                                 he



                                        earer


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




   IN THIS ISSUE:

                Meditation: God's Good Pleasure in Repentant Wicked

                Editorial: The Christian Reformed Synod
                             and the "Dekker Case"

                The People That Sat In Darkness


                All Around Us: A Summer of Violence

                               Evidences of Apostasy




                                             Volume  XLIV/  Number i / October 1, 1967


2                                                                               THE STAND&D BEARER


                                                                                                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER

                                   C O N T E N T S                                                                   Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August.
                                                                                                                     Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
Meditation -
     God's Good Pleasure in Repentant Wicked . . . . . . . . . 1.                                                 Editor-in-Chiefi   Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
           Rev. M. Schipper                                                                                       Department Editors: Rev. David J. Engelsma, Mr. JohnM.Faber,
                                                                                                                         Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C.
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           Prof. H. C. Hoeksema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4                          C. Lubbers, Rev. Marinus Schipper, Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren,
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MEDITATION-

                  God's Good Pleasure in Repentant Wicked

                                                                                         bj  Rev.  M.  Schippev

                                  Say  unto  them,  As  I  live,  saith  the  Lqrd   God;  I  have  no  pleasure   in  the  death   of
                           the  wicked;  but  that   the  wicked  fu?-n   from  h8.s  way  and  live:  tumz  ye,  tumz  ye  from
                           your  evil  ways;  fopr  why will ye die, 0 house of  Israel?                                                           Ezekiel 33:ll

      God's good pleasure!                                                                                  God, of the purpose of God, of the foreknowledge of
      Most beautiful word in the Holy Scriptures designat-                                                  God, etc. But of all the terms none is more beautiful
ing the counsel of God! 0, indeed, there are many                                                           and so full of meaning as the expression: God's good
other terms Scripture uses when it refers to God's                                                          pleasure.
counsel. It speaks of the will of God, :of the decrees of                                                      Indeed, it is rooted in the firm, unchangeable  re-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        3


solve and expressed determination of God to perform          that they feared no mercy of God could reach them.
His eternal will; yet it expresses at the same time that     And they ask: "How should we then live?"
that will is motivated by inmost passion of affection           It is in answer to such wicked that the Lord in-
and delight. The term "pleasure" `as used in the text        structs the prophet to say: "My good pleasure is that
comes from a word which means "to bend, or curve;            you turn from your wicked way and live." Not all
to incline toward some one or something in favor."           wicked, you understand, will ask the question which the
It implies a bending over with the purpose to reach a        Lord here answers. Of themselves the wicked never
certain object in order to show grace or favor to that       see their sin, much less do they confess it. But
object because of the special delight one has in that        repentant wicked, not of themselves, but by the grace
object. God's good pleasure, as it is revealed outside       of God, acknowledge their sin and depravity that it is
of Himself, bends down, delights in a certain designated     so great that they are hopelessly lost, unless God by
object, and intends to show to that object His grace and     His sovereign grace delivers them. In them God is
favor.                                                       well pleased. He has delight only in them in whom He
   In the text this good pleasure of God is directed to      beholds His grace, the grace of repentance; am to them
repentant wicked.     "I have no pleasure in the death of    He gives answer: "I have no pleasure in your death,
the wicked," -that is negative.      "But," (and we may      but in that you turn and live."
supply: "I have pleasure") "that the wicked turn from           God's good pleasure is two-fold. He delights, first
his way and live;" - that is the positive aspect of this     of all, not in their death. Surely, if they remain in sin
pleasure of God. Hence, we call it God's good pleasure       they would die. There is no other alternative. Death
in respect to repentant wicked.                              must inevitably swallow them up, if their way of wick-
   Not all wicked are the intended objects of this good      edness is not forsaken. But God does not delight in
pleasure of God!                                             their death. Not at any time did He delight in it. Not
   How contrary that would be to many other passages         in His eternal counsel. Not as they groped in their
of Scripture which teach us that: "God is angry with         darkness.       And therefore He opened the way for their
the wicked every day," Psalm  7:ll; and, "The curse          deliverance.      That way centers in the redemption of
of the Lord is in the house of the wicked,", Prov.  3:33;    Christ, realized on the accursed tree of Calvary.
and, "The Lord preserveth all them that love him:            Experientially that way is through  faithinHis  sacrifice,
but all the wicked will he destroy," Psalm  145:20.          and godly sorrow which worketh repentance.
   The wicked as such are never the objects of God's            Positively, God's good pleasure is that they turn
perfect delight, but of His holywrath. They are vessels      and live.       Shall they be pleasing to God, they must
to be destroyed.                                             turn, to be sure.         But just as surely it is that shall
   The context makes this very plain. The watchman           they live it must also be God's good pleasure. Of
must. tell the wicked that he is to be destroyed if he       themselves they cannot turn. But if God pleases, He
walks on in his wickedness. There is no hope for a man       will turn them unto life from death.          And He will do
who does not turn from his sin; whether that man be a        that through the way of repentance.
man of the world, `or whether he be in the church. No           Life, eternal life!
matter how nice one may appear to men; no matter if             This it is God's good pleasure to give them, instead
his name be inscribed on the roll of the church, and he      of the sentence of death!
be a partaker of the means of grace,  - if he walks in                                     *  * *
sin, he shall die.                                              God's good pleasure!
   This is plain also from experience. God is not               `Confirmed by an oath!
pleased with every wicked man. What the apostle Paul            "As I live, saith the Lord."
tells us in Romans  1:18 is realized every day: "For            Not an offer ! Into this many would change the words
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all         of our text.       They make the wicked  all  wicked  men.
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the         They make God's good pleasure contingent on the
truth in unrighteousness." The judgment of God does          ability of the wicked to turn and  .accept  the offer of
not wait for the second coming of Christ, but it is          life proffered them in the good pleasure of God. They
realized every day as far as the wicked is concerned.        make God sincerely willing on His part tosave all men,
God never leaves them alone. He continually surrounds        but it is up to the sinner to do his part, to turn from
the wicked with -retribution.      Yea, this is true even    his wiclced way, and accept the offer of life. But how
when He gives to them many good gifts. It is that they       contrary this is to the very thought of the text!
may be destroyed forever. "Surely thou didst set them           Rather, God confirms His will and purpose with an
in slippery places: thou castedst them down into             oath.
destruction," Psalm  73:18.                                     "As I live, saith the Lord."
   Only the  Yepentunt  wicked  are the objects of God's        There is no more certain truth than this. That the
good pleasure! The wicked who, according  toverse  10,       Lord lives, no one would dare to deny. 0, indeed, the
admit their transgressions, who see their sin and desire     Psalmist says: "The fool hath said in his heart, There
to be delivered from it. Thus these wicked speak: "If        is no God." Psalm  53:l. But this is not because he
our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we           does not believe G.od is, but rather that he does not
pine away in them, how should we then live?" They            want Him.        Strictly speaking, there. are no atheists.
acknowledge under  $he indictment of the Word of God         The reason: God has not left Himself without witness.
that their case was hopeless, that their sin was so-great    "For the invisible things of Him from the creation  .of


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4                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


the world are clearly seen, being understood by the          were inclined to all evil and incapable of doing any good,
things that are made, even his eternal power and             Jeremiah  13:23.
Godhead, so that they are without excuse," Romans               Indeed, they cannot turn of themselves! Unless the
1:20.    "The devils also believe and they tremble,"         Lord turn them, they shall not turn. Such is the tone
James  2:19. What do they believe? That God is. That         of all the Scriptures, and the acknowledgment of every
God is dead, is the philosophy of the fool, who desires      child of God that is repentant. "Heal me, 0 Lord, and
not to reckon with the living God.                           I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for
     0, surely, God lives !                                  thou art my praise," Jer.  17:14.        "Purge me with
     And as surely as He lives, it is His good pleasure      hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be
that the repentant wicked should also live!                  whiter than snow . . . Create in me a clean heart, 0
     Because God lives, and from everlasting to ever-        God; and renew a right spirit within me .  D . . 0 Lord,
lasting He is the fountain of life, therefore can He be      open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy
relied upon. He will be able to fulfill all His purpose.     praise," Psalm  51:7, 10, 15. "Turn thou us unto thee,
And all His promises            are yea and amen in Him.     0 Lord, and we shall be turned," Lam.  5:21. "Turn
Therefore also His good pleasure is sure. It will            thou me, and I shall be turned: for thou art the Lord
assuredly be realized. He seeks Himself eternally as         my God," Jer.  31:18.
the good God, and He seeks His people's good eternally          Conversion is that work of grace in the conscious-
and in time. Let all  thehouse of Israel know assuredly      ness of the child of God whereby he responds to the
that God lives, and that He has pleasure in the life of      call of God to turn from his evil ways, hating his sin,
the wicked who turn.                                         and fleeing from it; and, positively, whereby he loves
     That is God's answer to those wlo pine away in their    the Lord his God once more and desires to walk in all
sin, but who would hear from the mouth of their God          good works which were prepared for him in order that
that He will not let them die, but come into the posses-     he should walk in them.
sion of the life that is eternal.                               That is what God demands of them in whom He has
                                                             good pleasure that they should not die but live before
                               *  *  *                       Him. That demand is urgent: Turn ye, turn ye! It is
     And what does that good pleasure of God demand?         also efficacious. For when He calls, they come; when
     Conversion!                                             He commands, they turn. And in their deepest con-
     "Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why          sciousness they taste forgiveness, justification, and
will ye die, 0 house of Israel?"                             eternal life: and out of gratitude they walk in that way
     But how shall they turn? Can an Ethiopian change        that is also pleasing to the God of their salvation. And
his skin? Can a leopard change his spots? These are          with the apostle Paul they believe and say: That which
the questions the prophet Jeremiah asked when he             He hath begun in me, He will perform it until the day of
contemplated the awful depravity of God's people who         Jesus Christ.




                                          Editor's Notes

                                                by  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema


     With this issue we begin a new volume, the  forty-      nent, relevant, and valuable for their instruction today.
fourth! It is our purpose again to present in the pages      We also will present Rev. D. Engelsma's "Heeding the
of the Standard Beaver  a well-balanced diet of pertinent    Doctrine" more often, after having given him a
comment about today's ecclesiastical scene, particu-         "breather" last year. The Rev. R. Decker will con-
larly in the Reformed community, and of solid Scriptural     tribute five articles for "The Lord Gave The Word"
and Reformed instruction. The new volume will bring          (our missions rubric), substituting for Rev. C. Hanko,
no major changes in the format and content of our            who was granted leave of absence for another year.
magazine; but a few minor ones may be noted. For             And finally, - time and space permitting, - your editor
one thing, you may expect to see in the future reports       will try to continue his series on the Netherbnd Con-
from our Mission Board and from our Theological              fession of Faith in the department "The Voice of our
School Committee concerning their activities. A              Fathers."
second change will be the occasional appearance of a                                    * *  *
new department: Pages From The Past. This depart-               In behalf of our faithful News Editor may I once
ment will present articles from early volumes (some          again plead that news from our Protestant Reformed
of which appeared in the Dutch and which will be             Churches, schools, leagues, etc., be sent to him
translated).    Articles will be selected that are perti-    promptly and regularly. He cannot manufacture news


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      5


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You will find his address in the masthead.                   in the area of religious magazines.
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EDITORIALS-

                The Christian Reformed Synod
                                                         and the "Dekker Case"

                                               by  Pvof.  H.  C.  Hoeksema

   In the brief report given in the September 15 issue       trend that one witness the discussion and debate. It
I promised to report more fully and to offer a more          was partly for that reason, and not only because I
detailed criticism and evaluation of the tragic decision      wanted to witness the decision itself, that I attended
in the "Dekker Case". That critique I begin to present        especially the sessions which dealt with this doctrinal
now.                                                         matter.          But there is another factor that is also
                                                              important.        I refer to the factor of the broader his-
   A word is in order, I think, about the proper ap-         torical and doctrinal background of the "Dekker Case."
proach and basis of this evaluation. At bottom, of            Especially do I have in mind the historical and doc-
course, we are as Reformed people interested in              trinal background that is represented by the date 1924.
evaluating this decision in the light of Scripture and        I think no one present at the recent Synod, whether
the confessions.     That is, and ought to be, our main       sympathetic to or opposed to Prof. Dekker's position,
concern.     But in connection with this main concern         and, for that matter, no one who is at all acquainted
there are several factors which enter into the picture.      with the entire Dekker Case, will deny that 1924 and
There is, first of all, the factor of the data of the        the First Point played an important part both in the
so-called "Dekker Case" itself.        The writings of       controversy and the decision. This has been too obvious
Prof. Dekker, but also the writings of others, either in     to allow for denial.
sympathy with or opposed to Dekker's position, belong            All these factors must be taken into consideration
to the data, --or at least form part of the background       in evaluating this tragic decision in the light of Scrip-
of the case.     Past synodical dealings with the case,      ture and the confessions.
including the appointment of and the report(s) of the
Study Committee, belong to the data. The proceedings          THE DECISION
of the 1967 Synod, both in June and in August, and               As indicated above, there is considerable data
inclusive of the four (yes, four!) reports of Synod's        which belongs to the synodical proceedings of this and
advisory committee, belong to the data. In the second        previous years. It is both impossible and unnecessary
ppace, there is also the factor of the deliberations and to mention or quote all the material at this point. I
discussion which took place at the Synod itself. I           shall refer to and quote some of this material as oc-
realize full well that these do not belong to theofficial    casion requires. Besides, the  Standard Beaver   has, I
record.     But they do belong to the record of history.     think, kept its readers well-informed on this score
Moreover, they are recorded,  - and is not that some-        since the inception of the "Dekker Case" a few years
thing to contemplate? - in the record book of the Judge      ago.
of heaven and earth.       And I deem it important for           However, I deem it important, - even though I have
getting the "feel" of a decision and for analyzing the       already reported on the decisions taken both in June


                                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER


and in August,  i that before we proceed with our  dis-                                            b. After long consideration and much discus-
cussion,  we get the complete picture of the decision.                                  sion with Professor Dekker, members of the Study  '
When I visited the sessions of the Synod, I was able to                                 Committee on Doctrinal Matters, and others, your
obtain copies of the various reports, and thus was able                                 advisory committee is convinced that Professor  Dek-
t o   n o t e   t h e   d e c i s i o n s   t a k e n .    These. decisions are         ker has erred in making ambiguous statements and
                                                                                        using them in an abstract way.
embodied in Parts C, D, and E of Report IX-D, the                                            2. Recommendations:
report of the Advisory Committee  OnDoctrinalMatters.                                              That Synod admonish Professor Dekker for the
These three sections of this report follow below:                                       ambiguous and abstract way in which he has expressed
                                                                                        himself in his writing on the love of God and the
                        Report IX-D (Parts C, D, and E)                                 atonement:
      C. The Report of the Study Committee                                                         Grounds:
      Recommendations:                                                                             a. His writings have resulted in considerable
           1. That Synod receive the report of the Doctrinal                            misunderstanding and confusion within the churches
      Committee as information and express its gratitude to                             concerning the doctrine of the atonement.
      this committee for its faithful and diligent work.                                           b. His presentation of his views `has resulted
           2. That Synod commend the -report of the Doctrinal                           in widespread uncertainty concerning his adherence
      Committee to the churches for guidance and as a valu-                             to the creeds.
      able contribution, within the Reformed tradition, to the                          E. Conclusion:
      discussion of the matters contained within the report.                                 Recommendation:
           3. That Synod refrain from adopting the recom-                                    That Synod declare that the decisions taken under
      mendations contained in the report of the Doctrinal                               "C" and  "D" of this report constitute its answer
      Committee (Agenda, pp. 453-61).                                                   to Overtures  20A-20Z,  20aa and  20bb,  and to the
           Grounds:                                                                     appeal letter of Mr. J. Bosman, Sr.
                 a. Although the Doctrinal Committee proposed                           (Note: Only the recommendations, of course, were
      "that Synod do not make isolated extra-creedal state-                             adopted. I included the "Preliminary Observations"
      ments," there is danger that adoption of these recom-                             under "D" for background.                          Various editorial cor-
      mendations would make them just that. (Note: Prop-                                rections were made in the committee report, es-
      ositions not initially intended as  extra-creedal  state-                         pecially in the quotations of Prof. Dekker's statements.
      ments are in fact being used as though they are                                   However, I took careful notes; and I believe that all
      creedal  by the Doctrinal Committee in its present                                the corrections are correctly included above. HCH)
      report to Synod (pp. 454-55).
                 b. Such propositions may be a hindrance to                        ECCLESIASTICALLY  RIDICULOUS
      seeking unity with other Reformed Churches, as is                                  A l l   w i l l   r e c o g n i z e   t h a t ,   t h o u g h   t h e   d e c i s i o n   i n
      evident from the report of the Contact Committee                             C - 3   i s   n o t   t o   b e   m i n i m i z e d ,   t h e   s u b s t a n c e   o f   t h e
      with Canadian Reformed Churches (Report No. 15,                              e n t i r e   dezision  i s   e m b o d i e d   i n   D - 2 ,   t h e   f e w   l i n e s
      Agenda, 1967, pp. 56-57).                                                    which begin, "That Synod admonish Professor Dekker
                 c. Such propositions may tend to curtail legiti-                  for the ambiguous and abstract way....."
      mate discussion in the churches.                                                  This I characterize as ridiculous !
                 d. This course of action is in keeping with
      that taken by the Synod of  1961  regarding the report                             It is unworthy of any ecclesiastical assembly, let
      on the doctrine of infallibility.  (Acts,  1961, pp. 78-79).                 alone the broadest gathering of the denomination!
    - (Note: All of the above recommendations were adopted                               It is an insult to all concerned!
      at the June session of the Synod. The following section                            Consider the situation.                       Consider that this matter
      was before Synod on August 30. HCH)                                          has been before the ecclesiastical public for some
      D. Actions with Respect to Professor Dekker                                  four and a half years.                       Consider that three years ago
            1. Preliminary Observations:                                           S y n o d   i t s e l f   a p p o i n t e d   a   c o m m i t t e e   t o   s t u d y   t h e
                 a. Especially the following statements of Pro-                    d o c t r i n a l   e x p r e s s i o n s   o f   P r o f e s s o r   D e k k e r   i n   t h e
      fessor Dekker have caused extensive discussion and                           l i g h t   o f   S c r i p t u r e   a n d   t h e   c o n f e s s i o n s .      Consider
      controversy in the churches:
                      1) "There is one love of God and this one                    t h a t   t h i s   c o m m i t t e e   s p e n t   t w o   y e a r s   i n   p r e p a r i n g
      love is redemptive in nature." "God loves all men                            its report and another  year  in polishing it. Consider
      with a redemptive love." (Agenda, pp. 390, 391)                              that the committee had arrived at the studied con-
                      2) "The atonement itself is inherently uni-                  c l u s i o n   t h a t   P r o f e s s o r   D e k k e r 's   e x p r e s s i o n s   w e r e
      versal" and "there is neither need nor warrant for                           not warranted by Scripture and the confessions. Con-
      retaining the concept of limited atonement, as it has                        s i d e r   t h a t   m a n y   c o n s i s t o r i e s   a n d   c l a s s e s   e x p e n d e d
      been traditionally used among us." (Letter to Study                          time and energy in studying this report and expressing
      Committee, Nov. 17, 1967, Agenda, 1967, pp. 390,                             themselves about it.                      Consider that Synod had on its
      407-8.)                                                                      table several overtures expressing agreement with the
                      3) "We may say to every man individually,                    Study Committee's propositions, some of which made
      `Christ died for you."' "When I say, `Christ died
      for you' to any man, I mean to say that Christ has                           reference to the Formula of Subscription and asked
      actually suffered for his sins and has in that sense                         for the suspension of the professor or for retraction
      expiated his guilt.                 If, however, the word `expiate'          under penalty of suspension. Consider that even those
      is intended by definition to include the idea of  effectua-                  overtures which sought postponement or asked for no
      Zion, which to my mind it need not include, I would not                      binding doctrinal declarations recognized, in a sense,
      want to use the word expiation to describe what Christ                       the seriousness of the issues involved. Consider that
      has done for all men." (Agenda, p. 409)                                      in June the Synod, though its advisory committee had


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       7


met for long hours, had not been able to come to a            there was a problem.           And we will assess the chief
decision, but had deemed the matter so very serious           blame on our professor.           We will tick him  .on the
that the extraordinary measure had been followed of           fingers for not being clear and for engaging in abstract
taking a recess and of reconvening Synod in August.           speculation.
Consider that thousands of hours and thousands of                 And now let everyone get back to normal. All
dollars have been expended on the matter. Consider            the sound and fury were really about nothing. The
that on the floor of the 1967 Synod not a few voices          journalistic discussion may also continue, but let
had been raised which at first insisted that the              the professor guard against ambiguity and abstract-
doctrinal expressions of Professor Dekker  must  be           ness.
declared to be contrary to the confessions. Consider              I ask: is this the ecclesiastical manner?
that one delegate (was it not Dr. Rutgers?) had even              Is it indeed the business of a synod to decide
declared the day before this decision was taken that          whether one has been clear or ambiguous in his
if Prof. Dekker's position was not declared  anti-            expressions,        whether    one has been abstract or
creedal,  he and others would be compelled to go up and       concrete?
down the country speaking. Consider that heretofore               Or is it rather the business of a synod to decide
no one had fingered this claimed ambiguity and ab-            whether one's doctrinal expressions are in harmony
stractness as the root of the problem, in spite of the        with or opposed to Scripture and the confessions?
long hours spent in study.                                        I ask: was the former matter on Synod's Agenda?
   And now the Synod comes up with this decision!             Or was Synod confronted by numerous overtures to
In a few hours and in a few lines, it says that the           decide on the latter question and by recommenda-
sum and substance of the entire Dekker Case is that           tions from its own Study Committee to do the same?
its own seminary professor has been ambiguous and                 It would have been at least more honorable if
abstract in expressing himself about the love of God          the Synod had faced up to the motion (and this mo-
and the atonement!                                            tion was before Synod both in June and in August)
   Imagine !                                                  to declare Professor Dekker's doctrinal expres-
   Synod has in effect decided that there was no              sions to be unwarranted in the light of Scripture
serious question of Scripture and. the confessions            and the confessions. This motion would undoubtedly
involved whatsoever.                                          have been defeated. But the defeat would have been
   Yes, yes!         Our professor was a little foggy in      more honorable.
the way he expressed himself.          He had some ex-            Now they sought to avoid a showdown.
pressions capable of a double meaning.            And he          And as we shall see when we enter into the ma-
engaged in some abstract theoretical considerations.          terial of the decision, the showdown was not really
And he was not very discreet: he should have been             avoided.      Instead, the opponents of Dekker's position
more careful to make his meaning clear. The result            conceded.       The opposition faded. It collapsed com-
has been "consider able misunderstanding and con-             pletely,  - and dishonorably !
fusion     within    the churches    concerning the. doc-         Indeed, Synod came to the birth.. ..and brought forth
trine of the atonement" (not about the love of God?).         the wind!
The result has been, too, that there has been "wide-              And those who are in earnest about the rank
spread uncertainty concerning his adherence to the            Arminianism taught by their seminary professor
creeds ."       But really, you have all been  nimcom-        and others, which has now been implicitly stamped
poops !      There was no serious problem here about          with     Synod's     approval,     should rise up in holy
Scripture and the confessions.          You  only  thought    indignation! This is their solemn duty !




  IN HIS  FEAR-


             The People That Sat In Darkness

                                                  by  Rev:  J.  A.  Heys

    In a limited sense you can properly say of these              You can say that without fear of offending  or,in-
brethren and sisters on the island of Jamaica, to whom        sulting them.       For they have said it themselves and
the Mission Board and the Synod-sent Elder Zwak and           continue to say it.
undersigned, th'at they are a people that sat in darkness          A tourist promotion pamphlet entitled "Focus on
and now have seen a great light.                              Jamaica" assures you that there are churches of every


                                                                      THESTANDARDBEARER
                    1
                         faith on the island. Listed for the capital city of Kings-    well Sermon" and a goodly number of elders and
               I         ton are The Anglican Church, Baptist, Assembly of             deacons from the churches of all three ministers. At
                         God, Congregational, Christian Science, Methodist,            the airport the next morning to see us off was a goodly
                         Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Seventh Day Adventist,          band of brethren and sisters and even their children, a
                         Salvation Army, and Jewish Synagogue. The addresses           group of some fifteen in all.
            /            together with the times of the services are listed.              These combined meetings or services helped for  US
                         Montego Bay, the city in the heart of the tourist             to have contact with all the brethren and sisters in
               ,         section, and where some fifteen jets bring tourists           these Protestant Reformed Churches in Jamaica, since
                         every day, lists eight of the above churches, omitting        time and the inaccessibleness of some of the churches
                         the Salvation Army (although we did see one there) and        made it impossible to preach  inthem all. As it was, we
                         the Jewish Synagogue.  Ocho Rios, another resort area         travelled often for an hour and a half to go only 35
                         to the east of Montego Bay, lists Anglican, Baptist,          miles to church on Sunday morning. The road was over
                         Roman Catholic, Methodist, and Presbyterian. It               two mountain ranges with winding, twisting, climbing
                         cannot, therefore, be saidin  the broadest sense that the     and descending curves, lined with people and often with
                         peoples of this beautiful island sat in darkness be-          animals . These drives were hectic combats with new
                         cause the knowledge of the truth, the light of God's          hazards around each blind curve, and we appreciated
                         Word, was never beamed upon the island. But as far            the driving of Elder Zwak, which left us with a some-
          1              as  the- Reformed Faith is concerned, as far as the           what clear mind and calm nerves for preaching the
          i              Reformed Confessions are concerned, they sat  indark-         Word.    The Dan Ryan expressway in Chicago and the
                         ness and now freely acknowledge that they have seen a         Los Angeles freeway system afford relaxed driving in
          i              great light. This they confess to their own people, and       comparison.      The goats that cluttered the roads two
                         this they have confessed to us.                               years ago have almost disappeared from the roads, but
                            We have a tape recording (which might perhaps be           children play on the roads, a steady stream of humanity
                         circulated among our churches and their societies to          walks on either side, the friendly chat is held there,
                         acquaint our people with the sentiments of some of            and courting couples meet to talk in the roadway. And
      i                  the office bearers in Jamaica.) and letters in which          all this for a good reason. There are no shoulders to
      I                  they declare that they now have revealed unto them            the road as a rule. Either the one side of the road is
                         that which before this time was hidden from their             lined with steep and sharp rock out of which the road
                         spiritual eyes. We also recall the statement of one of        has been carved, or lush, tropical vegetation crowds to
                         the ministers to his congregation at the morning ser-         the very road itself. And on the other side you either
                         vice of July  16  to the effect that his only regret about    find the same tall and thickgrowthor a sheer drop from
     1                   learning this Reformed Faith is that he did not hear          500 to 1,000 feet straight down! Where will the children
     )                   about it and receive it when he was younger. The truth        play, the people walk, the neighbourly conversation be
                         in the Catechism (Heidelberg) and the Canons they also        held? Add to this the fact that the bus and truck drivers
                         enjoyed and appreciated. In fact the last week of our         deliberately and consistently take the middle half of the
     `II                 sessions of instruction to the three ministers, Revs.         road  - and often at the bridges and at the curves the
                         Elliott, Frame and Ruddock, with Elder Green and              road is wide enough only for the bus or truck - and you
     /_                  Deacon Binns sitting in, they unanimously pleaded for         understand a little of the problem. Buses and trucks
                         more instruction from the Canons.                             you try to meet before or after the curve or bridge.
     i                      Everywhere in their churches (although in the              A strange thing it is, as far as the other drivers in
                         bigger cities there was adefinite Anti-Americanfeeling        their cars are concerned, that the Jamaicans  arenever
                         and calls to us, "White man, go home!") we were well          in a hurry until they get behind the wheel. Then they
                         received with spiritual gladness. A hearty welcome            must get there in nothing flat and must pass on blind
                         was always there. In the Reading Church at Lacovia            curves and hills; and you better slow up and let them
                         all the Sunday School children were ready; and as we          in or else you are involved in a three-car collision.
                         entered the church building, they sang a song of wel-         We once read in a newspaper report that the "Jamai-
                         come to us and had bouquets of flowers for our wives.         cans drive like maniacs." It certainly is not over-
                         In the Islington church (both the Reading and Islington       stating it to say that we have observed countless num-
                         churches are in Rev. Elliott's district) the congrega-        bers of drivers who throw ALL caution to the wind when
1I                       tion was humming a hymn tune (I believe that Rev.             they get behind the wheel of a car. More than once we
8'                       Elliott said that it was "Perfect Peace!`.) while we          said to each other, "These Jamaican drivers surely
1                        were yet a few feet from the open door of the church          like to live dangerously." We have seen the results
                         and until we were fully seated. A human organ with            of many collisions. We saw a dead donkey, the victim
                         rich harmony rather than a mechanical pipe organ              of a hit-and-run driver's folly. We had a car speed
                         greeted us with sweet music and reverent strains.             around us on a blind curve, and then came ourselves
                         People came from far and wide to worship in the               around a few more curves to see the car stand there
                         Islington Church on July 23, the same in the Friend-          and a cow lying in the road in such poor shape that it
                         ship Hill church of Rev. Ruddock on August 13, in             had to be shot. That more people were not killed only
                         Rev. Elliott's churches of Reading and Santa Cruz on          amazed us.
/                        August  6,  and that last Sunday, August 20, in Rev.             We witnessed a river baptism of two adults at
                         Frame's church at  Lucea. In fact at this service all         Islington.    At the Reading, Lacovia church, mentioned
                         three ministers were also there to hear the "Fare-            above, where the Sunday School children sang  "Wel-



i


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     9


come" to us, we witnessed the baptism of two infants,          suggested, or rather requested us to bring this to the
Rev. Elliott officiating. We missed a river baptism at         Mission Board's attention and to see whether a trumpet
Friendship Hill due to the fact that .it was scheduled         or two could be donated to them andlessons be given to
for  6  a.m. and was an hour and a half's drive away           some talented young man or woman to learn to be able
from our place of lodging. Let it be pointed out that          to carry the congregation with the tunes of the Psalter.
lodging can be had in only a few selected places on the        By the way, a sister in Grand Rapids also suggested
island. And with the high humidity and oppressive heat         this. Some of our Sunday Schools might desire to take
preaching twice (We did preach three times with less           up such a worthwhile project. (An accordian would
travel involved on July 16) is sufficient without getting      also do well.)     So, if any have such instruments to
up at 3:30 a.m.                                                donate, and if there are Sunday Schools that are willing
   There is one matter which we plan to report to the          to underwrite music lessons for talented young men or
Mission Board which we also like to give widespread            women to learn these instruments, they can contact the
publication here in the hope that something can be done        undersigned, and the hearts of the brethren and sisters
before the 1968 Synod meets. These brethren and sis-           in Jamaica will be gladdened and we will help them sing
ters are struggling to learn the Psalter songs but have        the songs of Zion.      Do not be afraid of donating too
not made much progress. The reasons for this are               many instruments. There are over twenty congrega-
the following: (1) Many of the older people either have        tions and their children are born with rhythm in their
difficulty reading because of lack of opportunity when         souls, love music and have keen minds and clever hands.
they were young to attend school; or because of failing        Learning is no problem for them.
eyesight and lack of money to get corrective lenses;               But let us be thankful to our covenant God that we
or because the lighting in their church buildings is           may have had this opportunity to share with these
poor.      In many a church where electricity is out of the    peoples of another race and color the glorious Reformed
question a kerosene or gasoline lantern is hung over           heritage which is ours. They have  muchto  learn yet of
the pulpit, leaving the rest of the building, and the back     that truth; and they are eager to learnmore. They have
corners especially, very dark. (2) Even for these  -           seen the light and have expressed their prayers that
and the children are going to school and learning to           they may live in this Reformed Faith and die in it. We
read well -who can look at a Psalter, there are far too        have no reason to believe that they are not sincere.
few to go around. What happens is that while the people        Elder Green and Deacon Binns expressed the same
are singing the last note of one line, the minister must       sentiment that the ministers did. The peoples walked
call out in a loud voice the next line, which is then re-      miles and miles or left at 2 a.m. by truck and bus to
membered and sung by the congregation. It might be             hear the preaching of a Protestant Reformed sermon
interesting for our people to hear that on the tape. (3)       and not to be entertained or amused.
They have no musical instruments except drum and
cymbal.       In one or two' churches there is a guitar  -         In a day and age when countless thousands are eager
which does not help to give the melody and is not loud         to discard that Reformed Faith and change it for the
enough to carry the congregation, or a trumpet, but no         babblings of men, our covenant God has given us a
one to read music. We all have had the experience in           people that does not fully understand it, does not see
our own churches with big, powerful pipe organs that           all its implications yet but has tasted it and liked what
when an unfamiliar tune is called for, the singing is          they tasted. We have double reasons to be thankful.
weak and even breaks down. What then when you have             We have seen that great light ourselves for years, from
no organ or piano or trumpet to carry the melody loud          childhood onward. And we have had the opportunity and
and clear? They try, and many of our Psalter num-              DO HAVE the opportunity to let that light shine more
bers they sing with tunes they know and many of them           brightly before others who ask for it. Truly in this
to the same tune; but it takes time.                           respect also it is more blessed to give than to receive.
   One of the elders of Rev. Frame's church at  Lucea          And it is in His fear to do so.



TRYING THE  SPIRITS-

            Dispensationalism and the Two Testaments

                                                 by  Rev.  R.  C.  Havbach

   This writer, while being taught the whole scheme of         tains one system of truth, one doctrine, one way of
Dispensationalism, was so instructed as to see great           salvation, one standard of righteousness, one rule of
diversity in Scripture, but was never grounded in the          faith and conduct, one God, one Mediator, one divine
underlying unity of Holy Writ.          In those days, his     covenant, one divine purpose, one people, one promise,
teachers did not inculcate the truth that the Bible con-       one Gospel, one general assembly and church, one


10                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


election of grace, one true Israel, one Zion, one            of individuals. When Jesus said, "But I say unto you,
nation, and one kingdom.        The Scripture with its       Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do  good-
different parts is one organic whole. It originated with     to them that hate you," (Mt.  5:44) He was not teaching
one controlling Mind. -God used many mouthpieces and         some~ higher ethic than that found in the O.T., but the
many pens to produce it (Heb. 1:l; II Pet.  1:21), yet He    same  O.T. virtue. Then, too, it was commanded, "If
is its sole Author: The light is manifold in its many        thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he
constituent colors, yet is one. God is a trinity, which      be thirsty, give him water to drink." (Prov.  25:21)
means that He is a tri-unity and a unity that is trinal.     Paul taught nothing different  f"rom Jesus. "Recom-
Christ has two natures, the humanity and the Deity           pense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest
united in one Person. The Scripture has two testa-           in the sight of all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not
ments forming the one Word of God. Its message is            yourselves, but rather give place to wrath." (Rom.
therefore one!                                               12:17-19) This is nothing new, for the  0-T. teaching
      We may then expect the Bible to be self-consistent     is the same. See Lev.  19:lS. David was thankful for
and its various passages harmonious, not in conflict.        being kept from taking vengeance. (I Sam.  25:33) The
When we read that passage which the world invariably         same spirit is found often in Proverbs: "Say not, I
misunderstands, "eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for      will do so to him as he hath done to me: I will render
hand, foot for foot," (Ex. 21:24) we arenot to think that    to the man according to his work." (20:22;  24:17, 29)
Jesus proposed an actual physical interpretation either             It is also maintained by the dispensationalist that
of it or of His own words relative to the passage: "But      the imprecatory Psalms breathe another spirit than
I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever       that -of the gospel of grace.       Reference is to, "The
shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the         enemies of the Lord shall...consume away." (Ps. 37:
other also." (Mt.  5:39) The judgments "eye for eye,"        20)      "Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; let
etc., are to be understood in the sense of fines exacted     them also that hate Him flee before Him."  (68:l) "0
and compensation paid, as the context shows (vv. 22,         Lord...Thine enemies shall perish."  (92:9) "0 daugh-
30),  i . e . , in the sense of "an eye (fine) for an eye    ter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed, happy shall
(damaged or lost)." Nor are we to suppose that Jesus' he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.
words in Matthew do cancel the Exodus passage. That          Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little
would not be justice to the injured party, especially        ones against the stones." (137:8, 9) But the N.T. has
one being a woman with child. Both fines and compen-         its own aspect of severity. Peter in exposing a false
sations in connection with the dictates of justice are       prophet in the Church denounced under the sanction of
even in the Christian dispensation expected to be paid.      the Head of the Church, "thy money perish  with  thee."
It is therefore far from what these two passages teach       (Acts  8:20)     Paul, too, pronounced a curse upon every
to claim that they can only be reconciled by viewing         one who does not love Christ. "If any man love not the
them as belonging to different ages and different people.    Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema..." (I Cor.
That would render most of Scripture no longer "prof-         16:22) He pronounced a blessing upon all who love Him.
itable" (II Tim.  3:16f) and the  0-T. no more valuable      "Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus
than an out-of-date catalog.                                 Christ in sincerity." (Eph.  6:24) Then there is the
      The Scofield Reference Bible on this passage re-       double curse denounced against any who preach another
marks in the margin, "The provision in Exodus is law,        gospel. (Gal.  1:9, 9) Of the Concision, or Mutilators
and righteous; the N.T. passages,  grace, and merci-         of the doctrine of sovereign grace, he said, "I would
ful."     Such a mutually exclusive antithesis do  Dis-      they were even cut off which trouble you." (Gal.  5:12)
pensationalists make between law and grace that the          Concerning Alexander the coppersmith who did him
implication is, as in this note, that under the law men      much evil, he prayed, "the Lord reward him according
were saved because of obedience, while under grace           to his works.". (II Tim.  4:14) As to Babylon, the  anti-
they were saved  without  obedience. This makes the          Christian world-power, the cry is from heaven against
gospel clear antinomianism, and the law nothing but a        her, "Reward her even as she rewarded you, and
covenant of works, i.e., pure legalism. The note also        double unto her double, according to her works: in the
makes Scofield inconsistent, for there he refers to          cup which she hath filled, fill to her double!" (Rev. 18:
Matt.  5:38-44 as  grace, whereas in his introduction to     6) The law of retaliation is not only the same in both
the four gospels he states that "the Sermon on the           testaments, but is part of the faith of the saints  (13:7,
Mount is law, not grace." Which assertion are we to          lo)!     Dispensationalists hold to such strange contrasts
believe, the one on page 97, or the one on page  989?        that one wonders whether they ever read their Bibles
In addition to the latter statement, Scofield writes that    carefully!
"the  doctrines of grace are to besought in the epistles,           But what we have just shown, especially in the light
not in the gospels..." This takes thedoctrine of Christ      of the last supporting texts of Scripture, will not be
away from this present dispensation and assigns it to        acceptable to the tastes of the natural man, nor the
that of "law," thus making Jesus an O.T. teacher and         sentimental-minded, who will not be governed by the
one of Judaism, not of Christianity.                         Word of God. This effeminate age would.do away with
      There certainly is no clash between Ex.  21:24 and     capital punishment, turn prisons into country clubs,
Mt.  5:38-44,  for the one passage deals with rules of       furnish convicts with cells and dining rooms on the
justice administered by judges (cp. Ex.  21:22 with Dt.      hotel order, provide them with radio and television,
19:18-20) and the other with rules of conduct required       and grant them conjugal rights. In such we will not


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       11


find a holy hatred against anything which happens to          the matter straight; It affirms that  the  Yule  of  conduct
be dishonoring to God. Nor will they agree with this:         can never become the ground of acceptance  before God.
"Surely Thou wilt slay the wicked, 0 God. (Depart                    Harmony between the two testaments is further
from me, therefore, ye bloody men!) For they speak            evident in, "He believed in the Lord, and He counted
against Thee wickedly, and Thine enemies take Thy             it to him for righteousness," (Gen.  15:6) and "By Him
name in vain. Do not I hate them, 0 Lord, that hate           all that believe are justified." (Acts  13:39) There is
Thee? Am not I grieved with those that rise up against        the same doctrine of justification by faith. Of old God
Thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them           addressed His people, "Ye are strangers and so-
mine enemies." (Ps.  139:19, 22)                              journers," (Lev.  25:23) just as He does now, "I be-
   As we previously showed, the law  of  God and the          seech you as strangers and pilgrims." (I Pet.  2:ll)
grace  of  God cannot be opposites, for that would put        Under law, "The Lord's portion is His people: Jacob
God in conflict with Himself. It is not merely law, but       is the lot of His inheritance." (Deut.  33:9) Under grace
also grace that "it shall be our righteousness, if we         it is no different; we know "the riches of the glory of
observe to do all these commandments before the Lord          His inheritance in the saints." (Eph.  1:18)  Moses knew
our God, as He hath commanded us." (Deut.  6:25)              that "all His saints are in Thy hand," (Dt.  33:3) just
However, the "dispensational teaching" is that this is        as John knew "they shall never perish, neither shall
the very opposite of what we read in the N.T., viz.,          any pluck them out of My hand." (Jn.  10:28) The
"By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified    exhortation then was, "Yield yourselves unto the Lord,"
in His sight." (R om. 3:20) The Deuteronomy passage           (II Chron.  30:8) and, under the gospel is, "Yield  your-
is said to teach a salvation dependent upon what we do,       seees unto God." (Rom.  6:13) Who is not familiar
while the gospel teaches salvation by what God has                      "Lydla...whose heart the Lord opened that she
done.     Law and grace are then made to be one hundred       attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul?"
and eighty degrees to each other. Then if they are            (Acts  16:14) It was always so! "And my God put into
opposite statements, what was once true must now be           mine heart to gather together the nobles." (Neh.  7:5)
false.    But since they are not in any conflict, they are    Jesus promised, "the spirit of truth...will guide you
both true! `The two passages must not be pitted against       into all truth." (John 16:13) Still it was a fact in the old
one another.      It has never been true that salvation       covenant, "Thou gavest also Thy good Spirit to instruct
depended on what man could or should do. Salvation            them." (Neh.  9:20) John refers to a future blessing,
was never by works. The ground of salvation has never         "We shall be like Him, for  weshall  see Him as He is."
been human merit or creature performance. That                (I John 3:2) David had the same outlook, "I will behold
goes for the so-called Dispensations of Innocence (Job        Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I
25:4,5;  15:15;  4:18), Conscience (Gen.  4:4), of Human      awake, with Thy likeness." (Ps.  17:15) We are now
Government  (6:8), of Promise  (15:6), of Law (Ex. 20:        "strengthened with might in the inner man." (Eph.
l-17,  24), and of the Kingdom (Eph.  1:lO). The truth        3:16)       But the O.T. saint had, principally, the same
of Deut.  6:25 is also insisted on in Matt.  5:20; James      blessing.      "Thou answerest me and strengthenedst me
2:20-26 and I John 2:29. It sets forth the godly conduct      with strength in my soul." (Ps.  138:3)          The Bible
and Christian walk of the believer. Romans  3:20 keeps        knows  .but one Gospel !


 FROM HOLY  WRIT-


                            The Book  of  Hebrews

                                                 by  Rev.  G.  Lubbers

                                            Hebrews 3:7-15 (continued)

COVENANT-BREAKING:   DEPARTING   FROM                         a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall
THE  LIVING  GOD  (Hebrews  3:12-15)                          give him life for them that sin not unto death. There
    All unrighteousness is sin, and sin is the breaking       is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for
of God's commandments, transgressing the law of God.          it.      All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not
However, there is a sin unto death and there is also a        unto death." (I John  5:16, 17) And our Savior Himself
sin not unto death. This is a basic distinction which         signals a sin which is unforgivable.: `it is the sin against
the Bible itself teaches us and which we should ever          the Holy Ghost. Thus we read `Wherefore I say unto
keep in mind, both for theological reasons and for the        you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven
sake of our soul's peace and tranquility. Of this the         unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost
apostle John writes,. "If any man see his brother sin         shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever  speak-


12                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


eth a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven         brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of
him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost,             bondage."      And this is the sin of an "evil heart of
it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world nor         unbelief ."
in the world to come." (Matthew  12:31, 32)                       What is unbelief? The term in the Greek text is
       In the passages which we have just quoted we are         "apistia." It is the very opposite of the faith in Jesus
clearly taught that we must distinguish, according to           Christ, the certain knowledge and the hearty confidence,
Scripture, between sin and sin. Bearing this in mind            that there is for me forgiveness of sins, everlasting
we shall be in a position to understand the teaching and        righteousness and eternal life, merely for the sake of
admonition of the writer to the Hebrews in this section.        Christ's merits.      Such unbelief is rooted in an evil
For, as we have seen, we are partakers of Christ and            heart. It indicates that the tree is evil, and, therefore,
of the heavenly calling, if we hold fast to the beginning       can only bring forth evil fruit. For out of the fruit the
of our confidence and hope firm to the end. He that             tree is known! Unbelief can only come forth from an
endureth to the end shall be saved! (Matthew 24:13) We          evil heart in which the love of God is not shed abroad.
noticed, too, that this did not mean that salvation is          It is because of "unbelief" that the Israel of old could
based on our persevering, but rather that our perse-            not enter into the promised land. (Hebrews  3:19) If
vering shows the genuineness of our faith; it is the            faith receives all the benefits of Christ more and more,
infallible proof of true, saving faith.                         then unbelief is such that it is ever more rejecting the
       Since there is true faith which cannot fall away from    benefits of the covenant, yea, reveals itself as not
the living God, and "temporary faith" which must needs          sharing in these benefits. It is the peculiar nature of
fall away from the living God,  it'is incumbent upon us         unbelief that it thrives in the very sphere and nurture
to beware lest there be an evil heart of unbelief in            where faith grows and flourishes. "Unbelief" may not
us.      We have noticed in former essays that we must          speak in the church! Where unbelief reveals itself
examine and prove ourselves whether we are in the               there is a hardening of the heart.
faith, walk in the faith and cling to the living God in            The great example of unbelief was that of Israel in
Christ crucified. For it is either clinging more and            the desert, that "generation" with which the Lord was
more to Christ crucified as one who "liveth and                 angry for forty years. This generation was hardened
believeth," or it must needs be an evil heart of unbelief       through the deceit of sin. That is the key to the under-
which reveals itself in apostatizing from the living God.       standing of their conduct in the midst of so many
This is the implication of the teaching of Jesus to             manifestations of God's covenant faithfulness. What
Martha in John  11:26, "And whosoever liveth and                great wonders did not the Lord-perform in their midst
believeth shall never die. Believest thou this?" For            and before their very eyes. With His mighty arm God
no man can truly believe unless he is made alive with           laid the Egyptians low by ten great plagues, and he
Christ (Ephesians  2:5, 6) For this reason it is also           made a path for them through the Red Sea, destroying
true that none can say in true and humble confession:           the Egyptian host when they assayed to pursue Israel.
"LORD, JESUS," except through the Holy Ghost, and               With manna he fed Israel forty years from heaven, and
no one, who speaks through the Holy Ghost, calleth              he gave them to drink water from the rock. His cloud
Jesus: Anathema! (I Corinthians  12:2,3)                        was with them by day, and His fiery pillar guided them
       If true faith cannot be lost, why does the writer to     and gave them light at night. He planted his tabernacle
the Hebrews admonish the readers to beware lest there           in their midst, and called Israel to the solemn feasts,
should prove to be an evil heart of unbelief in any of          and the morning and evening sacrifices. He gave them
tbem ?      Why must they beware against falling away           the priesthood of Aaron, instituting the priesthood and
from the living God? Is it not simply preposterous to           sacrifices.    But evil hearts of unbelief only departed
suggest this? Not at all! What does it mean to "fall            from the Lord more and more, as an evil and  stiff-
away from the living God?" As we have suggested                 necked people.
above, there are two kinds of sins. There is a sin                 And it was then that the Lord "said" by himself:
unto death, and there is a sin not unto death. To fall          always they do err in heart. Seeingthey see and do not
away from the living God is the sin unto death! It is           perceive, hearing they hear and do not understand!
the sin of an evil heart of unbelief. We must not con-          Even they provoked God to wrath for forty years,
fuse this sin with the sins of the weakness of the flesh        gainsaying the most High! And God therefore swore
of God's people in this world  - as we all stumble and          that they might not enter into the rest. About a million
falter in many ways. These were the weaknesses of               people died in the wilderness  1 The entire army which
the people for whom the sacrifices were intended in             was numbered when Moses came out of Egypt perished
the Old Testament.         Such as came confessing these        in the wilderness. (Compare Numbers  1:45,46)  Graves,
sins, pleading the covenant mercies of God, exactly             graves in the desert way where Israel stopped some
did not fall away from the living God, but clung to him         thirty nine times! (Numbers  33:1-49)
in filial love, ardent  hope.and earnest expectation. To           Such was the great lesson of history, written for
fall away from the living God was Israel's sin at the           our example, lest we walk in the same ways of dis-
mount when they made the golden calf with the words             obedience. (I Corinthians  1O:ll) It is written for us
"These be thy gods, 0 Israel, which brought you out of          upon whom the end of the ages has come !
Egypt."       It was the sin of the denial of God as their      TWO  KINDS   OF  ISRAEL   (Hebrews 3:16-19)
covenant God  - a denial        of the God who said from
Horeb's brow "I am the Lord, thy God, which have                   Not all who went out of Egypt by the agency of


                                                                                                                  -.                         I
                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                13    I

Moses were in the provocation. There were "some"                      law.      For he who leaves the worship of the living God
who having heard the word of God were embittered.                     in Christ Jesus surely has turned to serve idols, and
The rest believed and are accounted for the seed. Such                falls in the class of those described in the book of
was the history of Israel in the desert and such is the               Deuteronomy  13:6-11, "If thy brother, the son of thy
lesson which it teaches us according to the Scriptures.               mother, or thy son or thy daughter, or the wife of thy
   Since the difference between the two seeds is one of               bosom, or thy friend which is as thine own soul, entice
faith and unbelief, and those who could not enter into                thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods
the promised land in the days of Joshua were not able                 which thou hast not known, thou nor thy fathers;
to enter in  because  of  unbelief  (dia  apistian),  it is the       namely the gods of the people which are round about
evil heart of unbelief which we must beware of. For                   you, nigh `unto thee or far off from thee, from the one
unbelief is a sure sign of being reprobate Israel which               end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;
cannot   (eeduneetheesan)  enter into the rest of God. In             Thou shalt not consent unto him, not hearken unto him;
view of this it is, no doubt, the teaching here of Scrip-             neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou
ture that this "taking heed lest their be an evil heart               spare, neither shalt thou conceal him; but thou shalt
of unbelief among you" implies two things.                            surely kill him.. . . . and thou shalt stone him with stones
   First of all, as this pertains to the believers them-              that he die, because he hath sought to thrust thee away
selves, as believers.         Ever there is the danger of             from the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the
being drawn away from the living God, by the devil, the               land of Egypt, from the land of bondage. And all Israel
world and our own flesh. Wherefore it is necessary                    shall hear, and -fear, and shall do no more any such
that we exhort one another while it is called "today."                wickedness as this among you." Now surely heretics
For God works the grace of perseverance in his elect                  are not stoned in the New Testament church, but God
saints through exhortations and threatenings, as a part               does tell us to beware lest there be among us any with
of the means of grace, the preaching of the Word as the               an evil heart which reveals itself in unbelief. The
key-power of the Spirit. Always and again the warning                 church must keep watch over doctrine and life in the
must be sounded against unbelief.                                     church, and in that order.
   Secondly, should it appear that there' are avowed                     The writer to the Hebrews thus warns the'readers
unbelievers that arise in the church and preach the                   with the warnings of God's word. Thus we see in our-
teachings of unbelief, and deny the Christ, and fall away             selves, in holding fast to the beginning of the confidence
from the living God and cause others to fall away,                    and hope firm to the end, that we are the house of God
these must be put out of the churchwith the ban of God.               built upon the foundations of the apostle and prophets
Thus Moses instructed Israel of old in the book of the                of which Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone!


   CONTENDING FOR THE  FAITH-

                                          The Doctrine of Sin

                                         The Second Period,  250-730 A.D.

                                                The Pelagian Controversy

                                                         by  Rev.  H.  Veldman

    Hagenbach, writing on the opinions of the Latin                      Augustine, in opposition to the Manicheans, partic-
theologians, during this period, and before Augustine,                ularly in disputation with the Manichean, Fortunatus,
writes as follows:                                                    declares concerning the free will of man (ch. 22) the
        During this period, as well as the preceding, the the-        following:
    ologians of the Western church were more favorable than                      I recognize and embrace the testimonies of the
    those of the Eastern, to the Augustinian doctrine. Even               divine Scriptures, and I will show in a few words, as
    Arnobius speaks of a connatural infirmity, making man                 God may deign to grant, how they are consistent with
    prone to sin. Hilary, and Ambrose of Milan, taught the                my faith. I say that there was free exercise of will in
    defilement of sin by birth; Ambrose appealed especially               that man who was first formed. He was so made that
    to  Bs.  51:5,  in support of original sin, but without deter-            absolutely nothing could resist his will, if he had willed
    mining to what extent every individual shares in the                  to keep the precepts of God. But after he voluntarily
    common guilt. Nevertheless, neither of them excluded                  sinned, we who have descended from his stock were
    the liberty of man from the work of moral reformation.                plunged into necessity. But each one of us can by a
    Even Augustine himself, at an earlier period of his                   little consideration find that what I say is true. For
    life, defended human freedom in opposition to the                     today in our actions before we are implicated by any
    Manicheans.                                                           habit, we have free choice of doing anything or not


14                                                                 THESTANDAJiDBEARER


      doing it. But when by that liberty we have done some-                                   peace after he had long been tossed by the waves of
       thing and the pernicious sweetness and pleasure of that                                passion; he had tasted all the misery of sin, and then
       deed has taken hold upon the mind, by its own habit the                                all the glory of redemption, and this experience quali-
       mind is so implicated that afterwards it cannot conquer                                fied him to understand and set forth these antagonistic
       what by sinning it has fashioned for itself....Let us                                  powers far better than his opponent, and with a
      - take two men, a good and a bad. As long as he is good                                 strength and fulness surpassed only by the inspired
       he cannot yield good fruit. But that you may know that                                 apostle Paul.      Indeed, Augustine, of all the fathers,
       those two trees are so placed by the Lord, that free                                   most resembles, in experience and doctrine, this very
       choice may be there signified, that these two trees are                                apostle, and stands next to him in his influence upon
       not natures but our wills, He Himself says in the                                      the Reformers.
       gospel: "Either make the tree good, or make the tree                                      The Pelagian controversy turns upon the mighty
       evil." Who is it that can make nature? If therefore                                    antithesis of sin and grace. It embraces the whole
      -we are commanded to make a tree either good or evil,                                   cycle of  ddctrine respecting the ethical and religious
       it is ours to choose what we will,                                                     relation of man to God, and included, therefore, the
       Augustine, in this quotation, appears to teach the                                     doctrines of human freedom, of the primitive state, of
freedom of the will.                 Of course, there is surely a                             the  fall, of regeneration and conversion, of the eternal
certain freedom of the will. The will of the sinner is                                        purpose of redemption,.and of the nature and operation
certainly free in its sinning. The sinner is not com-                                         of the grace of God. It comes at last to the question,
pelled, forced to sin.              He -sins willingly, voluntarily.                          whether redemption is chiefly a work of God or of man;
                                                                                              whether man needs to be born anew, or merely im-
He sins because he -wills to sin. Man is not a stock                                          proved (And we may add to this that Augustine also
and block.       He is morally free. However, this is not                                     championed the cause of God's unchangeable and
the same as what we read in this quotation. We read,                                          sovereign counsel of predestination.  - H.V.). The soul
for example, the following: "But each one of us can by                                        of the Pelagian system is human freedom; the soul of
a little consideration find that what I say is true. . . ..If                                 the Augustinian is divine grace. Pelagius starts from
therefore we are commanded to make a tree either                                              the natural man, and works up, by his own exertions,
good or evil, it is ours to choose what we will." Later,                                      to righteousness and holiness. Augustine despairs of
in his controversy with Pelagius, Augustine taught the                                        the moral sufficiency of man, and derives the new life
absolute bondage of the will, that the will of the natural                                    and all power for good from the creative grace of God.
                                                                                              The one system proceeds from the liberty of choice to
man is wholly in the service of sin.                                                          legalistic piety; the other from the bondage of sin to
       At this time, we wish to quote from the "History                                       the evangelical liberty of the children of God. To the
of the Christian Church," by Philip  Schaff, in which                                         former Christ is merely a teacher and example, and
this author draws a comparison between Pelagius and                                           grace an external auxiliary to the development of the
Augustine.         W e   b e l i e v e   t h i s   q u o t a t i o n   t o   b e   v e r y    native powers of man; to the latter he is also Priest
interesting.       In Volume III, 786  f.f., he writes the                                    and King, and grace a creative principle, which begets,
following:                                                                                    nourishes, and consummates a new life. The former
                                                                                              makes regeneration and conversion a gradual process
          Pelagius and Augustine, in whom these opposite                                      of the strengthening and perfecting of human virtue;
      forms of monergism were embodied' are represented                                       the latter makes it a complete transformation,  inwhich
      men, even more strictly than Arius and Athanasius                                       the old disappears and all becomes new. The one loves
      before them, or Nestorius and Cyril after them. The                                     to admire the dignity and strength of man; the other
      one, a Briton, more than once convulsed the world by                                    loses itself in adoration of the glory and omnipotence
      his errors; the other, an African, more than once by                                    of God. The one flatters natural pride, the other is a
      his truths. They representedprinciples and tendencies,                                  gospel for penitent publicans and sinners. Pelagianism
      which, in various modifications, extend through the                                     begins with self-exaltation and ends with the sense of
      whole history of the church, and reappear in its suc-                                   self-deception and impotency. Augustianism casts man
       cessive epochs.        The Gottschalk controversy in the                               first into the dust of humiliation and despair, in order
      ninth century, the Reformation, the synergistic contro-                                 to lift him on the wings of grace to supernatural
      versy in the Lutheran church, the Arminian in the                                       strength, and leads him through the hell of  self-
       Reformed, and  the. Jansenistic in the Roman Catholic,                                 knowledge up to the heaven of the knowledge of God.
       only reproduce the same great contest in new and                                       The Pelagian system is clear, sober, and intelligible,
 - specific aspects.          Each system reflects the personal                               but superficial; the Augustinian sounds the depths of
       character and experience of its author. Pelagius was                                   knowledge and experience, and renders reverential
       an upright monk (Of course, one may well wonder how                                    homage to mystery.        @chaff  declares here that the
      `upright  a man really is, who taught heresy as Pelagius                                Pelagian system is clear and intelligible. This, of
       did.  - H.V.) who without inward conflicts won for him-                                course, is true only in a very  superfical  sense of the
       self, in the way of tranquil developments, a legal piety                               word. Really, all Pelagianism and Arminianism is not
      which knew neither the depths of sin nor the heights of                                 clear and intelligible. Nothing that detracts from the
      grace.    Augustine, on the other hand, passed through                                  glory of the alone sovereign God and the absolute
       sharp. convulsions and bitter conflicts, till he was                                   hopelessness and. impotency of the sinner is-clear and
       overtaken by the unmerited grace of God, and created                                   intelligible. It is not clear and understandable to teach
       anew to a life of faith and love.                       Pelagius had a                 that the sinner can will both, the good and the evil; and
       singularly clear, though contracted mind, and the                                      it is certainly not clear and intelligible to teach that
       earnest moral purpose, but no enthusiasm for lofty                                     the living God, almighty and irresistible, desires  to,
       ideals; and hence he found it not hard to  iealiie  his                                save all men and must be content with the salvation of
      lower standard of holiness,. Augustine had a bold and                                   but a few.       This presentation simply does not make
       soaring intellect, and glowing heart, and only found                                   sense.  - H.V.) The former is grounded upon the  philos-


                                                                             THE- STANDARD BEARER                                                                  i5


    ophy of common sense, which is indispensable for                                                        the `relation of divine grace to human freedom. in the
     ordinary life, but has not perception of divine things;                                                work of conversion, is not found in the denial of either
     the latter is grounded upon the philosophy of the                                                      factor; for this would either elevate man to the dignity
     regenerate reason, which breaks. through the limits                                                    of a self-redeemer, or degrade him to an irrational
     of nature, and penetrates the depths of divine  revkla-                                                machine, and would ultimately issue either in fatal-
     tion. The former starts with the proposition:  Intel-                                                  istic pantheism or in atheism; but it must be sought in
     lectus  pvacecdit   fidem  (intellect precedes faith  - H.V.);                                         such a reconciliation of the two factors as gives full
     the latter with the opposite maxim:  Fides  jwaecedit                                                  weight both to the sovereignty of God and to the
     intellectum. Both make use of the Scriptures; the one,                                                 responsibility of man, yet assigns a preeminence to the
     however, conforming them to reason, the other sub-                                                     divine agency corresponding to the infinite exaltation
    jecting reason to them. Pelagianism has an unmis-                                                       of the Creator and Redeemer above the sinfulcreature.
    takable affinity with rationalism, and supplies its
    practical side.                To the natural will of the former                                        To the above we wish `to add the following. It is
    system corresponds the natural reason of the latter;                                                 well to lay full emphasis upon both truths, the  sover-
     and as the natural will, according to Pelagianism, is                                               einty of God and the responsibility of man. But we
     competent to good, so is the natural reason, according                                              must not fail to lay full emphasis upon the sovereignty
    to rationalism, competent to the knowledge of the                                                    of God. And we must never explain the responsibility
    truth.       All rationalists are Pelagian in their anthro-                                          of man in such a way as to detract from the Scriptural
    pology (the doctrine of man,  - H.V.); but Pelagius and                                              truth of God's absolute sovereignty. This responsibil-
    Coelestius (a disciple of Pelagius, who in many ways                                                 ity of man can never mean that the sinner is re-
    outshone his teacher,  - H.V.) were not consistent, and
    declared their agreement with the traditional orthodoxy                                              sponsible in the sense that he can will the good and the
    in all other doctrines, though without entering into                                                 evil.    He is surely responsible, accountable for all his
    their deeper meaning and connection.                                    Even divine                  actions, but it must always be understood that he is
    mysteries may be believed in a purely external me-                                                   conceived and  born dead in sins and in trespasses. A
    chanical way, by inheritance from the past, as the history                                           church has never departed from the truth because it
    of theology, especially in the East, aboundantly proves.                                             had laid full and proper emphasis upon the truth that
          The true  solutioi;-df-~~i;e~~~~~`d;iC-question  respecting                                    God is God, and He alone.



      ALL AROUND US-


                           A Summer of Violence

                                                                                        Evidence of Apostasy

                                                                                      by  Pyof.  H.  Hank0


      For many cities in the United States, the summer                                                   of this rioting. Surely, only in the hopes of finding the
was long and hot.                        Looting, hatred, arson, sniping,                                cause could there be hope of a solution to a most
and death were the order of the day. Negroes rose                                                        serious problem confronting the nation. Some claimed
in ghetto after ghetto to challenge police and armed                                                     that the cause was the frustrated hopes of Negroes
troops sent in to restore order.                                  Perhaps the worst who had been promised too much and had received
of the rioting occurred in Newark and Detroit where                                                      too little with too much delay. Others looked at the
at least 68 people were killed, thousands injured and                                                    terrible poverty characteristic of the ghettos and the
property damage rose to nearly one-half billion                                                          desperation born of poverty as the chief cause. Yet'
dollars.              But rioting ranged across the country                                              again the `blame was laid to outside agitation by the
breaking out in at least fifty cities including  Plain-                                                  Stokley  Carmichaels  and the H. Rap Browns. And
field and Engelwood, Minneapolis, Grand Rapids,                                                          some thought they found evidence of organized  con:
Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Cambridge, New York,                                                        spiracy and strategic planning behind the outbreaks of
Erie, Phoenix, and Cincinnati. It was a strange and                                                      violence.
f r i g h t e n i n g   e x p e r i e n c e   t o   s e e ,   i n   t h i s   f a i r   c i t y   o f        It is entirely possible, of course, that all these
Grand Rapids, armed patrol cares traveling in groups                                                     things (and other factors as well) entered in to make
of three and four race up and down the streets with                                                      this the worst summer of violence in this country
rifles at ready to bring, if possible, some measure                                                      since the days of the Civil War.             But the fact of
of peace.                                                                                                the matter is that we have not looked far enough if
      Naturally, the country looked around for the cause                                                 we are content with these explanations.            There is


16                                           THE STANDARD BEARER

one factor which deserves chief emphasis but which             monetary and material rewards besides.
is scarcely, if at all; mentioned either in the secular           Another example comes to mind. There has re-
or the religious press. This factor is the increasing          cently been formed an organization busy with what the
lawlessness of our times.                                      members call "Project Equality." To this organiza-
      There are two facets to this matter, both of             tion belong leading churchmen, including many Pres-
which are related to ea h other.         On the one hand,      byterians, but chiefly under the direction of the Na-
there can be no doubt about it but that lawlessness            tional Council of Churches. The aim of this organiza-
is rapidly increasing and is becoming. a problem of            tion is to force various companies to hire what the
major proportions.     Crime is yearly on the upswing.         organization considers a proper proportion of negroes
According to  Christianity   Today,   United States Court      in relation to whites without any consideration of skills
of Appeals Judge Warren E. Burger reported that                and reliability.     Last spring Eastman Kodak was
`"people murder others in this country at the rate of          picketed, boycotted, and lambasted in the ecclesiastical
more than one for every hour of the day. There are             press because some churchmen were of the considered
more than 140 crimes of theft every hour; assault              opinion that this company was not hiring morenegroes.
and violence and rape grow comparably." The ter-               A great deal of force and coercion were brought to
rible part of it is that a large amount of real crime          bear against the company, and the entire project was
is committed by persons under twenty years of age  -           spearheaded by the church. Laws were violated, vio-
a fact full of ominous implications for the future. The        lence resulted, but it was all in the name of religion.
whole civil rights movement also has been written in              When those who are supposed to be upholding the
the language of civil disobedience.        The generally       principles of authority and obedience turn their backs
accepted theory is that one may refuse to obey any law         upon their responsibilities and openly advocate dis-
which he chooses to disobey as long as his reasons for         obedience, what, pray tell, can this nation expect? Is
doing so are somehow virtuous - although no one makes          it strange that race riots result? Is it so difficult to
clear who is to decide when a man's conduct is                 understand destruction of property, looting, arson,
virtuous. The whole history of the labor movement is           sniping and all the other horrors of racial violence
a history written in blood and resounding with threats,        breaking out in our cities when lawlessness, as a fog,
boycotts strikes, picketing and coercion.                      pervades the very atmosphere of our commonwealth?
      Yet this is not the chief point that needs to be         If the country is staggering in fear at what the next
made.     There has always been violence in the world.         year might bring, it had better face up to the fact that
And, while it is true that violence is increasing,             the government and the church itself bear a great
nevertheless an important factor enters in which               measure of responsibility. The church and state must
makes the age we now live in unique. This is that              not wring their collective hands in alarm when these
those who are responsible for maintaining the prin-            institutions themselves have been preaching that which
ciples of authority and obedience have themselves              causes such startling outbreaks of violence. Sow the
abdicated and have chosen rather to encourage law-             wind, and there is no choice but to reap the whirlwind.
lessness.     It is common knowledge that for many                No doubt, in all this, the child of God must see also
years the laws of the land have been stacked in                a clear sign of the return of Christ. Christ, in Matt-
favor of labor, legalizing lawless practices of the            hew 24, speaks of lawlessness as being an indication
labor unions.     The same is really true of the civil         of His speedy return. We must expect therefore, that
rights movement.        Gradually the governments at           in a world under the judgment of God, this will only
national, state and local levels have closed their             increase.
eyes to civil disobedience and have condoned resist-
ance to law and order as a legitimate means of attain-         EVIDENCES OF APOSTASY
ing the goal of equal rights. And, to top it all off, the         There is no one who has any knowledge and love for
church has stuck her nose into the matter and openly           the truth of Scripture who would dispute the fact that
taken a position favoring civil disobedience as  aproper       the church is fast departing from the faith. The evi-
method of gaining a desired end. Many denominations            dences of it are too numerous to mention, much less
(including even the Reformed Church of America) and            keep up with. The  Standard  Beaver   has consistently
ecumenical organizations (such as the National Council         brought to the attention of our readers the apostasy
of Churches) have gone on record as being on the side          in denominations of Reformed persuasion. But this
of those who resist and violate the law of the land.           apostasy goes on wherever one turns. Some unusually
Breaking the law is preached from the pulpits. Rev-            striking examples are referred to below  - examples
olution as a legitimate weapon in the social battles of        taken almost at random.
the time is openly advocated by church men. A whole               -In a recent issue of the  Pyesbytevian   Joumal
generation is being taught to sneer at authority, to           mention was made of a change of attitude towards the
choose for itself what laws it will obey and what laws         conversion of the Jews. Scripture teaches, of course,
it will break. In the ghettos a generation, witnessing         that the salvation of the Jews as well as the Gentiles is
the riots of their elders, are being driven to the con-        in Christ. But this view is evidently being challenged.
clusion that it pays to rebel, to burn, to shoot, to steal.    At a session of the 1967 annual convention of the
For, rather than being punished, the result is a wave          International Association of Conservative Rabbis, this
of pity and concern brings them not only the many things       question was discussed. A Roman Catholic made the
they' have stolen, but freedom from punishment and             following remark:


                                                  THE' STANDARD BEARER                                                        i7


         I share the view of those Catholic scholars who        This organization, of which one-third have doubts about
   think that an effort to convert Jews to Christianity is      the existence of God and the divinity of Christ and of
   not permissible in the light of'sound theology.              which almost two-thirds have doubts about the miracles
   A representative of the National Council of Churches         of Scripture, is the leading voice of Protestantism in
said:                                                           this country.
                                                                   -The Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) has, with
         How can any Christian have the unutterable gall to     the possible exception of the Wisconsin Synod, been
   invite a Jew to accept what had been the cruelest kind
   of hell tq him and his forebears throughout all these        considered one of the most conservative church bodies
   years? When we add to this the fact that conversion          in the country  - maintaining the infallibility of Scrip-
   itself has brought to the Jew far more misery than           ture, the truth of creation and the other fundamentals
   joy, how can we possibly be so callous and unthinking?       of the Christian faith. There has beenstrong suspicion
                                                                among some that this is no longer the case. An inde-
   This is a far cry from Peter's words: "Neither is            pendent paper,  Lutheva;n   News,  has been pointing out
there salvation in any other: for there is none other           with regularity the liberal inroads that have been
name under heaven given among men, whereby wemust               made in the church. But always those in positions of
be saved." Acts  4:12.                                          leadership have denied the charges. But last summer's
   - The trial of Bishop James Pike is evidently about          convention proved the critics right. We quote, in part,
to come to an end, favorable to the heretical bishop. Last      from  Newsweek.
October Pike was accused correctly of denying such                    The old environment was the clannish atmosphere
fundamental beliefs as the doctrines of the trinity and            of small Midwestern towns where, until a generation
the virgin birth. The House of Bishops of the Episcopal            ago, most Missouri Synod Lutherans spoke in the ac-
Church branded Pike's views as irresponsible, and                  cents of their European ancestors, prayed with the
Pike demanded a heresy trial to treat his case. The                fervor of German Pietists, defended to the comma
presiding bishop, fearing a heresy trial and the publicity         every jot of the traditional Lutheran confessions and
it would bring to the church appointed a committee of              looked upon other Christians  - including other Luther-
three bishops, five theologians, two social scientists             ans - as less than full citizens in God's kingdom. Even
and a journalist to exami= whether it was still possible           now, the church remains aloof from the National Council
to be a heretic in this modern age. This committee                 of Churches and maintains only' vague relations with
has recently reported. Some quotes from the report:                its confessional kin in the Lutheran Church of America
                                                                   and the American Lutheran Church.
         Any risks the church may run by fostering a climate          But in the new religious climate created by the
   of genuine freedom are minor in comparison to the               ecumeni`cal  and social-action movements, Missouri
   dangers it will surely encounter from any attempts at           Synod Lutherans last week found themselves moving
   suppression, censorship or thought control. The church          with the times. On the convention floor, moderates
   should not be, and does not want to be, easily betrayed         turned back resolutions from Biblical fundamentalists
   into dealing with honest exploration and experiment as          who sought to have the Synod affirm that "God created
   if they were sins.                                              the world in six days of 24 hours each" and recognize
                                                                   the story of Jonah's rescue from the belly of a whale
   The committee made a distinction between "hard-                 as a historical fact. They also gained overwhelming
ened positions which deserve to be called errors" and              approval of a practical open-housing program under
"adventurous       answers which may be mistaken."                 which funds secured from individual members and
Pike's views were included in the latter group. But                congregations will be used to support agencies - pos-
only the former group should warrant heresy trials.                sibly including secular civil-rights,groups  - promoting
Even then, the committee proposed alterations in the               integrated housing . . . .
machinery of the church which, would make it as diffi-                At the end of the eight-day convention, thedelegates
cult as possible to call such a trial. Pike has agreed             found that they had brought their church into closer
to withdraw his request for a heresy  trialif this report          contact with other faiths -the secular society - than
                                                                   many had imagined.       Though they put off till 1969 a
which completely exonerates him will be accepted by                decision to interchange pulpits with the American Lu-
the General Convention.                                            theran Church, they did encourage local pastors to enter
   - At the assembly of the National Council of                    into "sincere dialogue" with Roman Catholics. And
Churches meeting in Miami last December a poll was                 in discussing the war in Vietnam, the Synod shifted i
taken of the 223 voting delegates concerning their                 from militant support of Administration policies to a
religious beliefs. The following results (taken from               recognition that Vietnam. dissenters have an equal
Christianity   Today)   were published.                            right to be heard in the church . . . .
                               Doubts No Doubts No answer
"I know that God                                                            ATTENTION: OFFICE BEARERS
   really exists"               33%        66%         1%       There will be an Office Bearers Conference, D.V.,
"Jesus is the Divine                                            October 3, 1967, at 8:00 P.M., to be held at Southeast
   Son of God"                  36%        63%         1%       Protestant Reformed Church. All present and former
"There is a  life                                               officer bearers are invited to attend.
   beyond death"                31%        66%         3%          Our speaker, Prof.  H. C. Hoeksema, will speak on
"Miracles actually                                              the subject "Consistorial Supervision of Catechism
   happened just as the                                         Instruction."
   Bible says they did"         62%        25%        13%                                 Arnold Dykstra, Sec'y.


i8                                                THE STANDARD BEARER


A  CLQUD.   OF  WITNESSES-

                      David  W-ith The Philistines
                                                     by  Rev.  B.  Woudenbevg


                    And  David  said  in  his  heart,  I  shall  now  perish   one  day  by  the  handofSau1:   theve
                 is  nothing   better  fov me than that I should speedily escape into the land of  the Phil-
                 istines;  and Saul  shall  despair   of me,  to  seek  me  any  move in  any coast  of  Israel:
                 so  shall I escape out  of his hand.

                    And  David  arose  and  he  passed  ovey  with  the  six  hundyed  men  that  weye  with
                 him  unto  Achish,  the  son  of  Maoch,  king  of  Gath.                       I  Samuel  279, 2

      One could wish that the spiritual life of God's chil-          earth and the rigor of hasty mountainous travel were
dren always moved from strength to strength. Sadly,                  not the things for a woman; and soon he began to
it is not so. In- fact, it seems only too often that the             search for some alternative.
great peaks of spiritual attainment are followed by                      It was here that the trouble came in. David had
falls into the dark valleys of most wretched sin. It                made up his mind what he wanted to do. For this
was after Noah had been saved by the flood, not before,              reason he avoided the one real answer which he had to
that he yielded to the temptations of drunkenness. It                all of his problems  - consulting with God through the
was. after Peter's great confession, immediately, that               ephod of Abiathar the priest. But David had made up
Jesus. had to turn and rebuke him for advancing the                 his mind what the best answer to his problem would be,
cause of Satan. And so it was with David. Two of the                 and he knew full well that it would not be acceptable to
most beautiful moments in his life were when he                      God. Thus he merely avoided presenting his problem
returned good to Saul for evil by sparing his life when             to God, for he had already said in his heart, "I shall
he could have as well have plunged a dagger into his                now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing
heart. To this day we can only look back and marvel                 better for me than that I should speedily escape into the
at. his restraint and dedication to his God. And yet,               land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to
those moments too were followed by one of those sad                 seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I
lapses into unbelief.                                                escape out of his hand." Once again David had decided
      It was not due to any new and greatly impending               to seek his peace in the land of the enemy.
danger that threatened David's life; it was rather the                   At first, as is so often the case with human wisdom,
gradual wearing of time under the never relenting                   it appeared to David that his decision was really quite
tension of always having to be on the alert. Saul had               wise.       He came t o Achish, king of Gath, one of the
changed his tactics. No longer did he go himself out                 smaller `enters of life in the land of the Philistines,
in the hills to try to ensnare David with a large de-                and was received with a most hearty welcome. Achish
ployment of troops.         Three times he had tried that,           after all knew of David's reputation as a warrior, and
and the last two times it had only brought him to the               what could be more enhancing to him than to have this
extreme embarassment of having to admit himself                      same David living in his city under the care of his
wrong and David right. Thus it was that he determined               protection.     And besides, having David's six hundred
to stay himself at home while sending out small                     trained men added to his own force, increased his own
companies of troops to keep the pressure on David and               power greatly. Willingly he received David into his
look for an opportunity to take David's life. It was the             city giving both him and his men place to stay and pro-
most effective thing he could have done; for, while                 visions.
David was always quite ready and willing to plunge into                  It all seemed to be quite a comfortable arrange-
the center of a great battle, this unrelenting pressure              ment, except that soon David discovered something he
of constantly having to be on the alert finally began to             had not anticipated.        These Philistines were heathen
tell on .him. Particularly was this true because of the              people, who commonly filled their city and its streets
added responsibilities he had just taken upon himself.               withal1 kinds of idolatry, adultery, revelry and wicked-
Formerly he had been in the field as a single man, his               ness.      Living there in the midst of it brought out a
first wife  Michal  having remained by her father's                  deep feeling of revulsion within him; he knew it was a
palace; but now he had taken to himself two more                     vexation of soul to the morally sensitive among his
wives who lived with him where he was. It had seemed                 men, while it threatened the moral lives of those who
at first to be a good thing for him to have one wife,                were weaker. But what could he do? He was a guest
and then two, to take care of his needs; but it was not              in the city by his own choice, and surely this gave him
long before he discovered that life in the caves of the              no right to rebuke or advise those who were his hosts.


                                               THE-STANDARD  BEilRER                                                   19
                                                                                                          `_ .

All he could do was stand there in dumb silence while          difficult for them to conclude that what they were .doing
the wickedness of Satan danced its wild dance around           was really a good thing. These nations were the  tra-'
him.                                                           ditional enemies of Israel, and to destroy them was
   It was not long before David knew full well that this       sort of like helping the people of God. The only thing
situation could not be allowed to continue; and yet,           was that they had to be careful, for, although these
having tasted the ease of this city living, he was not         nations were hostile to Israel, they were considered
ready to return to the hills of Judah either. But David's      to be the friends of the Philistines. If ever the word
mind was agile, and it wasn't long before he came up           should get around as to what they were doing, it would
with what seemed to be a solution to this problem too.         not look good for him, and it would reflect most un-
He went to Achish and said, "If I have found grace in          favorably upon the hospitality of his host Achish. It
thine eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the       forced them into the expediency of seeing to it that no
country, that I may dwell there: for why should thy            one ever learned who was raiding these southern na-
servant dwell in the royal city with thee?"                    tions; and the only way of doing this was to kill every
   Once again this was a plan which seemed to have             last person, men, women, and children, of every last
much to commend itself. Also Achish saw by this time           city they entered. It was not an easy thing for a man
that the present arrangement was not entirely ideal.           of David's sensitivity  - so cold-bloodily cruel  -  but.
Having a man of David's reputation with a trained force        what else was there to do? And did it matter as long
stronger than his own dwelling in his royal city was apt       as they were the enemies of the people of God?
to leave the impression with many that he was more a              Slowly David was slipping deeper and deeper into
forced captive than a willing host. And  .besides,  just       the. morass of spiritual isolation.       It began at that
feeding a force of this size was almost more than the          moment when he ignored the opportunity and respon-
resources of his people could supply. It clearly would         sibility which was his, to share his problems with his
be better if David and his men could dwell in some             God, and instead went on to follow the way of his own
lesser city of his territory where they would have to          choosing.      It only led him farther and farther away
provide for their own needs. And there were cities             from His God and deeper and deeper into situations
suited to this function available too. There were a            and practices which he never would have considered
number of them on the border between Israel and Phil-          before.      And it had not stopped yet, for sin ever leads
istia whose ownership shifted back and forth between           to more sin until it is stopped by the grace of God.
the two nations according to the prevailing balance of            It was the accepted practice of that day that,
power.      The people who remained living in them were        whenever a raiding party returned with its plunder, a
only of the poorest kind who hardly seemed to belong           sizable part of what they had taken should be shared
to either nation and who were quite adaptable to both.         with their king. So it was to be expected that David,
Into one of them David and his men could go with a             since he had placed himself under the dominion of
minimum amount of trouble, and still they would be             Achish, should share his considerable booty with
under his dominion.                                            Achish too. Neither was David hesitant to do this, for -
   Thus it was that  Ziklag was chosen. David and his          he was fully appreciative of the kindness Achish had
men moved into it and very literally took over the town.       showed him.        But always this presented a problem.
It left them free to live the kind of life they wanted         Each time David came to Achish with his share of the
while remaining safe from Saul under the protection of         plunder Achish was inclined to ask, "Whither have ye
the prevailing Philistine borders. Only one problem            made a road to day?" It was a natural enough question,
remained, and that was the obtaining of sufficient pro-        especially since David's efforts always brought back
visions.     Even here, though, the solution was not hard      such sizable returns. The thing was that David simply
to come by. There was a time honored means in that             could not answer the question honestly because those
day by which any strong fighting force might obtain            whom he had destroyed were the Philistines' friends.
its livelihood-that was, by raiding and plundering             Thus David's answer would be, "Against the south of
nearby communities. Always before David had shied              Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and
away from this kind of activity. It had seemed to be           against the south of the Kenites." In fact so desirous
too much like stealing; and, living as they had in             wws David to give his claim a small element of truth
Israelitish territory, he did not feel free to harm his        that each day before making any attack upon the friends
own people.       He had always preferred to earn their        of the Philistines, he would first march his men into,
upkeep by helping his brethren and protecting them             and through one of these territories of Israel or their
from the plundering of others. But now he was living           friends and then turn to the Geshurites, and the
in Philistia.     He could not go back to help his own         Gezrites, and the Amalekites to take his plunder. Thus
people; and he  .had no heart for rendering the same           his road did pass where he claimed even though it was
service to these heathen.     After all, would it really be    beyond this that he did his harm.
so bad if his men would go out and obtain their upkeep            With Achish it worked wonderfully. Trusting the
in the same way every other fighting force did if only         truthfulness of David, he was quite happywiththe whole
tbey were careful not to harm God's people?                    situation and said to himself, "He hath made his people
   There seemed to be no other answer; and soon                Israel utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my
David's men were spreading out in daily raids upon the         servant for ever." David's life had become a ruse, a
nations just over the southern borders, the Geshurites,        pretense, a living lie, for he had departed far from
and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites. It wasn't even           communion with his God.


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER




         THE CHURCH AT WORSHIP-


                                           Vows and Charges

                                                   by  Rev.  G.  Vanden   Berg

      We conclude our discussion of the Form for the              should become remiss in your duty, will you submit
   Ordination of Elders and Deacons by directing attention        to the admonition of the church?
   yet to the vows which the office-bearers are required              Each of these questions contains matters that are
   to take and the subsequent charge that is given to them        worthy of a separate discussion. There are topics
   and also to the entire congregation.                           here that could be beneficially treated in an  office-
      The speaking of vows is always a very grave and             bearer's conference.       For example: What constitutes
   serious matter. This may indeed be emphasized, and             the "Calling"? What is the "Word of God?" A Cir-
   we do well to keep it in mind especially with a view to        cumscription of the Office of Elders! Of Deacons!
   other vows as well. We refer particularly to those             The Exemplary Life of the Office-bearer of the Church.
   spoken in connection with the baptism of children,                 Time and space do not allow for a discussion of
   confession of faith, marriage, etc. There is a danger          these here; but it must be understood that before this
   of doing these things without a conscious realization          vow can be intelligently spoken, the candidate for the
   of their seriousness. Vows thus spoken are soon for-           office must have a clear understanding of that which is
   gotten and easily broken, resulting in the most tragic         involved in these questions.       At that moment one will
   spiritual consequences. Examples of this may be found          also realize his own inability to fulfill this vow, readily
   in every congregation, and the relationship between the        confess this, and look to God for all his help and
   neglect of vows and the spiritual impoverishment of            strength.       This vow must be spoken not in pride or on
   the church is not difficult to see. We must never do           the basis of one's natural ability but in the humble
   these things out of custom or superstition, but always         attitude that God, Who calls, also provides the way and
   in the conscious awareness of their most profound              the means to realize the calling. For this reason, when
   significance.                                                  the affirmative answer is given, the minister of the
      The reason for this lies in the fact that the Word of       Word pronounces the divine benediction: "The Al-
   God itself places a very strong emphasis upon the              mighty God and Father, replenish you all with His
   sacredness of vows. Scripture condemns the rash vow,           grace, that you may faithfully and fruitfully discharge
   and God Himself impresses upon us that fact that we            your respective offices. Amen."
   cannot break our vows with impunity. In Deuteronomy                The nature of this benediction is not that it express-
   23:21 we read, "When thou shalt vow a vow unto the             es a mere wish or desire of the minister or congrega-
   Lord thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the          tion. It certainly does that, but there is much more.
   Lord thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would      It must be construed in the same manner as we under-
   be sin in thee." Again, in Ecclesiastes  5:4 it is said,       stand the apostolic benedictions that are used in our
   "`When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it;        worship services. They are pronouncements of God
   for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou          Himself upon His Church through which He bestows
   hast vowed. Better it is that thou shouldest not vow,          His grace, mercy and peace. So here, God, through
   than that thou shouldest vow and not pay."                     the office of the ministry of His Word in the church,
      The vows which elders and deacons are required to           graces the men whom He has chosen to office and
   take `upon their ordination to office consists of their        endows them with the qualifying gifts of His Spirit.
   answering affirmatively t 0 four important questions.          This signifies that God, through them, will perform
   (The Form presents a threefold vow, but the third part         His own work in and upon His church. In that light
- Xeally contains two separate questions.) These questions        we may say with the Psalmist: "The work of our hands,
   we will not quote here in their entirety but offer the         establish Thou it."
   following paraphrase.                                              The rest of this ordination form is devoted to
      1. Are you conscious that you are called of God             exhorting those who have been ordained in the offices
   Himself unto your holy office in His church?                   and also the entire congregation. These exhortations
      2. Do you believe the Bible is the only Word of God,        are necessary because as long as the church is in the
   and will you reject everything that is contrary to the         present world, sin also characterizes her walk and
   Holy Scriptures?                                               life.    She has not yet attained unto the perfection that
      3. Will you, to the best of your ability, carry out         is promised. The church must strive daily with the
   the functions of your office as described in the Form          infirmities, and `weaknesses of the flesh. Always the
   of Ordination?                                                 things she would not, she does; and the things she
      4. Do you promise to lead a godly life, and, if you         would, she fails to do. There is need constantly to  re-


                                              THESTANDARDBEARER                                                          21


mind her of her calling and enjoin her to more stead-          impose upon you the philosophies of men, you are to
fastness.      It is as was stated to me recently by one of    receive him.        Not at all !    Scripture tells us not to
the members of the church at the conclusion of the             receive such in our homes but to reject them. But we
worship service. Commenting on the sermon, he said,            are speaking of  faithful  servants who faithfully bring
"It isn't that we do not know these things, nor that we        you the Word of God and faithfully minister to you
do not experience them; but we tend always to forget.          Christ's mercy. Do not rebel against their service!
We need to be told over and over again. We have so             Do not reject them, for in doing so you are rejecting
little of the new obedience."         With respect to the      God !
matter at hand, we are so inclined to go through the                  The congregation is further enjoined specifically to
motions of installing elders and deacons and then so           count the elders that rule well worthy of double honor
quickly forget the significance of this most solemn rite       and to submit to their inspection and government. This
in the church.       Exhortations cannot be repeated too       must be done willingly, not under coercion. Remember
often. They constitute an essential part of the life of        those that have the rule over you that they watch over
the church.                                                    your souls as those that must give account. Show them
   Our purpose at present is not to discuss the content        always a right spiritual attitude. Don't try to evade
of these exhortations in detail. Much of it-has already        them as though their inspection of you is "none of their
been taken care of in connection with the Form of              business." It is ! They must make it their business
Ordination itself. These admonitions only direct our           for your sakes!
attention to our calling of God with respect to the                   Likewise the congregation must provide the deacons
offices of His Church.                                         with good means, so that they may be able to carry out
   Concerning the elders then it is to be noted that they      their duties. The rich are to be charitable -not lovers
are enjoined to "be diligent in the government of the          of money but lovers of saints. They are to contribute
Church, be watchmen over the house and city of God,            liberally of the riches God has given them. And the
be faithful to admonish and to caution everyone against        poor must be thankful and respectful toward those
his ruin, take heed that purity of doctrine and godliness      that assist them. They must not murmur. They must
of life be maintained in the Church." Did someone say          be poor in spirit, for of such is the Kingdom of Heav-
that the elders have nothing to do? Do we hear some-           en.
times that the work of the elders is easy? Those who                  Altogether Christ must be followed for the food of
say such things do not know what they are talking about.       the soul. Let all sin and iniquity be put away, and let
Even apart from the tremendous responsibility involved         each walk honestly in the calling wherewith God has
in this work, the labor itself elicits many tears; but         called him. Doing this we shall receive the reward of
they who are graced to be diligent and faithful in it          righteousness, the crown that fadeth not away.
have the confidence that in the harvest time they shall
come again with joy. Great is their reward in heaven.                          THE CONCLUDING PRAYER
   The deacons are also admonished to diligence.                      The motivation of this prayer is expressed in the
This virtue they must exercise both with respect to the        statement: "But since we are unable of ourselves, let
collection of the alms and in the distribution of the          us call upon the name of the Lord." The prayer itself,
same.        They are called to "assist the oppressed,         therefore, is not a general congregational prayer but
provide for the true widows and orphans, and show              is a specific prayer which touches upon the immediate
liberality unto all men, but especially to the household       concern of the church in this matter of ordaining men to
of faith." Here, too, the spiritual character of this          the offices. It contains various petitions for the elders
office is emphasized: for the office of the deacon is a        and their needs, the deacons and their needs, and the
counterpart to that of the elder. The former must              congregation and its needs.         Realizing that all these
reflect His High-priestly function even as the latter          needs God alone is able to provide, and confidently
emulates His Sovereign Kingship.                               trusting that He Who promised never to forsake or to
   Thus both elders and deacons, exercising faithful-          leave His church will also provide, the church is led in
ness and being good examples unto all the people as            prayer to the throne of grace to obtain these things.
they hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience,              Finally, the ultimate purpose of the prayer is not
will purchase to themselves a good degree, and great           man, the church, our needs.            All these things are
boldness in the faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Into          subordinate to the one glorious objective which is also
His joy they enter, not simply in the sense of futuristic      expressed in the prayer, namely, "that Thy holy name
promise, but now as they labor in His cause in the             may thereby be magnified, and the kingdom of Thy Son
consciousness of their high calling.                           Jesus Christ, enlarged." Of Him, and by Him, and
   The congregation too must be exhorted. It is called         through Him are all things; to Whom be glory forever.
to "receive these men as servants of God." We may              In His Name then the prayer is concluded with the well-
pause momentarily here. Weigh these words carefully!           known words of the prayer Jesus taught us to pray:
Do you receive the men whom God has appointed in His           "Our Father . . . . etc."
Church to the offices as His servants? Do you re-                     With this we conclude for the present our discussion
ceive from them the message they may have to bring             of the Forms of Ordination. We hope, D.V., to discuss
to you as it is God's? Often this is not done, and then        some other facets of our liturgy with which perhaps
tragic consequences result.        No, we do not say that      most of us are not as familiar. May this study enhance
when one who purports to be a servant of God seeks to          the beauty of our worship and enrich our entire life.


22                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER

                                                                                                              Reformed Dogmatics  by  HermanHoek-
WHAT  OTHER$  iHlNK~                                                                                          sema. Grand Rapids,  Mich.; Reformed
                                                                                                              Free Publishing Association, 1966.872
                   I t   h a s   been'  s e v e r a l   m o n t h s   s i n c e    "Reformed                  pp., $14.95. Reviewed by James Daane.
              Dogmatics" came from the press, and various book
              reviews are beginning to make their appearance in                                                 This is Herman Hoeksema's greatest
                                                                                                              book, and he did not live to see it-
              magazines to which review copies were sent. Because                                             published.
              the readers of the  Stundavd   Beavev,  we  feel, have a                                          Reformed Dogmatics  is the deposit
              special interest in  this publication, we thought it would                                      of the mature thinking of an authentic
              be interesting and perhaps enlightening to publish these                                        theologian; it displays a breadth of
              r e v i e w s   i n   o u r   m a g a z i n e .     Two reviews, one from                       thought and a richness of insight and
              Christianity   Today   and one from the  Refovmed   Joumzal,                                    originality little known to those who
           a p p e a r   b e l o w .        These reviews will appear without                                 knew the author only in terms of that
               comment and purely for the information of our readers.                                         theological controversy which created
              Not only is it usual policy not toeditorialize about book                                       his public image but overshadowed his
               reviews, but we also feel that "Reformed Dogmatics"                                            theological stature.
                                                                                                                Part I is a brief introduction to
               speaks for itself.                                                                             Dogmatics; in it Hoeksema describes
      The following review appeared in                           (he is a thoroughgoingsupralapsarian),       the Name, Definition, Method, System,
Christianity Today (June 23, 1967):                              declaring that reprobation is equally        and Principles of Dogmatics.  InHoek-
                                                                 ultimate with election, that God wills
         Depravity That Is Total*                                                                             sema's theology, the method is the
                                                                 both, that God's attitude toward the rep-
Reformed Dogmatics, by  HermanHoek-                                                                           thing to watch. He rejects the biblical
                                                                 robate has never been anything other
sema (Reformed Free Publishing Asso-                                                                          theological method in strong language,
                                                                 than hatred, and that whatever he
ciation, 1966, 917 pp.,  $14.95),  is re-                                                                     asserting that it "despises the work
                                                                 brings into the life of the reprobate is
viewed by M. Eugene Osterhaven, pro-                                                                          of the church in the past and wholly
                                                                 brought there for the damnation of that
fessor of systematic theology, Western                                                                        ignores or damns the guidance of the
                                                                 person. This involved concatenation of
Theological Seminary, Holland, Michi-                                                                         Holy Spirit." Biblical theology is
                                                                 ideas is not the only evidence of
gan.                                                                                                          "really a condemnation of dogmatics
                                                                 speculation in Hoeksema's thinking;          as such," and, insofar as it does not
      Herman Hoeksema was undoubtedly                            one finds considerable amounts of it         want to. be dogmatics, "it simply de-
one of the most unusual men in the                               here and there. This is, of course,          ceives itself."         Another objection,
American church. Ahighlygiftedpulpit                             inevitable in any work of theological        according to Hoeksema, is that biblical
orator and theologian of the Dutch Re-                           depth.    The question concerns the          theology ignores the fact that revela-
formed tradition, he left the Christian                          kind of speculation and its limits.          tion in Scripture is "woven into the
Reformed Church in the mid-twenties                                Having pointed out what I see to be        texture of the earthly and historical."
over the doctrine of commongrace. He                             the weakness in Hoeksema's system,           Here Hoeksema's theological method-
describes that doctrine in this way:                             I will go on to say that there is a great    ology betrays an element of rational-
        There is a grace, an operation of                        deal of solid theology, and good the-        ism; he regards revelation as some-
      the Holy Spirit, whereby sin was re-                       ology, in this book. The authors he          thing that can be separated from the
      strained in man's heart and mind, as                       leans upon are almost entirely a few         earthly and historical. On his view, the
      well as in the community, and in the                       select persons within the Dutch Re-          earthly and historical are not an
      power of which the natural man                             formed tradition. Why should a man of        essential ingredient of the revealed
      could  .accomplish  all these good                         his ability quote  Anselm via Kuyper,        truth of Scripture.        Revealed truth,
      things. Of himself man could cer-                          except possibly because of the pres-         therefore, must be removed from the
      tainly do no good; he was totally                          sure of time? Hoeksema believes in a         texture of the earthly-historical since
      depraved.     But all men receive a                        "system of truth" that is to  beelabor-      "the believer's mind can  appropriat;
      certain grace; and through this grace                      ated; rejects the proofs for God along       the truth of Scripture only in the way of
      man is not regenerated: his heart                          with the idea of the immortality of the      logical contemplation." Here a  deep-
      remains always evil. But the evil                          soul, the covenant of works, and cer-        seated rationalistic motif comes to the
      operation of his heart-was restrained.                     tain traditional ways of handling topics     surface, one which fails to recognize
      Yes, what is more, he is somewhat                          in Reformed dogmatics; and always            that Christian truth would not be true
      changed to the good, so that in tem-                       argues his own position with ability.        if it had not happened. Only an eternal
      poral, natural, and civil things he                          The extensive use of untranslated          truth that is non-historical can be ap-
      could do good before God.                                  Latin and Dutch is lamentable, unless        propriated by the mind of men "only
Hoeksema would have none of this                                 the volume is intended for a narrow          in the way of logical contemplation."
weakening of the doctrine of sin, as he                          range of readers. The considerable             Hoeksema was           a supralapsarian
saw it, and held for a doctrine of total                         use of the biblical languages is com-        "without reservation." His defense is
depravity that was understood verti-                             mendable. Those who knew the author          interesting.    He admits that all the
 cally (that the natural man is only evil,                       are aware of his linguistic facility,        Reformed creeds are infra- not  supra-
with no good at all in him) as well as                           theological acumen, and capacity for         lapsarian, and that the Scripture is also
horizontally (that man is depraved in                            work. This work, more than his dozen         infra, but only from "the historical
 every part of his being). Although this                         volumes on the Heidelberg Catechism,         viewpoint"  - a viewpoint about which
was Hoeksema's lifelong battle, he                               represents his system of theology. He        his methodology is very permissive.
 states  his. position in this text only                         wrote it during the thirty years that he     He further argues that the "Reformed
where he feels he must do so, in the                             taught in his own seminary while also        F a t h e r s "  - who remain unnamed  -
 discussions of the image of God  -                              serving as minister of a large con-          never condemned supralapsarianism,
 which, incidentally, he denies in the                           gregation.                                   nor regarded it as "inconsistent with
 broad sense  - and of Adam's sin.                                 *Copyright 1967 by  Christianity To-       Reformed theology." Both theologically
 Only a careful study of Hoeksema's                              day; used by permission.                     and historically this claim is far from
 writings will bring  .out the manner in                           The next review appeared in the            the whole truth.
 which he builds everything on the                               Reformed Journal  (May-June, 1967)             Hoeksema argues against biblical
 antithesis between elect and reprobate                          and is here reprinted by permission:         theology because it fails to take  ser-


                                                                                THE  STANDA.RD  BEARER

       iously the working of the Holy Spirit in                        and clearly revealed in the Cross (p.           Here in a nutshell we have Hoekse-.
       the history of the Church. This is a                            165). Reprobation is merely the means         ma's theology: "Love is the bond that
       strange contention for one who held                             for the actualization of election. But        unites the ethically perfect. Grace is
      that' revelation must he taken out of the                        having thus defined reprobation,  Hoek-       the objective pleasantness and the sub-
      fabric  o f   t h e   t e m p o r a l - h i s t o r i c a l .    sema hardly knows what to do with it.         jective attraction of the ethically per-
      Nonetheless, it throws light on the                              He gives Christ  a.  very`central  place      fect.         Mercy wills and desires the
I     stance that Hoeksema took toward his                             in his doctrine of election. The elec-        ethically perfect to be blessed." And
      accepted Reformed creeds,                          These         tion of Christ does not, he says, occur       he applies this theology by asserting,
      he viewed with an almost blind, un-                              for the sake of the elect; the election       "It should be evident from this that
      critical loyalty, accepting them as  not-                        of the latter exists  for. the sake of        God cannot be merciful to the repro-
      to-be-questioned truth, not as histor-                           Christ the Elect. But once Hoeksema           bate wicked, and that Hismercytoward
      ical documents.                                                  takes this position, what is he to do         His people" is that by which "He
         Except at two points. We have al-                             with his doctrine of reprobation. If          beholds them eternally as perfectly
      ready noted his rejection of  infralap-                          Christ's election requires reprobation,       z$teous in the Beloved" (pp. 115,
      sarianism.          Although supralapsarian-                     are some men reprobated for the sake                   .
      ism was eventually given official toler-                         of the election of Christ? This comes           This is not only un-Reformed. It is
      ation within a sector of the Reformed.                           close to saying that Christ is saved by       less biblical than Arminianism.  Ar-
       churches, it is not the teaching of the                         the damnation of men, for His reality         minianism  distorts  the biblical teaching
       Reformed creeds, and a theology                                 depends on the reality of reprobates.         about God's love, mercy, and grace.
       structured on this basis is quite dif-                          And it is interesting to note that in         Hoeksema loses these biblical teach-
      ferent from one structured on an  infra-                         Hoeksema's outline  of- the order of          ings.         God, of course, does not hate
       lapsarian position. The other area in                           predestination, reprobation first ap-         Himself, but the biblical teaching is not
       which Hoeksema took certain liberties                           pears in relation to the elect (the           that God loves. Himself, but loves the
       is in the doctrine of election. In                              Church) and then only in parentheses.         Son, and in this  lo%e   loves1  sinners,
       Hoeksema's theology election takes                              Hoeksema's struggle with election and         Where does the Bible teach, not that
       priority over reprobation. He does not                          reprobation is a warning to those who         God is gracious, but that He is gracious
       hold that reprobation is equally primal                         with an easy facility interpret biblical      to Himself?          and where that He is
       in the intention and ways of God. God's                         passages with a direct reference to           merciful to Himself? Hoeksema de-
       primary intention is to glorify Himself                         election and reprobation. To be sure,         fines God's love, grace, mercy by a
       in Christ and the Church.                    Reproba-           Hoeks'ema also engaged in this kind of        reference to the  :natuve  of God (and
       tion, says Hoeksema, is a necessary                             exegesis, but when he did he violated         therefore defines  all of them as ethical
       means for the realization of election.                          the complexities of his own theology          attributes of God in  thqabsolute  sense)
       The first is a means, the second the                            of election.                                  rather than in reference to sinners,
       end. This is'hardly the teaching of the                           Finally, Hoeksema's exposition of           and to Christ in His role of saving
       Canons of Dort. Nor do the Canons                               the love and the grace of God should          sinners, and therewith to what God
       teach the idea that reprobation is a                            be carefully studied by theological           freely decided  to do in Christ and for
       "necessary" means  - a view that                                minds in the Christian Reformed               sinners.         In short, a theology that
       appears to impinge on the sovereignty                           Church. Appealing to Colossians  3:14,        teaches that God loves Himself, has
       and freedom of God, an idea that Pro-                           Hoeksema asserts that love can only           grace and mercy for Himself because
      f e s s o r   B e r k o u w e r   r e g a r d s   a s   s o      exist "in the sphere of moral perfec-         He is ethically perfect, and has none
      ungodly as to bring shame by the                                 tion." There can be no love "in the           of these for sinners because they are
      mere mention of it. With this I would                            sphere of darkness." Love is that             sinners, is worse than Arminianism,
       agree.      But I wonder whether there is                       which "unites ethically perfect parties       which distorts, but does not deny these.
       essentially any difference between say-                         only."       "It can exist only between         Hoeksema           the      theologian never
      ing that reprobation is the necessary                            personal beings; and these personal           understood the nature of God's love
      presupposition of election and saying                            beings must he perfect" (p. 105). With        and mercy for sinners, nor that grace
      that election necessarily  posits  repro-                        this profoundly unbiblical idea of love,      of God by which God freely willed to
       bation  - an idea inherent in election                          it comes as no surprise that God,             give Himself in Christ for their sakes.
     defined as selection. This whole matter                           according to Hoeksema, can only hate          Hoeksema's God loves Himself, "seeks
       calls for further study.                                        sinners.                                      and finds Himself," and is  "self-
         Although the covenant of works is                               In view of this conception of the           centered." Hoeksema, as a theologian,
       commonly accepted in many Reformed                              nature of divine love, it is also not         did not know a God who glorifies Him-
      theological circles (and taught by the                           surprising to hear Hoeksema speak of          self precisely by creating'and redeem-
      Westminster Confession), Hoeksema                                grace as an  ethical attribute  of God        ing man for the purpose of sharing
       always his  ownman,  rejected it because                        and define grace as that delight which        Himself with man, therein revealing
       (I) the Reformed creeds do not teach                            God takes in Himself as a perfect             His glory. For God is not one who can
      it, (2) even a sinless man cannot earn                           being.       And with this we have the        be known "only in the way of logical
      the rewards of grace, and (3) because                            ground for Hoeksema's vigorous re-            contemplation."             The grace of God  `ii
      man's covenantal status is not  anaddi-                          jection of common grace for all sin-          hardly something logical  I
      tive, but something given in his very                            ners, and his insistence that God loves,         Hoeksema's God is so self-contained
      humanity.          Here Barth echoes  Hoek-                      and is gracious toward, the elect only,       and self-centered that Hoeksema could
       sema, but Hoeksema never struggled                              and toward these because they are             not conceive of movements of God to-
      with the problem of how one can hold                             righteous  in Christ.                         ward man which were the results of
      to a supralapsarian view of reprobation                                                                        His free decision, and not merely a
       and at the same time hold that man's                              Even God's mercy is declared to be          necessary shadow cast by God's inner
       covenant relationship to God is built in                        an "attribute of God in the absolute          life.
       his very humanity.                 How would one                sense of the word."          Thus God is        This book is required reading for
       define .a divine covenant made with                             merciful, not to sinners, but to Him-         all who think they endorse Hoeksema's
       men who even apart from sin are                                 self.      "Mercy is the attribute or vir-    basic theology, and  ,for all who think
       reprobated by God to doom?                                      tue of God according to which He is           they hold a traditional Reformed the-
         Hoeksema contends that reprobation                            tenderly affected toward Himself as           ology distinctively different from his.
       is not necessary for the revelation of                          the highest and sole Good and implica-        Hoeksema was a big enough theologian
       God's justice, for this is most fully                           tion of all perfections...."                  to surprise both groups.


 2 4                                             THE STANDARD BEARER

                        MEN'S LEAGUE                                         ATTENTION: OFFICE BEARERS
The Men's League  will.hold its Fall Meeting, Monday,             There will be an Office Bearers Conference, D.V.,
 October 9, at the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed                October 3, 1967, at 8:00 P.M., to be held at Southeast
 Church at  8:00'p.m.,  D.V. Rev. J. Heys will speak on           Protestant Reformed Church. All present and former
 "What is the Function of an Evangelist, and What Has             officer bearers are invited to attend.
 Happened to His Office."                                            Our speaker, Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, will speak on
        Men, you are invited to meet with us for an evening       the subject "Consistorial Supervision of Catechism
 of Christian Fellowship.                                         Instruction."
                           H. Dykstra, Sec'y.                                              Arnold Dykstra, Sec'y.

                                        NEWS FROM OUR  CHURCHES-
                                                 Sept. 1, 1967    formed Church Polity under which our churches thrive.
        Rev. C. Hanko is in receipt of a call to labor in the     Though the missionaries have returned to their homes,
 congregation in Hull, Iowa. A later report informs us            our support will continue to supply them in their medi-
 that this call has also been declined.                           cal needs and clothing lack through the offerings re-
        Candidate Dale Kuiper has gladdened the hearts of         ceived in our churches periodically, as requested by
 the members of the congregation at Randolph, Wis., by            Synod, and distributed by the diaconate of Hudsonville.
accepting the call they had tendered him. Candidate                                          *  *  *
 Kuiper is not- a stranger to the congregation, having               Conventionally speaking what were our young people
 lived in the manse as a young man while his father, the          up to from Aug. 17 to211 They were gathered in annual
 late Rev. H.  I<uiper,  was stationed there from 1951 to         convention in Hull, Iowa; a time of relaxation and fun,
 1954.      The candidate's examination will be held in the       a time of spiritual instruction and upbuilding, a time of
 regular September meeting of Classis  West.                      fellowship in renewing old friendships and making new
                             ***                                  ones.
        Southeast's congregation was called to a special             The Michigan contingent drove to South Holland in
 congregational meeting Aug. 28 to consider a remodeling          16 cars and were served a delicious supper by the
 project proposed by the consistory.                              South Holland ladies before bussing to downtown Chicago
                             * * *                                to entrain to Le Mars, Iowa, where they arrived the
        To accommodate the vacation-time schedules, Rev.          next morning. In a 12 hour trip the train stopped 36
 II. Veldman preachedtwice in his own church and once             times to load and unload passengers and goods. Even
 in Hope Church Sunday Aug. 13, with the morning ser-             if the young people had been pre-disposed to sleep  (?)
 vices set in staggered times; and Rev. Kortering                 this every quarter-hour stopping and starting would have
 served Holland's congregation in the morning and                 disposed of it.
 evening services besides an afternoon service in                    Thursday was spent in the assignment of lodging
 Southwest Church on the same date.                               and in registration. Friday morning the business of the
                             *  *  *                              convention was finished and the afternoon was occupied
        Redlands Young People's Society sent delegates to         with a program prepared for it. The evening featured
 the Convention for the first time this year. In all, nine        the Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg, of Oak Lawn, who gave the
 of their membership enjoyed the privilege of attending           keynote speech on the theme,  "Soli  Deo  Gloviaff,
 all the meetings.                                                speaking on, "The Idea" of this theme. Saturday's
                             * * *                                speaker was Candidate D. Kuiper, who developed the
        Our "Missionaries" to Jamaica have returned to            idea of "The Basis" of the title theme, and Monday
 Michigan after spending eight weeks in the tropical heat         evening's program and banquet featured Rev. R. Decker,
 of that Island (an island where sauna baths are not com-         of  Doon, who spoke on "The Expression" of ascribing
 mercialized, but are copiously supplied by -nature).             all the glory to God.
 They enjoyed a warm welcome by the people during                    The fun and relaxation included contests of various
 their entire stay, and the weather cooperated with the           sorts (a greased pig for the boys and an  un-coopera-
 natives on that score, too: every day it was a sweltering        tive chicken for the girls) with farm tours, hiking,
 100 to 120 degrees, "cooling" to 90 degrees at night.            football, volleyball and an East-West softball game
 Rev. Heys was busy preaching, and teaching the min-              rounding out the activities.
 isters and elders the basic truths Scripture handed                 Sunday was spent in the usual way, the young people
 down to us by our Reformed Fathers . The people                  attending the worship services in Hull and in  Doon
 reveal an ever-increasing appetite for the pure preach-          during the day, and a singspiration that was held in the
 ing of the Word of God. It must be gratifying, indeed,           community building in Hull. It was unanimously ac-
 to witness, as did Paul and Silas, that their hearers,           claimed that the host society prepared and carried out
 "wereglad, and glorified the Word of God; and as many            a very good convention, one based on the Scripture
 as were ordained to eternal life `believed." Elder               found in I Peter  5:8-11 from which the theme was
 Zwak was busy in his field of labor holding conferences          taken. That's what our young people were up to.
 with the elders and deacons of the various churches
 instructing them in the rules and regulations of  Re-               See you in church.                              J.M.F.
                                                  `_


