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                                                                                                                                                             earer


                 A   R E F O R M E D   SEMI:MONTHLY  M A G A Z I N E



                 IN  THIS  ISSUE:



                                   Meditatipn: The Cry of Faith

                                    Editorials: TRAGIC!
                                                                                                      About Theological Soundness
                                                                                                                        and  Practicbl Application

                                    The Doctrine of Scripture in "The Confession of 1967"

                                    Still !`Fiddling"



                                                                                                                                             '  dJ'a?&ne~kYIIf   Numbev21/  September 15, i967


482                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                            C O N T E N T S   I
  Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August.                       Meditation -
  `Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.                             "The Cry of Faith" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
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  AfEDlTATION-

                                                 "The Cry  of,`Faith"
                                                                       by Rev. J.  Kovteving

                            "And  Petev answered  him,  ati  said,  Lovd if it be thou, bid  me  come unto thee
                       upon the waters. And he said, Come . . . but when he saw the wind, he was afraid and
                       beginning to  sink he  cried  out saying,  Lovd, save  me.                                   And immediately Jesus
                       stretched  forth  his  hand,  and took hold of him, and saith unto him, 0 thou of little
                       faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they  were gone up into the boat, the
                       wind ceased.                                                                                                Matthew  14:28-32
       Self-confidence is like a gold filling in a tooth full                             How evident this was in the life of Peter, especially
of decay. It has its glamor, but it is so synthetic, it                            in the event as narrated in our text.
doesn't take very long and it is jarred loose and spit                                    Peter was a man of faith.                                                    The brilliance of it
out altogether. Self-confidence has the same character-                            shone when Jesus and His disciples were in the area
istics.                                                                            of Caesarea Philippi and Christ asked them, "Whomdo


                                             XHESXANDARDBEARER


men say that I the son of man am?" Peter answered             upon the sea, and the disciples were afraid. Suddenly
in that thrilling declaration of faith, "Thou art the         in the vapor of the seething sea they saw a figure walk-
Christ, the, Son of the living God." To this Jesus            ing toward them upon the water. They thought it to be
responded, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will         some sort of an apparition, a spirit, and they became
build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail       even more afraid. Jesus calmed them by declaring,
against it."                                                  "Be of good cheer; it is I, be not afraid." Peter re-
   Even though Peter was a man of faith, he had yet to        sponded, "Lord if it be thou, bid me come unto thee
contend with the weakness of his flesh. His  self-            upon the waters." Jesus said, "Come!" Boldly Peter
confidence was part of that weakness. As a gold filling       climbed out of the boat and walked a little way upon
it had an aura of romantic glamor that assumed the            the waters, but soon he saw the wind and waves and
form of boldness. It is. soul-caressing to be around          fear smote him and he began to sink with the wailing
a bold person. This was true for the disciples as they        cry, "Lord save me!" Jesus reached down,and drew
marvelled at Peter's boldness. Recall for a moment            him up rebuking him, "0 ye of little faith, wherefore
those trying circumstances at Caesarea Philippi. Christ       didst thou doubt?" As soon as they reached the boat
had directed a very pointed question to. them, "Whom          they climbed in and the wind ceased. With one accord
do men say that I the Son of Man am?" They volun -            they marvelled, "Surely this is the Son of God."
teered,  "Johnthe  Baptist, Elias,or one of the prophets."       The bold request, "Lord bid that I come," was
Looking directly at them Christ asked, "But whom do           replaced with the faltering plea, "Lord, save me!"
ye say that I am?" Peter came to the rescue with his.         That's what happens to self-confidence.
bold assertion, "Thou art the Christ!" With a sigh,              This event is part of sacred history recorded for
I suppose, the rest nodded in consent. It was the same        us in the Scripture. Consequently each part of this
way at the Mount of Transfiguration. Peter, James and         narrative has a spiritual implication. Jesus taught His
John were so scared they didn't know what to say, so          disciples not only with words, but even with actions.
Peter broke the embarrasing silence and blurted out,          This holds true also for this event.
"Let us build three tabernacles, one for Moses, one              The stormy sea in Scripture pictures the wicked
for Elijah, and one for Christ." At the sober moment          aparr  from Christ. Isaiah declared, "But the wicked
when Christ foretold His disciples that all would for-        are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose
sake Him and flee because the Shepherd would be               waters cast up mire and dirt." Isa. 57:20 Ac.cording  to
smitten and the sheep would be scattered, Peter re-           Rev. 13 the beast that arises out of the sea represents
belled, "If all shall be offended in thee, I will never be    the success of antichrist among the nations. If we put
offended." The rest of the disciples readily agreed.          these ideas together, we can say that the troubled sea
When it seemed time for action, for the soldiers with         represents the ungodly with all their lusts and evil
swords and staves surrounded Christ, Peter unsheathed         ambitions, even in so far that they join together and
the sword and swung blindly at Malchus, cutting off his       in defiance of the living God try to build an empire
ear. Self-confidence creates a certain air of assur-          on the quicksands of human society.
ance, and boldness produces action!                              As the disciples rode in the boat in the midst of the
   Yet, such self-confidence is like a gold filling in a      stormy sea, they thereby represented the church that
decayed tooth. What followed Peter's bold confession          is called upon to pass through this world. We are not
of faith at Caesarea Philippi? Jesus began to tell them       exhorted to physical isolation.         Our whole life is
that He was going to suffer and die. Peter told Him           expended within the sphere of this world. We eat and
not to talk that way, to which Jesus retorted, "Get           drink, we work and play, we raise our families, we are
thee behind me, Satan!" That was quite a change. As           busy as a church within the sphere of this world. The
the three disciples walked down from the Mount of             relationship between the church and the world is
Transfiguration Christ warned them not to tell anyone,        depicted by the storm. The boat was tossed about by
a warning that quite deflated exalted Peter. After Peter      the stormy sea.     Similarly the world surrounds the
boasted that all could deny Christ, he wouldn't, he had       church on every side and wirh mighty blows seeks to
to eat his words, for later he went out and wept bitterly,    exterminate the church by breaking her to pieces and
his soul pierced by the crowing rooster;                      swallowing her up within her own depths. The evil men
   Self-confidence is vain.                                   of our generation hate the faithful church as she wit-
   The incident in our text is but another example.           nesses. By violence and seduction the world strives
   It was about the fourth watch. The disciples were          to silence the voice of Christ as He calls to repentance
on the sea, travelling from the desert, on the yonder         and warns men of their evil way. Hence, the storm!
side of Galilee, toward Gennesaret. The past day had             By faith we behold Christ walking upon the sea in
been eventful, for at the desert retreat the multitude        the midst of the storm and hear Him calling, "Be of
of over 5000 had come to hear Him preach and request'         good cheer, it is I, be not afraid." He alone is the
Him to heal their sick. At evening He had fed them all        Lord of the storm! True, at the  historical moment
with 5 loaves and 2 small fish. After the feast Jesus         when He walked to His disciples, He had yet to ascend
had dismissed the multitude,. instructed His disciples        the hill of Calvary and seal the victory.of His church
to enter the ship and sail to the other side, and He          over the world.     Nevertheless, His message to His
went into the mountains to pray. At about dawn, for           church is always the same, "I have overcome the
the fourth watch was .the last one before day, Jesus          world, peace I leave with thee, my peace I gives unto
walked out to His disciples. A storm had broken out           thee."    He could walk upon the heaving waves and


484                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


billows because He was about to face the "prince of             self-confidence that clouded his faith. When he took his
this world" and bring him down in crushing defeat.              eye from Christ and looked at the storm he began to
This He did at the cross.         Being appointed by the        sink. While sinking he realized his helplessness and
Father to make satisfaction for all His own, He took            again turned to Christ with the plea for help.
our place before the bar of divine justice and bore the            What a lesson this is for us to learn with Peter. If
condemnation which the righteous God would have meted           we direct our eyes to the terrible times in which we
out to us. While the terror of divine wrath came upon           live, and see nothing but the world and the terrible
the obedient servant, He loved the Father even unto             plight the church has in the midst of this world, we
death. By that loving obedience He merited righteous-           surely will doubt and our faith will grow lean and we
ness and life for us. To us He is known as the resur-           too will begin to sink beneath the terrible billows of
rection and the life.                                           fear and hopelessness.      If we think we can stand of
   By this work, Christ received all the power to cause         self in this evil day and direct our eye to ourselves,
all things to serve the royal purpose of redeeming              we are sure to be disappointed, and when the hour of
His own out of the world and to bring them into the             trial becomes our portion we are going to learn that
kingdom of heaven. He stripped every claim from the             as man we cannot attain the victory, for we are weak,
devil and emptied him of all power over the children            and this finding wiil bring doubt to brood within our
of God. Instead, Christ now receives all the power to           soul. Self-confidence brings one down into the waves
cause the devil to serve His purpose and be the means           and evokes the terrifying cry, "Lord save me."
in His hand to bring many sons into glory. Only in                 May we learn with Peter that faith requires us to
this way can we begin to understand the sudden calm             keep our eye upon Jesus Christ the Lord of the church
when Christ entered into the boat. This proves the              and true Conqueror of Israel. In the midst of the storms
absolute lordship of Christ over all the wicked, includ-        of life there is only One Who is our safety and retreat
ing the devil himself.         The disciples responded,         and that is Jesus Christ.      The Babe of Bethlehem
"Surely this is the Son of God."                                became the Man of Sorrows, Who has climbed the Hill
       Peter knew this power of Christ.      By faith he        of Golgotha and has risen from the dead and ascended
declared, "If it be thou, bid that I come unto thee."           into heaven and now sits at the right band of God the
By this request Peter showed his faith in the lordship          Father Almighty. He alone is worth looking to.
of Christ. He knew that apart from Christ there was                Apart from Him there is doubt, fear, tears, loneli-
reason for fear, for the world is a terrible place, the         ness, rebellion, need, care, and a horrible restless-
ship was tossed by the storm. By faith he desired to            ness. With our eye of faith upon Him there is assur-
be near to Christ.       He knew that in Christ's arms he       ance, peace, comfort, friendship, contentment, an
would be the most safe.                                         abundant supply of all our needs, joy, and the calm of
   By faith Peter walked upon the water. He turned'             a soul that knows the living God.
away from the storm and sought Christ. He renounced                Thank God that such a faith is not conditional upon
sin and self and sought the Savior. With the eye of             our free will. If it were, Peter would have drowned.
faith shining brightly he looked upon Christ and tri-           Though Peter took His eye from Jesus, Jesus never
umphed.                                                         took His eye from Peter. When Peter cried for help,
                                                                Jesus lifted Him up and carried Him into the boat. All
   Yet that faith was but aprinciple. Christ responded,         marvelled at the calm.
"0 ye of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" As             We too will continue to marvel at the calm that
Peter walked toward Christ he turned his eye upon the           shall endure unto all eternity when we shall be brought
wind blown waves and he became afraid. Suddenly he              through the portals of perfect peace and abide with our
began to sink and the cry came from his fainting heart,         faithful Lord forever.
"Lord, save me!"                                                   Faith is the victory that overcomes the world.
   Peter tried to rely upon himself. It was that old               Praise God from whom all blessings flow!


EDITORIALS-

                                                   TRAGIC!

                                                   by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema

   This, in one word, is the outcome of the Dekker              issue, and at that time editorial comment will also be
Case in the Christian Reformed Church.                          forthcoming, D.V. But here is a brief account of what
   It is impossible to report in this issue the details         took place since we last reported to you:
of what took place at the reconvened Synod on August               1. Synod's advisory committee succeeded in draw-
29 and 30. These details will be reported in our next           ing up a rather lengthy unified report after the Synod
                                              .


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       485


recessed. This report was distributed to the delegates         ambiguous and abstract way in which he has expressed
prior to the time Synod reconvened.                            himself in his writing on the love of God and the
    2. When Synod reconvened, the recommendations of           atonement:
the Study Committee took precedence; Synod, there-                    Grounds:
fore, was again confronted by a motion which, in effect,              a. His writings have resulted in considerable mis-
declared Prof. Dekker's teachings to be contrary to            understanding and confusion within the churches con-
Scripture and the confessions. After about a half day          cerning the doctrine of the atonement.
                                                                      b. His presentation of his views has resulted in
of fruitless discussion, the recommendations of the            widespread uncertainty concerning his adherence to the
`Study Committee were tabled by a vote of 76 to 59.            creeds.
    3. Synod then turned to the unified report of the
Advisory Committee. Most of Tuesday afternoon and              The above decision was taken by an overwhelming
Wednesday morning were devoted to discussion of a           majority; there was a very thin scattering of negative
motion to warn against certain dangers in the use of        votes.
Prof. Dekker's statements. An attempt was made to              Mark well, this is the only substantive decision taken
table the recommendation of the Advisory Committee,         on the entire Dekker Case!
but this failed by a vote of 68 to 66.                         For the time being, I will leave it to the reader to
    4. Toward noon on Wednesday, August 30, at the          consider this and draw his conclusions.
instigation of President William Haverkamp, a motion           On the floor of Synod, Dr. Henry Stob, a faculty
was passed to have the Advisory Committee and the           advisor and staunch supporter of Prof. Dekker, called
members of the Study Committee meet and try to draw         this a miracle !        Another delegate declared that the
up something which would be acceptable to Synod. This       mountain labored and brought forth amouse,  - a remark
meeting took all of Wednesday afternoon.                    which brought forth laughter.
    5. On Wednesday evening Synod reconvened. Well-            But this is Synod's decision. It is the total outcome
nigh unbelievable as it may seem, here is Synod's           of the Dekker Case!
decision:                                                      Synod was in travail and brought forth the wind!
       That Synod admonish Professor Dekker for the            But it is in one word: TRAGIC!





             About  Theological  Soundness  *

                                                  and  Practical  Application

                                             by  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema


    The editor of "Men and Missions" in Missionary          Dr. De Jong is seriously in error, -not only about the
Monthby  (July-August, 1967) seems inevitably to think      Protestant Reformed Churches (and they are  chwches,
about the Protestant Reformed Churches whenever he          not chuvch~, but also as to the main thrust of his article.
writes about matters having to do with Calvinism            In fact, he draws a false contrast (perhaps more than
versus Arminianism. In fact, I almost get the impres-       one) which is very commonly, but very mistakenly,
sion, - although Dr. De Jong does not quite state this      drawn.
or imply this,- that whenever he thinks about theolog-        Let me, first of all, briefly summarize his article
ical soundness (be it, to him, of an impractical sort),     about "Theological Soundness and Practical Applica-
there looms up before his mind's eye the spectre  of        tion" and make a few quotations. (By the way, Dr.
the Protestant Reformed Churches, apparently repre-         Jerome De Jong, for those of our readers who do not
senting the quintessence of a theological soundness that    know, is pastor of the Immanuel Reformed Church in
is somehow rather abhorrent to him.                         Grand Rapids, and is generally considered, I think, to
    Be that as it may, he mentions us as an example of      represent the conservative wing in the R.C.A.)
something, - I do not quite understand of what or why.         By way of introduction, we are told that this article
But I think I understand what the doctor has in mind        was occasioned by the writer's reading about the
in his article; and if my understanding is correct, then    "Dekker Case" in the  Agenda  of the Christian Reformed


4 8 6                                              XHESXANDARD-BEARER


Synod. However, Dr. De Jong's concern is not to enter             theologically sound Canons of Dordrecht are unknown,
into the issue of that case, but to address himself to an         ignored, and sneered at.                       _     _
important implication involved in that case. His fear is             The second danger, it seems, which the writer fears
"that in our concern for doctrinal and theological                is  that of categorizing people and condemning them. It
preciseness we have neglected the practical aspects of            is rather confusedly stated, as follows:
the presentation of the gospel."             At this point he             How neatly we categorize people! There are saved
quotes Matthew 23:23, which certainly is not pertinent,              and lost. There are Calvinists and Arminians. There
but speaks rather of pharasaic legalism in which, there              are strict Calvinists  and impure Calvinists.          The
was no love of God.                                                  Arminians, of course, are all wrong. Granted! Now
    In explaining his fear, Dr. De Jong professes to                 what?     Are they lost? Are they condemned to hell?
find himself in "a rather peculiar position." On the                 Isn't it a good thing that God does not count success
one hand, he believes that "one of the great problems                purely in terms of numbers? There can be no doubt
of our  age has been doctrinal vagueness and  hetero-                but that historically such men as Dwight Moody, Charles
doxy." He goes on to state:                                          Finney, Billy Sunday, and others (Billy Graham, per-
                                                                     haps? H.C.H.) were more Arminian than Calvinistic
         . ..There is abroad in the world today the feeling          and yet God richly used them in the winning of souls.
    that in the final analysis it does not matter much what          Now I do not follow Dr. De Jong's reasoning here
    you believe as long as you believe something. 1 am,           completely, I must confess. And I utterly fail to see
    of course, dead set against such attitudes within the         that what he states in this paragraph is "the other
    circle of credal Christendom.          We, as Reformed        side .of the coin" of theological soundness. But this
    Churches, have a clear definition of our understanding        much I know:
    of Christian truth. When we take the attitude that it
    makes little difference whether you believe creeds or            1) There certainly is nothing wrong in recognizing
    not we have a chaotic condition. The Consultation on          people for what they are, - Calvinists or Arminians,
    Church Union has expressed itself as aware of "the            especially when such people are preachers and teach-
    divisive danger of verbal confessions and intellectual        ers.
    formulations."                                                   2) It is well that Dr. De Jong grants that the
                                                                  Arminians are all wrong. It would be better yet if he
    The above sounds rather encouraging. But now                  would stick to this position consistently. This would
comes a  f `however." It begins as follows:                       be consistent with theological soundness.
         Having said all this, however, I think we ought to be       3) We may safely leave the judgment of the salva-
    aware that there are dangers on the other side of the         tion or condemnation of men to God and to His Word.
    coin too.     We have tried to fit all our theological        Certainly, His Word condemns false teachers; and His
    thinking into neat, theological patterns.       When we       Word condemns those who believe the lie. But the
    approach the exegesis of the Bible it must fit the            question of the ultimate salvation of any soul is one for
    pattern we have set for it. We ought to remember that         the Judge of heaven and earth.
    as long as we are in this world we a"re human and                4) By the same token, Dr. De Jong is not in a posi-
    confined to a limited, fallible, yes, even at times,
    erroneous understanding of truth.                             tion to judge how richly God used certain men in the
                                                                  winning of souls. Frankly, I am very sceptical  both
    Here, therefore, we seem to have a first danger               about mass evangelism and about its fruits. But that
that Dr. De Jong fears. Just what the danger is, it is            is not the question. This I do know, however: if God
difficult to say. Nor does Dr. De Jong say who he                 richly used these men, and if "Arminians are all
means by "we" in this paragraph. For my part, I                   wrong," then it certainly could not have been the
would say:                                                        Arminianism in their preaching that God richly used.
   1) There. is no  danger-  in fitting theological thinking      This is theologically sound too. God does not save His
into neat, theological patterns, provided'those patterns          people by means of the lie, but by means of the truth
are theological sound patterns, Reformed patterns. In             of the gospel.
fact, the ecclesiastical scene would be improved by a                5) It is indeed the calling of the church and of its
little more Reformed thinking.                                    members to pass judgment as to theological soundness.
    2) It is certainly wrong to let theological patterns          One, - in fact, the chief, - mark of the true church is
rule exegesis,        This, however, is not the fault of          the pure preaching of the Word. Where there is no
theological soundness, but of theological poverty. It is          theological soundness' there can be no pure preaching
theologically sound to let exegesis rule dogmatics.               of the Word. But where the Word is purely preached,
And if we proceed exegetically, this will certainly lead          there is the true church manifested. And there the
to theological soundness also.                                    children of God must join themselves. Where that
    3) The test of a potentially erroneousunderstanding           Word is not preached, there the church is not. And
of truth is perspicuos  Scripture. In this era of relativ-        where that Word is adulterated in the preaching, there
ism and pseudo-tolerance, however, the great danger               the church must either repent or perish.
is not that we forget that we are human, limited, and                The next little paragraph is a puzzler:
fallible; it is rather that the church forgets and                        Let me make it abundantly clear that I am not in
despises its creeds, repudiates its heritage, forgets                favor of doctrinal looseness -but I am in favor of being
and despises the guidance of the Spirit in the church of             careful in our condemnation lest we destroy that which
the past.        An example of this is the-fact that our             basically builds' up Ehe kingdom of God.


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      487

 This puzzles me, especially when I place it in the             emphasize all truths; one must preach his text. But
context of the "Dekker Case," which is, after all, very         it is essential that whichever specific "truth" one
plainly a case of the very Arminianism which De Jong            emphasizes in a given sermon, that truth be in har-
concedes is all wrong. But again, certain things must           mony with the whole of  the truth, according to Scripture
be plain:                                                       and the confessions. I get the distinct impression that
   1) Dr. De Jong cannot here be speaking of "the               Dr. De Jong has in mind something like being a little
other side of the coin" of which theological soundness          Arminian in one sermon and a little more Reformed
constitutes one side. For theological soundness does            in another sermon, or something like emphasizing
not condemn and destroy that which basically builds up          "human responsibility" in  ,one sermon and "divine
the kingdom of God.                                             sovereignty" in another, but in such a way that the
   2) Theological soundness belongs to that which               two contradict each other.
basically builds up the church.          It is precisely the       4) The "Dekker  Case," which is the occasion of
doctrinal vagueness and heterodoxy which Dr. De Jong            Dr. De Jong's `article is not a case of heresy-hunting,
professes to abhor which does not build up, but breaks          but it is an obvious case of blatant Arminianism.
down, a church.                                                    At this point Dr. De Jong retreats from his position
   Another danger is supposed to be that of becoming            in favor of theological soundness into a position of
"heresy-hunters." Writes Dr. De Jong:                           broad and vague fundamentalism. It becomes obvious
       We are also in danger, at this point, of becoming        that the "T.U.L.I.P." truths, (that is, the position of
   heresy-hunters.     Many times in preaching men are          the Canons of Dordrecht,) are too narrow for him. -To
   given to emphasize one point rather than another.            him the "distinctiveness of Reformed truth" consists
   Suppose someone in the pew hears you say, "Come to           in the inspiration of Scripture, the deity of our Lord,
   Christ.    Trust in Him.      Accept Him. He loves you       His blood-bought atonement, His physical resurrection,
   with an eternal love.       He has promised salvation.       and His second return, - the well-known broad base of
   Come, be saved!" Immediately someone may accuse              Fundamentalism, - "as well as distinctive truths." The
   you of Arminian tendencies. You have spoken of God's         final impression is, in the first place, that of a false
   love and have not properly defined it and you are subject
   to classical censure. Suppose, on the other hand, you        contrast between theological soundness and practical
   preach for theological soundness. "Come to Christ,           application of the Gospel; and, in the second place, a
   but of course, you will have to be moved by sovereign        false contrast between the general body of the truth of
   grace. Trust in Him, but you will need the sovereign         the Gospel and the so-called distinctive truths. What
   Spirit. He loves you, but you understand, of course,         he fails to see is that if the true gospel is to be pro-
  this is His redemptive love if you are of the elect and       claimed, then our theological soundness must be re-
   general love if you are reprobate." By this time you         flected in and must permeate the preaching, that is,
   say, "HOW ridiculous," and you are right! In preaching       the practical application of the gospel to a lost world.
   we must first emphasize one truth and then another
   and, over a period of time, a full-orbed understanding       This he could profitably have told his readers. What
   will  characterize the church.                               he fails to emphasize, too, is that it is easy to talk in
                                                                general terms about the deity of our Lord and about
   Now Dr. De Jong does not define a heresy-hunter.             His blood-bought atonement, etc., but that it is pre-
This is one of those terms that is rather freely                cisely at the point of the "T.U.L.I.P. truths" that it
bandied about by those who are usually not interested           becomes plain whether one really proclaims the truth,
in theological soundness and who are not themselves             the Scriptural, the Reformed gospel of salvation. There
theologically sound. It is a term, too, that is frequently      are not two gospels, an Arminian and a Reformed, but
used of those who are theologically sound by those who          only one gospel. And in an age of "doctrinal vague-
are theologically less sound when the former insist on          ness and heterodoxy". which is also afflicting the
theological soundness, i.e., insist on the truth according      Reformed community, Dr. De Jong would have done
to Scripture and the confessions. But certain things            better to keep the following in his pen:
are obvious. in the above paragraph:
   1) The first example of preaching which is men-                    We need to be careful in making a practical appli-
tioned is indeed Arminianism if by theloveof God is meant          cation of the Gospel to a lost world. In all our discus-
every individual in that preacher's audience, and if by            sion of "T.U.L.I.P." truths we forget that the Gospel
the promise of salvation is meant a general promise.               that we preach is far more extensive than that. What
   2) Dr. De Jong does not evince much interest in                 is the distinctiveness of Reformed truth? Is it not the
theological soundness by attempting a  veductio  ad                inspiration of Scripture, the deity of our Lord, His
absuvdkm.   in his example of preaching for theological            blood-bought atonement, His physical resurrection and
                                                                   second return as well as distinctive truths?
soundness. This is not a true example, but a carica-
ture; it betrays either an intense dislike of Reformed            The same is true of the next question that he raises
preaching or a total ignorance of what constitutes              and answers negatively: "Have. our distinctive truths
theologically sound preaching. Besides, of course, it           made us soul-winners? The pioneers in missions?"
is not theologically sound to speak of a redemptive             This is an old and worn-out hue and cry. In regard to
love for the elect and a general love for the reprobate.        it, it should again be remembered that proper mis-
   3) Dr. De Jong certainly does not give an example            sion endeavor must needs be characterized by theo-
here of first emphasizing one truth and then another.           logical soundness, and that our Reformed heritage, the
Surely, it is true ' that in one sermon `one does not           faith once delivered to the saints, must not be left at


488                                                THE STANDARD BEARER


home by missionaries who depart for foreign fields.                explicit in Prof. Dekker's teachings, - and it is rank
It should also be remembered that a goodly measure of              Arminianism.
"doctrinal vagueness and heterodoxy" has originated                   2) That this "logic" bit is another old saw. What
on the mission field and from thence found its way into            is wrong with logic, pray tell, provided that logic is
the home churches. And it may also be remembered                   Scripturally oriented? Is Scripture illogical perhaps?
that the modern ecumenical movement had its origin                 Is the truth of the gospel illogical? And is logic im-
on the mission field. This is not stated to belittle true          practical? I say that the Christian Reformed Church
mission zeal, but to warn that also with respect to                could use a goodly measure of believing, sanctified,
mission zeal all is not gold that glitters !                       Scripturally-oriented logic. Then they would neither
       But in his last paragraph Dr. De Jong reveals               bog down nor forget practicality.
beyond a shadow of a doubt that he casts his vote in                  3) That we do indeed continue to exist in a con-
favor of what he calls "practicality" rather than in               viction of our absolute, pure, and unadulterated con-
favor of genuine theological soundness. Writes he:                 cept of Reformed truth. Is that wrong? If so, on what
          My hope for the Christian Reformed Church is that        ground? Does not a church principally forfeit its very
       in its deliberations it will not bog down in logic and      right of existence if it does not have the conviction
   forget practicality. It is my conviction that the Prot-         that it holds the truth?
       estant Reformed Church was born out of this kind of            4) That he has his statistics wrong, -by more than
       logic. This denomination continues to exist in a con-       33 per cent. But then, "Isn't it a good thing that God
       viction of its absolute, pure, and unadulterated concept    does not count success purely in terms of numbers?"
       of Reformed truth. Yet that whole group numbers only           5) That he would do well to take a good hard look at
       2,000. What of the billions still unreached? Maybe we       his own denomination, the R.C.A., which shelters not
       will have to be willing to allow others to carry the        only a Reformed man like the Rev. Gordon Girod but
       torch with us even though their approach is not as          also rank liberals, - take a good hard look at it in
       Calvinistic as we might like it to be.                      terms of "theological soundness and,practical applica-
   Notice that theological soundness has undergone a               tion, " as well as in terms of "doctrinal vagueness
metamorphosis: it is now equated with logic. More-                 and heterodoxy." Perhaps he will find that there is
over, it is a logic of a certain kind, though we are not           work to be done in the denomination for whose "theo-
told what kind. Well, let me assure Dr. De Jong:                   logical soundness," - or should I say: unsoundness,
   1) That, his conviction to the contrary notwith-                -he, especially as an officebearer, is co-responsible!
standing, we were not born out of logic, but out of a                 6) That as far as carrying the toy& is concerned,
very serious controversy which involved theological                those who carry the torch (that is, the torch of the
soundness. Just how serious that controversy was is                truth of the gospel) with us must not only be Calvinistic
clearly illustrated in the "Dekker  Case" which today              in their approach, but Calvinistic (I prefer to say:
is plaguing the Christian Reformed Church. What was                Reformed) in their theology.         Otherwise we do not
implicit  in 1924 and its Three Points has now become              carry the same torch!


HEEDING THE DOCTRINE-


           The  Doctrir,e of Scripture in

                                                   "The Confession of  1961"

                                                     by Rev. David Engelsma

   At its General Assembly this summer, the United                        A short Statement of Faith written in these times,
Presbyterian Church in the United States of America                   dealing with the great verities of the Word of God and
formally incorporated into its constitution a new con-                facing today's burning issues, should be of interest and
fession of faith called "The Confession of 1967." This                value to church officers and church school teachers, to
confession resulted from a decision made by the                       new members of our churches, and to any among us
,General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the                   who wish to give plain answers about the faith we hold.
U.S.A. in 1958: "that the united Church prepare a                     It should bring to all members of our Church some
                                                                      sense of participation in the thrilling revival of the-
brief contemporary Statement of Faith to become apart                 ology. (quoted in the brochure, "The Proposal to Re-
of the Constitution." An explanation of this decision                 vise the Confessional Position of The United Presby-
described the intended "Statement of Faith" as follows:               terian Church in the United States of America, " p. 11


                                            THESTANDARDBEARER                                                      489


   -after this the brochure will be referred to as "The     author thereof; and therefore it is to be received be-
   Proposal".                                               cause it is the Word of God." (Chapter I, 4. "The
   Apart from the content of the new confession, the        Confession of 1967" calls the Scriptures "the words
adoption of the "Confession of 1967" was of great           of men."        (Part I, Section C, 2) The Westminster
significance for the United Presbyterian Church, a          Confession declares that "by the decree of God...some
church of some three million members whose tradition        men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life,
is that of the Reformed faith. Adoption of the Con-         and others foreordained to everlasting death." (Chapter
fession included a radical change of the confessional       III, 3) Also, "As God hath appointed the elect unto
basis of the Presbyterian Church.        In the past the    glory, so hath he, by the eternal and most free purpose
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. subscribed to the         of his will, foreordained all the means thereunto.
Reformed Westminster Confession and its companion           Wherefore they who are elected, being fallen in Adam,
documents, The Shorter and Larger Catechisms. At            are redeemed by Christ, are effectually called unto
their ordination, candidates for the ministry had to        faith in Christ by his Spirit working in due season; are
answer affirmatively the question: "Do you sincerely        justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by his power
receive and adopt the Confession of Faith and the           through faith unto salvation. Neither. are any other
Catechisms of this Church, as containing the system         redeemed by Christ, effectually called, justified, adopt-
of doctrine taught in the Holy Scripture?" The radical      ed, sanctified, and saved, but the elect only." (Chapter
change which the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. has      III, 6) In flat, universalistic contradiction, "The Con-
effected consists not only of the addition to the West-     fession of 1967" declares, "The risen Christ is the
minster Confession and the Shorter Catechismof "The         savior for all men," (Part I, Section A, 1) "God ex-
Confession of 1967" and six other creeds (The Nicene        pressed his love for all mankind through Israel..."
Creed, The Apostles' Creed, The  Scats Confession,          (Part I, Section B) and "The gift of God in Christ is
The Heidelberg Catechism, The Second Helvetic Con-          for all men." (Part II, Section A, 3)
fession and The Theological Declaration of Barmen)                 That the change of the confessional position of
but also of its relegation of all creeds, including         the Presbyterian Church involves a rejection of the
these nine, to the status of mere mementos of the past      binding character of the creeds and the assertion that
and of ecclesiastical guidelines. In reality, the United    the historic Reformed creeds are little more than
Presbyterian Church no longer has any creeds, espe-         mementos can also be proved. The Preface of "The
cially not the Westminster Confession. This Church          Confession of 1967" states: "The United Presbyterian
now declares that she "accepts and is guided by" the        Church in the United States of America acknowledges
nine documents in her  creedal melange. Candidates          itself aided in understanding the gospel by the testi-
for the ministry now merely state that they will per-       mony of the church from earlier ages and from many
form their duties "(under) the guidance of the confes-a     lands. More especially it is guided by the Nicene and
sions of this Church" ("The Proposal," p. 45).              Apostles' Creeds..."         Confessions merely "aid in
   Behind the United Presbyterian Church's change of        understanding" and "guide"; they do not have binding
her confessional position lies the widespread, perni-       authority upon the Church, its officebearers or its
cious rejection of the historic Reformed confessions        members. In an article included in thebrochure, "The
as documents that once were useful for their times          Proposal to Revise the Confessional Position of the
but are now hopelessly outdated, not only valueless for     United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.," Edward A.
the "modern" Church but positively detrimental. Im-         Dowey, Jr., chairman of the committee that composed
plied in this notion is the relativity of truth: The        "The Confession of 1967," writes: "A statement that
Reformed confessions "spoke the truth to their times"       is appropriate and powerful in its own day may fail to
but speak the truth no longer. At bottom, the rejection     guide the church after some decades or centuries have
of the. Reformed confessions stems from a hatred of         gone by. It comes to resemble a monument marking
the Reformed faith, especially, the truths of election      the past more than a tool for present work." (pp. 20,
and reprobation, limited atonement and sovereign grace.     21)      This is the verdict upon the historic Reformed
There can be no doubt that the desire of those who          creeds. De Bres and the other martyrs spilled their
masterminded the change in the Presbyterian Church          life's blood for the sake of  - "monuments!" And a
was: Get rid of the staunchly Reformed Westminster          certain Trinterud, also a member of the committee
Confession.      They effectively accomplished the re-      that drafted the Confession, complains that for some
moval of the Westminster Confession, not by openly          men "The Westminster documents had come to have
repudiating it as mostly a lie, mistakenly embraced         the character of timeless truth rather than the truth
for some three hundred years by Presbyterians, but          for the times." ("The Proposal," p. 17) It is a typical
by lumping it withother historical relics, all of which     characteristic of all those who advocate the jettison of
are from now on to be admired by the Church as              the Reformed creeds that they will not answer the
monuments of by-gone eras.        Then, to seal West-       simple question: Do the historic Reformed confessions
minster's tomb, they saw to it that a new confession        express the (timeless, eternal) truth or the lie?
was adopted which contradicts the Westminster Con-                 But it is the content of the new Confession that now
fession throughout.                                         concerns us, particularly, the Confession's doctrine of
T h a t "The Confession of 1967" contradicts the            Holy Scripture. That which Dowey notes of the West-
Westminster Confession is easily shown. Of the Bible,       minster Confession, "The Westminster teaching about
the `Westminster Confession says, "God (is) . . . the       the Bible itself, on which the whole document  de-


490                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


pends...," ("The Proposal," p. 19) holds true of "The                   others but the witness without parallel, the norm of all
Confession of 1967" also: A confession of faithdepends                  other witness.      At the same time questions of anti-
upon its `view of Scripture.                                            quated cosmology, diverse cultural influences, and the
   The very membership of the committee  appointed                      like, may be dealt with by careful scholarship unin'-
to compose the Confession puts one on his guard.                        hibited (sic!) by the doctrine of inerrancy which.placed
                                                                        the older Reformed theology at odds with advances in'
Among the members were a woman "Ruling Elder,"                          historical and scientific studies. ("The Proposal",
in violation of Scripture's  injunction against women                 p. 29)
officebearers, and  Markus Barth, son of the famed
German theologian, Karl Barth, who fully shares his                    According to the Confession, Jesus Christ is the
father's estimation of Scripture as an error-filled,                Word. of God, in distinction from Scripture; Scripture,
human book.                                                         the words of men, merely bears witness to Jesus
   This estimation of Scripture is the doctrine of "The             Christ, the Word of God. This is from beginning to end
Confession of 1967,"l In Part I, Section C, 2, under                the theology of Karl Barth. "The Confession of 1967"
the heading, "The Bible," the Confession reads:                     embodies the doctrine of Scripture of Karl Barth and
          The Scriptures, given under the guidance of the Holy      makes that theology the credo of the Church.
       Spirit, are nevertheless the words of men, conditioned          The Confession's denial that Scripture is God's
   by the language, thought forms, and literary fashions            Word is not mitigated by an insertion that so-called
       of the places and times at which they were written.          conservatives managed to make, over the objections of
       They reflect views of  life, history, and the cosmos         the committee that composed the document. The
   which were then current. The church, therefore, has              insertion adds to the words, "Holy Scriptures," the
       an obligation to approach the Scriptures with literary       words, "which are received and obeyed as the word of
       and historical understanding; As God has spoken his          God written."         In the light of the entire section on
       word in diverse cultural situations, the church is con-
   fident that he will continue to speak through the                Scripture and in light of the committee's open explana-
       Scriptures in a changing world and in every form of          tion of the significance of the section on Scripture, the
   human culture.                                                   insertion is not only meaningless and indicative of a
       Whereas the Westminster Confession and all the               pitiful attempt to camouflage stark reality but also
historic Reformed creeds call Scripture the Word of                 outright deception.       For,  first, the inserted phrase
God                                                                 merely says that the Scriptures  "aye  Yeceived and
         and never call it the words of men, "The Confes-
sion of 1967" calls the Bible "the words of men." As                obeyed as the word of God written." It does not say
"the words of men," the Bible is "conditioned by the                that the Bible is the Word of God written.3 Secondly,
. ..literary fashions of the places and times at which              how this insertion is to be understood, the committee
                                                                    itself indicates:
they were written," that is, the writers of the Bible                                     "By extension of the meaning of the
used the technique of myth in Genesis 1-3 to express                Word to which the Bible witnesses, the B.ible as well
spiritual ideas about the beginning of the world and                may be called the word of God." ("The Proposal",
the corruption of mankind. The use of myth, disguised               p. 42) This means, following Karl Barth, that Scripture
as genuine happening, was. a "literary fashion" in the              really is not the Word of God. Only Jesus is the Word
times of the writing of the Bible.               The Scriptures     of God. But because the Bible witnesses to Jesus, you
"reflect views of . ..history...which were then current,"           may - if you insist!  - call the Bible the Word of God.
that is, the Bible writers did not know that history                In reality, as "The Confession of 1967" plainly states,
consists of actual facts and real events so that they               the Bible is the words, the fallible words of men.
presented as historical things that never happened.                    It does not surprise us that the Confession, having
   The committee makes plain that, in the confession,               such a view of Scripture, corrupts other truths also.
they are repudiating the doctrine of the infallible                 It denies election and reprobation, teaching a universal
inspiration of Scripture (maintained by the Westminster             love of God. It denies limited atonement, teaching a
Confession) and are contending for the Barthian view                death of Christ for all men. By implication, it denies
that the Bible is a fallible human book. In his article,            total depravity and sovereign, irresistible grace, when
"Confessions of the Church: Types and Functions,"                   it suggests that some men reject the offered Christ
included in the brochure, "The Proposal," Dowey                     and go lost to the frustration of God's intentions. It
writes: "The Westminster teaching about the Bible                   adopts a form of syncretism when it maintains that
itself . ..is notably a seventeenth-century formulation."           "The Christian finds parallels between other religions
(p. 19)2 This is an ominous statement. But the com-                 and his own and must approach all religions with open-
mittee becomes explicit. Speaking of the section on                 ness and respect." It calls the church to the labor of
"The Bible" in the Confession, the committee boldly                 social improvements as she "strives for a better
declares:                                                           world."
                                                                       It also follows that. the vows of ordination must be
          This section is an intended revision of the West-         changed. In place of the previous "Do you believe the
       minster doctrine, which rested primarily on a view of        Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the
       inspiration and equated the Biblical canon directly with     Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and prae-
       the Word of. God.     By contrast, the preeminent and
       primary meaning of-the word. of God in the Confession        tice?" the committee recommended: "Do you accept
       of 1967 is the Word of God incarnate. The function of        the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the
       the Bible is to be the instrument of the .revelation  of     normative witness to Jesus Christ in the Church
       the Word in the living `church. It is not a witness among    catholic, and by his Spirit God's Word to you?" ("The


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  491


Proposal", p. 45) This quotation from the dogmatics              spiration. On the other hand, it can safely be said that
of Karl Barth means that the Holy Spirit takes the               one who stoutly defends the authority of the creeds
human, fallible Bible, the words of men, and causes              (which after all he has sworn to defend)is one who also
men, now and again, to hear the Word of God through              maintains the full authority of Scripture. In the light
that Bible.                                                      of these rules, James Daane's jab at Herman Hoeksema
   If it is true, as  Christianity Today  reported, that         in the May-June  1967  issue of  The Reformed  Joumzal
"conservatives" found "a patch of common ground"                 is revelatory of both Hoeksema and Da,ane: "he (Hoek-
on which to stand with the "liberals" to adopt the               sema) viewed (the Reformed creeds -DE) with an
Confession and if it is true that "a delicate liberal-           almost blind, uncritical loyalty, accepting them as
conservative balance" was achieved by which the Con-             not-to-be-questioned truth, not as historical docu-
fession was almost unanimously adopted, then it is also          ments."
true that the love of the so-called conservatives has
long since waxed cold, that the so-called conserva-
tives are little less enemies of the Church than the                 2 This brings to mind what C.S. Lewis put into the
"liberals" and that the so-called conservatives share            mouth of the demon Screwtape in The Scvewtupe  Lettevs:
the blame for this Confession with those that drew it            "We have...(inculcated)  the Historical Point of View.
up (see                                                          The Historical Point of View, put briefly, means that
            Christianity To&y,  June 10, 1966, p. 44).
   In his article, "Confessions of the Church: Types             when a learned man is presented with any statement in
and Functions," Edward Dowey complains that the                  an ancient author, the one question he never asks is
Church that produced the Westminster Confession was              whether it is true. He asks who influenced the ancient
trying "to hold back the dawn of modern natural                  writer, and how far the statement is consistent with
science and philosophy." ("The Proposal", pp. 19, 20)            what he said in other books, and what phase in the
He implies that the Church today must open herself to            writer's development, or in the general history of
"modern natural science and philosophy," by banishing            thought, it illustrates . .." The one questionMr.  Dowey
the Reformed creeds and adopting "The Confession of              never asks about Westminster's doctrine of Scripture
1967." This, the United Presbyterian Church in the               is "whether it is true."
U.S.A. has now done. May God have mercy on her.
                                                                     3 Contrast this statement, as everyone in the
   1 It may now be laid down as a general principle              Presbyterian General Assembly and Church must
that every attack upon the authority of the creeds,              have done, with that which the Westminster Confession
although made in the name of the unique authority of             says. It also speaks of "receiving" Scripture and its
Scripture, heralds and goes hand-in-hand with a denial           authority but fundamentally differently than does "The
of the inspiration and authority of Scripture. One who           Confession of 1967": "therefore it is to be received,
undermines the creeds is one who also denies the                 because it is the Wovd of God. " (Chapter I, 4 - my em-
authority of Scripture, by rejecting its infallible in-          phasis, DE.



    THE LORD GAVE THE WORD  . .  ..Psalm  68:~



                      Some. Principles  of  Missions

                                                    by  Pyof. H.  Hank0


   Up to this point, we have been busy drawing some              mental and principal sign of the return of Christ upon
broad lines of principles with respect to mission work.          the clouds of heaven to usher in the end of this age and
It remains, in this concluding article, to bring these           the beginning of the everlasting kingdom of heaven. All
principles to bear upon actual mission work as it is             the other signs clearly are caused by the sign of the
conducted in our day and as it ought to be conducted             preaching of the gospel.
by all who engage in this noble task.                                We have pointed out especially that it is the world-
    It is not amiss to review briefly the points we have         wide preaching of the gospel which is the cause of the
made so that our readers may recall to mind what has             division of the world into two camps: the camp of anti-
already been written. The chief point we have been               Christianity and the camp of Gog and Magog. We have
making is that the preaching of the gospel is a funda-           noted that this division is of fundamental importance,


492                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

that a chasm is created between these two camps               the arrogant philosophies of men to accomplish His
which no earthly power can bridge. It is this division        purpose.
which plays such an important role in the events of the          We must insist that it is only by sovereign grace
end.                                                          that the gospel is the power of salvation. And this must
       But we must turn to our conclusions.                   also form the content of the gospel which is preached.
   First of all, there stands out the all-important           This message must be proclaimed on the missionfield,
principle that, because of the unique relationship in         that God is the sovereign Lord Who does all His good
which mission work stands to the end of the world,            pleasure and saves His elect people through the power
mission work is the work of God Almighty which He             of the cross and by an irresistible work of the Spirit.
performs through Jesus Christ and by His Holy Spirit.            In the third place, this work of missions is there-
`Our beautiful Heidelberg Catechism, in question 54,          fore performed by the church. Much of what is done
answers the question, "What believest thou concerning         today is not; and there can benopositive fruit produced
the `holy catholic church' of Christ?" in these unfor-        by it. It is done by boards, agencies, organizations,
getable words: "That the Son of God from the beginning        individuals, etc., but not by the church as part of her
to the end of the world, gathers, defends, and pre-           official calling. This means that the work of missions
serves to himself by his Word and Spirit, out of the          must be done by ordained ministers who are called to
whole human race, a church chosen to everlasting              proclaim the gospel by the church and therefore by
life, agreeing in true faith; and that I am and forever       Christ. We must protest against the current idea that
shall remain, a living member thereof." Thus puts the         anyone who has a mind to preach can simply go forth
word of missions where it belongs - in the hand of the        to perform the work of missions. This  isn ot true.
Son of God.                                                   Even Billy Graham stands condemned on this basis
   This ,implies  some important truths which we can          alone. Although he is an ordained minister, he is not
only briefly mention, but which deserve more detailed         sent and called to this task which he now performs by
treatment.                                                    the church, but simply operates under the sponsorship
   In the first place, the power of the gospel is always      of an organization. The work of missions is the work
the power of God Himself through Jesus Christ. God            of the church of Christ through her called and ordained
chose a people from all eternity which He has destined        ministry.    Indeed, while pamphlets, gospel tracts,
to be His. He chose these people in Jesus Christ and          Bibles, personal witnessing, etc., may all aid the work
sent Christ into the world to die for their sins - and        of missions and be a supplementary means of reaching
for their sins alone. The salvation which God ordained        the lost, it is only the officially proclaimed gospel
as the inheritance of His church is purchased in the          which finally is God's power to save the elect and bring
blood of the cross. It is Christ therefore, Who causes        them into the fellowship of the body of Christ. To
His gospel to be preached - the gospel of His cross.          ignore this principle or to cast it aside and abandon it
And it is by this gospel that the purpose of God deter-       is to cut the heart out of the mission work of the
mined in election and realized in the cross is accom-         church.
plished. The gospel is the power of God whereby His              This is ,our first conclusion then. Let the church
elect, redeemed people are called irresistibly out'of         which wants to engage in this mission calling rest in
darkness into the fellowship of the kingdom of heaven.        the assurance that it does not take man's work to do
Always the gospel is God's power. It accomplishes             mission labors; the work of God is sufficient and God
God's purpose. It does all that God.determines  it to do.     will use a faithful church to gather those who are His
All the elect are saved by the gospel; none are lost.         people. Let her not become impatient with the gospel
None of the reprobate are saved; all are lost through         and destroy her very work with human inventions.
the way of .their unbelief and rejection of the gospel.          In the second place, all of what we have said means
It is all as God wants it to be.                              that mission work comes to an end. As one elder once
In the second place, this means that salvation is             put it quite long ago: "God puts the roof on His house
the sovereign work of God's grace. You can readily            some day." This may sound axiomatic, and many may
perceive what this means for all Arminianism. It is a         protest that, of course, it comes to an end with the end
sad and hopeless travesty of the gospel to make it into       of the world; but this is not what we mean, and the
an offer or an invitation by which God invites all men        point is of no little importance. It seems as if this
to accept salvation with the power of their own free          simple truth is consistently ignored.
will. It is destructive of the very gospel itself to alter       Let us look at this a bit more closely and see rhe
its character so that it is no more God's power, but a        implications. Positively, this means that there comes
mere presentation of a possibility for man to save            a time when the last elect is born, called by the gospel
himself.      God is effectively ruled out of mission work    into the consciousness of his salvation in Christ, and
by such a teaching. Yet, much of mission work today           that, therefore, mission work has been finished. Jesus
is carried on along these lines. But it is hopeless.          says, in Matthew 24, referring, no doubt, to this point:
Through this kind of preaching the church will never          "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in
be gathered. The work of missions is then not done.           all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then
Better to stay at home than to go to a foreign or domes-      shall the end come." The end does not come at an
tic field with such caricatures of thegospel. How much        arbitrary time; it comes when the purpose of God is
mission work must be condemned on this basis is hard          realized. Christ's coming is not simply an "end"; it
to tell; but it is a great percentage. God will not use       is a "telos" - a goal attained, a purpose realized, a


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  493


counsel accomplished. The end has got to come then;          have departed from the ways of God is hopeless - yes,
it cannot be delayed another moment. All the church          is flying- in the face of what God Himself has revealed
is ready for heaven.                                         as the way He works. As generations depart, nations
    And this alsomeans that the gospel has accomplished      as a whole, once Christianized, become anti-Christian,
all its purpose in the wicked.      The gospel has been      of the camp of Satan. They always perhaps retain a
God's sovereign power by which the wicked have grown         remnant of the religion they once professed (even the
in sin and filled the cup of iniquity. The world has         God-is-dead theologians insist they belong to the
become ripe for judgment when evil men, under Satan's        established and Christian church); but their religion
leadership, have set up their anti-Christian  kingdom        is apostate Christianity, and they are lost for all time.
and destroyed the church and killed the people of God.       It is not the calling of the church to go back again and
But this too is brought about by the gospel.                 again to these generations to bring about revival.
   Now, what does all this mean?                             Branches pruned off the olive tree are not grafted
   It means that one aspect of present mission work at       back in some later day.
least, is not very important and is often misinterpret-         Does this mean that nothing can and must be done
ed. I refer to mission work that is geared to revival        in this area of mission work? Indeednot. But the work
in the church. So-called "crusades" are part of this.        that must be done is the work of calling out of aposta-
It is just possible, of course, that the. established        tizing generations those who are still numbered among
church does need revival once in a while. It may grow        God's elect. They are the lost sheep of the house of
lethargic and indifferent. Revival may be necessary          Israel.    And notice that they belong to Israel's house.
to wake up the established church from her spiritual         If they remain in their churches which run the road of
sleep. Even the Psalmist prays: "Revive us again."           apostasy, they too shall see their generations lose
But to make this part of mission work and give it the        their place in God's covenant. If they come out to join
interpretation given it today is depressingly hopeless.      with those who stand fast for the truth, the covenant
A church that stands in constant need of revival is in       will be continued among them.
a bad way. And the trouble is that there is no end to           Apparently this is an urgent calling in our present
this need for revival. It has to be done over and over       day when so many churches are enthralled with the
again.    And if one makes revival an integral part of       enticing and beckoning teachings of modernism, and
mission work, one never quite reaches the end. One           chase the siren call of false doctrine. Let the church
can always return another time to an apostatizing            then get busy with her task. This will not spell world-
church to try to revive people once more. God can            wide or even national revival so that a country of the
never, apparently, bring this work to a successful           whole world turns to God. This will mean only that the
conclusion.                                                  faithful in many places, suffering under a great deal
    And so there is a deeper principle at stake here - a     of pressure from evil men, will abandon a hopeless
principle which must not be forgotten. There is no           cause and stand with all the faithful everywhere in the
space in this concluding article to develop this; we can     cause of the truth of the gospel. They will be few in
only briefly draw the main lines. But the principle          number, but the church of Christ is only ever a rem-
is that God always works organically;  i.e., in the line     nant; and - we are not postmillennial.
of continued generations. This is true as far as elec-          This is the teaching of Paul in Romans 11: "For if
tion is concerned, first of all. The elect are gathered      the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the
in the line of generations, from father to son, to son's     root be holy, so are the branches. And if some of the
son, etc. It is true that new lines are brought into the     branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive
covenant of God so that the covenant is established in       tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them
every nation and tribe and tongue, and the church            partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
becomes catholic.       But the covenant is continued in     Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou
succeeding generations. God does not gather His peo-         bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say
ple from one generation only in one place, then to           then, The branches were broken off, that I might be
abandon succeeding generations to go elsewhere to            graffed in. Well, because of unbelief they were broken
gather one generation in another place. This is not          off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but
God's way of salvation.                                      fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take
   But if election is in the line of generations, so also    heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the
is reprobation.      The sins of the fathers are indeed      goodness and severity of God: on them which fell,
visited upon the sons unto the third and fourth genera-      severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in
tion of them that hate God.       When those who are in      his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off."
covenant lines apostatize, neglect their covenant obli-         Finally, it is evident in our time that mission work
gations, fail to instruct the children of the covenant,      is indeed reaching its conclusion. The gospel has been
walk in ways of error, depart from the path of right-        brought to every nation. The work goes on in many
eousness, this has the most serious consequences for         fields and is being rapidly completed. And indications
generations to come. For children walk in the ways of        are that the work is all but over. Many foreign fields
their fathers and depart still more. Wickedness in-          are being closed  - especially in communistic countries
creases as sin develops with each succeeding genera-         and pagan Africa. This is something to be expected.
tion.                                                        We wrote before that these are the nations that are
   Hence, to return again and again to generations who       never brought under the influence of the gospel as the


 494                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


  "Christian,, nations are. The elect have been saved         of Israel's house. This calling presses upon us as the
 there,  ,the  ,church established, but the nations  them-    false church develops more rapidly into its final goal
 selves, considered organically, are bitter against           - the right hand of Antichrist.
  "Christianity" and the church. Now, as they rise to            Let the church then get on with her task. Let her
 nationhood, they turn out the missionaries and close         be busy in this work. But above all, the hope is that the
 their doors to the preaching of the gospel.                  church which has abandoned the principles of Scripture
        In other lands the church `is being established       will return to them; clean out the boards and agencies
 indigenously and is prepared to stand on its own. The        which have done so much to direct mission work in
 work there, as far as its being  foreign  is concerned,      wrong channels; and be busy with the task of true
 is about over.                                               mission work. There is much that needs doing. And
    In Christian lands there remains an urgent calling.       while on the distant horizon of history already grumbles
 It can be called mission work, but in a more restricted      the thunders of Christ's return, let us be spurred on
 sense of the word. It is the calling to call forth from      to our task in the confidence that if we are faithful,
 the church which wants the truth no more the sheep           God will use us to accomplish His purpose.


        EXAMINING ECUMENICALISM-



                                      Still "Fiddling"

                                                 by Rev. G. Van  Baven


    In a former article of this rubric was quoted a                 a. Synod recognizes, on the basis of Scripture, that
 minister of the Christian Reformed Church who pointed           the Church of Jesus Christ is one, and that this unity
 out `that failure of his denomination to join the W.C.C.        ought to come to visible expression as a witness to
 was equivalent to "fiddling while Rome burns." The              Christ.
 decision of the last Synod of the Christian Reformed               b. Synod reaffirms the position adopted by the Synod
 `Church indicates that this denomination intends for            of l.944, that the Christian Reformed Church bears a
                                                                 responsibility to all other Christian Churches "to gain
 the time being to continue "fiddling."                          and to keep our ecclesiastical brethren in the measure
    I consider it commendable that in this day of much           in which it is possible for us to do so." (Resolution 8,
 false ecumenism that our "mother" denomination is               Acts 1944, p. 359)
 ready yet to state that they MAY NOT join the W.C.C.               c. Synod judges that the basis, nature, and purpose
 as it is presently constituted. At the same time time,          of the World Council of Churches, as defined by its
 the decision as taken, and the strong opposition to this        Constitution, are such as to permit a Reformed Church
 decision, gives real reason for grave concern with              to seek membership in it. Ground:
 respect to the future for that denomination. There are             These constitutional provisions do not violate the
 obviously many inthe denomination who advocate join-            requirements of Scripture,  no? are they in conflict
                                                                 with the Reformed Confessions.
 ing the W.C.C. And. those who oppose such union are                d. Synod recognizes weighty problems involved in
 not ready to take a firm stand against such union  -            World Council membership, with respect to the actual
 possibly  becaus  e of a fear of offending the proponents       functioning of the Council, the trends within the Council,
 of the W.C.C. in the C.R.C.; possibly too because of a          and the implications of Council membership for rela-
fear of being labeled "anti-ecumenical."                         tions with other churches.
                                                                    e. Synod urges the Gereformeerde Kerken to give
 THE `MiNORITr REPORT                                            due consideration, before applying for membership in
    I have in my possession the minority report of the           the World Council of Churches to thefollowingmatters:
 advisory committee of the C.R.C. Synod. This in turn               1) The preservation of their own internal unity;
                                                                    2) The question whether their total witness to the
 favorably reacts to a minority report which was pre-                     world, singly or in conjunction with other Re-
 sented to the Synod by a committee appointed last year                   formed Churches, will be aided or impeded by
 to consider this matter of the possibility of Reformed                   World Council membership:
 churches joining the W.C.C. This report the Synod did              3) The implications of the actual functioning of the
 NOT adopt  - but it does reflect the trends within the                   World Council, judged by the best information
 C.R.C. toward W.C.C. affiliation. The minority ad-                       available.
 visory committee recommended the adoption of the                   f. Synod communicates these decisions and the text
 recommendations of the minority study committee.                of this report to the Gereformeerde  I<erken  as its
 These are as follows:                                           response to their request for advice.


                                                   THE  STANDARD  BEARER.                                              495


      g. Synod decides not to commit the Christian Re-            `recommendation simply`points out several "problems"
   formed Church to membership in the World Council of            which have doubtless already been considered by the
   Churches at this time.                                         Gereformeerde Kerken. The committee suggests. that
      G r o u n d s :                                             their sister denomination consider' first.. of all their
      1) Further     information      regarding    the actual     own internal'u'nity. What this specifically means;. I `am
         functioning of the World Council and the implica-
         tions of membership is needed before a respon-           not sure. Two things come to mind: 1) that joining the
         sible judgment on membership can be made.                W.C.C. might cause a "split" in the Gereformeerde
      2) The readiness of the Christian Reformed Church           Kerken - in which case they ought to think twice about
         to undertake further ecumenical responsibilities         joining the W.C.C.; or whether they might not lose
         needs further exploration.                               their distinctiveness as a denomination in joining the
      h. Synod instructs its Committee on Inter-Church            W.C.C. The other two questions posited by the com-
   Relations  to seek ways and means of arriving at a             mittee are indeed serious questions .worthy  of careful
   fuller understanding and riper judgment with respect           consideration - but hardly constitute advice to their
   to the World Council of Churches, to provide for the           sister denomination concerning whether they should
   Presence of observers at principal meetings of the
   World Council and its subsidiaries, to encourage study         join W.C.C. or not.
   of this matter by the churches,  and to keep Synod                Finally, the minority committee advises that Synod
   informed of its findings.                                      of the C.R.C. do not commit the denomination to the
                                                                  W.C.C. at this time. Those last words point to the crux
   Just a few comments. The report and the recom-                 of the advice of the committee. The committee ap-
mendations are very cautious. Obviously the recom-                parently realizes that there are many in the C.R.C.
mendations were drawn up so that both pro- and anti-              who are not yet ready for the step of seeking member-
W.C.C. forces could accept them. There is the general             ship in the W .C.C. They present two grounds for their
statement concerning a desire for the unity and one-              advice (see "g" above). The first ground suggests
ness of the church of Christ. Withthis  all could agree.          that the C.R .C. ought to obtain further information on
There is the recollection that the C.R.C. in the past             the W.C.C. If the C.R.C. does lack sufficient informa-
had already recognized its ecumenical calling.                    tion before a responsible judgment on membership
   Now the committee `suggests that on the basis of               can be made, it would truly be a good ground for not
the Constitution a Reformed church can seek member-               joining at this time. However, the question might well
ship in the W.C.C. However, the committee suggests                be asked: is not sufficient information presently avail-
that there are "weighty problems" connected with                  able on the W.C.C. - and have not responsible, capable
membership. This does not yet say much. Specifical-               members of the C.R.C. already considered this infor-
ly, what are these "weighty problems?" There are                  mation? What more is required before a,"`responsible
certain' "problems" which would make membership in                judgment on membership" could, be made? Or is this
an organization impossible; on the other hand, to                 ground a means of delaying a decision (which might
belong to any organization can involve one in "weighty            be unfavorable) until a favorable decision is compara-
problems.  " The committee appears ready to declare               tively certain?
that though there are obviously problems connected                   The second ground to the recommendation indicates
with membership in the W.C.C., a Reformed church can              that the above conclusion is correct. The committee
definitely belong to such an organization.                        indicates that they themselves are not yet certain
   But especially was it the desire of Synod to express           whether the C.R.C. is ready "to undertake further
itself with respect to the decision of the  Gerefor-              ecumenical responsibilities  ." This is just another way
meerde Kerken in the Netherlands concerning the                   of stating that the committee fears that action to join
permissibility of Reformed churches to join the W.C.C.,           the W.C.C. at this time would arouse too much public
and the possibility that the Gereformeerde Kerkenmight            opposition.    Give the churches another five or ten
do so. Interesting is the advice of the Minority Com-             years, and then they may be ready for "further ecu-
mittee in this regard.          Read it again in "e" above.       menical responsibilities."
Note that there is neither a "yes" or "no" answer                    But the C.R.C. Synod did not adopt this advice.
given to the problem. The answer suggested is hardly              Rather, it approved the majority report which I hope,
clear and definite advice to a sister church. The                 D.V., to consider next time.



                                              ATTENTION: R.F.P.A. MEMBERS
                                    Annual meeting of the Reformed Free Publishing
                                    Association will be held, Thursday, Sept. 21, D.V., in
                                    the Southeast Protestant Reformed Church, at 8:00 p.m..
                                    Rev. J. Kortering will be the speaker. Three Board
                                    members are to be. elected from the following nomin-
                                    ation: ,George De Vries, D. Kooienga, G. Schimmel,                        .
                                    H. Kamphuis, H. Velthouse, and R. Teitsma.
                                                        The R.F.P.A. Board


496                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


A CLOUD OF  WITNESSES-

              David,  The  Spear,  and  The  Cruse  of  Water

                                                 by Rev. B.  Woudenberg

                      And David cried to the people and to Abner the son of  Ner, saying,  Answerest
                   thou not, Abner? Then Abner answered and said, Who art thou  that  cviest  to the
                   king?
                      And David said `to Abner,  AYt not thou a valiant man? and who is like to thee in
                   Israel? wherefore then hast thou not kept  fhy lord the king? for there came one of
                   the people in to destroy the king thy  lovd.
                      This thing is not good that thou hast done. As the Lord liveth, ye  are worthy to
                   die, because ye have not kept your  master, the Lord's anointed.             And  lzow see
                   where the king's  spear is, and the  cmcSe of water that was at his bolster.
                      And Saul knew David's voice, and said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And
                   David said, It is my voice, my lord, 0 king.

   For a time it seemed that David's life had passed                  Months went by in which Saul refrained from all
its most severe crisis and that things would be a little           overt acts in opposition to David. His last shameful
easier for him now. After David had spared Saul's life             departure from the cave of Engedi had been too
in that cave at Engedi, Saul had withdrawn his forces              embarrassing for him to allow it to be repeated. But _
and no threatening gestures had been met from him for              with the ambitious men of Saul's court, the pursuit
many months. Furthermore, after Abigail dissuaded                  of David had become a passion. They loved to spend
him from wreacking his vengeance upon her husband                  lengthy days together devising plans by which David
Nabal, God took' his part and smote Nabal so that he               might be captured or killed; and they were constantly
died.    Admiring Abigail as an extremely sensible                 exerting pressure upon Saul to put them into practice.
woman, David soon took her to be his wife, affording               Moreover, Saul's own heart was basically in sympathy
him a companionship such as he had not had since                   with this all.       He knew now full well that God had
fleeing from his home in the royal city. Yet, in itself            ordained that David should receive the throne of Israel
we cannot but conclude that David's action here was a              after him. His own son Jonathan had long acknowledged
grievous mistake.      He was already a married man,               this and advocated it as a good thing. But to Saul the
whether his wife Michal presently lived with him or                thought was bitter, and he could not escape the convic-
not, and to take to himself another wife was only to act           tion that, if only something could be done to destroy
contrary to the original ordinance of marriage and to              David, even these plans of Israel's God would have to
lay theground work for what was to become the greatest             come to naught.
misery in his later life, and in his children's lives                 Thus it was that after a time, Saul once again
also. Very soon the fruits of his action began to reveal           gathered his forces together to resume the pursuit of
themselves. Having two wives, he was not yet satisfied             David. Once again it was occasioned by the Ziphites.
and married a third, Ahimolam of Jezreel. Meanwhile,               They remembered how close they had come to earning
Saul, hearing of his polygamy and being dissatisfied,              the royal favor by preparing a trap for David in the
took his daughter Michal, David's first wife, and gave             wood of Hachilah. Now once again David had come into
her to another.      It was surely the beginning of the            their territory, and they were quick to try to repeat
most bitter page in David's life.                                  the same trick. Quickly they sent the message to Saul,
   At the same time, although Saul had refrained from              "Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah,
further pursuit of David, it did not mean that his hatred          which is before Jeshimon?"
for David had been overcome. In fact, through the                     Neither had Saul forgotten that place. It was the
years of David's banishment, there had arisen within               closest he had ever come to capturing David; and the
the royal court a group of men who were determined                 temptation to try to repeat it was too great. He must
not to let it be so. These were ambitious men who saw              try it once more.
in the displacing of David an opportunity for them to                 David, however, was much too clever a strategist
vie for the position of importance he had filled. Fur-             to allow himself to be caught twice in the same trap.
thermore, even Jonathan, Saul's own son, was drawing               Long before Saul and his army came near, he had his
more and more into the background. His father no                   spies out following his every move. Thus by the time
longer trusted him, and he no longer had any heart for             Saul came to Hachilah, David's men had withdrawn to
the policies his father was following.         This left an        another portion of the wilderness. But all of the time
even higher goal for which the ambitious of the court              David's spies were watching the camp of Saul, and he
might aim.                                                         knew exactly what Saul was about. He had his plan


                                             THE  STAHDARD   BEABER                                                 497

also.    David remembered how effective his previous          and began to speak with all of the power of his voice.
encounter with Saul had been when he hadspared Saul's         The morning air was still and clear so that every word
life at the cave of Engedi, and he was determined to          he spoke carried clearly into the very heart of ,the camp.
repeat the same move once again.                              Now the men were sleepy no longer. At the very first
   Thus it was that, no sooner had Saul set up his            sound of David's voice, it seemed that the whole camp
base camp at Hachilah, than David with two of his             was awake and out of their tents waiting to hear what
men, Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai the brother of         this voice had to say. It was strange, almost mystical,
Joab, came personally to examine the camp. From the           and an awesome chill of fear seemed to pass through
hilltop overlooking the camp they were able to examine        the camp as they detected the note of ridicule and
its whole outlay while keeping themselves completely          scorn that the voice seemed to convey. The voice was
hidden. This he did, taking particular note of the tent       addressed to them, but even more to their king and to
in which Saul slept and the position of Abner, the long       Abner their captain, calling him by name and taunt-
time captain of Saul's army. David knew Abner well,           ingly asking, "Answerest thou not, Abner?"
often he had fought with him, and it hurt him to think           It was an embarrassment to Abner, first awakened
that Abner would cooperate with Saul in pursuing him          and then singled out by this early morning voice that
now.                                                          he did not recognize or understand. But it seemed that
   It was when night was finally beginning to fall that       there was nothing else to do but to answer it; and so,
David turned to his two companions to ask of them             seeking to turn attention awayfrom  himself he answered
which would go down with him into the very camp itself        "Who art thou that criest to the king?"
and which one would remain behind to watch from the              But now the voice was ready. This was what it was
hillside. It was Abishai that volunteered to go along.        waiting for.    Loudly and clearly it began to speak,
   There was something unusually quiet about the              addressing itself still primarily to Abner but plainly
camp of Saul when David and Abishai approached it.            desiring everyone to hear. "Art not thou a valiant
God was with them, and He had caused a deep sleep to          man," it tauntingly went on, "And who is like to thee
fall upon the army just as He had done for Gideon             in Israel? wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord
years before under similar circumstances. The guards          the king? for there came one of thepeople in to destroy
who should have been watching the camp were all               the king thy lord. This thing is not good that thou hast
dozing heavily at their posts. Even thelightest sleeper       done. And the Lord liveth, ye are worthy to die, be-
and insomniac had no trouble sleeping that night. The         cause ye have not kept your master, the Lord's anoint-
whole camp was perfectly quiet and still. Carefully           ed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the
and without notice David and Abishai made their way           cruse of water that was at his bolster."
into the very heart of the camp, where were the tents            To Abner and the people it was all still a mystery,
of Saul and Abner. Into the tent of Saul they entered.        accusing them of something they did not clearly under-
   Once they had entered the tent, the sight of the           stand. It was Saul who first recognized the voice, and
sleeping king was too much for Abishai.          He knew      its sound struck into his heart with a new flood of
David's attitude and intentions full well; but the impulse    guilt and humiliation.      With an anguished, almost
was almost irresistible. Earnestly he turned to David         despairing voice, he stepped forward to cry out and
and whispered, "God hath delivered thine enemy into           answer, "Is this thy voice, my son David?"
thine hand this day; now therefore let me smite him, I           These words struck home, and now suddenly the
pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at once, and      taunt was gone from the voice. Still clearly, but with
I will not smite him the second time."                        a new tone of meekness and sadness, it answered back,
   But David would have none of it. Through long              "It is my voice, my lord, 0 king." And then after a
hours of prayer and meditation he had come to the firm        painful pause, "Wherefore doth my lord thus pursue
conviction that he should do nothing himself that would       after his servant? for what have I done? or what evil is
ever serve to inflict harm upon the king which God had        in mine hand? Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord
anointed; and from this he was not about to be moved.         the king hear the words of his servant. If the Lord
Quickly he whispered back, "Destroy him not: for who          have stirred thee up against me, let him accept an
can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed,       offering; but if they be the children of men, cursed
and -be-guiltless? As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall         be they before the Lord; for they have driven me out
smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall          this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord,
descend into battle, and perish. The Lord forbid that I       saying, Go, serve other gods. Now therefore, let not
should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's             my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord:
anointed; but, I pray thee, take thou now the spear that      for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as
is at his bolster, and the cruse of water, and let us         when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains."
go." This was David's only desire - to prove to Saul             The words beat like a hammer upon the head of the
that he had been there and that there was not bitter-         king causing him to cry out in admission of that which
ness or hatred or desire to hurt the king in his heart.       his whole nature didn't want to admit. There was
   The departure from the camp went evenmoreeasily            anguish written all over his face as he answered back,
and swiftly than their entrance. Soon Abishai and David       "I have sinned: return, my son David: for I will no
were back with Ahimelech on the ridge overlooking the         more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in
camp. Patiently David waited until the first rays of          thine eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and
dawn were lighting the sky, and then he stepped forth         have erred exceedingly."


498                                           THE STANDARD BEzdRER


       These words must surely have pulled at David's         mine eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of
heart, for there was nothing that he.could have desired       the Lord, and let him deliver me out of all tribulation."
more than to return to the joy of serving Saul as he              The answering words of Saul were the last that
had .in former years. But he knew the changeableness          David would ever hear from those lips, and they
of Saul's nature too well to yield to even such an appeal.    sounded as a final seal upon his life, coming as they
.There  was a new calmness in his voice as he only            did from the lips of his most hateful enemy. Saul's
answered, "Behold the king's spear! and let one of the        parting words were these, "Blessed be thou, my son
young men come over and fetch it. The Lord render to          David: thou shalt both do great things, and also shalt
every man his righteousness and his faithfulness: for         still prevail." It was not what he wanted to say. To
the Lord delivered thee into my hand to day, but I would      his dying day he would himself refuse to believe them.
not stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed.      But such was the  powe.r  of God that his lips were
And-i behold, as thy life was .much set by this day in        forced to speak it.

TRYING  II-/E  SPIRITS-

              Dispensationalism and the
                                                   Perpetuity of the Law
                                                 by Rev. R. C.  Havbach

       Appeal is made by Dispensationalists to "Christ is     lasting to everlasting; and since divine love is the heart
the end of the law" in support of their error that Christ     of the law of God, then it remains the eternal rule of
came to make an end of the law. But .this is to forget        His righteousness which He has given to man. Since,
what had been prophesied of Him centuries before,             too, the law is a transcript of the nature of God, then
that "He will magnify the law, and make it honorable."        the law can neither be repealed, changed nor modified.
(Isa.  42:21)     It is to forget, as we showed last time,    Love cannot be done away. It abides (I Cor. 13:13). It
that there cannot be made an end of that which stands         is the immutable will of God that we should love Him
fast forever and ever (Ps. 111:7, 8). In spite of this        with all the heart. Nothing less than such love is due
undeniable fact it is objected that the ten command-          to God. How can such a law be set aside? Impossible!
ments are not a sufficiently high rule of duty for the        The ground of the law is love.         How then can it be
Christian; they do not contain the whole duty of man.         annulled? How can the law ever be altered? Will God
But the Lord revealed the sum of them in the words,           ever release His subjects from the requirement of
"Thou' shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,        loving Him and loving the neighbor? How could God
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the     absolve His creatures from doing right? He would
first and great commandment. And the second is like           then give them license to do wrong!
unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On
these two commandments hang all the law and the                   Proof that the law as the standard of truth, life and
prophets."' (Mt. 22:37-40) The ten commandments are           conduct was not put away, we have in the fact that the
by `the Lord reduced to two, love to God and love to the      last of the ten commandments was indelibly impressed
neighbor, which may be reduced to one, namely, love,          upon the apostle some years after the cross. He
which certainly embraces every duty that may be               testified, "I had not known sin, but by the law: for I
required of and performed by man. Let love to God             had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou
motivate the heart, and not only will love to the neighbor    shalt not covet." (Rom. 7:7) How does one come to
follow, but God will be obeyed in every aspect of His         this knowledge of sin? by the law (see also Rom. 3:20)!
revealed will.       God's commandment is exceedingly         How is the law brought to bear upon our conscience?
broad (Ps. 119:96), that is, it is thoroughly compre-         by the operation of the Holy Spirit upon us. Paul had
hensive, so much so that the whole of Christian doctrine      the Spirit-wrought experience of the searchlight of the
and obedience is essentially expressed therein, and           law revealing his sins. Would the Spirit of God apply
throughout all the remainder of Scripture is materially       an abrogated or superseded principle?         Would the
expounded. For on the command of love there hangs all         Spirit inspire the apostle to record this relation of the
the law and the prophets. All thedoctrinal,  admonitory       Christian to the law if it in this New Testament dis-
and exhortatory portions of Scripture are an exposition       pensation has been set aside?, If the cross abrogated
of the law. The ten commandments are, the main roots          the law, then the Spirit would have made no more use
from which all the trunks and branches of doctrine and        of it than He would have of the Levitical sacrifices
duty found in Scripture are drawn.                            now forever passed away.
   Now we know that the love of God is from ever-                As God always maintains His covenant (it is called


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     499


     an everlasting covenant, Gn.  17:7), so He always             law is that it is to him an instructor in holiness,
     maintains His law. "And the Lord said unto Moses,             especially in that it conveys the knowledge of his
     Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I       natural misery and sin. It `is also his standard
     will write upon these tables the words that were in the       of life, especially for a life of thanksgiving. Then if our
     first tables, which thou breakest." (Ex.  34:l) "The         position before the law is in Christ, what is His attitude
     treaty that was on foot between God and Israel being         toward the law, which, of course, -ought to be ours?
     broken off abruptly, by their worshipping the golden         This, "I delight to do Thy will; 0 My God; yea, Thy
     calf, when peace was made, all must be begun anew,           law is within My heart." (Ps. 40:8)' As Matthew Henry
     not where they left off, but from the beginning. Thus        pointed out, that is the new covenant relation to the
     backsliders must `repent and do the first works.' Rev.       law.
     2:5. Moses must prepare for the renewing of the tables.          In view of all stated above, it certainly cannot be
     Before, God himself provided the tables and wrote on         maintained that the law of God is superseded by the
     them.    Now Moses must hew out the tables, and God           divine declaration, "Love is the fulfilling of the law."
     would only write upon them. Thus, in the first writing        (Rom. 13:lO) We have shown that love is the sum and
     of the law upon the heart of man in innocency, both the      genius of the law. Therefore this divine statement has
     tables and the writing were the work of God; but when         always been true. From the beginning love has always
     those were broken and defaced by sin, and the divine         been the fulfilling of the law. Where love is lacking,
     law was to be preserved in the Scriptures, God therein        although there be an outward conformity to the law,
     made use of the ministry of man, and Moses first.            there is no acceptable `fulfilling' of it. For the law
     But the prophets and apostles did only hew the tables,        commands love, to God and to the neighbor. The law
     as it were; the writing was God's still, for `all Scrip-     itself. is the rule of life; love is the pdzciple  of life.
     ture is given by inspiration of God.' Observe, when          The law reveals what we are to do; love empowers to
     God was reconciled to them, he ordered the tables to         the doing of it. True, "love is the fulfilling of the law,"
     be renewed, and wrote his, law in them, which plainly        but that is not the same as saying as dispensationalists
     intimates to us: 1. That even under the gospel of peace      seem to think, that "love is a substitute for the law."
     and reconciliation by Christ (of which the intercession      Love  and  law  are not synonymous, but they are
     of Moses was typical) the moral law should continue          harmonious. The law is the track; love is the engine
     to bind believers. Though Christ has redeemed us from        which draws along the train. The track commands
     the curse of the law, yet not from the command of it,        and controls the engine.       The engine is exalted and
     but still we are `under the law to Christ;' when our         free as long as- it remains on the track.. The engine
     Saviour in the Sermon on the Mount expounded the             cannot say, I will pull, but where and when I please, I
     moral law, and vindicated it from the corrupt glosses        will not be hampered. Nor dare the Christian say, I
     with which the scribes and Pharisees had broken it           love God, and will do as He says, but will not be com-
     (Mt. 5:19), he did in effect renew the tables, and made      manded 1
     them like the first, that is, reduce thelaw to its primi-        It is often objected that the law is a matter of duty,
     tive sense and intention. 2. That the best evidence of       whereas the Christian lives by privilege, in the liberty
     the pardon of sin and peace with God is the writing of       of forgiveness and sonship. But duty is simply what is
     the law in the heart. The first token God gave of His        owed to God. Deliverance from the curse and penalty
     reconciliation to Israel was the renewing of the tables      of the law does not leave free of debt and duty to God.
     of the law; thus the first article of the new covenant is    Love cancels the law's sentence of wrath, because Love
     `I will write My law in their heart' (Heb. 8:10)." This      bore the sentence, but it does not remove the law. Nor
     quotation is, again, from Matthew Henry. His works           because now the Christian has besides duty, privilege,
     were neither much in evidence, nor well recommended          does duty become bondage. Thus, the Christian lives
     in the Bible school founded by C. I. Scofield where this     by privilege. What is and has ever been the believer's
     writer became ingrained with the inconsistencies of          privilege, but to love God and do His will? That brings
I    Dispensationalism in his youth.                              us back to the law, for it is the revealed will of God.
        From what we have so far reviewed, the law, then,         The. privilege of liberty in Christ does not relieve us
     does not change. Being a reflection of the nature of God,    from conformity to His will.          Duty is love owed.
     it is immutable. Its demands are not in the Christian        Privilege is love enjoyed. Love is holiness, yea, good-
     dispensation reduced one iota. Neither is its penalty        ness constraining. "The love of Christ constraineth
     withdrawn by the cross of Christ. The demand of the          us."     The law is a matter of more than duty - of
     law is upheld by the cross, and the penalty of it is         privilege! and of more than privilege added to duty -
     executed upon the cross. Where change occurs is in           of love! It is "Love the Lord thy God!" No, love and
     the Christian's relation to the law. He does not stand       law, or grace and law are not antithetical: It is im-
     before the law in himself, on his own responsibility,        possible that the.attributes  of God conflict. It is there-
     as before the Judge, for then he would be condemned.         fore impossible that the law of God and the love of God
     He stands before the law as in a Saviour, who became         be opposed. The law reveals God as the.Zight  (I John
     responsible for his sins, took upon Himself the con-         1:s) and love reveals that "God is  Eove."  (4:8) The
     demnation of the law, and substituted His obedience          prayer of the enlightened Christian is not that he may
     lacking in the Christian. So he is delivered not from        be free of the law, but it is like this, "It is time for
     the law, but from the curse of the law. The relation         Thee, Lord, to work, for they have made void Thy
     that therefore exists between the Christian and the          law." (Ps.  119:126)


500                                          THESTANDARDBEARER



PICTORIAL  NEWS-





       This is a photo of the Protestant Reformed Church      their forty years of existence they suffered many set-
of Kalamazoo,  Mich.       This new place of worship is       backs due to doctrinal strife, but this staunch little
about ten years old and was used for a Mission until          group remained faithful to the truth of Sovereign Grace
it was sold to Kalamazoo's congregation in 1965.              as we are privileged to maintain it.            Now, after
Needless to say, it is greatly appreciated by the             weathering many waves of membership expansion and
membership, who were wont to worship in rented                contraction, they number twelve families of forty-two
quarters since they lost their original church in the         souls, of which twelve are of catechetical age. Kala-
defection of 1953.      It is situated in the north end of    mazoo is thriving under the leadership of Rev. R. C.
the city at 623 Stassen Avenue. It has a seating ca-          Harbach in the enjoyment of a full ecclesiastical life
pacity of eighty, with additional room for expansion          in our denomination, considering it their calling to
when necessary.                                               engage in the sturdy defense of the Truth of God's
       The congregation was organized in 1927 and re-         Word in the way which is faithful to our Reformed
ceived their first pastor, Rev. W. Verhil, in 1932. In        heritage.


               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                 ANNIVERSARY
The Priscilla Society of First Protestant Reformed            On Sept. 25, 1967 our beloved parents,
Church expresses its sympathy to one of its members,
Mrs. Henry Veltman, in the loss of her mother,                        MR. AND MRS. JAMES BLANKESPOOR
                   MRS. ANNA DE JONG                          will commemorate their 25th wedding anniversary. We
                                                              give thanks to our covenant God for sparing them for
"For we know that if our earthly house of this taber-         each other and us these years. Our earnest prayer is
nacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an           that they may continue to experience God's loving
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."           kindness in their remaining years.
II Corinthians 5:l.                                                        Their children:
                         Mrs. J. Oomkes, Pres.                                   Mr. and Mrs. Pete Poortenga, Jr.
                         Mrs. R. Kamminga, Vice-Secy.                            and 3 grandchildren


               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
The Priscilla Society of the First Protestant Reformed
Church extends its sympathy to one of its members,                                   MEN'S LEAGUE
Mrs. Henry Velthouse, in the death of her mother-in-          The Men's League will hold its Fall Meeting Monday,
law                                                           October 9, 1967 at the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed
                MRS. JENNIE VELTHOUSE                         Church at 8:00 p.m., D.V. Rev. J. Heys will speak on
                                                              "What is the Function of an Evangelist, and What Has
Our prayer is `that our heavenly Father may comfort           Happened to His Office."
the bereaved family.                                             Men, you are invited to meet with us for an evening
                        Mrs. J. Oomkes, Pres.                 of Christian fellowship.
                        Mrs. R . . Kamminga, Sec'y.                                     H. Dykstra, Sec'y.


                                                    THESTANDARDBEARER                                                                 501


              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                           ANNIVERSARY
The Mary-Martha Society and the Men's Society of the                   &September 9, 1967, our beloved parents,
Hope Protestant Reformed Church of Redlands, Cali-
fornia  joinin expressing their heartfelt sympathy to its                        REV. AND MRS. HERMAN VELDMAN
members, Mr. and Mrs. Adrian Van Meeteren, Mr.                         commemorated their 35th wedding anniversary.
and Mrs. Charles Van Meeteren and Mr. and Mrs.                           We are thankful to our Heavenly Father for keeping
John Feenstra, in the loss of their father and grand-                  them in His loving care these many years.
father,                                                                   We pray that God will continually bestow His grace
                     MR. BERT HASPER                                   upon them in their remaining years.
                                                                                 Their children:
May they experience the comfort that only our Heaven-                                      Mr. and Mrs. Cornie Den Ouden
ly Father can give in this time of grief,.                                                 Mr. and Mrs. Jack Van Dyke
                    The Mary-Martha Society                                                Mr. and Mrs. Jon Huisken
                        Donna Huisken, Sec'y.                                                    and 8 grandchildren
                    The Men's Society
                        Everett Van Voorthuysen, Sec'y.


                                                  ATTENTION: R.F.P.A. MEMBERS
                                     Annual meeting of the Reformed Free Publishing
                                     Association will be held, Thursday, Sept. 21, D.V., in
                                     the Southeast Protestant Reformed Church, at 8:00 p.m.
                                     Rev. J. Kortering will be the speaker. Three Board
                                     members are to be elected from the following nomin-
                                     ation: George De Vries, D. Kooienga, G. Schimmel,
                                     H. Kamphuis, H. Velthouse, and R. Teitsma.
                                                              The R.F.P.A. Board


           Index To The Standard Bearer, Vol. 43
                         TEXT INDEX                                    Matthew 14:28-32 ................................. J.K.        482
                                                                       Luke 1:78b, 79 ...................................... M.S.      98
      SUBJECT                                     Author       Page    Luke 24:17, 32, 35 ................................ J.K.       290
Genesis 47:8, 9 ................................... M.S.        122    John lO:l-39 .................................... G.C.L.        19
Deuteronomy  8:18 ................................ M.S.          74    John lO:l-39 .................................... G.C.L.        43
I Samuel 17:10, 26 ............................... B.W.          37    John 19:1-5 ......................................... M.S.     194
I Samuel 17:42-46 ............................... B.W.           58    John 19:14-16a .................................... M.S.       218
I Samuel 18:7-9 .................................. B.W.          90    John 19:30 .......................................... J.K.     266
I Samuel 18:lO .................................... B.W.        131    Acts 4:13 ............................................ J.K.    362
I Samuel 18:28, 29 ............................... B.W.         156    I Timothy 6:l ...................................... J.H.      135
I Samuel 20:16, 17 ............................... B.W.         230    II Timothy 3:14, 15 ............................... J.K.       458
I Samuel 20:37, 38............................... B.W.          279    I Thessalonians 4:13, 14 ........................ M.S.          50
I Samuel 22:1, 2 .................................. B.W.        323    Hebrews l:l-4 .................................. G.C.L.        116
I Samuel 23:14 .................................... B.W.        369    Hebrews l:l-4 .................................. G.C.L.        129
I Samuel 24:4-6 .................................. B.W.         444    Hebrews 1:5-14 ................................ G.C.L.         154
I Samuel 25:10, 11, 38 ........................... B.W.         475    Hebrews 1:7-14 ................................ G.C.L.         178
.I1 Chronicles 33:13b ............................. M.S.         26    Hebrews 2:1-4 .................................. G.C.L.        179
Psalm 24:3-5 ...................................... J.K.        338    Hebrews 2:2-4 .................................. G.C.L.        223
Psalm 34:17-19 .................................. B.W.          296    Hebrews 2:8, 9 ................................. G.C.L.        300
Psalm 54 ........................................... B.W.       392    Hebrews 2:11-13 ............................... G.C.L.         325
Psalm 59:1-3 ..................................... B.W.         187    Hebrews 2:14-18 ............................... G.C.L.         355
Psalm 125:1, 2 ................................... J.K.         242    Hebrews 3:1-6 .................................. G.C.L.        381
Psalm 139:23, 24 .............. ..i................ J.K.        434    Hebrews 3:3-6 .................................. G.C.L.        424
Proverbs 3:5, 6 ................................... M.S.        146    Hebrews 3:5-15 ................................ G.C.L.         465
Proverbs 18:24 ................................... B.W.         206    Hebrews 11:4 ...................................... J.K.       410
Daniel 3:24, 2.5 .................................... M.S.      170    James 1:12 ......................................... M.S.        2
Daniel 3:25 .<....................................... J.K.      386    I Peter 3:12 ........................................ J.K.     314


     ,502                                                     THESTANDARDBEARER


                                               .     .                            What About Tongue Speaking? .............H.H.               118
                                                                                  Why Scientists Accept Evolution ...... H.C.H.               119
                       .    ......                                                                              C
                                                                              Calvinism Unpopular But Right ............... R.H.              104
                             `SUBJECT INDEX
               r  _                                                           Calvinistic, Premillennial, and
                                          A                                       Dispensational? ........................... H.C.H.          461
     Abel's More Excellent Sacrifice .............. J.K.               410    Calvin, Thus Spake John ..................... H.C.H.            295
     A Merging,. Emerging Church .. . ........... .G.V.B.               41    Christ's Mock Coronation ...................... M.S.            194
     "And Islands of the Sea" .. . ................... J.H.            467    Christian Reformed Church
     Annual Report of R.F.P.A. ..................... G.B.               45        Synodical  Agenda .............................. H.H.       395
     Another Kind of Resurrection, ................. H.H.               81    Confessional Change Among Presbyterians.H.H.                    379
     A Saint Recounting His Life ................... M.S.'             122    Confessions, The Battle Over ............... .H.H.              258
     Ascending The Hill Of The Lord ............. J.K.                 338    Consistency, Thou Art A Jewel .......... ..H.C.H.               148
     Association of Christian Reformed                                        Contribution on Baptism ..................... W.D.J.            3io
             Laymen, Bothersome ...... . ............ .H.C.H.            7    Contribution on Hymns .......................... H.H.           238
     Assurance A Phantasm In Modernism ...... R.H.                      81    Contribution on Hymns .......................... H.H.           309
     Atonement, The, Committee on the ....... .H.C .H.                 365    Controversy, on Abortion ..................... ..H.H.           448
     `Atonement, The Committee on the ...... ..H.C.H.                  390    cocu ................................................ H.H.       15
     Atonement, The Nature of the ............ ..H.C.H.                  5    cocu ............................................. G.V.B.        17
     Atonement, The Nature of the .............. H.C.H.                 31    cocu ............................................. G.V.B.        41
`Atonement, The Nature' of the .............. H.C.H.                    53    cocu ............................................. G.V.B.       110
     Atonement, The Nature of the .............. H.C.H.                 77    COCU, The Southern Presbyterians and.. .;H.H.                    16
     Atonement, The Nature of the .............. H.C.H.                101    Creeds, The Present Day Relevancy of .. ..D.K.                  416
     Atonement, The'Nature  of the .............. H.C.H.'              125    Cry of Faith, The ................................. J.K.        482
     Atonement, The Nature of the ............... H.C.H.               174
     Atonement!. The Nature of the .............. H.C.H.               245                                      D
                                          B                                   David and Goliath ................................ B.W.          37
     Barth's Doctrine of Scripture ................. D.E.              143    David and Goliath ................................ B.W.          58
     Barth's Doctrine of Scripture .................. D.E.             162    David and Jonathan .............................. B.W.          206
     Beautiful Feet. ..................................... J.H..       440    David and Nabal .................................. B.W.         475
     Billy Graham's Answers ....................... R.H.                66    David and Saul - Enemies ..................... B.W.             156
     Billy Graham - The Rebutted Dilemma.... .R .H.                     10    David and the Piece of Skirt .?. ............... B.W.           444
     Blessedness  .of the Tried ....................... M.S.             2    David and the Ziphites ......................... B.W.           392
     Book Reviews:                                                            David Discovers Hatred ....................... B.W..            187
             A Serious Call To A Devout And                                   David In Exile .................................... B.W.        323
                 Holy Life .................................. H.H.     334    David In Flight ................................... B.W.        296
      Acts of the Apostles ......... . .......... ..H.C.H.             167    David In Hiding ................................... B.W.        369
             Barnes' Notes                                                    David, The Spear, And The Cruse
                 on the New Testament .. . ............ H.C.H.          95        of Water ....................................... B.W.       496
      Calvinism, Its History, Principles                                      Dayspring From On High ....................... M.S.              98
                 and Perspectives. ........................ H.H.       334    Deacon, Office of ........................... G.V.D.B.          451
             Christian Reflections ...... .: .. ..;. ....... ..H.H.    478    Dekker Case ....................................... H.H.        396
      Church Growth In Central and                                            Dekker Case at the C.R. Synod ............ H.C.H.               437
                 Southern Nigera .......................... H.H.       2 3    Did You Know? ................................. H.C.H.          272
             Faith and The Physical World .;. ........ .H.H.           478    Dispensationalism A Blind Legalism ..... ..R.H.                 234
             God With Us ................................... H.H.      334    Dispensationalism A Carnalizing System ..R.H.                   200
             Heaven: A Place, A City, A Home ....... H.H.              478    Dispensationalism A Minus-Proof
             Herman Bavinck                                                       Speculation ..................................... R.H.      277
                 En'Zijn Tijdgenoten ................. H.C.H.          334    Dispensationalism A Modern Thief ......... .R .H.               176
             Hymns For Youth ......................... H.C.H.          191    Dispensationalism A Mutilated
:            John Calvin, A Collection of                                         Ecclesiology ................................... R.H.       250
                 Distinguished Essays ................... H.H.         118    Dispensationalism An Ancient Error ....... R.H.                 165
             Religion. and the Schools .................. .H.H.        478    Dispensationalism and The Christian
             Slavery; Segregation and Scripture ... ..H.H.              23        Under The Law ............................... R.H.          442
             The Church Between The Temple                                    Dispensationalism And The Gentile
                 and .the Marque ........................... H.H.      478        Remnant ........................................ R.H.       371
             The Grace of .Law ............................ H.H.        95    Dispensationalism And the Law Before
             The Minor .Prophets ......................... H.H.        334        Sinai ............................................. R.H.    426
             The Plight .of the Man and                                       Dispensationalism And The True Zion  ..~. .R.H.                 401
                 The Power of God ....................... H.H.          23    Dispensationalism And The Two Israels  .;.R.H.                  353
             The Soul of the Symbols ................... ..H.H.         23    Dispensationalism and the Perpetuity
             TheTheology  of the English Reformers...H.H.              478        of the Law ...................................... R.H.      498


                                                         THESTANDARDBEARiR*q'r                                                           503
                                                                                                               \

Dispensationalism, More On .................. .  .H.             421    Israel Rejects Their King ...................... M.S.            218
Dispensationalism, More Questions On ... .R .H.                  350                                      J
Dispensationalism On Israel and                                         Jonathan and David .............................. B.W.           206
    The Church .................................... R.H.'        298    Jonathan's Arrows .............................. B.W.            279
Dispensationalism, Questions On .........H.C.H.                  286    Jonathan's Covenant ............................ B.W.            230
Doctrine of Scripture in "The                                           Jehovah's Vigilance ............................... J.K.         314
    Confession of 1967," The .................. D.E.             488                                      K
                                                                        Kosmos,' An Undifferentiated Totality? ... ..R.H ..              420
Doing Good Unto Our Enemies ................ J.H.                204                                      L
Doing Good Unto Our Enemies ................ J.H.                227    Letter From A Reader ....................... F.V.B...            420
Does "Realism" Justify Sin? ................. H.H.               281    Liberalism In The Netherlands ............... H.H.               347
Dordt, A Repudiation of ......................... H.H;           186                                     M
                                  E                                     Manasseh.. Sinner-Saint ......................... M.S.:           26
Ecumenical News Items ....................... ..H.H.             306    Marriage Paving The Way To Unity .........H.H.                   212
Ecumenical To The Extreme ............... H.C.H.                 127    Mideast Crisis .................................... H.H.         471
Ecumenism and Mergers ..................... ..H.H.               447    Ministry, The Task of the .. . .......... ;..G.V.D.B .           180
Editor's Notes .................................. H.C.H.           4    Ministry, The Task of the ................ G.V.D.B.              202
Editor's Notes .................................. H.C.H.          28    Ministry, The Task of the ................ G.V.D.B.              225
Editor's Notes .................................. H.C.H.         102    Miracles ..................................... ;...;..;H.V.      137
Editor's Notes .................................. H.C.H.         296    Miracles ................................. ..~..."..... H.V.     160
Elder's Task ................................. G.V.D.B.          375    Miracles ............................................ H.V.       is9
Elder's Task ................................. G.V.D.B.          403    Miracles ............................................ H.V.       208
Elder, The Office of ....................... G.V.D.B.            357    Miracles ............................................ H.V.       273
Endurance .......................................... J.K.        242    Miracles ............................................ H.V.       307
Evangelism, World Congress On ......... .G.V.B.                  158    Mission Preaching, Faith and ................. C.H.               35
Evangelism, World Congress  ,On ........ ..G..V.B.               141    Missions, Some Principles of ................. H.H.              112
Evidence `of the Holy Spirit .................... J.K.           362    Missions, Some Principles of ................. H.H.              151
Evil Spirit Returns .............................. B.W.          131    Missions, Some Principles of ................. H.H.              232
Evolution; The Question of ................... ..H.H.            395    Missions, Some Principles of ................. H.H.              331
Excommunication, The Form of ....... .G.V.D.B.                    12    Movie Attendance, As To ........... .; ....... H.C.H.           463
Excommunication, The Form of ....... .G.V.D.B.                    39    Movies, In Support Of ........................ H.C.H.           271
Excommunication, The Form of ........ G.V.D.B.                    62
Exhortation and Prayer ................... G.V.D.B.               62                                      N
Exhorted Unto Faithfulness .................... J.K.             458    Nature Still Boss ................................. H.H.          69
                                  F                                     News Briefs ........................................ H.H.        283
Faith and Mission Preaching ................... C.H.              35    News From Our, Churches .................. J.M.F,                 24
Fall, Effects of the ............................... H.V.        397    News From Our Churches .................. J.M.F.                  48
Federal Control of State Aid .................. H.H.             305    News From Our Churches .................. J.M.F.                  71
Fiddling While Rome Burns .............. ..G.V.B.                453    News From Our Churches .................. J.M.F.                  96
                                  G                                     News From Our Churches .................. J.M.F.                 120
God-Is- Dead Men Are Serious ................ H.H.               212    News From Our Churches .................. J.M.F.                 144
Good Counsel For The Future ................ M.S.                146    News From Our Churches .................. J.M.F ..               168
Good Shepherd of Israel ..................... G.C.L.              19    News From Our Churches .................. J.M.F.                 192
Good Shepherd of Israel ................... ..G.C.L.              43    News From Our Churches .................. J.M.F.                 216
Gospel, The Importance of the ................ H.H.              112    News From Our Churches .................. J.M.F.                 240
Government ........................................                                                                                      264
                                                         H.V.     21    News From Our Churches .................. J.M.F.
Government ........................................ H.V.          33    News From Our Churches ................. .J.M.F.                 288
                                  H                                     News From Our Churches .................. J.M.F.                `312
Hearts Transformed By.                                                  News From Our Churches .................. J.M.F.                 336
    The Living Lord .............................. J.K.          290    News Fgom Our Churches .................. J.M.F.                 359
Hebrews, The Book of ...................... ..G.C.L.              83    News From Our Churches . .;. .; ........... ..J.M.F.             384
Hebrews, The Book of ........................ G.C.L.             116    News From Our Churches. ................... J.M.F.              408
Hell, Why? ..........................................                   News From Our Churches .................. J.M.F.                432
                                                         H.H.    108
High School, A' Grand Rapids Area ..... ..H.C.H.                 103    News From Our Churches .................. J.M.F.                456
Holiday or Holy Day? ............................                       News From Our Churches .......... ......... J.M.F.               480
                                                         J.H.      8
Honour To Whom Honour ....................... J.H.                64                                      0
Honour To Whom Honour ........................ J.H.               85    Offer, The Banner and
Honour To Whom Honour ........................ J.H.              114        Limited Atonement ..... . ................. H.C.H.           294
Honour To Whom Honour ....................... J.H.               135    "Offer", The Committee and the ......... H.C.H.                  269
Honour To Whom Honour ....................... J.H.               182    "Offer", The Committee and the .........H.C.H.                   293
         ...                      I                                     "Offer", The Committee and the ........ ..H.C.H.                 317
Intended Comfort For The Bereaved ........M.S.                    50    "Offer", The Committee and the ......... H.C.H.                 342


504'                                                 THESTANDARDBEAiER

Open Letter From The                                                 Report of the Doctrinal Committee ....... H.C.H.             390
    Board of the R.F.P.A. ............................        333    Reprobation, Conditional ........................ H.H.       471
Order of Worship, As To A Common.. ...H.C.H.                  462    R.E.S. And Its Ecumenism ................ ..G.V.B.           329
Ordination, Ceremony of ................. G.V.D.B.            254    R.E.S. And The Union Question ............ G.V.B.            351
Ordination, The Prayer of ............... G.V.D.B.            321    R.E.S. And The Union Question ............ G.V.B.            418
Ordination To The Ministry                                                                           S
    of the Word .............................. G.V.D.B.       133    Satan, The Worship of ........................... H.H.       282
Other Matters of Interest .................... ..H.H.         397    Saul and David - Enemies ..................... B.W.          156
                             P=                                      Saul's Jealousy ................................... B.W.      90
Period Theory Again ............................. H.H.        139    Search Me, 0 God ................................. J.K.      434
Pictorial News .................................. J.M.F.       94    Seminary Graduation .......................... H.C.H.        412
Pictorial News ................................. J.M.F.       500    Sin, The Doctrine of .............................. H.V.     327
Pike On Trial ...................................... H.H.      79    Sin, The Doctrine of .............................. H.V.     377
Pike's Trial ........................................ H.H.    109    Sin, The Doctrine of'.............................. H.V.     4 4 9
Pons Assinorum In Signo Ecclesiae! ... ..H.C.H.               389    Sin, The Doctrine of .............................. H.V.     473
Prayer Amendment, Death of the ............. H.H.              68    Some Principles of Missions .................. H.H.          491
Preaching, The Importance of.. ............... H.H.           232    Standard Bearer, A Plan for Its Future .G.V.B.                60
Preaching, The Importance of.. ............... H.H.           413    Statement of Ownership,
Prediction Fulfilled ........................... H.C.H.       172        Management and Circulation .............. J.D.            46
Principles of Church Union ................. G.V.B.           110    Still "Fiddling" ................................ G.V.B.     494
Protest, A Loud Clear ..... ..: ................... H.H.      185    Story of An Ass and A Bridge .............. H.C.Hi'
Protestant Reformed Primary Education .H.C.H.                                                                                     340 `
                                                              319    Synod, Report of the 1967 ....................... H.H.
Providence and Sin,                                                                                                               430
                         God's ...................... H.V.     56
Providence and Sin, God's ...................... H.V.                                                T
                                                               88
Providence of God ................................ H.V.              Theological Soundness and
                                                               21
Providence of God ................................ H.V.                  Practical Application, About ........... H.C.H.          485
                                                               33
Providence of God ................................ H.V.        56    Three Forms of Unity,
Providence of God ................................ H.V.        88        Importance of Maintaining ................. J.K.         405
Providence of ,God ................................ H.V.             Three Forms of Unity,
                                                              137
Providence of God ................................ H.V.       160        Importance of Maintaining ................. J.K.         428
Providence of God ................................ H.V.       189    TRAGIC ! ......................................... H.C.H.    484
Providence of God ................................ H.V.       208    Treasurer's Report of R.F.P.A.. ............. R.B.            46
Providence of God ................................ H.V.       273    Trouble Among RomanCatholics ............. H.H.              381
Providence of God ................................ H.V.       307    Troubles From Vatican II ...................... H.H.          80
Publication Plans - Progress Report .. ..H.C.H.               220                                    V
                                   Q                                 Victoriously Finished ............................ J.K.      266
Questions About the Ten Plagues.. ........ H.C.H.             106    Virgins For Christ's Sake.. .................... J.H.        252
Question Box:                                                        Virgins For Christ's Sake ...................... J.H.        275
   Must We Love God's Enemies .......... H.C.H.               222    Virgins For Christ's Sake.. .................... J.H.        303
   Why Is The Law Read EverySunday. ..H.C.H.                  221    Virgins For Christ's Sake .. ..L ................. J.H.      373
Question Concerning The                                              Virgins. For Christ's Sake.. .................... J.H.       399
   Coming of Christ .......................... H.C.H.         287    Virgins For Christ's Sake ...................... J.H.        422
Question On Hating God's Enemies.. ..... .H.C .H.             311                                    W
                                   R                                 Walking In The Midst of the Fire.. ... ........ J.K.         386
Races In the World, Significance of.. ........ R.H.           213    W.C.C.  - And Its Conference on
Races In the World, Significance of .........R.H.             236       Church and Society ........................ G.V.B.        284
Races In the World, Significance of .......... R.H.           256    W.C.C. In Geneva................................. H.H.       14
Readmittance ................................. G.V.D.B.        92    What Chaplains Believe .......................... H.H.       210
Reformed Ecumenical Synod, The.. ....... G.V.B.               248    Willing To Come To Grips? ................. H.C.H.           150
Remembering The Source                                               Winds of Doctrine From the Netherlands ..H.C.H.               29
   of our Wealth .................................. M.S.       74    With The Fourth Man in the Furnace ....... M.S.              170
Report of the Doctrinal Committee .......H.C.H.               196    World Council of Churches, Position On....H.H.               396
Repart  of the Doctrinal Committee .......H.C.H.              269    World Congress on Evangelism.. ............. H.H.             69
Report of the Doctrinal Committee ....... H.C.H.              293    World Congress on Evwngelism ............ G.V.B.             141
Report of the Doctrinal Committee ....... H.C.H.              317                                    Z
Report of the Doctrinal Committee ....... `H.C.H.             342    Ziphires, David and the ......................... B.W.       392
Report of the Doctrinal Committee ....... H.C.H.              365                                  Index by Rev. G. Vanden Berg


