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                              Volume LI, Number 4, November 15,1974 -


  74                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



  MEDITA TION


                             Wars And Rumors Of War
                                                           Rev. C Hanko
               And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these
               things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and
               kingdom against kingdom..
                                                                                                 Matthew 24:6, 7a


        Wars and rumors of wars. . . .                             Medo-Persian  lion with eagle's wings, then by the
        From the dawn of history man has been at war.              Macedonian empire as a bear with three bones in its
   Adam and Eve declared war against God by allying                mouth, followed by the Roman Empire, the leopard
   themselves with Satan, bringing death upon                      with fowl's wings, as described in Daniel 7.
   themselves and us. Immediately their own intimate
   relationship of friendship as husband and wife was                All of these conflicts were only the preliminary
                                                                   skirmishings  of the wars and rumors of wars in the
  `sorely disrupted. Eve did not love Adam any more                new dispensation, which Jesus speaks of as signs of
  `after she had fallen and he still stood in the state of
   righteousness. She lured him into joining her in her            the times. These wars were still limited to a small area
   rebellion against God, so that they became                      of the globe. As the nations spread farther and
   companions in sin, hiding from God. Eve felt a twinge           farther, covering all the ends of the earth, the wars
   of. agony in her soul when Adam sought to excuse                also take on a far broader scope. The red horse of
   himself for his sin by pointing to the woman God had            Revelation 6 follows wherever the gospel is preached;
   given him. The breach of sin had already cut deeply             and soon bloody conflicts arise, as one nation tries to
   into their lives, a breach that only grace can heal.            gain supremacy over others, as one king sets his
                                                                   throne upon the ashes and ruins of his predecessor.
        This breach became more violent as time                    More and still more tribes, nations, and kingdoms are
   progressed. Cain rose against Abel and killed his              involved. Larger and more destructive instruments of
   brother, because his brother was righteous and he was          war are invented as history rushes toward its end.
   evil, The seed of the serpent in the generations of            More recent times bring up such names as Napoleon,
   Cain made war against the church, the descendants of            Stalin, Hitler, and their imitators. Our present
   Seth. After the flood this strife became even more             generation has known two world wars, a Korean war,
   evid%nt. When the descendants of Noah united                   a war in Viet Nam, constant turmoil in the Mid-East,
   themselves in alliance against God, God looked down            disturbances in South America, in Asia, and even in
   from heaven upon their foolishness, confused their             the tribes of Africa.
   language and scattered them over the earth. As they
   spread, they grew into tribes and nations which were              Wars and rumors of wars, and the end is not yet.
   soon making war with one another, each trying to                  War is a horrible thing.
   gain supremacy over the other. The history of the old
   dispensation cannot be read without shuddering at                 Although many of us have never had to pass
   the cruelty of the sword, which cut up mothers with             through the anxiety of real warfare, we do know
   child, mutilated prisoners, and wiped out whole                 something about it. We have read about it, and heard
   generations. We read of horses running around                   of the horrible experiences of those who were
; without hoofs, of kings under the victor's table,                involved in World War II with the invasions of Hitler.
   trying to snatch food that was thrown to them, even             Our young men have been called into service, have
   while their thumbs had been cut off. Israel,                    seen actual conflict, have lost their friends, have
   representing God's covenant people, was always in               suffered wounds; some have not returned. Many
   the center of the conflict. First they were victims of          families have felt the care of anxious waiting, the
   Egypt's oppression, then threatened by Syria's pride,           bitter loss of a dear one.
   then sorely wounded by Assyria's onslaughts, led into             War is horrible. Heated passions, bitter wrath, lust
   captivity by haughty Nebuchadnezzar. Yet Babylon's              for gain, envy and hatred lift their foul heads. Sirens
   insatiable greed for power was soon imitated by the             scream; men, women, and children, stricken with


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    75


fear, flee to the nearest bomb shelter to sit huddled          Having done away with God, the fallen human race
together, dreading the outcome. War planes thunder           disposes of God's law to set up its own standard of
over head, bombs scream and burst into fire, houses          right and wrong. Today every person decides for
and factories, dams and bridges, whole cities crumble        himself what his moral standard will be and how far
under their devastating blast. Cattle, and crops are         he will live up to it.
destroyed, fields are ruined for years to come. Dead           James says (4: 1, 2), "From whence come wars and
bodies lie unburied on the streets, others are maimed,       fightings  among you? Come they not hence, even of
crippled, to become basket cases the rest of their           your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and
lives. Who can estimate the damage of a single war?          have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot
Think, for example, of Hiroshima and Nagasaki left in        obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye
total ruin only thirty years ago.                            ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask
  War wreaks unimaginable physical destruction, but          amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts."
the ruin it does to man's soul is even worse. War is           Man first makes war against God, then against his
accompanied by dishonesty, deceit, treachery,                neighbor. In his heart is always that sinful ambition
stealing, as if they were to be condoned.                    to be as God. Man lives only unto himself, to seek
Drunkenness, drug addiction, rape, the vilest                himself, to satisfy his pride, his lusts, his evil passions.
immoralities are taken for granted. Men become               Bitter hatred, cruel jealousies, cold vengeance must
worse than beasts, as if there were no God in heaven.        follow. Many kings and rulers have actually set
  The aftermath of war brings the misery of hunger           themselves up as if they were God, worthy to be
and starvation, the onslaughts of various diseases and       worshipped by men. Think of Pharaoh who defiantly
uncontrollable epidemics. Today doctors are still            asked Moses: "Who is God that I should obey Him?"
puzzled by some new virus that makes its appearance          Think of Nebuchadnezzar, who set up a golden image
from time to time. All modern medicine cannot cope           with its dimensions according to the number six of
with these judgments that God sends upon the earth.          Revelation 13, demanding that every prince and ruler                 1
It has been said that "war is hell"; although this is a      in his kingdom bow down and worship the image,
bit of exaggeration, it surely reminds us of the reality     How N e bu c hadnezzar's fury burned when he
that awaits a rebellious world steeped in iniquity.          discovered three Hebrews, whom he had exalted to
  These modern wars are still nothing compared to            positions of authority in his kingdom, publicly
the conflict that must still come, when all the world's      refusing to bow down and worship their benefactor!
ingenuity will prepare armament and weapons to be            The hottest furnace was not sufficient to pacify his
used in an all-out war involving all the nations and         rage - no, not until he saw the presence of the Angel
peoples of the earth. The last battle of Armageddon          of Jehovah protecting His servants was his fury
still remains to be fought. The end is not yet.              abated. Even then Nebuchadnezzar refused to bow
                                                             down before the living God. He still boastfully said:
  What causes war?                                           "Is not this the great Babylon that I have built?" The
  Jesus says, "All these things must come to pass."          Caesars and Herods wanted to be recognized as God,
Why the "must"?                                              even as the Savior of the world. They are the
  Wars, rumors of wars, fear, death, destruction, all        fulfillment of Psalm 2: "The kings of the earth set
are in the eternal counsel of God, fulfilling His            themselves, and the rulers take counsel together,
purpose. The Church shall be purified, protected and         against the Lord, and against his Anointed, saying,
gathered from the Babylon of this world. The eternal         Let us break their'bands asunder, and cast away their
day must come in the fullness of time. The cup of            cords from us:" In their representatives the kings of
iniquity shall be filled. Wicked man must indulge his        earth join with the chief priests and rulers of Israel to
final vanity, sin his final sin, wreak destruction in his    crucify the Christ. Throughout the new dispensation
final war.                                                   they purpose to destroy the Church, that the very
  Why does man war?                                          name of God may perish from the earth. The kings of
                                                             the earth reach their culmination in the Man of Sin,
  The cause of war, as far as man is concerned, lies in      that Abominable One of whom Daniel speaks, who
his unbelief. Unbelief is always the root sin out of         sits on the throne, of the nations as if he were God,           V
which all other sins must follow. Eve preferred to           bringing utter ruin and desolation upon the earth as
believe Satan rather than her God, even when the             the measure of iniquity fills up.
devil flatly contradicted God with the bold falsehood,
"Ye shall not surely die." Having put God out of her           He Who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds
thoughts, the next step was easy. How that tree              them in derision. For, as Jesus assures us, "the end is
charmed her! How strong became that proud desire             not yet."
to be as God, knowing good and evil. How irresistibly          The disciples had asked Jesus: "What shall be the
her hand went out to the forbidden fruit!                    sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?"


76                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



They had spoken of "end" in the sense of "finish" or        imagination of our hearts, even better than we do. He
"completion." Jesus now refers to that end, but uses        knows our doubts, our fears, which arise from our
another word which means "goal." He emphasizes              shortsightedness, especially when trials and affliction
that history does not'merely run its course, but that       are our lot, or when our hearts bleed because of the
the Most High carries out the purpose of His will           ragings and tumults of the nations. The Lord warns
toward His own destiny, or goal. Nations may rage, and      us: "Be ye not troubled, but find your peace in God
peoples may imagine vain things; but God has                alone."
eternally set His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, as Lord           God has the hearts of kings and rulers in His
over all in the highest heavens! All of man's strivings     almighty hand, to turn them at  His will. God reigns
are vain. They may boast of fighting wars to prevent        supreme in the heavens, over Satan who does his
or to end all war; but as long as they stand in             worst because he has a little while, and over the
rebellion against God, they can only hate, defy, and        enemies that would wipe God's name from off the
oppose the neighbor. They fill the measure of               earth. Nothing happens, not even in that broad arena
iniquity unto the day of wrath.                             of warfare in which nations clash in mortal combat,
      In the meantime the white horse of Revelation 6       that God does not determine and control, so that
runs his course, gathering God's Church, conquering         even war serves His purpose toward the gathering and
and to conquer, until the kingdoms of this world            purifying of His saints, and the hastening of His
become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ             eternal day.
forever and ever. God is King forever, let the nations         Be alert; watch in prayer.
tremble!                                                       Let the Word of God always be your guide, the
      "See that ye be not troubled."                        lamp before your feet and the light upon your
      Our Lord impresses upon us a double admonition.       pathway. Only when we search the Scriptures and
The first is: "See, take note." The second is: "Be ye       recognize the signs of Christ's coming can our hearts
not troubled."                                              rest in peace in God, even during wars and rumors of
      Do not let your heart be troubled as if some          WEll-.
strange thing has come to pass upon you. Do not let            Hear Christ say in the ragings of the nations:
your soul be troubled, as if Satan and evil men have        "Behold, I come quickly."
control of the affairs of this life, as if God were not        Be able to respond: "Come,  -Lord Jesus, yea,
on the throne.                                              quickly."
      Our Lord understands the thoughts and the


EDITORIALS

                                             What  Riches?

                                               Profi H. C. Hoeksema


 In the  Clarion,  the Canadian Reformed Magazine           should be a change in attitude and evidence of a real
(Oct. 19,  1974),  Editor W. W. J. Van Oene writes          willingness to discuss and to have an exchange of
some reflections in connection with the golden              views on the basis of Scripture and the Confessions,
anniversary of  The Standard Bearer.  As might be           rather than the typical Liberated readiness to write
expected, these reflections are written from a              everyone else off, then I will have some hope of
`typically Liberated point of view. And frankly, I do       positive fruit. Nevertheless, I will make an attempt at
not have much' expectation, when I read Rev. Van            fruitful discussion.
Oene's article, that a journalistic exchange between us         I will pass by the several inaccuracies and
can bear any positive fruit. My reason is, chiefly, that    inconsistencies in Editor Van Oene's account of 1924
I have detected no more real willingness to listen and      and of our contacts with the Liberated Churches and
to treat seriously the views of others on the part of       the Liberated immigrants in the late 1940's and early
the Liberated today than was evinced some                   1950's. If Mr. Van Oene would like me to point these
twenty or twenty-five years ago. When and if there          out to him, he may say so, and I will do this upon


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                             77


request. But I assure him now that his presentation of         that the Liberated leaders embraced the views of the
this history is far from correct.                              American Prof. Heyns concerning the covenant and
  However, I wish to concentrate at present on the             the promise of the covenant, even to the extent that
last part of the editorial in  Clarion.  It reads as           they quoted him with approval. I attended both of
follows:                                                       the conferences with the late Dr. K. Schilder in 1947.
                                                               I followed avidly the journalistic exchange between
       We do not know whether we should congratulate           our Standard Bearer and De Reformatie concerning
    or not. It would be very difficult to do so when,          the covenant and later concerning the so-called
    basically, the stand taken by the Protestant Reformed      "condition controversy." I lived through and
    Churches in the matter of the Covenant of God and
    the promise of the Covenant constitutes a rejection        participated in the controversy that shook our
    and condemnation of the riches which were                  churches in those days. I remember well when the
    re-discovered in the struggle for the freedom in Christ    immigrants in Canada received advice from the late
    through which the older ones among us went in the          Prof. B. Holwerda to smuggle their Liberated views
    days of the Liberation.                                    into our churches and when, to his lasting credit, the
       The best wish we can express at this occasion is        Rev. G. M. Ophoff exposed this matter. I recall the
    that the Protestant Reformed Churches may see these        reaction of shock among our people to the views
    same riches. Then there is no need for a specific          expressed in Prof. C. Veenhof's Appel. In the heat of
    "Protestant Reformed Truth", for such a' specific          the controversy which shook our churches in the early
    truth means an extra-Scriptural binding; then there        1950's I resided in  Classis West, the hotbed of
    will also be a positive attitude which, at present, is     plotting and intrigue on the part of the pro-Liberated
    not completely absent but tends to be overshadowed         faction in our churches in those days. All these things
    by a feeling of being called upon to always fight off      I will never forget.
    whatever might constitute a threat to that specific,
    cherished, characteristic mark. Then there also may           But there is one thing that I have never been able
    be a time when we have to come to the conclusion           to understand and that I cannot understand today.
    that the unity of faith is there and should also be        That is the matter of those alleged "riches."
    shown in a closer relationship.                               You see, Editor Van Oene,we had a liberation also,
  Now I can understand Mr. Van Oene's difficulty               long before yours in the Netherlands. In 1924 we
about congratulating us. In fact, he might just as well        were liberated from the very principle to which you
have written that it  is impossible  for him to                are now in bondage. For the Heynsian idea of a
congratulate us.                                               general, conditional promise to all who are baptized is
  But there is one item in the above quotation which           nothing less than a refinement of the general,
I have never yet been able to comprehend. And that             well-meant offer of grace of the First Point of 1924.
is the reference to those "riches which were                   To us of the Protestant Reformed Churches that view
re-discovered in the struggle for the freedom in Christ        does not constitute riches, but a terrible
through which the older ones among us went in the              impoverishing  - yea, principally, a denial  - of the
days of the Liberation."~The reference is, of course,          Reformed truth of God's covenant and promise. No,
to riches with regard to the "matter of the Covenant           do not suggest that we are in the camp of
of God and the promise of the Covenant." Van Oene              presupposed regeneration: we repudiate that, too.
expresses the wish that the Protestant Reformed                   Hence, in conclusion, let me put it very plainly. In
Churches "may see these same riches."                          the first place, if by "riches" you mean a view which
  Now I believe that I may say without boasting that           is basically the same as the Heynsian view which we
I am rather well acquainted with the so-called                 have repudiated from the very beginning of our
Liberated view on these matters  - although they               existence of a separate denomination, forget it: you
always asserted that there was no binding Liberated            will never convince us of any "riches" of that view. In
view concerning the covenant. I am rather well                 the second place, however, if you can make plain that
acquainted both because I lived through the history            there is a fundamental difference between the
of our contacts with the Liberated and because I read          Liberated view and the Heynsian presentation of
most of the writings in books and brochures and                covenant and promise, and that we have missed
papers. I remember well when the first reports of the          something important, you are welcome to do so. We
Liberation began to filter through to this country. I          will listen.
remember well when the first copies of De                        And we will judge what you have to say in the light
Reformatie  reached us after World War II. I                   of Scripture and the confessions.           d
remember well when the late Rev. Vos came to my                   For we have neither an extra-Scriptural nor an
father's house with those copies, and when they                extra-confessional binding. To us, "Protestant
simply shook their heads in amazement at the fact              Reformed" and "Reformed" are identical.


     78                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


                                           The  Issue  Confronted

                                                      Prot H. C. Hoeksema

           Some of our readers will undoubtedly recall that       doctrinal direction of the theological college here at
     when Dr. S. Woudstra was loaned by the Christian             Geelong.
     Reformed Board of Foreign Missions to the                      "It is clear that for all concerned this whole matter
     Reformed Theological College at Geelong, Australia,          has caused deep discouragement and disappointment,
     we warned (in February,  1973),  on the basis of his         for Prof. Woudstra himself in particular, and that in
     erroneous view of Scripture as manifested in a sermon        all this the church and the college, the Woudstra's and
     preached in this area, that the college and the              all who work at the college, need your prayerful and
     churches there would be confronted by one of the             helpful concern."
     same issues as they were with Dr. Klaas Runia. In the
     case of Dr. Runia, they failed to meet the issue, and          The fact, therefore, of Dr. Woudstra's dismissal is
     in effect (although some were altogether dissatisfied        confirmed by the above announcement. Evidently the
     and although others attempted compromise) upheld             author of the announcement knew more about the
     Dr. Runia. Later events have certainly shown that to         reasons than he chose to divulge. In fact, it would be
     have been wrong.                                             safe to say that the author knew what the reasons
                                                                  were: for he is able to state that `"obviously the
           Recently from various correspondents in                reasons are related to the doctrinal direction of the
     Australasia we have received reliable information that       theological college `here at Geelong." Whatever that
     in the case of Dr. Sierd Woudstra the issue was              last statement means to suggest  - and it seems to
     confronted head-on by the Board of Directors of the          suggest that the author is not pleased about the
     Reformed Theological College at Geelong, with the            "doctrinal direction of the theological college"  -
     result that Dr. Woudstra has been dismissed.                 from other sources I have learned that these reasons
           Dr. Woudstra was loaned to the Reformed                are, indeed, doctrinal. I have not yet received a copy
     Theological College by the Board of Foreign Missions         of the Board's reasons for their decision. And some of
     of the Christian Reformed Church, and originally             the details concerning the events which led up to Dr.
     went to Geelong as Professor of Old Testament to             Woudstra's dismissal I have not yet been able to
     replace Dr. G. Van Groningen. Later, however, he was         confirm. However, the following is, I believe, reliable
     appointed as Professor of Systematic Theology to             information:
     replace Dr. Runia; and Prof. A. M.  Harman was
     appointed as Professor of Old Testament. According           1. The initiative for this action against Dr. Woudstra
     to more than one correspondent in Australasia, the           came from the student body at Geelong.
     matter of Woudstra's position has been in question           2. There were complaints from the student body
     now for some time. I was aware of this, but refrained        concerning deviations on the part of Prof.
     from publishing anything until I was certain that this       Woudstra from the Standards of the College with
     was public knowledge. From recent correspondence I           respect to: a) the doctrine of Scriptures; b) the
     learned that the following announcement appeared in          doctrine of election; c) church government and office
; the bulletin of the Reformed Church, of Geelong                 bearers.
i (Rev. J. W. Deenick,  pastor):
:                                                                 3. The Board of Directors and the representatives of
           "Several church. members have approached the           the supporting denominations were made aware of
     session and others have asked Prof. Woudstra about           these deviations; and at least one of these deviations
     the recent developments at the Reformed Theological          of Dr. Woudstra concerned Genesis l-3, according to
     College and about Dr. Woudstra's position at the             correspondence which I received from a brother living
     college. As yet the session has received no official         in Geelong.
     communication from the Board of the RTC but there            4. Upon request of the students the Board of
     is no reason why the members of this church should           Directors examined their grievances, and my
     not know that the RTC Board has requested the                correspondent informs me that "during the meeting
     Board of Foreign Missions of the Christian Reformed          of the directors and Dr. Woudstra on these
     Church in the USA to terminate Dr. Woudstra's                complaints, Dr. Woudstra was told `to pack his bags
     services at the college.                                     and return to the USA.' "
           "It is up to the Board of the RTC to publish the         If at a later date I receive the official grounds of
     reasons for this decision and no doubt this will be          Dr. Woudstra's dismissal, I will make the readers
     done. There is therefore no need for speculation             aware.
     about it, but obviously the reasons are related to the


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                               79


  More than one correspondent has informed me               New Zealand would do well to follow the lead of the
that the initiative for Woudstra's dismissal seemed to      Board of Directors in this doctrinal direction. And
come more from the Free Presbyterian Church of              although I have little expectation of this, they would
Eastern Australia than from the Reformed Church of          do better yet to review their past stand with respect
Australia. Whether, in the light of the evident             to Dr. Runia and make amends. Particularly would it
sympathy for Woudstra among the clergy of the              be salutary, even at this late date, if the Reformed
Reformed Church of Australia, this spells trouble for       Churches of New Zealand would do this and thus
the Reformed Theological College I do not know. Of         bring about reconciliation between themselves and
one thing I am convinced, and that is that this was a      the brethren who are now outside of their
move in the right direction on the part of the Board        communion.
of Directors. If they continue in this direction, there
is hope for the college at Geelong. And the Reformed           Further comment on this matter will have to wait
Church of Australia and the Reformed Church of             until more information is received.


QUESTION BOX

                  About Praying For Those In Authority

  This question comes from a Grand Rapids area             that supplications, prayers, intercessions, giving of
reader who is concerned about the meaning of I             thanks, be made for all men. And then the emphasis
Timothy 2: l-4. He would like an explanation in            is laid especially on the fact that such prayers shall be
connection with the fact that this passage is rather       made for kings and for all that are in authority. We
frequently appealed to for the support of the rather       ought to notice that the text does not say  the king,
common custom of praying  - usually in public              nor does it speak of our government. This is the usual
prayers - for the president and his cabinet.               application that is made of this text. We pray for our
                                                           president, for our congress, for our governor, etc. But
Reply                                                      this is not the point. The text is speaking of that class
  Those who possess the bound volumes of our               of men which is in authority. It does not have in view
Standard Bearer  and who check in the index will           certain individual rulers whatsoever, whether those
discover that this is one of the passages about which      rulers are the rulers of our country or the rulers of
questions have been raised many times over the years.      another country. It does not have in view individuals
Questions have been raised both in connection with         whatsoever, but simply  classes  of men. And that
this matter of praying for those in authority and in       particular class of men we may not systematically
connection with the fact that the text tells us that       exclude from our prayers, as though they are  per se
God "will have all men to be saved, and to come unto       excluded from salvation. This is the first significant
the knowledge of the truth." In the latter connection      fact that we should note in connection with this
this passage has more than once been brought up by         question. Those who wish to apply this passage
those who seek support for the idea of a well-meant        individually must then pray not only for our
offer of salvation and grace to all who hear the           president, but for the prime minister of Canada, the
gospel. It is well, therefore, that we get the passage     president of Mexico, the prime minister of the
before us, first of all. It reads as follows: "I exhort    Netherlands, and also the premier of Russia, and the
therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers,     ruler of Red China. But the simple fact is that the text
intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for  all      does not have in view individual rulers, but rulers as a
men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that    class.
we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness       In the second place, the prayer which the apostle
and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the        has in mind is a prayer for their salvation. In the light
sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be      of vss. 3 and 4, this is the only possible explanation.
saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."       As is plain from the word "for" in vs. 3, a reason is
  In the first place, we may note that the text            given in these two verses why such prayers should be
undoubtedly has in view public prayers in the              made. And that reason is that it is pleasing to the
gatherings of the congregation. The exhortation is         Lord to pray for men that are in authority because


80                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



He wills that all men be saved and come to the                 or that political peace shall be established. Nor does
knowledge of the truth. While our questioner is not            the text mean that the church shall be preserved from
particularly concerned about that aspect of the text, I        persecution on the part of the ungodly world-power.
must point out that "all men" cannot possibly refer            Both Scripture and history teach the contrary. The
to every individual man, but refers `to all classes,. or       church does not escape the sword of persecution.
kinds, of men. And I am supported in this                      Besides, such an interpretation would be in conflict
interpretation by many a Reformed commentator,                 with the expression "in all godliness and honesty."
including Calvin. The point, therefore, is that God            The  text  refers to  a quiet and peaceable life on the
wills that all kinds of men, all classes of men, be saved      part of the congregation as  such.  Quietness and
and come to the knowledge of the truth. He wills not           peaceableness would characterize `life in the church,
only that servants and slaves, but also masters and            and the name of the church would be honorable
free men, not only subjects but also kings and rulers          among those who are outside the church. This must
shall be saved. The purpose of the exhortation is              undoubtedly be understood in the light of the
therefore that the church in its intercessions and             peculiar attitude which the church, or many in the
prayers and giving of thanks for the salvation of all          church, assumed over against the rulers and those in
men (all classes of men) shall not exclude kings and           authority at that time. We must remember that the
those who are in authority, but also remember them.            latter were the persecutors of the saints in those days.
Here we have the second significant point in                   They were the enemies of the church of Christ. And
connection with the question raised. This prayer is            the danger was not at all imaginary that there would
not a prayer for some kind of blessing of God upon             be those in the congregation who would allow
rulers and governors in their capacity as rulers. It is        themselves to be tempted to be bitter and to be
not a prayer for God's blessing upon some king or              opposed to kings and those in authority, as though
president or governor, so that he may be able to rule         kings and those in authority were  per se enemies of
wisely and well. This has nothing to do with the text.         Christ, and9as though as a class they were necessarily
In fact, the text does not speak here at all of these         -opposed-to the cause of Christ, and therefore were
kings and those who are in authority from the point            excluded from salvation. In such circumstances, an
of view of their ruling and governing. And once again,         attitude of contempt and of rebellion and revolution
let me remind you that if this is the intention of the         would very easily come to manifestation. And if such
text, then we must not pray merely for our own                an attitude were present in the church, this would be
president and our own governor, but also for the ruler        precisely the opposite of a quiet and peaceable life.
of a foreign nation and even of an enemy nation. For          Besides it would be the opposite of a life in all
example, that would have implied such a prayer for            godliness and honesty, and would tend to bring the
Hitler in World War II as well as for our own                 church of Jesus Christ into disrepute in the world,
government. No one would have wanted to accept                 and would thus bring reproach upon the Name of
such a consequence. But I repeat: this is not the point       Christ Himself. Hence, instead of this wrong attitude,
of the text at all. The text has to do only with a            the apostle exhorts the church that supplications,
prayer for the salvation of all classes of men, kings         prayers, intercessions, giving of thanks, be made also
and those who are in authority not excluded.                  for kings and those in authority. For it is God's will
      In this connection, in the third place, we may          that all men, that is, all classes of men, inclusive of
notice that the text speaks of the fruit of such              kings and those in authority, be saved and come to
prayers: "that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life         the knowledge of the truth.
in all godliness and honesty." We must be careful to             Thus, briefly, I would explain this passage. As
understand that this does not  &an that the fruit of          usual, if there is some point that is still not clear to
such prayers of the church will be that no war comes,         my questioner, he is welcome to write in again.



              ; It must be maintained, as I have before asserted, that we are not established in the belief
            of. the doctrine till we are indubitably persuaded that God is its Author. The principal proof,
            therefore, of the Scriptures is every where derived from the character of the Divine Speaker.
            The prophets and apostles boast not of their own genius, or any of those talents which
            conciliate the faith of the hearers; nor do they insist on arguments from reason; but bring
            forward the sacred name of God, to compel the submission of the whole world.
                                                                        -John Calvin, Institutes, I, VII, 4.


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        81


ALL AROUND US

                                                        Proj H. Hanko

                                        Women In The Ministry

  The following item is somewhat old news, but it is                 you in touch with pastors seeking a substitute. If you
worth a passing notice nonetheless. The reason why it                are looking, check with us, we may be able to help.
is old is simply that there has been no room in this                 Mrs. Marchiene Rienstra, a student at Calvin
column up to now to include it.                                      Seminary in the Master of Divinity program is
  The situation is this. Calvin Seminary has a few                   available to preach this summer. She comes very
women studying in the regular Seminary course. The                   highly recommended. Further information can be
Seminary has, from time to time, assured the                         obtained by calling Rev. Martin D. Geleynse at the
Christian Reformed constituency that this is not for                 seminary.
purposes of introducing the idea of women ministers.               We do not know whether or not this student
Nevertheless, one wonders if this assurance is given in         actually preached this summer; but apparently, she
all candor. In the April, 1974 issue of "Grace Notes"           was licensed to preach by the Seminary itself. Surely
(the paper of the Grand Rapids Area Center for                  this means that the Seminary has officially gone on
Ecumenism), the following notice appeared.                      record as favoring women preachers. Is this a first
      VACATION PULPIT SUPPLY - Many of you are                  step to its acceptance in the Christian Reformed
    beginning to  think about this. If you are retired and      Church?
    available, let the GRACE office know and we will put



                                 The  Abortion  Question  Again

  The whole question of abortion is gradually being             the sin so great that we must continue to raise our
silenced in our day. After abortion was legalized,              voices in protest against it. In the second place, it is
there was a loud cry made against its horrors. But              possible that even among us, consciences are soothed
gradually the cries have stilled, abortion becomes              by the very common-placedness of the sin so that we
increasingly accepted as a way of life, and the issue of        ourselves no longer see clearly its evils. This would be
its rightness or wrongness is a rather ho-hum thing.            disastrous for us. In the third place, when a writer in
This is the way it is with sin. Gradually consciences           a "Reformed" periodical openly advocates abortion,
are hardened,, the horrors of the sin are forgotten, the        something ought to be said about it, for the support
voices of opposition are .stilled. The world goes on to         of such a position in a "Reformed" periodical
yet greater and more terrible sins.                             certainly shows in what grave danger at least a
  It is the greater reason for sadness therefore, when          segment of the Reformed Church stands.
one hears voices in the Reformed community openly                  Let us then turn to the article.
advocating abortion. Here of all places there should               The argument of the author is a bit different from
be a strong and unceasing testimony to the terrible             the usual run-of-the-mill arguments. The author
wickedness involved in this matter. But instead one             argues against the position of those who hold that
finds abortion defended. I refer to an article which            abortion is murder by showing what consequences
appeared in the September issue of  The Reformed                this stand leads to; and by disassociating himself from
Journal  written by William Hasker, entitled:                   the consequences, and therefore from the position
"Abortion and the Definition of a Person".                      itself.
  Our readers may wonder why we should return to                   Apart from the rather poor logic of an argument of
a discussion of this matter in these columns. We have           this sort, it is interesting to follow what the author
discussed the whole question in previous issues, and            has to say and see whether his conclusion is valid.
have set forth our stand. Why now again bring up the               He argues that those who are opposed to abortion
mattei? There are several reasons for this. In the first        on the grounds that it constitutes murder, base this
place, the sin is so dreadful and the consequences of           argument on the fact that the fetus, from the


 82                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



  moment of conception, is a person. This, of course, is       of Reformed people. Another question is this. Cannot
  correct. What consequences follow from this                  God save those fetuses of believing parents which are
 position? His first consequence is that the only              spontaneously aborted? Cannot He perfect them in
  acceptable grounds for abortion is that it "is the only      glory so that they are glorified along with the
  way to prevent the otherwise  certain  death of the          Church? Cannot He perfect them just as he does the
 mother." Although the author does not say so, he              elect child of believing parents who dies in infancy? Is
 apparently disagrees with this. Further, he argues that       God's arm shortened that it cannot save? To speak of
 this is unacceptable. Hence, the position of those who        such infants as "these children" is a contemptuous
 condemn abortion is wrong, for this consequence is            dismissal of the sovereign power of the God of our
 wrong.                                                        salvation.
       But we accept this consequence. This is indeed the        But even the author is somewhat reluctant to come
 only ground upon which abortion can be condoned.              out forthrightly for abortion. And so, towards the
       The second consequence of our position is,              end of his article, he tempers somewhat his position.
 according to the author, that one who performs an             He argues that it is impossible to tell when a fetus
 abortion is guilty of pre-meditated murder, and the           becomes a person. But always we must consider such
 woman'who allows an abortion of her child commits             a fetus as "a being which could, in time, become a
 pre-meditated murder. This conclusion too, the                human person, capable of seeing the light of the sun
 author says is unacceptable. Hence, our position              and of knowing God in the light of His Son. The fetus
 against abortion is wrong.                                    is not that person as yet, but also it is not nothing; it
                                                               has a value and a dignity of its own, just as each of
       But here, too, we indeed accept the consequence.        God's creatures - a bird, a flower, a blade of grass -
 In fact, we insist that this is precisely the case. The       has its own value and dignity." Hence we must be
 abortionist and the mother seeking an abortion are            careful. We must not be too hasty with abortions. If
 both guilty of murder. The law of God forbids this. It        we give complete approval to abortions then we "`open
 is sin.                                                       the door to treating the retarded, the chronically ill,
       .The third consequence of our position is, according    the senile, and the generally nonproductive members
 to the author, that all birth control devices which           of society as nonpersons." And this is morally
 destroy the fetus after conception has taken place,           repugnant. But the author, in this argument is guilty
 such as various drugs and so-called IUD devices, are to       of the same error with which he accuses us: he will
 be forbidden because a fetus is aborted by their use.         not accept the consequences of his own position.
 He  finds this consequence also to be unacceptable.
 His only ground is:                                             When ought we then to consider a fetus a person?
                           "Indeed, by distributing such
 devices the United States government has committed            Since God has not told us, the author argues, we must
 mass murder on a scale to make the Nazi atrocities            do this when the fetus "reaches the stage of
                                                               development at which it is capable of independent
 pale by comparison!                                           existence as a human organism, supported by the care
       This consequence, too, we accept. It is indeed true     which is normally given to newborn children." He
 that such birth control devices which abort the fetus         presents this as being an advance in the search for a
 are also instruments of murder. It is also true that in       solution to the problem. But this very position has
 our country mass murder is being committed on a               repeatedly been taken by many advocates of
 scale such as the world has never seen. We agree with         abortion, and is very similar to the position taken by
 the conclusion.                                               the Supreme Court in its legalization of abortion.
       The final consequence of our position is a                What lies behind all the arguments however is a
 theological one. Arguing from the viewpoint that              refusal to recognize that the Word of God is
 each personal human being has an eternal destiny, the         authoritative for us in this matter as well as in all
 author writes: "What, then, is the eternal destiny of         other matters of faith and life. The author, without
 the estimated one-half of all such human beings               proof, simply affirms that God does not tell us when
which fail of implantation? Surely they cannot be              a fetus becomes a person. We insist that the Word of
 damned, and, lacking a doctrine of limbo, there is no         God does tell us. And God's Word is very specific on
 escaping the conclusion that heaven is full of these          the point: a fetus becomes a person at the moment of
 creatures! Is any further comment necessary?"                 conception.
       Yes, a great deal of further comment is necessary.        The evils which this country brings upon itself and
 One question which comes to mind is this. Does not            the fury of the wrath of God which shall come upon
 the author who professes to be Reformed believe in            such terrible sins may not yet be evident. But such
 the thoroughly Reformed doctrine of predestination?           evils and such judgments are as sure to come as the
 If he does not, he ought not to be speaking on behalf
                                               -- .            Word of God is true and faithful,


                                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                 83


                                               The GKN A Modality Church

    The `following article appeared in the September 10                                              the churches are called to oppose. Who is to make
issue of the  RES Newsletter.                                                                        this choice: consistories or individual members? Is it
          The association "Scripture and Witness", a group                                           possible to choose position against synod without
      of members of the Reformed Churches in the                                                     breaking ecclesiastical bonds? Although the unity of
      Netherlands (GKN) who are distur'bed  `by                                                      the church may be formally maintained, what is being
      developments within their church, have published a                                             asked is that a "spiritual" separation be allowed to
      declaration which calls on the congregations to take a                                         assume organizational form within the church. It calls
      stand against the direction of the GKN Synod. "Bar                                             on the "concerned'! (verontrusten) to form a
      straying pastors from the pulpits and from the                                                 modality within the GKN. Thus, those who have long
      catechism classrooms", it warns. It also advises                                               uttered strong objections against the formation of a
      members within churches where Scriptural preaching                                             `modality church', now are asking that such be given
      and fellowship  -no longer exist, `"to form temporary                                          institutional form.
      emergency congregations in which the offices of the                                               "Scripture and Witness", says Dr. Runia, is highly
      church will be instituted and the sacraments                                                   unrealistic if it expects the synod to accede to its
      administered."                                                                                 request. Unrealistic also is the declaration's expressed
          Commenting in Centraal Weekblad, Dr. K. Runia                                              hope for a truly Reformational church which it seems
      admits that he can easily identify with many of the                                            to be expecting to arise from contacts within the
      resolution's aims and admits that f`indeed, a great                                            Reformed Family  (Gereformeerde  Gezindte), which
      amount of erosion has taken place with regard to the                                           includes the Reformed Alliance within the
      Reformed character of our churches." The action, he                                            Netherlands Reformed (Hervormde) Church and
      also grants, is based on the reluctant recognition of a                                        various smaller Reformed denominations. At least a
      sorrowful fact: a spiritual division has taken place.                                          couple of leaders from these (sympathetic) groups
      The declaration would discover a way which deals                                               have reacted to the declaration with strong criticism.
      with this division without dividing the church.  Jt                                            Runia argues that legitimate ecclesiastical channels
      emphatically denies that it desires a schism, wants                                            have by no means been exhausted. "As long as the
      only to preserve the unity of the church.                                                      `way of the church' is still wide open, we may not
          Dr. Runia nevertheless  finds the declaration very                                         strike off into `side trails' ".
      confusing. It is unclear which decisions of the synod



STUDIES IN ISAIAH

                                  Blessing,r In Willing Obedience
                                                                          Rev. Robt. CT Harbach

                                       Yf ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. "
                                                                                      Isa.  1:19


    T h e   m o r e   r e m o t e   c o n t e x t ,   a s   w e   s a w ,   r e v e a l s    Him. They were too in love with their sins and with
Jehovah's people  as in an utterly hopeless state of.                                        themselves. They were too deeply involved in brazen
total depravity and spiritual death. In that state they                                      r e v o l t   a g a i n s t   t h e   H o l y   O n e   o f   I s r a e l   ( h o w
w e r e   a d j u d g e d   u n t h a n k f u l ,   e v i l ,   c o r r u p t   a n d        blasphemous!), against the mighty One of Israel, v.
hypocritical. They proudly thought themselves  the                                           ,24, (how futile!).
people! After all, they reasoned, they approached                                                   The immediately foregoing context introduces a
G o d   i n   p r o p e r   o u t w a r d   f o r m ,   w i t h   r e l i g i o u s          much brighter picture. It introduces the theme of the
preciseness and regularly, and without fail performed                                        salvation of the Lord and the conference,  IIe calls to
the rites of purification. Yet the Lord found them                                           discuss it together with His people. For it is by grace
vile, filthy, putrifying, stinking in their sins. For with                                   in doing so that sinners are set right in their thinking
all their proper religiosity, they had no love for God.                                      and doing with respect to pardon and redemption.
They had neither the desire nor the ability to love


  84                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



   Scripture calls that redemption "eternal redemption."        non-conditional if-clause sentence containing (1) a
   They who are redeemed by it are forever the Lord's           dependent clause and (2) the main clause. It would be
   purchased possessions. The redeemed, too, according          a twisting of grammar to make the main clause
   to the word of the Lord here, are a people zealous           depend on the dependent clause. This would also be
   of good works. Verse 18 tells us that the title              twisting Scripture into its very opposite. Indirect
   and right to salvation are the work and gift of              statements may not be used to nullify direct
   God alone. Verse 19  .tells us that the actual pos-          assertions; the subjective may not be used to
   session and enjoyment of that salvation lie in               invalidate the indicative; the conditional sentence to
   the way of faithfulness to the command of God.               void the absolute; nor may an "if" cancel the force of
        I.  The Meaning  of the text concerns our               a positive declaration. When Jesus commanded the
   willingness. Consider this first of all  manward. The        man with the withered hand, "Stretch forth thy
   Lord had been very reasonable to say to us what He           hand," He was not implying that it was within the
   had in v. 18 about full pardon and cleansing from sin.       power of the man to do the impossible. But Christ's
   It is just as reasonable now for Him to demand and           word is a word of power which sends forth with it the
   insist on our being willing from the heart. But              power for the fallen sinner to will and to do. No "if'
   certainly it does not follow from this that God              in Scripture stands in conflict with the truth that God
   enjoins willingness - that, therefore, man's will is free    creates in us a new and willing heart, and renews a
   to will or not to will the will of God. `We must not be      right spirit within us. Nor is there any contradiction
   fooled by the proponents of "free will" and their            between "if ye be willing and obedient. . ." and "it is
   supposition that man can make himself willing. For           not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
   though man is a free agent, and his `will is free in a       of God that showeth mercy" (Rom. 9: 16). For all
   certain direction, it is more bound in slavery (to sin)      our willing and obeying is the fruit of the direct
   than free. He is free only to do evil; to do good he has     agency of the Almighty God alone who works in us
   no knowledge. So there is a great difference between         to will and to do His good pleasure.
   free agency and free will. An agent is one who acts or         II.  The Duty: "If ye be willing and obey."
  has power to act. Man is still a free agent: he still has     Consider this obedience as to its nature. If ye be
   power to act according to his nature. But the trouble        willing, the promised blessing will follow. The
 is, that since the fall his nature is sinful and corrupt,      conditional particle does not signifiy a penance to be
   and so he is free to act only according to a fallen          performed for former inconsistencies and
   nature. A dead cat is free to do one thing  -                stubbornness, as though man by his own will and
   decompose! A boulder rolling down the mountain               works can voluntarily suffer punishment for his faults
   side is free, goes leaping in its freedom, freely            and so render satisfaction for them. The meaning is
   speeding and bounding on its way. But it is not free         that the Lord exhorts men to throw down the
   to roll back up again to the top of the mountain. It         weapons of their warfare against Him, bow to His
   rolls down, for it is bound to crash down; but it is not     sceptre and take His yoke upon them. He demands no
   free to go back up. So with the will of man ruined by        less than unconditional surrender to His will. Only so
   the fall: it is no longer free to good, but to only evil     can we walk in obedience to Him. Nor is it correct
   continually. "Free will" is a slave. `It is in moral,        here to say that the Lord does not demand perfect
   spiritual and ethical bondage. So when the Lord says,        obedience, but only willing obedience. For the fact
   `"lf ye be willing," the implication is not that man can     remains that God everywhere in His word demands
   make himself willing. For the regenerate are  made           personal, perfect and perpetual obedience. We are
   willing in the day of God's sovereign power.                 held accountable to the supreme standard of perfect
        Consider this also Godward. Fallen man is not and       obedience and perfect willingness. It is, however, all
   cannot be willing except as "it is God who worketh in        too true that even though regenerate, we do not
   you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."           render to God all His due. But "if there be a willing
  The Spirit regenerates dead sinners, giving them a new        mind, (i.e., one with the  spirit  and  principle  of
   heart and a new will. There is not a word or passage         obedience) it is accepted."
   of Scripture that ascribes the renewed act of man's            Consider this obedience as to its purpose. It is to
   will to himself, but it is all produced by the mighty        teach us to listen to God, that when He speaks to us
   power of God. "You hath  He  quickened who were              through His Word we may immediately respond. For
   dead in trespasses and sins." The will to do nothing         the word comes from the verb "to hear." But we are
   but sin comes from fallen nature; the will to do good        by nature so distracted by the things of the flesh and
   comes from grace. Now notice that here we have an            of the world that we do not always hear wisdom
L "if' clause - "If ye be'willing. . ." If-clause sentences     crying aloud in the streets. But by obedience we learn
   are of two kinds: (1) the conditional if-clause and (2)      to hear, to give our attention to the Word of the
   the non-conditional if-clause. What we have here is a        Lord. By nature we are like the deaf adder which


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    85


cannot be aroused though it be charmed ever so                given to know the mysteries of the gospel (Mt.
wisely. The redeemed must first be enabled to all             13: 1  l), and those mysteries are made manifest for
holy obedience, and then go on. to exercise                   the-obedience of faith (Rom.  16:26). The judgment
themselves in it and practice it. It takes practice.          comes by the sword consuming the rebellious and
Insofar as we are out of practice so far does the voice       disobedient, the sword of divine justice and wrath in
of our Redeemer become dimmer, fainter. By                    the form of the sword of their enemies used as God's
obedience we keep in touch with God, we keep short            battle-axe and weapons of war (Jer. 5 1: 1, 20). This
accounts with Him, we hear Him, heed Him. By                  shows the end of going on in sin without repentance.
nature we are children of disobedience, and like the          It especially came to pass when the Jews, refusing and
heathen, from God afar off, not even within calling           rebelling against their Messiah, were devoured with
distance. But if we really and spiritually hear His           the sword of the Roman armies under Titus in the
most holy Word we will not simply be saying, "Lord!           destruction of Jerusalem, 70 A.D.
Lord!", but we will be doing the things which He
says.                                                           The promise is, "Ye shall eat the goodness of the
                                                              land," or the best of the earth. Materially this is so,
  Then follows a warning against disobedience. "But           not in the sense of crass materialism, but the promise
if ye refuse and rebel, by the sword ye shall be eaten;       is of a land, the land of promise, of a new heaven and
for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it"  (1:20).             new earth. The meek shall inherit the earth. This will
This is fulfilled in God taking vengeance on them that        not be an ethereal "beautiful isle of somewhere," but
obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (2               the physical universe regenerated and glorified in the
Thess. 1 :S). It is more than a threat or warning; it is a    restitution of all things in the Day of God. The
sure prediction of judgment. Exemption from the               atheist likes to deride the Christian faith by calling it
terror of judgment comes not merely in the way of             a "pie-in-the-sky-when-you-die-by-and-by" fantasy.
professing the gospel, but in obeying the gospel. Paul        The truth as to that pie is that we begin slicing it
said, "`I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ," and        now! For God the Father hath blessed us with all
the gospel, contrary to the way it is with many               spiritual blessings in heaven in Christ (Eph. 1:3), and
others, was not ashamed of him, for he lived                  for this we "rejoice in the Lord always" (Phil. 4:4).
according to the gospel, and, principally, according to       We have right and title to the New Earth. We look
the whole moral law as adopted into the New                   forward in faith to actual possession-day. For we
Covenant. in the         ords, "the grace of God . . .        declare plainly that we seek that country. For we
                    $
teaching us that enying ungodliness and worldly               desire a better country than that which  this  world
lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in       affords, namely, a heavenly country, wherein is that
this present world" (Tit. 2: 11, 12). This judgment the       metropolis which hath foundations, whose Builder
mouth of the Lord, not man's mouth, hath ordained.            and Maker is God! All the best of that country is
The word of Jehovah so decreed. Judgment falls on             ours: all its beauty - and Christ is its loveliness and
all disobedient to the gospel. Faith implies obedience.       perfection; all its gladness - and the Song of Moses
"But they have not all obeyed the gospel; for Isaiah          and of the Lamb is its joy; all its prosperity - for our
saith, `Who hath believed our report?'  " (Rom.               happiness and wellbeing there shall be constant and
10: 16). "Unto you (the Church) it  is  given . . . to        full in the riches of His grace.
believe on Him" (Phil. 1:29), and to the Church it is





              .  .  . For as God alone is a sufficient witness of himself in his own word, so also the word
           will never gain credit in the hearts of men, till it be confirmed by the internal testimony of
           the Spirit. It is necessary, therefore, that the same Spirit, who spake by the mouths of the
           prophets, should penetrate into our hearts, to convince us that they faithfully delivered the
           oracles which were divinely  intrusted to them. And this connection is very suitably ex-
           pressed in these words: "My Spirit that is upon thee, and my word which I have put in thy
           mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the
           mouth of thy seed's seed, for ever."
                                                                        -John Calvin, Institutes, I, VII, 4.


86                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH


                   Eschatology--The   First  Period--The   Resurrection

                                                                         Rev. H. Veldman


      Irenaeus, too, wrote on the subject of the                                  whereby the Lord raised him from the dead. This may
resurrection. Polycarp had sent Pothinus into Celtic                              surely be disputed. But let us hear what Irenaeus has
Gaul at an early date as its evangelist. Pothinus was                             to say about this:
joined there by Irenaeus as a presbyter, having been                                        Those men, therefore, set aside the power of God,
his fellow-pupil under Polycarp. When Pothinus had                                    and do not consider what the word declares, when
closed his life by a martyr's death, Irenaeus naturally                               they dwell upon the infirmity of the flesh, but do not
became his successor. The work of Irenaeus Against                                    take into consideration the power of Him Who raises
Heresies is one of the most precious remains of early                                 it up from the dead. For if He does not vivify what is
Christian antiquity. It is devoted, on the one hand, to                               mortal, and does not bring back the corruptible to
an account and refutation of those multiform Gnostic                                  incorruption, He is not a God of power. But that He
heresies which prevailed in the latter half of the                                    is powerful in all these respects, we ought to perceive
second century; and, on the other hand, to an                                         from our origin, inasmuch as God, taking dust from
                                                                                      the earth, formed man. And surely it is much more
exposition and defence of the Christian faith.                                        difficult and incredible, from non-existent. bones, and
      Declaring his faith in the resurrection, Irenaeus                               nerves, and veins, and the rest of man's organization,
writes, and we quote:                                                                 to bring it about that all this should be, and to make
                                                                                      man an animated and rational creature, than to
           For our Lord  -and Master, in the answer which He                          reintegrate again that  which had been created and
       gave to the  Sadducees, who say that there is no                               then afterwards decomposed into earth (for the
       resurrection, and who do therefore dishonour God,                              reasons already mentioned), having thus passed into
       and lower the credit of the law, did both indicate a                           those (elements) from which man, who had no
       resurrection, and reveal God, saying to them, "Ye do                           previous existence, was formed. For He Who in the
       err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of                              beginning caused him to have being who as yet was
       God."  "For, touching the  resurrect.ion.of  the dead,"                        not, just when He pleased, shall much more reinstate
       He says, "have ye not read that which was spoken by                            again those who had a former existence, when it is
       God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of                               His will that they should inherit the life granted by
       Isaac, and the God of Jacob?" And He added, "He is                             Him.
       not the God of the dead, but of the living; for all live
       to Him." By these arguments He unquestionably                                Irenaeus wrote several chapters in which he affirms
       made it clear, that'He  who spake to Moses out of the                      his belief in the resurrection of the dead. We read
       bush, and declared Himself to be the God of the                            these writings of the church father in Vol. I of  The
       fathers, He is the God of the living. For who is the                       Ante-Nicene  Fathers, in his writings against heresies.
       God of the living unless He who is God, and above                          In chapter XV he calls attention to proofs of the
       whom there is no other God? Whom also Daniel the                           resurrection from the prophecies of Isaiah and Ezekiel:
       prophet, when Cyrus king of the Persians said to him,
       "Why  dost thou not worship Bel?" did proclaim,                                      Now, that He Who at the beginning created man,
       say&5 "Because I do not worship idols made with                                did promise him a second birth after his dissolution
       hands, but the living God, Who established the heaven                         into earth, Esaias thus declares: "The dead shall rise
       and the earth, and has dominion over 4 flesh." For if                         again, and they who are in the tombs shall arise, and
       He be not the God of the dead, but of the living, yet                         they who are in the earth shall rejoice. For the dew
       was called the God of the fathers who were sleeping,                          which is from Thee is health to them (Is. 26:19). And
       they do indubitably live to God, and have not passed                          again: "I will comfort you, and ye shall be comforted
       out of existence, since they are children of the                              in Jerusalem: and ye shall see, and your heart shall
       resurrdction.   B u t   o u r   L o r d   i s   H i m s e l f   t h e         rejoice, and your bones shall flourish as the grass; and
       resurrection, as He does Himself declare, "I am the                           the hand of the Lord shall be known to those who
       resurrection and the life."                                                   worship Him (Is.  66:13). And Ezekiel speaks as
                                                                                     follows: "And the hand of the Lord came upon me,
      Irenaeus, in the following quotation, is of the                                and the Lord led me forth in the Spirit, and set me
opinion that man's original creation by God is much                                  down in the midst of the plain, and this place was full
more difficult and incredible than that work of God                                  of bones. And He caused me to pass by them round


                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                              87


     about: and, behold, there were many upon the                                        The resurrection of the dead is the Christian's
     surface of the plain very dry. And He said unto me,                               trust. By it we are believers. To the belief of this
     Son of man, can these bones live? And I said, Lord,                               article of the faith truth compels us  - that. truth
     Thou who hast made them dost know. And He said                                    which God reveals, but the crowd derides, which
    unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and thou shalt                                 supposes that nothing will survive after death. And
     say to them, Ye dry bones, hear the word of the                                   yet they do honour to their dead, and that too in the
     Lord. Thus saith the Lord to these bones, Behold, I                               most expensive way according to their bequest, and
    will cause the spirit of life to come upon you, and I                              with the daintiest banquets which the seasons can
    will lay sinews upon you, and bring up flesh again                                 produce, on the presumption that those whom they
    upon you, and I will stretch skin upon you, and will                               declare to be incapable of all perception will retain an
    put my Spirit into you, and ye shall live; and ye shall                            appetite.
    know that I am the Lord. And I prophesied as the
    Lord had commanded me. And it came to pass, when                                  Tertullian, as did Irenaeus, alludes also to the
    I was prophesying, that, behold, an earthquake,                                 chapter in Ezekiel on the resurrection of the body.
    and the bones were drawn together, each one to its                              We cannot, and need not, quote extensively from the
    own articulation: and I beheld, and, lo, the sinews                             writings of this church father. May the following
    and flesh were produced upon them, and the skins                                quotation suffice (chapter XXXIV):
   `rose upon them round about, but there was no breath                                   Who will any longer `doubt of the safety of both
    in them. And He said unto me, Prophesy to the breath,                              natures, when one of them is to obtain salvation, and
    son of man, and say to the breath, These things saith                              the other is not to lose it? [Tertullian is speaking of
    the Lord, Come from the four winds, and breathe                                    the body and the soul  - H.V.] And, still further, the
    upon these dead, that they may live. So I prophesied                               Lord explains to us the meaning of the things when He
    as the Lord had commanded me, and the breath                                       says: "I came not to do My own will, but the
    entered into them; and they did live, and stood upon                               Father's, Who hath sent. Me." What, I ask, is that will?
    their feet, an exceeding great gathering." And again                               "That of all which He hath given Me I should lose
    he says, "Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will set your                             nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."
    graves open, and cause you to come out of your                                     Now, what had Christ. received of the Father but that
    graves, and bring you into the land of Israel; and ye                              which He had Himself put on? Man, of course, in his
    shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall open                                   texture of flesh and soul [this, of course, we dispute;
    your sepulchres, that I may bring my people again                                  what Christ has received of the Father was His own -
    out of the sepulchres: and I will put My Spirit into                               H.V.] . Neither, therefore, of those parts which He
    you, and ye shall live; and I will place you in your                               has received will He allow to perish; nay, no
    land, and ye shall know that I am the Lord." As we at                              considerable portion  - nay, not the least fraction, of
    once perceive that the Creator is in this passage                                  either. If the flesh be, as our opponents slightingly
    represented as vivifying our dead bodies, and                                      think,  but a poor fraction, then the flesh is safe,
    promising resurrection to them, and resuscitation                                  because not a fraction  of man is to perish;  and no
    from their sepulchres and tombs, conferring upon                                   larger portion of man is in danger, because every
    them immortality also (He says, "For as the tree of                                portion of man is in equally safe keeping with Him.
    life, so shall their days be"), He is shown to be the                              If, however, He will not raise the flesh also up at the
    only God Who accomplishes these things, and as                                     last day, then He will permit not only a fraction of
    Himself the good Father, benevolently conferring life                              man to perish, but (as I will venture to say, in
    upon those who have not life from themselves.                                      consideration of so important a part) almost the
                           TERTULLIAN                                                  whole of him. But when He repeats His words with
                                                                                       increased emphasis, "And this is the Father's will,
  Terttillian,   t o o ,   w r o t e   e x t e n s i v e l y   a b o u t   t h e       that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on
resurrection of the body. We conclude our discussion                                   Him, may have eternal life: and I will raise him up at
of this doctrine of the resurrection of the body in the                                the last day,"  - He asserts the full extent of the
period, 80-250 A.D., by quoting from this church                                       resurrection. For He assigns to each several nature
father. We now present to our readers some excerpts                                    that reward which is suited to its services: both to the
from his writings. In Vol. III of the  Ante-Nicene                                     flesh, for by the Son was "seen"; and to the soul, for
Fathers, we  read that he wrote against the heretics                                   by it He was "believed  .on." Then, you will say, to
who maintained that the God Who created the world                                      them was this promise given by whom Christ was
and gave the Mosaic dispensation, was opposed to the                                   "seen." Well, be it so; only let the same hope flow on
supreme God. Hence, these heretics attached an idea                                    from them to us! For if to them who saw, and
of inherent corruption and worthlessness to all His                                    therefore believed, such fruit then accrued to the
                                                                                       operation of the flesh and `the soul,  .how much
works  - amongst the rest, to the flesh or body of                                     more to us! `For more "blessed," says Christ, "are
man, affirming that it could not rise again, and that                                  they who have not seen, and yet have believed";
the soul alone was capable of inheriting immortality.                                  since, even if the resurrection of the `flesh must be
And so this church father writes at great length about                                 denied  to them,  it. must at any rate be a fitting boon
the dignity of the flesh or body.                                                      to us, who are the more blessed. For how could we be
  In chapter 1 of his treatise, he writes the following:                               blessed, if we were to perish in any part of us?


88                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS

                                      The  Belgic  Confession,
                     An  Expression of the Faith of the Church

                                               ProJ: Robert D. Decker

Introduction, cont.                                         this eloquently in the  first two paragraphs of the
      We discussed the value of creeds generally and        "Prefatory Address to King Francis I of France"
some of the objections commonly lodged against the          which is found at the beginning of the  Institutes
creeds in `the previous article. Perhaps the single and     proper:
most significant objection against the Belgic                      When I first set my hand to this work, nothing was
Confession is that it is the work of just one man,              farther from my mind, most glorious King, than to
Guido de Bres. It has been alleged that this creed does         write something that might afterward be offered to
not, strictly speaking, partake of the nature of a              your Majesty. My purpose was solely to transmit
genuine creed. A creed ought to be the expression of            certain rudiments by which those who are touched
the common faith of the members of the Body of                  with any zeal for religion might be shaped to true
Christ, whereas the  Belgic Confession  is the work             godliness.  And I undertook this labor especially for
merely of one man. It is true that there is something           our French countrymen, very many of whom I knew
unique about the origin of the Be&c (Yonfessiouz. The           to be hungering and thirsting for  Christ;  but I saw
                                                                very few who had been duly imbued with even a
Heidelberg Catechism was written by Ursinus and                 slight knowledge of him. The book itself witnesses
Olevianus at the express order of Elector Frederick as          that this was my intention, adapted as it is to a simple
a means of instructing his people in the fundamentals           and, you may say, elementary form of teaching.
of the Reformed Faith. The Canons of Dordrecht                     But I perceived that the fury of certain wicked
were composed and adopted by an international                   persons has prevailed so far in your realm that there is
Synod as a statement against the errors of                      no place in it for sound doctrine. Consequently, it
Arminianism. But the Be&c Confession was written                seemed to me that I should be doing something
by de Bres. Commenting on exactly this point, Dr.               worthwhile if I both gave instruction to them and
Peter Y.  DeJong writes: "Often the creeds are                  made confession before you with the same work.
superficially judged to be the work of one or a few             From this you may learn the nature of the doctrine
men. Nothing is farther from the truth. The  Belgic             against which those madmen burn with rage who
Confession  expressly manifests the earmarks of the             today disturb your realm with fire and sword."
faith which was commonly received by the people of                 (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion
t.he Netherlands in those days."  f  The Church  `s             The Westminster Press, vol. 1, p. 9)
Witness To The World, p. 26) With this we concur;           From this statement it is obvious that Calvin wrote
only we would add that the  Belgic Confession               the  Institutes  for the purpose of transmitting the
expressly manifests the earmarks of the faith which is      rudiments of the faith to especially the French
even today commonly received by believers of                believers and as a confession, an apology for the true
Reformed convictions.                                       nature of the doctrine before the king. It is certainly
      We have noted in our brief description of the life    more than merely coincidental that de Bres composed
of de Bres that he was deeply influenced by the             the Belgic Confession for the same dual purpose: an
greater Reformer of Geneva. It is possible that             apology before the rulers and for the instruction of
somewhere between the years 1552 and 1559, when             the believers. Guido de Bres had learned his lessons
he was in Geneva, de Bres studied under Calvin.             well at the feet of Calvin. This is also obvious from
Whether he actually did or not makes little                 the title which he gave to his Confession: "Confession
difference. The fact is that he was influenced by           of Faith Made With One Accord for the Faithful that
Calvin. A comparative study of the Belgic Confession        are wandering in the Low Countries According to the
and the Institutes of the Christian Religion indicates      Purity of the Gospel, Who Desire to Live of Jesus
this beyond any doubt. Even from the point of view          Christ." de Bres certainly wrote as well for the
of the purpose of de Bres in writing the Confession he      purpose of showing the authorities that the
was deeply influenced by John Calvin. Calvin had a          Protestant doctrines were nothing else than the truth
dual purpose in composing  his Institutes  and states       of the Holy Scriptures. Even as early as 1562 the


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    89



Belgic Confession was presented to Philip II: ". . . in    Confession.  Concerning this relationship Schaff
the vain hope of securing toleration, and with an          remarks: "The  Belgic Confession  contains
address which breathes the genuine spirit of               thirty-seven Articles, and follows the order of the
martyrdom. The petitioners protest against the charge      GaZZican Confession, but is less polemical and more
of being rebels, and declare that notwithstanding they     full and elaborate, especially on the Trinity, the
number more than a hundred thousand, and are               Incarnation, the Church, and the Sacraments."
exposed to the most cruel oppression, they obey the        (Creeds of Christendom, vol. I, p. 506)
government in all lawful things; but that rather than         Besides all this, de Bres was not alone in the
deny Christ before men they would `offertheir backs        writing of this creed. He was aided by several leaders
to stripes, their tongues to knives, their mouths to       of the Reformation. Among these were Adrian de
gags, and their whole bodies to the fire, well knowing     Savaria, who served as professor of theology in
that those who follow Christ must take his cross and       Leyden and later Cambridge, H. Modetus, who for a
deny themselves.'  " (Philip Schaff,  Creeds of            time was the chaplain of William of Orange, and G.
Christendom, vol. 1 p. 505)                                Wingen. While de Bres must be regarded as the chief
  From the point of view of its contents the Belgic        author, these men served in the formulation of the
Confession clearly bears the stamp of John Calvin. In      Confession. It was revised by a certain Francis Junius
fact it may safely be said that the  Confession really     of Bourges, who had studied under Calvin and was at
amounts to an eloquent summation of the Institutes         the time a pastor of a Walloon congregation at
of the Christian Religion. It follows the same general     Antwerp and who later was professor of theology at
outline and deals with the same truths though, of          Leyden. This man abridged Article 16 and sent a
course, much more briefly.                                 copy of the creed of Geneva and other churches for
  But apart from that, there is an even closer             their approval. The first printing appeared in 1561
connection between Calvin and the Belgic Confession.       and was followed by other editions in 1562 and 1566
Among the large group of Protestants in France there       in the French language. Later the creed appeared in
was a congregation at Pontiers in which disagreement       Dutch, German, and Latin. In this light it can hardly
arose concerning the doctrine of predestination.           be maintained that de Bres was the only author.
Evidently all agreed that the doctrine was taught in         That the  Belgic Confession  was a faithful
the Scriptures, but the dissension arose concerning        expression of the faith held by Reformed believers in
how this truth ought to be formulated and believed.        the Lowlands is obvious from the widespread and
To resolve their difficulty the congregation sought        enthusiastic acceptance it enjoyed among the
the advice of neighboring French Churches. It was the      churches. As early as 15 66 the Belgic Confession was
opinion of these churches that the French                  adopted publicly by a Synod which met at Antwerp.
congregations needed a common confession in order          Later it was adopted by the Synods at Wesel(1568),
to preserve the churches against error. A delegation       Emden  (1561), and by a national Synod at Dort
was sent to Geneva to secure the advice and help of        (1574), and by another national Synod at Middelburg
Calvin. Calvin prepared a rough draft of a confession      (158 1). Finally the great Synod of Dordt on April 29,
which was a summary of his more lengthy and                16 19 adopted the Belgic Confession. Thus this creed
comprehensive  Institutes.  A Synod met in Paris           became one of the three confessional pillars upon
during 1559 while persecution raged throughout             which the Reformed churches stand. It was also the
France, threatening the very lives of the delegates. So    great Synod of Dordt which carefully revised the
pleased were the delegates of this Synod with the          French, Latin, and Dutch texts.
draft offered by Calvin that they adopted it without         Certainly,- the Belgic Confessiorz  is the product of
significant change. This became known as the               the great Reformation and stands to this very day as
GaZZican Confession. It, too, was composed to              an eloquent testimony of the faith of our fathers. As
preserve the peace and unity of the French Churches        we shall see, D.V., in our expository study of this
of the Reformation and later came to be used as an         creed it adequately sets forth the faith for our own
apology for the faith before the authorities. A            times. Surely, it speaks to the need of today as well as
comparative study of ahis GaZZicarz Confession and the     it spoke some four hundred years ago. A careful and
Belgic Confession  indicates conclusively that de Bres     prayerful study of this beautiful symbol of the
leaned heavily on this creed in the formation of the       Reformed faith will. lead  pus into a deeper
Belgic Confession. On this ground it cannot be alleged     understanding of the "faith once delivered to the
that the  Belgic Confession  is merely the work and        saints." This will surely be the fruit: for this creed is,
statement of faith of one man. It was clearly and          "built upon the foundation of the apostles and
significantly influenced by John Calvin; and it            prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief
expresses the faith held by the French Churches as         cornerstone." (Eph. 2:20) It ought to be our heartfelt
well, through its relationship to the  GaZZican            prayer that we as Reformed believers and Churches


90                                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER
,

may be as committed to the truth of God's Word set                                               follow Christ must take his cross and deny
forth  in  the  Belgic Confession  as were our fathers                                           themselves!" So deep was their conviction, so firm
who wrote it and adopted it as their standard. They                                              was their faith. In that faith and on account of that
were willing to "offer their backs to stripes, their                                             testimony many of them died the death of a martyr.
tongues to knives, their mouths to gags, and their                                               So deep and so firm must be our conviction of faith.
whole bodies to the fire, well knowing that those who


SIGNS OF THE TIMES

                           "Watchman, What of the Night?"
                                                                                        (Isaiah 21: 11)
                                                                                Rev.  G. Van Baren

      Daily, disturbing reports are presented in the news                                                  The OPEC nations cannot argue that the price of
media of impending calamities in this world. One                                                      oil is set by production costs. They do not actually
must ask himself, "How do these fit in with the signs                                                 "produce" petroleum; they merely  - by a quirk of
of the times? How do they indicate the nearness of                                                    geography  - possess it. Foreign technologists found
the coming again of Christ?"                                                                          and developed the oil, and foreign risk capital built
                                                                                                      most of rigs, pumps, refineries, pipelines .and harbors.
      We know, of course, that before Christ returns, the                                             Only the existence of the OPEC cartel, with its ability
antichrist must appear (II Thess.  2:8-10). In some                                                  to impose prices by fiat, keeps up the cost of oil . . .
ways, that coming of the antichrist seems far in the                                                       Of course the oil-deficient but otherwise potent
future - still, events today indicate that perhaps such                                              industrial nations would never permit themselves to
coming is not far away.                                                                              become impoverished. They would  fast act boldly
                                                                                                     through energy sharing and saving and political and
      Recently, I read a report in Time on the economic                                              economic boycotts to stem the drain of money and
crisis of our time. This was related to the so-called                                                transfer of power . . .
"oil crisis" as well as to other problems of the world.                                             Perhaps the above illustrates somewhat the bind
Among other things, this report stated:                                                          into which the world and the United States
           The root problem is the enormous cost of                                              particularly have come. Of the energy consumed by
       imported oil, now more than $11 per bbl., a fourfold                                      the world, one third is consumed in the United States
       inflation in only one year. The increase has enabled                                      (consisting of only 6% of `the population of the
       the oil exporting countries to earn an almost                                             world). There have been threats, or implied threats,
       inconceivable amount of foreign currency: about                                           that no country has the "right" to withhold sources
       $100 billion this year . . . By the end of this decade,                                   of cheap energy.. The reference  in  the  Time  article
       the 13 nations of the Organization of Petroleum                                           indicates this. Only a "quirk of geography", say
       Exporting Countries (OPEC) could have a surplus of                                        they, has given the Arabs the oil we need.
       gold, dollars, ,pounds;  marks, francs and other foreign
     currencies amounting to $650 billion; by contrast,                                             But how will the difficulty possibly be solved?
       the U.S .`s reserves are now $15 billion . . .                                            Who is going to allocate the available energy so that
           In chancelleries' and countinghouses nearly                                           the peoples of the world have their fair share? Will
       everywhere, officials fear economic crisis leading to                                     the United States be able to do this? Will Russia?
       political instability. The evidence of this gloom was                                        The only answer today is that one centralized
       clear and plentiful last week . . .                                                       power, perhaps one man, must be in a position where
           There was a deepening perception of the potential                                     energy resources are equitably divided among
       impact of continued high oil prices: accelerating                                         mankind - and men may be forced to use only their
       inflation that indiscriminately threatens both                                            allotted portion. Many people are beginning to
       industrial and developing nations; increasing strains                                     acknowledge this.
       on and a collapse of the international banking
       networks; widespread recessions (or even a worldwide                                         Other problems have arisen. There is the so-called
       d e p r e s s i o n )   w i t h   l e v e l s   o f   u n e m p l o y m e n t             food shortage. Have you noticed the pictures, even
       unprecedented since the 1930s; and ultimately,                                            live presentations on T.V., of people who are literally
       perhaps, a corrosion of democratic political                                              starving to death? We complain here in this country
       institutions . . . .                                                                      about the high cost of food, yet we have more than


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         91



enough. But millions of people today are starving to        can establish that sort of peace among men for which
death. Either, there is not produced enough food, or        the nations have so long desired.
it is not being properly distributed, or peoples refuse        There is also the question of endangered species.
to share because of a fear that this will drive already     We read of nations which hunt to excess the great
high prices, higher still.                                  whales. Others kill off other species without regard
   The end result is gross inequity. Poor nations           to the fact that the "balance of nature" is disrupted.
become poorer, and their population dies off. Rich             Or there is the matter of the control of the
nations hold on to their riches, convinced that they        weather. Nations seek to increase or decrease their
have a "right" to that which they possess.                  average rainfall. These seek to improve growing
   The answer? One centralized power, perhaps one           conditions in their lands. Perhaps their action
man, must come on the scene in order to see to the          adversely affects weather patterns over the whole
proper distribution of food. He must take from the rich     earth. But no matter  - as long as one gets enough
and distribute to the poor of the earth.And no doubt        rain and sunshine himself.
but that the masses of mankind shall hold him in high          Or there is the troubling question of population
esteem.                                                     control. The earth, it is said, already has too many
   There is' the problem of preserving our                  people. Within the lifetimes of most people living
environment and the removal of the causes of                today, that population will double  - unless drastic
pollution. Everyone is in favor of this - provided that     steps are taken. There must be control of conception;
the other fellow stops his polluting. If the other          there must be abortion. There must perhaps, it is said,
fellow stopped, the air would be cleaner, the water         be enforced regulations concerning number of
purer. Countries too recognize that other countries do      children any family may have. Yet if one city, or one
this much. The United States causes much of the             nation, only regulates its population; if one race does
pollution. Other countries can understand well that         while another does not; then the whole concept of
the U.S. ought to stop. Other countries, meanwhile,         preventing "population explosions" must fail. All
pollute in other ways. Something must be done.              must be compelled to abide by clear-cut standards.
   The solution seems rather obvious. One centralized         And the answer for all of this is a centralized
power, perhaps one man, can regulate even nations so        power, perhaps one man, who can lay down the rules
that the world itself will become "a better place in        and enforce these. The world can not be divided up
which to live." Only with such centralized rule, can        anymore into segments  - each independent of the
universal law be established which all men and all          other. The world can not afford anymore to allow
nations must observe.                                       certain parts of the whole to go on its own. The
   There is the problem of control of the resources of      world must insist on control and regulation of the
this earth. These resources are being depleted at a         entire earth  - for the "safety" and "preservation" of
fantastic rate. And most of them are being used by a        the earth itself.
minority of the people; about a third of these by the          Increasingly, people are beginning to acknowledge
6% of the population of the United States. Is that          that this is the only solution. Even the "churches" are
fair? Is it right? How long will the people of the          emphasizing this. The W.C.C., in one. of its
world generally accommodate themselves to the               conferences (World Conference on Church and
demands of the few? Who will regulate all of this?          Society, Geneva, Switzerland, July 12-26, 1966)
                                                            expressed opinions which become increasingly
   One centralized power, perhaps one man, will be          popular. At this conference, the following was
`able to allot the resources of this earth among all. He    suggested :
will see to it that nations do not use undue amounts
and will give something to everyone. What better                   The world is like a jungle with each nation a "cold
solution could there be?                                        beast" prowling around devouring whom it can. We
                                                               know that justice and order within a nation depends
   There are the dangers of war. Now nation rises               upon the establishment of just laws and institutions
against' nation. The mid-east threatens to explode in a         and coercive power; how then can man ever develop a
war which will involve perhaps all nations. What is the         just and ordered world community without the same
solution for all of this? Who will arbitrate between            basic essentials, applied universally? Yet such
nations? Who will enforce solutions? Who will                   "structures" hardly exist at all today and the
prevent that nuclear war of which man has been so               Christian is called to maintain the ones that do (the
frightened the past thirty years?                               United Nations for one) and to help develop new
                                                                ones  - to find the "crack? in the hard pan of
   One centralized power, perhaps one man, can do               present world system and plant there the seeds of
that. He can regulate the relations between nations.            new "structures." This requires reduction of national
He can enforce settlements in difficult situations. He          sovereignty, and at its merest mention some


92                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



       participants begin to squirm and cavil. But these were          and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world
       the few. . . .                                                  wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the
          I have spent most of my adult life working with              dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they
       people at the very fringe of civilization, with the             worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the
       simplest people that the world knows. . . . From that           beast? Who is able to make war with him? . . .
       point of view I can appreciate how far we have come,
       as we learned first to be a tribe, then a city state, then        "And I behold another beast coming up out of the
       a nation, and now seek to build a world society                 earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake
       bound together by law. . . .                                    as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the
      Shades of Babel!                                                 first beast before him, and causeth the earth and
                                                                       them which dwell therein to worship the first beast,
      And does not the Word of God,. albeit from the                   whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great
opposite viewpoint, remind us of the same thing?                       wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from
Rev. 13 says, "And I stood upon the sand of the sea,                   heaven on the earth in the sight of men . . ."
and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven
heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns,                      We live in the times of the fulfillment of this Word
and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. . . . And I                  of God. Watch  - and know that the time of our
saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death;                      deliverance is at hand.


GUEST ARTICLE

                The Prayer That God's Will Be Done
                                                          Rev. Richard G. Moore


      The Lord wonderfully instructs His church in                     must assume the position of Scripture that God is
prayer by means of the "Lord's Prayer." In the first                   perfectly and completely a willing Being. The God
three petitions He teaches the church to use prayer to                 which Jesus instructs His children to address is not
glorify God, to extol Him, and to be concerned above                   some cold, abstract power, far removed from
all with that glory. This is especially true of the third              creation. But Jehovah, Whom you and I are
petition. And as we turn our attention to the will of                  instructed to address in prayer is the willing God! He
Jehovah, we will note that the will of God eternally is                is our God Who wills and brings to pass His will in
to glorify Himself in the highest possible way through                 time! And as for His will, it is always in perfect
Christ and His church. And all things in this creation,                harmony with all of His infinite perfections and
as well as all creatures, come under this eternal                      virtues. And He is the Sovereign God Who does
purpose of our God. Further this is the peculiar                       whatever He pleases, cf. Ps.  115:3. This will or
calling of the church of Jesus Christ. She exists in                   pleasure of God is good, righteous, just, and all-wise,
Christ to glorify God, to serve Him, to love Him, and                  according to Paul in Rom. 12: 1 and 2. Dear readers,
to obey Him unto the end that God may be all in all,                   it is this will, the perfect, all-wise, good, acceptable,
that unto Him alone may be the glory! Thus, as the                     and sovereign will of God by which all things are
church prays concerning the will of God, she of                        brought to pass. Jehovah's will encompasses all of
necessity must pray for grace to be humble, contrite                   creation and is complete. It is concerning this will
of heart, to confess sin, and for grace to submit to                   that Jesus instructs us to pray, "Thy will be done."
that high purpose of God with all things. The                            This will of God has a two-fold aspect. When we
Heidelberg Catechism teaches us this truth in                          speak of the will of God we necessarily speak of
question and answer 124, where it treats the third                     God's eternal counsel. We must turn our attention to
petition of the `"Lord's Prayer."                                      His eternal purpose with all things. Thus as Jesus
                                                                       teaches us to pray, "Let Thy will be done," He
      If we are to understand the significance of this                 teaches us to pray that God may carry out His eternal
petition, it is necessary that we come to an                           purpose and counsel. This will of God of His eternal
understanding of God's will as it is used in our Lord's                decree we come to know by His revelation to us. And
prayer. Jesus teaches us to pray, "Thy will be done."                  it is true we cannot search out the depths of His will,
What is this will of God? To answer. this question we                  nor all the mysteries of the fulness of God's counsel


                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   93

                                                                                                                                        f

concerning the creation; but God does reveal His                               Christ Jesus and for Thy Name's sake."
eternal will in so far as His children must know it.                              Our Catechism teaches us to pray for grace to
                                                                               renounce our own will in order properly to pray the
   Central to the will which He has revealed to His                            third petition! Nor is it difficult for the child of God
people is His Son, Jesus Christ. God has revealed to us                        to understand this explanation. The need to pray for
that all things have their significance in Christ. All                         grace to renounce his own will becomes very clear for
things are subservient to Christ! And through Christ                           the elect. For the child of God, chosen in Christ and
all things serve the glory of God! It is concerning this                       regenerated by His Spirit, and who has come under
Divine will of God centered in Christ that the Lord                            the efficacious testimony of the Word and Spirit
teaches us to pray "Thy will be done." This prayer                             under the preaching of the gospel, is brought to a
upon the lips of the old dispensation saints was,                              very certain conviction. It is the conviction of sin and
"Lord, bring to pass all things that Thy promise may                           depravity. Such a conviction that it causes the elect to
be fulfilled, bring to pass all things that the Christ                         confess, "I do not will to serve thee!" The law and
may come!" For they looked for the One Who would                               the word of God as it is applied by the Spirit unto the
deliver the elect children of God from their sin, and                          heart of the elect causes the child of God to confess
Who would bring them to glory. And they looked for                             that naturally we do not want to walk in harmony
this salvation through Christ, to the end that God's                           with the eternal will of God. We are not content at all
Name may receive all the glory.                                                to be satisfied with the will of God for all things. We
   In the new dispensation the prayer of the saints,                           rather walk in the way of iniquity and sin. Thus when
has not essentially changed. It is the prayer to God:                          the elect is confronted with the testimony of the
"Bring Thy perfect will to its final realization, bring                        Scripture he comes to understand that he cannot seek
to pass all things in this new dispensation, that Jesus                        the will or do the will of God in his own strength.
Christ may come upon the clouds of heaven, bringing                            The testimony of God's Word brings the child of God
His elect to final glory. And further so rule, 0 God,                          to confess that his natural inclination and ability are
through Thy Son that also Thy enemies and my                                   such that he is incapable of seeking God's will in his
enemies may fill their cup of iniquity to the full, so                         life. For the result of your sin and mine is that
that in final judgment they be cast into that                                  naturally our minds are carnal minds which are set in
everlasting lake of fire and desolation." The child of                         enmity against God! By nature we have a hatred for
God prays to God in this dispensation to glorify                               God's waysand  His commands! We are not content in
Himself through the salvation of the elect church in                           the way of Jehovah naturally! All one must do to see
Christ Jesus; and we pray that God's will be done                              the truth of this statement is observe his own life.
concerning the reprobate as they must serve the                                How often haven't we complained with our portion
church in Christ also unto the glory of our God. You                           even today. How easy it is to become bitter with the
and I are thus instructed to pray, "Lord, let Thy will                         portion we have received when the way becomes
be done."                                                                      difficult for the flesh. How easy it is to cry out when
   However, Jesus also instructs His church in this                            God demands that we be pilgrims and strangers in the
petition to pray concerning a second aspect of the                             midst of this world, for our flesh and natural desire is
will of God. We must be concerned in our prayer with                           for the things of this world.
God's will for His elect, the will of His command.                               When the child of God under the preaching of the
Thus, when the Lord teaches us to pray this third                              gospel is brought before the testimony of Jehovah's
petition, He teaches us to pray for grace to walk in                           Word, he is convicted of sin! And the elect, convicted
h a r m o n y   w i t h   H i s   w i l l   a c c o r d i n g   t o   t h e    of sin by the Lord Himself, is instructed by Jesus to
commandments He has set before us. The Lord                                    pray for grace  - that he might renounce the will of
teaches the church she must pray for grace to be                               the old man of darkness, and `that he might put on
obedient unto the Father. Not all shall enter the                              the new man of light. That prayer, beloved, is a very
kingdom of heaven, but only those that do the will of                          wonderful and precious prayer for the church. And it
my Father which is in heaven, states our Lord as it is                         is also a very necessary prayer for each one of us. The
recorded in Matt. 7 : 2 1. The true seed, elect in Christ,                     child of God sincerely prays for grace to renounce his
receiving His Spirit, alone do the will of God and                             will, and this means he prays sincerely unto God by
enter glory. Thus the church must pray for grace to                            grace for the testimony of the cross. His prayer thus
walk in harmony with the will of God for His moral,                            becomes: "0 Jehovah, bring me to the cross of Jesus.
rational creatures. This aspect of God's will which                            Thou hast shown me my terrible sinfulness. Now
concerns our moral, ethical walk in this life requires                         Lord, as Thou hast convicted me of my sins, bring me
the prayer: "Lord, grant us grace to obey Thee, and                            before the cross of Christ, my Lord. Open andreveal
to serve Thee, and to walk before Thee in the way of                           the cross to me that I may see there the Firstborn of
love, that we may, as Thy children, be brought into                            Thy children, that I may see there my Elect Head.
t_he eternal dwelling place with Thee in and through                           Bring me to the cross that I may see Jesus there as my


94                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



only hope of salvation and my Redeemer. Bring me            empties Himself before the Lord and seeks the
to the cross, Lord, that I may see that the bondage to      precious testimony of the cross of Calvary, he will be
sin and the slavery to Satan has b.een broken. Bring        given the strength to pray, "Thy will be done." And
me there, that its testimony be mine, that He hath          he will begin by grace to do the will of God. For God
freed me from the testimony of Thy law that my sin          hears this prayer of His children and pours forth the
brings me to desolation. Make the power of the cross        Spirit of obedience upon them.  ,Never because they
dwell in my heart. Cause, Lord, that I may repent of        somehow are or have become worthy of this work of
those terrible sins that brought Thy precious Son to        God in themselves; but Jesus in their stead did the
that accursed death. And, my God, pour forth the            will of the Father, obediently saying yes over against
blessings of His cross unto me in Thy mercy that I          the no of our sin! May God grant that the obedience
may serve Thee, to do Thy will."                            of Christ may so dwell in us that we pray, "Lord, let
      Beloved readers, as by grace the child of God         Thy will be done."


                                 News From, Our Churches

                         October 31, 1974                   things which occupied his attention during that
      Rev. Kort'ering has declined the calls extended to    eventful period, were recounted for us by Rev.
him from Kalamazoo and Pella.                               Kuiper himself. He mentioned, first of all, the
                           *  *  *  * *                     installation service in Hudsonville on September 25.
                                                            The service, the capacity audience, the coffee hour -
      The ordination of now Pastor Arie den Hartog          all these, he writes, were "very encouraging to me as
took place during the evening worship service on            missionary." Friday morning of that week, found
October 6, in Prospect Park, New Jersey. On hand for        Rev. Kuiper at Hope School, where he spoke for the
the occasion was our former church, news editor. Mr.        chapel exercise. On Sunday, September 29, he
Faber, who has hardly lost his touch for reporting          preached in Hudsonville. His sermon topic was
news of this sort, kindly sent us a copy of Prospect        "Praying for the Missionary of the Gospel" - based
Park's bulletin for that day, along with a few              on Ephesians 6: 18-l 9. The following day he left for
observations concerning the day's events. I suspect         Maine, arriving in Skowhegan late Tuesday night,
that his little note was prepared rather hurriedly, and     after 1100 miles of travel. The people there, he
that it was not written with a view to its being used,      writes, "had cleaned and painted a rented house that
verbatim, as an account of the ordination. But I could      proves very adequate." The remainder of the week
do worse, I'm sure, than pass along a report from the       was spent in unpacking, enrolling his children in a
past  ,writer of this column. So, from the pen of our       Christian school of Baptist background in nearby
"See youin church, J.M.F.," the following:                  Canaan, Maine, and in preparing to preach on the
      "We were very fortunate to be able to worship         coming Sunday. On Monday he commenced "the
with this congregation on this joyous occasion. Prof.       labor of the missionary, in calling on various
Hanko preached two wonderful sermons! There were            individuals."
about 35 people in attendance this evening, among             Our missionary's address, by the way, is: 346
which were 5 from 1st church in Grand Rapids! Us!           Water Street, Skowhegan, Maine 04976.
The people of the congregation were very happy and                                *  * * * *
gave us a royal welcome. One family provided the
noon _ dinner (at their house, of course) and we met          We also have a little news from and concerning our
everyone after the service when they served a light         missionary on the other side of the United States.
lunch at the get-together to welcome their new              Our first source is a newsletter addressed by the
minister. The ordination service was very impressive,       council to the congregation of Hope Church (the
,bringing  tears to many eyes!"                             calling and sending church, as far as Rev. Harbach is
                           * * *  *  *                      concerned). The letter contained the essence of the
                                                            first of Rev. Harbach's bi-monthly reports to the
      Mr. Faber mentioned that he also "stopped at the      Mission Committee and to Hope's council.
Skowhegan parsonage when Rev. and Mrs. Kuiper
.were straightening out the boxes of household goods          According to the letter, Rev. Harbach has made
two days after arriving there." Those two days, and,        "many personal calls both to interested people not
for that matter, the two weeks around the beginning         yet regular attendees at the services and to those
of October, must have been extremely busy ones for          people who are and have been associated with the
our missionary and his family in Maine.. Some of the
                   ,.                                                                           (continued on page 96)


                                                               THE STANDARD  BEP+P                                                                 95
                                                                                           `"  `,
                                                                                                                                                     1

                               NOTICE                                                         RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
   The address of the Stated Clerk of the Protestant Reformed                     The members of the `Radio Committee of the Reformed Witness
Churches from now until the next Synod, is as follows:                         Hour expresses sincere Christian sympathy to their president, Don
                                                                               Faber, in the Lord's taking to glory his beloved mother, MRS. JOHN M.
                            Rev.  D. H. Kuiper                                 FABER.
                            346 Water Street
                            Skowhegan, Maine 04976                                We are assured that he, his father and relatives will find our
                            Phone 207-474-9116                                 covenant God faithful in His promise, as found in His Infallible Word,
   Church Order books, Acts of Synod and various forms may be                  that nothing, even death, is able to separate us from the love of God
obtained by writing to the above address.                                      which is eternally founded in Jesus Christ our Lord.
                                                                                                            Peter Reitsma,  Vice.Pres.
                                                                                                            Pat  Schipper,  Sec'y.

                ATTENTION TEACHERS!!!
   The Hope Protestant Reformed Christian School in Redlands,
California, is seeking a Principal (Grades 5 thru  9) and a teacher (Grades                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
1 thru 4) for the 1975-1976 school term. Send inquiries to:
                            Mr. Otto Gaastra, Sec'y.                              The members of the Priscilla Society of the First Protestant
                            917 Campus Ave.                                    Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan, hereby express their
                            Redlands, CA 92373                                 sincere sympathy to their  .Bible Leader, Mr. John M. Faber and to Miss
                                                                               Esther Vander Vennen, a fellow member, in the death of MRS. JOHN
                                                                               M. FABER, his wife and her sister.

                                                                                  May they be comforted by trusting in the God of all wisdom who
                                                                               doeth all things well.

                                                                                                            Mrs. P. Decker, Pres.
    Know the standard                                                                                       Jessie Dykstra, Sec'y.


         and follow it.
                                                                                              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                                                   The Ladies Aid Society of the First Prot. Ref. Church of Grand
                                                                               Rapids,  Mich. mburns the loss of one of its members, MRS. JOHN M.
                                                                               FABER whom the Lord took home on Oct. 22, and hereby express
                                                                               our sympathy to the bereaved family.

                                                                                  "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
                                                                               dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,
                             Read the                                          eternal in the heavens." (II Cor.  5:1)
                                                                                                            Mrs. T. Newhof, Pres.
           STANDARD BEARER!                                                                                 Mrs. C. Pastoor, Sec'y.




                              AN IDEAL CHRISTMAS GIFT

                                             A Subscription To The
                                      STANDARD BEARER
                                                           $7.00  per year

                       Use the envelope enclosed in this issue.
                                                        But act promptly!


                                                                                                                                             :                I
                                                                                                                                       I -7 _ ~_.
 THE  STANDARD  BEARER  :  '
          P.O. Box 6064                                                                                           piiz%J-'
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506

                                                         !
                                                         /





96


group for some timk." Other labors include dd-week
classes dealing with Reformed confessions other than                                       THE STANDARD BEARER
the Heidelberg Catechism, which is preached regularly                   Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                        Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
every Sunday. Rev. Harbach "realizes the need for                          Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
                                                              .IEditor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
instruction in  ,the Reformed faith and its practical          IDepartment Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Mr. Donald Doezema,
consequences. And, this is the instruction that he is           Rev. David J.  Engelsma,  Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko,
                                                                Rev. Robert C. Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev.
giving. "                                                      IDale H. Kuiper, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Marinus  Schipper, Rev.
                                                               IGise J. Van  Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman
      In light of the fact that he does all of this "in         Editorial Office:
                                                               I                        Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
                                                                                        4975  lvanrest  Ave. S.W.
addition to all the normal work of a minister," it's                                    Grandville. Michigan 49418
                                                               IChurch News Editor:             Mr.`Donald Doezema
apparent that Rev. Harbach "is a veiy busy man and                                              1904 Plymouth Terrace, S.E.
                                                                                                Grand
                                                                                                _._..- Rapids, Michigan 49506
bears much responsibility." But, it  ,is apparent, too,             Editorial Policy:  Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of
                                                              I115  Own  attkleS.  Contributions  Of  general  interest  from   our readers
that "the work is enjoyable to our missionary. He                   md questions for the Question-Box Department are welcome.  Contri-
                                                               iJutions will be limited to approximately 300 words and must be neatly
experiences daily the joys of those who are being              1Nritten or typewritten, and must be signed. Copy deadlines are the first
                                                               imd the fifteenth of the month. All communications relative to the
newly founded in the Reformed faith and is                     c:ontents should be sent to the editorial office.
encouraged when the truths of God's Word find ready           */Reprint  Policy:  Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of arti-
                                                               ,cles in our magazine by other publications, provided: a) that such re-
entrance into the hearts of the people there. But the          Iprinted articles are reproduced in full; b) that proper acknowledgement
                                                                    is made; c) that a copy of the periodical in which such reprint appears
work is nbt without its heartaches. Interested people          IIS sent to our-editorial office.
                                                               1YUSif7eS.S  Office:  The Standard Bearer
suddenly become disinterested and  .much effort and                                     Mr. H. Vander Wal, Bus. Mgr.
                                                                                        P. 0. Box 6064
time often appear to be wasted. But, no matter the                                      Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
outcome, Rev. Harbach knows and expresses the                  1%?iness  Agent for  Austrelasia:Mr.   Wm. van  Rij
                                                                                                              59 Kent Lodge Ave.
truth that the work in Houston is the Lord's work                                                             Christchurch 4, New Zealand
                                                               !
and that the Lord gathers and the Lord hardens."               f<
      In describing his own work, in a l&ter to the Hope        I
congregation, Rev. Harbach mentioned the Sunday
*preaching of the Word and the mid-week class, and, in
`addition, three catechism classes, a Sunday School
Iclass, hospital visits, a  .funeral, calling and visiting                                         .
wherever he can to present the cause of Reformed               1st respectively.
                                                               Bound Volumes:  The Business Office will accept standing orders for
`truth, having guests into his apartment for long talks        bound copies of the current volume; such orders are filled as soon as
                                                               possible after completion of a volume. A limited number of past  vol-
about that truth, distributing literature material,            umas may be obtained through the Business Office.
talking with other ministers about Protestant
Reformed doctrine, and advertising otir meeting place                                                   0         0      0
and services in two local newspapers and in one of the
two giant Houston papers.                                                                               CONTENTS:
      Rev. Harbach closed that letter  with a request to             Wars and Rumors of War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74
the congregation of Hope - a request which could as                 What Riches? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76
well be received by all of us, and which surely has                  The Issue Confronted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78
application to both of our missionaries. Here it is:                 About Praying For Those In Authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
"Your prayers on our behalf are greatly appreciated                 Women In the Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81
for at least two reasons, (1) because spiritually we                The Abortion Question Again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81
need the Lord's strength and mighty grace, and (2)                  The GKN A Modality Church?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83
because we live in a bad place - we live in this world,             Blessing In Willing Obedience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83
which is fraught with terrible dangers, physical,                    Eschatology - The First. Period - The Resurrection . . . . . .86
intellectual and spiritual!                                         The Belgic Confession, An Expression of
                                                                        the Faith of the Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88
      "May the Lord bless us all, you there, and us here,            "Watchman, What of the Night?" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90
in faithful labors unto the triune God."                            The Prayer That. God's Will Be Done . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92
                                                                    News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94
                                                     D.D.     c


