                                                   . .                                                              -


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                                                          .c`:,.-:
                                                                                         :

I                `_                                           earer  -                               -.__
                                                                                                             --.





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





      IN  THIS  ISS0.E:


              Meclitatio-n---Mounting   Up  As  Eagles


              Editorial  -  Mission  Gains  the  Criterion?


              Evolutionism


              Handfuls  df  Purpose




                                                                 Volume XLI/ Nuri bev 7/ January  1, 1965


           146                                                                                                                   THESTANDARD BEARER


                                                              C O N T E N T S
            Meditation  -                                                                                                                                              T H E   `S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                  Mounting Up As Eagles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146                      Semi-monthly,  except monthly  &wing  June, July and August
                         Rev. J. Itortering
            Editorial -                                                                                                                                    Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
                  Mission Gains The Criterion? (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148                                                       Editov`-  Rev. Herman Hoeksema
                         Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
            Our Doctrine -                                                                                                                              Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
                  The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150                                            Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S.E., Grand Rapids 7,
                         Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                               Mich.    Contributions will be limited to 300 words and must be
            A Cloud of Witnesses -                                                                                                                                          neatly written or typewritten.
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                        Rev. J. A. Heys
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                        Rev. G. Vanden  Berg                                  .,
           From Holy Writ -
/------Praying  For Those In Authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164                                                 "I believe the man who is not willing to submit to
                        Rev. G. Lubbers                                                                                                                 the electing love and sovereign grace of God, has great
           Examining Ecumenicalism  -                                                                                                                   reason to question whether he is a Christian at all, for
                  The World Council of Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166                                   the spirit that kicks against that is the spirit of the
                        Rev. G. Van Baren
           News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                               devil and the spirit of the unhumbled, unrenewed
                                                                                                                                             168
                  Mr. J. M. Faber                                                                                                                       heart."
                                                                                                                                                                                                    - Chas. H. Spurgeon





                                                                                                              MOUNTING UP AS EAGLES

                                                               `But they that wait upon the  Lovd shall  yenew  the&  strength;  they
                                                               shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall  rmn, and not be  weavy;
                                                               and they shall walk, and not faint."
                                                                                                                                                                                     Isa.  40:31

                                                                                                                                   Rev.  J.  Kovteving

                  `But !                                                                                                                                around them, like logs for the mill, lie others. Enough
                  That conjunction makes all the difference.                                                                                            has been said.
                  "Even the youths shall faint and be weary and the                                                                                        What a hopeless picture; they are all young people.
          young men shall utterly fall."                                                                                                                   Do you see yourself among them?
                  That's how we feel as we gasp our first breath in                                                                                        It is a picture  ,of man without God. At best he is
           1965.  We look ahead and that dreadful something called                                                                                      altogether vanity. Graphically it describes the deep
           "future" intoxicates our brains with fear.                                                                                                   sense of our weakness at the possibility of facing a
                  Cancer ? Hospitalization?                                                                                                             new year, alone. We  ,grow weary, faint, and fall.
                  Poverty?                                                                                                                                 But !
                  War?                                                                                                                                     Slowly the fingers of dawn unveil a different scene.
                  Persecution?                                                                                                                             Look with me, for it is exhilarating.
                  Death?                                                                                                                                   Silhouetted against `the. fiery glow of a better day,
                  Our femurs quiver and collapse under the prospect                                                                                     hovering higher than the jagged peaks, is an eagle. The
          of the future.                                                                                                                                Holy Spirit calls our attention to him.
                  Isaiah is very artistic. The Holy Spirit portrays a                                                                                      That is a better picture, for God is able to perform
          haggard crowd. Here is one whose blanched face  re-                                                                                           great changes upon weak and fallen men.
       fleets his unseeing eyes. Look at that young man bent                                                                                               The flying eagle symbolizes the surge of power that
         over and trembling, he is shaking his head. Scattered                                                                                          lifts one up high above dangers. His bodily appearance


                                                      i THE  S"ANDARD BEARER                                                           147

     conveys the secret of that  ,power. Many of the larger             flesh doesn't care for that kind of walking; we like the
     species of the eagle which are common in the region                easy road which is broad and leadeth to destruction.
     of the Mediterranean are three and a half feet high and            Running on the narrow road brings opposition from
     have a wing span of seven feet. No bird can  outfly   ;an          the world round about us and from all  those: who hate
     eagle.      With outstretched wings  he. is known to soar          the testimony of those who love the truth. Opposition
     thousands of feet high, and, when determined, he can               makes us feel even more weak.
     outdistance any foe.                                                   This world doesn't improve a bit. We have changed
         At no time is this more true than in the spring: of            the number from 1964 to 1965, bringing us even closer
     the year after the eagle has undergone the molting proc-           to the return of our Lord. The nearer that end draws
     ess.      The winter season has its effect upon him; his           upon us, the more the church will encounter difficulties.
     plumage dries out, his head appears bleak withold age,             It may not be long and the witness of the gospel shall
     his whole body becomes weak. Only after heisheds his               cease, and persecution in our land shall assume a more
     wind-ripped and sun-bleached coat and becomes "re-                 violent form.      Still we are called to walk and to run
     newed" does he mount up to such great heights. The                 toward the goal of the heavenly life.
     fresh air of spring infuses in him such determination                  Do you feel strong?
     for the "heights" that he builds his nests on the high-                Wait upon Jehovah. That will produce a' renewal.
     est cliff and teaches his young to "mount up with wings."          What the molting process does to the eagle, our waiting
         God preaches to us through the eagle.        /         :       upon Jehovah will do for us. By the grace of' God, our
         He tells us how to soar through this new year like             eyes will cease to focus upon our weak selves and rest
     a n   e a g l e .                                                  upon Jehovah. He will make us "mount up with wings
         "Wait upon Jehovah."                                           as eagles".
         Standing on the threshold of a new  year,iit  is good              Jehovah is His covenant name. He is the great I
     for us to be sober. The hilarious "Happy New Years"                Am That I Am. He it is that promised to bring forth
     of an inebriated throng reveal to us the poverty of a              His people from the bondage of Egypt, and performed
     world that resorts to "spirits" as an escape from the              it. He it is that never changes in His faithfulness to
     burden of the future. How blessed it is to gather in the           His people.      Nothing can thwart His promises. He,
     House of our God and be assured by the Holy Spirit                 Who made the heavens and the  ,earth, has a definite
     "we shall mount up with wings as eagles."                          plan for all history, and He has the power and will to
         There is no question, but 1965 will produce many               bring that plan to perfect consummation. He beholds
     events that will cause us from a natural point of view             His people as they dwell upon the earth,  and;for their
     to become weary and faint. The veryfigure of an eagle              sakes directs all creation, governs all nations, controls
     implies this: he soars high above all dangers that lurk             all the activities of Satan and his hosts, yea, averts all
     upon the lower parts of the earth. As children of God,             evil or turns it to our profit.
     we do not expect to be free from problems, nor to es-                  Above all, He is the God of Jesus.
     cape the afflictions of this present time. God does not                How blessed it is to wait upon Him!              :
     promise us such an escape.                            /                This implies that we desire His instruction as we
         Pause a moment and look back. This  ipast year                 pursue our pathway through life. He humbles !us to the
     produced many changes. Take a glimpse into the family              dust and reveals to us how blind we are and how per-
     picture album, read some pages from your diary, and                verse in our own way. He teaches us that our way is
     we will come to one conclusion: we have experienced                not His way, what we desire for the flesh is theiopposite
     changes in every sphere of life. It is the time of year            of what He wants us to do.              We love money, we love
     to scratch some names from our old church  d&ectories              fame, we love ease of life, we love security in this
     and add others.      Altogether they spell days of joy, but        world.    By nature we love it so much we are willing to
     no less seasons of sorrow. Sometimes our  he:arts rang             deny all things for that which perisheth.  Godts  way is
     with the sublime assurance that all is well, other times           so different. He calls us to fight against and overcome
     our hearts trembled within.                                        our sinful flesh. He reveals to us His law which de-
         The future will be no different.                               mands that we love Him and our neighbor for His sake.
         But, it is easier to look back than ahead.  i                  He gives us direction in His -holy commandments, for-
         It is one thing to have experienced hardships, it is           bidding us to trust in things, but to trust in Him alone.
     quite another thing to anticipate them.                            He instructs us to flee from that which is evil and to
         Let's admit that we feel exactly as `Isaiah describes:         cling to that which is good. It is in the sphere of this
     weak, fainting, and falling. Remember, this describes              law alone that we can truly walk and run through life.
     the child of God as he looks at himself, being a mere              Anything else is death.
     man.       We have a calling in this world, a duty which               In the second place, to wait upon Jehovah  !includes
     demands walking and running. God calls us to pursue                our turning to Him for the strength necessary to be
     the narrow road. We must press on in that race.  -It is , faithful in .our calling. Isaiah cries out in the preceding.
     manifest in our homes by the bringing forrhiand  nur-             I context, "Hast thou not known? . . . the Lord, the  Cre-  .:  .`.
     turing of the covenant seed, in our churches by the                ator "of the ends of the  :earth, fainteth not, neither is  I_  i  ~  "
     ministry of the gospel, .in our, schools by the daily in-        ,.  we.ary?" You see the' contrast?  On the one hand;  `weak;  .
     struction of our children  in:harmony with  His'Word;  in : ,chnidren  of `God, %who,  overcome' by the .ve.ry thought of '  `1'  1.'
     our country by beingloyal christiancitizens and in every           the. future, grow weary,  ,fdint, and fall down: We would  ' '
     sphere of our daily life. `That is difficult work. Our  ' cry out that it is too much.. God's way  is'.too  Bigb, we                     ,. ,

I                                                                                                                                 /
                                                                     . .                                   .
I


148                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER

cannot attain unto it, God expects the impossible. Now          eagles. ' ' As we see our lives in proper focus, antici-
we turn to the real source of our strength, Jehovah.            pation of the future will not bring us down in hopeless
Like a fountain pouring forth sweet waters to enlighten         fear; we will press on in the strength of our God.
the eyes of the weary sojourner in the desert, so it is            Walk and run we must! We may not sit down.
for us who drink of the fountains of God's grace.                  Our calling is clearly revealed in the Word of God.
Through the means of the preaching and the sacra-               The path is laid out before us. In spite of every evil
ments, He nourishes us: exhorting us to the way, sup-           that would try to stop us, we must press on. Our homes
plying us with the energy to press on, encouraging us           must be covenant homes even  though  every assault is
when we would seemingly be overcome in defeat. "He              directed upon covenant parents to make them worldly.
giveth power to the faint and to them that have no              Our daily occupation must reflect the spirit of our Lord
might he increaseth strength." vs. 29                           and recognize the authority of our employer even though
       Finally, that waiting includes the conscious act of      every attempt will be made to intimidate the children
placing our whole life in His hands and trusting that,          of God who seek to maintain the Lordship of Christ in
whatever betides, it will be for our good. There is no          every sphere of life. We must fulfill our calling to in-
power other than God's sovereign power. There is no             struct our children in His fear  even though  there may
will other than His, and nothing can frustrate it. All          be all kinds of opposition.       We know our calling to
that will happen in 1965 will come from Jehovah in              preach the gospel even though thousands are attempting
perfect accord with His divine will. We must learn to           to kill the "two witnesses" upon the streets of Jerusa-
say, "If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that".     lem. We know our calling to spend our leisure moments
James  4:15. It is good to rest in His will.                    in the wholesome development of body and soul  even
       As the Holy Spirit applies this word upon our hearts,    though  the hordes beckon us with tempting siren songs
we experience a transformation.         Daily we are lifted     of pleasure.     We know our calling to be subject to our
up from our "fainting" and strengthened to walk and             President and our Judges  even though  such submission
run. Walking consists in the daily routine of life which        may mean banishment and death.
can be the most taxing and thus cause us to "faint".               Walk and run!
Running pertains to the extra duties and challenges we             Yes, in self we would be weary and faint.
face, they often cause us to be "weary" and wear us                But!
down. In every circumstance of life we are assured by              Wait upon Jehovah! Mount up with wings as eagles !
God Himself, "They. that wait upon the Lord shall renew            Mount up ever higher, reaching for the summit in
their strength, they shall mount up with wings as               glory.




                                                t5lQ!w&

                                        MISSION GAINS THE CRITERION?

                                                  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema

       "Limited Atonement and Evangelism"  (Reformed            more successful performance of the task if it had
JouwzaZ,   May- June, 1964) is the title of an article by       dealt more directly in teaching and preaching with the
Prof. Harold Dekker in which he continues his dis-              Canons themselves rather than accepting uncritically
cussion of missions and the love of God. This article           the highly particularistic and supralapsarian inter-
by Prof. Dekker is devoted especially to the proposi-           pretation of the Canons advanced by certain influential
tion that "The doctrine of limited atonement as com-            theologians."
monly understood and observed in the Christian Re-                 In most of this first part of his article the profes-
formed Church impairs the principle of the universal            sor presents nothing essentially new to the discussion.
love of God and tends to inhibit missionary spirit and          And although he certainly makes some statements about
activity."                                                      the Canons which can by no means be called an accurate
       A large part of this article is devoted to Prof.         representation of the Synod of Dordrecht, all that he
Dekker's criticism of what he calls the "doctrine of            says is quite consistent with Dekker's original faulty
limited atonement as commonly understood and ob-                interpretation of Canons II, 8; and we shall at present
served in the Christian Reformed Church." Dekker                not return to that discussion.
maintains that the latter view is "comparativelyrecent             Before passing on to the second part of Prof.
in our theological tradition," that it is not the position      Dekker's article, I must, however, express amazement
of our Canons, that the doctrines of election and rep-          at the concluding statement of the first section, quoted
robation  are. not the theological starting point nor the       above.     I refer to Dekker's reference to "the highly
dominant doctrines of the Canons, and that "the                 particularistic and supralapsarian interpretation of the
Christian Reformed Church might have achieved a                 Canons advanced by certain influential theologians."
better theological understanding of missions and a              I stand amazed at that statement.         Who are these


                                                 I THE  S,TANDARD BEARER                                                    !            149

influential theologians who advanced  such! an inter-               lism, and to prove this by pointing to the fact that the
pretation?      Since when has it become the vogue in               1963 Yearbook shows an average gain through evange-
Reformed churches to criticize supralapsarianism' as                lism of  only 1.4 per congregation, a gain' which he
over against the Canons? Besides, are not the Canons                considers startlingly poor, the more so because it
themselves, though infra-, both in their historic op-               represents gains realized through organized missionary
position to Arminianism and in their theology, highly               work conducted by the CR Board of Home  iMissions,
particularistic?     If in all the history of  the, Reformed        classical home missions committees, and local home
churches there has been any confessional statement                  missions agencies. He then goes on to say:
that was highly particularistic, it has been the Canons.                     "Why do we have so little gain in our mission to
Everyone, both within and without the Reformed church-                  our own communities? It seems to me that the basic
es, knows this to be the reputation  of. Dordrecht!                     explanation is theological. Principles work through.
It does not require a "highly particularistic" inter-                   Doctrine has its effect in life.
pretation to  make  the Canons "particularistic."  ; It                      "How does our doctrine affect our missions? In
rather requires an alleged interpretation to get away                   many different ways certainly. However, as far as
                                                                        our weaknesses are concerned, it seems to me that
from the particularism of the Canons.             j                     our doctrine affects our missions especially by the
   But what is more amazing still is  Prof; Dekker's                    particularism of our conceptions of the covenant and
claim that the Christian Reformed Church has ac-                        election, due recognition not being given to the'univer-
cepted uncritically this "highly particularistic and                    salism of divine love; and by our conception of the
supralapsarian interpretation of the Canons." I can                     atonement as limited,, due recognition not being given
hardly believe that this statement is historically                      to its aspects of universalism. It seems toime that
accurate.       Is it not rather true that  the' Christian              our attitude toward men outside of Christ tends to be
Reformed Church and its spokesmen have manifested a                     distorted and our missionary approach to them is
distinct aversion for supralapsarianism, --  :especially                impaired if we fail to recognize that God  lovies  them
                                                                        and that Christ died for them."
since 1924, although the issue of 1924 was `not funda-
mentally that of supra- or  infra-?        And was not the              Then, after referring to some earlier correspond-
tendency of 1924 exactly away from pavticulavism  ?                 ence, which he cites with approval, the professor
   Prof. Dekker and others may not be satisfied with                continues as follows:
                                                                             "
the  degree  or the  quality  of the universalism of the                        . . . . Indeed the Christian should have no attitude
Three Points. They may want to advance beyond the                       to his fellow man but the attitude that God has. Now if
                                                                        in approaching an unbeliever with the gospel he is not
Three Points, and make explicit what was implicit, in                   sure whether God loves or hates this person,' are not
them. But let it not be said that the Christian Re-                     certain mental reservations inevitable? Will not these
formed Church has uncriticallyaccepted a  highIyparticu-                reservations tend to compromise his own loving concern
laristic.and supralapsarian interpretation of the Canons.               and impede the whole-souled  outgoing in love that the
They have been extremely,  - and sometimes, snidely,                    evangelistic encounter needs? Also, will he not be in-
-- critical of "supra." And they have strained against                  clined to give up rather easily if there is a strongly
the leash of particularism.                                             negative reaction to the gospel, or if the response is
   At present' however, I am more interested in the                     one of indifference or procrastination? Will he not
second part of Prof. Dekker's article, the part  dealing                then be tempted to justify giving up the effort with the
with "Evangelism." For I believe that in this part:of                   thought that after all God does not love everyone any-
                                                                        way?           Furthermore, will not the notion that Christ
the article is expressed one of the basic  concerns:in                  died only for the elect tend to have similar consequences
all of Prof. Dekker's writings, if not the basic moti-                  for his witness to unbelievers?
vation of his writing. And I believe that this part, of                      "When such individual inhibitions are collectivized
the professor's article betrays a fundamentally  fauIty                 in a congregation or denomination, the impairment of
method of approach to the whole matter of mi,ssions.i                   evangelistic effectiveness becomes even more deadly.
   I shall try to represent Dekker's position accurateIy,               For then these inhibitions are hardened into a pattern
and therefore I quote him rather at length:                             of restraint, indiffekence, and rationalization : that is
                                                                        standardized by the group and passed on with approval
      "I have tried to say something about the common'                  to each rising generation.
   conception of limited atonement in our Church and on:                     "Given the common conviction  in the Christian
  what" basis I felt constrained to challenge it. How then:             Reformed Church that God does not love all men
   does this conception tend `to inhibit missionary spirit;             redemptively and that Christ did not `die for all men,
   and activity?'                                              /        it is really not surprising that our record in evangel-
      "This question opens up a large and diffioult sub-i               ism is so poor.          It is not surprising that we receive
   ject, one on which I hope to write further some other                few converts.          It is not surprising that few of our
   time.      What it opens up is the nagging, perplexing,              members are active as personal witnesses for `Christ.
   problem of what is wrong with evangelism in the'                     It is not surprising that we are so little concerned with
   Christian Reformed Church.       A good deal has been,           r e s u l t s .
   said and written about this matter. Before attempting                     "The latter, incidentally, is in itself an inte:resting
   a more thorough diagnosis, I wish to give considera-                 point. Over and over we have heard it said that all we
   tion to some statistical data I am gathering. : At this              are called to do is to preach and then leave the `results
   time I only suggest that the basic factors are theo-i                to God. Again and again the apostle Paul is quoted in
   logical;"                                                            what he said about one planting, another watering and
   At this point Dekker goes on to speak of  ?he "inept                 God giving the increase. But did Paul mean to say that
and ineffective" performance of the CRC in its  evange-                 planting and watering are not important with respect


                      I
150                                                        THE`STANDARD BEARER

       to results? Surely not. Did he even mean to say that                 three to four times faster than the number of Chris-
       those who plan and water should have no concern for                  tians, when the Church is a shrinking minority and
       results? Hardly. Did he preach the gospel without a                  historic non-Christian religions and modern cul.ts are
 :     passionate- concern and an arduous effort to-win con-                increasing more rapidly than the world Church. This
       verts?     Clearly not.    Yet we often rationalize our              is also a day when great issues such as race, poverty,
       failures in evangelism by disparaging results and                    nuclear armament and world Communism press upon
       laying responsibility for the lack of them upon God.                 us.      And in this day the Christian Reformed Church
       How often have we not said that our duty is merely to                loses more members than it wins and denominational
       preach the gospel and that we must leave the rest to                 gains through evangelism average a mere 1.2 per con-
       God? In this way we blithely brush off the responsi-                 gregation per year, including baptized children in
       bility for earnest self-criticism and even `agonizing                families received. Such is our record in spite of the
       reappraisal' when our work shows iittle success. We                  millions of dollars and the billions of hours we invest
       assume that we have done our duty when we have some-                 each year in our mission to the United States and
       how gotten the gospel out. Is this not a distortion of               Canada.
       the doctrine of sovereign grace? Certainly if Chris-                        "Surely in a day like this, if ever, we must do our
       tians believe that God loves all and Christ died for                 utmost in theological study and discussion so that our
       all, they will not be satisfied with that kind of mis-               missionary motivation may be Biblically correct and
       sionary outlook and effort."                                         strong, that our gospel message may be presented
       Prof. Dekker concludes with this claim:                              properly and effectively in our world, that any mis-
                                                                            conceptions we may have concerning the principles of
          "The conviction that God loves all men and that                   missions may be removed, and that our Reformed
       Christ died for all, as this tmGth is taught  in the Scvip-          confessions become accurately relevant to our mission
       tunes,  could revolutionize the missionary motivation                - in sum so that the Scriptures may be faithfully set
       and program of our Church and make us truly effec-                   forth in all their bearing on our witness to the world.
       tive in the evangelization of the United States and                         "That is why I have written as I have regarding
       Canada. . . .Any real improvement in our missionary                  missions and the love of God. I sincerely believe that
       performance awaits a change in certain. of our theo-                 in so doing I have been doing what the Church has
       logicai misconstructions."                                           called me to do in the service of her mission to today's
       Hence, it is very plain that Prof. Dekker has taken                  world."
a long look at the results of, his church's evangelism                      Here again it is plain that Prof. Dekker has viewed
program, has viewed these results solely from the                      with dismay, if not alarm, the meager positive fruit on
viewpoint of the positive fruit (number of converts) of                Christian Reformed evangelism. It is also plain that
that evangelism, has  `come to the conclusion statis-                  he attributes the meagerness of this fruit to both an
tically that those results are very meager, and has                    incorrect. motivation and an improper message. In the
reasoned from those results to the proposition that                    context of the entire discussion it is evident that
there is something radically wrong with the  message,                  Dekker's corrective for this two-fold fault is his
It is too particularistic; it ought to be universalistic!              univevsalism, applied to God's love and Christ's atone-
       That the above is indeed Dekker's approach to                   ment.
missions is more  .directly stated in the first part of                     I expect to criticize this position in the next issue,
his address to the CR Synod of 1964 (see  Acts,  pp.                   D.V., and  .to. show that his entire approach is faulty,
108, 109):                                                             and that  .too, in the light of Scripture and the confes-
       "This is a day when world population  .is growing               sions.





                                               THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH
                                                              Chapter IX
                                        THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER
                                                  (con&tied  from  Decem  bev  15 issue)
                                                            Rev.  H. Hoeksema

       That the Roman Catholics indeed teach that in the               on the altar of the cross; the holy synod teaches, that
mass Christ through the priests is offered as a continual              this sacrifice is truly propitiatory, and that by means
sacrifice is still plainer from the Canons and Decrees                 thereof this is effected, that we obtain mercy,  .and find
of the Council of Trent;Chapter 2 of the Twenty-second                 grace in seasonable aid, that we draw nigh unto God,
Session.         There we read: "And forasmuch as, in this             contrite and penitent with a sincere heart and upright
divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the mass, that                 faith, with fear and reverence. For  theLord, appeased
same Christ is contained and. immolated in an unbloody                 by the oblation thereof, arid granting. the grace and
manner who once offered Himself in a bloody  nianner                   gift of penitence, forgives even heinous crimes and


I                                                    :         THE STANDARD BEARER                                              151

     sins.     For the victim is one and the same, the  &me               Lord's Supper and. must bar from holy communion all
     now offering by the ministering of priests! who then                 those that do not sincerely repent of their sins and who
offered Himself on the cross, the  manne:r  .alone of                     live in open wickedness even though they areloutwardly
     offering being different. The fruits indeed of which                 members of the church. The latter, of course, must be
     the oblation of that bloody one, to wit,  ar;e received              treated and ultimately excommunicated from the fellow-
     most plentifully through this unbloody one; so far is                ship of the church.    Hence, the Reformed, churches
     this latter from derogating in any way from that former              cannot have so-called open communion. For by allow-
     oblation. Wherefore not only for the sins, punishments,              ing everyone that so desires to partake of the signs of
     satisfactions, and other necessities of the faithful who             the bread and wine to do so, the church becomes guilty
     are living, but also for those who are departed in                   of profaning the covenant of God.
     Christ and who are not as yet fully purified, it is                     Hence, it is necessary for anyone that approaches
     rightly offered, agreeably to the tradition of the                   the table of the Lord rightly to examine himself, ac-
     apostles."                                                           cording to the injunction of the apostle Paul in I
         It is therefore evident that,. according to the  Rom-            Corinthians  11:27-29: "Wherefore whosoever shall eat
     ish Church, the mass is presented as a continual and                 this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily,
     oft repeated sacrifice of Christ, offered  ,up by the                shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But
     priests, and that this repeated sacrifice is indeed                  let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that
     necessary for the forgiveness of sins, both of those                 bread, and drink of that cup. For he that kateth and
     that are living on the earth and of the departed souls               drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to
     that are still in purgatory. According to the Roman                  himself, not discerning the Lord's body." This is also
     Catholics, the mass has all the essential elements of                emphasized in the Heidelberg Catechism, Question 81,
     a true sacrifice.         It is offered by a priest, Jesus           from the viewpoint of the individual believer. There
     Christ, through the ministry of His earthly represent-               we read:
     ative, the Roman Catholic priest.        It has  its victim,             "For whom is the Lord's Supper instituted?
     again Jesus Christ, as He is really present under the                    "For those who are truly sorrowful for their sins,
     appearance of bread and wine. And it is  .offered  up as             and yet trust that these are forgiven them for the sake
     a real sacrifice through the mystic rite  of'consecra-               of Christ; and that their remaining infirmities are
     tion.     In the mass, therefore, there is a continuation            covered by his passion and death; and  lwho also
     of the bloody sacrifice of Christ on the cross in, an                earnestly desire to have their faith more  iand more
     unbloody manner.         The Romish Church does indeed               strengthened, and their lives more holy; but hypo-
     maintain that this sacrifice of the mass is necessary;               crites, and such as turn not to God with sincere hearts,
     and they deny that it is quite sufficient that Christ                eat and drink judgment to themselves."
     once for all and forever shed His blood for the blotting                This is emphasized in Question 82 of theHeidelberg
     out of all the sins of His people. This element of the               Catechism from the aspect of the institution of the
     mass, together with the element that the  transubstan-               church and its calling to maintain the holiness and
     tiated signs are to be worshipped by the church, the                 purity of God's covenant, and thus to guard it against
     Heidelberg Catechism in Question and Answer 80 rightly               profanation:
     calls "an accursed idolatry."                                            "Are they also to be admitted to this supper, who,
         In conclusion we must still answer the question: for             by confession and life, declare themselves unbelieving
     whom is the Lord's Supper instituted?                :               and ungodly?
         And the answer is, briefly: it is instituted for be-                 "No; for by this, the covenant of God, would be
     lievers, and that too, for conscious believers.                      profaned, and his wrath kindled against the whole con-
         This implies, in the first place, that only those are            gregation; therefore it is the duty of the Christian
     true partakers of the supper of the Lord who are truly               church, according to the appointment of Christ and
     sorrowful for their sins and who livein true repentance              his apostles, to exclude such persons by the keys of
     and sorrow after God. In the second place, they are                  the kingdom of heaven, till they show amendment of
     those that trust that their sins are forgivenonly for the            life."
     sake of the obedience and perfect sacrifice  jof Christ,                Also the Belgic Confession teaches the same thing
     and that all their sins are covered by His passion and               in Article 35:
     death.        And, in the third place, they are'those that               "Further, though the sacraments are connected with
     desire to have their faith strengthened, and who long                the thing signified, nevertheless both are not received
     for holiness in life and walk, who fulfill their part; of            by all men: the ungodly indeed receives the sacrament
     the covenant of God, love the Lord their God with all                to his condemnation, but he doth not receive. the truth
     their heart and mind and soul and strength, forsake the              of the sacrament.    As Judas, and Simon the sorcerer,
     world, crucify their old nature, and walk  in;a new and              both indeed received the sacrament, but not Christ,
     holy life.                                                           who was signified by it, of whom believers. only are
         This also implies, first of all, that unbelievers and            made partakers. Lastly, we receive this holy sacra-
     hypocrites cannot properly partake of the supper of the              ment in the assembly of the people of God, with humil-
     Lord, eat and drink the signs of the broken  jbread  and             ity and reverence, keeping up amongst us a holy re-
     wine to their condemnation, and by this means are                    membrance of the death of Christ our Savior, with
     hardened in their sin. And, secondly, it implies that                thanksgiving: making there confession of our faith,
     the chu.rch  as institute has a calling with respect to the          and of the Christian religion. Therefore no one ought


 1.52                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER

to come to this table without having previously rightly             the table of His Son Jesus Christ.          But,. on the other
examined himself; lest by eating of this bread and                  hand, the Form states that all those who do not feel
drinking of this cup, he eat and drink judgment to him-             this testimony in their hearts eat and drink judgment
 self. In a word, we are excited by the use of this holy            to themselves. And it admonishes all who do not walk
sacrament, to a fervent love towards God and our                    according to the rules of this self-examination and who
neighbor."                                                          are defiled with sins of which they do not repent and
         Finally, this self-examination before we partake of        which they do not confess, that they must keep away
the supper of the Lord is also required in the Form                 from the table of the Lord as those who have no part
for the Administration of the Lord's Supper. There                  in the kingdom of Christ.         And if they nevertheless
we read:                                                            partake, their condemnation and judgment will be made
         "The true examination of ourselves consists of             the heavier.
these three parts:                                                     Nevertheless, the Form continues to add that this
         "First.         That every one consider by himself, his    does not mean that only the perfect may come to the
sins and the curse due to him for them, to the end that             table of the Lord, that only those may partake that
he may abhor and humble himself before God: consid-                 are without sin:
ering that the wrath of God against sin is so great, that               "For we do not come to this supper to testify
(rather than it should go unpunished) he hath punished              thereby that we are perfect and righteous in ourselves;
the same in his beloved Son Jesus Christ, with the                  but on the contrary, considering that we seek our life
bitter and shameful death of the cross.                             out of ourselves in Jesus Christ, we acknowledge that
         ` `Secondly. That every one examine his own heart,         we lie in the midst of death; therefore, notwithstanding
whether he doth believe this faithful promise of God,               we feel many infirmities and miseries in ourselves,
that all his sins are forgiven him only for the sake of             as namely, that we have not perfect faith, and that we
the passion and death of Jesus Christ, and that the                 do not give ourselves to serve God with that zeal as
perfect righteousness of Christ is imputed and freely               we are bound, but have daily to strive with the weak-
given him, as  his. own, yea, so perfectly, as if he had            ness of our faith, and the evil lusts of our flesh; yet,
satisfied in his own person for all his sins, and ful-              since we are (by the grace of the Holy Spirit) sorry for
filled all righteousness.                                           these weaknesses, and earnestly desirous to fight against
         .` `Thirdly.      That every one examine his own con-      our unbelief, and to live according to all the command-
science, whether he purposeth henceforth- to show true              ments of God: therefore we rest assured that no sin
thankfulness to God in his whole life, and to walk up-              or infirmity, which still remaineth against our will in
rightly before him; as also, whether he hath laid aside             us, can hinder us from being received of God in mercy,
unfeignedly all enmity, hatred, and envy, and dothfirmly            and from being made worthy partakers of this heavenly
resolve henceforward to walk in true love and peace                 meat and drink."
with his neighbor. ' '
         And the same Form continues to state that all                 And here we may conclude our discussion of the
those, and those only, who are thus disposed, God will              holy supper of the Lord Jesus Christ as a means of
receive in mercy and count them worthy partakers of                 grace for the strengthening of the faith of believers.




                    RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY                                           SHERYL LYNN MARING
The Men's Society of the Southwest Protestant Reformed              "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the
Church express their deepest sympathy to their presi-               everlasting arms". Duet.  33:27
dent, Rev. G. Lubbers in the loss of his brother-in-law,                                Mrs. Ted Engelsma, Vice-President
                                JOHN SCHUT                                                     Mrs. Don Lotterman, Secretary
May God comfort him and his family in their sorrow.
"Precious in the sight of the  .Lord is the death of his                            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
saints". Psalm  116:15                                              We, the Protestant Reformed High School Circle, wish
                                         A. Talsma, Vice Pres.      to extend our heartfelt sympathy to one of our mem-
                                          J. Van Beek, Sec'y.       b e r s ,   M r s .   B .   Maring, in the loss of a precious
                                                                    daughter
                    RESOL  UTION OF SYMPATHY
The `Eunice Society of the Southwest Protestant Re-                                  SHERYL LYNN MARING
formed Church' expresses its sympathy to Rev. and                   whom the Lord took unto Himself from this world of
Mrs.. G. Lubbers in the deaths of their brother and                 suffering and distress.      ". . . . . . . . . . . . . the Lord
brother-in-law                                                      gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the
                                                                    name of the Lord". Job  1:21 b
                                JOHN L. SCHUT                                                          Miss A. Lubbers, Pres.
and their niece                                                                                       Mrs. R.H. Meyer, Sec'y.


                                                      i THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   153



                                            f4  &i&&9&   W&&de&
                                                      I
                                                  HANDFULS OF PURPOSE

                         And Ruth the Moabitess  .&aid  unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and  glean
                      eavs  of  corn  after  him in  whdse sight I shall find  grace. And she said unto  her, Go,
                      my daugh tev.
                         And she went, and  came,  qul  gletined  in  the field  after  the  yeapevs:  and  hev hap
                      was to light on a  pavt  of  the field belonging unto Boaz, who was  of  the  kindyed   of
                      Elimelech. . . . .
                         And when she was risen  ;up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying,
                      Let  hev glean even  among  the; sheaves, and  yepyoach  her not.
                         And let fall also some  of the  hahdfuls  of  purpose  fov  hev, and leave them,  that-
                      she  may  glean them, and  Yebuke   her not.                              Ruth  2:2,3,15,16

                                                           j Rev. B. Woudenbevg

~       Having made their home in Bethlehem, Naomi and                  woman might fear things even worse. These were the
     Ruth were left with one great problem,  -, they pos-               days of the judges, when every man did that which was
     sessed no means of livelihood, they were poor.                     right in his own eyes; and Naomiknew it full well.
        For Naomi this was a very severe burden. She                       Troubled by all this, Naomi found her life indeed
     knew that in Israel the law had madespecial provisions             bitter.    She had only one consolation, that was her
for the care of the poor; but at the same time there                    daughter-in-law from Moab. In Ruth was a spirit of
     were heavy considerations which made her hesitant                  kindness, consideration, and love the like of which the
     to avail herself of them.                                          village of Bethlehem could not remember.  On any day
        In the first place, there was the continual conscious-          she could be seen cheerfully doing whatever  &he could
     ness of guilt which made her life bitter. At one time              to provide comfort and assistance to Naomi; Poverty
     she and her family had been cared for in  theiland, they           did not trouble her. Humility and meekness she wore
     had even prospered; but when the days of hardship                  as a crown.     Joy filled her every labor. The village
     and famine had come, they had refused to share them,               watched and wondered what could give rise to such
     they had fled the land. For this they had been punished,           selfless devotion.
     and the Lord had cut off her family from eventual par-                To Ruth herself it was no mystery. She  lhad found
     ticipation in Israel's promised future. Now that she               a joy in life which she assumed that everyone in Israel
     had returned alone to Bethlehem, she feared to leave               had tasted. To her had come the privilege of dwelling
     the impression with anyone that she thought'herself to             among Jehovah's chosen people. She realized that it
     have a right to share in the prosperity that had re-               was only the smallest of places. She was a Moabitish
     turned to the land. She would rather suffer: even die,             woman, and her only right was based upon' her very
     than to appear presumptuous in her sin.               /            brief marriage to  Chilion.  She was ready to accept
        Intermixed with this, and inconsistently  $0,  wasian           Naomi's verdict that no other Israelite could be ex-
     element of natural pride. Naomi had been: raised, in               pected to find interest in her, so that she would be
     Israel as one of the higher and more prosperous class              left without a family and without a future in Israel.
     of people.     She had learned  .almost unconsciously: to          What she had was enough nonetheless. What did the
     look down upon the poor, and now she was poor herself.             poverty matter? of what concern the lowliest of labor?
     As wrong as she knew it was, she hated to  !admit her              To her it was much better to be the lowliest of serv-
     state.    She found it hard to meet those whom she had             ants in the household of God than to dwell in the tents
     known in former years. It was  easierto  let Ruth carry            of Moab forever.
     out what contacts had to be made with these people,                   There was perhaps a certain naivete about Ruth
     and this Ruth graciously did.                                      during those early days in Bethlehem. We can under-
        Finally, and most discouraging for Naomi, was the               stand that. While still in Moab, Chilion and Naomi had
     realization of how far short Israel actually came from             spent many hours telling her about Jehovah and His
     living according to the precepts of the law.  I The poor           people. They had been anxious for her to love them as
     were supposed to be taken care of, but few took this               they did. Thus, quite understandably, they  ihad des-
     seriously anymore. Their pleas  for. assistance were               cribed for her the ideal state of Israel set forth in the
     most likely to be answered with sneers and derisions.              law and not the wretched lawlessness into which the
     When it came to the rights of the poor to glean; a harvest         nation had fallen.     Through their efforts and by the
     field, they might be openly denied, or else allowed only           grace of God, she had come to love the righteousness
     because not enough was left in it to make gleaning                 and mercy of Jehovah with which Moab had nothing to
     worthwhile.     Those who nonetheless did venture out              compare. She could not imagine but that everyone who
     in their desperation could figure on being  imade the              had heard the words, of the law must feel  :the same
     objects of taunts and humiliations. A lone, unprotected            about it as she did. Coming into Bethlehem;, she as-


154                                                 THESTANDARDBEARER

sumed  that everyone there shared the same joy of love           ed in his greeting to the reapers. "The LORD be with
which filled her heart. If Naomi had tried to warn her           you," he said to them, and they accordingly answered,
against this, it had gone uncomprehended. Surely it              "The LORD bless thee."
could be only a rare person in Israel that did not ap-              Immediately the eyes of Boaz were attracted to the
preciate the wonder of their God.                                young  ,stranger who labored among the gleaners. We
       Thus it was that soon after their arrival in Bethle-      do not know if Ruth was beautiful; she may have been.
hem at the time of Barley harvest, Ruth said to Naomi,           Surelv there was about her the attractiveness peculiar
"Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn              to young women, particularly in the eyes of  -a single
after him in whose sight I shall find grace." She had            man.    But there was more than this in Ruth. On her
heard from the law the precept of Moses, "When thou              face and in her every action was reflected the cheer-
cuttest  down thine harvest in thy field, and hath forgot        fulness of spirit from which the truest beauty arises.
a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it:       It could be seen that she found pleasure in the privilege
it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for        of honest labor. With impulsive interest, Boaz asked
the widow: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all           the reapers, "Whose damsel is this?"
the work of thine hands." (Deut.  24:19) To her this was            The reapers too had been impressed by Ruth, and
extremely beautiful. It really did notmatter to her that         particularly by the gentleness of her request to glean
she would be a recipient of this kindness. Had she               behind them. They answered Boaz, It is the Moabitish
been blessed with possessions, she would have dis-               damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country
tributed just as willingly. The important thing was              of Moab. And she said, I pray you, let me glean and
that in Israel every one acknowledged that all they re-          gather after the reapers among the sheaves."
ceived was from the hand of the Lord. Together they                 With this the interest of Boaz became even greater.
were to share in the blessings of God with thankfulness          He was a relative of Elimelech, and he had heard of
and love. Ruth welcomed the opportunity which was                Ruth's kindness to Naomi although he had never met
hers .to participate in this joy of harvest.                     her. Her's was a spirit of love seldom found any more
       We may well imagine, however, with what uncer-            in Israel.    Immediately Boaz was attracted to her and
tainty Naomi listened to this request. She knew full             longed to show her kindness. Without hesitation he
well how far short Israel could come from this ideal.            went to her side and said, "Hearest thou not, my
The one who wished to glean in the fields of Israel was          daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go
almost sure to meet with endless humiliations.           She     from thence, but abide her fast by my maidens: let
could expect to be turned back from field after field            thine eyes Abe on the field that they do reap, and go thou
with taunts and even curses.        If at last she did find a    after them: have I not charged the young men that they
field where gleaning was allowed, she was almost sure            shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto
to find it stripped so bare that gleaning would be all           the vessels, and drink of that which the young men
but fruitless. Alone in the field she would be abused,           have drawn."
and a young woman might well find herself in danger.                Surprised by this unexpected outpouring of kindness,
Should she not warn Ruth of this. But Naomi could not,           Ruth meekly leaned down and with eyes to the ground
lest the new found faith of this young convert be dashed                           (continued on next page)
by disillusionment. Quietly, fearfully, and with a prayer
in her heart, Naomi answered, "Go, my daughter."                               RES0.L UTION OF SYMPATHY
       "And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field         The Men's Society of the First Protestant Reformed
after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part            Church of Holland, Michigan herewith expresses its
of the field belonging to Boaz." This was not the cold,          sympathy to the family of
impersonal  hap of luck or chance so often claimed by                            ALBERT I<LOMPARENS
the world..      It was the  hap of God often spoken of in       who passed away at the age of 81 years.
Scripture.      His hand guided the young and tender Ruth           "My help  cometh from the Lord, whichmade heaven
to the place which, had been determined for her. She             and earth". Psalm  121:2.
came to the field of Boaz.                                                                         Rev. G. Lanting, Pres.
       Boaz was a man unique in his generation. He loved                                        .Edward Cammenga, Sec'y.
the Lord with all his heart and walked in His fear. He
knew the law and followed it in all that he did. His
fields were open to all of the poor who wished to glean                               IN MEMORLAM
them.      As the law commanded, the corners were left           Our ladies' Society herewith  ~would express its  sym-
standing for them, and the reapers did not return to             pathy  with our fellow-member, Mrs. Henrietta  Maring,
pick up that which had fallen from their hands. Boaz             in the loss of her child
obeyed the Lord, and by the hand of the Lord he pros-                                 SHERYL LYNN
pered. Still he was alone in his generation. Few thought         May our covenant God comfort her heart, and the hearts
to follow his example. Rather, they despised him for             of the bereaved family, remembering that our Father
it.     Boaz had come to the strength of his manhood, but        will raise the church in the day of our Lord.
he had never married. He had not -fond a woman who                                               The Ladies Society of the
would share with him his faith in God and his love for                                       Hudsonville Prot. Ref. Church
the law.  -                                                                                   Rev. Gerrit Vos, President
       Coming to his fields, the faith of Boaz was  reflect-                            Mrs. Gertrude Kuiper, Secretary


                                                  i THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       155

answered, "Why have I found grace in thine' eyes, that                to eat with him and with the reapers. With them she
thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I  am a                   found herself strangely at home, more so  than she had
stYanger?"                                                            ever really felt with her -own people in Mbab. With
    For this Boaz was ready and answered, "It  bath                   them she shared a singular joy, the love of Jehovah,
fully been showed me, all that thou hast do:e unto `thy               Israel's God.       She had tasted it first when she had
mother in law since the death of thine husbarid: and how              heard the words of the law of God. Now. she found
thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and ithe land of            again, as she had with  Chilion  and Naomi, that it was
thy nativity, and art come unto a people /which  tpou                 a power that united together all that  btlieved  in
knewest not heretofore. The LORD recompense thy                       Jehovah.
work, and a full reward be given thee of rhe iLORD cod                    Little did Ruth realize, however, that  ' Boaz too
of Israel, under whose wings thou art  corn<  to trust."              found their meeting to be an almost unique experi-
    Here was the same faith that had  come) to live so                ence.       In all of his years in Israel, he had not found
recentily in Ruth's own heart. She understood it, though              such unity of faith as he felt with this young convert
she did not feel as though she deserved  it.; After  $1,              from Moab. His heart went out to her froni the very
she was a stranger and not of Israel. Gratefully she                  first.      This was reflected when, after  RL& had re-
answered, "Let me find favour in thy  sigh;, my lord;                 turned to her gleaning, he instructed the. reapers,
for that thou hast comforted me, and for  thai thou  h:ast            "Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach
spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not                  her not: and let fall handfuls of purpose for her, and
like unto one of thine handmaidens."              j                   leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her
    That noon, by special invitation of  Boaz,' Ruth  vent            not."




                                          7+&p :7&s s+W&
                                                            EVChJTlONlSM

                                                       !Rev.  Robert  C. Havbach
The Subject Considered                                                the origin of matter and life remains unanswered. We
                                                                      have reason to believe that as long as they remain
   The subject considered fairly requires  aidefinitcon               intellectually and scientifically honest (which in itself
of terms which will describe the hypothesis as its                    is an unanswered question), it will  remain,so.  For
adherents conceive of it.     Le Conte does thi+s when `he            evolutionist Vernon Kellogg says  (After Its Kind, p.  28),
deems evolution a  "(1). continuous progress&e change;                "This  m.ystery  may, indeed, be for ever beyond human
(2) according to certain laws; (3) by means  of resident              understanding." Others express themselves  dimilarly:
forces." This means, not necessarily that matter has                  "It is impossible, nowadays, to imagine how  ;evolution
existed forever, but that now evolutionists are searching             began" (L. Du Nouy,  Human Destiny,  p.  57). "The
for a beginning, and so are of the opinion that the origin            `chasm between the not living and the living, the present
of life "lies 5.5 billion years in the past"  (Scientific             state of knowledge cannot bridge" (Huxley); "Most
American,   Sept. `56, p. 80). Primordial batter is                   naturalists of our time have  given  up the attempt to
thought to have begun in a simple one-celled organism,                account for the origin of life by natural  ' causes"
as the amoebae. The origin of the universe was  o&e                   (Haeckel).
thought to have emerged from a pocket of ether  br                        Still, they persist with their arguments for their
fiery mist, which somewhat in dust-devil fashion                      unprovable philosophy. The "classification argument"
wrapped itself into a ball, gradually compacting  itself              follows.      From the one-celled animal, the amoeba,
into a tight solid, then cooled, but  remailed suffi-                 there developed a simple invertebrate like the hydra
ciently warm to incubate life by  spontaneouS  genera-                (a fresh water animal  l/5" long). Then later a higher
tion.    This incubation began when the waters of the                 invertebrate appeared, like the star-fish.  N&xt came
earth were squeezed out of the depths  of  it? interior               the lowest form of vertebrate, the  amphioxus, (a  sand-
(Fred Hoyle, Fyontievs  of Astvanomy, p. 42). Scripturk,              burrowing half fish and half worm, about 2" long).
opposite to this, teaches that the earth,  griginally                 Higher in the scale, the jelly-fish, the fish,, then the
covered with water, had its submerged land mass&                      amphibia (e.g., frogs), then the reptilia,  birds and
emerge from the water (Gen.  1:9). Evolution says                     lowest mammalia (as the opposum, dog  or  lemur-).
water was pressured out of the bowels of  the earth,                  Beyond this the quadruped and lower ape stage!(perhaps
covered the terrestrial sphere with a "saline ooze,!"                 the tarsier) was reached, then the more advanced apes,
which required some long ages until the water developed               the gorilla, and finally man.       There is movement in
a less saline content, a kind of sand, mud/or  slime                  this line toward a goal for man, namely that he become
mixture, so enabling the  prdduction  of life.         :              a demi-god, and eventually the undisputed gdd of the
    Evolutionists, however, admit that the question of                universe.      This is viewed as quite within the `realm of


156                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER

possibility.     "Man can, if he will, take a hand in his        other apes. It is worthy to note that the brain capacity
own future evolution"          (Exploring  Biology,  4th ed.,    of the apes never reaches higher than 600  C.C. The
497). Of this line of interpretation the great geologist,        heads of the pygmies of Central Africa, the smallest
Sir J. W. Dawson said, "It is one of the strangest               human beings known, are much smaller than the average
phenomena of humanity; it is utterly destitute of proof"         human skull, and are about 900 C.C. The largest human
(Heresies Exposed,  p. 70).                                      capacity may be approximately 1620  C.C. The only
                                                                 likeness the baboon bears to man is a faint resem-
The Claims Evaluated                                             blance in the spinal structure. All apes are equipped
                                                                 with feet having a thumb, instead of a big toe, and all
       The claims evaluated in further scrutiny of the           walk on all fours. When they rest, they sit as dogs,
subject may indeed lead us to concede it possible to             squirrels, and rabbits. None of this suggests that man
classify or arrange the many existent creatures in the           is a "made over ape." The so called "fossil men"
order of an "increasing complexity." Such an ar-                 are actually conceded to he not men, but only parts of
rangement is easy to make. But we are not to conclude            men,  and not parts of missing links, and they are such
from it that it is correct, that it presents fact, or that       parts as can never be reconstructed. There is not
it uncovers either man's origin or his destiny. Plant            simply a (one) missing link, nor a  few  missing links,
life is similarly arranged, beginning with one single            as the Piltdown hoax, and the other hoaxmen, but there
very low form -tif life, and gradually developing into the       are thousands of missing links, and not only between
more complex structural forms, so that one species of            the apes and man, but in many other places along the
plant evolved into a higher species in a perfectly               imagined line of evolution. In fact, not only are there
natural way without any miraculous intervention. The             so many missing  links,  but whole chains are missing,
vegetable kingdom, then, evolved from milkweed to                so that it is scientifically impossible to relate man to
mammoth Sequoia.         But a man's  bat k porch may            the animals.    So says Loren C. Eisley in  Scientific
contain an orderly array of footwear, from baby booties,         American  (June `56, p.  98), who nevertheless adds, "If
sandals, thongs, slippers, rubbers, sneakers, galoshes,          we accept the evidence of evolution, we must assume
brogans to seven league boots. From this phenomena               that man became man by degrees, that he emerged out
we might suppose that within that "castle" there'must            of the animal world. .  .over long ages." Then he con-
live an "increasing complexity" of featherless bipeds!           cludes his "scientific" view of man rather dazedly, "In
We rather say, as our opponents themselves admit,                the end we may shake our heads, baffled, and have to
"that any descriptive chronological plan of evolutipn            admit that many lives of seeming relatives, rather than
is extremely questionable"  (Human Destiny,  62), and            merely one, lead to man. It is as though we stood at
"we can only surmise, not prove it, and the whole                the heart of a maze, and no longer remembered how we
process escapes us completely" (ibid., 97). "The                 had come there" (p. 100). Evolution by its own admis-
truth is that nothing positive is known" (ibid., 98).            sion ends in confusion of face and futility.
There is no more progressive change than that which                 It is amazing after noting the above confessions to
we find within the development of any one species                read, "It is almost impossible, nowadays, not to be an
from birth to maturity. The crossing of bridges from             evolutionist" (Human Destiny,  66). We are forced to
one species to another there has never been.                     the stone wall of hard "reality" and so must become
       Then there is the "comparative anatomy" proof,            evolutionists! It is impossible not to be  something!  The
or the "homologies" argument, which proceeds on the              reason why evolution finds any support at all is not be-
basis of similarities of structure in the different groups       cause it is substantiated by direct observation, but be-
of animals. In almost every biology or zoology text-             cause it is impossible to formulate any other alternate
book there is an illustrative plate reprinted from               theory to that of the Christian position.       Then it is
Huxley's "Evidence As to Man's Place in Nature,"                 even more amazing to read, "Nobody believes any
which depicts the 19th century view of humanevolution.           longer that `man descends from the ape' " (ibid.).
This plate shows the skeletal structure of the gibbon,           "Man does not descend from the monkeys" (94). Why
orangutan (Maylayfor "man of the woods"), chimpanzee,            not? is it because the whole ideahas become thoroughly
gorilla, and man, respectively, the design being to show         ridiculous? Or is it because man has now become en-
such similarity of structure as to suggest descent (or           lightened enough to believe "the fact that man descended
ascent?) of man's ancestral line.           But the gorilla,     from the marine worms" (197)? The more we study
selected as the closest ancestor to man, has on its              evolution the more we become convinced that it is a
skull a high bony crest like the comb of a rooster,              tenaciously held "complicated childishness." In a way,
whereas man's skull is well rounded and smooth on                it is no wonder that evolutionists want to trace man's
top and all around.     Besides, the gorilla has thirteen        origin to an aquatic worm, for the present jazz craze
pairs of ribs; man has twelve. The gibbon does not               of the "beat generation" seems a likely development
fit into the line because, though it has a stomach               of the , rhythmic gyrations of the sea-serpent or the
similar to man's, and 12 pairs of ribs, its arms reach           jelly-fish. We may readily sympathize with the one who
down below its ankles, placing it in a very low animal           supposes that some of the human species have sprung
category.       The chimp has shorter arms, but has 13           from a spineless ancestry.
pairs of ribs.       The only likeness the orang (man)
bears to man is the angle of the bony structure of its           The  Verdict  Rendeved
forehead, which happens to be slightly higher than the              The verdict rendered against this theory with  last-


                                                  / THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     157

 ing effect is that of the Word of God. "If they speak             has crossed the bridge of the human body.  "All flesh
 not according to this Word, it is because  ihere  is,no           is not the same flesh: hut there is one kind  of flesh of
 light in them" (Isa.  8:20). Evolution stands  self-              men, another of beasts, another of fishes,  and another
 condemned, yet if we will not accept their tattered               of birds" (I Cor.  15:39).     "All human blood is human
 remnants as whole cloth, they will reply,  "Ititolera&e           blood. The flesh of the cow, the blood of the goat, the
 is a proof of incomprehension" (ibid., 180). We do                chromosome number of the monkey, the blubber of the
 not understand -unless we agree with them! After                  whale, the temperature of the fish - none of these have
 telling us that they have no reasonable Foundation,               any relation to the structure of man's body. No trans-
 and that none exists, at least none has yet been dis-            fusion      works between man and" animal (0. E.
 covered, they proceed to condemn us for making no                 Sanden in  Tuklve   Bridges  No Evolutionist  tHas   Evev
 effort to stand on the non-existent! True,: "Man far              CYossedj.
 outranks all other organisms in many  ways. . .He is
 the only organism capable of reasoning. .  i.He has a                    Evolution has produced the infidel modernist. It
 high measure of control over his  environment.  .  .Still        has produced the denial of the full  inspirati4n  and  in-
 another. .  .language.  .  ." (Exploring  Biology,: 497). But    errancy of Holy Writ. It has scattered the deleterious
 it does not follow that "If it  werenot  so, you  Gould still     seeds of liberal "theology." It has provided in the ed-
 be picking berries off the bushes and looking for a chance       ucational field the chief weapons of attack' upon the
 to catch a fish for breakfast" (ibid.). The  iear is not          Christian faith.      It has destroyed Christian colleges
 our ancestor. Nor has any creature but man crostied               and seminaries, turning them into propaganda mills
 the bridge of reasoning. No animal has ever abproached           for the social gospel and classless  soci&ctjr.  It has
 the mathematical mind.        The bridge of environment          turned the gospel of the grace of God into the ,;`gospel"
 has never been crossed. The fish has never crossed               of the brotherhood of man.          Evolution is the funda-
 over to become a mole or a bird. The bat  lhas never             mental philosophy of political liberalism, of theological
 left its environment to become a humming-bird. Each              modernism, of the false ecumenical church, of social-
 species remains within its own sphere.  Th$  bridge'of           ism, of atheism and of communism. Hear the end of
 language has never been crossed. No one  Mistreated              this science falsely so called.      "It is written, `I will
 dog can "tell on" its cruel master.         Animals cannot       destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to noth-
 deliver a speech or vocalize thought. No lowe; creature          ing the understanding of the prudent"' (I  Cgr.  1:19).
                                                                                                                    I





                                                   I
                                                FdEEDOM FROM FEAR

                                                   !    Rev.  J. A. Heys
    Only in His fear is there freedom from  fe/$r.                ate.       From that moment that he lost the  f&ar of the
    Paradoxical as it may sound, all our fear came                Lord, he was overwhelmed with fear on  evQy side.
into man's soul and into this world becausem'an ceased            He knew that he was naked and tried to hide under fig
to fear God in paradise and dared to try to exalt him-            leaves.       Then he tried to hide under the  tr&es of the
self to be God's equal. Satan's lie had for  it& purpose          garden trembling in terror before God!
the destruction of our fear of  Go& Adam believed `in                 Soon enough he feared the animals. He feared that
 God and was thoroughly convinced that He  is God and             he could not wrest enough food from the cursed ground.
that there is no God beside Him. Adam knew: his plake             Death was in his body, and he feared  death,on every
under God and the consequences of sin against God. He             side.      He was walking in the valley where the shadow
knew that in the day he disobeyed God and was bold `to            of death was cast, and he knew that around  & bend of
defy God, he would die.        But through Eve  Satan   sub-      the way he would meet it. Violence to  mankivd raised
ceeded in driving away his fear of such  dike conse-              its wicked head in his own firstborn; and the human
 quences of eating one little piece of fruit. All the             race began to fear violence and brutality,  mtirder and
trees, that is, all the other trees of the  galiden   were        injury.      From that time on man's fears  have.not been
good for food. Why should this tree have  hoisonous               lessened, but rather increased. And as we begin the
fruit?    And that fruit of the tree of the knowledge of          new year, fear is a monstrous beast that has `grown to
good and evil was not poisonous either.  If'it  was,lit           proportions not known before.         There is fear in the
surely was slow-acting poison. For Adam  &ill lived               individual life of every  man, woman, and child. There
for nine hundred and thirty years! No, the death that             is international fear of unprecedented  prohortions.
would come upon him would be punishment.! It  wou.ld              Over all of us hangs the fear of dreadful war. This
not be the natural result of eating that  fruit.! It would        reflects itself in the stock market whenever a new
be God's wrath upon him that. brought him death! But              crisis appears or seems to disappear.           Race riots
man was brave as fortified by the lie of  Satan, and he           are expected, and sections of cities are avoided in


158                                                    THESTANDARDBEARER

fear of violence and evil. But why go on? Every man              clares it to the Romans, "If God be for us, who can be
knows the fears that surround him. And they all are              against us ?' ' Romans  8:31b. The question is not: Who
here ever since man ceased to fear the Lord.                     is against us ?       Rather does Paul ask, who can be
       Now in the Old Testament Scripture the fear of the        against us?" If He is our strength, there is no strength
Lord is faith in God.        Get out your concordance and        that can possibly do us harm, even though they come
look up the words believe and faith. You will be amazed          up against us as an host. We are safe, so very, very ,
to find that these words appear far more often in the            safe.
New Testament than in the Old, and that the word feav                In Christ Jehovah is our fortress, our place of
appears so often in the Old Testament. This is not due           safety.      He is the high and thick-walled city which no
to the fact that men did not believe in God in the Old           enemy can enter, and which no enemy can overthrow.
Testament times, or that they did not have faith in              Before the enemy in David's day could lay a finger upon
Him.       They certainly did; and the eleventh chapter of       those inside a walled city, he had to climb over those  i
the epistle to the Hebrews shows that these were men             walls, break down those walls, or force his way through
of faith and by faith wrought wonderful works. But               the gates of those walls.      Who shall do that when Je-
this is due to the fact that Scripture uses the expres-          hovah is this fortress, this fenced city of His people?
sion "the fear of the Lord" instead of the words                 How shall the finite creature climb up over the in-
"believe" or "faith." And therefore we may say that              finite God? All the finite creatures together cannot
there is freedom from fear only in the way of faith in           reach up one millionth of the way to the endless height
God.       With faith in our hearts there will still be all      of the infinite God! All his efforts are futile and utter
about us that which brings fear to the flesh. But that           folly.     And his efforts to break down that unbreakable '
faith will conquer and bring peace of mind to our souls.         wall are much less successful than a summer's breeze
       What is fear? Fear is a painful awareness of im-          would ever succeed to move the Rock of Gibraltar even
pending doom or danger. Whether the danger or doom               a fraction of an inch.      Jehovah is the Almighty One.
is imaginary or not makes no difference. We fear                 His  is not most of the might. His is  all  the might.
because we see, or think that we see, some threat to             And the  enemy  that seeks to break down that wall re-
our well-being, our joy, and life.          The nearer the       ceives its life and strength from this mighty God Who
danger is, or seems, the greater the fear. It may be             is our fortress.      No fear that He will give that enemy
remote, so that we fear the icy road while we are still          the strength to overthrow Himself and touch those who
at home in safety. It may be in front of us as the blind-        are precious in His sight.
ing snow piles up and the road becomes more slippery                 Our life is in that fortress.     Our bodies men may
every moment.         It may be a remote fear when the           touch.       Our bodies they may even burn at the stake.
child first becomes ill. It may be very near when the            Our earthly life they may take from us. But the
fever mounts and cannot be lowered, the breathing be-            everlasting life of regeneration is in that fortress. We
comes difficult, the heart begins to show signs of fail-         do not even need to run into that fortress when the
ure! But it is a painful awareness of impending disas-           enemy comes.          David says, "Of whom shall I be
ter, of loss and harm.                                           afraid?" And the idea is, "From whom shall I flee?"
       All our fears fall into one of two categories.            We need not flee, because our life is in that fortress.
Either we fear what God will do to us, or we fear what           We are perfectly safe and do not simply have a place
man will do to us.        Every time we read in Scripture        of safety into which to run.         We need not even fear
that an angel appears to man, the man is filled with             that the enemy might overtake us before we got behind
fear.     Angels are God's messengers, and the message           those walls. We are there! Jehovah IS our salvation
that we can expect because of what we are can never              and light. He does not simply promise us to be such.
be a good message.         It is always a message of God's       Certainly He does not plead with us to let Him be that
wrath that we expect.         And if we deceive ourselves        fortress.      Jehovah is our light and our salvation. And
into  ` believing that there is no God, we always fear           nothing in the year ahead can possibly change that.
what man can and will do to us. Even then we still               Nothing is able to separate us from the love of God in
fear God's lightning flash, His earthquake and tornado.          Christ Jesus.       Romans  8:38,39. Though with heart
We fear His  dise,ase germ and His power in the poison           and mind we can and often do climb out over those
and fire.                                                        walls and lose our confidence and are filled with fear
       But the fear of the Lord drives it all away.              by the presence and approach of the enemy, yet our
       Listen to David, as representative of all those who       life is hid with God in Christ. Jehovah IS the fortress
fear God, "Though an host should encamp against me,              of our life. Our life is always there behind those mighty
my heart shall not fear: though war should rise up               walls from the moment of that life in regeneration. For
against me, in this will I be confident." Psalm  27:3.           regeneration means that we are born again. It means
And that confidence or freedom from fear all those               that we are born behind those walls and never leave
who fear God will and do have., It is all expressed by           the safety of that fortress. We are reborn with the life
David in the first verse of this Psalm, "The Lord is             which is from above. And with that life we are always
my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord           born behind the walls of God's protecting love and
is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?`,         grace.
       Well, say it then! If by faith we take hold of that          No enemy shall enter. Jehovah, Who is our light  '
truth that Jehovah is our light and salvation, of whom           as well as our salvation, will destroy him by the bril-
shall we and can we possibly be afraid? As Paul de-              liance of that light. Our God is a consuming fire ! But


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    159

to us He is the light of our life. No enemy shall creep         Before us is stretched a whole year.
up in the darkness and bring grief to  us.  We  dweli  in       What will that year hold? Nothing of which to be
the light which melts the workers of darkness and            afraid.      If we walk through that year in His fear, we
drives them all away.       We are safe, so  bery, very      will be wondrously free from fear. If we do not walk
safe, today, tomorrow, and forever. The enemy shall          in His fear, there will be reason for nothing but fear.
not have the victory this year. But he will not have it      Stand before the cross of Christ and see it by faith in
next year either. Dark days are ahead; The forces            all your earthly way, and you will see reasons for con-
of the Antichrist are assembling and merging to mar-         fidence of safety no matter what may be your lot. Either
shal all their strength against God's church. Per-           we will fear God in reverence and awe before His face,
secution and tribulation are not too far away. Soon          acknowledge Him as our God, trust in Him for all our
we will not be able to buy or to sell. The beginning         good, or we will live in the terror of His holy wrath
of sorrows are here already.          There are. wars and    and continue in that fear to try to hide under every
rumlors  of new wars every day.         There are  earth-    tree and call for the hills and mountains to cover us.
qualces in diverse places. Apostasy is so plain to be        Then we will look forward in reasonable terror for the
seen.    The gospel has been, or surely today can be,        day of days when His Son shall come upon theclouds of
preached to every nation by radio. The missionary            heaven to judge the quick and the dead. If today we
can be flown by helicopter to any place you may men-         deny Him as God and are bold enough to lift ourselves
tion and where men live:       We can only wonder how        in our thinking to be His equal, we had better fear what
soon the man of sin shall make his appearance and sit        He will do to us in that day. But if the Spirit of His Son
in the temple of God saying that he is God.           '      humbles us in the dust and gives us the faith to believe
   But that enemy shall not have the  victori  even for      that He has become our salvation, we can look forward
a few brief moments.      God is our salvation. In His       to that day of Christ with eager expectation.
Son He has blotted out all our guilt. He has taken from         If we work out our own salvation with; fear and
us all reason to fear His holy wrath, and made us'to         trembling, we will have the confidence of  th'at salva-
be His adopted children. He has made known to us that        tion and be freed from the fear of our guilt and con-
precious in His sight is the deathof His saints, and that    demnation.      Man must fear God, for He  is God. And it
He will raise our bodies and bring them also where           makes all the difference in the world whether it is the
nothing can ever harm them again. The enemy is going         fear of faith which realizes reverence and awe before
to be wiped off from the face of this earth and cast into    God, or whether it is the fear of unbelief that continues
the lake of fire. Jehovah is our everlasting salvation,      in thought, word, and deed to exalt man to `be God's
and He is our,complete  salvation.                           equal. The fear of reverence gives peace. The fear of
   And because He has given us faith,  we; have this         unbelief brings torment.
peace with God in heart and mind.  ,Because  we now             The fear of faith is practiced inside those mighty
again have the fear of the Lord, we are free from all        walls.      The fear of unbelief is practiced outside those
fear of His wrath and what man might do to us. Be-           walls. Inside the walls is freedom from fear. Outside
cause we believe that He is our light and our salvation      is the slavery of fear and the terror of this holy God.
and the strength of our life, we cannot have fear any-          This year walk in His fear and take your sins to the
more of our guilt and man's brutality and cruelty. Death     cross.       You will leave with a heart wondrously free
hath no sting, and the grave has no victory over us.  !      from fear.





                                  THE  INSPl@ATIO,N OF THE SCRIPTURES

                                                i Rev.  H. Veldman

   Discussing the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures,        all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote
we were calling attention in our last article to this        them with ink in the `book." In the context of Jer.  1:9
truth as it is maintained in the Word of God. We noted       we read of Jeremiah's calling by the Lord to be His
that there are passages in the Bible that directly teach     prophet.      When Jeremiah complains that he cannot be
this doctrine of divine inspiration. And we concluded        a prophet of the Lord because of his youth, the Lord
our article by quoting Jeremiah  1:9;  36:17-18: "Then       answers him that he must not object that he is but a
the Lord put forth His hand, and touched my mouth.           child, inasmuch as the Lord will command him the things
And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words       that he shall say, and that He will touch his mouth and
in thy mouth; . . . .And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell     put His words in his mouth. Striking is .also the ipassage
us now, How didst thou write all these words at his          in Jer. 36. The Lord had commanded Jeremiah to take
mouth? Then Baruch answered them, He -pronounced             a roll of a book and to write therein all the words that


160                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER

He had spoken against Israel, against Judah, and against         Scriptures of the old economy were given by inspiration
all the nations, from the days of Josiah until this day          of God, much more were those writings which were
(Jer.  36:2). . Thereupon Baruch, Jeremiah's scribe,             penned under the dispensation of the Spirit. Besides,
had read this, book in the house of the Lord (verse 10).         the inspiration of the Apostles is proved, (1) From the
This was reported to the wicked king of Judah,  Jehoi-           fact that Christ promised them the Holy Spirit, who
akim.       This king, sitting in his winterhouse, sent          should bring all things to their remembrance, and render
Jehudi to fetch this roll of the book; and while it was          them infallible in teaching. It is not you, He said, that
being read to the king, the king cut it with a penknife          speak, but the Spirit of my Father speaketh in you. He
and cast it into the fire until the entire roll had been         that heareth you heareth me. He forbade them to enter
consumed, and this in spite of the fact that intercession        upon their office as teachers until they were endued
was made to the king that he should not burn the roll of         with power from on high. (2) This promise was ful-
Jeremiah's prophecy. The king, destroying the roll,              filled on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit descend-
foolishly imagined that he had destroyed the prophecy            ed upon the Apostles as a mighty rushing wind, and
of the Lord. However, according to verse 27, the Word            they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak
of the Lord again came to Jeremiah to take unto him-             as the Spirit gave them utterance  (&bat  eloqui,   as the
self another roll and to write in it all the former words        Vulgate more literally renders the words). From this
which he had written in the first roll. And to this  sec-        moment they were new men, with new views, with new
ond roll the Lord added many words which He had not              spirit, and with new power and authority. The change
written in the first roll.       This clearly indicates the      was sudden. It was not a development. It was  some-
nature of Old Testament prophecy, that the prophets              thing altogether supernatural; as when God said, Let
of old wrote exactly as the Lord commanded them.                 there be light, and there was light. Nothing can be
And in Isaiah 51:16 we read: "And I have put my words            more unreasonable than to ascribe this sudden  trans-
in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of           formation of the Apostles from narrow-minded, bigoted
mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the             Jews, into enlightened, large-minded, catholic Chris-
                                                                                                                       _.
foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art            tians, to mere natural causes. Their Jewishprejudices
my people." Here again we read that the Lord puts                had resisted all the instructions and influences of
His words in the mouth of the prophet.                           Christ for three years, but gave way in a moment
       All these passages emphasize that the prophet was         when the Spirit came upon them on high. (3) After the
the spokesman of the Lord, the mouth of God, through             day of Pentecost the Apostles claimed to be the in-
whom the Lord speaks to the people. Of the prophet               fallible organs of God in all their teachings. They
we read that "the word of the Lord" is come to this              required men to receive what they taught not as the
prophet, the  ` `Spirit' ' is come upon him, the "power"         word of man but as the word of God (I Thess.  2:13):
or "hand of  theLord" was upon him. All this signified           they declared as Paul does (I Cor.  14:37), that the
that the prophet was the organ of God. And this is ex-           things which they wrote were the commandments of
actly what we read in II Pet. 1:20,21.                           the Lord. They made the salvation of men depend on
       Besides, in support of the truth that Scripture itself    faith in the doctrines they taught. Paul pronounces
maintains divine inspiration, we call attention to the           anathema even an angel from heaven who should preach
fact that, according to the Word of God, what the                any other gospel than that which he had taught. (Gal.
prophets said God had spoken, The prophets are rep-              1:8). John says that whoever did not receive the testi-
resented as speaking the Word of the Lord. Christ                mony which he bore concerning Christ, made God a
Himself declared that David  by the  Spirit called the           liar, because John's testimony was God's testimony.
Messiah Lord (see Matt.  23:43).       David, in the ninety-     (I John 5:lO) `He that knoweth God, heareth us; he that
fifth psalm, writes: "Today if ye will hear his voice,           is not of God, heareth not us.' (4:6) This assertion of
harden not your heart;" and the apostle, in Heb.  3:7,           infallibility, this claim for the divine authority of their
declares that these were the words of the Holy Ghost.            teaching, is characteristic of the whole Bible. The
And in Heb.  10:15, Acts  4:25, and Acts  28~25  we read:        sacred writers all, and everywhere, disclaim personal
"Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for             authority; they never rest the obligation to faith in
after that he had said before. . . . .Who by the mouth           their teachings, on their own knowledge or wisdom;
of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen              they never rest it on the truth of what they taught as
rage, and the people imagine vain things?. . . . .And            manifest to reason or as capable of being proved by
when they agreed not among themselves, they departed,            argument.    They speak as messengers, as witnesses,
after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the              as organs. They declare that what they said God said,
Holy Ghost, by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers."             and, therefore, on his authority it was to be received
       Treating this subject of divine inspiration, and par-     and obeyed."
ticularly the inspiration of the New Testament writers,             Continuing his treatment of divine inspiration, Hodge,
Hodge writes as follows (Vol. I,  160-161), and we               writing on inspiration as it extends equally to all the
quote: "This proof bears specially, it is true, only on          parts of Scripture, writes, pages 163-164, and we again
the writings of the Old Testament (Hodge here refers             quote: "This is the fourth element of the Church doc-
to what he has written immediately prior tothis. H.V.).          trine on this subject. It means, first, that all the books
But no Christian puts the inspiration of the Old Testa-          of Scriptures are equally inspired. All alike are in-
ment above that of the New. The tendency, and we may             fallible in what they teach. And secondly, that inspira-
even say the evidence, is directly the other way. If the         tion extends to all the contents of these several books.


                                                   : THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        161

It is not confined to moral and religious truths, but                  great stumblingiblock,  that Jonah was three days in the
extends to the statements of facts, whether scientific,                whale's belly, are all referred to by our Lord and his
historical, or geographical. It is not confined to those               Apostles with the sublime simplicity and confidence
facts the importance of which is obvious, or which are                 with which they are received by little children. (5) It
involved in matters of doctrine. It extends; to every-                 lies in the very idea of the Bible, that God chose some
thing which any sacred writer asserts to be true.                      men to write history; some to indite psalms; some to
    "This is proved, (1) Because it is involved in, ,or                unfold the future; some to teach doctrines. All were
follows as a necessary consequence from, the proposi-                  equally his organs, and each was infallible in his own
tion that the sacred writers were the organs of God.                   sphere.        As the principle of vegetable life pervades
If what they assert, God asserts, which, as has been                   the whole plant, the root, stem, and flower; as the life
shown, is the Scriptural idea of inspiration,: their as-               of the body -belongs as much to the feet as to the head,
sertions must be. free from error.         (2) Because our             so the Spirit of God pervades the whole Scripture, and
Lord expressly says, `The Scripture cannot be broken'                  is not more in one part than in another. Some members
(John  10:35), i.e., it cannot  err. (3) Because Christ                of the body are more important than others; and some
and his Apostles refer to all parts of the Scriptures, or              books of the Bible could be far better spared than
to the whole volume, as the word of God. They make                     others.      There may be as great a difference between
no'distinction  as to the authority of the Law, the Proph-             St. John's Gospel and the Book of Chronicles as be-
ets, or the Hagiographa (the third of the three ancient                tween a man's brain and his hair; nevertheless the life
divisions of the Old Testament,  comprisingj  all books                of the body is as truly in the hair as in the brain."
not reckoned in the Law or the Prophets,  H.V.). They
quote the Pentateuch, the historical books, the Psalms,                DIVINE INSPIRATION AS MAINTAINED BY THE
and the Prophets, as all and equally the word of God.                  C O N F E S S I O N S
(4) Because Christ and the writers of the New Testa-
ment refer to all classes of facts recorded in the Old                      From the Second  Helvetic Confession we wish to
Testament as infallibly true. Not only doctrinal facts,                quote the following from Chapters 1 and 2: "We believe
such as those of the creation and probation of man                     and confess the Canonical Scriptures of the holy proph-
(probation? -- H.V.); his apostasy; the covenant with                  ets and apostles of both Testaments to be the true
Abraham; the giving of the law upon  Mount'Sinai;  not                 Word of God, and to have sufficient authority of them-
only great historical facts, as the deluge,  thk.deliver-              selves, not of men.          For God himself spake to the
ante of the people out of Egypt, the passage of the Red                fathers, prophets, apostles, and still speaks to us
Sea, and the like; but incidental circumstances, or facts              through the Holy Scriptures. . . . .The Apostle Peter
of apparently (notice,    please:    `apparently,' H.V.)               has said that `the Holy Scriptures are not of any private
minor importance, as e.g. that Satan tempted our first                 interpretation' (2 Pet.  1:20). Wherefore we do not des-
parents in the form of a serpent; that Moses lifted up                 pise the interpretations of the holy Greek and Latin
 a serpent in the wilderness: that Elijah healedNaaman,                fathers, . . . . ; but we do modestly dissent from them
the Syrian, and was sent to the widow of Safepta; that                 when they are found to set down things differing from,
David ate the shew-bread in the temple: and even that                  or altogether contrary to the Scriptures."




                                     74~  &cd&  75%  Waa&ti
                                     ("0 worship thh Lord in the beauty of holiness." Ps. 96:9a)

                                       TO THE, UTMOST OF OUR POWER

                                                    R e v .   F.  Vanden   Berg
    Instructing our children in harmony with the truths                thou  sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest in
of our confession is not an optional matter. It is a                   the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou
most solemn duty imposed upon us by God and, involving                 risest up.        And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon
a grave responsibility. This responsibility  j is volun-               thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine
tarily assumed by us, the parents, in the baptism  ,of                 eyes.      And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy
our children; and its application is not limited to any                house, and on thy gates." (Deut. 6:6-8)
given sphere of our or our children's lives. It em-                         In our last article we emphasized the necessity of
braces the church, the home and the school. God Him-                   thorough Protestant Reformed education for our chil-
self defines the limitation of this duty when He com-                  dren throughout all the years of their training in the
mands us in His Word:                                                  school.       This, of course, must supplement identical
    "And these words, which I command thee this day,                   training they are to receive in the home and may never
shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them dili-               substitute it; for the school is only an aid or extension
gently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when                  of the home. Inseparably related to all this instruction


162                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER

stands the church, for it is "according to the doctrines        discuss and consider what this power is. The one parent
therein taught" that the training of the child in every         may have a far greater ability to teachin  the sense that
sphere is to be gauged. All of this for us can only mean        he has the talent of being able to explain clearly what
a deep-felt responsibility to inculcate into our. children      he has in mind and of being able to apply the principles
the Protestant Reformed world and life view, and suc-           bf  Go'd's  Word to that which he teaches. Some mothers
cess in this venture necessitates the  .diligent  applica-      are `just born teachers and of others you would almost
tion of the same to our  own practices as parents.              say that they know not the first things about teaching.
Consistency between life and doctrine is mandatory, for         Some have little patience even with their own flesh and
the Old Testament Scriptures are replete with warn-             blood, while others manifest a patience that amazes.
ings and examples of those who outwardly confessed              Then again you have parents who are very strong
the truth but failed to live it. (See also I Corinthians        spiritually and others who are very weak spiritually.
lO:l-12)      In every instance of such inconsistencies the     Some have a vast store of Scripture knowledge and
fruits were most bitter. We, as parents, must not only          knowledge of doctrine. Others are very ignorant in
promise fidelity to the instruction of the covenant seed        regard to thkse things and are spiritually careless.
"to the utmost of our power" but  wemust also manifest          There are parents that are extremely pious and strict
a constant readiness to expend ourselves in the fulfill-        in all their own walk of life, while others are very lax
ment of this vow. Without this we can find no reason            and show little interest either in Divine worship  upor;
to expect positive fruit but will assuredly witness de-         the Sabbath or in the study of God's Word in Society.
generation and experience the disfavor of the Lord              Let us not forget that our own walk of life and the ex-
our God upon us.                                                ample that we set has a tremendous bearing upon  the
       Rev. H.  Veldman,  in a speech delivered to the Prot-    training of our children! We are not bringing them  ux
estant Reformed minister's conference, made the state-          in the fear of the Lord to the utmost of our power by
ment: "In 1924 the Three Points were officially adopted         a careless, earthly-minded walk."2
by the Christian Reformed Churches. In 1926 our pro-               From here Rev. Heys continues to explain the im-
test was officially rejected by those churches in their         portance of young people selecting Protestant Re-
synodical gathering held at Englewood, Chicago. In              formed husbands and wives in order that  together  they
1926, therefore, we stood officially on our own. May            may bring up their children in "the aforesaid doctrine."
God give us the grace that we also stand on our own as          Mixed marriages not only create many problems and
far as the instruction of our children is concerned.            difficulties but they are a detriment when it comes to
Then we may be assured of the continued blessing of             the matter of bringing up children in a specific doc-
the God of our salvation and the continued realization          trine or way of life. The fundamental requirement in
of His Covenant also with the children whom the Lord            the execution of this task is a spiritual one as is brought
has given us."1                                                 out in the following:
       This is indeed true. "To the utmost of our power"           "To instruct our children in the fear of the Lord
we must stand on our own in the instruction of our              we do not need to get a normal training in some college,
children.      We certainly cannot let the atheistic State      but we do need to know the doctrine of the Old and New
perform this task for us. Neither can we consistently           Testament.    Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the Israel-
confess the truth and permit those who officially and           ites were very unschooled in the modern sense of the
in practice corrupt that confession do this for us. We          word, but they knew the doctrine of God's Word, and
`have no choice but to stand on our own "to the utmost          Abraham was also spiritual enough to tell his servant
of our power," which power, we remember, is not of              that Isaac must have an help  meet  for him as the
us but of God. The provisions for the accomplishing             promised seed of the Covenant. Isaac  musthave a wife
of the task are made by Him, and He "requires in                who will not be a detriment but an asset to Isaac in
stewards that they be found faithful." (I Cor.  4:2) Let        teaching the fear of the Lord. There is one interesting
us beware lest we "despise the day of small things."            point here somewhat outside the sphere of our subject
(Zech.  4:lO)                                                   but worth noting. The salvation of the child will not
       The importance of this aspect of our calling cannot      depend on our power and our ability. Esau had the
be over-emphasized.          Because of this I am going to      same mother and father as Jacob. Yet the fact re-
conclude this matter by quoting rather extensively from         mains that God calls us to instruct our children to the
the writing'of Rev. J. Heys on the same subject in the          utmost of our power in His fear. Who then would dare
Stundavd   Beaver  in 1946.      Explaining the meaning of      to say that before one becomes married he must not
the phrase "to the utmost of your power" he wrote:              exercise the power he has to see to it that  his power
       "The power to bring up one's children in the fear of     will not be lessened by the step he has taken for life?"3
the Lord varies in different individuals. That is to be            Concerning the practical problem in communities
expected.        `To the utmost of your power' implies this     where there are no Protestant Reformed Christian
very thing. We are not demanded tostate  how much we            Schools, Rev. Heys has the following to say:
will teach our children. There is no prescribed amount             "There are communities where no Christian schools
of effort in this direction that is demanded. What is           exist. There are parents who live great distances from
demanded is that we do so to the utmost of the power            such a school. Only too often, however, these parents
we have received of God.         If it be great, we must use    overlook the fact that they may not be doing the utmost
it all. If it be little, we must use it all.                    in their power to bring up their children in the fear of
       "There are so many things that enter in when we          the Lord. They are not unless they have really made


                                                          - ,.
I
                                                   : THE SiANDARD BEARER                                                     163

     an honest and strenuous attempt to establish such a           yourself. YOU promised at one time that you would do
     Christian school in their community or near enough. to        this. If now you do not think so, you differ with your-
     that community that their children can be taken there         self. You have changed, and we urge you to change once
     or reach it by bus.      The financial power  /to realize     more to come back to the stand you took when you
     the establishment and maintenance of such a school, is        answer-ed, `Yes', to the three questions in the baptism
     seldom the reason why it can not be accomplished.             vow.
     The trouble is that we do not want to exercise the                "If now after all efforts to establish a school of our
     UTMOST of our  fhzanciul  power   in that direction. If       own fail in our community, we still have a power left
     that financial power is used to build beautiful homes         which we can exercise.         We can move to a locality
     and new automobiles and the necessary funds to build          where such  .a school does exist or else take our chil-
     and maintain a Christian school cannot be raised, those       dren there per automobile.' Families in a given com-
     who use their financial power in that way may be sure         munity can combine their power thus and accomplish
     that they are not keeping their-baptism vow. / They are       what the one alone might not be able to do, If this
     not seeing to it and helping or causing to the/utmost of      avenue is open and a Christian school is near enough
     their power that their children are brought: up in the        for this to be made possible, the utmost of our power
     fear of the Lord. If we leave one stone unturned in our       demands this. Not todosoisfailing to keep our  vow."5
     effort to provide instruction in the fear of the Lord for         A big responsibility!
     our children, we are not helping or causing  (hem to `be          A most serious calling!
     brought up in the fear of the Lord TO THE UTMOST                 To do or not to do has far reaching consequences
     OF OUR POWER.                                                 for us and our children. We cannot view these matters
        "This ought to be brought closer home,' without a          with indifference. We may not stumble over  self-
     doubt.    We as Protestant Reformed people have prom-         placed obstacles and excuse our duty. We must rise
     ised that we would bring up our children to  <he utmost      up to the task at hand, each one shouldering a share of
     of our power in the doctrine contained in the Old and         the burden, and laboring in unity of purpose to "the
New Testament and that is taught in the Protestant                 utmost of our power," and so we will be assured that
     Reformed Churches.       We must use all our financial        God will "establish the work of our hands."
     power to build and maintain schools  which; train the         (1) Vol. 22, pg. 67,  Standard  Beaver
     child in the fear of the Lord by teaching; them that          (2). Vol. 22, pg. 331,  Standard  Beaver
     doctrine which God has entrusted to our carejand which        (3) Vol. 22, pg. 332,  Standard   Beaver
     we believe is the truth of the Word of God;. How we           (4) Vol. 22, pg. 354,  Standard  Beaver
     can escape that conclusion is impossible  to! be seen.        (5) Vol. 22, pg. 355,  Stundavd   Beaver
     We have promised that we would do this. We have not
     promised that we will do the utmost that we can to see           "The second office of the law is, to cause those
     that certain heresies are  not  taught our children. We       who; unless constrained, feel no concern for justice
     have promised that in as far as we possibly-can, phys-        and rectitude, when they hear its terrible sanctions,
     ically, mentally, financially, and morally, we will help      to be at least restrained by a fear of its penalties.
     our children and cause them to be  instructed:in  adefi-      And they- are restrained, not because it internally in-
     nite doctrine."4                                              fluences or affects their minds, but because, being
        Indeed, this shall be the aim and goal of; all Prot-       chained,  as it were, they `refrain from external acts,
     estant Reformed people.      Toward this objective we         and repress their depravity.within them, which other-
     shall strive with all our might. In this venture we           wise they would have wantonly discharged. Thismakes
     may not hesitate.      From it we may not retreat.  .In       them neither better nor more righteous in the Divine
     this direction lies the blessing of God. Of this we are       view.    For although, being prevented either by fear or
     assured. We continue the quotation:                           by shame, they dare not execute what their minds have
        "If you are opposed to any such movement of build-         contrived, nor openly discover the fury of their pas-
     ing and maintaining schools of our own, do not find           sions, yet their hearts are not disposed to far and
     fault with these lines. You are finding fault with the        obey God; and the more they restrain themselves, the
     Baptism Form our forefathers have been led to compose         more violently they are inflamed within; they ferment,
     and which our churches have been led to accept. That          they boil, ready to break out into external acts, if they
     vow' plainly states that we will instruct our children to     were not prevented by this dread of the law. And not
     the utmost of our power in the doctrine as it is taught       only so, they also inveterately hate the law itself, and
     in the church where we belong. If now you do jnot agree       execrate God the lawgiver, so that, if they could, they
     with this, you must go to your Consistory and ask that        would wish to annihilate him whom they cannot bear,
     Consistory to come to  Classis  with an overture to           either in commanding that which is right, or in punish-
     Synod that the Protestant Reformed Churches scratch           ing the despisers of his majesty. In some, indeed, this
     out that phrase in the baptism vow which says: `which         state of mind is more evident, in others more con-
     is taught here in this Christian church.' `You might just     cealed; but it is really the case of all who'are  yet'un-
     as well, while you are at it, also request that the ex-       regenerate, that they are induced to attend to the law,
     pression, `to the -utmost of your power' be  qhanged  to      not by a voluntary submission, but with reluctance and
     read `in  as. far as it is convenient for me and does not     resistance. only by the violence of fear."
     put me out too much.' Still more, if you cannot agree                                 -- John Calvin, Institutes, Vol. I,
     with what we have said, you are only finding jfault with                              Bk II, Chap. VII, pp. 386, 387


164                                                  THESTANDARDBEARER




                                     PRAYING FOR THOSE IN AUTHORITY
                                                     Rev.  G,  Lubbers
The Gospel-Ministry  and  Those In  Authovity(continued)             Now I would like to point out that in that broad
                                                                 context we pray for kings and for all who are in
       Thus, here in I Tim. 2:1-7, "all men" means all           authority.
kinds  of men, fathers and mothers, children, husbands               Here the Son of God gathers His church, and it
and. wives, poor and rich, Greek and Jew, bond and               makes a great deal of difference what the king on the
free, Barbarian and Scythian. It makes no difference.            throne does in a certain country as affecting the
In the kingdom of God it is no barrier to be a Jew and           preaching of the Gospel and the life of God's people.
there is no advantage, there is also neither advantage           0, I know, ultimately Jesus Christ has the victory!
nor disadvantage in being a Greek. The elective love             Yes, he causes all things to work for our advantage,
of God chooses out of every tribe and tongue and people          but there are times in our life when Satan prevents
and nation, simply because God takes reasons out of              certain things to be done by the church  .and by those
himself, and, as the one God-Savior in our Lord Jesus            who preach the Gospel.       Paul affirms this repeatedly
Christ, he has one Mediator. And among all these men             in his epistles. May I point out that Paul speaks here
you find kings too! Not many! Not many noblemen, not             about prayers, askings, intercessions, and thanksgiv-
many wise, in I Cor.  1:26, but they are not excluded.           ing .      Prayer doesn't change things, but God blesses
He does not say: not at all. 0, yes God hath chosen              Jacob upon his prayer: I will not let thee go, except
that which is poor to be rich in faith. That is the rule.        thou bless me! God does not hear us because we pray,
Thus no flesh can glory except in the Lord. However,             but he hears us when we pray, because he loves us.
there may not be  many  rich, not  many  kings.                  Just think about this a bit. I think of Elijah, a man of
       We sing, do we not, "The kings shall come from            like passion as we; James  5:16-18 speaks of him. He
distant lands and islands of the sea; Oblations they             prayed that it might not rain, and it did not rain for
shall bring to him, and wait onbended knee?"                     three years and six months. And he prayed again, and
       Let's keep this star high! It is the star of the great    it rained! For the fervent prayer of a righteous man
work of God in Jesus Christ, in his elective love ! The          availeth much. One man and God is an army. That is
work of God in Jesus Christ as he gathers the church             why where two or three are gathered in my name, I
out of every tongue and tribe and people and nation.             am in their midst with them. They might be the ma-
I tell you, brethren, it is not an advantage to be a Dutch-      jority.       If it comes to the cross-roads whether the
man, and there is no disadvantage in being an Irish-             saints must pray in a certain situation, and when
man!       God didn't save you and me because we were            prayers are made, God doesn't take a vote, a certain
Hollanders in background; He saved us because he                 popularity contest. Don't forget that. God asks: who
loved us from before the foundations of the world. And           prays after my will? I think of Daniel. In Daniel  9:16
He laid out the geography of the world and had us to be          he tells us that he had been reading in the book of
born in a certain country and nation, that He might              Jeremiah; he had read there concerning the 70 years,
gather  us there under a certain king.                           the Sabbaths which were enjoined upon the land, and
       And now when we pray for kings, we pray for them          also the duration of the exile of Israel and the de-
in the context as they are amongst "all men" as here             struction upon the beloved city, Jerusalem. He begins
taught by Paul in I Tim.  2:1-7! From this viewpoint             to pray and to confess the sins of Israel. What -a prayer.
too they are not to be excluded. We believe that they            What strikes me in this prayer is that he had not yet
too are amongst the "all men" that are saved.                    finished with the prayer, and there stands the angel
       `Yet there is more. There must be something here          Gabriel in answer to this prayer. It does my poor
in the text which indicates that we are to pray for kings        heart good to read this prayer in Daniel  9:16-19.  Let
and all who are in authority. The reason? It is:  that           us quote this prayer in part: "0 Lord, according to all
we may lead a quiet and peaceful life! Those whodonot            thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and
desire to pray for the king, as such, interpret this to          thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem,
mean: the inner quietude of heart and mind which is              thy holy mountain: because for our sins and for the in-
the subjective effect of praying. No, the king does not          iquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are
need my prayer, but I benefit from the praying in that           become a reproach to all that are about us. . . . . . . .
I lead a life, of inner quietude, peace, contentment and         0 Lord, hear; 0 Lord, forgive; 0 Lord, hearken and
bliss.      I do not go along with this opinion. I cannot        do; defer not for thine own sake, 0 my God: for this
agree with such a contention because the word in the             city and thy people are called by thy name." Daniel's
Greek for "life" is not "zooee", but it is  "`bias."             concern `is Jerusalem and the people of God and the
This refers to the things that we have, our houses, our          holiness and honor of God's Name. I think of the case
goods, our fields, our labors, the things that belong to         of Peter when he is in prison, and we read that the
our biological existence. It refers to this world, this          church is praying for him. We read that "while they
life.     Here we need the quiet and peaceful life where         were praying," Peter is delivered in a marvelous
the Son of God gathers His church. Here we need this             manner by the angel of the Lord, leading him forth to
quiet and peaceful life.                                         liberty, causing the chains of bondage to fall from


                                                j THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  165

 Peter's arms.      It was an answer to the prayer of the      truthful that He be acknowledged.
saints in Jerusalem. I think of Rev.  8:1-5, where we             When we thus acknowledge God as being above the
read of what precedes the trumpeting by  the seven             kings of the earth, above the course of the Gospel,
angels with the seven trumpets, that there was a silence       above your salvation, and that He has all things in His
of half an hour in heaven. Anangel stands at! the altar        mighty power, so that the devils cannot so much as
in the temple; much incense is placed on the altar, which      move but by His will, and that whoever is on the throne
are the prayers of all the saints. And fire is taken           comes there by the foreknowledge and counsel of God,
from the altar and cast upon the earth, `there are             then you begin to pray, do you not? Then you will have
thunders and lightnings and earthquakes, and  convul-          the salvation of the whole church at heart, as she is
' sions in the earth, wars and rumors of wars. These           gathered by the Son of God from every tribe and people
are the answers to the prayers of all saints!                  and nation. Then you truly have a world-wide vision
     I believe that our prayers are most  ciosely  as-         of the church as this spans the ages. 0, no, not the
~ sociated with the decisions of kings. Let us not forget      false ecumenical vision!        But the true ecumenical
that this warfare which we battle, the battle `of the Son      vision as given in the  ApostoEicum:   I believe an holy
of God in the gathering of the church, there  `is closely      catholic church!
' associated even the battle in the heavens of the angel          Then pray.         Pray with thanksgiving! Pray with
world: Satan and his angels warring with Michael and           prayer of intreaty!       Pray with the prayer of inter-
his angels, as we must battle here on earth often              cession. Do you know what the word "prayer" means?
against kings, princes, and principalities and powers.         Prayer comes from the Latin word "precarious". That
     Paul is evidently very conscious in this passage          the church is in a precarious position in the world, in
, in I Timothy  2:6 that he must preach the Gospel             relationship to  .kings and all in authority, means that
amongst the Gentiles. He had been arrested by Jesus            she can only pray as did the church in the days before
Christ some thirty years before this on the way to             the Flood. Then men began to call upon the Name of
Damascus, when he yet breathed fury and threatening            the Lord1
against the church. There he had been converted, and              Then I think of Hebrews  13:18,19, where we read,
a certain Ananias had been sent upon Paul's prayers            "I beseech you, pray for us, for we trust that we have
to Paul. This Ananias had been told that Paul was "to          a good conscience in all things, willing to live honestly
bear my name before the Gentiles and kings, and the            . . . . . . I beseech you the rather to do this that I may
children of Israel." For this Paul was God's chosen            be restored to you the sooner." Yes, restored the soon-
vessel. And the Gospel course of Paul will lead through        er "upon your prayers!" Pray for kings and all who
the pretorium of Rome. In fact, it is quite evident that       are in authority!
when Paul writes to Timothy he had already-stood once             Yes pray!         Pray as we have it formulated in the
before Nero and would soon have the second trial or            Heidelberg Catechism, Question 123, where the peti-
hearing in which he would be condemned todeath! Yes,           tion ` `Thy kingdom come" is interpreted as follows:
all things had indeed fallen out to the furtherance of         "Rule us so by thy word and Spirit, that we may submit
the Gospel.                                                    ourselves more and more unto thee; preserve and in-
     0 yes, Paul says elsewhere that Satan through             crease thy church; destroy the works of the devil, and
kings, through evil and harmful decrees, prevented             all violence which would exault itself against thee; and
him to execute his wishes and work as an apostle. In           also, all wicked counsels devised against thy holy
I Thess.  2:18, we read, "Wherefore we would have              word; till the full perfection of thy kingdom take place,
come to  you,  once and again, but Satan hindered us."         wherein thou shalt be all  in. all."
Those usurpers of power in the heavens had so worked              Yes, pray for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
through the hearts of kings that Paul could  inot come         Pray, hearing the footsteps of the Sonof God in history,
to Thessalonica.                                               in the Gospel course in the gathering, defending, and
 Prayers, Intercession Also  Fou Kings And All Who             the preserving of the church. Hear these footsteps as
AYe In Authority.                                              he walks between the seven candlesticks in the church,
                                                               and as he has the kings of the earth and the mighty
     We now come to our third proposition.       j             ones in his hand. Pray then that he direct the heart of
     You know, it is small wonder that Paul jsays that         kings, either that they bow and worship at his footstool,
prayers be made, askings, intercessions with  thanks-          or that he overrule their evil and antichristian deci-
~ giving !    For prayer is fundamentally thanksgiving.        sions, taking the wise in their own craftiness and in
And thankfulness is not merely a happy  feehg,  it is          their own deceit, until we shall stand before the Son of
profound acknowledgement that God is on the throne,            God in that Day, in heavenly joy and glory.
~ and that you are glad in joyful confession that,He  alone       And thus we pray. We pray in the knowledge that
is God!! To acknowledge that God is GOD is thankful-           the kings are appointed of God, and God maintains the
ness ! It is to bow deeply before the divine majesty, to       office of kings and order in the world; that He will not
acknowledge that He is Lord, and that He is God.               take this order out of the world for His own elects'
     He is the. Savior who saves you, and He has all           sake. We pray knowing that this order is closely as-
 power in heaven and earth, providential power. And in         sociated with the Gospel-course.         And that the Lord
 such thankful recognition there is first of  all, the ele-    hears us for His Name's sake. And we pray for that
ilment of justice. It is just that God be acknowledged.        coming of the kingdom.
IThen too there  is, the element of truthfulness. It is                                 I thank you.
                                                      /


166                                                     THESTANDARD BEARER





                                          THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES

                                                         Rev. G. Van  Baven-
       `The epitome of ecumenism today is the World                        The History  of  the  Wovld  Council  of  Churches
Council of Churches (W.C.C.). The ecumenical                                    A brief history of the W.C.C. would be  bene-
movement and the W.C.C. movement are often  con-                          ficial for an understanding of the organization. Al-
sidered synonymous. Even the W.C.C. movement                              though it was not until 1948 at Amsterdam that the
appears to have been in part the motive for Pope                          W.C.C. was formally established, its roots go back
John XXIII convoking the Second Vatican Council.                          to 1910. At that date, in Edinburgh, Scotland, a
       Each church denomination faces a problem with                great world missionary conference was held. At that
respect to the W.C.C.: to join or not to join. Our                  meeting, the need for unity in the mission endeavor
churches, of course, do not confront that problem  -                was emphasized.          Two movements grew out of that
the W.C.C. will not even consider receiving us as                   meeting in Scotland: the In t e yna t i o na 1 Missionary
members since we number much less than the 10,000                    Council, organized in 1921 to coordinate and assist
minimum necessary for full membership in that body.                 missionary work throughout the world; and the  Faith
Yet, though the question for us as churches is rather                and  Oydev Movement,  organized in 1927, which had as
academic; we ought to know about the W.C.C. not only,                its purpose to study those things which divide as well
but also what it represents, and what membership in                  as those things which tend to unite Christians. A third
such an organization implies.                                       movement for  Life and  Work,  which had its first world
       At the top-center of the page is the symbol of the           conference in 1925 in Stockholm, Sweden, determined to
W.C.C. You will find it printed on all recent literature            stimulate Christian action in society.
of the W.C.C., and likely the symbol will become more
well-known in coming years.                                             The two last mentioned organizations associated in
                                          Concerning it, W.A.        1938 to form a provisional committee of the World
Visser `t  Hooft, general secretary of the W.C.C.,
wrote:                                                              Council of Churches. This is considered by the church-
                                                                    men of this day to mark one of the most important events
          In the early years of the Christian Era the Church
       of Christ was often represented as a ship with a mast         in the history of the church:
       in the form of a cross. It is likely that this symbol has           May 12, 1938, is a great date in Christian history,
       its origin in the Gospel stories concerning the calling          . . . . On the very. . .day, eighty leaders of Christen-
       of Galilean fishermen as disciples and concerning the            dom, representative of all the great communions save
       stilling of the storm on the lake of Galilee.                    Rome, completed plans for an organization, which in
          This symbol is particularly appropriate for the               the Providence of God, might do what diplomats  and.
       W.C.C. At Amsterdam the member churches pledged                  politicians had failed to accomplish-hold the world
       to stay together. They recognized that they  were en-            together through the Church of Christ.             Without a
       gaged on a common journey. This is a perilous jour-              single dissenting voice, they adopted a provisional
       ney, for these early years of the World Council's life           constitution and plan of organization for a World Coun-
       coincide with one of the very worst storms in human              cil of Churches.      These delegates represented 130
       history. The passengers of the ship are of many races,           branches of the Church Universal.2
       nations and denominations and find it hard to under-
       stand each other. The crew is inexperienced, for this            Because of the Second World War, the Provisional
       is a new adventure in which established precedents           Committee of the W.C.C. could not schedule a first
       are of little use.    But above them and in the midst        world assembly until the end of August in 1948. There
       there is the mast: the Cross. When they all look up          were 92 denominations in 33 countries who had voted
       to the cross they are made one, for  their common            to join the new organization. The theme chosen for
       Lord and Savior Jesus Christ gathers them together.          this first world assembly was: "Man's Disorder and
       The nearer they come to Him, the nearer they come to
       each other.                                                  God's Design." By the time the meeting began, 147
                                                                    different church bodies had assembled in Amsterdam
       . . .The churches in their togetherness form the              -- the place of the first assembly. On Sunday afternoon
Oikoumene, that is, the fellowship of the  Churches  of              in the Netherlands, the representatives gathered in
Christ,  which is worldwide and which seeks to serve                the historic Nieuwe Kerk.
all men everywhere.           "Oikoumene" is the old Greek
word which refers to the universality of the Church                        As was fitting, they gathered for praise and prayer
with its many races, nations and tongues and to  the                    -praise to God for having led them to that hour,
universality of its mission as it seeks to penetrate                    prayer that his will might be done through them and so
into  all corners of the world and into all realms of life.             his kingdom come on earth in greater measure.
                                                                                .The worship began with the singing, to the
       There are moments and there will be many more                    familiar tune of "Old lOOth," of the French hymn by
when the passengers on the ecumenical ship cry out:                     de Beze (1519-1605) - rrVou.s  q'ui SU'Y la tern--e habitez."
"Save Lord.           We are perishing." But if they have               Those  <who could, used the original  tongtie.` Others
complete confidence in their captain they will discover                 sang in English, "All people that on earth do dwell"
that "even winds and sea obey him."1                                    or in German,  "Nun  jauchzt  Herren  all Welt."  The


                                                                                   8
I

                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         167

              fact that different languages were used did not spoil                     Between regular meetings of Assemblies (an in-
              the harmony in the hymns, for music is a universal                  terval  -oT five or six years), there is a  loo-member
     I        language.                                                            Central Committee, chosen by the Assembly, and
                A minister of the Dutch Reformed Church called the
              Assembly to worship and penitence. The Archbishop                   meeting annually to handle the business of the W.C.C.
              of Canterbury led in prayer. The Holy Scriptures were               There is also an Executive Committee with 14 regular
              read in French and Swedish. . . .                                   members, appointed by the Central Committee, meet-
                     There could have been but one choice for: the first          ing semi-annually, which carries out the policies of
              speaker of the Assembly. . .John  R. Mott (who) in-                 the Central Committee.
              carnated the ecumenical movement. . . .                                   Presently, the W.C.C. has a permanent staff of
                     The service ended with the benediction according             approximately 200 persons working at its headquarters
              to the Greek rite. . . .3                                           in Geneva, Switzerland. In addition, there are regional
              So went the united church service before the  of-                   headquarters located in various countries (in this
          '  ficial decision to declare the W.C.C. constituted.                   country this is at 475 Riverside Drive, New York 27,
          Then, at about  lo:30 a.m. Netherlands time, August                     New York).
          23, 1948, the resolution was formally adopted  ". . .
          that the formation of the World Council of  : Churches                  Mem bevship of the W. C. C.
          be declared to be and hereby is completed." /                                 Concerning membership in the W.C.C., article II
              Within the scope of these articles, it is impossible                of the Constimtion  states:
          to treat the material which was introduced at that                             Those churches shall be eligible for membership
          first assembly of the W.C.C., or the material which                           in the World Council of Churches which express their
          appeared later at the two following assemblies. I do                          agreement with the Basis upon which the Council is`
          1 hope to call attention, though, to some decisions which                     founded and satisfy such criteria as the Assembly or
          must influence our position over against the  W.C.C:                          the Central Committee may prescribe. Election to
              A second world assembly of the W.C.C. was held in                         membership shall be by a two-thirds vote of the mem-
          the summer of 1954 at Evanston, Illinois. The theme                           ber churches represented at the Assembly, each mem-
                                                                                        ber church having one vote. Any application for mem-
          for this assembly was, "Christ the Hope of the World,."                       bership between meetings of the Assembly may be
          Concerning this assembly, the host pastor wrote:                              considered by the Central Committee; if the application
                One could  not have shared in the total life of the.                    is supported by a two-thirds majority of the members
              Assembly of the W.C.C. in Evanston without Iknowing                       of the Committee presenr and voting, this action shall
              that the night of disunion is giving way to the;dawn of                   be communicated to .the churches that are members. of
              union among the churches. It is almost too good to be                     the W.C.C., and unless objection is received from
              true, isn't it? But it is true. What happened then is                     more than one-third of the member churches within
              related to complete union as the first fingers: of dawn'                  six months the applicant shall be declared elected.
              light are related to the full light of the noonday sun. . . .             At present there are 201 denominations repre-
                     Representatives of 163 Christian churches: claim-
              ing over 70,000,OOO  members came to Evanston pre-,                  sented in the W.C.C.        "The 201 constituent member
              pared to do two things: (1) to affirm an incredible fact             Churches of the Council fall into the following cate-
              to the world, (2)  to- set an even more incredible task             gories or `families': Anglican(Episcopalian), Assyrian,
              for the churches like ours and churchmen like ius.                   Baptist, Brethren, Congregational,  Coptic, Disciples,
                     This is the fact they affirmed to the world: : We aye         Eastern Orthodox, Evangelical, Friends, Jacobite, Lu-
              united.      They were not content to breathe  a'wistful,           theran, Mennonite, Methodist, Moravian, Old Catholic,
              prayerful hope, "We ought to be united." They istepped               Presbyterian and Reformed, Remonstrant, and Salva-
              squarely into the center of the stage of Christian;                 tion Army."6 In our own country, the Christian Re-
              history in our time and said, "We are united."+                     formed Church is not member of the W.C.C. (though
             In 1961 the third assembly of the  W.C.C.;was  held                  there are strong advocates for membership in their
          in New Delhi, India.             At that time the International         midst), but the Reformed Church in America is. Sev-
          Missionary Council (see above) was integrated with                      eral other "Reformed" denominations throughout the
          the W.C.C. Also, the constitutional basis  ofthe W.C.C.                 world are also members of the W.C.C. In following
          was modified (to which I hope to call your  iattention                  articles, I want to point out why membership in this
          later).                                                                 organization is incompatible with the confession of the
          How the  World Council  Works                                           true Church of Jesus Christ.
                                                                  ,
             The governing body of the W.C.C. is the Assembly                      1. From a leaflet published by the Friends of the
          which, according to the constitution, is to meet  nor-                        World Council of Churches, Inc.
          mallyeveryfive years. Seats in the Assembly are given                    2. Paul Griswold Macy, If It Be or God, Bethany  Press,
          to member churches with "due regard being given to                            p..59             '
          such factors as numerical size, adequate confessional                   3.  ibid.,  pp. 102-104
          !representation  and adequate geographical  distribu-                   4. Harold A. Bosley,  What Did the World Council Say
          tion."s The number of seats varies from  Assiembly  to                        to  You? Abigdon Press, p. 25
          Assembly. It is this body which determines policy and                   5. Constitution and  Rules  of  the  World Council  of
          program for the W.C.C.              This Assembly elects six                  Churches
          Presidents who function as a unit until the meeting of                  6. From a leaflet published by the Friends of the
          the following Assembly.                                                       W.C.C., Inc.


                                                                                                       -     -~
168                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER


                                    ?%w&  p&w  dwc &I&uzc4&
                                    ("All the saints salute thee . . ." Phil. 4:21)

       I<alamazoo's Annual Congregational Meeting held                      and have liberal hearts toward the poor . . . . . to the
Dec. 2 included consideration of a permanent place of                       end that every one acquitting himself of his duty, God's
worship, and the newest outlet of the Reformed Witness                      Name be  theve by magnified."
Hour over their local  WKPR  beginning Dec. 6. Rev.                                        ***x**********
Harbach was the speaker for the first few weeks.                                 Rev. R.C. Harbach, of I<alamazoo,  will be the Janu-
                **************                                              ary Reformed Witness Hour speaker. His theme will
       Holland's congregation joyfully held services in                     be taken from the Epistle of John and the sermon
their new church Dec. 6. Two divine services, five                          titles are, Jan. 1  - "Fulness of Joy;" Jan. 10  - "God
Sunday School classes, a senior catechism class, and a                      is Light;" Jan. 17  - "Cleansed From All Sin;" Jan.
Young People's Society meeting made their new home a                        24 -- "The Reality of Sin Denied." The topic for the
busy one that day. It was rather a spiritually emotional                    31st is not yet available.
experience as witnessed by one of feminine members                                         **************
who wrote to a friend that "I'd kept the lump in my                              Loveland's consistory began the annual FamilyVis-
throat under control during most of the singing, but                        itation the week of Nov. 9.            Sunday evening, Nov. 8,
when it came to the doxology, `Blessed be the Lord,'                        Rev. Englesma preached on Acts.  20:28  -- "Taking heed
my heart had to sing what my lips could not form."                          to the flock," to prepare the congregation to welcome
The members of the Men's and Ladies' societies will                         the visitors in their official capacity as under-shepherds
especially appreciate a warm place in which to meet                         of our Lord Jesus Christ Who said, "I am the good
where they won't have to wear overcoats and boots to                        shepherd."
be semi-comfortable. Even the Sunday School teachers                                       **************
can hardly wait to give their Christmas Program in a                             Redlands' pastor, Rev. C. Hanko, and his  catechu-
real church again. The congregation's confession is:                        mens are appreciating a gift of the Ladies' Society-
"The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we                         a new set of maps. Mr. M. Gaastra made a rack to
are glad."                                                                  house them and from which they may be displayed.
                **************                                                             ***x**********
       The ladies of Hull's congregation held a "cleaning                        The Ladies' Society of Hudsonville invited their
bee" in their newly acquired church Nov.  .23, beginning                    local Mr. and Mrs. Society and the Men's Society to a
at  8:30 in the morning, with time out only for a sack                      joint meeting Dec. 15 to share an evening of fellowship
lunch fortified with coffee from the kitchen.                               around the Word of God.
                * * * * * * * * * * * * * *                                                * * * * * * *  `* * * *  * * *
       In the Dec. 1st issue you learned that the Jr. Y.P.                       From the Adams St. "Announcer" we learn that a
Society of First Church gave a Thanksgiving benefit                         Teacher's Convention was held inHope  School on Thurs-
program to help Rev. Elliott in Islington, Jamaica to                       day evening with Mr. Lanning speaking to the teachers
rebuild his tabernacle. Upon receipt of that gift Rev.                      of Hope and Adams on, "The School Psychologist."
Elliott wrote in part, "How God has blessed that day!                       On Friday morning delegations from South Holland and
. . . . . . By the help of our God we shall have a prayer                   Oak Lawn joined the others to hear a speech by Miss
and, thanksgiving service next Lord's Day here at  Isling-                  Agatha Lubbers on, "Physical Education." The after-
ton with the 17 churches of our group. This is to thank                     noon session featured Mr. R. Moore who spoke to the
our God for'the brethren in  Grand Rapids, Michigan who                     teachers and principals about their duties toward each
sent us of their material goods." Rev. Elliott was                          other, the board, and the parents, in his speech, "The
especially grateful to the young people. of whom he                         Christian School Administrator." It  was agreed that the
says: "In whose hearts God has put the spirit, as chil-                     distinctive note which permeated the speeches and
dren of Abraham, to help us in Islington to build a little                  discussion made the convention educationally and
better tabernacle in which to praise our Glorified Re-                      spiritually invaluable.
deemer  ." May this kindling of the spirit of sharing                                      **************
increase among our churches until it may approximate                             Bulletin Quote  (Randolph's) "I used to think that
the ardor revealed in the early church as depicted for                      God's gifts were on shelves one above the other; and
us in Acts  2:45, "And sold their possessions and goods                     the taller we grew in Christian character the more easily
and parted them to all men, as every man had need."                         we could reach them. I now find that God's gifts are
There is so much  need  in Jamaica!                                         on shelves one beneath the other; and that it is not a
                ************SC*.                                            question of growing taller, but stooping lower".
       In the Installation Service of Elders and Deacons                                                                      F.B. Meyer
January 1 or January 3, let us all be mindful of the                                       **************
prayer offered in their behalf, and firmly resolve to                            See you in church . . . . . . . . . .
"submit ourselves to their good exhortation. . . . . . .                                                                           J.M.F.


