                                     he

                              tandard

                                                earer


A  REFORMED  SEMI-MOkJ?HLY   MAGAZINE





IN THIS ISSUE:


       Meditation - The Gospel Hidden in the lost


       Editorial  - Dr. Daane's Common Grace Fixation

       Predestination and Mission Preaching


       R.C.A.  - P.C.U.S.  - Proposed Merger




                                                Volume  XLI/  Number  H/May  1, 1965


338                                                                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER

                                             C O N T E N T S                                                                                                                       _-
                                                                                                                                                                                           _
                                                                                                                                                                                                _     _-..
                                                                                                                                                                                                              _--.-___




  Meditation  -
        The Gospel Hidden In The Lost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338                                                                        ,.a.; D A R D B E A R E I.
              Rev. M. Schipper                                                                                                                            .I
                                                                                                                                                                .     .




  Editorials  -                                                                                                                     `-  `j  z  ,.       ,,  ixzeppt monthly  during June, July  ard August
        Dr. Daane's Common Grace Fixation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                     ?  I  I:c?: d  by  `; Reformed Free Publishing Association
        Advice For "An Aroused Laity" . . .._. . . . . . . . . . . .:: . . . . . . . . 342                                                               E&to~ - Rev. Herman Hoeksema
              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
  In His Fear -                                                                                                                   Comm!*nica   it  11s relative to contents should be addressed to
        The Fool Hath Said . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343          Rev. H.  Hock  ,ema, 1139 Franklin St., S.E., Grand Rapids 7,
              Rev. J. A. Heys                                                                                                     Mich.       Contri utions  will be limited to 300 words and must be
  The Church At Worship -                                                                                                                                  neatly written or typewritten.
        The Lord's Supper Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345                      All church news iten 2 should be addressed toMr.  J. M. Faber,
              Rev. G. Vanden  Berg
  A Cloud Of Witnesses -                                                                                                                             1123 Cooper. S.E., Grand Rapids 7, Micl;.
        The Song of Hannah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $48          Announcements and  Cbituaries  with the $2.00 fee includedmust
              Rev. B. Woudenberg                                                                                                  be mailed 8 days prior to issue date, to the  address  below:
  Contending For The Faith  -                                                                                                       -411 matters relative to subscriptions should he addressed to
        The Inspiration Of The Scriptures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350                                               Mr. James Dykstra,  13?6  W. Butler Ave., S.E.
        The Doctrine Of Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351                                                  Gra:;" Rapids 7, Michigan
              Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                                         Renewal: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
  The Lord Gave The Word -
        Predestination And Mission Preaching                                                                                     received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the sub-
                                                                                    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
              Rev. C. Hanko                                                                                                       scription to continue without the formality of a renewal orde:..
  All Around Us -                                                                                        _                                              Subscription price: $5.00 per year
        The Black Horse Still RGns                                                                                                         Second Class postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan
        Outdated Confessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
              Rev. H. Hanko
  Examining Ecumenicalism -                                                                                                      The Board of the Free Christian School of  Edgerton  is
        R.C.A. -P.C.U.S.  : Proposed Merger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
              Rev. G. Van Baren                                                                                                  in need of a teacher for the lower grades for the year
  The Voice Of Our Fathers -                                                                                                     1965-66. If interested, write or call
        God's Government and Sin (Continued) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359                                                                   Art Verhey, Secretary
              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                         Edgerton, Minnesota
  News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
              Mr. John M. Faber                                                                                                                            Phone 2-5213





                                                                                 THE  GOSPEL  HIDDEN  !N  THE  LOST


                                                                                                                  Rev. M. Schippev


                                                      ftBut  if  our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that  aye lost: in whom
                                              the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,
                                              lest the light of the  glorious  gospel of  Christ, who is the image of God,
                                              should shine `unto them  .`I                                                                             II Corinthians  4:3, 4

       The answer to an objection1                                                                                                   The apostle answers with an objective possibility1
       Such is the intention of the words of the text in-                                                                             But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are
scribed above!                                                                                                                   lost I
       The objection?                                                                                                                 Aed this hiding  .is accomplished through the god of
       Not all who hear the gospel, who weigh the preaching                                                                      this world who has blinded their eyes, and that, too,
of the Word in their consciences, seek this glory and                                                                            with the expressed purpose that the glorious gospel of
liberty the apostle had been talking about in the pre-                                                                           Christ should not shine unto them.
ceding chapter.                          Of the many who come under the                                                               Indeed, the gospel is hidden in the lost! But what
preaching of the Word, there are some only who actually                                                                          does that mean? How is this accomplished? And with
bask in its light. Well, then, how about the others who                                                                          what purpose is this blinding process ?
never seem to relish the light of this gospel?                                                                                        Important concept, the gospel!


                                                  THESTANDARDBEARER                                                    339


   It means glad news, or glad tidings. And the term          obviously also the idea of our text. The veil is, there-
is used in Scripture with. various additions which            fore, not put over the gospel, but much rather over the
describe to us its exalted nature and contents. It is         objects to whom the gospel comes. A veil is put over
called the gospel of God when it purposes to emphasize        their eyes, and hearts; ,so that they cannot see, though
that it is not of man, but of God alone. He is its            they have eyes, and they cannot hear, though they have
Author.     `He proclaims it. It is called the gospel of      ears, and they cannot understand, though they have
Christ, the gospel concerning the Son of God, the             hearts and minds.
gospel of the kingdom, the gospel of our salvation,              And if you ask: Who are these in whom the gospel is
the gospel of peace, the gospel of the promise, etc.          hidden? Who are they who have a veil cast over them
   In our text it is called the glorious gospel, or more      that they cannot see the glory of Christ revealed in
correctly translated, the gospel of the glory of Christ;      the gospel?. the answer is: "In the lost."
which must undoubtedly refer to the gospel, the good             The apostle speaks a sovereign truth here!
news, concerning the glory of Christ. It is the gospel           The reason why the gospel is being hid in some is
which reveals, illumines, the glory of Christ. It is          that they are in the process of perishing, yea, they are
the  .glory  which Christ received in His exaltation, and     already perished. And the very sign of their reproba-
which He now possesses as the anointed and glorified          tion is their blindness.        As in the old dispensation
servant of God. Of Christ Who is the exact image of           some could not stand to look on the face of Moses, and
God.     He is that eternally as the Son. Thus the Scrip-     therefore asked for him to cover himself with a veil;
tures can speak of Him as being the image of the invisible    so now, there are some who complained respecting the
God (Col.  1:15). And Heb.  1:3 declares that He being        gospel. To them it was too deep. It did not make sense.
the brightness of His glory is the express image of           To the lost their blindness will not allow them to see
His person. However, when the text speaks here of the         the beauty of the gospel, the beauty of the glorified
glory of Christ, it points specifically to His glorified      Christ revealed therein..
human nature. In human nature He humbled Himself                 The instrument through which these are blinded is
and became of no reputation, and in human nature He           "the god of this world," or perhaps better translated,
is also exalted in highest glory after He had completed       "the god of this age." For the world here is looked
the work of our salvation, and merited our righteous-         upon from the viewpoint of this present dispensation,
ness.      It is this glory of Christ, preached in Paul's     with its changing scheme. Of this age, the Devil is god.
gospel, which is hidden in the lost!                          This does not mean, of course, that the Devil is
   Our gospel !                                               actually a god. But it means that this age reckons with
   This can never mean that the apostle is the subject        him as its ruling principle. And it is the Devil's work
and author of the gospel. Though it is true he is what        to blind the eyes of some.          It is he who makes the
is called a secondary author, for the Lord had separ-         unbelieving blind. He hinders them in seeing the light
ated him unto the gospel and even to write it. He be-         of the gospel when that gospel confronts them.
longed to those men who were infallibly inspired and             Only an instrument the Devil is ! That means, does
moved by the Holy Spirit to write the Scriptures. Yet         it not, that there is One Who uses that  .instrument.
Paul does not, neither does any other secondary author        Though the Devil may imagine that he is on his own,
ascribe the gospel to any other than God Himself. It is       that he acts independently according to his own good
the gospel of God.       He is the Author. The gospel         pleasure, yet this is never true. Always he is only
contains His promise. It contains the revelation of the       creature, and that, too, under the surveillance and
glory of His Son. When the apostle, therefore, speaks         direction of God, Who alone is God! Reprobation is
of "our gospel", he simply emphasizes the fact that           not the Devil's to determine, nor `to realize. Repro-
he had received it, and it was in his possession. It          bation is God's sovereign decree. Nor should we say
was the gospel he preached.                                   that a man is reprobated because he is blind, or be-
                                                              cause he is blinded.         Rather, the truth is that he is
   Most important it is to understand correctly what          blinded because God has reprobated him. And in the
the apostle means when he says that the gospel is.            working out of God's decree, Satan is His instrument.
hidden in the  lost1     It surely cannot mean that the       As God's instrument Satan very successfully blinds the
gospel itself is hidden or covered up so that it cannot       hearts of many. Very artfully he uses various means
be seen. Rather the opposite is true. The gospel is           to accomplish this blindness. Sometimes he uses plain
never hidden.      Nowhere does Scripture present the         sophistry, then again, false philosophy. Now he comes
gospel as a thing that is hidden. It lies in the very         with the offer of worldly riches, then again, with fame
nature of the gospel that it is a revelation. The Divine      and popularity. Whatever the method may be, he uses
purpose in the gospel is to reveal. It is the REVELA-         it to blind the eyes of the unbelieving. So blind they
TION of God and. of Christ. But there are several             become that, though the sun may be shining in its
Scriptures which speak of the blindness of those to           strength, they cannot see it. Though the light-giving
whom the gospel comes. A good illustration of this            power emanates from the gospel, it does not shine into
you find in the 13th chapter of Matthew.       There the      their hearts and minds. And let us not be mistaken as
Lord is referring to the prophecy of Isaiah and apply-        to where he works with his arts. His sphere of opera-
ing this prophetic word to some of His contemporaries,        tion is always where the gospel is preached, where that
whom He describes as having ears which  .are dull of          gospel is most purely preached. Where the light shines
hearing, and of having eves which are closed. This is         the brightest, there is the greatest blindness.


                           340                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER


                                  And the purpose of this blinding process?                    Most significant was this truth in the day of the
                                  According to the text, that the brightness of the         apostle for the church as well as for the apostle him-
                           gospel may not shine into them. Listen to what Paul              self. Surely the question: Why is it that many who hear
                            says here: "In whom the god of this world hath blinded          the gospel do not embrace it and therein find their
                           the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of           salvation? has its answer in this truth. And though in
                           the glorious gospel of Christ, Who is the image of God,          many the gospel is hidden, the apostle will not faint in
                            should shine unto them." Whose purpose is that? The             bringing this glorious gospel to as many as it pleases
                            Devil's?     0, to be sure, the Devil does not want the         God to send it. He will not cease to preach, though
                           gospel light to shine. He is, indeed, pleased to put a           many there be who reject it. Neither will he handle
                           veil over you so that you cannot see it. Nothing pleases         that Word of God dishonestly or craftily because of
                           him more than to have you walk in darkness with him.             those in his audience who are blind. By the mercy of
                            But understand well, when the apostle speaks of the             God he will continue to commend himself to every
                           purpose of this blinding process, he is not at all inter-        man's conscience.
                           ested in the purpose of the Devil. Specifically he has              Thus it must ever be, my reader. We also have a
                           in mind the purpose of God. It is His gospel that is            glorious gospel to preach. It is one that magnifies
                           the revelation of the glory of Christ. And it is this            God's sovereignty in our redemption. One that belittles
                           gospel that the ungodly, according to the Divine  in-           man and humbles him into the dust. But it is also one
                           tention, may never see. The reason is that the gospel           that lifts him up, that moves him to look by faith to
                           light is intended only for those who are in Christ              Him Whom God has raised from the dead and into the
                           Jesus, and that too, according to God's sovereign               highest heavens, and crowned with glory which is the
                           election.     This does not mean that the gospel has no         radiation of His own glory, into which glory He pur-
                           significance for the ungodly. Truly it is as the apostle        poses to bring all His elect.
                           tells us in another place, "the word of God is a savor              And we will not faint, nor change this gospel to
                           unto life, but also unto death." It kills and it makes          meet the objections of men, so long as we receive
                           alive. It saves and it damns. It is a power of God unto         mercy. We will continue to recognize the truth that all
                           salvation unto everyone that believes, but just as really       is not Israel that is called such. We will even expect
                           it is a power of God unto condemnation to all the ungod-        that blindness will come to some that they may be lost.
                           ly that come in contact with it. But the supreme pur-           While at the same time we shall continue to believe
                           pose of the gospel is to transform those who are                that the gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the exact
                           designated people of God into the likeness of Him Who is        image of God, will transform others into this perfect
                           the very image of God, namely, Christ Jesus.  -That is          image. Never will we compromise with the truth or
                           the exalted `purpose of the gospel of Christ's glory.           dishonestly and deceitfully present it, as the manner
                           That the ungodly may be conformed to this age and be            of some is, for the purpose of becoming big or to gain
                           destroyed with it, while at the same time, the child of         popularity.    Yea, with the apostle, we will continue to
                           God. may be transformed into the heavenly, that is,             set forth the full counsel of God, in the faith that God
                           the glorified image of Christ, that is God's two-fold           Who is the Author of the gospel and its Preacher, will
                           purpose of'the preaching of the gospel.                         realize through it His everlasting purposes.





                                                            DR.  DAANE'S  COMMON  GRACE   FIXATION


                                                                               Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


          ._          :           In. common with  all who have thus far written about      and, of course, our Protestant Reformed position over
:-                         the Dekker Case,  ,Dr. James  .Daane  also sees' a con-          against 1924. Besides, we have repeatedly emphasized
     .                     nection  between. Prof. Harold Dekker's theology of the         that any attack on Prof. Dekker's position must needs
                 '
:                          `love of God; and the atonement of Christ and the First         suffer shipwreck, from a Christian Reformed point of
.`.._
I                     Point of.  1924:  ,And. in- this mere fact as such, Daane  ,.        view, on the reef of common grace, particularly  "bet
                           is undoubtedly  - correct.     We. have repeatedly called        puntje van het Eerste Punt, I' namely, the general, well-
                            attention to the very striking fact that no one is able to     meant offer of the gospel.
                           write about Prof. Dekker's theory of a general love of              Dr. Daane is a clear illustration of both proposi-
                           God and unlimited atonement without reference to 1924,          tions .


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   341


   In the first place, he discovers such an inherent         a common grace (really a misnomer; it should be
connection between 1964 and 1924 (Dekker and the             called "general grace") in the so-called well-meant
First Point) that one comes to the conclusion that Mr.       offer of the gospel, this basic issue remains: is God's
Daane has a common grace fixation. With the First            grace  fov all men, including the reprobate,  OY is His
Point as his point of departure, Daane theologizes, that     grace only fov the elect?       This basic issue was re-
is, engages in theological speculation and theorizing        peatedly stressed in our Protestant Reformed Witness
until he arrives indeed at a theology of grace that may      by the pointed questions: 1. What grace do the repro-
well be called "a theology of common grace," or              bate, who are eternally and sovereignly destined for
perhaps more aptly, "a theology of general grace,"           destruction, receive in such good gifts as rain and
(algemeene genade in distinction fromgemeene gyatie).        sunshine?       Or: How are temporal things (rain, sun-
At this writing five articles have appeared from             shine, prosperity, health, etc.) grace, a blessing, to the
Daane's pen; and of the five, four make direct mention       reprobate in the light of the Scriptural truth that with
of 1924 in their titles, while the fifth ("What Doctrine     all these things God sets them in slippery places and
of Limited At  on  em en t?" - Reformed  Jouvnal,   Dec.,    casts them down to destruction7 2.  Whatigrace, bless-
1964) also cannot avoid the subject of the well-meant        ing, do the reprobate receive through the preaching
offer of the gospel. Time was when the attempt was           of the gospel when through that very preaching of the
made to relegate common grace and 1924 to a com-             gospel their sin and unbelief are aggravated, they are
paratively minor place in Reformed theology; and the         hardened; and their condemnation is made the heavier?
attempt was even made to explain our differences with           The First Point  intended  (but could not succeed) to
the Christian Reformed Church as a mere matter of            maintain that there was such a grace, but that it was
terminology.    But Daane has a common grace fixation.       not saving grace. And the first generation defenders
He stares himself blind on common grace, as he sits          of the Three Points (e.g., Berkhof and H. J. Kuiper)
in his theological ivory tower. The result is that Daane     strove to maintain this distinction, although they never
elevates common grace (but now in the Arminian sense         could make plain especially how even any kind of com-
of general grace, which is inherent in the well-meant        mon grace was connected with the preaching of the
offer of the gospel) to a major place, in fact, the domi-    gospel and frequently made statements about the offer
nant place in his theology.      The result is, too, that    of the gospel which were essentially the same, though
Daane's theology is, if anything, even more rankly           not as blunt, as those of Prof. Dekker about the love of
Arminian than that of Prof. Dekker.                          God.       (Cf.  Stundavd  Beaver,  Vol. 39, p. 247, "Dekker,
   But, in the second place, Daane makes plain the           Berkhof, and H. J. Kuiper - A Comparison?`)
futility of any attack on Prof. Dekker's position on the        Now Dr. Daane comes along and very boldly says
basis of the First Point. Mr. Daane, of course, does         in effect: Nonsense! We mustforget about any qualita-
not purpose to attack but to defend Dekker's position.       tive distinction in God's grace (and love),  anycommon-
In so doing, he takes his starting-point in 1924. He         grace-and-special (saving) -grace-distinction. That is
uses the First Point as his springboard. He demon-           inconsistent; and the First Point of 1924 is inconsistent
strates, - I would almost say withdevastating accuracy,      and wrong. There is only one grace of God and one love
--the inconsistency of the First Point, in order then to     of God to all men!
carry that same First Point to its consistent and               And Daane is right-wrong. He is rightwhen he says
logical consequence, namely, a  saving  grace of God to      the First Point is inconsistent. He is right when he
all men. But thereby he, with all his speculating about      says there is only one grace and one love of God. But
the nub of the First Point, i.e., the grace of God,          he is dead wrong and completely Arminian when he
demonstrates the inconsistency and the futility of an        wants to include all menin that one grace of God.
attack on Dekker's position by anyone who stands on             Anyone with a grain of Reformed feeling should
the basis of the First Point.                                sense this and discern it. It is plain as the sun in the
   In the light of the above, I would certainly advise       heavens.
the Christian Reformed constituency to listen to Dr.            And so Dr. Daane is assisting in bringing the
Daane and to pay very careful attention to what he has       Christian Reformed Church to the cross-roads toward
to say on the subject of the First Point of 1924 in          which they began travelling in 1924 when they adopted
connection with the Dekker Case. They may indeed             the First Point.
learn from him! His current articles in the  Reformed           That cross-roads confronts the Christian Reformed
Journal   ought to be spread far and wide among the          Church with the choice: the pure and simple Reformed
Christian Reformed membership and studied very               truth of one grace of God for the elect only, or the old
carefully and critically.                                    Arminian error of one grace of God for all men.
   Lest there be any misunderstanding of the preceding          The old, traditional explanation of the First Point
statement, let me emphasize that I mean this seriously.      has brought the Christian Reformed Church to a dead-
This is not a tongue-in-cheek or a sarcastic statement.      end street. It is now either to the right or to the left.
   Let me explain.                                           Another choice there is not. If a choice is made for
   After all, the deepest issue in 1924 was this: is         the left (Arminianism), they must understand clearly
God's grace for the elect only, or is His grace also         that the right (the Reformed truth) is left behind. And
for the reprobate? Whether you have  inmind  so-called       the dead-end street is also left behind. 1924 and the
common grace in the sense in which Abraham Kuyper            First Point and common grace in the traditional sense
Sr. taught it  (gemeene gratie),  or whether you speak of    will never be a live issue again.


342                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER


       It is for this reason that I wrote above that the         maintained in our Protestant Reformed Churches ever
Christian Reformed constituency should listen care-              since 1924.    If there is an element of the Christian
fully to what Dr. Daane has  to. say. There are cur-             Reformed laity that can still become thoroughly aroused
rently claims being made that the Christian Reformed             for the pure Reformed faith, so aroused that they can-
laity is becoming aroused. And well they might be !              not rest satisfied with this Arminianizing tendency; I
But let them study Daane's writings. Let them learn              assure them that they will find support and sympathy
from him the utter inconsistency of the First Point.             from the  Standavd   Beaver,  -not because we wish to
And then, if there is any love for the Reformed faith            capitalize on Christian Reformed troubles, but because
in them, let them become truly aroused to the fact               we love the Reformed faith and sympathize with all who
that Daane will take them completely down the road of            will maintain it without compromise.
Arminianism,  - all in the name of common grace. Let                For this reason, as well as to keep our own Prot-
them become so thoroughly aroused that they return               estant Reformed people posted, I want to comment on
to the pure Reformed truth as we have consistently               Dr. Daane's theologizings in detail.



                                        ADVICE  FOR  `"AN  AROUSED  LAITY"


                                                   Prof.  H. C. Hoeksema


       In  Torch  and  TYumpet,   April 1965, pp. 9-11, Prof.    theology of Kuyper, Bavinck, Warfield, and Vos (and
R. B. Kuiper pens some rather frank and disquieting              even Berkhof) out of date.
reflections under the title, "An Aroused Laity." I will             7. Suspicion of socialistic tendencies on the part of
begin my comments on his reflections in this issue,              preachers and teachers who advocate a welfare state.
before the subject becomes too old.                                 8. Suspicion that some leaders do not maintain the
       The professor begins by stating that a spirit of          antithesis of regenerate and unregenerate, believers
distrust has invaded the Christian Reformed Church, a            and unbelievers.
distrust on .the part of the laity, "the pew," toward
"the pulpit," the clergy. He even contends that there            Comment
is "a considerable segment of our `laity,' " that enter-            My first comment on this part of R. B. Kuiper's
tains such distrust. And although he does not produce            article, which I have summarized above, is:  I  hope  so!
his reasons, he maintains that he says "not without              I sincerely hope that the Christian Reformed "laity"
reason" that there is such a considerable segment.               is aroused. Personally, I am inclined to doubt whether
       Prof. Kuiper then goes on to mention several of the       this aroused segment is so "considerable." I am
things that. are bothering the laity. They are as follows:       afraid that there are many in the Christian Reformed
       1. Some leaders are in sympathy with the position         Church who neither know nor care what is going on in
of the Gereformeerde Kerken (of the Netherlands) that            this respect; and they certainly do not learnmuch from
from the point of view of principle it is permissible            the two denominational weeklies.        But even if this
for a Reformed Church to unite with the World Council            segment is not so very considerable, I still say: I hope
of Churches.                                                     so! Still more: I hope that this being aroused includes
       2. Suspicion that some leaders do not subscribe to        the clergy as well,  - the whole of the membership of
the proposition that the Bible is inerrant  and infallible       the church.    And why do I hope so? Because if the
in all that it tells us.                                         constituency of the Christian Reformed Church cannot
       3. Suspicion that some leaders do violence to the         and does not become aroused now, the cause of the
special love of God for his elect and the saving grace           Reformed truth among them will soon be completely
bestowed by God on the elect alone when they present             and irrevocably lost.
what Kuiper calls the "truths" of God's love for all                My second comment is that there is indeed reason
men and the offer of salvation to all men.                       to be aroused.       Of the eight items mentioned by
       4. Suspicion of Barthianism with respect toelection       Kuiper, at least six concern doctrinal matters basically,
and reprobation on the part of those who teach that              and that too, fundamentals of the Reformed faith.
Christ died redemptively for everybody and that it is            Number 6 concerns the theology of Kuyper, Bavinck,
the prime duty of the preacher of the gospel to so               etc., and, as phrased by Kuiper, is not necessarily
inform everybody. (A clear reference, of course, to              reason for concern. It probably would be more perti-
Prof. Dekker, Dr. James Daane, Dr. Harry Boer, and               nent to ask whether there are leaders who consider
others .)                                                        the Three Forms of Unity out of date. And Number
       5. Suspicion that some teachers leave room for            7 concerns political principles, though it is important
theistic evolution.                                              enough in itself.    But all the others concern in, one
       6. Suspicion that some ministers consider the             degree or another the very fundamentals of the  Re-


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     343


formed faith. If these things be true, there is indeed       fellow ministers and teachers.  Kuiper does not like
reason, abundant reason, to be aroused. I find it            the clergy-laity distinction, even as I do not. But then
rather striking, too, that onvirtually all of these items    he ought to write as one who is part of that "laity"
the  Standard   Beaver  has commented in recent times,       and not editorially divorce himself from them.
and connected them, let me add, with the Christian                  My fourth comment is in the form of a question:
Reformed Church's "common grace sickness."                   precisely how aroused are these Christian Reformed
   My third comment is that I nevertheless regret R.         laymen? Are they sufficiently aroused to do more than
B.  Kuiper's method. Perhaps it is an editorial device;      talk and write and be suspicious? If not, all their being
I do not know. But I do not like the method of suspicion-    aroused will leave them extremely frustrated: they
raising which  I<uiper employs. Moreover, I almost get       will accomplish nothing. If, however, they are truly
the impression that he is hiding behind the."laity" and      aroused, let them do something. Let them exercise
expressing his own ideas under the guise of expressing       their God-given right and duty to speak out ecclesias-
the laity's ideas.    I would like to know what Prof.        tically, their right of reformation!
Kuiper himself thinks, and whether he is able and
willing to prove these suspicions with respect to his                             (to be continued)





                                                   Rev. J. A. Heys


   Flying in the bright sunlight above the clouds.
      _  -                                                   sleep.      Rather than anxiety there is a noticeable bore-
which completely obscured the ground below, we were          dom now that there is nothing to see but fog, and noth-
leaving Winnipeg, Manitoba behind at the rate of about       ing to hear but the steady whine of the engines. After
one mile every seven seconds, or approximately at the        a safe landing a few minutes later, the flight is marked
rate of nine miles a minute, and were approaching the        down as being without incident.
Vancouver, British Columbia airport.                                But is not the folly of the unbeliever manifest so
   Shortly after leaving our cruising altitude of 33,000     clearly in all this quiet confidence?
feet, and as we began to descend through that thick mass            All that confidence was placed not simply in man
of clouds, the calm and reassuring voice of the captain      but in that which frail man has made. The almighty
of our sleek four-motored jet informed us that Van-          and all-wise God was ruled out of the picture. The
couver was completely overcast with a ceiling of 12,000      natural man will not put his trust in Him. He would
feet. This meant that we would not see the ground until      prefer to put it in the man at the controls, in the little
we had come below 12,000 feet above sea level.               "box" of radar, in the man-made compass and al-
   Knowing the terrain, which we could not see but           timeter. By these man can pierce the clouds to "see"
over which we were flying, one's mind begins to take         what lies ahead. He can know hiscourse and elevation.
account of the facts. To the left and over the border        "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."
in the State of Washington is Mt. Baker which lifts its      And so he puts his trust in the thing which he made
snowy cap 10,788 feet upward towards the sky. Be-            himself.      He entrusts his life to that which he needs to
fore us and to the right are Canadian mountains which        repair and to that for which  .he constantly finds ways
do not reach the height of Mt. Baker, but come within a      of improvement. He depends and leans heavily on that
thousand feet of this altitude. And the fact that neither    which depends upon the very man that made it. Truly
we nor the crew up front can see them does not take          it is the fool that saith in his heart, There is no God.
them away.                                                          We are reminded of the Word of God in Isaiah 44:9-
   No one seems concerned, however.           We should      20.      Only we deal today with a sophisticated and ed-
clear these peaks with 1,000 feet to spare and be below      ucated fool. We deal with a "cultured" and "civilized"
that mass of cloud before the mountains appear to the        fool.     Man has come a long way from his literal idol-
natural eye. And yet, what are 1,000 feet at the speed       atry of im-age worship. He has disproved many a myth
,of 5,280 feet every seven seconds? Would the captain        and gotten rid of  .many superstitions. But the modern
see the peak in time, having only a second or two to         fool as well as the ancient fool says in his heart that
react and lift our 550 ton plane to a safer level? There     there is no God. But listen to what God has to say of
is no evidence of concern aboard. The one continues          this fool: "They that make a graven image are all of
to read his magazine. Another catches a few winks of         them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit;


344                                                 THESTANDARDBEARER


and they are their own witnesses; they see not nor              eyes.       He stands in awe of the creature and has a deep
know; that they may be ashamed. Who hath formed a               respect for the powers in creation. But the Creator,
god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for            Whose works are all these, the fool does not see.
nothing?       Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed:        Rather than to look to God for safety and protection,
and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be               he will put his trust in the creature of his own fashion-
gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall            ing.      And as a fool he is often and ultimately put to
fear, and they shall be ashamed together. The smith             shame.       Another man-made instrument may cause his
with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashion-          delicate electronic equipment to function improperly.
eth it with hammers, and worketh it with strength of            It is for that reason that portable FM and sometimes
his arms: yea he is hungry, and his strength faileth:           even AM transistor radios may not be used on a plane
he drinketh no water, and is faint. The carpenter               while in flight.       Another man-made god throws the
stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line;         first man-made and more important god intoconfusion!
he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the       What folly, even to talk that way! A god cast into con-
compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, ac-           fusion? Surely that is no god. But this does not stop
cording to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in           the fool from worshipping, serving and having confi-
the house. He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the            dence in it.
cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for him-                But remember that the fool says this in his  head.
self among the trees of the forest; he planteth an ash,             With his mind and tongue he may say something
and the rain doth nourish it. Then shall it be for man          quite different. He may speak of a kind Providence.
to burn: for he will take thereof and warm himself;             He may advocate having some kind of religion. He
yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea he maketh a          may tell you to go to the church of your choice on
god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image,           Sunday. He may sing, "God Bless America." He may
and falleth down' thereto. He burneth part thereof in           ask you to swear in the name of God that you speak the
the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth        truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. He
roast, and is satisfied: yea he warmeth himself and             may agree with you that all creationshows that there is
saith,  Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. And the           a God.        And, remember, The Fool of all Fools and
residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven                instructor of them all is Satan. And he knows that
image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and         there is one God. With him it is not an intellectual
prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art            denial of God's existence. With him it is not ignor-
my god. They have not known nor understood: for he              ante .      Nor is it with the fool that says in his heart
hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their           that there is no God. His heart says this while his
hearts, that they cannot understand. And none  con-             mind knows better.
sidereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor               Why else does he curse and swear and call God to
understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the           damn and to witness the truth -of his words? Is it not
fire; yea also I have baked bread upon the coals there-         an amazing fact that the fool uses God's name more
of; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it; and shall I make        often in a day than the believer? Indeed, he does not
the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to        use it  aright, but he uses it. It would almost seem as
the stock of a tree? He feedeth on ashes: a deceived            though God is in all his thoughts, for often in well nigh
heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his         every sentence he makes mention of God. How true,
soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?"            that not that which enters the mouth of man defiles
       How true today as then!                                  him, but that which  cometh  out of the mouth! he will
       The instruction of the Heidelberg Catechism, in          not put his trust in God. He will not serve Him and walk
regard to the first commandment of the decalogue, is            in His commandments. He will not worship God. But
that our god is that which we serve, worship and                he will in his wickedness call upon God to be served,
wherein we put our trust. The fool saith in his heart,          to seek a curse upon his enemies and to emphasize
"I will put my trust in that which I have made myself.          his words because he is a liar and needs God's  name
I will trust in that which I have power to burn and use         to induce men to believe his words of folly. What an
to bake my bread and roast my meat. I will trust that           indictment upon the so-called atheist! For it has al-
which I have created myself. My god is and must be a            ways been our contention that there is no practical
god which I can control. My god is made of that which           atheist.      One may be such in theory, and yet he throws
I can throw away, and when it is convenient for me,  I          his theory to the winds every time he opens his mouth.
will throw away my god as well and make me a new                Why make such frequent use of the name of One Who
one." That he also does. He has a god for health and            does not exist?        That simply does not make sense.
another for wealth, a god for food and a god for shelter        Why fight against belief in One Who does not exist?
from the storms. In ancient days and still in many "un-         That is sheer folly. It truly is the fool that saith in
civilized" tribes the sun and moon, the clouds and the          his heart that there is no God.
river, the beasts and the trees are all gods, each with             But, as we began to say, it is a matter of the heart.
his own work and each to be sought for a particular             It is a spiritual, ethical matter so that Satan who
gift and favor.                                                 knows that there is a God and knows this God personally
       Is it really any different today?                        still denies Him because he CANNOT want Him to be
       The fool always looks to the creature and denies         God !       That is the crux of the matter! Satan and his
the Creator.        The fear  -of the Lord is not before his    brood, the devil and all his spiritual offspring cannot


                                                        THESTANDARDBEARER                                                      345


 love God, cannot want Him to be God and certainly                      and to serve Him. No, he will continue to put his trust
 cannot want Him to -be God alone !                                     in the things which he had made himself and which owe
    Is that not the very essence of the lie whereby all                 their existence  to,frail, foolish man. He will feel calm
 sin entered this world? Did Satan not strive and suc-                  and serene even in the face of the forces of God's wrath
 ceed to rob man of his fear of the Lord? Adam stood                    until the moment of his death. He will still expect man
 in an holy awe and reverence before God. He adored                     to rid this world of the curse. He will put his trust in
 Him. The essence of all his thoughts were: How great                   antibiotics, in blood banks and oxygen tents, in the
 Thou Art, how good and glorious! And so my soul                        hands of skilled surgeons and in the minds of men who
 desires it to be! By means of the lie Satan whittled                   are unable to prevent their own death. He will run to
 away at that glorious and true picture of the living God               the dying to be kept from his own death. He will take
 wherewith Adam was created. He turnedman's worship                     hold of the hands of the blind in order to be led in his
 away from God. He turned him from being a servant                      own blindness. He will find wisdom in the sayings and
 of the Most High into an enemy and rebel. He suc-                      words of the fool. For the natural man is a born,fool
 ceeded -in getting man to trust in his own abilities to                because he is a born unbeliever.
 become God's equal.        Man had a god besides and in                     The fear of the Lord is not a gift which his parents
 place of Jehovah. Man was his own god, and his trust                   can hand down unto him. He is conceived and born in
 was fixed upon the creature  - of all things a piece of                folly.      His heart is not right with God from its first
 fruit  - to `lift him above the plane where God had                    beat. -And so the fool continues to rush on to his des-
 created him. How ridiculous that a piece of fruit can                  truction in the conceited and foolish notion that' he is
 make the creature Jehovah's equal! Man, made by                         escaping the curse and really getting somewhere.
 God from the dust of the ground, plus a small piece of                  Faster than the fastest jet he rushes to destruction.
 fruit that grew on a tree created by God equals the God                 And not only is he calm about it because of his folly
 Who made these? Do we weary you when we say again,                      and trust in men and things, but he even enjoys the
 "the FOOL saith in his heart, There  isno God?" Have                   fast ride. It thrills him, for he cannot love God. The
 you ever heard of such folly?                                           carnal mind is enmity against God, is not subject to
   Indeed, but it is spiritual, ethical folly  andnot  mere             the law of God, nor indeed can it be.
 intellectual folly. You can show him the folly of be-
 lieving that a man and a small part of a tree equals                        In His fear  `we put our trust in Him, worship and
 God.      You can convince him that there must be a God.                serve Him and have the peace that passeth understand-
 But you cannot make him want that truth. You cannot                     ing and calmly await the day of Christ and our full
 induce him to put his trust in that God, to worship Him                 redemption.





                                       7ke  &me4  242  %d~
                                       ("0 worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." Ps. 96:9a)



                                              THE  LORD'S  SUPPER  FORM

                                                        INTRODUCTION


                                                       Rev. G.  Vanden   Berg


    Barger, in his book entitled, "Ons  Kerkboek,"                      the church. Not less than four times a year the Form
 makes the remark that in the event our Baptism Form                     is read and the focal points of truth contained in it are
 may be considered the best known of our liturgical                     not always given the proper stress and emphasis. -Our
 treasures, we do not hesitate to say that of the entire                spiritual sensitivity does not always respond as it
 collection of liturgical works, the Lord's Supper Form                  should to the hearing of these things. The reading
 is the most beautiful. Although it is very difficult to                tends to become a formality instead of a spiritual
; judge comparatively the familiarity, beauty, depth and                exercise of faith.            Over the years we become so
 riches of one form with another, the point is well                     intimately acquainted with this Form that we tend to
 taken that in our Form for the Administration of the                   grow careless in devoting our wholehearted attention
 Lord's Supper we have a treasure of limitless spiritual                to the old, old story as it is brought to our  remem-
 value.     We fear that this is not always appreciated by              brance in the celebration of Christ's death. At least in


346                                              THESTANDARDBEARER

the sermon we remain more alert in the expectation           ness. God dwells with us and bestows upon us through
that the minister might bring something out that we          this means of grace all the riches of His covenant. The
haven't heard before but in the reading of a Form that       Lord's Supper is like an Elim in the desert where the
we have heard so often that we can almost recite it          weary pilgrim rests in the enjoyment of the riches of
from memory, we tend to digress in our thinking while        grace as he drinks from the fountainof salvation. Here
this procedure is in progress. All this is certainly not     he tastes the bountifulness of God's love and the un-
conducive! to a spiritually healthy celebration of the       measurable depths of His goodness. Indeed, a sacra-
Lord's death.                                                ment of love. And, finally, for the future the sacra-
       Another author found in the words of Exodus  35       ment also has significance.      We are enjoined to do
the expression of the proper spiritual attitude and          this (remember the death of  our. Lord) "until He
disposition of those who approach the table ofthe Lord.      comes." Without the promise the celebration of His
And certainly then this same attitude must prevail when      death would be quite meaningless. He is coming again.
we listen to and give consideration to the truth of the      He is coming as the Bridegroom, the King and Judge
Word of God expressed in the Form for the Administra-        of all the earth. The commemoration of His death by
tion of the Lord's Supper. "Put off thy shoes from off       means of the sacrament is therefore also prophetic
thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy        for it points to a higher, better, and more perfect
ground."       Such is the Word of God to Moses as he        communion which is in store for them that love God.
approached the burning bush on Mount Horeb. Now              And from this point of view it is a sacrament of hope.
we do not plead for a literal execution of this Word of      Looking back then to His death, we are assured and
God and neither do we desire to equate this liturgical       comforted through the present possession of the gifts
form of the church with the Holy Scriptures, given           of His love and we look forward in the assurance that
through holy men who were inspired by the Spirit of          when He returns He will dwell with us forever in
God, but we do stress the fact that the celebration of       heavenly glory and perfection. The sacrament is de-
the Lord's Supper confronts us with "holy things".           signed to strengthen this faith in us and this is ac-
We are dealing with the death of our Lord, the only          complished only as we, through His grace, "give the
ground and basis of our salvation. This is the very          more earnest heed to the things we have heard." This
heart of the gospel through which God Himself reveals        we do with deep gratitude to our Reformed fathers for
to us, as He also did to Moses, that He is "the God of       the heritage left us in our liturgical forms and which
Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob." He is a Covenant            we receive as objects of study and investigation in
God Who in Christ establishes the basis on which He          order that both we and our posterity may know,
communes in friendship with His people. And as we            understand and believe the truth.         To this end we
then celebrate this work of God in the Supper He has         embark upon the task of searching out our beautiful
instituted, we need to be instructed from the Word in        Lord's Supper Form.
the truth and meaning of all these things. This pur-            If we were to single out any particular character-
pose is served by the Form for the Administration of         istic of the Lord's Supper Form that makes it dis-
the Lord's Supper which we begin now to discuss in           tinctively beautiful, we would have to say that this is
this rubric of our Standard Bearer. Let us then exam-        to be found in its  Scviptuvalness.      It is through and
ine this liturgical form with reverence and godly fear       through Scriptural.    Did this ever strike you as the
in the consciousness that we are treading on holy            form was being read? Watch it the next time as you
ground. And may the consideration of its content serve       follow the reading in the Communion Service. Take
to excite in us a deeper sense of appreciation for our       note not only of how many direct quotations from
spiritual heritage that is more and more reflected           Scripture you find in the Form but also observe the
each time we are privileged to commemorate the death         length of some of these quotes. And then do not, of
of our Lord till He comes.                                   course, overlook the fact that in much of the Form
       Ds. B. Wielenga, in his book,  ` `Ons Avondmaals      where you do not have direct quotes of Scripture, you
Formulier," makes the observation that when Godgave          find indirect reference to specific things clearly taught
the sacrament of the Lord's Supper to His people, He         in the Word.
set a  CYOW?Z  upon all His covenant work. He further           Now it is true that there are other features of the
remarks that the Lord's Supper is the place where            Communion Form that also greatly enhance its beauty.
heaven and earth are brought closest together. The           The fact, for example, that this Form is entirely  non-
past, the present and the future of the history of           polemical in character although at the time that it was
salvation meet each other and join hand in hand at this      written there were prevailing many false views con-
point.     On this observation he then further elaborates    cerning the Lord's Supper that could have been refuted.
to show that the Communion is a supper or meal of            Our fathers refrained from doing this. They simply set
faith, love and hope. The former it is because it is a       forth the positive truth of the Word of God concerning
feast of remembrance. It brings before our conscious         this sacrament in order that the faith of the church
mind the central wonder of redemption  - the death of        might be fed and nourished.            Consider, too, the
Christ. It focuses our attention upon that Wonder of         simplicity of language. The form is so simply written
history as the object of faith and enjoins us to believe     that it can be followed and understood by a child. All
in Him Who was "delivered for our transgressions."           of this is very well but we must remember that the
But, since the sacrament is the communion of God's           most simple, non-controversial statement of a position
covenant, it also testifies to us of our present blessed-    has no appeal to the mind of faith if it is not rooted in


                                                    THESTANDARDBEARER                                                     347

  and harmonious with the Holy Scriptures. Therein lies         have been taught. If it appears that there is such doubt,
  the beauty and strength of this piece of our Reformed         it must be removed by further instruction from the
  liturgy.                                                      Scriptures till they are satisfied. If they are satisfied,
     We make just a comment here about this singular            they must be asked to confess and to promise:
  beauty of this confession. Later on in connection with                  a. That they will abide by this doctrine.
  the discussion of the Form itself we may have an                        b. That they will forsake the world.
  opportunity to elaborate upon this point but we want to                 c. That they will live a Christian life.
  mention in passing that the truth is set forth in our                   d. That they will submit to Christian discipline.
  Communion Form from both its positive and negative               They must finally be admonished to live in love and
  aspects. Positively the truth concerning the sufferings       peace with their neighbor, and to remove whatever
  and death of Christ are explained and through this            offense there may be in this regard."
  exposition of the central truths of God's revelation to          It is to be observed that although we no longer have
1 us the hearts and minds of believers are strengthened.        this introductory part in our Lord's Supper Form, the
~ With equal force the negative aspect of the truth is set      various points covered by it are still observed by the
1 forth when the Form warns all who in life and confes-         practice in vogue in our churches where confession of
  sion do not believe, that they have no part in the Kingdom    faith is required before admission to the Lord's table
  of God.       All who lead lives that are contrary to the     is permitted., It might be interesting to know why this
  mandates of the Word of God simply have no place at           introduction was deleted since there apparently can be
  the table of the Lord. Their presence there is only           no objection t'o its content.
  an aggravation of their judgment. They eat and drink              Rev. Hoe14:sema further points out that "instead of
  damnation unto themselves not discerning the Lord's           the simple a mission to the Lord's table, the Romish
  body. Sharply the antithetical line of the truth must be      Church has the sacrament of confirmation.               The
  drawn and applied for as in the gospel, so in the sacra-      Lutherans iI,so have confirmation, but they do not
  ments, it must be proclaimed: "Say ye to the righteous,       regard this as a sacrament. At Geneva, Calvin had
  that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat of the     the custom of having his young people recite the
  fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! It shall be       Catechism as a public confession on their part on the
  ill with him; for the reward of his hands shall be given      Sunday before they were admitted to the Lord's table.
  him." (Isaiah  3:10, 11) Could the modern clamor to           In London (England), the young people were examined
  shorten and revise the present Communion Form stem            on the Sunday before their first celebration of the
  from a desire to obliterate this sharpness of the truth       death of the Lord, and made a brief public confession.
  by bringing the witness of the sacrament into harmony         With us, this is virtually still the custom."
  with a perverted gospel that proclaims a general,                From all- this we note that although customs here
  universal love of God to all men without distinction?         and there vary somewhat, there is general agreement
  With Ds. Wielenga we also may say: "Truly, we may             that public confession of faith is requisite and consid-
  be thankful to our fathers and in them to our God, Who        ered in itself as a seeking of admission to the Lord's
  directs all things by His counsel and providence, for         table.      It has always been thus and the present custom
  this precious piece of liturgy and manifest this grati-       of public confession of faith covers in the main the
  tude through hearty estimation and serious attention."        very points that were contained in the original intro-
  (hartelijke waardeering en ernstige opmerkzaamheid)l          duction to the Lord's Supper Form. This is further
  Histovical   Background                                       evident when you compare the questions which we use
                                                                in connection with the confession of faith with those
     Rev. H. Hoeksema, in his "Liturgy Notes," states:          things that are mentioned above as contained in the
  "Our form for the administration of the Lord's Supper         original Lord's Supper- Form.
  had its origin in the Palatinate, and the author of its
  present form is Caspar Olevianus."          This Caspar       1 "Ons Avondmaals Formulier" by Wielenga, Pg. 10.
  Olevianus is the same man who assisted Zacharius
  Ursinus in the composition of our Heidelberg
  Catechism.
     In connection with the historical background of our                           ATTENTION: PLEASE!
  Lord's Supper Form we will begin by quoting the               The new secretary of the Southwest Protestant Re-
  following from the Liturgy Notes of Rev. Hoeksema.            formed Church is
      "The older editions of this form have an introduc-                         Mr. Jay Boone
  tion containing some stipulations regarding the admis-                           1319 Den  Hertog   SW.
  sion of members to the Lord's table. In later editions                            Wyoming, Michigan, 49509
  these introductory remarks were eliminated.          This     Send all bulletin announcements to:
  introduction stipulated:                                                       Mr. Phil Lotterman
      1. That they who seek admission to the table of the                          2141 Newport SW
  Lord must first be instructed properly in Christian                               Wyoming, Michigan, 49509
  doctrine.                                                                                            Rev. George Lubbers
      2. That having been sufficiently instructed, they
  should be asked whether they entertain any doubt in
  their minds concerning any point of the doctrine they


348                                                   THESTANDARDBEARER



                                         te.&i!hcdd  tq  w&d&e&

                                               THE  SONG  OF  HANNAH


                                                     Rev. B.  Woudenbevg


                             And Hannah prayed, and said, My heavt  rejoiceth in the LORD, mine
                         horn is exalted in the LORD; my mouth is  enlarged over mine enemies;
                         because  I  rejoice in thy salvation...                           I Samuel 2:l


       A transformation took place in the life of  H,annah          was always giving forth with her cutting remarks
beginning with her prayer to God in the tabernacle at               designed to make Hannah grieve and hurt. But now of
Shiloh. She came to that prayer in tears with a heart               a sudden this was changed. There at the tabernacle,
breaking because of her own barrenness and because                  Hannah had suddenly received a complete immunity to
of the relentless taunts of Peninnah. She had poured                the taunts of Peninnah. Now Hannah went about with a
out her soul with all of its bitterness in the presence             quiet spirit and an inner joy which Peninnah was no
of God, making a vow to dedicate the life of her son                longer able to penetrate no matter how she tried.
completely unto God if only He would grant her one.                 Hannah was a changed woman.
So passionately and unreservedly did she give herself                   Early the next morning, Elkanah and his family
over to this prayer that the high priest Eli watching               rose to join in worship before the morning sacrifice
her concluded that she was drunken. (Such was the                   of the tabernacle, and then they returned to their home.
day that drunkenness seemed a much more natural                     Soon it became apparent that Hannah's new foundconfi-
explanation of unusual behavior than any sense of                   dence was not just a temporary lift in spirit; it re-
dedication to God; and this was true even in the very               mained with her day after day and week after week. A
tabernacle itself.) But when he heard her explanation,              new strength and confidence had been added to her
he- knew better.      She was a woman deeply troubled at            faith.    It was then that God also answered her petition.
heart, and he wished for her an answer to her petition,             Hannah conceived and bare a son. The name which she
saying, "Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee              gave to him was Samuel, "Because," she said, "I have
thy petition that thou hast asked of him."                          asked him of the LORD." We may well imagine the
       It was particularly this word of Eli that touched the        joy which this birth brought  ,to Hannah and Elkanah.
heart of Hannah.         He was God's high priest. She              Here was indeed a gift from God. But the scars of
realized that he did not know what her sorrow and what              polygamy were still there, and undoubtedly the hatred
her petition had been; but that was not necessary                   of Peninnah was only increased.
either. When he spoke it was as though God was speak-                   It was shortly after the birth of Samuel that the
ing to her through him. It was as though heaven was                 time came for Elkanah to go up to Shiloh again to offer
assuring her that her prayer had been heard. That was               their yearly sacrifices; but this time Hannah did not
all that mattered. No longer did it even seem so very               go. She had made a vow to the Lord, and she would not
necessary that her petition should be granted. If God               go to Shiloh until that vow could be kept. This child
had heard her prayer, whatever He would bring to her                she had not asked for her own sake, but in love for
would be well with her. Through prayer the sting of                 Israel and for its future. This childwas to be dedicated
her sorrow was taken ,away.                                         completely to the Lord. He was to be a Nazarite from
       When once again Hannah rejoined her family, it was           his birth, untouched by the razor, strong drink or
as a different woman. There was a peace and confi-                  death.     But he was to be marked by more than just
dence in her soul which had not been there for many a               these negative, typical signs. Hannah was determined
year.      It must have seemed strange to everyone.  El-            that his life should be dedicated positively inservice to
kanah had tried so often in so many different ways to               God. Being from the tribe of Levi, he was eligible for
give this kind of assurance and joy to Hannah; but                  service in the tabernacle. But with Samuel this was
always his efforts had failed.         Now suddenly it had          not to be just an occasional thing. Hannah had vowed
come to her there at the tabernacle in a way which he               to give him to the service of the tabernacle from the
did not completely understand. Peninnah  had. always                very first day at which he was capable of doing this,
found Hannah a very easy target for her pointed barb.               and she determined not to go to Shiloh herself until this
It had become one of her chief pleasures in life. She               vow could be kept. So she said to her husband, "I will
suffered because of Elkanah's failure to love her as                not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring
he did Hannah, and she found a bitter joy in having her             him, that he may appear before the LORD, and there
revenge upon Hannah. Almost unconsciously now, she                  abide for ever." To this Elkanah answered, "Do what


                                                    THESTANDARDBEARER                                                   349

seemeth thee good; tarry until thou have weaned himi           The bows of the mighty men are broken,
only the LORD establish his word."                             And they that stumble are girded with strength.
   It was perhaps three or four years later that Hannah        They that were full have hired themselves out for bread,
finally felt that Samuel was ready.           With her she     And they that were hungry ceased (to hunger);
brought an extra large number of gifts for the taber-          So that the barren hath borne seven,
nacle, three bullocks, an ephah of flour, and a bottle         And she that hath many children hath waxed feeble.
of wine. Her child was fully prepared. From his first          Jehovah killeth and maketh alive,
days of conscious comprehension Samuel had beenmade            Bringing down to Sheol and bringeth up.
to understand that his life was dedicated to the taber-        Jehovah maketh poor and maketh rich,
nacle of God.     As young as he was, he assumed this          Bringeth low and lifteth  up*
and went along willingly. It was indeed a very strange         He raiseth up the poor out of the dust,
procession which finally came to the tabernacle of the         And lifteth up the needy out of the dunghill,
Lord that year. First they approached the altar and            To set among princes,
presented a bullock in sacrifice before the Lord. Only         And he makes them to inherit a throne of glory;
then did Hannah bring her child to the amazed Eli and          For the pillars of the earth are Jehovah's,
say, "Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the        And he hath set the world upon them.
woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the LORD.          He will keep the feet of his favored ones,
For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me            And the wicked shall perish in darkness;
my petition which I asked of him: therefore also I have        For not by strength shall a man prevail.
lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be         The adversaries of Jehovah shall be broken in pieces;
lent to the LORD."                                             And out of heaven will he thunder upon them.
   We may well be inclined to wonder at this action -of        Jehovah will judge the ends of the earth,
Hannah, why she should place a small child away ,from          And he will give strength unto his king.
home in the tabernacle of God. We can only conclude               This was indeed a remarkable prayer. Through
that there must have been some real and useful func-           her experience, Hannah had come to experience the
tion which a child was well able to serve in the services      battle which is known by the people of God in every
of the tabernacle. It perhaps reflected also upon the          age. It had happened in her relationship to Peninnah.
sad state of affairs into which the religious functions        Although a member of the nation of Israel, Peninnah
of the tabernacle had fallen.          Considering that the    was essentially a godless woman. Hannah's song un-
tabernacle was the center and heart of all Israel's            doubtedly refers to her when it speaks of the one who
religious activities, it was to be expected that Shiloh        talked exceedingly proudly and out of whose mouth
would have been a very busy and important place. But           arrogance came. This had been Peninnah throughout,
it was not. Through the long period of the judges, the         a woman determined to show her own superiority to
spiritual life of Israel had fallen into a steadily lower      Hannah. As an Israelite, her only interest in the Word
ebb.    No longer were there many Levites willing to           of God had been to use it as a means of belittling
leave their personal concerns and serve in the taber-          Hannah because of her barrenness.             At her hands,
nacle as they were expected to do, and neither was             Hannah had experienced the oppression of the wicked.
there a great deal of need for them seeing so few                 Nevertheless, Hannah in her song does not dwell
worshippers even appeared any more. It was the type            exclusively upon her own hardships and sufferings. She
of situation in which a small boy could be quite helpful       was only  asmall  part of a much greater picture. Some
in running simple errands for an aged priest who was           suffer from the bow of mightymen, some suffer poverty,
not overly busy to begin with.                                 some suffer sickness and death. The way of the people
   To Hannah, nevertheless, the tabernacle was im-             of God in this world is so often a way of hardship and
portant.    She was one of the few in Israel who consid-       pain.     Often it is the wicked that appear to prosper
ered the worship of God to be more important than              more than they.      It is this that lifts up the wicked
anything else.     Sor her to have her son received to         in pride and brings their derision upon the meek and
serve within the tabernacle was more wonderful than            lowly of the people of God. Hannah had experienced
anything else. The joy which she felt at this moment           this in the persecution of Peninnah. Of  it she could
she gave expression to in a beautiful prayer in verse          sing with deep feelings as shared by God's people in
or song. She sang:*                                            every age. She knew how cruel the wicked could be.
My heart rejoiceth in Jehovah,                                    But in the end there is always thevictory. Although
My horn is exalted in Jehovah;                                 at times God leads His people in hard ways, He never
My mouth is opened wide over mine enemies,                     forsakes them. When they call upon Him, He returns
Because I rejoice in thy salvation.                            to lift them up. The pride of the wicked is broken, and
There is none holy as Jehovah,                                 the people of God are made to rejoice. Hannah's song
For there is none beside thee,                                 is the song of all God's people -
And there is no rock like our God.                             "My heart rejoiceth in Jehovah,
Talk no more so exceedingly proudly;                            My horn is exalted in Jehovah;
Let not arrogancy come out of thy mouth;                        My mouth is opened wide over mine enemies,
For the Lord is a God of knowledge,                             Because I rejoice in thy salvation...."
And by Him actions are weighed.                                                      *Translation by Rev. G. M. Ophoff.


350                                               THESTANDARDBEARER





                                     THE  INSPIRATION   OF  THE  SCRIPTURES

                                      MEANING  OF  DIVINE  INSPIRATION


                                                   Rev. H.  Veldman


       We concluded our preceding article with the question    never deny Him but fight for Him even into death. But
and our answer to it: What is organic inspiration? God         this apostle had denied his Lord thrice, and this in
and man did not write the Bible. Although we speak of          spite of the fact that the  .Lord had predicted that he
the Primary Author and the secondary authors of the            would do exactly that. Indeed, Peterwas  in the position
Bible, the Primary Author of the Scriptures is the Holy        to warn the church and people of God to take heed and
Spirit. God wrote the Bible. Only, He wrote the Bible          be watchful unto prayer lest, thinking they can stand,
through men.        Organic inspiration means that these       they should fall. Then, this idea of organic inspiration
several human writers are God's organs of inspira-             is also beautifully set forth in connection with the
tion.     In the Divine scheme and plan of the Scriptures,     apostle Paul. This apostle writes in II Cor.  4:17-18:
each writer occupies his own place, determined by the          "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment,
Lord, and he is led, by the Spirit of God and unerringly,      worketh for us a far more exceeding andeternal weight
to write the word of the Lord.                                 of glory.    While we look not at the things which are
       In this organic inspiration we behold a wonderful       seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things
phenomenon.       From Moses to the apostle John covers        which are seen are temporal; but the things which are
a period of some sixteen hundred years. Throughout             not seen are eternal."       In this passage the apostle
this period all these various writers wrote as unaware         speaks of our affliction as "light" and "but for a
of each other. Nevertheless, although unaware of one           moment." One must ask the question: does not Paul
another, and, of course, without consulting with each          minimize the affliction of the people of God? Shall we
other, they all contributed to the Bible, and their            accuse or reproach the apostle for speaking lightly of
various writings constitute a beautiful whole and unity,       the persecutions and sufferings of the church of the
never in conflict with each other, in perfect harmony          Lord?    Is it really true that the sufferings of God's
with each other, through the one Spirit of our Lord            people are light and "but for a moment"? The Bible
Jesus Christ.                                                  does not speak lightly of these sufferings, does it?
       Organic inspiration means that each writer has his      However, these sufferings of the people of God are light
divinely assigned place in this organism of the Word of        and but for a moment, not in themselves, but as viewed
God. Each writer was prepared from infancy on. Tbis            in the light of eternity and when compared with the
is an essential feature of organic inspiration. David          glory that shall follow. But, we referred to this text
was a shepherd and could therefore write the shep-             to establish the truth of organic inspiration. And, if
herd's psalm, Ps. 23. The Lord prepared him for tbis           we imagine that the apostle speaks as he does of the
particular position in life, appointed him to be such a        sufferings of the people of God because he is personally
shepherd exactly in order that he should write the             not acquainted with these sufferings, how mistaken we
twenty-third psalm. David was a king placed by the             are! This apostle suffered more than any other apostle.
Lord upon the throne of Israel, could therefore be the         In II Cor.  11:23-30  he speaks of the sufferings which
object of intense hatred by the world of darkness all          had been his lot. In these verses we read: "Are they
around him., and was thereby placed by God in the              ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in
position to write his Messianic psalms. David's sore           labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in
trials and afflictions serve the divinelypre-determined        prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five
purpose of being a symbol and picture of the trials and        times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I
afflictions of the Christ, and it is therefore the Lord        beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered
Who prepared David for his place in the canon of the           shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
Holy Scriptures. Peter warns the church and people             in journeyings often; in perils of waters, in perils of
of God that they must always be on the alert, lest,            robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils
thinking they can stand, they should fall. And the Lord        by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the
had surely placed him in the position to be able to            wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among
write this. He had imagined himself able to stand, had         false brethren; in weariness and p ainf uln e s s, in
boasted of himself that, even though all the rest of the       watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings
disciples would forsake and desert the Lord, he would          often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                351


~ are without, that which cometh  upon me daily, the care      people. of God.       This is organic inspiration. The
, of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak?         writers are not mere stenographers, human machines,
 who is offended, and I burn not? If I must need glory, I      but living organs of the Lord. Only, they are the organs
 will glory of the things whichconcernmine infirmities."       of the Lord. God wrote His Word, not with men, but
  Paul suffered all these things in order that he should       through men. He led and guided them infallibly, left
 write the words of II Cor.  4:17-18. None must be able        nothing to their own ingenuity.       The Bible is, from
 to accuse the apostle of writing as he does because he        beginning to end, the inspired Word of God.
  is not personally acquainted with the sufferings of the



                                          THE  DOCTRINE  OF  CREATION

     The Lord willing, we will now begin a discussion          and development. This is Theistic Evolution. A third
 of the doctrine of creation. The doctrine of creation,        class of evolutionists consists of those who either
 as set forth in the Scriptures and in the Reformed            obscure or deny the evidence afforded by the order
 Confessions, is almost universally denied today, not          and adaptation in the universe for the existence and
 only in the world but also in what calls itself the church    activity of God alike as Creator and as Providential
 of God. A discussion of this subject can and should be        Ruler. This theory simply rules out God.
 of great interest.                                               The evolutionistic presentation of the origin of all
     The divine origin of man and of all things has never      things is surely accepted today throughout the world.
 been doubted in the Christian Church and in Christian         We may safely say that this theory expounds the theory
 theology. The Word of God does not leave this matter          that all things evolve from an original cell, that all
 in doubt.      And neither is this matter left in doubt in    things exist and have developed by a force residing in
 our Reformed Symbols.          Outside  God"s  revelation,    the world itself. Some say that man is a descendant
 however, many conjectures have been made and many             of one of the species of anthropoid(resemblinga human
 theories advanced concerning the origin of man and of         being) apes now in existence, and others assert that
 all things. Many wise men among the heathens, it is           man and the higher apes have a common ancestor now
 true, ascribed the creation of man to gods or semi-gods.      no longer in existence. Be this as it may, all things
 Others recognized in man who has been formed out of           have developed out of an original cell, the animate out
 the dust of the earth a higher, rational principle which      of the inanimate, the organic out of the inorganic,
 was derived from the gods. But it cannot be denied            man from an ape, etc. Long before Darwin (1809-1882)
 that also totally different ideas concerning the origin       the philosophy of the world had taught that the animal
 of all things have been advanced in religion and in           was man's ancestor. Darwin was certainly not the first
 philosophy.     Some have declared that man came forth        whose name must be associated with the theory of
 from an animal, and others advanced the theory that he        Evolution.     What Darwin did was to conduct a series
 was the fruit of some tree.                                   of observations which were related to the life of man
     The theory of Evolution is rampant today. This            and of the animal in order to reveal this connection
 theory declares that man descended from a lower               and association. Darwin, who must have stated that the
 animal, body and soul, through a perfectly natural            earthworm was the most helpful of all an im al s,
 process, controlled entirely by inherent forces, and          developed the theory  whit h treats the evolution of all
 therefore not by any external (as a Divine) power.            forms of living organisms from a few forms of primi-
     It is true, as is generally known, that there are         tive life or from one such form, the keynote of the
 varying theories of Evolution. Some evolutionists do          theory being natural selection or the survival of the
 not deny the evidence which order and adaptation, which       fittest. He knew how to combine these various observa-
 may be observed in nature, attest unto the existence of       tions or phenomena and to serve an hypothesis, a
 God and His immanence in and providential control of          supposition which already existed in his mind, and
 His works. These profess to believe in the possibility        thereby showed the way in  .which man's descension
 of harmonizing an evolutionistic conception of the            from the animal appeared possible.
 development and existence of things with the thought             Evolution is universally taught today. One maywell
 of an eternal and ever working God. Other evolution-          wonder how this is possible and why this theory is
 ists would recognize God as the original source in the        allowed.      A few decades ago a high school teacher was
 far and remote past to which, then, the origination and
 the primary adjustments of the universe are to be
 referred, but they deny His immanence and constant
 providential activity in all the works of His hands.                               ANNOUNCEMENT
 This means that the origin and continued existence of         The Standard Bearer Staff will meet Monday evening,
 the world can be likened to an alarm clock. After such        June 7, 1965 at First Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
 a clock has been wound it runs of itself. God, then, is       Will all the editors please take note and plan to attend
 the origin of the world. For the rest, however, the           this meeting? The meeting begins at 8:00 P.M.
 Lord holds Himself aloof from its continued existence                                                 J.A. Heys, Sec'y.


352                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


tried in a Tennessee  (?) court. because he taught the       Evolution is the destruction of all religion, of all
theory of Evolution. The attorney who prosecuted him was     morality, of all prayer, of all consciousness of sin.
William Jennings Bryan, and the attorney who defended        The children in the public schools of our land may not
him was the notorious Clarence Darrow. Today prayer          pray to the Lord, but they may be taught that there is
is forbidden in the public schools of our land. One may      no God. A few decades ago an instructor was tried in
well ask the question: but how is it possible that the       the courts because he taught this theory; today the
theory of Evolution `may be taught in these schools          highest court has ruled that prayer to God may not be
throughout the land? If it be forbidden to pray to God,      offered in these schools. And, is not the  "periods-
should it not also be forbidden to deny Him? If we may       theory" fundamentally evolutionistic? Also this theory
not say that God is, should it not also be contrary to       denies that all things were called into existence by the
the law to say that He is not? Evolution denies God.         word of God's almighty power.



                              7h  dam!  gac43  7ke  %m!  ,  ,  ,
                                                                               (Psalm 68:11)


                               PREDESTINATION  AND  MISSION  PREACHING



                                                    Rev. C.  Hank0


       As  our readers will recall from `our previous        wrath fitted unto destruction in the way of sin, as
article, Mr. Boer is writing on the subject of "Election     manifestations of His justice, and to serve the purpose
and Missions" in the  Reformed  Journal. He makes a          of the realization of His elect church.     And yet, this
plea for the doctrine of election and also advocates         also is the doctrine of the infallible Word of God.
that election should be a part of the contents of the            It is not difficult to show, nor for the reader to see
preaching on the mission field, since we are to follow       that these definitions are indeed the truth of God.
the example of Paul to preach the whole counsel of               We turn to Ephesians 1:3-6. "Blessed be the God
God.      This we find highly commendatory, except for       and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
the fact that Mr. Boer does not believe in election,         us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in
neither as it is taught in Scripture nor as it is main-      Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before
tained in our Confessions.        What he pleads for is      the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
actually nothing more than a divine  selection,  for he      without blame before him: in love (see R. S. V.) having
defends the position that Israel in the old dispensation     predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
was selected of God from among the nations of the            Christ to himself, according to the good pleasureof his
earth to bring the good tidings of salvation to all          will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he
nations, that is, to declare to every individual "God        hath made us accepted in the beloved."
loves you," and, "Christ died for you." He maintains             I am quoting this entire doxology because every
that also Christ is the Elect of God solely for that         verse emphasizes God's sovereign predestination. In
same purpose. And this is the purpose of the election        verse 4 the apostle states, "According as he hath chosen
(or selection) of the church in the new dispensation,        us in him before the foundation of the world." In verse
as well as of the individual believer. God chooses           5 he adds, "In love having predestinated us unto the
the church and the individual believer to declare to         adoption of children." (I prefer the Revised Standard
every person on the earth the universal love of God          version here, since it takes the phrase "in love" with
and the universal atonement of the cross.                    verse 5 instead of with verse 4, as the Authorized
       That this is contrary to the teaching of Scripture    Version does. Both translations are possible, but to
must be evident to anyone who carefully studies the          join the words "in love" with verse 5 fits better with
Word of God. Boer would never subscribe to the def-          the entire idea of the doxology.) And in verse 6 Paul
inition that speaks of election! as the eternal and          stresses, "According to the good pleasure of his will."
sovereign decree of God to lead the Church as the body           1. Paul speaks of  election.  He tells us that God
of Christ, with all its individual members, each in his      chooses His people in Christ. Christ is first. He is
own position, to eternal salvation and glory. And yet        the Elect, and all the elect are chosen in Him. He is
this is the plain teaching of Scripture. Besides, Boer       the Head of the Body; all the elect are so many mem-
will have nothing of the definition of reprobation that      bers in the body of Christ. Together they form a unity,
speaks of reprobation as the eternal and sovereign           from which not a single member can be subtracted
decree of God to determine some men to be vessels of         without destroying the unity, and to which not a single


                                                    THESTANDARDBEARER                                                   353


 member can be added without creating a monstrosity.            faith, the right to conversion, the right to justification,
Christ and His people are one harmonious whole,                 the right to sanctification, the right to joy,peace, hope,
 chosen of God "from before the foundation of the               and every other conceivable blessing of salvation. They
 world."      Christ and His Church are first, and the          have this solely as the elect in Christ Jesus.
 founding of the world follows, also in God's decree.              Paul expresses this same purpose of divine pre-
 That is, the creation of the world and all history must        destination in Romans  8:29, 30, where we read, "For
 serve for the gathering, defending, and preserving of          whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be
 God's elect. "All things are yours, and ye are Christ's,       conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be
 and Christ is God's." I Cor.  3:22, 23.                        the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
    2. Paul also speaks of the basis for this sovereign         he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he
 election.     For in verse 4 he adds, "In love having          called, them he also justified: and whom he justified,
 predestinated us." God determined beforehand the               them he also glorified."
 destiny of Jesus Christ, that in Him all fulness of               a. Here also Paul speaks of eternal foreknowledge
 glory should dwell eternally.      Col.  1:19.  God also       which is rooted in love.
 determined the destiny of all those given to Christ,              b. According to this eternal foreknowledge Christ is
 the members of His Body according to the election of           the Firstborn among many brethren. He is the eldest
 grace, that they should be glorified withchrist forever.       Son of the family. The size of that family is determined
 And this implies that God also determined the destiny          eternally.
 of those who are outside of Christ, who perish in their           c. These brethren look like their Elder brother,
 sins.     They are the chaff that must serve the wheat,        Christ, for they are appointed to be in His likeness,
 but is finally burned with fire. See, for example, the         in order that they may dwell with Him to tell the
 parable of the wheat and the tares, Matthew 13:24-30;          praises of Father in and through Him eternally.
 Hebrews  6~7, 8.                                                  d. This entire family has its destiny determined
    But then we must not overlook the fact that God has         by God, for before God they are eternally called,
 predestinated His people in love.          Scripture always    justified, glorified.
 stresses that eternal love as the basis and reason for            e. Our salvation is an established fact before God.
 our election.     God's people are Christ's sheep, for         It does not depend upon whether the saved are faithful
 which He lays down His life. In fact, God's love for           in bringing the Gospel to others, no more than it
 them is so great (even as they have their own central          depends upon our personal choice. For "all that the
 place in "the world" of John  3:16)  that God gave His         Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that
 only begotten Son for them. Paul makes it still more           cometh to me I will in no wise cast out," is Jesus' own
 emphatic by adding that God spared not His Son, but            conviction.    Moreover, "No man can come to me,
 gave Him over unto the accursed death of the cross for         except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and
 all of us. That love is the love of the Father for His         I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:37, 44.
 children, of the Husband for His wife, of the covenant            4. Finally, we should not fail to notice that in
 God for His elect in Christ. That love is particular, as       Ephesians 1:3-6 all this is ascribed to the good pleas-
 Paul says: "In love having predestinated us unto the           ure of God's will. God delights in His own sovereign
 adoption of children in Jesus Christ." But then Prof.          decree, and therefore delights in the fact that He has
 Dekker and others must not say that this love is uni-          predestinated us unto .the adoption to sons in Christ
 versal, for as soon as they say that this love is univer-      Jesus.    God is pleased to show forth the glory of His
 sal they deny God's eternal predestination, which limits       Name in all His matchless virtues by saving His elect
 that love to the elect.                                        through the dark way of sin and grace. He shows the
    3. The apostle Paul also points to the  pu@ose  of          glory of salvation on the dark background of righteous
 God's sovereign election. For in verse 5 he says, that         judgment in eternal condemnation in hell. All things,
 God has predestinated us unto "the adoption of children        in heaven, on earth, and under the earthmust show forth
 in Jesus  Christ."' The purpose is not, as Boer would          the praises of the Creator. Every knee must bow and
 have it, that now the church can perform its duty to           every tongue must confess that Christ is Lord to the
 declare to the whole world the universal love of God           glory of the Father.
 and the universal atonement of Christ. No, Paul teaches           Jesus recognizes this sovereign good pleasure in
 the very opposite. We are predestinated unto the adop-         the fruits of His own ministry. He had just upbraided
 tion of children. Now there can be no doubt about it           the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done,
 that this eternal adoption is limited to the elect. It         because they repented not. The Lord had been faithful
 certainly does not include all men. Adoption is a legal        to His calling as the greatest missionary this world
 term, for adoption is realized only by due process of          has ever known, no, rather, as the  only  missionary
 law.     God has made out the adoption papers for those        who accomplishes all the mission work of God through
 who are chosen in Christ. These adoptionpapers are             His faithful servants in all ages. But the result of His
 sealed with the blood of Golgotha. They have individual        personal labors in those cities wherein he had been
 names written upon them. And these individuals make            devoting so much of  ,his time and effort was that they
 up the family of God, the sum total of all the elect.          repented not. And for that Jesus upbraids them. Yet
 These, and these alone have the eternal right to be            at the same time He ascribes the entire outcome of
 called the sons of God. These have all the rights of           His ministry to the sovereign good pleasure of God. In
 sons. They have the right to regeneration, the right to        that He finds peace, for He rejoices in the good pleas-


                                                                                         .-


354                                                       THESTANDARDBEARER


ure of our God. Therefore Jesus says, "I thank thee,                      all its riches.,       God freely, sovereignly graces His
0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast                    people with a reflection of His likeness. He makes
hid these things (Notice, Thou hast hid these things)                    them beautiful even as He is beautiful, attractive as
from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them                         sons and daughters of the ever-adorable God. And the
(divine revelation, giving eyes to see and hearts to                      sole purpose is that this people may tell His praises
understand) unto babes .             Even so, Father, for so it          forever.
seemed good in thy sight."                                                   And before we leave this passage, we may not fail
       And when the apostle Paul faces this same profound                 to note the very personal element in the text. Paul
truth in Romans 9, where he concludes: "Therefore                        speaks of "us".           God blesses us with all spiritual
hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom                       blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. God chooses  g
he will he hardeneth," he humbly declares: "Nay but,                     in Him before the foundation of the world, that we
0 man, (mere speck of dust), who art thou that repliest                   should be holy and without blame before Him. God
against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that                      has predestinated us unto the adoption of sons, to the
formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the                      praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He has made
potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make                     US pleasing to Him in His Beloved, Christ Jesus. The
one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?"                       strong emphasis on that "us" shows how much this
                                                                         means to the sincere believer, that his soul finds rest
       Returning once more to that extremely significant                 in the sovereign, unchangeable good pleasure of God;
passage in Ephesians 1, we find that the ultimate goal                   Our "unspeakable consolation" (as the Canons express
of God's eternal predestination is His own praise. For                   it) is found in our God. Our eternal security rests in
Paul adds that we are predestinated to the adoption to                   Him. When we glory we can glory only in the LORD!
sons "to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein                   We can only say with the apostle, Blessed be God.
he hath made us accepted ("graced us," literally) in                     Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
the beloved."          God's grace shines forth in all its               Christ! Yea, blessed be His Holy Name forever and
dazzling splendor as pure grace, nothing but grace in                    ever !





                                                                Rev. H.  Hank0


The Black Home Still Runs                                                    tion (FAO) estimates that one person in every two in
       An interesting article recently appeared in a local                   the world is badly nourished, one in three is chronically
newspaper entitled "See  Catast.rophic  War If Famine                        hungry, one in 8 or 10 is undernourished. Nearly
and Pestilence Go  IJnchecked".               A subtitle reads:              two-thirds of the world's people know some form of
"Two-thirds of Human Race Hungry While Rest Over-                            hunger. . . .
eat." Some quotations from this article will demon-                                "If present trends continue," says Dr. Raymond
strate what the author means.                                                Ewell, vice president for research at the State Univer-
                                                                             sity of New York in Buffalo and an authority on the
                                                                             subject, "it seems likely famine will reach serious
          Frightening specters haunt the rich North  Atlantic                proportions in India, Pakistan and China in the early
       world today.                                                          197Os, followed by Indonesia, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, and
          These are the specters of widespread' famine,                      Brazil, then followed by most of the other countries of
       pestilence, violence and ultimately war, less than a                  Asia, Africa and Latin America by 1980. Such a famine
       generation from now. . . .                                            will be of massive proportions, affecting hundreds of
          While the North Atlantic world rejoices in an era                  millions, possibly even billions of persons. If this
       of unparalleled prosperity, scientists sound a grave                  happens, as appears very probable, it will be the most
       warning: The inexorable mathematics of hunger can                     colossal catastrophe in history."
       mean catastrophe is around the corner, probably less                        . . . . A small group of nations with 16 per cent of
       than 15 years away.                                                   the population has 70 per cent of the world's wealth.
          Hunger has a variety of forms: Malnutrition, or                    These are nations grouped around the North Atlantic,
       lack of proteins, minerals and vitamins; under-nutri-                 along with Japan, and Australia  - New Zealand.
       tion, or just not enough of any food, and starvation.                       Two thirds of the human race barely subsists. Most
          People in these categories are numerous enough                     of the hungry are non-white. On the average they eat
       to fill metropolitan New York 160 times over. If they                 900 less calories daily than those in the white, developed
       stood in single file, two feet apart, the line would                  third of humanity.
       circle' the globe 25 times. Two years or less from                          India eats 24 per cent less than it needs in nutrition.
       now, there would be another circle, and then more at                  Americans eat 17 per cent more than they need. In
       more frequent intervals. These are the hungry.                        general, people in developed nations eat two to three
          The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organiza-                  times more than the poor ones. . , ,


                                                   THESTANDARDBEARER                                                   355

         Modern technology knows how to turn back the         sounds so fine, so Christian. But the fact is that the
    menacing specter of widespread famine.        The big     black horse cannot be stopped, for it runs by the
    question is this: Is there time? . . . .                  decree of God. An article such as the above is proof
         Time, the experts stress over and over, is the       of that.
   critical element.       They add that consequences to             It is for this reason that the child of God must not
    northern civilization can be extremely costly if the
    famine menace in the hungry world is not averted.         become involved in an attempt to unseat the rider of
                                                              the black horse; for he will surely find himself engaged
    In the revelation to the apostle John on the island       in earnest effort to establish the kingdom of Antichrist.
 of Patmos, when he was told of "the things which must               But does not the Christian have a calling to feed the
 be hereafter", one of the signs of the coming of Christ      hungry? Indeed he does.
 was the running of the black horse. (Cf. Rev.  6). Upon             But while he must give (and does give) a cup of cold
 the black horse was a rider with a pair of balances in       water to the least of these little ones, he does so in an
 his hand. And, in addition to the horse and his rider        entirely different way.        He reveals the mercies of
 with the scales, a voice said, "A measure of wheat for       Christ shown to him. Fully conscious of the fact that
 a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and       the black horse cannot be stopped, he cares first of
see thou hurt not the oil and the wine."                      all for the poor within the household of faith. Aware
    This was the opening of the third seal and was a          of the central truth that no earthly kingdom can solve
symbolic representation of the vast differences in the        the world's problems, he also provides this cup of cold
 world between the rich and the poor. It points to the        water to his neighbor when he sees him in need -for
 fact that there shall be those wallowing in luxury and       such is his calling. But a cup of cold water in itself
 an abundance of material prosperity, and those starving      means nothing. He is manifesting the mercy of God
for lack of their daily bread. And it must not be for-        shown to him. And so he also continues to testify of
 gotten that this is due to the fact that the black horse     the truth of Scripture, of man's calling to glorify God
 runs across the pages of history and that he runs more       in all that he does --while he hands this cup of cold
 speedily as time nears the end. And, it must also not        water to the thirsty. For this he will be hated and his
 be forgotten that this black horse is running by the         cup of cold water refused. For while a wicked world
 decree of Almighty God and directed in his furious           likes its thirst slaked with water, it despises the water
 running by God's sovereign will. For its running is a        of life.      To receive a cup `of water is agreeable to
 sign of the times; a sign which points to the return of      them; to receive it as it is given- in the name of
 Jesus Christ. And therefore it is the word of God's          Christ Himself -- is detestable. But the Christian does
 judgment upon a world of wickedness that shall soon          this because he has a conviction that the world, in its
be destroyed in order to make room for a new creation         striving towards heaven on earth is doomed to a
which the righteous shall inherit.                            calamitous end. He confesses always that here below
    The world, in its efforts to establish a universal        is no abiding city; that escape from war and pestilence
 earthly kingdom, is intent on stopping the running of        and famine shall come only to the elect in the city
the black horse.         It is constantly and desperately     which  hat-h foundations whose Builder and Maker is
 reaching out for the horse's bridle to stop its rapid        God.
pace.      It wants to unhorse its rider and silence the             And standing on these fundamental principles, he
voice that speaks of  "a measure of wheat for a penny,        cannot cooperate with the world, for their speech is
 and three measures of barley for a penny . . .  ." It        different from his, and his calling condemns what they
bends every effort to accomplish this goal, for the           do.
kingdom of Antichrist, with its unparalleled prosperity,
can only be built if the black horse (as well as the red,     Outdated  Confessions
the white and the pale green horse) is stopped in its                The church is obsessed with its ideas of establishing
tracks.                                                       a one-world denomination. Ecumenicism is the ec-
    The church of today has joined in this attempt to         clesiastical password to recognition in the ecclesi-
 stop the black horse. How eager the church is to join        astical world.      All over churches have joined or are
 hands with the world to feed the hungry; to involve          joining one another.
 itself in the efforts of the United Nations to clutch at            There is however, one obstacle which constantly
 the bridle of the black horse and bring it, rearing on       arises.      This obstacle is the fact that most major
 its legs, to a stop. And this is in the name of Chris-       denominations have confessions which arose out of the
 tianity, of course. In fact, to criticize this, is to lay    struggles of the Church in past history in the defense
 one's self open to charges of unchristian conduct. For       of the faith. These confessions explicitly and clearly
 they attempt to gird their position on a text such as:       define the truth of Scripture. In these days of theolog-
 "And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these         ical drift and doctrinal apostasy, these confessions
 little ones a cup of cold water only . . . ."                are roadblocks on the way to church union. Something
    It is questionable whether the report quoted above        has to be done about them.
 is as accurate as it could be. Especially the predic-               One can, of course,,simply ignore them. If it would
 tions of the future may be far more gloomy than              work, this would be a rather handy solution because it
 reality indicates.      But the fact remains that, in the    eliminates the embarrassing questions that arise about
 main, the report is true.                                    doctrine.      Acting as if they do not exist, the church
    But the child of God must not be misled. It all           can proceed on its way without paying attention to the


356                                                THE STANDARD BEARER

truths set forth in them. The trouble with this solu-          serving a few stones in a museum for those interested
tion is that the confessions will not be ignored. They         in historical curiosities.
remain roadblocks. Or, to change the figure, they are             A new confession will take its place. A 5000 word
constant thorns catching the flesh and irritating those        "Confession of 1967" which will effectively discard
who pass by on the road to union of the churches. They         every fundamental truth such as predestination and the
will not be pushed aside. They demand attention.               Virgin Birth; which will deny the infallibility of Scrip-
       So the other alternative is to change them. Under       ture and the authority of God's Word, will take its
the guise that they are no longer of any use in our new        place.     The new confession instead will be busy with
age, that they speak only to a bygone time, that they          such questions as the social mission of the Church,
are relics of past struggles with no relevancy today,          the need for integration of the races, the permis-
they are changed so that the road is cleared to apostasy       siveness of interracial marriage, the preservation of
and ecumenicism.                                               world peace and the abolition of poverty.
       That is what is happening in the United Presbyterian       If it were not so terrible, one would almost laugh
Church. This denomination  s/ands on the Westminster           out loud.
Confession. And these confessions are beautiful con-              What Scripture says is thrown out the window on the
fessions holding strongly to all the fundamental truths        trash heap of history. What man says becomes the
of the Scriptures and of the Reformed faith. Especially        "confession" of the Church  - officially.
the doctrines of the infallibility of Scripture and               It ought to be remembered then, by the faithful,
sovereign predestination are taught.                           that this is all exactly a demonstration of the import-
       It is easy to imagine how these truths bother the       ance of confessions.          They do serve a purpose-a
ecumenicists. Every minister in the Presbyterian               very important one. If a large denomination under-
Church, must, at his ordination, take an oath in which         stands that it cannot rush along towards apostasy with-
he promises "to sincerely receive and adopt the Con-           out getting rid of its confessions, it ought to be clear
fession of Faith and Catechisms." But many do not              that the confessions are indeed important roadblocks
believe the doctrines taught in these Confessions, and         to apostasy. The Church which seeks to be faithful to
so they take the oath with reservations. So the Church         the truth had better retain its confessions; the loss is
has its troubles;                                              catastrophic.      And this is all for a very good reason.
       One church  ,leader,  in searching frantically for a    The confessions are not simply documents written in a
good reason to. discard the Westminster Confession,            bygone age. The confessions are rather the fruit of
said according to  Time: "A confession is not a monu-          the Spirit of Truth-the Spirit of Christ poured out on
ment, but the tool for the present mission of the church.      the Church on Pentecost. That Spirit Christ Himself
It is not good Calvinism to let one document stand for         promised to the Church in order that the people of
three centuries." Listen to others.         "We decided in     God might be led "into all truth." The confessions
the 1920s that we would not be afundamentalist church,         are the fruit of this work of the Spirit. To despise the
but a conservative, Biblically oriented church that was        confessions is to despise the work of the Holy Spirit.
not rigidly literalist." "No, I don't believe in pre-          To discard the confessions is to blaspheme the promise
destination, that gloomy theory that contradicts one of        of Christ that He will abide with His Church always
Christianity's chief wellsprings -hope." "The Re-              through the Spirit whom He gives.
formed Church, if the name means anything, must                   But, if this is true, the confessions must not be
always be willing to reform."                                  dead pieces of paper, but the living confession of the
       So the Presbyterian Church has a solution. Take         Church. Then, the Church of Christ which is deter-
all the past creeds of the Church, including the Apostle's     mined to preserve the trut h and discover anew its
Creed, the Nicene Creed, etc, and put them into a kind         riches and glories must take the fruit of the Spirit in
of handbook of the history  of' the Church. In this way        the Church of the past, treasure it, love it, defend it,
they can nudge the confessions into oblivion. It is like       confess it; and from this vantage point, go on in the
breaking down the walls of the city which have stood           lofty and supremely blessed calling of searching more
many years as protection against the enemy and  pre-           fully the mysteries of salvation.





The Hope Prot. Ref. Chr. School will need several              The Protestant Reformed Christian School of South
teachers to complete its staff for the 1965-66 school          Holland is in need of one teacher, grade 4, 5, and 6.
year. Please send inquiries to:                                Send allcorrespondenceto
                 Don Lotterman                                                  G.A. Van  Baren
                 1926 Porter St., SW                                              R.R. 1, Box 240A
                 Wyoming, Michigan 49509                                            Chicago Heights, Illinois


                                                           THESTANDARDBEARER                                                              357





I                                         R.C.A.  -  P.C.lJS.   - PROPOSED  MERGER
                                                                     (1)

                                                           Rev. G. Van  Buren


        In the past few years, reports have appeared con-                          . ..This proposed union is a "natural." Both de-
     cerning the possible merger of two denominations of                       nominations are ideological descendants of John Calvin
     Calvinistic  .background: the Reformed Church of                          - one by way of Scotland and the other through Hol-
     America and the Presbyterian Church in `the U.S.                          land.... Church mergers should not be hurried or forced
     (commonly known as the Southern Presbyterian Church).                     for sentimental reasons, but a formal announcement of
     In the March 15th issue of the  Standard   Beaver,  Rev.                  the intent to merge would be a fitting way for these
     H. Hanko called attention to the progress made in the                     two denominations to celebrate the 400th anniversary
                                                                               of the death of their sire, John Calvin.
     discussions.     Other religious magazines have also
     called attention to the developments taking place. For                    In order to present some sort of report on these
     your information, I quote from  Christianity  Today,                   negotiations, I sought further information from the
     February 26, 1'965:                                                    stated clerks of these two denominations as well as
           Negotiations took a decisive turn this month toward              from the periodicals published within these church
        merger of the 950,000  - member Presbyterian Church                 circles.    I received no answer to my request from the
        in the U.S. (Southern) and the 240,000 -member Re-                  stated clerk of the R.C.A., but the clerk of the P.C.U.S.
        formed Church in America. A joint committee of the                  kindly sent, by airmail, photostatic copies of the
        two denominations voted unanimously to ask for authority            reports of the committee of 24 which was submitted
        to draw up a plan for union.                                        to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church
           The next step is to obtain approval of the Presby-               U.S. and the General Synod of the Reformed Church in
        terian General Assembly in April and the Reformed                   America. From these reports, and some other material
        Church's General Synod in June. If the 24-member                    which I received -meager though it is  -, I would like
        joint committee's timetable is followed,  amerger could             to point out the progress made and some reactions to
        be consummated by 1970.
           Both communions grew out of the Calvinist tradi-                 this progress.
        tion, but their cultural backgrounds are diverse. The               The Denominations Involved
        Presbyterians had their roots in Scotland, and Reformed
        Church in Holland. Conversations between the denom-                    The Reformed Church in America is well-known to
        inations ,have been in progress since 1962, and some                our readers.      Its roots go back to the Netherlands.
        cooperative arrangements have already been worked                   The history of the eastern section of the church goes
        out, notably in Sunday school literature.                           back before the time of the Revolutionary War, the
           Opposition to the merger proposal is expected to                 early 1600's.     The western section of this church,
        come from at least two major sources. Separatist                    located in the middle-west, consists largely of the
        elements in both denominations may protest, but their               descendants of the Dutch immigrants who arrived just
        influence is not regarded as substantial. More signif-
        icant are the ultra-ecumenical forces who seek broader              over a 100 years ago, under the leadership of Albertus
        amalgamations embracing a number of denominations;                  van Raalte and Hendrik Scholte. Several attempts have
        they fear that a mere bilateral union will work against             been made in the past to unite with other denominations:
        the larger plans.                                                   with the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., with the German
           The Presbyterian representatives on the joint com-               Reformed Church, and with the United Presbyterian
        mittee, replying to a 1964 General Assembly request,                Church. None of the proposed plans for union received
        said they oppose expansion of the negotiations to include           the necessary support.
        the  3,280,OOO  -member United Presbyterian Church in                  The Southern Presbyterian Church, which can be
        the U.S.A. and other Reformed bodies.                               traced back to the Calvinists of Scotland, originated
           Southern Presbyterians have churches in sixteen                  at the time of the Civil War and as a result of the
        states stretching from Maryland to New Mexico. The
        Reformed Church has congregations in twenty-six                     difficulties of that time. This group separated from
        states, mostly in the northern half of the nation and-in            the northern part of the Presbyterian Church, and has
        Canada. Florida is the only southern state in which the             continued since that time as an independent denomina-
        Reformed Church has congregations.                                  tion. This explains too why this denomination is located
                                                                            in the southern states. It is approximately four times
        In  Christian Century  of February 19, 1964, the                    the size of the Reformed Church in America. Efforts
     comment was made:                                                      were made to effect mergers with the Presbyterian


358                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER


Church U.S.A. and also the United Presbyterian Church.                   expositions and noble mounments of faith expressed by
But these proposals failed.             Now there is hope, at            the Reformed Churches."
least in some quarters of this denomination, that there                     Linking our heritage with the present, we have in
will be established, through union of the R.C.A. and                     more recent times worked together for over a decade
the P.C.U.S., "an unshakable conservative denomina-                      in close cooperation in the field of Christian Education
tion which will be nation-wide and which will attract                    and in the development of the Covenant Life Curriculum
conservative elements from other Presbyterian and                        (Sunday school material - V.B.). We also share in
                                                                         united missions in Iraq, Taiwan and Mexico, as well
Reformed bodies, to the  .exclusion of the UPUSA and                     as in .other church councils at home and abroad.1
the so-called Blake-Pike plan."                                          The resolution goes on to point out 14 areas of
The Beginning Of Discussions                                          study and exploration, including: doctrine, polity, wor-
       How do discussions, which might lead to merger,-               ship, and liturgy; world missions; Christian education;
begin?       In this case the executive committee of the             Theological education; exchange of pulpits; acquainting
Reformed Church in America and the Permanent Com-                    the constituencies of the two churches with the life and
mittee on Inter-Church Relations of the Presbyterian                 work of the other's church.
Church U.S. submitted a Resolution to the General                        In conclusion, the two bodies each appointed a
Synod of the R.C.A. and the General Assembly of the                  special committee of twelve persons which would
P.C.U.S. in 1962. This resolution was adopted by both                 constitute a Joint Committee with a mandate consisting
bodies and established a "Committee of 24" which has                 of four points:
since been investigating and reporting on the problems                      1. to engage in joint conferences to study and ex-
and  reasons for merger.             This original resolution            plore areas of common concern;
reads, in part, as follows:                                                 2. to initiate correspondence and discussions be-
                                                                         tween our Boards  .and Agencies having responsibilities
          I. We recommend. to our respective judicatories for            in these areas;
       consideration and adoption that: the General Synod of                3. to report annually beginning in 1963 to  the.
       the Reformed Church in America `and the General                   General  Synod and to the General Assembly the re-
       Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United                 sults of these studies and explorations; and
       States affirm their  .common  purpose, as branches of                4. to recommend further steps to the General
       the holy catholic Church, -to seek together a fuller              Synod and to the General Assembly toward fulfilling
       expression of unity in faith and action.                          our common purpose as stated in this resolution.1
          We are moved by a desire to give more effective
       witness to the Gospel, and especially to the Reforma-             It is interesting to note that at this same General
       tion emphasis on the authority of Scripture and the           Assembly of the P.C.U.S. of 1962, several overtures
       Sovereignty of God as expressed in the Lordship of            were treated which advocated reopening negotiations
       Jesus Christ.                                                 regarding union with  ,the United Presbyterian Church
          Trusting  the Holy Spirit, we reaffirm our readiness       of the United States of America as well as joining the
       to be led into whatever forms of church life and work         discussions undertaken by the UPUSA Church, the
       are revealed as God's will for us.                             Protestant Episcopal Church, the Methodist Church,
          Such common affirmation and endeavor are not new           and the United Church of Christ (part of the so-called
       to us. In 1874, a plan of cooperation between our two         Blake-Pike plan). The Assembly of the P.C.U.S. de-
       churches was adopted.       The preamble of this plan         clined to enter these negotiations, and noted that their
       stated: "That we fully recognize it to be the duty of          Permanent Committee on Inter-Church Relations was
       the followers of our Lord Jesus Christ to seek and.           empowered to avail itself of opportunities to observe,
       embrace all proper means of manifesting such degree           these negotiations. With respect to the reopening of  I
       of unity in the faith of the Gospel as may exist among
       them; and that this unity may, in our view, be effect-        discussions with the United Presbyterian Church, the
       ually manifested by us in the absence of outward ec-          Assembly reaffirmed its decision made in 1961, "It
       clesiastical uniformity, with which it ought never to         appears that the UPUSA Church will be involved in
       be confounded, and which ought never to be purchased          discussions that attempt to construct a plan of union
       at the cost of truth."                                        with some denominations of different dogma and polity
          Our churches stated in 1874 that "we have good             than belong to our understanding of and commitment
       reason to believe that the way is happily opened, under       to the Reformed Heritage, and...it appears that only
       the guidance of God's Holy Spirit and holy providence for     the most limited benefits could be expected at this
       such intimate cooperative alliance as will prove com-         time from any explorations dedicated to devising aplan
       fortable and useful on both sides." Our fathers spoke         of union with the UPUSA Church."1
       of "a union, not organic, but nevertheless a union real           Thus on the part of the 1962 Assembly of the South-
       and practical" - that is to say, unity of faith and action    ern Presbyterian Church, action was taken which turned
       for the sake of mission.                                      it away from discussions with those churches considered
          In 1874 both churches affirmed their mutual recog-         "liberal" and even (in part) "modernistic," and toward
       nition of each other's doctrinal standards, for the           the more conservative Reformed Church in America.
       Reformed Church in America -the Belgic Confession,            This represented, evidently, a form of victory of the
       the Articles of the Synod of Dort, and the Heidelberg         "conservative wing" of that church over the "liberal"
       Catechism; and for the Presbyterian Church in the             element which seeks wider church union.
       United States -the Confession of Faith, together with
       the Larger and Shorter Catechisms as "orthodox                1 Minutes of the General Assembly, 1962, pages 72-74


                                                         THESTANDARDBEARER                                                    359


                                          7zi  v&e'q  t%aq&&
                                -.,
I                                                 THE  BELGIC   CONFESSiON

                                                           ARTICLE  XIII

                                             GOD'S  GOVERNMENT  AND  SIN

                                                           (continued)

I                                                     Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema

     Scviptuve  on God's Government and Sin (Continued)              sovereignly governs sin according to His determinate
        When we turn to the New Testament Scriptures with            counsel.    We are interested solely at present in the
     this question as to the relation between God's govern-          question what Scripture has to say on the subject. The
ment and sin, we are immediately reminded of what                    Confession teaches us to be content "that we are
     Scripture says concerning the cross of our Lord Jesus           disciples of Christ, to learn only those things which
     Christ.    And Scripture speaks clearly on this subject.        he has revealed to us in his Word, without transgressing
        The apostle Peter in his sermon on Pentecost Day             these limits." Hence, I merely want to let Scripture
, emphasizes, on the one hand, the wickedness and the                speak on this question. And it is plain beyond a shadow
     guilt of the crucifixion, and places the responsibility         of a doubt that this passage places that central event of
     for this central sin of the ages squarely upon the "men         the crucifixion, that sin of all sins, that climax of all
     of Israel" who are addressed in his preaching: "Him             the sin of the ages, squarely in the control of God's
     . . . .ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and    government, so that if it were not for the government
     slain." On the other hand, he emphasizes that the cross         of God, the sin of the crucifixion would never have
     of our Lord Jesus Christ was nevertheless the work of           come to pass. Whatever else may or may not be said
     the God of our salvation, and that all the wicked work          about the subject of the relation between God's work
     that was accomplished in connection with our Lord's             and man's deed, the facts stand plainly before our eyes
     crucifixion was by no means outside of the sovereign            in Scripture; they cannot be denied. This certainly
     counsel and government of God. Thus we read in Acts             does not belong to the hidden things of God; it is literally
     2:23, the passage which is quoted only in part above:           revealed in Scripture.      And if we are disciples of
     "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and            Christ, as the Confession puts it, we will learn this
     foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked              revealed truth of His Word.
     hands have crucified and slain."         Here, therefore,          The same truth is emphasized in a most beautiful
     within the confines of one brief statement of Scripture,        way in Acts  4~23-28.  I say "a most beautiful way"
     the two truths of the responsibility of wicked men for          because here this truth occurs in the prayer of the
     their own wicked deed of the crucifixion of our Lord            church, and therefore not as a matter of cold, dogma-
     and of the sovereign government of the God of our               tical reasoning, but as a truth vital in the faith of the
     salvation over that wicked deed stand side by side.             persecuted church of the apostles' time, as a truth that
     And it is to be noted that they stand side by side in           was a source of comfort to the church and the oc-
     such a relation that the wicked deed of the crucifixion         casion of thankful praise. The setting of this prayer
     could not have been accomplished were it not for the            is the persecution of Peter and John by the chief priest
     sovereign counsel and government of God. The deter-             and the elders at the time of the healing of the lame
     mining factor is the counsel of God, not the will of            man. And when the apostles had been threatened and
     man, as far as the. event of the crucifixion is concerned.      warned not to speak at all nor teach in. the name of
     Moreover, that determinate counsel and foreknowledge            Jesus, but had nevertheless insisted that preach they
     of God is accomplished by God Himself. It is God Who,           must, they had been let go, whereupon they returned
according to and by His determinate counsel and fore-                to the company of the believers and reported to them
     knowledge, delivered our Lord Jesus Christ over into            what had taken place. But let the passage speak for
lthe hands of wicked men to be crucified and slain. This             itself: "And being let go, they went to their own
     text, therefore, places the event of the crucifixion            company, and reported all that the chief priests and
     squarely in the domain not only of God's sovereign              elders had said unto them. And when they heard that,
     counsel but also of His sovereign government, accord-           they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and
     ing to which He executes His own counsel.                       said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and
        It is not my purpose at present to enter into the            earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: Who by the
     question of the relation between these two, the govern-         mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the
     ment of God and the responsibility of man, or into the          heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
     question of how God is not the author of sin while He                               (to be continued)


360                                                          THESTANDARDBEARER


                                        Pewa.  ?korn  @cut  &&itw&
                                        ("All the saints salute thee . . ." Phil. 4:21)

       REPORT OF CLASSIS  EAST held April 7, 1965, at                               Holland's Tom Elzinga  has. provided another proof
       Holland, Mich.                                                          that he' utilizes his leisure time for the benefit of
          Rev. G. Lanting led in opening ,devotions,  and de-                  others.     He has again printed another index of the.
       clared the classis properly constituted after the cre-                  material in the Standard Bearers. This latest textual
       dentials had been accepted. Then Rev. G. Lubbers,
       following the order of rotation, presided, while Rev.                   index includes the first 40 volumes. After mailing out
       Lanting recorded minutes.                                               some 30 copies, he still has about 30 left for those in-
          This  classis,  too, was marked by the fact that most                terested in owning one.            Mr. Elzinga's address is :
       of the work was routine, and the meeting was brief.                     567 West 19th St., Holland, Michigan.
       We were finished with our work about an hour before                                                 * * *
       noon.                                                                        The Men's Society of Hull, Iowa are currently en-
          First Church asked for classical appointments,                       joying some worthwhile after recess discussions. On
       which were granted as follows: April 25-G. Lanting,                     March 22 Henry Hoksbergen introduced the subject,
       May 2-H. Veldman, May 9-G. Lubbers (two services),                      "The Proper Approach in the Preaching of the Gospel";
       May 16-R.C.  Harbach, May 23-M. Schipper, May 30-                       and on March 29 Ray Brunsting introduced the topic,
       G. Vos, June 6-H. Veldman, June 13-R. C. Harbach,                       "The Effect of The Flood on the World".
       June 27-G. Lanting, July 4-M. Schipper, July 11-G. Vos.                                             * * *
          Rev. G. Lubbers was chosen to serve on the Classi-
       cal Committee, and the Revs. M. Schipper  andH.  Veld-                       The Spring Office Bearer's Conference was held in
       man  were  chosen Church Visitors, with the Rev.                        Holland's new church April 6.             Seminarian Robert
       Lubbers as alternate for both. Mr. F. Ondersma and                      Decker was the speaker; his topic - "What Constitutes
       Mr. G. Stadt served on the finance committee, while                     the Neglect of the Means of Grace?" The speaker ex-
       Mr. A. Haveman  was appointed to thank the ladies of                    plained what the means of grace are, gave some ex-
       Holland for their excellent catering services. Rev. G.                  amples of neglecting those means, and explained the ,
       Lanting and Mr. H. C. Lubbers and Mr. M. Klop served                    duty of consistories regarding those who are guilty of
       on the committee to prepare classical appointments.                     this neglect.     The research involved in preparing a
       The Stated Clerk and the Classical Committee gave                       lecture of this type not only benefited the office bearers
       their reports.    The Questions of Article 41 of the
       Church Order were asked and answered satisfactorily.                    present but will also stand the minister-to-be when he
       Classis  decided to meet next time, the Lord willing,                   takes up his duties in the church.
                                                                                                           * * *
       on July 7th in the Southwest Church. Rev. R. C. Har-
       bath closed the meeting with prayer of thanksgiving.                         The Young People's Society of Redlands,  Calif.
                                             M. Schipper, S.C.                 sponsored a Hymn-Sing and at that time received an
                               * * *                                           offering which was used to purchase new Bibles for
       The Reformed Witness Hour schedule for May is as                        the church pews. The March 28th bulletin expressed
follows: May 9 - God's Delight in the Life of the Peni-                        the congregation's appreciation for this gift which en-
tent Sinner (I); May  16  -God's Delight in the Life of                        hances the public worship services.
the Penitent Sinner (II); May 23 --The Parable of the                                                      *  * *
Sower (I); May 30 - The Parable of the Sower (II). The                              From  Redlands  also comes the good news that Mrs.
first two sermons are expositions of God's Word as                             C. Hanko continues to improve in her ability to walk  1
recorded in Ezekiel  33:11, and the last two are on the                        and talk again. She also is able to listen to the church ~
text found in Matt.  13:3-9. Rev. H. Veldman, of Hope                          services by means of an extension of the public address
Church in Grand Rapids, is the speaker. Copies of the                          system of the church.
sermons may be had by writing to The Reformed Wit-                                                         * * *
ness Hour, Box 1230, Grand Rapids, 1 Mich.                                          Kalamazoo's little congregation passed another
                              * * *                                            milestone March 24. At a special congregational meet-
       The Manse at First Church is strangely dark and                         ing, held after a belated Prayer Day Service, they de-
silent nowadays. Rev. H. Hoeksema has been hospital-                           cided to approve the purchase of the Northwood Chapel
ized at Pine Rest.          The need for constant care has                     building as their own place of meeting at the cost of
necessitated this move. The bulletin reports that the                          $9,500.00; they also approved a long-range plan to
"Dominee" is gradually becoming adjusted to his new                            finance this purchase; and an on-the-spot offering was
surroundings and is responding to care andmedication.                          taken to be used for a down payment. This contribu-
                              * * *                                            tion, in cash and pledges, amounted to a little more
       Rev. G. Vos, of Hudsonville, has been limited by                        than 15% of the purchase price. The building will not
doctor's orders to one service per Sunday at present.                          be available to them until late summer. Northwood
Hudsonville's pastor is recovering from a recent                               Chapel is located at 117 W. North St. in Kalamazoo.
attack of pneumonia.                                                                See you in church. . . . .                       J.M.F.


