                                 tandard

                                      (        earer


A   ,REFORMED  S E M I - M O N T H L Y   M A G A Z I N E





IN THIS ISSUE:                   L

       Meditation  `- Death  ChalLged


       Editorial  - Dr. Daane Views the Dekker Case


        Election  Pre.a,ching  and Missions


      The Exceptional  Chil,d




                                               Volume  XLI/  Numbev'24/   ApYil 15, 1965


314                                                                                                                               THE  STAfjDARD BEARER

                                                         C O N T E N T S                                                                                                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
Meditation  -                                                                                                                                                                    Semi-monthly, except  ,monthly  dwing June, July and August
       Death Challenged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314                                             Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
              Rev. J. Kortering
Editorials                    - .                                                                                                                                1                                 Editor  - Rev. Herman Hoeksema
                                                                                                                                             .-
       A New CR Organization . . . . . . . . . . ..<..............................A..                                                                    ,317                Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                         _I'                                        _"     Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, 1218 Griggs St., S.E., Grand Rapids,
       Dr. Daape Views the Dekker Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319                                                                 Michigan 49507. (Acting Editor) Contributions  will belimited to
              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                            300 words and must be neatly written or typewritten. Copy
The Church At Worship --                                                                                                                                                     deadlines are the first and fifteenth of the month.
       Adult Baptism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321                             All church news items should be addressed to Mr. J. M. Faber,
              Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg                                                                                                                                                        1123 Cooper, S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan.49507
From Holy Writ  -                                                                                                                                                            Announcements and Obituaries with the $2.00 fee included must
       Gog and Magog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323                               be mailed 8 days prior to issue date, to the address below;
              Rev. G. C. Lubbers
Contending For The Faith-                                                          i'  t:                  ;       ._ . .                          1     325                 All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed.  tL
                                                                                                                                                                            .  .,
       The Inspiration of the Scriptures  :  ..'  '
                                                                                      . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..-........r.....                                   . .       Mr.  .&nes  Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S.E.
              Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                                                                                                       Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
A Cloud Of Witnesses --                                                                                                                                                                Renewal: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
       Hannah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327                  received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the sub-
              Rev. B. Woudenberg                                                                                                                                             scription to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
The Lord Gave The Word  -                                                                                                                                                                         Subscription price: $5.00 per year
       Election Preaching and Missions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329                                                                         Second Class Postage paid  at Grand Rapids, Michigan
              Rev. C. Hanko
In His Fear  -                                             ,i. .
                                                                                                ,_.
       The Exceptional Child  '
                                                             ..i'......  c: . . . . . . . . . . ry...' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332 will convene on Wednesday, June  2, at  9:OO  A.M. in the
              Rev. J. A. Heys                                                                                                                                         above mentioned Church, D.V.
Trying The Spirits  -                                                                                                                  ,.                                     The pre-synodical prayer service will be held  ,on
       Seventh-Day, Adventism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334 Tuesday evening, June 1, at 8:00 P.M. at First Church.
              Rev. R. C. Harbach                                                                                                                                      Synodical delegates are requested to meet with the
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
              Mr. John M. Faber                                                                                                                                       Consistory before this service.
                                                                                                                                                                              Delegates in need of lodging should contact Mr.
                                                                                                                                                                      Cornelius Jonker, 837 Geneva Ave., S.E., Grand Rapids,
                                    CALL  TO SYNOD OF 1965                                                                        6 .                                 Michigan 49507.
        According to `the  decis'on of `the Synod of $64, the                                                                                                                          Consistory of the  First'Protestant  Reformed
Consistory of the First Protestant Reformed Church                                                                                                                                     Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
of Grand Rapids, Michigan, hereby notifies the churches                                                                                                                                                            H. Meulenberg, Vice-Pres
that the 1965 Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches                                                                                                                                                            C. Jonker, Secretary





                                                                                                                       DEATH CHALLENGED


                                                          "0 death  where  is thy sting? 0 grave,  where  is thy victory? The sting
                                                         of  death is sin; and the  s  kength  of  sin is  t&e'  la-&. But thanks be to- God,
                                                         which giveth us the  victory through  OUT  Lovd Jesus  Christ.  "
                                                                                                                                                                                              I Corinthians 15: 55.- 57
                                                                                          : /_                                                                                                                     _~.
                                                                                                                                   Rev. J.  Kovteving
                                                                                                                                                                                                      _'      -
        Death . . . . grave !                                                                                                                                         is yet in the flower of youth. A father's sad heart
        Double misery for the mortal.                                                                                                                                 aches till it nearly breaks as he clasps the dying hand
        The very thought arouses a deep sigh.                                                                                                                         of his dear wife., .How many widows are there not, who
        Death! Our last enemy, the monster whose razor                                                                                                                groan' beneath added burdens, when the loneliness of
teeth draw the flow of life from  ,mortal veins. The                                                                                                                  death blankets their pathway. Even when the keepers
very word spells tears. Look at that babe, torn from                                                                                                                  of the house tremble, and the strong men bow  them-
the womb by untimely birth; and the parents search                                                                                                                    selves, and the grinders cease because they are few,
the heavens for understanding; 0 death, what a sting!                                                                                                                 and those that look out of the windows be darkened, it
Many a little casket is moistened by the tokens of                                                                                                                    is still so hard for us to say good-bye.
sorrow, for it is not easy to part with a little one who                                                                                                                      Death is so absolute from an earthly point of view.


                                                    THESTANDARDBEARER                                                  315

The body collapses and the struggle is finished. Death        and sting.
draws a curtain between this life and the beyond. Once           That sting is deadly.
we could speak, and there was  anear to hear; but not            The reason is found in the next part of our text;
after death.      Moments before we could touch the hand      "the strength of sin is the law".          The potency of
and a slight movement would respond; now in death the         death's sting is determined by the law of `God. That
body is cold, the eyes see not, the tongue does not           law makes sin so lethal and death so final.
move to speak. No longer a heart beats, only silence.            That law of God says, "Love me, with all thy heart,
   The cruel reality of death needles its way into our        with all thy soul, with all  `thy mind, and with all thy
numbed brain when we gather at the grave. Suddenly            strength and thy neighbor as thyself." That law binds
we stand on the edge of the pit. The mortician may be         every man.       God made man able to keep it, and God
very kind and place a carpet of fake grass over the           expects him to keep it. Disobedience must be punished
hole that has been dug, yet the naked walls lurch be-         with death.
neath in silent testimony. Even while the preacher               Here we see the complete picture. The law of God
reads and prays, the caretaker stands behind the              gives sin the right to have free exercise in the fallen
shrubs with shovel in hand. We don't stay to watch,           man.       God does not restrain sin in the human race,
but we know. We turn away and leave behind a grave,.          sin is like a fire .that grows in intensity all along. Man
a place of stench, of rotting, of dry bones.                  under the impulse of sin grows in iniquity and incurs
   Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return.              more and more guilt. The more man sins the more
   0 misery, what a monster death is!                         potent is the sting, and. so much more man is brought
   What helpless victims we are.                              under the dominion of. death.' Death claims the sinner
   Our text seems an empty dream.                             both in body and soul, for time and all eternity.
   A challenge, mind you! We frail creatures of the              Man without God-is so helpless. Sin has free sway
dust, stand before the monster called death and look          in his life, and the monster death has every right to
him in the eyes and say, "0 death, where is thy sting!        dominate his life and bring him unto destruction. Man
0 grave, where is thy victory!"                               in himself can do nothing to lift himself from the clutches
   What brave words.                                          of the monster death. We cannot free ourselves from
   You understand the imagery. Death is pictured as           the dominion of sin. The sting keeps going deeper and
a monster with a large stinger through which passes           deeper into our flesh. The more we sin the greater
the poison that kills. Like an insect that stings a man,      measure `of condemnation passes over our heads. The
the sting is the point of contact. In our text, the sting     monster hones in upon our bodies to bring them into
of this monster called death is described as sin. Sin         the grave.       Try all we want, we cannot prevent the
brings on death. Sin is what makes death what it is, a        flower from withering; and soon we too are cut off,
fatal blow that brings separation from God.                   and we fly away.
   This sheds a great deal of light on the valley of the         There can `be- no boldness as mere creatures in
shadow.. Death is not a natural element in the creation.      challenging the monster of death. The natural man
It is not true that creation evolves through a series of      must stand silent and condemned before God.
macro- and micro-mutations and that in this process              ,The boldness arises out of faith. Faith that says,
of "being born" the inferior fall by the way under the        "Thanks be to God that giveth us. the victory through
power of death. When God created the world, He did            our Lord Jesus Christ." In. saying that we can chal-
not include a monster called death. In the Garden of          lenge death, "0 death, where is thy sting, 0 grave,
Eden there were no forces that made death even re-            thy victory!"
motely possible. There were no extreme temperatures,             There is only one place to stand `and utter such
no drought, no hatred among men, not even  `a beast           bold words, that place is beneath the cross of Calvary.
that roared for the kill. All was brought forth from the      There- Jesus, the Son of God in human flesh, faced the
Creator in perfect order and death was no part of it.         monster of death, tore out his sting and disarmed him,
   This monster originated with the first .sin of Adam.       and now forces him to serve us.rather than destroy us.
God had warned Adam of this possibility, "In the day             The victory was won only through deep and sore
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die". Death       trials.
is God's curse upon the sinner. This means that God               God knew that we could never face.the enemy of death
punishes all those who miss the mark of the high call-        and overcome.        He sent Christ His Servant into the
ing. This punishment includes spiritual separation, by        world to be our substitute and so to take  ourplace  in
which the sinner loses the favor of God and is subject        fighting with the monster. To do that Christ had to
to His everlasting wrath, as well as physical separa-         take the sting that death had upon us, viz., sin: He had
tion, by which the sinner is banished from His pres-          to voluntarily offer Himself in perfect love unto the
e n c e . Through sin, man makes himself  :worthy  of         Father and in love bear all the wrath of God that was
death;. he turns his back upon .God and directs his at-       upon-us because of our sins. God transferred our guilt
tention to the way of rebellion against Him.                  upon' His Only Begotten Son,  and that too, in perfect
   God in righteous indignation kills the sinner. -He         harmony with His holy law. That was most important,
calls upon death to cause separation to come between          for the strength of sin was the law. God according to
Himself and the sinner. God cannot stand to look upon         His law gave sin the perfect right to dominate'the life
the sinner as he is in sin, He must cast him out of his       of fallen man. If that power of sin was to be broken,
presence.       Thus God calls upon the monster to come       then someone had. to- bow himself under the demand of


316                                                       THESTANDARDBEARER

the law and satisfy the law by bringing complete pay-                cleansed by the blood of the cross. The potency of
ment for sin. Only then could. the potency of sin and                death's sting is removed. for ever.
the absolute power- of death be broken. This Jesus did                  What more shall we say? Have we more proof?
when He was born of the virgin Mary. He entered .our                 Yes, proof that is so close to home, it lies in our very
state, being humbled as a servant, He was born under                 hearts. `Jesus lives within our hearts. `We are not
the law. With our sins transferred to Himself, Jesus                 dead, we are- alive! The sting of death is already prin-
our mighty servant set His eye upon the cross. He                    cipally extracted. No longer does the law give to sin
would meet the enemy of death head-on. He would take                 the right to dominate our lives. We are-regenerated;
the  .monster  and pull out the stinger and disarm him               we are called into the blessed fellowship with' God.
for the sake of His people.                                          His law is `written in our hearts. That law we love,
-The-. hope of the saints  ,of all ages centers in the               and within its bounds we `find `our real joy in life and
cross.                                                               death.     We cry out in daily  repentance.of  our sins and
        Hardly do we dare look up, as we stand at  the,foot         plead for God in mercy to forgive. By sovereign grace
of the cross..                                                      we desire to live according to all God's commandments.
        We cannot gaze upon Him in curiosity; it is dark.            Death hath no more dominion over us. Already we are
       .Only the. spiritual ear can hear and discern the             spiritually alive.
struggle, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken                       Now we can -face physical death without fear.  .The
m e ! "                                                             boldness arises from the knowledge that Christ's vic-
       Everlasting  hell,,borne  in moments  .of time.              tory is our victory. The monster must needs come,
        For -His own, whom the Father had given unto Him.           but not to sting us. Even as-he served our victorious
        Our sins had a terrible price. The monster's sting          Lord by bringing Him through the grave into immor-
w a s   d e e p l y   r o o t e d .                                 tality, so now our living Lord uses the monster to lay
        "It is finished".                                            aside our earthly tabernacle in order to translate us
        We look up, it is light. Our eyes drink in the vision,      into the likeness of His glory.
our ears thrill at  .every  word, "Father, into thy hands               We are not afraid! The sting is gone, death will
I commend my spirit". He gives up the ghost.                        not take us away from our God, it will bring us even
        Jesus did not die a victim of the monster of death.         c l o s e r .
The sting was removed and now Christ, The Victor,                       That is victory!
called upon the -monster to take His mortal life for a                Let's conclude with the note of jubilee. Thanks be
little while, in order that He might also go to the grave           unto God who giveth us the victory, through our Lord
and cleanse it of all corruption.               Death served the    Jesus Christ!          Don't you see how richly blessed we
victorious Christ.                                                  are. We, who do not deserve a thing, who do not dis-
                                                                    tinguish ourselves in any way from all the wicked who
        Let's take a little  walk from Calvary to the Tomb          are stung by the monster of death, are blessed with life,
of Joseph.         At the tomb all doubt is removed, it is          merited by Jesus Christ our Lord. That life shall
empty. Jesus was there, but did not remain. He arose                never' end.
from the dead. There God confirmed that His law was                     We may weep a little, our  so&s are often tossed
perfectly satisfied; the sting of sin was overcome                  upon the sea of misery and death.
through perfect payment; and therefore His Servant                      Our  hearts  shall not be troubled, for' in Father's
could not remain. in the sphere of death. God called                house there are many mansions. Our Lord is prepar-
Him forth unto the other side of the grave, the place               ing them for us. In death, He will take us unto Him-
where death is swallowed up in victory. At the empty                self.
tomb we have proof that our sins are gone, for if one                   What victory!
remained upon Jesus, who Himself  `had no sin, God                      What a -God !
could never have raised Him from the dead. We are                       Thanks be unto `Him, forever.



                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
The consistory of the  ,Randolph Protestant Reformed                                        ATTENTION: MEN
Church, on behalf of our entire congregation, extends
its deepest sympathy to Mr. and Mrs.  DonaldDe  Vries,              Men's League Meeting -- Monday, April 1.9 .at 8:00 p.m.
in the death of the mother of Mrs. De Vries. May the                         NEW PLACE                    H o l l a n d   C h u r c h
God of  all grace sustain them in their sorrow, that                         .NEW SPEAKER              Mr. Richard Moore
though they grieve, they do  .so not as those without                        NEW TOPIC         `On Speaking With Tongues'
hope, "For we know that if our earthly house of this
tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God,               Please join us in a night of fellowship.
an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens'?.                  ,.     .,                              Hollis Heemstra
II Corinthians  5:l.
                                       Rev. G. Van  Baren, pres.
                                       Dewey Alsum,  Clerk


                                                  THESTANDARDBEARER                                                    317





                                          A NEW CR ORGANIZATION


                                                Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema

   In two recent issues -of  De  Wachtei   (March 23 and      our purpose, in the spirit of brotherly love, to stim-
March 30) Editor Haverkamp informs his readers of             ulate (arouse) fidelity to the infallible Word of God."
and expresses criticism of a new Christian Reformed               6) Finally, we are informed that the letter was
organization, called the Association of Christian Re-         signed by the president, but that De Wachtev Editor has
formed Laymen. Evidently Rev. Haverkamp considers             no further knowledge of the board personnel.
this a rather significant development, at least signifi-          The Rev. Haverkamp frowns on the methods of this
cant enough to write two disapproving editorials.        I    organization and advises his readers to take a disap-
also consider it significant,  though undoubtedly for         proving attitude toward it, to refuse to have anything
different reasons than does Haverkamp.                        to do with it. Haverkamp's reasons,  - if I may briefly
   Before commenting on this organization and its             sum them up, - seem to be as follows:
purpose, I will briefly present the facts about it as I           1) It is contrary to good ecclesiastical order. Those
have them second-hand from  De Wachtev.  I have every         who have objections should not make propaganda and
reason to  .believe  that Haverkamp's presentation is         employ pressure tactics, but walk the orderly way of
accurate because he gained his information from a             ecclesiastical protest, which is their right and their
letter circulated by this new Association to Christian        duty as church ,members.
Reformed consistories. These facts are:                           2)  ,This organization has spread abroad in the
   1) That the basis of this organization is "the Bible       churches a very serious accusation that there are
as the infallible and all-sufficient Word of God,  ,as        (unnamed) voices arising from Calvin College  ,which
represented by our Reformed Creeds,."                         undermine the church, and that too, without proof.
   2) That membership is open to  all "Laymen" who             3) It fails to state what it means by. "historic
express agreement with the basis and purpose of the           Calvinism."
organization.                                                     4). By its promise  of. support to these unnamed
   3) That the purpose of this organization is: "to           leaders who fight for the cause of historic Calvinism
defend the Reformed faith from  .all, trends of thought       it sets itself up as a church within the church, passing
and action hostile thereto, to unite the effort of  all       judgment as to who is sound in doctrine.
likeminded Christians in a more positive, militant and
timely defense of .the Reformed faith, to promote             Evaluation and Comment
interest in and subscription to the Reformed faith as             I can well: understand Editor Haverkamp's dis-
delineated in and by the doctrinal standards  .of the         pleasure and concern about this movement. To an ex-
Christian Reformed Church and to collect and expend           tent,  I can also agree with his criticism. In the first
monies and act to accomplish the,same." The methods           place, a movement of this kind, .if it is at all vocal,
to be employedin reaching this goal will be determined        can indeed disturb the peace of the Christian Reformed
according, to the demand of circumstances.                    Church. And peace, - taken in the sense of the ecclesi-
   4) At present the membership of this society is            astical status quo, - is highly esteemed in the Christian
chiefly from the Grand Rapids area,, but it hopes soon        Reformed Church, even to the extent that it must be
to have members in every part of the denomination. r          preserved, at all costs.       True, Haverkamp does not
   5) As to the reason why this society was established       mention this; but he is concerned. enough about the new
Haverkamp quotes, a paragraph from their letter.              society and the possible mischief it could work to de-
Editor Haverkamp translates this paragraph into Dutch,        vote.. two editorials to a warning against it. In the
and I will re-translate it into English; however, I have      second place, Haverkamp's criticism in respect to the
no way of knowing how close my English re-translation         orderly way is well-made,  provided  it is true that this
comes to the original English. Here it follows: "The          organization is. opposed to that orderlyway. This, how-
ACRL has come into existence because in our opinion           ever, has not been proven. Why would it not be possible
disturbing voices arising out of Calvin College appear        for an organization- of this kind to encourage its mem-
rather to undermine- than to build up the church. It is       bers and its leaders to walk the orderly way of protest
our intention, as organization, to give support  to.those,    and appeal? There is nothing in the information fur-
among our leaders who fight. for the cause of historic        nished by Haverkamp which indicates that this is not
Calvinism.       Our viewpoint with respect to various        their  intent.ion.    If, -however, an organization of this
matters which draw attention in the Christian Reformed        kind has nothing more in view than to make propa-
communion will from. time to time be publicized. It is        ganda, exert. pressure by stirring up "public opinion,"


318                                                THESTANDARDBEARER

and create partyism in the church, then it is both dis-         nary that one of the most fundamental issues facing
orderly and futile. It is the former for the reasons            the Christian Reformed Church has come. Everyone,
which Haverkamp sets forth. And it is the latter be-            whether he agrees or disagrees with Prof. Dekker,
cause nothing concrete can ever be accomplished in              .must recognize this. And as far as Calvin College is
any church as far as the removal of real or' imaginary          concerned, I would hazard the guess that at least one
evils  .is concerned, except by way of orderly, official        of the issues. about which this new society is concerned
action.      In the third place, in as far-as I am `able-to     is that of .evolutionism.
judge from available information, the Rev. Haverkamp                In the third place, it makes a strange impression
is a bit hasty in his judgment.         I would guess that      on me that Editor Haverkamp is so quick to criticize
what the society states in its quoted paragraph above           this new organization while there are others who seem
is not stated loosely and without reason, and that              to be free to make all the propaganda they please,
these reasons. will be specified in future propaganda.          even to the point of openly criticizing and disagreeing
And I repeat: there is nothing `wrong about propaganda          with the first of the Three Points of -1924. I refer to
.on public issues in the church,  provided,that  the men        the constant propaganda being made by the  Refdvmed
who are responsible for `such propaganda are willing            Jouvnal.      Has it reached the point that the'so-called
to  implement"their complaints by formal `and orderly           "liberals" of the Christian Reformed Church are free
protest as well. I have little sympathy for a policy of         to make propaganda; but that those who want to oppose
vociferous complaints in the  .press and from the plat-         these liberal tendencies must refrainfrompropaganda?
form that' is accompanied by a policy of steadfast re-          I would say that it is high time that someone raises a
fusal to stand for one's convictions .and'fight  to- the end    hue and cry in defense of the Reformed faith, and then
before the assemblies of the church.                            follows it up with well-founded protests. The Rev.
       Meanwhile, in the  veryfact that an organization         Haverkamp should encourage these laymen rather than
like this comes into existence there is food for serious        condemn them.
thought on the part of the Christian Reformed leaders              But, in the,fourth  place, this new organization must
and constituency.                                               make up their minds to stick to their basis and pur-
       In `the first place, it seems to me that there is        pose.       And that means that above all else they must
something sad suggested in the formation of an asso-            get rid of the Three Points. For the Three Points
ciation of laymen. Personally, I do not like the dis-           are not consistent with their basis, namely, the Re-
tinction suggested in the terms  Zaymtin and  cdevgy.           formed Creeds. And though Dr. James.  Daane offers
But there `is at least the suggestion here that these           the rather meaningless opinion that our Protestant
laymen feel somewhat forsaken and deserted. They                Reformed criticism is "unimaginative," it does not-
seem to feel that they must take the `lead; and this' can       take any imagination whatsoever to see that the Three
only be because those who ought to take the lead `are           Points lie at the basis both historically and doctrin-
failing them. Could `it be that the official watchmen?          ally, of every issue of importance that troubles the
the ministers, are keeping silence when they ought to           Christian Reformed Church. If this new society fails
be speaking out clearly and warning the church against          to see this, it is doomed to failure.     -  1
impending and present dangers? Is this not the situa-              In conclusion, I would encourage this Association
tion with the Dekker Case? There should have been a             to be faithful to their basis and purpose, -faithful
clear note sounded by the watchman's trumpet when               without compromise; I would encourage them to have
the Dekker Case began in 1963, but there was none.              the courage of their convictions and in that courage to
There should have been a-flood of protests, but there           be militant. and to be ready to fight for the truth at all
were none.        Today the  Reformed  Journal  continues       costs.      I would caution them to expect "trouble," but
vigorously to make propaganda for this .rank Arminian-          not to be deterred by it, nor ever to be moved by any
ism. `Tovch  and  Trumpet  weakly presents "fresh  in;          other considerations than the consideration of `the
sights" from Professor Murray which are not fresh               truth.      And  .I would assure them that if they really
at all, but old and' stale. But the editorial columns of        and truly mean to be faithful to our Reformed Creeds'
The Banner  and  De Wachtev  are altogether silent on           and to the infallible Word of God, the Standuvd Beaver
this burning issue and occupied for the most part with          will offer its support.
comparatively insignificant `things. Who in the world              We will be watching!
thinks of tidying his living-room furnture when  ,his
house is burning? And  w'ho `writes about liturgy when
the church is threatened- with Arminianism? Why,  -
in the press and at the assemblies and from the plat-
form,  - do the watchmen keep such silence that the                            RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY
citizenry are compelled to take the lead?. Yet, is this         The Ladies Society of the Protestant Reformed Church
not the suggestion in the formation  :of a laymen's             of South Holland, Illinois herewith expresses its sym-
association?                                                    pathy to the Farn'ly of John Zandstra, Sr., who passed
       In the second place, one must be blind if he cannot      away suddenly at the age of 69 years.
see that an organization of this kind indeed has criti-         "My help  cometh  from the Lord which made heaven
cism to offer and issues in mind which must be pub-             and earth". Psalm  121:2.
licized.     True, they do not mention the seminary;                                           Rev. J. Heys, Pres.
though well they might do so: for it is from the  semi-                                        Mrs. R. Van  Baren, Sec'y.


                                                THESTANDARDBEARER                                                    319





                                   DR. DAANE VIEWS THE DEKKER CASE


                                              Pvof. H. C.  Hoeksemti-


   For a while after the Synod of 1964 it seemed as          stand now, we know that Daane is in Dekker's corner;
though the various Christian Reformed journals were          but is Dekker in Daane's corner completely? Will
intending to keep silence about what has come to be          Dekker assume responsibility for all of Daane's posi-
known as the "Dekker Case." And, for the most part,          tion? Perhaps we shall hear again from Prof. Dekker
this silence has been maintained.      The two official      before long.
papers of the Christian Reformed Church have not                One thing, however, is certain:          Dr. Daane's
editorially dealt with the matter.  Torch and  Tvumpet       ` ` theologizings" bear no resemblance to Reformed
has made a couple. of editorial references to the            theology, either in method or in content.         And his
matter; and just recently it has called in help from         caricature of Protestant Reformed theology and preach-
Prof. John Murray, of Westminster.' Seminary, who,           ing is exactly that, --  a. caricature; and resemblance
however, really offers nothing but the traditional pres-     between it and. the true image of our theology and
entation of the so-called "common-grace benefits"            preaching is strictly coincidental.      I fear that Dr.
which accrue to mankind in general from the death of         Daane is so obsessed with his notions about the
Christ.    As far as I can recall, Prof.  Dekker.himself     "addressability" of the gospel that he loses the Re-
has written nothing further on the matter since Synod        formed perspective in regard to almost everything
decided to study the doctrine of limited, atonement in       connected with the gospel.
the light of Scripture and the creeds. However, begin-
ning. with the October issue' of  .1964, the  Reformed       Duane's  "Theolo&Zn.g"
Jouvnal   has kept up a  steady'barrage  of articles by         As far as- Dr. Daane's approach and method.. are
Dr. James Daane (Assistant Editor `of  Chvistiunity          concerned, there  _ is something fundamentally wrong.
Today)  and by Dr. Harry Boer (Principal and Teacher         Daane  .himself would probably call what he does
of the Theological College of Northern Nigeria). In          "theologizing." I prefer to call it  philosophizing.
general, both,of  these men plainly agree with Professor        What characterizes his method?
Dekker. Moreover, they are both "rather frank in their          In the first place, Daane, as  has;everyone thus far
discussion of the case, Dr. Daane especiallybeingfrank       who has entered the discussion, tries to proceed  .his-
to. the point of being outspoken. Daane usually states       torically and to view the present position of Dekker in
his thoughts rather bluntly, which is an advantage           its connection with 1924 and the Three Points. In fact,
especially in a discussion of this kind. It also seems       he really devotes a large part of two articles to the
that Daane cannot resist taking pot-shots at our             relation between 1924 and 1964; In this he is correct:
Protestant Reformed Churches and at what he imagines         we have repeatedly stressed that the basic problem in
is our theology. And it is partly because of Daane's         this entire  .issue is that. of 1924, particularly, though
blunt criticism of our churches and partly because his       not exclusively, the First Point.
articles belong, generally. speaking, to the Dekker             In the second place, however, Daane never bases
Case, that the editorial columns of the Stunduvd Beaver      his theological reasonings about the love of God and
w,ill reflect on Daane's defense of and elaboration upon     about grace and about the atonement upon Scripture and
Dekker's position. For the time being, at least, I will      the confessions. I fail to find in all his articles any
leave the writings of Harry Boer to the Rev. C..Hanko,       more than a passing, reference to Scripture passages.
who is currently commenting on Boer's position in            Daane does not proceed exegetically whatsoever. Nor
"The Lord Gave the Word.?'                                   does he proceed confessionally.      Fact is that he first
   Meanwhile, I agree with Tovch  and Trmmpet's com-         lays down a theology of unlimited atonement, and then
ment that Prof. Dekker owes further explanation to his       he forces this view upon the Canons (Reformed  Journal,
readers, and I had expected that by this time he would       December, 1964) until :he has the Canons. of Dordrecht
have continued to set forth `his views. It is well to        teaching the very error which they were fighting. I
remember, too, that while Daane agrees fundamentally         intend to go into the  %material  of  Daane%  reasonings
with Dekker, we do not know whether Dekker goes along        in. due time.    I emphasize' now that Daane does not
with Daane's position in every respect; and unless           proceed confessionally, but bends the `confessions to
Prof. Dekker "comes out of his `corner" .and, speaks         fit his theology.    Is it not simply preposterous to
for himself, he is certainly going to be classified in       maintain that, Canons II teaches .unlimited  atonement?
the popular mind as agreeing with Daane's, theology.         The Second Head of Doctrine was directed against the
It would, therefore have been more beneficial and less       Second Point of the Arminians. And what did the Second
complicated if the  Reformed   Jouvnal   had continued to    Point of the Arminians maintain?  This:.
present Dekker's views, rather than the views of men            `.`That, agreeably thereto, Jesus Christ, the Saviour
who for the most part agree with Dekker. As matters          of the world, died  .for all men and for every man, so


320                                                  THESTANDARD  BEAREd

that he has obtained for them all by his death on the             Daane makes this statement without an iota of proof;
cross, redemption and the forgiveness of sins; yet                and I challenge him to find so much as a shred of
that no one actually enjoys this forgiveness of sins              evidence for it. Daane either betrays total ignorance
except the believer, according to the word of the                 of Protestant Reformed theology here, or he is being
Gospel of John  3:16: `God so loved the world that he             wilfully malicious. The latter I do not like to believe;
gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in           but if the former is true, then the good doctor ought to
him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' And            study before he breaks out in print.          One thing is
in the First Epistle of John 2:2 `And he is the propitia-         certain: Daane, who is very critical of the theological
tion for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for            methods of others, is setting a poor example in his
the sins of the whole world."'                                    own "theologizing."
This is Arminianism, i.e., with respect to the                       In the fourth place, Daane fails  .completely  in all
death of Christ.                                                  his "theologizing" thus far to build carefully formulated
       The Canons were fighting this Arminianism in. the          concepts on the basis of Scripture and the confessions.
Second Head of Doctrine.                                          This, by'the way, has been rather characteristic of the
       Proceed as a Reformed theologian from the position         entire Dekker Case. But in one who wants to speak
of the  -Canons,  instead of forcing your own view upon           about `and reason from the "nature" of the atonement
the Canons, and you would never arrive at the absurd              and the "nature" of God's grace and God's love, 
claim that the Canons support unlimited atonement.                                                                          &
                                                                  Daane does, one might  .expect  a few well-formulated
       In the third place, Daane has a propensity for             definitions  ,and some well-developed concepts. But
drawing conclusions and expressing opinions and mak-              these are totally lacking.' For example, before Daane
ing bold claims which, are  .altogether  unfounded. He            "theologizes" (philosophizes) about unlimited atone-
really builds his entire case from the idea that the              ment, he ought to define 
First Point of 1924 was fundamentally correct in its                                           atonement.  He ought to treat
                                                                  Prof. Dekker's distinction between an efficacious and
assertion of a grace of God to all men, but that 1924             a non-efficacious atonement,' and seriously face the
did not go far enough. He presses the First Point to              question whether a non-efficacious atonement' is not
the consequence of asserting a saving.grace of God to             a contradiction in terms.        Daane should define the
all men. A sample of this is in his  .discussion  in the          grace- of God on the basis of Scripture. He should do
November issue, p. 14, when he writes: "Yet to this               the same with the love  of-God. He ought, -- especially
day no one has been able to make clear to anyone that             in view of his preoccupation with the addressability of
the well-meant offer of salvation is an instance, not of          the gospel, -to define the preaching of the gospel.
saving, but of a qualitatively different non-saving,              Then' perhaps we could understand Daane's theology;
common grace."         And as to bold, unproved claims,           and then it would also become clearly evident that his
here are some samples.          "The most distinctive and         theology is not that of our Reformed creeds.
characteristic feature of Protestant Reformed theology
is that God hates  ,sinners, or that God loves  .only the            In the fifth place, I am convinced that Dr. Daane
righteous."      (Refovmed  Journal,   January, 1965, p. 9)       absolutely does not want to proceed in all his `ftheolo2
This is `an altogether unproved assertion on Daane's              gizing" from the truth of sovereign predestination.
part, and one which he cannot prove for the simple                This will become evident in later discussion. But this
reason that it is not true. I challenge Daane to prove            is the root of all the errors in Daane's philosophizing
it! Here is another such statement: "In this theology,            about an atoning love of God for all men. And this is a
love is the perfect bond. between. a perfect God, and a           fundamental error of method.         Where a theologian
perfect man. In this view of the divine love there is no          stands with respect to this doctrine will certainly
difference, so far as the, perfect bond of love is  con-          determine all his thinking. with respect to atonement,
cerned, between God and man. Gone is the dimension                salvation, and the preaching of the gospel. And to
that  God  is love . . . . .Love' is. the relationship between    proceed from the truth of sovereign predestination has
these two; it is  determ.ined  by the equal righteousness         ever been the tried and true method of Reformed theol-
of both and, therefore, not by God. rather than man."             ogy. It is the method of the Canons.



               RESOL  UTiON OF SYMPATHY                                     FINANCIAL REPORT  -  Mavch 1, 1965
The Men's Society and the Ladies Society of the First             Permanent Committee for Publication of Protestant
Prot. Ref. Church of Holland,  .Michigan  extend to Mr.           Reformed Literature: (Dogmatics Fund)
and Mrs. Harold  Schipper their sincere sympathy in                    Funds received                       $  5,816.83
the passing of their father,                                           Accrued Interest                           56.23
                MR. JOHN ZANDSTRA, SR.                                                                      $  5;8;13.11
                                                                       Expenses                                   73.49
The God of all grace comfort them with the sure
promises of His Word.                                                                                       $ 5,799.62
                                                                        Pledges                                 330.00
                                 Mr. E. Cammenga, Sec'y                            Total                    $ 6,129.62
                                 Miss L. Kortering, Sec'y.


                                                        THESTANDARDBEAPER                                                              321



                                       74e  &!%tidd  y4if  %&#
                                       ("0 worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." Ps. S&9,)


                                                        ADULT BAPTISM

                                                       Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg

    The baptism of adult persons is always preceded                          In this light we will consider the five questions that
 by the expression or, confession of a conscious faith.                 are  ,put to the adult person receiving baptism. It is to
 This confession marks the subject of baptism as a                      be noted that the first three of these questions have to
 spiritually mature individual who consciously. takes                   do with our doctrine while the fourth one sums up the
 upon himself the obligations of baptism.              This, of         matter by asking assent to "all: the articles of the
 course,. an infant is not able to do and it is therefore               Christian religion." Now this is very important, not
 the parent. that presents the child in baptism and as-                 because the candidate for baptism is to receive here
 sumes for it the responsibilities of the baptism vow.                   an  .examination  in "dogmatics," but because he is
 In the case of adult baptism, the, one who receives the                asked with amazing brevity to subscribe to or express
 sacrament answers for himself the questions that are                   agreement with the fundamental truths of the Word of
 put to him and, as we shall see presently, the very                    God as these are systematically set forth in our doc-
 nature of these questions is such that the affirmative                 trine . Although we will not go into the matter here, it
 answer given constitutes in itself a confession of faith.              is to be noted nevertheless, and every believer can
    This insistence of confession before baptism in all                 trace this out in detail for himself, that every heresy
cases where adults are involved is based  on. the Word                  that has arisen in the past leads to an ultimate denial
 of God. This order is mentioned explicitly in the great                of these fundamental truths that are expressly men-
 commission of Matthew  28':19, "Go ye therefore, and                   tioned in the: questions for adult baptism.              If we see
 teach all nations,,  baptizing  them in the name of the                this we will also understand that the sin of supporting
 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Ex-                    heresy is not only a denial of the. confession of the
 amples, of how this was carried out are numerous in                    truth but is a repudiation of all that is contained in
 the book of Acts. After Peter preached the Word on                     Holy Baptism.                It goes without saying that this is a
 the first Pentecost, we read: "Then they that gladly                   very serious matter, indeed.
 received his word were baptized." (Acts  2:41) Con-                         We make one other remark concerning these, five
 cerning the labors of the evangelist Philip in  Samaria                `questions in general. In the Adult -Baptism Form each
 it is said, "But when they believed  .Philip  preaching                question is answered with the word,  "Yes.*' In the
 the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name                 Form for the Baptism of Infants, the three questions
 of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and                      that are asked of the parents are lumped together and
 women." (Acts  8:12) This same evangelist answered                     answered with just one "yes." We take it that this
 the question of. the Ethiopian eunuch,  !`See here is                  difference indicates that when an adult person is to be
 water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?" by saying,                 baptized he is to give. answer to each question indi-
 "If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest."                 vidually, or, in other words, he responds five times
 (Acts  8:36, 37) Lydia, the seller of purple in Thyatira,              with "Yes" instead of just once.                  This also would
 was baptized afterthe Lord opened her, heart and "she                  point to the importance of assimilating andunderstand-
attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul."                    ing each of these questions. We must not rush through
 (Acts  16:15)     And, finally, we may cite yet the text of            the form and receive a hasty "Yes" in order then to
 Acts  18:8, "And  Crispus, the chief ruler of the syna-                proceed with the baptism but rather each question
 gogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and                    must be thoughtfully considered and answered, one by
 many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were                     one, so that thus the truth of the Gospel,. the Word of
 baptized."       All of this bears out the importance of               God, is not slighted but is  {made pre-eminent in the
 always emphasizing that baptism, whether of infants                    sacrament.
 or adults, may not be administered as  `ra custom or                        The first question asked is: "Dost thou believe in
 superstition", but it is a "holy ordinance of God" which               the only true God, distinct in three persons, Father,
 demands sincere intellectual and spiritual conduct on                  Son, and Holy Ghost, Who has made heaven and earth,
 the part of those seeking to use the. sacrament. We                    and all that in them is, of nothing, and still maintains
 must not only know what we are doing when we seek                      and governs them, insomuch that nothing comes to
 "incorporation into the body of Christ through baptism"                pass, either  in. heaven or on earth, without His divine
 but we must  also realize  all of the responsibilities in-             will ?! '
 volved in that incorporation for unless, by God's grace,                    It does not belong to the province of this -rubric to
 we are prepared- to faithfully assume them, our baptism                discuss the doctrines themselves that are. explicitly
 cannot' be a blessing, but rather it will aggravate- the               mentioned in these questions. We leave that to another
 judgment of God upon us.                                               department of our periodical but. we note here that-the


322                                                THE STANDARD BEARER

candidate for baptism is asked to confess his faith IN          in sin. . . . .incapable  of doing good. . . .  .prone to all
GOD TRIUNE and that concerning God, he confesses                evil," we cannot sincerely believe that God  well-
the truth of  cveation  and  providence. No less than           meaningly offers us salvation on the condition of our
three fundamental doctrines are acknowledged here,              acceptance.    Without even an elementary  bmastery of
namely, that of the Trinity, of Creation and Providence.        the complex. system of Christian doctrine, we will feel
The assumption is that the candidate for baptism has            intrinsically the impossibility of such duplicity and be
been instructed through the preaching of the Word con-          ied to embrace wholeheartedly the truth that salvation
cerning these truths and their implications. He re-             is the gift of Divine and sovereign grace.
alizes then when he answers this question affirmatively         : Thus the third question: "Dost thou believe that
that he is expressing his faith in the Living, Sovereign,       Christ, Who is the true and eternal God, and very man,
Almighty and Eternal God and that beside this God               Who took his human nature on him out of the flesh and
there is none other.        He acknowledges that GOD, is        blood of the Virgin Mary, is given thee of God, to be
LORD of all things and happenings for HE IS GOD.                thy Savior, and that thou dost receive by this faith, re-
This must always be the starting point of our con-              mission of sins in His blood, and that thou art made by
fession.     Unless and until we are- able to know GOD `we      the power of the Holy Ghost, a member of Jesus Christ
arc unable to confess the truth  ,&out anything. All            and His Church?"
true knowledge is basically theology and to know God               Here the doctrine of Christ and the doctrine of sal-
is eternal life. (John  17:3)  That eternal life we have        vation are combined into one question. This is both.
by faith, which is the wonderful gift of God that enables       beautiful and essential. To confess the truth concern-
us to see and to know Him as He is, -the  HdLY AND              ing Christ apart from the truth concerning salvation
SOVEREIGN.ONE.                                                  is cold and meaningless, revealing an ignorance'of THE
       Next the candidate for baptism is asked: "Dost           TRUTH that is without excuse. To  confess  Christ is
thou believe that thou art conceived and born in sin,           to confess salvation for HE is the salvation of Jehovah.
and therefore art a child of wrath by nature, wholly            Here then we have a confession of the truth with per-
incapable of doing `any good, and prone to all evil; and        sonal application and this is resultant from our being
that thou hast frequently, in thought, word and deed,           incorporated into Christ and His body through baptism.
transgressed the commandments of the Lord:             and      Only then can and do we confess that "the true and
whether thou art heartily sorry for these sins'?"               eternal God became very man to be our Savior" and
       Anthropology is that science or study in which man       such a confession is also a matter of personal  experi-
is made the object of investigation and research. Here          ence.
you have anthropology at its best. Well may we  re-                In this connection it is to be noted how that in the
phrase the question: "What do you know about man. . .           formulation of the question asked the- various truths
about self?" Oh, it is true that in the locus .of  dog-         concerning Jesus Christ are so interwoven as to make
matics  known as Anthropology more is treated than              them an .essential part of the confession but that in the
touches upon the question of man's moral, spiritual             last part of the question the emphasis is properly
nature or condition. His creation, fall and history are         placed upon the truth that salvation is all of Him alone.
all comprised in this study but it may also be .said that       He merits it and He applies it. He is both the author
`the aim of this study is to direct us to the  conscious-       and finisher of this work. All this He does uncondition-
ness of our own emptiness and vanity. All the factual           ally out of grace and through faith. There is no room
knowledge that may be gained by a study of man's ori-           in the Christian's confession for the flesh to boast.
gin and history is of no spiritual avail as long as he          Christ alone is the complete and perfect Savior and
does not realize the pivotal fact of the whole matter:          for us the sole question is, "Are we the recipients of
Man  is a sinner,  born in sin, dead in sin, prone to all       that gracious work?"        Do we believe that "by the
sin. And even this fact by itself is wholly inadequate          power `of the Holy Ghost we are made members of
for it must needs be coupled with "the godly sorrow of          Jesus Christ and His Church?"
repentance."       Only when one knows himself to be a           Since then we are, by our own profession,  mem-
sinner does he have true knowledge of "man." .Only              bers of His Church, we are asked in the fourth  q&-
then can he pass the test of "anthropology."                    tion: "Dost thou assent to all the articles of the Chris-
       To be noted in this  connection$howe$er, is the fact     tian religion, as they are taught here, in this Christian
that this' second.  quesfion  centers in the fundamental       . Church, according to the  .%&ord  $f God; and purpose
truth of total depravity, one of the five well-known points .c `steadfastly to continue in the same doctrine to the end
of Calvinism. Because of the pivotalrelation of this `$  \%f thy life; and also  dbst thou reject all heresies and
truth to many other -doctrines  of the Christian faith, a      .schisms, repugnant to this  doct.rine, and  premise  to
deep-seated spiritual `knowledge of it is essential as a        persevere:@ the communion of the Christian Church,
deterrent against embracing all kinds of heresies. We           not only in the hearing. of the Word, but also in the use
mention one example in this connection, the doctrine            of the Lord's Supper?"
of the free-willists. It is a spiritual impossibility to           The substance' of this question may be summarized
embrace and confess the doctrine of the free-will of  !         in the question: "Are you resolved to be a faithful and
man and at the same time to honestly answer "Yes" j             living member of the church?"           We may bring the
to the second question of the Baptism Form we are               focal point home by selecting phrases out of the  ques-
discussing. We must be honest with ourselves and with           tion and asking each reader to consider: DO YOU -:,
God. If we truly know that "we are conceived and born              - assent to the doctrine of your church?
       _.


                                                       THESTANDARDBEARER                                                  323


     - steadfastly continue in that same doctrine?               lead a Christian life; to forsake the world and its evil
     --reject all heresies?                                      lusts, as is becoming the members of Christ and His
     --persevere in the communion of the Christian               Church; and to submit thyself to all Christian admoni-
  church?                                                        tions?"
     -- persevere in the hearing of the Word?                        Our life must be in accord with our  doqriner  The
     -persevere in the use of the Lord's Supper?                 admonitions and discipline of the church aims to  en-
     And we note in conclusion that the whole question           force the church's doctrine as a living power that must
  is designed to bring home the thought that doctrine is         be manifest in the lives of its members. As members
  not something to be professed alone but also and  em-          of Christ's body who confess that we are "prone to all
  phatically to be lived and manifested in the midst of          evil" we must be willing at all times to subject  our-
  the world in an undivided life that is harmonious with         selves to such admonition.
  the doctrine confessed.
     The concluding question of this Baptism Form has                        Sacred vows in humbleness spoken
  to do with the matter of submitting one's self to the                      Firmly resolving ne'er to be broken
  admonition and government of the church. It reads                          Lord give us daily grace from on high
  thus: "Hast thou taken a firm resolution always to                         That we may keep them `til we die. '





                                                 GOG AND MAGOG


                                              Ezekiel 38 39, Revel&ion  20:8


                                                       Rev. G. C. Lubbers


  The  Israel  Of  God Fully Restored  In,The  Land         .    Spirit.     And therefore the restitution of all things will
     Let is, not be forgotten that Israel really was not         be finished when Christ returns with the clouds to make
  "restored" to their own land when the remnant re-              all things new!        Such is the teaching of Scripture
  turned from Babylon under Cyrus' edict  as.the king of         everywhere! This is the hermeneutical rule to follow
  Persia.    They returned without being restored. The           lest we fall into the confusion of Dispensationalism
  kingdom was not restored to them; there was -no king            and the many conflicting theories of Chiliasm.
  on David's throne! This is evident from history and             There are some very beautiful and moving utter-
  from many notices in Scripture. It is explicitly stated        ances in this prophecy of Ezekiel which we do well to
  by the disciples on the mount of Olives at the occa-           read carefully.
  sion of Jesus' ascension.to heaven. The disciples ask,            --Attend to what we read concerning Israel's being
  even after having received much instruction concerning
  the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, "Lord,            brought back to their own land in `Ezekiel  36:23-26.
  wilt thou at this. time  Yestove again  the kingdom to         There we are. told, "And I will sanctify my great
  I s r a e l ? "                                                name, which was profaned among the heathen, which
    From the foregoing it is evident that the prophecy            ye have profaned in the midst of them . .,. . . for I will
  of Ezekiel is fulfilled only in the bringing in of a new        take you from among the heathen, and gather you out
-~li'&%n and a new earth where righteousness shall                of all countries, and will bring you into your own iand."
  dwell. Wherefore Peter says to the people in Jerusalem,         And that this refers to far more than a mere bringing
  explaining the healing of the impotent man at the temple,       into the land geographically, in the `earthly land of
  that in the "name" of Jesus, in  .whom God sanctifies           Canaan and Palestine, is evident from, the furthe.r  word
  His Name in Israel's redemption, this  man. stands              of the Lord, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon
  whole before them, leaping and praising God. And he             you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness and
  adds concerning this Jesus, this "holy child," the  fol,       from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart
  ,lowing, "Whom the heaven must receive until the times          also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within
1 of the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken         you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your
  by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world          flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And  I will
  began. ' ' Acts  3:21. And truly this also includes what       put my Spirit within -you,-  and cause you to walk in ml
  God has spoken by the mouth of Ezekiel, who is one of           statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.
  these holy prophets. who spoke being moved by the               And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your


3i4                                                THESTANDARDBEARER

fathers; and ye shall be  .my people, and I will be your       of the Heidelberg Catechism. Nevertheless, the sanc-
God."                                                          tification of God's Name, His glory and His virtues is
       Here we have the realization of God's Covenant in       God's concern. In fact we hear this in very strong and
the heart of God's people foretold; it is the better           clear overtones in Ezekiel 38, 39 both as respects the
Covenant which is .based  upon better promises, a better       salvation of His people, and as this is manifested in the
priesthood, and a better temple; It refers to the work         final and utter destruction of the hordes of the nations,
of God in Christ's birth, suffering, death, burial, de-        denominated Gog and Magog.
scent into hell, and His resurrection, ascension, the              It is both interesting and profitable to read what
outpouring of the Holy Spirit  on Pentecost, together          the LORD says concerning the sanctification of His
with all the blessings of salvation, to wit, regeneration,     Name. In doing so-we  must understand that the "name"
calling, faith, justification, sanctification and glorifi-     of the Lord refers to all His virtues as they are mani-
cation! It is the realization of the tabernacle of God         fested and revealed in God's outgoing works, His mighty
with man! John  1:14;  Rev.  21:3:  `Such  is'the  Christo-    judgments, His destruction of the nations and His sav-
logical, Soteriological, and Eschatological perspective        ing of His people. It refers to'His  power, wisdom, good-
here of the Irophetic  word of Ezekiel.                        ness, justice, mercy and truth, particularly as dis-
       Yes, the setting is here in Babylon inthis prophecy.    played to his people. Wherefore we say: our help is
But God will not allow this to be repeated. History will       in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
have an end, a  telos! There shall be a  consummation          Psalm  121:l.     Such is the LORD's name! Often we
of the ages.       This we see realized in the fulness of      read of the name of the Lord in the Psalms. His name
times according to the purpose of God's. will.  '  Ephe-       "is excellent in all the earth (Ps.  8:l). His is the name
sians  1:lO.     Gog and Magog will be destroyed and cast      of the God of Jacob that defends us (Ps. 20:1), in which
' into Hell !    But the church shall be saved through         name we set up our banners and which we will remem-
Christ's death and much more still through His life.           ber. (Ps.  20:5,7) It is the name which Christ declares
Rom. 5:9-11. There shall be no endless repetition of           unto His brethren (Ps.  22:22), and for which name's
Egypt and Babylon.        The vanity of vanities is finally    sake  God. forgives us our iniquities. (Ps. 25: 11)
and irrevocably overcome in Christ's death and res-                The tragic thing about Israel's deportation into
urrection.       By the Wonder of God's grace the grave        Babylon is what the heathen say about the Lord's
shall be fruitful, life is born out of death. There is'a       covenant relationship to His people. The most precious
moving pathos in the words of the Lord in Isaiah's             and unique relationship is laughed to scorn by infidels
prophecy, "Now therefore what have I here, saith the           and haters of God. And the Lord hears and in  anthro-
LORD, that my people is taken away for nought? they            popathic language utters his Word of concern respect-
that rule over them make them howl, saith the LORD;            ing His name.        Writes Ezekiel, "But I had pity for
and my name continually every day is blasphemed.               mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned
Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore              among the heathen, whither they went." Yes, the ulti-
they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak:      mate reason for redeeming Israel from their iniquities
behold it is I." Isaiah  52:5,6. The LORD will fulfill         is for His name's sake! Of this there can be no doubt.
His promise. Abraham and His seed shall inherit the            For this reason we read further, "Therefore say unto
world. And that "world" (Rom.  4:13) is not merely the         the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; I do not
earthly land of Canaan, but refers to the heavenly.            this for your sakes, 0 house of Israel, but for mine
Hebrews  11:13-16.        Has not God prepared for His         holy name's sake, which ye have profaned `among the
people a city, the new Jerusalem? Here His name                heathen, whither ye went." Ezekiel 36:21,22.
shall be no more blasphemed among the heathen be-                 And now the Lord will do something which will
cause of Israel's sin and captivity.        And the saints     protect His name. None will ever be able to I profane
shall never again hang their harps upon the wiilows  in        the name of God again, because the Lord will save His
a strange land.        In this land of "fadeless day" the      people wholly for His name's sake. (see above under
harpers will. continually make music to accompany              former heading: Israel fully restored. . .  .") After
redemption's song!                                             the final salvation in heaven's glory there will be no
 They who refuse to see this in Ezekiel do not                 reason to speak evilly of Israel; There sin shall be
rightly divide the Word and are workmen who will be            no more. They will be entirely cleansed and the law
ashamed!                                                       of God shall be in their hearts perfectly. `Yes, "the
                                                               heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel,
The LORD'S Sanctification  Of  His  Great  Name                when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for-
       The great concern of the Lord over the redemption       ever."' Ezekiel  37:28.
of His people and concerning the destruction of Gog               Gog and Magog too must take notice. God is jealous
and Magog is the  sanctifying  of His  Name. Our Savior,       for His holy name. And in His holy jealousy He will
while upon  earth> perfectly read, interpreted, and ful-       cause Gog and Magog to perish. Even the wrath of
filled the Scriptures. When-He taught the disciples to         men shall praise Him; He shall laugh at them and have
pray, it is a note-worthy fact that the "first petition"       them in derision.          The heathen must take notice of
is  "Hallowed  be Thy Name." Not only is this the con-         God's great love for His people.
cern of the Lord, but it is also the chief concern of
every praying saint in whose heart God has shed His            Conclusion
love abroad by the Holy Spirit. Compare Question 122              We may safely say in conclusion to all that we have


                                                   THESTANDARDBEARER                                                 325


written on this subject of "Gog and Magog," that the          we dwell securely. For His name's sake he has saved
great truth permeating this entire revelation is that all     us at Calvary, at Pentecost; and He shall save us to the
things are out of God, through Him and unto Him. To           uttermost. He is the Lord.
Him be the praise and glory forever in His church                Truly, our God is a mighty Fortress.
before angels and all the nations.                               He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High
    We live in evil days, to be sure. But we can lift         shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. And
up our hearts  and. voices.      His is the kingdom, the      from this secret' place of God we see and judge all
power, -and the glory forever.         The kingdoms were      things and are judged of none.
moved, and he moves them. All is in good hands and               Ours is the victory in faith!





                                      THE INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES

                                       MEANING OF DIVINE INSPIRATION



                                                    Rev.  H. Veldman


    In our preceding article we were discussing the           that must precede this coming of the Lord, and that
truth of plenary inspiration.         Plenary means "full,    the apostles were aware of these signs, it is surely
complete." Plenary inspiration is opposed to partial          difficult to believe that they should have believed that
inspiration.     Plenary inspiration does not mean that       Christ would come in their day. But, in the second
these holy writers were imbued with plenary knowledge         place, what difference would it make what the apostles
of all things, so that they were thoroughly acquainted        personally may have thought of the time of this coming?
with science, philosophy, history, astronomy, etc; it         The question is not what the sacred writers may have
does mean, however, that, as they spoke or wrote con-         believed personally, but what did the Holy Spirit mean
cerning God as the God of our salvation in Jesus Christ,      when He inspired. these writers to write that the Lord
they were fully and completely inspired. And it also          standeth before the door and that He is coming quickly.
means that they were fully inspired in whatever they          And concerning this there cannot possibly be any doubt.
were moved by the Spirit of God to write. They spoke          Indeed, plenary inspiration surely means that the
and wrote without error. The apostle Paul, then, could        sacred writers spoke and wrote unerringly. And, of
not err in anything he taught, although he could not          course, we also understand that divine inspiration does
recollect. how many persons he had baptized in the            not mean that these writers were free from errors or
church at Corinth. Besides, the sacred writers also           sins in their conduct. They wereholyonly in principle.
undoubtedly differed as to insight into the truths they       David committed grievous sins. He could have been
taught.     Divine inspiration does not necessarily mean      electrocuted had he lived today.       And Peter surely
that the writers understood all that they wrote. In this      erred in his conduct at Antioch (see Galatians 2).
connection, we may call attention to the Scriptural           Notice what we read in verses  11~15  of that chapter.
expression with respect to the calling of  theLord.  The      Paul withstood the apostle Peter to the face, because
Word of God informs us that theLordis  coming quickly,        he was to be blamed. Whereas he in times past had
and that He standeth before  thedoor. Some have con-          eaten with the Gentiles, now he separated himself
cluded from this expression that the apostles erred in        from the Gentiles because he feared them who were
their expectation of this coming of the Lord. The             of the circumcision.       This means that Peter was
objection is voiced that they thought that the Lord was       guilty of  hypocricy.    Indeed, that the writers of Holy
coming in their day, and that subsequent history has          Writ wrote unerringly does not mean that they were
conclusively proved that they erred in their expecta-         blameless in all their life and conduct. It only means
tion.      The Lord must still come upon the clouds of        thatthey were inspired in all their speaking and writing,
heaven, and from this it is evident that the sacred           and only then when they wrote and spoke officially, as
writers were wrong in their presentation of this coming       in office.
of the Saviour.      However, in the first place, we can         This thought of plenary inspiration leads us to
hardly believe that the apostles believed that Christ         another very interesting observation.  Plenaryinspira-
would come in their day. In the light of the many signs       tion means that the holy writers were inspired in all


 2.
-  3 2 6                                                THE STANDARD BEARER

       what they wrote. Some think that inspiration is only         And this is also clearly stated in II Tim.  3:16 and II.
       generally and partially true. The inspired Word of           Peter 1:19-21, passages which we have already quoted.
       God is in the Bible as a babe is in its crib. God, for          Finally, inspiration is organic.       We believe in
       example, simply told the apostle Paul to write on the        organic inspiration:       What is organic inspiration?
       subject of "The Righteousness of God" in his epistle         Generally speaking, organic inspiration is understood
       to the Romans, but He left it to the apostle to write on     to mean that the Lord did not use the holy writers of
       it and develop it as he might please and see fit. The        His Word as machines, as we use our typewriters or
       Lord, then, gave the apostle some general ideas,             pens, or as mere amanuenses, as an office employer
       perhaps a broad outline, but He did  ,not inspire him,       employs his stenographers, but as living and thinking
       word for word and letter for letter. Assuming this to        men and without suppressing or annulling their own
       be true, what, think ye, would have happened. to the         personal individualities and characteristics. Now it is,
       truth  hid it been left to man to develop it? Would, in      of course, true that the Lord, when using these men to
       that case, Ps.  13+7:8-9  have been written: "0 daughter     write His Word, did not destroy their personal indi-
       of. Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he         vidualities.    The writers differ from each, also as far
       be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy        as each one's personal characteristics and style are
       shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones         concerned.      Isaiah writes as Isaiah, John writes as
       ag.ainst  the stones." We understand that some object        John; and Jeremiah was, also as far as his personal
       to* reading this passage of the Word  ,of God in their       characteristics were concerned, the lamentingprophet.
       homes in the presence of their little children. They         However, this conception of organic inspiration can
       are of the opinion that this should not be read in their     also lead to a very dangerous error. The error, then,
       presence.    What would have happened to a passage of        is that they speak of a divine and a human factor in
       this nature had it been left to man to write what he         the composition of the Scriptures. God and man wrote
       would please to -write. Then, there is a passage such        the Bible. Man colabored with the Lord to write the
       as Romans  9. I quote from that chapter the following:       Scriptures.     And this is dangerous  lbecause,  although
       "AS  it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I      the divine element is above error and criticism, the
       hated.. . . .For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on     human element is certainly subject to criticism. What
       whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on        God wrote stands unchallenged, but what man wrote is
       whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him        certainly fallible. And, whereas we do not know just
       that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that       what God wrote and what man wrote, one may criticize
       sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh,         the Word of God at will and as he pleases. It would be
       Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that       certainly impossible to distinguish the divine from the
       I might show'my power in thee, and that My name might        human. And we need have no doubts what would happen
       be declared throughout all the earth.. . .Nay but, 0 man,    then to the Word of God. Think of what is happening
       who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing      to the Word of God today, to  passage::  such as Gen.
       formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made         l-3, and this in spite of the fact that the Church has
       me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of         always clung to the infallible inspiration of the Holy
       the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and            Scriptures.
       another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to- shew           What, then, is organic inspiration? God and man
       His wrath, and to  make, His power known, endured with       did not write the Bible.       We speak of the Primary
       much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to des-       Author and secondary authors of the Bible. The Primary
       truction: And that ,He might make known the riches of        Author of the Bible is the Holy Spirit. God wrote the
       His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had  afore       Bible.     Only; He wrote the Bible through men. And
       prepared unto glory, Even us, whom He hathcalled, not        these men wrote exactly what the Lord wanted them to
       of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?" To be           write. In God's eternal counsel, the Lord conceived
       sure, they attempt to explain Romans  9:22, "What if         of His people as an organism, a whole, a unity, with
       God; willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power        Christ. as their Head and His people as the individual
       known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of        members of His body. This people He forms, by His
       wrath fitted to destruction," as if this longsuffering of    irresistible grace, to be a people unto Himself, unto
       God must be understood as having for its object the          the glory and praise of His Name and grace. They
       vessels of wrath.' But the meaning of the apostle is         constitute a wonder-work of God. They can never be
       surely that the Lord endured the vessels of wrath with       explained except in the light of God's wonderful grace.
       much longsuffering toward His people. Is it not true         This is expressed literally in the Scriptures, as we
       that the attempt is made today to explain Romans 9:13        read it in Isaiah  43:21: "This people have I formed for
       as if that passage must be understood as meaning:            Myself; they shall shew My praise." They  c,an never
       `.`Jacob  .-have I  .loved,. but Esau have I loved less"?    be explained evolutionistically, are never the products
       Where do the Scriptures speak of a love or hatred  ,of       of themselves, cannot attribute their existence to
the Lord in  .a greater and lesser degree? Would such               themselves in any sense of the word, are always the
 p a s s a g e s , as quoted above, ever have been written had      wonder-work of God, called, into existence by the
       the writing of the Bible been left to man in any sense       power of His almighty promise and grace. This is
       of the word? Indeed, the Lord could not  ,afford  to take    clearly set forth in the birth of Isaac in  the..Old Dis-
       any "chances." Man would- surely distort and corrupt         pensation, inasmuch as we read in the Scriptures that
       the truth. So, inspiration is and must surely be plenary.    both Abraham and Sarah had died, as far as the power


                                                      THESTANDARDBEARER                                                                   327

  is concerned to bring forth children, and this is also          in the Word of God converge upon Him. And even as
  clearly set forth in Christ's conversation with  Nice-          the people of God are called into existence and grow
  demus, in which the Lord informs thelearned doctor of          organically, so also the Bible is given by God to His
  the Jews that a man must be. born again to enter into          people organically.            God's revelation to His people
  the Kingdom of God and of Heaven., And as that wonder          grows and advances through the ages. Ever more
  people of the Lord, they also appear, antithetically, in       clearly does the Lord reveal Himself to His own as
  the midst of the world. They have a fight to fight, the         the God of their salvation. And this Bible comes into
  good fight of faith. They must be God's party in the           existence through the various organs whom the Lord
  world, shining as lights in the midst of the darkness,         has eternally willed to write. They are God's organs
  walk in the light even as the Lord is in the light, and        of inspiration: Moses, David, Isaiah, Jecemieh, Daniel,
  that in the midst of and over against a world that always      Ezekiel, all the major and minor prophets, Matthew and
,I walks in darkness. For that people the Lord has willed        Mark and Luke and John, Paul, Peter and the rest of
  and designed a Bible that will be a lamp before their          the holy writers. This is what we mean when we speak
  feet and a light upon their path. And that Bible, too,         of organic inspiration. More can be said of this wonder-
  is an organic unity, a whole. Christ, or the God of our        ful work of God. And to this we will call attention, the
  salvation in Christ, is' its  .central theme. All the lines    Lord willing, in our following article.




                                            p$ &i?kt 04 z%&aue&

 -.

                                                            HANNAH


                                                     Rev.  B. Woudenbevg



                             So Hannah  Yose up  after they had eaten in Shiloh, and  after they had
                          dvunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon  a seat  by a post of the temple of the
                          LORD.
                             And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and
                          wept  soye.
                             And she vowed a vow, and said, 0  LOR2j)  of hosts, if thou wilt indeed
                          look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and  Yemem  bev me, and  notfov-
                          get thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then
                          I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and  the+e  shull
                          no  ~a,&& come upon his  head.                             I   S a m u e l   1:9-11
                                                                          .

       If there was a point of transition during the period      lifetime of Samson, this began to change. The people .
  of the judges when the spiritual life of Israel having         received Samson as their judge and began to recognize
  reached its low began to revive, it was during the life-       the Philistines as being their enemy. They began to
  time of Samson. There can be little question but that          draw closer  t? their God.
  at the beginning of Samson's labors the spiritual life              At the same time during which Samson lived, there
  of Israel had reached an extremely low level. This             was also another judge laboring in Israel. He, like
  was evident from the life of Samson itself; for, although      Samson, was  ia man about whom we are apt to hold
 .he was judge and a spiritual leader in Israel, Samson          some serious reservations; but he also fit into his
  was enough a child of his day to shock our sense of            place according to the counsel of God for  the.revival
  propriety even to this day.            And even more was it    of spiritual life in Israel. The man was Eli. He was
  evident from the fact that when Samson went out to             a high priest serving in the tabernacle at Shiloh,. but
  seek occasion against the Philistines and so to fight          at the same time he served as a judge over the people.
  against Israel's enemies, the people of Israel were            To him the people would come with their  .spiritual
  offended. They. turned against Samson themselves and           problems and disputes for him to judge and counsel
  sought to deliver him into the hands of the Philistines.       them. Eli was a good man, and his counsel was usually
  Israel did not want a deliverer. They were satisfied           good.         The difficulty was that he lacked the strength to
  to live in subjection to the heathen if they could have        insist upon and enforce those things which he knew to                           .
 peace at that ,price.     Gradually, however, through the       be right. His own sons were the chief  examplecf  this.                              ,%
                                                                                                                                   L-.
                                                                                                                 ?    4    a`>-
                                                                                                                      i


328                                                THESTANDARDBEARER

They were evil men, and serving `as priests in the              that these tensions came to a head. Ordinarily this
temple they did countless evil things which dishonored          should have been a very joyful occasion. It had been
the name of God. Eli knew this and reproved them for            in the years before Peninnah had been joined to the
it; but when they refused to listen, he did nothing more        family; but now it was no longer. It seemed to provide
about it. This was generally true of all of Eli's efforts.      opportunity as at no other time to bring all of the
He was a kind and gentle man and could be very under-           bitterness that divided the two women out into the
standing and helpful to those who sought his aid. But           open.       By this time Peninnah had received a goodly
it was an evil day when the need of Israel was for a            number of children, both sons and daughters, and she
man of strength who could stand for and enforce the             was not one to let Hannah forget it. She knew that
righteousness of the law. Such leadership Eli could not         Hannah was a deeply religious woman, and she never
supply *                                                        neglected to let Hannah know that it was considered a
       Actually the importance of Eli's life was not so much    curse in Israel for a woman to be left without children.
in what he himself did; it was rather in the part he            The words of Peninnah cut deeply into Hannah's heart,
played in the life of the greater judge that followed           and she did not have the courage to answer back. She
him, Samuel. It was he that brought the very different          felt that it was a curse indeed that she bore until she
works of Samson and Eli to their completion.                    finally began to blame the Lord for the injustice of it
       The history of Samuel begins with Elkanah his            all. But that did not help; it only hurt her the more and
father. Elkanah was a Levite who lived in the town of           added to her grief.
Ramathaim-zophim, otherwise called  Ramah.  Elkanah                Neither was Elkanah unaware of what it was that
was a God-fearing man, one of the few in that day who           was happening.         He knew full well how cutting  Pen-
came down regularly to the tabernacle at Shiloh to              innah's remarks could be and how deeply Hannah was
worship.      Although he was a Levite, -it does not appear     affected by them. For many years now their annual
that he was called upon to serve in the tabernacle at           trips to Shiloh had been rent with discord because
regular intervals as the law prescribed. The taber-             of them; but Elkanah's reaction was far from helping
nacle just was not that busy a place to need a great            the situation any.       He only tried to counteract the
number to help in its functions. Eli and his family             bitter barbs of Peninnah with special acts of favorit-
lived a quiet, unhurried life at Shiloh, and only a few         ism for Hannah. Elkanah's love and sympathywas with
like Elkanah came with any great regularity to sacri-           Hannah, and he did not try to hide it. This he did very
fice and worship there.                                         particularly at the meal which customarily accompanied
       In the life of Elkanah, however, there was one           the sacrifices at the tabernacle. This was the high
great scar that festered. Elkanah was a bigamist, he            point of the visit to Shiloh. To each member of the
had two wives. This had come about, perhaps, when               family was given a generous portion of meat from the
after his first marriage to Hannah, the woman whom              flesh of the free-will offering which was brought to
he loved, they had not received any children. For               the altar. At that point Elkanah could not resist the
them this had been a cause for very real concern, for           temptation to humiliate Peninnah and show his favorit-
without any children their name and place in the                ism for Hannah by giving to Hannah a portion double
covenant nation of Israel would eventually be cut off.          that received by all the others. But Peninnah was not
To Elkanah there appeared to be one very reasonable             one to be so easily squelched. She continued to drive
solution, he married another wife, Peninnah. Soon               her barbs home until Hannah was too upset to eat
there were children; but the scar remained to cut deep          anything else.     ,So it was that the sacrificial meal,
into the life of his home. As is inevitable with bigamy,        meant to be a most joyful occasion, was broken apart
his family became divided. In the first place, Elkanah          in bitter division.       It was the fruits of bigamy for
loved Hannah and not Peninnah. The love of husband              Elkanah.
for his wife is not something that can be divided and              With Hannah in tears, the sacrificial meal was
shared. The result was that the two women were set              ruined.     Vainly Elkanah sought to comfort her as they
over against each other with jealousy and hatred. On            went off together.      "Hannah," he said, "Why  weepest
the one hand, Peninnah felt very deeply that Elkanah            thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart
did not love her as he did Hannah; so she became very           grieved?  ana not I better to thee than ten sons?" They
embittered toward Hannah and did her utmost to hurt             were very poorly put words for comfort. They only
her.      On the other hand, Hannah felt even more than         reflected how little Elkanah really understood Hannah
before the hurt of being without a child of her own in          anymore.       Once  he had known that Hannah's sorrow
Israel; Neither was it any longer possible for Elkanah          was essentially a spiritual matter; but now that he had
to share this sorrow with her as he had before. For-            children of his own through Peninnah, he no longer
merly Elkanah and Hannah had grieved for their- lack of         shared the loneliness that Hannah felt in Israel without
children; but they had shared their grief together in a         the blessing of a child. Elkanah's words only made her
love that was deep  .and full. Now this was no longer           hurting deeper.
possible. The fact was .that Elkanah no longer felt this           Thus it was that Hannah was finally driven to the
sorrow and could not share it with Hannah. He tried             only place where she could go any longer for consola-
to comfort her but to no avail. She only felt the more          tion, to the Lord in prayer. Alone she went to the very
how much she was. really alone in her own home.                 veil of the tabernacle and bowed herself in prayer
       It was finally one year as Elkanah. was taking his       before God. From her heart poured forth the anguish
family to worship the Lord in the tabernacle at Shiloh          of years brought to a head by the. cruel taunts of


                                                   THESTANDARDBEARER                                                   329

Peninnah.      We have recorded for us the principal           more, `when people did come, it was mostly to find in
thought of what she said.          "0 Lord of hosts," she      the sacrificial meal an occasion for festivity with
prayed, "If thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of         excesses of eating and drinking. The one thing hardly
thine handmaid, and remember me,  - and not forget             to be expected any longer was to find people at the
thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a            tabernacle earnestly concerned with presenting the
man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the          concerns of their souls unto the Lord. Thus when Eli
days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon           observed Hannah submersed in prayer, anguish of
his head." In this it was quite evident wherein Han-           spirit written across her face, with her lips moving
nah's chief concern was to be found. She did not wish          while no sound came forth from her lips, he quickly
for a child merely for her own satisfaction, a child           concluded that she was a woman overcome with excess
which she might hold and call her own, over against            of drinking.    In' his mild way, he thought to reprove
Peninnah, a child to be with her as  she. grew older as        her and said, "How long wilt thou be drunken? put away
a comfort and a consolation. This she was willing to           thy wine from thee."
sacrifice.     What she desired was that she too might be
a mother in Israel' to  .bring  forth a son and a  family         But Hannah had not been drinking, and her answer
unto the service of God.                                       made this quickly evident. "No, my lord, I am a
                                 She recognized the promise
to Israel that it would be the people of God forever to        woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine
                                                               nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before
live unto the glory of its Maker. She as a mother in
Israel wished to  .have her part in the fulfillment of         the LORD. Count. not thine handmaid for a daughter of
that promise. This she made completely evident by              Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and
promising to give her child, if -God would grant her           grief have I spoken hitherto."
one, to be a Nazarite separated unto the service of               Eli was touched by compassion for this woman in
God all the days of his life.                                  her sorrow, and the answer he gave was to Hannah as
   While Hannah prayed, thinking she was alone, Eli            a pronouncement of God.            "Go in peace:" he said,
was sitting close by on a seat by the tabernacle. Those        "And the God of Israel grant thee thy petition'that
were quiet days in Shiloh; not many came to worship            thou hast asked of him."           With it her sorrow was
before the Lord, and the priests were not busy. Even           banished.



                                 7th  P&ad  gaw3  7ke  %d  ,  .  ,
                                                                                (Psalm  68:ll)



                                    ELECTION PREACHING AND MISSIONS


                                                      Rev. C.  Hunko


   In the December issue  of  the  Reformed  Journal,          persuasion must agree heartily with it.
Harry R. Boer writes about the importance of election             Later in the same article `Mr. Boer tells us that
in the preaching of the gospel on the mission field as         "the expression `the elect' (or its equivalent, `chosen
well as in the church. He points out, and correctly so,        ones' in the R.S.V.) means something quite different
that when Paul told the Ephesians that he had not shrunk       from the popular or even theological use of the term
from declaring to them- "the whole counsel of God,"            current among us." He takes the position that "always
he meant all the essentials of the gospel, including the       the New Testament deals with the elect as known men,
doctrine of election. He goes on to say that "Election,        believers, here and now or then and there living in the
in Paul's view is a part, and a-very necessary part,  of       exercise of their faith." But to speak of a grand to-
the gospel.     When we limit the preaching of election to     tality of elect determined by God's predestinating ac-
the established church and are silent about it in the          tion is a grand abstraction. With other words, Boer
missionary stage of the proclamation, we not only              does not agree with the position of the Reformed
make an unrealistic distinction between the `mission           churches that the word "elect" signifies the totality
subject' (who is always a believer before he is bap-           of those who according to  .the divine decree are to be
tized) and. the `church member,' but we also cut out of        saved..
the missionary proclamation an element that Paul                  Therefore Boer would never subscribe to the def-
clearly believed to be part and parcel of the  preaching       inition that speaks of election as the eternal and
of the gospel."                                                sovereign decree of God to lead the Church as the body
   This bears repeating, because anyone of Reformed            of Christ, with all its individual members, each in his


330                                                THE.STANDARD.BEARER


own position, to eternal salvation and glory. And it           purpose of God, whereby, before the foundation of the
follows that he would also reject the definition that          world, he hath out of mere grace, according to the
describes reprobation as the eternal and sovereign             sovereign good pleasure of his own will, chosen, from
decree of God to determine some men to be vessels of           the whole human race,  whch had fallen through their
wrath fitted unto destruction in the way of sin, as mani-      own fault, from their primitive state of rectitude, into
festations of His justice, and to serve the purpose of         sin and destruction, a certain number of persons to
the realization of His elect church. (Dogmatics, Rev.          redemption in Christ, whom he from eternity appointed
H. Hoeksema, vol. 1, page 196)                                 the Mediator and Head of the elect, and the foundation
       This becomes especially evident from what Harry         of Salvation."
Boer writes in the January issue of the  Reformed                 Also this reference to election in our Canons Boer
Jouvn~l under the heading "Suggestions For ATheology           would call an abstraction.         He certainly would not
Of Election." There he complains that the Reformed             agree that God has chosen a certain number of persons
theology has always suffered from amarkedone-sided-            to redemption in Christ. Nor would he agree that Christ
ness in its treatment of election. He writes, "It is           is from eternity appointed the Mediator and Headof the
not too much to say that Reformed theology in all its          elect.     It is exactly this, he objects, that makes it im-
concern with this in many ways central doctrine, does          possible to say to every individual "Christ died for
not really have a theology of election. It has a theology      you.p'
of individual election. It does not have a theology of            That Harry Boer is in conflict with our Confessions
election which takes the whole of the scriptural teach-        is especially evident from his "Suggestions For A
ing of election into its purview.". To which he adds a         Theology Of Election" in the January issue of the Re-
little later, "Currently the question whether God loves        fovmed  Journal,   which I mentioned before. He speaks
all men, whether Christ died for all men, whether one          of four kinds of election: first, the election of Israel as
may say to any man with scriptural warrant, `Christ            a nation of the old dispensation; second, the election of
died for you,' arises out of this fragmentary conception       Christ, in whom Israel in the fullness of time finds
of election."                                                  "their true being;" third, the elect church, which comes
       This is an obvious attack on our Confessions. Boer      into being through the work of Christ; and finally, the
brands the teaching of our Canons on the subject of            individual believer, who knows his election by faith in
election as a "grand abstraction." For the fathers             Christ. Thus we read, "Central to all is the election
write under the First Head of Doctrine, article 6,             of Christ, who gives meaning to the election of Israel
"That some receive the gift of faith from God, and             and of the Church, and by faith in whom alone the be-
others do not receive it proceeds from God's eternal           liever can know himself to be an elect."
decree, `For known unto God are all his works from                We could agree with that last statement if only it
the beginning of the world.' Acts  15:18. `Who worketh         were based on that ever magnificent passage `of Col.
all things after the counsel of his will.' Eph.  1:ll.         1:13-20, which speaks of Christ as the image of the
According to which decree, he graciously softens the           invisible God, the firstborn of every creature (all
hearts of the elect, however obstinate, and inclines           creature, R.V.), the head of the body, the church, the
them to believe, while he leaves the non-elect in his          beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things
just judgment to their own wickedness and obduracy.            he might have the preeminence. Then Boer would not
And herein is especially displayed the profound, the           speak of Abraham as entering the land of Canaan to
merciful, and at the same time the righteous discrim-          spread the gospel, but to be the father of believers and
ination between men, equally involved in ruin; or that         heir of the promise. Then he would not speak of Israel
decree of election and reprobation, revealed  .in the          as a nation as the elect people of God, but he would
Word of God, which though men of perverse, impure              speak of the spiritual seed of Abraham as the children
and. unstable minds wrest to their own destruction,            of the promise, bearing in mind that Abraham is always
yet to holy and pious souls affords unspeakable-conso-         the father of believers.        Then indeed Christ  ,is the
lation."                                                       head of the church of the old dispensation as well as of
       You will notice that the fathers did not hesitate to    the church of the new dispensation, for the elect are
say that God determines who shall receive the gift of          all one glorious unity, one body in Christ. Then Boer
faith , and who shall not. Moreover, according to the          would have no difficulty,with  the Reformed theology of
divine decree God softens the- hearts of the elect and         election as limited only to individuals, for he would
inclines them to believe ! Here the elect are not "known       realize that election includes Christ and all who belong
men, believers, here' and now or then and there living         to Christ as one perfect organism, one body, one chosen
in the exercise of their faith;" but those who are known       generation. 1 Pet.  2:9.      This is clearly taught in our
of God from the beginning of the world and granted the         Heidelberg Catechism,  Lbrd's Day 21, Question 54,
gift of faith by Him who worketh all things according          where the question' is raised, "What  believest  thou
to the counsel of His will. To be an  elect~does  not          concerning the `holy, catholic church? of Christ?" TO
mean "to  be.known  and recognized as a believer"; but         which the answer is given, "That the Son of God from
to be distinguished from the "non-elect" whom God              the beginning to the end of the world, gathers, defends,
leaves "in his just judgment in their ownwickedness            and preserves to himself by his Spirit and word, out
and obduracy."                                                 of the whole human race, a church chosen to everlast-
       Under the. same First Head of:Doctrine,  the Canons     ing life, agreeing in true faith; and that I am and for-
declare in article 7, "Election is the unchangeable            ever shall remain, a living -member thereof." The


                                                  THESTANDARDBEARER                                                   331

 observant reader will notice that our Catechism speaks       is: the unchangeable purpose of God to use some to
 of a church, which is both holy and universal, which is      transmit the redemption of Christ to all men, to serve
 "chosen to everlasting life." That expresses more            for a universal salvation.
 than individual election, for in that statement the whole       Boer is therefore compelled to reach theconclusion
 body of Christ is included. This is especially evident       that there cannot possibly be a decree of reprobation.
 from the fact that this church is gathered from the be-      -How could there be if election serves for making sal-
 ginning to the end of the world out of the whole human       vation possible for all men? He writes, "The doctrine
 race.    And by all means we should underscore the fact      of reprobation has come to be attached to the doctrine
 that "the Son of God" gathers, defends and preserves         of individual election without any such corresponding
 this elect church unto Himself!                              feature being associated with the election of Israel, of
    But the author of the article also points to what he      Christ, and of the Church. There do not stand along-
 understands by' election when `he shows the purpose of       side of elect Israel and the elect Church Old Testa-
 election, as he sees it. He writes, "When all these          ment- and New Testament reprobate entities."  In a
 several' elections have attained their end, then the di-     sense we can agree. with that statement, since dead
 vine purpose of  election  will have been achieved. None     branches broken from the tree do not form an entity;
 stands by itself, all are one, and the election of Christ    the reprobate world is "no people", no unity, no or-
 is central to all. What is the common bond that unites       ganism as is the elect church. But Boer, no doubt, in-
 and integrates the election of Israel, of Christ, of the     tends to say that with his view of election there can be
 Church, and of  .the individual believer into one grand      no reprobation, not even of individuals. What else
 purpose? It is the bond of redemptive service. Elec-         could he conclude? How can a "God-loves-you,  Christ-
 tion envisions `the salvation of the world."                 died-for-you" gospel message intended for all men
    Thus election, according  .to Boer, means that God        include. a sovereign good pleasure, an eternal pre-
 privileges and obligates some to serve as a channel          destination, both as to election and reprobation, as
 to transmit the grace of God to all men. The elect are       taught in our Canons? But then why not be frank and
 those who know themselves called of God to spread the        say that he does not believe in election either?
 glad tidings for the salvation of all mankind, including        The second conclusion he reaches is that the bibli-
 every individual upon the earth.                             cal doctrine of election as outlined above must neces-
    Boer writes, "The universal redemptive service            sarily be a cornerstone in any serious missionary
 rendered by Israel in a preparatory way reaches its          theology.    "Missions is no more and no less than the
 fullest and deepest expression  -in the elect Messiah.       Church's living by her election to redemptive service."
 . . . Jesus is the Savior of the world, He gives His life    We could agree if he were simply to say: "The biblical
 for the world, He is the light of the world. God sent        doctrine of election must necessarily be a cornerstone
 not His Son into the world to condemn the world but          in any serious missionary theology." That is a fact.
 that the .world through Him might be saved."                 But Boer's view of election can never be, because it
    And he adds, "It is but natural that the same world-      is contrary to our Confessions, and therefore contrary
 embracing service envisioned for Israel and for the          to the Scriptures.
 Messiah should be envisioned for the elect Church,              But that was not what he started out to show us.
 which is the Body of Christ." She is "the Spirit led         Maybe he is coming to that yet, but he started out to
 means whereby His vicarious and  mediatorial'service         show us that' "the full counsel of God" must be pro-
 is applied to the hearts of all men everywhere." And         claimed on the mission field.' And that full counsel of
 what'applies  to the church applies therefore also to the    God includes the proclamation of the doctrine of election,
 individual.    He also must know, since he is a believer,    not the application, as he .shows here.
 that he is. ordained of God to spread the gospel for all       We do face the question yet, How can the doctrine
 men to be saved."                                            of election be included in the preaching on the mission
                                                              field?                                     -     `
                                                                                                               ,
    The Canons `say: "Election' is the unchangeable              But before  L we answer that  questio&+we  must ask
 purpose of God whereby . . he hath . . chosen . . a          ourselves, "What is `the true doctrine of election ac-
 certain number of persons. to redemption in Christ."         cording to the Scriptures?" And then the other ques-
 (First Head of Doctrine; article 7.) Boer says: "Elec-       tion: How -does the biblical doctrine of election serve
 tion envisions the salvation'of the world," or, Election     as basis for all mission endeavor?


                EASTERN LADIES LEAGUE                                      RkOL  Ub'ON OF SYMPATHY
 Our Spring Meeting  `,will be held at our church in          The Eunice Society of The Southwest Protestant Re-
~ Holland, Michigan. on Thursday, April  22nd, at 8:00        formed Church extend their sympathy to Mrs. Peter
 p.m.     Seminarian Robert Decker will speak on the          Offringa in the loss of her brother,
 topic, "What Constitutes  the. Neglect of the Means of
 Grace."                                                                            WILLIAM MORREN ~_
    All ladies are cordially invited to meet with us and      May the Lord graciously comfort the sorrowing hearts.
 enjoy an evening of Christian fellowship.                                                  Rev. G. Lubbers, Pres.
                          Mrs. H. Velthouse, Vice-Sec'y.                                    Mrs. D. Lotterman, Sec'y.


332                                                THE STANDARD BEARER





                                              THE EXCEPTIONAL CHILD

                                                     Rev. J. A. Heys

       These lines were suggested after seeing a film          see and ears that hear and muscles that respond to
produced and presented by the Elim Christian School            use bones that are straight and strong? We  so,often
here in the Greater Chicago area.                              assume the position that we have all these things
       Elim teaches that exceptional child and our appre-      coming to us.       Then we are exceptional children in
ciation for the work done and better understanding of          the. sense that we are exceptionally foolish and carnal.
it was obtained by the viewing of the film in full color          And let us understand clearly that from a spiritual
and sound.                                                     point of view we are all, as sons of Adam, exceptional
                                                               children, who are not as Adam was possessing true
       We have not been asked by Elim to make propa-           knowledge, righteousness and holiness but an exception
ganda, and it is not our intention with these lines to         to that rule. Let us remember that all physical de-
strive to that end. But we are sure that the film; if          formities are here because of our spiritual deformity.
you are able to see it -- and we do not know how wide          Let us then pity those with physical deformities but
and how far from this area  Elim desires to show it  -         also confess our own complete spiritual departure
will speak for itself and needs no written emphasis.           from the norm according to which we were created.
       Elim does not teach the exceptionally talented          Let us then acknowledge that not one of us deserves
child although hidden talents do come to light through         to see God's glorious creation, to hear His music, to
their instruction. Elim is not a school for those who          walk upon His earth, to handle His creatures and to
excel in their capacities for study and mental abilities.      receive His Word from the printed page or from the
But talents of patience, exceptional abilities to strive       lips of others.
against almost unsurmountable obstacles are to- be                The exceptional child is not the victim of his own
seen every day in this exceptional school.                     sins, nor of his parents. We are reminded of the in-
       Elim is a school for the blind, the deaf, the physi-    cident recorded of the blind young man whom Jesus
cally handicapped; and these are exceptional children.         healed.    The unbelieving Jews asked Jesus whether he
They are the exception to the rule that God usually            had been born blind because of his own sins or be-
gives us children sound in mind and sound in body. And         cause of those of his parents. What could they have
Elim is a Christian School which trains the handicapped        meant that it was his own sin, when he was born blind?
of the covenant sphere in the light of the truth of God's      But Jesus said that neither was the case, "but that the
Word.      An exceptional school for exceptional children..    works of God should be manifested in him." John  9:2.
       In Jesus' day there were such children in Israel,       Dare we say anything else than that this is still true
the covenant sphere. Mothers and fathers came plead-           today? Dare we deny that the works of God are mani-
ing to Jesus for their children. The blind and deaf            fest in the exceptional child? The curse in all its forms
were brought to him that had been blind and deaf from          is His work.       Eyen if we wish to take the erroneous
birth.      Even more tragic and pathetic were those           position that  .Adam died as a consequence of his sin,
cases of children possessed of an evil spirit. How the         that he poisoned himself by the forbidden fruit, the fact
hearts of such covenant parents must have bled! What           still remains that God made that fruit poisonous and
grief they must have borne and carried with them all           that He is in that poison in His providence to kill. But
day long and year after year! These afflictions were           that is not the case. Death is the wages of sin. Death
found in the Church, in the covenant sphere, in Israel,        is the punishment of sin.       And that. means that the
the people of God. Even as today these maladies still          curse in all its forms, death with  all that which leads
appear in such circles.                                        up to it and is connected with it, all imperfections in
       In that day they did not have the methods and tools     the mind or in the flesh, all disease and deformity is
which we have for training the handicapped. What               God's work as punishment upon sin. No, we say again,
electronic marvels are used today to get the deaf to           not in the sense that the particular form which the in-
hear a bit at least, the blind to write and feel the           dividual bears is due to a personal sin which he com-
words, the cripple to help himself along with chairs           mitted.    How can the child bprn blind be punished
adapted for his particular use! When we look at such           thereby for what he did? Nor is it true that the cove-
sights as those upon this particular film, does it really      nant parents,, who pray for their unconceived children
pass through our thoughts, "There but for the grace of         and for their developing children that must yet be born,
God go I"? We say that when we see a desperate                 receive these exceptional children because they do not
criminal in all his evil on the way to the electric chair.     deserve normal children. while those who do receive
We say that of the heretic which had a covenant train-         children sound in mind and body do deserve them.
ing and then turns his heel upon the truth to-fight it         None of us deserve what are called normal children.
with all his  ,power.    But .do we say it and see it when     And God does not punish the children for the sins of
we are born "according to the rule" with eyes that             the parents. He is a just God. But when the curse is


                                                   THESTANDARDBEARER                                                   333

 to be seen more plainly in the exceptional children of         Indeed, it takes the fear of the Lord to receive
 believers in the form of blindness, deafness, deformity,      such a child and to train him to the utmost of your
 mental disorders .and' the like, it is God's work that is     power in the truth of God's Word. It takes an ex-
 manifest in them. And God's works are going to be man-        ceptional parent to receive and care for an exceptional
 ifested in them also in the day of Christ, Who came to        child, and do not forget that. It takes faith in God to
 heal  .the sick, to -give sight to the blind, to cause the    refrain from rebellion against this way and gift. It
 deaf to-hear and to raise up the dead.                        takes faith in God's promises and the, patience which
                                                               only faith knows to struggle with that child, to work
     The blind young man mentioned in John 9 was born          with him, to encourage his faint and almost unrecog-
 that way in order that Jesus might performHis  miracle        nizable steps of progress. . It takes an exceptional
 and manifest the work of salvation which God works -in        amount of God's grace to say with the psalmist in such
 His grace. These occasions for Jesus' miracles were           a circumstance, "Thou, Lord, hast dealt well with thy
 determined from before the foundation of -the world           servant according unto Thy Word." Psalm  119:65.   And
 that God's glory might shine forth. The lot and handi-        the exceptional parent of an exceptional child may also,
 cap of the exceptional child has also been predeter-          in His fear,  .look forward to an exceptional reward for
 mined by an all-wise and sovereign God. And covenant :        his patience and faithfulness. He, too, is being pre-
 parents to whom God has given these exceptional               pared in this life for an exceptional reward in heaven
 children may also find comfort in the truth that God          which the parent of what we call a normal child cannot
 will manifest His works in them. They shall not always        enjoy.
 be blind and deaf and exceptional. In the new Jerusa-            But there is another side of the picture.
 lem there will be no exceptional child in that sense.            Are you sure that you do not have an exceptional
 All shall be exceptional in that they shall be glorified      child even though he is sound in mind and in body? Let
 while the greater percentage of the human race is in a        us put it bluntly, Do you have a wayward child?, a
 deeper suffering of the curse in the torment in hell.         worldly minded and world-seeking child? Does his sound
 God has made the distinction in Christ. He has been           mind and sound body lead him to seek the world? What
 pleased to elevate some above others,  to,glorify them        is more important, Does he seem to you as an excep-
 and make them His peculiar treasure. Among these              tional child? All too quickly we speak of the fleshly
 are the exceptional children of covenant parents.  .And       actions of our teenagers as the normal conduct of a
 these in the glory of that new Jerusalem with eyes that       young man or young woman of that age. In a sense, as
 see what eye here below hath not seen, and with ears          we simply look round about us in this sin-cursed world,
 that hear what here below the fleshly ear has never           it is true that sin is the normal thing. But if we re-
 heard, shall have a-thrill which we cannot know. We           member that we were created in the image of God in
 cannot know that tremendous contrast! But the ex-             true knowledge, righteousness and holiness, then we
 ceptional child has been brought into this world with         will see so much spiritual blindness, spiritual deaf-
 his affliction in order that he may know his salvation        ness, spiritual lameness and that there is so much
 in a way that we cannot know it. Let us not go around         exception to that rule of life in paradise. The parent
 trying to determine God's favour upon men by what we          with the physically exceptional child may have his prob-
 see them possess and bear in this life. We had better         lems and heaviness of heart and pain of soul. He is,
 not fall into the error of Job's three "friends." And         however, to be envied over the parent whose child is
 let us not try either to determine the measure of glory       spiritually the exceptional child, who does not show
 one shall receive in the new Jerusalem by the afflic-         interest in the Word of God, in prayer, in church wor-
 tions he receives in this life, and then judge that be-       ship, in instruction in the Word-of God and lives in the
 cause  %od has given an exceptional body and mind in          world and for the world. Physical blindness is tempo-
 this life, He does not intend to do much for that in-         rary and therefore not so serious. It is not fatal. Phys-
 dividual in the glory of His kingdom.                         ical deafness will be cured. The physically lame shall
     The elect, regenerated exceptional child learns           walk on a street of gold where God will wipe away all
 patience and runs more sincerely to his God in his            tears from our eyes and there shall be no remembrance
 troubles than we often do. As the psalmist says, in           of the former physical disabilities and sufferings. But
~ our prosperity we boast that we shall never be moved.        spiritual blindness and deafness, refusal to hear the
~ And again, it may be quoted from the Psalms that af-         Word of God, turning away  .from the things of God's
fliction  has been for our profit that we might hold to        kingdom is a fatal disease. Unless God makes the ex-
God's Word.       We, who are so free to run here and          ception by sending His grace. into the heart, that life
 there, to enjoy the `world, to seek it with all that which    ends in everlasting death.
 it contains, who see' it, hear it, smell it, taste it and      Those who have the fear of God in their hearts,
touch it at will, miss something that the exceptional          those born with the life which is from above, are no
' child enjoys. You may pity him,- but all too often he is     longer blind. They can see the kingdom of heaven,
 the one who must pity us. If we pity him, then'let  us        and they enter into that kingdom., Physical disabilities
~ provide for his training and education and bring him         do not prevent entering into the spiritual kingdom.
 also to the throne of  grace;: Let us not neglect his            Deafness presents a problem, but not nearly what
 spiritual, covenant training and assume that because          it did in times past. To get the Word of God into the
 God has afflicted him He has not chosen him as His            soul of the deaf, the  tot.ally deaf, is for us a difficult
 child. That is not in His fear.
_ .__.-                                                        if not impossible matter.      Few there are today who


334                                               `THE STANDARD BEARER

cannot be made to hear to a degree. And such an ex-              Salvation is the exceptional work  of`God. The fear of
ceptional child should be given the opportunity to hear          His name is the exception to the rule in this world of
the  .Word as well as the normal child. But even in              unbelief and sin and is His exceptional- work in His
ages gone by, when we lacked these electronic devices            own.      The wages of sin is death. That He gives us life
of today, God's arm was not shortened. It pleases                is the exception which He has wrought in Christ. And
Him to take to Himself in infancy His elect children             we have  all' fallen into sin in  Adarn  in order that the
before they were able to hear .His Word physically.              exceptional works of God in Christ may be manifested
By the preaching of the gospel He calls and brings to            in the day when Christ returns.
consciousness of His love and grace. But He is able
to save the exceptional child in an exceptional way.                Rejoice, if you are one of those exceptions that lives
       His miracles were all exceptions to the rule. His         in His fear, and praise Him for that exceptional work
own coming in our flesh was The Exception to the rule.           in Christ on the cross and by His Spirit in your heart.





                                             SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISM


                                                    Rev. R. C.  Havbach


       A common feature of many false cults is that the          for an egg of any of you that is a father, will he offer
founders of them are women. Ann Lee was the founder              him a scorpion?" (Lk.  1l:llf) Then: "The only safe
of the Shakers. Mary Eddywas  the founder of Christian           course is to touch not, taste not, handlenot, tea, coffee,
Science. Theosophy was cast upon the world by Madame             wines. .  ." (ibid.) Here they quote Scripture against
Blavatsky and Annie Besant. Spiritism in this country            themselves.      "Why are ye subject to ordinances after
goes back to the Fox sisters, Margaret and Kate. As-             the commandments and doctrines of men, `Touch not,
trology enshrines its Evangeline Adams, Myrna Kings-             taste not, handle not,' which all are to perish. with the
ley and  Nella Webb.      Baha'ism "is a ladies' cult like       using; which things have indeed a show of wisdom in
Christian Science."- And Seventh -Day Adventism. has             will-worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body,"
its leader and prophetess in Ellen G. White.                     (Col.  2:20-23) Further, "No drink is needed with
       Although their material is presented in rather at-        meals.`: (ibid.) "The Son of Man came eating and drink-
tractive format, one must sift through bales of glorified        ing." (Mt.  11:19)  See also, Gen.  18:6-8;  24:54;  26:30.
rubble to find anything of even passing interest. in SDA         Another gem of wisdom has it:          "It is not .well to eat
literature.     But the following is of momentary amuse-         fruit and vegetables at the same  .meal." (ibid.). .But
ment.      "Sickness, suffering and death are work of an         "one man hath faith that he may eat all things. Let
antagonistic power"' (M.M. 11, SDA tract, "Health                not him who eats not, judge him who eats." (Rom.
Reform") i.e., a power antagonistic not only to man,             14:2,3) See also Dt.  23:24 and 25.
but also to God. The Lord Himself puts it differently.              Empty-headed, empty-hearted, vacuous people may
These afflictions come forth not from. the dust, nor             have a natural desire to fill their aching void. That in
from the ground, but He  makes sore,.and.He heals; He            part may explain why, the untrained would care to wade
wounds, and His hands restore (Job  5:6, 18). "Not an            through the dull, complicated trivia that is Seventh
ounce of flesh meat should .enter- our stomachs." (ibid.)        Day Adventism. Even if it were possible, it would not
.How shall this stand in the face of, "Let  no.mati  judge       be the way to treat. a friend,  to,.subject the reader at
you in meat or.  .drink,"  (Coli   2:16)  or of this, "In the    length to all the vagaries of SDA heresies. Their
latter times some shall apostatize from the  .faith. . .         basic .errors.  are: 1. That Christ never made.full atone-
forbidding. .  .meats which God created to be received           ment on the cross,' waiting to complete the same in
with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the              heaven: only after 1844, in fact, only in the .day of judg-
truth," (I Ti.  .4:1-3) or this,  ."He that is weak eateth       ment. :,2. That since then, when Christ- entered the
herbs," (Rom.  14:2)   .or this, "These are the beasts           heavenly sanctuary, its door of mercy. was. closed to.
which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the          all -the unsaved of the day. 3. That Satan is the scape-
earth, Whatsoever part&h. the hoof and is clovenfooted           goat to -bear away. the sins of God's people. 4. The
and cheweth the- cud among the beasts, that shall ye             teaching of, soul-sleep-and the annihilation of the wicked.
eat?" (Lev.  11:2,3) Again, "We, bear positive testi-            5. That the biblical Sabbath. is the seventh day of- the
mony against. .  .liquors.. .  .tea, coffee, flesh-meats,        week,  not the first day, nor merely the seventh  .day
spices, rich cakes, mince pies.. .  ." (ibid.) And "eggs         after                six.working,days.                il
should not be placed upon your table. They are an in-             It must be. immediately apparent to the historic,
jury to your children." (ibid.) But,  "$!a son shall ask         orthodox Protestant, the Reformed believer, that of


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    335

these.. non-entities, not the last mentioned is the most        seriously detracts from Christ's finished redemptive
serious error, Nor is it their paralogical  interpreta:         work.        With the devil in the day of judgment being
tion of. prophecy, nor is it their deviation in reference       forced to make the final doing away of sin, insult is
to the second advent of our Lord. It is neither ad-             done to Christ, making His "It is finished" a lie! That
ventism, seventh dayism, soul-sleep, nor annihilation.          the word "azazel". means the devil is more than in-
(Trying the Spirits,  Destmtctionism).   It is their pitiful    conclusive.       For why does there appear here a new
rigmarole on the atonement. We shall therefore limit            name for Satan? Why, if he be in view, is not one of'
ourselves to the examination of SDA's root error.               his already familiar names used? Since both goats
    It is most strange, both to the Gospel and to the           were sacrificial, why was one for Satan? Was the one
constituency of the true church, that the devil should          goat to be delivered up to the devil? Or was one goat
be dragged into the center of theplanof redemption and          sent to mock the devil,, possibly with the taunt of the
be given a place of prominence in its realization. This         sins of God's people taken away? This is all not only
is what SDA doctrine does. From a very strange in-              far-fetched and offensive, but also a stunning blow at
terpretation of Lev. 16, Satan is made the scapegoat to         the heart of the Gospel. The fourth interpretation is
bear away the sins of God's people. In verse 8, the             the most harmonious with Scripture, and especially
word  azazel, in our English version translated scape-          with the immediate context, having nothing of a devil
goat,  is said to be a proper name for the devil. "The          sin-bearer. `The first goat represents Christ satisfy-
scapegoat typified Satan. .  .upon whom the sins of the         ing divine justice with full, once-for-all atonement.
truly penitent will finally be placed. . .The sins of His       The second goat' also represents Christ removing the
people. . .He will place upon Satan, who. .  .must bear         conscience of sin because full atonement has been
the final  .penalty," when then he will be annihilated          made.
(Mrs. White).                                                           .The SDA perversion of the atonement has it that
   Two goats were presented to the Lord on the day of           Christ's redemptive work is done in installments, with
atonement. But are both goats to represent two persons          first a down payment made, and the balance postponed
of opposite character? How could Satan be represented           to the day of judgment, when the remainder will be
by an animal worthy and fit for sacrifice? The two              tendered.       But the `Word of God knows only an atone-
birds `of  ,Lev.  14:1-7 represent not two antithetical         ment which actually atones, and which has been fully
persons, but both represent Christ  inHis work of re-           effected. It knows nothing of a postponed atonement.
demption, one representing Him in death, and the other                  SDA doctrine centers around its odd interpretation
Christ in resurrection, or the truth that He was de-            of the true tabernacle above. It speaks not merely of
livered for our  offences and raised again for our justi-       defilement of the heavenly sanctuary because sinners
fication (Rom.  4:25).                                          are brought there  `(Heb.  9:23f), but of sins laid on the
    Proceeding further into the context, we learn that          heavenly sanctuary. Therefore atonement is necessary
both goats were taken for a sin-offering  (16:s). Both          for the sanctuary. From this it would seem that SDA's
were presented to the Lord in sacrifice (v. 10). This           think bearing sins and making atonement are two dif-
means that the scapegoat, `as well as the other goat,           ferent things. The sanctuary needs atonement because
was presented to God to make atonement ! Then neither           it bears sin! Then-Christ needed atonement, because
goat could possibly represent the devil!                        He bore sins ! But how does the heavenly sanctuary
   That "azazel" means "the devil" is an assumption             become a sin-bearer? First, at the brazen altar, the
without  .conclusive.  exegetical and grammatical proof.        sins  of. the repentant were taken by the priest, then
The text does not mean that one lot was for the Lord,           laid on the sanctuary.         Afterward, these sins were
and the other lot for the devil. "The goat. . .to be the        taken off the sanctuary and laid on the scapegoat.
scapegoat" (v. 10) can not mean "the goat to be the             Christ has yet to fulfil this last remaining aspect of
devil." Nor can the remainder of the text, "let it go for       His `atonement, and to lay those sins now on the heavenly
a scapegoat into the wilderness," mean "let it go for           sanctuary on the devil who will take them off into ob-
(to) the devil into. the wilderness." The clauses so            livion.      Sin is not yet atoned. Christ is not yet king.
read do not carry sense.                                        Atonement was  not'made  on the cross. "The atone-
   It should be realized that the rendering of the word         ment was `not finished on the cross." (Mrs. White)
"azazel" will not be. easily, determined. Therefore             At Calvary, the blood of Christ did not cancel sin. The
great care must be given in arriving at its meaning.            sins of God's people "still remained upon the books of
Usually, four different meanings are discussed. 1. One          record" in heaven. (ibid.) Christ is busy making atone-
goat for a  Person   (Jehovah), and the other for, a  place     ment, and one of these days He will finally complete
~(far removed). 2. One goat for the Person (Jehovah)            it, when the devil will be apprehended and forced to be
and the other for. another  person   (the devil). 3. One        our sin-bearer.
lgoat for the Person. (Jehovah) and the other for  the                  All this the Gospel utterly denies. The Gospel em-
Iscape  gout.  4. One goat for the Person (Jehovah) and         phasizes the tense of once-for-all finished accomplish-
`the other `for a  purpose,  or an action (removal). The        ment.       "The Lord  h&z laid on Him the iniquity of us
#first understanding is a possible one, and some hold it.       all.      He (not Satan) shall bear their iniquities. He (not
The third is suggested by the King James Version, but           the devil) bare the sin of many." (Isa.  53:6,11,12).
has this disadvantage, that one goat is for Jehovah and         "Christ our  passover  hath been sacrificed." ( I Cor.
the other goat is for the (`scape)  goat, which makes no        5:7, ASV) By Him ."we have now received the atone-
sense.. The second view is that favored by SDA, but it          ment" (Rom.  5:ll). For "Christ hath redeemed us."


336                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER

(Gal.  3:13)  "He had by Himself purged our sins. This                            one sacrifice for sins for ever. For by one offering
He did once when He offered up Himself. Christ by                                He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified."
His own blood obtained eternal redemption. Christ  - (Heb.  1:3;  7:27;  9:12,24,26,28;   10:10,12,14). "Who His
entered into heaven itself, now to appear before the                              own self carried up our sins in His body to the tree. . .
face of God for us. Once for all at the end of the ages                          by whose stripes ye were healed." (I Pet.  2:24,  ASVm)
(cf. Heb. 1:l) he hath been manifested to put away sin                           On this Word of God we are prepared to stake our souls'
by the sacrifice of Himself. Christ having been once                              destiny. When Seventh Dayists come up with a correct
offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second                           doctrine of the atonement we will be glad to answer
time.           Christ was once offered to bear the sins of                       them on the Sabbath question. Until then, they have
many. We have been sanctified through the offering of                             nothing.
the body of Jesus Christ once for all. He had offered


         -                                ("All the saints salute thee . . ." Phil. 4:21)

       First Church, of Grand Rapids, has extended a call                              serving as boots; of the one-way traffic back home
to Rev. H. Hanko, of  Doon,  Iowa, to be their minister;                               again because of the huge drifts which crossed the
and, as calling church, has also called Rev. D.  Engles-                               roads.
ma, of Loveland, Colo., to be Home Missionary of our                                          All our churches were represented except Isabel.
                                                                                       Their delegate was stranded in the middle of South
churches.                                                                              Dakota by the storm and was unable to reach Hull. Rev.
                                *  * *                                                 D. Engelsma served as chairman, - his first opportunity
                                                                                       since his ordination, - and functioned very capably in
       .From Oak Lawn's March 14 bulletin we learn that                                the lengthy and difficult sessions of.this Classis.
Mrs. G.  Vanden  Berg is in Little Company of Mary                                            The protests and appeals of the South Holland Con-
Hospital as a result of a fall on March 11 in which she                                sistory and the Oak Lawn School Board occupied most
suffered a leg fracture.             Rev.  Vanden  Berg and his                        of the time of Classis. It is impossible, in this brief
family, via the same bulletin, expressed their deep                                    report, to give any sort of fair summary of the case
appreciation for the help and, offers of help received                                 involved and of the decisions of Classis.  It is the hope
following this incident.                                                               and prayer of the Classis  that the three days of labor
                                                     :
                                * *  *                                                 may prove somewhat beneficial in the settlement of
                                                                                       difficulties among brethren.
                                                                                              The usual subsidy requests were presented and ap-
                     REPORT OF CLASSIS  WEST                                           proved by the classis. One unusual fact was that two
          Classis  West met in Hull, Iowa on March 17-19,                              of our churches who formerly requested subsidy, did
       1965.     `For several reasons this classical gathering                         not present any requests this time: Hull and Redlands.
       will be one long remembered by the delegates (and the                           They are certainly to be commended in their deter-
       host church). First, it was the first meeting of Classis                        mination to do without any further Synodical support.
       in the Hull Protestant Reformed Church building since                                  Delegates chosen for Synod were: Revs. C. Hanko,
       the "split" `of 1953. Secondly, it was the longest classis                      H. Hanko, J. Kortering, and G. Van Baren as primi
       in the west in recent years. Finally, it was the only                           delegates. The remaining ministers serve as secundi
       classis, in my memory at any rate, which was held                               delegates. The elder primi delegates chosen were: J.
       during a raging blizzard.                                                       Blankespoor, T. Feenstra, G. Hoekstra, and H. Huisken.
       , The only regret, I think, that delegates might have                           As secundi were chosen: G. Broekhouse, E. Hauck,  P.
       had about meeting in Hull was that our classical meet-                          Jansma, and C. Vander Molen.
       ings were not held there many years earlier. The                                       The following classical appointments were made:
       warmth of the hospitality shown, the quality and quan-                          Pella (one Sunday on each of the months listed) - April
       tity of food served- these were musth appreciated by                            G.Vd.B.; May-G.Vd.B.; June-G.vd.B.; July-G.V.B.;  Au-
       the delegates." We can rejoice with our people of Hull                          gust-G.Vd.B.; Sept.-J.H. The appointments to Lynden
  that they are able again to worship in a building of their                           are: Mar. 28, Ap. 4,11-H.H.; May 9,16,23-J.K.;  June
       bwn - and that they have now the means for serving as                           20,27,  July 4-B.W.; Aug. 1,8,15-G.V.B.;  Aug. 29, Sept.
       hosts `to our classical gathering, something they could                         5,12-C.H.  The appointments to Isabel were: Mar. 14
       not very. well do without their buildings.                                      D.E.;  Ap. 4,11,18-B.W.  (in combination with Forbes);
          .The "blizzard of `65" will be another feature of this                       May 2-J.K.; May 9-G.V.B.; May 30-H.H.; June  27-J.K.;
       meeting long remembered. Doubtlessly the delegates                              July  ll-G.Vd.B.; Aug. l-J.H.; Aug. -29, Sept.  5,12-
       went home with many stories of this event. Very few                             D.E. (combined with Forbes). The appointments to
       manage&to leave the town of Hull that first Wednesday                           Forbes were: Mar.  21-D.E.;  Ap.  4,11,18-B.W.   (COm-
       night. The few who tried either turned back - or ended                          bined with Isabel); May 16-G.V.B.; June 6-H.H.; July
       `in the ditch. Many delegates had to stay at homes where                        18-G.Vd.B.;  July 25-J.K.;  Aug.. 8-J.H.; Aug. 15-H.H.;
       guests `had not been expected. One could tell of dele-                          Aug, 29, Sept. 5,12-D.E.  (combined with Isabel).
       gates whose bed suddenly collapsed during the night;                                  Friday afternoon  Classis  `finally adjourned. The
  of California delegates (I should use the singular) who                              Lord willing; the next meeting of Classis  will be at
       -came to Classis  on Thursday morning with a large                              South Holland, Illinois.
       bath towel wrapped around his face and paper sacks                                                          Rev. G. Van Baren,  stated clerk


