                                      he

                               tandard


A  REFORMED  SEMI-MONTHLY  MAGAZINE





IN  THIS  ISSUE:

        Meditation  - The Eagle And His Brood
                                     -<

        Editorial  - Mission Gains The Criterion?
                                              --.

                    Are You Qualified?


   --=.- The Ail-Important Return


        Freemasonry


                                                Volume XLI/ Number 8/Januavy  15, 1965    I


170                                                                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                  C O N T E N T S
 Meditation  -                                                                                                                        Semi-monthly, except monthly duving  June, July and August
       The Eagle and His Brood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .              170       Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
             Rev. M. Schipper
 Editorials  -                                                                                                                                         Editor - Rev. Herman Hoeksema
       Mission Gains The Criterion? (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                           172
             Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                    Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
       "Should I Prepare For The Ministry (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                              Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S.E., Grand Rapids 7,
                                                                                                                              174
             Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                    Mich.      Contributions will be limited to 300 words and must be
 In His Fear -                                                                                                                                           neatly written or typewritten.
       The All-Important Return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .               177    All church news items should be addressed toMr.  J. M. Faber,
             Rev. J. A. Heys                                                                                                                       1123 Cooper, S.E., Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
 The Lord Gave The Word-                                                                                                             Announcements and Obituaries with the $2.00 fee included must
       The Evangelical Approach In The Book Of Acts . . . . . . . . . . . 179                                                        be mailed 8  ,days prior to issue date, to the address below:
             Rev. C. Hanko                                                                                                             All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to
 Contending For The Faith -                                                                                                                     Mr. James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S.E.
       The Inspiration Of The Scriptures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                            181                          Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
             Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                                            Renewal: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
 The Church At Worship -                                                                                                             received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the sub-
       Baptismal Prayers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    183    scription to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
             Rev. G. Vanden  Berg                                                                                                                     Subscription price: $5.00 per year
 Trying The Spirits -                                                                                                                         Second Class postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan
       Freemasonry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..i......................... 185
             Rev. R. C. Harbach
 All Around Us -
       Government Funds And The False Church ;.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
             Rev. H. Hanko                                                                                                               "Forced absence from God's ordinances and forced
The Voice Of Our Fathers -                                                                                                           presence with wicked people are great afflictions; but
       God's Government And Sin ..,.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190                        when. r .such a situation is continued of choice, then it
             Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                    becomes a great sin."
 News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .               192                                                           -M. Henry
             Mr. J. M. Faber





                                                                                           THE EAGLE AND HIS BROOD

                                                  `As an eagle  stivveth  up  her nest,  jlutteveth   ovey  her young,  spreadeth
                                                 abroad  hev wings, taketh them, beaveth them on  her wings; so the  Lovd
                                                 alone did lead him, and  there was no strange god with him."
                                                                                                                                                    Deutevonom y 32:11,12

                                                                                                                  Rev.  &I.  Schippev

       As an eagle, so the Lord!                                                                                                        The eagle ! Swift in flight!
       Such is the simile, the beautiful simile, which the                                                                              Though in appearance a large and clumsy bird, in
King James Version gives of our text. Though the                                                                                     flight it is exceedingly swift. With superb strength,
Authorized Version is perhaps the better translation,                                                                                the eagle flies long andhard.  (Deut. 38:49; I Sam. 1:23).
it also by implication suggests the simile, the Lord, in                                                                                The eagle! Seeth afar off!
His treatment of His people, is as the eagle with its                                                                                   To this creature the Creator has given the power of
brood. That we may see the beauty of the reality, WE                                                                                 telescopic vision. Found as he usually is on exalted
must first see the implication of the figure.                                                                                        heights, his eye pierces into the deep valleys and ravines
       The eagle! Bird of prey!                                                                                                      below. The eagle with its mate makes its nest on high,
       As the lion among the beasts of the field, so is the                                                                          dwelleth upon the crag of the rock and from thence
eagle the king of fowls. The eagle, and the closely                                                                                  seeketh the prey, and its eyes behold afar off. (Job
related vulture, is a bird of prey, carnivorous in its                                                                               39:29).
nature. It does not hesitate to attackand kill an animal                                                                                The eagle! Long of life!
larger than itself. With vicious claws and razor-like                                                                                   The bird has been known to live to an astonishing
beak, he tears to pieces his prey. (Job 9:26; 39:27-30;                                                                              age in captivity: and under natural conditions, the age
Hab. 1:8).                                                                                                                           it attains can only be guessed. (Ps. 103:s)


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                `171

    On high the eagle builds its nest! Go with me to the             In His hands are. earth's deep places. Sovereign
tops of the mountains of the wilderness. Way up there,           Creator is He, Who by the Word of His power calls all
as it were at the very base of heaven, far out on the            things into being. Jehovah, the mighty God of Jacob,
craggy rock, or in the top of the very tailest mountain          Who by his power sustains and upholds all the things
tree, there you will discover its nest. Far from the             which He has made. By His power, as the eagle, He
danger of unexpected intrusion, the male with the help           tears the enemies apart. He that sitteth in the heavens
of its mate builds the nest to harbor their young. Up            laughs at them. They may lie in wait to destroy; but
there where its eyes can rove over every vantage                 suddenly He pounces upon -them, and in a moment they
point to discover any lurking danger, never to be                are vanquished and brought to desolation.          By His
caught off-guard, there the mother bird will lay and             power He ably protects His beloved people1
hatch one or more eggs. These areguarded with watch-                 The Omnipresent One !
ful care until the day when the little fledglings are                Who is elevated above all space and laws of space,
ready to fly.                                                    and yet with His Being as well as with His power fills
    The eagle stirreth up the nest!                              perfectly each point of space.. Who is transcendent
    Ah, such carryings on1 Apparently so cruel!                  above the highest heavens, but also at the same time
    The young are pulled out of their cozy, fur-lined            immanent in every part of His creation. Of Whom the
cradle, to waddle out on the cold, stony crag. Their             psalmist declared: "Whither shall I go from `thy
comfort is spoiled. And with fright the eaglets peek             spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I
 over the precipice into the immeasurable chasm be-              ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my
neath!                                                           bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings
    And while shivering in the cold, the nest which the          of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts .of the
parent bird took so long in building is completely               sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right
demolished.      First, out goes the downy fleece of some        hand shall hold me."
lamb the parent bird had killed for food, that nestled the           The Omniscient One!
fledglings from the howling mountain wind. Then here                 He seeth afar off. As the eagle is able to pierce
some straw, and there some sticks, until it is at the            with searching eye the dark chasms below, so Jehovah
point of no return.                                              beholdeth all things. Because He knows the end from
    Apparently cruel! Yet instinctively the parent bird          the beginning, having ordered all in His everlasting
seeks the best interests of its eaglets. Should the nest         counsel and will, there is nothing hidden from His
remain intact, the young would refuse ever to leave it.          sight. He that watches over Israel, never slumbers,
Hence, they would never learn to fly. So all avenues             nor sleeps !
of escape are simply cut off when it is time for the                 The Eternal One !
fledglings to fly.                                                   Without beginning and without end! Who from ever-
    Generally the young will realize that they are in for        lasting has being in Himself, and must by the Word of
something new. They will begin to flap their imma-               His power uphold all other beings outside of, Himself,
turely feathered wings, and without compulsion some              or they cannot continue to be.
will even dare to slide off the side of the cliff on their           This wondrous God, full of infinite perfections, is
first solo flight. And where there is fear of flight, the        the God of Israel!
elder bird may push them off. Or perhaps, as some,                   For that people He made a nest inEgypt, in the land
who have studied the habits of eagles, have told us,              of  Goshen. To this -place He sent Joseph to save His
the parent bird will take up the frightened eaglet to            people in the time of famine. Though his brethren,
 still greater heights, only to shake it off where it can        his enemies, meant it for harm when they sold their
do nothing but fly, or fall as a dead leaf to the earth.         brother as, a slave into Egypt, God meant it for good,
    Apparently the helpless eaglet will crash in the              in order to save much people alive ! He even inclined
rocky gorge below. But just when death seems immi-               the heart of Pharaoh to give His people a good land
nent, the parent eagle, who has been watching with               where they might realize their shepherd's occupation.
eagle-eye, and hovering over and soaring in superb               He prospered them until they became a great nation.
strength above, swoops down, encircling the fluttering,           So much did they prosper and grow, that another
helpless eaglet to catch it from the claws of death. Not          Pharaoh who knew not Joseph became afraid of them.
upon its wings does it bear the young, for this it could         He threatened, like the cold, mountainous wind threatens
hardly do lest it also would be hindered in flight. But          the very existence of the baby eaglets in the nest, to
with its strong talons it snatches the little one, while          extinguish them with the cruel whip of bondage. With
with mighty wings it soars upward, bearing its young             drownings in the River Nile he threatened to exter-
to the same heights as before, only to try the process           minate them.
all over again, until the young are able to fly on their             But, as Jehovah had promised to Abraham, that
own.                                                             nation could not forever dwell in that land. After four
    Such is the imagery painted by the inspired writer,           hundred years He would bring them out, in order that
in which we are to see Jehovah, the Reality, the God of           through the dry and thirsty wilderness they might go
Israel, in the care of His beloved people!                        to their' own land. So the Lord now stirred up-the nest!
    As the eagle, so Jehovah!                                        Out of their cozy nest in which they had nestled so
    See Him in the beauty of all His attributes I.                long, enjoying all the comforts of Egypt, they are pulled.
    The Almighty!                                                Under the mighty hand of a ruthless potentate they were


172                                               THE STANDARD -BEARER

iashed and beaten. As sharp straws poking into the                   formation in His counsel, as well as in history. He
bare flesh of a fledgling, so the taking away of the                 planned for them also the way of sin and grace through
luxuries of Egypt prodded Israel out of the nest. As                 which they would come to eternal glory. And there-
the eaglet squatting on the hard and cold rock and                   fore,. as long as the world endures, He makes room
pushed to the edge of the precipice, so God sent them                for that people. He provides for all their needs. He
through the Red Sea into the barrendesert. 0, how that               even makes their enemies to be subservient to them.
people liked it in the nest! This is not so apparent                 Yea, He causes all things to work together for their
when they are under the whip lash of Pharaoh. Then                   good. He is not willing that any of them should perish,
they cried unto the Lord to deliver them. But later,                 but that they should have everlasting life!
when they wander in that desert where no waters be,                     This gracious God of Israel cares for His church,
when they had to subsist on that manna which could                   and therefore, for me!
turn to worms if they gathered too much, then hear                      Sometimes He surrounds us with the dainties of
them cry for onions, garlic, and leek, for melons and                this world, so that we bathe in luxuries. But always
the dainties of Egypt. Then even death in Egypt was                  He provides us with the bread that is sufficient for us.
preferred to life in the desert. Bondage with ease was               Then again, He disturbs our comforts, sending us ad-
desired above freedom with trial.                                    versity and trials. He plucks us, as it were, out of the
       And when it looked like the fledglings would perish           nest, only to destroy it, that we may learn to fly, to
with thirst, and it seemed as though they would die of               live and walk by faith. There are days of quiet and
starvation, the God of Israel swooped down to open for               sunshine, but there are also days of tempest and storm.
them the fountains of water, and from heavensent them                There are days when our hearts sing in real spiritual
bread to nourish their bodies. When they met the ene-                contentment, but there are also days when it appears
mies Amalek, Edom, Moab, and they were confronted                    we shall be overcome by all the forces of darkness
by men of great stature, those sons of Anak, and their               that are purposed to destroy us. There are days when
hearts melted for fright, then Jehovah, their God,                   we rejoice in Jehovah's mercies, but there are also
delivered them with a mighty hand.                                   days when we murmur and rebel. There are days when
       With His almighty pinions He flew down to their               we bask in the sunshine of Jehovah's presence, but
rescue, and carrying them up to exalted heights would                there are also times when it seems that all things are
again allow them to fall, in order that they might learn             against us.
to fly.
       So the Lord alone did lead them!                                 Yet, through all these experiences we learn to live
       There was no strange god with Him!                            and walk by faith. And so . . . . .
       This almighty, omnipresent, omniscient, and eternal              They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
God is the God Who loved His people before the foun-                 strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
dations of the world, and chose them to be His people.               they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk,
He also determined in eternal, unchangeable love their               and not faint!





                                           MISSION GAINS THE CRITERION?

                                                              (2)


                                                 Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                        .

       Last time I quoted at length from Prof. Dekker's              its positive fruit, i.e., the number of converts pro-
article in the Reformed  Journal (May-June, 1964) and                duced.
from his address to the Christian Reformed Synod of                     2. He has concluded that this positive fruit, the
1964 on the subject of what he calls the inept .and                  number of converts, is very meager. This conclusion
ineffective performance of the Christian Reformed                    he states statistically as being either 1.4 or 1.2
Church in its evangelism. I believe that Professor                   members per congregation per year.             (Note: Prof.
Dekker's position may be fairly summarized as follows:               Dekker gives the former figure in his article and the
       1. He has considered the results of his church's              latter figure in his address to Synod. I cannot account
evangelism (including organized missionary work con-                 for the difference; but it is not of great importance in
ducted by the Christian Reformed Board of Home                       this discussion.)
Missions, classical home missions committees, and                       3. The meagerness of this fruit is, according to
local home missions agencies) from the viewpoint of                  Dekker, cause for earnest self-criticism and even


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                               173

"agonizing reappraisal," and points to something             year. . .  ." Or is his conclusion reached on the basis
wrong with the evangelism of the Christian Reformed          of a comparison with the so-called evangelistic work
Church.                                                      of other denominations and movements? There is, of
   4. This wrong is not to be attributed to the time and     course, a good deal of emphasis in our day on statistics
money invested in Christian Reformed evangelism in           and growth and expansion. The success of evangelism
the United States and Canada.. It is rather to be at-        seems to be judged on this basis. This is true, of
tributed to incorrect motivation and to an improper          course, of the Billy Graham crusades. Their success
message.                                                     is always expressed in terms of the large crowds that
   5. This incorrect motivation and improper message         are attracted and the number of "decisions" that are
Prof. Dekker reduces to the failure of Christian Re-         made.      But this is also true of many denominations.
formed evangelism to proceed from the universality of        When the yearbooks come out, there are always those
the redemptive' love of God and the universality of          who make a statistical study of the growth of a given
Christ's atonement. This failure Dekker has expressed        denomination; and the success or failure of the evangel-
variously.     He has said that the common conception of     ism program is judged thereby.
limited atonement in the Christian Reformed Church              But, as I stated, Prof. Dekker does not tell us his
tends "to inhibit missionary spirit and activity." And,      standard of judgment; he merely assumes that the
concretely, he has claimed that the church in its            record is poor.
evangelism must say to each and every man, "God                 I would like to know: 1. What would constitute a
loves you," and, "Christ died for you."                      normal measure of evangelistic success in. terms of
   Before I proceed to criticize this position of Dekker     members per congregation gained? Is it 2 per year,
let me make two remarks. The first is that I have            or 5 per year, or perhaps 50 per year? 2. What would
tried to present Dekker's position fairly. If I have not     Professor Dekker call an unusually successful year?
done so, I wish he would point this out. The second is       After all, speaking now in terms of his position, he
that it is not my purpose to appraise and to criticize       certainly would want to achieve the highest possible
Christian Reformed evangelism in this connection, but        degree of success. 3. By what process is the norm of
rather to evaluate Prof. Dekker's  method  of criticism      success to be determined?
and his diagnosis of the`fundumental came of what he            That third question, of course, is an important one.
calls the inhibited missionary spirit and activity of his    It seems to me that if some kind of statistical norm of
church.       I consider these latter matters of crucial     evangelistic success in terms of the number of con-
importance; and I believe that there is something wrong      verts per year per congregation is to be set up, - as
with Dekker's approach to the whole problem, - a             seems to be the implication of Dekker's assumption
faulty method that has also led him to a faulty con-         that his church's record is poor, - then this normmust
clusion.                                                     be determined by the proper method. It seems to me,
By  What  Stundavd   Meager?                                 further, that the proper method of determining such a
                                                             statistical norm would be the Biblical method. Stated
   This is a question which Prof. Dekker does not            simply, does the Word of God anywhere indicate, even
answer.                                                      in general, that the church's missions, in order to be
   Assuming that the statistics which he presents are        termed successful, must measure up to a certain
correct and that they present a fair and over-all            standard in terms of numbers of converts gained?
picture of Christian Reformed evangelism in the                 To this question Professor Dekker does not ad-
United States and Canada, - and I have no reason to          dress himself; and to this question he certainly should
doubt the accuracy and fairness of these statistics, -       address himself if he wants to criticize the results
the question remains: how does Professor Dekker              of Christian Reformed evangelism.
arrive at the conclusion that these gains are meager            Especially as far as evangelism among the  so-
and that they point to an inept and ineffective perform-     called "unchurched," the generations of those who
ance of the CRC in its evangelism? That Dekker               once belonged to the church but who have fallen away,
considers this to be a poor record, and that he con-         this is a very interesting and important question. I am
siders the evangelism of the CRC to be largely lacking       well aware that there is a good deal of emphasis placed
in success is very evident from all that he has written.     on such evangelism at present. And this is certainly a
   But one looks in vain for any objective standard          phase of the evangelistic success or failure of which
according to which he has gauged the results which           Dekker is writing.       Now I am not now interested in
he mentions. He rather assumes that this is a poor           how successful this work is on the part of the Christian
record, and he seems to assume that his readers will         Reformed Church. Nor will I criticize it from the point
agree that this is a poor record.                            of view of the question whether this evangelism is
   Nor can I find his basis of comparison in what he         productive of  healthy  growth and is adding healthily
writes even stated by implication. Is his conclusion         Reformed  congregations to the CRC (although from
reached by way of a comparison between the number of         time to time I have heard of ChristianReformed  voices
converts and "the millions of dollars and billions of        of criticism `in this respect). Our particular question
hours we invest each year in our mission to the United       is: what degree of success can be expected upon such
States and Canada?" This he does not state, although         evangelism ?       What would constitute success in such
he does state that "such is our record in spite of the       work in terms of positive results? And does Scripture
millions of dollars and billions of hours we invest each     have anything to say on this score?


174                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

                                                             duct evangelism,.the  idea is usually to go to the slums,
Without Much Fw.dt                                           to the poor, and people that are outcasts even socially.
       In connection with the above question we have been    You can just as well go to College Avenue and Madison
taught at our Protestant Reformed Seminary that such         Avenue, and try it there once. Go to Fountain Street
evangelism among the "unchurched" cannot be expected         Baptist Church, and try it there once. Maybe you will
to have much fruit, and that there is a Scriptural           have some fruit there. There is no reason to go the
reason for this.        Thus, for example, the Rev. H.       slums at all; you can just as well go to the rich. Well,
Hoeksema stated in a class lecture:                          he didn't feel like that at all. But nevertheless, his work
       "Now in the new dispensation, therefore, in dis-      failed. But at any rate, evangelism is usually carried
tinction from the old, the gospel is preached among          on in the cities among those that either have severed
all nations because the church must be gathered from         every connection with the church, or belong to a false
them. There is, at least in my opinion, a distinction        church. And therefore they belong to the dead branches,
between the nations as far as the Jews and the Gentiles      - the generations that once were ingrafted in the olive
are concerned, according to Romans 9-11, particularly        tree and no longer have a living connection with the
chapter 11. There is this distinction, that the Jews         olive tree, are cut off, according to Romans 11, par-
may be graffed in on their own olive tree. That is           ticularly vs. 22. There the apostle tells the church,
something indeed very distinctive, because as a general      warns them, that they must not boast because of the
rule God does not return to those that are branches of       branches that are cut off from Israel, because, Paul
the olive tree cut off. But in regard to the Jews that       says, it is only the sovereign goodness of God that you
was not only possible, but was a  .fact. The Jews,            are in the tree; and only when that sovereign goodness
according to Romans 11, have the distinctive privilege       of God continues, can you stay in the tree; otherwise
that after they had rejected the gospel, had re jetted       you will be cut off too. Well, that happened to those
the Christ, or rather, after they had been cut off from      branches among whom this work of evangelism is to be
the church, after they had been cut out as branches of       conducted.    And therefore, it is my conviction,  -I
the vine, they may be graffed in again, -- something         would not say that that work is entirely fruitless, be-
that is not true in general, at least, -there may be         cause you never know whether perhaps an individual
exceptions, -but something that is not true of the           here and there does not yet belong to the dead branches,
Gentiles. When, after the gospel has been preached,           -but otherwise, in general, I dare say, that work is
and after the church has been established, the gener-        usually without fruit.     If God wants to bring one of
ations that represent the branches of the olive tree         those dead branches into the olive tree, He certainly
are cut off from the church, God does not cause them         can bring them to the church. Where the true church
to be graffed in again. This also answers the question       is, and where the gospel is still preached, there is
of evangelism.       So-called evangelism is conducted       plenty opportunity for them to hear the gospel. And
usually in the larger cities of the nations among whom       for that reason, I think, that work of evangelism, -
the gospel has already been preached. Evangelism is          and that is also actual fact, - is usually without fruit.
conducted among those that once belonged to the church,      In Chicago there was that work. I forget the name of
and now belong to the church no more in any sense,           the man now. But at any rate, he worked in the slums
or, among those that nominally still belong to the           of Chicago. And as long as I knew, there was absolutely
church, but belong to the false church. In this city I       no fruit there. And he worked there for many years.
told a Mr. Loomis once, --he came to me, and won-            So my conclusion is that although the church can and
dered how he could organize a church as our church           does witness, even to the dead branches, the work 01
there; he was surprised that apparently at least we had      evangelism, as a work of mission, is without muck
such a flourishing church, and was very anxious to or-       fruit, because God does not return to the branches that
ganize a church like that among people that no longer        `are once cut off." (Mimeographed Notes on "Prin-
were in the church, -I told him by all means not to          ciples of Mission," .pp. 25, 26)
go to the slums. It seems as if when you want to con-                            (to be continued)


                                 "SHOULD I PREPARE FOR THE MINISTRY?"



                                                Profi  H.  C. Hoeksema


       In my previous installment on the generai subject,    other considerations, will not serve as an adequate
"Should I Prepare For the Ministry?" I have called           guide in reaching a proper answer to our question.
attention to various objective considerations which          There are various matters of a more subjective, per-
must be faced in answering this question. These must         sonal nature which we may generally classify under the
certainly be considered. However, they are not the           question that heads this article, namely: Are You
only considerations; and they alone, apart fromvarious       Qualified?


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 175

   These subjective considerations are, in the main,         necessarily  disqualify  a man for the ministry?
of two kinds. In the first place, there are those quali-        Nor is this a purely imaginary problem!
fications which may be classified as intellectual and           On the contrary, it is very real. And I have, in my
academic.      They are concerned with the question: do      limited experience, known young men who broached
you have the various natural talents and abilities and       this very problem.        Moreover, it is certainly true
knowledge which will qualify you to prepare for the          that a young man who aspires to the ministry must not
gospel-ministry'? And, in the second place, there are        be motivated by pride and conceit and self-seeking.
those qualifications which may be classified as spirit-      He must surely aspire to the ministry out of the proper
Ud.      They may be included under the question: do you     motive of humility.       For with humility he must be
have the spiritual virtues and equipment which warrant       clothed throughout his .ministry.     If he is not, he will
your presenting,yourself  as an aspirant to the ministry     surely be a discredit to the ministry of the Word, and,
of the Word?                                                 ultimately, a failure.
   To the above questions we must now address our-             How, then, must this problem be viewed?
selves.                                                         There are several element to be considered.
       Before we turn to the questions themselves, how-         Without treating them exhaustively, let me mention
ever, let us try to face and solve a rather personal,        some of these.
and sometimes embarrassing, problem which arises                1. An aspirant who applies for admission to our
in connection with this matter of the personal qualifi-      seminary must come with a testimonial of his consis-
cations, both natural and spiritual, of aspirants to the     tory that he is a member in full communion, sound in
ministry, The problem is this. Is it not rather bra-         faith and upright in walk. This is more than a mere
zenly. conceited for a young man to come and present         formality. This is certainly the fundamental testimony
himself to the churches and to say, "I believe that I        of the church as to a man's spiritual qualifications. If
have the qualifications to attend our seminary and to        a man is not a communicant member of the church,
prepare for the ministry of the Word and sacraments?"        sound in faith and upright in walk, he is spiritually
After all, there is a very personal and subjective aspect    not qualified for the ministry or for preparationfor the
to this aspiring to the ministry. The whole initiative       ministry. Of course, the premise here is that the con-
comes from the individual himself. No one else makes,        sistory lives up to its calling to be diligent in the gov-
or ought to make, this decision for him. His parents         ernment and oversight of the flock, and that thus there
cannot and should not attempt to make the decision for       are no rotten and dead members on the membership
him.       They may give him counsel. They may guide         roster who are called members ingood standing. But,
him.       They may pray for him. But it is he, not his      assuming now that the consistory does indeed do its
parents, who will prepare for the ministry; and it is        duty, such a testimonial is basic as far as spiritual
he, not his parents, therefore, who must make the de-        qualifications are concerned.        Moreover, this is an
cision.      In fact, it would be a most serious mistake     objective testimony of the church, not merely a sub-
either for others to attempt to make the decision or         jective judgment of the aspirant himself. The question
for the aspirant to attempt to shunt off the decision to     is sometimes raised whether the power and the obliga-
others. For not only is it true in general that a man in     tion of the consistory in this matter extends any further
a position where he does not fit and does not belong is      than the granting of a mere testimonial that the aspir-
an unhappy man; but this is, I think, especially true of     ant is a member in good and regular standing.= If this
the ministry. A man who does not belong in the ministry      is the limit of the consistory's power, then the grant-
and who is not really qualified for the ministry, but        ing of such a testimonial is automatic, and no consis-
who has been urged and even coerced into the ministry        tory could refuse such a testimonial, unless the mem-
against his own better judgment, - such a man will be        ber concerned is under discipline. Unless I am utterly
a very miserable and unhappy creature indeed. Here           mistaken, this has been the usual understanding of this
is a fact of life that may well be remembered by any         requirement. Personally, I believe that the consistory's
who may be tempted on this score. Don't ever nag             power should be broader than this, and that an aspirant
and coerce a young man into the ministry; and don't          to our seminary should not only have a testimonial in'
bribe him to .prepare  for the ministry. The decision        this formal sense, but a positive recommendation that
is for him to make; and he must be left free to make         the consistory considers him to have the necessary
an honest and conscientious decision before the face of      spiritual gifts, and that too, in the necessary degree,
G o d .                                                      to qualify him for admission to our school with a view
       But the very fact that this decision is a personal    to the ministry. I base this belief on these considera-
one and that the initiative and the first move must          tions: a) It ,is not true that mere membership in good
come from the aspirant himself makes the problem all         standing `qualifies one for the office. Not everyone is
the more embarrassing. Is it not conceited to say, "I        spiritually qualified to be an elder or a deacon; and it
aspire to the ministry?" Does it not involve a self-         is the right and the calling of the consistory to decide
examination and a self-judgment concerning one's own         who are qualified and shall consequently be nominated.
abilities and qualifications? Will not "people" say,         The same is true of the ministry, even from the point
"Who does he think he is, anyway, putting himself for-       of view of a man's spiritual qualifications. A man may--`--
ward for the ministry?" I will go a step farther. Does       be in good standing; but he is not necessarily excep-
not such a decision, such a presenting of one's self for     tionally gifted from a spiritual point of view, Or his         ~
the ministry, involve such pride and conceit as would        past may show that he has some particular spiritual                 I


176                                                THE STANDARD BEARER

weakness or a sullied record which would make it un-          in the examination in what is called "Practica," both
wise ever to admit him to the ministry, even though he        at Synod and in the classical (peremptoir) examination.
may be a member in good standing. b) There is no              This examination, according to the decision of our
ecclesiastical body more eminently qualified to grant         churches in connection with Article 4 of the Church Or-
or not to grant such a recommendation than the as-            der concerns "Practical qualifications, among which
pirant's own consistory. This is true for the simple          the following: (1) Personal spirituality. (2) Motives
reason that, all other things being equal, there is no        for seeking the office of minister. (3) Evidence of in-
body more intimately acquainted with a man's spiritual        sight into pastoral practical labors."
qualifications.      Who are in a position to know a man          Hence, it is very evident that the decision is ulti-
spiritually more than his own pastor and elders? This,        mately not left to the aspirant all by himself. All of
in my opinion, merits consideration by the churches.          the above takes place before he can ever be ordained
The requirement of such a recommendation could very           as a minister. This is for the aspirant's own good as
well serve to assist and encourage those who are              well as for the safeguarding of the churches. No min-
qualified and to safeguard against those who are not          ister is called and ordained merely on his own recom-
qualified.                                                    mendation; but when he is called and ordained, he has
       2. One who purposes to enter our seminary must be      been judged (provided all concerned do their dutycare-
interviewed by the Theological School Committee, and          fully) to be qualified for the ministry, and he comes
his admission is dependent upon the recommendation            equipped with the testimony. of the churches to that
of this committee and the decision of Synod. It is the        effect.
right and the duty of said committee not only to check           Nevertheless, you say, when at first a man applies
up on the aspirant's intellectual and academic qualifi-       for admission to our seminary, this implies that he
cations, but also to examine him as to his reasons and        considers himself qualified, both from a natural and a
motive for seeking to enter the ministry, as well as his      spiritual point of view. Otherwise, - if he is honest, --
personal spirituality.       Of course, not only must the     he would not seek admission. And this is correct. But
committee do its duty carefully and thoroughly in this        it is definitely not improper, but proper, for a man to
respect, but it behooves the aspirant to be honest and        desire the office. The question is whether that is a
forth-right. Moreover, the aspirant must be prepared,         holy or an unholy desire. The question/is whether a
too, to abide by the decision of the committee and of         man's own, subjective judgment that he is qualified is
the Synod, whether such a decision is favorable or un-        motivated by pride or by humility, by self-seeking and
favorable.      Naturally, there is a judgment to be made     vainglory or by a genuine seeking of the cause of
here by the committee. And while when it comes to             Christ. If when he by way of earnest self-examination
academic (entrance) requirements, an aspirant must            concludes that he is qualified and that therefore he
meet certain objective standards, it becomes more             should prepare for the ministry, he also does so not
difficult to make a judgment as to a man's spiritual          in pride and boastfulness, but as clothed with humility
qualifications. In view of this difficulty, such a rec-       and with the acknowledgement that what qualifications
ommendation is not, of course, fool-proof. Neverthe-          he possesses are not of himself, but are a gift, and
less, within limits, here again is the objective testi-       with the confession, "All that I am I owe to Thee,"
mony of the churches, something more than the mere            then there is nothing improper about his action. In
subjective judgment of the aspirant himself.                  fact, it would be highly improper and sinful for such a
       3. Throughout his stay at school the aspirant must     man, recognizing the gifts which God has graciously
prove himself.        From an academic point of view he       bestowed upon him, to refuse to employ those gifts in
must prove himself to the extent that unless he main-         the service of the Lord.
tains a C average in his studies, he is not even allowed
to undergo synodical examination. Moreover, no student
who has a failing grade in any subject is allowed to
take his final examination before synod. But also from                       WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
the spiritual point of view a student must prove himself.     On January 3, 1965 our dear parents,
One of the requirements of our school is as follows:
"The student shall conduct himself in and out of school             MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM HOKSBERGEN
as a Christian. Failing in this, he shall be admonished       commemorated their 30th wedding anniversary.
by the faculty in conjunction with the Theological School        We are thankful to our Heavenly Father, who has
Committee.         If after these repeated admonitions the    graciously seen fit to spare them for us and for each
student remains obstinate, he shall be expelled from          other these many years. Our sincere prayer is that
school.       In case a gross sin has been committed, he      they may continue to experience the Lord's richest
shall, with the approval of the Theological SchoolCom-        blessings in their remaining years.
mittee, be expelled immediately."                                Their grateful children:
       4. Finally, any aspirant to the ministry must, when                Mr. and Mrs. John Hoksbergen
he has completed his course in school, face two ex-                       Mr. and Mrs. Bill Jansma
aminations.        In these examinations he must not only                 Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hoksbergen
give account of his knowledge and ability in the various                  Donald Hoksbergen
theological branches, but again he is examined also                       Kenneth Hoksbergen
from a spiritual point of view. This is accomplished                      and 8 grandchildren


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 177





                                          THE ALL-IMPORTANT RETURN


                                                     Rev. J. A. Heys

   How quickly do the hands of sinful men corrupt that          The world was soon after the fall ripe for a flood of
which is holy!                                                  judgment. "God saw that the wickedness of man was
   How contrary to our flesh are the things of God's            great in the earth, and that every imagination of the
kingdom !                                                       thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Genesis
   We simply cannot allow the spiritual to have the             6~5. What an indictment! EVERY imagination of his
preeminence in our lives, and we fight against the truth        heart ! ONLY evil ! And CONTINUALLY! How could you
of God's Word by trying to cover it up with that which          state it more strongly? How could you ever express total
is material and of this earth, earthy. Let God do a             depravity as being anything else than absolute depravity,
wonder-work, and man quickly gets to work to press it           even if you want to quibble about words? And that was
into the service of his flesh. As soon.as God reveals His       thousands and thousands of years ago. Since that time
glory, man seeks to rob Him of that glory and appro-            we developed even further in our evil with better means
priate God's creation and works for his own glory.              and more resources to rebel against the living God and
   What else can you expect?                                    to strive still to be like Him.
   We are not a better generation by nature than Adam              Therefore, when He performs the wonder-work of
was when he listened to Satan's lie and ate in order to         sending His Son in our flesh and sends His angels to
be like God. In some respects we may say in truth that          sing of glory to God in the highest, we have to counter-
we are a far more evil generation than that which first         act that glory in the highest and see if we cannot change
sprang forth from fallen Adam and Eve. In a material            it to glory to man in the highest and peace from God's
sense we may have made many advances. And at the end            wrath by getting rid of Him! 0, we do! We want to get
of the year men of the world like to list the achievements      rid of Him. He is always in our way, as we are by na-
and show the progress we have made. In science, in              ture. And when He did come in our flesh, where we
medicine, in social improvements, in education, and in          could touch Him, we did get rid of Him, - or so we
the arts the steady advance of manis traced. There are          thought - and nailed Him to the tree ! Had we only known
those dark spots that are recognized but not explored.          it before, when He came in Bethlehem, we would have
But we are a highly cultured, civilized, refinedgenera-         helped Herod find Him and would have gone even as far
tion that lives upon the face of the earth in this twentieth    as Egypt to try to wipe out the life of that Babe in
century. And the world lets you know that too. No, the          swaddling clothes.
educators, philosophers, and psychologists will tell you,          This generation would do otherwise?
the present generation is not really worse than the                Look about you when the Christmas season rolls
preceding ones. It just looks that way. Parents quite           around again next year. Go back in your thoughts only
naturally are concerned with the well-being of their            twenty-two days, and take careful note of what you saw
children and, not remembering their own pranks and              and will see. 0, it is beautiful. Beautiful because of
lust for pleasure wherever and in whatever way they             God's works and beautiful to the eye because of man's
could find or make it, see their children's actions in a        works. He lays a pure blanket of dazzlinglywhite snow.
wrong light. Actually we are getting better and soon will       And in regions far removed He has brought forth a
have that "Great Society."                                      beautiful tree of evergreen foliage. Man has fashioned
   Yet we must not overlook the fact that there has been        lights of every color of the rainbow and other decora-
a steady and rapid development in sin! No worldly               tions that are a delight to the eye to fix on that tree
educator or psychologist or philosopher will want to            standing in the dazzling snow. Man has done so much to
admit that. No, we came from the monkey, but we are not         turn his thoughts away from that Son of God and to turn
going back to him. We are taught evolution, but not             the glory of God upon himself. He, must make something
devolution. We are on the upgrade and not on the down-          material out of that which is spiritual. And unless you
grade. We are getting better, even though at times the          mean a peace on earth which allows sinners to do their
troubles  of, the moment may seem to deny this. Just            evil without punishment, he is not interested in your
have faith in our youth and faithinmankind; and we will         Christmas message.
eventually solve our problems to make a world-wide                 You will never hear the natural man say with the
peace. So the world talks; and in the future it will seem       shepherds, "Let us now go evenunto Bethlehem, and see
to have spoken the truth, when the Antichrist will rule         this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath
the whole world in a temporary reign of peace and               made known to us." He teaches his children instead to
unprecedented prosperity for all mankind. But Scripture         go and see Santa Claus, who also sits in judgment,
denies all this and condemns it in no uncertain terms.          rewards good little boys and girls, and has a record


178                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER

book of their activities. And his children in effect are          in the dark, when we can almost hear nuclear bombs
taught to sing, "Praise Santa Claus from' whom all                whistle their warning of our destruction. But asaviour,
blessings flow." His good must come down a chimney,               born of a virgin by a wonder-work of God and Whose
and his saviour must also come down that chimney,                 fundamental purpose in coming is to save us from sin
instead of going up on a cross. You just simply cannot            we do not want by nature and do not see in Bethlehem.
let God be the one from Whom all blessings flow. You                  This is due to the fact that by nature we still want
simply cannot for the sake of your own pride, let Christ          sin. We want to be delivered from the punishment and
be the One Who brings us good. You must at least                  consequences of sin. But for us a paradise, an utopia
preach a fallen man who can still desire salvation.               must be one where we can satisfy the lust of our flesh,
Surely, there must a man somewhere, a jolly old                   the lust of our eyes, the pride of our life and never
fellow, who can do us good even though we are totally             suffer the consequences. We must have a heaven wherein
depraved and inclined to all evil. And so we do not go            we can rebel against God all we please and still have
to Bethlehem to see this thing, but wego to Santa Claus           Him smile down indulgently with a love for the whole
and ride around town to see theprettylights, and trees,           world that denies Him His own glory. Not glory to God
and tinsel and ornaments which man has fashioned!                 in the highest, but glory of man at the expense of God's
       But you and I who went to Bethlehem? . . . .               glory and the vindication of His divinity is our desire
       Or did we only think that we went to see this thing        according to the flesh.
which is come to pass? Did we see the glory of God? Did               Did you go to Bethlehem and see by faith?
we see this thing which is come to pass as it was told                Well, the evidence will be seen today, twenty-two
US? And who then told you about it? Did you see it as men         days after Christmas, as well as on Christmas day
described it to you? Or did you see it as God told it             itself. You feel that this article is out of date? You ask
through His angel? Without that Word of God, without              the question, "Why write about Christmas now when we
His explanation, there is nothing to see there that will          have almost forgotten it?' Ah, but is that not again
assure you and me of peace on earth. There is absolutely          another indication that we have replaced God's works,
nothing that would in any way whatsoever show you that            or at least tried to, with our own? It simply for some
this is a Saviour. Rather would it indicateone who is in          does not seem like Christmas, if there is no snow on the
need of a saviour. "Where is the power and wisdom of              ground. Why? What in the world does snow have to do
God?" you would ask if you hadcomeinto that stable or             with Christmas? It does not seem like Christmas if
grotto to get your camel or donkey and be on your way             there is no tree with its decorations. Well, why? What
back home, with the work of registration over for you.            have these to do with salvation from sin and the thing
Some did, no doubt, come into that stable or grotto               come  to pass as the angel made known unto  us? And
before or after the shepherds had come there. This was            that, because of unemployment or depression or the like,
no private dwelling place. The birds havenests, and the           we are not able to give and receive gifts it does not
foxes have holes; but the Son of Man hath not where to            seem like Christmas means that we have become so dull
lay His head! The cattle have to give Him their feed box.         spiritually that we cannot see and appreciate God's
Mary, Joseph, and the Child have no privacy. He came              gift to us.
into His own world, and His own received Him not!                     But we said that the evidence will be seen today
Today they think that they celebrate His birth with lights        whether we went with the shepherds to Bethlehem and
and trees and tinsel and ornaments. But He was not on             saw what God said was there. And that evidence may be
that day greeted by any earthly pomp or celebrations.             seen in our return from Bethlehem. We read that so
But few among men there were who came purposely to                beautifully in Luke 2:20 in connection with verse 15.
see this thing as the thing that had been told them.              The shepherds said one to another,  - and therefore we
       Few people have seen it that way this past Christmas.      have no reason to believe that any one of them stayed
There is a universal observation of the day and a world-          behind to tend the sheep, - "Let us now go even unto
wide "celebration." Yet few have come and seen Him                Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass,
lying in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes and yet           which the Lord hath made known to us." And in verse
born as King of the spiritual Jews and as the promised            20 we read, "And the shepherds returned, glorifying
Saviour Who took away the sin of the world. Churches              and praising God for all the things that they had seen and
with the best display of color andlight, of trimming and          heard, as it was told them." What is more, we read in.
decoration, with the most elaborate and life-like                 verse 17, "And when they had seen it, they made known
manger-scene,  - with the folly of having the wise men            abroad the saying which was told them concerning this
there as well, -preach a Christ who was not in that               child. ' '
manger and never came to this earth. You have to explain              Is our Christmas thrown away after New Year's Day
all things in the light of scientific findings of men, you        and as pathetic a sight as the discarded "Christmas"
know. If it does not answer to our rationalization, we            trees that disfigure vacant lots and front lawns-today?
must take the word of unbelieving scientists and dis-             Is our Christmas put in a box with the lights and
credit such a silly thing as a virgin birth. We are not           ornaments till another twelve months are come and
children anymore to believe such fairy tales. And so we           gone? Indeed, there is that all-important return from
do not see in that manger in Bethlehem a Saviour as it            Bethlehem. There is that tell-tale return from seeing
was told by the angels, but one as it is told by those who        that which God said ,has come to pass. In His fear we
have no part in Him and hate Him. Then, with tongue               will return to our daily toils, back to our sheep, praising
in cheek, we sing and speak of peace on earth and whistle         and glorifying God. And this will carry on throughout


                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER                                                179

     the year and until, with renewed zeal and spiritual light,    we return. Amere going to see this thing with the natural
     we do it more ardently next year, because we have seen        eye will do no good. If we have come and seen it with the
     a little more of the wonder of God's grace.                   eye of faith, then He goes back with us in our heart. He
        No room for Him in the inn!                                makes that room and fills us with that fear of awe and
        No room for Him now in the world. Not only is He           reverence that we do glorify and praise God. And then
     on His birthday pushed aside for good old St. Nick, but       we say, "0 God, how good Thou art 1" If we see the
     there are three hundred and sixty-four other days also        Christ as He made Himself known to us, then we have
     where His praise is ascribed to men. "Oh," the psalmist       seen God's covenant faithfulness. Such cannot return to
     cries, "that men would praise the Lord for His goodness,      their daily toils and life without praising Him and
     and for His wonderful works to the children of men!"          ascribing glory in the highest to Him.
     Psalm 107:8,15,21 and 31.
        The question is whether He goes back with us when             Did you have a blessed Christmas?
~

                                  7ke Ad $Taos 74e %lzd . . ,
                                                                                    (Psalm  68:ll)


                            THE EVANGELICAL APPROACH IN THE BOOK OF ACTS


                                                          Rev. C. Hanko

        We are now coming to the most important aspect of          Jericho, Ruth the Moabite, and the Ninevites are out-
     our research on the Scriptural approach in preaching          standing examples of those who would be gathered into
     the Gospel to the unconverted. We examined the ap-            God's church and covenant in the new dispensation,
     proach employed in preaching the Gospel in the old            when Japheth would dwell in the tents of Shem. Even
     dispensation. We considered the approach used by our          the Psalmist spoke of glorious things to come when
     Lord Himself during His earthly ministry. We now              Egypt and Babylon, Philistia, Tyre and Ethiopia would
     turn to the Book of Acts to see how the apostles preached     be included in the line of the covenant. (Psalm 87:3,4).
     the Gospel to the unconverted after the day of Pentecost.     Paul tells us that it was through the fall of Israel as a
        To us who maintain that God establishes His cove-          nation that. salvation is come to the Gentiles. (Rom.
     nant with His people in Christ, even in the line of con-      11:12). Jesus also made reference to that more than
     tinued generations from Adam through Abraham to               once during His earthly ministry. Our Lord pointed to
     Christ, it comes as no surprise that the preaching of         the remarkable faith that had been given to certain
     the Gospel promise was limited almost entirely to the         Gentiles, such as the nobleman of Capernaum and the
     historical line of the covenant. You can trace that line      Syro-Phoenician woman, reminding His disciples, "Be-
     very readily from Adam through Seth and Enoch to              hold, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel."
     Noah, while Cain's generations were excluded from it.         When Israel rejects the Christ, the Spirit of Christ is
     Again the line continues from Noah through Shem while         poured out upon all flesh, the church becomes universal
     the generations of Ham and Japheth are not included           and the proclamation of the Gospel also extends to the
     in that covenant line, at least not until a much later        ends of the earth.
     date. From Shem the line continues through Abraham,              It is exactly for that reason that a study of the
     Isaac, and Jacob, for a while even confined within a          preaching of the apostles in the Book of Acts is so
     single family. That does not mean that there were no          important to our present discussion.
     remnants of believers outside of the family of Abraham,          I can hardly refrain from adding, that it is difficult
     Isaac, and Jacob; but these remnants died out in their        for me to understand how anyone can maintain the
     generations, while the main covenant line continued           Scripturally fundamental truth of God's covenant and at
     through the twelve sons of Jacob, and finally even            the same time advocate a universal love of God for all
     centered itself in the tribe of Judah to David, and along     men. It seems to me that the truth of God's covenant
     David's royal line to Mary and to the Christ. Israel          as established-in Christ with those who belong to Christ,
     had the covenant and the promises, while the nations          is even more fundamental and more prominent in
     round about were left to walk in their own ways. Acts         Scripture than the truth of God's sovereign election
     14:16. The covenant remained almost completely con-           and reprobation.      The covenant as a relationship of
     fined within the narrow bounds of national Israel             friendship between God and His people in Christ ap-
     throughout the entire old dispensation. And when the          pears on every page of the Scriptures. That covenant
     Gospel message did reach out beyond Israel to the             fellowship with God in Christ is the blessed experience
     Gentiles, these converts were generally brought into          of every true believer. But God's covenant love for
     the sphere of the Old Testament covenant, engrafted           His people is an eternal, unchangeable, exclusive love.
     into Israel.    Such converts as Rahab, the harlot of         God refers to His relationship with His people as the


lb0                                                THE STANDARD BEARER

relationship of Bridegroom and bride, Husband and              sage is no offer, but a promise, and this promise is not
wife, Father and children, the Testator of the promise         promiscuously given to all men, but to those who are
and the heirs of the promise. God assures His people           caZEed.  Only the called receive the promise. And they
that they are His because of sovereign good pleasure;          very actually do! For when God calls, not merely ex-
they are His peculiar possession; to them He says:             ternally through the preaching, but also internally by
"I will be Thy God and thou shalt be My people." All           His Spirit in their hearts, He calls efficaciously. God
Gospel preaching proclaims this truth, and certainly           draws out of death into life and gives those who are
never contradicts it. Nor is there room in Scripture           called faith to believe the promise. The preaching of
for another love, another relationship, or another Gospel,     the Gospel is not a mere proclamation of a universal
or another Gospel message. This was true in the Old            love of God for all men, but is the power of God that
Testament. We shall find the same to be true in the            saves by way of conversion and faith.
Book of Acts.                                                     Therefore if we ask, "What is the content of the
       The' covenant with Abraham and his spiritual seed       preaching in the Book of Acts?", the answer is given
is carried over from the old dispensation into the new,        very simply: The fulfillment of the promise.        The
with this difference that the church now becomes uni-          apostles preached Jesus. They preached with power
versal in the sense that God will gather His elect             on His authority, as led by His Spirit. They preached
covenant people from every nation, and tribe, and              that Jesus is the Christ. They preached the resur-
tongue. The true sons of Abraham are those who are             rection of Christ. They preached that Jesus Christ is
made sons by the power of regeneration through the             the Son of God, Who died and rose again and is gone
indwelling Spirit of Christ. The church is saved in the        into heaven, according to the Scriptures.
new dispensation exactly as in the old, except that now           Already in the early chapters of Acts we are told
the true sons of Abraham are gathered from many                that the apostles and their helpers preached that Jesus
nations and peoples of the earth, wherever God in His          is the Christ.
good pleasure sends the Gospel to gather His own.                 Acts  5:42, "And daily in the temple, and in every
Jesus declared already in John  10:16, "And other sheep        house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus
I have, which are not of this fold (the elect of Israel of     ChrFctt.;' 8("`esus as the Christ." R.V.),
the old dispensation): them also I. must bring, and they                  .  > "Then Philip went down to the city of
shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and          Samaria,  and preached Christ unto them."
one shepherd." When our Lord is about to ascend to                Acts  8:35,37, "Then Philip opened his mouth, and
heaven He instructs His disciples, "And ye shall re-           began at the same scripture, and preached unto him
ceive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon            (the Ethiopian eunuch) Jesus." "And he (the eunuch)
YOU,      and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in            answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the
Jerusalem, and in all  Judea,  and in  Samaria, and            Son of God."
unto the uttermost part of the earth." And this fact              Paul also preached that Jesus was the Christ, even
that the church, now leaves the narrow confines of             as he was called of God to do just that.
national Israel to spread out into all the nations of the         Acts  9:15, "But the Lord said unto him (Ananias),
earth becomes even more evident from Acts  2:30,               Go thy way, for he (Paul) is a chosen vessel unto me,
"For the promise is unto you, and to your children,            to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and
and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord         the children of Israel."
our God shall call."                                              Acts 9:20, "And straitway he (Paul) preached Christ
       A single remark about this last passage. It is often    in the synagogue, that he is the Sonof God." Verse 22:
contended that only Jews and Jewish proselytes were            "Proving that this is very Christ."
present at the Pentecost feast, and therefore only they        The apostles also preached the resurrection of
heard Peter's sermon and were brought to repentance.           Christ, and the resurrection unto life for all believers
Moreover, it is pointed out that Peter and the apostles        through Christ. (4:33) And they did this in spite of the
were by no means ready at that time to preach the              opposition of the chief priests and rulers who were of-
Gospel to those who were not Jews. Therefore when              fended by their preaching. They certainly did not ask
Peter spoke of the promise "to you and to your chil-           whether this belonged to the "addressability of the
dren" he was still not thinking of the Gentiles. Peter         Gospel" but spoke boldly as they were commanded
himself was limiting the promise only to Jews, even            (Acts 5:20).
as there were only Jews present when this Gospel                  Acts  4:11,12, "This is the stone which was set at
message was brought. Even though we would agree                naught by you builders, which is become the head of
that Peter's audience was still strictly the church of         the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other:
the old dispensation, so that "you and your children"          for there is none other name under heavengiven among
at that moment applied to Jews and proselytes, the Lord        men, whereby we must be saved."
nevertheless extends the promise by adding, "And to               Whereupon the rulers reacted by saying, "Did we
all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our            not straitly command you that ye should not teach in
God shall call." And that is significant! Not Peter,           this name? and behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with
but God declares through the Holy Spirit that the prom-        your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood
ise extends to as many as the Lord our God shall call;         upon us." Acts 5:28.
And that can be among the Gentiles as well as among               Again we read in Acts  5:30,31, "The God of our
the Jews. But that also tells us that the Gospel mes-          fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged upon


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                181

a tree.     Him hath God exalted with his right hand to         Some were grieved by it,  4:2; some opposed it,
be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to          5:28,33; some resisted it, 7:51,52; some deemed them-
Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are his wit-         selves unworthy of everlasting life and put the Word
nesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost,       of God from them, 13:46; some were moved with envy,
whom God hath given to them that obey him."                  17:s; some made insurrection against Paul and the
   The apostles, preached repentance from sin and            Gospel, 18:12.
faith through Jesus Christ.                                     But on the other hand, "AS many as were ordained
   Acts 3:19, "Repent ye, therefore, and be converted,       to eternal life believed." 13:48. Theywereglad.  13:48.
that your sins may be blotted out, when the time of          They cried out, and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be
refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord."        saved?", and they were told, "Believe in the Lord
   Acts  3:26, "Unto you first God, having raised up         Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thy house."
his Son Jesus Christ, sent him to bless you, in turning      16:30.       They "received the Word with readiness of
away every one of you from his iniquities."                  mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether these
   Acts  13:38, "Be it known unto you therefore, men         things were so," as in Berea. 17:ll.
and brethren, that through this man is preached unto            As Paul sums up the fruit of his preaching in II
you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe     Corinthians 2:15, 16, "For we are unto God a sweet
are justified from all things, from which you could not      savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them
be justified by the law of Moses."                           that perish:      To the one we are the savour of death
   And this preaching of the Gospel also had its effect,     unto death; and to the other a savour of life unto life.
even according to the purpose of God.                        And who is sufficient for these things?"





                                  THE INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES


                                                  Rev.  H. Veldrnan


                                                             inspiration of the prophets by the Holy Spirit, he writes
According to the Fathers  3                                  as follows: "But men of God carrying in them a holy
   Before we continue with our treatment of the truth        spirit and becoming prophets, being inspired and made
of divine inspiration as set forth in the Reformed Con-      wise by God, became God-taught, and holy, and righteous.
fessions, we wish to call attention to this doctrine as      Wherefore they were also deemed worthy of receiving
set forth by the Fathers of the early Christian Church       this reward, that they should become instruments of
(the church during the early years of the New Dispen-        God, and contain the wisdom that is from Him; through
sation).                                                     which wisdom they uttered both what regarded the
   Theophilus occupies an interesting position, after        creation of the world and all other things. For they
Ignatius, in the succession of faithful men who repre-       predicted also pestilences, and famines, and wars.
sented Barnabas and other prophets and teachers of           And there was not one or two, but many, at various
Antioch, in that ancient seat, from which comes our          times and seasons among the Hebrews; and also among
name as Christians. He was one of the earliest com-          the Greeks there was the Sibyl; and they all have spoken
mentators upon the Gospels, if not the first; and he         things consistent and harmonious with each other, both
seems to have been the earliest Christian historian of       what happened before them and what happened in their
the church of the Old Testament. Little is known of          own time, and what things are now being fulfilled in
the personal history of Theophilus of Antioch. He was        our own day; wherefore we are persuaded also con-
undoubtedly born a pagan, and owed his conversion to         cerning the future things that they will fall out, as also
Christianity to the careful study of the Holy Scriptures.    the first have been accomplished." page 97, Vol. II;
He succeeded to the bishopric of Antioch in the eighth       The Ante-Nicene Fathers. It is evident from this quo-
year of the reign of Marcus Aurelius, that.is,  in A.C.      tation that Theophilus believed in the divine inspiration
168. He is related to have died either in A.D. 181, or       of the Holy Scriptures.
in A.D. 188 --some assigning him an episcopate of               We also wish to quote from Origen, from Vol. IV
thirteen, and others of twenty-one, years.                   of the Ante-Nicene Fathers. Origen belonged to the
   In connection with the truth of the divine inspiration    great Alexandrian school. The rise and rapid develop-
of the Scriptures, Theophilus did not write too much;        ment of this school, and the predominance of it were
at least; not mu.ch is recorded of him. This is probably     imparted to it by the genius of Clement. Origen was
due to the fact that the truth of divine inspiration was     his pupil, and succeeded him at the surprising age of
not much in dispute in that early day. Writing on the        eighteen.       Alexandria was called "the mother and


182                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

mistress of churches," in the benign sense of a nurse         with seven children. Origen was for a time assisted
and instructress of Christendom, not its arrogant and         by a wealthy matron, and then supported himself by
usurping imperatrix.                                          giving instruction in the Greek language and literature,
       Of this ante-Nicene period (the period before the      and by copying manuscripts.
Council of  Nicea, 325 A.D.), it is said, we believe             "When his labors and the number of his pupils in-
justifiably, and we quote: "Justly has it been urged          creased, he gave the lower classes (Origen had been
that to those whose colossal labours during the ante-         appointed president of the catechetical school of Alex-
Nicene period exposed them to hasty judgment, and             andria, at the age of eighteen years, left vacant by the
led them into mistakes, much indulgence must be               flight of Clement) of the catechetical school into the
shown.      The language of theology was but assuming         charge of his pupil Heraclas, and devoted himself
shape under their processes, and we owe them an               wholly to the more advanced students. He was suc-
incalculable debt of gratitude: but it was not yet moulded    cessful in bringing many eminent heathens and heretics
into precision, nor had great councils, presided over         to the Catholic church (not to be confused with the later
by the Holy Ghost, as yet afforded those safeguards           Roman Catholic Church-H.V.); among them a wealthy
to freedom of thought which gradually defined the limits      Gnostic, Ambrosius, who became his most liberal
of orthodoxy.      To no single teacher did the Church        patron. . . . .His mode of life during the whole period
defer.      Holy Scripture was the grand pyescviption,        was strictly ascetic. He made it a matter of principle
against which no individual prelate or doctor could           to renounce every earthly thing not indispensably nec-
prevail, against which no see could uplift a voice,           essary. He refused the gifts of his pupils, and in literal
without chastisement and subjection. . . .  .But before       obedience to the Saviour's injunction he had but one
the great  Synodical  period (A.D. 325 to  451), while        coat, no shoes, and took no thought of the morrow. He
orthodoxy is marvellously maintained and witnessed to         rarely ate flesh, never drank wine; devoted the greater
by Origen and Tertullian themselves, their errors, how-       part of the night to prayer and study, and slept on the
ever serious, have never separated them from the              bare floor."
grateful and loving regard of those upon whom their              Origen was persecuted for his views. In the Decian
lives of heroic sorrow and suffering have conferred           persecution he was cast into prison, cruelly tortured,
blessings unspeakable. The Church cannot leave their          and condemned to the stake. Although he regained his
errors uncorrected. Their persons she leaves to the           liberty by the death of the emperor, yet he died some
Master's reward: their characters she cherishes, while        time after, at the age of sixty-nine, in the year 253 or
their faults she deplores." And to this is added the          254, at Tyre, probably in consequence of that violence.
following: "The great feature of the ante-Nicene the-         He belongs, therefore, at least among the confessors,
ology, even `in the mistakes of the writers, is its reli-     if not among the martyrs. He was buried at Tyre. He
ance on the Holy Scripture. What wealth of Scripture          was the greatest scholar of his age, and the most gifted,
they lavish in their pages ! We identify the Scriptures       most industrious, and most cultivated of all the ante-
by their aid; but, were they lost in other forms, we          Nicene fathers. Even heathens and heretics admired
might almost restore them from their pages."                  or feared his brilliant talent and vast learning. His
       Philip Schaff describes Origen as follows in his       knowledge embraced all departments of the philology,
"History Of The Christian Church," Volume II, 786ff.:         philosophy, and theology of his day.        With this he
"ORIGENES, surnamed "Adamantius" on account of                united profound and fertile thought, keen penetration,
his industry and purity of character, is one of the most      and glowing imagination.       As a true divine, he con-
remarkable men in history for genius and learning, for        secrated all his studies by prayer, and turned them,
the influence he exerted on his age, and for the contro-      according to his best convictions, to the service of
versies and discussions to which his opinions gave            truth and piety. According to Philip Schaff, he is cer-
rise. He was born of Christian parents at Alexandria,         tainly guilty of teaching things that are contrary tc
in the year 185, and probably baptized in childhood,          orthodox Christianity.     Among these departures are
according to Egyptian custom which he traced to               his extremely ascetic and almost docetistic conception
apostolic origin.     Under the direction of his father,      of corporeity, his denial of a material resurrection,
Leonides, who was probably a rhetorician, and of the          his doctrine of the pre-existence and the pre-temporal
celebrated Clement at the catechetical school, he re-         fall of souls (including the pre-existence of the human
ceived a pious and learned education. While yet a boy,        soul of Christ), of eternal creation, of the extension of
he knew whole sections of the Bible by memory, and            the work of redemption to the inhabitants of the stars
not rarely perplexed his father with questions on the         and to all rational creatures, and of the final restora-
deeper sense of Scripture. The father reproved his            tion of all men and fallen angels. Also in regard to the
curiosity, but thanked God for such a son, and often,         dogma of the divinity of Christ, though he powerfully
as he slept, reverentially kissed his breast as a temple      supported it, and was the first to teach expressly the
of the Holy Spirit. Under the persecution of Septimius        eternal generation of the Son, yet he may be almost as
Severus  in 202, he wrote to his father in prison, be-        justly considered a forerunner of the Arian heteroou-
seeching him not to deny Christ for the sake of his           sion, or at least of the semi-Arian homoiousion, as of
family, and strongly desired to give himself up to the        the Athaniasian homoousion.
heathen authorities, but was prevented by his mother,            Writing on the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures,
who hid his clothes. Leonides died a martyr, and, as          Origen writes as follows, Vol. IV, The Ante-Nicene
his property was confiscated, he left a helpless widow        Fathers, 348 ff.: "Since, in our investigation of mat-


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         183

 ters of such importance, not satisfied with the common                 apparent logical demonstration, no one has been able
 opinions, and with the clear evidence of visible things,               to impress what was deemed by him the truth upon
 we take in addition, for the proof of our statements,                  other nations, or even on any number of persons worth
 testimonies from what are believed by us to be divine                  mentioning in a single nation. And yet not only would
 writings, viz., from that which is styled the New, and                 the legislators have liked to enforce those laws which
 endeavour by reason to confirm our faith; and as we                    appeared to be good, if possible, upon the whole human
 have not yet spoken of the Scriptures as divine, come                  race, but the teachers also to have spread what they
 and let us, as if by way of an epitome, treat of a few                 imagined to be truth everywhere throughout the world.
points respecting them, laying down those reasons                       But as they were unable to call men of other languages
which lead us to regard them as divine writings. And                    and from many nations to observe their laws, and ac-
 before making use of the words of the writings them-                   cept their teaching, they did not at all attempt to do this,
 selves, and of the things which are exhibited in them,                 considering not unwisely the impossibility of such a
 we must make the following statement regarding Moses                   result happening to them. Whereas all Greece, and the
 and Jesus Christ, -the lawgiver of the Hebrews, and                    barbarous part of our world, contains innumerable zeal-
 the Introducer of the saving doctrines according to                    ots, who have deserted the laws of their fathers and
 Christianity. For, although there have been very many                  the established gods, for the observance of the laws of
 legislators among the Greeks and Barbarians, and                       Moses and the discipleship of the words of Jesus Christ;
 teachers who announced opinions which professed to be                  although those who clave to the law of Moses were
 the truth, we have heard of no legislator who was able                 hated by the worshippers of images, and those who ac-
 to imbue other nations with a zeal for the reception of                cepted the words of Jesus Christ were exposed, in ad-
 his words; and although those who professed to philos-                 dition, to the danger of death." The Lord willing, we
 ophize about truth brought forward a great apparatus of                will quote more from Origen in our following article.


                                    74~  &kw4  &  Wa&tb
                                   ("0 worship the Lord  in  the beauty  of  holiness." Ps.  96:9a)



                                                 BAPTISMAL PRAYERS


                                                    Rev. G.  Vanden   Berg


    The Form for the Baptism of Infant Children that is                 Although this is always true and applies to everything
 used in our churches contains two significant prayers.                we do, we cannot overemphasize the importance of it
 The first of these is uttered at the conclusion of the                when it comes to the matter of our baptism. Baptism,
 reading of the form proper and just before the parents                 we have learned, is not a "custom or superstition."
 are asked to answer the questions.         The other one               It involves much more than the traditional sprinkling
 occurs at the conclusion of the ceremony and is a                      with water for it is a deeply spiritual matter which
 prayer of thanksgiving. To these two prayers we now                    involves our being incorporated into Christ and made
 give our attention because they also are an integral                  partakers of His death and resurrection. Only God is
 part of the administration of the sacrament.                           able to effect this and without the operation of His
    The importance of the prayers of baptism is already                 grace these outward ceremonies do us no good, but
 signified in the introductory statement that precedes                  rather become means to our condemnation.(l) There-
 the first prayer and in which the congregation is ex-                 fore are we exhorted to call upon His holy name.
 horted.    That statement reads: "That therefore this                       We note further that this introductory statement
 holy ordinance of God may be administered to His                       contains a threefold description of the purpose of the
 glory,, to our comfort, and to the edification of His                  sacrament or, to express it otherwise, it points us to
 Church, let us call upon His holy name."                               a threefold objective we must have in our prayer.
    This statement must not be overlooked. It may                       There is not only need for prayer in this connection
 not be passed by or simply regarded as a necessary                     but there must be purpose in our prayer. The church
 indication to the congregation that it is now time to                  has something specific in mind, and with this end in
 pray., The statement contains too much for this. It                    view she comes to God in prayer.
 expresses a beautiful confession in which the church                       That end is that the .sacrament  she is about to ad-
 acknowledges the truth that she is always dependent                    minister may be administered firstly, "to God's glory;"
 upon God, and without Him all that she does is mean-                   secondly, "to our comfort;" and, lastly, "to the edifi-
 ingless and fruitless. She must not only say this in                   cation of His Church". We may not equate these three
 her form, but this must be her living experience and                   things, nor may we separate them as though they were
 in that consciousness she draws nigh to God in prayer.                 unrelated to each other. The relationship issuch that


184                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER

the object of our prayer is expressed in the first men-          read in I Corinthians lO:l, 2, "Moreover, brethren, I
tioned, viz., the glorification of God and the last two          would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our
mentioned purposes are then entirely dependent upon              fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through
this for their realization.        The church can have no        the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud
comfort or edification except through the glorification          and in the sea." And again,inI Peter 3:20, 21, "Which
of God. With this in mind, we might paraphrase the               sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffer-
matter by saying that in effect the church goes to the           ing of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark
throne of grace to beseech God to maintain His Cove-             was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were
nant through baptism and to multiply His gifts of knowl-         saved by water. The like figure whereunto even bap-
edge and grace unto the heirs of that covenant. In the           tism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the
manifestation of this work of God the church is com-             filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience
forted and built up as she can be through no other way.          toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ."
In this same work the glory of God becomes revealed                 Of great significance then are these two events in
in the midst of a sinful world where God's people have           the history of the church. They signify the wonder-
been called apart to show forth His eternal praise.              work of salvation. Also here the Baptism Form men-
That baptism, therefore, may not be a meaningless                tions a truth commonly found throughout Scripture,
ceremony, but rather may be an effectual means of                which is that the work of salvation is always accom-
grace, through which the church of Christ is established         panied by judgment. According to God's severe judg-
and the glory of God is radiated, we come to our                 ment He punished the unbelieving and unrepentant
Heavenly Father, calling on His Holy Name in prayer.             world with the flood and through the same flood accord-
       In the first prayer God is addressed as, "0 Al-           ing to His great mercy He saved and protected believ-
mighty and eternal God;" and in the second prayer                ing Noah and His family. Carrying this thought to its
this is changed slightly to, "Almighty God and merci-            fulfillment we note that the death of Christ was the
ful Father." We note especially that in both instances           judgment of this world and at the same time the sal-
the attribute of God's omnipotence is mentioned. It is           vation of His Church. Always Zion is redeemed through
this attribute that stands out in all the work of salva-         judgment; and so when the end of time is reached, God
tion as obsignated in baptism. That which is impossible          will have made all things ready for the Church to re-
of human accomplishment God does ! It belongs to the             ceive her eternal inheritance of glory, and the ungodly
fundamental requirements of our Mediator that He is              world will be ripe for the judgment that will be meted
very really God, for without omnipotence it is im-               out to her. The cup of iniquity will have been made
possible to save us from the death into which we have            full. Wondrous are the ways of God, unfathomed and
fallen.(2)                                                       unknown.
       That the attribute of eternity  is also mentioned here       Although in this rubric we do not devote ourselves
stresses the fact that the work of God symbolized in             to expounding the types and symbols of Scripture, we
Holy Baptism is an eternal work of God. He has es-               may nevertheless mention the symbolical significance
tablished His covenant of grace with His people in               of the two types mentioned in this baptismal prayer.
Christ Jesus from before the foundations of the world.           God saved Noah and his family through the deluge. He
From everlasting to everlasting He is the unchange-              also redeemed Israel, His people, from the house of
able One Who keeps and maintains that covenant.                  bondage through the Red Sea. In both instances, even
Great is the faithfulness of Jehovah from all eternity.          as in baptism, the water signifies the blood of Christ.
This, we remember, is stressed in the prayer before              By the power of that blood separation is made between
the baptism. After the baptism is completed, this is             Noah and the ungodly world, between Israel and Egypt,
not repeated in the prayer of thanksgiving, but the ad-          and between the righteous and the wicked through all
dress is then changed to merciful Fathev.  The signif-           the ages. In both instances there is a wonder,  a miracle
icance of this must be found in the fact that now the            of grace signifying God's unspeakable power by which
church looks at the finished work of salvation as set            the wicked are overthrown and His people are saved
before her in the sacrament and remembers that all               through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
this is of sovereign mercy alone. None of it has she             dead. GOD reaches down into a world that had totally
merited in any way. "It is of the Lord's mercies that            corrupted itself and into a house of slavery in sin and
we are not consumed, because His compassions fail                delivers His people by grace  alone,-  GOD reaches
net."(3)      And in the manifestation of His mercy God          down into death and hell and saves His children through
reveals Himself to us as our Father. Not simply as               His Son Jesus Christ. In doing so GOD destroys utterly
Creator, Lord, or Sovereign, which He also most as-              the power of the devil and gives complete victory and
suredly is, but it is as our Father that we behold Him           perfect salvation to His own. "Not by might, nor by
in this merciful manifestation of His love.                      power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts".(4)
       Returning then to the first of these two prayers, we      "So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that
note that it contains a reference to two Old Testament           runneth, `but of God that sheweth mercy".(s) Salvation
types of baptism. According to the prayer, "baptism              is not a cooperative work of God and man, nor is there
is signified" in the flood of Noah's day and the passage         synergism here; but it is unconditionally the sovereign
of the children of Israel through the midst of the Red           work of divine grace.      This is signified clearly in
Sea at the time of Moses. This is in accord with the             baptism.
New Testament interpretation of these events; for we                The next main section of the prayer before baptism


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    185

contains the petition. The church comes to God with a         means of food and drink to accomplish the tasks of the
request; and although several things are asked here,          day unto His glory and our salvation. Indeed, "neither
the substance of it all is contained in the prayer that       our care nor industry, nor even thy gifts, can profit
these children may be "incorporated into Christ."             us without Thy blessing." (6) So it is with the prayer
Out of this all blessings flow, even as without incor-        for "incorporation into Christ." We believe that this
poration into Christ there is no blessing, no grace,          is God's work, which He sovereignly performs accord-
common or otherwise. It is therefore very important.          ing to the pleasure of His will; but if we and our .children
that we understand just what is meant by this prayer.         are to be enriched in this blessing it must be made
Let us not assume the mistaken idea that our children         reality in our consciousness, and this reality must
are brought to baptism as little heathens and that now        live in our experiences throughout our life. For this
the church prays for them asking God to receive them          we pray, and this prayer is then also in line with all
asking God to receive them and incorporate them into          the other blessings mentioned here in the baptism
Christ. This prayer is not to be understood as if this        prayer.
incorporation takes place only at the moment of baptism,          We mention these other blessings in this connection
and not before. On the contrary, we believe that the          and will have to wait until next time to comment on
elect children of believers are usually incorporated          them and explain various implications in this beautiful
into Christ before they are baptized, thoughadmittedly,       prayer. It follows from being incorporated into Christ
as an exception, this may take place later in life. In a      that:
sense, however, we may say that these children are               (1) God will graciously and mercifully look uponus,
incorporated into Christ from all eternity. The prayer,       His children.
therefore, does not refer to the act of incorporation as          (2) We may be buried with Christ into His death
such; but it merely asks for that which is obsignated         and be raised with Him in newness of life.
in baptism and that this may be applied to the children          (3) We may receive grace joyfully to- fulfill our part
that are baptized. The prayer may then also include           in God's covenant.
an acknowledgement of the gift of incorporation as a             (4) We may die with a comfortable sense of God's
gift of God's mercy to us and our children. It may also       favor.
contain the subjective desire on the part of the church          (5) We may be justified in the last day, appearing
that God will bring into the consciousness of these           without terror before the judgment seat of Christ.
children at an early time in their life the fact that they       There is nothing carnal in this prayer. It does
are Christ's. We might illustrate this point by using         not seek to use God to promote the material and
the example of the Lord's Prayer. We sit down at a            temporal wants of the creature. It seeks throughout
table that is filled with an -abundance of food. Before       after God and longs for the blessings of His grace and
us there is the visible provision which God has made          covenant. But to see this more fully we will have to
and which is more than sufficient for today. Yet we do        wait till our next article.
not hesitate to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread."
But God has already done so before we have asked it           (1) Belgic Confession, Article 35
of Him.    Does this make our prayer meaningless?             (2) Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 5
Certainly not: for in this prayer we acknowledge His          (3) Lamentations 3:22
gifts and we pray that we may realize in our hearts           (4) Zechariah 4:6
that we have nothing which we have not received from          (5) Romans 9:16
Him, and, further, that we may be given to use these          (6) Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 50.


                                         7@9&9 7h S#M&

                                                  FREEMASONRY


                                                Rev. R. C.  Havbach

   Freemasonry is a religion.        It is not "a mere        terminated with prayer, because Masonry is a religious
social order inculcating ethical ideals and practicing        institution" (Lexicon of Fyeemasonvy, 371). Again, he
philanthropy," but "As some of us prefer to put it,           says, "The truth is that Masonry is undoubtedly a
Masonry is not a religion, but Religion - not a church        religious institution, its religion being of that univer-
but a worship, in which men of all religions may              sal kind in which all men agree" (Text-Book  of  Ma-
unite" (Joseph Fort Newton, Unitarian, Swedenborgian,         sonic  Juvisprmdence).    Here, at last, is the religion in
The Religion of Masonry, 10, 11). Dr. Albert G. Mackey        which all men agree, no matter of what lodge, sect,
says, "All ceremonies of our order are prefaced and           cult, or heresy they may be! "So broad is the religion


186                                               THE STANDARD BEARER

of Masonry, and so carefully are all sectarian tenets         millions of the human race at this day, who never saw
excluded from the system that the Christian, the Jew,         a negro, a negro god is worshiped" (The  Two
and the Mohammedan, in all their numberless sects             Babylons, 43-4, 69).
and divisions, may and do harmoniously combine in                Freemasonry finds salvation in all the heathen
its moral and intellectual work, with the Buddhist,           religions of the world.          It rejects the scriptural
the  Earsee,  the  Confucianist, and the worshiper of         teaching that neither is there salvation in any other
Deity under every form" (Webb's Monitor  of Fveema-           than in Jesus Christ the consubstantial Son of God,
sowy,  280). Masonry does not deny any religion but           who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. J.S.M. Ward,
attempts to absorb all religions, and thus form "the          a high degree Mason, put it this way:
religion . . . It is certainly the true religion of man-                      "Bacchus died and rose again,
kind" (Dr. Meyer). It took a religious "Mulligan                                 On the golden Syrian Plain;
stew" to cook up the true religion! Unlike Christianity,                 Osiris rose from out his grave,
it is not supernaturalistic and revelationary; it is                             And thereby mankind did save;
naturalistic and evolutionistic.                                              Adonis likewise did shed his blood
       Freemasonry is not the religion of the Bible. Its                         By the yellow Syrian flood,
god is man. "Freemasonry has taught each man can,                        Zoroaster brought to birth
by himself work out his own conception of God and                                Mithra from his cave of earth.
thereby achieve salvation" (Fveemasonvy:  Its Aims and                   And we today in Christian lands,           .&,
Ideals, 187). This conception of "God" is humanism.                              We with them can join hands."
"The profoundest insight of the human soul" is "that          These five strange religions serve as a sample of the
God becomes man and that man may become God"                  effectiveness of all religions to save.              Is this so
(Joseph Fort Newton in The Religion of Masowy,  37).          merely because religion saves? any religion? Or is
The Christian faith teaches that the God of the Bible         there, perhaps, some connection and underlying unity
is alone the one true God, and'that all other gods are        in this motley idol band? There is, some believe, and
idols.        The true God is the triune God of the onto-     that in the identity of these gods in one single person.
logical trinity. The god of Masonry is not the God of         "A statement of Plato seems to show that in his day
the Bible, but a synthesized god, a syncretized trinity       the Egyptian Osiris was regarded as identical with
of heathenism. "He is a composite deity- Jehovah,             Tammuz and Tammuz is well known to have been the
Baa1 and Osiris, rolled into one" (Heresies Exposed,          same  as  Ad&is . .  ." (The Two Babylons, 56).  There-
86): This is supposed to be the great "secret" name           fore "Adonis . . . is identified with Osiris" (ibid., 65).
of God, formed by the combination Jah-Bul-On. Every           But Osiris is also said to be identical with Bacchw
Mason is forbidden under oath to speak or write this          (ibid., 56).        The latter is further identified with
name, i.e., pronounce the whole compound word. It             Zovoastev  (59).        The same also "under the name
takes three men, who must divide this word between            Methva . . . was worshiped" (70). The identification
them, each pronouncing a syllable of the word in turn.        is quite possible, since idolatry develops out of the one
This heathen name of a heathen god is said to be from         source of Babylon from the tower of Babel and spreads
four      languages -- Chaldean,    Hebrew, Syriac,    and    throughout all the world into all the false religions.
Egyptian. Jah is the Chaldean and Hebrew name for                Freemasonry, therefore, really has nothing to do
God, the "I Am," Bul is the Syriac name for Lord,             with the Bible. "The Jews, the Chinese, the Turks,
and On is the Egyptian name of the sun-god which              each reject, either the New Testament or the Old, or
Jehovah condemned (Ezek. 30). Literally the name              both, and yet we see no good reason why they should
might be translated, "I am Lord of Strength" (of              not be made Masons. In fact, Blue Lodge Masonry has
virility).      What is so wrong with this name is that it    nothing to do with the Bible: it is not founded upon the
shares the exclusive Godhead of Jehovah with idols,           Bible. If it was, it would not be Masonry; it would be
whereas Jehovah always maintains His absolute inde-           something else" (Digest of Masonic Law,, by Geo. W.
pendency, and the principle of His law, "Thou shalt           Chase, 207-8). Freemasonry, as it claims, and as we
have no other gods before My face," and also maintains        have shown, springs from ancient heathenism. In his
"My glory will I not give to another, neither my              book "Freemasonry and the Ancient Gods," J. S. M.
praise to graven images" (Isa. 42:8).                         Ward wrote, after 14 years of research, that all of
       Freemasonry is founded on the religion of the          Masonry is traceable to the religious worship of India,
Egyptian god Osiris, who was born of Isis, his mother.        ancient Mexico, and the mystery religions of pagan
He later married his mother and so became her                 Rome and Egypt.
husband.        She was known as "The Mother of Corn."           Freemasonry makes itself guilty of blasphemy and
Plutarch says "Osiris was black," and that his son            sin against the third commandment. This is evident in
"was of a fair complexion." Hislop  says "we have             the horribly inhuman oaths it administers in its vari-
unequivocal evidence that Osiris, the son and husband         ous degrees.         The candidate puts up his life as a
of the great goddess-queen of Egypt, was also repre-          pledge on attaining the Entered Apprentice degree:
sented as a veritable- negro." He is found "with un-          "Binding myself under no less penalty than that of
mistakable features of the genuine Cushite or negro"          having my throat cut from ear to ear, my tongue torn
and is referred to as "this negro god . . . this negro-       out by its roots and buried in the sands of the sea, at
featured Osiris." Indeed, "it is wonderful to find in         low water mark, where the tide ebbs and flows twice in
what widely-severed countries, and amongst what               twenty-four hours, should I in the least knowingly, or


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                187

wittingly, violate or transgress this my Entered Ap-          against," i.e., the various systems of religion are
prentice obligation.    So help me God and keep me            united on the basis of a common opinion, and against
steadfast." The Fellowcraft degree requires the oath,         a common opponent, which common opponent, it must
"binding myself under no less penalty than that of            be obvious to every reader by now, is Christianity.
having my left breast torn open, my heart plucked out         The Freemason conception of "God" in Moslem coun-
from thence and given to the beasts of the field and          tries is Allah; and the Koran, not the Bible appears
birds of the air as a prey, should I in the least . . .       on Masonic altars. "If the predominating religion is
violate . . . my fellowcraft obligation. . ." The Master      any other religion, its sacred book is on the Masonic
Mason degree requires this oath: " . . . no less penalty      altars" (M. S. McMillan), and the conception of "God"
than that of having my body severed in twain, my              prevails accordingly.     Christian concepts are also
bowels taken from thence and burned to ashes, and             similarly reinterpreted in agreement with the pre-
this scattered by the four winds of heaven, that no           dominating religious thought, or with individual opinion.
more remembrance may be had among men or Masons               Thus, being received into Abraham's bosom may mean
of so vile a wretch as I should be, should I . . . violate    just about anything. To the Christian, of course, it is
. . . my Master Mason's obligations . . ." (Quotations        a picture of the believers' eternal rest in heaven. To
from `the secret ritual of Masonry, King Solomon and          the Hindu, it refers to Krishna. To the Buddhist it
His  Followers  (Calif.), rev. ed., N.Y., Allen Pub.,         points to their coming "messiah", Maitreya. To the
c. 1947, pp. 23, .83, 137). The oath of the Royal Arch        Moslem it points to the Prophet. To the Romanist it
degree ends thus: "binding myself under no less               is a kind of Old Testament purgatory "where the souls
penalty than that of having my skull smote off and my         of saints resided til Christ had opened heaven by His
brains exposed to the scorching rays of the noonday           death" (Lk. 16:26, Douay-Rheims version). Just so, the
sun, should I violate this . . ." The oath of the Knights     Latinized initials of Pilate's words affixed to the
Templar is taken "without evasion, equivocation, or           cross, I. N. R. I., to the Christian mean Iesus
mental reservation of any kind, under no less a penalty       Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum, Jesus of Nazareth King of
than loss of life, by having my head s.truck  off and         the Jews. To certain ancient philosophers who dreamed
placed on the point of a pinnacle or spire, my skull          of a universal regeneration, it meant, Igne Natura
sawn asunder, and my brains exposed to the scorching          Renovatur Integra (entire nature is renovated by fire).
rays of the sun." This is begun "in the name of the           To others, it meant other things, but to the Hebrews it
holy, blessed and glorious Trinity" and ends "so help         is said to mean Iammim Nour Ruach Iebeschah (the
me Christ." (Hannah, Chvistian by Degrees, 174-5).            seas, or water; fire, air, and dry earth), which is
The oath required in the Rose Croix degree is not             more Greek philosophy than Hebrew thought. This is
savage and bestial in threatening punishment in case          a sample of the Masonic dogma of tolerance of every
of failure to fulfil the pledge, as the preceding oaths       faith, except the Christian faith. Where Jesus warns
are. It is sworn "in the nameof the holy and undivided        us against false christs and false prophets, Masonry
Trinity" and calls upon God to witness things un-             denies that there are any false prophets or false
necessary either for the glory of God or the welfare          christs; all are true. Where the Word of God warns us
of mankind. The oaths in the Knights Kadosh degree            against philosophies, falsely so called, and diverse and
are not as atrocious as those of earlier degrees, yet         strange doctrines (Heb. 13:9), Masonry denies that there
the closing oath of the thirtieth degree reads, "All of       are any false philosophies; they are all true; nor are
which I promise to do under the penalty of death. So          there any erroneous doctrines; they are all equally
help me God" (Whalen, p. 63). These oaths fly in the          valid. Masonry and heathenism conspire in a hodge-
face of Christ's teaching in Mt. 5:34-37.                     podge of amalgamation, coalescing the vagaries of the
   Freemasonry is a compromising syncretism. This             world's religions to form the project: Universal Reli-
latter term means "a uniting together," in this case, of      gious Understanding, the coming religion of Antichrist.
all the ancient heathen religions; and a "uniting             But Christ and His truth will indisputably prevail.





                                                    Rev. H.  Hank0

                                                                 Our government prides itself on making a distinc-
Govevnment Funds and the  Palse  Church                       tion, definite. and clear-cut, between the Church and
   We have reported before in these columns the fact          the State. So neutral does our government insist on
that government funds paid into government coffers by         being that even any form of religious devotion in the
all  the  tax payers are used for promoting false re-         public school system is banned. Yet this same gov-
ligions; particularly, promoting the interests of the         ernment  ,persists  in many ways in aiding various
Roman Catholic Church.                                        religions when it sends its money overseas. What it


188                                                      THESTANDARDBEARER

does at home it is very careless about across the                      marital counseling. . . .
ocean.                                                                    Although half his day is spent in what could loosely
       That this is true was recently revealed by the ac-              be called the "business" of the church, the American
tivities of the Peace Corps in West Cameroon, Africa.                  cleric has had little or no education in business ad-
There are several instances of the government directly                 ministration.    And, although most churches today have
supporting the Roman Catholic Church. For one thing,                   extensive Sunday school programs of which the minis-
Roman Catholics in West Cameroon, according to                         ter is in charge, he has little or no background in edu-
                                                                       cational methods or psychology.
Christianity  Today,r,  have recently opened six new
secondary schools staffed completely with teachers                     The result, according to this article, is that the
and principals taken from Peace Corps personnel.                   real problems of life go unsolved while the ministers
For another thing, schools supported by other de-                   occupy themselves with silly homilies delivered once
nominational missions were forced to accept Peace                  or twice a week  from some adorned pulpit far re-
Corps teachers they did not even want. And this was                moved from the masses to a small group of people who
done without consideration given to the religious con-             couldn't care less what the minister says. He's in a
victions of the Peace Corps teachers.                              ivory tower and is missing entirely the rushing stream
       In another case, also in West Cameroon, Baptists            of humanity with all its problems. And all because he
were first given permission by the government to build             hasn't been given a proper education.
a church; but they were later forced to tear down the                  The results of this for the ministers are even
church because the permission was withdrawn. A                     worse. The article, quoting authorities, suggests that
Roman Catholic Church is now being built there. A                  a recent increase in mental illness among clergymen
Roman Catholic school is also being built on a plot of             can be blamed, at least in part, to the fact that minis-
ground originally given to Baptists Missions. And all              ters have too many jobs to do and don't know how to
this is due directly or indirectly to the influence of             do them.
Peace Corps personnel funneled into Roman Catholic                    The solution?
schools.                                                                  A number of seminaries, in order to reduce the
       All this adds up to the bitter truth that our govern-          load on the minister, have been teaching students to
ment is, with public tax moneys, promoting the cause                  be minister-specialists in such fields as administra-
of Roman Catholicism. In spite of all the pronounce-                  tion, counseling, education and preaching.
ments and rulings about religious liberty, the evidence                   One pioneer, McCormick Theological Seminary in
is growing that the State has made at least a tacit al-               Chicago, sends seminarians out to work incognito in
liance with false religion (as false religion has done                factories and laboring jobs in a summertime "Min-
with the State) for the promotion of a church where                   isters in Industry" program.        (These schools) train
                                                                      the men to work with groups of people who have been
the people of God have no part.                                       "cast up on the beach"; (they) have a dozen courses
Your Useless Ministers                                                in the church and economic life, alcoholism, social
                                                                      welfare and society an the church. (They) also give
       Do you want to know whether your minister is doing             special training for ministers in industrial communi-
a good job in your congregation? Then answer the                      ties and offer degree programs in social work.
questions quoted below which a recent magazine article                It is not to be denied that a minister must deal with
directs to you.                                                    the problems that confront the sheep over which the
          Do you feel your clergyman, be he Catholic, Prot-        Lord has placed him. Nor is it to be denied that this
       estant or Jew, understands your problems? Is he able        requires wisdom and understanding and compassion.
  to help work out effective, realistic solutions when             But what this article reflects is a view common today
       you ask for help?                                           which destroys the very essence of the ministry. The
          Equally important, is your clergyman an essential        deepest root of the problems of life is sin. Nothing
       figure in the community all week long, or is he only a      more; nothing less. Sin may be a very unpopular sub-
       Sunday preacher?      Does he help solve community          ject of discussion and preaching; but it remains the
       problems?
          In short, can he cope with the ever-increasing de-       stark fact of life;. and no philosophizing and socializing
 mands of our modern world?                                        will change that.
          Unfortunately, many clergymen  are-. not qualified          There is therefore only one way in which God's
       for their role in the changing and changed world of         people in the midst of all their problems and afflictions
       today.    They are burdened with an antiquated system       can be helped. And that is the way of the preaching of
       of clerical education which limits their interests and      the Word of God.         This Word alone can solve life's
       narrows their abilities.                                    problems according to the will of God and bring peace
       The sharply critical language goes on. A minister,          and comfort to the troubled hearts of the faithful. A
after all, is responsible for                                      minister is therefore emphatically a pyeachev. He is
                                                                   not a psychologist, a business administrator, a mar-
       the behavior of his youth group on a bowling party, the     riage  counsellor, an educator, a community leader, a
       conduct of a financial campaign for a building fund, the
       public relations of the parish church, the effectiveness    social welfare worker. He is not even a preacher and
       of the local council of churches or ministerial asso-       then all these other things. He is solely and exclusively
       ciation, mitigating tensions between conflicting groups     a preacher. He has no other calling but to bring the
       in the community, saying the blessing at the service        Word of God to his sheep. He has no calling, no right,
       club luncheon, the sex education of adolescents,  pre-      no authority, to dabble in the psychology of alcoholism,


                                                        THE  sT14m4RD   BEARER                                                 189

`to pioneer in labor-management relationships, to en-
gage in the easing of racial tensions through freedom                The Reformation, A Loss of the Faith?
marches, to play the psychiatrist. He is called and                         The Roman Catholic Church has supposedly entered
has authority to preach. Nothing else.                               into a new era. The Protestants are separated brethren
    For this he will not need courses in economics,                  now instead of heretics. The winds of unity are blowing
business administration, welfare work. As interesting                strongly.       Some clergy are even ready to concede that
as all these courses could conceivably be, he needs                  Luther and Calvin were fine fellows; that perhaps even
exegesis, dogmatics, homiletics. And if he faithfully                the Reformation, while still a disgraceful thing, did
preaches the truth of God's Word, bringing that Word                 contribute something worthwhile to the Church.
to his people in all their needs, he will give his people                   The trouble is that it takes so long for these views
all they need to cope with life's problems and to live               to seep down from the higher clergy to the lower
and die in peace and happiness.                                      priests and the laity. They haven't gotten the word
    But if he does not want to deal with the reality of              yet it seems.
sin; if he does not trust the Word of God, then he had                      In answer to a question, "Why was the Reforma-
better hie himself off to the nearest university to take             tion such a success?" a Catholic priest answers:
all these courses that are offered. Let him be pre-                  "Because the worldly, avaricious, and immoral Chris-
pared, however, if they become the main tools of his                 tians of the sixteenth century, so unlike the faithful
work, to be a failure as a shepherd under Christ who                 and devout Christians of the first three centuries who
leads the sheep of God.                                              died gladly for the faith, easily lost the faith that they
                                                                     had ceased to practice."
Rem em bev the Dead                                                         This means that the father admits that many thou-
    How utterly repulsive is the theology of Roman                   sands of Roman Catholics prior to the Reformation had
' Catholicism, and particularly the doctrine of purgatory            become thoroughly worldly and had no longer practiced
is evident from the following quotes taken from OUV                  the holy faith of the Church. But it means further that
Sunday Visitor.                                                      these same worldly apostates were the ones who fol-
       It is in the chill and grey-skied November that the           lowed the Reformation so that the people of the Refor-
    Church nudges us to remember those dear ones whose               mation were the worldly, avaricious, immoral un-
    bodies may be imprisoned in a silent plot of earth, but          believers -- nothing more. This means further that the
    whose souls could be languishing in God's prisonhouse            teachings of the Romish Church then and now were and
    of purgatory. Though we should perhaps like to whistle           are held to be the only truth; that the Reformation was
    a merry tune and turn our heads away and forget all              apostasy from the faith, and that it remains this until
    about purgatory, both revelation and reason grimly               today.
    attest it.      Revelation, because in the Book of the                  And the conclusion is that these apostates had better
    Machabees (spelling incorrect, H.H.) the Holy Spirit
    reminds us, "It is a holy and wholesome thought to               come all the way back to Rome if they want to be ac-
    pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their             cepted under the ecclesiastical roof of the Catholic
    sins." Reason, because. . . few men, we fear, are so             Church.
    immaculate at death that they can stride at once into                   Notwithstanding the assurances of many Catholic
    the all-pure presence of God; and few men, we hope,              prelates, this is still the official position of Rome -
    are so unrepentantly depraved that they must be flung            and a priest can hardly be blamed for not catching the
    into an eternal hell.                                            ecumenical spirit and speaking in harmony with the
       There would seem, then, need for a place of purifi-           official stand of his denomination.
    cation for the erring but repentant many whose souls
    are still scarred and blotched with the remains of sin,
    that is, sins confessed indeed, and forgiven surely, but                "If we are for setting buttresses to the house that
    for which no reparation has ever been made.                      is built upon a rock, what is this but a disparagement
       But are our sins not taken away by a sincere con-             to the foundation? If the foundation be already firm
    fession?      In confession the mercy of God forgives our        and good, why are you for endeavoring to strengthen
    guilt, and. guarantees for those sins no eternal damna-          it?       So far as you set up any props unto Christ the
    tion. But the majesty of God still demands satisfaction          foundation-who is to bear up all by Himself-so far
    for the insult offered by those sins. It is somewhat             you disparage Christ, so far you bring Him down, and
    like the case of someone sideswiping your parked car.            give Him not the pre-eminence."
    The offender is all apology: "I was day-dreaming. It                                                         --Tobias Crisp
   was stupid on my part. Please forgive me." And you
    might tartly answer, "Oh I forgive you, all right, but
    you still have to pay for that ruined fender." Just so,
    in confession God's mercy pardons, but His `majesty                     "My solemn opinion upon the holding back the doc-
    insists on reparation.                                           trine of eternal election from congregations is that it
       (Our professor) knew  we`were  boys and therefore             arises  either from want of knowledge, or from want of
    not too keen on long prayers.        So he told us to take       faith.       A preacher that does not know of it cannot be
    our rosary and say on each bead just three words,                expected to preach it; and he that does not thoroughly
    "Jesus,  .Mary,  Joseph" and we would gain for the               believe it, will not, dare not broach it; but he whose
    Poor Souls an indulgence of more than 400 years.                 mind has received ,it would as soon think of betraying
    Is it not enough to say that this is a total denial of           Jesus by a kiss as not to proclaim it."
the atonement of Calvary?                                                                                         ,Wm. Parks


                                                                                                                               . .


190                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER





                                              THE BELGIC CONFESSION
                                                       ARTICLE XIII
                                                        (Continued)

                                          GOD'S GOVERNMENT AND SIN

                                                   Pyof.  H. C. Hoeksema

                                                                 wicked men, or whether you exclude the latter from
The Language of  Chw Confession                                  God's sovereign control and purpose. Then it becomes
       In connection with the subject of God's government        a matter of solid comfort or hopeless despair. Then
of all things, our Belgic Confession gives special con-          it becomes a matter of living, - and dying, if need be,
sideration to the subject of God's government and sin.           -- victoriously, or of going down to ignominious defeat.
       This is to be expected. In the first place, in all the       Hence, before paying attention to some of the im-
history of the world the one dominant factor, - speak-           plications of this truth and to the Scriptural basis of it,
ing from the point of view of men and nations, - is that         let us first simply take note of what our Confession
of si.n. How then could there be any treatment of the            has to say on the subject. We may note the following:
truth of divine government which would completely                   1) After maintaining that God rules and governs all
ignore the fact of sin and the subject of the relation           things, so that nothing happens in this world without
between sin and God's government? Besides, if it is              His appointment, the Confession immediately adds:
true, -- and it is true, -that in all history, ever since        "nevertheless, God neither is the author of, nor can be
the fall, there is no one factor that is more dominant           charged with, the sins which are committed."
and that influences history at every turn as well as in             2) Proceeding from the assumption of God's great-
its over-all direction, must not God's government and            ness and incomprehensibility, applied in this instance
must not any dogmatical or confessional conception of            to His power and goodness, the Confession maintains
God's government take that factor into account? In the           "that he orders and executes his work in the most ex-
second place, as is well known, the Reformed and Scrip-          cellent and just manner, even then, when devils and
tural conception of God's government as being all-               wicked men act unjustly."
comprehensive and as therefore including sin and the                3) The Confession emphasizes the proper Christian
sinner, devils and wicked men in their unjust actions,           attitude in approaching this subject: "And, as to what
has always been under attack as a doctrine that is               he doth surpassing human`understanding, we will not
morally unworthy of God and as a doctrine that cancels           curiously inquire into, farther than our capacity will
out the responsibility of man. It is therefore incum-            admit of; but with the greatest humility and reverence
bent upon the Reformed faith to give account of its              adore the righteous judgments of God, which are hid
true position on this subject. In the third place, this          from us." In this connection the article points to the
whole matter is intrinsically connected with the com-            deepest motive of this attitude, namely, obedience to
fort which God's people derive from the truth of                 Christ: ". . .contenting  ourselves that we are dis-
God's providence. It is in a very real sense a matter            ciples of Christ, to learn only those things which he has
of their faith and of their life.' This is above all the         revealed to us in his Word, without transgressing these
case at times of stress and persecution, times when              limits. ' ' This statement at the same time sets the
the enemy rages violently against God's people and               objective limits beyond which we may not go in our
sometimes appears to be uncontrolled in his rage and             inquiry into this subject.
victorious in his wicked plots. Such were the times in              4) Finally, though in another connection, the article
which our Belgic Confession was born. And what are               once more emphasizes that the forces of evil, that is,
God's people to think at such times? What are they to            the. devil and all our enemies are absolutely governed
believe and what are they to say, - not merely of their          by God:  ". . .being persuaded, that he so restrains
own cause, but of the cause of God, -when appearances            the devil and all our enemies, that without his will and
seem to belie the truth that "our God is in the heavens"         permission, they cannot hurt us."
and "hath done whatsoever he hath pleased?" Then                    It is evident, therefore, that while our Confession
this truth of God's government becomes much more                 does not enter into any detailed explanation of the re-
than a nice subject for academic discussion anddebate.           lation between God's government and sin, we never-
Then it becomes a very crucial, life-and-death matter            theless have in these statements the essentials of the
whether you indeed~ maintain the all-comprehensive               Reformed view on this matter. And in our further
scope of God's government, so that it includes also the          discussion of this subject we do well, first of all, to
fact of sin and the evil forces and acts of devils and           follow the method of our Confession, namely, to learn,


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   191

 as disciples of Christ, those things which he has re-         are such passages which refer not only to God's counsel
 vealed to us in his Word, and that too, without trans-        and purpose, but also to the actual wovk! of God, to the
 gressing these limits.                                        execution of His counsel. Thus, for example, we read
 Scviptuve on God's Government  and Sin                        in  Remans  11:36: "For of him, and through him, and
                                                               to him are all things: to whom be glory for ever."
    In this connection we are not so much interested in        Note the scope here: all things! Again, in Ephesians
 ziting Scriptural proof for the fact that God is not the      1:ll the God of our salvation, the predestinating God,
 author of, nor can be charged with, the sins which are        is called the one "who worketh all things after the
(zommitted.    This very idea any Christian and any Re-        counsel of his own will." Notice two elements here.
1formed Christian will reject out of hand. The very            In the first place, the reference of the text is not only
t:hought of this is blasphemous, as Canons I, 15 asserts       to "the counsel. of his own will" as the standard ac-
j.n connection with the truth of sovereign reprobation.        cording to which God works, but to the actual woviz of
 And the attempt nevertheless to saddle those who re-          God: He "worketh" all things. In the second place,
;leatedly  deny this charge with this thoroughly  un-          take note of the all-inclusiveness of this statement:
C:hristian and blasphemous idea is itself a very wicked        God worketh all things! And there is nothing in the
 ;md unchristian attempt, let me add. Anyone.who main-         text or context which limits this whatsoever. Nothing
 :ains that God is the author of sin, either directly or       is excluded from this "all things." There is also the
:)y implication, is a pyiovi  non-Christian. Nor has any       well-known word of Romans 8:28, a word which cannot
Ileformed man ever so  much- as suggested that this            possibly be understood on the basis that anything is
C:ould be true, even though he were the strongest of           excluded from God's sovereign power and control: "And
Ezupralapsarians.     The Scriptures so abound with the        we know that all things work together for good to them
C:urrent  teaching of God's perfect righteousness and          that love God, to them who are the called according to
iabsolute holiness and His hatred of all that is of dark-      his purpose." Here again we find that unlimited, all-
1less that it is all but unnecessary to point out that He      inclusive "all things."
C:annot possibly be the author of sin. He is the Light,           All Scripture speaks the same language. In every-
jn Whom is no darkness at all1                                 day speech mention is sometimes made of "luck," of
    Nor should it be necessary to prove from Scripture         "chance," of things "happening," of a "fortunate cir-
t:hat men are responsible beings, - another truth that         cumstance," etc. Reality is, of course, that there is
j.s used as an argument over against the truth of God's        absolutely nothing arbitrary, and that even those things
 sovereign government with respect to sin and sinful           which appear to be utterly arbitrary are nevertheless
,fleings and their actions. To deny that man is account-       sovereignly controlled in the minutest detail. "The lot
able, that he can be and is held guilty on account of          is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is
his sins, that he can be judged and condemned because          of the Lord." Proverbs  16:33.
of his sins, that he is the moral, rational author of his                         (to be continued)
own sinful deeds, - the denial of all these is so utterly
contrary to all of Scripture that the very mention of
them at once reminds us of that fact. Indeed, it is                            RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY
well known that Scripture asserts this responsibility
at the same time and in the same context that it asserts       The Men's Society of the Doon Prot. Ref. Church extends
God's sovereign control of the very actions for which          its heartfelt sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Jake Van Den
He holds men responsible. The difficulty in respect to         Top, in the death of her sister,
both of these truths that are so often used as arguments                       MRS. ELIZABETH VERMEER
against the truth of God's all-comprehensive govern-
ment does not arise from the fact that Reformed                May the God of all grace comfort the hearts of the
Christians have a tendency to deny them, but from the          bereaved.
fact that opponents of the Reformed faith have always                                               Rev. H. Hanko, Pres.
attached to these truths a false interpretation, have                                              Bill Den Besten,  Sec'y.
placed these truths over against the truth of God's
government,                                                                    RESOL'UTION OF SYMPATHY
               and have attempted to put words in the
mouth of Reformed believers which these believers              Our Choral Society herewith expresses its sympathy
themselves disown.                                             with our fellow members in the loss of the brother of
    But we are interested in the plain teaching of             Mrs. John C. Lubbers:
Scripture on the specific question: what is the relation
between God's government and the actions of His                                     JOHN L. SCHUT
                                                                          \
moral, *rational creatures, especially the sinful actions ?    And the daughter of Mrs. Bert Maring:
    On this subject Scripture has a good deal to say, and
it speaks language that is clear to anyone who can read.                             SHERYL LYNN
    There are, first of all, various passages which do         May our covenant God comfort the bereaved families,
not directly refer to or mention sin and the sinful acts       looking forward to the resurrection of the dead.
of men or devils, but which are all-comprehensive in                                    The Hudsonville Choral Society,
their mention of the work of God and do not exclude                                                  Paul  Schipper,  Pres.
from this all-comprehensive sweep sin and evil. There                                                 Betty Haveman, Sec.


                                                        Fiai.ET,  WJiZtNGA                         4  5.9
                                                       -1 ,`347,4          8-i-H           AVE      _
                                                        CITY 4



192                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


                                     5&doxt  pu& den @ida
                                     ("All the  saints salute  thee. .  ."  P@.l.  421)
                                                                                                                                                         :;>,;;
                                                                                                                                                   -P'-
                                                                                                                                                  ./i            i
                                                                                                                                             I%            ;L
       The Beacon Lights Hymn Sing was held in First                            their activities the evening of Dec. 30 (at leas!$we !dl
Church auditorium Sunday evening, Dec. 27. Ed                                   not remember reading of it before). They spbnsorec
Langerak, president of the `Beacon Lights staff, led in                         a Progressive Dinner for theirm$:nbership.
opening prayer, then gave the podium over to Mr. Ed                                                                           -i             .
                                                                                                                      ***
Ophoff to direct the singing. With Karlene Oomkes at                                  And Randolph's Christmas Program also .featurec
the organ the audience enthusiastically followed Mr.                            an innovation,.- the entire audience joined the  children
Ophoff's direction in the singing of the familiar Christ-                       in the singing of nine songs as part of the program.
mas Carols and appropriate Psalter numbers. As a                                                                      ***           ,.. t
special feature Mr. Ophoff and Mr. C. Jonker sang a                                   From Hull's bulletin we learn that they are alread
tenor duet, "Star of the East". And because the fol-                            making preparations -for the opening of their own da
lowing day was one of the school holidays, many children                        school next Fall. These plans include, "requesting tb
were present with their parents, helping to build prob-                         parents to provide a list of their children from 3 to 1.
ably the largest audience ever gathered in a like hymn                          years old indicating, for those already in school, thei,
sing.      Rev. Schipper, of the neighboring Southeast                          present grade."
Church, led in closing prayer.                                                                                        ***
                              ***                                                     Redlands, Doon, and First Church in Grand Rapid,
       The same evening, and at the same time (allowing                         had something in common Sunday, Jan. 3. They all haI
for the difference of our Time Zones) hymn sings'were                           Installation of Office Bearers that; morning. And, i.
held in Redlands, Calif., and in Oak Lawn, Ill., the young                      the case of First Church, the sermon was appropriate
people sponsoring the first and the Ladies' School Circle                       theretO. Prof. H.C. Hoeksema preached on the passage
the second.                                                                     from Isaiah 62, "I have set watchmen on thy walls, 0
                             ***                                                Jerusalem......" Because the sermon was prior to the
       Rev. H. Hoeksema is gradually beginning to experi-                       installation service the words of the Form, "Be also,
ence the time allegorically described in Eccl. 12, "in                          as watchmen over the house and city of God, faithful
the day when the, keepers of the house shall tremble,                           to admonish and to caution every one against his ruin,"
and the strong men shall bow themselves,.....and those                          were so .much more appreciated by officers and con-
that look out of the windows be darkened........ because                        gregation alike.
man goeth to his long home...." The infirmities ac-                                                                   ***
companying old age- prevent him from exercising his                                   Now that the Winter Holidays are past we may well
most desired activity, --preaching from the pulpit of                           look back and judge our personal attitudes towards
First Church. His loving people pray that his last way                          them.         Was our Thanksgiving Day one of National
may.be easy until "the dust return to the earth as it                           Proclamation, and based on the "good" things in this
was, and the spirit return ro God who, gave it."                                life? Or, was it one in which the true thankfulness of
                              ***                                               a Christian was expressed, in that we testified with
       In  Doon's Dec. 13 bulletin we found this paragraph:                     our whole conduct our gratitude to God for His bless-
"The. Lord has blessed the home of Rev. and Mrs.                                ings, that He might be praised byus? Was our Christ-
Hanko with a -baby boy, born in Rock Rapids Hospital                            mas Day one of relief and rest from the hustle and
Saturday morning. Mother and baby are both well."                               bustle of "Christmas" shopping? O"J, was it filled with
And from the Dec. 20th bulletin we lift the following:                          the praises of the God of our salvation Who took upon
"Rev. and Mrs. Hanko wish to thank the congregation                             Himself our fleshly boyd that we might, one day, be
for their many congratulations, cards, gifts, and help                          eternally clothed with a new spiritual body? Was our
in connection with the birth of their boy. We are deeply                        New Year's Eve and New Year's Day infected with the
moved by your many kindnesses and find words in-                                false gaiety of the world, which is always seeking and
adequate to express our thanks."                                                never finding peace and contentment in the hopes of a
                             ***                                                new year? OY, did we see in the passing of an old year
 . Ken .Haak, Oak Lawn's serviceman, spent a short                              the passing away of the first heaven and the first earth,
Christmas furlough from the Army. While on this                                 and did we look ahead to the time when all things shall
furlough Ken was to be found in his favorite place in                           be made new for our sakes ? "He which testifieth (ofi
the worship services, - at the console of the organ,                            these things saith,  Surely  I  come  quickly. Amen. Even
leading the congregational singing.                                  -.         so, come,  Lovd Jesus."  Rev.  22:20.
                             ***                                                     . . . . . . . . . .see you in church.
       Oak Lawn's Young People's Society was unique in                                                                                       J.M.F.


