                                                                                                    .  .

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                                                                             __                    _-
                                                                                                ~.  .-

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                                                            .





                              tandard

                                                            earer                                                ._


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




IN  THIS  ISSUE:

      Meditation: The Birthright Despiser


      Editorial: Dr. Daane On "Limited Atonement"

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

      The Beginning of Wisdom





                                                     Volume  XLII/ Number 2 /-October 15, 1965

                                                                                           -.

                                          :
                                   .`-         5      .-


          I     26                                                                                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER

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                      The Birthright Despiser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                             26
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                                                      MEDITATION-                                                                                                                                      -                         -
                                                                                                        The Birthright Despiser

                                                                                                                                                 Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema

                                                                                     And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came  from  the field, and he was
                                                               - faint: And Esau said to Jacob,  Feed-tie,   Ipray thee, with that  same
                                                                            Ted pottage;  for  I  am  faint:  therefore  was his  name  called  Edom. And
                                                                           Jacob said, Sell  me  this day thy  birthright.  And Esau said, Behold, I
                                                                           am  at the point to die: and  what   profit  shall this  bivthvight-do  to  me?
                                                                           And Jacob said,  Swear to  me  this day; and he  swtive  unto him: and he
                                                                            sold his  birthright  unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave  Esau breadandpottuge
                                                                            of  lentiles; and he did eat and  drink, and  yose up, and went his way:
                                                                            thus  Esau despised  hi.s birthright.                                                                                 Genesis  25-29-34
                                                                                                                                                                      -
                        Tragic picture !                                                                                                                 . .               There is here a word of God, of the God of-our salva-
                         He ate, and he drank, and he rose up, and he went                                                                                                 tion.       The question is: what is the nature of that
               his way, and Esau despised his birthright. In other                                                                                                         lesson?
                words, he despised his birthright as easily as he                                                                                                              Indeed, Esau is the typical reprobate in Scripture.
                wiped his mouth and rose up and walked away. How                                                                                                           For it had been sovereignly determined by the Lord
                 sad!                                                                                                                                                      that not Esau should have the blessing, but Jacob. Thus
                         Pointed lesson!                                                                                                                                   it is written: "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I
                         For we must remember that the sad picture of                                                                                                      hated."
                Esau's fornication is drawn for us in Scripture with a                                                                                                         But the reprobate appear on the scene of history
                purpose.                       That purpose concerns the people. of God.                                                                                   for a purpose. That is especially the case with Esau.


 -

                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    27

For the striking thing about Esau was that he was the          God of thy seed."
firstborn, and as the firstborn he had the birthright.             Pointed lesson!
He had it so very really that he was able to sell it and          For our place in the church in the midst of the world
exchange it for Jacob's bean-soup. Jacob knew that             is like unto the position of him who had the birthright.
he had it, and Esau himself was well aware of the fact.        The church has the title to all the blessings of the cove-
The question is: why? Why did Esau have the birth-             nant, all the blessings of salvation, all the spiritual
right if it was determined from before the foundation          blessings that are in Christ Jesus. Such is the birth-
of the world that he should after all not have it? God         right of the church and her children!
gave Esau a chance, say some; and thus Esau serves                                       ******
as a warning example to the reprobate, or, perhaps,               Esau's was the birthright: for he was firstborn.
to men in general not to become reprobate. But seeing             Whether any special reason may be assigned for
that according to Scripture the matter was determined          this right of the firstborn, and whether, in view of the
from before the foundation of the world, and therefore         fact that our Lord Jesus Christ as the firstborn from
was not at all a matter of free will, this is impossible.      the dead leads His brethren into life eternal, we may
Esau serves not as a warning example to the repro-             find a symbolical-typical significance in this peculiar
bate, but to God's people. The pointedlesson of Esau's         position of the firstborn and his birthright-this we
conduct, viewed from the practical point of view, is           may pass over at this time. The fact is that the birth-
that it teaches the people of God how not to act and how       right belonged to the firstborn. And in the family of
not to live.                                                   Isaac and Rebekah Esau was that firstborn. Before his
      . . . . .Lest there be any fornicator, or profane        twin brother -Jacob he had been born although Jacob
person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his           already at birth had struggled for the position of first-
birthright! (Hebrews 12:16).                                  -born and had his brother by the heel.
      . . . . .And he ate, and he drank, and he rose up,          Hence, as far as his natural birth was concerned,
and he went his way: and Esau despised his birthright!         as far as his' outward position was concerned, as far
      Tragic picture! Pointed lesson!                          as his position according to the flesh was concerned,
      These things are written for our ensample!               Esau, being the firstborn, was born with the title to
                  --       ******                              the inheritance of all the blessings of God's covenant!
      Not merely the double portion, but the title to all         Moreover, in that respect we all are like Esau.
the blessings of God's covenant was implied in the             Outwardly, we are born in the church, born of believ-
birthright.                                                    ing parents. We are-of the generations of God's cove-
      In later days, as the seed of the covenant developed     nant.     In infancy- we are baptized- in the~name of the
and embraced a multitude, the blessing of the birth-           covenant God. We are from earliest childhood in con-
right was naturally limited. That one had the birth-           tact with that birthright. We are under the preaching
right in those later days did not mean that all the            of the Word. We are catechized. We are under the
other children were excluded from salvation and from           training and discipline of covenant parents. As far as
the blessings of the covenant. Rather didthe birthright        our natural, -outward position is concerned, our title
in later times imply the right to the double portion for       and place is that of the firstborn. The title and place
the eldest son. Yet in the caseof Esau and Jacob there         of the firstborn, who has the birthright, is certainly
was far more at stake. God's counsel had been once             ours !
more that but one of the children should inherit the              Responsible position!
promise.        Even as to Abraham the Word of God had            Pointed lesson!
been, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called," so to Re-              For of Esau it may be said in a sense that he was
bekah (and Isaac) His Word was: "Jacob have I loved,           "so near, and yet so far." For when Esau despised
but Esau have-j hated."                                        his birthright and chose rather Jacob's bean-soup, that
      Thus, as we know, while Esau was from a natural          meant essentially that he despised God and His-cove-
point of view the firstborn, nevertheless Jacob was the        nant, that he despised Christ and His salvat!n,  that he
heir of the promise and of-the blessings of God's ever-        despised all theeunseen  things of the heavenly inheri-
lasting covenant of grace. The birthright was for the          tance and eternal life. For ally these he cared not. All
one, to the exclusion of the other.                            these he  contemned.        So near was he, -near to the
      Very much was involved in that birthright. It in-        kingdom and covenant of God, -that from a natural
cluded rule over the brethren: a symbol and type of            point of view, as far as his birth was concerned, as _
Christ's royal dominion as the first-born of every             far as his outward position was concerned, he had the
creature and the firstborn among many brethren.                birthright, the title, to the blessings of God's covenant.
Moreover, it included all the blessings of the promise.        All the more serious was his calling, therefore, with
To these belonged the possession of the land of Canaan,        respect to that covenant of God.
the type of heaven, and therefore the promise of the              But he despised that covenant! A fornicator was he !
eternal inheritance. To these blessings belonged- the          So very far from the kingdom of God !
promised Great Seed, Christ, in Whom all the promises             Tragic?
of God converged and upon Whom, centrally, all the                Yes; but how earnest a warning! Take heed!
blessings of the covenant were bestowed. To these                                        ******
belonged also the assurance of Jehovah's covenant                 A fine man was Esau, -that is, from a natural
fellowship: the promise, "I will be thy God and the            point of view.


28                                            THESTANDARDBEARER


      For twenty years the faith of Isaac and Rebekah        time or effort. Nor was this incident of the birthright
was tried. The Lord taught them to expect the heir of        the only occasion when he had revealed this attitude.
the promise from Him! It had to be evident that the              And Jacob?
promised seed was a gift of grace. When Rebekah                  Say what you will about Jacob and about his dis-
was barren, Isaac intreated the Lord: by faith he had        honest dealing, -- and there is an altogether unattractive
done this, with a view to the continuation of God's          element in Jacob, -but the fundamental thing is that
covenant, of course. For if Isaac had no heir, what          Jacob had an eye for God's covenant and for the things
could it ever mean that Abraham's seed was to be             above. That was the main passion of his life ! As much
called in Isaac? At last, when that prayer was heard,        as Esau held the birthright in contempt so much did
and when Rebekah expected to become mother in the            Jacob earnestly desire it. We should beware lest we
covenant, she could not understand her own condition         lose this from view whenconsidering Jacob. After all,
and she inquired of the Lord. The Lord's answer had          God's Word had assigned the birthright to Jacob; and
been, in effect, that she was the- mother of election        it was a shame that such a man as Esau should have
and reprobation, even as the church would be ever            the birthright !
after. The elder of the twins in her womb, though he             But Esau, however attractive naturally, would not
were the stronger, would serve the younger. Thus, in         make a fit life's travelling companion! He was an ex-
process of time she had become the mother of twins:          ample not to be imitated!
Esau, the hairy one, and Jacob, the heel-holder. And                                    ******
struggling for the birthright they had come into the             "Feed me some of that red!"
world.                                                           ` `Sell me this day thy birthright !"
      Physically strong and robust was Esau: tall, mus-          It makes little difference whether Jacob's cooking
cular, a man of the woods, a hunter, brave, accustomed       of that pottage was incidental or intentional. Nor is
to face dangers. And as far as his character was con-        the point of the text to emphasize the method whereby
cerned, he must have been an open-hearted man:               Jacob obtained the birthright and made Esau swear to
probably a man of whom you would say, "You can read          `<a deal."
him like a book." He was not a mean and sneaky kind,             The point is that Jacob was cooking pottage of
not the kind who would bear a grudge. According to           lentiles, a brownish red in color.           And when Esau
the standards of this world, Esau was the sort whom          came home faint from hunger and was confronted by
you would like. He was the type who would make a fine        the choice of birthright or beansoup, he chose the
hero for a novel; and, in fact, it just exactly Esau's       latter.
kind who is the hero in many a modern novel.                     Consider it!
      And Jacob?                                                 Birthright for beansoup! For the flesh over against
      He was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. Evidently he    the spirit, for the moment over against eternity, for
was a stay-at-home. Still more, he would be classified,      the world and its lusts over against the covenant of
I suppose, as a sissy: for not only did he stay at home,     God, - such was Esau's choice!
but he stayed close to his mother, and he seems to have          And such is the choice of any Esau today! For
busied himself with the culinary arts. Plainly he was        what, after all, is the very best of the world in com-
the weaker physically. But also as far as his charac-        parison with the riches of Christ but amess of pottage?
ter was concerned, he was in the natural sense the           And every time we choose the former we conduct our-
weaker.     True, he was not lacking in mental ability:      selves as Esau did!
on'* the contrary, he was shrewd and intelligent. But            Warning example !
even from a mere natural point of view, he was morally           For Esau had no eye for unseen things, only for the
unattractive. Whether it was incidental or intentional       things seen. He lived for this present world. His at-
that he was cooking this red beansoup at this propitious     titude was: "What is my birthright tome? The heaven-
moment, his action is certainly to be condemned: for         ly inheritance? Nonsense ! I am going to die after a
he tempted Esau when he was ravenously hungry. And           while, and that will end it all."
the same kind of deceit Jacob practiced later, as we             He knew better, and he had been taught differently.
know, when he wanted the blessing from father Isaac.             But he was a fornicator,  - careless and profane!
      But now look at these sons from the spiritual point        And thus you have the end: he ate, and he drank, he
of view.                                                     arose and went his way,
      While we would certainly have chosen Esau, God             His birthright he despised; and he kept on despising
had chosen Jacob. For does He not choose that which          it and never came to repentance.
is nought in order that He may put to shame that which           And he perished !
is ought? (I Cor. 1:26-31)                                       Pointed lesson!
      And thus grace made distinction between these sons.       My brethren, be not fornicators like Esau!.
      Esau was wicked!                                           "At this present it seems to us that our adversaries
      If he had lived in our day, he would be the man who    have been far more acute in assailing the Gospel than
is always ready for a fishing trip, for a hunting party,     the Church in defending it. Still on God's side it is
for an outing, for the enjoyments of this present time.      true that though his ministers may not be as faithful
But for church, for catechism, for Sunday school, for        as they should be, yet He raises up one and another to
all spiritual things, for anything connected with the        stand as bulwarks for the truth, and so, after all, the
service of God, --for such things Esau could spare no        grand old cause is not quite overborne.`"       --Spurgeon


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       29




    EDITORIALS-

                   Dr. Daane On "Limited Atonement'"

                                                   Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


   In his series of articles concerning the Dekker                the Reformed confessions point to a limited design in
Case, Dr. James Daane turns his attention to the sub-             the atonement is at the point of efficacy. Only there
ject of limited atonement in an article in the December,          can a doctrine of limited atonement be formulated
1964 issue of the Reformed Journal. The main thrust               which does not do clear violence to Biblical teaching
of the article seems to be that there is not and never            concerning the universal love of God."
has been a Reformed doctrine of limited atonement.                 I do not intend at this point in the discussion to
This is also indicated in the title of the article, "What      repeat all that has been written by way of criticism of
Doctrine of Limited Atonement?" To this bit of con-            the above view in these columns. Certainly, neither
fused, unscriptural, and un-Reformed argumentation             the terminology nor the distinctions expressed by it
we now give our attention.                                     can stand the test of Scripture and the confessions.
                                                               From a dogmatical point of view, however, I deem it
PROFESSOR DEKKER ON THE ATONEMENT                              important to note at this point:
   For a proper understanding of Dr. Daane's "theol-               1) That Prof. Dekker speaks here of design. This
ogizings" on this matter, we should remindourselves,           surely places the whole matter in the realm of God's
first of all, of Prof. Dekker's position.                      eternal counsel, according to which the design of the
   The reader will recall that Prof. Dekker maintains,         atonement was established. This is true of all four
in the first place, that God loves all men redemptively.       distinctions which Dekker makes here, and more par-
A distinction has been attempted between a  redemptive         ticularly of the third one, i.e., the divine desire.
love of God and a redeeming love of God in this con-               2) That when Prof. Dekker maintains that in the
nection.      But no one has been able to prove that this      first three senses the atonement is universal and only
distinction is legitimate on the basis of Scripture and        in the last sense limited, the criticism is certainly
the confessions, nor has anyone shown that with respect        justified that he has a doctrine of universal atonement
to God this distinction has any significance.                  which is  non-efficacious  and a doctrine of limited
   Secondly, when Prof. Dekker began to speak of a             atonement which is efficacious. But then the quesfion
redemptive love of God for all men, he was naturally           presses to the fore: what is a non-efficacious atone-
confronted with problems concerning the  revelation  of        ment? And the answer is ready at hand: a non-effica-
that so-called redemptive love of God. This landed             cious atonement is no atonement whatsoever, for it
him squarely in the domain of the doctrine of the aton-        does not atone. And if we press this a bit farther and
ing death of Christ. In this connection, Dekker taught         turn it on Dekker's factors of sufficiency and avail-
that it is proper to say to every man, "Christ died for        ability and desire, it becomes evident that they are all
you;"                                                          three vanity. They are air. They are nothing! And I
   In the third place, however, the latter teaching of         want to emphasize that this is not just a bit of adroit
Dekker immediately raised problems concerning the              but specious reasoning. This is precisely what becomes
nature of Christ's atoning death, in connection with the       of any idea of the atonement as soon as you make it
question of the extent of the death of Christ. Dekker          universal: you have no real atonement left.
was accused of denying what is commonly known as                  3) That onchristian  Reformed grounds (of the First
the doctrine of limited atonement and of teaching              Point of 1924 and its well-meant offer of salvation)
general, or universal, atonement. And in an attempt            Prof. Dekker nevertheless stands on solid ground.
to divorce himself from the out-and-out Arminian               Dekker's point is, from a Christian Reformed point of
heresy that Christ died for all men and every man,             view, well-taken when he writes in connection with his
Prof. Dekker attempted to distinguish four factors in          element of  availability: "Otherwise the well-meant
speaking of the design of Christ's atoning death. These        offer of the gospel is a farce, for it then offers sin-
four factors are:  sufficiency, availability, desire,  and     cerely to all men what cannot be sincerely said to be
efficacy. Concerning these four factors Prof. Dekker           available to all." We, on the basis of Scripture and
wrote:                                                         the confessions, deny both the availability and the
          "There are, therefore, three senses in which we      well-meant offer of salvation to all. Prof. Dekker
   may legitimately speak of the atonement as being uni-       tries to  ,maintain  both.    The defenders of the First
   versal in design, i.e., the sufficiency and availability    Point wanted to avoid the former and to maintain the
   of salvation for all men and the divine desire that all     latter. Consistency demands that one either maintain
   will receive it. The only point at which Scripture and      both or deny both. And Scripture and the confessions


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


demand the latter.                                            of Christ on the cross is of such nature (italics added)
   4) That the writings of both Dekker and Daane on           that it expresses a redemptive love of God for all men,`.:
this subject of Christ's atonement are sorely lacking         Daane here equates nature and design.
in definition and preciseness. There are several im-             2) Daane asserts that both groups in. the Chr. Ref.
portant instances of this. Here are just a few: a) What       Church who are troubled about Dekker's doctrine
is the meaning of the atonement?1 have yet to see from        (those who are opposed and those who are merely
either one an adequate definition. b) Dekker fails often      uncertain) "are rather less than wholly satisfied (i.e.,
to distinguish between the concepts atonement, redemp-        with Dekker's simple assertion that nevertheless
tion, and salvation. It would seem to be evident that         Christ's atonement saves the elect only) because they
when you discuss the death of Christ and the atonement,       feel that the nature of the atonement determines the
you are operating in the field of Christology and of the      end-results." According to this reasoning, "if the
objective work of Christ for His people. Frequently,          nature of the atonement is a redemptive love for all
however, both Dekker and Daane seem to be operating           men, then all men must finally be saved. . . .(but) if
in the field of Soteriology, i.e., the doctrine of the ap-    only the elect are saved, then the atonement as a uni-
plication of the blessings of Christ to His people. While     versal redemptive love for all men loses its sovereign
the two are related, they must be carefully distinguished;    character."
if they are not, the result will beconfusion. c) In close        3) Daane asserts that both groups "make the mis-
connection with ` `b", neither Dekker nor Daane has           take of thinking that the limited end-result of the atone-
furnished an adequate definition of the efficacy of the       ment (the salvation of the elect only) means that the
atonement.    Certainly, this is not the same as the          atonement is limited in its Iz(Lcu"Je." According to this
doctrine of efficacious, or irresistible grace. The latter    method of reasoning, the results are read back into the
has to do with the application of the blessings of sal-       nature of the atonement: if the results are limited, the
vation to the elect sinner. The former has to do with         atonement itself must be limited. Moreover, Daane
the question what was  objectively accomplished and           ascribes this same kind of reasoning to the mandate of
Yealized  in behalf of the elect through the substitution-    the synodical committee because this mandate calls
ary death of Christ. Yet, again, when speaking sup-           for a "study in the light of Scripture and the Creeds of
posedly of the atonement and its efficacy and its ex-         the doctrine of limited atonement. . . ." and because .
tent, both Daane and Dekker fail to distinguish and           the first question asks, "Whether the nature of the
seem to be operating in the field of the application of       atonement and the decree of election allow for. . . . ."
salvation to man.       d) What is the main subject. of          4) Daane confidently asserts that this approach (of
Canons II, 8, which has so often entered this discussion?     studying Dekker's position from the nature of the atone-
Is it speaking of the efficacy of the atonement as such,      ment is limited) will lead nowhere. And apparently he
or is it speaking of the efficacy of the grace whereby        thinks to "pull the rug from under" both Dekker's op-
the benefits of the atonement are actually applied to         ponents and the synodical committee by asserting that
the beneficiaries ?                                           the study is unnecessary and the conclusions foregone.
   The above are all fundamental questions to which           The ground of this assertion is that Prof. Dekker
there ought to be clear and well-defined answers. I           "bases his whole case upon, and argues from, the un-
invite Prof. Dekker and Dr. Daane to speak out on             limited character of the atonement. Dekker, accord-
these matters and furnish some definitions.          I am     ing to Daane, appeals "to the accepted Reformed view
fairly certain that my definitions cannot agree with          that the atonement is unlimited in its sufficiency, in its
theirs. But then at least we can clearly discern one          availability, and in its expression of God's unwilling-
another's positions.                                          ness that any should perish, and that therefore there
                                                              is a redemptive love for all men, and that therefore it
DR.  DAANE   -ON "LIMITED ATONEMENT"                          is permissible in preaching the gospel to say to every
   As I already indicated above, Dr. Daane, in taking         creature: God loves you, and Christ died for you."
up the theological cudgels for Dekker, appears to go             5) On the contrary, Daane asserts that what is
farther than the latter. The thrust of Daane's article        popularly meant by the doctrine of limited atonement
seems to be that there is no Reformed doctrine of             is not a doctrine at all, but a mere slogan. He main-
limited atonement.                                            tains this again and again throughout his article. He ----
   Permit me, without quoting extensively, to attempt         asserts emphatically that neither the creeds of the
a summary of Dr. Daane's at-times-confusing theo-             Christian Reformed Church, nor for that matter any
logical meanderings.                                          other Reformed creed, teach the doctrine of limited
   1) Daane approaches the subject from the point of          atonement.     He maintains that the Canons teach the
view of what he calls "the nature" of the atonement.          very opposite in Articles 3 and 4 of the Second Head,
He attributes this approach to those who oppose and           and that the Heidelberg Catechism teaches the same.
those who are uncertain about Dekker's doctrine of            Finally, he asserts in italics: "The atonement in its
the atonement; as well as to the mandate given the            nature is not in any sense limited; if it were, we would
synodical study committee in the Dekker Case. The             yet be in our sins." Further Daane appeals to both
first question in said mandate speaks of "the nature of       Articles 6 and 8 of Canons II in order to show that
the atonement." Prof. Dekker speaks of the "design"           "limited atonement" is not a proper term even to
of the atonement. Apparently, therefore, since Daane          designate the truth that the atonement does not save
interprets Dekker as asserting "that the atoning work         all men. And he concludes that no objections can be


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    31

       raised against Prof. Dekker's doctrinal assertions on         tenable assertions. To these we will give our attention
       the basis of the nature of the atonement, and that, on        next time, D.V., and show that Daane's reasoning is
       the contrary, if anyone is skirting the heretical on the      altogether wrong, that it is not Reformed, and that it
       matter of the nature of the atonement, it is not Prof.        is thoroughly confused and confusing.
       Dekker, but his critics.                                         Meanwhile, let us remember again that while
          The remainder of Daane% article is devoted to an           Daane is dead wrong, his position, according to his
       attempted explanation of the reasoning of Dekker's            own admission, is in essential harmony with the
       opponents, a relating of this entire subject to the           general, well-meant offer of the gospel which was es-
       matter of gospel preaching, and to an amazing asser-          tablished as Christian Reformed dogma in the First
       tion that Christ died at least for the original sin of        Point of 1924.     As long as the First Point is main-
       every man. To this part of Daane's article we shall           tained, no one can effectively destroy (nor even do
       give our attention later.                                     they have the moral right to oppose) the doctrinal
          For the present, we must discuss the major thrust          position of that Arminianizing quartet of Dekker,
       of his article. In it he makes some amazing and un-           Daane, Boer, and H. Stob.



            CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH-


                              THE DOCTRINE OF CREATION

                                                          Rev. H. Veldman


          Before calling attention to the writings of Hodge          ask: Who this is, the same Evangelist will tell you: In
       and Calvin on the Scriptural doctrine of creation, we         the beginning was the Wovd,  and the Wovd was with God,
       wish to quote briefly from two or three others.               and the  Wovd was God. He was in the beginning with
          First, we would quote from St. Hilary of Poitiers.         God. All things  weye made  through   Him.7   In this quo-
       He is .declared to have been of the greatest, yet least       tation Hilary clearly states that creation is a work of
       studied, of the Fathers of the Western Church. This           God and that all things were made out of nothing.
       disciple of Origin was born about the year 300 A. D.,            Emphasizing that the Wisdom, whereof we read in
       and he died in the year 367. He became bishop of              the Book of Proverbs, is none other than the Christ,
       Poitiers about the year 350, but later went into exile        the Son of God, Hilary writes as follows: "And further-
       and was replaced by an Arian, one who denied the              more, to make all self-deception unlawful, that Wis-
       eternal Godhead of the Son.                                   dom, which you have yourself confessed to be Christ,
          Of the doctrine of creation, Hilary writes, "Since,        shall confront you with the words, When He was es-
       therefore, the words of the Apostle,  One  God the            tablishing the fountains  under the heaven, when He was
       Father,  from Whom  are  all things, and one Jesus            making  strong the foundations  of  the.  earth, I was with
       Christ, OUT Lovd through  Whom aye all things, form an        Him, setting them in ovdev. It was I, over Whom He
       accurate and complete confession concerning God, let          Yejoiced.   Moreover,  I was daily rejoicing in His sight,
       us see what Moses has to say of the beginning of the          all the while that He was  rejoicing  in the wovld that He
       world.    His words are,  And God said, Let there be a        had made, and in the  solzs  of men. Every difficulty is
       firmament in  the  midst  of  the water, and let it divide    removed; error itself must recognize the truth. There
       the water from the water. And it was so, and God made         is with God Wisdom, begotten before the worlds, and
       the  firmament,  and God divided the water through the        not only present with Him, but setting in order, for
       midst.    Here, then, you have the God from Whom, and         She was  with Him, setting them in ovdev. Mark this
       the God through Whom. If you deny it, you must tell us        work of setting in order, or arranging. The Father, by
       through whom it was that God's work in creation was           His commands, is the Cause; the Son, by His execution
       done, or else point for your explanation  toan obedience      of the things commanded, sets in order. The distinc-
       in things yet untreated, which, when God said Let theve       tion between the Persons is marked by the work assigned
       be a firmament, impelled the firmament to establish it-       to Each. When it says Let us make, creation is' iden-
       self. Such suggestions are inconsistent with the clear
. .                                                                  tified with the word of command; but whenit is written,
       sense of Scripture.         For all things, as the Prophet    I was with Him, setting them in ovdev, God reveals that
       says, were made out of nothing; it was no transforma-         He did not do the work in isolation. For He was re-
       tion of existing things, but the creation into a perfect      joicing before Him, Who, He tells us, rejoiced in re-
       form of non-existent.         Through Whom?      Hear the     turn; Moveover, I was daily rejoicing in His sight, all
       Evangelist:  All things were made  ththvough  Him. If you     the while that He was rejoicing  in the wovld that He had


32                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


made, and in the  sons  of  men.  Wisdom.has taught us        perfecting it." Also John of Damascus writes, there-
the reason of Her joy. She rejoiced because of the joy        fore, that the Lord created all things out of nothing,
of the Father, Who rejoices over the completion of the        the things that are visible and the things that are in-
world and over the sons of men. For it is written, And        visible. And then he proceeds to write on the Divine
God saw that they weye good. She rejoices that God is         creation of the world of angels.        Later, in a brief
well pleased with His work, which has been made through       paragraph, entitled, "Concerning the visible creation,"
Her, at His command. She avows that Her joy results           he writes in the same vein, and we again quote: "Our
from the Father's gladness over the finished world and        God Himself, Whom we glorify as Three in One,  created
over the sons of men; over the sons of men, because           the heaven and the earth  and all that they contain, and
in the one man Adam the whole human race had begun            brought all things out of nothing into being: some He
its course. Thus in the creation of the world there is        made out of no pre-existing basis of matter, such as
no mere soliloquy of an isolated Father; His Wisdom           heaven, earth, air, fire, water: and the rest out of these
is His partner in the work, and rejoices with Him when        elements that He had created, such as living creatures,
their conjoint labour ends." Here St. Hilary sets forth       plants, seeds.    For these are made up of earth, and
the truth that the work of creation is the work of the        water, and air, and fire, at the bidding of the Creator."
living God and that God did not work in isolation, but           We also wish to present some excerpts from the
that the Divine Persons were active in the creation of        writings of Augustine. We do not have access to the
the heavens and the earth.                                    works of Augustine.      We quote from the Nicene and
      And speaking of Christ, in refutation of the Arian      Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. IV. Distinguishing between
heresy which makes of the Son of God a creature, Hil-         creating and forming, Augustine writes: "To create
ary writes: "For we -recognize the Lord Christ as no          is to form and arrange. So in some copies it is writ-
creature, for indeed He is none such; nor as something        ten, `I make good things and form evil things.' To make
that has been made, since He is Himself the Lord of all       is used of things previously not in existence; but to
things that are made; but we know Him to be God, God          form is to arrange what had some kind of existence, so
the true veneration of God the Father. All we indeed,         as to improve and enlarge it." Also Augustine speaks
as His goodness has thought fit, have been named and          of creation as a making of things not previously in ex-
adopted as sons of God: but He is to God the Father           istence, and therefore of a making out of nothing. And
the one, true Son, and the true and perfect birth, which      in Chapter 26, "That Creatures are made of nothing,"
abides only in the knowledge of the Father and the            he writes: "Because therefore God made all things
Son." And, then, continuing to speak of this Christ in        which He did not beget of-Himself, not of those things
his treatise on the Trinity, .the author writes: "Does        that already existed, but of those things that did not
Christ, Who is God, speaking in Paul, fail to refute this     exist at all, that is, of nothing," the Apostle Paul says:
impiety of falsehood? Does He fail to condemn this            "Who calls the things that are not as if they are." But
lying perversion of truth? For through theLord  Christ        still more plainly it is written in the book of Macca-
all things were created; and therefore it is His proper       bees: "I pray thee, son, look at the heaven and the
name that He should be the Creator. Does not both the         earth and all the things that are in them; see and know
reality and the title of His creative power belong to         that it was not these of which the Lord God made us."
Him? Melchisedec is our witness, thus declaring God           And from this that is written in the Psalm: "He spake,
to be Creator of heaven and earth: Blessed by Abva-           and they were made." It is manifest, that not of Him-
ham of God  most  high, Who  created  heaven and  earth.      self He begat these things, but that He made them by
The prophet Hosea  also is witness, saying, I am the          word and command. But what is not of Himself is as-
Lovd thy God,  that establish the heavens and  create  the    suredly of nothing. For there was not anything of which
earth, Whose hands have createdall the hosts-of heaven."      he should make them, concerning which the apostle says
      We also wish to call attention to John of Damascus.     most openly: "For from Him, and through Him, and in
He was called Chrysorrhoas, "streaming with gold,"            Him are all things."
i.e., the golden speaker). He was the last of the Greek                               CALVIN
Fathers and the most authoritative theologian for the            Calvin, as we may surely expect, writes extensively
whole Eastern Church. He was born presumably -in              on the subject of creation in his Institutes of the Chris-
Damascus and before 700, and he died inall probability        tian Religion. Chapter XIV of Book I is entitled: "The
shortly before 754. Our quotations from his writings,         true God distinguished in the Scripture from all fic-
as they appear in Vol. IX of the Nicene and Post-Nicene       titious ones, by the creation of the world." In the rest
Fathers, will be brief. Writing on "Concerning the            of this article we would quote the following from Cal-
creation," he writes: "Since, then, God, Who is good          vin, Book I, Chapter XIV, II: "To the same purpose is
and more than good, did not find satisfaction in self-        the narration of Moses, that the work of God was com-
contemplation, but in His exceeding goodness wished           pleted, not in one moment, but in six days. For by this
certain things to come into existence which would en-         circumstance also we are called away from all false
joy His benefits and share in His goodness, He brought        deities to the only true God, who distributed his work
all things out of nothing into being and created them,        into six days, that it might not be tedious to us to oc-
both what is invisible and what is visible. Yea, even         cupy the whole of life in the consideration of it. For
man, who is a compound of the visible and the invisible.      though, whithersoever we turn our eyes, they are con-
And it is by thought that He creates, and thought is the      strained to behold the works of God, yet we see how
basis of the work, the Word filling it and the Spirit         transient our attention is, and, if we are touched with


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    33


any pious reflections, how soon they leave us again.           and caused the earth to produce an abundance of all
Here, also, human reason murmurs, as though such               kinds of fruits sufficient for sustenance, he acts the
progressive works were inconsistent with the power of          part of a provident and sedulous father of a family,
Deity; till, subdued to the obedience of faith, it learns      and-displays his wonderful goodness towards us. If the
to observe that rest, to which the sanctification of the       reader will more attentively consider with himself
seventh day invites us.       Now, in the order of those       these things, which I only hint at as I proceed, he will
things, we must diligently consider the paternal love          be convinced that Moses was an authentic witness and
of God towards the human race, in not creating Adam            herald of the one God, the Creator of the world." The
before he had enriched the earth with an abundant              Lord willing, we will continue with the writings of Cal-
supply of every thing conducive to his happiness. For          vin in our following article. Following uponthis  quota-
had he placed him in the earth while it remained barren        tion, Calvin devotes several paragraphs to the creation
and vacant, had he given him life before there was any         of the world of angels, and then returns to Scripture's
light, he would have appeared not very attentive to his        account of the creation of the world. But it is already
benefit. Now, when he has regulated the motions of the         obvious from the above quotation that Calvin certainly
sun and the stars for the service of man, replenished          maintains the Scriptural truth that the Divine Creator
the earth, the air, and the waters, withliving creatures,      made the heavens and the earth in six days.




       FROM HOLY WRIT-


                Stephen's Apology Before The Sanhedrin

                                                    Acts  617  -  7:60

                                                   Rev. G.  Lubbers


THE GENERAL SIT UA TION                                        alone; that if it is from God they can do nothing, and if
       Great things were happening in Jerusalem in these       it is from man it will come to nought, as all false-
days of which Luke writes in the `*Acts Of The                 messianic attempts at liberation had in the past!
Apostles".      Christ was continuing from out of heaven           These were the days of the great Reformation in
what he had begun in the days of his flesh upon earth!         Israel from the shackles of the law. Christ had gone
Strictly speaking, these are not theacts  of the Apostles,     to heaven, and the heavens did receive him until the
but the work of Christ through them by his power and           times of the restitution of all things. (Hebrews 9:lO;
Spirit. It was, indeed, becoming more and more evi-            Acts  3:21) All things will be set in proper order ac-
dent that this was "of God", and that there was no             cording to the image of the heavenly as shown to Moses
power of man, no opposition of unbelief, no decree of          by the Lord Himself on the mount. (Exodus  25:40;
despots and no anathema of the Sanhedrin which could           Acts 7:44, Hebrews 8:5) The Lord had suddenly come
or did alter the course of the Gospel, or frustrate its        to His temple and the old shadows had been fulfilled:,
purpose. The gates of hell could not prevail against           the temple had been broken down by men and Christ
it.                                                            had -rebuilt it in three days. It was the day of the sal-
       Up to this time the church was being mightily and       vation of God when Japheth would dwell in the tents of
irresistibly gathered by the Son of God in the ancient         Shem, and all nations be blessed in Abraham. (Genesis
city of David, Jerusalem.       However, she would be          9:27;  12:3) These were days when the old paths would
gathered in an ever greater. radius, in ever widening          be sought once more and the violent would take the
circle, beginning at Jerusalem, then to Judea,  Samaria        Kingdom by force.      Truly the .poor  had the Gospel
and even to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8) Luke re-         preached to them! Meanwhile the corrupt Israel would
lates of a twofold futile attempt on the part of the           have their house desolate to them. (Matthew 23:38)
ruling caste in Jerusalem to stop the Gospel-course            Unbelievers would live in utter desolation, while the
by casting the preachers into prison, only to find that        Lord from heaven would grant the times of refresh-
the Lord was with these unlearned fisher-men. He               ment to bedew His true Israel, granting them faith and
sent His angel to miraculously deliver them from               conversion from heaven.
prison and its closed doors. (Acts 4:1-22;  5:11-44).              Truly this is a Reformation which eclipses that of
The outcome was that a Gamaliel gives the rather               Hezekiah, for now Jerusalem shall be on the top of the
prudent counsel that it is better to leave well enough         mountains, and the true worshippers shall worship the


34                                             THE  STANDARD  BEARER


Lord in Spirit and in truth, and the church out of all        dria in Egypt where the Septuagint Bible was trans-
nations shall come to Zion!                                   lated (The Hebrew into the Greek); they were from
      The kingdom of God had come upon Israel!                Cilicia and Asia both in Asia Minor.
      Great is the glory of the Lord  .in the land of            Such was the situation in the church at Jerusalem,
Emanuel !                                                     the mother-church, so to speak. And it is against this
                                                              background that we must understand the place of
THE SITUATION AT THE TIME OF STEPHEN'                         Stephen in God's church, and the transition, which
      Yes, there was no slackening in the gathering of the    Stephen's preaching, trial and death form, in the history
church. In fact, it was rather amatter which went from        of the church at this point. For the Gospel course
strength to strength. We read the notice in Acts 6:7          from here on will be to Judea,  Samaria  and even to the
that "the Word of God was growing". It was growing            ends of the earth. Here we see that the Greeks, who
in its efficacious power in the hearts of the elect.          would see Jesus, will have the Gospel proclaimed in
Men and women and children were being called out of           their home-land.     And in a course which is at once
darkness into God's marvelous light and were being            natural, and still most supernatural, will the great
made a chosen generation, a holynation, a royal priest-       preacher of the gospel to the Gentiles come to be
hood, a peculiar treasure to the Lord. God's covenant         called in the church. Saul of Tarsus will be led by the
was being realized in the hearts of men, so that they         Lord through this history to the apostleship; him who
believed with the heart and confessed with their mouth.       was a persecutor and injurious we will see, in this
They were being saved, as many as were ordained to            trial of Stephen in which the latter makes his great
eternal life.                                                 apology! And they "cast their clothing at the feet of a
      Hand in hand with this internal and  efficaious         young man named Saul" Acts 7:58
growth was also an increase in the number of those
who were saved.         Jerusalem was seeing something        STEPHEN BROUGHT TO TRIAL
which many prophets had foretold and desired to see.             Stephen had been brought by the Lord into the front
Says Luke "the number in .Jerusalem  increased great-         ranks of the preachers. He had been chosen a deacon
ly". It was an exceedingly great growth. There was            being accounted "full of wisdom and of the Spirit".
holy violence of heaven being manifested. How else            But the Lord made something more of Stephen. He
could it be explained that many of the priests, of those      gave him "grace and power". This evidently refers
who were .of the regular order of the temple service          to special gifts of grace which are sometimes called
were "obedient to the faith"? It was too undeniably           charismatic  gifts! These were not simply the grace of
true, and gave cause for the enemy of the Church,             the forgiveness of sins and joy in the Lord, but the
those who despised the Cross, to reflect. It was all          ability to perform signs and wonders, such as opening
due to preaching Jesus and the resurrection, by which         the eyes of the blind, healing the sick, raising the dead
he was powerfully revealed and set forth as the Son of        to life in the power of Christ as did Peter and John.
God. (Romans 1:4) From the humble amongst Israel              These works were "wonders" causing amazement and
through the hierarchy of the priesthood at the altar,         awe and they were positive "signs" which spoke of
the Lord was gathering his saints from the Old Testa-         the great grace of salvation, that the day of salvation
ment church and giving them a place in the fulfilment.        had come from the Day-spring from on High.
For that is the meaning of "faith". It refers not to             Gauging Stephen's preaching by his interpretation
subjective faith but to the objective faith of what is        of the Old Testament Scriptures in his "apology" be-
believed.        This clearly also in such passages as        fore the Sanhedrin, there can be no doubt but what
Galatians 1:23; Romans 1:5 and Jude 3.                        Stephen must have preached already which Paul later
      Not only were the Hebrew Jews gathered but also         writes and developes in such epistles as Romans and
the Grecian Jews were gathered. These were the Hel-           Galatians and in other of his letters.
lenists.     They were Jews of the western dispersion,           It has been suggested by some, and perhaps not
who were carried away under Pompey to the several             amiss, that Saul .was in the audience of Stephen, a
cities of Asia Minor and Europe, and who learned the          Hellenist, when the latter preached in Jerusalem the
common Greek language, known as the Koine! Amongst            resurrection of Christ, touching upon the broader im-
these Grecians there were also widows in the church           plications of the meaning of Israel's history in the
at Jerusalem, and it seems that these widows were not         light of the death and resurrection of Christ, namely,
being cared for as they should at the tables. There           that God had fulfilled the promise made to the fathers
arose a murmuring amongst the congregation because            unto us the children, through the resurrection of Christ
of these widows, Measures were taken to correct this.         from the dead. If so, then Paul must have been vio-
Deacons were appointed, seven in number, who were             lently confronted with the "faith", in opposition to the
all evidently Hellenistic Jews, as appears from their         works of law as a Pharisee, which works he later will
names: Stephen,  Phillip, Prochorus, Nikanorus,  Timon,       account to be so much loss and dung for the sake of
Parmenos and Nicalaus. They were men of good re-              the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, our
port and full of the Holy Ghost and of wisdom.                Lord. (Phil. 39)
      We know from our Chapter that there were syn-              Such a Stephen must be stopped in his tracks !
agogues too of these Hellenists, Grecian Jews. These             He is attacked by certain men' from the resident
were from Cyrene in Africa, from whence can the               Hellenistic Jews in Jerusalem. The Greek text shows
well-known Simon of Cyrene; they were from Alexan-            that there are two groups here referred to, The one


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   35


group is from the synagogue of the Libertines and           at the feet of Gamaliel, against Stephen. If so, he had
Cyrenians and Alexandrians; the other group are from        reasons to look back upon it as so much worthlessness
Cilicia and Asia. The Libertines were "freedmen and         which he had sought to defend so futilely and fruitlessly!
their descendants, the Latin 1 Zibevtini  . The term is         What was the secret of the power and insight of this
geographical like the rest, for to hear it mentioned        Stephen?
was to think of Rome, whither two generations before,           Stephen was speaking, both in his preaching and in
in 61 B.C., Pompey had taken many hundreds of captive       his debate, by a wisdom which is from above. It was
Jews who were sold as slaves. Numbers of them and           the wisdom of God in the spiritual man who has the
their descendants gained their liberty and were con-        mind of Christ.      It was revealed to him by the Holy
sidered Romans.       They were rapidly Hellenized."        Spirit who gave him to see all things in the light of
(Lenski). These together with the Cilicians, Alexan-        Christ.       He takes it out of Christ and gives it to
drians and those of Asia Minor, were residents now at       Stephen. Christ had opened the Scriptures unerringly
Jerusalem; and accost Stephen. Perhaps it was on the        and that, too, because he had received the Spirit with-
street that they meet him, or went to look for him.         out measure.       This same Spirit is in Stephen. For
And they come to debate on the meaning of Israels           this Spirit these Hellenists, even though they had all
existence, the intent of the temple and of the cere-        the learning of Jewry, were no match. The debate was
monial laws given by Moses. They were many. They            too unequal. These antagonists were overcome!
outnumber Stephen. Perhaps Saul of Tarsus was also              In their futility they will bring Stephen before the
in the fray and tried his learning, which he acquired       Sanhedrin.




       I N   H I S   FEAR-


                            The Beginning of Wisdom (2)

                                                  Rev.  J. A. Heys


   There is fear in faith.                                  that He is. The believer knows Him as a sovereign,
   As we pointed out last time, the fear of the Lord is     almighty, unchangeable, holy, righteous and just God.
the Old Testament equivalent of the New Testament           He knows and believes that God is exact and demands
concept of faith. And fear is reverence, awe, a pro-        nothing less than perfection. He knows and believes
found respect; but fear as the fear of the Lord also        .that God is everywhere present and all-knowing. He
contains the element of being afraid. The believer is       believes with the psalmist that he cannot hide from
afraid of displeasing God. There is a fear that faith       God's presence, that every thought and secret of his
produces and which is lacking in the unbeliever. Do         heart and mind are open and known by God. He knows
we not even read in Philippians 2:12,13? "Wherefore,        and believes that God hates all sin and is a consuming
my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my          fire against all iniquity. He knows and believes that
presence only, but now much more in my absence,             God is light and tbat there is no darkness in Him at
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.        all, so that He can have before His face none of the
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to      workers of darkness. He knows and believes that it is
do of His good pleasure." The believer is afraid to         a fearful thing to fall intothe hands of the living God!
sin against God.                                                The unbeliever does not fear God because he does
   Adam was deceived into becoming bold enough to           not believe the above truth concerning God. 0, indeed,
dare to eat of the forbidden fruit and defy God. He         unbelievers have fear.      They fear men. They fear
lost his fear of the Lord wherewith he had been created.    storms and pestilence. They wash their hands, fumi-
He no longer believed God to be the God that He is,         gate their buildings, use their antiseptics, boil their
and believing himself to be that which he is not, he        water and rush for their "shots" to make them im-
sought his own glory in the conviction that, rather than    mune from this disease and from that. They build air
punishment for his disobedience, he was going to be         raid shelters and fear the rain of death from the skies.
like this God whom he learned to envy and hate. When        They affix their lightning rods and take out insurance.
he no longer believed in God according to the truth         Indeed, they have fear upon fear, and terror grips
wherewith he was created, Adam was no longer afraid         their hearts.      The atheists in the fox holes (There
of sinning against Him. He had no faith in God, and he      surely were such in the last world war and there are
had no fear of the Lord.                                    such today.) may make their prayer to the heavens,
   The beginning of wisdom is faith in God as the God       when the bombs and shells begin to fall round about


36                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


them. In their fear of death they may become suddenly          this earth. It does not try, as unbelief does, to find a
very "religious".      But they fear death and not the         reason for earthquakes and storms  apart from  this
Lord. They fear injury and trouble. At the very best,          holy. God. It does not expect salvation from death and
let us credit them with as much as we can, they live in        curse in spite of and divorced from this God. All this
fear of their gods; but the fear of God is not in them.        is utter folly and evidence that such do not fear Him.
In that light it can be said that they are afraid of a god,    They fear the curse, punishment, the storm, men and
will seek to please that god, will strive to appease its       death. But they do not see all this, and they do not be-
wrath, will cry unto it for rain and safety, for food and      lieve all this as the punishment of the one and only true
health, but they are not afraid of Him Who ALONE IS            God upon their sins.      They wonder why calamaties
God.     Each sin which they commit, as an outgrowth           strike.    They are puzzled that such a "good man"
and fruit of Adam's original sin, is simply a declara-         suffers so much affliction. They concede that all men
tion that they are not afraid of Jehovah the one and           must and will die, although they live in hope of extend-
only true God !                                                ing his life a little longer than the modern average.
      When presently they shall know Him, when all the         Why man dies, they cannot say. Well, yes, they will
mists are rolled away and He appears in the glory and          say that his body wears out. They will find a natural
day of Christ, so that they cannot deny Him any more,          reason for all that which occurs. But they do not be-
they shall be gripped with awful terror! They shall            lieve and do not know all history in all its detail as the
call for the hills to fall on them and for the mountains       work of a sovereign and holy and righteous God. They
to cover them. As Adam so foolishly did, so will they          simply do not believe in this God, and therefore they
do. They will try to hide away from this God in Whom           are bold and dare to rebel against His holy will. At
they would not and could not put their trust, Whom they        one moment, when it is convenient they may speak of a
continually denied and defied. But fig leaf aprons will        kind Providence. And then before the words have made
not help. The trees of the garden will not prove to be         their sound, they are ready to ridicule the idea of a
a fire-proof wall between them and this Consuming              Supreme Being. And they want nothing of a sovereign
Fire!     The mountains and hills will not remove the          God Who must be served always with all the creatures
terror in their souls nor insulate them from the fierce        and talents and life that a man may have.
wrath of the Holy One of Israel! Faith in Him they did            We said last time that it would seem as though Satan
not have in this life, and in that day they will have no       has more wisdom than those whom he has deceived.
faith nor hope of safety from this terrible punishment         It only seems that way. He knows that there is one God,
which is upon them.                                            and he knows Who that God is. He knows that all the
      Before sin entered the world, God wrought His fear       curse is in the world by the power and wrath of that
in Adam with the command, "In the day thou eatest              God. But knowledge is not wisdom; and neither Satan
thereof, thou shalt surely die." God wrought the fear          nor his fallen angels have wisdom, nor even its begin-
of the Lord in Adam.        God held before his eyes the       ning, for they do not have the fear of the Lord. In
terrible punishment of disobedience. And Adam, as a            spite of all their correct and detailed knowledge of
believer, was afraid of that God and afraid to disobey         God, they still dare to go ahead and oppose Him. They
Him !     Indeed, added to this is also his love to God,       still go their devilish way of rebellion. They tremble
whereby he did not want to disobey him. But that fear          as they work spiritual wickedness.           But they go
cannot and may not be denied. And we do not under-             ahead `and perpetrate their evil nevertheless. They
stand the lie, nor the boldness and purpose of Satan in        know that there is one God, and they believe, in fact,
the temptation unless we see that his whole purpose            that He is God. But they do not believe in Him.
was to take away that fear and to work within man the             The fear of the Lord which is the beginning of
courage to come up against so great and glorious a             wisdom is faith in Him. It knows God and believes in
God! Man must first be made to believe that God is not         God as He has manifested Himself in Jesus Christ,
what He truly is. Man must be deceived into believing          His only begotten Son and our Lord and Redeemer. It
that his fears are unfounded and that to disobey will          knows and believes His holy wrath against sin, but it
bring blessed dividends and rewards to man. And to             also knows and believes in a full redemption through
combat that lie today, to make man walk the way of             the blood of the cross. He fears the punishment of sin
faith, we admonish, that is, we warn them of the dire          and fears the God Who punishes sin. He is terrified
consequences of their evil walk. The Scripture is full         to think of sin apart from and in denial of Christ. Al-
of such warnings. Thelaw hurls at us the THOU SHALT            though there is fear in faith, it is a fear that is con-
NOTS from the mount with fire, smoke, a powerful               quered by the conviction of God's love in Christ. John
trumpet blast, lightning and an earthquake! And if we          declares that perfect love casteth out fear, for in fear
believe in God, we will tremble at the thought of what         there is torment. Believing in God as He has mani-
becomes of us, if we run up against such an holy God.          fested `Himself in Christ the man regenerated by God's
Faith never denies any of the truths of Scripture. But         Spirit is confident of God's love to him. And knowing
faith believes that God is a consuming fire and that           and believing that love he can have no fear of the
everlasting terror awaits the ungodly.                         punishment which he knows and believes that he de-
      What is more, faith expects that punishment to           serves.    He still fears to sin against God. You can
come from Jehovah the one and only true God. Faith             still warn him of dire consequences, if he continues
does not simply believe in punishment. Faith does              in sin, because he has assurance of belonging to
not try even to reason away the curse that is upon             Christ only by doing the works of Christ. If he did not


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        37

fear and tremble when his sins rise up against him, he       shall know God as He has manifested Himself in His
would not run to the cross with these sins. As the           Son.       But they shall not believe in Him. They shall
Heidelberg Catechism points out, in the measure that         not,, and they shall not be able to, put their trust in
we know our misery, in the measure that we are               Him.       They shall not even. be able to call upon Him
aware of the spiritual disease that grips us, will we        for pity and compassion in their hellish woes. They
seek the Great Physician. Knowledge of the fact and          will know and believe that they have no right to any
belief that our God is a consuming fire is necessary         good and to any relief from Him. The tables will be
for belief in Him as the God of our salvation. There         turned completely. For-the elect in theglory of heaven
is a gospel, a good news exactly because of these ter-       shall have absolutely no fear of the punishment of sin
rible realities of everlasting punishment and woe in         any more. They will know themselves as everlastingly
hell for the sinner. And there is this good news only        safe in the arms of Jesus.     Their fear will be one of
for those who,. by the power of regeneration, fear this      wondrous, ever-abiding awe and amazement at the great,
God and in love to Him desire to have His friendship         unchangeable love and grace of God. They will in pro-
and fellowship.                                              found and sincere respect and reverence before Him
   There is fear in faith, but there is also confidence      humble themselves in the dust with abounding thanks-
in faith.    And there is love in faith. Without it our      giving. The reprobate however will no- longer dare to
faith is as a sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. It is      oppose Him. the agony of his suffering will take from
worthless ! It is nothing better than the reprobate shall    him all desire to think an evil thought of Him Who
have in hell when he can no longer deny that it is this      sitteth on the throne. The believer will look forward
one true God Who punishes and Who brought all that           in confidence to more and more joy. The unbeliever
curse upon the world in His righteous wrath and hatred       will cringe in the awareness of more and more terror.
of sin and the sinner. In hell they shall know and be-       The believer will thank the living God for the gift of
lieve that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the      wisdom. The unbeliever will rue his folly and acknowl-
Father. Philippians 2:10,11. No longer will they be          edge it in everlasting shame.  The believer who heeded
able to rebel against this God. No longer shall they         the warning in the fear of the Lord will rejoice ever
believe that it pays to disobey Him. No longer will          more. The unbeliever who laughed and ridiculed the
they be bold and dare to think evil of Him. But they         truth of God's holy wrath and punishment will weep
shall not love Him. And they shall have absolutely no        forever more. Wise in this life, we will be wise ever-
hope or belief that they can ever come out of their          lastingly. A fool in this life is a fool everlastingly.
everlasting torment.                                            Once again, are your children to be trained to be
   They shall believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. They        wise or to be fools?





        TRYING THE SPIRITS-


                                       AGNOSTICISM

                                                 Rev. R. C.  Havbach

   The term Agnosticism, probably invented by T.             Sys. Theol., I, i, 4, p. 351). The reasoning is that the
Huxley (1869), is used to express the philosophy that        finite cannot know the infinite, which being absolute
no knowledge of absolute reality is possible. It holds       cannot come into relation to finite beings, and there-
that man can not have any real, valid knowledge, but         fore God cannot reveal Himself to man. The implica-
can know only phenomena (Kant), or only impressions          tion is that knowledge, to be true and valid, must be
(Hume). Certain half-agnostics, denying theoretically        absolute comprehension of knowledge. There is not
all objective truth did nevertheless practically speak       the remotest possibility of truth in limitation. But
of a rough approximation to what we might loosely and        this is, we believe, assumption without foundation or
colloquially call "truth" under some such designation        evidence.       Theosophy is burdened with this form of
as "value judgments" (Ritschl). Agnosticism philoso-         Agnosticism.      It is a denial of divine revelation and a
phizes that the being of God can neither be proved nor       denial that the Bible is the Word of God. The Bible
disproved, and so remains unknown or unknowable. Sir         teaches that God is not discovered by us, but revealed
Wm. Hamilton thought that "the last and highest con-         to us. "Canst thou by searching findout God?" It also
secration of all true religion must be an altar Agnosto      teaches that we can know God truly, though not abso-
Theo, `To the unknown and unknowable God' " (C. Hodge,       lutely. "Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfec-


38                                             THESTANDARDBEARER


tion?" It further teaches that God is known through          unknown and .unknowable. If He is unknowable, how
His own self-revelation and specifically and supremely       can we know that much about Him, that He cannot be
through His Son Jesus Christ.          "The only begotten    known ? God is said to be energy, power, force, and
God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath de-          that infinite, eternal and omnipresent.     God is the
clared Him" (Jn. 1:18, Gk.). Christianity maintains          cause of the universe. This already implies so much
that "God hath spoken unto us by His Son." If the            knowledge of the unknowable that rather than to call it
agnostic find his doubt whether there be aGod the least      Agnosticism, it would be more correct to call it a
bit annoying, let him heed the word of Christ, "If any       modified Gnosticism. Now, if Agnosticism in its pious
man will to do His will, he shall know the doctrine,         ignorance and its scientific bravado, can speak of God
whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself."         as force, why should it hesitate in ascribing to Him
Jesus denied the whole of Agnosticism when He said           personal intelligence? If it can call Him the Cause of
"that they may know Thee, the only true God, and             all, why shrink from attributing personality to Him?
Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." Paul possessing           Why presuppose that the infinite God can have no rela-
this knowledge said, "I know whom I have believed."          tion to finite man, yet find it impossible to grant that
      The "Absolute" and the "Infinite" said to be be-       man was made in the image of God, after His likeness,
yond the reach of knowledge and unknowable are but           and is still capable of bearing the divine image? Why
mere abstractions. They exist only in words. They            presuppose the certain knowledge of God and of spiritual
are the product of thinking away all conditions and          things to be unattainable, only, on that presupposition,
all limitations.    This then makes the Absolute de-         to deem it necessary to think, feel and act as if there
scribed to be nothing, which, by the way, is also the        were no God, no spiritual life and no future existence?
view of Theosophy. "God" is an infinite Zero. When           Agnosticism is hypocritical atheism.
we speak of the vibrations of the air, we have not the
least idea what we are talking about. We do not know            The religious liberals a generation or more ago,
what either air, or what vibrations are. From this it        having rejected the inspiration and authority of Scrip-
may be seen that Agnosticism is intellectual suicide         ture, accepted as sufficient ground or authority for
and the destruction of science. For it makes all the         their religion that of religious feeling or experience.
findings of science mere semblance. But the mind of          Whatever lies beyond the range of experience was
an intelligent person cannot permanently rest in the         thought to be beyond the mind of man. McGiffert,  one
agnostic position. The negation of God, knowledge and        of the past presidents of that socialist-mill, Union
thought itself is not persistently possible to the human     Theological Seminary, said, "Agnosticism touching
mind. Nothing that has objective existence can be in-        many matters, formerly deemed fundamental, has come
herently unknowable. Thus Agnosticism logically de-          to be the common attitude on the part of religious men,
mands non-existence in order to arrive at reality. It        and evenof theologians." (Mod. Relig. Liblm, J. Horsch,
is fundamentally nihilistic. To the agnostic knowledge       1924, p.44). However, many liberal theologians came
.is noxious.                                                 to see that experience is in itself no standard, and
      Agnosticism, although it does not flatly deny the      that the experience of one can never be the norm for
existence of God, as does Atheism, neverthelessdenies        anyone else.    What foundation then did the liberals
the personality of God (Spencer). God is an inscrutable      have, now that they had jettisoned both Scripture and
"energy." There is then no basis even for believing          experience as religious authority? They adopted no
the personality of man. Manmay just as well be a more        foundation. The agnostic liberals asserted that their
complex mechanical development in the evolution of the       religion needed no foundation. For, like Freemasonry,
universe. Man is but a mechanical manifestation or           they asserted that their system is amethod, rather than
effect of matter, motion and force.                          a doctrine, or a religion. There is no absolute truth.
      Why do men- turn to Agnosticism? Because the           Nothing is true in itself, or in fact. The agnostic says
mind is driven to that pessimistic position as a result      he does not know anything about the truth, or whether
of its denial of supernaturalism: of the supernatural        there be any truth. But his ignorance is no excuse, for
God, the supernatural Christ and of supernatural rev-        he rejects the source of all truth, God and His Word.
elation. It is one of the fatal alternatives to rejection    He claims not to know whether there be a God, whether
of the Christian faith. But the theory comes in a neat       the Bible is His Word. The agnostic is not ashamed
little " scientific " even pious, package. All it intends    to hide behind a sissified atheism.
to claim is that `it "does not know." It does not deny          Dr. Augustus Hopkins Strong, the great Baptist
that there is a God.       It merely does not know that      theologian, said of the student in the Modernist semi-
there is one. It of necessity pleads ignorance, lack of      nary, "He has all his early conceptions of Scripture
evidence, judgment therefore being held in reserve.          and of Christian doctrine weakened, has no longer any
Its philosophy does not furnish it with enough knowledge     positive message to deliver, loses the ardor of his love
to make positive denial. It does set aside a certain         for Christ, and at his graduation leaves the seminary,
category into which truth may be admitted only after         not to become pastor, or preacher, as he had once
the most stringent tests determine the right to be in-       hoped, but to sow his doubts broadcast, as teacher in
cluded in such a category. But Agnosticism never gets        some college, as editor of some religious journal, as
to see, much less, enjoy the truth, as this category is      secretary of some Y.M.C.A., or as agent of some
left in the condition of old Mother Hubbard's cupboard.      mutual life insurance company." (ibid., 242). This
      Agnosticism presupposes that God is the absolutely     will illustrate how religious and political liberals in-


                                                THE  STANDARD  BEARER                                               39


filtrate every human institution to begin their tactic       scheme, if it is consistently and persistently carried
of boring from within.                                       out in all parts of the country, the U. S. system of
   One of those institutions is the public school move-      national popular education will be the most efficient and
ment which since the days of Horace Mann has become          wide instrument for the propagation of atheism which
increasingly pagan. In 1885 Prof. A.A. Hodge said of         the world has ever seen. . .A comprehensive and cen-
the public school system of education: "The tendency         tralized system of national education, separated from
is to hold that this system must be altogether secular.      religion, as is now commonly proposed, will prove the
The atheistic doctrine is gaining currency, even among       most appalling enginery for the propagation of anti-
professed Christians and even among some bewildered          Christian and atheistic unbelief, and of anti-social
Christian ministers, that an education provided by the       nihilistic ethics, individual, social and political, which
common government for the children of diverse re-            this sin-rent world has even seen." (Pop. Lect.  on
ligious parties should be entirely emptied of all re-        Theol. Themes, 280431,433).
ligious character. The Protestants object to the gov-           When brought to a cross-road, the skeptic stops to
ernment schools being used for the purpose of incul-         get his bearings.     He does not think much of either
cating the doctrines of the Catholic church, and Ro-         possibility. He may rather carefully test out each way
manists object to the use of the Protestant version of       in order to prove to himself that both are equally bad,
the Bible and to the inculcation of the peculiar doc-        or that both equally lead nowhere, or that both are
trines of the Protestant churches. The Jews protest          mere mental projections with no foundation in fact.
against the schools being used to inculcate Christianity     But the agnostic at the sight of a cross-road gives up
in any form, and the atheists and agnostics protest          his journey altogether. He has no reason to take an-
any teaching that implies the existence and moral            other step, for at the moment he knows only what he
government of God. . .then he that believes most must        presently experiences and feels, and that is that he
give way to him that believes least, and then he that        knows nothing, and so is lost. Thus the agnostic is a
believes least must give way to him that believes            sort of intellectual "beatnik." He is philosophically
nothing, no matter in how small a minority the atheists      (and may we say, epistemologically) "beat." The
or the agnostics may be. It is self-evident that on this     agnostic is a cowardly atheist.



               AS TO  BOOKS-

                     Rev. G. Lubbers                  Open Letter To Evangelicals


   Open  Letter  To Evangelicals by Dr. R.E.O. White,        votional Interpretations" of Dr. White.
published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand              The author holds that the key to the understanding
Rapids, Michigan.                                            of I John, which he calls "An Open Letter", since it
   This book is of merit for anyone interested in the        is anonymous, without "address, personal greetings,
deep and ultimate ground of Christian hope, joy' and         and reminisences", is to remember that John writes
certainty of -faith, notwithstanding its limitation that     against the rising menace of Gnosticism. This is the
its author does not sound the depths of faith's certainty    ever recurring theme in each Chapter under "Devo-
in the rock-bed of God's elective love and sovereign         tional Interpretations". This section of the book treats
predestination, but is satisfied by simply showing that      the entire epistle under twenty one different headings.
we need more than shallow emotionalism, that we need         In many ways Dr. White opens new vistas of thought in
a faith revealing itself in fruits of faith.                 these chapters.
   Dr. White, prolific writer of six other books, has a         The section called "Contemporary Reflections" it-
lucid style, clear and concise diction, and proves him-      self reflects Dr.' White's Pelagian-Arminian bias, and,
self, in the main, to be a sound and orthodox scholar        at once, evidences the "Achilles' Heel" in Dr. White's
in the field of exegesis and textual criticism, as well      Theological presuppositions. In spite of the author's
as having a stimulating, constructive pen.                   highly commendable attack on Evangelicalism's tend-
   The section of the book "Notes and Quotes" are            ency to subjectivism, and emotional moodiness, and the
largely from the Baptistic authors of England, both          centrality of religious experience based on a shallow,
contemporary and of the late nineteenth century, the         inward-looking "cheap grace" preaching, he falls short
exception being the extensive reference to Dr. J.E.          of the mark of attaining to the jubilant note of faith
Huther in the "Meyer's Commentary Series" on1 John.          which confesses of "observing in ourselves, with spirit-
We hear throughout what such scholars as Robert Law,         ual joy and holy pleasure, the infallible fruits of elec-
C.H. Dodd, William Barclay, A.M. Hunter and others           tion pointed out in the word of God."
have said about John's epistle. These gleanings are             Keeping the latter in mind, we recommend this
well-chosen and shed a great deal of light on the "De-       book to-the readers of Reformed persuasion.


40                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



 THE CHURCH AT WORSHIP- ("0 worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." Ps. 96:9a)

                         THE LORD'S SUPPER FORM
                            Preparatory Self-Examination (Continued)

                                                  Rev. G.  Vanden Berg

PREPARATORY SELF- EXAMINATION  (Can't.)                       terms. Its essence consists of more than attaining an
      "Nothing in my hands I bring; simply to Thy cross       intellectual comprehension of the doctrines of the
I cling."                                                     church so that I can feel that, having reached such in-
      Such is the confession and experience of the child      tellectual attainment, I am ready to "confess my faith".
of God throughout his life in the midst of a sinful world     However important and necessary it is that we strive
where the powers of darkness not only continually assail      to understand thoroughly the instruction of the church
him but where sin itself adheres to him and pollutes          from the Word of God, the point we establish here is
even the best of his works. To have the day by day            that this alone does not make us believers. It does not
assurance that God, to quote the Communion form,              give us faith.
"forgives all our sins only for the sake of the passion          Neither does faith consist in a blind trust in the
and death of Jesus Christ and freely imputes to us as         church.      Not uncommon is it to encounter those who
our own, the perfect righteousness of Christ", is to          confuse a certain religious loyalty to the church with
experience the blessing of communion with God.                faith. These people do not know what they believe, if
      This possession is ours by faith.                       they really believe anything at all, but in any discussion
      To the burden of self-examination belongs the task      of matters of the truth they will hasten to inform you
of discovering within ourselves the ,real presence of         that they believe what they do because the church says
that faith as well as the presence of that real faith.        it is so. The church, they think, will give them a pass-
Faith in us must be both genuine andconsciously active        port to heaven and that is all that counts. Now we may
or it cannot be said that we are "in the faith". (II Cor.     not minimize the important place that the church has
13:5)     Without this consciousness we are unable to         as a means which it pleases God to use to gather His
participate in the celebration of the Lord's Supper even      people but the fact nevertheless remains that the
though, being physically present when the sacrament           church has never saved a single soul.
is administered by the church, we observe the outward            In examining our heart for the evidence of faith we
form and even taste the physical elements. Doing no           must be careful that we do not get off to a wrong start
more than this we have not yet partaken of His com-           in thinking, as many do, that faithis some hidden facul-
munion, neither have we reaped the saving benefits of         ty which is resident in all men and that can be activated
His death. The latter is ours only through faith.             simply by the exercise of the will.         All men, it is
      The accomplishment of this self-examinationneces-       claimed, have faith or at least the potential of faith.
sitates that we understand andrecognize unmistakably          It has to be admitted that all donot use it and therefore
the characteristics of genuine faith in Christ. All the       it does not come to expression in all men, but the po-
more important does this become when the world                tential is nevertheless there. With such a notion the
(church-world) is filled with pseudo-faith. Certainly         task of self-examination concerns itself more with the
all is not gold that glitters and all is not faith that is    will than with the heart. The pressing question becomes:
called faith. Many there have been and many there are         Have I willed to accept the promises of God? Recog-
now who say, "Lord, Lord", but fail to enter the King-        nizing an act or action of our own will and identifying
dom of God. They are and remain outside of the com-           that with faith is wrong and cannot lead us to a real
munion of our Lord.                                           assurance of salvation. Does not every child of God
      We must ask the question: What is faith?                know from experience that of himself he cannot and
      Our purpose with this question is not that we may       will not will to believe because his will is also totally
dogmatically explore this theological term in order to        depraved?
arrive at a suitable scientific definition. We do not            What then is faith?
aim to lead our readers into the catechism class to              In addressing ourselves to this question we must
interrogate them on the seventh Lord's Day of our             point out also that faith is not something that is totally
Heidelberg Catechism. Rather, the scope of our ex-            divorced from the intellect and will of the child of
ploration is limited to the matter of self-examination        God. Neither is faith an entity that has no relation to
and with this in mind the question may be rephrased           the doctrines of Holy Writ which are taught by the
in the following forms: What is my faith? Do I really         church. Faith, in its conscious activity, certainly em-
believe the promises of God? Does my faith make               braces the truth by means of the mind and will of the
these promises of God actual realities for me?                child of God but this may more properly be set forth
      Faith, we then discover, is not a mere defining of      as the effect and fruit of faith rather than its essence.


                                              THESTANDARDBEARER                                                       41


   Faith, we wrote last time, is the gift of God. This        upon and seek "whatsoever things are true, honest,
must be emphasized because by means of this gift God          just, pure, lovely, and of good report". (Philippians
performs His sovereign work of salvation in which He          423) With delight we muse upon the commandments of
unites His people with Christ and makes them bne.             God, esteeming them more precious than silver and
Throughout, therefore, faith is His sovereign gift be-        gold. To keep them in all ourwalk of life is our singu-
stowed upon His people exclusively by sovereign               lar desire and our faith will not allow us to deviate
choice. Thus the Canons in Chapter I, Article 6: "That        from them even when we are made to suffer reproach
some receive the gift of faith from God, and others do        and scorn, are persecuted in the world for Christ's
not receive it proceeds from God's eternal decree.. . .       sake and denied a name and place. "We glory in tribu-
According to which decree, He graciously softens the          lations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
hearts of the elect, however obstinate, and inclines          and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and
them to believe, while He leaves the non-elect in His         hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is
just judgment to their own wickedness and obduracy."          shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is
And that it is not something which God gives for man          given unto us." (Rom. 5:s)
to use as he pleases is evident from Canons III-IV,              The evidence of faith in us is marked by the experi-
Article 14: "Faith is therefore to be considered the          ence of the love of God. That love is not a sentimental,
gift of God. . .  .because it is in reality conferred,        superficial emotion of the flesh but it is the unbreak-
breathed, and infused into him (man). . . . . . .or nor       able bond of oneness that binds us to God in the fellow-
even because God bestows the power or ability to be-          ship of His covenant. Neither may this love be identi-
lieve, and then expects that man should by the exer-          fied with a meaningless "lip-profession" that is sup-
cise of his own free will, consent to the terms of            posedly then authenticated by our ,going to church at
salvation, and actually believe in Christ; but because        least once a week but it is that zealous and energetic
He who works in man both to will and to do, and indeed        seeking after the things of God's Kingdom day by day,
all things in all, produces both the will to believe, and     Love dictates that the things of His Kingdom are first,
the act of believing also."                                   and that not simply in the temporal sense but prin-
   From the foregoing we may now point out the par-           cipally and, therefore, God's Cause is ALL! To the
ticular viewpoint or idea -of faith which we desire to        children of faith there is no serving of "God and
emphasize in connection with the matter of self-ex-           Marnmon". There can be no division of love between
amination. It is that sovereign power of God's grace          two masters.     If God is loved, He is loved with "all
whereby He brings us into a real, spiritual, living           our heart, and mind, and soul, and strength" and other-
communion with Christ, His Son. By it we are made             wise He is not loved at all.
new creatures in Christ, radically and completely                Living by that faith we are called to fight a battle.
changed so that Christ lives in us and we in Him.             It cannot be otherwise for Scripture speaks of the
Faith is that power of God which "casts down imagina-         "battle of faith". Faith is militant in character and
tions, and every high thing that exalteth itself against      it is simply impossible for one to be a true believer
the knowledge of God, and brings into captivity every         without encountering the opposition of unbelief. That
thought to the obedience of Christ". (II Cor.  10:s)          battle is not only one that is waged against the ungodly
Having faith, we do not walk after the flesh to do the        world and its unrighteousness and the outcome of
works of the flesh, but we are led by the Spirit to           which is the sure victory of faith, but it is a battle that
bring forth the fruits of the Spirit in which our Heavenly    begins within one's self. There is a constant warring
Father is glorified. This radical transformation is so        of the flesh and the spirit within the Christian. Then
pronounced that it becomes evident to all the world           that battle projects itself into the sphere of the church
that although we are still in the world, we are not of        in the midst of this world where all things have not
it. We become identified unmistakably as that people          yet been made perfect and where, as we learn from the
that has no abiding place here but is seeking a new and       history of Israel, the carnal element is very much
better city, the heavenly. This change, wrought in us         present to spoil and destroy God's cause. Indifference
through the power of faith, cannot be hid in the whole        to the battle and unwillingness to be engaged as a good
of our life.. Our speech, dress, entertainment, labor         soldier of Jesus Christ in the conflict of the church
and everything we do manifests it for it becomes the          throughout the ages is not a mark of faith. The be-
dominating and motivating force in our whole life. In         liever dons the armour of God willingly and stands
reality, it is no longer we that live, but Christ Who         ready to serve in the day of battle. Believing the
lives in us and faith is that power of God that brings        faithful promise of God, he is confident of victory.
Christ to expression in our lives.                               Our Communion Form enjoins every one to examine
   This gift of faith God implants in our hearts and          his own heart that he may know whether he possesses
therefore it is the heart that must be examined. Out          that faith.    Having it we know and are assured that
of it proceeds the issues of life. Where faith is absent      Christ has died for us and delivered us by His death
the mind and will of man function in accord with the          from the power of sin. He has imputed to us His own
sinful and depraved heart. Quite different is this where      righteousness so that for us old things have passed
the heart is renewed. From that heart the power of            away and all things are become new. A new life with
faith influences and controls the mind and gives proper       Christ is the essence of communion and without it
direction to the will. We then no longer want and seek        there can be no fellowship with Him at the table of the
the things that are evil but we abhor them and we think       Lord.


42                                                THE STANDARD BEARER





      A CLOUD OF WITNESSES


                    The Ark's Return From Philistia
                                                                       .~

                                                    Rev. B. Woudenberg


                                  And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and
                               `tied them to the  cavt, and shut up  their calves at home:
                                  And they laid the avk  of the LORD upon the cavt, and
                               the  coffev   with the mice  of  gold  and  the images  of
                               their  emevods,
                                  And the kine took the  straight  way to the way  of
                               Bethshemesh,  and  went along the highway, lowing as
                               they went, and turned not  aside  to the  Tight  hand  OY to
                               the left; and the  lords  of  the Philistines went after
                               them unto the  bovdev   of  Bethshemesh. I Samuel 6:10-12
                                                                             .


      For seven months the ark of Israel's God had been        shall be healed, and it shall be known' to you why his
in the land of the PhilistiZs,  and there was no longer        hand is not removed from you." To them it was as-
any question with the Philistines that He was not under        sumed an unquestionable fact that with sufficient offer:
their power but that they were under His. The God of           ing anyone could be bought off, be he a god or be he a
Israel had smitten them with the pestilence much in            man. In fact; so sure were they of this that they con-
the same way he had smitten the Egyptians many years            sidered it a way of proving whether it was actually the
before. Everyone was covered with boils, open, sore             ark which brought this affliction to them or not, for
and draining; many had died. It happened wherever              they still cherished deep -within them the hope that
the ark was brought, whether Ashdod, Gath or Ekron.            somehow it could be found that it was not Israel's God
No one could escape it.        With swift destruction the      that was causing their troubles after all. But if it were,
hand of the God of Israel descended upon them. No              there could be little question that He could be bought
incantation could drive it away. No form of medicine           off with an offering.
was able to heal. The invasion of mice which had gone              Moreover, when the people asked, "What shall be
before seemed bad at the time; but this was far worse.         the trespass offering which we shall return to him?"
The damage done to Dagon in his temple was now all             they were ready with an answer for that too. They
but forgotten because of the suffering that filled the         answered, "Five golden emerods, and five goldenmice,
land. The people cowered in fear.                              according to the number of the lords of the Philistines:
      At last the priests and diviners, the wise men of        for one plague was on you all, and on your lords.
the Philistines, were called together to do something          Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and
to save the nation. There was no longer any question           images of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall
what the trouble was. Everyone knew and took it for            give glory unto the God of Israel: peradventure he will
granted, as much as they disliked the thought. The ark         lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods,
of Israel's God had proved to be for them, not a great          and from off your land. Wherefore then do ye harden
victory as they had first expected, but their curse.           your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened
The only question for these learned men was, "What             their hearts when he had wrought wonderfully among
shall we do to the ark of the LORD? tell us wherewith          them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?"
we shall send it to his place." The ark of Jehovah had         The temptation was just too great. With pious over-
to be sent away. The only thing they feared was that           tones, the Philistine priests could not resist acting as
they might not do it in the right way so that still            though this all was the fault of the people and not of
greater judgments might descend upon them.                     them. They had to make it sound as though it had been
      For these wise men of Philistia, the answer did not      evident to them all along that Israel's God was not to
seem difficult.     Quickly they answered, "If ye send         be tangled with. But at the same time they were quite
away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty;          convinced that He could be influenced and changed by
but in any wise return him a trespass offering; then ye        the mere presentation of a little gold if it would be


                                                 THESTANDARDBEARER                                                  43


molded in the proper shape, the shape of the curses         place where the ark of the covenant stood there was a
which were upon them. These were the kind of incan-         great rock conveniently located, and all that was needed
tations which they practiced upon their god, and they       was there. Quickly calling the Levites, they had the
could not think of Jehovah as being any different from      ark taken down off the cart. With the wood of the cart
these.                                                      they made a fire upon the rock, and the milk cows that
   But still underneath there was that nagging hope,        had pulled the cart they used for the sacrifice. There
that hope that some way could be found to show that it      in the field of Joshua the Bethshemite, they offered a
was not Israel's God at all. So piously but dishonestly,    great sacrifice unto God. It was a feast of celebration
they continued their instructions, "Now therefore make      and joy. The lords of the Philistines watching from
a new cart, and take two milch kine, on which there         their side of the border saw it. Silently, perhaps sul-
hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and        lenly, they returned to their cities conscious as never
bring their calves home from them: and take the ark         before of the greatness of Israel's Godwhomthey hated
of the LORD, and lay it upon the cart: and put the          with all their heart.
jewels of gold, which ye return him for a trespass             But all was not well in Israel as that celebration
offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it      might have seemed to indicate.        There was still in
away, that it may go. And see, if it goeth up by the        Israel that sin which had led them into trouble in the
way of his own coast to Bethshemesh, then he hath           first place. They honored Him with their lips and in
done us this great evil: but-if not, then we shall know     visible ceremonies, but in their hearts they looked
that it is not his hand that smote us; it was a chance      upon Him little differently than the heathen looked
that happened to us."      It was perfectly evident, by     upon their gods. The ark of the covenant was to them
force of the pestilence that lay upon their land, they-     a kind of -idol, a sort of magical charm which they
had to acknowledge the greatness of Israel's God. But       could use and manipulate in whatever way they chose.
they didn't want to. To the verylast, they were looking     This was the way in which they had used it in the
for a way to prove that He had nothing to do with it,       battle of Ebenezer. Hophni and Phinehas had carried
that everything that came upon them was merely chance.      the ark into battle without any regard to the commands
For this purpose they had devised this subtly clever        of God, thinking that its presence there was bound to
plan. They knew of no stronger attachment in nature         be an omen for their God. God had shown them the
than that of a mother animal for its young. This at-        foolishness of this through their defeat; but as yet they
tachment they would pit directly against Israel's God.      had not understood and repented. Now as the ark was
If His ark was to be returned to its place, it would        brought back to them again, they received it with a
have to be by means of two fresh milk cows which            great celebration; but with their hearts they did not
would have to leave their young. It was very evidently      understand and repent.
their hope and wish that He would not be able to do it.        The evidence of this superficial attitude which they
They wanted so badly to believe that He wasn't really       held toward the ark of God was in that which they did
a god:                                                      at the conclusion of their celebration. Moved by curi-
   But such was not to be. No sooner had they built         osity, they suddenly decided that they would look into
their cart, placed the ark and- their offerings upon it,    the ark to see what it really contained. They knew the
and attached their milk cows to it but these cows be-       commandments of the law concerning the ark. They,
gan to go directly along the road to Bethshemesh in         the common people, were not even supposed to see the
Israel.    The purpose of God was with Israel and not       ark uncovered, much less to handle it and look within
with the Philistines, and to them again He sent His         it. Their knowledge of this statute was evident from the
ark. The milk cows of the Philistines left their young      fact that they called the Levites in the first place to
behind without swerving to left or to right. The hand       take the ark down from the cart which had brought it
of- the Lord directed them;. There was no stopping.         from Ekron.         They observed this provision when it
As the lords of the Philistines looked on, the cart with    was convenient; but they also felt that they were quite
the ark upon it came to the border, passed over it, and     free to ignore it. They had offered their sacrifice to
then-stopped. It had come to its destination.               God, they had given Him their celebration, now He
   Most amazed were the men of Bethshemesh. They            ought to be satisfied and they wanted to know what was
were busily engaged with the gathering of their wheat       really in the ark. Perhaps they even offered the ex-
harvest in the field. Suddenly they looked up and saw       cuse among themselves that they had to see if the
the ark of-Jehovah setting upon--this new made cart.        Philistines had taken anything out of it. But before
They recognized it immediately. ' For the last seven        God this was all as nothing. He saw the hearts of the
months in Israel, everyone had been very much aware         people with all of their hypocrisy and insincerity. He
of the fact that the ark of the covenant was in those       would not be satisfied with a mere fancy celebration.
heathen hands.    Lt was their shame. They had often        In wrath He stretched forth His hand, until 50,070 men
ignored it when it was with them; but-once it was gone,     of Israel in the territory of Bethshemesh-were dead.
they had- been most conscious of,its absence. Often            Now suddenly the men of Bethshemesh knew. The
these same people had gazed down this road into             God of Israel, their God, would not be satisfied to be
Philistia wondering what had become of the ark of           treated lightly.      He demanded the utmost in their
their God. Now they knew. It had returned. Jehovah          service, even their all. But sadly they reacted little
had restored the symbol of His presence to them.            better to the judgment of God than had the Philistines.
   The men of Bethshemesh were overjoyed. By the            They cried out in fright, "Who is able to stand before


44                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


the holy LORD God? and to whom shall he go up from             longer. The official worship of Jehovah was discon-
us?" They were moved to fright; but not unto repent-           tinued. In desperation the men of Bethshemesh sent a
ance. Their only concern was where they could send             message to the men of Kirjathjearim saying, "The
the ark, how they could get rid of it. The ways of             Philistines have brought again the ark of the LORD;
idolatry were deeply imprinted in their hearts. They           come ye down, and fetch it up to you." And rather
thought that they could banish Jehovah merely by               than see the ark further dishonored they did it. But
sending away His ark.                                          they had no proper place to keep it either. Quietly
      But it was an evil day in Israel, and it was actually    they stored it away in the house of one Abinadab, a
difficult to find a place to send it. During the seven         Levite and a priest. There it remained unrecognized
months which had passed since Eli's death, no high             and unnoticed by the people until the days of David the
priest had been ordained to take his place. The                king.    It was still in captivity because of the sins of
tabernacle at Shiloh had been closed and was used no           the people.




               AS TO BOOKS-

                      Prof. H.  Hank0                   THE REFORMATION: Vol. III
                                                        in "The Pelican History Of The Church"


THE REFORMATION: Vol. III in."The Pelican History                 There is no evaluation of the Reformation, no in-
Of The Church"; by Owen Chadwick; published by Wm.             terpretation of this all-important part of the history of
B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; 445 pp. $5.95.                 the Church, no attempt to explain it as the God-or-
                                                               dained history of the Church of Jesus Christ. The
      This new series on the history of the church is writ-    author seems intent on shying away from any explana-
ten by six different authors, Owen Chadwick, the               tion of this great event in the history of God's people.
author of this volume, the general editor. He is Dixie            In close connection with all this, the author is at
Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Master of              times unduly sympathetic with the Romish Church. He
Selwyn College.                                                deplores the necessity of the Reformation in a few
      The book discusses the Reformation Period from           brief asides, wishes it could have beenotherwise, sides
the time of Luther to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648,         with the Romish Church on certain questions of Romish
including a discussion of the Spanish conquest in the          practices which the Reformers condemned and spends
Americas and the consequent Romish influences in this          a disproportionate amount of time discussing the
hemisphere.                                                    Counter-reformation and the conquest of the Americas
 The strength of the book is its bird's eye view of            by the Spanish and Roman Catholic Conquistadors.
the history of the Reformation on the continent of                He is not very sympathetic with Calvinism and
Europe. It is written in popular style for the interest        writes in a very brief statement: "The fortress of
of those who are not making a scholarly study of Church        Calvinist teaching was assailable in its two weak
History. It is good' for those who want a briefs survey        bastions: whether the dogma of absolute predestina-
of the Reformation without great detail. It makes for          tion, however supported by texts of Scripture, was not
interesting and light reading, while giving the reader         incompatible with other texts of Scripture and with
an understanding of the period.                                the total revelation of God's nature; and. whether the
      But the book has its weaknesses. The treatment of        text of the New Testament vindicated the claim that
the Reformation itself under Luther and Calvin is sketchy      the polity of pastors, elders, and consistories was
and much too brief. In all, less than 60 pages of this         the only polity' ordered by Scripture." He describes
445 page volume are devoted to the two great Reform-           the great Calvinist of the Synod of Dordt, Francis
ers of the period.                                             Gomarus, as "a Calvinist with an inflexible mind and
      The doctrinal questions involved in the Reformation      a conscientious talent for setting the eternal decrees
are almost completely ignored. And when they are               in their most repellant guise."
discussed, the discussion is distorted. Concerning                But there are many interesting and informative
Luther's emphasis on justification by faith, the author        passages concerning the history as a whole and a good
writes only: "The guiding principle was the doctrine           discussion of religious practices among the Churches
of justification by faith, in other words a shift of em-       of the-Reformation.
phasis from the external act in religion-- cult and
ritual and ceremonial - to the mind and heart, to the             For a brief survey of the entire period, especially
faith which needs external acts for the sacramental            from a purely historical point of view, the book can be
expression of an inward worship."                              profitably read.


      . .                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            45




 EXAMINING  ECUMENICALISM-


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

                                                                    (4

                                                          Rev. G. Van  Baven


   The process and proposals of merger are rather                            But a differing view concerning the conciliar move-
interesting to observe -- particularly when these take                    ment (the movement supporting councils of churches)
place in denominations which have, historically, close                    is beginning to emerge and it follows, somewhat, the
ties with our own. That is especially true today for                      place and time lines described above.
us as we observe the developments taking place in the                        Differing points of view concerning Church union
Reformed Church of America. And, of course, it is                         are being brought into focus by our conversations with
                                                                          your Church. There are those who are committed to
ever easiest for those on the sidelines to make re-                       the conciliar movement and those who are not. Those
marks, suggestions, and criticisms. Yet for our own                       committed to it are favorable to unionwith the Southern
consideration and instruction, there are certain remarks                  Church and  .many would feel that union with the United
which must be made.                                                       Presbyterian Church must be included in ultimate
                                                                          plans.    Those who reject the conciliar movement in
REACTION TO THE PROPOSED MERGER                                           the Church are hesitant about merger with your Church,
   A rather strange aspect of the proposed merger                         largely because it is thought this would add to the
between the Reformed Church of America and the                            strength of the conciliar movement.
Presbyterian Church U.S. is that the conservatives of
the P.C.U.S. strongly favor the proposed union where-                BASIS OF OPPOSITION
as the conservatives of the Reformed Church appear,                       Dr. Brunsting points out three areas of disagree-
for the most part, opposed to such merger. One well-                 ment between proponents and opponents of merger in
known conservative in the P.C.U.S. wrote in a personal               his church. He says:
letter:
             Actually one of the curious things about develop-                  The first concern is for the purity of the Church.
    ments in our denomination is that the liberal wing of                 James  3:17  is often quoted: "But the wisdom from
    the Church is strongly opposed to the proposal. They                  above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to
    feel that it will set up an unshakable conservative de-               reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncer-
    nomination which will be nation-wide and which will                   tainty or insincerity."
    attract conservative elements from other Presbyterian                       Those who remain cool toward the conciliar move-
    and Reformed bodies, to the exclusion of the UPLJSA                   ment are dedicated to the doctrine of a "pure" church.
    and the so-called Blake-Pike plan. Consequently, the                  Two tests are most often used: one, the latitude al-
    enthusiasm within our denomination for merger with                    lowed on the doctrine -of the inspiration of the Holy
    RCA in the future will be a relatively accurate barom-                Scriptures; and, two, the place in religion given to a
    eter of the conservative sentiment within our  de-                    definite conversion experience.
    nominatidn.                                                                 A major source of distrust is the willingness of
    Another article was brought to my attention which                     Churches to ordain men with an implied doubt as to
                                                                          the full authority of Scripture. . . .
is worthy of consideration. It was the printed report
of the speech of Dr. B. Brunsting, former president of                    The second source of difficulty is the anticipated
the Synod of the Reformed Church, delivered before                   size of merged denominations:
the Synod of North Carolina of the PresbyterianChurch
U.S. The speech appears in The Presbyterian  Jouvnul                            The second concern is about the so-called "mono-
of July 8, 1964. He explains first the fact of varied                      lithic character" of the conciliar  movement.-
reactions within his own denomination:                                          There is a strong suspicion that decisions in the
                                                                           conciliar movement and in the denominational life of
             Although differing in age and geography, those con-           larger Churches are made at the top and imposed on
    tinuing in the Reformed Church came to know each                       the grass roots.      There is fear of an ecclesiastical
    other, work together and regard each other withmutual                  dictatorship.    There is opposition to a few making de-
    respect and regard.          There is no civil war. A re-              cisions and pronouncements in the name of everybody.
    markably good climate prevails in the Church. Those
    living in the East and those living in the West, those                Thirdly, there is the problem of, what appears to
    100 years old and those 300 years old are more of a               be, spiritual deadness and lack of concern for the
    complement than a source of conflict to each other.               calling of the church on earth:


                                                          .-
46                                   -              THESTANDARDBEtiER
                    --__

         Thirdly, there is the test of Fesults. The question       tinue independently as they wish. He maintains, cor-
      is raised, why has there been so little accomplished         rectly, I think:
      by those committed to the conciliar movement? Why -                 Denominational lines should circumscribe people
 --- has not the giving, the witnes=nd missionary activ&ty            of similar viewpoint and conviction of doctrine, polity
      increased by merger?           -                                and ecumenicity. Unless they do, the strength of the
         Denominations not committed to the conciliar move-           denomination is dissipated in intra-denominational
      ment are the fastest-growing religions bodies in the            differences.     Similarity of viewpoint produces de-
      nation. Some of the most effective extension work being         nominational lines. The present denominational lines
      done is by groups who are outside the ecumenical                were drawn on bases which quite possibly have changed.
      movement. -. ; .
         The number of foreign missiona&% of all agencies             This third alternative, though I can not imagine
      related to the Divjsionof Foreign Missions of theeRa-        that it should ever be the basis for any plan of action
      tional Council increased from 1952 to 1962 by 4.5%;          in these two denominations, has much in its favor.
      those unrelated increased by 149.5%. The income of           The sad fact of our day is that many have a denomina-
      the former by 50%; of the latter by 167.3%. Overseas         tional loyalty without any unity based upon the truth of
      missionaries from member churches of the National            Scripture nor of the old confessions of the church.
      Council numbered 10,324 in 1960; of those not related,       Variations of belief are usually so. wide that it can
      16,066.               -.-                      -             truly be said of many, formerly very orthodox, de-
      Dr. Brunsting then proceeds to point out differences         nominations: the variations between churches within
within the Eastern and Western sector of the Reformed              a particular denomination often are greater than dif-
Church. Remember, the Eastern sector, by and large,                ferences between two different denominations. That
supports the "conciliar movement" and proposed mer-                is true for those denominations presently under dis-
gers, whereas the Western-sector (including the mid-               cussion too. Instances can be pointed out of liberalism
west) opposes this. Brunsting. points to figures of                in its worst sense in both denominations. On the other
1962  during which members of the Western sector of                hand, both -denominations contain men who appear rather-
the Reformed Church contributed $36.1&  ~per member                staunchly Calvinistic and Reformed --holding firmly to
for all  benevolences.             The per-member contribution     those Scriptural truths which are the backbone of the
in the Eastern sector was $14.74. Is there perhaps a               Church.
relationship between-the views toward ecumenism and                   When such is the case within denominations, they
spiritual fruits seen in the membership? That ques-                have ceased to serve their purpose. When one de-
tion seems to trouble Brunsting and others with him.               nomination can encompass vast and fundamental dif-
      Dr. Brunsting calls first for understanding and              ferences concerning the truth, there is no ~more any
respect between those "who hold differing views con-               basic reason why any or all denominations can not be
cerning the conciliar movement." Secondly, he de=                  united with this one denomination (except, possibly, `a
clares that the matter of Church union must be Ye-                 fear of its "monolithic character"). Denominations
solved with dispatch, "not thoughtlessly or hastily, but          -must exist on the basis of "similarity of viewpoint."
nevertheless, with dispatch." Finally, he emphasizes               Of course, that can- not mean that every person-in a
that' the Church must keep its eye. on its purpose or              denomination in every respect- thinks exactly alike.
mission. The watchword, says he, must be: "evangel-                Then denominations would have to consist, ultimately,
ize or- die. "                                                    of but one person.        But there must be similarity of
                                                                   viewpoint with respect to the truths of Scripture as set
                                                                  forth in the confessions of a Church. If such is not
THE  THREEALTERNATWES                                              true within a denomination, -- and usually it is not
      Dr. Brunsting presents three alternatives in the             since there is almost a total lack of discipline today, -
merger negotiations7 The first, which is presently                 there is no good reason for its existence. Union, then,
being followed, is union with the Southern Presbyterian            even of churches which appear more "conservative"
Church ultimately, with a plan of-union to be drawn up             and Scriptural than others, can only perpetuate a sad
by the Committee of 24 to be submitted to the Churches            -situation in which the denomination will degenerate
for decision. Secondly, if the above fails, there should          from bad to worse. Let the two denominations, if they
be a halt to all union talk "so that we can get on with            can, draw firm lines of demarcation with respect to
our work of witness." "We cannot," says he, "con-                  the fundamental truths of Scripture. Let them demand
stantly live and work while we are embroiled with                  unequivocal subscription of both clergy and laymen.
                                                                                           -
strong, .differing opsions concerning Church merger."             (Brunsting has a good beginning along this line when
      The third "alternative" I found rather interesting,         he sets forth "our faith." He points to the "sufficiency
and (to my mind) preferable for the denominations in-              and supremacy of Holy Scripture," to the "total cor-
volved.      Brunsting points out a strong desire on the           ruption of human nature," to Christ's death as the only
part of many both in the Reformed Church and the                   "satisfaction for man's sin," and f`no sonship without
Southern Presbyterian Church to seek union with the                regeneration.") Those who agree to these truths of
United Presbyterian Church USA.                He suggests the    Scripture can form one denomination which is nation-
possibility that opportunity be given either churches             wide in scope. Those who disagree, can find readily
or classes (presbyteries) to unite with that larger de-            a place in many other denominations who care no
nomination if they wish. The remaining churches of                longer for the Word - but welcome liberals andmodern-
both denominations could either unite together  or con-           ists with open arms.


                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER              ~-~-                                           47



                                                                                                        -

                 AS TO SOOKS--                                      Uitverkiezen  En Uitverkiezing
                       Rev. H. Veldman
                                                    I               In Het Nieuwe Testamknt
                                                    I


"Uitverkiezen En Uitverkiezing In Het Nieuwe Testa-                      vie-w deprives history of all value, and that history is
merit," by H. Venema; J. H. Kok N.V., Netherlands;                       then merely the unfolding of a long predetermined
price: f8.90.                                                            film. Repeatedly he voices such objections against a
   This book of 172 pages is a treatise on the subject                   Scriptural doctrine as an election from eterniry: This
mentioned above, which was written by H. Venema to                       doctrine simply would deny man's responsibility.
obtain his degree as Doctor in Theology from the                            More could be said about this, but time and space
Theological School of the Reformed Churches in the                       forbid.      Writing on Rom. 9-11, page 103, he writes:
Netherlands, at  Kampen, Netherlands, and therefore                      "Paul does not wish to say: no wonder, that so many
from the Reformed Churches as maintaining Art. 31.                       Jews did not believe in Christ, for, although they had
   This document is introduced by_ eighteen proposi-                     the promise, they were not elect. But: many Jews,
tions which are discussed in this treatise.               --             although by nature Abraham's children, were-not really
   The author discusses the Scriptural doctrine of                       children of him, because they did not live out of the
election as taught in the New Testament. In his in-~                     promise. And that is all important (daar komt het op
troductory remarks he explains why he has confined                       aan)."       In my conviction,- this is completely against
himself to the New Testament.                                            Romans 9.                            -
   In a review of this nature, it is, of course, impossible                 Venema also has something to say about the doc-
to treat this document. in detail. I do not mind recom-                  trine of reprobation. We read on page 168: "But it is
mending this booklet to our readers who can read the                     plain, it seems to us, that, if we would say with Bavinck
Holland language, but with definite. reservations. I am                  that Scripture causes reprobation to appear in history
in complete disagreement with -its content throughout.                   as an-act of God, we must add that this reprobation is
   The author would~maintaina  doctrine of election as                   divine punishment, and that therefore the guilt of man
in time. He rejects the Scriptural doctrine of eternal                   precedes." In other words: sin is first, then reproba-
election. One reads this treatise Andy is amazed that                    tion. This is Arminianism, and contrary to Scripture
passages such as Eph. 1:4, John6:37-39,  John10:26-27,                   and the Confessions.
Acts 13:48, 2 Pet. l:lO, etc., are all explained as not                     Bearing all this in mind, and provided that we read
referring to an eternal election. Speaking of an eternal                 the book carefully,-we may recommend it to our Holland
election, Venema objects to it (page 48) that such a                     readers.


                 RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATW                                                     RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATHY
   The Ladies Society of the Protestant Reformed Church                    The Consistory of the Loveland Protestant Reformed
   of South Holland express their deepest sympathy to                      Church, on behalf of the entire congregation, herewith
   Mrs. Edward Bruinsma in the death of her mother --                      extends its deepest sympathy to the family of Rev. H.
                  MRS. R. L. REGNERUS                                      Hoeksema in the death of their father. May they in
                                                                           their  grief` and sorrow be sustained by the grace of
 - May our covenant God comfort the sister and her                        `our heavenly Father and comforted in the promise of
   family.                  .--                                            His word that He does all things well.        .
                                    Rev. J.A. Heys; Pres. --  -                                              Rev. D. Engelsma, Pres.
                                    Mrs. R. Van  Baren,  Sec'y.                                              Wm. A. Griess, Sec'y.
                  -
                                                                                          RESOLUTIONb~SYMPATHY
                 RESOLUTIONOFSYMPATW                                       The Young Peoples Society of the South Holland Pro-
   The Ladies Auxiliary of the Association for Protestant                  testant Reformed Church of South Holland, Ill., here-
   Reformed Education at South Holland expresses its                       with expresses its sincere sympathy to our  fellow-
   deepest sympathy to one of our members, Mrs. Edward                     member, Irene Bruinsma, in the loss of her grand-
   Bruinsma in the death of her mother                                     mother,
                  MRS. R. L. REGNERUS                                                        MRS. R. L. REGNERUS
   May the God of all grace comfort the hearts of the                      Psalm  116:15  "Precious in the sight of the Lord is
   bereaved.                              .--                              the death of His saints".
                                   Mrs. Geo. D. Vroom, Pres.                                                   Rev. J.A. Heys, Pres.
                                   Mrs..--R. Van  Baren,  Sec'y.                                               Judie Bruinsma, Sec'y.


48                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



                                              NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES-

                                                    October 1, 1965                              *  *  *
                        Report of  Classis  West
          Classis West convened on Wednesday, Sept. 15,                   Randolph's consistory has placed a subscription to
      1965, at South Holland, Illinois. All the churches were          our Standard Beaver in the public library of Beaver
      represented, with two churches represented by only               Dam, Wise. Our paper is now on the magazine table
      one delegate.                                                    with the many others it displays. God grant that it
          Rev. C. Hanko capably served as chairman andRev.             may be a power for good in that community.
      D. Engelsma recorded the minutes. The delegates ad-                                        * *  *
      examina  of  Classis East, Revs. G. Lubbers, M.  Schip-             The Reformation Day Rally to be held in the Grand
      per, and H. Veldman, were present for the classical              Rapids Civic Auditorium Oct. 27 is being widely ad-
      examination of Candidate Robert Decker who had ac-
      cepted the call to our  Doon,  Iowa church. Candidate            vertised in the area. Nine big bill-boards in Grand
      Decker preached a sermon from Eph.  2:lO and suc-                Rapids, two in Kalamazoo, and one each in Holland
      cessfully answered the many and varied questions on              and Muskegon, and radio and press announcements
      the designated subjects. On the basis of this examina-           will call this meeting to the attention of the Reformed
      tion, with the concurrence of the  delegates ad-examina,         people in the community. Have you invited your friends
      Classis  unanimously approved the motion to advise               and neighbors ?
      Doon  to proceed with the ordination of Decker. So, by                                     * *  *
      the grace of God, another man has been added to the                 The Reformed Action Society of our Western
      ministry in our churches.                                        churches has sponsored a public lecture in Edgerton,
          Five churches (Lynden,  Pella, Isabel, Forbes, Ran-
      dolph) requested classical appointments.            This was     Minn., Friday evening, Sept. 25, with the Rev. B.
      granted in part by  Classis  West, and a request was             Woudenberg as speaker. After the lecture the annual
      sent to  Classis  East to assist in supplying these              business was conducted, including election of office
      churches.                                                        bearers.                                              *
          A large number of protests, involving two of the                                       ***
      churches and their school organizations, was placed                 Did you 72rww that our people in South Holland are
      in the hands of a committee to report at a special               building a new church? The walls are in, six arches
      session of  Classis which will meet January 12 at                are in place and the seventh awaits the brick; and then.
      South Holland.                                                   the church will have taken shape. It is rumored that
          Our Forbes, North Dakota church requested col-
      lections in the churches to assist in paying for the             this building will incorporate some unique character-
      parsonage and church they recently acquired.  Classis            istics, but this will be reported when it is finished.
      granted the request.                                                                       ***
         One consistory requested approval for the second                 The Ladies' Circle of the Society for P.R. Second-
      step of censure, which was also granted.                         ary Education sponsored a lecture featuring Prof. H.
         The next session (the regular March meeting) will             Hanko as speaker. His topic, "Prot. Ref. Education -
      `be held in Edgerton,  .Minnesota.  To replace Rev. G.           Unique Enterprise" was treated under three points:
      Van  Baren  as stated clerk,  Classis elected Rev. D.            its Basis, its Character and its Advantage. The basis
      Engelsma.    In the future, all classical materials must
      be sent to his address: 750 Jefferson, Loveland, Colo-           was that knowledge should be treated, not as a collection
      rado.                                                            of bare facts, but as a revelation of the God of Creation.
         Classis  adjourned at 9 P.M., and Rev. J.A. Heys              The character of our teaching would be shown by the
      closed with prayer.                                              goals for which we strive-that knowledge is for
                                    G. Van  Baren,  stated clerk.      knowledge's sake, to learn to know God. The advantage
                                 *  *  *                               we may expect is to produce "wise children" as they
      Randolph, Wise.,  has called Rev. J. Kortering, of               are described in the Book of Proverbs. Special numbers
Hull, Iowa, to be their minister. The trio also included               on the program were singing by Mr. and Mrs. C.
the Revs. R.C. Harbach and G. Lanting.                                 Jonker, by the Hope Heralds, and an organ-piano duet
                                 * *  rk                               by the Misses Mary and Ellen Kregel.
      The Reformed Witness Hour has scheduled Rev. J.                                            * * *
I<ortering, of Hull, Iowa, for the last two Sundays in                    Did  you kmw that Mrs. C. Hanko, Redland's pastor's
October and the first two in November. On Oct. 24                      wife, has improved to the extent that she might ac-
Rev. Kortering's sermon will be on, "The Gift of                       company her husband on a classical appointment to
Faith" (Eph. 2:8); and on Oct. 31 the text of Phil. 4:8                Lynden, Wash. ? and, that Mrs. Heys, wife of South
will be exegeted under the theme, "The Communion of                    Holland's pastor, has submitted to back surgery and
Saints". Remember that copies of all the radio ser-                    has returned home, and is "as well as can be ex-
mons may be had by writing to The Reformed Witness                     pected" ?
Hour, P.O. Box 1230, Grand Rapids, 1 Mich.                                . . . . . . see you in church                   J.M.F.


