                                      earer


A  REFORMED  SEMI-MONTHLY  MAGAZINE




IN THIS ISSUE


      Meditation:
        Christ's Promised Ppesence

      Editorial:
        The Erring Views of Dr. H. M. Kuitert

      A Song in the Heart (see IN HIS FEAR)

      Ecumenical Footmotes (see ALL AROUND US)



                                               Volume XLVfNumber  `/Jan. 1, 1969


                                                            THE  STAiUDARD BEARER


            .  .           1  C O N T E N T S                                           ,                THE STANDARD  BEARER
                                                                                     Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August.
Meditation -                                                                          Pubiished by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
   Christ's Promised Presence . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . .146          Editor-in-Chief:   Prof.  H.  C.  Hoeksema

                                                                              Department  Editors:   Mr. John M. Faber, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof.
Editorial  -                                                                     Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. Jay
   The Erring Views of Dr. H.M. Kuitert ( 10) . . . . .148                       Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Marinus Schipper, Rev. Gise J.
                                                                                 Van  Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman, Rev. Bernard Woudenberg

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Meditation


                                           Christ's Promised Presence
                                                                  Rev. M. Schipper

                                        "And, lo, lam with you alway, even unto {he end of the
                                        world. Amen. "
                                                                                             Matthew 28: 20b.

   Unto the end of the world!                                                 has undergone a change through the deluge, and it shall
   Not the cosmos does the Lord have in mind, that is,                        be changed again when its very elements shall be burned
the world from the point of view of its created organic                       up with fervent heat, it shall through this renewing
unity, as it came forth from the hand and by the                              process become the habitation where righteousness shall
efficacious Word of the Creator. For, though that world                       forever dwell.


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   I,47


  But the world from the point of view of its historical      all things whatsoever I have commanded you." And
development  - this is the world of which the Lord            adding the comforting promise: "And, lo, I am with you
speaks! It is the world as it is developing through the       alway; even unto the end of the age."
ages  - as it progresses from the moment time was               Promise of the resurrected and.living  Lord!
created - as it continues. from the creation of the first       Who declared in the immediately preceding context:
Adam unto the appearance of the last Adam, the Lord           "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth."
from heaven. It is the world as it moves onward from            Lo, I am with you alway!
the disobedience and fall of the first man unto the             0, do not fail to notice this - I AM!           '
manifestation of the Man of Sin, who represents the             He is the revelation of the immutable Jehovah Who is
highest possible development of iniquity the world            speaking! The immutable over against all our change!
could possibly produce. It is the world that always           The I AM which covers all the varieties of: IS, WAS, and
persecutes and kills the righteous all the day long, which    WILL BE! I am with you ALWAYS! That is, all the
in the very center of history killed the royal Seed of        days. All the days that must yet continue unto the
David, Whom God raised from the dead- and exalted at          consummation.
His right hand and gave Him power to unravel the                But how shall He be with us all the days, Who left us
counsels of God until all is fulfilled according to His       to ascend to the Father's right hand? Did- He not really
perfect will. It is the world which discovers the secrets     leave us? Was not this the very fear of His disciples, that
which God has put in all His creation, while it holds the     their Lord would leave them orphans?
truth under in unrighteousness and emblazons its own            0, you remember how He comforted them whose
name on all it discovers and not the name of. `the            hearts were fraught with fear. "Let not your heart be
Creator. It is the world which invents the machinery          troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my
wherewith its men of science may fly through the              Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I
stratosphere and plow under the depths of the seas,           would have told you. I go to prepare a place  for. you.
crying loudly: How great is Man! and never acknowl-           And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come
edging the wisdom and power of God. It is the world in        again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am,
which the covenant of God with His people has its             there ye may be also . . . And I will pray the Father, and
historical development from generation to generation,         he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide
until the very. last son or daughter is born that must        with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the
inhabit the house with its many mansions.                     world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither
  That world has an end!                                      knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with
  Of that end we are reminded through the passing of          you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you
the old and the beginning of a new year. For the years        comfortless: I will come to you."
come and go until they have an end, determined by Him           "But is not Christ then with us even to the end of the
Who is eternaland not subject to time.                        world, as he hath promised?" Such is also the question
  But with the passing of the old, year and the               our fathers asked in the Heidelberg Catechism. And they
beginning of a new. one the world.has not come to an          answer: "Christ is very man and very God; with respect
end. The church of Christ is very really still in that old    to his human nature, he is no more on earth; but with
world which is fast developing in sin and iniquity. She is    respect to his Godhead, majesty, grace and spirit, he is
still beset on every side by manifold temptations. She is     at no time absent from us."
still the object of hatred and reproach by that evil            Indeed, He is present with us with respect to His
world. And according to God's prophetic Word she must         Godhead, which is illimitable. And His majesty, which is
expect the days of this evil age will become increasingly     His absolute, exalted authority to govern all things, not
evil. The year 1969 which has just been ushered in rides      only in heaven where He resides in His human nature;
on the tide of the greatest upheavals history has ever        but also on earth, so that all things are so governed that
recorded. Riots and rebellions, disrespect for authority,     they co-incide with the eternal counsel of God. And by
unleashed profanity and obscenity are the order of the        His grace and Spirit He is ever present with us, having
day. Increasing unrest among the nations, and the sharp       taken up His abode in our hearts.
crescendos of racism crying for recognition and equality        0, there is more!
threatening to cast the world into a blood bath, is             He is with us with His truth, with His defense and aid.
stirring the hearts and minds of those seated in pinnacles      And you wish to,feel His presence? Then you must be
of authority, as well as the hearts and minds of the          on the dusty road of life, doing His will, and obeying
governed. The demoniacal grabbing as it were by the           His commandments. "If a man love Me, he will keep My
throat the age-old doctrine that God is and drowning it       words: and My Father will love him, and We will come
under the cry that He is dead - this is the spirit of our     unto him, and make our abode with him;"
age.                                                            Never will He leave us, so that we have to meet the
  Into that world the Lord commands His church to go          vicissitudes of life alone. Always He is near to comfort
and preach the gospel, "Teaching all nations to observe       us with His Word and Spirit, and to supply us with His


148                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


grace. Listen to the apostle exclaim: "There hath no           the cross after Him! That church which preaches only
temptation taken you but such as is common  to.,man:           the truth, and not the philosophy of men. That church
but God is faithful, Who will not suffer  you. to be           which is willing to remain small and despised if
tempted above that ye are able; but will with the              necessary, so long as she remains pure in doctrine and in
temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be           life.
able to bear it."                                                 And therefore a promise which is directed to every
  Comforting promise!                                          believer! To each child of God who must daily struggle
  For the disciples, first of all, to whom the promise         with that monster - his own flesh; who must withstand
was directly given! 0, how their hearts must have been         all the temptations the world of our age has to offer;
filled with fear. Was not their Lord about to ascend into      who must battle against the spiritual powers in high
the highest heavens and leave them to carry on the             places which are disciplined by the devil.
mandate to make disciples of all nations, teaching them           To us is this promise given, who so often are of the
to observe all that He had commanded them? And had             thought that the heavens touch the earth on the horizon
they not already experienced severe opposition when            in front and behind, but that they are at their highest
they followed Him in His earthly ministry? Had they            point and remotest from us just at the point where we
not all witnessed what happened to Him Who spoke               stand. To us who are inclined to think that the Lord was
freely of all the Father had given Him to speak? Must          very near to His own in the hoary past, and that no
they not as faithful disciples expect that world to give       doubt He will be near to His beloved in the dim future,
them the same treatment as it gave their Lord?                 but for the present He is far from them. Though we may
  Lo, I am with you  alway, even unto the end of the           invent our imaginary arches that extend from the earth
world! I the crucified but now resurrected and glorified       to the heavens and back to the earth again, and suppose
Savior! I, the great Shepherd of My sheep! I Who came          that where it touches the earth the Lord was nearest and
to save you and did redeem you through the shameful            where the arch is highest He is farthest away  - with
and bitter cross, shall I ever allow that anything should      Him there is no such arch, nor is there any time He is
happen to you that would negate that work? 0, have no          not present with us.
fear, I am and will always be with you to the very end.           He remains the faithful - I AM!
  How that Word must have lifted them up! Though He               Lo! That is, Behold! Observe well!
leaves them, yet He abides, and will never leave them!            I am with you, even I your Lord and Savior!
  But this Word of comfort cannot have been intended              Unto the end of the age!
for the disciples alone. Surely they did not abide unto           And therefore He will be with us unto the very last
the end of the world. Perhaps in less than a century the       moment of this present time. And if He. is with us, what
very last of them entered the vale of death.                   then?
  It is the promised comfort for the church!                      We will be working while it is day, realizing His
  Lo, I am with you, My church, even unto the end of           mandate to evangelize the world. And we will not fear
the age!                                                       what man can do unto us. And when the day becomes
  Militant church, which must yet fight the good               dark, as it surely will, we will not be troubled, for with
fight of faith!                                                Him we are more than conquerors.
  Obedient church, which must yet carry out His                   Amen! So it shall surely be!
mandate to carry the gospel into all the world! And in            Amen !
the discharge of that calling must be expected to bear


Editorial

                     The Erring Views of Dr. H.M. Kuitert (10)
                                                  ProJ: H.C. Hoeksema

An Evaluation 6.f Kuitevt's  Dogmatical Views (cont.)          H.M. Kuitert's claim that Reformed theology and the
       I promised in the last issue to quote at length in      Christian church in general have never known what to
demonstration of my contention that the late Rev.              do with passages like Colossians 1: 15, ff., and that the
Herman Hoeksema always taught very clearly the idea            church did not recognize a connection between Christ
of a connection between Christ and creation. The reader        and creation. Kuitert connects this alleged failure with an
will recall that I am doing this in order to contradict Dr.    interpretation of Genesis l-3 as literal. And he uses this


                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         149


   as an argument to overthrow the traditional view. For                 His own revelation. He is the absolutely invisible in
   this reason I also want to emphasize before I  begin. to              Himself. He is the immortal, the invisible, the only
   quote that the late Herman Hoeksema also  alw&ys                      -God, -1. Tim. 1':17. And this applies not only to our
   insisted on taking Genesis l-3 literally. In fact, he                 sense of sight, but also to that of hearing and to all our
   insisted that the alternatives were a creation in six                 other senses. God in Himself, apart from His revel-
   ordinary days or some form of evolution. Yet he was                   ation, is the Dem Absconditus.  He does not belong to
   very strong on the idea of the connection between                     the world of our experience and of our senses. He is
   Christ and creation. This will be evident from these                  the transcendent God, Who even in His immanence is
                                                                         nevertheless transcendent. He does not belong to our
   quotations.                                                           world, and is not the object of our perception. His
      My first quotation is from his commentary on the                   virtues, His eternal power and godhead,' are indeed
   Epistle to the Colossians. This has been published only               known from the things that are made, but are
~ in mimeographed form. But it is important because in it                nevertheless in themselves invisible, Rom. 1: 20. This
   we find detailed exegesis of the passage in question,                 does not imply that God is unknowable, as agnostic
1 Colossians 1: 15, ff. I will therefore quote at length; and            philosophy has it, but does mean that He can be
   for the benefit of our readers I will substitute the                  known only by an act on His part, i.e., through His
   English. for the Greek wherever possible. In his  intro-              own revelation.
~ ductory remarks the author points  out that the passage                   This act of revelation takes place in the central and
   of Chapter 1: 15-20 contains the main thought of the                  highest sense of the word in Christ. He is the image of
   entire epistle; and he therefore begins his commentary                the invisible God. He is this essentially as the eternal
                                                                         Son of God, the Second Persorrin the Holy Trinity. He
   with this passage also. On verse 15 he writes as follows:             is the eternal Logos, the one that is eternally in the
          The first question that arises. is: to whom does the           bosom of the Father, God of God, Light of Light. And
        apostle refer by the relative clause, "Who is, etc.?             the fact that He can be and is the image of God in the
        From the context it is plain that the reference is to            highest and central sense of the word also in creation
        Christ. But the question is: Christ from.whatpoint  of           may never be separated from His eternal Sonship, even
        view and in what capacity? Is the reference here to His          as the two natures in Christ `may never be separated
        divine nature, to His human nature, or to both? The              from each other, but are united in the Person of the
        following considerations may aid us in determining the           Son of God. But this does not alter the fact that in the
        answer to this question:                                         text the reference is not to His divine, but to His
        1) In the immediately preceding verse it is said that we         human nature. This is evident from the context, as we
       have redemption through His blood. This refers, of                showed above. But this also -is clear from the text
        course;to  Christ as the Head of His church and the              itself. Why, otherwise, does the text emphasize the
       Mediator.                                                         fact that God is in Himself invisible? This qualification
        2) He is called the image of the invisible God.                  applies to the godhead as such, and to all three Persons
        3) He is described as the firstborn of every creature.           of the Trinity in the same sense. Not only the Father,
       4)  In the verses that follow He is described as the              but also the Son and the Holy Spirit are invisible. A is
        beginning, the firstborn from the dead, the Head of              evident that the qualification "invisible" stands in
       the church, the one by whom and for whom all things               closest connection with `Ymage." This term (ei,kQon)
       in heaven and in earth are created. He is the one in              signifies image, figure, similitude. But in distinction
       whom, according to the good pleasure of the Father,               from  homoiooma   it has also the connotation of
       all the fithress should dwell, through whom God has               representation, appearance, visible appearance. Hence,
       made peace through the blood of His cross and                     it is certainly the meaning of the text that Christ is the
       reconciled all things unto Himself. From all these                representative, the visible appearance, of the invisible
       considerations we may draw the conclusion that "Who               God. He is the revelation of the unseen God. As the
       is" refers indeed to the eternal Son of God, but then as          eternal Son He is indeed the image of the Father. But
       the Wisdom of Proverbs 8, as the Logos of John 1: 1-3,            this image is itself invisible. "Image" in the text,
       as the Christ in human nature, crucified, raised, and             therefore, cannot refer to this. Only in His human
       exalted at the right hand of God, as, according to the            nature is Christ the visible representative of the
       eternal good pleasure of God, He stands at the head               invisible God.
       and pinnacle of all created things in heaven and on                 In the highest sense of the word Christ  .is this
       earth.                                                            "image of the invisible" in His exalted state. He is
          "The image of the invisible God." `The fact that               raised from the dead and exalted above all principality
       eikoon (image) here stands without the definite article           and power and every name that is named. He is in the
       must not induce us to translate "an image" or "image"             glory which He had with the Father before the world
       without the article. The definite article with God                was. This does not mean that He was not the "image
       (Theou) at the same time limits "image." (Cf.                     of God" when He sojourned with us in the state of His
       "Wirier,``' pgph. 18) God is here described as ho aoratos         humiliation: He certainly was. For in His Word God
       (the invisible). This term may mean "`unseen" or                  spake. And He spoke, Christ  .spoke, the words of
       "invisible." Both are true with respect to God as He is           eternal life. His works were a testimony that God was
       in Himself. No one has ever seen God, John 1: 18. He              in Him and with Him. The disciples beheld His glory, a
       therefore is the unseen. Nor is this possible apart from          glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of


     150                                                      THE  STANDhid  BEARER


            grace and  t?uth, John  1:14. The disciples saw and               explanation of the "beginning." In other words, they
            heard, looked upoh and handled with their hands the               denete in what sense  .and from what point of view
            Word of life, ,I John 1': 1,2. Stirely, always, also in the       Christ is the "beginning." He is this as the one that is
            state of humiliation, ,Christ was the `Ymage of God,"             raised from'the  dead, as the glorEed.Christ. And the
            and .He could say to His disciples: "H& that hath seen            expression itself implies, fast, that He was with the
            rnti hath seen the- Father," John 14:9.  Nevertheless,.           dead and under the dead, that is, with and under His
            the -~"im.age of. God" was hid in His state of humilia-           dead brethren. He was with and under them because in
            tion; Only in the state of exaltation, when Christ is             His human nature He entered into de&h. He entered
            raised from the dead and is exalted at the right hand of          into their state of death, and in that state bore their
            God, does that .im.age of the invisible God shine forth           sins. Secondly, this expressioti implies the idea that in
            in all its'glory. And in the hi&est and ultimate sense            and through death He swallowed up death. He con-
            of the word this  w?ll not be  re'glized until it shines          quered death because through His death He removed
            forth in His whole church, in all the elect, and in all           the guilt of sin, the sting of death, and stood righteous
            the\new creation, the new heavens and the new earth               before God. And thirdly, this expression means that
            wh&ein rigbteousness  shall dwell forever, and the                through death and resurrection He preparbd  the way
            tabernacle of God shall be with men. Of tbis the text             through death into eternal life for all His brethren.
            speaks. It refers'to Christ as the Head of the church, as         And as the firstborn from the dead He is at the same
            the .firstborn of the dead; and as the one in whom all            time the "beginning."
            the fulness of God shall dtiell, as He, according to the            3. The question is, however: of what is He as the
            eternal good pleasure, .shall stand at the head of all            firstborn from the dead at the same time  &e
            creation and shall have the preeminentie in all things.           "b&inning" (archeel.? The answer to this question we.
              This Christ is further described in the text as "the            may find in verse 20. God reconciled all things through
            firstborn of every creature." TWO questions arise here            Him, the things in heaven and the. tbings in earth, that
            immediately: 1) `What is the meaning of this expres-              is, in the ultimate, new creation. Of this new creation
            sion? And, 2) how must this expression be applied to              Christ, ,as the firstborn from the dead, is the beginning,
            Christ?. May He be said to be the firstborn of every              the  archee, the principium,  the forts. And this new
            creature as the eternal and only begotten Son of God?             creation in the good pleasure of God stands in organic,
            Or must this also be applied to Christ in His human               genetic connection with the Christ as the firstborn
            nature as the Mediator of God and man?                            from the dead.
       At  this point the author presents and criticizes three                  4. Now the same Christ, and in the same capacity,
     interpretations which have been offered, going into                      namely, as the "beginning" of the whole neC creation,
     detail as to the reasons why they cannot be maintained.                  and as the firstborn from the dead, ii also the fnstborn
                                                                              of every creature  in. time. Also here the word
     I will omit this section and continue with his positive                  "firstborn" means, in the first place, that He was born
     exposition:             i                                                before every creature that appears iti time and,@ the
              To attain to' the right explanation of the term                 present world; and in sec6nd place, that He prepares
            "firstborn' of every creature," we will do well to look           the way for every creature that exists,in  time. Hence,
            at it in the light of the related expression in verse 18,         also for the whole creation in time He is the
            "the beginning" and the "fnstborn from the dead." If              "beginning" farchee), and thb e&ire present world in
            we do this, we obtain the following:                              its creation and historical development' stands in
            1. Christ is the "beginning." The concept  archee                 connection with Him organically. It follows the
            (beginning) denotes a beginning not only from the                 "fustbom from the dead" and is adapted to Him.
            viewpoint of time or succession, a beginning which                   5. Finally, the question arises: how can this be
I           may or may not be followed by all the rest to the very            applied to the reality of the historical existence of the
            end. On the contrary, in this concept lies the idea of            world and to the order of that history? Historically, to
I           jbns(fc$.mtain), principium, principle. As the acorn is           be sure, not the Christ, but the fipst Adam is the fitst
            the beginning of the oak, so Christ is the beginning of           creature. To this the text gives the answer that the
            every creature. -In the "b&-g" lies the principle of              whole relation of the firstborn to the rest of the
            all that follows in creation to the very end. The end is          creation is viewed from the  vie-oint of the good
            connected with `the "b&im&g"  in the organic, genetic             pleasme of God and His e'temal counsel. If was the
            sense of the word. At the same time, the "beginning"              good pleasure of God that in Christ should all the
            does not stand outside of what follows from it, but               ftiess dwell. We must. understand that the glorified
            belongs to all that is implied in it. F6r that reason also        Christ and the new creation are not secondary
            this word cannot be applied to Christ accor$ng to His             thoughts in the counsel,of  God. They do not appear as
~           divine nature, but points to His eternal  Sonship                 repair work of the first creation, fallen into sin and
            according to His human nature, as is evident not only             death. But in that counsel it is the chief purpose unto
            from this term, but from the whole connection.                    which all things are adapted. If we do not bear this in
              2. This becomes further evident from what follows               mind, we shall never be able to understand how Christ,
            immediately, "firstborn from the dead." It is evident             Who died and rose again and is exalted at the right
            that these .words may not be separated from the idea              hand of God, can be the "beginning" (archee). q.nd the
            of "beginning," but are closely related to the latter. In         firstborn of every creature. If, however, we bear this in
            a sense we may sav that they offer a further                      mind, there is no difficulty whatsoever. In the eternal


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         15.1


    good pleasure of God the glorified Christ is first. In the       .tenses, the aorist "were created"`(e7qisthee)  and the
     counsel-of God .He opens the womb for everycreature              .perfect   C`have been created" (ektistai)  It is  7.n him
    that follows Him.. To Him the whole new creation is               `were `all. things created." The aorist here  .simply
    adapted. But also .the first creation is- adapted to the          denotes the fact of creation, apart from the- idea of
    second. And thus Christ, .as the one that died and rose           time. And the preposition "in? with "him" denotes
    again, and that is exalted at the right hand of God, is           the sphere of the risen and glorified Son of God Who
    the "beginning" of the newcreation, and therefore, the            appears as such in the counsel of God, in the good
    "firstborn of every creature" in the eternal counsel of           pleasure of the Father. In that glorified Christ. the
    God. It is Christ that first breaks through the womb of           entire fulness of the entire creation was implied,
    that counsel and unto whom all things in time as well             according to the good pleasure of the Lord. All that
    as in the new creation, in the new heavens and earth,             was created, in heaven and in earth, is. one glorious
    are adapted.  ,And to  Him they are  connected'in the             revelation, and, as it were, an individualization of Him
    organic sense of the word as the "beginning" of all               in Whom all the fuhress  dwells. The prototypes of. all
    things.                                                           creatures are in Him. In Him as their sphere they are
  Although my quotation is already lengthy, I want the                conceive-d in the counsel of God. And therefore,
reader to get the complete picture of this beautiful                  according to that counsel they are created in Him For
passage and this thorough exposition. And therefore I                 that reason they are also created "through him" and
will next quote Rev. Hoeksema's exposition of verses 16               "u&o him." The perfect "have been created" denotes
and 17, which are more correctly rendered in the                      the work of creation from  the. viewpoint of its
American Revised Version as follows: "For in him were                 completion and perfection. The Son, but conceived as
all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth,                the exalted Son, as the Head of His church, raised
                                                                      from the dead and exalted at the right hand of God,
things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or               Who was destined to have preeminence over all things,
dominions or principalities or powers; all things have                was the Mediator also of creation and of the formation
been created through him, and unto him; and he is                     of all things. Just as. God reconciled all things in
before all things, and in him all things consist." Here               heaven and on earth, ,"through the blood of his cross,"
follows the explanation of this section:                              so also God created all things "through the firstborn of
       The conjunction "for" connects these verses as a               every creature." For that reason they also are "unto
    reason and ground with verse 15. The connection is                him." All the lines in creation and in recreation, all the
    evidently especially with the concept  "fnstborn  of              lines in the present world and in the world to come
    every creature." Christ  `is the firstborn of every               point to Him, run in' His direction, and have @Him
    creature, for "in bin?' all things were created in heaven         their center. The whole creation is adapted to Him.
    and on earth. They were finished through Him and                  And therefore it is also true that all things in their
    unto Him. And in Him, Who is before all things, all               mutual relation to one another subsist in Him, are              .
    things also subsist, even in their mutual relation and in         sustained by Him, as the glorified Christ, Who appears
    their development. The `main thought in these versesis            as such in the everlasting counsel of the Most High.
    therefore that Christ, ,the "beginning," the "fustborn            For He is "before all things?' not only as the eternal
    of every creature,`? and the "firstborn out of the                Son of God, but as the glorified Christ, ,and that too,
    dead," Who is the Head of the church, the Mediator, is            according to the good pleasure of God. This idea,
    indeed  the  fans  (fountain) and  principium  of all             which is, of course, fundamentally supralapsarian, is
    things, and that God has created all things through               sustained by all Scripture. That is why the Word of
    Him and unto Him, and that all things have their                  God can teach us in I Cor. 3:21-23:  "For all things are
    subsistence in Him. What is the meaning of these                  yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the
    words?                                                            world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to
      The one of whom these things are said is the same as            come; all are yours; And ye are Christ's; and Christ is
    the frrstbom of all creatures, the firstborn of the dead,         God's."~ And in the Epistle to the Ephesians, (which is
    the head of the body, that is, the church, the                    so closely allied to our present epistle), 1: 10, we read:
    beginning, He that in all things was ordained to be the           "That in the dispensation of the fuhress  of times he
    first, and through whom God has reconciled all things             might gather together in one all things in Christ, both
    unto Himself, according.to vs. 20. He therefore is not            which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in
    the Son of God in His divine nature; but He-is the                him."
    same Christ, the Logos that entered into. human                 At this point an explanation is given of the expression
    nature, that died on the cross, ,a.nd that rose again on      "all things." It is pointed out especially that the text
    the third day and is glorified and exalted at the right       wants to emphasize that also the heavenly world was
    hand of God, and who is as such the image of the              created in Christ and was created through Him, and that
    invisible God, to which these verses have reference.
    This Christ, .Who is the Mediator of reconciliation, is at    He was before them all. Also in relation to the angels He
    the same time the Mediator of creation, "in him were          is the firstborn, and also in relation to them He must
    all things created."We must pay attention to the              have the preeminence. Next follows an explanation of
    differences in the prepositions .that are used in these       verses 18 and 19, which read as follows: "And he is the
    verses: in (en), through (dig), and unto (eis). And at        head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the
    the same time we must not overlook the difference in          firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have


152                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER


the preeminence. For it was the good pleasure of the                     that according to God's eternal counsel it was His
Father that in him should all the fulness dwell." &rt of                 delight, His good pleasure, that all the fuhress should
this passage has already been explained in the preceding;            dwell in Christ. Another question is not so easy to
but the author offers the following explanation of these                 answer. It is this: just to what does the term %u.ness"
two verses in addition:                                                  refer? That the term must be understood not in the
          Alreadv we exnlained, in connection with our                   active sense ("that which fius"), but in the passive
       interpret&ion of v&se 15; the terms "beginning" and               meaning ("that by which anything is filled") seems
       "firstborn from the dead." To this the apostle now                etymologically certain. It is also `evident from the
       adds: "in order that in all things he might have the              entire context, even though no genitive is supplied
       preeminence." This, therefore,' as is evident from "in            further to qualify the noun "fulness," that the
       order that," refers to the goal, the ultimate divine              meaning is: that by which God is filled. The meaning
       purpose. Christ is the firstborn of every creature, the           of the whole clause is: it pleased God that in Christ all
       beginning, the fnstbegotten out of the dead, in order             the fuhress with which God is fiZed should dwell. But
       that in all things He might be the fast one, might have           the question is: what is the nature of the contents of
       the preeminence among all things. It is the eternal               this fuhress? Must  ,we understand by this term the
       purpose of God that the glorified Christ may have the             fulness of divine grace, the fulness of all the divine
       preeminence, may be the first -in rank over all                   charismata, of all the blessings in heavenly places (Eph.
       creatures. Beginning and goal (archee  and telos),  alpha         1:  3)? Or is the reference to the fulness of the
       and omega, are inseparably connected with each other.             godhead, as expressed in Col. 2: 9? The two are, of
       If the goal, the final purpose, of God is that in all             course, closely related. The former is no doubt
       things Christ must have the preeminence, He must be               grounded in the latter. Yet it seems to us that the
       conceived and ordained as such before all things in the          interpretation offered by Meyer, Eadie,  Alford, and
       counsel of God. Hence, "in order that he might have"              others, namely that the term refers to the fuhress of
       refers to the final end of all things in the new creation        the divine charismata (gifts, blessings), and not to the
       according to the counsel of God. Then, in the new                 fidness of the nature of God, as is the case in 2: 9, is
       creation, the end which God always knows from the                 correct. For this we offer the following considerations:
       beginning will have been realized; and then Christ will           1) The indwelling in Christ of this divine fulness is
       indeed be .the first among all. As far as the term itself         presented here as the object of the divine good
       is concerned, "in all things" (en pasin) may, of course,         pleasure. This can hardly be said of the essential divine
       be masculine. In that case the meaning would be that             fulness, according to which the Son is one with the
       Christ will have the preeminence and be the first one            Father and the Holy Spirit and co-equal with them.
       among His brethren. Nevertheless, the entire context             For this coequality is essential to the divine nature,
       refers to a much broader concept. Hence, it is more              and not the object of God's counsel: 2) The context
       correct to read the expression as neuter: among all              speaks of the work of divine grace whereby God
       things, in every respect. Or: with relation to all things        reconciled all things unto Himself through the blood
       Christ is to be the first and to have the preeminence.           of the cross, making peace. 3) Also the argument must
       "To have the preeminence" is an an expression                    be considered of force which Meyer stresses in this
       occurring only once in the New Testament original. It            connection, that if the apostle had meant to refer to
       means `rto be the first one in rank and position, to             the essential divine fulness dwelling in Christ, he would
       occupy the first place." That Christ occupies and will           hardly have omitted to use the qualifying genitive "of
       occupy the first place in every respect signifies that He        the godhead," 2: 9, especially since he uses the word
       is the Mediator and Lord of the whole creation. All the          here for the first time. Hence, we interpret "fulness" as
       heavenly blessings will issue forth from Him, as the             indicating the fuhress of charismata that out of God
       Head, into the whole new creation, and from Him flow             dwells in Christ, `and which He as the Head of His
       forth into the whole church, which is His body. And              church, according to the good pleasure of God, pours
       He will be Lord, and rule over all creatures under God           out upon her, and as the one that occupies the first
       forever.                                                         place in all things also upon the whole cosmos. All this
         This is further motivated by the clause: "For it               is conceived in the good pleasure of God and is finally
       pleased the Father that in him should all fulness                realized in the new creation.
       dwell," or, "because it was the good pleasure of God           From this point on, the author explains, in con-
       that in him should all the fulness dwell." The question      nection with the following verses, the idea of the
       may be asked: what is the subject of "it pleased," for       reconciliation of all created things unto God through
       it is not expressed? Some make "all the fulness" the         the blood of the cross.
       subject. The meaning then would be: the whole fulness          For the present I will conclude by pointing out that
       (of God) was pleased to dwell in Him. But such an
       interpretation is entirely without precedent in the New      here is a thorough-going, Scripturally oriented, and
       Testament. Besides, that God is the subject of the verb      Reformed explanation of the relation between creation
       here is also plain from "unto himself' in verse 20,          and Christ. Dr. Kuitert and others may not like it. They
       which certainly refers to God. As to the meaning of          may not agree with it. And others may find the
       the verb, it always refers to God's decree, and then         supralapsarianism which is inherent in this explanation
       from the viewpoint that God takes delight and                distasteful. I, on my part, find it both sound and
       pleasure in His own counsel. The meaning therefore is        beautiful. But this is not the question. Kuitert claimed


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            153


that traditional Reformed theology had no answer to              And here is the crux of the matter. Kuitert's own
the problem of the relation between Christ and creation       so-called dogmatics of the relation between Christ and
and that the Christian church did not know what to do         creation was not only vague, far-fetched, and totally
with passages like Colossians 1: 15, ff. I claim that         unsatisfying. But neither for his view of Genesis nor for
Kuitert's claim is false. On the contrary, I claim that in    his explanation of the dogmatical implications of his
the above exegesis of the passage in Colossians 1 is a        view did he offer or does he have any Scriptural
thoroughly Scriptural and careful explanation of the          foundation.
passage in question. Moreover, it is an explanation by           And I, for my part, prefer the Word of God, not the
one who held strictly to the literal interpretation of the    philosophy of man, be he Kuitert or anyone else.
creation narrative.


All Around Us

                                    Ecumenical Footnotes
                                                    Pro5  HI.  Hanko


   In several recent church papers have appeared several      trines of the Church have been denied. One such
interesting "footnotes" to various ecumenical en-             doctrine is the truth of the virgin birth of Christ. High
deavors. These footnotes more than the items which            Vatican officials have, several times, warned the Dutch
capture the headlines in the ecclesiastical press show the    hierarchy to conform to official Church teaching. But
supreme folly of much of modern and liberal ecumenic-         the clerics in the Netherlands have stedfastly refused.
ity.                                                          Newsweek commented on this in a recent issue:
                           ***k*                                        Looking wan and worried, Pope Paul VI used a
   Tensions in the Roman Catholic Church continue                  general audience at the Vatican last week to criticize
unabated. These tensions revolve around strong liberal             dissenting priests - and liberal bishops - who, he said,
men in the Romish hierarchy who are intent upon                    are duty-bound to defend the letter of the church's
leading the Church into new paths and a conservative               doctrines. "Who today speaks of hell?" he asked in a
pope who is trying to hold the line against all but                poignant departure from his prepared text. "This is
irresistible pressures.                                            not liked and not discussed. Everyone chooses the
                                                                   truths he likes."
   There is the matter of birth control, far from settled.              The Pope's complaint came only five days after a
Pope Paul has insisted on the traditional stand of the           commission of six cardinals had issued a public
Romish Church. In his recent encyclical, he has made all           demand to the liberal Dutch hierarchy to revise its
artificial methods of birth control illegal under canon            controversial catechism for adults. After a year of
law. Only the rhythm method is approved. While some                squabbling with conservative Vatican representatives,
bishops, especially in this country, are trying hard to            the Dutch still refuse to alter certain passages that
suppress opposition to the pope's stand, criticism is              leave such beliefs as the virgin birth of Jesus open to
freely made in this country and abroad by priests and              further doctrinal development.
higher-echelon clergy. Many clerics have been disci-                    Pope Paul, it seems, sees no room for such reinter-
plined for their refusal to bow before papal edict. And            pretation. In his speech, he unambiguously affirmed
the people themselves simply go their own way practic-             his own belief that Catholic doctrine must be under-
                                                                   stood precisely as it has been explained in the past.
ing birth control as they always have. Although the                "The very formulas in which doctrine has been
pope has made several impassioned pleas for support of             thoughtfully and authoritatively defined  cannot be
his stand, his word goes unheeded in many parts of the             given up," he warned. "When it comes to its own
Church.                                                            teaching, the church is intransigent and dogmatic - at
  But tension in doctrinal matters is also increasing.             any cost."
Throughout the Church there are many who no longer               The issue more and more revolves around the
are willing to -accept traditional Romish doctrine. They      question of the supreme authority of the pope. And all
are intent on going the way of Protestant liberal thought     this has important implications for the ecumenical
and are challenging the Church's  ,right to dictate           movement. On the one hand, the Romish Church is
doctrine. An example of this is a new catechism book          about finished with an infallible pope who speaks ex
published about a year ago by the Romish hierarchy in         cathedva, who, as the infallible mouthpiece of Christ is
the Netherlands. In this book several important doc-          able to pronounce infallible doctrine. And, in  con-


154                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


nection with this, the Church is about finished with a          Plans are proceeding well along these lines. Recently a
supreme authority in the pope who can impose his will         report was made to COCU leaders on the progress of de
absolutely on the rest of the Church. The movement is         facto union. The rep&t provided information of merger
towards freedom of thought and ethics and the move-           on local, regional, national and international levels.
ment is not going to be stopped by such a conservative        Many examples were cited of cooperation between
as Paul VI and his curia. The pope's latest speeches have     participating churches in the areas of "united ministry
sounded more and more plaintive  - as if' he himself          in local church situations to ecumenical cooperation in
realizes he is fighting a losing battle. And surely he is.    Christian education, theological education, and in .urban
He may be able to stem the tide a bit. But it is only a       and overseas mission work." (Quoted from the
matter of time and the forces of change will have swept       Presbyterian Journal) The report also spoke of the fact
over the Vatican as well as other citadels of Romish          that in some of these areas of cooperation, Roman
power.                                                        Catholic and Jewish groups were participating.
  But on the other hand, Protestantism is eager to seek         Certainly this is evidence of the contention that has
union with Rome and bring both ecclesiastical branches        repeatedly been made that the unity of the body of
of the church together again. One big barricade is papal      Christ is something with which these men are not in the
authority. If present trends continue and the authority       least doncerned. They want unity for unity's sake. They
of the pope is sufficiently eroded to enable freedom of       are willing to merge without any agreement' in doctrine
thought and ethics, the major obstacle to reunion with        or church polity or liturgy. Institutional unity is the
Rome will have been removed. Much of Protestantism is         only thing which interests them. Stich a unity can surely
willing to accept a pope as a sort of moral and spiritual     never reflect the unity of the Church which belongs to
head of Christendom; one who speaks for the Church            our Lord Jesus Christ.
(&her than to it)  tid represents, in a figurehead, the                                  * * *  +
unity of the whole church. There is evidence of this            The role of the negro church in ecumenical affairs is
even in Reformed circles. A plea was made a short time        increasingly capturing the attention of church leaders.
ago by Prof. J. Plomp of the Gevefovmeevcle Kerken for        Here too there is not complete agreement on the best
a pastor  pastovum. On the occasion of his inauguration       way to go about this. On the one hand, white
into the chair of Church Polity at Kampen he delivered        protestantism feels the pressing need of bringing negro
an address in which he asked for an element  sf               churches into the ecumenical movement. But, on the
episcopalianism into the Reformed Churches. Particu-          other hand, there is a growing feeling among negro
larly he wanted a Synodical bishop which he considered        church leaders that the time has come to express their
to be a desirable thing. This is not far removed from a       racial consciousness and culture in ecclesiastical affairs
pope who has no judicial authority in the Church but          as well as elsewhere.
does have moral authority.                                      The Presbyterian Journal has reported on a meeting
  And so; gradually, the way is being smoothed towards        of the National Committee of Negro Churchmen. Iii this
merger.                  *  .*  .*  .*                        report several interesting developments were mentioned.
                                                                The Committee of Negro Churchmen met to discuss
  It was reported in these columns some time ago that         the problem of maintaining a unique black tradition
COCU (Consultations on Church Union) had decided to           within the Church. The meeting had the approval of the
proceed with union without a formal plan of union. Ten        United Presbyterian Council on Church and Race. This
denominations are participating in these talks and the        committee of the UPUSA is quoted by the Presbyterian
leaders envision a future denomination numbering in           Journal as saying that "the formation of all-black action
excess of 30,000,OOO people. The idea behind such "de         groups is one of the most hopeful signs to emerge in the
facto merger" is to merge now and decide later the basis      midst of the chaos of the present. . ; . This movement
for merger. Some preliminary work was done and a              holds great promise for the development of. . . a
small book was published entitled "Principles of Church       genuine and creative black theology."
Union" in which certain aspects of a basis for the new          The conference of Negro Churchmeil heard an invoca-
denomination were adopted. But the whole thing ran            tion which went like this:
into several snags and some opposition. Hence, leaders              Unite our hearts, our spirits and our guts in the
are afraid that if the movement waits until a detailed            Third World and make it a world of revolution. In the
plan of merger is drawn up, a plan which can serve as a           name of Jesus, ,of Martin (Luther King) and of
confessional, doctrinal, church political and liturgical          Malcolm (X'), we raise Our prayer to thee.
basis for the super  denominsition,  that merger will be        The last night of the conference the delegates became
put off indefinitely. So the thing to do is to merge first    angry with the cashier at the St. Louis Gateway Hotel
and gradually (perhaps over a period of several decades)      where they were meeting for their conference. They
settle the differences in doctrme, church polity and          insisted that the cashier and several others of the help
liturgy. The hope is that a basis-for unidn will gradually    had made certain insulting remarks to them. The whole
evolve. This is ecumenism with a vengeance.                   delegation decided to hold a sit-in in the lobby of the


                                                 THE STANDARD  BEARER-                                                 155



hotel which lasted until  3:30 A.M. At that time they            welcoming hand to the Lutheran Church  - Missouri
left to stay elsewhere. The next day, they decided to            Synod. This latter group is one of the more conservative
leave the hotel without paying their bills. The money to         Lutheran Churches. (Although it is not as conservative
cover the cost of their meeting was placed in escrow             as the Lutheran Church - Wisconsin Synod which broke
until the hotel met several demands which the Con-               ties with the Missouri Synod Lutherans some time ago
ference made.                                                    because of liberal tendencies in the Missouri Synod.)
  That various ecclesiastical groups can engage in such          And a paper entitled  Lutheran  News spends a great
blasphemous prayers and unethical action `is not neces-          share of its time exposing liberalism in this denomi-
sarily surprising. That the United Presbyterian Church           nation.) The question of merger is a burning issue at
through one of its committees can put its approval on            present among Lutherans of the Missouri Synod. The
such outrageous conduct is an indication of how far              issue will be decided next year. The conservatives are,
from Scripture the ecumenical movement has drifted.              quite naturally, opposed to merger. They are aware of
                         4  +b  .+  .*                           the fact that liberalism has grown to considerable
  For several years talks have been going on between             proportions among Missouri Synod Lutherans, but they
Lutherans in this country in an effort to forge a united         hope that a reformation can be effected in the Church.
Lutheran Church. The talks have involved chiefly the             If the merger goes through however, the conservatives
American Lutheran Church (ALC) and the Lutheran                  see no hope at all for reformation. If all three Churches
Church of America (LCA). The ALC has been taking the             would unite, the result would be a denomination of
initiative in these talks and is waiting for the approval of'    nearly 9 million people.
the LCA. But now the ALC has also reached out a


In His Fear

                                          A Song in the Heart
                                                    Rev. John A. Heys

   The singing was superb.                                       amusement and fleshly satisfaction. Or, if you will, go
   The harmony was rich and full. The phrasing was               on to Proverbs 15:8, "The sacrifice of the wicked is an
flawless.. The rhythm and tempo were in wonderful                abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright
agreement with the sentiment of the words. The words             is His delight." Once again the secondary author speaks
were  pronotinced  with perfect diction, each syllable           of sacrifice rather than of singing. But it ought to be
coming out clearly; and the audience was never in doubt          evident that he is speaking of spiritual exercises and of
as to the message conveyed by .the words. Men sat with           external functions that are not the work of a regener-
bated breath and were thrilled by the music that                 ated heart. And these are an abomination to God,
flooded their souls.                                             though to men they may look to be so lovely that we
   But did God enjoy it?                                         are ready to label them works of faith. God reads the
   You may be sure that He does not enjoy the singing            heart and listens for a song in the heart. Proceeding into
of those who have not the song of salvation in their             the New Testament we found no one less than Jesus in
hearts, even when they sing of that salvation. A song            His parable of the Pharisee and the Publican in Luke 18
that is not sung in His fear makes a raucous sound in His        declaring that the wicked Pharisee prayed with himsel'
ear. And we had better open our ears to what He says             Jesus did not classify it as a prayer to God. He taught us
Himself about all such singing. Let me quote just a few          in this parable moreover that such do not go home with
verses from several parts `of the Bible which will show          the confidence of justification. And that can only mean
that this is His judgment throughout Holy Writ.                  that the wrath of God abides on such and thus that He
   "But unto the- wicked God saith, What hast thou to            does not enjoy their prayers. Romans 14: 23b declares,
do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take           "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." You may laud your
my covenant in thy mouth?" Psalm 50: 15. Asaph is                so-called works of "civic righteousness" which the
speaking here of the speech of the wicked rather than of         wicked perform. But you will not get God to go along
their singing. But the text clearly indicates God's              with you in your philosophies. For He also declares that
displeasure when the wicked use His Word whether in              same truth more emphatically in Hebrews 11: 6 where
speech or singing, and that they are loathsome in His            we read, "But without faith it is impossible to please
sight when they use the things of His covenant for their         Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is


     156                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


     and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek          present with me; but how to perform that which is good
     Him." They  may sing ever so beautifully. They may              I find not." Romans 7: 18.
     come with the choicest of "sacrifices". They may offer            `There are some amazing statements here!
     a beautifully worded prayer, or sing the Lord's Prayer             Note again and first. of all that here you have the
     with such tenderness that it brings tears to your and my        speech of a regenerated child of God who says of his
     believing eyes. But if they are unbelievers, they do not        flesh that in it dwelleth NO good thing. Even regenera-
     please God with their singing but instead in that very          tion, the new birth, does not change or improve that
     singing are an abomination to Him so that He asks them,         flesh of the child of God. It remains conceived and born
     "What hast thou to do to sing of My covenant with your          in sin and thoroughly corrupt. And if  that flesh is not
     vile lips and cess-pool heart?"                                 changed in the reborn child of God, where will we find
        They sing beautifully; and at Christmas time the air is      some good yet in the unregenerated who have only that
     filled with the delightful music of the carols. Trained         flesh? Is it so  - as is claimed  - that this "common
     voices of `the very best musical quality will sing of God's     grace" of God does that? How does it then happen that
     covenant Head, Christ Jesus Himself, and of His coming          Paul had none of this? Is it so that saving grace causes
     in our flesh. They will "`sacrifice" their talents on the       the "good" of the "common grace" to melt away? And
     altar of His worship. In every city of an appreciable size      if the regenerated find not how to do the good that
     the "Messiah" of Handel will be sung with varying               their new life given in saving grace knows and wills to
     degrees of artistry. We will sing along in our hearts. We       do, would it not be better that we receive this "common
     will thrill at the music and also at the message. But will      grace" instead of saving grace? Or, let God give us the
     God "sing" along with them? By the way we never read            saving grace just at the very end of our earthly life. Then
     of God singing, do we? Jesus sang an hymn with His              in this life we can do some good at least.
     disciples at the last Passover. But, then, will God                But note further in Romans 7: 18 that a regenerated
     approve of all this singing which is of the lips and does       child of God, speaking here under the infallible guidance
     not come from the heart? He certainly will not! For             of the Spirit of Truth, says that he cannot find a way to
     whatsoever is not of faith is SIN, and sin He will punish!      do the good that he would exactly because  he still has
     He never approves of sin. And these do not please Him,          that old flesh that is so corrupt. And should we then
      but definitely in all this displease Him. He will find no      say, do we even dare to say, that the unregenerated not
     reason to hire or import these trained and gifted singers       only will but also DO find a way to perform it and
     into the Hallelujah Chorus of the new Jerusalem, not            actually in their deeds perform "civic righteousness?"
     simply because He will create a people that will be able        Do we dare to believe that God finds any joy at all in
     to sing more wonderfully from a musical point of view,          the words sung with a mouth that is wholly under the
     but also because He is always reading the heart and             power of hatred against God? 0, indeed, there are works
     cannot have before His face those who in their hearts           that look good to man. But when you speak of
     hate Him. God sees that hate when they take His                 righteousness, you speak of that which is an act of love
     covenant in their mouths. It is not a question of               towards God. That is never attributed to the wicked in
     whether these matters of His covenant can be and are in         Scripture. They may perform a duty well  - as is the
     the mouth. We stand before God always as transparent            case with Jehu, who wiped out the whole family of
I    as clear glass; and He sees that heart and what is in it.       wicked Ahab. II Kings 10: 30. It may even be stated in II
     That "spoils" it every time when He hears these that            Kings 10: 30 that Jehu had "done well in executing that
     hate Him sing the songs of Zion. You cannot deceive             which was right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the
     Him by some sweet sounding words that fall from the             house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart."
                                                                     But that exactly limits also that which was right in
~    open mouth. You can be an hypocrite, but not before
     Him. And how well Annanias and Sapphira know that               God's sight, and it explains what was right in God's sight
     now in hell!                                                    as the proper punishment upon the house of Ahab. It
        What is more, if a saint such as Paul must declare that      does not say that Jehu loved God; and since the inner
     the evil that he would not, that he does, and the good          principle of the law is love towards God, all true civic
      that he would he allows not, how dare we speak of the          righteousness must be an act of love towards God.
     unregenerated as being able to please God? We some-             Jehu's deed was not in His fear but in fear of Ahab's
      times gather the impression; from those that defend the        sons. He knew that his own kingdom was not secure as
     theory (for that is all that it is) of "civic righteousness"    long as one contender from the line of Ahab lived. This
     that the unregenerated with their "common grace" can            is what moved him to do such a good job of destroying
      do far more good than the regenerated can with saving          Ahab's house; and the love of God was not in it at all.
     grace. It is then hard to explain that those who surely           Just confer Hosea 1: 4, if you need more proof of this
     must have both the "common grace" and this special,             fact. We read, "And the Lord said unto him, Call his
     saving grace - such as the apostle Paul - have such a           name Jezreel; for yet a little while and I will avenge the
     struggle that they say, "For I know that in me (that is,        blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause
     in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is            to cease the house of Israel." We may note that this


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   157



welldoing of Jehu in executing what was right in God's          rendition." And some who heard them sing will have the
sight is here called bloody murder! He did a good job of        same. thoughts and expect these to receive a reward of
killing, but God calls his deed that which even men `call       glory.-  But. Jesus has a way of cutting through all this
a most detestable and atrocious crime: murder! He did           activity that does not proceed from faith and says,
well in that he exterminated every last one of Ahab's           "Depart from me ye workers of iniquity. I never knew
descendants, but he did it in hatred of his neighbor and        you. " Yea, look at that passage in Matthew  7:21-23.
in hatred of the God Who sent him to do this, work of           Here again were works that appeared to be "civic
punishment upon Ahab's house. The love of God was               righteousness," for they prophesied in Christ's name not
not throbbing in Jehu's heart and therefore the deed of         only but cast out devils and did many wonderful works.
his hand was sin. It was not an act of faith.                   The social improvements which they realized, the many
  So it is, with all this "beautiful" singing. God sees no      works of charity which they performed, the devils they
ethical beauty in it. He sees it as nothing but sin. And        chased out of the field of labour, and out of the social
Psalm 50: 15 indicates that He prefers to have them             structure wherein men were abused and maltreated were
completely silent about the matters of His covenant. He         surely  - while they lived on the earth  - branded as
does not enjoy their singing of the songs of Zion.              works of "civic righteousness." But what is the Master's
Instead it fills Him with righteous fury. Instead of being      answer to it all? Does He say? "Yea, ye did well in the
labeled as `"civic righteousness" by Him, He frowns             sphere of the natural. I liked what you did, even though
upon it with righteous indignation. So true is this that        it had no saving good in it." He does not! He says that
He will one day silence it all. in the fire of hell where       they worked  iniquity!  He says that He never knew
their mouths instead will be filled with wails of agony as      them !
they gnash with their teeth. If all this singing actually         If the love of God is not in that heart, then whatever
pleases Him, why does He bring it to an end? And why            the lips may say, and regardless of the praise that men
to this awful end?                                              may heap upon the singer or speaker in God's eyes (and
  0, indeed, many will say in that day, "Lord did we            ears). it is iniquity and not righteousness at all. Whatso-
not sing so beautifully in Thy Name? And we did it for          ever is not of faith is SIN! Only when the song of
Charity. We gave programs to raise funds for this cause         salvation is in the heart will we sing in His fear. And
and for that. We practiced hard to give a truly artistic        only then will it be delightful in His ear.


A Cloud of .Witnesses

                                 Amnorm, Tamar, and Absalom
                                                      B. Woudenberg

                                   And Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her
                                garment of divers colours  that was on her, and laid her
                                hand on her head, and went on crying.
                                   And Absalom her brother said unto her, Hath Amnon
                                thy brother been with. thee? but hold now thy peace,
                                my sister: he is thy brother; regard not this thing. So
                                Tamar remained desolate in her brother  Absalom's
                                house. "
                                                                          II Samuel 13: 19, 2.0

   One of the greatest sorrows a father can know is to          that day, especially for great rulers and kings. Through
see the sins which he himself has committed, and from           all the world the number of a king's wives and the level
which he has repented, carried on, nonetheless, in  his         of their birth was most common indication of his
children. It was this which .for the rest of his days was to    greatness; but David should have known better. After
be the lot of David.                                            all, the history of his nation and its record in the
   David was a true child of God, but with two                  Scriptures gave clear indication to the fact that God
overriding sins which he could not restrain. The one was        disapproved of the multiplication of wives, and when
his inability to control his sexual desires and reject the      this was practiced it always led to ruin for the family.
temptation toward polygamy which was so strong in               But David could not resist the love of many women; and


158                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


the result was, in the second place, that he also erred in     facts. The law of Israel did not allow for such incestual
his love toward their children. To be sure David loved         marriages; and kept as she was within her mother's
his children, he loved them with a strong passion; but it      portion of the palace, there was no way that  Amnon
was the kind of love which pampered them rather than           could possibly get to her. It was more than the spoiled
provided a sound religious discipline and instruction. It      nature of  Amnon could take so that soon he became
was perhaps inevitable. With all of his wives, the             thin and sickly merely because of the bitterness of his
children of David were too many to be able to give any         thwarted desire.
real personal attention. The result was that they were           As it was, there lived in the household of David also
raised by servants who saw nothing else to do but to           another young man, a son of David's brother, by the
give these children whatsoever they desired. It could not      name of Jonadab. He was a man of much the same
but lead to trouble and difficulty in the end; and so it       inclination as Amnon and a close friend of his although
did.                                                           much more subtle and clever. It was he that first noted
   It first became evident in  Amnon, the oldest of            the listless and sickly look on  Amnon's face and
David's children and thus the heir-apparent to the             inquired of him, "Why art thou, being the king's son,
throne. This in itself, however, was sufficient cause for a    lean.from day to day? wilt thou not tell me."
great deal of family trouble. In the first place,  Amnon         It was not an easy request to answer; and yet, Amnon
was hardly the most promising of David's sons. He was a        ,had been carrying his sorrow alone so long he almost
spoiled child, even more so than were the rest of David's      welcomed an opportunity to talk of it. Still the answer
children, not too clever in mind but overbearing and           when it came was brief and sullen, "I love Tamar, my
demanding in his ways, a bully to those who were under         brother Absalom's sister."
him. And then, besides this, there was the fact that             To the quick mind of Jonadab, however,  Amnon's
Amnon's mother was nothing more than an ordinary               problem was no problem at all. He saw almost immedi-
commoner and not of royal lineage as were many of              ately how the whole thing could be solved to the
David's latter wives, particularly Talmai the mother of        satisfaction of  Amnon's carnal desires; and, moreover,
Tamar and Absalom. It was a situation that naturally           he enjoyed plotting the ways of sin. He recognized the
bred jealousy and hatred to cast a deep division within        desperate seriousness of Amnon; but to him it was just a
the household.                                                 game to be played with the lives of these .about him as
   Because of the size of the royal family, it was             long as he himself did not get hurt. Quickly and with a
necessary, of course, that there should be a certain           light-hearted laugh he laid out his suggestion, "Lay thee
organization within it. We do not know a great deal            down on thy bed, and'make thyself sick: and when thy
about this, but it would appear that as long as the            father cometh to see thee, say unto him, I pray thee, let
children were young they would be raised under the             my sister Tamar come, and give me meat, and dress the
immediate supervision of their own mothers, each with          meat in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it at her
a separate portion of the palace in which to live. The         hand."
girls were kept in this way until married, while the             The whole thing was a very clever plan because it got
young men when coming of age would receive each his            directly to Amnon's problem. He simply did not know
own home with his own servants and his own portion of          how to get close to Tamar to talk to her in private. So
farm land which he would supervise and from which he           long had he lived with dreams in his imagination and so
would live. The result was that the various divisions of       convinced was he of his own impressiveness that Amnon
the royal family' were kept distinctly divided, and            was sure that if he could get Tamar alone she would
particularly the young, unmarried daughters were kept          willingly submit to whatever he suggested. The only
in rather complete seclusion until such a time as they         thing was to get to her alone; and for this Jonadab's
were given in marriage to a husband.                           plan was most  .clever. The one thing for  which Tamar
  As it was, however, there was enough contact                 was generally known around the palace was her ability
between the various arms of the royal family for the           to cook and bake cakes. Now already  Amnon was
young man Amnon occasionally to come within seeing             looking sick enough. All he had to do was to pretend to
range of his half-sister Tamar, the full sister of Absalom     be confined to his bed and when his father David came
and a most beautiful young woman. As so easily and             to visit him claim that it was due primarily to a loss of
frequently happens with young men in such a situation:         appetite. Then it would not seem to very strange to
he fell madly in love. It was not a noble love nor             request that Tamar should come and practice her
honorable, but one of passion and lust. Nevertheless it        culinary art within his very presence. No, it would not
soon came to dominate his life completely. AlI that his        seem strange, at least, not to one so trusting of his
mind could think of was the beauty of this young               children as was David.
woman; and he wanted her for his own. Moreover, being            Accordingly  Amnon did as Jonadab suggested and
a spoiled child and the heir-apparent of the king he           when David came to visit, he asked, "Let Tamar my
could not accept the fact that even this might be denied       sister come and make me a couple of cakes in my sight,
him. But then, on the other hand, there were the cold          that I may eat at her hand." David, suspecting nothing,


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          159



without thought, complied.                                              except for the last of them which was only an attempt
   To Tamar, however, it must have come as a most                       to stall, knowing that the law of Israel and the king
strange and even frightening suggestion. Protected as                   would never allow what  Amnon wanted; but by this
young women were from the prying eyes of all men, it                    time Amnon had become a slave of his passions beyond
must have been a shocking proposal that she should go                   the point of reason so that by sheer power of force he
and practice her cooking with the very purpose that a                   forced himself upon his sister.
man might sit and watch her. But  the king had                             Sin, however, never really affords the pleasure which
commanded it and there was nothing she could do                         it promises, but gives way to revulsion and shame almost
about it. Moreover, she was at heart a very good girl and               immediately. So was it with Amnon. The shame and the
most willing to do what she could to help another who                   guilt came like a tide back upon him. He had proved
was suffering.                                                          himself, as Tamar had warned him, nothing more than a
   It must have been a most tense and nervous situation                 fool. But  Amnon was a proud and cowardly man,
when at last Tamar came to the house of  Amnon in                       unable to accept his own guilt and folly. Rather than
obedience to the king's command. There was the young                    acknowledge his own shame, he had to find someone
girl, self-conscious in her modesty, not daring to lift her             else to blame, and Tamar was the only possibility. Upon
eyes from the dough she kneaded in the pan. Meanwhile                   her now he turned with a revulsion and hatred more
Amnon only sat and thought, a mind full of evil thought                 intense than his love for her had ever been.
but unable to speak because of the servants which were                     It was Tamar, however, for whom the greatest
all about. Slowly the time crept on until at last the                   suffering remained. No longer a virgin, in the customs of
cakes were done and with a feeling of relief Tamar was                  the day, she had no right to the kind of garments she
able to pour them out before her brother  Amnon. For                    wore nor to return to her mother's room. Utterly
Amnon it was the critical moment. The time had come                     confused, she pleaded with  Amnon to allow her to
for Tamar to go and as yet he had not been able to                      remain until some arrangements could be made; but
speak to her a thing. Within him there boiled as in a                   cowardly and frightened man that he was, he only
bubbling caldron mixed feelings of passion and shame,                   commanded the servants to put her out. It left Tamar
fear and disgust; but in the end the baser feelings won                 wandering about not knowing where to go. In her
out. With one last desperate determination, he rose up                  anguish and unwavering honesty, she could only tear her
as though in a spasm of sickness commanding the                         virgin's clothing and throw ashes upon her head making
servants to leave and asking Tamar to follow him as he                  her dishonor apparent to all.
went into his bedchamber so as to feed him her cakes                       Fortunately, the first one Tamar met was her brother
there with her own hands. Stunned, confused, and                        Absalom. Moreover, no sooner did he see her than he
unwilling to do anything that might add to someone's                    suspected what had happened. The passions of Amnon
misery, Tamar followed, only to find standing before                    had not been as `hidden as he had thought. The trouble
her there in the bed chamber a man entirely different                   was that Absalom was hardly better himself. To be sure,
from any she had ever seen before, a man with lust and                  he was indignant with what had happened to his sister;
passion written all over his face, urging her to join him               but underneath there was almost a sense of relief.
in sin.                                                                 Amnon was the one who stood between him and the
   Tamar, however, was a young woman of pure heart                      throne; and now he had an excuse to put him out of the
and quick wit. Swiftly she began to put forth reasons                   way. But Absalom was not a man of impulse. He would
one after the other why this should not be, "Nay, my                    be sure first that everything was ready and the time was
brother, do not force me; for no such thing ought to be                 ripe. Meanwhile, he said to Tamar, "Hath  Amnon thy
done in  Isr.ael: do not thou this folly. And I, whither                brother been with thee? but hold now thy peace, my
shall I cause my shame to go? and as for thee, thou shalt               sister: he is thy brother; regard not this thing." It was
be as one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, I pray                 his promise to make all right, at least at his time. Until
thee, speak unto the king; for he will not withhold me                  that day he would keep Tamar in his own house. So she
from thee." The arguments were pointed and true,                        lived ,there and in her shame remained hidden.





            In the way of sin and corruption, the way of the world and of the flesh, the Spirit does not witness with our spirit
            that we are the children of God. On the contrary, in that way we grieve the Spirit, and we receive the testimony
            that we are still in our sin. If then, we would make our calling and election sure, we must give diligence to walk in
            the way of light and righteousness, to fight the good fight of faith5 according to the calling wherewith we are
           called.
                                                                              - H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of Grace, "p. 120


160                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER


Contending for the Faith
                     _. .                                   -

                                          THE DOCTRINE OF SIN
                                         THE THIRD  PERlQD  - 730-15 1 7  A.D.
                                                       GOTTSCHALK
                                                                   H.  Veldman

  At the close of -our preceding article we mentioned                             to perdition; not in the sense of two separate
three contending theories on the doctrine of predesti-                            predestinations, but one predestination with two sides,
nation: the doctrine of absolute predestination was set                           a positive side (election) and a negative side
forth by Gottschalk and defended, though with more                                (reprobation). He could not conceive of  thi one
moderation and caution, by others; of free will and a                             without the other; but he did not teach a predesti-
conditional predestination; and a third theory as set                             nation of the sinner to sin; which would make God the
forth by John  Scotus  Erigena which was disowned by                              author of sin. In this respect he was misrepresented by
both of these parties. And we promised to call attention                          Rabanus Maurus. In his shorter Confession from his
                                                                                  prison, he says:
to these contending theories. Now it is true that we are                                              "I believe and confess that God
discussing the doctrine of sin in this series of articles.                        foreknew and foreordained the holy angels and elect
                                                                                  men to unmerited eternal life, but that he equally
But it is also true, and most emphatically, that the                              foreordained the devil with his host and with all
doctrine of predestination is inseparably connected with                          reprobate men, on account of their foreseen future  evil
the doctrine of sin. This was certainly true in the                               deeds, by a just judgment, to merited eternal death."
writings and views of Augustine. If we maintain the                               He appeals to passages of the Scriptures, to Augustin,
Scriptural doctrine of sin, that man is of himself dead in                        Fulgentius, and Isidor, who taught the very same thing
sins and in trespasses, then we must hold to the doctrine                         except the equally. In the larger Confession, which is
of an absolute predestination. If, on the other hand, we                          in the form of a prayer, he substitutes for equaZZy the
teach that man is not by nature, or without saving grace,                         milder term almost or nearty, .and denies that God
dead in sins and in trespasses, but able to do good, and                          predestinated the reprobates to sin: "Those;0  God,"
to accept the gospel, then the gospel is set forth as an                          he says, "of whom thou  didst foreknow that  they
offer of salvation and one must also teach a conditional                          would persist by tkeir own misery in their damnable
predestination, a predestination that is based upon                               sins, thou didst, as a righteous judge, predestinate to
                                                                                  perdition." He spoke of two redemptions, one
foreseen faith and unbelief. That this is true is surely                          common to the elect and the reprobate, another
evident today. And it was also true of the period in the                          proper and special for the elect only. In similar manner
history of the Church and of doctrine, to which we are                            the Calvinists, in their controversy with the Arminians,
now calling your attention. This explains why the                                 maintained that Christ died efficien#y only for the
history of doctrine has much to teach. us, and also why                           elect, although sufficiently for all men.
we may be comforted by it.                                                   In connection with this quotation, we would observe
  In connection with the doctrine of an ABSOLUTE                           the following. When Gottschalk speaks of a salvation or
AND TWO-FOLD PREDESTINATION, Schaff has the                                redemption that is common to the elect and the
following, Vol. IV, 530 f.f:                                               reprobate, he, according, to Schaff, merely means that
         Gottschalk professed to follow simply the great                   the redemption of Christ, as such, is great enough to
       Augustin. This is true; but he gave undue dispropor-                cover the sins of all men, although not teaching that
       tion to the tenet of predestination, and made it a                  Christ actually died for all men. However, according to
       fundamental theological principle, inseparable from                 the above quotation, Gottschalk, always teaching an
       the immutability of God; while with Augustin it was                 absolute election, did teach a conditional reprobation,
       only a logical inference from his anthropological                   teaching that the Lord foreordained the devil with his
       premises. (notice that Schaff writes that Gottschalk                host and with all reprobate men,  on account of their
       gave undue disproportion to the tenet of predesti-
       nation - this would indicate, would it not, that Schaff            foreseen  future  evil  deeds,  by a just judgment, to
       does not approve of this emphasis that Gottschalk                   merited  eternal death. This is certainly a conditional
       placed upon the doctrine of predestination - H.V.).                 reprobation. We do not object to the teaching that the
       He began where Augustin ended. To employ a later                   Lord certainly foreordained men to a merited eternal
       (Calvinistic) terminology, he was a supralapsarian                  death, but we must not believe that God foreordained
       rather than infralapsarian. He held a two-fold predesti-            men to eternal death on account of their sin, and that
       nation of the elect to salvation, and of the reprobate             their sin is the ground for their reprobation. It is true


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       161



that infralapsarianism teaches that the Lord sovereignly              decided that question, and the Bible admitted of
willed that men should be left in their sin's but those               different interpretations.  '
fathers never taught that the Lord reprobated  be&&e               We wish to observe the following. In the first place,
of their sin. This is exactly what the arminians taught,         this Remigius certainly does not make a very favorable
and our fathers, although infralapsarian, would never            impression upon us. He himself holds to the particular:
teach  this. -However, that the Lord sovereignly repro-          istic conception of the death of Christ, but is willing to
bated, or predestinated to sin is certainly Scriptural, as       allow freedom of opinion and allow room within the
when the apostle Paul, in Romans 9, declares that the            church for those who teach that Christ died for all men,
Lord hated Esau and loved Jacob because they did good            declaring that the Scriptures admit- this universal inter-
or evil, in order that the counsel according to election         pretation. Now it must surely be true that the Word of
might stand, and also that He, as the heavenly Potter,           God does not teach both. If the Word of God teaches
makes vessels unto honour and unto dishonour. In the             that Christ died for all men, then it cannot teach that
light of this,  `we have difficulty understanding why            He died only for the elect. And this so-called freedom of
Philip Schaff should criticize Gottschalk for laying             opinion can never do anything else than work havoc
undue emphasis upon the truth of an absolute predesti-           within the church of God. But we are particularly
nation. But, we do wish to make one other remark.                interested in what the predestinarian friends of
Gottschalk, according to Schaff, did make his con-               Gottschalk brought out more clearly as far as God's
ception of predestination a fundamental theological              relation is concerned with respect to the good and the
principle, inseparable from the immutability of God.             evil. Thus, for. example, Ratramnus says that God was
When, therefore, he w-rote in his shorter Confession,            the author as well as the ruler of good thoughts and
that the Lord had foreordained men, on account of                deeds, but only the ruler, not the author, of the bad. He
their foreseen future evil deeds, by a just judgment, to         also declares that the Lord foreordained the punishment
merited eternal death, did he mean to say, not that the          of sin, not sin itself, that God directs the course of sin,
Lord had reprobated them on account of their sins;but            and overrules it for good. And Lupus says that God
that the Lord had sovereignly predestined  +.hat men             foreknew and permitted Adam's fall, and foreordained
would be condemned eternally because of their sins, and          its consequences, but not the fall itself. Now, is there
therefore be punished with a merited eternal death if            anything in  all these statements with which the
only it be understood that the Lord had sovereignly              infralapsarian would not agree? Of course, we are
willed that sinner? One can certainly teach this and at          supralapsarian in our conception. But, cannot all these
the same time be in full harmony with the Scriptural             statements be viewed as the infralapsarian conception of
truth of an absolute and unconditional reprobation.              a Divinely sovereign reprobation? The  infraltipsarian
       His predestinarian friends brought out the dif-           begins, in the counsel of God, with the`reality of sin. He
    ference in God's relation to the good and the evil more      is so afraid to make God the author of sin. And we must
    clearly. Thus Ratramnus  says that God was the author        all be afraid to make the Lord the author of  s&And,
    as well as the ruler of good thoughts and deeds, but         beginning with the fact of sin in the counsel of God, he
     only the ruler, not the author of the bad. He               then declares that the Lord sovereignly willed to leave
    foreordained the punishment of sin, not. sin itself. He      the reprobate in his sin, and that He did not will to
     directs the course of sin, and overrules it for good. He    bestow upon him saving faith, and that Christ died only
    used the evil counsel of Judas. as a means to bring
    about the crucifixion and through it the redemption.         ffor the elect. With this tie do not disagree 5s such, btit
    Lupus says that God foreknew and permitted Adam's            we believe that the Word of God goes further, teaching
    fall, and foreordained its consequences, but not the         that `the Lord has sovereignly willed `all things. I write
    fall itself.  Magister Florus also speaks of a               this because, after all, we declare that  iye are in
    praedestinatio gemina (double predestination, H.V.),         agreement with our Confessions, and they are
    yet with the emphatic dis&ction,  that God predes-           infralapsarian.
    tinated the elect both to good works and to salvation,              The Synod of Valence, which ,met at the request of
    but the reprobate only to punishment, not to sin.                the Emperor Lothaire  `%n 855, endorsed,,in opposition
    Rem&us censured the "temerity" and "untimely                     to Hincmar and the `four chapters of the Synod of
    loquacity" of Gottschalk, but defended him against               Chiersy, the main positions of the Augustinian system
    the inhuman treatment, and approved of all his                   as understood by Remigius, who presided. It affams a
    propositions except the unqualified denial of freedom            two-fold predestination, a predestination unto life and
    to do good after the fall, unless he meant by it that no         a predestination of the impious unto death, but with
    one could use h,is freedom without the grace of God.             such qualifications and distinctions as seemed to be
    He subjected the four chapters of Hincmar to a severe            necessary to save the holiness of God and the moral
    criticism. On the question whether God will have all             responsibility of man. The Synod of langres in the
    men to be saved without or with restriction, and                 province of Lyons, convened by Charles the Bald in
    whether Christ died for all men or only for the elect,           859, repeated the doctrinal canons of Valence, but
    he himself held the particular&tic view, but was willing         omitted the censure of the four chapters of Chiersy,
    to allow freedom of opinion, since the church had not            which Charles the Bald had subscribed, and thus


     162                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D . B E A R E R


      prepared- the  Y way for a compromise. (In connection                maintain the  1 Scriptural truth of God's absolute
            with the synod of Chiersy; see our preceding article;          sovereignty. And they always have disastrous results.
.           -immediately  -`under the heading:  Gottschalk   and           Moreover, they clearly show how difficult -it has always
      -: : Hincmar - H.V.)                                                 been to maintain the truth of God's absolute
       And so another compromise decision was reached.,                    sovereignty.
     Such decisions are always the result of being afraid to
                                  1

     Studies in Depth


                                                     A Campus Movement
                                                .
                                                           Rev. Robert C. Harbach


       In Campus-Crusade-for-Christ activities, continued                   from the grace of God, and that which is separated from
     reference to the Holy Spirit is made and to His                        the grace of God is not good. Free will without -the
indispensable work; yet in the bustling business of                        grace of God is not good, and without the grace of God
     "winning souls" He is allowed to do very little. of it.                the will is absolutely not free! It is, as Luther put it,
     Babes in Christ, "carnal Christians," mature Christians,               "`the servant and bondslave of evil," because it cannot
     all treat the Spirit of God as though He were at their                turn itself unto good; The testimony of Jesus was that
     beck and call. When they become "filled with the                      an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit. It can only
     Spirit" their will is said to be under the control of the             produce evil fruit. Now man and his fallen will are an
     Spirit, but the impression is given that He is under their            evil tree. Why then come out with the teaching that the
     control. The desire on the part of many Christians, say               tree is just as good as it ever was? or with what is even
     they, is for that which they do not have, to be "filled               more strange, that though it is evil ("man is sinful") it
     with the Holy Spirit." They wonder why they lack that                 can, if it will, bring forth good? Why persist in being
     filling. The answer tendered is that the trouble lies in              Esasmian when we are to be Christian? The will of
     the will. It is -a problem of the will. At his conversion             regenerated man is something different from that of the
     the will of man was temporarily (not unreservedly?                    natural man. The will of glorified man is something else
     RCH) yielded to God's will. He strayed from the, Lord,                yet, but the will of fallen man is certainly not free,
     failed to "walk in the light." He no longer seeks to do               except to evil.  `Its freedom is all down hill  - free to
     the will -of God. He must therefore be willing to repent.              "only evil continually. " "The carnal mind is enmity
     He must "allow the Holy Spirit to control" his life. It is            against God; it is not subject to the law of God, neither
     that "act of the will" which must be performed in God's               indeed can be! So then they that'are in the flesh (with
     favor.. The Spirit "does. not force us" and so cannot fill            that inimical, insubordinate, impotent will!)  cannot
us unless we yield to Him and "invite Him" to take over                    please God!"
     our lives; This conception of the Spirit's work is boldly                 In the movement under consideration the features
     offered, "because it is scriptural!"  This imaginary                   above described are very prominent. While there is a
     scripturality has it. that seated on the  throne of the                great deal of loose talk about the Holy Spirit and His
     natural man's heart, and the carnal Christian's heart, is              great work, and while the Spirit is "allowed" to do
     that old ogre of Free Will, holding the mighty sceptre of              certain things, His great work of resuscitating the dead
Adam's -natural ability to accept or reject, a sceptre                      sinner He is not allowed to do. This follows from the
     which man, Christian or not, holds in paralyzing sway                  fact that there is no emphasis whatsoever on the total
     over all, especially over against the three Persons of the             depravity of man due to the Fall and original sin. For
Trinity.  c                                                                that teaching would reveal the absolute necessity of the
       .Is it really true, if we want to be scriptural, that the           almighty power of the Holy Spirit in quickening those
     will of man is still, even now after the Fall, as free as              dead through trespasses and sins.' That is a work most
ever it was in the state of rectitude? Hardly! Adam in                     honoring to the Spirit of God, but too flesh-withering to
his sinless state had a will free- to continue in righteous-               this movement. The excuse for not teaching the total
ness or to choose the path of sin and death. He chose                       depravity of man's nature, anyone can understand, is
the latter, so that with his Fall he was found dead in                     that it necessitates approaching men as dead wood, to
     trespasses and sins; a fatal fall which left his will                 have things done to them, but their never doing
incapable of any good and prone to all evil. His will was                  anything.
     since then separated, as was the will .of all his children,               We must not teach this doctrine to men, they


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          `I63


complain, lest we encourage them to sleep. Rational and               ception of regeneration is conceived according to some
moral beings must be treated as such, not as somnambu-                pet ~form of humanist philosophy which leaves that act
listic creatures- who can only belch in their sleep. Now              of renewal  in the power and ability of man to
how does that mean that we should. `treat them?                       accomplish. "Jesus said, `Ye must be born again,' " the
Apparently it means that we ought to conceal from                     agent tells his subject. "That means you must be
them what they ought to know of their true condition                  regenerated. How do you experience that great
by nature! How then shall they ever come to  -act as                  change?" Then the answer is given out of John 1: 12, as
rational, moral beings with it said of them, "You who                 Law Four of the Four Spiritual Laws has it, from which
were dead in sins hath He quickened." Can they be                     it is maintained that "if you believe, you will be
merely persuaded to turn to God, as if they are not                   regenerated." This is invariably the answer given in
what Jesus and Paul say they are? Here is a man not a                 present-day revivalist or "retreat" circles. On condition
Christian: a friend who is a Christian, inside of only a              of faith, regeneration follows. In proof of this, John
thirty-minute conversation leads him to Christ. Then the             1:12 is invariably appealed to, and just as invariably,
new and the old Christian go their separate ways                      verse 13 is forgotten or deliberately omitted. If faith
rejoicing. But that "new convert" never heard a thing of              must first come from man before he can be regenerated,
spiritual death in sin, nor a hint of the truth of total              then he was not, as God declares, dead in sins. If he was
depravity. What in the world, then, was he "saved"                    spiritually dead, how could he receive Christ and believe
from? He was cheated; his understanding was duped.                    on His name? Where does a dead soul get regenerating
The so called "witness" or "soul-winner" suppressed the               faith to make himself alive? What the text teaches is
facts as they relate to the natural man, denied them to               that those. who receive Him and now believe on His
himself as well as to his subject. Why so? to ensure a                name  were  (already) born of God! So that their
larger hope-of success in winning souls to Christ? What               receiving and believing were the effect of their having
sort of witnessing is that? If Christian collegians are not           been born of God. They were not born of man, nor of
children, but-men, let them think like men, and not like              the will of the flesh!
misguided Peter Pans.                                                    It is often argued that the omniscient Lord is too wise
  Is it such a shock to learn that there is a work that               to require men to do what they are not able to perform.
only the Holy Spirit can do? that it is a work not of him             But the Lord does exactly that to make the dead sinner
that willeth, because it is God who worketh to will and               feel his own insufficiency and to bring to complete
to do for  ,His good pleasure? Is it so unbearable to                 dependence on His mighty power. God commands men
depend upon the quickening of the Spirit, because to do               to love Him with all the heart, soul,.strength  and mind.
so means recognizing Him and His work as sovereign? If                Can the natural man whois enmity against God do that?
the Holy, Spirit does this work of c.alling men to Christ             If so, where would the Christian. instructor ever get to
through a consecrated, Spirit-filled person, then is it not           use the text, "The natural man receiveth not the things
His doing, not man%., and does He not do it by revealing              of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him;
to a sinner his deathly sins and the foul plague of his               neither can he know them, because- they are spiritually
heart? How then dare a true witness hide that  soul-                  discerned" (I Cor. 2: 14)? No enlightened Christian who
searching truth of depravity from his auditors? That                  knows what his Master's Word teaches will ever adopt
would'only make him an incompetent witness, or worse,                 the practice of hurrying lost men into a vague belief in
one who has no right to think himself a man of faith                  "the love of God" and His "provision for man's sin in
and those in need of his witness victims of unbelief. Man             the cross of Jesus." John 1: 12-13 is no invitation of
of faith he cannot be when his "faith" is faith in men,               Christ to all men. It is the statement of fact as to how
and men must be begged to "allow the Holy Spirit" to                  His people are saved from their sins. No true convert,
control the life! He is a true Christian spokesman for                like the Ethiopian eunuch, is satisfied with a  watered-
God who looks upon the natural man he would address                   down gospel made palatable to the natural man. Nor
as a Lazarus who can do nothing until the efficacious                 would he be satisfied with thinking he is saved by grace
voice of the almighty Christ pierces his soul, and who                through a faith owing to himself. He must have the faith
views the unconverted mass of humanity as a valley of                 which is the gift of God, and which is the effect of the
dry bones, and worse, as fast closed graves. There is a               new creation. Only then can he be sure he is saved by
man of faith!                                                         the gospel of God, and not deceived by alluring eclipses
  But an approach is hardly made to this high level of                of the grace of God.
faith. For although regeneration or the new birth are
presented, superficially, as necessary, the whole con-                                          (Concluded)

          Giving diligence, then, to walk in that Christian way of faith and knowledge, of patience and godliness, of
          brotherly kindness and love,-walking in the light with all the saints, and that, too, in the midst of a world that
          lieth in darkness, we shall hear the Word of God, through the Scriptures, by the Spirit, assuring us of the grace of
          our personal calling and election.                                - H. Hoeksema, `%%e Wonder of Grace, "p. 131


164                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


The Lord Gave The Word . . . . .


                                        tiistory of Missions:
                           The Early Church After Pentecost
                                                    Rev. C. Hanko

  As we saw in our previous discussion, Jesus limited         nations, that He would be with them and use them for
His earthly ministry almost entirely to the Jews, or, as      His purpose, "even unto the end of the ages." This last
He expressed it, to the "lost sheep of the house of           statement assures all those who are called of Christ and
Israel." When the Syro-Phoenician woman pleaded with          sent out by Him that He will work through them, even
Him to heal her daughter and the disciples were inclined      until His church is gathered and He returns with the
to send her away, Jesus told the disciples that He was        clouds of heaven. Is not He the One Who sends forth
not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.      the white horse of Revelation 6?
A moment later He explained to the woman that the               This makes the first chapter of the Book of Acts so
children must first be fed. Matthew 15: 24, Mark 7: 28.       extremely interesting. Luke begins this `book by telling
When He nevertheless did heal her daughter it was in          Theophilus that in his gospel account (The Gospel
anticipation and prophecy of the ingathering of the           according to Luke) he had told "of all that Jesus began
gentiles after  His death and resurrection. Therefore         both to do and teach, until the day that he was taken up
Jesus also limited the activities of the twelve and of        into heaven." Now in the Book of Acts Luke continues
others whom He sent out to those same lost sheep of the       his account, telling of all that Jesus continues to do even
house of Israel. Yet after Christ had died and was risen,     after He ascended to heaven. Acts 1: 1,2. And so we see
in fact, on the very evening of the day of the                the one hundred and twenty disciples gathered together
resurrection Jesus appeared to His disciples and said:        in the upper room, with one accord praying and pouring
"Peace be unto you, as my Father hath sent me, even so        out their supplications for the fulfillment of Christ's
send I you," John 20: 21. Doing so He breathed on them        promise, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. A small
the Holy Spirit, by Whom they were called and qualified       group, but nevertheless the church of Christ, still in the
to preach the gospel. But their field was much larger         lingering moments of the old dispensation, awaiting the
than that of Jesus. For when He appeared to them in           dawning of the new day. And they did not wait in vain.
Galilee He made that remarkable statement in antici-          For ten days after Christ ascended to heaven He poured
pation of His exaltation in heaven: "All power is given       out His Spirit upon them. The day of Pentecost had
unto me in heaven and in earth." And thereupon He             fully come. Christ returned to His church in the Spirit,
gave them the Great Commission: "Go ye therefore, and         filling their hearts with the cleansing, enlightening
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the          power of  His Spirit. And as evidence of that power,
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching       Peter began to preach with an insight into the proph-
them to observe all things whatsoever I have com-             ecies and their fulfillment such as he had never had
manded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto           before. And upon his preaching three thousand were
the end of the world. Amen." Matthew 28: 16-20.               added to the church. Here were Jews, but also
  From this commission to His apostles it becomes             proselytes from every part of the inhabited world. And
evident that not the apostles will gather the church, but     this was only the beginning. For we read, "And the
Christ Himself will gather His sheep through them. He         Lord added to the church daily such as should be
had given them the sign of the net full of fishes, and had    saved." Acts 2:47. Their numbers grew in a very short
called them to be fishers of men. If that sign meant          time into many thousands. Like a mushroom the church
anything at all, it meant that they would not be able to      suddenly burst forth into full bloom as a new day had
bring a single sinner into the kingdom. If it depended        dawned.
upon them their net would be as empty as when they              But the church was not to remain concentrated in
toiled all night and caught nothing. But by the power of      Jerusalem. Severe persecution broke out. Acts 8: l-5. In
Jesus working through them and their spoken word, as          connection with this persecution the name of Saul
well as by the operation of His Spirit in their hearts, He    appears for the first time as one zealous to wipe out the
would gather His own unto Himself. This is a principle        Name of Jesus and to destroy all those who confessed
that we may not overlook. Christ gathers His church!          Him as their Lord. As a result many believers left
Therefore He also assured the apostles when He gave           Jerusalem to scatter in many directions. No, these
them their commission to preach the gospel to all             people were no cowards. They had rejoiced with the


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      1      6    5



apostles, when the apostles had been imprisoned and                where the Lord empowered him not only to preach the
whipped for their confession, counting it a privilege to           gospel,-but also to perform many mighty miracles. As a
suffer for Christ's sake. Acts  4:23-30. But now their             result, many Samaritans believed and were baptized.
very lives were being endangered and their witness was             Acts 8:5-l 2. This was nothing less than the fulfillment
about to be silenced. Therefore they felt compelled to             of the prophecy of Jesus, when He worked in Sychar,
seek refuge elsewhere. Obviously God was directing this            first drawing the Samaritan woman and then many
persecution also. Like a mother eagle He was stirring up           others to believe in Him as the promised Christ. John 4.
the nest, so that the young eaglets might be thrown into             Soon after, the angel of the Lord sent Philip to meet
the open sky to learn the use of their wings. These                the Ethiopian eunuch who was returning from
refugees were scattered into the region of  Judea and              Jerusalem to his own country. This officer from the
Samaria. Acts 8: 1. And as they went they preached the             court of Queen Candace in Ethiopia was a proselyte,
word everywhere. Acts 8:4. They were not ashamed of                who had worshipped at Jerusalem, but somehow had
the gospel of Jesus Christ, nor did they hide their                remained ignorant of the great things that had happened
convictions for fear of more persecution. They were so             there so recently. His understanding was still clouded by
completely filled with the power of the Spirit and the             the old dispensational shadows, so that even when he
riches of grace that they enthusiastically and spontanei           read the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the promised
ously bubbled over, telling what great things God had              Christ, the well known 53rd chapter, he still did not
done in these last days through His Son Jesus Christ<              know to whom the prophet referred. He had had no one
They spoke of the cross, the resurrection, and of their            to teach him. But now the Holy Spirit sent Philip on a
exalted Lord in heaven, in Whom alone is salvation.           1    special mission to this representative from Africa to
  These believers soon spread beyond  Samaria into                 preach the gospel of the resurrection to him. The
Phoenicia, on to the island of Cyprus in the  Mediteri             eunuch believed, was baptized, and went his way
ranean, and as far north as Antioch in Syria. Acts 11: 194         rejoicing as a firstfruits from heathendom.
The very first ones to reach these new areas limited their           There is one more incident that must be considered,
preaching entirely to the Jews. Acts 11: 19. That  thd             and that is the conversion of Cornelius, the centurion
gospel should also reach out to the gentiles  wa$                  from Ceasarea. Acts 10. This incident is so well known
something that they did not as yet understand. The                 that we need merely refer to it. Peter had gone into
speaking in various tongues on the day of Pentecost had            Samaria, where he found believers both in Lydda and in
evidently meant nothing to them. But then we must also             Joppa. Upon the healing of Aeneas and the raising of
consider that even the apostles failed to grasp the                Dorcas many others in that region believed and turned
significance of this sign until some time later. These             to the Lord. Acts  9:35, 42. It was while Peter was
Jews clung so tenaciously to the faith of their fathers            staying in Joppa, at the house of Simon the tanner, that
and to the traditions that went along with it for so               he received the vision of the unclean animals with the
many centuries, that it was difficult for them to accept           instructions to take and eat. When Peter objected to
such a radical change that had come so suddenly upon               eating anything that was unclean according to the
them. But there were others also who came to Antioch               ceremonial laws of the old dispensation, he was told
with the gospel of Christ. These were proselytes from              three times over, "What God hath cleansed that call not
Cyprus and Cyrene, who were more ready to accept the               thou common or unclean." This was enough to convince
change of the new day, and they preached the Lord                  Peter that he was to accompany the messengers of
Jesus to gentiles as well as to Jews. Acts  11:20. `And            Cornelius who at this very moment appeared at the
the hand  ,of the Lord was with them, and a great                  door. He was called to enter the house of a gentile and
number believed, and turned unto the Lord." (verse 21).            to preach the risen Lord to all who were present there.
The Lord sealed the preaching of His word by applying              What a new experience that must have been for Peter.
it to the hearts of gentiles as well as of Jews, so that           And while he spoke the Holy Spirit fell upon his
they also were brought to the faith. The Word proved to            audience, so that Peter did not hesitate to carry out the
be a power unto salvation to the Jew first, but afterward          mandate of Jesus by baptizing also these gentiles.
also to the gentile. Romans  1:16. When the tidings of               We read that no small criticism was brought against
these things came to Jerusalem, the church sent                    Peter for these actions by the church in Jerusalem. This
Barnabas to Antioch to labor there. And Barnabas, in               strong Jewish segment was not ready to approve of all
turn, went after Saul of Tarsus, who had seen the                  that Peter had done without further investigation. But
heavenly vision on the way to Damascus, to labor with              when Peter explained to them how he had been led step
him in Antioch.                                                    by step by the Lord Jesus Himself, first by a vision and
  But besides this personal witness of these believers,            then by the gift of the Holy Spirit, they knew this to be
the Lord also used certain definite individuals to gather          the work of the Lord and "they held their peace, and
His church. Philip, the deacon mentioned in Acts 6:5,              glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the gentiles
was sent out by the church at Jerusalem as an evangelist,          granted repentance unto life." Acts 11: 18.
or an assistant to the apostles. He was sent to Samaria              In conclusion we note:


166                                             THE STANDARD BEARER               .


   That Christ Himself was gathering His church, first         church'at Jerusalem sent out :Philip and Peter to preach
from the Jews and Jewish proselytes and then from the          the gospel in those places where God gave an open door.
gentiles. Both the Ethiopian eunuch and Cornelius were         Barnabas was also sent by the church at Jerusalem to
proselytes, and God began with them., In the meantime          Antioch. This is entirely in harmony with what Paul
the power of the gospel also reached out to the                teaches us in Romans 10: 13-l 5.
Samaritans, who were neighbors, but'had always been               Finally, the calling church was shifting from
despised by the Jews. And from  Samaria the church             Jerusalem to Antioch. The Lord already was drawing
extends to Antioch, where Greeks, or gentiles are              His people out of Jerusalem in preparation for the day
brought into the fold and where God establishes a new          when the former Holy City would be destroyed. The
center for missionary endeavors. Acts 13.                      line of the covenant was no more limited within the
  The mission calling of the church was according to           confines of Israel as a nation, the types and shadows had
divinely established principles. There was first the           passed away, the Lord was gathering His people from all
personal witness of the believers, but this was soon           the nations of the earth unto the great day of His
augmented by the official ministry of the Word, The            coming.


Pages from the Past


                                 Believers and their Seed
                                                      Chapter 3
                  1    '                       The Kuyperian View of
                                             Presupposed Regeneration
       .                                        Rev. Herman Hoeksema

   A second presentation of the seed of believers, as          that operation of grace does not proceed from Christ
they are, along with believers, included in the covenant       upon the person who receives the sign of the sacrament,
and church of God, has in recent times again come to           then there is not really a sacrament. To limit the
the fore~especiallyr through the labors of Dr. A. Kuyper,      discussion to Holy Baptism, thus only can it be said t-hat
and perhaps still more through the many who so eagerly         there is a sacrament of Baptism, if the baptized person
desire to commend themselves as disciples of this great        also receives baptismal grace, that is, a certain subjective
man. We refer to the view which, is perhaps.best known         grace which is joined by Christ to the sign of Baptism.
among us by the expression "presupposed regenera-              Thus Dr. A. Kuyper writes in "E Voto," II, pp. 534, ff.:
tion." According to  this view, the entire' church of             "And if you ask what then that essential significance
Christ here on earth, with respect to all its members,         might be, then our answer is that the essence of the
young and old, is to be-considered as the gathering of         sacrament always consists in this,  ,that  at the very'
the elect and the regenerated, as long as the opposite         mom&t of Holy Baptism or of Holy Communion there
does not  "very definitely appear; and it is to be             is a two-fold act taking'place, the one upon earth by the
presupposed of every child, head for head, and soul for        minister who administers- the sacrament, and the other
soul, who is born in the `sphere of the church, that it has    by Christ  out of heaven  Who has instituted the
already been regenerated through the grace of the Holy         sacrament. only where these two operations coincide
spirit.                                                        and unite is the operation of the sacrament present; and
   The point of departure of this view really lies in a        as often as this operation from heaven does  not
certain conception of Baptism,  in. a certain answer to        accompany the administration of the form of the
the question as to whom the sacrament of Holy Baptism          sacrament, so often not the sacrament, but only an
may be-administered by the church of Christ on earth.          appearance; is present. Then both your Baptism and
Indeed, according to that conception, only then can it         your Communion are a lamp without light, a hearth
be said that there is a sacrament in the real sense of the     without  .fire, a lung without breath, a heart without a
word, when, at the verymoment that the sign of the             beat : . . . The alternatives are these: either there are no
sacrament is administered. by the church, there `is a          sacraments, and the Lord has not instituted any such
certain very special, sacramental operation  ' of grace        thing; or if He has truly instituted a sacrament, then the
proceeding from heaven through Christ upon the individ-        essence ..of this sacrament always consists herein, that He
ual who receives the sacrament;`If at that very moment         says to His ministers and to His church, "You do this:


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  167


set forth these outward signs; and when in obedience to          grace which we receive at baptism and which is called
your Lord you thus set forth these signs, then I from the        baptismal grace by Kuyper. And this baptismal grace he
throne of grace in heaven will work the grace belonging          then describes as follows:
therewith in the soul.                                             "If the question is asked, what is the proper domain
  "As often, therefore, as Holy Baptism is administered          of this altogether special and peculiar sacramental grace,
in the midst of the congregation, you are to understand          then I Corinthians 12: 13 points us in the right direc-
that at the very same moment when the minister                   tion: "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one
administers the water of Baptism, your Mediator and              body." This is precisely the same thought as in
Savior performs a work of grace in the soul of the               Ephesians 4: 5, "(There is) one Lord, one faith, one
baptized child or person from heaven, where He is                baptism." For also in Ephesians you read in the
exalted at the right hand of God . . . .                         immediately preceding verse, "There is one body, and
  "He who teaches differently cuts the church loose              one Spirit." In order to understand this sacramental
from Christ; he bases the sacrament on the work of man           grace, therefore, you only have to bear in mind that as a
instead of on an operation of the Lord. And he is                human being you are a member ofa body. As a creature
responsible for it, if, through this unholy conception,          out of Adam a member of the one body of the human
the church sinks back into death."                               race; and as a new creature in Christ a member of the
  Further, Dr. Kuyper, both in this work and in his              one body of those who are perfectly righteous. It is not
"Dictaten Dogmatiek," confronts the question what this           sufficient, therefore, that grace is merely wrought in
special operation of grace might be which is specifically        you personally. Only then does grace come to its own,
joined to the sacrament of Baptism by the Lord. And              when it does not merely affect you individually, but
then he elaborates for a moment on the concept grace,            when it at the same time sets  you  in  connection  with
particularly grace. in the subjective sense of the word,         the body to which you organically belong. A man
grace as God's people receive it in their hearts from            dwelling on an uninhabited island indeed is alive;
Christ. He makes a three-fold distinction with respect to        nevertheless he has no life, simply because man is
this subjective grace. In the first place, we can speak of a     adapted to live in organic association with others and to
certain root-grace, a grace which is wrought in the              see this come to expression in his life. Now thus it is
deepest root of our existence. That is the grace of              also with the new man in Christ Jesus. Also for him it is
regeneration. However, this grace of regeneration is not         not sufficient that he personally has life; no, this new
wrought in us at baptism, and it is not bestowed by              life must be granted to him also in organic connection
Christ at baptism. It is much rather to be presupposed           with the mystical body of Christ. Otherwise he may be
that he who receives the sacrament of Baptism is already         alive indeed, but he does not enjoy living. If it is to be
regenerated. In the second place, Kuyper speaks of a             well with him, there must, therefore, be a bond, a
grace which is realized in the branches of our life, in our      connection, established between his life and the life of
consciousness, in our thinking and willing, a grace              that mystical body. Only when this takes place, and is
whereby the issues of our life are turned about through          become a matter of his consciousness, has the fulness of
sanctification into a new spiritual direction. Also this         the new life truly dawned upon him. This, after all, is
grace of sanctification, or of conversion, however, is not       the peculiar characteristic of the life of the child of
bestowed in and with baptism. And finally, according to          God, that he does not possess that life all by himself,
Kuyper, we can still speak of a certain grace whereby            but that he partakes of all the life of the entire body,
God in Christ also produces the fruits of good works in          and that he has a part in all that God has bestowed upon
that renewed life, in harmony with everyone's disposi-           that body. Not all alone, but along with all the saints
tion, character, and place in life. Least of all can one         must he know and acknowledge the love of Christ."
think of grace in this latter sense in connection with
baptism. No, there is another, wholly unique and special                                (to be continued)



                   ANNOUNCEMENT                                              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                                 The Martha Society of the  Doon Protestant Reformed
                                                                 Church wishes to express it's heartfelt sympathy to one
Classis East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will            of it's members, Mrs. Henry Blankespoor, in the passing
meet, D.V., on Wednesday, January 8, 1969, at 9 A.M.             away of her father,
in the Southeast Protestant Reformed Church of Grand                               MR. JAKE DE BOER.
Rapids. Consistories will please take note~of this in the        May our Heavenly Father comfort the bereaved with-the
appointment of their delegates.                                  assurance that He doeth all things well.
                                                                                          Rev. R. Decker, Pres:
                                            M. Schipper, S.C.                             Mrs. John Vander Top, Vice Sec'y.


168                                                THE STANDARD BEARER


                          -'  '  News  F&n  Oui Churches

  Hudsonville's pastor, Rev. H. Veldman, decided to             Appvopos of the above: To our pastors and/or clerks
remain  -in that  charge; and declined the calls- -he had     - we recommend as a splendid New Years Resolution,
recently received from South Holland, Ill. and Pella,         "I will mail two bulletins every second week to the
Iowa.                                                         News Editor". Remember, your weekly bulletins are the
                          * * *                               grist for the mill of this page. We have not heard from
                                                              some of our churches for months! Our address has not
 Loveland's Young Peoples' Society, in an after recess        changed; it can be found inside the front cover page of
program, interested themselves in a study of "The             every Standard Bearer.
Church in History", and, co-incidentally, the Mens'                                                                         I
                                                                                             ***
Society treated a paper on "A History of the Christian
Church" the same week.                                          Rev. B. Woudenberg, while on a Church Visitation            1
                          *  *  *                             Schedule, gave a lecture in Redlands Nov. 12 on "The          ~
                                                              Mission Calling of the Local Church".
   Western co-operation.is  still very much in evidence in                                   ***
our Western Churches. On Dec. 8 Rev. Lanting, of
Edgerton, Minn. officiated at one service in Doon, Iowa         Redlands' Young People are working hard to raise the
while Rev. Decker was on Classical appointment in             funds necessary to host a convention next summer. One
Pella, Iowa.                                                  of their projects - selling Christmas cards - fell by the
                          hlQ                                 wayside, but the offering taken at the above mentioned
                                                              lecture and the proceeds of the "pie social" after the
  Rev. Engelsma, while on a classical appointment at          lecture swelled the Convention Fund appreciably.
Hull, Iowa, spoke at a P.T.A. meeting in Edgerton,                                           * 8  *
Minn. on "The Importance of Educating our Covenant
Children"; and for a Thanksgiving Program in their own          The ladies of Redlands' congregation prepared a
school, Loveland's pastor spoke on "Thankfully Obey           happy occasion for their  Ju.ffrow   by having a birthday     ~
Your Parents"                                                 pa%y in her honor Nov. 8. A-note of appreciation, from
                          * *  *                              Rev. and Mrs. Hanko, for this expression of their love
                                                              appeared in the next Sunday's bulletin.
  Sunday, Nov. 17 Rev. Moore conducted a morning                                             *  *  .Q
and an afternoon service in Forbes, N. Dak. and
preached in the evening service in his own church in            An English assignment in our Covenant Christian
Isabel, S.Dak.                                                High School calendar was the writing of an  unsigned
                          *  *  .*                            essay on the students' impressions of the new school. It
                                                              was said that the comments covered the entire spectrum
  Whereas in the above items it was noted that  the-          from outright praise to dissatisfaction, which was
Revs. Engelsma, Decker and Moore crossed state lines to       supposed to prove they were the result of purposeful
officiate in worship services,  .it should be noted that      analysis  - at least most of them! One wonders if the
Rev. Woudenberg crosses in temational  boundary lines         students suspected that their unsigned essays never-
to conduct a weekly Bible Study Class in Ladner, B.C.'        theless were quite easily identifiable by their hand-
Canada. But the last mentioned is the shorter trip,. for.     writing, and typed them?
an announcement in Lynden's bulletin informs the
congregation that if they leave the church at 7:30 they
can be at Ladner by 8: 15 - the time for class.                 O.K. you young people, so `you have approximately
                                                              150 days left to raise the funds necessary to cover the
                          *  *  .*                            expenses' of your            convention. What have you ac-
                                                              complished towards this goal in the past 215 days?
   It might be interesting to note the time-lag in news                                      *  *  8
items from source to publication. An announcement
from the Young Peoples' Federation Board called                 Proverbs 14: 21 states, "Happy is he that hath mercy
attention to the unwary young people that there were          on the poor". We wish you a Happy New Year!
only approximately 330 days until the Convention in
Redlands, Calif. This announcement was in the Nov. 10
bulletin of  Doon when the days had dwindled to               .  .  . see you in church
approximately 200; and when this is published Jan. 1
the number will have diminished to approximately 150!                                                             J.M.F.


