                             tandard                                                         _


A  REFQRMED  SEMI-MC9NT'HLY   MAGA%INE                                 :-.





    IN THIS ISSUE:


           Meditation -- Knowing the  Joyful Sound


           The Need For Ministers


           The Evangelical Approach  itn the Time of Christ


           Naomi  -  Mara




                                                Volume  XLI/  Number  5/ December 1, 1964


98                                                                                                                     THESTANDARDBEARER

                                                    C O N T E N T S
       Meditation  -                                                                                                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER
            Knowing the Joyful Sound *.....................................                                                     98
                   Rev. M. Schipper                                                                                                           Semi-monthly, except monthly 6uvin.g June, July qnd August
       Editorials  -
             "Should I Prepare for tbe Ministry?" (3)                                                                                    %      Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
            The Need for Ministers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100                                     Editor - Rev. Herman Hoeksema
                   Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
            The Christian Reformed Synod and the                                                                                         Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
             "Dekker  Case" (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102            Rev: H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S.E., Grand Rapids 7,
                   Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                  Mich. Contributions will be limited to 300 worda and must be
       Our Doctrine  -                                                                                                                                       neatly written or typewritten.
            The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
                   Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                      All church news items should be addressedtoMr.  J. M. Faber,
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                   Rev. C. Hanko                                                                                                         be mailed 8 days prior to issue date, to the address below:
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             "A Relevant Salvation" ..,..................................... 109
                   Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                             Mr. James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S.E.
       Contending for the Faith -                                                                                                                              Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
            The Inspiration of the Scriptures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110                                         Renewal: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
                   Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                                       received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the sub-
       All Around Us -
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            Motivation for Ecumenicalsm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
                   Rev. G. Van  Baren
       A Cloud of Witnesses  -
             Naomi - Mara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
                   Rev. B. Woudenberg                                                                                                    "Forced absence from God's ordinances and forced
       Question Box  -                                                                                                                   presence with wicked people are great afflictions; but
            The Forty-Day Period in Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118                                        when . . . such a situation is continued of choice, then
                   Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
       Report of the Western Ladies' League Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119                                                        it becomes a great sin."
       Report of the Eastern Ladies' League Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119                                                                                                              M. Henry
       News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
            Mr. J. M. Faber





                                                                                               KNOWING THE JOYFUL SOUND

                                                                                                                            Rev.  M.  Schippev

                                                        "Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall  walk, 0
                                                        Lord,  in the light  of  thy  countenance.`1                                                              Psalm 89:  15
      The sound!                                                                                                                         these silver trumpets. So it had been throughout the
      The joyful sound!                                                                                                                  long wilderness journey to the time of David, when
      As the psalmist knew it, it was the sound of the                                                                                   Israel carried the tabernacle. And so it was at the
trumpets.                                                                                                                                time of Solomon and Rehoboam, when the temple had
      Those silver trumpets, which Moses already com-                                                                                    been constructed. And no different was it at the time
manded the children of Israel to make at the very be-                                                                                    of the poet, who was probably Ethan, the Ezrahite, one
ginning of their wilderness journey. Two of them.                                                                                        of the generations of Aaron, of the family of Merari.
Made whole of one piece. Which the sons of Aaron                                                                                         Him had David appointed, along with the sons of
were to blow, for the calling of assemblies, and for                                                                                     Kohath  and Gershom to have charge of the music.
the journeying of the camp.                                                                                                              Surely he would know the sound of the trumpet and its
      Trumpets to sound the alarm. For when the enemy                                                                                    significance !
approached, the people were to be warned of threaten-                                                                                           The joyful sound !
ing danger. It was the call to arms !                                                                                                           No matter how you looked at it, the sound was joyful!
      Trumpets for the calling of assemblies. When the                                                                                          Whether it was the sound of warning, of alarm, then
congregation must come to sacrifice and to worship.                                                                                      it was a symbol of the fact that Jehovah guarded His
At morning and at evening, at the time when in holy                                                                                      people. He had called them to war His warfare. And
convocation the offerings were brought. And on feast                                                                                     no one could, deny >that that sound was indeed joyful to
days, the Passover, Unleavened Bread, The First                                                                                          the faithful in Israel.
Fruits, Pentecost, Tabernacles, Lights, and the Great
Day of Atonement.                                                                                                                               Or, whether that sound called the people of God to
      Throughout their generations, and always at the                                                                                    holy convocations, then it was always the symbol of
appointed time, were these sons of Aaron to blow on                                                                                      the call of Jehovah to His people to come unto Him,


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                99

and to be partaker of the blessings the feast day pre-       individual.    Though surely he, too, and perhaps most
figured. And who of the guilelesschildrenof God would        of all, knew the joyfulness of that sound. But he does
not count that joyful?                                       not speak here of his own knowledge or blessedness.
   0, indeed, it was a joyful sound! For the signifi-        Nor does he say: Blessed is the man who knows the
cance of that sound lay, first of all, in the fact that      joyful sound. But he speaks of a people ! He points to
God was calling His people. Jehovah, the covenant-           an organism, a commonwealth,- an united whole. A
making and covenant-keeping God! And secondly, the           people that is characterized by one tongue, with one
significance of that sound lay in the symbolism of that      aim and purpose. A people having a common origin
of which the people were called to partake, namely, of       and a common destiny. Hence, averyparticular people!
the sure mercies of  David1                                  Chosen of God and precious ! To whom God in sovereign
   Of this beautiful symbolism, we have the fulfill-         mercy condescends, and calls them "My people," and
ment !                                                       that people respond: "Our God!"
   We hear that joyful sound in the Gospel!                     To them only is the sound joyful !
   The days of the shadows have ended in fulfillment,           0, certainly, the sound is directed to more than
in reality!      The temple at Jerusalem lies in heaps.      this people, When the silver trumpets blasted from
The altar has ceased to send up its sweet incense. The       before the sanctuary in the wilderness, and from the
mantle of Aaron's sons was torn forever in the attire        temple hill, all who were in and about the city of God
of Caiaphas, the high priest. The sound of the silver        heard the sound of the trumpet. Syrians and Greeks,
trumpets no longer is heard.                                 Edomites and Moabites, Romans and Barbarians, they
   Yet, the very essence of the shadows remained, -and       all heard the sound if they were in proximity to the
appeared in much more glorious beauty! There is              tabernacle or temple.         They all knew in a measure
still the holy temple of the Lord, not made with hands,      what the sound meant. They knew it meant that the
but eternal in the heavens. There is still the High          God of Israel was calling His people to worship. So, too,
Priest, now no longer of the order of Aaron, but in the      today, the sound of the Gospel goes out to all to whom
order of Melchizedek. Now the lamb and the priest            God in His good pleasure sends it. And these include
are one, in the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin        many more than the people of God.
of the world, Jesus, the Great High Priest`, Who made           But the sound of the Gospel is not joyful to all! Nor
the atonement for our sins, and ever liveth to make          do all know, in the strict sense of the word, the joyful
intercession for us. And still the sound'significantly       sound!     To many the very sound is repulsive. Many
rings in our ears: I am Jehovah your covenant God.           would silence that sound. Nor does that sound of the
In Christ Jesus, My Son, Anointed Servant, I am rec-         Gospel efficaciously call all men into the blessed
onciling the world uio Myself!                               fellowship of the Covenant God, but it. efficaciously
   0 glorious, beautiful, joyful sound! Which comes          works in the hearts of many who hear it hardening
to us every Sabbath in the preaching of the Gospel!          and rebellion. The Word of God has a twofold effect:
Through God-appointed ministers, who have no other           it hardens. those who reject it and evokes wrath and
business than to sound the joyful sound! Divinely or-        bitterness in them; while it mellows those whom it
dained means of Grace! For such is the preaching of          efficaciously calls. It evokes in them a hunger and a
the Gospel, without which the Sacraments have no             thirst after righteousness. It places in their hearts
significance.                                                and on their lips paeans of praise. They know the
   The contents of that Word is always joyous. For it        sound, and to them it is joyful! Not only do they hear
speaks of salvation from misery and death. It .speaks        it, but they know it. There may be many children who
of life out of death. It gives light in our sin-darkened     hear the voice of a father calling his child, but really
world.       It is the promise of the covenant God to His    only the child hears and knows the voice of his father.
covenant people. It is a savor of life unto them: while      Also there may be the sounds of many voices that fall
it is a savor of death unto the wicked.                      upon the ear of the child, but the voice of his father he
   Joyous that sound is in distinction from many other       distinguishes because he knows it and to him it is joy-
sounds ! Many other sounds there are in the world: the       ful. So, too, there are many who hear the sound of the
sounds of misery and war, the sounds of feasting and         Gospel, but it is only the child of God who knows it.
merry-making: But the distinguishing element of them         And there may be many sounds that fall on the ear of
all is the ground tone in them all, namely, death. But       the child of God, but there is one he distinguishes from
in the midst of all these sounds is the joyful one! It is    them all as the voice of Jesus, calling him to come
unique and melodious, because it is heavenly. It is as       unto Him for rest.
different as eternity is to time, as light to darkness,         Blessed is that people!
as life to death, as heaven to hell. The one, unique,           The psalmist is enthralled with their blessedness!
living Word of God it is which speaks to us of atone-           Verily he says: 0 the blessedness of that people
ment, which declares a righteousness wherewith we            knowing the joyful sound! And he turns, as it were, to
may appear before God, which proclaims a peace which         the `God of that people, and says unto Him: 0 Lord,
surpasseth understanding, which tells of mercies of          they shall walk in the light of Thy countenance!
the Lord.                                                      You see, that people is not blessed apart from their
   There is a people ! A people who know that joyful         God.      All their blessedness is from Him. It was He
sound!                                                       Who loved that people, and therefore chose them in
   The psalmist does not speak of himself, or of an          sovereign grace.      There was nothing in them that


100                                               -THE STANDARD BEARER

moved God to love and choose them. One time they                      lacks nothing. They are filled with all the fulness of
were not a people of God. They were children of dark-                 grace in Christ Jesus !
ness and of wrath. They were like the children of this                   No wonder the psalmist turns not to that people,
world, depraved in nature, haters of God  andof one an-               but to their God!
other. Incapable of doing any good, and inclined to all                  Not they are to be thanked because they know the
evil they were. Dead they were intrespasses and sins.                 joyful sound. Not they are to be praised because they
Their mouth was an open sepulchre. Their feet were                    respond to that sound, and turn their faces once more
swift to shed blood. The way of peace they did not know.              in the direction of their God. Not they are to be lauded
And the Lord God looked down from heaven upon the                     because they will walk in the light of God's countenance.
children of men, to see if there were any that did un-                   But to God, Jehovah, their covenant God, be the
derstand, that did seek God. Every one of them had                    praise and the thanksgiving, because He it is, and He
gone back: they were altogether filthy. There was none                alone, that makes that people to come and to walk in
that did any good, no, not one.                                       His presence!
       But God loved them, and He purposed to bless them,                Blessed God is the God of that people that is so
and make them blessed as He is blessed. So He came                    blessed that they shall walk eternally before His face!
in the Person of His Son into their nature and redeemed                  Blessed is the people now in principle, according
them. He bore the burden of His own wrath to miti-                    to the measure that they know the joyful sound. For,
gate and atone for their sin and guilt. He merited                    according to that principle, they walk already in the
righteousness for them and imputed that righteousness                 light of God's countenance. For they taste His favor.
unto them.       He gave unto them the Spirit of His Son              They enjoy His fellowship. They walk with Him and
our Lord  Jesu.s  Christ. .He raised them from their                  talk with Him, and they are not consumed.
spiritual death, renewing their hearts with the Spirit                   The light of Jehovah's face is terrible, it is a con-
of regeneration. He justified them in their own con-                  suming fire over against all the workers of iniquity.
s c i e n c e s , and removed all bitterness and enmity, so           Yea, our God is a consuming fire! But, behold, this
giving to them His peace. He forgave all their sins,                  people walk in His presence and are not consumed. In
and laid in their hearts the Spirit of adoption, so that              His presence they live ! In that presence they behold all
now they could respond, saying: Abba Father! And He                   the radiation of His virtues.
called them efficaciously out of darkness into -His                      Presently they shall experience this blessedness
marvelous light.       So they came to know the joyful                in eternal perfection! Then they shall know, even as
sound that calls them, keeps on calling them, until they              they are known.       Then they shall see His face per-
come to stand and to walk before His face, and bathe in               fectly, which  now  they see as in a darkened glass.
the light of His countenance !                                        When He shall appear, then they shall be like Him, for
       0 indeed, that people is blessed, because their God            they shall see Him as He is.
has blessed them with all the riches of grace. To be                     Blessed God !
blessed, is to be full, to lack nothing. This people                     Blessed people!





                                   "SHOULD I PREPARE FOR THE MINISTRY?"
                                                               (3)
                                            THE NEED FOR MINISTERS
                                                 Pyof.  H. C. Hoeksema
       Having considered the above question and its mean-             carnal. We may not be moved by mere carnal consid-
ing in two previous articles, we are now ready for                    erations of material gain and fame. We may not car-
some guidelines toward a proper answer. In following                  nally assume the attitude that this matter of life's
these guidelines a person must, above all, remember                   work is simply up to us and is a matter for our own
that the matter in question is an intensely spiritual                 personal determination.      A covenant young man or
one, from which it follows that .one's attitude must also             young woman must surely seek and choose his place
be spiritual. No one may approach this matter coldly,                 and his life's task as before the face of God. Above all,
as though it were a mere mathematical problem, so                     therefore, this means that these questions are to be
that if only he follows the correct method, he will in-               confronted pyayevfitlly,  in order that we may know that,
evitably arrive at the correct answer, whether that                   whatever our answers are, we are in the way of God's
turns out to be a Yes or a No answer. This must cer-                  will and are able in that way to serve Him. Needless
tainly be remembered in our entire consideration of                   to say, all this is emphatically true of the particular
this subject. Of course, as I have suggested before,                  question with which we are dealing at present.
this must always be our attitude when facing the ques-                   Nevertheless, our attitude must not be one of sickly
tion of our place and calling in life. We may not be                  mysticism,       If anyone expects to have some kind of


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 101

special revelation and to obtain an answer to his ques-        and if then the churches would decide that the seminary
tion by this means, he is doomed to disappointment.            should be closed and that it should be announced that
He will behold no bright light and hear no voice as did        we need no more seminary and pre-seminary students,
the apostle Paul on the Damascus-road.  And-if he              I would insist that the wrong of the situation would lie
claims to have seen a vision in the heavens of the             not in the surplus of candidates for the ministry, but in
letters, "P.C.," he had better consider well whether           the churches that fail thankfully and obediently to make
those initials mean "Preach Christ!" or "Pick Corn!"           use of that surplus. In such a situation the churches
The Lord our God works through means; and this im-             would certainly be obligated to examine themselves in
plies that we must adapt our questionings and search-          order to determine how it came about that there was a
ings for answers to His ways and means, prayerfully            .suvpZz~ of potential ministers in the light of Christ's
and in obedience to His Word.                                  mandate to preach the gospel.
   With the above in mind, I want to suggest some                 Actually, of course, the imaginary situation I pic-
guidelines to be followed in seeking an answer to the          tured above is far from reality. We are accustomed
question, "Should I prepare for the ministry?"                 to speak at present not in mild terms of "need," but
The Objective Need                                             in terms of "an acute shortage;" and there surely is
   It goes without saying that unless there is a need          no danger that we will have a surplus of ministers.
for ministers, there will not be young men who pre-               And in connection with that shortage, in the light of
pare for the ministry. This is so obvious that it may          the principle of Christ's mandate to His church to
be termed a truism. There certainly is absolutely no           preach the gospel, that abiding need should speak es-
sense in preparing for the ministry of the gospel if           pecially to us as Protestant Reformed Churches. Why?
there is no need for ministers. But this is also from          Because we believe and profess that our Protestant
a practical point of view a factor to be considered in         Reformed Churches maintain and proclaim the gospel
connection with the subject under discussion. Perhaps          in all its purity, the gospel unadulterated by the phi-
we may speak here of a kind of law of "supply and de-          losophy of men! That profession certainly implies that
mand." Where there is a need, a demand, there we               there is no higher calling, no more glorious task, than
may expect that a supply will be forthcoming to meet           to be a Protestant Reformed minister of the gospel!
that demand. And according as the demand is greater            But that very profession also implies that the .Protes-
or smaller, we may also expect, normally, that the             tant Reformed gospel ministry is a very, very serious
potential supply will be greater or smaller.                   responsibility for any minister, for any potential min-
   In other words, the need, the demand, should speak          ister or seminary student, and for our churches in
loudly to us, and particularlyto those who face the ques-      common. In this light we may certainly say that while
tion, "Should I prepare for the ministry?" This need           the abiding need for ministers will continue, also in
will be, and ought to be, one of the factors that is con-      our churches, nevertheless  there ought not to be a
sidered in facing this question.                               shortage,  especially not in churches where the pure
   Is there such a need?                                       gospel is professed.
   We may confront this question from a principial                This certainly should be a factor, - and' an im-
point of view, first of all. This we must do, of course,       portant one,  - in considering the calling to the minis-
on the basis of Scripture.                                     try. It certainly merits the consideration of our cove-
   From this point of view, I would answer that as             nant young men who stand at the threshold of their
long as Christ's mandate to preach the gospel to all           life's work. But more than that, it certainly merits
nations' is valid, there. will be a need for preachers,        the prayerful concern of our churches, of our office-
and, therefore, for those who devote themselves to             bearers, and of all our people.
preparing for the ministry. As long as Christ has His             In conclusion, however, let me also point to the fact
church in the midst of the world, there will be such a         that here is' the highest possible incentive to devote
need.    As long .as the elect must be gathered by His         your. life and talents to the ministry of the gospel in
Spirit and Word, that is, from the beginning to the end        our .Protestant Reformed Churches.        Outwardly and
of the world, there will be such a need. As long as it         from a worldly and materialistic point of view, there
holds true, "How shall they hear without a.preacher?"          is no incentive to be a Protestant Reformed minister.
there will continue to be a need for young men to pre-         But if you are spiritual, and if as a spiritually-minded
pare for the ministry of the gospel.                           young man you are looking for an incentive, here it is:
   I need hardly add that this means: always, until            the Protestant Reformed ministry is a ministry in the
Jesus comes I                                                  service of the pure truth of the gospel of our Lord
   You object,. perhaps, that this is only true in gen-        Jesus Christ!    I can understand that in modernistic
eral and that I am belaboring the obvious? I deny this,        churches there is no real incentive to enter the minis-
and insist that this is the position of faith and that this    try; and in churches where the truth is adulterated that
is a truth that should speak loudly to us as Protestant        incentive to prepare for the ministry is also bedimmed.
Reformed Churches and as Protestant Reformed be-               But what more glorious incentive could there be than
lievers . Far-fetched and improbable though the very           the truth and the love of the truth as it is in Jesus?
suggestion may seem to be, if ever the time should ar-         Young men, consider that incentive1 Pastors, elders,
rive that all our churches have pastors and that every         parents: call both the need and the incentive to the at-
potential missionary position would be filled and that         tention'of your young men1
we had even a surplus of candidates for the ministry,                             (to be continued)


102                                                  THESTANDARDBEARER

                                       T H E   C H R I S T I A N   R E F O R M E D   S Y N O D
~                                                AND THE  "DEKKZR CASE"
                                                               (4)
                                         CHURCH POLITICALLY  JMPROPER

                                                    Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema

       In my previous editorial on this. subject I made the           for ~devotion  to the gospel and loyalty to the-Reformed
point that there was no concrete case presented to the                faith, I would have stopped writing about this long
Chr. Ref. Synod of 1964, that there was nothing before                ago." p. 109
Synod to warrant official ecclesiastical treatment and                       Again, on the same page, he states:
action with respect to Professor Dekker's writings on                        "I also -wish to say something about the question-
the love of God and the atonement. OffZ5ally no one                   ing of common doctrinal conceptions in the Church.
expressed suspicion concerning Professor Dekker's                     Some seem to think that to do this is objectionable. I
views; neither did any individual or consistory or classis            have indeed questioned a- common doctrinal conception.
charge the professor with doctrinal error. Ecclesias-                 However, let it be clear to all that I have not questioned
tically, therefore; Dekker is one hundred per cent in                 any teaching of the confessions. To thecontrary, three
the clear; and there is no more reason -- ecclesiasti-                Classes and at least one Consistory have explicitly re-
tally speaking - to investigate the doctrinal expres-                 jected or set. aside charges that my writings are in
sions- of Prof. Dekker than to investigate the expres-                conflict with the confessions."
sions of Prof. R.B. Kuiper  or anyone else. From this                    This assertion is repeated at the end of his address:
point of view, the Dekker case is now put somewhat in                        "Be assured, then, that I aim to continue my study
the category of "leer geschillen" (doctrinal differ;                  and writing in obedience  tothe Scriptures, in loyalty
ences)  that were synodically studied in the Gerefor-                 to the confessions...." p. 110
meerde  Kerken  some years ago and that climaxed in                          2. Professor Dekker takes exception to the concern
the deposition of the late Dr.  I<. Schilder.          ._             about unrest which is expressed in the first ground of
       On this score, Professor Dekker certainly would                Synod's decision. Writes he:
have had every right to complain against the appoint-                        "Much has, been said about unrest in the Church
ment of the synodical study committee and to refuse                   as a reason for synodical action. (This is true; not
to work with it. For some reason or other, Professor                  only is it mentioned in the grounds, but it was re-
Dekker did not object officially; in fact, he expressed               peatedly mentioned on the floor of Synod. H.C.H.)
satisfaction with the decisions taken. This is evident                Some of this is difficult for me to believe. Some baffles
from his address to the Synod (cf. Article 147, Acts                  me.       What is difficult to believe is that there is as
of Synod, 1964). Nevertheless, the decision taken by                  much unrest as supposed, sufficient to warrant synod-
Synod was not entirely to Dekker's liking, as is also                 ical action. Surely the Board of Trustees, represent-
evident from his speech before the Synod. If I had to                 ing all the Classes, did not sense such unrest. What
analyze this address of Dekker, I would say that it all               baffles me is that there are those who now deplore a
comes down to the fact that there was no concrete                     certain unrest in the Church, who at other times are
case before Synod and that Synod is subjecting to of-                 inclined to deplore doctrinal indifference.       Do they
ficial ecclesiastical study without proper grounds what               really think that they can have vital doctrinal interest
Professor Dekker believes should be left to free and                  without some unrest, or that they can have doctrinal
spontaneous study, research, and discussion. There                    complacency without doctrinal indifference?"
are several elements in Prof. Dekker's speech which                      3. Professor Dekker was personally not in favor. of
point to this conclusion.. Permit me to mention some                  the method of a synodically enacted study of the issues,
of them:                                                              even though he expressed ultimate satisfaction with
       1. Professor .Dekker  repeatedly makes the. pdint              Synod's decision. This is evident from the following
that both from his own viewpoint and that of the                      excerpt from his address:
churches. he is loyal to the confessions. Thus, for ex-                  "`There is so much to do in the Reformed study of
ample, he states:                                                     missions. Little has been done in past generations.
       "I wish to assure you that I have written as I did             So let us be patient and tolerant with one another in
only because I seek to be obedient to the Scriptures,                 our study of this subject. Moreover, let us remember
to defend and to teach the confessions and to serve                   that the history of missions is full of mistaken notions
the cause of the gospel.         In a word, it is because I           which have hindered the performance of themissionary
love the Reformed faith. Really, I ask you, why else                  task. From this standpoint one may welcome the ap-
would a man persist in writing on an issue like this in               pointment of a synodical committee to study an aspect
face of the criticism and harassment which have                       of the doctrine of missions. However, for myself, I
arisen? Indeed, some of this criticism has been re-                   am persuaded that it would be better. for the study of
sponsible and intelligent, but not a little of it has been            these matters to go forward quite spontaneously and
misinformed, misdirected and seemingly suspicious of                  freely, in the way of the discussion we have already
disloyalty to that very Reformed faith. If it ,were not               had. This, it seems to me, would be in closer accord


                                                 THE STANDARDBEARER                                                 103

with the resolution of the Board of Trustees, which          reason for the legality of an overture to Synod. But
has now been used as a ground for appointing a study         the second ground is altogether faulty. Because the
committee."                                                  materials. referred to in an overture are of "great
   Moreover, Professor Dekker (and by now it is evi-         moment' ' i - and this is only the  claim  of the com-
dent from the recent articles by Dr. Daane and Prof.         mittee, -- does that make an overture legal? And does
Boer that they are of the same mind), -- Prof. Dekker        the mere,. unproved claim that these matters have
does not intend to have the discussion stymied by the        caused unrest and deep concern to the churches at
fact that a  synodical committee is working. For he          large make an overture to Synod legal? The answer
adds :                                                       to these questions depends largely on the nutuve  of
    "I assure you that I will continue to study and write    the matters referred to, of course, - even apart from
in the spirit of the Board's resolution when it says         the correctness or incorrectness of the claims about
`that there are issues worthy of further inquiry.. .and      unrest and deep concern, etc. If the overture had only
that future exchanges of research and opinion on these       presented a concrete case instead of an abstract ques-
issues will be profitable tothe Church.' I pledge also       .tion, if there had been forthright objection to Prof.
that I will cooperate with the-study committee.to be ap-     Dekker's doctrinal views, as in 1963, then the grounds
pointed. Moreover,~  I expect to remain in consultation      might have been valid. Nevertheless, the overture was
with the members of the Seminary Faculty. In this            declared legal. This was, after all, the first and- basic
connection it should be noted that the Faculty has al-       mistake in procedure.
ready had some informal discussions regarding this              Thereafter the committee came with the astounding
subject."                                                    advice to hold a doctrinal  conversatipn  with Prof.
    From all this it is evident that while Professor         Dekker .    This was, as the whole proposal shows,
Dekker accepted Synod's decision and even promised           called a "doctrinal conversation," but was, in fact,
to cooperate with the study committee, he nevertheless       an examination  such as would be conducted under the
had some serious reservations about the entire deci-         Formula of Subscription. It was hardly a wonder that
sion, and, in fact, in his address expressed disagree-       the proposal met with very vocal opposition on the
ment with no less than three, if not all four, of the        floor of Synod and was later withdrawn by the com-
grounds. And indeed, from a Christian Reformed point         mittee.     For there were no charges pending against
of view, and on the basis of the material that was `ac-      Dekker, and the conversation was not proposed on the
tually before the Synod in Overture No. 45, I would main-    basis of the Formula of Subscription. Besides, mem-
tain that the decision of Synod is poorly grounded and       bers of Synod would have the opportunity to submit to
that the whole decision is church politically improper.      the committee "unsigned written questions  pertinent
Moreover, I believe, especially on so serious a matter       to the issues involved," but with no guarantee that the
as this, that a decision improperly taken cannot have        questions would be asked, since such questions would
good results, but must needs prove detrimental, or at        only "be considered and possibly used in formulating
least ineffectual. A church cannot violate sound church      the final set of questions to be employed in this con-
polity with impunity.                                        versation." Some proposal! I say again:  small wonder
  Let us consider the grounds -adduced  by Synod for         that it was hastily withdrawn without being brought to
the decision.                                                a vote. Besides, what would have been the outcome of
    In order to do this we must remember, in the first       such a procedure? Would it have ended with a decla-
place, that the advice offered by Synod's committee          ration that Dekker's answers were either satisfactory
and adopted by Synod was substitute advice. This is          or unsatisfactory? And if they were unsatisfactory,
important in order to have the whole picture. At an          would Synod itself then have preferred and drawn up
earlier session, you will remember, Synod, upon the          charges against Dekker?
advice of its committee, declared the overture (No.             It is against the background of this first proposal
45) of First Orange City to be legally at Synod. The         of the committee and its obvious ignominious failure
grounds for that decision were already faulty, and they      that we must view the substitute advice that was even-
certainly were no grounds for declaring an overture          tually adopted. That substitute advice was as far re-
legally before Synod. Those grounds were:, "a. There         moved from the original advice as east is from west.
is no action in re this matter pending in Classis Orange     It takes the primary attention away from Prof. Dekker
City and this allows this consistory the liberty to em-      and his views, and, in fact, does not,even  require that
ploy its right to overture Synod in a matter with which      the committee pass judgment on Prof. Dekker's doc-
it is deeply concerned. b. The materials referred to         trinal purity and confessional loyalty,
in the overture are of great moment and have caused             But I do not want to call attention to the material
unrest and deep concern to the churches at large."           side of the decision and to the contents of the mandate
Now surely, neither of these grounds is proper. The          at. this stage. I merely want to quote the main proposi-
mere fact that there was no action pending in Classis        tion of the decision in order to consider the grounds
Orange City on this matter is no reason why the over-        adduced for it. That main proposition is: "That Synod
ture was legally at Synod, even though this is `but one      appoint a committee to study in the light of Scripture
reason why the overture might not be  illegal.  For          and the Creeds the doctrine of limited atonement as it
there are other factors involved in the matter of le-        relates to the love of God, the doctrinal expressions
gality.    And, to be sure, just because some matter         of Professor H. Dekker beginning with and relative to
happens to be of deep concern to a consistory is no          his article entitled `God So Loves...All  Men' and other


104                                                THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                             I
related, questions which may arise in the course of            that future exchanges of research and opinion on these
their study...."                                               issues will be profitable to the church."' Professor
       The first ground adduced was: "A mandate to study       Dekker is certainly correct in his comments on this
these matters will allay much of the unrest which pre-         ground, which  I quoted above. An official  synodicdl
vails in the churches." Concerning this ground I com-          study will stand in the way of "future exchanges of
ment as follows: 1) The mere presence of unrest and            research and opinion." And it will also stand in the
the mere desire to allay unrest is not necessarily a           way of spontaneous and free discussion, -unless, of
reason for appointing a study committee. 2) Theground          course, the appointment of the study committee is
assumes, without any proof, that there is such unrest          merely the synodical "burial" of the issues.
and that the unrest ought to be allayed. .The question            The fifth ground, namely, that "A study of this
as to. the real nature of that unrest was never faced;         nature is requested in Overture No. 45," is, of course,
nor is the allaying of unrest always desirable. It can         not in itself a ground. A mere request is not a ground
end in a very undesirable brand of peace, - the peace          for granting the request.
of the cemetery. 3) A mere mandate to study will not            All in all, therefore, the ecclesiastical treatment
necessarily allay unrest, In fact, the renewed writings        of the Dekker case, both by First Orange City, Classis
on this subject very likely will, and certainly ought to,      Orange City, and Synod was, church politically speak-
stir up more unrest. In a way this ground has already          ing, a succession of blunders. In one word, it was a
been proved false since Synod adopted it. 4) The ulti-         "fizzle."
mate allaying of unrest would certainly depend on the             And why did this come about?
quality of the committee's study and on its findings              No one brought a concrete case to Synod. But was
and evaluation of its findings. Conceivably the com-           this because a concrete case was not possible? Ab-
mittee could stir up a veritable hornet's nest!                solutely not! There  could have been a concrete case,
       The second ground reads: "Such a study will help        a protest against Professor Dekker's doctrinal ex-
clarify the Reformed witness to our generation." My           pressions, brought on the basis of the confessions.
comments are as follows: 1) This ground  assumes,             Many are filled with unrest about Dekker's writings.
without proof, that the "Reformed witness" is in need          Some are undoubtedly filled with fear and consterna-
of clarification. 2) The ground speaks of clarification        tion and deep concern about their Reformed heritage.
while it should have spoken of purification  of the Re-        But no one, - emphatically no one, - brought a case.
formed witness; but it could not speak of the latter be-       All the overtures avoid the issue, skirting it, walking
cause there were no charges of impurity. 3) The ground         all around it without touching it. That issue is, bluntly:
does not define this clarification. 4) Again, this clari-      are Prof. Dekker's views confessionally Reformed?
fication all depends on the outcome of the study. Con-            And why?
ceivably such a study would only succeed in muddying              The answer is simple: the Three Points, and es-
the waters and in confusing the issues.                       pecially the First Point, and more especially what has
       The third ground is simply an unproved claim:           often been called "het puntje van her: Eerste Punt,",
"This study may assist Professor Dekker in carrying            that is, the general, well-meant offer of the gospel,
forward his own work of carefully examining the various        constitutes a horse collar, effectually preventing any
matters which he has raised." It would be fully as             real opposition to and attack upon Dekker's views.
valid to say: "Such a study may hamper Professor               This is very obvious from the fact that to this very
Dekker in carrying forward his own work.. .."                  day no one has been able to write on the Dekker Case
       The fourth ground is: "This  carries  forward the      without reference to 1924.
spirit of the report of the Board of Trustees which               This is also very obvious from the contents of the
reads, `After the discussion the board concluded that          study committee's mandate.
there are issues worthy .of further inquiry and it trusts         But to this I will call attention next time, D.V.





                       IN MEMORIAM                             gift of singing, so that she loved to sing the praises of
It is our heart's desire to write a little memoriam for        Him whose Name is great in the earth and heavens.
our dear daughter and sister,                                  Remembering what God hath wrought in and for Sheryl
                  SHERYL LYNN MARING                           Lynn, we say with the Psalmist,
whom the Lord took from our midst to His heavenly                 ". . . . .Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast
portals at mid-day, Tuesday, November 17, at the age           thou  .ordained  strength, because of Thine enemies, that
of 17 years and 17 days.                                       Thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger." Psalm
       It was Sheryl's earnest, constant and prayerful de-     8:1,2.
sire to be liberated from her earthly house and. great         The sorrowing family,
affliction. Uncomplaining and with great fortitude of                       Mr. and Mrs. Bert Maring
grace she was resigned and contented in her lot. God                          Robert Alan Maring
had gifted her with a melody in her heart, and with the                       Ruth Ann Maring


                                                THE~TANDARD   BEARER                                              105




                                      THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH
                                                   Chapter IX
                                 THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER
                                         (continued from Novem bev 15 issue)
                                                 Rev. H. Hoeksema
   Another interpretation of the connection between          that it behooves us by the meditations of faith to rise
the signs of the Lord's Supper and the things signified      on high and ascend into heaven, and that this body and
is denoted by the term  consubstantiation. It is not         blood of Christ are to be sought there, and in no wise
exactly a Lutheran term, although it is accepted by the      in union with the bread and wine of the holy supper."
Lutherans as being substantially correct as a repre-            It is not easy to understand clearly just exactly
sentation of their view. According to this term con-         what is the meaning of the Lutherans in their doctrine
substantiation, the Lutherans teach, in distinction from     of consubstantiation. Do they teach that the literal and
the sacramentarians, as they call the Reformed, and          natural flesh and blood of Christ are masticated by the
also in distinction from the Romish doctrine of tran-        teeth and swallowed by the mouth together with the signs
substantiation, that in the Lord's Supper the body and       of the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper? Some of
blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is really and substan-        their statements indeed leave the impression that this
tially present in, with, and under the signs of the bread    is their view. But in other parts of the Lutheran con-
and wine on the table of the Lord. It is well-known that     fessions it is emphasized that this eating and drinking
at the time of the Reformation a schism arose between        is after all something spiritual and a supernatural
the Reformed and the Lutherans about the question of         process.     The Lutherans base their view, of course,
the Lord's Supper. And although the Reformers agreed         especially on a literal interpretation of the words
on all the great and fundamental doctrines taught in the     spoken by the' Savior at the institution of the Lord's
Holy Scriptures, they could not agree on the view of         Supper on the night in which He was betrayed: "Take,
the Lord's Supper.     Several attempts were made to         eat; this is my body." And again: "Drink ye all of it;
heal the breach on this point and to effect a reconcili-     for this is my blood." These words must be taken in
ation; but all these attempts failed. The controversy        the literal sense of the word, according to them. This
at this time and on this point was rather bitter, es-        is insisted on in all the Lutheran confessions, such as
pecially on the part of the Lutherans. This is evident       the Formula of Concord and the Saxon Visitation Ar-
from the very language of the Formula of Concord, a          titles.     And proceeding from this literal interpreta-
Lutheran confession adopted in the year 1576. For            tion, the Lutherans teach the following:
there we read in the introduction to the article on the          1) That the body and blood of Christ is really and
Lord's Supper: "For a solid explanation of this con-         substantially present in the signs of the bread and
troversy it is first to be understood that there are         wine at the Lord's Supper.
two sorts of sacramentarians. For some are exceed-               2) This real and substantial presence of the body
ingly gross sacramentarians; these in perspicuous and        and blood of Christ in the signs of the Lord's Supper
plain words openly profess that which they think in their    must not be explained from any words of consecration
heart, to wit: that in the Lord's Supper there is nothing    spoken by man, but rather from the omnipotence of
more present than bread and wine, which alone acre dis-      Christ, Who sitteth at the right hand of God, by the
tributed and received with the mouth. But others are         union of the two natures in Christ. Cf. Formula of
astute and crafty, and thereby the most harmful of all       Concord, Article 5.
the sacramentarians: these, when talking of the Lord's           We must remember that the Lutherans teach, as is
Supper, make in part an exceedingly high sounding use        well-known, the ubiquity of the human nature of Christ.
of our mode of speaking, declaring that they too believe     Christ is not confined to heaven, but is everywhere ac-
in a true presence of the true, substantial, and living      cording to His human nature after His ascension. By
body and blood of Christ in the holy supper, which pres-     this they do not mean the same as the divine omni-
ence and manducation, nevertheless, they say, to be          presence or immensity, but they signify that Christ,
spiritual, such as takes place by faith, and yet these       not only by His Spirit and grace, but according to His
latter sacramentarians, under these high sounding            human nature is not confined locally to heaven, but is
phrases, hide and hold fast the same gross opinion           able to be present wherever He wants to be. And
which the former have, to wit, that besides the bread        therefore it is possible, according to them, for Christ
and wine, there is nothing more present or taken with        to be present in and under and with the signs of the
the mouth in the Lord's Supper. For the term (spivit-        bread and wine on the Lord's table.
ualitev)  signifies nothing more to them than the Spirit         3) The Lutherans emphasize that the body and
of Christ or the virtue of the absent body of Christ and     blood of Christ are received not by faith only, but also
His merit, which is present; but they think that the body    by the mouth, so that together with the signs of the
of Christ itself is in no way whatever present, but is       bread and wine in the Lord's Supper they also eat
contained above in the highest heaven, and they affirm       literally the body and blood of Christ.


  106                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

         4) Finally, the Lutherans teach that not only be-     dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever."
  lievers but also unbelievers receive, eat and drink          And again, in verse 47: "Verily, verily, I say unto you,
  the body and blood of Christ.                                He that believeth on me hath everlasting life."
         All this is taught in the Formula of Concord, as         It is very evident, therefore, that eating the bread
  well as in the Saxon Visitation Articles.                    of life and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ are
         Now as to the final Scriptural basis of this whole    identical. It is therefore not by literal manducation,
  conception, namely, the literal interpretation of the        but by faith alone that we can eat and drink the flesh
  words of the Lord spoken attheinstitutionof the Lord's       and blood of Christ.
  Supper, it is quite impossible to take these words lit-         Besides, it is well-known that in Scripture the word
  erally, for the simple reason that at the moment these       "is" must frequently be understood in the figurative
  words were spoken at the institution of the Lord's           sense. Thus, for example, in the sentence, "The seven
  Supper the Lord Himself was still present on earth           ears are seven years." The sense evidently is: "The
  with His disciples in His natural body and blood. His        seven ears signify the seven years." And the same is
  body was not yet broken, and His blood was not yet           true of such propositions as, "I am the living bread,"
  shed.      It follows that the Lord cannot have meant to     and again, "The field is the world." And therefore it
  say that the bread, which at the same time He held in        is certainly thoroughly Scriptural to interpret the
  His hand, was identical with His body, and that the wine,    words of Christ in the figurative sense of the terms.
  which at the time He offered toHis disciples in the cup,        The conception of the Lutheran church concerning
 was  identical with His blood. Hence, the figurative          the supper of the Lord constitutes a curious mixture
  interpretation, "this signifies my body and blood," not      of the physical and the spiritual. For after all, natural
  only gives good sense, but is the only possible inter-       eating and drinking is a purely physical act. Yet, by
  pretation. Besides, the natural flesh and blood of Christ    this physical act, according to the Lutherans, we are
  are no more. In the SaxonVisitation Articles it is stated    supposed to eat and drink the real and substantial body
  "that the true and natural body of Christ which hung on      and blood of Christ. But at the same time they reject
  the cross, and the true and natural blood, which flowed      the idea that we can literally manducate the body of
  from the side of Christ, are exhibited and received."        Christ and swallow His blood by that physical act, but
  But this is impossible. The natural body and blood of        insist upon it that in the Lord's Supper we perform a
  Christ as He received them from the VirginMary exist         spiritual and supernatural act of eating and drinking.
  no more in that form, and therefore cannot be exhibited      Again, according to them, unbelievers and those that
  and received. His body was broken and His blood was          are unworthy receive the body and blood of Christ as
  shed; and after His resurrection and ascension into          well as believers and those that are worthy. It is cer-
  heaven, He received an altogether different, spiritual,      tainly difficult to see how unbelievers can perform a
  heavenly body. And this spiritual, heavenly body be-         supernatural and heavenly act, even apart from the
  longs to heaven and is locally in heaven. Moreover,          fact that the literal eating and drinking of Christ's
  the eating and drinking of the flesh and blood of Christ     body and blood could not possibly be to the condemna-
  is an act of faith alone. This is evident from John 6, a     tion of the partakers. And therefore we must reject
  chapter that is often referred to as indirectly having       the Lutheran view of the Lord's Supper as unscriptural
  reference to the supper of the Lord. Now from this           and also as impossible. And, as we remarked in con-
  chapter it is very evident that eating of the flesh of       nection with the Romish view of transubstantiation,
  Christ is equivalent to believing. In John6:35 we read:      also the Lutheran view is principally exposed to the
  "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he        error that grace is in things. And the living Christ
  that cometh unto me shall never hunger; and he that          and all His grace can be received only by the spiritual
  believeth on me shall never thirst." And again, in           act of faith, and in no other way.
  verse 51: "I am the living bread which came down from           Before we explain the Reformed conception of the
  heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for      relation between the signs and the things signified in
  eve?; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I    the Lord's Supper, we must still call attention to the
  will give for the life of the world." But in verse 40        Zwinglian view. The traditional and generally accepted
  Jesus had said: "And this is the will of him that sent       representation of the Zwinglianview is that this reform-
  me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth        er did nor really see a sacrament at all in the Lord's
  on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him      Supper.    According to him, it was a mere feast of
  up at the last day." Andoncemore, in verses 53-58 we         commemoration. In the Lord's Supper there was really
  read: "Then said Jesus unto them, Verily, verily, I          no operation of God in Christ, but rather an act on the
  say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man,     part of the church. Now it is doubtful whether this rep-
  and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.  Whoso          resentation of the view of that reformer does complete
  eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hatheternal life;      justice to him. It is true.that he seems to belittle the
  and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh        supernatural element in the sacrament. Sometimes he
  is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that        rather stresses the act of believers rather than the
  eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me        work of God and the operation of Christ through His
  and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I       Holy Spirit in the Lord's Supper. And so he leaves the
  live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall      impression that to him the supper mainly serves the
live by me. This is the bread which came down from             purpose to commemorate the death of Christ. Never-
  heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are           theless, there are also expressions in his writings that


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    107

seem to prove the very contrary. Hence, it is not im-            The Heidelberg Catechism asks the question: "Why
possible that the above representation of his view con-       then doth Christ call the bread his body, and the cup his
cerning the supper of the Lord is not quite correct.          blood, or the new covenant in his blood; and Paul the
   It is not easy to understand always the significance       `communion of the body and blood of Christ'?" And the
which Calvin attached to this second sacrament. Some-         Catechism answers: "Christ speaks thus, not without
times he even seems to teach that in the Lord's Supper        great reason, namely, not only thereby to  teachus,  that
there is an influence of Christ's glorified body on be-       as bread and wine support this temporal life, so his
lievers, although this is probably to be takenin  the fig-    crucified body. and shed blood are the true meat and
urative sense of the word. For in other passages the          drink, whereby our souls are fed to eternal life; but
reformer clearly teaches the presence of the body and         more especially by these visible signs and pledges to
blood of Christ is in the signs only spiritually, and can     assure us, that we are as really partakers of his true
be eaten and drunk not by the mouth, but only by faith.       body and blood (by the operation of the Holy Ghost) as
He emphasizes that every imagination of a local pres-         we receive by the mouths of our bodies these holy
ence is to be entirely rejected. Christ as Man is now         signs in remembrance of him; and that all his suffer-
present only in heaven, and not upon earth; and there-        ings and obedience are as certainly ours, as if we had
fore His communion in the Lord's Supper is to be sought       in our own persons suffered and made satisfaction for
only by faith. Christ cannot be included in the earthly       our sins to God."
elements.                                                                          (to be continued)
   This is the teaching of the Reformed confessions.


                                                        cc&  7463  Wad,  .  I
                                                                                 (Psalm 68:ll)

                        THE EVANGELICAL APPROACH IN THE TIME OF CHRIST
                                                     Rev. C.  Hank0
   Dr. Daane writes in the October issue of the Re-           formed missionary on the New Mexico field teach this
fovm e& Jouvnal    under the  .heading "From 1924 to          song to hundreds of- Indian children. Confronted with
1964": "Yet today even critics of Professor Dekker's          the theological issue involved, the missionary gave this
position are openly acknowledging God's love for all          defence: `How else can I bring the gospel to them?' I
men.      This represents a tremendous change - and a         had to confess that I did not know. All preaching of the
tremendous gain. We may expect that this will bring           gospel, whether to children or adults, begins with a
about a profound- change in the pulpit messages of            proclamation of the love of God. Professor Dekker is
Christian Reformed Churches. And if it is true that           echoing the missionary on the field when he asserts
God loves all men, then silence on so profound and            that God loves all men, But he has brought this echo
glorious a truth has been a serious and sad-omission...       to the pulpit; he has made articulate whatwas  so large-
It is nothing less than surprising that Professor Dekker      ly muted. This is an historic advance, and the years
has accomplished so much so soon."                            ahead may well judge it to be his greatest theological
   It is not my intention to comment on this statement,       contribution;"
except to point out that Dr. Daane is convinced that Prof.       Here Dr. Daane points out that it has been the
Dekker's views on God's love for all men are another          practice among missionaries of the Christian Re-
stride beyond the position taken by the Christian Re-         formed churches for years to teach that God loves all
formed Church in 1924 in regard to the well-meant             men.      He even adds, "All preaching of the gospel,
offer of salvation, and that his views are commonly           whether to children or adults, begins with a proclama-
accepted in the church. This Daane considers a tre-           tion of the love of God." The fact that Professor Dek-
mendous gain. And he looks forward to even greater            ker is bringing this out in the open and on the pulpits
progress in that direction in the future, for God's love      must be considered an historic advance, possibly Pro-
for all men will be openly proclaimed from Christian          fessor Dekker's "greatest theological contribution."
Reformed pulpits. And then one only echoes his sur-              Now all this is staggering.            Especially because
prise when he says, "It is nothing less than surprising       Professor Dekker's assertion of God's love for the
that Professor Dekker has accomplished so much so             reprobate is praised as the greatest theological con-
soon!"                                                        tribution to Reformed theology. It is extolled as an
   But I am actually more interested in the statement         historic advance that this "so profound and glorious
made in the following paragraph of this article. There        truth" is now openly proclaimed from the pulpits of
he writes, "He (Prof. Dekker) did indeed only do what         their churches.      And all this without a single proof
Christian Reformed missionaries have long done under          from Scripture to substantiate his position that this is
the actual demands of preaching the gospel to pagans.         the profound and glorious truth of God's Word.
How many of them have taught pagan children on the               I wish to show in this present article that the
mission field, `Jesus loves me this I know, for the           preaching of John the Baptist did not begin with the love
Bible tells me so' 1 I once observed a Christian Re-          of God. I want to make clear beyond a shadow of doubt


108                                               THE STANDARD BEARER

that John's evangelical approach was not, "God loves          he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
you," and, "The coming Christ will die for you." In           whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge
fact, John's preaching contradicts that very statement        his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he
that "All preaching of the gospel, whether to children        wili.burn  up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
or adults, begins with a proclamation of the love of             We need only note here that he calls the Pharisees
God."                                                         and Sadducees a "generation of vipers," that is, chil-
       When we read the accounts of John's ministry by        dren of Satan. He condemns their self-righteousness
the various Gospel writers we ask ourselves, has God's        and points them to the righteousness in Christ as the
attitude toward all men changed since the old dispen-         only basis for their baptism. He makes a sharp dis-
sation? Was God's love limited then, and is it univer-        tinction between the good tree that is saved and the bad
sal now? And if it was universal even then, why did           tree that is hewn down and cast into the fire. And again
John the Baptist fail to make the whole world his mis-        he makes distinction between the wheat and the chaff,
sion field? Why did he limit his activities to Palestine,     for the wheat is gathered into the garner, and the chaff
no, to the wilderness about Jordan? Why did God call          Christ will burn up with unquenchable fire. From this
him to be a Nazarite, who spent his time in the wilder-       one must conclude that the wheat are the elect, and the
ness, dressed in camel's hair and wearing a leather           chaff is the reprobate; or again, the good tree repre-
girdle, eating locusts and wild honey? It was after all       sents those for whom Christ dies, while the bad tree
God's mandate that he should labor just there and no-         represents those of whom Christ says, "I never knew
where else. Now if his preaching even there had begun         you".
with the love of God the Bible would certainly have told
us so. And yet we read the very opposite. In Matthew             Before we criticize John as being a missionary who
3:2 we are told, "In those days came John the Baptist,        did not understand his calling or as unfit material to
preaching in the wilderness of Judea,  and saying, Re-        receive a call for the mission field of our day, we
pent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And in        should remember that he has the seal of God upon his
Luke 3:3 we read concerning John, "And he came into           work. All the gospel writers point out that John was
all the country around Jordan, preaching the baptism          the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, "The voice of
of repentance for the remission of sins."            John     one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of
preached to the people to expose their sins and guilt,        the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall
declaring to them the righteous condemnation of God           be filled, .and every mountain and hill shall be brought
and calling them to repentance. That is not by any            low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the
means the same as saying: "God loves you all; Christ          rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall
will die for you all".                                        see the salvation of the Lord." Lk. 3:4-b. And Christ
       And if there is still some doubt in our minds about    testifies of John, "Verily I say unto you, Among them
that, we need only read Matthew 3:7-12: "But when he          that are born of women there hath not risen a greater
saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his           than John the Baptist." Matthew 1O:ll. He was beyond
baptism, he said to them, 0 generation of vipers, who         dispute the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, who
hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring         in a short ministry of possibly a year and a half ful-
                                                              filled his calling, as the angel Gabriel had said to
forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: and think
not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our          Zacharias in the temple before John was born, "And
                                                              many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord
father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these         their God."
stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now
also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: there-          John spent his last days on earthinprison under the
fore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is        wrath of Herod,  whom John reproved "for Herodias
hewn down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you       his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which
with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me       Herod had done." Lk. 3:19.
is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear:                         (to be continued)


                                                 A CRY FOR HELP

       A few days ago I received a letter from one of the     Frame told us in our church that you are moved to
members of the churches of Jamaica associated with            another place.    Now, sir, I am putting this matter to
Rev. Frame. Having been in Jamaica and knowing the            you now in Jesus' name. I put it to pastor Frame first
struggle that most of these families have to survive          and he told me to hear from you if you can help. So I
from day to day, this letter made a strong impression         am sending to ask you if you can help me to get a little
upon me. And therefore I will copy it here for you to         work over there. I am asking you, sir, if you can seek
read:                                                         the way to take me over there, for the government said
"Dear Rev. Hanko,                                             that the only `way anybody can go over there is that he
       Greetings in the precious name of Jesus, our soon      must have somebody in the States to help him. I am
coming King.                                                  asking you, sir, both you and your wife, Mrs. Hanko,
       We wish we could see you again in our midst. And,      and the other brethren to help me in Jesus' name. For
please, sir, how is everything over there? Pastor             if I stay here I cannot help my family and my church,


                                                           THESTANDARDBEARER                                                         109

          because we fret too much for something. If God does               of Jamaica. Especially at this season of the year, how
          not stand on our side we die.     For, sir, we did thank          better can we express our thanks to God for all his un-
          you all for what we did receive here year before last.            speakable gifts of grace in Christ Jesus, than to help
          For while I am writing you now 1 have on one of the               those of whom Jesus said, "The poor ye have with you
          pants Rev. Frame gave me, our pastor. God bless you               always ?"      Repeatedly our churches are looking for
          and heaven shine upon you all, I will find the fare to            some channel through which they can carry out the
          come, sir, but am depending on you and your wife and              ministry of mercy and make use of their benevolence
          the brethren to seek the way for me. Remember, sir,               funds. Isn't this a splendid opportunity to do just that?
          I came down to the yard where both of you were stay-              And in doing so we are only following the example of the
          ing. How hard it is here to get work. Some depend on              New Testament church in the days of the apostles. "Then
          stealing, but. I can't do. that. God forbid. Thou shalt           the disciples, every man according to his ability, de-
          not steal. Psalm 6 says that there is no repentance               termined to send relief unto the brethren whichdwelt in
          in the grave, we must have repentance before we die.              Judea:  which also they did, and sent it to the elders by
I         If we did have work here so many people would not go              the hands of Barnabas and Saul." See also I Corinthians
          to England to seek work there. So, sir, I am asking               16:1-3.
     I    you to seek the way for me. God will bless you, Please                   I would suggest that if our Mission Committee or
          take good care of yourself and your wife, Mrs. Hanko.             some diaconate take it upon themselves to prepare a
          God bless you all. I am, Alvado Johnson."                         gift for the churches of Jamaica, Mr. Meulenberg, or
             All of us are very well aware of all the problems              one of the Mission Committee, who are acquainted .with
          involved in sponsoring someone to our country. We                 the needs and the circumstances there, be sent to
          also realize what this would mean to this man if he               supervise the distribution according to need. A small
          were compelled to leave his family in Jamaica and seek            amount for each needy family can supply them with
          work for himself here.                                            necessary substantial food for some time. And thus we
             But I wonder whether something cannot be done for              can relieve somewhat the heavy burden that many bear
          him and for many other needy families in the churches             in a land of poverty.

                                                     %d  Faix&w&
                                                     A RELEVANT SALVATION

                                                          Prof. H. C. Hoeksema

            "A Relevant Salvation," by Reginald E. 0. White,                to make his message acceptable tomodernman resulted
            132 pp., Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand                  in his complete failure to set forth the gospel of sin
            Rapids, Michigan. Price: $2.25                                  and grace according to the Scriptures.
             This is a book of brief sermons, written by an                        Preachers should remember that the gospel of
          English preacher and teacher. In eighteen chapters,               salvation has for six thousand years been relevant;
          divided into two main sections under the general                  any      artificial attempts to make it relevant  will
          headings, "The Modern Malaise" and "A Relevant                    necessarily result in a totally irrelevant preaching.
          Salvation,"    the author is supposed to set forth
          "Christianity as the only cure for modern man's
          malaise," according to the claim on the dust jacket.
             That the author is a master of the English language                                  IN MEMORIAM
          and that he knows the art of turning a nice phrase is             On Monday morning, November  16,  it pleased our
          undeniable.    Perhaps this is the only value the book            heavenly Father to take home to Him His dear son, our
          has.                                                              husband, father and grandfather,
             There is a good deal of this kind of religious                                       JOHN L. SCHUT
          literature on the market today.       It is supposed to           at the age of 62 years and a few days.
          represent the kind of preaching that is "revelant to the             Our hearts are comforted in the assurance that
          mood and temper of today's world."                                death held no terror for our beloved departed one; his
             In the opinion of this reviewer, the salvation pro-            confidence was strong and his hope firm to the end in
          claimed in these pages is neither salvation nor rele-             his Saviour, Jesus Christ.
          vant, however. It is not the latter because it is not the            We will lift up our eyes unto the hills. Psalm 121:l
          former. The gospel truths of sin and grace actually                  The sorrowing family,
          find no place in the book, although every sermon has                       Ella Schut (wife)
          its text and although the terminology  is frequently that                  Miss Angeline  Schut
          of Scripture and of orthodox theology.                                     Mr. and Mrs. Abe (Lucille) Westhouse
             The fundamental fault of the book, from the point                       Mr. and Mrs. Richard (Elisabeth) Hoexum
          of view of method, is that this type of preaching is                       Mr. and Mrs. John Schut, Jr.
          topical rather than expository. And from the point of                      21 grandchildren
          view of the contents, I. fear that the author's attempt                      3 great-grandchildren


                                                                       -                         _____~-_   -  -~-


110                                                THESTANDARDBEARER
                                      &ih%z%d* ym 7h g%&
                                      THE INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES
                                                     Rev.  H.  V'eldman
        We concluded our preceding article on the inspira-      faith, and life, is either expressly set down in Scrip-
tion of the Holy Scriptures with the observation that           ture, or by good and necessary consequence may be
no man has the right to assume any other attitude               deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at anytime
toward the divine Scriptures than that of humble sub-           is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit,
mission. God Himself wrote His own Word, and man                or traditions of men. Nevertheless we acknowledge the
should assume an attitude of neutrality over against            inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be,necessary
it?!                                                            for the saving understanding of such things as are re-
        Besides, that the unbeliever should be biased in his    vealed in the Word; and that there are some circum-
approach to the Word of God lies in the very nature of          stances concerning the worship of God, and govern-
the case. No man can be neutral as he approaches the            ment of the Church, common to human actions and so-
Word of God. The matter of our approach to the Holy             cieties, which are to be ordered by the light of nature
Scriptures is necessarily and fundamentally an ethical           and. Christian prudence, according to the general rules
matter.       The Bible is not an ordinary book. We can         of the Word, which are always to beobserved."
read any other book and immediately forget it. But the              Art. VIII: "The Old Testament in Hebrew (which
Bible is the Word of God. And therefore it lies in the          was the native language of the people of God of old),
very nature of the case that our attitude toward the            and the New Testament in Greek (which at the time of
Bible will be the same as our attitude toward God. And          the writing of it was most generally known to the na-
in our attitude toward the living God we either love            tions), being immediately inspired by God, and by his
Him or hate Him. No man is neutral in his relation to           singular care and providence kept pure in all ages, are
God. Every man is governed either bylove or hatred of           therefore authentical; so as in all controversies of re-
the living God. God, Who wrote His Word, also operates          ligion the Church is finally to appeal unto them. But
in the heart and life of every mortal. He either sheds          because these original tongues are not known to all the
His love abroad in our hearts and draws us to Himself;          people of God who have right unto, and interest in the
or He hardens the sinner, blinds his heart and eyes,            Scriptures, and are commanded, in the fear of God, to
and realizes in him His counsel of reprobation. We              read and search them, therefore they are to be trans-
believe, therefore, that the Bible is divinely inspired,        lated into the vulgar language of every nationunto which
and we will never assume any other attitude toward it           they come, that the Word of God dwelling plentifully in
than that of faith and humble submission.                       all, they may worship him in an acceptable manner, and,
MAINTAINED BY THE CONFESSIONS                                   through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, may
        1. The Gallican or French Confession speaks of          have hope."
divine inspiration in Art. V, and we quote: "We be-                 Art. IX: "The infallible rule of interpretation of
lieve that the Word contained in these books has pro-           Scripture is the Scripture itself; and therefore, when
ceeded from God, and receives its authority from him            there is a question about the true and full sense of any
alone, and not from men. And inasmuch as it is the              Scripture (which is not manifold, but one), it must be
rule of all truth, containing all that is necessary for         searched and known by other places that speak more
the service of God and for our salvation, it is not law-        clearly."
ful for men, nor even for angels, to add to it, to take             Art. X: "The Supreme Judge, by which all contro-
away from it, or to change it. Whence it follows that           versies of religion are to be determined, and all de-
no authority, whether of antiquity, or custom, or num-          crees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doc-
bers, or human wisdom, or judgments, or proclama-               trines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined,
tions, or edicts, or decrees, or councils, or visions,          and in whose sentences we are to rest, can be no other
or miracles, should be opposed- to these Holy Scrip-            but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scriptures."
tures, but, on the contrary, all things should be ex-           3. OUR BELGIC CONFESSION OR THIRTY-SEVEN
amined, regulated, and reformed according to them.                  ARTICLES
And therefore we confess the three creeds, to wit: the              Art. III: "We confess that this Word of God was not
Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian, becausethey          sent nor delivered by the will of man, but that holy men
are in accordance with the Word of God.                         of  God spake as they  weye  moved by the Holy Ghost, as
2. WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH                              the Apostle Peter saith. And that afterwardsGod,  from
        Art. IV: "The authority of the holy Scripture, for      a special care which he has for us and our salvation,
which it ought to be believed and obeyed, -dependeth            commanded his servants, the prophets and apostles,
not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly         to commit his revealed word to writing; and he him-
upon God (who is truth itself), the Author thereof; and         self wrote with his own finger, the two tables of the
therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word          law'. Therefore we call such writings, holy and divine
of God."                                                        Scriptures." In this article our fathers declare that
        Art. VI: "The whole counsel of God, concerning all      the Word of God was not sent or delivered by the will
things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation,            of man, but that holy men of God spake as they were


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  111

moved by the Holy Ghost. In no sense of the word,             DIVINE INSPIRATION MAINTAINED BY THE SCRIP-
therefore, is the Bible to be regarded as a work of              TURES
man.                                                             First, -there are passages in the Word of God that
   Art. V.: "We receive all these books, and these            directly teach the doctrine of divine infallible inspira-
only, as holy and canonical, for the regulation,~founda-      tion. We read in Matt. 5:17-18: "Think not that I am
tion, and confirmation of our faith; believing without        come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not
any doubt, all things contained in them, not so much          come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto
because the Church received and approves them as              you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle
such, but more especially because the Holy Ghost wit-         shall in no wise pass from thelaw, till all be fulfilled."
nesseth in our hearts, that they are from God, whereof        Please notice that the Lord declares that not one jot
they carry the evidence in themselves. For the very           or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law until
blind are able to perceive that the things foretold in        all be fulfilled. This surely means that all the law and
them  are  fulfilling."                                       the prophets infallibly speak the truth. In 2 Tim. 3:16
   Art. VI: "We distinguish those sacred books from           we read: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God,
the apocryphal, viz. : the third and fourth books of          and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for cor-
Esdras, the books of Tobias,  Judith, Wisdom, Jesus           rection, for instruction in righteousness." There are
Syrach, Baruch, the appendix to the book of Esther, the       those who would read "every scripture" instead of
Song of the three Children in the Furnace, the history        "all scripture." The idea, then, would be that all that
of Susannah, of Bell and the Dragon, the prayer of            is contained in the Bible is not "scripture," and that
Manasses, and the two books of the Maccabees. All             only "every scripture" is given by inspiration of God.
of which the Church may read and take instruction from,       Of course, then one stands before the hopeless problem
so far as they agree with the canonical books; but they       of determining what is and what is not "scripture." But
are far from having such power and efficacy, as that          the test must certainly be understood as reading: "All
we may from their testimony confirm any point of              Scripture is given by inspiration of God." The whole
faith, or of the Christian religion; much less detract        Bible is inspired by God. "Scripture" always refers
from the authority of the other sacred books."                in the Bible to the entire Bible.
   Art. VII: "We believe that those Holy Scriptures              Secondly, we would call attention to the word
fully contain the will of God, and that whatsoever man        "prophet" in the Bible.       The meaning of this word
ought to believe, unto salvation, is sufficiently taught      surely emphasizes the idea of Divine inspiration.
therein.    For, since the whole manner of worship,           Scripture speaks of the Old Testament as the "law
which God requires of us, is written in them at large,        and the prophets." Of interest are such passages as
it is unlawful for any one, though an apostle, to teach       Ex. 7:1, 4:14-16, Jeremiah 36:17,18, 1:9, Isaiah 51:16.
otherwise than we are now taught in the Holy Scriptures:      In Ex. 7:l we are told that the Lord had made Moses
nay, though it were an angel from heaven, as the apostle      a god unto Pharaoh, and that Aaron his brother would
Paul saith. For, since it is forbidden, to add unto or        be Moses' prophet. In Ex. 4:15-16 we read: "And thou
take away anything from the word of God, it doth there-       shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and
by evidently appear, that the doctrine thereof is most        I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will
perfect and complete in all respects. Neither do we           teach you what ye shall do. Andhe shall be thy spokes-
consider of equal value any writings of men, however          man unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be
holy these men may have been, with those divine               to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him in-
Scriptures, nor ought we to consider custom, or the           stead of God." So, Moses will put the words into the
great multitude, or antiquity, or succession of times         mouth of Aaron, and the Lord will be with the mouth of
and persons, or councils, decrees or statutes,, as of         Moses, and He will teach them what they shall do. And
equal value with the truth of God, for the truth is above     in Jeremiah 1:9, 36:17-18 we read: "Then the Lordput
all; for all men are of themselves liars, and more vain       forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord
than vanity itself: Therefore, we reject with all our         said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy
hearts, whatsoever doth not agree with this infallible        mouth . . . . . And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us how,
rule, which the apostles have taught us, saying, Try          How didst thou write all these words at his mouth?
the spirits whether they are of God.        Likewise, if      Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these
there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine,         words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with
receive him not into your house."                             ink in the book."



                     "My solemn opinion upon the holding back the doctrine of eternal election
                 from congregations is that it arises either from want of knowledge, or from want
                 of faith. A preacher that does not know of it cannot be expected to preach it; and
                 he that does not thoroughly believe it, will not, dare not broach it; but he whose
                 mind has received it would as soon think of betraying Jesus by a kiss as not to
                 proclaim it."
                                                                                          -Wm. Parks


112                                               THESTANDARDBEARER





                                  A NEW CONFESSION FOR PRESBYTERIANS
                                                      Rev.  H,  Hank0

       This is the age of ecumenicism, the era of church        confessions listed above will be little more than
union. With all this church union comes, sadly enough,         historical curiosities without any binding authority in
doctrinal indifference and decay. One would think that         the church, while the new confession will be the real
if, as some claim, this is the golden age of the church        working document of the denomination.
when, as never before, the church is seeking the unity             There are two parts to the new confession entitled
of the body of Christ, that these years would be char-          "God's Word Of Reconciliation" and "The Church's
acterized by increased doctrinal interest, by flourish-        Ministry Of Reconciliation". The first part has three
ing doctrinal studies, by important developments of the        sections: "The Grace Of Our Lord Jesus Christ",
truth.      But quite the contrary is the case. In their        "The Love Of God" and "The Communion Of The
haste to come together, churches coldly shoulder               Holy Spirit". The second part has four sections: "The
doctrine aside. The towering truths of the church of           Mission Of The Church", "The Equipment Of The
all ages are cast away. The precious heritage of the           Church"-- by which equipment they mean word, prayer
Reformation is scorned.         The glorious fruit of the       and prais.e, baptism, and the Lord's Supper, -- "The
struggles of the church against error is mocked. And            Order Of The Church" and "The Fulfillment Of
the churches that seek the unity of the ecclesiastical          Reconciliation."
world become mired in ambiguities, vague statements                There are several notable features of thedocument.
of "belief," downright heresies and silly disputations             1) In the first place it contains almost no texts
about trivia.                                                  from Scripture. It mentions only II Corinthians 5:18
       Perhaps the most startling example of this (at least    which becomes the main theme, as is evident also
among Calvinistic denominations) is to be found in             from the headings. (.Although we may notice paren-
recent attempts in the United Presbyterian Church to            thetically that the whole idea of reconciliation is cor-
rewrite its confessions.                                        rupted.) It concludes with the well-known benediction
       This denomination stands historically on the basis       of Eph. 3:20, 21. This failure to refer at all to Scrip-
of the Westminster Confessions, which are strongly             ture really characterizes the document, for it is not a
Calvinistic.     The attempt to substitute something else      statement of God's truth, but of men's philosophy.
in the place of them began officially more than six                2) In the second place it openly rejects the truth of
years ago. The fruit of these six years of labor is a          the infallibility of Scripture; it avoids all mention of the
new "confession," which is supposed to become the              Virgin Birth of Christ; it speaks of a second coming in
"working constitution" of "today's church."                     somewhat vague language, but does not mention hell; it
       The final draft of the "new confession" has not         ignores such cardinal truths as predestination, sover-
yet been submitted to the church for approval; but a            eign salvation, creation, etc. In fact, one looks in vain
working copy in its final stages of preparation has            for any definition of any truth. Doctrine simply is of
been made public.         It will be submitted to the next     no concern. Thus, this is really not a "confession"
General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church              at all. "To confess" means "to speak with" God and
in 1965.                                                       in the fellowship of believers. It means to speak God's
       Those who are laboring for this revision of the         truth. For this reason, the confessions of the church
creeds would really like to see all the old confessions        have always been statements of what the church
of the church simply filed away in the library of his-         believes to be the truth of Scripture. But this wretched
torical documtnes of interest to scholars who want to          document is a statement of the opinions of men.
study the evolution of the church through the ages to              In connection with this, it seems but natural that
its present modern form. But they have not dared do            the doctrine that is taught is nothing but heresy con-
this yet, for there is still opposition. One of their          demned by the church in her previous confessions. To
spokesmen says, they will not venture to "repeal" the          mention only one, the heresy of universalism is openly
Westminster Confession but will honor it as "the               stated in various ways.
great theological document of our tradition in the                 3)  Thirdly, the greater share of the document deals
seventeenth century." So they are proposing that all           with social questions; and it thus follows the modern-
the previous confessions of the church be incorporated         istic trend to substitute for the preaching of the cross
into one document as a sort of "book of tradition."            a social gospel. It considers as more important than
These confessions would include the Apostle's Creed,           questions of the truth, problems of war and race and
the Nicene Creed, the  Scats Confession, the Heidelberg        poverty.
Catechism, the Second Helvetic Confession, the West-               4) Finally, the entire "confession" is thoroughly
minster Confession, the Barmen Declaration and the             humanistic, man-centered and man-glorifying. It is,
new confession that is being proposed.                         in every part of it, a repudiation of the truth that God
       However, when this decision is finally taken by the     alone is God and that all praise must be His. It is an
church (and there is some vagueness about this -               open denial of the very heart of the Calvin Reforma-
almost deception), the practical result will be that the       tion: "Soli Deo Gloria". It is dedicated to man.


                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     113

   Some quotes briefly made will demonstrate the truth            CONCERNED PRESBYTERIANS
of this. The quotes are taken from  Christianity Today,
and the Pyesbytevian  Jouvml.                                       Although all over the country denominations are
   In its preamble, it finds its man-centered keynote             drifting more and more the way of apostasy, there
and speaks of all the good to be found in all kinds of            remain in these denominations groups of ministers and
other religions.                                                  laymen usually in the minority, who are determined to
       Since Christianity is man's historical response to         maintain the historical and orthodox position of the
   God's act in Christ, it is fallible and infused with           church. They are a minority consistently out-voted in
   elements belonging to the natural religiosity of sinful        ecclesiastical assemblies, constantly spurned by the
   men . . . . As a human pheonomenon the Christian               majority in their position, but retaining hopes that the
   religion may benefit from the wisdom of other reli-            church to which they belong will change. Their efforts
   gions, as well as from secular institutions and move-
   ments . . . When in other religions some echo of God's         are generally futile for they have little official influence
   Word       of grace and reconciliation is heard, the           in the church, and the result is that the denomination
   Christian rejoices.                                            continues its perilous journey in spite of them.
   On Jesus-Christ the document says:                                 Recently, in the Presbyterian Church US (Southern)
                                                                  there were a group of people who decided to do some-
       Jesus lived among sinners and called them his              thing more concrete than simply bemoan privately the
   brothers.         He shared with them the temptation and
   suffering that trap other men into bondage to sin, yet         spiritual decay of their denomination. They organized
   he sought the will of God and lived in perfect obedience       a group called "Concerned Presbyterians." They are
   to him.        He was truly man as God intends man to be.      determined to attempt a "spiritual awakening" within
       The statement that Jesus Christ is "very God and           their denomination in the hopes that this will bring
   very man" is intended by Christians today, as long             back the church to its historical position.
   ago, to affirm the uniqueness and the mystery of God's             A statement of their concern is worth quoting in full.
   reconciling act in Jesus Christ.
   On God:                                                               We are concerned:  -
                                                                      1) Because the primary mission of the  Church-
       This affirmation is not intended to answer questions           winning people to Jesus Christ and nurturing them in
   about the origin of matter or of species. Rather it is             the faith- is being compromised today by over-
   to acknowledge God's goodness to man . . . .                     emphasis on social, economic and political matters,
   On Scripture:                                                      forgetting the basic necessity for regeneration.
       The sufficiency of the Bible does not depend upon                 2) Because the integrity and authority of the Word
   the certainty with which its various authors can be                of God are being questioned by dubious theories of
   identified.       Neither is it derived from regarding the         revelation in some of the literature of the Church.
   Bible as a book of  inerrant  and infallible formu-                   3) Because some presbyteries no longer require
   lations. . . .                                                     complete loyalty to the Westminster Confession of
   On other religions:                                                Faith and the Catechisms.
                                                                         4) Because the plan to establish a central treasurer
       As a human phenomenon the Christian religion may               now approved by the General Assembly indicates a
   benefit from the wisdom of other religions, as well as             determination to regiment the benevolence giving of the
   from secular institutions and movements.                           Church's members by equalizing their gifts  - in effect
   On mission:                                                        actually thwarting the wishes of the donors.
       Each Christian participates in the mission of the                 5) Because contined membership in the National
   church by the quality and spirit of his relations with             Council of Churches involves us in activities, pro-
   other persons and the work he does in the world. His               nouncements and programs of which we strongly dis-
   participation may take the form of  tellmg his neighbor            approve; and repeated protests to that body have been
   of God's forgiveness; of personal help or shared con-              ignored.
   cern; it may prompt him to resist an unjust law or                    6)  Because another determined effort has been
   government, a selfish pressure group, or an irres-                 started to effect a union of the Presbyterian Church
   ponsible employer. He may be led to change vocation                US with the United Presbyterian Church USA which is
   or party, or even to break with the system altogether              now engaged in negotiations to unite with denomina-
   and rebel against constituted authority. . . .                     tions that do not adhere to the Reformed faith.
   There are then included statements, concerning
"race", "war" and "poverty".                                          "I can compare some ranting Arminian preachers
   There is not one single false religion that'could not          who present salvation as a matter of chance, and press
find some room to stand under the protecting wing of              men to help forward their own conversion . . . to none
this "confession."           There is no single heresy that       so well as to auctioneers, who with the hammer in
could not be satisfied with this expression of "faith."           their hands are always bawling out, `Now is your
That is, there is room for all viewpoints except the              time-going, going . .  ." Such a method is equally
truth. For the truth of Scripture there is no room at             inconsistent with the analogy of faith, and subversive
all. Everything and everyone can be tolerated except              of the majesty of the Gospel. Shall I order a dead soul
the truth of Scripture and those who confess it.                  to awake and raise itself to life?            Let me rather
   As a confession, it is an expression of a sick and              address the living and say, `Awake, and put on Thy
degenerate church that speaks the weak and beggarly               strength, 0 Arm of the Lord          Breathe on these slain
philosophy of an ecumenically-obsessed church which               that they may live I"
despises God and dishonors his name.                                                                             A. M. Toplady


.114                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER

           Further, all persons becoming members of this                   3) To work for withdrawal of membership in and
        organization of Concerned Presbyterians are asked to           support of the National Council of Churches.
        express their concerns in some or all of the following             4) To encourage and work for the  uilion  of  evangel-
        ways:                                                          ical Christians who embrace the Gospel according to
           1) To pray regularly for a spiritual awakening in           the Reformed faith.
        the Church, beginning with me, and extending through-              5) To oppose any plan which has as its express or
        out the pews, pulpits, boards, agencies and  institu-          implied goal union with bodies not holding to Reformed
        tions of the Church.                                           faith.
         2) To devote time daily to the reading of God's
        Word, seeking earnestly to know His will for my own            We have some comments  we would like to make on
        life and for the solution of the problems facing the       this venture in the Southern Presbyterian Church; but
        Church.                                                    will have to hold them for the time being.


                                         &ad&tip   ~ccdmw&a4S2~

                                           MOTIVATION FOR  ECUMENICALSM

                                                         Rev. G. Van  Baven

        That ecumenicalism has made rapid strides in re-                   At this point we turn first to the high priestly
 cent decades is beyond dispute. In the past "Great                    prayer of our Lord; contained in the seventeenth
 Century," denominations have united; co-operation be-                 chapter of the Gospel of St. John. Precisely because
 tween churches has increased; councils of churches                    we have heard so very often the words "that they all
 have been established. And the end is not yet.~ The                   may be one, " we are inclined to take them for granted
                                                                       instead of asking what `they mean in the context of the
 great fissure separating Roman Catholicism  and  Prot-                whole prayer.
 estantism, which seemed so permanent just a few short                     . . . What, then, do we learn about unity in John 17?
 years ago, more and more is being bridged. No longer                  We note, first of all, that most explicit teaching about
 are heard statements declaring the impossibility of                   unity comes to us in the form of a prayer. That means
 uniting these two.                                                    that the unity to which we are called is unity which is
        But the progress made, slow though it may appear               received and not unity which is fabricated by ourselves.
 to be to the ecumenicalist, has gone much beyond the                  The gathering of the scattered children of God is God's
 understanding of the "man in the pew." The move-                      own work in which we are allowed to participate and
 ment has been under the direction of certain leaders                  which we cannot possibly take over. And our partici-
 (usually liberal) in the church. But the lay member                   pation is, in the first place, by opening ourselves up
                                                                       through prayer. Unity is not self-evident. There is
 has not reached the point where he can see the press-                 no unity in this world that is not constantly threatened.
 ing urgency for union and oneness; in fact, he is often               We must pray for the renewal of unity where it exists,
 opposed to union, -- and is carried along only against                for the restoration of unity where it is broken.
 his will. Therefore the concern of ecumenical leaders                     Now we should note that the unity here described
 today is the instruction of the lay member in those                   has different aspects, or dimensions.         There  ,is a
 "self,-evident truths" of ecumenicalism so that there                 dimension of height -- the vertical dimension which
 may grow an increasingly greater desire for oneness                   concerns the unity which the Son together with His
 at the "grass roots level." For,  ,if the lay members                 flock have with the Father. There is a dimension of
 of the churches do not support the present drive to-                  length- the horizontal dimension in time which con-
 wards union, the entire ecumenical movement must                      cerns the unity of the apostles with those who come
 eventually collapse. It is rather interesting, then, to               later to believe in Jesus. And there is the dimension
                                                                       of breadth- the horizontal dimension in space which
 read the arguments given to support ecumenicalism,                    has to do with the unity of those in all lands and places
 presented usually in such a simple way that even the                  who follow the one Lord.
 "milkman from Kansas" (as one author put it) may                           . . . But now we come to a paradox. This unity,
 understand.        I group the many arguments given under             comparable to the oneness of the Father and the Son,
 a three-fold division.                                                might seem to be a highly esoteric, intangible, mystical
 "...THAT THEY MAY ALL BE ONE."                                        unity. What, then, must we make of the fact that, ac-
                                                                       cording to Jesus' own words, the purpose and function
         The ecumenicalist freely quotes Scripture. That               of this unity is to convince the world that Jesus is truly
 is true even of those who deny the infallibility of that              sent by the Father and that the Father loves and seeks
 Word of God. The passage quoted probably more often                    His scattered children everywhere? These words, "so
 than any other is John 17. Take time to read the pas-                 that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me"
                                                                       (verse  23); can only mean that there is something to
 sage, especially verse 21: "That they all may be one...               be seen, that this unity becomes clearly manifest in
 that the world may believe that thou hast sent me."                   ways which are sufficiently unusual in the eyes of the
 An  ,exposition  of this passage is given by Dr. W.A.                 world to make people sit up and take notice. If it is to
 Visser `t  Hooft, general secretary for the World                     convince them, it must obviously be a unity different
 Council of Churches, part of which I quote.                           from the many unities which they know already - such


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          115

   as social, political, national, cultural, ideological uni-         is not enough," argued the youth delegates to New
   ties.     It must be a unity that cannot be explained in           Delhi (at the third assembly of the World Council of
   terms of  the,ordinary  motives by which  menare  driven           Churches-V.B.)  passionately. "We will not be really
   to unity. It must overcome barriers which seem in-                 united until each Christian, regardless of his creed
   superable.      It must make `man ask: What is this un-            or ordination, is welcome in every church at our Lord's
   known force that brings men together in spite of their             Table."4
   separateness?       It must refer man back to the One who          Not only is this church union essential for mission-
   gathers His people together out of all races and na-          ary labors, though primarily for that reason, but also
   tions.      It is, therefore, quite wrong to think of the     this union is required because of the entire world
   spiritual unity of John 17 in terms of an invisible unity,
   as a Platonic idea or a fine sentiment hid in the souls       situation of our day. Exactly when the world about us
   of the faithful, which does not find concrete expression      manifests such great disunity, the church must point
   in their common life and their common witness. The            the way to proper unity:
   world is to believe because of the unity of the church.                 A  visible. unity of the church appears still more
   . . . The unity that reflects the union of the Father and          urgent when we reflect on the significance of its gospel
   the Son must become manifest on earth in the actual                for society at large. The church is trying to tell the
   life of the Church, in its message and in its outward              world that the reconciliation of its clashing peoples
   order, in the mutual relations of its members and its              and divided communities can be achieved through
   united action in the world.1                                       Christ.      But the world will surely be skeptical until
   Other passages are also often quoted and comment-                  the church which makes the claim gives clearer evi-
ed upon. Among these passages are Ephesians 4:1-16                    dence of that reconciling power in its own institutional
(also often mentioned by the ecumenicalist), Acts 1:4-8;              life.5
Philippians 2: l- 11; Galatians 2: 1- 10; I Corinthians          ` `YOUTH . . . THE HOPE OF TOMORROW"
10:16-18 and others.         The above quotation will give
you some idea concerning the interpretations of these                 In addition to the above "grounds" for ecumeni-
other passages as well.                                          calism, there appear to be great pressures placedupon
                                                                 the leaders of the churches of the world by the youth
THE SCANDAL OF DIVISIONS
   There are presented many practical motives for                of today. At least according to one author, the youth
union of churches. There is the expressed fear of too            want union NOW. They are impatient, restless. They
                                                                 want to see action and results. And if the church will
much "bureaucracy" in one unified church, yet such               not accommodate itself to them, the churchis in danger
union is considered necessary for the sake of the mis-           of losing them altogether. The following shows this to
sion endeavor  of'the church. There is, for instance,            be a fact:
this common reaction:                                                      "Church orators are always talking about `youth
      It was the bishop of a missionary Church, Bishop                as the hope of tomorrow,' but we happen to be around
   Azariah of Dornakal, India, who said in Edinburgh in          '    todayl" protested a youth delegate at New Delhi. "I
   1910: "Unity may be theoretically a desirable ideal in             always understood that when we were baptized into the
   Europe and America, but it is vital to the life of the             Church, we  were members! To me the Church seems
   Church in the mission field. The divisions of Christen-            more concerned in preserving its own institutions than
   dom may be a source of weakness in Christian  coun-
 tries, but in non-Christian lands they are a sin and a               in grappling with the issues of our times. Why weren't
                                                                      we taught in Sunday School about the exciting march
   scandal."2                                                         toward unity among the churches of the world? We
   With this sentiment, Dr. W.A. Visser `t  Hooft                     spent our time dawdling around with Moses in the
agrees:                                                               bulrushes  1~~6
      It is not simply that the missionary  and evange-               The poor boy! Imagine -- spending all his valuable
   listic outreach of the churches requires a common             boyhood "dawdling around withMoses  in the bulrushes!"
   strategy and a certain amount of co-operation. Th'it          But such is the type of pressure being applied by the
   is, of course, true, but it is only a small part of what      youth upon the leaders of the churches. Youth wants
   is  required for the adequate fulfillment of the task of      unity.
   witness.                                                                     And with this agitation for unity, more and
                 The real issue has to do with the content of
   the witness. The question arises whether it is possible       more of the leaders and lay members express agree-
   to speak convincingly of the true meaning of the Church       ment.          "As one layman at New Delhi urged: `Do not
   of Christ without proclaiming that the  .Church  is one       continue to play solo instruments but let us join in
   and without manifesting that oneness in a  concrete           Christ's great orchestra so that together we can play
   and visible manner.3                                          the oratorio of redemption.' "7
   And again, the lady who would present ecumenical-                  To attain this goal of unity, the youth appeared ready
ism in terms understandable even to the "milkman                 to run roughshod over the confession and practice of
from Kansas", put it this way:                                   the church.
      ,The division of Christian missionaries into sects                   When older church leaders tried to explain the
   has long confused  non-believers who puzzled, "Is                  historical background which had led. to the ancient
   Christ Lutheran or Methodist? Or Anglican?" Not                    liturgical churches restricting the Bread and Wine
   that creeds are to be done away with; far from it.                 to their own members, the young people retorted im-
   But the color of each church's contribution will paint             patiently, "But this is the twentieth century! We are
   a triumphant picture of the whole Christ, the same                 not interested in squabbles between theologians a
   Saviour brilliantly illumined  .when  seen through the             thousand years ago! Christ said, `This is my body
   eyes of many creeds and cultures. Yet there is still a             -broken  for you and for many . ...' Does this mean what
   long steep way to climb. "Praying and acting together              it says or doesn't  it?"8


116                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER

       That, dear reader, is "youth as the hope of tomor-
row." I tremble when I think of such a tomorrow.                  4. Grace Nies Fletcher, The Whole  Wovld's   i'n His
                                                                      Hand, E. P. Dutton & Co., p. 44
1. W.A. Visser `t  Hooft,  The  Pressure  of  our  Com-           5:  Samuel  McCrea  Cavert,  On the Road to Christian
       mon Calling, Doubleday, pp. 80-83                              Unity, p. 154
2. Paul Griswold Macy, If It Be of God, Bethany Press,            6. Grace Nies Fletcher, op. cit., p. 97        '
       p. 121                                                     `8. ibid., p. 133
3. W.A. Visser `t Hooft, op. cit., pp. 40, 41                       . ibid., p. 99


                                         pl? &it&! tq WW4&4
                                                     NAOMI  -  MARA
                                                     Rev. B. Woudenbevg

                            So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to
                         pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved
                         about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?
                            And she said unto them, Call  me  not Naomi, call me  Mava:  for the
                         Almighty  bath dealt  very  bitterly  with me.
                            I went out  fill, and the LORD hath  bvought  me home again empty:
                         why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD  bath testified against me,
                         and the Almighty  h&h afflicted me?
       As Naomi .passed  over the border from Moab into           nant. Her husband and sons were dead, and there were
Israel, a  glimmer of light burst forth upon her, al-             no children left to carry on their name into the prom-
though she was not yet ready to perceive its deepest              ised days of Israel's glory, which some day would
significance.                                                     surely come. There were the two young widows of her
       Moab had proved to be for her a horror of darkness.        children, but she had no more sons and would have no
She had come into the land full, with a faithful husband          more who would be able to bring up children unto their
and two. fine children. They had come there to escape             brothers. Moreover, they were Moabites. They were
a famine which had fallen upon Israel because of its              good girls, they always had been. They had never ob-
wickedness, a wickedness in which they had not taken              jected to their worship of Jehovah, but had taken part
part `and for which they had not felt that they should be         in it willingly.     But they were Moabites, and it had
held responsible. At first it had gone well with them             been contrary to the law for her sons to marry them
there, and `it had seemed to be a wise move. Life was             in the beginning. Surely it could not be expected that
easier in Moab than Israel. So their stay had lingered            any of their kinsmen in Israel would feel any responsi-
on, even though they were very much alone there in the            bility toward them. Neither could she be certain that
service of Jehovah. It was then that the first blow fell          their participation in the worship of Jehovah was any-
upon ,her, her husband died. It had been a hard blow,             thing more than the goodness of .their nature. The
but her sons had grown and were ready to marry two                place of Elimelech's family in Israel and in the cove-
fine Moabitish young women. So she had tarried until              nant of Jehovah was as good as ended. There was
the second blow fell, harder than the first, and her sons         nothing left for her to do but to return to her land and
had died in quick succession. Naomi was left empty,               her country and live out her days in the sorrow of
without livelihood, husband, or children. This for a              repentance.
child of Israel was a terrible thing, not just from a                 It was when Naomi came to the border of Israel,
material point of view, but spiritually too. It meant             accompanied by her daughters-in-law, that an entirely
that her family, the family of her husband and children,          new thing happened which Naomi had not expected. She
had come to its end in the covenant of Jehovah. For, in           counselled the girls to return to their homes and their
spite of their long stay in Moab, Naomi and her family            country because there was no future for them in Israel,
held the love of God within their hearts. They had al-            and Orpah had consented. But Ruth refused to go. Her
ways known that they belonged to Israel and that some             reason was sincere and beautiful, "Intreat  me not to
day they would have to return. It was just that other             leave thee, or to return from following after thee:"
considerations had always seemed to interfere, until              she said, "For whither thou goest, I will go; and where
now at last it was too late. The family of Elimelech              thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people,
had become a dead branch.                                         and thy God my God: where thou diest, will I die, and
       At last Naomi began to understand; it was the hand         there will I be buried; the LORD doso to me, and more
of the Lord that afflicted them. They had never joined            also, if ought but death part thee and me." Here was a
in the idolatrous sins of Israel; but they had sinned             confession of faith to.which the faith of Naomi could not
just the same in going to dwell among the heathen.                help but respond. Ruth knew where Naomi was going.
Thus God had cut them off from the line of the cove-              She was going to a life of repentance and sorrow, with


                                                   THESTANDARDBEARER                                               117

no promise of hope for the future. The hand of the           to approach them and introduce herself. She preferred
Lord had afflicted Naomi and there was nothing left          to bear her sorrow alone.
for her but to live out her days in the patient acknow-        Slowly but unerringly the two women passed through
edgement of her transgression. But still Ruth spoke          the village to the place where Elimelech's house stood,
with unwavering resolution, for with Naomi there was         It was all that remained of the once proud and prosper-
still one thing which was more important than anything       ous estate; and after so many uninhabited years, it had
that Moab could provide: a true religion and a living        fallen into disrepair close to ruin. But it was the only
God. All that she had learned from Naomi and Chilion         place they had to which to go, and Naomi felt no incli-
had penetrated deeply into her heart and had changed         nation to impose herself upon any other. Into the house
her whole life. She firmly believed that their country       Ruth and Naomi entered and began todo what they could
was the country of promise, that their people were the       to prepare it again for habitation.
people of God's own choice, that their God was the only         Then it was that the citizens of Bethlehem began to
real God of mercy and power. She could not return            suspect who it was that had come so quietly into their
from that faith and worship back to the superficial          village.     It was now many years since Elimelech and
folly of Moab. No matter what the cost might be, this        his family had left for Moab with the promise that they
was a faith which had to be followed even to death.          would return as soon as the famine was over. For
   Here at last was a light to lighten the darkness of       many seasons the people had looked for and even an-
Naomi's affliction.    It was the sign that God had not      ticipated their return, but nothing at all had been
rejected her completely and that their stay in Moab, as      heard.       Now the people seldom mentioned them any
sinful as it was, had not been left completely without       more, and the dim memories were only occasionally
any fruit. True, Naomi did not yet understand how it         revived when they took note of the sad state into which
could be that this heathen girl could come to the faith      their former dwelling had fallen. Only when these two
which so many of her own countrymen had rejected, or         strange women in Moabitish garb entered that home
how she, a Moabitish girl, could ever find a place           and began to set it straight did they put two and two
among the chosen people of Israel. But she knew this,        together and conclude that this must be Naomi with
that she could not send such faith as this back to live      some Moabitish girl of whom they knew nothing.
alone amid the wickedness of unbelieving Moab. Ruth             Unsure of themselves, the women who had known
would have to go along with her. Together they would         Naomi so well in former years approached the door of
have to live out their burden and their sorrow.              the house. Timidly, ashamed of their uncertainty, they
   Thus, together the two widows, one older  andone so       asked, "Is this Naomi?"
very young, left the borders of Moab into the land of           With this the floodgates were opened. From Naomi
Israel,    Together they crossed the Jordan; together        burst forth the bitterly anguished response, "Call me
they climbed the rocky slopes; together they walked the      not Naomi, call me `Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt
dusty paths. `But somehow the way was not as dark as         very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the LORD
it had seemed before.. Their lives received strength         hath brought me home again .empty:  why then call ye
through their mutual faith in Jehovah.                       me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me,
   At last the two women, Naomi and Ruth, entered            and the, Almighty hath afflicted me?`* It was not re-
the town of Bethlehem. For Naomi it must have been           bellion which she meant to express. It was not dis-
a disturbing experience.     In the slow pace of those       satisfaction with the hand of Jehovah as though He had
years, the town had hardly changed. Everywhere she           been unjust. If so, she would have never returned to
looked there was that familiarly strange appearance of       Bethlehem. Hers was the bitterness, the anguish of
a place which once she had known so well but now had         heart, of one who had been caught in the web of her
not seen for many years. She was almost surprised            own sin. She and her husband and her children had had
that she recognized it all and yet knew that she could       a place in Israel, a place which they had dearly loved;
never forget. Each new sight pierced like a knife into       but they had been unwilling to bear the dealings of the
her soul. These were the places where she had known          Lord with His people. Because of material discomforts,
all the pleasures and joys of former years; but they         they had left the land of promise to dwell among the
only served to remind her that such happiness would          heathen.      Now God, as though giving recognition to
be hers no more. Even the people and faces, with a           their actions, had cut them off without a future in the
little effort, she could recognize. Only here there was      land of promise; her husband and sons were dead. The
a difference; those who had been the strong in her day       Almighty in His justice had done it. All that remained
were now old and worn; the carefreechildrenof former         was the anguish of a sin that could not be undone. Her
years, they were now the community's strength. That          old name "Naomi," meaning "pleasantness," no longer
hurt more yet. She could only identify herself with the      seemed to fit. More descriptive of her true state was
old and the worn, not with the young and the strong. Her     "Mara," meaning "bitterness," for that was the way
children were dead. This was her home; but she did not       she felt.
feel any longer that she belonged. Nor did anyone else.         What could these women say? What comfort could
Everyone looked on her with blank, unrecognizingfaces,       they give? The facts were there which no words could
even those who had known her well. No one hurried up         ever contradict.     Long years of separation had left
to her to bid her welcome. Her return was not expected,      them strangers in her sight. All they could do was to
and her burden of sorrow had changed her beyond rec-         quietly steal away, to leave her bearing her sorrow by
ognition. Neither did Naomi have the courage or desire       herself.


118                                         I      THE STANDARD BEARER

       Only one comfort did Naomi have: that was Ruth.          one thing she had which Naomi did not. She had known
She could understand, she could share Naomi's sorrow,           what it was to be without Israel's God completely, and
for she was in the same state. Though so recently she           the little which they now had was far better than that.
had come to believing, she could feel the sorrow of             Quietly and with strength, she ministered to the griev-
being cut off without a name to be carried on into the          ing widow, being a grieving widow herself.
promise of Israel's future, she could feel the pain. But
                                                  Question  Box
                                     THE FORTY-DAY PERIOD IN SCRIPTURE
                                                  Prof.  II.  C. Hoeksema
       From the Men's Society of our Edgerton  Church           may very well have symbolic significance. A symbol
comes this question: Does the forty days of Jonah 3:4           we may define as a visible, earthly sign, representing
have any relationship to those of Exodus 34:28, I I<ings        a spiritual, heavenly reality. Thus, the numbers one,
19:8, and Matthew 4:2, Gen. 7:17 and Acts 1:3? What             three, four, six, seven, ten, and twelve, and their
is the typical significance of this period of time?             various combinations and products occur in Scripture
       Let us first take note of the contents of these          rather frequently. This does not mean that all numbers
various passages. In Jonah 3:4 we find the record of            are symbols, nor that all symbolic numbers always
Jonah's preaching: "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall           occur symbolically in Scripture.
be overthrown." In Exodus  34:28 is recorded the                    3) As to the concrete question, whether in the in-
length of Moses' stay on Mt. Sinai: "And he was there           stances cited above the number forty  and the period of
with the Lord forty days andfortynights; he did neither         forty days and forty years has symbolic significance,
eat bread, nor drink water." In I I<ings 19:8 we read           the following:
of Elijah: "And he arose, and did eat and drink, and               a) The very fact that this number occurs so often
went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty          and in connection with such significant events should
nights unto Horeb the mount of God." In Matthew 4:2             cause us to consider the possibility of its having sp-
we read of the Lord Jesus at the time of His temptation         bolic significance.
in the wilderness: "And when he had fasted forty                   b) If we understand the number four as the number
days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred."            of the earthly creature in its fulness, and the number
Genesis 7:17 tells us in regard to the flood: "And the          ten as the symbol of the fulness of God's determinate
flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters             will with respect to anything, then the product of ten
increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above        times four would express the fulness of the extent of
the earth." Finally, Acts 1:3 refers to the forty days          the earthly creature according to God's determinate
from the resurrection to the ascension of our Lord:             will.
I`. . . being seen of them forty days . . . ."                     c) And then the period of forty days would express
       In addition to the above references, we may call         the fulness of the endurance of the earthly creature
attention to: 1) The fact that Moses repeatedly makes           according to God's determinate will.
mention of the forty days and forty nights that he was             d) At this point, of course, this ideamust  be applied
in the mount in the book of Deuteronomy. 2) The fact            also to the particular circumstances of the various
that the children of Israel wandered forty years in the         events mentioned in the Scripture passages cited. Thus,
wilderness.       This also is mentioned repeatedly in          for example, Elijah went forty days and nights, in the
Scripture, not only in the books of Numbers and Deu-            strength of the food which the angel supplied him, to
teronomy, but also in Psalm 95, Amos 5, Acts 7 and              Mt. Horeb.        The Lord Jesus was forty days in the
13.       Let me quote just one passage, Numbers 32:13:         wilderness fasting, `and he was an hungred. Moses was
"And the Lord's anger was kindled against Israel, and           forty days in the mount, also without food and drink,
he made them wander in the wilderness forty years,              and he came down. It seems to me- that in all these
until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight       instances there is denoted the idea of the full limit of
of the Lord, was consumed." It is evident here, of              endurance of the earthly creature. In Jonah 3:4 you
course, that while this is a period of years rather than        have basically the same idea: forty days is the full
days, the number forty is on the foreground.                    limit of the endurance of Nineveh if it does not repent.
       On the basis of the above data, I would suggest that     In connection with the flood, the flood itself continued
the answer to this question lies along the following            to increase for forty days, -the full limit of endur-
lines:                                                          ance of the earthly creation, - and the first world
       1) I can see no typical significance, on the basis of    perished.     And Israel wanders forty years in the
Scripture, either in the number forty as such or in the         wilderness, -the full limit, - until the unbelievinggen-
period of forty days or forty years. A  .type may be            eration perishes. And if this must be applied to the
defined as a pre-ordained, historical person, event, or         forty days before the Lord's ascension, then it seems
institution of the Old Testament dispensation, real in          to me that these forty days denote the limit of the
itself, yet also foreshadowing a future and higher form         earthly manifestation of the risen Lord.
of that reality. Thus, for example, Moses was a type               I hope that this will help toward an answer of the
of Christ.                                                      question submitted by the Edgerton Men's Society. If
       2) The number forty, the product of ten times four,      not, call again!


                                                                                            ,-,?.,                           I

                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   119

                           REPORT OF THE WESTERN LADIES' LEAGUE MEETING
   Our fall meeting was held the afternoon of September      our own pious example. The love of God must be seen
25,  at  Doon, Iowa. An organ prelude was played by          in our homes. We must always hold before them the
Mrs. Jim Blankespoor.        Rev. H. Hanko opened with       calling, "Love the Lord Thy God."
prayer.    Our chairman of the league, Mrs. William             How must we carry this out? God continues His
denBesten  led us in singing our theme song, Psalter         covenant in covenant instruction of our children. God's
No. 298, `and then Psalter No. 256. She then read from       covenant is a friendship and fellowship with Christ es-
Deut. 6, vss. 5-7. Rev. H. Hanko was introduced as           tablished with believers and their seed, who are re-
our speaker. He spoke on the subject, "The Diligent          deemed through Christ's shed blood. God's children
Instruction of our Covenant Children.." He divided his       are precious in His sight. They are His chosen ones.
speech into three parts: What is the content? Whom do        When the whole elect church is born, Christ will return
we teach? And how must we carry this out?                    in glory to take the redeemed to heaven to dwell with
   First, what is the content?        The content of the     Him eternally.
Scripture is the law of God, which is considered the            During the singing of numbers 190 and 213, an of-
most important text in the Bible by the Hebrews. It          fering was taken for the  Stundavd   Beaver.   We then
was written on a scroll, and attached to the doorpost.       were favored with a trio from Edgerton. They sang
This law of God was taught in the home and in the            "Rejoice." Mrs. Edward van Egdom gave an essay
school.    They had no books or scriptures, only this        entitled, "The Lack of Our Present Day Schools and
scroll. "Love the Lord thy God with all thine heart,         Why We Should Have Our Own." Hull's special number
and with all thy soul, and with all thy might," And this     was a piano duet. The meeting was closed with singing
law was pursued through covenant instruction in the          Psalter No. 90, and prayer by Rev. H. Hanko. Re-
home and school.                                             freshments were served, and a social hour was en-
   Whom do we teach? We now have the whole gospel,           joyed by all.
which we cannot keep of self. We must love God, which
Christ has -fulfilled in us; and this love of God must be                         Reporters: Mrs. Gerald Van Den Top
taught to our covenant children, not onlyby word, but by                                              Mrs. Simon Aardema

                           REPORT OF  Ti-iE EASTERN LADIES' LEAGUE MEETING
   The Fall Meeting of the Eastern Ladies' League            the elect.       For her to refuse to render this service
was held on Thursday evening October 22, 1964 at The         above all, exposes her unbelief, and reveals her other
First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids,            services to be hypocrisy. In connection with, and in-
Michigan. Mrs. T. Van Eenenaan played the piano pre-         timately allied with child-bearing, is her place in the
lude . The meeting was opened by singing our theme           home, caring for the children and keeping the house.
song, Psalter No. 374,  ,Dutch Psalm 89, vs. 1, and          Further, she is to extend her hand to the destitute and
Psalter No. 422, vs. 2. Mrs. J. I<uiper,  our president,     afflicted. Beyond the years of child-bearing, her place
read Proverbs 31:10-31 and offered prayer.                   is to teach, by example and exhortation, the -younger
   A quartet from the Priscilla Society sang, "Trust         women their place in the service of Christ. For the
in the Lord."                                                unmarried, there are other means. of assisting the
   Rev. G. Lanting, our speaker for the evening,             cause of Christ, such as teaching, nursing, giving fi-
spoke on the following:                                      nancial aid, and in some instances, evenphysicallabor.
     The Place  Of  The Women In  Christian  Sevvice         In this way the woman, in harmony with her calling,
The Idea  Of  Chvistian Sevvice                              serves the Lord Christ.
   Christian service is service performed by the             Incentives  To The Women
child of God by faith and in behalf of Christ. In a             Incentives to serve in her capacity are given the
sense, all things serve Christ. By His power Christ          woman by Christ in His Word. In general, all obedi-
so governs and directs all things that they all serve        ence of faith brings assurance of our election and
Him in realizing the eternal counsel and good pleasure       calling. More particularly, in child-bearing the wo-
of God. The idea of Christian service, however, cor-         man is instrumental in the realization of the church of
responds with the definition of good works found in          Christ on earth, which culminates in the birth of all
Lord's Day 33 of the Heidelberg Catechism. It is             the elect, the return of Christ on the clouds of glory,
service voluntarily performed by faith, according to         and her final salvation and glorification. And in caring
the law of God, and to His glory. Such service is the        for children, the poor, and performances of other serv-
fruit of the work of Christ in His people, He, by His        ices, she shows forth the wondrous virtues of God and
grace and Spirit, so enables the Christian to occupy         of Christ to their glory. And as God is good and just,
his place and perform this service that God's will and       He is sure to reward every remembrance of the labors
good pleasure are realized, and His name glorified.          of love performed by the mothers in Israel.
The Place  Of  Women In  Christian   Service                    We sang Psalter No. 128, during which an offering
   The woman's place is, in its broadest sense, help-        was taken for our Protestant Reformed High School.
meet to man. Ear this place and to this end she'was             A round table discussion was presented by Mrs.
created. In particular, her greatest service is ren-         Decker, Mrs. Oomkes, Mrs. Rietema, and Mrs. S.
dered in child-bearing, bringing forth the covenant seed,    Newhof. Their topic was "Respect."


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                                 3"   N?J  _         R    7          THE STANDARD BEARER


       The minutes of the Spring League Meeting were                                   program, and also the host societies. We then sang
read. Roll Call was taken, and the Treasurer gave a                                    Psalter No. 7, and Rev. G. Lanting closed our meeting
report.                                                                             with prayer.           The ladies gathered for a social hour
       A word of thanks was extended to the retiring offi-                             and refreshments were served by rhe ladies of the
cers, and the new officers were introduced.                                            Priscilla Society and the Ladies Aid.
       Mrs. I<uiper thanked all who had taken .part in the                                                      Miss Lafern Kortering,  Reporter

                                           wecux4  +w  6~23  &cdWh
                                                ("AU  the saints salute thee . . ." Phil. 4:21)

       The Prot. Ref. High School Circle sponsored a public                            meeting was called for Nov. 13 to discuss matters
meeting of the friends of our own high school Nov. 12,                                 pertaining to school construction.
at Southwest Church in Grand Rapids. The speaker                                                                   *  9 *
was Prof. H.C. Hoeksema and his topic was, "Parental                                         Redlands' Young People's Society is studying the
Obligation Respecting Protestant Reformed Secondary                                    first of two letters written by a great Man of God cen-
Education."          In this way the High School Circle is                              turies ago.     The letter is one addressed to a young
doing the School Society a service by helping to arouse                                fellow-helper who had been left behind at Ephesus to
the interest of the parents in the necessity of having                                 further instruct the saints in that city. The writer:
our own high school, besides doing the parents a serv-                                  Paul; the addressee: Timothy, his son in the faith.
ice by making them aware of their responsibility in                                                                * * *
this vital matter.                                                                          Bulletin Quote (Kalamazoo's): "Meremoral preach-
                                 ***                                                    ing only tells people how the home ought to be built.
       Rev. J.- Kortering, of Hull, was scheduled to speak                              Gospel preaching does more, for it actually builds the
at a Reformation Day program at Hull Nov. 1st. His                                      house." A.W. Toplady.
topic was, "The Authority of Scripture." BeaconLights                                                              * * *
benefited from the offering taken at this meeting.                                           Unofficially the news is out: Holland's new church
                                 *  * *                                                 home has been built. It is not yet ready for services,
       Sunday afternoon, Nov. 1, First Church's Senior                                 but we expect our next news page will be able to report
Young People's Society invited the Junior Society to                                    that good news.
its after recess session which featured a talk by Mr.                                                              ***
Fred Hanko, teacher at Adams St. School. Mr. Hanko's                                         Randolph's Nov. 15 bulletin carried this brief an-
topic was, "Christians and Politics". Because this                                      nouncement: Rev. and Mrs. G. Van  Baren express
program was but two days before the National Elections,                                 their thanks to God for the gift of an infant daughter
it was one of lively interest, even  t,o the youngsters not                             this past Friday. Mother and baby are doing well.
yet of legal voting age, because of the discussions around                                                         * * *
their dinner tables. The thrust of the speech was that                                       Let's share with Oak Lawn's people their pastor's
as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven we must make al.1                                  observation regarding preparation for society meet-
things subservient to that citizenship. After the talk                                  ings : "The minimum preparation consists of preparing
Mr. Hanko quite successfully parried the questions from                                 questions on the material to be discussed; the maximum
the young people, some of which showed a keen  aware:                                   preparation consists in being prepared to answer all
ness of the issues involved.                                                            the questions asked."
                                 ***                                                                               * * *
       The Eastern Ladies' League Fall Meeting was held                                      To round out the news of Thanksgiving season ac-
in First Church in Grand Rapids, and the Western                                        tivities: a Thanksgiving Day Singspiration was sched-
Ladies League meeting was at Doon, Iowa. Detailed                                       uled to be held in Southeast Church Nov. 22; and Hope's
reports can be found elsewhere in this issue.                                           Schqol program was held in First Church's auditorium
                                 * *  *              p                                  Nov. 20 under the theme, "Now Thank We All Our God."
       The Junior Young People's Society of First Church,                                                          * * *
in Grand Rapids, sponsored a Home Talent Program                                             In Randolph's bulletin we found this gem written by
Sunday evning Nov. 15. The offering was for the re-                                 " a certain Mr. Shelton while musing on a familiar story
building of Rev. Elliott?s  tabernacle in Islington, Jay                                in the Old Testament: "You tempt God to suffer your
maica.       The program's theme was "Thanksgiving,"                                    locks to be cut when you are so bold to lay your head
and was carried out by means of music, - vocal. and                                     in the lap of temptation." And still one more quotation,
instrumental, - and with a speech entitled, "And Let                                    this one hiding a sharp barb `neath its surface: "It is
Us Give Thanks,`: by Miss Lynn Tryon of the Senior                                      true, - `Worship renews the spirit as sleep renews the
Y.P. Society of the chuch.                                                              body.  ' It is also true -- `These two cannot be done
                                 ***                                                    simultaneously.' "
       The Northwest Iowa Protestant Reformed School                                                               * * *
Society is steadily making progress. A membership                                            . . . see you in church.                    J.M.F.


