  In the third place, if the ruling of the IRS means       admit its own failure. But such is not likely to
that there are no reasons at all why a school can          happen. The alternative is to use various ways and
refuse admittance to any student, will the govern-         means to drag the Christian Schools down to the level
ment pay the tuition of minority group students and        of the Public Schools. And these recent rulings are
students from the inner city, if the government wants      the beginning of that effort.
them enrolled in local Christian schools? This has
been suggested to me in the past by some. It has been        Hence, if we soberly evaluate recent trends, we
said that the government aims to get inner city            ought to be able to see that storm clouds, are
students in the Christian School system: that the          gathering on the horizon of history, and that
government will do this even if the government must        presently the storm will break in all its fury against
pay the busing and tuition costs, and that failure to      the Church and against our covenant schools. What
admit these students will result in the loss of  tax-      ought we to do? First of all, we ought to condemn
exempt status, and ultimately of accreditation. If this    sharply such practices of the government at every
is ultimately what the government has in mind, this        opportunity. Secondly, we ought to be doubly thank-
will mean the end of the Christian Schools.                ful for our Schools, and we ought to support them
                                                           with every means at our disposal as long as the Lord
  I doubt that, at least for the moment, the govern-       gives them to us. And finally, we ought to prepare
ment has anything quite so drastic  inmind. Neverthe-      now for the evil days which are soon to come. We
less, ultimately I firmly believe that the government      ought to work while it is yet day, ere the night
will not tolerate indefinitely a Christian School          cometh in which no man can labor.
system which is genuinely Christian. There are a
couple of reasons which lead me to believe this. In                                   *****
the first place, we must never forget that the  govem-       There are two other matters of interest which I can
ment is basically and fundamentally hostile to the         only briefly mention.
Church. We are sometimes tempted to forget this
when we do not experience overt persecution. But             In the first place, according to  Christianity Today,
the government is under the control of Satan and           "an Appeals Court in Cincinnati declared unconsti-
manifests the political power of Antichrist. There is a    tutional a 1973 Tennessee law requiring public-school
basic antipathy against the Church and against the         texts to give equal time to creationist views."
truth which is the deepest spiritual motive for all the    Especially the Creation Research Society has been
government does. Sooner or later this will be directed     working actively and with some success to get the
against the Christian Schools. This is especially true     public schools to give such equal time to the doctrine
when we consider the fact that those who educate           of creation. Tennessee had such a law which stated
children have the means to direct the lives of these       that evolutionism had to be labeled theory and could
children as long as they live. This is why God ordains     not be taught as scientific fact. This same law re-
covenant instruction as the means of perpetuating His      quired biology textbooks to include the Genesis
covenant in the line of generations. But this is why       account of creation. But the court agreed with the
the government remains vitally interested also in          National Association of Biology Teachers and ruled
educating the children of the nation. The government       that the law established a preference for the biblical     '
wants its future citizens to be amenable to govern-        viewpoint.
mental policies whatever they may be. In the second
place, it is simply a fact that, in large measure,           In the second place, according to a sheet mailed by
the public school system is a colossal failure. I was      the Nebraska Association for Christian Action, "five
reading in the  Press.  a couple of weeks ago that the     Christian School parents from Beaver Falls, Pennsyl-
University of Michigan now requires literacy tests for     vania have filed suit against the Blackhawk School
admittance because many students who apply for             District and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
admittance cannot read or write above a third grade        alleging that their First Amendment civil rights are
level. When literacy tests are required for admittance     being violated by the necessity of their paying taxes
in a University, something bad has happened to             for public education as well as tuition for the Chris-
schools where children are trained. The Christian          tian education of their children." The article gives a
Schools on the whole have much higher academic             history of the matter and informs its readers that the
standards than the public schools. The result is that      case went to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals on
the very existence of the Christian Schools is a           May 15. The parents intend to carry the case all the
constant testimony of the failure of the public school     way to the Supreme Court if necessary. The article
system. The government will not indefinitely tolerate      asks that "we join in prayer . . . that the Court will
such sharp condemnation of its efforts to educate. To      rule in favor of the U.S. Constitution and freedom for
tolerate this kind of testimony is to be forced to         Christian education.  "


 470                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


   According to the article, one of four directives            In these columns I have expressed often the fact
being, sought asks the Court to:  ". . . direct, the        that there is grave injustice in these matters in our
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to put into effect             country. But I am, without reservation, opposed to
with all deliberate speed an equitable and just dis-        Christian Schools sharing in tax monies. It is simply a
tribution of `public school tax monies so that              fact that support from the coffers of government will
plaintiffs children will enjoy the use of school tax        lead to government regulation. And, in the light of
funds on a per capita footing equal with all other          the government's increasing encroachment on Chris-
students of the Commonwealth without reference to           tian School terrain, its seems irresponsible to invite
religion."                                                  the government in via a share of tax dollars.



GUEST ARTICLE


                              The Idea of the Sabbath
                                              Rev. Meindevt Joostens


   The topic to which we desire to devote a few             Although God pronounced all things to be good on
moments is  not. a new one. However, we do believe          the individual days of the creation week, His blessing
that it is one in which we ought to be periodically         was upon the seventh day in which He entered
instructed and continually admonished. Sabbath              into the rest of enjoying His work.
observance, as we are all well aware, can be a rather
touchy subject. In discussing it one can discern a wide       We read,  ". . . God `blessed the seventh day, and
spectrum of opinions regarding it, ranging from             sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all
legalism to antinomianism. Yet, we believe that if one      his work. .  ." (Gen.  2:3) We must come to a correct
has a truly scriptural understanding of it, both the        understanding of the rest in which God engaged. In so
extremes can' be avoided and one can walk soberly           doing we must be aware that it has to be in harmony
before God with regard to the fourth commandment.           with the very being and nature of the living God.
Therefore, it is our purpose to take a brief survey of      Most generally the word rest, or more literally
the idea of the Sabbath as found in Holy Writ and, in       sabbath, means to sit down or to sit still; but in
conclusion, to come to some understanding regarding         addition to this meaning of inactivity it can also mean
its observance.                                             to cease or to desist. We immediately perceive that
                                                            the first meaning can never apply to the living God
   We do well to begin at the beginning, that is, with      Who is continuously and constantly active, yet never
the Sabbath of the week of creation. The institution        fainting. Thus it must be clear that on the seventh
of the Sabbath belongs to the creation narrative, and       day God ceased  - left off  - doing one thing only to
it is unfortunate that the chapter division between         continue another activity. The activity of resting! If
Genesis 1 and 2 does not reflect this. It is certainly a    we understand the idea of rest with regard to the
mistake to sever the seventh day from the foregoing         sabbath in this manner, as we must, then a common
six. The Scriptures themselves point to this when           fallacy falls by the wayside. That is, the misunder-
they proclaim that God ended His work which He              standing that Sunday ought to be a lazy day of
had made on the seventh day. Also the numbers               inactivity. On the contrary, God continued active in
involved dictate this to us. Never in the Bible is the      His rest. We must be busy upon the Sabbath. Yet,
number six attributed to God but always to man              that business must be a ceasing from our every day
apart from God. The number six symbolizes that              routine, even as God left off creating.
which is incomplete, where as the number seven
always designates completion. The week of God is              Thus understanding the idea of rest, we read  that?
one complete unity or  .whole  and must be charac-          God bestows His blessing upon the seventh day.
terized by the number seven. This points us to the          God's blessing is tantamount to His favor. Where the
fact that the creation of all things finds its comple-      blessing of God resides there is prosperity, benefit
tion and purpose in the rest of God. The whole              and true happiness. Therefore, God's blessing is a
creation is linked to God in the seventh day.               characteristic of the Sabbath. We understand, of


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                              471


course, that the blessedness of favor of God upon the        the people of God." This rest is not the rest of
Sabbath must be for the benefit of man. For it is            Paradise from which Adam fell, not the rest of
nonsensical to speak of a blessed day in the abstract.       Canaan into which Joshua led Israel, but the rest of
God made the Sabbath day a day of happiness and              heaven into which Christ leads His people. What a
benefit to man. The Sabbath was made for man, as he          beautiful progression in the revelation of God unto
is God's king-servant of the whole creation.                 us.
   In addition to blessing this day, God also sanctifies        The book of Hebrews again draws a striking
it. To sanctify means to make holy or to consecrate          parallel. Let us notice verse 10, "For he (Christ) that
toward a certain purpose. Even as the priests in the         is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his
old dispensation had their mitre engraved with the           own works as God did from his." As God created
words "holiness unto the Lord," or as the child of           first, then entered into the enjoyment of His works
God sets himself apart from the world in a life of           and as Israel journeyed and then possessed the
sanctification, so God made this day holy, separating        promised land, so also Christ labored in order to enter
it unto a certain purpose. And that purpose was that         in. And the labors of Jesus Christ were the labors He
He might rest in the enjoyment of His creation. So           performed as the Servant of Jehovah. That is, Christ
also, the! Sabbath day is sanctified for man that he         labored in the work of our redemption from His birth
may in a special way concentrate all his attention           to His death. We do well to consider carefully and
upon God and His glory!                                      ponder at length the labors which Christ performed
   All this will be made yet clearer to us as we see the     on. our behalf! From these labors Christ ceased. He
idea of the Sabbath in connection with the scheme of         left off laboring when He had completely borne away
the ceremonial laws of the nation of Israel. The             the burden of God's wrath and righteous indignation
obligation to keep the Sabbath was formally given to         against our sins. And He sanctified Himself for our
Israel when the voice of the Lord thundered down             sakes, that we might be sanctified through the truth.
from Mt. Sinai in that form of the fourth command-           And thus  He. made the eternal Sabbath a blessing
ment. The time and place in which it was given to            unto us in Him.
Israel, are significant. The Israelites stood at the foot      Christ entered into that rest at His `ascension. Yet,
of Mt. Sinai. Behind them was the miraculous exodus          for us entering into that rest must wait because this
out of the bondage house of Egypt, ahead of them             flesh and blood cannot inherit heaven. Christ received
was the long journey through the wilderness and              His glorified body at His resurrection but we must
finally the entrance into Canaan. The writer to. the         wait until we are changed in a moment, in the
Hebrews instructs us as to this significance. As he is       twinkling of an eye. Yet, His resurrection. is the
fond of doing, so here, he connects for us the Old           earnest of ours, and Christ being in heaven is a sure
Testament type with the reality or antitype. In the          pledge for us.
fourth chapter he speaks of the, eternal rest which we
have in Jesus Christ. But in so doing, he makes                 All this means, of course, that we principally
reference to the Old Testament picture by quoting            partake of that eternal Sabbath even now. The
from Psalm 95: 11 where we read, "unto whom I                heavenly Sabbath extends into time. It is exactly this
sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my         that is the force of that beautiful 103rd answer of the
aest." This reference is to the dire oath which shut         Heidelberg Catechism,  ". . . that all the days of my
the Israelites out of the land of Canaan. Canaan was         life I cease from my evil works, and yield myself to
the Sabbath land. The ordinances of Leviticus 25             the Lord, to work by His  aoly Spirit in me; and thus
make this very clear. For six years they were per-           begin in this life the eternal sabbath." For Christ has
mitted to sow but the seventh year the land had to           sanctified us unto that sabbath, The old man of sin
rest. Seven times seven years or the forty-ninth year        no longer has any control over us, but we are free in
was the year of jubilee in which each man would              Christ. Israel has to labor in order to partake of the
return to his possessions and family. It was the             typical rest, but' our labors have been completed by
Sabbath land as a picture of heaven! Toward this land        Christ, for He fulfilled t-he law for us. Therefore we
Israel journeyed, being afforded one day in seven to         walk in sanctification seven days- a week!
rest and, pause, to meditate upon their  ,promised              We would be grossly negligent if we did not apply
inheritance.                                                 some of what we have learned to the proper observ-
   But the writer to the Hebrews does not let us stop        ance of our Sabbath days. Though it is not our
here. We must not remain with the type and picture           purpose, we may point out that we ought to observe
but move on to the reality. Let us read verses 8 and 9       the first and not the last day of the week. Many
of chapter 4, "For `if Jesus (i.e. Joshua) had given         arguments are put forth against this. Some cleave to
them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken           the original institution, others tell us that Paul
of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to          admonishes us not to esteem one day above another,


472                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


etc. Yet we must notice: God created` and rested,           cease from our daily labors and take our minds off
Israel journeyed and entered in, Christ labored- and        the carnal and earthly cares of our lives. It is
ascended into His rest; but our labor has been              improper to use Sunday as a physical rest day in
completed in Jesus Christ. Therefore we celebrate the       order that we may feverishly labor during the week to
first day of the week upon the basis of Christ's            accumulate earthly gain. Nor must we contemplate
completed labor. And for this occasion we meet in           on Sunday how to make a "fast buck" on Monday.
God's house to be replenished with water from the           We ought to realize and our children made to under-
rock, Jesus Christ, to sustain us during the week           stand, that on Sunday, in a special and different way,
ahead, that we may fulfill the admonition of the            the emphasis is upon the eternal Sabbath.
Heidelberg Catechism, as we noted earlier.                    Oh, we know that we are often guilty of the sin we
  Yet the question remains: how must we celebrate           abhor so much in our children when they ask, what
the Sabbath day? It is true that we principally             may or may I not do on Sunday? May I ride my
observe every day as Sunday, yet practically we rest        bicycle, take a pleasure ride? Must I go to church
one day and labor for six days. Returning a minute to       once or twice on Sunday? And the list could be
the type and picture, we might ask ourselves the            compounded, as we well know. Let's be positive, shall
following. Where are we? In Egypt? In Canaan? No!           we. If we are in doubt as to any of these things, let us
We have been delivered from the bondage of sin of           stand before the face of the Most High and answer in
which Egypt was a picture. But we are not yet in            His presence the following question. Is this which I
heaven, the real land flowing with milk and honey.          am about to do on Sunday conducive toward making
We are in the wilderness journey of this life, as           me concentrate upon God and the eternal rest which
pilgrims and strangers wending our way toward our           He has prepared in Christ? Or does it serve my own
homeland. On our journey the Lord gives us one day          carnal pleasure? Let's not see what we can "get away
in seven to rest. Sunday is an oasis in the midst of a      with" on Sunday but how we can make it spiritually
dry desert land. This means, that we certainly ought        more beneficial to us. Then the day which God has
to "rest" on Sunday. By this we mean that we must           sanctified will be a blessing to us.


SIGNS OF THE TIMES

                                      The Big "Eye"
                                                 Rev. G. Van Baren


  On various occasions and in different ways, I and         place the very moment one beholds in his home.
others have had the opportunity to say somewhat             Through this "eye" one can behold frightful things:
concerning television. Bear with me in that I am con-       the corruptions of the world about us. But this must
strained to do this once more.                              be noticed: there is here the "light" which the world
  The occasion for this article is two-fold. First, I am    uses to make an impression upon all who see.
reminded of the fact that Scripture speaks of Christ           Secondly, I have read recently again a number of
as the Light of the world. He comes from the Father         articles which call attention to the awful content of
and gives witness to His people. He reveals the Father      television programming and its effect upon the
to us. He does so through His Word and directly while       viewer. Though some of these articles are written
here on this earth. His people could see and hear of        from a Christian perspective, many are written by
the wonder-work of our God. But over against Him,           those who do not care about the Word of God. Yet
there is the world with its devilish imitation of           these latter recognize great dangers which result from
revelation. The world seeks to produce a substitute         the programming of television today. If the world
"light" or "revelation" which will the rather please        itself is concerned, then what ought our position to
man. Certainly his modern inventions, and especially        be who have infinitely higher standards?
television, become the means whereby the man of
this world seeks to influence and direct the course of         Our churches have consistently, to the present
history. It is the "eye" through which the observer         date, condemned movie attendance. We have pointed
can. behold the world. Through this "eye" may be            out that such attendance is inconsistent and incom-
seen many amazing things: events which are taking           patible with church membership. We are opposed not


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          473


to movies themselves, but particularly `the dramatiza-            Ceiver is on six hours and 14 minutes daily. Every
tion presented on the screen. In some cases, members              day, television reaches an estimated three fourths of
have been disciplined because of their unrepented sin             our 60 million youngsters.
of movie attendance. Upon the young people                           For eight years, the University of Pennsylvania
especially we try to impress the wrongness of atten-              Annenberg School of Communications has charted
dance of these movies.                                            the violence broadcast by the three networks. Defin-
                                                                  ing violence as "overt physical force intended to hurt
  But these same young people come up with an                     or kill," they find that it prevails steadily in four out
objection which is difficult to refute: if movie atten-           of every five hours of evening prime time and week-
dance is wrong, how can so many of our people                     end morning drama. In the average hour, eight violent
watch essentially the same thing on television?                   episodes occur. Moreover, the Annenberg researchers
Mothers become addicts to the soap-box sagas each                 found that heavy viewers of television (more than
week-da'y afternoon. Families are glued to the t.v. in            four hours daily) develop an unreal view of the world.
the evening to see there one story after another.                 They significantly overestimate the frequency of
Sometimes it is argued that one watches only the                  violent crimes and also the  li&elihood  of their being
"true" stories, but one watches nevertheless. Young               involved in violence . . . .
people, and especially evening baby-sitters, watch the               Take a look at what happened last February  10,9
late movies on television. Plus, of course, there are             P.+ when ABC aired a two-hour fictionalized
the many other presentations on television designed               dramatization of the 1892 trial of Lizzie Borden,
                                                                  accused of the ax murder of her father and step-
to arouse greed and envy. And young people want to                mother. The final half-hour portrayed incest,
know: what kind of hypocrisy is this which con-                   necrophilia, murder and nudity. At  lo:30  p.m.,
demns theatre attendance but allows all sorts of                  according to a Nielsen survey, the audience included
television viewing?                                               3.3 million 12-to-17  year olds and 1.7 million' 6-to-11
  And we must be honest. Anyone who can and does                  year olds.
watch the dramatizations on television has lost the             The above evaluation ought to be both of interest
right to condemn others who attend the theatre.               and concern to us. The point of the article was to
  But what must be said of the dramatizations of              show the possibility of "cleaning  ,up" television. I
television (and, of course, the movie as well)? It is of      think it very questionable whether any degree of such
interest that television programming has not only             a "clean-up" is possible. But what is of special
come under the scrutiny of many intelligent people            interest, I think, is the emphasis by worldly author-
of the world, but much of it has even been                    ities that "televised violence inspires imitation". This
condemned by them.                                            statement could also read: "Television inspires imita-
                                                              tion." The imitation of  violence  is of concern to the
  An article which many of you may have read,                 world. The world does not want people running
appeared in the July issue of the  Readev's Digest,           around pouring gasoline upon others and making
entitled, "What  YOZL Can Do About TV Violence".              bonfires of them  - as the article relates. The article
The thrust of the first part of this article is to suggest    was not concerned with other kinds of imitations  -
that the violence presented on t.v. is oftentimes             but  MJe ought to be. We have an "antidote" to the
imitated by unstable people. Instances of this are            violence and wickedness portrayed on t.v.: the law of
presented. Details of t.v. murders were copied by             God. The child of God is aware of the evils of that
others. The article states positively and emphatically:       portrayed  - even while he watches those same evils.
"The evidence is overwhelming that televised violence         He knows that this law of God forbids others, and
inspires imitation." And again: "Dozens of studies by         himself, the right to violate any law of God.
behavioral scientists reiterate the harmful effects of
television violence. In March 1972, the Surgeon                 Yet this fact of  imitati&  remains. The big "Eye"
General reviewed findings of a panel of social                brings us directly into the world. It has become a
scientists and declared: `The casual relationship             powerful tool of the devil. Though one cannot
between televised violence and antisocial behavior is         condemn the invention itself, yet one can see how
sufficient to warrant immediate and remedial                  Satan has used this instrument in the service of sin.
action.' "                                                      i But there is the whole matter of imitation. If the
                                                              devil can persuade us to imitate the world, little by
  This article points out further the great amount of         little we will look like that  .world.  There is not only
violence portrayed on t.v.:                                   the question of imitating violence. There is the
       Television, as we have allowed it to  .develop,        possibility of imitating the morality presented on t.v.
    constitutes a massive stream of violence pumped daily     The "morality" of man has increasingly been' in
    into our homes. Approximately 97 percent of U.S.          violation of the law of God. Divorce and remarriage,
    households have television sets, and the average  re-     triangle situations, homosexuality, nudity  - all these


474                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


and more are presented as almost acceptable. The                Yes, television inspires imitation. We have been
world has come to accept many of these as "normal".          already greatly affected by this inciter of imitation.
The churches have, increasingly, done likewise               Satan has gained easy access into many homes. Even
(consider the present-day stands on remarriage,              if some succeed in removing the violence from tele-
homosexuality, etc.). Whether we admit it or not, we         vision, all of the other sins of the world will still be
also have been greatly influenced by this "morality"         presented there for imitation.
too. We are not greatly shocked anymore at the                  For the Christian, it is a time for spiritual evalua-
suggestion of divorce and remarriage. We have also           tion. Face the fact: we can never "clean up" televi-
imitated styles of dress adopted by the world to             sion so as to make its programming all acceptable to
emphasize the sexual. Ask yourself: How much have            children of God.
you not. already imitated the morality of the world?            We may make use of this instrument  - which is
  There is the real danger of imitating the world's          not itself a sinful thing. But there must be the
attitudes toward God and His Name. Swearing is               constant and deliberate turning away from the cor-
commonplace on t.v. No one pays much attention to            ruptions which are presented there. Let's not be
that anymore. Some of us even commonly use certain           hypocritical  - condemning something because it
of the expressions we repeatedly hear on t.v. The            appears in the theatre but allowing it in  bur living
mockery of the idea of God is also commonplace in            rooms.
the world. We, all too easily, can imitate this evil
attitude toward God and His Name.                               There is to be no fellowship between light and
                                                             darkness. Christ and Belial can not join hands. The
  Or one can imitate the materialism of the world.           Christian may not find his pleasure in the world. And
One's attention is directed constantly (especially on        surely there is not a place in the life of the Christian
t.v.) to those things which are earthly. One is re-          to imitate the world about him. We are in the world
peatedly told why he ought to have this or that              but not of it. We are to be imitators of God  - not
product. A person can hardly help but recognize              imitators of this world.
within himself this inclination to imitate this, which
the world advocates.                                            We are to be spiritual. One who seeks the Light of
                                                             the world, can not find pleasure in the "light" of this
  And children are the biggest imitators of all. These       world. For the Christian, the more he turns his eye
who grow up with television as their "baby-sitter",          from that "Eye" into the world, the more he also will
can be expected  to imitate everything they see. If the      seek that which is heavenly. Be not deceived by the
world gives so much instruction to children within           devil. Beware his clever attacks against the child of
the church, how else will these grow up but as               God. And hold fast to the Word, looking to that
worldly and filled with all manner of lust?                  which is eternal. God grant that to us.


T H E S T R E N G T H O F Y O U T H

                                     Keep  Thy Tongue!
                                                  Rev. J. `Kortering


       What do you think is the worst sin?                    small. Nevertheless, this is not the same as saying that
       Granted, that is quite a question.                     all sins are equally bad. There are degrees of sins as
                                                              well as degrees of sinners.
       The worst sin!
       Typically, we might be inclined to back off by         DETERMINING DEGREE OF SIN
raising a related question. Is there such a thing as bad,
worse, and worst sins as far as God is concerned? Are           Perhaps your reaction is that we beg the question.
they not all terrible? Certainly there is not such a          Prove, you say, that there are degrees of sin before
thing as a "little" sin in God's eyes?                        God.
       Fair question.                                           Consider what Ezekiel saw in the "vision of God",
                                                              recorded in Ezekiel  8:6. "He said furthermore unto
   No, we agree, that before God no sin is considered         me, Son  .of man, seest thou what they do? even the


                                                                  . .

                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                               475


great abominations that the house of Israel  com-             this question must not be determined by the degree
mitteth here, that I should go far off from my                whereby man sins against his fellow man as such;
sanctuary? but turn thee yet again and thou shalt see         rather the worst sin is determined by man's dealing
greater abominations." God's evaluation of Omri is            with God. Along this line the Bible speaks of an
that he, "wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord, and           "unpardonable sin". Reference is made to this in
did worse than all that were before him," I Kings             Matt.  12:3  1, 32, "Wherefore I say unto you, all
16:25. Paul warns Timothy that evil men and se-               manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto
ducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and               men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall
being deceived," II Tim. 3: 13. Consequently, God             not be forgiven unto men." Similarly in Heb. 6:4-6, I
will reward and punish according to the degree of             John 5 : 16. Usually this is explained as one who has
good or evil, "And, behold I come quickly; and my             been in contact with the gospel, rejects it, and
reward is with me, to give to every man according as          despises God and His Word, going so far as attributing
his work shall be," Rev. 22: 12. There will be greater        the work of God to Satan. It is an expression of
condemnation for the wicked who have done greater             hardness of heart which is so great that repentance is
evil, "Beware of the scribes . . . which devour widows'       out of the question, hence also beyond divine for-
houses, and for a  pretence make long prayers; these          giveness.
shall receive greater damnation," Mark  12:38-40.  So           Along this line our Reformed fathers also evaluated
also for God's people, those who are faithful unto            the sin of taking God's name in vain. They do not put
death shall receive the greater reward, Matt. 5: 12.          it in the category of the unpardonable sin, but they
  To pursue this point a brief moment, we might add           evaluate it in the light of a person's deliberate attack
a related question: what determines the degree of             upon God and His Holy Word.
good or evil? Matt.  11:24 sheds some light on this,            Hence the question is raised, "Is then the profaning
"But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable          of God's name, by swearing and cursing, so heinous a
for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than            sin, that His wrath is kindled against those who do
for thee." Why would Sodom, which was destroyed               not endeavor as much as in them lies, to prevent and
by fire and brimstone, have it more tolerable in hell         forbid such cursing and swearing? Answer. It un-
than, the people of Capernaum? The answer is clear,           doubtedly is, for there is no sin greater, or more
because Christ preached in the city of Capernaum and          provoking to God, than the profaning of His name,
the degree by which one is exposed to the light of the        and therefore, He has commanded this sin to be
truth, by that degree they shall be judged. All men           punished with death." Heidelberg Catechism.
have the light  ,of nature, and all are thus held
accountable, whether they hear the preaching of the             And there you have it!
Word or not. Those that hear the preaching  of- the             The worst sin? Taking God's name in vain.
gospel are more accountable. For this reason there is           If we think for a moment, we can well understand
no grace (favor) for all who hear the gospel. There is        why this is considered the worst sin.
grace only for those who believe. Similarly, for God's          Of all that God owns, and He owns everything,
people, those who hear the Word and  do  it shall             nothing is more precious to Him than His name. His
receive a greater reward, especially if they are faithful     Name is His honor, His glory, His own Being as He
unto the ultimate test, giving their life  for'the sake of    stands in relation to the creature. Everything was
the gospel. This reward is the reward of grace.               created for His own Name's sake! The Psalms make up
                                                              one long declaration of praise to Jehovah's Name. "0
THE WORST SIN                                                 Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy Name in all the
   Now, let's get back to that question once again.           earth," Ps. 8: 1. "I will wait on thy name for it is
                                                              good," Ps.  52:9. "In Judah is God known; his name is
   What do you think is the worst sin?                        great in Israel," Ps. 76: 1. "Holy and reverend is his
   Alas, in answer to this, a vast panorama of human          name," Ps. 111: 9.
depravity passes before our minds. A brutalized body            We have a little reflection of that in our own life.
lying in a pool of crimson makes one shudder. The             Our name is also identified with us. Whenever we hear
accounts of torture penned in the books of the                people use our name or make reference to us by
history of the church can only cause one to cringe            name, we become extremely interested, wondering
before man's inhumanity to man. Crime is a vicious            what they are saying. Our name is our reputation, and
assault upon many helpless victims, especially chil-          the Bible also reminds us that a good name is of
dren and aged. How low can anyone stoop to unleash            greater value than great riches.
the ferment of a decayed soul?                                  No one can take God's name in vain without doing
   What is the greatest sin?                                  it deliberately. Whenever we take God's name on our
   Since sin is ultimately against God, the answer to         lips, we are consciously making use of God's name.


476                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


When we swear, we are trying to take God down from           that we know God's name; and we, who are born and
His holy place and not only put Him on the level of          raised in the covenant, taught to use God's Name
sinful man, but worse yet, drag Him into the mud and         with reverence from infancy on, have no excuse at all.
treat Him in a way that we wouldn't even dare treat          None have excuses, certainly we do not. We stand
our fellow man. One can do this thoughtlessly, but           responsible before God. We know what we are doing
always deliberately. Nothing is more offensive to God        more than anyone else.
and incurs greater guilt than such a practice. Hence,          Don't you see the need for repentance by us as
in the Old Testament times the offender was removed          covenant young people?
from Israel by the sentence of death as a testimony
that God's judgment rested upon such a person.                      Sometimes we like to think it is smart to swear.
                                                             Sometimes we take God's name thoughtlessly. Other
   No sin was greater than that, and it deserved the         times we get angry and let loose with an uncontrolled
extreme penalty.                                             volley of evil. If you stop to think what this means,
                                                             don't the chills go down your spine at what you are
OUR INVOLVEMENT                                              really doing. At such times we are committing the
   Today is no different. Even though we do not put          worst sin.
to death people that swear and use God's name                       There are other times we don't quite dare to be so
wrongfully, this does not mean that it is any less evil.     brash. Maybe we are like some of our parents who are
It is the worst sin also today.                              tempted to swear also and who do it in Dutch. It's a
   And we so easily commit it.                               cover-up. But isn't that also true of gosh, gee, heck,
   Sometimes we. can become pretty conceited with            holy cow, guy, golly, etc. They don't make any sense
our piety. We can look at the wickedness about us            taken by themselves. Yet, they are substitutes for
and act like that Pharisee who just about broke his          words that are attributed to God, His virtues, and His
arm patting himself on the back when he prayed to            Holy Name.
God, "I thank thee that I am not as other men are,                  God looketh not as man does, but Jehovah looks
extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this            upon the heart.
publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all            He hears all those `cuss words, those curses, those
that I possess," Luke 18: 10-l 2. Sure  .there is crime,     expressions of swearing, those willful expressions of
apostasy, every form of abomination that increases as        blasphemy.
the end of the world comes upon us. How easy for us
to look around and say, we aren't that way! We go to                No, we don't have to become proud with our piety
church, we study our catechism, we attend a Chris-           and imagine that the cesspool of corruption is tilled
tian school. We have a long list of things we do. Yes,       with the sins of others. We have plenty of our own,
indeed.                                                      even the inclination to commit the worst sin.
  Yet, how often  .do we commit the  worst  sin?                    Well may our tears flow in repentance.
  Worse than murder, worse than messing up one's                    Well may we humble ourselves and plead for
life with drugs and sex, worse than frittering one's life    mercy.
away with the pleasures and treasures of this world, is             Well may we realize that God has given His Name
taking God's name in vain.                                   to us to be used in a way that gets to Him the glory
  Oh, yes, I know the ungodly do this also. It is            that is due unto Him.
becoming more and more difficult to practice what                   Yes, we have a mind, we have speech, we have the
the Heidelberg Catechism tells us in question 100,           knowledge of God's greatness. Rather than busying
that is that God's wrath is upon those who "do not           ourselves in man's greatest depravity, may we busy
endeavor as much as in them lies to prevent and              ourselves in man's highest calling, that is, to take
forbid such cursing and swearing." Public swearing is        God's Name upon our lips with praise and thanks-
increasing. You walk down the street and can't help          giving.
but hear the passersby using God's name in vain. The                The Word of God instructs us, "Come, ye children,
radio, television, and printed page are full of it. You      hearken unto me, and I will teach you the fear of the
work amongst the world, and sometimes the air is             Lord . . . Keep thy  .tongue from evil, and thy lips
polluted with this verbiage of rebellion against God.        from speaking guile," Ps. 34: 11-13.
How can one begin to correct all this? Yet, we must
do our utmost to testify against this evil. It only                 Keep thy tongue from evil!
shows that depravity is increasing as the return of our             Let's make  i'c our prayer, "Father, hallowed be
Lord is near.                                                Thy Name".
  Yet, when we swear and take God's name in vain it                 May the Father in mercy forgive us and strengthen
is far worse. Our guilt is determined by the degree          us.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    477


FROM HOLY WRIT

                    JZxposition of Hebrews  13: 5, 6
                                                  Rev. G. Lubbem

  The position of the Hebrew Christians in the  w&-Id       over Israel.  And this mercy manifested. itself in
was very precarious; they are surrounded by cruel           Israeps distress as they are  haGassed  and oppressed by
foes, not the least of their own country-men. They          the enemy  most.sorely.  Back of Israel at this point is
have need of patience, that, after they have done the       the terrible history all through the coming of the
will of God, they may receive the promise. They are         kingdom of God, from the time of the Judges till the
pilgrims and strangers in the world as were their           Babylonian captivity under Nebuchadnezzar. And
patriarchal fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And it       ever Israel could only be content in the present
was needful that they walk in faith as the substance        affliction, even when they were so sorely thrust by
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.       the enemy that it seemed they would utterly fall and
(Hebrews 10: 36-11: 1,2)                                    perish.
  This is the presupposition in this passage which we         In the midst of this the church is ever admonished
now seek to interpret. It speaks of not fearing "what       trusting in the Lord to be "content with the present",
man can do unto me." (Hebrews  13:6)  The quota-            with their food and raiment, their clothing and
tions, both from Joshua 1: 5 and Psalm  118:6,              shelter, their amount of money and earthly pos-
indicate that the church of the New Testament is also       sessions. They are not to begin to think that life and
surrounded  by. those who would destroy them. And           joy and happiness consists in the abundance of riches
in view of this the church is admonished not to set         (Luke 12: 21); but they are to be rich toward God in
affections on things like money and earthly posses-         humble trust, and not to place their confidence in the
sions, but rather to be content, resting in the fatherly    things of this life. We must' then notice how God
providence of God. Theirs is to be a certain basic,         deals with the sparrows which do not sow, nor gather
positive attitude in which all their trust is in the        into barns. God feeds these sparrows. We must then
covenant' God, the faithful and almighty Father of          notice that God clothes the grass, and beautifies the
His children. For puny man cannot harm the church           flowers with more glory than king Solomon in all his
of God.                                                     earthly splendor in Jerusalem. Such a mighty God can
                                                            also much more take care of us. We need not feel that
IMPOTENT MAN VERSUS THE MIGHTY PRO-                         our bread and sustenance is dependent on men,
TECTING GOD (Hebrew 13 : 6)                                 princes in high position; but it is all firmly in the
  There is only one way in which the saint in the           hand of Jehovah God, who has put the government of
world can be "content with the present". It is the          the world in the hands of Jesus Christ.
contentment of the child who knows that his heaven-           The saints are to seek the Kingdom of God and His
ly Father is near to help him in the time of need.          righteousness and believe the word of Jesus that "all
That is true of every earthly child in relationship to      these things shall be added unto you". (Matthew
his earthly father and mother. Only when we are sure        6:33) Here we see that all men are impotent, great
that the Lord is "on my side" will we be free from all      and small, and less than nothing, compared with the
anxious cares. This truth Jesus underscores and             mighty Creator and Sustainer of the universe. All the
teaches in Matthew  6:8, "For your heavenly Father          Gentile nations are concerned with bread and butter.
knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask           But the saints have the assurance that their bread is
him." It is only blessed to live in the assurance that      certain and their water sure. The Psalmist rejoices and
"herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and            says, "I have been young, and now I am old, but I
barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness,          have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed
riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by        begging bread." (Psalm 37 : 25)
chance, but by his fatherly hand". (Ques. 27, Heidel-
berg Catechism) In the text the heavenly Father is
called the "Lord". He is "Jehovah" in the Old               C H A R A C T E R   F R E E   F R O M   T H E   L O V E   O F
Testament passage in Psalm 118: 6. This "Jehovah" is        MONEY (Hebrews 13 : 5)
extolled in Psalm 118; the people of God all join in          The KJV translates the term  "ho  tropos"  as being
"giving thanks unto the LORD." That is the keynote          "contiersation". Evidently this refers to the total
in the Psalm. That is the first utterance and the last      "walk" and attitude of the church in relationship to
utterance in this beautiful Psalm. The constant and         the things of this present life. The term really means
abiding mercies of the Lord are to be remembered            the basic "turn of the mind". This basic turn of the


478                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


mind Jesus portrays very masterfully and instruc-             This word of assurance reads in full, as follows, "I
tively in the parable of the rich farmer in Luke            will never leave thee nor forsake thee." This word of
12: 13-2  1. We do well to take our Bibles and read that    promise the LORD spoke by Moses His servant to all
section very carefully; it is a very good commentary        of Israel in the plains of Moab before they entered
of what is a basic, constant "love for money" and           into the. land of Canaan to take the land by faith.
what is the basic attitude of all who put confidence in     They shall surely take the land even as they had slain
the flesh, in man and princes, and not in the living        the great kings on the east side of Jordan. They are,
God. Such believe that one must have "abundance of          therefore, reassured in the following words, "Be
things" in order to be blessed, to feel secure in this      strong and of good courage, fear not, be not afraid of
life. It is the man who finally desired to find the         them; for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with
utopia of "total security" in life. And hence he is         thee; he will not fail thee nor forsake thee." This
never "content with the present". He will build bigger      same promise is once more spoken by the Lord
barns, until he can say, "Soul, thou hast much goods        directly to Joshua after Moses has died, and when he
laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink and     stands before the awesome task of casting out the
be merry." Enjoy life, the good life here, the abun-        Amorite out of the land of promise. At that time the
dant life of an affluent society. But such a man is a       Lord says to Joshua,  ". . . As I was with Moses so will
fool. He cannot take it with him in his coffin and in       I be with thee, I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be
the grave.  .Naked he comes into the world, and naked       strong and of a good courage. . .  ." (Deut.  31:6;
he goes out!                                                Joshua 1:  5,6)
  Hence, we should have the fundamental and basic             Now this word of the Lord is still spoken to the
attitude which prays, "Give us this day our daily           church of the ages. It was spoken to Israel in their
bread". Give me neither riches nor poverty, but feed        deepest night of darkness in Babylon. The Lord was
me with bread convenient. (Matthew 6: 11; Proverbs          with Israel when they were compassed about by the
30: 8)                                                      enemy. And this is the Word which is laid upon the
  Have not the Hebrew saints come to mount Zion,            hearts of the Hebrew saints in this text. And this is
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem?         the Word which the Lord speaks to us today as
Are they not different from the world of unbelievers        churches, as individual believers. Be strong and of
and profane such as Esau was? (Hebrews 12: 16) Esau         good courage. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.
could sell his birthright for a mess of pottage. All he     Daily the Lord is with us. We need not become lovers
sought was this  world. He was a fornicator and a           of money; we may surely be content with the present
glutton. His basic attitude was love for money. The         boon of good gifts from our Father's bountiful
Lord's protection he did not know or cherish in his         supply.
heart. Let, therefore, that basic attitude of love for        In view of what the Lord has said, and still is
money be far from us. For the fashion of this world         saying, we, too, may say something in the response of
passes away. (I Cor.  7:29-3 1) Hence, it is sure that      faith. We may say:  we will not fear what man shall do
the time here is short on our pilgrim journey. The          to us. We may say this boldly and most confidently.
reality is that they who have wives be as though they       We need not doubt the right and appropriateness of
had none, and those that weep as though they wept           saying this. Fact is, that is the expected answer: that
not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced         we boast in the Lord and His ever-abiding mercies.
not, and they that buy as though they possessed not;        This is very personal. The Lord is  my  helper in every
and they that use the world, as not using it to the         time of trouble.
full, for the fashion of this world passes away  -
constantly.                                                   For the Lord has a New Covenant of grace. He is
                                                            not related to the church and Israel by any covenant
  Contentment with the present means that we see            that can be broken. It is on the chief comer-stone
the present things in the light of their meaning for the    that our faith rests. It is rejected of men (Psalm 118)
present moment in our pilgrim journey, passing              but is chosen of God and precious. And if God there
through this vale of tears to the new heaven, the new       has showed His great love to us His people, He will
earth  where righteousness shall dwell.                     surely give us all things with Him. Lo, I am with
THE LORD HIMSELF HAS SAID (Hebrews 13: 5)                   you always unto the end of the world. That, too, the
  The end of all contradiction is what "the Lord has        "Lord has said". He said that to His disciples and, in
said." The tense of the verb here is perfect in the         them, to the entire church. He ever says: fear not, for
Greek. This means that what the Lord has said is still      I am with you. It is the Father's good pleasure, little
being said by Him as recorded in His Holy Word. This        flock, to give unto you the kingdom. Be  not then
is not merely a "record" of what the Lord has said. It      lovers of money, but be content with the present
is what  He is saying to us up till this present moment     bounties of God's hands as pledges of future glories
in completed state.                                         and riches untold.


                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                   479



 IMPORTANT NOTICE TO  ALL,OUR READERS!!!                                                           WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                                                                               -.  1  .
   Tape  recordings of the 50th Anniversary Celebrations of our                   On September 1,  1975, the Lord willing, our beloved parents, Mr.
Protestant Reformed Churches are now available. These recordings             and Mrs. Edwin Gritters will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.
include the two speeches given at the Young People's Convention and
the two programs at the Field Day Celebration, plus the musical                  We, their children, thank our heavenly Father for giving them
                                                                             the grace sufficient to instruct us in His covenant love and faithfulness.
portionsof all  fourgatherings.Tapescan  be obtained by writing to: THE
REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, PO  BOX 6064,                              We pray that He may-continue to bless and sustain them as they go
GRAND RAPIDS, Ml 49506. Cost per set-(either cassette tapes or 7             down life's pathway together.
inch reels) is only $8.00.                                                        "Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God,
                              NOTICE ! ! ! !                                 which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep
                                                                             his commandments to a thousand generations." Deut.  7:9
   Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will  meet in                                                Mr.  & Mrs. Jerry  VanderKolk
Isabel, South Dakota on Wednesday, September 3. 1975.                                                            Mr.  & Mrs. Ed Karsemeyer
                               Rev. D. Engelsma                                                                  Barry Gritters
                               Stated Clerk                                                                      Michael Gritters
                                                                                                                 Roger Gritters
                                   Notice                                                                        Ricky  Gritters
                                                                                                                 and one grandchild-Brian  VanderKolk
   Classis East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will convene on
Oct. 1, 1975, at 9:00 A.M. at Hope Protestant Reformed Church. All
material to be treated at this session must be in the hands of the Stated
Clerk at least ten days prior to this date.
                               Rev. M. Joostens, Stated Clerk                                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                               7194 20th Ave.                                    On September 5, 1975, the Lord willing, our parents, MR. AND
                               Jenison,  Mich. 49428                         M R S .   P E T E R   J .   L U B B E R S ,   W I L L   C E L E B R A T E   T H E I R   3 5 T H
                                                                             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY. We, their children, are thankful to our
                              IN  MEMORIAM                                   Heavenly Father for the Christian home and spiritual guidance they
                                                                             have given us. Our prayer is that God may continue to bless them
    The Consistory and congregation of Lynden express their Christian        together.
sympathy to their beloved Pastor, Rev. B. Woudenberg, and family in                                         Their Children,
the recent passing of Rev. Woudenberg's father, BERNARD                                                          Mr. and Mrs. Jason Redder
WOUDENBERG SR.                                                                                                   Mr. and Mrs. Richard Smith
    Our prayer for them is that they may be comforted by the Gospel                                              Mr. Larry Lubbers
which assuresus that: "the grave has no victory and death has no sting."                                         Mr. and Mrs. Klaire Berens
(I Corinthians  15:55)                                                                                           Mr. and Mrs. Roger Berens
                               Henry  VanderMeulen,  Vice-president                                              10 Grandchildren
                               Hans Vander Veen, Clerk                       Hudsonville, Michigan


                                        News From Our Churches
    Did you know that Rev. Kuiper has a vanity plate?                        seen to buy an R C Cola, and pour` it into a baby
Well, we wouldn't really call it vanity, but, with a                         bottle. "Of course," said my informant, "I don't
view to this year's celebration, he did request and                          know if he got that for himself or not.") Prior to Rev.
receive a car license plate which reads PRC  - 50.                           C. Hanko's "Recollections of the Past," Ed Ophoff
   An estimated 1900 of our people already know                              led in some spirited outdoor singing  - accompanied
about that, for it was announced over the public                             by organ and piano perched on the back of an old
address system at Douglas Walker Park on the after-                          International, and by cicadas overhead. One of the
noon of August 6. It hardly seems necessary, there-                          songs, we should note, was "Happy Birthday," sung
fore, to report on the activities of that memorable                          in honor of Rev. Lubber's  66th, as he stood waving
week, because most of you experienced them person-                           his straw hat to the friendly gathering.
ally. At the Wednesday afternoon program, in fact, it                            The complete supper was catered; and, considering
was found, when Mr. Ed Ophoff read the role of                               the number of plates that had to be filled, it came off
Protestant Reformed churches, that every single one                          with remarkable dispatch. The committee had every-
of our congregations was represented there. But, it                          thing planned to the smallest. detail. And perhaps it
was too wonderful an occasion to let it pass un-                             helped, a little, that Rev. Slopsema, to make amends
noticed in the  Standard Bearer  news column. So,                            for having been near the beginning of the long line,
we'll  Say a few words about it.                                             assisted in refilling coffee cups, after he had emptied
   Had the day been a rainy one, Wednesday's                                 his own plate.
activities were to be held in the Calvin College Field                           After supper, and after a game of tug-of-war, with
House. But it was a beautiful day  - a little bit chilly                     a rope that broke repeatedly, it was time for the
in the evening perhaps, but, apart from that, we could                       second of three convention speeches. Rev. Engelsma
not have hoped for more pleasant weather. The                                s p o k e   o n "The Historical Realization of the
canteen, which was set up for lunch, apparently did a                        Covenant." Finally, there was opportunity to again
booming business. (Rev. Joostens, incidentally, was                          join our voices in singing. By that time, most of us


 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                          I SECOND CLASS
          P.O. Box 6064                                                                                              POSTAGE PAID AT
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506    :                                I                                       :
                                                                 ,                                            i GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.
                                     `6                                                                       I                                 i
480                                                                    . .  ..-.    zj .,: ..:.,.. =:
                                                        -___-

were shivering a little in the cool evening breeze.  -Rev.            sure that this was the experience of you all. It  &as
Van Overloop, who chaired the activities that day,                    one of those days you almost wish would never end.
suggested that some of the cold might be dissipated                   And yet, in a sense of course, it  will  not end. Because,
by the singing under Mr. Ophoff's direction. But it                   what impressed me more than anything else yester-
didn't work. "In spite of what the chairman said,"                    day, was the spirit of unity that prevailed among us.
remarked Rev. Veldman before he closed the evening                    And I'm sure that as, after this evening we return to
with prayer, "my feet were getting colder and                         our homes and to our congregations, this unity that
colder."                                                              we experienced so richly yesterday and throughout
   Rev. Engelsma's address, as I mentioned, was one                   the convention, will continue with us. This conven-
of the three speeches of the Young People's  Conven-                  tion, therefore, and the activities connected with it,
tidn. The young people had planned their convention                   as we commemorate together the 50th anniversary of
around the theme of our denominational anniversary                    our churches, are in their own way evidence of God's
celebration. As Prof. Hoeksema mentioned in the first                 covenant faithfulness to us. We must have felt that
of the speeches, the federation is to be commended                    very keenly. God gave to us in this week tokens,
for that. It showed, he said, "a healthy denomina-                    memorable tokens, tokens that will linger with us, of
tional consciousness and loyalty." And, further, "it                  His  great faithfulness to us. And that very fact should
gives the lie to the idea that there is any serious                   also give us courage and confidence for the future.
generation gap among our people. We are together at                   God has told  us  in His Word that He Who is faithful
this occasion, old and young, and, may I say,  middle-                will continue faithful in the future. It matters not
aged."                                                                what the future may hold. It matters not what the
                                                                      future may bring. God remains our faithful covenant
  All in all, the events of the week constituted what                 God. We sing something of that in the last verse of
the writer of Southwest's bulletin called a "thrilling                our Psalter's rendition of Psalm 89. `Blest be the Lord
experience." Perhaps it was summed up best by Prof.                   for evermore, Whose promise stands from days of
Hanko, in the final address. Permit me to conclude                    yore. His word is faithful now as then; Blest be His
with his remarks.                                                     Name. Amen, Amen.' "
   "It was for me a very moving experience. This was                                                                                   D.D.
especially true of the Field Day yesterday; and I'm

                                           R E P O R T   O F CLASSIS  EAST
  Classis East met in regular session on July 2, 1975                    Kalamazoo requested classical appointments for
at the First Prot. Ref. Church of Holland, Michigan.                  the next three months.  Classis adopted the following
Each church was represented by two delegates. The                     schedule for Kalamazoo: July 20  - Van Overloop;
session was brief, the business routine, but the fel-                 August 3  - Veldman; August 17  -  Schipper;  August
lowship experienced and the unity evidenced was                       31  - C. Hanko; September 14  - Joostens; September
plenty reason to give thanks to God for calling the                   28  - Van  Baren; October 12  - Heys. Rev. Joostens
representatives of the congregations together. Rev. R.                and Elder James Heys served on this committee to
Van  Overloop  chaired this session of the  classis.                  construct the schedule.
  After the preliminaries, the  classis heard the report' ._             In other committee assignments and reports, Elders
of the Stated Clerk; there was no report of the                       P. Koole and E. Kortering served on the Finance
Classical Committee. The stated Clerk informed the                    Committee.  Classis approved expenses for this session
classis that he would be absent for a year teaching  in               of $294.86. Elder G. Hoekstra thanked the ladies of
Redlands, California.  Classis elected Rev. M. Joostens               Holland for their catering services.
as assistant stated clerk for a one-year term to take                   The questions of Article 41 of the Church Order
care of the duties of the Stated Clerk in his absence.                were asked and satisfactorily answered, the concept
  Perhaps the highlight of the entire meeting was the                 minutes were read and adopted and  classis stood
report of the church visitors. Sometimes we take it                   adjourned. The next meeting of  Classis East will be
for granted that there is peace and harmony in our                    held in Hope Church on October 1, 1975.
denomination but it is reason for thanksgiving to God
that he continues to abide mightily in our midst with
His good and Holy Spirit, giving us unity and                                                                        Respectfully submitted,
harmony.                                                                                                           Jon Huisken, Stated Clerk


