                                       IIe

                                tandard

                                                earer


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





 IN THIS ISSUE:


        Meditation  - Ascended to Open the -Book


        .Editorials  - Right, But Dead Wrong


                   .Advice  fey an "Aroused Laity"


        Orthodoxy Is Nat Enough?


        Preaching Predestination on the Mission Field


                                                Volume XLI/ Number 16/ May 15, 1965


362                                                                                                                                 THE STANDARD 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  -
       Ascended To Open The Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362                                          Semi-monthly, except montbly during June, July and August
               Rev. J. Kortering                                                                                                                            Published by the  Reformed;Free Publishing Association
Editorials  -
       Right, But Dead Wrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365                                               Editor   - Rev.  H&man  Hoeksema
               Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                     Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
       Advice For An "Aroused Laity" (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367                                                      Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, 1218 Griggs St., S.E., Grand Rapids,
               Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                     Michigan 49507. (Acting Editor) Contributions will be limited
The Church At Worship -                                                                                                                                 to 300 words and must be neatly written or typewritten. Copy
       The Lord's Supper Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369                                     deadlines are the first and fifteenth of the month.
              Rev. G. Vanden  Berg
All Around Us -                                                                                                                                         All church news items should be addressed  toMr. J. M. Faber,
       Religious Mental Illness                                                                                                                             1123 Cooper, S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
       Selma And The Clergy                                                                                                                             Announcements and Obituaries with the $2.00 fee includedmust
       Mergers, Etc.                                                                                                                                   `be mailed 8 days prior to issue date, to the address below;
       A Quote On Federal Aid To Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
              Rev. H. Hanko                                                                                                                            All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to
In His Fear -                                                                                                                                                   Mr. James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S.E.
       God's Responsibility and Man's Sovereignty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374                                                                                   Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
              Rev. J. A. Heys
The Lord Gave The Word -                                                                                                                                   Renewal: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
       Preaching Predestination On The Mission Field . . . . . . . . . . . 376                                                                          received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the sub-
               Rev. C. Hanko                                                                                                                            scription to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
Trying The Spirits -                                                                                                                                                  Subscription price: $5.00 per year
       Spiritism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    378         Second Class Postage paid at  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan
              Rev. R. C. Harbach
Examining Ecumenicalism -
       Orthodoxy Is Not Enough? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380                                                    SEMINARY STUDENTS
              Rev. G. Van Baren
Voices Of Our Fathers -                                                                                                                                Pre-seminary and seminary students in need of financial
       God's Government and Sin (Continued) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383                                                        assistance in attending our Protestant Reformed Sem-
              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                     inary should contact the following:
News From Our Churches -                                                                                                                                                          Mr. Theodore Engelsma
              Mr. John Faber . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..5....................-............ 384                                                                              L 3853 O'Brien Rd.  SW.
                                                                                                                                                                                  Grand Rapids, Michigan 49504





                                                                                                        ASCENDED TO  FPEN THE BOOK

                                                                                                                                       Rev. J.  Kovteving


                                                            `And I beheld, and lo, in  the midst  of the  t&one,  and of  the  four  and.
                                                           twenty  elders stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven  horns and
                                                           seven eyes, which  aye the seven  Spirits   of  God sent  forth into all the
                                                           earth. And he came and took `the book out  of  the  Yight hand of him that
                                                           sat upon the thvone.  "                                                                                               Rev.  Z-6, 7


        Weeping John!                                                                                                                                  lonely confines of barren Patmos. He did not scream
         God's pedagogy is principally always the same.                                                                                                hysterically because he was persecuted for the sake of
         First we weep, then we sing. Dried tears evoke a                                                                                              the gospel and brought to this captive land.
fervent refrain.                                                                                                                                          It was much worse.
         The Apostle's heart bled in agonizing cries. Try  j                                                                                              He was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. He cried
as he might, he could not hold back the convulsive
                                                                                                                                         -             in the middle of a sermon.          Enraptured in visionary
throb of his broken heart.                                                                                                                             wonder, John was the recipient of the gospel brought
         Heaven was silent, silent in one of the most criti-                                                                                           down from heaven to earth. He saw heaven! There
cal moments.                                                                                                                                           before his very eyes was the throne of God and round
         No he did not weep because he was banished to the                                                                                             about that throne the representatives of the whole  re-


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                               363


deemed creation.       There were the 24 elders, round        can never reach the pearly gates. Fallen man, en-
 about the throne sat the 4 beasts, together they were        tombed under the shroud of death, is hopeless in him-
 encircled with the heavenly choir of angels. Every           self.
 thread in the tapestry of that vision was knotted to the         John wept much!
 central figure, the throne, God's dwelling place.                The gospel is the power of  Godunto  salvation.
    In chapter 5 of the book of Revelation, God through           In heaven all tears are dried from our eyes, there
 the Holy Spirit, takes as it were a magnifying glass         is no more sorrow, for the former things have passed
 and focuses it upon the throne. In the resultant en-         away.
 largement, our attention is drawn to the right hand of           So it is for all who with rapt attention will scruti-
 Him that sitteth upon the throne. In that Hand is a          nize God's heaven.
book.                                      -                      There appeared a Worthy Lamb.
    A rhetorical question echoes throughout the cham-             He came and took the book out of the right-hand of
bers of heaven. A strong angel shouted out, "Who is           Him that sitteth upon the throne.
worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof?"          He did that on Ascension Day.
    No one volunteers. There is a long silence.
    The apostle John couldn't contain himself. He wept            We have an advantage over the disciples who stood
at the prospect that there was no ascension of Christ         gazing into heaven. A heavenly messenger told them,
~ into heaven. A closed book could mean only one thing,        "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye here gazing into
 all he saw so far in the vision was only a vapor, it         heaven?"        From their vantage point they could not
 could never be realized. He saw heaven,  butthe gates        see what John was given to see years later. Blocking
were shut. He was most miserable.                             their vision was the cloud of God's presence. One
    John understood the significance of the book. As          moment Jesus had walked with them out of Jerusalem
far as its physical appearance was concerned it as-           on the road to the Mount of Olives. He talked with
 sumed the form of a scroll. On the edges of the roll         them, He had instructed them concerning the gathering
 there were 7 seals that prevented it from unrolling;         of the church, He lifted up His hands to bless them,
 these seals were at various depths within the roll.          and while they watched Him, He was taken up out of
 Writing could be seen on all sides, so that it was ap-       their sight and a cloud, the visible arms of God, gently
parent that it was filled up and contained no blank           lifted Christ up into heaven. What happened in heaven
 space.     This scroll was in the right hand of Him that     however, the disciples  couldnot see.  Weget a glimpse
 sitteth upon the throne. Quite obviously this was God's      in the vision that John received. While the disciples
book. He owned it and it was His writing. This indi-          stood there looking up into the cloud, Jesus went to the,
 cates that the book represented the counsel of God. It       right hand of Him that sitteth upon the throne, He took
was God's secrets. This book had to do with the re-           the book from His hand, and began to break the seals
 alization of all that John had seen thus far in the          and realize its contents.
 vision.    The book contained God's plan for history that        Jesus ascended in order that He might open the
had yet to transpire and through which God would              book.
 surely bring forth heaven with all its glory.                    That this is correct is clearly seen by the form in
    The question, "Who is worthy to open the book"            which Christ appeared in the vision. There stood as it
 was pregnant with meaning.        In the first place, the    were a Lamb that had been slain. He had already been
 question is more than an inquiry as to who will be           on earth, He had offered Himself upon the altar of the
 able to reveal its contents. This is involved, who is        cross, His blood had been shed.
 able to unroll the scroll so that John and the church of         Christ the Lamb of God had  earned the right to
 all ages may become familiar with God's plan for things      take God's book and open it. He could do something
 that must yet come to pass. There is however, much           that no mere man could ever, do. All men lay under
 more.      In the second place, unrolling the scroll in-     the curse of death. There was a great gulf that sep-
 cludes a working out of the contents. This is the most       arated the earthly from the heavenly. The Holy God
 important element. The question is, who is not only          looked down from heaven upon the sons of men and
 able to  Yeveal God's counsel concerning future things,      beheld that they had all gone astray, there was none
but emphatically, who is able to realize them.                that doeth good, no not one.  Manin sin has no interest
    Who is worthy to do such a thing?                         in the glory of God in heaven. He is -a rebel, he gnashes
    Who has the authority to stand before the Holy God        his teeth against God's heaven and proudly dreams of
 and take from His right hand the book, His own secrets,      a heaven on earth. His aim is to banish God from all
 and unfold them before the eyes of men and accomplish        his' thoughts, sometimes openly through flagrant athe-
them as God's agent? Who has such power? Who is               ism, sometimes subtly by fashioning a god of his own
 able to secure the victory of the church over the world      imagination.      In any event, fallen man does not want
 and to gather all the elect safely within the fold of the    the true God of Scripture.           God is, however, not
innumerable throng?                                           mocked.     In righteous indignation, the Holy One of
    Silence !                                                 Israel crushes the bold effrontery of hypocrisy and
   No man was able.         Not a man in heaven, nor in       subjects man to His curse. No man can sin with im-
earth, neither under the earth. What a commentary             punity against God. The soul that sinneth shall die!
 on man! John saw that a gospel dependent upon man                So it is for every man.
was no gospel. Heaven confirmed that man in himself              There is only one hope of escape.


364                                                THE STANDARD BEARER


       That hope is that God will build a bridge that will     his power from Christ and can do only what Christ the
span the chasm of death.                                       King of Kings allows him to do. There is another
       God did just that.    He laid the foundation of that    power, that of the "eyes."         The 7 eyes represent
bridge when He sacrificed His Lamb on the cross.               Christ's spiritual power over His church. Godcrowned
       God's good pleasure rested in the glorification of      Christ with the gift of the Holy Spirit and through Him
His name through the salvation of His people. Already          Christ calls His elect, for whom He died, unto Him-
before the dawn of creation, He had sovereignly willed         self.    He awakens them from the dead, He breathes in
to redeem His people, to reveal His just mercy by              them a new life, He strengthens them in the battle of
atoning for their sins. He willed that against the back-       faith, He finally crowns them with glory and honor.
ground of sin and death, the light of His holiness would
shine upon sinful man. Though all men deserved the                 Such a Lamb received the book and now opens it.
judgment of hell, He determined to send a substitute               All that which transpires in the world of today is
to descend into hell for His elect.       His Servant, our     directed by the exalted Christ.        The book of God's
Lord Jesus Christ, was sent to sink the piles of the           counsel is being opened. God's plan for His church
bridge into the rock-bed of God's justice. Upon such           militant is being realized. Nothing can oppose it; no
a firm foundation, God willed to build the superstruc-         power is greater than that which Almighty God has
ture of the bridge,. the means of grace, as the passage        given unto Christ.       The forces of evil receive their
way through which the children of God could tread on           strength from Him in order that they can do what He
their way to glory.                                            will have them do. He restrains them from dealing a
       The Lamb as it were slain appeared in the midst of      fatal blow upon His church.        At the same time, He
the throne. There was proof that He had finished His           efficaciously draws His own unto Himself, renews
work. He had drunk the cup of God's wrath which was            them with spiritual vitality day by day, preserves
upon His people because of their sins. He had silenced         them in the midst of the world, bathes them in the
Satan who had persisted in charging that the saints            sunlight of His favor, and crowns them with victory.
had no right to enter into heaven. Christ paid the                 Christ ascended to be the Lord of history.
ransom.        At the cross it became apparent that the            Slowly the scroll is unwinding.
world was worthy of God's judgment; He was despised                The full counsel of God is being realized.
and rejected of men. Now as the conquering Lord He                 Jesus,  our Lord is bringing it to pass.
arose from the dead and ascended into heaven to be                 Doesn't that thrill you? In general we know the
crowned with glory and honor. Through the -work of             contents of that book. The particulars are known to
atonement, Christ earned the right to take the book            God.       Yet, everything in that book is good. God's
and open it.                                                   secrets concern the well-being of His church on earth.
       This Lamb was qualified.                                    We may see a bloody battle.
       His power is two-fold. This power is described in           We may groan in anguish and pain.
the double figure of horns and eyes. The Lamb stood                Look up, beloved.
as it had been slain having 7 horns and 7 eyes. A horn             Turn your eyes away from yourself. If all we dis-
is the symbol of royal power. At the blast of the horn,        cern in God's sermon is the silence of heaven, we
Israel was called to battle. This means that our ex-           would join John in weeping much. Heaven however is
alted Christ received from God the power to govern             full of music, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain."
all people.      Essentially this government is over His       Worthy to open the book!
church, for its number is 7, the product of 3 plus 4,              The book is good; it is the road map to heaven. It
God and man united in friendship. Christ is King of            will lead us in crossing the bridge from death unto
His church. As  I<ing, He has the power to subject all         life.
nations under Him, to cause the powers of this world               There is no doubt about it.  Christ,  our Lord is
to serve Him, so that even  anti-Christ  must receive          opening it.




                 CALL TO SYNOD OF 1965                         dent of last year's synod.
                                                                   Synodical  delegates are requested to meet with the
       According to the decision of the Synod of 1964, the     consistory before this service.
Consistory of the First Protestant Reformed Church
of Grand Rapids, Michigan hereby notifies the churches             Delegates in need of lodging should contact Mr.
that the 1965 Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches        Cornelius Jonker, 837 Geneva Ave., S.E., Grand Rapids,
will convene on Wednesday, June 2, at 9:00 A.M. in the         Michigan, 49507.
above mentioned church, D.V.                                                   Consistory of the First Protestant Re-
       The  pre,-synodical prayer service will be held on                      formed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Tuesday evening, June 1 at 8:00 P.M. at First Church,                                        H. Meulenberg, Vice-pres.
and will be conducted by Rev. H. Veldman, vice-presi-                                        C. Jonker, Secretary


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                365





                                            RIGHT, BUT DEAD WRONG


                                                 Pvof. H. C.  Hoeksemg


   Thus I would characterize Dr. James Daane's                 God toward each man by reference to his election or
theologizings about the First Point of 1924 and the            his reprobation."      To this supposedly prevailing
Dekker Case.                                                   theology Daane attributes the challenging of Professor
   For Daane attacks the First Point boldly, so boldly         Dekker's assertion that God has a redemptive love for
that one would almost caution him to be careful, lest          the reprobate. This is only an unproved assertion on
he make himself the object of the kind of ecclesiastical       Daane's part, of course. For, in the first place, it
discipline which acted so swiftly and efficiently in 1924      remains to be seen (perhaps when the committee on
against Danhof, Hoeksema, Ophoff, and their  consis-           the Dekker Case makes its report?) what will be the
tories.      For the Three Points are binding dogmas in        prevailing theology of the Christian Reformed churches.
the Christian Reformed Church today as well as then;           In the second place, this certainly was not the pre-
and Daane is bound by them as well as every other              vailing theology of the Christian Reformed churches in
officebearer is bound by them. Nevertheless, Daane             the Three Points of 1924: a grace of God to all men,
does not hesitate to criticize the First Point very            including the reprobate (whether a saving or a  non-
severely.       In fact, in his entire consideration of the    saving grace), just exactly does not define the attitude
Dekker case he proceeds from a critical position over          of God toward. each man by reference to his election
against the First Point.                                       or his reprobation, but ignores, or rather. contradicts,
   In this Dr. Daane is certainly right.                       the latter. And therefore, in the third place, it would
   Nevertheless, he is dead wrong.                             be much more to the point to say that the prevailing
   For in all his criticism of the First Point of 1924         theology of the Christian Reformed churches is a com-
Mr. Daane accepts the fundamental thesis of the First          mon grace theology, the theology of the Three Points
Point, that of a grace of God to all men, including the        of 1924.    For Dekker (and also Daane) this theology
reprobate.      Still more: while Daane seems to criticize     of the Three Points has been the starting-point. For
the position of the First Point with respect to the            the critics of Dekker this theology of the Three Points
general, well-meant offer of the gospel, and while he          has supposedly been their stronghold of defense, but it
is certainly correct in pointing out the inconsistency         has actually constituted a stumbling-block in all their
of the First Point, he nevertheless is only making             efforts to attack Dekker. Daane and Dekker are both
explicit what has always been implicit in that First           aware of this; and Daane capitalizes on it even more
Point, namely, its Arminianism. In this he is dead             than Dekker.
wrong.                                                            Daane immediately disproves the above-quoted as-
   An examination of Dr. Daane's theologizings will            sertion by referring partially (he does not quote the
show this to be correct.                                       First Point either correctly or in full) to the First
                                                               Point. He writes:
   Let us begin that examination with Daane's first               "In 1924 the Christian Reformed churches faced a
article, "From 1924 to 1964,"  (Reformed  Journal,             similar question, namely, Does the grace of Godextend
October, 1964). In this article he begins by explaining        to all men, or to the elect only? The Synod of 1924
that he is "prompted to enter the discussion because           answered this question by declaring that there is `a
the Synod decided to extend the area of theological            saving grace of God, shown only to those chosen unto
investigation far beyond the limited area covered by           eternal life,' i.e., to the elect, and that there is `also
the `Dekker case.' " In passing, I may remark that             a certain favor or grace of God which He shows to all
Daane is correct in this assertion, even as I pointed          His creatures (Point I),' i.e., also to the reprobate."
out last fall that Synod had no concrete case before it,          Now as Daane presents the First Point in the above
but simply decided to make a general, or sweeping,             paragraph, it might appear as though the Christian
investigation of the doctrine of limited atonement. In         Reformed Church attempted in 1924 to declare two
fact, to this day there is, in the ecclesiastical sense        doctrines in that First Point, namely, a saving grace
of the word, no "Dekker Case." The term is a mis-              to the elect and also a certain favor or grace of God
nomer, though it is a convenient one.                          which includes the reprobate. And then it might appear
   The doctor then goes on to make another introduc-           at least in part that the "prevailing theology of the
tory statement: "It may be said that in the area of our        Christian Reformed churches defines the attitude of
present interest and concern the prevailing theology of        God toward each man by reference to his election or
the Christian Reformed churches defines the attitude of        his reprobation." But Daane neither quotes correctly


366                                                THE STANDARD BEARER


and in full nor does he reason correctly from the First          is essential, however, for a correct understanding of the
Point.      This is a fundamental error in the very  begin-    First Point and for the history from 1924 to 1964 that
.ning of Daane's series of articles.                             this be kept inmind. That `puntje  van het Eevste  Punt, "
       Let me explain.                                           the real sticker, the sharp point of  theFirst Point, was
       There is but one main proposition in the First Point      of its essence, even though it came up only in the
of 1924; there are not two, as Daanepresents it. Synod           supposed proof of it. This was true not only doctrinally,
did not declare that there is a saving grace to the elect        but also historically, as is plain from all the polemical
and that there is another grace to the reprobate. Synod          writings on the subject from our side and from the
intended to declare and did declare that there is a              Christian Reformed side.      Why? Because the Gospel
certain favor or grace of God which He shows to His              and the general offer of the Gospel deals with saving
creatures in general. This is plain from a full quota-           grace, not non-saving grace. Here the door was opened
tion of the First Point:                                         for Arminianism.
       "Relative to the first point, which concerns the              I realize that I am running ahead as far as my
favorable attitude of God towards humanity in general            criticism of Daane is concerned. But I want to set the
and not only towards the elect, synod declares it to be          record straight. The situation is such, historically,
established according to Scripture and the Confession          that 1964 (Dekker) is simply the logical and inevitable
that, apart from the saving grace of God shown only to           development of 1924 (The First Point). It represents
those that are elect unto eternal life, there is also a          no essential advance, but a mere making explicit of
certain favor or grace of God which He shows to His              what was implicit in the First Point. A general favor
creatures in general.          This is evident from the          of God, undifferentiated by election and reprobation,
Scriptural passages quoted and from the Canons of                was expressed in the First Point.          From this to a
Dordrecht, II, 5 and III, IV, 8 and 9, which deal with           general love of God represents no essential advance.
the general offer of the Gospel, while it also appears         Moreover, a general and saving (not non-saving) favor
from the citations made from Reformed `writers of the            of God was, --to an extent, perhaps, unwittingly,  - set
most flourishing period of Reformed Theology that our            forth in the First Point, albeit somewhat vaguely and
Reformed writers from the past favored this view."             implicitly.       From this to a general and "redemptive"
       I call your attention to the following in this con-       love of God also represents no essential advance.
nection:                                                         Some clarification? Yes, there is. A bolder and more
       1. This First Point was and has been to the present       open expression? Indeed. But essentially speaking,
day the expression of "the prevailing theology" of the           Daane and Dekker are faithful and consistent sons of
Christian Reformed Church. It was  so. prevailing in           1 9 2 4 .
1924 that those who opposed it were cast out; and it                 And all of this was pointed out long ago in our
was  SO  prevailing in recent years, 1959 and thereafter,        Protestant Reformed witness.         I quote from "The
that the Christian Reformed Church refused to set it             Protestant Reformed Churches in America," Part II,
aside and make it non-binding.                                   pp. 319-321:
       2. This First Point does not positively set forth             "5. Which form of the Common Grace theory did
two propositions, but it sets forth the proposition of a         the Christian Reformed Churches. adopt by this first
common grace shown to all men, including the repro-              declaration, the  I<uyperian  or the Arminian?
bate, "apa&  from  (italics mine, H.C.H.) the saving                 "Virtually both; for, it is evident that, although they
grace of God shown only to those that are elect unto             intended to adopt the Kuyperian theory only, they be-
eternal life."                                                 came confused when they attempted to support their
       3. That while indeed the First Point makes mention        view by the Confession of the Reformed Churches, and
of the elect and even attempts to maintain the idea of           unwittingly they lapsed into the Arminian presentation
a special grace for the elect, nevertheless the main             of common grace.
thesis of the First Point of 1924 is just exactly the                "6. How could you prove this?
opposite of what Daane makes it. It exactly does not                 "This is evident, first of all, from the declaration
define God's attitude in terms of election and reproba-          itself.    For, when it declares, that `apart from the
tion.     It  ignores  election and reprobation in its main      saving grace of God shown only to those that are elect
proposition. It declares something about God's attitude          unto eternal life, there is also a certain favor or grace
apavt  from  His saving grace to the elect. And apart            of God which He shows to His creatures in general,' it
from and in spite of any definition in terms of election         purposes to express the Kuyperian view that God is
and reprobation, the First Point defines God's attitude          gracious to all men in common, elect and reprobate,
in terms of  generality,  not in terms of distinction.           godly and ungodly, when He bestows on them the things
This is plain to anyone who can read, also to Daane.           : of this present life, such as rain and sunshine, life and
The First Point (surely an expression of the "pre-             health, wealth and possessions, gifts and talents. All
vailing theology" of the Christian Reformed Church)              the good things of this present time are, according to
"concerns the favorable attitude of God towards hu-              this view, a manifestation of God's gracious attitude
manity in general and not only towards the elect."               to all men.
       4. All this is complicated by the reference to "the            "But' the declaration lapses into the Arminian con-
general offer of the Gospel," to which Synod appealed            ception that the saving grace of God is intended for all
as proof for a common non-saving grace. Daane does               men individually, when it speaks of `the general offer
not make mention of this here, but refers to it later. It        of the Gospel' as a manifestation of the grace of God to


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           367

all the hearers without distinction. For, it is evident,               first- point. For, the first five texts quoted above (Ps.
that the Gospel deals with saving grace.                               145:  9;  Matt.  5:44, 45: Luke  6:35, 36; Acts  14:16, 17;
    "The former theory we may designate by the term                    I Tim.  4:lO) are intended to prove the  Kuyperian  view
`common grace,' for its speaks of a grace, not saving,                 of common grace. But the last three texts (Rom.  2:4;
that is  common  to the godly and the ungodly, the elect               Ezek.  33:ll; Ezek.  18:23), as well as the passages
and the reprobate. The latter view is better expressed                 quoted from the Confessions do not deal with common
by the term `general grace,' for, it speaks of the grace               grace  that is not  saving, but with  general  grace  that  is
of God, saving, that is intended for all men individually.             saving as  fav as  God's intention is concerned.  "
    "Both these views are clearly implied in the first                    In the light of all this, I say once more: 1964
point.                                                                 represents no essential advance over 1924.              It is
    "7. From what else is it plain that the first point                characterized by the same fatal disease, though in a
teaches both common grace and general grace?                           more advanced and virulent form.
    "From the passages that are quoted from the Con-
fessions and from the Holy Scriptures in support of the                                     (to be continued)




                                      ADVICE FOR AN "AROUSED LAITY"


                                                                C-4


                                                  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema


    In his article entitled  "An Aroused Laity" (TOY&                  course, differing degrees of doctrinal unsoundness:
and  Tmtruzpet,   April, 1965) Prof. R. B. Kuiper con-                 where there is less than the desired soundness, there
cludes his description of the situation which he claims                is some degree of unsoundness. This is also clear
is bothering a considerable segment of the Christian                   from  Kuiper's  mention of the concern of the elders who
Reformed "laity" as follows:                                           seek his advice.       Moreover, this doubt of doctrinal
    "In consequence of the foregoing a truly disturbing                soundness and suspicion of doctrinal unsoundness
situation obtains in the Christian Reformed Church. I                  extends, according to Kuiper, to the professors as
shall describe it in simple terms.        Every once in a              well as the ministers.
while I am consulted by elders of churches which are                       In the second place,  I<uiper is certainly correct
in the process of calling a pastor.         Frankly, often I           when he speaks of this as a "trulydisturbing situation."
find such interviews annoying, and I am sure that often                In my opinion, this is putting it mildly, especially in
the elders concerned find me annoyingly uncommunica-                   the light of the extremely serious suspicions which
tive. I have a way on such occasions of skipping cen-                  Kuiper presents as living in the minds and hearts of
sure and confining myself to praise. However, one fact                 the "laity," to which I called attention in my previous
has struck me and remained withme. Almost invariably                   editorial on this subject. In fact, I would not hesitate
the chief concern of the elders is not the likelihood of               to call this an  impossible  situation. As a minister, I
securing a pastor soon, nor the talents of their  pastor-              would certainly refuse to live in such an atmosphere
to-be, nor yet his personality, but his doctrinal sound-               of doubt and suspicion; that is killing for all fruitful
ness.       Now about that there is indeed something dis-              labor. As an elder or layman, I would also find such a
turbing.       Time was, not many years ago, when the                  situation impossible. How, as an elder, could I ever
complete doctrinal soundness of practically every                      vote to extend a call to any minister while I harbor
Christian Reformed minister was taken for granted by                   such suspicions in my soul concerning men of whom
the entire denomination.      Exceedingly sad to say, that             the synod and the  classis  (by way of examination) and
is not the case today. To put the matter mildly, many                  the transferring consistory (ies) (byway of aministerial
of our laymen think there exist among our ministers --                 certificate of testimonial and dismissal) all declare or
for that matter, among our professors too -differing                   are ready to declare that they are sound in doctrine?
degrees of doctrinal soundness ."                                      Moreover, how can I, under such circumstances, have
                                                                       any confidence in all the ecclesiastical machinery for
Comment                                                                government and discipline? Still more, how can one
    In the first place, it should benoted that the issue in            sit. under th e preaching of the Word harboring such
this paragraph is not doctrinal soundness or differing                 suspicions? Besides, how can consistories and con-
degrees of doctrinal soundness, but  doctrinal unsound-                gregations live together in true peace and unity in such
ness. This is the plain implication of the "differing                  an atmosphere of doubt? Can they not trust each other?
degrees of doctrinal soundness," which implies,, of                    Can one consistory not trust the other to exercise


368                                                 THE STANClARD BEARER

discipline if its minister is not sound in doctrine?             treatment of them. But as long as they themselves do
       In the third place, however, I seriously question the     not make known their being disturbed, together with
ethics of Kuiper's conduct both in the incident he relates       the reasons for it, and that too, to the proper persons
and in his relating of it in the public press. As far as         and assemblies and through the proper channels, they
the latter is concerned, he mentions no names either            simply do not exist ecclesiastically speaking. The
of the elders concerned or of the ministers and pro-             church and its leaders cannot take cognizance of that
fessors whose soundness, according to him, is called            : which does not exist or which is not willing to make its
in question by these elders. Hence, this may involve             existence known and felt in the proper time and place.
any one of many Christian Reformed elders and min-               Such can only be ignored. That is stark realism in the
isters.      This sort of story can only serve to arouse         church. And if then this supposedly aroused laity loses
mutual suspicion among elders and ministers. The                out through its failure to speak out, they lose by for-
ministers must needs think to themselves (if they               feiture.    Moreover, if they insist on being disturbed
listen to Kuiper's story), "I wonder if so-and-so is             and creating disturbance in the churches without acting
one of those elders who secretly went to R. B. Kuiper            according to good order ecclesiastically, they are indeed
to get an opinion about my doctrinal soundness. I                trouble-makers and  schismatics, and make themselves
wonder, too, what `R. B.' said about me." And the                guilty of gossip and slander besides. Personally, I
elders must needs begin to wonder about all the                  have the greatest respect for any member of the
ministers and professors, "I wonder if he is one of              church who has a grievance and who walks the orderly
those about whom R. B. Kuiper was approached and                 way with that grievance.       Then there is a hopeful
to whom he refers in `Torch and Trumpet.' " This is             possibility of resolving the grievance if the aggrieved
indeed a suspicion-rousing sort of thing. And what              person is wrong.      And if his grievance is a just and
about Kuiper's reply to these inquiring elders? He is            proper one, then there is hope for the church concerned
"annoyed," he tells us. Is that all? It seems to me he          : to live up to the principle that the truly Reformed
is making himself a party to gossip and rendering               church is always reforming.        But I have nothing but
ministers in good standing suspect by lending an ear to         the utmost contempt for the supposed grievances of
these inquiries without condemning them. Nor does               those who are unwilling to walk the orderly way with
he avoid this by "skipping censure and confining myself         their grievances.    Hence, my question to an aroused
to praise," -- in other words, by ignoring the doubts            "layman" who asks advice in regard to such important
and suspicions. What should he tell such elders? For             grievances as Kuiper suggests in the first part of his
one thing, that if they have doubts, they should have           article would be, first of `all: what are you personally
good reasons for their doubts. For another thing, that          willing to do about your grievance? Are you willing to
they should present those doubts to their consistory             walk the orderly way with it? If not, then keep still:
and their moderator.       And, depending upon the judg-         you have neither a moral nor a church political right
ment of the consistory, they should make those doubts            to say you are aggrieved!
known to the minister concerned and to his consistory.              For the rest, I can agree, in  themain, with Kuiper's
Certainly, if there is reasonable doubt concerning the           advice: 1. That "laymen" may well need guidance. 2.That
doctrinal soundness of a minister, he must not be we must never strive for peace at the expense of truth.
called. But if there is such reasonable doubt, it is just        3. That the church should heed a lesson of history and
as wrong to allow a sister consistory and congregation           be "slow to dismiss as groundless, fears on the part
to suffer from his doctrinal unsoundness and in the              of the laity concerning the matter of doctrinal sound-
meantime to keep silence. I ask in all seriousness:              ness," and should remember that the "laity" often
what becomes of the order and unity of any communion            has highly sensitive  rtvoelkovens.fr
of churches and what becomes of the communal re-
sponsibility of the churches in common unless such                  I can also agree with Kuiper's advice that the
basic procedures are honored in the churches?                    "troubled laity,"  - and I would add: the entire member-
                                                                 ship of the church,  - "must always be dealt with in
       Professor Kuiper also has some advice to offer as         honesty so complete and so evident that there is no
to "What the Situation Requires."                                room for suspicion." I agree also with the following:
       This advice concerns the proper attitude to be            "That means, among other things, that, in case a
assumed by the "Church, particularly...its leaders, to          minister or a teacher comes to the conclusion that
our disturbed laymen."                                           the doctrinal standards of the Church are in error on
       Negatively, Kuiper pleads that these disturbed lay-      a point of any significance -at all, he must adhere
men must not be ignored.            Neither must they be        : strictly to the promise made by him when he signed
scorned; nor must their sincerity be judged.                    the Form of Subscription."
       My comment on this is that Prof.  I<uiper omits one          However, I<uiper then goes on to cite concrete
very fundamental item. It is this: these laymen, - as           I instances of such disagreement with the doctrinal
far as Kuiper's article is concerned, known only to him          standards of the Church. He mentions the instance of
and to themselves and to God, --  must  speak out.  They         professors in the Netherlands who call into serious
must  be willing and ready to speak outecclesiastically.         question Canons I, 6 and 15. And then he goes on to
This is not only their right, but their Christian duty,          attack the Christian Reformed Church's own Dr. James
also under the Church Order. It is all very well to              Daane, whom he accuses in a rhetorical question of
speak of an aroused laity and to plead for sympathetic           violating the Formula of Subscription in his writings


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         369

on the Dekker Case by open violence to the very heart                 Subscription. But suppose that Daane considers himself
of the Canons - particular grace.                                     in agreement with the Canons; or suppose that Daane
Comment                                                               knowingly and wilfully is making public propaganda for
                                                                      a doctrine that militates against the confessions; and
   In the first place, I am in agreement that Daane                   suppose that R. B. Kuiper is fully aware of this,  - as
is in violation of the Formula of Subscription. I would               he claims to be in the article under discussion. Can
add: the same holds for Professor Dekker and for Dr.                  he, nay, may he let the matter rest at that? Does he
Harry Boer, who now openly attacks the Reformed                       bave the right to charge Daane publicly with violating
doctrine of reprobation.       It is not my intention to              the Formula of Subscription and merely saying that
enter into the material issues of these cases in this                 Duane  ought to follow that Formula? By no means !
article.                                                              It is certainly Kuiper's  solemn duty before God and the
   In the second place, however, I doubt whether                      church to make the case pending against Dr. Daane.
Professor Kuiper or anyone else in the Christian                      And if he does not, he is guilty of public slander. Dr.
Reformed Church could successfully maintain this                      Daane has every right to say to Kuiper: prove it to the
charge, for the simple reason that Daane, Dekker, and                 ecclesiastical assemblies, or apologize publicly.
Boer can appeal to the First Point of 1924. Kuiper                         Moreover, Kuiper would have done well, as I have
gives a hint that he knows this too: for he makes men-                repeatedly pointed out, not to confine himself to advice
tion of 1924, and even suggests that it is not in every               to the church and to the leaders, but to give the
instance serious to contradict a Synod. What he fails                  "aroused laity" some sound advice, namely, that they
to mention is that the Synod of 1924 itself connected                 exercise their right of reformation, under the Church
the "general offer of the Gospel" with the First Point.               Order, and speak out officially wherever and whenever
He also fails to mention that in the only place in all                necessary.        This advice he should follow himself, and
our confessions where common grace is mentioned, it                   thus set the "aroused laity" a good example.
is ascribed to the Arminians.                                              In conclusion, I cannot possibly agree that the advice
    In the third place, Kuiper must not imagine that it                of Gamaliel, which Kuiper wants to apply to the pres-
is right and proper, under the Church Order and the                    ent church situation, was excellent advice in  Gama-
Formula of Subscription, to put the shoe on Daane's                   liel's time or today.         But let the reader look it up for
foot.    He is certainly correct in stating that Daane, if            himself in Acts  5:35-39.         I believe it was godless and
he disagrees with the doctrinal standards of the CRC,                 utilitarian advice, not fit to be followed by any church
is duty bound to be honest and to follow the Formula of               council.



                                     74G &4krcck 7& %%ctt4~
                                     ("0 worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." Ps. 96:9a)



                                             THE LORD'S SUPPER FORM


                                                     Rev. G.  Vanden   Berg


    In the main the Form for the Administration of the                tution of God. In our Baptism Form we are reminded
Lord's Supper which is used in our churches, may be                   that "holy baptism is an ordinance of God, to seal unto
divided into two sections or parts. The first of these                us and our children His covenant; therefore it must be
may be labeled the "Doctrinal" or "Expository" part.                  used for that end, and not out of custom or supersti-
It contains a section that deals with the matter of                   tion." This is equally true with respect to the Holy
"Preparatory" and is followed by a brief exposition of                 Supper of our Lord.           The danger is always present
the Lord's Supper, its purpose and significance. The                  that since we celebrate this sacrament at set times, a
second main division deals with the "Liturgical" as-                  minimum of four times a year, that we begin to regard
pects of the celebration of the Lord's Supper and under               this as merely a traditional thing in the church and if
this heading various important matters may be men-                    we fall into this error we will be deprived of the rich
tioned. In this and subsequent articles we will discuss               spiritual blessings inherent in this institution. The
this form according to the above-named outline.                       Supper belongs to the most sacred things which God
                                                                      has committed to His Church.
The Institution  Of The Lord's Supper                                                                           Of this we must be
                                                                      made deeply conscious so that we may come to the
    In dealing with the matter of the Lord's Supper we                Table in the proper spiritual attitude and deal with
must never forget that we have to do with a holy insti-               these things with the most profound reverence.


370                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER


       Of this we are reminded at the very beginning of          voke upon ourselves the judgment and wrath of God.
the Communion Form. The Form begins with the words:              And this is not a theological conclusion that is reached
"Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ." This immediately             by rationalizing processes but it is the very Word of
sets apart the Communion Supper as an exclusive insti-           God itself.    In the very same passage in which the in-
tution.      It is not designed for all and everyone. It is a    stitution of the Supper is clearly set forth, the apostle
Supper for the "beloved in Christ," that is, for those           writes:
alone for whom Christ in love laid down His life as a               "Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, and
perfect sacrifice and propitiation for their sins. They          drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty
are the saints, i.e., the ones made holy. As the objects         of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man ex-
of His eternal love, He has gathered and called them             amine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and
out of the world of darkness and translated them into            drink of that cup; for he that eateth and drinketh un-
His own  l<ingdom  of light. In that Kingdom they have           worthily, eateth and drinketh damnation (judgment) to
received the benefits of His love and to bring them to           himself, not discerning the Lord's body." (vss. 27-29)
the conscious realization of the greatness of those bene-           All of this is somewhat introductory to the Form
fits, they are now to hear and give attention to the words       but it serves a very necessary purpose. Here the
of the institution of the Lord's Supper. Only they are           church is brought to the realization that she is dealing
able. to hear and discern these words and the rest, though       with a sacred institution of God and that for each
they may hear the sound of words, fail to grasp their            member of the church the personal confrontation of
spiritual meaning.        Eyes they have but they see not,       these things becomes at once a matter of life or of
ears have they but they hear not and with their hearts           death. Our commemorating of His death moves God
they do not understand these things. Only unto the               to act upon us either in His favor or in His wrath. The
"beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ" is given to know              very serious responsibility that rests upon each and
the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. These myster-               every member of the church in these matters cannot
ies are set forth in the sacrament and so the beloved            be too strongly emphasized. And so we are brought
are enjoined to "attend to these words."                         to the first practical part of the Communion  .Form
       This address is followed by a quotation from              which deals with the matter of our conducting a careful
I Corinthians  11:23-30  in which the institution of the         and thorough self-examination.
Lord's Supper is clearly set forth. This is important
because we must be assured that this ritual is not one           The  Prepavatovy  Self-Examination
that has somewhere in history's past been inaugurated               This self-examination is necessitated by the fact
by men or even by the church but that it is definitely           that we all, in ourselves, are unworthy to partake of
instituted by God Himself. On this point, Scripture              the Lord's Supper. There are none that are good, no
leaves no room for doubt.         In addition to the passage     not one. And since the Lord's Supper is the sacrament
cited in the form, the record of the Gospels might also          of Communion in which the just and holy God dwells in
be given here. Matthew (chap.  2.6),  .Mark (chap. 14)           fellowship with men, it must be understood that there
and Luke (chap. 22) all tell how Jesus instituted this           is nothing in us that makes this fellowship possible.
Supper in connection with the celebration of the last            We must, therefore, examine ourselves to find the evi-
Passover with His disciples on the very night of His             dences of His work of grace in us for without this we
betrayal.      But the passage from Paul's Epistle is very       are and forever remain unworthy of His Table.
lucid.                                                              We must not forget, however, that the purpose of
       "For I have received of the Lord, that which also         this self -examination is positive.    The Communion
I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same              Form expresses it: "That we may now celebrate the
night in which He was betrayed, took bread; and when             Supper of the Lord to our comfort. .  ." Our aim must
He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat;           be to find a solid and assuring basis on which we can
this is my body which is broken for you, this do in              approach the table of the Lord with the comforting
remembrance of Me.            And, after the same manner         certainty of His favor.      To attain this objective we
also, He took the cup, when He had supped, saying,               must search our souls, probe the deepest parts of our
This cup is the new testament in my blood, this do ye,           hearts  ,and with honest integrity reckon with our find-
as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of Me; for as oft           ings. Oh, this self-examination must not be a super-
as ye eat of this. bread, and drink this cup, ye do show         ficial custom to which little or no thought at all is
the Lord's death till He come." (Vss. 23-26)                     given after a while but it must be a diligent, prayerful
       Perhaps this passage of I Corinthians 11 was se-          exercise that is permeated with the thoughts of the
lected by the author of our Communion Form, in pref-             Psalms:
erence to the passages of the  Synoptics,  because it               "Search me, 0 God, and know my heart: try me,
also contains a very serious warning about eating and            and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked
drinking at this Supper in an  u&orthy  manner. The              way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
fact that we deal with an institution of God here ac-            (Psalm  139:23, 24)
centuates the importance. of our realizing that we can-             "Examine me, 0 Lord, and prove me; try my reins
not partake of these things without their affecting  US          and my heart." (Psalm  26:2)
in one way or another. Either, as the beloved in Christ             It involves an earnest striving to be conformed to
Jesus, we partake in faith and are spiritually built  up         the image of God's Son and it is done in the realization
through these means or we partake unworthily and in-             that our `own perceptual senses are not adequate to dis-


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   371


cover every deformity within us and therefore we need         nent to our walk of sanctification or gratitude. Thus,
the scrutiny of God's own searching eye to expose our         for those who like to make a distinction between the
actual corruption. We want to be seen, not as we see          doctrinal and the practical, (a  .distinction  which we do
ourselves, but as He sees us in order that we may             not believe holds because doctrine is practice; doctrine
dispose of all that is found in us that meets with His        is life) we may say that the matter of self-examination
displeasure and retain only that in which He delights.        is extremely practical. It doesn't follow a dogmatic
Only then are we ready to walk and talk and commune           or theological order but it probes the consciousness
in fellowship with Him, the High and Lofty One Whose          and experience of those examined.
Name is Holy. For self-examination does not' purpose             But let us not misunderstand this order. It is not
solely to  discover; it aims to  unco'uey   and to dispose    so that the three parts of' self-exam-mation  are three
of all that is of. sin. It is not like going to the doctor    distinct, isolated, separate things that we can deal with
for a physical check-up and then to ignore his advice         apart from each other. Not at all. These three are
and prescription relative to things of disorder which         never to be separated because they all deal with the
he may find as a result of his examination. It is a           same matter. They deal with the conscious experience
going to God to have all of our spiritual disorders           of salvation in the heart of the child of God. One can-
corrected and to have our entire spiritual house set          not discover a true knowledge of and repentance for
in such order that He will delight to dwell therein.          sin without also finding the reality of salvation in
Thus, this self-examination is already a vital part in        Christ and experiencing a sincere desire to live in
our seeking the table of the Lord and if we do not so         thankfulness unto His praise in the midst of the present
desire to be examined, we can only be assured that we         world.       Neither is it possible to say that Christ has
really do not want a place in the communion of the            died for me and saved me from death without also ex-
"beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ."                           periencing sorrow after sin and a desire to walk in
   According to our Communion Form this self-ex-              good works.         And certainly it is not possible to find
amination consists of three principal things. First           one who sincerely longs to manifest true thankfulness
there is the examination with respect to our knowledge        in life for a salvation which he isn't aware of or with-
of and attitude toward our sins. Secondly, there is the       out the consciousness of sin from which he needs to
examination with respect to our faith in the promises         be redeemed.
of God concerning the forgiveness of our sins or, in a           Although it may be true that in the experience of
bit broader context, our salvation in Christ. And,            the child of God, one or  the- other element of this  self-
finally, there is the examination of ourselves with           examination may at times be more pronounced in the
respect to our thankfulness or gratitude to God Who is        consciousness so that sometimes the awareness of his
the God of our salvation.                                     great sins overwhelms him while at other times he
   Before discussing the content of the Communion             overflows with works of thankfulness, yet, all three are
Form as it pertains to this matter of self-examination,       essentially one.
there are a couple of things that must be mentioned.             This is the work of God's sovereign grace in us. It
We note that the three parts of this examination follow       is His work of salvation which is applied to our  ex-'
the subjective or experiential order of salvation. It is      perience by His Holy Spirit. And our self-examination
the same order that is followed in the development of         aims to make us comfortably aware of this work of
the truth in our Heidelberg Catechism: There, too, we         salvation in order that we may come to His table in
deal firstly with the matter of our sins and misery.          the confidence that He will receive us and dwell with
This is followed by a lengthy exposition of the glorious      us and in us, imparting unto us an ever increasing
wonder of our redemption and then the final section of        portion of the riches of His grace in Christ Jesus our
this Confession treats various matters that are perti-        L o r d .





                                                    Rev. H.  Hank0


Religious Mental Illness                                         There were some examples given of neurotic  ten-
   There was an annual meeting a short time ago of            dencies which go under the name of religious belief.
the "Academy of Religion and Mental Health" which             Authoritarian religion (by which is presumably meant
met in Washington. At this meeting a group of  clergy-        any faith which holds to some authority of truth) is
men and psychiatrists gathered to discuss the  differ-        said to be a major cause of mental illness. Indications
ence between religious faith and mental illness. They         of such unhealthy faith are supposed to be irrational
found some difficulty in drawing the line (according to       tendencies of belief in a new doctrine, greater concern
Time  magazine, which reported the conference)for they        for form and theology than for ethical and moral  prin-
found that much of what passes as "faith" is nothing          ciples, hatred of past beliefs, intolerance of deviation,
more than abnormal neurosis.                                  the desire for martyrdom to prove devotion.             One


372                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER

theologian took it upon himself to define the difference              demonstrators here and there throughout the South
between a healthy faith and religious neurosis.                       have been part of a longer march towards greater civil
                                                                      rights.     In these marches, increasingly, clergymen
          (A healthy faith is measured by) its ability to remain      have taken a part. Dr. Martin Luther King, in prepar-
       in relation to the threatening aspects of reality without      ation for the voter registration march from Selma to
       succumbing to fear, shame, anxiety or hostility. An            Montgomery, Alabama said, "The people of Selma will
       unhealthy religion runs away, becomes obsessed with
       a part in order to avoid the whole. The body is denied         struggle for the soul of the nation, but it is fitting that
       for the                                                        all Americans help to bear the burden. I call, there-
                   soul's sake; the future becomes so fascinating
       that it blots out the present; all truth is limited to the     fore, on clergy of all faiths, representative of every
       Bible. A healthy religion unites existence, an unhealthy       part of the country, to join me in Selma for a minis-
       one divides it.                                                ters' march on Montgomery." In answer to this ap-
                                                                      peal, clergymen, priests, rabbis and  evennuns  streamed
       If one tries to translate this jargon, then one dis-           by the hundreds to Selma to take part in this crusade.
covers that these men consider mental illness of the                  In all the civil unrest surrounding this protest, one
religious variety to be found in those whomaintain doc-               clergyman, Rev. James Reeb, Unitarian minister, was
trine firmly and without compromise; who are willing                  clubbed to death.
to' suffer for the sake of their beliefs; who are con-                   Inasmuch as the church is violently caught up in
cerned with their soul to the extent that they deny the               this drive towards civil rights for negroes, a few re-
body; who look for their salvation to come not in this                marks seem to be in order.
life, but in a life hereafter; who insist that the truth is              There is no question about it that negroes have, in
to be found only in the Word which God speaks.                        many cases, been denied their. legal rights guaranteed
       While it is  ,no doubt true that these leaders in              to them under the Constitution of this country. But
psychiatry and religion have their eyes fastened upon                 this is not our purpose in writing, for the problem of
certain sects in our day who, under the name of re-                   the state ought to be solved on that level.
ligion, hold to strange doctrines and engage in strange                  Nor is the killing of a man to be condoned. It was
practices (whether this is always mental illness is                   a brutal and cold-blooded murder.
quite another question), their condemnation of a neurotic                Nevertheless, those demonstrating for civil rights
religion comes perilously close to a condemnation of                  are also themselves guilty of violating the laws of the
the truth of the people of God defined in Scripture.                  nation, of the state and of the county. And clergymen
       This trend follows the general pattern of our times            are participating in this civil disobedience. In fact,
in that more and more psychiatrists are finding mental                Martin Luther King has openly advocated the breaking
illness where there is not any. It is becoming fashion-               of the law if this becomes necessary to gain his goals.
able to deny the reality of sin and refer it all to mental            Other clergymen, e.g., Eugene Carson Blake, have
disease of one kind or another. I have heard psychia-                 shouted their assent.      The justification of this dis-
trists (who ought to know better because they are Re-                 obedience to civil law is supposed to be that the negro
formed) admonish ministers not to censure a man for                   has been oppressed long enough, that it is difficult at
stealing or for committing adultery, but rather to urge               best to secure the rights of the negro, that the laws
him to seek psychiatric treatment, for, obviously, he                 are in many cases unjust; and therefore that the viola-
wouldn't do such things unless he were mentally dis-                  tion of law is good to secure the end of civil rights for
turbed.       He does not need the gospel and the Word of             this segment of the population. In other words, "the
Christ; he needs the care of a trained psychiatrist.                  end justifies the means." But this is terribly wrong
So, gradually, there grows the idea that sin is really                and no good can ever come of it. It is to be deplored
nothing more than neurotic or psychotic ills, to be                   that clergymen condone this sort of a thing. I wonder
cured, not by the cross, but by the psychiatrist's con-               how those who justify breaking the law can, in good
ference room and by the tools of psychoanalysis.                      conscience, condemn the murder of a white minister.
       The same thing becomes the judgment on false                      But there is another angle to this problem that
religion of strange kinds. This is not false doctrine                 needs clarification. The church's involvement in these
any more nor the attempts of sinful man to worship                    civil rights disputes is also wrong. It may certainly
his images, but the manifestations of a diseased mind                 be true that negroes are being denied their constitu-
to be cured by the methods of worldly psychology.                     tional rights.    But this is surely a problem that must
       But there is another grave danger. A conference                be solved in the sphere where the problem exists,
like the one described above sets a pattern that could                namely, the sphere of the state.      And the courts are
very well be followed in the future. Modern day ecu-                  open to appeals from injustice. But when the church
menical religion and humanism become the only "healthy                enters the- civil rights arena, it engages in activities
religion;" while commitment to the Word of God and                    which are none of the church's business. The Church
faithfulness to the truth become "unhealthy religion,"                is called to preach the gospel, not to march in civil
and its adherents judged as in need of the care of a                  rights demonstrations.      The Church is bound to the
mental institution and psychiatric treatment.                         power of the Word of God; not to the power of  mob-
                                                                      rule and sit-ins. Through the preaching of the gospel,
Selma  And The  Clergy                                                the Church of Christ is gathered; and within that Church
       Negro protest demonstrations have been in the                  of Christ, among those who are redeemed and called
news spotlight for some time now. The marches of                      out of darkness, social problems will be solved  be-


                                                 THESTANDARD BEARER                                                        373

cause the hearts of God's people are changed. But             because some would rather continue the war there.
this is within the communion of the saints, and is the           This kind of objecting is futile.
only possible solution to the problem. When, instead
of preaching the gospel, the church engages in these          A Quote On  Fedeval  Aid To Schools
social protests, it is obvious that the church has ceased        In an article entitled "The Surrender to Federal-
to concern itself with the salvation of the people of         ized Education" written by John A. Howard in  Chvis-
God.      It seeks for the redress of civil wrongs. At        tian Economics,        the author answers the question of
best, the motivation of such action can only be the ideal     whether federal aid will bring federal control. There
of a post-millennial kingdom of Christ in the world           are many who maintain that it will not. The author
brought about by a social gospel; at worst the result         writes:
will be the kingdom of Antichrist.
     But when the ministers in the church turn away                      That is stark nonsense.    Every single program of
from the gospel and have no gospel left, then there is           grants has to stipulate either in the legislation or
                                                                 through a policy board the terms for deciding who gets
little else to do but walk in social protest with marchers       how much to do what under what circumstances. This
seeking goals which are foreign to the kingdom of                isn't control? Of course it is, and it is  only.the  mild
h e a v e n .                                                    beginning of the controls.
                                                                         It should be observed that a great part of the con-
Mev-gevs,  Etc.                                                  trol exerted by Federal aid is what might be called
    To keep abreast of current ecumenical develop-               carrot control, in contrast to. . . stick control. Carrot
ments, there are two recent events worth reporting.              control is accomplished by coaxing a college or a de-
    The first is that of a merger among Presbyterians.           partment or a professor into doing something that would
The Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America                otherwise not be done by dangling before the nose such
                                                                 an attractive offer that it just cannot be passed up.
has  ,merged  with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church           This may appear innocuous until you remember that
to form a new denomination called the Reformed                   when the carrot project is undertaken something else
Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod.         Together         may have to be set aside. For instance, one grievous
now, the new denomination numbers about 100 con-                 result of the Federally sponsored research projects
gregations and has a membership of 10,000 com-                   that are becoming so numerous on some campuses is
municants.                                                       that the education of students which once was the
     Both groups are conservative Presbyterian groups            principal reason for the existence of a college or
who maintain the Westminster Confessions.                        university is losing out.
    The second event is not one of merger, but of
withdrawal from the National Council of Churches.
    There has been an increasing amount of criticism
of the liberal National Council of Churches by mem-                               ATTENTION TEACHERS
bers within this organization as well as church groups        The Hope Prot. Ref. Chr. School will need several
on the outside. Not only this, but several denomina-          teachers to complete its staff for the 1965-66 school
tions are under increasing pressure from their mem-           year. Please send inquiries to:
bership in this body. Among these denominations are                             Don Lotterman
the Southern Presbyterian Church, the Methodists and                            1926 Porter St., S.W.
the Episcopalians. The criticism mostly is concerned                            Wyoming, Michigan        49509
with the declarations and pronouncements of the NCC
on social and political issues. The NCC has become
well-known for its continual barrage of advice to the
government, the UN and other social `agencies, express-                        RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY
ing its opinion on matters all the way from the ad-           The Board of the Hope Protestant Reformed Christian
mission of Red China into the United Nations to cig-          School expresses its sympathy to fellow member Peter
arette smoking.                                               Zandstra in the sudden loss of his father
    Evidently the criticism is hurting because a special
agency has been appointed to answer critics and to                                 MR. JOHN ZANDSTRA
"establish a more favorable image" of the NCC.                May our Covenant God comfort the brother and his
    One denomination has withdrawn. The Unity of the          family.  '
Brethren Church, the smallest of NCC  member-                                                        John Lanning, Pres.
churches with 6,030 people, has resigned from its                                                    Don Lotterman, Sec'y.
membership.
     The trouble is that the protests against the NCC
are not so much against the liberalism of this body;
nor are these protests against the fact that the NCC                                 ANNOUNCEMENT
has no business speaking out on all issues which do           The Standard Bearer Staff will meet Monday evening,
not concern the Church; rather the protests are most          June 7, 1965 at First Church in Grand Rapids, Michi-
because there is disagreement on what the NCC should          gan. Will all the editors please take note and plan to
say when it does speak.        It advises a cease fire in     attend this meeting? The meeting begins at 8:00 P.M.
South Viet Nam, and there are voices  of. opposition                                                      J.A. Heys, Sec'y.


 374                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER





                              GOD'S RESPONSIBILITY AND MAN'S SOVEREIGNTY


                                                      Rev. J. A. Heys


        Yes, you read the above title correctly.                He could forbid you to perform a certain act, but he
        It is not a printer's error or a careless typograph-    could do that same deed himself with impunity, be-
ical mistake.                                                   cause there was no reign over him, no rule above him
        And it is not simply meant to catch your eye either.    to try him and to punish him. The king made rules for
For we fear that many can read it and fail to be touched        his people, but he was under no rule of the people.
by its blasphemy. The sad situation today that is found         That is changed so radically in our democratic system.
in the churchworld is such that the Biblical position of        But kings of old were called sovereigns because they
God's sovereignty and man's responsibility is exchanged         did as they pleased and had no man above them to for-
for that which is expressed in the above title.                 bid them or punish them.
        We had better face the issue and not deny it that           Icings  were sovereign in a relative sense, we said.
there is little love to be found today for the truth of         For they had God above them, and to Him they were
God's sovereignty; and a humanistic philosophy floods           accountable, even though they did not need to answer
the circles of the churchworld that wants nothing of            to their subjects. But God's is the super-reign. He
man's responsibility but cries for a responsibility that        is responsible to no one. In fact no one has as much
God has towards man. That is why men dare to blame              as the right to think evil of his works. We do. We
God, criticize His works, maintain that He owes the             deny our own responsibility and His sovereignty so
creature something and is obliged to give him what              quickly and so easily by criticizing His works and by
are called material blessings and even salvation.               putting ourselves up as judges over Him. We are bold
From what one hears in these days, one wonders                  by nature. We do not stand in fear before Him. Rev-
whether in the judgment day God is not  goPng to be on          erence and awe before Him we know not. But that does
trial and whether He will have to answer to man.                not change the fact that He is sovereign, can do as He
        That is not so far fetched. Jesus tells us in His       pleases and may forbid us even to think evil of His
sermon on the mount that some shall say, "Lord,                 works.
Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy                He is sovereign because He is God. He is sovereign
name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many            because there is no god besides Him. He strikes the
wonderful works?" Jesus does not mean that men ac-              key note at once in the ten commandments when He
tually shall talk that way in the judgment day. Rather          declares that in the first commandment which with
will they all hide their faces in shame and terror be-          His finger He wrote on the tables of stone before
fore His majesty. But Jesus points out the thinking of          Moses at Mount Sinai. Jesus taught us the same thing
these men  in  this  life.  They expect to get into heaven.     in the first petition which He taught us to make our
They are so pharisaically sure of their own worth               own when we pray "Hallowed be Thy name." It is a
and so confident that God owes them something that              prayer that God may be acknowledged by all to be
there will be a complete reversal of their thought when         sovereign and that He continue His sovereign way to
they do appear before the sovereign God of heaven and           seek His own glory. There is no god besides Him and
of earth. Men in this life are quite ready to deny God's        therefore He reigns supreme.      If you do not believe
sovereignty and to hold Him responsible before their            that, try to overrule Him. Just try to change His way
bar of judgment. What folly! What blasphemous thought!          of doing things.    Just try to violate His laws of our
He is GOD. He reigneth, let the nations tremble! So             physical existence and see how far you get. Because
the psalmist declares it in Psalm  99:l.  Yea, rather,          God is sovereign, you are going to die, if you light a
so God presents the matter by divine inspiration.               match in a gas-filled room. Because He is sovereign
        What is God's sovereignty?       It is His absolute     you are going to perish, if you swallow a glass of
right to do as He pleases. The word sovereign actually          poison. He has made us to live where there is oxygen,
means super-reign. It means that one is exalted above           and if you try to live contrary to this rule and place
others to have the right to dictate policy to others.           yourself where there is no oxygen, you are going to
I<ings  in times of old were called sovereigns. And             suffocate and die. Try to change all this, if you can.
they were in a relative sense. The king had the last            You will not overrule Him.
word in his realm.         He was sovereign in his own do-          No different is it with His ethical-moral will. Man
main.       You see that so clearly in the Book of Esther.      cannot live by bread alone. Adam found that to try to
Had the king not extended the sceptre to her as a token         overrule God's ethical will meant death. Adam im-
of favour, she would have been put to death. There              posed his will--presented to him by Satan-upon the
was no one who could revoke the decree of the king.             will of the sovereign God and found that there was  in-


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                37.5

deed a reign and rule above him that he could not es-        who never saw a page of Holy Writ or heard a word of
cape. You just simply do not get away with it. For you       it spoken, that God is responsible for their unbelief
simply cannot escape that super-reign of God. It is          and punishment. To speak of giving God the blame for
there whether we like it or not. It is there eternally,      anything, implies that He can be arraigned before our
and nothing is going to change it to any degree. In His      judgment seat. It means that we are at least His equal
fear we will recognize this truth and will have no de-       and that He is answerable to us for His works. And
sire to try to rob Him of one bit of His sovereignty.        that is exactly where we want Him according to our
    As suggested above, we do try. In fact every time        flesh. We want a god that really is not God. We want
that we sin, we sin against His sovereignty and declare      to have something to say about Him and to have some
that we are not going to recognize His rule over us.         control over Him. Then, indeed, we  speakof  God's re-
When we sin, we say that we are boss and that we have        sponsibility and man's sovereignty.
no responsibility before Him. We are quite content to           But He need not give every man a "chance" and
let Him rule the sun, the moon and the stars, particu-       actually gives no one a chance. New-born babies die
larly while we frail creatures sleep and cannot con-         before they can have the gospel preached to them. There
tinue our work till we have been refreshed with sleep.       may not be nations any more to which the gospel has
There are times when we think that He has caused the         not been spread, but there still are individuals here
sun to set too quickly or to be tardy in rising. But on      and there to whom it has not been preached in the
the whole such matters, so obviously beyond  .our con-       jungles and remote places of the earth. It is of but
trol, we are ready to leave in His hands, if He will let     recent date that wild tribes even in South America
us continue in sin.    But we must be allowed to go our      were contacted in their own language with the gospel.
own way and to decide for ourselves what is good and         Does God have to give answer to those who did not up
evil.                                                        till that time receive it and died in their unbelief? Is
    We are not at the moment interested in that phase        He God, or is He a creature? We do well to listen to
of our denial of God's sovereignty and of our respon-        Paul when he warns us not to reply against God. The
sibility to Him. We have rather in mind the doctrinal        divine Potter not only owns the clay but makes it as
denials of these which reverse the order and speak of        well; and it depends upon Him for every moment of its
God's responsibility to the creature and of man's            existence.      Let us-reply unto God but not against Him.
sovereignty with a reign over God! Of course we have         Let our response to Him be that we know Him to be
Arminianism and Pelagianism in mind. The church              sovereign and that we love Him as such. Then we walk
world is so full of it that we find it at every turn; and    in His        fear, and then we answer to the purpose for
at the risk of being accused of harping on one subject,      which He created us.
we wish to point out that we are told in Scripture to           Exactly because He is a sovereign God He gives no
put on the whoEe  armour of God and to keep it on at all     one a chance.       God takes no risks. He leaves nothing
times.    We would point out that this matter of God's       to chance. Having a super reign, ruling over all crea-
sovereignty is of extreme importance and.that we must        tures He executes all His good pleasure and realizes
fight against its denial and ridicule. And we would also     all that which He wills. Not a drop of rain falls except
point out that we and our children are continually being     as He decreed it -- and that means also that it fell ex-
bombarded by these heretical philosophies and must           actly on the spot where He decreed it and at the mo-
either fight back or be overcome by them. The  Ar-           ment appointed by Him.         The sun rises and sets by
minian and Pelagian does not keep silent. Why should         His schedule with unerring precision. The sparrow
we?                                                          does not fall from the housetop except as He decrees
    But you have then, on the one hand, the foolish posi-    it; and the same thing, Jesus said, is true of every
tion that God owes every man, woman and child a              single hair of our heads. He does as He pleases, ac-
chance to be saved. This is utterly unscriptural. In         cording to Psalm  115:3. And whatever happens is the
the Old Testament times God revealed Himself to a            thing that He decreed should happen. No different is it
very small section of the human race and plainly did         in the realm of our salvation. Nothing is left to chance.
not intend to save  ,a11 men or desire to have them be-      The Church of God will not be limited in size by the
lieve unto salvation. In the New Testament the Spirit        will of man. Man will not determine God's Church.
even forbade Paul to preach in certain areas. Jesus          Man will not overrule God's purpose and plan. It is
prayed the Father and thanked Him that He had hidden         not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth but of
the things of the kingdom, from the wise and prudent.        God that showeth mercy.          Not our will determines
Let us not bring God before the judgment seat of our         whether Christ is going to come into our hearts and
reason and try Him to find out whether He does justly        save us but God's sovereign will. As we have pointed
to give only some a "chance." He is not answerable           out many a time before, the very last thing that Saul
to us for any of His work, and surely not for His par-       willed on the way to Damascus was to become a disciple
ticular Salvation. He is not  ,obliged to give His grace     of Christ. Salvation was not offered him on the way.
and faith, to give repentance and regeneration to each       It was not left to his will. If it depended upon and was
and every man, woman and child that ever comes into          of him that willeth and runneth, Saul was running away
this world. He does us no injustice if He never arranges     from and willing anything but salvation. But God had
to have the gospel preached in our hearing. No cry can       chosen him in sovereign election, and in His super
rightfully come up from the heathen, either of the Old       reign, He overruled Saul's opposition and made of him
Testament times or those, of New Testament history           Paul the Apostle of Christ.


376                                                THESTANDARDBEARER


       And let us beware in our zealousness for the truth      .rid of Him and imposed our will upon Him. Then we
of man's responsibility that we do not deny the sover-         need not fear any more that He will punish us for our
eignty of God. We can quickly change that into God's           rejection of the gospel "offer." If we have overruled
responsibility and man's sovereignty. If it is my will         Him once, we will be able to do it again. We have be-
for which God must wait that determines my salvation,          come like unto God, knowing good and evil.
then my will reigns supreme in that respect over God's.           Nay, it is not so! In His fear we stand in reverence
Then you hear such nonsense as is spouted forth from           before Him as a God of majestic sovereignty. We know
the radio at times, "Why not let God have His way?"            ourselves as creatures that must always give answer
Will He not always have His way? Is there a moment,            to God and must always bow completely under His will.
in regard to material matters or spiritual matters,            Then we can praise and thank Him as Jonah did and
when He does not have His way perfectly? If there is           say, "Salvation is of the Lord." Truly Jonah contrib-
such a moment when He does not, His sovereignty                uted nothing there on the bottom of the sea. And we
ceases right there. Then we have lost God, and He is           do not either. In His fear our answer is, "Praise the
dead ! Then we have gained the victory over Him, gotten        sovereign Lord."



                              743  p&d gate 7443 %ad , , ,
                                                                                (Psalm 68:ll)



                           PREACHING PREDESTINATION ON THE MISSION FIELD


                                                     Rev. C.  Hank0


       We turn now to the question of preaching predes-        missionary and the message of the congregational
tination on the mission field. As you will recall from         minister is the distinction of degree in the simplicity
our previous discussions on this subject, Mr. Boer,            or depth with which the gospel is preached. There
who is discussing this in the  Reformed   Journal,  is of      can never be a difference in proclamation between
the firm conviction that election (Boer does not agree         this or that constitutive element of the gospel. Only
with the doctrine of double predestination, or repro-          on this basis can we understand the fullness with which
bation) should be included in the preaching of the             the writers of the New Testament speak about election
Gospel in the mission field as well as in the established      in their writings to young churches. There just are no
church.                                                        other writings from which to distill the missionary
       He writes in the December (1964) issue of the  Re-      message."
fo`oym ed Journal, "When therefore Paul told the  Ephe-           With the main thrust of this statement we certainly
sians in his moving farewell address that he had not           agree. Our point of disagreement with Boer is, never-
shrunk from declaring to them `the whole counsel of            theless, in his conception of election.       It is evident
God,' I cannot but as a missionary feel that this meant        from all his writing that Boer wants a decree of elec-
all the essentials of the gospel, including the doctrine       tion that permits him to say to anyone on the mission
of election.     Paul wanted to `preach the gospel' to the     field: "You are an elect; God loves you; it remains
Romans. That is an interesting expression. When Paul           for you to believe to make that election sure." To
could not preach the gospel to the Romans in person,           quote from the same article from which I quoted
he wrote them a letter, a plainly missionaryletter, and        above, Boer says: "As we dare not say of any man
in that letter he dealt with election fully and profoundly.    that he cannot believe, so we dare not say of any man
Election, in Paul's view is a part, and a very necessary       that he is non-elect.    The gospel calls to the accept-
part,  of the gospel.    When we limit the preaching of        ance and knowledge of every blessing of Christ: for-
election to the established church and are silent about        giveness, justification,  sonship,  and when one calls
it in the missionary stage of the proclamation, we not         men to faith, we call them to every blessing that we
only make the unrealistic distinction between the `mis-        have in the whole Christ, election included. For the
sion subject' (who is always a believer before he is           knowledge of election is a fruit of faith and is part of
baptized) and the `church member,' but we also cut out         the promise of the gospel."
of the missionary proclamation an element that Paul               With that we heartily disagree. Boer implies that
clearly believed to be part and parcel  of the  preaching      the Scripturally Reformed doctrine of predestination
of the gospel. In short, the gospel is indivisible. On         could never be preached on the mission field. The
the mission field as in the church we are called to            missionary cannot proclaim the truth of sovereign
preach `the whole counsel of God.' The only difference         election and reprobation. It just would not fit in mis-
that can legitimately exist between the message of the         sion preaching. And that for the simple reason that


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 377

we cannot say to any man that he cannot believe, nor         Spirit in their hearts also come. John  6:37. They
can we say to any man that he is non-elect.                  believe and call upon the Lord. Romans  10:14.
   We maintain, on the contrary, that a missionary               From this we can only conclude that it is the duty
not only can, but also must preach the truth of sovereign    of the missionary to let God speak through Christ. Let
predestination, including both election and reprobation,     God say to whom He will by His Spirit in the heart: "I
in the mission field. Nor is it difficult to see how this    love you," and  "I gave My own blood for you."
is done.                                                         Secondly, if we preach "the whole counsel of God,"
   I would point out, first of all, that one of Boer's       as is the calling of any faithful servant of Jesus Christ,
fundamental errors is that he is always discussing what      we need never be concerned but that predestination will
man  must say rather than what God says. This is no          have a very positive place in that preaching.
uncommon error in our day, but is no less serious.               One cannot refrain from asking, "How is it possible
One hears the preacher refer to a certain passage of         to preach the Scriptures and not preach predestination,
Scripture at the beginning of his -discourse, and from       since this is a fundamental truth that pervades all of
that moment on nothing more is heard about the text          the Scriptures? Anyone who preaches on the love of
that was quoted.     Man begins to speak. Mere man           God as revealed to us in God's Word must surely de-
gives his views on God, God's Word, God's manner of          clare:
working, God's salvation.    But God Himself is forced           That God loves Himself as the fulness of infinite
to silence.    Scriptural exegesis is sorely lacking in      perfection.
the preaching of our day. This is exactly what happens           That God loves Christ as the perfect revelation of
when Prof. Dekker and others insist that we must be          His glory.
able to say to every individual we meet, "God loves              That God loves His people whom He has chosen
you," and "Christ died for you." And this is also the        unto Himself in Christ as His peculiar people from
case when Boer writes, "we dare not say to any man           among all the peoples of the world.
that he is non-elect." "And when one calls men to                That God gave His only begotten Son todie for those
faith, we call them to every blessing that we have in        given to Him by the Father, Who had to bear an infinite
the whole Christ, election included."                        suffering of eternal wrath to atone for the sins of His
   My first plea for preaching predestination on the         people who sin against the infinite majesty of the Most
mission field is, Let God speak, and let man be silent.      High.
That was the calling of the prophets in the old dis-             That God spreads His love abroad, not promis-
pensation.     They were mandated to say purely and          cuously or universally, but in the hearts of His people
simply: "So saith the Lord." Repeatedly we read:             by His Spirit.
"And the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying...."              That we love God only because He first loves us and
Or again, "The Word of the Lord that came to...              implants that love in us. We choose Him only because
saying..." They were ambassadors of God, who were            He has chosen us. We come to Him only because He
well aware that God had laid a word in their hearts          draws us to Himself.
and upon their lips.      As faithful ambassadors they           Or again how can any one avoid preaching pre-
proclaimed that Word to those to whom they were sent.        destination in a passage of Scripture as is found in
The same duty rests upon the minister of the Word in         John  10:16? There we read: "And other sheep I have
the new dispensation.     Paul teaches us in Romans 10:      which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and
14, 15, "How then shall they call on him in whom they        they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold,
have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of      and one shepherd." Christ speaks of one fold, of which
whom (better: whom) they have not heard? and how             He is the Good Shepherd. Obviously there is a perfect
shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they       unity, a harmonious whole that is represented by that
preach, except they be sent?"                                fold.     This does not depend upon the whim or choice of
   Here we are told that no one can preach unless he         mere man, but is chosen of God from eternity.
be sent. Self-appointed preachers are no preachers in            Jesus Himself stresses this when He says: "Other
the Scriptural sense of the word. This is entirely in        sheep I  have." He does not say, "Other sheep I hope
harmony with Acts 13, where the church at Antioch is         to have, or shall have," but "I have." They are the
directed by the Holy Spirit to separate unto God Paul        sheep given to Him by the Father, for whom He lays
and Barnabas for the work of the ministry.                   down His life. The sheep of the old dispensation were
   Notice also that no one can hear without a preacher.      already gathered in, the sheep of the new dispensation
It is the preaching of the Word which is the divinely        still had to be gathered. But the church of the old
instituted means of grace; the means whereby the Holy        and new dispensation is always one.
Spirit works and strengthens faith in the heart of the           Jesus also points out that He brings in His sheep.
elect.                                                       This is not dependent upon a faithful or unfaithful
   Notice, too, that when the Word is preached accord-       missionary, upon a faithful or unfaithful church, nor
ing to the Scriptures, it is Christ who speaks. He is        upon a faithful or unfaithful believer, but is Christ's
the living and abiding Word that endures forever. And        work in and through His church.        "Them also  I must
this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto        bring," is the assurance of the Lord Himself. And He
us. I Peter  1:23, 25.                                       is faithful, for He knows His own. John  10:27. They
    Notice, finally, that those who hear the voice of        bear His voice and they come upon the call of the
Jesus calling through the Gospel and by the Holy             Shepherd.      They cannot fail to hear, because the call


378                                                THE STANDARD BEARER

of God is efficacious.      And Jesus does not hesitate to     much more to the sorrowing, repentant sinner than all
say so.                                                        the assurances of mere man!
       But why mention more? I contend that no one can              Of course, that Word is a two edged sword; it cuts
preach on any passage of Scripture, no matter what the         two ways. It hardens the wicked. And that must also
degree of simplicity or depth may be, without including        be preached. Jesus did not hesitate to say: "He that
the truth of sovereign predestination.                         believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that
       Finally, it can and must also be declared publicly      believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath
that this truth is the power of God unto salvation for         of God abideth on him."
those who believe, as well as a condemnation to those               Jesus declared to those who believe: "You have
who reject it in unbelief, because God is God.                 everlasting life," not as something to be bestowed in
       Perhaps we have touched the real point at issue         the future, but as something that they possess and
when we mentioned above that it is Christ who gathers          enjoy already in this life on the basis of His merit.
His church. IS  Boer so insistent on telling every man              Jesus also declared to those who rejected the Word
that he is an elect because he is gathering the Church?        in unbelief: "The wrath of God abides on you." Again
Does he need the handy little catch phrase "God loves          we should notice, not, "The wrath of God comes upon
you," because he must persuade men to believe?                 you because you do not believe," but, "The wrath of
       It is Christ who gathers His Church.         As our     God that always was on you remains, abides; you
Catechism so beautifully puts it:         "The Son of God      perish in your sins." Therefore Jesus also did not
from the beginning to the end of the world, gathers,           hesitate to pronounce His woe upon the Pharisees,
defends, and preserves to Himself by His Spirit and            upon Capernaum and Bethsaida where He had performed
word, out of. the whole human race, a church chosen            so many mighty works. And at the same time He could
unto everlasting life, agreeing in truth faith." When          thank God, Who had hidden these things from the wise
the truth of Scripture is preached, Christ is working in       and prudent and revealed them unto babes, saying,
the hearts of those who hear. He causes that Word to           "Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight."
bring forth the fruits of repentance, sorrow for sin,               Although it is never pleasant for a minister of the
confession, faith.     And in this way it is not mere man      Word to see anyone reject the Word of life, he can still
that says to a true convert on the mission field, "God         say with the apostle Paul: "For we are unto God a
loves you:" it is God Himself who through His Word             sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in
and by  His.Spirit says: "I love you." "I have sent my         them that perish: to the one we are the savor of death
Son to die for you. Your sins are forgiven you. You            unto death; and to the other the savor of life unto life.
are My son, My heir, My elect." And that means                 And who is sufficient unto these things?"



                                           7@94+  7ke  S#M&

                                                       SH-RITISM


                                                Rev.  Robe& C.  Havbach

       Since it claims to communicate with the spirit          and phantoms was in the Dark Ages stronger and more
world, the above title is a more correct term for this         invincible than belief in the contents of the Bible.
doctrine of demons, than that of the misnomer "Spirit-              Spiritism in this country began about 1847, when a
ualism," for there is nothing spiritual about "spirit-         Michael  Weekman, living in Hydesville, N.Y., was an-
ism," and, since it seeks departed spirits independently       noyed by unexplained rappings in his house. He soon
of God, very little that is religious.                         left the house, and the John D. Foxfamily moved in. In
       The history of spiritism has its origin in primitive    March 1848 they, too, were disturbed by the same rap-
Animism, a belief in evil spirits and ghosts, which are        pings from various parts of the house,-- which at first
worshiped and placated, the religion of the African            was attributed to rats and mice. Fox had six children,
tribes, the aborigines of Burma, the Chinese, and all          the two youngest being Margaret and  I<ate, twelve and
primitive peoples. Animism began not with convictions,         nine, respectively. These children concluded that higher
but superstitions.     For the central element in all  ani-    beings were the cause of the disturbances, since  bed-
mistic religion is fear. Men are afraid. They dread            covers were pulled off beds mysteriously, furniture was
anything more unpleasant than that which has already           moved from its place, and a cold hand was felt on the
happened to them. They aim to "ditch" the spirits,             face of the youngest. I<ate  imitated the sounds by snap-
appease them, or lead them astray. In Animism, as in           ping her fingers, and found that the tapping would re-
Spiritism, its devotees are not only deluded, they are         spond with eerie percussions. In this way she believed
slaves to their delusions. Belief in the reality of ghosts     that she was in touch with "Old Splitfoot."


                                                  THESTANDARDBEARER                                                   379

     To heighten the spookiness of the situation, it was          In the light of these facts, it is not a mark of
 "discovered" that the departed making all the weird          bigotry, nor a purveying of hatred to say that spiritists
 physical manifestations was a Charles Rosma, a peddler       are not Christians. That is simply the historical fact.
 who had been murdered by a John Bell, blacksmith and         A spiritist, whatever else he may be, is no Christian.
 former tenant of the Weekman residence. His body was         He who flatly denies the divinity of Jesus Christ and
 said to be buried ten feet under the floor of the cellar.    the deity of the Son of God has no right to call himself
 Quite a coincidence when, later, portions of a human         a Christian. He may be, as Paul regarded the  Athe-
 skeleton were actually found in the cellar! But it is        nians, "very religious," but he is not a Christian. Nor
 said that the Fox sisters confessed tomaking the knock-      is anyone a Christian who denies the personality of
 ing sounds themselves by cracking the knuckles--of           God, or denies that there is one only true God. Chris-
 their toes !                                                 tianity has its foundation stones deeply imbedded in
                                                              the doctrine of God, the personal, triune, covenant
     Still, the rapping business rapidly spread. Other        God. Christianity also has its keystone  inthe  absolute,
 families, especially in the northern states, heard the       co-equal Godhood of Jesus Christ, who is  consubstan-
 unexplained tappings. In 1849 a committee was formed         tial with the Father. Without that one foundation and
 and set itself the task of investigating whether alleged     that keystone, the structure crumbles into ruins and
 spirits were the cause of the intriguing thumpings. Soon     is rendered extinct.      There is no Christianity left to
 the mania infected the newspapers and through them           profess.      Spiritism on these rocks has already been
 pressed into topics of general conversation. The de-         wrecked!
 mand for mediums increased to a profitable commer-               Then, in all honesty, the spiritist being no Christian,
 cial market. To elevate the popular parlor pow-wows          he, if the same honesty is to be maintained, can be no
 to a level of respectability, Spiritism was developed        spiritualist!    The spiritist is not only far from being a.
 into, not a religion, but, an other-world philosophy.        Christian, but he is the deadly enemy of the Christian
 The fundamental principle of Spiritism is the possibil-      faith.      For in almost every case where we have a
 ity and practicability of communicating with the de-         spiritist, there we have an individual who once belonged
 ceased.    To begin with, this philosophy `of the shroud     to a true church, or who at any rate belonged to one of
, did not forbid acceptance of the Bible, and the practice    the apostate churches rotting in nominal Protestantism,
 of prayer.      But public church worship was forsaken,      and who now abnegates everything of the Christian
 the Bible abandoned and attempted communications             religion. Spiritual they are not, denying as they do that
 with departed human spirits substituted for prayer.          Jesus is a Saviour, that He is thedivine Son of God, co-
     Spiritism has no definite theology, actually no          equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. This misin-
 theology at all, and that because it despises and re-        formation they secure from the spirits with whom they
 jects the knowledge of God. "We abrogate the idea of         communicate. The spirits are responsible for this bad
 a personal God." "There are as many gods as there            counsel.      For what ignorant, lying spirits they must
 are minds needing gods to worship; not only one, two,        be! For the evil spirits, the demons, know better, and
 or three, but many. . .The noble forest trees, sun, moon     confess to the reality blind men attempt to deny. They
 and stars, all things are gods to you, . . .It is vain to    admit,  "We know Thee who Thou art! Jesus, Thou Son
 suppose you can all bow down to, and truly serve one         of God!" A medium, a Mrs. Conant,  under the influence
 God."1     Thus the thought of God, the Judge of all the     of a controlling spirit at a seance asked, "Do you know
 earth, is deliberately blotted out. Spiritists at a con-     of any such spirit as a person we call Devil?" The
 ference in Rhode Island, where eighteen states were          answer communicated to her was, "We certainly do,
 represented, went on record as abandoning all Chris-         and yet this same Devil is our god, our  father."2   I&t
 tian ordinances and worship, and as discontinuing all        the devil and the fallen angels are not such liars as to
 Sunday schools. Avoiding God like the plague, this cult      deny Christ is God in the flesh.
 chooses to dally with "spirits." But doesn't everyone            Many of our readers are familiar with the famous
 know that there are evil spirits, lying spirits, as well     novels,  Shevlock Holmes  and The Hound of  the Baskev-
 as others? Spiritists themselves do not deem the com-        villes, by the Scot, Sir Arthur  Conan  Doyle, M.D. It
 munications received from the spirit world as con-           may be of interest to note what this physician, war
 sisting necessarily of infallible truth. The "revelation"    correspondent, novelist and addict to spiritism had to
 that so comes depends upon the nature of the departed,       say in the latter connection. On the atonement he stated,
 and we should add, depraved, spirits, upon themotives,       "One~can  see no justice in a vicarious sacrifice, nor in
 good or bad, of the minds from which they flow, and          the God who could be placated by such means.  ,. .The
 the mediums through which they are received. How,            whole doctrine of original sin, the Fall (elsewhere he
 then, may any one be sure that the alleged good spirit       said, "Never was. there any evidence of afall." -- RCH),
 communication can be distinguished from the bad, or          the vicarious atonement, the placation of the Almighty
 that it is of any value? Spiritism has no standard or        by blood -- all this is abhorrent to me. The  spirit-
 norm by which to judge. At best, the individual human        guides do not insist upon these aspects of religion."
 consciousness, and the level of reason in the person         Concerning Hell, he remarks, "Hell, I may say drops
 receiving the supposed communications from the dead          out altogether, as it has long dropped out of the thoughts
 are to determine what  .may be  accepted,as truth. But       of every reasonable man. This odious conception, so
 this immediately puts the vaunted supernaturalistic cult     blasphemous (quoth the blasphemer I -- RCH) in its view
 back in the sphere of the naturalistic philosophies.         of the Creator, arose from the exaggeration of Oriental


380                                               THESTANDARD BEARER

phrases, and may perhaps have been of service in a            Then he returned to his own high station, having left
coarse age when men were frightened by fires, as wild         an example which is still  oc&asionally  followed. That
beasts are scared by the travelers. Hell as a  perma-         is the story of Christ as spirits have described it."
ment place does not exist. But the idea of punishment,
of purifying chastisement, in fact of Purgatory, is
justified by the reports from the other side." Again,             The Word of God finds iio place for a spiritist
"Hell does not exist and never will. .  .A11 spirit people    medium (Ex.  22:18). God Himself turns away from the
of wisdom, knowledge and love know there is no hell           person who applies to a "medium," and affirms that
and no devil. . .no resurrection -- no judgment. . .When      He will cut off such a person from his people (Lev.
you believe in spiritual (sic) manifestations, you will       20:6). This is exactly what did  happento  Saul (I Chron.
feel far happier than you do now. You will not fear           10:13). They who turn to spiritism have despised their
the threats of damnation and hell. .  .Such doctrine is       own wisdom and counsel has fled them. God destroys
wrong. .  ."3 Of Christ he said, "High above all these        their counsel, abandoning them to idols and charmers
is the greatest spirit of whom they (the spirits) have        (Isa.  19:3).     Spiritism must be completely re  jetted,
cognizance--not God, since God is so infinite that He         for the Lord Himself abominates it as the utter rejec-
is not within their ken--but one who is nearer God            tion of His Christ (Dt.  18:9-15).
and to that extent represents God. This is the Christ         1. Spiritists quoted in "Chaos of Cults," p. 54.
spirit.     His special care is the earth. He came down       2. ibid., p. 54.                                              I
upon it at a time of great earthly depravity -- a time        3. Heresies Exposed, p. 165; Chaos of Cults, p. 57;
when the world was almost as wicked as it is now, in             Outlines of Spiritualism, p. 68; The New Revelation,
order to give the people the lesson of an ideal life.             1918, p. 68, 57.





                                        ORTHODOXY IS NOT ENOUGH?


                                                  Rev. G. Van  Baven                                                        I

       It was with considerable surprise and shock that I     basically no different than the official position of his
read the editorial in the  Reformed  Journal  of March        own church. There was no good reason for his "sur-
1965; surprise, because I had imagined that my name           prise" at the grounds presented. Does he use this as
would never come any closer to the  Reformed  Journal         a means of attacking indirectly, but very effectively,  ~
than the mailing label which directs my personal copy         the position of his own church?          Does he wish his
to my door; shock, because of the extremely serious           Christian Reformed readers to disassociate them-
charges leveled against me and my article in the              selves from their own official view because I, a
Standard  Beaver   of February 1, 1965.       It does not     member of the Protestant Reformed Church, happened
make for pleasant reading to hear that one gives less         to espouse it?
due to Christians than the devil has coming; of being
guilty of the "grossest kind of misinterpretation," of        The  rfBasis" of  the W.C.C.
being guilty of "profound error;" of characterizing              First, Dr. Daane implies that the purpose of the
the Church of Christ, at least a large segment of it,         W.C.C. is only to discuss differences between denom-
as being thoroughly rotten; of not speaking the truth in      inations.    "It (Basis) is intentionally brief because it
love; of unfair criticism, emotional, intemperate judg-       wants to serve the function of opening the door to any  ~
ment.      It surely was not my intent to be guilty of any    Christian church.. .to get all churches into an  organi-   ~
of these charges; I consider them very awful indeed.          zation where they can discuss their differences." "The  ~
       But why ought Dr. James Daane take it upon him-        kind of extended, detailed Basis Van  Baren  has in mind
self to reveal the contemptible character of my article       could never serve the function of getting the churches
before all the readers of the  Reformed  Journal?  Why        together to discuss their differences.. .  ."     If he is  ~
should he so strongly attempt to refute the article of        correct, if the W.C.C. is an organization to discuss
an unknown country pastor from the insignificant and          differences, and  only this,  then I would agree that the
small Protestant Reformed Churches written for a              present Basis will do.          It could, in fact, be even
church periodical of very limited circulation? I sus-         briefer: a statement to the effect that the organization
pect that there is more to the editorial than simply an       could include all those who express belief in one
attempt to set me straight. Dr. Daane knows very well         Divine Being would also be sufficient. Then discus-
the stand of his own Christian Reformed Church. He            sions could include Unitarians, Jews, and possibly also
surely knows that the position I took in that article was     those of Oriental religions. Why not? Who knows but


                                                   THESTANDARDBEARER                                                           381

that such discussions might lead many of them to                which he is member. At the same time, I believe that
repentance? But Dr. Daane knows well that the W.C.C.            this objection of Daane is not entirely valid. Too often
is an organization which does more than discuss, It             opponents of the W.C.C. are dismissed with the state-
has its Commission on World Mission and Evangelism.             ment that they only quote some  individuals  who do not
It facilitates "common action by the churches." It can          necessarily speak for the  W.C.C.4 But who, pray tell,
"call world conferences on specific subjects as occasion        chooses. these representatives? Are they not chosen
may require, such conferences being empowered to                as  YepYesentutives   of their respective denominations?
publish their own findings."        Although it does not        Surely these denominations choose men whom they
"legislate for the churches," it does take "action on           believe can fairly represent them at the meetings of
behalf of constituent churches in such matters as one           the W.C.C. And who chooses theleaders of the W.C.C.?
or more of them may commit to it." Although the                 Are they not chosen by ballot by the majority at the
W.C.C. declares that it does not assume a right to              Assembly? Is it so much of a question "how and why
"speak for" the constituent churches, yet the "Council          churchmen of liberal views often find their way to the
through its Assembly or through its Central Commit-             levels of. top leadership in the W.C.C.?" I believe
tee may publish statements upon any situation or issue          Daane would assume that usually what I taught and
with which the Council or its constituent churches may          wrote would be in harmony with the beliefs of the
be confronted." It has its "Division of Inter-Church            church organization to which I belonged. Why then can
Aid, Refugee and World Service" which administers               one not assume that the beliefs of the liberal leaders
aid to the needy.1        It is no wonder that one writes:      of the W.C.C. reflect what the majority of the dele-
". ..the denial of being a `super-church' seems a little        gates want?
thin....    I belong to a denomination that belongs to both        Finally, Dr. Daane wrongly imputes to me the
councils (N.C.C. and W.C.C.), and most days  Isit easy.         statement that I characterize the large segment of the
But some days I wonder."2                                       Church of Christ within the W.C.C. as "thoroughly
    Secondly, because the W.C.C. does more than  "dis-          rotten." I did imply this with respect to the organi-
cuss...differences," its Basis is inadequate. No, Dr.           zation of the W.C.C., but that does not necessarily
Daane, I do not insist that its Basis must be some sort         apply to the denominations belonging to it. The W.C.C.
of "creed or confession of faith." Nor do I have in             itself does not equate itself with the "Church of
mind a Basis so complete that if adopted, "the dis-             Christ," then why should my characterization of the
unity of the churches will already have been overcome."         W.C.C. be a condemnation of the "Church for which
But if churches are going to  wovh together, they must          Christ died?" Maybe I overstated myself. Possibly I
have a clear understanding  with whom  they are work-           should have used that distinction we were taught in
ing. Therefore I suggest that other elements  ought  to         Calvin College, and state: the  W.C;C. is totally rotten,
be included, but that I would regard a statement of             though not absolutely so.
belief in the  inerrant  Scripture as  absolutely essential.
If the brief statement concerning the deity of Christ           The Stand  of  the Christian Reformed  Church
and His salvation is not based upon that, then it could            But I stated that I cannot understand the attack on
be open to all kinds of interpretation. Exactly then            me by Dr. Daane when his own church has taken virtually
one official delegate could say (in discussing the pro-         the same position as I set forth, unless, of course, this
posed revision of the Basis at New Delhi):  "...that the        editorial was an indirect means of attacking theofficial
Synod National de  1'Eglise Reformee de France would            stand of the Christian Reformed Church.
accept the new Basis. as an attempt to express the                 Dr. Daane must know very well the decision of the
mystery of the divine revelation which does not intend          C.R.C. on the Alameda Church case in 1958:
to impose upon the member churches any particular
theology." And another legal representative could say,                Although recognizing with appreciation the evange-
"...but we trust that the dogma of the Trinity may                 listic zeal which motivated the Alameda Church in
never become the touchstone of the admittance of the               joining the Alameda Council initially, Synod declares
churches into the World Council."8 True, these, are                that it does not approve of any consistory or congrega-
individuals  speaking, but as representatives of their             tion of  qur church identifying itself by membership
churches.       Their objections were recorded  in, the            with any local council or agency of theNational  Council
                                                                   of Churches, or a similar local organization which
official report of the New Delhi assembly. Now  if  it is          included "churches" that deny the orthodox faith and
true that the doctrine of the Trinity is not a touchstone          Scriptural teaching.
of admittance of churches into the W.C.C., thenalso the            Grounds:
confession that Christ is God has little meaning either.              1.  Scripture forbids such association with unbeliev-
That's why, though there are indeed various interpre-              ers  and with those who preach another Gospel. Cf..
tations of Scripture, the infallible Scriptures must be            II Corinthians 6:14-18  and Gal. 1:8-9.
one of the "touchstones" for admittance into a proper                 2. Synod has taken a position against membership
Council of Churches.                                               in the National Council after initially joining it, also
    Thirdly, Dr. Daane is correct that I quoted often              for reasons of gaining opportunities for service, on the
                                                                   ground that:
from individuals, and sought to judge the character of                  a. Ecclesiastical alliances of any kind between
the W.C.C. in light of the type of  individuals,who                orthodox and liberals are contrary to God's Word.
participate in it. He is also correct that an individual                b. Liberalism is strongly in evidence in the
does not necessarily speak for the organization of                 Federal (now National) Council.


382                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


                 c.  The  Council  stands committed to programs...         and that some of its member churches knowingly tolerate
       which our churches . ..should not endorse. Acts 1924,               and even highly honor as preachers and teachers, deniers
       Art. 95, pp. 111, 112. --Adopted5                                   of cardinal truths of the Christian religion, Synod is as-'
                                                                           sured that in their further study the deputies will do
       Just a few questions, Dr. Daane. Would you also                     justice to the antithesis of belief and unbelief, the  true
say that when your church referred to  II Cor.  6:14-18                    Church and the false, as taught in Article 29 of the
(as I had done similarly), it too is guilty of "profound                   Belgic Confession and Chapter XXV, v of the West-
error?" The decision mentioned "unbelievers" and                           minster Confession of Faith and in such passages of
"those who preach another Gospel"; do you also                             Scripture as Gal. 1:8,9; II Cor. 6:14-18; and II John
"shudder" when it so characterizes the "large seg-                         10,ll. . .  .7
ment of the Church of Christ...for which He died?"
       Your churches, did they not, adopted the decision                   True, the above involves a matter which a committee
of the RES meeting at Edinburgh, 1953, which stated:                   is presently studying.        But does not the fact that the
                                                                       R.E.S. (adopted also by the C.R.C.) mentions II Cor.
           1. Synod advises the member Churches of the                 6:14-18 (as I also did) in connection with the W.C.C.
       Reformed Ecumenical Synod not to join the World                 suggest that at least the thought has entered the minds
       Council of Churches as now constituted. Grounds:                of these men that this passage also applies to the
                 a. The World Council of Churches actually per-
       mits essentially different interpretations of its doc-          W.C.C.? Would you also consider the R.E.S. as guilty
       trinal basis, and thus of the nature of the Christian           of "profound error", Doctor?
       faith.                                                              Dr. Daane, you know very well that there are many
                 b. The World Council of Churches represents           points with which I would strongly disagree with the
       itself as a Community of faith, but is actually not this,       official position of the Christian Reformed Church.
       for Churches of basically divergent positions are               But I want to say that I admire their courage in with-
       comprised in the World Council of Churches.6                    drawing from the F.C.C. in 1924. I commend them for
       A few more questions, Doctor. Is not (a) above es-              taking their stand with the R.E.S. of 1953 in condemn-
sentially the same as stating that the churches may in-                ing the W.C.C. as it is presently constituted. I appre-
                                                                       ciate the fact that they have reaffirmed that stand on
terpret the Basis "in any manner?" What can be "es-                    the Synod of 1964.         It is my hope that they continue to
sentially different interpretations" of the incarnation                hold to this good position -- as long as the W.C.C. is
of Christ? What are "essentially different interpreta-                 constituted as it now is.         And if you, Dr. Daane, are
tions" of the salvation which Christ merits? It can                    opposed to that stand, may I humbly suggest the good
only mean that some interpretations are permitted                      way of protest and-appeal - rather than harshcriticism
which are contrary to that which is "orthodox" and                     of one outside your denomination who happens to concur
Scriptural.            Would you charge your church of the             with the present stand of your Synod.
"grossest kind of misinterpretation?" Again, when the
statement declares that the W.C.C. is not actually a                   1. Quotations are from the  Constitution  of the W.C.C.
"community of faith," do you also shudder?                             2. Addison H. Leitch, "The National Council and the
       Finally, did not the C.R.C. also adopt in the declar-               World Council,".  Clzvistianity   Today,  January 29,
ation of the R.E.S. of Grand Rapids, 1963, the following                   1965, P.-S
statement:                                                             3. Cf. my article,  Standard Beaver,  Feb. 1, 1965
                                                                       4. Cf., for instance, the editorial "Ten False Charges",
           4. Taking note of the fact that the "Deputies for               Christian  Century, Nov. 1,  1961.
       Ecumenicity" have not completed their study,. and in            5. Acts of Synod (C.R.C.) 1958, Art. 151, p. 93
       view of the undeniable fact that outspoken liberals are         6. Acts of Synod (C.R.C.) 1957, Art. 173, pp. 102; 302
       active, and in some instances prominent, in the W.C.C.          7. Acts of Synod (C.R.C.) 1964, Art. 115, pp.  77,78



                                         REPORT OF THE WESTERN LADIES' LEAGUE

       Our spring meeting was held April 2, 1965 at Hull.              heavens in creation week. The host of the heavens
Mrs. T. Jansma, our chairman, welcomed the ladies.                     were brought forth dependent on  God;                By nature
The morning program included our Theme Song,                           angels are spirits, created spirits, heavenly spirits.
Psalter No. 298, and also Psalter No. 76; Scripture                    Angels have spiritual bodies, adapted to the presence
reading from Genesis  28:10-22; opening prayer by Rev.                 of God and to heaven. Their bodies are symbolic of
Kortering; and an address on "Angels and the Saints"                   the body of Christ after glorification. They are wise,
by Rev. Woudenberg.                                                    good, obedient, and holy. All they do is in love and
       Our speaker dealt with Angels Proper, the Ranks                 dedication to God. Mention was made of the different
of Angels, and the Relation of Angels to the Saints and                ranks of angels.          Seraphim angels sing praises of
to the Church.                                                         adoration to God. Isa.  6:3. Angels are represented in
       Angels are ministering spirits. They are spirits                the temple.           Attention was called to the fact that
that minister salvation to the people of God. Heb. 1:14.               sometimes angels appear as ordinary men.                "Be not
God created the heaven of heavens and the host of the                  forgetful. . . . .  ." Heb.  13:2.      Our speaker further


                                                     THE  STAND@2  BEARER                                                383
                                                        I

 called attention to the appearance of angels in con-                The morning program was closed with a quartet
 nection with our Lord Jesus Christ. Angels foretold             by the Hull ladies and prayer by Rev. Woudenberg.
 His coming and were present at His birth. They min-                The afternoon program featured a reading on
 istered  to. Christ after His temptations, and also in          "Angels" by Mrs.  I<ortering,  a Bible Quiz, various
 Gethsemane.        They appear at His resurrection and          musical numbers, audience singing, and a collection
 ascension.      And angels will be present at His second        for the Jamaica churches.
 coming.       As to their relationship to the saints: angels        Refreshments were served, and a social hour was
 serve salvation to the saints. They watch over our              enjoyed.
 lives.     Ps.  91:11, 12.     Angels take the souls of the                                -Mrs. J. Hoekstra, Reporter
 saints to God.



                                       7ke' V&e 491 Oc&sz&m

                                               THE  BELGIC CONFESSION

                                                        ARTICLE XIII

                                           G O D 'S   GdVERNMENT  A N D   S I N

                                                        `(continued)

                                                    Prof. H.  C.. Hoeksema


 Scvi~tuve  on God's Govevnment and Sin (Continued)              of statements like this? Does Scripture merely want
 The  .kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were          to call attention to the fact that certain prophecies come
 gathered together against the Lord, and against his             true? Or is the reference merely an attest to the fact
 Christ.       For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus,      that% Jesus is really the Christ'? We will understand
 whom thou hast anointed,  bothHerod,  and,Pontius  Pilate,      this differently as soon as weunderstand that the Scrip-
 with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were               tures of the prophets are the revelation of the promise,
 gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and            the revelation of the secret counsel of God concerning
 thy counsel determined before to be done." Plainly              our salvation, Then we understand that the fulfillment
 this prayer of the church views the persecution of the          of the Scriptures of the prophets is nothing less than
 apostles in the light of God's counsel and in the light         the realization of the counsel of the God of our salvation.
 of the fact that God maintains His own counsel, that            But then we must immediately realize, too, that in-
`is, executes it, and that too, not merely  in spite of  the     cluded in that counsel and its sovereign realization are
 wicked ragings of the peoples against Him and His               all the wicked deeds of wicked men. Of such fulfillment
`Anointed, but  through   the actions of. the wicked. This       of the Scriptures we read already in connection with the
 is the reason why David in Psalm 2 calls  the. imagina-         visit of the wise men to Jesus. Jesus was in Egypt,
 tion of the peoples vain.' Whenever they imagine  ,any-         according to Matthew  2:15, "that it might  be-,fulfilled
 thing in their wicked rage against the Lord and against         which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
 His Anointed, it is always' vain. And .the vanity of it         Out of Egypt have I called my son." And if we re-
consists exactly in this, that no matter what they do,           member that the occasion of Jesus' going into Egypt,
 they never do anything else. than cooperate,  - in spite        in order that He might be called out of Egypt as God's
 of their own wicked intentions and purposes, - unto the         Son, was the wicked plot of  Herod  to kill Him, we see
 realization of God's counsel. And the clearest revela-          again how also the wickedness of Herod is under God's
 tion of that we have in the cross. The Lord certainly           government, must serve His purpose, in order that He
 maintains and realizes His own counsel, therefore, also         may call His Son out of Egypt, and thus fulfill His own
 with respect to the wicked and their deeds. And the             counsel.. And thus, if we go through the gospel narra-
 church by faith apprehends and confesses this truth,            tives and discover all the passages which speak of the
 finds comfort in it,  `and. acknowledges Him as God             fulfillment of prophecy in connection with the suffer-
alone, the Lord of heaven and earth!                             ings and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is not diffi-
     There is much more proof. Let me call attention             cult at all  to. see how all these references emphasize
to the frequent mention in the New Testament of the              repeatedly that while God is in no wise the author of
 fulfillment of the Scriptures.  Oftenwe  read expressions       sin, yet the wicked deeds of men are but the realiza-
 like this, "All this was done, that the scriptures of the       tion of His purpose, accomplished by His own provi-
 prophets might be. fulfilled.. .  ." What is the implication    dential government of the world.


384                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER
                                     %eua +v bcvt &w4ed
                                     ("All the saints salute thee. . ." Phil. 4%)


                                                   May 1, 1965                                        *  *  *
                                                                               Hudsonville's Sunday School has begun its 1965
       Rev. D. Engelsma, of Loveland, Colo., has declined                 summer session. The teachers are asking the parents
the call to be Home Missionary of our churches.                           to "see to it that the Sunday School papers are kept in
       Rev. H. Hanko, of  Doon,  Iowa, declined the call to               good condition because all papers are to be returned".
be minister of First Church in Grand Rapids, Mich.                        Hudsonville has decided to join the other Sunday Schools
                            * * *                                         in the area in a project which provides re-use of the
  The League of Men's Societies met at Holland April                      papers which are sent to the institution for exceptional
19  with Student Richard Moore as speaker. His topic                      children in Coldwater,  Mich.
was, "Speaking with Tongues." The speaker divided                                                     *  * *
his speech (as a good seminarian) into three divisions.                        Mrs. C. Hanko is still making progress. She gets
First, he spoke of the real gift, referring to that gift                  about her home in a walker, almost unaided; is re-
of tongues in the Church at Pentecost; he then described                  gaining the use of her right hand, and begins to make
their use of that gift; and finally spoke of the present                  sentences.      Even with this rate of progress a trip to
day phenomena masquerading under the name of speak-                       Michigan to attend Synod seems to be out of the ques-
ing with tongues. Comparing the real gift with the pseudo                 tion, but a visit to Lynden in late summer might be
claim, Mr. Moore pointed out that the real gift was a.                    taken by Mrs. Hanko in accompanying her "Dominee"
sign of the spreading of the gospel to all nations, while                 on a classical appointment to Washington.
the modern day gibberish is no language at all but a                                                  * * *
rapid muttering of sounds which carry no message.                              Easter Sunday the Prot. Ref. High School Circle
After recess Mr. Moore was initiated into the fellow-                     sponsored a public program furnished by the Radio
ship of speakers who must successfully meet a bar-                        Choir.       As an extra feature Don  Knoper  played some
rage of questions from the audience. Like his pred-                       Easter songs on his trumpet, his daughter, Donna,
ecessors, he was unable to answer some, parried                           accompanying him at the piano. The choir, under the
others, and answered the rest. He proved to have a                        direction of Mr. Roland Petersen, againproved itself
very engaging personality on the podium.                                  a fit instrument by which to praise God with uplifted
                            * * *                                         voices.       Three of the numbers (two of which were
       Redlands' Sunday School invited the congregation                   Psalms) were melodies strange to American ears but
to a special Resurrection Day Program after the morn-                     commonplace in England. The number which stood out
ing service on April 18. Rev. C. Hanko told the story                     in this listener's ears was, "Let All The Nations
of The Resurrection, and the children spoke, sang and                     Praise Thee", an unusual Hallelujah Chorus very well
gave musical numbers to carry out the theme of thanks-                    suited to join the Angelic Choir and that of the Re-
giving for the hope of our resurrection as a fruit of our                 deemed Saints. The organ accompaniment, with Mrs.
Lord's victory over death.                                                C. Lubbers at the console, was beautiful beyond des-
                            * * *                                         cription;      What a soul stirring climax to an already
       The Spring Mass Meeting of the Mr. and Mrs.                        joyous Sunday!
Societies featured Rev. G. Van  Baren from Randolph,                                                  * * *
Wis., as speaker.        This meeting was held at First                        Holland is planning a public lecture and program
Church, Grand Rapids, April 30. The topic: "The                           scheduled for May 20 at 8 o'clock in their new church.
New Generation of 1924 -- A Blueprint for Its Failure".                   Rev. H. Veldman has been secured to give the lecture
The previous evening `he delivered this lecture in Oak                    which is entitled, "The Heritage of the Seed of the
Lawn under the auspices of their Men's Society.                           Covenant".       The group sponsoring this program is the
                            * * *                                         Holland Society for Providing Prot. Ref. Christian Ed-
       From the April 25th bulletin of First Church we                    ucation.      The offering to be received at this program
lift the following: *"In regard to the condition of Rev.                  is "to assist them with the financial load involved with
H. Hoeksema, the doctor reports that he is suffering                      the transportation of their children each day to Hope
from a general and rather advanced arterialdeteriora-                     School." Isn't it remarkable that lectures of this type,
tion, and that the outlook is not hopeful. However, he                    and on this subject, cannot be heard anywhere, any-
is adjusting rather well on the average, and is respond-                  more, except by our men in the gatherings of our people?
ing to the care. When visited this week, his general                      This observation is not intended to be a  pat-on-the-
condition seemed poorer, and he had considerable dif-                     back, but to stress the sober fact that lectures of this
ficulty with his speech and walking. Let us remember                      type aredependent upon our continued loyalty in attend-
him in our prayers to the Lord Who doeth all things                       ing the same! See you there?
well."                                                                         . . . . . . see you in church.               J.M.F.


