                                     he

                              tiwidard

                                              earer


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





    IN THIS ISSUE:

                 At The Grave of Elisha

                 Missions  - The Evangelical Approach

                 Beginning  - "Examing Ecumenicalism"

                             "Trying the Spirits"

                 "Should I Prepare For The Ministry?"





                                                Volume  XLI/ Number  2/ October 15, 1964


26                                                                                                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER

                                                           CONTENTS                                                                                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
        Meditation  -                                                                                                                                                Semi-montly, except monthly during June, July and August
              At the Grave of Elisha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
                     Rev.  M. Schipper                                                                                                                                Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
        Editorials  -                                                                                                                                                               Editor - Rev. Herman Hoeksema
              "Common  Grace" Sickness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
                     Prof.   H.  C.  Hoeksema                                                                                                                      Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
              "Should  I Prepare  For The  Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29                                                             Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S.E., Grand Rapids 7,
                     Pkof.  H.  C.  Hoeksema                                                                                                                       Mich. Contributions will be limited to 300 words and must be
        Our  Doctrine  -                                                                                                                                                              neatly written or typewritten.
              The  Sacrament  Of The  Lord's  Supper  . . . . . . . . .._............. 30
                     Rev.  H.  Hoeksema                                                                                                                            All church news items should beaddressed toMr. J. M. Faber,
                                                                                                                                                                                1123 Cooper, S.E., Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
        Examining Ecumenicalism  -
              An Introduction                                                                                                                                      Announcements and Obituaries with the $2.00 fee included must
                                                   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
                     Rev.  G.  Van Baren                                                                                                                           be mailed 8 days prior to issue date, to the address below:
                                                                                                                                                                     All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to
        Trying  The  Spirits  -
              Atheism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
                                                                                                                                                         35                   Mr. James Dykstfa, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S.E.
                     Rev.  R.  C.  Harbach                                                                                                                                              Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
        Contending  For The  Faith -                                                                                                                                  Renewal: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
              The Canon-Of  The Sacred Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37                                                            received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the sub-
                     Rev.  H.  Veldman                                                                                                                             scription to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
        All Around  Us -                                                                                                                                                           Subscription price: $5.00 per year
              Infallible   In  Every   Part  ._........................................   39                                                                            Second Class postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan
                     Rev.  H.  Hanko
        The  Church At Worship  -                                                                                                                                  EDITORIAL NOTE
              The Baptismal Vow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
                     Rev.  G.  VandenBerg                                                                                                                              We are happy and thankful that with this issue the
        The   Lord   Gave   The   Word   .  .  _                                                                                                                   Rev. H. Hoeksema returns to the pages of the Stindavd
              The   Evangelical   Approach   According   To  The   Scriptures  43
                     Rev.  C.  Hanko                                                                                                                               Beaver,  i n   t h e   d e p a r t m e n t   &KY  Doctvine.    For
        The Voice Of Our Fathers  -                                                                                                                                the time being, the undersigned will continue in the
              The Belgic  Confession, Article XIII . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45                                                          capacity of acting editor.
4.                   Prof.   H.  C.  Hoeksema                                                                                                                          In this issue there appear the Financial Report
        Secretary's   Annual  Report                                                                                                                               and the Secretary's Report of the R.F.P.A. Be sure
        Annual Financial Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47                                      to take note of these reports.
        News From  Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
                                                                                                                                   -                                                                                          H.C.H.




                                                                                                                              AT THE GRAVE OF ELISHA

                                                                                                                                                        Rev.  M.  Schippev

                                                            "And Elisha died, and they  buried him. And the bands of the Moabites
                                                           invaded the land at the coming in of the  year.  And  it came to pass, as
                                                           they  weYe  buvying  a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and
                                                           they cast the man into the  sepulchve   of  El@uz:  and when the man was
                                                           let down, and  touched  the bones of Elisha, he  Yevived, and stood up on
                                                           h&s feet.".                                                                                                                 II Kings 13:20,  21

      This life is nothing but a continual death!                                                                                                                  fourteen hundred years before Easter is still true
      Such is the confession which the church always de-                                                                                                           two thousand years after.
clares in the prayer that she utters before the seed of                                                                                                             ] When we           think         of  this, the thought becomes
believers receives the sigp and seal of Holy Baptism!                                                                                                              oppressive1                   -
      Mind you, this we say in spite of the fact that we                                                                                                              For.it means that since that first Easter little change
continue to celebrate the glorious resurrection and                                                                                                                has taken place in the world. It also means that nothing
ascension of our  Lord Jesus Christ!                                                                                                                               of the life-giving power of Christ's resurrection has
      What makes it so difficult for us to discover the                                                                                                            shown up- in our  fjesh.              Since the day  that Christ
victory and life in these glorious events is the fact                                                                                                              arose from the dead, not one grave has opened  !
that we see so little of them1                                                                                                                                        Strange, is it not?
      Always we are reminded of the Word of the Psalm-                                                                                                                Would we not expect that after such a powerful and
ist, "Our days are as an hand breadth, and our life                                                                                                                glorious resurrection all the graves would be opened?
is as nothing before God." Or again, "The days of our                                                                                                                 But when you confer with the Bible you find that, with
life are seventy years, and if we are strong eighty years,                                                                                                         two or  three exceptions, the miracle took place before
yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon                                                                                                             Christ's resurrection.
cut off, and we fly away." What Moses said some                                                                                                                       Quite naturally, then, we ask: What remains of


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     27

our confession which we are taught to repeat with-the           Carmel challenging the hosts of Israel with their
Heidelberg Catechism:          "The resurrection of Christ      king, with the priests and the worshippers of Baal!
is a sure pledge of our  blessed.resurrection."                 Is it not he who appears on theMount  of Transfiguration
    Our text has something to teach us on this matter!          with Moses and the Lord Jesus? And did not Malachi
    First of all, it shows me what I see every day with         prophesy of him that before Christ would appear in
my natural eyes: that not one grave is opened!                  the flesh, Elijah must first come? Indeed, it appears
    Secondly, it shows me what I must nevertheless              that -Elijah far exceeds his successor in importance and
believe: that presently all graves shall be opened!             grandeur  I
    Finally, it teaches me, that this faith rests not               Yet, so to think, is to make a mistake that is
on what I can see with my natural eyes, but on the              two-fold!
abiding Word of God1                                                First, you forget the relation of the two. And
    And Elisha died, and they buried him!                       secondly, you place. too much value on the form of de-
    Most natural, indeed  1                                     parture, putting a stamp on their worth.
    The way of all flesh!                                           Elijah and Elisha in their relation were like John
    The man of God had been sick, of his sickness               the Baptist and the Christ, whose way the former came
whereof he died.       Eighty years  .he had lived, the age     to prepare.       Elijah, like John, was a prophet of wrath,
of the strong.        A ministry of some fifty  yearshad        and  .a  preparers of the way for the one to follow.
come to its close.                                              Elisha, on-the other hand, like the Christ, was a prophet
    At last, the vigor of youth, and the stability of middle    of grace, a revealer of life. He is not honored in his
age had waned. The troubles of old age crept in upon            departure for his person. He is permitted in his death
him. He took sick, and retired to his bed. Undoubtedly,         to speak of the reign of grace anew!
like others before and after him, he tried to get up;               The miracle in his grave  !
but could not. One day he was better, and the next he               The occasion was the invasion of the Moabites who
was worse.                                                      interrupted the funeral of. a man. It is not important
    Undoubtedly, too, all the means of communication            to know who the man was. He was undoubtedly an Is-
were kept busy relaying throughout the land of Israel           raelite.       As they were burying the man, the raid of
the news of the condition of this man of God. He was            the Moabites took place. And those, whose responsi-
well-known throughout the land. Even thekingof Isr.ael          bility it was to inter the remains of the man, espied
-came to visit him in his sickness, and to express  his,        the enemy approaching. And in fear they had to leave
sympathy and sorrow. He had recognized in Elisha                off their work. Thus in haste they cast the body into
a great statesman and a deliverer of Israel. While              the sepulchre of Elisha, the man of God.
he stood by his bedside, he gave vent to his doubt for              And behold1 when the body of the dead man was. let .
Israel's future when he cried out in despair: "0 my             down into the grave and it touched the bones of Elisha,
father, myfather, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen       he revived and stood up on his feet.
thereof!`?    Words these were which Elisha himself had             A miracle of resurrection]
uttered on another occasion, but with different signifi-            Not because there was a certain power in the bones
cance.    He means to say: What shall happen to Israel          of Elisha.       Elisha was dead, and had no power. The
and their armies when you are `gone?         -                  work of Elisha was finished when he died and was
    But  alas1  No physician could keep him alive. The          buried.        Nor could there be any hidden magic or
old man gave up the ghost. He died, and was buried!             power in a pile of dead bones.
    Indeed, Elisha went the way of all flesh!                       But the word of Elisha, nay, the Word of God which
    Though in life he may have greatly distinguished            had been given to Elisha to speak while he lived, con-
himself, his end was that of,every one of us.                   tinued to be the powerful Word of life after his death.
    He lived! He worked! He accomplished his vocation!          Therefore Elisha had to die and be buried. Therefore
He became old! He took sick and died! He was buried!            Elisha could not, like his predecessor, ride in chariots
    It was all so very natural1                                 of fire into heaven. For that reason this man of God
    It  was  so very common!                                    must die and be buried in the very midst of the land
   Yet most peculiar1                                           of Israel.       That the Word of the resurrection which
    Peculiar it was, because it was so common!                  he was privileged to speak while he was alive in the
    We should have suggested at least a departure like          body might continue to speak through his dead body
that of Elijah. Not to die, but to be suddenly translated       to a people threatened with death and extinction under
with a fiery chariot to heaven! With Elijah all was so          the judgments of God1
particular 1 So unnatural!-                                         The testimony of the miracle1
   And Elisha was so closely related to Elijah. Their               Glorious, powerful Word of the resurrection1
relationship was not like  that.of  an Isaiah and a Jere-           Hear, 0 Israel1 So Elisha bad spoken while he had
miah, who lived and prophesied independently of each            lived I
other. Nol Elijah and Elisha belonged together. And                 The Lord, your God, hath spoken unto you through
Elijah was so particular, so special I Also his departure !     his servant Elijah that He is Jehovah your God. He
   Yet Elisha's departure was so common1                        cannot away with your sins. He must needs display
   Could it be that after all Elijahwas so much greater         His wrath. He must send upon you destruction, death,
than his successor? 0, indeed, he was  .greatl Think            and the grave. But I also am His servant, whom Jehovah,
of him with his hoary head as he stood on the top of            your covenant-keeping God, hath sent unto you to declare


28                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

that He will deliver you out of the claws of death and         hope.     Let them continue to cry in despair,  "0 my
the grave! Such had been the testimony of the Word             father, my father, the chariots of Israel, and the
of God through Elisha while he lived1                          horsemen thereof !"
      But could that Word die with God's servant?                  But let       the    children of hope hear the Word
      Nay1  The Word of God abides forever1                    of the Lord!
      And the power of that Word I will demonstrate                The Word of resurrection and life!
before your fearful eyes at the grave of My servant.               That Word which cannot be stilled by the power
Such is the testimony of the Word of God at the grave          of death!
of Elisha1                                                      Let these children not fear those Moabites, those
      Wonderful Word of life1                                  angels of death1
      Much richer now than when Elisha spoke it! Yea,              But lay hold on the Word of life which has been
even richer than it resounded from the grave of this           spoken unto you by My servants, the prophets, and by
servant of God!                                                My Chief Servant, unto Whom I have given power
      Richer, because now the very Prince of life has          not only to speak, but to raise the dead!
died and was buried; but Who broke the power of death              That Word you must hear, not only at the grave of
and the grave !       Triumpha.ntly  He spoke before His       Elisha, but at every other grave of the children of God!
death, "I am the resurrection and the life, no man                 That Word will give you power to cry out tri-
cometh unto the Father but by me? Much more trium-             umphantly with the apostle: "0 death, where is thy
phantly He spoke that Word through His own resurrection I      sting?       0 grave, where is thy victory? The sting of
      And so that Word of resurrection, that powerful          death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But
Word of life still speaks1                                     thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through
      Let the unbelieving king of Israel, and all the hosts    .our Lord Jesus Christ."
of the ungodly weep and howl when their great ones                 That Word abides unto life everlasting1
die and are buried! They mourn as those who have no                Amen, and Amen !





                                           "COMMON GRACE" SICKNESS

                                                  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema

      This may be termed, in a sense, a sequel to my           mention of  common  grace in one breath with such
editorial in the September 15 issue entitled "Diagnosis        cardinal truths as that of the trinity, the incarnation,
From The Young West."            In this article, however,     the vicariousness of atonement,          and the active and
I will not continue my criticism of "Doctor" Jan               passive obedience of Christ. Willy-nilly, Mr. Veenstra
Karel Van  Baalen's series of articles in  De  Wachteev,       leaves the impression that common grace is  ina class,
but rather call attention to a recent issue of  The            in his Christian Reformed thinking, with doctrines
Ban%ev (Sept. 11, 1964) which gives ample evidence             like the trinity and the incarnation. A symptom?
that the Christian Reformed Church is seriously afflicted         The second instance in the same issue of  The
with what I would term "common grace" sickness.                Banner  is from the feature article by the Rev. Wm.
      In the, above mentioned issue of  The  Ba?znev  there    Vander Hoven, "Seedtime and harvest."                In this
are no less than three distinct references to "common          article, while making a comparison between natural
grace," all of which point to the symptoms of this             and spiritual sowing and reaping, he simply adopts and
mortal  ill'ness that afflicts the CRC.                        states uncritically the view that the covenant with Noah
      The first of these is in an article entitled "Doc-       and his seed was a covenant of common grace: "It
trine"  &ovd  a  Week,  Rev. Rolf L. Veenstra,  p.3),          (the statement of God to Noah concerning  seedtime
from which I quote the following:                              and harvest, H.C.H.) was made in a covenant context,
      "There are a dozen different definitions of the word     with God and nature being the parties.         It was made
doctrine,   but most unfortunate is the one that tries         with a covenant sign, the rainbow. It was a covenant
to identify it with the use of a few familiar theological      of common grace.         And it showed God's interest in
expressions.       All Christians should strive to know        the laws of seeding and harvesting.. . ."
the meaning of such words as trinity, vicarious,                  Again it is not my purpose to criticize Rev. Vander
incarnation, common grace, active and passive obe-             Hoven's entire article, nor even to treat the subject
dience  - even though none of these is found in the            of the covenant with Noah.       Besides, Vander Hoven's
Bible-but failure to use such expressions does not             idea here is by this time rather traditional in Christian
mean that a person does not know doctrine. There are           Reformed circles.        I heard this story already when
plenty of simpler equivalents."                                I was a boy in grade school.         But I do want to point
      It is not my purpose to criticize the thrust of the      to the fact of this persistent interpretation of the covenant
above article, but merely to call attention to the glib        with Noah as one of common grace. And I do want to


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    29

emphasize what a corruption it is of the truth of God's       evaluation."      Dr. Spoelhof (and, I fear, the faculty
eternal covenant of grace with His people. What an            of Calvin College, for the most part) represent the
impoverished conception one gets by substituting the          other aspect of this same symptom. They term common
notion of a covenant of common grace for the Scriptural       grace a "glorious and invaluable teaching," and give
conception of God's covenant with His people as it            a certain lip-service to the idea of the antithesis, -the
embraces all "nature." Another symptom this is of             idea that Van Baalen so detests.
the sickness that afflicts the life's root of the CRC;           This also, is, of course, a symptom of long standing.
and it is a symptom of long standing too.                     And it is a direct result of the contradictory stand of
    The third instance is found in "A voice for the           the Synod of 1924. That Synodadopted the Three Points
people," written by Joseph Gritter and its "Reply"            of Common Grace, elevating these points to the position
by Dr. Wm. Spoelhof. Mr. Gritter complains of "an             of dogma.       And in an altogether weak "Testimony,"
over-emphasis upon, and mistaken evaluation of, the           which was never sent to the churches, the CRC in
effects of common grace upon the unbelievers" and of          1924 insisted that the church "vindicates the spiritual-
                                                              ethical antithesis tooth and nail."      But the two are
a denial of the antithesis and the building of bridges        contradictory.
between the believers and the world. And he directs                              And the trouble is that common grace
his criticism at Calvin  College1  Dr. Spoelhof, on the       became the dogma of the Christian Reformed Church,
other hand, terms common grace "a glorious and in-            and thus, in the nature of the case, came to be hailed
valuable teaching," but also assents to the idea of the       as a glorious and invaluable doctrine. And to any who
antithesis, both for himself and for the rest of the          still foster any desire to vindicate the spiritual-ethical
f acuity.    Space does not permit a quotation of the         antithesis that was fundamentally destroyed in 1924,
pertinent paragraphs; besides, this is not necessary          the proponents of common grace need only say (and
for my present purpose.                                       rightly  SO, from their viewpoint), "Yes, yes; but common
                                                              grace is a glorious and invaluable doctrine!"
    But here is the third symptom; and it has two aspects.       And the whole CRC must say "Amenl"
Mr. Gritter represents the one aspect. He seems to               Moreover, apparently they fear to say otherwise.
be afraid of the results of 1924, but is unwilling            Could it be for fear of the big stick of hierarchy that
to face the fact that unless the entire theory of common      was so successfully wielded in  1924?
grace is discarded and destroyed, root and branch,               Nevertheless, the CRC is sick: afflicted with common
Christian Reformed theology will never again be healthy.      grace sickness, not with anabaptism or pietism, as
He only fears an "overemphasis" and a "mistaken               Van  Baalen suggests.



                                 "SHOULD I PREPARE FOR THE MINISTRY?"

                                                 Prof. H. C. Hoeksema

    It is my purpose, beginning with the present issue,       into contact with young men who are actually facing
to devote some attention to this subject and to attempt       this question; and I suppose that there are more young
to furnish some guidelines for arriving at an answer          men who face the question whom I do not meet. Es-
to this question which forms the title of this editorial.     pecially, therefore, for our young men I offer these
   My reasons for writing on this subject are several.        suggestions.      In the third place, parents, teachers,
In the first place, of course, I have in mind the needs       and pastors may be called upon to counsel young men
of our seminary and of our churches, the pressing             who face this question, or who ought to face it. And
need for more ministers,  - a need that is close to the       for them also I wish to suggest some guidelines. And
hearts of all of us.     In the second place, - and it is     finally, it is beneficial for all of us to understand
especially with this in view that I have formulated           this matter, also in order that we may understand
the subject in the form of the        question above this     our young men who are preparing or who decide to
article,  - I have in mind the needs of our Protestant        prepare for the ministry of the Word in our Protestant
Reformed young men. Our young men of high school              Reformed Churches.
and college age soon come to face the question in
general: what should I prepare for here in school,               Meanwhile, I do not at all intend these articles
and with a view to what particular line of work should        as a criticism of the series of articles recently
I choose my course and my subjects? And certainly,            carried in  Beacon Lights  and written by several
one question which our young men should face is:              of our ministers on "Why I Entered the Ministry."
should I prepare for the ministry of the gospel?              The intent of these articles was undoubtedly to encourage
Mark well, I do not at all mean to say that the answer        interest on the part of our young men in entering the
to this question should always be in the affirmative.         ministry; and this intent was commendable, as were
But even to give a proper negative answer to the              the articles in so far as-they stimulated such interest.
question, our young men should know how to arrive             My comments are intended to be more objective and thus
                                                                                         --.
at a responsible and definite answer. Besides, occa-          to serve as complementary to          the-particles  above
sionally I, -- and I know our ministers do also, -- come      mentioned;

                                                     -


30                                             THE STANDARD BEARER

      Having thus given account of my -purpose and my         ordinance, that only those can for the first time be
reasons, I turn to the subject proper.                        called to the ministry of the Word who have been de-
T h e   Q u e s t i o n                                       clared eligible by the churches, according to the rule
                                                              in this matter, and furthermore with the advice of classis
      I have intentionallyformulated the question, "Should    or of the counselor appointed for this purpose by the
I Prepare For The Ministry?" because not infrequently         classis;
the question is misformulated in a way that not only              "Secondly, in the EXAMINATION both of doctrine
may lead to all kinds of misconceptions, but in a way         and life which shall be conducted by the classis.... .
in which it is impossible to answer and which causes              "Thirdly, in the APPROBATION by the members
many difficulties for any serious-minded young man who        of the calling church...
seeks an answer to it.        Sometimes the question is           ` `Finally, in the public ORDINATION in the presence
phrased: "Am I called to the ministry?" Perhaps               of the congregation.. . . . . agreeably to the form for that
this is done with good intentions, and perhaps a              p u r p o s e . "
somewhat sound explanation is given of this, question.            Here already it is obvious that according to the
But rightly understood, the -question whether one is          Reformed view there is no call to the ministry except
called to  the ministry  could either leave a young man       in the above sense.         The above is the description
very dejected and discouraged, so that he gives a nega-       of. the "lawful calling."       Anyone not called in that
tive answer to the question whether he should prepare         sense is not lawfully called, and is therefore not truly
for the ministry; or that question as to being called         called at all. It is a mistake, therefore,  - though it
could leave a young man of high school or college             may be due to misunderstanding, -for a young man
age, who is still several years away from seminary            to say that he is called to the ministry before he ever
graduation and candidacy, altogether confused and in a        receives the lawful calling.
quandary because he is not in a position to answer this           Nor must we follow the mistaken conception of a
question yet.                                                 so-called internal calling which comes long before this
      Let me explain.                                         ` `lawful calling," in fact, even before a young man enters
      The calling to the ministry of the Word and sac-        the  ~seminary, and which is supposed to be confirmed
raments, according to our Church Order and our Liturgy,       by an external. calling when the call letter comes
is something very definite and objective. Moreover,           from a congregation.        This is a complete miscon-
it is one, not two. Just as in the work of salvation we       ception, fraught with many dangers.
must not speak of an external calling and an internal             Our Form of Ordination of Ministers takes the same
calling, as though there were two callings, so also           position as our Church Order, as is evident from
in.,regard to the calling to the ministry we must not         the first question addressed to the minister: "First.
thmk in terms of a certain internal calling plus an           I ask thee, whether thou  feelest in thy heart that thou
external calling. We must rather speak of an external         art lawfully called of God's Church, and therefore
and an internal side of the one calling. Thus our Church      of God himself, to this holy ministry?"
Order speaks of the lawful calling in Article 4: "The             Hence, the call in its internal aspect, according
lawful calling of those who have not been previously          to which God Himself binds the call upon the heart
in office, consists:                                          by His Holy Spirit, comes through and in connection
      "First, in the ELECTION by the consistory and           with the call in its external aspect, namely, the call
the deacons, after preceding prayers, with due ob-            by a certain congregation. And where thelatter is not,
servance of the regulations established by the  con-          there the former cannot possibly exist.
sistory for this purpose, and of the ecclesiastical                                (to be continued)




                                       THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURC'H
                                                    Chapter IX
                                              AMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER
                                           (continued from August 1 issue)
                                                  Rev, H.  Hoekserria
      In the next period, that from 750 A.D. to the time      tioned four; still others a larger number.            Pope
of the Reformation, the number of the sacraments              Eugenius IV, 1431  - 1437, finally gave his sanction
was fixed at seven, and the doctrine of  transubstan-         to a list of seven; and this is still the number that is
tiation was established as the official dogma of the          held by the Roman Catholic Church today.            These
church.     In the early part of this period the number       seven sacraments are the following: baptism, confirma-
of the sacraments was not yet fixed.         There were       tion, the  eucharist,  pennance,  extreme unction, holy
some that believed in only. two sacraments, that is,-         orders, and marriage. At this period the doctrine of
baptism and the Lord's supper. Some, however, men-'           transubstantiation was definitely taught and officially
                                -`-


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     31

adopted.       Radbertus, Abbot of Corbie, in Picardy,          it is evident that on that day the Lord instituted the
in the ninth century, was the first to teach unequivocally      last supper.       It was therefore on Thursday -evening;
the complete dogma of transubstantiation. By the words          the fourteenth of Nisan, that the Lord celebrated the
of consecration the bread and the wine are changed              passover  with His disciples. No further explanation
into the body and blood of Christ,  ~according to this          can possibly be given to the accounts in the  synop-
dogma, although these remain concealed under the quali-         tics. The theory that in that year the paschal supper
ties of bread and wine to the senses. Yet it must be            was eaten on the fifteenth of Nisan, instead of the
said that even at that time most of the contemporaries          fourteenth, in order to maintain that Jesus died at the
of Radbertus opposed this view. After the Dark Ages,            same time that the paschal lamb was slain certainly
however, from the ninth to the twelfth centuries, it            can find no support in the -Biblical record. Others
appears that the doctrine of transubstantiation has gained      claim that Jesus held the paschal supper on the thir-
the  ascendency, though there were still occasional             teenth of Nisan, and therefore a day early. But also
voices raised against it. In 1215 A.D. it was officially        this is not in harmony with the account of the synoptic
adopted by the Fourth Lateran  Council, under Innocent          gospels.       And besides, it would mean that the paschal
III. In connection with this doctrine the idea of  corn-        lamb, which must needs be offered in the temple,
munion is replaced by that of asacrifice. In the Lord's         could not have been eaten at that time.
Supper the church, that is, the priest, offers a repeated          What was the significance of the Passover? It
sacrifice of Christ.       It is also in the latter part of     was, in the first place, also a harvest feast, which
this period and in connection with the adoption of the          was celebrated in the promised land, and therefore
doctrine of transubstantiation that the cup is withheld         in the land of the covenant. On the sixteenth of Nisan
from communicants, lest part of the blood of Christ             the first sheaf of the harvest was waved before the
be spilled. In justification of this sacrilege the doctrine     Lord; Thus we read in Leviticus 23: 9-11: "And
of concomitance is developed, that is, that the blood           the Lord spake unto Moses saying, Speak unto the
is by nature connected with the body and is taken with          children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come
the latter.                                                     into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap
   Since the time of the Reformation no new views               the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of
concerning the Lord's Supper have been developed,               the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: And
so that at present we have the Roman Catholic concep-           he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted
tion, the Lutheran view, the view of Zwingli, and the           for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest
Calvinistic interpretation of the signs of the Lord's           shall wave it." However, it was above  all a feast of
Supper.                                                         commemoration, remembering that the Lord had passed
   Now, as we said before, it is essential for a sacra-         over the dwellings of the people that  were- covered
ment to be instituted in the church, That institution           by the blood of the lamb in thenight  when the Destroyer
is very important. Water as such does not constitute            went through the house of bondage to kill all the first-
the sacrament of baptism; nor do bread and wine as              born of the land. Besides, on the  passover  the people
such have any significance  ,as sacramental signs in            commemorated that great deliverance from the house
themselves.      It is true that water in itself is symbolic    of bondage by the mighty hand of God. Cf. Exodus
of cleansing. Also the bread of the Lord's Supper-in            12: 3, ff. And so, finally, that Old Testament  passover
itself is nourishing. And it is also true that bread in         was a feast that had typical significance. We ,would
itself is symbolic of spiritual nourishment and that            not say that circumcision and the  passover  consti-
wine is symbolic of heavenly quickening and refresh-            tuted two Old Testament sacraments. Circumcision,
ment.       If this were not true, they could not possibly      of course, was a sacrament. The  passover  in itself
serve as signs.        But although this is true, that is,      was no sacrament, but it closely approached the New
although it is true that these natural elements are in          Testament conception of the sacrament of the Lord's
themselves signs, and able to express in themselves             Supper.        Israel celebrated its deliverance from the
certain symbolic significance, they thereby do not consti-      house of bondage, yet at the same time looked forward
tute sacraments. The institution, that is, the setting          to its deliverance as it was realized in the blood of
aside, or setting apart, of the water in baptism from           the Lamb that was to be slain.        It was that passover
all other water, the bread and wine in the Lord's               which Christ Jesus changed into the New Testament
Supper from all other bread and wine, that divine               sacrament of the Lord's Supper. For that purpose
act whereby the Lord God Himself connects His Word              He took not the lamb, but bread and wine. The lamb
with those signs, -that institution is essential in the         could not serve the purpose of a sign in the Lord's
constitution of the sacraments.                                 Supper. The paschal lamb was positively the last lamb
   It is evident from all the synoptic gospels that the         that could ever be eaten and that could ever be slain or
Lord Jesus Christ in the night in which He was betrayed         sacrificed.      The lamb which was eaten by Christ and
instituted the New Testament supper' to replace that            His apostles, that had been carried into the temple and
of the Passover. It is hardly possible to explain  the-         sacrificed there before it was carried into the upper
Scriptural record concerning the last  passover   ' of          room, that lamb of the  passover which Christ so
Jesus with His disciples in any other way than by               greatly desired to eat with His apostles, was the last
assuming that it was the regular day, that is, the              that was ever, and that could-ever, be typically slain.
fourteenth of Nisan, that the Lord celebrated it. In            For at that passover  the Lamb of Godstood ready to be
Luke 22: 7-14, Matthew 26: 17-20, Mark 14: 12-17                sacrificed: and therefore that lamb could not serve


32                                             THE STANDARD BEARER

in the New Testament as a sign of the sacrament.              surprised, therefore, that the church throughout the
It was typical of the sacrifice that was to be accom-         new dispensation, from the very earliest times, attached
plished on the cross, and therefore it could not possi-       great significance to that institution of holy communion.
bly look backward to that accomplished sacrifice. But         The church guarded jealously that feast of commemo-
the Lord took bread, the bread that also was eaten            ration, which at the same time was a sacrament of
at the Passover, and the wine that was drunken when           nourishment.      We need not be surprised, therefore,
the third cup, the cup of thanksgiving, was taken at          that in all the Reformed confessions this sacrament is
the supper. That bread and wine, instead of the lamb,         mentioned and rather elaborately explained.
Christ definitely instituted, therefore.                          The symbolism of the Lord's Supper includes more
      That they were so instituted to serve as a sacra-       than the mere signs. The signs are, of course, those
ment, and therefore as signs and seals, is evident            of the bread and wine. But the symbolism includes the
from the words spoken by the Lord at this institution.        following elements: 1) The signs of the bread and wine,
The bread and the wine were separated from all other          signifying the body and blood of the Lord. 2) The signs
bread and wine by those spoken words. For we read             of the broken bread and the wine pouved out, signifying
in Matthew 26:  26,27:       "And as they were eating,        His broken body and shed blood. 3) The sign of eating
Jesus took bread and blessed it, and brake it, and gave       and drinking the bread and the wine at the table of
it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.    communion. 4) The sign of the word of the minister,
And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to          through whom Christ by His Spirit addresses His own
them, saying, Drink ye all of it, For this is my blood        Word to the heart of the believers. 5) Finally, there
of the new testament, which is shed for many for the          is the sign of the table of communion, signifying that
remission of sins."       Confer also Mark 14: 22-24;         in His tabernacle we eat and drink with God through
Luke 22: 19-20. By these words, therefore, the bread          our Lord Jesus Christ.
and wine of the Lord's Supper are definitely separated           A word of explanation of each of these elements
and instituted as sacramental signs and seals.                is necessary.
      Notice also that the Lord instituted this sacrament        First of all, then, there are the elements of bread
very definitely in order that it might be observed            and wine. The symbolism of these signs is, of course,
by the church. For it was instituted by a very definite       plain. The bread signifies Christ as the Bread of Life,
command of Christ. He gave the bread to the disciples         as He said to the Jews in Capernaum: "Then said
and said: "Take, eat; this is my body." And when He           Jesus unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses
gave the cup to them, He said: "Drink ye all of it,           gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father
For this is my blood of the new testament, which is           giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread
shed for many for the remission of sins." And accord-         of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and
ing. to the account in Luke, the Lord added: "This            giveth life unto the world. And Jesus said unto them,
do in remembrance of me." From these words it is              I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall
very evident that the Lord instituted a sacrament which       never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never
was to be observed throughout the ages by the church          thirst." John 6: 32, 33, 35. Thesame  idea is expressed
in the world.                                                 in Scripture when it speaks of Christ as the Water of
      The observance of this supper is of great signifi-      Life.     It is true that in the institution of the Lord's
cance.      This is very evident from the fact that the       Supper Jesus did not use the symbol of water, but
institution of it was repeated, and that too, by a special    that of wine.      For this we can find two reasons. In
revelation to the apostle Paul, who writes in I Corin-        the first place, wine is the color of blood, and the wine
thians 11: 23-26:      "For I have received of the Lord       at the communion table is the sign of the blood of
that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord           Christ. And, secondly, wine is a symbol of communion,
Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took            of prosperity and joy: and according to Scripture, wine
bread:      And when he had given thanks, he brake it,        is the symbol of heavenly joy, and therefore it was very
and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken         fitting at the wedding of  Cana  that the heavenly bride-
for you:      this do in remembrance of me. After the         groom should change the water into wine. Thus we
same manner also& took the cup, when he had supped,           can understand that at the supper of the Lord it is not
saying,     This cup is the new testament in my blood:        water, but wine that is used as the proper sign of the
this do ye, as oft as ye drink iti-in rem.embrance  of me.    blood of the-Lamb, by which not only our sin is changed
For as often as ye eat this  bread,adrink  this cup,          into righteousness, but also our earthly life is trans-
ye do shew the Lord's death till he come." There              lated into the joy of God's heavenly tabernacle.
can be no doubt, therefore, that  .the apostle had               Secondlyithe  bread at the communion table must be
received this observance of the Lord's Supper from the        broken, and the wine must be poured out. Thus we
Lord Himself.       For he writes that he has received        read in Matthew 26: 26:       "And as they were eating,
this of the Lord. He had received this, evidently, by a       Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and
special revelation, and not-from the rest of the apostles.    gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my
And this fact, that the Lord-from- heaven gave a special      body."     The broken bread, therefore, is the sign of
revelation to the apostle  P_aul,  whu had not been per-      the broken body of Christ. It has been objected that
sonally with the Lord in His earthly sojourn, concerning      the body of Christ was not really broken. The apostle
the institution of the Lord's Supper, certainly empha-        John even emphasizes this very fact when he records
sizes the impor=ce of this-sacrament. And we are not          the spear-thrust in the side of Jesus. In John 19: 33-36


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     33

we read: "`But when they came to Jesus, and saw, that        in such a way that Jesus might for six hours slowly
he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one        pour  .out His life-blood, taste death in all its fulness,
of the soldiers with his spear pierced his side, and         and suffer the wrath of God for the sins of His own.
forthwith came there out blood and water. And he             And therefore it is but proper to preserve this symbo-
that saw it bear record, and his record is true;             lism by breaking the bread before the eyes of the
and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.    assembled congregation by the hands of the minister.
For these things were done, that the scripture should        And although this is not expressly emphasized in the
be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken."            account of the institution of the Lord's Supper, this
The Scripture referred to in this passage probably           sign also applies to the pouring out of the wine. In
has reference to the paschal lamb. For we read in            Matthew 26~27  we read: "And he took the cup, and gave
Exodus 12: 46: "In one house shall it be eaten; thou         thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
shalt not carryforth ought of the flesh abroad out of the    for this is my flood of the new testament, which is
house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof." But           shed for many for the remission of sins." Now just
although in this sense the body of the Savior was never      as the broken bread is. the symbol of the broken body
broken and was laid whole in the sepulchre of Joseph         of Christ, so the poured out wine is the symbol of
of Arimathea, yet in a very real sense it was broken         the shed blood of Christ. Andalso this part of the sym-
nevertheless, as the Lord Himself emphasizes in the          bolism of the supper of the Lord ought to be preserved
institution of the Lord's Supper:    "This is my body,       in the celebration of it. And when the individual cup
which is broken for you." It was broken by the nails         is used, it certainly would be proper if the minister.
that were hammered through His hands and throughHis          would pour out the wine into a certain large cup in the
feet, as well as by the spear-thrust of the soldiers,        sight of the congregation, rather than immediately
which miraculously resulted in the flowing forth of          passing the already filled cups to the communicants.
blood and water from His side. It was broken exactly                                           (continued in next issue)




                                              AN  INTRODUCilON
                                                 Rev.  G, Van  Baven

   It is with considerable trepidation that I accepted       I desire to use this and future articles to that end.
the appointment to write, D.V., fourteen articles during        There is the added difficulty to this writer that
the next year on the subject of ecumenicalism - and now      the material on the subject is unbelievably abundant.
take up my pen to begin. The fear (or knocking together      To write without any material for research is a great
of the knees) is not uncommon to those who appear            handicap; but the opposite extreme. is almost as bad:
before the public for the first time; something of that      to have available more material than one can con-
I feel, -knowing that regularly throughout the next          veniently assimilate. In spite of this, I will attempt
year these articles will be printed for public con-          to present to you such material and information as I
sumption.    There is also the fact that, ready or not,      consider relevant to our instruction on this important
the articles must be submitted with faithful regularity      subject.
to the editor.     This may not greatly disturb the
faithful regular contributors to the  Stunduvd  Beaver,      The Subject  of  Ecumenicalism
but it does loom oppressively large before my own               The term "ecumenical" comes from the Greek and
mind.                                                        means literally "the inhabited world." It can, then, be
   But the subject itself gives pause for thought.  Ecu-     applied to anything which involves all mankind on earth.
menicalism is important, very important,- but probably       It does not have exclusively a religious connotation.
a subject not sufficiently treated nor regarded in our       However, to my mind (and likely yours as well),
churches in the past. We tend (and1 speak, first of all,     the word immediately suggests the present-day striving
for myself) to be so involved in our own families and        to unite churches, formerly separated, not only nation-
our own church activities that we have little concern        ally, but also internationally. Strictly, the word ought
or interest in the developments in the church-world          to be applied only to the attempt to unite churches of
about us (outside, possibly, of the actions of the           "all the inhabited world" into one "super church."
"mother" church: the Christian Reformed). Now, I             As far as this series of articles is concerned, we will
would be the last to.condemn the former (we can have         consider the subject in its broadest sense, that is, we
even more of that), but at the same time we ought to         will discuss the events of the church-world of our day
understand that the activities of other churches do          which tend to bring denominations closer together, and,
vitally concern us.    This is true, first, because we       in conjunction with that, the events which could lead
must be in a position to warn each  ,other and our chil-     to the uniting of most present-day denominations into
dren of the errors of our day; and secondly, because         the one great church of the last day (the church of the
we must be able to recognize the development of the          antichrist).
anti-Christian  church which arises at the end of time.         Although I have in mind a general outline for future


 34                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER
 iarticles, I do intend to maintain a certain flexibility               is the establishment of the World Council of Churches
 in this outline so that I can introduce "current events"               (W.C.C.) in Amsterdam in 1948.               This council of
 in the ecumenical movement as these take place. The                    churches; by far the largest organization of churches
1  a'rticles, then, will review the past history as well as             outside of the Roman Catholic Church, is composed of
/ the present developments of ecumenicalism. In this                    nearly two hundred denominations from all parts of
;,Ionnection I would ask you, the reader, to forward                    the world. Its power and influence appear to be growing.
-to me any information which you deem particularly                      Its composition as well as its goals merit our scrutiny.
 relevant to this rubric. I can not promise to use all                  Besides, it numbers among its constituent denomina-
 material so submitted, but I would appreciate the op-                  tions, Reformed churches in this country and abroad, -
 portunity to consider it, and if it is appropriate to the              including the Reformed Church in America. Even within
 subject being discussed, I might want to pass it on                    the Christian Reformed Church, which has thus far
 to our readers.                                                        refused to ,join the organization, the complaint is heard
       Future articles I intend to write in amanner similar             that ". . .there are also among us those who are World-
 to the six on the Second Vatican Council which appeared                Council- minded.        Our church, they believe, is in
 earlier this year in the  Standard-   Beaver.               Again,     error in withholding its membership and influence
 quotations will be used both from current magazines                    from this worldwide organization. It is their conviction
 and from books to support the particular point presented.              that we should get into this mainstream of Protestant
 The danger in this, of course, is that the charge could                Christianity so that we may be in a position to do some-
 be -made of "quoting out of context," and, -hence, of                  thing about directing its  course;"2          And it must be
 distorting the author's intent. However, full references               stated;  if  the claims of its proponents  aye true, all
 will be given, so that any dubious reader may check                    Christians of necessity must be members. One man
 the source for himself.                                                closely associated with the W.C.C. put it this way:
       There are several interesting facets of ecumenicalism               All of the pressing problems of life, from those of the
 which we must notice in following articles. First, again               individual to those of the world community, must be solved
 and again references have been made to scriptural                      in accordance with the divine will, for there is no other
 passages which are supposed to teach the necessity                     permanent solution. "If it be of God," then it is not difficult
 of all Christians and all denominations to be united                   to see where the major responsibility of church members
 under one ecclesiastical roof. These passages teach,                   lies. They are to pray and labor for making the Church just
                                                                        what God intended it to be, "a unique community of men
 so it is maintained, that the blessing and encouragement               without boundaries of nation, race, culture, or tradition-
 of our God rests upon the present-day ecumenical                       unconditional unity grounded in the unconditional love of God."
 movement.         Two of the most often quoted passages                Herein lies the importance of all phases of the ecumenical
 are John 17 and Ephesians 4. It would be proper for                    movement, especially the  World  Council of Churches which
 us to consider these passages that we may see what                     is the latest but not necessarily the last expression of the will
 God does say about union and unity.                                    to unity. 3
       Of interest too, will be a summary of the historical                 In addition to the W.C.C., there are other, in a
 development of the ecumenical movement. Its devel-                     sense competing, councils composed of more con-
 opment is rather recent and can easily be traced.                      servative and evangelical membership. Among these
 We could consider some of the high-lights of this history.             are the National Association of  Evangelicals (N.A.E.),
 The development of the ecumenical movement is con-                     the International Council of Christian Churches (I.C.
 sidered by many to have made of our present age                        C-C.), and the Reformed Ecumenical Synod (R.E.S.).
 one of the most significant periods in the history of the              The last of these ought to interest us, since our synods
 church of Christ. I would agree 7 though not for the                   of the past have appointed men to attend meetings of
 same reasons that many church historians might present.                the R.E.S. as  observers- though for various reasons
 Dr. Henry.P, Van Dusen, president of Union Theological                 they did not attend.        A study of these organizations
 Seminary, declares:                                                    would be beneficial.
       By any reasonable calculus that might be proposed, the               Finally, case histories of church mergers would
period of which we are immediate heirs-roughly the last                 prove both interesting and instructive. What takes
 one hundred and fifty years from the dawn of the nineteenth            place when two denominations decide they must become
century to midpoint in the twentieth - was the epochof  largest,        one ?    What do they hope to gain? Do such churches
most varied, and most notable Christian achievement in the              lose anything in this merger process? A study of
nearly two millenniums of Christian history.                            specific mergers reveals that such take place not
       . . .During the past century and a half, the life of the non-    only between denominations of similar doctrinal and
 Roman Christian churches of the world has been marked by
two major developments, each of unprecedented proportions               church political background, but also very diverse
 and power in the history of Christendom. It is these two de-.          denominations have joined hands in union one with the
 velopmenna  together which constitute the most significant             other (as for instance the recent E and R  - Congrega-
 feature of Christianity in the iriodern era and give to this period    tional merger). There are right now several proposed
 of a ceniury and a half a character as distinctive and as dis-         mergers which are in the discussion stage, but have
 tinguished as any previous "Great Age!' of Christian faith-            not yet been consummated. One of these which should
 the early church, the Middle Ages, the Protestant Reformation.         be of special interest to us is the Reformed  Church-
 One is the modern movement of ChvistitEn missions; the other,          Presbyterian U.S. discussions. Some of these mergers -
 the contemporary  movement  for Christian unity. 1                     proposed and completed- will be subjects of future
       Connected with this "movement for Christianunity"                articles.


                                              T H E   STAN.DARD  B E A R E R .                                               35

    Finally, though not least, there is the continuing          merely in non-essentials shall not be rejected."
Vatican Council at Rome. The third session  .beganthis               But, the "ecumenical movement," as this phrase is
past September 14. According to news releases, signif-          generally understood today, is wrong  - very, very wrong.
icant decisions are being made there - decisions which          The child of God must have no part with union or affilia-
will make Rome more appealing to many Protestants.              tions which in  `the name of Christ deny the Christ of
The "liberals" seem to have gained the upper hand at            Scripture.        He can have no part with councils whose
the third session. What will be the significance of this        aim is to assist in the formation of the "super church."
third session to the whole ecumenical movement?                 He can not join with those who care not one whit about
                                                                doctrine or truth, but can fret endlessly about the
Ecumenicalism: Right  OY  Wrong?                                necessity of presenting a united front before the "hea-
 The question as stated above is not quite fair. If             then." The Word of God is so very clear in its condem-
ecumenicalism is the attempt of children of God to              nation of developments of our day when it declares,
seek out others of like faith and confession in order to        "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets,
become one with them, -this is right. In a day of rapid         and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that,
transportation and instant communication, such fellow-          if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect"
ship can be sought with Christians not only in our own          (Matt.  24:24).       It becomes increasingly clear that our
land, but also in all the world. Should not those who           "epoch of largest, most varied, and most notable
are one in faith and doctrine be united in this day of          Christian achievement" represents nothing less than the
great apostasy, a day in which the antichristian kingdom        development of the church of the antichrist.
and church, foretold in Scripture, are in the process           1 Henry P. Van Dusen, One 
of realization?. In a negative way our Church Order                                              Great  Ground  of Hope, West-
                                                                   minster Press, pp. 11,14
suggests this "ecumenicalism" too, for we read in               2 .The Banner, September 1.8, 1964, p. 8
article 85: "Churches whose usages differ from ours             3 Paul Griswold Macy,  If It Be of.God,  Bethany  Press, p. 145

                                         7@+%9  7h  sfi&4-  ..
                                                      ATHEISM
                                                 Rev. R.  C.  Havbach
   The title, ` `Atheism, the Enemy -of Civilization,"          ( i b i d . ,   X V I I I ) .
is,. at -the head of a treatise, something of an insult,         Atheism is the enemy of science.                Darwin, the
but it nevertheless states a fact. It is a slight insult        father of evolutionism, was no Christian, but neither
in that the most deep-seated enmity of atheism is rather        may we say he was an atheist, even though the system
directed against- the true God, as even the term itself         which bears his  name   is atheistic, bestial and has
implies. It is, as a matter of fact, the enemy of civi-         never produced a- really colossal scientific leader.
lization only as the inevitable result of being the             Darwinism, strictly, is not science.            It is a very
inveterate enemy of God. God's opponents, inimical              unsettling and unsettled interpretation of science. The
to  manls.  Creator, are the foe of man-and the image           true scientists were men not bearing the brand of
of God in man.         That the atheist is the enemy of         atheist, but men like. Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler,
civilization has been demonstrated from the beginning           Isaac Newton, and Mendel.
of civilization itself. Modern atheist sociologists and             Atheism is the enemy of society.            These  God-
anthropologists will deny this, but since the Tower of          deniers are not pleasant, winsome personalities. The
Babel, the atheist -has endeavored to make this world,          notorious, contemporaneous Mrs. Madelyn Murray is
God's workshop, a society of Satan. Scripture has the           living proof of this. Wherever in the world you meet
last word, as in everything else, on this "ism",                with them, you cannot bear long to be in their presence,
noted in Psalm  14:1, "The fool hath said in his heart,         even out of curiosity.           God Himself cannot stand
`There is no God!' .They (atheists) are corrupt,                them and only tolerates with infinite longsuffering these
they have done abominable works, there is none that             vessels of. wrath preordained to destruction. When
doeth good."      The atheist has done more than any            the Lord, using the Flood as a besom of destruction,
other to wreck the world.                                       swept the face of  the, earth clear of skeptics, He
   H. G. Wells, the English atheist historian, refers         showed early in history what He thought of atheists.
to his intellectual niche in the words "We godless                  A great wave of atheism sweeps our country. The
people. .  ."    (Crux   Ansata,   XXI). He conceived of        government now forbids the use of prayer and Bible
atheism as the religious goal of evolution.         This,       reading in the public schools. These schools with our
to the Christian, is saying no more than that atheism           colleges and universities teach an atheistic philosophy,
is the goal of pseudo science.         Certainly a false        which leads to despair and moral degradation. Atheists
science will produce an outlook of infidelity, Wells            are not noted for upright moral conduct. The American
was an enemy of Protestantism, as much as he was                Association for Advancement of Atheism (4-A) in its
of Romanism, teaching that Protestantism leads to               1928 report says that its first "Damned Souls Society"
atheism, for, to him, "the ultimate Protestant" is one          was organized at Rochester University, N.Y., one of
who "has no scrap of `religious belief left in him"             the purposes of which was to secure "greater sex


36                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

freedom, of which the church has been and is the              teaching in Catholic and Fundamentalist Colleges...
greatest enemy."         Atheist literature specializes in    Modernism is unworthy of serious notice. It is intellec-
obscenity.        In the 4-A 1929 report is an article        tual-  mush...Much as we dislike Modernists because
entitled, "The Cohabitation of Church and State." It          of their illogical compromising, we must recognize
regards the church as "Uncle Sam's Mistress." Athe-           that, for many, modernism is but a stopover on the
ism is despicable, revolting and guilty of the unpardon-      road to  Atheism...We  should train our guns principally
able sin in its blasphemous charge that it was the Holy       on such religious standpatters as the  Roma.,  Catholic
Ghost who "had that little affair with the Virgin Mary."      Church and the Protestant hotbeds of Fundamen-
Small wonder the 4-A claims to be a  "wrecking-               talism..." At this point, we should keep in mind that
company," the motto of which is  "I<ill the Beast"            Pelagianism (humanism) leads to semi-Pelagianism,
(religion). It states profanely, "To hell with com-           which leads to Arminianism, which leads to Modernism,
promise-the 4-A is here to ensure a complete job              which.leads  to Atheism. The great  Toplady was most
in the wrecking of religion." History shows that atheism      perceptive when he said, "Arminianism is atheism."
is the wrecker of society. The Ten Demands of the             "Arminianism has paved the way...to Atheism."  Ar-
4-A also show this:        1) Taxation of church property.    minianism is "Atheism in masquerade."
2) Elimination of chaplains and sectarians from public           Atheism is an enemy of atheism. The origin of
pay rolls.       3) Abrogation of laws enforcing Christian    the world atheists trace to chance.       But what chance
morals and restricting the rights of atheists. 4) Aboli-      they take in the denial of God- beyond all  reason1
tion of the oath in courts and at inaugurations. 5) Non-      The atheist, who deserves no better title than Fool,
issuance of religious proclamations by chief executives.      says there is no God. Is it not reasonable to suppose
6) Removal of "In God We Trust" from our currency,            there may be one for all he knows? He has discovered
and the cross from above the flag. 7) Exclusion of the        no God out in space, but how much of space has he
Bible as a sacred book from the public schools. 8)            explored?        Has he searched all the shadow sides of
Suppression of the bootlegging of religion through            all the planets, their satellites, and of all the galaxies
dismissing pupils from religious instruction during           of space? What would we think of a child who denies
school hours.        9) Secularization of marriage, with      his father'sexistence because he has been unable to
divorce upon request. 10) Repeal of anti-evolution and        find him in the dark? What does he gain by his denial
anti-birth-control laws. These, it is well-known, are         of God? Freedom of conscience,he says, liberty to do
also the objectives of the Communist party in this            as he pleases without interference of divine laws.
country and of the National Council of Churches.              His freedom, however, is that of the locomotive going
      Atheism is the enemy of the state. Atheism has          off the trestle, of the body falling over the precipice,
never built a state. It boasts of being empire builders,      of the rotten tomato smashing into a brick wall.
but it is a wrecking crew which ruins the state, as           His pleasure is that of drunken swine swilling on
French atheism did that nation, which since the Reign         festering, maggot-infested carrion. If there be a God,
of Terror, a natural product of atheism, to this day          is it not reasonable to suppose that if I trust and obey
renders France a mediocre "power" in the world.               Him I gain a happy eternity; but if there be no God,
Russia, too,  the  atheist country of the world, is repre-    I lose nothing but my sordid filth, by firmly believing
sentative of totalitarianism, tyranny, terror, torture,       there is one? By believing in God I lose nothing; but
; nd treason.                                                 by denying Him I jeopardize my eternal destiny. I lose
      Atheism is the enemy of the church. In the 1931         His favor, His kingdom and eternal life for endless
report of the 4-A it is recorded that "the Liberals and       punishment.        Is it reasonable to avoid this line of
the Modernists . . .the Fosdicks, the Matthews. .  .toss      argument? If the atheist should be wrong, and he is,
out first the Garden of Eden and the Flood, followed          the only liberty he gains is to. violate himself here,
by the Virgin Birth, Atonement, and the Resurrection.         and to be eternally despised hereafter. The atheist
Then they gain a victory by getting rid of Hell and           is his own worst enemy.         As well as being against
Heaven...the Devil and God, tho with much ado they            every man, he opposes himself. His philosophy is like
keep...the  last. They may save the vessel of  eccle-         a pulled firing pin on a hand grenade which sticks to
siasticism, but how long will man sail the seas in an         him like glue. It is ready to blow up in his own face.
empty ship? They will go ashore and enjoy life with           Bildad perfectly  proph.esies  his end in Job  18:7-21.
the atheists. We welcome the aid of the Modernists            "His own counsel shall cast him down. Terrors shall
and pledge them our fullest cooperation in ridding the        make him afraid on every side. Destruction shall be
world of Fundamentalism..  ." There is also reported          ready at his side. The firstborn of death shall devour
this item: "The supreme literary honor was conferred          his strength.      His confidence shall be rooted out, and
last year upon an avowed atheist, when the Nobel              it shall bring him to the king of terrors. Brimstone
Prize was given to Sinclair Lewis, author of `Main            shall be scattered uponhis  habitation. His remembrance
Street' and "Elmer Gantry'. . . a terrific indictment of      shall perish from the earth. He shall be driven from
evangelical religion." The newsstands and paper-back          light into darkness, and chased out of the world. They
book stores are overloaded with this kind of atheism.         that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they
      The June, 1933 4-A report states, "Most denomi-         that went before were affrighted. And this is the place
national schools.:  .even  when controlled by Fundamental-    of him that knoweth not God." It would be the perfection
ists, are often compelled to employ Infidels, who are         of justice for hell to bar all others from its dominions,
hypocrites from necessity. Members of the 4-A are             if it refused atheists.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     37



                                   &t!hd&~~~-7Qrc 7ke ?a&

                                  THE CANON OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURE

                                                   Rev,  H. Veldman

   We now continue with our quotation from the Galli-         Epistle to the Hebrews, The Epistle of James, The
can Confession in connection with the truth of the canon      First and Second Epistles of Peter, The First, Second
of the sacred Scriptures.      We will finish Article V       and Third Epistles of John, the Epistle of Jude, The
of this Confession.                                           Revelation.
   ` `V. And inasmuch as it is the rule of all truth, con-       "All which are given by inspiration of God, to be
taining all that is necessary for the service of God          the rule of faith and life.
and for our salvation, it is not lawful for men, nor even        "III. The books commonly called  Apocrypha,  not
for angels, to add to it, to take away from it, or to         being of divine inspiration, are no part of the Canon
change it. Whence it follows that no authority, whether       of the Scripture; and therefore are of no authority in
of antiquity, or custom, or numbers, or human wisdom,         the Church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved,
or judgments, or proclamations, or edicts, or decrees,        or made use of, than other human writings."
or councils, or visions, or miracles, should beopposed
to these Holy Scriptures, but, on the contrary, all things    THE BELGIC CONFESSION,
                                                              or THIRTY SEVEN ARTICLES
should be examined, regulated, and reformed according
to them. And therefore we confess the three creeds,              In Article IV of this Belgic Confession, our
to wit: the Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian,        Confession of Faith, the church expresses its faith
because they are in accordance with the Word of God.          in the canon of the Scriptures as follows, and we
                                                              quote: "We believe that the Holy Scriptures are
WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH. A.D. 1647                    contained in two books, namely, the Old and New
   In Chapter 1 of  .this Confession, the church calls        Testaments, which are canonical, against which nothing
attention to the truth of the Holy Scripture. We quote        can be alleged. These are thus named in the Church of
the following:                                                God (and then this article names the books as con-
   "I. Although the light of nature, and the works of         stituting our Bible - H-V.).
creation and providence, do so far manifest the good-            In Article VI the Confession states the difference
ness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men in-           between the canonical and apocryphal books as follows:
excusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that           "We distinguish these sacred books from the apocryphal,
knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary         viz., the third and fourth book of Esdras, the books of
unto salvation; therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry      Tobias,  Judith, Wisdom, Jesus Syrach, Baruch, the
times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to       appendix to the book of Esther, the Song of the Three
declare that his will unto his Church; and afterwards,        Children in the Furnace, the History of Susannah,
for the better preserving and propagating of the truth,       of Bell and the Dragon, the Prayer of Manasses, and the
and for the more sure establishment `and comfort of the       two books of Maccabees.          All which the Church
Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice    may read and take instruction from, so far as they
of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly          agree with the canonical books; but they are far from
unto writing; which maketh the holy Scripture to be
most necessary; those former ways of God's revealing          having such power and efficacy as  ,that we may from
his will unto his people being now ceased.                    their testimony confirm any point of faith or of the
                                                              Christian religion: much less to detract from the
   "II. Under the name of holy Scripture, or the Word         authority of the other sacred books."
of God written, are now contained all the Books of the Old
and New Testament, which are these:. Of the Old                  From these statements of the various confessions
Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deu-          it appears that Protestants hold: (1) That thescriptures
teronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I Samuel, II Samuel,          of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God,
I Kings, II Kings, I Chronicles, II Chronicles, Ezra,         written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and are
Nehemiah,    `Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs,  Eccle-          therefore infallible, and of divine authority in all things
siastes, The Song of Songs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamenta-        pertaining to- faith and practice, and consequently free
tions, Ezekiel, Daniel,  Hosea,  Joel, Amos, Obadiah,         from all error whether of doctrine, fact, or precept.
Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai,             (2) That they contain all the extant supernatural revela-
Zechariah, Malachi; Of the New Testament: the Gospels         tions of  God designed to be a rule of faith and practice
according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, The Acts              to his Church. (3) That they are sufficiently perspicuous
of. the Apostles, Paul's Epistles to the Romans, Corin-       to be understood by the people, in the use of ordinary
thians I, Corinthians II, Galatians, Ephesians, Phil-         means and by the aid of the Holy Spirit, in all things
ippians, Colossians, Thessalonians I, Thessalonians II,       necessary to faith or practice, without the need of any
To Timothy I, To Timothy II, To Titus, To Philemon, The       infallible interpreter. The Bible itself is quite  suffi-


     38                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

     cient to be our guide in -life, and the doctrine of the            What books are entitled to a place in the canon
I    infallibility of a      Romish pope is surely wholly           of Scripture? Of interest is what we read in the New
     unnecessary.                                                   Schaff-Herzog Religious Encyclopedia (Vol. II, 390-391),
           The expression, "Canon of Scripture," is a term          and we quote: "Philo  had the same canon as ours (cf.`
     that designates the books of the Bible accepted as             C. Siegfried,  ,Philo,  p. 161, Jena,  1875),  and quotes
     authoritative.      The word, "Canon," means primarily         from almost -all the books; while from the Apocrypha
     .a straight staff or line, then a measuring-rod, and,          he makes no excerpts or citation, not giving it the honor
I    figuratively, that which is ethically a guide or model.        he accords to Plato, Hippocrates, and several other
     According to the earliest Christian use, the canon             Greek writers.        The New Testament contains quo-
     was a leading thought, a normal principle.             The     tations principally from the Pentateuch, Prophets,
     Scriptures        are designated a "canon" because they        and Psalms, as might be conjectured from its scope,
     are the only infallible rule of faith and life. This is        but recognizes the threefold division of the canon(Luke
     supported by passages such as Gal.  4:16 and Phil.             24:44). In this verse "The Psalms" does not stand for
     3:16. Gal.  4:16 reads: "Am I therefore become your            the entire Hagiographa; for our Lord meant to em-
     enemy, because I tell you the truth?" Notice that the          phasize the fact that the Psalms spoke  ofhim. The use
     apostle here writes to the Galatians that he had told          of the phrase "the Law and the Prophets" (Mart.
     them the truth. And in Phil.  3:16we read; "Neverthe-          5:17; Acts  28:23) does not imply a division into two
     less, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by         parts. The Syrians used the same expression for the
     the same rule, let us mind the same thing.,' Here the          whole Old Testament. The absence of quotation in the
     apostle speaks of a rule, and in the verse that follows he     New Testament of any Old Testament book argues
     exhorts the church to be followers together of him.            nothing against its canonicity.          The use by the New
           The first question which asserts itself is: What         Testament of Apocrypha or Pseudepigrapha has no
     books are entitled to a place in the canon or rule of faith    bearing on the canonical status of the books used or
     and practice? Rome answers the question by saying              cited.     Josephus  bears the strongest testimony for
     that all those books constitute the canon of Scripture         the canon, and, as is evident, expresses the national
     which the Church has decided to be divine in their             and not his private opinion. And, further, the books
     origin, and none other is to be thus received. And, of         mentioned are not mere. literature, but a sacred,
     course, the Church here is the Romish Church. Protes-          divine collection.      He enumerates twenty-two books;
     tants declare that as far as the Old Testament is con-         thus, 1. The  ~five books of the Law; 2. The thirteen
     cerned, that only those books are to be regarded and           Prophets, counting the twelve minor Prophets as one
     recognized as the Word of God which Christ and the             book, and Lamentations with Jeremiah; 3. The four Hag-
     Apostles recognized as the written Word of God, and            iographa  - Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Can-
     only those books are to be regarded as canonical;              ticles. But this arrangement is not to be looked upon as
     Rome includes also the apocryphal books as belonging           either old or correct." From this quotation it appears
     to the canon; we maintain only thirty-nine books of the        that  Philo of Alexandria quotes from almost all the
     Old Testament as canonical. The Old Testament canon            books; from the Apocrypha he makes no excerpts or ci-
     or Old Testament was closed somewhere between                  tations, not giving it the honour he accords to Plato, Hip-
     400 and 100 B.C.                                               pocrates, and several other Greek writers. Josephus,
           Now it is an undeniable fact that at the time of our     a noted Jewish historian,  -writes  as follows: "For
     Saviour's sojourn  ar-nong  us and His public ministry         we have not tens of thousands of books, discordant and
     there was already in existence the volume of a Book            conflicting, but only twenty-two;containing the record
     that was accepted by the Church of the Old Dispensation        of all time, which have been justly believed to be
     as the inspired Word of God. This volume, as we def-           Divine.     And of these five are the books of Moses,
     initely know, consisted of the same books that are             which embrace the laws and the tradition of the
     now contained in our Old Testament. These Old Tes-             creation of man- reaching up to his (Moses') death.
     tament books are designated in our New Testament               Next the prophets who succeeded compiled the history
     as the Scripture. We read in John  10:35: "If he called        of the period from Moses to the reign of Artaxerxes,
     them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and                 the successor of Xerxes, king of Persia in thirteen
     the scripture cannot be broken..." Romans  1:2 reads:          books, relating severally what was done in their times.
     "(Which he had promised  afore by his prophets in the          The remaining four books embrace hymns to God and
     holy scriptures).' ' In Matthew 22~29 we read: "Jesus          practical directions      for    men.      From the time of
     answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing            Artaxerxes to our own time each event has been
     the scriptures, nor the power of God." In Matthew              recorded; but the records have not been deemed worthy
     5:17 we read: "Think not that I am come to destroy             of the same. &edit- of -those of earlier date, because of
     the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy,             exact succession of the prophets was not continued. But
     but to fulfill."      And in II Tim.  3:15 we read: "And       what faith we have placed in our own writings we have
     that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures,         shown by our conduct; for though so long a time is now
     which are able to make thee wise unto, salvation               passed, no. one has dared either to add anything to them,
     through faith which is in Christ Jesus." To these              or to take anything from them, or to alter anything. But
     passages, we understand, more can easily  .be added.           the Jews are instinctively led from the moment of their
     They surely prove that the New Testament designated            birth to regard them as decrees of God, and to abide
     the Old Testament Scriptures as the Word of God.               by them, and, if  ne.ed be, gladly die for them."


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          39



                                             ~ph!i?AdW
                                                          Rev.  H.  Hank0

Infallible in Every  Pati
    When the discussion concerning the infallibility of             be impossible to demonstrate that they wrote any thing by
Scripture troubled several denominations a few years                inspiration.
ago, a great amount of the discussion centered on the
question of whether Scripture was infallibly and ver-               EFFORTS TO BE RELEVANT
bally inspired in all its parts, or whether Scripture                  The church of today is very concerned about its
was inspired only as to its central idea. Those who                 obligations to be "relevant."              By this is usually
maintained the latter insisted that although the main               meant that the  `ggospel" which it preaches must be
ideas of Scripture were surely inspired. infallibly,                applied specifically to the problems of the 20thCentury.
nevertheless one would not be surprised to find errors              All the old forms of the gospel, all the out-dated aspects
in God's Word with respect to some of the  minorde-                 of the gospel have to be discarded so that the church
tails.    Thus, e.g., there would likely be errors in               can speak "to the modern man." Usually, this implies
grammar, errors in historical details, errors of scien-             that the gospel is stripped entirely of its theological
tific fact, etc.     And indeed, these errors could be              content, the Bible is renounced as being worn out and
pointed out. This idea was supposed to be some new                  irrelevant, at least in its literal form, and the con-
insight into the doctrine' of infallibility, and it  was.           fessions  -are discarded as dusty expressions of a
often accepted as being the true doctrine of the in-                church of bygone years that have no application to the
spiration of Scripture.                                             church of today. In its haste to be relevant, the church
    Reading recently from a book entitled "Evidence                 loses the truth of God's Word, denies that the Bible
of Christianity," undersigned found a paragraph where               is the Word of God, and destroys the distinctive
this problem was discussed.           Strikingly, this book         characteristics of the Church of Jesus Christ.             All
was written over  106 years ago, in 1836 to be exact,               kinds of modern innovations are introduced whichmake
by a Prof. Archibald Alexander. The author was for                  the church anything but the gathering of believers and
many years a professor of theology in Princeton Theo-               their seed and the gospel anything but the means of
logical Seminary. This was the seminarywhich trained                grace.
ministers of the Presbyterian Church, which over the                   Two startling examples of this have recently come to
years had become thoroughly modern, and from which                  my attention.
J. Gresham  Machen split away on the question of                       The first example  .concerns the Episcopal Church.
modernism in the early 1940s.             But in the days of        A Rev. Charles F. Greene was appointed by the National
Prof. Alexander,' the seminary was still a bulwark of               Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church to conduct
Calvinism.                                                          a  new. experiment in an eight county area in central
    While we would probably state the matter in stronger            South Dakota.      The main idea of this program is to
terms today, nevertheless the author of this quotation              abandon completely church services on Sunday in church
is right to the point in condemning any such tampering              buildings, and substitute weekday gatherings in private
with the doctrine of infallibility on such a vital question.        homes.. In explanation and justification of this project,
    He writes:                                                      Rev. Greene said,
   ,5&e, who do not deny the inspiration of the sacred wri-
ters, in general, have thought itnecessarytomake concessions           The church must speak the language of today. We are trying
on this subject which are not called for from the nature of the     to minister to people who don't want to go to church, who
case, and have thus involved the cause which they defend in         are bored with sermons and who like to travel on weekends.
real difficulties. They have granted that, while, in all matters    The parish type congregations are still needed, but not for
of real importance, the penmen of the Scriptures were               the majority of people. This is the space age and the church
guided by a plenary inspiration, they were left to their own        is still using horse and buggy methods.
unassisted powers in trivial matters, and the relation of               The church also will be able in this way to provide
unimportant circumstances; and in such matters have, there-         more extensive services to people.              It hopes to be
fore, fallen into mistakes in regard to trivial circumstances.      able to  .make help available for medical, psychological
No evil or inconvenience would result from this hypotheaisi
if the line could be definitely drawn between the parts of the      and legal needs as well as spiritual needs.
book written by inspiration  and those in which the writers
were left to themselves. But as no human wisdom is suffi-               The other  examnle  is a new experiment tried out
cient to draw this line, the effect of this opinion is to intro-    recently by the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
duce uncertainty a@ doubt in a matter concerning which as-          This concerns religious commercials on the  r,adio,
surance is of the utmost importance. And it is in itself an         and presently to be adapted  to- TV. They are not an
improbable supposition, that the Spirit of God should infalli-      attempt  to- promote any one particular denomination,
bly guide a writer in some parts of his discourse, and forsake      but rather intended to do missionary  Work on the
him .in other parts.    If we find a witness mistaken in some
particulars, it weakens our confidence in his general testi-        broader level of stirring up interest among people in
mony. And could it be shown that' the evangelists- had fallen       religion in general.       A sample commercial, quoted
into' p$z@le mistakes in facts of minor importance, it would        from  Chvistiunity  Today  follows:


4 0                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER

        First voice: Look, I'm quite self-sufficient . . . I made        Ages, all the ruling authority of the church was gradually
  myself what I am, thank you.
        Second voice: But don't you think all of us, occasionally,       centered in the pope.        This has continued until the
  could use a little divine . . . uh . . .                               present;      But the council has now decided to give the
        First voice:  (Ahem)  Gee, I've got to run . . . here's my       rest of the clerical hierarchy a share of this rule so'
  card anyhow . . . I'm a vice-president now . . .                       that bishops will exercise authority with  thepope. This
        Second voice: Well good . . .                                    does not mean that the pope as the successor of Peter
        First voice: Yes indeed.
        Second voice: But your name . . . it's just penciled in here.    is no longer the infallible voice of Christ; he still
        First voice: (Ahem) Well, there's a big turnover in per-         claims this distinction; and the church still concurs.
  sonnel. You know how it is.                                            But it does mean that the bishops are the successors
        Second voice: Uh-huh. Well, that's just about how it is in       of the apostles, and therefore, with the pope, also speak
  life, isn't it?
        First voice: Pardon?                                             infallibly. Just how this will alter the ruling structure
        Second voice: We're all just penciled in.                        of the Church has not yet been made clear, but already
                                Music:                                   it is conceded that the bishops will havemore  authority
        "Where'd you get the idea                                        to decide on problems on their own without having first
        You-could make it all by yourself?                               to consult the Vatican for approval.
        Doesn't it get a little lonely, sometimes,
        Out on that limb . . . without Him?                                 Two matters that are still up for discussion, but
        It's a great life, but it could be greater-                      stand pretty good chances of passage are:
        Why try and go it alone?                                            The matter of freedom of religion. Roman Catho-
        The blessings you lose may be your own."                         lics in the Roman Curia at the Vatican as well as
       And this is supposed to be the preaching of the gospel            Catholics in Spain, Columbia, and other countries where
that gathers the Church? It is rather blasphemy that                     the Church is strong are dead against this schemata.
is not only a perversion of the true religion, but mocks                 But the reformers within the Church especially from
with things most holy and sacred.                                        the U.S. are all for it.  Theidea  is to give everyone the
                                                                         right in the eyes of the church to believe what he
THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL                                               wants to. Atheism, heathenism, Mohammedanism, Pro-
       The third session of the Second Vatican Council                   testantism in all its many shades, all will have
began last month in Rome. There will be many news                        equal rights now. This has not been the traditional stand
reports about this session in many daily newspapers                      of the Romish Church.         Long has the church main-
and church journals; and the  Standard   Beaver   will                   tained that there is no salvation outside Roman Cathol-
carry another complete evaluation of the Council by                      icism, that  -no one has the right to believe and confess
Rev. Van  Baren  in future issues; but we want briefly                   anything else but the Romish religion. But it is the
to  point  out some major developments.                                  spirit of our tolerant times; and the Romish Church
       The first two sessions were pretty disappointing in               is about to go along.        The result will be that every
the eyes of all those who care about "renewal" in                        kind of religion under the sun will have its "liberties"
the Romish Church. This was because `the council met                     except the true religion - the true worship of God which
during both sessions for several weeks, engaged in                       will always be hated, despised and persecuted.
extensive debates, but did nothing concrete except pass a                   Secondly there is the matter of the Jews. The.
decision that the liturgy in the Romish Church could                     Romish Church has lately been accused of  anti-semi-
be read in the vernacular instead of the Latin.                          tism.       This was especially true, it is said, of Pope
       There is more hope for this session- which is                     Pius XII who was accused of giving at least partial
predicted to be the last of the Second Vatican Council.                  support to Hitler in his massacre  of.the  Jews. At the
Those who are supposed to know claim that many                           last session, a schemata was presented (although not
things will be accomplished, and in a record time.                       voted on) which condemned all antisemitism and even
These hopes are based upon a general streamlining of                     exonerated the Jews from blame in killing Christ. This
all council activities.             For one thing, all delegates         type of thing made the churches in the Middle East
must submit their speeches five days in advance so                       furious, for these churches hate Israeli with  apassion-
that all repetition can be weeded out. Secondly, six                     ate and undying hatred. A new schemata on the same
schemata (papers defining the desired changes and put                    subject has now been presented which is considerably
to the vote) will simply be submitted to the council                     toned down.       It still warns against calling the Jews
on a take-it-or-leave-it basis  - be put to a vote at                    an accursed people and acknowledges that Christianity
the council without discussion. Thirdly, although there                  has its roots in the religion of the Jews; but it does
were originally 71 schemata submitted to the council at                  not condemn those who speak of the Jews as those who
its first session, these have been pared down to nine.                   killed Christ the Son of God. Further, it expresses
Fourthly, the cardinals who chair the meetings are                       a desire for the conversion of the Jews to Christianity.
exercising more power  - keeping the delegates in for                    This has now made the Jews furious, and they are
longer sessions, taking away the coffee pots from sur-                   protesting vehemently against the adoption of such a
rounding rooms, keeping members down to lo-minute                        decision.      So the Council is, politically, on the spot.
speeches, and cutting the prelates off when s p e e c h e s                 I am sure that Luther would still have some very
begin to wander into the thickets of irrelevancies.                      choice remarks to make about the Romish Church
       One matter already passed is a schemata that gives                and all its efforts to reform. And he would insist as
a share of the authority of the church to the bishops.                   loudly today as he did then about the need of the Reforma-
As the papacy developed in power during the Middle                       tion.


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          41


                                    7e &d f& %dp
                                    ("0 worship the Lord iri. the beauty of holi&ss." Ps. 96:9a)

                                                 THE BAPTISMAL VOW
                                                      Rev.  6.  VandenBevg

   Much has been written about the formulation,                       there is a fundamental and essential agreement between
meaning, and interpretation of the three questions that               the doctrines of Scripture, those of the articles of the
are asked and answered in connection with the baptism                 Christian faith and the teachings of the church. These
of children in Reformed churches.          Throughout the             three agree in one. This is essential, for without this
years they have been storm-centers of debate. Even                    unity it is impossible to make profession of faith without
today there is no unanimity of opinion concerning the                 violating intellectual and spiritual honesty.
precise meaning of some of the phrases.                                    In the second place, the essential unity of the Old
   In our last article we considered the first of these               and New Testament is confessed. The Scriptures are
questions, in which the parents are asked to acknowledge              one. The revelation of God, as the God of our salvation,
the covenantal relationship between the Lord and their                as unveiled through the ages, is a complete revelation
children as the ground for baptism. Confessionis made                 of the one work of God which He realizes in Christ
that the child is conceived and born in sin. Yet the                  according to the sovereign good pleasure of His will.
parents affirm that he is also "sanctified in Christ."                All the truths of both the Old and New Testament have
Infant baptism does not rest on the whims or sentiments               relevancy when understood in the light of the central
of men, but on the covenant relation which God es-                    plan and purpose of God with all things.
tablishes and maintains between Himself and His people                     Thirdly, although the expression "articles of the
in Christ.                                                            Christian faith" undoubtedly refers to the Apostolic
   In the second question of baptism the parents are                  Confession, parents are asked here to subscribe to
asked before the whole church to make confession of                   a specific interpretation of the articles of this creed.
their-faith. On the surface this request might `seem to               The creed itself, containing twelve articles of faith, is
be redundant since only believing parents are permitted               very general. So general is it, in fact, that it has often
to present their children in baptism and believing parents            been proposed that all other creeds be discarded and the
are those who already have confessed their faith before               entire Christian Church unite on the basis of this
the church. However, this redundancy is obliterated                   confession.          After all, Roman Catholics, Baptists,
when we remember that the Word and Sacraments are                     Methodists, Presbyterians, Reformed, etc. all profess
inseparable, and it is in this confession of the parents              to subscribe to the articles of the Apostolic Creed.
that these two are beautifully blended. Moreover, in                  However, the fact is that among the various denom-
connection with the celebration of the Lord's Supper the              inations there are again as many varying interpreta-
whole congregation is called upon to make confession of               tions of this creed. There is no essential unity at all;
faith, and this is most proper. In fact, in a sense the               and, therefore, when parents answer this second
very celebration of the sacraments by the church is a                 question, it is not agreement with a general creed that
confession of her faith and there is nothing improper                 they express; but rather it must be a confession of agree-
about expressing this in aspecificform. It appears that               ment with the specific interpretation of these articles
the criticism of redundancy here stems from the mis-                  in the church where the baptism takes place that
taken idea that confession of faith is a momentary act                is made.
which is performed generally by young people and on a                      Fourthly, this is in accord with the expressed
very special occasion. This notion must be eradicated                 agreement with the  dockines  that  ave  taught  here in
from our thinking and substituted with the truth that con-            this  Christian   church.  This statement has been a real
fession of faith is a constant, life-long expression and              bone of contention and given occasion often to disputes
practice. It is not with the mouth alone that confession              and debates in the church. The Arminians, when having
is made, but our daily walk of life is a perpetual witness            their children, baptised in Reformed Churches, had
and testimony of the doctrines we believe. Unavoidably                difficulty with it and naturally objected to the formu-
our concept of the Word of God is reflected in the                    lation as it appears in our Baptism Form. They
things we say and do. On the occasion of the baptism of               preferred to change this to read: "the doctrines
our children, the parents are simply asked to reaffirm                taught in the Christian church".          Others prefer to
this confession before the church when the question is                interpret it to refer to the Reformed faith in general,
put to them: "Do you acknowledge the doctrine which                   without defining specifically the content of that faith.
is contained in the Old and New Testament, and in the                 Not so many years ago there were those who were
articles of the Christian faith, and which is taught here             members of the Protestant Reformed Churches, but
in this Christian Church, to be the true and perfect                  who in heart were in agreement with the doctrine
(volkomene ..complete)  doctrine of salvation?"                       of the Liberated Churches and, consequently, refused
   A few observations are to be made concerning the                   to answer this question when they were to have their
content of this question. In the first place, it is to be             children baptized. Of course, such refusal to answer
noted that the parents here are asked to express that                 the question makes it impossible for them to have their


42                                             THE STANDARD BEARER

children baptized; but it nevertheless is to be noted         more fully the things of God's revelation.         Rather,
that such honest refusal is to be more highly commended       as indicated by. the footnote where the Dutch word
than the practice of using the sacrament under false          `volkom  ene . . .complete' is found, it means that the
pretenses.      Naturally, however, if a person cannot        doctrines set forth completely and correctly convey
use the sacraments in a given church because he `cannot       the truth of salvation. There is nothing deficient or
agree with the doctrines taught in that church, his           lacking here. Moreover, this confession also implies
membership therein is also jeopardized; and unless            the admission that `doctrine' is not simply the  intel-
he is willing to be further instructed so that either he      lectual formulation of various opinions, but it is the way
may be convinced or he may show the church her                of life. It is not an abstract collection of ideas but it
doctrinal error, he has but one recourse. He must             very realistically prescribes the way of salvation.  Con-
seek affiliation with a church with which he is in            sequently,  confessing  the doctrine of the church is not
agreement doctrinally. There he can have his children         the same as expressing intellectual agreement with a
baptized in harmony with his conviction. And we must          certain thing. It necessarily implies this, but  confession
never loose sight of the fact that the Baptism Form           is more. To confess is to believe, and believing means
itseif requires that, as parents, we give answer to           that with all our heart we embrace these doctrines
these questions sincerely. In administering the  sac-         as the way of life. In them we desire to be instructed
raments, therefore, emphasis must be placed upon              under the preaching of the Word so that we may through
the phrase "here in this Christian church"; and in the        the grace of God more and more bring our lives, in
Protestant Reformed Churches this means that we               every sphere in conformity with the truth. i
subscribe to and express agreement with the doctrines
of Scripture and the Confessions as taught in the  Protes-       And this brings us to our final  .consideration of
tant Reformed Churches. On this point there may be            this second question, which has to do with its relation
left no room for misunderstanding.                            to the question that follows. It is not at all difficult
      To delineate and define these doctrines does not        to see that these two questions are related. The
belong to our rubric.         We may state in passing,        former serves as preparatory to and the basis for the
however, that our Three Forms of Unity are explicit           latter. First we are called upon to express our  agree-
in this respect; and on those controversial points  con-      ment with the doctrines taught in this Christian Church
cerning which differences have arisen regarding  inter-       and then we are asked to promise to instruct our
pretations of these Confessions, we may refer our             children in those doctrines to the utmost of our power.
readers to the Declaration of Principles adopted              Since we believe that these doctrines prescribe the way
some fourteen years ago by our Synod as a basis for the       of life and salvation, and apart from this way there is
organization of Protestant Reformed Churches.                 nothing but death and desolation, we, in our confession
                                                      And
we might add that subscribing to the doctrines of             before the church, not only acknowledge our desire to
the Protestant Reformed Churches does not force one           walk in accord with those doctrines and in this way
into a negative position. When one asks the question:         enjoy the blessings of life; but it follows as a natural
"What do the Protestant Reformed Churches believe?"           and logical sequence that we desire the same for our
we should not answer this by saying: "These churches          children, the children that we present in baptism.
deny common grace.*' Though this answer is true, it is           Consequently it follows that if one is unable to answer
not complete and it lacks a positive approach. Rather         the second question affirmatively, he is also unable to
let us point out that we believe in the absolute  sov-        answer the last question. One cannot possibly intend
ereignty of God as applied to all things, but  partic-        to instruct his children according to doctrines he  him-
ularly to the truth of predestination and, implicit           self does not believe. This they will not do either; and
therein, the doctrine of the covenant. And this last          so, before the, vow of baptism is applied directly in
mentioned doctrine is of primary importance, not only         the final question to the baptism of the children,
because of its distinctive character as promulgated in        emphasis must be placed upon that second question.
the Protestant Reformed Churches, but because of its          And unless it is fully agreed, parents, that this is the
paramount significance as related to the baptism of our       doctrine and this is the way of life, let us proceed no
children.                                                     further. Only when we understand this are we prepared
      Finally, parents confess that this is "the true and     to face, assume, and carry out the very serious
perfect doctrine of salvation." This does not mean or         responsibilities that are ours in the baptism of our
imply that "perfectionism" in doctrine has been attained      children,    These, D. V., we will begin to discuss in
by- the church.       Such an implication would stifle        connection with the final question of the Baptism;
all incentive on the part of the church to search out         Form in the next issue.

                 ATTENTION ALL MEN                                              LEAGUE MEETING
      `The League of Men's Societies from our churches
will hold their Fall membership meeting, Monday               The Eastern Ladies League will hold its Fall meeting
evening, October 26, 1964, at 8:00 P.M., in the Hudson-       on Thursday evening, October 22, at 8:00 p.m. at First
ville Protestant Reformed Church. Rev. George Lubbers         Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids.
will speak.      Special numbers have been arranged.             Our speaker will be the Rev. G. Lanting.
We encourage all men to turn out for this evening                We invite all our ladies to meet with us and enjoy
of Christian fellowship.                                      an evening of Christian edification and fellowship.


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        43

                                7ke  Am!  +w43  7463  %,ta!  #'  H .
                     THE EVANGELICAL APPROACH ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES
                                                      Rev.  C.  Hank0
   The proper evangelical approach in missions must             woman belongs to God, even as He has implanted the
certainly be based upon the Scriptures. God Himself                  new life from above in her heart.
must lead the way if we are ever to preach the Gospel                   Moreover, God makes separation between the seed
to the ends of the earth as His ambassadors and in a                 of the woman and the seed of the serpent. Obviously,
manner that is pleasing to Him. In fact, we must be                  Eve will have children. These will all be conceived
sure that God is preaching His Word, carrying out                    and born in sin, and therefore children of wrath, even
His purpose unto the gathering of His Church and the            children of Satan, according to the curse that has
coming of His kingdom through us. "He who is not for            been carried out upon them through the fall of their
me is against me," is the Word of Christ that applies           first parents. Yet God reveals that He has His elect
also in this case.        Therefore a careful study of the           children, who will be born in the line of generations,
most prominent passages of Scripture that deal with                  according to His eternal covenant in Christ. In fact,
this particular subject must prove beneficial to us.                 Christ is The Seed, the Firstborn among many brethren,
In this article I intend to discuss the preaching of the             and His coming is announced in this great promise.
Gospel in the world before the flood, and in later articles          God speaks of election, that eternal and sovereign
to discuss the preaching of the Gospel beyond the cove-         decree of God to lead the church as the body of Christ,
nant sphere in the old dispensation and the spread of           with all its individual members, each in his own posi-
the Gospel in the new.                                          tion, to eternal salvation and glory.          But God also
   Our attention is directed therefore, first of all, to             speaks of reprobation, that eternal and sovereign decree
the call that came to Adam immediately after the fall.          of God to determine some men to be vessels of wrath
In Genesis  3:8,9 we read: "And they (Adam and Eve)             fitted unto destruction in the way of sin, as mani-
`heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden          festations of His justice, and to serve the purpose of
in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid them-         the realization of His elect church. And this election
selves from the presence of the Lord God amongst                and reprobation will clearly run through the generations
the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto           of Adam's children.
Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?"                               The lines already are sharply drawn. God puts
   Here we take note of the fact that God calls Adam            enmity.        On the one hand, the devil will continue to
and Eve. He calls them to account and to repentance.            defy and oppose the living God. He will unite all his
Obviously this call was preceded by or maybe even               forces, even the carnal seed born of Adam and Eve,
accompanied with the work of regeneration. Adam and             to destroy the Christ. In order to do so, he will put
Eve, we may assume, were regenerated, so that they              forth every effort to prevent Him from being born by
also became deeply aware of their sin that made them            attacking the church of the old dispensation. In the
guilty in the sight of God. The call into the presence          fulness of time he will direct a full attack upon the
of God caused them to flee in terror and to hide them-          Son of Man. He will lift his head to strike the heel of
selves.    But this call also brought them in humble            the woman's Seed with a deadly sting; yet in doing so
contrition to God.        The drawing power of the Word         be brings down upon his vile head the full crushing
brought repentance unto forgiveness and salvation.              power of that heel in divine justice. When the devil
   In this connection we certainly cannot ignore the            succeeds in nailing Christ to the cross,  .because Christ
important promise that was given to our first parents           has given Himself into the hands of wicked men, the
as recorded in Gen.  3:15.. We read: "And I will put            power of Satan is broken forever. His right to reign
enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed         is taken from him. His death sentence is pronounced
and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt          upon him, to be executed in the final judgment. Even
bruise his heel."                                               all his host is condemned with him into everlasting
   This is often referred to as the protevangel, the first      torment by the righteous judgment of God Who main-
evangel, or the mother promise, from which all succeed-         tains His Name and His. cause upon the earth. Ul-
ing promises must follow. It is the first announcement          timately the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom
of the coming of the Savior, and therefore is the begin-        of God and His Christ forever. The church is saved
ning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as proclaimed in a           through judgment, as was already promised in paradise.
world of sin and death.                                        .-       We turn next to Genesis  4:ll and 12, where God
   We notice that God is addressing the serpent, and            says to Cain, "And now art thou cursedfrom the earth,
through the serpent is speaking to the devil who be-            which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's
guiled Adam and Eve into sin.                                   blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground it
   God immediately makes separation between the wo-             shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a
man and the serpent.         That bond of friendship that       fugitive Andy a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth."
has been established between Satan and the woman is                     The lines once more are sharply drawn. Cain has
broken. God claims His own on the basis of His eternal          killed his brother Abel in cold blood. Even worse,
love and sovereign election in Christ Jesus.           The      the seed of the serpent has made its attack upon the


44                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER

seed of the woman to prevent the coming of the Christ.          For three hundred years be proclaimed God's holy
But God maintains the cause of His people.  He,pro-             indignation against sin and the judgment that must
nounces  His curse upon Cain, so that Cain is  .driven          follow. -His own life was an example of godliness, for
from the presence of the Lord as fugitive. Today we             he walked with God.        And his message to the world
would say that God had excommunicated him from the              round about him was a constant testimony against
church.          And God's curse follows him wherever he        their ungodly walk and conversation. He declared in
goes, even in his generations.                                  no uncertain terms that God would visit them with His
      This Word of the Lord to Cain only serves to harden       just judgment and deliver His church from such un-
him in his sin.         He casts off all further pretense of    godliness.      And his departure was a seal upon his
religion to live in open defiance of God. We are re-            witness.      For the wicked hated him and may even have
minded of that repeated indictment in the Book of               attempted to silence his witness by killing him. But
Revelation against the  iwicked at the end of the ages,         he was not found, because God translated him that he
while God's judgments are being poured out upon the             should not see death. Heb.  11:5.
earth in an ever-increasing measure: "and they re-                 Finally, I must refer to II Peter  2:5, where Noah
pented not to give God the glory."                              is called a preacher of righteousness. Noah preached
      Actually this is the last time that God spoke to          both in word and deed, and the theme of his preaching
Cain. The covenant line continues in Seth to Enoch and          was always the righteousness of God.
to Noah, for God gathers His people in the line of the             We should remember that the world had become very
generations of believers.                                       wicked in a comparatively short time. It was some
      In this connection we must also refer to Jude 14,         sixteen hundred years since paradise. It was about
where we are told, "And Enoch also, the seventh from            five hundred years since Enoch had spoken of the
Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord             pending judgment of God.        By this time there were
cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute             possibly millions of people upon the earth. Cain's
judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly         descendants were the giants of their age, men of power
among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have           and progress, of skill and ingenuity, which had also
ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches               developed in wickedness. They had attracted the carnal
which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."                 seed that had been born in the line of the generations
      This is the Word of the Lord by the mouth of Enoch        of Seth, and drawn them away from the church. The
addressed to Cain's wicked descendants. To all out-             church was becoming increasingly small in number,
ward appearances Cain had not fared too badly in his            especially because God was purging it within and at the
defiance against God. God continued to bestow on him            same time was taking his saints to glory in preparation
his life and his breath, gave him children, made it             for the judgment that was soon to be poured out upon
possible for him to build a city, and caused that city          the-earth. The last days of the first world compare in
to prosper.         In that city could be found the wealthy     many ways to the days preceding the final coming of
cattle grazers, the skilled mechanics who could improve         the Son of man. Matthew 24: 37-39. We are reminded
living conditions with their products of iron and brass,        that "every imagination of the thoughts of his (man's)
and also the artists who could entertain with their             heart is only evil continuously, and that therefore all
musical instruments, loudly extolling their vile lusts          flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth, and the
and proud wickedness even into the wee hours of the             earth was corrupt and filled with violence."
morning, as premier of the present day Hollywood en-               In that world Noah represented the church of God,
tertainments. There was Lamech who in his "sword                as well as the Name of God upon the earth. By this time
song" to his passionate wives defied God to bring the           the world of wickedness was more than confident that
same curse upon him that was once pronounced upon               the judgment announced by Enoch would never come.
father Cain.                                                    And the church longed and prayed intensely for the
      Enoch was called to preach the Gospel to this             fulfillment of the promise, that she might be delivered
first world that was rapidly ripening for judgment.             through judgment. At exactly such a time God warned

                    WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                               IN MEMORIAM
                                                                On August 31, 1964 it pleased our heavenly Father to
On October 30, 1964 our beloved parents
            _                                                   suddenly take unto Himself our Father and Grandfather,
                                                                                  WILLIAM JANSMA, SR.
       MR.,yD  MRS. ADRIAN A VAN MEETEREN                       at the age of 61 years.       We mourn his loss but are
                                                                comforted with the thought that the Lord has delivered
will, the Lord willing, celebrate their 35th wedding            him from his afflictions, and that he now has the
anniversary.        We, their children, are grateful to God     complete victory over sin, through Jesus Christ our
for the privileges and blessings of His covenant grace          Lord.
in which they and we have shared through the years                                   Mr. and Mrs. Tunis Jansma
and for the assurance given us for the future.                                       Mr. and Mrs. James De Boer
            Their children:                                                          Mr. and Mrs. Peter J. De Boer
                     Mr. and Mrs. Charles Van Meeteren                               Mr. and Mrs. William Jansma, Jr.
                     Mr. and Mrs. John Feenstra                                      Mr. and Mrs. Barteld Jansma
                           6 grandchildren                                                 15 grandchildren


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        45

 Noah of the flood- that was about to come and instructed       sense of the term in our day, but no one can deny that
 him to build the ark to the saving of his house. Heb. 11:7.    it was God's method of proclaiming the glad tidings of
     For one hundred and twenty years the Lord waited,          salvation in the midst of an evil world. Rather than
 while Noah built and preached. This man of God  spoke          criticize it, we do well to take note of it.
 of sin, of God's righteous anger against sin, and of  the         Secondly, this Gospel preaching was not a mere
 judgment that must come upon the world because of              assertion of God's love for all men and of His desire
 their wickedness. His very building of the ark was a           to save- all men, but it openly exposed and condemned
 testimony that the flood would certainly come, and only        sin.      It spoke of righteousness and judgment, of salva-
 those within the ark would escape the terrible devasta-        tion only through faith in the promised Christ. This
 tion of God's righteous judgment. But his preaching            Gospel brought repentance and salvation to the hearts
 also witnessed of his faiththat God would surely remem-        of our first parents, and also to their covenant seed,
 ber His covenant and save His people through the waters        as God gathered His church in the line of the generations
 of judgment.      As we read in Hebrews 11, "Noah. . .         of believers.
 prepared the ark for the saving of his house; by which                 Finally, we do not read of any positive fruit of
 he condemned the world, and became heir of the right-          conversion, or of gathering into the church from those
 eousness which was by faith."                                  who were without. Yet that does not mean that there
     From all these passages we can draw some definite          was no positive fruit upon that preaching. The lines
 conclusions.                                                   of demarcation between the church and the world were
     First of all, there was Gospel preaching before the        sharply drawn, the believers were strengthened in their
 flood, also to those outside of the church. This may           faith, while the ungodliness of wicked men was exposed
 not be "mission endeavor" according to the accepted            and condemned, so that they stand forever without excuse.

                                      7ke s&i3 q 04m y&
                                             THE  BELGIC CONFESSION
                                               Article  XIII (continued)
                                              Professor  H.  C,  Hoeksema
 God's Providence  as PYesevvation                              Word of. God in each creature constitutes the substance
                                                                of that creature, so that all creation is a Word of God,
    God's preservation is that aspect of His provi-             and just as that omnipotent Word which God spoke at
 dence according to which God by His omnipresent power          the beginning has no existence and no power apart from
 upholds all things, so that they continue to exist.            Him, so God continues to speak the Word that causes
    This, so we maintained in our previous article,             `each creature to be.         And through that Word of His
 means that the immanent-transcendent God upholds all           power the Being of God so touches the substance of all
 things.     We saw that the truths of God's immanence
 and His transcendence lie at the basis of the truth            creatures, and of each creature according to its  in-
 that God upholds all things by the Word of His power.          created nature, that all creatures together, and each in-
    We are now ready to discuss that upholding power            dividually and in its own place, continue to be. That the
 as such.                                                       Being of God touches the being of every creature .exactly
    In the first place, we must be careful not to               in such a way that the Being of God remains distinct
                                                                from the being of the creature is because the God
 separate between God and His power. God and His
 attributes are one:     God                                    of Providence is the Transcendent One.              And yet
                                 is  His attributes. When,      as the Immanent One, God with all His infinite Being
 therefore, we -speak of the power of God, we are               is in all things.
 speaking of God Himself. Emphatically it is God Him-                                    Not physically and materially are
                                                                we to conceive of this immense and immanent God,
 self, not merely a certain abstract power of God, that
 upholds all things.     God upholds all things by the          as though God is so great and so expansive that
                                                                He fills all things, so that a part of Him, so to speak,
 Word of His power.                                             touches every creature in the world. But God Himself,
    In the second place, this means that God literally
 holds all things in His almighty hand.         This is the     the "whole" infinite God, is in all things, upholding
 only reason why they continue to exist. This is indeed         them all by the Word of His power.
 a tremendous wonder. If God for a split second with-                   Such is the idea of God's providence as preservation.
 drew from His creation, all things would fall back                     And the significance of this ought to be clear.
 into nothing.    All things round about us and we our-
 selves are in the hand of God.       God with His infinite        In the first place, even from this point of view
 Being touches the being of every creature from mo-             all things  aYe  pvovidentiul.   We are not as a rule aware
 ment to moment, holding it in existence. To be sure,           of this.        If not doctrinally, then in our practical,
 God's providence is not a continued or repeated act            everyday life we are easily inclined to distinguish
 of creation.     For creation means that God calls the         between things that are providential and things that
things that are not as if they were. But just as the            are not providential.          If a small creature or an


46                                                 T H E   S.TANDARD BEARER

ordinarily insignificant and unnoticed event suddenly               We must now discuss the second aspect of God's
plays a very significant role that changes the course            providence, and that which receives the lion's share
of our life or turns the tide of history, we will some-          of attention in Article XIII of our Confession, namely,
times say, "Wasn't that providentiall" The implica-              divine government of all things.       .
tion is that other things are not providential.      But this       This divine government means, according to Article
distinction is false. All things are providential. The           XIII, that God rules and governs  fall things according
only trouble is that as a rule we are so blind  andso            to His holy will, so that nothing happens without His
unmindful of the operation of God's providence that              appointment.
it takes a very striking event to make us open our                  Now what is implied in this ?
eyes and take notice of God's. providence.          And what        We have already discussed the subject of God's
I mean to emphasize in this connection is that even              holy -will as our Confession presents it here as the
from the point of view of preservation the God of                standard of God's providential government; and we need
providence is very near us.God Himself upholds every             not repeat what we stated in that connection.             Let
creature.     God is all around us I He is in the sun that       us only remind ourselves that this "holy will" is
shines, in the rain that falls, in the lightning that            the eternal counsel of God and that is always charac-
flashes and the thunder that rolls. He operates in every         terized by infinite divine holiness, that is, not only
blade of grass on which we trample so thoughtlessly.             freedom from sin and imperfection, but, positively,
The God of providence is in the flower of the field'             perfect divine Self-consecration. Hence, the ultimate
in every bird and beast and insect, in the very germs            goal of God's counsel is the glory- of His own name.
that infect us. He is in the very air that we breathe,           And that ultimate purpose of the glory of His name God
so that if He did not hold that air in existence, there          determined to achieve in His revelation of His Son in
would be no air to breathe. He is in the very cells              the flesh, Jesus Christ our Lord, and through Him the
of the blood that courses -through our arteries, so that         realization of His eternal covenant of grace with His
if He did not uphold that blood, there would be no               elect in  .the new heavens and the new earth, and that
blood to form our blood stream.          He is in the very       too,  - along the deep way of sin and grace, death and
heart that pumps that blood,  - the heart that we                resurrection.
say operates "involuntarily,"  - so that if He did
not uphold it, it would not even be there to beat.                 And God's government means, very simply, that
He it is that upholds our very mind,  - that mind that           God Himself executes His counsel and achieves. the
seems to think  its-thozghts spontaneously;  and. if  ,He        purpose of His holy will. It means that God so controls
did not bear our mind by the Word of His power, it               and directs all things in their existence and develop-
could not think.      By His omnipotent Word He up-              ment and all their activity, individually and in relation
holds and keeps in existence our will that chooses;              to all other things, that the counsel of His will is
and if He did not, there would simply be no will to              realized, His eternal good pleasure is accomplished,
choose.      Indeed, God is not far from any one of us;          and the goal of His counsel is attained.
for in Him we live, and move, and have our being1                   Let us understand this very clearly.             For this
 -' In the second place, in this light we can also see           is what our Confession means  whenit speaks of God's
a  little more clearly the intrinsic connection between          "appointment." This term appointment does not refer
preservation and government. In fact, this very truth            in this connection to God's counsel. For our Confes-
of divine preservation brings us into the sphere of              sion speaks of God's counsel when it mentions that
God's providential government automatically. For it              all things are governed "according to His holy will."
ought to be evident that if God holds in His almighty            It does not refer to God's planning, God's deciding,
hand the very existence. of the creature, then He                God's determining, of events. It rather refers to the
has that creature completely in His control. In                  happening of the events themselves,  - in time, in this
fact, one cannot conceive of a more complete gov-                world.      It refers not to the counsel, but to the ac-
ernment than that of the divine Governor Who holds               complishment  of the divine plan. It means not that
in His power the. very  existenc~e of the creature               God planned events merely, but that He actually brings
and of all other creatures that stand related to it,             them about, orders all things. These events are His
that affect it. Surely, that creature,  - nor any other          "ordinances."
creature that is related to it and affects it,  - that crea-        Such is the positive idea of God's government.
ture cannot so much as move apart from His al-mighty
hand.                                                               God did not conceive of and plan all things, and
      In the third place, what a comfort there is here           then say, so to speak, "Let us hope that all things
for the child of God. The more clearly the Christian             work out according to plan." But He works out His
is aware of God's nearness, the more assured he ought            counsel.      Nor are we ever to imagine that God had
to be.     For that God Who is so near is the God that           a plan which centered around a purpose in Adam,
is filled with lovingkindness toward him, while He               but that He also had a substitute plan, involving
is filled with wrath against the wicked.            The God      Christ, in case things did not work out right with
Who is as near to us as the mind with which we think             Adam and the first creation.- Such notions are after
of Him is the God Who is fov us!                                 all in their deepest root Deistic, for they put God
                                                                 outside of His own creation and outside of history.
God's Providence as Govevnment                                                                               (to be continued)


                                                              p     ,y--            -l;;-      .-          _.


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                                                    T H E   ST.AiD-ARb.  Eitk`Akik                     :".                                           47

            SECRETARY'S ANNUAL REPORT                                                The Board wishes to express thanks to members
Dear Brethren:                                                               of the Editorial Staff, various consistories, and indi-
    It is with pleasure that the -Board comes before                         viduals  who- have helped us and given advice and
the membership this evening to report on its activ-                          encouragement from time to time.
ities during this, the 40th year of the  Standard                                      The financial report from the "Permanent Committee
Beaavev.     Again we can state that our labors at the                       for Publication of Prot. Ref. Literature" shows their
meetings and by the committees were marked by                                balance as $3'485.34, plus pledges amounting to $366.
close harmony.         We believe  the- Lord has indeed                             Our prayer is that the Lord may continue to bless
blessed us in this work of publishing the  Standavd                          the  Standard  Beaver   so that it may be steadfast
Beaver   as a witness of His glorious truth.                                 in its witness. to the truth of the Word of Gdd and that
   Many of activities were aimed at increasing the num-                      it may ever be a light  td expose false and deceptive
ber of our subscribers.          We received 148 requests                    views that are repugnant thereto.
in response to our offer to send a free copy of the                                                              - G. Bouwkamp, Sec'y
Standuvd   Beaver  to names submitted by present
subscribers.      Shortly after, a follow-up letter was                                         ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT
mailed to them suggesting they send in a subscription.                                Balance on hand, August 31, 1963                $ 961.14
In the December 1 issue a card was inserted suggesting                                R e c e i p t s
that our readers give gift subscriptions to their                                     Subscriptions                  $3'796.00
friends.     The above actions resulted in about 12 new                               Membership                        137.00
subscriptions.     We also placed an ad in "Christianity                              Gifts                           4'944.08
Today," a periodical with 200,000 circulation, offering                               Advertising                       154.00
                                                                                      Bound Volumes                     316.00
a free sample copy of the  Standard   Beaver.   Out                                      Receipts for year          $9'347.08
of the  63  answers to this ad there are no new sub-                                     Total Receipts                                $10'308.22
scribers.       For the year there were a total of 55                                 Disbursements
new subscribers, 32 cancellations, for a net gain of                                  Wobbema Printing               $8'270.11
23. At present the distribution stands at 1,.120 copies;                              Miscellaneous                     179.00
920 are mailed out as paid subscriptions and as compli-                               Holland Bookbinding               222.30
mentary copies; 4.5 to missions, 15 to Jamaica, 110                                   Mr. J. Dykstra, gift              300.00
for bound volumes and stock, and 50 are, reserved for                                    Total Disbursements  $8'971.41                $ 8'971.41
                                                                                      BALANCE ON HAND, AUGUST 31, 1964                 $ 1'336.81
mailing margin.                                                                       Gifts
   Our finances, which were on the decline, were                                      First Church                      $1'449.98
dealt a serious blow with the notice from our printer                                 Doon                                 1 0 7 . 0 4
that he had to make an increase in his price. The                                     Southeast                            129.31
increase amounted to $1000 a year.               Immediately                          Hudsonville                          563.61
letters were sent to all our consistories, and a News                                 Hull                                 122.70
Sheet to the entire denomination, informing them of                                   Hope                                 402.89
our urgent need. There was a special appeal placed                                    South Holland                        283.88
in the  Stativd   Beaver.        Also a notice is now sent                            Holland                              107.25
                                                                                      Ebenezer                              28.46
with each subscription statement askingfor  agift.  Even                              Southwest                            106.49
though the results are gratifying, especially from                                    Kalamazoo                             35.40
individual gifts, the Board would like to remind our                                  Oaklawn                               93.48
people of our constant need. Meanwhile, the Board,                                    Redlands                              86.82
for itself and for the satisfaction of the membership,                                Randolph                              63.43
sought prices from other printing concerns in the                                   . -Edgerton                            -42.90
area. Briefly, the results showed costs could be reduced                              I s a b e l                           45.75
only by changing to the "off-set" method of printing.                                 Loveland                              19.21
Then, after further discussion with our present printer,                              Individuals                          670.25
                                                                                      RFPA Annual Meeting                   13.55
it was agreed to use "off-set" as soon as possible;                                   Doon  Ladies' Aid                 1 5 . 0 0
however, he would immediately reduce his price $15.00                                 Priscilla, Firsts                     40.00
p e r - i s s u e .                                                                  `Sr. Mr. and Mrs., First               58.75
   Volume 39 has been bound and sent out to those                                     Eastern Ladies' League                46.35
desiring a copy. `Requests for other volumes were also                                So. Holland Ladies' Sot.              75.00
filled by the Book Committee.                                                         P.R. Men's League                     5 0 . 0 0
   The business matters were again well attended to                                   Hope Ladies' Aid                      25.00
by our Business Manager' Mr. J. Dykstra.                                              First Men's Sot.                      75.00
                                                                                      Hope Men's Sot.                       40.00
   The I  & E Committee, with three members of the                                    Doon Men's Sot,                      25;OO
Editorial Staff, launched plans for celebrating the 40th                              Hope Choral  Sot.                     46.58
a n n i v e r s a r y   o f   t h e   Shndavd  Beavev. A special                      Hudsonville Ladies' Sot.              3o;oo
anniversary issue is planned for Oct. 1. Programs                                     Redlands  Mary-Martha Sot.            25.00
are being arranged in Michigan and Iowa, and the                                    Redlands  Men's  Sot.                   20.00
other churches are being asked to participate through                                                                   $ 4 '9 4 4 . 0 8
special anniversary offerings.                                                                                               D. Knoper, Treas.


48 1                                          ~-.--~-~~THESTANDARDBEAREk---  --  -
                                              sQsTCG4 pww t% &i4imh2
                                              ("All the saints salute thee . . ." Phil. 4:21)

        Rev. J. Kortering, of Hull, Iowa, declined the call                           "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." Rev. Hoeksema's
to be minister of First Church in Grand Rapids.                                       physician has prescribed, "Work as much as  youcan",
        Rev. M.  Schipper,  of Southeast Church, declined                             and this is exactly to the liking of his work-loving
the call to be Missionary of our churches.                                           patient.       Indeed, it is wonderful that the Lord has
        Classis  West held its fall meeting at South Holland,                         again given him such measure of recovery1
Illinois on Sept. 16, 1964. The sessions, beginning at
9 A.M., concluded approximately at 10 P.M. The                                             Hull's book-racks have been replenished with new
gathering was directed in its discussions by Rev.                                     Psalters which were donated by the Young People's
B. Woudenberg who capably served as chairman for                                     Society, and the bulletin expressed appreciation for
the day.                                                                             the zeal of the young people for having undertaken
        Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg led in opening devotions by                            t h i s   p r o j e c t .
reading I Peter 5: 1-13 and offering prayer for God's                                      The. 40th Anniversary Celebration of the Standard
blessing and guidance upon the Classis.                                               Bearer attracted many true supporters of our magazine
        The churches were fully represented except that                              from all over the Grand Rapids area churches Oct.
two were unable to send delegates, and one had but                                    1 in First Church. Rev. H. Hoeksema spoke on, "The
one representative.                                                                   Standard Bearer  - past";            The Board secretary,
        After the minutes of `the last meeting were read and                         Mr. G. Bouwkamp, spoke on, "The Standard  Bearer-
adopted, the reports of various committees were read                                 present"; and Prof. H. C. Hoeksema's speech was on,
and acted upon.           One report of the reading sermon                            "The Standard Bearer  - future". Special vocal music
committee revealed the great demand for reading                                       by Mr. Arnold Dykstra, by Mr. and Mrs. C. Joriker,
sermons -particularly in the vacant churches.  Classis                                and by the Hope Heralds varied the program. Mrs.
decided to ask each minister of  Classis   ,West to                                   C. Lubbers was at the pipe organ.  `Twas an evening
supply four reading sermons, instead of two, within                                  well spent in that we might be reminded of the Stan-
the next six months `to replenish the supply. Most                                    dard Bearer's past and present in order to know our
of the time of  Classis  was used in a treatment of an                                calling as to its future:         that our paper may bear
appeal against a decision of one of the consistories.                                 the flag of the truth within and without the circle of our
The appeal was not sustained because of the absence                                   churches to witness to the Reformed truth in our time.
of grounds in the appeal.                                                            The program, from beginning to end, was such that
        The Appointment Committee presented its report                                served to the praise of our God and was an expression
which was adopted by the Classis. Lynden was granted                                  of deep gratitude for His undeserved favor upon us.
the following appointments: Oct. 4, 11, 18  - Rev.  C.                               May the King of His Church hear the prayers offered
Hanko;        Nov. 1, 8, 15  - Rev. J.. Kortering; Nov. 29,                           at that occasion!
Dec. 6, 13  - Rev. B. Woudenberg; Jan. 3, 10, 17  -
Rev. D. Englesma;             Feb. 21, 28, Mar. 7  - Rev.  G.                             Hope's congregation started to build their  .new
Van  Baren.       To Forbes and Isabel the following were                            church building Thursday morning, Oct. 1. The as-
granted:        Oct. 11, 18, 25  - Rev. D. Englesma; Nov.                            tounding feature of this news item is the fact that
8, 15  - Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg; Nov. 29, Dec. 6  - (Isabel                           the decision to build was taken at a special congre-
only). Rev. J. Kortering; Dec. 20, 27  - (Forbes only)                               gational meeting held Tuesday evening, Sept. 29. Two'
Rev. H. Hanko;           Jan. 10, 17  - (Forbes only) Rev.  J.                       days before!           At that rate it would be advisable to
Kortering; Jan. 24 -(Forbes only) H. Hanko; Jan. 24,                                 watch this page for a few issues to learn  `the.
        - (Isabel only) Rev. B. Woudenberg; Feb. 14  -                               Dedication date!
Fhorbes)   R e v . J. Kortering; Feb. 14, 21  - (Isabel)
Rev. H. Hanko;             Mar. 7, 14, 21  - Rev. C. Hanko.                               The annual' meeting of the R.F.P.A. (Standard
Pella's appointments are:                Oct. - Rev. J. Heys;                        Bearer) was held Spet. 24 in Hudsonville. Election
N o v .   - R e v .   G .   V a n   Baren;       Dec. - Rev. G. Van                  of Board members and other business was transacted.
Baren;  Jan. - Rev. J. Heys; Feb. - Rev. G. Vanden  Berg;                            Rev. R. C. Harbach, of Kalamazoo, was the speaker;
Mar.  - Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg.                                                       his topic was "Modern Syncretism", delineating the
    Classis  decided to hold its next meeting on March                               modern method of collecting `the "best" parts of all
                                                                                     religions and compile them into one super-religion
17, 1965 at Hull, Iowa. After the questions of Article                               -- that of the Anti-Christ.
41 of the Church Order were asked and answered,
the concept minutes were approved, and Elder L. Lanting                                    Rev. C. Hanko, of Redlands, stopped over at Hull
closed the meeting with prayer.                                                      from the  Classis  West meeting to deliver a lecture
                                     Rev. G. Van  Baren,  Clerk.                     on "Our Personal Witness" at the Annual Meeting
        Rev. H. Hoeksema mounted his  familiar  pulpit                                of the Reformed Action Society.
Sunday morning Sept. 27 to preach his first sermon
since his last stroke; the text: the cry of the publican,                                                                     . ..see you in church.


