                                        he

                                   tandard

                                                  earer


A   R E F O R M E D   SEMI-MON'I'HJLY   M A G A Z I N E





IN THIS ISSUE:

       Meditation  - "By My  Spitit"


       Editorial  - Right, But Dead Wrong


       The Doctrine of Creation


       The Gospel of  Chtist  Preach&l  Qn Mars Hill          1            .





       The Danger of  Post4k&&m


                                                        Volume  XLI/ Number  17/  June 1, 1965


  386                                                                                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                                                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

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                                                                                                                                        "BY MY SPIRIT"


                                                                                                                                       Rev. J.  Kovteving


                                                           "Not  by might,  nov by  powev,`but  by  my  spivit,   saith   tt'd  Lovd  of  hosts."
                                                                                                                                                                                            Zech.  4:6b

          "Who hath despised the day of small things?"                                                                                                        least 8,136 horses, camels, mules, and asses, laden
          Have you?                                                                                                                                           with food and vessels from the former temple, began
          Z e r u b b a b e l   h a d   b e g u n   t o   d o   t h a t .                                                                                     their  .long  trek homeward. Traveling some 900 miles
          Poor Zerubbabel.                                             The  horizon was colored with                                                          of deserted and barren land, a trip that lasted at least
  blackness.                                                                                                                                                  six months, they finally rested in the land flowing with
          That Prince of Judah lived in a day of small things.                                                                                                milk  and- honey.
  The  day had come for the captives of Judah to return                                                                                                           The glitter of the return soon paled.
.from Babylon and go to the promised land. The decree                                                                                                             While far removed from Canaan they had planned
  of mighty Cyrus of Persia had been issued. They were                                                                                                        to build the temple at the outset of their return. In
  free to go back! Some 50,000 people, equipped with at                                                                                                       captivity they had hanged their harps on the willows,


                                                       THE STANDARD-BEARER                                                387

  for they could not sing the Lord's songs in a strange            scientist, and the elite socialite are found among the
  land.' At the very thought of Zion their hearts  `grew           wise and prudent of this world. By contrast one finds
  lonesome and weary. Contemplating their return, they             in the church the very lowly, the. common man who
  had determined that the very first structure to be built         lives from day- to day with provision from God.
  had to be the temple. The house of God was more im-                  Because this is true, many children of God become
  portant to them than their own comforts.                         frustrated,       From every human point of view the
          They had not reckoned, however, with the day of          church's position is so precarious. Here is the thing!
  small things.                                                    God has given to the church an explicit command. In
          Zerubbabel had courageously led them back. Along         `the Old Testament God instructed Israel to worship
  with, Joshua the Priest, they had dedicated the altar un-        Him in the temple: for that very structure was a con-
  to the Lord. The completion of the temple, however,              crete picture of His covenant fellowship with His people.
  did not follow so quickly. The Samaritans to the north           Today the same God commands His church to preach
  and the Edomites to the south began to work against              the gospel. to all nations, faithfully to administer the
  them. Because the Samaritans were foreigners, brought            sacraments and to cut out the old leaven that corrupts
  into the land by Sargon  II. after Israel was taken into         the church from within. Sometimes, nevertheless, the
  captivity, Zerubbabel and Joshua forbade them to help            very God that gives such commands seems to deal with
  with the building of the temple. The house of the Lord           His people in such a manner that they are not able to
  had  to, be built by the Jews, the  peopleof God, not by         realize and perform these commands. God sometimes
  strangers.. This made them angry. The Samaritans                 places boulders upon  ,our  *pathway and these appear to
  resorted to political trickery and succeeded in bring-           us to be insurmountable. At such a time we become
  ing the building of the temple to a halt. The new em-            troubled.      We cannot understand God's dealings. We
  peror himself declared that they were political an-              are inclined to despise the day of small things ! To the
  tagonists and therefore could not establish themselves           remnant of Judah this centered in the building of the
  in the land of Canaan.                                           temple.      Why would God make them struggle for 10,
          These were the days of small things. A handful of        15, yea, 20 years in trying to build such a necessary
  faithful Jews, longing to build the house of God, were           and worthwhile thing as a dwelling place for their God?
  forced to stop. What was Canaan without the temple?              Today we become concerned with the progress of the
  Had they returned in vain? Was God going to sit in               church's mission.        We are explicitly commanded to
  .the heavens and laugh at  His  people? Would the proud          preach to all nations, yet we lack man power, we lack
  enemy be allowed to triumph over them?                           finances, and in some instances we lack the ability to
          With these questions thundering in his heart,  Zerub-    enter. into some countries at all.  .We need seminary
  babe1 went to Zechariah. Could not the prophet of the            students, we need- Christian school teachers, we need
  Lord, the Oracle of God; explain to him what appeared            money so that we can expand our witness, and yet hav-
~ to be unjust of God'?                                            ing explicitly the command to do these things our hands
          I suggest that we join Zerubbabel in this inquiry.       feel as if they are tied. We are small, we are limited,
          We too are often troubled in the day of small things.    we desire to do great things with limited power..
          We are after all, living in such a day right now.            Let's join Zerubbabel and ask Zechariah, how can
  This may not be true for that which wrongfully calls             these things be?
  itself church. The false church lives in the day of big              Zechariah couldn't explain them.
1 things  !.     The  .hope for one world church will soon be          God, however, could.
  realized by those who pervert the calling of the church.             In a vision  to-Zechariah, God unfolded the myster-
  Is not the church growing in numbers? Is there not               ies of His will. There appeared the well known golden
  every indication that the church today is making a real          candlestick, a replica of the  one  that used to be in the
  impact upon the life of society? In the eyes of nominal          Holy Place  ofthe tabernacle. There were seven lamps
  Christendom that church .at long last has thrown off             upon the golden stand. Above the lamps there appeared
1 her infantile robes of an old fashioned gospel and now           a large bowl: From this bowl were strung seven pipes
~ has clothed herself with a message that has appeal to            or tubes one to each of the seven lamps. On either
m o d e r n   m a n . Now the church will do great things; it      side of the. bowl was an olive tree, whose branches
  will be the means to unite the whole world into one              bent over the bowl.
  communion of brotherhood. To such people, we live                  The mechanics of. this  vision  are plainly seen. The
  in the day of great things.                                      olive trees produced olive oil which served as the fuel
          This very fact makes it even more difficult for          for the lamps. When the branches hung over the bowl,
  the true church of Jesus Christ. The church's  battle-           the oil, as it were, dripped into the bowl and then
i line is not only drawn  .between professed and open              flowed through the tubes by gravity flow into the lamps
1 godlessness, but no less between  pretended   christian-         and supplied the necessary fuel for the lamps to burn.
  ity.      While opposing every form of evil, the church to-          The interpretation can be found without difficulty.
  day senses her limitations. We have not the means                In the Old Testament church the candlesticks  repre-
  that the world or the false church have at their dis-            .sented the nature of the fellowship within God's cove-
  posal.        The teeming throng is not numbered with the        nant.      God came to earth and dwelled with His people
~ faithful church.       The rich and influential cannot be        under one roof. That dwelling, however, was not in
  found to any great degree among God's people. The                darkness, it was in light, even as God is Himself the
  brilliant scholar, the leading statesman, the heralded           light.      God made His people to shine as light in this


388                                                  THESTANDARDBEARER

world.      Israel could not shine as light in the midst of                  God's cause is not dependent upon such things.
the darkness of sin in themselves. Daqly the Priest                          The moving force by which God in Jesus Christ
had to take the oil both morning and evening and add                      accomplishes His will is not to be found in physical
fuel to the lamps.         This oil was the Old Testament                force or earthly means; His- will to gather His church
picture of the Holy Spirit, who generates light in the                   will be realized only through the operation of the Holy
people of God.                                                            Spirit.
       The vision confirms this truth more clearly.  Ze-                     Material things are subservient to the Holy Spirit,
chariah asked who were represented in the olive trees                    not the Holy Spirit dependent upon earthly things.
and the answer came, "the two anointed ones that                             The truth of this can be seen on the first New  Test-
stand by the Lord of the whole earth." In the context                    ament Pentecost. There Jews, some who had earlier
this clearly represented Zerubbabel as prince and                        cried out, "His blood be upon us and our children,"
Joshua as priest.       These men were appointed by God                  cried out, "Men and brethren, what must we do to be
in their respective offices, and through their work God                  s aved ?' ' There, at that time, 3000 souls were added
would so bless Israel that they would shine as light to                  to the church.
the glory of God.                                                            I ask you, look in your own heart and discover the
       In order to see the full meaning of this text, we                 meaning of these words for yourself. Why are you
must remember that it' was the gospel of shadow that                     saved ?          It certainly is not because you wanted to be
still came to Zechariah.        The two anointed ones were               saved, for the desire for salvation is proof that God has
priest-king in their respective offices. Yet, they were                  already begun to save. Your parents didn't save you
not the source of the Holy Spirit as the vision would                    or convince you that the holy life was the good life.
seem to indicate. They were typical figures of the real                  I'm sure in your youth you tried to get away with as
Anointed one who would come as Priest after the order                    much evil as you possibly could and still live with your
of Melchisedec, and therefore Priest-King in one                         conscience. Surely, your minister didn't persuade you
Person, .                      .     :,                                  .M follow' after Christ Jesus, because persuasion is
       We have here  a `vision of Christ exalted at the right            chilled. by a perverse will. No earthly might nor power
hand of the Father receiving the oil of the Holy Spirit,                 can save. Only God in Jesus Christ our Lord through
and through that Holy Spirit abundantly able to gather,                  the working of the Holy Spirit is able to infuse in us
defend, and preserve His church unto Himself. We see                     the true breath of life.
Christ Who has redeemed His own unto Himslf busy                             During the days of small things God speaks to us
in the work of gathering them into the sweet fellowship                  these truths. For about twenty-two years, the remnant
of His grace; He it is that hath ascended into heaven                    of Judah had to wait upon Jehovah to enable them to
and prays the Father that all whom the Father hath                       complete the building of the temple. In the meanwhile,
given unto Him may be with Him where He is. The                          God spoke through Zechariah to assure them that the
Father gives the Holy Spirit to the exalted Christ, and                  enemy of the church could never frustrate the living
He is the one who sends Him into the world to save His                   God in His will to gather Zion unto Himself. His cause
own and to harden those that have no part in the  King-                  was not dependent upon might and power, but on His
dom of Heaven. This Christ does  through  office bearers                 Spirit; and no man could frustrate His Spirit.
in His church.        Christ has appointed means through                     As we labor and pray, awaiting the return of our
whom He will work by His Holy `Spirit. Yet  the'y are                    Lord,' we often are frustrated in the day of small
means,  and -just that.      They are instruments of God's          : things.             Our greatest fear is our own weakness and
good pleasure; A hammer without a carpenter  isuse-                      the church's limitation.               Sometimes we  .are even
less. So a minister without the Spirit is empty.                         tempted to compromise the gospel in order to have
       Earthly might and power avail nothing.                            `greater power. Let's rid ourselves of such folly.
       Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit!                         By my Spirit!
       The Lord of  hosts  is speaking: Jehovah is His name:                 The hosts of the Lord will surely be complete.
He has freely of His own good pleasure glorified His
dwelling place with the chorus of angels who sing His  -
`praises without ceasing. He is the one who freely                                               WEDDING  ANNIVERSARY
willed to glorify Himself through the salvation of His .                             -
people and therefore elected unto Himself His church.                    On Monday, June 14, 1965, our dear parents,
The I Am that  I Am, the, faithful covenant  God,,who               1          MR. AND MRS. JOHN KALSBEEK, SR.
changetb never, He says, "Not-by  might nor by power
but by my Spirit;."                                  :                   hope to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.
       Need we any more?.                                                  We are thankful that God has blessed them and  US
       My Spirit !                                                       during these twenty-five short years, and we pray that
       Turn  .then away from "might, and power." They                    God will continue to bless them in the years that lie
represent man  yithout God. They are. the things that  `::ahead.
the eye, can see.  .' They are- the  :things  thatperish. . .                Morher and Dad  --our congratulations.                '
They include money; listed  am&g them  are-the names                           ,,           .      . John Kalsbeek, Jr.       1
of. millions  .of peoplk; they pertain to  ,positions of in-                                        Charles Kalsbeek
fluence and all that  from`s natural `point  ,of view really. :-                                    Calvin.  K.alsbeek
c o u n t s . ,                                                                                  .  Karla. Kalsbeek


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 389





                                             RIGHT, BUT DEAD WRONG




                                                 Pvof. H. C. Hoeksema

   In his series of articles in the  Reformed  Joumzal,        namely, to run their ecclesiastical train on two theo-
beginning in October, 1964, Dr. James Daane defends            logical tracks.     In other words, Dr. Daane capitalizes
the theology of Prof. Harold Dekker which maintains            on the inherent inconsistencies which always plague a
that God loves all men redemptively and that Christ            "double-track theology." Thus, Daane criticizes the
died for all men. And when Icharacterize Mr. Daane's           First Point and its traditional defenders for maintaining
position as being "dead wrong," I refer, in the first          that there are two qualitatively different graces of God:
place, to his adherence to Dekker's two propositions.          special and common, saving and non-saving. And he is
From the point of view of Scripture and the Reformed           correct in his position that there is but one grace of
creeds, Dr. Daane's defense of Dekker's theology is            God and one love of God. Thus he also criticizes the
dead wrong, that is, totally un-Reformed.                      First Point in regard to the "well-meant offer of the
   However, Daane follows a course of "theologizing:'          gospel" and a non-saving grace of God. Again, his
(I call it philosophizing) in this defense of Dekker           criticism is cogent,  - in so far as he points out the
which takes its starting-point in 1924 and especially in       utter inconsistency of the First Point.
the First Point.     And if one concedes that Daane's             Hence, Dr. Daane is right.
basic approach is correct, then one will have to con-             Nonetheless, he is dead wrong. For having success-
cede that Daane's position, and also Dekker's, is              fully pointed out the inconsistencies of the  double-
correct. This is the reason why the Christian Reformed         track theology of 1924, he ends by maintaining that
Church, if it is consistent, will ultimately have to put       God's grace (and love) is general, for all men; and he
its stamp of approval on Prof. Dekker's theology of            follows through by maintaining universal atonement. In
general love and universal atonement. For when all is          other words, he ends by choosing the wrong, the
said and done, the position of Daane, and also of Dekker,      Arminian, track.       In this he is dead wrong. But the
is nothing less and nothing more than the basic position       fact remains that his wrongness is essentially the
of 1924, namely,  that the  grace  of God is  for all  men.    wrongness of the First Point.         It is the inevitable
Daane is dead wrong because 1924 was dead wrong, and           wrongness that is the consequence of double-track
because Daane's theology was actually conceived and            theology.      No train can run on two divergent tracks.
born in 1924.                                                  No theology can be devoted to two divergent principles,
   But Daane is also right.                                    Reformed and Arminian.        Practically speaking, it is
   He is correct, first of all, from a Christian Re-           possible for a time to say  "both....and,"  a s   t h e
formed viewpoint, as I have pointed out above. His             Christian Reformed Church has weakly attempted to do
basic position is "dyed-in-the-wool" Christian Re-             since 1924. Inevitably, however, the time comes when
formed.                                                        the church must face the intolerant  "either...or" of the
   In the second place, Daane is more right than those         truth.       And it appears that the Christian Reformed
in the Christian Reformed Church who, over against             Church is fast arriving at that final, that decisive,
Dekker, hold what may be called the traditional common         moment.
grace position of 1924 (such as Prof. R. B.  Kuiper).             Let us now continue to investigate how Daane is
And Daane is right in his criticism of the First Point.        helping to bring the Christian Reformed Church to
He is so correct that if some of his criticisms were           that moment.
lifted out of context, one would almost come to the
conclusion that they came from a Protestant Reformed              In his introductory article on the subject, entitled
pen.                                                           "From 1924 to 1964," Daane next calls attention to
   Why is this?                                                part of the decision of 1959, taken to pave the way for
   The answer lies in the fact that Dr. Daane capital-         the return of the ex-Protestant Reformed people of the
izes on the inconsistencies of 1924 and on the incon-          De Wolf group to the Christian Reformed Church. He
sistencies of the past defenders of the common grace           writes as follows:
theory of the First Point. He does so very cogently                "When some, in 1959, had misgivings `that the
and with compelling logic.       And this is possible, of      general statement  the  favorable  attitude of God to man-
course, because in the First Point the Christian               kind in general and not only to the elect  might be inter-
Reformed Church in 1924 attempted the impossible,              preted as being a generalization of grace,' the Synod


390                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


declared that `the declaration of 1924 definitely states      atoning work of the Cross as to relate common grace
that the grace shown to the elect is saving grace and         to the general offer of the gospel."
must be distinguished from a  certain  fbvov  OY  grace
which is not saving.' To make clear that the grace               On this the following comments:
shown the elect is qualitatively different from that
shown the non-elect, the 1959 synod in its `official             1) It should be noted that Daane is here already
interpretive statement concerning the Three Points            committed to the basic principle of 1924. He writes
(of 1924)' continued: `The doctrine of irresistible grace     with approval of Dekker's tremendous contribution and
would indeed be jeopardized, if we held that the grace        historic advance.      But it is noteworthy that he calls
shown the elect is the same as that shown to creatures        Dekker's theology an  extension  of the theology of 1924.
in general. We would then be guilty of the error of the       Now an extension is obviously not something new and
Arminians who teach that all men enjoy the same               different, but a further expression of that of which it
grace' (Acts of Synod,  1959)."                               is an extension.      Hence, Dekker's doctrine that God
       At this point Mr. Daane makes no comments on the       loves all men is nothing but a further, more advanced,
above.       At the risk of running ahead somewhat in our     perhaps bolder statement of the main proposition of
comments, we should note the following:                       1924 that God's grace is for all men. The main differ-
       1) This statement of 1959 must be viewed in the        ence is that Dekker speaks of God's love while 1924
light of the "misgivings" referred to. It was part of         speaks of God's grace. There is no essential difference.
an attempt to pave the way, so to speak, for the return       Daane is right.....but dead wrong,  - as wrong as 1924
of the  DeWolf group. As such, it represents a rather         was.
vague attempt to ride the other theological track, that
of particular grace (or, perhaps, to straddle the                2) It is to be questioned how much of an advance
tracks?).                                                     Dekker represents.        Dr. Daane claims that until
       2) The statement of 1959 is not really interpretive    recently there were ver y few sermons preached in
at all, but a mere assertion, and that too, without any       Christian Reformed circles on John  3:16, and that "In
proof or explanation, due to the fact that it is dealing      spite of 1924, it was widely held to be impermissible
with an obvious contradiction. How otherwise can one          to assert that God loves all men." Perhaps this is
understand "the favorable attitude of God to mankind          true; I cannot disprove it. I do know, however, in the
in general and not only to the elect" than as a general-      first place, that 1924 certainly gave license for the
ization of grace? One need have no misgivings that it         kind of preaching of which Daane writes here. I know
"might be interpreted" as such. That needs no inter-          also that there has been considerable Christian Re-
pretation; it is plain as the sun in the heavens. And no      formed writing in defense of the general, well-meant
amount of so-called "interpretive statements" can             offer of salvation, writing which, though perhaps not as
change this. Any doctrine of a general grace of God,          open  .as that of Dekker, did not differ essentially. And
whether saving or non-saving, is obviously a general-         I know too that there is no essential difference between
ization of grace. This again gives Daane his opening          the preaching of the late Rev. H. J.  Kuiper and the
for his basic proposition of a grace of God for all men.      statements of Dekker. For soon after 1924 the former
       3) However, this same interpretive statement gives     could say: "The gospel we preach is a gospel for
Daane another  openin g by asserting that the grace           sinners --for all sinners." What is the difference, --
shown to God's creatures in general (all men) is not          except in degree?
the same as His grace to the elect. Here Daane gets
an opening for his criticism of the idea of two qualita-         3) Daane speaks' of the complexity of the matter.
tively different graces.                                      But all Daane's subsequent writings make one thing
       4) Finally, we may note that the statement of 1959     abundantly clear.       This complexity  i> not due to
by implication condemns Daane as Arminian. For                Scripture and the confessions: in them the  truthis very
Daane teaches only one grace of God, but he wants that        clear and very simple. All the complexity is caused
grace of God general. And 1959 says of this idea: "We         by the First Point of 1924 and by Daane's own theo-
would then be guilty of the error of the Arminians who  /     logical meanderings, which have their starting point in
teach that all men enjoy the same grace."                     1924.      In a way, I do not blame Dr. Daane very much:
       Dr. Daane concludes the main thrust of his first  !    he is only revealing himself as a consistent son of the
article by making this statement: "Today, forty years         Christian R e f o r m e d Church,  -: although he could,
later, Professor Dekker is extending the theology of          through his contacts with our Protestant Reformed
1924, asserting that God loves all men." He also calls        witness, know better.       But Daane (and anyone else)
this an historic advance, possibly Dekker's greatest          must surely find the Dekker Case a very complex
theological contribution. In this connection Daane takes      matter when. it is viewed in the light of the First Point
note also of Dekker's teaching that God's love for all        and when at the same time the attempt is made to view
men is  redemptive1  and of his doctrine of universal         it in the light of Scripture and the confessions. That
atonement.       He then emphasizes the "complexity" of       indeed complicates things; in fact, it is enough to make
the matter and ends with the statement: "I am sure            one see-double. But after all, double-track theology is
that the committee  (synodical study committee, H.C.H.)       a rather complicated thing; and running a train on two
and the churches as a whole will find it at least as          divergent tracks gets to be impossibly complex.
difficult to relate the love of God for all men to the ,         On the other hand, the truth is simple!


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                391





                               THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST PREACHED ON MARS HILL


                                               Rev.  George  C.  Lubbers


Paul In Athens                                                    Such is the general picture of Paul here in Athens.
   At the time when Paul tarries at Athens he is on his       How long he tarried here we do not know. It must have
second circuit as an apostle to the Gentiles. He had          been considerable time for Paul was still in Athens
arrived here accompanied by the brethren from Berea           when Timothy arrived from Macedonia upon the com-
in Macedonia. The Jews, who were ever hounding the            mandment given along with the Berean brethren. For
steps of Paul, had come down from Thessalonica to             we read in I Thess.  3:l "Wherefore when we could no
Berea and "stirred up the people." (Acts  17:13)  These       longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens
Jews were haters of the gospel of Christ and their tac-       alone, and sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister
tics against Paul and the brethren was that of  rabble-       of God, and our fellowlabourer in the gospel of Christ,
rousing.     And Paul had to flee for his life. The breth-    to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your
ren, who loved the gospel and were concerned about            faith."
Paul's safety, "conducted" Paul and "brought him to               The duration of the time spent in Athens is not the
Athens." (Acts  17:15)  Upon arriving in Athens Paul          chief point in the book of Acts. We never read of Paul
gave a commandment along with the brethren who had            returning to Athens in later journeys. Those who be-
escorted them that Silas and Timothy come to him with         lieved upon the labors of Paul were not many. The
all possible  .haste.    The reason for sending for the       rule here too is "for `ye see your calling, brethren,
brethren was, that Paul was here for the first time           how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many
alone on a missionary journey. Paul had had Barnabas          mighty, not many noble are called.          But God hath
and Mark with him on the first itinerary and Silas,           chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
Timothy and Luke were with him on the second journey.         wise. . . . .that no flesh. should glory in his presence."
But now Paul is alone in Athens.                              (I Cor.  1:26-29)
   As was the established custom of Paul he entered               Howbeit certain men  clave unto Paul, and they be-
into the synagogue of the Jews on the Sabbath day. He         lieved in Jesus Christ. These may have been some
must have disputed with them on the matter of the             from the Jewish Synagogue. But the Lord had a few
meaning of the Old Testament Scriptures, as these all         children also  in, the Areopagus: a certain Dionysius,
spoke of the Christ, His death and resurrection. The          and a woman named Damaris, and others. Even here
word for dispute in the Greek here is  dialegomai:  to        the great apostle did not run in vain. That more were
lay out separately before anyone, to reason and to            not saved is not due to Paul's erroneous method, as is
dispute.    It must have been an animated discussion in       often alleged, but must be due to the fact that God did
that synagogue in Athens and not a mere wrangling             not have much people in this city of Greece. For as
debate.     Certainly Paul must have kept his testimony       many as were ordained to eternal life believed!
on a high level. However, he also was busy during the
daytime speaking with those who passed by in the              Paul, A Debtor To The Greeks And  Bavbavians:
market place.      We read that Paul did this daily. The          We do not agree with that view which teaches that
word concerning this Paul and what he taught must have        Paul did not teach Jesus Christ and him crucified here
passed around. This teacher spoke of certain new de-          in Athens. It is then alleged that Paul when he came to
mons, lower gods, namely, concerning Jesus and the            Corinth resolved anew to preach the gospel. Thus the
resurrection.                                                 proponents of this view teach. And they think that they
   It was particularly the professional philosophers of       can conclude this from I Corinthians  2:1-4. From the
that day, who, when they heard of Paul's teaching, de-        circumstance that Paul came directly from Athens to
sired to know more about it. We read that "certain            Corinth and that he stated that "coming to them" he
philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics en-          had judged to know only Jesus Christ and him crucified,
countered him." (Acts 17:18)  This was more than a            the conclusion is drawn that Paul had failed thus to
casual meeting. This was encounter in the sense: to           preach in Athens, and that he had attempted to counter        '
confer, converse or dispute. They listen to Paul for          the Athenians with the wisdom of men, and therefore
just a bit and they gather that he is speaking of Jesus       had failed in his mission as a preacher.
and the resurrection, and all the related truths of the           With that view and theory we do not concur.
promise of the gospel.       In the thinking of the Greek       In the first place, this view stands rejected from
philosopher there is no room for themysteryof Christ.         the mouths of the Epicureans and Stoics themselves.
It is foolishness to him.                                     They say: he preaches Jesus and the resurrection! He


392                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER


did not counter them with some more philosophy and               It would be a house of prayer of all nations, would it
vain deceit. That is, it seems to me, sufficient evi-            not? Mark  11:17;  (Isaiah  56:ll;  Jeremiah7:ll) Japheth
dence that Paul did not fail as a preacher.                      shall dwell in the tents of Shem! Well then, this is
       In the second place, do not overlook the fact that        one of Paul's finest hours here. Down will come this
God did bless the preaching of Paul in the synagogue             imaginary stronghold of man's vain deceit.      And this
and in the Areopagus with converts. Some did repent,             sermon is a classic in Christian polemics and a pro-
being called to repentance by Paul's preaching.                  totype of true apologetics for the faith. Here is blended
       In the third place, even a hasty perusal of Paul's        positive preaching and rejection of errors which is at
great address in the Areopagus shows that Paul touches           once God's call to repentance.
on: 1. God, the nature of the godhead, versus thenature          The Mighty Pretense Of The Wisdom Of Men
of idols. Acts  17:24, 29.                                          It is a sure symptom of deep seated unrest that
       2. Creation, Providence as the work and judgments        philosophy is ever in quest for that which is "newer."
of God; the creation of the universe and all things that         It indicates that that which is known does not satisfy
are therein, and also of the organic nature of the human         the deepest needs of man's mind and heart. The godly
race from one man, and the life and place and  time-             Augustine in his  Confessions  says "Man cannot rest
span of each nation. Acts  17:26                                 save that he rests in God." That had been the bitter
       3. He speaks about the work of Christ, His God-           experience of Augustine as a Manichean. And we may
head (by implication) when he speaks of the resurrec-            add that Augustine meant the true God as He reveals
tion of Christ, and His exaltation at God's right hand!          himself in His word.
Acts  17:31                                                         All philosophy (love for wisdom) which does not
       4. He speaks of the return of Christ in His Parousia,     cling to Christ, the Head of the church, Paul denomi-
the last judgment in which the entire inhabited world            nates as philosophy of man and vain deceit. It is vain,
will be judged in rightness. Acts  17:31                         empty; void of all truth and reality it is. Philosophy
       5. And we may add to the foregoing observations           of the Greeks cannot give one satisfying answer to any
that Paul here virtually touches on every loci of The-          facet of reality because it is God-less! It is every-
ology, and develops here the Christian  Weltanschauung;          thing minus God! Being vain in their imagination they
it is the life and world view not of a sophistical  seed-        changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the
picker, a mere "babbler," but it is the only view of            likeness of corruptible man, beast, birds and creeping
God and all things which allows for and posits the true         things. (Rom.  1:22,23.)  Greek philosophy is not love
worship of God in Jesus Christ.                                 for the true "wisdom," Christ! It is the mere vaunting,
       In the fourth place, it ought to be evident that Luke     imaginary wisdom of mere man who is lost in the laby-
does not give a verbatim report, but rather touches              rinth of his own wanderings and seeking. He is lost!
on the main points of this great address and sermon,            He gropes at the wall as a blind man, and pretends to
upon which Paul conceivably               enlarged in the        show the way and be a teacher of fools !
actual address in this Grecian court. The mere fact                 Paul touches on all the questions with which Greek
that we do not read the word "cross" in this address            philosophy dealt from Thales on!
does not mean that Paul did not here preach it im-                  The question of the origin of the world, Greek phi-
plicitly. Pray, how else could he ever have spoken of           losophy cannot understand, nor account for, except  `in
the "Jesus?" Is this Jesus not the one who saves His            mythical, fabulous Cosmogony. Somehow the Cosmos,
people from their sins'? And can there conceivably be           the Universe had to come into existence. However,
a resurrection without a crucifixion? Let us forbear            since the unbelieving Greek mind did not believe in
from more folly!                                                 God, the creator of heaven and earth, they could not
       On the contrary we hold that Paul stood here on          find the "key of knowledge" and find the beginning of
Mars Hill in the full consciousness of his being a               all things in the will of God. Of them it cannot be said
"debtor to the Greek and to the Barbarian, to the foolish        "Through faith we understand that the worlds were
and to the wise." We believe that he preached here a            framed by the word of God, so that things which are
"sermon" and did not deliver a  philosophicaldisserta-          seen were not made of things which do appear."
tion; Paul was not aspiring for an honorary degree of            (Heb.  11:3)
doctor in philosophy, but is testifying of the gospel of
Christ as the power of God unto salvation. (Rom.
1:14-17)  Howbeit, he puts this gospel in a garb in which
it is the sword of the Spirit! He meets the enemy of                             RESOL  UTION  OF SYMPATHY
all truth, Satan, here in the citadel of the learned, and       The Ladies Aid of the Protestant Reformed Church of
strips him naked, showing the abject poverty of Epi-            Doon express their deepest sympathy to Mr. and Mrs.
curean and Stoic philosophy and corrupt morals, and             Jake Van Den Top, in the death of his brother
the real vanity of their temples and idols !
       Here we have the foolishness of preaching!                                MR. GERRIT VAN DEN TOP
       Here Paul stands forth the great preacher as the         May the King of the Church comfort and sustain in this
great debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians.          hour of sorrow.
It is the love debt. The love of Christ constrains him.                             Rev. H. Hanko, President
His heart is burning with the zeal of the Lord's house.                             Mrs. Gerald Van Den Top, Secretary


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                               393





                                             THE DOCTRINE OF CREATION

                                         ACCORDING TO THE CONFESSIONS


                                                      Rev. H.  Veldman


     It may certainly be stated that the Church, in its          His almighty power, created out of nothing both the
  development of the doctrine of creation, has consistently      spiritual and the corporeal creature.
  maintained the literal interpretation of the account of           As far as the Reformed Confessions are concerned,
1 creation as set  forthin the first twochapters of the book     the Heidelberg Catechism refers to the doctrine of
~ of Genesis. The Church has consistently maintained that        creation in Lord's Day IX, where, in answer to the
  the creation of the world is nothing else than a work of       question: "What believest thou when thou sayest, `I
  the almighty God Who of nothing created the heavens            believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven
  and the earth and the sea and all things that are therein.     and earth?" we read: `"That the eternal Father of our
  First, we call attention to this truth as set forth in sev-    Lord Jesus Christ (who of nothing made heaven and
  eral confessions.                                              earth, with all that is in them; who likewise upholds
     The Romish Church refers to this doctrine in its            and governs the same by his eternal counsel and provi-
  Dogmatic Decrees of the Vatican Council, A.D. 1870,            dence) is for the sake of Christ his Son, my God and my
1 in Chapter I, which treats "Of God, the Creator of all         Father; on whom I rely so entirely, that I have no doubt,
,' Things, " as follows: "The holy Catholic Apostolic Roman      but he will provide me with all things necessary for
  Catholic Church believes and confesses that there is one       soul and body: and further, that he will make whatever
  true and living God, Creator and Lord of heaven and            evils he sends upon me, in this valley of tears turn
  earth, almighty, eternal, immense, incomprehensible,           out to my advantage; for he is able to do it, being Al-
  infinite in intelligence, in will, and in all perfection,      mighty God, and willing, being a faithful Father."
  who, as being one, sole, absolutely simple and im-             And in Lord's Day 34, where the ten commandments
  mutable spiritual substance, is to be declared distinct        are quoted, we read at the conclusion of the fourth
  from the world, of supreme beatitude in and from him-          commandment: "For in six days the Lord made heaven
  self, and ineffably exalted above all things which exist,      and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested
  or are conceivable, except himself.                            the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sab-
     "This one only true God, of his own goodness and            bath day, and hallowed it." So,  inthe Heidelberg Cate-
  almighty power, not for the increase or acquirement            chism the truth is maintained that the creation of the
~ of his own happiness, but to manifest his perfection by        heavens and the earth is a work of God Almighty. In
~ the blessings which he bestows on creatures, and with          Lord's Day IX we read that the Lord made heaven and
absolute freedom of counsel, created out of nothing,             earth, with all that is in them, out of nothing, and in
 from the very first beginning of time, both the spiritual       the fourth commandment we read that the Lord made
  and the corporeal creature, to wit, the angelical and the      all things in six days and the meaning is, of course,
  mundane, and afterwards the human creature, as par-            that these six days are as our twenty four hour days.
  taking, in a sense, of both, consisting of spirit and of          Our Confession of Faith calls attention to this truth
  body.                                                          in Art. 12, and we quote it in part: "We believe that
     "God protects and governs by his providence all             the Father, by the Word, that is, by his Son, hath
 things which he hath made, reaching from end to end             created of nothing, the heaven, the earth, and all crea-
 mightily, and ordering all things sweetly.          For all     tures, as it seemed good unto him, giving unto every
things are bare and open to his eyes, even those which           creature its being, shape, form, and several offices
 are yet to be by the free action of creatures."                 to serve its Creator. . . . .He also created the angels
                                                                 good, to be his messengers and to serve his elect."
     That in which we are interested and to which we             In this article the truth is again maintained that the
  wish to call attention in connection with this quotation       creation of all things is the work of the living God.
  from the Romish Vatican Council is its reference to            Here again we read that the Father created the heavens,
  the truth that God is the Creator of all things. It is         the earth, and all creatures out of nothing. We also
 peculiar of Rome that that church, even today, maintains        read that the Lord gave unto every creature its being,
  cardinal truths of the Word of God, such as the Incarna-       shape, form, and several offices, and that He also
  tion, the death and resurrection of our Lord, and His          created the angels, some of whom are fallen into ever-
  coming upon the clouds of heaven. In this quotation            lasting perdition. Hence, every creature owes its ex-
1 Rome maintains the Scriptural truth that the Lord, by          istence directly to the creative power of theliving God.


394                                                  THE'STANDARD BEARER

       The Canons refer to this truth of creation in Heads       Secondly, we do not subscribe to what this article says
III and IV, Art. 1: "Man was originally formed after             of the immortality of the soul. We do not believe that
the image of God. His understanding was adorned with            man was created immortal.         We believe that immor-
a true and saving knowledge of His Creator, and of               tality is the fruit of God's grace, that man is not created
spiritual things; his heart and will were upright; all           immortal but that he is recreated immortal, that im-
his affections pure, and the whole man was holy. . .  ."        mortality, according to the Word of God, is true only
This, of course, is the very opposite from the evolu-            of the child of God as he is recreated in Christ Jesus.
tionistic concept of the origin of man. According to the        Thirdly, for the rest, the article plainly declares that
Canons man came directly from the hand of his Maker,            the Lord created all things by the breath of His mouth
the living God of heaven and earth.                              and by His word. All things proceed from only one be-
       In addition to the Reformed confessions, other           ginning, and this beginning is the almighty word of the
Protestant confessions have also declared themselves             Lord.
on the doctrine of creation. The Second  Helvetic Con-              The  Gal&an or French Confession, 1559, has the
fession,  1566,  refers to this doctrine in Chapter VII,        following in Article VII: "We believe that God, in
which calls attention to the creation of all things, of         three co-working persons, by his power, wisdom, and
angels, the devil, and man: "This good and almighty              incomprehensible goodness, created all things, not only
God created all things, both visible and invisible, by          the heavens and the earth, and all that in them is, but
his eternal Word, and preserves the same also by his             also invisible spirits, some of whom have fallen away
eternal Spirit: as David witnesses, saying, `By the              and gone into perdition, while others have continued in
word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the              obedience ." And Article VIII begins as follows: "We
host of them by the breath of his mouth' (Ps.  XxX111.          believe that He not only created all things, but that He
6).      And, as the Scripture says, `All things that the       governs and directs them. . . .  ."       Hence, in these
Lord created were very good' (Gen. I.  31), and made             articles the same presentation of the creation of all
for the use and profit of man.                                  things is held before us.
       "Now we say, that all those things do proceed from           The Westminster Confession of Faith, 1647, de-
one beginning: and therefore we detest the Manichees            clares itself on this doctrine as follows, in Chapter IV:
and. the marcionites, who did wickedly imagine two               "It pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for the
substances and natures, the one of good, the other of           manifestation of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom,
evil; and also two beginnings and two gods, one con-             and goodness, in the beginning, to create or make of
trary to the other -- a good and an evil.                       nothing the world, and all things therein, whether visi-
       "Among all the creatures, the angels and men are         ble or invisible, in the space of six days, and all very
most excellent. Touching angels, the Holy Scripture             good.       After God had made all other creatures, he
says, `Who maketh his angels spirits, his ministers a           created man, male and female, with reasonable and
flaming fire' (Ps. CIV. 4); also, `Are they not all             immortal souls, endued with knowledge, righteousness,
ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who          and true holiness, after his own image, having the law
shall be heirs of salvation?' (Heb. I. 14). . . .               of God written in their hearts, and power to fulfill it;
       "Now, touching man, the Spirit says that in the          and yet under a possibility of transgression, being left
beginning he was `created according to the image and            to the liberty of their own will, which was subject unto
likeness of God' (Gen. I. 27); that God placed him in           change.      Beside this law written in their hearts, they
paradise, and made all things subject unto him; which            received a command not to eat of the tree of the knowl-
David doth most nobly set forth in the 8th psalm.               edge of good and  evil;which while they kept they were
Moreover, God gave unto him a wife, and blessed them.           happy in their communion with God, and had dominion
       "We say, also, that man doth consist of two, and         over the creatures."
those divers substances in one person; of a soul im-                In this statement the Westminster Confession de-
mortal (as that which being separated from his body             clares, not only that God created all things, but that
doth neither sleep nor die), and a body mortal, which,          He, of nothing, created the world and all the things
notwithstanding, at the last judgment shall be raised           therein in the space of six days. And we understand,
again from the dead, that from henceforth the whole             of course, that this cannot possibly mean that these
man-may continue forever in life or in death.                    six days were periods, as is commonly set forth today.
       "We condemn all those who mock at, or by subtle           We also read in this declaration that man, as created
disputations call into doubt, the immortality of the soul,       by the Lord, was under the possibility of transgression,
or say that the soul sleeps, or that it is a part of God.        and that his will was subject to change. And it is evi-  -
To be short, we condemn all opinions of all men what-           dent that this declaration of the truth has no sympathy
soever who think otherwise of the creation of angels,           whatever with the view that the coming into existence
devils, and men than is delivered unto us by the Scrip-          of the heavens and the earth must be attributed to any-
tures in the Apostolic Church of Christ."                        thing else but the almighty and creative power of the
       In connection with this article we would make the        word of the Lord.
following observations.      First, when this article de-
clares that they accept only that presentation as is                "What coming and returning sinner need despair of
set forth in the Scriptures and in the Apostolic Church          acceptance?      No man can be worse than Paul was
of Christ, it is clear from other parts of this confession      before his conversion; and no man can be worse than
that the infallibility of the Word of God is maintained.         Peter was after his conversion."- Augustus M.  Toplady


                                                     THESTANDARD BEARER                                                   395





                                                         ELI'S SONS                                             ,

                                                     Rev. B. Woudenbevg

   Now  the sons  of  Eli  weYe sons  of  Belial; they knew       it was only partially there and in a mutilated form.
not the LORD.                                                     This was contrary to one of the basic ideas of the sac-
   The expression "a son of Belial" was  anOld Testa-             rifice, namely, that the sacrificial victim should be
ment expression meaning "a worthless fellow" --that               brought to the Lord unbroken and unmutilated in any
is, a wicked person having no  ,regard for decency or             way.     But for Hophni and Phinehas, it  was. of real ad-
propriety, for law or for order. Such the sons of Eli             vantage. Should they desire, it was rather easy to take
were called.                                                      the meat while it was still raw and have it sent to the
   This was of special significance because Eli was               marketplace and put up for sale, taking the money for
the High Priest of the tabernacle, a son of Aaron from            themselves.      So insistent did they become on this sort
the family of Ithamar. It meant that his sons were due            of thing that, if any refused to comply willingly, they
to fill this position after him. In fact, Eli was already         threatened to take the raw meat by force., It was the
an old man, and a great part of the priestly duties had           type of thing that took away the whole spirit of worship
fallen upon these sons already. Because of the  10~               from the tabernacle and turned many sensitive be-
level to which the religious life of thenation had fallen,        lievers away from the tabernacle in disgust: And still,
the tabernacle was not at that time a very busy place.            even this was not the worst.       It soon became known
The result was that very few other priests were ever              that these men, Hophni and Phinehas, were seducing
really needed to care for the customary activities                and committing immoral acts with some of the women
there.    The sons of Eli were able to take care of just          who came regularly to help in the service of the
about everything, and they dominated the whole life of            tabernacle. It was as though the tabernacle. of Jehovah
the tabernacle. There were very few others who were               had become corrupted in the manner of' a heathen,
in any position to prevent them from doing almost any-            idol temple.
thing they wanted; and, being worthless men, they did                 Under the circumstances, it could be expected that
j u s t   t h a t . They were only the best of the children of    Hophni and Phinehas would have gone out of their way
Israel that any longer frequented the tabernacle with             to keep their father ignorant about all that was going
any regularity, and these were the ones whom the sons             on about him. They may have, but they did not suc-
of Eli made their prey. They took worship of Jehovah              ceed.    The sins which these men committed were too
and turned it into a means of self-satisfaction and sin,          blatant to be hid even from their aged and often rather
corrupting the offices and functions of the tabernacle.           naive father.      Eli learned what was going' on, and he
   The first and most apparent perversion of Hophni               knew that it was true. He realized how serious it was
and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, was in their treatment             and it hurt him, hurt him as nothing else ever could.
of the sacrificial carcasses. The law was very explicit           He was at heart a true child of God, and he could not
as to how the meat of the sacrificial animals was to be           be indifferent to such wickedness, particularly when it
handled and divided. (Lev.  7:29-34)  The fat was to be           came from his own sons.         With a hurting heart, Eli
burned while the breast and right shoulder were to be             called his two sons to him and spoke. He said, "Why
given to the priest after they were roasted upon the              do ye such things ? for I hear of your evil dealings by
altar.    The sons of Eli, however, had little regard for         all this people. Nay my sons; but it is no good report
any such regulations of the law. They looked upon the             that I hear: ye make the LORD's people to transgress.
functions and sacrifices of the tabernacle, not as a              If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge
means of worshipping God, but as something that was               him: but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall  in-
there for their own personal use and gratification.               treat for him?"
It became their custom boldly to approach anyone
presenting a sacrifice, and with a three pronged fork                What Eli said to his sons was very true. The sin
to thrust it into any portion of the meat which they              which they had committed was of the most serious
happened to fancy at that moment and keep for them-               sort.    They had not just sinned against their fellow
selves whatever came out upon the fork.              It was a     man. Had this been their fault, a judge could call them
blatant disregard of the law of God; but that was not             into account and mete out an appropriate punishment
the worst.      As time went on they became even more             for what they had done.        But these men had sinned
bold. They began to send their servants to those who              against God.     Standing as priests in the name of God,
came to sacrifice even before the sacrificial victim              they had used their authority given them by God to
was brought to the altar and its fat was burned to de-            perform works which were very evidently contrary to
mand of these worshippers meat for the priest while               the will of God. They had taken the name of God and
it was still raw. This was  evenmore serious. It meant            the priestly office of God and had put it to an open
that when the sacrificial body was brought to the altar           shame. The one place in Israel where the name of God


396                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


should have been honored above all else, they had made          It came to the point where the most atrocious of sins
a center of infamy and sin. Their sin, calloused as it          could be committed, and none even thought to do any-
was, was beyond excuse, beyond entreaty, beyond for-            thing about it. Eli was the prime example of just this.
giveness.      They had put the name of God to an open             The matter would have rested there except that God
shame and sinned against His Holy Spirit. This Eli              would not let it. He sent to Eli a prophet to warn him
told his sons very clearly and dismissed them to re-            of the future. The prophet was unknown; but his words
turn to their duties.                                           were clearly from God. He said, "Thus saith the LORD,
       This was exactly  Eli',s sin. It was typical of the      Did I not plainly appear unto the house of thy father,
basic sin of Israel throughout the period of the judges         when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house? And did
and, no doubt, of Eli's relationship toward his sons            I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my
from their earliest youth. Eli had always been a  God-          priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to
fearing man; and, as a judge in Israel, he knew full            wear an ephod before me? and did I give unto the house
we11 the difference between good and evil, right and            of thy father  a11 the offerings made by fire of the chil-
wrong.      Neither did he fail to tell his sons about this.    dren of Israel? Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and
But that was just the trouble, he had gone no further.          at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habita-
Something there was in Eli which had always kept him            tion; and honourest thy sons above me, to make your-
from really punishing his sons for their misdeeds.              selves fat with the chiefest of all theofferings of Israel
Perhaps he had tried once or twice in a small way and           my people? Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith,
it had not seemed to work, perhaps he always found              I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father,
himself almost unconsciously making excuses for                 should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD
them because they were so unfortunate as to have been           saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I
raised in such a wicked day with all of its horrid ex-          will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly
amples, perhaps he was just tenderhearted. In any               esteemed.     Behold, the days come, that I will cut off
case, although he had told them often enough concern-           thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house, that
ing right and wrong, Eli had never been able to do any-         there shall not be an old man in thine house. And thou
thing to back up and enforce anything which he said.            shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth
Hophni and Phinehas had never come to know what it              which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an
was to tremble in fear before the hand of justice,              old man in thine house for ever. And the man of thine,
either that of their father's or of God's. So they had          whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to
grown up, indifferent. Now they had become guilty of            consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart; and all
the greatest sins imaginable, corrupting the worship of         the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of
God.      Still there was only one thing Eli could get him-     their age. And this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall
self to do, that was talk. He after all was High Priest.        come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in
The holy tabernacle of God, for which he was respon-            one day they shall die both of them. And I will raise
sible, had been terribly corrupted. It had gone beyond          me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that
the point where it really mattered that these were his          which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build
own sons who had done it. His duty was very clear.              him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine
These men could not properly be allowed to return to            anointed for ever. And it shall come to pass, that every
continue in their offices, particularly since they had          one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch
shown absolutely no sign of repentance. They should             to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread,
have been thrown bodily from. the tabernacle without            and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the
delay.     They should have, in fact, been driven without       priests' offices, that I may eat a piece of bread."
the walls of the city and stoned until dead. But Eli               The verdict here expressed was plain. Eli, through
was old and beyond the point where he could change              his failure to punish his sons for their sins, had come
his ways.       All he could do was talk; and, although it      to share in the guilt of them. In fact, God had deter-
was surely with weeping grieving heart, talk could no           mined to make his house an example to all of the house
longer be effective.        Hophni and Phinehas only re-        of Israel throughout the succeeding generations. From
turned to continue their sins.                                  that  ,time forth, beginning with Hophni and Phinehas,
       This was pretty much the very trouble that had           there would not be another old man like Eli himself
plagued Israel all through the period of the judges.            had become. They would all be cut short in the prime
Throughout this period, there had always beennumbers            of life as a sign of the displeasure of God with this
of people who had been Godfearing from the heart; at            great sin.
the beginning of the period there must have been a                 Nevertheless, God did not leave Eli without a
great number of them.        These had loved God and re-        promise. He said, "And I will raise me up a faithful
spected the precepts of His law, and even taught them           priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine
to their children. But in one thing they had failed, that       heart and in my mind:. and I will build him a sure house;
was in proper discipline.         When their friends and        and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever." In
neighbors had begun to compromise with God's law                the first place, this was Zadok who  wasgiven the office
and to break its commandments, they had not demanded            of High Priest in the place of Abiathar as a reflection
the punishments prescribed by the law, they had done            again upon the sin of Eli.    But in the final analysis it
nothing about it.        Sinners found that they could sin      was Christ, and in His blessedness also the faithful of
with impunity, and they did. Wickedness grew and grew.          the house of Eli would also share.


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   397



                                             7@$&9 7h SfiM&

                                                  SWEDENBORGIANISM


                                                   Rev.  Robe& C.  Havbach                                                        - ---

   The founder of this chimerical cult was Emanuel                which are seen arenotmade by things which do appear"
Swedberg, a name which he later changed to the more               (Heb.  11:3).     Evolutionism is also evident in the con-
resonant Swedenborg.       Born in Stockholm in 1688, he          tention as to "the origin of matter" that material
was said to have lived and died a Lutheran. If so, one            substance is "produced from the  sun."4  This is not
wonders whether his denomination, not far past the                in harmony with what took place on the fourth creative
mighty Reformation, made any efforts to correct-or                day.
discipline the pedantic heretic.      Early he claimed the            Trinity.      With his rather Mormonite doctrine of
ability to see and converse with spirits and angels.              God, Swedenborg could not hold the doctrine of the
Thus the religion he schematized became apredecessor              trinity. To him this teaching was a modern innovation.
to the Spiritism of today. Contact with the spirit-world          "That God was triune before the world was created
is fundamental to the cult. However, such contact its             the sacred Scripture does not teach... A trinity of per-
adherents manage without mediums,  Ouija board or                 sons in the Godhead before the world was created,
audible  knockings.  Swedenborg had ready access  tothe           never came into the mind of anyone from the time of
realm of angels, to heaven and hell. This claim for               Adam to the Lord's advent..."5 This, to say the least,
some amounted to a distracting facade for the new                 is a denial of Gen.  1:26f, and of the name.  Elohim,
religious vagaries soon to be dreamed up, without any             which is not singular, not even dual, but plural.
overt displacement of the revelation of God given in the          Revealing more of his anti-trinitarian and Unitarian
Holy Scripture. Proof for the superhuman origin of the            position, he claimed that the orthodox doctrine of the
novel reveries was sought in the power of psychic                 trinity implied "a trinity of gods." Then what does he
insight and in undesigned coincidences.            Pharaoh's      mean when he denies that there are three persons in
magicians made the same appeal.                                   the Godhead, but rather three distinct essences in the
   We are warned, by one of his disciples, that "one              sort of "trinity" he imagines? These essences are
might suspect" Swedenborg's writings "to be the                   the divine essence of the Father, the human essence of
language of a madman..." Yet, it is further stated,               Jesus Christ and the proceeding essence of the Holy
"whatever else may be said of his teachings, they are             Spirit.6     Is this not a tritheism of a divine god, a
certainly not the incoherent combinations of an unsound           demi-god and a neuter-god (a sort of  tev'tium quid)?
mind.' `1    Furthermore, the man became a genius in              We cannot understand why anyone would think that our
science, a nobleman, and finally a theologian, if what            wonderful pseudo-theologian "carried his respect for
he wrote may be deemed theology. Thelatter we cannot              the person and divinity of Jesus Christ to the highest
grant, since the root error of this cult we believe to            point of veneration, considering him altogether as "God
be a rationalistic mysticism. The man himself may                 manifest in the flesh, and as the fulness of the Godhead
have been as sane as his apologists, for whatever that            united to the man Christ Jesus.' "7 For in his evalua-
is worth, but the reader must decide for himself                  tion of the creed we cannot discern that high veneration,.
whether his writings were.                                        He says: "That this church did not acknowledge three
 God. Swedenborgianism teaches that God is man.                   Divine Persons, nor therefore a Son  of' God from
In all of heaven there is no idea of God than that of a           eternity, but only the Son of God born in time, is evident
man. The reason for this is that heaven is in the, form           from the creed  whit h from their church is called
of a man.2 It is not said that God reveals himself in             Apostolic..  .from which it is plain, that they acknowledge
the form of a man, nor that God is a man, but that God            no other Son of God than the one conceived of the Holy
is man.      Heaven is in the form of a man, but God is           Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, and by no means
man.    This comes close to the pantheism that person-            any Son of God born from eternity."8          But the true
alizes God only in mankind.          In fact, a rather bald       church and the Apostolic Creed do acknowledge a Son
pantheism appears in the statement that "God created              of God from eternity -- strictly, not a Son of God born
the universe from Himself, not out of  nothing."`3  Let           from eternity--the Son was given (not born) from
recent expositors of the cult who deny his pantheism              eternity.        The Child (i.e., the impersonal human
explain this statement.      But the latter error and its         nature), which the Person of the Son took up into union
twin sister, evolution, teach that "it is impossible for          with His divine nature, was born, and that "in due
anything to be made out of nothing." This is the ancient          time." But that the Son is from eternity is plain from
pagan philosophy of  ex  nihilo   nihil  fit,  and a denial of    Mic.  5:2; Isa.  9:6; Prov. 8; Jn.  8:58, ASV;  17:5, 24,
the infallible Word that "God calleth the things not              as even an honest atheist will have to admit is the
being as being" (Rom.  4:17, Gk.), and that "the things           teaching of Scripture. Still, Swedenborg goes on to try


        398                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER


        to make the Athanasian Creed capable of an interpre-              reason dictates that all are predestined to heaven, and
        tation which admits only a modal trinity. Such a man              no one to  hell.`,16
        has the fine facility of cracking his head on the im-                Hell.      Hell is a mirage.17 The Lord casts no one
        movable Gibraltar of history.                                     into hell.     "The inhabitants of hell do not actually live
               Image  of  God.    Swedenborg here seems to have a         in fire, nor do they feel any sense of being burnt, but
        modern  "as  if  philosophy, for he says, "The image of           only such a heat as they experienced in the world."
        God and the likeness of God are not destroyed with                That is, the fires of hell are nothing more than the
        man, but are as  if  (emph. added) destroyed."9 Modern            lusts of the body, including hatred and revenge, which
        irrationalism speaks "as if" God exists, although God,            burn in a man.13
      _  aa--.-best,-- is  theimpossible possibility, the uncertain           Heaven.     "Of all the Gentiles, the Africans are the
__ ---- certainty, the unthinkable thinkable, the non-existent            most esteemed in heaven; for they receive the...
        existent.       So the image of God is the indestructible         truths of heaven more easily than  others."19  In heaven
        destructible. We think of it "as if" it were completely           a man who had several wives on earth may live with
        obliterated.         This philosophy leaves room for some         them all in succession temporarily. Eventually he will
        vestiges of the image of God remaining in man, such               come to either choose one of them or leave them all.
        as man's rationality and liberty. In the history of the           In heaven "husbands rarely recognize their wives, but
        Fall and the resultant loss of the divine image, no               wives readily recognize their husbands. The reason
        account is taken of the noetic effects of sin. For man's          is that women have an interior perception of love, and
        rationality is fallen also, corrupted, indeed perverted,          men only an  exterior.,,2O      In this last sentence do we
        and, although it still glimmers with remnants of natural          not detect an element of truth? Apparently he never
        light, he, in his will and in his intellect, is incapable         took seriously Matt.  22:30, and perhaps never read
        of using this natural light  aright even in regard to             Rom.  10:12;  Gal.  3:28 and especially Col.  3:ll.
        natural things. In fact, this light, vestigial as it is, he          Judgment.  The last judgment does not involve the
        renders wholly polluted, that is, darkness, and holds             destruction of the world. "Neither the visible heaven
        the light down in the darkness, in unrighteousness, by            nor the habitable earth will perish..  .Both will remain.. .
        every thought, word and act. But Swedenborg said that             By a new heaven and a new earth a new church is
        the divine image in man is not really destroyed, nor              meant."21       The final judgment is supposed to have
        lost; it is only turned upside down. Man still retains            occurred in 1757.       Swedenborg says he was present,
        his "liberty," so that it is still within man's power to          but does not say why he was not himself judged.
        set the inverted image right side up.              This is the       Resuwection.   This is denied, "for man rises again
        evolutionary "as if."           We speak "as if" man fell,        only as to the spirit, but not as to the body...with which
        whereas he fell upward, like tripping up the stairs.              he was clothed in the  world.,,22
        To this we answer that fallen  manis as free as a bird--             Pet distinctions found neither in the English language
        with a broken wing-- i.e., formally free to fly, but              nor in Scripture Swedenborg makes not only confidently
        materially not able.          Spiritually man is dead in sins     but blithely, such as,  ,`. ..by love is meant love to the
        and is free only to putrify.                                      Lord; and by charity, love towards the neighbor.,,23
               Regeneration.       Swedenborgianism denies election       A favorite word of his, as Anglicized, found only in
        and reprobation, teaching that God left salvation free            Swedenborgianism, but borrowed from the Latin is
        to all, giving all an equal chance to be saved.  "...a11          conjugial.  Occasionally we come across such informa-
        may be regenerated and thus saved; consequently,...if             tion as the following.       .The moon is inhabited with
        he is not saved, the Lord is not in fault but man; and            long-faced creatures ` `as small as children," strong as
        man is in fault in that he does not  co-operate."10               men, with voices like thunder. They do not speak from
        "To acquire spiritual regeneration a man must become              the lungs like earth's inhabitants, and, considering the
        willing to co-operate with God. This is because no                moon, the reason is obvious. Their voices are emitted
        man can regenerate himself. It is God who does the                from the stomach like a belch. For the moon is not
        regenerating.         But God requires the man's  co-opera-       surrounded with an atmosphere, as Earth; in fact, has
        tion."ll       This sounds like Billy Graham and all the          no atmosphere except when one of those thunderous
        rest of the modern Arminian preachers of the day. So              belches breaks  forth.24 To show what a fanciful con-
        does this: "Being born again.,  .never takes place before         glomeration this silly religion is, take one instance of
        an experience of  repentance."12  And this: "...menand            its method of interpretation. The Bible is regarded as
        women...become degenerate by their own wilful choice              a code book full of code words.          Swedenborg by his
        and  initiative."13  The Arminianphilosophy runs through          communion with the spirit world found the key to
        all the heresies of the ages.                                     break the code. For example, in the text, "And I, John,
               Salvation.     The Swedish heretic was enamored with       saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from
        universalism.          Since twelve years old he held that God    heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband,"
        makes a universal offer of faith to all men, but that             John is the code word for "the good of life."  City  is
        only those who practice love to the neighbor receive              code word for "doctrines of theology."  Jerusalem  is
        it.14     This flies in the face of II Thes.  3:2. He held a      the code word for "church." "Holy" means "true."
        universal love of God "towards the whole humanrace,"              "New" means "new.`, Heaven  is code word for "the
        according to which "He desires to save eternally, and             kingdom of God." "Bride" means "affection for hus-
        to adjoin entirely to Himself, so that none of them may           band's wisdom." "Husband" means "wisdom of love."
        perish."lo           He held to universal salvation. "Sound       Is the reader enlightened?


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   399


   Swedenborg was Spiritist, Arian and Arminian, as
we have shown. He was also  .Apollinarian,  for he be-
lieved since Christ had no human father, he had no                     1. A Compendium of the Theological Writings of
human soul, but a divine nature animated his humanity.          Emanuel Swedenborg, by S. W. Warren, lxix. 2. ibid.,
He was worse than Pelagian, as he believed that Jesus           3. 3. ibid., 15. 4. ibid., 19. 5. ibid., 87, 88. 6. Buck's
inherited the very same evil disposition that all men           Theol. Dict'y, 431.         7. ibid. 8. A Compendium, (etc.)
have by having a humanmother. Only, Jesus "mastered             315.       9. ibid., 29.      10. ibid., 295-6. 1'1. Emanuel
his depraved nature and so eliminated  it."25  Also             Swedenborg, Theologian, by Hiram Vrooman, 20. 12.
rationalism and  gnosticism abound.         Then what an        ibid., 84. 13. ibid., 92. 14. A Compendium, (etc.) xxx.
incongruous name for the cult, "The New Church!" For            15. ibid., 264.     16. ibid., 534. 17. E. S;, Theol., H.V.,
it is nothing but the ancient heresies revived! For' the        67.     18. Heaven and Hell, 1885, Noble Transla., 545-6,
most part, Swedenborgianism is a profound way of                571.     19. ibid., 326.     20. Compendium of Works, 454.
writing nothing.      It is concrete reality taken and          21. ibid., 705. 22. ibid., 59, 61. 23. ibid., 264. 24.
turned into insipid vapidity and inscrutable vacuity.           ibid., 723-4. 25. E.S., Theol., H.V., 65.        ,





                                                THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL


                                                     Rev. J. A. Heys


   Paul did not say that money is the root of all evil.         terms of costly, precious earthly possessions. There
   That would be quite an indictment against the deacons        are gates of pearl and precious stones, a street of gold
in God's Church, would it not? Each Sabbath day they            and the like mentioned in Revelation 21 when the Holy
would be collecting evil in order to distribute evil unto       City, the new Jerusalem is presented to us as coming
the poor parishioners.       We would be urged and ad-          down from heaven.
monished by Paul in I Corinthians  16:2 to lay up evil in              What Paul declares in I Timothy  6:lO is that "The
store, "as God hath prospered" us upon the first day            love of money is the root of all evil: which while some
of the week. We are to put evil in an envelope or drop          coveted after, they have erred from  the; faith, and
it in the collection plate and give this evil to the Church.    pierced themselves through with many sorrows." It is
   Money is not evil, for Jesus told the fault-seeking          the same idea as that which Jesus presented in His
Jews to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's.        sermon on the mount when He said,  "Noman can serve
He did not condemn the coin which they showed Him.              two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love
He told them to use it for the purpose for which it was         the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise
made.    Sin is never in the creature. Not that which           the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." There
entereth into the mouth of man defileth him, Jesus said         it is! Ye cannot serve God and mammon. And ye can-
to those who objected when His disciples ate without            not love God and mammon. You will  love,either one,
first washing their hands.         And Paul declares in         and you will serve either one. You will never serve
I Timothy  4:4 that "every creature of God is good, and         and love both. Money here simply represents mammon,
nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiv-        which is riches. Loving riches -- or  1oving;money -- is
ing."    God gave His people gold and silver often in           loving the creature apart from the Creator. It is setting
abundance.    He made Job to be an extremely rich man           one's affections on the creature in opposition to the
and still said of him that he was an upright man that           Creator.      You either love God and use the creature in
eschewed evil. He made Abraham and David and Solo-              His fear and service, or you love the creature and use
mon extremely rich men.         And in all this He did not      it to rebel against the Creator. Mammon and God are
give them evil but manifested His grace unto them.              two masters with opposite goals and commands. Ac-
We say "manifested His grace" because even as sin               tually love of mammon, or of money, is love of self.
is not in the creature; so grace is not in the creature.        The root of all evil was introduced in paradise when
What can be a curse to the wicked may be a blessing             Satan succeeded in turning man's love away from God
to the righteous. Death, which is the curse of God and          to direct it at man himself. Satan is not particularly
punishment of His righteous wrath upon the wicked, is           interested in getting us to love him. And the ungodly
the blessing whereby God brings His child home to the           do not love Satan either. They delight in his devilish
glories of heaven.     But by means  of, material riches        thoughts. They revel in his rebellious will. But they
God manifested His grace to His people in the Old               have no personal love for Satan. He is not a  loveable
Testament dispensation. And even today, the beauties            character and he makes no attempt to make himself
and wonders of the kingdom of heaven are pictured in            loveable. His whole interest is to get the world to rebel


400                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


against God. His desire is that there be no love to God.        laborers benefited the men who hired them. They got
       Take into consideration his temptation in paradise       some good out of these laborers and kept more than
and his temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. You do           they were allowed according to previous agreement or
not find him presenting himself as the object of our            by unjust wages.
love.     He tries to convince that sin is good for us. He         Now we never serve God in that sense that we do
tried and succeeded in getting Eve to believe that to eat       that which He could not do. We never enrich Him or
of the forbidden fruit would improve man's lot and raise        add to His possessions.       We serve Him, but we never
him above the plane where God had been pleased to               do Him a service. When we serve, we keep His com-
create him.      And the same was true of Christ's temp-        mandments and do that which is pleasing in His sight.
tation in the wilderness.      Each time the advantage to       When we serve, we use His creatures with the strength
Jesus was presented.        0, indeed, the last temptation      and life that He gives us and are in debt to Him for all
did demand bowing down and worshipping Satan, but               these.     After we have served, we are still unprofitable
again the advantage was for Jesus that He would re-             servants and have only done that which was required
ceive all the kingdoms of the world. And bowing down            of us.     After we have served Him, we owe Him ever-
and worshipping is not the same as love. One can do             lasting praise and thanks for the opportunity, and He
that, and many have been demanded to do that, in                owes us absolutely nothing.
hatred of the king or ruler before whom they must bow.             Our calling before God is to use every creature
The heathen bow down and worship their idols not in a           which He gives unto us in His service. And if we love
love for them but in a slavish fear, lest failing to do so      God, the creature will be  ameans unto that end of God's
the gods will destroy them.        It is love of God or love    service and glory. He made us to be His royal priest-
of self.      And serving mammon or loving money is             hood, so that all the irrational, creation would through
loving self.                                                    our minds and wills come before His face in praise
       The word --it is in the Greek one word -- Paul uses      and glory. The potato that grows in the field, and the
does not contain the word love, as we are called upon           beast that roams the field cannot and does not know
to love God. You cannot love gold and silver as you             God.      They have neither ethical will nor intellect and
love a person. The word used by Paul when speaking              exist oblivious to God's existence. But man, made in
of the love of money means to have affection or liking,         the image of God, can know, and as regenerated children
and when we read in John  3:16  that God so loved the           knows God in love. And man then reaches out to these
world that He gave His only begotten Son, the word is           irrational creatures, uses them and comes before
not this one of affection but rather one which has a far        God's face with praise and thanksgiving. Man lifts
loftier meaning.       When Jesus therefore asked Peter         them through his soul unto the Creator in the heavens.
after the resurrection whether he loved Him, and used           Then it is not vanity of vanity, but there is purpose.
this word of the loftier meaning, Peter  didnot dare use        That which comes from God returns to Him through
it and used rather the word that means to have affec-           the mind and will and works of His regenerated chil-
tion.     Lenski says of this loftier word that it speaks of    dren.
the "love of intelligence, reason and comprehension,               But when we love self and esteem mammon, with
coupled with corresponding purpose." And the fact               our affections set on money and that which it can ob-
is that when we set our affections on gold and silver,          tain, then the creature, rather than the Creator, be-
houses and land, the treasures and pleasures of this            comes the end. We seek the creature for the creature's
world we do not love God but self. Lack of love to God          sake.      We seek God's creation for the satisfaction of
always manifests itself in love to self. Man's heart            our own flesh and not for His glory. Then we love
cannot be without love. There always is direction and           money and not God.        And that does not simply mean
purpose to all that which his heart does. And if the            money but all that which money can buy. Then we seek
object of that love is not God, it will be self.                the satisfaction of our own lusts and serve them. We
       Therefore when we serve mammon we do so out of           live for the creature. The means which the Creator
love of self.     And when we have affection for money,         supplies we turn into the end which we seek.
we do so out of love of self and in hatred of God. Love            It should not be difficult to see that then we violate
seeks to serve. Love always seeks the good of the ob-           the whole first table of the law. We do not love God
ject of that love. And when we love God, we desire to           and seek the creature as our god. Then God's revela-
serve Him and not self. Now we do not serve God in              tion of Himself in His Word means nothing to us and
the same sense in which we serve men. The servant               we make unto ourselves idols to worship and to seek.
does work for his master which helps out that master            We are filled with no reverence and awe before Him
and saves him the effort.         When we serve men, we         and do not hold His name precious. His work of salva-
benefit them. We even enrich them by our service.               tion and His Sabbath mean nothing to us but another day
That is certainly what James means when he rebukes              wherein to seek the pleasures of this world. The love
the rich and tells them to weep and to howl for the             of self and affection for the treasures of this world is
miseries that shall come upon them.           He speaks of      the root of all the evil, in the ethical-moral sense of
gold and silver, of the love of money and declares that         the word, found in the world today. Love of self is the
the hire of the laborers is kept back by fraud and that         root of the tree that brings forth all these works of
their cries have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.         hatred against God. Those who love money err from
These became rich because they kept back part of the            the faith, Paul declares, and pierce themselves through
wages of the laborers; but that only shows that these           with many sorrows.        How scarcely shall a rich man


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    401


enter into the kingdom of heaven! Gods of gold and            self.     It is to desire to have to satisfy the flesh. It is
silver turn us away from that kingdom and make us             to seek the creature as an end for our own carnal sat-
earthly minded. The delight in and love for material          isfaction without any regard for God, His service and
things so often turns us from the faith. We will violate      His glory.       If we do not love God, we will have lust.
God's law in order to get money. We will work on the          And the world of today shows its lust so clearly as
Sabbath. We will keep silent when God's name is taken         hatred against God.
in vain, because it might cost us our job to rebuke the              The standard of living is higher in our country
employer, whose favour we require for the job. We             than ever before.       But is there as much joy and real
will look to men and their organizations for our bread        happiness?      The love of money simply drives us to get
and work, because we love money rather than God.              more and more and more and to drive us farther and
   And look at all the evil in the world because of the       farther from God, Whom to know is everlasting life.
love of money! What wars and fightings are not con-           There is more murder and theft, more violence and
ducted because men do not love God but rather His             bloodshed today than ever before. The love of money
creatures! The world is full of riot and revolt, revolu-      drives men to get money at all costs. Morality must
tion and conflict because there is a clashing of wills        go-      Decency and natural affection even must go. A
over money and the things which it can buy. Wills are         world of fear is being produced, and it is not the fear
not united in God and His glory. They are scattered           of, the Lord.       All you hear about is making money.
and divided, so that each individual wants his share of       Using God's creation so that it returns to Him in
money and hates the neighbour who stands in the way of        praise and service is an old-fashioned idea that must
his obtaining it. That is why Capital and Labor are at        be ridiculed as childish and inane.
each other's throats all the time. Capital is out to bleed           But make no mistake about it, the love of money is
labor so that it can make more money. And labor is out        also the root of all the evil men shall suffer in hell.
to strangle and tie up Capital in order to get more           God cannot be mocked. It may look good to run after
money -- often for less work, and poorer work. We will        this world, but the end is the loss of all good and tor-
not at this moment take sides with either Capital or          ment that is indescribable. Money is a good creature
Labor.    That is not our point at the moment. But it         and to be accepted with thanksgiving. But do not set
cannot be denied that the love of money is the root of        your affections upon it.      Be ready to lose it when God
this evil wherein innocent families suffer, men are out       shows you He will take it away. And while you have it
of work, properties are destroyed and men lose their          employ it in His fear.       Use it for your needs and for
jobs.                                                         His kingdom. The love of money is the root of all evil
   James, the practical observer, applies the same            even unto hell's evil.        But the love of God leads to
thing to wars and fightings. They come because of our         everlasting glory and true joy and happiness before
lusts which war in our members. And lust is love of           His face in the new Jerusalem.


                             REPORT OF THE EASTERN LADIES' LEAGUE MEETING

   The spring meeting of our Eastern Ladies' League           neglect is to fail to care for, or to disregard, those
was held on April 25, 1965 at the new edifice of our          means; and therefore neglect is a grievous sin. Some
Holland Church.                                               forms of neglect of the means of grace are:  wilfully
   After the usual preliminaries and a special musical        failing to come under the preaching of the gospel;
number, our President, Mrs. D. Jonker, introduced the         "oncers," who eventually become "none-cers"; failure
speaker for the evening, Seminarian Robert Decker.            to attend special services, such as Prayer Day, Thanks-
His topic was: "The Neglect of the Means of Grace."           giving Day, etc.; attending services but failing to listen,
He discussed:  l/ What are the means of grace?  2/            falling asleep, letting one's thoughts wander to carnal
What is it to neglect them?  3/ Examples of neglect.          things; failure of parents to send their children to
   The means of grace are two-fold, namely, the preach-       catechism or failing to see that they know their lessons.
ing of the Word and the Sacraments. The means are             Whether partial or total, the point is: neglect of the
nothing in themselves, but significant only as they are       means of grace shows lack of hunger for the bread of
sustained and used by God. They are as necessary to           life. Therefore ministers of the Word must warn against
our spiritual life as bread is to our natural existence.      neglect of the means of grace. Likewise, it is the duty
What is grace? It is an attribute denoting an attitude        of the consistory to administer discipline, which is the
of God whereby the sinner is delivered from the power         final remedy to bring the sinner to repentance. Let us
of death and made a son of God through the meritorious        take heed lest we become guilty of that sin.
work of Christ. The means of grace are bestowed upon                 Our program also included an interesting book re-
the and in the church of Christ by the Holy Spirit. Of        view by Miss Elsie  Kuiper of "The Glorious, Heretic;"
these two, the preaching of the Word is indispensable         by Thea Van Halsema.
and by far the most important. By it and through the                 The necessary league business was  attended::&  .a
application of the Holy Spirit faith is wrought and           collection was taken for our  Standard  Beaver,  and;`after
strengthened.      The sacraments obsignate and seal          closing prayer, refreshments were  served--a@  asocial
God's promise to us given in the Word. We must hear           hour was enjoyed.                       .  :         -1
                                                                                                  .-.:     ..
Him, Christ, speak,' as recorded in Romans  10:14. To                                      --  Mrs;  -J: Oomkes, Reporter


  402                                                THESTANDARDBEARER





                                         THE DANGER OF POST-MILLENNIALISM


                                                        Rev. H. Hanko

         Much of the error in the churches of our country is     through the catastrophe of final destruction; rather
 rooted, either deliberately or unconsciously in the             the kingdom of Christ is already established, and it
 error of post-millennialism. There was a time when              only remains for Christ to come to take the kingdom
 pre-millennialism was rather popular doctrine and               to Himself.
 constituted a threat to the truth which the Church                  This however, is the more conservative view of the
 maintained.        But today, while there are still many        millennium as maintained by the posts.
 pre-millennialists in the churches, this error is not               There is a far more liberal and popular view also.
 such a major question in the defense of the truth.              This view teaches that we must not even look for the
 Rather, post-millennialism has become the common                coming of Christ upon the clouds of heaven, for we are
 error concerning the truth of Christ's coming.                  sadly mistaken if we expect a personal return of the
         What does post-millennialism teach?                     Lord.        It won't happen.    Rather, the coming of the
         In its simplest form, post-millennialism teaches        millennium  is  it.seZf  the coming of Christ. As gradually
 that the coming of Christ upon the clouds of heaven             the kingdom emerges from the struggles of our times,
 shall be  after (post) the millennium. This is in dis-          as order comes forth out of chaos, as peace arises
 tinction from pre-millennialism which teaches that the          out of war, the kingdom of Christ is realized here upon
 coming of Christ shall be  before (pre) the millennium.         earth, and this realization is itself Christ's coming.
 However, there are also other differences.             Pre-     He comes in no other way than through the establish-
 millennialism usually insists on the millennium as              ment of heaven upon earth.
 being a literal period of 1000 years.             The  post-        Thus the kingdom of Christ comes through evolu-
 millennialists do not insist on a literal 1000 years,           tion.    When I used the term "evolution" here, I do not
 but are content to speak of a long period of time which         mean particularly the biological evolution which teaches
 constitutes the millennium.                                     that all living forms of life evolved out of lower forms
         Further, the pres insist that this 1000 year millen-    of life; that man came from the animals. This evolu-
 nium shall be characterized primarily by the reign of           tion is beside the point. (Although, strikingly, there is
 Christ on earthly Mount Zion in Palestine on the east           an increased tendency in our day to connect the two.
 shore of the Mediterranean Sea over the nation of               This tendency insists that evolutionary processes are
"Israel.      The Jews form the center of Christ's earthly       still at work, that man is still on a ladder reaching to
 kingdom.       The post-millennialists are not particularly     higher forms of life. This continual biological improve-
 concer&ed;  with the Jews, but conceive of a kingdom            ment will bring about a superior man in a superior
 which shall. have no distinction between Jew and                creation.      In fact, I have recently read a book written
 Gentile in it, but shall encompass all lands and all            by a theologian in which he advocates just such a view.
 people.                                                         And he insists that man, through evolution will become
         The pres, to note another difference, teach that        God.     It is also striking that the concessions made by
 the millennium shall be established by a sudden                 the church today to evolutionistic thought are closely
 coming of Christ from heaven to the earth  - a coming           connected with the drift of the church towards post-
 which ushers in the millennium when the kingdom is              millennialism.      But this by way of parenthesis.) The
 established  .in Jerusalem.       The posts, on the other       kind of evolution I refer to particularly is social,
 hand, teach that the millennium shall be realized more          economic, political evolution.
 slowly by a gradual spread of Christianity throughout              The idea is that in every area of life man is getting
 the world, by a progressive turning of men to the               better and better.      Socially, the problems which con-
 gospel, by a growing acceptance of the true religion            front man are solvable and are being solved. Racial
 of Scripture by all peoples in all nations. As the power        tensions, poverty, broken homes, crime, delinquency,
 of the gospel continues to make more extensive inroads          etc. are gradually being overcome so that we shall
 and subject more peoples to its sway, the millennium            presently reach a time when all these ills are rooted
 will gradually come into being. And this millennium             out of society and their evils eradicated. Economically,
 will then be a period of time when Christianity is              there shall be, through the growth of industrialization,
 dominant in the world and the true religion the faith           an affluent society which is able to provide not only
 of most men. In this way the  I<ingdom of Christ will           life's necessities for all men, but also life's luxuries.
 be realized here in the world before Christ comes               Leisure time, freedom from the sweat of daily toil,
 again. The second coming of Christ  will.be therefore,          release from the bitter drudgery of long days spent in
 not a coming in which the kingdoms of this world are            difficult manual labor  - all these shall bring growth in
 destroyed and the kingdom of heaven established                 culture and increase in opportunity for pleasure.


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                403


Politically, world-wide tensions shall cease and govern-       only slow slightly the mighty advance of mankind. And
ments established which are agreeable to  all; War shall       some of them we will overcome, while others we will
be, no more for men shall beat their swords into plow-         adjust to.      On the whole and given a broader per-
shares and their spears into pruning hooks, and they           spective, we are advancing.
shall not  ,study war any more. Instead a world-wide              And so ministers march in Selma; the church gives
kingdom shall emerge which shall guarantee peace and           its blessing and offers its aid to the war on poverty;
freedom to all men.                                            church and state unite in a strenuous effort towards
   Making all these things possible are the advances          peace.
of science.      For it is science and its power to subdue        And further, the spirit of revival is in the air.
the powers of the creation that brings a universal            Missionaries swarm into every country and evangelists
kingdom of peace and plenty. Science conquers and             criss-cross the continent so that religion may become
harnesses the creation to make it subservient to man.          a part of the life of all men. And if it all doesn't quite
Science advances industrialization and technology to          work, then theology and the gospel can be  .adjusted to
bring plenty and prosperity to all the earth. Science         fit the changing times and to become relevant to man
plunges into the far reaches of the universe to bring         who stands on the threshold of the millennium.
even distant space into man's hands. Science invents              It is worth our attention at this point to note that
drugs and medicines with which to conquer disease              "common grace" also fits handily into this general
and even death itself. Science is the key to the millen-       scheme.       I. am referring now, not so much to the gen-
nium.        The scientist can open the door. Advance          eral offer of salvation to all men which common grace
science, and all is well.                                      teaches; but rather to the fact that through ,an internal
   Behind all this development however, stands the             restraint of sin in the hearts of all men, all men are
church.       The church gives direction to the thrusts of     able to perform a great deal of  goodin the world. This
progress and the advancement of man. , The church              erases the antithesis and makes common ground be-
leads the way in conquering social ills. The church            tween the people of God and the people of the world.
points to the moral and spiritual goals for which men          There is room for cooperation, common ground upon
shall strive. And the church is entrusted with the task       which both can stand; there is opportunity to join hands
of bringing about revival so that men turn to God and to       and walk together in the cause of alleviation of moral
religion.      Undergirding this tremendous advance on         wrong and social ill; there is common purpose in life,
every front, pointing the way, giving moral direction          common goals for which to strive.         And so common
and support, the church leads the way to the millen-           grace is but a small step from this disastrous view of
nium .       But it is a cooperative venture. It is a vast     a post-millennial coming of Christ. While perhaps the
combination of forces striving towards the same goal.          advocates of common grace would repudiate any charge
Hand in hand, the church, the government, social               of post-millennialism, history has shown that this is
agencies, scientists, push on to bring heaven on earth         really impossible.
and the kingdom through the evolution of social forces.           Nor, basically, is there any essential difference in
   That this is indeed the goal of men is evident today        this respect between what in our day is called "the left
as it never was before.       A heady optimism fills men      wing" and the "right wing." True their methods differ
with lofty visions of the future. Everyone speaks of the       radically.     True even that the kind of millennium they
fact that we are on the right road -the road of im-            envision is different at some key points. But both are
provement.       True, there are set-backs and obstacles.      dedicated to an improvement of the world; Both are
There are these nasty wars that must still be fought.          intent on guiding the course of events and overcoming
There are indications that crime and delinquency are          what is wrong; although they may differ, as to what
on the increase. There is a steady decay in morals             change precisely ought to be made.
and growth in immorality. There is still tension be-              The result, so appealing to man, is a day when, in
tween the races. But these arenaggingproblems which            an earthly sense, the kingdoms of this world shall
                                                               become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ.
                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                             Let us take a little time to criticize this general
On June 9, 1965 the Lord willing, our dear parents             teaching,  for  it is destructive of the faith. What are
                                                               the objections that we can advance against this view?
    MR. AND MRS. EVERT VAN VOORTHUYSEN                            One thing is very clear. All of this involves a denial
will commemorate their 50th wedding anniversary.               of the clear testimony of Scripture concerning the
   We their grateful children, thank our Covenant              character  `of the days which precede the coming of
God for the blessing we received through them. May             Christ. Nowhere does Scripture suggest that this world
our Father in heaven continue to bless them and lead           will get better and better. Scripture does speak of a
them through their remaining days together.                    day when a kingdom shall be realized on this earth
          Mr. and Mrs. Nelvin  Kooiman                         which is, from the point of view of sinful man, a very
          Mr. and Mrs. John  Ekema                             wonderful kingdom. But this is the kingdom of Anti-
          Mr.  and'Mrs.  Andrew Van Voorthuysen                christ, not Christ.     It shall be a kingdom in which the
          Mr. and Mrs. Everett Van Voorthuysen, Jr.            dominant energy is the power of sin and hatred of God.
          Mr. and Mrs. John  Kimm                              It shall be a kingdom where the truth of God is thrown
                          21 Grandchildren                     to the winds, where the Word of God  is.completely
                      1 Great Grandchild                       distorted to serve the purposes of sinful man. It shall


404                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


be a kingdom where the faithful are persecuted for                      We believe that Christ is exalted in heaven. This
there will be no room in it for the Church of Christ.               exaltation means that Christ is given, at the Father's
       It is to be feared that it is for this kingdom that the      right hand, the authority to rule over all the works of
church today is striving.                                           God.       Christ  ruPes supremely, and in the name of the
       But Scripture draws a very dismal and dark picture           Father, over all things.       He, now in His exalted posi-
of the world in the days prior to Christ's coming. It               tion, executes the Father's counsel and carries out the
speaks not of revival, but of apostasy so that there are            Father's purpose.       Providence is worked through the
only very few left who maintain the truth and represent             exalted Christ. The reins of the universe are given to
the cause of God. It speaks, not of a mass return to the            Him Who is Lord over all.
gospel, but of a mass falling away from the faith. And                  This implies several things.
in connection with this, Scripture does not hold before                It implies, in the first place, that Christ is working
our eyes a world in which men become better and better;             all things in  ovdev  that He may come again. Everything
rather God's Word speaks of increase in sin, greater                which Christ does is aimed towards His coming again
corruption, and a filling of the cup of iniquity until the          at the end of the age. He works in order that He may
world becomes ripe for judgment.                                    return to establish His kingdom.
       It is important to note in this connection that the              Secondly, this implies that Christ's rule is absolutely
whole error of post-millennialism is the confusion of               universal.       He rules over  all things. And this "all
outward reformation with inward renewal.                 Outward    things" must be taken in the strictest possible sense of
reform is adequate to produce the Christian man, while              the word. Christ rules over all the brute creation  -
inward regeneration is ignored. If only social ills are             stars, trees, worms, birds, everything. But He also
eradicated, a Christian man is produced living in a                 rules over all men and over all angels and over all
Christian society. Turn a man from crime and per-                   devils.      Nothing is outside His rule. Nothing escapes
suade him to abandon his dissolute life and you have                His supreme authority.         Nothing is exempt from the
achieved the aim of the church's calling. But this is               power of His universal sceptre. He rules in the name
nothing else but a denial of the reality of sin within the          of the sovereign God over all the works of God as Lord
heart and of the need of the blood of the cross.                    of lords and King of kings.
       It is like a doctor that treats cancer by changing the          And it is here that we touch upon the heart of the
yellow coloring of the skin through skin grafting.                  matter.
       In close connection with this, those who promote                Those who are addicted to some form of post-
post-millennial views run the danger of losing the                  millennialism interpret this rule of Christ (if they
gospel of Christ for a social gospel. That this is a                speak of it at all; not speaking of it has the same
very real danger is evident today where ministers no                consequences) as being exactly the same in every
longer expound the Word of God in their sermons, but                respect whether that rule be over the wicked or the
rather make homilies on social problems.                            righteous.      They do not make a distinction. They con-
       And through it all runs the current of the denial of         fuse the rule of Christ. They distort it and corrupt it
Christ's coming.         Some deny this coming of Christ            through failure to understand it.
outright. They are the open and  outspokenpost-millen-                 But there is a very fundamental difference. There
nialists.      Others do not want to admit their post-              is a difference in the way in which Christ rules. A
millennialism, and want to maintain a certain return of             difference which must never be lost sight of. The
Christ upon the clouds of heaven. And so they push this             difference is this: Christ rules over the wicked men
coming of Christ so far into the future that it means               and over devils in such a way that, while He remains
absolutely nothing. They are not "watching and pray-                the sovereign Lord, they serve Him against  their will.
ing; ' ' they are busy working for something else be-               They rebel against Christ, fight against His rule and
cause they are totally unaffected by and indifferent to             seek to destroy His kingdom. They rage against God
the coming of the Lord.                                             and Christ and seek to cast His yoke from them. But
       And yet all these things do not really touch upon the        all this wicked rebellion does not alter the fact that
heart of the trouble. There is one fundamental error                they are still so many servants of Christ who can do
which characterizes all this post-millennialism  - an               nothing but what Christ works and what God has
error which, to  my,mind, is chief.                                 eternally determined. Christ rules over them  thvoz@
       I speak of the rule of Christ over all things.               their rebellion so that in their rebellion, even though
                                                                    they oppose His kingdom, they still serve God's pur-
                                                                    pose.
                RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY                                But this is not the way Christ rules over His people.
The Men's Society of the  Doon Protestant Reformed                  He rules over them in such a way that they become the
Church expresses their deepest sympathy to Mr. Jake                 zvilling subjects of His kingdom. He rules over them
Van Den Top in the loss of his brother                              by changing their hearts, bending their wills, redeeming
                                                                    and saving them so that they bow willingly before Him
                MR. GERRIT VAN DEN TOP                              and acknowledge Christ as their Lord.           They are,
May the God of all grace comfort the hearts of the                  through the rule of Christ in their hearts, the loyal
bereaved.                                                           citizens of the kingdom, loyal soldiers of the cross.
                                    Rev. H. Hanko, Pres.               This fundamental difference strikes into this world
                                    Bill Den  Besten,  Sec'y.       the antithesis.     There is a yawning and unbridgeable


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           405


chasm between the righteous and the wicked. There is                   operation, no common ground for standing together in
 a deep cleavage struck between the people of God and                  a common cause. For the Church does not look for the
 the citizens of this world. And make no mistake about                 kingdom to come in this world, nor for a heaven on
 it: this chasm is the result of Christ's sovereign rule;              earth.     They look for a city which hath foundations,
 The. righteous and the wicked are at odds with each                   whose Builder and Maker is God. They are, and that
 other. Their entire life, from a spiritual point of view,             willingly, enjoined by the injunctions of Scripture in
 is different. Their goals, their aims, their aspirations,             their calling, and limited to Scripture's descriptions of
 their dreams, their hopes are different and mutually                  the realities of life in the fulfillment of that calling.
 exclusive.    What they do in the world is a stream
-flowing from the antithesis so that they are constantly                  Such is the truth which we must  maintainat all
 on different ground. Thus there is no room for co-                    costs in this day and age.



                                     ~xa~~p  &mm&&m

                                          R.C.A.-P.C.U.S.: PROPOSED MERGER

                                                                (2)


                                                      Rev. G. Van  Buren


     In the May 1 issue of the  Standard  Beaver I called              this subcommittee a Manual has already been prepared
 your attention to the beginning of the proposed merger                by our two Stated Clerks entitled, "A Comparison Of
 between the Reformed Church in America and the                        Government And Organization In The Reformed Church
 Presbyterian Church in the United  St,ates. You recall,               In America And The Presbyterian Church In The
 in 1962 the General Assembly of the P.C.U.S. and the                  U.S...."l,    and several papers were prepared by
 General Synod of the R.C.A. approved of a joint reso-                 authorities in these churches on matters as legal
 lution prepared by the General Synod Executive Com-                   structures, incorporation articles, and polity.
 mittee of the Reformed- Church and the Permanent                         Subcommittee ` `C" was concerned with "Cooperative
 Committee on Inter-Church Relations of the Presby-                    Relations Between Program Boards and Agencies, and
 terian Church U.S. This resolution, adopted by both                   on Personnel Exchanges for Acquaintance." It stated
 denominations, set up a "joint committee of  24<'                     its objective to be: "To encourage and develop the
 including twelve leaders of each denomination. This                   greatest possible fellowship and mutual assistance
 committee was mandated to meet regularly, and report                  between the members of both churches, their Boards,
 annually, beginning in 1963, to the two highest bodies                Agencies, Programs and Services in order to strengthen
 of these denominations.      At  .this time I would like to           their total Christian  witness.`.`1
 give a summary of the reports of this joint committee                    The recommendations of this first committee report
 which reports were also adopted by the two highest                    to its two denominational bodies, the Assembly and the
 ecclesiastical bodies of the denominations involved.                  Synod, are brief and reserved.          It concludes, "We
                                                                       affirm with gladness and appreciation the shared
 Joint Committee  Report  - 1963                                       conviction that we have rediscovered a broad meeting
     The report of the Committee in 1963 was under-                    ground both in theology and church government.
 standably brief.     The committee did not have much                  Separated by national origin as we have been and by
 more than a half year of work before it had to draw up                regional distance, it seems evidence of grace that our
 this, its first, report.    After its appointment in 1962,            two churches are extraordinarily close to one another
 the committee held three meetings of two days each.                   in the Presbyterian polity and the Reformed faith which
 Its executive committee met several times addition-                   we both  share."1 I will summarize the recommenda-
 ally.    The Jaint Committee divided itself into three                tions which were adopted by both denominational
 sub-committees. Subcommittee "A" dealt with "Doc-                     bodies.
 trine, Liturgy and Christian Action."          It reported:              1. They recommended "attentive study" by all of
 "Recognizing the centrality of theology in all our                    the various "local churches, courts, boards, institu-
 discussions this subcommittee has undertaken an                       tions and agencies" of the mandate originally given to
 intensive study of the doctrinal standards,, the vows                 this. Joint Committee (for this mandate, see article in
`taken by ministers,  ,elders, and. deacons, and the                   the May 1 issue of the S.B.).
 liturgical practices of the two churches.. .  ."l                      2. They recommended a continuance of this Joint
Subcommittee "B" treated "Polity and Organiza-                         Committee.
 tional Structure." `It reported: "At the suggestion of                   3. They recommended a specific program of study


    406                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER


   for the members of both denominations so that those                         We  also believe that God is sovereign over history,
   of the one denomination would become acquainted with                       that as in the days of old, world leaders who deny His
   the history, doctrine, and practices of the other de-                      existence are still His servants.. . .
   nomination.                                                                    But the most central aspect of God's sovereignty
           4. Finally, they asked `the General Synod and Gen-                 is the fact that it ensures the immediate and final
                                                                              success of His  redemptive plan. For sovereignty is
   eral Assembly to commend the work of this Joint                            not an end in itself, but is in the service of God's
   Committee to the people of the two denominations,                          purpose, a purpose centering in redemptive love.
   requesting their prayers and concern for the work of                       Sometimes we- have erred in celebrating sovereignty
t h e   c o m m i t t e e :                                                   as though it were an end in itself, a display of sheer
           The report with its recommendations was adopted                    power for its own sake....
   by the General Assembly and the General Synod in 1963.                         This is the .Lord in Whom we have been chosen and
                                                                              called.      Seen in this context (and not in that of sheer
   Joint Committee  Repovt  - 1964                                            arbitrary power) we have no hesitation in defending and
           In 1964 the Joint Committee presented a far longer                 rejoicing in the Reformed emphasis on election and
                                                                              predestination.. . .
    and more significant report. This report, too, was
    adopted by both church bodies.                 Subcommittee "A"            I have two remarks on the above. I do wonder about
   (Doctrine, Liturgy, Christian Action) presented the                     the  intent of  the  statement, "Sometimes we have erred
   most material. -They presented a document entitled,                     in celebrating sovereignty as though it were an end in
    "The Witness of the Reformed Churches," a brief                        itself, .a display of sheer power for its own sake."
   statement of doctrine, which they urged the two de-                     `Who in these churches have done this? Or, is this a
   nominations to adopt in their highest gathering. I                      tendency in all of them collectively? I fear that the
   would like to quote the entire document, but because                    statement could well be an "opening" for the teaching
   of its length, I present only excerpts.                In the intro-    of the "free will" of man in his salvation. Certainly
   duction it begins:                                                      we must not see the sovereignty of God as "sheer
                                                                           power for its own sake," but we must remember that
              The confessional standards of the R.C.A. and the             it is "sheer power" of God ever used to His own Name's
       P.C.U.S. are the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic
           Confession, and the Canons of the Synod of  Dart for            honor and glory.
           the Reformed Church in America and for the Presby-,                Secondly, I  .do wonder if there was a deliberate
           terian Church the Westminster Confession and the                avoidance of the term "reprobation." The document
           Westminster Shorter and Larger Catechisms.                      mentions the "Reformed emphasis on election and
              A comparative study of these two sets of standards           predestination."           Possibly one could argue that such a
           reveals many minor differences, but complete basic              statement amounts to the same thing. But one can not
           unity.    But all these differences can be explained by         forget that more and more even in Reformed circles
           the simple fact that almost a century separates the             the idea  of. reprobation is outrightly denied -- and
           oldest of the Reformed Church standards from the                consequently also election has taken on an entirely dif-
           Presbyterian confessions....
              We can. begin, therefore, with, the assumption that          ferent idea.
           the standards of our two churches are one. The more                The second are a of distinctive Reformed emphasis
           important question is to inquire what the significance          i s   t h e "authority of Scripture," according to ..this
           of this theological witness is today, and ask what              document. It states:
           distinctive things we have to say as Reformed churches                 It is in the Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testa-
           to the world of the mid-twentieth century.2                       ments that we are confronted by this sovereign Lord....
           The document, divided into three principal parts,                  This unique revelation is recorded in the Bible, the
   begins in its first brief section by emphasizing that                      written Word of God. Because it is the record of this
   they have "nothing distinctive to say." They continue                      unique revelation, we accept Holy Scripture as our sole
                                                                              authority....
   by explaining this statement to mean that they believe                         The Christian conscience, feeling and conviction,
   that both denominations are founded on the historic                       even  .the Church itself are to be rejected as, final
   truths of Scripture, and are not sects having "some                        authorities.     All of them must always stand under the
   strange forms of doctrine."                                                judgment of the Word of God, as must every human
           In  .the second section of the document it is pointed              achievement and institution..  :.
   out that "historically the Reformed churches have                              The content and substance of our witness-Jesus
   spoken this faith with their own particular accent."                       Christ - is found in the Bible alone....
   This is done, according to the document, in three                              We finally confess our faith  inthe  self-authenticat-
                                                                              ing power of the Word....         We would record our con-
   distinctive areas: (a) the sovereignty of God, (b) the                     viction that the truth of the Bible does not need to be
    authority of Scripture, and (c) the obedience to the Will                 demonstrated by human logic or evidence.. . .
   of God. Concerning the sovereignty of God, it is stated:                   Again here, though I have no complaint about the
              In a world in which the boundaries  of.space and time        statements as such, I wonder if there is not the
           defy our imagination and in which modern science has
           emphasized those aspects of the natural world which             possibility of denial of the  inerrant Scripture -- and yet
           are most difficult to harmonize with the power; wisdom,         that one confesses the above. Within these two church
      and love of God, we find it especially important to                  communions there have been those who `have denied the
           declare our faith in the sovereignty of God. -We believe        inerrancy of the Scriptures. To say that "this unique
           that He is sovereign over nature..;.                            revelation is recorded in the Bible" is  byno means the


                                                     THESTANDARDBEARER                                                          407


same as stating that those who have been truthfully                Subcommittee       "C",     on mutual acquaintance,
Reformed have always maintained that Scripture is               reported how it has endeavored to promote contact
without error.     Let these church communions be very          between the membership of the denominations.
clear on this point.                                               The Joint Committee concluded its report by pre-
   The third area of distinctive Reformed' emphasis,            senting eleven recommendations which were also
says the document, is in the "obedience to the will of          adopted in  1964  by the Assembly and Synod of these
God." It declares:                                              two denominations. In brief I could report that these
        In a world which is confused as to manner of .life      recommendations are meant to lead the two denomina-
   and which has lost a compelling sense of responsibility,     tions into closer fellowship and communion,,- They
   we affirm our faith that God's will for human life has       concern working together in missionfields, subscribing
   been made known in His law. The validity of that law         to one another's church papers, having combined society
   has in no way been abrogated by the Gospel....               conventions, sending representatives to their various
   In the concluding portion of the document, the two           church gatherings, establishing "federated or union
churches declared:                                              churches in geographical areas where the interests of
        These three  afffrmations have been characteristic      the two denominations meet, etc. Their conclusion is:
   of our history....
        We call attention to the fact that this theological           We have found such large areas of agreement in
   heritage contains the possibility of both weakness and          theology, worship, and polity that we have been led to
   strength for our churches. The weakness, too often              the conclusion that there are no major impediments
   realized in our history, is that the sovereignty of God,        between our two denominations in these basic fields.
   the authority of Scripture , the validity of the Law,              If, therefore, the practical problems of our separate
   become topics for theological debate, unrelated to the          life and work can be resolved through these and other
   life of God's people in the world. The strength can be          studies and if our conviction is correct that we can
  ! realized only when our heritage finds expression in a          witness to. the Gospel, and especially to the Reforma-
   Reformed. style of life in which we bring every aspect          tion emphasis on the authority of Scripture and the
   of our lives under obedience to the' mind of Christ             Sovereignty of God as expressed in the Lordship of
   because we see all of life as a means to serve God's            Jesus Christ, more effectively together than we can
   glory.2                                                         separately, we affirm prayerfully and hopefully that we
                                                                   envision the union of our two churches. We believe
   Subcommittee "A" concluded that in the field of                 that the varied patterns of ethnic, regional, and histor-
liturgy "differences within each of our denominations             ical identities which are found.within  both our denomin-
are  often'greater than the difference between the de-             ations will be enriched and more mightily used for the
nominations themselves." It further discovered that in             Kingdom's work within the larger context of faith and               3
the "crucial area of race relations" the  twodenomina-             witness that such a union would bring.2
tions were in fundamental agreement.
   Subcommittee "B", on polity, presented a brief
report that it' was continuing its study of the polity of          1. Minutes of the General Assembly, Presbyterian
the  two denominations, but did point out that basically        Church in the United States, 1963, pp. 94-99.
the two churches hold to the same form of church                   2. Minutes of the General Assembly, Presbyterian
government.                                                     Church in the U.S., 1964, pp. 132-142.


               RESQiUTIONOFSYMPATHY                                             ATTENTIONTEACHERS
The Eunice Society of the Southwest Protestant Re-              The Hope Prot. Ref. Chr. School will need several
formed Church expresses its sympathy to two of their            teachers to complete its staff for the 1965-66 school
members, Mrs. Mary  Kamminga,  in the loss of her               year. Please send inquiries to:
brother                                                                        Don Lotterman
                                                                               1926 Porter St., SW
                    M R .   D I C K   KEYZER  :                                Wyoming, Michigan 49509
and Mrs. Herman  Kuiper in the loss of her brother
                  MR.. GERRIT  PIEBENGA                            Adams Street Protestant Reformed Christian School
"In' God is my salvation and my glory; the rock of my           has need of a kindergarten teacher and one for elemen-
strength, and my refuge,  .is in God."                          tary grades. If interested please contact:
                               ,Rev. Geo. Lubbers, Pres.                              Charles Westra
                               Mrs. D. Lotterman, Sec'y.                              1 I49 Iroquois
                                                                                      Phone 245-9776
                    ANNOUNCEMENT
.The Standard Bearer Staff will meet Monday evening,               "There is an impassible gulf fixed between those
June 7, 1965 at First Church in Grand Rapids, Michi-            who hang the efficacy of Christ's work upon the `free'
gan.    Will  all the editors please take note and plan to      action of man's will, and those who ascribe it all to
attend this meeting? The meeting begins at 8:00 P.M.            God's free grace. They are of different religions."
                                        J.  A...Heys, Sec'y.                                                  -B. B.  Warfield


408                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER





                                       ("All the saints salute thee. . ." PM. 4:Zl)


                                                   May 15, 1965             co-operation Rev. Veldman conducted an early (9 A.M.)
       During June, July and August the Reformed Witness                    service in his church, a late (11 A.M.) service in
Hour will feature Rev. J.A. Heys, of South Holland,                         Southwest, and again in Hope church for the regular
Illinois, as speaker on the weekly broadcasts. The                          evening service. And Rev. Lubbers conducted an after-
twelve sermons will be a series of messages based on                        noon service in  his. church besides the usual morning
the Lord's Prayer as explained in the Heidelberg                            and evening services in Fqrst Church. This sort of
Catechism.       The topics for this month are: June 6  -                   co-operation is not out of the ordinary in the  Edgerton-
"The Upward Look," June 13 -- "As a Little Child,"                          Doon-Hull combine where the Revs. Woudenberg, H.
June 20  - "Top Priority," June 27  - "Kingdom Zeal."                       Hanko and  Kortering always help one another out when
As usual, copies of the sermons may be obtained by                          one of them is on Classical appointment.
writing to The Reformed Witness Hour, P.O. Box 1230,                                                   * * *
Grand Rapids, 1,  Mich.                                                          The Annual Spring Banquet of the Young People's
                            *  *  *                                         Societies in Michigan was held May 11 in First Church
       Summer Sunday School sessions have begun in                          in Grand Rapids. A goodly turnout (even some carloads
Hull's congregation.       A bulletin notice advised the                    from Oak Lawn and South Holland, Ill.) enjoyed a good
students in the 8th and 9th grades in `school that a class                  speech by the inimitable Rev. G. Vos  fromHudsonville.
will be held for their group this year.                                     The Reverend spoke on the topic, "Our Ailing Conven-
                            *  *  *                                         tions;" he described the ailment, diagnosed the cause,
       Holland's Young People's Society sponsored a public                  and prescribed for the cure of the malady. In his
program featuring the Hope Heralds, a men's singing                         unique way the speaker warned the young people that
group from Hope Church in Grand Rapids. The offer-                          the main object of conventions is not "to be having a
ing received at that time was to be used for church                         ball," but, "to be about their Father's business."
annex furnishings.                                                          After the speech the banqueters enjoyed a hearty din-
                            * * *                                           ner served piping hot by the catering committee of
       The Society for Protestant Reformed Secondary                        the church. The after dinner program was the viewing
Education met May 12 at Southwest Church. The bulle-                        of nature slides in full color accompanied by stereo-
tin ads said, "Enjoy an interesting talk by Rev. H.                         phonic music appropriate thereto. About 150 diners
Veldman on our personal responsibilities with respect                       (members and their leaders) filled the large banquet
to the education of our covenant children."                                 room in First Church, and all agreed that it was well
                            *  * *                                          worth while.
       Hope  Church'sconsistory scheduled the first public                                             *  *  *
worship service in their new church for May 16. Ded-                             Quiet  thozight from Southeast's bulletin: "Moneywill
ication plans have not yet been made public; that news                      buy a bed, but not sleep; medicine, but not health;
will have to wait until our next issue.                                     luxuries, but not culture; amusements, but not pleasure;
                            *  *  *                                         a crucifix, but not a savior; a church pew, but not
       The general conditionof Rev. H. Hoeksema remains                     heaven."
about the same. His daily testimony is that he is able                                                 * *  *
to commit his way unto his Lord Who does all things                              While Loveland's congregation is awaiting the com-
well.                                                                       pletion of their new church they have been granted the
                           * * *                                            continued use of their present meeting place for several
       We are all very anxious to hear about the work                       additional weeks.
being accomplished in Jamaica by Rev. Heys and Mr.                                                     *  * *
Zwak.        The only bit of news coming to our desk was                         Randolph's consistory scheduled their pastor, Rev.
an excerpt from a letter from Mr. Zwak to his pastor                        G. Van  Baren, to give a lecture May 6 on "Limited
which Rev. Vos shared with his people in the weekly                         Atonement." This was the third of  aseries of lectures
bulletin.      Mr. Zwak wrote that it was extremely hot                     on The Five Points of Calvinism. This series is prov-
there; that secondary roads are without directional                         ing to be much appreciated as evidenced by the good
signs; that the churches are hard to find and sometimes                     attendance it draws. The bulletin of May 9 commended
a whole day is used to visit one of those hidden churches.                  the congregation for their faithfulness in this regard.
We eagerly look forward to a complete report from the                                                  * * *
brethren in the near future.                                                     "Not forsaking the assem bling  of ourselves together,
                           * * *                                           as  the  mainnev   of some  is; but  exhorting  one another;
       Sunday, May 9, Revs. G. Lubbers and H. Veldman                      so much the move, as we see the  day  approaching."
preached three times to supply the pulpits of South-
west, Hope and First Churches.              In a fine spirit of                  . . . . see you in church.                     J.M.F.


