                                     he

                   a.              tandard.

                                            earer


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





 IN THIS ISSUE:


        Meditation  - Married to the Risen Christ


        Editorial  - Freedom To Educate?


        The W.C.C.  - Its Basis


        New Split in the Netherlands


         "CEF"


                                            Volume  XLI/   Number  9  /  Febmuzvy  1, 1965


194                                                                                                                            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                                                                         Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August
Meditation -                                                                                                                                     Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
       Married To The Risen Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                 194
               Rev. M. Schipper                                                                                                                             Editor  - Rev. Herman Hoeksema
Editorials  -                                                                                                                                 Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
       Mission Gains the Criterion? (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                    196    Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S.E., Grand Rapids 7,
               Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                       L                   Mich. Contributions will be limited to 300 words and must be
       Freedom To Educate? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                     197                     neatly written or typewritten.
               Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                           All church news items should be addressed toMr. J. M. Faber,
A Cloud Of Witnesses -                                                                                                                                  1123 Cooper, S.E., Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
       Kindness To The Living And The Dead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                                 200    Announcements and Obituaries with the $2.00 fee included must
               Rev. B. Woudenberg                                                                                                             be mailed 8 days prior to issue date, to the address below:
The Lord Gave The Word--
       The Evangelical Approach In The New Dispensation . . . . 202                                                                             All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to
               Rev. C. Hanko                                                                                                                          Mr. James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S.E.
The Church At Worship-                                                                                                                                          Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
       Baptismal Prayers (Continued) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                   204       Renewal: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
               Rev. G. Vanden Berg                                                                                                            received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the sub-
Contending For The Faith -                                                                                                                    scription to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
       The Inspiration Of The Scriptures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                       206                  Subscription price: $5.00 per year
               Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                                                     Second Class postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan
From Holy Writ -
       Gog And Magog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .         208
               Rev. G. Lubbers
Ail Around Us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    210       Classis  West will meet, the Lord willing, on
               Rev. H. Hanko                                                                                                                  Wednesday, March 17, at  9:00  a.m., at the Hull, Iowa
Examining Ecumenicalism -                                                                                                                     Protestant Reformed Church.             All material for the
       The W.C.C. -Its Basis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                       213
               Rev. G. Van Baren                                                                                                              agenda must be in the hands of the clerk one month
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                           216    before that date. Those in need of lodging are to write
               Mr. John M. Faber                                                                                                              to the clerk of Hull's consistory.
                                                                                                                                                                                 .Rev. G. Van  Baren,   S.C.





                                                                                                  MARRIED TO THE RISEN CHRIST

                                                         "Wh.evefove,  my  bvethven,  ye also  aye become dead to the law by the
                                                         body  of  Christ;  that ye should be  mavvied to  another, even to him who
                                                        is  Yaised   from  the dead,  that we should  bring  forth   fruit  unto God."
                                                                                                                                                                       Romans  7:4

                                                                                                                                Rev. M.  Schippev

        Not under the law are we, but under grace !                                                                                           naturally brings forth children, so our marriage to the
         So the apostle had written in the previous chapter!                                                                                  risen Christ will produce fruits in our lives!
         And under the dispensation of grace, we are to bring                                                                                    Married to the risen Christ!
forth fruit' unto God in our lives 1                                                                                                             0 how often and how beautifully the Scriptures
         Difficult as that may be, as the apostle also express-                                                                               speak of that blessed union!
es it in the conclusion of chapter seven. There is a                                                                                             We sing of it with the sweet psalmist o'er and o'er!
law of sin in us, against which the law of the Spirit,                                                                                                 0, Royal Bride, give heed,
which is also in us, has to militate. So that the good                                                                                                     And to my words attend;
which I would do, I do not; and the evil which I would                                                                                                 For Christ the King forsake the world,
not, that I do. And with the apostle I must exclaim: 0                                                                                                     And every former  friend.
wretched man that I arnl Who shall deliver me from the                                                                                                 0 King of royal race,
body of this death? Nevertheless, there must be fruit1                                                                                                     Thy sons of heavenly birth
         The possibility lies, negatively, in the fact that we                                                                                         Thou wilt endow with kingly gifts
are become dead to the law; and, positively, in our                                                                                                        As princes in the earth.
being married to the One Who is raised from the dead.                                                                                            How beautifully the Christ appears there1 Royalty
As the marriage of a man and a woman normally and                                                                                             is in  Him1 He is the risen One Who is exalted to the


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                !195

 highest heavens! There He sits enthroned in majesty            been paid.       It was the receipt of a bill that had been
 and power. His sceptre is a right sceptre. He loves            settled in full.      Now He may rightly claim her, the
 righteousness and hates wickedness.          He will judge     object, of purchase, as His own!
 righteous judgment.         His palaces are ivory, that is,         Together they live the same life! How inadequately
 holiness becometh Him, and permanently they are                the human relation between husband and wife serves
 fixed.    His clothes are kingly robes. His garments           as a type! The husband does his own thinking and will-
 smell of sweet odors. Myrrh, aloes, and cassia con-            ing, and the wife hers. The husband has his own work,
 stitute their fragrance.                                       the wife hers. The husband has his own responsibil-
    No less beautifully appears the queen, His bride!           ities, the wife hers. And before God, though they now
 Upon His right hand she stands in an attire of gold, even      are become one flesh, they nevertheless appear as two
 of Ophir, noted for its purity. The King desires her           separate individuals. But the relation between Christ
 greatly for her beauty. And she will serve Him, for            and His church is one of unity of life ! The church wills
 He is her Lord !                                               the will of Christ.        The church loves what Christ
    Hear. the wise man of God sing of this glorious             loves. The church thinks the thoughts of Christ. The
 union! My beloved is mine, and I am His ! The bride            work of the church is the work of Christ. The life of
 thrills at the voice of the Bridegroom, while the Bride-       the church is the life of Christ!
 groom delights Himself greatly in the love and beauty               That ye should be married to another!
 of His bride. He sings inpoetic strains of the marriage             Even to Him Who is raised from the dead!
 relation of Christ and the church He loved!                         To another, presupposes that the church was mar-
    To this relation also the Lord Jesus Himself re-            ried before!
 ferred when He spoke in parables of Himself as the                  What then, is she an adulteress? Indeed not, says
 Bridegroom, Who is coming for to take unto Himself             the apostle; for in respect to the first husband, the law,
 His bride, while the ten virgins represent the church,         ye have been put to death!
 His bride, viewed organically, gathered from among                  The law!
1 the generations of men.                                            Not the law of sin does the apostle have in mind, of
     And the seer of Patmos in prophetic ecstasy be-            which he speaks in the sequence, which is a law in his
 holds the New Jerusalem, the Holy City, which comes            members warring against the law of his mind. But it
 down out of heaven, as the Bride, the Lamb's wife.              is the moral law, the law which God instituted as a
 And, the Spirit and bride say, "Come! Yea, come Lord           governing principle for life and conduct. Which the
 Jesus ! Come quickly!"                                          same apostle elsewhere describes as a school-master
     This union is, of course, a spiritual union!               to lead us to Christ. That law was our first husband.
     Of that union, the natural is but a faint picture1          His mind was to be our mind. His will was to be our
 Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved            will.       However, he ruled over us in righteousness,
 the church, and gave Himself for it. Therefore as the          while we were dead in trespasses and sins. We could
 church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their      not live with him because our life was not his life. He
 own husbands in everything. This is a great mystery!           therefore laid burdens upon us too grievous to be borne.
 In that natural union is symbolized the spiritual rela-         What he demanded, we could not fulfill.
 tion of Christ and His church. Married she is to the                Now we should notice that the apostle does not say:
 risen Christ!                                                   the law has become dead to us. Nowhere do we read in
     Out of the dead He is raised! In His death, He en-          Scripture that the law has become dead. It is still
 tered the sphere of the dead. He died the death of the         very much alive. It still has its original purpose: to
 cross. Taken down from that cross, He is laid in the            be a discerner of right and wrong, to be an instructor
 acre of the dead. Yea, He made His grave with the               in the way of life. Though it never gives life, it always
 wicked and with the rich in His death. But out of death         has and still does point out the way of life as it lies in
 He is raised! Death could not hold Him its prey. He            the way of obedience. Nor is it true that the law has
 is the Prince of Life, yea, Life itself. Therefore, be-        become dead in respect to us. So many would have us
 cause by His death He had fulfilled all righteousness,         believe it, who declare that we are not under the law
 and overcame the power of death, God raised Him!               but under grace; as if we had nothing to do with it. For
 And by His own power He arose !                                 even now under grace, it is still the rule of faith and
     He is raised unto heavenly life and glory! That was         practise.
 the crown He received for His labors1 It was God's                  But the apostle says, "Ye have been put to death in
 testimony to Him that He had fully accomplished all             respect to the law!" As far as the law is concerned,
 that the Father had given Him to do1 That resurrec-             ye are dead.       So that being dead, it cannot exercise
 tion is His claim on His bride! In His death He pur-            lordship over you. No more than a husband can de-
 chased her !                                                   mand obedience of a dead wife, or a wife serve a dead
     Awful price !                                               husband, no more can we be held responsible to the
     For it required the shedding of His blood, the blood        law, or the law hold us responsible when we are dead
 of the Son of God! He had to lay down His life! He Who          to it.
 was rich, became poor for our sake !                                And this being dead to the law gives us the perfect
     Most precious bride I        Upon her He had set His        right to be married to another. As the wife whose
 love! She is His most precious possession. His res-             husband is dead may marry another without committing
 urrection is .God's  testimony that sufficient price had        adultery, so may we be married to Christ when we are


196                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER

dead as far as the law is concerned.                                  in more refined terms, making planned homes. Those
       Through the body of Christ!                                    who marry in the Lord will look to their children which
       That is the way or the means throughwhich we have              God may give them, as gifts of God to be received and
become dead to the law. But what does this mean?                      used with discretion. Moreover, through these children
Does the apostle refer here to theliteral body of Christ's            Christian parents will see the purpose in procreation
flesh? or, does he refer to that spiritual, mystical union            realized in the fulfillment of His covenant.
of the believers as members of His body of which                          But our marriage to the risen Christ has also this
Christ is the head? If it is the former that the apostle              divine purpose, namely, that it bring forth fruit unto
means, then it is the body of Christ's flesh which was                God !
nailed to the cross, placed in the grave, and raised in                   Spiritual fruit!
the resurrection; through which the demands of the                       The fruit that is evidenced in faith, and love, and
law are satisfied, so that we are become dead to its                  hope !    Righteousness and holiness, peace and joy in
demands.        If it is the latter, then it is through our           the Holy Ghost, are the fruits that flow from this spir-
spiritual union with Christ that we become dead to the                itual union! A walk in good works, which before were
law. Undoubtedly, it is the latter interpretation which               ordained that we should walk in them, is the manifes-
has significance here. So that when Christ died, we                   tation of a fruit-bearing marriage to the risen Christ!
died.      His death was our death. The results of His                   The beginning of that fruit-bearing is in regenera-
death result to us. When Christ arose, we arose. If                   tion!     Which is resurrection life implanted in our
Christ had remained in death, we would yet have been                  hearts. In regeneration the power of fruit-bearing is
subjugated to the law. Being members of His body,                     changed into light and goodness. In a walk of sanctifi-
through His resurrection we became dead to the law,                   cation and holiness, this fruit-bearing develops. Now,
and alive unto Christ.                                                to be sure, only in principle. Now there is but a small
       So we can be and are married unto the risen Christ!            beginning of new obedience. Nevertheless, positive
       That we should bring forth fruit unto God!                     fruits our life which is hid with Christ in God brings
       By divine ordination that is the purpose of natural            forth!
marriage.       God brought the woman, which He had                      Unto God!
made, unto the man. Not only did God intend her to be                    Unto Him, because it is all of Him!
a helpmeet  for him, but God blessed them and said:                      Of Him is the Christ! Of Him is the resurrection
Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. And                 of Christ! Of Him are we given to Christ, and mar-
certainly, where that is the purpose of marriage, and                 ried to Christ! Of Him are the fruits of that marriage1
it is possible, it also should be realized! The Word                     In order that also unto Him may be all the glory
of God looks down in disfavor on all human attempts                   which these fruits of our marriage to the risen Christ
to ignore this divine ordinance, or to destroy it by                  will bring unto Him1
means of infanticide or the use of contraceptives to                     For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all
break down the population explosion, or, to express it                things: to Whom be glory for ever!





                                        MISSION GAINS THE CRITERION?

                                                               (3)


                                                     Prof.  H.  C. Hoeksema

Without Much Fruit  (continued)                                       general rule, hold true of theGentiles.  Hence, the work
       In connection with this phase of our discussion I              of evangelism among "dead" Gentile branches is
concluded my previous installment by quoting from Rev.                without much fruit because God does not return to the
H. Hoeksema's seminary notes on "Principles of                        branches that are once cut off.
Mission." I made this quotation with reference to the                    On this idea the Rev. Hoeksema writes in further
question what expectation of results there can be in                  detail in a sermon on Romans  ll:ll, entitled "The
so-called evangelism among the unchurched.                            Divine Purpose of Israel's Stumbling," from which I
       The point is made in these remarks that the dis-               quote the following instructive excerpt (cf. "God's
tinction of the generations of the Jews who have been                 Eternal Good Pleasure," pp. 372, ff.):
cut out of the olive tree is that they can be graffed in                 ". . ..Paul is speaking of the `rest' (vs. 7), that is,
again upon their own olive tree after they have been                  of those reprobate Jews in their generations. This we
cut out as branches, - something that does not, as a                  must bear in mind. He does, indeed speak of those Jews


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  197

who at the time of Jesus' public ministry, His crucifix-     from the commonwealth of Christ and enemies of the
ion and resurrection, and of the establishment of the        gospel, you would discover that in a not very distant
New Testament church, stumbled at the stone, rejected        past their progenitors were believers and living mem-
the Messiah, crucified the Lord of glory, and did not        bers of the body of Christ. Many a Christian tradition
enter into the Kingdom of God of the new dispensation.       in our country testifies to the fact that our forefathers
But he is not thinking of those individual Jews, of which    left the Old World and settled on these shores because
we said a moment ago that they had fallen into perdi-        it was their desire to serve God according to the
tion, but rather refers to them as a class, as they          dictates of the gospel and their own conscience. In our
existed in his own day, and as they would continue to        own community you meet with families whose history
exist in the ages to come throughout the new dispensa-       you would have to trace back only a few generations
tion in their generations. It is of the still unbelieving    in order to discover that their ancestry left the old
Jews, of the children and generations of those Jews          country and settled in the wilds of Michigan, chiefly
that crucified the Christ and consented unto His death,      because on the other side of the ocean they could not
that the Apostle speaks in the question and answer of        find the freedom of religion they so earnestly coveted.
our text:       Have they stumbled that they should fall?    They were willing to suffer and to endure hardships
God forbid !      This we must bear in mind. Paul had        for the sake of the gospel. And where are they today?
spoken of the remnant according to the election that         What has become of the generations of the Puritans,
was saved. And he had written of the rest that were          the Pilgrim fathers, the original Dutch settlers, all of
hardened and blinded.        And now you might ask the       whom once belonged to the Church of Christ? They
Apostle: Do you mean that the remnant according to           have forsaken the truth. They have become strangers
the election of grace that is saved at this present time     to Christ. They have become hardened unbelievers.
and that already entered into the church of the new          They are blinded and hardened. They may still have
dispensation, is all there will ever be saved of the         their churches, but the light is taken from the candle-
Israelites; and will all the rest be rejected forever?       stick.      Many of those very churches in the eastern
Is there no salvation for the generations of those Jews      part of our country that were established by Puritans
whom you call the `rest'? And it is to these questions       and Pilgrim Fathers no longer preach the truth. When
that the Apostle answers emphatically: God forbid!           you enter them on the Sabbath in the hope of hearing
   "And this fact I consider the special privilege of        the gospel, you are sadly disappointed. They offer
the Jewish people. Not that the Jewish nation as such        you stones for bread, human philosophy instead of the
shall in the end be restored; nor that we must expect        gospel of Christ. And as generations they are lost for
a mass conversion of all the Jews in some future age,        the Church.       God does not retrace His steps. His
is the peculiar privilege of the Jews. But it is their       covenant is established in the line of continued genera-
special privilege that they may be grafted in again upon     tions, but where once those generations have been
their own olive tree from which they were once broken        abandoned they do not return unto repentance. There
off; or to speak in terms of the words of our text, that     may be an exception occasionally, an individual that is
the `rest' that were once hardened may be provoked to        plucked as a brand out of the fire; but as generations
jealousy and be saved in their generations. This, I          they have stumbled in order that they should fall, and
believe, is indeed something special. Scripture and          they will never return.
experience both teach very plainly that, apart from the         "I may add to this that it is a mistake to think that
Jews, God never returns with His saving grace to those       these generations of apostates are to be sought only in
generations that were once branches in the vine but          the lower classes of society, and in the slum districts
have become apostate and have fallen away from the           of our larger cities.      This notion seems to prevail
gospel and from the church of Christ. This is a very         sometime with those who consider it their calling to
serious matter, that is well worthy of our attention.        carry on mission-work among them that have departed
You may see the truth of what I now say round about          from the gospel...."
you, in our own country and our own community. If               If we are interested in mission principles, andif we
you could trace the history of many afamily with whom        want to talk about fruit, here is a point to consider.
you come into daily contact, and that are now aliens                              (to be continued)



                                            FREEDOM TO EDUCATE?

                                                Pvof. H.  C, Hoeksema

   FREEDOM to educate is a much discussed subject            Reformed parents, who.are committed to the principle
in our day.                                                  of covenantal education, can join in the hue and cry
   Especially two factors have contributed to the in-        about "casting God out of the public schools." Apart
crease of discussion. One is undoubtedly the stand of        from various other issues that may or may not be
the United States Supreme Court on religiousexercises        involved in that matter, I do not believe'that the Supreme
in the public schools. Personally, I do not see how          Court decision had the effect of casting God out of the


198                                               THESTANDARDBEARER

public schools for the simple reason that I do not            as they see fit. And I quote an Associated Press dis-
believe God was in the public schools to begin with;          patch from the Grand Rapids Press, January 7, 1965.
 and it is patently impossible to cast out one who is not         "Krasicky  (an assistant attorney general) said if the
present. From that point of view, my reaction to that         Amish refuse to hire an approved teacher and refuse
whole matter of the world's schools is: "Let the dead         to close their school, the state's compulsory educatior
bury their dead." However, the afore-mentioned court          law comes into effect. He added that they would have
decision probably has served to underscore the fact           the right to appeal to the Circuit Court or the Michigar
that in the world's schools Christian parents are not         Supreme Court.
free to educate their children in the fear of the Lord,           "But it appeared more likely that what remains ol
but only to deliver them to the gates of hell. And any        the dwindling Amish community would climb into the
Christian parents who dreamed that public schools             horse-drawn buggies they still use for transportatior
were "neutral" or could even in some cases be                 and head out of the state."
 "Christian" or "Christianized" by the additionof some            There have been further developments since the
Bible reading and prayer, -- again, apart from any other      time of the above-quoted dispatch; and some popular
issues which may be involved, -- ought by this time to        attempts are being made to make special provisior
be disenchanted.                                              whereby the Amish can maintain their own school,
       The ot er factor, - and this one is probably one of    These details are not pertinent here, however.
greater      %
             i terest to us as supporters of covenant             I cite the above incident because here is a very
schools, -- is the increased discussion of and striving       clear-cut case involving the freedom to educate over
for governmental financial support of private schools         against government restriction and denial of that free-
(including our Christian schools), either through subsidy     dom. It is clear-cut because:
of the schools or of the students attending those schools.        1. It involves a group of parents whoveryflagrantly
Reference is frequently made in this connection to the        violate the requirement of the State of Michigan that
fact that our parents unfairly, - so it is claimed, -         all schools have certified teachers. The formal ed-
must support both the public schools (with their taxes)       ucation of the teacher of this Amish school ended at
and their own schools (with their tuition and gifts).         the eighth grade.
And indeed, in this day of rising costs of education,             2. The case against the Amish cannot be prejudiced
one can understand, though he may not necessarily             by any claim that this illegal school is bad for society
agree with, the desire to lay hands on what seems to          and is producing poor citizens. It is well-known and
be our "fair share" of those tax monies for our               generally recognized that the Amish are a peaceful,
schools. My friend and colleague, the Rev. H. Hanko,          gentle, prosperous folk, that they bother no one, and
has from time to time kept us posted on various               that they take care of their own, even to the point that
developments in this area in "All Around Us." In fact,        they will not accept government support for the poor
in this very issue you will find an item about "CEF"          and aged.
in his department. It is not my intention to go into that         3. These Amish folk are apparently well-satisfied
matter; for he has furnished pertinent remarks when-          with their own school, have some of their own quali-
ever he broached this subject in his rubric. One fear         fications for a proper teacher for their children, and
that he has repeatedly expressed in this connection is        even claim that their education is superior to that
the fear that with government support will come govern-       offered by the public schools, - something I have no
ment control, and, thus, the loss offreedom to educate        doubt would be true in not a few cases. The Associated
our children in the way of the covenant. And I agree          Press reports the following in this connection:
with the editor of "All Around Us" wholeheartedly on              " `We do not feel guilty of the complaint as filed,'
this.      This is not my point now, however. I merely        said Levi Graber, spokesman for the eight fathers
refer to it in order t.o point out that this issue of         whose children attend the school. . . .
freedom to educate is a very pertinent one, and that              " `This is a church-operated school without any aid
the supporters of our Christian schools should be on          from the state,' Graber said. `In our opinion, Miss
the alert, lest they lose, or rather blindly  sacrifice,      Graber (his niece) is qualified to teach. It is difficult
what freedom they now have for the sake of a few              for us to find a teacher who would meet the standards
paltry dollars.                                               which we have set.'
       In this connection I would even sound the warning:         "One qualification which the Amish have listed in a
it may be later than you think it is !                        teacher is fluency in German, since their Bible and
       The latter idea came to mind in connection with an     some other studies are in that language. The original
item that appeared in the daily newspaper here in             Amish immigrants to this country were fleeing reli-
Michigan about an Amish community which has been              gious persecution in Germany.
hailed into court because their school does not meas-             "Speaking to newsmen after the hearing, Graber
ure up to state requirements. The church-operated             said:
school of those Amish parents does not hire an approved           " `We feel our children get a good education. We
(that is, certified) teacher. Because of this they will       believe they need no more than an eighth grade educa-
be compelled, unless they hire an approved teacher or         tion.                                                         I
unless the state makes some special dispensation,                 " `We teach them to cope with our wayof life. They
either to close their school or move out of the state         learn to cook, to sew, to-be carpenters,- to be weiders
_ to-some location where they can operate their school        and to be self-sufficient.


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          199

   " `If they want to test our schools, theywill find our        But what then must be the position of the Christian
education is superior to that offered by the public          citizen on this score?
schools.' "                                                      1. The disestablishment of state education and con-
   The issue, therefore, is clear-cut.        Have these     trol of education would seem to be outside the realm
parents the right and the freedom to educate their           of practical possibility. It would seem, therefore, that
children according to the dictates of their conscience,      we must be realistic, and face the fact that the present
or can the state deprive them of their free, private         situation, already long established, is here to stay.
school?                                                          2. Our private, parental, Christian schools exist
   Apparently, under Michigan law, the state has this        by toleration; and as long as that toleration continues,
power, and that too, not on the basis of the quality or      Christian parents must by all means take advantage of
lack of quality of the school and its education, but         it and educate their own children in the fear of the
solely on the basis of lack  of  teachev  certification.     Lord and according to His Word. This also means
This Miss Graber may be a wonderful teacher and              that as long as any state regulations affecting our
well-qualified; and this school may be entirely satis-       schools either formally or materially do not either
factory to the parents.       Moreover , the pupils who      conflict with the explicit Scriptural requirements of
emerge from this school may even be an asset to the          covenant education or constitute an intolerable practical
community.       There is one thing lacking: the teacher     obstacle to the operation of our schools, we shall
does not have an A.B. in education, and is therefore         comply with such regulations to the best of our ability.
not a certified teacher. Therefore that school must          Thus, for example, we can well comply with the re-
be shut down!                                                quirement for certified teachers, not because we
   Do you see the danger? Do you sense the lack of           believe it is the business of the state to require such
freedom?                                                     certification, but because we also believe our teachers
   This is not a plea for the Amish religion, or even        should meet certain minimum educational standards.
for the Amish system of education, although one has to           3. The moment the state would impose anti-scrip-
admire these people for their determined insistence on       tural requirements on our schools or would employ
their right to educate their children as they see fit.       any formal educational regulations as a weapon cal-
   Nor is this a plea that our schools employ non-           culated deliberately to make the maintenance of our
certified teachers. I believe that our teachers should       schools impossible, it would become our duty to say,
be well-educated and thoroughly trained. From this           "We must obey God rather than man." And in that
point of view, I have no objection to the requirement        case we must still remain subject to the "higher
of teacher certification whatsoever.                         powers," and be prepared to seek refuge elsewhere or
   However, I can very well see that a requirement of        to take the consequences of our refusal to obey.
this kind could eventually be used as a weapon by the            4. We should ourselves be well aware of our
Antichristian world-power to close our covenant              position and be prepared spiritually to maintain it;
schools.       Let the requirements for certification be     and we should be ready, wherever and whenever the
made more stringent. Let the state begin to require a        occasion demands it, to testify of that position.
doctor's degree for the certification of a first-grade          This is not merely a matter of man-made freedom;
teacher, - and there are educators who are inflated          it is a question of our God-given right, duty, calling,
enough with their pompous ideas of education tocommit        and privilege!
such folly! Or let the state go a step farther, and re-          That' a conflict in this respect will come is as
quire that teachers obtain their certification only in a     certain as the truth that the Antichrist will arise and
state-operated university. Or let the state insist that      that there are already many antichrists in the world.
schools use only certain state-approved, antichristian           And: it may be later than you think it is !
textbooks. Let the state impose such regulations under           Be ye therefore sober and watch!
penalty of the shut-down of our schools in case of
non-observance. And what will we do?
   You see, the principle of state education and state         Consisfories!
control of education is itself wrong!
   It is the business of the state to wield the sword,
not to educate.
   And it is the responsibility of parents, not the                      The R. F. P. A. Board suggests that you start out
state, to educate.                                                       newly morried couples in your congregation right:
   These are Scriptural principles.                                      give each couple a year's subscription to our
   Whenever in Scripture you find an injunction to                       Standard Bearer.
edwxite,  it is addressed to pavents.                                       Write to our Business Manager.
   And whenever in Scripture you find mention of the
sword-power,  it is assigned to the state.                                         James Dykstra, Bus. Mgr.
   On this I agree fully with the Rev. Francis E.                                   1326 W. Butler Ave., SE,
Mahaffy, Orthodox Presbyterian missionary in Eritrea,                              G r a n d   R a p i d s ,   Mich.  49507
who, writing in Torch and Trumpet,  January, 1965, pp.
13 and 14, argues on this basis against government
subsidy of our schools as being immoral.


200                                               THESTANDARDBEARER





                                 KINDNESS TO THE LIVING AND THE DEAD


                                                 Rev. B.  Woudenbevg

       By the providence of God, Ruth had been brought to    could be little more than a disappointment and dis-
the field of Boaz. It was the day of the judges when         illusionment. She only hoped that it would not be too
everyone did what was right in his own eyes, and the         painful. Already in the morning, she had begun to look
law was little regarded any more. The poor were left         for Ruth's return with some bitter tale of shame and
uncared for and oppressed. There were few fields in          disappointment.    But Ruth did not come, and hour by
harvest time where a gleaner could expect to find            hour Naomi's fear grew to greater proportions. She
enough grain to be worthwhile gathering. Meanwhile,          could think of little else.      What if Ruth had been
ther was the ever present  da$er, especially for a           molested or suffered violence? How could she ever
  Lt
yo  lg woman, of being molested if allowed to enter at       forgive herself for having allowed Ruth to go, or at
all. But Ruth in her young and tender faith, unmindful       least for not having suppressed her pride and ac-
of the situation, trusted in the provisions of the law       companied Ruth into the field? When, at last, with
and went forth to glean nonetheless; and the hand of the     night approaching, she saw Ruth coming through the
Lord led her to the field of Boaz. He was a man,             dusk apparently safe and unharmed, she rushed forth
unique in his day, who still knew the law of God and         to greet her with a sigh of relief and a prayer of
abided by its commandments, and he was near of kin.          thanksgiving.
       With characteristic meekness, but diligence, Ruth        Then came the surprise when Ruth laid down at her
labored all day gathering the grain which had been left      feet the full ephah of barley which she had been carrying.
standing in the corners of the field or which had            In former years, it would have appeared to her a rather
escaped or fallen from the hands of the reapers.             paltry amount, hardly worth the day's effort. But now
Quite unmindful was she of the fact that her reputation      her eyes had become accustomed to measure in terms
had gone before her. She was recognized immediately          of poverty, and it appeared a mountain in size. In-
as the Moabitish maiden who had befriended her               stinctively she knew that this was much more than
mother-in-law, Naomi.         The whole community had        could possibly be expected from an ordinary day of
observed with what selfless devotion she comforted           gleaning the remains of an already harvested field,
Naomi in her sorrow and cared for her in her need.           especially for one as inexperienced in the arts of
Especially Boaz, when he had heard of it, had felt           harvesting as Ruth. Behind it there must be something
how she put Israel to shame with her simple devotion         unexpected. In her surprise the questions poured forth, 1
by reflecting the principle of love commanded by their       "Where hast thou gleaned today'? and where wroughtest
law. As soon as he knew it was now she that gleaned          thou? blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee."
in his fields, he determined to show her like kindness          Ruth was more than ready to answer.            She had
in return.      It was the least that he could do. Naomi     found her day to be a wonderful and exhilarating ex-
was related to him through Elimelech, and he felt a          perience. She had found the satisfaction of engaging
responsibility to her. He would have liked to help her       in productive labor as she gathered the grain and
in her need, but without a request from Naomi he had         prepared it. But more, she had found in Boaz a per-
not known exactly how it could be done. Here was the         fect example of what she felt a man of Israel ought to
opportunity. Graciously he shared with Ruth his noon-        be according to the law which God had given. So she
time meal and instructed the reapers to drop "handfuls       answered Naomi, "The man's name with whom I
of purpose" where she was gleaning. Quite unaware of         wrought to day is Boaz," and from there undoubtedly i
the special attention she was receiving, Ruth worked         went on to relate all that had taken place within the
with application until evening. When she was through,        day. Eagerly and with enthusiasm, Ruth told how she
she had gleaned `a full ephah (well over a bushel) of        had been greeted and welcomed to the field of Boaz
barley, a highly unusual amount for a day of mere            both by the laborers and by Boaz himself, how she had
gleaning.                                                    been encouraged with kind words and invited to share
       Returning at evening to her home, Ruth was greeted    in the meal of Boaz and his workers, how she had had
by a very anxious and relieved Naomi. For Naomi the          no difficulty at all in finding more than enough grain
day had been one of fear and extreme anxiety. She had        that could easily be gleaned.       It had been a day of
known so well how far selfishness and sin had carried        pleasant relationships and experience throughout.
Israel away from the observance of the law. Although            It was while she was recounting these events that
she had not dared to forbid Ruth to glean, lest her new      there gradually began to dawn upon Naomi a new
found faith in the provisions of the law should be under-    thought  whichshe had not dared to anticipate before. It
mined, she had feared that the experience for Ruth           brought from her the final answer, "Blessed be he of


                                                  THESTANDARDBEARER,                                                201

the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the           unbelievable suddenly to remember that this man was
living and the dead," and then by way of explanation          actually their kinsman. It would seem that he was not
added, "The man is near of kin unto us, one of our            an immediate relative, for then she would have thought
next kinsmen."                                                of it earlier. But as she thought back, she began to
   Already before they had left Moab, Naomi had               realize he was one of the closest they had, nonetheless.
warned Ruth, as she had Orpah also, that there was            It was as though the Lord had taken over their lives
little possibility that she would find another husband in     and led Ruth to him. And he had responded favorably,
Israel. There were reasons for this. It was not that          with kindness and with mercy. Could it be that here
the law had made no provisions for the widow whose            was one who still retained sufficient love and respect
husband had died without leaving her children and a           for the law that he would honor his responsibility as a
family; it had. The law clearly stipulated that in such       kinsman?      Could it be that he would raise up a seed
an instance it was the duty of the brother, or nearest        unto her son and her husband that their name might
of kin, to take the widow to be his wife and raise up         not be cut off forever from Israel? Could it be that the
children to his brother.      Thus the man's name and         Lord had not cut them off completely, but was return-
family would be retained in Israel. But Naomi had             ing to restore to them a place among His people? For
little confidence that this would happen. She knew too        the first time again Naomi began to taste the sweet joy
well the state of Israel in that day. It was a sinful day,    of hope for the future. With irrepressible joy, Naomi
when few took the law seriously any more. Each did            burst forth, "Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not
what was right in his own eyes; and this law of kinsmen       left off his kindness to the .living and the dead... The
responsibility had never been generally accepted.             man is near of kin unto us."
Already in the days of Jacob, Judah had ignored it               Even more reassuring was Ruth's next statement,
(See Gen. 38), and the generations that followed had          "He said unto me also, Thou shalt keep fast by my
done little better. The law depicted an ideal state, but      young men, until they have ended all my harvest."
rarely had it been carried out in practice. And in this       This was more than just normal concern for the poor
instance there was even more reason than usual not to         in their gleaning.    It seemed to indicate that he felt
expect anything to come from it. Ruthwas a Moabitess.         for Ruth a special concern, a special favor, perhaps a
Although this was really now irrelevant because Ruth          special responsibility.
was a convert to the religion of Israel and had become           Quietly but firmly, she answered by instructing
part of the nation through her marriage to Chilion, it        Ruth, "It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with
would provide more than ample excuse for anyone who           his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other
wished to evade his responsibility under the law.             field."     Naomi, through the years, had learned the
   This had been Naomi's chief reason for sorrow              lessons of discretion.     It was best not to force the
after the death of her husband and children. It was           issue and make immediate demands of Boaz beyond
her deepest desire, along with that of every true be-         that which he suggested.        She and her husband had
liever in Israel, that through her children and family        once tried to force their lives into more favorable
her name and place in Israel would be carried on into         circumstances, and it had led to disaster. They would
the promised glory and blessing of the nation. But            wait patiently now for some further indication from
now with her husband and children dead, it was as             Boaz as to his continuing concern and favor. But
though her family had been cut off from the future of         meanwhile, they would not spurn. his suggestion. It
Israel; they had become a dry root in the nation of           was well that Ruth should become identified with him
promise.       Neither did she feel free to demand their      alone in her gleaning. They were dependent upon him
rights before the elders; for, after all, it was God who      more than anyone else in Israel; and, if possible, she
had cut them short because of their sin of having left        wanted him to know it.
the nation.                                                      Of the days and weeks that followed before the
   And now into her darkness, there suddenly burst            grain was all gathered from the field in harvest, we
forth a small glimmering of promise and light. It was         are not told.      But we may well imagine the ever
Boaz. She had not thought of him; she hardly remem-           deepening relation of mutual respect which developed
bered him; he had, perhaps, been little more than a           between Ruth and Boaz. Every day Ruth found herself
child when they had left Bethlehem for Moab. If his           secretly but with increasing frequency casting swift
parents had been faithful believers, she could hardly         glances toward where Boaz was working. In him she
have expected that he would have carried on their             saw a perfect example of the ideal man of Israel, and
faith in those days of gross apostasy. Only as Ruth           his every action indicated that to her. She tried hard
eagerly poured forth her unusually pleasant experi-           not to let herself think it was more than this. In turn
ences in gleaning, did Naomi gradually begin to under-        Boaz, with almost embarrassing but irresistible fre-
stand that here was a manwho was different. The every         quency, found himself making special provisions for
word and action of Boaz toward his servants and toward        the convenience of Ruth. She deserved it, he thought;
the poor, as carefully related by Ruth, testified to the      it was the least that he could do for her. It was the
fact that he was one who abided by the law of God and         beginning of love. Neither dared to admit it, for they
found his pleasure in its way of love toward every            regarded themselves each as quite undeserving of the
neighbor. If he did this so carefully with regard to the      other. But it was a beautiful love above many others.
laws of gleaning, was it not to `be expected that he          because it was founded in a mutual regard for God and
would do so in every respect?          It seemed almost       His law.


202                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


                              7ke  P&rcd  t$?acce  74e Wad  I . ,
                                                                                (Psalm 68:ll)


                     THE EVANGELICAL APPROACH IN THE NEW DISPENSATION

                                                     Rev.  C. Hanko

       In our recent study of the book of Acts, it became     lo, a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of
evident how the apostles carried out their mandate to         balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst
preach the Gospel to all nations. They proclaimed the         of the four beasts say, A measure ofwheat for a penny,
glad tidings that the crucified and risen Jesus was in-       and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou
deed the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that there    hurt not the oil and the wine. And when he had opened
was salvation in His Name, and in His Name alone.             the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast
They preached Him as the fulfillment of the promise           say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale
that had been given to the fathers ever since the fall        horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and
in paradise. To Jew and Gentile they testified of sin         Hell followed with him.            And power was given unto
and judgment. They called to repentance from sin, and         them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the
they assured those who repented of forgiveness through        sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the
the grace and mercies of God. They spoke of Christ's          beasts of the earth."
resurrection, of His glorious power in heaven and on             It may be well to remark at once, that the apostle
earth, and of His coming again to establish an eternal,       John received these visions of Revelation on the island
heavenly kingdom in the new creation. They did not            of Patmos as the revelation concerning Jesus Christ,
shun to declare all the counsel of God. Acts  20:27.          the Lord of Glory, Who is now seated at the right hand
And this preaching also had its effect according to the       of God to carry out the counsel of God unto the day
purpose of God. As many as were ordained to eternal           when He will return to put all His and God's enemies
life believed. Many others opposed the Word and deemed        under His feet and to establish His eternal kingdom in
themselves unworthy of eternal life. And the apostles         the heavens. Therefore these visions are intended for
were confident that this was also according to the            the church of the new dispensation, for their instruc-
determining  *counsel  of God. Acts  4:27,28. For the         tion, comfort, and edification.
preaching of the Word was foolishness to those perish-           That applies also to the various epistles written
ing, but the power of God unto salvation for all those        by the apostles, as we have them recorded in the
who were saved. I Cor. 1:18.                                  Scriptures.    I have no objection whatever to call these
       We must still consider the spread of the Gospel        mission epistles, as is often done, if we only remem-
throughout the entire new dispensation, and the manner        ber that they are addressed to established churches,
in which God sends His Gospel to the ends of the earth.       and therefore to the church, even to the church of
Also now we must seek our information, not from the           Jesus Christ as it is gathered and preserved in the
accepted opinions of mere men, but from the Word of           midst of an evil world throughout this dispensation.
God. And it is certainly not difficult to find the neces-     No one can escape the very specific address of each
sary information in Scripture as to God's evangelical         epistle. Paul addresses his letter to "all who are in
approach in preaching His Gospel to all the nations           Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints," Rom. 1:7;
even unto the end of time.                                    and to "the church in Corinth, to them that are sanc-
       We turn our attention now to the very significant      tified in Christ Jesus," I Cor. 1:2; "tothe saints which
passage of Scripture recorded in Revelation 6. There          are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus,"
we read of the Four Apocalyptic Horsemen, as they             Eph. 1:l. You will find a similar address in the rest
are frequently called. I shall quote the passage in its       of the epistles of Paul. The apostle Peter does the
entirety.                                                     same, for he writes to "the strangers scattered
       "And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals,      throughout Pontus, . . . elect according to the foreknowl-
and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the      edge of God." That does not mean that the preaching
four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and be-          of the Gospel is limited entirely to the conscious be-
hold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow;         liever and is not intended to reach the unbeliever. It
and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth             is certainly true that God causes His Gospel to be
conquering and to conquer. And when he had opened             preached far and wide, even to the ends of the earth.
the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come           It is also true, that through this power of God sinners
and see. And there went out another horse that was            are brought to repentance, whenever the preaching is
red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to           accompanied by the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart
take peace from the earth, and that they should kill          of the regenerated sinner. But only those who have
one another: and there was given unto him a great             ears to hear do hear `what the Spirit saith unto the
sword. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard         churches. The apostles addressed their letters to the
the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and          church, for their comfort and edification. And there-


                                                 THESTANDARDBEARER                                                  203

fore the Book of Revelation follows the same pattern         "Come," a  home  appears. In the Orient the ass and
laid down in the epistles, for John addresses his rev-       the camel were used for transportation. Horses were
elations to the "churches," for their comfort and in-        associated with war, conquest, triumph. This is also
struction in the things that have been, that are, and        in harmony with that amazing description of the horse
that are still to come.                                      in Job. 39:19-25, where the horse is described as a
   The four horsemen mentioned in Revelation 6 ap-           powerful, even ferocious beast, prancing, tugging at
pear when the book with its seven seals is being opened.     the rein, snorting with pent up energy. Each horse
The  op,ening of the book is the carrying out of the         carries a rider, who directs the course of the horse as
counsel of the Most High throughout this new dispensa-       it carries out its mission in the world. And each rider
tion, culminating in the coming of the Lord with the         is equipped with the necessary means to carry out the
clouds of heaven. Therefore no one was found worthy          mandate entrusted to him.
to open that book except the Lamb thatwas slain before          The first horse, the white horse, is properly first,
the foundations of the earth. He is worthy. And as He        for this one is by far the most important. The other
opens the seals, one after the other, the voice from         three follow as the result of the work of the white
heaven calls: "Come!" (Not "come and see," as in             horse. The fact that this horseis white may emphasize
the A.V.) In response to that call each horse with its       its holiness, but in this case points much more to the
rider appears on the scene of history, makes his journey     fact that it goes forth "conquering and to conquer."
through the world, and carries out the counsel of God        White denotes victory, as is evident from his name,
according to its specific mandate.                           and also from the bow and the crown which the rider
   It is particularly the first horse, the white horse,      carries.
with its rider that requires our attention at this time.        As this white horse goes forth, the Gospel is preached
For the white horse represents the realization of God's      throughout the world. This may be done with all kinds
kingdom throughout this present era. And since God's         of imperfection, marred by sin, as is evident from the
kingdom is realized through the preaching of the Word,       study of the history of missions, yet weakest means
we can say that this white horse represents the spread       fulfill the purpose of the Most High. God, after all,
of the Gospel throughout all the earth until God's elect     directs -the course of the horse and its rider. The Son
are gathered, until the heavenly kingdom is realized,        of God gathers, defends, and preserves His church out
or until Christ returns to take His own unto Himself.        of all the nations of the earth. The Word of God is a
This white horse represents Christ's missionmandate,         power unto salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
or, if you will, the mission endeavor that is carried        And that faith is a gift of grace, "for by grace are ye
out by the church of Christ with its fruits.                 saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is
   It is significant that each time upon the command,        the gift of God." Eph.  2:8. Even as Paul writes in
                                                             Rom. 8:29, 30: "For whom he did foreknow, he also did
  CALL TO ASPIRANTS TO THE MINISTRY                          predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son,
   All young men desiring to study for the ministry of       that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
the Word in the Protestant Reformed Churches, and            Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also
who have not already been pre-enrolled, are asked to         called: and whom he called, them he also justified; and
appear before the Theological School Committee on its        whom he justified, them he also glorified."
next meeting for this purpose, which will be held, the          We can readily trace the course of this white horse
Lord willing, on Friday, April 9, 1965 at 8 P.M. in the      through history. From Jerusalem the church spread
parsonage of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed             into Samaria  and to Antioch, so that Antioch became
Church, in Hudsonville, Michigan.                            the new center of mission endeavor after Jerusalem
   The qualifications requisite to enrollment are the        was destroyed.      From Antioch, mainly through the
Following:                                                   labors of the apostle Paul and his helpers, the Gospel
1. You must present a letter from your local consistory      spread into Asia Minor, and churches were established
   certifying that you are upright in walk and pure in       there. Paul seemingly was inclined to linger in Asia
   doctrine.                                                 Minor, where there was so much territory still to be
2. You must present a certificate of health, signed by       covered; but the Holy Spirit hastened him on to Mace-
   a reputable physician.                                    donia. Through the vision of the Macedonian man Paul
3. You must be a graduate from High School, being            was instructed to go to that region, because God had
   able to show that you have completed a one-year           His people there also. From Macedonia Paul travelled
   course in History General and Church History; and         on into Greece, to Athens, and to Corinth, being pressed
   that you have c om pl et e d the following College        on, as it were, by the opposition of the Jews. Later
   courses: Latin -- two years,       Greek -- two years,    the apostle also attained his desire to preach the Gospel
   German -- two years, Philosophy - one year, Psy-          in Rome, even though this was done "in chains." But
   chology - one year, Logic -- one semester.                with the death of the apostles the mission work did not
   All correspondence relative to the above announce-        cease.      The Gospel spread across the continent of
ment should be sent to the undersigned:                      Europe, into England, and across the sea to the Amer-
  Secretary of the Theological School Committee,             icas. There has always been a church gathered in the
  Rev. M. Schipper,                                          line of continued generations. of believers, as a result
  1543 Cambridge Blvd., SE.,                                 of the spread of the Gospel. In some countries this
  Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                               line of generations dies out because the established


204                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER

churches depart from the truth. The dead branches                      And just recently the radio and television have brought
are continually being broken from the vine, while new                  the Name of Jesus into practically every home. Wheth-
sprouts appear elsewhere. But always the white horse                   er people will listen or not, they cannot escape the
continues on its course until the Gospel has reached                   testimony of Jesus Christ. Even if they corrupt the
to the ends of the earth. This is fully in harmony with                Christmas season with their Santas, their spirit of
the promise of our Lord, "And this gospel of the king-                 good will, and their carnal interests, they still face the
dom shall be preached in all the world for a witness                   question, "What wilt thou do with Jesus, who is called
unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Matth.                 the Christ?" Even though they pollute the celebration
24:14.                                                                 of Christ's resurrection with a corruption of the truth,
       In a sense it may be said that there is a constant              or with fashion displays, or with Easter bunnies, the
"confrontation" of the Gospel. One stands amazed at                    witness of the resurrection is still heard.
the persistent presence of the white horse, in spite of
all the opposition of the forces of darkness. For al-                       But this white horse does more than confront people
most two thousand years the voice of that witness has                  with the Gospel. He does more than offer salvation to
been heard, and could never be silenced. If anything,                  all. He never comes with a simple statement, "God
that voice becomes more' powerful as the end of the                    loves you," and, "Christ died for you." But he is the
ages comes upon us.         Only a few centuries ago the               power of God conquering and to conquer. He does not
printing press was invented, with the result that Bibles               rest until the elect are gathered, the world is condemned,
are being printed by the millions in almost every lan-                 antichrist has made its appearance and the measure of
guage. Modern transportation, such as the automobile                   iniquity is running full.
and the airplane, has made it possible to reach into                       To that aspect of the four horsemen we wish to di-
the jungles and into the extreme corners of the earth.                 rect our attention next time.



                                     74e  &td  A?8  Waw@
                                     ("0 worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." Ps. 96:Sa)



                                      BAPTISMAL PRAYERS (Continued)

                                                     Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg

       To be "incorporated into Christ" is fundamental.                are many desires and wants that arise in our souls,
As we wrote last time, "out of this all blessings flow,                but essentially all of our needs are embodied in the
even as without incorporation into Christ there is no                  terms "mercy and grace." The former is the external
blessing, no grace, common or otherwise." This fun-                    desire and longing in God whereby He reaches out to
damental idea is found throughout Scripture in various                 help His people in their misery and suffering and to
forms. It embodies both the legal and the organic idea.                lift them up out of it into a state of highest happiness.
To be incorporated into Christ according to the former                 Grace, in this connection, may be narrowly defined as
means that Christ is our head and legal representative                 `fthe unmerited favor of God toward His people," but
before God.1 The latter idea stresses the idea that the                in the more comprehensive sense of the word it may
elect are partakers of the life of Christ as members                   be said to comprise the sum of all the goodness of
of His body.2 Christ and His Church are one, and to                    God manifested in the salvation of His people. When
be without this incorporation necessarily means that                   God is so disposed toward us that He pours out upon
one is a stranger and alien to Christ and His Kingdom.3                us all His goodness and so effectually delivers us from
From this it follows that those that are in Christ are                 the misery of sin and death and brings us into the joy
also the heirs and recipients of all the blessings of                  and fellowship of His covenant, we lack nothing. He
salvation. To some of these blessings we now direct                    turns all things to our good. He loves us with an in-
the attention of our readers, limiting ourselves to                    finite and unbreakable love even when we are most un-
those that are enumerated in the baptismal prayer.                     deserving of it. In that love He watches over us con-
       We begin with the petition, "that Thou (God) wilt               tinuously, protects and preserves us until we are
be pleased of thine infinite mercy, graciously to look                 made ready to be taken into that glorious state which
upon these children." The request here for mercy                       He has prepared for His own.          Now here also, the
and grace reminds us instantly of the passage of God's                 prayer is not simply that God will do this. We know
Word in Hebrews 4:16, where believers are enjoined                     that God, in infinite mercy, always looks most gracious-
"to come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may                  ly upon those that are incorporated into Christ. He
obtain mercy, and find grace to help in the time of                    has them engraven  in the palm of His hand, that they
need." Throughout our life in this sinful world there                  may be continually before Him. But the thought con-


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 205

veyed in this petition is that of a subjective desire.       midst of the present world. This is their part, that is,
Grant, 0 God, that these children who are baptized           the part of the covenant which they must and do fulfill
may always realize and be conscious of Thy grace and         by His grace. They must not try in various nebulous
mercy throughout the days of their life. Many ex-            and dubious -ways to try to change this. They must
periences they will have in this vale of tears that will     follow Christ, walking in the way of His precepts and
occasion their crying out with the Psalmist, "Will the       according to His Word.       When they so follow Christ,
Lord cast off for ever? and will He be favourable no         they must expect cross-bearing, that is, suffering for
more ?    Is His mercy clean gone forever? doth His          Christ's sake; and in this suffering they must not as-
promise fail forevermore? Has God forgotten to be            sume a glum attitude, but must rather "rejoice that
gracious? hath He in anger shut up His tender mer-           they are counted worthy to suffer shame for His name."7
cies?"4 In all these vicissitudes of life may they al-       They must ever be mindful of the words of the apostle
ways be able to sing:                                        in Philippians  1:29, "For unto you it is given in the
   "These doubts and fears that troubled me, Were            behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also
          born of my infirmity;                              to suffer for His sake;" and when they do this, they
     Tho' I am weak, God is most high, And on His            will be able to "cleave unto Him in true faith, firm hope,
          goodness I rely;                                   and ardent love." This, too, is the gift of God; and
     Of all His wonders I will tell, Andon His deeds         without it we cannot have a part in the covenant of God.
          my tho'ts shall dwell."5                              In this light we further understand the meaning of
Such is the thought of this first petition.                  the baptismal prayer when it describes this present
   From this the second petition follows, which is:          life as "nothing but a continual death." This is not a
"that they may be buried with him into His death, and        sad note of pessimism that somewhat spoils an other-
be raised with Him in newness of life." This request         wise beautiful confession of faith, but this is reality.
is almost literally based on the Word of God in Romans       Except for the life which the saints have principally
6. We read there, for example, "Know ye not, that so         in Christ, the present life contains nothing but death.
many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were           It can never be anything else than death. Life and
baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with        death are not mere biological states. To live is to
him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was           experience the favor of God +@ the bond of the fellow-
raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father,          ship of His covenant and to die is to pine away under
even so we also should walk in newness of life." (VSS.       His terrible wrath. Now all that we see in this present
3, 4) Now in this passage the apostle makes plain that       life and world evidences that wrath of God which is
this must not be taken in a literal or physical sense        revealed from heaven upon all ungodliness and un-
of the word, but that he is speaking here of the sancti-     righteousness of men who hold the truth under in un-
fication of the child of God. Their "burial" then re-        righteousness. (Rom.  1:18) Let us never lose sight
fers to the dying and putting away of the old man of         of or forget this reality. We are in the midst of death,
sin. Our old nature is principally mortified in Christ.      and we are dying continuously. It may be a few years
And the "resurrection" unto a new life here means            (or perhaps just a few moments) before thefinal stroke
that in principle they receive eternal life in Christ and    of death hits us, but the fact of death is inevitable.
put on the new man which is re-created after the image       Now the baptism prayer does not ask that we may es-
of God in true knowledge, righteousness and holiness.        cape death; but it petitions that when our appointed
This is literally stated by the apostle in verses 6 and      time to die comes, we may be able to "leave this life
22: "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with        with a comfortable sense of God's favor." When and
him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that           where this prevails, we can die with comfort. Other-
henceforth we should not serve sin.... .But now being        wise death is a terror and the occasion of inexpress-
made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye           ible fear.    Now it must be remembered that although
have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting       the prayer of baptism here refers undoubtedly to the
life." All of this follows from being incorporated into      moment of our departure from this world, the petition
Christ and necessitates an incessant provision of God's      itself may not be separated from the rest of the prayer.
mercy and grace. .                                           The very clear supposition is that we may walk all the
   From all this it follows that the child of God is led     days of our earthly life through the valley of the shadow
to fulfill his pavt in the covenant of God. We recall        of death in the consciousness of God's favor. And we
that in the Baptism Form proper this part of the cove-       do this in the way of fulfilling our part in His covenant,
nant was described in the following words: "that we          putting off the old man of sin and wearing the armor of
cleave to this one God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost;         righteousness.    Then we know throughout the present
that we trust in Him, and love Him with all our hearts,      death that God is for us; and when the final moment
with all our souls, with all our mind, and with all our      comes, we do not doubt or become afraid, but we die
strength; and that we forsake the world, crucify our         in the comfort that the battle and the suffering is over,
old nature, and walk in a new and holy life." This           and we enter into the kingdom of peace which God-has
same idea is now repeated in the prayer in the petition      prepared for His own.        Death, in the words of our
"that they may daily follow him, joyfully bearing their      Heidelberg Catechism, is then "not a satisfaction for
cross, and cleave unto Him in true faith, firm hope,         our sins, but only an abolishing of sin, and a passage
and ardent love.*`6 This is indeed the experiential          into eternal life."3 Indeed, blessed are they that die
portion of the covenant of God for His people in the         in the Lord.      They may depart in peace and with a


206                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

sense of divine favor.                                       But as we are in Christ, we have no fear, but pray
       Following death there is a judgment. "And as it is    more fervently that this day of judgment may come as
appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judg-     quickly as possible.
ment."       (Heb. 9:27) With a view to that final day of       The prayer of the church is that the God of all grace
judgment the baptism prayer concludes this section           may richly bestow all these indispensable blessings
with the petition, "and at the last day, may appear          upon those that are baptized into His Name.
without terror before the judgment seat of Christ, Thy          The first of the two prayers in baptism concludes
Son." This is the prayer for the believer's ultimate         with the words: "through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who
and public justification. In the believer's conscious-       with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one only God, lives and
ness this justification is already reality. There can        reigns forever. Amen."
be no question about this. Romans 5:l states, "There-           Just two things we would note in this most fitting
fore being justified by faith, we have peace with God        and beautiful doxology. First, the church confesses
through our Lord Jesus Christ." However, it is also          here that even as her salvation through baptism and
true that it doth not yet appear what we shall be. The       all that that implies is alone through Jesus Christ, so
things that appear in this present world do not give         also she prays and can only pray through Him, her
indication of this justification of the saints. The cause    Lord. All her prayer is based on Him alone. He is all
of Christ is condemned by the world not only, but even       in all. Apart from Him we can ask nothing of God and
that which calls itself church frequently does not           have no basis on which to make our requests. All this
hesitate to condemn the faithful saints in Christ. This      therefore  we  ask  through Jesus  Christ,  our  Lovd.
is part of the reproach and shame which the children            Secondly, it, is to be noted that in the final note of
of God must bear in the world for Christ's sake. Christ      the prayer the church breaks forth in a beautiful con-
Himself was condemned by the world, and Hisdisciples         fession.    In this confession three fundamental truths
are not greater than the Master. The vindication of          are conveyed.       They are: (1) Jesus Christ is God.
the cause of Christ, the cause of righteousness and          (2) Jesus Christ is eternal. (3) Jesus Christ is sov-
truth, must wait until the final day of judgment; and        ereign.     He reigns sovereignly with God, the Father
then all creation shall know the verdict of the Sover-       and the Holy Spirit, over all things; and it is in the
eign Judge of all. That verdict will be the condemna-        confidence of this confession that we may rest our
tion of all that is without Christ and the vindication of    prayers with God, looking not at the things that are
those that are incorporated into Him. To appear be-          seen, but at the things unseen, and be assured that all
fore His judgment seat without terror means that we          things He works together for good to them that love
live now in the comfortable sense of His favor, having       God, whom He has called according to His purpose.
the consciousness of faith that we are IN Him. "I am
crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I,       (1) Romans 5:12-18
but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in    (2) John 15, Romans 12, I Cor. 12, Ephesians 5.
the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who         (3) Ephesians 2:12
loved me, and gave Himself for me."9 Having this             (4) Psalm 77:7-9
confidence we are further assured that there is nothing      (5) Psalter No. 210:5
to fear when we are called upon to appear before His         (6) Baptism Form
judgment seat. Looking at ourselves, apart from Christ,      (7)  Acts  5:41
there is every reason to be filled with tevvov;  for we      (8) Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 16
know, too, that there is no escape from His judgment.        (9) Galatians 2:20





                                   THE INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES


                                                  Rev. H. Veldman

According  to the Fathers  (continued)                          In this same quotation, Origen proceeds to show how
       We do not find too much on the doctrine of the        the words spoken in the Scriptures have come to pass,
divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures in the writings    concluding from this that God, having really become
of the early Church Fathers; at least, the undersigned       man in the Christ, delivered to men the doctrines of
could not find many writers who wrote on this subject.       salvation. We quote: `*And if we observe how power-
This is undoubtedly due to the fact that the truth of        ful the word has become in a very few years, notwith-
divine inspiration was generally accepted. We con-           standing that against those who acknowledged Chris-
cluded our preceding article by quoting from  Crigen.        tianity conspiracies were formed, and some of them


                                                    THESTANDARDBEARER                                                    207

on its account put to death, and others of them lost             "by persuasive words of wisdom, but by demonstra-
their property, and that, notwithstanding the small              tion of the Spirit and of power. Wherefore, since a
number o its teachers, it was preached everywhere                celestial or even a super-celestial power compels us
throughout the world, so that Greeks and Barbarians,             to worship the only Creator, let us leave the doctrine
wise and foolish, gave themselves up to the worship              of the beginning of Christ, i.e., the elements, and en-
that is through Jesus, we have no difficulty in saying           deavour to go on to perfection, in order that the wis-
that the result is beyond any human power. Jesus                 dom spoken to the perfect may be spoken to us also.
having taught with all authority and persuasiveness              For he who possesses it promises to speak wisdom
that His Word should not be overcome; so that we may             among them that are perfect, but another wisdom than
rightly regard as oracular responses those utterances            that of this world, and of the rulers of this world, which
of His, such as, `Ye shall be brought before governors           is brought to nought. And this wisdom will be distinctly
and kings for My sake, for a testimony against them              stamped upon us, and will produce a revelation of the
and the Gentiles;' and, `Many shall say unto Me in that          mystery that was kept silent in the eternal ages, but
day, Lord, Lord, have we not eaten in Thy name, and              now has been manifested through the prophetic Scrip-
drunk in Thy name, and in Thy name cast out devils?              tures, and the appearance of our Lord and Saviour
And I shall say unto them, Depart fromMe, ye workers             Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.
of iniquity, I never knew you.' . . . . . But when that which    Amen."     Origen evidently views the Scriptures as
was delivered with so much authority has come to pass,           God's inspired revelation to His church.
it shows that God, having really become man, de-                     Philip  Schaff, in his "History of the Christian
livered to men the doctrines of salvation."                      Church," writing in Volume I of the First Period,
    Then, having shown how several passages of the               A.D. l-100, has a chapter on the Unity of Apostolic
Scriptures have been fulfilled, Origen continues as              Teaching, Pages 511 ff., and we quote: "Christianity
follows: "It would be tedious now to enumerate the               is primarily not merely doctrine, but life, a new moral
most ancient prophecies respecting each future event,            creation, a saving fact, first personally embodied in
in order that the doubter, being impressed by their              Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word, the God-man, to
divinity, may lay aside all hesitation and distraction,          spread from him and embrace gradually the whole
and devote himself with his whole soul to the words of           body of the race, and bring it into saving fellowship
God. But if in every part of the Scriptures the super-           with God. The same is true of Christianity as it exists
human element of thought does not seem to present                subjectively in single individuals. It begins not with
itself to the uninstructed, that is not at all wonderful;        religious views and notions simply; though it includes
for, with respect to the works of that providence which          these, at least in germ. It comes as a new life; as
embraces the whole world, some show with the utmost              regeneration, conversion, and sanctification; as a cre-
clearness that they are works of providence, while               ative fact in experience, taking up the whole man with
others are so concealed as to seem to furnish ground             all his faculties and capacities, releasing him from the
for unbelief with respect to that God who orders all             guilt and the power of sin, and reconciling him with
things with unspeakable skill and power.            For the      God, restoring harmony and peace to the soul, and at
 artistic plan of a providential Ruler is not so evident         last glorifying the body itself. Thus, the life of Christ
in those matters belonging to the earth, as in the case          is mirrored in his people, rising gradually, through
of the sun, and moon, and stars; and not so clear in             the use of the means of grace and the continued exer-
what relates to human occurrences, as it is in the souls         cise of faith and love, to its maturity in the resurrec-
 and bodies of animals, -the object and reason of the            tion.
impulses, and phantasies and natures of animals, and                 "But the new life necessarily contains the element
the structure of their bodies, being carefully ascer-            of doctrine, or knowledge of the truth. Christ calls
tained by those who attend to these thi`ngs. But as              himself "the way,.the  truth, and the life." He is him-
(the doctrine of) providence is not at all weakened              self the personal revelation of saving truth, and of the
 (on account of those things which are not understood)           normal relation of man to God. Yet this element of
 in the eyes of those who have once honestly accepted            doctrine itself appears in the New Te.stament, not in
 it, so neither is the divinity of Scripture, which extends      the form of an abstract theory, the product of specu-
to the whole of it, (lost) on account of the inability of        lation, a scientific system of ideas subject to logical
 our weakness to discover in every expression the hid-           and mathematical demonstration, but as the fresh, im-
den splendour of the doctrines veiled in common and              mediate utterance of the supernatural, divine life, a life-
unattractive phraseology. For we have the treasure               giving power, equally practical and theoretical, coming
 in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power of         with divine authority to the heart, the will, and the con-
 God may shine forth, and that it may not be deemed to           science, as well as to the mind, and irresistibly draw-
proceed from us (who are but) human beings. For if               ing them to itself. The knowledge of God in Christ, as
the hackneyed methods of demonstration (common)                  it meets us here, is at the same time eternal life. We
 among men, contained in the books (of the Bible), had           must not confound truth with dogma. Truth is the di-
been successful in producing conviction,then  our faith          vine substance, doctrine or dogma is the human ap-
would rightly have been supposed to rest on the wisdom           prehension and statement of it; truth is a living and
 of men, and not on the power of God; but now it is mani-        life-giving power, dogma a logical formula; truth is
 fest to every one who lifts up his eyes, that the word          infinite, unchanging, and eternal; dogma is finite,
 and preaching have not prevailed among the multitude            changeable, and perfectible.


208                                                THESTANDARDBEARER

       "The Bible, therefore, is not only, nor principally,    from personal contact with the divine-human history of
a book for the learned, but a book of life for every one,      the crucified and risen Saviour, and from the inward
an epistle written by the Holy Spirit to mankind. In the       illumination of the Holy Spirit., revealing the person
words of Christ and his apostles there breathes the            and the work of Christ in them, and opening to them
highest and holiest spiritual power, the vivifying             the understanding of his words and acts. This divine
breath of God, piercing bone and marrow, thrilling             enlightenment is inspiration, governing not only the
through the heart and conscience, and quickening the           composition of the sacred writings, but also the oral
dead.      The life, the eternal life, which was from the      instructions of their authors; not merely an act, but
beginning with the Father, and is manifested to us,            a permanent state. The apostles lived and moved con-
there comes upon us, as it were, sensibly, now as the          tinually in the element of truth. They spoke, wrote,
mighty tornado, now as the gentle zephyr; now over-            and acted from the spirit of truth; and this, not as
whelming and casting us down in the dust of humility           passive instruments, but as conscious and free organs.
and penitence, now reviving and raising us to the joy          For the Holy Spirit does not supersede the gifts and
of faith and peace; but always bringing forth a new            peculiarities of nature, which are ordained by God; it
creature, like the word of power, which said at the            sanctifies them to the service of his kingdom. Inspira-
first creation, `Let there be light!' Here verily is holy      tion, however, is concerned only with moral and re-
ground. Here is the door of eternity, the true ladder          ligious truths, and the communication of what is neces-
to heaven, on which the angels of God are ascending            sary to salvation.    Incidental matters of geography,
and descending in unbroken line. No number of sys-             history, archaeology, and of mere personal interest,
tems of Christian faith and morals, therefore, indis-          can be regarded as directed by inspiration only so far
pensable as they are to the scientific purposes of the         as they really affect religious truth.
church and of theology, can ever fill the place of the             "The revelation of the body of Christian truth es-
Bible, whose words are spirit and life.                        sential to salvation coincides in extent with the received
       "When we say the New Testament is no logically          canon of the New Testament....We may speak of a
arranged system of doctrines and precepts, we are far          secondavy inspiration of extraordinary men whom God
from meaning that it has no internal order and con-            raises from time to time, but their writings must be
sistency. On the contrary, it exhibits the most beauti-        measured by the only infallible standard,the teaching
ful harmony, like the external creation, and like a true       of Christ and his apostles.       Every true advance in
work of art., It is the very task of the historian, and        Christian knowledge and life is conditioned by a deeper
especially of the theologian, to bring this hidden living      descent into the mind and spirit of Christ, who de-
order to view, and present it in logical and scientific        clared the whole counsel of God and the way of salva-
forms. For this work Paul, the only one of the apostles        tion, first in person, and then through his apostles.
who r,eceived  a learned education, himself furnishes
the first fruitful suggestions, especially in his epistle          "The New Testament is thus but one book, the
to the Romans. This epistle follows a logical arrange-         teaching of one mind, the mind of Christ. He gave to
ment even in form, and approaches as nearly to a               his disciples the words of life which the Father gave
scientific treatise as it could consistently with the          him, and inspired them with the spirit of truth to re-
fervent, direct, practical, popular spirit and style es-       veal his glory to them."
sential to the Holy Scriptures and inseparable from                Indeed, for the early Christian Church in the New
their great mission for all Christendom.                       Dispensation, the Bible was the inspired Word of God
       "The apostles all drew their doctrine in common         given by Christ through His apostles to His Church.





                                                GOG AND MAGOG

                                             Ezekiel 38, 39 -Revelation  20:8


                                                    Rev. G. Lubbers

Intvoductovy   Observations                                    was our happy experience to find that we could only
       During the last few weeks of our labors in Houston,     interpret this passage of Scripture in the light of
Texas, as Missionary of our Protestant Reformed                other clear and lucid passages of Scripture. And so it
Churches, it was our privilege to have discussed rather        happened, that, when we came to consider the meaning
broadly the implications of Revelation  20:1-10. As            of Rev. 20:7-10, particularly verses 7 and 8, it became
happens so often, when studying the Bible, thus it also        necessary to study also Ezekiel 38 and 39. For we were


                                                     THESTANDARDBEARER                                                 209

confronted with the question as to what the meaning is            Israel is departed. Jerusalem lies in ruins, her walls
of the text ". . . and shall come forth to deceive the nations    are broken down, her sons are carried away, and
which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and               seemingly the promise of God to give the land to Israel
Magog, to gather them together to the war: the number             has failed! And the enemies reproach the name of God
of whom is as the sand of the sea.. . . ."                        all the day, saying that the Lord hath forsaken Zion,
   We were told by the brethren and sisters in Houston            and that He is no longer jealous over her; that the
that they felt that I should sometime write a series of           zeal of the LORD of hosts over the beloved city has
articles, an expository study of the Scriptures,as they           ceased.    God's work has come to an end; the LORD
teach us what God prophesied concerning Gog and                   hath forsaken His people! And the righteous, in the
Magog in the Old Testament Scriptures, and further                land of captivity, sigh and hang their harps upon the
shown to John on the isle of Patmos in visionary,                 willows, because they cannot sing the LORD'S song in
apocalyptic form to transpire at the very end of the              a strange land! Psalm 137:l ff.
New Testament dispensation, the end of the ages.                     Such are the circumstances in which the Word of
They felt that here we have some definite revelation              the LORD comes to Ezekiel.
which gives us directives to understand the altogether               Now the search-light of prophecy must cast its
unique history in which we are living today with the              light across the ages, lighting the way more and more
rise of the nations, literally at the four corners of the         unto the perfect Day, the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
earth. All the earth and all the nations are awakening            For is He not the end of the law for righteousness to
and taking part in history!                                       every one who believeth? Is He not the fulfilment of
   The question is: is Satan loosed from the chains,              all their hopes, the glory of His people Israel and the
that held him for a thousand years, so that he could not          light of the nations? Luke  2:32. Truly, Israel shall
deceive the nations? And is God permitting him with               never really again be a nation. Such may be the boast
the divine permission of His will and counsel to per-             and aim of the proud patriots of Jesus' day (John 8:33),
form his desire to marshal1 the nations together against          and they may try to maintain the last remnant and
the Church, against Israel, so that the camp of the               semblance of a place among the nations (John 11:48);
saints is being steadily and surely surrounded, Rev.              but the hard fact is and remains that after the Baby-
20:9? Are these the days of which Jesus speaks when               lonian Captivity Israel never was an independent nation
he says: "But when ye see these things begin to come              again, but rather was the "battlefield of the nations."
to pass, look up, and lift up your heads: because your            It was the place and land where the nations of the three
redemption draweth nigh." Luke 21:28. Such was the                continents, Asia, Europe, and Africa, fought their
final conclusion to which we arrived in the aforemen-             battles, and the land which they, traversed in their
tioned study.      We were not to attempt to change the           battle with each other. It was the "navel" of the earth.
` `course of history" as determined by the Lord and               Ezekiel 38:12. Israel has this strategic, geographical
foretold in all the prophets, but were to look at this            position at the time of the writing of the prophecies.
prophetic word, as a light which shineth in a dark                But Israel, as a land, never again comes to glory. Do
place, until the day dawn and the day-star arise in our           not the disciples ask the Lord at the time of His as-
hearts. II Peter 1:19.                                            cension from Olivet, "Lord, wilt thou at this time
   In this series of essays we will call attention pri-           restore again the kingdom to Israel?" Acts 1:6.
marily to Ezekiel 38 and 39 and to Revelation 20:8.                  What we have just written in the foregoing para-
Of course, we shall try to ascertain the meaning of               graph is of utmost importance for the proper under- -
this prophecy also from other passages of Holy Writ,              standing of Ezekiel's prophecy concerning Gog and
interpreting Scripture in the light of Scripture.                 Magog !    If Israel is never restored again after the
   May this modest effort on our part contribute some-            Babylonian Captivity, then the fulfilment of this proph-
what for a better understanding of this somewhat ob-              ecy is still to be realized in the "last times." It
scure passage of Holy Writ, and, above all, for a                 means, then, that the hope of Abraham to receive
better understanding of our fast-moving times on the              land of promise is to be fulfilled in that the Lord will
clock of God's history in the world!                              destroy Gog and Magog; that the land. will be cleansed
Time                                                              from the dead of the armies of Gog, who are destroyed
         And  Circumstances   Of  Ezekiel's  Prophecy             by the Lord utterly. The search-light ofprophecy here
   The prophet Ezekiel lived and prophesied during                is beamed across the ages, and we see the final battle
the time of the deportation of Judah to Babylon. He               of God with his foes to give the land to Israel and to
prophesied from the fifth year of Jehoiachin, B.C. 595.           His seed forever. And this realization will not be at
He was a contemporary prophet of Jeremiah, who con-               the end and close of the "Millenium," as erroneously
tinued to prophesy in the land of Judah; Ezekiel was              conceived of by the Chiliasts of every color and shade,
deported with the royal captives into the land of Chaldea,        but will be realized in a "better country, that is, an
and seems to have lived at the river Chebar. His                  heavenly." Hebrews 11:16, God has prepared for Israel
prophecy is thus at the end of the second fourteen                a city, and therefore He is not ashamed to be called
generations; from David to the Babylonian Captivity.              the God of Israel, the true Israel of God, according to
He stood on the threshold of the era in Israel's history          the purpose of election!
which would constitute the last of the three  "14 gener-             Israel, the Israel of God, will be restored!
ations" of which is spoken in Matthew 1:17. He stands                They shall surely return from captivity. Only it
at the beginning of the great decline,. The glory of              shall be the Yemnentthat  shall return! Isaiah lo:22 ff.


210                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER

reads: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the         can be said: it is done !
remnant of Israel, (sheav) and such as are escaped out
of .the house of Jacob, shall no more stay upon them            The Identity Of Gog and Magog
that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the                  It is interesting to notice that, in the entire Old
Holy One of Israel in truth. The remnant shall return,          Testament, the only reference to Gog as a King and
even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For             Magog as a nation is in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Magog, as
though thy people Israel shall be as the sand of the sea,       a nation, is spoken of in Ezekiel 38:2, where we read:
yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption             "Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of
decreed shall overflow with righteousness, For the              Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and
LORD God of hosts shall make a consumption, even                prophesy against him.. ." Also in Chapter 39:6 we
determined in the midst of all the land." Yes, they             read of Magog as follows: "And I will send a fire on
returned, but it was a very small group, hardly large           Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly (confi-
enough to survive. It was but a remnant. The greatest           dently) in the isles: and they shall know that I am the
majority never returned to the land! The types and              Lord." The only reference directly to Gog and Magog
shadows are being broken down, and they are removed             in the New Testament we find in the Apocalypse of
for better things to come! Thus had Isaiah prophesied           John. In Chapter 20:8 we read: "And shall go out to
some hundred and fifty years before Ezekiel already!            deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of
Hence, Israel will never again return to the former             the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to
state of being a nation in the land under her own King!         battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea."
The throne of David shall never again be erected upon              So much for the Scripture references to Gog and
earth, but shall be established forever in the glories          Magog.
of the heavenly Canaan, at the right handof the majesty
of God.                                                            The question is: to what nations does Magog be-
       Wherefore Ezekiel's calling unto the office of proph-    long?      Who is this Gog?    Can he be identified as a
et is signalled by an apocalyptic theophany as par:             definite historic personage, such as can be done with
trayed  in Ezekiel 1. It is on a par with the vision of         Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And can Magog be found on
the throne and of Him who sitteth thereon in the Apoc-          the Bible map at the time of Israel's deportation into
alypse of John, Chapter 4. Ezekiel portrays to us               exile in Ezekiel's day? Again we ask: has there ever
the glories of the New Testament Pentecostal univer-            been a nation since the time of Exile which was called
sality of Israel in the symbolic temple, and the glories        by the name of Magog, and who had a king named Gog?
of the ages to come, when Israel shall possess the              0, to be sure, in the early times of the Patriarchs we
land forever. in a new heaven and a new earth where             meet with a man, the son of Reuben who is called Gog.
righteousness shall dwell.                                      `However, in vain do we look for any king or nation with
       Now the chapters 38 and 39 reveal to us what will        that name, as a historic person in the past.
take place in the latter days, just before the descent             We are confident that the name "Gag'" must be a
of the New Jerusalem, and the ushering in of the                symbolic one. It means: high, a mountain. Hence, it
eternal state, when the tabernacle of God shall be with         evidently is a symbolic name for a king, a ruler with
man; we see here the end of the ages and the Pavousia           the most lofty pretenses ever to have come up into the
of Jesus Christ. Rev. 21:3; Matt. 24:3. In the appear-          heart of a man against the Lord and against His
ance upon the scene of history of Gog and Magog we              Anointed.     It is the symbolic name for the leader of
are brought to the final battle; this will be the consum-       all the nations who come to battle against the church,
mation of the ages. After the destruction of Gog in the         and who are slaughtered in the battle of God Almighty
land of Israel there shall be no more history. Thenit           in the end of time, the consummation of history!





                                                      Rev. H.  Hank0


NEW SPLIT IN `THE NETHERLANDS                                   the article is written by the "Church News Editor,"
       A brother sent me a clipping from a Dutch news-          who is probably a member of the Hervormde  I<erk
paper which describes recent events in the Liberated            (the State Church).
Churches in the Netherlands. Neither the name of the               In this article, the author speaks of recent troubles
paper nor the author of the article were included, al-          in the Gereformeerde Kerken (onderhoudende Artikel
though the paper seems to be a daily newspaper, and             31) (the so-called Liberated Churches) which seem to


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                               211

be leading up to a split in this comparatively new de-          proposal was refused by the Liberated Churches at
nomination. The issue is return to the Gereformeerde            their Synod at Assen.
Kerken.                                                             But there were some in the Liberated Churches
   His opening paragraph reads as follows (translated):         who were not satisfied with these refusals. Rev. J.
      In the Netherlands another church split is at hand.       Boonstra supported efforts to seek closer contact with
   In fact, it is already in the making. One must come to       the Synodicals and was suspended from office, after
   this sad conclusion when he has followed the recent          which he returned to the Reformed Church. In 1962
   happenings at the General Synod of the Liberated             Rev. J. Vander Schaft was also suspended from office.
   Churches in Rotterdam-Delfshaven, the protests and           He was minister of two congregations: Murmerwoude
   the writings in the paper "Contact" which is the voice       and Oenkerk, but was suspended only by the Murmer-
   of the "protestants" of the Liberated Churches. The          woude congregation while he remained minister in
   cause of the split is the doctrine that they (the Liber-
   ated Churches) are the only true church, which the           Oenkerk. The grounds for his suspension were that he
   leaders of the Liberated Churches want to maintain at        wanted discussions with the Synodicals since it was
   any cost, while they take an irreconcilable attitude to-     his contention that the removal of the "Replacement
   wards the Reformed Churches from which they broke            Formula" took away the right of existence from the
   in 1944.    The occasion came in the decision of the         Liberated Churches. He also returned to the Reformed
   Rotterdam-Delfshaven Synod to declare worthy of              Church.
   deposition first Rev. J. Vander Schaft of Murmerwoude            In the latter part of 1962 Rev. A. Vander Ziel of
   and last month of Rev. A. Vander Ziel of Groningen-          Groningen-South established contact with a group of
   South which was preceded by the suspension of Rev. F.
   Boonstra of Leens a few years ago, while a new proc-         Synodicals in Groningen. Rev. L. L. Vander Vliet also
   ess of deposition seems to be in the making against          took part in these discussions. He wanted to open new
   Rev. J. F. Sollie of Nijega(Sm.). The suspension of Rev.     correspondence with the Synodicals in the hopes of
   Vander Ziel resulted in a falling apart of the Synod,        healing the breach. In February of 1963 the Consistory
   and many of the Liberated and also Consistories no           of Groningen-South declared Vander Ziel worthy of
   longer recognize the authority of the "rump-synod',          deposition. But this required the approval of a neighbor-
   which, in spite of all protests, continues to meet in        ing Consistory, which was sought; but the neighboring
   Rotterdam-Delfshaven under the leadership of the             Consistory refused to grant its approval. In June of
   president, Rev. K. Deddens of Leeuwarden.                    1963 Classis Groningen advised the Consistoryof Vander
   A review of the entire history leading up to this            Ziel to end procedure against him. However, the Con-
split is given in this article, and we shall describe a         sistory decided that this decision was not "binding" on
few of the more important events.                               the basis of Article 31 of the Church Order, - i.e., that
   Most of our readers are acquainted with the fact             the decision was in conflict with the Word of God. So
that the Liberated Churches split from the Gerefor-             they proceeded with the deposition in spite of the advise
meerde Kerken  (The Reformed Church) in 1942 under              of  Classis. (This is somewhat reminiscent of the in-
the leadership of Dr. I<. Schilder. The author of this          terpretation of Article 31 which the people who left us
article describes the issue in this split as centering in       in 1953 made, namely, that any Consistory has the right
the question: "Is a baptized child entirely received            to go its own separate way apart from the decisions of
into God's covenant of grace, or must it first be re-           a broader ecclesiastical assembly if they so choose.)
generated?" This is, of course, an oversimplification              More than 60 churches protested this procedure.
of the problem; and the entire split also involved deep            The matter came to the Provincial Synod in Febru-
church political differences, chief of whichwas whether         ary of 1964. This Synod decided that the Consistory
a broader ecclesiastical assembly has the authority to          had acted entirely properly in proceeding with deposi-
suspend and depose from office. (Cf. our own history            tion in spite of the decision of the Classis. This action
as Protestant Reformed Churches in 1924).                       of the Provincial Synod was approved by the General
   The Liberated Churches numbered at that time                 Synod meeting in Rotterdam-Delfshaven in November
some 96,000 souls.       A few years later, in 1946, the        of 1964.    The action of the General Synod brought
Reformed Church adopted what was called a "Replace-             matters to a head. The Synod met in closed session.
ment Formula" which was an attempt to heal the                  Of the 27 delegates that were present, 14voted in favor
breach of 1942. This was rejected by the Liberated              of the motion to approve of the conduct of Vander
Churches with the result that each went his own way as          Ziel's Consistory which deposed him; 13 voted against;
a separate denomination. The Liberated Churches es-             and of the 13 that voted against, 12 withdrew from the
tablished a. Theological School in Kampen; published            Synod. Only the delegations from Friesland, Groningen,
their own papers: "De Reformatie" and "De  Gere-                and Drenthe remained intact. The Synod then called
formeerde Gezinsbode"; established their own day                the secundi delegates, of which 4 also withdrew.
schools and churches; and even formed their ownpolit-               In the meantime Rev. J. F. Sollie was also suspended
ical party which was called "Het Gereformeerd Politiek          from office because he opposed the decisions which
Verbond."                                                       deposed Vander Schaft: The Consistory offered to allow
   In 1959 the Reformed Church (oftennicknamed "The             him the right to continue preaching if he would submit
Synodicals" because of their position that Synod could          in silence and not protest, but he refused.
depose from office) set aside the "Replacement For-                About one-third of the churches were no longer
mula; " but in 1961 the Synodicals again approached the         represented at the Synod meeting in Rotterdam-Delf-
Liberated with a proposal to work together. Also this           shaven.     They met themselves on November 21 and


212                                                   THE  SiANDARD  BEARER

declared the Synod in Rotterdam-Delfshaven. illegal                    rights under law. . ., DO, with a profound understand-
and a "rump-Synod." In their paper "Contact" they                      ing of the essential importance to a free and open
declared the decisions of the "rump-Synod" to be                       society of freedom of religion in education, of the in-
"idiotic" and approved of the meeting of those oppos-                  dispensability in a pluralistic society of diversity in
                                                                       education, of the stifling conformity in thought and
ing the "rump-Synod."                                                  belief consequent upon a monolithic state educational
       The author of the article speculates that the Liber-            system which is inimical to the most basic principles
ated Churches of Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe                      underlying the democratic way of life, of the great
will, for the most part, remain faithful to the Liberated              national interest in the intellectual and moral develop-
cause, while between one-third and one-fourth will                     ment of every American child, and with a keen aware-
withdraw completely from the denomination. He also                     ness of the consequences for freedom in education of
suggests the possibility that those who withdraw may                   past parental failures to organize for participation in
seek union with either the Christian Reformed Church                   the democratic processes, HEREBY ESTABLISH the
in that country or with the Synodicals.                                CITIZENS FOR EDUCATIONAL FREEDOM, dedicated
                                                                       to the protection and promotion of the civil rights of
       There are several interesting conclusions which the             parents in the education of their children,
author draws from this history.                                              Recognizing that religion is inextricably bound up
       1) He is of the opinion that this history points out            with every educational process, we seek to ensure that
more than ever the need of an  "una  sancta," by which                 no law shall be made or enforced which would deny to
he evidently means a unified protestant church. He                     any citizen the right to fulfill his educational task and
speaks of the need for continued efforts to approach                   responsibilities freely, without the interference of the
the Hervormde  Kerk (State Church) and work along                      state, in a manner consistent with his own reigious
with the World Council of Churches.                                    convictions.      In he pursuit of this freedom, as a non-
                                                                       sectarian organization, we welcome the support, co-
       2) He also finds in this history the impossibility of           operation and participation in our program and or-
maintaining (as the Liberated do) the idea of one true                 ganization of any and every citizen committed to the
church with all the others as false. He speaks of the                  principles of civil liberty and equality under law, ir-
fact "that the group that continues in this way is getting             respective of his own commitment to any particular
more and more enmeshed in their own net; a net, the                    religion or way of life.
sticks of which were already set up  - and that should                                          ARTICLE I
not be forgotten  - in the Secession, the Doleantie and                                          PURPOSE
the Liberation." In other words, his point is that the
Secession under De Cock in 1834, the Doleantie under                         The purpose of this corporation shall be to under-
                                                                       take and promote whatever activities shall contribute
Kuyper  in 1886 and the Liberation under Schilder in                   to the fair and just treatment of all citizens of the
1942 were based upon a one-true-church idea, an idea                   United States of America, including- student citizens,
which has caused nothing but trouble. Hence the solu-                  in the distribution of governmental tax monies for the
tion is to return to the Hervormde  Kerk. While this                  purpose of education, with a view to assuring freedom
may have been true to some extent of the Liberation                    of choice in education to the end that the civil liberties
in 1942, the author is mistaken that this was a chief                  of our citizens shall be secured.
issue, or even the position of  DeCock  and  Kuyper,  in               Although the CEF in its Constitution makes an ex-
the Secession and the Doleantie.                                   plicit point of neither favoring nor opposing federal
       3) Finally, he says that all this only shows how in-        aid to education, it is determined that, should such aid
human, unmerciful, and practically impossible all                  be given, parochial and private schools should share
church discipline really is. And this also fits in with            in it.
the idea of the author that there should be but one prot-              Nor does it explicitly state how it proposes to have
estant denomination, an idea which obviously precludes             these tax dollars distributed for the private and paro-
the possibility of discipline.                                     chial schools, although its defenders have spoken of
       It is difficult to evaluate this history both because       the desire to have the tax moneygiven to the  :pupiZs
the events are sketchy and the reliability of the author           rather than directly to the  schools.  Writing in defense
is doubtful. We shall therefore leave further comment              of the CEF in  Tovch and  Trumpet,   Edwin Palmer says,
for some possible future article.                                            By giving aid to the pupil rather than to the institu-
C E F                                                                  tion, two great advantages are gained. First of all,
                                                                       governmental control over the school is eliminated.
       There has been, in religious circles, considerable              The pupil is interposed between the state and the
discussion of late concerning a new organization that                  school.
has been formed, called the Citizens for Educational                         The G.I. bill is a classic example of how billions of
Freedom (CEF).         We can best learn its purpose from              dollars went to students at all kinds of independent
the Constitution of this organization from which we                    universities without the universities being controlled
quote the Preamble and Article  I which discusses the                  in any way by the government. . . . A second advan-
                                                                       tage concerns the principle of separation of church
purpose.                                                               and state. . . . For the United States, CEF advocates
          WE, citizens of the United States of America, ded-           governmental aid to the pupil rather than to the in-
       icated to the principles of freedom and democratic              stitution.      Such aid could come in the form of a check
       government, and convinced of the paramount import-              to every American student, regardless of race, color
       ance of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, free-           or creed.        The amount given would be the average
       dom of assembly, freedom of inquiry, and equality of            state cost for educating one pupil for one year in the


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     213

   governmental schools. The check could be cashed only       and especially over the institutions it supports. And
   at the schools that comply with the state educational      this is also true of the schools. Any government that
   laws, such as laws for academic quality and number         has a craving for power sets its sights upon the
   of teaching hours per year.                                schools, knowing that to be able to control the minds of
   Notice, however, that while Palmer says that the           the children who are to be the future citizens and
"CEF advocates governmental aid to the pupil rather           leaders of the country is the shortest way to gain
than to the institution," this is not, as far as I can de-    complete control over all of life. And while aid given
termine, included in the Constitution. This is an im-         directly to the parents or students would make control
portant `point. Presumably, if the government would           somewhat more difficult, it would still not be impos-
give tax dollars directly to the schools and refuse to        sible. After all, the government could still withhold
give the money to the students, CEF would not dis-            aid to children attending schools which are not meet-
approve.                                                      ing standards which the government itself sets up. And
   We have, at various times, opposed government aid          surely these standards could easily enough include
to Christian schools on the grounds that 1) the govern-       what subjects are taught and how they are taught, - i.e.,
ment has no business in the field of education which is       from what religious viewpoint.
a parental responsibility; and 2) that receiving govern-         It would still be best if parents who sent their
ment aid  would be inviting government control. If the        children to private and parochial schools would simply
aid would be given directly to the students attending         be reimbursed by the state governments for the amount
schools, the first objection would not fall away although     of tax dollars they pay in support of the public school
the second would be less likely.                              system. There is nothing difficult about that; it would
   Nevertheless, I am still afraid of such aid. It is         be truly just; it would keep the government out of the
well-known that the government is showing an increased        business of education, - at least in our own schools;
interest in gaining control over many areas of life, --
                                     -                        and it would eliminate all possibility of federal control.





                                              THE W.C.C.  - ITS BASIS


                                                  Rev. G. Van  Baven


   Any organization has a certain purpose or reason           Jesus both "God  and Savior." That would seem to
for existence, but also it is motivated by, or based          imply that the W.C.C. could not receive modernists or
upon, certain principles. One can determine the value         "liberals" into its .,fellowship.      For the Constitution
or worth of an organization by examining its basis            further states, "Those churches shall be eligible for
and purpose. Such an examination also ought to reveal         membership in the World Council of Churches which
whether it is proper for a Christian (or a church) to be      express their agreement with the Basis upon which the
member of a specific organization. With this in mind,         Council is founded.. . ."
I intend to present a study of the goals as well as the          But this extremely brief Basis was undermined by
basis of that organization known as the World Council         the Provisional Committee which had called the
of Churches (hereafter known as: W.C.C.). Is this an          churches to join the proposed Council:
organization of which it could be said that it is possible              The Provisional Committee, in the Autumn of 1938,
to belong or not to belong as one might desire? Ought            sent the proposed Constitution, and an invitation to join
membership in this Council be condemned or praised?              the Council on the basis of it.... Along with it went an
   First of all, one must consider the basis for exist-          explanatory memorandum that had been prepared by
ence.    As in most other organizations, the W.C.C;              Archbishop William Temple of England who had been
declares its basis in its constitution.                           elected chairman. . ..In explaining the doctrinal basis,
                                                                 the memorandum said: "It is an affirmation of the
The  Constitutionul  Basis  of  the W.C.C.                        Incarnation and the Atonement. The Council desires
   At its organizational meeting in 1948, the W.C.C.             to be a fellowship of those Churches which accepts
                                                                 these truths.      But it does not concern itself with the
approved a constitution which included this as its               manner in which these Churches interpret them.          It
Basis: "The World Council of Churches is a fellow-               will, therefore, be the responsibility of each particular
ship of Churches which accept our Lord Jesus Christ              Church to decide whether it can collaborate on this
as God and Saviour." That's all. Though the state-               basis."1
ment is so obviously brief, it does seem to include one          Imagine ! This basis stresses possibly two things:
important element, - the divinity of Christ. It calls         the divinity of the Savior, and the atonement (if the


21'4                                                    THESTANDARDBEARER

name "Savior" is supposed to imply that). Yet these                   "might tend to exclude some conscientious Christians
two things can be "interpreted" in any manner! What,                  who Jesus himself would welcome, and thus be con-
then, is left of the Basis? The very little that was                  trary to the ecumenical spirit. I therefore hope that
there in the first place has lost all of its significance.            this Assembly will oppose the motion in anticipation of
It permits membership of those who deny both the                      some more acceptable proposal in the future."2
incarnation and atonement.                                           So the W.C.C. has a Basis which is open to private
        But this original Basis has been revised by the           interpretation. It is a Basis which contains nothing,
Third General Assembly which met at New Delhi,                    nothing binding.
India in 1961. Since the organization of the W.C.C.,
there have been member denominations agitating for an             A Basis Without a Foundation
expand-ed Basis which would include a confession con-                There are many things which could be said about
cerning the Trinity.          At New Delhi, the Basis was         the above Basis. For one thing, it is incredibly brief.
amended as follows: "The W.C.C. is a fellowship of                Certainly many other points of Scriptural truths ought
Churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God               to be emphasized in a Basis before any church which
and Savior according to the Scriptures and therefore              truly loves God's Word would desire to join. I do not
seek to fulfil together their common calling to the               intend in this article to suggest necessary additions -
glory of the one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."              except one.
So, apparently, the enlarged Basis contains the added                The Basis of the W.C.C., though apparently main-
references to Scriptures and to the Trinity.                      taining two or three fundamental Scriptural doctrines,
        But also this, evidently, is subject to the private       fails exactly because it does not insist on the inspired,
interpretation of the individual denominations. Some              inerrant Word of God. It does mention "Scripture,"
of the following remarks were made in the discussion              but that can be interpreted as the constituent members
of this "Basis":                                                  desire. Exactly because the few "doctrines" that are
           By the Remonstrant Brotherhood (Arminian Church)       mentioned in the Basis are not founded upon the
        of the Netherlands: ". . .We are able to agree to the
        final words of the proposed Basis if they are to be       inevvant Scripture, they are open to all kinds of inter-
        regarded as doxology, but we trust that the dogma of      pretation. The Basis rests only upon man's interpre-
        the Trinity may never become rhe touchstone of the        tation of it. Therefore some are ready to recognize
        admittance of the churches into the World Council."       in the last part of the Basis (...one God, Father, Son,
           Dr. Westphal stated that t-he Synod National de        and Holy Spirit) as a "doxology" but assuredly not as
        1'Eglise Reformee de France would accept the new          the "dogma of the Trinity." Then one of the leaders
        Basis as an attempt: to express the mystery of the        of this ecumenical movement could say, "I see nothing
        divine rev$ation which does not intend to impose upon     in the Bible, as critically viewed, which supports this
        the member churches any particular theology.              particularly weak and unintelligible philosophical or-
           The Rev. Clifford W. P. Hansen (Seventh Day
        Baptist General Conference, USA): . ..The proposal        ganization of the nature of God" (C&i&tin Century,
                                                                  Dec. 21, 1960). And one can seewhy one of the present
                                                                  six presidents of the W.C.C., the Most Rev. Arthur
                         IN MEMORIAM                              Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, although he
        Our Choral Society wishes to express its sympathy         too confesses "Jesus Christ as God and  Savior,"
with one of our fellow members, Mrs. Gerrit Holstege              could declare in a newspaper interview in 1961, "Heaven
in the loss of her Father                                         is not a place for professing Christians only. Those
                                                                  who have led a good life on earth but found themselves
                          JOHN DYKEMA                             unable to believe in God will not be debarred from
        May our Covenant God heal the wounds for the be-          Heaven. I expect to meet some present-day atheists
reaved family and make them look for His coming when              there."3       Oh, much more could be quoted, but this
He pill raise the quick and the dead.                             ought to be plain: when the Basis is not founded upon
                             The Hudsonville Choral Society:      the inerrant Scripture, then it is open to any inter-
                                    Paul  Schipper,  President    pretation one pleases to give it.
                                   Betty  Haveman, Secretary         But why, then, is not this important truth included?
                                                                  The advocates of the W.C.C. do have an answer:
                         IN MEMORIAM                                     The criticism of the ecumenical movement for not
        Our Ladies' Society would express its sympathy with          explicitly affirming the authority of Scripture has a
our fellow member, Mrs. Gerrit Holstege, in the loss                 measure of justification. If there were such an avowal
of her Father                                                         in the World Council's constitution, it would be a
                                                                     stronger document for its purpose. But the lack of
                         JOHN DYKEMA                                  such a formula in the constitution by nomeans involves
        God bless her and all the bereaved family. And we             a lack of biblical foundations in the Council. Any
will all look for His second coming on the clouds of                 examination of either its documents for study or of the
heaven.                                                              reports of its Assemblies will provide overwhelming
                                                                     evidence that the Scriptures actually are taken as the
                            The Hudsonville Ladies' Society           authoritative standard.:..
                                 Rev. Gerrit Vos, President              This does not mean that all participants in the
                               Mrs. John Kuiper, Secretary           Council's program describe the authority of the Bible


                                                        THESTANDARDBEARER                                                   215

   in the same way. They would not all say, for example,          arises, how can salt either "preserve" or be a
   that the Scriptures are inerrant in factual data....4          "savor" to that which is thoroughly rotten? As far
    It would be interesting to study all the documents            as I know, that has never been shown. And the official
and meetings mentioned above to `see the correctness              decisions of the W.C.C. show little, if any, of the
or falsity of the claim that "the Scriptures actually             Reformed "influence."
are taken as the authoritative standard...."                        On the basis of the Basis, we must conclude that
    You,know why the W.C.C. will never plainly "affirm            no truly Christian church has a right to belong to the
the authority of Scripture," that is, that Scripture is           W.C.C. How can such unite with others on the basis
inerrant, infallible, inspired Word of God? The whole             of a Basis which contains nothing definite? The little
organization would be "blown apart" by insisting upon             it does contain, is openly, freely refuted by members
this truth. Surely not a very large percentage of the             of the W.C.C.
denominations would agree to such a Basis. Listen                        The injunction of Paul applies, "Be ye not unequally
what the host-pastor `for the Second Assembly at                  yoked together with unbelievers" (II Cor. 6:14). Again
Evanston says concerning Philippians:                             the Word says, "Wherefore come out from among them,
       Who wili deny that Paul made his point, -made it           and be ye separate" (II Cor. 6:17).
   so effectively that it is about all most of us remember               But there are also other reasons why membership
   from the entire letter of the Philippians? (Phil. 3:13ff.)     in the W.C.C. is incompatible with the calling of the
   We forget that he no sooner had made it than his com-          church of Jesus Christ.
   mon sense  tapped him on the shoulder and warned him
   that he may possibly have overmade it....5                     1 Paul Griswold Macy, If It Be of God, Bethany Press,
    That's the common view of the inerrant Scripture.                      p. 63
Listen to another leader of the ecumenical movement:              2 The  New  Delhi  Repovt,  edited by W. A. Visser `t
       Dr. Eugene Carson Blake, stated clerk of theunited                  Hooft, Associated Press, pp. 153-154
   Presbyterian Church in the U.S. . ..answered virtually         3 Louis Cassels, Christian  Pyimev,  Doubleday and Co.,
   scores of questions at an afternoon gathering of the                    pp. 77, 78
   congregation of the church.. . .                               4 Samuel McCrea Cavert, On the Road to Christian
       Asked whether it is true that Bishops James A.                      Unity, pp. 102, 103
   Pike and G. Bromley Oxnam., among others, have cast            5 Harold A. Bosley, What Did the Wovld  Council Say td
   doubt on the Bible, Dr. Blake suggested that those who                   You?, Abingdon Press, pp. 84-85
   question the integrity and judgment of these men read          6 Santa Barbara 
   what they have said and not just listen to what is being                              News-Press,  March 20, 1961
   said about  them....                                           7  Grace Nies F 1  etcher, The Whole  Wovld's  in His
       Regarding his own faith, Dr. Blake said that the                    Hand, E. P. Dutton & Co., p. 36
   heart of the matter is that Jesus Christ is the son of
   God and that absolute adherence to the doctrine of the
   Virgin Birth is not necessary to be a Christian. Asked
   about other religions, he answered that God is the one
   to decide questions of salvation and that "I am not one                           WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   to say." He urged that "we are humble in our judgment          On Feb. 6, 1965, the Lord willing, our dear parents,
   of others."6
   Or, there is this report concerning statements made                         MR. AND MRS. SAMUEL REITSMA
by a W.C.C. member:                                               hope to commemorate their 40th wedding anniversary.
       Equally friendly, the six presidents of the Christian      We are thankful to our covenant God who has given them
   Assembly went to lay a wreath on the samadhi, the              to 
   sacred spot which is the memorial to the greatest of                  US, and that He may continue to bless them as He
                                                                  has done in the past, is the prayer of their grateful
   Indian Hindus, Mahatma Gandhi... . "Wherever the love
   for God and his fellow man sifts down to earth there is        children
   Light, as in Gandhi," one Christian leader said.7                                                    Miss Audrey Reitsma
   Quotes could be. multiplied a hundred-fold. No                                                   Mr. and Mrs. T. Reitsma
wonder the inerrancy of Scripture will never become                                                Mr. and Mrs. G. De Vries
part of `the Basis of the W.C.C. Then too, the Basis                                                  Mr. and Mrs. J. Iconing
necessarily falls as did the house built upon the sand,.                                                       9 grandchildren
On the Basis  of  the  Basis...No
   May a truly Christian denomination belong to such                                RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY
an organization? There is no doubt that denominations             The  Doon, Iowa Ladies Aid wish to express their
considered "evangelical" do belong to the W.C.C., as              sympathy to one of their members, Mrs. Jake Van
the Reformed Church in America. The argument that                 Den Top, in the loss of her sister
we are the "salt of the earth" (Matt. 5:13) is often
used. We must be a good "savor" within such organi-                                 MRS. ELIZABETH VERMEER
zations in order to direct them in a proper Scriptural            May the Lord comfort her and her family in this day
way. We can there "let our light shine." (The same                of sorrow.
arguments are used to support membership in other                                                   Rev.  H. Hanko, President
worldly, "neutral" organizations.) But the question                                       Mrs. Gerald Van Den Top, Secretary


216                                                              THESTANDARD BEARER


                                            %ew  ?kw  the  &Z&e&
                                            rAl1 the saints salute thee . . ." Phil. 4:21)

                                                  JANUARY 20, 1965                 gram committee evidently understands that a conven-
                    REPORT OF  CLASSIS EAST                                        tion cannot rise higher than its purposes.
                               January 6, 1965                                                               * * *
                               At Hudsonville                                           Loveland's Sunday School Christmas Program fea-
               Rev. R. C. Harbach led in opening devotions, and                    tured a song by the entire audience. That was not un-
       declared the Classis  properly constituted, after the                       usual in many of the Christmas programs in our other
       credentials of the various delegates were accepted.                         churches; but the language of the song was, for it was
       All the churches of Classis  East were represented.                         sung in German; the song:  "Die  H&ten Die  Waven Im
               Rev. G. Lanting then presided over this session of                  Felde".
       Classis, which again was a brief session, the material                                                * * *
       mostly routine.                                                                  The front cover of Kalamazoo's Jan. 3rd bulletin
               The brethren M. Klop and R. Teitsma were appointed                  displayed a beautiful lithograph of a white church sur-
       to serve on the finance committee.                                          rounded by birch trees and high snowdrifts. The text
               First Church requested classical appointments,
       which was granted; and the following schedule was                           underneath was, "Thou shalt call his  name, Jesus, for
       adopted, having been prepared by the brethren, Rev. H.                      he shall save his people from their sins." How ap-
       Veldman, H. Meulenberg and J. Boone:                                        propriate, for without the Incarnation of the Son of God
               Jan. 10 (morning) H. Veldman; evenings: Jan. 17  -                  there would be no need for churches: we would yet be
       G. Lanting, Jan.  24- R.C. Harbach,  Jan. 31  -G.                           in our sins.
       Lubbers, Feb. 7  -MM. Schipper, Feb. 14 -G. Vos,                                                      * * *
       Feb. 21 --H. Veldman, Feb. 28 - G. Lanting, Mar. 7 -                             A late (Dec.) news item from Loveland: The Young
       R.C. Harbach, Mar. 14 - G. Lubbers, Mar. 28 -M.                             People's Society invited all the young people of the con-
       Schipper, Apr. 4 -- G. Vos, Apr. 11 -H. Veldman.
               Classis  treated two subsidy requests coming from                   gregation to a caroling tour of the families of the con-
       the consistories of Holland and Kalamazoo. Both of                          gregation Christmas Eve. After the tour the young
       these requests were granted, and Synod will so be                           people were invited to the parsonage for refreshments,
       advised.                                                                    served by the youthful inhabitants of the manse.
          Voting for Synodical  delegates took place with the                                                * * *
       following chosen:  Primi Ministers  - H. Veldman, M.                             The latest report on the condition of Mrs. C. Hanko
Schipper, G. Lanting, and R.C. Harbach.                       Secundi              shows a beginning of restoration from the effects of
       Ministers-G. Lubbers, and G. Vos.  Primi Elders  -                          the stroke she suffered Jan. 5. She is  able to sit up a
       G. Pipe, H. Meulenberg, J. Kalsbeek and R. Teitsma.                         little and has begun taking nourishment orally. The
       Secundi Elders  - S. Newhof, J. King, D. Kooienga and
       S. De Vries.                                                                paralysis affects the entire right side with the excep-
          Delegates ad examina were chosen as follows: Rev.                        tion of the right eye and ear. She is now  able to speak
       H. Veldman for three years, Rev. G. Lubbers for one                         in one word sentences. What the future holds for Mrs.
       year, to fill the unexpired term of Rev. C. Hanko. Rev.                     Hanko is known to God alone, Who knows the end from
       R.C. Harbach was chosen secundus delegate for three                         the beginning. We commit Rev. Hanko's family to His
       years.                                                                      loving care, and trust in Him that He will give grace
          Mr. S. De Vries was appointed to thank the ladies of                     necessary to meet all their needs.
       Hudsonville for their excellent catering service.                                                     ***
          It was decided to meet next time on Wednesday,
       April 7, 1965 in the new church in Holland.                                      Loveland's consistory has decided to conduct wor-
          The Questions of Article 41 of the Church Order                          ship services mornings and evenings through the entire
       were asked and answered satisfactorily.                                     year. Heretofore services were held in the afternoons
          After the concept minutes were adopted, the chair-                       instead of evening during the winter months.
       man addressed the  classis  with appropriate concluding                                               *  *  *
       remarks, and Elder J. Boone closed this session with                             Randolph's pastor, Rev. G. Van  Baren,  was the
       thanks to God, after the classis  sang Psalter Number                       speaker at a Men's Society sponsored lecture in South
       363.                                                                        Holland Jan. 25. His topic was, "Limited Atonement."
                                      M. Schipper, Stated Clerk.                   This and like lectures should be a source of deep
                                  * * *                                            gratitude in us to know that our leaders are still in-
       South Holland's Young People are alreadypreparing                           terested in instructing our people in doctrinal matters.
to help make the next Young People's Convention a                                  May our pastors and teachers always be concerned
success.            At a recent society meeting a round table                      with the Truth, and not be caught up with the present-
discussion on  the purposes of such a convention was                               day trend of world reform. May their weapons  always
held; participants were, Beth Van  Baren,  Dick Haak,                              be the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God!
Steve Poortinga, and Joanne Flikkema. Their  pro-                                       . . . . see you in church.                     J.M.F.


