                                                    ._
                                    IIe

                              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: Israel Rejects Their King

    Editorial: Publication plans-Progress Report

    Some Interesting Questions (see Question Box)

    The Importance of preaching

    The Significance of the Races in the World (continued)


                                  Volume XLIII/ Number  lO/  February  15, 1967


                                                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER


                                             C O N T E N T S                                                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
Meditation -
   Israel Rejects Their I<ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218            Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August
         Rev. M. Schipper
Editorial  -                                                                                                             Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
   Publication Plans - Progress Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219                                                    Editor- Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
         Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
Question Box -                                                                                                       Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
         Prof. H. C. Hoeksema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, 1842 Plymouth Terrace,  SE., Grand
From Holy Writ -                                                                                                     Rapids, Mich.       49506. Contributions will be limited to 300
   The Book of Hebrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223         words and must be neatly written or typewritten. Copy dead-
         Rev. G. Lubbers                                                                                             lines are the first and fifteenth of the month.
The Church At Worship -                                                                                              All church news items should be addressed  toMr. J. M. Faber,
   The Task Of The Ministry (concluded) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225                                           1123 Cooper, S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
         Rev. G. Vanden  Berg
In His Fear -                                                                                                        Announcements and Obituaries with the $2.00 fee included must
   Doing Good Unto Our Enemies (continued) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227                                           be in by the 5th or the 20th of the month, previous to publication
         Rev. J. A. Heys                                                                                             on the 15th or the 1st respectively.
A Cloud of Witnesses  -                                                                                              All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to
   Jonathan's Covenant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230               Mr. James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S.E.
         Rev. B. Woudenberg                                                                                                            Grand Rapids, Michigan 49.507
The Lord Gave The Word -
   Some Principles of Missions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232                        Renewal: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
         Prof. H. Hanko                                                                                              received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the sub-
Trying The Spirits  -                                                                                                scription to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
   Dispensationalism A Blind Legalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ~ 234                                                  Subscription price: $5.00 per year
         Rev. R. C. Harbach                                                                                              Second Class Postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan
Feature Article -
   The Significance Of The Races In The Word1 . . . . . . . . . . . 236
         Rev. R. C. Harbach
Contribution -
         Prof. H. C. Hoeksema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
News From Our Churches  -
        Mr. J. M. Faber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240





  MEDITATION-


                                          Israel Rejects Their King

                                                                                              by Rev. M.  Schippev


                                         `And it was the pYepavation  of the passovev,  and about the sixth hour: and
                                 he saith unto the Jews, Behold  your King! But they  cried  out, Away with him,
                                 cmLcify  him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify  youv King? The chief
                                 priests answered, We have no king but  Caesav.   Then delivered he him  theve-
                                 fore  unto them to be  crucified."                                                                            John  19:14-P6a

   Behold the man!                                                                                                   such an impotent figure could hardly be royalty that
   That is what Pilate said when he had brought Jesus                                                                could command respect.
forth before in an attempt to have Him released. Then                                                                    But the people failed to fall for Pilate's trick! Under
Jesus appeared battered and bruised, wearing a crown                                                                 the direction of the chief priests a chorus of voices
of thorns and the faded soldier's robe, and holding the                                                              cried out: Crucify him, crucify him!
flimsy reed in His hand as a sceptre. Pilate had                                                                         Behold your King !
mocked His kingly office, showing to the people that                                                                    That is what Pilate said when he saw that there was


                                               THESTANDARDBEARER

no possibility left to escape rendering the verdict that     of God, the royal seed of David should produce the King
Jesus must be crucified.           Now Jesus appears once    that should sit on the throne of David forever.
more, no longer wearing the crown of thorns and the             But consider the evil of the wickedness of those who
faded soldier's robe, but in His own apparel. Now            feigned to be religious while they were rejecting not
Pilate is no longer mocking His kingly office, but           only the blood of the atonement but also the Royal Son
ridiculing the Jews.                                         of David, their proper King!
   Shall I crucify your King?                                   And he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
   There was a sting in that question!                           But they cried out, Away with him, away with him,
   Not especially directed against the Lord, though He       crucify him !
continues to bear the brunt of their mockery, but               A complete rejection! It was, first of all, their way
directed especially against the Jews who weredemand-         of expressing their bitter hatred for their King. For He
ing Jesus' crucifixion!                                      was their King, whether they would acknowledge Him
   Shall I crucify your King? Is that what you want me       or not!       What the Wise Men acknowledged through
to do? He is your King, is He not? Who ever heard of         faith, they without faith rejected! The former came
such a ridiculous thing, that a people would desire the      from the far East with the question on their lips:
crucifixion of their king?                                   Where is He. that is born, King of the Jews? and they
   And the chief priests again supply the answer!            fell down and worshipped, presenting unto Him gifts
   We have no king but Caesar!                               befitting Royalty.       But the latter, when they see the
   Israel rejects their  I<ing!                              King, the very I<ing Whom God had appointed to deliver
                            * *  *                           them from all the hosts of darkness, would have Him
   Awful fact!                                               cast out of their sight. Verily they said, Let Him be
   It must not escape our notice concerning the time         hanged on a tree where it can be seen that He is not
mentioned in this sacred record. It is quite significant     wanted, neither by heaven nor by earth. Let Him be
that John records here that it was the preparation of        as a thing that is accursed!
the Passover, and that it was about the sixth hour. This        Secondly, they present a complete denial of His
seems to be in conflict with the notices of the other        kingship !
Gospel narrators.        Matthew and Mark both speak of         We have no king but Caesar!
Jesus being on the cross and of the great darkness              This was the answer of the chief priests! The elite,
which was from the sixth to the ninth hour. And Mark         the very best among the people, and the people's
especially says it was the third hour when they              representatives. That it was also the answer of all the
crucified Him. So that the question arises, How can          people is plain from the fact that not one protested
John say it was the sixth hour? while it is evident that     against the voice of their leaders.
Jesus had not even been sentenced. This must evidently          It was, indeed, a case of Israel rejecting their
be explained from their different view-points of time        King !
reckoning.       Matthew and Mark reckon according to                                    * * *
Jewish time. Then when Mark says He was crucified                Despicable sin!
at the third hour, he means nine o'clock in the morning.        The despicableness can best be understood when
And when Matthew and Mark say that from the sixth to         you take note of the parties concerned. On the one
the ninth hour there was great darkness, they mean           hand, there is Israel! That is the church of the old
from twelve to three in the afternoon. But John              dispensation, of course.        The church as it must be
undoubtedly reckons according to the Roman method            viewed organically! It is the church as it developed
of counting time. For them time began at midnight.           from generation to generation, composed of the believers
Then about the sixth hour would mean from six to nine        and their seed. But here manifestly with its corrupt
in the morning.         And the apparent contradiction is    seed in the majority.
resolved.                                                        And what does the church always do when the
   Much more significant, however, is the fact that          majority is corrupt? Exactly what Israel was doing
John informs us that it was the preparation of the           here! All that is holy, just, and good is rejected! God
Passover!                                                    is rejected in favor of the idol. The Word of God is
   Strange parodox, indeed!                                  rejected in favor of the word of the false prophet. The
   At the very moment that the Jew should be preparing       service of God is rejected in favor of the service of
himself religiously and ceremonially, as well as the         their own sinful lusts. The history of Israel is replete
paschal lamb to be used at the feast; we find Pilate         with illustrations of this corrupt conduct. To be sure,
being pushed to prepare and slay the very Lamb of God        also now, under the persuasion of its reprobate element
which taketh away the sin of the world! At the time of       Israel is acting out its natural bent, and substantiating
the morning sacrifice, we hear the cry of the Jews:          the truth expressed later by the Apostle Paul: "and
Crucify Him !                                                were by nature children of wrath, even as others."
   To be sure, it was the proper time on God's                  On the other hand, there was their King!
schedule ! The time when the `shadows must meet the             The promised Messiah! The Prophet Whom Moses
object that caused them. The time when all the little        had predicted the Lord God would raise up. The Priest
lambs that had been slain throughout the centuries           Who would appear, not according to the order of Aaron,
must find their fulfillment in the Lamb to which they        but the Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
pointed. Time, too, it was when, according to the plan       The King Whom the daughter of Zion and the daughter


220                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

of Jerusalem should behold: Who is just, and having             should die for that nation. And not for that nation only,
salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a            but that also he should gather together in one the
colt the foal of an ass, as they saw Him riding only a          children of God that were scattered abroad."
few days before; and as they had seen Him only mo-                                         * * *
ments before, bowed, and wearing a thorny crown!                   In this  Lenton season, beloved reader, as you and I
    Awful sin!                                                  consider the passion and death of our Saviour, let us
    For it was a denial of the Christ, and a plea for His       not fail to see not only how wicked that rejection was,
blood I                                                         but also that we belong historically to that Israel that
    What Satanic depravity!                                     rejects its King. Israel and the church are one. The
    They were willing that His blood be upon them and           King of Israel is also the King of the church.
their children. Their feet were swift to shed blood,               We also are confronted with Pilate's assertion:
innocent blood. They did not care!                              Behold your King!
    Thus they brought upon themselves a curse! And at              And the question we face is the same that Pilate
the same time sealed their doom as a nation!                    placed before the Jews: What shall I do with Jesus?
    Strangely, it was concerning this latter that the           Shall I crucify your King?
leaders of the Jews with Caiaphas at their head had                What will .your answer be?
previously been so concerned! (John  11:47-53). In                 By nature you can give no different answer than was
council the leaders said: "If we let him (Jesus) thus           given:       Let Him be crucified! We have no king, but
alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans              Caesar!       Let us not exalt ourselves above the re-
shall come and take away both our place and nation."            jectors !
And Caiaphas unwittingly prophesied that it was                    And God moved Pilate to deliver Him unto them to
"expedient that one man should die for the people, and          be crucified!
the whole nation perish not."                                      And here is the wonder of grace!
                                                                   Not that you and I would stand in the midst of the
   Now they had not planned that He should die so               milling mob to protest that sentence! But, beholding
publicly.      They had planned to do away with Him             in Israel's King our Saviour, we will cry out with
secretly, for fear of the people. But God overruled             repentant hearts, Let Him Who is appointed to be our
their plans, and uses their wicked rejection of Israel's        eternal King battle unto death against all the forces of
King in order to destroy the nation, and condemn the            evil that fill our wicked hearts and enslave our de-
world; and at the same time save and redeem His                 praved natures, in order that He may overcome that
people.      They is why the Apostle John continues to          evil, and renew us so completely that we may reign
say: "And this spake he (Caiaphas) not of himself; but          with Him now in principle over sin, and presently with
being high priest that year, he  prophsied that Jesus           Him in His everlasting kingdom!



       EDITORIAL-



                  Publication Plans  - Progress Report

                                                 by  PTof. H. C. Hoeksema


    As our readers all know by this time, "Reformed                3) After all publication costs were met, the treasury
Dogmatics" has come from the press and, at this                 shows a balance (including sales thus far) of $1800,
writing, has been on the market for about a month and           in round numbers.
a half. Here are a few facts and figures:                          Now what is the significance of these facts and
    1) The first printing, of 1000 copies, is  alittle  more    figures?
than one-third sold out.                                           In the first place, our people are lagging about
    2) Of the approximately 350 copies sold, about 200          purchasing the book. I have been told that some of our
were sold to our Protestant Reformed people through             people were reluctant to buy it because theyfeared that
the pre-publication sale and afterwards. Thus, well             the book was too technical and too "deep" for the
under one-third of our families have purchased the book         non-theologian. Let me allay these fears. While it is
thus far.                                                       true that there are passages which are too difficult


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  221

for the non-theologian to "tackle," there are very          about two-thirds as large as "Reformed Dogmatics,"
many long passages of the book which will be extremely      and it will be a commentary in popular form. Many
valuable and helpful to any reader. Besides, there are      have been and are looking forward to this publication.
many texts explained in such a way that they will be        The second project is a one-volume edition of Rev.
valuable to anyone who takes the time to study. And         Hoeksema's exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism.
there is a textual index to help in looking up the text     Four of the ten volumes are already out of print, and
you are interested in; and there is a subject index. I      we receive continual inquiries about this valuable work.
have it on the testimony of several "lay" purchasers        We have already obtained the copyright to this  ten-
already, that they have found the book very useful,  -      volume set from the Eerdmans Company; and our hopes
more useful than they had expected,  - and that they        are that we can proceed with this project soon after
look forward to making good use of it for Bible study       the Revelation-project.
for societies, for example. Several of our ministers           Our publication fund, however, is intended to be  self-
have stated also that people should realize how valuable    sustaining. Now that the original fund has been collected,
the book could be to them. Hence, if you have been          proceeds from the  sale of one publication must finance
hesitating for this reason, don't!                          the next publication.
   In the second place, in more of our churches the            This means that we cannot proceed with our next
good example of the Men's Society of one of our con-        project until we have sold more "Reformed Dogmatics"
gregations could be. followed.        They appointed an     and thus have sufficient funds on hand to make our next
enterprising member to contact the people of the con-       publication financially feasible.      The sooner this
gregation, with the result that about 80% purchased the     happens, the sooner the committee will proceed.
volume. If this example were followed everywhere, we           The moral of the story? Your purchase of "Re-
would have sold about 500 copies in our churches. How       formed Dogmatics" will not only bring you a worth-
about it? The society season is  stillon! Which society     while volume, but it will also hasten the publication
in your church will follow this example?                    of "Behold, He Cometh!"
   At any rate, get your order in soon! The price is
$14.95 postpaid. The address is: R.F.P.A., P.O. Box         Editor's  Note:
2006, Grand Rapids, Mich. 49501.                               Due to an abundance of extra copy, the editorial
   There is another aspect to this progress report.         department is drastically abbreviated for this issue,
   As reported before, the Permanent Committee for          and some of the regular departments have been omitted.
the Publication of Protestant Reformed Literature has       This also serves to give our readers a bit of a change
two more ambitious projects on tap. The first is the        of diet. Incidentally, department editors are hereby
publication of the late Rev. Herman Hoeksema's              asked to adhere to their regular schedule of writing,
complete commentary on the Book of Revelation under         unless notified to the contrary. Your editor prefers
the title "Behold, He Cometh!" This will be a volume        a surplus to a shortage of copy.



                                            Questisn Box

                                            by  Pyof.  H. C. Hoeksema

   From brother N.D., of Byron Center,  Mich. I have           Secondly, I would suggest that the liturgical practice
received two unrelated questions with a request to          of the reading of the Decalogue has the same sound
answer them in the Standard Beaver.                         reasons behind it as are given in Question and Answer
Question No. 1                                              115 for the preaching of the Law: "First, that all our
   "Why is the Law read in our churches every Sun-          lifetime we may learn more and more to know our
day?" The brother adds: "Question No. 1 I ask be-           sinful nature, and thus become the more earnest in
cause when we have a visiting preacher, the Law is          seeking the remission of sin, the righteousness in
read as we find it in Ex. 20 or Deut. 5, but when we        Christ; likewise, that we constantly endeavor and pray
have our own minister he says, `Let us read the Law         to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, that we may
as we find it in Question 92 of our Heidelberg Cat-         become more and more conformable to the image of
echism  - as being our rule for our life of thankful-       God, till we arrive at the perfection proposed to us,
ness.' "                                                    in a life to come.
Reply No. 1                                                    In the third place, if your minister introduces the
   First of all, the Law, of course, is no different in     reading of the law with the interpretive statement
the Heidelberg Catechism than in Exodus 20 and Deut-        which you mention, he is, of course, in harmony with
eronomy 5. Our Catechism, in fact, mentions. these          the second reason given in Catechism above. More-
passages as references in the 92nd Question and             over,  he is in harmony with the liturgical practice of
Answer.                                                     many in the Reformed churches from the time of the


222                                             THE STANDARD BEARER

Reformation forward. Many others', however, also in                    3. The question presents the hypothetical case (but
the Reformed line, tended to emphasize the first reason        nevertheless a very really possible case) of a man who
given by our Catechism as the reason for the reading           reveals himself as an enemy of God and as an enemy
of the Law. Besides, there has been variation in the           of me personally at the same time, and the apparent
Reformed churches as to  when  the Law should occur            paradox of the necessity of loving and hating the same
in the service (before or after the sermon) and as to          individual at the same time.
whether the Law should be read by the minister or sung                 4. I would suggest the following with a view to a
by the congregation, etc.       A complete survey of this      solution of this problem:
subject would not be possible here, however interesting                   a. The love of our own enemies required in
and worthwhile it might be.                                    Matthew 5:44, 45 cannot be a bond of fellowship between
   In the fourth place, for myself I  ,prefer  to save any     the wicked and the perfect in Christ. This love, there-
interpretive statements for the preaching of the law           fore, must needs ,be onesided; and it will manifest itself
and to limit myself as far as liturgical practice is           in rebuking our enemy and demanding that he forsake
concerned      to the simple      and always impressive        his wicked way, walk in the light, and thus have fellow-
introductory statement: "I am the Lord thy God, which          ship with us, in the meantime not returning evil for
hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the         evil, reviling for reviling, but repaying evil with good,
house of bondage."       Here the Lord Himself, as the         etc.
covenant God of our salvation (Jehovah  thy  God!)                        b. This very manifestation of the love of Christ.
addresses His Law to His saved people (redeemed and            will reveal itself as a holy hatred for God's sake of
delivered out of the house of bondage). Although this          that same man as he manifests himself as hating,
is old dispensational language, it is clear in its             reviling, and taking  God's  name in vain and as tram-
significance for us of the new dispensation.                   pling God's commandments under foot. The child of God
   However, in our churches there is agoodlymeasure            will not help the ungodly in his wicked purposes and
of freedom as to liturgical practice, even though, of          deeds against God and will not make common cause
course, also the order of worship is subject to the            with one who is an enemy of God, as, for instance,
determination and supervision of the consistory. Your          Jehoshaphat did with Ahab (II Chronicles 19:2). On the
pastor is exercising this freedom in his practice and          contrary, he will burn with holy wrath against his un-
I would assume that this practice has the approval,  -         godliness and against his wicked devices against God.
or, at least, not the disapproval,  - of your consistory.                 c. This is not only basically a matter of grace
The above, therefore, is not to be interpreted as              (so that only the Christian, who has himself been saved
criticism of either your pastor or your consistory.            by the power of sovereign love and tasted God's love
Question No. 2                                                 can do this), but it also requires muchgrace to practice
   "I read and hear off and on that we must love our           this. We are by nature inclined to hate our own enemies
enemies, but hate God's. That being the case, there            and to love God's enemies; and we as Christians easily
are very few people I must love, because every unre-           follow that inclination of our old nature and easily
generated person is an enemy of God. My question is:           deceive ourselves that we are hating God's enemies
suppose now, that my enemy is an unregenerated per-            while actually we are hating our own enemies. Is not
son, what must I do then, hate him and love him at the same    this also a prime reason for the prayer which concludes
time, or is it altogether wrong to say that we must            Psalm 139: "Search me, 0 God, and know my heart:
hate God's enemies?"                                           try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any
Reply No. 2                                                    wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting?"
   I will not give an extensive answer to this question           Once more: call again, brother  N.D., if, after you
because the Rev. Heys is writing on this subject in            have read the above and followed Rev. Heys's writings,
"In His Fear." (cf. the present issue and the Feb. 1           you still have questions.
issue)    Hence, I will make a few brief remarks, and             Thanks, too, for activating our Question Box.
if brother N.D. has any remaining problems, he is                                           * * *
welcome to write in again. My remarks are as follows:             From L.W., of Spokane, Washington, I received a
   1. The last suggestion of N.D. is ruled out by              few questions as a result of some earlier, private
Scripture itself. Psalm 139: 19-22; II Chronicles  19:2;       correspondence.        Part of these questions concern the
and James 4:4 should be sufficient proof of this.              Rev. Harbach's writings on dispensationalism. I think
   2. We must carefully distinguish between God's              I know what the Rev. Harbach means and what he would
enemies and our own personal enemies. The former               answer; but since each department editor is responsible
are described in terms of Psalm 139 as "bloody men"            for his own writings, I shall refer these questions to
and men who "speak against thee (God) wickedly" and            him.       Undoubtedly he will answer in a future issue.
those who "take thy name in vain," and "those that             One question, however, I can answer immediately.
rise up against thee." The latter are described in             Brother L.W. writes:
Matthew 5 as those who  "curse you...hate  you...despite-              "You wrote in your letter that: `We hold that any
fully use you, and persecute you." (vs. 44) In the             baptism administered by an ordained minister under the
former case,. therefore, it is a matter of God's law,          authority of a church and administered according to the
God's sovereignty, God's name, God's honor; in the             Trinitarian formula is a valid baptism.' As you un-
latter case it is a matter of our own person, name,            doubtedly know, the word `baptism' is ambiguous,
honor, etc.                                                    having different meanings in various denominations.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   223.

(Here follows a quotation from Dr. Thomas Smyth, a            pleased to hear that we have an interested subscriber
Presbyterian, who maintains that sprinkling and pouring       in Spokane, Washington.
are the only proper method of baptism. H.C.H.)                   As to your question about immersion, the following:
   "The logical conclusion to draw from the quotation            1) It is entirely possible that the original word for
from Dr. Smyth is that any so-called `baptism' per-           baptism  in the Bible signifies "to dip, to immerse."
formed by any other mode than sprinkling or pouring           On the other hand, Reformed churches generally hold
is  unBiblica1. Since sprinkling and pouring are the only     that immersion is not the  necessary method of baptism,
methods of baptism described in the Bible, and as the         but that sprinkling or pouring are equally as proper.
Bible. is of absolute and final authority both as to faith       2) The more common objection is not against im-
and to practice, therefore, those so-called `baptisms         mersion, but against sprinkling or pouring. There are
by immersion' administered by such groups as Baptist,         many churches who insist upon immersion to the
Christian andMissionary  Alliance, and Plymouth Breth-        exclusion of sprinkling or pouring, but comparatively
ren are absolutely invalid.     Does not the Protestant       few who insist on sprinkling or pouring to the exclusion
Reformed Churches have the same view of baptism as            of immersion.
that of Dr. Thomas Smyth?         If any member of any           3) The official position of the Protestant Reformed
`immersionist' denomination was converted to the              Churches does not exclude immersion, and our churches
theological position represented by the Protestant            would not refuse to recognize as valid a baptism by
Reformed Churches, he or she would have to be                 immersion. That this is indeed our official position is
`baptized for the first time', since it is one of the         plain from the italicized words in the following sentence
doctrines of the Protestant Reformed Churches that            from our "Form for the Administration of Baptism":
`immersion' is not Christian baptism. Is the above            "This,  the dipping in,  or sprinkling with water teaches
your correct theological position?"                           us, whereby the impurity of our souls is signified, and
Reply                                                         we admonished to loathe, and humble ourselves before
   Welcome to our Question Box, brother L.W., and             God, and seek for our purification and salvationwithout
thank-you for your interest in our magazine. Undoubt-         ourselves." The practice in our churches, however, is
edly many of our readers will be surprised as well as         baptism by sprinkling.




  FROM HOLY WRIT-



                           The Book Of Hebrews  -

                                                  by Rev. G. Lubbers


THE THINGS SPOKEN TBR  0 UGH ANGELS                              What a majestic sight this was! Did not Israel fear
STEADFAST AND SURE Hebrews  2:2 (Continued)                   and quake before it, and evenMoses  said "I exceedingly
   It is true that Exodus 19 tells us nothing concerning      fear and tremble"? The whole desert range of moun-
the presense of the angels at the law-giving to Moses         tains was lit up with the light of heaven's glory, even
and Israel at Sinai. But from this silence of the sacred      from mount Seir in the south to mount  Paran in the
record it cannot be concluded that the angels were not        north, a distance of 150 miles. And He came with the
present.    For in Deuteronomy33 we read of the bless-        ten thousands of His saints. We agree with Calvin and
ing wherewith Moses blessed the children of Israel            many others that the "saints" here must be translated
before his death.    Here Moses is designated as "the         the "holy ones," that is, the holy angels. It was in the
man. of God," which is an official title.         And the     midst of the holy angels, the messengers of His throne,
starting-point of this blessing is what God did in the        that Jehovah appeared on Sinai. And God had the fiery
law-giving at Sinai.     The language is poetical and         oracles in his right hand. It is the law which  is.the
lofty, it is the loftiness of a Psalm in which we have        rule for life and faith of redeemed Israel. It was for
portrayed the appearance of God at Sinai, together with       the people which He loved. And the people sat down at
the myriads of angels; it was the great moment in             the feet of God to hear this law! (Deuteronmy  33:1-4)
Israel's history when God gave his Ten Words and all          This is the law-giving to  whit h Stephen refers in his
the law and the prophets which depend upon it. (Mat-          apology before the Sanhedrin in Acts  7:52, where he
thew 22:40).                                                  accuses the adulterous Israel of their spiritual  infidel-


                                               THE  STANDARD  BEARER

ity in these words "who have received the law by the           of Israel's wanderings in the desert. Just one instance
disposition of angels, and have not kept it." And Paul         out of many will suffice to make this abundantly clear.
speaks of this great event at Sinai in the letter to the       We refer to Deuteronomy  4:9 "Only take heed to thy-
Galatians when he writes "and it (the law,  G.L,) was          self, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the
ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator." (Gala-          things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart
tians  3:19b) Moses could not receive this law directly        from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them
from the hand of God. God wrote it with His own finger         thy sons and thy son's sons, specially the day that thou
in Divine glory, (a glory before which even the angels         stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the
cover. their faces) and give it to angels to put into          LORD said unto me, gather me the peopletogether, and
Moses' hand to carry it down the mountain to the people        I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to
of Israel. It was, in a sense, a word which was spoken         fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth,
from afar. Moses is not the mediator of God and man,           and that they may teach their children...." Compare
but rather a messenger who gave the law to Israel. The         Deuteronomy  4:15, 23;  11:16;  12:13, 19, 30.
law was given through Moses, but grace and truth be-               Surely Israel needed to be warned that they depart
came a tested reality through Jesus Christ (John  1:17)        not from the word spoken through angels, lest this
    And this law, given by angels in the hands of a            word prove to be stedfast even in their own disobedi-
mediator, is called the "word" given by angels; it is          ence and transgression in departing from the living
not the great salvation itself. Nevertheless, it was a         God. For our God withthefieryoracles is a consuming
"word" which became steadfast.  (egeneto bebaios)              fire !
That it became steadfast means that it waspyoved  sure
in history.       It was a steadfast and reliable word in      A WARNING BY COMPARISON AND CONTRAST
itself, since it was spoken by God who cannot lie, but         Hebrews 2:3-4
this reliable word proved to be stedfast by God each               The writer to the Hebrews continues his warning
time that Israel departed from the way of the Lord,            and exhortation that we shall give the most earnest
carried away to dumb idols and to the abominations of          heed to the things heard. By the "things heard" he
the heathen.        (See Westcott's  "The Epistle To The       indicates the "so great salvation" which is ours in
Hebrews,"  page 38, where he writes the following              Christ Jesus. Able scholars and exegetes as Delitzsch
". ..not only was  assured,  confivmed  by some external       and Westcott call attention to the fact that the term
authority; but it was, as it were, vindicated by its own       "gospel" is not found in the book of Hebrews. This
claims m      There is in the divine law a self-executing      is corroborated by a reference such as Young's  Ana-
power.       .It confirms itself") The divine sanction of      lytical  Concordance.    And the things heard are ever
Sinai's law was proven in the maintaining of it in             connected with the concept "preached." (Hebrews 4:
history.     And these lessons of history the church must      4, 2, 6) and the things "spoken." (Hebrews  2:2, 3;
observe, which were written for us as an example, lest         3:5)
we walk in the same unbelief. (I Corinthians 10~11, 12)            It is by way of contrast, first of all, that our writer
Paul refers in I Corinthians lO:l-13 to what happened          underscores the need of our giving heed to the salvation
to Israel at the worshipping of the golden calf, (Exodus       in Christ. Here we do not merely have a word spoken
32:6)  and to what happened to Israel when they were at        by angels, but we have a salvation which is ours in the
Baal-Peor, where there fell three and twenty thousand          LORD himself, our Lord Jesus Christ. Here is the
in one day. All of Israel's history and their unbelief         contrast between the law given through Moses and
attests to the mighty fact, that the word spoken through       grace and truth which came through Jesus Christ.
angels proved to be stedfast.                                      Both what God spoke through angels at Sinai and
    So stedfast did the law, spoken by angels, prove to        what He performs in Christ in "these last days" in
be that "every transgression and disobedience received         Christ's death, resurrection and ascension at God's
a just recompense of reward. Two facts of sin are              right hand are sure and stedfast. They are two manners
here articulated. Transgression  (pavabasis)   was the         of speaking which are related as type and reality. Now
actual transgression, the positive sins and overt acts;        if the shadow of things.must  be given earnest heed and
disobedience was the root of it. It was a failing to give      be taught to the children and children's children, how
heed to the word spoken by God through angels. But             much more must we give earnest heed to the  gate of
each of these received a just recompence of reward,            God which has been preached to us in Christ.
that is, there is an "absolute correspondence" between             For this which we have heard in these last days has
the punishment and the trangression. The question was          reference to  U.S.  We  must give heed, for the kingdom
not: who perpetrated the misdeed; the sole question            of God has come upon us. Did not the Lord himself
was: what was the transgression. For a just retribu-           begin to speak these things on earth. He did not speak
tion corresponds to a rule.        And the recompence of       them from a fiery mountain; yet, speak he did, in
reward shows that it is an exact requital of good and          prose, and he spoke as one having authority. Never a
evil by the righteous Judge in His divine sovereignty.         man spake as he did. Such was the testimony even of
    Wherefore the children of God in the Old Testament         the enemies who did not obey him. In Mark  1:14 we
dispensation were always and again exhorted to give            read "Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus
earnest heed to the things spoken by God through               came into Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom
angels  D    It is the key-note of Moses in the entire book    of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the king-
of Deuteronomy (Second law-giving) in the fortieth year        dom of God is at hand: repent ye and believe the


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   225

gospel."      It might be objected that John the Baptist     powers were "divers." The term translated in KJV
also preached the kingdom as being at hand, but it must      "divers" is  rrpoikilaisr' in the Greek. Twice this term
be remembered that John  was  but the forerunner who         is translated "manifold" in the New Testament, but
pointed to the Christ. However, Jesus began to preach        more often it is translated "divers." The idea of
that the kingdom of God is come in him. He is the Son        what is manifold is: a whole consisting of many and
of God,  Immanuel,  God-with-us. He opened the eyes          diverse elements. Thus the wisdom of God in  Ephe-
of the blind, caused the lame to walk, the deaf to hear,     sians  3:lO is called "manifold wisdom of God." Here,
and the poor were preached glad-tidings of the for-          however, the signs, wonders and power are diverse.
giveness of sins. Without Christ there would not have        The idea of diversity implies both contrast and dis-
been a beginning.      God spoke in these last times in      tinctiveness  D    Each sign was distinct from the other
Christ.     God was in Christ reconciling the world unto     and stood out in marked contrast. They did not all
Himself. God spoke unto us  tlzyough`the  Lord.              come together in one grand blur, but each had a dis-
   And these very things which the apostles heard him        tinctive message in connection with the mysteries of
speak, and the signs which they saw him perform, and         the kingdom.
the death and resurrection and ascension which they              Besides, they were not man-wrought signs and
had witnessed as eye-and ear-witnesses, were made            powers, but they were wrought by the Holy Spirit who
sure and stedfast to us by them.       And God was with      distributes to each as He wills.        It was the active
them accompanying their preaching with signs and             exercise of the Divine will of the Holy Spirit of God.
wonders. (Compare Mark  16:20; Romans  15:s.)                When Peter and John command the man, who was born a
   The writer mentions: signs,  wonders  and  divers         cripple, to walk at the gate of the temple, this miracle
powers.      Perhaps we can say that there is here a         did not have its origin in Peter, but in the exercise of
progression from that which is most strikingly visible       the Divine will, as a distribution of the Spirit. And thus
to that which is most decisively inward in these signs       God confirmed their word and opened the eyes and ears
and wonders.      "Signs" are ever something visible to      of the people in Jerusalem, even causing a Gamaliel
the eye, while "wonders" refers to the effect these          to say: Let us let them go lest we be fighting against
have upon those beholding them, and "powers" refers          God. (Acts  5:39) It was a distinct sign, divers from
to the inward ability of God in them, demonstrating          others, wrought by the Spirit according to God's active
that surely nothing is impossible with God. And these        will.



  THE CHURCH AT  WORSHIP-



                          The Task Of The Ministry

                                                   (concluded)

                                               by Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg


   The last part of the Ordination Form for ministers        open and shut, with the keys of the kingdom of heaven,
of the Word reads as follows:                                committed to them, according to the charge given them
   "Finally, it is the duty of the Ministers of the Word,    by God."
to keep the Church of God in good discipline, and to            In our last article we questioned whether the task of
govern it in such a manner as the Lord hath ordained;        exercising Christian discipline in the church belongs,
for Christ having spoken of the Christian discipline,        strictly speaking, to the office of the ministry of the
says to his apostles, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth      Word.     That it belongs to the office of the elders is
shall be bound in heaven.        And Paul will have the      evident from both Scripture and the Form for Ordina-
ministers to know how to rule their own house, since         tion of elders. They are the overseers who are called
they otherwise neither can provide for, nor rule the         to watch over God's heritage.          The office of the
Church of God. This is the reason why the pastors are        ministry of the Word, on the other hand, corresponds
in Scripture called stewards of God, and bishops, that       more with the function of Christ in the church that is
is, overseers and watchmen, for they have the over-          prophetic, the teaching and preaching of the Word.
sight of the house of God, wherein everything may be         However, there is really no difficulty here if we keep
transacted with good order and decency; and also to          in mind the fact, first, that no single individual in the


226                                                 THE  STANDARD  BEARER
                                               .

     church, be he minister or elder, wields the power to                "The first question is: `Whether thou  feelest   inthey
discipline       and excommunicate from the Christian              heart that thou art lawfully called of God's Church, and
`Church. This power Christ gives to the consistory, the            therefore of God himself, to this holy ministry?' From
body chosen and called to exercise ruling power over               this question it is evident that the Reformed Churches
the church. In the second place, within that body there            place all the emphasis on the calling. The question is
is unavoidably a certain overlap of functions, as we               not: dost thou feel in thy heart the great significance of
have seen last time. And, finally, as the Form quoted              the favorable outcome of thy examination? Not even:
     above also clearly indicates, the purpose of good             dost thou feel in thy heart the high significance
discipline in the church is always "to govern it in such           of      this     thy    ordination.    But: dost thou feel in
     a manner as the Lord hath ordained." All things in the        thy heart the great significance of the fact that
     church must be maintained in subjection to the Word           thou      art     lawfully    called by God's church, and
     of Christ. Since the office of the ministry of the Word       therefore by God himself to this holy ministry. For the
has to do primarily with the Word, it follows that the             intent of this question certainly is not to inquire whether
function of discipline would in part pertain also to this          he is convinced that everything in connection with his
     office, even though it must also be maintained that the       call was conducted legally. Of this no doubt can be left
primary function of the disciplinary actions of the                at this time any more. In that case it would have been
     church must proceed from the elders. Then there is            better that the question had been directed to the con-
     no conflict, but there is a harmonious working to-            gregation, or rather, to the consistory.            No, this,
     gether to maintain good order and decency in accord           whether thou  feelest  in thy heart, assures us that the
with the Word of God.                                              form has in mind not a purely intellectual certainty
                                                                   about the objective transaction of a certain matter,
                                                                   but something that is embraced by faith and is felt in
                     THE LITURGICAL PART                           the heart as a lively consciousness: dost thou feel in
        In the actual ordination ceremony there are two            thy heart the significance of this voice of God, the
     things that must be noted. First, we must consider            congregation as the voice of God? Dost thou feel in
     the questions that are asked of the person to be ordained     thy heart, since thou art lawfully called of God's
     and, secondly, we take note of the ceremony of the            church, thou art called of God Himself? Only when
     laying on of hands which is used when the candidate is        thus understood is there good reason for this question,
     initially ordained in office.                                 and need for an affirmative answer. From that answer
        The questions asked of the person to be ordained           it will become evident that he knows himself as one
     in the office of the ministry of the Word are preceded        that is called of God, that he is deeply convinced of
     by this statement of significance:                            the` divine nature of his calling, that he understands
        "Forasmuch, therefore as we (the church), for the          the significance of his ministry as an office that he
maintaining of this office in the Church of God, are now           has to fulfill for Christ's sake, and that therefore it
     to ordain a new minister of the Word, and having              may be expected of him that he will fulfill his office
     sufficiently spoken of the office of such persons,  there-    faithfully and with perseverance, trusting in Him whose
for you, N.N., shall answer to the following questions,            cause it is, and that will with the calling also grant the
which shall be proposed to you, to the end that it may             necessary ability."
     appear to all here present, that you are inclined to                To this translation Rev. Hoeksema then adds the
     accept of this office as above described."                    following remarks:
        The implication is that the church and the minister              "With this interpretation of Heyns we can, -of
     to be have a common conception of the office of the           course, fully agree. Not the ordination, not the examin-
ministry and that they understand the nature and func-             ation, not even the calling by the church, but funda-
     tion of that office as  afore described. The purpose of       mentally God's own calling must induct anyone in the
     the questions is to assure the entire congregation that       ministry of the divine Word. The minister in all his
     the minister to be will accept this office in the church.     labors undoubtedly is in need of the assurance and of
     He is not accepting some invention of his own in the          the deep conviction that he is called by God. If not, he
     church, nor is he being given license to create some          will soon be discouraged, and cannot remain a faithful
position to his own liking. The task he is called to               minister of the Word of God." (Liturgy, Pgs. 22, 23,
     assume has beenclearly defined so that all understand         by H.H.)
what it is to be, and accordingly he is now asked to                     God, therefore, moves the heart of man when he
indicate his willingness to accept this when he answers            calls him to the ministry of the Word. This He does,
the three questions put to him.                                    not in a mystical manner, but through His Church,
-       The first question reads: "I ask thee, whether thou        providing His Church with men as needed, that the
feelest  in thy heart that thou art lawfully called of God's       ministry of the Word may continue to the end of the
     Church, and therefore of God Himself, to this holy            world. The Church institutionally may be destroyed or,
ministry?"                                                         by reason of  apostacy become so corrupt that God
        It is evident that the emphasis in this question falls     removes the light of the candlestick or refrains from
upon the calling, the calling by God Himself. Concerning           calling ministers in the church, but the ministry will
this question Rev. H. Hoeksema furnishes us with a                 continue. God is dependent upon no one. He calls men
translation of the following remarks of Prof. Heyns in             as He wills, and those whom He calls enter upon His
the latter's "Liturgiek,". page 268.                               ministry, and without that calling of God no one can


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    227

become a minister of the Word. One must feel that             the ministry of the Word in the Protestant Reformed
calling strongly to engage faithfully in the work.            Churches and he must then promise to defend the
   The second question asked is: "Whether thou dost           doctrine of these churches and reject all that is re-
believe the books of the Old and New Testament to be          pugnant thereto.
the only Word of God and the perfect doctrine unto               The final question asked is: "Whether thou dost
salvation, and dost reject all doctrine repugnant             promise faithfully to discharge thy office, according to
thereto?"                                                     the same doctrine as above described, and to adorn it
   There are two aspects to this question, a positive         with a godly life: also, to submit thyself, in case thou
and a negative one. Yet the two are inseparable. You          shouldest become delinquent either in life or doctrine,
cannot faithfully adhere to true doctrine without reject-     to ecclesiastical admonition, according to the public
ing all that is repugnant thereto. The truth will harbor      ordinance of the churches?"
no compromise, not in confession nor in life. In the             We observe first of all that this question is very
measure that one flaunts false doctrines and practices,       similar to that which is asked of every member of the
he deviates in confession and life from the true and          church upon their making confession of faith. The
perfect doctrine of salvation. Consistency is indeed a        minister here promises the same thing with respect
jewel that is rarely found. Its price is immeasurable.        to his office and his functioning in that office as we all
The minister of the Word must display the jewel of            promise with respect to our place in the church and
consistency, holding fast to the Word of Life and re-         our entire life as it stands related to that place. Faith-
jecting utterly all that is not in accord therewith.          fulness is pledged before God together with the promise
   Rev. Hoeksema, in this connection, makes the               of submission to discipline in the case of neglect.
observation that this second question "could have been            Secondly, the very question presupposes a calling
more definite, and could have referred to the doctrines       and duty of the church with respect to its minister.
contained in the confessions of the Reformed church."         The supposition is that in case he becomes delinquent
This is no doubt true but not necessary because that          either in life or doctrine, he will be admonished and
which is in the books of Holy Writ is also the material       tried by the ecclesiastical tribunal, to which process of
substance of the Reformed Confessions and if this is          trial he promises to submit.        The church may not
ever proved not to be the case, the minister of the Word      condemn and ostracize a minister without accusation,
must adhere to the former and not the latter. The             admonition and trial, for then there is nothing to which
Confessions may never be held above the Word of God,          he can submit himself in accord  withhis promise. The
equated with it, but always the rule of faith and life is     questions asked of the minister to be ordained are
God's unchangeable Word. And further, if this question        very serious and must be answered in all seriousness,
is to be made more definite, we should then make it           and the church, with equal seriousness, must maintain
even more specific than suggested above and speak of          a normal status so that the promises  mademay  also be
the doctrines contained in the confessions of the Re-         preserved.
formed Church as interpreted by our Protestant Re-               To all of this the minister to be ordained answers:
formed Churches. The candidate is being ordained in           Yes, truly, with all my heart.




         IN HIS  FEAR-



                         Doing Good Unto Our Enemies

                                                  continued

                                                  by Rev.  J. A. Heys


   "Bang! Bang! You're dead!"                                     Who thinks of that today? In our atheistic world
   So our children play; and so we teach them to play.        who gives any thought to the truth that killing is God's
   But death is no plaything. And although killing has        prerogative and that it expresses the fierceness of His
become an American pastime, death is too awful in             holy wrath against sin? The murderer is lauded as a
itself to be the matter wherewith we amuse ourselves;         hero, and `death is a natural enemy of man which he
and death is God's means of punishing the sinner.             .fights in hospitals and with antibiotics, surgical tools


  228                                          THESTANDARDBEARER

  and oxygen tents. Whoever thinks today that to con-           a plaything?      But since the day that we wrote those
  quer death and disease that leads to death a change of        lines - and how time flies and sin develops ! -we have
  our legal status before God must be realized? Who             entered the television age when every night, and per-
  looks to the cross for deliverance from death? Men            haps as a dessert upon a daytime meal of murder, in
 will look to Him Who died on that cross for social             countless numbers even of covenant homes, killing is
  improvement.      They will quote His "Golden Rule"           sought  fov amusement!      We create an appetite -the
  even while they spurn His command,  "Labour not for           world does -for murder, and then call our children
  the meat that perisheth, but for the meat that endureth       insane when they act according to that appetite ! But
 unto everlasting life, which the Son of God shall give         God is not mocked; and what we sow we also reap.
 unto you: for Him hath the Father sealed." John  6:27.            .A pastime, according to Webster is "that which
  And they will kill each other to get that bread that          amuses or makes time pass agreeably; diversion; rec-
  perisheth.     They will perish striving for the bread        reation." How awful! no matter which of the three
  that perisheth and bar their fellowmen from the shop          variations of meaning you choose. Amuse ourselves
 by their godless unions, and still hail this Christ as         with death? Seek God's curse upon mankind for diver-
 The Great Social Reformer! Were He to return to this           sion? Diversion from what? Seek  amore awful degree
 world and apply for a job in one of our closed shops,          of the curse for the phase that is bothering us at the
  He would be refused and called ascab! Yea, they would         moment? Refresh our spirits with death? When under
  quote His own words and hurl them in His teeth and            the curse we languish and suffer) shall we seek that
 kill Him all over again.         He would be accused of        which the curse ultimately brings to every man here
 hypocrisy and fraud. Would He, as He surely would,             below for a reviving of our souls? Shall we play with
  refuse to join them in their riots and murders and            death?
  coercion and cruelty, they would accuse Him of not                But these are the plays on television and in the
_ living up to those words of that "Great Social Re-            movie that get the highest rating. Murder and adultery
 former" Who said, "Come unto me all ye that  labour            form the warp and woof of all the entertainment of the
  and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew       world, as even the titles will show. Walk down an aisle
  11:28.     And men would laud them for killing Him all        where the paperback books are lined up-hundreds of
 over again.                                                    them. Scan the titles and observe the pictures. You
     But we said, and we mean every word of it, that            will see what entertains America. Look for only a few
 killing is an American pastime.         No, that does not      moments in the TV and Radio sections of department
 mean that we all practice murder with gun and knife            stores where there are a dozen or more television sets
 or poison and gas. There surely is plenty of that in           on at a time with several programs. You see murder
 our land. The murderer is bold  inour land today. And          and sexuality in full color. And what was that written
 he will become bolder because he is defended and the           by the Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Romans? "Not
 victim and his relatives are forgotten as far as justice       only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do
 is concerned. Killing in cold blooded murder is not            them." The heroes of the world today are murderers,
 looked upon any more as murder, but as the actions             filthy  ,adulterous entertainers. Instead of condemning
 of an insane mind.      "Envy, hatred, anger and desire        all this playing with murder, instead of pointing out the
 of revenge," which the Heidelberg Catechism present            evil of it all to their children, many parents sit down
 as the causes of murder, are simply symptoms of a              with their children to enjoy it and to converse with them
  "sick" mind.      There is no such thing as sin anymore.      about these heroes of the world instead of Scripture's
 There are social injustices and crimes against society,        "heroes of faith."
 but they are due to mental disturbances rather than                But, as we wrote, killing is God's prerogative, and
 spiritual depravity. Where is Evolution? The beast             it is His means of punishing the sinner.          For that
 kills in cold blood. We expect it from him. Has the            reason not all killing is breaking the `fifth command-
 man who "evolved" out of this class of killers to              ment.      He has given the sword to the authorities to
 become a social being somehow begun to devolve so              wield in His name.       Killing our enemies is always
 that he is on the way back to becoming an ape through          sin; but there are times when wemust kill His enemies
 all the monkey business of mental quirks and temporary         in His name or even in self-defense. And we cannot
 insanity ?                                                     honestly be conscientious objectors and so avoid the
     Sin may by the sinner be ruled out, but it is still        draft. Even though we may think that the war is unjust
 there to plague him. And although he may rule that sin         and unnecessary, that is not a judgment we may make
 out and therefore have no spiritual use for that cross         in order to disobey the authorities who demand our
 of Christ, these sins will still continue to be in the         services.    The hangman may in his heart believe that
 world in increasing intensity and with tragic results          the prisoner is not guilty; but he must execute the
 for him.       What is more, today we are amusing our-         man because the authorities have found that man
 selves with death on every side.        Some years ago,        guilty.    God has not given to the subjects the right to
 perhaps as many as twenty, we wrote in this depart-            decide for the king that the war is unjust and so refuse
 ment about the folly of trying to teach our children,          to obey. If the war is unjust, the guilt of it will be that
 "Thou shalt not kill" and then buy them for Christmas          of the authorities who had declared it and insist on it.
 or for their birthdays toy guns so that they can run around    The soldier in the field who kills at his government's
 and say, "Bang! Bang! You're dead!" Shall we teach             command is not guilty of that sin. But let that soldier
 them to amuse themselves with death? Is it after all           beware lest he kill in personal revenge.      He sees his


                                                   THESTANDARDBEARER                                                                  229

buddies killed and ventures forth to see how many of                    of what actually was not taking place. He means that
the enemy he can kill in retaliation.             God keep our          wars and fighting and killings would increase toward
covenant young men on the battlefield from hatred of                    the end of time as sin develops and as the way is
their own enemies. And may He give them grace to                        prepared for the man of sin. The world knows not how
help the wounded, feed the hungry and conduct them-                     to do good to its enemies, for the world does not know
selves as soldiers of the cross as well as soldiers of                  how to do good unto the living God, Whom they rate
our land.                                                               as their principle enemy! Not loving Him, they cannot
   But here at home as well, how often are we not                       love the neighbour, and surely not the troublesome
careless with the neighbour's life? We see danger and                   neighbour who becomes their enemy.
avoid it for ourselves. But who thinks today of stop-                        But in the church we are taught to expect it and to
ping and removing from the highway the obstacle we                      practice it ourselves.            Paul writes it so beautifully in
barely avoided in the dark, so that the next car will                   Romans  12:19, 20, "Dearly beloved, avenge not your-
not suffer the tragedy we just escaped? No, today, it                   selves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is
is every man for himself. We are not our brother's                      written, Vengeance is mine: I will repay, saith. the
keeper, according to modern thinking. We want to ad-                    Lord.      Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if
vance; and so we do not warn the man with whom we                       he thirst, give him to drink: for in so doing thou shalt
compete of the pitfalls and dangers. Let him learn                      heap coals of fire on his head." And he concludes with
for himself; and to tell him and warn him might cost                    this sound advice in the next verse, "Be not overcome
us that which we covet. And the trouble is that we do                   of evil, but overcome evil with good.`"
not covet righteousness. We are not first of all and                         Of course it must be done with discretion. Many
principally interested in being pleasing in God's sight.                of the enemy that are in need of food you have to give
We are not only grammatically incorrect but also                        food in the literal sense; and many who are thirsty
ethically wrong when our slogan is  - as it usually is  -               may not be given the drink that they desire. Money
"Me First  !"    Paul tells us to esteem others better                  would simply be used for anything but the food that is
than self.. Jesus tells us to love our enemies and to                   needed.       It may be that clothing has to be purchased
do good to those that hate us. And although we are                      for the poor enemy, or else arrangements made to pay
supposed to be a civilized people, and with our lips we                 for what he selects when sizes are not known. But the
at one time say that we hate war and decry violence                     underlying principle is do good.
and bloodshed, we at the same time encourage our
children in what ought to be friendly competitivegames                       Doing good is doing that which God considers to be
of sport and sportsmanship to cheer on their teams                      good. It is doing His will. It is keeping His command-
with such awful cries as "Clobber Them! Butcher                         ment: Thou shalt  .love thy neighbour as thyself! And
Them! Kill `Em! Slay Them and Mow Them Down!"                           it is then also in love rebuking him for his sins and
The game of childhood days that requires a "`Bang!                      enmity against the living God. Material good that you
Bang! You're Dead!" takes on a far more vicious form                    may bestow upon him has but temporary value for the
in later days, and when then these same children get                    flesh.      Be not stingy with spiritual exhortation and
into the business world there  `simply  is no mercy,                    instruction.       If God has blessed you with more of this
compassion at all; and you cannot find the blessed                      earth's goods than that enemy who is in want, feed him
peacemakers but bitter rivals !                                         with bread.           But since God has blessed you with
   In the world you cannot and you must not expect                      spiritual treasures and the knowledge of the truth and
anything different.    You must expect hatred among                     that precious gift of faith, speak to the neighbor of
individuals and nations to increase.              It is utterly         these things spiritual. You may not take from him his
foolish to believe that a malignant tumor left alone is                 natural life, but you have a calling to speak to him
going to improve the body. If not cut out the cancer                    about his spiritual death. A witness of the God Who
will destroy the whole body as it continues to grow.                    saved you from your spiritual death you must always
God has no intention of performing that surgery upon                    be. Do good then to the enemy that despitefully uses
the world. He intends to come with a judgment day to                    you with material gifts; but do him spiritual good as
visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children who                 well by testifying of the salvation God's enemies have
continue in that way and develop that evilmuch  further.                in Christ. Let your love of God shine forth and speak
And when Jesus said that one of the signs of His return                 to the enemy of God's love for you. The enemy may
to execute this judgment is war and rumors of wars,                     reject it all, but you have walked in love towards God
He did not mean false rumors or simply empty rumors                      as one who lives in His fear.


                           Yes, faith is by grace; it is the gift of  God! . . ..it is not superfluous to accentuate
                           this truth. How often this truth is distorted in our day1  How many there are who,
                           even though they do not literally preach that faith is the work of man, leave the
                           impression by their way of preaching, their pleading and begging, that it is in the
                           power of any sinner to believe in Christ whenever he pleases, and to reject Him as
                           he pleases I . .  ..And so they changethewonderwork of God into an arbitrary whim of
                           the sinner's  will1     But it is not so. It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that
                           runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
                                                                        - H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of Grace"


,230                                            THE  STMDARD  BEARER
                                  _

A CLOUD OF  WITNESSES-


                               Jonathan's Covenant

                                                  by Rev. B.  Woudenbevg

                        So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the Lovd
                     even  yequive it at the hand  of David's enemies.
                        And  Jonathan  caused David to swear again, because he loved him:  fov  he
                     loved him as he loved his own soul.
                                                                                   I Samuel  20rl6,  17


        It is hard to imagine a more tender or more              it was not really surprising. Such is the manner of
anguished meeting than that which took place between             love, and Jonathan and David had long been bound to-
David and Jonathan at their secret hiding place in the           gether in a most intimate bond of love. Ever since
fields surrounding the palace of Saul. David had come            David had first come into the palace of Saul, they had
here from Naioth of  Ramah  where he had been with               talked together, played together, lived together, fought
Samuel and where Saul had come seeking his life. Only            together, and above all they had shared together the
by an ecstatic spirit from God which fell upon Saul              deep dedication which both felt to the service of Jehovah
was David spared, and he had come here to the only               their God. It had come to the point that whatever the
hiding place he had ever known. There, in the very               problem might be, they responded to it as one. All
fields where the two young men had so often walked               feeling of competition between them had disappeared,
and hunted and practiced their tactics of war, David             and their hearts were knit together as one. Now the
and Jonathan met. It was as painfully joyful a meeting           problem was David's safety, and Jonathan wanted him
as there could ever be. The two were overjoyed to see            to know that in spite of the vicissitudes of his father,
each other; but their anguish could not be suppressed.           his feelings toward David remained the same.
As he threw himself on Jonathan's shoulder, David                    But if Jonathan had not changed, David had. It was
cried, "What have I done? what is mine iniquity? and             not so much the persecution of Saul that had brought
what is my sin before thy father, that he seeketh my             this about; it had been his visit with Samuel. There,
l i f e ? "                                                      in those few quiet days which he had spent with the old
        Jonathan was fully as troubled as David. There was       prophet, he bad for the first time come to the realiza-
no denying any longer that his father was out to kill            tion that he was ordained to be king some day in Israel.
David; and yet he could not conceive of it  actually             He remembered, of course, how Samuel had come to his
happening. Surely he, Jonathan, the oldest son of Saul           father's home while he was still hardly more than a
and the crown prince of Israel would be able to -prevent         child and had anointed him with holy oil; but somehow
it.      He answered David, "God forbid, thou shalt not          he had never put that together with the office of king.
die: behold, my father will do nothing either great or           It had taken finally the blunt assurance of the old
small, but that he will shew it me: and why should my            prophet to point it out to him; and for David it had not
father hide this thing from me? it is not so."                   been a pleasant experience. He had never wanted to be
        But this reasoning did not hold up.' Saul was never      king.    His ambitions had never run in that direction.
really one to share his intents with anyone, and surely          He had been quite satisfied to think of Jonathan as the
not in this matter where he knew the situation perfectly         next king of Israel and himself perhaps as the com-
well.. This David pointed out, "Thy father certainly             mander of his army. But now  thatwas  all changed. He
know&h that I have found grace in thine eyes; and he             knew that the will of the Lord for them was different.
said, Let, not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved:           He had so hoped that it would make no difference in his
but truly as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth             relationship to Jonathan; but now as they stood there
there is but a step between me and death."                       together, he knew that it did. Jonathan was the same,
        There was no arguing. What David had said was            the same as he had always been with that same over-
undoubtedly true. Utterly crushed, Jonathan could only           whelmingly generous love.       But David standing there
answer, "Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do            with him could not keep himself from feeling as though
it for-thee."                                                    somehow he was betraying his friend. At least, there
 - It ,was surely an amazing thing -for Jonathan to say.         was that inescapable fact that because of him Jonathan's
Here he was, the. son of the king, the crown prince of           future as king in Israel was undermined and destroyed.
the.nation,  and he was offering his life without reserva-       It tore at his heart with a feeling of guilt; and could he
tion to one who was  now~ considered little more than a          be sure that if Jonathan knew, he would not feel the
criminal, a fugitive from the wrath of the king. Still,          same too?


                                             THESTANDARDBEARER                                                    231

   But he couldn't mention it to Jonathan, he couldn't       with my father." It was the most that Jonathan could
mention it.      That would be too mean, too painful.        do, for his words were an oath before God that he would
Returning half-hearredly to their problem, David pro-        deal honestly with David regardless of what the outcome
posed a plan.      "Behold, to morrow is the new moon,"      might be.
he said, "And I should not fail to sit with the  icing at       But Jonathan was ready to go much further than
meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field     this: he was ready to assure David that this oath was
unto the third day at even. If thy father at all miss        made in full consciousness of what lay ahead in the
me, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me that         future for both of them.      It was implied in his last
he might run to Bethlehem his city; for there is a           phrase and he went on to express it even more clearly
yearly sacrifice there for all the family. If he say         by continuing, "And thou shalt not only while yet I live
thus, `It is well'; thy servant shall have peace: but if     show me the kindness of the LORD, that I die not: But
he be very wroth, then be sure that evil is determined       also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house
by him."                                                     forever: no, not when the LORD hath cut off the enemies
   It was a good plan, well conceived to reveal the true     of David every one from the face of the earth."
feelings of Saul.      But David's heart wasn't in this         It was an amazing statement. Withit  Jonathan made
matter.      He was concerned about the feelings of Jon-     perfectly clear that he understood full well that he
athan.     Could he be sure of the love of Jonathan? Was     would never be king of Israel after his father Saul: the
it true that Jonathan suspected nothing as yet? Might        position was David's. It could well have been that he
he also turn against him in the end? In a desperate          had discerned this long before David had himself, and
attempt to find some assurance on this, David went on        maybe even before Saul. He had discerned the fine
to add, "Therefore thou shalt deal kindly with thy           hand of the Lord guiding, preserving, preparing David
servant; for thou has t brought thy servant into a cov-      for a position far greater than David himself had
enant of the LORD with thee: notwithstanding, if there       understood.    What else could it be but the position of
be in me iniquity, slay me thyself: for why shouldest        king in Israel? But for Jonathan this realization held
thou bring me to thy father?"                                no bitterness. He held for himself no personal ambition.
   Jonathan's first reaction was one of complete aston-      His love for David was fully as great as his love for
ishment to think that David might suggest that he would      himself, and above all he was quite willing to be subject
ever keep anything from him or do anything to harm           to the will of his God. Without reservation and with
him. He replied, "Far be it from thee: for if I knew         complete humility, he wanted David to know this. Only
certainly that evil were determined by my father to          one thing troubled him, that was that anything should
come upon thee, then would not I tell it thee?"              come between him and David. He longed for assurance
   It was apparent, however, that this had not gotten        and promise that David would not turn from him either.
through to David. It was not so much from what David         Thus, with all meekness, he asked David to make a
said, for his reply was merely a suggestion that there       covenant with him there in the presence of their God.
might be difficulty in informing him as to Saul's re-           Surely what followed constituted as impressive a
action.      He said, "Who shall tell me? or what if thy     moment as one could imagine. Together they stood in
father answer roughly?" It was inde,ed  quite possible       the field alone; and yet they were not alone for both
that if Saul was still very angry with David, he might       were very conscious of the presence of their God. In
do something to prevent Jonathan from going out to talk      the past they had lived together in a most intimate
to David.      But even as David spoke, it was apparent      relationship of friendship; but now they would have to
that he was still very troubled and concerned about his      go on in separate ways as the will of the Lord would
relationship to Jonathan.                                    lead them.     But before they separated, they stood
   It was then that Jonathan determined to have the          together in the presence of their God to establish a
whole matter out.      He understood the situation much      covenant together -to affirm that regardless of where
better than David realized, and it was time that the two     their separated paths might lead them, they would
of them should come to an understanding between each         remain faithful to their mutual love `and friendship
other. Looking at David, he said, "Come, and let us          forever.
go out into the field."                                         In all of the history of the church of God, there are
   The field into which Jonathan and David went was a        few whose lives shine so radiantly in meekness, love
very familiar place to both of them. Many had been           and faithfulness as does the life of Jonathan. Here
the hours and days which they had spent walking and          was a man who was born a prince, who was raised to
talking together there.      It had been the setting for     be a king, who had every reason to expect to receive
some of their most precious memories. There, in the          the highest position in the land; yet he saw it all slip
middle of that field, Jonathan stopped, and speaking to      away and given into the `hands of another without a
both David and to their God, he said, "0 LORD God of         complaint.     In fact, in that hour there was only one
Israel, when I have sounded my father about tomorrow         thing that concerned him -that his friendship and love
any time, or the third day, and, behold, if there be good    with the one who displaced him should not be disrupted.
toward David, and I then send not unto thee, and shew        There is an amazing beauty to I Samuel  20:17 when it
it thee; the LORD do so and much more to Jonathan:           says, "And Jonathan caused David to swear again,
but if it please my father to do thee evil, then I will      because he loved him: for he loved him as he loved his
show it thee, and send thee away, that thou mayest go        own soul." Greater love hath no man. It was founded
in peace: and the LORD be with thee, as he hath been         in the grace of God.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



   THE LORD GAVE THE WORD-


                           Some Principles Of Missions

                                   The Importance Of Preaching


                                                  by Pvof. H. Hanko


   Since we live in the dispensation of the return of         January 1, 1967) There we called attention to the fact
Christ, the principle sign of Christ's coming is the          that the gospel is always a two-fold power. It is the
preaching of the gospel. This sign is the cause of all        power to save; but it is equally the power to harden. It
the other signs which speak eloquently that our Lord          is the sovereign means in the hands of Christ to bring
is coming back.                                               the elect to repentance and salvation; but it is also the
   This, while specifically elucidated in Scripture, is       sovereign means to harden the wicked in their sin.
evident also from the fact that the return of Christ is           There is another point here however, which ought
most intimately connected with His work of atonement          not to escape us.        The. purpose of God which He has
on the cross and in the resurrection. Christ comes            determined in His eternal counsel is the glory of His
again to finish the work which He began to do so long         own name. On this we are all agreed. But this glory
ago on Calvary and in Joseph's garden.                        of God's name, God determines to attain through Jesus
   The point of connection between the work of Christ         Christ.    That is, God chooses to attain this noble and
upon the cross and His return is His sovereign rule           lofty purpose of His will by  Yevealing  all the depths
over all things from His Father's right hand in heaven.       of His glory and all the riches of His infinite perfection
He is the sovereign Lord of lords and King of kings.          through His only Son Christ Jesus. But just as soon as
All that takes place, according to the counsel and will       we have said "Christ Jesus", we have also spoken,
of God, is through the work of Christ. All the events         .necessarily, of all Christ's work which He performed
of history, all the work of the preaching of the gospel       on earth. Christ, in His work, is the full revelation of
as the power of the salvation of the elect, is Christ's       God's glory.     But now, just as soon as we have said
work which He performs.         And these works are all       "Christ's work" we have also said "Christ's people."
performed by Christ  in  ovdev  that He may come again.       That is, God chooses, eternally, to reveal His glory
They are preparation for His coming.            They are      through Christ by saving His elect people whom He has
necessary works which have to be done to make all             chosen to be His `own possession in Christ. The cross
things ready for His return. He is doing what still           is the redemption of the elect. The resurrection is the
must be done, according to God's eternal purpose, that        justification of all God's chosen people. Hence, the
His kingdom may come at the end of the age. All               purpose of God is fully realized when all these elect
things which take place therefore, are subservient to         are gathered into heaven, where all sin and death are
this glorious purpose  - the culmination of history and       banished, where righteousness fills the earth, where
the establishment of the everlasting kingdom of right-        Christ and His elect church live forever to the praise
eousness in the new heavens and the new earth.                and the glory of God.
   Hence there are signs of Christ's coming. All the              But this purpose in the salvation of the elect is
work which He does are signs. They are signs because          accomplished through  the preaching  of  the gospel.  All
they point us to the fact that Christ is working according    that takes place in all the history of the world is
to God's will. And when we see that Christ is working,        subservient to this. Hence, it follows that the preach-
then we know  .that these works are necessary works           ing of the gospel is chiefly the power- whereby all
which must be performed that He may return. We see            things take place.
in these works of Christ signs whichpoint us therefore,                                   *  * *
to the end of the ages.                                          It is time now to develop this more specifically
   The preaching of the gospel is the principle sign.         and carry through the broad lines suggested by these
It is the principle sign because it is the chief work of      truths.    We shall do this in the remainder of this
Christ.    It  .is the work therefore from which all the      article and in subsequent articles.
other works proceed. There are two reasons especially            We return first of all (as we said we would) to that
for this. To one reason we have called your attention         important quotation we made in our first article which
in our previous article.      (Cf.  The  Standwd   Beaver,    we took from Rev. H. Hoeksema's Commentary on the


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    233

Book of Revelation.        We shall not quote the entire         in history and in the church. And the history which
section again; only that part of it which is now of              has gone by is adequate proof of the truth of this.
concern to us. The quote can be found in  The  Stmdavd               According to Revelation 6 the running of the white
Beaver, Vol. XXXIV, p. 30. In discussing the opening             horse is followed by the running of the red horse, the
of the first seal and in explaining the running of the           black horse and the pale green horse. If, in general,
white horse as being the progress of the preaching of            the running of the white horse is symbolic of the prog-
the gospel, Rev. Hoeksema goes on to say:                        ress of the preaching of the gospel, the running of the
       That victorious warrior, going forth conquering and       red horse speaks of war; the running  ofthe black horse
   to conquer, shoots his sharp arrows into the hearts of        of poverty and its contrast in riches; the running of the
   .the enemies, and thus brings them into subjection to the     green horse, of death. But it can readily be seen that
   Lord of lords and the King of kings. Up to the present        there is the closest possible connection between these
   day this rider has pursued in the main a very definite        signs.      War brings with it poverty and wealth and its
   course. He did not ride at random and roam in every           horrible contrasts.     And also the opposite is equally
   direction, all over the earth; but clearly he had his
   course prescribed and definitely mapped out. Starting         true.     War brings in its wake death and destruction,
   from Jerusalem, he drove to Antioch and through the           pestilence and famine. And yet the fundamental cause
   various, cities of Asia Minor. From thence he crossed         of it all is to- be found in the running of the white horse.
   over into Europe, first scoring his victories in Mac-         How important a part in the history of the world do not
   edonia and Greece, then boldly striking for the very          these horses play. But principle to it all is the white
   heart of the mighty Roman Empire, in order from there         horse in its predetermined and fixed path through the
   to sweep over the mountains and plains of Europe, and         ages.
   finally cross over into the western hemisphere when               From the day of Pentecost onward the preaching of
   the time was ripe.      Surely, today he also rides in        the gospel has dominated the history of the world. As
   other parts of the world, and the inhabitants of Asia         Rev. Hoeksema pointed out, the progress of the gospel
   and Africa must bow before his power. But there is
   a distinct difference between his work in Europe and          has been predominantly westward. According to the
   America, and that among the nations of the far east           book of Acts, with the close of the apostolic era, the
   and south. In the former countries his victories were         gospel has already been preached in the whole known
   so pronounced that outwardly entire peoples have been         world of that day. It had penetrated into the far reaches
   Christianized, while in the latter the result of his drive    of the Roman Empire.          And by the beginning of the
   is noticeable only in the conversion of individuals. And      Fourth Century it had become the established and
   thus the ultimate result of the drive of the first warrior    favored religion of the empire. After this, it was the
   is that the tremendous contrast is called into existence      gospel which brought civilization to the heart of the
   between the so-called Christian world and the world of        continent of Europe and to our own country in the 16th
   heathendom, Israel and the Gog and Magog.                     Century.       We need not specifically spell this out in
   There are many signs of Christ's return. These                detail; the fact of it is obvious.
signs can, in general, be classified into three groups:              However, because the gospel always has a two-fold
signs in creation; signs in history; and signs in the            effect, the history of the church is a history filled
church. The signs in creation are such as the pesti-             with bitter and lengthy struggles in the defense of the
lences which stalk the earth, earthquakes and other              faith.    All those who came under the influence of the
catastrophes in the brute world, signs in the heavens            gospel and were brought by it into the outward institu-
such as the falling of the stars, the turning of the sun         tion of the church were not, by any means, God's elect.
into darkness and the moon into blood, etc. These                The result was again and again, that wicked men arose
signs also are caused by the sovereign rule of Christ            in the church to destroy the truth of God's Word and
which extends over the whole creation of God. The                thus destroy the cause of God.           Think of the great
creation is groaning and travailing in pain waiting for          Trinitarian and Christological controversies of the
her final redemption.                                            Fourth and Fifth Centuries.           Think of the Pelagian
   Signs in the history of the world include such signs          Controversy of the Fifth Century in which Augustine
as wars and rumors of wars, the division of the                  played such a vital role. Think of the terrible heresies
nations between Christendom and Gog and Magog, the               which developed in the Roman Catholic Church which
rise of Antichrist and the establishment of his uni-             made the Reformation a necessity to preserve the true
versal kingdom, etc.                                             church of Christ and the heritage of the truth. And so
   Signs in the church include such signs as the great           it has continued till today. But these controversies
apostasy, the great tribulation, the preaching of the            which swirled through history and affected so greatly
gospel, etc. (It is interesting to note that there is an         the course of history were brought on by the preaching
overlapping between these groups. E.g., the sign of              of the gospel. The gospel is the determinative factor.
Antichrist belongs both to the signs of the church and           Without its preaching, there never would have been any
of the history of the world. He is the head of a uni-            of these things. It gives the impetus to all history and
versal political kingdom, but he is also the head of the         has principle control over the events which take place
false church.     He arises out of the church, i.e., out         in the world.       And through it all has arisen a large
of false Christianity, and is also the chief agent in the        mass of false Christianity, the apostate church.
persecution of the saints.)                                          But you can readily see the results of this all as
   Now Scripture is quite explicit about it that the             far as the signs of Christ's coming are concerned.
preaching of the gospel is the cause of all these signs              The gospel operates differently in different parts


234                                             THE  STANDARD  BEARER

of the world. This is not an arbitrary and senseless            brings all this about.
and inexplicable consequence of the gospel. This is                Yet the gospel does not always have this effect
sovereignly determined by Jesus Christ.                         where it is preached. Because it is the Lord's pur-
   In Asia Minor, in Europe, in America, the gospel             pose to save His church from every nation under
has what we may call national influence. It brings              heaven, the gospel is also preached in other nations
under its influence entire peoples, whole nations,              of the world. But in many of these nations, the gospel
complete continents. The result is that, because the            does not have the national impact that it does, e.g., in
gospel always has a certain civilizing influence, these         Europe and America. So to speak, the gospel strikes
nations become civilized nations where culture advances         at the periphery of these nations, glancing, as it were,
rapidly and where there is dramatic development in              off their borders. It plucks out  acertain  number whom
science, technology, the arts  - all culture in general.        God has ordained to eternal life; but it never enters
And, not only is this true, but these nations become            into the life of these nations and makes the radical
Christian nations in the outward sense of the word.             and extensive changes brought about in those countries
We do not mean that all the citizens of these nations           which are civilized by the power of the gospel. Indeed,
are true people of God; that the church to be found in          even in these nations, the gospel is the power of God
these nations is entirely the true church. This is far          unto salvation. The elect are called out of darkness
from the case. But it does  meanthat  there is a certain        into light.    They are brought into the fellowship of
external Christianity brought about by the gospel in the        the church of Christ. But they are saved as individuals.
nations as a whole.        They, from the highest to the        They are saved as a small minority in the hordes
lowest, profess some kind of faith in God. They are             which populate these nations.       And the nations them-
interested (for good or bad) in the truth of God's Word         selves remain under the dark sway of pagan religion.
contained in the Scriptures.       They belong, be it but       This too the gospel does according to the purpose of
outwardly, to the institutional church.         The gospel      Christ.




   TRYING THE SPIRITS-



                  Dispensationalism A Blind Legalism


                                                 by Rev. R.  C.  Havbach


   The Apostle John wrote in his gospel, "For the law           law never demanded that blessings be earned. The
was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by                 purpose of the law was to show that blessings could not
Jesus Christ." (1:17)      John referred to the law as the      be earned! It is true that the law demanded what grace
day of shadows, and grace and truth as the realities.           gives  0 But although "grace is afreegift," the law, too,
The law provided Israel with a copy of things to come.          was a gift, and a gift of love at that, as the preface to
Grace and truth brought the genuine articles. The law           the Ten Commandments proves.             Also in this con-
furnished the sketch, while grace and truth completed           nection, two things should be kept in mind: (a) The
the finished picture. The "Scofield Reference Bible"            command is to love (Dt.  ll:l, 13,  22), and (b) The law
at this point is then in error. When we have here is            was granted by grace. (Ps.  119:29)
not a contrast between law and grace, but a compari-               The Scofield footnote goes on to say, "As a dis-
son of the two sides of one truth. Law and grace are            pensation, grace begins with the death and resurrection
not any more antithetical than law and truth. Sin and           of Christ...The point of testing is no longer legal
grace are antithetical, which. antithesis, however, is          obedience as the condition of salvation, but accept-
not here in view.        It is superficial to say "Law is       ance or rejection of Christ..."        This is a failure not
connected with Moses and works; grace with Christ               only to see that if "acceptance of Christ" were made
and faith..." For law is also. connected with Christ            a condition of salvation, no one could be saved (cp.
(Mt.  5:17) and with faith. (Rom.  $31) Also Moses is           Isa.  53:3a with John  5:40;  6:44), but also is a failure to
connected, with grace! (Ex.  33:12, 13, 16, 17, 19) Nor         see what God has been dispensing throughout all the
are works really  .antithetical  to faith, as the Epistle of    ages, namely, grace. All the dispensations of time are
James proves. It is. worse to say that, "Law demands            the various dispensations of God's grace. There are
that blessing be earned; grace is a free gift...." The          different dispensations, but always of the same grace


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   235

of God.      Then, in the fulness of times, it is not true    by the salvation of all who believe, and judgment upon
that at last we are through with "legal obedience as          the profane world and apostate church. But the truth
the condition of salvation," for the simple reason that       is, this has always been the case from the beginning,
legal obedience never was the condition of salvation.         from Abel onwards, from the times of the sons of God
There are not two ways of salvation, one in the dis-          and the daughters of men unto the present.
pensation of law, by works, and the other in this dis-           Of that day it is recorded, "But Noah found  grace
pensation, by grace. The Lord never had but one way           in the eyes of the Lord," (Gn.  6:8) and that- in times
of salvation throughout all the dispensations of His          which were so bad that the Lord was grieved in His
covenant.     It was always and only by grace. The Old        heart because of them. The earth was corrupt before
Testament saints were saved the same way we are, by           God and filled with violence, so much so, that  God~no
grace through faith, apart from works; only they looked       longer could stand the sight of it. This was the end, as
prospectively to Christ crucified, while we look retro-       far as He was concerned! He would destroy all -flesh,
spectively to Him. But Scofield became entangled with         except for "a remnant according to the election of
the inconsistency of two ways of salvation in his note        grace."      God reserved to Himself one family out  -of
on I John  3:7.     There he wrote, "The righteous man        those wicked, corrupt, reprobate generations. Sover-
under law became righteous by doing righteously;              eign grace saved them from the prevailing apostasy.
under grace he does righteously because he has been           Grace was evident in Noah by the saving faith God had
made righteous..." Here is salvation in the old dis-          given him, (Heb.  11:7)  and by works of obedience and
pensation by works (for attach "conditions" to salva-         righteousness. (II Pet.  25) Noah was delivered from
tion, and you make it "by works"), while in the new           that wicked world by the flood not because of anything
dispensation it is by grace only. But both David and          in him, for he was a man of like passions with us,  '
Paul deny that the righteous man under law became             (Gen.  9:21f) but of grace only.
righteous by  doing. For the old covenant describes              All of the patriarchs lived in an age of grace,
the blessedness (salvation) of the man to whom God            according to the truth expressed in Romans 4. Abra-
imputes  righteousness  without  doing! (Rom.  4:6) The       ham was justified by grace. He, as well as Noah and
righteous in  that  dispensation, too, as well as in this     Enoch, lived by faith, not by works.          Lot, too, "a
one, were righteous not because they  became so  by           believing sinner" to whom God accounted "a perfect
their doing, but because God imputed righteousness to         righteousness," (II Pet.  2:7f) found  grace, mercy and
them.      In the old and the new dispensations there are     salvation in God's sight (Gn.  19:19). The patriarchs
not objectively two different righteousnesses, one  aby-      did not have this truth and experience withheld from
works righteousness, and the other a by-faith right-          them, for they all coveted the Lord's  gracious favor,
eousness.       The "by-works righteousness" was an           as evident in Joseph's "God be gracious unto thee" to
invention of the Pharisees, who legalistically turned the     Benjamin,  (43:29) Was it not grace that God clothed
law from the rule of gratitude that it was (Ps.  119:62)      Adam and Eve with the coats of skins? Was it not
into a system of self-righteousness.                          grace that God redeemed Israel out of Egypt? that He
   The way of salvation has always been the same. The         gave them manna from heaven and--water-from the
plan of God for the whole human race has been at all          Rock? (For remember, the manna and `water were
times the same, and has been, is and shall be executed        types of Christ and "that Rock was Christ.") If this
upon the same principles that always directed this same       be acknowledged, then the patriarchal age was an age
plan to its same destined end. In the admittedly dif-         of grace.    This Scofield himself as much as admits on
ferent dispensations of God's plan, the chief difference      page 20 of his Bible.
lies in the ever fuller and more complete revelation
He has progressively made of it through the ages.                However, with the Mosaic dispensation, this is
   Although we may legitimately speak of many dis-            regarded as changed. That is, at Sinai and the giving
pensations of God's covenant, there are basically but         of the law (Ex. 19 and 20) the "dispensation of  law"
three, the Patriarchal, the Mosaic and the Christian;         began.     According to Scofield and his note on Ex. 19:3,
or, more fundamentally, but two, the Old and the New          in the dispensations prior to the law "the people...
Dispensations.      In all of them, the Lord has always       hitherto...had been the objects of free grace" but "the
manifested His sovereign grace. It is worse than a            dispensation of promise ended when Israel rashly
great mistake to believe that grace is limited to this        accepted the law. (Ex. 19:8) Grace had prepared a
Christian era.       It does not properly distinguish, to     deliverer (Moses), provided a sacrifice for the guilty,
call this age "the dispensation of grace." Were not all       and by divine power brought them out of bondage...but
the other ages dispensations of grace? Of course, the         at Sinai they exchanged grace for  law.!' (note on Gen.
Dispensationalist will answer, No, which he does be-          12:l) Now in the first place, this is wrong because it
cause of a wrong understanding of John  1:17, above,          implies that God's people were not "under law" pre-
and of Eph.  3:2. He thinks, according to the footnote        vious to Sinai, but they surely were: Ex.  16:27, 28. In
in the Scofield Reference Bible at Matt.  28:19, that the     the second place, this is wrong because it implies that
dispensation of grace began "with the death and resur-        they were not the objects of free grace from Sinai
rection of Jesus Christ." Now, "under grace, God              onward.      But this is not so, for the righteousness of
freely gives to the believing sinner eternal life,            God without the law (and that means "righteousness by
accounts to him a perfect righteousness, accords him          gYacef)  has been manifested, being witnessed  by the
a perfect position," in fact, this dispensation is marked     baw and the prophets." (Rom.  3:21) Will anyone say


236                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

that this does not mean that grace was revealed also in         (9:17,  31),  Hosea   (14),  J o e l   (2:13),  J o n a h   (4:2)  a n d
the days of the law? It should be plain to anyone who           Micah  (7:18-20)!
knows how to make use of a Bible concordance that                   Immediately after the giving of the law, the Lord
Israel knew  grace after they had received the law at           guaranteed, "I will come unto thee and I will bless
Sinai.      For very shortly after the law was given, after     thee." (Ex.  20:24) No "earthly blessing" this, but a
the golden calf, Israel was judged for this sin with a          promise of grace along with the law, as is plain from
very severe judgment  - three thousand were executed            the "judgments" immediately following as further
by the sword. Yet "the people which were left of the            enlargement on the law, in which (under Scofield's
sword  found  grace in the wilderness, even Israel."            heading,  The Law, the judgments)  the Lord assures,
(Jer.  31:2)      It hardly is now necessary to point out,      `I am gracious!"         (22:27) At the end of the dispensa-
in the third place, that this view, that Israel acted           tion of law it is lately promised that God will be
Yashly   in accepting the law, i.e., in so doing gave up        gracious unto  "us" of the old covenant (Mal.  1:9).
grace, is wrong! For Moses, in the receiving of the                 In the age from Sinai to Calvary the children'of
law, had the Lord proclaim to him, "The Lord, the               Israel were not dismissed from any worship service
Lord,  merciful  and  gracious,   longsuffering and abundant    without this blessing by the high priest: as found in
in goodness and truth, keeping  mercy  for thousands,           Num.  6:23-27.  (Underscore:  bless,  gracious,  peace!)
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin..." (Ex.           This from the "legal dispensation," yet Christians
34:5ff).      Why! from the beginning of this so called         could desire no more! The great difference between
"dispensation of law" to its end the saints therein             that Mosaic and this Christian dispensation is that then
lived on the strength of this promise of grace given to         grace was reposited in  one nation, but now it is poured
Moses;  SO  David (Ps.  86:5, 15;  103:8-13), so Nehemiah       out to all nations !



  FEATURE ARTICLE-


                      The Significance Of The Races
                                            In The World

                                                    (continued)


                                                 by Rev. R. C.  Havbach


   After the Flood, what was the first civilization with        briefest record of all (although eventually itself in-
which the church had contact? At that time, the church          creasing to seventy,  46:27), the reason being that the
was found in the Ararat mountains of Armenia. From              smallest branch of humanity is under special providential
there the church moved to Chaldea, where both Hamites           guidance, since it was destined to become the hub about
and  Shemites  dwelt.       Here the original centers of        which the whole world revolves.
civilization were founded, especially in the cities of              This wheel, if we may think of it for a moment
Babel and Nineveh. (Gen.  lO:lO,ll) Here-the children           as a gear-wheel, is the connecting link between the
of Shem sprung up: the children of Elam (Persians),             times of Noah (Methusaleh, Lamech) and the times
of Assur (Assyrians), of  Aram  (Syrians). The earliest         of Abraham.          World history, then, has its source
ties of the church in the new world began in this Tigris-       material in this chapter of Genesis. Without it, we
Euphrates region.       Abram, a Hebrew, a descendant of        could not understand the relation of "secular" history
Eber, lived here in Ur, Chaldea. The Shemites, then,            to sacred history, nor appreciate the problems of
were the hub of the nations, had closest contact with           ethnology, nor understand that all history is at bottom
the Hamites,  the Canaanites, Egyptians and Ethiopians,         church history.
and, then finally, with the Japhethites, the Cyprians,              History therefore moves in the direction of Christ.
Greeks, Romans and Germans. Among the  Shemites                 (Eph. 1:lO)
were the Joktanites (probably the Arabians), who were,              The races of men, too, move in the direction of
according to the tabulations, as numerous as the                Christ.      They are not in Scripture distinguished by
Japhethites.      This means that the main line of the          color.     Holy Writ never developed a "color complex.?'
Shemites  contains, among these seventy nations, the            For example, in the O.T. there is no hint of the  pres-


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     237

ence of the negro race. Mere color is no index of            moving in the direction of the philosophy of pessimism
race.      For example, the Jew is of every complexion       and ending (because men's hearts fail them for fear)
according to the climate he inhabits, from thedarkness       in a cowardly nihilism.
of the Hindu to the fairness of the Dane. When Jeremiah         "And it came to pass, as they journeyed from  then
says, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin?"  (13:23)          east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and
there is no proof that he had in mind the negro race.        they dwelt there."          (11:2) Now "the whole earth"
For there are African races in this part of the world        (v.  l), including the Shemites, began to move out from
which are only dark, others black, but do not have           the east, from the Assyrian empire, and to settle in
the features, shape of skull nor the wooly hair of the       the land of Shinar.          However, the  Shemites  did not
negro.*      The point that Scripture makes is that the      engage in the tower-building, for from chap. 10 we know
races and nations descended from the families of the         that that was done by the  Hamites,  primarily. The
sons of Noah.  (10:32) They became divided throughout        children of men built it, not the children of God.
the earth, after the Flood, and after the building of the    (115)     That they journeyed literally means that they
city and the tower of Babel. They were not divided           pulled up stakes, an expression which indicates a new
until the time of Peleg,  (10:25) for up to that time the    trend in man's history.            For originally he was a
earth's families were together and plotted to remain         gardener.     After the fall the Adamic race became
together. One-worldism is a conspiracy.                      city-dwellers.    After the Flood, man became a nomad,
   Originally, "the whole earth was of one language,         as later he was in the wilderness journeys.              The
and of one speech." (11:l) literally, of "one lip and        human race in this period was an encampment, as
one kind of words," i.e.,  formally  one lip and  matevi-    Israel under Moses.
ally  one kind of words.       Language was one and the         That "they dwelt  theye" in Shinar (probably the
same for the whole human race, the entire globe, and         Hebrew name for Chaldea), instead of replenishing the
not just the land of Shinar, having one pronunciation        eadh,  indicates the beginning of a world-king-
and one vocabulary. It is not possible to absolutely         dom, headed by Nimrod. He is not mentioned in this
identify this language.       Many, including the O.T.       chapter, but was undoubtedly the leader of this  one-
rabbis, and the early church fathers and the older           world empire-building (cp.  1O:lO). Under his manage-
theologians, thought it was the Hebrew language.             ment, the empire-expansion movement was not inten-
Hebrew, they said, was propagated after the Flood by         tionally atheistic.        It styled itself as furthering the
Eber.        Abram, a descendant of Eber, came from          cause of God's kingdom, and its plan of one-worldism
Mesopotamia where Aramaic was spoken,  (31:47) yet           was advertised as being for the benefit of all mankind.
he undoubtedly spoke Hebrew, since he was called             Therefore, for any to oppose it, as the covenant people
Abram, the Hebrew, and used a name, Mizpah, which            would, was to become embarrassed as an enemy of
is neither Aramaic nor Chaldean, but Hebrew.                 God.      This would mean that the church would be
   From this period in history three basic languages         hampered by the state's "red tape" methods, social
arose from the three basic national families. Hence          ostracism, polite, recondite persecution, and, even-
there were three basic directions in which they were         tually, open opposition and aggression.
scattered. There were the Semitic languages: Hebrew,            These Hamitic Babel-builders began on their city.
Assyrian, Phoenician, Aramaic (Syrian), Arabic, all          It was not God's city, for that has a Builder and Maker
different varieties from one original parent tongue.         who is God.       Their calling was to seek God's city
Then there were the Aryan (Japhetic) languages: the          (Heb. ll:lO-16) and to live on this earth as citizens
Indian  (Sanscrit), Iranian (Persian, Celtic (Welsh,         of it.    (Phil.  3:20)      They began their project in the
Cornish, Irish), Italian, Thracian-Illyrian, Hellenic,       interest of union.           But their way of union led to
Slavonic (Russian, Polish, Lithuanian), Teutonic (Ger-       dispersion and disunity.          In the city of God is true
man, Anglo-Saxon, English, Dutch, Icelandic, Swedish,        unity.    But man is not called upon to build that city.
Danish, Norwegian).        All these have such common        God is the Builder, and constructs it not of dead brick,
features as to indicate a single original  parent-           but of living stones (I Peter  2:5). The city was then
tongue. The Hamitic languages were Egyptian,  Coptic,        soon being land-marked by its space-needle, its own
Abyssinian and Libyan.       Present-day projects to con-    united nations building. For they built a tower in case
struct a universal language, such as Esperanto, are          of another flood, to keep above it, not  .only above the
an attempt to obviate the divine sentence of judgment        height of Ararat but even the 23-feet height of the flood
made and executed at Babel. But the confounding of           waters above the highest mountain!  (7:20) Godless
language at Babel not only resulted in the various           "science" attempts to overcome nature, to gain the
language divisions of the nations and races, but is          supremacy over it, recognizing no power or authority
destined to result in the degeneration of language it-       that is above that of science. The boast is that man
self.      The low spiritual state of men lowers their       will conquer space and time, control the lightning,
language.      Here was the beginning of great deteriora-    harness the sun, subdue all the forces of nature, make
tion of language, a ruin which we see see today when         the ocean subservient to man's genius, and so usher
the best language in a community of bad men reverts          in the utopia of human achievement, making man
to a degraded jargon, such as that used by gangsters,        superior to any power now above or beyond him.
thieves, pirates, profane adventurers, or the "exis-             Before Nimrod, government had been centered in
tentialist" caste, or the so-called "beat" generation.       the patriarchs of the tribes.          Under him, the rural
This is the result of the best of Greek philosophy           rulers were amalgamated in an urban society, under


238                                              THE STANDARD BEARER

his popular, humane dictatorship. He was the first                     Eisenhower. He had the personality and attraction of a
head of an imperialistic civilization. He adopted and                  President Kennedy.         He was also a combination of
put into execution the principles of territorial  ex-                  Frank Buck and Benjamin Franklin. He was a pure
pansion.        He also would have done credit to a modern             humanist-socialist of great physical, intellectual,  psy-
civil-rights leader.      For he was anti-racist and  anti-            chological and political power. Today he would champion
nationalist.       In his scheme of things there was no                the cause of the pope, the UN, the world-church, the
place for nationalism, nor for national independency,                  Red Feather, Community Chest, urban renewal, the
nor for national sovereignty, nor for statism. He was                  housing commission, the war on poverty and world
the kind of leader the races of the world look for today.              peace.      Nimrod is a sketch of the final antichrist who
In the eyes of the world he was a servant of God. (10:9)               will temporarily succeed in uniting the races of men
He was a messiah, like President Franklin D.  Roose-                   in Satan's world-kingdom, which is a counterfeit of
velt.    He was a favorite politician, like President                  the kingdom of God.       *  Geike,  Hours with the Bible, I.




                                            Contribution
                                                  by Prof. H.  C. Hoeksema

Dear Brother in Christ:                      food of the Psalms as the Israelites             subscribe to its use in our churches,
   I do not like to disagree with our        were discontent with God's manna. Let            I would caution against equating man-
professor, but in this case I may not        us be content with the songs that God            made versifications of the Psalms with
be silent. I must disagree with your         has given to the Church. God gave us             the Psalms themselves. The latter are
recommendation of hymns for the youth        great men to write our wonderful                 inspired; the former are no more
             schools.     (Book Reviews,     creeds; men with wisdom and foresight            inspired than any Scriptural hymn. I
Eanitcd Bearer, Jan. 15, 1967).              to write our Church Order to safe-               mention this because brother Huisken
   According to Article 69 and 86 of         guard God's church.                              repeatedly speaks of the Psalms.
our Church Order, we may not recom-            Watchmen, beware! Let us not be                Strictly speaking, we do not sing the
mend hymns in our schools. We must           like the watchmen in Isaiah 56:10-12,            Psalms, but man-made (and in some
teach our children to sing the songs of      but let us be like the watchmen in               cases, inaccurate) versifications of the
the Psalter in order that they can sing      Isaiah 62~6.                                     Psalms.
along in our worship services on Sun-                        Fraternally yours,                  3. I also believe that at school and
day.                                                              Henry Huisken               at home our children should learn to
  If we recommend hymns in our                                    Edgerton, Minn.             sing from our "Psalter," but not ex-
schools we can only expect more                                                               clusively. There is a great wealth of
clamoring for hymns to be sung in our        Reply                                            good, sound Scriptural music (hymns,
churches.                                       Your editor is always happy to hear           anthems, cantatas, oratorios) from
  History teaches us that churches who      from readers of the Standard Bearer,              which we would not benefit if we tie
have introduced hymns no longer sing         even, -I am almost inclined to say:              ourselves down to the "Psalter."
the Psalms, or at best, sing them but        especially, - when they disagree.                   4. In my opinion (and, incidentally,
very little.                                   To refresh the readers' memory and             I sang hymns both at home and in
  The Presbyterian Churchfrom whom          for accuracy's sake, let me quote the             school not only from the 8th grade on,
we are using many numbers in our             recommendation to which you refer in             but from kindergarten on), the solution
Psalter, do not sing the Psalms. The         your letter: "With the exception of a            does not lie in a flat ban on music
Reformed Church of America used to          few questionable selections, this book            other than the "Psalter," as brother
sing only the Psalms and they do not         can find good use, both in our schools           Huisken seems to suggest, but rather
sing them any more. The Christian            and in our homes, where, incidentally,           in the proper exercise of discretion
Reformed Church introduced hymns            family and group singing has become               and discernment by parents and in the
into their Christian Schools when I         too much of a lost art."                          teaching of proper discretion and dis-
was in the eighth grade. A few years            For my part, this recommendation              cernment to our children.
later they were introduced into their        will stand. And without entering into a             5. Meanwhile, I am quite content
churches. History proves the results.       Jong and detailed debate with brother             with Article 69 of the Church Order
The Psalms are sung very little inthis       Huisken, I will briefly call attention to       for our churches,  - not because it
church today.                               the following points:                             insists on psalm-singing as aprinciple
  Oh, how the devil would like to turn          1. Article 69 of the Church Order             (for this it evidently does not do), but
us away from singing the Psalms! The        says nothing about singing hymns in our           as a wise and practical regulation for
devil knows history tool       He knows     schools and homes. It refers only to             the music in our church services.
that once introduced, the singing of        our singing in our church services.                  In conclusion: write again some-
hymns would quickly replace the sing-       To my knowledge, no one has ever                 time, brother. And don't hesitate to
ing of Psalms.                              interpreted this article as saying any-           disagree with your professor. He is
  God forbid that we should go  a-          thing about what we sing in our homes             also but a fallible man. And besides,
hankering after the songs of churches       and schools.                                      you are also a prophet!
who are departing from the truth. Let           2. While I have great love and                                                 H.C.H.
us not be discontent with the spiritual     respect for our "Psalter" and fully


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        239

              RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY                                                   NOTICE
The Priscilla Society of First Church extends its            The Protestant Reformed Christian  Schooi of South
deepest sympathy to Dorothy in the death of her              Holland, Illinois, is in need of a teacher in the lower
mother,                                                      room, to teach in grades 1 through 3. Please submit
                                                             applications to:
                       MRS. R. DE VRIES                                                 Mr. Gise Van  Baren
May the God of all grace sustain her in her sorrow.                                     16057 School Street
"For we know that if our earthly house of this taber-                                   South Holland, Illinois 60473
nacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
II Corinthians 5:l.
                               Mrs.  J. Oomkes, Pres.
                               Mrs. C. Pastoor, Sec'y.




                                                                                   IN MEMORIAM
                                                             On January 28, 1967 it pleased our heavenly Father to
                                                             take from us our husband, father, grandfather and
                                                             great grandfather
              RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY                                            LAMBERT  DOORNBOS
The Consistory of the  Redlands  Hope Protestant Re-         at the age of 80 years.
formed Church expresses deepest Christian sympathy              Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.
to Mrs. Gretine Van Uffelen, in the loss of her husband                                 Mrs.  Lambert Doornbos
               MR. JOHN VAN UFFELEN                                                     Mr. and Mrs. Peter.Doornbos
                                                                                        Mr. and Mrs. George Moerman
Also,  to Mr. Dick Van Uffelen, Mr. Christian Van                                            6 grandchildren
Uffelen, and Mrs. Bernard Meelker. The sufferings                                            3 great grandchildren
of this present time are not worthy to be compared to        Kalamazoo, Michigan
the glory that awaits him in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
                               Rev. C. Hanko, Pres.
                               Mr. Wm. Feenstra, Clerk
                                                                                                  --




                                                                                    IN MEMORIAM
                                                             On December 24, 1966, the Lord took intothe  mansions
                                                             of Father's House our beloved husband, father, and
                                                             grand-father
              RESOL UTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                                             MR. JOHN VAN UFFELEN
The Men's Society and the Mary-Martha Society of the
Hope Protestant Reformed Church of Redlands, Calif-          at the age of 64 years.
ornia join in expressing their heartfelt sympathy to            Also in our present loss we are grateful for what
its members, Mr. and Mrs. C. Van Uffelen, Mr. and            the Lord has given to us in him. And it is our prayer
Mrs. D. Van Uffelen, and Mr. and Mrs. B. Meelker             that our God may keep us in the faith which he so
in the loss of their father and father-in-law,               sincerely professed, and strengthen us in the hope of
                                                             eternal glory before the throne.
               MR. JOHN VAN UFFELEN                             The bereaved family,
May the God of all grace and consolation comfort their                           Mrs. John Van Uffelen
hearts `in the assurance that they will be reunited in                           Mr. and Mrs. Christian Van Uffelen
the kingdom of our Father unto His eternal praise                                Mr. and Mrs. Dick Van Uffelen
and glory.                                                                       Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Steenstra
                 The Men's Society,                                              Mr. and Mrs. John Van Uffelen
                          Everett Van Voorthuysen, Sec'y.                        Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Meelker
                 The Mary-Martha Society                                         Mr. and Mrs. Gerrit Van Uffelen
                          Donna Huisken, Sec'y.                                         and 22 grandchildren


                                                         ~~~  ~_-~-.~
240                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


                                       NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES-

                                         February 1, 1967       Western Michigan that the Protestant Reformed
   The Consistory of Holland,  Mich. has named a new            Churches (though not mentioned by name in Lynden's
trio from which the congregation will make a choice at          ad) are still vitally interested in maintaining the Truth
a meeting scheduled for Feb. 1; the trio  - Revs. D.            of God's Word upon which our faith is founded. Prob-
Engelsma, ,R. C. Harbach and J. A. Heys.                        ably those ads are also a sign that we no longer are
                           * * *                                made to cringe under the epithets of "Sect", "fol-
   New clerks appointed this year are:  Holland,  Mr.           lowers-of-a-man", "splinter-group", but that we are
B. Windemuller, 267 32nd St., Holland, Mich; Loveland,          gradually lifting our head as a denomination that has
Mr.  W. Griess, 701 Clay St., Denver, Colo.                     not been founded upon a man, but on the Infallible
                           * *  *                               Scriptures explained in the Reformed tradition, as we
   Many of our bulletins name the new appointed clerks,         have received it from the Fathers of the Reformation.
without their addresses (of course their people know                                              *  * *
them), so we cannot list them on this page until they                    The Reformed Witness Hour has acquired another
are supplied.                                                   outlet, this one in the South Holland-Oak Lawn area.
                           * * *                                The new station is WLNR-FM, and airs our program
   Rev. G. Vos, Hudsonville's emeritus minister, has            Sundays at 1:30 p.m.
volunteered to make the weekly bulletins again, with                                              ***
Rev. Veldman serving as a clearing-house for the                         Loveland's Young People's Society devoted a recent
announcements.       In that way the old pro can still keep     after-recess program to hearing a tape on the mission
his hand in to some extent. During the years Rev.  Vos          work of our churches in  Jamaica.                This tape was
wrote the bulletins they were uniquely warm and per-            provided by the Mission Committee, and is available
sonal, and we are sure the Hudsonville people will              to any society that requests it. You may request it
welcome them back in the bulletin racks.                        from Mr.  H. Vander Wal, 1047 Alto Ave. S.E., Grand
                           *  x  *                              Rapids, Mich. 49507.
   The Grand Rapids Press, in its Saturday evening                                                ***
edition `of Jan. 28, carried a two-column ad of our                 Prof. H. Hanko has been released from writing
Reformed Witness Hour which called attention to the             "The Covenant Witness", a monthly pamphlet put out
fact that Prof. H.  C. Hoeksema would preach a series           by Hope Church of Grand Rapids. The press  of,Sem-
of sermons expounding the first chapter of Genesis.             inary duties necessitated his request, and the  con-
The caption on the ad was, "Genesis One, Fact or                sistory "thanked him for the years of faithful service"
Fiction?"        Our brethren in Jamaica would find it          by way of a bulletin announcement.
difficult to believe that in a Reformed community we                                              ***
would find it necessary to devote a 20-week series to                    The public lecture given in the Thornridge High
the truth that this chapter is Fact, but even we who            School of  Dolton, Ill. was attended by an audience of
live in this community probably do not realize the              about four hundred people who were very attentive as
inroads our Adversary, the Devil, has made against              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema spoke on, "The Reformed Faith
the bastions of our Reformed Faith in this area of the          in Crisis". The size of the audience might have been
Truth. The Radio Committee will be ready to meet the            larger but for the competition given it by the Illianna
increased demand for copies of this series which is             Christian High School Band which gave a concert that
expected upon this broadcast.                                   evening, but was still considered good because of the
                           *  *  *                              difficulty of securing advertising media. But those in
   On the same page, as the above, was a nine inch,             attendance said it was for them a worthwhile evening
two column ad regarding the "Studies in Biblical                in that it strengthened them in their resolve to meet
Doctrine" which Lynden's little church publishes. The           the attacks of the enemy in this crisis.
ad spoke of the "spiritual coldness so common today"                                              * * *
and that  thei "pathetic ignorance concerning the most              The first of the winter lecture series slated for
basic teachings of the Word of God" are running                 Jan. 26 was postponed for one week due to the vicious
parallel for they are related together. Rev.  Wouden-           winter storm which  decended  upon Western Michigan
berg is hereby inviting any who are interested in               that day. All the main roads were impassable to all
following a "program of regular and systematic study            but horse-drawn sleighs which are extinct in that area.
in Biblical doctrine" to send for the "Studies" that            Hazardous           driving       warnings    were    changed to
treat those "various doctrines, not abstractly, but in          "emergency driving" warnings, and few of those were
direct connection with the Scriptures upon which they           made. Again we were reminded that the "D.V." we so
rest."                                                          glibly add to our plans is not to be taken lightly. In
                           *  *  *                              this case the Lord did  not will.
   The above mentioned ads are a lively witness to                       . ..see you in church                            J.M.F.


