                                    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: The Majority Report


              Editorial: Dr. Jerome De Jong's Defense of Billy Graham


              Christadelphianism

              All Around Us:

                      What Happened in 19243

                      Opposition to the "Confession of 1967"




                                                 Volume 42 / -Nun?  bev 9 / February  1, 1966


 194                                                                                                             TriE STANDARD BE'ARER                                                    _
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          Rev: M. Schipper
 Editorial  -                                                                                                                                                           Edit&-  Prof.`H. C. Hoeksema  3  '
    Dr. Jerome`De Jong's Defense of Billy Graham .: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
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                                                                                                                                                                                                       - C. H.  Spurgeon



                           MEDUATION-

                                                                                  The Majority Report

                                                                                                                           by Reu. M. Schippev


                              `And  they went and came to Moses and,  Aavon,   and to all the congregation  of  the childven  of
                     Israel . . .and brought back wovd  unto them...And they told him, and said, We came unto the land
                      whithev  thou sentest us, and  surely  it  floweth  with milk and honey; and this  is  the  fruit of it.
                     Nevertheless the people be  strong  that dwell in the land, and the cities  aye walled, and  very
                     great; and  moreover  we saw the childven  of  Anak there... And they  bvought  up an evil  Yeport of
                      the  land...saying;  The  land...is a land that eateth up the inhabitants  theveof;...And   theve we saw
                      night. And all the childven  of  Israel  muvmuved against Moses and  Aavon...and  said  unto  them:
                      Would to God that we had died in the land  of  Egypt!  ov...in  this  wildevness!...Then  Moses and
                     Aaron  fell on  their faces  before all the  assembly of  the  tong?-egation   of the  children  of  Israel."
                                                                                                                                                                                      Num bevs 13.2'6  - 14:5

        The majority report  I                                                                                                                           Why then did the people request that a search be
        A report of the spies sent out into the land of Ca-                                                                                          made? (Deut.  1:22). And why did the Lord allow Moses
 naan, while the children of Israel waited at the door                                                                                               to send out the spies at all? (Num.  13:1,2).
 of Canaan in the wilderness of  Paran, at Kadesh!                                                                                                       The answer: the Lord acceded to their evil desire,
        But what does faith want with spies anyway?                                                                                                  to fulfill thereby His own purposes with Israel. He
        Had not the Lord already spied out the land for                                                                                              was fully aware of their unbelief. And He had in mind
 them?             Had He not long before promised to give them                                                                                      presently to reveal His glory in them even as He did
 this good land, when the cup of iniquity of the people                                                                                              i n   H i s   wrath1      Much like He did later when He also
 of the land had become full?                                                                                                                         gave them a king in His  wrath1


                                               THl$STL@D@D  BEA@$.                                                   1.95

   Instructed were- the spies to conduct their expedi-         accurate report may be very one-sided! `This was the
tion in the land, and to bring their report I So unob-         case here. The spies were not the last, who, being sent
served they went from the south to the extreme north;          out to bring home facts, managed to convey very
from Beersheba to Dan,. and they returned!. They               decided opinions without expressly stating any. A
passed the places where their ancestors once lived             grudging and short admission to begin with, the force
and were buried.. But they were in no mood to re-              of which is immediately lost by the sombre and minute
member such old: stories `while- they knew` the Anakims        painting of difficulty and danger is more powerful as a
were about  1. :And three things were they especially          deterrent than any dissuasion! Sometimes not even a
instructed to observe:, the, `people who dwelt there,          direct word of warning is necessary to convey your
whether they were strong or we&, few or many; the              intention. Just a smile or a grimace will do the trick1
cities, whether they were walled, or open; the land,           That is what happened here1 0, they told the facts, all
whether it was good or bad; fat or lean1 Also samples          right I There was no question about that I Even Joshua
of the fruit they iYere ordered to bring I                     and Caleb would not deny them. But when you read
   And after forty. days, they return, and bring their         their account, you notice especially how they said it.
r e p o r t   I                                                   Notice especially two words in the, report, which
   A divided report I                                          changed a truthful and factual report into an evil thing:
   Here we have the report of the majority1 Consist-           the words: "NEVERTHELESS" and "MOREOVER."
ing of two main parts: the first, dealing with the fer-        (Verse 28).      You must read verse 28 with the pre-
tility of the. land;. the second,. dealing with the inhabi-    ceding verse to get the effect. "Surelythe' land floweth
tants of the.land and the cities in which they dwelt I         with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it. NEVER-
            *****.**********.                                  THELESS the people be strong that dwell in the land."
   A factual report I                                          It is like saying: "We tell you the facts, all right, but
   They say: "We came unto the land whither thou               you must draw your own conclusions. It is not all cake
sentest us, -and. surely it floweth with milk and honey;       and pie there in the land of Canaan. There are very
and this is  the, fruit of it." It was like the Lord had       serious obstacles to be encountered. The cities are
said it would be1 It was a rich and fertile land which         not just open so that you can run through them. They
produced in abundance. The huge bunch of grapes on             are fortified, all of them." "MOREOVER the worst
a pole between two men, and the pomegranates and               has not been told youl If what we have said thus far
figs in the hands of others, demonstrated clearly that         frightens you, then hear what we have yet to say! There
the land could produce the best in abundance1                  saw we the children of Anakl" These words, and the
   And they report further that they had observed the          way they were spoken, were designed to send shivers
inhabitants of the land and the cities in which they           down the spine of all who heard them. They were a
dwelt! Yes, the cities were walled and great in size.          deliberate attempt to cast hopelessness and fear into the
They were not little oases here and there, as one might        hearts and minds of the children of Israel1 The evil of
see in the desert; no, the cities were substantially           this report becomes still more evident when you con-
built, and the people of the land were safely protected        sider that their report was amended! For when the
behind fortified walls. The inhabitants of theland were        people heard the report, we read that they trembled
mixed nationalities.       In the southern part dwelt the      with fear.     And when Caleb tried to still the people,
Amalekites.      In the mountains, the backbone of the         by exhorting them to go up at once to possess the land,
land of Canaan, were the Hittites, the Jebusites, and          because they were able; then the majority of the spies
the Amorites. While along the Jordan valley as well            gave this amendment to their report: "`We be not able
as along the seacoast, dwelt the Canaanites. And to            to go up against the people; for they are stronger than
top it all, near Hebron they reported to have seen the         we."       And we are told that they brought up an evil
children of Anak, men of great stature1                        report, saying, "The land, through which we have gone
   For forty days they had traversed the entire land,          to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants
taking notes and mental pictures of everything they            thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of
saw. Their notebooks were full with all the informa-           great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons
tion that was needed at headquarters. They had ac-             of Anak, which come of the giants, and we were in our
quired all the data they were ordered to get. And now          own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in`their
that their mission was accomplished, they hand in the          sight."
facts as they saw them1                                           It means that when the majority of the spies had
   Here was a case of good reporting, as far as re-            searched the land they had looked at the things they
porting goes1     They had not failed in their mission.        saw only with their natural and physical eyes. They
The facts in the report are no doubt accurate, for             had not searched the land in faith1 When they say
none of the twelve sent out denied them or attempted           that it was a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof,
to alter the report I                                          they flatly contradict their first observation, that it was
   Indeed, it was a factual report I                           a land that floweth with milk and honey. When they
                         * * *                                 declare that "all the people that we saw in it are men
   Nevertheless, an evil report  1                             of a great stature,`" they give evidence of a carnal fear
   This became evident, first of all, in the manner in         that is prevalent in the ungodly when they are faced
which they stated the facts. It makes a great deal of          with powers which they in their own strength cannot
difference9 you know, how you telE the truth. A very           overcome. When they call attention to the giants3 the


196                                          THE STANDARD BEARER

sons of Anak, they reveal clearly that they had lost                 But these poor people who follow the majority see
sight of God Who created the giants, and Who had so          only the giants and the sword1  And quite naturally
wonderfully delivered them so far from all their             when the majority, under evil leadership that is per-
enemies I                                                    suasive enough sees only giants and not the God Who
                                 8 * *                       made them, they turn to rebellion against the Lord and
       An evil report!                                       against the faithful few who would encourage them, as
       With an evil `effect I                                Caleb did, by saying: "Let us goup at once and possess
       Open rebellion not only against Moses and Aaron,      it; for we are well able to overcome it." Or, to put it
their leaders, .but much wors,e,.  against the Lord, Whom    in the words of another Scripture: "He that is with us is
they accuse of leading `them to the sword of the in-         more than they that are with them." If God be for us,
habitants of Canaan1                                         who can be against us ? He that spared not His own
    How strange that the majority of the people can so       Son, how shall He not also withHimgive  us all things?"
soon forget God, the God of their salvation!~ And yet        This is the language of faith1 But unbelief cannot speak
not so strange when you consider this rebellion in the       this. language, and the carnally minded will not speak
light of all the history of Israel! Did not the majority     it I
always rebel, all the way from Egypt?                                One man with God is a majority, no matter how
    And consider that not all these rebels were repro-       many there be who would deny this I
bate children! This will become plain when we consider               Though it may give temporal satisfaction to the
next The Minority Report in the Meditation to follow.        flesh to be in the camp of the majority, it is not
No, there were children of God that were carried along       always safe I
in this rebellion! And that makes the situation much                 How morbid is the conclusion of those who followed
more serious'! It proves, doesn't it, that the weak in       the majority report I "Would God that we had died in
faith, the carnally minded, also of God's people, not        the land of Egypt, or would God we had died in this
only  can, but often do, fall away for a  time1 The          wilderness  I"
majority makes an impression on them1 They dare                      The speech of hopeless despair1
not stand on their own two feet 1 Not that they ever                 How wicked is the rebellion expressed in the
stand alone, for their God is always with His people1        questions they asked  I "And wherefore hath the Lord
But they have not the spiritual stamina to oppose with       brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that
weapons of faith the carnal multitude! They are easily       our wives and our children should be a prey? Were
carried away with the doctrines of materialism and           it not better for us to return into Egypt?".
carnality1 And generally this is under the influence                 In the eyes of such rebels there is no leader strong
and persuasion of ungodly and evil men, wh$ when they        and brave enough to lead them to the promised land1
become the majority in the church, do much to create                 Unless by the grace of God they repent, they shall
schism and promote dissatisfaction with the ways of          go into a bondage that is more humiliating and de-
God 1                                                        structive than the lash cords of Egypt!
    They hear the Word of God which always declares                  How foolish is the foolishness of such rebellion that
to all whom God in His good pleasure sends it, that          would desire to return to bondage and death1
Canaan, or if you please, heaven, is a land that must                How wise' is the true wisdom that envisions the
be taken by conquest1 Moreover, the Lord promises            possession of the land of the promise through a con-
His people that the victory over all their foes will not     quest in which the God of our salvation overcomes all
be by human power and material weapons, but the Lord         our foes, and nestles His people safely in the covert
Himself will give the victory1                               of eternal rest I



         EDITORIAL-

         Dr. Jerome De Jong's

                                          `Defense of  Billy Graham
                                              by  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema
       In the Missionary  Monthly, (January, 1966) there     Graham's essay on "The New Birth." Because Dr.
appears an article under Dr. Jerome De Jong's de-            De Jong's article is an example of the very thing
partment,  Men. ar,d Missions, in which he expresses         against which I warned in my editorial, and because,
violent disagreement with my editorial in the Novem-         moreover, he very deliberately passes over the meat
ber 1, 1965  Standard  Beaver concerning Dr. Billy           of my editorial and refers to all kinds of matters ,which


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       197

were not so much as mentioned in it, and because he'                Graham's doctrine of the new birth. (2) That I proved
makes some serious and false charges and suggestions                conclusively by quoting Graham's own writings and by
in his article, I will take the time and space to quote             careful reference to Scripture and the confessions that
his article and reply to it. One gets the impression                his doctrine of the new birth is a denial of the Biblical
that somehow or other the doctor was rather irked or                truth of regeneration. and of the absolute necessity of
pricked by my editorial. What the reason was I do not               regeneration.
know, unless I happened to touch a very sore spot. I                (3) That my conclusion was based on the above argu-
suggest hereafter that, even though the doctor finds it             mentation, and that it is the only conclusion that any
necessary. to disagree with me, he might be at least as             honest theologian and exegete could ever reach.
kindly `toward me as he apparently wants to be toward               (4) That he substitutes his ". . . .  ." for some very
Billy Graham. After all, I am Reformed as well as                   important references to the Formula of Subscription,
"Fundamentalist," while Dr. Graham can only be                      references which make it plain beyond a shadow of a
classified as "Arminian" and "Fundamentalist." It                   doubt that any officebearer who supports Graham is
always strikes me as strange that self-professed                    acting contrary  to the Formula of Subscription.
Calvinists and Reformed men can be very tolerant                    I would like to suggest that when Dr. De Jong criti-
toward men like Billy Graham, but so very intolerant                cizes, he should first fairly present the position which
toward those who want to be strictly Reformed. And it               he criticizes, and then stick to the point. Incidentally,
is a bad sign1 I, for one, could not imagine that our               I did not write about the "Reformed Churches" (capital
Reformed fathers of Dordt, - even the very mildest of               "C"; as though I meant the RCA) but about "Reformed
them, let alone a Bogerman or a Gomarus, - or that                  churches" (referring to any churches belonging to the
John Calvin himself could live today and write an                   Reformed community).
article such as Dr. De Jong has written. If such had                                            * * *
been the spirit of Dordrecht, there would have been no                  Dr. De Jong next attempts sarcastically toputme to
Arminian controversy and no Canons; and if such had                 bed where he knows very well that I do not fit. I
been the spirit of Geneva, there would have been no                 quote:
Calvinism and no Reformation.
                            * * *                                             My readers must be aware that we are not now
   Dr. De Jong introduces his article as follows:                       speaking of Henry Emerson Fosdick or Eugene Carson
                                                                        Blake or Karl Barth or Rudolf Bultman, we are speak-
      Ordinarily  I  try'not to refer too often to articles             ing of that heretical, fundamental,  Bible-believing-
   written by others in this column by reflecting on what               evangelist Billy  Graham1  It is strange, in a way, what
   they say. However I ran across an article the other                  strange bed-fellows theology makes because there are
   day in the Standard Beaver that I must say something                 a great number of fund am e n t a 1 i s t, dispensational
   about.    In the November 1 issue of this magazine, the              preachers, such as Bob Jones, who quite agree with
   Reverend H. C. Hoeksema, the editor, writes anarticle                the professor.
   entitled: "An Attack upon the Very Foundation." He               COMMENT
   refers to an essay in the magazine, Chvistianity  Today,
   entitled, "The New Birth" by Billy Graham. He asks                   1. Why the sarcasm, brother? I am sure that all
   the question, "Does Billy Graham proclaim the  truthof           my readers were aware and that all your readers
   the Gospel, according to the Scriptures and according            were aware that Billy Graham, not Fosdick, Blake,
   to our Reformed confessions? If he does, he is worthy            Barth, or Bultman, was under discussion.
   of support. If he does not, then Reformed people ought               2. Another question.       You write, - either cbntra-
   not only to withdraw their support, but they should
   oppose him and hisfpreaching' militantly." (p.54).               dictorily or sarcastically,  - of "that heretical, funda-
      I think all my readers will agree that these are              mental, Bible-believing evangelist Billy Graham."
   rather intriguing questions.          I read the article with    Would you rather substitute the term "non-heretical"
   a great deal of interest. I find that the professor has          or "orthodox" for "heretical"? Or, would you rather
   come to the following conclusion: "Graham's gospel               substitute "Bible-contradicting" for "Bible-believ-
   is not the Gospel of the Scriptures . . . on the contrary        ing" ?
   his message is that of an Arminian `do-it-yourself'                  3. You know, of course, very well that I do not
   religion . . . When you support Billy Graham, you are            belong in the same theological bed as "a great number
   supporting one who by our Reformed confessions and
   by Scripture stands condemned as a false teacher  I. . .         of fundamentalist, dispensationalist preachers, such
   When you support Billy Graham you violate the Formula            as Bob Jones. . . ." You also must know that these
   of Subscription, the vow of your office . . . For Re-            fundamentalist, dispensationalist preachers do not crit-
   formed Churches to lend their support to the teaching            icize Graham for the same reasons I do. And if you
   and preaching of Billy Graham is nothing short of                nevertheless try to put me to bed with them, I will be
   ecclesiastical suicide." (p.  56).                               a naughty boy and refuse to go. Bob Jones' bed is
                                                                    shorter than that a Reformed man can stretch himself
COMMENT                                                             in it.
   This is all that is quoted from my editorial: a                      4. Let me remind you that throughout your article
partial quotation of my introductory remarks and a                  you are putting yourself to bed with Fundamentalists,
partial quotation of my conclusion. What my critic                  rather than with Reformed bed-fellows.
totally neglects to tell his readers in  Missionavy                                         ******
MonthZy   is: (1) That I concerned myself solely with                   Dr. De Jong continues as follows:


198                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER

          Now I would have to agree that Billy Graham prob-        if the test of Fundamentalism ,is really applied, Billy
   ably does not subscribe to the Canons of Dort, the              Graham would fail. Do not.misunderstand.  I can be-
   `Heidelberg Catechism and the Belgic Confession; In             lieve, for example, that Billy  Graham would subscribe
   fact I have a suspicion that he may never have heard            to the truth of infallible inspiration as such. But what
   of them before. I suppose I stand on shaky ground in-           is the truth of infallible inspiration ..if one does not
   deed when I suggest that there.are  hundreds and hun-
_ dreds of fellow'believers all over the world who  donot          submit to the absolute authority of Scripture with
                                                                   respect to his doctrines? What good is inspiration as
  know  of these standards  -and- are genuine believers'
   anywayl.  I always. had the idea, that the standards  were      a doctrine if one denies the plain teaching of the in-
   man-written. and- therefore  not.infaIlfbly inspired and.     . . fallible Scriptures? I can believe that Billy Graham
 itherefore  not  our only rule of' faith and practice. I        I, would subscribe to. the vicarious atonement as such;
   would agree that Graham. could probably not hold a            . but I also maintain that he essentially denies it by his
  ' pastorate in our Reformed Churches.  However I would           doctrine of universal atonement. I can believe that
   like to test him on the fundamentals namely the  in.-.          Graham holds to the deity of Jesus as such. But what
   spiration of the Bible, the Deity of Jesus, the vicarious       kind of deity is it that is made impotent to save any
   atonement, the bodily resurrection and the visible re-
   turn.      On all these counts the brother, seems to stand      man unless the sinner first wills it? And so I could
   strong1                                                         go on.                  ********
COMMENT                                                               The doctor then sarcastically inserts this little
   1. Apart from the fact that  the  opening remarks              paragraph:
(about the confessions) are not to the point in the con-
text of my article, no Reformed man should speak so                          Ah yes, I forgot, he is an  Arminianl  He holds an
deprecatingly of our Confessions. They are the em-                    improper view of election which of course condemns
bodiment in systematic form of our Reformedheritage.                  him all together. Does it indeed?
   2. Everyone knows that confessions are not in-
fallibly inspired, and are themselves subject to Scrip-            COMMENT
ture, our only rule of faith and practice. This is not                1. You did not forget. But no Reformed man should
the point. I believe (does Dr. De Jong?) that the church           so minimize Arminianism. For apart  from the fact
(this is somewhat different than merely saying "men")             that Arminianism is itself a very evil doctrine, history
wrote and adopted the confessions under the guidance              has shown that Arminianism ends in modernism.
of the Spirit of Truth. I also believe that our confes-               2. No Reformed man should.' in such sarcastic
sions are the systematic and pure expression of the               fashion minimize (not: "an improper view") but the
truth of Holy Scripture, and I shall continue to believe          denial of the Scriptural truth of election.             To our
this unless and until it is shown that they are not. In           fathers it was the  COY  ecclesiue,  the heart of the
other words, I believe that our Reformed standards                church.
set forth the truth of the Wordof God. For this reason,               3. You should have informed your readers that not
I have vowed diligently to teach and faithfully to defend         I, but you, introduced the subject of election into the
the aforesaid doctrine. For the same reason I have                discussion. You might, by the way, examine yourself
vowed not to contradict the same either directly or in-            as to the question why you brought up this matter of
directly by public preaching or writing. And for the               election.
same reason I. have declared that I not only reject all               4. Yes, Graham stands condemned (not by me, but
errors that militate against this doctrine, and par-              by Scripture and the confessions) as heretical, also on
ticularly those which were condemned by the Synod of              the heart-doctrine of election.
Dordrecht, but that I am disposed to refute and con-                                         ******
tradict these, and to exert myself in keeping the church              Dr. De Jong next seems to express some agree-
free from such errors. All this is from the Formula               ment:
of Subscription. Now I do not know whether the Re-
formed Church in America (to which Dr. De Jong be-                           I would agree with the professor that man is dead
longs) still maintains the old Formula of Subscription.               in trespasses and in sins. See Ephesians  2:l. I would
                                                                      also agree that faith is solely the gift of God. See
If it does, then Dr. De Jong evidently does not honor                 Ephesians  2:8.     Now, says Graham, Man is to show a
it. If it does not, thenIcan  understand how Dr. De Jong              willingness to yield to God. He calls man to yield,
can be satisfied with the test of Fundamentalism,                     yet, man cannot, because he is dead  .in sins. Hence
which is nothing but a sort of "lowest common de-                     the impasse.
nominator."
   4.                                                             COMMENT
          I would not agree "that Graham could probably
not hold a pastorate in(our)Reformed Churches" if                     1. In the light of the doctor's defense of Graham,
Dr. De Jong here  means the RCA. The RCA shelters                 as well as in the light of the rest of his article, I have
men more heterodox than Graham; and I dare say it                 serious doubts whether Dr. De Jong agrees with me
shelters men as Arminian as Graham.                               that man is dead in trespasses and sins.
   5. Do not the so-called Five Points of Calvinism                   2. We were not discussing "faith" at all,, but the
belong to the fundamentals of the faith? Where does               new  birth.
Scripture make distinction between fundamental and                    3. No impasse whatsoever. Graham's doctrine, as
non-fundamental truths? Besides, I dare say that even             I showed from his own writings, is that the dead sinner


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          199

.must yield to God before he can be vegenevatedl  and in                    Now what is Graham doing? He is following the
ovdev to be .v-ebovn.  This is both impossible and un-                Canons of  Dart in calling men to repent and to  be-
true.     For this. reason Graham must also deny.the                  lievel  What must Professor Hoeksema do?  Hemust
Scriptural doctrine that man is actually dead in tres-                say, Hope, brother,  pray1  Maybe you are one of God's
passes and sins.        The latter Graham does too, as I              elect and `maybe not-but if you are dead in sin  YOU
showed in my editorial.. Scripture and the. Reformed                  can't do anything about it anyway."
confessions teach that regeneration is the altogether              COMMENT
unconditional, unaided work of God through the -Holy
Spirit, wrought  -in the heart of the in:himself-dead                  1. I deny that Graham calls men to repent and be-
sinner, which precedes every other work of grace in                lieve in the sense that the Canons of Dordrecht speak
the sinner and which precedes all conscious response,              of faith and repentance. Graham proclaims a radically
believing, yielding, repenting. If the gospel requires             different, Arminian, faith and repentance. Or, in your
a dead sinner to yield to God before he can be re-                 opinion, Dr. De Jong, does that make no difference7
generated, then .the gospel is hopeless 1                              2. In the light of my article, Graham .must preach
   4. I ask Dr. De Jong: do you agree with Graham                  that a dead rvlan must make the first move in the work
that the dead sinner can nevertheless have the willing-            of regeneration.  This is sheer nonsense1 Worse still,
ness to yield to God and can decide to be reborn?                  it is a hopeless gospel! Worst of all, it is the lie1
                              * * * *                                  3.  Professor Hoeksema presents  no such carica-
   Next comes the old saw of human responsibility:                 ture of -the gospel as Dr. De Jong suggests. ,On the
                                                                   contrary, he proclaims what Canons II, 5 requires;
         The-problem here is with the old, old unresolved          He proclaims this on the basis, too, that God in His
   problem of human responsibility and divine sover-               good pleasure causes the gospel to be preached where
   eignty. The Canons of Dort (11,3) state, "The death of          His elect are. He proclaims it, too, on the basis that
   the Son of God is the only and most perfect sacrifice           God prepares the good soil to receive the seed of the
   and satisfaction for sin and is of infinite worth and           Word.       Moreover, he proclaims it in the confidence
   value, abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the         that God will use that preaching, through irresistible
   wlzole tiovld." and (11,5) "The promise of the Gospel is
   that w?zosoevev believes in Christ crucified shall not          grace, to quicken conscious faith and repentance in the
   perish but                                                      elect, regenerated sinner who hears it. And, finally,
                   have eternal life. This promise, together
   with the command to repent and believe, ought to be             he proclaims it in the trust that God will take care of
   declared and published to all nations, and to all per-          the fruits upon that preaching.
   sons promiscuously and without distinction . . .`*                                         *****
                                                                       The next section of Dr. De Jong's article is as
COMMENT                                                            follows:
   1. This has nothing whatsoever to do with regener-                       I do not mean to be crass or sarcastic but I would
ation and the absolute necessity of regeneration for the               like to suggest two tests for truth.         I John 4:1-2.
totally depraved and dead sinner. The gospel never                     ". . . try the spirits whether they are of God . . . every
makes a man -responsible to accomplish his own re-                     spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the
generation or even the first step toward that regenera-                flesh is of God." Although I might disagree with many
tion (yielding, decision).                                             of Graham's methods I would say that on this test he
   2. If Dr. De Jong is suggesting that Christ died for                rates A-l. The second test is Matthew  7:20, "Where-
all men and that the Canons teach this, he is utterly                  fore by their fruits ye shall know them." Now some-
                                                                      one  will say that everyone who comes forward at a
mistaken.                                                             Billy  Graham meeting is not necessarily saved  - This
   3. I fully subscribe to'canons II, 5, which teaches:               is probably true but if we take just  10% we still have
a) A particular promise: whosoever believeth shall                     thousands1 I would say that where the Word is being
be saved. b) The general or promiscuous proclama-                      preached, there souls are being saved. I have not
tion of this particular promise (not to be equated with                personally noted any great revival in the Protestant
a general, well-meant offer of salvation).               c) The        Reformed Churches.
preaching of the command to repent and believe (not                         I think I would also have to say that, unfortunate as
to be equated with a mere invitation to accept Christ                  it may be, many of the great soul winners of history
or to yield to God). I also believe that those who re-                 had a leaning toward Arminianism such as Moody,
                                                                       Sankey,  Finney,  Torrey, Sunday etc. Are all these
ject this preaching are responsible for this sin, as                   men to be condemned too?
well as for all other sin, and that the blame for this
unbelief is to be ascribed wholly to themselves.                   COMMENT
(Canons II, 6).       I also believe that this in no sense             1. I fully agree with the test of I John  4:1-2,
conflicts with the doctrine of sovereign election and              which, by the way, is given "because many false
reprobation.      I also believe that all this in no sense         prophets are gone out into the world." I disagree
contradicts my criticism of Graham's doctrine.                     with De Jong's A-l rating of Billy Graham on this
   4. Where is the problem?                                        test.     I maintain. that Graham's doctrine is not con-
                     *********                                     sistent with the truth that Jesus Christ is come in the
   My critic next presents an old, worn-out carica-                flesh. Or is Dr. De Jong  intendin to say that anyone
ture of Protestant Reformed preaching, essentially                 who does not literally deny the incarnation of our Lord
the same one that James Daane likes to present:                    Jesus Christ passes this test7 Pr%ncipally, this is the


     200                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER
I
     same test that I applied: the test of Scripture and our                 Yes, I am a Calvinist.     I believe the Reformed
     confessions.                                                       standards. But by the same token I am also a Funda-
        2. I also agree with .the second test, that of Mat-             mentalist in the best sense of the word. I believe
     thew 7:20, whioh, by the way, also occurs in a context             with all my heart that the Bible is true when it says,
     which speaks of false prophets. But I disagree with                "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in
     De Jong's application of this test. Graham's fruits                the death of the wicked, . . . (Ezekiel 33:ll) and, "He
                                                                        is not willing that any should perish but that all should
     are the words, the doctrines,, the preaching that pro-             come to repentance." (II Peter 3:9). Billy Graham
     ceed out of his mouth, not .thesouls which he may or               believes thii;: - I wonder if Professor Hoeksema does?
     may not "win."       *                                                                                      Jerome DeJong
        3. Let us apply De  Jong's test of "numbers" to
     our Lord Jesus at Nazareth, Luke 4, or at Capernaum,            COMMENT
     John 6, or to Isaiah (Chapter 53, vs. 1). According to             1. In the light of your article, I have earnest
     -De Jong, Jesus and Isaiah were certainly failures,             doubts about your Calvinism, as well as about your
     then, while Graham passes the test.                             adhering to the Reformed standards.
        4. "Unfortunate" it is, indeed, that there are                  2. That you want to be a Fundamentalist I can be-
     Arrninian "soul winners". But if souls were saved               lieve. But that it is "by thesame  token" as your being
     through Moody, Sankey, etc., it was not through, but            a Calvinist and believing the Reformed standards is
     in spite of, their Arminianism. God saves His people            impossible. That a Calvinist can be a fundamentalist
     through the truth of the gospel, not through the lie of         (small "f") is possible; in fact, there is none more
     Arminianism. Of that you may be certain.                        fundamentalist than a real Calvinist. But in "Funda-
        5. As far as I know the Protestant Reformed                  mentalism" ,(capital "F") I have never discovered
     Churches are not in need of any great revival. I                room for Calvinism, but plenty of room for Arminian-
     think, however, that the Reformed Church in America             ism.
     could stand some vefovmation.              \                       3. If you merely want to state that you believe the
                               *******                               Bible, then let me assure you: I also believe every
        This next paragraph contains at least the sugges-            word of that Bible. And that includes Ezekiel  33:ll and
     tion of a very serious accusation, no matter how kindly         II Peter 3:9. I have preached on both texts.
     it is given:                                                      4. But judging from the context in which you men-
            I would like to issue a warning as kindly as I can       tion these passages, as well as from your wondering
        to our Protestant Reformed brethren. The unpardon-           whether I believe them, I am inclined to think that you,
        able sin, in part, is to ascribe to the devil that which     like Graham and like Prof. Dekker and like the Three
        is from God.     I would never want to run the risk of       Points of 1924, would give an Arminian twist to these
        ascribing to the devil that which is from God1               words. And that is indeed a twist1
                                                                        In conclusion, Dr. De Jong, I wish to offer you a
     COMMENT                                                         brotherly warning. If I am not mistaken, you are one
        1. A question: Doctor, are you indeed suggesting that        of those in the Reformed Church in America who are
     I in my article, together with my Protestant Reformed           opposed to the proposed merger with the Presbyter-
     brethren, either commit or run the risk of committing           ians. I also can see no real good in that merger, and
     the unpardonable sin? If so, why? On what ground? Is            much possible harm. But I also can see no real good
     it because I oppose and warn against Billy Graham's             in refusing to go along with that merger UNLESS you
     false doctrine?     If you are not suggesting this, why         want to be one hundred per cent Reformed, and mili-
     then do you bring this matter up in your article? Cer-          tantly so, that is, with rejection of all errors repug-
     tainly there must be a reason for your warning us               nant to the Reformed faith. Arminianism is both his-
     against this sin, a sin which, because it is unpardon-          torically and doctrinally repugnant to the Reformed
     able, certainly puts those who commit it in the class           faith. You either oppose it as the lie, or you rzcog-
     of the reprobate, who perish forever. I would caution           nize it and embrace it as the truth. There is no middle
     you, doctor, to mind what you say.                              ground. And therefore I repeat: for Reformed churches,
        2. A bit of advice: consider the fact that it is very        of whatever denomination, to lend their support to the
     wrong to attribute false doctrine, the lie, to God and          Arminian teaching and preaching of Billy Graham is
     His holy Word. Either our Reformed faith is the truth           nothing short of ecclesiastical suicide1 And this form
     of God or the lie of the devil. Either Graham's Ar-             of suicide is no better than the suicide of merger1
     minianism is the truth of God or the lie of the devil.
     And our fathers (cf. Canons of Dordrecht, II, B, 3, 6)
     accused the Arminians of "bringing again out of hell
     the Pelagian error" and characterized the Arminian                 When you hear anyone laughing or jeering at a
     and Pelagian errors as a "destructive poison."                  limited atonement, you may tell him this: General
        3. Again I ask: why are you so sharp toward me,              atonement is like a great wide bridge with only half
     a Reformed man, and so soft on Billy Graham, who                an arch, it does not go across the stream, it only pro-
     wants nothing of the Reformed truth?                            fesses to go half-way; it does not secure the salvation
                               * * * * * *                           of anybody.                                 -C. H.  Spurgeon
        Dr. De Jong concludes with a declaration and a
     question:


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       201


   IN  HIS  FEAR-

                                   .A Case of. Heart Failure
                                                             I3 I
                                                  by Rev. J.A. Heys

    Election is the heart of the Church.                             Him, perishes when Christ tried to save him, is Lord
    In the measure that we do damage to that "heart",                and ruler over Christ. Perish the very thought! But
we destroy the idea of the Church.                                   surely he, who in the end is able to cause another to
    You cannot destroy the Church, for she is God's                  fail to reach the goal which this one had set, is the
"workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good                      conqueror and victorious one.     Nay, but read again
works."        Ephesians  2:lO.    The Almighty God will             John 6:37, "All that the Father giveth me shall come
keep His Church so wonderfully that no man can pluck                 to me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise
one of her members out of His hand. John  10:28.                     cast out." Here is exclusive giving. All are not given;
"And this is the will of the Father which hath sent me,              and therefore all are not sought, found and saved.
that of all which He hath givenme should lose nothing,               Those whose names were eternally written in the
but should raise it up again at the last day." John 6:39.            Lamb's book of life shall to the last one be sought,
There is nothing more sure than the complete salva-                  found and saved.     And the rest who are simply en-
tion of the entire. Church of God. We can hold fast the              rolled on the books which men keep were not given to
profession of our hope without wavering, for He is                   Christ and do not come to Him. We do not say that
faithful that promised. Hebrews  10:23.                              they did not give themselves to Christ. They do not,
                                                                     and they can not. And the reason is that God did not
    But you can destroy your own congregation and                    give them eternally to Christ.
denomination!                                                           We must avoid at all cost denying God His eternal
    The Church of God is bigger than any congregation                virtues. Under the power of Satan's lie we still want
or denomination.        The Son of God gathers from the              to be like Him; and we strive to become such by
beginning to the end of the world by His Spirit, out of              dragging Him down to our level. We can never reach
the whole human race, a church chosen to everlasting            up to Him. Death is such a humiliating thing! It al-
life.    This Church He defends and preserves so that                ways shows us that we are not like Him and cannot
the gates of hell cannot prevail against her. You can,          decide for ourselves what is good and what is evil.
then, destroy a congregation, and you can destroy a                  We shall never overcome death, and no unbeliever
denomination without destroying that Church. That               today dares even to boast of that ability. Men strive
which is called church but actually is part of the world,            to extend the span of life, but none are so foolish and
can be lost from that position of being called church           proud as to claim that .man shall ever attain to ever-
without the Church suffering to any degree whatsoever.          lasting life here on this earth. All flesh is as grass
Many unbelievers in Israel in the Old Testament dis-                 and shall pass away. But it gives that creature of a
pensation died in their unbelief. But the will of God,          moment satisfaction to drag God down to his level in
spoken of above as quoted from John 6:39, was not                    his thoughts and to ground his philosophies on such
frustrated.      The Church of God did not lose a soul               nonsense. However, our ideas and attempts to change
when Cain was cursed into banishment before God's                    God are futile.     God remains what He eternally is.
face, when the earth opened up and swallowed Korah,                  And His name without any interruption remains Jehovah.
Dathan and Abiram and when Ananias and Sapphira                 He is and remains the I Am. There is no change in
fell down dead at Peter's feet and their souls were at          Him. And we do not change Him. He does not change
once cast into hell.       They simply were not given to        His mind about who is and who is not a member of
Christ in sovereign election from before the foundation         His Church. There are no new names written down in
of the world. The Son of God simply did not come to             glory, as the Negro spiritual has it. They are all old
seek and to save these lost. ones. Surely the text that         names, written from before the foundation of the world.
the Son of God came to seek and to save that which was          Revelation  13:8.         Man does not determine  in  time
lost cannot and does not apply to every lost man or             whether or not his name shall be written. God is not
woman. Then Jesus was a tragic misfit and suffered              changeable, nor does He allow men to change His
a staggering failure in His work. By far the largest            mind and -will.          Before the children were born or
part of the human race still goes lost. Did He not              could do good or evil, that the purpose of God accoriE-
seek them? Was He not faithful to the Father's will                  ing to election might stand, it was stated, "Jacob have
that sent Him? Was man able to resist Him Who is                I loved and Esau have I hated." Romans 9:11-13.
almighty?       Is John given to hallucinations and fancy               However, a denomination that departs from the truth
dreams when he declares that Christ is Lord of lords            can and will disappear. An individual in a congrega-
and King of kings? He, who resists the Christ suc-              tion, and the whole congregation that rejects the faith
cessfully, remains hidden when Christ comes to seek             will disappear and perish in the just wrath of God.


202                                             TFESTANDARDBEARBR
                               _  _               _.                            ._                           .     _
The true Church, the elect from all nations, tongues                 No different is it in the Church. Those.congrega-
and tribes; in every age and generation shall be saved.          tions and denominations that suffer from heart failure
The body of Christ shall -be perfect, without a single           in that they, have destroyed the truth.of election, which
member missing. Satan and. all his hosts cannot stop             is the heart of the Church, or done damage to that
the heart, of the ,Church,from  beating. He cannot bring         truth, and thus to that heart, will give symptoms of
,death to that Church. God is for us and nothing can 1 heart failure. The, `whole body of doctrine is affected.
,be against us... Nothing `is. able to separate us`fr:em:His     That is exactly why our forefathers called- election the
love in-.-Christ.  .. And that means that we cannot separ-"      heart: of the Church. Your doctrine concerning .God
ate ourselves from that,love  either:: A falling'*away of 7 . . Himself, concerning man, concerning Christ, salva-
the saints is ,impossible.  `What falis away, whether it I tiorr, the Church and the last things will` all be affected.
be individual, congregation or denomination,  ' never           `by your stand in regard to election. This is true be-
belonged to God's Church and was -numbered only                  cause it affects the doctrine which we maintain con-
among the members of man's church.                      . .      cerning God. And when you have corrupted the truth
    It might seem different, however. Churches and               concerning Him, you cannot maintain the truth in re-
denominations that not only deny election but fight              gard to man, Christ, salvation, the' Church and the
vigorously against this doctrine seem to thrive. Many            last things. It makes no difference where you begin:
"decisions" are made for Christ in such circles.                 when you attack any point of doctrine, you deny God
They grow often very rapidly in numbers. Sometimes               as the God that He actually is. And the denial of sov-
their leaders die with a beautiful testimony on their            ereign, eternal election with its accompanying repro-
lips. They are then, true, elect children of .God, and           bation prevents us from believing in God as the Scrip-
the faith and success in their group is not due to this          tures present Him. By that error we rob God - or try
denial of the heart of the Church but in spite of their          to rob Him, for we can never take anything away from
denial. They are not consistent, and therein lies also           Him - of His glory.
their salvation and is there hope of faith and salvation             All of salvation is God's work, and man is the
in their midst. As the one opponent of the doctrine of           creature that God created. Christ is the One Whom
election once is reported to have answered the ques-             He sent and will send at the last day. Therefore we
tion, "When you pray, are you an arminian or a                   are always dealing with God, for we are always deal-
Calvinist ?" in this amazing way, "It all depends.               ing with His works. A denial of sovereign and eternal
When I pray publicly I am an Arminian, but when I                election, therefore, will be a denial of God in one way
pray privately in my closet, I am a Calvinist." The              or another.          You simply get a. creature with more
same attitude and inconsistency is found among those             power than the Creator. You get a creature that can
who deny sovereign and eternal election, when they               frustrate the Creator and make Him turn away weeping
will reject all the consequences of this error upon              and disappointed. But a disappointed God is a God with
being shown where it leads. No, they do not want to              weakness; and a creature that can bring sorrow to the
make God a changeable God. Then He can still change              Creator is a powerful creature. A creatorwho lets the
His mind in the future about those whom He, according            creature decide and will not impose. His wishes upon
to their way of speaking, chose in time.' No, they do            that creature is a creator who abdicates his position
not want to deny Him His sovereignty and elevate                 to let the creature rule - and that, mind you, to a sinful
man's wili above God's so that the Almighty God can              creature1 You touch the holiness and righteousness of
be frustrated by the creature of dust that depends               God.  as well. For, how can a righteous and holy God
upon Him for every breath of .life. No, they do not              let. the unrighteous and' unholy creature have his way?
want to say that Christ will be disappointed and that            On what basis can He justly and in righteousness offer
some of His blood was shed for naught. No, they do               salvation to all sinners, and then choose in time those
not want a creature that is greater than the Creator.            who will accept? You say, on the basis of the blood of
    In all this there is hope; and .on their death beds          the cross?           But, if Christ merited that right for all
they reject all their denial of sovereign election and           men to be given an offer, aid He not die in vain for
rejoice in belonging to a faithful Saviour by the un-            those who do not accept? And wills God's Church be
changeable decree of the unchangeable God.                      as big as He wants it to be, or is it limited by the
    But make no mistake about it, the heart of the               c r e a t u r e ?
Church is as important to the life and existence of                  The "blue lips" of the patient with heart failure are
that Church as your heart and my heart is to our                 evident in the doubt and fear that Arminianism pro-
earthly life and continued existence. When there is              duces. The shortness of breath and pain in the chest
failure of the heart to any degree whatsoever, there             is to be seen in the wavering hope and lack of confidence
are visible, noticeable symptoms. The lips turn blue.            that Arminianism fosters. Of what can we be sure, if
There is pain in the chest. The breath comes in gasps            it all depends upon us? Why does the Arminian speak
that are painful. If severe enough, unconsciousness              of an incomplete and a non-decisive election, andmain-
overtakes the person suffering from heart failure.               tain that not every election unto salvation is unchange-
Even after a "recovery" the work is curtailed. One               able? Such a doctrine instills fear and not peace and
must be careful of exertion and excitement. No strain            comfort.
must be placed upon that weakened heart. For though                  The Scriptures speak otherwise and in different
it is called "recovery" that heart is not what it used           vein. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in
to be and ought to be.                                           Christ. Romans 8:38,39. "Nevertheless the founda-


                                             THE  SkANDARD  BEARER                                                 203
          .        ._
tion of God standeth sure, .having this -seal, The Lord     then. chooses us because of our faith. God Himself
knoweth them that `are His.       And let every one that    declares in the Person of His Son that election de-
nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity."            termines who will believe and that  -faith does not
II Timothy  2:1?. "And .as "many as were .ordained  to      determine election. "Ye did not choose me, but I
eternal life believed." Acts .13:48. "He chose us in        chose you." John-  15:16. These truths give comfort
Him before the foundation-of the world, that we should      and peace, for they show usthat. we are, safe amidst
be holy. "' -Ephesians `i.:,4. Note: not because we were    all the enemies, because salvation is of the Lord, He
holy or became such by believing;but "that we should        keeps our hearts `beating, even while we sleep. And
be holy." f'Y.e believe: not because ye are not of my       He keeps His Church alive, because  .He chose her
sheep." John. .10:26..  Note again: the Arminian says       eternally in Christ, loves her and is faithful to all
that we are His sheep because we believe; and then God      His promises.



  TRYING -THE SPIRITS-
                         :


                  1           CHRl.STADELPHIANISM

                                               by Rev. R. C.  Havbagh


  The strange name Christadelphians means The Breth-        was not performed in the name of theessentially triune
ren of Christ.     It was coined from the Greek language    God, but in "the name of the Father, Son and Holy
in 1864 by the founder of the sect, a John Thomas. He       Spirit," words which conform not to the baptismal
could not stand the name Christian because it repre-        formula of the Gospel, but to the Sabellian heresy.
sented to him everything degenerated and anti-Christian.        Thomas and his biographer, Robert Roberts, made
Therefore he meant to displace it with an invention of      Christadelphianism teach a pre-millennial kingdom
his own which he supposed represented the revival of        with Christ ruler in Jerusalem, the metropolis of the
original apostolic religion. Thomas was born in Eng-        whole earth. The world is to have one kingdom, vested
land in 1805, the son of an Independent minister. He        in approved Christadelphians for one thousand years.
entered the medical field, and as a young doctor left       There will be a resurrection of the righteous before
Britain for America in 1832 because he intensely dis-       the millennium, but no resurrection of the wicked.
liked the "priest-ridden state of society" there. In        Holding quite the reverse of the avid and avowed prac-
Cincinnati he was converted to the Campbellite (Dis-        tice of Baha'ists, Christadelphians do not engage in
ciples of Christ) view of immersion. He then began to       social or  politic'al enterprises.    Further, they are
neglect his medical work. He is said to have.dabbled        pacifistic, refusing to bear arms. The form of gov-
in farming, unsuccessfully. But his chief interest was      ernment they adopt is that of independency. There is
centered in becoming a self-styled preacher, teacher        no denominational headquarters, but the group seems
and writer, boasting of his ignorance of books other        to propagate its literature from Waterloo, Iowa. It
than the Bible, and of the fact that he had never been      keeps archives and statistics only in its local bodies.
"cursed with the poison of a theological education."        Expenses are met not by taking collections, but by the
His viewpoint was that a man of average intelligence        making of voluntary contributions: Meetings are held
could not understand the teaching of the theologians.       on the first day of the week, "to eat bread and drink
He obtained his religious knowledge much as'the Buch-       wine." The songs of Zion are sung as found in David's
manites or Moral Re-Armament people do, by letting          writings. Prayer is offered and Scripture read. Be-
the mind run blank, like a tabula vasa, and allowing the    cause of the belief that Christ may re-appear at any
mere reading of the Word to make whatever impression        .time, the places of worship are usually nothing more
it, would upon him. As a'result of his intuitive method     than a rented building or an "upper room."
of accumulating the knowledge of God, he not only               Christadelphianism's lengthy "rejection of errors"
changed his views of baptism, but also dropped his          includes the doctrine that "God is One in Three," that
Campbellite  views-of  heaven, hell, eternal punishment,    the devil is a wicked fallen angel, being simply sin per-
the- devil and salvation. His main position was that the    sonified; that there is a "hell-fire in which all unre-
hope of Israel, viz., the coming of Christ to set up a      generate souls will be tortured forever;" that for
heavenly kingdom on earth at Jerusalem, was the             salvation it is necessary to believe in the death,
essence of the gospel. With his thinking again radically    resurrection and ascension of Christ. Many of the
changed, he had himself immersed once more, which           same denials of Scripture truth and doctrine of the


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER

faith made by Christian Science, Russellism, Modern-           in number. Thus Christadelphianism is off the main
ism and Unitarianism are also made by this system.             fundamental of the Christian Faith; namely, the doctrine
Being Unitarian in character, it denies the deity of the       of God as expressed in the doctrine of the essential
Son and of the Holy Spirit.. : Sounding like so-called         trinity.
Jehovah's Witnesses,. they make the Son of God a mani-             Another fundamental of the faith cut from its moor-
festation of God, but not,himself,God,  not the second per-    ings in the Word of God is the doctrine of the atone-
son of an eternal trinity. -They think the name Son proves     ment.' It is' denied that the death of Christ was a
his. existence derived and'not eternal. Along with Sabel-      bearing of the wrath of God against sinners. "We
lians,: Ariani and. Socinians `they find further `fproof"      displace the sacrifice of Christ from its scriptural
in John I:l, in.the`.wokds, "the Word was. God," point-.       position.      We destroy its character as a means of
ing out that there `is no' definite article before God, so     securing life, and are compelled to transform it into
`allowing the translation, "the Word was a god." But           that anomalous doctrine of pulpitology which regards
there is no indefinite article in the Greek language;          it as substitutionary suffering of divine wrath, in order
nor is it warranted  ,in this clause.       For there, for     to save..." (Christendom Astray From the Bible,
emphasis, the predicate (God) stands first, "God was           Robert Roberts, p. 298). The cross was merely "an
the Word 1' ' It would be Sabellian to write at this point     expression of God's love toward fallen humanity."
HO Theos, the God, for that, besides failing to show that      There is no question that the death of Christ was an
God is the predicate, and not the subject, would also          expression of God's love.       "In this was manifested
make the Word the same person as the Father. What              the love of God toward us, because that God sent His
is meant by saying that "the Word was God," without            only begotten Son into the world, that we might live
any article, definite or (as undeveloped in Greek)             through Him" (I Jn. 4:9). But in His death Christ bore
indefinite, is that "the Word. was  absolutely  God," or       the wrath of God, for "being now justified by His blood,
"the Word was essentially .God," .the "Word was fully          we shall be saved from wrath through Him" (Ro. 5:9).
and completely God." He is God without any subtrac-            It was the death of Christ which "delivered us from
tion or limitation1                                            the wrath to come" (I Th.  1:lO).       Further, although
   John Thomas and Robert Roberts, together with the           such a term as "substitute" is not found in the Bible,
other heretics mentioned above, appeal to Deut. 6:4 in         yet as referring to Christ's redemptive work on the
support of their contention that there is not a shred of       cross, the doctrine is plainly there. In these words,
trinitarianism in the Bible. "Hear, 0 Israel: the Lord         "Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just  for
our God is one Lord." But this great Shema' passage,           the unjust"  (I Pe.  3:18), the truth of substitutionary
as it is called, does not exclude the doctrine of three        suffering is taught in the most unmistakable language.
persons in the Godhead. Quite the contrary, it rather             The cult attacks what is called "the immortality of
supports the trinitarian teaching. For the text liter-         the soul." It states, "Man...only holds this life on the
ally reads, "Bear, 0 Israel, Jehovah (singular) our            short average tenure of three-score years and ten,
(plural) Elohim (plural); Jehovah (singular) is one. And       at the end of which he gives it up to Him from whom he
thou shalt love Jehovah (singular) thy (singular) Elohim       received it, and returns to theground whence he origi-
(plural)." The Hebrew language has three numerals,             nally came, and meanwhile ceases to exist" (ibid., 16).
the singular, meaning but one; the dual, meaning two           What is denied here is the immortality of the body.
and the only two; and the plural which denotes at the          Death is "the extinction of being" (ibid., p. 49); that
least three. If then this passage is  supposed to teach        is, the body and soul together, of the righteous and of
that God is only one in person as well as one in being,        the wicked, are annihilated. Because of this allegation,
why, where the oneness and simplicity of God is so             it is maintained of the latter that "therefore resur-
firmly taught, should the name God be in the plural?           rection does not take place in their case" (ibid., p. 68).
Why is it that Elohim, the plural, is found in Old             But when Judas died, he did not cease to exist; he went
Testament Scriptures 2,579 times, while the singular           to perdition, i.e., "to his own place" (Jn. 17:12 with
form of the. word is found in about 57 places and only         Acts  1:25). To the penitent thief dying, Jesus did not
six times applied to other than the true God? Regard-          say, "Today you will be annihilated," but "Today thou
less of the question whether the meaning of the,plural         shalt be with Me in Paradise." "The rich man also
Elohim is numerical, the idea of the trinity is latently       died."       Then although the language detailed here is
enshrined in the word. In proof of this we appeal to           parabolic, we do not read that he ceased to exist-no,
another passage.       It is true that  elohim  is used of     but that "in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in tor-
angels (Ps. 97:7), and that all the angels of God are to       ments" (Lk. 16:22ff). In that place and state he under-
worship the Son who is not less than God. A compar-            went such human experiences as physical sensation (v.
ison of Heb. l:6, 8 and Rev. 22:9 reveal that fact. It is      24), sight (v. 23), speech (v. 24), emotion(have mercy),
also in a few instances used of men, e.g., in Ps. 82:1,        memory (son, remember, v. 25a) and reason (v. 27).
of the magistrates in Israel. "God (Elohim: plural)            Also he was there conscious of being in a pZace:(v.  28),
standeth in the congregation of the mighty (El: singular);     not in a mere state of mind, where there is no proba-
He (singular) judgeth among the gods (Elohim: plural)"         tion (v.  26), no restoration (v.  25b), no universal
That He judges  among the gods, and not between  elohim,       salvation (v. 31), no soul-sleep and no communication
reveals that elohim cannot be understood as dual, but          of the living with the spirits of the dead (v. 26~).
as plural, signifying that judges (Ex. 21:6; 22:8, 9, 28)          This pseudo-religion is a system of denials and
convening in Israel must be not one or two, but three          "damnable (destructive) heresies" (II Pe.  2:l). The


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   205

deity and personality of the Spirit is denied, He being        of the body. But the errors of baptismal regeneration
such inconceivable focus of energy as to fill universal        (ibid., p.  119), salvation by character development
space with incandescent substance (Heresies Exposed,           (ibid., 306) and the falling away of saints (ibid. p. 310)
55). "The devil is not...a personal supernatural agent         are taught.     The misnomer "Christadelphians" ill
. ..there is no such being in existence." The devil is         befits these who are in reality antichristadelphian. In
simply the personification of evil. But read Luke 10:          his Holy Wav, John Bunyan had a more apt name, better
18; Matthew  4:4, 7, 10; and Revelation  2O:lO. The            suited to them, Diabolonians!        There he uniquely
existence of Heaven and Hell are denied, along with            describes their denials, their doubtings and their
the. reality of eternal punishment and the resurrection        destruction.

  FROM   HOLY  WRIT-

         Stephen's Apology Before the Sanhedrin

                                                    Acts  6:7-   7:60

                                                    by Rev.  Lubbers

Stephen Amongst the Faithful Prophets in his Death             the holy city! (Deuteronomy 4:2;13:10 and Revelation
Acts  7:54  - 60                                               22:19) He must be removed from the very presence of
   What is more they stone Stephen with a hypocritical         God as one who loveth and maketh a lie1
display of being interested in the purity of the temple
and the city of Jerusalem.          Even though no formal          But what a travesty and carricature of the just
verdict has been rendered, and no refutation of Stephen's      judgment of God!
"apology" is offered to show from the Scriptures
that he is a heretic, a false prophet who will turn the            It was an awful thing to stone a man with stones I
heart of Israel from the Lord God who delivered                    It meant that it was a fearful thing to fall into the
Israel out of Egypt, he is summarily stoned outside            hand of the living God and his judgments as they are to
of the city gate1 He is stoned with a vengeance!               be executed in Israel against certain terrible sins.
   Here one is reminded of the words of the Savior             The principle sins for which men were stoned in
uttered in the upper room to His disciples "They shall         Israel were those against the first and great com-
put you out of the synagogues; yea, the hour cometh,           mandment . Those who were false prophets and would
that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth        cause Israel to depart from the Lord and from His
service unto God. And these things will they do, be-           word must be stoned. (Deuteronomy 13:lO) Stoning
cause they have. not known the Father, nor me" (John           was also the lot,of those who blasphemed the "NAME"
16:2,3.)       Literally this was the case with Saul of        of God (Leviticus 24:14,?6,23) and of those who caused
Tarsus, who stands here, no doubt, as one of the               their sons to pass through the fire in the service of
leaders of the Sanhedrin. Later he will write "For             Moloch.  (Leviticus  20:27) Then the witnesses must
ye have heard of my manner of life in time past in             cast the first stone and then all the congregation
the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I per-             must also throw stones. It must become the "judg-
secuted the church of God, and made havoc of it, and           ment' ' of God executed by the entire congregation of
I advanced the Jews' religion beyond many of mine own          God.      Perhaps stoning was chosen by God for this
age, among my countrymen, being more exceedingly               very purpose, namely, that the entire congregation
zealous for the tradition of my fathers." (Galatians           would need to execute it. It is not to be brought about
1:12,13) That here was a zeal of God but not accord-           by one man, but by all the people1 All the people must
ing to knowledge is evident. (Romans 10:1,2) Where-            say  ". .Who shall not fear, 0 Lord God, and glorify
fore Paul can write many years later to Timothy at            thy name? for thou only art holy; for all nations shall
Ephesus ". . though I was before a blasphermer, and            come and worship befcre thee, for thy righteous judg-
a persecutor, and injurious: however, I obtainedmercy          ments have been made manifest" (Revelation  15:4)
because I did it  ignorantly in unbelief."  (I Timothy
1:13)       Saul thought that he was doing God a service,          How horrible does this all become when Israel
bringing Him a sacrifice upon the altar of consecra-           would stone Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, be-
tion, keeping the holy place clean1                            cause they in unbelief would not enter into the prom-
   It is for this reason that Stephen is brought outside       ised land! And, again, how wicked does such stoning
of the city.        Stephen is treated and adjudged as one     become when the Jews would take up stones .repeatedly
who had added to or taken away from the words of               to stone Jesus, who is far greater than Moses ! And
Moses and the prophets, and, therefore, as one whose           what horrible iniquity does this become in the church
part is taken by God from the book of life, and out of         when a Paul is later stoned in Lystra by Jewish


206                                                  THEsTANDAI~DBEAAER-                    _.                              .- .-
zealots1 (Exodus  8:26;  17:4; Numbers  14:lO; John                  cuted us now preaches (as glad tidings) the faith of
10:31; Acts  14:19) For all such "stoning" is not the                which he once made havoc; and they glorified ,God in
execution of the righteous judgment of God, but simply               me" (Galatians  1:23)               "
the act of a frenzied mob, who take the law into their                   Prophets receive a prophet's reward.
own hands as would a modern lynching party in our                        Jes.us  speaks explicity  of this reward for all those
day1                           _.                                    who suffer for righteousness' sake. It is blessed to be
      The majesty. of God is out of all such casting of              in the company of the prophets. Their very death is
stones !                                                             .precious  in the sight of the Lord. So it was with Stephen.
      Thus it was here in the case of Stephen1                       "He fell asleep" we read. But what a rewarding sleep.
      And, now, - behold the true sacrifice brought to               Stephen did not lose his reward. A generation later
God in this very hour.               Stephen, who  .is accused of    the temple in Jerusalem is destroyed-never to be
causing Israel to depart from the ways `of God, but                  rebuilt. All the "Crusades" of the Middle Ages could
who had shown this accusation to be entirely contrary                not restore it.      The house was left desolate. The
to fact and to all the Scriptures, brings the real sacri-            reward. of a prophet is that his word which he spake
f i c e   t o   G o d . .                                            stands forever.       Stephen's "apology" is not. hay or
Look ,at Stephen there outside of the city, made an                  stubble which shall be burned. `It is taken up in the
outcast from the synagogue and from the holy place!
_-                                                                   annals of the Scriptures not only, but Godmade the chief
He kneels down and prays. He kneels down before                      of the persecutors the greatest writer of the New Testa-
the throne of God in heaven, where Jesus is seen by                  ment Scriptures !
him to stand on the right hand of God. He sees him                       Our reflections upon and analysis of this "Apology"
as the Son of Man1 He sees him, who in the deep way                  of  Stephen.has become a bit longer than we anticipated.
of his. suffering and humiliation, in the way of bringing            Perhaps it is not presumptuous to write a brief
the great Sacrifice for all the sins of all his people               r&ume' here of the chief facets which ,we `have at-
was exalted, and passed through the heavens. He sees                 tempted to set forth. More than one reader, who has
him as the High Priest who becameus: holy, harmless,                 followed this series of contributions and essays, sug-
undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher                   gested that these would be read with more profit if a
than the heavens I      Before him he bows the knees.                bird's-eye view were given of the subject matter
Presently every .knee shall bow before him and every                 treated.
tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the                   We will therefore try to meet that expressed need.
glory of God the Father. What an "Amen" this was                         We have called attention to the following:
to Stephen's apology. He seals his own faith in blood                    1. The General Situation of the Church at the time
upon his knees. Here we see the'blood of the saints                  of Stephen.
upon the altar, for the Word of God and the testimony                    2. The Cruel Fact of Stephen's Being Brought to
of Jesus Christ. Only the true churchhas her martyrs!                Trial.
And the blood of the saints is the seed of the church!                   3. The Shining Face of Stephen.
      But heaven is seen "opened". The way into the                      4. The Question: Are These Things So?.
most holy place is approachable. Stephen boldly draws                    5. The Chief Points of Stephen's Apology:
nigh upon his kees and is heard in the hour of need.                             a. The Starting-Point in Stephen's Address:
And the Lord delivers him out of all his sorrows.                    the God of Glory.
His work is finished. He has kept the. faith and there                           b. The Argument from the Abrahamic Prom-
is laid away a crown of life for him1                                ises.
      He prays for those who stone him. He dwells on                             c. The Argument from God's Word Concerning
higher ground. His prayer to God is that Israel might                and to Moses.
be saved.      Hear him pray "Lord, lay not this sin to                          d. The Argument from the Divine Purpose in
their charge." Somehow he must have felt that here                   the Tent of the Testimony.
was a hardening "in part" of Israel. The Lord would                              e. The Argument that Idol-Worshippers Seek
not forsake his own people .whom he foreknew. There                  Temples made with Hands.
is a Saul, .a son of the Benjamites, before whom the                     6. The Judges of Stephen Indicted by the Scriptures.
clothing was put while Stephen is stoned. And the Lord                   7. Stephen Amongst the Faithful Prophets in his
heard this prayer of Stephen. Here is the longsuffer-                Death.
ing of God manifested in Israel against a hard and                       Our prayer is that the King of his church Himself
stiffnecked people.          He has mercy on whom he has             may bless the readers in reading these articles with
mercy.      It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that           a deep desire to more fully appreciate the meaning of
runnethl (Romans 9:15) This Saul will be known as                    the Old Testament Scriptures1
Paul, and what Stephen preached here before the ears                    May the words of Paul be ours when he says: 0 the
of Paul will bear fruit in his heart. Many years later               depths of the riches both of the wisdom and of the
he will write "But when it was the good pleasure of                  knowledge of God1 how unsearchable are his judgments,
God, who separated me, even from my mother's womb,                   and his ways past tracing out I For who hath known the
and called me through his grace, to reveal his Son in                mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor? or
me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles. . . ."               who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed
(Galatians  1:15,16)         Oh, what an autobiography, to           unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to
write "but they only heard say, He that once perse-                  him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.


                                                          THE STANDARD BE&E?                                                                           207
                                                                                 ,.              .
                                                            . .
 EXAMINING  ECUM  ENICALISM-'                                                                         .                                    ..I..`.
                         -Vatican  CimnciZ   -  -T&d Session                                                                               -.
              i
        ._                                                           4.                                            ,'
 ,.-                                                            _    I
                                                                          I-





                                            "The .Constitution on -the Church"                                                     .  I
                         __.         ,.                    by Rev. G. Van  Baven
                                                                                                                                                          I.

        In this final ,article  on the "Constitution on the                     On reading the chapter, it soon becomes, evident
Church" I wish to direct attention to the remaining                       that the Romish church has not revoked nor altered its
chapters of the statement. Four of these I mention                        former stand regarding Mary: First, the chapter
only briefly; but the final one is of special signifi-                    maintains the sinlessness of the Virgin:
cance since it treats of Mary and the relationship of                                                                                             :
the church to her.                                                                     Thus Mary, a daughter of Adam, consenting to the
        There is a chapter on the "Laity", pointing to the                      divine Word, became the mother of Jesus,- the one and
                                                                                only Mediator. Embracing Cod's salvific will with a
calling of the common members of the church to labor                            full heart and impeded by no sin, she devoted herself
faithfully on this earth. The chapter is evidently in-                          totally as' a handmaid of the Lord to the person  and-  _.
cluded to show that the Romish church indeed values                             work. of her Son, under Him and with Him, by the grace
the "laity' '-though its hierarchical system would                              of almighty Cod, serving the mystery of redemption. . . .
seem to -deny this. One statement in the chapter ap-                                   Finally, the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free.
pears to reflect the common modernistic and post-                               from all guilt of original sin, on completion of her
millennial viewpoint:                                                           earthly sojourn, was taken up body and soul. into
                                                                                heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen of
              May the goods of this world be more equitably                     the universe, that she might be the more fully con-
        distributed among all men, and may they in their own                    formed to her Son. . . .l                     .
        way be conducive to universal progress in human and
        Christian freedom. In this manner, through the mem-                     The above paragraph also repeats the position of
        bers of the Church, will Christ progressively illumine            the Romish church that Mary was taken bodily into
        the whole of human society with His saving light.1                heaven without dying.              The chapter reveals further
        The next chapter speaks of the "Universal Call to                 the position of the Romish church regarding Mary's
Holiness in the Church." It repeats that old error                        intercession for the faithful:
that the suffering of the saints serve also to redeem                                  This maternity of Mary ins the order of grace began
the world:                                                                      with the, consent she  gave- in faith at the Annuncia-
                                                                                tion and which she sustained without wavering beneath
              May all those who are weighed down with poverty,                  the cross, and lasts until the  eternal.fulfilment of all
        infirmity and sickness, as well as those who must                       the elect.      Taken  up. to heaven she did not lay aside  -_
        bear various hardships or who suffer persecution for
        justice sake -may they all know they are united with                    this salvific duty, but by her constant intercession
                                                                                continued to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation.
        the suffering Christ in a special way for the salvation                 By her maternal charity, she cares for the brethren  .-
        of the world. . . .                                                     of her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by  ^
              . . .By martyrdom a disciple is transformed into              dangers and difficulties, until they are led into the
        an image of his Master by freely accepting death for                    happiness of their true home. Therefore the Blessed
        the salvation of the world  - as well as his conformity                 Virgin is invoked by the Church under the titles of Ad-
        to Christ in the shedding of his blood. . . .l                          vocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix, and Mediatrix.                    This,
        The next chapters treat respectively the religious                      however, is to be so understood that it neither takes
orders within the church and the "eschatological                                away from nor adds anything to the dignity and effica-
nature of the pilgrim church and its union with the                             ciousness of Christ the one Mediator.1
church in heaven." This last chapter points to the
relation of the faithful on the earth to the saints in                     THE CONCESSION TO ECUMENISM
heaven who, supposedly, make intercession for them.                             The Vatican Council, though insistent inmaintaining-
                                                                          the old errors regarding the place of Mary, was care-
THE PLACE OF  TH_E  VIRGIN  MmY                                           ful about making any further statements, dogmatic
        This eighth and last chapter of the "Constitution"                statements, concerning her.                    Much pressure was
is of special interest to protestants. Long has the                       brought to bear upon the Council to make definitive
issue of the place of Mary been one of the principal                       statements concerning Mary's place in redeeming
dividing points between Rome and protestants. There-                       God's people. The "conservative" Romish theologians
fore the present statement by the Council is worthy of                    wanted Mary raised yet higher in the dogma of the
careful consideration.                                                     church. But the Council resisted that pressure - evi-


208                                               THE STANDARD BEARER

dently also with the intent to promote good relation-               faith by which we are led to know the excellence of the
ships with protestants.                                             Mother of God, and we are moved tc a filial love to-
   The material concerning Mary was originally a                    ward our mother and to the imitation of her virtues.1
separate schema.          The adoption of such  .a separate         But the chapter allows for further development of
schema would have emphasized Rome's esteem of                    dogma concerning Mary:
Mary; thus offending many protestants. One Roman
Catholic commentator wrote:                                             (This holy synod) does no, however, have in mind
                                                                     to give a complete doctrine on Mary, nor does it wish
         Then too there was the majority vote by the Fathers        to decide those questions which the work of theologians
   to consider the place .of the Blessed Virgin Mary with-           has not yet fully clarified. Those opinions therefore
   in the schema on the Church rather than separately.              may be lawfully retained        which are propounded in
   . . .This move should have salutary effect of curbing             Catholic schools concerning her, who occupies a place
   excessive and distorted Marian  devotions which must              in the Church which is the highest after Christ and
   be as displeasing to her as the clearly were to the               yet very close to us.1
   majority of the Catholic Fathers.I?
   And another wrote:                                            MARY-MOTHER OF THE CHURCH
         The present chapter on the Blessed Virgin Mary is          At the close of the third session Pope Paul gave to
   still? basically, the original document proposed to the       Mary this title: Mother of the Church. The title is not
   Fathers in the first session. . .  .The  original document    so strange in view of Roman doctrine, but that the Pope
   was reworked, references to the universal mediation           should state this, after the Council had considered and
   and the co-redemption of Mary were carefully deleted,         rejected it, did appear strange. There is a question as
   and some new para raphs on our Lady as type of the            to what the title really means. But it does appear, in
   Church were added.rf                                          the eyes of many, to increase the emphasis upon
                                                                 Mariology by Rome-something the Council was de-
       The chapter itself both extols Mary and warns             liberately seeking to avoid.         One liberal. protestant
against exaggerations:                                           magazine had the following comment:
         Th$s most holy synod deliberately teaches this
   Catholic doctrine and at the same  time admonishes all               The Roman pontiff proclaimed Mary "Mother of the
   the sons of the Church that the cult, especially the              Church, i.e., of the whole people of God, of the faithful
   liturgical cult, of the Blessed Virgin, be generously             as of the pastors." Again, for three years the conciliar
   fostered, and the practices and exercises of piety,               fathers had considered and rejected the ascribing of
   recommended by the magisterium of the Church toward               this title to Mary. . . .The pope's arbitrary action was
   her in the course of centuries be made of great mo-               interpreted by some reporters as a "calculated as-
   ment, and those decrees, which have been given in the             sertion of papal  suprern?;y  to counteract emphasis
   early days regarding the cult of images of Christ, the            placed on collective rule.
   Blessed Virgin and the saints, be religiously observed.          Again, one must conclude that at heart Rome is un-
   But it exhorts theologians and preachers of the divine        changed.     If there has been no further development in
   word to  abstain zealously both from all gross exaggera-      their ` `Mariolatry", neither has there been any re-
   tions as well as from petty narrowmindedness in con-          gression.     Strange that any should regard this as a
   sidering the singular dignity of the Mother of God.           concession on the part of Rome, for obviously Rome
   Following the study of Sacred Scripture, the Holy             has not conceded a thing. Rome merely believes that
   Fathers, the doctors and liturgy of the Church, and
   under the guidance of the Church's magisterium, let           it has centuries to accomplish what some wanted done
   them rightly illustrate the duties and privileges of          at this Council.
   the Blessed Virgin which always look to Christ, the           1. These quotations were taken from the  Council  Day-
   source of all truth, sanctity and piety. Let them as-            booh,   Session 3, published by the National Catholic
   siduously keep away from whatever, either by word or
   deed, could lead separated brethren or any other into            Welfare Conference, pages 322-336.
   error regarding the true doctrine of the Church. Let          2. James  O'Gara,  The Commonweal,  Feb. 7, 1964,
   the faithful remember moreover that true devotion                p. 569
   consists neither in sterile or transitory affection, nor      3. Gregory Baum,  The Commonweal,  p.  130
   in a certain vain credulity, but proceeds from true           4.  The  Chvistian  Century,  pg. 1483,  Dec. 2, 1964




                  We cannot so belie our reason as to think that the intention of Almighty God could be
               frustrated, or that the design of so great a thing as the atonement can by any way what-
               ever be missed. We hold - we are not afraid to say what we believe - that Christ came
               into this world `with the intention of saving `a multitude which no man can number,' and
               we believe that as the result of this, every person for whom He died must, beyond the
               shadow of a doubt, be cleansed from sin, and stand washed in blood before the Father's
               throne.                                                                         - C. H. Spurgeon


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  209



   THE CHURCH AT WO


                           In          emembrance of Him!
                                                by Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg

   "Afterwards He suffered innumerable reproaches,            or space here to relate all the details, but it may be
that we might never be confounded..."                         well that in our private preparation to come to the
   "Afterwards He was innocently condemned to death,          table of the Lord, we seriously give devoted and
that we might be acquitted at the judgment seat of God..."    diligent attention to the Scriptural record and retrace
   "Afterwards, yea, He suffered His blessed body to          step by step His paths from the garden to the cross.
be nailed on the cross -that He might fix thereon the             Innumevuble  yeprouches  He suffered1  That means
handwriting of our sins; and hath taken upon Himself          that you cannot count the number of times He was
the curse due to us, that He might fill us with His           reproached by men, wicked men. The' physical eye
blessings..."                                                 that witnessed all that transpired is not quick enough
   In considering further these points mentioned inour        nor discerning enough to catch it all. All of it is not
Communion Form, we are to remember Christ and be              even recorded for us.      We know only in part. But
brought to a deep spiritual consciousness of the hor-         "reproach" is "to upbraid, to bring into discredit, to
rible suffering He endured in performing in our behalf        chide, to blame, to disgrace." Indeed, this is a true
the work of our salvation. All of this is absolutely          characterization of His experience before the Jewish
essential for Him Who came "not to do His own will but        Sanhedrin, Pilate and Herod, the soldiers and all the
the will of Him that sent Him."          (John 6:38) The      people. They literally heaped upon Him shame which
mission which Christ came to fulfill consisted of the         He innocently and voluntarily bore.
perfect realization of the counsel of redemption, and             He was condemned to death! We intentionally left
in the performance of this task He left no detail un-         out one word here in order that we might give to it
finished. Neither did He do anything in this work that        special emphasis. In all the legalistic proceedings He
was not necessary.      He did not endure shame and           is the INNOCENT One. There is no sin in Him. For-
reproach and suffer the excruciating pains of death to        ever it must be established and maintained that there
make a display of martyrdom or to demonstrate hero-           is no cause or reason that He should be put to death.
ism before men, for if such were the case we could not        No one can convict Him. False witnesses are raised
speak of or consider the benefits of this work for us.        up against Him in an attempt to gain a conviction, but
He suffered according to the will of God, and thereby         their testimony does not agree. The lie, then as now,
did all that was required to satisfy Divine justice and       as may be demonstrated in many ways, is a contra-
make atonement for sin. His passion is not a thing            diction unto itself. No fault can be found in Him, and
to be dramatized for our entertainment. It is not a           therefore when He is condemned, the sentence is given
mere example of nobility that is designed to elicit           because of what He IS rather than on account of what
commendation and praise, for then His entire effort           He has done. Innocently condemned is He because He
must be considered a sad failure. Consider that this          is the Son of God. Thus does all the world answer the
is the work of God, for "God was in Christ, reconciling       fundamental question: "What do you think of God?"
the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses             And so Jesus, our Savior, "suffered His blessed
unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of             body to be nailed to the cross." Oh, to be sure, no
reconciliation."    (II Cor.  5:19) The reading of the        one took His life from Him. He was not overcome by
Communion Form in which these things are set forth            powers which He could not resist. His enemies did
is the proclamation of the glorious Gospel of reconcil-       not surprise Him in their attack, so that He succumbed
iation, directing our faith to the sufferings and death       in an unguarded moment. On the contrary, He is Lord
of our Savior. In that light consider these things.           alone, and everyone that has a part in this drama of
   The word, "afterward", which we repeated three             passion is but a tool in His almighty hand which serves
times above, directs our attention specifically to those      His purpose.    He lays down His life as a voluntary
things which Christ suffered after the terrible ordeal        sacrifice, which is offered unto God in profound `and
in the garden of Gethsemane where the bloody sweat            perfect love. And, therefore, they are also unable to
was pressed out of Him, and He was bound that we              dispose of Him in the way of their own choice, but
might be freed from our sins. After all of this He            He must suffer the death appointed to Him by the
went on to suffer innumerable reproaches, to be in-           Father, which is that of the cross. Let it suffice to
nocently condemned to death, and to suffer His blessed        point out the significance of this death in the words of
body to be nailed to the cross. Such is the concise           the Heidelberg Catechism in answer to the question:
but vivid description of events transpired in the early       "Is there anything more in His being crucified, than
morning hours of Good Friday. We will not take time           if He had died some other death?" (Q. 39) To which


210                                          THESTANDARDBEARER

answer is given: "Yes, for thereby I am assured, that       brought to the light through~  His cross we do not dismay
He took on Him the curse which lay upon me; for the         and are not perplexed. We shall never be confounded,
death of the cross was accursed of God."                    but we shall be led through the darkness of this world
   Now in the light of all this we are to "consider to      into the light of His everlasting glory.       Wonderful
what end the Lord has instituted His Supper". And           contemplation I
that end (purpose) is that we may remember Him in
all His suffering and death by means of this Supper.           This rests upon our secpnd consideration, namely,
Here then is room for endless meditation, study and         "that we ,may be acquitted. at the judgment seat of God".
prayer. "Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom      Here is not the place to treat extensively the interesting
and knowledge of Godl" (Rom. 11:33)                         and important subject of the judgment of God, but it
   There is more yet in this section of our Communion       may suffice to point out that the living God will judge
Form, but before we consider that, our attention must       all men and nations in the day He has appointed. This
be directed to the benefits which are ours as the result    judgment shall be perfectly just and all sin shall receive
or fruit of Christ's suffering innumerable reproaches,      its due reward. In that judgment all of humanity, as it
being. innocently condemned and suffering His body to       is represented in Adam, is worthy of- condemnation.
be nailed to the cross.       These fruits must also be     That condemnation it shall also receive except for
seriously considered, for only in this way can we           those whom the Father has given to Christ out of the
experientially enjoy the blessings of our salvation in      world, and concerning them the sentence is:
Christ. `That consideration therefore consists of much      ACQUITTED1 We are justified in Christ, and then
more than an intellectual contemplation of undeniable       justice is not laid aside, but it is  .exactly realized,
facts recorded in Scripture. Our doctrinal orthodoxy        because He was condemned to death for us. He bore
is not, in question here, and neither is the objective      the sentence of our condemnation for us. He suffered
merit -of Christ's redemptive work the subject of our       the just payment of our sins in His own body. The debt
consideration here.       To consider the suffering of      is paid and consequently God justifies us freely for
Christ in the true sense of the word means that this        Christ's sake.. The value of this treasure is inesti-
is an activity of conscious, living faith which brings      mable ! "Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift."
us to a real awareness of the pevsonal'benefits  gained     (II Cor. 9:15)
by- that suffering. Thus the believer does not simply           Our acquittal at the judgment seat of God stems
acknowledge the veracity of the confession, but he          from the fact that the handwriting of our sins was
expresses as a matter of personal experience and con-       affixed to the cross of Christ. The curse that was due
viction that Christ suffered and died "that I may never     to us, He bore. That curse is the embodiment of the
be confounded, that I may be acquitted at the judgment      terrible wrath of God against sin. This Jesus volun-
seat of God, and that the handwriting of my sin was         tarily bore in order that "He might fill us with His
affixed to the cross." Knowing this, we need not            blessings". We notice here that "blessings" is plural
state -further why it is important that the celebration     and not singular.     In a sense the blessing of Christ
of the Lord's Supper brings us "in remembrance of           upon His people can be viewed in the singular, and then
Himl"' -                                                    this blessing consists in Christ imparting Himself to
   "Never confounded 1"                                     us, giving us His own heavenly and eternal life. The
   What a glorious comfort there is in that thought!        singular blessing of the redemptive work of Christ is
What a peace-affording assurance this knowledge gives       that the child of God is incorporated into Him and
to the soul in the midst of the present world1 To be        made one with Him, so that with Him he will live in
"confounded" the dictionary tells us is: "to bring ruin     covenant fellowship forever.        This same blessing,
or naught, to destroy". It means: "to put to shame,         however, may also properly be viewed in the plural,
abash, discomfit, to throw into confusion, perplexity,      because of the countless aspects from which it may be
dismay".       A few synonymns are: "bewilder, baffle,      viewed, as well as from the fact that in depth and
astonish, dumbfound". This term in the positive sense       richness it is multifarious.        Then, too, we may
certainly is descriptive of the world in which we live      distinguish many singular blessings within this one
today.      All about us we see confusion, turmoil and      unspeakable blessing of Christ. The steps which we
discomfort. Men are perplexed, dismayed and troubled.       commonly speak of in connection with the order of
And it cannot be any different, because man is in the       our salvation - regeneration, calling, faith, conversion,
darkness of sin and is unable to comprehend the light       justification, sanctification, and glorification - are in-
of life.     He will continuei to grope in the darkness     dividual parts of the one blessing which He bestows
until he ultimately brings himself to utter ruin. With-     upon us.      Salvation is indeed of God alone. We are
out the suffering Christ Who atones for sin there is        the empty vessels which He fills with His own fulness.
nothing in this whole world but hopelessness and            Consider this, lest we be minded to boast or pride
despair.     This is the simple truth that all the vain     ourselves in our own goodness when we come to His
promises and idle boasts of sinful man cannot change.       table.      Remember that we have no place there of
The world hovers on the brink of self-destruction and       personal merit; but every blessing received is on our
is so deeply entrenched in the mire of confusion that       part unmerited and undeserved. Christ did it all for
there remains for it no hope. Upon it rests the wrath       us* and in His grace He imparts His own saving
of od from which there is no escape except in Jesus.        benefits upon His  .children, for whom He shed His
In Him there is no confusion or disorder. Being             life-blood on the accursed tree.


                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           211


CONTENDING FOR  7=                           FAITH-                                                 ._


                                                 oct'rine of  Creati0.h

                                                           by Rev.  H. Veldman


     The  Do&vine  of  Creation and the  Theovy.of  Evolution            the almighty worker back of `the whole process of
        We continue the quotation from Berkhof:                          development.    Evolution is regarded simply as God's
                                                                         method of working in the development of nature. The-
            And Morgan feels constrained to admit that he can-           istic evolution really amounts to this, that God created
        not explain his emergents without falling back upon              the world (the cosmos) by a process of evolution, a
        some creative power that might be called God. Morton             process of natural development, in which  He,does  not  -
      s a y s : "The fact is that, besides creation, there is not        miraculously intervene, except in cases where this is
        even a theory of origins to hold the field today."               absolutely necessary. It is willing to admit that the
            The hypothesis of evolution fails at several points.         absolute beginning of the world could only result from
        It cannot explain the origin of life.       Evolutionists        a direct creative activity of God; and, if it can find no
        sought its explanation in spontaneous generation, an             natural explanation, will also grant a direct interven-
        unproved assumption, which is now discredited. It is             tion of God in the origination of life and of man. It
         a  well- established fact in science that life can only         has been hailed as Christian evolution, though there
        come from antecedent life.       Further, it has failed          is not necessarily anything Christian about it. Many,
        utterly to adduce a single example of one species                otherwise opposed to the theory of evolution, have
        producing another distinct (organic as distinguished             welcomed it, because it recognizes God in the process
        from varietal) species.  Bateson.  said in 1921: "We             and is supposed to be compatible with the Scriptural
        cannot see how the differentiation in species came               doctrine of creation.            Hence it is freely taught in
         about. Variations of many kinds, often considerable,            churches and Sunday Schools.             As a matter of fact,
        we daily witness, but no origin of species. . .  .Mean-          however, it is a very dangerous hybrid. The name
        while, though our faith in evolution stands unshaken,            is a contradiction in terms, for it is neither Theism
        we have no acceptable account of the origin of species."         nor naturalism, neither creation nor evolution in the
        (the undersigned wishes to observe that here we have             accepted sense of the terms. And it does not require
         a striking phenomenon. The evolutionist frankly de-             a great deal of penetration to see that Dr. Fairhurst
        clares that he cannot explain life, that the attempt has         is right in his conviction "that theistic evolution
        utterly failed to adduce a single example of one species         destroys the Bible as the inspired book of authority as
        producing another distinct species. The evolutionist             effectively as does atheistic evolution." Like natur-
        frankly concedes that he does not know, for example,             alistic evolution it teaches that it required millions
        how a monkey could develop into a man, how an irra-              of years to produce the present habitable world; and
/       tional creature could develop into a rational creature.          that God did not create the various species of plants
        Nevertheless, although he knows nothing of themystery            and animals, and that, so that they produced their own .
      of life, he rejects the Scriptural account of the crea-            kind; that man, at least on his physical side, is a de-
        tion of the animal world and of man, and he wickedly             scendant of the brute. and therefore began his career
        declares that his faith in evolution, which explains             on a low level; that there has been no fall in the Bibli-  _
        nothing, remains unshaken.)       Neither has evolution          cal sense of the word, but only repeated lapses of men
        been able successfully to cope with the problems pre-            in their upward course; that sin is only a weakness,
        sented by the origin of man. It has not even succeeded           resulting from man's animal instincts and desires,
         in proving the physical descent of man from the brute.           and does not constitute guilt; that redemptionis brought
         J. A. Thomson, author of The Outline of Science and a            about by the ever-increasing control of the higher
        leading evolutionist, holds that man really never was            element in man over his lower propensities; that mir-
         an animal, a fierce beastly looking creature, but that          acles do not occur, either in the natural or in the
        the first man sprang suddenly, by a big leap, from the           spiritual world; that' regeneration, conversion, and
        primate stock into a human being. (and this the evolu-           sanctification are simply natural psychological changes,
         tionist prefers, believe it or not, to the beautiful             and so on. In a word, it is a theory that is absolutely
         Scriptural account of the creation of  man]  -H.V.)              subversive of Scripture truth.
        Much less has it been able to explain the psychical side             Some Christian scholars of the present day feel that
         of man's life. The human soul, endowed with intelli-             Bergson's theory of  Creative Evolution  commends itself
        gence, self-consciousness, freedom, conscience, and              to those who do not want to leave God out of considera-
         religious aspirations, remains an unsolved enigma.              tion. This French philosopher assumes an elan-vital,
            D. Theistic evolution is not tenable in the light of          a vital impulse in the world, as the ground and animat-
         Scripture. Some Christian scientists and theologians             ing principle of life.          This vital principle does not
         seek to harmonize the doctrine of creation, as taught            spring from matter, but is rather the originating cause
        by Scripture, and the theory of evolution by accepting            of matter. It pervades matter, overcomes its inertia
        what they call theistic evolution. It is a protest against        and resistance by acting as a living force on that which
        the attempt to eliminate God, and postulates Him as               is essentially dying, and ever creates, not new  mater-


2 1 2                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER

    ial, but new movements adapted to ends of its own, and              regard it as an established fact that the days of Gene-
    thus  creates  very much as the artist creates. It is               sis 1 were long geological periods; others are some-
    directive and purposive and yet, although conscious,                what inclined to assume this position, but show con-
    does not work according to a preconceived plan, how-                siderable hesitation. Hodge, Sheldon, Van Oosterzee,
    ever that may be possible. It determines evolution                  and Dabney, some of whom are not entirely averse to
    itself as well as the direction in which evolution                  this view, are all agreed that this interpretation of
    moves. This ever creating life, "of which every in-                 the days is  exegetically  doubtful, if not impossible
    dividual and every species is an experiment," is                    (one may well ask how anyone can possibly not be
         Bergson's God, a God who is finite, who is limited in      averse to this view if it be exegetically impossible.
    power, and who is seemingly impersonal, though                      Any view, exegetically impossible, is certainly to be
    Hermann  says that "we shall, perhaps, not go far                   rejected.  - H.V.) Kuyper and Bavinck hold that, while
    wrong in believing that he will be `the ideal tendency              the first three days may have been of somewhat dif-
    of things' made personal."  Haas speaks of  Bergson                 ferent length, the last three were certainly ordinary
         as a vitalistic  pantheist rather than a theist. At any        days.    They naturally do not regard even the first
    rate, his God is a God that is wholly within the world.             three days as geological periods. Vos in bis  Gere-
    This view may have a special appeal for the modern                 formeevde  Dogmatiek  defends the position that the
    liberal theologian, but is even less in harmony with                days of creation were ordinary days. Hepp takes the
    the  narrative of creation than theistic evolution.                 same position in his  GzZvin+m and the  Philosophy of
    In the light of the above quotation, which is also a                Na&ve. Noortzij in Gods-  Wooed en dev Eeuwen Getui-
                                                                        genis, asserts that the Hebrew word Yom (day) in Gen.
true setting forth of what the late Dr. H. Bavinck writes               1 cannot possibly designate anything else than an or-
in his "Gereformeerde Dogmatiek (Reformed Dog-                          dinary day, but holds that the writer of Genesis did not
matics)", we may safely conclude that the theory of                     attach any importance to the concept "day," but in-
evolution stands condemned because of its utter failure                 troduces it simply as part of a frame-work for the
to prove anything. And it is surely unnecessary for                     narrative of creation, not to indicate historical se-
us to go into details as far as the various conceptions                 quence, but to picture the glory of the creatures in the
of this theory are concerned.                                           light of the great redemptive purpose of God. Hence
                                                                        the sabbath is the great culminating point,  inwhich  man
                      DAYS OR PERIODS                                   reaches his real destiny. This view remindsus rather
         One can hardly deny the importance of this subject.            strongly of the position of some of the early Church
If it be true, and it is, that the theory of evolution,                 Fathers. The arguments adduced for it are very con-
however miserably impotent and unsuccessful it may                      vincing, as  Aalders has shown in his  De  Eerste  Drie
be, is universally taught in the schools and colleges                   Hoofdstukken van Genesis. This Old Testament scholar
throughout the world, the fact remains that it is gen-                 holds, on the basis of Gen.  15, that the term yom in
erally taught in the Christian schools of today that                   Gen. 1 denotes simply the period of light, as distinguish-
the days of Genesis 1 are not to be understood as days                 ed from that of darkness; but this vie.v  would seem to in-
in the limited sense of the word, as consisting of                      volve a rather unnatural interpretation of the repeated
twenty-four hours, but as long periods of time.                         expression "and there was evening and there was
                                                                        morning." It must then be interpreted to mean, and
    The theory that the days of Gen. 1 are not days but                 there was evening preceded' by a morning. According
periods of thousands of years is known as the con-                      to Dr.  Aalders, too, Scripture certainly favors the idea
cordistic theory. Writing in his Reformed Dogmatics,                    that the days of creation were ordinary days, though
pages 153-154, on the consideration of the view that                    it may not be possible to determine their exact length,
they were literal days, Berkhof writes as follows:                      and the first three days may have differed somewhat
                                                                       from the last three.
            The prevailing view has always been that the days          Although the author of the above quotation declares
         of Genesis 1 are to be understood as literal days.         that Dr. H. Bavinck wrote that the latter three days
         Some of the early Church Fathers did not regard them       were ordinary days, it is nevertheless true that Dr.
         as real indications of the time in which the work of       H. Bavinck wrote the following, Vol. 11, page 463:
    creation was completed, but rather as literary  fern-s          "For upon that day must fall the creation of the ani-
    in which the writer of Genesis cast the narrative of            mals, the planting of the garden, the proclamation of
    creation, in order to picture the work of  creation-            the trial command, the leading of the animals to Adam,
    which was really completed in a moment of time  - in            etc. It may not be impossible, that all this took place j
    an orderly fashion for human intelligence. It was only
    after the comparatively new sciences of geology and             in a period of time of some hours, but this is not prob- ;
    palaeontology came forward with their theories of the           able." So, according to Bavinck it is hardly probable
    enormous age of the earth, that theologians began to            that these `ddaya" of creation week were ordinary days.
    show an inclination to identify the days of creation            The Lord willing, we will continue with this in our
    with the long geolo@cal  ages. Today some of them               following article.


                     We hold that Christ, when He died, had an object in view, and that object will, most
                  assuredly and beyond a doubt, be accomplished.           We measure the design of Christ's
                  death by the effect of it. If anyone asks us: What did Christ design to do by His death?
                  We answer that question by asking him another: What has Christ done? or: What will
                  Christ do by His death? For we declare that the measure of the effect of Christ's love
                  is the measure of the design of it,                              -C.  H.  Spurgeon


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          213



                                       hat Happened in 1924?
ALL AROUND US-
                                      pposition to the "Confession of 1967'

                                                       by Prof.  H. Hanko

WHAT HAPPENED IN 1924?                                                Revs. H. Danhof and H. Hoekema (should be  "Hoek-
   "Church and Nation", a periodical of the Canadian                  sema" -H.H.) caused some stir in the Church. For
Reformed Churches, recently quoted a decision which                   who is to say who are the elect, and the reprobate?
committed the Church to contact with the Christian                    In this way there was no room for the promise of the
                                                                      gospel as it is expressed in Canons of Dort II, 5:
Reformed Church. The decision reads:                                  "Moreover the promise of the gospel is. . .  ."
      Regarding contact with the Christian Reformed                          As I said many questions were raised, and since
   Church the Regional Synod decides upon the following:              thesti ministers continued their writings stressing
   The Regional Synod, considering                                    that anyone who did not believe as they did was not
      a. that in accordance with Scripture, unity must be             reformed, the matter was brought to Synod, via pro-
         sought with all those who love our Lord Jesus                tests from several consistories and classes. Some of
          Christ in sincerity,                                        these protests required strong expressions on the
      b. the fact that the churches sent an appeal to the             matter, some went too far in the opposite direction
         Christian Reformed Church in 1962,                           and defended common grace to such an extent, that
      C.  the decision of the Synod of 1964 of the Chris-             one would almost believe that common grace is the
         tian Reformed Church, to appoint "a special                  same thing as special grace.        And that is of course
         contact committee to enter into communication                just as unreformed, if not more so. (Yet this is pre-
         with the Canadian Reformed Churches with a                   cisely what is being taught by some today in the
         view to establishing a relationship with these               Christian Reformed Church. H.H.) It was in that at-
         churches",                                                   mosphere that the Synod of 1924 expressed itself as
   decides to send an overture to the General Synod 1965              carefully as possible and limited itself to the three
   that deputies be appointed to seek contact with the                points. To say it in a few words: the first point deals
   "Special contact committee", appointed by the Synod                with a find (should be "kind" -H.H.) of grace which
   1964 of the Christian Reformed Church, that deputies               Cod shows to all men, the second point deals with the
   be instructed to discuss those things which previously             restraints of sin and the third speaks of civil righteous-
   have hindered the unity according to the Word of Cod               ness.
   and those things which presently hinder this unity,                       Around the issue of common grace a split occurred
   that in this way all obstruction may be removed.                   in the Christian Reformed Church and the brethren,
                                                                      which could not go along with these three points, or-
   Evidently the main obstruction which hinders this                  ganized themselves as the Protest ant Reformed
unity is the decisions of the Christian Reformed Church               Churches.
on common grace. For there is an article appended to                         Now, I am well aware that much more could be
this decision written by Rev. H. De Bolster which deals               said, but we want to give you at least an impression
with the matter of common grace. We are not as con-                   about 1924 and the existence of the Protestant Re-
cerned, at present, with the article itself as much as                formed Churches. Much could be said about the ex-
we are concerned about the description by Rev. De Bol-                istence of these Churches, but I  wiI1 limit myself by
ster of the history of our Protestant Reformed Churches.              telling you that due to the consequences of the thoughts
The pertinent part of the article we quote.                           of Rev. Hoeksema many in these churches could no
                                                                      longer agree and when it was tried to make Hoeksema's
      Why, you may ask, did the Synod of 1924 make these              thoughts binding in the Churches through the adoption
   decisions?    What is the history behind it all? In the            of a "Declaration of Principles", a split occurred in
   years around 1924, two ministers in the Christian Re-              that Churchin 1953, when about two-thirds of the Prot-
   formed Church began to write about the subject of                  estant Reformed Churches broke away from  Hoek-
   common grace and denied that there was such a thing                sema and continued their existence. These Churches
   as common grace.        They accused particularly the              were known as "De Wolf group". This latter group
   Kuyperian thought of common grace,  "gemene  gratie"               opened discussion with our Church in 1957. Of course,
   and pointed out that grace is that which we have in                1924 was discussed in all details, and in 1959 our
   Jesus Christ, and that kind of grace is not common,                Church gave further explanation of the three points.
   not for every man, but for the elect only. The con-
   sequence of the writings of these two ministers was                After quoting the decision of the Christian Re-
   that they stated unhesitatingly, that Cod loves only           formed Church, De Bolster goes' on:
   the elect and He hates the reprobate and the very un-                     Our Synod did all it could do to take away the im-
   fortunate part in it all was that without more they con-           pression  as if the word grace was meant in the special
   cluded that Cod only spoke in His Word to the elect                sense in which we know it in Jesus Christ. The Synod
   and for the reprobate there was only a proclamation of             grants that false impressions might have been created,
   damnation.  YQU  can guess that these writings of the              but it was ready to admit this andchanged it. The final


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER

   result of this expression has been that in 1962 the two     vote of presbyteries. Then, if two-thirds of the pres-
   Churches, the Christian Reformed Church and the             byteries approve, formal adoption will take place at
   Protestant Reformed Churches (De Wolf' group), re-          the assembly meeting of 1967.
   united and have been one again.      It was a miracle.          The new confession differs radically from the West-
   How often does that happen?- Let -us hope that in due       minster Confessions on all points of doctrine. But the
   time we may rejoice again when two Churches unite,          controversy has swirled about several points. The
   because that (should be "they" -H.H.) agree as to           new confession omitsreferences of any kind to Christ's
   the truth.    _                      .-                     deity; it not only omits, but, by implication denies, the
   This is a very shoddy description of the whole              infallibility of Scripture; it emphasizes rather recon-
history.    It is inaccurate in its presentation of the        ciliation - but a reconciliation of society,which,  in turn,
history itself; it is equally inaccurate in its presen-        becomes the basis for a social program of the Church.
ratio-n of the doctrinal issues involved and of the doc-           Evidently the confession, if and when adopted, will
trinal position of the  .Protestant Reformed Churches.         not be adopted without a fight. Opposition to the new
But, since we cannot go into ali this now, what is of          confession is growing. Most recent opposition is to
special importance is the fact that those who left the         be found in a two-day. meeting which was held in Chi-
Protestant Reformed Churches in 1953 did so because            cago. This meeting was organized by "Presbyterians
they wanted to maintain a general and conditional prom-        United for Biblical Confession", a conservative group
ise to all those who are baptized. By adopting this            who are concerned about the loss  -of the doctrinal heri-
position they themselves made union with the `Christian        tage of the Church.
Reformed Church possible for they adopted a position               According -to Christianity Today, the main question
essentially the same as the commongrace of the Chris-           at Chicago was whether the new confession is so hope-
tian Reformed Church - especially the common grace             lessly heretical that conservatives ought to fight to
of the first point which speaks of a general ,offer of         destroy the whole thing, or whether the confession can
the gospel. All this De Bolster omits in his article;          be salvaged by amendments. The issue is not yet,
but all this is (or pught to be) of special interest to the    evidently resolved. And, regardless of the outcome of
Canadian Reformed Churches.                                    this problem, the conservatives will still have to face
..: -We would advise the Canadian Reformed Churches            the problem of what to do with officebearers and pro-
to pay a little closer attention to the history and the        fessors who have promised to uphold the doctrines of
doctrinal issues than the article of De Bolster allows.        the Westminster Confessions but who deny all these
If : this history is pertinent to union (and there is no       doctrines consistently.
doubt but that it is) they ought to have some clearer              Anyone who has read the new "Confession of 1967"
idea of that history than can be gained from De Bol-           ought to know that there is absolutely no point in try-
ster's  distortions.                                           ing to salvage the thing through amendments. It is
                                                               indeed too hopelessly heretical. If any semblance to
OPPOSITION TO THE "CONFESSION OF 1967"                         the heritage of the-- truth is to be maintained, it will
   The United Presbyterian Church, when it was still           have to be thrown out.
the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., departed sev-               But the whole point is that the new confession is
eral decades ago from the historic faith of the West-          being proposed by liberals who are intent on getting
minster `Confessions and began the long, weary march           rid of the Westminster Confessions. The adoption of
down the road to modernism. The troubles of this               this new confession is merely a ploy to soften the blow
denomination have steadily increased since that time.          of destroying the binding force of the great Westmin-
At present the troubles have centered about a group of         ster creeds.     What needs to be done therefore is to
ministers and professors` who, while promising at              return to the Westminster Confession, firmly reaffirm
their ordination to uphold the confessions, have lied,         its truth, `and insist that all officebearers and profes-
for they disagreed-with the confessions on fundamental         sors adhere strictly to it upon pain of dismissal from
points while they were promising to uphold them.               office. Short of this there is no hope for the conserva-
This' has created an intolerable situation. One might          tives who are trying to retain the heritage of the faith.
reasonably expect that the solution to this problem                Is there still strength enough in the United Pres-
would be found in dismissing these lying officebearers         byterian Church to do this? Only time will tell.
and insisting on adherence to the creeds which form                                       * * *  8
the doctrinal basis of the denomination. But this solu-            A brief note as to how far the Presbyterian Church
tion has not yet seen the light of day in this denomina-       has gone in some instances: The 157-year-old Fifth
tion. Rather the solution proposed (and exactly by the         Avenue Presbyterian Church recently featured a con-
officebearers who cannot maintain the Westminster              cert of sacred music starring Duke Ellington, jazz
creeds)- is to adopt a new confession called the "Con-         pianist and his orchestra and Bunny Briggs, a dancer.
fession of 1967" in which all the basic truths of the          The latter sang a Christmas carol especially written
Westminster Confessions are denied or ignored. This            by Ellington.    A sample of the lyrics of Ellington's
proposed confession was brought to last year's General         "Genesis, In the Beginning Cod." was: "In the begin-
Assembly and will come again to this year's assembly           ning. s */ ldo mountains' no valleys'/ No bottom' no
with possible revisions and amendments. After the              topless'/ No symphony' no jive'/ No Gemini 5 . D ."
decision of this year's General Assembly, should the               Can there be hope of reform under these circum-
revision pass' the confession will be submitted to a           stances?


                                                 THESTANDARDBEARER                                                                 215


                                                                                                                      -:...  -.
                                                                                                                      _

                                                             TheAnatomy of Anti-Semitism                              -  ..
              l3OOK REV/E WS-
                                                             Chiistian  Counsel&g and Occultism


"The Anatomy of' Anti-Semitism,- And        in this brief book. With his view of         second commandment, following the
Other Essays On Religion And Race".         election I cannot agree; and there is        division of the law made- by Roman
James Daane .       Published by Wm. B.     no question about it but that it is not      Catholicism) and is therefore-a most
Eerdmans Publishing Co. 84 pages.           historically Reformed, nor is it Scrip-      serious sin punished in the line of
$1.45 paperback.                            tural. One quote especially puts him         generations  - "I  wilI visit the iniquity
                                            seemingly in the camp of those who           of the fathers upon the children unto
   Although somewhat revised, these         maintain conditional election: "The          the third and fourth generation of them
essays originally appeared in either        critical question is not to ask in the       that hate me...."        Another point is
Chvistianity   Today  or  The Reformed      abstract,    apart from the Cross,           that every single aspect  .of occult
Journal. The one' exception is the last     whether I  am  one of God's elect, but       activity is completely under the con-
essay in the book on the New Mbvality.      whether in terms of the Cross I am           trol of Satan and the forces of hell
Although the title of the book is "The      willing to be one of his elect."             which bring the kingdom of Satan and
-Anatomy  of  Anti:semitism," only the                                 Prof. H. Hanko    the kingdom of Christ into -open and
first article deals with this subject.                                                   perpetual and fierce warfare. Hence
The second essay deals also with the        CHRISTIAN  .COUNSELING  AND OC-              there is in any kind of occult practice
broader question of race relations          CULTISM, by Dr. Kurt E. Koch;  Kre-          a most terrible threat to the spiritual
-including the Negro. The third essay,      gel Publications, Grand Rapids, Mich.,       life of the Christian. `He warns again
entitled- "At The Cross," touches only      1965; 299 pages; $4.95. (Translated          and again that the Christian must flee
incidentally upon the place of the Jews     from the German by A. Petter.)               from all these things, must detest
in God's work and speaks of the cross                                                    them with his whole being and must
from the viewpoint of God's election  -        Dr. Koch, a minister in the State         remember that they constitute a con-
particularly of Christ.      The fourth     Church in Germany, has, according to         stant peril to his soul. This includes
essay "The Glory of God" speaks in          the jacket, "given a lifetime to a           what are sometimes considered in-
general of the Christian's calling to       special study and ministry with those        nocuous participation in mind read-
emulate Christ in His perfect  self-        suffering from demon possession and          ing, table lifting, automatic writing,.
sacrifice on the cross.        The last     occult entanglement." This book  is,         etc.
essay deals, as we said, with "The          as the title suggests, a handbook to
New Morality".                              guide the minister in counseling those               Another point which is worth the
   Dr. Daane is a lucid andinteresting      who are involved in every form of oc-        attention of ministers is that-he warns
writer; and this is evident also from       cult entanglement.        The author dis-    ministers to mind their own business
this short book. His insights into var-     cusses the `whole field of occultism         and deal only with the spiritual needs
ious vexing problems are also inter-        including extra-sensory perception,          of their sheep without trying to play
esting and stimulating. Whether one         spiritism, necromancy, table lifting,        the part of psychiatrist, psychologist
always agrees with' Dr. Daane or not,       clairvoyance, astrology, magic, spooks       and medical doctor.
he is worth reading.                        and demon possession. He discusses                   In treating these occult practices
   As far as the content of these           all these aspects of occultism not only      the author posits an unacceptable  dual;
essays are concerned, particularly the      from the medical and psychological           ism forgetting that also hell's powers
essays on  anti-Semitism  and "The          point of view, but mainly from the           are under the sovereign control and
Glory of God" were good and struck          theological and pastoral viewpoint.          direction of God. But his clear and
this reviewer favorably. On the ques-          To whatever extent one may agree          sharp description of the battle waged
tion of race-relations, one could wish      with the author's conclusions (this re-      between the powers of the kingdom
that the author would sound a warning       viewer is not prepared to accept all of      of the devil and the kingdom of Christ
against the strong tendencies of our        the conclusions by any means) this           with the victory of Christ assured is
times to bring the Church into the          book is a thorough treatment of the          important.
arena of social problems to solve           entire field. The author includes many               While the book may be of some
these problems in a social context.         case studies and shows a thorough            help to those who must workwithprob-
   In discussing the place of the Jews      knowledge of his subject and of the          lems in this field, its use for laymen
in the purpose of God, Dr. Daane makes      problems involved. His evaluation of         is limited by the technical language.
the following interesting observation:      many of these problems is, on the            This reviewer finds himself unable
"And the future may disclose that the       whole, quite balanced.                       to understand some of the technical
stirrings in the Israeli-Arab world are        There are several interesting and         problems and to weigh the evidence in
far more decisive for the future his-       important points which the author            support of the author's contentions.
tory of the world than the movement of      make.s  again and again throughout the               Further the book is marred by
World Communism."                           book. One is that all occult practice        many typographical errors and by oc-
   Dr. Daane has written extensively        in every form is a violation of the          casional clumsy and involved sentence
on his view of the doctrine of election.    first commandment (by which the author       structure in the translation.
He speaks of it also more than once         evidently means both the first and                                      Prof. H. Hanko


216                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



                             NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES-

                                        January 15, 1966
    The call to Edgerton  has been declined by the Rev.              was the first of a planned series; the subject: "The
G. Lanting, pastor of Holland. At this writing, Hudson-              Divine Foundation: The Infallible Scriptures". The
ville had not received a decision on its call to the Rev.            series of lectures is being sponsored by a committee
J. Kortering, who had requested a week's extension.                  appointed by the Mission Board and is adapted to serve
The Rev. R. C. Harbach's decision on the call to                     as a follow-up of the Reformation Day Rally held in the
Randolph, Wisconsin was negative.                                    city's Civic Auditorium.         The Board's object is to
                             * * *                                   reach a broad audience from our Reformed community
    The Radio Committee has scheduled Rev. H. Veld-                  not yet acquainted with the distinctive Reformed charac-
man, of Grand Rapids, to be at the Reformed Witness                  ter of our Protestant Reformed theology.          Plan to
Hour microphone in the month of February. The topic                  attend the entire series and invite your friends from
for February is, "Preservation and Perseverance",                    other churches to share these truths with you.
and will be treated in a series of four sermons                                                   * * *
specially prepared for radio broadcasting.                   This        Two families, including six children, were received
month's broadcasts will inaugurate a new system of                   into the fellowship of our denomination by Redlands
radio preaching and is expected to be a pattern of radio             accepting them into their membership as announced
work specifically designed to fit in with our Mission                in the Dec. 26 bulletin. And, in addition to those listed
Program adopted by the `65 Synod.          The Mission               last time, Redlands' congregation witnessed the instal-
Board's recommendations adopted then are `in part,                   lation of their newly elected office bearers on Sunday
"We should have a certain goal in mind.... to em-                    morning, Jan. 2. Rev. Hanko's sermon was based on
phasize in unmistakeable terms the message we....                    I Peter. 5:1-4, under the theme, "The Calling to Feed
have and proclaim in distinction from and over against               the Flock".
all other churches and their messages...  .Have the                                               *  * *
radio committee adopt various general and pertinent                      Almost all of our bulletins now carry denominational
subjects to be treated in the broadcasts, and assign                 news, especially that of trios, calls, etc., and those
preachers to deal systematically and pertinently with                results -much sooner than you can find them on this
such subjects ." This newly adopted plan of action also              page 1
includes a change in advertising our radio work and                                               * * *
its specific message amidst the present-day Babel of                    The Protestant Reformed High School Circle sched-
r a d i o   v o i c e s .                                            uled a Jan. 24 meeting at Southwest Church. Miss
                             * *  *                                  Agatha Lubbers was to speak on, "Toward a Protestant
    Rev. C. Hanko, of Redlands, Calif., has been sched-              Reformed Philosophy of Education."
uled to lecture in our church in Hull, Iowa, Jan. 10.                                             ***
The program was sponsored by the Northwest Iowa                         Did you enjoy the picture and story of Forbes's
Protestant Reformed School Society. The subject of                   new church edifice in our Nov. 15 issue? We come
the lecture was, "The Need for Our Own School."                      to you  -- pastors  and/ov   clerks  of all our churches:
This assignment was possible because Rev. Hanko's                    Will you please send the editor of this page a good
attendance at a committee meeting in the area.                       black-and-white snapshot of your church, and a short
                             *  *  *                                 history thereof? We would especially appreciate this
    Oak Lawn's Tuesday evening catechism class is                    pictorial information from you who have recently built
beginning a comparative study of the Belgic Confessions              or bought new property. Your pictures will be published
and the Westminister Confession.                                     in the order that they arrive at this desk. Our denom-
                             *  *  *               : .;:.            ination is so small that it is more like a family, so let
    Rev. and Mrs. Vos vacated Hudsonville's parsonage                your brethren and sisters learn more about you so that
Jan. 12, moving across the street to their retirement                we may share your joys and thereby experience in a
home. This will give the Building Committee oppor-                   small measure the communion of saints.            Can we
tunity to give the parsonage the usual between-tenants               count on you?
redecorating. The Jan. 16th bulletin carried a "hearty                                            * *  *.
thanks" from Rev. and Mrs. Vos for "the wonderful                       A coincidence noted in Doon's Jan. 2 bulletin: Rev.
assistance" given by their people in that move.                      Decker, like Rev. Hanko in Redlands, alsochose Peter
                             ***                                     5:2-4 for his Installation of Office Bearer's sermon
    Did you attend the Mission  Board"s  sponsored                   on Sunday morning.
lecture at First Church in Grand Rapids Jan. 27? This                   .DO see you in church.                         J.M.F.


