                                      IIe



                                               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





 IAl. THIS ISSUE:

         Meditation  - Jehovah's People His Portion


         Editorial  =


         Jehovah's Witnesses


         Seeking Rest




                                              Volume  XLI/  Number   lO/  Febnxwy  15, 1965


 218                                                                                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER

                                              CO,NTENTS                                                                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
Meditation -
        Jehovah's People His Portion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...>..... 218                                         Semi-monthly, except monthly during  June, July and August
               Rev. M. Schipper
Editorial  -                                                                                                                                         Published by the Reformed Free. Publishing Association
        "Should  I Prepare For The Ministry?" (6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220                                                                     Editor - Rev. Herman Hoeksema
               Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
A Cloud Of Witnesses  -                                                                                                                      Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
        Seeking Rest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l....... -...I . . . . . . . . . 222        Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S.E., Grand Rapids 7,
               Rev. B. Woudenberg                                                                                                            Mich. Contributions will be limited to 300 words and must be
Trying The Spirits  -                                                                                                                                             neatly written or typewritten.
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              Rev. R. C. Harbach                                                                                                                            1123 Cooper, S.E., Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
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        The Inspiration of the Scriptures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226                                be mailed 3 days prior to issue date, to the address below:
              Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                                                      All matters relative, to subscriptions should be addressed to
The Lord Gave The Word  -
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              Rev. C. Hanko                                                                                                                                          Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
In His Fear -                                                                                                                                        Renewal: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
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              Rev. H. Hanko
Examining Ecumenicalism  -
        The W.C.C.  - Its Goals For The Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
              Rev. G. Van Baren
The Voice Of Our Fathers  -
        God's Government and Sin (Continued) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238                                                  Consisfories!
              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
              Mr. John M. Faber                                                                                                                             The R. F. P. A. Board suggests that you start out

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                                                                                            JEHOVAH'S PEOPLE HIS PORTION

                                                                                                                        Rev.  n/r,  Schippev

                                                         "FOY the  Lovd's   portion  is His people; Jacob is the lot  of  His  inhevit-
                                                        ante."
                                                                                                                                                                  Deutevonom y  329
         A verse in a song!                                                                                                                         The Lord has an elect portion which He claims for
         Such is the tenor of the text inscribed above !                                                                                    His peculiar possession!
         And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation                                                                                        The Lord's portion is His people!
of Israel the words of this song. A prophetic song!                                                                                                 Jacob is the lot of His inheritance!
Uttered just before his death. His final word to that                                                                                               An elect portion!
ancient people.                                                                                                                                     A people about whom Jehovah pulls a cord! Con-
         An explanation of the Lord's doings when Hedivided                                                                                 cerning whom He declares: They are Mine ! All that
to the nations their inheritance!~  When He separated                                                                                       which is outside that line, He reckons not for His in-
the sons of Adam! WhenHe set the bounds of the people,                                                                                      heritance!         Like  .the land of Canaan was divided by
He. did it according to the number of the children of                                                                                       line to each of the tribes of Israel! So the Lord
Israel! All the nations of the world are to make room                                                                                       separates from all the peoples of the world a people
for that pe.ople !                                                                                                                          for a possession!


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                ~219

    The Lord of all pulls that line about His possession!      As far as He is concerned, He is willing that all should
   Creator of heaven and earth is He! Who spoke,               come into His inheritance.
 and all things came into being! ,By Whose word the                But alas I Not all are willing to enter. By far the
 heavens are made and all the hosts of them by the             majority desire to remain outside. The free will of
 breath of His mouth! Strong in power, He calls them           men spoils the good intention of God. God gets only
 all by name, and not one is missed! Who measures              what is left, a small portion of that which He lost. The
 out the waters, and weighs the dust of the earth in a         left-overs become His portion!
 balance !     Who giveth the mountains their place, and           God-dishonoring conception!
 lays the foundations of the deep1                                 According to which God is become small and the
    .Possess'or  of all things ! No one can give Him any-      creature great! The creature, not God, determines the
 thing that is not His own! He declares that all the gold      linel. Salvation depends on the creature who is but dust
 and silver is His! He claims possession of the cattle         and ashes ! Sinful flesh assumes the right to boast that
 on a thousand hills! Whose. planting is all the cedars        it gives itself to the Lord! Puny preachers boasting
 of Lebanon! Who made the angels, ministering spirits,         that they win souls for Christ! God ought to be pleased
 cherubim and seraphim, to worship Him and to be.His.          that He gets any at all, and surprised that there is as
 servants ! Who upholds the devils, and reserves them          much as there is !
 in everlasting chains! Who makes them to serve His                Nay, --not a left-over!
 purpose! Who divided to the nations their inheritance!            Even though it is true that the greatest portion of
 He gives them kings and rulers, and Who also takes            the world is and remains under the power of darkness !
~ them down from their seats, only to set up others that       Even though it cannot be denied that by far the majority
 they may do His pleasure! Who appointed a great con-          never taste Jehovah's goodness ! Even though Scripture
 glomeration of peoples, in order that in the very midst       leaves the impression that the many go.into outer dark-
 of them He might realize the election of grace!               ness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth! God
     Jacob is the Lord's portion!                              forbid that it should ever be said that He takes only
    The lot of His inheritance!                                what is left1
     Esau and the world are wholly rejected!' They do              Rather, an elect kernel in a reprobate shell!
 not come within the line that is laid. They abide out-            God's portion constitutes one whole ! It is one body,
 side, in outer darkness, where there is weeping and           of which Christ is the Head, and His people the mem-
 gnashing of teeth. Objects they are of His holy wrath.        bers of His body. It is an elect kernel which is sep-
 Reprobated to eternal destruction through the way of          arated from its reprobate shell. As the farmer is no
 their sin.     To be destroyed forever, only after they       poorer when the chaff is blown away, but rich with the
 have, served the purpose of their reprobation1 As the         choice kernel that is garnered in his granary, a portion
 husk about the wheat, and as the shell about the nut,         from which separation does not make poorer but
 and as the scaffolding about the building, so they shall      richer, so Jehovah's portion -is separated ultimately
 be brought to nothing, when the building of God shall         from its reprobate element.        Not all Israel is of
 have been erected, when the precious kernel shall have        Israel! Not all nations are His people1 Only His elect
 been harvested!                                               are drawn out by the cord of His covenant!
    Jacob !                                                        A sovereign choice !
     Small and weak! Deceptive and sinful! Helpless,              .It is God Who pulls the line about His portion!
 yet trying in his `own strength to maintain himself in            No one gave Him counsel! No understanding of the
 God's covenant! In the eyes of the world, insignificant,      creature influenced His counsel. No good or evil of
 despised, rejected.      Found as he was in a  waste-         man persuaded His thoughts. No one was with Him
 howling wilderness !                                          when He decided upon His inheritance !
    About him is the line of God's covenant drawn!                 God alone sovereignly decided for Himself. He did
 With him is the covenant of friendship established!           it in sovereign love! When there was no world, when
 Not the great and the mighty, has God chosen, but the         there was no people!
 weak, and the despicable1                                         It was solely His good pleasure! A good pleasure
     A choice possession 1                                     that was sovereignly  free1 But also gloriously, un-
    Not a left-over 1                                          fathomably, profoundly wise; unquestionably righteous
     So, indeed, would some have it! Who insist that           and good! A good pleasure that throbbed with divine
 God wants all for His possession! But man willed it           love 1
 otherwise1 The devil through the temptation took the              And the line is unchangeably fixed and sure1  As
 greatest share of God's possessions. In Paradise God          unchangeable as God Himself! Decisively antithetical !
 possessed all, but the devil made it his possession and       For His portion must shine as light in the midst of
 a kingdom. But now the Lord wants it all'back again.          darkness ! As the -rose in the midst of the thorns ! As
~ He -earnestly desires to redeem all from the power of        the,kernel in the chaff I
 Satan. And that desire is so great and sincere that He            All must work to the realization of this choice!
 gave His only begotten Son, and poured out His life's            `The whole, scheme of redemption: the incarnation;
blood on CaIvary.for  all.. And so Be causes the gospel        with its holy conception and birth of the Son in the ful-
 to be preached to all. It must be declared to all that        ness of time; for the inheritance must be beautified in
 He is gracious' and merciful3 that He loves all men           the image of His Son! The cross: the blood of the atone-
 everywhere, and is not willing that any should perish.        ment which must begoured  out; for that inheritance is


220                                                THE STANDARD BEARER

bought with the precious blood of Jesus ! The resur-          declared Himself to be! How praiseworthy He becomes
rection: of Christ out of the realm of the dead; for He       when He reveals Himself to us as the independent,
must be the first fruits of that heritage that presently      sovereign Jehovah, Who changes not, and we are not
shall stand at the right hand of God! The Spirit of           consumed! How comforting it is to know that God will
Pentecost: the Spirit of the resurrected and living           maintain His purpose in respect to His inheritance!
Redeemer; for He must raise that inheritance out of           God's people are not only His portion, but God is His
its natural-spiritual death to the kingdom of life and        people's portion forever !
light !                                                              And comforting it is because we remain His pos-
       Yea, every creature must serve, and every cir-         session!
cumstance must contribute to the realization of Je-                  No one shall be able to pluck us out of His hand!
hovah's inheritance!        The hosts of angels, who are      We are precious in His sight! And He will guard and
made to be ministering spirits sent forth for God's           protect that which is precious to Him! Then, surely,
elect.       The sun, moon, and stars in their courses!       all the Esaus in the world will not affright us! We
Rain and drought, war and peace, health and sickness,         are .perfectly safe, nestled as we are within the in-
prosperity and adversity, love and hate, saints and           destructible walls of His covenant friendship!
ungodly, devils and hell, life and death, all must work              Besides, all things must work together for our
together for the formation of Jehovah's choice!               good! All things are predetermined to serve unto the
       Abiding comfort !                                      good of that inheritance! All things are so directed by
       For so God remains God!....                            eternal wisdom that God accomplishes His purpose in
       Not so to conceive of Him, is to make an idol. And     us!      By His mighty power He so operates in all the
an idol is a vain thing. Though it may have ears, it          world that every creature wittingly or unwittingly serves
hears not. Though it may have eyes, it sees not. Though       His elect. And in the midst of all these operations He
it may have material substance, it lives not. An idol         graciously works through His Word and Spirit togather
is a god that must be carried about, but it cannot carry      together His beloved. Through the Son, Whom He has
you. It is indeed a vain thing, and they that make them       appointed, and to Whom we are given, are we finally
are like unto them !                                          presented in the assembly of the elect in life eternal,
       How degrading is that conception of God that really    without spot or blemish! Presented to the Father as
makes Him to be a victim of circumstance! How God-            His own!
dishonoring is the thought that His people are an after-             Then shall that people hear Him say: Thou art my
thought !     How displeasing to Him must they be who         portion, the lot of My inheritance!
would let God have what their puny wills were willing                And all the people shall respond:
to concede to Him!                                                   Amen! So, 0 Jehovah, let it forever be!
       How exalted He is when He remains what He has                 Alleluia! Amen!





                                      "SHOULD I PREPARE FOR THE MINISTRY?"




                                            SPIRITUAL QUALIFICATIONS                                                           I

                                                Prof.  H.<  C. Hoeksema

       In what I wrote in my previous article on this         sion last time.        This holy desire for the office of
general subject (cf. January 15 issue, in which the           minister of the Word also presupposes that the aspirant
sub-title, "Are You Qualified?" was omitted through a         possesses certain spiritual qualifications. To these we
printer's error), it was already presupposed that one         now direct our attention.
who prepares for the ministry must desire  the office.
This is also true of the other offices in the church; but     A Minister  Mmt  Be A Child Of God
it would seem to be especially evident in this case,                 This is undoubtedly the first and most basic spiritual
since the initiative comes from the aspirant himself,         qualification. An aspirant to the ministry of the gospel
who applies for admission to the seminary and pre-            must have the conscious assurance that he is a child of
pares with a view to an eventual call. This aspect we         God and that he partakes of the life of the church, that
have already considered in connection with our discus-        is, the life of Christ. Without this consciousness it is,


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 221

 of course, impossible even to desire the office in the         pastor.    Rather I wish to call attention to these re-
 true sense of the word, that is, with a holy desire. And       quirements, and that too, in the light of Scripture, in
 without this consciousness it is certainly impossible to       order then to make a few general observations in re-
 be a true minister of the Word of God.                         gard to them.
     An impossibility this is, both from an objective              As we would expect, it is especially in the pastoral
 and a subjective point of view.                                epistles that we find rather frequent mention of these
     For consider for a moment what an abominable               spiritual qualifications. Sometimes requirements are
 hypocrite a man is when he pretends to be a minister           mentioned which apply to the offices of elder and deacon
 of the Word of God and is himself not a child of God,          as well as that of pastor; sometimes the apostle speaks
 not a living partaker of that which he proclaims to            specifically of the office of minister of the Word, ap-
 others, not a living example of what he proclaims to           plying what he says to Timothy and Titus personally.
 be the sacred calling of others. Because he is not a              Let us take note of some of these passages.
 child of God, he cannot possibly be a living witness.             In I .Timothy 3:1-13 there are several requirements
 A hypocrite such a man is, before God and before men           for the office of elder and deacon mentioned, which,
 and before his own consciousness. How vile! What a             in general, are also applicable to the office of minis-
 horrible incongruity!       What excruciating pangs of         ter: "This is a true saying, If a man desire the office
 conscience such an one must have every time he                 of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then
 occupies the pulpit, every time he administers the             must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant,
 sacrament of holy baptism, every time he administers           sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to
 the signs of the Lord's broken body and shed blood!            teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of
     No, undoubtedly such an one may succeed to be a            filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
 minister of the Word for a time.             There is even     One that ruleth well his own house, having his children
 mention in Scripture of men who preached Christ                in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not
 from an evil motive. Does not Paul speak of such in            how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of
 Philippians 1:15, ff., when he writes: "Some indeed            the church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted up
 preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also           with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
 of good will: The one preach Christ of contention, not         Moreover he must have a good report of them which
 sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: But        are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare
 the other of love, knowing that I am. set for the defence      of the devil. Likewise must the deacons be grave, not
 of the gospel. What then? notwithstanding, every way,          doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of
 whether in pretence,  or in truth, Christ is preached;         filthy lucre; Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure
 and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice?" But          conscience. And let these also first be proved; then
 trme preachers of the Word men who are not children            let them use the office of a deacon, being found blame-
 of God cannot be.                                              less. Even so must their wives be grave, not slander-
     Nor is it possible ultimately for one who is not a         ers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be
 child of God, who is a reprobate, who has no living part       the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their
 in that whereof he preaches, who loves not God, who            own houses well. For they that have used the office
 loves not Christ, who loves not the church, who loves          of a deacon well purchase to themselves agood  degree,
 not nor believes the Word of God, to be a true minister        and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus."
 of the Word of God, objectively speaking. Such an one             To his son Timothy the apostle writes in I Timothy
 may be used by God for a time. God is able for a time          4:7-b that he must exercise himself unto "godliness."
 to build and edify His church through the labors of a          And in the same chapter, verse 12, he writes: "Let
 reprobate.      But eventually such an unbeliever will fall    no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of
 away, will forsake the truth of the gospel, will forsake       the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in
 the flock of Jesus Christ. He will reveal himself as           spirit, in faith, in purity." According to II Timothy
 an hireling, who flees when he sees the wolf coming.           1:5, Timothy was characterized by "unfeigned faith."
 He will manifest himself in the office of a preacher           And in verse 7 of that chapter the apostle speaks of
 just as those hearers who are compared by the Lord             the fact that God has not given them the "spirit of
 to the seed sown on stony ground. He will endure but           fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
for a time; and afterward, when affliction or persecu-          II Timothy 2:1-3 speaks of the requirement of faithful-
 tion arises for the word's sake, he will immediately           ness,' of ability to teach others, and of the ability to
 be offended.                                                   "endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."
     That being a child of God is  the  basic spiritual         In II Timothy  2:22-25 there are several spiritual
 qualification of a minister and of an aspirant to the          virtues mentioned, as follows: "Flee also youthful
 ministry may be accepted, therefore, as axiomatic.             lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace,
     Herein are also implied all the various spiritual          with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
 virtues, principally, which must characterize a min-           But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing
 ister .                                                        that they do. gender strifes. And the servant of the
                                                                Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt
 Specific Spiritual Qualities                                   to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that
     It is not my intention to give a detailed exposition       oppose themselves. . . ." In 11 Timothy 3: 10 the apostle
 of the various spiritual requirements for the office of        speaks of his own "doctrine, manner of life, purpose,


222                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER

faith, longsuffering, charity, patience."                        in faith, endowed with Christian graces, and pure in
       Also in the epistle to Titus there are some perti-        walk.
nent passages.       In chapter 1, verses 7 to 9, we read:           2. Because the offices are excellent offices, the
"For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of               various Christian graces are needed and are specially
God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine,          emphasized. Thus, for example, both a member and a
no striker, not given to filthy lucre; But a lover of            minister must be soberminded. But whereas aman that
hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy,             is not as yet as soberminded as he might be may be a
temperate; Holding fast the faithful word." To the               member, he is unfit for the office. Thus it is with
young men Titus must show himself a pattern of good              virtues such as gentleness, patience, etc. These vir-
works, and in doctrine show "uncorruptness, gravity,             tues must be present, and must even be present in
sincerity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned."              special measure, therefore, in a pastor. And is it not
Titus 2:6-8.                                                     a fact of Christian life, after all, that all God's children
       It is well, however, that we have a proper under-         do not possess the same graces in the same measure?
standing of these requirements. Sometimes the im-                    3. Thirdly, these gifts are especially necessary
pression is left as if a minister must be perfect, or            in the man who aspires to the office because, in the
well-nigh perfect, in distinction from other Christians.         first place, the glory of Christ and the name of Christ
But this is surely not the case; and we must not draw            in and through them appears emphatically on the
a sharp line of demarcation between officebearers, or            foreground also before the world.         They above all
aspirants to the office, and the rest of God's people.           must be blameless. And, in the second place, this is
The church must in no wise be divided into ranks of              necessary for the well-being of the church. The pastor
holy, holier, and holiest. Hence, we call attention to           must lead, must teach, must rule, must minister to
the following:                                                   the church. He must, therefore, be an example; and
       1. In general, all the requirements which Scripture       he must be an exemplary Christian, whose pattern
mentions are requirements for all God's people. All              and example other children of God may and will
must be blameless, sober-minded, temperate, patient,             emulate.    And it is in a large measure true: as are
given to hospitality, sound in doctrine, holding the             the officebearers, so is the church.
mystery of the faith in a pure conscience, not given to              But in all this no young man must be moved by
wine, to covetousness, adultery, s 1 and e r, double-            pride, nor by a false sense of modesty. For if he
tonguedness, etc. We may generalize still further, and           possesses these gifts, he has nothing whereof to boast
say that except for a few special qualities, the apostle         in himself.     For he has nothing that he has not re-
says little more than that officebearers must be sound           ceived of the Lord.



                                        A &i%d d& W&&&ed

                                                      SEEKING REST

                                                    Rev.  B.  Woudenbevg

                             Then Naomi  hev  mother in law said unto  hev, My  daughter, shall I
                         not seek  Yest  fov  thee, that it may be well with thee?
                                                                                          Ruth 3:1

       Through the weeks of barley harvest, Ruth gleaned         this secret admiration of heart, without daring to ex-
regularly in the fields of Boaz.         In doing this, she      press it until the harvest was over and the fields were
honored the request of Boaz and the instructions of              left bare without any more barley to harvest, without
her mother-in-law; but she also followed the inclina-            any more grain to glean.
tions of her own heart. She saw in Boaz an ideal man                 In part, this impasse was psychological andnatural.
of Israel, and she enjoyed nothing more than being               Each saw the other in such idealistic terms that he
where she could observe him in his work. He, in turn,            could not imagine that their feelings could be mutual.
enjoyed having her there and showed it in every way              Boaz saw Ruth in the light of her kindness and complete
that he could. The two were deeply in love with each             dedication to her mother-in-law, a perfect example of
other.                                                           a God-fearing young woman, such as was hardly to be
       Nevertheless, their relationship had come to an           found in his day. He could not imagine that she should
impasse.        Neither dared to approach the other any          be genuinely interested in him.         He was somewhat
closer than the relationship of land-owner and gleaner           older than she, and in his mind the difference in years
allowed.      Each labored by the day, preoccupied with          became exaggerated to form an impossible barrier.


                                                 THESTANDARDBEARER                                                 223

Besides, when Ruth appeared, she always still wore           eligible relative which could be refused only to his
her widow's weeds; and he took it to mean that she           public shame.
still felt loyalty and love only for the deceased. On           It was this, more than anything else, that prevented
the other hand, Ruth's feelings toward Boaz were much        Boaz from approaching Ruth with a proposal for
the same. He after all was extremely rich while she          marriage. From the time that he had first met Ruth,
was very poor.        Boaz was a man of noble family in      he was mindful of the fact that he was a relative of
Israel and of immaculate reputation before the law,          Elimelech and his son and that possibly the responsi-
while she was only a Moabitess.         How could he be      bility of a kinsman would fall upon him. Not only
interested in her?                                           because of the attraction which Ruth held for him, but
   Besides this, however, there was an even greater          also because of his serious respect for the law of God,
legal barrier that stood between Boaz and Ruth. It was       he had proceeded immediately to investigate if it were
the law of kinsman responsibility found in Deuteronomy       so. He found, however, that it was not. He found that
25:5-10: "If brethren dwell together, and one of them        there was yet a closer relative to Elimelech, still
die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not       single and eligible to become the husband of Ruth. This
marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother         made it impossible for him to present a proposal of
shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and       marriage to Ruth. If he would and she would accept
perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her. And        his proposal, it would mean that their first child could
it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall      not be counted the rightful heir of Elimelech and
succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that       Chilion because he was not their closest eligible
his name be ,not put out of Israel. And if the man like      relative.    To ignore this would only mean that they
not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's       would be denying the family of Elimelech its rightful
wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My          place within the nation.        The only thing that could
husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother      change that was if this nearer kinsman would refuse
a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my         to marry Ruth according to the law; but it would be
husband's brother. Then the elders of his city shall         presumptuous for Boaz to encourage this. It was Ruth
call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand to it,         that would have to take the initiative to do that. As
and say, I like not to take her; then shall his brother's    long as she did not, Boaz could only assume that as yet
wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and        she was not interested in marriage.
loose his shoe from off his feet, and spit in his face,         Meanwhile, it appears that Naomi and Ruth were
and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that      quite unaware of the existence or at least of the
man that will not build up his brother's house. And his      eligibility of this closer relative. Perhaps, upon her
name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that        return from Moab, Naomi had merely assumed that he
hath his shoe, loosed."                                      was already married and therefore unable to marry
   In order to appreciate this law, we must understand       Ruth even if he might have been willing. She merely
the importance which the true child of Israel placed in      assumed that Boaz was the only one capable of ful-
maintaining his name in the nation of Israel. Israel         filling the responsibility of a kinsman to her family.
was a nation whose viewpoint was always directed             When, providentially, Ruth had been brought to the field
toward the future. This was because God had prom-            of Boaz and a relationship of friendliness haddeveloped
ised that from this nation His kingdom and His               between them, she fully expected that very soon Boaz
promised salvation was to be realized. Although it           would move to fulfill this duty and responsibility. Day
was often evident that the individual Israelite could        after day as Ruth returned from her gleaning, she
not expect himself to live until the realization of the      waited in anticipation of the proposal she felt sure
kingdom, he did find in his children a means by which        would come; but it did not come. There were many
his name and his place in Israel could be maintained         signs of Boaz' kindness and consideration for Ruth;
unto the day when the promises of God would be fully         but never the real thing for which she looked. At last
realized. It was a typical means by which the believing      the work of harvest was over. No longer would there
Israelite saw his own life implanted into the_ life and      be any occasion for Ruth to visit the fields of Boaz.
kingdom of the coming Messiah.                               Naomi found herself disappointed and perplexed that
   It was for this reason that the children of Israel        Boaz had made no move to fulfill his obligations under
considered it to be such a serious thing if a man should     the law, especially because it was apparent that he
die without children. It meant that his name and place       thought most highly of Ruth.
in Israel was cut off from the promisedglory of Israel.        It was then that Naomi determined to press the
Naomi felt this very strongly when her husband and sons      matter further with their own initiative. To Naomi
died without seed in Moab. It was as though the re-          this was a matter of vital importance. Not only was
proach of God had fallen upon them for their sin, and        she concerned about the welfare of Ruth, although that
she grieved because of it. But the law of God made           also was surely included, but she was moved by the
one provision even for such. It allowed that, if the         love-which lived in her for her departed husband and
brother or closest living relative of the man who died       children.    She was determined to do all that she could
would marry his widow, their firstborn child would be        to see that their place within the covenant nation should
counted as the rightful heir to bear the name and the        be maintained.     It is hard for us to appreciate the
place in Israel of the deceased.       In fact, this was     importance which the saints of the Old Testament
counted to be the duty and responsibility of the nearest     attached, to these external, typical relationships; but


224                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER

to them they were of the greatest importance, in-                  In the second place, it must not be thought that
separable from their spiritual relationship to God and          Naomi was encouraging Ruth to be improperly aggres-
His grace.                                                      sive in her relationship with Boaz.         Rather it was
       Thus it was that she called Ruth to her and said,        quite the opposite. The law specified that the widow
"My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it           of a deceased and childless man was free to press
may be well with thee? And now is not Boaz of our               her claim for marriage to his kinsman publicly before
kindred, with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he               the elders of the people.        This Naomi hesitated to
winnoweth barley to night in the threshing floor.               have Ruth do. It was out of consideration for Boaz.
Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy            To press such a public demand would be tantamount
raiment upon thee, and get thee down to the floor: but          to accusing him publicly of neglecting his obligations
make not thyself known unto the man, until he shall             under the law of God. This she did not want to do to
have done eating and drinking. And it shall be, when            Boaz. Her regard and respect for him was much too
he lieth down, that thou shalt mark the place where he          great for that. She did not feel free to subject him to
shall lie, and thou shalt go in, and uncover his feet,          an open shame. Although she could not understand why
and lay thee down; and he will tell thee what thou shalt        as yet Boaz had not moved to do what they expected of
do."                                                            him, she felt sure that if he were reminded of his
       There are several things which we should note            obligation under the law, he would not hesitate to
about this instruction of Naomi to Ruth.                        fulfill it. The course of action which she outlined to
       In the first place, we shouldnote her opening phrase,    Ruth was designed to remind him privately and in as
"My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it           gentle terms as possible how that they felt dependent
may be well with thee?" By seeking "rest" for Ruth,             upon him to preserve for them a place within the nation
Naomi meant much more than merely seeking a husband             and the future of Israel.
for her that she might not need to live out her days as            In her usual gentle and unquestioning way, Ruth
a single woman. What Naomi had in mind was that she             replied to her mother-in-law, "All that thou sayest
should seek for Ruth a place and a family within the            unto me I will do."          She was new in her faith and
nation of Israel, a place where she would no longer be          young in her knowledge of the law; but she held ex-
looked upon as a Moabitess but as a full-fledged mem-           plicit confidence in the instructions of Naomi. She
ber of this covenant nation and, people. It was the rest        would do whatever the law required of her as different
of belonging to and taking part in the life of covenant         and strange as it might be. It was her joy to walk in
communion between Israel and its God.                           the way of the law.





                                                JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES


                                                   Rev. R. C.  Havbach

       A man loaded with aliases is instantly put down as       and yet "not read a page of the Bible" is to "be in the
a shady character. So a religion with aliases condemns          light...have the light of Scripture" (Watch Tower,
itself. Originally this religion was known as "Millen-          Sept. 15, 1910).       To limit oneself to the standard of
nial. Dawnism," invented by the self-styled "pastor,"           Scripture (Isa. 8:20) means to cast oneself into outer
Charles Taze Russell. It became known as "Inter-                darkness, but to accept Russell's ramblings and never
national Bible Students' Association," and lately as            read a page of the Bible means to be in the light! But
"Jehovah's Witnesses." The old name, Millennial                 the most fundamental error of Russellism lies not in
Dawn, may suggest that the pivotal point around which           the field of eschatology, nor in the introduction to
this flight of fancy turns is its strange interpretation        theology, but in theology proper, and there at its most
of the second coming of Christ. Oneof the fundamental           essential point, namely, the doctrine of the trinity.
errors of Russellism (which, by the way, is a better            Russellism ridicules the idea of the trinity.
nomenclature than "Jehovah's Witnesses") is that of                Russellism prefers the defeated heresies of Arian-
rationalism.      Scripture is not the only infallible rule     ism and Socinianism to the time-tested Athanasian and
of faith and practice, but it is Scripture wherever the         Nicene creeds, which, though of centuries' standin-g  are
same is not contrary to human reason, plus Russell's            not old. The truth is never old. The lie comes with
"Scripture Studies," which "are not merely comments             the boast of antiquity, but garbed with a halo and the
on the Bible, but...are practically the Bible itself..."        latest styles.      Russellism is a modern dress of old
To read the Bible without these "Studies" is to "go             Arianism. However, Russellism is not, as one might
into darkness." But to read these "Scripture Studies"           suppose, consistently Unitarian. It seems to prefer a


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                               225

duality, rather than a trinity. For the "pastor" in his         It is perfectly true that "the term `trinity' is not
Millennial Dawn  states, "We learn that Jehovah, who         found in the Bible," but neither are such terms as
alone possessed immortality originally, has highly           "independent" or "inherent." Yet the term trinity
exalted His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to the same          rather well defines the biblical doctrine of God. The
divine, immortal nature; hence he is now the express         statement that "the trinity. . .was a part of the popular
image of the Father's person (Heb. 1:3). So we read,         pagan philosophy of Plato" does not come documented
`As the Father hath life in himself' (God's definition       with reference, so that we have no way of checking into
of `immortality' - life in himself -- not drawn from         what sort of trinity Plato may have been dabbling.
other sources, nor dependent on circumstances, but           Certainly the idea of the ontological trinity never came
independent, inherent life); `so hath he given to the Son    from Plato, nor from any other of the heathen phil-
to have  Eife  in himself' (Jn.  5:26)" (Vol. I, 211). If    osophers.    But speaking of what is not found in the
this immortal life is independent and inherent in and        Bible, consider the whole of Russellism; or merely
alone possessed by the Father, how could it be com-          consider Russellism's strange doctrine of Christ's
municated to the Son? If the Son, a mere creature by         second coming.        This is the queer idea that Christ
Russellite standards, was exalted to the Godhead,            returned in 1874.       "The harvest of this age began
God's "same divine, immortal nature," how could the          with the presence of the Lord at the beginning of
Son then be independent of the Godhead? And if the Son       earth's great Jubilee in 1874. . .and ends with the
is lifted to the nature divine, having the same inherent     overthrow of Gentile Power in A.D. 1914. .  ." (Millenn.
immortality which God alone has, then there are two          Dawn, Vol. I, 156). Is this claim supported by Scrip-
separate Gods! They are independent of each other,           ture? Russell not only doubts it but denies it. "The
each has inherent life "not drawn from other sources"        reader. . .must not expect to have passages of Scrip-
and not "dependent on circumstances," yet as Russel-         ture pointed out in which these matters and dates are
lites have it, the one God created the other God! They       plainly written. On the contrary, he must bear in mind
have no trinity, but they have a kind of duality, as one     that all these things have been hidden by the Lord in
absolute independent plus one absolute independent           such a manner that they could not have been under-
equal two absolute independents.        With this their      stood or appreciated, until the due time had come, and
"rationalism" goes down the drain.                           then only by his earnest, faithful children, who esteem
   Russellites cannot properly be said to ridicule the       truth more precious than rubies" (ibid., Vol. II, 171).
trinity, for God is not mocked; nor the doctrine of the      By the words "until the due time had come" is meant,
trinity, for they are practically ignorant of the same.      until Millennial Dawn had beenwritten. God was pleased
What they ridicule is the idea of a trinity. In their        to reveal the date of Christ's return, not in the Bible,
tract "The Trinity - Divine Mystery or Pagan Myth?"          but in these ramblings of Russell! To find intellectual
we find the question, "How can there be three Gods           satisfaction in this amazing stretch of imagination the
and yet but one God?" To whom do they direct this            reader need only take Russell's word for it,
question? To trinitarians? Then they may expect no              The Watch Tower tract goes on to say, "According
answer. For the trinitarians never thought there were        to the historian Hislop: `The recognition of the trinity
three Gods and yet only one God. The truth is, they          was universal in all the ancient nations of the world.' "
stand out in the cold and direct their question to a         No documentary reference is provided at this point,
straw man.     The tract goes on, "How can there be          either. But Hislop, certainly, would appreciate being
three Omnipotents?" How, indeed! But trinitarians            honestly quoted. This is what he really said: "While
never thought there could be three omnipotents, nor          overlaid with idolatry, the recognition of a trinity was
does trinitarian doctrine necessarily imply the ab-          universal in all the ancient nations of the world, prov-
surdity.    But apparently "Pastor" Russell thought          ing how deep-rooted in the humanrace was the primeval
there could be two absolute independents.                    doctrine on this subject, which comes out so distinctly


                                         CHANGE IN COPY DEADLINES

   YOUR ATTENTION is called to the fact it has be-           a process involving several steps which must follow
come necessary to change the copy deadlines for the          a rather exact schedule if our magazine is to be in the
Standuvd  Beaver to the 1st and the 15th of the month.       mail on time. Besides, the several steps involve the
This means that all copy, both regular contributions         work-schedules of several individuals and offices.
and correspondence, for the issue of the first of the        Hence, if the Star&&d Beaver is to appear on time and
month must be in the editor's hands on the fifteenth of      in its full 24-page format, we need one hundred per
the preceding month; and all copy for the issue of the       cent cooperation.
fifteenth of the `month must be in by the first of that         This is also a good opportunity to emphasize that
month.                                                       our News Editor can publish no news unless it is sent
   I wish to emphasize that these are hard-and-fast          to him. It is an easy matter, requiring no more than         I
deadlines; there is no "rubber" in them; the publishing      five minutes a week, for the pastor or clerk of each
of any late copy cannot be guaranteed. This is due to        congregation to mail a bulletin to Mr. Faber. Please
the fact that the publication of the Standard  Beaver is     keep this in mind1


226                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER

in Genesis" (The Two Babylons,  18, emph. added).               add that sum, and as everyone else does, come up
What Hislop, himself a trinitarian, really taught was           with 3, which illustrates our point that there are three
that the Bible doctrine of the trinity was mimicked by          Persons in the Godhead. But who says we are to add
the heathen religions of the world, and that "all such          (1 plus 1 plus 1 equals 3)? Why not multiply, thus:
representations of the Trinity necessarily and utterly          1 x 1 x 1 equals 1.
debase the conceptions. . .in regard to that sublime
mystery of our faith" (ibid., 17). The idea of God's                This article is not intended to examine Russellism
unity (which Russellites think they know so much                in any comprehensive way, but to refute it along the
about) is also found (perverted) in -heathenism, but            lines of its most fundamental error.        Space, then,
Hislop says of this, "So utterly idolatrous was the             permits only one argument in favor of the doctrine of
Babylonian recognition of the Divine unity, that Jehovah,       the trinity.      "Hearken unto me, 0 Jacob and Israel,
the living God, severely condemned His own people for           my called: I am he; I am the first, I am also the last"
giving any countenance to it. . .(Isa. 66:17)" (ibid., 16).     (Isa.  48:12).     Who is the speaker here? Who is this
The doctrine of the trinity was not borrowed from the           first and the last?       Is he not the Almighty God who
heathen religions, but the heathen religions have their         says, "I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and
own perversions, a tri-theism, or one form or other             the ending, saith the Lord, who is and who was and who
of the errors of Christendom, that of a modal trinity           is to come, the Almighty" (Rev.  1:8)? Isn't he God,
or a "dispensational trinity." This is all far afield           the one who is the first and the last? Furthermore,
from the biblical, essential trinity.                           does not the Son of God claim to be the first and the
       Russellites like to inform us that I John 5:7, one of    last? Russellites, please answer. Did not the Son say,
the "trinity texts," has been rejected as spurious by           "I am the first and the last" (1:17) and claim "I am
all modern Bible authorities." This is ,not all that            Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first
modevn!Bible  authorities reject.        What  haven't  they    and the last" (22:13)? Then isn't the speaker in Isa.
rejected?      Admitted, too, is the fact that this text is     48 the Son of God? Nowglancedown at verse 16, where
not found in some of the authoritative manuscripts.             we read, "Come ye near unto me, hear ye this. . .from
But the reader is referred to John Gill's commentary            the time that it was, there am I. . ." Who utters these
at this point, where he will find that there are other          words? Who is it here claiming to be "from the be-
in fact, all kinds of trustworthy and authoritative sup-        ginning"? Who else but the same speaker, not another,
port for receiving this text, which we do, unhesitatingly       but the one who spoke all the words from verse 12
and wholeheartedly; although we do not need to appeal           onward, the one who is the first and the last? Notice
to it in proving the trinitarian position.        Nor have      what follows: "and now the Lord God and his Spirit
trinitarians ever tried to prove the trinity from John          hath sent me." To whom does this "me" refer?
1:l; It may contribute something to the argument, but           Certainly none other than the same speaker through-
what it proves is the essential deity of Jesus Christ           out, the first and the last. Well, now, he states, "the
the Son of God.        How puerile, then, to charge, what       Lord God," (certainly you recognize Adonai Jehovah!)
trinitarians never claimed, that this text would not            "and his Spirit," another Person (God, at that! Acts
prove a trinity. At best, says Russellism, it proves a          5:3f), "hath sent me", Me, the First and the Last!
duality. But we have no dualism within our doctrine of          Mark this, it was Jehovah, the first Person of the
God. Russellism itself has the duality, for it trans-           trinity, together with the Holy Spirit, the third Person
lates, "the Word was with God, and the Word was a               of the trinity, who sent the Son, the second Person of
god" (preferring the New World Translation). The                the trinity, into the world to be born of the Virgin
Father, a God, and the Word, a god, supplies Russell-           "from the womb: from the bowels of My mother"
ism's two gods. This religion, like Modernism, re-              (49:l).    This is solid proof that the God of the Bible
gards the doctrine of the trinity as "arithmetical              is the triune God.       Until Russellism disproves this
absurdity." We are charged with that absurdity since,           doctrine, it cannot demand our attention to other of
they say, we add: 1 plus 1 plus 1 and get 1. No, we             its many shocking incongruities.





                                    THE INSPIRATION OF THE  SC.RlPTURES

                                                     Rev.  H.  Veldman

According To The Fathers  (continued)                           as viewed during this early period of the church in the
       Philip  Schaff, in his "History of the Christian         new dispensation.
Church," discusses in Vol. II the period of the Church             In this chapter he first discussed the question of
from 100 to 311 A.D. In Chapter 138, pages 516 ff.,             the sources and rule of Christian knowledge during this
he calls attention to the Holy Scriptures and the Canon         period of the Church, and we quote: "This source and

                                      \.


                                                        THESTANDARDBEARER                                                  227

this rule of knowledge are the holy scriptures of the                   "Concerning the other seven books, the `Antilego-
Old and New Covenants. Here at once arises the in-                   mena' of Eusebius, viz. the Epistle to the Hebrews,
quiry as to the number and arrangement of the sacred                 the Apocalypse, the second Epistle of Peter, the sec-
writings, or the canon, in distinction both from the                 ond and third Epistles of John, the Epistle of James,
productions of enlightened but not inspired church                   and the Epistle of Jude, --the tradition of the church
teachers, and from the very numerous and in some                     in the time of Eusebius, the beginning of the fourth
cases still extant apocryphal works (Gospels, Acts,                  century, still wavered between acceptance and rejec-
Epistles, and Apocalypses), which were composed in                   tion (Eusebius was a father of Church History, who
the first four centuries, in the interest of heresies or             lived toward the close of the third century and at the
for the satisfaction of idle curiosity, and sent forth               beginning of the fourth. H.V.). But of the two oldest
under the name of an apostle or other eminent person.                manuscripts of the Greek Testament which date from
These apocrypha,  however, did not all originate with                the age of Eusebius and Constantine, one --the Sinaitic
Ebionites and Gnostics; some were merely designed                    -- contains all the twenty-seven books, and the other --
either to fill chasms in history of Jesus and the                    the Vatican - was probably likewise complete, although
apostles by fictitious stories, or to glorify Christianity           the last chapters of Hebrews (from 11:14), the Pastoral
. . . . . .in the way of pious fraud at that time freely allowed.    Epistles, Philemon, and Revelation are lost. There
    "The canon of the Old Testament descended to the                 was a second class of Antilegomena, called by Eusebius
church from the Jews, with the sanction of Christ and                `spurious', consisting of several post-apostolic writ-
the apostles. The Jewish Apocrypha were included in                  ings, viz. the catholic Epistle of Barnabas, the first
the Septuagint and passed from it into Christian ver-                Epistle of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians, the
sions. The New Testament canon was gradually formed,                 Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians, the Shepherd of
on the model of the Old, in the course of the first four             Hermas, the lost Apocalypse of Peter, and the Gospel
centuries, under the guidance of the same Spirit, through            of the Hebrews: which were read at least in some
whose suggestion the several apostolic books had been                churches, but were afterwards generally separated
prepared. The first trace of it appears in the second                from the canon. Some of them are even incorporated
Epistle of Peter (3:15), where a collection of Paul's                in the oldest manuscripts of the Bible, as the Epistle
epistles is presumed to exist, and is placed by the side             of Barnabas and a part of the Shepherd of Hermas
of `the other scriptures.' The apostolic fathers and the             (both in the original Greek) in the CodexSinaiticus,  and
earlier apologists commonly appeal, indeed, for the                  the first Epistle of Clement of Rome in the Codex
divinity of Christianity to the Old Testament, to the                Alexandrinus.
oral preaching of the apostles, to the living faith of                  "The first express definition of the New Testament
the Christian churches, the triumphant death of the                  canon, in the form in which it has since been univer-
martyrs, and the continued miracles. Yet their works                 sally retained, comes from two African synods, held
contain quotations, generally without the name of the                in 393 at Hippo, and 397 at Carthage, in the presence
author, from the most important writings of the apostles,            of Augustine, who exerted a commanding influence on
or at least allusions to those writings, enough to place             all the theological questions of his age. By that time,
their high antiquity and ecclesiastical authority beyond             at least, the whole church must have already become
all reasonable doubt.          The heretical canon of the            nearly unanimous as to the number of the canonical
Gnostic Marcion,  of the middle of the second century,               books; so that there seemed to be no need even of the
consisting of a mutilated Gospel of Luke and ten of                  sanction of a general council. The Eastern Church,
Paul's epistles, certainly implies the existence of an               at all events, was enirely independent of the North
orthodox canon at that time, as heresy always pre-                   African in the matter. The Council of Laodicea (363)
supposes truth, of which it is a caricature.                         gives a list of the books of our New Testament with
    "The principal books of the New Testament, the                   the exception of the Apocalypse.       The last canon,
four Gospels, the Acts, the thirteen Epistles of Paul,               which contains this list, is probably a later addition,
the first Epistle of Peter, and the first of John, which             yet the long-established ecclesiastical use of all the
are designated by Eusebius as `Homologumena,' were                   books, with some doubts as to the Apocalypse, is
in general use in the church after the middle of the                 confirmed by the scattered testimonies of all the
second century, and acknowledged to be apostolic, in-                great Nicene and .post Nicene fathers, as Athanasius
spired by the Spirit of Christ, and therefore authori-               (d. 373), Cyril of Jerusalem (d. 383), Gregory of Naz-
tative and canonical. This is established by the testi-              ianzum (d.  389), Epiphanius of Salamis (d.  403),
monies of Justin Martyr, Tatian, Theophilus of Antioch,              Chrysostom (d. 407) etc. The name Novum Testamen-
Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, and Ori-                turn, also Novum Instvumentum (a juridical term con-
gen, of the Syriac Peshito (which omits only Jude, 2                 veying the idea of legal validity), occurs first in
Peter, 2 and 3 John, `and the Revelation), the old Latin             Tertullian, and came into general use instead of the
Versions (which include all books but 2 Peter, Hebrews,              more correct. term New Covenant. The books were
and perhaps James and the Fragment of Muratori;                      currently divided into two parts, `the Gospel' and `the
also by the heretics, and the heathen opponent Celsus                Apostle,' and the Epistles, in the second part, into
-persons and documents which represent in this                       Catholic or General, and Pauline. The Catholic canon
matter the churches in Asia Minor, Italy, Gaul, North                thus settled remained untouched till the time of the
Africa, Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. We may therefore                Reformation when the question of the Apocrypha and
call these books the original canon.                                 of the Antilegomena was reopened and the science, of


228                                                THE STANDARD BEARER

biblical criticism was born. But the most thorough             generally, with a few exceptions, (Chrysostom and
investigations of modern times have not been able to           Jerome) had scarcely an idea of grammatical and
unsettle the faith of the church in the New Testament,         historical exegesis.
nor ever will."                                                   "Origen was the first to lay down, in connection
       So, the source and rule of knowledge of the church      with the allegorical method of the Jewish Platonist,
in the early period of the new dispensation were the           Philo, a formal theory of interpretation, which he
holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament.                  carried out in a long series of exegetical works re-
       Concerning the origin and character of the apostolic    markable for industry and ingenuity, but meagre in
writings, Philip Schaff continues as follows: "As to           solid results. He considered the Bible a living organ-
the origin and character of the apostolic writings, the        ism, consisting of three elements which answer to
church fathers adopted for the New Testament the               the body, soul, and spirit of man, after the Platonic
somewhat mechanical and magical theory of inspira-             psychology.      Accordingly, he attributed to the scrip-
tion applied by the Jews to the Old; regarding the             tures a three-fold sense; (1) a somatic, literal, or
several books as composed with such extraordinary              historical sense, furnished immediately by the mean-
aid from the Holy Spirit as secured their freedom              ing of the words, but only serving as a veil for a higher
from errors (according to Origen, even from faults of          idea; (2) a psychic or moral sense, animating the first,
memory). Yet this was not regarded as excluding the            and serving for general edification; (3) a pneumatic
writer's own activity and individuality. Irenaeus, for         or mystic and ideal sense, for those who stand on the
example, sees in Paul a peculiar style, which he at-           high ground of philosophical knowledge. In the appli-
tributes to the mighty flow of thought in his ardent           cation of this theory he shows the same tendency as
mind. The Alexandrians, however, enlarged the idea             Philo, to spiritualize away the letter of scripture,
of inspiration to a doubtful breadth. Clement of Alex-         especially where the plain historical sense seems un-
andria calls the works of Plato inspired, because they         worthy, as in the history of David's crimes; and in-
contain truth, and he considers all that is beautiful          stead of simply bringing out the sense of the Bible, he
and good in history, a breath of the infinite, a tone,         puts into it all sorts of foreign ideas and irrelevant
which the divine Logos draws forth from the lyre of            fancies. But this allegorizing suited the taste of the
the human soul.                                                age, and, with his fertile mind and imposing learning,
       "As a production of the inspired organs, of divine      Origen was the exegetical oracle of the early church,
revelation, the sacred scriptures, without critical dis-       till his orthodoxy fell into disrepute. He is the pioneer,
tinction between the Old and New Covenants, were               also, in the criticism of the sacred text, and his
acknowledged and employed against heretics as an in-           `Hexapla' was the first attempt at a Polyglot Bible.
fallible source of knowledge and an unerring rule of
Christian faith and practice. Irenaeus calls the Gospel           "In spite of the numberless exegetical vagaries
a pillar and ground of the truth. Tertullian demands           and differences in detail, which confute the Tridentine
scripture proof for every doctrine, and declares, that         fiction of a `unanimis consensus patrum,' (unanimous
heretics can,not  stand on pure scriptural ground. In          opinion of the fathers - H.V.) there is still a certain
Origen's view nothing deserves credit which cannot be          unanimity among the fathers in their way of drawing
confirmed `by. the testimony of scripture.                     the most important articles of faithfrom the Scriptures.
       "The exposition of the Bible was at first purely        In their expositions they all follow one dogmatical
practical, and  dzsigned for direct edification. The           principle, a kind of analogia fidei."
controversy with the  Gnostics called for a more                  Hence, although it must be granted that there was
scientific method.       Both the orthodox and heretics,       much allegorizing of the Word of God during the early
after the fashion of the rabbinical and Alexandrian            period of the church in the new dispensation, we may
Judaism, made large use of allegorical and mystical            surely say that the Word of God was accepted by the
interpretation, and not rarely lost themselves amid            church of God as the inspired Word of God and of the
the merest fancies and wildest vagaries. The fathers           Holy Spirit.



                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                 Mr. and Mrs. George Westrate
                                                                                     Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Wierenga
On Feb. 25, 1965, our parents,                                                       Mr. and Mrs. Joe Schut
            MR. AND MRS. HENRY A. SCHUT                                              Mr. and Mrs. Howard De Jonge
                                                                                     Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Wiersema
will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.                                       23 Grandchildren
       We the children, are thankful to God for all the                               5 Great Grandchildren
blessings we have received through them and for                Open House
sparing them these many years. May He continue to              Hudsonville Prot. Ref.  .Church
sustain them with His grace through their remaining                           Basement
years.                                                         2:00  to 4:00 p.m.
       The children: Mr. and Mrs. Albert Schut                 7:00  to 9:00 p.m.


                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      229



                                  7h Ad gaug 7b Wmd . . .
                                                                                       (Psalm  68:ll)


                            THE EVANGELICAL APPROACH IN THE NEW DISPENSATION


                                                          Rev.  CO  Hank0

        Last time we saw that in Revelation  6 the four            elusive, slippery definition of preaching which plays
     Apocalyptic Horsemen, are sent out to carry out the           out its definitions between dialectics of the "one and
     counsel of God unto the consummation of the ages.             the many."      The gospel announces its message and
     The white horse which went forth `*conquering and to          calls men to decision and the message that is object
     conquer" is the triumph of the kingdom of heaven              of decision is the same for all."
     throughout the new dispensation. This triumph of the              Although I would hate to be responsible for the kind
     kingdom of heaven is attained through the preaching           of preaching that is described in this criticism and
     of the Gospel unto the uttermost ends of the earth.           realize that I ana setting-myself wide open for the ac-
     The white horse carried out the mandate of Christ to          cusation of giving another "slippery and evasive" ex-
     His church, "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations,         planation of the preaching of the Gospel that does not
     baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the          proclaim a universal love of God and auniversal atone-
     Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Matth. 28:19.                    ment of the cross, I nevertheless want to make a few
I       This can only mean that the kingdom of heaven is           remarks in answer to this charge.
     realized through the condemnation and destruction of              I wonder whether the defenders of a "God-loves-
     all the forces of darkness that oppose God and His            you and Christ-died-for-you" gospel have ever asked
     cause upon the earth. The Gospel always has an anti-          themselves why this all-important statement does not
     thetical power, since it is a savour of life unto life for    appear in the prophets of old, in the ministry of Jesus,
     those who are saved by it, but it is at the same time a       and in the preaching of the apostles. Was their preach-
     savour of death unto death for all those who oppose it.       ing also lacking in a proper personal approach? Is the
     As our Lord states in Mark 16:15, 16, "Go ye into all         message of God's dear Son, without any human ad-
     the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.           mixture, ever in danger of being lacking in a personal
     He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but         approach? The truth demands a decision. But the truth
     he that believeth not shall be damned."                       also brings about a decision, so that no individual ever
        The contention is being made that the Gospel con-          comes in contact with the Word of God without person-
     tains no glad tidings unless we can say to every indi-        ally taking a position for or against it. That Word
     vidual who hears the Gospel that God loves him and            never returns void.
     that Christ died for him.      It is said that there is no        That is very obvious from the fact, that the Gospel
     addressability, no real message for the individual,           is always specific, distinctive, and personal. No other
     unless we say to each and every person that God loves         "gospel" carries the power of the distinctive Word of
     him and that Christ died for him.           Therefore all     our God.      Take, for example, the familiar words of
     preaching must fail to produce the desired results            Jesus in Matthew 11:28, "Come unto me, all ye that
     unless we speak of a universal love and a universal           labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
     atonement.                                                    Jesus is speaking to very definite individuals, or
        Thus, for example, James Daane writes in the Re-           "creatures." He is speaking to those who "labor and
     formed  Jouml of December, 1964,  "I have read many           are heavy laden." Every one who hears that Gospel
     accounts of how the gospel should be preached without         message must and will decide for himself whether or
     saying, or appearing to say to each hearer that God loves     not this applies to him.              Just as other passages of
     him and that Christ died for him. We have been told           Scripture place him before the question whether he
     that the gospel must be preached to all as a group, yet       knows the true sorrow for sin that works repentance,
     its content is only for the elect; or, in a way that dif-     whether he thirsts after the living God, whether he
     fers only in words, that it ,must be preached to all men      hungers after Christ Who is the Only true Bread of
     as a generality, while its special message is only for        life, whether he is wretched, and miserable, and poor,
     particular elect men. Yet these explanations are al-          and blind, and naked in his sins, so also the call to
     ways slippery and evasive; none of them is satisfactory,      the sinner who labors under the burden of sin and is
     unless one is satisfied by mere verbalism. We may             being crushed by his guilt before God distinguishes the
     be thankful that Jesus taught that the gospel can be          regenerated sinner from one who hates God and loves
     preached not only to "all nations," but also to "every        unrighteousness.        The regenerated sinner will say:
     creature."     This means that whatever the act of            "What must I do to be saved?", and will hear the voice
     preaching is, it can be done to the single individual as      of Jesus saying, "Come unto me". But the unregener-
     well as to a group. This consideration rules out an           ate, who is still dead in trespasses and sins will say:


230                                                 THESTANDARDBEARER

"Am I blind?" John  10:40. "No, on the contrary, `I             hatred and jealousy against each other, determined to
am rich and enriched, and increased with goods, and             brush aside all opposition and set up a world empire
have need of nothing." Rev. 3:18.                               that will give glory and honor and carnal satisfaction
       Those who believe the Word are the regenerate            to the creature. "And ye shall hear of wars, and ru-
who are brought to repentance by the work of the Spirit         mors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all
in their hearts. They hear because they are Christ's            these things must come to pass, but the end is not
sheep. John 10:27. They are assured that salvation              yet. For nation must rise against nation, and kingdom
is by faith, and by faith alone. As Paul assures the            against kingdom, . . . . . All these are the beginning
Philippian jailer, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,           of sorrows (birthpangs)." Matth.  24:6-8.
and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Since the                 This has been the plain course of history. Espe-
Word continues to work its power in the hearts of the           cially in those countries where the Gospel has been
regenerate, faith is brought to consciousness, so that          preached and the church has been established there
the repentant sinner confesses, "Lord, I believe, help          appeared  over  against the church a "form of godli-
thou my unbelief." He experiences in his own heart              ness," a "christianization," even a development of
the truth of the Gospel, "For by grace are ye saved             "culture." And with it there arose the bitterness and
through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift       hatred of the one nation against the other as they
of God." Eph. 2:8.                                              strove for supremacy. All the efforts that are made
       But, on the other hand, the unrepentant sinner also      toward a universal peace among men must always fail.
` `makes a decision." He has no need of that specific           As long as greed for power in defiance of God and
Rest that is given to those who are laboring and heavy          striving for supremacy in opposition to Christ continue
laden. He despises the "Water of life." He rejects              to exist in this world one war is pregnant with new
the "Bread of life," just as determinedly as the Jews           wars.      The peace conferences that settle the differ-
of Capernaum when Jesus refused the earthly crown.              ences of one war become the seed bed for new dis-
John 6:64,66.      And the reason for this is not because       sensions and conflicts. The war to end war results in
Jesus failed to tell him of God's universal love and            worse wars, through a long and bitter conflict as the
Christ's universal atonement, but because. he was not           second horse carries out its mandate upon the earth.
drawn by the Father. John 6:65. He believes not be-             Even the reign of antichrist must be concluded with
cause he is not of Christ's sheep. John 10:26. In the           the great final battle of Armageddon and the return of
great day of days Christ says to him, "I know you not."         our Lord Himself with the clouds of the heavens. For
Matt.  25:12.       "The wrath of God abideth (notice:          the nations of the earth must serve for the return of
abideth; not: cometh; but was and remains) on him."             Christ.
John 3:36.                                                         Therefore there is the third seal that is broken and
       Therefore the white horse of Revelation 6 is followed    the third voice that commands: "Come." And I be-
by three other horses which must also fill their man-           held, and lo a black horse, and he that sat on him had
date throughout the history of the new dispensation.            a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in
The second seal is opened, and the second beast says,           the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat
"Come." "And there went out another horse that was              for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny,
red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to             and see thou hurt not the oil andthe wine." Rev. 6:5,6.
take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one           Black is the symbol of scarcity and want. This is
another; and there was given unto him a great sword."           especially true in the light of the fact that the rider
Rev. 6:5.                                                       carries in his hand a balance, which signifies that he
       This second horse has the appearance of fire,            has control over the economic affairs of mankind. A
"fire-red," which is the symbol of war and bloodshed            measure of wheat sold for a penny is the bare existence
and destruction. The fact that the rider carries a great        for the common working man, while the fact that the
sword only confirms the idea of bloodshed and des-              wine and the oil are left untouched points to the abun-
truction. Besides, we are told that the rider, -who di-         dance of the rich. As this third horse is sped on its
rects the course of this red horse throughout this dis-         way the sinful greed of humanity reveals itself in in-
pensation, has been given power to take peace from the          dustry and commerce, in business and corporations.
earth. He carries out the counsel of God, even as to            The rich grow richer at the expense of the poor, and
Christ is given all power in heaven and on earth.               the poor find it increasingly difficult to survive under
       The thoughts of many hearts are revealed. Those          the oppression of the rich. No mere outward reforms,
who hate God and His Christ manifest that hatred also           no labor organization, no legislation .or dreams of a
against the neighbor. The bold defiance against God             "Great Society" can ever change that situation. For
causes the nations to rage and the peoples to imagine           sinful pride and greed are never cured except by re-
vain things.      The kings of the earth set themselves,        generation and conversion. For this is also the judg-
and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord,         ment of the living God against those Who despise God's
and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their            Name and reject His Christ. The wonder of it is, that
bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us."              the church in the meantime, usually consisting of the
Ps. 2:1-3. In wicked pride the inhabitants of the earth         poor and oppressed, lives contentedly by receiving her
strive to be as God and seek to have dominion over all          bread from the hand of her heavenly Father, even as
things and subdue' all things to their proud and carnal         Elijah did, or as Israel was fed in the wilderness. En-
purposes. Glowing with pride and greed they burn in             during with patience the present trials of her faith she


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                231

confesses: "I shall not want."                               Death and grave wait for no man. Their hunger is
   Finally the fourth horse is sent on its way. "And         never sated. The daily papers tell of the hundreds of
I looked, and behold, a pale horse: and his name that        victims by accident, suicide, murder, floods, famines,
sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And        sicknesses and diseases. The statistics pile up, and the
power was given unto them over the fourth part of the        end is not yet.     But in a world of sin and death the
earth, to kill with the sword, and with hunger, and with     child of God sees the fulfillment of the counsel of God,
death, and with the beasts of the earth." vs. 8. This        and therefore knows that God rules over all unto the
livid, pale horse follows the course of the first three      day when the kingdoms of this world shall become the
and takes its toll.    The grim reaper never tarries.        kingdom of our God and of His Christ forever.





                                                DOUBLE DIVIDENDS


                                                  Rev.  J. A. Heys

   All men are interested in a bargain.                      the firm convictions of the undersigned, which he wrote
   We may not all have money to invest for dividends.        some eighteen years ago and to which he subscribes
We may not even have a bank account from which we            as fully today as then. After all, one does not like to
seek a little interest on each dollar. And if we do          republish his own writings, as though he has no new
have a little to deposit, we maynothave the opportunity      thoughts on the matter, or is too busy to restate it in
to "shop around" to determine which financial institu-       the light of more recent developments. But, if what
tion will give us the greatest amount of interest for        was written then was true in that day, it is even more
the use of our money. There may be but one bank or           so true and worthy of serious consideration today. If
one savings and loan association in the district where       we had toMrite it over, we would not desire to weaken
we live.                                                     it and modify it, but enforce it and underscore it.
   But all men watch the papers for bargain sales               We are reminded in this connection of the history
and wait with items of food or clothing until they are       of Israel, which has been recorded upon the pages of
offered at a lower price than the current price. If we       Holy Writ for our instruction and warning. Israel was
can save a few pennies here or there, it is the same         very distinctly told by God in the days of Joshua not to
as finding a few more pennies to supply our needs. It        leave in the land any of the unbelievers, lest they cor-
even looks more like a bargain to see it offered for         rupt the minds of the covenant seed with their idolatry
ninety-nine cents rather than one dollar. There are          and evil practices. That was for them the utmost of
even instances where the unsuspecting will buy two-          their power. They were to wipe out the Canaanites to
for-a-quarter, thinking that they are getting a bargain,     the uttermost and to spare absolutely none but those
when the old price was twelve cents a piece.                 who, -- as Rahab, - revealed a sincere and true faith
   But the question is whether we are as careful and         in God.    This surely is not our calling today in the
concerned about spiritual advantages as we are about         physical sense of the word. Nor is it our calling to
the material. Are we alert and looking for spiritual         get out of this world. But it is our calling to condemn
"dividends`?" Do we weigh spiritual matters ascare-          all modern idolatry as surely as Israel was to wipe it
fully and seriously as we do the material? Are we            out literally and physically. We are to destroy the idols
interested in getting more, or even anything, of spirit-     of false doctrine before the eyes of our children by an
ual value and advantage for ourselves?                       unequivocal condemnation of all of them.
   In writing on this subject of Double Dividends we            That also means that we are to cast out of our
have in mind particularly the field of the education and     church-circles those who insist on maintaining evil
training of our children in the fear of God's name. There    practices and false -doctrines, to practice them before
is nothing so rewarding and that gives double dividends      our children and to defend them in their presence, or
as the sincere, diligent, and faithful training of our       who even seek to teach them to our covenant seed. We
children to the utmost of our power. In fact, in the         must strive for purity in our own circles, lest we en-
measure that we do this to the utmost of our power,          courage our covenant seed in the ways of evil by our
we receive those "dividends" or that "interest" upon         silence or unconcern. We may be sure that when we
our ",investment."     And we speak of double dividends      look the other way when sin is committed before our
because it has a twofold reward. The child benefits          eyes, our children are not going to look away from but
from such training and instruction; but the parent as        look at these sins and duplicate them. Was that not
well benefits greatly by his activity with his children      the case with Noah in his drunkenness and his son Ham?
in the instruction from and based upon God's Word.           Noah practiced evil, and his son delighted in beholding
   I wish to thank Rev. Vanden Berg for republishing         it. Noah fell into sin, but Ham did not run away from


232                                              THESTANDARDBEARER

it. He ran towards it and invited his brother to seek it.       Of course, that refers to the schools where our
And sins harbored, false doctrines permitted, and            children attend. And it refers to these schools all the
mental images of God that deny Him His glory and             way from kindergarten through college and university.
are maintained uncondemned will result in "dividends"        Material considerations must not lead us to seek alzy
of wickedness in the coming generations. We may              of our education anywhere but where "the doctrines
wring our hands and decry the evil which we see and          taught here in this Christian church" are taught.
then stay where false doctrines are harbored and evil        Granted that today because we have no schools of our
practices are defended, but we will find that our            own beyond the ninth grade, -- and should strive with
children will also harbor them and defend them and           all our power, financially and otherwise to provide
give us even more reason for wringing our hands and          such schools for higher education as well, --there are
weeping in our souls because of these conditions. A          schools where some of the doctrines taught "here in
strong condemnation of the evil is necessary; but            this Christian church" are taught. In the schools of
where we cannot "destroy" these idols and men have           the world none of them are taught or even may be
put them behind a glass case out of our reach, we must       taught.     For "dividends" in our own lives and in the
take the next best step after condemning them in no          lives of our children, we certainly will not then send
uncertain terms. We must simply leave that "land."           them to institutions of learning that deny the Triune
It is utter folly to say that we should stay to exert our    existence of God, the divinity of Christ, His virgin
influence.     When the heresies abound and the evil         birth, the personality of the Spirit, the infallibility of
practices which we condemn flourish, it is high time         the Word of God, and the atonement through the blood
to realize that our "influence" is no influence, that        of Christ. When there are institutions that still main-
our efforts are worthless and that for our own good          tain these doctrines, be it in a weakened form and so
and the good of our children and grandchildren, we           that they speak of them only occasionally, this is far
must separate. Only in that way can we ever expect           better than to attend or to send our children to in-
"double dividends" for our children and for ourselves.       stitutions that deny these truths and openly teach
                                                             atheism.      We must remember that Jesus said, "He
                                                             that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth
               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                        not with me scattereth abroad." Matthew ,12:30.
On Feb. 2, 1965 it pleased the Lord to suddenly take            This all, of course, does not take away all calling
unto Himself one of our members,                             to provide as soon as we can as complete an educational
                                                             system as is possible for the instruction of our cove-
                 MRS. J. FLKI<EMA, SR.                       nant seed in a711 the doctrines, that is, on the basis of
We mourn the loss with her family, may they rest in          all the doctrines taught in our churches.        And our
the blessed assurance that our Heavenly Fathermaketh         covenant seed has an obligation to train for the field
no mistakes. Rev. 14:13 "Blessed are the dead which          of education so that there are teachers in all the
die in the Lord."                                            subjects and for all the grades who can instruct in
         Ladies Aid Society of First Prot. Ref. Church       harmony with and with the beauty of the glorious
                             Mrs. J. Vander Wall, Pres.      doctrine which our covenant God has been pleased to
                               Mrs. J. Newhouse, Sec'y.      preserve in our churches.
                                                                Nor does this mean that then, for all the rest, we
               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                        can do to the least of our powers or nothing at all.
                                                             The school is an extension of the home and not of the
The Reformed Witness Hour Radio Choir extends its            Church or of the State. And it is quite easy to wash
deepest sympathy to their accompanist, Mrs. Cornelius        one's hands of the whole business by sending his
Lubbers and member, Mr. Cornelius Lubbers, in the            children to a Protestant Reformed School and teacher(s)
loss of their Mother and Mother-in-law:                      and boast of doing to the utmost of his power to have
                 MRS. JOHN FLIKI<EMA                         them instructed in the doctrine taught in our churches,
                                                             only to send his children to the catechism classes of
May the God of all grace comfort the hearts of the           the church wholly unprepared or with only a suggestion
bereaved.                                                    of preparation.     Christian training begins, we must
                                  Donald J. Faber, Pres.     remember, in the home, and the parents are responsible
                                                             for it. Granted that parents are not able, as a rule, or
                                                             have not the time to teach that whichis taught in school,
               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                        the parent who is too busy to see to it that his child
The-Martha Society of Doon Prot. Ref. Church extends         knows the truth of Scripture as it is formulated in the
its heartfelt sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. John Blankes-         questions and answers of his catechism book, is
poor, Sr., in the death of their sister,                     plainly too busy with material things. All do not have
              MRS. EVERETT BLANKESPOOR                       the same power to instruct, but all have the calling
                                                             with all the power they do have to train at home and to
May the God of all grace comfort the hearts of the           see to it that the children apply themselves to the
bereaved.                                                    utmost of their power to the truths of Scripture and
                                    Rev. H. Hanko, Pres.     come, to the utmost of their power, prepared to the
                       Mrs. Gerald Van Den Top, Sec'y.       catechism class.


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                              233

   If no schools, at the moment, are in existence             learning. What is more, as David says, "The fear of
wherein all the doctrines taught in our churches are          the Lord is the principle of wisdom." Psalm 111:lO.
also taught, then the parent is doubly obliged to take        Our children are truly wise, for they see God and know
his child aside, strive to learn what is being taught         the joy that is beyond and after this life. They learn
him, and to supply that which those who do not believe        in school to pray to Him, to put their trust in Him, to
these truths are not able or willing to teach.                know their calling before Him. They see the folly of
   And, of course, we teach by our behavior and con-          the wise men of this world. And again as the psalmist
duct as well.     We teach obedience by our own sub-          says it, "Thou through thy commandments has made
mission to those in authority over us. We teach love          me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with
and patience by our own controlled temper. We teach           me. I have more understanding than all my teachers:
modesty and chastity by our own dress and speech.             for thy testimonies are my meditation." Psalm  119:
All these belong to the powers God has given us. And          98, 99. And the purer in the truth the doctrines are
in the far more evil day than the one in which we wrote       upon which their daily instruction is based, the wiser
some eighteen years ago, our convictions are stronger         they become and the more understanding they have.
than they were at that time that we need to branch out        They receive a training and instruction that has value
and strive diligently and collectively to provide instruc-    far beyond this life.    The "dividends" which they
tion above the ninth grade level even into college and        reap are worth far more than this whole world full of
higher education of every kind. What is more, our             gold and silver. God puts "gladness in" their "hearts,
actions along these lines also belong to the training of      more than in the time when" the unbelievers' "corn
our children. We must train them to think in terms of         and wine increased." Psalm 4:7. The benefit is simply
reaching beyond our present stage.          The power we      incomparable, and these material things are not worthy
exert is observed by them. It must be increased by            to be compared with that benefit. Moth and rust will
them, when they take our places and we have gone to           corrupt, and thieves will steal what men achieve apart
our reward.      To that power belongs tact and good          from that truth. Through the truth our children will
judgment and patience and perseverance and love.              attain, by God's grace, to that which no man can take
For, after all, the power of love must motivate and           from them and to that which will everlastingly satisfy
rule us in these endeavors. And then it is not love to        and grow in its preciousness.
our children, but love to God. When that is lacking,
and we simply want to show what we also can do, or               The other part of the "dividend" is for the faithful
what we have done, it will all come to nought. It must        parent. He has the unspeakable joy to behold that God
be a love for our children that flows forth from a love       is pleased to gather His children out of our children.
to God. Our schools have been founded by that love,           As the Apostle John states it, "I have no greater joy
but the question today is whether that love is stagnant       than to hear that my children walk in the truth." III
or vibrant and living. If we love God, nothing is too         John, 4. It gives utmost satisfaction to the believing
much or too costly; and no effort to realize that which       parent to do to the utmost of his power to shield his
is good for HIS children will be spared.                      child from the lie and evil and to provide him with the
   We then will also reap these "double dividends."           truth and the knowledge of righteousness.
Our children will be blessed by the God Who chose                Here is no bank failure. Here can be no  stock-
them from eternity. Scholastically they may not make          market crash. He shaZZ see his children's children in
such rapid progress as in larger schools with one             the new Jerusalem. "Instead of thy fathers shall be
teacher in one grade. And yet that must still be shown.       thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all
Children from our schools have been honor roll stu-           the earth," is God's promise to the faithful parent in
dents as well as those from other institutions of             Psalm 45:16.


                                 CALL TO ASPIRANTS  UO THE MINISTRY

   All young men desiring to study for the ministry of           a reputable physician.
the Word in the Protestant Reformed Churches, and             3. You must be a graduate from High School, being
who have not already been pre-enrolled, are asked to             able to show that you have completed a one-year
appear before the Theological School Committee on its            course in History General and Church History; and
next meeting for this purpose, which will be held, the           that you have completed the following College
Lord willing, on Friday, April 9, 1965 at 8 P.M. in the          courses: Latin -- two years,    Greek -- two years,
parsonage of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed                 German -- two years, Philosophy - one year, Psy-
Church, in Hudsonville, Michigan.                                chology - one year, Logic -- one semester.
   The qualifications requisite to enrollment are the            All correspondence relative to the above announce-
following:                                                    ment should be sent to the undersigned:
1. You must present a letter from your local consistory         Secretary of the Theological School Committee,
   certifying that you are upright in walk and pure in          Rev. M. Schipper,
   doctrine.                                                    1543 Cambridge Blvd., S.E.,
2. You must present a certificate of health, signed by          Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506


234                                                       THESTANDARDBEARER





                                                             Rev. H.  Hank0

The  BibZe by  Life                                                  productions of famous religious artwork. Again a few
       Life magazine devoted its entire Christmas issue to           short quotations:
an 146 page dissertation on the Bible. Presumably this                         The opening of Genesis evokes times and events
was intended to be a religious endeavor and an ac-                       fathomable to present generations only by faith. To the
knowledgment of the important place the Bibleoccupies                    ancients they were matters of fact; for the story was
in our lives.                                                            sacred long before Genesis was written. It had been
       It was, however, a very evil and oftentimes blas-                 told a thousand years earlier in a Babylonian epic
phemous denial of all that Scripture is.  Proceeding                     of Mesopotamia, the Hebrews' ancestral home. The
from the position that the Bible is not the Word of God,                 epic itself was rooted in traditions stretching back,
but rather a collection of ancient writings, it put                      myth upon myth, into prehistory. The two accounts,
together a blend of higher criticism, cold rationalism,                  biblical and Babylonian, agree in chronology, from the
liberal "scholarship," archeological discovery, and                      creation of light, firmament and dry land to man. But
                                                                         in profound ways, Genesis breaks with the past. In the
plain ordinary guess-work to produce a hodge-podge                       epic, creation took place after a cosmic struggle. In
of heresy.                                                               Genesis it happens methodically in six days and 31
       To give our readers who have not seen the issue                   verses. . . . In its message Genesis marks a leap in
a taste of the articles we quote, almost at random,                      human thought. Instead of the haphazard act of many
from the many pages of written material.                                 gods, biblical creation is the purposeful act of a single
       In the introduction we read among other things:                   God, and a divine backdrop which gave meaning to the
          Lucky troves of very early biblical manuscripts                history of a single people and its mission.
       such as those found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, and                     Scholars have long regarded the introductory ac-
       hard-won archaeological and linguistic discoveries                count of Creation as the work of a whole school of
       bearing on biblical time s and places, have forced                Hebrew priestly writers who labored over it perhaps
       scholars to revise and refine their old interpretations           for centuries, refining and compressing the tale to the
       of what the Bible says and means . . . .                          elemental grandeur of a sacred creed. But no com-
          Besides the textual and translation difficulties,              mittee could have written the story that follows: the
       another burden of the Bible is its internal contra-               Garden of Eden. Anything that fresh and spontaneous
       dictions and crudities.      Was it God or Satan who              could have sprung only from a single inspired mind.
       prompted David to take a census? The Bible says                         Who this line writer was nobody knows. Scholars
       first one (II Sam. 24), then the other (I Chron. 21).             think that he lived in the 10th Century B.C. in the time
       Even before Augustine the Church felt obliged to                  of King Solomon. Theycall him "J", form Jehovah - a
       interpret as allegory much that the Bible presented as            faulty rendering of "Yahweh," an ancient Hebrew
       fact, such as the erotic Song of Solomon or the un-               name for God . . . .
       edifying massacre of the Amalekites. But the logic                      In a fit of jealousy Cain then killed Abel. Cain's
       of later Protestantism produced a degree of funda-                crime signifies the depravity of man cut off from
       mentalist "bibliolatry" . . . that maintained every               God, but the brother's rivalry may also have historical
       word was divinely and equally inspired. When this                 significance.       It may personify the age-old struggle
       indefensible view was attacked by 19th Century ration-            between the pastoral and agricultural peoples in the
       alists, and when Darwinian geology and biology chal-              ancient Middle East . . . .
       lenged the literal truth of Genesis, the Bible underwent                Stories of floods are common in folklore  - ancestral
       so much overdebunking that the casual 20th Century                memories perhaps of actual disasters. Mesopotamia,
       reader may think of it as myth all the way through. . . .         always subject to floods, produced a classic account of
          The subject of the story (of the Bible) is the                 a great deluge in another Old Babylonian poem, the
       continuing encounter and dialogue on this earth between           Epic of Gilgamesh, which served as a model for the
       man and God.                                                      one in Genesis . . . .
          In this continuing story God seems to develop from                   The form of the covenant (the giving of the law at
       one kind of deity to another; but from our later stand-           Sinai) closely parallels the political "treaties of suzer-
       point the human generations to whom he disclosed                  ainty" which were common among the kings in Meso-
       himself are also seen to have been improving their                potamia in the centuries before Moses. These treaties
       comprehension of the Eternal.         If Yahweh (more             bound lesser vassal kings to a suzerain, or great king,
       commonly known as Jehovah) sometimes seems like a                 in gratitude for his favors and protection. And the
       primitive desert storm god awing the nomadic Is-                  framework of the Ten Commandments, which God gave
       raelites, he also reveals himself to Elijah as "a still           to Moses in an awsome biblical scene of thunder and
       small voice" (of conscience?) and he speaks through               earthquakes, is modeled closely after the ancient
       greater and greater prophets who see or stress first              treaties . . . .
       one aspect of him, then another.                                 Turning to the  Neti Testament, the gospels are
       Briefly and carelessly the magazine describes the             described as being nothing else but First and Second
history of the Old Testament in words and with re-                   Century collections of myths, traditions, records, and


                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 235

exaggerations which the early church brought together             scientific technology that is worshipped as the pagans
because they were disappointed that Christ had not                worshipped idols; that has reared a generation, of
returned and they wanted to preserve at least some                religiously indifferent, materialistically minded people
record of Christ's life.                                          who delight in the pleasures of sin under the guise of
   Christ, consequently, is present `as a fairly good             Christianity. This is the religion of a nation that can-
man who had very little influence during His own life-            not cope with the staggering problems of crime,
time, but Who had a tremendous impact on the future               juvenile delinquency, racial strife, and moral deteri-
through His moralistic teachings. There is no shred               oration, -- problems that their godless religion have
of mention of His atoning work and His salvation which            created and that have rotted the body politic to the
He accomplished as sent by God.                                   core. This is the religion that becomes increasingly
   The apostle Paul is presented as a rather fanatical            popular even in historically Reformed Churches until
promoter of the teachings of Christ.              He and his      their entire life is enervated and destroyed. This is
epistles are described:                                           the religion that has no place for the people of God who
       For the character of the man himself, his personal         cling to the Bible as God's infallible Word of hope and
   traits and his more intimate thoughts, we could scarcely       comfort in God's unchanging promises.
   imagine better sources. The letters bring him to us,
   not as he might have wanted                                    Harassment  and Religious  Liberty
                                   US to think of him, but as
   he really was. We sense his vitality, the energy of his               In his inaugural address President Johnson gave to
   mind, the vigor of his reactions to men and things;            the country his blueprint of what he likes to call "The
   his eagerness to be loved and to love; the strength of
   his loyalties and his fierceness in defending them; his        Great Society."        In this speech he made mention of
   ready capacity for both tenderness and anger. We               the fact that his goals ought to be the goals of any and
   see him in moments of elation.. . . But he was equally         every conscientious and patriotic citizen.         By im-
   subject to moods of deep depression . . . . The letters        plication he also suggested that his program had
   show him sometimes struggling, not too successfully,           divine sanction and that it was a program which would
   with his pride and sometimes carried entirely beyond           surely be supported by anyone who calls himself
   himself in an exuberance of devotion. We are shown             Christian. He further noted that those who disagree
   some of his narrow, unreasonable prejudices, and also          with his plans and with his ultimate aim to bring a
   how broad and generous his sympathies could be. We             utopia here on earth are nothing but trouble-makers
   can watch the actual working of his mind as convictions
   held with almost fanatical assurance had to be adjusted        who seek to divide the nation and destroy it by internal
   to the realities of experience or the demands of com-          dissension and hate.
   mon sense. Indeed the letters of Paul are an example                  In hoping for the support of the church, President
   of unconscious self-portraiture unique in the literature       Johnson was not disappointed, as he knew he would not
   of antiquity.                                                  be.      For the majority of church leaders rushed to
      Some passages in them so intimately concern his             assure him that his goals were also theirs and that
   relations with his readers or with others and so frankly       they would aid him in his battle against poverty, in his
   disclose his own feelings toward them that they are            attempt to provide education for all, in his plan for
   often disconcerting and even, at times, shocking. Paul
   could be almost intolerably harsh . . . . His tongue           medicare, in his determination to end racial strife,
   could be caustic . . . .                                       in his effort to eradicate sickness and pain, etc.
                                                                         Dissenters from his program have no place in his
   And so on and on and on . . . .                                utopia, and, as is becoming increasingly clear, the
   I suppose that from a magazine as worldly as Life              government intends to harass them out of existence if
we can expect little more than this. What is distressing          possible.
is the fact (if current religious magazines are any                      There are several indications of this.
indication) that an article such as this meets the                       From the Christian  Beacon (a paper published and
complete approval of a great majority of religious                edited by Dr. C. MC Intyre who also speaks over the
leaders and churches in this country and abroad. This             20th Century Reformation Hour) we learn that this
is not only true of modernistic and liberal churches              harrassment has already begun. For one thing, the
who have, for many years, been far removed from                   government is beginning to investigate many right-wing
orthodoxy; this is also true to a greater or lesser               movements such as "Life Line," "Committee of
degree of historically more conservative churches.                Christian Laymen," and the organization of Billy
From religious periodicals it is easy to see that all             Hargis. These organizations have received notice that
these vicious evils are being openly maintained and               their income tax exemption status as non-profit organ-
taught in such churches as the United Presbyterian                izations is under investigation and about to be taken
Church, the Southern Presbyterian Church, the Luther-             away.       We do not know whether these organizations
an Church - Missouri Synod, the American Lutheran                 have been abusing their "non-profit" status. It is
Church, the Reformed Church of America, etc. In fact,             possible that they have.        But the significant fact is
it is really astonishing that sue h blatant denial of             that the organizations which dissent from government
Scripture has made such large inroads into practically            policies are under attack. It is well known that many
every major denomination in this country.                         liberal churches, including the Roman Catholic Church
   This is the religion of an apostate age that piously           (who, incidentally, generally support the government)
prates about being "Christian" but denies all the truth           run multi-million dollar businesses for vast profits
of God.    This is the religion which has produced a              and yet maintain their exempt status. This is strange.


 236                                                 THESTANDARDBEARER

        For another thing, Faith Seminary, operated by a                  The point is that religious liberty in this country
 board of which Rev. MC Intyre is president, is attempt-          is becoming increasingly a farce. It is a liberty given
 ing to purchase a radio station in its area, but is being        only to those "religions" which support the govern-
 blocked by liberal churches who are appealing to the             ment and do not criticize government programs. The
 Federal Communications Commission to stop the trans-             rest have no liberty at all.
fer of license.                                                           I do not know what will happen to these right-wing
        For another thing, this same Federal Communica-           movements in time. But it is obvious that while, for a
 tions Commission, with its "Fairness Doctrine" has               time, the true church of God enjoys comparative peace
 set its sights primarily on programs of a right-wing             under this provision of religious liberty, this  same
 character while liberals go along blithely broadcasting          liberty can (and undoubtedly will) turn against the
pretty much what they please.                                     church and become a means to deny the church her
        Now,  I have little sympathy .for these right-wing        right of existence.
movements.         I disagree with some of their theology,                Surely these things are signs of the times, and the
 and I have little patience with their strange mixture of         distant thunderclaps of the storm of persecution can
 religion and politics.                                           clearly be heard coming from the distant horizon of
        But this is not the point for the moment.                 history.





                                     THE W.C.C.  - ITS GOALS FOR THE CHURCH


                                                     Rev. G. Van  Baven


        Last time we considered the Basis, as stated in its       another seeks, then I simply can not work with him at
 constitution, of the World Council of Churches. The              all.
 statement of Basis, though amazingly brief, seemed
 to teach several truths: the divinity of Christ, that He         The W.C.C. - A   Super-Church?
`is Savior, that there is the Trinity, and that there is                  One question often raised concerning the W.C.C. is
 Scripture. Yet on such a basis we felt it impossible to          whether it is some sort of super-church. There are
 affiliate with other churches. First, this is true be-           various fears in that connection. Some refuse to lose
. cause the Basis does not mention several vital Scrip-           their denominational identity.             Others fear a large
 tural'truths, -- including the truth of the infallibility and    bureaucratic organization. Many express disagreement
 inerrancy of Scripture. Without such an affirmation,             with any union which combines many churches on the
the basis can mean anything to anyone. Secondly, we               basis of the "lowest common denominator." And the
 showed that many members of the W.C.C. today deny                very fact that the W.C.C. has repeatedly sought to deny
 the truths which the Basis seems to contain: the truths          the charge of being a "super-church" seems to
 of redemption through Christ alone, the truth of the             indicate that the fear is very real, --even within the
 Trinity, the truth that Christ is divine. Even some of           membership of this organization.
 the, six elected presidents deny aspects of these truths                 The external evidences show that the W?C.C. refuses
 as Scripture maintains them. Thirdly, it was shown               to consider itself a super-church. It is called a council
 that before official organization, prospective member            of churches (note the plural). Article IV of its con-
 churches were informed that it was their privilege to            stitution, which treats the authority of the organiza-
 interpret the Basis as they pleased. Thus, in reality,           tion, states:
 the W.C.C. could elide its entire basis, -- and function
no' differently than it presently does.                                       The World Council shall offer counsel and provide
                                                Certainly no              opportunity of united action in matters of common
faithful Christian may join an organization which does                    interest.
not clearly, unequivocally present its basis of organi-                       It may take action on behalf of constituent churches
 zation so. that he may know with certainty with whom                     in such matters as one or more of them may commit
he fellowships and works.                                                 to it.
        But other objections to this organization must be                     It shall have authority to call regional and world
raised.       There is the question of its aim or goal, -                 conferences on specific subjects as occasion may
particularly with respect to the church. What is its                      require.
view of the church? And what does it seek to attain?                          The World Council shall not legislate for the
                                                                          churches; nor shall it act for them in any manner
These. are important questions. When we work with                         except as indicated above or as may hereafter be
 another, we must know what we are mutually working                       specified by the constituent churches.
for. If I can not work for the same goal or end which


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         237

   The last paragraph of that article particularly re-                 . . . This body (W.C.C.) was set up in 1948, after
nounces the right to legislate or act for the member               long years of preparation, with the precise aim of
churches except in the limited way permitted by the                 achieving Christian unity.    Nor should there be any
constitution.     A similar sentiment .is expressed in the         doubt about the profound and revolutionary nature of
article on "Public Statements:"                                    this aim.      It is nothing less than the reunion of all
                                                                    Christians in the organic unity of a single communion,
          While such statements may have great significance        the disappearance of sects and denominations, the
   and influence as the expression of the judgment or               coming of the Universal Church.         As an Anglican
   concern of so widely representative a Christian body,           ecumenicist,  Bishop S. C.  Neill, has starkly put it:
   yet their authority will consist only in the weight which        "The great and terrible difficulty is that the churches
   they carry by their own truth and wisdom and the                cannot unite unless they are willing to die . . . ."
   publishing of such statements shall not be held to                  . . . In this context, the search for unity among
   imply that the World Council as such has, or can have,          Christians . . . should be understood as a compelling,
   any      constitutional authority over the constituent           agonizing destiny. Christians have to hasten their own
   churches or right to speak for them.                             reunion so that they can embark more effectively on
                                                                   the part they could play in discovering a core of unity
   No doubt but that the W.C.C. as presently con-                  for the human race. . . . (Christ) is the second Adam,
stituted is not a "super-church," although it does                 the initiator of a new way of life which continues the
perform some functions which usually are associated                vast cosmic drama of evolution and demonstrates to
with the church -- rather than with a council of churches;         the human race that the expansion of being which began
                                                                   with the amoeba 
one instance of this is works of "mercy", that is, the                                 is  destined to create in the fullness
                                                                    of time a new community realizing in its organic
relief of the poor and oppressed in many lands.                     unity and brotherly love "the glorious liberty of the
Visions of  Gvandeuv                                                sons of God."
                                                                       . . . If . . . great changes among men come only as
   I believe the question is not so much whether the                a result of profound changes in their ways of imagining
W.C.C. is  today  a "super-church," but what it intends            their life and destiny, it may be that when the evils of
to become, or, for what it desires to prepare the way.             division and insufficiencies of a purely material order
I would maintain that both in the declarations of its              have had their full effect, a hunger for unity and
many supporters as well as in its official decisions,              brotherhood may really take possession of the human
                                                                   mind. Christians must prepare for such a day, for-
it becomes evident that th e  goal in mind is the one              warding now their own reunion and seeing in it their
united "church" whichwill encompass all "Christians."              dedication to the ultimate unity of all mankind.8
I  am convinced that in this "church" there will be no
room for the truth; there will be no room for separate             That the unity of al.1 churches is not simply the aim
denominations; in brief, it appears that the "church"           of  some  of the members of the W.C.C., but that it is
which the W.C.C. strives to achievewill be nothing less         the aim of the Council itself is evident from its dec-
than the church of the antichrist.                              larations.      The provisional committee arranging for
   There is W. A. Visser `t  Hooft, presently general           the first assembly of the W.C.C. declared:
secretary of the W.C.C., and possibly the one most                     Our churches are divided, both in speech and in
prominent man in the organization. This is his vision:              action, and by their divisions the whole work of the
                                                                   church suffers most grievous harm . . . . We long for
          The World Council of Churches as it is today is          the day when the Lord Jesus Christ shall recapture
   only an instrument for Christian unity. It must dis-             the churches and, manifesting His glory, lead them to
   appear in its present form when the unity of the church         speak with one clear voice, and to act as those who
   becomes a reality. In the meantime, much remains to              serve Him only as their Lord.4
   be done. What else can one expect when one recalls
   that the council is not yet 20 years old? The time is           The Second Assembly, meeting at Evanston, Ill.,
   hidden in the wisdom of God when the whole flock will
   be gathered together under one Shepherd. All we need         declared:
   to know is which way we are going.1                                 Six years ago our churches entered into a covenant
          The World Council of Churches is not the adequate        to form this council, and affirmed their intention to stay
   answer to the problem of disunity.         The adequate         together. We thank God for his blessing on our work
   answer cannot be a council of churches which are not             and fellowship during these six years. We enter now
   ready to be united. That answer must simply be the              upon a second stage.      To stay together is not enough
   one Church of Christ . . . .                                    We must go forward . . . We must go forward. As we
          The ecumenical movement becomes unfaithful to its        learn more of our unity in Christ, it becomes the more
   very mission if it begins to consider its own forms of          intolerable that we should be divided."5
   life and the present relationships between the churches
   as permanent. These structures are to decrease in               In conclusion, let me quote the statement of one of
   order that unity may increase. The growth of unity is        the Commissions or `committees of the W.C.C., meeting
   not to be the growth of a movement or a World Council
   of Churches, but the growth of the Una Sancta, the one       in St. Andrews, Scotland in August of 1960, together
   Church of Christ.2                                           with comments from the  Christian  Century  which calls
                                                                itself the ecumenical magazine:
   Again, consider the evaluation of another, evidently
sympathetic with the' W.C.C., writing in a national                    "The Commission of Faith and Order understands
magazine:                                                          that the unity which is both God's will and His gift to


`.;38                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER

          `.
         His Church is one which brings all in each place who               churches, may .seek to discuss together what the other
         confess Christ Jesus as Lord into a fully committed       8        believes and teaches. Why not? I suggest too that we
         fellowship with one another through one baptism into               as churches could contribute much to such `discussion.
    `Him, holding the one aljostolic faith, preaching the one
         Gospel and breaking the one bread, and having a                    I believe too that the church is one, and that this oneness
         corporate life reaching out in witness and service to              is fully manifest when Christ returns. But because `of
         all; .and which at the same time unites them with the              sin, that oneness will not be fully manifest on the earth.
         whole Christian fellowship in all places and all ages in           The unity of all churches, presently sought with great`
         such wise that ministry and members are acknowledged               desire, can only culminate in the church of antichrist.
         b,y all, and that all can act and speak together. as               Read once Revelation 12, 13, 16, 17. Look especially
         occasion requires for the tasks to-which God calls the             at Rev. 13. The two beasts are there presented: the
 .. Church."                                                                political and spiritual aspect of the antichristian world
                . . . What all this seems clearly to be at long last
    : saying to all Christians is that in the ultimate achieve-             power.       Striking, is it not, that the W.C.C. emphasizes
         `ment  .of Christian unity here on earth all the presently         especially these two things (corresponding to those two
 `. precious .distinctive names and all the nice, neat dis-                 beasts): the unity or oneness of all that is called
         tinctions in doctrine cherished within our commonfaith             church, and the necessity of all nations working to-
         in and commitment to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord               gether and submerging themselves under some sort
         will have to be laid on the altar, and that in any com-            of international power and control. How, then, can the
         munity the establishment of a second church where                  true church cooperate with such an organization which
         there has been one, or a third where there have been               shall culminate in, or prepare the way for, that "son
         two, can be justified only by the number of believers              of perdition,. who opposeth and exalteth himself above
    increased to otherwise unwieldy size and by the                         all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that
         necessities of geographical convenience so that a
         church, may be easy of access to the children, young               he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing him-
         people,. and adults whose lives can thus the more                  self that he is God." (II Thess. 2:4).               i
         readily be centered in the church . . . .6                         1. The Ckvistiun  Century, "Between Constantinople and
 The  Future   United  Church                                                 Rome", W. A. Visser `t Hooft, Sept. 9, 1964, p. 1108
                                                                            2 W. A. Visser `t  Hooft,  The  Pyessuve   of  OUT  COmmOn
         The above quotations ought to be sufficient to show                  Calling, Doubleday, pp. 24, 88
that it is the common view that the ultimate aim of the                     3 The Atlantic Monthly,  Aug. 1962, "The Quest for
W.C.C. is to unite all churches into one super-church.                        Christian Unity", Barbara Ward, p. 121
Whether the W.C.C. will itself become this  super-                          4 Paul Griswold Macy, If1t Be Of God, Bethany Press,
church, .or whether it only prepares the way for it, I                        p. 102
do not know. But this is certain: the faithful child of                     5 Harold A. Bosley, What Did the Wovld Council Say to
God .can not join in the above attempts.                                       You?, Abingdon Press, pp. 16-17'
         I  .believe that churches, and denominations of                    6 The Christian Centuvyj  June 14, 1961, pp. 742, 743
                    /           ;             7zi3 v&e 0~06mgs2hw

                                                       THE  B,ELGIC CONFESSION

                                                                  A R T I C L E   1 3

                                            GOD'S GOVERNMENT AND SIN (Continued)

                                                            Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema

   ' The, actions of a king, of one who seems to be                         rivers of water are in the Lord's hand; but the king's
mighty and sovereign in his domain, who may be an                           heart is no less in His hand! Whether a river turns
 absolute ruler, who may reign in iron-fisted and en-                       this. way or .that, . whether it flows swiftly nor is almost
 tirely arbitrary and altogether unjust tyranny, -- the                     stagnant, whether it overflows in a mighty flood or
 actions of such a king are altogether in the Lord's                        dwindles to a mere trickle, - this is. all in the hand of
 hand. His very heart, the ethical center of his whole                      the Lord. He turns the water-courses whithersoever
 being, from which are the issues of hislife, is.in- God's                  He will.       But the king's heart, the very fountain and
 sovereign control: "The king's heart is in the hand of                     source of all his actions from an ethical point of view,
 the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turnethit whither-                    is every whit as much in the Lord's hand. Not one turn
 soever he will." Proverbs 21:l. Think on this for a                        does it make, but the Lord has turned it! Not one beat
 moment: not one of us would think of denying that the                      for good or for evil does. it make, but the Lord controls


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                             239

it! Sinful man may object that the king is not responsible      factors. The Lord is the controlling factor: "Behold,
then, or that God is made the author of sin in such a           the eye of the Lord. is upon them that fear h~im, upon
case. You may not be able to fathom the possibility of          them that hope in his mercy; To deliver their soul from
this or to explain the relation between the responsibility      death, and to keep them alive in famine." To mention but
of that king and God's government. That makes ab-               one more passage, take note of the confession in
solutely;no  difference: the fact remains that this is the      Jeremiah 10: 23: "0 Lord, I know thatthe way of man is
language of Scripture. We must and wedo content our-            not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct
selves to; be disciples of, Christ, to learn only those         his steps." To be sure, this passage is negative. But
things which he has revealed to us in his Word, without         the plain implication of this negative confession is that
transgressing these limits. And to say that this belongs        the "way of man," that is, all the activities of his life
to the hidden things is obviously not true: for it stands       from the point of view of their direction, their moral,
plainly revealed in Scripture.                                  spiritual direction, - that "way" is of the Lord. More-
   There are many other passages of Scripture which             over, man walks in that way step by step; but the
either directly teach, or else imply, not only that God         direction of those steps is not sovereignly of the man
controls and governs the actions of men, but also               who walks, but of the Lord. Whether that way, therefore,
specifically the evil actions. In fact, this truth intrinsi-    is a good way or an evil way, whether the direction of
cally belongs to the doctrine of God's sovereignty, so          a man's steps is the right direction or the wrong di-
that you cannot conceive of a.sovereign  God, of God            rection ,-this is not ultimately of the man, even though
Who is really GOD, and at the same time maintain that           he acts as.a moral, rational creature, but of the Lord's
there are certain actions of men and certain events in          d i s p o s i n g .
history which stand outside God's sovereign government.                 But we need not limit our proof to general statements
And thus, very often in Scripture, this truth of God's          of Scripture and to implied proof.
sovereign government and control of even the sinful                     The Bible speaks very directly and specifically about
deeds of wicked creatures is presupposed, is "the truth         sinful actions and `the deeds of evil men and of devils,
behind the truth" of what the Bible says. This is the           connecting these with the sovereign government and
case, for example, with a passage like Psalm 33: 10:            control of the Lord.
"The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to                        Let me call your attention to a few such specific
nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none             instances.
effect." Let it be noted that this could never be the case              Take the history of Joseph and his brethren,first  of
unless the "counsel of the heathen" and the "devices of         all.
the -people" were absolutely under God's providential                   When you consult the history as recorded in Genesis
government. Not only so, but it is very evident in the          37, you discover that the Lord God seems to recede
context that this action of God with respect to the             entirely into the background in the entire narrative.
"counsel of the heathen" and the "devices of the people"        Nowhere in the whole chapter are we told what God
stands related to His own eternal counsel. For in verse         thinks of the plot that is enacted. We are not informed
11 we read: "The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever,         what His purpose with the diabolical plot of the brothers
the thoughts of his heart to all generations." Thus, in         of Joseph is. In fact,  - just as in the entire book of
the same psalm, we are taught that the question in the          Esther, - God's name is not so much as mentioned in
salvation of a king is not themultitude of an host;.nor  in     the entire chapter that records this bit of history.
the deliverance of a mighty man is it a question of his         Apparently what is narrated is all of man-man's
much strength. "There is no king saved by the multitude         purpose, man's hatred and envy, man's folly and impru-
of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much               dence, man's wicked schemes and their execution. Mean-
strength. An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither          while, the righteous suffer, and God does not even seem
shall he deliver any by his great strength." Why are            to care.
these things true? Only because the Lord Himself                        Hence, from a mere historical point of view, you have
controls the victory or defeat of a king and the deliver-       a set of circumstances and a combination of human
ance of a mighty man, - controls them so absolutely and         being sold as a slave into Egypt. And there is no question
sovereignly that the size of the army and the strength of       this was -essentially an act of murder. They hated their
the mighty man actually have nothing to do with the             righteous brother Joseph. They plotted to get rid of him.
outcome of the battle and the deliverance of the mighty         It makes no fundamental difference that they did not
man. Hence, those who fear the Lord and who hope in his         actually slay him. They had murder in their hearts, and
mercy may be far outnumbered, and they may be of                to all practical intents and purposes they actually
little strength in themselves, and they may be lacking          murdered Joseph when they got rid of him by selling him
in horses and chariots. These are not the controlling           into Egypt.

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240                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


                                       5Veua  ~icwv  dm  &t&de4
                                       ("All the saints salute thee , . ." Phil. 4:21)

                                                     Feb. 2, 1965
       Rev. J. A. Heys, of South Holland, will be our radio                   generally adopted the proposed recommendations. It
speaker for the month of March. Under the general                             is heartening to their parents and pastors that the
theme, "The Man After God's Heart," Rev, Heys has                             leading young people are concerned with the spiritual
chosen to pursue that thought under the following sub-                        advancement of the Annual Conventions, and that they
titles, March 7 -- "Divinely Chosen;" March 14 --                             give healthy direction in this matter.
"Filled with Righteous Indignation;" March 21-- "Hated                                                    *  *  +
Without a Cause;" March 28 -- "Saved in a Multitude                                Beginning with the Jan. 31st copy Hope's bulletin
of Mercy."                                                                    committee constantly keeps the thoughts of the congre-
                            *  *  *                                           gation on the new church they `hope to occupy this
       One appreciates the truth of the reality of the                        year. The bulletin cover portrays the new edifice with
Communion of Saints so readily in a small denomination                        a drawing of the front elevation, and the effect is very
such as ours. It seems that all our church bulletins                          pleasing indeed.      This picture must be especially
give weekly reports on the conditionof Mrs. C. Hanko.                         heartening to the overflow audience attending the
May Rev. Hanko's family be comforted with the ad-                             service in the basement because of lack of room in
monition and promise found in I Peter 5, "Humble                              the auditorium.
yourselves therefore under the hand of God that he                                                        * * *
may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon                              Perusing the- bulletins for news in which you might
him, for he careth for you."                                                  be interested we are forcibly faced with the reality of
                            *  *  *                                           the brevity and vanity of life, and are wont to echo the
       The physical condition of our beloved Rev. H.                          confession of the patriarch Jacob as he stood before
Hoeksema is gradually declining. At this writing he                           Pharaoh that few and evil are the days of our pil-
is experiencing a little speech difficulty and further                        grimage. One reads in ever recurrent refrain: "suf-
loss of eyesight. He is mentally alert, and is spirit-                        fered a stroke. . . .submitted  to surgery. . . .respira-
ually content in the way in which the Lord is preparing                       tory ailment. . . .is undergoing therapy. . . passed away
him for his translation to glory.                                             and funeral services will be held. ." Even the Ladies
                            *  *  *                                           Aid Society of Southwest Church devoted an after-
       Hull's directory for `65 has reached our desk, and                     recess program to the question, "Should a person's
noteworthy is the fact that each of the fifty-two Sundays                     life be prolonged through surgery or drugs if his death
of the year calls for a special collection (the objects                       is imminent?" Oh, "Vanity of vanities, saith the
thereof also designated), besides those to be taken at                       .Preacher, all is vanity."
the six special church services. Indeed, we are but                                                       *  *  *
stewards of our goods and shall give account of the                                The Ladies Aid Soc'y of Doon is currently raising
disposition thereof. "But this I say, He which soweth                         funds for the purchase of folding chairs for use in the
sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he which                             basement as well as in the auditorium. Becoming a
soweth bountifully shall also reap bountifully. Every                         little impatient with the slow growth of that fund they
man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let                            recently solicited a little boost from the congregation
him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity; for the Lord                       to complete the project.
loveth a cheerful giver." 2 Cor. 9:6,7.                                                                   * * *
                            * * *                                                  Sunday, Jan. 17 Rev. R.C. Harbach of Kalamazoo
       Although our Reformed Witness Hour radio pro-                          had an evening classical appointment in First Church
grams are no longer broadcast over K-F-M-I<, Hous-                            of Grand Rapids.      He and his replacement, Sem. R.
ton, Tex., the people there who were contacted by our                         Decker remained in their respective churches that
Home Missionary are still enjoying our Distinctively                          evening due to the wintry weather which prohibited
Reformed radio ministry. Upon the request of Rev.                             road travel.
Lubbers, Southwest's pastor, the Radio Committee                                                          * *  *
has been mailing them tapes each week. The Houston                                 According to Southeast's bulletin, Rev. Schipper's
people have invited Rev. Lubbers to visit them a few                          two year pastorate experienced a growth from 27 to
weeks in February. Expenses to cover that trip, and                           40 families and from 119 to 165 souls.'
for tapes, etc., accompanied the invitation.                                                              *  * *
                            ***                                                    Adams St. Mothers' Club presented a Round Table
       The Young People's Federation Board sent a letter                      discussion at their Feb. 4th meeting. The discussion
to all the member societies containing some construc-                        was prepared and held by various teachers from Hope
tive criticism of past conventions, and proposed rem-                         school.
edies. According to the area bulletins the young people                                                   + * *
discussed the letter in after-recess programs, andc-                               . . .see you in church.                      J.M.F.


