                                    IIe



                                           earer


 A  REFORMED  SEMI-MONTHLY  MAGAZINE



IN  THIS  ISSUE:


       Meditation: Fearless Through the Valley


       Editorials: Further Critique of Graham's Teachings

                    The Nature of the Atonement: limited or General?


       No Smith iti Israel

                                            . .
       Denying The lord That Bought Them



                                        Volume  XLII/ Number  12/  March  15, 1966


266                                                                                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

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           Rev. J. Kortering
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   Further Critique of Graham's Teachings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268                                                            Commutications  relative to contents should  be addressed to
           Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, 1842 Plymouth Terrace, S.E., Grand
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                          M EDllATION-


                                                           Fearless Through The Valley

                                                                                                                                         by Rev. J.  Kortering


                                                  "Yea, though I walk through the valley  of  the shadow  of  death, I will  fear no
                                                  evil:  fov  thou art with  me;  thy rod and thy staff they  comfort  me."  Ps.  23:4

    A child left alone whimpers and cries.                                                                                                                       "valley of the shadow of death." Because the light of
    A child left alone in the dark howls and screams.                                                                                                            God's countenance shines upon our pathway we pass
    Do you "my little children" (I John  2:l) cry or                                                                                                             through the shadow of death and even then know that
scream?                                                                                                                                                          He is with us. We often cry in the midst of our lone-
    Your answer will tell you whether you are a child                                                                                                            liness, but each time the lamp of His Word illuminates
of God or a child of this world.                                                                                                                                 our darkness and we dry our tears and remain fear-
    Let me explain. According to the words of our text                                                                                                           less. This is quite different for the unbeliever whose
our pilgrimage is described as a passing through the                                                                                                             pilgrimage is a passing from death unto  death. The


                                               THE  STAND&d  BEARER                                                267

wicked can only weep and howl in their miseries ,both        so our sins come between God and us, blocking out the
in this life and that which is to come. They lie in          rays of His righteousness and grace. Literallywe pine
darkness.                                                    away and die in the shadow of death; Sin's shadow is
   How blessed it is to dwell in the light.                  death. Apart from the light of God's countenance we
   David was a shepherd. As he sat beside his sheep          lie in the midst of death; we are spiritually depraved.
whether in the quiet of early morn or in the reflecting      God has no delight in our depravity; he hates our every
moments of twilight, he played upon his harp and sang        sin. That's the terrible story of death. Our pilgrimage
the sweet melodies of praise. One of the songs David         is through such a valley. Constantly we are going down,
must have sung at such a time was this beloved Psalm.        we fall into sin and the power of death encircles us, we
This is a pastoral Psalm, bearing the reflections of a       are prone to halt and stumble, all of which finally ends
shepherd dwelling with his sheep.                            with our dying gasp as we descend into the deepest and
   This fact gives us  `a clue to understanding the          darkest portion of that valley.
imagery of our text.      If you take the time, you can         It's a fearful place. Let's not be so superficial and
transpose yourself mentally to the very scene. Night         claim that because we are children of God we are
is beginning to fall.    The prince of the heavens has       never afraid. It is because the Spirit knows that we
ruled for another day. His descent is in royal splendor      are so terribly afraid that He sends us the soothing
for he paints the heavens in purple and scarlet. What        assurance of our text. With the Spirit of God in our
a contrast from the valley1 We are wont to fix our           hearts we too can say, "I will fear no evil".    .
eyes upon the hills, but our Psalmist bids us look into        No doubt, we are afraid of many things. Be sure to
the valley. By now it is blanketed with night. Yonder        remember however, that this fear is peculiar to sheep.
jutting peak clasps in her glory the waning splendor of      Our text isn't speaking of all kinds of natural fear,
the day, under her shadow the valley sinks into dark-        though they are real. We are afraid of depression,
ness . How careful the shepherd must now be. In the          afraid of sickness, afraid of losing our job, war creates
darkness of the shadow of the mountain, danger lurks         fear, death. itself from a natural point of view instills
on every hand. The brittle silence is soon broken by         fear.    Yet, these things are not the "evils" of our
the piercing cry of the predatory wolf. The, sheep be-       text. They go much deeper. The fear mentioned here
come uneasy and bleat in naked fear. The shepherd            has to do with our safety as sheep in the fold of Christ.
understands and lovingly takes in his hand the harp and      It centers mainly in that shadow of death. We ask, will
begins to play and sing. As the notes flutter over the       we on account of our sins be taken away from the light
restless flock a marvelous change takes place, the           of God? Will death overcome us?
sheep, even the lambs come close to the shepherd.               That fear expresses itself in various ways. We
There is calm, for fear is gone when the familiar            know ourselves as creatures of the dust. Our old
voice of the shepherd is heard.                              nature is still so active. There lurks within us greed,
   The Psalmist saw in this nightly occurrence a             lust, envy, hatred and every evil work. In our sojourn
picture of our life as a pilgrimage through the valley       through this valley of death, sin has a terrible appeal.
of the shadow of death. This we must not forget. I           We are troubled with fear that God will punish us for
know these words have special meaning to the aged            sin- will He forsake us when we sin? The world
saint whose "keepers of the house tremble, and whose         which remains in the power of death, comes to us as
golden bowl is about to be broken." To all who stand         wolves. Sometimes the wicked identify themselves as
before that last enemy and descend into the bottom of        wolves, unashamedly telling us they eat, drink, and
this valley where the darkness is most intense and the       are merry, for tomorrow they die. More often they
way unknown, these words of faith are so precious, "I        come with a hypocritical cloak of a sheep, but within
will fear no evil, for thou art with me". Yet, these         are ravening wolves. We're afraid of them. Will we
words are no less true for a new-born babe, for each         yield to temptation? Are we going to be deceived by
one of us in our place in life. While we go to work          their pretense? Will we adopt their way of life, will we
each day, whether in the factory, in the home, in the        be deceived by the false prophet? What if we expose
school, or in the field, we go forth into the valley of      them for what they are? You know what happens then,
the shadow of death. We eat, we sleep, we grow up,           don't you? Rip from a wolf his outward cloak of piety,
we suffer, we pine away and die - all in the valley of       expose his spiritual shame and he becomes ferocious
the shadow of death.                                         in deadly hatred. History tells us many terrible stories
   God is the light of the sun. He is light and in Him       of what happens to the sheep who do that. They make
is no darkness at all. In the light of His countenance       us afraid.
purity, truth, and righteousness shine forth in all their       I will fear no evil1
splendor. He dwells in the light and hates darkness.            It would almost seem too bold.
   The mountain has come between God and us. That               There is a very good reason why the sheep of Christ
mountain is sin. Long ago our first parents rebelled         may say this. "Thou art with me". What a differ-
against the command of God and ever after have be-           ence. Our shepherd is close by.
gotten children conceived and born in sin. God is not           This becomes evident in the imagery of the text
pleased in sin.    He warned our first parents, "The         itself. A shadow assumes that light is present. If at
day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die".        night you turn out all the lights in your living room and
Our sins rise up against us prevailing day by day.           close the drapes, you can't find a shadow. The shadow
As the mountain peak blocks the full ray of sunlight,        of death which results from sin is principally only a


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER

shadow.        Principally our whole, life, the whole earth,    in order that He may sit down beside us in Spirit and
all mankind are bathed in the light of God. God's face          truth.
is as the light; remember Moses when he came down                   He is with us by His rod and staff. The shepherd's
from Sinai having spoken with God? He bore the re-              cane served. a double purpose. As a staff, he leaned
flection of God. - God's face is toward His people, he          upon it as he watched the sheep and softly sang to
shines upon us so that we are the light of the world,           them.      As a rod, he used the crook to lift up the en-
even as we wander through this valley of the shadow of          snared sheep, he nudged the sheep along the path, he
death.                                                          beat the wolves who threatened.
   God is light unto us through our Good Shepherd.                 That's, a picture of the preaching'of  the Word, the
Here is the heart of the Gospel. God so loved His               voice of the Good Shepherd calling His sheep. It's a
sheep that He sent His only begotten Son into our               picture of Christ attending to His needy sheep, whether
darkness  1      God knew that we could never liberate          they should be corrected, encouraged, or exhorted.
ourselves from death1 He sent His Son to do what we             Christ as the Good Shepherd dwells in the midst of His
could not do. That was a terrible mission that Christ           church calling and calming His frightened sheep.
had to fulfill. His path was not a shadow of death; He             Are you afraid? As .you wander through. this valley
had to descend into the valley of death! We tremble to          of death's shadow? As you suffer on a sick bed,. as
think of it. It was to make this clear to us, that God          you struggle with your flesh, as the inevitable power
also covered the cross in physical darkness. No one             of death draws you deeper into the valley, are you
can stand before the cross and deny this fact. Jesus            afraid? Afraid of the wolves? Afraid that as a help-
had prayed, "Father forgive them. for they know not             less sheep you may be lost somewhere in the dark
what they do." The answer from Father was dark-                 valley?      Afraid that God may forget you or that you
ness. That was the way of forgiveness. It was stony             may forget God?
silence while the Good Shepherd descended into the                 Look now, this pilgrimage is through the valley.
darkness of hell. While the waves and billows of wrath          I know that takes faith, the faith of sheep that know the
passed over Him, He cried out, "My God, my God why              Shepherd! Now, as you tend to be afraid of the dark,
hast thou forsaken me". That was the lowest depth in            listen. . . . .the voice of the Shepherd calls, "It is I,
the awful valley of death. That's hell.                         be not afraid". My rod and my staff are with you. I
   Jesus, the Good Shepherd, did that for you and me,           will protect you, I will guide your feet. I, who have
His sheep. He did that, not to die in hell, but to con-         overcome death's darkness for you, will never leave
quer death for us. The cross reverberated with the              nor forsake. My grace is sufficient for thee.
triumphant cry, "It is finished". The sun began to                 Fearless, let us pass through this valley. While
shine, light had the victory over darkness. Jesus died,         we work, while we carry on the cause of Jesus Christ,
not defeated, but victorious. If we have any doubt, we          while we suffer in body, or while we suffer for Christ's
need but gaze into the empty tomb and believe. Our              sake, let us press on.
death has been swallowed up in victory.                            Presently we shall reach the bottom of the valley,
   That Good Shepherd is now with us while we yet               but even then it will not be absolutedarkness, for there
tred our pathway through the valley of the shadow of            the light of victory shines. Our Shepherd will be with
death. I know He went to heaven, but He is with us in           us till presently we shall arise .beyond  the mountain of
a far more glorious way than He was with the disciples          sin, the shadow of death will be dissolved, and we shall
while He was on earth. Now He is crowned with power             behold our Shepherd face to face.
to direct all things for our deliverance, even from the            We shall ascend Zion's hill where the light never
shadow of death. Now He has received the Holy Spirit            fades.



          EDITORIAL-


                  Further Critique of Graham's Teachings

                                                 by Prof. H. C.  Hoeksema


   The reader will remember that some months ago I                  Partly through some correspondence with a  Calvin-
criticized an essay by Dr. Billy Graham on "The New             ist friend in England who was also interested in this
Birth." This essay was published by  Christianity               book of Graham, and partly, I suppose, out of a certain
Today  as one of a series of essays on "Fundamentals            innate curiosity and desire "to see for myself", I
of Faith." But the essay itself was excerpted from Dr.          purchased the book. I wanted to see whether the entire
Graham's recent book, "World Aflame."                           book was like the sample given `in the essay on "The


                                                THE  STA.MDARD  BEARER                                                  269

  New Birth."                                                    capable of doing any good, and inclined to all wicked-
      Well, it is, - and worse. And I am more convinced          ness?
  than ever that for Reformed churches to follow and                 "Indeed we are; except we are regenerated by the
  support Billy Graham's teaching and preaching is to            ~Spirit of God."
  commit ecclesiastical suicide.                                    Cr compare it with Canons III, IV, Article 1:
      But I will not stay with generalities.                         ". . ..but revolting-from God by the instigation of the
      I was particularly interested in discovering whether       devil, and abusing the freedom of his own will, he
  or not I had correctly judged Graham's doctrine of             forfeited these excellent gifts; and on the contrary
  the natural man when, I claimed that in his doctrine           entailed on himself blindness of mind, horrible dark-
  of the new birth. Graham denied that the natural man           ness, vanity and perverseness of judgment, became
  is totally depraved. I wanted to discover whether or           wicked, rebellious, and obdurate in heart and will, and
  not Dr. Graham expressed himself very plainly on the           impure in his affections."
  subject.                                                          Or again, compare it with Article 3 of the same
      And I discovered that he does so and that my               chapter of the Canons:
  evaluation was correct.                                            "Therefore all men are conceived in sin, and by
      Here is a sample. On page 73 under the heading,            nature children of wrath, incapable of saving good,
  "The Results of Sin," we read the following:                   prone to evil, dead in sin, and in bondage thereto, and
      "The totality of this infection is reflected in every      without the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit, they
  part of the Scriptures. It is reflected in every news-         are neither able nor willing to return toGod,  to reform
paper we read. It is reflected in every radio and tele-          the depravity of their nature, nor todispose themselves
  vision newscast.     Thus man is described as being            to reformation."
  totally depraved.     This does not mean that man is               This, of course, is one element in Graham's doctrine
  totally sinful, hopelessly and irreparably bad, without        and preaching which makes it possible for his message
  any goodness at all. It means that sin has infected the        to be. so popular with men: the sinner which Graham
  totality of man's life, darkening his intellect, enfeebling    preaches, though he apparently paints him in very dark
  his will, and corrupting his emotions. He is alienated         colors, is never so sinful that he is totally depraved,
  from God and in need of restoration. His natural, in-          never so hopelessly sinful that the only exception to
  stinctive inclinations are away from God and toward            his depravity is the wonder of absolutely sovereign
  sin."                                                          grace in regeneration.
      Take note of what Graham does here.                            Graham with all his supposed doctrine of total
      First of all, he leaves the impression of holding          depravity must leave room for what he writes a bit
  to the doctrine of total depravity. We may overlook            later in his book, p. 76:
  the fact that he does not come right out and say, so, but          "The need for spiritual rebirth is evident to the
  expresses himself rather obliquely, "Thus man is               most casual observer of human nature. Man has fallen.
  described as being.. . ." If the sentence stood all by         Man is lost.        Man is alienated from God.' Man's
  itself, we would surely be inclined to say, "Here is a         recovery must begin at the point of his fall. He chose
  Reformed man speaking."                                        self rather than God. If he is to be recovered, he must
      But wait a moment 1                                        choose God over self. Man lives under the sentence of
      No sooner has he penned these words than he hastens        death. This condemnation can be lifted only  if  man, by
  to add, "This does not mean that man is totally sinful,        a  free  act  of  his own will, makes a complete  #reversal
  hopelessly and irreparably bad, without any goodness           of his original choice." (emphasis supplied, H.C.H.)
  at all."                                                           I submit that this italicized statement is worse than
      In other words, the depravity is after all not total.      Arminianism: it is rank modernism  I
  Graham holds to a total depravity that is in reality               It is surely utterly contrary to the truthof  the Word
  only partial. He will grant that "the totality of man's        of God as it is set forth in Canons III, IV, B, 4, where
  life" `(whatever that may be; does he mean man's               the error is rejected of those:
  nature?) is infected with sin.       But this "totality of         "Who teach: That the unregenerate man is not
  man's life" is not totally sinful. It is not hopelessly        really nor utterly dead in sin, nor destitute of all powers
  and ir'reparably bad. There is indeed some goodness            unto spiritual good, but that he can yet hunger and
  in it.                                                         thirst after righteousness and'life, and offer the sacri-
      Now apart from the fact that this has historically         fice of a contrite and broken spirit, which is pleasing
  never been the meaning of the expression "total de-            to God. For these are contrary to the express testi-
  pravity," it certainly is not the Reformed doctrine of         mony of Scripture. `Ye were dead through trespasses
  total depravity set forth in our confessions. Just com-        and sins.' Eph. 2:1, 5; and, `Every imagination of the
  pare this with the language of our Heidelberg Catechism,       thoughts of his heart is only evil continually,' Gen. 6:
  Question and Answer 5:                                         5; 8:21.
      "Canst thou keep all these things perfectly?                   ` LMoreover,  to hunger and thirst after deliverance
      "In no wise; for 1. am prone by nature to hate God         from misery, and after life, and to offer unto God the
  and my neighbor."                                              sacrifice of a broken spirit, is peculiar to the regener-
      Or compare Graham's "total depravity" with that            ate and those that are called blessed. Psalm 51:10, 19;
  of .Question and Answer 7:                                     Matthew 5:6."
      "Are we then so corrupt that we are' wholly in-               Now remember that. I am not writing here about


270                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

something very incidental in Graham's preaching, but             All of the above adds up to this: Graham's gospel
something fundamental.        This is a key element in        is not the gospel of free grace.
Graham's book and in all his preaching. Just put this            Incidentally, I would like my Missionary Monthly
to a test. Every time Graham writes or speaks of the          critic, Dr. Jerome De Jong, to state unequivocally
sinner, of an evil world, of man's lostness, man's            whether he agrees with Dr. Graham on this matter
fallenness, man's alienation, supply in a mental note         or with our Reformed confessions. It is either...or.
these words: "but not totally sinful," or, "but not           And if he cannot agree with Graham, - as I would hope,
hopelessly and irreparably bad," or, "but not without         - then he is disagreeing with one of the most fundamental
any goodness at all," or, "but not so sinful that he          elements in Graham's preaching.           And then he can
cannot, by a free act of his own will, make a complete        hardly support him and defend him.
reversal of his original choice."                                How about it?


         EDITORIAL-

                    `THE NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT:
                                         limited or General?

                                                by  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema

THE ATONEMENT IS VICARIOUS                                    mentioned. Usually one hears the expression "vicar-
       The above statement sets forth the second main         ious atonement" more often, say, than the expression
element in the Reformed doctrine of the nature of the         "satisfactory atonement." And to be sure, this is a
atonement.                                                    very precious element in the truth of the atonement.
       Let me remind the reader that we are answering         Our Lord Jesus Christ is our Vicar, our Substitute1
this question: is the atonement of Christ in its ve?-y        While, therefore, the element of satisfaction is the key
nature  limited, particular? We are considering this          to the whole concept of the atonement, it is also true
question, remember, in connection with Dr. James              that the element of substitution is an indispensable
Daane's lengthy and at times rather ill-defined review        link in the chain.       Without it, satisfaction would be
and defense of Prof. Harold Dekker's position on the          abstract, would have no real significance. For the truth
general love of God and the universal atonement of            is that we ourselves, as the confessions repeatedly
Christ. Dr. Daane denies that the atonement is in its         emphasize, could not make the satisfaction of God's
very nature limited; and he maintains, on the contrary,       justice which constitutes the key element of atonement.
that the atonement is in its very nature unlimited. In-       Substitution, therefore, is absolutely necessary. It be-
deed, as far as the atonement is concerned, the entire        longs to the very essence of the atonement.
discussion boils down to this crucial question. Hence,           The method of treatment followed will be the same.
in this series of articles we are examining and, setting      We shall turn, first, to the confessions as the adopted
forth the Reformed and Scriptural view of the nature          and established expression of the Reformed faith con-
of the atonement, - something which Dr. Daane neglected       cerning the atonement, in order to note what they
to do in any systematic way, at least in as far as I have     have to say on this element of substitution. Therefore
been able to discern in his articles in the Reformed          we shall turn to Scripture itself, in order to observe
Jownal.       Indeed, it seems to me to be of absolute        the harmony of our confessions with theinspired Word.
necessity in discussing this question to discuss that         This we must do, not because the substitutionary
nature'.of the atonement, first of all, and to determine      character of the atonement has been directly called in
what belongs to that  nature.                                 question in the "Dekker Case" or by Dr. Daane, but
       Thus far I have maintained, -and supported from        because it must be demonstrated to be an integral part
Scripture and the Reformed Confessions, -that the key         of the doctrine of the atonement, an element that is
element in the nature of the atonement of Christ is           inevitably involved as soon as the atonement comes
satisfactionI.                                                under consideration and as soon as the atonement comes
       Now we are ready to prove and to discuss the second    under attack.
element, namely, that the atonement is vicarious, or             From a practical point of view, we should constantly
substitutionary.. This is the .element  that is better        keep that last remark in mind in this entire discussion.
known and may even be said to have. been popularized          The doctrine of the atonement is, ultimately, one and
in the expression "vicarious atonement." Usually this         indivisible.     Attack it at any one point, and essentially
vicavioua aspect is the first to be mentioned and             you attack the whole precious doctrine of the atonement.
thought of when the doctrine of the atonement is              Ultimately the entire truth of the atonement is at stake.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    271

Our fathers discerned this clearly in the Arminian             interwoven.     In Question and Answer 12, when the
controversy, and we should imitate them in this. From          Catechism insists on the divine necessity of the
that point of view, there has been far too much~ of a          satisfaction of justice, it introduces at least the al-
leisurely approach in the case at hand and far too little      ternative of a substitute when it says: "and therefore
alarm, both at the officia 1 ecclesiastical level and          we must make this full satisfaction, either by our-
among the people in general.                                   selves, OY by another." (emphasis mine, H.C.H.) Then,
   It is to be hoped that the committee that has been          after ruling out the possibility of satisfaction by our-
studying this case for almost two years not only               selves in Question and Answer 13, the Catechism turns
furnishes the Christian Reformed Synod thorough work           to this possibility of a substitute, not to teach directly
and sound leadership, but also has the courage to sound        the idea of substitution, but in order to bring out what
the alarm. For the issue is more than academic!                kind of mediator-substitute we need. But for our dis-
   And now let us turn to the confessions.                     cussion at present we merely want to note the fact that
                                                               throughout this discussion the idea of a substitute is
THE CONFESSIONS ON SUBSTITUTION                                current. Thus, in Question 14, the question is whether
   It is not surprising that the same passages of the          there can be found any mere creature "able to satisfy
confessions which speak of satisfaction also speak of         1 for us." (emphasis mine) Moreover, the answer to this
the vicarious, or substitutionary, character of the            question, though it makes no direct mention of a sub-
atonement.    `For these two elements are intimately           stitute, must nevertheless be understood as referring
related, as I have already suggested  inmy introductory        to such satisfaction by substitution when it speaks of a
remarks.                                                       mediator being such that he can "sustain the burden
   We find this to be the case, first of all, in the           of God's eternal wrath against sin, so as  to deliver
Heidelberg Catechism. Already in the lengthy discus-           others  from  it."    (emphasis mine) This "to deliver
sion of the necessity of satisfaction and the require-         others from it" is by satisfying God's justice for them,
ments of the Mediator, beginning with Lord's Day V,            i.e., as a substitute.
these two elements, satisfaction and substitution, are                                                 (To be continued)



      FROM HOLY WRIT-


                  Our Brother's Burden and Our Own

                                                    by Rev. G.  Lubbers


A Man Overtaken in a Trespass  (Galatiuns   6:l)
   Paul states the matter' here very carefully and             them by saying: ye know not of what manner of spirit
succinctly. This was indeed necessary in the situation         ye are of I Jesus had set his face steadfastly to go to
in Galatia. There was the sin of using liberty in Christ       Jerusalem to die on the Cross. His calling is quite
as an occasion for the flesh. (Galatians 5:13-15) They         different from that of Elijah on  Car-n-ml. His is the
did not practice sufficiently the truth that the entire        still small voice heard at the holy mount of God. And
law is fulfilled in one word, namely, thou shalt love          it is the still small voice which alone can cope with a
thy neighbor as thyself I Hence, they were biting and          situation when a man is overtaken in a fault!
devouring one another. And the danger was not imagi-               What does it mean to be "overtaken in a fault"?
nary that they would be consumed one of the other. In          The Greek term is "trespass". Paul does not speak
such an atmosphere it would be dangerous not to state          of a man who walks in sin. The term here means that
a delicate matter carefully, and within its proper             a man sins, has overstepped the line. He may have
proportions and limitations.                                   sinned against any of the commandments. He did not
   The ,apostle employs a conditional sentence. If a           walk in love as he ought to have. It seems that Paul
man be overtaken in a fault. This is wholly possible           is referring to a single instance, anincident, which was
in the church of Christ on earth. When this happens            disturbing to the church. In this he was "overtaken".
then the situation must be remedied not as would have          Some interpreters would hold that -this being "over-
done the sons of thunder, John and James, the sons of          taken" means that his sin and guilt are established be-
Zebedee. They would have had fire come down from               yond any shadow of a doubt. He is already convicted.
heaven to consume the Samaritans who would not re-             Other, however, explain this to mean that a man was
ceive `Jesus enroute  to Jerusalem. The Lord chides            overtaken by a fault. He fell into temptation. He was


272                                           THESTXifDARDBEARER

tempted somehow- by the Devil, the world and his own             What is meekness? Is it not the deep confidence
flesh. He did not give strong resistance through the         that God alone is the Judge, and that he will reward
Holy Spirit.       The result is that he was surprised,      the righteous and punish evil-doers?        Meekness is
looking back, that he committed what he did. It was          spiritual strength. Wherefore Paul would rather come
a rude awakening for him. Suddenly he sees the full          with meekness, the spirit of meekness, than to come
implication of his trespass !                                with the rod.
   There is something very delicate. in Paul's speak-            Remember that a man must restore another man!
ing of a "man" being overtaken in a fault. We all are        Well, then, let it be done in the spirit of meekness 1
sinners.    We are but- man! And sin so easily besets
us. We all stumble in many. There is here a warning          YE WHO ARE SPIRITUAL. (Galatians 6:l)
finger which none of the genus, called man, can fail to          It is the. duty of the church to restore a brother
heed. Human sins, human faults in all of human rela-         overtaken in a fault. But not all in the churchare able
tions -even in the church. This is true whether we           to restore a brother. Only those who are spiritual.
be male or female, bond or free, Greek or Barbarian1         This does not mean that those who are not able to
And even though such faults cannot gounheeded, it must       restore are carnal. But Paul speaks to those who are
not surprise us too greatly when a "man" is overtaken        and claim to be spiritual.      "Ye who are spiritual"
in a fault1 And this man might be you, or it might be        says Paul. This means that. such are not only living
I1 Surely this is already food for s.anctified thought.      by the Spirit but are also walking in the Spir,it. They
                                                             are not challenging each other and vying with each
RESTOREDINTHESPIRITOFMEEKNESS-
(Galatians 6:l)                                              other for position and for prestige and vain-glory1
                                                             They walk according to the rule: love is the fulfillment
   It is a very delicate task to restore a brother who       of the law of God !
has been overtaken in a fault. The term in the Greek             The Devil cannot cast out the Devil. He is not di-
is an exhortation in the present tense. Restore such         vided in his kingdom against himself. Well, then, the
a one and keep `on doing so! The verb in the Greek is        flesh cannot cast out flesh, the evil in the church and
` `katartizein," which is a verb which is used of fisher-    restore a brother overtaken in a fault! It is for this
men who are mending the rend in their net. (Mathew           reason that Paul says: ye who are spiritual1
4:21) Evidently, the rend here is twofold in the case            But, then, a warning is uttered1
of a man overtaken in a fault. There is, first of all,
the rend in the man's soul and conscience. He is em-         THEGREATPIT-FALL INRESTORINGANERRING
barrassed, humiliated; he feels the deep need of a           BROTHER. (Galatians 5:lb)
merciful understanding of his sin and plight. The                The great pit-fall in restoring an erring brother is
finger is pointed at him of his own conscience before        that in the act and process of so doing we are tempted
the Lord. But that is not so bad. He knows that the          to sin. Doctors and nurses must be very careful about
Lord understands  !      But he must also know that the      becoming contaminated with the very disease they are
brethren understand and sympathize with him even as          combatting. Many a scientist has died from the results
does our merciful High-Priest. This requires deep            of his own scientific endeavors and explorations. Many
and pitying sympathy1 However, this restoration is           a man who has attempted to rescue a drowning man
also such that he must be restored in the congregation.      himself became a drowning victim in the attempt, and
The unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace has been        sad to say, two men drownedinsteadof one being saved!
disrupted. And the rend must be restored, the offense        The rescuers in a burning building must, while they
must be removed, depending upon the nature of the            are going about their business, give heed to themselves 1
trespass1 And sadness must be replaced with joy and              Writes Paul, crisp and clear: taking heed to thy-
gladness. There must be joy not only in the church,          self I
but. even there must be rejoicing by the angels in               There are two things which we ought to notice here.
heaven, who do always behold the face of our Father.         The first is that Paul changes from the "ye restore" to
   Such restoration must and can only be brought             "take heed to thyself". He enjoins this in the singular
about "in the spirit of meekness." Scripture often           number. Secondly, we ought to notice that this taking
speaks of meekness as a Christian virtue of great            heed must ever be simultaneous with the restoring of
price and which is of great value beforeGod. And Paul        the brother. Satan enjoys a shining target. He delights
knows how to admonish to walk in this spirit. Such           in nothing more than that the operation of the restoring
meekness is the very opposite of coming in a harsh,          of the brother be defeated and that he can add another
censorious, sharp and castigating manner. It is the          man to his list of tempted ones I You sally forth to
tender concern of a shepherd for his sheep which has         restore the brother, to be a mender of souls? Watch
gone astray. It is as tender as a nurse, full of bowels      out for the Tempter1 This is a delicate business, to be
of compassion, and which prays for our own enemies.          a restorer of souls! Our battle is not against flesh and
Does not Paul himself write how he is deeply con-            blood, but against principalities, against powers, against
cerned about the Galatians that he can say, "of whom         the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spir-
I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you"?     itual wickedness in high places.
(Galatians 4:19) For is this Christ not meek and lowly
of heart? (Matthew 11:29) Is he not the King who is          FULFILLING THE.LAW  OF CHRIST (Galatians 6:2)
meek and lowly, riding upon the foal of an ass?              There are burdens in life which- must be borne.


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   273

Cain said: am I my brother's keeper? The Christian                 interests and obligations.       It finds employment and
says; let us bear one another's burdens.             We. are       discipline for the energy of Christian freedom, in
members of each other in Christ. He is the Head and                yoking it to the service of the overburdened. It re-
we are members of His body. Each has his own place                 veals the dignity and privilege of moral strength,
in life.      Each has brethren placed about him in this           which consists not in enjoyment of its own superiority,
valley of tears.                                                   but in its power to bear `the infirmities of the weak'.
   This is the predominant motif in restoring the                  This was the glory of Christ `who pleased not himself'.
brother who is overtaken in a fault. That makes for a              (Rom. 15:1-4)        The Giver of the law is its great
spirit of meekness. In this bearing of one another's               Example. `Being in the form of God' He `took the form
burden we see a law. It is the law of the Spirit of life           of a servant' . . . . . ; He became obedient unto death
in Christ Jesus. It is a rule of faith which works by              of the Cross. (Phil. 2:1-8). . . . .There  is no limit to
love. It is called here "the law of Christ". It is that            the service which the redeemed brotherhood of Christ
which was exhibited by Christ in the washing of the feet           may expect from its members" Let us not forget that
by Jesus in the upper room in the night in which Jesus             when I could have helped my brother in aiding him in
was betrayed. Pure and undefiled religion before God               bearing his crushing load, and did not, I have failed in
is to visit widows and orphans in. their affliction and to         fulfilling the law of Christ; I have not done so unto the
keep ourselves unspotted from the world. That is ful-              least of Christ's brethren.
filling  -the law of Christ.      It is the very opposite of           Says Jesus: Amen, Amen I say unto you, The servant
biting and devouring one another.                                  is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent
   Writes the Rev. G.G. Findlay "This law (of Christ               greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things,
G.L.) makes the Church one body, with a solidarity of              blessed are ye if ye do them! (John 13:16,17)




         A CLOUD OF  WITNESSES-



                                       No Smith In  Israel

                      Now there was no smith found  throughout  all the land  of  Israel:  for  the  Phil-
                      istines said, Let the  Hebrews make them  swords   OY  spears.
                                                                                          I Samuel  13:19

                                                    by Rev. B. Woudenbevg

   After the victory at Jabesh-Gilead, Saul was at last            thousands, but he was satisfied to select only three
established as king in Israel. Now, he was recognized              thousand of the most capable and to send the rest back
as king by all of the people; and now he began in the              to their homes. This was a force small enough for him
capacity of a leader as was expected of a king.Samuel              to control while he himself was still learning the
had taken advantage of the enthusiasm of the people                principles of battle.      Besides, although he was not
to call them again to Gilgal and to remind them there of           perhaps so conscious of it himself, this was quite in
the responsibility which was theirs as a peculiar people           accord with the assurances of God from the day of
before Jehovah; and, when his words were punctuated                Moses that Israel need not rely upon the strength of
by a miraculous storm in the heavens, the people                   numbers; He would be their defense.
were ready to acknowledge the correctness of what he                   Still, the army which Sau 1 gathered behind him
said.       Moreover, Saul, still struck with awe by the           could only have been at best a motley force, .for there
wonderful way in which God had given him a great                   was no smith in Israel. It was the Philistines' doings.
victory, forgot for a time his personal ambitions and              From the early days of Samson on, they had dominated
allowed wisdom to guide him. Not only did he forgive               the land of Israel, and they had been quite clever in
those who had hesitated in supporting him, but he began            the way that they did it. Rather than ravaging the land
to work toward the establishing of an army, as he                  and laying it waste with unnecessary tyranny, they
should have at the very beginning.                                 had been satisfied to bleed it slowly. In fact, for a
   It was part of the wisdom of Saul that also in this             time they had even convinced most of the people that
latter move he kept his ambitions `within reasonable               they were really the friends of Israel and not their
bounds. He sent forth a call throughout Israel for men             enemies-that is, until Samson succeeded in demon-
to come and form a force behind him. Many came, even               strating to the children of Israel how wicked and


                                               THESTANDARDBEARER

unjust the Philistines really were. And now the people        Although his victory at Jabesh had been great, this one
knew. Time and again the Philistines had swept through        was much more significant, for the Philistines, much
the land, taking the best of their products for themselves    more than the Ammonites, were the real enemy of
and leaving the children of Israel only enough for            Israel. Now it had been proved that even against them
them to subsist, but nothing more. At the same time           the army of Israel could be effective. Quickly mes-
they had taken good care to prevent the children of           sengers were sent throughout the land to tell everyone
Israel from doing anything about it. From them they           what had happened. Honesty should have compelled
had taken every sword and spear and weapon of every           Saul to give to. Jonathan the credit for the battle; but
kind that could be used for war. Even more, they had          he felt that he needed bolstering in his position as
carried away or murdered every man who was practiced          king, and so the message as it went out was, "That
in the smith's trade and who might be able to fashion         Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines." Al-
new weapons to replace the old. All that was left the         ready again the inner pride and ambition of Saul was
children of Israel was the tools which they needed in         beginning to speak.
house and field if they were to raise more goods that            Neither, however, was this the end of the matter.
the Philistines could come again and take. The result         Before this time, the Philistines had refused to take
was that when Saul gathered his first three thousand          Saul seriously. They had not particularly cared when
men together they may well have been a fine looking           Israel had made themselves a king, nor even when
group of men, but their weapons were at best scythes,         Saul had gathered a force of men behind him. They
kitchen knives, sticks and staves, and the like of that.      were quite sure that he would be pretty much helpless
In all the land of Israel spears and swords were found        before their overwhelming strength. But now suddenly
only for Saul and Jonathan his son, no more. The rest         the situation had become quite different. They had
could only carry the tools they had.                          lost a whole garrison of men at Geba, and that was not
   Surprisingly, this had been sufficient at the battle       something which they could ignore. They saw Saul to
of Jabesh.    Saul and his men had attacked the Am-           be an enemy, an abomination which had to be taken
monites in the morning's dusk and had routed them             care of immediately. Quickly they gathered their forces,
before they had been able to see how poorly armed the         30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and a multitude of
Israelites were. But now Saul knew as did all of the          foot-soldiers without number. So they moved into the
Israelites that if they were going to proceed with the        land.
establishing of a real kingdom, they would have to               Saul, too, felt the seriousness of the situation. He
meet the Philistines next, and no such surprise tactics       had taken the credit for Jonathan's victory, but now
were going to work on them. In fact, the more they            there remained also the responsibility of the con-
thought about it the more hopeless the whole situation        sequences. Once again the call went out to all Israel,
seemed to become. Slowly and patiently Saul began             for it was evident that now a mere three thousand men
to train his army. He placed one thousand men under           would never suffice.       From all corners of the land
his young son Jonathan, and two thousand he kept under        the people came to join the forces of Saul. The time
himself. They trained, but morale was not high, and           had come when they would have to do battle or the king-
as time went on it fell lower. Saul just did not see          dom would be lost.
how they could do anything against the Philistines, and          But to actually go out to battle was another thing.
his men knew it.                                              The fact remained that the forces of Israel, no matter
   It was Jonathan who disrupted the situation. As yet        how great, were nothing compared to the army of the
he was still a very young man, hardly more than a boy;        Philistines.     Besides, the Philistines were seasoned
but he was basically different than his father. Saul had      fighters and their weapons were of the best, while the
never been a religious man; Jonathan was. Somehow,            children of Israel had not fought for years and their
in spite of the indifference of his father, Jonathan had      weapons were only the tools of the field. But what
learned about the great victories won by Israel in the        troubled them more than anything else was the fact that
past under Moses and Joshua and men like Gideon. He           Saul was still no real leader. Once the people had
understood, moreover, that those victories had not been       come, he hardly knew what to do with them. He was not
due to the greatness of Israel's armies but to the power      even a true Israelite at heart and could not as much as
of Israel's God. Thus he was not dismayed as the rest         encourage them to trust in theLord.  He could only walk
were by the fewness of their present numbers nor by           among them and say that something had to be done but
the paucity of their weaponry. He was quite convinced         never coming to the point of telling them what. It
that they had more than enough to overcome the forces         brought them to the point of despair, and without anyone
of the Philistines if only the blessing of God would go       to encourage them and guide them aright, the people
with them. Thus on a certain occasion, while he was           began to fear for their own lives. Gradually the num-
alone with his thousand men at Gibeah, he took them           bers began to disappear as one by on e the people
and marched directly against a whole garrison of the          searched out for themselves hiding places in caves and
Philistines meeting them in battle at Geba. It surely         thickets, among rocks and bushes, in pits and on moun-
must have appeared a rash andfoolishmove, one before          tain tops, anywhere where they could be safe from the
which many older and more experienced men shudder,            Philistines.     By waves of fear the army of Israel was
but Jonathan went in faith and in the strength of             washed aside.
Jehovah he received a great victory.                             No one knew this better than Saul. It was a situation
   For Saul, this was at last the opportunity he needed.      with which he could not cope. Oh, somehow he knew


                                              THESTANDARDBEARER                                                   275

that the only answer to it lay with Jehovah, Israel's        .although  he had never done it before. Besides, if he
God. He had even searched out Samuel and talked to           did it, then there would be no doubt that the victory was
him.    Samuel's directions were very explicit. Saul         completely his; he wouldn't have to share the glory.
should wait seven days, and then he would come and           Quickly the orders were given, and Saul theunbelieving
sacrifice to God for him; after that they could go on to     king was found sacrificing to God.
battle, At first for Saul, this was a relief. It meant          No sooner was this finished than Samuel was there.
that he had a whole week in which he would not have to       Boldly Saul went to meet him. Underneath he knew
act. But the interim he only wasted. Instead of using        that what he had done was not going to set welc but
it to assure the people that Samuel was coming to            no matter, his words would make amends. To Samuel
sacrifice for them and so insure their victory, he only      he said, "Because I saw that the people were scattered
walked about silently, moodily waiting, and the people       from me, and that thou camest not within the days
continued to disappear. When at last the week drew           appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves
toward its close, he was at his wits end. He could wait      together at Michmash, therefore said I, The Phil&tines
no longer. Something had to be done, and quickly.            will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not
   To the mind of Saul, this whole matter of God and         made supplication' unto the LORD: I forced myself there-
sacrifice and prayer had begun to seem like some sort        fore, and offered a burnt offering."
of magic. In his earlier days he would have dismissed           But Samuel was not one to waste his time with
the whole thing as foolishness; but now he was really        shallow excuses. The words fell from his lips like a
beginning to think there must be something to it. He         knell of death, "Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not
was quite sure that at the moment the sacrifice was          kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he
offered some sort of miracle was sure to happen,             commanded thee: for now would the LORD have estab-
dissolving the power of the Philistines and driving them     lished thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. But now
all away. Early on the seventh day he was up looking         thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought
for Samuel, waiting for the miracle to take place.           him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath
Minute by minute, he waited until morning stretched on       commanded         him to be captain over his people,
till noon and then into mid-afternoon. But by then his       because thou hast not kept that which the LORD com-
patience was exhausted. If all that it would take was a      manded thee." Those were words that Saul would
sacrifice, why couldn't he offer it himself? Why should      never be able to forget, his fondest dream, so long
he have to wait for that old prophet who maybe wouldn't      cherished and so very close to realization, would
show up anyway? He was sure that there was nothing           never be fulfilled.' He would never be Israel's real and
so complicated about this matter of offering a sacrifice,    enduring king.



                  IN  HIS  FEAR-





   Very seldom will you find a soldier who chooses           martialed. He will be held responsible for any damage
guard duty.                                                  occurring during his moments wherein he was remiss
   It is a responsible position and an extremely im-         in his duty. While on guard duty there is no time for
portant one. But that will not entice a man to seek it       tomfoolery and levity. It is a deadly serious business.
and to prefer it. Without a guard the enemy catches          Even in the training camp with a view to the deadly
us unawares.     In the stillness of the night he would      seriousness on the battlefield and in time of war, it
come to infiltrate for later advantage or to kill and        will go hard with that trainee who is negligent while on
destroy weapons and installations. The enemy never           guard duty. Let him admit one without the password,
comes to do you any good. And when he cannot deceive         and it will go hard with him upon discovery of such
by a sweet smile, he will try to attack when he can          failure to take his position with the seriousness that it
catch you unawares.                                          demands. Even the soldiers who guarded so foolishly
   Guard duty is important!                                  the tomb of Jesus were in terror, not only because of
   The lives of all in camp, the victory in the coming       what they had seen when the angel appearedin heavenly
battle and even the outcome of the war itself require a      glory but also because the tomb was empty. They knew
secure guard and demand a vigilant and ever alert            that they stood in danger of the death penalty. And the
guard; The guard sleeping at his post will be court-         silly lie had to be spread to protect them that the


276                                           THE STANDARD BEARER

disciples stole His body while they slept. And if they           And you, who also must be on guard duty?
were sleeping, how did they know that it' was the                We live in the night of sin and death which compli-
disciples? But they and the wicked Jews were desper-          cates matters and in fact makes it necessary for us
ate, and this was the only lie that they could manufacture    to be on guard. As regenerated children of God with
at the moment. Their fear does underscore the serious-        the life which is from above within us and surrounded
ness of being on guard and of not protecting as is re-        by the enemy' that can only seek to destroy us and get
quired.                                                       the victory over us, are we on guard? We have guard
    But there is danger in guard duty!                        duty that is extremely important. We have a tremen-
   Night is the time for sleep. The darkness is con-          dously responsible position in this world. We have
ducive to sleep and extra measures of vigilance are           something extremely precious to preserve. And as
necessary for one in good health to remain awake.             soldiers of the cross of Christ we are also admon-
Sleep is natural at night for the healthy. Watchfulness       ished in Scripture to be sober and to watch unto
requires efforts not called for to that measure in the        prayer. We are exhorted to be vigilant and not to be
daylight.     Guard duty then at night is more difficult      drunken with the pleasures and treasures of this world.
than in the daytime and is very, very seldom chosen           We are counseled to put on the whole armour of God
by the soldier. Then too, there is the matter of the          and to STAND I
difficulty of seeing the enemy in the dark. He hides in          But are we as parents on guard? Are our children
the shadows.      You cannot see him, but he sees you.        an easy mark for the heretic and for Satan's barbs
You cannot aim your rifle at him, but he can draw a           because we are remiss, in our guard duty? Are we
bead on you. You do not know that he is there, but he         asleep and doing that which is natural, sleeping when
knows where you are. You are ever watchful for his            we should be vigilant 7 Is the enemy watching us while
approach but do not see the approach.         He is ever      we are dulled in our senses by gold and silver, houses
watchful of you waiting for your unguarded moment or          and land, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, too
laxity. Who would deliberately choose to be on guard          busy making our hoard of gold and silver, too con-
in the midst of the battle and. in the darkness of the        cerned with social and financial position and standing
night ?                                                       for ourselves and our children that we have forgotten
    The same thing holds true even in peace and in our        the battle and' that we are on guard duty by a solemn
civilian life;     Business establishments, factories,        and inescapable call from God Himself?
schools, financial institutions and the like have their          You read all too often in your newspapers that the
night watchmen who are on guard in the darkness of            children get into the medicine cabinet and swallow a
the night.     And all of the above applies to them as        handful of aspirin tablets or some sleeping pills. The
well. They are exposed while the thief is hidden. They        child must be rushed to the hospital. All of a sudden
often make a clear target for the intruder who cannot         the parent realizes that he was not on guard and was
be seen.                                                      not watchful of his child's physical wellbeing. Anxiety
                                                              grips the heart as the ambulance screams its way
    Because of the fall of man we need such night             through the slow traffic and the child's color changes
watchmen and guards. We are in the night of sin and           and his condition plainly is changing for the worse.
death, and that does not help. What a commentary on           Vows upon vows are made to be more careful from
man's spiritual condition that we need watchmen,              now on, if only the child does not die! Fear and self-
guards, policemen to walk their beat and private de-          reproach seem to dictate more caution in the future.
tectives.     The need is becoming greater rather than           0 that parents today in the Church of Jesus Christ
diminishing. There was no need in paradise. There             would be as interested in the spiritual health and safety
will be no need in the new Jerusalem. Did you not             of their children as they are in their physical well-
note in Revelation 21 that there is no night there? And       being!- Usually they are too busy to try to find out what
that the gates of the city are not shut at all: for there     their children are being taught, where they go and
is no night there? There will be no evildoer left on the      what they do. Or being aware that all is not well, that
earth. They will all be in the lake of fire out of which      their children are not only exposed to heresies and
they can never climb. But in between paradise and             open advocating of practices which are far from
the new Jerusalem guards and watchmen - even upon             Christian, they do nothing about it in the hope that
the walls of Zion, see Ezekiel 33 - are not only neces-       their children will not contract the disease.
sary but increasingly necessary. As the population               After all, guard duty is not pleasant, and here one
of the earth increases, as man develops. in sin, as           exposes himself to attack1 You will lose friends(  ?) by
the earth becomes smaller, we find- that men would            seeking to shield your children from the lie and evil.
rather speak of police duty on foreign soil than to call      Jesus said it. He said that you may lose your closest
it war, Man wants to get away from the prediction of          relatives and be alienated from them. He did not - as
God that there will be. wars and rumors of wars; and          the Prince of Peace - promise the peace of which men
it does not `sound so bad-except to the loved ones            speak today. He spoke of war and of total war and of
whose beloved are slain-to call it  .police duty. But         guard duty of the most serious sort. Remember the
it shows the curse and the development of sin. It also        admonition to be sober and to watch (Mark  13:37;
shows that guarding has' spread far beyond the mere           I Peter 4:7; I Peter 5:8 etc.), and be not drunk with
watching of one man for the safety of his own family          the pleasures and treasures of this world and with the
and preservation of his own possessions.                      idea of peace pn this earth that cannot be achieved and


                                                THESTANDARDBEARER                                                    277

  is only a pipe dream of man. Sober up in the consid-        you love your children you will be doubly on guard in
  eration of Jesus' words in Matthew lo:34 ff., "Think        this day. If you love God more than your children, you
 not that I am come to send peace on the earth: I come        will, no matter how dark the' night and no matter how
 not to send peace but a sword. For I am come to set          many friends(?) are going to take a shot at you for
  a man at variance against his father, and the daughter      your watchfulness while on this guard duty, you will
  against her mother, and the daughter in- law against        resist, fight, and reveal the enmity of a life of regen-
  her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of        eration against the lie and evil practices.
  his own household. He that loveth father and mother            The same holds true for the churches and their
  more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth        officebearers.    The guards have been withdrawn, even
  son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."          though it is yet the night of sin and death, in so many
  No, you do not like to hurt the feelings of the one who     churches. An attitude of friendship is sought against
  is misleading and teaching your children the lie and        defenders of the lie and the services of men with evil
  advocating evil practices. You would rather look the        practices are sought for lectures, chapel speeches,
  other way and enjoy peace. But is that love to God?
  And is it even love to your children?                       "moral" pep talks and the like. The churches either
     Did God not declare at the very dawn of history          advocate seeking the amusements they in their wicked-
  that He would divide the. whole human race into two         ness produce or look the other way and "see no harm
  distinct classes from a spiritual point of view by the      in them" instead of investigating and condemning them
  work of regeneration? Did he not predict to the devil       in the light of the Word.
  who was still inside the serpent that His Church would         Churches are too busy with building projects, with
  have the victory because He would send The Seed of          social prestige, with politics (in which they should not
  the Woman to instill hatred of sin in the hearts of His     meddle) to be on guard for the truth and a righteous
. people (the seed of the woman) and ,that there would be     walk.    To make a name in this life and in this world
  a constant battle through all the ages?                     occupies the time and effort of many a church so that
     Where is that battle?                                    guard duty is out of order and abandoned. Yet God has
     Where are the guards in each quarter.of this uni-        not changed and His word in Ezekiel 33 is still in force,
  versal battle field? 0, they are out looking for peace?     "So thou, 0 son of man, I have set thee a watchman
                                                              unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the
  Peace with the enemy?!! They have sent their children       word at my mouth, and warn them from me."
  over to the enemy to be indoctrinated. Do you think
that your children are going to become immune by                 The enemy is still there. And he is still the enemy
  association with the lie?      They will not! They will     as bitter and evil as Satan in paradise. He is watching
  learn to look for peace between the Church and the          you, even though you have deigned not to watch him.
  world. They will absorb the lie. And remember that          Physically, as far as our standing in this world and
  the lie is most dangerous in its finest points. Satan       even our life is concerned it is dangerous to be on
  cannot attack the child of God who is clad with the         this spiritual guard duty. You will suffer and will be
  whole armour of God by using a crow bar. A blunt-edged      an easy target for the hateful barbs of men and even
  tool will not work and will put the child of God on         relatives.    But it is far more dangerous to let down
  guard.    But a very thin-edged screw driver that is        your guard. For our God is a consuming fire, and He
  tapered to razor-edge thickness will be used to pry         is not mocked.       And your children ARE in danger.
  up the plates of this  armour to make it possible           They are in more danger today than ever before.
  presently to come with the blunt and bold form of the          Heed Mark 13:371 "And what I say unto you, I say
  lie. Beware1 Be on guard. Be sober and WATCH! If            unto all, Watch."

               RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATHY                           "In God is my salvation and my glory; the rock of my
  The Mr. and Mrs. Society of Southeast Protestant            strength, and my refuge is in God".
  Reformed Church expresses heartfelt sympathy to our                                      Hip Kuiper, Vice Pres.
  fellow members, Mr. and Mrs. James Koning, in the                                        Gordon Van Overloop, Sec'y.
  sudden death of her Father.
                    SAMUEL REITSMA                                      R E S O L U T I O N O F S Y M P A T H Y
  "Blessed are they that die in the Lord". Rev. 14:13.        The Hope Mens Society expresses its sympathy to Mr.
                                  Rev. M. Schipper, Pres.     and Mrs. Thomas Reitsma and family, in the death of
                                  Mrs. K. Schipper, Sec'y.    his Father
                                                                                MR. SAMUEL REITSMA
              RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATHY                            May they find comfort through the words of Paul in
                                                              Romans 149 "For whether we live, we live unto the
  The Men's Society of the Hudsonville Protestant Re-         Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord:
  formed Church expresses its heartfelt sympathy toMr.
  Arnold Haveman in the death of his Mother,                  whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's".
                                                                                                 Rev. H. Veldman, Pres.
                  MRS. CARL HAVEMAN                                                             Mr. J. Dykstra, Sec'y.


278                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



       T R Y I N G   T H E   SPIRITS-



                      The Russian Orthodox Church

                                                by Rev. R.  C.  Havbach

I. AS TO DOCTRINE... The most important branch of             Father and the Son'). It was so in regarding the church
the Eastern church is unquestionably the Russian              universal as including the churches of Jerusalem,
Orthodox Church.        It came into being in the tenth       Antioch, Alexandria and Constantinople, but not so in
century when Christendom was introduced to the Rus-           ignoring the churches of Germany, Switzerland and
sian barbarians by way of an ikon and the rite of im-         England. It was so in teaching the Lord's Prayer, but
mersion.     Denominational headquarters became cen-          not so in including the  Ave  Mavia.     It teaches the
tered in Constantinople until 1461, when the Metro-           Decalogue, but abridges the second and fourth com-
politan of Moscow was advanced to Patriarch, making           mandments. Examination of candidates for the minis-
Moscow the Rome of Russia.                                    try is mainly disciplinary and pastoral, doctrine being
   When Peter the Great came to power, he founded             touched only incidentally. Transubstantiation is held
St. Petersburg (1703), and made it the religious capital      in the strongest language.     It teaches the Arminian
with the Czar as emperor-pope of Russia. When a later         philosophy that election is based on God's foreknowl-
Czar caught in the Russian revolution of 1917 was             edge of those who make good use of their free will to
assassinated, religious liberty also died. Priests were       accept salvation, and that reprobation is based on
jailed or executed and a tidal-wave of atheismwhelmed         foreknowledge of those who reject it. "The Calvinistic
the land. In such times the patriarchate was reestab-         doctrine of unconditional predestination is condemned
lished in the face of constant opposition from the Soviet     as abominable, impious and blasphemous." On divine
state. A few years later the church adopted the position      providence, God foresees and permits evil: He does
that hierarchical authority inhered not in a papal head,      not foreordain it. A common grace is also taught which
but in the broadest ecclesiastical body. Priests with         "God has predestinated to give to all men and has ac-
anti-Soviet policies were banished or jailed. It was          tually given them" for the "attainment of happiness."
"be kind to the Soviets -- or elsel"                          The ascension of Christ is not physical, but spiritual.
   In 1930 the Communists legislated against religion,        The penitent dead are in purgatory until delivered by
forbidding religious instruction to anyunder  18, banning     prayers, alms and masses. Other doctrinal peculiari-
meetings of women and children for prayer or Bible            ties are: The true church cannot be conceived of apart
study, prohibiting church-sponsored libraries and read-       from the hierarchy, nor apart from an ecumenical
ing rooms, removing all religion from the schools.            council.     Grace may be manufactured by making the
Church buildings were confiscated by the state, some          sign of the cross on the forehead, on the breast, on the
being used as museums. Ikon worship was destroyed             food and the cups at table, and is a practice to be en-
as well as reverence of relics and of dead bodies of          couraged upon going to bed at night, on arising in the
saints.     The only dead to be honored were deceased         morning, on going out for the day, on the daily rounds
Communists.       This aroused the resentment of other        and on returning homeward.       The sign of the cross
hierarchical, saint-worshiping churches in the world.         makes one a holy terror to the devil.
Therefore the pope and the archbishop of Canterbury           II. AS TO CORRESPONDENCE.          Intercommunion and
sent expressions of sympathy to the Russian clergy            cooperation with other church organizations was at
and sent resolutions to the Soviet government protest-        first non-existent. The Reformation did not affect the
ing the oppression, Canterbury, which always per-             Eastern church.      It had no part in the Reformation
secuted the true church, and Rome, always seeking             movement, nor paid any particular attention to it. The
recognition as the only real and rightful church in the       Lutherans did make some approach to the Eastern
world!                                                        branch of Christendom. Melancthon, an ecumenicist
   The Russian Orthodox Church was indeed orthodox            of the day, made overtures to the church at Constanti-
in rejecting the  Apocrypha, but not so in requiring          nople, but failed. The Greek Orthodox Church con-
proselytes to read it in preparation for admission to         demned the Lutheran Augsburg Confession, and the
the church.      It was so in receiving Scripture as the      Synod of Jerusalem (1672) rejected both Lutheranism
Word of God, but not so in placing tradition on a level       and Calvinism as dangerous heresies, pronouncing in
with the authority of Scripture, nor in discouraging the      Romish fashion anathemas against Protestantism. Some
reading of Scripture.       It was so in appealing to the     Anglicans in the early 1700s attempted correspondence
Nicene Creed, but not so in rejecting the  Filioque           with the Russian church. The Russians were polite;
clause (re: the Holy Spirit "who proceedeth from the          certainly not as harsh as the Greek church. They re-


                                              THE  STANDARD  BEARER                                                279

quested that the British brethren visit Russia "to hold      defend our borders against Soviet aggression only 90
a friendly conference, in the name and spirit of             miles from our shores ! Patriarch Alexei, head of the
Christ. . .(to) ascertain what may be yielded and given      ROC, endorsed Khrushchev's proposal for total dis-
up by one to the other, what, on the other hand, may         armament (which did not include UN inspection as to
and ought for conscience' sake be absolutely denied."        whether Russia was disarming!) made at the UN, then
The proposal was never realized. Negotiations ended          sent a message to the WCC the day after the ROC was
with the death of Peter the Great, and Russian charges       received into membership in the WCC asking that
flew that the Anglicans were infected with "German           council to endorse complete disarmament. This re-
heresy" (Lutheranism) and Calvinism.                         veals that the ROC entered the WCC to promote the
   The mid-nineteenth century saw a de-protestantiz-         cause of Khrushchev. Alexei, awarded a high Soviet
ing movement in the Anglican church with hundreds            government decoration, the Order of the Red Banner of
returning to Rome.      This occasioned renewed cor-         Labor, on his 85th birthday, referred to Stalin as "a
respondence, including the American Protestant Epis-         wise, God-appointed leader." Then he swore allegiance
copal Church, with the Russian churches. They were           to Stalin as the "deeply honored and dear Joseph
visited, fraternal letters written and social amenities      Vissarionovich," head of the Soviet Fatherland. The
exchanged, followed by conferences between Anglican          Russian' Orthodox Church is therefore an arm of the
and Russian ecclesiastical dignitaries. However, the         Soviet government, an agent of the Kremlin and part
Russian church only went far enough to admit that the        of the Red propaganda "peace" machine that is Com-
Episcopal churches alone were anchored to the true           munist-controlled. The 1962 synod of the Reformed
church. Other Protestants were cut off and set adrift.       Church of America thought this was saying too much,
They also reaffirmed the infallibility of the church, and    and rejected the charge that the ROC is completely
rejected all Protestant baptism because it was not           controlled by the Soviet government. This would mean
trine immersion.                                             also a rejection of the sworn testimony given before
   More notable were gatherings in 1925 at Westminster       the U.S. Senate Internal Security Subcommittee and the
Abbey with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Eastern         House Committee on Un-American Activities by Peter
churches and RussianMetropolitans  represented. Basis        Deriabian and Yuri Rastvorov that the Soviet govern-
of unity did not put first Scripture as the infallible       ment has total control over the ROC and all churches
Word of God, but the authority of the hierarchical           permitted to exist behind the Iron Curtain. The NCC
church, then Scripture as interpreted by the hier-           itself, in which the Reformed Church of America has
archical church, then the Nicene Creed similarly in-         membership, made a statement in September, 1962,
terpreted, and finally the decrees of the ecumenical         that the Russian churches "made it perfectly clear. . .
councils. The first formal contact in nine centuries         that Christians in the Soviet Union are a loyal segment
between the Roman Catholic and the Russian Orthodox          of the `new socialist society' which is being built."
Church was when two Russian delegates attended the           Then there is Archbishop Iakovos, primate of the Greek
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council in Rome. Thus the          Orthodox Church, N. & S.A., who was suspicious about
Orthodox church remains in its historical and present        admitting the ROC to the WCC. He said, "They cannot,
heterodox and unreformed state.                              of course, go any place without first getting instructions
                                                             from the Kremlin foreign office. They are not a free
III. AS TO ECUMENICITY.  An important representa-            church."
tive in this church is Georgi G. Karpov, chairman of
the Council of Affairs, also major general of the Soviet        In 1956 certain clergymen of Croatia, Estonia,
secret police, appointed by Stalin to be in charge of all    Latvia, Slovakia and the Ukraine issued a declaration
religious affairs and a minister in the Soviet cabinet.      and protest against a trip of delegates from the NCC to
The Metropolitan Nicolai was an identified agent of the      Moscow. In part they said, ". . .We know the plight of
Soviet- secret police, and had been in charge of the         the churchmen under the control of the Soviet regime.
foreign affairs of the church. He had also toured the        It compels them to lie, to distort their functions, and
U.S. In 1950 Nicolai had written, "The greedy tentacles      to become obedient instruments in the furtherance of
of the octopus across the ocean are trying to engulf         Soviet expansion. This is something so horrible that
the entire universe. Capitalist America, this fanatic        we, when given even the remotest opportunity, have
prostitute of the New Babylon. . .is trying to seduce        risked all in order to flee this role. . .Christians be-
the peoples by pushing them into war." Archbishop            hind the Iron Curtain. . .are not invested with the role
Nikodim, replacing Nicolai, after the latter's death,        of spokesmen; they are suffering in prisons, being
became foreign policy spokesman for the ROC and              tortured in slave-labor camps and resting in mass
visited the U.S. with a-Russian delegation in February,      graves. . ." The Russian author, T. Andreev, writing
1963. He has dictated to the World Council of Churches,      on the history of the ROC said, "Orthodoxy, having
the National Council of Churches and the UN, that it is      surrendered to the Soviets, and having become a tool
their duty to press the U.S. government to abandon its       of the world embracing anti-Christian deception, is
blockade policy on Cuba. Soviet churchmen dictated           not Orthodoxy any longer, but the misleading heresy
U.S. foreign policy thus, "It is the duty of American        of Anti-Christendom, dressed up with the rent clothes
church leaders to use all opportunities in pressing the      of Orthodoxy." But long before, Orthodoxy surren-
U.S. government to abandon its crazy policy." Our            dered to Hierarchy, and the supremacy of Holy Writ
government does seem to agree that it is crazy to            was denied in favor of "Tradition."


280                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



              ALL AROUND  US-

                                          ECUMENISM

                                                 by Prof. H.  Hank0

   The news is ecumenical this month. Some items                    Merger plans between the Presbyterian Church US
follow.                                                      (Southern) and the Reformed Church of America are
   While denominations move speedily towards greater         proceeding apace., Recently 130 representatives met
and broader ecclesiastical union, there are various          in Louisville with the' committee of 24 (instructed to
local congregations who nevertheless consider the            draw up merger plans to be presented to both denomi-
pace sluggish. Ignoring their own denominations' ef-         nations by 1968) to discuss the problems involved.
forts to unite in broader ecclesiastical fellowships,               The difficulties are present, however.
they pursue the path of ecumenism alone.                            The first is the confessional basis for the proposed
   Such was the case recently in the Seattle suburb of       new denomination. Some wanted the adoption of con-
Newport. There Rev. Bertram Apman (as reported in            fessions now in use in both denominations. (These
Time),  pastor of the Holy Cross Lutheran Church             would include the confessions of the Reformed .Church:
(affiliated with the American Lutheran Church), pro-         The Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession and
posed union with the local Episcopal Church. He was          the positive part of the Canons of Dort; and the West-
of the opinion that he was too busy with counseling,         minister Confessions which form the confessional basis
fund raising, youth work and administration to spend         of the Southern Presbyterians.) Evidently these were
adequate time on sermon preparation. His solution to         in the majority. Others wanted to wait with composing
the problem was to merge his "weak" church with a            this doctrinal and church political basis till after the
larger and stronger ~church;  divide the labors with the     merger - which seems a bit like putting the cart before
pastor of that church, and hopefully, have a more            the horse. Still others wanted a new confession drawn
effective ministry besides being able to raise more          up*       It was with these latter that another difficulty
money.                                                       arose.
   After discussing the idea with Rev. Paul Christen-               This group was really interested in union with the
sen, the minister of St. Margaret's Episcopal Church,        United Presbyterian Church. So they wanted a confes-
they decided that the best solution to the problem was       sion which would make it easier to unite presently with
for the Lutherans to become Episcopalians.                   the United Presbyterians. And here is the real rub.
   Lutheran officials were furious and are trying to         Two overtures are already being prepared for consid-
put a stop to it. But the majority of the members of         eration by the next Southern Presbyterian General
Holy Cross Lutheran Church evidently favor the plan.         Assembly asking for such a union with United Presby-
Rev. Apman is of the opinion that his parishioners are       terians. They point out that already in some areas the
pretty much like millions of other U.S. Protestants in       two denominations are cooperating in various aspects
being generally indifferent to the old theological quar-     of church work. There is a great deal of opposition to
rels of their churches. He pointed out that any number       union with United Presbyterians, however; some of it
of Lutherans already attend any denomination when            comes from.the  Southern Presbyterians, but most of it
they are unable to attend their own. And this, to him        comes from the Reformed Church. Several Reformed
is evidence that the people are not really concerned         Church Classes have overtured their General Synod to
about where they go to church.                               withdraw immediately from merger negotiations be-
   The plan looks so good to him that he is also talking     cause they are convinced that the present proposed
to other churches in the area in the hopes that all the      merger is intended only as a first step towards union
churches will eventually unite into three or four large      with the United Presbyterian Church.
congregations, each with a team of four ministers so                But this isn't the whole story. Another group wants
that ministers can specialize in youth work, counseling,     to discontinue the present merger discussions because
fund raising or preaching and thus share each other's        they are of the opinion that the present discussions are
work load.                                                   an obstacle to union with the United Presbyterians.
   His evaluation of indifferent protestants is most                So it all gets rather involved and complicated.
probably correct in the main. And indeed, when there                Another problem is to draw up a plan which will be
is no longer interest in, much less love for, the truth,    mutually acceptable to both denominations since before
really, what difference does it make? Churches might         the merger can be realized, three-fourths of the Southern
just as well accept his ideas and be done with it.           Presbyterian presbyteries and two-thirds of the Re-
                        * *  * *                            formed Church Classes must approve the plan.


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        281

        All this leads to the conclusion that the merger is,      the nearness of the end of the ages.
     as yet, by no means certain. Surely the intentions of                                   * * * *
     both denominations regarding the United Presbyterians           A recent poll conducted in England shows why the
     will have to be settled once for all before progress can     church can go so far astray. The reason is that there
-    bear its fruit.                                              is no spiritual life any more among the "laity" of the
                              * *  rl: *                          Church. The strength of the Church is the strength of
        Forty-five church leaders formed recently an Inter-       her "lay" members. When' these lose their concern
     Religious Committee Against Poverty (IRCAP) to aid           for the cause of God, their interest in sound doctrine,
     the government in its own "war on poverty". The              their zeal for the righteousness of the cross, what is
     significant point of all this is that these forty-five       to be expected but that the leaders run away with the
     church leaders were from Protestant, Catholic and            denominations and manipulate them to serve their own
     Jewish congregations. They are of the opinion that the       purposes ?
     support of the churches aided immeasurably in passing           The poll, reported by Christianity  ?oday tellS the
     civil rights legislation; they are now prepared to lend      following sad story of decay and confusion.
     their assistance in making the war on poverty a suc-
     cess.                                                           - Most people consider religion irrelevant to daily
        So now the ecumenical movement embraces the               life. Yet they think churches achieve much in social
     three major religious groups in this country (going          welfare and should continue.
     even beyond the National Council of Churches) and               --They consider religion  old hat. Yet nearly all
     uni!es in turning to affairs of government. The vast         demand religious instruction for their children.
     differences between Protestantism, Roman Catholicism            -The percentage who hear sermons drops ye-arly.
     and Judaism are to be pushed aside while these church        Yet the men who preach are generally respr-ted,  thought
     men stand together in the cause of social justice.           to be doing good work for good motives with little
        Once again the name of Eugene Carson Blake turns          reward.
     up -this time as the chief spokesman for this com-              - Some  78% see no connection between churchgoing
     mittee. He is the Stated Clerk of the United Presby-         .and leading better lives. At the same time, 60% be-
     terian Church and recently elected head of the World         lieve one must be dishonest to get ahead, and two-
     Council of Churches. He seems to have his finger in          thirds are either apathetic about or in favor of cheat-
     almost every ecumenical pie.                                 ing on tax returns.
        It is not difficult to see how all this is related. In       - Two-thirds of the English believe the influence of
     the grand push towards church cooperation (and union),       religion is decreasing. Two-thirds would like religion
     the church's real calling must necessarily be ignored.       to have more influence.
     The result is (for the church has to find something to          - Even though 94% identify themselves with a de-
     do) that, forsaking her calling, she turns to affairs of     nomination, church involvement lags. Church attend-
     state and involves herself in social action, which is        ance is now estimated at lo%, and only 12% say they
     none of her business. And an alliance of considerable        read the Bible regularly.
     significance is formed between the secular world                How urgent is the calling to the faithful laity in
     authorities and the apostate church'. How clearly these      God's Church that they retain and increase their in-
     things remind us of the seriousness of our times and         terest in the cause of God's truth1

                  RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY                         who passed away March 2, 1966 at the age of 76 years.
     On February 14, 1966 the Lord suddenly removed from          May the God of grace comfort the hearts of the be-
     His militant church a faithful member                        reaved families.                         .&;Ic fil :,.r    .;'  \
                                                                                                  Ken  Lanning, Vice Pres.
                        MR. SAMUEL REITSMA                                                        Harry Zwak, Sec'y,
     The Men's Society of the Southeast-Prot. Ref. Church
     takes notice of this loss in our ranks, and extends to
     the family of our  ' departed brother its sincerest
     sympathy, and lifts up the prayer that the Lord will
     continue to sustain them with His grace, while He                          RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY
     teaches us all to labor while it is day.                     The Consistory of The Southeast Protestant Reformed
                                    Rev. M. Schipper, Pres.       Church extends its heartfelt sympathy to Mrs. S.
                                    S. Vander Wal, V. Sec'y.      Reitsma and family in the recent passing of their hus-
                                                                  band and father, and elder of this Con&tory,
                                                                                  MR. SAMUEL REITSMA
                  RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY
     The Consistory of the Hudsonville Prot. Ref. Church          May the bereaved be comforted in the Word of God
     expresses its sympathy to its brother elder Arnold           found in Psalm 116f15: *`Precious in the sight of the
     Haveman, in the loss of his mother,                          Lord is the death of his saints".
                                                                                               Rev. M. Schipper, President
                        MRS. CARL HAVEMAN                                                      Richard Teitsma, Clerk


282                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


   HEEDING THE DOCTRINE-

                             Barth's Doctrine of Scripture


                                                 by Rev. D. J.  Engelsma

       Stigmatizing the doctrine of verbal inspiration as a    necessarily commits one to a mechanical view of in-
` `mechanical" view of inspiration does not originate          spiration. Cannot God have inspired all the words of
with Barth.       This tactic is hoary with age and worn       Scripture without having had recourse to making ma-
with use. But Barth joins the ranks of those who at-           chines of the men He used?         But we may not idly
tack, in this way, the doctrine of God's having infallibly     speculate as to what God could and could not do, ac-
inspired the very words of Scripture. This attack con-         cording to the judgment of human reason. This is
sists of the claim that verbal inspiration necessarily         precisely the trouble with those who lodge the com-
implies mechanical inspiration. And since it is obvious        plaint, "mechanical," against the doctrine of verbal
to everyone that God did not use the prophets and              inspiration.    They find it impossible to comprehend
apostles to write His Word in a mechanical way, as a           that God could breathe out all the words of Scripture
typist uses a typewriter, verbal inspiration must be           in such a way that themenHeused  to write those words
repudiated.      Barth speaks, e.g., of "the mechanical        wrote, using all their human faculties. This is incom-
doctrine of verbal inspiration" (CD, I, 1, p.126) and          prehensible.    For the inspiration of Scripture is a
characterizes verbal inspiration as "a mantically (i.e.,       wonder, a miracle, which the mind of man can as little
heathenistically magical-DE) - mechanical operation"           comprehend as it can the wonder of creation or the
(CD, I, 2, p.518).                                             wonder of the incarnation. But the inability of man's
       Such an argument, if argument it may be called, is      mind to comprehend how inspiration occurred does not
unworthy of the masterful theologian and logician. For,        negate the fact that Scripture presents as truths to be
in the first place, it poses a false dilemma. Barth            believed both that God inspired the words of Scripture
claims that we are shut up to one of two alternatives,         and that the men He used to write those words of
either to accept his view of inspiration, which posits         Scripture wrote as those writing what they believed,
errors in Scripture, or to maintain a mechanical in-           that is, from the soul and with the full play of their
spiration. Neither of these two alternatives is to our         faculties and personal characteristics.
liking, which is not so important, but what is important           Admittedly, the Bible does not state, in so many
is the fact that there is a third alternative, namely,         words, "Scripture is verbally inspired." The doctrine
that God infallibly inspired the Bible in an un-mechan-        of verbal inspiration is one that the Church has had to
ical way. Secondly, to equate verbal inspiration with          develop over against those who supposed that the less
mechanical inspiration and, what is worse, to do that          specific statements, "inspiration of Scripture" and,
in blatant disregard for the anguished protests of men         even, "plenary (full) inspiration," allowed for errors
who deny that the equation is valid is nothing less than       in the "mere" words of the Bible. But the Church has
an attempt to render a doctrine odious, not by disprov-        inferred the doctrine of verbal inspiration from Scrip-
ing it from Scripture but by loading it with depreciatory      ture's statements about itself, especially, from the
adjectives. The technique of disparaging the doctrine          phrase in II Timothy 3:16: "All Scripture is given by
of verbal inspiration by calling it "mechanical" ap-           inspiration of God." Besides, the Church had her eye
proximates the mode of procedure of those who in-              on such passages as Galatians 3:16, where the apostle
creasingly attack the doctrine of predestination by            lays great emphasis upon the individual word of the
calling it "fatalism." Just as little as we are inclined       Bible ("seed," not "seeds"). Even the most virulent
to surrender the doctrine of predestination because            opponent of the doctrine of verbal inspiration would
some have the audacity to blacken the doctrine with            scarcely dare to deny the Church the right to confess
the charge of "fatalism," are we inclined to give up           a doctrine inferred from Scripture.        As the West-
the doctrine of verbal inspiration because some smear          minster Confession has it, "The whole counsel of God,
it with the (unwarranted) charge of "mechanical."              concerning all things necessary for his own glory,
       What they are duty-bound to do, who sling the           man's salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set
charge ` `mechanical" about, is, first of all, to make         down in Scripture, or by good and necessary conse-
clear that defenders of verbal inspiration repudiate           quence may be deduced from Scripture. . ." (Chapter
any notion of mechanical inspiration and, even if mis-         I, VI).
takenly, believe that verbal inspiration does not neces-           If, now, the opponents of verbal inspiration do not
sarily imply mechanical inspiration. Secondly, they            attempt a proof that verbal inspiration is an illegiti-
ought to prove that the doctrine of verbal inspiration         mate deduction from Scripture's claims about itself


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                283

or that God Himself could not inspire the words, ex-              writing of the Bible, such a control that the entire
cept in a mechanical way, but simply go on equating               Bible is God's Word.
verbal inspiration with mechanical inspiration, we                   It only remains to be said, in this connection, that
must refuse to take the, charge at all seriously.                 we cannot be satisfied with the use of the concept "ac-
                                *  * * * *                        commodation" to explain the relationship between the
    Properly, the entire matter of "verbal inspiration"           inspiring God and the human writers of Scripture.
and "mechanical inspiration" is not loosely to be                 When men accuse defenders of verbal inspiration of
bandied about but ought to be treated in connection with          holding a "mechanical" or  ` `typewriter" theory of
those passages of Scripture which teach Scripture's               inspiration, these defenders often respond by assert-
inspiration by God, e.g., II Timothy 3~16 and II Peter            ing  that God, in inspiring the Bible, accommodated
1:20, 21. From these passages, it must be determined              Himself to the writers. J. I. Packer, e.g., in his book,
whether or not the Bible is verbally inspired and whether         "Fundamentalism and the Word of God, states that
or not the charge of `"mechanical inspiration" can                "God completely adapted His inspiring activity to the
validly be made against the doctrine of verbal inspira-           cast of mind, outlook, temperament, interests, literary
tion.                                                             habits and stylistic idiosyncrasies of each writer"
                                                                  (p. 79). Although it is true that he goes on to say, on
    Although Barth claims. that the doctrine of verbal            p. 80, that God `*was well able to prepare, equip and
inspiration was and remains a falling away from the               over-rule sinful human writers so that they wrote
position of Calvin, there are indications in Calvin that          nothing but what He intended,      he still speaks of a
this is not the case. One could cite many passages                "co1zcu~sive" operation of the Spirit with the activity
from Calvin's writings in' support of the contention              of the human writers. The terms "accommodation"
that, although the doctrine of verbal inspiration was             and "concursiveD' do not do justice to God's primacy
not developed fully until after Calvin's death, Calvin            in the activity of inspiration. They present the matter
held the strictest view of verbal inspiration. What he            as if the human writers, with their personalities, were
writes in his commentary on Matthew 2:l is not only               first so that God had to adapt Himself to them or as if
characteristic of Calvin but also to the point of the             God and the human writers ran along together in the
present discussion.                                               production of Holy Scripture. The fact is, however, that
                                                                  God eternally appointed each writer with his peculiar
                                                                  disposition and, in time, prepared each writer in every
         "The  Spirit  of God, who had appointed the Evangel-
    ists to be his clerks (concerning this word, "clerks,"        respect to be exactly the instrument of the writing of
    the editor of the commentary writes: "not authors in          Scripture which God wanted. And when the writing of
    the ordinary meaning of that term, but persons who            the Scripture takes place, by any of the individual
    wrote to the dictation of another." -DE), appears             writers, that event is not to be conceived of as a co-
    purposely to have regulated their style in such a             operative endeavor by the Holy Spirit and the human
    manner, that they all wrote one and the same history,         writer but as an activity in which the Holy Spirit is
    with the most perfect agreement, but in different ways.       moving the writer and the writer is  being moved, yet -
    It was intended, that the truth of God should more clear-     and this is the mystery - not in the manner of compul-
    ly and strikingly appear, when it was manifest that his
    witnesses did not speak by a preconcerted plan, but           sion but in such a way that the writer himself writes
    that each of them separately, without paying any at-          freely and spontaneously.
    tention to another, wrote freely and honestly what the
    Holy Spirit dictated" (Calvin,. Harmony  of  the  Evangel-
    ists,   Vol. I' p. 127).
                                                                                          NOTICE
This quotation is striking because in it Calvin, without
the slightest uncomfortableness or the least trace of             The students of Hope Protestant Reformed Christian
embarrassment, combines the strictest view of divine              School will render an all school program on Thurs-
control over the writing of Scripture (verbal inspira-            day, April 7, 1966 at 8:00 P.M., in the First Protestant
                                                                  Reformed Church. The theme of the program, "God's
tion)  with the view of the freedom  and spontaneity of
the human writers (non-mechanical inspiration). On                Unbreakable Chain", is based on Romans 8:28-30.
the one hand, the evangelists were "clerks," the Spirit
of God "regulated their style," and they "wrote.. .what
the Holy Spirit dictated." On the other hand and in
most intimate, if inexplicable, relationship with this                        ATTENTION OFFICE BEARERS
divine, control, they "did not speak by a preconcerted            There will be an Office Bearers Conference, D.V.,
plan" and "wrote freely and honestly." Calvin speaks              April 5, at 8:00 p.m. to be held at Southwest Protestant
repeatedly of the Holy Spirit "dictating" the Bible to            Reformed Church.        All present and former office
the writers.        We would not use such a term, today,          bearers are invited to attend.
simply to avoid leaving any impression of amechanical                 Our speaker, Rev. G. Van Baren, will answer the
inspiration.      But Calvin did not mean to advance, by          question "In how far may a deacon officiate as an elder
that term, that the manner of inspiration was mechani-            in a small congregation?"
cal. By "dictation" he only wanted to stress the com-
plete and strict control of God in the matter of the


284                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

THE LORD GAVE THE WORD-  .  ..Psalm  68:11

             Denying The Lord That Bought Them
                                                      -by Rev. C.  Hank0

   In this series of articles on, "Calvinism and Mission          tion of II Peter included in Calvin's Commentaries.
Preaching,,' I have devoted considerable space to the             Calvin also prefaces this with his remarks that show
subject of particular atonement. Anyone will under-               that he is by no means ready to reject this epistle as
stand that this is actually the very heart of the matter,         not being canonical. True, Calvin does express some
because preaching is the proclamation of the cross of             doubt about it, based particularly on the argument of
Jesus Christ.        Moreover, it is exactly at this point        Jerome that this second epistle seems to have an
where the objection is raised that it is impossible to            entirely different style from the first.       But Calvin
preach Calvinism with its limited atonement on the                explains this by reminding us of Peter's extreme age,
mission field. And it is in connection with the insistence        so that some one else may have set forth in writing
on a universal love of God for mankind that we are told           what Peter wanted to tell the churches. And then he
that mission preaching must include telling all men               concludes, "Doubtless, as in every part of the epistle
and every man, "Christ died for you."                             the majesty of the Spirit of Christ appears, to repudi-
   The particular passage I wish to discuss in this               ate it is what I dread, though I do not recognize the
present article is found `in II Peter 2:1, `.`But  there were     language of Peter."
false prophets also among the people, even as there                  All those who wish to maintain a universal atone-
shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall              ment will also appeal- with Lenski to this passage.
bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that               Yet a universal atonement is contrary to Scripture,
bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruc-             and also to our confessions. And to interprete this
tion."                                                            passage as teaching a universal atonement is impossible
        `-e chief point of interest at the moment is the          in the light of the rest of Scripture.
clause, "denying the Lord that bought them." A                       The error of a universal atonement actuallycreates
cursory reading of the text would leave us with the               more problems than it can ever solve.
impression that Christ actually bought some who deny                 The text speaks of "the  Lord that bought them."
Him, of whom Peter writes that they bring upon them-              The word `despot' is used, which emphasizes the idea
selves a swift destruction. It would appear as if Christ          of sovereign power and absolute authority, without any
bought some with His blood who, nevertheless, perish              of the evil connotation that is attached to the word today.
in their sins. And from this we would readily conclude            Christ is called the sole Possessor, the Absolute
that Christ died for all men.                                     Master. This can only mean that God gave to Christ a
   This is in essence what Lenski writes in his com-              people as His sole possession. They are His posses-
mentary on II Peter:                                              sion, Hi sheep, because they belong to God. For them
          "Christ bought them to be his own for ever at the       Christ died on the cross, for them He arose from the
   tremendous price of his own blood. Despite his ah-             dead, for them He now lives and reigns in heaven.
       solute might and this act of purchase land ransoming       Anyone who preaches the Gospel according to the
   these are men who "deny," disown, repudiate "even,'
   him. They challenge his absolute power; ungratefully           Scriptures must certainly preach that.
   they scorn his buying them. Ingrate rebels! Here we               Now Christ has @wchased His people unto Himself.
   have an adequate answer to Calvin's limited atone-             He redeemed them from the curse of sin, so that they
   ment: the Sovereign, Christ, bought with his blood not         have the right to forgiveness of sins and the right to be
   only the elect, but also those who go to perdition.            called sons of God and heirs of salvation. From a
   Calvin does not accept this epistle as canonical; in his       legal aspect He bought them. But He also bought them
   extensive commentary on the New Testament it is not           from a spiritual, ethical aspect. He delivered them
   treated. May this clause, perhaps, have been a reason          from the power of Satan and the bondage of sin. He
   for this omission?"                                            has purchased them unto God as God's peculiar pos-
       Lenski can see no other interpretation in this pas-        session in Christ.      Therefore, as fruit of that ac-
sage than the error of universal atonement. That does             complished work of Golgotha, they are made new
not surprise us, because Lenski is opposed to Calvin-             creatures, united to Christ by a bond of faith. They
ism, especially because he defends a universal offer             love Him, confess Him as Lord and walk in daily
of salvation and man's ability to accept theoffer. Here           repentance and sanctification. They confess in word
again Lenski sees a strong argument against the Calvin-           and deed that they are not their own, but belong to
istic doctrine of limited atonement. He also points out          their faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. And that is also
that limited atonement was one of the doctrines staunchly        the contents of the preaching of the cross.
defended by Calvin himself. In fact, he goes so far as               Now no one can deny that this is the Scriptural
to assume that because of this text Calvin rejected the          interpretation of the expression, "The Lord Who
entire second epistle of Peter. Now it may be well to            bought them."
add in passing that this is not true. There is an exposi-            But here is. where the defenders of a universal


                                                  THE-STANDARDBEARER                                                  285

     atonement must certainly meet their difficulty.              ecy came not "by the will of man: but holy men of
        First of all, if the debt is paid for all men, why are    God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
     not all men saved? How can God reckon to any man a           (1:21) These false prophets professed to be holy men
     debt that actually no longer exists? Stillmore, if Christ    that were moved by the Holy Spirit. They wore camel's
     has purchased all men unto Himself to be His personal        hair garments to give the impression of having been
     possession, why does He not claim them as His own?           sent of God. (Zech. 13~4). When they spoke they de-
     If they are His sheep, why does He not gather them?          liberately invented their own messages to deceive the
     But here the Lord Himself answers, I do claim My             people. And this became evident when their prophecy
     own.    For "all that the Father giveth unto me shall        was contradicted by God; it never saw its fulfillment.
     come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no           There are many examples of that in the old testament,
     wise cast out." John 6:37.                                   but the one that comes readily to mind is the example
        Secondly, if we assume that Christ died for all, but      of the four hundred prophets who persuaded Ahab to go
     that now it depends upon man to accept that proffered        into battle, where he was also killed.
     salvation,. then we also have our problems. Does it              2. Peter warns the church against false teachers
     depend upon man to make the cross efficacious? Did           who will arise again, even in the church of the new
     Christ actually only attempt tomake salvation possible?      dispensation.    They will be members of the church
     Did He merely open the way for a cancellation of our         institute; for they will arise "among you." They will
     debts? Do we become the real objects of God's love           be considered to be sincere believers, who belong to
     and His prized possession only when we reciprocate           the Body of Christ. They will worship with the church,
     by loving Him? Is the confession, "I belong to Jesus         have their children baptized, partake of communion, and
     Christ," contingent on man's free will?' But then we         in every way profess that "they belong to their faithful
     deny the power of the cross, and Christ becomes an           Saviour Jesus Christ, Who has purchased them with
     impotent beggar. Then faith is the work of man and           His blood."
     not the gift of God. Both of which are contrary to all           3. But they will secretlybringindamnable heresies.
     of Scripture as well as our Confessions. I refer you         Alongside the truth they will surreptitiously introduce
     particularly to the Canons of Dordt, second head of          false teachings, which are made as appealing as pos-
     Doctrine, article 8, and the third and fourth head of        sible. These false teachings are, nevertheless "damn-
     Doctrine, article 10.                                        able" heresies.     They not only have their origin in
        Finally, there is still another alternative. You          hell, but the idea seems to be that they are invented
     realize, I am only trying to find a solution to the very     for the. very purpose of leading the unwary astray, so
     knotty problem that must be confronted by anyminister        that they bring damnation upon those who follow such
     who wants to say to all men head for head, "Christ           heresies as well as upon those who present them.
     died for you." Does Peter mean that these false                  4. Now among the damnable heresies that these
     teachers actually did accept that truth of Scripture that    deceivers bring is also the denial of the atonement of
     Christ died for them? Did they believe, at least for a       the cross. As the original expresses it, "they deny.
     time, that Christ's death was efficacious for them, but      the having bought them Lord." Although they may
     later rejected it? Must we assume that the words,            still profess to be believers who are savedby the blood
     "Christ died for you," did not have the same meaning         of the cross, they actually deny that cross and all its
     for them as it did for those who are saved? Were they        power. Although theoretically they profess that Christ
     deceived7     Or did they believe and fall away? If the      is their only Lord, they are not subject to Him, but
     first is true, the Word of God is not honest. If the         -walk in their own willful, wicked way.
I    latter is true, there is a falling away of saints. And           5. We must bear in mind that Peter is speaking of
     this is contrary to our Canons. See particularly the         false teachers that arise within the church from time
     fifth head of Doctrine, art. 8.                              to time. Therefore these teachers may deny Christ
        These questions, avoid them as much as you will,           and His atonement in various ways. Some may deny
     are bound to come up in theminds of a discerning audi-       the doctrine of vicarious atonement, even though they
     ence that must listen to the preaching of a universal        still profess to believe in Christ, just as the modernist
     atonement.       And such preaching does not stimulate       does.    Some may live in sin, so that Christ is not
     the assurance that Paul confesses when he says, "If          their Lord and Master, but Satan. According to the
     God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared          context, especially the latter are on the foreground.
     not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how        These teachers lead others to lasciviousness. They
     shall he not with him also freelygiveus all things? . . .     are seeking themselves and their personal gain. They
     For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor        walk "after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and
     angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things            despise government." (Verse 10).
     present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor          6. The church should be on its guard against them.
     any other creature shall be able to separate us from          These  teachers,<n spite of all appearances, bring
     the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."          damnable heresies. Let the ministers beware of any
        But let us look at the text and see just what the          and every tendency toward such a sinister error. Let
     apostle says.                                                the believers try the spirits whether they are of God
        1. You will notice that he speaks of false prophets        and. always hold tenaciously to the Word of truth. It is
     among Israel in the old dispensation. The true prophets       our only salvation, for the Word at the cross is the
     of God were characterized by the fact that their proph-      power of God unto salvation to all who believe.


286                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


          EXAMINING  ECUMENICALISM-

                          Vatican Council  - Third Session
                                                               I6 I

                                  "The. Decree on the Eastern Churches"

                                                  by Rev. G.  Vim  Baven

       The final of the three decrees approved by the             large denomination, but consist of independent groups,
Vatican Council at Rome at its third session is this              each under its own "patriarch.,' At the present time
one treating the "Eastern Churches." It is brief                  there are some sixteen of these independent groups of
compared to the others which were approved, but it                churches. The churches are largely located in Eastern
deals with one of the "sore spots" within the Romish              Europe and in Asia.
church and in its relationship with the Eastern Ortho-                 These churches broke relationships with the Western
dox Churches.                                                     or Roman segment of the church in the year 1054.
       In the first place there are within the Roman church       There were various causes for the break including
various "rites" or forms of liturgy through which the             differences in custom and traditions and disagree-
members express, what they consider to be, their                  ments on the authority of the Roman bishop. There
worship to God. Secondly, the question of the relation-           were other d o c t r i n a 1 disagreements including the
ship between Rome and the closely related Eastern                 "filioque" dispute (whether the Holy Spirit proceeds
Orthodox Churches has troubled both groups for some               only from the Father, or also from the Son).
time.                                                                  The similarities between the two groups of churches
                                                                  are great. Their form of worship and their doctrinal
T&-E  BACKGROUND HISTORY                                          emphasis are similar. Though the "Orthodox" groups
       Though Protestants, and likely many Roman Catho-           appear to place less emphasis on "Mariology" than
lics too, are not so aware of it; there are within the            does Rome, yet also here the differences are not very
Romish church different rites used in their worship               great. Presently, one of the biggest obstacles to union
services.      A "rite" is "in modern religious use any           between the two groups would be the Roman doctrine
external sign or action employed as an expression of              of papal infallibility in doctrinal matters, and papal
reverence or devotion, or as a means of exciting re-              supremacy.
ligious sentiments." (Encyclopedia Americana). The                     Through this decree, and other recent actions,
same encyclopedia points out that `fit is generally ac-           Rome .appears to be making a very deliberate attempt
cepted that the fairly uniform type of liturgypreviously          to seek to open the way for reunion with this large
used everywhere developed intofourgreatparent-rites,              segment of "Christianity."
from which all others now in use in Christendom are
derived. These four are the liturgies of Antioch, Alex-           THE PROBLEMS CONFRONTED
andria, Gaul, and Rome." I have 1 no intent (and I
presume you have no interest in such) to analyze the                   From the "Council Daybook,  Third Session" (quoted
differences between these four liturgies and that which           in former articles) I want to point out the various
has developed from them. I would point out, though,               problems as they exist in the minds of members of the
that the various "rites" differ both in language and in           Romish church.
form one from the other. The Roman church almost                       First, there must be obviously friction between the
exclusively uses the "Roman" or "Latin" rite through-             "Latin-rite" majority of the Romish church and the
out the world. But there are segments of the Roman                minority which use other "rites." The minority feel
church that do use other rites than the "Latin." Latin            left out and merely tolerated -in the church. These
has never been the exclusive official language of. the            are groups that did not go along with the "Orthodox"
whole Romish church nor does it use exclusively one               but remained allied to Rome-yet retained their old
form of liturgy throughout the whole church. But those            forms of worship. There appears to be disagreement
using the other rites are a small minority, and often             on the place of a patriarch also in the Roman hier-
feel themselves to be "step-children" of Rome.                    archal system.
       Related to the above, there is the relationship be-                The patriarch objected also to the opening words of
tween the "Orthodox" and the "Roman" churches.                         the proposition's introduction which expresses the great
The Orthodox Church has an estimated 150 million                       esteem of the Catholic Church for Eastern rites. In
members with over two million of these on the Ameri-                   this he said he saw the implication that the Eastern
can continent.       The Orthodox churches are not one                 rites are something other than Catholic.


                                                    THES~ANDARDBEARER                                                          287

          He called for the restoration of ancient dignity and            If any separated Eastern Christian should,' under
   prerogatives of the patriarchate and asked that the                the guidance of the grace of the Holy Spirit, join him-
   honorary patriarchates in the West be abolished, since             self to the unity of Catholics, no more should be re-
   they demean the dignity of the office.                             quired of him than what a bare profession of the
          "Let us not close the circle of Catholicity in the          Catholic faith demands. Eastern clerics, seeing that
   West - retaining only small appendages from the East."             a valid priesthood is preserved among them, are per-
   he said.                                                           mitted to exercise the Orders they possess on joining
          Coptic-rite Patriarch Stephanos I Sidarouss of              the unity of the Catholic Church, in accordance with
   Alexandria (I wonder how that man signs his checks?)               the regulations established by the competent authority.
   also asked for the restoration of patriarchal dignity.             (p. 354).
   He said he preferred the whole treatment on the                    Rome recognizes the validity of the sacraments in
   Eastern churches to be included in the Constitution on          the Orthodox churches, and under certain circumstances
   the Nature of the Church since, although they have
   different rites, they are not, strictly speaking, par-          allows its members to participate in the worship serv-
   ticular churches. (page 138).                                   ices in the Orthodox group.
   The relationship between Rome and the Orthodox                         Without prejudice to the principles noted earlier,
churches raised much discussion and also disagree-                    Eastern Christians who are in fact separated in good
ment .                                                                faith from the Catholic Church, if they ask of their own
          The text caused difficulty for the commission par-          accord and have the right dispositions, maybe admitted
   ticularly in three areas, Cardinal Cicognani said, and             to the  sacraments.of  Penance, the Eucharist and the
   the majority reached on these points was far from                  Anointing of the Sick. Further, Catholics may ask for
   unanimous. The points included these:                              these same sacraments from those non-Catholic min-
                                                                      isters whose churches possess valid sacraments, as
          1. Eastern Christians converted to Catholicism              often  as,necessary or a genuine spiritual benefit rec-
   should be received into the Catholic rite correspond-              ommends such a course and access to a Catholic
   ing to the Orthodox one they leave, with provision                 priest is physically or morally impossible. (p. 354).
   made for recourse to the Holy See to change;
          2. A Catholic priest's presence at a mixed mar-             The ultimate aim of the Romish church is reunion
   riage between Eastern Christians is required for a              with the Orthodox group.
   marriage within the law unless a dispensation is                       The sacred council feels great joy in the fruitful
   granted, but not for a valid marriage.                              zealous collaboration of the Eastern and the Western
          3. Permission for Eastern-rite Catholics to make             Catholic Churches and at the same time declares: All
   use of Orthodox sacraments provided no Catholic                     these directives of law are laid down in view of the
   priest is available.                                               present situation till such time as the Catholic Church
                                                                       and the separated Eastern Churches come together
THE CONTENTSOFTHEDECREE                                                into complete unity.
   The decree approved by the Vatican Council on the                  In this age of ecumenism, I can well conceive that
"Eastern Churches" consists basically of two parts.                the above could take place. I would regard a union be-
In the first part the Romish church condones and ap-               tween these two bodies as more than remotely possible
proves the existence of rites other than Latin within              - and a first step of Rome towards union with Protes-
the church.        And it urges that these "rites" be de-          tant groups as well. Already Pope Paul has met in
veloped.                                                           Jerusalem with one patriarch of the Orthodox churches.
          These individual Churches, whether of the East or        And at the conclusion of the last session of the Vatican
    the West, although they differ somewhat among them-            Council Pope Paul VI and Athenagoras I mutually lifted
    selves in rite (to use the current phrase), that is, in        the "excummunications" which the churches has ut-
    liturgy, ecclesiastical discipline, and spiritual heritage,    tered against each other when the schism began. Dif-
    are, nevertheless, each as much as the others, en-             ferences remain.       But the way to union has at least
    trusted to the pastoral government of the Roman Pon-           been opened up.
    tiff, the divinely appointed successor of St. Peter in            Again, all this must be a reminder to us of the last
    primacy over the universal Church. They are con-
    sequently of equal dignity, so that none of them is            days in which we live. More and more one can detect
    superior to the others as regards rite and they enjoy          the trends towards the establishment of one large
    the same rights and are under the same obligations,            "Christian" church which can serve as the seat of
    also in respect of preaching the Gospel to the whole           the  anti-Christ.    God grant the faithful members of
    world under the guidance of the Roman Pontiff. (p.351).        the body of Christ grace to stand firm even until the
          All members of the Eastern Rite should know and          end of time.
    be convinced that they can and should always preserve
    their legitimate liturgical rite and their established
   way of life, and that these may not be altered except                                ANNOUNCEMENT
    to `obtain for themselves an organic improvement.              The Hope Protestant Reformed Christian School will
    (p. 352).                                                      have .openings  for teachers in the Kindergarten, lst,
    With respect to the "Orthodox" churches, Rome                  and 3rd grades, and for a part-time teachers (4 hours
expressed its consciousness of closeness between the               per day). For further information, contact the under-
two groups.. Rome recognizes as proper the adminis-                signed:
tration of sacraments in the "Orthodox" churches and                               Don Lotterman
is ready to receive both members and its priests into                              1926 Porter St., S.W.
communion with Rome.                                                               Wyoming, Michigan 49509


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288                                       -----%k-iTMDARDBEARER


                                         N E W S   F R O M   O U R   CHURCHES-

               REPORTOFCLASSISEAST                                        Classis  adjourned then until February 23.
           January 5 and February 23, 1966 Sessions                -      On this reconvened session Kalamazoo's elder dele-
       Rev. H. Veldman, chairman of the October  Classis           gate was absent and elder S. De Vries took the place of
  presided over the opening devotions, and after the               Rev. G. Lanting, who was absent.
  credentials were accepted, declared the  classis  prop-                 The chair appointed elder K.Lanning to take the
  erly constituted.                                                place of elder M. Klop on the finance committee.
       Rev. G. J. Van  Baren  then presided, while Rev.                   Classis  decided to give an advisory vote to Rev. G.
  Veldman recorded the minutes. All the churches were              Vos and the elders of First Church who were present.
  represented in this opening session by two delegates                    Rev. Harbach again presided when the committee
  each.                                                            appointed at the last session gave its report which was
       The routine matters of the approval of minutes of           treated in executive session.
  October-November sessions of  classis,  the  reports.of                 Classis  decided to thank the study committee for
  the Stated Clerk and Classical Committee were taken              its work.
  care of in that order.                                                .. After the closing devotions, Rev. M. Schipper closed
       The brethren G. Bouwkamp and M. Klop were ap-               the meeting with thanks to God.
  pointed to the finance committee for this session of                                                       M. Schipper, S.C.
  classis.                                                                                                        March 1, 1966
       The Consistory of Hudsonville requested classical                                       * * *
  appointments and the Mission Board requested that
  Rev. M. Schipper be relieved of his appointment to               Rev. J. Kortering, of Hull, Iowa, has declined the
  Isabel-Forbes.       Both requests were granted.  Classis     call from our Isabel, South Dakota church. Rev. D.
  later adopted the following schedule for Hudsonville,         Engelsma received the call from Randolph, Wis.; he
  Randolph, and Isabel-Forbes:* Hudsonville: Jan. 23 - H.       declined Edgerton's call.
  Veldman, Jan. 30 - G. Lanting, Feb. 13 - H. Veldman,                                         * * *
  Feb. 20  - M. Schipper, Feb. 27  -  G.. Van  Baren,  Mar.        The 1966 Protestant Reformed Young People's
  6  -  R; Harbach, Mar. 13  - G . Lubbers, Mar. 20  i G.       Convention will be held in Southeast Church in Grand
  Lanting, April 3  I M. Schipper.      Randolph: Jan. 16  -    Rapids, Aug. 19-22, D.V. The theme of the convention
  G. Van Baren,  Jan. 23  - M. Schipper, Feb. 6 - R. Har-
  bath, Feb. 20  - G. Lanting,Mar. 6  - H. Veldman, Mar.        is based on the truth as found in II Peter 15-8, under
  20  - M. Schipper, April 3 -R Harbach. Isabel-Forbes:         the title, "Faith". This theme will be developed under
  Jan. 16, 23, 30 - G. Lubbers, Feb. 6, 13 - G. Van Baren.      three sub-titles, "The Seed of Faith". "The Growth
       Classis  next treated the matter of subsidy requests     of Faith", and "The Fruit of Faith". Young People,
  which came from the consistories of  HoIland  and             plan your vacation so that you can attend this year's
  Kalamazoo.      Both requests were to be sent  -to synod      convention so that you may share in the instruction in
  with classis' approval.                                       this profound truth so sadly mis-interpreted in the
       Two protests against the classical decisions of the      modern church world. Southeast's Feb. 27th bulletin
  October  classis were given into the hands of a study         asked for housing facilities for the out-of-town con-
  committee which was to report on an extended meeting
  of  classis  on February 23. The committee: Rev. G.           ventioneers.                  * * *
  Lanting, Rev. G. Lubbers, and the elders R. Teitsma,
  D. Kooienga, and K. Lanning. This matter was treated             Hudsonville's new clerk is Mr. Harry Zwak, 2791
  in executive session, and the Rev. R. Harbach presided        Quincy, Hudsonville, Mich.
  while the matter was treated.                                                                * * *
       Classis,  once more out of executive session, pro-          The consistory of Doon, Iowa, has inauguratedanew
  ceeded to vote for synodical delegates and delegates          Order of Worship.             The new order includes such
  ad examina.                                                   changes as, silent prayer in unison; a doxology before
       The synodical delegates chosen are listed in alpha-
  betical order by decision of  classis as follows:             .and after the service; an organ offertory while the
  Ministers  Primi: R. Harbach, M. Schipper, G. Van             offering is being received, and congregational singing
  Baren,  H. Veldman. Ministers Secundi: G. Lanting,            while standing. This new order was scheduled to begin
  G. Lubbers. Elders  Primi:  T. Englesma, D.  Lange-           F e b .   2 0 .
  land,  H.Meulenberg,  H. Zwak. Elders Secundi: J. M.                                         * * *
  Faber, K. Lanning, A. Talsma, B. Windemuller.                    At their last congregational meeting, Hudsonville's
       Delegates ad examina chosen:  Primus R. Harbach          congregation adopted the consistory's proposal to re-
  for three years. `Secundi G. Lanting for three years,         model and redecorate the parsonage. This project is
  G. Lubbers for 2 years, G. Van  Baren  for 1 year.            quite an extensive one, with a $3,000. price tag.
       Brother A.  Haveman  was  :appointed  to thank the                                      * * *
  ladies of Southeast Church for their excellent catering.
       Classis  decided to hold its April session in South-        Advance notice: Hope's Choral Society is announcing
  west Church on April 6, D.V.                                  an Easter Cantata to be rendered the evening of Easter
       Questions of Article 41 of the Church Order were         Sunday in their church.
  asked and answered satisfactorily.                               . . . see you in church.                               J.M.F.


